Chapter 17: The Aurum Brain

Chapter 17: The Aurum Brain (17章　新生オーラム 17-Shō Shinsei Ōramu, "Chapter 17: Aurum Reborn") is the seventeenth chapter in the storyline of Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Pit's goal is to finish off the Aurum once and for all, but he faces difficulty when the situation suddenly changes beyond his expectations.

Air Battle
Pit leaps through the gate, raring to defeat the Aurum as he flies through the sky. Hades, Viridi, and Pyrrhon join in as well, leading Palutena to be optimistic about the ultimate destruction of the Aurum Brain. Pit approaches a massive structure, which Palutena explains is the fortress housing the Aurum Brain. She then goes on to mention the excessive amount of information Pyrrhon has shared with her, prompting Pit to point out the sun god's obsession with the alien intruders. Pyrrhon brushes it off as nothing, and Pit is sent into the fortress, where he encounters the Aurum Brain.

Aurum Brain
The Aurum Brain is completely stationary, making no attempts to fight back as Pit damages it. However, various Aurum troops fly in to defend it, and Rezda erect their shields to protect the brain. Should the player prioritize destroying the Rezda's shields, the battle becomes relatively easy.

Once enough time has passed, Pyrrhon will fly into the Aurum Brain's center, causing a massive explosion to envelop the fortress. Palutena narrowly flies Pit to safety, and afterwards, Pit asks if Pyrrhon is unharmed. Pyrrhon's voice then begins booming across the area with laughter before a large projection of the sun god appears, thanking Pit for his newfound power. Though Pit is initially puzzled by this, Pyrrhon informs the angel that he is now in control of the Aurum army, and demonstrates his new abilities by sending in Aurum troops to attack. Viridi attempts to launch a Reset Bomb at the fortress in order to stop Pyrrhon, but this effort fails as the Reset Bomb Forest bursts into flames. The Power of Flight then begins to run out, prompting Palutena to pull Pit out prematurely—however, Pyrrhon blocks her divine power, leaving him airborne outside of the fortress. As Pit's wings begin to catch fire, Palutena is forced to cut off the Power of Flight, causing the angel to plummet through the sky. Pit begins to panic, but Viridi calms him by telling him to line himself up with the platform below.

Land Battle
Having successfully aligned himself with the platform Viridi sent in, Pit safely lands on a lone strip of earth. Palutena notes the urgency of the situation, as the Aurum have become stronger than before with Pyrrhon on their side. As Pit begins fighting off enemies, an Aurum Aircraft Carrier flies overhead and engulfs the platform. The angel continues to fight in the carrier's interior, carefully maneuvering through damage-inflicting halls until finally reaching the exit.

Soon after, his platform becomes sandwiched between two Aurum Destroyers, prompting Viridi to command her forces to push the platform out. This succeeds, but Pyrrhon decides to fire a massive laser beam at Pit, which connects with the platform's side and destroys the Nutskis beneath it. No longer able to move forward, Palutena calls in Centurion Strongarms to carry the platform the rest of the way. Pit initially objects in fear of harming Palutena's troops, but the goddess of light and the centurions convince him to press on regardless.

With their previous entrance consumed in flames, Palutena is forced to search for an alternative route. She sends Pit through another opening, where hoards of Aurum enemies swarm the angel. In addition, Aurum Battleships outside of the fortress begin firing lasers into the structure, forcing Pit to avoid them with the use of jump pads. As they encroach on the boss chamber, Pyrrhon begins communicating simplistically in a monotone voice: although Pit questions his strange behavior, Palutena doesn't notice that he's acting any differently, and the two advance into the center of the fortress.

Boss Battle
Upon arriving at the center of the Aurum Brain Fortress, Pit encounters Pyrrhon, who is fused with the Aurum Brain's surface. The sun god twitches intensely as he speaks in binary, and the battle initiates shortly after. Pit questions if Pyrrhon is being controlled by the Aurum, and Pyrrhon struggles to counter the claim. Palutena confirms that the Aurum Brain has overtaken the sun god, and Pyrrhon robotically states his goal to purge his enemy and multiply the Aurum's forces.

Aurum Pyrrhon remains completely stationary for the duration of his battle, staying in the center of the stage as the platform carrying Pit rotates around him. He will start the battle protected by a blue barrier that completely nullifies any attacks Pit throws at it; in order to remove it, Pit must first destroy the four green orbs located to the sides of Pyrrhon.

With the barrier intact, the green orbs surrounding Pyrrhon will occasionally fire slow-moving orbs, while Pyrrhon himself may also shoot multiple orbs made of fire at Pit. An orange ring may appear around the platform Pit is standing on and quickly constrict around him, which can only be avoided by using the jump pad in the center of the platform. Pyrrhon might also launch fiery serpents at Pit, or throw multiple gravitating mines down onto his platform, which will then either explode on contact, or explode automatically after a few seconds.

Once Pyrrhon's barrier has been broken, Pit will now be able to attack him directly. He will retain all of his previous moves with the exception of the green orb's attacks. However, he now adds two new attacks to his arsenal: one is a large ball of fire that he throws down onto the platform; the other is a large, horizontal shockwave that homes in on Pit's location, which can subsequently be avoided with the jump pad.

Epilogue
Once Aurum Pyrrhon has been defeated, the sun god begins to explode, forcing Palutena to rush Pit out of the structure. Once Pit has reached safety, Aurum Pyrrhon uses his power to launch himself, and the rest of the Aurum army, further into space. Palutena then extracts Pit, announcing their next objective: to refocus their efforts on the Underworld Army.

Weapons
The following is a list of weapons most commonly obtained in this chapter.


 * Compact Arm
 * Raptor Claws
 * Laser Staff
 * Aurum Bow

Trivia

 * In the English version of the script, when two Aurum Destroyers collide with Pit's platform, Viridi erroneously refers to them as Aurum Battleships instead.
 * In the English version, Pyrrhon mentions that he gathered his information on the Aurum on "Divinipedia." This is a reference to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia.
 * Before the boss battle, Aurum Pyrrhon states "01101011011010010110110001101100..." in the English version of the script, which translates to "kill" in binary.