In a video talking about where Jiren fails as a character, Totally Not Mark talks about how the Tournament of Power- the Universe Survival Arc as a whole- lacked a proper Antagonist. He said that that arc’s tension was “circumstantial;” that the 2 Antagonistic forces in the arc- Jiren and the Xeno’s- were not working together, but that they needed each other for there to be any sort of tension. Without Xeno’s threat to destroy the losing Universes, it’s just another Tournament- we don’t have any indication that the other Universes would do anything malicious with the Super Dragon Ball’s, so the only stakes would be “Winning A Contest Set up for Children.” And without Jiren- there is no threat in the Tournament. “There are 2 Antagonistic Forces- Neither Can Work Without The Other, But Neither Are Working Together.”
I bring this up because this arc- the Adventure in Wallnack- has 2 Antagonistic Forces working against the Knights, yet they don’t seem to know about each other. That could always change at some point; Macduff and Teaninich certainly don’t seem to know about Ioladio, but she may know about them on some level. But they aren’t working together on this- she’s is just making Macduff and Teaninich’s job somewhat easier with her “Jammer” ability. But they’re different from Jiren and the Xeno’s in that they work. And you’re about to see why. Four Knights Of The Apocalypse Chapter 96: “Battle City.” Let’s begin…………
REVIEW
Picking up from the last chapter: Teaninich makes her move on Anne, Isolde, and Jade. But the way that Jade is looking at her, she’s misconstrues it as him “checking out her Glamourous Body.” He was looking at her weapon, thinking that she only had the one arrow to fire. But it wasn’t an arrow- it was a Venomous Snake that bites Isolde and leaves her unable to walk. It’s part of her Magic- “Summon Creature:” the ability to control and share the senses of smell and sight with all small creatures within her range. She summons a number of creatures- Owls, insects, Spiders, etc.- to attack the kids.
Jade makes the same Darkness bubble trapped Percival in, thus blocking off her sight and and the sight of her animals. The kids start running, and Isolde plants some of her “Love Bombs” in the ground. Teaninich believes that she can still track them through smell, but she ends up walking into the bombs and getting blown away. Meanwhile- Macduff experiences no such difficulties. His magic makes it so that they won’t make a sound no matter how much damage is caused, meaning that no one can hear the fight to come and help. And he takes FULL Advantage of the situation……..
His superior physical strength allows him to effortlessly knock the boys around, forcing Percival to heal them every time he strikes, So he knows what to do next. He moves through the alleyway, and grabs Percival. And snaps the f*ck out his neck. Note: The Chapter Is Definitely Unfinished here; Suzuki left a lot of the panels towards the end pure white without any form of shading. With one of the Knights of Prophecy seemingly dead as a Door nail, Macduff sees no point in fighting the rest and takes his leave- returning the sound now that the deed is done.
Chion recognizes it as Stealth type magic, but Nasiens and Donny are more concerned with Percival’s condition. Chion is ready to give up on him, seeing the situation for what it is and labelling Percival as the “Kind of Human who’d die in an Alley,” blaming it on his position as a Knight Of Prophecy. Four Knights Of The Apocalypse Chapter 96 END!! Man F*CK YOU, Chion. I hope they knock you out and leave you for Teaninich’s bugs!!
Analysis
I said all that and Io vs Tristan wasn’t even featured in the chapter. But I stand by what I said; this chapter shows how having 2 opposing Antagonists can work. It seems as though Io isn’t working with Camelot, meaning they’re probably not even aware or each other. Teaninich and Macduff don’t seem to notice, either. But where this dynamic succeeds is that neither Antagonistic force is reliant on the other to be a threat; one group could be here and the arc would flow just as well. That said, there’s clearly a reason as to what Io is doing here now of all times, and it has SOMETHING to do with the prophecy that Guin foretold. Something just seems “off” about what she’s doing here.
Now that that’s out of the way: Chion. If ANY of his family were here, he would gotten slapped. You do NOT say about someone who died after saving you- ESPECIALLY a fellow Holy Knight of Liones. This was too far. And he’s about to learn that the hard way. ‘Cause after hearing everything the happened with them and Tristan from Jade, and seeing how determined he was to find Tristan; I imagine Donny and Nasiens were probably getting ready to give him the benefit of the doubt- “How Would We Feel If This Were Percival?” That’s done. Donny looks like he’s about to fly off the handle and punch Chion dead in his mouth. Nasiens- ever the Reserved- will stop him. Which might lead to a similar scene to the Shou Tucker incident in “Fullmetal Alchemist.” That’s how I see the opening part of next chapter going. Where it pertains to Percival though, is where things begin to get “curious…….”
Chapter 19 Of The Story: Ironside stomps and kicks Percival bloody, and then stabs him right in the Heart. Chapter 20 sees Anne and Nasiens doing all they can to save him, but they can’t even get him to swallow the elixir- his heart and breathing had stopped completely. And the Mini Percival’s that he had made earlier all dissipate. By all accounts, he was dead. And then we see that Donny still believed in him- so much so that he goes back to the battlefield to try and help. And that belief in Percival manifested a Mini Percival. And that sparked Anne and Nasiens to believe in him just the same. A “Perpetual Motion Machine” of sorts- the more they believe in Percival, the stronger he becomes, allowing him to win in the end. And if he keeps getting results like that, then more and more people will have faith in him, allowing him to do it all over again!!!
I just gotta take a minute and talk about that for a sec: Suzuki Sensei has really made the ultimate “Power Of Friendship” ability. Percival’s magic let’s him do whatever; constructs, the Mini Percival’s that can gain a mind of their own, heal people, and Lord KNOWS what else. It’s a plot device that runs off his friends trust in him. He is the EMBODIEMENT of “I Can Do Anything If My Friends Believe In Me!!” The story can boil down to the “Friendship” idea in the end and it’ll make total sense no matter what he does; the ending can’t suck. Good Lord I hope not.
But back to the chapter; this sets a precedent for the story: Percival’s Magic Can Persist After Death. If Donny and Nasiens believe him to be alive- believe that he can come back from this- then his magic will create a Mini Percival that’ll heal him just as they did back then. To keep the tension in the story, there’s probably a limit to how long after his death that this can happen, but the end result is that Percival- so long as he’s with his friends- cannot die. And when I realized that, it Hit Me: Death. Percival is the “Knight Of Death” of the Four Knights of The Apocalypse. But not because he Brings “Death” to the People Of Camelot- he doesn’t want to kill anyone because he knows what it’s like to lose someone you care about and wouldn’t wish that on another soul. He’s “DEATH” because he Comes BACK!!!! I genuinely didn’t see that coming; that’s a nice spin on it. And he made it just obvious enough for us to put the pieces together, but not enough for me to say this is “Concretely” where this is going. ‘Cause we still don’t know the full ins-and-outs of what this boy can do.
The other thing is Teaninich vs Jade and the others. So she’s got a bit of an “Inflated Ego” in regards to her body, but might secretly be jealous of girls like Anne and Isolde. Isolde also shows off that her “Love Bomb” can be set up as a trap. Though now that we know her magic, I’m curious how she turned that Snake into an Arrow. That’s all that I wanted to say about that part of the chapter.
Conclusion
That was quick! I just wish I had more days before Saturday. I REALLY am not looking forward to Saturday, March 4th, 2023. But Time bends for no man no matter how much we want it to. So sadly, i must bid you all “Ado.” Let me know what you guys are thinking of the arc so far, and what you guys think about what I said. That’s all I got for the lot of ya today, folks. Til next time- Stay Safe, Stay healthy, and have a Wonderful Day. Bye~~~!!!
