(NANASHI and HIS FRIENDS stand before the Ark in Kanda Shrine. Beside them are DAGDA, INANNA, MAITREYA, and for some reason MELCHOM)
Melchom: You\'re... sure you want to do this, kid? After all he did?
Nanashi: Yup. We\'ve got the same goal now, and I\'ve proven I\'m stronger than him. He\'ll listen to me.
So yeah. Here\'s the game\'s most secret secret. If you want to fuse Krishna, you need to return to Kanda Shrine after defeating him at the Egg, where the party and Dagda petition him for help against YHVH. He\'s a surprisingly Graceful Loser compared to his Villainous Breakdown upon his initial defeat, and grants us the right to fuse him (no of course you don\'t get him for free) - the only hint at the in the game itself is a brief mention in the Hunter Notes that Flynn sealed Krishna back in the Shrine.
Nanashi: Well, here goes something...
(NANASHI presses the fusion button on his phone. A blinding light fills the room, and when it subsides, not just KRISHNA but ODIN and in MAITREYA\'s place, MITRA are there as well)
Odin: Hmph. Invoked by Dagda\'s little brat. Fitting, in a way. Perhaps it was fated to be this way...
Sleipnir: NEHEHEHEHEH! Father Odin, at last; I am at your command.
Krishna: My my my, how good to see you again, Nanashi. You look even stronger than when we crossed swords now.
Nanashi: I beat up some skeletons.
Mitra: If we are quite finished with reunions, I do believe we have a creator god to fight.
Nanashi: Oh, right, that.
Thus, the group gathers at Masakado\'s stone. Flynn, Fujiwara, and Skins arrive with a group of united Tokyo faction representatives; evidently they all had the dream of Stephen too. Oh, fun fact - on Anarchy, you have to slaughter everyone here, in easily the biggest gut-punch of the entire game. Anyway, the Doctor himself manifests and implores us to place the nine pillars from the Cosmic Egg on the stone. Nanashi does so and the stone vanishes in a flash of light, to be replaced by a huge, iridescent black monolith.
Alilat: YiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiIIIIiiiiiiii...
This monolith is the passageway to YHVH\'s realm. What\'s more, Flynn is joining us as a follower! He can fight demons, pick up items, and, when Nanashi is Smirking, perform an awesome combo attack with him, Messiah Burst, dealing ridiculous Almighty damage to every opponent.
Krishna: I do hope I\'m getting those pillars back. I had those custom-made!
Manticore: Do we have to? Transcending higher planes of existence always gives me hives...
Nanashi: Yes.
Touch the monolith, and off we go into a frankly surreal realm with a sky made of swirling colors and floors made of the same iridescent black substance as the monolith.
Incubus: I\'m trippin\' balls!
Welcome to YHVH\'s Universe, The Very Definitely Final Dungeon. It\'s supposedly as large as every other dungeon in the game put together, and is a giant maze of teleports, one-way doors, and general Mind Screw. None of the encounters are recruitable here; they\'re called \"Ancients\" and are simply phantoms of demons we\'ve already beaten. On the first level of the dungeon, the Ancients are all Chaos demons.
Cherub: Then it\'s true... the Lord was running both sides the whole time...
Kazfiel: Cut that jibba-jabba, foo! God is a hep-cat, he\'d never do that to us.
Azrael: I need you to stop talking right now.
Samael: So, the Lord\'s deepetht darketht thecret is laid plain. Millennia ago I dithcovered this... heth heth heth... \'tis why I Fell.
Victor: Sir Samael; I always did wonder what happened to you.
Aniel: Well regardless, it seems like we angels are undergoing something of an existential crisis at present...
Angel: What to do indeed...
This dungeon is a gigantic maze that makes the Cosmic Egg look like the maze for toddlers at the County Fair. A lot of fans find it really boring.
Nanashi: Like I can be assed to figure this out. Ganesha?
Ganesha: Quite simple, really...
Like a lot of maze-y dungeons in SMT, the VAST majority of this place is a dummy. Our destination is the section called \"H\" and we can reach this in two teleports. First we head up to the northwest corner of Section A, where a teleport warps us to Section G. In this section, there\'s a green warp that takes us right to Section H. The green warps though, only work if Nanashi\'s stats are above a certain point. There are also some mysterious yellow warps that won\'t work no matter what; we\'ll see what those do later. Without sufficient stats to use the green warp you\'ll need to go further south in Section G to a normal blue warp that goes to Section C, then take another one to H.
Nanashi: I think I\'M starting to get hives now...
We know we\'re going the right way when we glimpse an apparition of Walter, who claims Lucifer\'s soul called him back to this place...
Red Rider: THAT KAKAKAKAN\'T BE GOOD, BUT ALL SHALL END ON MY PLADE, AS IT IS FORETOLD.
White Rider: Steady your arm, Warmaker. As odd as it sounds, this is not the appointed time...
On the western wall of section H is an odd door displaying what looks like a galaxy. Enter it and it\'s boss time!
MINI-BOSS: TYRANT ANCIENT BEELZEBUB AND TYRANT ANCIENT LUCIFUGE
Level 90. Same weaknesses and resistances as their normal forms
Lucifuge: Good Hells, am I really that fat?
Lucifer\'s Co Dragons have appeared as Ancients and they behave... exactly like the normal ones do. Beelzebub is the main one on offense, having Thunder Gods and Riot Gun, while Lucifuge supports by dropping \'earns. Really lo HP though; it\'s advisable to take out Lucifuge first, as he has a weakness and his support spells are nasty. Upon beating them, we\'re plunged right into a fight with...
BOSS: TYRANT ANCIENT LUCIFER
Level 95. Same weaknesses and resistances as the original
The Ancients aren\'t very talkative; we\'re just dropped right into battle with them. Ancient Lucifer has the exact same moves as the real one, so the same strategies work here, too. And we\'re much stronger now, too. As much trouble as I had with the original I rolled right over this guy so I think he might have lower health, too, but I\'m not sure.
Beelzebub: \'ZZZZZZZUBZUBZUB. HOW HUMILIATING. RE-DEMONIZZZZZED AND CONFRONTED WITH THE REALITY THAT I HAVE ALWAYZZZZZ BEEN A PAWN IN ONE DAY. I NEED ZZZZZZOME AZZZZZZZPIRIN, ZUBZUBZZZZZZUB...
The door beyond leads to a strange device that allows us to shift to higher levels, or Branes, of YHVH\'s Universe; yes, this dungeons so massive that what might otherwise be a \"floor\" is a different plane of existence! The transport devices use the same graphics as the Termins in Purgatorium and Lucifer Palace from Vanilla by the way.
Nanashi: Hope I don\'t, like, ascend to become an abstract concept from using these. That\'s kinda suck...
The Second Brane is themed after Law; the random encounters here are Ancient angels and Heralds. This section is larger than the previous and has something of a gimmick to it. The path ahead is behind the Wraithwall right there in Section A... but there\'s only one Power Spot, in Section F, and that takes some getting to. We first head north to Section F; there\'s a warp here in a big square room that deposits us behind a Wormwood in Section G. The Power Spot in Section F is behind a Wormwood locked from the other side by the way, but there\'s a warp in G that plonks us right next to it. Take that, then warp like the dickens back to A and cut the Wraithwall down!
Phoenix: I CANNOT believe that horrible little ghost thing is not only still alive, but still useful!
This takes us to Section B, where there\'s a door to Section C. We follow this area until the end of a long, straight passage with a warp to Section E. E in turn, has a warp to L.
Shiva: You have solved these mazes most expertly.
Kali: My LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! Are you here to destroy things? Please tell me yes!
Shiva: Judgment must come to this so-called Creator. Under His law nothing will be born, die, or be renewed... Plus I need to keep an eye on my rogue of a brother...
Krishna: I thought we both wanted enlightenment for humanity...
Nergal: Everything proceeds to rot eventually, even gods... maggots will feast on the Creator\'s eyes...
Nanashi: I want to beat him up too, but yeesh...
\'(ANAT spots a STRANGE GOD hiding behind a pillar)
Anat: Oh no you don\'t. Mot you idiot get out here; we\'re going to fight the god that slaughtered our people.
Mot: Wh-whatever you say, Lady Anat, just please don\'t hurt me...
Anat: And I want those DVDs back in THREE WEEKS, you hear me?
Mot: \'Yesyesyes, just stop yelling at me...
On our way to the boss door, Jonathan\'s spirit appears; like with Walter and Lucifer, he was seemingly called here by Merkabah\'s soul. And speaking of Merkabah, behind the boss door in Section L waits...
MINI-BOSS: HERALD ANCIENT AZRAEL AND HERALD ANCIENT ANIEL
Level 90. Same weaknesses/resistances as the normal versions
We have yet another mid-boss here, composed of the two Heralds we fought before. They\'re really easy. They both have weaknesses that are easy to exploit, though Azrael still has his Blink of Death move and can throw up \'karns; dispose of him first.
BOSS: HERALS ANCIENT MERKABAH
Level 95. Same weaknesses/resistances as the normal version.
Oh how unexpected. Just like before with Lucifer, Merkabah has all the weaknesses and resistances of his prior self. I wish I could say something interesting about these bosses.
Izanami: Rot to nothing, bringer of blight to my realm!
Upon defeating Ancient Merkabah, Stephen appears. He informs us that YHVH has been observing all our battles from his realm, and his power of creation lets him \"remake\" them to deter us from reaching him. In other words, anyone we\'ve ever fought could be in here! Regardless, proceed to Brane Three to be greeted by... a boss door right in front of us?
???: Hold one second before entering there. My my my, to have successfully tracked you down here of all places.
Nanashi: You... why do I feel I\'ve met you before.
Mastema: In another time and place, you have! I am the Archangel Mastema, Bringer of Disaster, Punisher of Evil, humble servant of the Great Axiom. We have a lot of catching up to do... Akira.
