Part 27
Role call!
Youma Loa
Str 16, Int 10, Mag 17, Stm 12, Spd 12, Lck 8.
Knows Zionga, Mudo, Mudo-on, Hanma, Recarm, Sama Recarm.
In other words, he's basically a portable instant-death machine, covering both types of instant-death but specialising in curses. To round it out, he also packs the two reviving spells Recarm and Sama Recarm.
Majin Belobog
Str 18, Int 9, Mag 8, Stm 12, Spd 15, Lck 12.
Knows Agidyne, Maha Agion, Hanma, Dekunda, Diarama, Diarahan.
More helpful back-up: heals, expels with Hanma, and undoes stat reduction with Dekunda.
He's also naturally resistant to all magic, but is weak to curse spells (Mudo) as a trade-off.
Jiboshin Durga
Str 26, Int 9, Mag 15, Stm 17, Spd 17, Lck 10.
Knows Ziodyne, Mudo-on, Dekaja, Dekunda, Bind Voice and Hades Blast.
Physical rape, pure and simple.
She also reflects skills.
Hakaishin Chernobog
Str 23, Int 8, Mag 10, Stm 17, Spd 10, Lck 7
Knows: Mudo-on, Recarm, Necroma, Poison Gas Breath, Spin Cut, Deathbound.
More physical action, only this guy's resistant to everything except for swords, fire and shock attacks.
On top of that, Chernobog and Belobog have a little party trick, in that they have an exception to the fusion rules when you fuse them. Attempting to fuse the two will yield Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), the strongest Maou-type demon in the game after Lucifer.
Moving right along.
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Reiko: The is the school Hazama made for himself.
But there's nothing here at all.
It's absolutely empty, just as if it were showing what's in his heart...
We check the classrooms, only to find treasure chests with 0 makka and 0 mag in them. Oh, and traps. Lots of annoying traps.
Eventually it becomes clear that the layout here is absolutely chaotic - it's a tightly packed labyrinth with warp tiles. Perhaps Hazama is running out of ideas.
Gedou Old One x1 appeared!
A little something for the Lovecraft fans. I decided against fusing a Jashin Nyarlathotep, since he's extreme Law and I run a Chaos party, so here you go.
Anyway, the maze isn't nearly as bad as some of the previous ones we've been dropped in, and we make it up to the next floor.
The next floor introduces a new evil gimmick. Remember the one-way doors from before? Now we have one-way walls. They're just like one-way doors, except they're invisible from one side.
Oh, and there are also holes on this floor.
Chirei Muspel
Str 28, Int 10, Mag 15, Stm 15, Spd 10, Lck 9
Agidyne, Maha Agidyne, Makarakarn, Wall of Fire, Heatwave
It's not all bad, though. I get Muspel to join my cause (ass kicking), and even though I probably won't use him, he does look pretty cool.
This floor too is really only time-consuming rather than frustrating, though, and we get to the stairs up soon enough. I guess the introduction of demons like Girimehkala who reflect physical attacks probably have something to do with the easier maps. (Girimehkala appears as one of the harder SMT3 bosses because he voids a whole bunch of different attacks.)
Very shortly after arriving on the next floor, we drop down a hole back to a new area of the previous floor. Very shortly into our exploration, we run into...
Maou Angra Mainyu appeared!
Despite being about 20 or so levels above us, Angra Mainyu isn't a boss or anything... More like a mid-boss, which is pretty rare in SMT. Oh well, no matter - all the more experience.
Since he's not a boss, he only has a standard party member HP amount, so it doesn't take too long to take care of him.
Soon after the encounter, we find our way back upstairs again and after heading through a very simple maze, head up to a staircase suspiciously free of encounters. A few floors up, and we come to the top floor with a single room.
We enter.
Sign in back: "Ideal"
Demon Emperor: You've finally come...
You're the first ones to make it this far.
I'm so glad you were able to come.
I really would like to reward you for your long journey, but as you can see, there's nothing here.
Why is that, you say? That is because everything I recognise as being necessary is here.
That is... nothing.
All things are worthless!
Trivial crap, garbage!
Of course it should be wiped out!
Reiko: Then why is Nurse Kayama still in the nurse's office?
Demon Emperor: Sh-shut up!
Reiko! Why do you still act like you understand me?! You fool...
You've fulfilled your role of entertaining me briefly!
I no longer have any need for the pair of you!
Die!
Reiko: Stop! I didn't come to fight you, I came to save you!
Demon Emperor: Argh...! Shut up!
Demon Emperor Hazama appeared!
This battle is surprisingly not quite as bad as it could be. Once you reduce his stats with -nda spells, he can't do anything to bring them back up until they wear off. Basically, it's a small endurance test of how long you can keep his stats down and keep a steady stream of attacks going, quite similiar to the last Otsuki fight.
Demon Emperor: ...H-How...
How could I lose...?
I don't understand...
Tammy got the Ring of Deliverance.
Reiko: ...Poor Ideo...
I couldn't save you...
Oh! The Ring of Deliverance is shining!
> The Ring of Deliverance shined brightly.
Reiko: This is inside his... the Demon Emperor's... Ideo Hazama's mind...
It looks like the Ring of Deliverance's power has sent us into his mind.
I think we can get out again if we return to this spot.
The fact that his mental world and the Demon World haven't yet been destroyed means that he still isn't saved yet...