Plot:Shin Megami Tensei IV

This is a complete summary of Template:Gamelink’s plot and multiple endings. Be warned that spoilers are detailed below.

Beginning

Flynn has a series of strange dreams in his sleep. In his first dream, he is taunted by bodiless voices warning him that his decisions henceforth will bear consequence and create a new world. In the second, Flynn awakes to a burning city where a shadowed figure named Walter coaxes to join him in ushering a world of free-reign. In the third dream, Flynn then finds himself in a barren desert where another shadowed figure named Jonathan insists on maintaining a world of everlasting peace. Lastly, Flynn is approached by a young girl who begs him to revive her.

Flynn awakes to his childhood friend Issachar. Both men are Casualries in the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado who have left their home village to participate in the Gauntlet Rite at Mikado Castle; a required coming-of-age ceremony where all participants are tested if they are worthy of becoming Samurai, the kingdom’s soldiers. They hurry to Mikado Castle and are met with disdain by the city’s Luxurors, the kingdom’s affluent upper class, while seeking directions to the Rite. The pair eventually arrive at Aquila Plaza where the ceremony is being held beneath the giant statue of King Aquila, the founder of the kingdom and Samurai order. Each participant is instructed to wear a Gauntlet with a screen, which if their touch successfully engages, deems them as worthy of becoming a Samurai. Issachar is rejected during the Rite while Flynn passes the test, separating the two men as Flynn is whisked away to live his new life as a Samurai in Mikado Castle.

The following morning, Flynn meets the other new prentices: Isabeau, a strong-willed yet reserved Luxuror; Jonathan, a Luxuror who is docile and kind-hearted; Walter, a rough yet good-natured Casualry; and Navarre, an arrogant and hostile Luxuror. Both Jonathan and Walter faintly recall seeing Flynn in their dreams but do not pursue the matter. Commander Hope issues the prentices their training exercise: everyone is to descend into Naraku, an underground dungeon complex that lies beneath Mikado and is plagued by demons, and to complete a series of tasks there. Flynn is then shortly introduced to Burroughs, his Gauntlet’s navigational AI. With Burroughs’s guidance, Flynn completes all his training exercises and is declared the victor for having first completed the final task as a contest. While the other prentices all congratulate him, Navarre is humiliated and swears vengeance before storming off.

The next day the prentices are called to K’s Tavern to receive K’s lesson on Challenge Quests. Following a prior argument, Navarre proposes a challenge to see who can first complete all of the day’s Challenge Quests. Flynn finishes all of the quests, however as he returns to the tavern, he is approached by a suspicious Samurai who informs that Navarre has gone missing in Naraku and asks Flynn to covertly find him. During his search, Flynn is attacked twice by a hooded man and his demons. Jonathan and Isabeau come to Flynn’s aid after having deduced that the hooded man is actually a Samurai in leagues with Navarre to humiliate the Casualry prentices. Joined by Walter, the party follow Navarre’s trail to a Demon’s Domain that he had mistakenly fallen in. Inside they come across the young girl from Flynn’s dream as well as a man named Steven, who cryptically comments on the girl’s interest in the Samurai and their future roles. The Samurai find Navarre in the heart of the Domain and rescue him from the demon Alraune, eliminating the Domain in the process. Navarre loses his sanity from the experience and shortly retires from duty.

The Samurai are given a holiday following the incident. Jonathan suggests to Flynn and Walter that they visit the local bakery for breakfast. The baker there fervently raves to them about literature, which has started to suddenly appear in Mikado and has grown popular with the Casualry class. Rumors circulating between the Casualries and Luxurors speak that a figure known as the Black Samurai has been showing up all over the kingdom and distributing books. The Samurai are indifferent to the books and head to Lake Mikado to eat, where they meet Issachar about to head back home to Kiccigiorgi with a souvenir. The rest of the day passes without incident; however, at night the Samurai order awake to news that a fire has broke in the direction of Kiccigiorgi Village. The prentices beg Commander Hope to allow them to accompany the brigade as Kiccigiorgi is Flynn’s hometown, which Hope permits. They arrive by morning to find the entire village engulfed in flame after being raided by demons. Flynn and the others head into Kiccigiorgi Forest to look for survivors and learn that the village youth had been holding Sabbaths to discuss literature and were transformed into the demons attacking the village. As they rescue the last of the survivors, Hope informs them that the Black Samurai has been spotted in the forest and orders for their immediate capture.

The Samurai run into Issachar during their search, who has grown embittered by his rejection at the Rite and the Luxurors’ oppression. He reveals that he has also been turned into a demon and attacks Flynn. The party defeats him and continues their search deep into the forest where they finally find the Black Samurai, realizing that she is a woman clad in unusual armor. She offers the Samurai her books and affirms that she is spreading knowledge and wisdom to the kingdom. When they refute her offer, the Black Samurai tells them to go “to the underground” before making her escape by siccing her horde of Lilims, which manage to subdue the men with their Charm. Flynn blacks out during the fight and dreams of a barren wasteland where he again encounters Steven and the young girl, who once again begs Flynn to revive her. He awakes to the other prentices and they return to Mikado Castle.

Flynn is once again visited by the shadowed Walter and Jonathan in his dreams that night. Walter again asks Flynn to join him and urges that he hurry to the underground, while Jonathan insists that Flynn persevere and not go. The next morning, the Samurai order are called to an emergency meeting led by Hugo, the Abbot of the monastery, and his right-hand, Sister Gabby. Hugo announces the monastery’s suspicion that the Black Samurai is in leagues with the “Unclean Ones”, those said to dwell deep underground and who once attempted to invade Mikado before being repelled by King Aquila. The Samurai are thereby ordered to venture into the Unclean Ones’ country, believed to lie in the depths of Naraku, and find the Black Samurai. The announcement causes a stir as entering the deepest depths of Naraku is forbidden and, as the Unclean Ones’ country is also said to have many valued Mystic Relics, Isabeau suspects the monastery has an ulterior motive for this order. Despite their doubts of the mission, Flynn, Isabeau, Jonathan, and Walter all volunteer to find the Black Samurai.

As the party descends into Naraku, they encounter and fight the Minotaur, an ancient demon appointed by King Aquila to guard the depths. The caverns eventually lead the Samurai to the top floor of the Sky Tower which, to their surprise, overlooks a lit cityscape below while a vast ceiling of stone looms high above. After defeating Medusa who guarded the tower’s lower deck, the party lands in the city streets where some men run away in terror after mistaking them for Angels. A transmission from Abbot Hugo then informs the Samurai that they have reached Tokyo, the Unclean Ones’ country. To help the Samurai collect their bearings, he issues them a quest to find the Counter-Demon Force Base where more information may be gleaned.

Search for the Black Samurai

As Flynn and the Samurai begin their search for the Black Samurai and the Counter-Demon Force Base, they find their way to Ueno where they discover that Tokyo’s civilians have taken refuge in underground train stations from the demons above. There the party are introduced to the Hunter Association, an organization of Demon Hunters who take on errands for pay. They also overhear about the Ashura-kai, another organization keeping Tokyo’s districts safe from the demons and maintaining order in exchange for large payment sums. Flynn receives a tip from one of the Association’s patrons about the Force Base located in Kasumigaseki, but the way is now blocked due to the river bridge being destroyed. The patron however suggests that Flynn exterminates the Peallaidh that had taken over Shinobazu Pond after ousting the Kelpies there. The Samurai defeat Peallaidh and bring his head back to the grateful Kelpies gathered at the river, who then form a bridge for them to cross.

Advancing to Kasumigaseki, the party gains entry to the Counter-Demon Force Base below ground, finding it long abandoned and in disarray. Walter is startled to discover sets of armor identical to the Black Samurai’s, which Burroughs identifies as the Demonica armor that the Counter-Demon Force once wore. Burroughs’s data banks further yield that the Counter-Demon Force were active 25 years ago to combat the demons that suddenly appeared in Tokyo, but cannot ascertain whether the Black Samurai was among its roster. She accesses additional data from the base’s briefing room and sends it to Mikado’s monastery. A call from Sister Gabby passes along a message from Hugo that the Samurai are now formally asked to collect Tokyo’s Mystic Relics, much to Walter’s chagrin. Having scoured the base for all information, the Samurai leave to resume their search.

Flynn and the others arrive at Shinjuku where they are approached by a girl named Hikaru, recognizing them as the rumored “angels” said to have come from above. Hikaru knows of their search for the Black Samurai and passes a tip that she may be found in the Juraku Bookstore in Ikebukuro, but does not elaborate why she is helping the Samurai other than out of interest. Ikebukuro, however, is presently blocked by a barrier that requires the Jirae Talisman to dispel.

While investigating in Shinjuku, the Samurai learn that the Ashura-kai have been subduing demons by distributing pills known as Reds. But while the pills pacify the demons, rumors claim that the pills also turn people into demons. In Shinjuku Park, Flynn also finds the remains of a giant Cocoon there; one of the vessels that the Angels used 25 years ago to whisk away Tokyo’s children to the sky. Flynn accepts a job from the local Ashura-kai branch to exterminate the Corpses in east Shinjuku. As he defeats the last one, the party are then confronted by a furious Demon Hunter. Outraged by the Ashura-kai oppressing the people with their strict control, the Hunter ingests a Red and transforms into Dullahan. She is either killed or spared depending on Flynn’s choice. Having completed the task involving the Corpses, the Ashura-kai hand Flynn a new request: kill Kuebiko, who has taken residence in the Metropolitan Government Office. The Samurai accept the job with the promise of the Jirae Talisman as reward, however when they arrive, they turn conflicted as Kuebiko challenges the Ashura-kai’s right to force demons to leave. Depending on Flynn’s choice, he either fights Kuebiko or turns on the Ashura-kai and fights their Harpy horde. Regardless of his choice, the party receives the Jirae Talisman afterward.

At Ikebukuro, the party meets a woman named Kaga, a member of the Ring of Gaea which follows a philosophy of absolute strength and survival-of-the-fittest. Kaga and the other Ring members have been unable to reach Ikebukuro due to Xi Wangmu’s barrier around the city. Flynn dispels the barrier with the Jirae Talisman, which impresses Kaga, but she tells the group to stay out of their business as she and the other members leave to wrest Ikebukuro from Xi Wangmu’s control. The Samurai follow suit into Xi Wangmu’s Domain, but their attacks prove ineffective against the demon and her magic barrier. The Ring of Gaea then pour in and join the fight, but their attacks likewise also fail to pierce and they are each devoured by Xi Wangmu. Kaga approaches last and shows the demon no fear, swearing that she and the Ring of Gaea will never yield and continue to struggle against all odds. She is also devoured, however through the Ring of Gaea’s continued struggles inside Xi Wangmu’s stomach, they manage to weaken the demon enough for the Samurai to fight back. Xi Wangmu’s defeat frees Ikebukuro from her influence and the Samurai are left impressed by Kaga’s tenacity.

Resuming their search, Flynn and the others finally find the Black Samurai in Juraku Bookstore. She shows them no resistance and calmly asks what they now think of Tokyo, referring to it as a mirror of Mikado, which deeply offends Jonathan. The Samurai apprehend her and immediately take her back to the Kingdom of Mikado. Their triumphant success earns them the recognition of King Ahazuya and they are awarded the Third Order of Merit. Abbot Hugo congratulates the Samurai following the ceremony, but takes high praise in himself for having suggested the award ceremony. Confident that the people of Mikado will no longer succumb to the Black Samurai’s influence, he tasks the Samurai with finding more Mystic Relics. Walter angrily objects to the order but is stifled by Commander Hope. Hugo then excuses himself to prepare for the coming public execution of the Black Samurai at the Obelisk Plaza. Word around Mikado Castle adds that Casualries are encouraged to attend, as part of a coordinated scheme that the Black Samurai’s death will quell the unrest.

At the crowded execution, Hugo permits the Black Samurai to give her final words. She addresses the crowd before her and states they will find no love from God. Her words infuriate Hugo and he orders for her immediate execution. But as her mask is removed, her face is revealed to be identical to Sister Gabby’s and starts an uproar. The Black Samurai laughs that the Samurai have already realized the kingdom’s bias and swears she will resurrect as often as she is needed. She is then executed afterwards. Her parting words stay with the populace and encourages them to hold more Sabbaths.