Moving on in the Stella Sanctuary. Next boss is Ines, who thinks that the playing field is even now that we have Duvalie. You think a lot of yourself, huh. Crow has a great line to this effect: "The sass is strong with this one." Duvalie drops a reveal that Ines used to be a bracer and belonged to a disgraced military family. She apparently couldn't tolerate the idea that bracers couldn't meddle in political affairs, so when she saw Arianrhod mercilessly execute a criminal ringleader to protect innocent people, she realized this was the person she needed to follow. All the Stahlritter were enamored by her sense of justice, which is why Duvalie needs to know why she's doing this.
We have to defeat a couple of archaisms again, but unlike Ennea, Ines fights alongside them. The archaisms are no problem, but Ines proves to be quite annoying because she repeatedly uses a craft that has perfect shield and HP regen, as well as canceling out her break damage, so it prolongs the fight a good bit, but she eventually goes down. Afterwards, Juna thinks it's strange Ines was a bracer but joined Ouroboros. Fie says that donations and outside financial aid are what keep the guild going, but it doesn't mean they're always driven by justice. It was good to have Fie here to provide some additional commentary. Duvalie says that people's ideas of justice vary and even clash at times, but that's why she's here.
Now it's finally time to face the woman, the myth, the legend herself. She's wearing her helmet again, declaring that she is not Lianne Sandlot. She is now the Seventh Anguis of Ouroboros, the faceless Awakener of the Argent Knight. Right now, they are fellow challengers in the Rivalries. Rean says Arianrhod knows what true evil looks like, so he doesn't understand why she joined Ouroboros and why she's helping them destroy the world. She replies that it's a combo of her pride, regret, and something she couldn't remove from her heart (presumably her love and devotion to Dreichels).
Arianrhod explains that Dreichels feared the darkness of the Ebon Knight would haunt his soul for eternity, so she chose to wait for his reincarnation to ensure his fears didn't come true. Around the time she learned the truth about Osborne, she received an invitation to join Ouroboros. She didn't intend to join them, but they told her of an imminent catastrophe that would befall the world. She attempted to intervene, but Osborne bonded with the Ebon Knight before she could stop him. With that, she joined Ouroboros, with the goal of one day winning the Rivalries and destroying Ishmelga once and for all. All the characters are impressed with her goal, and I kinda agree with them! I wasn't expecting for her to come out of this looking good, and somehow she has!
Upon hearing that, Roselia appears and asks Arianrhod why she never told her any of this. She said that Dreichels told her humanity has to solve their own problems instead of relying on higher powers. He didn't want to repeat the mistakes they made with the Sept-Terrions. Plus, he was too proud to beg for help in the first place. In reality, it was the same for Arianrhod. She couldn't bring herself to place such a heavy burden on someone she considered a dear friend. Now Duvalie feels like she understands. She sacrificed herself for the future of the entire Empire. She had no desire to bring about the Great Twilight, but it was the only way she could accomplish her true goal.
However, while Duvalie respects Arianrhod's kindness and compassion, she feels she's made a serious mistake. This involves all of them, so she was wrong to try to bear the burden alone. With that, she removes the helmet, intending to put Duvalie's resolve to the test. She tells us we have no idea of the true horror of the Ebon Knight's curse, and time is running out. Rean activates ogre mode before the fight even starts to prove he's game enough to match Arianrhod's resolve.
This is a long fight because she has a lot of HP. Her S-Craft was pretty fantastic. Her Saint's Aura is crazy because it ups all her stats AND heals 50,000 HP! She made us earn the win and Duvalie got the last strike in, so that was nice!
Gotta go for now, but hopefully we can finish this part off later tonight!
