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Chapter 4: Messenger from Hell
(as a bit of setting information, that background is Mayoiga)
Thank you again for the other day.
I'm just glad you're fine.
The youkai who caused that ruckus got away, though.
As I am now, I can't face them.
I lack the both the strength, and the resolve.
And that's why you've come here, I presume.
Yes. Just to be sure, that girl is a human, right?
Do I look like something else?
Er, no, um... a-anyway.
You're a group of humans and youkai, cooperating and helping each other. That sort of future is exactly what I dream of achieving.
(Helping humans, huh? Even though I'm an oni...?)
(Quite the reaction from Suika. But with Yukari offering the girl asylum, she can't do much about it.)
(If I wasn't following Lady Yukari's orders, that little girl'd be toast.)
I... I see.
So I was thinking. Could you possibly allow me to join you for a time?
Say wha?
(A tad odd, this one. Still, she's quite similar to the girl. In that case...)
Well, feel free. I doubt we'll be much help for your dream, though.
Thank you very much!
*ding dong*
Comiiing!
...Wait. We don't have a doorbell.
Ding dong~
Woah! Where the hell'd you come from?
From hell. By which I mean the front door.
Well, that's neither here nor there.
Miss Yuyuko, got a request here from the boss.
For me? Then your boss... would be her...
In that case, I can't refuse.
Got the details in this letter here.
Let's see here.
"Someone is creating vengeful spirits in the netherworld."
"They are influencing spirits that have accumulated the karma to reincarnate, causing great damage to the cycle of samsara."
"Yuyuko. You will move to clear out the vengeful spirits, and remove the root of this corruption."
"Additionally, I pray that you'll manage your territory better in the future."
...
What a pain.
Sure is.
How am I even supposed to find the mastermind?
I'll guide you. Might be a pain, but now's not really the time for complaints.
You really did come from hell. Please leave.
It's not my time to leave this mortal coil.
You're plenty dead as-is.
Yukari, can I ask for your assistance?
Considering they sent a shinigami to my house, I suspect that was part of the plan.
Quite the blunder, on my part.
Fine then. As was likely expected, let's all head out.
――冥界 --Netherworld
So this is the netherworld, huh~. Never been here before.
Obviously.
Well, actually, I suppose it's probably not your first time.
How do you mean?
Samsara. Once you die, your soul comes here, before being born again in the land of the living.
You don't keep your memories after death, so it's everybody's "first time" coming here. Usually, anyway.
Wow. You sure know a lot, Miss Shinigami.
Come to think, I haven't introduced myself, have I?
Name's Komachi Onodzuka. A ferrywoman for the Sanzu River, and a shinigami.
What do I call you?
I haven't been able to remember my name since coming here. Or much of anything, really.
Yowza, sounds rough.
Well, you're dressed like a shrine maiden, so I'll just call you "Shrine Maiden" for the time being.
Pleasure workin' with you.
Likewise, Komachi.
Aight, we're here. Our criminal mastermind oughtta be around here.
Trumpets start playing as a distant crowd cheers.
Hn? The heck is that?
This noise... a festival? Where's the booze at!?
I can hear a lively tune over there.
Music in the netherworld, hmm. A funeral dirge, perhaps?
It would be quite a cheerful funeral, if so.
Once again, thank you all for coming to today's Prismriver Live Concert.
Gawd, don't be so stiff sis!
Let's put some happy cheer into it!
Jeeze, you two could not be any more different.
Ahem. Please enjoy our performance tonight.
Alright gang. Let's PUMP IT UP!!
Listen to my sooong!!
Goodness gracious.
Gah, this song's getting stuck in my head!
Looks like they're the culprits.
Check it out.
Are those vengeful spirits?
Sure are.
Once they get that bad, they're out of the running. No more reincarnation, no more second chances.
Job's to get rid of them, but the least we can do is offer them our prayers.
I was only gunna guide you here, but I'll help out too.
Time for work.
Spirits and the like are less affected by normal bullets.
Attacks like my magic will be better suited for these foes.
And like that, in we're the chapter. For starters, let's take a look at the map.
Ghosts to the left...
Ghosts to the right...
And a buncha ghosts up top. I hope you all still remember what I said about effective weaponry last chapter.
But for starts, let's take a look at our new recruits.
Kyouko Kasodani
Sutra Chanting Yamabiko
HP: 23
STR: 4
MAG: 4
SKL: 5
SPD: 5
LUK: 5
DEF: 5
RES: 5
The epitome of average, basically all her growths are in the 40-50 range. Her strength might lag behind, but she has the naturally high Might of Axes to balance it out. More distressingly, she needs some good fortune to double late-game enemies. While her stats aren't the most exciting, she IS our next cavalry-type unit after Ran, being a Beast unit with 8 Movement. Even if she gets unlucky on growths, she can always just ferry people around.
In addition to being a Beast, she also has Adept, giving her a chance of immediately following up one attack with another. A pretty powerful skill, as long as she grows well enough to see combat.
In addition to Kyouko, we also just got...
Komachi Onodzuka
Sanzu Riverguide
HP: 25
STR: 8
MAG: 0
SKL: 6
SPD: 6
LUK: 4
DEF: 5
RES: 3
While Kogasa was our fast Lance-user, Komachi's the strong one. I, uh, don't really have a lot to say about her because in my games Komachi always turned out bad, but apparently the wiki estimates her at ~60% STR, ~50% SPD, and ~70% DEF? That seems too high to be true, but who knows. Anyway, she comes equipped with a Ghost-Slaying Lance, which is why I mentioned grinding Kogasa up to Rank D last chapter.
Oh, and just like Kyouko, she has Adept.
Ok so I'm gunna be honest here and say that I handled this next part of the strategy kind of poorly, but it all worked out fine in the end, so whatever.
I decided to give Kogasa the Ghost-Slaying Lance so she can just let ghosts come at her and Ambush them all on the counter. A perfectly fine strategy, since I like Kogasa and want her to get levels.
But then I went and paired her up with Kyouko. Now, my thinking was that Kyouko could ferry her around, and soak up some residual EXP to get trained up herself. The problem is she offers hardly any extra attack to Kogasa, who already is pretty weak.
As we'll see, that'll be a bit of a problem shortly.
This is a bit of an aside, but have I mentioned this game has a sequel? I think I have. One thing the sequel does a much better job of is standardizing enemy categorization. So like, green(ish) enemies will always have axes, blue(ish) enemies will always have swords, and so on.
I bring this up because the ghosts all just have whatever the fuck weapons they want, regardless of what color sprite they have. Bit of a pain. At least they only have 4 Movement, so they're less likely to blindside you.
Kogasa moves up here to bait some ghosts, while staying just out of range of one with an axe.
Mistake the second is Pairing Up Suika and Ran, here. I knew Suika had a Ghost-Slaying Axe from last chapter, so ferrying her around with Ran seemed like a good idea. What I completely forgot is that Ran has a Ghost-Slaying Sword from Chapter 3, so that's some wasted damage potential right there.
In fairness, I recorded Chapter 3 almost two months ago, so it's no wonder I forgot 
.
Suika's accuracy is a bit shit, even considering she's going against the weapon triangle with this sword ghost, but I'll try it anyway.
I never doubted her!
Ran gets an excellent level up for the risk. HP, Attack, Skill, Speed, Luck, and Defense.
Everyone else moves up (aside from Komachi/Yukari who spent their turn trading) and we see how things play out.
As predicted, a ghost comes in to attack Kogasa, but surprise!
The surprise was your (re)death.
anutha one
Byakuren's earlier warning was not for nothing. Ghosts are a huge pain to kill without magic or effective weaponry.
Welcome to turn 2. In between the previous screenshot and this one, half a year has passed in real time. In that time, I've completed the FMW LP, lost a job, gotten horribly sick a couple times, and completely forgotten what the fuck I was doing.
Well, let's get through the rest of the chapter as best we can.
Suika is Paired Up with Ran, so she can zoom around with this Ghost-Slaying Axe and clean up pesky enemies. 76% accuracy is a bit spooky, though.
Good enough for a kill and a level! Strength, Skill, Speed. I'll take anything I can get on Suika.
Kogasa's just going to sit on this terrain with the Ghost-Slaying Lance and Ambush enemies to ghost-death.
Luna Child finishes off a ghost and gets a HP/Magic/Speed level.
I'm willing to bet I've commented on this before, but holy hell her portrait is big.
Woops, turns out Kogasa doesn't quite have the strength to oneshot ghosts. Luckily she can double them, but still, that probably means I should have Paired her with someone with more strength.
This weaksauce HP/Skill/Resistance level doesn't help 
At the start of turn 3, this event fires.
Hm, more viewers?
Anyone's super welcome to our concerts!
Alright, let's kick it up a notch!
*sound of crowd cheering*
The music's even more forceful now.
My ears hurt!
This is bad.
Those three's music is affecting the vengeful spirits!
We can't afford to take this slowly.
Everyone, move fast!
All Vengeful Spirits have leveled up.
Specifically, they've all gained 1 level, gaining a point or two in various stats. It doesn't say this, but it also fully restores all their HP, which can be a bit of a problem if you spent last turn weakening enemies without finishing them off. lmao nevermind, the script says they're supposed to get healed, but upon further observation, they don't. Either the dev changed it later and just didn't fix the comments in the script, or it's a bug.
The gimmick for this stage is revealed. It's not infinite, but the spirits will periodically level up, becoming more and more dangerous. Best to kill them off fast.
Apparently I had a Ghost-Slaying Sword on Ran? I'm not sure why I didn't hand that off to Yukari, since Suika already has an axe for this. I guess 6-months-ago-Battler just forgot about it?
Kogasa's getting a bit beat up from all this fighting. The part where she missed doesn't help either.
She and Kyouko move up to this tree cover and pop a vulnerary. Vengeful spirits have low Move, so they can only really be targeted by the two closest enemies.
A spirit steps up to the plate and gets Ambushed before she can even attack.
This axe-wielder fairs much better.
Turn 5, which means...
WOOHOO! I'm really feeling it now!
Woah, Merlin's energy is seriously infectious!
Lunasa, let's keep it up!
Maintaining a harmony is paramount in music. But, passion is important too.
Alright! Keep on enjoying our performance!
*fans cheer even louder*
They're raising the output!?
And likewise, the spirits are getting stronger.
At this rate...
All Vengeful Spirits have leveled up.
1 more level apiece. I didn't keep super close track of stats before/after, but you definitely feel the difference after a couple of these.
This line of vengeful spirits needs to be handled somewhat delicately. Luckily they don't all move at once, so you can aggro them safely. Still gotta move quickly though, because they not done leveling up yet.
The rest of the crew are still playing catch-up. Thankfully the Three Fairies squad are quite proficient in this chapter.
While most of our forces hurry up the middle to catch up with Kogasa, Shrine Maiden is going to handle the eastern most spirits. She can handle it 
.
A spirit breaks itself on the Kogasa/Kyouko duo, and Kyouko is rewarded thusly: Magic/Resistance. Not a very exciting reward...
They move further up. They've gone through all 3 uses of the vulnerary Kogasa had, since they keep getting smacked. In hindsight, I prooobably could've used Kogasa better, but oh well.
Despite what I said about wanting to hurry up, most of my units can't take multiple blows safely, so I'm playing it cautiously.
Nothing too exciting happens, on the enemy phase, so...
Time for the main event!
I hope Merlin and I can match our beats...
Better keep up, sis!
One, two~!
*yet more cheering*
Hell yeah!!
Looks like our side is getting affected too.
These girls are more dangerous than expected.
Man, I'm really pumped all of a sudden! Ahahaha!
Try not to get swept up in the atmosphere.
If you let your guard down, you'll be coming back here the hard way.
Let's hurry up, before it's too late!
All Vengeful Spirits have leveled up.
The final time, but in this instance, they gain 2 levels at once. The remaining spirits are now quite dangerous.
I've been trying to feed Komachi some EXP while I can, and Byakuren grabs this level from healing her. HP, Magic, Defense, and Resistance. All the things a healer could ask for.
One weakness of the Ghost-Slaying weapons is their naturally low accuracy. This attack is a bit spooky.
Luckily it goes to plan, and Kogasa gets Strength, Skill, Speed, Defense, and Resistance. Very nice!
Ran runs up, punks this spirit in one hit,
and then peaces out. Canto is nice, sometimes, I suppose.
lmao good thing I didn't leave Kogasa in range of this particular spirit, cuz she has a Devil Axe. Super high power with a chance of backfiring. 29 total attack power is no joke.
Ran punishes this spirit for daring to try to punish me for not checking enemy weapons with a fat crit.
The vengeful spirit got the last laugh 
.
At the very least, she dropped the Devil Axe.
This will be very important in a later chapter.
At this point I spend a few turns cleaning up the spirits before moving on to the bosses.
Here's a level up to serve as a transition:
Magic, Luck, Defense.
And whabam, it's turn 15.
Woah there! No audience members on the stage, please.
Maybe they wanna get in on the concert?
They're more than welcome to apply for a spot.
Let's begin their interview at once.
Good luck with that, you two!
You're part of this too.
Laaame.
The poltergeist sisters are still ghosts, so they have the same damage reduction from physical attacks as the other enemies here.
They're also sitting on magic circles, this game's equivalent of a Fire Emblem Throne. Big defense, big evade, and HP regeneration. Quite a pain!
All 3 have a pair of weapons, so the three fairies can steal one each. A Steel Lance from Lyrica, in this case.
Kogasa swings for the fences...
aaaand misses.
None of them move, and only Merlin (the one of the left) has a ranged weapon, so I'm safe to handle this slowly.
Do you like healer levels? Please be excited to see Byakuren leveling up a lot in the next few chapters. She gets HP, Magic, Skill, Speed(!), and Resistance.
And Shrine Maiden gets her own level from healing. HP, Strength, Skill, Speed, Luck, Defense, and Resistance. Yep, as busted as ever.
Kogasa takes another crack at it, and hits this time.
The Three Fairies finish her off. Speed, Luck, Defense, Resistance.
No dialogue, just yet.
We steal Lunasa's spair Steel Sword.
And promptly finish her o-
And promptly finish her off!
Kyouko makes up for her previous lackluster level with a perfect one!
And then we steal Merlin's Steel Axe. She only has a Hand Axe left, and between it's poor accuracy and her low skill, she's not much of a threat.
Yukari grabs the Ghost-Slaying Sword off Ran and finishes the last sister off.
Strength, Magic, Speed, Luck, Defense, and Resistance.
This is quickly becoming the best Yukari I've ever had.
Komachi gets a HP, Skill, Speed, and Defense level for tagging along.
Weaksauce...
Oh no, Merlin's hype is crashing!
You girls aren't bad. You've passed the interview with flying colors.
But for this severe buzzkill, you'll have to pay.
We've got our honor to look out for, after all.
Woah, is it time? WE DOIN' IT!?
Yep. It's time for our special encore!
They form a Trinity in the center.
Is that a Trinity!?
(If you missed the Three Fairies gaiden last time, you'll get Yukari's Trinity explanation here instead).
Be careful. Their formation can change at a moment's notice.
My oh my, consider my expectations exceeded.
But spoilers, this employment interview is for you three!
As a trio, the poltergeist sisters are actually seriously dangerous. 13 Speed is enough to double most of my units, the ghost skill neuters physical effectiveness, and they're still camping on a magic circle.
Especially dangerous if you forgot to move units away from the center before they spawn!
Byakuren narrowly avoids making me reset by dodging a 72%.
Yukari's pretty accurate, but even she has trouble hitting tagging Merlin reliably. Especially spooky is that Merlin can two-shot her in return. Healing her with Byakuren is out of the question too, since Byakuren can get doubled and killed from full health if she's in range of Merlin's Hand Axe.
Only thing for is to gamble and pray.
ez 
...Though, uh, actually finishing her off is kinda tricky.
In the end, I have Ran grab the Ghost-Slaying Sword off of Yukari, so Shrine Maiden can move up and grab it off her.
Here's to hoping 61% is good enough.
I was never even worried .
For whatever reason, they don't make you defeat all 3 again. Just defeating one of them as a Trinity is good enough. Don't expect the game to be so merciful in the future .
Ouchies!
We're done for!
I can't believe they stopped us...
Whew. They've finally stopped playing.
Jeeze. I thought my sensitive ears were going to fall off.
Ah, Ran, your ears are so cute when you wiggle them like that.
H-hey, don't just rub them like tha~aahh...!
(I'm just going to ignore that.)
Now, you three. What exactly were you plotting?
Uh, plotting? We were just playing music.
Yeah, yeah! We just wanted to get people pumped!
And by that, you mean turning ghosts into vengeful spirits and making a load of trouble for us, yeah?
Wait, they're turning into vengeful spirits? The hell?
...Don't tell me you didn't notice.
We just wanted to inject some hype into these ghosties, that's it.
I getcha. This is quite the predicament.
Ok you three, listen up.
Girls are now explaining.
So that's what was happening. I did think everyone was getting weirdly excited.
I had no idea things were that bad.
Sorry, for real.
Lunasa's the one who insisted on raising the netherworld's spirits, so I've got no clue how this happened.
What, trying to dodge the blame are you, Lyrica?
What? No, nothing of the sort, haha.
Yeesh. Can't really blame you girls.
It was fun, but we oughtta stop playing here.
Long as you agree to that, I'll let y'all off the hook.
That's one thing, but they must still pay back the damages they have caused.
Crap. (Is it time to bolt?)
Yukari, why don't I...
Mm, I'll leave them to you.
Er, wha? What's up?
Hear me out.
See, I really need to keep a better eye on the spirits around here.
But as you can see, this world is vast, and it's inhabitants many.
Right...
So here's what I'm thinking. Rather than punishment, how about some community service? You can help me govern this land.
Like, with managing the netherworld?
Your songs hold the power to influence spirits.
I should think you'd be able to control their movements.
Like conductors, perhaps.
But uh, don't ghosts that hear our songs turn into vengeful spirits?
Certainly, your songs will need some fine-tuning in that regard.
As poltergeists, I think it should be possible for you, but what do you think?
Hm... I understand. In return for your forgiveness, we'll do our best to cooperate.
Ah, this pleases me greatly.
Had you refused, we'd have had to resort to some truly ghastly measures.
Personally, I'd rather not have to resort to such brutish methods, you know?
So in that regard, you have my sincere gratitude.
Yeah, thank goodness. Haha, ha...
In any case, I look forward to working with you.
(She's having her way with them...)
(Havin' her way with 'em...)
(Really having her way with 'em, huh...)
Maaan, how'd it come to this~!
And that's it for this time! Stay tuned for Chapter 5! Hopefully in less than 6 months this time...