Part 139: Mission 38 (Paris Route) - Deathmatch! The Devil Versus the Great General! - Part 2

Mind you, the Great General had cast Valor, so we send in an Invincible’d Kouji to take the hit.



: Let’s go, Great General of Darkness! I’ve a big score to settle with you!
: Come, Mazinkaiser! Gorgon reported that you had an incredible power – show it to me!
: My duty to the people at the UN, my duty to Shirou, to humanity and to Mazinger Z…TAKE IT AAAAAAAALL!!












That’s some good opening damage and now his valor is gone (God, I missed Mazinkaiser).





Boss can do precisely jack squat against flying enemies, so he spends time repairing people.
This gives them a level and teaches Exhaust to Nuke.




All Mycenae commanders have status-inflicting attacks but their stronger attacks don’t.
They don’t have much in terms of defenses, so just attack them from up close and take them out.



Enemy Phase!









Dreidou and Birdlar gun for Valguard, who can more than take the beating and dish out heavy damage in return.



As for Hardias, he goes after Gai.














No problem at all.



Gai profits a level and takes his Prevail to L8.



In comes Gorgon, also attacking Valguard and nearby targets.
















Gorgon is made of slightly sturdier stuff than the others but not by much.
The Fortress Demonica has some better defenses and Gorgon does have Prevail L7 but his HP pool is too small for him to last long.





The Great General chains Kouji and company; too bad for him, his targets are either: A) Still protected by Iron Wall or B) Mazinkaiser.



Player Phase!

Let’s deal with Gorgon first.









: Kouji Kabuto! At least I’ll kill you with my own hands!
: I don’t think so, Duke Gorgon! Following that Super-Alloy Z knife, Mazinkaiser is now going to beat you to a pulp!









: Duke Gorgon! So, you were the one who attacked us at G-Island!
: That’s right! If I had killed you back then, none of this would have happened!
: I, Gorgon, will clear myself of my failures right now!
: Not gonna happen! What you’ll get is a taste of the power of Mazinkaiser and Shin Getter!









: Tough luck, Duke Gorgon! You couldn’t stop Kabuto!
: Silence! Once you’re all dead, my failure won’t matter!
: That’s a laugh! In that case, let me cut your ambitions at their root!





















Gorgon is worth a level, a Megabooster and a Gunfight +1.



The Brothers gain Hero L6, too.

: Not yet! I will not die until I’ve defeated all of you!
: You just don’t know when to give up, do you, Gorgon?! This is the end for you!
: Let’s go, Kouji! Now is the time to combine our powers!



: G-GLORY TO THE MYCENAE EMPIREEEEEEEEE!!



: Gorgon!!
: Prepare yourself, Great General of Darkness! Our wrath isn’t over yet!




Volfogg can still be useful, setting up Support Attacks for stronger people.



Next in line is Hardias and Shin Getter takes the job.
That’s what you get for your bullshit curses.



Hardias is worth a level, an Apogee Motor and an Prevail+1.



Hayato learns his final spirit command, Fury.

: Damn humans! I’ll curse you into eternity!
: Just try it! If you do, I’ll chase you ‘till the depths of Hell and kill you again!
: Eeeek! I’m sooorryyyyyy!



We need to conserve the brothers’ last bit of SP, so we’ll have Chouryujin chip away at Dreidou.










Aye, that works.






Of course, it doesn’t work as well as a Kouji/Kazuma tag-team.



To maximize SP usage per cash inflow ( ), I’m going to, once again, use Valguard’s MAP to take both bosses down in one go.










That’s all Mycenae Commanders shot down!



Birdalar is worth a Large Generator and a BP +1.
Dreidou is worth a Large Magazine and an Infight +1.

: Impossible! How could I, Birdalar, lose to humans in an aerial battle?!
: The skies belong to everyone! We won’t hand it over to you, Mycenae!
: AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!



: I’m not done yet! This isn’t enough to kill me, Dreidou!
: Come on, then! We won’t stop no matter how many times you get back up!
: Urgh! DAMN HUMAAAANS!!



With that done, let’s switch out attention to the Great General.

Montage time!



: Great General of Darkness! Give that Q-Part back!
: I’m carrying it on myself! If you want it back, you’ll have to take it by force!
: Then, that’s what I’ll do! To protect the future of mankind from you!







: Even though you’re my enemy, I concede that you’re an admirable man, Tetsuya Tsurugi!
: Coming to the surface was worth it, if only for a chance to fight someone like you!
: And you, Great General of Darkness, are certainly a man worthy of your title!
: However, there’s no way I’ll lose! A man who pilots a Mazinger must never give in to evil!







: Don’t move, old man! I’m gonna punch you square in that other face!
: Don’t be ridiculous! The Great General of Darkness will not wounded by a boy like you!
: I may be a boy but, unlike you, I wouldn’t sink so low as to pick fights over other people’s stuff!
: Get ready! I’m gonna pay you back twice for what you did!!

















: Hrm…his strength rivals that of Mazinkaiser!
: Great General of Darkness! Don’t underestimate Shin Getter’s power!
: We’ll make you realize the strength of the humans that pilot it!






























The Great General has no new items to give but he goes have a couple levels and a huge pile of cash.

: I-impossible! Does their power have no limit?!
: That’s right, Great General of Darkness! This is our and humanity’s power!
: Not yet! I’m not defeated yet!
: Come on, Great General! Time for our final battle!!



: I-I have failed…is this is the end of the ambitions of the Mycenae Empire…?!
: Humans! You must understand this: with your unlimited strength, you may yet be able to defeat THEM!!



: All battle beasts have deactivated.
: The battle beast army around the world is also retreating.
: With their leader gone, the Mycenae Empire’s invasion of the surface has been stopped.
: But I wonder who are “Them” that the Great General mentioned.
: Judging by the way he spoke, they’re probably powerful enemies of the Mycenae Empire…
: Kouji, is the Q-Part safe?
: Yeah, the Great General of Darkness was carrying it.
: Everyone, my deepest thanks for what you did; the Nadesico will be here very soon.
: Please wait! There’s a unit approaching!





: That’s…!
: Aria! You…!
: I’ll be taking that Q-Part!
*Aria grabs the Q-Part and runs far away.*
: Damn!
: This isn’t good! She stole the Q-Part!
: Girl, what the fuck are you doing?! Give that back!
: I can’t do that.
: This Part is the Research Subject 8986513287421062, which was assigned to me.
: So, it’s another Record of Knowledge?! What does The Database want?!
: It’s not like that. Knowledge only has meaning when it’s recorded.
: Wait, Aria! There’s more we want to ask you!
: Oh, Mihiro, you changed your hair? It looks so cute! It suits you!
: Eh…!
: I promise I’ll come see you again! And then, you, Shihomi and Akane can come live together with everyone!



: Wait!!
: It’s useless, Kazuma. We can’t catch up to her.
: So, The Database are also after the Q-Parts…!
: DAMN IT! It’s like there was no damn point in defeating the Mycenae Empire!!
: The Database…as I thought, you guys are our enemies…
: I wonder if this was what Carret meant with “girl problems”…


At Paris, our people report the events to the Orb folk and vice-versa.
This is the first time there's been an Aria sighting in a good nine months.



No one has a goddamn clue what she's up to or why The Database is interested in the Q-Parts, but Kazuma notes that the huge mech that appeared before the Holy Valentine Light is probably one of Aria's companions - which would make Aria's crew responsible for Bless's death.
Horis adds credence to this theory, saying that both the mystery mech and Aria’s Arm Arcus share design similarities.
Kazuma remembers the dire warning from King Raimon to beware the recorders of knowledge; Volfogg relates that, before she vanished, their radars pinged Aria just outside the Earth Sphere, leading Shihomi to wonder if she's really come from outer space.



Space would be convenient, since, presumably, the Whispered are being taken to Mars anyway.
Before we go, however, Ruri says you've got something to attend to...

One more thing! Since we managed to kill the Great General in 5 turns, our reward is…






A swanky new Mazinger for Boss and friends!

Now, quick question: I got around twice as much cash from this path than the Orb Route. Also, I consider the Mazinger secret to be much more useful than the SEED secret (the Kira/Athrun secret, the Cagalli one was already obtained during the fight against Zaid) and neither have a significant impact on the story.

Would ya'll take issue if I kept this path? The secret that we'd lose would be an extra SEED unit (an uninteresting one that would never be used).