And now, a message from the Chief Financial Officer of Nanashi's Phone Demon-removal and Fetchquest-doing, LLC.
Melchom: Thank you. NPDRFQD, LLC, is happy to report that only five demons were harmed in the making of that fireworks scene last time. So please don't sue us.
Orcus: Once more into the breach...
Nanashi: No idea what that means but we're going into the bowels of this place now...
We'll be heading down the main stairwell, as Nanashi said, into the bottommost floors of Camp Ichigaya. You might remember this next floor as the area in which Michizane and Omoikane were fought in Vanilla, but they're absent now and sadly can't be obtained at all in this one.
Aramisaki: Martyrs, the both of them. Great patriots, slain by that Child of Carnage in his efforts to ruin this land.
Take-Mikazuchi: Hmph. You know the secret of their existence as well as I do, Aramisakihime. Their existence was no kindness...
Murmur: Gahahahaha! How fantastic! Come to challenge Lucifer, are we?
Nanashi: Yup.
Murmur: Well I'm quite interested in seeing what you've got.
Python: Oh how interesting! It seems there's been a disruption in Universe 45876512! A time traveler of some variety? What? I'm sorry, I forgot which universe I was in!
Character notes: A perpetually angry goddess of Japanese lore; she's an envoy of Amaterasu, queen of the Amatsukami. She's associated with the sea and has been known to protect important people, such as royal family members, while on ship voyages. She's an Ice and Almighty user who gets the strange skill Blood Ritual, which drops her HP to 1 in exchange for a single cast of Luster Candy. I've never really used this.
Personality notes: Super pissed off all the time and kind of nationalistic.
Character notes: A Grand Duke of Hell, one of the 72 demonic nobles of the Goetia. Before the Fall, he was a Throne. He's one of Hell's most skilled necromancers and will send zombies after people you don't like if you summon him. Sweet. Elec and Dark specialist.
Personality notes: A pretty standard demon who's really interested in just doing things for the Hell of it.
Character notes: A snake god of Greek lore, son of the primordial Earth goddess Gaea. He was the custodian of the Oracle at Delphi, where he gave prophecies to the people; it was said that he was never wrong. The sun god Apollo defeated him, and took the Oracle for himself. Dark and Elec user once again!
Personality notes: Can see things in alternate universes, and occasionally forgets what universe he's in.
As we proceed down, we pass a troop of Samurai ld by a man in a white coat with a "piercing gaze." This is, of course, Commander Hope from Vanilla. At the end of this area is another portal in the wall.
Manticore: I really hope dere's no teleporting doors in dere, I'm allergic.
Lanling Wang: Oh, you little abomination - you must have more fortitude than that!
We enter and find ourselves in... the Hall of Eternal Light from Vanilla! Specifically, it's a smaller version, with much less ground to cover. As we enter, Abe's voice rings out, telling us to go no further. Hallelujah becomes concerned.
Mithras: That man, Abe... he's in deeper than we thought.
Tiamat: Mmmmmm, yes. He's masked his power well, but there's no mistaking that signature now...
Oumitsunu: HELLO...
Nanashi: Gah, another really big one!
Kanseiteikun: Hmmm hmmm hmmm... I'm here too. You are the youth that seeks to challenge the sun, yes?
Zhong Kui: Lord Guan! Well isn't this a pleasant surprise! You wanna help this kid too?
Kanseiteikun: Indeed. Tis my duty as a guardian god.
Hresvelgr: FWAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSHHHHH! HELLOOOOOOO FWASH-FWASSSSSSSSH! I SEE YOU ACCOMPANY THAT INFERNAL NIDHOGGR FWASSSSSSHHHHHHH... I MUST COME AS WELL TO KEEP YOU SAFE FWASSSSSSSSHHHH...
Character notes: A giant of Japanese lore, grandson of Susanoo and king of the Izumo province. It's said he physically pulled in land from Silla, now in Korea, to expand Izumo. He's the top Kunitsu and is purely a Phys specialist with no other positive affinities.
Personality notes: Talks so slowly that he can't even finish a sentence in one line.
Character notes: Guan Sheng Di Jun in the original Chinese, he is the god of war of China. He was originally a human, a general of China's Warring States era, but after his death he became a protective god much like Zhong Kui. He's widely venerated by Chinese people to this day as a patron of success and good fortune; take a stroll around your local Chinatows sometime and look for statues of him in the shops. He is, like most warrior gods, a Phys user.
Personality notes: Like the Devas and Zhong Kui, a protective god, with the dignity of a military officer about him.
Character notes: A giant in the shape of a great eagle in Norse lore, he lives at the end of the Earth and creates the wind by flapping his wings. He's often conflated with the eagle at the top of Yggdrasil, Nidhoggr's nemesis, who is nameless in the primary sources. Ice and Wind specialist.
Personality notes: His voice roars like the wind; has the Verbal Tic "FWASSSSSSSSH."
Our destination is a large area to the south that is blocked off by a Wraithwall. To remove that, we power up at the Power Spot on the lower level of the starting area, then work our way around to the west building, take the warp door to the left, and viola! This spits us out in a long passageway called the Tower of the Moon, at the end of which we find...
Whack-A-Supporting Villain Round 3: Abe! Yup, the Ashura-kai don is our final challenge before taking on Merkabah and Lucifer, and as you've probably already guessed, he's not what he seems. His body begins to glow, until in place of his human form is a purple demon covered in eyes - the Overlord Samyaza!
Hallelujah is stunned, as that was a name his mother always mentioned - the demon Samyaza is Hallelujah's father!
Murmur: Gaha... that explains that. Always the rake, that one.
He apologizes to Hallelujah for abandoning him, but he's obviously not relinquishing his post without a fight. So here we go!
BOSS: TYRANT SAMYAZA
Level 73. Weak Fire, Weak Ice, Null Elec, Null Wind, Null Dark
Samyaza is the Lucifer's last general... and in my opinion, he is unfortunately the weakest. He packs a powerful offense, with True Ziodyne and Zandyne to go with this son's Agidyne and Bufudyne, but no boss with common elements like Fire and Ice as weaknesses is going to be all that tough. In fact, that makes his son the ideal partner for taking him on.
Nanashi: Hope Hallelujah doesn't hurt too much, having to put down his old man...
His other moves include the standard Maziodyne, the admittedly annoying Enigmatic Ray, and two more unique moves: Magic Torrent, which does Almighty damage randomly up to six times, and Makabuild, which multiplies the strength of his magic attacks by three. I never saw this one.
He also has no means by which to cancel buffs whatsoever, which is another major disadvantage he has. When he falls, he takes his loss gracefully - every father should be proud that their son surpasses them, after all! Hallelujah is, of course, downbeat, but bucks up after some encouragement from... his old enemy Gaston of all people. Samyaza's defeat also causes the Chaotic realm to fade away, putting us at the stairs leading to the bottommost floor of Ichigaya!
Black Maria: There! Finally found you, Young Messiah! I have heard of your exploits and promise to keep you safe from hereon out!
Nanashi: All these demon ladies like to smother me...
Silky: Lady Black Maria! I thought you had merged with Lady Danu? No matter, we can best keep this child safe with you around!
Erlkonig: Safety? Bah. Ze time for zat has passed long ago, ja? You vill need all ze might you can get to triumph over ze Chariot and Demon King!
Nanashi: You said it. Here's another new fusion I found. Some people... probably aren't gonna like this but here goes!
Quetzalcoatl: Quahahaha! At last free from that blasted purgatory! I have been summoned by - oh dear!
Nanashi: Yeah, that's right, it's me. Lemme ask you something, dude. I've been talking to some other guys from your pantheon. They said the humans you watched over were massacred, right?
Quetzalcoatl: That's right! I shall make any sacrifices necessary to avenge myself on the Creator!
Nanashi: Well then... how do you think I felt when you slaughtered MY people?
Quetzalcoatl: Uh...
Tonacatecuhtli: That Quetzalcoatl - providing one day, destroying the next. He was always our most unpredictable child.
Tonacacihuatl: Come on, let me be on top so I can kiss him hello!
Quetzalcoatl: Oh, hello Mother... Father...
Nanashi: Yeah that's right. I've got your parents with me, dude. And if there's any of the care for humans you once had left in you, you're going to do penance with me!
Character notes: A version of Mary often worshipped in esoteric Christianity. She's believed to be a conflation of Mary with various polytheistic goddesses, created to convert their worshippers to Christianity. Like a lot of Ladies, she's mainly a healer.
Personality notes: A warm, nurturing motherly sort.
Character notes: Literally meaning "Alder King," he is the ruler of the trees in Germany's Black Forest. He's an spiteful creature and there are many stories of him getting humans lost in the woods, from whence they never return. Gun and Elec-user.
Personality notes: Inserts German words into his lines.
Character notes: The great feathered serpent of Aztec lore. The son of Ometeotl, he and his brother Tezcatlipoca created the world from the corpse of the monster Tlaltecuhtli. He is the creator of humanity was was the second sun god, succeeding Tezcatlipoca and being succeeded by Tlaloc. In the current creation, he's the wind god, and accordingly he's a Fire and Wind specialist in the game.
Personality notes: Still kind of the jerk he was before, but slowly rediscovering his love for humans.
Make your preparations and then enter the big scary iron door to find... pretty much every important character in the game all in one room, facing the Yamato Perpetual Reactor.
We enter into a three-way Mexican Standoff: Merkabah, the angels and Samurai versus Lucifer, the Ashura-kai, and the Ring of Gaea versus Flynn and the Hunters. Merkabah fired the opening salvo by ordering the Samurai to attack the Hunters. The Hunters in turn charge at the Chariot, who obliterates a whole group with holy lightning!
Nanashi: G-gah... I think I knew some of those people...
Merkabah's also recruited some Tokyo civilians with the offer to live in peace in Mikado if they fight for him. Flynn, of course fired back that Merkabah will just destroy and recreate everything over and over again until he's satisfied. Suddenly, Merkabah turns to Nanashi...
Horkos: BUONO! THIS WON'T END WELL!
Merkabah promises to free Nanashi from Dagda if Nanashi joins him! Believe it or not, you can actually agree to this, ending the game right there on an early bad ending. But of course, that's not what we're doing.
Nanashi: Yeah, no.
At Nanashi's refusal, Merkabah orders Gaston to redeem himself by impaling Nanashi on the Spear of Michael. Gaston replies by snapping the spear in half and telling Merkabah that he will side with the people, not with the angels' dogma!
Nebiros: So there was hope for that one after all... My my my...
Oumitsunu: ...I AM...
Power courses through Gaston, making him the first of the assist characters to gain a new passive skill - Awakened Power! This is something all of them will get eventually, Gaston's in this case greatly strengthening his Phys attacks. Unfortunately he just has a commas spear now, so he's not as strong as he was when he was wielding the Spear of Michael. And the Chariot is very, very unhappy.
BOSS: HERALD MERKABAH
Level 75. Drain Light, Weak Dark
Merkabah has, for whatever reason, dropped 24 levels and sprouted a weakness since IV Vanilla, but he's still no pushover. He has three tier-four attacks, namely Riot Gun, Thunder Reign, and Deadly Wind, plus his unique move, Chariot, essentially Megidola plus Sukunda. He can cancel your buffs with Dekaja, though he thankfully can't cancel de-buffs on himself, merely buff them back up.
Black Maria: This tyrant is perverting the True Faith! I shall cripple him! WHOOAAAAAAAAH!
Nanashi: Wait, where'd she go?
Yeah, Black Maria, who I was using as my main debuffer and healer, was Lost compliments of Deadly Wind. Hoo boy. Anyway, with a quarter of his health gone, Merkabah asks what we're fighting for. Answer "A world without bias" for the best result, two buffs of each stat to you. Half his health gone, and he'll start pulling out two new attacks, the same ones his second form in Vanilla used: Hexagram, an Almighty instant kill, and Shall Not Resist, a weak random-hitting Almighty move that debuffs defense.
At three-quarters health gone, the Hunters gear up to attack Merkabah on Flynn's orders. the correct response hear is to use the distraction to heal - this gives the whole party a full recovery. After this point, continue applying debuffs and Dark moves until this Chariot crashes!
Erlkonig: Ja, and nein kommen back!
Nanashi: I did it... I actually did it!
Thoth: Knew ya had it in ya, kid...
But we're not out of the woods yet, obviously. Applause rings out at Lucifer claps at our victory. He extends to us the same offer Merkabah did - join him, and he'll free Nanashi from Dagda. He says his only enemy left now is YHVH, the Creator, therefore he and Dagda are essentially on the same side. Dagda tells him to shove it, but the decision is again up to us.
Nanashi: Mmmmmmmmm... nah, stick it where the sun don't shine, Baldy!
The Ashura-kai panic at the challenge, uncertain of their future if Lucifer is defeated. Hallelujah tells them to quit their blubbering. He reveals to them he's killed Abe, and appoints himself the new leader of the Ashura-kai! This causes his Awakening, greatly strengthening his magic attacks. But as awesome as this is, we still have a Demon Lord to drop.
BOSS: TYRANT LUCIFER
Level 75. Weak Light, Drain Dark
Merkabah was manageable. Lucifer is ridiculously hard. Even weaker than he was in Vanilla, he can topple you in a few hits, and if you lose you have to go through the cutscene and Merkabah fight all over again.
He likes to open each battle with his signature move Evil Shine, which is a Megidolaon that inflicts Panic, followed by Hades Blast. In short, two hits of tier-three damage to everyone, plus an ailment. Yeowch. Tetrakarn can help with the latter, which will also end his turn there.
His other moves include Myriad Arrows, Glacial Bladt, Debilitate, and Dekunda, meaning unlike Merkabah he can reset your de-buffs to zero whenever he wants to.
Nanashi: I understand now... this is the might that nearly conquered Tokyo...
Oumitsunu: ...OUMITSUNU!
At one quarter health gone Flynn, who you may have noticed has been throwing some creepy smiles around, asks Nanashi to distract Lucifer while he sneak attacks him. Obviously, agree, as at half health this will result in Flynn taking around 750 HP off Lucifer and removing all his Press Turns.
Nanashi: Are... we winning? We are! We can actually-
Throne: GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
Hresvelgr: FWASSSSSSSHHHHH... I MUST RETREAT FOR NOW...
Oumitsunu: OW.
Nanashi: ...do this.
At half health he gains Morning Star, which reduces the entire party's health by half, and Kingly One, which un-summons a random demon. Even with most of his heath gone, on my run he managed to get me down to just Nanashi.
Nanashi: You've murdered my friends... tore apart my home... all for, what? A bit of pride? Some worthless revenge? No more. NO MORE! TOKYO SAYS NO!!!! HAMAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNN!
The Fallen Angel falls once more... and he gives an oddly poignant final speech... seemingly recognizing that he's still and angel, and he will return once YHVH "needs" him again...
Nanashi: ...I won. WE won! Yahahahaaaaaa! Thank you all, demon buddies! To think the forces that were ruining Tokyo now saved it! Nikkari, Manabu, Boss... I hope you're happy where you are now...
A wave of relief fills the air. The various human factions all forgive one another. It seems peace, at last, has come to Tokyo.
Cherub: Ahahahaaaaaaa! Bask in my glory! Those great battles have ascended me to the Second Choir! Though it is a pity we had to slay Lord Merkabah, perhaps it's for the best humanity now has a guide like you!
Berserker: Jååååååååååår! I heård there was a big båttle arøund here?
Melchom: Just missed it.
Berserker:' Åååååw shücks.
Character notes: Crazed warriors in Norse lore; they were said to enter a trance in battle that made them extremely violent and nearly invincible. Some scholars think these legends originated from real reports of warriors who went into battle high out of their minds. Seriously. Yeah, he's a Phys user.
Personality notes: Stereotypical Viking.
Character notes: The Second Choir of angels, Cherub's are among the weirdest-looking kinds, having the heads of a man, bull, lion, and eagle, many wings, and eyes everywhere. They report directly to God and are among the angels that compose the Merkabah. God also charged them with protecting Eden after Adam and Eve were expelled. Light, Gun, and Almighty user; also gets Majakamaon.
Personality notes: Still a haughty angel, but now fully in Nanashi's corner.
Nanashi: I hope you guys don't mind cleaning up around here and stuff, because there probably isn't going to be much more figh- YOU!
Adramelech: Adrahahaha... is that anyway to greet an old friend, cutie? World travels fast in the Expanse. I magine my surprise when I heard you'd defeated my master. I guess that means I'm now YOUR loyal servant and sword knight... and trust me, you're going to need me. ADRAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!
Character notes: A god of Assyria, he was demonized by the Israelites for the barbaric human sacrifices, including children, who were offered to him. Like a lot of Near Eastern gods, he became a demon in Christianity, and became known as the supervisor of Lucifer's wardrobe. He's fabulous. He's a Fire and Phys specialist who retains his unique move, Hellish Brand, that removes all buffs from the enemy.
Personality notes: As per canon.
