Part 109: Episode CIII: Mom, You're Embarrassing Me!

Episode CIII: Mom, You're Embarrassing Me!



Before we get solicited by more weirdoes with spoiled food in their pockets, let's head into this cave shrine to go meet Kurando's mom.



She knows in her heart there is bound to be a chest with loot behind that waterfall, as is the way of things, but she really doesn't want to get her fancy outfit wet to obtain it. What if it's just an Elixir she'll never use up until the point the credits of the game are rolling.



It's Kurando. I'm home.
I brought... umm... guests along with me, you could say.
...I probably shouldn't have carried in a bowl of moldy rice with me. That's not going to be the best first impression, huh?
You shouldn't have taken that disgusting thing at all.

The woman stands silent for a few moments before turning to face her son and his new companions.



I'm glad you all could make it. I'm Saki, leader of the Inugami. This is the Fountain of Sukune. Within its holy mirror, you may see many mysterious things. It has always warned of evil omens, but days ago it began to warn of the greatest threat ever to be witnessed in this world.
It did warn of the Meta-God some years back, but since that never set foot on the planet this still qualifies as the greatest threat witnessed in this world.



There is a great disturbance in the ley lines running through Japan. Some great force seeks to shake the very stars from their foundations. It is not by chance that you come to Katsuragi at this time. Understand?
<nods>
It's usually pretty important when a new location appears on the world map.



Are you Yuri?
Yeah.
<smiles> I see.
Huh? Oh uhh...



Yuri proceeds to get embarrassed the pretty shrine lady smiled at him. Karin is not thrilled with this.



It is now time to find the one that you have all been searching for.


NEW Music: Fountain of Saint Evel ~ Spring of the Holy Demon







Saki performs a ritual dance that summons the sound of bells and ominous chanting...





Oh and opens up a window into the cosmos. As ancient ritualistic dances in mysterious holy caverns tend to do.



A quick trek through the endless sea of stars and we home in on Earth. Saki pops in "Nicholas Conrad" into the Fountain of Sukune search engine prompt and we get...





What's that mountain...?
It's Mount Fuji...
...At least I'm pretty sure it is. I've never seen it from space. Well, maybe I caught a glimpse of it from the sky once. I was a little busy punching an alien god to death at the time.



I'm going to use my Harmonixer Vision to get a better look.
Your... what vision?
Oh. Sometimes when I get into pre-rendered cutscenes I get a one-time-only ability. I got my arm chopped off by an imp once and just popped it back on. And then later I jumped 50 feet in the air off the back of a speeding train carrying an unconscious girl to escape from a wizard after I punched a hole through his head. Huh. What a wild night that was.
......
Anyway... Harmonixer Vision... ENHANCE!



Huh?





Kato?!



But more importantly, down in the fires of Mount Doom Fuji we have...



Look!
Nicolai!
...Is he naked?
OK. You! Don't look!
He's more well-built than I would have thought.
You either!





No, it's Astaroth!



Ngh. His evil is like an armor, hiding him from my sight.
Well, we know where he is now. You can probably stop looking before—







No, wait! He's found me!!



And this is why you always use a cosmic mirror VPN when searching for dark god ancient evils.



Ahh! Look out!!





At least Saki remembered to keep up her eldritch terror firewall while searching the dark god web.



Impertinent fools...
Hey! Lady, it might be time to cut the connection to the demon zone! Hey, Kurando. Tell your mom to end the call!
It doesn't work like that. It's a powerful spiritual link that must be properly dispersed or...
Yeah, well...







AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!





Mother!!
...Or something like this is gonna happen. Damn it!





You never go full Sephiroth.



Prepare to die...





He's taken over her body!!
Maybe he's just going to gloat and make threats like Rasputin did with your mom. We probably won't have to fight her.







...So, Kurando. How do you feel about fighting your mom?
......




NEW Music: Getting Nasty ~ Mid-Boss Runs Wild in Japan (This the Berserk version of the Disc 2 boss theme. Seems fitting for a party member's mother transformed into a demon lady.)



Well, this is happening now. Saki Inugami has transformed into Kouenki or "The Lady of Shining Crimson" -- a ten-foot tall, four-armed, mostly naked demon lady with tentacle hair sporting dagger extensions at the ends. Astaroth has a very... peculiar taste in women. Kouenki is a Fire elemental class enemy with 5720 HP. She is actually kind of tough compared to the last few bosses we've faced. Looking at you, Garan of both sizes. Barrier and Shield being up at all times is fairly essential at mitigating damage. Shield, especially so because.





Shield is especially essential because Kouenki has Energy Charge which gives her a HUGE physical attack buff and without Shield she can outright just body a single character if she happens to get a critical hit in her attack string.



Even with Shield, she does at minimum 200 to 250 HP of damage with her physical attacks. Considering that's roughly half of any one party member's total HP pool at the moment, we really don't want anyone's health levels to fall below 200 HP at minimum. Additionally, if the transformed Saki doesn't buff her next attack string, she will instead use physical attacks that inflict Seal which means no magic or special attacks for the next four turns unless we waste someone's turn remedying its effects.







She's no slouch with magic either with a pair of high damage, wide range AOE attacks. While they're not quite as beefy as her physical abilities, they still pack a sturdy punch.



Beyond keeping our defensive buffs up and everyone's health at a safe range, it's mostly the usual order of affairs getting as many Combos strung together as we can for maximum damage output. Yuri busted out Veneficium, the Water elemental Fusion, for this fight since our big fiery armored boy of choice isn't so hot against a fairly nimble Fire elemental boss.





Luckily, Saki only fades away when her Kouenki form is defeated, indicating she was merely beaten and not unceremoniously outright killed like Garan. That would be kind of awkward for Kurando to stick around if we murdered his mother five minutes after meeting her.


Music: Result ~ Victory





Although, I cannot imagine Yuri immediately rushing over and looting her wallet off of her unconscious body is particularly endearing. But thems the breaks when you turn into a boss battle, I'm afraid. I don't make the rules, I just follow them.

Music: ENDS



<moans and collapses>



It's a good thing you can just a possession out of someone. It makes sense. You can technically punch a curse out of someone as well. You just need to know where to punch. Or who to punch. Sometimes both.





Kurando rushes over and confirms we did, in fact, not kill his mother. Welp. I've heard of some bad first meetings with parents before. But I've got to say, inadvertently getting someone's mom possessed by a god of destruction which turns her into a giant sexy monster mash lady and beating the shit out of her until she knocks it off is definitely bottom tier on good first impressions. Hopefully, we can patch things up next time.






Video: Episode 103 Highlight Reel (You should definitely watch this!)







Kouneki Concept Art - Tall ladies are in right now.