No Battle Mastery
Alfimi launches automatically, and I get another 19 units. We're back at Earth! And so is the biggest meanest Einst of all. Alfimi takes a hit for the Hiryu, but I can repair that. Ratsel says it's 40km long, an Einst body fused to the White Star, which Alfimi names Stern Regisseur. Apparently, the White Star is a body capable of stabilizing the Regisseur's existence in this world, which is why the Einst were trying to seize it.
The Einst are trying to land on the Earth, so the southeast corner where I start starts flashing. Everyone tells the Stern Regisseur where it can cram its plans for a new life and a new universe and the fighting starts, with Tetsuya giving the order to engage as the man who inherited Captain Daitetsu's will.
This time there are seventeen minor Einst, including five regular Regisseurs. My best bet is probably to cast a lot of Rouse and wait for the big guy to close on his own and then surround it with my units to block its movement. The battle music for this map is The Land of Beginning, which also plays on the title screen.
Stern Regisseur has five shots of a MAP weapon I suspect to be pretty damn nasty and I'd say its HP is probably up around 500K. By turn 3, I'm engaging some of the minor Einst to finish topping up everyone Will. About the only good thing about fighting these things is the fact that they simply never learn to support each other. Of course, that doesn't stop the damn mini-Regisseurs from blocking for the big guy like football linemen. On turn 4 enemy phase, Stern breaks away from its guards and gets within a few squares of its goal, which is exactly where I manage to block it in and start pummeling it with the big guns. Bullet distracts the escorts with Koryuoh.
Stern is down to maybe 20-25%HP after a round of pounding, so I should be ok as long as everyone lives. Ok, a couple guys got hit, but not lethally. I really wish I had that one SP command from other games that cut the enemy hit rate in half for one turn; I think the name is usually translated Disturbance. I really hate enemies with high levels of Prevail; they allow even something the size of the fucking White Star to have a good chance of dodging. Finally, I manage to kill the frakker with the hTB Cannon, earning 120 grand, but there's nothing to spend it on. And ten levels for everyone.
Stern Regisseur dies wondering why it could not become the perfect lifeform. It (that is, whatever mind controls the Einst) wanted to restore tranquility by creating a new humanity; it saved Excellen from that fire and regenerated her in Lichkeit. So most of her body is Einst, kinda. Kyosuke, on the other hand, managed to live on his own and they couldn't take him. After all the Einst blow up, Excellen explains why taking only one person (or for that matter, any number of people of one sex) was not going to allow them to generate a new life. Radha gets a shocked expression and Ratsel seems amazed that the Einst missed such a simple fact of human life. Gilliam has his doubts.
Excellen invites Alfimi to join them for good, and she would like to, but Lichkeit starts dissolving. Alfimi can't live outside that mech, and she is also an Einst. She comes back in OG Gaiden, I think, along with Axel; they also appear in Endless Frontier EXCEED.
Tetsuya reports to Captain Daitetsu that the mission is complete, and we see the reactions of various people to these events. Gilliam and Lamia destroy Aguieus, the last part of System-XN. Sanger and Ratsel go off with the Kurogane to do whatever they do when not saving the world. Gilliam will keep hostile brass like General Garret from nosing around too much. Kai will return to training a new squad of Aggressors. Yuuki and Carla will follow the Kurogane since two former Neo DC soldiers should probably keep a low profile for a while.
Lamia takes off in Angelg as the Hiryu sets course for Izu. She is the last trace of the Shadow Mirrors and intends to remove herself from this world. Of course, the guys manage to talk her out of it.
The crew is broken up once they arrive at Izu. Ring returns to Mao Industries, but Rio and Ryoto stay with the army; Irm offers to help her for a while. Ring is strangely cute when she smiles.
Masaki returns to La Gias, of course. Lune goes to the Moon with Captain Lafina and the Hiryu to guard the Moon Cradle. No bets on how long it takes Masaki to get home.
In Kyoto, several people are at Cattleya's grave. Princess Shine is returning to Riksent and Leona is leaving with the Hiryu. Elzam has already come to leave flowers.
Seolla and Arado join the new Aggressors, along with Latooni and Lamia. Radha will be there as a civilian contractor to take care of them. Arado fears her yoga training. Arado manages to kinda tell Seolla he likes her.
Latooni visits Garnet and Giado's home with a pile of gifts from their old comrades. I suppose it's cheaper and more personal than mailing it all. Oh, and Princess Shine wants to buy them a new house for the kids. Seolla and Arado will be joining them soon and Ouka gets an empty place set for her.
On the Hagane, Excellen, Mai, Tasuku, and Katina are arguing about the name of the ATX team's new posting. It's some frozen hole in the Siberian ground and someone manages to make it sound like “Gandum,” which Ryusei finds familiar. Viletta and Kyosuke somehow manage to say it right. And now it's time for the ships to separate. The SRX team is going with the Hagane and the Octo Squad with Hiryu. Rio is back on the Hagane as an operator, just like she was at the beginning of the last game, though it's only until a new recruit turns up. Ryoto's on the maintenance crew.
The Mechanoid is going to TLI where they can rest a while out of military hands. Bullet and Kusuha go with it, but they'll join Excellen and Kyosuke in Russia after a while. Jonathan gives them the last Grungust Type 3 unit.
The Project TD team is back at work, reaching for the stars and hoping Sleigh will return, but Filio feels he won't live to see all that.
On the flight to Russia, Kyosuke and Excellen start talkinga bout where everyone went. Weissritter has returned to its original state since the Einst went away, but Excellen is still intact. Kyosuke manages to say something touching in his blunt way that I can't describe to well, but he ends up asking her to stay with him. And Excellen says she'd like to have twins someday, named Lemon and Alfimi. If someone else took down Lemon on stage 41, the line is supposed to be different somehow, but I forget how exactly. And the credits roll.
Ok, that's it, game's over. Thank you all for reading this.
