Sunday, January 24, 2021

Chapter 11 Episode 22: Render of Reincarnation 1

Narration starts up by showing Shiva and talks about how the moon is the same in both Deva Loka and Tokyo. It wanes and waxes as a sign of the passage of time, just like reincarnation does. The yugas pass by, and at the end feelings wear out. When that strike pierces through Shiva's chest like that time way back then, the memories of those days resurface. Shiva then takes over narration as he addresses Varuna-Kamadeva, calling them the dragon of origins that trapped him in the cycle of reincarnation. Ever since you shot him with that arrow of love, he's detested you. But on further reflection, he wonders what it was about you that he hated so much.
 
Shiva originally thought he hated you for forcing love on him when he didn't want it, but then as the dragon of origins, you should have been forced to take a lot of things from everything in the world. And after many countless yugas passed, your life was worn down and exhausted, your faith was lost. This was a world where everything was arranged from the beginning, and this is a world where what you love and what role you take is forced upon you. In a world where everything was decided by reincarnation though, Shiva thought you alone seemed to live in freedom. And in your final moments where you gave him love, he thought he could see you smiling. How could you smile though, back in that moment when you disappeared in futility? So now that he thinks about it again, Shiva feels he didn't start out on his journey because he hated you. He remembers what his wish was that moment he came to Tokyo was.
 
Shiva says he wanted to know what Varuna-Kamadeva's feelings were when they shot him, no matter what. He wanted to ask if he was special to them. In a world where it's set up that people love and want someone, he wanted to know if his feelings for them, the one cut off and disappeared from that world, were genuine. He wanted to know the answer, and he believed that there was someone who could tell him. Shiva then noticed that the answer was within himself from the beginning. Perhaps then would be when his endless reincarnation would really come to an end.
 
The story decides it's time to turn things back a little to show something else. Over where Daikoku is in his Shadow Realm or whatever, he starts cursing and bemoaning that he almost got away with it if it weren't for that meddling girl had the power of Mahakala and gotten closer to the All being. He also rants about this person grating form and dispelling the grudges of eight million corpses sleeping beneath Tokyo, sworn to Yaegaki, the All-Knowing All-Powerful to tear the Yakumo to pieces and stands above even Amaterasu. Daikoku then reminds himself that he still has a bunch of soldiers on hand and tells himself things aren't over yet as he melts into the shadows and shadowwalks away.
 
Ellie and Tsukuyomi are turn up in some back alley in Kabukicho, which Ellie notes in surprise as she asks if they were sent back to their original location. Narration describes how Ellie had torn her way through the darkness with all her strength and brought 'two' people with her. Tsukuyomi says that's how it looks like, then thanks her and says it's been awhile since he's been outside again. He seems relieved to be out of the restraints of the Great Darkness. Tsukuyomi then tells Ellie it's okay to relax since it looks like Daikoku pissed off somewhere, though he does note that Daikoku still looks like he's up to something.
 
Ellie is quiet for a moment before she turns to talk to Tsukuyomi. He asks her what's up, surprised that she looks docile for once. Ellie asks him if he knows what that nonsense Daikoku was talking about when he said Yaegaki and Yakumo before he poofed away. Tsukuyomi answers that those are words that are passed down in his world. Yakumo means eight clouds while Yaegaki means eight fences. Also, eight denotes all of creation in the world and the power of the god who rules over All things. Ellie tilts her head to the side as she thinks on that for a moment.
 
When Ellie speaks again, she tells Tsukuyomi she remembers she has something to go do outside, so she'll be heading off for a bit. She also tells him she'd like for him to take care of Kabukicho and asks if he'd be fine with that. Tsukuyomi looks caught off guard at this question for a moment until he gives her a gentle smile, commenting on how unusual it is for her to say that when she's usually so whimsical. He asks if she's worried about the rest of the Outlaws, then says his absence caused the queen problems.
 
Tsukuyomi thinks to himself about how Ellie had never left Kabukicho until now, and he supposes she may feel protective of her friends, though she may not recognize it herself. Ellie looks sad as she denies that after a moment, saying she just wanted to do that at the time. She also adds that she has something that she wants to do that involves leaving Kabukicho, and that that's all there is to it. Tsukuyomi tells her he understands, saying he'll take care of things and asking her to be careful as he calls her their beautiful queen. She nods back in response.
 
Tanetomo turns out to be here as he speaks up and tells Ellie to wait. He asks why she saved him, asking if she wanted to put him in debt to her. Ellie is surprised at the question and casually says she forgot that he was there. Tanetomo gets huffy at the response and demands to know why she saved him despite the whole repeated stabbing thing. Ellie cuts him off and says she didn't have some big reason for doing so, but as she takes a moment to remember Tanetomo's name, she tells him she'll answer, but she wants his help with something. Tanetomo is baffled by this response and asks her to repeat herself, and Ellie comments that the word debt made her remember something, saying that she needs to thank you too. She ends the conversation there as she spreads her wings and starts flying to the north.
 
Scene shifts over to Kabukicho where Balor's possession by Shadows is temporarily dispelled when you used Dual Heaven Dragon on Shiva-Mahakala. Balor says he knew you could do it and puts on his king's mode of speech to express his pride in his grandchild for the moment. The Shadows immediately grab him again though, and he along with all the Shadow-possessed mobs sink into the ground and disappear. Macan is surprised by this turn of events and demands he come back to keep fighting since he's not satisfied yet. His complain is cut off when Andvari asks why the ground is splitting up, and Pollux directs their attention to something.
 
Camera shifts to Shiva-Mahakala. The link has been broken, so Shiva is no longer possessed while Mahakala has gone crazy as the light of power streams endlessly into him. You exclaim that this is the light of an Exception occurring that you've seen so many times already. Berserk Mahakala roars, and Kengo asks in surprise what's going on as he sees that the earth and the sky are splitting apart. Everything around is breaking into little pieces as far as you can see, and these bits start getting drawn to Mahakala. You freak out as you start getting affected by a state of zero gravity and start getting drawn in yourself. Gravity loses its meaning, and the hierarchy of all creation is being lost.
 
Camera then jumps to Ose for a second as he reports to what's happening like he's talking to someone (unless he's just narrating his observations to himself) about confirming the outbreak of an Exception. Endless power is flowing into Mahakala. Back to your end, Kengo floats around crazily as your sense of equilibrium has gone haywire. You yell to Kengo, yell about getting dizzy, or yell about losing all sense of direction. Marduk yells to you guys to calm down since you aren't in any immediate danger. He explains that what's here is primordial chaos, the way the world was before heaven and earth were delineated. Kengo is shocked to see him while you take a moment to recognize him and express relief he's okay.
 
Marduk nods after a moment and says he mostly has an idea as to what's going on. Kengo questions this and asks about him losing his memories, so you ask Marduk if he got his memories back. Marduk denies it after a moment and tells you guys he heard what's happening from someone else. Teda pops out from behind Marduk and says he told him, then greets you. You ask who he is and wonder if you met him before, or you say you don't know him but think he's cute. C surprises Teda as he says you should be saying cute as he comments that you need more discipline, even if you've been reborn so many times.
 
Anyways, Teda shrugs this as the usual way conversations go with you, so he tells you to open your big fat ears and listen to him. He dramatically proclaims himself the Sun King of Shuriten and the World Representative of Nirai Kanai as he gives his name, then asks if you get it now. He's also part of the Warmongers, and he figures that should clue you in enough. Kengo gets on guard against Teda when he mentions the World Representative bit, and you either take note of his affiliation, position, or take up a battle ready stance. C makes Teda laugh as he calls that a cute reaction as he says he likes that about you.
 
Kengo just cannot believe cheeky little brat is one of the Warmongers, so Teda snorts at him for judging by appearances, then comments that big guys tend to be crude. Kengo gets offended at this, so you try to rein him in since he's talking to a child, treat Teda like a scared kid and try to comfort him, or wonder if he's really a World Representative. B gets an extra bit with Teda seeming to like this treatment and laughing about making a special exception for you to do this.
 
Kengo asks that if Teda is a Warmonger, he's like Marduk before in he's come to challenge you into a fight. Teda doesn't give a response, and you plead with him for this not to be the case. Teda tells you he totally did come to fight, only to reveal that he was kidding and wanted to see your reaction. But frankly speaking, he doesn't see much of a point in fighting you now. Kengo is confused by this, and you ask Teda to explain what he means.
 
Teda asks if you know at least about the part where you're the trophy they're all fighting over, so you nod. Teda starts talking about how the commonality among the Warmongers is their desire to fight with you, then asks if you know that part too. He mentions that all of them including him have seen your last moments, which lead him to the realization that he doesn't really want things to end. Teda brings up Balor and says that after he killed you, he bound himself to the prison school as a death row inmate and abandoned the game. Kengo is surprised at this, and Teda says that's why he doesn't feel like fighting you now and asks if you understand.
 
You answer that you do understand, then ask how Marduk feels. Teda turns to Marduk to ask the same thing, so Marduk makes a measured response to say that his mission as a hero is to drive out the concentration of danger that is Tiamat. Tiamat is not actually an individual, but a phenomenon of ruin and chaos born when several dragons gather in one place. That brings disorder to the world and unhappiness to the people, making it an enemy he cannot overlook.
 
That said, Marduk says that in your current state, he doesn't think you'll be causing disorder anytime soon. In that case, he's willing to go focus on solving other problems first. Marduk takes a look around at what's happening before speaking again, and he declares that as a hero he can't leave what's happening now alone. You ask the two about the possibility of them helping you, so Marduk denies the idea after a moment. He says he's just holding a temporary truce until the situation is brought back to order again. Teda says it's a little different in his case, in that he won't hand you off to anyone else. He says you belong to him, but he tells you to remember that he has no intentions of protecting you.
 
You shrug off the refusal as unfortunate, but you say it's good enough and thank them as you hope to get along with them for now. Teda and Marduk are taken aback at this, but smile after getting over it. Teda says he needs to go beat on the people who drew up this plot so that he can settle his irritation, by which he means that wily butler, that villainous prick, and their guildmaster.
 
Teda then says you guys need to start things off by dealing with the current situation. He then gets to what he considers the main problem of the day and points out the Exception you guys say happening. He tells you it's his power going berserk that's causing all of this mess, and Kengo notes that this started happening when you and Shiva clashed against each other. Teda says you guys will need to find and grab Shiva somewhere in this Witch Barrier Exception domain, and you add that you guys will need to sort out the hierarchy as per usual.
 
Kengo says there's a lot of roundabout stuff going around, then asks how you guys are supposed to move and see far with things as is. Marduk brings up that you guys are surrounded by primordial chaos, as he's said earlier. This is how the world was before the heavens and earth, light and darkness were split. So, all they have to do is divide those things. Once that is done, the chaos will settle and you guys should be able to find Shiva. In more simpler terms, they just have to engage in a bit of world creation.
 
You are shocked at the suggestion of world creation before asking if they can actually do that and commenting to yourself that it does make sense. Teda shrugs it off as no big deal and asks who you think they are. You are shocked that they can do it and that they've done it before, and Teda draws an arrow on the sun on his bow like a crescent moon. He asks how anyone can call themselves a World Representative if they don't have a memory or two about creating the world, smiling like the sun as he casually mentions his pet theory.
 
Teda then tells you to pay attention to what he's doing and fall in love with him many times over, and Marduk says his star bow artifact is something that split primordial chaos into the heavens and earth. He then calls to Mushussu and says the time for world creation has come. Kengo laughs and takes it as a challenge as he tells you you guys need to go all out too. He notices that you look distracted, so he asks you what's up. You tell him that you think you hear someone's voice just now. Some egg looking thing turns up, and you see Mononobe in (front of?) it for a moment and say that he's calling to you. Kengo is baffled and asks what you said as the episode battle begins. More story after that.
 
After the battle, narration starts talking about how the true big three guilds all have guildmasters, just like the Berserkers and other guilds. The guildmaster of the Warmongers of the West is the boy who calls himself Bertro and whose body has been entirely replaced with machinery. He is like Duo, a designer baby born in a test tube in a certain research lab. He was artificially given super intelligence, and an artifact that holds the memories of the world was placed inside his body. These children were given a research thesis, that being the investigation and acceleration of the evolution of mankind. Bertro was given the theme of evolution through battle, which the lab referred to as Plan B. And thus Bertro was given the role of stimulating and recording battles in this repeating game in Tokyo. Since then he's constantly watched and recorded the events of what's happening in the game. Always, on and on, long enough that he could no longer tell if he was human.
 
Back to the present, we tune in to Marduk commanding his star bow to split things into heaven and earth. His fired arrow divides the primordial chaos, dividing things into a world. Teda goes next as he commands his sun arrow to go into the rifts, and his shot goes in high to shine on its path ahead. You point Teda and Marduk's attention to the egg thing again, which floats further ahead in the chaos being rent. It kicks and pulses like a single world.
 
Kengo asks what it is, and narration talks about how you guys don't know that the egg/package thing is the memories of worlds that once were, a collection of memories deemed unnecessary by the world that the protector of Shadows Mahakala protected. You start to say that this is the thing you were looking for when the thing starts convulsing, surprising you and Kengo. Cracks appear, the egg soon breaks to reveal Shiva, who you run over to help.
 
Shiva starts talking about seeing a dream of a peaceful yuga before he focuses a bit more and sees you as Varuna-Kamadeva. Teda senses somebody hiding and watching you guys and demands they reveal themselves, and he and Marduk fire off arrows into the darkness. The gloom is pulled away and the view is cleared, revealing the moon falling down from beyond the dust clouds. Teda, Marduk, and Kengo all look surprised by this, and you question if it is the moon since it was so big that you thought it wasn't the moon for a second.
 
Bertro rolls up to the same area as the rest of you guys as he greets you all and says he welcomes you all to the test firing of the ultimate weapon. Teda points him out as the guildmaster Bertro and says he has a lot of nerve to show himself in front of them, and you express some surprise that a kid like him is guildmaster. Bertro confirms his identity before letting a screw loose as he babbles his name and cackles. His laugh is compared to a broken computer.
 
Kengo asks what the deal is with this strange child and says the laugh means something is up with him. Bertro apologizes about not being as funny as he thought he'd be repeating his name like that, then explains he figured repetition is funny. He argues that humans are idiots who enjoy the repetition of things, whether it be everyday life, humor, or the history of war. With every repeat, things escalate, and Bertro argues that would progress evolution. That's why he's set up this ultimate weapon.
 
Teda asks Bertro if he means Mahakala when he says ultimate weapon, so Bertro denies it before pointing above and explaining dropping what's up there is what it is. You look up at the moon and ask if Bertro plans on dumping it on you guys, and Kengo is shocked by the idea. A roar resounds through the area, and the moon is slowly falling towards ground as the episode ends.
 
 

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