Part 83: Update LXV - Ending VI: Evil / Hard

Update LXV - Ending VI: Evil / Hard



♪ BGM: Step By Step ♫



♪ BGM: The Inner Sanctum - lastdecision.mid ♫

Welcome to the final ending. At first, things go like the normal difficulty evil ending. Alaine and Asgar get killed, and Jayna gets ready to cast the spell. She and Raron step to the stone tablet, but then...



DUN

DUN

DUNNNNNNNNN

What did you say?
Your time is up...
Are you nuts, Morlon?
I am not Morlon. Your pathetic Shadow Wraith is inside me, but he has no control over me. You are so easy to fool...
Why did you kill your friends?
Asgar was never my "friend". I have merely tolerated him. But that is over now... Alaine was merely a way to cause Asgar pain. I knew that he loved her. I enjoyed it that he was craving Alaine, without ever being able to have her because she loved ME! Asgar has destroyed my life. Turned me into something that I never wanted to become. A bloodsucker, an undead... despised by this world. But this is my biggest triumph. Thanks to your sordid Shadow Wraith inside me, I was easily able to kill Asgar. But I have this Shadow Wraith under control. Thanks to the life rune from Ustra...
Ustra has found a way to destroy a Shadow Wraith inside the body of its host? Curses...
Whatever, this will not save you from our power!



♪ BGM: Endgame Battles - BossBattle.mid ♫

And now it's time to fight these two Elras with only Valnar!



Like the last time we fought these two on hard difficulty, they lose 6000 HP right off the bat. I think this is the reason this enemy group is set to do that on hard difficulty, with the same thing happening on the good ending branch being an unintended side effect.

Anyway, this fight takes some time. Gorgoth just loves casting healing spells this time around, and even with spells like Resistance Aura and Cold Strength boosting Valnar, I still have to use elixirs to heal quite a bit. This is very probably the hardest fight in the game just because we're outnumbered and these two have the strongest resistances to status effects.



Oh, by the way, Ghadar still casts Death Haze. I got lucky, but I'm pretty sure this spell working can just instantly game over you. Eventually, both of them bite the dust.



♪ BGM: The Inner Sanctum - lastdecision.mid ♫

Come on, kill me! Kill YOUR DAUGHTER!
You have betrayed me, and that's why you're going to die now!



Evil Valnar cares not for your guilt-tripping attempts.

You can't destroy us! As soon as you strike me down, my Shadow Wraith is going to take over your body! And then we'll be back!
I actually think that you're going to rot away inside this banishment stone for all eternity...
A banishment stone? Oh no... NOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOT AGAIN!
You are in my way, lowlives!



It is done... be damned for all eternity.

The Shadow Wraiths then get banished inside the stone.

And now, my little Jayna, give me your power...

Valnar then absorbs Jayna's Blood Spirit.

Ahhh, I can feel the energy pouring through my body! Now I am ready to end this game of life...
Never!
What?



Again, Nyria decides to make her presence felt.

NO ONE will use that stone tablet as long as I live!
Then I guess you're going to have to die now...
Just because you didn't kill me, that doesn't mean you are not my enemy! You want to use the stone tablet! It is going to destroy the world! You even killed your own friends! You are truly the worst!
I'm going to inflict on you endless pain, girl... such ungratefulness must be punished severely in the hardest ways.
I will not allow you to cast that spell!



So, anyway, Nyria gets murdered. She's not different from the last time she showed up, and while we do have less party members than the last time, she can't really compete with having Bleeding inflicted on her and getting nuked with spells.





Splat.

Anyone else? No? Good...

I do like that he actually asked "anybody else want to get murdered?".









And again, the stone tablet flashes rapidly and we flash to black.



♪ BGM: Back To The Old World - Zuruck.MID ♫

We get some more blood text.

BETRAYAL
TRICKERY
DECEIT
FRIENDSHIP
JUST FEIGNED?

However, this time...







What, how can this be?
What kind of stupid question is that? Well, they are simply here...
But this has already happened!
Valnar, don't go crazy on me now, please!
I don't understand...





Expect no mercy, you bastard!
It's like the saying goes: "The death is the end. But a vampire's death is just the beginning... of endless pain!"
I... am... the... creator... YOUR creator...
Damn it, where am I?
Excuse me?
What do you mean, "Where am I"? Valnar?
You were dead!
That's NOT funny, Valnar!
I knew it, now he's completely losing it!
What's going on here?





THIS is Abraxas!? Oh crap...
Ah, there you are at last. And it seems I'm seeing an old acquaintance again...
What's that supposed to mean?
He... it was so long ago...
Roughly 400 years ago, to be more precise. Your friend, well, he became a vampire because of me.
It's true, I remember... his bite turned me into a vampire!
How can this be!?
Well, I actually planned to kill him. But a certain Vincent Weynard interfered!
Why did you never tell me?
That doesn't change anything now. It was amusing to see how you fought your way all up here. But your time has come now. I have to say, by the way, that you really are a thieving bunch of trash. Plundering my chests just like that. Tsts, I can't allow you to get away with that. But I will enjoy feasting on your blood. Then we will be even. But your heads will bring me enough money anyway, so I can furnish my tower anew. After all, such an amazing interior architecture squanders tons of money.
You eradicate vampires so you can afford expanding your damn tower?
My motives are none of your business! You are just repulsive vermin.
How is this possible?
I can't attack him...
Damn it, what's this about!?
HARHAR! You know absolutely nothing! A vampire cannot kill his creator. Not even attack! It's the nature of the vampires. It was always like that, and it will always be! I have never seen a vampire that has been strong enough to kill his creator...
We have already taken out your wretched employer Vincent in Asran, you worm!
We did what? Come again?
Huh, what? How do you know... how is that possible!? I was still talking to him just recently...
And you were also nothing but a small pebble stone in our way... weak and insignificant!
The time elapses... the blood coagulates... and Abraxas wins... always!

I prefer my translation of that line. I made it rhyme!

Such a stupid choice of words fits you perfectly, you scumbag!
Die, you whore! I don't know how you found out about Vincent being in Asran, but that is not important right now. I'm going to annihilate you!







Huh, what makes you say that?
The gravestone says: "Here rest Alaine Shyna, I will always love you, even in death."

I thought her last name was Frynia. Not that anybody remembers the last names of our main three.

You have only seen the backside of this gravestone... are you psychic?
You betrayed me! You used me!
I didn't even do anything yet!
Oh, yes, you worm! And you're going to pay for that!
Hold on...



I hate you...
What the... uhhhh...



I...





♪ BGM: Limm - festival.mid ♫

Wake up!
What, where am I?
Still in Limm.
What happened?
You seem to have stumbled pretty badly or something...



Do I know you?
Leave me alone!
But I didn't do anything to you...
I said: GET LOST!
Screw you, jerk! I just wanted to help... but apparently you're even too dumb to run...

Aysha then leaves.

I am actually back in Limm. On the day I met Aysha for the first time...
Have I been dreaming all of that? A dream caused by falling? Perhaps I should take a look around for a bit...

Well, I bet you didn't expect this to happen. Let's take a look around!



We can't enter any houses, so let's just check the outdoors.



Yes, pretty nice.
It's a good distraction for the people from their everyday worries.
I have enough worries.
That's why it's a good thing that you came here!



Looks like Valnar just changed the hell out of his own destiny with that move.



It's great...
Hey, don't take out your bad mood on me!



Could be better...
Come, catch a balloon! That is surely going to improve your mood.
Sure...



It's not THAT wonderful.
Oho, it sounds like somebody is in a bad mood.
Ah, leave me alone!



Hm, I don't think I know you...
I am Kizuna... it appears that you are from this village?
Well, actually, my parents used to live here.
I came here from Iranis specifically for this festival. Only snow all the time is not good.
Iranis? A long trip to Limm.
I can sleep at my relatives' place. I'm on a small vacation, so to speak.
Who are your relatives?
The Albors.
Oh, I, too, know the Albors well.
Well, since you know this place, I'm sure you can give me a little tour around, right?
I'd love to, Kizuna...



♪ BGM: Bad Night Story - vamp9.mid ♫

Valnar had become an evil, embittered vampire. And the one who was at fault for his state was none other than Asgar. And so, there was such an enormous hate against Asgar growing inside of Valnar that any devious means of getting revenge on Asgar were acceptable to him. And one adequate way for him seemed to be winning over Alaine's love.
That's really evil, Grandpa!
You could see it yourself, his behavior. Valnar IS evil.
But didn't he love her when he turned Jayna into a vampire together with her?
Maybe. But as soon as Asgar was back among the living undead, the old hatred inside of Valnar rekindled anew, something he was never really able to get rid of.
And then he used the stone tablet to undo everything that happened?
Well, I will leave it to your imagination whether Valnar returned to Limm because of the spell on the stone tablet, or whether all of it was simply just a dream...
You're mean, Grandpa!
Of course I am. I'm old, so I have to stay relevant somehow.
What I didn't quite understand is the thing about the Blood Spirits. [...]

Skippity-doo.

Aha, so that means Asgar, Alaine and Jayna were all still in the Crimson Realm?
Yes, if all of that actually happened, that is, and if it wasn't just a dream by Valnar...
I can't imagine that. After all, the three of them accomplished so much...

And then we skip the sidequest stuff one more time.

But all those deeds, all those events disappeared into thin air. The power of the stone tablet had undone everything that Valnar had cursed so much. His actions, his murders, his transformation. Everything had been undone, as if it never happened. The stone tablet had given him what he was wishing for so deep in his heart. That everything was just a bad nightmare, and all he had to do was wake up, and that none of it ever happened...

And we get the fade to white and the credits. But that's not quite it just yet...



After grandpa finishes his story and heads out...



...we follow him to another room. And what is that we see there?



These days, I'm telling my grandson the story of my life, of which I still don't know whether it really happened or whether I was simply dreaming of it. Of course, I'm not telling him that Valnar is actually me, Gonrad. And that you are his grandma. After all, no one has to know that I'm including a little bit more than just a sprinkle of truth in my stories. So far, I wasn't able to find proof that it was not a dream. There is no Alaine in a lunatic asylum, there are no Children of the Apocalypse... did vampires exist? Do they perhaps still exist? Somewhere? Have I simply not been searching properly? All that is left to me are my thoughts. Are they memories? Or simply just fantasies? Who knows, who knows... but one thing is for sure. Life is full of surprises. And it will stay that way. For all eternity...

And that's it. That's our final ending - turns out that grandpa was Valnar all along! It could be that this was all just a dream, but it also could be all true, but completely undone by the stone tablet granting Valnar's wish of having everything that happened in these two games undone entirely. I love this ending. Just the whole idea of there being a magical stone tablet that grants your deepest desire being used to grant the desire of "everything fucking sucks, I wish nothing of this ever happened" is just magical, and I love this as a way to cap off the series.

Of course, we know that this isn't how the story ends, since there will be a third part - some time, anyway.

Now, that means that the LP of this game is finished. However, that doesn't mean that this LP is finished. There are still three things I have left to do before I will consider this LP done:

1) Do one more Behind The Fangs chapter on the castle battle system and the stuff surrounding it. This stuff is insane, and I need to check it out in greater detail.

2) Send a mail to Marlex with some questions and share the response with you folks.

3) Show off the VD3 prototype. This little sampler isn't translated into English, so I'll have to do that for you. Shouldn't be too much work.

I'll probably go through those things in that order. But for now, we've reached a major milestone - we're officially done with the story for this game. Man, it's been about time.