Part 236: Mission 60 - My Future, Your Future / My Future, Everyone's Future - Part 5
Location: The sky above the Orbital Elevator
: (There are so many people I care for… Linck, Maeter, Maurice…and Renton…): (I love them… all of them… my family…): (I was nothing and they taught me so much… they accepted all that I was…): (They let me be myself… they’re the ones I love and the ones I want to protect the most…): (I do want to be together with Linck, Maeter, Maurice… and with Renton…): (But if wanting to do so would mean losing everything that’s dear to me… if it’ll mean their planet will cease to exist…): (Then I’ll stop wanting it…): (…But, if possible…)
: (I want to see them again… I… I want to see you again… Renton…)
You can rearrange your squads and spend PP and money from the first half right now, if you want to. Also, take note, the terrain now counts as Space so you should equip the necessary units accordingly.
: Kei…
: Hold on, Olson. I wanna give the Captain a burial here in space.
: Captain… thank you…: Rest in peace, Captain. You’ll always be in our hearts…
: And we swear we’ll save Eureka and our world.
: Can you feel it, Renton?
: Yeah…! Eureka’s over there…!
: That’s the Command Cluster… the control core of the Scub Coral…
: It’s faint... but I can definitely sense Eureka’s mind inside it...
: Is she saying anything, Camille?!
: You shouldn’t need our help to figure that one out, Renton.: Huh…
: That’s your sweet Eureka over there, no? How could you not know what she’s thinking?
: Yeah… you’re right…
: Do you know, then, Renton?: I do! Eureka’s waiting for me to come for her… she’s waiting for all of us!
: On that subject, is this place the Great Singularity?
: No. The dimensional walls are unstable here, yes, but this is still regular space.
: This area is in touch with the dimension where the Great Singularity lies, right?
: But how are we supposed to actually get there…?!
: Time is running short. First and foremost, let’s go and rescue Eureka.
: She, as a Coralian, may know a way for us to reach the Great Singularity.
: Our only choice now is to believe that. Let us make haste.
: Holland… do you know what Renton should do once he gets to her?
: …Sorry, I’m drawing blanks there.: I thought as much.: Hm?: “Don’t beg, earn it. Then, it’ll be given to you.”… Isn’t that right, Holland?
: Adroc Thurston’s words…: Those words weren’t directed at me.
: I reckon I was only meant to help them get to ya - from Adroc to his son.: OK!
: We’re detecting several dimensional distortions around the Command Cluster!
: What?!
Insert about 15 seconds of Coralians spawning here.
: Antibody Coralians?!
: They’ve emerged to protect the Command Cluster…?
: Are they seeing us as a threat since we’ve gotten so close to their core?
: Go for it, Renton! We’ll handle them Antibodies!
: Work those legs! Don’t keep Eureka waiting any longer!
: Hurry! We don’t have a whole lot of time left!
: Judging from the dimensional instability around the Command Cluster, Eureka’s probably reaching her limit!Setsuko version:
: 5 minutes, Renton! Ya gotta get there by then!: I have to reach Eureka in that time…Rand version:
: I have to break through this swarm and get to her…!: Hey, this ain’t the time to get intimidated!Back together:
: Don’t you worry, Renton! We’ll plow the road for you!
: You’re the star here, so we don’t wanna hear any gloomy stuff coming from ya!
: Psych yourself up, Renton! Our endgame’s in your hands!
: Come on, Gainer. Give him some last-minute pep-talk.
: Go, Renton! Let’s hear your own passionate declaration of love!
: What is he talking about?
: You’re better off not knowing!: Here I go! I will get to Eureka!
: All units, support Renton! Carve a path to the Command Cluster!
: There’s little time remaining! We must go as quickly as possible!: Eureka exhausting herself would mean the death of all those living within the Coral. 
: We’re fighting to save two worlds! Keep that in mind!
: Get going, Renton! Everything ya did since leaving that town comes down to this!
: Charge, Renton!
: …Sorry, Eureka… we’re gonna have to defeat so many of your kind.: But even if that’s a sin, it’s one I’ll gladly bear…!
: No matter what, I need to make my way over to you!!
Mission Objective: Renton reaches the Command Cluster.
Mission Failure: Any allied battleship or Renton shot down. On Setsuko’s version, a 5-turn limit is also present.
We have, count them, a mob of 150 Medium and Large Antibodies ahead but, thankfully, we’re much stronger than during our previous encounters.
The Coralians are still quite accurate but with crap defenses, so they’ll fall in droves (especially if you get good MAPW setups). Setsuko players will, of course, need to exercise a modicum of haste with that time limit looming over your head but 5 turns is plenty of time – especially if you equip Renton with +movement parts.
FYI: On both versions, you’ll want your people to accompany Renton over on his trek so keep an eye out so your ships or reals don’t get swarmed and killed.
We’ll open with Renton going straight for one of those lone Large Antibodies.
And that’s 22k damage done in one attack run.
Nearby, Toshiya tears through a batch of Medium Coralians weakened by Shinn.
Same deal with Kira, assisting Touga.
Gotta build that morale for MAPWs.
Some Mediums are set in Center Formation which means two TRI/ALLs easily take them down.
Roger doesn’t give a fuck, of course, so he oneshots the leader of this squad. Apollo moves in to take another.
That’s very dead. Kappei makes three for three.
Two more for Garrod and Pala but Jamil falls short. Elsewhere, only Kouji does his job.
Everyone else moves forward, killing a chunk of the weakened ones survived.
Enemy Phase!
The Medium Coralians don’t have post-movement attacks so most of them just move in.
These try to snipe at Toshiya.
That’s some not insignificant damage on one of my more resilient units but whatever.
You sorry fools. They can’t even pop Roger’s barrier before eating a Chrom Buster.
Oh, you…
That’s another three gone.
Player Phase!
Seeing how we can take our time, let’s use Renton’s move this turn to showcase his stronger attack (in baseline power at least – his Melee is stronger for me because it can be used twice).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DLgVVIIt1s
That’s one stubborn Coralian…
Lacus tenderizes these a bit and keeps moving ahead.
Following some liberal Rouse and Hope usage, the Element System triggers. It’s wasteful but I felt like using Footswordcube again since it’s been forever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxS95HfaVEU
Screw it, have a video for nostalgia’s sake.
Roger and Haman weaken two groups, with Marin taking the latters.
Keep ‘em coming.
So close… well, Garrod’s crew does it.
Following Gainer dropping the leader into submission, Banjou and Kats wreck another pair.
Excellent.
One extra Hope cast and boom!
That’s 12 kills.
Keep going.
Kei leaves this batch prepped and Kouji eagerly sets us up with some fish stew.
More!
You’re taking too long to get your game face on, Shinn.
You little shit, you…
Fine, two kills are enough. Camille takes that survivor, triggering Mazin Power.
Rand and Ryouma each take one from this group.
We’ve never seen the Chaos Caper TRI, have we? Ziene never had the presence of mind to be in TRI formation, I don’t think (even though that’s her strongest attack)…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_yvFsTHA4U
She would’ve been a much bigger threat had she used this.
Holy shit, Toshiya. I’m guessing Carris and Holland have real strong TRI weapons because there’s no way you should be doing this much damage without valor even with their crap defenses!
Enemy Phase!
Banjou gets jumped four times, killing two leaders.
And this clever Coralian wants a piece of the Minerva.
Dayum, it always impresses me how flimsy these guys are.
Thank you very much.
Murrue trades blows with some fishes while Kei goes on ahead and tears them all apart in one go.
The big Antibodies all snipe at people who can’t attack.
Player Phase!
Now that we’ve shown that attack off, we’ll keep Renton moving forward. Along the way, he wrecks a big Antibody.
FYI: moving Renton past a certain point (about halfway through his path) will trigger the plot in Rand’s mission. Setsuko doesn’t have anything happen until he actually reaches the Command Cluster but, regardless, the events are nearly the same, save for some slightly different lines, so let’s get them running here.
: More of them showed up!
: They REALLY don’t wanna let Renton get with Eureka, huh?!
: The Antibodies--!: What happened to them?!
: The Lemures!
: Edel Bernal?!
: Inexcusable…! Your crimes are… unforgivable! I will exterminate any who’d dare stand against me!!: And that includes these Coralians, the destroyers of the world’s natural order!
: She’s going after Eureka!
: Does her obstinacy know no bounds…?!
: Urgh, talk about a sore loser!
: Silence! I am the sovereign of the new world! I’ll grant it peace with law and order!
: Oi, quit yelling the same crap over and over! Ya sound like a broken doll!!
: Yes, that’s correct.
: That voice… Black Charisma?!: Indeed. It’s been some time since Paradigm City, hm?
: Then, Edel’s not the Black Charisma?!: Your confusion is quite understandable, as I made an effort to keep you in the dark.: I got much enjoyment out of that, truly.
: This ain’t the time for you to be joking around, creep!: Who are you?! Why do you have a Lemures?!
: Yeah, who the hell are you?! Show us your face!: Well, this is the climax… I suppose I could take off this mask.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpxFJBivbGU
: What is that?!
: It is the perfect form of your Lemures – the Chaos Lemures.
: That’s the true face of the Black Charisma?! That man?!: …"Warrior of Salvation"… "Traveler to the Taiji"… "Defender of the Law"… "Guardian of Causality"… "Accursed Wanderer"…
: I am all of those and more! My name is THE Edel Bernal!
: “The” Edel Bernal!?
: It means I’m the real Edel. Cool, don’t you think?: The gall! Just having the same name as me is tantamount to high treason!: I LOVE YOOOUUU! Lady Edel, please turn around three times and bark.*Edel’s Lemures turns thrice.
: Woof!
: Wha--?!
: Why is such a proud woman like her acting like that?!: What happened?! I couldn’t control myself!: Don’t you get it, Lady Edel? It’s just an itsy, bitsy Binding Spell.: The way he speaks…!
: Theeh…?!Whoooosh!
: That’s riiiiight, Darling/Setsuko!: What’s going on?! Professor Theeh’s the Black Charisma and that The Edel guy?!
: Bingo, once again!Whoooosh!
: You just need to work some of the Primordial Power – what you call “Dimensional Power” – and boom.
: Then, gramps used Dimensional Power to transform into someone prettier?: Oh, no, no. Both Theeh Babel and this form are 100% me.: See, when you use the Primordial Power, it’s even possible to do stuff like gathering parallel-universe versions of yourself into one world.: So something basic like changing my appearance is as easy as “one, two, three”!: It’s just like when Ziene changed into the boss…!
: And when Asakim changed into Toby!: Theeh! If you figured out how to control Dimensional Power, why did you keep quiet?!: *snort* Hmhmhm…: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! IHIHIHHIHIHI!: Wh-what…?!: Aahaha…! You’re too much! Aah, my sides are killing me!: Why did I keep quiet, you ask?: It was becaaaauuuuse… I felt like it, Lady Edel!: YOU INSOLENT—!!: I LOVE YOOOUUU! Do an adorable little dance!*Edel does so.*
: AHAHAHA! What a silly dancer the woman who almost conquered the world is!: Stop staring… DON’T LOOK AT MEEEEEEEE!!: So funny but SO embarrassing… if the populace saw their “goddess” now, my, would they be disappointed.
: Edel’s obeying everything he says…!
: What’s up with her?! Is it hypnosis?!: It’s very simple. When I created Edel Bernal, I put her under a lil’ something called a “Binding Spell”.: You… created me?!: You still don’t understand, Lady Edel? You are a doll of my creation… an artificial human with a bogus life.
: !: And there you were, thinking you were the greatest of all humans!: Of course, I was the one who made you think that way.: A…ah…: And that wasn’t the only part of you I designed: how you lost your lover in a past war, how you like rose and chamomile tea…: How you sleep in a negligee, how you fancy wild, macho guys, etc, etc… it was aaaaaaall ME!: My life… my memories… my desires… they were all… Theeh’s creation…?: And the trick I set to control you even when I was Theeh was the Binding Spell.: “I love you”… you couldn’t resist obeying any command that followed that phrase.: I am… a doll… created by Theeh…: Yup! Your desire to be the “sovereign of the new world” and how you thought you were fit for it… it’s all because I designed you like that! And without any of the sense or smarts needed for the job, too!
: Her obsession with ruling over all was planted in her head by someone else…
: So it was never a self-centered desire guiding her actions?
: Just as her lack of vision for the future wasn’t her own doing…!
: I am… a doll… created by Theeh…: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!*Edel charges towards The Edel*
: Oh me, oh my. The dolly’s turning against her creator? Tsk, tsk.: Or are you so broken that you can’t tell who your master is?And the name of Edel’s theme is…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj85v_nDEIc
Captions are available.
: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!: Goodbye, Lady Edel! I so loved being punished by you!
: Silly girl. Did she actually think she could beat the Chaos Lemures with that crummy Lemures prototype?: Then again, I was the one who made that too! Hahaha, self-criticism is always good, I guess!
: The Edel Bernal… why are you here?: Do I have to spell it out for you, sweet, little Idol? Can’t you see that I’m here to bungle up your Repair?
: You wanted Edel off the way so you could rule the world yourself, then?!: Hihihihi… OHOHOHOHOHOHO! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!: What’re you laughing at?!: Nothing, I’m sorry. I just realized that you guys give me way too much credit.: “Rule the world”…? Do you have any idea how troublesome that’d be? I’d take anything over it.: What?!: But I’m right, no? There’s taxes, welfare, education, military, economic matters… I can’t be bothered with that nonsense.: And, then, if you don’t do a good job, you start getting revolts and have to worry that people might jump you from some dark corner…: I’m not like Scirocco or Durandal. There isn’t enough money in the world to convince me to take on that job.: It’s hilarious that you people don’t understand that!
: But that’s exactly what you manipulated Edel into doing!: Now, now, let’s straighten this out, boy. While I did design Lady Edel as a would-be ruler of mankind, I only did that because I figured it’d be fun to watch.
: “Fun”?!: This is such a crazy world… everyone obsessed with their plans, just waiting for their one big chance.: All that political intrigue and backstabbing… major powers from all those different worlds getting together and just having at each other… : This is a veritable battle paradise! Oh, I tell you, this past year after the Break the World has been soooo much fun!
: This man… he had Edel spread conflict just for his enjoyment?!: And what’s wrong with that? Because it’s not ethical? Moral? Socially acceptable? Because it’s uncaring? Please, enlighten me.: Th-that’s…: Nah, I don’t care to hear your sermons. Everything’s A-OK with me, so long as I'm having fun!
: Everything you did was for that?!: Do you have any idea how much blood and tears were spilled because of that?!: I have no idea, nope. Should I have measured it in a beaker or something?: How much blood and tears does it take to upset you “Champions of Justice”? 10 liters? More, maybe?
: He’s… insane…!: Way I see it, those who keep getting bogged down with stuff like “rules” in this crazy little society are the insane ones.: If you were running from a monster, would you stop at a red light? 
: That’s…: So, I went and just had fun in this wonderfully chaotic, anything-goes world!: And the sweet, sweet fruit of those labors is mine and mine alone! I’m not about to let some Dimensional Repair take this beautiful world away from me!
: The hell is wrong with that guy…?!
: I can’t look into his mind… it’s like a maze, intertwining endlessly…!: Is this malice…? No, it’s not...! Is the pursuit of pleasure all that drives him?!: Lovely, isn’t it, baby? I am the embodiment of this multi-dimensional world! The king of chaos!: And I am truly free! None can hold me down!: And when we started raining on your parade, you became the Black Charisma and tried to destroy us, eh?!: Well, aren’t we self-conscious? No, it was nothing like that.: If I wanted you gone, it would’ve been far easier to assassinate you folks, don’t you think?: No, your handiwork was stirring up this world even more… I merely sat back and enjoyed watching you go. And, boy, were you the best show in town.: You have no idea of how much I was laughing when you were fighting each other!
: You had them push us to fight each other just for kicks?!: So what? Don’t forget that the Chimera also helped you.Rand version:
: And I even wanted to give Darling’s Gunleon a super power-up too.: Ah, well… at least tinkering with it let me learn enough to finish the Chaos Lemures.: The Gunleon’s my tool of trade! It ain’t your toy!Setsuko version:
: And I even gave Setsuko such a nice power-up on her Virgola.: Of course… tinkering with the Sphere let me learn enough to finish the Chaos Lemures.
: Our Virgola was… a mere plaything in his hands…?: You weren’t my only source of laughter, mind. The folks of the UN, so easily manipulated, also gave me a pretty fun time.: I just needed to drop one morsel of “info” in there and everyone would lose their minds, panicking like ants.: Aaah, so fun. Messing with the people never gets old, I tell you.: He wasn’t manipulating just us and Edel, but all of society as well…!: Löwen was especially amusing. Once he found out his beloved Lady Edel was a mere puppet, he snapped.
: That’s why he acted like that when he died…: Lady Edel also gave me some good laughs. She so fancied herself queen of the world, ignorant of what she actually was.: And did you hear that last shriek of hers? Now that was funny. She was completely broken by then!: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO”!! Oh, I wish everyone in the world could’ve heard the last words of their “goddess”!: Why did you obey her all this time, then?: Simple: because I wanted her to hit me. 
: Huh?!: To be abused, humiliated, by my beautiful dolly… : That filthy doll… how dare she hit me, her creator!: Ooh… but I am just a worthless, vulgar, stupid old man…: That pain mixed with frustration… can you even imagine how incredibly pleasurable it was?
: U-Urgh... NO!
: What’s this guy’s problem?!
: I-I don’t know! I can’t even begin to comprehend him!
: How could we and the world have been set on a warpath just for his enjoyment…?: Why not? Freedom is all about living as you see fit! The world’s all borked anyway, so just do whatever you feel like!: And you’ve come to stop the Dimensional Repair in order to prevent the multi-dimensional world from deviating from its current state – the state you desire?!: Yup! You folks were such cute pets, running around all over the place BUT…: I can’t let you go ahead with this Repair. Why can’t we all just have fun and live in this charmingly ugly, chaotic world?: Well, there’s that “Limit of Questions” thing but we can take care of that with Eureka becoming the Command Cluster. : You’d let all those people inside the Coral die and deprive society of their right to make their choices?!: Hmm… from my investigation, there are about 64.000.000.000.000⁴ lives in the Coral…: But do I actually care about a bunch of faceless people dying? Spoiler alert: I don’t!: You little…!: You’ll quickly lose your appetite if you start worrying about there being random people starving to death on the other side of the planet.: Hell, I wouldn’t care even if they were people I knew!
: Master The Edel… I never thought you and Professor Theeh were the same person…: Disappointed, Ziene? To think that the handsome prince that freed you from your past curse turned out to be such a sleazebag…: Were you deceiving me all along…?
: You knew how much I despised Breaks. Was the promise you made when you saved me a lie?!: I resent that accusation. My goal is still to bend the Taiji to my will and that won’t change.: Wasn’t that why I had you to stick to Asakim in the first place?: But my men are still alive in that other world and you’d readily leave them to die!
: Oh, I can’t do anything about that. My world will go down the drain if they come in here with the Coralians.: But I was always generous with you, no? I let you make your own choices. : You’re still free to choose to stick with me, whom you care for so much, or to stay with ZEUTH.: I… I admired how unfettered you were…: And you were also ever-so-friendly with Asakim, no?: There was so much sorrow inside his heart… he struggled so desperately to gain his freedom.: But you are different! All you care about is your self-satisfaction, everyone else be damned!: Well, duh. I love me more than anything else, after all.: I LOVE MEEEE! FOREVER! Doesn’t matter if you leave or die, so long as I have myself, I’m happy!: Oi! Just how crazy can you get, guy?!
: This world does not belong to you alone!: And we won’t let you do your thing just to keep your games going!: Lalalalala! I can’t heeaar yoooouu!: That is, I wasn’t going to listen from the get-go..: No way I’m letting a weirdo like you have Eureka and the world!: Thank you for the compliment, baby!
: That wasn’t a compliment!: HAHAHA! I guess it wouldn’t be, for you regular folk!: Either way, let’s get this game back on track! Come on… see if you can slip by me and rescue your princess!: We don’t need your permission for that! Go, Renton!: Yeah!: I’ve had enough of your shenanigans, grandpa!
: If you’re gonna mess up my job, then Imma just crush you into scrap!There’s more to this scene on Setsuko’s side since Renton’s already reached the cluster but we’ll follow up on that when we get him there. Again, there are almost no differences save for a line or two (and it’s only slightly).
Anyway, the actual final boss!
Chaos Lemures (The Edel Bernal)
Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L9
- Focused Attack
- Genius
- Spiritual Fortitude
- Very Lucky
- Double Movement
- 10% HP Regen
- 30% EN Regen
- All Canceller
The Edel’s voice actor: Daisuke Hirakawa (other known works: Makoto Ito in School Days, Kakyoin in the recent Jojo Stardust Crusaders, Legolas in Lord of the Rings and many others)
The Edel is certainly a worthy final boss: he’s powerful, accurate, resilient and has even stronger MAPWs than Edel (his D-Fall 2000 is still post-movement and can reduce your stats) – all this compounded with Double Movement. All his attacks also have big accuracy modifiers and ignore size differences.
His Edel-busting move, Insanity Invitation, is post-movement so, unlike her, he doesn’t rely solely on his MAPW to hit you after moving. His strongest attack, Heavenly Prison (天獄/Tengoku, hint-hint), is an immensely powerful 2-8 range, pre-movement ALL and you can bet it’ll hurt with Focused Attack.
He’s immune to any and all debuffs, so the only approach is just to throw everything you have at him: on hard mode, Setsuko has to deal with a 502k HP Chaos Lemures while Rand’s has 242k… that said, Rand players will have something else to contend with.
The Edel’s hanging by Renton’s entry spot and won’t move from it for a while, so let’s keep bringing everyone through the Coralian swarm while sending the kid towards the Command Cluster.
As Kappei oneshots a fish, Murrue pops Iron Wall and blasts a group before moving ahead.
Harry and Tetsuya blow a batch away with their concentrated fire.
Amuro will follow up on Murrue’s work.
There go all of them.
Oh, what’s this I see?
There goes a group, Bright kills the other.
Rey switches over and catches up to the main group.
Boom.
The Edel’s range is marked, so Camille and Lacus get on the edge and destroy the lone big Antibody there.
Marin wrecks another squad before moving over there.
Eh, might as well kill these since they’re on the way.
That’s one down, the others go with Roger.
Everyone takes position at the edge of The Edel’s range and now all that’s left is to send Renton in next turn.
Enemy Phase!
Save for these two Antibodies, who Murrue and Kappei defend against, all other mooks simply inch closer to us.
The Edel isn’t moving.
Player Phase!
Off you go, Renton.