Part 151: It's time you realized just what it means to oppose me.

-Confession-



Joshua...I'm sorry...I said I wouldn't die...I promised I'd...walk with you...
JOSHUA! Wake your dumb ass up and stop!
But I believe in you.
Joshua...don't give in. Don't run away from reality...Even if I die...



-Silver Will-





Awww, yeah! That's checkmate!



Sorry, Estelle.
I didn't mean to scare you like that.



He can't possibly have reclaimed his will with the--
Wait!



The Stigma! What happened to the Stigma on your shoulder?!
Oh, yes. That.
The Stigma you carved into my flesh and mind is gone. Thanks to you, it has been shattered.
But...HOW?!



I've been 'poking' at the wedge on my own since then, getting it ready to shatter the Stigma the instant someone put pressure on it.
What?! You...
A...what now?
A wedge. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep our promise, the way things were going. So I asked Kevin for a little hypnotic assistance after we crashed.
Kevin?!
Ahahaaa...Guilty as charged! Honestly, I wasn't even sure what to make of his crazy plan at first.
If he'd bet wrong, I dread to think what could have ended up happening...
So, uh, hey! Good job beating the odds there, J!
Haha...Thank you, Kevin.
Well, uh, haha...Not what I expected, but I'm not gonna complain!
Father Graham, was it? I thought you were just a fledgling little Squire, but it seems I underestimated your bag of tricks. A mistake I'll not repeat.
I say it's more the guidance of Aidios than anything.
I guess I really shouldn't expect you to get it, what with you turning your back on the faith and all.
Besides, wasn't really my idea to start with! Someone else gave Joshua the idea, and I just ran with it!
What? Who else...?
NO! CASSIUS BRIGHT, DAMN YOU!
Dad...?





Yes. That was why he wanted to make sure only I read the letter, just in case anyone was listening in.
'I suspect your best chance of breaking the curse lies in Father Kevin's hands. How to use that key is a decision that must be yours alone to make.'
'Win your freedom by predicting what Weissmann will do.'
Heh...Yeah, that's the old man, all right.
The power of bonds IS stronger than evil...just so long as it's bonds with hardcore badasses who can beat the dark lord at his own game.
Oh, for crying out...Dad could've dropped me a HINT about this, at least!
...
Honestly, I'd been worried about it for a long time. I kept wondering what you would make me do if you took control of me again.
And so, knowing you, I decided to bet everything on one idea. That you couldn't possibly resist ordering me to do the one thing I feared the most.
And sure enough, you ordered it...and that broke the Stigma. I'm finally...completely free of you.
Joshua...
...You foolish little child. If you had just obeyed me, you could have aspired to such heights. I could have advanced you in ways you cannot even dream of!
Much like how Estelle turned you down once...I really have no interest in any of that.
Besides, if I've learned anything in this whole journey, it's that one's path in life isn't given by someone else. It's something you find WITH others as you search for it, no matter how dark your surroundings.
Hahah! Absurd! The history of man is stained with the blood of fools who tried finding your 'path'! Without a guiding light to shine on that road, they shall remain lost!
You're wrong! We use the light we each give off to find our way together!
That is how we found our way here, through all your cynical traps!
That's right!
Heh...Heheh...You do like your speeches, don't you, you shambling wreck of an Enforcer.
Show me, then. Show me this light you claim will guide you through the darkness.

-A Gravestone Struck By Lightning-





...the blinding light of a loyal servant of the Grandmaster! The power of the Faceless, one of the Anguis!



BRING IT ON!
The one being blinded here is you!



I've had a chance to rethink Weissmann's tombstone.



He won't be getting one.











Kneel before me!











Agate getting Muted is actually kind of a pain right now. He can't Clock himself, and I don't want to use any of his CP on a ranged craft or move him out of Earth Wall position.













Begone!
The Vanish status effect is a new gimmick reserved just for Weissmann. Whoever he hits with Dimensional Exile is removed from play for a round or two. There's no way to counter it--you just have to wait for the vanished team member to come back on their own, and their EP will be reduced to 0 when they do. It is a serious pain when Weissmann uses this on one of your art-casters. If he had hit Kevin with it at any point here, I would have been in deep trouble.





Ha ha ha ha...Can you feel it? The despair?



How does that feel?



Come! SQUIRM for me! Ahahahahahahahaha!





-Silence-



To think that you would be so damned tenacious...
*pant* *pant*
Hey, 'Professor,' about time you dropped that 'holier than thou' act.
Heh. Someone knows he's up against the wall.
Heh heh. Pathetic.
You haven't even realized you're standing on your graves.
What?





Weissmann, what are you doing?!
I had intended to offer it to the Grandmaster like this, but I must change my plans. It's time you realized just what it means to oppose me.

-Gospel Project-













He wouldn't...!
Oh, no...No no no! Don't FUSE with the Aureole, you heretical maniac!







Is that...yup. Of course it is.







You are so beyond kidding me at this point!
This overwhelming power! Can...barely stand...










Weissmann's numinous vajayjay is totally impregnable impervious.







This is nuts! Our attacks aren't hitting him at all!
He's got some kind of barrier up! But if it's negating even our arts and our best techniques...






The evil eye AGAIN!
You sick, twisted son of a...
Weissmann...let them go.




Man's Voice: I can't believe this. Forget 'bad taste.' The only word for you at this point is 'sick.'
Who...?!

-The Truth Behind The Tragedy-





Loewe!





I suppose it can't.
I did have a question for you, though, Weissmann. Just how involved were you in Hamel?
Wait, what?!

Because you're a snake.
You appear before people in their moments of weakness and whisper plans into their ears that lead to their destruction. And, in doing so, you achieve your goals without ever dirtying your belly.
...That's just your way of doing things.
No...He...Would he...?
Does a bear shit in the attic?
The ringleaders of the hawks were nothing more than political losers who had nowhere else to go. There were a few questions I couldn't answer at first, but if even the war ten years ago was part of your plan...
It then occurred to me. Everything made sense.

WH-WH-WHAT?!

You son of a bitch...Mischa died just so you could prove a goddamn POINT?
One more sin for the pile, eh...?
I...I think I'm gonna be sick...
I see. Essentially as I thought, then.

Hah. Have you forgotten? I've long since learned to stay my anger.
However, you knocked me out from behind back there. That is an insult the Bladelord cannot abide. That, alone, I shall be paying back in full.




Yes. The sword granted to me by the Grandmaster.
Just like your staff. It's a demon sword forged through the Divergent Laws.










LOEWE!
Forget about me! Your path...is clear! Strike him down!
Loewe...








Just try it, you son of a bitch!
Okay, you! As a bracer! As a citizen of Liberl!
And more than anything, as a human being! I'm TAKING YOU DOWN!
Weissmann...this is the end!