Morax: Well now, this is a surprise. It seems my past self as the master of Sector Antila still occupies his original place in the timestream. It'd take something very powerful indeed to alter time like that. I must admit crossing swords with Drake was a most envigorating battle, to the point that I'm not entirely sure who to root for here... Also, I did not know I'd lost that much weight since then...
One thing I didn't mention earlier is that on a New Game Plus, level limits on fusion are removed, so you can create demons above your level; with that in mind, Hamsa, Hathor, and Jueyuan join the team as we press on to face the buffalo-headed master of war, Morax.
Melchom, Gremlin, Oni: SIR MORAX! Oh no...
Archangel: Well now...
Norn: Oh dear... time is broken to a much greater degree than we could have ever anticipated...
Poltergeist: Is that a disembodied brain? ...cool.
Morax will proceed to outline his philosophy on life, that humans have excelled so greatly at making war, demons will simply copy their techniques to wipe them out. Give him a nice Shut Up, Hannibal! for the road! Whatever you respond, he will engage you in battle as the game's first boss.
Morax, being the Starter Villain, is not all that powerful. His signature skill is Gehenna, which inflicts the "Fear" status ailment; this causes the affected demon to randomly retreat from battle at any time. So, annoying, but not crippling. He's weak to ice, so if you fused the Knocker or Gremlin source into something, that'd be a big help. What's also a big help is Media, the second-tier healing spell, which you can get from the Pixie source.
Hamsa: AND DON'T COME BACK! Quack.
When Morax bites it, he drops the Brass Horn forma and the Antila Rosetta, which turns out to be the energy source needed to escape from Antila. The forma can be made into sub-apps, optional additions to the DEMONICA, at the lab, but none of them you get from this forma are all that great. More technobabble follows, but essentially Arthur beefs up the Red Sprite's plasma armor with the energy from the Rosetta, allowing the ship to hightail it out of Antila! There's a few other things you can do there if you want, though, like accept the second EX mission to get a Sandman's bag of sand back from another Sandman (exactly as easy as it sounds), and search for the corpse of another crewman, which'll be important later.
Oni: Man dese redshirts suck. Not like you, Mister Drake!
Drake: Hey, that was one of my colleagues!
Gremlin: Like you've spoken a sentence to the guy...
Anyway, once you're finished up in Antila, you can go to the second sector, Bootes, and if Antila was themed after Wrath, Bootes is all about Lust; it resembles a combination of a seedy back-alley district packed with disreputable people an an extravagant palace full of mindless pleasure. You'll also be introduced to a few new mechanics here, namely lava tiles and hidden doors, the latter of which we'll get to in a bit. Arthur also assigns you to plant reconnaissance beacons in wide-open areas; just explore the whole map and this will happen automatically when you reach such an area. Now, demon roll-call!
There are a ton of potential new bros-
Harpy: And sises!
-in this area. The Katarikauwa is another Mudo-user, and can be annoying at times. The Harpy is a pretty good wind-user. The Leanan Sidhe and the Lilim both introduce an exceptionally-obnoxious new status ailment, Charm, which causes the affected demon to attack its own party members. 100% of the time. Think Attract, but designed by Satan. Fortunately, it's just as potent on your side. The Principality is the next thunder user in the game, and he's really good, possibly having the third-tier thunder spell, Zionga. The Azumi is the next-strongest physical specialist, up from the Oni. Finally, there's the legendary Jack Frost, who's key to surviving this area.
Jack Frost: Hee-ho! He mentioned me-ho!
Katarikauwa: Well of course, don't you recall what you helped him do last time, dear?
Leanan Sidhe: Does this dress make me look fat?
Lilim: Umm, I get to do something now? I guess that's okay...
The single most annoying demon here, though, is the sole non-recruitable one, Preta. Why? Two words: Macca Beam. This, as you might expect, steals your money, but not a set amount, that'd make sense. Instead, it docks a percentage, making this about the one place being on a New Game Plus is a disadvantage, as you can (and I did) lose hundreds of thousands on these little pieces of crap.
Drake: Argh!
Melchom: Well, maybe this wouldn't have happened if you didn't wave your money around these seedy alleyways, hmm?
Unfortunately, there's an even stronger version of the same move which I think docks half your cash, but thankfully it's only on a certain rare enemy at the very end of the game...
Kangiten: I LOVE YOU!
Drake: Go away.
There's also some quests to do around here: you can supply a Melchom with some MP-restoration items, ferry messages between a Karasu Tengu and a Koppa Tengu back in Antila, and help three Disr fight Yggdrasil. If that seems impossible for this point in the game, don't worry, it is: it's a Hopeless Boss Fight, and you succeed at the mission either way. Before you black out, though, you see a mysterious warrior kill the tree for you...
Koppa Tengu: Is this more timey stuff? My head hurts...
In your exploration, also, you're sure to come across the rare forma, Release Jewel. Get this to Irving and he'll supply you with the ability to find hidden doors. Also, aboard the ship, you'll receive another distress signal, this one from the Elve...
Drake: I remember this! That was...
Kama: Well now, this is a twist...
You're going to have to go at a good old round of Storming the Castle to get to whoever's sending the signal. You'll also receive note that Crewman Norris has gone insane and deserted the mission, so you're ordered to bring him in, too. There's nowhere to go but the hidden door of the palace, so let's press on!
In the palace are several new recruitable demons. The Acheri uses the annoying spell Life Drain, which does exactly what you think. More thunder-users are present in the form of the Naga and Vodyanik. The Bifrons is the next fire user up, but probably a bit too strong to recruit at the moment. The Goblin can boost the attack of everyone in his party (though by himself he's pretty weak). Finally, there are a couple non-recruitable demons: Ubu, Ippon-Datara, and more Pretas argh. As before, you can easily make these yourself if you want them.
There's nothing to do on the first two floors but recruit, though do take note of the castle's suspicious butler, Macabre. On the third floor, however, an invisible force (that bleats like a sheep) grabs you, and tosses you in a holding cell with...
Drake: Ze-
Pixie: Miss Zelenin!
What horrible fate awaits Drake and Zelenin at the mercies of the castle's master? What became of Norris? Will Pretas ever stop being annoying? Stay tuned to find out!
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