Update 48

...As are you.

Unfortunate you didn't die in the battle against Niara, Dragon. The world would be better off for your absence.

Think you I don't know that, Hypnos? Talk back to me again—

hey you guys know this bit isn't canon right

Huh?

Yeah, this doesn't make sense with the narrative's canon, so we're just doing it for completion's sake.

Oh! Okay.

...

It doesn't appear as though that's changed much.

Ordinarily, we would be unfurling the story of the Dragons here at greater length, but the six of you are already aware of all we would say—the lifecycle of the Dragons, and of our origin as Hypnos.

If you want to enter regardless, the four of you must prove yourselves as hunters. Get the counter down to zero, why don't you?

Yup, here's our change.

It's so nice we didn't waste any! I was worried we were going to have wasted some of that effort.

Then please, enter. We will wait for you above.

If I must.

You must, sister. Please attempt to be nice.

As you well know, Aitelle—

Alright, postgame dungeon time!

Man, I hope this one doesn't have such a complicated map.

Are you still allowed to make jokes about that?

It's unfalsifiable whether I am or am not allowed to!

Welcome to the Illusory Capital, the game's postgame dungeon! There isn't much story here, so it's gonna be a lot of gameplay, but here in the foyer we can run into some familiar faces.

Mr. Nagare?

Nagare: Yeah, yeah, it's me! We didn't have time to talk much during that first exam, sorry. But if you saw me as an older, reliable guy you could count on, that's a relief.

Nagare: But I do owe my wife an apology—oh, but I guess I'm rambling on.

Sergeant Ikoma: Heheh. Did you guys always think I was one step away from tearing my hair out, out there on the field?

Sergeant Ikoma: But, friends, family, folks I love—laying down my life for them's fine. She was one of those, at least... okay, get a move on!

Full of food, smiling faces, and everybody happy, one and all.

...Aw, geez, sorry I yelled at you. I didn't mean any disrespect!

It's fine, kiddo. But it isn't time to fulfill our agreement yet, so give us some time to get our work done, okay?

Assistant: It's really a shame... I'm afraid the prime minister hasn't lived up to your standard. But once peace is truly restored, he'll be busier than ever with all the tasks that will pile up.

Man, though, I can still remember the look on your faces when you saw me. ...Hey, what's that look for, Inomiko?

Gatou... I'm sorry. I... I can't live up to your last words. I never could. I don't—

Hey, straighten up! Lemme give you some advice. Be careful out there—there's more enemies out there waiting for you, kid. You're doing all you can, and, hell, that's a lot, when it's someone like you. 's what I'd be doing if I were you.

Alright, alright, that's enough preaching out of you, buster.

You've got a lot left coming when we see each other again, lady.

Whoa! We're really high up!

Right, you've never visited the Railcage yet, have you?

Why exactly has this portal led us here?

This realm isn't exactly regular physical space. Essentially, it's a construct of remnants of the information left behind by the seven Imperial Dragons.

So this is the realm of the Dragons, then.

Yeah.

Here in the Illusory Capital, we'll be taking on upgraded versions of pretty much all the game's Dragons—all the random encounters are Dragons, even.

...These tiny little guys are still pretty weak to being Chisa'd, though.

Each map is pretty much identical to one of the maps from the actual place this is based on.

But, uh, Tower Dragons! I think this one kills me like four times before I get through? High defense! Bad.

yeah no get outta here

Up here, through another Tower Dragon, is another Paras Cut for free.

...I should mention, by the way, that the dragons in here respawn if you leave—there's no permanently clearing out these areas.

Hammerers can also appear here.

Another Thunder Dragon...

And some healing items.

For the record, this area is quite rough—it's just that there's nothing we haven't really seen before, so I'm going to be fast-tracking most of the non-boss segments.

Ugh. It's you. Couldn't you have done me the decency of dying?

She does have a home turf advantage.

Well, the first Imperial is through here. But what do you want me to say? You have a dragon—the dragon—right there. Clearly it's more of an authority on things than I could be.

Emille, please. 'She'.

...What part of that thing is a DRAGON are you people not understanding?

Dragons are capable of speech and thought. Not too long ago we spoke to Niara.

Pardon?

What.

Well, I have a question. Chisa, why do you not produce Bloom?

Ah, good question! I'm the 7th True Dragon, VFD, and once VFD comes into existence, there's no need for the ordinary reproductive lifecycle of the Dragon.

Wait wait wait you're literally Ultimate Kars? Sex equals muda?

Right, right. The reproductive system of the Bloom actually only came into existence with the 2nd True Dragon, Broodmother Nodens. The 1st True Dragon actually also doesn't do it—they have to manually create other dragons. So, while all the dragons we fought in the First War were Niara's spawn, they're also technically Nodens's, too.

I did not know that. Thank you.

I'm leaving! I won't be shown up by you!

There's the Jigowatt. Satsuki, Koron, you two ready?

Dawg.

You sure I should use the daggers, though? I mean, this guy's like, one of the only enemies in the game that's immune to Paralysis.

What's wrong, scared?

pfff no

You guys got this! Whooo! Yeah!

That isn't gonna do anything until next game, y'know.

So?

YOW OKAY HE LEVELED UP

No kidding. This might be a long one, guys!

we'll see about that one cap'n

YEET

Hyeheheheheh...

It's charging up its railgun!

Don't worry, I'll be there.

Did you just use Venom Boost four times in one turn?

YEAH BABY

The crits roll nice and Satsuki gets up to 9 total Venom Boosts this turn.

HAR HOO HEE

Koron sets up a Concentrate, and...

Oh, look at that. I actually get to use this.

Come on, Sumie, get up.

YORT

yes sweetie

You get up too.

Do I really even need to?

Jigowatt here has 23,000 HP, so across the fight this poison did roughly 7200 damage, so almost a full third of this guy's HP was deleted by V E N O M B O O S T. And we didn't even reach the cap!

anyway bye

Each Imperial here drops a key item signifying their defeat, but more importantly...

GIMME

Satsuki's true ultimate weapons, the Hellblade Azot and Sacred Georg. We'll be slowly picking up the true ultimate equipment through this dungeon.

Back here again, huh...

Well, you girls can handle it.

What the heck is with that giant moon???

Yeah, that's a thing.

The map of this area.

I get super lucky here and Stop doesn't proc on any of the three.

Destroyer Dragons gonna Destroyer Dragon tho lol

There's no walls or anything in Yotsuya here. The bottom-left chest is two Miracle Aeros, and the upper-right is three SP Up EXes. Dragonflies also reappear, but there's nothing really new except a formation of three Microdragons that can be scary.

You've made it through. The poison swamps here are rather unpleasant, aren't they?

Yeah, no kidding.

So this 'Nodens' is the second True Dragon, yes? Niara was the third, and... Tyrant? The beast you fought, Mio.

Yeah, I guess that was its name.

We have yet to hear anything of the first, fifth, or sixth, then.

The sixth one is named Haze. Biologically, he's the closest to Niara—the two actually have the same color of Bloom, even. I'm surprised the two of them weren't together, honestly. Anyway, he has the ability to absorb and recreate armaments and techniques he's been struck with—it's close to the adaptability I have, but it requires active outside stimuli instead of happening passively.

I believe your kind refer to it as 'cultural appropriation'.

...I guess you're kinda right, huh.

Still, he sounds like a terrifying foe. I don't know what I'd do against a foe that learned to use my techniques back at me...

We'd just have you sit back and do triage. Does he have arms?

...Nnnoooo?

I could handle him, then.

But what if he grew arms and started punching you back

I should certainly hope that would not happen.

get your guns on...

Alright, Koron, what have we learned about attacking while you're blinded?

Shut up.

Just start shooting.

mmk

Time to set up...

Unlike the original fight, Lore-A-Lua's Sway React never runs off, so she'll never give you that free turn. She also has a skill called Lifesteal that... does... what you think it does.

Tah!

I HAVE SO MANY BULLETS

Assassin's React is so good.

Damn it! That's worse than the last time!

I'm on the ground.

don't worry we already won

The upgraded version of Full Moon Roar also inflicts Curse. Generally speaking, Laurie's a lot tougher this time around! Unfortunately for her...

Omae wa mo shindeiru.

Our reward this time is the All Guard, which completely negates all status effects. I'm sure you'll agree that's quite cash.

Back to the desert...

You okay?

It's just... you know, a lot happened here. This is where Takehaya and I fought. And this is where we were just after the mass disappearance...

...Takehaya.

He made a bigger impact on you than I thought.

Stony Dragons, as well as the guys who jump out of the sand, are present as the on-field dragons here. Stony Dragons are pretty threatening—petrification aside, they hit hard and Neck Bite does a lot of damage.

Taking them down isn't that big of a deal, though. The two chests are some Hypnos Crystals and a Burn Cut.

Machine Drgons and Hazard Dragons appear in the random encounters here.

So, figured out how not to get shown up?

...

Well, if you wanted to start, perhaps consider not almost destroying our planet by letting megalomaniacs into this Dragon Chronicle?

You damn fool! Your hindsight can say that, but how was I to know someone like Hikasa would—

I'm gonna stop you right there. Where did the Dragon Chronicle even come from?

The previous civilization to defeat Niara. It was used to forge a blade that could slay him. Seeing that glowing golden beast get his wing chopped off—

Right, that makes sense. That explains the wing.

What, the black one?

He used to have two wings, but—

Fine! I'll find something else! I won't lose to VFD or Aitelle! I'll exposit if it kills me!

Trinitro hasn't gotten any new riders, but the Burn has powered up significantly—it's gone from 11 damage to 37. Moreover, the Internal Flare self-buff has powered up—it's 25% extra damage, but it's gone from 10% to 15% defense increase, and it's now permanent like Lore-A-Lua's Sway React. Okay, clear?

Navi Cookie.

And here's the pitch...

Wham,

bam,

Thank you ma'am,

I do not like him,

Sam-I-Am.

...I'd lost a few times, I was done with him.

Koron's ultimate weapon, the Ragnarok.

It appears we're almost halfway there. This should be the Sleepy Hollow, yes?

Now, see, this is somewhere I've been. Shibuya honestly looks kinda nice like this.

keep away from the imperial he might make you go sicko mode or something

The map of this zone. Dragonflies—as in, the actual enemy Dragonflies—reappear here, but at the moment they're not much threat considering we have the team that's most effective at dealing with aerial enemies in the game. Sumo Dragons also appear in randoms, and...

Oh, say, isn't this the breed that ate the Founder?

It is! Lovely memories.

Dinosauri are about as you'd expect—big bunguses. They're a bit threatening, but they're very quick draw fights—end it on the first two turns and you're good. The other chest on this map is five Dragon Dews.

...This is, uh, the other Dinosaurus. On the other side of the map.

A darling little world that would someday meet the same fate...

Wow we have been really rubbing off on you if you're saying 'darling'

Humanity has a way of 'rubbing off' on people, I find. Emille fit in well with the Americans, and...

...That trait was somewhat to your detriment. I'm sorry, Chisa.

It's okay. This isn't the actual story, so it's something we can just talk about.

Does the urge to consume not take you?

No, not right now.

...I am glad. I'm sorry, again.

Aitelle, we're friends. I meant that. Even if I'm a Dragon, that won't change. You were always looking out for me.

Could the 'real' you look at me and say that?

I think she could, anyway.

...Very well. Thank you.

Head onward.

OH THANK GOD

Finally! You two, you're up.

Gladly!

Mmhm.

Like I mentioned, dragons on the field here respawn if you leave and come back. I don't thiiiiiiiink the bosses do, but it's still a drain. At this point I leave to both regroup and to switch my party members.

Alright, it's Fudoji time!

I won't lose to you this time, either! Prepare yourself!

Relative to its original incarnation, Sleepy Hollow's probably taken the biggest buffs just by being more on par with what came before it—but it's also lost its Fire weakness, meaning it's only weak to Aerial, and also its status skills are basically the only ones in the game with 6 and even 7-turn durations, meaning they've got a bit of staying power even in the face of Trash Pickup.