As Phacia said, there is a secret entrance to the left of the blocked main gate. On the otherside of the hole is a small maze that kinda resembles a town. There's a lot of "ultimate" armor in here, but we'll still be left looking for more after tonight. The mobs are swapped versions of what we fought last night. The destination is northeast, so have a look around elsewhere, first, for the loot. We'll enter a palace like area and climb our way up. Along the way, we'll meet someone new who has a lot of power. Taban is the architect of the Grindery, Ghaleon's super weapon. But he's an inventor of so much more than that. He says he'll stop us with his new invention, which has a silly name. Rather than some strange mechanical monstrosity, our old pal Nash will rise from the floor.
Bash tells us that we never should have come here, and us doing so ruined his whole plan to save Mia. He's wearing a stupid looking suit of armor that is a cross between Siegmeyer from Catalina and a chicken. The armor magnifies his power, which he uses against us. He opens fire on us twice, but he never harms Mia because he's a simp. Mia walks over to him and gives him a good slap. She calls him some choice words and says that this Nash isn't the man she fell in love with. I don't know how you could love Nash to begin with, but you do you, girl. Nash looks regretful but starts to understand. All he ever wanted to do was protect Mia, but he never thought he was that strong. He assumed that falling in line under Ghaleon would allow the two of them to live in a peaceful world. But Mia wouldn't choose slavery over peace. Over the journey, she's come to learn what she can do and what she needs to. But Nash is an idiot and doesn't change his mind, so we all have to fight him.
Nash is pretty weak, but he's still stronger than he was because of his armor. He also seems resistant to magic, so have Mia buff our frontline and wail away with Sword Storm. After we win, he can finally see Mia as a strong, independent woman who don't need no man. He sees the folly of his ways, and our party promises to pay him back for destroying the engine...once this is all over. We have the option to forgive, which is actually a choice, sorta. We still end up forgetting what he did, but he has to promise not to do it again, so... Anyway, while this is happening, Taben escaped out the back, so, with Nash back in the group, we follow him.
We keep following until we reach (what I think is) an elevator. Taben is there, but so is the bossman, Ghaleon. We can't get to them, but we really want to. Our whole goal this time was to stop Ghaleon from activating the Grindery. As we look on, we hear the tower begin to shake. We cut to the anime, where things start to break apart. It falls until we can see, at the base, a monstrous tank. It begins to drive forward with the skyscraper on top of it towards civilization, with Ghaleon in it. We quickly head back to the airship and try to catch up. We do so with ease, but the barrier that was once around the crater is now around it, so we can't get to it. Are we to sit back and idly watch Ghaleon get his way? Mia thinks she knows where The Magic Emperor is going: Vane. Or, more importantly, the Goddess Tower. Jessica flies us to Vane because there's a secret weapon there. Nash tries to get everyone off the city while Mia talks her mom into letting us into the Silver Chamber. We can, and we all head to near the jail cells. There's nothing here but a large screen and several blue orbs. On that screen is the slowly approaching Grindery. All of us, including Nall, take to an orb. Mia says an incantation, and we can finally see the true purpose of Vane. Throughout the game, we've been told that Vane was built to protect the Goddess Tower and has been floating around it for years. We're now the last line of defense between Ghaleon and Althena as the two superstructures have an uncomfortable silence for a moment while we each look on. After a moment, each will fire upon each other. The Grindery launches two shots that resemble a dragon's head at us, and we shoot one ball. Both blasts hit, and both damage each other. Vane is shot out of the sky and lands at the base of the Goddess Tower. Meanwhile, the barrier around the Grindery is gone. But it's still standing, so we'll need to go in on foot to end this! We can use the Dragon' Wings again here, and this is the last time I can explore, although I don't know what is there to find.
As we approach the Grindery, we'll look for a way in. One appears, but so does a small army. Six knights and two mages will attack us, and it got a bit nasty for me. The knights can only do a move that does sixty damage, and there's more of them than us. Depending on how fast your team wants to go, this might result in a loss. Fortunately, they're pretty fragile. We'll need to fight two times, so be prepared. Before the third fight, what we think is the end for us, arrow fire will save us. Once again, Tempest and Frasce have shown up to offer relief. They buy us time to enter the Grindery, which we make use of.
We'll need to climb a while through pipes and doors that lead places I didn't really grasp. The mobs in here seem new, and all have angelic names. I liked the one who wields giant cannons. Sadly, they're weak, so I don't know how strong they are. They give great rewards, though. Nearly 5000 EXP! There's more ultimate armor in here, and I hope I didn't miss any in the maze. At one point, we see something very disturbing. Quark is tied up to various tubes. He's knocked out, but it's clear that Ghaleon is using the powers of the dragons to run this abomination. Eventually, we'll come to a locked door with no keyhole, much to Kyle's chagrin. He tries to ram through it, but it's sealed with magic. A wounded Phadra enters, and Jessica tries to heal her. There's no time, though, and Phacia opens the door. As she does, Royce and Xenobia teleport in, and the three sisters have a fight. We learn that Phacia was never really on Ghaleon's side. Ghaleon showed up one day and started bossing everyone around. Because of the Vile Tribe's predicament, it meant a lot to them to even be acknowledged as an existence. They all thought it was a way to be free, but Ghaleon never promised that. Phacia now sees through it all and knows he was just using them all. The others don't see it, and I sense a fight about to happen. But Phacia urges us onward to Ghaleon, so we go through the door.
After some stairs, we reach Ghaleon. We have an "I'm evil" speech, most of which I found standard from twenty five years of gaming. But, at least, we can take revenge on the ultimate traitor. It's a battle that feels tense but isn't really. Have Jessica use Saint Litany (what it's called in the PS1) to make sure we heal between turns. She'll have to use her heal all move most of the time, too, but what else can she do? Ghaleon is pretty resistant to magic, so have Mia buff the front line before doing her multi hit fire spell. Nash can do whatever, but I had him as a backup healer (items/MP). Ghaleon usually performs a spell that hits the whole screen and does between 100-150 damage per attack, but it's split between two attacks. Alternatively, he'll perform up to four basic blows. He often mixes and matches, though. It's is why we're gonna need as much healing as we can get. He's the toughest boss yet, but as long as everyone plays their part, he's easy enough.
With Ghaleon dead, we start to rejoice. But we shouldn't because Luna isn't here. Also, Mel is still stoned, but who cares about him? On another set of stairs behind Ghaleon is our wonderful sister. But something's not right. Alex calls out to her, but she doesn't respond. When Luna turns around, she begins to laugh. She says all we've done is a waste, and she's now embracing her true power of a goddess. Luna, taking fashion advice from the slutty members of the Vile Tribe, transforms before us. She looks out towards the Goddess Tower and begins to sing. The area around the mountain shakes and lights up. The ground quakes beneath, revealing that the tower is a lot more than what we can see. From the area rises a massive fortress. We all hear a laugh, and we know who it's from. Ghaleon appears before, upset that we thought we could kill a puppet. Luna is holding him in a lovey-dovey way. With the Azure City of Althena, the thing that provides power to the Goddess, Ghaleon is ready to rule the world. But can stop him!
No, we can't. You can fight for twenty minutes and use up all your items, but Ghal's, functionally, immortal. Listen to Nash and just give up. As we're all about to die, something happens. Alex wakes up, without his Dragonmaster armor, in Jessica's bed in Meriba. Nall flies in (how'd he open the door) and lets us know it's been three days. We took the worst of the fight, and everyone else is up. But Nash and Kyle are a bit...uh... Mia and Jessica are in Mel's study, glad that we're not dead. They tell us they're ready for a rematch, but their worse halves are dealing with other some inner demons. Both are at the bar at the docks. Kyle is drinking heavily, preparing for the end of the world. Nash is looking out the window in a fit of depression. He's regretting turning on Ghaleon because Nash sucks. Alex and Nall can talk neither of them out of their stupor. Return to the manor, and the girls will try to bring them back again. Jessica gets into another argument with Kyle when she calls out his cocky, tough guy personally. Kyle getting wreaked must have broken something in him. And just like that, he comes back around. I don't understand their relationship... Mia tells Nash he's a wuss because she's going to fight no matter what. Because he's a simp, he joins the team. As we finish this, Laika comes in and offers to aid us one more time. He lets us explore around Meriba for a bit first, so check in with Ramus. He's offering free healing items because we're the Dragonmater. We can also get bromides of our female party members for reasons... Lamia is also where we first met Royce if you want to talk to her. But we can't leave, and the Dragon Wings are dead, so we have to talk to Laika.
Laika will do some stuff, and we'll all be teleported to Dyne's Monument. While there, he apologizes for not telling us the whole story. He lets us in on why Ghaleon hates Dyne and what went down after they beat Eifel. We see a cutscene where a scantly clad Althene is praying. Dyne is walking up to her, and Ghaleon is yelling at them both. He thinks their plan to save the world won't work. Both of his friends ignore him and carry on. We see Dyne's armor give away, and he's wearing something that looks like Laika's. Althena disappears, and a baby with blue hair drops into his hands. Laika continues: humans have relied on Althena for everything for too long. At first, she let it happen, but soon they started fighting over her attention. Fifteen years ago, she and Dyne concocted the plan to let humans be on their own. Althena turned into a human to live among them. That human is Luna, and Laika knows this because he was there. Laika is Dyne. I don't remember if it was now or during Ghaleon's "I'm Evil" speech, but the idea is brought up that Ghaleon is doing this to fill the power gap that this word needs. Ghaleon will become the god Lunar needs to keep the peace. But now we have to finish this and save Luna! Dyne tells us to take his sword from the "gravemarker," an action Alex has tried many times in the past. This time, though, he does so with ease. His Dragonmaster armor is put back on, and we're prepared for one more assault. But how do we get there? The City of Althena is too high for the airship, but Dyne tells us we have a dragon. Nall suddenly knows what he is and transforms into a White Dragon. But he's not the withered wyrm that Quark was. We all climb on his back and set for the City of Althena. En route, we can see that the group around us slowing turning grey and looks like the Frontier does. We'll end Lunar; Silver Story Harmony...
...tomorrow!
The most obvious plot twists in the history of gaming have been revealed. I wasn't sure if Laika was Dyne, but it makes sense. Everything else about this scene, though, was clear before we got control of Alex. I have mixed feelings about this game, but I'll discuss them in a few days.
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