Shift Comments Thread

[Andromeda]

Chapter 349 is now available for reading! Hiroshi's Death Game is finally revealed, a game of his own making. This shows off the full extent of his powers currently and the actually power he has. Since his power is a reality shaping on, it actually makes him extremely strong with the right use of it. It puts him up there with Yuki, which is a dangerous power.

Since he can make up any game he wants using both real games and ones of his own making, it gives him some pretty unlimited potential. But it does has the serious flaw that everyone in his power's influence is forcibly required to participate in the game. That is not something that he can control. So it does mean that he has to be careful about where and when he uses it.

The other thing that I made sure to do was that he wouldn't be fair about this games. He is trying to win and end things, especially with Hitomi in a way that doesn't completely drain him. However, that means he has to be very cutthroat with his methods. It's not something he is happy about naturally, but just the hand force upon him.

The next chapter will be the end of the Hiroshi and Hitomi fight. Things will be wrapping up shortly and I'll be moving into the Takako fight soon. The final showdown will be coming and answers will be hitting. It's still going to be another few months before things finish, but it'll be before the end of the year that I'm moving into the fourth story arc.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 350 is now available for reading! This is the end of the Hiroshi and Hitomi fight. The end of this fight sort of under tones a lot of the darkness in this arc over all. The harsh realities and the weight of death. Hitomi is dead, but as Hiroshi learned, she was never corrupted or controlled like the others. He just made the assumption that she was under Takako's control like everyone else. But at the end, before Hitomi dies, it becomes more clear how scared she is and how very different she acts from all of the others.

Hitomi is the first sort of innocent death in the arc, not counting all of the unnamed people that die and Miyako's men that got killed. Hitomi was different and that's something that will weigh very hard on Hiroshi as a result. Something that Takako hints at in her final words to him before she starts their fight.

One thing that I don't make completely clear and try to do what I can to sort of imply things, is everything that Hiroshi did in the last bit of his fight. It is his game and his rules and as I have him state, he made special rules. So I put that line in as a clue to how all of the other things he does in the fight happened. The one that I don't give a clear answer on, but more describe for you to figure out is what the fourth option was that Hiroshi won using. There were technically several options, but given their location and difficult, the fourth option he used was the only one that was easiest to set up.

And it should not be a surprise, Yuki is alive. He did have his power up as he noted to Seiji before being dropped. It is just that a kick by Saki is certainly not an easy one to shrug off. The whole thing did put him out while he buried. His power lasted long enough to survive the impact, but it was solid enough to knock out leaving him buried for the whole time. Yuk will be rejoining the combat in the next chapter as the arc start to come to a close.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 351 is now available! I use this chapter as a transition and wrapping up some leftover ends on a couple of fights. I had left both Yori and Tatsuya's fights both equally unresolved in that they were both going to be killed. It would have been very easy to have drawn this out even further with even more fights. But I didn't feel that there was anything useful gained from those fights being made. Not to mention how they were handled by the characters is the most logical way anyway.

Tackling the first part of the chapter, I left a lot of what happened more implied than explicitly stated. There's enough pieces there to figure things out without a need to actually get into the specifics. I had considered showing the whole thing up to that point, but it did not really need to happen, not to mention it would have double the length of everything or more. It is also still the end of Yori's fight, so it makes more sense that it would be still from his point of view rather than Seiji's point of view. I don't plan on showing any of the fight with Nerine and Yumi, since the important pieces have already been shown and they were during the fight. There's enough there that I'll be picking it back up. There was no need to continually beat everyone over the head with it.

The other part of the chapter is with Yuki, which it could have very easily been a whole fight by itself. However, as shown before Yuki doesn't want to engage in fights where he can avoid it. He is feeling pressed for time against Takako. He wants to end things. Not to mention these are his friends, he has no wish to fight them on any level. So he is going to take the fastest route to ending it. Which is what I had him do. This is another fight that I don't make completely explicit in what happens, but I give enough details for you to figure it out. So long as you've been seeing how Yuki fought in the past, it should all make sense.

Ending the chapter where I did is the next part of a lot of implied things in this chapter. However, this one was done for a couple of reasons. I wanted to show that Takako does present some danger, though what it is remains unclear. Hiroshi's loss adds to the dramatic cliffhanger and I keep all of the things with Takako a secret so that it is still fresh when I have the fight that is coming up.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Well I'm late, but Chapter 352 is now up! This is just the start to the Yuki and Takako fight. It's mostly just the building tension and getting a little mystery out of the way. Though it its also pointing out the big unanswered questions and that they'll be addressing them before things end for the arc.

One thing that if you notice, Takako has become more sane over time from her first introduction with Saki. That's an important thing to remember and that is key to her power. Which is a hint that she gave during their conversation. She does state that her power isn't mind control. Though the effects of what her power does to people acts like mind control.

Also spent some time putting a more explicit point on some of the implied things that I had. Since Takako was involved in the whole incident, I went back to the whole second sub-arc, where she was kidnapped. And if you put the pieces together from the second arc and what was happening in the first arc. You'll realized that none of them were after Yuki, but Ayumi. Something she stated during her fight with Yuki. But it makes it more clear how things were very different back then. Takako was just collateral damage in something bigger. And it's technically not even sins of Yuki's past directly, but more Ayumi. Though since Yuki gave her the means to do everything she's doing now, he's taking that blame on himself.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 353 is now up and back on a better schedule. After the opening introduction by Takako, this is the start of the real fight between the two. The final showdown for the arc. Hiroshi plays the role of bystander between the two. The commentator that will explain a few things for the sake of the reader. It's a necessary evil that I'm not too much of a fan of, but there are a few things that I don't want to be mysterious for too long. Takako is not a fighter or even that smart in combat. She's a novice, so I can't rely on her noticing things. She'll just over come them.

One of the challenges in fighting with Takako, is the fact that she had a negation on Yuki's abilities. Which has forced me to write for him differently. I have to think further outside of the box than normal so that everything that he does can still actually do something. This is the same thing that Nerine ran into while fighting briefly. I never really explain it, so Yuki's here to answer what was going on. The thing he'll be doing shortly in the next chapter is an extension of what Nerine did in order to be successful in her fight. It makes things more complicated and much more risky.

A lot of the fight is going to be Yuki trying to understand what her power is. Once he figures out her power he'll be able to actually bring an end to the fight. The key to her powers is a very big weakness. It is something that she is aware of and just teases around her powers. So Yuki will be trying to survive long enough to be able to beat her. It's a very different sort of fight for him, as he had been used to fighting others like him up to that point. This is the first real fight that he has against people with real powers and he'll have to adapt to fight them, as he's not built like they are. Making him very disadvantaged and no amount of powering up is possible for him. Making him very contradictory to the standard.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 354, though late is out now for reading! Point to Tales of Zestiria this week. Still recovering from the game, but I'm getting back into the rhythm again. Though with my personal life being busier than ever. It is pretty hard to keep judging everything. But I'll keep putting stuff out.

This chapter starts to ramp things up in the fight with Yuki and Takako. I've been giving this a longer build up towards the big action. So things are still pretty small scale. Though Takako threw off the kit gloves at the end of the chapter producing a forest. So things will be getting more intense in the next chapter.

It continues to be hard writing for someone that is so horribly disadvantaged in the fight, but still make it look like he's in control most of the time. Because he has to work through methods that he is no used to doing just to stay in the fight. And anyone with speed is a huge disadvantage for him. Future fights will only become that much harder for him.

Though I do have plans and setup that are being put into place so that the fight will be able to keep up with things. Not to mention the fight will start revealing more about what Takako's powers truly are and what happened to do her. Since this is the last fight in the arc I am a little concerned that it is going to go over my self imposed limit of five chapters for a fight. I don't like dragging the fight out. But if there is enough going on I want to give its due. And this is the last one, so it should feel big and epic. I'll keep pacing things and see how it turns out.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 355 is now up and back on my preferred timing. The continued ramping up of their fight allows me to show off more of what Takako can do. So for the moment it is mostly just volume rather than diversity. With the changes that Yuki has coming, it'll force her to start doing more. They've been both holding back their powers for different reasons. Yuki's reason will be fully explained in the next chapter as it is the cliffhanger.

Most of the chapter was arranged to show off the potential that Takako had as well as the overwhelming nature that Yuki is now in. While initially considered a very easy person to defeat with only having mind control powers. With Hiroshi's defeat and her finally showing off what she can do with her powers. She stepped out of the shadows to become someone truly worthy of a challenge. And even someone that Yuki might not be able to defeat.

Still working out the length of the fight. It is just coming naturally for me. So I can't say that it will just end on the fifth chapter or not. But the arc is coming to a close at least. The next chapter will show what Yuki has learned from fighting her so far and his past fights.

Enjoy!