And by tomorrow, I mean a subsequent number of weeks. Hopefully it won't be too long though.
After ending the turn, Ishtar, at Miletos, is surprised at the emperor's sudden appearance. Alvis is apparently disappointed in her, and asks her to release the children, but she says that she is under orders from Prince Julius to take them. Alvis says he will deal with Julius himself, and eventually Ishtar agrees to let the children go, but Julius steps in, saying that he won't allow Alvis to interfere. Alvis is about to go off on his son, but Julius notes that his father has gotten old, and should be retiring soon, unless he still has thoughts of banishing his son from the empire (these two seriously need to do some sort of bonding activity). Alvis laments the success of his previous attempt to do so, and Julius insists his father return to his own castle, namely Chalphy, which he is aiming to defend.
After Alvis leaves, Manfloy enters and taunts the emperor for his lack of power. Julius asks if his sister's memories have been returned, and Manfloy replies to the affirmative, saying that Julia remembers how she was left for dead by her own brother, only to be warped away by her mother. Julius is amused, noting how accepting Dierdre was of being killed by her own son (god I hate you. just, so much). He also notes that Julia inherited the power of Lord Narga, meaning that they must kill her now, while they have the chance. Manfloy says they needn't do that, since the tome of Narga is sealed within Barhara, and he doubts Narga himself resides in Julia. Julius is aggravated by his hesitation, saying that with Heim's blood still flowing in this world, Narga has a chance to reappear, and thus they must all be wiped out. Manfloy says that he will arrange for Julia's execution posthaste, and also that he will be bringing with him Serlis's corpse before this is all done. Julius notes Serlis's title, the "Prince of Light", in contrast to his, the "Prince of Darkness". Julius is angered by the notion that he and Serlis share the same mother (oh, did Alvis never tell you? Probably would have learned that little fact if you hadn't slaughtered your own mother!). Manfloy insists that he must die, and Julius is less than worried about him, but leaves Manfloy to his own devices. Julius tells Ishtar that he is leaving a dark bishop in charge of Miletos, and that they will now leave.
Before that, though, he asks if Ishtar wants to play a little game; namely a race to see who can kill one of the rebels first. She agrees wholeheartedly, and as a crapton of Lopt forces deploy, so to do those two, Ishtar armed with her Thorhammer tome, while Julius wields the Lopt tome as well as a Leg ring. He also has Pursuit, Wrath, Duel, and enough magical power, skill, and speed to slaughter nearly anyone on my team.
Oh my god. This is seriously going to happen isn't it? I look at Julius's Blood wheel, and find a giant purple Lopt circle in the center, while a Narga circle in the middle as well, and some Fala blood.
Oh my god, I am so fucked, it's crazy. Don't suppose you could pull off another one of those miraculous criticals of your, could ya, Oifaye?
Still, I've got some time, so the party starts fending off the enemies. I also notice 4 guys with sleep and a few with Fenrir, so approaching the castle is gonna be a hell of a chore.
Julius and Ishtar don't seem to be moving, so I think I'll take this opportunity to send Altenna over to the village being attacked and save it, while the rest of the party deals with incoming foes. Altenna and Lakche are put to sleep, but Lana awakens Lakche, and the rest of the party now pushes north to cover Altenna and hopefully take out Ishtar, since Julius seems to care about her, and would thus leave if she got hurt. The same situation would likely happen if I killed Julius, but then, the odds of that happening are slim.
As the party slowly advances, the sleep staff guys get more active, and its starting to become a real problem, since only Lana can actually fix them. I take a big risk with Sety, sending him with Holsety equipped just barely into the range of both Ishtar and Julius, hoping that he will take out Ishtar before Julius, or that he could somehow survive and then Ishtar can be taken out on the player phase.
She runs over to attack Sety, thankfully before Julius, saying that it appears she has won. Sety gives her a nasty surprise, dodging Thorhammer, and then taking her down with a Holsety critical. Julius warps the two of them away, removing that problem, and simply leaving me with the troublesome but not catastrophically dangerous dark mages.
Sety, oh my lord man, I love you so much.
The rest of the dark mages are soon mopped up, and I decide to see if Patty can't make use of her newfound stats to take down the boss. She takes him out with relative ease, and I decide to send Corple around to gather money from villages, since all of his staves are running low. He's also level 20, so Nanna and Lana warp him and Leen back to base after he visits the villages nearest to Miletos. Corple promotes to High Priest, gains some Meh bonuses, and some c rank magic skills, which he can't use for lack of magic tomes. He and Leen visit every village on the way to Miletos, and once they return, everyone gathers around the peninsula's nearest Chalphy, and Serlis seizes the castle.
Levin informs Serlis that the kids have already been taken, and Serlis is saddened by their failure. Levin then tells him that it couldn't be helped, and the Chalphy bridge will be lowered soon. Serlis is ready to finally see where his father came from, and they prepare to march on Chalphy.
At Chalphy, Alvis tells a bishop by the name of Palmark to take the children and escape. Alvis tells him that Julius will soon send men from Barhara, and he also grants Palmark a mysterious item, saying only that Palmark's history of serving under Sigurd should tell him what he must do with it. Palmark leaves, and Julia steps in. Alvis notes how horrid he has been to Julia, and feels she must hate him, but she says she holds no such feelings. She knows he is a kind man, but Alvis notes that he's jut been Manfloy's pawn from the start, and now understands that Julius is the incarnation of the Dark Lord Loptous, who slew Dierdre as she saved Julia from the same fate. Just as Alvis sends Julia off with Palmark, Manfloy enters and says he will be taking Julia back to Velthomer, threatening her life should Alvis attempt to disobey. Alvis is enraged by Manfloy's impertinence, but Manfloy says that he must now learn the true order of things. Manfloy explains that Alvis is nothing more that Julius's servant, and that for Alvis's impudence, the children he freed with all soon be slain. Julia tries to resist, but is unable to, and is taken away. Alvis however hands her Dierdre's Circlet, hoping it may protect her. Now we go to enemy phase...
Where a bow armor promptly kills Altenna. Damn ambush spawns, I'll be right back. Reset Counter: 22, if I remember right.
Alright, back in business. This time, I keep everyone further from the bridge so that they aren't immediately assaulted by the enemies. Fee and Altenna fly over to try and save the kids, hoping to intercept the dark mages in time, while everyone else aims to push through the Rot Ritter and take down Alvis. Leaf leads the charge, and they engage the first line of the Rot Ritter.
Soon enough, the foes are finished, and after cutting a path, Serlis, Oifaye, Fin, Leaf, and Sety join the fliers in their race to save the children and Palmark. The dark mages are slain before they reach their targets, and Tinny, Lakche, and Scathach go to save the kids, those three needing a bit of extra experience. Before seeing Palmark, I take care of a couple conversations I noticed, namely Corple and Altenna, and Serlis and Fee. Serlis and Fee comes first, and Serlis tells her that Levin wishes to speak with her. Levin notes that she's a lot like her mother, and Fee is angry at him for ignoring her completely when they met at Rivough castle, so long ago. Levin is confused, wondering why she ignored him for so long, and she says she wanted him to take the first step, and Levin seems amused by her stubbornness. This just makes her angrier, and she mumbles that if Levin weren't so cruel, her mother might still be alive. Levin says that he's sorry about what happened to Fury, but that whatever went on between them is none of Fee or Sety's business, and for the time being, they must focus on winning this war (I will note that for ease of writing, I omitted a lot of "damn's" from Levin's speech). This boosts Fee's strength by 5 points, so it's quite welcome.
Next, Corple and Altenna speak, where Corple shows concern for Altenna's health, and she returns his kindness. He then asks if she is okay with him casting a Magic Shield over her (isn't that the same thing Julia did for Serlis? I guess that's just how they do resistance boosting conversations), and after some reluctance, she allows him to. This gives her 5 more resilience, which is also quite nice.
As the children are rescued by Lakche, Tinny, and Scathach, Serlis speaks with Palmark. Serlis checks to see if the reverend is alright, and Palmark is overjoyed to see him. He gives Serlis the Holy Tyrfing, the weapon passed down through the Chalphy family line. Serlis asks where he got it from, but Palmark says he swore not to tell, and Serlis is fine with this, simply grateful to have the blade returned to its rightful owner. Serlis glows brilliantly, and obtains the Holy Tyrfing.
Once all that is done, everyone gathers around Chalphy, as a plan is made to take down Alvis. His class being Emperor, he is essentially just a cooler Baron, but his enormous stats and the Falaflame tome make him far more than that. He also has the Great Shield (ugh...), Nihil, and Charisma skills. The Falaflames defense boosts, as well as his good speed and castle position, mean he is both incredibly evasive, and very sturdy. Only a holy weapon is gonna be able to harm him consistently. Thankfully, the Tyrfing provides Serlis just the boosts he needs to be able to take on Alvis, though the fight is still in the Emperor's favor.
They speak, Serlis asking why Alvis killed his father, and Alvis commending Serlis for his bravery in reaching him, even if that means he will be incinerated by the Falaflame. Serlis does no damage (also, Alvis has some sweet battle music), and takes a Falaflame strike, but is quickly healed by Sety. Sety circles around the castle, and aims to assist Serlis in taking down Alvis. The two deal a healthy blow to the emperor, and with plenty of healing support, Serlis is eventually able to bring down Alvis. Before seizing Chalphy however, I have Serlis run down towards the water, making use of a bit of information given by a reader.
He hears someone calling to him, and after the mysterious person notes how much he's grown, Serlis recognizes the voice as his mothers. Dierdre is happy to see how well he is, and Serlis joyfully says that now that he has defeated Alvis, he has avenged Sigurd's death. Dierdre asks what happened to Julius and Julia then, and Serlis asks if she knows where they are. Dierdre disappears, and makes way for a familiar face; Sigurd! Serlis is at first confused, but soon recognizes the man before him as his own father. Sigurd simply tells him not to let Alvis's defeat go to his head, because it wasn't by his hand alone. Serlis asks what he means, and Sigurd tells him to learn the sorrows of the people, because their reality and his are still very distant. If he can't do that, then this war will have been for nothing. Sigurd fades as well, and they both wish him luck, before fading away completely, leaving him with a second Renewwal Ring.
Serlis then seizes Chalphy, and Levin shows him all of the townsfolk who are celebrating his return. He feels good for having reached his true homeland, but also feels a bit empty. Levin figures out that it's Julia that's troubling him, and notes that he heard some townspeople mention Manfloy heading further into Grandbell with her in tow. Serlis also feels odd about the situation with Alvis; he's avenged his fathers death, but he still feels off, somewhat. Levin thinks that is due to the war not being over yet, and notes that the real battle, the holy war, is just on the horizon. He asks Serlis to do his best to see this war through to the end, and that may lead him to the answers he seeks.
Now lies before us the final chapter, where we shall strike down Julius, Manfloy, and the entirety of the lopt sect in one, final holy war.
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