The atmosphere of the Osgiliath Basin is pretty great. We find a Trial Chest requiring Ash and Altina, and this one powers up Ash's Brave Order. You can see the black Pleroma Grass from afar off, which is a cool touch. When we reach the bottom of the basin, the landing craft from the Pantagruel is there waiting for us, carrying Musse and Aurelia. Can we just have Aurelia join the party and leave Musse behind? Musse's real name has another Spanish J in it, so maybe it is just a Zemurian thing in general...?
Juna isn't buying Musse's "new introduction" for her "new identity." She explains that Musse was a nickname her parents gave her, but when they died and her uncle became the new Duke Cayenne, she was shipped off to Heimdallr. She says that her keen insight told her that he would one day lead Erebonia to civil war. To her, it only made sense with how he was planning to use the house's assets, along with Erebonia's general direction and leadership under Osborne. She does admit that she didn't foresee the supernatural elements like Ouroboros and the Divine Knights, so there's that, at least!
Aurelia says that when Musse was able to predict every twist and turn of the Northern War, she was convinced that she needed to be the next head of House Cayenne. However, even she admits she's intimidated by her ambition and accuracy. Fie says she can't be clairvoyant, so she wonders what enables her to do this. She says she's able to see how all the pieces interact, and most importantly, the goal of the one who controls the game board. In other words, she's able to flip the chessboard and see things from the other perspective?! What, is she Battler or is she Beatrice?
Regardless, she knows Osborne is the one who controls that board. Olivert was aware of this as well, and so he did everything he could to stop him. However, Musse says that even Olivert didn't grasp the full extent of Osborne's plans, so she started devising plans of her own. Ah, so it was her idea for Aurelia to be the principal of the branch campus. That always did feel like a strange career move. She says she plans to use the Weissland Army to stop Operation Jormungandr.
Kurt wonders how Musse plans to stand against such a massive force. Altina asks if the two women we met at the lodge are part of their plans, too, and Aurelia says it must be fate that New Class VII ran into them. I'm guessing that they're planning on gathering dissenters from North Ambria and Remiferia to join the Weissland Army as well. Fie says that even if she succeeds, it'll be a lot of casualties, and Musse admits she expects hundreds of thousands of deaths, possibly millions in the worst case. Musse says you can't beat the Imperial Army head on at this point, between their sheer numbers, their technology, their alliance with Ouroboros, and the Great Twilight. The longer the war goes on, the more Erebonians will be consumed by the curse.
Musse presented these other nations an ultimatum: They can do nothing and allow themselves to be swallowed up by the Empire, or join her in one final effort to stop the end of the world, no matter the cost. I gotta admit, she's way better as Lady Mildene than she was as Musse. She says she won't reveal her predictions yet, but she's banking on humanity showing their true colors and true strength in the end as the deciding factor. Hey, betting on humanity worked in Mass Effect, so why not!
Juna is still confused as to why Musse joined Class VII in the first place with all of these other machinations in mind. It would've been better for her to stay behind the scenes, and even if she were at the branch campus, she didn't need to be part of Class VII. To Juna, it seems like an unnecessary risk. Musse says her goal was to get close to the chancellor's son, thinking he might have some connection to the curse. Juna ain't buyin' it though, and neither is Kurt. She didn't need to do any of that herself, including meeting with New Class VII right now. Altina says she felt a warmth inside Musse when they were in the Gral, and she couldn't have faked that. She believes her feelings about Class VII are genuine. Ash admits her plan is probably the best shot to stop Osborne, but she wonders if she can live with herself afterwards and bets she wishes there was another way.
Juna says that Musse is still just an ordinary girl beneath her Lady Mildene persona, and there's no way she could be okay with millions of people dying because of her plan. Fie says that Musse couldn't come up with a plan that didn't involve a huge sacrifice, and so she spilled her guts to Class VII in hopes of coming up with a better solution. Musse is about to finally crack, but the main campus interrupts, led by Cedric and Major Irving. Is Michael's voice different? Maybe I just don't remember what he sounded like in CS3. He points a sniper rifle at us, but that isn't all that great for close range combat.
Cedric says the Intelligence Division clued them in that everyone would be here, and now they're here to arrest us. Cedric is incredibly smug as usual, saying they've got a sniper trained on Aurelia, so victory is assured. Musse refuses to back down now that she's found a new potential path and loses the hair extensions in the process. Kurt channels Auron and says this isn't where their story ends. Cedric continues being smug, so now we have to beat him down and put him in his place.
The boss fight is stupid because Shirley insta-KOs two characters immediately with one of her Crafts. Because of that, it was basically impossible to win the fight within 40 turns, although I had gotten everyone except Fritz somehow by that point. Kurt puts Cedric in his place by saying that in order to do his duty, he has to protect Cedric from himself. This prompts Cedric to summon the Vermillion Knight because he's a poor loser. Musse thankfully happens to have a Spiegel on hand for Kurt to use. This fight isn't all that tough, and even Cedric's classmates are starting to question how unhinged he's gotten.
Old Class VII shows up in the nick of time to save the day, and Musse summons the Pantagruel for good measure. Vita had been keeping it cloaked the whole time, it seems. Finally, Cedric backs down and everyone retreats with him. Roselia shows up to remind us about the singularity once again, and now we have five marked. They manage to tempt Musse into rejoining the party, and with that, we're finally done with chapter 2 as we return to Eryn. Oh hey, Rean's got a tattered coat, kinda like Seifer in FFVIII by the end. Nice touch. The blacked out faces with pained expressions remind me of something out of Umineko. Also I wonder what his name is supposed to be in Japanese there.
Anyway, Chapter 2 wasn't quite as good as Chapter 1, but a solid climax once again and we're building to something good, for sure.
