Part 82: Mission 34 - The Light of The Iczelio - Part 1
Back again, and not a whole lot’s changed. Ichitaka’s keeping Daiya steadily at a distance. I swear I’m not prioritizing him – the enemies just like going after the Rushbird and a punch is usually enough to oneshot.
Jesus (accuracy +15, A in Space and Air, movement +1) and Iczer-3 (exp earned +20%, mobility +15, range +1) have been brought up to 50% now.
As I’ve only now realized, Kira’s Squad Bonus changes with the terrain just like his weapon set: if you’re in space, it’ll boost the space rating, if you’re in the atmosphere, it’ll boost air.
Iczer-3 and Atross are deploying as event units today, and we’ve 19 slots, so here’s how it’ll be:
Kouichi/Quatre
Daiya/Deceive
Alto/Michel
Lee/Norza
Kenji/Kyo
Jeeg/Micchi
Shinji/Rey
Kouji/Sawatari
Tetsuya/Canaria
Kira/Athrun
Dancouga/Hilde
Goh/Yanma
Eida/Anna
Ichitaka/Miu
Voltes/Combattler
Yuu/Heero
Shinn/Yulianne
Yajima/Yamashita
Ken/Lou
Let’s go get revenge for all those Fujis.
Earth WILL is meeting up with Moon WILL in cyber space for the first time in a very long while, and Moon figures this is about the Cthulhu. Indeed, and our WILL asks if he’s really going to cooperate with the Cthulhu in a bid to wipe Earth out.
Of course he will (pun not intended)! Earth WILL has “only” observed the history of Earth for the last 5 billion years. But Moon WILL has transposed the universal cycle of death and rebirth time and again, always observing, never turning his hand against the organics. And what has he seen? All those he’s watched over, without one exception, have brought about nothing but war – war of galactic SCAAaales!
And, so, Moon WILL’s had enough watching over the organics. He’s given up on them. Eaaarth WIIILLLL is still young, but it is not too late just yet. “Listen to MEEeee! This world’s organics are no different from any of the other civilizations I’ve SEEeennn! There is no saving THEEeemmm!”
Our WILL isn’t about to see the life of Earth destroyed just yet, though: “I’ll continue to watch over Earth, believing as I have in the potential these beings have to grow…” That’s the end of that, then. Moon WILL says he’ll personally see to his destruction and bids Earth WILL farewell.
Back at Dragon’s Hive, WILL confirms to F.S. that he couldn’t change Moon WILL’s mind. He apologizes for not being able to help, but the guy has been wholly consumed by despair after the trillions of years he spent watching over organics.
The only option left for Earth’s survival now is to fight.
By the Cthulhu’s fortress, Nagisa wonders how long it’s been since she was brought here. She hopes Iczer-3 is doing fine. But the door opens, and she immediately starts yelling that torture won’t get them anywhere – she doesn’t have any valuable info!
That’s just fine with Iczer-2, though, who tells her to follow. Mother dearest is just about to return.
Neos Gold is very excited about it, too, as Big Gold materializes once more. And mommy is very proud of her spawn’s work while she slept, stealing Iczer-1’s partner. Now they just need her to show herself again, and it’ll be simple to put her down. Iczer-2 walks in with Nagisa right then, presenting her before Big Gold.
Big Gold sees not a whole lot of differences between the Earthlings and the Cthulhu peoples, so she can’t figure out how Nagisa was able to bring forth so much power when she and Iczer-1 came into contact with one another. Nagisa doesn’t care to indulge her questions and demands Big Gold stop her attack on Earth immediately. What did we ever do to warrant any of this?!
Big Gold is willing to explain, and opens up the wall to reveal a gigantic piece of machinery –her core. Eons ago, she was created by the hands of humans… humans who eventually scrapped and dumped her out into space. “As I drifted through the cosmos, I came across several wonders of the universe. I think that sometimes I even traveled against the curvature of time itself" she says. "I remember having these experiences where... I'd go through these dark spaces that were like little holes, and I'd find myself in a universe that was very clearly from a long, long time ago...”
As the ages passed and Big Gold continued to drift about, she slowly evolved into what we see now: something that could well be called a mechanical lifeform. At length, she was drawn to the Cthulhu’s lingering malice and that allowed her to take physical shape.
As Neos Gold puts it, her mother’s golden form that we see is the embodiment of the malice in Sir Violet’s heart. But Nagisa still doesn’t understand why they’re attacking Earth: from what she’s heard of Sir Violet, she’s sure she never wanted to destroy anything.
SIIiileeence! Everything that is haaappening now was caused by us, FOOoolish huumaaanns!! As Moon WILL remembers, it was the humans of the past universe – those with the same blood as Nagisa – that built Big Gold in the first place. Now that is something even Big Gold herself wasn’t aware, so Moon WILL clarifies…
“Big Gold... The FIIiinest masterpiece, gifted with many functions to support all aspects of human life as a certain planet's production plant... A tragic being who, as a result of independently gifting itself with new functions such as the ability to be a genetic carrier, was feared and scrapped,” he declares, as Big Gold listens on.
“You haven't gone back into the past. You've gone through the end of the universe and jumped into the next, just as I did. But your intelligence hadn’t awakened yet, so you went on to scatter the seeds of life throughout this universe – that is, the genes of your OOoownn CREEaaators! And you did not limit yourself with just this one, but went to do the same in that which the humans call Highly Probable World…!”
Neos sees how it is: Nagisa Kasumi and Nagisa Kanou are essentially blood relatives, descendants of those humans who created Big Gold in the former universe, whose genes she spread as per her directives. In essence, the Nagisas are her mothers’ hated enemies reborn by her own hands – fate is quite something, indeed.
Big Gold herself now, at long last, understands where her contempt for Earth comes from, and why it resonated with Sir Violet’s underlying willingness to invade the place. Nagisa tries speaking up, but Moon WILL shushes her and turns to BIIIiiig Gold: there’s absolutely no reason to leverage organics like Nagisa or the Cthulhu. They, the iiiinorgaaanics, can very EEeeasily help one another!
Iczer-2, however, cuts in and tells Moon WILL that Nagisa is hers to use in the upcoming fight – they’ll be doing this their way, not his. Moon WILL is willing to concede that the fighting spirit of humans is worthy of respect, and with LOTUS bound to show up at any given moment, he tells Iczer-2 to knock herself out.
The time has come for them to have their showdown with the humans, and Big Gold will make sure her spawn’s all healed up and ready to go when we arrive. Neos promises to slaughter the lot of us, empowered by the Iczelio she’s stolen – Iczer-2 might not even have enemies to fight by the time she’s done. Hohohohoho!
As Iczer-2 glares on, Nagisa calls out to Iczer-1. She needs to come back right now…
Back to us, the imminent battle with the Cthulhu and Moon WILL has everyone on edge – Ichitaka suggests Sakuya and Michel try relaxing while they can as things’ll get really hectic once we reach the battle site. Easier said than done, and Sakuya’s constant grumbling is starting to annoy Kurara. How’s she supposed to concentrate? Asuka tells them to take their bickering elsewhere, as, if they can’t tell, we’re on standby.
Sheryl saunters in and sees that, yup, everyone’s on pins and needles. Alto tries objecting that she should be resting, but Sheryl tells him to hush. She’s come bearing gifts: some of her very own home-made cooking.
Nagisa says they figured the nonstop battles didn’t leave us with a lot of time to eat, so they went and made something. Kyoko, the Daiku Maryu’s cook, also saw fit to help – even Iczer-3 and Atross pitched in.
Alto isn’t too sure if scarfing down food right before battle is a good idea, but Kouji tells him not to nitpick. The Galactic Fairy herself helped make these, so it wouldn’t do to turn her down! Plus, as Goh remembers, it’s an old saying that you can’t fight on an empty stomach. Daijirou takes his first bite and, hey, Kyoko’s Chinese food is pretty dang good.
As everyone starts eating, Alto agrees to try whatever Sheryl made… rice balls? Does he have a problem with that? Maybe she’s not a world-class chef, but still! Mind you, she’s wrapped them with bandages instead of nori (not that Alto’s going to say anything).
But, fine, he agrees to try and it’s quite tasty – surprisingly so! What’s that supposed to mean, huh? Did he think she was just some useless girl?! Alright, alright, Alto’s sorry for his quip. “… I dreamt of having moments like this for so long,” Sheryl sighs, but quickly tells Alto she’s just talking to herself and calls everyone to help themselves to her dishes.
Eida and Aoi, meanwhile, are staring out at the Earth. It looks real pretty, but seeing it here also shows Aoi how tiny it actually is – and time and again humans spread war throughout such a small planet. This next battle will have the fate of the whole thing riding on it, though, so she figures that’s enough sentimentality. We still got plenty of asses left to kick.
Speaking of, Seimi and Bobby get in touch to warn that the Cthulhu fortress is coming into sight. Time for everyone to get ready to set out, and Alto asks Sheryl to head back to her room. She will, but asks him to promise to make it back to her. “Of course I will… I’ve a lucky charm, remember?”
Atross and Iczer-3 are raring to go as well – wait just a bit more, Nagisa-1…!
Mission 34 – The Light of the Iczelio
: They’ve really rolled out the red carpet for us, huh?
: And if we’re defeated here, that massive army will rain destruction across Earth. Steel yourselves, my friends!
: Ohohohoho… That is correct, humans.
: Neos Gold…!
: You’re going down today, Neos Gold! We’re taking Nagisa-1 back from you!
: Lady Neos… No, Neos! Is the other Nagisa still safe?!: Atross, the traitor… If you mean Nagisa Kanou, she’s doing just fine. Of course, the question is “for how long”…?*Flash!*
: This sensation… Nagisa’s in pain…!
: What did you do to her?!: Hmhmhm… If you wish to safe Nagisa Kanou, then you’ll have to destroy me first. : … But, unfortunately, death is all you’ll find here, never to set foot on Earth again.
: Yeah, right! What kinda CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE would we be if we went down that easy?!
: We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel after so many sacrifices. Peace is almost ours again, and we won’t let you stop us.
: Don’t forget that even after we kick her ass, Big Gold and Moon WILL are likely inside that there fortress.
: Then we better yank them out their love shack…!
: Troops, engage and destroy the Cthulhu and Moon WILL forces! We – and Nagisa – will all be leaving here together!
: Yeah!: Hmhmhm… You do not realize the new strength I’ve earned. I can correct that, though…
Don’t let Atross, Iczer-3 or any ship get blown up. I’m not sure if I’d qualify this as a difficulty or annoyance spike in comparison to the last mission. Neos Gold is the same as she was before, and so are the Dilos Thetas, but the difference if that there are now a bunch of Regulus Alphas around.
Attack-wise, they’re unchanged from our previous encounters, but, stat-wise, two of them have nearly 50k HP (the ones facing right). You can still outrange them easily enough, but there are many to deal with. There aren’t really any special tricks here: just build up morale on the Dilos, and start focus-firing them all. Do try to play conservatively with your SP, though, as having enough to pop valors and Strikes later will make things significantly easier.
No enemies here have MAPW attacks, so just be mindful of chains. And the terrain, especially the crevice, provides decent defensive bonuses, so that’ll help you conserve your SP stocks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh7w_1vc5IE
Yajima’s other attack is actually pretty intricate for the standard “shoot your gun” move.
Oh, you’re cute.
: We got my dad back safe and sound, so we’re absolutely gonna do the same for Nagisa!: Then you have but to defeat me. Though I’m afraid that’s an impossibility! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzPOx-X91XI
More DKs for Kira!
One thing that I forgot to reiterate last mission is that Yulianne’s Decapitation is, I think, the only post-movement attack in the game that applies the Armor Down L3 debuff, so she is very much worth bringing around in these last missions.
Either way, 40 minutes later, I’ve finally gotten rid of all the mooks and we’re ready to go after Neos.
: Destroy you and break into the base. A simple mission.: Fool. Do you honestly think it’s in your power to destroy me?!
: You’re not the only one we’re putting down today… I’m making this quick!: Try it, if you can! However, struggle as you might, this universe will belong to none but my mother, Big Gold!
: No way I’m getting dropped here! I’m running you into the dirt and making it back in one piece!: I can appreciate your zest, but I wonder if you’ve the strength to support it.
: Your plans end here and now, Neos!: The creation dares turn on her creator…? I’ll personally turn you back to dust, worm!
: I can’t stop until my sis’ back with us! Come on, Neos!: Idiot girl. The only place where you’ll see Iczer-1 again is in the afterlife!
: I couldn’t turn into Jeeg back then, so this’ll be my first time tangling with you!: You’re the kinda baddie that kills her mooks like it ain’t no thing, right? Then I don’t need to hold back when kicking your ass!: Hahahah… what a fine spirit you have. Come and see for yourself the horror of facing me!
: Not bad at all, Earthlings. You are certainly far stronger than when last we fought.: Yeah, how’d you like that, Neos! We’re not getting beat up by you!
: Even Iczer-3’s grown as a warrior, Neos Gold. You’d best make peace with your defeat!
: We’re not here to eradicate the Cthulhu people, though! Some might still be open to parley about your immigration – you just have to be willing to try!
: So there’s no point in continuing this…!: You don’t seem to grasp your situation…
: What?!
: It’s… The barrier around the Cthulhu fortress is enveloping our units!
: Defensive stance! Bring us into Volution Mode!
: R-Roger!
: Blast… to think the Cthulhu could use a defensive barrier as a snare…!
: Heey, what gives?! Our ship’s the one meant to be attacking with barriers!: Hohohoho… you’d best watch how you move, or it’ll cost you dearly. : Granted, even if you do sit still, the barrier will constrict and wring the life out of you regardless!
: Can’t we do anything, Arthur?!
: No, the barrier field has us completely trapped!*Alarm!*
: Their barrier is apparently taking energy from both Neos Gold and the panels composing the surface of the Cthulhu fortress. We’re not doing away with it unless we can destroy them both…!
: The Dragon’s Hive moving in! We’ll bring forth a way for our survival!
: Don’t! If you get too close, you’ll be caught in the barrier field as well!: But how are we supposed to engage the targets if we cannot even draw near…?!: Ahahahahaha! What’s the matter, LOTUS? If that all you have to offer?: Uurk… damn it…!: This isn’t good…! The Minerva…!: …I’ll handle this.: Atross?!: I can still move a bit even inside the barrier field! So if I just blast Neos with all energy I have, I might be able to take her out!
: “All of your”… but if you do that, you’ll…!: That’s crazy, Atross!: Nagisa… you’ve no idea how happy I am to have met you. And if doing this means you all survive, then…!: Atross…: Don’t worry about me! If we don’t hurry, everyone’s gonna be crushed!: Iczer-3, you go and destroy the fortress’ surface right after I’ve pushed Neos back! Do that and the barrier’ll disappear!: Your plan is pointless… You have nowhere enough energy to be capable of destroying our fortress, Iczer-3.*Beep!*
: Then I’ll take that task upon myself.: Huh…?!
: The Messiah still has enough fuel in stock to alter its trajectory… : A collision with an object of this much mass should generate enough force to tear through their barrier and severely damage the fortress. : Gil…!: You…!: Talia… Earth truly is beautiful – a gem floating amid the darkness of space, and well deserving of such recognition… : Hahah… This will not atone for all I’ve done, but I’m glad that I could at least help you before my death.
: Chairman! CHAIRMAN DURANDAL!!*Alarm!*
: Messiah’s incoming!*Ruuuuumble!*
: … We can’t let the Chairman die for nothing. Atross…!: I’m ready…!: You’d stand against your own mother, Atross?!: You’re not my mother!
Atross: “For Nagisa… and for all those who called me their friend…!” > “Neos Gold! I’ll end you!”
Neos Gold: “You accursed traitooooor!!”
*CRAAAAAAAASH!*
: The barrier’s gone! The Minerva and all units are moving again!: You did it, Atross!: Y-Yeah…!
: Not good! She’s breaking down!
: Get back to the ship, Atross! … Going somewhere, traitor?!: !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juWsjWej3QE
: Na…gisa… I…
: Atross! ATROOOOOSS!!
: Atross…: You…! You’re gonna pay for that!
: What are you frothing at the mouth for? Atross was a being I created from the Iczelio – her life was false from the very beginning. : And, regardless of that, death is all that awaits traitors and the incompetent. Such is the ironclad rule of the Cthulhu!: What’dya think life is?! You can’t just snuff it out without even batting an eye!
: Her life may have been “false” in your eyes…: But she was still alive! She fought and laughed with all of us! And killing her…
: Is unforgivable, Neos Gold!: Foolish humans. I have achieved perfection, and you will learn what it means to oppose me. 
: You killed Atross! Get as big as you want, bring as many goons as you’d like, I’m not letting you beat me! I can’t! EVER!!