Radiant Mythology II
Radiant Mythology II: Trials of Life is a currently in-progress Fanfic written by Final Poke Mario Fan, known here as Gundam Ace. It is a Fan Sequel to Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (mind you, it was written before the actual Radiant Mythology 2 was announced.)
The story is a direct sequel to the original game, taking place two months later. The Terresian Descender (a 17 year old guy named Alex here) is reborn from the World Tree. Realizing this means that Terresia's in danger again, he is met by a mysterious man named Prophet, who only offers him vague warnings and advice, stressing the need for an army. After reuniting with Ad Libitum and assembling an army, Terresia is attacked one week later after Gilgulim crashes into the planet by a mysterious army. The Terresians defeat them, but discover that they came from Pasca,Kanonno's home world, whose population she massacred.
Going to the top of Gilgulim, Ad Libitum confronts four people- Emperor Valvus Goden, leader of the Pascans, Darius Izas, his trusted right-hand man, Tribilin Hemoses, an Axe Crazy Blood Knight who loves torture, and Belladonna, a mysterious woman clad entirely in armor. Valvus, who has the power to teleport between worlds, escapes, but not before Alex severely wounds him, taking his power. Worried about the true meaning of the attack and spurred on by Prophet, Ad Libitum uses the power to unite an army amongst many other worlds, and take the fight to Pasca. What starts as a simple war spirals into more as Alex learns more and more about the true meaning behind it...
Planned to be a 60 chapter story, it has reached its 44th chapter, with a "Part 2" planned with 40 chapters.
- Abusive Parents: Well, abusive stepfather in Tribilin's case.
- A God Am I: Part of Valvus' plan.
- Ax Crazy: Tribilin. Dear lord, Tribilin.
- Blood Knight: Tribilin again.
- Break the Cutie: Tribilin's backstory. Subverted when Alex hears it, he says despite what happened, it doesn't excuse any of his actions.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Belladonna, who is really Kanonno, given amnesia artificially by Tribilin under Valvus' orders.
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: Dark version- the only reason that Valvus keeps Tribilin around, in spite of his open rudeness and all around Jerkass behavior, is because he really is very good at all that he does.
- Chekhov's Gun: The crystal necklace that Kanonno gave Alex in the flashback during the Prologue turns out to be the key in breaking Kanonno's amnesia.
- Complete Monster: Tribilin.
- Death Seeker: Darius, who became this after he lost his wife and daughter in a previous war.
- Flower Motifs: Belladonna- in addition to being named after a flower, all of her attacks are named after flowers or phenomenon regarding flowers.
- Freudian Excuse: All of Valvus' generals have this. The chapter where Tribilin's is revealed is named after this very trope.
- God Is Good: The Soul of The Universe.
- Heroic BSOD: Alex suffers from several at various points in the story. He and Kanonno have one that lasts five chapters after being tortured by Tribilin.
- Hollywood Tactics: Somewhat. While many battles fall under this trope, other ones, such as the battle for Fort Vaia, use actual military strategies, like sieges.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Alex when fighting Kanonno, a.k.a. Belladonna. Subverted in that it isn't his words that get through to her, but the sight of the crystal she gave him before Alex killed Widdershin.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Tribilin did this in his backstory, eating the flesh and drinking the blood of his family for nearly two weeks while trapped under the wreckage of his house. Subverted in that he only did this out of necessity, not because he wanted to.
- Infinity+1 Sword: Ragnarok, despite the fact it's never been seen in use before.
- Kamehame Hadouken: Alex's "Destruction" power works this way. Justified as he can't properly control it, and therefore it always manifests in this form whenever it's used.
- La RĂ©sistance: The Green Blades, lead by Nomvar Similob and Senza Alueman, the first a former colonel who worked for Valvus for some time, and the latter an ex-noble who gave up her status to be with Nomvar.
- Large Ham: Tribilin tends to ham it up no matter what the situation. Especially jarring given the somewhat subdued personalities of the other villains.
- Laughing Mad: Alex in Chapter 38, after driven to insanity by Tribilin's tortures.
- Meaningful Name: Several:
- Alex's last name, Terresca, is a combination of "Terresia" and "Pasca", which he gets the idea from Belladonna.
- Belladonna's name is derived from a poisonous flower, which fits within the Flower Motifs of her attacks.
- Tribilin's last name, Hemoses, is derived from the Greek word for blood.
- Nomvar Similob, the revolutionary, is an anagram for "Simon Bolivar", with one additional "m". Likewise, his fiance, Senza Alueman, is an anagram for "Manuela Saenz", Simon Bolivar's lover.
- Siltran Deios' name, Siltran, is made up of the words "silver" and "translator", he is the translator for the three Silver Knights.
- Mythology Gag: Again, several of them:
- Stahn once mentioned he had a bad experience with a lake near ice.
- Senel also is very good with ships.
- "An old man at 35...can't imagine a single person talking like that."
- Precision F-Strike: Alex delivers one to Kanonno in chapter 29, in an verbal Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!.
- Replacement Goldfish: Belladonna is viewed as one for Darius, as a replacement for his dead daughter, Elena. It gets dark in later chapters, when Belladonna regains her memories as Kanonno and flees to the UFTW, driving Darius mad with obsession to see her again and take her back. Kanonno has to tell him straight that she's not his daughter for Darius to realize that he's gone too far.
- Spirit Advisor: Prophet.
- Squick: Chapter 37. Just...Chapter 37. There's a reason it was given an M-rating.
- The End Of The Universe As We Know It: Valvus' ultimate plan.
- The Stoic: Valvus. He rarely shows any emotion regarding what's going on. Mia Alzen also counts.
- The Unfettered: Siltran, who believes his only purpose in life is to help Valvus in any way he can, and openly states he is nothing more than a weapon for Valvus to use.
- Torture Technician: Tribilin. Justified as he is a doctor, and specifically became one so he could learn how to become one.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Valvus is the emperor of Pasca, and despite the fact he took over the entire world to become emperor, not many people aside from the Green Blades seem to complain about his rule.
- Wangst: Alex, many, many times, over his fate to eventually die again. He gets called out on this in later chapters, and after talking with the Soul of the Universe, decides to abandon his angst and embrace the time he has left.
- War Fic
- What the Hell, Hero?: Valvus points out to Alex that the only reason Terresia and Pasca are still at war is that Alex chose to pursue the Pascans after they had taken away their ability to teleport.