Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy – S2 24 – The Strong Do as They Please

When Mitsurugi reveals himself as Lancer, the Dragon of Swords, who can turn anyone into a sword that he can then wield, it’s clear Shiki AKA Larva-dono is up against one of his toughest foes. I say “one of” because Shiki has trained with three individuals stronger than Lancer: Mio, Tomoe, and Makoto. However many tricks Lancer has up his sleeve doesn’t matter.

For Shiki, this isn’t just about following orders and protecting Hibiki. It’s a matter of pride. He’s not about to fall to someone like Lancer after the training he was privileged to receive. He may be the weakest of Makoto’s three main followers, but he’s no slouch, as evidenced when he summons the legendary poison dragon-slaying sword Ascalon.

Lancer actually puts up enough of a fight that Shiki has to use a bit of subterfuge in order to defeat him. “Larva” was only ever a decoy Shiki was using to fight him. He then uses his Larva form to distract Lancer into thinking he’s defeated him, only for the real Shiki (in Hyuman form) to slice Lancer clean in two. After that Shiki heals Woody and accepts Hibiki and her party’s vow to repay him and his master someday.

As for his master, Sofia Bulga is also one of the toughest opponents Makoto has ever faced. That much is clear when she inherits Lancer’s power as the result of a bet they made: If she had died first, she’d have become his sword, and he probably could have beaten Shiki with it. She transports herself and Makoto to a “Separate Space”—the Prison of Swords.

But while Sofia thinks she has her foe right where she wants him, Makoto uses his Investigative Kai to immediately assess the situation, and finds her whole enterprise rather normal and dull. He then reveals he’s neither warrior nor mage, but a kyudoka, or practitioner of traditional Japanese archery. With his arrows, he destroys huge swaths of Sofia’s inventory of inherited swords, each of them once a great warrior.

Even when Sofia locates a Japanese katana that proves more powerful than any of her other swords, Makoto doesn’t allow her to hope she has any chance of victory for more than a moment or two. He switches archery style from kyuudou to a fantasy style, using his mana matter to create a great stair which he ascends faster than Sofia can react. He shoots her with one arrow, then another, and shatters her Separate Space.

Once that happens, we don’t see Sofia again, and I assume she’s no more. She put up a good fight, but like Lancer against Shiki, she was destined to be boatraced. Mind you, that doesn’t take away from the entertainment value o watching both Shiki and Makoto at their best, which was brought out by their opponents.

After Makoto somewhat nonchalantly destroys the newly-evacuated Fort Stella with one shot from a vantage point a few thousand feet in the air, he allows himself to fall—something he’s grown used to by now—and lands right near Shiki. He’s told about the debt Hibiki and her party promised to repay, and Makoto admits she knows Hibiki, but they can discuss it later.

Suffice it to say, Makoto is glad to have completed the task the Goddess gave him, and believes Limia will be just fine with Hibiki as their hero. All that’s left is to head home to the Demiplane, where Tomoe and Mio are surely awaiting their return.

Mushoku Tensei II – 22 – Flail Hydra

Thanks to the addition of Rudy, Paul’s party is able to reach the final level of the labyrinth where the guardian dwells: a mammoth, many-headed hydra. Behind it is Zenith, encased in crystal. Paul can’t keep his cool, and rushes in, but Rudy and Roxy’s ranged magic bounces right off the hydra’s scales, Lize is injured, and the heads Paul lops off soon grow back.

The party retreats through the teleportation circle used to get to the boss, and Paul isn’t happy. He grabs Rudy by the scruff and can’t understand why he’s so calm. Rudy simply says losing his temper won’t help matters. The party members sit in a circle and discuss things. Roxy believes the boss to be a manatite hydra; magic will only work at close range.

So be it. The party returns to the hydra, and while Paul hacks at the heads with Lize and Talhand, Rudy draws much closer and uses flames to burn the stumps, hoping the Greek legend paves the way to victory. Sure enough, once the stump is burned the heads won’t regenerate, but they have to be vigilant that the hydra doesn’t bite its own neck below the burned part in order to regain its lost heads.

It’s a brutal, kinetic battle; one of the best Mushoku Tensei has animated, and it’s an absolute barn-burning thrill ride. Rudy has to draw far closer than he’s used to to the target for his magic to be effective, and at one point he’s a sitting duck for the hydra when Paul kicks him out of the way and takes the blow in his place. Eventually, the last head is chopped off, and Roxy does the honor of burning it, resulting in the body of the headless hydra falling to the ground.

It’s a victory, but a costly one. Paul is dead, using his last moments to smile as Rudy stands nearby. Rudy’s left arm was ripped off, and while he’s able to use Shining Magic to close the wound, regrowing that hand is either impossible or extremely difficult, and in any case beyond his current means. More pressingly, he rescued his mother at the cost of losing his father. It’s not so much a victory as a trade.

The return trip to Rapan is understandably a somber one, as the party walks without saying a word to each other. Even though it’s clear Roxy wants to say something to comfort Rudy, she remains tight-lipped. As the credits roll, Lilia welcomes the party back and is delighted beyond believe for her lady Zenith to be back. It’s only when she asks where Paul is that her expression changes to one of excruciating grief. It’s a heartbreaking tour-de-force of showing, not telling.

What did Paul and Rudy’s left hand buy them? His mother is alive and after four days she wakes, but she seems to have lost the her ability to speak. It’s also arguable whether she recognizes her firstborn son, on whom she hasn’t laid eyes in over a decade.

But it has to be enough. Rudy may be an extremely powerful mage, and may even get his left hand back, but he can’t turn back time or bring Paul back.  He simply has to be content with the fact that one of his parents still lives, and neither she nor Rudy would be alive without Paul’s sacrifice. But for one brief and fleeting moment, the Greyrat family was fully accounted for.

RABUJOI WORLD HERITAGE LIST