Part 62: Challenges from the New Order
Last time, the replica land of Hod, now called Eldrant, was revealed. We need to get there ASAP to stop Mohs.Well, almost ASAP. There's something we need to take care of on Feres first.
: Words are no longer needed between us. Defeat me with all your strength!Boss Battle: Sword Dancer 3
Here he is, Sword Dancer 3. The final form. You may notice I'm rolling with an atypical party. The reason for this is that I show off in this fight how easy it is to abuse Free Run and cheese some of the slower bosses.
The trick here is pretty simple. You have Guy run around SD, drawing aggro. Meanwhile, Tear, Anise, and Jade are standing in the back in guard mode, which means they won't do anything. Then you assign an arte from each of them to your right analog stick, in this case I've chosen Bloody Howling for Anise (instant Dark FoF) and Raging Mist + Holy Lance for Jade and Tear (both of which will react to dark FoF's.) With this, I can basically just kite SD around while the spellcasters unleash the pain.
The trick here of course, is that if you get the timing just right, both Tear and Jade can hit FoF altered artes with the same circle, but they have to finish casting more or less at the same time. I fuck it up a bit, but managed to show it off on the last cast before the battle is over.
Yeah, this method turns Sword Dancer into a total joke.
: I shall return to being a mere sword. I thank you...Luke gets the Ultimatus from this, which would be impressive if his arena weapon wasn't better than it.
Oh well.Skit: Enough Already
: “...Do you think he's going to come back again?”
: “No, I doubt it.”
: “Oh? How can you know that?”: “The unusual fonons I had felt emanating from his weapon have vanished. Over our battles with him, the fields of fonons generated by our attacks probably absorbed the fonons he was composed of.”: “So the hatred surrounding that monster has been exorcised? ...But wait, if its hate was that strong, it may still be lying in wait nearby. Watching us with hatred as it awaits an opportunity to revive...”
: “Enough already...”
: “You're entitled to think that way if you like, but you certainly do enjoy ghost stories, don't you?”
: “Absolutely! I so delight in the mysteries of nature! Right, Luke? ...Luke?”: “He appears to have fled in disgust.”
Okay, let's take the Albiore up to the totally not final dungeon.
Uh, it seems to be surrounded by... something.Power of the Planet Storm
: “Wait, does that mean we can't get near it as long as the Planet Storm is active?”: “There's nothing we can do. Let's head to Grand Chokmah. The military is keeping the Hod data at their headquarters.”: “Understood. But what do we do if it really is Van's replica land up there?”So yeah, looks like we can't go there just yet.
The Replica Land of Hod
: “That huge thing floating in the sky is Hod? Impossible...”
: “Even assuming it's a replica, given those claw-like anti-aircraft devices around it, it must have been created some time ago..”: “Presumably they erected the defense system underwater, then used the Sephiroth to raise it.”
: “The Sephiroth? But haven't those all lost their power to raise up land?”
: “The Sephiroth itself is a replica, too. Remember, this is a replica of Hod from before it collapsed.”: “...Wait. If they replicate other areas, including the Spehiroth...”
: “Yes, Tear, what you're thinking is exactly what will come to pass.”: “Huh? What are you talking about?!”: “...It would be difficult to explain. Let's wait until it actually comes about. Either way, there's nothing we can do about it now.”Jaaaaaaade!
Whatever, Grand Chokmah it is.
: “The people are in trouble! Let us go to their aid!”
: “Wait! Natalia...”
: “There she goes. That's our heroic princess...”
: “This isn't the time for jokes. If we leave her to her own devices, there's no telling what she'll do.”: “I agree. Let's follow her.”
Jade's idiot 'apprentice' who wanted to use Fonic Sight, if you don't remember.
: “Colonel! He's undergoing fonon separation. Don't tell me it's...”
: “Yes, fonic sight, I'm sure. And he's on the verge of losing control of it. It's the same as Mohs. He could have at least done it somewhere where he wouldn't bother anyone else.”
: “Is this the time to be making such comments?! We have to help him!”
: “I don't care what Casim does to himself, but I agree with avoiding civilian casualties.”
: “What should we do?”: “We could eliminate him. It would be the simplest way.”: “How can you say such a thing?! We're going to save him and the residents!”
: “Natalia's right, Jade! I don't want to kill anyone we don't have to!”: “...Tear, please stop Casim's fonic instability using fonic hymns. During that time, I'll undo the fonic sight treatment.”: “Roger.”
: “You attempted to implement the forbidden arte of fonic sight using a smattering of knowledge. It requires careful preparation and expertise. It's your own fault that you've lost your vision.”
: “No...! If this was going to happen, why didn't you try harder to stop me?!”: “I did stop you. I twas only happenstance that you didn't die.”: “Shut up! If only you'd really tried to stop me...”
: “You're alive, aren't you?! You should be grateful you aren't dead!”
: “This man stole a forbidden text from the imperial library. May I place him under arrest?”: “Please. I'll take responsibility for him, so after you've finished your interrogation, take him to the Curtiss manor.”: “Colonel...”: “If the Colonel's going to take him in personally, we can't interrogate him too roughly...”
: “Shh. The Colonel'll hear you. Understood, sir!”
: “I'm just ashamed of my actions. This time, just like Akzeriuth, if I hadn't wanted to avoid the trouble of giving a long explanation, the results might have been different.”
: “But what happened at Akzeriuth was my fault...”: “I didn't say it wasn't.”: “...R-right, I know that. Everyone really laid into me after all.”: “I didn't scold you because you destroyed Akzeriuth. I scolded you for doing nothing but making excuses, showing no sign of wanting to improve or to think.”
: “So because Luke realized his responsibility after that, you've learned to help people like you're doing now, right?”
: “...Well, I think we've spent enough time chatting here. Let's be on our way.”
: “Whoa! The Colonel's embarrassed! That's a rare sight!”
The Japanese name of this title was actually Tsundere Ojisama. If you're into anime (and who are you kididng, this is a Tales game. It doesn't get more anime than this) you can work that one out for yourself.
...So that actually reminded me that Eldrant showing up just opened up a bunch of new sidequests so...
Sorry.
Aston wants money to build a bridge or something. I don't know. So I toss him one million gald. This will bear fruit in the future.
In Engeve, we can get one of the more annoying sidequests. This guy wants us to go grab a bunch of seeds for him, but you're never really told where they are. So where are they?
Unmarked search points, of course!
The search points these seeds are in don't show up on the list of search points on your map. However in addition to picking up the seeds, we need them for something else too. More on that in just a second.
Returning all the seeds get's Guy his Hard Worker title. It doesn't change his costume, but just equipping it gives us a 20% discount on payments for items at Din's shop. Why is this important? Because there's one (and only one!) thing I want from Din, that I'm going to go get right now.
Okay, go get a drink or something, because it's time for another mechanic dump.
So it goes like this: there are 27 search points scattered around the world map. 18 of them are listed on your world map. These will give you a random number of the crafting items that show up at that search point. There are level 1-5 of goods you can get at these search points. Additionally, there are 9 more search points, seven which hold seeds for the side quest we just did, and two that hold the flight stones.
Okay so far, so good. Now let's return to the first 18. I said there were five levels of crafting goods. However, you're really only going to get level one goods no matter what you do. How do you get the higher level materials, then? Easy: Natalia has a series of titles she can obtain, and each one will make it easier to get higher level goods. They are:
Curious Princess: 80% chance of getting Level Two goods. You unlock it by visiting six search points and then talking to Din.
Star of Malkuth: 80% chance of getting Level Three goods (also a costume title). We won't be getting this for some time, which is fine because I don't care about level three goods.
Labyrinth Princess: 80% chance of getting Level Four goods. We need this title, and we'll get it this update by completing the worst side quest known to man.
Adventurous Princess: 80% chance of getting Level Five goods. You get this one by visiting all 27 search points (unmarked and marked) and talking to Din. Oh, and it's a costume.
I actually like it. It kinda makes her look like Indy.
Now then, we have Curious Princess and Adventurous Princess. Great, but for the item I want we also need Labyrinth Princess, since the primary material for the item is a level four good. So how do we get that one.
This guy.
I don't think I showed it off, but this asshole eventually shows up standing out in front of this mansion at Keterburg. Talk to him the first time, and you convince him to buy the mansion. Talk to him a second time, and he asks for 200,000 gald to renovate the place into, and I'll quote “something you'll like.” HAH HAH
The third time, he unveils his creation: a maze. No really: dude built a five level deep maze in the basement of the mansion. And he'll let you play in it, for free! FUCKING GREAT.
If you haven't guessed yet, Natalia gets her Labyrinth Princess title from completing all five levels of the maze. Ready?
Labryinth
Listen to this music. LISTEN TO IT. You thought the warehouse music was bad? You haven't felt pain. Now imagine listening to the fucking track looping over and over and over and over and over and over AND OVER AND OVER as I replayed this stupid goddamn maze for over two hours to beat it. Can you feel it? Can you feel just a little shred of my suffering? I fucking hope so!
….Right, sorry. Lost it a little there. So, the maze. If you really want to watch this, I won't stop you, but I suggest against it.
Each level has two goals. First goal is simply to reach the end and proceed to the next level. However to proceed you have to complete the second goal, which is monster slaying. There are a healthy number of monsters in each level, however five of them specifically need to be killed for you to move on. How can you tell which five? You can't, beyond trial and error and replaying the levels over and over again. Like I did. Have I mentioned that yet?
Two other mechanics are that you have a life meter (it goes down if monsters hit you) and a timer. There's a time limit for each maze level, though the game doesn't tell you what it is.
Oh, and there's traps. Did I mention the traps? Most of them just eat some health, but the most awful trap are the trap doors. They're only slightly darker than the rest of the floor, and the texture is already so muddy that it can be hard to tell unless you squint. Additionally, unlike other traps which just suck health, trap doors are a straight up game over. You just get thrown out of the maze and have to do the whole thing over again. So watch your step!
At the end of each level you get a score. You know, in case you were demented enough to want to try to beat it!
Right, I'll try to cover the rest fairly quickly. Level two introduces spike traps, which hurt you if you run over them too fast.
Level three turns it up a notch with box pushing! Horror!
Level four introduces the biggest dick move in the maze: spring boards. They jump you to another part of the maze, and are required to navigate it fully. The problem is that spring board tiles are colored exactly like trap door tiles, so you won't know which is which without a lot of trial and error.
Level five introduces the final hurdle: Mieu wing doors. You just have to Mieu wing on to it and a door opens. It isn't hard, but if you don't have Mieu wing you're completely boned and can't finish the maze.
This sidequest can rot in hell.
….So, what was all that for?
To make this for Natalia. The Elven Bow is really the one and only item I'm going to get from Din the entire game. It's slightly weaker than the bow Natalia had previously, but only by like 20 attack so it's completely unnoticeable. It has another function which I'll show off later. Much, much later. The reason I needed to get Natalia's Labyrinth Princess title first was that the Elven Bow requires you to give Din something like 80 sacred bark, which is a level four item, hence the need for the title. This game sometimes, I swear.
Right, sorry for the sidequest derail. Back to the plot.
Malkuth Briefing + Declaration of the New Order
: “Have you found anything out about it yet?”
: “Chief of Staff Sessemann has all the information. He's in the rear conference room.”: “The rear conference room. Let's hurry.”
: “Yes, sir. We've learned that the island floating above the Central Ocean may be Hod.”
: “Ahh, so it's true!”: “So it really is Hod?”: “Well, it's surrounded by a protective barrier formed by the Planet Storm. It's impossible to observe from here.”
: “Then what lead you to suspect it might be Hod, sir?”: “It is located exactly where Hod was in the Outer Lands.”: “If it is Hod, then we can assume it's a replica created through Fomicry.”: “Yes. I doubt it could be anything else. Replica data for the entire island was taken just before its destruction.”
: “Weren't a lot of Seventh Fonons being consumed in that area?”: “Correct. Which suggests that all of this was Van's doing...”: “But wait, the replicas were all saying it was Mohs.”
: “...What do you think, Jade?”: “Perhaps fonons within the two lands are interfering with one another, causing a hyperresonance.”: “Yes, I would imagine that's the case. I'm headed to speak with His Majesty!”
: “Let's go see the King ourselves. I'll explain things there.”You better!
: “That's Mohs' voice!”: “Huh? Where is it coming from?”: “I don't know. It seems like... the sky. But that's...”
: “I am Mohs, Fon Master of the New Order of Lorelei! Hah hah! Ah hah hah hah hah! Swallowed by the Qliphoth, shrouded in the miasma, the world today lies on the verge of destruction. And why is that? It is because both Kimlasca and Malkuth have abandoned Yulia's Score!”
: “Your Majesty! This is...”
: “Yes... Mohs, that bastard! Just what is he trying to accomplish?”
: “...This isn't good.”: “No, this sort of thing could easily make the citizens panic.”: “We, the New Order of Lorelei, have created the Glorious Land of Eldrant from the Isle of Hod. From here, we will see that the world once more follows the Score. Hah hah hah hah! Furthermore, we demand reparations from and the surrender of Kimlasca and Malkuth.”
: “The Order shall dispatch a messenger to both nations. I eagerly await your responses. C-citizens, I say it is y-your duty to r-rise up against a-any who would reject the Score!”
: “...Mohs' mind has already begun to degenerate from the neural contamination.”: “Neural contamination?”
: “Mohs absorbed many Seventh Fonons without any ability to control them.”: “Mohs' consciousness has begun to reject the Seventh Fonon. He's losing his capacity for rational thought.”: “So that's neural contamination...”: “He still created this preposterous New Order of Lorelei of his own will. His zeal for the Score is beyond all reason.”
: “I won't allow someone like him to destroy the Order Ion tried to renew!”: “Let's see the Emperor. Neither Emperor Peony nor King Ingobert would give into Mohs' demands.”: “Yes, I agree. We should start formulating countermeasures now to prepare for the worst.”Meanwhile...
: “Hmm, he didn't last long after the Seventh Fonon implantation.”
: “This extreme a result, from such a small quantity... what if the Commandant cannot control Lorelei...?”
: “Van is a Seventh Fonist. He won't see consequences like these.”: “Wh...whhat are yyyou... talkk.... *cough*...?!”
: “It's time. Let's go.”
...How does he do that flip without falling out of the chair? Whatever.
: “Yes. We believe it's due to a quasi hyperresonance caused by the replica land interacting with the original.”: “Quasi hyperresonance?”: “The replica land currently expanding around Eldrant is in all likelihood being constructed as replica data is extracted from the world's surface.”: “So for an instant, the newly created replica and the original share the same Seventh Fonons. At that time, interference similar to a hyperresonance takes place.”
: “In other words, the original land is destroyed as the replica land is created.”: “Well then I guess we'd better stop it soon!”: “Where do you think the fomicry facility creating the replica landmass is?”: “On Eldrant, would be my guess. It takes a long time to extract the data from a landmass. We should still be able to stop it.”: “Might we leave this matter to you? We have no means of reaching the sky.”
: “Of course. We'll do everything in our power.”: “The Malkuth armed forces will secure land defenses.”: “Kimlasca will aid you in that as well.”: “Natalia, why don't you propose that summit about the Score, now?”: “Oh, that's right. Kimlasca, Malkuth, and the Order of Lorelei should all come together. They'll be a lot more effective against the New Order of Lorelei that way.”: “Yes, you're right. Perhaps now is the time for such a gathering.”: “If Your Majesties would grant us your presence, we could also discuss strategies against Eldrant.”: “What are you all suggesting?”: “Guy? Explain.”
: “Isn't that Natalia's job? ...All right, whatever.”It never gets old.
: “Yes, I think that would be best.”: “King Ingobert is already aware of the situation, so that leaves Teodoro next, right?'”: “Yes, let's head for Yulia City.”Okay!
Skit: The Power of Hyperresonance
: “Quasi hyperresonance... like when Tear and I were thrown to Tataroo Valley...”: “Quasi it may be, but it's still hyperresonance. How strong is it?”: “Around forty percent of real hyperresonance, in theory. That's still enough to destroy matter.”: “No different from my hyperresonance, huh...?”: “If you set off a full-strength hyperresonance, not even dust would remain. The fact that even part of Akzeriuth remained is because your abilities are limited, and unstable.”: “Oh... okay...”: “It's also why Asch doesn't use hyperresonance in battle – it's simply too powerful. Real hyperresonance would even annihilate the atmosphere. We should consider ourselves lucky.”: “Yeah, but that's not going to stop the world from disintegrating as the replicas are made. You can hardly call that lucky.”: “Dammit... we've got to do something about Eldrant.”: “Which means dealing with the Planet Storm, and the New Order of Lorelei, and... well, we got a lot of work ahead of us.”Arietta's Challenge
: “Largo...!”
: “You certainly took your time. Not that I was eager to see you again.”
: “Hah hah hah. Don't be that way. Arietta says she'll meet you in the Cheagle Woods.”
: “Arietta... so she really wants to go through with this duel.”
: “She wants to fight in our forest?”: “I wonder why there of all places...”: “That was where her mother died.”: “So you're her mediator.”: “Then if Arietta should lose, you're the next in line to fight, is that correct?”: “No, I'm only here to move things along. And I can't imagine Arietta losing.”
: “Anise, you okay? You look like you're pushing yourself a bit.”: “Isn't there someone else you should be worrying about more than me?”: “Who, Natalia?”: “He hasn't realized how badly she was hurt...”: “He's still not very sensitive to these things.”: “What? What are you guys talking about?”: “You'll figure it out.”I don't really get this part. Why is Natalia upset? We haven't even told her anything about how Largo might be her father. So why does she have reason to be upset over that confrontation? Did the writers forget we haven't told her? Whatever.
Skit: For Arietta...
: “Anise, is it really necessary for the two of you to duel?”: “Arietta probably needs it, at the very least.”: “There is the option of not accepting the duel and inviting her hatred... it would give Arietta something to live for, you could say.”: “But that would be too cruel to Anise...”
: “...Actually I thought about that too.”
: “Anise... how could you?”
: “But... ever since she was born, Van's been pulling her strings. This duel is something she finally decided on all by herself... so I want to accept it.”: “...Okay. I won't try to stop you anymore.”: “But it's so sad, though. If only there was some other way...”: “...Thanks, Natalia.”Let's not keep Arietta waiting, then.
Resolution of Friendship
: “Anise! Are you planning on going alone?”: “Yes. This is my problem.”
: “Ion was our friend, too. If this is about him, then it's our problem. All of us... and you're our friend too, Anise.”: “...Me? The one who was spying on you this whole time?”: “You didn't have any other choice, did you?”: “Arietta will have all her monster friends. We should keep things fair.”
: “Ion sacrificed himself to save me. If that led to a duel, I need to be present.”
: “You would say something like that, Colonel.... okay! All right! All of you, you're coming with me!”
: “Right.”Skit: Memories of Ion
: “Come to think of it, this is the first place I ever really talked to Ion.”
: “So it is. He gave you a capacity core, too.”: “He sure was weird. I mean, I was pretty nasty back then, but he lept talking about how nice I was...”: “He said you felt familiar.”: “I wonder... was it because we're both replicas?”: “I don't know if replicas can recognize each other, but...”: “...But what?”: “I don't believe in reincarnation, but perhaps, sometime in the distant past, you and Ion were close friends. That sounds better than 'because we're replicas.' At least, for me it does.”Aww, Jade.
: “Hah hah hah! That doesn't really seem like you, but yeah, that's nice.”: “Yeah, it is. Ion... I'm so glad I met you.”Boss Battle: Arietta the Wild (Final) + Aftermath of the Duel
: “I've been waiting!”: “All right. Let's get this over with.”: “What a lively little girl, But a duel needs some rules.”: “I'll fight with my friends. You fight as a group of four, too.”: “Arietta, you've helped us in the past. Can't we talk this over?”
: “Your deaths will be for Mommy. Anise, yours is for Ion! For Van too. I'll finish all of you!”
: “You're not the only one that wants vengence!”: “...Anise, prepare to die!”
: "You're Ion's, mommy's and everyone's enemy!": "I'm not looking for your forgiveness but I won't lose, either!": "If you're going to fight Anise, you'll have to fight us, too!": "How could you?! You were supposed to protect Ion! That was your job! Murderer!"
: "You should understand that that is part of a soldier's job.": "For me, you are the enemy of those under my command."
: "It's unfortunate, little girl, but you'll find enemies everywhere.": "I know that! But...but...": "We all have something inside that no one else can know. You, me, everyone.": "Whining won't do you any good. I'll bear your grudge, I'll take it!": "Goodbye, Anise!"This is a very special boss battle, for a few reasons. First of all, I've jacked up the difficulty to Very Hard. This fight is already punishing, and now if you watch the videos you'll get to see my most hard fought battle yet. Second, I'm playing as Anise because... well it's fitting, you know?
Arietta herself is a very potent spellcaster who will drop Negative Gate and Bloody Howling like they're nothing. Additionally she loves to cast barrier on herself and her monster friends, and she's very, very hard to stagger.
Oh, and you may also notice that Luke's just kind of chilling for the first half of the fight. That's because I was doing some off-screen shenanigans and forgot to take Luke off of guard mode. I notice and correct this once Arietta's monster friends start dropping my casters unopposed.
All right, no more games.
: “Fever time, baby!”
: “And you don't stop!”
Fever Time is Anise's second mystic arte, and is no doubt the weirdest. Anise drops a ton of giant gold coins on her opponent, then finishes with a karate chop that turns into a giant firework explosion in the shake of Tokunaga.
Oh, and it costs 20,000 gald to use. Yeah, I don't know either. The requirements for the mystic arte are to be on a second playthrough (pretty much every second mystic arte is like that) and to have used Anise's move “Lucky” over 100 times. It's activated by then using Lucky while in Overlimit and having at least 20,000 gald on you.
This pisses Arietta right off.
Evil Light is Arietta's first mystic arte. She creates a giant swirling vortex of energy around her that damages anybody near her, then finishes off with a giant laser beam. It hurts, but it's nowhere near as bad as her second mystic ar-
FUCK.
So yeah. Big Bang is a lot like Mystic Cage. It hits everybody on the screen regardless of position for about ~6k damage. The upshot is that it can't actually kill you, but it will reduce your whole party to 1 hp, guaranteed.
Specific is a godsend in this fight.
Even then, the damage is done and Tear just can't get a decent heal in before somebody gets dropped.
Yeah, I'm not kidding. I got really close to losing this fight cold.
Luckily I manage to get Tear up, and while she goes about bringing the rest of the party back up to speed I finally finish off Arietta with a sick upper cut.
In fact I've been dealing out so much pain I got overlimit again!
If you think the fight is over just because Arietta is out of the running, sober up. These guys are strong in their own right, and Luke is having trouble staying alive. Actually, I'm having trouble, too.
Finally however, the whole party is back up and relatively healed.
The bird goes down. Now with all four party members jumping it, the Liger doesn't stand a chance.
It's over.
Six minutes, damn. Certainly a climactic fight.
: “Arietta...”: “Mommy... everyone... I'm sorry... I couldn't avenge you... Ion... where are you...? It hurts.... Ion...”
: “You'll only insult her. Arietta risked her life fighting for her goals, and died in the process. Pitying her means mocking the ideals she fought for.”: “...Yeah.”: “The one true shame is that she couldn't witness the rebirth of the Isle of Feres.”: “If that's how you feel, why didn't you stop her?”: “She resolved herself to do this, even if it cost her her life. Who could have stopped her? Arietta felt indebted to Ion, Van, and those monsters for their help. It's only natural she would fight for them.”: “...Even though Van was only deceiving her?”: “He wasn't deceiving her. Arietta would have killed herself if she knew the real Fon Master had died. That was Van's kindness.”: “So Arietta joined the Six God-Generals to repay that debt.”
: “...That name died long ago. In the sea of Baticul, where my wife sleeps.”
: “I see. So you found it.”: “So you won't introduce yourself?”: “What's the point? An enemy's an enemy. It's as simple as that. You're soft, boy.”
: “I'll avenge Arietta then.”
: “I'm sorry, I can't tell you right now.”: “...But you'll promise to tell me later?”: “...Yes. I promise.”: “All right. We can't just hang around here all day. Weren't we headed to Yulia City for that summit about the Score?”: “Yeah, you're right. Anise, you okay to head out?”: “...Yeah. I'm fine.”: “Then let's go.”
Next Time: The True Replica Problem
Synopsis:
Unfortunately, the island was protected by the Planet Storm, and we
couldn't approach it. There's not much we can do about it now, so we decided
to head for Grand Chokmah instead, where Jade says the replica data from the
original Hod is stored.
We ran into General Nordheim at the entrance to the Malkuth army
headquarters. He and Chief of Staff Sesemann were gathering information on
the floating island, so we went along with him.
It looks like that island really is a replica of Hod. And worse, the new
Hod seems to be causing a sort of hyperresonance that's destroying the nearby
islands. Jade and Sesemann seem to understand what's going on, and they're
headed to speak with Emperor Peony and explain the situation. The rest of us
followed them to the audience hall.
The moment we stepped outside, we suddenly heard Mohs' voice from the sky,
speaking to the entire world using some sort of radio technology that hasn't
been perfected yet. Mohs called himself the Fon Master of the New Order of
Lorelei, a new religious group dedicated to protecting the Score, and
declared war on Kimlasca and Malkuth. But his voice sounded strange... It
looks like the forcible injection of the Seventh Fonon into his body has
caused neural contamination, and Mohs is slowly losing his sanity.
At any rate, this makes things a lot more difficult. The people of both
countries will likely side with the New Order of Lorelei in order to get the
Score back...they may even riot. First things first--let's speak with Emperor
Peony.
In the audience hall, Jade explained about the appearance of the new Hod,
as well as what he called "quasi hyperresonance."
Basically, Master Van is extracting replica data from Auldrant and using
that to create replicas. As a result, a quasi hyperresonance occurs between
the original land and its replica, resulting in the original being destroyed.
So as long as the replication continues, more and more land will be destroyed.
Of course, it will take some time to extract the replica data for the
entire planet, so it's not like the originals will disappear immediately. And
Jade suggested that the fomicry equipment creating the replicas was probably
on Eldrant, the name Mohs gave to the new Hod.
Right now, we're the only ones who are able to fly, so it's our job to
stop the fomicry taking place on Eldrant. It was also decided to hold a
summit on how to deal with the New Order of Lorelei, so that both countries
and the original Order can come to an agreement on the measures to be taken.
Emperor Peony agreed. Uncle--the King also knows about the summit, so now
we just need to check with Teodoro in Yulia City.
When we left the castle, Largo was waiting for us. He told us that Arietta
was waiting for us in the Cheagle Woods. So the time for the duel has finally
arrived... Let's let Anise take care of that before we go to Yulia City.
The Cheagle Woods were unchanged from the last time we visited them. It's
a little painful remembering Ion, but he probably wouldn't want to see us
spending all our time moping over him.
Anise told us to wait at the entrance to the forest. But Anise is...well,
this is kind of embarrassing to say, but she's one of us. We can't let her go
alone. We headed deeper into the forest to face Arietta together.
The duel between Arietta and Anise began. Anise never once spoke the truth
about Ion, and in the end, Arietta lost the duel and breathed her last.
Largo, the mediator, watched everything, then left--tacitly admitting that
he was in fact Badaq.
It must have been tough on Anise but she insisted that she was fine, so we
headed for Yulia City to finally take care of arranging the summit on the
Score.