A quick gone.

I load up the aftermath from last night, and the game says we’re in Filgaia Subspace. I don’t know what that is, so let’s continue on.

We see ARMS hanging out. Marina, while not in ARMS, is greeted by Altaecia, Valeria’s seldom relevant sister. Marina says how much she misses Ashley and knows he’ll be back. She thinks her feelings will reach Ashley, and Altaecia supports her. How did these two meet?

We then cut to Ashley, hanging out in the Parathion. He’s shocked that he’s alive, assuming he is. He’s quickly joined by a familiar sounding woman. She introduces herself as the Sword Magess, Anastasia. The two of them walk on the beach and have a fun conversation about heroes, the past, and life. It’s pretty fun.

The next hour or so of the game has Ashley, Anastasia, and her pet/friend/guardian wolf, Lucine, dungeon crawling. The three of them walk through immaculate columns that are randomly blocked and need to be triggered with Ashley’s Knife Throw to open. We do battle with an assortment of mobs, all the while talking to a woman who resembles Marivel. Not-Marivel fought alongside Anastasia during the Blaze of Disaster eons ago. We also learn how Anastasia feels about being a hero. She hates it. She agrees with Marina that heroes are sacrifices.

More importantly, we learn the history of the Blaze. Anastasia was just a girl who wanted to spend time with her friends and family. Nothing more. She only drew Argetheim because she had the strongest will to live, called Desire here. Lord Blazer takes away the human will to live and feeds on despair and hopelessness, but she never lost hers. Her blood, Valeria blood, means nothing. And yes, Valeria. She’s an ancestor of the Chateau owners. We then learn that Lord Blazer couldn’t be killed, but they did manage to seal him somewhere. How he got into Ashley isn’t discussed. As Ashley goes to leave Purgatory, Anastasia wishes that he could either stay or go with him. Neither happens, but she does ask Lunine to protect Ashley.

While this is happening, the rest of ARMS is trying to find Ashley. They get a slight reading from the Sword Cathedral but are unable to locate him, even with the Millennium Puzzle. Illia is unable to properly activate it again, so they return to the Chateau.

After crossing back into our world, Ashley goes to Marina, where they have a nice, touching moment. She wants to know why he’s late but is just happy he’s home. The rest of ARMS knew of his return and runs off to greet him. Illia got there first and is heartbroken. Tim runs onto her sitting on the stairs outside Ashley's room. It turns out she has feelings for Ashley, at least since that scene in Sieljie. Unfortunately for Illia, Ashley is only interested in Marina. Regardless, we all return to Valeria, and he gives us our orders and fills Ashley in on what’s happened. The land has withered, the seas have dried (they've not), and the sky has been eaten. It’s now a sickly dark blue with static over it. Ashley asks Valeria about his ancestor, seems unsure of everything as he’s possessed by Blazer, and gets re-assured by everyone with the power of friendship!

We can go to two places. The first I go is the Grotto of Lourdes. Kanon’s eye is the key to entering, and we learn her backstory. She was once a little girl with no desire to follow her cadet blood. She then learns her blood is the key to getting out of poverty. Next, back when she was a blond, her village was attacked and her mother killed. She also lost the use of her arm. This event spurred her movement to become Kanon. The other scenes here are her, and everyone else, learning the history that Anastasia told Ashley. It unlocks Kanon’s level three special, which I can't use for some reason.

The second place we can go is back to Baskar, to ask them about the Guardians. It leads us to going to the Sacrificial Altar, where Tim was supposed to be sacrificed. Everyone suggests the guardians might know something and think it’s a good idea to ask them. If they had the dream seer see what’s currently happening to the world, as this was prophesied when we met Tim, maybe they know how to fix it.

Heading there and solving the puzzles grants us three stones that aren't useful now. It does give us access to the Guardian Collective, known as Gaia. There's some slight idea of the sacrifice, but Gaia gives in to Tim. It lets everyone know the devouring of the sky is a sign that another world is coming. It's been happing for a long time, as noted by the monsters, but it will eventually eat the whole world, as is this alternate universe's endgame. As Tim refuses to be the sacrifice, Pooka begins to develop his individuality, and we all make our exit. I'm not sure how Tim dying would save the world from the other dimension, but cool. As we leave, Valeria contacts us and informs us that Marina has been kidnapped. But I'll discuss this...

...tomorrow!

I can’t get Illia’s new special. Nor did I get access to Lucine. But we did get a new cinematic that shows up every time you boot up the game, annoyingly. I like the new end scene, though, where Anastasia and Lucine are hanging out. Anyway, we’re back but still missing the plot. How is Lord Blazer affecting the world from inside Ashley? And what of that Nuke?