Part 97: The Fountain Of Sukune
Inside the cave, we find a woman.
It's Kurando. I'm home.
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.
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 point in time. Understand?
Yuri nods.
Are you Yuri?
Yeah. ...I see. Huh? Uh...um...
Karin gives Yuri an odd look out of the corner of her eye. Aw, somebody's jealous.
It is now time to find the one that you have all been searching for.
Saki closes her eyes, and a bell begins to ring.
Get ready for another fully-rendered scene of awesomeness.
Saki dances on the rock at the base of the waterfall.
Then she stops and opens her eyes.
And the cave disappears.
The vision flies through space, centering on Earth, and then zooms in on Japan.
It pauses above a volcanic crater.
What's that mountain?
It's Mt. Fuji.
The vision continues, going down into the volcano through a lava tube and there we find...
Huh?!
Kato!
We quickly move past him, into the magma itself.
Look! Nicolai!
No, it's Astaroth!
His evil is like an armor, hiding him from my sight.
Uh-oh.
No, wait! He's found me!
Astaroth reaches out, through Saki's own spell.
Ah! Look out!
The claws begin to close.
She manages to shield herself in the nick of time.
Impertinent fools!
He blasts the shield away.
Aaaaaaahhh! AAAAAAAAAHHH!!
MOTHER!!
Prepare to die!
He's taken over her body!
Saki is suddenly engulfed by light.
Oh, great, she's a Harmonixer, too.
Why, yes, I am making Kurando beat his own mother into unconsciousness.
Saki's Fusion is called Kouenki. She's Fire based, so that means she specializes in physical attacks. Shield is a must in this fight. Barrier is a good idea, too. She has a spell called Soaring Souls which is basically a renamed Tempest. She can also Seal, so everyone should have something equipped to prevent that.
She's vulnerable to Water attacks, of course.
She has Energy Charge, just like Yuri's Fire Fusion.
But the combination of Shield and Yuri hitting her with a Physical Attack Down kind of negates it.
And Kurando gets in the last bitchslap.
Returned to normal, Saki collapses.
Kurando feels her pulse and then nods. Looks like we hit her just hard enough. Either that, or Kurando has a lot of issues.