Homewreaker

The climb up Mt. Letona confused me. Offshoots are strangely hard to see, and I have terrible eyesight. I got lost for a few minutes before seeking out a map. There are a few caves we'll need to traverse, with hidden paths dotted about as well. Nothing too sneaky, but keep your eyes open on the walk. The new seru here is my first earth magic, misheru. I could have gotten one at Shadow Gate, but I didn't stick around there long enough to collect it. Something for overtime tomorrow, I guess. Misheru is something I'll need to grind up because it can lower enemies' defense.

At the top is the Genesis Tree. Our ra-seru warned us that the tree's energy was fluctuating, and we see why now. It's trapped in an electrical pyramid. Noa touches it, gets shocked, and calls it a "spooky wall." With no other discourse, we make a walk of shame back down the mountain. As we do, though, Songi is waiting. He knew we'd be here and placed the trap. He's looking for a fight! His seru is empowered, and it turns his skin grey for this battle.

I found this kinda boring. Songi lacked KO power if you're over 700 HP or can defend against lightning. While he does that, I Spirit up every other turn to unleash double and triple arts. I think this is the strategy I'll be employing for a while. It feels painfully slow, but it's safe and works.

As he said before the battle, Songi removes the barrier he placed on the tree. He encourages us to keep fighting and then jumps down the mountain. Everyone is confused, but they revive the tree, and the mist around Ratanyu dissipates. Vidna is still shrouded, so don't check it out.

Ratanyu is freed from the seru monsters, but no one is happy... But we need to get to the Mist Generator! We report our progress to the guy in charge, Saryu, and he tells us he's tired and to leave. He never gave us the key he promised. Now we're angry and plan an uprising! It seems the rest of the town is behind us. Saryu has levied high taxes on everyone, mind controlled the guards, and the Seru Bride program is more akin to a sacrifice than a wedding. I buried the lead on that, didn't I? His current bride-to-be is in the inn.

Elena is dressed in a fun outfit. She knows she's about to die and asks us to visit her parents from time to time. But Noa thinks this is dumb! She offers to take Elena's role because Noa is strong and can survive whatever is about to happen. I give her the okay, and we can prepare. There's more overpriced gear in the market... When you're ready, return to Elena, and the two will switch positions. The guards appear to take Nolena away, and we (the player) see the procession. It ends in a terrifying location where brides are kept in test tubes to power a seru called Juggernaut. Juggernaut is a man made seru, and the thing Saryu is being worked on is the second one. The first blew up Rim Elm's wall... Noa tries to flee, but the guards shock her into paralysis. Terra gives out a warning to Meta and Ozma that Noa is in danger. The two prepared for this, and they rushed to the castle. They dispatch the two seru guards, that they can learned if you're lucky, but the rest of the path is clean. They take the winding path to the console of the Juggernaut and confront Saryu. They scare off the scientists, and the ra-seru treat Noa. As they do, Saryu joins them and gets mad. His shadow grows, and the climax begins.

Van Saryu is a stronger Songi, but he uses his team wide attack more often. As he gets low, he'll borrow the power of Juggernaut to up his strength. He activated it too late, and Noa finished him off with a 1200 combo.

Saryu was possessed by seru, similar to Xain. A woman in town tells us this is a san-seru, another man made god. Unlike Xain, Saryu is still alive. He realizes all that's happened and turns off the machine, killing Juggernaut in the process. This entire ordeal was conducted by a being named Dohati, the same guy Xain told us about. Dohati built a castle to the west, where the Mist Generator is. Saryu undoes all the damage his evil self did and gives us the key to the generator.

Everyone is happy now, and the music in town becomes worse. But the inn is free, and Noa has another dream about her parents. They tell her they did something terrible. But we'll work towards that...

...tomorrow!

The end of this arc is coming!