That Which Passes

This got depressing.

? is a rocky cliff area with two exits. One will take you to meet Bunyin, and the other is the highway. Take your time here, as the enemies are nice and easy. But they're also really great to grind on. The nut guys can appear in a group of five, and Nina's Cyclone kills all of them. If you're lucky, you'll get over 5000 exp for next to nothing. If you're unfortunate, you'll only get 3000. Still pretty cool.

The highway is blocked by imperial soldiers, so bring out Ursula. She'll ask the guy in charge about her CO, and he'll tell her he went to Astana. So it's back to the gun. Keep Ursula out and find the less-than-secret path to the back of the town. It's the new army HQ, and Ursula can get us in. There have been a few scenes where Cray's been suspicious of Ursula. Nina agrees but also knows she's our best bet to the other Ryu. We can visit the Cannanode controls, but the proper path takes us to our stealth mission.

Remember the house we broke into via the aqueduct? We're back! We get to explore the other half, but we're attacked first! A warlock, who's a nightmarish combination of a caterpillar, a human, and the head of a penis, is joined by various undead mobs. Despite feeling like a boss, this is a normal fight. I don't know if there's anything new in the old area, but we're supposed to explore the otherside now. The few soldiers around tell us how mobs started appearing recently, and they kinda blame Yuna. Take the elevator down to a strange siluce/containment area. Don't bother fighting things down here. The sleeping crabs are easy, but they're not worth it. It's just tedious. We'll have to raise one gate to enter a room with an eldritch abomination in it. Climb up its gooey ligaments to get close to a beating heart. There's a vein in our way that we, apparently, can't step around. Ryu can cut it, or at least try to. Nothing happens. A ghostly woman appears above us to tell us we need the Dragonslayer sword to cut it. Nina and Cray recognize this as Elina. It's the woman we've been looking for for thirty hours! We should tell our dad... They try to speak to her, but she encourages us to find Yuna, the user of the sword. So what did the emperor have? As we leave, some soldiers tell us Yuna should be here, but the rampage probably delayed him.

Head to Kwanzo, and Ursula can get us in. Yuna is hanging around, but the conversation quickly gets heated. We recognize each other, and Cray's angry. He wants to see Elina. Yuna says something about being peaceful before our gunner asks for the Dragonslayer sword. Yuna moves, but Ryu, not in the mood, strikes the blade out of Yuna's hand. He says more about being an artist before teleporting away again. We'll pick up the sword and return to the chateau.

The music has changed. As has the lights. It's really purple and freaky now. The mobs have also changed, so good luck. Return to the abomination, equip the sword, and climb up. Yuna is waiting and says more of the same, but he also states Elina is kinda here. Collect the treasure behind the hut and enter.

After thirty long hours, we finally meet Elina. She's lying in bed, and the three Alliance leaders have a quick reunion. But there's something melancholic in the air. Elina asks Ryu, who she shouldn't know the name of, and her sister to leave the two lovebirds alone. Well, one love bird and a tiger. As we leave, she requests Ryu leave the Dragonslayer here. Elina knows about the Endless aura streams. And she knows for a terrible reason. While Cray prepares to take her back to Wyndia, she informs him that isn't possible. Elina sits up and takes the bedsheet off herself to reveal she's the abomination we've seen through this facility. Yuna teleports in and tells us this is his doing. He had planned to make Elina a sacrifice for the hex cannon, but that gun runs off misery. Elina is too optimistic like her sister. Because of this, Yuna tortured her. He's found that such acts tend to kill the subjects before they can be fired, so he learned to combine the human with an immortal entity.

We cut outside to hear that Ershin/Deis sensed Endless energy from Elina. We also get some backstory that Eliba was to be married to the Ludia prince.

We return to Cray chasing after Yuna, but the creature teleports away. Elina asks Cray, the man she loves, to kill her. She wants the last thing she sees to be him. We see him pick up the blade, and the screen goes black.

Nina does a quick soliloquy about Cray not saying anything when he rejoined the group, but she knew she'd never see Elina again. We jump outside the chateau and prepare to go to what remains of the capital. As we leave Astana, we're taken to the camp. Ryu and Ershin are with Nina in the tent. Her usual optimism is gone, replaced with confusion and emptiness. Ershin does his best to relate by telling her how he felt when Deis left him. Nina knows she feels alone, but she has friends all around.
Outside, Ursula, and even Scias, tell Cray that they would have done the same thing.

Maybe we'll finish tomorrow.