Shift Comments Thread

[Andromeda]

Chapter 231 is now up! Haruo's return is pretty quick, but as I said before the fights there were more for reasons of getting the players in their position rather than just having a fight. The fight itself wasn't important. If it's not that important I'm not going to spend time on it. But it is the last of the minor fights. The next one that occurs is significant and very important for the character involve. You can expect to know who the first fight is in the next chapter.

There is a little bit of a retread with the subject of figuring out Ayumi, but Haruo did bring new pieces to the discussion and they talked about some things I had left out for the time being. The answers to what is going on are getting closer. It will still be a while before everything is out in the opening. But the first trigger has already been pulled and now I'm pushing everything forward.

The first battle will start everything. Though there is going to be a little bit of a lull afterward before the major showdown. The big showdown coming up with the Titans is going to be interesting though. I'm having to do a lot of planning for this in advance since unlike with past fights I can't actually have them run chronologically at the same time, but still write them as whole mini-arcs. The way things will be happening is that there is going to be an impact by events that will affect everyone. So the big battle is going to be more chaotic then what you're probably going to be used to for the fights I've done up to now. There will be a lot more blending going on which focuses shifting.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 232 is now up. It ran a little longer than I expected, but still within margins. It was the conversation with Yori and Fumiko that ran deeper than I thought it would and I still did not get to cover everything that I wanted. It's been implied enough so I left it alone while I focused on the bigger problem.

I've still kept the thing Yumi said to Fumiko to motivate her and pull her out of her despair as secret. I believe I said it before that not knowing makes it more powerful than actually knowing. You know the results and I can talk about what it caused and how she felt. Considering how emotionally charged Fumiko is right now, it hit in a place that was deeply personal. Which is made clear before with the hints. It all actually ties into the core of Fumiko's development and a lot of her motivation to start with. I just never clearly exposed it, it is still pretty hidden what her real motivation is, but I've given enough hints in this arc that people should be able to get a good sense of what her secret motivation is.

The important thing with the fighting between Fumiko and Yumi is that it's got Fumiko back into the game. Something that's been difficult with her. She's gone through various cycles of being willing to fight and losing her will to fight. She needed to be stabilized for the end, even if it is a temporary thing. Everything that happened in the arc is going to come back later for her to have to confront. The rift between the two will also be something that will take a lot of time to repair.

And then as promised, the fighting is back. I don't know if anyone knew who it was, but it is pretty clear now. The grudge match of the arc is about to begin, though Yuki and Demosthenes might be one as well, though it's a little more of a revenge match. This is more of grudge, but as I brought up in earlier chapters, there is a problem that Seiji has. The appearance of Cosmas is certainly no coincidence. As though there were coincidences in a story like this.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

A touch on the late side, chapter 233 is now up. This is the start of the major fights for the sub-arc and the final fights for every character in the arc. It should be pretty easy to see from the setup I've been doing that everyone's got someone they are going to fight. You probably even saw Cosmas, since I did pull him back up. The only unknowns are the five Titans and who they will fight. Speculation would be interesting to hear.

This chapter is a little less on the fighting that one might think, but I did have to get Saki out of the scene. It also let something about what Saki did previously get a spotlight on it. There will be more attention brought to it later. All of the things that they've done in the arc will not be ignored. But it also is important for the sort of theme of this fight. It's already been made clear with Seiji's conversation with Chiharu, that he has trouble with himself and his willingness to kill. The willingness to kill is the center theme for the fight and his two front fight with Cosmas and himself.

And naturally, I could not let the fight just be a rehash of the last one. Cosmas has new tricks, which is one of the advantages of the MPs. They can easily change their powers. So I can make rematches actually feel different even though they are the same people. This is just the opening to the fight, but they both will have plenty of new tricks to show off. This is Seiji final fight for the arc, so he'll get do some pretty big stuff that pushes his character forward power-wise and development-wise.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 234 is now up. The fight continues with Seiji and Cosmas growing to some more ridiculous scales near the end. A lot of the fight is about control, specifically for Seiji and his control over his emotions. It was seen in the first chapter of the fight, but faded away here. Though it'll be returning before the fight is over. Though we do get to see a Seiji that is actually fighting with a little more of a head on his shoulders.

Something that is a staple of Seiji's fights are that he mindlessly fights. However, because he realized that he's willing to kill and wants to kill, he's having to hold himself down. Which means he is actually having to fight a little differently, because mindlessly fighting is pointing him in a direction that he's afraid to go down. As I've shown on a couple occasions, Seiji is not really dumb. He just gets sucked into the heat of moment fighting. He actually does understand how things work on a basic level. There is still the problem that makes things up as he goes along and doesn't actually follow plans well. But he does have enough of a working grasp to know how to fight them.

I've been continuing to hint at it, but there is a little more seen with his mysterious power that helps him out. It has never been completely explained, but it's pretty clear what the power is given his background. So I've never really felt the need to really come out and say it. Plus, Seiji has been ignoring it the entire time. But the fight he is having with Cosmas is forcing him to confront that part of him. All of the teases of it in the last fights have been leading up to this fight though. The full power display of it is still off for another arc, but a good awakening of his power is in store for this fight.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 235 is now up. The fighting with Cosmas continues as things increase. More elements come out about Seiji's power and I toss in a few new things for Cosmas. A fair bit of it is about Seiji's power and him maintaining his focus and resolve. He's clearly got a ways to go in understanding his power. There is still an important element for him missing, which will become a little more clear in the next chapter.

The mystery of the talisman really only is a mystery to Seiji and even he has a pretty good idea what they are. But he's still not really using them in the right way. There is going to be a decent amount of things coming out the next chapter because of what is happening in this one. The arrival of Nerine is a big part of that. Considering how significant she was in the last encounter, she made sense that she'd show up for the fight. I wouldn't have Seiji do this alone. She's sort of needed to win the fight as Cosmas has some very broken abilities against someone like Seiji.

This chapter is more of the march up hill for Seiji. He struggles, but keeps getting back up without doubting himself. Things are leading into the climax though. So things will start turning around for him with a big fight to the finish between Nerine and Seiji and Cosmas. I've got new things for Nerine as well as she was preparing for another showdown with him.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 236 is now up. The fighting is getting pretty intense. Nerine joins the fight and manages to do pretty well against Cosmas, but being a MP they fight differently. So I can do different things with her than I can with Seiji. Plus I did get to use some new stuff that she's never done before.

Like with a lot of the fight, the big thing for the chapter is Seiji trying to come to terms with his killing rage. It was probably expected that Nerine would end up triggering things for Seiji. He's going to have to come face to face with his desires. And he's lost all control of himself now. And he has a powerful move out on the cliffhanger. The whole thing upped the lethality of the fight. It is sort of weird to think about. Other series part of Shounen Jump will have big fights and everything, but not really anything more than injures or blood, no lose of limbs. Though to be fair, my sort of story has a get out of jail free card when it comes to injures like limbs going missing.

The next chapter will be the conclusion. I have quite a lot of pack into that last chapter, so it is probably going to seeing a lot of things. But I feel like both of these chapters are pretty heavy. Things get pretty intense and the fighting keeps getting raised to a new bar. The conclusion might surprise you on how things turn out.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 237 is now available! This is the conclusion to the desperate battle between Seiji and himself as well as Cosmas. It actually ran a little long, so I sort of figured it might. I was worried if I'd have to do the aftermath in the next chapter because I was cramming quite a lot into this chapter. Ending the fight was one of the bigger things as well as getting time show off more of Seiji's power. This is the last battle for him though. He won't be fighting for the rest of the arc aside from maybe some minor things, but nothing that's going to be too heavily focused upon.

The one thing I wanted for the fight was the team up between Seiji and Nerine. They were working together but it was more one or the other, rather than both at the same time. They work well with each other and so I wanted a team fight. Plus Cosmas is important to the both of them. I really felt the end had a great image of the two working together to take him down.

It was rougher trying to find an end to the fight. I don't want too many cases where it is just using their final attacks to just end things. This was a little more focused with them finally putting their all into it and ending things rather than an arranged final showdown sort of thing. The bigger issue I had is that I wanted to show off more of Seiji's new power, but too much of it requires him to actually know what he's doing with it. In time, he'll be able to control it, but it something that will require many more fights to hone.

And yes, at the end Cosmas is dead at Nerine's hand. It was originally planned Seiji'd let him go, because he's come to terms with his killing desire, though Cosmas would still say what he did. The dialogue all was planned out the same way. But coming into this fight I realized that Nerine is going to be more practical about the situation than Seiji. So she'd do an offscreen kill that Seiji would not know about and it'd be a secret she'd hold on to for a while. All secrets will come out in their day.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 238 is now up! The chapter actually came together really fast despite my own uncertainty about the chapter. It was a transition chapter so I had less of a focused idea on what was going to happen unlike the fights which were clearer in my head. But it all actually came out to be a lengthy chapter. Everything from Team Yumi closed up and I placed Team Yuki where they needed to be. Because of where they got, it is actually a really important chapter.

I actually did manage to have a more cheerful and humorous chapter after assuming that things would be getting too heavy for that sort of thing. Yuki manages to bring it out well and it was too perfect of a scene for him not to get excited. It was completely in his character to be jumping all over something like a secret passage. So I went with it. The whole thing pretty much just wrote itself. He knew what he was going to do and I just followed along. It is nice not to have to think about these sorts of things at times. It just coming out naturally.

Even though Yuki brought the comedy, it is pretty much the end of that. There is one fight that I can imagine that is going to have some humorous things, but that aside. Things will remain very serious. The first major fight is over with there being 8 more fights left to go. Every single character will be having their major fight. I have a little bit more setup to do with Yuki and Ayumi. I'm imagining it being another couple of chapters and then everything will hit the fan. When the next fight begins all of the fights will begin. That part will be very clear. It's going to be very chaotic soon.

One thing that I haven't done a lot of in the chapters is really get into a lot of details about things. I have been giving just enough to really get by. But Atlantis really deserved a good image. I had a couple of things that I really wanted to get across with it. It needed to feel grand beyond just a fantasy sense, because it really is massive as it does truly hold millions. The other part is that it needed to feel otherworldly because it was constructed in part by the powers they possess. So impossible structure exist and impossible beauty. It is the one thing that is going to be really difficult to put into pictures.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 239 is available now! A little bit of a history lesson of Atlantis came out for this chapter. It was more of a world building chapter, as I got to get into more of the details about the Capital more than anything else. I didn't really expand on anything else, but there was still a lot of good stuff to come out of it.

The current plan has things at only a couple more chapters before the climax starts. So everything is rushing towards the end line. In the rush to the goal though, I've been having a little fun with Yuki. He makes it too easy to not have some fun. Especially since everyone knows who's he's going to be fighting and there's not going to be anything fun coming out of that fight in terms of comedy. It's going to be a very serious no-holds bar fight. Looking forward to that one, but everyone's got something important to do.

I did mess around a little with Ayumi, but it was more going with the flow of the chapter. I keep saying the comedy is going to end, but it only continues. There going to be a little more at this point since it is Yuki we're talking about. He's going to have something to say. But as I already revealed, you'll be getting the final flashback for Ayumi. She's had quite the development in the last part of the story. So she should be less of a mystery. There's still a couple things she's holding back on, but you'll get that later. Everyone's got their final fight, Ayumi is no exception to that.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 240 is now up! It is the last flashback for Ayumi in the arc. I can't promise it's the last flashback of the arc. I have too many more battles ahead not to have more flashbacks. But Ayumi's had heavy character focus in the last part of the arc. So this will be closing things up.

Because of the previous chapter, I was able to focus completely on her rather than the history of the city as well. This is important to the defining moments in her life and how she was with the King in the end. I did end up leaving a little bit behind for a later date if I so wish. But I have fun addressing the fun issue of how a flashback can have other points of view and things unknown to the character, especially for her age. It happens too often that you hear more than you should in a flashback, even if it is important for the story.

Leading into the last bit of the flashback I get to have the King again. This time he's a bit younger and a little different. He acts differently when he was older and so I wanted to show how much of a change he does go through as Ayum/Eudokia grows older. Part of it is because of her and for her.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

It's pretty late even though I finished it in advance, too much of Lightning Returns, but Chapter 241 is present. Things wrap up with the flashback as promised and end into the final stretch of things. The end is just a setup for the next chapter. But it gets the tension rising for sure.

I did have to be careful with the flashback. I wanted to do more than I could because I had to keep the events to things only Ayumi knew about. The things that do fall outside of her being present are based on things she learned after the fact. But the shadows of things moving which I teased in a previous chapter I wanted to bring up again, but it was out of her knowledge. I'll get to those pieces in time.

But I did get to do a little more with the King and her and Demosthenes. Their first meeting was something I had a lot of fun with. It seemed like the perfect way to work with Demosthenes and his stiff personality. He's very easy to play with at that point. The changes that he underwent over the years makes how he is now and where he was much most noticeable.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Now back on a proper time, I have Chapter 242 up. It's mostly a build up chapter, but it sets all of the pieces in motion now. You know who's going to be fighting who and you get a little good preview of things to come. The excitement takes a jump up here with all of the Titans that I've been teasing finally making a move. Since I have all of the fights broken out now, next week will mean that I can get down to the first fight.

One of the things I wanted to do with the chapter and as with Saki, was really show someone that could be an equal to her. Like she even said in her internal thoughts, everyone fought her from a distance, but Rheia is up close. It's going to be a very different fight from what she is used to dealing with and Rheia is a very unusual MP user. The nature of her powers will not be very clear for a while. But she'll be able to keep Saki busy like no one else has been able to do.

The other part that I wanted to do was finally awaken Yori. He's already been teased to have powers all the way back in the first arc, but as a running gag I always had someone interrupt him before it could happen. During the second arc, his powers manifested, but it an unusual means being something that was mental and clearly subconscious. He primary power, his attack powers had not revealed themselves. So finally getting him to show them off was something that I was waiting for the moment. It only made sense to do so at the end of the arc.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 243 is now up. It keeps surprising me that I'm in the 240s, I keep thinking somewhere lower than that, but I'm not. I'm almost halfway through the 200s. Which reminds me that I'm still in the second arc of the story. Fortunately, things are coming to a climax now. I was able to start the next fight in the series of long fights to break out. The weird thing is that there are seven fights all happening at the same time right now, which is more than before. But I've got a bar that will keep their place in the timeline all together.

It is a slight bait and switch. Yori finally gets to have his powers accessed to him, but he is not fighting the one he wanted. However, with the way things were building up, it should be pretty obvious that since Athene was tracking them, she'd be the one that he'd have to fight. But it is not the full focus of the chapter. He takes up a good amount of the chapter, but it is the resuming of Yumi's fight with Ourias. She is the more important part given the reveal.

I finally break the seal that's been on Yumi for the last 100 or so chapters. Which will get to result in another personality showing up and taking stage. It is all building blocks for figuring out what is going on with Yumi. She's got a lot of complicated things going on. So I plan to give a few more hints about things. Though it still all just setup for later arcs.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 244 is now available. The continuation of the Yumi and Ourias fight. More than just the fight, it's an important chapter for Yumi's character and her power. I've continued to leave hints and a lot of mystery surrounding the others that seem to be living inside Yumi as well. There has not been a clear answer to who they are or what. This chapter doesn't given clear answers to that yet, but the answers provided do start to color things.

The latest of the people inside Yumi, Sumiko provided some new answers to who they are. She clearly avoids a direct answer when Ourias asked. I'm not about to spill everything about Yumi just yet. Like everyone else, her growth has long term plans. This is just another stage in her growth. But it's a very important one since it does start exposing things about Yumi. The hints that I gave should be enough to start developing ideas about what they are. More fuel for the fire.

The other part is naturally on the fight. This is battle of intelligence, planning and deduction. Sumiko made herself very clearly before as something that is very tactical. And Ourias' power has a vast amount of flexibility and threat to them. Originally presented, they seemed pretty flat, but there is a good amount of complexity to his power. It requires a lot of thought and planning to execute them. It makes for a good match up.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 245 is now up! This is the big tease to the big reveal. Yeah, I'm super mean right now. I build up the reveal to the truth and it even looks like I might finally tell you what the truth is, but then I just tease it. Hopefully, it's not confusing, but all of the fights are happening at the same time. Yori's fight concluded at the same time as when Sumiko's fight with Ourias ended. Which is when he learned the truth. So you can expect to learn what the truth is when I get to Yori's fight.

However, it's still a big chapter. The reaction from Yumi alone is enough for the chapter as the implications from what she learned is enough to make her angry like she's never been before. Which will make it a lot of fun to finish out the rest of things with her. I make it clear that Ourias' still alive, he only got knocked out, but he's determined to keep fighting. That should make things pretty clear the rest is not going to be easy when you think about what it'll mean.

I also managed to put in more of Ourias' backstory. He's been one of the more developed characters on the Titans, so I've wanting to get into more of his story. It's heavily spliced, but you should be able to get the sense of things from everything that I tossed out.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

I'm a bit on the late side, but it's still decent time. Chapter 246 is up now. Yes, more than just being a tease, I'm a horrible tease. I'm moving on to Fumiko's fight now. So you won't get to see the conclusion to Yumi's fight for a while. There's a point to it, which will reveal itself in the next couple of chapters.

The fight is a bit of a setup still with Fumiko, but there is an important factor with her. Something that I'll be revealing in the next chapter. It's rather important to her character and her motives. Fighting Glykeria is a perfect opponent for Fumiko because of it. It'll help bring out what she's been holding in the whole time. So I'm glad to finally be able to start addressing one of the complexes that Fumiko has. Part of it has been made clear, though it's a little farther reaching.

Glykeria's going to be a fun one, especially with what I've been hinting at in the past. The cliffhanger at the end shouldn't be a huge surprise, but confirmation of suspicions, still it's a big reveal which plays into the next chapter. She's a very complicated person, more so than initially appearing, which makes it exciting to finally get to touch on her as well.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 247 is now available. The continuation of the fight with Fumiko and Glykeria finally starts to get out some answers about Fumiko that have long been hinted at in the past. It does end up making the chapter a little more character focused rather than fighting focused. But it is something that I've been wanting to get out in the open for a while.

Given the hints and implications from the past chapters that related to Fumiko, it should have been fairly clear that her sister was dead. That's not a huge reveal, but more of a confirmation of things most should have already expected. Even the guilt and blaming herself should be a little clear with the way that Fumiko always seemed to be thinking about her. But I never really showed how much it actually affected her. It is the answer to her actions going all the way back to her introduction. It seemed like the normal thing to do back then, but Fumiko's motivations were at work even then. All of her choices had been made with that in mind. You can go back to all of the chapters with her and you can see how she's always trying to hang around Chiharu and watching her whenever she can't. Puts a completely new light on her character.

Glykeria still kept some of her mystery, but I did give mostly straight answer finally about her. More about her will be getting revealed soon, the cliffhanger makes that part clear. The fight was a bit of a background piece, but the next chapter will be focusing purely on the fighting, since things have been left in the past now. I've got some new things to do with Fumiko and plenty to show off with Glykeria still.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 248 is now available. I'm just about halfway through the 200s, feels like I just started the 200s recently too and yet it's already been a year. It feels pretty surprising to know that I've made it so far. The encouraging thing is that with any luck, I should be done with the second arc before I hit 300. I'm pretty sure all of the fights will be done before the 280s which will just leave the aftermath, which is the final sub-arc, though it's going to be a longer sub-arc for an aftermath.

Anyway, I have Fumiko's fight now caught up to where things are with Yumi's fight. I tied in Yori's a little opening to make it clear that the two meet on that time. I also added a little of Fumiko's side, since I made it clear that Yori was getting bombarded by questions and responses from everyone that he was trying to talk to. So that helps to link things together. But no, I'm not going to answer the biggest question. You'll have to wait until Yori's fight. Which I imagine you can figure out when that'll happen. Though it should also be a little clear how things are going now. But I'll be jumping over to another fight to get it caught up as well.

Like with the rest of the Fumiko fights, the chapter names are actually a little dual purposed to be directed at both Fumiko's issues and Glykeria, which is what makes them fun. Fumiko's got a lot of childishness handing around in her with the way that she acts on certain matters. It's because she can't get over her trauma, but it causes some fairly childish actions.

Glykeria's latest appearance continues to made more questions to her. It is completely different from her previous appearance. I'll be continuing to build up the mysteries with her. There'll be a couple of answers, but I have a long term plan for her. So you won't be getting everything when the fight is over. But I'll make something clear and give enough teases for the future. She's a really fun character and one of the more complex characters in the Titans. They all have their only personal matters, but Glykeria is quite layered.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 249 is now available to read! As to be expected now, I'm moving on to the next fight. This time is it with Chiharu and Nereus, one of the more mysterious individuals from the group. They all have their elements of unknown and questions surrounding them, but I felt that Nereus is one of the harder ones to understand. He seems straight forward, but is actually not and that comes out in the way I describe him. He sounds arrogant, but you realize that he isn't actually. There is something else behind him that is making him act the way he does. And because of who he is, he's a great opponent for Chiharu who actually has a lot of insecurities.

The biggest thing that I keep a mystery is his power. I've given a lot of different looks and tastes of what his power is, but it's still very unclear. It is sort of the fun part about him is working through what his power is. It's all working under a single idea, which is what makes it so powerful and dangerous, because it is very versatile. He does a good job of hiding it as well. Like with many of the Titans, their powers and control exist on a completely different level from the rest of the MPs I've shown. They easily can hold their own against Yuki's friends. It is what makes them so dangerous.

Chiharu is going to be really fun for this fight because of the work I'm going to be doing with her. Part of the things happening won't get explained until later in the fight. But a lot of things are going bad for her right now for a very simple reason. It is a reason that I'm using that subverts the normal sort of trope in these situations. But the later chapters are going to be building of things here to finally get down to some of the important bits that make Chiharu turn. It's going to be a very character focused fight unlike some of the others, which is why it is sort of calmer than the other fights so far. There's not a lot of fighting because there is a specific issue wrong with Chiharu.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Now the halfway point of the 200s have been reached. Chapter 250 is out now! The fight with Nereus continues, though Chiharu is in worse shape than the others. There's not a lot she can do against Nereus. It still remains a more character focused fight than an action one right now. Though that'll change in the second half of her fight.

I'm finally starting to reach the core of Chiharu's issues. She's having a breakdown right now, more so than any time before in the arc. This time it hits straight on her biggest inferiorities. It should be a little clearer what's up with her, though her reasons won't be out until the next chapter in her fight. That's where all of her laundry for the arc gets aired finally and you finally understand what's been going on inside her head. I also went with a different order this time. I had been doing 3 chapters, but with the things happening with Chiharu, I didn't feel it made any sense. It would only end up dragging things out. So it is only two chapters for her. The rest of her fight will pick up after the break like with everyone else.

I hinted a little more at what Nereus' power is. Though because I'm still doing a lot of different things with his power, it's not going to make a lot of sense right now. The bigger thing is more about his personality. It's sort of a repeat of how things played out with his rival. He remains a difficult person to get along with due to his manners. But he is perfect for Chiharu in more ways than one.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

The latest chapter of Shift is now available, Chapter 251! I move over to Haruo now, as I start to get to the last few battles. Saki, Yori and Yuki's battles still remain, but the important one will naturally be Yori due to the setup I've given. Haruo's fights are as you'd expect, slow to start due to his reluctance for a fight. One part I don't get to focus on too much is his intelligence. He's not dumb in any respect, which has come out in some of his conversations. So the fight with Teris will really make that come out.

The fun thing that I'm going to have with their fight is that they are both very observant people. So what will end up happening is that they will end up explaining each others powers for the reader. One thing that's remained very mysterious about Haruo is what is up with his power. Not everything will be answered, but some of the more basic parts will finally have words to them. I've used them enough that you should have an idea on how they work, but if you don't this will finally answer that.

Teris also will work in some very strange ways. Some of things that others have done he'll take advantage of and he's got a lot of loopholes. Something that Haruo will be used to explain. It'll help to bring out a lot about the potential of the MP power. So it'll be a very good fight for a few reasons other than showing Haruo doing some cool stuff and his planning skill.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 252 is now available! The continuation of Teris and Haruo's fight. I had considered for a bit to do another two chapter deal for him like I did with Chiharu. But I felt there was still things that I could do with the fight before advancing things. This is more of a reveal to how Haruo's powers work more than new things he can do. So it is paced differently as a result.

The new things that Teris do make up most of the chapter's new reveals. The variety in which he uses his power makes things interesting. Since I have a lot of possibilities with him. It is way all of the Titans are. They have powers that are very open to interpretation. Which is why they're so dangerous. They aren't so restrictive. Teris is more dangerous because of his keen reasoning skills.

Like with the last chapter, Haruo's intelligence comes out more in the chapter. Though by way of Teris, he helps to give more solid answers about what Haruo's power functions. Some of the bigger remaining questions will be coming in the next chapter. I couldn't put them in this chapter because Haruo made sure to conceal how he make his power work. The reader understands how they are summoned, but it is also something that's key to another aspect. Which will fill in some remaining blanks. Though the biggest secret to his power will remain held back for a while still.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 253 is now available! Things are finally starting to heat up with the fight between Teris and Haruo. It's been a pretty calm burn as they figure each other out. But a lot of that is going to be dropping away now they have a grasp of each other. Though not before I move on again. Less cornered than the others, Haruo is still in a tight situation as he understands the depths of the dilemma he's facing. So I move on again.

There was on big thing that I didn't get to reveal in this chapter because the situation never really came up. But I'll be handling it in the rest of the fight between them. I'll admit the start feels a little weird the way I ended it, though it was never really meant to be the worst that Teris had to offer. It just seemed like it could be. The worst I teased on the cliffhanger. But it did importantly hint at some matters of Haruo's power.

At the heart, it does still remain a fight of wits and deduction trying to stay ahead of the other. That'll end up changing in the climax of their fight. Teris made it clear that he's stepping up his game and being serious about the fight now.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 254 is now available for reading! Things move over to Saki now with one of the more action packed and over-the-top fights. Saki's power lends itself well to crazy stuff and Rheia's skill makes for a great match for Saki. I do plan to explain how Rheia's able to do this. But for now you just get some fun fighting between them, though it's a little slow right now. Got to build up to things.

It should not be much of a surprise with the way I've introduced Rheia, but she's all about the test. Which she is doing for a very specific reason. She is expecting quite a lot from Saki. All of the Titans have interesting back stories and motivations, but Rheia is one that I find really interesting and a little more common. It's the least broadcasted, but probably one of the simpler motives. I'm really looking forward to get to her as the fight goes on. And more than the fights, because this one is happening on and around the city, it's going to have some really destructive potential.

Saki as well has some interesting things going on with her during this fight. It is something that's been with her during the arc. This fight is the full circle for her story this arc. She's got some things that need to be addressed, not necessarily resolved, but she needs to confront them. Which is why this is one of my enjoyable fights, both characters have something they need from this fight. And the fight will change both of them by the end. Saki's will be very important for her character growth.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

It's taken me a year or more, but I finally figured it out. I found a theme I wanted for my logo for Shift. I wanted something simple and I'm still considering changes for it. But this is the first version of the Shift log finalized. I've got two variants. Depending on where it gets viewed one reads better than the other. Let me know what you think of the logo. The one in the post is an enlarged version making it easier to read overall. The other attached ones are the two variants.

ShiftLogo2.jpg

[Andromeda]

Shift logo above, if you haven't noticed from last week. I finished it finally and put it up. I might be including it into the first post of the story as well. Don't know how many people still read this. A raise of hands might be nice. Anyway, Chapter 255 is now available as well. Saki and Rheia's fight really heats up in the chapter with things getting a little crazier. I'm still holding back on the full blown over the top fight that I've got planned for later chapters between them. This is the warm-up chapter, though it's more of the conclusion of the warm-up.

One thing I knew I wanted for this chapter was a punctuated moment where things shifted. Where you could see things were going to be stepping up and the crazy would start happening. A big opening follow by a calm follow-up and then lead into a continual rise in the action. The thing that makes them both a lot different from the other fights is that this is going to be the traditional straight up fist fight that you're sort of used to seeing from the early Dragonball days where energy blasts was a rarity and it was just martial art techniques. This is going to be a more technique driven fight and just a pure physical fight. But it's going to be a drag out knock down fight until the end.

I brought back the flashbacks Saki had from her previous major fight. It helped to highlight one of the things that she was too focused on, straight out attacking. Her personality sort of makes there that way, but in all honesty her only point of reference is Yuki, who's also an all out attack type back when they were younger. Yuki got away with it since the people he was dealing with were quite a bit less skilled than him. However, the fight has to play out differently when the opponent is equally or greater in skill. So getting Saki's head on straight was needed to push the fight into the next stage.

Enjoy!

[LocoColt04]

That logo is really awesome, but my only concern is the letter F and the place at which it is broken. It's not unreadable but the brain doesn't put the pieces together properly. It looks almost as though it's meant to be an E based on where the top of the F continues.

But the concept is PHENOMENAL and I really like it. Perhaps a variant on the font could provide a more cohesive disarray? Either that, or maybe just raising the panel with the T a bit to place the top of the F above the middle part of the letter.

[Andromeda]

Maybe cutting out the middle part rather than the upper part would improve the readability of it? I'm glad you'd like the idea. Feedback is always welcome to keep improving it.

[Andromeda]

Running a bit late, but still all good on the front. Chapter 256 is now available! I've now caught up all of the fights to the same critical point in the story, barring Yuki's fight naturally. Yori's fight will be coming next and you can look forward to finally having those answers that I've been cruelly teasing for the last 100 plus chapters.

I step up the action and the destructiveness of the fight now. After doing a German Suplex through a wall, you sort of have to step things up. Things start general havoc in the city with them trashing the place from their fight. Don't worry, I plan on having consequences for this fight. Some pretty important ones and I'll explain some other things that might seem missing too. Just remember this is from the perspective of someone in the middle of a fight.

This is where I finally reveal what Rheia's power actually is, which is the reason for her flexibility and strength. Considering what she's doing it should be very impressive up against the rest of the MPs seen and why it's such a big deal. When I get back to their fight I'll be able to get into more things about her power and how it actually impacts her.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

The next chapter for Shift is out now, Chapter 257! I've finally arrival at the Yori battle, which you should all understand what that means. As promised, you'll have your answers very soon. I have all of my fights roughly guessed to be no longer than 5 chapters as you've seen in many cases. But I don't strictly follow that. If it is shorter, it's shorter. I won't drag it out longer. I do want to keep things at or under 5 chapters. Though for this one I thought it'd be 5 just because the others have been, but the way I'm looking at it things will probably only be 2 or 3 chapters. I don't have a ton that needs to be done. Just have a cool fight showing off what Yori can do and get some story on Athene then end things.

The most important thing about their battle is the resolution, which comes with quite a few answers to the entire first two arcs of the story thus far. Naturally, I wont be answering everything. There is too many things still to resolve, but Ayumi's primary action and what it means for everyone will finally be answered. It's a pretty big deal, considering as I already revealed it'll get Yuki killed.

This fight starts out with the classic sort of rage fueled attacks only for Yori to come to his senses and not know what's going on. He won't be able to do all of the cool things with his power yet, but it is unlocked right now and his desperation will be enough to keep him in the fight. But the initial focus for part of the next chapter will be explaining some of Athene's history. Yori's already gotten a piece of her history when he went running around in her mind.

Enjoy!