Alice is in a horrible place emotionally and mentally. She asks him what he thinks about all of this.
He honestly wasn't thinking about that, his mind was on the puzzle of the star swords and what Crosswell had in mind for him and the words he was left with.
He's not in any position to understand how Alice and Rin feel, nor is he going to pretend to know. He has no idea if they instantly lose it all, if it would take days or decades. But he honestly is not interested in knowing the lapse of time.
Alice asks him if this means he's no longer going to be interested in her once it's all over. But he asks Rin if she's going to stop being Alice's servant once they lose their powers. Rin answers no without thinking, then double takes.
Iska hasn't changed what he said back in volume 3. To him, Alice is herself, no matter what's on her skin or what is or isn't inside of her.
And what could have been a very emotional couple of hours....gets interrupted because Elletear sent corrupted Astral spirits after the Oasis.
One is the corrupted spirit of the Sun, a faceless lamia attacking from the perimeter, May senses something else inside the Oasis and the group splits up with Iska, Kissing and May fighting the Sun and everyone else going rushing inside the oasis.
And as Talisman and crew descend into the eruption site far away, Elletear appears before them.
As proper nobles, Talisman and Elletear have cheerful, polite and threatening words to exchange before the violence breaks out.
The Corrupt Sun is ridiculously fast enough that May has trouble dodging unscathed and Iska is also in trouble. But it has little sense of self preservation, and gets turned into swiss cheese by Kissing's power.
Except the catch is that it regenerates fast enough for this to not matter.
And as Iska goes to save Kissing, he's in for another one of those "miss by a hair" dodges as the Sun was willing to feint out in order to kill him. But barring that, taking away the black star sword will serve just as well as the monster has no issues sacrificing a (quickly replaced) arm for that reason.
That's enough time for May to set up her gun and blast the monster viciously into a puddle of flesh from a different angle. But who are we kidding, that's not enough to put the monster down either.
According to Elletear, the sun is a symbol of rebirth. No matter how long and dark the night is, the sun rises again in a beautiful manner.
And cheerful Talisman says that her power is now so wonderful that she can clearly express the inferiority complex inside of her. Elletear agrees but it's not enough, she needs more and more power, speaking of her dream and goal.
Vichy interrupts with fire to the face, Talisman goes for body blows and calls her drunk on power, dull and no longer as sharp as she used to be.
Neither attack works, but it bought Mizerhyby time to finish powering up the soldiers and just blast Elletear with the enhanced astral powers.
Which is painful to Elletear, and it might hurt her a bit had more purebloods been around rather than Talisman (who has most of his power locked into physical enhancement rather than throwing around waves of astral power).
So Elletear decides that the family finally knows enough despair and fear because of how hopeless they are in front of her, shows her monstrous form and sings. There's no shield around the heart that can protect people from the Requiem of the Stars, and the Hydra family falls.
Or does it?
Spoiler for Phase 2:
Things are not going well over by the Oasis. Destroying the core of the Sun means a little bit more time spent on regeneration, but the spirit shows no sign of slowing down.
Things get worse! The spirit is becoming more and more resistant to damage from both the thorns and the bullets, will become immune over time, and it is prepared to do all that is necessary to keep the black sword out of Iska's hands and him away from it.
Even if it means encasing the area in a layer of fire and turning up the heat to cook all the humans black.
Everyone is running out of time and Iska is down to his last gamble. May and Kissing have to put aside their bad feelings against each other and just go for broke together while he charges.
"Kissing. Working alongside the Imperial Army for a moment. Or losing to Elletear despite doing your very best. What's more unforgivable?"
"...!!"
Iska doesn't wait for her choice, and isn't going to complain if she can't forgive him. He chases after the sun spirit as it throws everything it's got at him.
Which ends up being a good distraction as May makes her choice as well. Using the Tempest with all her bullets (plus a knife) to add on to Kissing's thorn dragon are finally enough to erase the sun.
May's out of munitions, and Kissing is exhausted, being carried on Iska's back again. They continue to talk a bit, and May doesn't have the Nameless's disgust at Iska or hold what he did a year ago against him. She's got no problem seeing him as a comrade.
But she's still no fan of witches, contrasting the Imperial Army to the Sovereignty's empty and pointless internal conflict. Kissing elaborates quietly that her uncle said the fighting was just fate, that he felt it served as a form of evolution for all the families.
Spoiler for Fate?:
And Elletear is very confused. Only three people out of a large group are slowly trying to get on their feet, Vichy, Mizerhyby and Talisman. Vichy is like Elletear and can resist the song to an extent because of Nightmare compatibility, but Mizerhyby and Talisman?
Talisman calls it pure luck. Because while astral power can help repel the influence of the Nightmare in theory, the Reqieum of the Stars would still get a mage's heart, because the astral spirit and most of the power is concentrated on the astral crest. And the song enters the body from all directions.
Since Mizerhyby's astral power flowed through her whole body in great amounts, it deadened the effect enough for her to not fall into a total coma. Talisman through his training is the same way, although he is holding his chest from seeming exertion.
And now Elletear is mad. Seriously mad. Mad enough to freeze Mizerhyby and Vichy in terror.
If their heart can't be broken in a gentle way, all that's left is to break their bodies in a brutal and thoroughly unpleasant way.
Talisman sinks one fist into her body, calling Elletear drunk on power again. Elletear finds it hilarious that now he's trying to protect the princess like a knight in shining armor, though his pointless struggle is pretty sad at this point.
Talisman acknowledges that his strength will never hurt Elletear at all. She does have the power to change the world and make everyone kneel before her in terror.
But the terror of the mad scientists that created her is why she's about to lose
Spoiler for And that is :
because Talisman wasn't holding his chest from exhaustion.
His sleigh of hand was concealing a syringe. Filled with a overdose of the formula jointly developed to transform people into carriers of the Nightmare. And Elletear has finally let her guard down enough for him to successfully inject her with it.
True, Elletear already had a large amount of the Nightmare in her body, but needed time to fully adapt and transform.
And a hot overdose is enough for her to start melting down, losing her mind and identity.
Spoiler for Endings and beginnings:
Back at the oasis, Alice and everyone had a epic battle against the spirit of the moon and infinitely growing illusions!
A fight full of effort, friendship, tears and Sisbell's insight, except Iska doesn't have time to hear Alice's tale and Sisbell is bickering again with Alice and Rin about who gets the credit for figuring out the secret.
And Alice's communication device has had 13 missed calls from the Queen. It takes a half day to get out of the Catalyst zone and back to a area of better reception, where Alice gets the news that all Zoa and Hydra loyalists are heading for the Empire.
Going back in time, Mizerhyby can't help but admire her uncle Talisman for the clutch. He's honestly just too much of a man.
Talisman coldly pronounces Elletear's end as she dissolves into the Nightmare.
But Elletear has no intention of going by herself, and grabs Talisman when his guard is down, gleefully telling him that they'll enjoy despair together
And all weakened Mizerhyby can do is watch and listen to the screams.
According to the afterword, volume 14 will be Mizerhyby's time in the spotlight, the start of the final phase of the war, also featuring the clash between Shanorotte and Mismis
Ahhh, the illustrations, I dunno what's going on with those.
Covers are fine, but I wish Nekonabe would stop using those really flat colors on the opening pages and take a bit more time with them, even if it means we can't get the glory of the past back.
I assume Nekonabe's ill or something.
The spoilers are very interesting. I have always been worried about an ending where astral mages just lost their powers similar to Promare.
I'm still worried about that but this volume gives me some hope the author might do something different.
Glad to see some Jhin/Sisbell moments, as well as May sorta getting along with Kissing. Very, very much looking forward to Shanarotte and Mismis's fight.
__________________
Illusion, illusion, this is illusion. It cannot harm me.
Alice is in a horrible place emotionally and mentally. She asks him what he thinks about all of this.
He honestly wasn't thinking about that, his mind was on the puzzle of the star swords and what Crosswell had in mind for him and the words he was left with.
He's not in any position to understand how Alice and Rin feel, nor is he going to pretend to know. He has no idea if they instantly lose it all, if it would take days or decades. But he honestly is not interested in knowing the lapse of time.
Alice asks him if this means he's no longer going to be interested in her once it's all over. But he asks Rin if she's going to stop being Alice's servant once they lose their powers. Rin answers no without thinking, then double takes.
Iska hasn't changed what he said back in volume 3. To him, Alice is herself, no matter what's on her skin or what is or isn't inside of her.
And what could have been a very emotional couple of hours....gets interrupted because Elletear sent corrupted Astral spirits after the Oasis.
One is the corrupted spirit of the Sun, a faceless lamia attacking from the perimeter, May senses something else inside the Oasis and the group splits up with Iska, Kissing and May fighting the Sun and everyone else going rushing inside the oasis.
And as Talisman and crew descend into the eruption site far away, Elletear appears before them.
As proper nobles, Talisman and Elletear have cheerful, polite and threatening words to exchange before the violence breaks out.
The Corrupt Sun is ridiculously fast enough that May has trouble dodging unscathed and Iska is also in trouble. But it has little sense of self preservation, and gets turned into swiss cheese by Kissing's power.
Except the catch is that it regenerates fast enough for this to not matter.
And as Iska goes to save Kissing, he's in for another one of those "miss by a hair" dodges as the Sun was willing to feint out in order to kill him. But barring that, taking away the black star sword will serve just as well as the monster has no issues sacrificing a (quickly replaced) arm for that reason.
That's enough time for May to set up her gun and blast the monster viciously into a puddle of flesh from a different angle. But who are we kidding, that's not enough to put the monster down either.
According to Elletear, the sun is a symbol of rebirth. No matter how long and dark the night is, the sun rises again in a beautiful manner.
And cheerful Talisman says that her power is now so wonderful that she can clearly express the inferiority complex inside of her. Elletear agrees but it's not enough, she needs more and more power, speaking of her dream and goal.
Vichy interrupts with fire to the face, Talisman goes for body blows and calls her drunk on power, dull and no longer as sharp as she used to be.
Neither attack works, but it bought Mizerhyby time to finish powering up the soldiers and just blast Elletear with the enhanced astral powers.
Which is painful to Elletear, and it might hurt her a bit had more purebloods been around rather than Talisman (who has most of his power locked into physical enhancement rather than throwing around waves of astral power).
So Elletear decides that the family finally knows enough despair and fear because of how hopeless they are in front of her, shows her monstrous form and sings. There's no shield around the heart that can protect people from the Requiem of the Stars, and the Hydra family falls.
Or does it?
Spoiler for Phase 2:
Things are not going well over by the Oasis. Destroying the core of the Sun means a little bit more time spent on regeneration, but the spirit shows no sign of slowing down.
Things get worse! The spirit is becoming more and more resistant to damage from both the thorns and the bullets, will become immune over time, and it is prepared to do all that is necessary to keep the black sword out of Iska's hands and him away from it.
Even if it means encasing the area in a layer of fire and turning up the heat to cook all the humans black.
Everyone is running out of time and Iska is down to his last gamble. May and Kissing have to put aside their bad feelings against each other and just go for broke together while he charges.
"Kissing. Working alongside the Imperial Army for a moment. Or losing to Elletear despite doing your very best. What's more unforgivable?"
"...!!"
Iska doesn't wait for her choice, and isn't going to complain if she can't forgive him. He chases after the sun spirit as it throws everything it's got at him.
Which ends up being a good distraction as May makes her choice as well. Using the Tempest with all her bullets (plus a knife) to add on to Kissing's thorn dragon are finally enough to erase the sun.
May's out of munitions, and Kissing is exhausted, being carried on Iska's back again. They continue to talk a bit, and May doesn't have the Nameless's disgust at Iska or hold what he did a year ago against him. She's got no problem seeing him as a comrade.
But she's still no fan of witches, contrasting the Imperial Army to the Sovereignty's empty and pointless internal conflict. Kissing elaborates quietly that her uncle said the fighting was just fate, that he felt it served as a form of evolution for all the families.
Spoiler for Fate?:
And Elletear is very confused. Only three people out of a large group are slowly trying to get on their feet, Vichy, Mizerhyby and Talisman. Vichy is like Elletear and can resist the song to an extent because of Nightmare compatibility, but Mizerhyby and Talisman?
Talisman calls it pure luck. Because while astral power can help repel the influence of the Nightmare in theory, the Reqieum of the Stars would still get a mage's heart, because the astral spirit and most of the power is concentrated on the astral crest. And the song enters the body from all directions.
Since Mizerhyby's astral power flowed through her whole body in great amounts, it deadened the effect enough for her to not fall into a total coma. Talisman through his training is the same way, although he is holding his chest from seeming exertion.
And now Elletear is mad. Seriously mad. Mad enough to freeze Mizerhyby and Vichy in terror.
If their heart can't be broken in a gentle way, all that's left is to break their bodies in a brutal and thoroughly unpleasant way.
Talisman sinks one fist into her body, calling Elletear drunk on power again. Elletear finds it hilarious that now he's trying to protect the princess like a knight in shining armor, though his pointless struggle is pretty sad at this point.
Talisman acknowledges that his strength will never hurt Elletear at all. She does have the power to change the world and make everyone kneel before her in terror.
But the terror of the mad scientists that created her is why she's about to lose
Spoiler for And that is :
because Talisman wasn't holding his chest from exhaustion.
His sleigh of hand was concealing a syringe. Filled with a overdose of the formula jointly developed to transform people into carriers of the Nightmare. And Elletear has finally let her guard down enough for him to successfully inject her with it.
True, Elletear already had a large amount of the Nightmare in her body, but needed time to fully adapt and transform.
And a hot overdose is enough for her to start melting down, losing her mind and identity.
Spoiler for Endings and beginnings:
Back at the oasis, Alice and everyone had a epic battle against the spirit of the moon and infinitely growing illusions!
A fight full of effort, friendship, tears and Sisbell's insight, except Iska doesn't have time to hear Alice's tale and Sisbell is bickering again with Alice and Rin about who gets the credit for figuring out the secret.
And Alice's communication device has had 13 missed calls from the Queen. It takes a half day to get out of the Catalyst zone and back to a area of better reception, where Alice gets the news that all Zoa and Hydra loyalists are heading for the Empire.
Going back in time, Mizerhyby can't help but admire her uncle Talisman for the clutch. He's honestly just too much of a man.
Talisman coldly pronounces Elletear's end as she dissolves into the Nightmare.
But Elletear has no intention of going by herself, and grabs Talisman when his guard is down, gleefully telling him that they'll enjoy despair together
And all weakened Mizerhyby can do is watch and listen to the screams.
According to the afterword, volume 14 will be Mizerhyby's time in the spotlight, the start of the final phase of the war, also featuring the clash between Shanorotte and Mismis
didn't elletear had a bodyguard, johan i think?, what about him.
__________________
la verdadera Victoria es dar todo de si mismo, sin arrepentimientos.
didn't elletear had a bodyguard, johan i think?, what about him.
Johaim is only mentioned by Elletear as being somewhere else under the surface, he does not make a appearance in this book.
Elletear doesn't say what he's up to
Alice is in a horrible place emotionally and mentally. She asks him what he thinks about all of this.
He honestly wasn't thinking about that, his mind was on the puzzle of the star swords and what Crosswell had in mind for him and the words he was left with.
He's not in any position to understand how Alice and Rin feel, nor is he going to pretend to know. He has no idea if they instantly lose it all, if it would take days or decades. But he honestly is not interested in knowing the lapse of time.
Alice asks him if this means he's no longer going to be interested in her once it's all over. But he asks Rin if she's going to stop being Alice's servant once they lose their powers. Rin answers no without thinking, then double takes.
Iska hasn't changed what he said back in volume 3. To him, Alice is herself, no matter what's on her skin or what is or isn't inside of her.
And what could have been a very emotional couple of hours....gets interrupted because Elletear sent corrupted Astral spirits after the Oasis.
One is the corrupted spirit of the Sun, a faceless lamia attacking from the perimeter, May senses something else inside the Oasis and the group splits up with Iska, Kissing and May fighting the Sun and everyone else going rushing inside the oasis.
And as Talisman and crew descend into the eruption site far away, Elletear appears before them.
As proper nobles, Talisman and Elletear have cheerful, polite and threatening words to exchange before the violence breaks out.
The Corrupt Sun is ridiculously fast enough that May has trouble dodging unscathed and Iska is also in trouble. But it has little sense of self preservation, and gets turned into swiss cheese by Kissing's power.
Except the catch is that it regenerates fast enough for this to not matter.
And as Iska goes to save Kissing, he's in for another one of those "miss by a hair" dodges as the Sun was willing to feint out in order to kill him. But barring that, taking away the black star sword will serve just as well as the monster has no issues sacrificing a (quickly replaced) arm for that reason.
That's enough time for May to set up her gun and blast the monster viciously into a puddle of flesh from a different angle. But who are we kidding, that's not enough to put the monster down either.
According to Elletear, the sun is a symbol of rebirth. No matter how long and dark the night is, the sun rises again in a beautiful manner.
And cheerful Talisman says that her power is now so wonderful that she can clearly express the inferiority complex inside of her. Elletear agrees but it's not enough, she needs more and more power, speaking of her dream and goal.
Vichy interrupts with fire to the face, Talisman goes for body blows and calls her drunk on power, dull and no longer as sharp as she used to be.
Neither attack works, but it bought Mizerhyby time to finish powering up the soldiers and just blast Elletear with the enhanced astral powers.
Which is painful to Elletear, and it might hurt her a bit had more purebloods been around rather than Talisman (who has most of his power locked into physical enhancement rather than throwing around waves of astral power).
So Elletear decides that the family finally knows enough despair and fear because of how hopeless they are in front of her, shows her monstrous form and sings. There's no shield around the heart that can protect people from the Requiem of the Stars, and the Hydra family falls.
Or does it?
Spoiler for Phase 2:
Things are not going well over by the Oasis. Destroying the core of the Sun means a little bit more time spent on regeneration, but the spirit shows no sign of slowing down.
Things get worse! The spirit is becoming more and more resistant to damage from both the thorns and the bullets, will become immune over time, and it is prepared to do all that is necessary to keep the black sword out of Iska's hands and him away from it.
Even if it means encasing the area in a layer of fire and turning up the heat to cook all the humans black.
Everyone is running out of time and Iska is down to his last gamble. May and Kissing have to put aside their bad feelings against each other and just go for broke together while he charges.
"Kissing. Working alongside the Imperial Army for a moment. Or losing to Elletear despite doing your very best. What's more unforgivable?"
"...!!"
Iska doesn't wait for her choice, and isn't going to complain if she can't forgive him. He chases after the sun spirit as it throws everything it's got at him.
Which ends up being a good distraction as May makes her choice as well. Using the Tempest with all her bullets (plus a knife) to add on to Kissing's thorn dragon are finally enough to erase the sun.
May's out of munitions, and Kissing is exhausted, being carried on Iska's back again. They continue to talk a bit, and May doesn't have the Nameless's disgust at Iska or hold what he did a year ago against him. She's got no problem seeing him as a comrade.
But she's still no fan of witches, contrasting the Imperial Army to the Sovereignty's empty and pointless internal conflict. Kissing elaborates quietly that her uncle said the fighting was just fate, that he felt it served as a form of evolution for all the families.
Spoiler for Fate?:
And Elletear is very confused. Only three people out of a large group are slowly trying to get on their feet, Vichy, Mizerhyby and Talisman. Vichy is like Elletear and can resist the song to an extent because of Nightmare compatibility, but Mizerhyby and Talisman?
Talisman calls it pure luck. Because while astral power can help repel the influence of the Nightmare in theory, the Reqieum of the Stars would still get a mage's heart, because the astral spirit and most of the power is concentrated on the astral crest. And the song enters the body from all directions.
Since Mizerhyby's astral power flowed through her whole body in great amounts, it deadened the effect enough for her to not fall into a total coma. Talisman through his training is the same way, although he is holding his chest from seeming exertion.
And now Elletear is mad. Seriously mad. Mad enough to freeze Mizerhyby and Vichy in terror.
If their heart can't be broken in a gentle way, all that's left is to break their bodies in a brutal and thoroughly unpleasant way.
Talisman sinks one fist into her body, calling Elletear drunk on power again. Elletear finds it hilarious that now he's trying to protect the princess like a knight in shining armor, though his pointless struggle is pretty sad at this point.
Talisman acknowledges that his strength will never hurt Elletear at all. She does have the power to change the world and make everyone kneel before her in terror.
But the terror of the mad scientists that created her is why she's about to lose
Spoiler for And that is :
because Talisman wasn't holding his chest from exhaustion.
His sleigh of hand was concealing a syringe. Filled with a overdose of the formula jointly developed to transform people into carriers of the Nightmare. And Elletear has finally let her guard down enough for him to successfully inject her with it.
True, Elletear already had a large amount of the Nightmare in her body, but needed time to fully adapt and transform.
And a hot overdose is enough for her to start melting down, losing her mind and identity.
Spoiler for Endings and beginnings:
Back at the oasis, Alice and everyone had a epic battle against the spirit of the moon and infinitely growing illusions!
A fight full of effort, friendship, tears and Sisbell's insight, except Iska doesn't have time to hear Alice's tale and Sisbell is bickering again with Alice and Rin about who gets the credit for figuring out the secret.
And Alice's communication device has had 13 missed calls from the Queen. It takes a half day to get out of the Catalyst zone and back to a area of better reception, where Alice gets the news that all Zoa and Hydra loyalists are heading for the Empire.
Going back in time, Mizerhyby can't help but admire her uncle Talisman for the clutch. He's honestly just too much of a man.
Talisman coldly pronounces Elletear's end as she dissolves into the Nightmare.
But Elletear has no intention of going by herself, and grabs Talisman when his guard is down, gleefully telling him that they'll enjoy despair together
And all weakened Mizerhyby can do is watch and listen to the screams.
According to the afterword, volume 14 will be Mizerhyby's time in the spotlight, the start of the final phase of the war, also featuring the clash between Shanorotte and Mismis
I’ve resurrected my account here from the dead to let you know that I’m devouring every single one of your spoilers and I’m waiting for your summary of the final volume. Please share romance info as well because I just finished the anime today and I swear Iska and Alice have insane chemistry, more so than most romcom series I know.
I have been busy for a while and can finally take a bit of time to reread and write down some summaries!
Before any of that, I’d like to say that I’m going to shorten them up considerably from here on out. I know that anyone who can’t read the novels in Japanese (or Chinese or Korean) must wait on Yenpress or other regional localizers for pretty long periods of time, perhaps unfair amounts of time.
But at the same time, I look back and figured that too much detail isn’t a good thing for anyone about to read the books for the first time. It does take away from the experience!
I’m not gonna go back and edit my posts but no more super long summaries from here on out. Volume 15 is out next week about Mirabell and Sallinger's unseen history, and I’ve honestly no idea how many more volumes we have left before the finale.
A brief summary of 14 will take a bit of time, can't do it right now.
Let’s start off with Secret File #3. The one with Elletear on the cover. It's another compilation of silly and funny tales among our cast members in their day to day lives.
But the most important one is how Mr #1 and Elletear met years ago and set so so so much in motion.
An uplifting and twisted tale of how two outcasts found each other.
Spoiler for Genesis:
So who is Johaim Leo Armadel, traitor and knight extraordinaire anyways?
Well, who he used to be is someone who lived in a slum in the Nebulis Sovereignty. An Astral Mage who had no Astral ability to use. Someone who thought about thinking about dreams, wondering if anyone really could reach out and ignite some passion in him. Of course, he had an image of himself as an adult, a childish fantasy he could hold on to as a kid. But as an adult, that’s long done and dusted away, given up and he doesn’t even remember what it feels like to have that kind of unabashed excitement.
Not that there’s any time to do so when the struggle to survive is endless, the tension in his heart never goes away and life means eking out a meagre and borderline meaningless existence. And that’s no big surprise, poverty knows no borders. It’s a common story if Crossweil and Eve have anything to say about it.
It’s not like he has nobody at all to know, but there certainly is nobody to trust.
His first sight of Elletear is her singing in a public square, dressed as usual despite the biting winter, beautiful as always acting cheerful and joyful but that’s no comfort to Joheim. It’s just one more reminder of a world of plenty, a paradise that’s left him by the wayside. Even if her lips are blue, even if she must be shivering, even if she’s by herself, even if she’s being quietly badmouthed by a petty thief that Joheim knows, the rumors about her weakness are everywhere.
But Joheim thinks a little bit about it, and forms a guess that things are so bad within the Royal Palace that Elletear prefers the bitter winter over staying in there. A person can only take so much mockery even in comfort before they make compromises. Not that it makes him sympathetic, even if he’s not loved by Astral Spirits he’s still got nothing to his name at all.
But if money and status are the only criteria that matter in his world….well, licking Elletear’s shoes to become her guard wouldn’t be the worst thing he’s ever had to do.
Spoiler for Training Day:
It goes horribly. As it turns out, the Astral Corps have some pretty brutal standards even before magic comes into play. Guts and determination won’t stop blows to the head in a duel between applicants.
But guts and determination are good enough to keep Joheim reapplying and reapplying. But what is it that drives him so badly to excel?
Eventually, his self imposed training and continued attempts (and injuries) have a unexpected fruit over time. He can’t use Astral abilities, he’s no great tactician, all he has is a “stupid tenacity” – but not having magic can leave him with a certain awareness of when people will use theirs, so long as he continues to train his senses and body.
And that fuels the savage joy in his heart that awoke after attempt #1. It’s easy to forget about the original plan about Elletear. After a lifetime of being trampled into the ground and looked down upon, he finally, after great pain and humiliation, has a way to give it back to the class of people who would give him shit.
But of course it doesn’t get him into the Astral Corps. Even after he comes out as the top applicant and defeats Astral Corps instructors, he’s got no Astral ability to use. No ability? No entry. No appeals.
And Joheim begins to lose it. Carrying on with his previous life is no longer something bearable
He pretends to leave the facility, but hides, and gets ready for one last act of violent resistance against “Paradise.”
Night falls, and he starts attacking guards. It’s easy enough at that point to neutralize them without raising an alarm – but he doesn’t feel any better about it. His rage is futile. But fate has other ideas.
Because Elletear is also in that facility, keeping away from everyone.
She’s had a bad time, and is just alone in her thoughts. And despite the fact that they never spoke before, she remembers when Joheim saw her at a distance. She doesn’t forget that kind of a cold look. It’s a awkward meeting, but she doesn’t give his location up to the guards searching for the criminal who attacked their comrades.
Because in the face of his frustration and anger, she loses her façade of impeccable manners. She can vulgarly laugh at the absurdity of his situation. She can admit that she hates the Sovereignty, the Empire, her own lonely situation, the discrimination, all of the nonsense. She wants to destroy it all!
And finally, Joheim has found the dream that he never knew he wanted. Something larger than just himself, someone he can believe in.
Spoiler for Genesis:
Elletear has Joheim train more and more. He goes with her on a trip to Kelvina, sees the madness of the Nightmare procedure to become a Witch, ultimately shows his undying loyalty by burning off his astral tattoo with Kelvina’s medicine. Also, and in accordance with his own guess, turns out to be a way to bypass the Astral Detectors within the Empire. No more stray emissions because of the Rejection Reaction scar, unless he used a Astral ability. Elletear calls him an idiot but is glad at heart because he’ll be in the Empire with her.
But his act has drawn the attention of the Eight Apostles.
Months pass, more secrets are learned, Joheim enters the Saint Disciples as a foreigner from “somewhere” under the backing of the Apostles despite suspicions. His Disciple authority to go literally anywhere leads him back to Elsa’s Coffin where Vichyssoise is visiting and Elletear was not having a good time.
Joheim almost goes postal, but Elletear wakes up long enough to tell him to keep faith. And get hugged in a touching scene.
And unforeseen consequences arise
Spoiler for Skipping a lot:
Kelvina is a mad scientist. We know how that goes.
To her, a catalyst has the role of accelerating the rate in which substance A + substance B becomes substance C. These are measurable and quantifiable variables.
And yet, somehow Joheim has become Elletear’s catalyst. What she is becoming, the process begins to accelerate from that moment on.
And time and other encounters go on. Joheim does admit in his heart for one brief moment that he loves Elletear – but business remains business, his duty remains as it is.
The story ends with that one moment when Elletear finally loses all remnants of her humanity. She loses it all – her body, her organs, everything.
All that remains of Elletear is her mind – and a mass of smoke that can change appearance, shape and form freely. Joheim hugs her and it’s like he’s hugging a body of water, but that’s fine. His feelings remain the exact same. And Joheim and Elletear are not doing this to live their lives out together, free from all concerns, although Elletear admits that could have been quite nice and satisfying.
But choices were made in blood long ago. For the two of them, the war awaits.
14 Summary. I had to rewrite this so many times to shorten it.
Spoiler for Yes, Elletear survived:
As it turns out, a gamble on her part was able to offload the excess drugs onto Talisman, a gamble in that he didn’t think she’d be able to grab on to him in such in a condition.
But after their little time together, she’s weakened and crawling on the ground, trying to get into the Astral Fountain that will lead her to the planet’s core
Mizer and Vichy are stunned and silent, but Mizer eventually starts snapping out of it: she’ll never have a better chance to kill Elletear.
Which is why Joheim makes her sit down. Elletear feels that had Mizer been even a little bit like Talisman, this would have been her death. But as it stands, she’s nothing but a silly princess, a terrified little child. And thus, Joheim and Elletear jump.
As for Talisman, his eyes are doubled in size, his body is being replaced by black muscle fiber (like Senator Armstrong??) and he’s talking coherently but about the glory of knowledge and power he’s just seen. Vichy is screaming that they must contain him before he loses it. Mizer is lost in rage and humiliation. What’s been done to her uncle is unforgivable.
Although it’s necessary for someone to go back to the Sovereignty and explain things out in detail to Mirabell, Rin can tell that everyone stinks. A stop at a city along the way to wash up is absolutely unnegotiable. And thus the war between flatties and fatties continues, with Kissing’s input into a unfamiliar situation where she bathes communally.
As everyone finally assembles before Yunmelngen, Iska reaffirms his commitment to his goals. Even if the situation has changed, even if the circumstances and dangers and consequences are all different from what he thought was true before, the war must come to a close. And for that to happen, the Nightmare must die.
The Emperor then speaks in private with the three princesses and Rin. He gets that Alice is worried about what will happen afterwards. That Kissing doesn’t care what she’ll have to do. But that’s a bit hasty of them. Winning against the Disaster was already a unlikely proposition at best, and having to face against its human agents makes it worse. Though Elletear has not thrown away all her heart, it’s all going to be messy no matter what is planned.
Afterwards, there are more meetings and cooldown periods, and Alice is becoming more and more upset with Kissing preferring to stick around Iska instead of him being her exclusive chaperone. Kissing isn’t going to back down in her own way, May is perfectly content to nap and leave it all to him. Sisbell has been chosen to go to the Sovereignty to meet with her mother.
Shanorotte can’t do much on her own despite all her rage. But because she’s in sneaking mode, she spies Mizerhyby along with some other Hydra members and a shaking reinforced container entering the Empire..
Mizerhyby attacks the containment zone around Elsa’s Coffin but finds nothing there. She’s willing to dose up on the Nightmare because she knows of how inadequate her power is for revenge, even if Vichy has serious doubts about this course of action. So Shanorotte decides to reveal herself, taking out surveillance equipment so from that moment on they can negotiate secretly. A location in exchange for the power of Glory.
Everyone in the capital saw the images of Mizerhyby and Shanorotte. But Mismis can’t see Shanorotte as her enemy even now.
Spoiler for Definitely for 15:
Alice calls up her mother to confirm that this wasn’t sanctioned, although politics come into play as this is just as much to confirm the current Nebulis government is not willing to wage open war while keeping the Queen in the dark to an extent. There’s tension with May listening in the background. But Mirabell’s spoken feelings are the same as they have been. Even if she’s been ruminating ever since 9 about Sallinger and his words.
“It’s a rule of thumb that I learned in the Astral Corps. The Imperial Army is tough. The “many sacrifices” of war eventually become “extraordinary sacrifices” when in fact they’re all “unbearable sacrifices”
No Nebulis? No dream power? No all out war.
Alice must stop this impromptu alliance between the moon and the sun
Sisbell and mom meet in Ain, Risya does the drop off. Risya isn’t hiding who she actually is, the Queen has been expecting enemies from all corners ever since the night of the palace invasion, and her hatred of the Empire has not changed. But neutral city rules, cooler heads, etc.
Mirabell finally has some time with her daughter again, hearing some of the story and information about the Apostles, about the Emperor and Nebulis, about Elletear and the Calamity. While a lot of the details remain unspoken (Iska being one of them), Mirabell is having trouble swallowing it all. She believes Sisbell, but what to do…what to do. Sisbell has the chance to ask Shuvalts how he managed to get out of the Snow and the Sun. And Mirabell finally stops looking past the discrepancy when her daughter questions why Sallinger did it. Why would Sallinger kill her predecessor but leave her servant alive?
Somehow, none of it matches up. Looking out the window, Mirabell admits out loud that she was a coward. She knows her daughter took risks to reach the truth. Sometimes the act of knowing requires courage. She must follow Sisbell’s example. She doesn’t say what she wants Sisbell to reveal in the palace, but it’s not the night of the Vichy bombing.
Her personal and professional feelings aren’t in the right place to stick with a response to the Empire. She doesn’t know if she has the guts to condemn her nation to oblivion. She doesn’t know if she has it in her to stop Elletear at All Costs. But she knows she has to straighten something out first.
Spoiler for More War:
All traces of Mizy and Shano fail. Strategies and possibilities are being thought of, but nobody expected the Hydra to attack Omen. Jin and Mismis are the only people that can be left in the Emperor’s tower, and a lot of juggling and on the fly prep is made for Alice and Kissing to be able to start fighting without the rank and file soldiers opening fire. In the end, Nene and Risya believe that Mizy probably wanted the confiscated materials from Elsa’s coffin. And since the site is so huge, only one person probably knows where they are. Normal ways of breaching are out of the question when possible hostages are in play, so Kissing and Rin lend a hand. In the end, Newton can’t hide the drugs from Vichy, but Kissing and Alice confront Mizy before she starts taking them. Vichy goes to prevent Iska and May from getting in the way.
If either were alone and without some information passed on by Iska, Mizy would have overwhelmed Alice or Kissing pretty quickly. Kissing can see that the best way to settle this together with Alice is a war of attrition. Who will run out of juice first? Looks like Mizy because Glory has a heavier toll with more subordinates, she has no choice but to use her subordinates. Whatever can’t be blocked by ice gets erased by her thorns, whatever gets past the thorns gets blocked by ice.
Alice also begins to wonder if this is how Iska felt in 7. Fighting someone so angry and on the verge of losing it – wasn’t she like this back then? She doesn’t like the Sun or the Royal Feud – but she doesn’t want to settle things with Mizy like this. War of attrition it is.
Vichy’s stand against the Disciples isn’t a bad one. Everyone’s underground, there’s limited space to maneuver, and Vichy isn’t taking any chances against Iska and keeps as far away as possible. Risking the collapse of the entire facility by blasting away and keeping their attention on the ceiling, she goes all in on nuking everyone with her black hole.
And so, it’s up to Nene to save the day.
No, I won’t explain how she does it, she hasn’t done much in so long and she deserves her moment of shining glory.
Spoiler for Mismis FIGHTS!:
Shano makes an appearance in front of Mismis while she’s out of the tower, taking out a soldier and stealing their ID. Mismis starts the alert, gets back to the tower, but then the generators and backups and electrical systems go down. Lightning comparable to a high powered laser cannon.
The situation is not looking good, so Mismis and Jin have to play it risky. Shanorotte is probably aiming for the Emperor’s life if she can’t burn down the capital, so they need to keep her attention. Mismis believes that Shano looks down on her and won’t immediately kill her, and so Jin goes along with her ploy. Shano does mow down platoons of mechanical weapons and not feel the slightest bit of threat from Mismis in comparison.
So it’s up to Mismis to start talking. She still doesn’t think of Shanorotte as an enemy.
She knows the score. But if Shanorotte’s definition of enemies and allies is defined by Astral power, well, Mismis has some too now. And she’s not unaware of what that could mean.
She’s thought about what would happen if her other colleagues found out. How they would look at her. How so much of her home has become a prison, or dangerous. How much of the Sovereignty would remain hostile to her as an Imperial Soldier. So she shows her Astral tattoo. She wants to bridge the gap.
And Shano’s response is to shoot Mismis.
She says she hates Mismis more than other Imperials now. Turning down the force lightning settings, she tortures Mismis, but the Captain’s feelings aren’t changing. So Shano decides to go for the kill –
So E lu emne xel noi Es.
As it turns out, Mismis has what would have been Alice 1’s astral power, 風祝, an ability that can sweep away and calm the destructive impulses of other astral spirits, reflecting Alice’s wish that these spirits shouldn’t be dragged into the conflicts between people, be used to do nothing but hurt others.
That spirit decided long ago that Mismis’s gentle and brave character was worth a gamble, not unlike Eve’s sister. Worth lending a hand, as it were.
Without any other options, Shanorotte decides to go for the old fashioned way, strangle and smash. But despite being injured and hurt, Mismis is still able to talk and grab Shano. She can’t win by her own, and she never intended to either!
That’s enough distraction for Jin to shoot Shano in the limbs. But Shano was a captain once with all the skills needed to be one, and is able to escape briefly with the help of a flashbang
Despite bleeding heavily, Shanorotte tries to run, but gets cornered by Jin and Mismis. Her attempt at suicide is stopped, the emperor appears as well, and nothing she does even pains him.
Forced surrender it is. Mismis takes off her ribbon and fist fights her friend, starting with a good shot to Shano’s nose. A lot of feelings are exchanged here, about stubbornness and rage and regret along with a few pretty dirty blows. Eventually Shanorotte feels the absurdity of it all. She’s losing to a tiny woman, unable to do anything about the leader of the Enemy who’s actually not much different from an Astral Spirit, just fighting without accomplishing anything here.
Exhausted, beaten and on the ground, she admits that Mismis is damn stupid to care about a traitor like her. But maybe that’s why someone that naïve and sweet easily gathers people around her. Like her excellent subordinates who are still with her, like her superior Risya who’s still fighting and in the game. She’s not unlike the arrival of spring to renew the living, isn’t she? Just like her astral spirit.
Spoiler for Giving up:
Mizy runs out of juice and is captured. Kissing and Alice go back up on the surface.
Where the mystery container is found.
And where Talisman has been quiet for a while. And he breaks out.
Talisman is now far stronger and faster than before. Alice has no time for her Ice Flower. And Kissing cannot hit him. He sees that her garden of thorns is a creation of the mind, a shared reflection of the fear of contact with others. And she is far too terrified of what she sees.
Luckily, Iska arrives to stop Talisman from erasing the girls.
Talisman is glad to see the “dreamer” again. He now sees what the star swords are, what kind of a threat they actually represent. As a researcher, now he understands the full history of energy and what humanity can be!
But Iska is not happy in multiple ways. He has his own grudge, but he understood what Talisman once said. How they were people who trained beyond madness. And this? This is a horrible distortion of what Talisman worked on. Alice feels that this parody of Talisman’s mind is horrifying. Elletear was bad enough but this is just ghastly. Giving up her astral powers to destroy this horror of flesh and thought that awaits everyone is no longer a difficult choice.
But if the last fight was not in Iska’s favor, then this is flat out a losing battle for survival, because Talisman is just destroying everyone. Even if Talisman’s body is falling apart from the overdose and lack of compatibility, he can still just regrow what he loses. When Yunmelngen said that fighting the nightmare would be horrible, he meant every last word. Talisman can punch hard enough now that he will shatter the Star Swords if he connects.
But Mizy is nearby. And finally, after seeing her uncle like this, she understands her own feelings. She was ultimately mad at herself more than anyone else. For choking up. For not being able to carry through.
Talisman took his chances against Elletear. He stood up in front of her, protected his family, faced his fears down and fought. He was brilliant to see (no comments right now about his moral character or choices), and what is happening is not what anyone should want.
Enough is enough. Her power is not, and never was the greatest in the world. It should remain as the “noblest”, and she throws everything she’s got left into Kissing and Alice.
Their powerup is not enough to destroy Talisman, but it’s enough to overwhelm him long enough for Iska to destroy the core of the Nightmare growth. There’s still something human in him after all that, enough for him to see crying Mizy, and tell her not be ashamed of crying – like this, isn’t she a fine lady already?
And down he goes.
Later on, Talisman and Vichy aren’t dead, but they’re definitely not going to be “alright” when they wake up. The Nightmare isn’t a toy or something temporary.
Mizy has accepted her fate, so long as her family’s safety can be guaranteed even if they'll be secured in prisons. She took her chances and must face the consequences. She’s not in a friendly mood with Iska. But the Emperor calls and gets to the point. Everyone needs help, and he’s willing to make a deal.
Nebulis steals the Emperor’s letter because she wants the information in it.
Sallinger is pondering about the contents of Mizy’s earring that has…somehow made its way to him. Wondering about what exactly will he do. About what’s going to happen if Mirabell makes her choice to fight. What indeed?
14 Summary. I had to rewrite this so many times to shorten it.
Spoiler for Yes, Elletear survived:
As it turns out, a gamble on her part was able to offload the excess drugs onto Talisman, a gamble in that he didn’t think she’d be able to grab on to him in such in a condition.
But after their little time together, she’s weakened and crawling on the ground, trying to get into the Astral Fountain that will lead her to the planet’s core
Mizer and Vichy are stunned and silent, but Mizer eventually starts snapping out of it: she’ll never have a better chance to kill Elletear.
Which is why Joheim makes her sit down. Elletear feels that had Mizer been even a little bit like Talisman, this would have been her death. But as it stands, she’s nothing but a silly princess, a terrified little child. And thus, Joheim and Elletear jump.
As for Talisman, his eyes are doubled in size, his body is being replaced by black muscle fiber (like Senator Armstrong??) and he’s talking coherently but about the glory of knowledge and power he’s just seen. Vichy is screaming that they must contain him before he loses it. Mizer is lost in rage and humiliation. What’s been done to her uncle is unforgivable.
Although it’s necessary for someone to go back to the Sovereignty and explain things out in detail to Mirabell, Rin can tell that everyone stinks. A stop at a city along the way to wash up is absolutely unnegotiable. And thus the war between flatties and fatties continues, with Kissing’s input into a unfamiliar situation where she bathes communally.
As everyone finally assembles before Yunmelngen, Iska reaffirms his commitment to his goals. Even if the situation has changed, even if the circumstances and dangers and consequences are all different from what he thought was true before, the war must come to a close. And for that to happen, the Nightmare must die.
The Emperor then speaks in private with the three princesses and Rin. He gets that Alice is worried about what will happen afterwards. That Kissing doesn’t care what she’ll have to do. But that’s a bit hasty of them. Winning against the Disaster was already a unlikely proposition at best, and having to face against its human agents makes it worse. Though Elletear has not thrown away all her heart, it’s all going to be messy no matter what is planned.
Afterwards, there are more meetings and cooldown periods, and Alice is becoming more and more upset with Kissing preferring to stick around Iska instead of him being her exclusive chaperone. Kissing isn’t going to back down in her own way, May is perfectly content to nap and leave it all to him. Sisbell has been chosen to go to the Sovereignty to meet with her mother.
Shanorotte can’t do much on her own despite all her rage. But because she’s in sneaking mode, she spies Mizerhyby along with some other Hydra members and a shaking reinforced container entering the Empire..
Mizerhyby attacks the containment zone around Elsa’s Coffin but finds nothing there. She’s willing to dose up on the Nightmare because she knows of how inadequate her power is for revenge, even if Vichy has serious doubts about this course of action. So Shanorotte decides to reveal herself, taking out surveillance equipment so from that moment on they can negotiate secretly. A location in exchange for the power of Glory.
Everyone in the capital saw the images of Mizerhyby and Shanorotte. But Mismis can’t see Shanorotte as her enemy even now.
Spoiler for Definitely for 15:
Alice calls up her mother to confirm that this wasn’t sanctioned, although politics come into play as this is just as much to confirm the current Nebulis government is not willing to wage open war while keeping the Queen in the dark to an extent. There’s tension with May listening in the background. But Mirabell’s spoken feelings are the same as they have been. Even if she’s been ruminating ever since 9 about Sallinger and his words.
“It’s a rule of thumb that I learned in the Astral Corps. The Imperial Army is tough. The “many sacrifices” of war eventually become “extraordinary sacrifices” when in fact they’re all “unbearable sacrifices”
No Nebulis? No dream power? No all out war.
Alice must stop this impromptu alliance between the moon and the sun
Sisbell and mom meet in Ain, Risya does the drop off. Risya isn’t hiding who she actually is, the Queen has been expecting enemies from all corners ever since the night of the palace invasion, and her hatred of the Empire has not changed. But neutral city rules, cooler heads, etc.
Mirabell finally has some time with her daughter again, hearing some of the story and information about the Apostles, about the Emperor and Nebulis, about Elletear and the Calamity. While a lot of the details remain unspoken (Iska being one of them), Mirabell is having trouble swallowing it all. She believes Sisbell, but what to do…what to do. Sisbell has the chance to ask Shuvalts how he managed to get out of the Snow and the Sun. And Mirabell finally stops looking past the discrepancy when her daughter questions why Sallinger did it. Why would Sallinger kill her predecessor but leave her servant alive?
Somehow, none of it matches up. Looking out the window, Mirabell admits out loud that she was a coward. She knows her daughter took risks to reach the truth. Sometimes the act of knowing requires courage. She must follow Sisbell’s example. She doesn’t say what she wants Sisbell to reveal in the palace, but it’s not the night of the Vichy bombing.
Her personal and professional feelings aren’t in the right place to stick with a response to the Empire. She doesn’t know if she has the guts to condemn her nation to oblivion. She doesn’t know if she has it in her to stop Elletear at All Costs. But she knows she has to straighten something out first.
Spoiler for More War:
All traces of Mizy and Shano fail. Strategies and possibilities are being thought of, but nobody expected the Hydra to attack Omen. Jin and Mismis are the only people that can be left in the Emperor’s tower, and a lot of juggling and on the fly prep is made for Alice and Kissing to be able to start fighting without the rank and file soldiers opening fire. In the end, Nene and Risya believe that Mizy probably wanted the confiscated materials from Elsa’s coffin. And since the site is so huge, only one person probably knows where they are. Normal ways of breaching are out of the question when possible hostages are in play, so Kissing and Rin lend a hand. In the end, Newton can’t hide the drugs from Vichy, but Kissing and Alice confront Mizy before she starts taking them. Vichy goes to prevent Iska and May from getting in the way.
If either were alone and without some information passed on by Iska, Mizy would have overwhelmed Alice or Kissing pretty quickly. Kissing can see that the best way to settle this together with Alice is a war of attrition. Who will run out of juice first? Looks like Mizy because Glory has a heavier toll with more subordinates, she has no choice but to use her subordinates. Whatever can’t be blocked by ice gets erased by her thorns, whatever gets past the thorns gets blocked by ice.
Alice also begins to wonder if this is how Iska felt in 7. Fighting someone so angry and on the verge of losing it – wasn’t she like this back then? She doesn’t like the Sun or the Royal Feud – but she doesn’t want to settle things with Mizy like this. War of attrition it is.
Vichy’s stand against the Disciples isn’t a bad one. Everyone’s underground, there’s limited space to maneuver, and Vichy isn’t taking any chances against Iska and keeps as far away as possible. Risking the collapse of the entire facility by blasting away and keeping their attention on the ceiling, she goes all in on nuking everyone with her black hole.
And so, it’s up to Nene to save the day.
No, I won’t explain how she does it, she hasn’t done much in so long and she deserves her moment of shining glory.
Spoiler for Mismis FIGHTS!:
Shano makes an appearance in front of Mismis while she’s out of the tower, taking out a soldier and stealing their ID. Mismis starts the alert, gets back to the tower, but then the generators and backups and electrical systems go down. Lightning comparable to a high powered laser cannon.
The situation is not looking good, so Mismis and Jin have to play it risky. Shanorotte is probably aiming for the Emperor’s life if she can’t burn down the capital, so they need to keep her attention. Mismis believes that Shano looks down on her and won’t immediately kill her, and so Jin goes along with her ploy. Shano does mow down platoons of mechanical weapons and not feel the slightest bit of threat from Mismis in comparison.
So it’s up to Mismis to start talking. She still doesn’t think of Shanorotte as an enemy.
She knows the score. But if Shanorotte’s definition of enemies and allies is defined by Astral power, well, Mismis has some too now. And she’s not unaware of what that could mean.
She’s thought about what would happen if her other colleagues found out. How they would look at her. How so much of her home has become a prison, or dangerous. How much of the Sovereignty would remain hostile to her as an Imperial Soldier. So she shows her Astral tattoo. She wants to bridge the gap.
And Shano’s response is to shoot Mismis.
She says she hates Mismis more than other Imperials now. Turning down the force lightning settings, she tortures Mismis, but the Captain’s feelings aren’t changing. So Shano decides to go for the kill –
So E lu emne xel noi Es.
As it turns out, Mismis has what would have been Alice 1’s astral power, 風祝, an ability that can sweep away and calm the destructive impulses of other astral spirits, reflecting Alice’s wish that these spirits shouldn’t be dragged into the conflicts between people, be used to do nothing but hurt others.
That spirit decided long ago that Mismis’s gentle and brave character was worth a gamble, not unlike Eve’s sister. Worth lending a hand, as it were.
Without any other options, Shanorotte decides to go for the old fashioned way, strangle and smash. But despite being injured and hurt, Mismis is still able to talk and grab Shano. She can’t win by her own, and she never intended to either!
That’s enough distraction for Jin to shoot Shano in the limbs. But Shano was a captain once with all the skills needed to be one, and is able to escape briefly with the help of a flashbang
Despite bleeding heavily, Shanorotte tries to run, but gets cornered by Jin and Mismis. Her attempt at suicide is stopped, the emperor appears as well, and nothing she does even pains him.
Forced surrender it is. Mismis takes off her ribbon and fist fights her friend, starting with a good shot to Shano’s nose. A lot of feelings are exchanged here, about stubbornness and rage and regret along with a few pretty dirty blows. Eventually Shanorotte feels the absurdity of it all. She’s losing to a tiny woman, unable to do anything about the leader of the Enemy who’s actually not much different from an Astral Spirit, just fighting without accomplishing anything here.
Exhausted, beaten and on the ground, she admits that Mismis is damn stupid to care about a traitor like her. But maybe that’s why someone that naïve and sweet easily gathers people around her. Like her excellent subordinates who are still with her, like her superior Risya who’s still fighting and in the game. She’s not unlike the arrival of spring to renew the living, isn’t she? Just like her astral spirit.
Spoiler for Giving up:
Mizy runs out of juice and is captured. Kissing and Alice go back up on the surface.
Where the mystery container is found.
And where Talisman has been quiet for a while. And he breaks out.
Talisman is now far stronger and faster than before. Alice has no time for her Ice Flower. And Kissing cannot hit him. He sees that her garden of thorns is a creation of the mind, a shared reflection of the fear of contact with others. And she is far too terrified of what she sees.
Luckily, Iska arrives to stop Talisman from erasing the girls.
Talisman is glad to see the “dreamer” again. He now sees what the star swords are, what kind of a threat they actually represent. As a researcher, now he understands the full history of energy and what humanity can be!
But Iska is not happy in multiple ways. He has his own grudge, but he understood what Talisman once said. How they were people who trained beyond madness. And this? This is a horrible distortion of what Talisman worked on. Alice feels that this parody of Talisman’s mind is horrifying. Elletear was bad enough but this is just ghastly. Giving up her astral powers to destroy this horror of flesh and thought that awaits everyone is no longer a difficult choice.
But if the last fight was not in Iska’s favor, then this is flat out a losing battle for survival, because Talisman is just destroying everyone. Even if Talisman’s body is falling apart from the overdose and lack of compatibility, he can still just regrow what he loses. When Yunmelngen said that fighting the nightmare would be horrible, he meant every last word. Talisman can punch hard enough now that he will shatter the Star Swords if he connects.
But Mizy is nearby. And finally, after seeing her uncle like this, she understands her own feelings. She was ultimately mad at herself more than anyone else. For choking up. For not being able to carry through.
Talisman took his chances against Elletear. He stood up in front of her, protected his family, faced his fears down and fought. He was brilliant to see (no comments right now about his moral character or choices), and what is happening is not what anyone should want.
Enough is enough. Her power is not, and never was the greatest in the world. It should remain as the “noblest”, and she throws everything she’s got left into Kissing and Alice.
Their powerup is not enough to destroy Talisman, but it’s enough to overwhelm him long enough for Iska to destroy the core of the Nightmare growth. There’s still something human in him after all that, enough for him to see crying Mizy, and tell her not be ashamed of crying – like this, isn’t she a fine lady already?
And down he goes.
Later on, Talisman and Vichy aren’t dead, but they’re definitely not going to be “alright” when they wake up. The Nightmare isn’t a toy or something temporary.
Mizy has accepted her fate, so long as her family’s safety can be guaranteed even if they'll be secured in prisons. She took her chances and must face the consequences. She’s not in a friendly mood with Iska. But the Emperor calls and gets to the point. Everyone needs help, and he’s willing to make a deal.
Nebulis steals the Emperor’s letter because she wants the information in it.
Sallinger is pondering about the contents of Mizy’s earring that has…somehow made its way to him. Wondering about what exactly will he do. About what’s going to happen if Mirabell makes her choice to fight. What indeed?
thanks for the summaries mate, i will wait for the volume 15
__________________
la verdadera Victoria es dar todo de si mismo, sin arrepentimientos.
2022-03-30, 21:14
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