Dead Force

I went back into Geruberk Tower and made my way to the top. It's a good thing I piped out because I was not going to survive this encounter. 

After finding the eye trigger and opening the path forward, I got to the top of the frozen spire. There we saw a sight that probably would have terrified child me. It was Dark Force in its true form, a spider! We could also confirm that the weather did originate from here. It gets upset that we're here, which is just fine for Chaz, and the battle begins! 

I only took one attempt, and I wasn't even at full HP. Dark Force can harm the entire party, but it tended to only use a single target physical move. Climbing the tower drained Rika of most of her MP as the mobs are numerous and tough, so I made liberal use of Kyra's Medicine Tech. It's only a single target move, but a few Barriers by Wren can lower the DPS enough to make it worthwhile. I assumed Dark Force would be weak to Light magic, but physical damage did plenty. He did negate some magic, though, if I recall correctly. Ultimately, I didn't find DF and more difficult than the average boss we've been fighting. 

 

When it dies...again...the entire tower begins to collapse. We quickly leave and see it explode. The skies begin to clear around where the tower once stood, flowing out to the rest of the planet. This now makes two worlds we've saved from evil, so take that Final Fantasy! Despite planning on going to the same place, Krya says her farewells here. She says she's grateful we showed up because she never stood a chance alone. She teases Chaz and now thinks of him and a little brother and returns to Meese. As we head there, separately, we notice an explosion in the distance where Eclipse Torch was held. Teleport there, and we'll see the world map has been changed. There is now a crater where the flame temple once stood. 

Entering the ruins take us, I assume, to the location we weren't allowed to get to before. Most of the clergy is here in the bunker, including the Pope. He tells us that Dark Force isn't the trouble that caused all of this to happen. Instead, it's was the Profound Darkness. Darkness has been using Dark Force, Zio, and Lashiec to gain control over the Algo region in an attempt to destroy it. He then tells us about something called Ryoko. The way to finding Ryoko is through the Aero-Prism, and Wren says we need to return to Motavia. Near Krup is a ruin that may help us in finding Ryoko. We're aromatically put in the Landale and shipped off to the first planet. As we exit the spaceport, Wren contacts Demi and asks for another ship. This one allows us to travel across water. I teleport to Krup and use the new toy to traverse the inner sea. 

We can see a temple located on a large rock, but there's a cave we'll need to traverse first. Inside is a man named Seth. Seth is an archaeologist trying to reach the temple for research purposes. Because of the monster nests inside, though, he can't get through. He asks to join us and promises he can hold his own. We agree and enter the cave, but that'll have to wait until...

 

...tomorrow!

The last four Guild Quests open up now that we have full access to the world. We found two lost daughters of the desert village, saved another town from evil birds, saved a kid from his mental sickness, and saved the world again from an AI gone rogue. The last one was quite hard, actually, as the Vahal Fort is filled with strong enemies and has the highest encounter rate thus far. Fortunately, we were able to fight off the mobs sent by Daughter, the daughter of Seed, and stopped her from gaining control over every AI. And, more importantly, eradicating any that doesn't belong to her like Wren and Demi. This one actually has plot, so that's cool. Remind me to figure out how to get Wren's secret weapon down there, though. I'm not looking forward to going back down there. 

I think we're coming to the finale of the game, but who knows?