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Map of Chapter 5.

You will begin this chapter chatting with your mother, Mikoto. Afterwards, you will be given a tour of the Hoshidan castle, after which you’ll travel to Shirasagi Castle Town. Lively place, isn’t it? Nice establishing shots. Would be a shame if something were to happen to the place… Anyways, endure your brother Takumi (there’s always one…) then go witness the ceremony.

Tragedy and treachery most foul! Oh, if only you were smart enough to discard that sword your “father” gave you back when it tried to kill you. Kind of stupid to keep it around, in hindsight. Anyways, you will begin this battle as a dragon, which means you’re pretty damn powerful.

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This will spell your doom, so pay attention to Wyrmslayer users.

Unfortunately, the enemy somehow seems to have predicted this might happen, as two enemy Mercenary units carry Wyrmslayer weapons with them, which, as their name implies, deals extra damage against dragons. That would be you. This is covered in the tutorial (12. Bonus Damage), which draws your attention to enemy-specific damage bonuses some weapons have.

Aside from your dragon-protagonist, Kaze, Azura, Rinkah, and Sakura are units you have control of in this match. You will notice that a pair of Invaders on the left do not carry Wyrmslayers, which are easy targets for you, the mighty dragon. You will want to move quickly, as Ryoma is face to face with a Swordmaster stronger than him!

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Using Azura’s “Sing” will give the target ally another turn!

Azura is a special warrior who can use the “Sing” command in addition to wielding a Naginata (21. Singing). By Singing she will grant an adjacent player (or pair!) an extra turn, which you can use to allow Kaze and Rinkah to sweep through the field and defeat those with Wyrmslayers, making room for your protagonist, who is more hardy against the other foes. Aside from Singing, you can use Azura to defeat some enemies at low health, while Sakura is pretty much just a dedicated healer.

So excise the two Mercenary units on the left with your protagonist, then try to take out the Wyrmslayer-bearing Mercenary on the right with Rinkah and Kaze. One of the Mercenary units on the left will have a HP Tonic on him, which will drop when he dies, prompting the tutorial (17. Item Drops). Simply put, green items in an enemy’s inventory become your items when they die. Nifty. When you scout out enemies at the beginning of battles (you do do this, right?), you should probably keep an eye on the weapons they possess.

The two Dark Mages to the south can be trouble, and since they’re a new type of unit, they of course bear their own tutorial (7. Combat (Tomes)). Tomes are long-range weapons that can attack enemies one or two squares away, and magical attacks might find purchase against foes that are otherwise well-protected from physical attacks. Still, these foes shouldn’t be too troubling; if you use Azura to help you blitz one of them, you should be able to weather the attacks of the other.

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Who is this mysterious man?

While all this is playing out, it is highly likely that Ryoma will fall to the Swordmaster at the bottom of the map and have to retreat, leaving him to you. You’ll want to use your protagonist to take out this Swordmaster, although landing a blow isn’t guaranteed, and if he hits you, it’ll hurt. Attacking with Rinkah and Kaze is probably an exercise in futility, however, so just keep Sakura and Azura are close by to patch up any boo-boos your dragon-self gets.

Once the battle is over, Azura will try to tame that savage beast through the power of song, and succeed… but just barely, and not unscathed. Afterwards most of your siblings will be conciliatory, except Takumi, who continues to be a jerk. You’ll get a new sword (doing so earlier would have prevented all this mess) and Azura will give you a Dragonstone, which you can use to channel and control your strange new power. How fortunate she happened to have that handy.