The Guilty Fire

Chapter 3: The Guilty Fire

Floor ten was where Yunica met the lava fields in Darm Tower. The Guilty Fire is predominantly inhabited by sentient fire that seemed to make copies of themselves as they traveled. The path right was blocked by a raised platform, so Yunica went left. After slaying termites and a mother flame that spawned babies, she found one of the sorcerers in a spot of trouble.

Miuscha was surrounded by a group of demons and cried out for a man named Hugo. Hugo was nowhere to be found, but Yunica took them out with ease. Miuscha and the other sorcerers were trapped by more demons and had to teleport out. Something happened with hers, and she wound up here. The crystal was fine, but our young mage just had bad luck. Before returning to base to recover, Miuschs told Yunica that she saw Lady Feena nearby. She tried to call out to her, but the goddess teleported away. As further thanks for saving her life, Miuscha gave her savior a blue crest that fit nicely on a nearby pedestal. It was the key to lowering the raised gate.

The lava was more of a backdrop in the first few floors of the Guilty Fire. Most of Yunica's issues were the long jumps between the many gaps. Many were blocked by agile pugilists and fire breathers. There was a surprise en route in the form of a man who looked familiar. Yunica accidentally spilled the news that the goddesses are in the tower, which may have been a mistake. The man with claws was seeking confirmation that his prey was in here, and he got it. As a token of appreciation, he let her live. He would not be the only member of the demons she would meet in the Guilty Fire.

A winged woman was on the path Yunica was on. The Goddess Feena! Yunica was excited that one of her heroes was here, and she asked about what was going on. Yunica seemed angry, but the goddess knew her outburst came from a point of concern. Sadly, Feena did not respond with good answers. Instead, she told her young friend to leave the tower and let Feena and Reah handle this. In fact, the entirety of the search party should return home. The things happening now were beyond human control and maybe understanding. And then demons teleported in. Epona and two others, who Yunica would soon learn were named Kishgal and Zava, had found their target. It seems the man with claws was supposed to be here, but he left to do his own thing. They mocked Feena and Yunica for standing in the middle of an open area, making this a perfect ambush point. With the fear of her deity being kidnapped, Yunica rushed into the group. The man named Kishgal met her axe with a perfectly placed spear, easily thwarting her attack.

Kishgal then asked Yunica if she knew a man named Saul. Saul was Yunica's father. Kishgsl then proceeded to tell her that he killed Saul. Saul won the first battle, the second was a draw, and the third was a murder. Yunica regained her strength and tried to gain a sense of vengeance, but the frozen ice spikes stopped her in her tracks.

In an attempt to save Yunica, Feena offered herself as a kidnap victim. The demons accepted, and Feena handed Yunica her prized Silver Harmonica. The Holy Knights were finally able to join the group, but it was too late, and the demons teleported away with Feena in the middle. The Ysians returned to base.

Yunica told them all they knew, and it furthered everyone's resolve, even if it came with such terrible news. The goddesses are here, and now the situation is even worse. There are five enemies, a kidnapped Feena, and a missing Reah. While grouped up, Shion chose now to inform the group of classified information. When the goddesses left, the Black Pearl went missing as well. The Black Pearl is the source of all magic in the kingdom, so it's something that would be highly valued by enemies. Ultimately, the plan remained unchanged. The sorcerers would seek from the top down while the knights fought up.

But Yunica chose to remain at base camp.

Learning her father died and being unable to do anything against his killer broke the girl's confidence. She felt like she was holding everyone back. Could any of them have saved Feena? She started to reminisce about some of her meetings with the goddesses. The first time involved the holy knights being called. An intruder was detected in the temple, but it was called off when the goddesses found them. It was a young Yunica. They had a cup of tea. The next memory was when Yunica told them she was joining the holy knights. Since she lacked any magical ability, she'd use the strength she inherited from her father to serve her friends. Finally, she persuaded Galleon into letting her join the search party.

Roy saw his childhood friend moping and tried to pip her up. He spoke about her good qualities that she has, but it didn't work. He then came in and agreed that Yunica would be a detriment to the team now. But it's a shame. Roy saw Saul's sword somewhere in the Guilty Fire. But he'll have to bring it back to Ys now... Yunica's sense of family and patriotism woke up. If anyone was going to wield the Crinson Lotusblade, it would be her!

The burning blade practically called her name and led her right to it. Before picking it up, the spirit of Saul Tovah spoke to his daughter. He said that Kishgal was a worthy adversary and urged Yunica to follow in his footsteps and defend Ys. To honor her family lineage, Yunica took up the square sword. She'll put aside her axe to swing the blade in a long but surprisingly graceful arc to deal heavy damage to all unlucky enough to be hit by it. And with that, she restarted her climb up the Darm Tower.

Using the sword to light several torches on fire, she opened the path to a demonic aura. After jumping across spinning scythes and avoiding the lava that is no longer set pieces, she stumbled into the Devil's Corridor. It was a room haunted by ill wind and an ominous sound. Neither she nor Eolia knew how to stop it, so the new swordswoman decided to tank the damage. She found a balcony that contained a stuck and hungry roo. As before, she gave the cursed beast a Roda Fruit, and it triggered a memory for Yunica. The room hummed a song that its creator, Feena, taught it. And it made Yunica realize that song is said to stop negative magic if played on a sacred instrument, such as the Silver Harmonica. Yunica played the song, and the air became purified! She continued up and found new boots after beating a horde of large demons. After a jumping glyph maze, she had to light more torches before finding the source of the lava. And it housed a demon!

Gelaldy, the Murderous Construct, used the lava pool it lived in as a forge. A ring for people to pass through was around it, and Yunica had to remain on that or get burned. She had to avoid the hands of the golem and strike at the cogs that kept the arms attached to the body. Gelaldy would then try a headbutt, and it gave Yunica a few shots at the diamond on its head.

Yunica was halfway through the Tower of Darm and ascended to floor fourteen.

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It's possible to "defeat" Kishgal, and you only need to take out half his HP. I almost did it, but he pulled out a new spin spamming move, so I missed out on a Steam achievement...