After convincing the Ferae Domitae to withdraw, you and Alphinaud rejoin the main host outside the gates, and the assault begins in earnest. All proceeds as planned until a unit of airborne magitek armor launches a counterattack, throwing the Allied forces into chaos... Moments later, however, your Far Eastern allies, led by Lord Hien, swoop in to the rescue, engage the imperial flying machines, and leave the Alliance free to resume their attack. The gate buckles under the renewed assault, and soon gives way.
Now begins the battle for the future of a nation. Together with the brave men and women of the Eorzean Alliance and the Resistance, you and your fellow adventurers must enter the city and make for the castle where Zenos yae Galvus resides, and put an end to his reign of terror.
※Challenge Ala Mhigo with other players via the Duty Finder, or with a party of NPCs via Duty Support. Both systems are accessible from the main menu as well as the dungeon's entrance point.
Twice before, you faced Zenos yae Galvus, and twice before he beat you. But the third time proves different. The viceroy falters and withdraws, and subsequently erupts into maniacal laughter. At long last, you are become the beast he has longed to face, and so he bids you join him at the top of the Royal Palace, where the gods may bear witness to your dance.
In the Royal Menagerie, you are greeted by a terrible sight: Shinryu, Ilberd's draconic god of vengeance, at the mercy of the viceroy. Zenos fawns over the primal, which he proclaims a being of pure violence, and muses upon how instrumental you were in its creation and capture. You regard him silently as he proceeds to mock his great-grandfather's legacy, while hinting at his own dark ambitions, biding your time to strike. At last, he declares that all he has done, he did but for the joy of doing it, and that only man has the wisdom and the clarity to embrace violence for its own sake... as you have.
His manifesto thus delivered, Zenos frees Shinryu from its restraints and cries out defiantly as it bathes you both in dragon fire. Unscathed, your foe rises into the air and uses his power as a Resonant to merge with the primal, binding it to his will. As he towers over you, transformed, he glimpses Ilberd's final moments, and declares this to be “an ending to mark a new beginning,” before taking to the air. Nor is he mistaken. For if you and your comrades -- those stalwart yet humble adventurers who have stood by you from first to last -- do not stop Zenos yae Galvus... no one will. ※The Royal Menagerie can be accessed via the Duty Finder.
One day the world may be consumed by fire and blood, and all that you hold dear be forever lost. But not this day. Zenos yae Galvus, Legatus of the XIIth Legion, imperial viceroy of Ala Mhigo, has fallen.
Alphinaud and Lyse join you in the Royal Menagerie as Zenos, returned to his former form, struggles to his feet, coughing blood. To their astonishment, he is filled with a joy he has never known, for he has experienced a moment unlike any other: clear and pure and real. He brings the blade to his neck and smiles the smile of a man at peace, and before Lyse can intervene, the deed is done. Zenos yae Galvus is dead.
Soon after, Raubahn, Hien, and others arrive, expecting a fight and are relieved to find there is none. Though Lyse is initially reluctant to celebrate, Hien urges her to raise a cheer for all those who fought for freedom. And so you, together with your many comrades and the leaders of the Eorzean Alliance and the Resistance, gather at the castle's ramparts, and as the horns spread word of the viceroy's death, the people of Ala Mhigo raise their voices in song...
Lyse is unsure how to feel in the wake of Ala Mhigo's liberation. However, she knows that she does not want to keep you all to herself, and so she urges you to seek out your comrades, as they doubtless have much they wish to say.
None can predict what the future holds now that Zenos is dead and Ala Mhigo and Doma are free. But your comrades are hopeful of a better tomorrow, and are prepared to do their utmost to ensure it comes to pass.
Lyse remains where you left her, still quiet and thoughtful. Upon hearing you have made your rounds, she asks you to return with her to Rhalgr's Reach, along with the other Scions of the Seventh Dawn. Clearly, something weighs on her mind, but what?
In Rhalgr's Reach, before your gathered comrades, Lyse declares her intention to formally leave the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. The work to rebuild Ala Mhigo has only just begun, and she believes she cannot serve her homeland and the order both. Yet even if this marks the end of her tenure, you are still comrades, now and ever after -- and Y'shtola is not about to let her forget it. Overcome with emotion, Lyse's eyes begin to water, and you come together to embrace as Scions one final time...
Ahahahaha! Yes, yes! Such ferocity, such tenacity!
I am loath to recall how disappointed I was when we first fought...but finally, finally, after bathing in the blood and offal of your enemies, finally you prove yourself worthy prey for the hunt!
It fills you even now, doesn't it? The hunger. To bite down on my jugular, to feel the warmth fill your mouth and run over even as you drink deep. Good, good! This is the beast I have longed to face!
As you sharpened your claws, I too sought newfound strength! But this is no place for a final contest. Come! The heavens shall bear witness to our dance!
Zenos retreats behind the throne room. Several imperial soldiers arrive.
The King of Ruin built this place for his foreign queen. He kept it filled with familiar creatures from her homeland. They bored me all.
This fine specimen, on the other hand, is simply...divine.
Your fates are entwined, are they not, eikon-slayer? This dragon, this...embodiment of unbridled despair, born of a desperate man's burning hatred for the Empire...
How raw the raging tempest that churns within its breast. No myth made manifest this, but...a being of pure violence.
Ha hah, mayhap you are the true architect of our design. You who fought the very soul of vengeance to the edge and watched him fall; you who let slip the Allagan hound to drive the eikon into my arms!
Oh...My. Have I said too much? Forgive me, this...sensation is wholly unfamiliar to me.
A question, then—and I should like very much for you to speak from the heart. If I were to stand aside, what would you do to this eikon?
But have I not already bound it with Omega's restraints? And does not the Seventh Umbral Calamity stand as a testament to the fallibility of such devices? Oh, how quickly we forget.
A pity. There is another alternative. Or there would be...had you only mastered your abilities.
I speak of the Echo, of course. Does it merely render you immune to eikonic influence? Or is it rather that your influence is far greater than theirs? Granted, these implications are of no moment to a savage, who thinks only of killing the beast before him...
But when I read van Baelsar's reports, I immediately saw the boundless potential of the Echo. I saw how it could be instrumental in binding an eikon to one's will. Hence my research and the Resonant—and oh so much more!
All eikons must be exterminated, without exception. Such was the imperial mandate issued by my great-grandfather after he saw firsthand the destruction wrought by one such being. They are a blight upon this star, he felt, and so he began his great and just crusade.
Pah! 'Twas not justice which spurred his campaign, but fear! Fear of the eikons, fear of their power. Cowardice made them march forth to battle. Pathetic!
Man should fight for the joy of it. To live, to eat, to breed—lesser beasts snap and howl at one another for this. Only man has the wisdom and the clarity to embrace violence for its own sake.
For we who are born into this merciless, meaningless world, have but one candle of life to burn.
I know you understand this. You and I are one and the same. Together, we could while away the quiet hours, as friend and confidant...if you will accept me.
Heh heh... are we to embrace and let bygones be bygones? Do our deeds weigh so little that you would cast all aside? Come. 'Twas plain from the first how this would end.
Arenvald and other Ala Mhigans arrive. Arenvald blows a trumpet and the army below cheers. Lyse and others walk forward and are saluted. She reunites with Thancred and Yugiri. They then reunite with the Eorzean city-state leaders. The Ala Mhigans begin singing the Ala Mhigan anthem, while Arenvald raises the resistance flag.
Ensemble (Singing)
O come ye wayward brothers Bereft of hearth and home
Beneath yon burning star there lies A haven for the bold
Raise up your hands and voices Let fill your hearts with pride,
Above the churning waters we Stand strong and unified.
I know what he was. Monsters are not made for thrones.
Nor are stars made to sustain false gods who sup on their very essence. Eikons summoned by desperate savages who hearken to the whispers of shadowless charlatans.
Compression. Resurrection. All is in service to your "one true god." And when the sundered shards are made whole, will there be a place for us mere mortals?
Doubt my claims and question my motives if you will, Your Radiance. You will come to trust me in time. Until then, mayhap you will find this...reassuring.
Elidibus unmasks himself, but his face is not revealed on the camera.
Seven hells, is it true? Did you really best Zenos and that bastard primal—just you and seven stalwart adventurers whom you had the wisdom and foresight to recruit? No wonder they call you a bleedin' hero!
Our bloody campaign is ended, and we may begin to return home. That said, our work is far from finished. We've countless wounded to tend to, not to mention prisoners of war...
You did well to defeat that fiend. Empowered by the eyes I so foolishly ordered you to cast into the Sea of Clouds... What a twisted legacy they have wrought.
Minfilia...no. Ascilia, Warburton—it will never be enough, I know, but I hope... I hope this makes up for it, if only a little. I hope this brings you both joy. You deserve it, and so much more...
It feels like only yesterday that we were celebrating the liberation of Doma, and now look where we are! A thousand malms apart our nations may be, but in spirit we are one and the same.
Lord Hien must needs return to Doma with all due haste, but I have yet to decide it I will accompany him. I should like to visit my people in Revenant's Toll, for one...
I recovered in time to join the siege...only to injure my shoulder again. But I was there! I stood shoulder to shoulder with my brothers and sang till my throat was hoarse!
Oh gods, don't tell me you came all the way back here just to look in on me? That's kind of you, but really, you should be with the others in the Lochs, finishing what we started. Go, go!
After all we have been through, I really should know better than to worry, but—as ever—the relief I felt upon finding you hale and whole in the Royal Menagerie well-nigh reduced me to tears...
"The Warrior of Light," victorious again... Hm. I should be surprised if some small part of you had not come to resent the title and the responsibilities which accompany it. You must forgive us if we call you "hero" when you accomplish heroic feats...
But as the Warrior of Light goes, so goes the world. You should take pride in the good you have done,and in the good you have inspired others to do.
And you led them to victory. To freedom! ...Alas, not everyone could see the journey through to the end. But history shall remember them, and the glorious future they made possible.
Can you believe it? We won! We beat the bastards! Ala Mhigo! Ala Mhigo!
Heh heh...Sorry, got a bit carried away there, didn't I? It's hard not to, you know?
We owe it to the friends we buried to shout and scream and cheer with all our hearts. I want them to know it wasn't for nothing—that it's finally over, and they can rest in peace.
You...you hear that lads? <sniffle> We'll be all right! We'll...we'll be...<sniffle> Oh bugger, not again...
I'm so...I'm so bleedin' happy, I could cry! <sniffle>
The hero of the hour! I suppose we'll have to add "liberator" to your titles.
With their commander fallen, the remainder of the XIIth chose to surrender to our forces. After twenty long years it's official: the occupation is ended.
But now the hard work starts. Though the people have had their fill of kings, there is no clear consensus on what sort of government they would prefer instead.
Aye, aye. Yet if we can overcome two decades of oppression, I've no doubt we can find a way forward. Thank you, [Immortal Flames GC Rank}/Forename, for helping to make this dream a reality.
As should we all. Zenos was a monster and a tyrant—the man who killed my father and countless other of my countrymen. The world is a better place without him in it.
I should also praise Master Alphinaud for his foresight and restraint. Had he not intervened, I might never have had the pleasure of being reunited with Hakuro and his Lupin brothers!
We've been through a lot together, haven't we? I can't thank you enough.
There's something I need to say to you all. That is, if you have a moment...?
Good, you're all here. Good, good...
"Thank you" doesn't really suffice, does it? I'm grateful...truly grateful, from the bottom of my heart.
But I know you didn't fight so hard just to hear me or anyone else say that. You fought because you wanted to help—because you believed it was right. Because you're Scions.
Now, I'm obviously a Scion, but as Conrad left me in charge of things here, I also have responsibilities to Ala Mhigo...
When I put it like that, though....I realized I couldn't even pretend to be impartial anymore. So it seemed best to make it official.
As long as I serve Ala Mhigo, I can't be a Scion. It might be selfish and shortsighted...but that's my decision.
...Hm. This is indeed the work of either Shinryu or Omega.
...And since there is undeniably something down there radiating a massive amount of energy...which cannot very well be the late viceroy's lapdragon... Yes, I think we have our suspect.
Well. This is a mess of our own making, so it falls to us to clean it up. It won't be easy...but is it ever?
And now comes the part where you say you've got no choice but to divert company resources and employees to this pet project of yours. Lost profits and belligerent clients be damned.
I...er...Financial considerations notwithstanding, you have to admit there is an unquantifiable benefit in giving our people the opportunity to study such advanced technology—
Oh? Is that before you blow it up or seal it away? Fine, fine—but the moment I judge this little venture an unsustainable risk to the Ironworks, I'm ending it, savvy?
And to keep you honest, using my authority as deputy president, I've gone ahead and brought a consultant—a master engineer and mechanical genius!
I trust your unit of elite adventurers is ready, Forename? Excellent! Your objective is to make haste for the castle and kill Zenos yae Galvus! Any questions? Of course not! Now, go and get the bastard!
After the changes, a cutscene was added in this section where the the player reunites with Lyse and Arenvald (who are Duty Support NPCs).
After accepting the quest, optional dialogue with nearby NPCs was previously the following:
If you find Zenos, you kill him. No hesitation. Others may be taken prisoner, but not him. Not under any circumstances.
In the cutscene after defeating Zenos the first time, the player previously confronted him alone. After the changes, the player confronts them with the Raubahn/Alphinaud/Lyse/Arenvald (regardless of whether they used Duty Support). After the change, two new lines from Alphinaud were added and imperial soldiers arrive to distract the player's allies, providing an explanation for why Duty Support is still unavailable for the Royal Menagerie trial.