Part 68: Mission 19 - Clash! Devil Vs. The Lord of Hell - Part 3 (Includes Boss Analysis #6 - "Harvey Dent-esque" Edition)
Only Sadak remains before we clear most of Dr. Hell’s defenses. Let’s just right in with Blade taking an assist from Bless.
As you can see, he’s as weak as ever.
Sousuke is next in line, readying his Shotgun.
Good, good. Just a lil’ bit more.
Hikaru takes another chip of his HP.
Followed by Chouryuujin, who pulls a surprising dodge after his attack.
Let’s end it in style.
Sadak is worth a Flight Unit.
Sadak quickly evacuates the ship but this newest failure earns him a tongue-lashing for crashing the spaceship the Emperor granted him.
Seidou relates Sadak’s escape to Kogane, who figures he can’t do much without his ship and opts to deal with him later.
Sadak, inside Hell Castle, realizes he's got to do something lest Honerva execute him as punishment.
In the castle’s underground prison, Ashura is hearing the racket up top and realizes that Hell Castle is under attack but s/he’s interrupted by Sadak arriving and asking him/her to listen.
When Ashura asks, Sadak informs of Wärter’s attack and adds that, if nothing’s done quickly, the castle will fall; Ashura, predictable asks to be set free and Sadak asks what’s the plan – Ashura says there’s a way for him/her to gain the power to turn this around.
Inwardly, Sadak laughs at Ashura’s predictability, thinking that his devotion to Dr. Hell will have him/her charge into battle even if there was no plan; still, Ashura will create a confusion that will allow him to escape.
As Ashura starts to leave, Sadak sings his praises: LORD Ashura is truly the most loyal of servants, truly Dr. Hell must be so proud of having such an amazing retainer!
“Now, Lord Ashura! Let us crush Dr. Hell’s enemies!”, he proclaims.
Ashura had already planned to do that even if Sadak hadn’t told him; however, there is one more thing that he’ll crush: Sadak and all these damnable Galra!
He/she’s very aware of the Galra’s ulterior motives and plans to make them all pay for the crime of using Dr. Hell.
Sadak can only cry out as Ashura kills him.
Shihomi confirms all enemy troops destroyed and with neither Galra or Mechabeasts, it seems the only option left for both Dr. Hell and Honerva to do is surrender.
Dr. Hell knows that Honerva has some backup forces on standby as orders her to deploy them.
She does so, making the Golion team immediately prepare to charge at her, but none of Honerva’s troops are attacking and Dr. Hell asks what she’s doing.
She glibly announces that their alliance is over and, with Sadak’s defeat, she'll have to restart the invasion of Earth from scratch.
Dr. Hell now realizes that he’s been used all along; Honerva taunts him to stop ranting, as he was a valuable tool for her but this is farewell.
: We won’t allow it!
: W-what is that?!
: King of Hell Gordon! But the setting of the electronic brain wasn’t finished yet!: How is it moving?!
: We did it, Dr. Hell!
: L-look! Ashura is inside that robot’s forehead!: Ashura, you…how can it be?!: There was no other way! We, Ashura…have sacrificed ourself to the King of Hell in order to serve you!: Ashura…! You’ve acted as a substitute to the electronic brain, transforming yourself into Gordon’s control unit!: You were prepared to go that far!: It was out of loyalty to you; now, we’ll make an example of these traitors!: Galra! We will not forgive your betrayal of Dr. Hell!
: It destroyed the Death Black Beastmen in one attack!
: That King of Hell Gordon is immensely powerful!!: You’re next, Honerva! How dare you play us for fools and try to betray Dr. Hell!: S-stop, Baron Ashura! Allow me to explain!: There’s no use in trying to explain! They’ll hear your excuses in hell! Take this!!: EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
: That guy…he destroyed the Galra.
: With that, the Galra’s invasion force on Earth has completely been eliminated.: Kouji Kabuto! And Wärter! It is your turn next!!*Ashura calls one Drago, one Ashuramazinger and one Garadoublas*
: Seems like those are the last remaining troops in Hell Castle!
: Their numbers isn’t the problem, though. This fight isn’t going to end unless we manage to beat that King of Hell…!
: Everyone, this is the last battle! Let’s really send this King of Hell down there!!: Try, if you can! We, Ashura, are going to end this and we won’t allow you to lay a single finger on Dr. Hell!
: You’ve got guts, Baron Ashura! I think I might have to change my opinion on you a little!: But, in the end, you’re still a bad guy and neither I nor Mazinkaiser will ever forgive you!!: I’m gonna beat you and then I’ll settle things with Dr. Hell!Of course Dr. Hell had a couple of aces up his sleeve; all of these mooks are powered-up versions and Ashura has a very resilient toy.
Nevertheless, we’ll deal with him after we finish all the other targets.
Very good.
Kouji’s up next and sure to take a large chunk of this faker’s HP (he’s with Iron Wall because there’s a large chance that Ashura will go for him).
Attaboy.
We might as well capitalize on their shoddy position with a free MAP hit.
Kazuma and Golion move forward, also dealing respectable damage to the Ashuramazinger.
Enemy Phase!
Well, I didn’t even need to worry about that anymore.
The Drago decides to go for Getter but, thankfully, I had Iron Wall set as a precaution.
The Draco regened most of Bless’ damage but that hit more than covered it.
The Garadoublas goes for Kouji and immediately regrets it.
Finally, Ashura, predictably, moves over to compare swords with Kaiser.
: Here we go, Baron Ashura! Our rivalry ends right here, right now!: That is for me to say! You will meet your end at the hands of Gordon, King of Hell!: This is gonna be good! The final battle between the righteous demon and the king of hell! Now I've gotta win!
Very good. Do note that Ashura doesn’t regen.
Player Phase!
Gotta start working on the Garadoublas now or it’ll regenerate next turn.
I love that Hero Crit/Evasion Boost.
Volfogg, with some help from Kazuma, takes away over half of its remaining HP.
Izumi and Ryouko deal a lil bit more, positioning themselves to pull combined attacks on Ashura.
And Trowa moves in for the kill.
You gotta love how Trowa went through the trouble to make a Robot-Sized mask.
Our attention switches back to the Draco, with Sousuke and Heero dealing some very respectable damage.
Blade closes in to use Pegas Formation but to also set himself up for a Sousuke-Assisted Voltekka.
Alright.
Golion and Ryouko work through nearly all of the Draco’s remaining health.
Which will be taken out by an opportunistic Duo.
Good man.
Enemy Phase!
Ashura decides to go after the unprotected Great Mazinger.
: Tetsuya Tsurugi! You've hounded me long enough, but that ends here!: You're wrong, Baron Ashura!: While Great was under development, I trained long and hard on Merida Island! I've surpassed the likes of you!
Ouch. At least he took a hard hit in return.
Player Phase!
Ok, let’s have a quick look at Ashura in his full power:
King of Hell Gordon is certainly a step-up from everything else Ashura has used thus far. It’s got a large HP pool, good-ish armor and Sword Cut capabilities.
It also has a Barrier S which will reduce incoming damage by 1000 - pair that with Ashura’s naturally high defense stat and he can prove bulkier than most mooks (read: be sure to use Volfogg to turn that shit off).
His attacks are short-to-medium range and they have decent accuracy modifiers too. As you saw with Tetsuya above, getting hit by his best Sword attack can hurt (especially after you trip his Prevail) so watch it; his Finger Shock attack has a Mobility-reducing debuff but anyone that cares about that stat shouldn’t be hit in the first place.
I don’t really remember but I think Ashura has gotten a few skill levels since our last fight. Here’s what he’s packing right now:
- Sword Cut (and he has the Skill stat to make good use of it)
- Break Morale Limit
- Prevail L4
- Support Attack L2
- Command L1
With that out of the way, let’s go to town.
Montage time - let's get some awesome music here:
: You're the King of Hell? Well, we're Trailers, and we get our pay come hell or high water!: So sure, come the King of Hell, we're still not gonna back down!: Enough strutting, boy! You will fall silent soon enough when I visit true Hell upon you!
: AHAHAHAHA! What makes you think such an insignificant flea can lay a scratch on Gordon?
: But you're holding the control unit. All I have to do is defeat you and that machine falls.: You came forward personally, and that makes you the King of Hell's Achilles' heel!
: Focus fire on the target's head...: H-he's shooting straight for me!
: MWAHAHAHA!! Quake in fear, and bow before the King of Hell!
: Your babbling only makes my job easier. It means I can aim directly into your big mouth.
: Baron Ashura! As far as we're concerned, you're just like the Galra!: Golion's mission is to smite all who take peace and prosperity from the innocent! That includes you!: Fools! As we destroyed the Galra, we will also crush you in our wake!
: Come on, Baron Ashura! We have to defeat you to restore the Getter's pride!: But you won't have the chance! I am two people in one, and now we both are one with Gordon, King of Hell...: So I, too, have your invincible power of three as one! You will experience it firsthand!
Time for the coup de grâce; I’ll take this time to show off Kouji’s NEW strongest, solo, attack (Double Burning Fire and Double Mazinger Blade are stronger): Final Kaiser Blade!
Akito didn’t deploy this mission but he did have stuff to say:
-Akito Vs. Ashura-
: Come, Warter! I have much to pay you back for!
: You want to pay us back? What about all those people you hurt, all that homes you destroyed?: Akito's right! Go back to your throne in Hell and stay there! 
Ashura is worth a level, an EN Chip, a Propellant Tank and an Infight +1.
: UUAAAAARGH! P-please forgive us, Dr. Hell! : We were unable to meet your expectations even at our final moments!: It’s over, Baron Ashura! Accept it!!: Glo…GLORY TO LORD HEEEEEELLLLL!!
: That’s the end of Baron Ashura…
: With this, the battle is finished…*Mazinkaiser moves towards Hell Castle*
: Where are you going, Kabuto?!: Sorry, Tetsuya! But I have to end things with Dr. Hell with my own hands!: Leave the rest to me, guys!
: Be careful, Kouji…: This is it, Dr. Hell! You’re not gonna escape again!: Hehehe. Driving me into a corner like this…you’re quite something, Wärter – and you, Kouji Kabuto, as well.: Heh…what makes you think I’d be happy to be praised by you?!: Enormous power, amazing courage, an incomparable drive to win… You have such extraordinary power!: Why do you use that power for something as idiotic as love for mankind or for world peace?!: What?!:Now that Ashura is gone, a new right-hand man is necessary! : How about it? Why don’t you and Mazinkaiser come join me? The entire world could be ours!: No way! I’ve no interest in joining someone like you!: And I would never allow the Mazinkaiser that my granpa built turn into the devil!!: Hehehe…is that so…
: Hahaha…this Hell Castle will soon sink into the ocean and you’ll go along with it!: What?!: I have now pressed a self-destruction switch. After a few minutes, this Hell Castle will disappear without a trace left behind.: However, I will not die! I WILL return and with even greater power!!: Shit! Stop, Dr. Hell!: AHAHAHAHAHA! Farewell, Kouji Kabuto! Farewell!!: Damn…everyone in here is going to die…!: UUAARGH!*Wall breaks down*
: What are you doing, Kabuto? Get out of there!: Great Mazinger! Tetsuya, you came after me!: Ha…Let me help before you get burned. We already recovered Kaiser, so get into Great’s hand!: Alright! I’m good to go!!*Explosion sound as Hell Castle fades out*
Back on Merida Island, Kouji is thanking Tetsuya for saving his ass.
Though, Tetsuya is quick to criticize Kouji for mindlessly charging in like that – no matter how much time passes, he always acts that way.
Just like Tetsuya is always there to tell him what-for…
Either way, with the destruction of his army and his castle, Dr. Hell seems, for all intents and purposes, to be defeated, which Kouji's missing grandfather would certainly be glad to hear.
When Sayaka asks about why Tetsuya was on this island, Jun says that while Mithril was helping complete Great Mazinger and the Kaiser Scrander, Tetsuya worked here to rehabilitate himself from square one.
Mao is quite impressed with him and asks if he wouldn’t like to join Mithril for good, but Tetsuya vows that he'll go on piloting Great Mazinger until he dies.
Kurz, then, turns to ask the “exotic” Jun if she’d like to take the offer but she says she’ll go wherever Kouji and Tetsuya go (much to Kurz’ sorrow).
However, just because they’re not really joining Mithril, doesn’t mean they won’t be fighting together; as promised, Tetsuya is reporting for duty with the rest of Wärter.
Jun's mission will be to go back to the Photon Power Lab and help keep Japan safe; Sayaka will rest easier knowing that she’s taking care of her father and everything else, too.
Kurz wonders if it would be possible to turn Merida Island into our new base but Tetsuya says that Tessa seemed to have an idea on that subject.
Kouji is slightly silent and Ryouma wonders if it’s because Dr. Hell escaped; it is but Kouji knows there’s no time to waste looking for him with Relena’s kidnapping, the arrival of the Primevals and the usual problems with the Radam and Jovian Lizards – they need to focus on fighting these enemies right now.
Tetsuya agrees, saying that they must fight against all forces of evil - after all, that’s their duty as Mazinger pilots!