Remind me to read about Corvus and Crator.

It turns out that eating the fygg isn't the point of no return, but I'm still ready!

We consume the mythological fruit, and the last stop of the Starflight Express is the Realm of the Almighty. We can still see Stella and Sterling, but "fatguts" thinks that'll stop in time. As we approach, we see that the sickly green background has turned a shade of black. From the throne of Zenon comes a mass of black tentacles that warp and reshape the heavenly terrain we once knew. This isn't heaven anymore, but it does kinda look like a tree. Even the map is different for this area. It's not a top down map but a simple side profile that shows us what floor we're on.

The Realm of the Almighty is a twelve storied tower, but we need to dig through the two basements first. Along the way, we'll see new palette swamped monsters and open a lot of treasure chests. Most of them are Mini Medals, but there's some fair share of late game gear in them, too. Some aren't the best, but they're crafting items I might use later... Start by going left, a dead end, and then head right. Head up, then down to loop around the useless room. From there, we'll travel across a light bridge to the other side. The light bridges are going to be a common occurrence, so take notice of the strange blue squares to indicate their existence. They're obvious, so you shouldn't miss them. You'll also be climbing ropes a few times, too. If I recall correctly, the next area is over a lake. Go as right as you can until you open the single chest, then loopback. I've forgotten what's after this, but you'll eventually reach some actual architecture in time. You'll spawn in the right wing of it, but check out the left wing before going through the center door. Behind that door is the re-revived Commander Hogg. He lets us in that he's been brought back and serves his new master now. We're gonna fight all three Commanders, aren't we?

Hogg is just as easy as he was before, if not more so. He still once has one attack per round, and it's always physical. I don't remember if it was before him or afterwards, but there's a shortcut to the bottom. This is the only way back to the Starflight and Protectorate, so if you're low on HP/MP, items, gear, etc., now's the best time to head back. You won't get another one the rest of the game. From here on, the dungeon becomes more streamlined, but make sure to take the south exit before you reach the jail cells and the trolls you need to Frizzle for the sage job. Before that, though, is Commander Owl. He's still the hardest of the Triumvirates, but it's amazing what a few levels can do to help. Sap still seems to never hit, so just magic spam him unless he uses Bounce. Owl hates Corvus and plans to kill him when he's done with us, so I guess we save the BBG? When you get to Commander Cat, who's masterless and looking for a challenge, you've finally reached the point of no return.

Corvus is sitting on his chair, still condemning humanity and the weak gods who let them exist. When he asks if we've come to stop his plans, there really is no going back. A fight breaks out, but it's oddly easy. Sap seems to never miss, and Corvus lacks any killing power. I'd go into details, but this is just round one. He's confused how a mere mortal could push him so far, but he's not at his final form yet. What little remains of his angel wings drop off for that full demon effect he was looking for. His hair becomes wild, and his skin turns green. He's serious now! He tells us he'll be waiting "down below" and fly off. Lucy climbs down from the throne room of the Zanon and trips, putting her right before the core of this new Realm. When we approach it, Corvus calls forth Barbarous to stop us. I don't remember how this fight went, but I didn't have any issues. Multiheal is a very powerful spell, and Sap hits well enough.

So it's time for the final confrontation! A full powered fallen angel vs. a human and her three random blokes! And this is a very tough fight! I had Tryton using Kabuff and Magic Barrier until Corvus simply removed it in one of two ways. Cidolfus kept trying to use Sap, and it hit surprisingly often! Once Corvus is weak, spam fire spells! Drew simply attacked, doing nearly 200 damage a round. Lucy, though... She had gotten the level 100 sword quest from the guy in Swinedimples, and that was what saved us. I had her spamming Gigagash, which did nearly 400 damage every turn. It might have been dumb, though, because Gigagash scales on attack power AND magic power, neither of which priests aren't known for. Maybe giving her a better (attack based) sword would have been wise, too? Corvus uses magic and physical attacks, usually both in the same round. He can also lower our defense at the same time as our speed. Status effects will also be common, with sleep and paralysis being the ones I've seen. Just when you think bird boy is on the ropes, he can top up in MP and heal himself for 500 damage. But those aren't damaging round, so I'll take them. Occasionally, he'll laugh, which is just a waste of a turn... Corvus has 4800 HP, and Lucy ran out of the MP. Fortunately, I had a sage's elixir on hand. Lu had to use Multiheal a few times, but Tryton became our primary healer for several rounds. At one point, Lucy had died. Tryton had a revive on him, but then Cid died. I hoped we were close to killing him, so I ignored it. Thankfully, Drew got the final 200 HP in, and we saved the world!

But Corvus has plot armor, so he's not dead. He can't believe that the new god of this world could be beaten by a Celestrian who gave up her immortality! Just as he's about to wipe everything out, a blue light shines from below. A voice rings out saying, "I've finally found you." Serana is here. She gets up into Corvus' face, and he gets mad. He does blame her for betraying him, but then Serana explains. She holds the necklace he gave her (that I forgot about), and we replay the various scenes in their life. Overlaying them is the image of Serana and the Demon Corvus, which I thought was pretty cool. She apologizes for all that he's suffered, which makes Corvus rethink his actions. He snaps back into his angel form, and the two are holding hands. He thanks Serana for stopping him just as he was about to wipe out all life. He apologizes to us and reminds us that we're his student's student. His last words are to tell Aquila what a fine guardian his pupil became, and he and Serana go off. Would any of this have happened if Serana got to Corvus before we unlocked him?

A voice calls out to us, and the camera cuts to Yggdrasil. It's shrinking! It gets smaller and smaller until the physical form of Celestria appears where the tree once was. She teleports to us and says that all is as it should be. The Goddess uses her powers to restore this broken world to the green it was before, and the legend of the Celestrian's return is retold. All the Celestrians on the Observatory are brought here. But we're not a Celestrian anymore... Our fate is to be elsewhere. As the Observatory begins to vanish, Lucy boards the Starflight Express waiting for her. All aboard wave goodbye to their Goddess as she turns the remains of our former home into a star show for our new home. As we descend to the planet, we get small glimpses of the friends we made along the way. I won't go into details, but the few I took notice of were:
Marionette had somehow moved to the grave of Marion.
In Zere Rocks, Mason's old flame was checking out all the statues he made.
The shadow of a dragon flies over Greygnarl's memorial.
The ghost of Swinediples didn't go to the afterlife after all...

But now it's our turn. We have a tearful goodbye with Stella and Sterling as our friends glow an otherworldly pink. We're losing our grasp of the immortals, so this needs to be short. Stella and Sterling get on the train, and we see them off one more time. Stella opens the door to say that we're her best friend, even if we can't meet anymore. She tries to tell us a secret but can't get it out. Something about "nail"...? As they take to the sky, a golden fruit falls to the planet south of Porth Llaffen. The words "to be continued" appear on the screen, and we can save.
 
There's a massive amount of post game content in Dragon Quest IX, but I don't know how much I'll bother with it. My connection to everyone is settled, and I don't know if more stuff will do anything? Plus, I don't know how much of it is paid DLC or wifi stuff, which I can't do anyway. I might bumble around, but I'll leave those escapades off the blog. Consider DQIX to have reached...

"The End"