Dragon Hunt

But Ershin needs a solo adventure first!

She (or he, as the characters later call him) steps outside. Two guards are standing there, and this ends up in a fight. The Mecha Bomb weapon can one shot both of them. We see the Abess was standing behind where the guards were, so I guess they were harassing her. The two want to get out of town, but there's a chance for more fights. Being a suit of armor, Ershin removes his head and asks Abess to climb in. He'll protect her. And good thing too. The guy from Sarai, Rasso, is in charge of this operation. He notices Ershin and remembers him being a companion of Ryu. He sicks three more guards on us, and they're just as easy as before. Rasso sees nothing of importance in the armor and point blankly shoots poor Ershin. He's knocked over, and we cut to Nina.

Nina sees the body of Ershin, but Abess is fine next to it. She informs the group what happened, and everyone is worried about the citizens of Chek. The Empire went after them. Not only them, but Nina is concerned about Ershin. Deis reminds her that Ershin was just an empty suit of armor: it was never alive. This does not sway our princess, and she questions if all we experienced along the journey were real emotions or not.

En route to "?," the group is ambushed. The Empire found us! A woman named Ursula is leading this group, and she seems more suited for the job than Rasso. She and her men manage to subdue the group, but we ask about the citizens of Chek. Nina convinces her to let them investigate.

We'll reach "?" shortly, and it's totally desolate. All that we see is Commander Rasso. He's as cocky as your typical video game psychopath, and one of the children limps out from behind a stone wall. Everyone is dead. Rasso notes that Ryu is getting mad, and he summons another creature.

Ight is immune to all damage until his shield is destroyed. Sadly, we can't destroy it. However, seeing his friends beaten before him triggers a change in Ryu. He automatically changes into a new dragon form, Kaiser. We can't control him, and his only move is a breath attack that wipes out Ight's shield and most of its HP in one attack. The second turn vaporizes it. By dumb luck, Scias survived, and the two of them split the 3600 EXP.

The Kaiser and Ryu are two different entities now, but neither of them are in control of their senses. Ryu gets his first text box, and it's just him screaming in rage. The dragon butchers Ursula's men before turning towards Rasso. He gets what he deserves. The dragon prepares to kill Ursula, but Nina wraps her arms around Ryu...

Welcome to Act 3: Streams

Fou-lu is overlooking the Empire roost through Sonne but leaves in time. The landlord tells him to go through a shrine on the otherside of the forest unless he wants Mami's sacrifice to be in vain. As Fou leaves, the lord gives him an accessory. Fou returns to the forest but exits through a different place. The world map leads to a shrine, which the lord said would take him to a different city. But this shrine is locked. A voice tells him he'll need a sacrifice to enter, and Fou remarks on the possibility of another false god. And then, the beast he felled a few days ago appears. It starts to bash its horns into the talking rock, and blood spurts out every time. After a few bashes, it dies. The door moves, and Fou asks why it would do that? Is this the power of the aura of an Endless? The path through is straight, and Fou learns a new dragon form. Beyond this tunnel is Soma Forest. We don't get to explore much because we (the player) see a scene in the Empire. While Fou-lu gets an uneasy feeling, we see his pursuer and Lord Yuna load up the hex gun. Was that Mami? Whoever it was, they're used as the hex bullet that is launched at Soma Forest. It lands directly on Fou. It greatly affects him, and he discusses the folly of man and how idiotic this is. Something shiny falls from the sky near him, and he starts to laugh. But I don't think it's a humorous giggle. He passes out, and we return to Ryu.

Ryu is resting on Nina's lap while Cray and Scias are with a tied up Ursula. She asks her captors if they plan to use Ryu against the Empire, and Cray yells. The world doesn't revolve around fighting the Empire. In fact, Cray is no longer willing to trade Ryu for Elina. There's no way they should have that power. Ursula still wants to bring them there, and Nina kinda agrees. She believes Ryu lost control because he's incomplete. Reuniting the two might make it so that never happens again. And that became the plan. This will solve Ursula's orders, and she joins the team.

We return to Chek first and see Deis asleep. We speak to Abess about the plan, and she agrees it's an idea. Ursula tries to remind them that Fou died long ago, but Nina tells her he's alive. I think this scene is to bring Ursula up to speed. Abess reminds us to see the dragons first, and Cray tells us we should go to Shyde to get a sandflier. Remember when Cray crashed his? Before leaving, talk to Deis. As we get close, Ershin wakes up! Deis has returned to her empty armored suit because it's more fitting for battle. Rhem gets her body back! The armored part of her is also conscious again, and it's thrilled! The two discuss the name differences. Deis doesn't want to confuse everyone, but Ershin plans to keep calling Deis Ershin. It means master in an ancient language.

The team passes through Mt. Ruft, and we get to float down a very not lazy river. We now have access to the Wyndia region again, and there's a dragon to be found. On the Golden Plains, Cray's mom tells us to follow the glowing birds. It'll take us to Ch'o Ryong, a tall stick woman. She'll grant Ryu the Grass form, and we'll go looking for others...

...tomorrow!

There's a group of monsters at the Rasso sight where you test your combos on. There are six trees that regain 15000 HP per turn but never attack. My new max is just over 6000 damage.