Principality: My turn to speak, is it? Principality, Angel of the Third Choir and protector of the human world, at your service. I must say it is a great relief to see Lady Zelenin in the flesh again. Drake seems to have been much affected by her fate last time through, and I suspect if he could change one thing about his visit to the Schwartzwelt, it would be what became of her. That is, if any of us get out of this infernal palace alive...
Zelenin relates to Drake the grisly fate of her fellow crewmen, who can be seen, dissected, around the room; you can examine their bodies for some Gallows Humor. To progress, though, it's required to listen in at one of the windows (my first Guide Dang It! for this game, incidentally), which summons a Biphrons, who brings Drake to the top floor to see the lord of the castle, Mitra.
Vodyanik: Lord Mitra! If only I was as cool as him...
Acheri: You're not helping, Big-nose!
Mitra sees potential in Drake, and requests he join him, supplying him with a Luxury Bell as a token of appreciation and then just lets him go.
Naga: How convenient.
Goblin: Get me back in there! I can take him! I can-mmph!
Leanan Sidhe: I'll say this for Lord Mitra; he has an excellent toga bod.
Report back to the Red Sprite, where Arthur devises a plan to rescue Zelenin: namely, using the bell to signal the demons inside the castle, then taking them down in a feint attack. Drake, of course, has to do the rescuing, ostensibly because he's most familiar with the castle, but really due to PROTAGONIST POWER!
Ubu: Not that he's complaining, am I right?
Ubu and Acheri: Ooooh!
Drake: Don't you two have some second-grade girls to tease somewhere?
The castle is totally unoccupied, so just waltz up the the third floor... where you're grabbed by the invisible sheep-thing again.
Drake: This one's smarter than the rank-and-file, I'll give him that...
He locks Drake in a holding cell and forces him to fight Norris, who has been turned into a monster by the "special parcel" Mitra's team has received from the "Blighted Land."
Poltergeist: FORESHADOWING!
Trumpeter: Forsooth. "Foul Norris" would make a most excellent band name...
Norris is just as easy as any mini-boss in this game. After defeating him, you'll rendezvous with Zelenin again, and someone else who seems to have his eyes on her...
Drake: MASTEMAAAA!
Ongyo-ki: Black-hearted fiend! Drake, summon me and I shall spill his holier-than-thou entrails!
Metatron: My my my, here's a shock. Sir Mastema, in his original place in the timeline. I'd have thought he if anyone would have been powerful enough to break something as simple as a time loop. Curious indeed...
Drake: Hey, aren't you stronger than him? Why don't I just summon you, and you drop a Megidolaon on his head before he hurts my friend?
Metatron: Drake, you're intelligent; don't you realize he was the only reason you did not consign yourself to an eternity in this world at several points? I fear you'll have to play along now, my man...
Drake: Gah...
Mastema digs through the floor with his bare hands and provides the pair with a strange jewel taken off the dead Norris. It's time to get back to the Red Sprite, but first, you get a visit from the butler, Macabre!
Drake: Guess the invisible guy wasn't the only smart one...
Goblin: Lemme at 'im, lemme at 'im!
I actually did use Goblin for this fight to buff my stats, despite Macabre being much stronger than him. He's probably the hardest miniboss in the game due to his liberal use of Blight, a multi-target poisoning attack! Once he is defeated, the path to the Red Sprite is clear.
Irving discovers the mysterious jewel is actually a rare forma, and modifies the DEMONICA accordingly, so now it can detect hidden enemies like our bleating friend.
Lilim: Like, cool. Does this mean, like, this Demoniwhatsit can do anything?
Time for another round of America's favorite pastime, Storming the Castle! Outside the holding cells you'll meet the invisible demon again and finally reveal him as a Fomorian! Despite being hyped up more he's significantly easier than Macabre.
Biphrons: Master Drake?
Drake: Eh?
Biphrons: You have proven your worth to summon me, I believe, Master Drake.
Drake: ...apparently I have a butler now!
Speaking of, Mitra also had a Biphrons underling, and when you pass a certain door you'll be treated to Jimenez fighting him to save the life of what seems to be a crewman, but is in reality a demon, an adorable little guy named Bugaboo. Despite initial disappointment, Jimenez takes a liking to him and makes him one of his demon partners.
Koppa Tengu: Huh huh, he said Bugaboo 'fascinates his ass,' huh huh. That's what she said!
Yes, I have seen Jimenez/Bugaboo yaoi fanart. Not nearly as much as Jimenez/Protag though.
Biphrons: Unbelievable, that Biphrons's attitude was totally unbecoming of our trade!
The upper level of the palace have some interesting inhabitants, including Jack Frost's big brother Pyro Jack, Apsaras, who's physically weak but has a multi-target Sleep spell, Gu Huo Niao, the first debuffer in the game, and you can even get a Fomorian of your own.
Apsaras: The nerve of you displaying your end like that; honestly, some women...
Gu Huo Niao: You're just jealous because you know I look good!
Fomorian: Excuuuse me, laaadies, but now's not the time for thaaaat.
Goblin: 'ey, I was watchin' that!
Also, due to the wonderful world of demo fusion, Pele, Raiju, Karasu Tengu, Suparna, Shiisa, and, for overkill, Takeminakata join the party!
With that out of the way, the palace is pretty uneventful. Your main objective here is to fix the elevators (as you need to take the back door to Mitra's room and the elevator is the only way to do that), and the switches you need to press for that are pretty easy to find. There's also a couple of sidequests that can be done here: you can fetch a Pomegranate from Persephone to Hariti so stave off her craving for humans in a nice Genius Bonus (though this one requires a lot more running around in circles than it's worth), but the most important one here is hunting Mamedanuki for Halphas, which earns you the right to fuse UMA demons.
Chupacabra: Hellooooo....
Leanan Sidhe: Err...
Takeminakata: Heh, pansies.
Once all that's done there's nothing to do but take the elevator to the seventh floor for a meeting with the boss...
What power does Mitra hide? What does fate have in store for Zelenin, Jimenez, and Bugaboo this time around? What is Mastema keeping in his basement? Stay tuned to find out!
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