Everything is about to change. If you've forgotten any treasures, missed collecting any monsters for the Beast Plain, or have anything you want to stock up on, this is your last chance, so do it now. More detailed information follows in the next section, but basically, don't assume that any locations, monsters, or items will necessarily remain available. Buy anything you might want, fight every type of monster you can, and collect all the treasures you can lay your hands on (unless intentionally saving it for later). In particular, I suggest stocking some extra Sakura Fubuki (the best throwing weapon for Wind damage), and a supply of rods if you like breaking them, especially the Poison Rod, which doubles as the only weapon that can be thrown for Poison damage.

Also, it helps a bit to make sure that Celes is equipped and ready to go, but not actually in your current party.

Ready? Walk five steps ahead to find Gastra and Cefca with the petrified Three Warring Gods. "Catastrophe" plays.

The only way I can make sense of that translation is to assume that the party's line was mistaken for a continuation of what the emperor says, and her line is then being taken to mean she came to stop him. Also note the NA version doesn't flow well if Celes was already in the party, skipping this bit.

Gastra does something to siphon off some of the power flow.

Gastra raises his arm, and bolts of energy fly out, knocking Celes to the side and paralyzing the others.

Wait... is he telling Celes to breed with Cefca? Eww. That's even worse than the NA version's pedolicious "my pretty" line.

Celes almost looks like she's going to do it... but doesn't.

She suddenly lunges at Cefca.

Huh. I think the rant about hate is actually more eloquent.

Instead of striking back at Celes like a more rational person might, Cefca approaches the stone gods.

He's knocked away, but just tries again immediately.

They seem to react, but nothing interesting happens.

We switch to a combat screen, with Gastra confronting Cefca.

Do you really need to ask?

Cefca just laughs.

Nothing happens, other than Cefca making excessively dramatic poses.

Again, nothing happens beyond Cefca's theatrics.

Nothing happens, except more excessive clowning.

Cefca knocks him to the ground.

^ throwing Gastra's words back at him

A bolt of energy lands nearby, but doesn't strike anything but the ground.

Another bolt of energy hits nothing in particular.

Another bolt of energy hits nothing in particular.

I can't argue with this line. The meaning is essentially accurate, and the mocking tone fits perfectly.

Another bolt of energy falls, this time striking Gastra, who collapses.

Cefca walks over and gives him a few kicks.

Back to the normal screen.

Cefca ignores him and tosses him off the edge of the landmass. Then he starts playing with the gods.

He just hits her off the platform, then starts pushing the statues around.

He ignores her and keeps rearranging them. Just then, someone whistles...

...Shadow springs out of nowhere, rescues Celes, and pins Cefca between the stone statues.

The others are finally released from paralysis.

They try to rush in and help, but the statues flash and shove them away to another section of the continent.

The sky darkens. A bolt of energy flies out, landing off to the right, undoubtedly to block the way in the upcoming escape.

There's nothing to be done for Shadow at the moment, and only six minutes available to escape. Celes is now in the party, whether she was before or not, so not bringing her to the confrontation means a party of four now instead of three. The previous monsters are gone, replaced with Naudé after Naudé showing up periodically, more to waste time than pose a true threat. Kill them with fire.

No, really. They're weak against Flame, along with Thunder and Holy. They can retaliate with 'silence' in response to magic, so physical attacks may be your best bet, especially given their fairly low defense. Alternately, they run away when hit with 'kappa' status, but only after a delay, which doesn't help the timer.

The continent will start falling apart along the way. Don't panic. It's mostly for show. The only exception is the one chest along the way. Heading straight toward it causes the path there to collapse, so circle around and approach it from the other side to get the Elixir within.

The sparkle blocking the way is a mandatory battle. Nelapa talks big and kicks off the battle with a Death Sentence for everyone...

...but is hardly any worse than the random encounters, to be honest. Besides, there's already a timer running anyway.

The weaknesses here are Ice, Thunder, and Holy. Nelapa may counter normal attacks with a normal attack, and casts Death Roulette if attacked six times, but the battle should be won well before then. Nelapa also has 'reflect' status, so don't cast any reflectable spells directly at it.

Thunder Blades and Thunder Rods work quite well through this entire area.

Okay, so the party has reached the edge of the continent, the airship flies into place to catch everyone, there's still time on the clock...

Usually, if there's an option, it's there for a reason. Back off and try again?

Yeah, maybe giving the poor guy a chance to get out of that mess would be the nice thing to do.

When Shadow arrives, or as soon as the player chooses to leave without him, the party jumps to the relative safety of the Blackjack.