Xenoblade Chronicles DE: Part 8: Shielding Against Deadly Spiders & Haunting Visions
6Time to return through the Tephra Cave in order to reach the path towards Colony 9.
Although your party at this point is reduced from 3 to 2, getting through here is still manageable.
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Shulk & Reyn can now go through a new door, and this was the path they needed to take to reach the Bionis' Leg.
You continue through the new path, fighting more monsters and discovering more treasures along the way, and then...
The two sees a group of lifeless Homs lying on the ground. They were Colony 6 traders that got killed by the cave's monsters.
Although Mechon are more terrifying threats, Reyn bemoans the thought of being killed by something as simply as a cave-dwelling creature...
Homs have a poignant tradition of returning the dead bodies of their people back into the Bionis from which they came. Shulk & Reyn drag the traders' corpses into a nearby ether pool, and allows the pool to dissolve them, and then give themselves time to rest after doing this heartfelt task, with one of them each taking watch in case monsters come in to attack them.
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They had to ponder why the Mechon would attack Colony 9, but that didn't take priority over them killing Fiora.
Reyn also believed that Shulk was meant to have the Monado, because he was the only survivor of the Monado expedition from 14 years ago. The same expedition that kill his parents. Dickson came and took him in as his own child ever since.
When Shulk took his rest, he had an intense dream, where he was being talked to by a mysterious man on a different land. The man spoke about him having the ability to change his own future with the power of the Monado, the True Monado...
This dream then changed into a different Vision, where Reyn was swarmed by hordes of Arachno, only to be killed by their queen...
Then Shulk is woken up by Reyn as they're surrounded by more of those spider beasts!
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Clearing out the monsters, Shulk wonders about the man that spoke about him about the True Monado... He then once again had a Vision where Reyn is killed, and he was struck with telling his friend about his fate or not...
It was time to travel through more of the Tephra Cave. Shulk & Reyn find egg sacs with Mechon parts in them, and then...
Reyn was ensnared and taken away by a web! Shulk had to find him soon before that Vision he had of him comes true!
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So eventually after reach Reyn again, that Vision from the future was indeed about to reach the present. The Arachno Queen had Reyn cornered! As she dove in for the finishing blow...
Shulk, through sheer force of will, protected Reyn with a new power: Monado Shield!
Reyn was saved, but now it was time to squash that queen!
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Monado Shield is a Monado Art that literally shields Shulk and his allies from certain attacks.
However, within the limits of the gameplay itself, it protects again a monster's own Talent Arts, and ONLY if Monado Shield's level is equal to or higher than the Talent Art. It will not be effective otherwise, even if it feels like it should.
Alongside this, Shulk can now have Visions during a battle that shows a deadly incoming attack upon a certain character, showing things such as the damage they'll take, whether it causes a debuff, and whether it incapacitates them, all within a time limit of how long you have to make a difference.
If you have a bar in your Party Gauge, you can warn an ally of this incoming attack try and attempt to use one of their own Arts to either change, replace, or completely eliminate the incoming outcome.
The music might even change when through this process!
You also unlock Skill Links after this battle. Improving two characters' Affinity for each other will allow them to share Skills they would've otherwise only had to themselves.
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After the Arachno Queen fight, Shulk realizes for himself that his Visions are not absolutes, that the future isn't written...
Shulk's Monado Visions are merely warnings of what could happen if he does nothing to change the outcome. These morbid futures could only exist as long as he is either late or helpless to change them. With this in mind, he now intends to use the Monado to change the future.
Oh... if only he was able to do this in time for Fiora...
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Shulk & Reyn eventually reach the exit of the Tephra Cave, and they realize the magnificent site above them. They were now on the Bionis' Knee, and could see from above their titan's corpse stabbed by the Mechonis' blade...
It looks like a lonely Mechon has spotted their arrival, and reported back to what appeared to be a different kind of Faced Mechon. One that has recently consumed a Homs...