Friday, March 8, 2013

Fairy Tail - Chapter 13: Shinigami Laughs Twice

Synopsis: The military keeps people out of the train station, as they gather reports from from people who were ousted out of it by the Eisenwald mages. From the cart, Lucy points out that they took over a train, which she can't understand as it can only go over land. Gray points out it's high speed however, so they must be in a hurry to carry out their plans. Lucy says that the military is already pretty spread out, so maybe they'll get arrested quickly, and Erza remarks that she hopes so.


On the train, Kageyama reports to Eligor about the Fairy Tail mage he saw on the train earlier, but says he was nothing but a joke. Eligor grinds his teeth, and this somehow causes some kind of energy to slice through Kageyama's ears. As Kageyama screams in pain, Eligor asks him if the mage found out about the flute, which Kageyama says doesn't matter because nobody can stop this plan. Eligor agrees with this, but says he doesn't want anyone getting in the way, and they should all make sure of this, saying that there are some forests that flies really shouldn't buzz around in.

Erza goes all out with the cart, causing Gray to warn her that the S.E. (Self Energy) plug is inflating and that she should slow down to conserve her energy. She retorts however that if they don't hurry, people will die, and if worse comes to worse, she'll pick up a stick and fight - besides, this is why she brought them along in the first place. Happy says that he feels like he had something to tell Lucy, but he can't figure out what it was. As Natsu says he doesn't feel very good, due to the transportation, and this almost reminds Happy what he had to say, but not quite.

At Oshibana station, conductors are keeping everyone out of the station, saying a train was derailed by accident. Erza demands of one to know what's going on inside, and when he refuses to talk, she headbutts him and moves on to the next (and another after that). An unseen voice says a military platoon went inside the station but hasn't returned yet, and the Eisenwald terrorists haven't come out either, so the fight is probably still going on inside. In truth, however, the military has already been defeated.

Lucy (who is carrying the still sickly Natsu on her back) and the others stumble across the defeated soldiers, and Erza says they never stood a chance against an entire guild. Gray hurries them all to the platform, where they find the entire Eisenwald guild waiting for them, with Eligor saying he knew they'd come.

Erza identifies Eligor, as one of his men recognizes Erza as the woman in armor he'd seen the other day. Lucy tries desperately to wake Natsu up, but after all the transportation he's been on lately, he can't come back to his senses just yet. Kageyama recognizes Natsu and starts to get angry, and Natsu just barely hears his voice through his stupor.

Erza demands Eligor tell her what his plan is, but Eligor blows her off saying they're just fooling around. He then propels himself easily up to a roof on the platform, and asks what it is that a train station has as Happy identifies Eligor as a wind-magic user. Erza doesn't realize what Eligor is talking about, and Eligor says her time is up as he motions to the intercom system. Erza freaks out asking if he's going to broadcast the Lullaby, and he simply laughs in reply.

Eligor says that there are thousands of people in the station, so if he broadcasts the Lullaby's tune loud enough, everyone will die. Erza says this is mass murder, but Eligor claims they're simply cleaning up fools who abuse their rights to live while not knowing there are people who have been revoked their rights - because they are living a live oblivious to the unfairness of the world, a 'shinigami' has come to punish them.

Lucy yells that their rights will never be returned if they do this, but Eligor says they're not seeking 'right' but rather 'authority' to begin with. With that, they can simply wipe away the past and control the future. Kageyama calls them all flies again and prepares to attack, but Natsu hears him again and finally jumps back up, blocking an attack that Kageyama had aimed at Lucy by completely ignoring Erza and Gray. Natsu declares that this time they're on a real battleground, but only then does he realize how many opponents there are this time.

Above, Eligor thinks how easily they've fallen into his trap, and now that everything is spiced up, they'll go back to their original plan - there's someone he has to kill, who has to hear the melody of the flute.

Thoughts: Getting a much closer look at the 'military' this time, and I was right when I said in an earlier review that they seemed to be 'knights'. An odd look for the term 'military' to be thrown around for, but considering that this is a world that functions almost entirely on magic, it kind of makes sense. You'd think they'd have some mages of their own though, for situations just like this one.

I was really wondering what kind of magic Eligor had since he was able to make rips appear in Kageyama's ears just by grinding his teeth, so I'm glad that we got the answer before the end of the chapter. Wind magic could prove problematic for this guy if he ends up facing Natsu, as his winds would only make Natsu's fires even bigger - you know, assuming they work some kind of elemental thing like that, similar to how Naruto does.

I'm also wondering if Eligor's comment about flies buzzing around a forest is just a turn of phrase, or if it's a vague hint that the hideout is going to be in a forest. It'd make sense, they can't exactly stay in the middle of town, being outlaws and all. I can see Natsu letting loose in a forest being very, very bad though.

The self-energy plug seems to work as some kind of bracelet that the driver of the vehicle wears on their wrist, with a line leading to a box elsewhere in the cart, with their magic traveling along the line. Makes enough sense given what we have to work with here.

The chapter never comes back around to whatever it is Happy has to tell Lucy, and I can't shake this feeling that there actually is something important there, rather than it being just some sort of gag. I can't imagine what it is at this point though.

The knights don't even stand a chance against Eisenwald, so this just proves my opinion that they really need some mages of their own or something. C'mon, that's just sad.

The gag with Happy saying that Lucy was a third type of transportation that Natsu has had to endure made me laugh, poor Lucy. I guess that could kind of count, but...wow. Just wow. Natsu really needs to work on this problem of his.

Eligor's plan to kill everyone in the station is certainly demented enough, but I had a hunch right away that there was more to it than this. It just didn't fit very well with what Eligor said in his first appearance about having to take care of something 'while the council is in session'. So I'm thinking he actually wants to kill someone either in the council, or someone he couldn't get to when the masters were with their guilds.

Either way, this is the last chapter of volume 2, so let's see where my predictions from last time got me.

Natsu did stop an attack, but I wouldn't really call that a fight just yet, so I was wrong on there being more fighting - though this was more preliminary stuff, so...half-right, perhaps. I still don't know how tired Erza is or isn't, though she certainly seems energetic enough, so who can say.

Looking ahead - and a lot further ahead than usual, for a reason to be announced next - I'm thinking that we'll be seeing the fights begin and wrap up, and even though Natsu is our lead, I'm thinking he'll take down Kageyama. It's a personal grudge they've both got going on now, so it'd only be right if they ended up fighting. Lucy and Gray will take care of the rest of the guild, while Erza herself takes on Eligor. Eligor may not be defeated by her though, somehow or another, and it'll end up on a chase into the real headquarters - possibly in a forest - where Natsu will finally get to take a crack at him. This may or may not take longer than the rest of the next volume, but if it does take longer, it won't take the entire following volume. That's my best guess anyway.

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