Blaze nods. “Mm….wouldn’t want my last memory to be being happy about you saying the slightest nice thing about me.”
English
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If Kokonoe heard you comment, she made no acknowledgement of it, as she left on her way back to the Observation Deck, leaving you alone with SAYU, who was humming a little song to herself. She seemed to be in good spirits. Perhaps she was happy that someone was finally going to take revenge for her wrecked shop?
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Blaze looks for anyone open to talk to.
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You were in your own room, so there was nobody in the immediate area. Things have mostly calmed down since the attack earlier, and Joshua had returned safe and sound, so most anyone in the city should be available if you wanted to chat before you headed out. The one exception would be Rho, who was hesitantly assigned to guard the Gardens. As that was your final destination anyway, it was probably best to speak to her last. Character list: [spoiler]Aifos - Observation Deck Fukua - Amaterasu's Gift, hallways Kokonoe - Observation Deck Lambda - Amaterasu's Gift, hallways Tager - Observation Deck Theta - Observation Deck Joshua - Amaterasu's Gift, bedroom Ellie - Amaterasu's Gift, bedroom Aaron - Amaterasu's Gift, bedroom[/spoiler]
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Blaze heads to Aifos.
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You head from your hotel room, out towards the Grand Hall, and then to the Observation Deck, where you find Aifos and Kokonoe pouring over a bunch of computers. The computers Kokonoe was looking over all looked very, very complicated, and whatever she was working on you couldn't tell. On Aifos' computer, though, there was a map of the city, and various red dots around it. Several not-great cameras seemed to be filling some of the monitors nearby, though they weren't stationary and seemed to be taking patrol routes. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume he was controlling the security drones. Tager and Theta were in the room as well, sitting on a bench against the far wall. Theta was looking better, though she still seemed rather shaken by everything that's happened. Tager, despite his brutish apperance, seemed to be doing a good job of helping her keep calm. Though Tager and Theta did hand you a glance as you walked in, neither Kokonoe nor Aifos seemed to notice, both of them absorbed into their work. You'd probably have to speak first to have a conversation with him.
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Blaze walks over to Aifos. “So…nows the time, I guess.”
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"Yeah." Aifos said, grimly. His tone didn't exactly inspire confidence. "I'm not sure if we can beat her, even with Kokonoe's invention, but it's now or never. There's not a lot more we could do to prepare.. Hope you're ready. She won't go down easy."
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“Mm…I’ll handle her. I’ve had to….fight a lot.”
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"Trust me, I know you can handle yourself. But don't underestimate her. If you treat her like she's just any opponent, you're going to get yourself killed. Luckily, you can at least be sure she'll be underestimating you. Hopefully you can get a good head start before she starts taking you seriously."
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“Yeah I know…I’ve faced gods-to-be before, and she doesn’t know that. So…that’s gotta be something….” He goes silent and glances around, before whispering, “if…if I fail…could you somehow tell Fox?”
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"..I can't make any promises. If you fail, then there's no guarantee the rest of us will make it out, either.. But, I promise I'll do everything I can to keep it form coming to that.." He lets out a sigh. "And she knows that, too.. Hopefully she won't get the chance to use it against us.." "She'll figure out anyway." Kokonoe said, not turning towards the two of you. "If we all die down here, it's going to be on the news."
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“…mm. Well…then at least if I die…we can send for my daughter to help stop her.”
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“I don’t think you should do that. Right now they just don’t like you, but if you bring the rest of your family into it, they might wind up hating your entire bloodline. And I don’t just men your immediate family, I mean your family for generations to come. Even if we beat Venus, she can’t really die, she’ll just lose her direct influence over the world. In other words, she’ll remember who to have her followers attack.”
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“Mm…fair enough….well, I should go deal with her then.” He sighs and stretches.
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"Good luck. We'll help out any way we can."
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“Okay…see ya.” Blaze leaves for the garden.
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Upon reaching the garden, you find Rho's soldiers patrolling the perimeter. In the center of the garden the vinestalk had gotten worse; now composed entirely of glowing blue veins. Several of Rho's soldiers immediately unleashed a hail of gunfire upon it, but it hardly put more than a scratch into it. "Damn it, how do you break this thing..?" Rho muttered under her breath.
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“Do a special knock and ask nicely to head in?” Blaze suggests.
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Edited by The First Aifos: 11/15/2021 1:06:32 AMRho rolls her eyes, and carelessly tosses you a box, before heading closer to the vinestalk without any explanation. [quote][b]You got Hydrofluoric Grenades![/b] Alignment made these after studying the blue veins. They won't be enough to destroy the vein creatures, but they should be able to stun them. Mind the blast radius--the acid inside will hurt you a lot more than it will hurt them.[/quote] Rho orders another assault on the vinestalk, but before any of her men can fire it suddenly bursts open, with several dozen tendrils shooting all over the room. Rho's soldiers desperately try to put up a fight, but they're quickly overwhelmed, and get dragged off into the vinestalk, including Rho herself. "God d*mn it, not again!" She yells, as the veins drag her in. Within only a few quick moments you're suddenly in the room alone, only now the vinestalk had a large hole in it, inviting you to enter.
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Blaze sighs. “Well…one thing left to do.” He heads inside.
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As soon as you enter, the walls close behind you, leaving you trapped within. Unsurprisingly, the entire room inside was made up entirely of the glowing veins. It seemed, however, the veins were also growing some sort of black rock, as many of them had small pebbles of it stuck inside, or small spikes jutting out. Thankfully, none were big enough to cause any serious damage. Almost immediately, the floor began to shift, and monsters rose up from the floor. They looked strikingly similar to the vine creatures you'd fought earlier, only these ones--much like everything else--were made of the glowing blue veins instead, however, if you were observant, you might notice the large glowing eye on the back of their heads. One of them thrusts their arm into the ground, and pulls up a large black stone slab, that resembled something like a sword. However, neither of them made a move; it seemed you got the first attack.
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[spoiler]How far are the monsters?[/spoiler]
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[spoiler]Probably about halfway across the room. Don't have a specific measurement for you, but they're a good distance away.[/spoiler]
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Blaze throws some acid at them.
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You take one of the grenades, and lob it towards them. It shatters on impact, causing a splash of hydrofluoric acid to spatter all over them. They both recoil back, as the acid eats away at the surface of their veins, dealing light damage, but crucially giving you an opening. You should be able to get in a second attack before they recover--best make it count!