![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Soul Eater Chapter 87: Inexorable. Ineludable. Inevitable.
When I was very little, she always used to read me stories...
Simple little stories...
I was always me. But I couldn't understand the other people in the story.
Other people were for killing. Other people were to be erased.
Every possible method of killing was written in those stories...
Just simple murder stories.
CHAPTER 87: A SIMPLE MURDER STORY
"This is okay. This is okay," Crona mutters to hirself. "This is everything."
Crona turns around. "I've returned, Medusa-sama."
"You were magnificent, Crona," Medusa says.
"It is an honor to be praised by you."
"Now let's get that coat off."
Crona stares at Medusa.
"You worked very hard, Crona. I was watching your fight with Tsar Pushka."
Flashback time. "FYODOR, LOOK OUT!! FYODOR, LOOK OUT!!"
Crona smiles. That was a simple murder---...
Stabbed through the skull.
Those swallowed up by insanity
in turn swallow insanity
melt into insanity
and then harden into insanity.
"That was certainly an unexpected result," Medusa says, "that the black sphere created by your 'insane blood' would issue such a highly concentrated wave of insanity. How incredible that you were able to do the same to an entire city in the Ukraine."
Flashback again. "AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!! MELT!! NOW HARDEN UP!!"
"You must be very tired," Medusa says. "Come, dinner is ready. I've prepared your favorite pasta."
Ragnarok is REALLY FUCKING EXCITING about MOTHERFUCKING SPAGHETTI FUCK YEAH!!!!
But Crona is still a zombie. "Yes."
Meanwhile, at the LOST ISLAND NORTH OF ALASKA!
"Uuuuuuu It's co~old~" Liz complains. "I freakin' hate cold weather!"
Those snowman hats are completely terrible and I love them.
"But it's been so long since we've been on a mission with Kid-kun that this is lots of fun!" Patti says. Except that they're not actually with him on this mission, are they? I hope that Patti is preparing that snowball to throw at Kid's face the minute that he steps out of that tempest.
"Well, that's true, I guess." Liz looks up at the swirling tempest/tornado/magnetic field/whatever. "But since we have to wait for him outside of the magnetic field there's no point to us even being here, is there?"
I love you Liz.
Meanwhile, inside the ruins, Kid is wandering around wasting his time and ours by searching for answers that he could get just by asking Big Daddy directly. Nice jacket, though.
Nothing has changed since the last time that I was here. The Eibon that I saw during the BREW battle... Was that just an image of the past? Or was he really here in the flesh?
(Ohkubo, are you going to retcon this? Seriously?)
"I might not have been able to tell the difference back then, but I can now," Kid narrates to himself.
Oh hey, young!Arachne. That outfit is still way better than what you ended up wearing later in life.
And heeeeeeeeeeeere's Eibon!
Kid stares at him. "You are the real Eibon." Then, not wasting any time, "I have some questions that I wish to ask you."
"It appears as though many things are troubling you, Kid." Nice deflection, Eibon. Clearly you and Big Daddy have a lot in common.
"So you really can know everything from sight alone," Kid says.
"You worry about the Kishin. You worry about the BREW. And you worry that your own father may be the ultimate source of insanity itself." Eibon turns around. "Come with me."
Well, I smell a heaping pile of exposition coming up next chapter! Also I still can't take Eibon seriously ever since that crack about him liking panty-less barbecue back in the Gluttony chapter of the Book of Eibon. But hey, speaking of gluttony!
That's a damn lot of food for just two people.
Well, two people and Ragnarok. Who is apparently still freaking out, for some reason, but hidden underneath the table.
"I put all of my effort into making this meal special just for you," Medusa says. "Eat up."
Crona thinks of bunnies.
Flashback again. "Hurry up and do it. Kill them."
"Bu... But with little babies like this I don't understand how I'm supposed to kill them!"
Back in the dark room. "Until you can do it, no food for you. Now stay in here and think about what you need to do."
"Wait! But I'm already really hungry."
SLAM.
Some time later, CLICK.
"All right, Crona. This is your first chance in five days to earn some food. Kill three bunnies using three different methods of killing."
Crona stares at the bunnies.
"Just like in the picture books that you study. If you don't kill them now, then I'll withhold your food for five more days."
Crona raises Ragnarok.
Sword.
Crush.
Beat to death.
"Good. Now it's time to eat."
Back to the present. "Eat up," Medusa says again. "There is enough for many more helpings."
Crona makes sadface.
"After you are finished eating, you may take a shower and sleep as much as you would like," Medusa says.
No response.
"I'm sorry for everything that I did to you before," Medusa says.
No response.
"You suffered so much."
No response.
"But you withstood it all and came back to me," Medusa goes on. "You are such a wonderful child."
No response.
"Thanks to you, Crona, I'm finally close to the end of my research on the black blood. The only thing that we have left to do is to make the Kishin yours..."
No response.
Medusa stands up and walks over toward Crona. "Thank you, Crona."
Hugs.
"You are my pride and joy."
Flashback. Medusa stands with her back to a starving Crona.
In the present, Crona tears up. "Don't. Don't be nice to me all of a sudden. I... I... Because Medusa-sama is my mother... Because you're my mother... I just did what you told me to do. Because you told me to do it, I threw away everything... And now if you try to act like a normal mother to me..."
I don't understand how I'm supposed to kill...
Stab.
Medusa looks up. "Crona...?"
"I can't hear kind words..." Crona says. "Kind words are worse than the buzzing in my ears. I don't understand what they mean." Crona pushes Ragnarok in deeper. "Just like you said, just like you told me to do, I threw all of that away." Then comes the freakout. "I THREW EVERYTHING AWAY BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME TO!!"
Crona pulls out Ragnarok, letting Medusa bleed out for a moment. Then stabs again. Twice.
"You're not fair," Crona says. "You made me throw away love and then you tried to smother me with it. Is this a joke? You shitty old hag. You made it so that I'm the only thing that I have left. You even made me throw away that 'Maka' person too. But Mother threw away everything too, right? So doesn't that mean that I was thrown away too?"
Crona pulls out the swords, slicing Medusa into four parts.
"BUT THEN YOU--!! BUT THEN YOU--!! BUT THEN YOU TRIED TO---!!" Crona brings down Ragnarok again. Slice. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! GIVE ME BACK MY MOTHER!! MY PRECIOUS MOTHER WOULD NEVER SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!!!"
Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab.
Arrows everywhere. Crona pants with exhaustion.
"She's dead. I killed her." Crona grins. "Maybe she was important to me. But oh well... I don't understand anymore."
But she's not dead. "IT'S FINISHED!" Medusa screams. "THE FINAL RESTRAINT IS BROKEN AND THE BLACK BLOOD IS COMPLETE!!" She looks up at Crona. "I love you, Crona."
Stab.
This is just a simple murder story.
Well, Ohkubo, you did it. You gave Medusa the most perfect and most fitting ending that she possibly could have gotten. Of course the entire fandom already predicted that she would go down this way, and it was foreshadowed rather explicitly way back in chapter 69, but that in no way shape or form actually detracts from the execution.
Fucking awesome chapter, Ohkubo. Even with the stupidity of the Kid arc taking shape in the background of the chapter, still fucking awesome.
My only complaint is the timing. Now that Medusa is already gone, we've lost pretty much the only truly competent villain in the entire series. Whoops.
I mean, I can't believe that (a version of) Noah of all people has now officially outlived Medusa. NOAH.
Okay, so it's not as though we don't have any menacing villains left. Asura, Justin, and Crona are all legit-o-mite Big Bads in their own right. But they're also all crazybeans and after a while that gets kind of tiring. Medusa was a devious, manipulative mastermind. And without any devious, manipulative mastermind left in the series, what we have instead are crazybeans pawns running around without anybody pulling their strings. Yes, I'm counting Asura as a pawn, because so far he hasn't really done anything of his own volition, save for hiding in his hidey-hole like the Hidey McHiderpants that he is.
Well I guess we still have Index to fill the role of "evil mastermind with a coherent evil plan," it's just that what we know of his evil plan so far is that it is so insufferably stupid that I am literally dreading the moment when the storyline returns to that mess.
Which might very well be next month. I hope not.
Of course, all of the above assumes that Medusa is officially Dead for Reals This Time. I definitely wouldn't put it past Ohkubo to bring her back later.
Simple little stories...
I was always me. But I couldn't understand the other people in the story.
Other people were for killing. Other people were to be erased.
Every possible method of killing was written in those stories...
Just simple murder stories.
CHAPTER 87: A SIMPLE MURDER STORY
"This is okay. This is okay," Crona mutters to hirself. "This is everything."
Crona turns around. "I've returned, Medusa-sama."
"You were magnificent, Crona," Medusa says.
"It is an honor to be praised by you."
"Now let's get that coat off."
Crona stares at Medusa.
"You worked very hard, Crona. I was watching your fight with Tsar Pushka."
Flashback time. "FYODOR, LOOK OUT!! FYODOR, LOOK OUT!!"
Crona smiles. That was a simple murder---...
Stabbed through the skull.
Those swallowed up by insanity
in turn swallow insanity
melt into insanity
and then harden into insanity.
"That was certainly an unexpected result," Medusa says, "that the black sphere created by your 'insane blood' would issue such a highly concentrated wave of insanity. How incredible that you were able to do the same to an entire city in the Ukraine."
Flashback again. "AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!! MELT!! NOW HARDEN UP!!"
"You must be very tired," Medusa says. "Come, dinner is ready. I've prepared your favorite pasta."
Ragnarok is REALLY FUCKING EXCITING about MOTHERFUCKING SPAGHETTI FUCK YEAH!!!!
But Crona is still a zombie. "Yes."
Meanwhile, at the LOST ISLAND NORTH OF ALASKA!
"Uuuuuuu It's co~old~" Liz complains. "I freakin' hate cold weather!"
Those snowman hats are completely terrible and I love them.
"But it's been so long since we've been on a mission with Kid-kun that this is lots of fun!" Patti says. Except that they're not actually with him on this mission, are they? I hope that Patti is preparing that snowball to throw at Kid's face the minute that he steps out of that tempest.
"Well, that's true, I guess." Liz looks up at the swirling tempest/tornado/magnetic field/whatever. "But since we have to wait for him outside of the magnetic field there's no point to us even being here, is there?"
I love you Liz.
Meanwhile, inside the ruins, Kid is wandering around wasting his time and ours by searching for answers that he could get just by asking Big Daddy directly. Nice jacket, though.
Nothing has changed since the last time that I was here. The Eibon that I saw during the BREW battle... Was that just an image of the past? Or was he really here in the flesh?
(Ohkubo, are you going to retcon this? Seriously?)
"I might not have been able to tell the difference back then, but I can now," Kid narrates to himself.
Oh hey, young!Arachne. That outfit is still way better than what you ended up wearing later in life.
And heeeeeeeeeeeere's Eibon!
Kid stares at him. "You are the real Eibon." Then, not wasting any time, "I have some questions that I wish to ask you."
"It appears as though many things are troubling you, Kid." Nice deflection, Eibon. Clearly you and Big Daddy have a lot in common.
"So you really can know everything from sight alone," Kid says.
"You worry about the Kishin. You worry about the BREW. And you worry that your own father may be the ultimate source of insanity itself." Eibon turns around. "Come with me."
Well, I smell a heaping pile of exposition coming up next chapter! Also I still can't take Eibon seriously ever since that crack about him liking panty-less barbecue back in the Gluttony chapter of the Book of Eibon. But hey, speaking of gluttony!
That's a damn lot of food for just two people.
Well, two people and Ragnarok. Who is apparently still freaking out, for some reason, but hidden underneath the table.
"I put all of my effort into making this meal special just for you," Medusa says. "Eat up."
Crona thinks of bunnies.
Flashback again. "Hurry up and do it. Kill them."
"Bu... But with little babies like this I don't understand how I'm supposed to kill them!"
Back in the dark room. "Until you can do it, no food for you. Now stay in here and think about what you need to do."
"Wait! But I'm already really hungry."
SLAM.
Some time later, CLICK.
"All right, Crona. This is your first chance in five days to earn some food. Kill three bunnies using three different methods of killing."
Crona stares at the bunnies.
"Just like in the picture books that you study. If you don't kill them now, then I'll withhold your food for five more days."
Crona raises Ragnarok.
Sword.
Crush.
Beat to death.
"Good. Now it's time to eat."
Back to the present. "Eat up," Medusa says again. "There is enough for many more helpings."
Crona makes sadface.
"After you are finished eating, you may take a shower and sleep as much as you would like," Medusa says.
No response.
"I'm sorry for everything that I did to you before," Medusa says.
No response.
"You suffered so much."
No response.
"But you withstood it all and came back to me," Medusa goes on. "You are such a wonderful child."
No response.
"Thanks to you, Crona, I'm finally close to the end of my research on the black blood. The only thing that we have left to do is to make the Kishin yours..."
No response.
Medusa stands up and walks over toward Crona. "Thank you, Crona."
Hugs.
"You are my pride and joy."
Flashback. Medusa stands with her back to a starving Crona.
In the present, Crona tears up. "Don't. Don't be nice to me all of a sudden. I... I... Because Medusa-sama is my mother... Because you're my mother... I just did what you told me to do. Because you told me to do it, I threw away everything... And now if you try to act like a normal mother to me..."
I don't understand how I'm supposed to kill...
Stab.
Medusa looks up. "Crona...?"
"I can't hear kind words..." Crona says. "Kind words are worse than the buzzing in my ears. I don't understand what they mean." Crona pushes Ragnarok in deeper. "Just like you said, just like you told me to do, I threw all of that away." Then comes the freakout. "I THREW EVERYTHING AWAY BECAUSE YOU TOLD ME TO!!"
Crona pulls out Ragnarok, letting Medusa bleed out for a moment. Then stabs again. Twice.
"You're not fair," Crona says. "You made me throw away love and then you tried to smother me with it. Is this a joke? You shitty old hag. You made it so that I'm the only thing that I have left. You even made me throw away that 'Maka' person too. But Mother threw away everything too, right? So doesn't that mean that I was thrown away too?"
Crona pulls out the swords, slicing Medusa into four parts.
"BUT THEN YOU--!! BUT THEN YOU--!! BUT THEN YOU TRIED TO---!!" Crona brings down Ragnarok again. Slice. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?! GIVE ME BACK MY MOTHER!! MY PRECIOUS MOTHER WOULD NEVER SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!!!"
Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab. Stab.
Arrows everywhere. Crona pants with exhaustion.
"She's dead. I killed her." Crona grins. "Maybe she was important to me. But oh well... I don't understand anymore."
But she's not dead. "IT'S FINISHED!" Medusa screams. "THE FINAL RESTRAINT IS BROKEN AND THE BLACK BLOOD IS COMPLETE!!" She looks up at Crona. "I love you, Crona."
Stab.
This is just a simple murder story.
Well, Ohkubo, you did it. You gave Medusa the most perfect and most fitting ending that she possibly could have gotten. Of course the entire fandom already predicted that she would go down this way, and it was foreshadowed rather explicitly way back in chapter 69, but that in no way shape or form actually detracts from the execution.
Fucking awesome chapter, Ohkubo. Even with the stupidity of the Kid arc taking shape in the background of the chapter, still fucking awesome.
My only complaint is the timing. Now that Medusa is already gone, we've lost pretty much the only truly competent villain in the entire series. Whoops.
I mean, I can't believe that (a version of) Noah of all people has now officially outlived Medusa. NOAH.
Okay, so it's not as though we don't have any menacing villains left. Asura, Justin, and Crona are all legit-o-mite Big Bads in their own right. But they're also all crazybeans and after a while that gets kind of tiring. Medusa was a devious, manipulative mastermind. And without any devious, manipulative mastermind left in the series, what we have instead are crazybeans pawns running around without anybody pulling their strings. Yes, I'm counting Asura as a pawn, because so far he hasn't really done anything of his own volition, save for hiding in his hidey-hole like the Hidey McHiderpants that he is.
Well I guess we still have Index to fill the role of "evil mastermind with a coherent evil plan," it's just that what we know of his evil plan so far is that it is so insufferably stupid that I am literally dreading the moment when the storyline returns to that mess.
Which might very well be next month. I hope not.
Of course, all of the above assumes that Medusa is officially Dead for Reals This Time. I definitely wouldn't put it past Ohkubo to bring her back later.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Page 1 of 2