Arterial of Origins: Chapter 3 Walkthrough

<<< Back: Chapter 2
==Retracing Your Steps==
*Atori leaves on her own the next day, ignoring everyone's objections.  She again advises you to go north, to the angels' territory.  After she leaves, heading south, Narumi comments that the demons have their own territory in that direction.
*Now that you're rested up, the group makes plans to retrace its steps back through the shopping area - and hopefully home again.  The girls refuse to stay at the back and be defended, though; apparently they've all taken the liberty of touching the cube to gain powers of their own.
**You get low-level cards for Mirai, Arisa, and Shaneorka.  None of them are much good.
*Now that you no longer have a time limit, you can explore the area you crossed to rescue Mirai in the previous chapter.  As you poke around, Mirai seems a bit feverish, but insists that she'll be all right.
**Take the opportunity to beef up your deck a little bit.  In particular, see if you can snag a couple of Lesser Demons (7/7 and can equip items) from the red demon enemies in the area.
**Head back across the maps you traveled in Chapter 2, looting as you go.  On the way, the angels and demons will discuss how best to use the humans to tip the balance in their war.
*Once you get back to the NTD building (where you first entered the other world), you're interrupted by the arrival of yet another city block - the one with your school on it.  A moment later you discover that the portal you've been using has disappeared, leaving you with no way to return.  The group resolves to make its way to the school and use it for shelter.
**You get a new (and powerful) Narumi card.
==Back to School==
*On the new map, you'll almost immediately have to fight through some zombie students.  Many of them drain the ATK of human cards positioned in front of them.
*A little further in you meet Maki, who's trying to offer some kind of guidance and hope to the humans trapped in the other world.  You have the choice of remaining silent (first option) or telling her about the angels (second option).
**Telling her about the angels will make an event later on a bit easier for you.
**Whatever your choice, you stop in to rest and recuperate at another building.  Shuya has a close encounter with Narumi in the shower.
*At the next target point, you're given the choice of two routes to the school: the direct route (first choice) and a more roundabout detour (second choice). Supposedly the direct route has more enemies.
**Actually, both routes have a number of enemies, but the indirect route gives you more chance to go around them.  In either case, you can return again to explore later.
*Whichever route you choose, after a couple more steps you're attacked again, and Mirai's blood powers awaken.
**You have another custom deck for this battle; Mirai's leader card gains +2 ATK after moving.
**After the battle you gain a new Mirai card, as well as the ability to select her as your partner.
*Moving to the slightly larger dot on the map (with Collapsed Valley 崩れた渓谷 in the pop-up bubble) will reveal a new area where you can meet Ritana.  She decides you smell delicious and calls in her brethren to attack.
**Ritana is weak, but moderately annoying; she and her Sweety minions prevent the card in front of them from moving, while the many skeleton cards in her deck take 2 less damage when blocking.
**If you fight her here, you may be able to recruit her in the next chapter.
**Narumi's Finish Art can soften up the defenders and make it easier to take them out; they also aren't immune to Mirai's Blood Pact ability.
**Ex Boss Hell's Gatekeeper #586/587 is here.
*The next target location has Madoka being assaulted by some more zombie students.  Arisa is having none of it and attacks, revealing her powers of gravity manipulation.
**You get a new Arisa card, giving you the chance to mess around with her new ability.  Right-clicking her and discarding one card from your hand gives her the ability to return the next enemy she hits to the owner's hand - useful for enemies with powerful minions, although it's not so necessary here.
**Afterward, you get a new set of cards for the trio, which power up if all three have cards
*As you (finally) approach the edge of the map, Sayane steps forward and exchanges a few verbal barbs with Narumi, then leaves for parts unknown.
*At the final target point, Madoka leads you past the monster blockade via the monorail tunnel to the school, where Narumi immediately establishes some calm among the trapped students.
*The game goes into free-roaming mode here, although there isn't much actual roaming given that you're confined to the school.
**If you fought Ritana on your way over, you can have a brief encounter with her here.
**Append 1 characters join on 2F if you did the events earlier.
**Visiting the other characters can unlock friendship events and new cards.
**At the store, you can buy the key to the lost-and-found on the first floor, where you can find a ticket for the arena (usable later).
**Once you're done (additional events may be available if you click the "next day" button in the lower-right), go to the marked location on the second floor.  Make a back-up save first!
==Defending the School Building==
*The demons attack the school; for the next event, you and the other students need to fight off the endless waves of demons for two turns, keeping them away from the second floor.
*Failing to keep the enemies out will affect the choices you're offered after the event.
*The strongest demons are the succubi, followed by the red winged demons, followed by the four-legged beasts.
*Male students are generally stronger than female students, although battles are resolved randomly and it's possible for the girls to overcome much stronger enemies (and vice versa).
*Enemies spawn in from three vortices around the school: one at the west entrance, one in the northeast, and one in the southeast.
*You'll get reinforcements from a spot at the right of the map; if you opened the lost-and-found, you'll also get additional reinforcements arming themselves there.  However, the student AI sometimes just causes them to stand around after spawning.
*If you told Maki about the angels, Mehisha will arrive at the beginning of the second turn and close the vortex in the southeast, leaving you a lot less ground to cover.
*Enemies here frequently drop stat-boosting rings, so stepping in and getting your hands dirty is worth it, even if the students seem to have things in hand.
*At the end of turn 2, a boss will appear at the east end of the map and start moving towards the elevator.  Intercept and defeat it to complete this event successfully.
**This boss can be pretty nasty, with a lot of health and powerful attackers.  Making things worse, attacking it inflicts Acid Burn on your cards, causing Shuya to take increasing amounts of damage each turn - and then when its Finish Arts gauge is maxed out, it can inflict Acid Burn on your entire side at once.
**Shuya may be your main damage dealer, but you may find it beneficial to keep him in the back for a little while.  If you have him in the front and are stuck with weak cards in your hand, use them for cannon fodder.
**If one of the enemy's weaker cards is in front, it can be useful to leave it alive for a while to reduce incoming damage.
==Choosing Your Allegiances==
*If you failed to protect the school, Gillezel will confront you and offer you the choice of joining the demon army in their battle against the angels.
**Refusal (first option) results in Gillezel killing you, obviously leading to a game over.
**If you pick the second option, Shuya accepts, on the condition that he doesn't have to be Gillezel's subordinate.  The demon finds this hilarious and declares that they're equals henceforth.  The game continues along the devil route.
**You cannot take the angel or human route if you fail the event.
*If you succeeded, Gillezel makes the same offer, but on a slightly different footing (since you just wiped out his troops).
**The first option is to think it over a little more, after which you get the same prompt again.
**The second option is to accept, despite everybody's concerns.
**The third is to refuse.
**Regardless of your choice, Mehisha will then arrive and make a proposal of her own - travel with her to the angels' territory and join them instead.  She admits that she cannot expect that all the students will survive the journey - some must be sacrificed for the greater good.
***The first option, again, is to think it over.
***The second option is to accept, putting you on the angel route.
***The third option is to refuse, putting you on either the human or devil route, depending on how you answered Gillezel.
*There are a couple of other considerations to make when choosing your path.
**The human route results in the largest number of characters joining you (by a wide margin), which can be important considering that you can clone your previous allies and use their cards on a second playthrough.  The devil and angel routes both have at least one character exclusive to that route; the human route has none.
**Accessing the EX maps (the Dreamlands) requires items given on the human and angel routes.
**The human route has the most difficult boss fights of the three.
Next: Chapter 4, Angel Route >>>
Next: Chapter 4, Human Route >>>
Next: Chapter 4, Devil Route >>>