Thanks Shelter, you've just made my editing of those chapters much easier! After you review Chapter 9 and the Epilogue, be sure to check back on chapters 1-6 to see how your edits were acted upon. Chapters 5 & 6, as well as Chapter 4, were the most heavily affected by your feedback. I very much liked your feedback, and rest assured it'll be acted upon. Within two weeks much improved chapters should be posted. The goal, as always, is to correct issues here rather than face a torrent of abuse on fanfiction.net. Thanks for your time.

FormerAbyssalone, Ryuken, and even Kenshin have all told me they loved the Epilogue section, but of all the people I wanted to hear about it the most from, you topped the list. I'm very curious what you thought about the rise of the empress to power. Not to mention the more prominent characters featured and your other general impressions. Let me put it this way to you Shelter. If "Claymore: New Era" is my opening shot on the standard set by "Imperial Fire", the upcoming "Claymore: Rise of the Romanovs" is going to be like taking out a bazooka and opening fire. I'll send you along the "proof of concept" when I finish it. It'll feature the mainland war before the Romanovs' rise to power, as well as palace intrigue in the present. Oh, I forgot one last thing-I'll be introducing the most terrifying version of Dragonkin I can think of. I was inspired heavily by watching the best moments of Jurassic Park & Lost World.

Well naturally "Imperial Fire" is in a category all its own, however, I think, having seen the competition for "claymore-only" (non-crossover fanfics (unlike Imperial Fire ), that it certainly gives most of those a run for their money. Naturally, until all the edits are in, the comparisons aren't really fair to my own work. Chapter 4 for example is in the midst of a Shiek-inspired grammatical improvement, and I'm positive I'll be adding a new section to chapter 3 eventually detailing when Natalie was allowed to call Miria "mom" on a permanent basis. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 I have no doubt you'll have some issues with, but at least when you give me feedback, you know I'll act on it. Chapter 6 is already considerably improved when I simply took out the confusing Miata combat scene and streamlined the chapter to allow the action to climax at the very end.

The good news about chapter 4 is that the one thing Shiek did not complain about was the plot, which he rather liked. Since I'm using Open Office, proofreading is considerably harder than it would be with Microsoft Word. Luckily for me I'll be switching to a Windows machine soon, so expect to see all the chapters improve grammatically. I wanted to thank you, before I go on a week-long roadtrip, for all your valuable help on fixing plot issues. I have absolutely no doubt that it was thanks to your feedback that Shiek found no faults with the plot of chapter 4.

Shelter, I finally got around to fixing up a new section (short, mind you) for chapter 7, so everything is up for review. I'm still going to do some more edits on chapters 3 and 8 while I wait for reviews, but I must thank you for writing such helpful reviews. Chapters 4, 5, and 6 have been substantially improved thanks to your feedback, and your prior reviews helped to add to the edits I did on chapters 1-3 (I got multiple reviews for those chapters). If you want an easy chapter to review, I'd suggest the Epilogue, which will NOT ruin the rest of the book for you (far from it-it contains no spoilers). Kenshin loved it, so maybe you will as well. If you find anything wrong, let me know, and give me your impressions if and when you can. Thanks for your valuable and timely help.

Chapter 6 was really full of action. So many things going on at the same time, it’ll be hard for me to properly break things down.

This is what happens in rough drafts-they tend to be mistake-ridden. When I get back from my trip and to my laptop, I'll do what I can to fix things up before Loivissa's comprehensive review. I want to thank you for taking the time and pointing out areas of difficulty/misunderstandings.

1) Action Scenes – Your normal way of writing/ describing uses long sentences, with several clauses. Sometimes the subject is described in the passive (e.g “She was about to ignore them when Clarice landed awkwardly in their midst”). Personally, passive is fine if used sparingly, but long sentences make it difficult to grasp the severity of the action scenes. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I understand that everyone has a different style, and their styles are particularly more pronounced when writing about action-intense descriptions. So far I can still understand what’s going on, so I’ll choose to ignore some of the drag your longer sentences impose on the flow of the story.

Corrections will have to wait until I get back home, but rest assured I'll be working on this when I do.

2) Rubel – Well, I guess his presence can’t be anything good. I take it as a foreshadowing, but as usual I’ll ask: why now? And why only to Natalie? And why does he need to be so cryptic? How did he get into Rabona in the first place?

The answer sort of lies in Chapter 8 to the first two questions. I'll be checking back to make certain the partial answer I thought I left to your last question was in chapter 6.

3) The Prologue scene – seems a bit unnecessary. I’m reading this in light of already having read Chapter 7. If you intend to show Prince Phillip’s ruthlessness, maybe Chapter 7 might be better for that. I’m hesitant to endorse the character of Prince Phillip because his worldview demeans women’s worth, and is so biological that it almost doesn’t make sense (how will he get the warriors he wants if some of the women he’s sleeping with want to kill him anyway?). All the women can be introduced in Chapter 7 anyway, and unless you’re going to delve deep into the backstories, giving us another set of names isn’t going to help with understanding who’s who.

Thanks Shelter-I may chop it when I get back, although you didn't mention if you'd read the new scene in chapter 4 that introduced Prince Philippe and King Charles. I wrote that section back in chapter 4 in specific reaction to your chapter 4 review. Hopefully you like what editorial response your prior reviews get you.

Alright, I just fixed that part in chapter 5, so it'll be a lot less confusing. I'm going to be fixing the beginning of chapter 7 shortly, so hold off reviewing that chapter until I've got it fixed up. Chapter 8 is half complete now, and I've just completed Chapter 9 as well as the Epilogue. However, I still plan on editing the epilogue a bit more, and possibly chapter 9 as well. I'm targeting having the whole thing complete in a rough draft form by Sunday. After that, I'll begin combing the chapters for mistakes and also be doing rewrites for the final chapters after you/Shiek have reviewed them.

I forgot to mention, did you get a look at the large revisions I did to chapter 4 since your review? It's been heavily improved and edited, and should make things much clearer later if you read it now.

Thanks a ton Shelter, I'll make a note to cut back a little on the details of the Church's leadership then. With regards to the chapter be a tad "destabilizing", well, that's not necessarily such a bad thing. I'm trying to set up things for later on, when many of these characters will become quite important. The key characters in the church will be Galatea, Bishop Vincent, and the puritanical Father Mazarin. I noted you called them "Bishops", so I'll have to make certain it's clear that the five others (4 senior priests, 1 senior nun) are in fact NOT bishops. But overall, I take it from your review that following the plot and your reading of it was relatively straightforward and also enjoyable?

Vielen Dank Shelter, that was most helpful! I found myself laughing when you complained about the Tabitha/Clarice scene where they're fighting the Yoma. Why? You were complaining about one section I didn't have the time to edit in that scene. I'm currently working on fixing all the diary entries, which I imagine you'll appreciate. After that I'll be working on chapters 7, 8, and 9. Once those are written the rough version of "Claymore: New Era" will be finished, and then comes the tough part of doing the editing and rewrites.

I'll do what I can to fix the pronoun issue, but as always, my writing is a work in progress. The updated chapters should be substantially improved in various areas, although I didn't more do more than minor edits to large sections, as you hadn't specifically mentioned them being problem areas.

I will say this, if my updated chapter 4 part 1 doesn't get a reaction, I'll be wondering if you read it. I'm still laughing at the characters in it, and I'm the one who wrote it. Be warned, silver-eyed girls have a very naughty gossiping ability.

Well Shelter, I may have outdone myself in fixing various issues with the first 4 chapters. I just posted the updated versions of all four, and am nearing completion of chapter 5's 3 primary revisions. I chopped 1-2 characters' parts in an effort to simplify the storyline for readers.

I would invite you to look over updated chapters 1, 2, 3, & 4, and see how much they've improved and changed. FYI-I'm still working on fixing the issue with the introductory diary scene in Chapter 1, so I'd ask that you hold off commenting on it until I can finish writing the fixes.