Prologue
Dustin and Chitori are childhood friends confirmed
He was like a prince to her and he treated her like a princess AHHHHHH
Laboratory in the 86th sector?!
They’re already starting to die :AnjuShook:
First death in the prologue. Sasuga…
Died without involving anyone else, huh…..
Aww yeah Yuuto is going to be very popular with these girls lmao
Chapter 1
Is this artillery lady the same one from Volume 3? :FredThonk:
Yeah I think she is
The new soldiers are barely getting trained. Lambs to the slaughter :FredCry:
Shin finds out Frederica told Vika by Vika joking about how he’d like to slip a bug down his shirt if it wasn’t the end of autumn. A few days later, Lerche comes charging at Shin holding a frozen butterfly :RichardKEK:
Shin wants Frederica to tell Lena and Grethe once Lena comes back. He thinks Vika being the only commander in the know will probably make Lena jealous lmao
Oh sh*t, they think a surviving country in the west or south probably fell because of the increasing number of Legion
Lol Kurena is finally understanding Shin
That he looks cool but is actually hotheaded
Poor Zelene. They interrogated her by reading out names of dead or missing imperial people and saying they were Shepherds, and having her repeat that. And confirming if it’s true by whether or not she’s prohibited from saying it. And this took days
AWWW Anju blushing :LenaMelt:
Dustin started blabbing about him and Anju because he was so exhausted even though Frederica was right there :AnjuLaugh:
They eat together every day and spend free time together sometimes and he’s displayed some of the dried flowers and made a bouquet out of them with her
Lmao Frederica threatening Dustin too
Fred threatening to also throw him to the Legion if he makes Anju cry
Shin: If the nobles complain, I’ll kick Ernst’s ass to make him do something about it.
Vika: You really have gotten stronger. You’ll use your bloodline and backing, huh?
New Dynasty Faction finally getting mentioned again
YATRAI’S FIANCÉE APPEARS AHHHHHH
WE FINALLY HAVE A NOUZEN WOMAN
Oh. One of the Actaeon/fawns who wasn’t able to join the group finds herself surrounded by people in a city and she’s out of time…..
She wanted to get away from people but literally couldn’t move anymore so all she could say was “Run” (her last words) :FredCry:
Suddenly back to Lena and the dog??
Lmao she thinks Shin would get jealous if she takes the dog
I liked how the dog was getting all up in her face when she was watching that broadcast and she had to physically move it aside. It felt very true to dog ownership. Serious stuff is happening but a big smiling face and wagging tail are obscuring the view
So the Actaeon/fawns are human bombs, huh?
The Federacy isn’t trusting Yuuto’s warning because he’s a deserter?
Looks like the Federacy will have to conscript people or it really will be the end for everyone. They need to do Operation Overlord while they still can because things are just continuing to get worse on all fronts
Really looks like they might fake Fred’s death to protect her
Shin thinking of all the horrible ways he’s seen people die to plan Fred’s death :FredDed:
Oh Jesus now there’s been like ten “suicide bombings”
The investigators noted there weren’t any actual bomb parts like you’d expect to find
It seems almost like their internal organs transform into a bomb? :LenaDeadInside:
They get very sick when their time is up
Welp. The investigators have realized the bombers are Eighty-Six :NotLikeLena:
At the very least, I’m glad that MP was like “Uh, oops. My bad for not believing you before. Explain it all to me again?” to Amari instead of like arresting her straight away :LenaKEKW:
THEONETTE SCENE
Theo and Annette are having tea together regularly now. Theo gets teased about it when people see them together. A MP comes up asking for Annette
Lena is at a base in the capital waiting for her connecting transport. Willem's aide is waiting for her there to accompany her
Some of the suicide bombers' identities have been revealed and the TV is revealing pictures & names of the other missing Eighty-Six. Dustin jumps to his feet when he sees Chitori
Oh nice, we get the full name of Willem's aide. Jonas Degen?
Shin gets a notice that Lena's been detained and goes to Grethe like WTF is this. She says there is a security issue and asks if he's seen the news. Amari is there to explain further. Shin asks where's Yuuto
Lena and Annette meet in the fancy suite where they're being held. Jonas explains it's a security measure and they're under the protection of the Ehrenfried family.
The news programs are going wild with theories. Theo is upset because Annette got taken away right in front of him and he was powerless to stop it :sniffsniff:
Me trying to understand the explanation of how the Actaeon are blowing up :DaiyaWallOfText:
Okay so if I'm understanding this correctly: the Republic developed an artificial RNA cell that can lie dormant in the body, but once activated, it spreads like a virus and creates nitroglycerin
Primevere being interrogated 👀
Jeeeeez
News programs: Maybe these are a new form of self-propelled mines?
Soldiers: LOL. LMAO
Primevere: We were trying to recreate self-propelled mines
Celena conspiracy to turn Alabaster and Adularia citizens into self-propelled mines to fight the Legion and protect the Celenas :DaiyaDistress:
This just gets worse and worse
They named that RNA cell thing "Dear" :LenaKEKW:
The Actaeon girls knew the real motive was to exterminate the surviving Eighty-Six once the war ends
Also there are a few reasons girls in their teens were chosen for this
Vika has heard of a demo tape the Republic apparently sent out before he was born in case the Empire was thinking of invading. The demo tape was of a piglet exploding. Basically threatening to turn all their livestock into bombs? Vika thinks these are anti-personnel weapons for when the Legion war ends and the Republic has to fight other surviving countries
Amari says the reason Yuuto didn't contact Shin or anyone else first is because he didn't want to make it seem like they were colluding :sniffsniff:
No Face making his move. Nidhogg is back
The Legion are having all their Morphos fire at the dependent territories mainly occupied by Republic refugees, replacement soldiers, and ethnic minorities
They specifically figured out where they are to target them
I'm sorry but Nidhogg reminded me of a Yu Gi Oh meme :LenaKEKW:
ずっと俺のターン！
Nidhogg: IT'S OUR TURN FOREVER
Chapter 2
The whole Actaeon/fawns thing has been explained to the Strike Package. Dustin is restlessly walking the halls, now knowing that Chitori was alive the whole time and has probably been turned into a bomb. He wants to go save her somehow. Anju finds him and asks if he knew one of them, Chitori perhaps? (It seems he told her about Chitori before) Dustin says yes, she was his childhood friend and was such a nice girl and he wants to go save her :FredCry:
I'm concerned why we're suddenly cutting to Nina attending a funeral with her aunt :AnjuShook:
Awww Marcel told her Shin was Eugene's friend and that the plushie he gave her was from him and Shin. And she told Marcel to bring Shin over next time :sniffsniff:
GOOD BOY MARCEL
Henry is fighting in the trenches :sniffsniff:
I love this look at the Republic and Federacy soldiers fighting together. Their banter is amazing :LenaKEKW:
Federacy soldier: "Since the Legion are former Eighty-Six, they must really hate you guys!"
Henry: "Maybe! Too bad for you, getting caught up in it!"
Republic soldier: "I bet we make good decoys! Since our hair is silver and shiny!"
Lena & Annette got all their methods of communicating with the outside world taken away so Lena is frustrated that she can't contact Shin and everyone. She even went around the room looking for a way to escape so now Jonas and the other bodyguards are everywhere :LenaKEKW:
I love how Annette compares Shin to a loyal dog and Theo to a grumpy cat :RichardKEK:
Okay so I was right, the Actaeon's destination is that Republic territory on the map, right next to the former Giad border
DUSTIN!!! :KiriyaMadness:
:KiriPain: UGGHHHH
Amari finally tells Dustin Yuuto's message
So now Dustin knows that Yuuto is with Chitori and Chitori doesn't have long left. And she wants to see Dustin. So Yuuto said Dustin could come meet up with them
Amari knows their planned route and she tells Dustin. Dustin's reaction is to immediately head out the door, planning to leave without preparing or anything :NotLikeLena:
Anju overheard the whole thing and calls out to him, "Wait, Dustin!" But then she doesn't know what to say next. She knows she has to stop him because if he goes, he'll die for sure. But if he doesn't go, it would hurt him. She doesn't want him to go, but she doesn't want to hurt him, so she can't say anything :ShinCry:
But seeing her, Dustin comes to his senses. He remembers his promise to her, so he says he won't go :sniffsniff:
Awww Shin doesn't want everyone to see him so irritated so he's spending his free time with Fido :sniffsniff:
The Actaeon girls are finally trying to pull their weight, but they really are like a bunch of Lenas :LenaKEKW:
Everything Yuuto is doing in this volume is making him very attractive tbh
He's bringing warm food, kicking down doors, wielding a hatchet
Oh damn, the Federacy found (trigger warning) the body of an Actaeon girl who committed suicide so they're conducting an autopsy :LenaDeadInside:
Things are getting worse in the Federacy. People from the dependent territories targeted by the Morphos continue to evacuate and Sankt Jeder is at its limit in accepting refugees. Food prices are going up since there's no one working the farms and production plants. The transport routes are a mess. Everywhere is short-staffed :NotLikeLena:
The bombings aren't in the news anymore since it seems all the Actaeon/fawns have managed to hide in secluded areas. The Actaeon are apparently equipped with a timer and their deadline is December. The Federacy's stance for now seems to be to make a formal announcement about it once it's all over and people have forgotten about it
It's very obvious to everyone that Shin is nearly at his limit too :sniffsniff:
Anju is eating her meals quickly and then leaving with an extra tray of food :sniffsniff:
Dustin is depressed. He's holed up in his room and has no appetite. :sniffsniff: Tohru's trying to get him to go eat
Dustin remembers how he thought of Chitori like a princess and he was her knight. He remembers how his mother told him not to look outside that night and the next morning, everyone in the city was gone. The TV kept saying crazy things about the colored people and the rhetoric kept getting crazier and he couldn't say anything or do anything. That's why this time, he wants to save her…
Oof. Chitori was worried that Dustin might have been taken to a camp too, but she heard about his speech on the night of the Revolution Festival right before the First LSO. And she worried that she might have become a curse for him and that's why she wanted to meet him
Chitori says maybe it's for the best that she didn't meet Dustin because that might become another curse. But Yuuto thinks about his life as a name bearer in the Eighty-Sixth Sector and how alone he was and thinks he would rather have someone cast a curse on him :sniffsniff:
Raiden & Theo talking about Shin, Theo says he understands how he feels because he still gets irritated when he remembers Annette being taken away.
Raiden: You two have grown close, huh?
Theo: No, we haven't. Why does everyone keep saying that?
Things in Sankt Jeder are going downhill fast :LenaDeadInside:
People really aren't happy about the influx of refugees. Things are getting really racist and scary
Yatrai of all people is the closest to guessing No Face's identity :AnjuShook:
They learned through Zelene's interrogation that the Legion's top commanders don't have anyone from the imperial faction, and an Eighty-Six wouldn't be able to come up with a strategy like this, targeting the divisions in Giad society. He thinks it's probably a high-ranking commander from a nearby country…
Nina is getting slurs hurled at her constantly :sniffsniff:
AHHHHHH
Apparently not even the Actaeon are a monolith, because this girl, THIS GIRL, she goes to a busy holiday market right in the middle of Sankt Jeder, holding a bag of nails to her chest, just as she's hit her time limit. She hated the other girls because they didn't even think of taking revenge. And this will be her revenge against the Republic :LenaDeadInside:
So I guess we have our first legit suicide bomber :FredDed:
This volume is doing a real good job building all this up. It feels painfully real
