No illusions you try to infect me with could stop me now.
They'd better not.
This is... the construction at the expressways, yes?
That's the one. The real thing had a lot of jumping.
I hope we do not have to do too much of that. For your sake.
As usual, the regular exits don't work here. It's just the thing at the end.
Our Bloom wall Dragons here...
...are Shield Dragon Vs, who have DEF equal to Jabberwock's. They're sturdy, with nearly 10,000 HP, but they're slow and have low MDF, shockingly enough.
See? Only 2,500 damage!
Oh, come on, Orochi!
We've talked about this.
May I have them? They will make nice souvenirs. I might use them.
Anyway, you might recall that the last time Shield Dragon Vs showed up in the postgame, the end of that area was blocked by a nightmare formation from hell. ...So uh,
Be careful! There's another one behind the wall!
Once you reach the Seaspire segment of the Illusory Capital, we get our final Dragon theme switch—the last leg of regular Dragons will be playing old faithful Ever-Building Rage. As stated, it is my favorite Dragon theme, so I'm hardly complaining. Anyway, we've got three turns before the other Dragon arrives into the battle, so we need to make them count.
Youka! I believe it would be ideal for you to strike as decisively as possible.
Ugh, asshole.
How's that?!
Great but uh, hurry!
Alright, we've got our defenses up as well.
Oh, alright, if you must hit someone!
I believe that other one is preparing to jump the gap.
This one's about to throw up its shield!
Please take a moment!
Shutdown is a really good skill.
HAWAWAWA KTKR!! KTKR!!
Evil Tyrano Xs are, to put it bluntly, immensely powerful. Their crit buff, high accuracy, and high damage are not nice. These two specific Dragons together can put forth a brutal offense and defense, and both of them have over 9,000 HP, so it's very difficult to burst down the Shield Dragon before the Evil Tyrano appears. ...Unless you have a Psychic, maybe. That might work alright. Also, they drop Koron's ultimate claw.
Mio! Give me a boost!
You got it!
Here I go!
See you later!
Oh, it's not dead.
It's almost dead. Hurry up and finish the job.
Aaaaooowwww.
Mio! You okay?
See?
You cut that out!
Would that this could treat Mio right now.
Get it off of us!
I'm on it!
This is a curious little mechanical interaction. I've mentioned before that critical hits can inflict Hack Weakness. The Shield Dragon here got hit by Hack Weakness from the Evil Tyrano attacking it and getting a crit. That counts!
Oh, come on, hurry up and die!
Ugh!
I think the dino's about to do the roar thing. Hey, Richter!
Direct your ire at me, please!
Here it coooomes!
Get the hell out of here!
One down, one to go!
Woogh. That hurt.
I'm back, though!
There you are. Everyone alright?
Yes, thank you.
...It comes.
OW
Ow.
ow my soul
Hahaha! Just missed the knockdown, pal!
Fast! Everyone goes fast now!
That includes me. Here we are.
It's gotten the idea of our weak points!
Whoosh!
For you, Youka.
Thanks!
Oh, great, not this again.
Aaaand...
Shine on, you devilish diamonds! FEVER!
Hraaaaaaaaahhhh!
Rage Bomber still does pretty sizable damage at this point, too.
Okay! It is time to get well again!
Great! They're working fantastically.
Cure Beat was level 4 here, so that's 100 times 2.1x. It's a good skill.
Tch.
Argh!
C'mon, c'mon! My back hits me harder than you do!
Wanna drive that point home a bit?
Oh yeah!
I expected someone to die so I had Richter Nanomachine 119, but nobody did.
Mind giving me one more shot, Mio?
Y'mean like this?
Just about!
Oh man. I was kinda freaking out there a bit.
It's alright. We're through it.
Excellent work, everyone.
They're getting stronger. There's no doubt—we're getting much closer to our goal.
...I could not bear to let him die. Even if it meant his living a cursed existence, I... I could not allow him to fade away completely.
You're talking about Takehaya.
He's most likely lingering here the same as any other Dragon, but considering his nature, I don't think he's actually 'dead'. He could probably come back into reality whenever he wanted. He's keeping himself in here to protect the world. And that's where you've been, right, Aitelle?
It pains him deeply to live with the monstrous hunger he is saddled with. I needed to help him. I love him. Until the last vestiges of his consciousness fade away, I must repay him—at least to save him from harming humans.
Orochi. What is it you plan to do with him? You do not mean to obliterate him with the Dragonslayer, correct?
No. Of course not. I don't want to kill Takehaya at all.
I'm going to free him, obviously.
How do you plan to do that?
Much like me, Takehaya is human and dragon. He's human, yet blessed with the undying conceptual form of a Dragon. He took on that fate willingly. With him on our side—
Wait. You mean to tell me that your ace in the hole is Takehaya?
He was manipulated, hurt, tortured, and yet he still became a hero. He was my shadow—an 'ersatz' me.
In this moment, the world needs an undying hero—but I've chosen mortality. The job of being this world's hero, carrying the Dragonslayer to the future, is his. So I'm going to beat him into submission. I am the 7th True Dragon, VFD—evolution is mine to dictate. I'll battle the hunger within him until it submits to me, force it into a controllable state.
...You mean to save him? To break his curse?
I can live with it. It's gotten better for me, too. It's not gone, and it never will be until I've genuinely defeated the past order of the Dragons, but I can live with it. So can he, as long as he gets the chance. He's a strong man, with a stubborn heart full of pride and fury and love for you.
To ride forward into the future with Takehaya... I-I do not know if I deserve such a blessing.
Do you trust me, Aitelle?
Orochi...
...I do. Yes.
So a fight with Take's on the itinerary, huh?
man, imagine if we do save him. everyone at SKY'll be so jazzed.
All the more reason to do it.
There's Insomnia!
Now you listen here, I've already taken this place as a concert stage. You wanna squat here, you're gonna need to pay me rental fees!
Don't think he liked that.
Takes property real seriously, huh?
Insomnia, or Illusory Darkpool, is the statistically tankiest enemy in the entire game, with a whopping 257 in both defense stats. He's got 15,680 HP, and is rough offensively. He resists Lightning and is 30% weak to Aerial, with no status ailment immunities. It's Insomnia, though, so it's not like it's going to be easy.
This one's offense is quite something. Let's be careful!
It's gathering in energy for its knockout blast!
Oh, that thing again, huh?
Are you planning to take it head on again, Youka?
You got it! Might as well go out with a bang, right?
Ugh, shit, man that hurts.
Death Sentence is as much of a big deal as it was last time, of course.
Bite me!
Be careful, it actually might
Can you say it again for the people in the back?
Gladly!
Oh, yup, that's it from me. Gimme a sec.
Richter! You alright?
I'm... still standing!
Ignite!
Well, you've become quite tough, haven't you?
I'm baaaack!
There you are, Youka.
Pow!
Man this guy does that a lot.
Think that's enough?
I think so, but ouch.
Bam! Got him with the spinning backhand!
Argh! Some help, please!
Here, I'll give you a sec.
Want some help with that?
Our local pugilist has a few comments for you, Insomnia. Care to elaborate, Youka?
Sure, sure. One! Two! Three! Four!
Five!
Now fuck off already!
Phew. Thank you, that was quite painful.
No worries! Now get in there and Richter it up!
Aha! I believe I will.
Ugh, shit, here we go.
Here, Youka.
Thank you very much!
Get 'em again!
Whoosh! There I go again, turning into mist to avoid your attacks. My bad!
Okay maybe that made you madder than I thought
Hurry up and die!
Feeling Ignited, Mio?
Positively on fire!
Which ordinarily wouldn't be great for me, but hey.
Youka! Get in there and tear it up!
Youka leapt up in response to its breathing and not only shattered its crystal, but also broke its jaw with a spinning uppercut. I think I saw its tongue cave through the top of its mouth a bit.
You can take this thing up eight floors.
All in a day's work! Woohoo!
Well, it certainly didn't become any more pleasant to deal with in this state.
What incredible fortitude you all possess.
We've gotten through a lot together.
yeah what's really gonna stop us now we've like perma-killed a true dragon
Tokyo Station, hm? Then Tiamat will be here.
Last time, the Sakurabas at least wore it out a bit. This time, we'll be facing it at its full power.
fomalhaut's killing machine, huh? heh, this might even be a fair fight
Aww, honey. You're learning.
Well actually that was a re—
You know what nevermind
I apparently walked back here off-camera? That's surprisingly salient an idea for me. Anyway, we'll be handling the Marunouchi segment with Mio, Sumie, and Youka.
Whoa!
Hey, he's fast! Wait, it's not his speed. He must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp!
Excuse you. I'm the ultimate lifeform here.
how could i forget
...?
The regular dragons here move really fast for some reason. They're Salamanders, by the way. With only 6,278 HP, they're not sturdy enough to be much of a threat. They can drop Richter's ultimate... thing.
Oh, look. It's Saturner.
The concept of a nascent Imperial... It appears that the defenses are mounting.
Nothing we can't handle.
Satanic Dragon Vs are our Bloom Wall dragons here. They're massive—I mean, they actually have as much HP as Insomnia did. Less DEF and WAY less MDF, but still. They also still resist Fire, Lightning, and Aerial. The biggest trouble is the ability to spread Downer, which can lower your sustainability through a slugfest.
So I've thought about it, and I've come to a conclusion. I think it would actually be a bad idea to pick up this food, because it's probably weird food that shouldn't exist, and we shouldn't eat it.
Thank you. You understand.
Like to be clear, the two Satanic Dragon Vs are very tough fights. The heavy bulk does a lot for their ability to wreak havoc on their party. It's just we have places to be, and we have fundamentally seen these before.
For the sake of those she loved, the queen used every art of blacksmithing she possessed in creating a spear of purified metal. This was the Dragonslayer—a divine blade bearing the earth's possession. And yet... the queen was never able to witness her beloved warriors take it into combat. She had a responsibility to her people. She wished, so dearly, to head into battle with them... yet, only one other was given that chance. The Royal Historian was given that role.
They left their own final moments to go unsaid. I... guess it makes sense. If the Royal Historian doesn't see the complete obliteration of the entire race, I guess there's always that chance that some of them survived, somewhere.
It's like... I guess they wanted to go out on a triumphant note? As a species.
Sumie Kazuki. You are the new Royal Historian—not one bound by the history of the ancient Lucier, but one who may bring them forward to a new era. It is up to you to determine the meaning of the end of the Lucier.
I mean I kinda already knew that but
I mean I know you're going somewhere with this. I don't wanna harsh your vibe or anything.
Hawawawawa! Should I be handling these?!
It's probably fine as long as we leave them in here when we go.
Since we're heading up on the end here, the game gives us a solid and gives us three more Dragon Eggs. This is good. I will need them. To recap, there are exactly six: one in Kokubunji Dragon Production, one for rescuing all 75 NPCs, one from the OG Scientist in the flea markets, and three here. I wind up using five total by the end.
Tiamat. This is the last of the seven Imperials. Once we're through this, our goal will be just within reach, everyone.
Let's kick some buuuuuutt!
Be careful, everyone! Tiamat's not an opponent to take lightly.
Oh trust me I know
We got this.
Tiamat, the Illusory Crystal, gets to end off the Imperials in his uninjured state. In terms of all the bosses in the game, Tiamat honestly isn't and wasn't that complex—he's only got a few moves. Of course, those moves are brutally powerful, and Paralysis as just as nasty now as it was back then. With 18,968, his HP is a big leap from the prior bosses in the rush, though his DEF and MDEF are lower than Insomnia and Jabberwock's. He's still only 20% weak to Ice for affinities. Still, though he's a lot stronger now than he used to be, if you've gotten this far, you can beat Tiamat. He's just got a lot of beef.
Okay. I don't wanna get hit if I can help it.
let's gun it baby
WOOSH
Did I do it right, Mio-senpai?!
Ya got moxie, kiddo.
Ow. I don't.
Death's Door is a dummy good skill. Seeing as it activates instantly, doesn't interrupt buffs, and, you know, can put Youka in prime Rage Bombing range.
For us. We deserve it.
Bingo!
That's about 900 damage total.
Hoo, boy. This might take a bit.
Lemme help with that.
I didn't land the crit on the third one, so I only got three off, but that's still three Rush Shots in one turn.
For us. We deserve it.
for us. we deserve it.
Gegegegegeh
This was Typhoon Howl.
Quit yelling, we can hear you.
You okay, Sumie?
much better thank you
Launch!
That's Forward Punch.
Fly, my pretties! Ee hee hee hee!
Here comes the crystal breath!
Bingo!
I mean, ow, but that's it?
Okay, then. Here you go.
into the shadows with me
I use Super Mellow Time here to get Destroy React on Youka...
...but since Sumie already has Assassin's React up, she normal attacks, and gets a crit!
I'm on fire, baby!
You really are. Amazing work!
Remember to reload and stay hydrated, dear. You are using psychic powers for that.
Aww, thanks for caring, sweetheart.
Sumie took a relative backseat for a fairly large chunk of the last two maingame chapters since she was in so much focus in Chapters 3-6, but I hope you haven't forgotten that Assassin's React is an absolutely insane skill and that Sumie with guns is generally nuts.
Go on. Try it.
Open 'em up...
And pow!
Ow.
You smell!
You okay, Mio?
Yeah, thanks.
It may be time to take a moment to restore ourselves.
Are you alright, Sumie?
oh i feel much better now thanks
Come at me!
What, that... all you got...
Okay, gotta give 'em a sec...
Gebluhhh
The status restore misses...
...but Sumie gets her action anyway so it's fine.
It's about to shoot crystals again.
if we please.
This oughta help!
Remember, Attack Beat is balanced, and that's why it only increases physical damage taken.
He's almost dead! I felt that bone crack!
Woohoohoo!
We ought to get Youka up again.
On it.
Now please try not to get too overzealous, Youka.
I know, I know.
But you should get the proper amount of zealous!
Ugh! Not done yet!
Here comes the breath again.
Who's that, zooming by? Why, it's the magical nekomimi of everyone's dreams, Sumie Kazuki! What's she doing?!
Why, little old me?
Just blasting this guy into the dirt!
If you hold it up right, you can see a rainbow.
That's a wrap.
All seven down again!
We're pretty great.
You mind if I take a break for a bit? That one took it out of me.
Wow, shocking.
How much further do you imagine it'll be, Orochi?
If things keep up like this, we can't be far away. There should only be one more major obstacle in our path before Takehaya.
Hey, Orochi?
What's up?
So, I know she's a True Dragon, and we're trying to stop her, but... Allie's my friend. I just can't think she's all that bad.
No, I think you're right, actually.
nyan?
Nodens—Allie, is someone who's closer to understanding humanity, and will, and my path forward than she might think she is. Even if she's engaging in subterfuge, in her own way, she's doing it out of love, in the same way that my personality was driven by loneliness. We're both quite sentimental, so I can understand her to a degree.
Huh. So...
What I'm saying is that she's not the kind of person who needs to actually die to be convinced that I'm right. Having her plans foiled, and being defeated in a battle by humanity afterwards, should be enough. I'm sure she'd gladly stand up and take our collective hand afterwards.
phew. okay. cool. thanks.
So you're saying that it's just the men who are so stubborn as to be non-negotiable?
Well... Okay, Niara and Fomalhaut, yes. Haze... I've gotta be honest, I have no idea. He might enjoy the fight and the thrill of death enough to come around. Maybe. I don't know.
He's that much of a meathead?
Hahaha. Nothing on his head but fighting, that one. I guess his fate will be up to the people of the future to decide.
Next time, we take care of a few loose ends before the final battle.
--------------------------
Koron's actually become a politician, if you can believe that.
Can I be totally honest with you?
Mmhm.
That is one of the least surprising things you've told me in the last twenty-four hours. Of course she became a politician.
Hey, we were pretty surprised.
Why? She constantly talks about societal change and brain genius things and her position as a 'burgeoning minority' or whatever. I'd expect her to at least be a social activist.
Hahaha. Well, yes. That is her primary focus, is the betterment of the position of psychics and the establishment of rights. She's also big into economic framework, and while her popularity as a member of Unit 13 helps, obviously, everyone there quickly understood that she was a mighty force to begin with.
She told me at one point, "You've done what you can do to ensure our future, so let me do what I can."
'What I can'. What's with her? She's a self-aggrandizing egotist half the time, but then she lowballs what she actually does.
It's charming!
I mean yeah for sure it's really cute, but it is kinda weird.
I think Koron is the kind of person who won't really be satisfied until she's completely defeated all her enemies. Heh, maybe one day she'll become Prime Minister herself.
Oh, speaking of psychic kids. The Navigators!
They're in remission now.
Thankfully, Dr. Weber's had the chance to make the procedure he's been working on less... er, agonizing. For them, there was also the option of removing their powers entirely, but given the option, of course they chose what they did.
It happened pretty recently, but their prognoses are good. Once we get back, we're going to help them move in with us, like I promised.
Hey, so, like... This may be a weird question.
Shoot!
Does Miroku ever ask for a name? I mean, you named Jeanne Jeanne, but everyone still calls Miroku Miroku. Does he ever ask?
...
I've never thought to ask. He's never mentioned it.
Well I mean, you know how teen boys are, right? They'll never say that kinda thing out loud.
