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Nova nodded at Grace. That was a good point. Particularly if Alexander could raise shadows.

In fact, it jogged his memory about his conversation with Dayle. "So, I heard from a local who resisted Alexander's corruptive influence. He basically said having a mental anchor — someone you care about at the front of your thoughts — allowed him to fend off the shadows. You think that could help us?"
 
"That... makes sense..." Owen glanced at Grace at Nova's remark, then sighed. "...Maybe... the kind of darkness that Alexander takes advantage of, it's easier to resist if you have friends trying to support you? That might help... Or maybe that's how it helps in general? I don't know..."

"Thinking about friends in battle can be distracting," Mhynt admitted. "But... perhaps distractions are a necessary evil when dealing with that kind of force."

Owen was uneasy. Grace's presence further helped calm him, but it was a losing battle. Still, it seemed like he was in a good enough state to continue answering questions.

Acquired information:
If you sacrifice Tempo gains, you can double how much Shadow corruption you lose from Calls and Focuses when battling against Alexander, as well as gain resistance to Alexander's corruption effects.
Click to expand...
 
Nova nodded. "Thanks."

There was only one more think that immediately sprang to mind for him. "So, uh, you mentioned defenses before. What are his defenses like?" Nova wondered. "You think he'll have swarms of Void Shadows to guard him and get in our way like you did?"
 
To that, Owen looked down with a darker expression. This must have been the topic he'd been dreading the most. "It's why I don't... know how you'll win," he said. "Alexander... I don't know how tough he actually is. Not anymore. Because... all the damage you do to him, every wound, every hit... The spirits he has within him now? All those Void Shadows...

"It'll all just heal back. He's invincible." He was shaking, now. It seemed like Owen could only give a bit more information before the Shadows would muddle his mind too much.

Acquired information:
Alexander has sky-high defenses and heals for 3000 HP at the end of each of his turns.
Click to expand...
 
Nova's cheek bolts turned slowly. "Yeah, that does sound grave." He clicked his tongue and glanced at Mhynt. "But what if that's the Voidlands' doing? Like... he's a mighty tree whose roots are planted deep within the dungeons he's taken."

He wedged a claw into the dirt and flicked some in front of him. "Cut off the roots and the tree withers. We've... got allies with radiance." He looked at his teammates. "What if radiance can poison his connections to the dungeons?" Nova looked at Mhynt again. "We practically saw a 'root' for ourselves."

Okay, maybe he'd spent too much time tending to those shrubs outside the cabin.

"I recognize bringing radiance straight into the Voidlands may not be the best thing for Powehi... but sometimes you have to think crazy when your back's against the wall."
 
The power of friendship. Right.

"Well, you said he'll get less cautious and attack harder if we take the arms out, right? So presumably if we get those it'll get easier after that. Do the arms also heal?"
 
Owen looked down, thoughtful. "I don't know," he said. "I've... never seen him get hurt enough to lose an arm once he got to that level of healing. It's too much."

Owen squeezed his eyes shut. "Maybe you can stop it," he said to Nova. "But I just don't know..."

It seemed that thinking about Radiance distressed Owen as if he was allergic to it. Which he probably was at the moment.
 
For all Nova knew, that was the shadows talking.

"Think of it like a battle, then," Nova said. "If we severed Alexander's connections to all these dungeons, what do you think might happen?"
 
As he always did whenever he was deep in thought, Silver kept his silence and nodded once in a while to let the others know he was following the conversation. Trainer instincts kicked the moment he started pouring battle intel into his brain, and he began running a few potential ideas and approaches to hopefully take down that draconian fiend.

So we’re dealing with someone who’s got some freaky, shadowy version of Ingrain, it sounds like… he mused, tapping his chin with a claw. He glanced briefly at Nova, pondering his suggestion to cut Alexander’s ‘roots’ with the Mystery Dungeons with Radiance, then shifted his gaze to the floor, thoughtful.

“Well, if carpet bombing the Voidlands with blasts of divine light and sappy feelings won’t be enough,” he glanced again at Owen, “then how about some psychological warfare? He might be a sturdy fella who can take a bunch of hits, but what about his mental resilience? Is there something we could do to disrupt his focus and, perhaps, expose some weak spot?”
 
"I... don't know if that would work," Owen admitted. "Alexander is strongly set in his ways. He might not even take what you say seriously if he thinks he can topple over you. Everyone else is just a resource to him. Power. Soldiers. Food. Never... people." Owen looked away. "And who listens to their food? But... if he starts feeling vulnerable, like if we mess with his connections... then he'd get aggressive. Yeah. Maybe you could trick him into directing his attacks on the wrong person..."
 
"Mess with his 'connections'? What are those?" Dave asked. "And what other sorts of attacks does he know? You mentioned a Shadow attack that's super effective against Shadows. Any other specific kinds of techniques we can expect, or anything else to be aware of?"

He glanced at Nova. Was he joking? "...As soon as you return home?"
 
wait wait wait wait wait said:
"If it's any consolation, I'm going to die as soon as I return home," Nova nonchalantly said.
Click to expand...

…What.

Silver’s feathers twitched. Did he… hear that correctly or was his lone ear playing a tasteless joke?

Slowly, almost mechanically, he turned toward Nova. Nope. There was no sign of humor or trickery in his eyes and his tone was casual. Too casual. As if what he said was mere, throwaway trivia.

Oh crap he’s serious! said:
"Well, I'll have a few minutes maybe." Nova shrugged. "But it's hard to stop a self-destruct sequence."
Click to expand...

Another twitch of his feathers. What…!

Silver kept staring at Nova, flashing him the blankest, most bewildered stare to ever grace a Sneasel’s face.

image.png


WHAT—?!​
 
"Hang on, what? As in, you were summoned here while in the middle of... some kind of self-destruct countdown?"

...Jesus Christ. Some timing on Betel's part. Maybe Nova could just... stay in Forlas? That was possible, right? Gerome and Jesse Stranger had been here for decades with no ill effects? Just a permanent pause on that self-destruct button?

"...Well, shit. Betel doesn't have to send you back, right?"
 
"He does," Nova said. "I had a choice: my life or the world. I chose the world. And that's what the Comb showed Mhynt."
 
Gladion’s eyes widened subtly but perceptibly with recognition at Owen’s demeanour. Looked like Hazel if she got close enough to bleach or hydrogen peroxide to smell it. He felt like a bit of a dumbass for not figuring off the bat that talking Alexander stuff was gonna put him in a bad place. Given that, he decided to let the people more familiar with Owen do the question-asking.

At least, until Nova pulled his attention back in.

It would've been ideal to hold it together in front of Owen, in case his reaction aggravated his shadows. But he couldn't cover his reaction, only try to downplay it. Do his best to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. He shot Nova a wet-eyed look, his demeanour generally suggesting he'd be crying if he had the tear ducts for it. "You're... Oh." (He wanted to concur with Dave, but he doubted it'd be feasible to keep a soul that would take countless years to naturalize here.)

If they weren't right in public he'd wanna give Nova a fucking hug or something dumb like that, but he couldn't. Maybe they'd get to talk about it some other time.
 
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