Wednesday 11 April 2007, Luna Nova
"The spring holidays were wonderful, I had no idea that this was the last time I would be with MumBernadette, but I still loved the time with my friends, having as much fun as I could, and when we got back toschool we got back to our daily rehearsals with Croix, at least on my part and in my free time I was playing,since my mum had even given me the MagicStation and I was using it to focus on finding the seventh word,very tempted to chase after it, I was very close to the end of the game and had no idea how much morecomplex it was than I'd imagined just to know what the seventh word was.
I'm already on the last quest, but there's no way I can find the last word, I've done all the side quests, not a single extra path or anything, I've unravelled this entire game, do I need to reset a few times, that must be it, the final boss, I'm well equipped to face her, I've reached level 90 with my character, this is going to be such a wash, I've been farming a lot thanks to playing games with Becca.
The final dialogue has arrived, she's staring at me and giggling, all evil, but she doesn't even ask me to wait, I've got all the best, I stare at the screen and the final battle begins, she's casting magic and I'm already dodging and casting mine against, which I can already see the boss's life bar decreasing a lot with the impact.
"Perfect! This is going to be so easy" I say excitedly.
"I just think that for a final boss fight this is just fooling us, she must be hiding something, I don't doubt it at all" Is it really Becca?
I attack her more often and when her life bar is depleted, a scene begins and the boss herself activates a second form, which was to be expected, in this second form she's much stronger and bigger, which I'm already preparing for, I even managed to defeat the first form without taking any damage, now comes the interesting part.
I dodge as best I can, I even take an attack and the damage is no joke, even with my high level and my defence equipment being the best in the game I still take a lot of damage, I launch an attack on it and I can see that in this form it's now taking a lot less damage, I'll have to be patient to get a better gap to attack.
"Now the real battle has begun" I say excitedly.
"What this is going to take is no joke, I just want to see what the reward will be at the end, we haven't even completed the game to find out" said Leyland.
"Look, you two are doing a very good job of co-operating. Go on, Chariot, defeat this thing and show us the ending."
Getting life out of this final boss isn't easy, I throw charged arrows and at most they do some damage, noticing that there are some areas that are weak spots, I hit just those places and then use the power of the axe from the second word to attack at the moment the boss is stunned, which takes a little life out, in these attacks, I could see the boss's life bar decreasing.
Concentrating, I continue to follow the same pattern of attacks, when I reach the halfway point of the life bar, she starts to escape more from the arena where we are, it's kind of strange that she does this since she keeps flying around, launching more attacks and I suffer more damage, come on Chariot this is for the seventh word
"If you die here, you'll have to start all over again" said Parker.
"Not so much, I've even kept a reserve of Phoenix feathers, if I die I'll end up in the same place with half my life, I'm already well prepared for this, I knew it might not be an easy battle, so I'm going to top up my life so I can attack with more magic" I say as I concentrate on the battle.
By activating another potion I manage to hit her using other words and thus knock the boss to the ground, which makes me give her more attacks until her life gets weaker, now at the end the boss seems to have become more desperate, she goes after me, even pushing me and throwing me against the walls, which causes me to suffer an absurd amount of damage.
I've barely restored my life and she's already like this, the worst thing is that in this part she's going to get faster, so I stop attacking, I just watch the pattern of attacks, which I can't even have Becca's support anymore, since in this second form she's completely deactivated, it's me alone in the battle, I end up taking a lot of damage, I'm close to dying here, I don't want to risk a Phoenix feather, the boss has very low life too
"Chariot, be careful, you'll almost die here!" Leyland said.
"I know that, just relax" I say as I concentrate on playing.
I use more potions to get healed and with that I can see a gap in her attack that leaves her weak point exposed, so I give her an arrow and try to hit her, but she's very fast, I lose a life with that, she hits me with her spells, but I succeed in one of them, knocking her down and now it's time to start attacking, she becomes vulnerable and I start using the axe to take all her lives and with that a final cutscene is activated where there is a quick time event.
I press the buttons at the right time and there are lots of explosions all around, as if it really was the end and I see the cutscene appear, indicating the end, the final boss is lying on the ground all wounded, that's a sign that I've succeeded
"I did it!" I say celebrating and all excited.
"Yes, Chariot! You did it!" The girls said.
"Croix missed out on this one, she should have called her to play and see me finish, but she said she was working on something that would help me with the presentations, she said it would be the best equipment of all" I say as I watch the final cutscene.
"Ah, she'll be proud of you, you did it, Chariot, it was a hard-fought battle" said Daniella.
"With my help we even got our level up enough, imagine if we hadn't got to this boss with such a high level, it would have been disastrous to say the least" Becca said.
The final scene is beautiful, the villain has been defeated, she turns out to be good and joins everyone, it's bizarre, but that's a child's game too, with a little more difficulty, she appears returning peace to everywhere, turning the creatures that had become evil back into normal creatures, bringing good back and everyone is walking together to a beautiful final song, while the credits appear.
The credits show the areas I've been through and the name of each enemy I've faced in the game, this is very similar to many games I've finished, it's great to see how each one has a special place in it, I loved playing it, but no seventh word appeared, none of those things, what a bummer, I thought it would even show up, but well it was fun to get to the end of this thing, The End screen appears and well the game is over.
"Is it over?" I say when I see the final screen.
"Yes, I don't think there's much we can do, it's the end of the game" said Parker.
"But what about the seventh word? We finished the long story mode of this game and nothing, that's it? It's a bit frustrating, but I think it must be hidden somewhere" I mean, even the game goes back to the menu after saving.
"Look, it was good fun, we can play a lot, but let's rest" said Leyland.
And a black screen appears in the story menu, which is strange, then the villain's laughter comes on and I'm surprised until she appears on the screen with her appearance and I'm shocked "And you think you've managed to finish it? Only with true power can you defeat me, you've yet to complete 100 per cent of all this before you can defeat me, hahahaha!" I'm frustrated and shocked at the same time.
"I've beaten the story mode 100 per cent, there's more to complete than that, the other modes I've even got a decent score in the minigames, but I'm still not finished, will I have to beat all of them to get it?" I say, a little frustrated, and the girls nod.
"That's probably it, but let's get some rest, it's late at night and we have to sleep, tomorrow we've got lessons" It's true, I switch off the video game and put my things away to take a well-deserved rest.
I lie down on the bed and I'm already thinking about what I'm going to do next, I have to complete all the other modes, that's what the seventh word was hiding, Mum was really brilliant at that, I didn't realise things would be so hidden like that, but come on, I'll manage when I play, I'm sure I can still go far, I'm just going to take a good rest because I need it, it's a shame Croix wasn't here to see me through to this part of the game.
[...]
Sunday 22 April 2007, Luna Nova
"And as I played, I discovered that the seventh word would only appear if I got a certain amount of points, Ieven discovered that for me I was playing a special version since the real game didn't come with the sevenwords, just other words, but anyway, I played and played a lot, and in a few days I managed to complete100% of the game and unlock the story mode, which took me to the same point I was at, except that in oneof the missions I was able to unlock the path to the seventh word, which was in a temple, just like each onein the game, and it was a tremendously complicated temple, with an even worse boss.
I'm facing an obscure version of the Shiny Chariot, the Chariot Noir, it has a sword and it's managing to take my life, I never thought I'd have a harder boss than the final boss, but this one is pretty tough, I still have to face it alone and using a very different sword than the other duels.
My life is almost gone, I've already revived this thing a couple of times, its life is half gone, every time I die it comes back with a bit of healed life, I really have to beat it with everything if I want to win.
"Go Chariot, you can do it! Today is your day!" Said my girlfriend.
"She's being too complicated, every time I die I still regain life, it's too unfair, no boss in the game did that" I say as I'm learning how to do it better.
It's a new weapon, I'm getting used to it, but I've managed to catch a few attacks, I'm even managing to take more life, come on Chariot you can do it, I'm going to defeat this creature and stick the sword in with everything, I've managed to find a weak point and I'm attacking in the gap which takes more life and stuns, marvellous, I take more life.
It's enough to start a quick time event, as usual it's always when the boss is very weak, so I'm able to calmly beat it until I activate the cutscene where the boss is defeated and a thing appears to support the staff and a message appears.
"Fasannciel Shearila, that's the last word, I did it! I've done it!" Now I just have to use the staff that will work on my next trip to Arcturus.
"Look Chariot, you've done it, but isn't it too soon to reveal the seventh word?" Meridies asks.
"I don't think so, when I finish this thing we'll go Friday to the tower of Arcturus and I'll reveal the seventh word, even though I don't understand what it means yet, I'm sure it'll work"
"Well, I still think it's too soon, we haven't managed to make the slightest impact for a revolution to happen, it's like you just make a wish and it's all over, a bit dull if you consider it... I thought it was going to be a lot more difficult, but well, here we are" And it was, even that way the work I did shows that it wasn't easy.
"Now let's get to the end of the game, I'm levelled up and I've got the weapon of the seventh word" I say excitedly.
Leaving the temple, I now have the best weapon in the game, the complete Claiomh Solais, now I can say that this is a sword, it becomes the legendary sword of light by revealing the seven, will this happen in real life, I'm very anxious if it does, in any case I'm going to complete the game, let's see how this will trivilise the final battle since the axe is slow I have something more powerful than it and with the speed of a sword, that's what I needed.
[...]
Here I am in the final battle and the boss has become a little stronger in both ways, but even so I managed to defeat her, the game really came with an extra difficulty, but look I'm doing very well, the final cutscene arrives and it's almost the same, the credits come on and the names of the enemies, even showing the new ones, only instead of a screen just of The End, since the final villain ended up becoming little dust, she ended up appearing as a baby being reborn and being looked after by me, which I pick up and with that comes the scene of The End.
"Ah, that's the real ending, the evil witch is reincarnated as a good person, that's marvellous" I say as I watch it, overcome with emotion.
"And it looks like we're done, now we can celebrate" said Croix.
"And we've got to remember to get to our rooms on time too, it's already evening" True, but well that deserves the necessary celebration.
We even hug each other and grab some leftover food, admiring that screen, which we even took a photo of together, the end of the game has finally been reached, now my next stop will be Woodward, I'm sure she'll help me with the meaning of the seventh word, if that doesn't happen I'm still glad I was able to get as far as I did.
[...]
Friday 27 April 2007, Luna Nova
"I always found Croix's fear of the seventh word very strange, it seemed as if she didn't want me to know atthat moment, but she tried to appear as if she didn't, which I found strange, but at the same time Iunderstood the reason she used as an excuse at the time, today I understood that she didn't want me toknow because I was sure to come very close to breaking the seal with Gran Triskellion, so much so that Iwent to Woodward as I had promised to do that Friday after school, which Croix herself said she couldn't goto as she was going to work alone on Dream Fuel Spirit, this after we had rehearsed once more that day."
Alone again, Croix is really going to put a lot of work into that machine of hers, I hope it's really good if it's that labour-intensive, I'm sure my presentations are going to bomb with the help I'm going to have to do every single thing, well come on, we're getting to the end, alone and without Croix, I can manage.
I walk through the corridors with Claiomh Solais in my hands, going to the ruins, taking care not to be seen and with that I go further in, until I reach the forest, I even see Arcas from afar, he must be hunting something, which I take a deep breath. Here we go, seventh word, I'm sure Woodward will help me with this one.
I get to the tower, it's been pretty quiet the whole way, I look around and well, it's the same tower as always, many conversations and moments have been had here, now the end of this story will come, which I stretch out my hand and raise it to start releasing the final word.
"Fasannciel Shearila!" I shout the words and nothing happens.
I look at the staff itself and it doesn't show anything, well that's to be expected, I wouldn't make it without knowing the meaning, but that might get Woodward's attention enough, I keep waiting, but nothing, it just looks like she's not going to turn up, I think I should look for it myself, but this is strange, very strange indeed, I know the word, I've come further than any other witch, I look at the horizon and huff.
"Help me, Woodward" I say without much hope.
A very strong glow begins to emanate, I take my distance and she appears, as glorious as ever, with several leaves around her and her beautiful dress and then her face, she looks at me with a big smile, I smile back, it looks like I'm going to get the help I need so much, I'm sure.
"Woodward!" I say excitedly.
"You came to ask for my help through the Chariot visa and that's why I showed up, it's a difficulty regarding the final word, I could already tell by the way you said it before calling me, I could see your whole journey, you're one step away from breaking the Gran Triskellion seal and reviving Yggdrasil and that fills me with pride to know" I'm also happy that I could get this far.
"I want to be able to reach the end of the seven words and fill everyone with pride, bring a new and better world to magic, you know well what the seventh word can say and I'm sure it will guide me to that - I say to her who nods in agreement.
"Of course I'll come, but first of all I have to give you a condition, one that will determine your future and the future of the witches, because I'm predicting something that won't be very good for you and in a few months you may no longer be the chosen one, but things could change for you with one important condition" What? That's worrying enough.
"How can I not be the chosen one? Will I fail? Will I give up? Tell me what's going to happen" She nods.
"That's already the limit of what I can interfere with Chariot, this prediction can be avoided if you listen to me now and stick to the plan" I'll be all ears, I want to know the plan.
"Tell me what I have to do, I'll do my best to change things" She even has a worried look on her face, this must be quite tragic.
"None of the options will allow you to escape the tragic events of your life, Chariot, she's wonderful now, but many of the things that will happen will be difficult for you to deal with, so I'm going to tell you what can prevent you from ending up not being the chosen one, this is the most I can interfere with you... You'll have to end your romance with Croix and stop her plan from materialising" I'm shocked, I didn't expect that.
"What's wrong? But things are marvellous now! I don't want our romance to end, I love her, finally after months when you chose me I had the romance ruined and you told me about that prediction, Croix isn't that monster, so tell me, why do I have to do this?" I ask her.
"This is for the sake of thousands of future Chariot witches, you won't be able to avoid tragedies anyway, either they'll happen in your lifetime, or they'll happen to more people, I ask you to stay away from Croix and don't let her plan materialise, if I can be sure about this I'll advise you to the seventh word and we'll be able to revive Yggdrasil and bring back the golden age of witches" I nod and turn away.
"I'm not going to do that, I can stop a tragedy from happening, I'm sure there's nothing wrong with Croix's plans, she'll tell me herself, I need her help to be the Shiny Chariot, I'll never make it if I abandon her, apart from that I'll be helping a lot more people, I'm sorry Woodward, but my decision is to risk everything and make it? There's no such thing as choosing between the bad and the less bad, I'm going to make the best happen, I trust myself and I know I can do it" I'm about to leave and she's going to give me one last piece of advice for sure.
"If that's the way you want to go, I can't help you with the seventh word, I've helped you as far as I can up to this point, then don't say I didn't try to prevent the worst from happening, the responsibility for the decision you yourself made lies with you" She was just very cold to me, just like she used to be with Croix.
I'm not going to make a bad faith decision like that, between sticking a knife in my heart or my neck I'd rather not stick a knife in at all, I'm sorry Woodward, but I know I can do it, the world isn't that black and white, I'm sure you exaggerate things too much to be like that, I'll talk to Croix later and I'll want to know in detail how her plan works, I'm sure it won't be anything wrong.
[...]
Monday 30 April 2007, Luna Nova
It's today that I try, I've been reflecting all weekend, even questioning my actions, but I'm going to make my own way, I'm not going to take any path I'm told to take, I'm Chariot Du Nord, as my mum Bernadette taught me, I have to be the master of my destiny, well I leave class and go to the daily rehearsal I do with the usual Croix, we even look at each other and I'm already being direct.
"Croix, can we talk before rehearsal?" I ask her.
"Of course, my love, you can tell me what you want to talk to me about" I take a deep breath.
"Woodward, I couldn't get to the seventh word, she gave me a condition, a condition that I had to fulfil in order to get the seventh word, she also said a lot of things, things that I was very afraid to say and as we don't hide anything from each other I want to talk to you about it" She even comes closer to me.
"Let's go to Wagandea, I want to hear what you have to say" she whispers and I nod my head in agreement.
With the brooms, we sneak around Luna Nova, finding a loophole, where we fly to Wagandea, this place even gives me the shivers, well I'm not going to hide anything that Woodward predicted Croix would do if she was chosen, I want to reveal everything, I know that this could even leave me risking my relationship with her, but I'm sure she needs to hear it, I'm going to change things for my destiny.
[...]
Her expression is one of shock, I don't think anyone would react well to hearing these things, but it was the pure truth that Woodward predicted and I know that if Croix hears these things, they could be very different, she even gets a little teary-eyed and I can see her fists clenching, she looks me right in the eye and I'm shocked.
"I thank you for your sincerity Chariot, I expected everything from Woodward, but I didn't expect such a stab in the back, she really thinks I'm a cruel person, but I'm not, I want to bring good things to the world, I'm not going to do that, I'm not that crazy, so what are you going to decide?" She asks and I'm honest.
"I want the plan that's best for everyone, there's no way I can choose between just two situations that will only lead to tragedy, I'm sure it's all exaggerated by Woodward" I tell her and she nods in agreement.
"I'm not a monster, I'll prove it, my plan is just to get enough magic to be able to break the seal of Gran Triskellion together, it's to have a chance with the shows to have a reserve of magic, we can't rely 100 per cent on Woodward, if we work on it together we won't need to depend on her for the seventh word, that's what I wanted to do Chariot, I've been wanting to be independent of that dead woman for a while" Now it all makes sense.
"So does that mean she's trying to play us off against each other?" I see my girlfriend nod.
"Woodward wants you to be her perfect little doll, she wants you to do everything she wants, she can't think and trust our abilities as witches, that's why she asks you so much to follow her to the letter, in the end she'll turn her back on you and just use you without you getting anything out of it, that's all she does, I could tell the moment I wasn't chosen, I followed her words faithfully even before I met you, she saw me as the useful idiot and you'll be next, that's why... That's why we have to work together on the plan to gather enough magic to break the seal ourselves in case I can't find the seventh word" I understood everything and hugged my girlfriend.
I'm with her, Croix's plan is more important, I want to be independent from Woodward, I want to be able to choose my destiny, it's not for nothing that she wanted to keep me away from Croix, I know my girlfriend better than a dead woman who gives meaningless messages in riddles, but even so I won't give up on the seventh word, with that hug it's all done.
"My choice has already been made, I can't just give up on my career like that, now that I've got everything confirmed, we'll avoid a tragedy, I'm sure of it, we'll work together on our plan - I say to her and she nods.
"As you promised, no secrets, we're not going to hide anything from each other, my plan for Dream Fuel Spirit is this, to get magic with the shows to get enough to break the label, it's almost ready, soon we'll start the world tour and things will be different, the impact you'll bring with all this, I'll even show you how to use it soon" I'm happy.
"No secrets from each other, that's why I love you so much Croix, we really have to do what's best" Well now it's time to go back.
I made the right decision, I trust Croix, let's go back to Luna Nova and rehearse, if Woodward wants to play hard to get I'm not going to lower my head to her decisions, enough of this demonisation of my girlfriend, she doesn't understand, these exaggerated predictions will never come true, well I think that was the break I needed from Woodward's dependence.
We arrive back at school, and it's time to rehearse. I stare at Croix and smile, starting to take the first steps.
"Come on Chariot, show how you're the best, the better you captivate, the more people will be able to help us achieve our goal" I'm sure they will.
"I'm going to show this world a new sparkle!" I say excitedly and start rehearsing another number.
I'm doing some dances, my moves that I've learnt and I've been adding to them with magic, it's even created a small audience, these days it's always full of girls coming to see me rehearse, I love it, I feel like I'm back on stage, to think that it's just over a month and a few days away, soon I'll be all over the world showing what I can do.
"Go on, Chariot!" My girlfriend said.
"Chariot! Chariot! Chariot!" The students say.
"Your new moves are going well, keep going with that choreography, just like that, keep that straight back and that pose, just bend back a little more so it's more acrobatic" I'm just listening to my girlfriend's tips, who's always helping me to improve.
I've managed to change a lot of things to improve the performances, everything even feels more fluid, moving in a much more organic way, I can't wait until I'm back on stage in June and the great Shiny Chariot is going to blow me away and I'm no longer depending on Woodward for that, I'm going to show that I can be fun too.
"Well, that's when I made the biggest mistake of my life, I could have listened to Woodward, but I was so fullof emotion that I decided to let it go and I fell for Croix's manipulation which, although she wasn't lying, stillmasked a lot of what was the true intention of how Dream Fuel Spirit worked and I blindly believed in mygirlfriend, in short, if I could go back in time, I'd even tell Chariot about that day when she chose to break upwith Croix and destroy Dream Fuel Spirit's plans, but I'm sure that even then the seventh word wouldn'tcome, since there's still a lot for Woodward to reveal to me ahead, even Akko herself was a way for her tobring me a message about my mistakes."
See you, spiritual witches...