Chapter 4: Prelude to Abaddon

20 May 2009
S.A. Renegade

Fourth Investigational Meeting! Fukuroku edition!

Narumi will ask you to have a meeting in order to discuss all we've discovered. Since you just saved like a few seconds ago, no need to postpone it. Sadly, getting all the questions wrong doesn't yield particularly funny dialogue this time around. Afterwards, Narumi asks you a particularly obvious question to see whether you lean more towards order or chaos. Then he says Akijiro wants to talk to us over at Tsukigata Mansion. So we're supposed to head there next. But wait! There are things to do in the capital. The fate of Tsukigata Village can wait. Let's go!

Screw the marriage ritual, I'm going home

Items:
-St Incense!
-Muscle Drink

Aright, there are a few cases to pick up 'round here. First off, go to the Shinoda shrine and talk to the herald to receive a shitload of new cases. Ghost customer, Wise Demon Required, Demon wanted (1), and gift from uranus.

Next, go to Kasumidai and read Sadakichi's mind to get the new case Collection Warrant (2).

After that, head to Fukagawa-Cho. Walk into the bathhouse and talk to Satake to get his next missing person case. Now guess what? The Red-Light District is now OPEN baby! So take the north exit from Fukagawa-Cho and go in. First of all, as soon as you go through the arch, take a left to go into a small alleyway. Here you'll find Kuroi. He's the guy from Satake's first Manhuntin' case. Talk to him, then take a picture of him for Satake. Don't forget to check behind the All Night Lamp to find a completely hidden muthafuckin' St Incense! I told you coming here was worth it! Once you've picked that up exit out north into the world map to find a Muscle Drink. That's about all we're doing here. Go back to the detective agency and hand in Kuroi's photo if you want. Interestingly enough, when I checked the case files at this point, Tsunatsugu had filed the next case towards getting rid of his case: The Shichinin Dougyou! Very interesting. Before we start taking care of all these cases though, we have one more place to go. Head over to Shin Sekai and talk to the owner to receive a fresh batch of case files from him. The World of plants (2), need a funny demon, Don't try this at home (2), photog needed (3), sword collecting (2), and stocking up (3).

Finally, go to the catholic church and talk to Lucifer to receive a new case file from him. The Sword of War. Also, take out a Skill Order demon and steal a hair from him! Now we can transform into... Louise Cyphre? Lol. I WONDER where they stole that from. But unfortunately, it seems for the moment we can't transform because Lucifer's power is preventing it. Oh well. Gonna have to wait or something I guess? Alright! So we've now got ourselves quite a few new cases, but before we dive into 'em, I'm pretty sure some new floors have opened up in the training hall. So let's check that out first.

Training Hall B4

Items:
-Red Crystal x2
-Foxtail
-Garnet

Demons:
-Frost Jubokko
-Wind Anzu
-Frost Pabilsag
-Pyro Orthrus
-Fury Mezuki
-Skill Leanan Sidhe
-Fury Gozuki

In this floor you'll find 4 crystals. One in every corner. Two are red, two are blue. The one in the bottom left corner has a Foxtail, while the one in the top right corner has a garnet. As always, go back and save at the shrine and then make sure you get two incenses from the red crystals. Once you're done here, take the elevator down to B5, as it's open now too.

Training Hall B5

Items:
-Topaz
-Shishiou Sake
-Red Crystal x2

Demons:
-Wind Feng Huang
-Volt Tsuchigumo
-Pyro Oshichi
-Pagan Okiku-mushi
-Skill Nekomata
-Volt Nandi

The layout of the crystals is identical here to the last floor. The blue crystal in the bottom left corner has a topaz. The one in the top right corner has a Shishiou Sake. When you have those two, go back and save, and start the process of trying to get two incenses from the red crystals. Here's an interesting story: The red crystal in the top left corner absolutely REFUSED to cough up an incense for me. I spent HOURS opening it and it was just the most stubborn crystal I had ever seen. Then I tried the one in the south corner and it gave me a Ma Incense on the first try. So I loaded, then I tried that same south crystal, and it gave me an incense on the first try AGAIN. So I saved, then I went back to trying on the north one and it STILL wouldn't give me an incense. I decided to leave it there and come back later. Sad face. But anyways. When you're done here return to the agency and let's start taking care of the case files.

The Shichinin Dougyou!

Halright. Time to help Tsunatsugu (worst name to type ever. I always end up typing Tsunagatsu for some reason and have to double check every time.) some more. Swenyways. For this one we have to head back to Tsukigata Village, so take the case and go there. To find the Shichinin Dougyou, walk up to the Fire Tower and then take a left from there.

---Boss: Evil Yomi-Kugutsu---
My level: 42

You'll be fighting seven Yomi-Kugutsu in two waves, first three, then four. These dudes have a LOT of HP, and their attacks can both take a substantial amount of HP and be disruptive. Further, you're going to have to kill them before 5 minutes are up. The Yomi-Kugutsu are frail to ice. I really recommend bringing in a demon who knows Frost Sword. It helps tremendously. Just imbue your sword with ice and reapply it every time it runs out and you'll lock down whoever you're attacking until they're dead. To round things up make sure your demons know ice skills as well. Mabufu works wonderfully, but so does Bufurati and Bufudyne.

The Yomi-Kugutsu come in two flavors, sword-wielder and machine-gunner. They're both dangerous, but the gunner can hit you from off-screen which is annoying so I'm gonna suggest going for the gunners first and let your demons handle the others while you kill it. Try to concentrate on a single Yomi-kugutsu until it's dead before moving on to the next one. You can usually leave your demons to their own devices as long as they're set to using their ice skills. Though it helps a lot if you use Null Phys or bring in a demon like Nebiros who is immune to physical attacks. If one of the sword kugutsu sneaks up behind you while you're attacking another, watch out. While you can usually hope that your demon casts a spell on it while it's attacking you, it's safer to turn around and frail stun it to buy yourself time if you can.

Once you kill the first three (should only take about a minute), you'll have to face four at the same time. It works more or less the same except it's a bit harder since you're outnumbered. You'll be facing 2 sword guys and 2 gunners. Just go for one gunner and try to kill it as fast as you can. However, if you can get two Yomi-kugutsu near each other where you can frail stun them both with one combo, go for that.

Throughout the fight keep an eye on your health as well as your demons. If the enemies seem to be overwhelming you, don't be afraid to hide your demons and run to a safer place to regroup. 5 minutes is a generous amount of time to win. Now if it were 3 minutes? I'd be worried.

---

After the fight you'll get a Kogitsune and find out the zombie guards were actually humans at some point. Hmm. Movin' on! What we got next on our plate? Ah right, Ghost Customer.

Ghost Customer

You get this case from the Herald of Yatagarasu. This case is great because you win the Streetcar Pass if you do it. No longer will you have to pay those obscene prices to get around! I mean come on. 1000 yen to go to Tsukigata and back? 's ridankalus. The case calls for you to go to a shrine in the south part of the capital. Now WHERE could this be. Any sensible person will assume it's the Oumitsu shrine over at Sakuradayama. But nope. Turns out it's the Training Hall South. COME ON! That ain' even got shrine in the name!

But anyway, head over there. You'll find Raiho standing on the north part. Talk to him. It seems he's the ghost customer! And is looking for a fight, even! As much as we love Raiho, we'll have to kick his ass.

---Boss: Frost Raiho---
My level: 42

Raiho is a complete joke compared to what he was in Devil Summoner 1. Even though he says he's stronger. Unlike Devil Summoner 1 in which he has 4 friends, in this one he only has one Pyro Jack. Not impressive. Don't worry about him, if you kill him Raiho will just summon a different demon. So just concentrate your attacks on Raiho.

Raiho is frail to fire, so bring in demons who know Agi skills, but don't bring in Pyro order demons unless you want trouble. He only has two attacks, a physical Combo and Samurai Frost which does multi-hit ice damage. Because of this I recommend using demons who are strong against phys (or better yet, null it), and who null ice (or even better, drain it). Fury Triglav is a nice choice, he's resistant to phys so he can take a hit, and he drains ice so he laughs at Raiho's Samurai Frost. Meanwhile unlike Frost order demons he can actually learn Agi.

Generally speaking, whether you use Agirati/Agidyne or Maragi each has its pros and cons in this fight. The nice thing about Agidyne is that your demon can cast it at Raiho from a distance and be less likely to get hit by his combo. With Maragi the demon has to walk right up to Raiho's face. This means he'll likely take damage from combo if he doesn't null phys, but if he drains ice like Triglav, it means that when Raiho calls down Samurai Frost, it will fall right on top of him for some nice absorption. 's your choice.

It's worth noting that Samurai Frost always goes straight for you, ignoring your demons. So you can kind of lead him into your ice draining demon if you want. Usually though, you'll just want to block it. You can avoid it by running/rolling away, but that'll make you run too far away from Raiho, and the block damage from Samurai Frost is pitiful. If you don't block it, the damage becomes substantial, although it won't kill you outright.

Raiho doesn't go into frail stun very frequently, but when he does, take advantage as always. He's more likely to be stunned if you're comboing him before he gets hit by Agi, but that leaves you vulnerable to his attacks so in general I'd recommend doing most of the damage with your demons' spells.

Like I said just ignore the Pyro Jack throughout the entire fight. For the most part he's harmless. The only annoying thing he can do is use Dormina and sleep one of your demons with a lucky shot. It's a good idea to bring a couple Anti-Minds for that. You can technically wait for someone to smack him out of sleep but that can take a while.

---

After the fight Raiho gives you an Aquamarine (useless). And you also receive the Streetcar Pass (not useless). Once you're done riding street cars over and over for no reason (wooooo!), it's time to do the next case!

The Sword of War

Lucifer be's wantin' us to kill Red Rider again. Well that's no problem, I mean, I've never been one to turn down the possibility of wanton violence. Take the case and head to the catholic church again. Walk towards the altar and you'll encounter Red Rider again.

---Boss: Fiend Red Rider---
My level: 43

Red Rider works the same way as the last time we fought him, except this time you need to defeat him in under 5 minutes. Since we're MUCH stronger than we were 20 levels ago, this shouldn't be a problem. First of all, Red Rider is frail to electricity so make sure you get a demon with a high damage electric skill such as Shockwave or Ziodyne. Just as an example, Volt Nue learns Shockwave. Next, get the same demon or another one with Mazio. Preferably, these two demons will be immune to death. Lastly, get these same demons or a third one with Makakaja to boost your damage even further. Demons who learn Makakaja include Skill Thoth and Wind Anzu.

The fight itself works in a very similar way to last time, so go read the horsemen section if you don't remember Red Rider's details.

Start with your demon who knows Makakaja and the one who knows the high damage electric skill. Make it cast Makakaja immediately, and once he does, return him to the tube and replace him with your demon who knows Mazio. Set this demon to use Mazio repeatedly, and set the other demon to strike. The reason I recommend this is because Shockwave is way too costly MAG-wise, and since it travels in a straight line, it's likely to miss Red Rider if your demon just uses it haphazardly. So we're going to use it manually.

Like I said in the fiends section, the best way to frail stun Red Rider is to catch him with Mazio the moment he's reappearing from his teleport. I'll paste that part with the relevant changes:

So how will you go about damaging Red Rider? While his physical attacks may be very dangerous, they also happen to be the best moment to attack him. Here's the deal: Red Rider is very, VERY likely to go into frail stun if he's hit by an electric attack just as he's teleporting in. And this is exactly why you need Mazio. Whenever you see Red Rider going into his physical loop, keep your demons hidden and very close to you, wait until after he uses his physical attack and he teleports out. Immediately unhide your demons, and depending on your timing and how close you were to Red Rider before he teleported out, your demon should begin casting Mazio immediately after coming out of hiding despite the fact that Red Rider is currently in the fourth dimension. By the time Red Rider teleports back in, (and he's very likely to teleport near to you), the demon will have already finished casting Mazio, and hit Red Rider with it just as he's teleporting in, making him go into frail stun. This is your chance to combo him with your sword and get some MAG. As soon as he's about to get out of stun though, hide your demons again and quickly roll away. The fact that your demon needs to start casting before Red Rider appears is why Zio will not work. Because a demon with Zio will shoot it where Red Rider USED to be, and not where he WILL be. Mazio doesn't have this problem since it shoots all around you.

The main difference for this fight is that since we want to deal big damage fast, every time you manage to frail stun Red Rider, immediately command your demon to use Shockwave on him. Of course while he's doing that, hit him with your sword as well. Once Red Rider shakes off stun, he can counter with a number of things. The first one, and most beneficial to you, is Mamudo. If you got demons who are immune to death like I told you to, simply leave them there and command your main demon to cast Shockwave again for even more damage and the possibility of another stun. If Red Rider starts casting Makajam, you can command your demon to cast Shockwave again and still manage to pull them out before they get hit by Makajam. It takes a bit of timing though. Finally, Red Rider may simply counter with a physical attack. If your demons aren't immune to phys this is a problem since they may well get one-shotted. Fortunately Red Rider's physical attack has a longer startup compared to White and Black, so if you see that he's about to counter with a strike, immediately hide your demons.

Once he manages to get back to teleporting around, just go back to trying to stun him with Mazio. If at some point you see Red Rider just walking around instead of teleporting nonstop, command your demon to use Shockwave on him, and it's very likely to hit him if you're fast.

If you do things properly and don't miss with Shockwave too much, you should kill Red Rider long before the 5 minutes are up and before your MAG runs out.

---

After the fight, you get a case closed and the Strife Blade. Welp! Seems that was the last case file for now! We're done with the capital for now, so use your nifty Streetcar Pass to go back to Tsukigata Village for free!

Return to Tsukigata Village for the Marriage Ritual

Items:
-Scholar's Photo

While you're here, make sure to talk to Yanagita near the south end of resort environs and take his photo for the Manhuntin' (2) case. You'll get 10000 yen for it, so it's well worth it.

Next, go take a dip in the Shirahige Hot Springs. You think there's nothing there because we've already been checking it the entire game and no one's even showed up? Wrong! This time if you walk down to the springs you'll find a man bathing there. Talk to him and he'll ask you if you're the detective from the Capital. Answer that you are, and he will give you a brand new case file! Good thing we kept checking that good for nothing spring huh? Go back to the Fukuroku Inn and look at the case files. It's called Off The Map and it's a bona fide quest. So let's take care of it right now!

Off The Map

Items:
-Faerie Photo
-Fickle Dew

Oho! Looks like this case calls for us to check the Tento Woods for signs of a mysterious village. Sounds fun! Hwell, remember the spot in Tento Woods with the animal trail? The one where a mysterious power prevented you from checking further? Come on, you know the one! The one that's been keeping us up at night this entire time because we just. couldn't. figure. out what its deal was. That one. Well finally, after all this time we get to rest easy. Walk up to the animal trail and you'll be engulfed by gas. Sleep gas to be exact. Dude. If we made a drinking game where we had to take a shot every time Raidou faints in this game we would NOT be afraid of the fucking POLICE right now!

You'll be woken up by a Titania. Apparently we're in Faerie Land now. And woah there, Titania wants to keep us trapped here because Raidou's so handsome? I mean I agree and everything but come on, you know I ain't wit dat shit, lieutenant.

Man, did I mention I like the music in this place? Anyway, walk south a little and you'll run into an Oberon. Aren't you supposed to be Titania's husband? And you're fine with all this? That's pretty damn liberal. If you continue going south then go west, you'll find a Pixie. She says Titania and Oberon are always mad at each other and that maybe marriage isn't what she thought it was. Ha! Welcome to the real world. If you check the bushes nearby you'll be able to take a photo for Tae's next case! Make sure you do. Next, walk east to find a Sylph. Talk to her to receive some more information. Now if you try to exit down south you'll just be teleported back.

Go talk to Oberon again. He'll try to help you. He'll mention the Fickle Dew, a love potion that according to him also works as a cure for homosexuality! He will give it to you. You have to sprinkle that on Titania. Go talk to her, and sprinkle the Fickle Dew on her. She'll fall in love with Oberon again. That was easy.

Except the son of a bitch set us up. Now he wants to keep Raidou as a slave. Feh. We'll have to kill them. Wait, couldn't we have done this in the FIRST place? Oh well.

---Boss: Skill Titania and Skill Oberon---
My level: 43

These two aren't particularly strong, but they have a very dangerous combo you need to watch out for. Dormina followed by Eternal Rest will instantly kill you so make absolutely sure you don't get slept. There's a chance that even if you get hit by Dormina the sleep won't stick, or that even if it does, Eternal Rest might miss. But of course it's best not to rely on this. If your demons get slept, you can just throw an Anti-Mind at them, so that's no problem. But if you get slept, no one will help you. Not even a demon who knows Patra. So watch out and stay away from Dormina.

Titania is frail to ice, while Oberon is frail to electricity. So bring in the appropriate demons. Bufudyne/Glacial Blast and Ziodyne/Shockwave work well. I'd recommend killing Titania first since she likes casting Media a lot. You can lay on the spells if you want to kill her fast, but you may also want to stick to strikes while she's frail stunned so that you don't end up without MAG by the end like I did. It's not too much of a problem though, since they both take a lot of damage from strikes. Don't be afraid to get in their face and combo them. Outside of their Dormina + Eternal Rest combination they're not particularly dangerous. Oberon likes to use a phys Combo and Titania likes to use Bufurati, but the damage isn't anything to worry about.

---

Case closed! And guess what, now we have the Fickle Dew. Go back to the Fukuroku Inn, take a nap, save, and check the case files. First off, now that you've got the Fickle Dew, you can complete the Looking for Fickle Dew case in Case File 4. As a reward you will obtain the Hiranya. And now that you have THAT, you can complete My Wish (1). Lastly, open Case File 6 and hand over the picture you just took to complete Photog Needed (3) for some more Tae Stickers. Welp. I think we've postponed the marriage ritual long enough. Let's get over to Tsukigata Mansion and see what Akijiro's got for us.

...oh. Right. We pissed him off by going to Centipede Road way back when. I completely forgot about that. And now he's threatening us by taking Tae hostage? Come on, Akijiro! I didn't think you were the type to be a coward. He'll make you a deal, you for Tae. Let's accept. I mean, not because we care a lot about Tae, but because if it's us, at least we can kill them all. Tae can't do anything. If you do this, Akijiro commends you for acting like a real man. Um. I don't think you're in a very good position to be talking about that, you hostage-taking jackass.

Then Akane shows up and knocks some sense into him. She's all "Raidou saved me from Dahn, aren't you ashamed to take his friend hostage and threaten him?" Wait. What does me saving you have to do with anything? Aren't you ashamed to be taking hostages PERIOD? DO THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO HONOR?!

Anyway, you talk it all over at the mansion. Apparently Akane has a martyr complex. Well fine, if that's your decision I ain't gonna stop you. Akijiro and Akane want your help to make sure the Marriage Ritual goes off successfully.

That night at the Fukuroku Inn, Narumi will tell you a story about a village and some immigrants who were different. The villagers started to hate them so the chief decided to send them out into the mountains to live away from the village. Narumi asks you whether you would have done the same. I'll have to go with yes. Humans will always tend to hate that which differs from them. It's sad and ugly, but that's just the way it is. You can't be a white guy living in an all black neighborhood and expect to be treated the same as everyone else. You can't be a Chinese guy living in an all French neighborhood and expect to be treated the same as everyone else. You can't be a millionaire CEO in a suit hanging out in an abandoned warehouse with all the hobos and expect to be treated the same. Everyone has a place where they belong. If you try to get along with xenophobic people hoping they'll defeat their prejudiced nature, you might end up killed just for being what you are. That's humanity.

The day of the Marriage Ritual

Items:
-Akane's Letter
-Insect Cage
-Renki
-Metal Fixtures
-Theban Jar
-Ruby
-Kanesada
-Foxtail
-Shishiou Sake
-Bead of Life (Hidden!)
-Birdlime
-Pearl!
-Anti-Stone
-Diamond
-Red Crystal

After some pointless ceremonial bullshit, Dahn crashes the wedding as planned. Ha, he overslept 'cause it was taking place so early. I can sympathize with the guy. He then challenges us to another fight, and we have no say in it! We'll just have to tan his hide again!

---Boss: Fukoshi Dahn and Soldier Bug Taromaru---

What the hell have these guys been doing this entire time?! They haven't improved at ALL since the last time we fought them! It's seriously the exact same battle except now you're like 20 levels higher! I can't believe these two have just been twiddling their thumbs instead of training. What. A disappointment. Go read the previous Dahn battle if you don't remember how it's supposed to go. At this point though, you don't even have to worry about his attacks anymore. Just assault him with Shockwave/Ziodyne and he'll go down before you even know what's happening. Same with Taromaru. I have to say though, I did feel bad about beating him. You really get to see how much of a good guy Dahn is. His heart's in the right place. He's the real hero in this whole debacle. It's just a shame that courage and determination are nothing without the power to back it up. If only you had more power, you could have saved her, Dahn. I completely understand his desire to become King Abaddon.

---

It ain't over yet though. Even if the ritual's completed, there's still a little time before Akane's turned into a monster, and Dahn can still become King Abaddon.

Back at the mansion, a servant hands you a letter. It's from Akane to Dahn, and you're supposed to deliver it over at his cell. You know where the cells are right? The shack at Tento Woods? Where you got imprisoned once upon a time? Yeah. Let's go. Walk down the stairs to the basement and you'll run into Geirin. After exchanging some words head down, save at the dragon cave and check out the cells. What's that? The dragon cave disappeared? Dang. Oh well. Walk into the first south cell to find an Insect Cage lying on the ground. VERY nice. If you keep walking towards Dahn's cell you'll get a cutscene where you can hand over Akane's letter. In exchange he'll give you a Renki and drip some of his blood onto the Tento Talisman, not to mention direct you to the Mushibito's lair. If you talk to Dahn again you can ask him some more about various things. Apparently the one who told him about King Abaddon was Lucifer. So this entire thing with the locusts and the disasters at the capital was in a way started by Lucifer? Hmm... what is he planning? A very mysterious guy, to be sure. I have to say I'm intrigued.

Go back out and head for the Tento Springs past the residential area. Oh, but first! Make a side trip to the Shirahige Springs to catch Narumi loafing around there! Hahaha! He didn't think we'd bother to check if he was slacking off.

Let's save at the dragon cave and then start checking those wells. Remember Dahn told us to use the Tento Talisman on the #3 well? Yeah, then of COURSE that's going to be the last one we check. If you use the talisman on the #1 well, it'll just reveal a hidden passageway to a dead end. The #2 well, however, will take us to a cliff above with two more wells. The one in the middle, #5, is just another dead end. The one on the right will take us to another cliff. Here you'll find some metal fixtures lying on the ground. Pick them up and go back to the save point. Check the broken bridge to the right and you'll be able to use those to fix it. Go to the other side and you'll find three more wells. Take the #7 one to reach the place past the locked gate on the ground level. There's nothing there but you can unlock the gate in case anyone wants to go in. Go back. Take #8 to reach a cliff with a Theban Jar. Then go back and take the last well. It'll take you to a place with a Ruby! Very awesome. That's about all there is here. Go back and save at the dragon cave.

Now wait a minute. Wait one damn minute. Don't these wells remind you of something? Of course! There's a well just like these at the nest of the Old Ones in Tento Sanctuary! Where one of Dahn's Fukoshi was wetting his whistle! Now that we have the bloodied Tento Talisman, we can see what lies beyond it. Yeah, I know it's a long trip, but exactly because of that, there MUST be something good there right? Let's go!

Go into the North Tento Shrine Annex. You'll find a wind current there. Use Kamikaze on it to immediately get to the nest of the old ones. Easy! Save at the Dragon Cave. Talk to all the old ones 'cause they've got new and interesting things to say now that the marriage ritual's over with. You can also find Akane in her cell and talk to her. Interestingly enough, in here you can actually transform into Louise Cyphre! Fun. Looks like Lucifer's been here before, because the Old Ones will call you Bellzeboo if you talk to them. Anyway, press the Tento Talisman into the well.

You'll end up on the other side of the fence at the bus stop. So THAT'S how you get here. Now we can finally sleep at night. You'll find a Kanesada lying on the ground. Meh. I guess that wasn't really as great as I thought it would be. Anywho. Return to the Tento Springs and insert the talisman into the third well to go into the Mushibito lair.

Save, and as soon as you go out of the well walk down the first bridge you see down to the lower level. Keep walking east to find a room with two blue crystals. They have a Foxtail and a Shishiou Sake. Walk north and then take the low bridge to the other side of the chasm. Walk south from there to what looks like a cell. If you check inside it you'll find nothing useful. But wait! Take out a volt order demon and use Inspect. You will find a Bead of Life! Extremely nice. Go back to the save point. Before we go to the other side of the high chasm where Lucifer is waiting, head north from the left side of the high chasm, past a wind current (don't use kamikaz on it. It'll just send you all the way to the nest of the old ones), and exit north out into the world map. Keep walking north and enter Bee Road. When you get to a fork, take the left path to reach a blue crystal with a Birdlime in it. Go back and this time take the other path. Keep going east through another secret passage to reach another blue crystal. This one has a motherfucking PEARL. VERY important. Don't lose this. You need it to complete the My Wish (2) case. Go back and this time take the north path to find a crystal with an Anti-Stone. There's nothing more here, although you can unlock the door to the nest of the old ones. Go back to the Mushibito nest though.

Now take the bridge to the other side we haven't explored yet. Before you do anything on this side, walk south and exit out to the world map to find a Diamond! Woo! These Mushibito sure have a lot of valuable gems. Go back in. Next, go all the way north and into a cell to find a Red Crystal. Well! At least there's a save point somewhat nearby, and no random encounters. Go back and save, and do what we've always done to make sure you get an incense from this. Once that's done, you see the Mushibito in the middle wearing the dumb hat? Transform into Louis Cyphre and talk to him and he will reverentially give you 14000 yen! Hot damn. Walk into the room behind him to get a cutscene with the real Lucifer.

Afterwards you'll return to the Fukuroku Inn and get a call from Tae that the capital's in trouble. So that's where we're going next!

The Capital beset by earthquakes

As soon as you get back to the agency, rest, save, and check case file 6 for My Wish (2). Now that you got a Pearl back in Bee Road, you can complete it for TWO Ma Incenses! One of the better rewards you'll get.

If you make a sidetrip to the Red Light District at this point, you'll find Shizu there. Still whorin' it up. Talk to her and read her mind to learn a few extra things about Narita. You can also steal a hair from her with a skill order demon so you can transform into her, though I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of her form is.

Before you go to Shin Sekai and search for Tae, go to the catholic church and speak to Lucifer to receive yet another case file from him! Ok, let's do this first.

One Girl's Happiness

Take the case and then go to Tamonten Shrine. You'll see two schoolgirls in front of it. Talk to them. They'll say Raidou hasn't showed at school recently. Ha! That's Raidou for you. A complete renegade. Too cool for school. All that good stuff. They'll mention a ghost who haunts the school. Say you definitely want to hear about it. After she tells you the story (I love the part about it being the last stall in the bathroom. Something about that makes it creepier), Alice appears. Complete with music that I thought was only used for important plot situations.

---Boss: Fiend Alice---
My level: 44

Wait, Alice is a fiend? That's pretty damn cool. Anyway, this can be a hard battle if you try to approach it the usual way. Alice is frail to electric attacks but that doesn't really help us all that much because she only takes 1 damage from magic attacks. That's why for this battle, I'm going to recommend forgetting about her weakness and just fight her with nothing but physical attacks. Bring in a demon who has very high strength and access to strong phys skills. Preferably, make it one who is immune to gun attacks.

The problem is that Alice comes with 5 annoying Zombie Officers who keep shooting at you. Their gun attacks are actually pretty strong and disruptive, and if you kill them, more will just spawn immediately so it's useless to try and deal with them. The zombies only have 1 HP, so they're easy to kill, but I think they're fuckin' terrorists or something because they have the tendency to explode for big damage when you kill them. So in general I suggest you leave them alone and rely on a demon's immunity to gun.

It'll also be nice if you can stack on abilities that help your physical attacks. You know. Power Chakra, Hero's Might, Moonlight Rage, Warcry, Tarukaja, all that good shit.

Set your demon to use his best phys skill repeatedly on Alice. This is by far the best way to damage her. There is absolutely no need to frail stun her. You can also get in there and help out with your own combos, but watch out for Mamudoon, as this can instantly kill you. In fact, Mamudoon alone is a compelling argument for staying away and letting your demons do the work, as it goes of surprisingly fast and can catch you if you're in the middle of a combo and not on the ball. Other less lethal stuff to watch out for include Marin-karin and Petra. More importantly, if Alice decides to stay near her Zombies, this can be very problematic. Since it can be easy to kill them and then get hit by their explosion. If Alice is far away from them, you can go balls out on her, but if she's near, it might be a better idea to hang back a bit and let your demon attack her but hide it when you see a zombie is about to explode.

Since your demon is so much stronger than you, it's really not too bad an idea to play it safe and just let it do all the work. Call it to your side every time you see Alice using Mamudoo, Petra or Marin-karin if they're not immune to death and mind. I killed her in about 2 minutes and I was only using one demon. I imagine with two it'd be a complete massacre. Overall a tricky fight that isn't much of a problem once you know what to do.

---

I like how after the fight if you have Nebiros in your team you get a message saying it forces itself out of its tube. As a reward, you obtain the Staff of Death which allows you to fuse Alice.

Right. Well. Moving on. Go to Shin Sekai and talk with the drunk there. Ask him about Tae's whereabouts. Order him a Midas Pop. Wait a minute, how can you get drunk on Soda anyway? He tells you that Tae is in Ishigami-Cho. A brand new place. That's where we're going next! Take the streetcars to the previously useless Hongo-Ku.

Keep walking down the street to find Tae. She'll give you a Pagan Silver if you handed yourself over to save her in Tsukigata Village. After the conversation back up a bit and go talk to the little girl near the Inari statue. Ask her about Lord Ishigami, then read her mind with a pagan order demon. Answer that you're indeed Raidou and she'll tell you to go inside the tower. Looks like a full-fledged dungeon! Aright, we doin' dis thang!

Ishigami Tunnel

Items:
-Anti-Poison
-Bead
-Red Crystal x2
-Topaz
-Red Crystal

Demons:
-Skill Oberon
-Frost Jack Frost
-Frost Black Ooze
-Fury Chernobog
-Frost Jubokko
-Pagan Utai-Gaikotsu
-Pyro Ukobach
-Wind Feng Huang
-Frost Preta
-Wind Dominion
-Volt Makami
-Pyro Pyro Jack
-Volt Tsuchigumo
-Frost Raja Naga
-Fury Nezha
-Fury Lamia
-Wind Archangel

As soon as you go in, walk all the way north to find a save point. From there, take the path to the left all the way to find a blue crystal with a useless Anti-Poison. Nakisawame is over to the northwest of the save point, but we don't need her. Nobody likes her style.

Hokay. The light south of the save point doesn't take us anywhere useful, so take the one to the east of the save point above the Azumi. This'll take you to 2F. From where you appear, you'll see another light right above you to the north. Use it to go back down to 1F and find a blue crystal with a Bead. Go back to 2F. Head all the way west from the light you originally came in from to find TWO red crystals. Uh oh. Well, you know what we gotta do. Go back to the save point in the first floor and begin the process of making sure you get an incense from both. Use a repulse water to avoid encounters while you're doing this. I don't mean to be a prick, but I was lucky enough that I got both incenses here in a mere 5 minutes!

Once you're done with that, go back to the light you originally came from and take the light southwest from there to go to 3F. This next floor is just a straight line. Take the other light up to 4F.

From here, if you try to go northeast you'll just fall off, so take the north path to take the long way around to the next light. Along the way you'll find the mysterious peddler. I have no idea what he's doing here or what his point even is, considering the exit for this dungeon is nearby. I mean this isn't like the Obelisk in Nocturne where the dungeon was so ridiculously long that they had to put in a cathedral of shadows. The dungeons in this game are short! Anyway, take the light south of him to get up to 5F. Here, you'll get ambushed by some chumps. It's an Utai-Gaikotsu and 3 Turdaks. Weaksauce. The catch is that you have to kill them in 1 minute, but these guys are seriously so weak that I killed them in just 10 seconds. The Turdaks are frail to wind and fire, and Utai Gaikotsu is frail to wind. This is a good place to use all-hitting super moves like Cross Slash or Scorch Slash. If you have a wind type move like Cyclone Stab? It'll probably destroy them in 5 seconds.

Moving on. Take the next light up to 6F. Here you'll find a save point to the north. Use it. Head down the other path and past the next light to find a blue crystal with a Topaz. Go back to the previous light and use it to go up to 7F. Here, if you try to go up you'll just fall, so take the south path to the next light. Here in 8F, if you try to take the northeast path you'll just fall. So take the other one, and in the next platform to the north you'll see yet another red crystal. You can't make a beeline for it here though or you'll fall. Use the other path to take the long way around. You'll run smack into a demon wall though. This one requires a female demon with elegant speech. If you've been doing what I told you so far, you should already have this demon! Because it's the one you've been using to get incense from red crystals this entire time. Other than Selket and Leanan Sidhe, Parvati also works here. Anyway, go through it and keep going all the way east until you find the crystal that's keeping the wall up. Destroy it. Now you can pass. There's a red crystal below the next light, although the previous save point is far away. Fortunately though, if you use the light to go up to 9F you'll find a the next one! How convenient! This'll make getting that incense easier.

Aright listen up. During your time here you're very likely to run into the next fiend. Kageboushi. He's a very tough guy to kill, but with the right preparation you can do it. Still, at this point it's not that easy and I wouldn't worry too much about it because even if you do kill him, he'll just appear again the next new moon, so really there's not much incentive to go out of your way to defeat him. If you really want to beat him now I suppose you can go look at the fiends section, but seriously, not all that worth it.

Anyway, if you take the path northeast, you'll run into Binbou-Gami again!

---Boss: Fiend Binbou-Gami---
My level: 46

Binbou-Gami's actually very similar to the last time you fought him, only he's slightly stronger in that his physical attacks do about 300 damage to you now. Ha. Nothing to worry about. He also seems to teleport less, so he's less annoying than he was before. As always, he's frail to fire. Now that we have such high level demons, we're going to absolutely rapinate him. Use your strongest fire attacks on him. I recommend Fire Breath (learned by Pyro Gdon) but Agidyne and Maragidyne also work well. Don't even worry about getting hit by his moves, as the damage isn't at all dangerous. If you use Makakaja on top of Fire Breath you'll be surprised at how fast his HP disappears. Just watch my video and you'll see.

I'm not really gonna say much of anything since this is such a ridiculously easy fight. Except maybe watch out for Pulinpa once his HP is low, and when he has less than 1/4 left he'll use his special move. Except... now that we're so high level you can just get hit by every single thing he throws at you and not worry. If you want to avoid the first coin showers, just stand in the middle of the arena on the circle. And for the last coin press, the shadow won't appear this time but it's all good. Just stand below the circle in the middle of the arena and it won't hit you.

---

After the fight, keep going forward and use the light to get up to the top floor. Approach the little girl to get a scene. Looks like now we have to go allll the way to the bottom, defeat a fiend and restore the sacred stone. Let's get to it. But before we do that, search the south part of this small area near the center to find a spot where you can take an Inari Photo. This will come in handy. You'll also see a spirit that can take you back to the entrance of this dungeon. We don't need him though. Save, and then enter back into Ishigami through the opening to the left of the Inari Statue. Not the one you came in through. You'll be back in 9F, except in a different place. You'll be using wind currents a lot now so bring out your wind order demon of choice. First off you'll see two wind currents in this platform. Take the south one to reach a blue crystal with a foxtail. Take the single wind current back to the previous platform, then use the one to the north. Here you'll find a light that takes you down to 8F. Use it.

In this next place you'll encounter two Nekomatas. You have to kill them both in under a minute but the catch is they have to die at the same time or they'll ressurect. This isn't really that hard if you remember that when an enemy is frail stunned, it will remain stunned for the entire duration before dying even if it has no HP left. So what you have to do is get two demons who know strong electric skills (a single demon with a strong electric skill and one with a weak one will also work) and have each one use it on a separate Nekomata. For example. Say you have one demon with Shockwave and one with Zio. Command the one with Shockwave to use it on one Nekomata, and the one with Zio to use it on the other. They should both frail stun them at the same time. Since shockwave is so strong, it will kill one Nekomata outright. While it's doing that, combo the other one that got hit by Zio to finish it off. By the time their stun wears off they'll both die at the same time.

After that fight, keep going to the next platform. You'll see a light. Don't use it. Go past it to the wind current in the back and kamikaze to get to another platform. Here you'll find yet another light that takes you up. Before you use it though, check behind it for a blue crystal with an Ox Bezoar. Go back up to 9F to reach a blue crystal you couldn't before. This one has an Emerald. Then use the wind current behind it to get back to where you fought the Nekomatas. Take the light down to 7F.

Here you'll find another dragon cave. Can't complain. Head east from the save point past a Feng Huang and use kamikaze on the wind current there. This will take us to a place we couldn't get to before. It's actually 7F of the previous trek through this dungeon, so we're gonna have to walk allll the way back, but hey, there are two blue crystals here so it's all good. And they contain a Bead of Life and a Plastic, so trust me, it's quite worth it. Anyways, once you have that go back to the Feng Huang. Nope, I ain't walkin' you through it twice. Anyway, take the light on the platform northwest of the Feng Huang to 6F. From where you appear, head all the way west to find a blue crystal with a Kagura Flute, then head back. To the north you'll see Nakisawame. Doing what she does best. Being useless. You'll see a wind current beside her though. Use it to reach a platform with a Frost Silver in a blue crystal, then take the wind current back. Walk all the way east and take the light down to 5F.

Here you'll find two wind currents. The top one is actually useless, so take the bottom one. You'll be in another platform with two more currents. Take the right one to reach a blue crystal with a Balm of Life. Kamikaze on back. Take the bottom wind current again, and this time when you get to the second platform with two currents take the left one. It'll take you to another one with a single current, use this one, and you'll be at the next light. Go down to 4F.

Here you'll find yet another save point. Use it, then keep going east and you'll get into another scripted fight. You'll fight 4 Okiku-mushis and have to win in under a minute, but the trick is only one of them is real, and you have to defeat the right one. How do you know which is the right one? That's actually really easy. Just use analyze. Three of the Okiku-mushis will be grayed out and you won't be able to analyze them, but one of them will be white. That's the right one. Assault her with your best flame attacks and kill her, then mop up the rest. Easy peasy. Keep going east to find the next light and a blue crystal with a birdlime behind it. Go down to 3F. This part is linear, walk down and use the next light to 2F. Here you'll find a layabout Thoth, and the next light to the northwest. Take it back up to 3F.

Here you'll find a blue light. Before you check it though, use kamikaze on the wind current beside it. You'll reach a platform with two blue crystals you couldn't get to before. They contain an Aquamarine and a Smoke Ball. After you've picked those up, return to the previously mentioned blue light. Enter it to get up to 4F, then walk down to the next platform and you'll fall down a hole. Hwell. More like 5 holes. You'll fall down all the way to below the ground floor.

This place is on FIRE, so bring out a Frost Order demon and use cool down to avoid taking damage while you run around. Walk down the only path to the next light which will take you up to 0F. Here you'll find another save point. Keep walking and you'll come across a wind current. Before you keep going, use kamikaze on it. You'll reach another platform with a Feng Huang on it. Walk north, past a wind current you see (don't use it, it'll just take you back to 9F), and use the light up north to get back down to the fiery B1. Use cool down again and walk south to find two blue crystals. They contain a Pyro Silver (hell yeah!) and a Life Stone (boo!). Go back up and walk to the platform beneath the Feng Huang. Step on the center to fall back down to B1 and make your way back to the save point. Use it, then keep going past the wind current to finally encounter the fiend you're supposed to kill.

---Boss: Fiend Yakubyou-gami---
My level: 48

This guy isn't horribly dangerous but he has a shitload of HP and can take a lot of punishment. To make matters worse, he's not frail to anything, so you're just gonna have to use your hardest hitting attacks on him. I recommend going with strong phys skills coupled with Tarukaja. The problem is Yakubyou-gami has so much HP that you're sure to run out of MAG before he's dead. Even if you do, though, chances are he'll be close to death by the time and you can probably go the last mile with strikes.

Alternatively, you can also make use of his zombie officers to get a little MAG. They're frail to wind, so hit 'em with some Zan type skills and combo them to recover a little MAG. This is actually a pretty good way to go about it since those zombies can be really annoying with their disruptive strikes and Dorminas. So what I recommend is having one strong demon set to using its best phys skill on Yakubyou-gami, while the other one is set to using such as Mazan or whatever on the zombies. By hitting the frail stunned zombies every now and then you can ensure that your MAG never runs out throughout the entire battle.

Yakubyou-gami doesn't really have any extreme attacks. One he'll do often is a tongue lash. But it's so weak and inaccurate that you shouldn't even pay attention to it. The other one is Mighty Blow. This one has a pretty big cue. When you see him grab his umbrella, quickly hide your demons and block. The attack affects a very wide area. The only way to avoid it for sure is to be far back on the other side of the arena, and there's no reason to do that when you can easily block it. His third physical attack is Rush, which is also highly telegraphed. When you see him hang back on his cloud, it means he's about to rush. He will also use Luck Roulette of the Beast. This usually isn't much of a problem, though if you get a particularly nasty effect such as whiffed attacks, go ahead and override it with a luck locust.

Once you get him down to half HP, you should start hiding your demons and blocking whenever you get the message that he's preparing for something. It could be Luck Roulette, but it could also be his unavoidable attack, Judgement. Well, the way to know is that if he's twirling his umbrella really fast it will be Judgement. He will also use Diarama to heal himself for 1000 once you get him down to half, which is annoying but not much you can do about it.

---

Once the fight's over, it wouldn't hurt to walk a few feet back and save. Then take the light past where you encountered Yakubyou-gami down to B1. Here you'll find the system that takes you down to the lowest level.

The lowest level is super relaxing for some reason. No encounters, no flaming pit of hell, no upbeat music. Walk down and realign the sacred stone. The Ishigami will go back underground.

After some scenes we'll be back at the agency. Ahh, after a hard day's work we get to relax some. And with that, chapter 4 comes to a close. Fin!

Previous: Chapter 3: The Defiled Gods | Next: Chapter 5: The Day of Misfortune

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