CODE Bunny: Hazel Part 8: Soleil (Final Boss & Ending)
2This boss stage is right after Yliaster Core. I decided to make it into its own video since it's the finale of Hazel's run through the game.
----------
Deep within the core of the Comet Yliaster's Core, Hazel Jones finally managed to catch up to the CEO of Lagos Hyperbolics, the wicked mother of Shouko: Soleil!
It was only recently that Soleil found out that Hazel had some past history with her daughter, knowing that Shouko also disapproved of her mother's actions.
At present, Soleil has done... SOMETHING to Lune. Something that may or may not have even killed him. She didn't care to talk details, as she was now ready to set her long-awaited master plan into motion. A plan within an illusion or a "Dream"...
In the past, Soleil had lost her husband, her beloved Méliès. He destructive plan of now was some desperate attempt to bring him back to life, but she realized to late that her idea to do so turned out to be a total lie.
But Hazel didn't care about her seemingly-fake thoughts. She knew from her heart that her experiences were real. If there was any "dream" planning to come true in this fight, it would be hers and those of everyone she has cherished!
----------
Like every previous boss as Hazel, the Ghost Cresent is your best friend.
Compared to everyone else as well, Soleil really smacks the Touhou down against you as you have to survive against several flurrys of her fancy shots and bullets.
The Highest Combo count against Soleil is at least 25 hits on her!
Even with all of this said, more than any other boss, this fight took me the most attempts to get the hang of.
But once you beat Soleil, you beat this game!
(Or at least one half of it...)
----------
After a long dual, Hazel Jones stood victorious against Soleil. Soleil questioned why Hazel continued to except Lumna as a world of lies.
But Hazel held on to her heart that she already knew her own Truth...
Rather than going off to search for Lune on her own, Hazel instead wanted Soleil to accompany her for the search.
During the credits, you can see how this turned out...
Hazel and Soleil have a calm walk together, trying to understand the meaning of their lives and the meaning of their world. Soleil continued to strugge to understand things as the truth, but Hazel still thought otherwise.
Having found a resolution to her past, Hazel was able to look forward to the future, and see what it had in store for her next, and part of that would be to punish Soleil for her crimes after her mission is complete.
And then... they finally saw him. They finally found Lune again.
Seeing Hazel in (temporary) peaceful terms with Soleil, Lune already conferred that Hazel was able to overcome the traumas of her past.
Lune, just as well, called out Soleil for her foolish judgement of the world and everything in it, which made Soleil weary of both Hazel & Lune's ideals.
But the two still held on to them. Their past ups and downs, and everything in between, it had shaped them into who they are now. Those experiences were all real, and that included the torture Soleil put Lune put through before...
...and just as well, it was a very REAL fact that Soleil's selfish actions were now threatening the fate of the entire world of Lumna. The world itself was a world of Dreams, where people are free to make their own decisions of how the world itself would be shaped. The nature of this would make for unpredictable results...
But Hazel and Lune were willing to task such risks forward rather than continuing to live in the past like what Soleil has been trying to do this whole time. They wanted her to face forward, pay for her crimes, atone for her sins, and use this lesson to seek a new "Dream"...
It was from this point on that Soleil finally had a change of heart of her own. She wanted to try and look onward towards this new "Truth" that Hazel & Lune had in their minds and in their hearts...
----------
Thanks for watching my playthrough of this game!
Fascinating that a game this short could still fit a story into it asking about the value of life.
However, this is just half of the whole game. The other half of the game lies with playing as Axel. This can answer questions of what was happening with him while Hazel was dealing with Shouko, Soleil, and her own past.
Stay tuned!