Quesada's Swan

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

I'm feeling like something bad's about to happen here...I just know it.

We make it, and at the corner of the cape, we see princessias blooming under a tree.

Laphi and Velvet sit down by the princessias.

Velvet mentions this place never changes. Laphi knows that if only one factor changes: the wind, the sea, or the seasons, so does the whole place.

Laphi knows that those changes also apply "across the sea." Velvet doesn't know what he's talking about.

Laphi thanks her for taking him out to the cape.

Velvet asks Laphi the same question Arthur asked her: "Do you know why it is that birds fly?" Is that question some sort of code?

Laphi answers that a bird flies so it can easily find food or get away from predators.

Laphi notices something...uh oh, it's a daemon!

Velvet tells him to be brave and run!

Hoo boy, our first match with a daemon! And it's weak against hidden artes!

But we can't do any damage to the daemon!

Velvet now lunges at the daemon with her blade...oh my god!

Laphi now baits the daemon to him! Oh my god!

Laphi, almost unconscious, gives Velvet a comb...so that's what Laphi bought from the merchant!

She crawls to him, and oh god, the daemon's coming!

The daemon's about to strike, with Velvet shielding Laphi...

---

...But Arthur finishes it off!

Velvet's knocked out now, and is back in the cabin...

Laphi apologizes, and hands her the comb...he compliments her hair, and tells her to take care of it. Laphi hugs Velvet.

Laphicet: "I'll make a new world. A world where my sister can be happy."

Now the Scarlet Night comes...Velvet wakes up in shock!

Velvet: "Was it all a dream?" She sees the comb.

Velvet: "No, it wasn't!" She runs out of bed...oh no, the daemon's on the roof of the cabin!

And he has reinforcements! Oh no...

Velvet runs out of the cabin and tries to find Laphicet.

This feels like a horror movie. It's pretty unusual for a Tales game.

Oh my god, all of the villagers are dead...

Oh my god...

---

The gate to Morgana Woods is surrounded by daemons!

I have Velvet head to the Tranquil Woods gate after saving!

But I get caught into a battle with more daemons!

A tutorial tells me I can escape by running to the blue line and keep running until a gauge fills up...

I make it, and go to the Tranquil Woods...

But there's more of them!

I have Velvet keep running, making it to the save point before the cape's incline!

There's Laphicet and Arthur in front of the shrine ruins!

Arthur: "One more sentiment to cast off."

I knew it! Knowing these games, there's going to be a betrayal somewhere!

Laphicet tells Velvet to run!

Seres uses her fire magic on Velvet, pinning her down...

Arthur: "Here once was the seal to the underworld broken. And tonight, here shall be born the power to save the world. With Laphicet's life as a sacrifice."

What!?

---

Arthur lodges the sword on the shrine ruins...and Laphicet is trapped in a golden bubble, unconscious...

Laphicet's now being cast off as a sacrifice...Arthur stabs his sword into the arte diamond.

Oh my god! So that's similar to the image who was pinned in the sky that I saw at the start of the game!

I'm guessing Arthur may have done this to Celica seven years ago...oh my god...

Velvet's in shock!

Laphicet falls...

She jumps down and grabs Laphicet!

Arthur: "Ever a slave to emotion." Oh my good lord...

With cold eyes, he sees Velvet and Laphicet sink down into the abyss below. A fanged mouth opens and golden dragons take Laphicet...

The dragons come out of the abyss and kick out Velvet, who now has a left arm that I saw from the beginning of the game.

This really sounds Count of Monte Cristo-like, except there are no jealous "friends," only a knight templar willing to sacrifice even his loved ones...

---

Here we go...

The daemons now come, and she takes care of them, and absorbs them with her arm. Arthur, cold as ice, notices, and calls her a therion.

She now mauls the daemons with her new arm in anger...

So the daemons were the villagers. Oh my god...Niko's gone too...

Arthur mentions that the daemonblight has spread in Aball...oh god...

Artorius Collbrande, you templar.

Velvet lunges at him, but is stopped by Seres, who we can now see.

The comb's now in Seres's hands too.

And new beings are summoned.

Artorius: "Why is it that birds fly?" So that sounds like a coded question...

Artorius: "I ask no forgiveness. The sin is mine to bear." He stabs her.

Velvet: "Artorius!!!"

There's so many questions I have about what just happened, but one that stands out is:
Was Laphicet aware that he was going to be a sacrifice?