Surt: Wait, Drake!
Drake: Hm?
Surt: The being that caused this time loop is mighty indeed. In your current state, I doubt you could defeat it.
Drake: Yeah. In the state I am now, I couldn't take Mem Aleph. I'd get reduced to a skidmark by something even stronger than her. So you're saying we should train?
Surt: I suggest you challenge my countrymen. We of Muspell are the most powerful demons within this blighted land, and we never back down from a fight!
Drake: Training montage go!
I was level 72 by the time I cleared the path to Mem Aleph, which isn't anywhere near strong enough for her let alone what we'll be facing next. As such I decided to use this Peninsula of Power Leveling to its full extent. Let's see who we met here!
Dakini: Well now, Drake. I honestly thought you'd come around to my way of thinking sooner or later. Now, sit on Auntie Dakini's lap...
Ganesha: Move off him, harlot! You may still have your figure but that doesn't change the fact you're a week older than dirt!
Dakini: You're just jealous 'cause you never get any! You can count on one hand the number of women turned on by pachyderms...
Huoniao: Umm, should I really be listening to this conversation?'
Fenrir: AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Fafnir: kss-to the depthssss of the-ksss-Schwartzwelt? Even I know not-ksss-what lurks there...
A bit of fancy fusing later...
Amaterasu: Challenging the things at the bottom... I always knew you had it in you, Drake.
Huang Long: The balance has shifted... as guardian of all directions it in my duty to set time right...
Drake:' All right, I think we're good. Wait... I need a healer. I need, oh YHVH, I need... him.
Mastema: Uwaaaah! Finally I get out of that cramped little... Oh! Drake... You have some nerve calling me! Insolent little brat who disrupted the Lord's plan, I smite you in the name of- wha? Sir Seraph!
Seraph: A contract between a human and demon - or angel - is binding for both parties, Mastema. I may have my differences with Sinclair Drake, but you could not raise a finger against each other if you tried.
Mastema: Contract? I made no contract! Drake! Wait! Come back... I can explain!
Yup, Mastema finally joins the party, and he's ridiculously strong. He has Megidolaon, Salvation, and the most powerful obtainable Wind skill in the game, Killing Wind. We'll be relying almost entirely on the first two, since where we're going, elemental weaknesses matter very little.
Baphomet: And where's that, exactly?
It's in the southernmost part of Mastema's sanctum in Grus. As Drake said, on a first playthrough there's an angel there who guards a door and refuses us passage until we "Come back." On a New Game Plus, he's gone, but the door still requires the highest-level Unlock upgrade to get at, which is why I made a point of getting that even though it's optional. Now that we have it, we find a "suspicious" Strike Team member there, who has heard claims of treasure beyond the door.
Huoniao: I don't like this guy, Mister Drake...
Drake: Neither do I; I've never heard his voice before so I think he's not one of us. Whatever he is, he's our one lead on what's causing this time-loop, so we're going to have to put up with him for now...
Mastema: Please let me out! I'm the only one who cleans this place! I go and the Mothmen move in!
Yep, it's Bonus Dungeon time! This place is basically an even crueler (if you can believe that) version of the Eridanus maze. It's got three floors to it - the top level is a teleporter maze, the middle level a mostly-useless "hub" area that has a few save points, and the bottom level is a one-way-door and sanctum maze. And to make it worse, unlike every other puzzle in the game it has to be done multiple times.
To start, we go up the southeast stairwell to the teleport area. We then go east, then south, then west. This leads to another area with only one warp; obviously, we take that. This leads to yet another area with the same deal; lather, rinse, repeat. This warp goes to a unique looking area; we take the north warp here, north again, east, then fall down a hole to the hub area again. We take the stairwell just north of here, go through the north warp here, then south, west, north, then the next warp which is the only thing there, north, east, then fall down the hole. This leads to the stairs to the one-way door maze.
Dantalian: Heh. Utterly simple.
Koppa Tengu: Speak for yerself...
On this floor, we need to find the phase-shift portal. Shift to A, which allows access to the south-center stairs, take this and two more flights up, and we reach our destination!
Drake: All right... That creepy guy says our goal is right beyond that door. Let's hope this isn't a suicide mission...
Poltergeist: Dun dun DUNNNNN!
Surprise! It's a boss fight! Specifically, it's Alilat, one of the goddesses of Arabic paganism before Islam supplanted it. Obviously, she's not going down without a fight. Like Captain Jack, she only has three actions, but they're all she needs. First off, Concentrate, which boosts the power of any magic attack. If she uses this, defend immediately, because the next thing coming is a Megidolaon, the third-strongest attack in the game. even on the defense, this thing took my entire party down to the red. Her final move? Diarahan. Yup, just like Jack, she can heal herself to full at any time. Thankfully, she has really low HP for this part of the game.
Foe this fight, I brought Mastema for healing, Huang Long for doing damage (he also has Megidolaon) and Amaterasu for debuffing; she comes with Debilitate.
Drake: That's kind of a dirty move for a nice goddess like you...
Amaterasu: Just because I'm a lady doesn't mean I don't know how to fight!
Eventually, she goes down. It's revealed that she was some sort of living seal placed there by the Mothers, and her destruction allows the mysterious crewman to reveal his true form...
Drake: A Metatron!
Dominion: I've worked with Metatrons, Drake. Metatrons were friends of mine. That is no Metatron.
Metatron: True. He gives off a signature most unlike my fellows. Almost like...
Drake: If that demon was a seal, is she what was sealing me in time?
Norn: ...unfortunately, it seems time is... GWAAAAAAAAAA!
Drake: WHAT IS THAT!?
Knocker: It hurts. Make it stop. I'M GONNA BLOW UP!
Tiamat: This level of power... the Great Mother's? No! Beyond hers!
Mastema: Is that...?
Drake: We just unsealed something even stronger than Mem Aleph? Well, I think I know where the loop's coming from now...
???: Hmmph, my deductions were right. It's time I revealed myself.
High Pixie: My Lord!
???: Hear me, Sinclair Drake. I was merely an observer until now, but the threat you face is beyond even you. I am one of the most powerful demons in existence, but like your friend, Jimenez, I was once an ordinary man. I will not see the human world laid to ruin so easily. Which is why, from this day forward...
...
Masakado: ...TAIRA NO MASAKADO LENDS YOU HIS BLADE!
To be continued...
