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Soul Eater Chapter 56: "I will become EVERYTHING." (Baba Yaga's Castle, Part 11)
Soul Eater Chapter 56, synopsis plus a few scans. Behind the cut.
Click for high-res!
The chapter opens with Eibon and Mosquito, still preparing to face off. We're viewing the scene from a different angle than what was shown in the previous chapter. What's revealed here is that the seemingly cute black ball-like thing coming out of Eibon's grimoire actually has... teeth.
Big, spiky, Alien-like teeth.
Kid, apparently, did not actually charge right into the middle of the fight at the end of the previous chapter. Now he's hiding behind a corner, watching the face-off. (All of the other Arachnaphobia dudes appear to have completely vanished from the room.Maybe Eibon ate them.) Liz and Patti, in their gun forms, are watching too. "They're fighting amongst themselves, now?" Liz asks.
"Over there is Mosquito," Kid observes. "And the other one is..." He stares at Eibon. "His soul wavelength is so quiet. But now that I can see it, it's full of such terrible power..."
And indeed, we are shown Eibon's soul as Kid sees it. It's an enormous, writing ball of pages covered in generic mystical writing. "Who IS that guy?" Kid wonders.
Then Eibon turns his gaze away from Mosquito for a split second and looks directly at Kid.
Kid quickly ducks back behind his wall. Did he see me?!
Run, you idiot! Now would be a good time to RUN!!!!
Meanwhile, Mosquito is still taunting Eibon. "I never liked you," he says. "I had a bad feeling about you from the beginning."
Kid is still hiding behind his wall, think-bubbling, Maybe I just imagined that he looked at me?
Mosquito's still going on, "As her butler, I never should have left Arachne-sama's side. It was wrong of me to have faith in a magician like you... You are an obstruction, Eibon. Allow me to take care of you."
Kid (still hiding and listening, but not looking) finally puts the pieces together. Eibon?!
"No," Mosquito goes on. "Rather than 'Eibon,' should I perhaps address you as the imposter that you are?"
Eibon laughs. "Call me whatever you want. I have obtained the true Book of Eibon. With this and the Brew, I will obtain all of Eibon's wisdom... It is the same as being Eibon himself." The toothy black ball thing drools black goo (blood?) as Eibon continues. "You can go ahead and call me a fake if you want. I don't care what people call me. I just wanted some brand recognition, you know? That's why I went around introducing myself as 'Eibon.' There are just way too many brand-obsessed people in the world, I guess..."
He goes on. And now his face is starting to get... scary. Like, crazy eyes, mystical-looking glowy lines appearing on his cheeks, the works. "Just saying 'Eibon...' It makes it sound like everything has finally gathered here. You too, saw the final ingredient, just a few minutes ago, didn't you?"
Mosquito's eyes go wide, and he flashes back to Kid using the Brew.
Kid, too, who is still listening to this, think-bubbles, Brew...
Eibon's still speechifying, and growing scarier-looking by the minute. "Everything will fall into my hands," he says. "Even the kishin. Anything. Everything. Everything in this world belongs as part of my collection. I will gather everything into the Book of Eibon, and then finally it will be complete..."
Eibon makes his scariest face yet. "I will become EVERYTHING."
Mosquito freaks out. (As he should, at this point.) He goes beserk. "My form from EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS AGO! This is the era when I was my MOST AMAAAAAZZZIIINNG!!!"
Unfortunately, Mosquito never gets to complete his transformation to his eight-hundred-year-old form, because all of a sudden, Eibon's black ball thingy smashes him against a wall.
Like a bug.
Like, really smashes. Like, really like a bug. As in, splat. And gore-splatter. Oh my, the gore-splatter.
We do get to see a little bit of Mosquito's original form, though. Specifically, his head, which looks rather beak-like, and is left peeking out over the top of the black ball thingy. The rest of Mosquito, however, is either splattered against the wall, or impaled on the black ball-thingy's giant teeth.
Holy. Shit.
Mosquito stares up at Eibon. "Wh... Whaaaat...?"
Eibon regards him coolly. "It's useless, even if you try to run, Mosquito-sama. Your tenacity is impressive. However, you are not a part of my collection. What a pity... In your final moments, would you like me to tell you my true name?"
Mosquito's head, at least, reverts back to its four-hundred-year-old form. He smirks down at Eibon defiantly. "Hmph. Not interested. I don't need to know the name of a greedy, dishonorable shit."
"Yes," Eibon says. "I am just a greedy collector." He gives Mosquito a small smile. "I am Noah."
Mosquito screams his final words. "Arachne-samaaaaaaa! My deepest apologies!!!"
Flash. Cue one nuked Mosquito.
Kid peeks around his wall just in time to see Noah reach down and pick up a tiny little bat that's left flopping around on the ground. "This may be all that's left," Noah says, "but it's enough. ♥" Yes, there is actually a heart in his speech bubble right there. Yes, that is actually written in the manga.
Kid slips back into his hiding spot. He's drenched in nervous sweat now. Mosquito's soul wavelength has completely vanished... Somebody as strong as Mosquito, in less than a split second...
And then, Kid has his first intelligent thought in like, over one hundred pages. That man is way too dangerous. NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. But I ran in here like an idiot, looking to pick a fight...
SO RUN. HOLY SHIT. RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!! ARRRRRRGH!
Reading this part of the manga made me feel like one of those people who wants to yell at the dumbass characters on screen while watching a horror movie. Don't go in there! Don't split up! Don't listen to him!!! Get out of there!!!! Oh, for the love of God, get OUT of there!!!!
Kid, you should have started running the minute that 'Eibon' started talking about the Brew having arrived. Because THAT MEANS YOU, IDIOT!! You have the Brew!!
For those of you following along at home, wanna guess what happens next?
Yeah. Pretty much exactly what you would expect to happen next.
Suddenly Noah pokes his head around the corner and grins at Kid. "Oops, found another piece of the collection!" Scary, scary grin. "Pleased to meet you, Shinigami-kun."
Kid think-bubbles, Oh, SHIT!!! Yes, with three exclamation points. He tries to raise his guns, but Noah does the Sylar-thing where he just stares at Kid, and then the guns go flying out of Kid's hands.
"Kid?!" Liz and Patti exclaim.
Noah raises his grimoire over Kid's head. The pages open.
The book has teeth.
Let me repeat: All of a sudden, the book. has. teeth.
And Kid, screaming, immediately gets sucked into the book's jaws.
"Kid!!" Liz and Patti exclaim.
Noah closes the book and grins, apparently quite satisfied. "Well, I've certainly added some rare items to my collection today. The Brew and a shinigami, at the same time. Quite the catch."
He turns to walk away, but then discovers that there's a gun pointed to his head.
Liz is there, pointing Patti directly at Noah's face.
Noah regards her calmly. "I spared your lives," he says. "Now don't go throwing them away."
She stares him down. She's trembling from head to toe, and there's sweat drawn all over her face, but she still stares Noah down. "Let. Him. Go!!"
Noah just turns away from her, however. Dismissively. "You're beautiful, but beauty alone isn't enough to become a part of my collection. 'Scuse me now," he says as he walks away from her.
Liz sinks to her knees.
"Onee-chan!!" Patti yells. "Let me go after him!! I'm more--"
"No," Liz says. "No. You can't. At least we're together... We were together before we met him, too..."
"So what?!" Patti yells at her. "What about Kid-kun?! Are you gonna just abandon him?!"
"SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!!"
"You goddamn COWARD!!"
"Of COURSE I want to save Kid!" Liz shouts. "But I can't just let you get yourself killed, Patti!" She starts crying. "Don't be such a pest to your big sister..."
Patti is silent for a moment. Then she reverts back to her human form, and places her hand on Liz's head. Liz cries and cries, while Patti comforts her. "Dammit," Patti says, gazing in the direction that Noah walked off to. "Now what are we supposed to do...?"
MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE BABA-YAGA CASTLE...
Sid and Nygus are finally leading Shibusen's troops in a charge against Arachne's army. "Sid!" Nygus exclaims. "Look up there!"
Sid looks toward the roof of the castle. "Yup," he says.
Up there, still having his epic battle against Mifune, is...
B L A C K S T A R ! ! !
F U C K Y E A H ! ! !
Nygus watches the TOTALLY BADASS FIGHT with wide eyes. "Sid, we've got to help him!"
"No," Sid says.
What follows is seven pages of pure, dialogue-less ASS KICKING. Mifune lands several blows against Black Star, and Black Star pulls off a couple nasty strikes of his own, including a spectacular kick in the jaw. Meanwhile, much of the surrounding property is explosively damaged.
So, you know. Just another typical Black Star brawl.
However, Mifune is clearly winning. When he blocks with his swords, we can't even get close to him, Tsubaki observes.
Mifune glares at Black Star. "Black Star, why are you holding back? Don't take me too lightly."
Sid continues to watch the fight with interest. Nygus glares at him. "Hey, Sid! Are you just going to stand back and watch him get killed?!"
"Don't say that," Sid says. "Take a good look at him. See for yourself." Black Star, he think-bubbles. You're not a ogre's child at all.
"Tsubaki," Black Star says. "Shadow Star, Zero Blade mode."
"Hai!" And then she turns into pure gooey shadow.
AWESOME.
Black Star's shadow merges with the shadow of Tsubaki's blade, and then they both seem to sink into his back, merging with his clothing to form a semi-cloaking of pure blackness. Black Star's sword reverts to a more normal (but familiar, hmmmmm) form, but the shadow remains swirling out from his clothing, not unlike what Maka's coat did when she was possessed by the black blood.
Black Star, however, is most definitely NOT possessed. There aren't even the usual fey blade mode shadows on his face anymore. This, a helpful caption informs us, is the Shadow Star Zero Blade mode, also known as "Masamune."
Wow.
Your ass is grass, and he's the lawnmower.
Black Star stares down Mifune. "I'm not holding back," he says.
And then the chapter ends.
Next issue: January 10th. COLOR PAGES. Look forward to it!
Oh, and before we conclude this post, here's your obligatory nightmare fuel for this chapter. This page gave me nightmares, and now y'all can share my horrible, horrible pain:
No wait, even better:
Still to come, more goodies from this issue of GanGan, including a drama CD, some pretty pretty scans, and more anime spoilers. But I'm going to schlep all of that into a separate post.
Click for high-res!
The chapter opens with Eibon and Mosquito, still preparing to face off. We're viewing the scene from a different angle than what was shown in the previous chapter. What's revealed here is that the seemingly cute black ball-like thing coming out of Eibon's grimoire actually has... teeth.
Big, spiky, Alien-like teeth.
Kid, apparently, did not actually charge right into the middle of the fight at the end of the previous chapter. Now he's hiding behind a corner, watching the face-off. (All of the other Arachnaphobia dudes appear to have completely vanished from the room.
"Over there is Mosquito," Kid observes. "And the other one is..." He stares at Eibon. "His soul wavelength is so quiet. But now that I can see it, it's full of such terrible power..."
And indeed, we are shown Eibon's soul as Kid sees it. It's an enormous, writing ball of pages covered in generic mystical writing. "Who IS that guy?" Kid wonders.
Then Eibon turns his gaze away from Mosquito for a split second and looks directly at Kid.
Kid quickly ducks back behind his wall. Did he see me?!
Run, you idiot! Now would be a good time to RUN!!!!
Meanwhile, Mosquito is still taunting Eibon. "I never liked you," he says. "I had a bad feeling about you from the beginning."
Kid is still hiding behind his wall, think-bubbling, Maybe I just imagined that he looked at me?
Mosquito's still going on, "As her butler, I never should have left Arachne-sama's side. It was wrong of me to have faith in a magician like you... You are an obstruction, Eibon. Allow me to take care of you."
Kid (still hiding and listening, but not looking) finally puts the pieces together. Eibon?!
"No," Mosquito goes on. "Rather than 'Eibon,' should I perhaps address you as the imposter that you are?"
Eibon laughs. "Call me whatever you want. I have obtained the true Book of Eibon. With this and the Brew, I will obtain all of Eibon's wisdom... It is the same as being Eibon himself." The toothy black ball thing drools black goo (blood?) as Eibon continues. "You can go ahead and call me a fake if you want. I don't care what people call me. I just wanted some brand recognition, you know? That's why I went around introducing myself as 'Eibon.' There are just way too many brand-obsessed people in the world, I guess..."
He goes on. And now his face is starting to get... scary. Like, crazy eyes, mystical-looking glowy lines appearing on his cheeks, the works. "Just saying 'Eibon...' It makes it sound like everything has finally gathered here. You too, saw the final ingredient, just a few minutes ago, didn't you?"
Mosquito's eyes go wide, and he flashes back to Kid using the Brew.
Kid, too, who is still listening to this, think-bubbles, Brew...
Eibon's still speechifying, and growing scarier-looking by the minute. "Everything will fall into my hands," he says. "Even the kishin. Anything. Everything. Everything in this world belongs as part of my collection. I will gather everything into the Book of Eibon, and then finally it will be complete..."
Eibon makes his scariest face yet. "I will become EVERYTHING."
Mosquito freaks out. (As he should, at this point.) He goes beserk. "My form from EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS AGO! This is the era when I was my MOST AMAAAAAZZZIIINNG!!!"
Unfortunately, Mosquito never gets to complete his transformation to his eight-hundred-year-old form, because all of a sudden, Eibon's black ball thingy smashes him against a wall.
Like a bug.
Like, really smashes. Like, really like a bug. As in, splat. And gore-splatter. Oh my, the gore-splatter.
We do get to see a little bit of Mosquito's original form, though. Specifically, his head, which looks rather beak-like, and is left peeking out over the top of the black ball thingy. The rest of Mosquito, however, is either splattered against the wall, or impaled on the black ball-thingy's giant teeth.
Holy. Shit.
Mosquito stares up at Eibon. "Wh... Whaaaat...?"
Eibon regards him coolly. "It's useless, even if you try to run, Mosquito-sama. Your tenacity is impressive. However, you are not a part of my collection. What a pity... In your final moments, would you like me to tell you my true name?"
Mosquito's head, at least, reverts back to its four-hundred-year-old form. He smirks down at Eibon defiantly. "Hmph. Not interested. I don't need to know the name of a greedy, dishonorable shit."
"Yes," Eibon says. "I am just a greedy collector." He gives Mosquito a small smile. "I am Noah."
Mosquito screams his final words. "Arachne-samaaaaaaa! My deepest apologies!!!"
Flash. Cue one nuked Mosquito.
Kid peeks around his wall just in time to see Noah reach down and pick up a tiny little bat that's left flopping around on the ground. "This may be all that's left," Noah says, "but it's enough. ♥" Yes, there is actually a heart in his speech bubble right there. Yes, that is actually written in the manga.
Kid slips back into his hiding spot. He's drenched in nervous sweat now. Mosquito's soul wavelength has completely vanished... Somebody as strong as Mosquito, in less than a split second...
And then, Kid has his first intelligent thought in like, over one hundred pages. That man is way too dangerous. NO SHIT, SHERLOCK. But I ran in here like an idiot, looking to pick a fight...
SO RUN. HOLY SHIT. RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!! ARRRRRRGH!
Reading this part of the manga made me feel like one of those people who wants to yell at the dumbass characters on screen while watching a horror movie. Don't go in there! Don't split up! Don't listen to him!!! Get out of there!!!! Oh, for the love of God, get OUT of there!!!!
Kid, you should have started running the minute that 'Eibon' started talking about the Brew having arrived. Because THAT MEANS YOU, IDIOT!! You have the Brew!!
For those of you following along at home, wanna guess what happens next?
Yeah. Pretty much exactly what you would expect to happen next.
Suddenly Noah pokes his head around the corner and grins at Kid. "Oops, found another piece of the collection!" Scary, scary grin. "Pleased to meet you, Shinigami-kun."
Kid think-bubbles, Oh, SHIT!!! Yes, with three exclamation points. He tries to raise his guns, but Noah does the Sylar-thing where he just stares at Kid, and then the guns go flying out of Kid's hands.
"Kid?!" Liz and Patti exclaim.
Noah raises his grimoire over Kid's head. The pages open.
The book has teeth.
Let me repeat: All of a sudden, the book. has. teeth.
And Kid, screaming, immediately gets sucked into the book's jaws.
"Kid!!" Liz and Patti exclaim.
Noah closes the book and grins, apparently quite satisfied. "Well, I've certainly added some rare items to my collection today. The Brew and a shinigami, at the same time. Quite the catch."
He turns to walk away, but then discovers that there's a gun pointed to his head.
Liz is there, pointing Patti directly at Noah's face.
Noah regards her calmly. "I spared your lives," he says. "Now don't go throwing them away."
She stares him down. She's trembling from head to toe, and there's sweat drawn all over her face, but she still stares Noah down. "Let. Him. Go!!"
Noah just turns away from her, however. Dismissively. "You're beautiful, but beauty alone isn't enough to become a part of my collection. 'Scuse me now," he says as he walks away from her.
Liz sinks to her knees.
"Onee-chan!!" Patti yells. "Let me go after him!! I'm more--"
"No," Liz says. "No. You can't. At least we're together... We were together before we met him, too..."
"So what?!" Patti yells at her. "What about Kid-kun?! Are you gonna just abandon him?!"
"SHUT UP!! SHUT UP!!"
"You goddamn COWARD!!"
"Of COURSE I want to save Kid!" Liz shouts. "But I can't just let you get yourself killed, Patti!" She starts crying. "Don't be such a pest to your big sister..."
Patti is silent for a moment. Then she reverts back to her human form, and places her hand on Liz's head. Liz cries and cries, while Patti comforts her. "Dammit," Patti says, gazing in the direction that Noah walked off to. "Now what are we supposed to do...?"
MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE BABA-YAGA CASTLE...
Sid and Nygus are finally leading Shibusen's troops in a charge against Arachne's army. "Sid!" Nygus exclaims. "Look up there!"
Sid looks toward the roof of the castle. "Yup," he says.
Up there, still having his epic battle against Mifune, is...
F U C K Y E A H ! ! !
Nygus watches the TOTALLY BADASS FIGHT with wide eyes. "Sid, we've got to help him!"
"No," Sid says.
What follows is seven pages of pure, dialogue-less ASS KICKING. Mifune lands several blows against Black Star, and Black Star pulls off a couple nasty strikes of his own, including a spectacular kick in the jaw. Meanwhile, much of the surrounding property is explosively damaged.
So, you know. Just another typical Black Star brawl.
However, Mifune is clearly winning. When he blocks with his swords, we can't even get close to him, Tsubaki observes.
Mifune glares at Black Star. "Black Star, why are you holding back? Don't take me too lightly."
Sid continues to watch the fight with interest. Nygus glares at him. "Hey, Sid! Are you just going to stand back and watch him get killed?!"
"Don't say that," Sid says. "Take a good look at him. See for yourself." Black Star, he think-bubbles. You're not a ogre's child at all.
"Tsubaki," Black Star says. "Shadow Star, Zero Blade mode."
"Hai!" And then she turns into pure gooey shadow.
AWESOME.
Black Star's shadow merges with the shadow of Tsubaki's blade, and then they both seem to sink into his back, merging with his clothing to form a semi-cloaking of pure blackness. Black Star's sword reverts to a more normal (but familiar, hmmmmm) form, but the shadow remains swirling out from his clothing, not unlike what Maka's coat did when she was possessed by the black blood.
Black Star, however, is most definitely NOT possessed. There aren't even the usual fey blade mode shadows on his face anymore. This, a helpful caption informs us, is the Shadow Star Zero Blade mode, also known as "Masamune."
Wow.
Your ass is grass, and he's the lawnmower.
Black Star stares down Mifune. "I'm not holding back," he says.
And then the chapter ends.
Next issue: January 10th. COLOR PAGES. Look forward to it!
Oh, and before we conclude this post, here's your obligatory nightmare fuel for this chapter. This page gave me nightmares, and now y'all can share my horrible, horrible pain:
No wait, even better:
Still to come, more goodies from this issue of GanGan, including a drama CD, some pretty pretty scans, and more anime spoilers. But I'm going to schlep all of that into a separate post.