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New supports! Mokou/Tewi was a narrow winner, with Chen/Ran right behind, so here ya go.

Mokou/Tewi A
Chen/Ran B



Chapter 11: Youkai Mountain



BGM: 妖怪の山2

There it is. The mountain where those tengu are living.

Yeah. Youkai Mountain.
All sorts of youkai live there, not just tengu. I've heard even gods live there.
Incidentally, it's the tallest mountain around here.

That big, huh? Nice.

Mhm. Pretty cool that even gods live there♪

Hey Misty, wanna head to the top with me?

Ooh, sounds fun! I bet singing at the summit would be lovely♪

Uh-huh♪ Gotta give the gods there a good show!

Hahaha~♪ Be they a tengu, a youkai, or even a god, all will fall before my song♪
You're on. You're super on! They don't don't even we're coming, so let's give em a wake-up call♪

Yeah! Hard and fast, let's rock!

H-hold it, you two! That's stupid! REALLY stupid!!

We came here to scout, remember? Getting caught is NOT part of the plan.
Besides, we're way ahead of Ran and Lunasa's groups. At least wait for them before you go rushing on a-

You rang?

Bwaaah!! When'd you get there!?



Uh, a while ago?

Woah... Stealthy like a ninja...

Heh♪

Pretty easy to flatter, aintcha.

Let her have it. She's still a child on the inside~

...

Pretty childish yourself, I'd say.

Uh, right, so...
All troops have assembled. We should proceed further in from here.

It's odd that we've yet to spot any enemy forces. Let's look for any sign of them that we can.

Roger dodger, boss!

The summit will be a grand stage, where I unveil my new hit single to the world♪

Ooh, nice! Get us in on that action!

Hold up.

Hm? What's wrong?

The atmosphere's... deep.

What?

Umm, Lunasa? What are you talking ab-whaaaoowh!?

Pah!?

Wwwoooaaahhh! I'm flyyyiiing♪

Gwah! What in the world is this air pressure!?
And for that matter, why do you all look so pleased with yourselves!?

I told you. It's deep.

That makes literally no sense!

...Doesn't it?

Not even the ittiest bit!

Like, I'm your sister, and I had NO IDEA what you were talking about.

Well that's weird.

YOU'RE the weird one!!

...I wish this recon team understood the concept of stealth.

They're poltergeists. Being noisy is kind of their whole thing.

So what now, Ran?
I don't think we can proceed much further with the wind blowing us back.

Hahaha, this ruuules! I aaaam♪ The wiiinnd

Rumia, this isn't the time to be wind-surfing!
Gah, look, your skirt's going crazy!!

What in the world is she doing?

Uh...

A-anyway! This wind is probably some kind of barrier. A sneak attack from the skies seems untenable.

We should head back and report our findings to Lady Yukari.
Not the best news to bring, but knowing that an aerial invasion is a no-go should suffice.

Agreed. Everyone, let's pull out of here.
You too, Rumia. I know you're having fun, but we should get out of here before they catch on.

Aww maaan~ I was just getting to the good part...

Jeeze. Your hair's a total mess, now.

Misty, brush me~♪

 ...Hm. If I ruffled my hair and swapped clothes with her, would anyone even notice the difference?

What are you even thinking!?

Give it up, Lunasa. We're going home.

Yeah... I'm starting to think letting them come on this mission was a mistake.



...So, to summarize. There appears to be some kind of barrier preventing entry from the sky.
I'd say that a sneak attack from that vector is impossible.

Then we must approach on foot.

Too bad we don't have time for you to figure out their barrier.

It's unfortunate, but we've no choice but to head straight into the enemies' defenses.

I'm not sure attacking from the air was all that great a plan, anyway.
Aerial combat is their forte, isn't it? I can't see that going very well.
Thinking about it, sticking to the ground might be better for us anyway.

Nothing for it, then. We'll just have to completely change rails, here.
They'll be coming at us with everything at their disposal. If all their forces are looking for openings, they may get lucky eventually.

Even so, near ground-level, we ought to have a signficant advantage.

At the very least, I wouldn't say we have no chance.

True 'nuff. No way we go down that easily.

I'm starting to think we can pull this off!

If we're all agreed, let's proceed immediately. We don't have any time to spare.



Preparation menu!

Mainly I made sure the people close to level 20 had Evolution Jewels on hand. Otherwise, our set up from last time will work just fine.

On with the chapter!



--Youkai Mountain, 4th Checkpoint

The weather here's nice.

If this is how mountain climbing normally feels, I should do it more often.

Yep! It really gets you going, doesn't it♪

Just to remind you, no shouting.

Aww...

I get how you feel, but we don't want anyone noticing we're here.

Okay...

Man, it's been forever since I've been here! All that time underground's makin' me feel real nostalgic right now.

Yo Suika, you head back here much?

Ehh, not really. I hang out pretty far from here, most'a the time.
S'one thing to be here on business, but if I came back f'real, the kappa and tengu'd be losing their damn minds.

Hah! Yeah, that sounds like a real pain in the ass, for sure.

Pretty much left 'em all to their own crap. Dunno how things'll go with this crew, though.

Probably havin' a blast up there, without us around.

I wouldn't mind having another drink with 'em, personally.

Gotta see how tough they've gotten, too!

...Everyone's so care-free, even in the heart of enemy territory.
I'm having serious doubts about this.

Far better than us freezing up or acting funny, I'd say. It dulls the nerves.
MGMG.

...So what's for breakfast today?

Onigiri. Would you like one?

Really? I'd love one, thanks.

Ooh, ooh! Me too!

Here, we can split this one in half.

Yaaay!

This isn't helping assauge my fears...



Hmm... Everyone, please hold for a moment.

What's the matter? That was quite the sudden--
Ah. I see now...

Finally noticed?

Huh. Getting a real bad vibe all of a sudden.

Oh, you can tell too?

Kinda? Though it's hard to put into words.
I think the weather's getting worse, too. Pretty ominous.

Your intuition is on point.

I'd say we wandered into a forest where we're unwelcome.
Judging by the change in weather patterns... I'd say there are tengu around here.

Feels like we're walking into some nasty traps, here. In my expert opinion, at least.

Even so, this is perhaps not the best place for us to remain idle.

There's one other problem.

What's that?

They're already here.

Oh my! We certainly can't turn down an offer to such an extravagant reception.



One tengu.



A bunch more tengu.



And up in the top left...

You're finally here. We've been expecting you!

Hey, Momiji. Do we really gotta do this?

Of course!

Are you still hesitating?

A bit...
That shrine maiden's group are exterminating youkai, sure, but only ones that target humans, right?
Especially around the village. They're basically just punishing people for causing trouble in their territory.
To be honest, I'm not sure what's so bad about that.

...Truthfully, I can't comprehend what the Greater Tengu are plotting, either.

But even so, nothing will come from thinking about it.
Before all else, youkai are youkai. We don't help humans. To do so muddies the boundaries between us.
That's what I believe, at least.

Well... You're exactly not wrong...

Listen to me, Nitori. The Greater Tengu have given their orders, so I'm fighting.
Won't you lend me your aid?

Mmm... I can't really say no, when you ask like that.

You have my thanks.

We begin our interception from here.
Nitori, when you spot an opening, begin the assault with your forces!

Mm, got it.

I leave it to you!

She turns to leave.

...Still, this is really bugging me.
Maybe, if that human girl's the kind of person I think she is...
This might be a good time to re-think how things are going.



She disappears. Presumably thanks to her optical camoflauge, or something.



Lady Yukari!

They predicted our movements, I see.

But by the looks of things...

What's up?

Some of them don't seem very eager.

True. I can see a few of their troops have terribly low morale.

Maybe they got drafted into this by force?

The mountain's influence only goes so far, I see. I'd heard rumors, but I'm surprised it's quite this bad.
With the right approach, we might sow dissent in their ranks.

Dissent?

To win the hearts of those harboring doubts.
We might try staying our hands from those that don't actively attack us.

By your will.

Win their hearts, huh...

Let's begin, everyone. Though they may lack cohesion, we are still attacking a fortified enemy camp.
Take heed not to fall into any traps.



BGM: 芥川龍之介の河童

Here's how we deployed. I decided to let Kogasa babysit Yoshika for now, since they have a possible support with each other. Byakuya and Mokou are hanging out for similar reasons. Of particular note is Mystia's position - she's going to be taking out that tengu in the top left, cuz she's got a Ghost-Slaying Lance that I don't want catching me off guard.

We've hit the point where most "basic" enemies have stopped showing up. The wolf youkai in front of us are all Elites, and have correspondingly high stats. Most of them even have some dangerous weapons/skills.



This jerk's got a Devil Axe, Wrath (which ALWAYS works in the round she gets knocked below 50% during) and Critical+ besides, making her quite dangerous.



This one's got a Steel Javelin and a skill I don't feel like coming up with a name for that basically gives her a permanent Brave effect.



The kappa crew off to the right are packing some heat too. This one's got a Ghost-Slaying Sword and Wrath.



Flame Axe + Drain.



And as a preview of our late game, we have Kappa C a Veteran kappa packing ridiculous stats and both a Silver Lance and Silver Axe.

Take this one as a hint that you're not supposed to be messing with the kappa...



Oh yeah, and before we get into it, there's Momiji's crew sitting up in the top right, there. Nitori's not on the map yet, so don't worry about her.



As mentioned, the youkai trio are crushing this nerd before she makes a problem of herself.

Though the tengu are still pretty weak at this point, we're starting to see how the game likes to use them. You can't really reach this one with anyone but Mystia or Yuyuko, and, well, she's got a Ghost-Slaying Sword, so...



Simple solution to the Everything I Do Is Brave nerd: apply Merlin.



Even better when Lyrica Bandwagon's into a critical hit. Don't even let em attack, I guess.



And while the Devil jerk is certainly dangerous, she can't do much if you just kill her from range.



That said, I want to be a BIT careful with how aggressively I'm pushing, here.

For uh... reasons, you see.



Sunny finishes off Devil jerk and gets a near-perfect, only missing Defense. Very much appreciated.



I left Kyouko in a risky position, but thankfully she survived.



Here's something interest: the kappa on this map refuse to leave the river.

Hmmmmmm...



Ok, they'll go a tile or two out to heal other enemies, but otherwise they stick to the water.



At the start of turn 2, a bunch of people get splat'd randomly.



Resulting in a bunch of our units taking a few points of damage...



And also some enemies, weirdly enough.



Bwah! What was that? Rocks!?
Where'd that even come from?

Strong winds... rocks..

Oh, I've got it!

I remember this from a past life!

A secret technique the tengu employ to repel invaders...

I'm certain that's what this is.

If you say so, then it must be true.
I'd heard they had something like this up their sleeves, but I've never seen it myself.
The memories of the Hieda are impressive indeed.

Yes! I'm so blessed to have them.

...Hey uh, not to interrupt, but that "secret technique" is hitting their allies too, isn't it?

Huh?

Preeetty sure I saw their troops diving for cover.

W-what in the world...

I'm certain my memories aren't wrong. I definitely remember them using stones here...

Likely a technique they utilized without their own forces deployed.
And yet, for one reason or another, they've decided to employ it here.
I'm surprised. They must be rather desperate.

Regardless, Lady Yukari, what do we do?
At this rate, we're likely to suffer injuries.

I have no means to stop it.
We'll just have to grin and bear it.

Nothing for it but to charge right in.

Everyone! Let's break through here before we suffer too much damage!

Relax girl, it's only like 3 damage...



We finish off a few of the enemies near us (while not touching the kappa), and continue moving up.

But eventually...



We hit the trigger.



They're in position... Now! Spring the trap!



Rocks fall.



Wha! What the!?

I see. So this was their play.

Not the best time to admire their tactitians!

We should regroup before we proceed any further.

Agreed. Let's do something about these boulders, at once.

Think it'll be that easy!?



Enemies spawn in.

Everyone! Crush those boulders, fast as you can!



So yeah, here's the other trap on this chapter. These boulders spawn once over half your troops pass over an invisible line. Ostensibly you'd be in danger, with your units divided and in close-quarters with several unexpected enemies, but my entire army is pretty much right here. Like, Yuugi's kinda stuck, but that's about it.



Much like the houses from the human village chapter, these are breakable objects on the map. They don't give any EXP, though they do give WEXP, if you're desperate for that. They're considered to have 0 Defense and 0 Luck, so they're pretty easy to crit down in one or two blows.



I recall this actually being pretty annoying on my first playthrough, but once you know about it, it's not too bad.



Rumia gets an HP, Strength, Skill, Luck, and Resistance level.



Yuugi casually busts out of her cage with a 114 damage crit.



Oh yeah, and I guess some wolves show up below your starting position too.

I'm too lazy to break the boulders, so I'll just let Yuyuko clean them up.



The fairy trio knocks out another of our makeshift prison wardens, and give Star Speed, Luck, and Resistance.

By the way, I recently took a look at Star's growths, and apparently she has a 50% Strength growth for some reason. Not that it's been doing much, I guess.



Yukari gets a near-perfect, only missing Magic.

You know, the Chapter 1 units (minus SM) tend to be kinda weak, but they've all been doing pretty well for me. Like, Yukari's still not great, but this is above average for her.



Oh yeah, one other weird thing.



The boulders count as "enemy units" not "terrain", so other enemy units can walk right past them.



Rude, but not the end of the world.



Alice finishes off the last of the inner-trap enemies, and only misses out on Luck.

Getting a whole lot of one-off-from-perfect levels this chapter. I dig it.



Yuugi busts down another boulder so Chen can finish this nerd off.



Unlike the cross-grid of boulders to our south, up north the route is blockaded much more heavily. I assume the devs wanted you to be able to regroup your split forces somewhat quickly, but not be able to just bust through the trap without dealing with it.



I'll take the free weapon experience, I guess.



On turn 3, some tengu start spawning in in the south east. There's reinforcements from various areas on most turns of this chapter, up til... turn 18, I think?

I mean, I guess I could check, but I just write these updates by the seat of my pants, and I ain't changing that now .



Oh yeah, and at the start of every even-numbered turn, we get the rocks falling. They do hardly any damage, and there's actually a bunch of enemy staff-users dotted around the map, so this mostly just serves as a time-waster.



SM gets a healer level. HP, Speed, and Resistance.

More importantly, she hit 20, so she can promote .



I dunno if I've showed it, but here's a clear shot of the kappa lined up along the river, nice and neat. They won't attack you even if you walk right next to them, which is nice.



Start of turn 5:

Haa...

Blue Kappa: So we're really fighting them?

Mmm... Let's play it by ear. Cover Momiji's troops if you can, but don't engage.

If they open fire on you though, you can stop holding back.

I feel bad for Momiji, but... y'know how it is.

Blue Kappa: Yeah... Alright. You got it, chief.



Nitori starts out unaccessible (for our purposes) in the middle of the river.

While I'm waiting...







Shrine Maiden is now... The Original Shrine Maiden. Which is a bit tautological, but oh well.

The promotion itself isn't the most revolutionary. No new weapons, no extra movement. Skills-wise, she just get Magic Barrier to reduce her damage taken from magic. Can't complain about a good unit getting even better, though.



There are some tengus up north. One of them has an Ice Lance, so as long as I don't bait them with a flyer, they're no big deal.



The southeastern tengu reinforcements caught up with us. I left Wriggle out in front with a Bronze Sword, so that some of our weaker units can feed off the free EXP.



Though uh, one of them didn't quite get the memo.



Mokou's actually pretty close to promotion herself.



Strength, Magic, Luck, and Resistance.

This Mokou has decided she'd like to have the opposite problem of Yuyuko, so maybe she'll be switching to physical weapons in a couple levels.



Byakuya also gets a level, of Skill and Luck. Not an auspicious first level, but her bases are so high that it's fine.



That tengu was in the way. Now Shrine Maiden can walk over to Nitori.



A kappa? Are you the one commanding this squad?

Yep. Though uh, it's kinda weird being treated like a commander.

By the way. You're the shrine maiden from the youkai shrine, right?

Wha- How's it a youkai shrine?

Am I wrong? I've heard humans are outnumbered ten-to-one, there.
Not sure what else to call that but a youkai shrine.

Wow, rude? It's got a name, you know. It's the Hakurei Shrine.

Though I guess we only came up with that a few days ago.

Ahaha, my bad. Sorry if I offended you.
I wasn't calling it a youkai shrine to make fun of you, though. Promise.

Huh?

I mean, it's a shrine that accepts humans, and youkai, and everyone else too, right?
I think that's pretty cool. How'd you pull that off?

I'm not sure what to tell you. From my perspective, humans and youkai really aren't all that different.
I honestly didn't do anything special.

Most of the people I know are youkai, so they all just kinda wound up there.

Wow... I've never heard of a human like you before. Pretty dang unusual, I'd say.

Mind if I ask you one more thing?

Oh?

What're you doing with that shrine, anyway?

...Protecting humans and youkai, basically.

And youkai extermination figures into that?

Yeah. I want to ensure that neither side tramples over the other's territory.

You're kinda invading our mountain right now, though.

To be fair, we got attacked first.

Even so, we only have business with the people attacking us. We don't want to hurt anyone else.

...So that's why you haven't been going for my buddies?

Pretty much.

Thanks. You're exactly the kind of person I figured you'd be.

Huh?

I'm glad I trusted you.

Most of my friends don't really want to be here.
Honestly, we don't really want to fight you guys.
And... you noticed that. You held back from attacking us.

So, I wanna work with you. Whatever you've got planned, I'll help.

I think you're someone worth putting my faith in.

Are you sure? You'd be betraying your allies.

Better than fighting half-hearted, I'd say.

Besides, I might be able to convince some of my friends. Like I said, a lot of us are having doubts.

So, c'mon. Lemme lend you a hand.

Sure! It's a pleasure to work with you!

Right back at you!



Hey gang! We're friends with the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, now!
You don't have to fight them anymore!

Blue Kappa: Really? Are you sure?

Yep. We don't have any reason to fight them.
Alright everybody! You can withdraw now!

Blue Kappa: A-alright!



With that, the kappa will begin retreating from their riverside stations, and cluster up in the east.

Also, we've got ourselves a Nitori .



Nitori Kawashiro
Aquatic Engineer


HP: (45)28
ATK: (25)9
MAG: (0)2
SKL: (60)17
SPD: (20)9
LUK: (30)9
DEF: (55)16
RES: (15)5

Nitori looked at the Fighter archetype, and decided "Hey, Axes are good and strong, right? So what if I just focused on Skill and Defense, and let the weapon do the damage?" Which is cool, and an interesting niche, though she forgot about having good Speed. I'd also point out her 5 Move, though that part won't matter come next chapter.

She comes packing a Steel Hand Axe and her trademark Impact Axe. Skills-wise, she's got Swimmer, like the rest of her kappa buddies, letting her traverse through water tiles. She Stealth, like Sunny and Nue, making her invisible to enemies outside of three tiles. A high-Defense unit having Stealth is kind of questionable, but whatever, it's fine.



For our part, we're in clean-up mode, at this point.

Oh, by the way. If you attack any kappa at this point, Nitori will yell at you and instantly switch back to an enemy. So uh, don't do that.



Kogasa gets HP, Skill, and Speed from that kill.



There's a few more reinforcements in the southeast, so the youkai trio are just gunna camp out there and kill em as they come.



Byakuren grabs more healer levels. Magic, Skill, Defense, Resistance.



To the left of these fairies healing each other's rock wounds, you can see some tengu spawned in. There's a few more waves of them, and we want to kill them all.



More healer levels! Strength, Magic, Skill, Speed, Luck.



Yuyuko finally ends her crusade against those southern wolves from the boulder trap.



She is rewarded with a measily HP and Skill level.



We begin the long process of moving everyone up to Momiji.

In hindsight, I should have had Kyouko ferry Nitori, instead of leaving her waddle up her 5 tiles at a time.



Not much else happens this chapter, so let's begin the montage.

Strength and Skill.



This particular tengu also dropped a Brave Sword. Nifty!



HP, Magic, Skill, Speed, Luck.



Strength, Magic, Skill, Speed, Luck.



Magic, Skill.



Strength, Skill, Resistance.



Oh, here's something kinda interesting. Tengu are set to have a "cautious" AI, meaning that, at a certain level of this-is-clearly-hopeless, they just straight up won't attack you.

To be honest, this shit was like my least favorite part of Fates, so I'm glad it doesn't come up very often.



HP, Strength, Defense, Resistance.



Magic, Luck, Resistance.



Still finding time to steal shit. Steel Javelin, in this case.



Oh hey, I guess the final reinforcements were on turn 19.

On a normal blind playthrough, that's probably closer to when you'd actually get up here.



So it makes sense they saved an Evolution Jewel as a droppable for this final wave.



Sunny gets in with Speed, Defense, and Resistance.



Mokou gets Skill and Speed.

It's a shame she won't quite hit 20 this chapter.



Byakuya gets Skill and Defense.

I see she's been absorbing all that poor luck that Yuyuko and Suika discarded.



One last healing level for the road. Speed, Luck, Resistance.



With all that out of the way, Nitori goes to have a chat with her friend.



Momiji!


Hmph! What do YOU want?

Wha?

I thought we understood each other, but you betrayed us!

Wait, hold on! That's not what I-

What else could you possibly call it!
I don't care what you have to say! I'll at least take you down with me!

W-w-wait! Momiji, just listen to me for a sec!

The time for talk is over! Prepare yourself!



Hyah! Tha-wuz friggin' close!! Seriously Momiji, just listen to me!
Look, you don't really wanna fight these people either, right? You've got doubts about the Greater Tengu's orders, right!?
In that case, just come with me and-

A soldier's purpose is not to question orders!
If we all acted like you, we'd amount to nothing! We'd accomplish nothing!
My sword arm has no need for a heart!

Even so... Even so!

Are you really okay with that!? You're just a piece on a shogi board, at that rate!

I don't care! That's what being part of an organization means!
At the end of the day, there's no difference between a soldier and a shogi piece!

What the hell! How loyal of a dog are you!?

Are you calling me a dog!?

Well you ARE, aren't you!? Actually, even a dog's smarter than you!!

!!

So what. Are you gunna cut me down? If that'll make you happy, then go ahead.
I won't mind one bit. If I can't stop a friend from doing something this stupid, then I'd rather be cut to pieces.

...Why? Why go this far?

Because... we're friends.

If you don't realize that you're hurting yourself, then I can't exactly leave you alone.
C'mon, Momiji. You've fought enough, don't you think?
Why don't you try doing what you really want to, for once?

But then... I'd be a traitor. I'd be betraying everyone...

Then we just gotta convince everyone.
There's lots of people that don't like how the Greater Tengu are handling this.

If we can convince everyone, then they won't be able to keep up the fight, and that'll end it.

Do you really think that will work?

Sure do. You're not the only one with doubts. Like I said, lots of people feel the same.

...Alright. I'll do as you say.

Did I finally get through to you!?

Consider this my loss.

At the very least, I don't think I can fight you anymore.

Thank you, Momiji!

Ahaha... As expected, betraying my comrades doesn't feel great.

I thought I had tamed my emotions, but I've got a ways to go.

I'll just have to work harder on that, in the future.

Sorry about that. I really do like that serious side of your's.

Wha- No, no, I'm just a stubborn fool, that's all.

Don't say that. Now c'mon, Momiji.

Together, I think we do this thing!

Alright!



The chapter ends after talking to Momiji, btw.

We've capture this zone.
It was quite the battle. How much damage did we suffer?

A few injuries, but nothing that should impede our further progress.

Ah, a blemish upon our perfect record. Tragic, but expected.

Regardless, capturing this forest should give us an incredible advantage.
I can practically feel the enemy quivering in their boots.

This is in no small part thanks to you two.
For lending us your ears, and becoming our allies, you have my sincere gratitude.

Oh no, we didn't really do anything special.

Indeed. We're just a pair of deserters on the run.

Jeeze, you gotta give that a rest.

I'm sorry we put you in such a difficult position.

But I promise you. I won't let the faith you placed in us go to waste.

By the way, Lady Yukari. How shall we be proceeding?
Will we be resting here, or proceeding further?

We advance. There are still people in this area, so we likely won't be afforded time to rest.

In that case, I know of a good side route. Would you like me guide you there?

That would be lovely. Please do.

Understood. Then, follow me.



That's it for Chapter 11.

True to Momiji's words, we're heading down a side route. Join us next time, for Chapter 11x!