Chapter 20: The Crimson Prophecy’s End

Reynn and Lann complete their climb, reaching the pinnacle of the Crystal Tower where they enter a mysterious—yet familiar—area. Here, they uncover a final revelation regarding the Crimson Prophecy…

Fulfill the Crimson Prophecy

The chapter begins with the twins entering the elementally locked barrier at the top of the Crystal Tower, revealing a mysterious and beautiful area. When you’re ready, approach the large circular apparatus up the stairs ahead to trigger a cutscene, followed by your first encounter with the main villain, Brandelis.

New Miniventures

• A Plight for Sore Eyes
• Research Assistant

Boss Battle: Brandelis

This encounter with Brandelis is relatively straightforward. He has access to all of the primary elemental ALL-targeting spells (such as Blaze and Tsunami) and Flare (neutral magic damage), so preparing your stacks to resist all of these elements isn’t entirely practical. Your best bet is to have the Shell spell (or Shell spellstones) available so you can halve all of the magic damage he inflicts.

Alternatively, you can cast Reflect on your party members to prevent all of this damage while dealing it back to him. Since you can’t cast Cure spells on Reflect-buffed allies, be sure to bring HP restoration items like hi-potions in case any damage gets through from his normal physical attacks.

Although Brandelis is immune to most status ailments, he is susceptible to Slow. Keeping him slowed helps mitigate a significant amount of damage, so you may want to delegate one of your party members to Slow duty (with the spell, a Slow-inflicting ability, or the spider silk item).

Brandelis isn’t weak to any particular element, so use your strongest physical and magical attacks to deal damage (like the kupicaroon’s Kuparrr! ability or the Flare spell). Keep whittling away at his HP (he has roughly 35,000) while keeping your party members healed up until he eventually keels over in defeat. A lengthy and revealing cutscene follows.

Revelations

It seems the Crimson Prophecy was an intricate lie that Segwarides developed, tricking the twins into using their powers to open the Ultima Gate and allowing machines known as Cogna to invade Grymoire. Although the situation looks grim, the Champions come to the rescue, freeing the kidnapped summoners and escaping with the Mirage Keepers to the League of S headquarters, Balamb Garden.

Once you’re in control of the party in Balamb Garden, you can return to Nine Wood Hills for a breather (and to view an optional, missable sequence). Back in Sylver Park, Tama can be seen deeply contemplating in the background. If you try to use the Gate to teleport, a cutscene plays, with Reynn and Lann noting that they must explore Balamb Garden while Tama’s mind wanders. Essentially, the rest of Grymoire is off limits until you meet with Quistis.

To progress the story, teleport to Balamb Garden from the Gate and approach Quistis to meet everyone else on the deck. Shelke gives a briefing involving the invading Cogna machines and another unleashed threat known as the Dyad’s Servants.

When you’re in control of the party after the briefing, you can pick up the “A Plight for Sore Eyes” quest from the Lilikin nearby. If you have the three eye drops necessary, turn them in for a reward of three remedy+ (consider holding on to these for a certain future boss battle). Then, talk to Quistis to return to Balamb Garden. There’s another quest you can undertake here near the Gate. Accept “Research Assistant” and turn it in to receive a fire spellstone if you already have three bomb fragments on you. Otherwise, you can always turn the quest in through the Miniventures tab in the Adventure Log later.

Next, return to Nine Wood Hills through the Gate. You most likely need to resupply at the Chocolatte Mart after all of the fighting you did on the Crystal Tower, so visit the store while you’re back home if necessary. You can also check in with the Girl in the Tearoom if you want to complete outstanding Intervention Quests.

Otherwise, enter Plaza 99 for a cutscene with Tama explaining what Cogna are, as well as the motives of the Exnine Knights. Much is revealed, but there’s also much left to be explained. Hauyn might have information, so your next objective is to head back to the Balamb Garden Deck. Use the main Gate in Sylver Park to travel to Balamb Garden, then enter the deck for a scene between the twins and Hauyn.

Unfortunately, speaking to Hauyn just raises even more questions as she lashes out at the twins for something they’ve done in their past.

The only logical thing left for the twins to do is to continue gathering Mirages while helping the League of S defend Grymoire. Quistis requests their aid in combating the invading Cogna army and gives Reynn and Lann access to an airship. After the cutscene, this brief story chapter ends, and two additional Champion Medals (Yuna’s and Terra’s) are available for purchase from the Girl.