They're sinking cities with a GIANT WORM!
Chapter 5: The Day of Misfortune
20 May 2009
S.A. Renegade
Investigating the serial murders
The chapter'll start with the familiar fainted scene. You'll get asked some questions on whether it's best to accept misfortune or resist it. As always, just answer truthfully. That's the best way, right? Later on you'll wake up and after a few words with Tae Narumi will invite you to go chill on the roof.
It's cloudy as all hell and Narumi says it's enough to ruin a guy's day. Are you kidding me?! I love this kind of cloudy day! It's so relaxing. I wish every day was like this! Hwell... except without that big red eye in the sky. Another calamity.
Just when you think things are going to start getting heavy, Narumi saves the day! Time to go eat some curry! I mean, King Abaddon? The capital's destruction? That can wait.
After eating the curry and Narumi's tab being called in, Detective Kazama shows up and asks you to take a case for him. And without paying! Hey man, we ain't running a charity here! COME ON! Sigh. We have to ask the cops around Tsukudo-Cho for the skinny. First off, head to Konnou-Ya and talk to the pig nearby. He's the only one out of the 3 in Tsukudo-Cho that Kazama actually talked to. Apparently it's a serial murder and there are fragments of the Fukoshi insect cages at every scene of the crime. Narumi pieces the fragments together and the cop is so impressed that he passes the word on to the others.
Head to Kamishiro-Zaka and talk to the cop stationed there. Ask him the details about the case and also about the insect cages to learn that they found one in Mannen-Cho, Ginza-Cho and Harumi-Cho. Next, talk to the one stationed in front of the detective agency and ask him about the crime scene to learn that there have been sightings of some flying monster in each crime scene. Run back to the previous officer in Kamishiro-Zaka and ask him about the monster. Once you do that you'll have enough leads. Return to the detective agency to talk it over with Narumi.
Fifth Investigational Meeting!
Well, no reason to refuse having a meeting, so let's get down to it. Hahaha, Narumi's out of coffee. Looks like those luck locusts have gone too damn far. This particular meeting is great because you can get some pretty awesome dialogue by choosing all the wrong answers! From Narumi saying he sounds like a teacher, to him joking about wanting Satake to disappear, to wanting croquettes, and even reminiscing about Devil Summoner 1 with the Soulless Battleship and when he gave you Fatal Bullets! Best meeting ever. After the meetin is adjourned, Narumi says we should investigate the three crime scenes.
Ahright boys and girls, it's time ta hit the streets!
Items:
-Anti-Mute
-Skill Bronze
-Actress Photo
-Volt Silver
-Kagura Flute
-Topaz
-Garnet
-Rakuyou Chalice
-Lu Incense (Hidden!)
-Repulse Water
-Merchant's Hair (Hidden!)
-Muscle Drink
-Sapphire
-Lu Incense (Hidden!)
-Lu Incense (Hidden!)
-Anti-Mind
-Roman Coin
Guess what? If you return to Tsukigata and go into the Mushibito Nest, then transform into Louis Cyphre and talk to the Mushibito in the room where you talked with Lucifer, he will reverentially hand over 12000 yen. That's a pretty considerable amount. Worth the trip, I'd say. But other than that, there's not much else to do in Tsukigata right now.
First let's go to Kasumidai. Talk to Sadakichi to receive another case file from him. If you check your case files now you'll have Scars of Recession and National Secrets. Next, take a trip over to the catholic church to get another 2 case files from Lucifer. Scales of Famine and Fallen Dragon!
After that, go to Fukagawa-Cho and talk to Satake in the bathhouse for the next missing person case. Also, go to the Red Light District and talk to Narumi to get some funny dialogue about visiting it during the job! Shizu's also here but she says the same thing as last time about Narita and Makiko. I speculate that Narita lost Makiko to the marriage ritual, and that's why he doesn't like talking about it. But anyways...
Go to Shin Sekai and talk to the owner to receive the newest batch of case files. The world of plants (3), Burning Reinforcements, Don't try this at home (3), Photog needed (4), An Uneasy Alliance, Looking for a Rare Book and Missing a Few Screws.
Also, now Ginza-Cho is finally open! So let's head there and explore some. There are a few items to nab. Between the two shrubs above Narumi, you'll find an Anti-Mute. Head north from there into an alley to find a Skill Bronze. Here you'll also find Chieko Kujo standing in front of one of her posters. She's the actress Satake wants a photo of for Manhuntin' (3). So snap a pic of her. Exit out the east side into the world map to find a Volt Silver. Head south from where Narumi is to find a Kagura Flute. Also, keep going past this and out to the world map to find a Topaz. Go up the stairs to the temporary overpass to find a Garnet there, then go under it to find a Rakuyou Chalice.
Next, go to the place where Kaya betrayed you in Devil Summoner 1, near the window shopper, and use a Volt order demon's inspect ability. You'll find a Lu Incense! From there, exit out from Kurizu-Zaka and go to Restaurant Ryugu. Talk to the owner to get a case file from her. Low on Stock (3). She'll also give you 6000 yen! You ain't gonna see me refusing that!
Ok, next we're heading to Harumi-Cho! Another brand new area that's opened up for us! First, go to the dock and grab a Repulse Water sitting beside a sailor. Now, walk down the steps into the ACTUAL dock, and use a volt order demon's inspect ability to find a Merchant's Hair! FINALLY my rampant inspect spam pays off big time! With this, you'll be able to transform into the Owner of Konnou-Ya. Fuck all of you haters, who's the one laughing now huh? HUH?! Ahrem. With this you'll be able to buy goods just about anywhere. If you walk around as him, you'll also periodically find cash as if you had the money getter ability. Afterwards, walk into the foreign residential district to find a Muscle Drink.
Once you have that, go back and take the path up to the Navy headquarters. Take the ladder down to the reservoir to find a Sapphire there. Go back up and keep going. Use a volt order demon's inspect ability in front of the couple to find yet another Lu Incense! Hehe. I like all of these hidden things we're finding lately! HEY WAIT A MINUTE!! I'm starting to see a pattern here. In both the exact places where the murders happened in Ginza-Cho and Harumi-Cho we found a hidden Lu Incense. This can only mean one thing! Let's go back to the crime scene in Mannen-Cho and use inspect there...
...ohoho! Just as I thought! Another Lu Incense! Bitch, I'm on fire. Ace detective right here. Anyway, uh, let's get back to where we were. In front of the couple in Harumi-Cho. Go down the steps to the dock to find an Anti-Mind. Go up to the Navy HQ gate, and check near the bush in front of the tall seaman to find an almost completely hidden Roman Coin. We're done here now. Don't go into Sakuradayama 'cause that's where we're supposed to go. We're going to Shinoda now. Talk to the Herald to receive new case files from the Yatagarasu. Tons of 'em. Streetcar Ghost, Haunted Mansion, Demon Wanted (2) and (3). Next, we're gonna check out the new floors that opened up in the training hall.
Training Hall B6
Items:
-Opal
-Balm of Life
-Red Crystal x2
Demons:
-Fury Chernobog
-Pyro Gdon
-Wind Dominion
-Pagan Jorougumo
-Fury Ikusa
-Pagan Utai-Gaikotsu
-Skill Oberon
-Volt Nue
Aright, as usual, we gots 2 blue crystals and 2 red ones. The one on the west side has an Opal. The other one has a Balm of Life. You know what to do with the 2 red crystals. Hopefully it won't be too hard to extract the incense from them! Well, for me it wasn't. In fact, I also took the time to get the incense from the one in B5 that I had left for later and I also got it pretty easy there too. See, sometimes taking a break and coming back later pays off! Anyways, B7 seems to still be closed off, so we're done here for now. Let's head back to the detective agency and start taking care of those case files.
Streetcar Ghost
Haright, this case calls for us to take a trip to Ginza-Cho. Talk to the suspicious dude standing between the bushes near the east exit. He'll tell you about the ghost. Afterwards Gouto will ask you questions about how to catch it. It really doesn't matter what you answer as he'll just correct you if you choose the wrong one. After some scenes you'll find that the ghost was just a hoax. Aaaand then you'll get 3 fricken Lu Incenses! Case closed! Wait, that's IT? That was way too easy for such a good reward!
Haunted Mansion
Hm! We gotta go to the Daidouji Mansion for this case! I thought that place was closed off. Well if you take this case it magically opens up. Go there and you'll find the source of the disturbance. It's the Jack-san 5! Hahahaha I love how one of them is white and the rest are black. Awesome. Unfortunately we gotta kill them. That makes me sad.
---Boss: Jack-san 5---
My level: 50
The only difficult part of this fight is that you have to win in under 50 seconds. Still, these guys aren't very strong at all. Since there's so little time, I would recommend not even bothering with their weaknesses. Just use your hardest hitting attacks to put them down. Their moves include Frenzy and Mamudo, so a demon like Nebiros which renders both those things null can be especially useful. Still, it's hardly necessary since these guys are so weak. You might also want to watch out for the Jack Frost's unavoidable attack, Terror Blizzard. In fact, these dudes are SO weaksauce, that I killed them in 5 seconds with two cross slashes. I'd show you a video of that, but I accidentally deleted it. Oh well, I guess it's not too big of a loss.
---
As a reward you'll obtain 2 Fury Silvers. Unfortunately, you can't explore the Daidouji Residence. Boooo!! Hiss!
The Scales of Famine
Next up, we gotsta go kill Black Rider for Lucifer. So as always, go to the Catholic Church and walk up to the altar to trigger the fight.
---Boss: Fiend Black Rider---
My level: 51
Been a while since we've seen this guy. He's harder than the other riders so far because he has no weaknesses, but now we're strong enough that we can kill him with brute force before those 5 minutes are up. Since these horsemen are very resistant to physical attacks, we'll be assaulting him with magic. Bring in your hardest hitting elemental magic, doesn't matter what kind. I'm talkin' Tempest, Glacial Blast, Fire Breath, Shockwave, that kinda stuff. Makakaja is also a good idea. Unlike the previous riders you'll be cutting it close with your MAG but you should still be able to kill him before it completely runs dry.
Black Rider still works the same way he did way back when, so if you don't remember go read the horsemen section.
Still, since he loves teleporting so much, you're not going to go balls out with your attacks. At least not immediately. When the fight starts, cast Makakaja. Then set both your demons to use their strongest magic but hide them so they don't use it. Black Rider will begin by teleporting around and using strikes and Mad Rushes. This is not a good moment to attack him if you're not immune to phys since not only will you take a lot of damage if you stand in front of him, but it also doesn't leave him vulnerable for very long until his next teleport, so you'll just end up wasting a lot of MAG. So what you want to do at this point is simply run around with your demons hidden and bide your time. Let him use his dumb physical attacks all he wants.
After a few seconds of that though, he's bound to begin his Mudo loop, and that's when you'll begin your offensive. Not only is his Mudo very inaccurate, but it also leaves him vulnerable for a very long time. So when you see him begin his Mudo loop, unhide your demons and let them unleash their magic attacks on him while he casts it. You should combo him yourself while you're at it, as this can sometimes cause him to flinch. Don't forget to quickly hide your demons again after the attack though. You don't want them to waste MAG casting a second time because chances are Black Rider will already have teleported away.
Another, probably even better, opportunity to unleash your attacks on him is when he's using Begin Starvation. Just wait for him to cast it, then run around to his side and show him what for.
If you only attack during these moments, your MAG shouldn't run completely dry before he's dead and you'll still win before the time limit's up.
---
As a reward you get the scales of famine.
Scars of Recession
Oh? Looks like some people are losing their will to work and staying at home. What? That sounds like me EVERY day. I mean me and work? We're not on speaking terms. Ever. Anyway so this case calls for us to go to the "north area" of the capital. Way to be vague. Well, don't worry. I got yo back, dogg. Turns out you gotta head over to Mannen-Cho, the north part past the flamboyantly gay crossdresser fantasizing about Satake and Kazama naked. Here you'll find a factory worker. Talk to him to get a speech about how it's pointless to live honestly because the lucky will always be on top and the poor will always be at the bottom. Hwell. I may be selfish, a dick, an asshole, and basically a monster, but if there's one thing I value it's honesty.
Anyways, after some more complaining the cause of this guy's apathy will appear. It's Belphegor! You'll have a fight on your hands.
---Boss: Skill Belphegor---
My level: 52
Man I love this guy. He's like the embodiment of laziness. If this guy is the one who tempts people into being lazy then he must basically live in my fucking room. Anyway. This fight is pretty interesting because Belphegor is pretty strong, but you need to kill him in under 2 minutes or else he'll leave. He's frail to wind, so bring in demons with the strongest wind skills you can muster. I personally recommend Tempest. That shiz is hell of all kinds of basically such as good. Skill Mikaboshi comes with it. Good stuff. But stuff like Wind Cutter and Mazandyne will still work as well. Makakaja is also a good idea. 2 minutes isn't a lot, so you want to deal as much damage as possible.
Belphegor is a fun boss since he doesn't teleport all over the place like others because of how lazy he is. He just stays near the center of the arena and uses powerful skills like Mamudoon and Megido. Cast Makakaja, set your demons to use their strongest wind skills, and let loose. Remember that Belphegor is more likely to go into frail stun if you've made him flinch with your sword combos directly prior to him getting hit by a wind skill. Once he does, command your demons to keep using their spells rather than striking him so you can deal more damage.
Stay on your toes when Belphegor's stun wears off because he'll counter with Mamudoon or Megido, so make sure to hide your demons and quickly roll away to avoid damage. Then go back in and keep the pressure up. Remember that he will also cast Dekaja from time to time so you may have to reapply Makakaja periodically.
---
As a reward you get a Babylon Tablet? Meh.
Ukemochi
You get this case through demon negotiation. Personally I got it from a Fury Ikusa at the Training Hall B6. This case is one of those "what?" cases. All you have to do is take it, then go to the Ishigami Inari shrine and talk to the Inari there. It'll give you the Uka Talisman and the case will be closed. What indeed. With the Uka Talisman, if you talk to the Inari Statue and give it 300 yen it will let you sample some of its "cooking" which is actually just a random item. Among the ones I've gotten from it include
-Life Stones (common as all shit. I'm talkin' like 80% here)
-Frost Steels (too damn common)
-Pagan Gold (pretty rare)
-Dainty Snack (uncommon)
-Ma Incense (too fucking rare)
But seriously this thing is a scam. Don't waste your hard-earned dough here.
Fallen Dragon
Alright, this is the big one. Lucifer is waiting for you at Ishigami-Cho. The case file says he's giving it to me because I've already lived my life once while keepin' it real. Which leads me to believe you can only get this case during your second playthrough. In any case, let's go.
Lucifer likes honesty. Heh. Just like me. He wants to fight us again. According to him, we may serve as a spark for his own reason. I wonder what that reason is...
---Boss: Prince of Darkness Lucifer---
My level: 52
This time around Lucifer will be playing slightly more seriously. But only slightly. The fight still feels like he's going easy on us. Unlike the last time, you will only be fighting him, and you'll have to completely deplete his HP. Lucifer doesn't have any weaknesses but he seems to take the most damage from ice attacks, so bring in demons with the strongest ice skills you have. Glacial Blast is really nice as it does over 100 damage to him. So is Bufudyne since it does about 70 damage to him for less MAG than glacial blast. I imagine Mabufudyne would also be great. Also make sure you bring in Makakaja and Tarukaja. Rakukaja isn't necessary. If you can bring in demons who drain fire and mind that would also help.
This time around Lucifer will use a wider variety of attacks. As soon as the fight starts cast both Makakaja and Tarukaja. Set both your demons to use their strongest ice attacks, run towards Lucifer and begin using your sword combos on him. He will invariably start the fight by casting his crack version of Maragidyne. The start up is very long, he has to very slowly lean forward before he casts it so you can get in 2 full combos before you have to block. If you have demons who drain fire, don't hide them and let them them absorb it for a little MAG.
After every Maragidyne, stay on your toes because there's a good chance that he'll use Evil Gleam as a follow up. This attack is VERY fast, will hit you for over 300 damage and has a chance of charming. If you're in the middle of a combo when he uses it chances are you won't be able to block in time since it's so fast. So after every Maragidyne don't go balls out on the combos. You can hit him a little bit but leave some room to block in case he uses Evil Gleam.
After he's used Maragidyne, the second time he leans forward will be to use King's Yell, a very powerful attack that can also confuse you. You do NOT want to get hit by this, so when you see him lean forward the second time, hide your demons and roll backwards away from him. After he uses it, stay away because King's Yell remains on the arena for a long time, and if you approach the area where it fell you'll take the attack even if you had avoided it previously. In fact, even after it's disappeared don't jump the gun. Wait a second before going back in because I've still gotten hit by it for being too fast.
While you're waiting for King's Yell to disappear, Lucifer may use one of two attacks: Evil Gleam, or Roughhouse. If you see that he's using Evil Gleam (you'll know because it'll show up as a message a split second before it appears), block. If he uses Roughhouse you need to roll away from the blue ball that appears before it bursts. Roughhouse is unblockable so the only way to avoid damage is to get away. Be careful with your demons because even when you're completely out of the bubble, your demons may lag behind and still get hit by it.
After King's Yell disappears Lucifer may continue using Roughhouse a few times. During this time you should keep damaging him. I recommend going from one side to the other. For example, stay on the right side while damaging him, then when Roughhouse appears, roll all the way to the left side and keep damaging him there, then when the next Roughhouse appears, roll back to the right side, etc. If you see him lean forward a third time, that means Maragidyne is coming.
After you've dealt some damage and some time has passed, Lucifer will transform into his Morning Star version. Otherwise known as his Pyro version. Otherwise known as his Helel version. In this form he's ridiculously weak and vulnerable and will just let you beat up on him without retaliating. Make your demons assault him with their strongest ice attacks while you combo him. Not only will you cause an absurd amount of damage, but you'll also gain a lot of MAG. After about 10 seconds or so, he'll transform back into his badass version and the fight will continue normally. Throughout the fight after some intervals he'll keep transforming to a fro from these two versions. I can only assume so as to give you more of a chance since he's such a nice guy.
Keep attacking him with your strongest attacks, if your MAG runs out, don't worry. Just keep damaging him with strikes and you'll have a chance to replenish some when he transforms into Helel.
Once he's down to about half HP, his behavior will slightly change. For one, he will stop casting Maragidyne outright and just use King's Yell every time. So once you've brought him down to half, make sure to hide your demons and roll away EVERY single time he leans forward. Secondly, he'll start using Petra Eye. A very fast and dangerous attack that can turn you to stone. Lucifer's movement when he uses Petra Eye is similar to Roughhouse, so you need to stay on your toes. When you see him move his hand and laugh, QUICKLY roll away and hide your demons. Petra Eye is unblockable and unlike Roughhouse basically hits on the first frame when it appears, so you need to be fast.
It's important that you constantly deal a lot of damage to him, because after he's down to 1/3 HP, if you're being too slow he'll start healing himself for 1500 with Diarama, and this will make the fight much longer and harder than it has to be.
---
After the fight, Lucifer will reward you with the second item from his bag of temptation. AW HEYLL NAW. If I had known he'd give us both eventually I would've chosen the healing bell first. Bah. Grumblecakes.
Getting your ass kicked at Sakuradayama
Items:
-Mottled Skin
Well dogg it's about time we got back to the main times. Head to Sakuradayama to find Kazama's sting op. After some conversation you'll hear a scream. Go to the Oumitsu Shrine to meet the Apollyon. Then you'll faint and get another Shinado cutscene. He'll tell you that you can't defeat the Apollyon right now. Which is basically true. The game won't let you. "Picking a fight you can't win is a waste of time." Very wise words. Words to live by. He also gave me an St Incense though I suspect that's tied to your answers in the previous Shinado scene.
Shinado tells you to give Apollyon the win this time. Like I said, you can't win, so do it. He'll stand there for a few seconds and null your attacks, then use Death Cutter for some pathetic 100 points of damage. Then Raidou will pretend to die from it.
You'll be saved by Lucifer. After some words he'll leave. When you regain control, check the dead cop's body to retrieve the Mottled Skin. If you show it to Narumi he'll say we need someone with real knowledge about demons to examine it. Well that's obvious who it is. Get to the Gouma-Den and show it to Victor.
Victor will ask you to find the Shukukon-Seki so he can construct a sword that will nullify the Apollyon's healing ability.
Go to the east side of Ginza-Cho to find Tae and Rasputin. Aw yeah, did we miss this guy? We definitely did! Talk to him again and say you need his help. He knows the location of the Shukukon-Seki but in exchange he wants you to direct a fun conversation between himself and Tae. So talk to Tae. She'll begin a conversation where you have to tell her how to act and what to say. It doesn't matter what you choose, if you choose the wrong option you'll just get some potentially funny dialogue and then get prompted again. After that's done, he'll divulge the location and also tell you to go talk to the herald.
Do so, and the herald will tell us it's in the hands of Mikaboshi. Oh, that guy? Psh. I've been using him for a while now. He's old news. But to open up the seal to his pad, you'll have complete the ritual of unsealing. We'll have to kill a boss in each of the 5 places of the Dark Realm. First up, we're going to Dark Harumi-Cho!
Dark Harumi-Cho
Items:
-Lu Incense
-Wind Silver
-Birdlime
Demons:
-Wind Poltergeist
-Wind Ichimokuren
-Frost Jubokko
-Skill Titania
-Skill Oberon
-Wind Anzu
-Wind Feng Huang
-Frost Black Ooze
-Wind Kurama Tengu
-Pagan Jorougumo
-Wind Dominion
-Pyro Orthrus
From where you appear, head south to find a save point. Use it. Nearby, you'll see a soul. He can take you back to the real world when you need it. Keep heading down the steps towards the dock to find a blue crystal with a Lu Incense! Oho, I'm already starting to like this place more! Now head past the ladder to the reservoir, and past the Makami you see all the way to the other dock. Here you'll find a blue crystal with a Wind Silver. You'll also see Nakisawame here. Go into the foreign residential district next to find a third blue crystal. This one has a birdlime.
Once you have that we're about done with this place. Head all the way back to the save point, use it, then go down the ladder to the reservoir. Bring out a frost order demon and use cool down on the water to freeze it. Walk on it and up the ladder to find a wind current. Use Kamikaze on it to fly to the catholic church area where the boss is waiting.
---Boss: Wind Baek Yong---
My level: 56
MAN but this guy is weaksauce. He basically ain't no thang. He appears with some Poltergeist reinforcements but you can safely ignore them since their damage is pitiful. Baek Yong is frail to fire so bring in demons with the best fire skills you can muster. I'm talkin' Hellfire, Fire Breath, Maragidyne. Y'know. The good stuff. If you combine this with Makakaja he'll go down like nobody's business.
He does like to teleport around a little so your demons may miss some attacks but it's not really a big deal considering how fast this fight will be over. Baek Yong likes to use Wind Cutter but let's face it. That move is so 30 levels ago. Even if you take full damage from it, it's still nothing worth writing home about. Other than that he'll use a weak Rush, and if you take a bit longer he may use his unavoidable attack, Evil Hurricane for some pathetic 100 block damage. Overall this guy is not anything remotely close to a threat.
---
With that, we get an FMV of the first line being traced over the capital, and get teleported to the next trial.
Dark Tsukudo-Cho
Demons:
-Pagan Sandman
-Fury Triglav
-Fury Chernobog
-Pyro Oshichi
-Fury Ikusa
-Pagan Gashadokuro
-Volt Nue
-Fury Mezuki
-Fury Gozuki
-Fury Rakshasa
Well we've already explored this place a long time ago, so there's not much to do. There are a bunch of new high level demons roaming around though so you should recruit a few of the good ones like Rakshasa. The demons out on the field also have new things so you could talk to them just for fun.
But anyways. Head east from the save point past the Poltergeist and go to the wind current in the alleyway. Use Kamikaze on it to get blown near the Ginroukaku building, then walk towards it to trigger the battle with Shouten.
---Boss: Fury Shouten---
My level: 57
Shouten's in a different league than Baek Yong. This guy can actually take a punch. Actually jillions of 'em. I'm gonna have to attribute it to that beer belly. But seriously this guy is surprisingly resilient. He's frail to fire but even with the strongest fire skills at your disposal he'll still take a bit of work to put down.
Anyways, like the previous battle, bring in demons with the strongest fire attacks you can. Hellfire's pretty bomb. Maragidyne works well too. Fire Breath is also pretty dope. Do note that even though Shouten is frail to fire, he doesn't actually take that much damage from it. So spamming him with it isn't a strategy I particularly endorse. Most of our damage is actually going to come from physical attacks while he's frail stunned. So having Tarukajaon like I did isn't too bad an idea.
Shouten also has some Turdak goons but for the most part you can ignore them unless they get too close and try to poison you.
The most important part is probably what you'll be doing during the fight. As soon as it starts, set both your demons to use their respective fire attacks on Shouten, and cast their buffs. What you're going to do is this: hide your demons and get some distance away from Shouten. Let him use his Maragidynes and Pulinpas and wait for him to use Mad Rush on you. Once he does, block it, and as soon as his attack ends, unhide your demons and begin comboing him. He's particularly vulnerable after a Mad Rush so it's very likely that your sword strikes will cause him to flinch, and this flinch makes him VERY likely to go into frail stun if he's hit by a fire attack immediately afterwards, which he should be if you're not longer hiding your demons.
Once he does go into stun, don't bother casting more spells and just get as much damage in with strikes as you can. As soon as he comes out of stun though, hide your demons and roll away because he's about to counter with Pulinpa or Maragidyne. Then simply wait for him to Mad Rush you again and repeat the process. If he doesn't flinch when you strike him after a Mad Rush (can happen), be ready to block an attack.
Shouten may also use Tetrakarn to make your life a little harder. If he does you'll just have to abstain from strikes for a while until it wears off and hope he goes into frail stun naturally. If he does, don't be afraid to combo him since Tetrakarn doesn't work while he's stunned.
---
After the fight you'll create the second line in the pentagram and then get sent to Ginza-Cho for the next trial.
Dark Ginza-Cho
Items:
-Aquamarine
-Ox Bezoar
-Kagura Flute
-Ma Incense
-Kotetsu Sake
-Frost Silver
Demons:
-Skill Ippon-datara
-Frost Raja Naga
-Pagan Gashadokuro
-Frost Pabilsag
-Skill Titania
-Frost Jubokko
-Wind Kurama
-Frost Basilisk
-Frost Azumi
-Wind Ichimokuren
-Frost Black Ooze
-Frost Jack Frost
-Volt Nandi
Alright, you start out on the temporary overpass. If you go down the stairs to the right (west), you'll just hit a dead end, so head the other way. Check the top left corner of the temporary overpass to find 2 blue crystals. They have an Aquamarine and an Ox Bezoar. Nothing to write home about but hey. Walk down the stairs and keep going straight to find the save point.
Check between the shrubs below it to find another blue crystal. This one has a Kagura Flute. From there, head north into the alleyway to find Nakisawame and another blue crystal. This one has a Ma Incense! Good. I was starting to think everything in this place was going to suck. You're redeemed, Dark Ginza-Cho. Now, keep heading all the way west till you hit the end, then go south from there to find two more blue crystals. They contain a Kotetsu Sake and a Frost Silver.
Anyway, once you have that go back to the save point and head south from Nakisawame's alley to find a demon wall. This one requires a demon who knows Recarm. A bit of a hassle, but what can ya do. Among the demons who can learn Recarm there's Skill Selket, Volt Makami, and Wind Feng Huang. I'd say get a Selket and level it twice to get Recarm if you don't already have it. Since Selket is such a low level demon it shouldn't take too long for her to level. In fact, about 4 or 5 fights should do it. Easy!
Go past the wall with your recarm demon and go under the overpass to find the crystal supplying power to the wall. Destroy it. God DAMMIT did I mention how I hate they used the soulless battleship music for this trivial thing? Anyway, once it's broken, the way to the boss will be open. Go back and save just in case, then run up to it.
---Boss: Frost Long---
My level: 59
What? After Shouten being a decently powerful boss, Long goes back to the Baek Yong club. The club of pussies. He comes with Preta reinforcements but come on, what level are Pretas? 3? Bahaha. They can be ignored with no consequence.
Long is frail to electricity, and he takes huge damage from it to boot, so if you bring in stuff like Shockwave and Thunderbolt, you'll send him packing before you even know what's going on. His favorite attack is Frenzy, which isn't dangerous at all. The wind up is considerable, so you can usually block on reaction when you see the message pop up. If you combo him immediately after he's used Frenzy, he's likely to flinch and then go into frail stun if he's hit by an elec skill afterwards.
But seriously, this guy is laughably easy.
---
After the fight, you'll trace the third line in the pentagram, then get teleported to dark kasumidai.
Dark Kasumidai
Items:
-Pagan Silver
-32 Gunto
-Persian Vase
-Anti-Stone
-Bead
-Mugshot Herbs
Demons:
-Pyro Onmoraki
-Fury Rakshasa
-Wind Moh Shuvuu
-Pyro Cerberus
-Pyro Gdon
-Pyro Orthrus
-Wind Kurama
-Skill Oberon
-Pyro Throne
-Frost Basilisk
-Fury Triglav
-Pagan Gashadokuro
-Pagan Okiku-mushi
From where you appear, you'll see the dragon cave directly above you. Go save there. West from it is nothing other than that scam artist Nakisawame, so let's head to the east side of dark Kasumidai. Here you'll find 3 small holes along the greenery to the left. Bring out a skill order demon and transform into Antoine to fit inside them. You will find a Pagan Silver, a 32 Gunto, and a Persian Vase.
Once you've yoinked all that, go back to the save point and head south from there. Take a left and head east to find a lone blue crystal with an Anti-Stone. Then go back, but walk behind the Colonel Adachi statue because the boss is in front of it. Keep heading west past the cannon and all the way to the diet building to find a blue crystal containing a Bead. Take a left and go south from there. Then up the stairs when you hit the wall. You'll find a firewall here. Bring out a Frost order demon and use cool down to destroy it. Go up to the Oukuninushi statue and search the light beside it to obtain the Mugshot Herbs. You need these to complete the world of plants (2) case.
Go back to the dragon cave and save. When you're ready, go south and confront the boss.
---Boss: Pyro Vritra---
My level: 61
Vritra is slightly stronger than his two other brothers but still not much of a challenge. He's frail to ice, so if you can manage to catch a Frost Basilisk from this place, who not only comes with Glacial Blast but is immune to fire, you are basically set. Round it out with another demon who knows a good ice skill such as Cocytus or Bufudyne, maybe a Makakaja, and the challenge level plummets even further.
Vritra's favorite attack seems to be Marin-Karin. It's a pretty dangerous move if your demons aren't immune to mind, but the wind up is huge so you have plenty of time to hide them and block or roll away. Wouldn't hurt to have a few Anti-Minds handy in case you screw up though. Like his brethren, Vritra comes with some reinforcements in the form of Enkus. As always, you can safely ignore these pussies and concentrate all your attacks on the main dude. Other than that, Vritra will also use Fire Breath, which would be bad news except Basilisk is completely immune to it. He does also know Ziodyne though, which will stun Basilisk, so watch out for that. Or don't. It doesn't really do all that much damage even with Basilisk's weakness to it.
Vritra takes big damage from ice attacks, so that's where most of your damage will come from. Just keep pressuring him with glacial blast and recast it even when he's frail stunned and you'll win decently quickly.
---
After the fight we get the penultimate line in the pentagram (did I mention the last part of that music right before the FMV ends is pretty cool?) and you'll be teleported to the final trial at Fukagawa-Cho.
Dark Fukagawa-Cho
Items:
-Renki
-Red Crystal x2
-Volt Steel
Demons:
-Volt Makami
-Volt Parvati
-Fury Rakshasa
-Wind Dominion
-Frost Black Ooze
-Volt Nandi
-Pagan Jorougumo
-Volt Koropokkur
-Pagan Gashadokuro
-Frost Azumi
-Volt Tsuchigumo
-Fury Turdak
-Volt Nue
-Wind Kurama
-Pyro Throne
-Pyro Cerberus
-Fury Triglav
The boss of this area will introduce himself as Great Kohryu. He says he expected you to get killed at the second or third trial. What? The third one is easier than the second! Why would you include it? Hell, you look similar to Baek Yong and Long. I bet you're weaker the Shouten too.
Hrenyways, you'll appear conveniently close to the save point, so use it. Check the right side of the empty lot to find a small hole. Transform into a doge to be able to go through it. You'll find a Renki inside.
On the other side of the tunnel you'll find Nakisawame whorin' it up. Ignore her and head north past the gate. You'll find not one, but TWO red crystals. Dang they're a bit far from the save point aren't they. Well, tell you what we'll do. Since we're so close to maxing out our stats, let's grab both those red crystals and settle for just getting one incense out of the deal. After all, I'm sure we'll find way more red crystals than we need throughout the rest of the game. You might also want to use a repulse water to avoid encounters while you're getting the incenses since the trek is kind of long. Once you're satisfied, use the wind current beside them to get back to the empty parking lot. Save, then head out. When you're out of the lot, go all the way east, then when you hit the wall turn south. Go past the gate there and then use Kamikaze on the wind current you find. This'll take you to a place with a blue crystal containing a... Volt Steel? Are you serious? What. A disappointment. Take the wind back to the empty lot.
It's also interesting to note that you can transform into Louis Cyphre here in the dark realm. If you talk to demons as him, they may fork over some tribute cash. It seems to be random though. I've gotten money from a specific demon, but then if I load and try it again with that same demon, it won't give me any money that time.
The two wind currents in the middle are useless and just take you back to the lot. Head all the way west and take the leftmost one. From where you appear, go north to find the second save point. Convenient. You'll also spot 2 wind currents. One one each side of the save point. Use the one on the left side to get blown over to the Daikoku-Yu bridge. Here you'll see two more wind currents and an Aquans. Take the left one and you'll be blown to the bathhouse. Approach it to trigger the boss battle.
---Boss: Volt Great Kohryu---
My level: 61
Yep. Just as I suspected this guy is a pussy. He comes with Koropokkur reinforcements which as per usual you can completely ignore. Kohryu is frail to wind and takes huge damage from it, so if you can bring in demons with hard hitting wind skills like Tempest or Wind Cutter, he should be no challenge at all. Tempest is particularly nice since it's very strong and the stun it causes is extreme.
Kohryu's favorite attack is Megido, which is an awful move since the start up is obscenely long. In fact, you can usually safely let your demons cast their own spells on him before you call them back and avoid damage from it. He also knows Rush and Agidyne, but I'll be honest with you, he's so weak the damage from these attacks is downright pathetic. Finally, he will also occasionally use Shockwave, which is a pretty strong move, but as long as you don't have any demons who are frail to it, it shouldn't be a problem.
If you can combo him with your sword right after he completes an attack, there's a good chance he'll flinch, and if he gets hit by a wind attack immediately afterwards, he will go into frail stun. Once he does, instead of hitting him with strikes, command your demons to cast their respective wind attacks on him again for huge damage. If you're using Tempest, the stun is so long that you can even have them cast it twice before he shakes it off. Suffice it to say, the damage you can cause like this is so absurd that he'll be dead in less than a minute. Seriously.
---
After the battle, the ritual of unsealing will be complete. You'll trace the final line to form the pentagram and be sent back to Harumi-Cho. The herald will speak to you. It's worth noting that this time, the cool pentagram-drawing music stays on while she does, so we can listen to all of it. Heh. Then you'll be back at the nameless shrine. The dark realms you just visited will also now be open to you just in case you wanna go back. Nice. The herald also tells us that the path to the confinement chamber is through the waterways, and asks if we can travel through water. You kiddin'? We had the large tarrasque since like chapter 2 or some shit. Who you think you're dealing with here. (if you don't have it, check the It Came from the Sewer! case file) Anyway, you need to go to Kasumidai and take the large tarrasque from the dock there. Before we do that though, swing by Narita's pad for a second. Transform into Shizu and go into Narita's room. When he asks you who you are, tell him Makiko, and he'll open up a case file over at the detective agency. Hokay, let's take care of that first then.
Job From Narita
Take the case and go back to his house to get the details. Narita wants you to go to the bridal chamber at Tento Sanctuary and see how the woman there is doing. So that's what happened to Makiko. Exactly as I speculated. He wants you to give Makiko a pill so she can commit suicide. Ok, sounds like a good job.
Take the streetcars to Tsukigata, go into resort environs, then exit out west. Enter the Tento Shrine Annex South and you'll be very close to the Bridal Chamber. Go in. Makiko will ask who you are. Tell her you're Tasuke Narita, and she will bring out her hand. Put the pill into her hands. Death is better than the life she's having. Besides, you heard the old ones. Once Akane takes her place, they'll just feed her to Tentomaru. She's going to die anyway. Might as well be like this.
Afterwards, Gouto asks you if you think Narita did this out of concern for her future or just because it would hurt his political career if someone found out. Just answer truthfully. As far as I can tell, Narita really did care about her. And besides, if no one's found out by now, I'm pretty sure they weren't going to.
The case will be closed and you'll obtain a Masamune.
The Star of Death
Items:
-Shukukon-Seki
-Thunder Taiko
Anyway we're about ready. Drive (hehehe...drive) the Large Tarrasque from the dock in Kasumidai over to the center of the capital. Get off at the dock just slightly to the left of the Ginza-Cho train station and enter the confinement chambers. Save at the dragon cave. When you're ready, use the elevator and descend down to the 666th floor to meet Mikaboshi.
---Boss: Rebel God Mikaboshi---
My level: 63
This guy would be more impressive if we hadn't been using him like 10 levels ago already. He's old news. Even still though, he's actually pretty strong compared to the bosses from the ritual of unsealing!
Mikaboshi is frail to ice, so make sure to bring in demons with good ice skills. Preferably Cocytus, but Glacial Blast and Bufudyne also work well. Secondly, since he loves to teleport around so much, an undodgeable attack like Freeze Slash is nice to have, although not strictly necessary. If you want it, Basilisk learns it and you can capture one from most of the dark realms you just visited.
Mikaboshi will start the fight by teleporting around the arena repeatedly in an effort to annoy you. He does it so fast that trying to attack him during this period is a futile effort. Use this time to cast your buffs if you have them. After about 3 teleports or so, he will teleport (usually to the bottom part of the arena during this early phase) and move around for a split second. This is your cue that he's now attackable. Set both your demons to use their strongest ice attacks on him and combo him with your sword. He will use an attack such as Ziodyne or Hellfire, but don't worry about dodging it. It doesn't do very much damage and it's important that you keep hitting him at this point because he won't stick around for very long before going back to teleporting. If you keep hitting him immediately after he attacks, there's a chance that he'll flinch, and if he gets hit by an ice attack immediately afterwards, he will go into frail stun. Once he does, command your demons to keep casting their ice spells at him rather than striking him so you can deal more damage. If he was stunned by Cocytus or Bufudyne you can probably get in 2 rounds of spells before he shakes it off.
If you have Freeze Slash or a variant of it, you don't even have to wait for him to attack. You can unleash it as soon as you see that he's done with his rounds of teleportation and he will very likely be stunned. Unfortunately the damage from Freeze Slash is nothing to write home about so it's important that you follow it up with some more ice attacks while he's stunned. Also keep in mind that it uses up a lot of MAG so you might want to save it for later when he starts using his more dangerous attacks and just use Cocytus or Bufudyne for now.
Once you get his HP down to half, he'll start using those dangerous attacks I'm talking about, so you'll have to be a bit more careful. By far his most dangerous (and favorite) is Mute Beam. If you get hit by this, it's no big deal, but you do NOT want your demons to get hit by it, because it will send them back to their tube and seal them for the rest of the fight. If Mikaboshi seals your demons you're basically fucked so don't let this happen.
But don't worry, because this attack isn't particularly accurate. It's reminiscent of Black Rider's Begin Starvation, and just like it, it leaves Mikaboshi vulnerable to attacks while he's using it. Remember that he will start using this attack instead of just Ziodyne/Hellfire/etc at this point so you can no longer afford to get hit. Keep your demons hidden when he ends his rounds of teleportation, and try to run up to his side or back. If you can do this, and he uses Mute Beam, you can unhide your demons and let them use their ice attacks on him while he's still stuck using it. In fact, sometimes you can even make him flinch with sword strikes right after he finishes and then frail stun him. Only sometimes though.
If Mikaboshi ends his teleportation rounds in the middle of the arena, be careful because he might use Star's Funeral, an unblockable attack. It's actually not THAT strong, though it will stun you so might as well not risk it. To avoid this attack just move to the bottom or top part of the arena.
He may also use his unavoidable attack (though he didn't when I was fighting him. Probably 'cause I was raping him too hard) so when you see the message that he's preparing for something, hide your demons and block.
Like I said, if you have Freeze Slash you can use it before he even uses Mute Beam or any attack and frail stun him. This is arguably the safest way to fight him at this point since it's not dependent on making him flinch, or positioning and so you don't have to get yourself in any danger as long as you remember to watch out once he shakes off the stun.
---
After the fight, Mikaboshi muses that Raidou is strong enough to beat even the Yatagarasu. You may tell him that you still serve them regardless, or that you don't. It's up to you. Personally I ain't serve nobody. Seriously if it were up to me I'd probably be a dark summoner. Not the evil kind but rather the kind that doesn't put up with the Yatagarasu's rules and does things his own way. But anyways. He will give you the Shukukon-Seki. Take the elevator back up. Here the great Kohryu will give you the Thunder Taiko. With this we can fly him around the world map and get to some new places! Hells yeah. Now we can get around with MUCH style. If you go to the Gouma Den at this point, you'll hand over the Shukukon-Seki and Victor will be able to use it to forge the Youmetsutou from a Renki. He says to talk to the dudes at Shin-Sekai if you don't have a Renki but come on. You JUST got one from Dark Fukagawa-Cho and frankly you should have like 6 by now. But before we do that, come on! We gots places to be! The Great Kohryu has opened up a lot of possibilities and we're gonna check it out right NOW.
To the skies!
Items:
-St Incense
-Uranus Stone
-Persian Vase
-Insect Cage
-Bead of Life
-Soma
Ok! First off, get off the Kohryu in the place just east of Tsukudo-Cho where you see a shining item. Pick it up because it's an St Incense! Next, get off on the island east of Ginza-Cho where you see another shining item to get a Uranus Stone. Oh, well more money for us if we turn it in for the Gift From Uranus quest. Next, get off in the place west of Tsukudo-Cho where you can see two items. It's a Persian Vase and an Insect Cage! Good stuff.
Now go to Tsukigata. Get off in the northeastern part of the map to get a Bead of Life. Daaaamn this is gettin' to be a pretty lucrative trip. Now, if you look slightly north of the nameless shrine you'll see another item. If you get off on the road just north of it, you can then head south from there and walk under the forest to get this item. But WAIT! It's a Soma. This is a RIDICULOUSLY rare and valuable item, and you can only carry one of them at a time. If you still haven't used the one you got way back at the Tento Sanctuary, I suggest you leave this one where it is. If you pick it up and you still have the other one you'll just lose it! So let's leave it there and make a mental note about it shall we? If we ever have need of it we'll just come back.
Finally, now you can access the east and west training halls. With these two you now have immediate access to 16 ripe red crystals just begging to be opened.
Training Hall - West
Items:
-Red Crystal x8 (!)
Demons:
-Element Erthys (ultra high chance)
-Element Aeros
-Element Undine
-Wind Kurama
-Element Flaemis
-Element Aquans
Yokay, we got 8 red crystals here just like in the other training halls. You know what to do. Bring out your Selket or similar demon and start abusing the system so you can get incenses from every one. Yeah, I know it's tough but we're in the home stretch of maxing out our stats here! Once we get all of these we won't have to do any more, so hang in there! At least the trip from the detective agency to the training hall doesn't take too long with Great Kohryu.
Training Hall - East
Items:
-Red Crystal x8 (!)
Demons:
-Element Aeros (Ultra high chance)
-Fury Yoshitsune
-Element Sylph
-Element Aquans
-Element Erthys
-Element Flaemis
Come on, chin up! I know it's tough but this is the last set of crystals we have to abuse. Once you've gotten the incense from these you'll be dangerously close to maxed out stats and can just get the rest of the points through normal level ups. In any case, once your satisfied with what you got, it's about time we took care of that Apollyon.
Time the Apollyon was shown who is the boss
Items:
-Insect Cage
Aright, get over to Victor's and make the Youmetsutou from a Renki. You only need a couple of the hundreds of steels you should have by now. The Youmetsutou is actually weaker than the sword we have by now, but ah well. We'll have to use it anyway, but only for this fight. There's no need to equip it though, the game will do it automatically when you fight the Apollyon.
Once you have it, drive the Great Kohryu over to Sakuradayama. You'll meet up with detective Kazama and Narumi. It seems the army's getting in on this action. Well we know they ain't got no chance. After the conversation, get over to the Oumitsunu shrine to encounter Apollyon yet again. Raidou will equip the Youmetsutou if you haven't already, and it's on.
---Boss: Destroyer Apollyon---
My level: 64
Bwahahaha! What is this shit? This guy has got to be the weakest boss in the entire game. He's frail to electricity but does it even matter? No. Just use your strongest attacks on him and he'll be history in seconds. At the start of the fight he'll jump to the back of the arena and just stand there for a while which is good opportunity to bring the smack down.
He will use Death Cutter, a pretty weak attack with a huge cue. When you see the message, just hide your demons and roll away. It's better to roll since it's faster than running.
He might also use Stone Needle. This attack is only dangerous because it can turn you to stone. As long as you're in front of Apollyon, you have enough time to block though, because the attack will start from his right, to center, and then to his left.
But whatever. Seriously this fight is a joke. If you want to see just how much of a joke it is, you can watch my video of it:
---
After the fight you'll yoink a guy's insect cage. Then you'll hear a familiar whistle. It's Dahn! Wait, how'd he get out of the prison? What a rascal! It seems he's set on becoming King Abaddon and runs towards Waden One. Then we get a long FMV of the destroyer insects descending from the hole in the sky. Feh. It looks like Dahn can't actually control them, and they go on a rampage all over the capital.
Meanwhile Lucifer seems to be happy about this. He asks you whether you think the Apollyons are an action by god meant as punishment to unbelievers or as a show of strength meant to enhance faith. As always, answer whatever you want. If you ask me, a show of strength meant merely to bring faith back to the people wouldn't have to be a disaster like this. It's pretty obvious this is a punishment. Divine anger incarnate.
After you answer, Lucifer will make an assessment of your alignment based on your decisions throughout the game. He also gave me a Soma. AW MAN. I already had one so I just lost it! Dammit, couldn't you have given me like a Soma Drop or something like that?
I have to wonder. Was Dahn deceived by Lucifer, or is he just dumb? Further, what is Lucifer's purpose in bringing the destroyer insects? He leaves with the words "Do not let your future be one shrouded in despair." A mysterious guy indeed. And with that, chapter 5 is concluded. Ping!
Previous: Chapter 4: Prelude to Abaddon | Next: Chapter 6: The Way of Kuzunoha