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Game Summary Part III: Two Worlds
Part I here.
Part II here.
For this part, I'm doing the Kratos route by having Lloyd meet with Kratos in Flanoir.
This part isn't complete yet, but it at least covers Raine's canon point.
Palmacosta & Palmacosta Human Ranch
Neil mentions that Desian activity has been spotted at the Palmacosta Human Ranch and that Desians have been attacking the sea route between Izoold and Palmacosta, where something is being built on the ocean floor. Raine says the Remote Island Human Ranch is in that direction, so it may be the Mana Cannon, but the group decides to check the Palmacosta ranch regardless. Mithos asks them to be careful and gives Genis a set of panpipes that he says are a memento of his sister who passed away.
At the ranch, they find not the Desians but the Renegades. Botta and Yuan want to join forces with the group now. They explain that the Great Seed in the Holy Ground of Kharlan is not the soul of Mithos but is the seed of the Giant Kharlan Tree. They also explain that the two worlds used to be a single world, and that Yggdrasill ripped them apart, with both worlds only surviving by competing for the tiny amount of mana that seeps from the Great Seed. Yuan says the germination of the Great Seed and the resurrection of the Giant Tree are necessary for reuniting the two worlds, but that the Great Seed is nearly dead and must be exposed to a great amount of mana. They can use Cruxis’ base, Derris-Kharlan, which is a comet made of a giant mass of mana that is suspended above the two worlds. Lloyd questions why Yggdrasill doesn’t just revive the tree if that’s the case, but Yggdrasill is using all of Derris-Kharlan’s mana to revive Martel, whose soul exists as part of the Great Seed due to a Cruxis Crystal. Revival of the seed would cause Martel to disappear—the reverse is also true—and so Yggdrasill placed the seed between the two worlds, protected by the seals of the Summon Spirits. The Great Seed’s protection has weakened now because Sheena has been forming pacts with the Summon Spirits of both worlds. Yuan explains that Martel is already dead, and so he wants to germinate the Great Seed since the worlds will die without it, though he can’t be certain that it will allow the worlds to be reunited. Yuan reveals that he is a double-agent, as he is both a member of Cruxis and also the leader of the Renegades. Lloyd decides to trust him since he’s taking a great risk is giving them all this information. Yuan confirms that they were going to investigate Rodyle’s ranch next; Zelos jokes that they must have a spy watching the group. The Renegades also want to infiltrate the ranch to make preparations for firing mana at the Great Seed and offer to guide the group to the entrance.
Remote Island Human Ranch & Renegade Base
Botta takes them to a tunnel that connects to the Remote Island Human Ranch and says that he has work to do on the mana reactor there. He also asks them not to destroy this ranch as they’ve done with the others, since they need the mana reactor. They need to go to the control room in order to disable the Mana Cannon, and they release the captive humans on their way. However, they find Rodyle waiting in the control room, and he shows them the captives on his projector. He trapped the humans in the corridors and begins flooding them with seawater, which he says he’s also done with the corridor leading to the Mana Cannon to prevent them from shutting it down. He claims he’s finally obtained a Cruxis Crystal for his Mana Cannon but decides to test it by equipping it to himself first, and he mutates into a monster, though he still has his awareness. The group defeats him and he realizes his body is disintegrating; he curses Pronyma for tricking him and tells the group that he’ll take them all down with him. He activates the self-destruct system for the ranch, and Raine tries to stop the system but there are too many problems for her to fix by herself. Botta and some of his Renegades come in and take over, having the group leave through a trap door to an adjacent room. The door closes after they’re through, and through the glass, they can see seawater beginning to flood the control room. Raine realizes that Botta knew and sealed the door from the inside in order to save them, since the ceiling is covered and they would all drown otherwise. Botta talks to them through some speakers to say that they modified the ranch’s mana reactor and that he wants them to get the message to Botta that he succeeded. He prays for their success and closes some shutters so that the others can’t watch the Renegades drown. The group is then attacked by a swarm of Rodyle’s dragons. With no other options, Genis decides to plan Mithos’ panpipes. A glowing bird—Aska, one of the Summon Spirits of Light—appears and drives away the dragons, also opening the domed ceiling above them. Aska then disappears, but they hear Mithos’ voice from above asking them to get on some Rheairds he brought.
They escape and ask Mithos what happened; he explains that he was worried and borrowed some Rheairds from the Renegades. When he heard Genis playing the pipes, he tried to get inside by using fireballs against the dome, but then Aska appeared and helped him. Genis goes to return the panpipes to Mithos, but realizes they’re broken and apologizes. Colette reminds them that they need to tell Yuan about Botta and return the Rheairds Mithos borrowed.
At the Renegade Base, Mithos decides to wait outside, and the others go in to talk to Yuan. They tell him Botta is dead and pass on the message. Yuan activates the dimensional transfer system to allow them to travel between the worlds again. They also return the Rheaird Mithos borrowed, which Yuan takes, though he later comments to himself that none of their Rheairds were missing and he doesn’t know where it came from. They return to Mithos outside, and they all travel back to Altessa’s House in Tethe’alla to drop Mithos off. Mithos wishes Presea success in avenging her sister, and when Regal asks about it, they tell him what Alicia said to them. Regal says he may know who the murderer is and asks them to take him to Altamira.
Altamira, Balacruf Mausoleum, Triet Ruins, Meltokio Coliseum, & Temple of Darkness
They find injured guards at the Lezareno Company headquarters, who warn that Vharley forced his way inside. At the Sky Terrace, they find him trying to get the password for the inner areas of the Toize Valley Mine from George. He recognizes Regal as the company president, and Regal claims that the mine will only open for his voice and cornea scan. Vharley claims he can still sell Exspheres to the Pope even without Rodyle, and Kuchinawa shows up to help Vharley get away. With that over, Regal introduces himself as Regal Bryant. Alicia appears again, and Regal explains that they were in love, but George interfered and Alicia was handed over to Vharley for the same experiment as Presea. Regal made a deal to give him the mine to get Alicia back, but at that point, the experiment had failed and her Exsphere had turned her into a monster. Alicia begged him to kill her and he fulfilled her request; she says that he saved her by killing her. She then asks Presea to destroy her Exsphere before her consciousness fades, which she does. Regal had confessed to killing Alicia and went to prison of his own volition, but then the Pope had agreed to arrest Vharley if Regal brought in Colette. Regal now wants to help stop Cruxis to put an end to the Exsphere experiments, and they agree to bring him along.
Returning to the task of making all the pacts, they then backtrack to Sylvarant’s fire seal and wind seal in order to get Efreet and Sylph, who also had pacts with Mithos. Once the pact is made between Gnome and Sylph, both spirits appear to warn that there will be another earthquake since the mana link was severed. During this time, the group realizes that once they make all the pacts and sever each mana link, they’ll likely no longer be able to travel between the worlds and everyone will have to choose which world to remain in. Similarly, after finishing the pacts between Efreet and Celsius, another earthquake occurs (stronger and sooner) and they ponder whether they’ll be stuck once they make the final pact. They can also visit Izoold to find Clara and heal her with Raine’s new healing technique.
In Tethe’alla, they try entering the Temple of Darkness but regular lights can’t penetrate the pitch blackness inside, and it’s too dangerous for them to continue. Sheena suggests getting help from the Elemental Research Laboratory, so they go to Meltokio through the sewers again. They run into Kratos in the city, and he asks Presea if sacred wood only grows in the area around Ozette, though the wood she had previously cut would be stored in the church. He says he has no choice if that’s all that’s left but won’t explain what he needs it for; instead, he simply warns Lloyd to stop making pacts with the Summon Spirits and to be patient. He leaves without further explanation again. At the laboratory, the half-elf researchers suggest using the Blue Candle, a holy candlestick that negates the power of darkness and which they succeeded in recreating in the lab. However, one of the scientists is reluctant to give it to them, blaming them for Kate’s arrest. The scientists explain that Kate is going to be executed for helping them escape, and the group decides to save her first. Regal suggests participating in a Coliseum match since there are passages that lead to the prison. They do so and rescue Kate, who asks to be taken to Ozette since it’s her birthplace. There, Kate reveals that her father is the Pope, the same person who ruled that all half-elf criminals be executed. She stays in Ozette for a while to think, and the group returns to the Elemental Research Laboratory to get the Blue Candle from the researchers. The Blue Candle lights up the Temple of Darkness and they’re able to meet Shadow, who annuls his pact with Mithos and agrees to their vow.
Linkite Tree, Tower of Mana, & Iselia Human Ranch
Aska travels the world instead of remaining at the light seal, so the group needs to call him in order to make the final pact with both Aska and Luna. They find a dead Linkite Tree, so they have Gnome make the ground healthy and Raine use her healing arts together with an Exsphere shard as an amplifier to accelerate the growth of a Linkite nut into a healthy tree. Lloyd and Presea carve new panpipes from the large nuts on the tree; Genis plays the pipes and Sheena has Sylph carry the sound on the wind. Aska appears, and they ask him to return to Luna at the Tower of Mana.
Kratos is waiting for them before the seal at the Tower of Mana and warns them that if they form the final pact, the protection around the Great Seed will be lost. However, Yuan also shows up to say that’s exactly what they want and attacks Kratos to open the way to the seal; Lloyd’s group continues to the altar. They have Luna and Aska annul the pact with Mithos and make a new pact with Sheena, securing the fall of the final mana link.
Yuan and Kratos show up at that moment as a great earthquake rocks Sylvarant and enormous tree roots sprout from the Tower of Salvation to run wild. The roots destroy Palmacosta and cover the Tower of Mana; an enormous tree stands where the Tower of Salvation is, with a woman in the centre of the branches. Yuan recognizes her as Martel and Kratos explains that the Great Seed has gone out of control; not only did the Summon Spirits isolate the Great Seed from the outside world and prevent it from growing, but mana links also served as a cage to keep the Great Seed stabilized between the two worlds. Yuan realizes they’ve made a mistake and that the uncontrolled seed will destroy Sylvarant, followed by Tethe’alla. Yuan suggests cutting off the mana flow to the Great Seed, but Kratos says that won’t stop it; he also explains that the tree went out of control because it over-absorbed the mana from Sylvarant’s Summon Spirits. Lloyd then suggests neutralizing the mana with Tethe’alla’s Summon Spirits since they are all opposing elements; Yuan agrees and says they can use the Mana Cannon to fire the mana. Kratos says he’ll pretend he doesn’t know what Yuan has been doing as long as he orders the Renegades to stop firing mana at the tree to prevent it from growing further, and then wants Lloyd’s group to head for the Mana Cannon. However, one of Yuan’s men tells him that the Renegades who infiltrated the Iselia Ranch were executed by Forcystus, so they can’t switch over the mana flow. The group doesn’t trust Kratos to go to the Iselia Human Ranch alone, so Lloyd proposes that Sheena and the Renegades go to the Mana Cannon, while the rest of the group goes with Kratos to the Iselia Ranch. Kratos observes that part of Lloyd’s reasoning is because Chocolat had been taken to the Iselia Ranch. Yuan and the others agree to the plan, and they all set out.
In the meantime, although the giant tree isn't out of control in Tethe'alla, the world is experiencing earthquakes. Mithos is hit by falling rocks when he pushes Tabatha away from the danger.
Lloyd’s group infiltrates the ranch; Raine says they don’t have the time to destroy it in addition to everything else, so they release the captives first. Chocolate is with them, and Lloyd tells her to just consider herself saved by the Chosen instead of him. The group splits into two teams to lead the captives out and stop the mana flow; Lloyd’s group heads for the mana reactor. They run into Forcystus there and defeat him, and he falls into the mana reactor below. They reconfigure the settings and return outside to meet up with the others. Forcystus make a reappearance and attacks Lloyd from behind. He aims a shot at Chocolat, which Colette takes in her place; Lloyd recovers in time to finish off Forcystus. When he turns back to Colette though, she’s insisting nobody look at her exposed skin, which is crystallized. Kratos urges Lloyd to send the message to Sheena before worrying about Colette, and he does so. At the signal, Sheena summons all of Tethe’alla’s spirits to charge the Mana Cannon, which they fire at the Giant Tree. The tree is neutralized and disappears, though they also hear a cry from Martel at the same time. Mithos wakes up again at Altessa’s House; Kratos and Yuan confirm that both the Great Seed and Martel are intact and stabilized in the Holy Ground of Kharlan once more. Colette passes out and Raine proposes that they take her to Iselia, since that’s her home and the captives need somewhere to go. Lloyd reluctantly agrees and Yuan says he’ll send Sheena there.
Iselia & Dirk’s House
Lloyd tells Phaidra (Colette’s grandmother) the truth about Cruxis, and she tells them that the Tower of Salvation has disappeared from Sylvarant; Kratos says that the Cruxis core system may have malfunctioned. Raine is concerned that the people of Sylvarant will blame the failure of the Journey of Regeneration on Colette, who is still alive where other failed Chosens all died. They decide to see what’s going on in the village and have a run-in with the mayor, who rants about everything from Lloyd and Genis returning after being banished and Colette failing to Raine and Genis being half-elves, who he blames for the Desian attack on the village. He also rejects bringing the ranch prisoners to the village, but then Chocolat interjects to tell him off and support Lloyd and the others. The other villagers also speak up in defense of Lloyd, Colette, Genis, and Raine; Raine abruptly runs off. The villagers decide to take in the prisoners and let everyone rest there regardless of the mayor; Chocolat also forgives and thanks Lloyd. The group finds Raine again where her and Genis’ house was.
At the entrance of the village, they also find a recovered Colette. Kratos says he is bringing her to Dirk on Colette’s family’s request, so the others come too, though Kratos warns that curing Colette may be beyond Dirk’s ability since he was not a member of Cruxis. Just as warned, Dirk says he doesn’t know anything about Cruxis Crystals but encourages them to rest there. Lloyd tries to question Kratos some more about his goals before he leaves, and though he dodges most questions, he tells Lloyd to research the Ancient Kharlan War and to remember the words of the unicorn at Lake Umacy. He leaves; Sheena returns, and they decide to head back to Tethe’alla to talk to Altessa.
Altessa’s House, Sybak, & Meltokio
Mithos is recovering from his injuries from saving Tabatha there; Genis gives him the new panpipes that they had made to replace the broken ones. Altessa explains that Colette is suffering from Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium, a disease caused by rejection of the Cruxis Crystal that occurs in about one in every million people. However, the cure was lost long ago, so like Kratos he suggests researching records of the Ancient War. Regal suggests an archive building in Sybak dedicated to the history of the hero Mithos, and Mithos offers to show them there.
They find a book about the hero Mithos and learn that one of his companions was afflicted with the disease, but was cured by the unicorn. The Unicorn Horn alone won’t work, so they want to research further, and Mithos mentions that the royal family has most of the records on the Ancient War. They decide to go to Meltokio and Mithos volunteers to return to Altessa by himself; Zelos privately wonders if the group really believes him.
Heading through the Meltokio sewers, they overhear Vharley accepting money from a Papal Knight and assuring him that his poison will kill the king for the Pope soon. Raine suggests that the king will be in their debt if they save him, and Presea cuts down Vharley, who dies, before they continue to the city’s cathedral to confront the Pope. The Pope tries to deny everything, but Raine threatens to give him the poison they got off of Vharley, and he admits that the antidote is in his desk, which Colette finds. Genis then asks him why he encouraged oppression of half-elves when Kate is his daughter, and he declares that they are shunned because they age differently from humans; he also claims that Zelos interfered in his project to banish half-elves and that those who are different should be eliminated. He calls the guards, saying that even if the Chosen dies, they still have Zelos’ sister. He escapes as some Papal Knights show up, but the group dispatches them and follows him into the castle. They trick some more Papal Knights with Colette’s angelic wings to make them believe the church wants them to trust the Chosen again, so the group is no longer wanted by the church, and then they go to the king. Raine administers the antidote and he recovers; they explain the situation and he reluctantly gives them access to the archive.
There, they find a book written in ancient elven that Raine reads; it describes the technique for curing Colette’s illness: Zircon and a Mana Fragment are fused with Boltzmann’s technique to create a Rune Crest that prevent erosion of the Cruxis Crystal, and fibers from Mana Leaf Herb are placed in the crest to protect the body from crystallization. Raine warns that they don’t have much time before the disease progresses and Colette dies. Regal says they can look into obtaining Zircon at the Lezareno Company, while Raine remembers hearing about Mana Leaf Herb in Heimdall, though Zelos says they need a permit from the king to enter the elven village. As for the Mana Fragment, Colette believes it may be found in Derris-Kharlan based on one of the scriptures she read. Lloyd decides they should leave it for last and get the other two components first. Zelos gets the princess to request a permit from the king, which they obtain.
Exire, Ymir Forest, Heimdall, Latheon Gorge, Altamira, & Sybak
(The scenes in Exire are an optional sidequest but important for Raine and Genis’ backstory)
Exire is a city that floats in the skies of Tethe’alla; the group can run into it on the way to gather materials for Colette’s Rune Crest. The city is populated almost entirely by half-elves. The mayor calls Raine ‘Virginia’, which is her elven mother’s name, and they learn that Virginia is in the city but the mayor urges them not to see her. Raine wants to find her, though, so they locate her house but find Virginia lost in a state of fantasy. She cradles a doll that she calls Raine and doesn’t recognize the real Raine or Genis. Raine grows angry and blows up at her; Virginia grows upset but ignores her words, and Raine runs out in tears. Outside, they meet with the mayor again, who explains that he found Virginia and her human husband Kloitz collapsed of exhaustion in the Ymir Forest. Kloitz had been dispatched from Meltokio to investigate Heimdall but stayed there when he and Virginia fell in love; a half-elf tried to sell Kloitz out to the soldiers, and fighting broke out between the elves and half-elves. The family was banished from the village as the cause of the incident and travelled place to place, but then Raine and Genis ended up abandoned, and Kloitz apparently died of an illness soon after they were taken in at Exire, after which Virginia began to lose her mind. Raine goes off on a rant about her, but he says that Virginia had hoped they would be happy if they made it to Sylvarant and that she can come get Virginia’s diary from him if she wants. They go to read the diary, and find out that the Imperial Research Academy had been chasing the family because they wanted Raine, which was why they could never stay in one place. Virginia hadn’t wanted her children to live like slaves, which was why she chose to send them through the Otherworldly Gate; Genis is overjoyed that it wasn’t because Virginia hated them. Raine chooses to keep the diary.
Moving on, they make it to the Ymir Forest, which Raine recognizes as the path to Heimdall. They find Kratos leaving Heimdall and try to question why he keeps giving them hints, but he dodges the questions and tells them to hurry before leaving. The elven guards accept the permit but refuse to let half-elves in regardless, so Raine and Genis wait outside. The guards also warn that talk celebrating Mithos as a hero is forbidden. They ask the elf elder for help, who mentions Martel and Kratos when he learns of Colette’s sickness but won’t explain further. He tells them that Mana Leaf Herb grows in Latheon Gorge and gives them his staff to show the watchman. They meet up with Genis and Raine again as they leave the village.
In Latheon Gorge, they meet an elven storyteller who shows them where the Mana Leaf Herb can be found. They retrieve it and return to the storyteller, who tells them that he lives there so he can pass on the tales of the hero Mithos away from the village’s taboo. They ask about Mithos, and he tells them that Mithos was a half-elf who was cast out of Heimdall. He had three companions, one human and the others half-elves, who helped him end the Ancient War so that he could return to Heimdall. Genis presumes he’s considered taboo in Heimdall just for being a half-elf, but the storyteller corrects him by declaring that Mithos is a fallen hero: Mithos Yggdrasill and his companions Martel, Yuan, and Kratos betrayed Origin and used the power of the Eternal Sword to split the world in two. Lloyd is stunned, but they realize that Origin and his magic sword may be the key to restoring the worlds’ original form.
They go to the Lezareno Company Headquarters in Altamira next to look up information about Zircon in the archive. Before they can read about the shipment, though, Kuchinawa steals the record since he’s still out for revenge against Sheena even if the Pope and Vharley are finished. Sheena proposes they have a one-on-one duel to settle things later; Kuchinawa agrees, and Sheena trades Corrine’s bell for the document as proof of her challenge. They learn that Zircon was shipped to the Imperial Research Academy in Sybak. (At this point, another optional sidequest can be undertaken where they rescue the princess from the Pope and Zelos asks the king to repeal the laws against half-elves.) They can freely enter the academy now, so they get some Zircon there. Next, all that’s left is the Mana Fragment, which they need to get from Derris-Kharlan, Cruxis’ base.
Southeast Abbey, Tower of Salvation, & Welgaia
Before they go to Derris-Kharlan, they need to go to Southeast Abbey to get Zelos’ Cruxis Crystal from his sister. Seles acts (badly) cold towards him but is secretly worried, and Zelos seems to believe she hates him and thinks of him as an obstacle. With the crystal in possession, they head for Tethe’alla’s Tower of Salvation. Zelos opens the way at the tower, with the others noting he’s acting more obnoxious than usual, and they enter the tower to find that it looks exactly the same on the inside as Sylvarant’s tower, including the pillar that was smashed. Kratos is waiting for them and says they’ll take Colette as Martel’s vessel; additional angels appear and take the group captive.
It seems that they’re imprisoned while the angels prepare Colette’s treatment, and they wonder if Kratos only used them to get the materials needed. Regal breaks the bars on the cell and they escape into the city of Welgaia, which is populated by angels. Raine suggests they all act as Colette’s prisoners. They find a warehouse but the guard won’t give them a Mana Fragment until he gets a message that a courier is picking one up for Kratos, and the group claims to be the couriers. They find a large transporter but can’t get past without identification, so they look for another way out of the city. Along the way, they find an information terminal that gives some details on Derris-Kharlan and the Eternal Sword, which Yggdrasill obtained through the pact with Origin. They then locate the emergency exit, but are discovered as imposters and pursued by the angels as they go through. They have to descend the Tower of Salvation back to the bottom floor, where they wonder if the sword embedded in the floor has been the Eternal Sword all along. Lloyd is unable to touch it, though, and Yggdrasill appears to lecture them that they don’t have the right to wield it—that is, they haven’t made the pact with Origin. He explains that mana shortages originally came about because of magitechnology, so the current system prevents the world from progressing and developing technology too far, which was why he split the world in two. However, they blame him for sacrificing the Great Seed to save Martel and Genis agrees. Yggdrasill claims that he is aiming to use Exspheres to turn everyone into lifeless beings to end discrimination, trying to persuade Genis that people will stop treating half-elves differently is everyone is the same. However, he tries to take Colette, so the group tries to fight him off. Genis hits him with magic when he’s momentarily distracted, and Pronyma appears and tries to strike down Genis; Yggdrasill takes the hit for him, though, and since something has come up, he leaves. He dropped something that Genis picks up, which turns out to be the panpipes he had given to Mithos; he hides them from the others.
Altessa’s House & Flanoir
They hurry back to Altessa’s house and Raine instructs him on the process to make the Rune Crest, which he crafts. While the others wait, Zelos notes that Lloyd and Genis are both gloomy and Mithos tries to get Genis to tell him what’s wrong. Altessa lets them know that Colette’s treatment was successful, so Zelos insists that Lloyd eat some food; Genis tells Mithos that he believes they’re friends. After eating, Lloyd quickly becomes tired and goes to bed. He’s woken in the middle of the night by Yuan, he says he can meet his father and forces him outside. Some of the Renegades are outside along with Kratos, and Yuan tells Lloyd to be quiet even though the drug should have the others sleeping soundly. Lloyd, thinking Yuan is referring to Dirk, demands to know what he’s done, but Yuan instead tells Kratos to release Origin’s seal if he values his son’s life. Lloyd refuses to believe it; Kratos gives no response and Yuan threatens to kill Lloyd. He approaches Kratos and Lloyd rushes him from behind, but he dodges and fires a shot at Lloyd, which Kratos takes instead. Kratos expresses his relief that Lloyd is all right, and Lloyd breaks down. Colette rushes out and encourages him; Lloyd calms down and thanks Kratos but says he can’t call him his father yet. He says he won’t give up until he can find a way for everyone to live.
Mithos then emerges from the house and blasts away the Renegades, knocking Yuan down as well. Yuan calls him Yggdrasill and demands to know how he found out; he mocks Yuan and explains he had Pronyma keep tabs on Kratos for suspicion of leaking information to Lloyd’s group. Expressing his disgust that the Renegades had been led by Yuan all along, he claims that he’s only sparing Yuan’s life because of his sister’s wishes, and then kicks him while he lies on the ground. The others wake up at this point and come outside; Genis is shocked that Mithos is really Yggdrasill, and Mithos claims he didn’t trust Genis and fires a blast at Presea. Altessa takes the hit instead, and Tabatha insists that Mithos had saved her; Mithos angrily blasts Tabatha, too, saying she’s a failed vessel who couldn’t accept his sister’s soul. Genis stops Lloyd from attacking Mithos, and Pronyma asks Yggdrasill to leave it to the angels since his wounds haven’t healed. He agrees, and some angels attack as he leaves. The group defeats them and Raine tries to heal Altessa.
In the meantime, Lloyd realizes that Yuan was trying to form the pact with Origin to use the Eternal Sword, and Yuan confirms this, also saying that he tried to force Kratos’ cooperation once he learned of Lloyd’s relation to him. He also says that Mithos’ vision is a twisted interpretation of Martel’s last wish, and explains that the seal on Origin can only be undone by releasing the mana from Kratos’ body, which would likely kill him. Before leaving to evacuate the Renegades, he tells Lloyd that only half-elves can wield the Eternal Sword. By morning, Raine says she did as much as she could with the Unicorn Horn but Altessa still needs a doctor. Sheena suggests a good doctor in Flanoir, so they head there.
Zelos disappears at the entrance to the city; they find him mumbling to himself about Aionis and a ring of the pact in front of the doctor’s hospital, where he tells them they’re late when he sees them. They get the doctor to agree to see Altessa, and he leaves with four of the party members as an escort while the others remain in Flanoir.
(At this point, the player can choose the party member with whom Lloyd can have a special scene, including Kratos. The choices are based on affection levels. Picking Kratos has the most significant change on the story, and I’ll be going with this route.)
They all regroup the next morning; the doctor and some people of Mizuho are with Altessa, who has pulled through. Lloyd declares that he’d like to attack Cruxis to prevent Mithos from realizing his Age of Lifeless Beings and to form the pact with Origin, although he admits he isn’t sure what to do about Kratos yet. Zelos says that Lloyd can wield the Eternal Sword if, like Zelos, he receives magic injections. Lloyd tries to get Colette to stay behind but she insists on coming along as well, and Zelos agrees, so Lloyd changes his mind. On their way out of the city, Lloyd asks Zelos if he can really trust him. (If anybody besides Kratos is chosen, Lloyd tells Zelos that he does trust him.)
Tower of Salvation
They find the entrance to the Tower of Salvation blocked by angels, but Yuan leads them into a side passage since he has no other choice but to work with them now that he was found out by Yggdrasill. They get inside the ground floor of the tower and Zelos tricks Colette into being separated from the others and standing on a magic circle so that some angels and Pronyma can capture her. It’s revealed that Zelos was leaking information to both Cruxis and Renegades and he betrays them because he wants to be released from being the Chosen. As Pronyma takes Colette away, Zelos fights the group using angelic powers and they are forced to kill him. (He only dies in the Kratos path.) Before he dies, he tells them Colette is below them, in the Hall of the Great Seed.
They continue to a magic circle that warps them to a different area so they can descend the tower, which is infested with root remnants of the out-of-control Giant Tree, and save Colette. In the meantime, Raine has a private discussion with Regal about prioritizing Lloyd’s safety since his special Exsphere is their best hope against Yggdrasill. As they descend the tower, they run into traps that cause everyone to sacrifice themselves for Lloyd, one at a time: Regal holds off a swarm of angels, Sheena and Presea are caught by the tree’s roots, Raine has to operate a console to open a door that also cuts her off and causes the room to collapse, and Genis is caught between forcefields when he helps Lloyd get out but can’t follow in time.
Lloyd comes to a door that would be sealed if not for Kratos’ blade jammed into it, and he gets through to find Yggdrasill in the process of fusing Colette with Martel. Yggdrasill goes to attack Lloyd but he’s stopped by all the other party members showing up, who were rescued from their traps by Kratos. (If Zelos lives, he rescues them.) Yggdrasill blames Pronyma and orders her to stop them, but they defeat her. Yggdrasill finishes her off when she begs him to save her, as he is just completing Colette’s fusion with Martel. Martel awakens in Colette’s body but chastises Mithos for what he has done and tries to get him to stop, but he thinks she’s rejecting him and loses his mind. Kratos shows up and does something with Colette’s Cruxis Crystal, causing Martel to leave her body again, though she asks Mithos to return the world to its original form. Kratos also gives Lloyd a ring that, if refined with dwarven techniques, will allow him to wield the Eternal Sword. Having snapped, Mithos twists Martel’s request and decides to take the Great Seed to Derris-Kharlan and leave the world behind. In order to stop him, the group takes on Yggdrasill and defeats him. He apparently dies, leaving behind the Cruxis Crystal, which Genis picks up. Kratos departs again after telling Lloyd he’ll be waiting before Origin’s seal. Lloyd decides to depart for Heimdall.
Part II here.
For this part, I'm doing the Kratos route by having Lloyd meet with Kratos in Flanoir.
This part isn't complete yet, but it at least covers Raine's canon point.
Palmacosta & Palmacosta Human Ranch
Neil mentions that Desian activity has been spotted at the Palmacosta Human Ranch and that Desians have been attacking the sea route between Izoold and Palmacosta, where something is being built on the ocean floor. Raine says the Remote Island Human Ranch is in that direction, so it may be the Mana Cannon, but the group decides to check the Palmacosta ranch regardless. Mithos asks them to be careful and gives Genis a set of panpipes that he says are a memento of his sister who passed away.
At the ranch, they find not the Desians but the Renegades. Botta and Yuan want to join forces with the group now. They explain that the Great Seed in the Holy Ground of Kharlan is not the soul of Mithos but is the seed of the Giant Kharlan Tree. They also explain that the two worlds used to be a single world, and that Yggdrasill ripped them apart, with both worlds only surviving by competing for the tiny amount of mana that seeps from the Great Seed. Yuan says the germination of the Great Seed and the resurrection of the Giant Tree are necessary for reuniting the two worlds, but that the Great Seed is nearly dead and must be exposed to a great amount of mana. They can use Cruxis’ base, Derris-Kharlan, which is a comet made of a giant mass of mana that is suspended above the two worlds. Lloyd questions why Yggdrasill doesn’t just revive the tree if that’s the case, but Yggdrasill is using all of Derris-Kharlan’s mana to revive Martel, whose soul exists as part of the Great Seed due to a Cruxis Crystal. Revival of the seed would cause Martel to disappear—the reverse is also true—and so Yggdrasill placed the seed between the two worlds, protected by the seals of the Summon Spirits. The Great Seed’s protection has weakened now because Sheena has been forming pacts with the Summon Spirits of both worlds. Yuan explains that Martel is already dead, and so he wants to germinate the Great Seed since the worlds will die without it, though he can’t be certain that it will allow the worlds to be reunited. Yuan reveals that he is a double-agent, as he is both a member of Cruxis and also the leader of the Renegades. Lloyd decides to trust him since he’s taking a great risk is giving them all this information. Yuan confirms that they were going to investigate Rodyle’s ranch next; Zelos jokes that they must have a spy watching the group. The Renegades also want to infiltrate the ranch to make preparations for firing mana at the Great Seed and offer to guide the group to the entrance.
Remote Island Human Ranch & Renegade Base
Botta takes them to a tunnel that connects to the Remote Island Human Ranch and says that he has work to do on the mana reactor there. He also asks them not to destroy this ranch as they’ve done with the others, since they need the mana reactor. They need to go to the control room in order to disable the Mana Cannon, and they release the captive humans on their way. However, they find Rodyle waiting in the control room, and he shows them the captives on his projector. He trapped the humans in the corridors and begins flooding them with seawater, which he says he’s also done with the corridor leading to the Mana Cannon to prevent them from shutting it down. He claims he’s finally obtained a Cruxis Crystal for his Mana Cannon but decides to test it by equipping it to himself first, and he mutates into a monster, though he still has his awareness. The group defeats him and he realizes his body is disintegrating; he curses Pronyma for tricking him and tells the group that he’ll take them all down with him. He activates the self-destruct system for the ranch, and Raine tries to stop the system but there are too many problems for her to fix by herself. Botta and some of his Renegades come in and take over, having the group leave through a trap door to an adjacent room. The door closes after they’re through, and through the glass, they can see seawater beginning to flood the control room. Raine realizes that Botta knew and sealed the door from the inside in order to save them, since the ceiling is covered and they would all drown otherwise. Botta talks to them through some speakers to say that they modified the ranch’s mana reactor and that he wants them to get the message to Botta that he succeeded. He prays for their success and closes some shutters so that the others can’t watch the Renegades drown. The group is then attacked by a swarm of Rodyle’s dragons. With no other options, Genis decides to plan Mithos’ panpipes. A glowing bird—Aska, one of the Summon Spirits of Light—appears and drives away the dragons, also opening the domed ceiling above them. Aska then disappears, but they hear Mithos’ voice from above asking them to get on some Rheairds he brought.
They escape and ask Mithos what happened; he explains that he was worried and borrowed some Rheairds from the Renegades. When he heard Genis playing the pipes, he tried to get inside by using fireballs against the dome, but then Aska appeared and helped him. Genis goes to return the panpipes to Mithos, but realizes they’re broken and apologizes. Colette reminds them that they need to tell Yuan about Botta and return the Rheairds Mithos borrowed.
At the Renegade Base, Mithos decides to wait outside, and the others go in to talk to Yuan. They tell him Botta is dead and pass on the message. Yuan activates the dimensional transfer system to allow them to travel between the worlds again. They also return the Rheaird Mithos borrowed, which Yuan takes, though he later comments to himself that none of their Rheairds were missing and he doesn’t know where it came from. They return to Mithos outside, and they all travel back to Altessa’s House in Tethe’alla to drop Mithos off. Mithos wishes Presea success in avenging her sister, and when Regal asks about it, they tell him what Alicia said to them. Regal says he may know who the murderer is and asks them to take him to Altamira.
Altamira, Balacruf Mausoleum, Triet Ruins, Meltokio Coliseum, & Temple of Darkness
They find injured guards at the Lezareno Company headquarters, who warn that Vharley forced his way inside. At the Sky Terrace, they find him trying to get the password for the inner areas of the Toize Valley Mine from George. He recognizes Regal as the company president, and Regal claims that the mine will only open for his voice and cornea scan. Vharley claims he can still sell Exspheres to the Pope even without Rodyle, and Kuchinawa shows up to help Vharley get away. With that over, Regal introduces himself as Regal Bryant. Alicia appears again, and Regal explains that they were in love, but George interfered and Alicia was handed over to Vharley for the same experiment as Presea. Regal made a deal to give him the mine to get Alicia back, but at that point, the experiment had failed and her Exsphere had turned her into a monster. Alicia begged him to kill her and he fulfilled her request; she says that he saved her by killing her. She then asks Presea to destroy her Exsphere before her consciousness fades, which she does. Regal had confessed to killing Alicia and went to prison of his own volition, but then the Pope had agreed to arrest Vharley if Regal brought in Colette. Regal now wants to help stop Cruxis to put an end to the Exsphere experiments, and they agree to bring him along.
Returning to the task of making all the pacts, they then backtrack to Sylvarant’s fire seal and wind seal in order to get Efreet and Sylph, who also had pacts with Mithos. Once the pact is made between Gnome and Sylph, both spirits appear to warn that there will be another earthquake since the mana link was severed. During this time, the group realizes that once they make all the pacts and sever each mana link, they’ll likely no longer be able to travel between the worlds and everyone will have to choose which world to remain in. Similarly, after finishing the pacts between Efreet and Celsius, another earthquake occurs (stronger and sooner) and they ponder whether they’ll be stuck once they make the final pact. They can also visit Izoold to find Clara and heal her with Raine’s new healing technique.
In Tethe’alla, they try entering the Temple of Darkness but regular lights can’t penetrate the pitch blackness inside, and it’s too dangerous for them to continue. Sheena suggests getting help from the Elemental Research Laboratory, so they go to Meltokio through the sewers again. They run into Kratos in the city, and he asks Presea if sacred wood only grows in the area around Ozette, though the wood she had previously cut would be stored in the church. He says he has no choice if that’s all that’s left but won’t explain what he needs it for; instead, he simply warns Lloyd to stop making pacts with the Summon Spirits and to be patient. He leaves without further explanation again. At the laboratory, the half-elf researchers suggest using the Blue Candle, a holy candlestick that negates the power of darkness and which they succeeded in recreating in the lab. However, one of the scientists is reluctant to give it to them, blaming them for Kate’s arrest. The scientists explain that Kate is going to be executed for helping them escape, and the group decides to save her first. Regal suggests participating in a Coliseum match since there are passages that lead to the prison. They do so and rescue Kate, who asks to be taken to Ozette since it’s her birthplace. There, Kate reveals that her father is the Pope, the same person who ruled that all half-elf criminals be executed. She stays in Ozette for a while to think, and the group returns to the Elemental Research Laboratory to get the Blue Candle from the researchers. The Blue Candle lights up the Temple of Darkness and they’re able to meet Shadow, who annuls his pact with Mithos and agrees to their vow.
Linkite Tree, Tower of Mana, & Iselia Human Ranch
Aska travels the world instead of remaining at the light seal, so the group needs to call him in order to make the final pact with both Aska and Luna. They find a dead Linkite Tree, so they have Gnome make the ground healthy and Raine use her healing arts together with an Exsphere shard as an amplifier to accelerate the growth of a Linkite nut into a healthy tree. Lloyd and Presea carve new panpipes from the large nuts on the tree; Genis plays the pipes and Sheena has Sylph carry the sound on the wind. Aska appears, and they ask him to return to Luna at the Tower of Mana.
Kratos is waiting for them before the seal at the Tower of Mana and warns them that if they form the final pact, the protection around the Great Seed will be lost. However, Yuan also shows up to say that’s exactly what they want and attacks Kratos to open the way to the seal; Lloyd’s group continues to the altar. They have Luna and Aska annul the pact with Mithos and make a new pact with Sheena, securing the fall of the final mana link.
Yuan and Kratos show up at that moment as a great earthquake rocks Sylvarant and enormous tree roots sprout from the Tower of Salvation to run wild. The roots destroy Palmacosta and cover the Tower of Mana; an enormous tree stands where the Tower of Salvation is, with a woman in the centre of the branches. Yuan recognizes her as Martel and Kratos explains that the Great Seed has gone out of control; not only did the Summon Spirits isolate the Great Seed from the outside world and prevent it from growing, but mana links also served as a cage to keep the Great Seed stabilized between the two worlds. Yuan realizes they’ve made a mistake and that the uncontrolled seed will destroy Sylvarant, followed by Tethe’alla. Yuan suggests cutting off the mana flow to the Great Seed, but Kratos says that won’t stop it; he also explains that the tree went out of control because it over-absorbed the mana from Sylvarant’s Summon Spirits. Lloyd then suggests neutralizing the mana with Tethe’alla’s Summon Spirits since they are all opposing elements; Yuan agrees and says they can use the Mana Cannon to fire the mana. Kratos says he’ll pretend he doesn’t know what Yuan has been doing as long as he orders the Renegades to stop firing mana at the tree to prevent it from growing further, and then wants Lloyd’s group to head for the Mana Cannon. However, one of Yuan’s men tells him that the Renegades who infiltrated the Iselia Ranch were executed by Forcystus, so they can’t switch over the mana flow. The group doesn’t trust Kratos to go to the Iselia Human Ranch alone, so Lloyd proposes that Sheena and the Renegades go to the Mana Cannon, while the rest of the group goes with Kratos to the Iselia Ranch. Kratos observes that part of Lloyd’s reasoning is because Chocolat had been taken to the Iselia Ranch. Yuan and the others agree to the plan, and they all set out.
In the meantime, although the giant tree isn't out of control in Tethe'alla, the world is experiencing earthquakes. Mithos is hit by falling rocks when he pushes Tabatha away from the danger.
Lloyd’s group infiltrates the ranch; Raine says they don’t have the time to destroy it in addition to everything else, so they release the captives first. Chocolate is with them, and Lloyd tells her to just consider herself saved by the Chosen instead of him. The group splits into two teams to lead the captives out and stop the mana flow; Lloyd’s group heads for the mana reactor. They run into Forcystus there and defeat him, and he falls into the mana reactor below. They reconfigure the settings and return outside to meet up with the others. Forcystus make a reappearance and attacks Lloyd from behind. He aims a shot at Chocolat, which Colette takes in her place; Lloyd recovers in time to finish off Forcystus. When he turns back to Colette though, she’s insisting nobody look at her exposed skin, which is crystallized. Kratos urges Lloyd to send the message to Sheena before worrying about Colette, and he does so. At the signal, Sheena summons all of Tethe’alla’s spirits to charge the Mana Cannon, which they fire at the Giant Tree. The tree is neutralized and disappears, though they also hear a cry from Martel at the same time. Mithos wakes up again at Altessa’s House; Kratos and Yuan confirm that both the Great Seed and Martel are intact and stabilized in the Holy Ground of Kharlan once more. Colette passes out and Raine proposes that they take her to Iselia, since that’s her home and the captives need somewhere to go. Lloyd reluctantly agrees and Yuan says he’ll send Sheena there.
Iselia & Dirk’s House
Lloyd tells Phaidra (Colette’s grandmother) the truth about Cruxis, and she tells them that the Tower of Salvation has disappeared from Sylvarant; Kratos says that the Cruxis core system may have malfunctioned. Raine is concerned that the people of Sylvarant will blame the failure of the Journey of Regeneration on Colette, who is still alive where other failed Chosens all died. They decide to see what’s going on in the village and have a run-in with the mayor, who rants about everything from Lloyd and Genis returning after being banished and Colette failing to Raine and Genis being half-elves, who he blames for the Desian attack on the village. He also rejects bringing the ranch prisoners to the village, but then Chocolat interjects to tell him off and support Lloyd and the others. The other villagers also speak up in defense of Lloyd, Colette, Genis, and Raine; Raine abruptly runs off. The villagers decide to take in the prisoners and let everyone rest there regardless of the mayor; Chocolat also forgives and thanks Lloyd. The group finds Raine again where her and Genis’ house was.
At the entrance of the village, they also find a recovered Colette. Kratos says he is bringing her to Dirk on Colette’s family’s request, so the others come too, though Kratos warns that curing Colette may be beyond Dirk’s ability since he was not a member of Cruxis. Just as warned, Dirk says he doesn’t know anything about Cruxis Crystals but encourages them to rest there. Lloyd tries to question Kratos some more about his goals before he leaves, and though he dodges most questions, he tells Lloyd to research the Ancient Kharlan War and to remember the words of the unicorn at Lake Umacy. He leaves; Sheena returns, and they decide to head back to Tethe’alla to talk to Altessa.
Altessa’s House, Sybak, & Meltokio
Mithos is recovering from his injuries from saving Tabatha there; Genis gives him the new panpipes that they had made to replace the broken ones. Altessa explains that Colette is suffering from Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium, a disease caused by rejection of the Cruxis Crystal that occurs in about one in every million people. However, the cure was lost long ago, so like Kratos he suggests researching records of the Ancient War. Regal suggests an archive building in Sybak dedicated to the history of the hero Mithos, and Mithos offers to show them there.
They find a book about the hero Mithos and learn that one of his companions was afflicted with the disease, but was cured by the unicorn. The Unicorn Horn alone won’t work, so they want to research further, and Mithos mentions that the royal family has most of the records on the Ancient War. They decide to go to Meltokio and Mithos volunteers to return to Altessa by himself; Zelos privately wonders if the group really believes him.
Heading through the Meltokio sewers, they overhear Vharley accepting money from a Papal Knight and assuring him that his poison will kill the king for the Pope soon. Raine suggests that the king will be in their debt if they save him, and Presea cuts down Vharley, who dies, before they continue to the city’s cathedral to confront the Pope. The Pope tries to deny everything, but Raine threatens to give him the poison they got off of Vharley, and he admits that the antidote is in his desk, which Colette finds. Genis then asks him why he encouraged oppression of half-elves when Kate is his daughter, and he declares that they are shunned because they age differently from humans; he also claims that Zelos interfered in his project to banish half-elves and that those who are different should be eliminated. He calls the guards, saying that even if the Chosen dies, they still have Zelos’ sister. He escapes as some Papal Knights show up, but the group dispatches them and follows him into the castle. They trick some more Papal Knights with Colette’s angelic wings to make them believe the church wants them to trust the Chosen again, so the group is no longer wanted by the church, and then they go to the king. Raine administers the antidote and he recovers; they explain the situation and he reluctantly gives them access to the archive.
There, they find a book written in ancient elven that Raine reads; it describes the technique for curing Colette’s illness: Zircon and a Mana Fragment are fused with Boltzmann’s technique to create a Rune Crest that prevent erosion of the Cruxis Crystal, and fibers from Mana Leaf Herb are placed in the crest to protect the body from crystallization. Raine warns that they don’t have much time before the disease progresses and Colette dies. Regal says they can look into obtaining Zircon at the Lezareno Company, while Raine remembers hearing about Mana Leaf Herb in Heimdall, though Zelos says they need a permit from the king to enter the elven village. As for the Mana Fragment, Colette believes it may be found in Derris-Kharlan based on one of the scriptures she read. Lloyd decides they should leave it for last and get the other two components first. Zelos gets the princess to request a permit from the king, which they obtain.
Exire, Ymir Forest, Heimdall, Latheon Gorge, Altamira, & Sybak
(The scenes in Exire are an optional sidequest but important for Raine and Genis’ backstory)
Exire is a city that floats in the skies of Tethe’alla; the group can run into it on the way to gather materials for Colette’s Rune Crest. The city is populated almost entirely by half-elves. The mayor calls Raine ‘Virginia’, which is her elven mother’s name, and they learn that Virginia is in the city but the mayor urges them not to see her. Raine wants to find her, though, so they locate her house but find Virginia lost in a state of fantasy. She cradles a doll that she calls Raine and doesn’t recognize the real Raine or Genis. Raine grows angry and blows up at her; Virginia grows upset but ignores her words, and Raine runs out in tears. Outside, they meet with the mayor again, who explains that he found Virginia and her human husband Kloitz collapsed of exhaustion in the Ymir Forest. Kloitz had been dispatched from Meltokio to investigate Heimdall but stayed there when he and Virginia fell in love; a half-elf tried to sell Kloitz out to the soldiers, and fighting broke out between the elves and half-elves. The family was banished from the village as the cause of the incident and travelled place to place, but then Raine and Genis ended up abandoned, and Kloitz apparently died of an illness soon after they were taken in at Exire, after which Virginia began to lose her mind. Raine goes off on a rant about her, but he says that Virginia had hoped they would be happy if they made it to Sylvarant and that she can come get Virginia’s diary from him if she wants. They go to read the diary, and find out that the Imperial Research Academy had been chasing the family because they wanted Raine, which was why they could never stay in one place. Virginia hadn’t wanted her children to live like slaves, which was why she chose to send them through the Otherworldly Gate; Genis is overjoyed that it wasn’t because Virginia hated them. Raine chooses to keep the diary.
Moving on, they make it to the Ymir Forest, which Raine recognizes as the path to Heimdall. They find Kratos leaving Heimdall and try to question why he keeps giving them hints, but he dodges the questions and tells them to hurry before leaving. The elven guards accept the permit but refuse to let half-elves in regardless, so Raine and Genis wait outside. The guards also warn that talk celebrating Mithos as a hero is forbidden. They ask the elf elder for help, who mentions Martel and Kratos when he learns of Colette’s sickness but won’t explain further. He tells them that Mana Leaf Herb grows in Latheon Gorge and gives them his staff to show the watchman. They meet up with Genis and Raine again as they leave the village.
In Latheon Gorge, they meet an elven storyteller who shows them where the Mana Leaf Herb can be found. They retrieve it and return to the storyteller, who tells them that he lives there so he can pass on the tales of the hero Mithos away from the village’s taboo. They ask about Mithos, and he tells them that Mithos was a half-elf who was cast out of Heimdall. He had three companions, one human and the others half-elves, who helped him end the Ancient War so that he could return to Heimdall. Genis presumes he’s considered taboo in Heimdall just for being a half-elf, but the storyteller corrects him by declaring that Mithos is a fallen hero: Mithos Yggdrasill and his companions Martel, Yuan, and Kratos betrayed Origin and used the power of the Eternal Sword to split the world in two. Lloyd is stunned, but they realize that Origin and his magic sword may be the key to restoring the worlds’ original form.
They go to the Lezareno Company Headquarters in Altamira next to look up information about Zircon in the archive. Before they can read about the shipment, though, Kuchinawa steals the record since he’s still out for revenge against Sheena even if the Pope and Vharley are finished. Sheena proposes they have a one-on-one duel to settle things later; Kuchinawa agrees, and Sheena trades Corrine’s bell for the document as proof of her challenge. They learn that Zircon was shipped to the Imperial Research Academy in Sybak. (At this point, another optional sidequest can be undertaken where they rescue the princess from the Pope and Zelos asks the king to repeal the laws against half-elves.) They can freely enter the academy now, so they get some Zircon there. Next, all that’s left is the Mana Fragment, which they need to get from Derris-Kharlan, Cruxis’ base.
Southeast Abbey, Tower of Salvation, & Welgaia
Before they go to Derris-Kharlan, they need to go to Southeast Abbey to get Zelos’ Cruxis Crystal from his sister. Seles acts (badly) cold towards him but is secretly worried, and Zelos seems to believe she hates him and thinks of him as an obstacle. With the crystal in possession, they head for Tethe’alla’s Tower of Salvation. Zelos opens the way at the tower, with the others noting he’s acting more obnoxious than usual, and they enter the tower to find that it looks exactly the same on the inside as Sylvarant’s tower, including the pillar that was smashed. Kratos is waiting for them and says they’ll take Colette as Martel’s vessel; additional angels appear and take the group captive.
It seems that they’re imprisoned while the angels prepare Colette’s treatment, and they wonder if Kratos only used them to get the materials needed. Regal breaks the bars on the cell and they escape into the city of Welgaia, which is populated by angels. Raine suggests they all act as Colette’s prisoners. They find a warehouse but the guard won’t give them a Mana Fragment until he gets a message that a courier is picking one up for Kratos, and the group claims to be the couriers. They find a large transporter but can’t get past without identification, so they look for another way out of the city. Along the way, they find an information terminal that gives some details on Derris-Kharlan and the Eternal Sword, which Yggdrasill obtained through the pact with Origin. They then locate the emergency exit, but are discovered as imposters and pursued by the angels as they go through. They have to descend the Tower of Salvation back to the bottom floor, where they wonder if the sword embedded in the floor has been the Eternal Sword all along. Lloyd is unable to touch it, though, and Yggdrasill appears to lecture them that they don’t have the right to wield it—that is, they haven’t made the pact with Origin. He explains that mana shortages originally came about because of magitechnology, so the current system prevents the world from progressing and developing technology too far, which was why he split the world in two. However, they blame him for sacrificing the Great Seed to save Martel and Genis agrees. Yggdrasill claims that he is aiming to use Exspheres to turn everyone into lifeless beings to end discrimination, trying to persuade Genis that people will stop treating half-elves differently is everyone is the same. However, he tries to take Colette, so the group tries to fight him off. Genis hits him with magic when he’s momentarily distracted, and Pronyma appears and tries to strike down Genis; Yggdrasill takes the hit for him, though, and since something has come up, he leaves. He dropped something that Genis picks up, which turns out to be the panpipes he had given to Mithos; he hides them from the others.
Altessa’s House & Flanoir
They hurry back to Altessa’s house and Raine instructs him on the process to make the Rune Crest, which he crafts. While the others wait, Zelos notes that Lloyd and Genis are both gloomy and Mithos tries to get Genis to tell him what’s wrong. Altessa lets them know that Colette’s treatment was successful, so Zelos insists that Lloyd eat some food; Genis tells Mithos that he believes they’re friends. After eating, Lloyd quickly becomes tired and goes to bed. He’s woken in the middle of the night by Yuan, he says he can meet his father and forces him outside. Some of the Renegades are outside along with Kratos, and Yuan tells Lloyd to be quiet even though the drug should have the others sleeping soundly. Lloyd, thinking Yuan is referring to Dirk, demands to know what he’s done, but Yuan instead tells Kratos to release Origin’s seal if he values his son’s life. Lloyd refuses to believe it; Kratos gives no response and Yuan threatens to kill Lloyd. He approaches Kratos and Lloyd rushes him from behind, but he dodges and fires a shot at Lloyd, which Kratos takes instead. Kratos expresses his relief that Lloyd is all right, and Lloyd breaks down. Colette rushes out and encourages him; Lloyd calms down and thanks Kratos but says he can’t call him his father yet. He says he won’t give up until he can find a way for everyone to live.
Mithos then emerges from the house and blasts away the Renegades, knocking Yuan down as well. Yuan calls him Yggdrasill and demands to know how he found out; he mocks Yuan and explains he had Pronyma keep tabs on Kratos for suspicion of leaking information to Lloyd’s group. Expressing his disgust that the Renegades had been led by Yuan all along, he claims that he’s only sparing Yuan’s life because of his sister’s wishes, and then kicks him while he lies on the ground. The others wake up at this point and come outside; Genis is shocked that Mithos is really Yggdrasill, and Mithos claims he didn’t trust Genis and fires a blast at Presea. Altessa takes the hit instead, and Tabatha insists that Mithos had saved her; Mithos angrily blasts Tabatha, too, saying she’s a failed vessel who couldn’t accept his sister’s soul. Genis stops Lloyd from attacking Mithos, and Pronyma asks Yggdrasill to leave it to the angels since his wounds haven’t healed. He agrees, and some angels attack as he leaves. The group defeats them and Raine tries to heal Altessa.
In the meantime, Lloyd realizes that Yuan was trying to form the pact with Origin to use the Eternal Sword, and Yuan confirms this, also saying that he tried to force Kratos’ cooperation once he learned of Lloyd’s relation to him. He also says that Mithos’ vision is a twisted interpretation of Martel’s last wish, and explains that the seal on Origin can only be undone by releasing the mana from Kratos’ body, which would likely kill him. Before leaving to evacuate the Renegades, he tells Lloyd that only half-elves can wield the Eternal Sword. By morning, Raine says she did as much as she could with the Unicorn Horn but Altessa still needs a doctor. Sheena suggests a good doctor in Flanoir, so they head there.
Zelos disappears at the entrance to the city; they find him mumbling to himself about Aionis and a ring of the pact in front of the doctor’s hospital, where he tells them they’re late when he sees them. They get the doctor to agree to see Altessa, and he leaves with four of the party members as an escort while the others remain in Flanoir.
(At this point, the player can choose the party member with whom Lloyd can have a special scene, including Kratos. The choices are based on affection levels. Picking Kratos has the most significant change on the story, and I’ll be going with this route.)
They all regroup the next morning; the doctor and some people of Mizuho are with Altessa, who has pulled through. Lloyd declares that he’d like to attack Cruxis to prevent Mithos from realizing his Age of Lifeless Beings and to form the pact with Origin, although he admits he isn’t sure what to do about Kratos yet. Zelos says that Lloyd can wield the Eternal Sword if, like Zelos, he receives magic injections. Lloyd tries to get Colette to stay behind but she insists on coming along as well, and Zelos agrees, so Lloyd changes his mind. On their way out of the city, Lloyd asks Zelos if he can really trust him. (If anybody besides Kratos is chosen, Lloyd tells Zelos that he does trust him.)
Tower of Salvation
They find the entrance to the Tower of Salvation blocked by angels, but Yuan leads them into a side passage since he has no other choice but to work with them now that he was found out by Yggdrasill. They get inside the ground floor of the tower and Zelos tricks Colette into being separated from the others and standing on a magic circle so that some angels and Pronyma can capture her. It’s revealed that Zelos was leaking information to both Cruxis and Renegades and he betrays them because he wants to be released from being the Chosen. As Pronyma takes Colette away, Zelos fights the group using angelic powers and they are forced to kill him. (He only dies in the Kratos path.) Before he dies, he tells them Colette is below them, in the Hall of the Great Seed.
They continue to a magic circle that warps them to a different area so they can descend the tower, which is infested with root remnants of the out-of-control Giant Tree, and save Colette. In the meantime, Raine has a private discussion with Regal about prioritizing Lloyd’s safety since his special Exsphere is their best hope against Yggdrasill. As they descend the tower, they run into traps that cause everyone to sacrifice themselves for Lloyd, one at a time: Regal holds off a swarm of angels, Sheena and Presea are caught by the tree’s roots, Raine has to operate a console to open a door that also cuts her off and causes the room to collapse, and Genis is caught between forcefields when he helps Lloyd get out but can’t follow in time.
Lloyd comes to a door that would be sealed if not for Kratos’ blade jammed into it, and he gets through to find Yggdrasill in the process of fusing Colette with Martel. Yggdrasill goes to attack Lloyd but he’s stopped by all the other party members showing up, who were rescued from their traps by Kratos. (If Zelos lives, he rescues them.) Yggdrasill blames Pronyma and orders her to stop them, but they defeat her. Yggdrasill finishes her off when she begs him to save her, as he is just completing Colette’s fusion with Martel. Martel awakens in Colette’s body but chastises Mithos for what he has done and tries to get him to stop, but he thinks she’s rejecting him and loses his mind. Kratos shows up and does something with Colette’s Cruxis Crystal, causing Martel to leave her body again, though she asks Mithos to return the world to its original form. Kratos also gives Lloyd a ring that, if refined with dwarven techniques, will allow him to wield the Eternal Sword. Having snapped, Mithos twists Martel’s request and decides to take the Great Seed to Derris-Kharlan and leave the world behind. In order to stop him, the group takes on Yggdrasill and defeats him. He apparently dies, leaving behind the Cruxis Crystal, which Genis picks up. Kratos departs again after telling Lloyd he’ll be waiting before Origin’s seal. Lloyd decides to depart for Heimdall.