Last time we met our heroine she had just activated the second terminal, cleared the second group of stronger-than-most shadows, and moved on to higher levels of Tartarus. This time, however, we do not rejoin her immediately afterwards, but later.
They should work on their stamina.
Broken already, nyah?
Quite. So much for the fabled endurance of japanese monsters.
This is getting tedious.
Please be patient. We should be close now.
Patience is for boring people, nyah.
And for the ugly, too. Being fickle, impulsive, and easily distracted is the right of the beautiful.
Please forgive me, but I fail to see the connection.
Oh, my. Is this what a preschool teacher feels?
Just the one, nyah?
He must be feeling lonely.
It's relatively strong, so be cautious.
Is that relative to us, or relative to the four levels worth of wusses we slaughtered a path through just now?
*sigh* Worry not, Kirijo-San. We will be.
The party advances for a little bit. Upon coming across the local terminal they activate it and return to the entrance to heal and save, then they return to the fourteenth floor and advance against the single enemy waiting for them.
You can win... I'm certain of it.
I am grateful for the vote of confidence, Kirijo-San. I will do my best not to disappoint you.
*giggle*
Please, Miss Lilim. Do not share that thought with us.
Such a boring little mistress. *pout*
It seems you've attracted the guardian's attention. Its Arcana...
Enough is enough.
...is the Chariot.
I may need a little help with this.
Are you serious? This one should be easy enough.
I am very sorry to disappoint you.
*sigh* Alright. The Chariot is all about dominance, asserted will, and unified purpose. Doubt, contradiction, weakness, and all aspects of both self and context are beaten into submission and forced into compliance with the one true will and its thirst for victory over whichever it may be, which is the only one thing it can see.
I understand.
It is also do or die. There is no other consideration than obtaining that which is pursued, and everything standing in the way either jumps out of the way or is anihilated, be it friend or lover or even a part of yourself.
Quite ruthless.
Maybe, but to accept there may be a better way is to lose, to admit defeat before enemies moral and philosophical instead of physical. Existence itself must become a binary state: There is blind victory, and there is anihilation. No other thing can be accepted, no other state can be taken in consideration.
Sounds like a really tasty social link in the making.
Such a behaviour I can not fully endorse even when I understand the reasoning, and the function.
That shit is not going to fly with us, and The Chariot is also about the pilgrim becoming a truly individual entity. This aspect is at times represented as an armored figure: Only her will matters, her own desires and lusts. Inside she is the opresor of everything contrary to her objective, outside she is impervious to all words or reasonings. She is one and herself, and until her will has been done nothing matters but victory.
I never expected ancient lore to endorse being close minded and blind to everything but the desires of the ego, I must say.
It is nyaught but a tool.
There is a time and a place in which is proper, and then one in which it is nothing but dead weight.
Like men.
And ownyers.
To the pilgrim in the one true path there is nothing but devices and contraptions lacking everything but the use she can give them.
I do not know...
And there is one more thing which must be said before we finish this introduction, upon which we may later add and build.
Please, go ahead.
There's simply nyo way The Chariot is Charles Xavier. Nyot in a thousand years, totally nyot. *folds arms, shakes head with conviction* Nyo way, nya.
*tilt head*
Indeed. What she just said.
Another cat?
Nya!
Nya, nya?
Nya, nya nya! Nya!
Just ignore her. Understanding her nature would not be cheap in sanity points.
Alright... I guess.
Anyway, we have a boss to defeat.
You are indeed right. Let us go back.
Do not make the planning stage drag on, please.
There is no need for that, Miss Lilim. I have already made up a plan.
Let's hear it.
I will tell Iori-San his first task is to raise both Yukari-Chan's defense and my own, and then keep it up. He will attack when not doing so, and Yukari-Chan herself will focus entirely on attacking the enemy. We will keep the enemy weakened and take care of all support duties, ourselves.
I'm bored already, nya.
We are almost done here, Miss Nekom...
Tch. Plans' what I'm done with.
Already done? Honey, there is a name for this.
No, there is not. Hush.
And thus our heroine and the party continued forward. The next level was a short and straightforward affair with just a few weak enemies, and then...
More of a closed gate.
A way to open the way up the tower there must be.
I may be able to suggest one or two tricks to turn most locked gates into wide open maws.
My, this is going to be a really long year.
There's a briefcase thingie over there, nya.
Indeed. And what is this inside?
An old paper?
There's something written on it.
Let us read this. "The electricity's hooked up. But, why do they need so much? There's only a school on this island..."
They return to the entrance by means of the terminal on the other side of the room. Once there...
We've climbed up as high as possible; our goal has been achieved for now. Good job.
Thank you for your help and guidance, Kirijo-San.
Then our heroine decides first to go and train some more before going back to the dormitory, but after just a couple of battles...
I'm done with this.
Let us just get five or so more levels before calling it a night.
No is no is no.
Training is very important.
I'm not coming out anyamore tonyaght.
Neither am I.
But...
Nyanyanya, I can't hear you.
*sigh* Alright, you win.