Part 56: Purusartha

Purusartha

Okay, so I've got a confession to make. See, when doing that thing with the Alioth shots Hibiki actually hit level 35. I just split the fusion up a bit to not overload all of it in one update.



So, we'll make the two level 35 demons now. Brigid (Arahabaki + Lailah), of course, is the better of the two by far. Pretty much by default on account of being a Megami; Media and Null Fire are her only innate skills so everything else can be used to make one that's really good.



The other demon's Puss n' Boots from Shrek Cait Sith (Ikusa + Lailah). Getting Anti-Elec onto this thing was a monumentally stupid chain starting from an Apis, but probably worth it. The alternative was using the Elec Set to stick it on and that'd be a waste.

I don't mind Cait Sith as is. Animal Leg's pretty nice for what's coming up so there's that. Not really something I'd keep around very long, but it's nice in the short-term at least.



Speaking of what's coming up, let's get... this... over with.

[Music: Exploration]



We're here! Now let's do this!
Good luck, Airi.
Grrr... You all better be ready for a hot slice of Sexy Airi!

No one is ready for that. Except like Chris Hansen, but for very different reasons.



Thankfully, Fumi is here to keep things reasonable.

"Get on with it"!? I'm going to new lows here, you know!
Yes, yes. I'm entering the code now...





Aaaah! That always gets me.
Daichi... Shut up. Here, I'm sending the code. Are you ready?



It's done. Now, what's going to come out?

[Music: Silence]



...Nothing, apparently.



[Music: A Moment of Rest]

What!? But I haven't done anything yet!
Whatever. Hurry up and crank that sexiness up a few notches.
Hey! Don't be so quick to talk about that!



Anathema?



Hmm...! K-Kama, darling, won't you come out? Pleeease?
Hmm. No change.



Kaaaaamaaaa! There's a cute girl waiting outside for you!



Gah... Maybe this isn't going to work.
It's just not sexy enough.



Whoa! What a surprising turn of events!
I've been waiting for this.
You and me both, brother! Fumi, show us the clinical definition of sexy!
...!



You can't prove it's NOT working! I'm sexy too, you morons!
Dammit... I'm gonna have to--



Oh, crap! Hibiki...!
Stop her!
Yeah...! Hey, what are you doing!? Quit it! You're going to cause trouble if you--

[Music: Silence]



A man sat in a flower on a rainbow parrot? I gave it a 2/10 on the Fabulous scale.

[Music: Over the Brink of Death]



Gwahh! It appeared!
Oh, that's Kama. No doubt there.
I can't believe that worked.



...Ugh. I'm really tired all of a sudden.
No, this is funny.
No one cares. Ban, if you'd do the honors?
Oh... sure! Okay!



Hmm? Oh, it's you, of the beautiful belly button.
Good, good! Child of man, tell me what it is you want.



......! Sh-Shiva!?

[Music: A Moment of Rest]

Well, child of man, that could be very dangerous.
You're just scared.



Yep, he's just a big ol' wimp.



Sure thing.
No! No! I don't want to be taken in by the likes of you!



Gotta admit, at least his method of summoning some demons to get in the way is unique. Beats "and then some demons warp in" for the umpteen billionth time anyway.

[Music: Countdown]

Wha...!? What is this!?
Nyahahahaha! Which is the real one?
I'll be gone before you find out. Goodbyeeeeee! Ahahaha!



Oh, and on top of the 5 Pyro Jacks, there's 2 Cait Siths. The exit tiles are in all 4 corners but that doesn't matter. The only ones we really need to block are the bottom 2.

Oh, drat. Kama's going to escape.
You'll never capture me! You can all kiss me behind!
Whaaaaaat...?
...Huh?

[Music: Heroes Have No Fear]



You were the one talking about sexiness and belly buttons! I worked really hard!
And now you say you won't shoot an arrow!? I'll never let you live that down!



As much as I dislike Airi as a playable character, it's things like this that make her worthwhile outside of combat.



What!? Why'd she go and call me stupid? And why is she threatening us!?
Oh, Ban's losing her temper. Hahaha... Well, let's do this.

[Music: Battle of the Brave]



Okay, so here's the thing. Kama's location is random. He can be any of the Pyro Jacks. Does this matter?

...No. It does not. Just putting it out there now.



For the first time in a while, we can crack more than like 2 things. Null Curse is the most important though. It will make some things so much easier it's not even funny.



Everything else is just whatever I felt was more important. Marin Karin's the one that'd get the least use so I opted to leave it this time around. Might Call/Crit Up work well together as a combo if used right, but Might Call's sort of redundant for that at this point. Could still get some use I guess.



Not much else to this. Let's just start systematically picking off these things, shall we?



I like Tonatiuh already. Just throwing that out there.



Needless to say, that Pyro Jack is not surviving this. Poor guy never stood a chance, really.



It is very possible to get the real Kama on the first Pyro Jack. It's also not a great idea, since then the others will actively start to fight.



Last time I ran through this fight, the Jack in the middle was Kama. Will it be there again?



A couple of Loas aren't sufficient when dealing with Jungo and co. Once again, these things never stood a chance.



As a bonus reward, we got what is possibly the best add-on. Or at least one of them. It's pretty nutso and once we get a few more levels under our belts it's going to let us do some wacky things.



Oh, and it wasn't Kama this time. Shame, but whatever.



Since Jungo has Animal Leg, he can run further down to the bottom and cut off the Jacks before they can even begin to approach the escape panels. It's not mandatory, by any means, but it helps a fair bit.



Hinako's getting a crack at one of the remaining Jacks now. One of the two things I looked at to make sure Kama's really random said he's always in this one.



We'll verify that one way or the other very shortly. Hinako's able to wipe them out with startling efficiency now. Ikusa's Stone+ Assassinates aren't a threat if it never gets to use them.



So, yeah, Kama's not always in the group with 1 Ikusa. No surprises there.



You might think we've been wiping these things out pretty easily so far. You'd be right; considering Thursday started with a noticable increase in general difficulty, this comes off as it being lenient.



It is a bit easier, but it's also not throwing lots of things at you all at once. There's no escort, no timed bombs, no spontaneously unexpected miniboss...



There he is! Quick! Get him!
No way! I'm definitely going to escape now, no matter what it takes!

There's just the expected boss instead.



Kama can talk about escaping all he likes, though. So long as we block the exits it's all irrelevant.



Kama's actually kind of a problem I guess. Much like Botis, he loves to grant himself immunity to things with Shield All and then blast you with a -dyne to try and outright murder you. He's also backed up with 2 demons for good measure.

Unlike Botis, his demon helpers aren't completely worthless. Plus, he's resistant to everything but Curse (and Almighty) and can warp around the map like it ain't no thing. The MP cost on True Phantasm - Genma's upgraded racial skill of course - is just for warping next to any allied unit within 5 tiles. It doesn't cost MP for the normal Phantasm effect.

Kama being a Genma is the biggest reason why unveiling him too early is a bad thing though. The free movement aspect, along with the reduced turn penalty, makes catching him a royal pain if you're not already in place. It's still not impossible, just a lot harder.

Oh, and he only has ~550 HP. He's hardier than that sounds thanks to resisting everything but yeah. Noticably less than Hitokotonusi.



But we'll wory about Kama proper in a bit. For now, we've got a kitty to neuter.



They might not all be officially dead at the moment, but 2 petrified and 1 frozen enemy? Hinako's team can do wacky things.

Oh and you might be able to see that the frozen Pendragon is actually already dead in this image, but the HP reduction hasn't quite gone through yet though. Ikusa just destroyed it.



Speaking of destroyed, it's nice when the statue's onehit death is able to work in our advantage. Sometimes you can punch it for ages and it won't shatter. Most of the time it will though.



This one's a minor inconvenience. Otome's not at Fate 2 yet, so this Cait Sith hitting Hibiki is a bad thing.



Having to get through this without killing Yuki Jyorou or Cait Sith was kind of a crap shoot. Focusing on Afanc made it bearable at least. Also things not punching Tonatiuh. If they did, that would've ended badly.



The remaining Jack wants some of Hibiki too. It's going to regret that one much more.



Oh and the second guide I looked at to double-check Kama's random nature said that he's always masquerading as this Jack. We can already see that one's verifiably false.



Speaking of Kama, let's isolate him shall we? That way, he doesn't have an opportunity to try and True Phantasm across half the map.



When Otome's entire team is really good at hitting stuff with spells that's really quite easy. Arahabaki can also punch stuff quite good in a pinch.



With no alternatives left, Kama tries to fight through Jungo. Not the wisest decision he could've made.

[Music: Shudder]



...Normally. Bai Zes are a bit above our current loadout, albeit not by much. In the first Devil Survivor they were strangely really good healers, since they had Diarahan around the time proper healers were finally getting the hang of Media.

Here? They just have Diarama thankfully.



Much like Botis did, Kama will always spend his first turn casting Shield All. For Jungo's party this presents a minor inconvenience.

For Jungo himself, this is irrelevant. He's slow enough to get to punch after the barrier has been shattered already.



Bai Zes only other skill of note is Paral Eyes. Paralysis is kind of annoying if only for when it randomly stops you hitting things.



They're also crippingly weak to Force. Cait Sith has Mazan and Force Boost. This works out rather well for us.



I will never tire of punking things with a Power Hit. Ain't no kill like a Jungo Overkill.



I feel the need to point out at this point that Jungo's entire team resists Force. Cait Sith still took 100 damage from Zandyne.

Now imagine if I was dumb enough to throw something weak to Force at this guy. That would end in a very unpleasant mess.



Still, Cait Sith got two Mazans in, and that was sufficient to wipe out the other Bai Ze too. Now Kama really is stuck all on his own on this map.



As an added bonus, Cait Sith is able to upgrade Animal Leg to Free Leap REALLY fast. It just takes the one level!

Free Leap's basically just Animal Leg but with one little bonus that helps against guys like Kama. You'll see in a minute.



First though, let's have Hibiki demonstrate just why spamming Shield All isn't as effective as it seems.



Namely, it doesn't actually nullify everything. Almighty attacks still get through.

Moloch did get rid of the shield, but that was so Tonatiuh could do this...



Use Might Call to slip in a critical Multi-Hit and get a Double Extra.



Oh, Moloch doesn't resist Force. He still survived though, but that's more an indicator of how good Moloch is than anything else. Kama would've murdered him pretty handily otherwise.

(still came pretty close!)



So, Double Extras are just extra turns after extra turns. You can't get a Triple Extra, sadly. This is still pretty crazy, and if someone other than Tonatiuh got it then it could be used to really twist the knife.



As is, it just helps whittle a little more.



Kama's still very determined to murder Jungo and get out that way. Sadly, that's now become impossible.



So long as Kama has the MP to do so, he always spends his first turn casting Shield All. Free Leap lets you opt to either stick around for Extra Turns or end the skirmish early.

There is no way to block a Free Leap escape. Like, at all. It costs 0 MP and so long as a Beast with Free Leap is alive this can be done without penalty. The AI will always run away if you get it in this scenario which makes Overwhelming marginally harder.

We'd normally stick around but Kama has an Extra Turn and the MP to Zandyne without mercy still. We don't have either an extra turn nor the MP to heal those Zandynes constantly.



So let's just finish this at last.



Kama can Shield All forever, as far as I care. Moloch and Hibiki both have Drain. It makes no difference whatsoever at this point.



Naturally, Kama ends the fight at 1 HP. You can't accidentally kill him.



All in all, not overly difficult. Helps to have a plan for if he gets to run around early but if you have like Devil Speed or something it's not that big of a deal.



The bonus EXP's nice on paper but kinda lousy in reality. Nothing leveled up at all from this. Not even a demon.

[Music: A Moment of Rest]



...I won't forgive you. Prepare yourself, you stupid demon...
W-Wait, child of man! I was in the wrong! Your belly button is beautiful!
Too late!

[Music: Countdown]







Aaaaaaahghghhhghaaaaaaaah!



[Music: Exploration]

Well, then. Didn't I say everything was going to be all right? Let's get going.
Sure.
...Wonderful.



Oh, Chief. What else do we need again? Shiva?
Yes. Kama will be under my command.
What are you plotting?



Even if one avoids being scathed by getting dragged into Shiva's Pasupata attack, at worst, they may be crushed by the falling Alioth.
Hibiki, do you want to go?
Sure.



Huh? Then aren't you putting yourself in danger, Yamato?
Yes. And...?
"And" what? That's dangerous!
Heh... So? Are you concerned about my well-being?
No.
Hahaha! I see. You're being honest.
There are some in JP's who don't think highly of me. I don't blame them, though.
...I'm not a brainless leader sitting back on my throne.



All right... It's time. I will go to Sapporo right away.
Hibiki, I require you to resurrect Shiva. That is all.



Well, that was a rather... weird event. It got quite out of hand quite fast. At least it didn't get the bad kind of weird.



So now that we've had Airi do things, let's go talk to her dad Dera-Deka.



[Music: In the Devastated Town]

Hey, kid. Heh, you weren't supposed to see that. Don't be like me, okay?



I'm always watching over you kids from the shadows.
I'm impressed at how you guys deal with the demons. Not even adults can fight like that.
Thinking about how ineffectual I am makes me grind my teeth.
Why?
It's hard for a grown man to sit back and watch children risk their lives...



And I'm old. I have trouble even sending texts, let alone use these phone apps.
I wish I could help you kids, but I'm just a detective...
Leave it all to us.
That's encouraging! I bet you'd make a great detective one day.
...... Wait... Maybe I can...

Dera-Deka seems to have hit upon an idea...

[Music: Connected Hearts]



If everything goes well, I think I might be of some use to you guys.
All right, I'll see you later, kid!

Dera-Deka walks away excitedly...

[Music: Exploration]



So we'll deal with that when we get the chance sometime in Friday. For now, let's go see if we can help Jungo feed Jungo.



Meow.
Jungo, it's time to eat. Eat a lot so you get strong like an ox.

[Music: A Moment of Rest]



...Mew?

Jungo sniffs at it and cocks his head, but does not take a bite...

What? Why aren't you eating?
Meeeeeeeewwwww...
Are you too weak to have real food...?
That's it.



Oh... If you can't eat it, I guess this other food would be even worse for your tummy...

Jungo takes some sashimi out of his pocket and throws it away...

Meow!



...?
......
...Oh! I know why he's eating that! Because it's cold!
Isn't it obvious?



Jungo blows on the chawanmushi...

Here. It's really good cold, too.
Meow...



Oh... Are you stuffed with sashimi? You want to save this chawanmushi for another time?
Myao.
...I hope you get better soon.
Meow!



D'awww



And with that, Jungo gets to Fate 4. Totally worth it.



Now we have no options, but to go deal with Shiva.

We'll go do that next time. Getting a bit too lengthy to pack a second fight into here.