Part 84: Mission 25 - The Lair of Darkness - Part 1
Mission 25 – The Lair of Darkness
As our folks arrive, the vice-minister calls out to us, saying that our presence here violates Japan’s sovereignty and demanding that we put down our weapons – if we don’t, they’ll make use of suitable means to safeguard their national security!
Hanae is worried, as they’ll all be wanted men at the rate things are going, but Gengoroh tells her to calm down as everyone inside the vice-minister’s hotel is a demon. Heizaemon is well aware that they gathered all the people we’ve tagged as moles in one place in order to draw us out – plus, this ultimatum is merely a pretext to allow them to mobilize troops without repercussions.
Seems like a do-or-die situation for both sides and, in response to our disregard to his “request”, the vice-minister gives the army the go-ahead to suppress us.
A huge amount of troops are deployed, indicating to Amuro and Toshiya that the demon’s invasion has been progressing quickly.
Leele figures somberly that we can’t do anything to help the demonized men piloting those units and, while Mizuki thinks it’s a shame, Toga’s promptly tags them as the enemy and prepares to shoot them down. Eiji says that’s cold even for him but Julie tells him to remember that we’d be digging our own graves if we show the demons any mercy.
Eiji and Shinn both understand that we don’t have a choice here and Sirius isn’t willing to forgive such a foul act. Silvia has got his back but Apollo is quick to tell both the “dumbass prince and stupid princess” not get in his way, further angering Sirius.
Regardless, Kouji and Ryouma are ready to kick the demon’s asses right off Japan and set their country free.
Mission Objective: All enemies shot down
Mission Failure: Any allied battleship or Aquarion shot down
Skill Point: Clear the mission by the end of turn 6
Once again, we’ve a very tight time limit to deal with a lot of things. Make sure you keep a few Supers on the eastern/southeastern-ish side of the map because you’ll need heavy hitters there.
Everyone uses Accel/Boost to dash forward and we manage to hit a few enemy groups.
Gain and Adette leave the backup Dagger-Ls half-dead and Gainer double attacks the leader into submission.
Meanwhile, Quattro takes a bit of a detour and blasts a semi-hidden group.
Athrun’s posse also gets working on a Marasai group but, this time, the RNG bites back…
Ground enemies are always Hayato’s specialty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h_fR_fv--4
As reliable now as he was in W.
Marin cuts down the last Hizack while Eureka’s attack wrecks two of three enemy squaddies.
Time for Kei to do his thing.
Didn’t even need to hit it twice!
Tetsuya and Kouji zoom ahead, easily punching the two surviving mooks into oblivion.
While Sirius switches over and heads after Quattro’s group.
Nice and easy.
Both Toshiya and Roybea get a critical hit, destroying the other two Hizacks in that group.
Enemy Phase!
Demon vice-minister is watching it all unfold, eagerly anticipating our destruction at the hands of their army, when he’s interrupted by the arrival of two familiar women whom he assumes are escorts.
He’s quick to flex his defense vice-ministering muscles and, when they ask, promises to remove these outlaws from Japan while the girls fawn over him.
This weak Hizack decides to have one last hurrah against Tetsuya.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8JJpZ7V-mY
It doesn’t pan out.
Gainer gets jumped by four squads and deals nice damage to all the leaders.
Sirius, meanwhile, gets sniped by a Windam and is forced to answer with his weak Beam Cannon.
These ones go after the Minerva, though.
Good enough.
These Mon-soono aren’t in Wide Formation, though, so Roger’s Missile Party tears a hole in all of them.
Athrun, meanwhile, is forced to strike at two incoming squads with only his beam saber and rifle.
Can’t have him waste EN this early.
Player Phase!
Making use of Rey’s Hit & Away, he quickly wipes out Roger’s group while Talia keeps working on one of Athrun’s.
What can you do about this, Heizaemon?
Always nice when a ship manages to kill all three.
Toga and Riea clean up a pair of Dagger-Ls while Athrun busts out his TRI on his other batch of Mon-soono (which is then finished off by Eureka and Holland).
The minister and Dokuganki realize that these human weapons can’t cut it against us and decide to deploy their main troops. Dokuganki entrusts command of his forces to Tekkouki but makes sure to tell him that failure will be unacceptable.
Tekkouki, however, is hardly impressed and tells him that these mass-produced robots he’s using won’t amount to anything, no matter how many he creates – the unit that will defeat ZEUTH will be his Mecha Tekkouki!
Sayaka seems hesitant to fight and Kouji worries that she’s not feeling well. She tells everyone not to mind her while inwardly telling herself that Tekkouki’s a demon, an enemy of mankind.
Tekkouki calls ZEUTH and Getter to battle, planning on turning Tokyo into our graves and Ryouma’s ready to fulfill his wish and settle everything right now.
Ah, good timing.
Did we ever see Baldios’ TRI Attack?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnXHtXNUMFw
It takes out the Gadeel but the Daughtresses barely survive – still, it gives everyone a level and Dyke learns Strike.
Since I’m in a rush, Roger pops his other Missile Party shot on the Windams, taking the leader down.
Elchi fails to finish the job, though.
So, it falls on Garrod’s hands.
He and Witz take out both mooks.
Thank you, Sandman.
Toshiya and Ryouma, respectively, take one a Gadeel and two Daughtresses.
And this pushes Sirius over the edge.
This farther Windam group needs someone to soften it up and I’ll be keeping Rand around here, so…
Jiron strikes a nice hit but the RNG is being sassy today…
Quattro leaves a group of UNE mooks hanging by a thread and Kappei’s team clean it up...except for a Daughtress that Sochie fails to hit for only 1472 damage…
Might as well have Kouji and co. take on Rand’s target.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9ergI9a-dI
Damn it, Sayaka!
Kei and Gain lead the way, with their TRI attacks doing a number on a couple of Horned Demon squads.
I just now realized that Apollo wasn’t getting much of that morale since it was Sirius acting as the head…time to switch him back.
Boosh!
Enemy Phase!
Two weak Daughtresses wreck themselves against the Minerva while Toga and Kei score some more kills with their ALL attacks.
Kei also weakens a Horned Demon and a batch of Mecha Dokugankis
Kei also learns Counter L6 and Matthew gets both Lift Technique L5 and Lucky.
Double Burning Fire is surprisingly cheap for a combined attack so we might as well put it to use.
Damage spread still applies, though, and Kouji only manages to kill a squaddie plane.
Oh, that’s just dandy. Pour salt on the wound, will ya?
Gain snipes a Horned Demon into oblivion and also busts his TRI attack on a squad of Dokugankis for some nice damage.
Tekkouki’s standing by.
Player Phase!
We hear that ever familiar Hypnosound and it seems to Apollo that even the Fallen Angels were attracted by the demon’s mess. There’s a new Cherubim in the field, however, and Tsugumi reads a high mythological power pattern coming from him which Jun recognizes as being from an actual Fallen Angel.
Gavane asks if it’s that Touma guy from the Break the World but Apollo says the smell’s different. “Indeed, wingless. I am the Warrior Angel, Moroha,” he answers.
The thought of a combat-specialized Fallen Angel worries Sirius but Apollo doesn’t care about his name: it’s a Fallen Angel, so all that matters to him is kicking its ass.
Sirius thinks it’s impossible for Apollo to pull this off and tells him to switch to Mars but Apollo yells that he’ll be the head now.
Moroha doesn’t mind whichever one goes after him as the result will be the same. Apollo’s had enough and charges after him, despite Silvia’s warning that their aura’s in disarray.
Ryouma agrees, yelling that they’re not in sync but Apollo’s not listening anymore.
“Filthy wingless! Know your place!” Moroha yells.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGk-aqm2mmI
The attacks hits them like a truck and Sirius wants to change and take care of things. Apollo isn’t having it, though, saying Sirius’s not going to beat that guy and wants to try it again.
Sirius asks what the hell a stray dog like him can do when he doesn’t even have an idea of the situation. Pierre and Ryouma yell that both of them don’t know what’s going and they only realize it when Michiru starts telling Silvia to hang in there.
Tsugumi reads her aura’s getting extremely weak – it seems that Moroha’s attack managed to strike her head-on, causing severe damage. As Apollo tries calling out to her, Sirius realizes that it was due to his mistake that this happened.
“Is this what Tetsuya warned me about? Those dark emotions impaired my judgement and caused my beloved sister to be hurt?!”
His despair does a number of Aquarion and Tetsuya tries in vain to stop him from being overwhelmed by it.
Toga tells them to pull back as it’s impossible for Aquarion to fight but, as it is, Apollo’s having a hard time even moving the damn thing. Moroha’s scoffs at how pathetic the wingless are, saying he doesn’t even need to raise his hand anymore.
The reason for that is a huge signal that Jun detects: Hidler and his Mecha Fortress Demon, which Tekkouki didn’t even know was already finished.
Hidler’s quite confident that he’s got nothing to fear from the Getter or Fallen Angels with it but, just to be sure, he also launches a trio of Mecha Tekkoukis. Of course, Tekkouki’s aghast that there are more of his supposedly one-of-a-kind mech but Hidler says he “borrowed” Tekkouki’s design to make these.
Tekkouki is not amused to have his design stolen like that but Hidler says all demons exist to serve the Emperor and he’d do well to remember that. “Curse you, Hidler! How dare you trample over my scientific pride?!” Tekkouki yells.
Hidler doesn’t appreciate his lip and, this time, decides to have him executed right away.
He fires away but Tekkouki’s too blinded with anger to care. Hidler adds that Gura and Brai have given him permission to do as he saw fit, meaning the Emperor himself has sanctioned his execution.
Benkei has no idea what’s going on but Tekkouki gets in touch and proclaims a truce with Getter – there’s no way he can let Hidler go after this. Sayaka immediately perks up but he tells her not to misunderstand: he’s doing this for his own pride!
Ryouma figures the Demon's rage is real enough to trust for now and this “travesty” leaves Moroha disgusted with both the wingless and the demons. “I now will drown this land in darkness and despair!”, he proclaims.
Quattro knows we’re at a disadvantage here but our only choice is to focus on the enemy commanders while keeping Aquarion safe but, as Kei knows, that’s a pretty tall order when we’re up against a legit Fallen Angel and that huge demon mech.
Marin says there’s no way around it, though: we can’t let ourselves be beaten here. Tekkouki’s already charging into the fray: “Hidler! Feel my rage and the true power of the Mecha Tekkouki!”
Urgh. Despite what Quattro said, you still need to kill EVERYTHING in time if you want the Skill Point and, let me tell you, if you haven’t taken steps to position units for the arrival of the Fallen Angels, this can be very difficult (FYI: letting Tekkouki die means a Game Over, so keep an eye on him).
First off, let’s see what we’re up against:
Mecha Fortress Demon (Field Marshal Hidler)
Pilot Skills:
- Prevail L5
- Morale+ Damage
- Counter L4
- Resolve
- Commander L1
Hidler’s Voice Actor: Kenichi Ogata (other known works: Leo Shishioh in Gaogaigar, Dangel in Combattler V, Great General of Darkness in Great Mazinger and many others)
Despite his scrawny attitude, Hidler and his ship are quite bulky and can hit rather hard – his Shooting stat is huge and his Accuracy is also high enough to compensate for a bit of the size difference his 2L sized unit will get against most of our units.
His range is good and his attacks pack some nice stopping power, with his strongest also cutting down the target’s accuracy (not a problem against a big battleship, though); he’ll make a beeline towards Getter, so keep it away and bait him over.
Hidler spawns rather far away so playing his range to draw him near is necessary to give you more leeway with the skill point.
Despite all that, Hidler’s not the most dangerous guy in the field:
Cherubim Iskuron (Moroha)
Pilot Skills:
- ESP L7
- DOUBLE MOVEMENT
- Battle Spirit
- Predict
- Guard
- 10% HP Regen
- 10% EN Regen
- Pilot Debuff Immunity
Moroha’s Voice Actor: Kazuki Yao (other known works: Shinobu in Dancouga, Judau in Gundam ZZ, Gaston in the Berserk movies and MANY others)
Not only do the Fallen Angels have really annoying mooks, their bosses are also horrible to deal with: Moroha’s incredibly accurate due to stacking an S rating in air with ESP and Predict, hits like a jet-propelled truck and has a constant, no strings attached, Double Movement.
He’s got a 2-6 range ALL attack and his Aquarion busting Split Attack also carries the usual morale down effect (which also pierces barriers); he’s got more HP and armor than Hidler but, thankfully, doesn’t have Prevail so that cuts us some slack.
That said, like Kashmir, he can easily wreck a real or greatly damage a super if he gets a clean hit with his two attacks.
As expected, he’ll prioritize Aquarion whenever possible and they’re in no position to deal with that, so we’ll follow Toga’s advice and drag them back into the Iron Gear to keep it safe – Apollo can’t attack and Sirius and Silvia can’t cast anything.
The best way to deal with Moroha in this situation, however, is to ignore him – keep focusing on destroying enemy squads and drawing him closer while the nearby supers work on the regular angels.
Jiron tags in and assists Kappei against a Graave.
Quattro can’t do much against those, so I send him after smaller enemies.
Everything helps.
Talia takes a potshot at the Graave while Garrod gets to work on a fresh Cherubim.
Hopefully Roger can finish this one off.
Nice and easy.
Kei and co. deal massive damage to Garrod’s Cherubim but it survives with just over 400 HP; following that, our Overmen posse takes a jab at a trio of Mecha Dokugankis, killing the leader.
Shinn tries (and fails) to kill one of the remaining ones…
Not ideal to go TRI on Wide when the pilot doesn’t have Focused Attack but we need to get damage going on these bulky demons.
Keep going.
Athrun downs two planes with a TRI attack, and Maria learns Prevail L3.
Eureka and co. finish off the Horned Demon while Getter goes the same on the other side.
Tekkouki needs to get out of there before he gets swarmed, so he moves due SW and aims at one of the Dagger-Ls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyfX4-hV4E0
Not bad at all.
Marin Thunder Flashes a batch of Dokugankis and Tetsuya, following it up, kills another one.
I gave Toga a small Skill boost before this mission and it’s pushed him back in Double Attack territory.
And there goes over 12k HP.
Rand moves beside Roger and gets working on another Cherubim.
Enemy Phase!
A Daughtress kamikazes against the Minerva and triggers Shinn’s SEED – next, a Graave also trades blows with the ship.
Following that, two goddamn demons die trying to take out a Cherubim before a Horned Demon finishes the job.
At least, with that one gone, they can go back to giving ME money.
Alright.
Shinn strikes a decent hit against a squad of Dokugankis and also kills a weak one that attacks from afar.
And these ones decide to go for Tetsuya – that’s actually good because it allows him to use his Great Typhoon to hit them all.
Not bad, not bad.
This Dokuganki scores a good hit on Quattro before getting destroyed while Toga manages to counter-kill a Graave (a Cherubim also gets countered but manages to survive).
Another Graave decides to play ball and goes after Rand.
Good, good.
Kei trades blows with a Cherubim while one of the Mecha Tekkouki groups goes for Eureka (getting a lucky hit on Holland, too).
Moroha and Hidler start moving closer but don’t attack.
Player Phase!
Still to clean up a few more enemy squads, so Garrod moves ahead and takes an easy kill; under the combined firepower of the Minerva and King Beal, this Graave gets cut down to size (Arthur also casts Vigor to heal the ship some).
Kick its ass, Elchi!
Once again, Kei, Matthew and Reccoa (doing surprising damage in that Methuss), tear through a Cherubim’s HP for a nice kill; finally, this Horned Demon falls to the Zaft Reds.
Shinn takes a level and learns Fury (直撃) which makes it so the next attack ignores any defensive properties: enemy barriers, support defenses, defensive skills, size modifiers, and "ALL attack" damage penalties.
FYI: The correct translation for this is, literally, Direct Hit – this makes a lot more sense (from a personality point of view) than Fury considering that people like Quattro learn it.
Either way, when you reduce Moroha to low health or take the enemy squads down to 10, the plot kicks in.
Our resources are diminishing and the damage’s piling up and Heizaemon knows that things will be very bad if we let this battle continue as is.
Kappei isn’t having this defeatist attitude, reminding him that there’s so much on the line today. Ichitaro understands that but things got a whole lot worse when the Fallen Angels showed up.
: Enough of your whining, ZEUTH! Is this all the strength you possess?!
: Tekkouki…!: I haven’t given up and I refuse to die here before I've fulfilled my dream!
: He’s…really driven…!
: Heh…how sad are we? The demon’s encouraging us.
: THAT’S RIGHT!
: Commander Fudou!
: Whoa...! He really does show up outta nowhere!
: That man, Tekkouki, derives strength from his willpower…: Thus, he’s unyielding! Thus, he’s strong!
: But…
: Is it that shameful that you’ve lost yourself in jealousy?: !
: Sirius! Accept the jealousy within you and turn it into strength!
: Tetsuya…!
: If victory seems far, keep fighting until you reach it! That emotion will help you!: INDEED!!: People learn love when they find a piece of their own soul within another…: However, when they understand that the piece will never be theirs, they learn jealousy…: Jealousy is the cry of a person’s soul, calling out for the missing piece! In other words, it is energy!: Jealousy is energy…!
: Eeh… The dumbass prince's jealous of someone?: He...is he that stupid or just dense?!: And you, who once again was angered, who's blind to what’s around him…you also remain unfledged!: !
: Watch over all, Aquarion - the sky, the land and the people!! 
: Apollo!
: I got it! Let’s send our aura into Silvia!
: I don’t know what you’re up to but I won’t allow it!
: Apollo! I’ll go first!
: Right! Do it!
: What?!
: What am I feeling?!: En Guarde!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpqPwt-uT0w
: UWOOOOORGH!: I am certainly unfledged. However, Apollo…so are you!: Ya don’t havta tell me, I know! So gimme a hand, too!!*Apollo switches to the Solar Aquarion.*
: RAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!: !https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvmTow3Mwoo
: W-whoa! They pulled another comeback!
: The Aquarion is, truly, impossibly absurd.: Was it their strength that did that…?! 
: I’m not sure I should call that “teamwork”, though.: This isn’t over yet!!
*Moroha recovers 10950 HP.*
: You think that’s going to scare us?! There’s no way we’re losing to you!: You’re back with us, eh, Silvia?
: I couldn’t make you two fight him by yourselves!: Very well! Let’s go, Apollo, Silvia!: Heh…
: Their comeback puts us as at a turning point!
: All units, support Aquarion! It’s time to end this battle!Now that’s much more manageable: Moroha’s weakened and he’s right by where I parked my Supers; so, let’s take him out before he has a chance to regenerate anything!
: The Ruinous Butterfly…! Have the wingless learned nothing after 12000 years?!
: I knew it, the Fallen Angels DO know about the White Doll…!: But what is this “ruinous butterfly”…? Does that have something to do with it?!
: Apollo owes one to your buddy Touma, ya know! So we’re gonna pay that back right now! : Pitiful wingless…clinging to a false life…
: False life?
: Bastard! That’s enough of your bull!: Whether you want to or not, it’s already far too late for you to escape your fate...! : Disappear, Bearer! The Angels will not tolerate your existence!
: King Gainer gets a whole lot stronger whenever he fights Fallen Angels…!: And since we’re fighting one in person, that power just keeps on growing!: Damned wingless! Once again, you drown yourselves in the Devil’s power?!
Moroha vs. Gainer: The Frigid Devil’s kin…! Disappear!”
Also, I like this quote from Gainer after he dodges: “I’ve fought loads of enemies of this level in my games!”
: …Are you observing? Or do you intend to interfere with our battle?
: What are you talking about…? : Our everlasting prison will soon be broken! I won’t hand over our future to the likes of you!
Not sure if this is exclusively a Roger Vs. Fallen Angels line but: “I won’t allow you to blanket this world in darkness!”
Might as well also take this chance to show off Moroha’s Palus Beam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQakyK9lKLI
And now we’ll finish him off in the appropriate way.
: Wings of the Sun…! I will now put an end to this 12000-year-old hatred!: Shut it! I don’t give a damn about some "Wings" guy who might not even be around! : WE will be the ones who’ll fight you...!
: Our bodies and minds are now united as one! Take this!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-No8ZNMzO0
Moroha drops a Nanomachines Unit (ナノマシンユニット...son) which’ll give 10% HP regen when equipped.
Moroha blames his defeat on the Cherubim not being able to withstand his own power and Apollo calls him out as a sore loser – no different from any human.
Moroha tells the Wings of the Sun that he’ll make him bow before him and become part of the Tree of Life – he’d best stay alive until that moment comes. As he runs off, Silvia asks Sirius if he knows anything of this Tree and, while he doesn’t know, it sounds quite important from the way Moroha spoke of it.
Observing the battle, Otoha remarks to Touma that his beloved seems to have gotten the best of them again. Touma concedes this but, looking at Sirius, he says a small “seed” was planted today…
FYI, Setsuko did have lines against Moroha:
: …!
: That Fallen Angel…he’s looking at me?!: Pitiful wingless… Whether you want to or not, it’s already far too late for you to escape your fate...!: Disappear, Bearer! The Angels will not tolerate your existence!And that's that for today. We'll wrap up the rest of the mission next update - expect it around Saturday.
See you all then!