Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Chapter 11 Episode 16: The Gap Between Heaven and Earth 1

 [Note: For those who don't know I'll be putting Chapter 11 and LAH Chapter 2 on hold while the Housamo Xmas event is on going. I'll get back to those later. If LAH pulls an Xmas event too I'll put that ahead of the main story too.]

Things begin with Cthugha standing around in silence for a bit before he starts exclaiming in a mix of surprise and excitement about if his time has come now. Snow sighs about Cthugha stomping around and asks that he not blow himself up while underground. He reminds him that they told him he's their guild's trump card, so he's supposed to wait until they need him for that. Cthugha talks to himself about how that sounds totally cool no matter how many times he's heard it, then asks Snow about the possibility they might never actually bring him out. Snow denies this and says it'll almost be his turn to shine, which gets Cthugha excited to kick some ass.
 
Some time later, Snow sighs as he returns to base at the Ikebukuro dungeon, then notices that something must have happened from Shirou's expression. Shirou welcomes him back and says he saw something huge at Kabukicho. Shirou then asks R-19 to project what they saw from the camera on Kengo, and R-19 obeys. Snow is surprised after the picture of Mahakala is shown. Shirou starts asking if that is Mahakala as Snow had been talking about, but when the video feed gets disrupted Shirou gets distracted and attempts to call Kengo on the radio.
 
R-19 announces that the signal has been lost again, and Shirou vents his frustrations about how Kengo's never reliably any help when it comes to times like these. Snow laughs at Shirou's outburst, saying it's unusual for him to act like that and comments that he shows that side of him to Kengo. Shirou apologizes in embarrassment, and Snow returns to his earlier question and confirms that they saw Mahakala. Shirou nods at this, and Snow asks if Shuuichi was apprised of the situation as well. Shirou starts saying yes as the camera starts shifting to where Shuuichi is.
 
Moritaka follows after Shuuichi and asks what's going on for him to suddenly start heading down after seeing that image. Shuuichi comments that the Warmongers really are going with the plan of using an Exception that still has their sanity as a weapon. It's the same thing Duo tried to do in Ikebukuro once, and Shuuichi comments that Duo's prep work hasn't fallen behind. He then starts laughing, which Moritaka finds concerning.
 
Shuuichi apologizes and says he was just super happy that his brother's intelligence was recognized. Now as the older brother, he needs to step up and show his own results and prove his brother is the best. He's starting to get motivated now for the first time in a while, and he asks if Moritaka will help him. Moritaka agrees, swearing to help out you and Kengo as well.
 
Back at the dungeon Snow laughs, pleased that Shuuichi is taking action. He explains that he intends on getting the Berserkers' ace in the hole into play, then asks Shirou and R-19 to continue supporting you guys. Shirou finds the mention of the Berserkers' ace interesting, though he asks Snow if they can continue talking about a topic they had going on earlier. Snow agrees to answer whatever question Shirou has, so Shirou asks what it actually means for Mahakala to be part of two different worlds. Is only one of them real, or is it that he's been split in two? He hasn't been able to grasp the idea no matter how hard he's thought about it.
 
Snow comments on Shirou not understanding the concept despite showing familiarity with the subject moments ago. Shirou is confused by this, so Snow brings up that Shirou shows a side of himself to Kengo that he doesn't show to you. If there is a polite Shirou and a harsh Shirou, which one is real? Shirou starts trying to deny this in embarrassment and a case of acting differently in response to different people, but Snow says this is fundamentally the same thing. If many people believe a different self to be a different person, then that's what will happen. If the world recognizes a facet to be its own person, it'll 'create an existence that straddles multiple worlds.'
 
Shirou is confused at this, and Snow laughs and says it must be hard to understand for someone born in Tokyo. This is something that's common in other worlds though, and Snow points out that Shirou should be familiar with myths. There are things like Shadows, Avatars, and Doppelgangers. They may be called by different names, but in essence they are all the same thing. If you think of them as the same person, then contradictions will arise. A personality with no contradictions will degrade into a consistent Shadow. And if you cut away these facets, they'll become separate people, just like how you turned out.
 
Shirou doesn't say anything, so Snow continues by saying that you must have a side of yourself that you don't show Shirou. Solomon's sprite shows up to explain what he's talking about, but Snow notes that you probably already told everyone about him in your strategy meetings. None of others have actually seen or heard him speak, and Snow figures the gang only half believes you about Solomon. He's actually touched him before though, back when he first met you in Ikebukuro which he says still remembers. A brief flashback plays where Snow activates his NP to beat you down, and Solomon gets caught in the attack. Snow actually does notice but doesn't say anything, which I don't think happened back then.
 
Anyways, Snow explains how his special attack is a defense and offense combined move that he draws out from the Void Throne, a threefold slash with shadows from three worlds. You impressed him by being able to defend against two of those attacks. One was with your sword, one was with Solomon, and the third one you ended up eating with your face he notes with a laugh.
 
Shirou admits he's heard of something similar from you about how when you use Dual Heaven Dragon, you pull out a shadow sword out of empty space, and you've told him that the sword is really Solomon. You've also told him that Solomon is always hanging around you like a shadow. Snow nods and says he's probably with you even now.
 
Back to your end of things, Solomon yells out to you that a bunch of arrows are falling from overhead and that there are more arrows hidden behind them. You thank Solomon and defend yourself from the attack, but Marduk takes advantage of the opening this presents to try to attack you. Kengo jumps in to defend, so you thank him but note that you don't feel like you can win normally against a World Representative. The hierarchy already in place is telling you of this.
 
Solomon asks if that means you want to use Dual Heaven Dragon against Marduk like you did against Tezcatlipoca. You decline to pull it out now since the backlash is too much right now and would keep you from moving. Solomon accepts this reasoning, then he and Kengo say it's time to run at the same time. You agree before taking note that they're on the same wavelength.
 
Kengo tells you he can't hear Solomon and asks if he's actually around. He doesn't focus on the point for long since he knows this isn't the time for it, and since you guys got what you wanted it's time to go. Kengo activates his NP, and you grab a hold of Mononobe before the three of you run off. Marduk is surprised as he tells you to wait and calls you a coward for trashtalking before leaving. Kengo goes 'no u' at him and calls him an ass for conveniently forgetting that you saved him, so he has no basis to complain. Marduk is taken aback at the accusation and stops as if actually struck by thunder. He gets his wits back a moment later and gives chase.
 
Shinya, Kalki, and Taromaiti turn up moments later, and Shinya says they couldn't make it in time because they got delayed. He tries to lead the others into following after you guys when Temujin cuts him off with a warning shot to the feet and threatening to shoot him in the chest next. When Temujin shows himself, he comments that Shinya has been pretty cunning in his conduct as he refers to him as the backup World Representative of Olympus.
 
Shinya asks Temujin to stop referring to him with that title instead of his name, and he declares that he doesn't want to participate in the game. He also doesn't support joining with the big three guilds anymore and hurting tons of people. Kalki steps forward and says that if Shinya doesn't want to fight, then he'll join him in doing so. Taromaiti also agrees with Shinya as she calls Tokyo the paradise she finally found, and she says she swore on her sword to not do anything to involve innocent people.
 
Temujin laughs after a moment and says they're being naive as usual. He complies with Shinya's request to be called by name and comments on how his group is trying to prevent the war from getting worse. He informs them that this is impossible now and that he doesn't take pleasure in doing this.
 
Kalki talks about how they had to deal with a lot of ambushes from the Invaders on their way over there, then accuses Temujin of having set that up as he calls him the World Representative of Xanadu. Temujin challenges the group to come at him and refers to it as playing around. Kalki asks Shinya to step back since Temujin won't back down, and the episode ends with Kalki swearing to protect the world with the artifact that was meant to destroy it.
 

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