Trails in the Sky the 3rd Part #102 - How do you expect to defeat me?

Part 102: How do you expect to defeat me?

-The Way of the Heart-

Heehee... Welcome.

I'm impressed you were able to make it all this way to me.

Rufina...

Darn right, we did.

For the record, I saw all that happened in Gehenna from here.

I wasn't expecting you to have the will to resist Weissmann's proposal.

I'll be honest. If Ries hadn't been with me, he might've swayed me.

So don't give me too much credit. I'm still the same cowardly loser I always was.

People don't change their ways that easily.

Don't say that...

You look surprisingly relaxed for someone talking about how hopeless they are.

If you have so little confidence in yourself, you might be in for some trouble. Remember, Kevin: if you can't defeat me, Phantasma isn't going anywhere. You do understand that, right?

Yeah. I know.

Worse still, it'll probably start affecting the real world soon... Right now, its effects are limited to Phantasma's own borders, but that might not stay that way forever.

Right?

What?!

S-Seriously?!

Unfortunately, I think he's right on track.

Well, well. You noticed.

Phantasma has been taking in people's desires for thousands of years now, and it's starting to hit the limits of its own capacity. In order to release some of the pressure that's been building up within, it's likely it will start to erode away the real world.
This is why you're not allowed to wish for more wishes. Be responsible.

Thought so...

It won't be something that happens overnight... but slowly, its influence will start to extend across the land, blurring the line between this world and yours.

Until eventually, the real world will be filled with devils and ghosts like this one.

N-No way...
Somebody's never seen a flock of Creepy Sheep defending their nest. Those devils will last five minutes.

I would ask that you not despair at the thought.

The real world could be easily influenced by people's wishes and desires. If all the world's population genuinely wished for a better, more peaceful world...maybe it would actually happen.

Perhaps being taken over by Phantasma may even be in the real world's best interests.

...Screw that. There's no way that's true.

Is that so?

-Cradle Where Feelings Rest-

No one who knows the first thing about life before the Aureole could believe it would be that simple.

The people back in those days were able to make their desires reality using it. And all it did was lead people down a path toward ruin and force them to lock it away in order to ensure humanity's future.

Letting Phantasma take over the continent would no doubt be a repeat of the same thing.

...

I know you don't believe for a second that's how people should live, Rufina.

Even after becoming a knight, you never relied on force to solve problems. You were always thinking. Always trying to find the best solution. When I was ready to give up on life and wallow in my own despair, you were the one who made me face reality.

It was because you knew that life doesn't always go the way people want it to that you were strong enough to do that for me. You knew that the only way to make the world a better place was for people to be strong together and MAKE it that way. Am I wrong?

...

It took me falling down to Gehenna with Ries for me to finally realize that, but I did.

I realized all over again just how pitiful a man I used to be.

I never stopped to think what your final thoughts must have been when you gave your life to save me... I never stopped to think whether I could've done something for Mom instead of running away from her... I just acted like a spoiled brat trying to find a way to be 'punished,' because I thought by doing that, maybe I could finally be forgiven.

It's taken me a long time to see that, but here I am.

Kevin...

You know what, though? I'm fine with how long it took. I'm a long ways off from being able to compare to you, but at least I know what direction I should be walking now. Maybe if I start walking today, one day, I'll actually be able to reach the place where you used to stand.

So that's why...I feel like I can finally start accepting myself for how I am.

Kevin...

Heehee. You sound like a new man, Kevin.

...

It looks like my attempts to punish you ended up having quite an unintended result.

Mind you, Kevin, I wouldn't put me on a pedestal if I were you. The world we stand in is one affected by the will of those within. If you're convinced that you are inferior to me... how do you expect to defeat me?

That's true...

Well, you're right.

Or you would be if you weren't just a copy of her.

-Silence-

...What?

She is?!

-Cry for your Eternity (Evolution)-

The game's up. I know exactly what you are now.

You're this world's core--the reason it can operate autonomously... but you're not Rufina.

You're the copy of my Stigma that was made here half a year ago!

How...? How did you work that out?!

There it is!

Kevin's Stigma!

Maybe I can't match up to Rufina, but I'm not fighting her. I'm fighting YOU.

I'm not gonna lose to my own Stigma, and I'm gonna set her free from you!

So get ready for one hell of a beatdown!

Hahaha... Go ahead and try, Kevin Graham!

By devouring you, my original, I will be able to become fully complete!

As we speak, my minions are extending a warm welcome to your friends...

Should a single group of them fail, the future will be closed forever...

Thy very beings shall be devoured by this land, drawn upon as sustenance!

My name is Anima... I am this world's center, its core, its very essence!

-Banquet of Frenzy-

I guess we've got no choice but to fight.

If those are the rules of this game, we'll be happy to play by them!

So I can finally take that first true step towards accepting myself...

...and so all of us can be reunited again--so we can return safely to our world...

...we ARE going to defeat you!

First up is Goldy-Moldy.

The Arrow Angels' delay & petrify might be the biggest threats here.

You might have already noticed that Phantasmagoria on Normal difficulty is not exactly balanced around everyone having Zemurian Ore weapons, Gabe & Raph armor, multiples of all the unique quartz and accessories, etc. etc.

G0rdias mostly sticks to throwing improbably fast haymakers, and running you over. It hardly ever uses its shoulder cannons or Lennie clutch.

Your melee attackers should have high MOV because it likes to fly across the whole field. I don't know why Anelace's MOV is so abysmal but CHECK THIS OUT:

I bet that's something you never thought you'd ever see in your life, eh?

just never mind that everyone's already fast enough to get twice as many turns as the enemy

Our banquet's next course: Rhubarb Gazpacho.

Put your hands in the air, like you just don't care.

Then...generate a cataclysmic solar flare?

That is not how the song's supposed to go.

I'm sure Gus has its own version of the Death Rage attack from FC, but I've never ever seen it.

Mueller doing as much damage as the other three combined, and one of them is Julia

Last but not least: Ragnard the Red.

I think Schera might be the single best Time Gem user in the party.

It could just be my imagination, but I'd almost swear she can cast faster than Kevin or Renne. Her offense & defense don't seem to suffer as much either.