Claymore Chapter 99

[Aimless]

Originally Posted by chibamonster

Rubel is worried the partially awakened Claymores are exactly what the organization wanted in the first place. That means he suspects Clare and her gang can do something absolutely phenomenal. I think he suspects they can fully awaken and return by themselves without a soul link. Maybe being level headed is the only way they can manage it.

Hrmmm. The way to think about this is to consider the behaviors of the awakened beings we've met in relation to their approximate generation. It seems clear that as the years have progressed, the Org. has been coming closer and closer to their goal of a controllable AB. Based on the evidence of Jean and the Slayers, I'd suspect that all of the current crop of warriors should have the capacity (if, perhaps, not the motivation or willpower) to partially awaken and return - we know of at least five with that ability, and that's a large enough number across a small enough sample to suggest the ability is widespread.

Thus, if we roughly assume that this is the trait the Organization has been breeding (for lack of a better word) for, each successive generation should show signs of progress towards this end.

So, is this progress evidenced in the Awakened? The oldest we know about (that we can definitively place) are Isley, Rigardo, and Dauf, with the six-armed AB thrown into that mix somewhere. Next comes Riful. Agatha is somewhere between then and present, and Lucy is comes somewhere around twenty years prior to Clare's generation. Then come Hilda, Prissy, and Ophelia.

The problem here is that I don't see any particular progression to the behaviors or traits of those ABs. Prissy's memory loss is abnormal; likewise are Ophelia's memories of her brother. Hilda was hesitant when fighting Miria and Ophelia. Perhaps that constitutes a trend towards remaining human, and yet Prissy is the most inhuman monster in the series. If you discount his eating habits, Isley is the most human of the bunch.

From a narrative standpoint, I think you are almost certainly right that Clare will at some point fully awaken. I'm less certain that she will be able to return. The elements of the story (partial-awakening, soul link, etc.) seem to point that way, but there still seems to be something irrevocable about full awakening. Both Isley and Agatha mentioned needing to eat guts in order to survive, and Prissy's starvation is an object lesson therein. What this says to me is that there is some irrevocable physical change which occurs after full awakening, in addition to the implied mental change. In fact, given the relative humanity of the awakened beings we've met, I'd hazard to say that the mental changes are secondary (and perhaps overcome with time).

This is backed up a bit by Clare's observation that, after partial-awakening, her appetite had increased.

Ergo, my suspicion is that Clare will manage a full awakening while avoiding the mental change entirely, and yet will still be an awakened being. In other words, she'll still be Clare, but she'll be hungry for guts. That sounds like something Yagi would do.

[Shiek927]

Originally Posted by chibamonster

I think I can totally forgive Priscilla for eating the villiagers. It saved them from becoming destroyer kitty monsters. ... if she did eat them... which she did...

Good point; what happened to them was cruel, but it was the lesser of a far worse fate.

And besides, we still don't know exactly why she killed those humans; if it was because she didn't want to munch on Raki, it makes sense that way too.

Every chapter clears up a mystery, but we still don't have what happened at the town totally spelled out for us.

Ergo, my suspicion is that Clare will manage a full awakening while avoid the mental change entirely, and yet will still be an awakened being. In other words, she'll still be Clare, but she'll be hungry for guts. That sounds like something Yagi would do.

....Aren't all Awakened Beings like that though?

What mental change are you talking about? They're the same they was as a human, except for the new bodily requirements as you said.

[SagaraSouske]

Originally Posted by Shiek927

Well that goes without saying, but the curious part, is when she didn't seem to remember her.

Even when she was with Isley, their is a very clear distinction drawn between her sadistic side now and when she first awakened, and everything else.



Well, it's been implied for awhile that she has that "sixth sense" that Helen was talking about.

Well, when she was with Isley after the fight with Luciella, she already met Raki. Although I am curious why she went to Isley since it was Raki who held her full attention.

The sixth sense Helen talked about is just general ability to sense youki. I don't think it is specific enough to be able tell whose youki it is. Clare can definitely distinguish Priscilla's youki.

[khryoleoz]

Who knew that the Abyssal Feeders had their predecessor in Priscilla? That was not a good end for Riful. She had it coming, but I was mildly affectionate towards the character.

I was waiting for this coming confrontation. But now that it's here, it's a bit too soon for me. So far, we haven't yet seen Clare develop her own power and skill in using that power to level of the only other person I know of who was capable of resisting Priss. What's gonna happen here? Clare will beat Priss on the superiority of her raw power alone? Or is this a set back for Clare who will lose this fight and will have to journey yet again to become stronger? Or will she be killed, her cause having been an empty hope or being passed on to a successor?

Dang.

[Shiek927]

Originally Posted by SagaraSouske

Well, when she was with Isley after the fight with Luciella, she already met Raki. Although I am curious why she went to Isley since it was Raki who held her full attention.

The sixth sense Helen talked about is just general ability to sense youki. I don't think it is specific enough to be able tell whose youki it is. Clare can definitely distinguish Priscilla's youki.

Which means that as far as sixth senses go, Claire's was extremely sharp.

I don't know if she was able to distinquish it; she couldn't see much difference between hers and Riful's so it isn't flawless.

[SagaraSouske]

Originally Posted by Mizuno

omg Noooodleeeess!!!!

Had anybody form some kind of conjecture why Priscilla abandoned Raki back there if she has somewhat of an emotional attachment to him?

My guess is that when Hell Cats attacked in that village, Raki either got hit by the rods during the fight or in defense of Priscilla. That triggered another emotional response in Priscilla and her first instinct was to look for the source of the rods - destroyer. The change turned Priscilla into her ruthless AB mindset, she can no longer control her hunger and started feeding.

[Aimless]

Originally Posted by Shiek927

....Aren't all Awakened Beings like that though?

What mental change are you talking about? They're the same they was as a human, except for the new bodily requirements as you said.

Well, the verbal evidence in the series seems to indicate that this is not the case; supposedly there is a distinct personality change which takes place during awakening. This is evidenced directly during Priscilla's awakening, and referenced by Jean, Clare and Deneve at various times when they talk about approaching the limit and being able to retain their "human self."

The question here is as to the nature of those personality changes, which is harder to guess based on evidence given in the series. All of the awakened beings we have met so far, with the exception of Priscilla during her rampage, have demonstrated a passably human personality. Even she has a quite human personality when she's not on a rampage; nevertheless, Prissy is noticably different post-awakening. So, there is some change to it - something along the lines of the beast dominating the human mind rather than the reverse.

[Shiek927]

Originally Posted by Aimless

Well, the verbal evidence in the series seems to indicate that this is not the case; supposedly there is a distinct personality change which takes place during awakening. This is evidenced directly during Priscilla's awakening, and referenced by Jean, Clare and Deneve at various times when they talk about approaching the limit and being able to retain their "human self."

The question here is as to the nature of those personality changes, which is harder to guess based on evidence given in the series. All of the awakened beings we have met so far, with the exception of rampaging Priscilla, have demonstrated a passably human personality. That said, Prissy is noticably different immediately post-awakening. So, there is some change to it - something along the lines of the beast dominating the human mind rather than the reverse.

I have a very unique mindset about this subject:

I don't have much time, but some posts I made on it:

http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...&postcount=933
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost...&postcount=935

Point blank, I see no change, at all, not like people think. Awakened Beings to me are simply humans with too much power on their hands. I don't see this gigantic left-to-right black and white leap like other people do.

I see perhaps a psychology change, which is obvious considering what they are now capable of with their new power, but I see no personality change at all. They can still love, feel and "behave" as "human" as they feel like it or care too. Some like Isley and Priscilla say yes(with a little persuasion from a little boy), others like Riful couldn't care less, yet end up crying anyway. The Psychology is what changes, not the Personality. If the Personality was different, Luciella wouldn't care about her sister, Isley would become a loving samaritan, Rigardo would hate combat...see where I'm going?

In short, they've come a long way since they were first introduced as simply yoma with stronger hunger.

As for Priscilla, she is an exception in every single sense of the word and is proof of nothing, except perhaps of what happens to a frail human who didn't intend to Awaken the first place(that goes for you to Ophelia); depending on which personality and which moment you're talking about, she can be one way or the other. She is both the most human Awakened Being and the most inhuman. Because of these exceptions, I usually just keep her out of the picture. Ophelia....not as much. Her entire case is very similar, but not so at the same time.

Everyone else is just a normal human being with terrifying bodily requirements, and more power then they know what to do with it.

[SagaraSouske]

Originally Posted by Shiek927

Which means that as far as sixth senses go, Claire's was extremely sharp.

I don't know if she was able to distinquish it; she couldn't see much difference between hers and Riful's so it isn't flawless.

If you are referring to her first encounter with Riful, she knew Riful's youki wasn't Priscilla's. She was just saying in the past she has encounter someone with that powerful youki, namely Priscilla.

[Shiek927]

Originally Posted by SagaraSouske

If you are referring to her first encounter with Riful, she knew Riful's youki wasn't Priscilla's. She was just saying in the past she has encounter someone with that powerful youki, namely Priscilla.

That's what I meant, as a child, she only saw the youki as malevolent and huge, and saw Riful's as the same.

Which means, silly as it sounds, if she were a child and saw both of them next to eachother, she probably couldn't tell the difference. If she could, she would have noticed right away that Riful is extremely miniscule in comparison.

[SagaraSouske]

Originally Posted by Shiek927

That's what I meant, as a child, she only saw the youki as malevolent and huge, and saw Riful's as the same.

Which means, silly as it sounds, if she were a child and saw both of them next to eachother, she probably couldn't tell the difference. If she could, she would have noticed right away that Riful is extremely miniscule in comparison.

That's not what she said. She knows the difference between Riful and Priscilla's youki. She didn't think Riful's youki was same as what she felt as a child, rather the power level reminds her of what she felt as a child.

[Shiek927]

Originally Posted by SagaraSouske

That's not what she said. She knows the difference between Riful and Priscilla's youki. She didn't think Riful's youki was same as what she felt as a child, rather the power level reminds her of what she felt as a child.

Hmm, I see what you mean; her words are a bit too vague, but I get the gist of it.

I'm probably just being too technical about it, is all.

[Sazelyt]

Finally the two destined ones meets. Been waiting so long for that to happen. And, with all these recent cleaning, I won't be surprised if they join forces against the organization...Priscilla seems to have gained her conscious which makes things a lot more interesting compared to her unclear status with who knows what kind of intentions before.

(And I guess, next step of joint action would be saving Raki from the organization)

[Zsych]

Man, the abyssals were killed off in a truly horrible fashion - like they were ants.

And for some reason, the Org's ultimates were also taken out.

Even if Yagi wanted to take the story in a different direction, killing off these characters was unnecessary.

And now, we have Clare and Priscilla meeting of all things.

I think my main reaction is: What the Hell is going on???


Also, its interesting that Priscilla says she's too strong to be taken over by the kitty things. Wonder what that means for Raki. People have been commenting on his odd smell for quite a while. Son of Isley perhaps? :P

[Joe_fh]

Lol Merry Chirsmats everyone.
It's nice to have a chapter earlier but that means we'll have to wait for the next one more. Since the next one is the 100th will we get some bonus material in it? Anyways the timing is nice - one of the major plotlines would reach it's climax in the 100th chapter....
So what happened in this chapter? I don't know about you guys but I don't like how many of the strongest characters around got killed...more like completely slaughtered... in a couple of chapters. Ok Alicia an Beth were killed to reinforce the image of Prissy being the most powerfull being alive and I'm sure the MiB have something planned as backup for this sort of scenario but Riful too? I mean that was really sudden and I don't think it was even needed at that point. It didn't actually show anything except the fact that Prissy is hungry and that she killed the people in the village which wasn't really that hard to guess.
Riful had too much development in my opinion to get killed in 2 pages because someone was hungry.

And so it comes down to something that seems like the ultimate showdown. The only question is why now? Just after reinforcing the point that Prissy is so powerfull even the Destroyer's hell cats, that took over an AO level claymore without a problem, couldn't even give her any sort of trouble and she wiped out 2 AOs without even breaking a sweat ot top of that she didn't even consider them oponents, having a showdown with clare is just wierd.
I don't see how Clare could even touch Prissy at this point. Sure she got all sorts of power ups in recent times + the 7 year training and full yoki release (probably) but after all we've seen I just can't image how a sudden powerup could be made to look reasonable and natural.

[ZeroSama]

Originally Posted by revan5

Yeah, I read those pages, but I tell you it doesn't matter. What does matter is that she just killed another 100+ innocent villagers and you're sitting there telling everyone we shouldn't care. I don't care about the first two pages because all the flashbacks in the world don't make up for the people she just murdered Shiek.

You also said previously that she was redeemed, that we should trust her, and that she wouldn't go on another rampage. The only change I notice is that she's now a much more "human" mass murderer. You mind telling everyone how on earth a flashback of "loving" Raki trumps her killing another 100+ innocent victims? But hey, if you admit you're wrong, I'd love to hear. I'd imagine it might go like this...

Originally Posted by HegemonKhan

(Priscilla has ONLY killed Yomas...hellcats, Awakened Beth, Awakened Alicia, Riful, and Dauf... and ate humans...so far...)

You seem to be assuming that the people in the village were still normal after being shelled by the Destroyer and not more mini kitties.

Seriously if they did change and she did kill and the eat them, then good for her. They weren't people anymore, just things interested in causing more death and carnage.

So far she has killed and/or eaten:

1.A village thats probably been full of mini-kitties.
2.Awakened Alicia.
3.Kitty Beth.
4.Riful(and possibly Dauf).

Everyone on that list was a monster both figuretively and literally and deserved to die. Priscilla is doing the world a favor by taking out the trash.

What happens between her, Helen, Deneve and Claire will be the real test of whether she's changed. If she just attacks them then your right she didn't change and really is a monster. If she Kills some of or all of them in self-defense then tough on them, everyone has a right to defend themselves.

[Creangeru]

Originally Posted by Joe_fh

Lol Merry Chirsmats everyone.
It's nice to have a chapter earlier but that means we'll have to wait for the next one more. Since the next one is the 100th will we get some bonus material in it? Anyways the timing is nice - one of the major plotlines would reach it's climax in the 100th chapter....
So what happened in this chapter? I don't know about you guys but I don't like how many of the strongest characters around got killed...more like completely slaughtered... in a couple of chapters. Ok Alicia an Beth were killed to reinforce the image of Prissy being the most powerfull being alive and I'm sure the MiB have something planned as backup for this sort of scenario but Riful too? I mean that was really sudden and I don't think it was even needed at that point. It didn't actually show anything except the fact that Prissy is hungry and that she killed the people in the village which wasn't really that hard to guess.
Riful had too much development in my opinion to get killed in 2 pages because someone was hungry.

And so it comes down to something that seems like the ultimate showdown. The only question is why now? Just after reinforcing the point that Prissy is so powerfull even the Destroyer's hell cats, that took over an AO level claymore without a problem, couldn't even give her any sort of trouble and she wiped out 2 AOs without even breaking a sweat ot top of that she didn't even consider them oponents, having a showdown with clare is just wierd.
I don't see how Clare could even touch Prissy at this point. Sure she got all sorts of power ups in recent times + the 7 year training and full yoki release (probably) but after all we've seen I just can't image how a sudden powerup could be made to look reasonable and natural.

I totally agree with your first part about being to hasty to kill off "unnecessary?!" characters, because it wasn't really needed. Riful and Dauf were almost youkiless and nowhere being a threat for Prissy. It also isn't really clear, why she had to eat a youkiless Riful. She wouldn't be really satiating, would she?
*cough* Maybe she isn't dead. Luck of the Dauf-ish? *cough*

About your secondary part, you are wrong about the Hell Cats taking over Beth. It wasn't the projectiles of a Hell Cat, but a projectile of the Destroyer making it much more powerful than that of it's descendant Hell Cat.


Another part confusing me is Prissy's youki suppression skill. When did she turn it off? She was felt by Clare and Riful, which shouldn't be possible as it isn't a "active" skill needing to be turned on and off. And she wasn't in AB form, too. Could anyone explain it to me?

[Battler-kun]

Priscilla ist just too awesome.
This won't be the final encounter between them, i really doubt it. There is no way they can kill Priscilla. And Priscilla will perhaps spare their lives (or atleast Clare's) out of some reasons.

[Creangeru]

Another thing worrying me after reading the chapter and seeing Prissy's awesome speed, why didn't she immediately go after Raki? Well, she does have the speed to do so a little later and with destroying the main weapons of the organization there isn't really any way for the organization to oppose her, so why?

[Korinov]

Hegy, when you're walking along a street, are you constantly looking down to avoid crushing ants? And when you face a fried chicken for lunch, you care about how the brotherhood of chickens are gonna suffer the loss of a companion?

To a being like Priscilla, humans are a mixture of ants and food. Ants because she can crush them where, when and how she wants; and food for obvious reasons concerning her nature. I don't see any 'horrible' or 'inhuman' fact in her wiping out a town, either populated by humans or naugthy kitties, since she's not what I would call a "human".

I do sense pity for poor Duph though, acting silly and being pwned even before a merciless (skinned) death

And about the next chapter, I prefer not to make speculations, even if the chances are pretty limited:

- Priscilla heading against the Destroyer to kill it (maybe she's been feeding to regain strenght enough to beat it) and pwning a rampaging Clare trying to get in the way.
- Priscilla pwning Clare, killing (and eating) Helen and Deneve and then resuming her way to the Destroyer.

The first option supposes Priscilla is going against the Destroyer and the three ghosts are just in the way. The second, and what I fear most, is Priscilla wanting to feed 'a little more' before confronting the tweenie monster. Clare has no chance of winning anyhow.

Oh crap, I've ended making speculations after all