2011-02-28: Chapter Forty-Nine: Battlefield

[The Comment Golem]

Discussion thread for Chapter Forty-Nine: Battlefield

[CptNerd]

Scary. Little. Devil. Girl.

The grin makes her scarier.

[wrog]

yep. scariest cover page so far.

[Viking-Sensei]

The mouseover text makes it all the worse.

[Dallen Andair]

Yikes. Awesome page.

I wonder...if it comes to a showdown between Meji and Ian, how it would pan out. All in all, I've always had the sense that as young as Meji is, she had both more power and more control over it than Ian, with the latter being far more important. Ian always struck me as a talented, but self-taught mage. Someone who would have really benefited from a good, dependable teacher to bring out his skills.

Meji, for all that she is a self-serving teenager (as we all were at one time) has received professional training and teaching. Though the words come from her own mouth in the beginning of the story, she may very well have been dammed near a prodigy with her skills; outpacing her classmates and worrying her instructors. What with her avowed lust for more power and all.

I'm thinking that if Meji and Ian face off, Ian might just find himself completely outmatched. Hence Meji's smirk on this cover page.

Edit: Also, Ian has seemed to work his magic through intuition thus far, going from eureka moment to eureka moment and doing things by feel. Meji seems to prefer a more measured and scientific approach. Ian feels how magic works, but Meji's been taught to know how it works, and Senilis seems to back that up with his quantifying of magicical forces with mathematical equations and processes.

If thats the case, Ian is terminally screwed.

[ChunLing]

Ian was terminally screwed from the moment he was conceived (and why don't we have a fun back-story about what what half-elf laddie was stupid enough to put it in Ian's mom, eh? More than once, even).

But I doubt that Anilis and Senilis are going to be willing to duke it out over some not even very significant disagreement between their respective rides over the exact protocol for exterminating the elves. If it comes to that, Meji and Senilis seem to be on some kind of speaking terms, so he can just ask her, "Do you want ultimate power or do you want to continue interfering with our termination of a failed experiment?" Once the choice is couched in those terms, I think we all know which Meji will choose. Meji also knows which she will choose. It's just that everyone has tried very hard to make her believe that is not the choice. Which is only prudent of them.

[Itterind]

If thats the case, Ian is terminally screwed.

I agree, but if it isn't exceptionally scripted some tension as to whether she wins might be required.

[Rakshasa Taisab]

Ian was terminally screwed from the moment he was conceived (and why don't we have a fun back-story about what what half-elf laddie was stupid enough to put it in Ian's mom, eh? More than once, even).

That is a good explanation if you're in favor of GENOCIDE! for the fun of it.

However since WWII we like to work with more balanced views of Nature vs. Nurture, and while Ian might have had higher potential for going full crazy that does not mean it was destined. An unfortunate tangle of bad situation and latent problems.

[Itterind]

Ian was terminally screwed from the moment he was conceived (and why don't we have a fun back-story about what what half-elf laddie was stupid enough to put it in Ian's mom, eh? More than once, even).

But I doubt that Anilis and Senilis are going to be willing to duke it out over some not even very significant disagreement between their respective rides over the exact protocol for exterminating the elves. If it comes to that, Meji and Senilis seem to be on some kind of speaking terms, so he can just ask her, "Do you want ultimate power or do you want to continue interfering with our termination of a failed experiment?" Once the choice is couched in those terms, I think we all know which Meji will choose. Meji also knows which she will choose. It's just that everyone has tried very hard to make her believe that is not the choice. Which is only prudent of them.

I still strongly believe Senilis is gone. The chapter title also says 'battlefield' now and I don't think that leads into Meji helping with the extermination or negotiating with Ianilis, but I commend your confidence.

Anyway, this is a much-looked forward to chapter ^^
Godlings duking it out. Yay~

[Slamlander]

Ian is a demi-god and so is Meji but no one else, AFAICT.
Wasn't it established, in the hunt for Senilis, that neither god you inhabit an Elf? That the elves are resistant to them? Senilis actually tried and look what happened.

Yes, Meji-Senilis will kick some righteous butt over Ian-Anilis.