... maybe. Well, no not really. It's just a coincidence. The idea of a giant wall separating vulnerable humans from the evils outside is surely an idea that's been around for some time. Just ask China.
First thing out of the ordinary we see upon our return to Biron Monastery is the air vent system that keeps the Mist out having been destroyed. We then come to find that the Mist and Seru monsters are inside and the monks have been decimated. Gala runs off to check on his peeps, which leaves just Vahn and Noa for now. What about Zopu, Maya and the others?
From talking to the dying monks, it would seem that Songi is responsible for all this... but why? How? As we search the rest of the rooms we're attacked by Seru and Noa manages to gain a new spell, but it's one Vahn already has and has leveled quite extensively by now so we probably won't get to use it much. Still, gotta catch 'em all right?
The kitchen appears to have its door barred. We knock and confirm our identities to the relief of those inside. Zopu states the obvious: Songi has betrayed the Biron Monks and sided with the Seru, even going so far as to wearing a Seru on his arm, though Zopu suspects he might be under its control. When Gala (who visited the room before us) learned about Songi he ran off in a huff.
Kin offers to teach Vahn and Noa some new moves. We'll have to bring Gala back here as well. The shop keeps are still here as well but aren't offering anything new at this point. And since the other room with the beds is occupied by monsters, we can regain HP/MP here in the kitchen by eating a home-cooked meal instead. It doesn't take long to notice that Maya isn't here in the kitchen with the other girls, and one of them mentions she was still in the woman's bedroom when the Mist came.
We find the door to the women's bedroom wide open and we rush inside and... well, shit. It takes Noa a while to realize but it seems that Maya wasn't able to get away in time during the commotion and was turned by a Seru.
Noa tries to rip the Seru off her but Terra stops her. Apparently removing the Seru when the Mist is still present will kill the host. But if we get rid of the Mist by awakening the Genesis Tree, Maya will be restored to her normal self. Enough stalling, it's time to leave and find East Voz Forest's Genesis Tree.
Before that though we spot something on the floor. It's a letter from Maya addressed to Mei. Because we're snoops and have no tact, we read it. Seems Maya was torn about leaving the Monastery and returning with Vahn to Rim Elm. She's come to regard the orphans Gala and Songi as sons and has reservations about leaving them in the state they are now. She tells Mei that she's sorry for leaving her and her father behind on that day 10 years ago but she knows that Mei has the whole town there to support her.
We battle some more. Also: where the fuck is Gala?
As we head out to East Voz, Gala finally catches up with us. He wants to go with us to confront Songi and revive the Genesis Tree to save those who are trapped and become Seru zombies. We agree and have him join us once more. We take a quick detour though and visit Kin again so that Gala can learn Battering Ram.
After a short trip, we arrive at the entrance to East Voz. Inside, Gala goes full shounen and tells Vahn and Noa to leave Songi to him when they find him. With no objections raised, we continue on our way.
As we explore the forest we occasionally run into these clumps of Crystal Glass which have a habit of barring our way and have no means to remove from our paths. We'll be back for you later, you little bastards.
Another new Seru rears its oddly-shaped head here in East Voz: Gizam. Our first Water Seru and a good fit for Noa. Its attack hits every enemy in battle at once regardless of where they are on-screen and inflicts Venom status on them occasionally (if they survive). At higher levels it can also drop an enemy's AGL (Agility) stat.
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Despite awakening the tree and saving the people trapped in the Monastery, Zopu still can't overlook the fact that Gala accepted a Seru and is forced to excommunicate him, angering Noa. She vows that they're now friends and she and Vahn will never betray him. Maya lets us know about the castle that appeared from under the thick Mist and asks us what we intend to do. What else? We're going to sack that castle and rid Drake Kingdom of the Mist for good.
Zopu charges Gala with a new task: to join the other Ra-Seru heroes and destroy the Mist Generator to the north-west. This causes Gala to well up with something I assume must be an over-whelming sense of pride. Before we leave Biron however, we should stop by the kitchen and check out what's available with the shops here: they now carry some new gear for Noa, Gala and Vahn. We don't have enough cash to buy out the store just yet, so some money-grinding may be in order. Maya is also here, and if we speak with her she'll give us some Healing Leaves for the mission ahead.
During our Search For More Money, we take Vahn's newest Seru Magic for a spin. Plasma Storm costs 64MP to cast (more than twice that of our other spells) and lays waste to everything on-screen with a blast of lightning. At his level Vahn will only be able to cast it once, though. Best not to waste it on lesser mooks.
Once we're done grinding and we've bought out the Biron shop, we're ready to take on the Mist Generator. On approach we can see that the Mist that enveloped Drake Kingdom is coming from the enormous smokestacks that extend from beneath the earth.
Once inside we'll be subjected to battle after battle with higher level Serus than the the ones we've been seeing elsewhere. Which is fortunate, as it'll allow Gala and Ozma to get up to speed with the other two in regards to absorbing magic, especially Vera which will prove useful soon. Gala on average has the highest Max MP and Intelligence stat (though it doesn't seem to do him much good) of the group but the lowest speed, so he doesn't get a chance to flex his magic muscles as often. Still, he should learn some spells because he won't always have Vahn and Noa around to back him up. Same could be said for the other two.
Now that we have a small stable of Arts and a long-enough Attack Bar to make use of them, it's high time we start battling more effectively. As you're in no doubt aware by now, every basic attack we use is made up of the four cardinal directions: High, Low, Arms and Ra-Seru. All Arts in this game can be combined together to form basic combos, provided you have enough AP stored up. As you can see on the Arts List, every Art ends with a yellow arrow. Yellow Arrows indicate that that part of the Art can be used as the first direction of the next Art, thereby reducing how many "blocks" you need to perform both (or more) Arts in a single turn by one "block". For instance, we're going to combine Vahn's Somersault and Hurricane Arts. Normally, we need 7 blocks to be able to perform both moves. After using Spirit however, Vahn's Attack Bar only has room for 6.
But we can combine both and make it work because the final part of Somersault and the first part of Hurricane is the High attack. So if we lay out the combo as so...
... we can increase our damage potential per turn by utilizing more than one Art even when we're short exactly one block to complete the combo. As our Attack Bar gets longer we'll be able to mix even more Arts together.
During battle I "accidentally" discover a new Art for Noa, the Bird Step, while I was comboing Arts. Hey, it happens. As we continue through the castle, one of the treasures we find is the first Thunder Book for Gala, allowing him to use his first Hyper Art the Thunder Punch.
Zenoir is a new Fire Seru that looks like a demonic Thing from The Addams Family. Once absorbed, it has an attack called Vertical Hammer where it'll first slam into a targeted enemy like a fist rocket, fly up into the air and then come crashing down on it, causing an explosion that damages other enemies nearby. We won't find a more devastating Fire spell for quite some time and it's a suitable replacement for Gimard which can only strike one enemy.
Heading down an elevator, the castle starts to look more like a twisted laboratory, with various small rooms interspersed between long hallways. Don't miss that Short Sword behind the elevator.
Just as we near the end of this dungeon, we're paid a visit by Songi, still acting cocky as shit. Gala challenges him to another 1-on-1 and Songi accepts, reminding him how he got beat the last time.
This time we'll actually be able to control Gala in battle instead of just watching it unfold. Songi attacks either by using hand-to-hand combat or firing his own brand of hadouken. Other than that, he's a pushover. Just use Seru Magic/attack with Arts and heal when Gala's health gets low.
When Songi goes down, we get the Mettle Ring as loot. When equipped, it improves that character's ability to gain AP in battle by 10%. It's a small gain, but it adds up over time. Meanwhile, Songi expresses his disbelief at losing the challenge but he doesn't seem too broken up about it. What's up with this guy?
As he leaps away into the rafters above, Songi warns us about Zeto and tells Gala not to lose to him. Noa warns that the next time Songi appears she'll fight him too, and Gala agrees it may have to come to that.
After another elevator ride we come to an enormous room and at the center we find the source of Drake Kingdom's problems for the last 10 years. The two hemispheres that make up the centerpiece of the Mist Generator spin in opposite directions, spewing Mist out from within. We gird ourselves to break the machine...
... when we're confronted by Jerky McJerkface, Seto himself. Talking like a deluded Seru evangelist, Seto challenges us and transforms himself into a giant crab monster. Because fuck Ra-Seru that's why.
Zeto in his beach-side restaurant delicacy form has two distinct attacks. The first, and one that he uses most often, is a two-turn move that calls forth a giant tsunami and hits our entire party for big damage. He'll waste a turn calling the wave first, which is our cue to use Spirit on the next turn to raise our defenses.
He'll then unleash the attack, which could wreck us significantly if not outright kill the team if Spirit wasn't invoked. Many of Legaia's big bosses have similar attacks that require you to defend constantly. The upside if that after taking the hit and healing the party afterwards, you'll have a surplus of AP to really let loose some combos.
His other special attack is a poisonous spray that hits one character with a chance of giving the victim Toxic status, which is a stronger version of Venom. Fortunately, status problems disappear after the battle is won, and we can thank Zenoir spam for that.
Returning to his regular form, Seto curses the Ra-Seru and namedrops whom we assume to be his boss before he breaks apart and evaporates. Meta tells us to destroy the generator right away, and we gather at the edge of the platform to fire three beams of holy light into the hidden center of the Mist Generator.
In a quick FMV, the Mist Generator stops, solidifies into stone and then crumbles apart into dust. Outside, the Mist disappears from Drake Kingdom entirely.
It seems congratulations are in order, but Noa feels something is wrong and asks Terra why she's sad. Terra only replies that it's nothing and not to worry about it.
The Ra-Seru make it clear that there's still Mist in the world, villains to bring to justice and people that need to be saved. Once our objectives are settled, we leave the decaying fortress behind.
