Part 21: Grand Pas d'Action

Grand Pas d'Action



Since Keita joined a few levels below everyone else, I threw him through some Free Battles to bring him up to speed. In the process of doing so, he managed to earn a Strength +2 Add-On which does exactly what you think it will.



Other than that, nothing exciting or interesting happened so let's go hang out with Yamato for a bit.

[Music: Exploration]



We keep getting reports of civilian casualties. There are more demons than expected.
...I see. So?
W-Well, I think there's a need for increased defenses...
More defenses? Why?
...Huh? Well, the civilians...
What is the merit in taking on the extra risk? Do you think it'll help Japan?
W-Well...
We can save many incompetent people, but it won't help our situation.



N-No...
...Then go. I'm busy.
...Excuse me.

When the member leaves, Yamato glances in your direction...

[Music: JPs -Geomagnetism Research Department-]



Listening to your emotions and saving people would be easy. It's the same for us in JP's.
But... doing so would cut back on our forces, and we'll only gain more incompetent people.
...Do you understand? We must have priorities, unlike Japan before the disaster.
So JP's is a priority?
That's right, but it needs explanation.



Those are the people who are worth saving... people like you.
...Well then.

Yamato turns back to his work...



It's nice that you can get Yamato physical resistance already, but as you would expect it's not really gonna be relevant for a while.



We can also buy a new demon here, but its one we haven't seen yet strangely enough. Not often that happens.



Ah well, we'll see what that particular little bit is about later. For now, let's just go see what's up with Joe.

[Music: Silence]





[Music: Elegy]

Ah... So you showed up. Sorry, but I don't swing that way!
Swing which way...?
"Which way"...? Hm. You'll understand when you're older.



Joe changes gears REAL fast here; he's not on about his failed attempt at a gay joke. He's actually on about that video Yamato showed us before.

I mean, it wasn't totally unexpected, with all the chaos and destruction...
It really does feel like an unprecedented crisis, like Yamato said.
...What do you think of all this, Hibiki?
It's a hoax.
Sure, yeah, I thought so too! I had to look around and make sure there were no cameras.
...This all just seems so surreal. I guess it's what they call the end of days.
But it's morning...
Hahaha... Not quite what I meant. You seem to be taking this all pretty calm.
Hey... If you were to die today... would you regret anything?
No.



......

Joe looks silently into the distance for a while...

...Well, it's no use brooding. The situation we're in, we gotta stay positive.
...Haha, even if we're faking it? Sure, yeah. Whatever it takes to cheer yourself up.
Anyway... Yamato's probably right when he says that just waiting around is useless.
I felt like I'd rather die than have to face this myself. Haha, some dilemma.
Well, you go on ahead. I'll be back to my old self in a bit and join up with you then.

You say goodbye to Joe and leave the area...

[Music: In The Devastated Town]



Before we move on to go and do more plot-relevant stuff, let's prepare a little. This is going to be a boss fight and one that could prove to be a little difficult so I'm going to get 2 Mokois. First one I'll just buy a 5-star variant of; Berserk's a nice physical skill that hits based off your max HP.



For the second one, I'm going to get a bit more creative with it. First I'll buy a 5-star Kobold...



And then a 5-star Knocker...



And fuse those two to make a Hairy Jack. Next, I'll take that Hairy Jack, combine it with the Toubyou that is going to be a liability at this point and throw on the Str+2 Add-on to make...



The second Mokoi. This was kind of an unnecessary fusion chain, all things considered, but it was worth it even if only so one of them can heal relatively competently. It also can punch stuff a bit harder too, so there's that.



Either way, I picked up those two for a reason. Let's go see what that reason is, shall we?

[Music: JPs -Geomagnetism Research Department-]



You're back. How were your friends?
Leave them to me.

Yamato smiles...



It seems you're the only one unfazed by all this. You seem like a man I can count on.
I hope your stern resolve rubs off on the others.
Are you worried?
Yes, I am. Worried about this country's future, that is.



The Hotsuin family has been the leaders of JP's for generations.
Because you're strong?
Haha... In part. My clan also has a great power, passed down since ancient times.



It's pretty underground, so you probably haven't heard of it.

What's that?
Haha... The Dragon Stream refers to the path of chi that flows in these lands.
Only we Hotsuin can access the Dragon Stream and use it to change to our desired form.
I exist only to use this power to unify JP's and protect the country. I am Japan's shadow.
I'll do my part.

Yamato looks at you coolly...



By the way, Kuze...



[Music: Countdown]

Hm...!? What's going on?

A number of JP's members rush in...



Put it onscreen. Send out the call to every JP's team and set up a chain of command.

Yamato is rapidly barking orders...









...I heard we got one.
Ah, Hibiki! I got a call from JP's... There's an enemy at the Tsuutenkaku!?
Oh...! Th... Those soldiers...
Sorry I'm late! Whoa... Wh-What te hell's that!?
Hey-- hooooooly crap... Another monster attack?

[Music: Silence]



[Music: The Operation Starts]

All right... Get those people out of Merak's path. I'll handle the north.
Kuze... You're in command. Head south and defeat Merak.
Understood.

Yamato smiles approvingly...



Wha...? Hey! Is he serious!?





[Music: Silence]



......! Don't come over here!
What? Why? Come on, don't be shy...



[Music: Countdown]

......! What the hell was that!? It exploded!
It's after the Tsuutenkaku! Don't let it destroy any more!



I think you might now have an idea as to why I picked up 2 new demons that nullify Ice, and got rid of one with a weakness to it.

...! It took him down with one shot...! Where did that attack come from!?



Okay, yeah, if it wasn't obvious before then it should be now. We're up against Dubhe's bigger, meaner brother.

There it is...It's Merak!
How dare you treat my Osaka however you want! I'll never forget this!

Your cell phone rings...



It sends out disc-shaped machines that explode once they reach their destination.



...That's all I have to say.

...Let's begin. I'll make it drown in regret.

[Music: Septentrion]



Merak has a couple of demon buddies with him, but they're nothing compared to Merak itself. As a result, we're gonna try and take him down ASAP.



Skills are actually kind of hard to pick here. See there are only 3 enemies on the map at first, which is kind of a problem. It means no matter what happens later in the fight, we can only get 3 skills. Nigayomogi, Paral Eyes (...yes, really) and +Paralyze are all only available from one regular demon. Mow Down and Anti-Elec are both only on Merak himself and Ice Dance is on Merak and a regular demon.



Since Hibiki's main target is Merak, of course, Anti-Elec is a no-brainer. Mow Down's just a physical skill and we can get Ice Dance elsewhere. Also Anti- skills are kinda good anyway.

Ice Dance is the only one we can get off that particular demon, so that's also a no brainer.

The ailment skill is a bit harder to decide on, but I opted for +Paralyze over the other 2 right now. Paral Eyes is less likely to work but hits the entire enemy party for good measure. Nigayomogi is a mouthful and is to Poison what Paral Eyes is to Paralysis. They both also cost 15 MP which makes the decision easier to manage, since Keita doesn't really have much MP anyway.

Also, I just prefer paralysis to poison anyway. It completely destroys the accuracy and evasion of whatever it affects, outright prevents some passive skills from working (Counter being one of them that we have right now) and sometimes whatever is paralysed skips its turn. Not the best ailment, but it's quite nice all the same.



Ordinarily, what I do here wouldn't work on any other map to great success but it does so here for one reason: Merak sits at one end of the map all on his own. The regular demons all sit at the other end. We need to keep the top half where the Tsuutenkaku is defended, so Keita, Io and Joe all sit back there and fight off all the grunts. Hibiki meanwhile is going to charge down to fight Merak. And only Merak.



The problem with Merak comes from his Circumpolarity attack, which we've already seen. See, up by the tower we need to keep both sides of it defended... but if we stop in the middle at any point, he'll fire that and most likely oneshot whoever it hits. Thankfully, friendly fire is a thing he can do but he won't fire the Circumpolarity laser at all unless one of our units sits in a tile it can hit.

And the range: 4 is just his normal attack range. Circumpolarity hits the entire map on a straight line. Oh, and that thing about spawning mobile bombs?





Yep. It spawns a few of those things that went off before. They're a bit different to Merak himself though.



The Missile has no offensive capability whatsoever, strangely enough. This means they won't attack Hibiki on his way down and he can walk right past them. They just head up to 2 points on the Tsuutenkaku and then explode on that spot. I have no idea how many it takes to trigger the lose condition of them blowing up the tower, because I've never let even one do it just in case, but its not something I intend to find out this time either.



Okay, that's a lot of words because Merak's fight has this silly gimmick. At least this one's not initially invincible. Let's start fighting something.



Moh Shuvuu's attacks are both Ice elemental, so that helps a bunch too. She has enough MP to case Ice Dance twice, but if she ever uses Bufu then she can only do it once. Potentially not much of a threat either way, unless you come in with a lot of Ice weaknesses, but 2 Ice Dances against one party could be dangerous.



The other regular demon party is very much the antithesis of that one. The Tenong Cut seems to love throwing out Nigayomogis more than anything else...



Which I'm fine with since it misses a lot. The Mokois are a bigger threat because they actually try fighting, but they still aren't too much of a hassle as is.



They're also a lot more flimsy than you might be expecting. Not really all that durable despite their large HP totals.



And the Moh Shuvuu tried to pick a fight with Keita too. It, uh, didn't go very well for its defence. Took a bit of damage, but nothing that can't be easily healed.



Merak's kind of a nuisance, because its attack range is larger than you would think. Those 3 squares to the left of Hibiki are what you can target to attack Merak, if you stand in front of any of them it fires the Circumpolarity and its attack range of 4 is 4 from every square. Getting close without Devil Speed is actually a tricky proposition because it might sneak an attack in there.

With it, it's not a problem, though.

[Music: Break Out]



Once you drag it into a fight, Merak isn't that tough honestly. It has 720 HP and more than enough MP to make trying to wait it out pointless. Of course, it's immune to ailments resists most elements, but is neutral to physical and gets its shit wrecked by Force. And Angel naturally has Force Dance.

She only has the MP to cast it twice by default, and it takes two uses of Blood Wine to restore enough MP for a third, but those 2 uses are enough to drop its HP by 200-250+, easily.



The regular demons aren't that big of a threat either, all things considered. It's a lot easier to take them out in 2 fights than you might expect it to be.



...Sometimes they pick fights with the wrong people, so you need to smack them with Fatal Strike that both crits and paralyses though.



Whenever that happens, you just follow up with the right person one-shotting it. How generous.



Once they're both dead, of course it's not quite that simple. More do spawn in, but at this point it's too little, too late.



The missiles also finally find their way up to near the Tsuutenkaku.



Unfortunately, they cannot attack. All they do is Guard. They have enough HP to be a nuisance with it, but they also make up for it by being weak to Electricity, Ice (paradoxically enough) and Mystic.



Once Merak's almost dead, he decides to help me out. Not only does he finally opt to use Mow Down for the first time (remember, physical skills cast from HP)...



But it triggers a Counter from Angel, which deals just enough damage to push him low enough...



For Hibiki to deal the final blow with one last Zan.



He's damned good EXP, considering he's level 22 and all, so it was very worth it.

[Music: Silence]



All in all, kind of underwhelming for Day 2's obvious major boss fight. Though he does both turn up and die in the same one event, so maybe I was just expecting a bit too much.





Get quite a fair bit of free money from winning the fight. Way, way more than any enemy could give us in it even with stacking macca bonuses. A fair bit of EXP too. Helps keep things competitive and up to date.

[Music: Over the Brink of Death]



Is that it...? Man... What WAS it?
It wasn't a demon.
Yeah... You're right. The shape, the way it moved... It was totally different.



It wasn't very tough.
Heh heh... You talk tough, but you do have the skill to back it up.
It seems that Tsuutenkaku is safe as well. It'll need some fixing up, but not too much.
Now... you're done here. You can go back to Tokyo.



...See ya. Go back to Tokyo already.
Hey, Keita, waaaaait! That was so much fun. You've got to come to Osaka again!





Aaaaaagh, don't say that. That's so creepy...



Poor Daichi...



Oh well! We have some time to kill before we're off back to Tokyo. We have to leave at 19:30 at the latest, which gives us enough time for 2 events. We could leave at 19:00 instead but we have to do Enemy Inquiry anyway and we need to do that earlier for that option to be available. Now the question is...

Who do we spend our last bit of time in Osaka with?