Part 111: Tuesday's Disquiet ~ The Baron in Black

Tuesday's Disquiet ~ The Baron in Black

Although our main event does take place on Tuesday, there's a couple small things on Monday to do first.



Namely hang out with Joe. A scene so easily missed, we accidentally skipped it twice already. Oops! VV

[Music: Exploration]



Hey, Hibiki. Have you seen it?
I have.
What!? I didn't even say what it was yet! Quit messing around!
I'm talking about how I need to get a new suit. I mean, look at this.



Although... they were only 5,000 yen overseas.
Hehe! Lucky, right? It's because I've been good.
I mean, wearing 500,000-yen clothes just feels so much better. You can touch them.



The tag...
Huh? What about it? It's a famous brand!

Joe reads the tag on his jacket...

[Music: A Moment of Rest]



This is supposed to be... Aw, man.
...... Oh, well. A suit's a suit.

Joe doesn't seem to care at all...

Man, I'm tired. I'll go get some rest somewhere.
...Well, see you later.

Joe walks away...

So, yeah, that random hole in his jacket is kind of a recurring thing.

Also, fittingly enough, he's easily conned into buying knock offs.

[Music: Exploration]



Still on Monday for a moment, let's do something I'm sure everyone will enjoy: going to see Keita again. Yay!



Um... Uhhhmmmm...
......
*cough cough*
...Shut up, squirt. I can hear you.



...What?
You saved me just now... All those demons by yourself! You were so cool!
Thank you. Thank you so much!
...... ...I don't give a crap.
Huh?
I just wanted to fight. I wasn't trying to save you.



The demon that was going after you left itself open to attack. That's all it was.
......
If you can't even protect yourself, you shouldn't be wandering around. Now scram!
Aah!

Keita glares at the child, who runs away...

...Tch. How annoying.
You were too hard on him.



No matter how the world changes, the core doesn't. It will always be the same.
The weak are worthless. Always have been, always will be.

Keita begins punching his sandbag...

Yep, that's our Keita all right.

Now, before we dive into what we're really after let's do some more light fusion. We're rapidly approaching the end of the compendium at this point so a couple more pushes and we'll be done.



Start off with the second best Snake, Ananta. This guy came from a combination of Jarilo and Bishamonten. He's primarily a Str/Vit build which is kind of a recurring thing now that we're at the upper end of the compendium. Once we hit the very, very top it isn't quite so pronounced though.



The second man of the hour, and highest Wilder, Ammut (Shiva + Barong) is the shining example of this. What with almost immediately capping both of his key stats. And his Vit hits 40 next level too.

He'll be swapped out eventually but not on a permanent basis. He's a key component of a wacky scheme I have in mind.



And then I skipped ahead a couple levels because I wanted someone that isn't a punchy demon for once. Anubis (Metatron + Norn) was the closest, even though he's more of a hybrid by default. He's the highest ranked Avatar and for once that might prove useful. Kind of. I guess.

Now, after we get Jungo's death clip and beat up Fumi and Botis, we'll spend some time doing nothing important.



Oh, crap. Almost forgot to go and grab the memory.



Hey... Hey! Please, will you just listen!?
Hmm... No. This is mine. I need to get home and put it together.
W-Wait! It's important!



Oh, hey...!

The man leaves in a hurry...



Deep breaths.
Oh... Hibiki! Get a load of this!



*sigh* If only I'd gotten here just a little sooner...
Let's look elsewhere.
Yeah... you're right. Let's keep looking around.

You part with Airi and leave the area.

Eh, okay. We were a little bit too slow to get the memory before the goony salaryman ran off with it this time. Not like that should mater though.



After all, Fumi's still able to find Jungo and Daichi anyway. Let's just book it over there and kick some a-



...Something doesn't seem quite right here.

Fortunately, the scene seems the same until we cut inside...

[Music: Heroes Have No Fear]





D-Dammit...! Now, I'm gonna...

[Music: Countdown]

Don't move! One more step, and he dies!



Gah!
......!



[Music: Silence]



[Music: Requiem]



C-Come quick! He's gonna die!



g-going to...?

Huh... Hey... This can't be happening... Come on...
Who the--
What the hell!? You're all with JP's, aren't you!?
N-No! Jungo...!



We have to go in there, and at the very least save Daichi.
I'm going to beat them up.



The actual fight itself is mostly unchanged. Just slightly easier because you don't have to escort Jungo any more.

So, we'll skip all that (Airi does indeed kick seven shades of shit out of 4 of them)...

[Music: Silence]



Th-Thanks... You saved me...
Jungo...

[Music: Requiem]

Jungo...? You mean that guy who tried to rescue me, huh...



Um... Sorry... This is my fault...
......
If we'd come sooner... Would we have been able to save Jungo...?
......
What happened, happened.



...Too late to change anything now. Beating ourselves up won't help Jumbo any.
C'mon... let's double down on trying to save people from now on. That's all we can do.
...Stupid Jungo...
Hm...? Where's Jungo? Oh... I see he didn't make it.



That's about right.
Mmm... Well, that's a natural consequence of fighting.

[Music: In the Devastated Town]

I've been tied up restoring things. The office is still down... Ronaldo got us good.



What are your plans now?
Um... We rescued Daichi... What should we do, Hibiki?
Let's take JP's back.
Huh... Good answer. You're a handy fellow to have around.



Well... I do owe you. I'm not keen on fighting, but I'll put that aside for now...
Then I'll lead the way. We've got enough manpower now... Yes, we should be fine.
Cool, then it's decided. Well, once our leader gives the word.

Everyone looks at you...

Let's do this!



Right... I'll make them pay for what they did to Jungo!
Hmm-hmm! Let's do it!
Yep...



...Since it had to happen sometime, might as well do it now. Just rip the bandage right off and all that.



Got some time to kill after beating up Phecda before our main goal turns up, so we'll spend it with Ronaldo.

[Music: Dark Clouds]



So what's next, Ronaldo? ...Should we attack JP's headquarters again?
No, now's not the time for that. That'd be exactly what Hotsuin would want.
Th-Then what do we do? If we keep this up, we...



I-I see... Hey! You're from JP's!

The rioters who see you are ready to fight...



Stop. Don't lay a finger on that boy.
Huh!? But... he's the enemy!
No... Not that one. He's working with JP's, but he's not our enemy.
B-But...!



He's trying to save the world, in his own way. We don't have any trouble.
...Okay, if you say so.



But I know that the true evil... lies in only one of you. We can't blame the rest.
What do you think of him... of Hotsuin?
I don't think of him.



...Oh, well. I know you're a man who can be trusted.
Let us both fight for the justice we believe in.



...Well, my comrades are waiting.

Ronaldo walks away...

Oh well, I guess it's that time now. This time around, I did pick up the extra optional boss from the NG+ store and this is where he pops up.



An old fighter's gloves, hanging on the wall...

It's been too long, a challenger has called...



You're coming back, word travels fast...

You will not be a relic from the past...

[Music: Countdown]





Ah, how covenient. I was just thinking about picking up a young boy.
I'm sure she'll be very pleased...!

[Music: Desperate Situation]



Y'know, for the Field Marshal and Inspector General for all of the armies of Hell, Nebiros has been given the short end of the stick in the series a lot.

Last time he was ever relevant before this was Raidou 1 (Soulless Army). As an optional boss that, from what I remember, was kinda easy to miss.



Thankfully, Nebiros is not going to be too easy to drop here. And not just because he has a gimmick. Paral Eyes + Death Call is a rarity in that the game is actually using what is basically the only instant death tactic that doesn't involve making giant numbers happen.

Piercing Attack Alls are kinda what you want because his strength sucks, though.



Oh, and it's kind of an escort mission but not really. There's 3 regular women on the map who have to not get murdered, but they're a non-issue.



They never get close to any demons for it to matter. This Loa is the only one that might prove to be an issue but eh.



Shiva's more than good enough to drop the lot immediately.



And in the process, Hibiki caps his first stat.

....Y'know, I can't help but think something seems a bit off here. Might just be my imagination.



Just because I'm possibly being a mite overcautious, I used Anubis's Warp Step to switch with one of the women in the lower area.



The perspective thing on this map is still a confusing mess, but this is the only fight where it really matters.



Oh, and unlike Lilith and Beelzebub, Nebiros is not afraid to run around and punch your shit in. Or at least try to.



Unlike most other fights, so far, Nebiros' minions aren't actually at his level range.



Rather than be in the 80s, they're firmly in the mid-50s at best.



This makes them a bit easier to cut through, and that is a very good thing.



See, Nebiros' gimmick ties into that...



He uses (on the map only) a unique spell that costs 0HP/MP and doesn't take up one of his skill slots.



Necromancy just respawns a demon team, no questions asked, with full HP and MP. And he does this on every single one of his turns when he has less than 3 minions running around.



Thankfully, there is a bit of a catch to this skill we'll see later.



It's not completely without restrictions otherwise it would be just a wee bit broken.



Oh, and because of this, no, I won't cover every single skirmish with his cannon fodder.



That would get very old and tiresome, very quickly. Plus they're mostly all the same from this point on anyway.



But what I will do, is take advantage of this opening in the path to switch Shiva out for Guan Yu.



I do kind of need a hero for this next bit...



Primarily for Hero's Proof. Because now we're gonna finish things off.



Nebiros has finally gotten close enough for us to steal the initiative. With his remarkably good Agility, it's needed just to stand a chance at maybe going first.

[Music: Shudder]



Sadly, it doesn't work out as I'd have liked. 75 damage is actually kind of a lot too, when you realise that's what you get from combining Hero's Proof, Anti-Force AND Guarding.

That would easily oneshot Hibiki thanks to his 4 in Magic.



On the flip side, Guan Yu hitting the dude for over 1,000 damage is amazing.



And it does mean that Nebiros is finished off in a single skirmish.



Not too tough on the whole, but did require some semi-clever planning because of the lack of boosted Magic for once.



...Wait, hang on what? What are you doing?



hey stop that no



oh fuck you nebiros i just kicked your ass that is not on

...So, yeah, his gimmick is two-fold. Not only does he revive enemy teams on his turns, if you beat him when ANY of those teams are still around he will kick their leader out and take the position for himself.

Also pretty sure it's at this point, he stops being fair and starts doing this:



He can revive as many teams as it takes to get to a full 3. Doesn't matter if one is missing or all three, they will all be back on his next turn.



And in a really fucked up and intententionally exploitable way, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure it can be mildly annoying, but it's still held back by the one trick to his Necromancy skill.



If he revives anything, anything at all regardless of quantity, that uses his entire turn. His greatest strength is also his biggest weakness.



So long as you keep picking off his little minions, he will always use his turn to revive them. And then he can't do anything else.



You can have him completely surrounded and he will still sit there, reviving them. He is straight up incapable of taking advantage of a situation that works out in his best interests.



It's just a matter of waiting out his infinite horde (this is a good place to grind if you can't be arsed waiting for Beelzebub by the by) til you get your opening, and then kicking his ass when he's isolated.



And that is all she wrote.



Wait, what, no. Stop changing the rules, Nebiros.

You just had your ass kicked. You don't get to call takesiesbacksies and run away.

YOU HAVE TO DIE HERE. THAT IS HOW THESE THINGS WORK.



...Since he ran away, we don't get the ability to fuse him out of this. We do, however, unlock the next step of this... I guess you'd call it a sidequest? Anyway, the next bit doesn't happen 'til later.

And by "later" I mean "sometime on Thursday".