Magi 248th Night Review

Written by: Micha (who is in love with a fictional woman)

Sweet mother, what in Lord’s good name was that? I am never forgetting this chapter. I have read some crazy stuff over the years, including some adult manga that had a man’s head shoved all the way in a woman’s butt, but this chapter tops everything. It really does.

In the last chapter, Gyokuen unleashed her crazy ass black rukh power, and at the same time sucked the black rukh from Judar (and the Al Thamen members) which caused Hakuryuu and Judar to become weaker. Hakuryuu’s Djinn equip started disappearing all thanks to the curse cast on him by Phenex.

Gyokuen sees Hakuryuu and Judar’s state and sadistically asks them what was wrong, and said she had raised both of them with so much love since they were small. Judar knew that he wouldn’t be able to win a magic duel against her since she was so fucking insane.

Yes, Gyokuen. Every mother should love their kids the way you do.

Judar then thinks think that if they didn’t kill Gyokuen, their heads will be occupied with “wrath” and they won’t be able to move on. This is when Judar decides to reveal his trump card, telling Hakuryuu that he was going to be on his own because apparently the nature of his move will not allow him to do anything either.

Judar took his staff and casted a magic on the cathedral they were in, which the people recognized as a light. At this moment, the Zagan vines had also disappeared. Judar, all worn out, explains that it was an isolation barrier which was a forbidden magic Matal Mogamett was working on. No magic could be used inside the barrier, which meant that Gyokuen was just reduced to a weak old woman.

Gyokuen was shocked by this as she could no longer use magic. She seemed more shocked to realize that they had a magic like this on Earth. Hakuryuu took this opportunity and punched his mother in the face. And if you’re tuning in right now and have no idea of the context, then that would’ve sounded very wrong.

What are you doing to my wife?

Hakuryuu did not stop punching her, and violently continued to beat Gyokuen to a pulp. After he was done, he asked Judar why he hadn’t told him of his technique since they could’ve done it from the start. Judar responds that it would’ve been boring to reveal the trump card at the start. It was also a plus point that Kouen’s Phenex had no power over Hakuryuu anymore, even though he couldn’t use Zagan since now he’s just a normal person.

Hakuryuu thinks that he could not hold the spear with his artificial hand (this guy has a prosthetic one after the battle with Ithnan, remember?) and Judar responds that his right hand is enough to hold the sword since all he gotta do was just Gyokuen lying on the ground.

Hakuryuu moved his hand to grip the sword when he realized that it wasn’t there. They both turned to find out that Gyokuen had risen up, with Hakuryuu’s sword in her hand. She says that she was going to borrow his sword as she was fine with a battle without magic. She than asks Judar to give Hakuryuu a sword, to which Judar complies.

Easily one of the best panels ever.

Gyokuen walks towards Hakuryuu while saying that in Alma Torran, the strongest magician was the king. However, she was the strongest swordsman. With that, she charged towards Hakuryuu and attacked him with the sword, which was blocked just in the nick of time. Hakuryuu looked intimidated as she attacked him when all he could do was defensive moves.

Judar and Hakuryuu were incredibly shocked to witness this as they believed that she was just a mere magician. And after what was a great sword fight, Gyokuen pinned Hakuryuu to the ground, jabbed the base of the sword on his chest.

Gyokuen smiled and asked him if really saw the dream where he enjoyed killing her while Hakuryuu screamed curses at her in pain. Then out of the blue, she kissed him.

Her son.

On the lips.

This should've been me.

But of course, that wasn’t enough. She asked him if he hated her that much. And that made her so happy. She told him goodbye and prepared her sword to kill him when she was thrown off by the two generals who had made an entrance. Both Hakuryuu and Gyokuen wasn’t expecting this, it seem. The generals then say that they will not let her lay her hands on the future emperor, which is where this chapter ends.

 

The Lord has not abandoned you yet, Hakuryuu.

My opinion on this chapter:

Incest! That was what’s missing in this manga. How silly of me that I didn’t see this coming. We knew she was incestuous when she shamelessly flirted with her step son in front of everyone after the funeral of her husband, but this is a full on legitimate make out session with her own kid. 

And if you look past the revolting idea of a mother frenching with her son, this is actually great for her character. The idea of her character is to make her seem out of the world insane and sadistic. And incestuous acts, though a topic of taboo, conveys her identity very well.

This shows that she has no definitive moral ground, and her idea of "love" makes her one of the best and memorable villains I've ever seen in fiction. When she was kissing Hakuryuu and at the same time stabbing his chest, and when she said how the idea of Hakuryuu dreaming of killing her made her happy, I nearly lost my wits. This is excellent writing on Ohtaka's part, and I know what I'm about to say has no business in here, I'll say it anyway. 

Irony in writing gets me weak. I will figuratively melt in to a puddle if I see irony done right in fiction. And most of the characters and scenes I've loved in fiction has always had this kind of thing. Whether it's a character quoting the bible before they murder someone, or dancing to a 70s song while torturing a person, or corruption in the system of a prison, it gets me so hot. It's weird, but I just find it very attractive. 

And I think because of these little panels, she had outshined Judar's trump card, which apparently was even the name of the chapter. This reminds me that the Isolation Barrier Judar created seems to be different from the Isolation Barrier Solomon created during the war. If you don't remember that one, no worries, I'll jog your memory.

The Isolation Barrier Solomon and his friends created on the Orothodox's cathedral made the normal staves useless except for the Divine Staves. The Divine Staves were very well functional in that one, except Judar's barrier seems to eliminate all magic including magic from Gyokuen's Divine Staff. I don't know what Judar has been doing with Mogamett's experiments, but he seems to have received huge power ups ever since he visited that place. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the only new technique he figured out.

And I just don't understand why Gyokuen seemed so surprised when Judar created a barrier that restricted magic. She, of all people, should be familiar with it since she's one of the people who helped cast the barrier on the Orthodox's church. but I guess she was surprised that she encountered it on Earth, which means that her Al Thamen clones are not doing a very good job keeping an eye out for suspicious experiments. 

This reminds me. Shoutout to the commenter in an early review of mine who wanted to see Arba's  sword fighting skills again. Wait. I'm not sure if it was a comment or a tumblr message. But there you have it. Ohtaka certainly didn't disappoint us. Also, isn't it great that Gyokuen has integrity when it comes to sword fighting? She asked hakuryuu to get a weapon rather than fighting a defenseless person, unlike Hakuryuu who charged at her without a warning. Although Hakuryuu has undergone a huge development, he will never have that much class.

And lastly, the general's intervention seems extremely convenient for Hakuryuu. The next chapter will be great if Gyokuen is going to fight both of them. Unfair, but still great. Although, I'm a bit confused if they are still under the influence of Belial's magic. The Isolation Barrier should restrict magic, including Hakuryuu's Belial Djinn magic. If so, are those two here by their own will after having a change of heart? If this is the case, then it's alright. It's high time somebody other than Judar supported Hakuryuu's legitimacy to become Emperor without having to force them.

Chapter rating:

5/5

I have not been this generous in a million years.

Bonus:

So am I, Arba. So am I.

Micha: [Co-founder]













Micha likes to broadcast her terrible drawing skills to the world on her DeviantArt account and talks about her life long ambition of making Yakushi Kabuto a woman, on her Skype; michasucks. Yes, with the dot. She will also respond to e-mails on her michamichamicha@live.com because Amber forces her to.

 Also, she now has an ask.fm and tumblr. Here's your chance   to harass her.