Madrasta is right next to me, so I could just head in. But first, I’m going to check my equipment. I think I have a few new accessories I could give to my guys. Turns out I do. Also, that “Ultra Soul” thing that Theo gave me? It reduces the MP that it takes to cast spells. Pretty useful. I equip it to Cecille, and switch around a few other equips as well. That done, I save and head into town.
Upon entering town, I overhear two random guys talking about how the flash completely destroyed Jeidath. They assume it was caused by a Witch. Technically, that’s true, but it’s not what they think at all.
Leon and Theo comment that everyone seems worried. Which makes sense, considering that the next town over just got wiped off the map. Saki wonders about the Steel Witch, and why the Church would have created her. Nicolai assumes they’re fighting fire with fire.
Alph says that the last battle was tough, and suggests that everyone go take a break in town. Right after that, I’m given the usual bunch of options. First thing I do is go to the shop. I buy new weapons for everyone, as well as new hats. I can buy Holy Feathers here, so I buy three. I find it kind of amusing that they sell weapons for the Witches. I know that it’d be incredibly inconvenient if they didn’t, but still. Though I’m sure there are other people out there who use the same weapons. That’s probably why.
After that, I go to “action.” I can talk to Mavi, talk to Saki, or go to the library. Talking to Mavi has her raging about humans and how they thought they could control the Steel Witch’s power. Cecille is disgusted that Kingston is playing with innocent lives the way he is. Leon is sure that Kingston is behind all this, and wonders what his goal is. After all, he has plenty of power already. Why would he want more? Lucia says he’s clearly after more than leading a religion will give him. He also has no qualms about sacrificing people who serve him.
Next, I talk to Saki. She seems upset about the Thunder Lapistier. She reminds us that she’s from the Shadow Clan. She’s also the only member alive. The Thunder Lapistier belonged to them. She’s come to the conclusion that the Church must have been the ones that destroyed her village. After all, they’re the ones who had the Lapistier. She was tricked by the Church her whole life. She was working for her enemy! What would her clan think of this? Lucia says they’d probably be angry, but not with Saki. They’d be angry at the Church that had her believing their lies all this time.
Finally, I head to the library. The books are called “Life of the Lion King,” “Steel Witch R&D Record 2,” and “Dreamers.” I start with the first one. Alph remarks that he used to read it a lot when he was little. It says there was once a great knight who was called the Lion King. He devoted himself to the Luminous Church and fought for the safety and happiness of the people. But when the Holy Capital of San Reise was attacked by pirates, he was killed protecting the Capital. If you’ll remember, this is Leon’s father this is talking about.
The second book talks about the progress on the Steel Witch. They put the Thunder Lapistier into “test subject Beta-13” and found that they had linked. But her emotions were interfering with her abilities, so they installed some kind of chip so that they could keep that under control. They also erased her memories in order to minimize interference. Does that mean she used to be human? That’s pretty twisted. Also, parts of her body were damaged, so they replaced them with artificial ones. Apparently, this actually enhanced the output of Rune. So much for Cybernetics Eat Your Soul.
The third book talks about how a lot of people in this town are having prophetic dreams of an altar in a forest. This is supposedly where the resurrection of God will take place. These dreams have led the Church to find what they think is the location of this altar. The Grand Cardinal is having these dreams as well, and he believes this is where he’ll need to be for the ceremony to take place. Since I’m done with that, I head back to the world map, save, and continue on. Some random people comment that the Crow Knights are here, and Heath is with them. Somehow, this doesn’t sound like a good thing, and most of the group thinks we should avoid him. Alph, on the other hand, says he’s sure that Sir Heath will believe us. But right now, there are too many people, so we should wait until he’s alone.
Heath begins to talk to some people. Apparently, he and the Crow Knights are here to figure out what destroyed Jeidath. They’re also going to protect the people of the town. He says not to pay attention to rumors about the Witches destroying the town. That’s exactly what they want – for everyone to be afraid.
After that, Alph goes over to talk to him. Obviously, he’s not happy. He says we’ve ignored our mission and allowed ourselves to be charmed by the Witches. We also attacked Sir Andre. Alph and the others protest, telling him about what the Church was going to do to Theo. Nicolai and Lucia try to explain what really happened in Jeidath.
Heath, though, still can’t forgive the Witches for what they’ve done. After all, Vanessa single-handedly wiped out the Eurus Knights. Alph tries to explain further, but Heath has had enough of it. He wants to fight us. Alph says that he’ll fight alone. If he wins, he wants Heath to listen to them.
Alph is the only one I can bring in. Hopefully, this will go well. After all, he has ranged attacks. Heath does have magic, but I’m not sure if he’ll use it. One-on-one fights are never easy in games like this, but if I’m careful, I think I can handle it. I begin the fight.
Heath goes first, and attacks. So much for the strategy I used in my last fight with him. And…oh CRAP. He starts out with 2 flash points. Thankfully, Alph levels after attacking, but Heath still uses the flash drive. I quickly move Alph as far away as possible and have him heal with a Vi Tonic. Alph’s Magnum skill is extremely useful here.
Eventually, I have Alph use his Flash Drive on Heath. Heath then uses his. Thankfully, Heath is damaged enough that I can just attack him and win. That wasn’t difficult, but it wasn’t exactly easy, either. But I won.
I get four Vitae and 4300 Rico from that.
Alph tries to tell Heath that God is going to destroy the planet, and we’re supposed to stop him. Heath says even if that were true, it doesn’t matter to him. To him, the Witches are evil, and that’s that. They still hurt innocent people, so it’s his duty and his wish to destroy them.
All of a sudden, Kingston show up, saying the fight was entertaining. He thought we were killed by Iris, but he supposes he shouldn’t underestimate us. He then sics Iris on us. Heath seems surprised to see her. As she starts to attack, he tries to say something, seeming to recognize her. She seems surprised, and recognizes him as well. But she gets some kind of error message, and says that something’s wrong with her emotion chip. She suddenly stops the attack. Kingston seems irritated, and says they couldn’t completely erase her memory, calling her useless.
Then he says that it’s not a problem. He called the Crow Knights here in case something happened. It looks like we’re surrounded. He orders Heath to command his soldiers to capture us. Heath hesistates, so Kingston does so instead. Some random knight says “Come on, men, we’ve gotta catch them all!” *snickers*
No one is sure what to do. We don’t want to fight them, but there’s too many of us to warp away. All of a sudden, someone shows up and starts fighting the knights. We see his portrait, though it doesn’t say his name. Mel, excited, remarks that it’s a samurai. Um, what? A samurai in a medieval European fantasy world? That makes no sense! But if he’s here to help us, that’s great. He tells us to follow him. The group runs off after him.
Once we’ve left, the Grand Cardinal Johannes of all people shows up, saying that it looks like we used their superior numbers against them. Kingston apologizes, but Johannes just says something about the day when he’ll give his body to God drawing closer. Wait, what? We haven’t heard this before. So he’s going to be God’s vessel? That doesn’t sound good.
The scene changes. The group is now out on a grassy hill. The guy who helped us is quiet for a while, but then introduces himself as Kai of the Eurus Knights. Hm, I’d forgotten that he showed up this early. Guess my comment about him being an Eleventh Hour Ranger wasn’t accurate. However, he still has very little bearing on the plot, and is basically there to take up a space in my party.
He says that it seems like we’re being followed. Looks like we have to keep going.
Kopin says that there’s been a tragedy. His friend Daikon the radish appeared at the dinner table completely transformed. Vanessa said that the radish at the bottom of the pot tastes the best. Kopin seems sad.
Well, that’s the end of this chapter. Looks like even Heath hates us now. And now there’s all this talk about the resurrection of the Church’s God. If the Witches are correct, that would mean the end of the world. But for now, we just have to avoid getting caught...
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