Part 103: Shall we?

-Dreamy and Boisterous Holy Land-





Some say it has a psychotic aversion to spiky hair...



...and Acerbic Tomato juice runs in its veins.



All we know is: it's called the Stigma.





















animu was the real enemy all along

so many warnings that went unheeded in our hubris



Anima Mundi's boss pattern starts out with this.







As long as any of the pillars are still standing Anima will be invulnerable to attack, and will always cast a unique, powerful art on its turns.



Each pillar is vulnerable to only one element (and physical attacks).



I don't think I ever mentioned this, but Kevin's spear S-Crafts each have an element.



Spear of Loa is Time-element, and Spear of Ur is Space. Those are the two most common weaknesses in the game, so that's been a huge boon up until now.



Against Anima's first phase, though, it's a crippling weakness. Kevin's S-Break will only damage either the Heaven or Chronos Pillar.



If you want to deal with the pillars efficiently then you'll need multiple casters geared up to fling every element, or someone else with a fullscreen S-Craft like Agate or Joshua here.



Hell, Josette should do just fine if she's got a Masquerader and Tiger Heart.









If I can chip the pillars for 3,000 damage each, Joshua should be able to take them all out in one strike.













Or I could just toss him a Zeram Powder so he can S-Break twice in a row, but let's see what happens if you let Anima finish casting.









oh and there's no reason to not abuse the hell out of Earth Guard, Earth Wall, and Gaia Shield here. Keeping those Max Guards in place should be priority one.







Pillars: pulped.



As an alternative, you could just drop a Genesic Barrier and then laugh off Sept-Crisis while you take the pillars out at your leisure. The issue there is that you might push AM into its second phase before your barrier wears off, and then you won't be able to reapply Max Guard or other arts buffs.



Here's where the real battle begins.



-Dreamy and Boisterous Holy Land (Nasty Children)-















Grand Grimoires vanish your party members. They'll also explode on death for heavy damage and erase the square they're sitting on.







When you're the final boss, every attack needs to have a name--even if it's just a big ol' slap. Air Cleaver Yin inflicts Faint.













At 75% HP, AM will start switching things up.









The new color increases Anima's defense and gives it one or two extra attacks...but also makes it vulnerable to Time.





















The new paint job will wear off eventually.













I know how this must look, but let me assure you that Anima is conjuring the sword from a fiery portal in front of it. Templar Sword Zek Wo is appropriate for all ages.





And now we'll see Anima Mundi's strongest attack. This is a prime time to unload on it, buuut you should batten down the hatches first.













Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this means Estelle has set the damage record for this playthrough. Better luck next time, Richard.

































hmm. Now I'm wondering if Tita or Zin could survive that. Maybe not on a crit.





Stigma Cannon Megalegadingdong will tear a huge chunk out of the battlefield and make it tougher to avoid small-area attacks like Cleaver Yin, Zek Wo, or Become Darkness. If you're really unlucky, some of your party members might be isolated in a place where they can't attack Animal Monkey or use items on anyone else. It doesn't seem to go in for dropping your dudes out of play completely like Angel Weissmann did, though.







Anima will try one last color change when it's on the ropes.







Now it can eat your buffs. Your buffs!



There they go. Honestly, I wish more Trails bosses did stuff like that.



But it's also vulnerable to Space.



And this makes me think that Anima Mundi has been lying its virtual ass off.

Consider the people, or engrams of people, that we've run into in Phantasma. Every last one has been on Kevin's side. Some were compelled to fight against Kevin's team, but they were still rooting for him to solve this mess and escape. Even Weissmann of all people wanted to help, in his own...oh so special way.

Anima itself is based on Rufina Argent, Zemuria's Number One Kevin Booster for fifteen years running, and his Stigma. Now Stigmas are powerful, alien, and not very nice, but we haven't been given any reason to believe that they ever act to endanger their bearers. If Anima's composite personality is as intact as everyone else who's been copied into Phantasma, it won't inflict any lasting harm on Kevin. It can't.

If it really wanted to, it could have just hauled Kevin into Gehenna alone and been done with it. There'd be no point in setting up six planes of trials, or calling in allies to support Kevin along the way like Estelle Bright, Living Avatar of the Power of JRPG Friendship, or Ries Argent, the only family he has left in the world. Even when Kevin was right in front of it and submitting, it didn't take the chance. It did threaten Ries, though...and that sure lit a fire under Kevin's ass, didn't it? Maybe it was the last thing that could have.

The Lord of Phantasma has never been serious about eating Kevin, or punishing him for his sins, or taking over the world, or whatever else. It wants Kevin to make peace with all the horror in his past. It wants him to grow stronger and win. This has all been for his sake.

But I digress.