Since now we have to start working on the barrier problem in earnest there’s a Gin scene that we have to watch right now as it’s 2:00 and the event vanishes afterwards. It’s a short scene in Omotesando where he’s a little surprised to see us still inside the lockdown and we tell him to be careful given what’s been going on lately. He assures us that he will and says that he’s got his demon, the Japanese god Take-Mikazuchi, with him to keep both him and Japan safe. This seems like a throwaway scene but it’s not, as we’ll see later. Miss this, and the whole sidequest is destined to end in failure. Curiously enough Gin has a death clock reading of 4, which I guess must be another glitch or oversight, since when he appears later on he has none at all like he’s supposed to.
Our next stop is the Shomonkai HQ at Shinagawa. The place is abandoned, and thanks to that we can use the keycard Naoya gave us to get inside. Atsuro does some rummaging around and eventually finds the Artifact Sword that the Devas were looking for. So we’ve got that, but it’s not yet time to deliver it so we have no choice but to lug it around for a while.
There are a few new miscellaneous scenes that can be watched at this time if we had time, including Midori joining the lockdown reminiscence train, Naoya saying that the situation with God abandoning humanity wasn’t quite what he wanted but is good enough, and a Shomonkai member laughing maniacally. The one we want is in Kudanshita, where the crew end up finding themselves surrounded by Fushimi and his men. As Atsuro feared the man tries to get them to surrender by using their families as leverage, threatening to hold them responsible for taking the fall if we don’t turn ourselves in. I guess this is one of those situations where cultural differences come into play, since while I know family honor and responsibility is a more important thing in Asian cultures than Western ones, this ultimatum just makes the government look like enormous dicks to me. As Yuzu says during this scene, it would be a better use of their time to throw all of their resources into apprehending the Shomonkai, they guys who are actively summoning demons to Tokyo and making the situation worse than going after us, some of the few “good” demon tamers.
Some demons eventually wander into the scene, giving the crew an opportunity to escape (all the way to Tokyo Dome, it seems). Atsuro apologizes to Yuzu for keeping that bit of information a secret and she admits that if she had known she’d probably have been more panicked. Kaido asks what we’re going to do next and the crew eventually come to the conclusion that they should get some leverage of their own over the government to get them to stop using their families as hostages. Which means to basically keep doing what we were planning on doing and going up against Belberith. And let’s start on that right now.
If we go to Roppongi now we’ll find some SDF soldiers in front of the Mori Tower, unable to get through the demons guarding the entrance. And no wonder, it’s not just any old demon who’s barring their way, it’s Belzaboul. I guess he was the only other Bel who wasn’t accounted for. Azuma and a few believers are there too along with the demons, laughing at the SDF’s impotence. We get the soldiers to retreat and move up ourselves. It’s all the other Day 7’s all over again.
Yuzu Mission 8
- Belzaboul must be defeated
- The whole party cannot die
This mission works just like the original battle with Belzaboul did. Once you defeat either a single demon team or two of the Believers (as they’re closer) he’ll automatically convert all remaining demon teams into Flies. Once again you want some way to deal with ailments otherwise you’ll be taking a lot of damage from the hatching eggs.
Belzaboul (Lv. 73)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Resists Fire, Ice, Force and Elec; Absorbs Physical; Nulls Mystic
- Spawn - Deals moderate Almighty damage to one target and may inflict the Egg status.
- Mazandyne - Deals heavy Force damage to entire enemy party.
- Judgement - A Mystic-based attack that halves the entire enemy party’s HP.
- Physical Drain - Grants absorption of Physical attacks.
- Life Aid - Recovers 10% max HP at the end of battle.
- Beast Eye - Allows two actions per turn during battle.
- Dark Hand - Has an attack range of 6 panels and does not move.
Azuma (Lv. 72)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- None
- Megido - Deals moderate Almighty damage to entire enemy party.
- Maragidyne - Deals heavy Fire damage to entire enemy party.
- Samarecarm - Revives one ally at full HP.
- Fire Amp - Fire attacks powered up by 50%.
- Life Lift - Recovers 20% max HP at the end of battle.
- Extra Charge - Attack power is doubled on an extra turn
- Dual Shadow + - Entire team has a 25% chance of repeating last action.
- Troll, Garuda
Even though I’m empowered by New Game+ the enemies have started to catch up level-wise so that they’re still able to inflict damage. A lot of them know Judgement so they have the means to ignore any existing stat discrepancies and take out a chunk of your health. Belzaboul knows Beast Eye now, so he’ll take advantage of it to inflict Egg on all your party members and then soften them up with his other attacks for when the eggs hatch. Prayer, Amrita, Affection - use them immediately to get rid of the eggs. For his part, Azuma doesn’t actually move until you start to approach Belzaboul, and if you beat the bug demon without crossing swords with him he’ll run away panicked like he did during the Gin fight, and after the battle he’ll be shown to be arrested. Like on the Day 7’s, Belzaboul’s power will enter Akira when he’s defeated.
Completing the mission earns us 3400 EXP and 2850 macca.
Afterwards the SDF soldiers return and we take advantage of the situation to try striking a deal: in exchange for letting our families go, we’ll take out Belberith and stop anymore demons from being summoned, and afterwards help the government mop up those that remain. The captain of the squad sees the sense in this proposition, thankfully, and after getting on the horn informs us that Fushimi will meet with us. The scene plays out in a way so that you’d expect to be taken right to Akasaka Tunnel automatically but no, we have to head over there manually. There we lay out our deal for Fushimi, and he eventually agrees to it on the condition that we also apprehend the Founder so that the government can charge him for causing the lockdown which is how it should be.
Well, we can head off to fight Belberith right now, but there’s still some time left in the day that we need to use in order to work on the barrier sidequest. On our return to Eikokuji Temple the Devas accept the Artifact Sword...and then Murphy’s Law strikes as they exclaim that the power within the sword is weaker than they had anticipated. So we need to find someone who can stand in for Jikoku, and this is why we had to see that Gin scene earlier. We fill him in on the Devas’ plan, and he and Take-Mikazuchi agree to help. Back to Eikokuji for us...
...where we find Gin using his demon’s power to charge the Artifact Sword...along with a veritable horde of demons who don’t want to see the barrier repaired. Gin shouts that he can’t move while the ritual’s underway and the Devas are busy performing it back at their own shrines so we’ve got no choice but to get in there and do some pest control.
Yuzu Mission 9
- The mission ends when either:
- All demons are defeated
- The barrier is restored
- The whole party cannot die
- Gin cannot die
Oh boy, this mission. You thought there were a lot of demons on the day’s other missions? Wait until you get a load of this one. Gin will be attracting aggro like crazy, so we need to get up to the shrine and protect him, because while he’s powering up the sword he’s unable to defend himself. Any demon that attacks him will almost steal the sword and make a break for it, and the enemy teams are well-equipped for this sort of thing what with consisting of Garudas, Ganeshas, Behemoths (for Flight, Phantasma, and Devil Speed), and Macabres (for Bind to deal with pursuit). If they escape it’s game over, and when you do defeat the demons and get the sword back it doesn’t just magically return to Gin, you have to deliver that sucker yourself. And as you defeat the demon teams more will be summoned to the field.
On the plus side, the high number of demons makes this mission a treasure trove of EXP and macca. If you can’t defeat all of the demons at once, if you stall for a while Gin will complete the ritual himself to end the mission.
Completing the mission earns us 3000 EXP and 2200 macca.
Altogether I earned about thirty-five thousand macca, nice. Oh right, the real prize. Without any more interference the ritual is successfully completed and Take-Mikazuchi announces that the barrier is restored (though the reddish tint from the portal remains, probably Belberith’s doing). The Devas appear to thank us for helping to put Japan back on the track towards normalcy and say that they look forward to us calling them in battle, so I suppose if you hadn’t unlocked them for fusion they’d all become available at this point. A job well done all around.
Now, Belberith...
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