Shift Comments Thread

[Andromeda]

Chapter 402 is now available! Pushing towards the major confrontation for Yumi in the mini-arc this is the last fight. Though this fight is important for bringing out a couple of key things with Yumi. The things are only teased for now, but they'll start becoming more obvious and apparent as things continue on. It is part of her continued development, going through a lot of changes forced into this situation.

Running herself to the breaking point did end up leaving her weakened in power. It did mean in the major fight that she was unable to access the full potential. Even from an emotional stand point she was in trouble. It took her a while to start thinking straight taking more cues from Seiji. But it is hardly that surprising. With her being pushed to the limit though she's going to start realizing more than a few things about herself. The real part of her arc is starting.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 403 is now available for reading. I had to pull myself back from the previous comment knowing that the fight wasn't over, but I cliffhanged it as though it could be. Though I'm not sure how much of a cliffhanger it was felt. There was not much indication that the demon would be more than a chapter encounter. But he is the big encounter for Yumi in the mini-arc.

As mentioned, this starts to bring out some complicated elements and feelings for Yumi. The fact that she is actually having fun while fighting someone is something that bothers her. She is starting to lose who she was from the beginning and being dragged into the world of Yuki and Seiji, which in a way is something that she wanted. She wanted to be of use and able to stand next to him as an equal. Though the price of wanting that could be more than she is willing to accept.

Since the whole chapter is largely nothing but the fight, I tried to keep creative with the different things going on in the battle. Keep it very focused on each action this time around rather than more broad strokes. The actual fight is fairly important sense it does start showing more of what Yumi is able to do while in battle. And as things go on I can use it as away to show her progression and the way she changes in a fight.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 404 is now available! Rising the climax of the battle, pulling out all of the stops for the fight. You get to see an evolution of Yumi's power as she's still figuring out how it works. The way in which she uses it is not nearly as creative as her personality counterparts, but that is intentional, since she does not have the combat creative or experience of what her power can do. She's very much like a sword sharp and hard edged used very simply. But the more she fights and learns, that will start to change. She's got to pick up on these things naturally, since there is no one that can tell her how to get better. It's one of the strange qualities of Shift, barring Yuki, no one has anyone that can really train them in their powers. So they have to train themselves and learn. Which is a chunk of what the personal story arcs for each character are about. It's their journey to becoming masters of their power.

An important thing for her is finding someone that she can't easily beat or struggle through. Someone that is more or else an equal to her. Even with her weakened state, the demon would still be a fair rival for her powers. They both have strong powers making for a fight that Yumi can actually draw out and learn from. And seen from the previous chapter, she can actually enjoy it as well. Though she is going to be resistant that idea for a while. But it'll be something that she'll have to face if she stick with everyone.

The upcoming chapters will start to dig a little more in the lore of the world that they are stuck in. Which is still question at times why I'm world building it so much for something that is going to disappear once the arc is over. But since it is an important facet of Yumi's growth, I'm spending the time on it. Plus I've been making some fun differences that make it less standardized.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 405 is available for reading! With the battle concluded, I finally start giving the demon a little personality. He was largely just an strong enemy before, but I needed some characterization, since he will be sticking around for a bit. But the aftermath of the fight comes as an important one for Yumi. It's a clash of emotions and ideals.

One of the major things that makes Yumi different from some of the rest of the cast like Yuki or Saki, is her completely unfamiliarity with fighting or even really hating someone else. She's been more the subject of that hate and being a bully. Now the table has been flipped for her with the torment that she was used to receiving now being doled out by her hand. Which makes things complicated for her. She's in a surprising position of power over so many because of being a main character. But now she has to realize what's becoming of her and what she should be doing.

Like the whole arc, this section has an important lesson for her to learn. Or I guess, many lessons to learn. There's a big important lesson being taught to her, but there are smaller supplemental ones as well. And the demon makes for a contrasting point of view for her. He's not too unlike Seiji or Yuki in ways that he does enjoy fighting. Though he is different that he kills when he wins. But Yumi needs to experience a lot of different sorts of people to start widening her world view, which is very narrow right now.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 406 is now available! In one of the more cool down chapters, I start spilling some lore beans about this fake world. I ended up having a lot of fun doing some basic world building for things. Since it's a small arc, I don't have to get into the details, its unnecessary for the sake of the story. But something does help give it a little more grounding. Plus, it is giving something that Yumi needs as well. She's fought on emotion pretty blindly up to this. And that has to change for her to evolve and become a better character. She needs to fight with a more rounded reason and to have conviction behind what she's doing.

Most of the characters already had their conviction going into the Atlantis. Some more than others for sure, but the two worst off ones were definitely Yumi and Yori. Yori went out of obligation to protect Yumi, which as he found out didn't really need protecting anymore. And Yumi went because she wants to follow Yuki wherever he goes feeling a need to repay kindness. Which works well enough for an opening place to work from, but it ends up being pretty shallow it is the only reason after 800 chapters. And something that she's lack is any real sense of self or direction. Her direction has either been aimless or externally dictated to her. So thinking for herself and being her own person is an necessary she needs to grow up. Something that she's facing now. She needs to make mistakes and learn from them to understand what sort of person she is.

And that is at the heart of a lot of this arc and the first section. Once she finds herself and knows herself, she'll be able to stand and do whatever she wants with confidence. She can still stand at Yuki's side, but doing so knowing why she's there and also being able to question him when he makes a mistake. So the evolution to that starts with throwing rocks at something thought to be invulnerable and breaking it down. Yumi's going to be in for a world of trouble and dilemma from here on out. But of the real story is starting now.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 407 is now available to read! After the more serious exposition dump, things turn a little lighter. The more comedic side of things, especially with what Yuki brings has been missing more or less from the arc so far. He's probably the least serious character of the group when he wants to be. And with everything so heavy, I needed to soften tings up. Plus, its more fun making the scary Demon Lord a pretty chill and relaxed sort of guy.

There were a lot of different things that I had planned for the way things were going to go here. The original plan had Yumi actually fighting the Demon Lord and it coming out to a very near death experience. However, the previous fight suited that better. And given where things are now, it actually worked out better that way that I didn't He is a measure stick essentially for how strong beings in this world can get. And something that is so far behind Yumi and the others. I haven't had someone to replace Demosthenes, though this is not really someone that will since their time is brief in comparison. However, that will change in the future.

Some of the more subtle points made to Yumi come out during the more comedic moments. Noting some of the change she's made that Yuki is surprised by. There is also the quick exchange where she didn't actually deny Yuki as her lover, which I don't call out, but is one of those subtle things to show her she thinks really when pressed too quickly.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 408 is finally available, I had trouble yesterday with the forum deleting all paragraph breaks. So that mad it pretty much unreadable. So I fixed it today and it's up now. This concludes the mini-arc for the story. I'll be jumping over to the other characters now getting them up to pace with the time in the story. And eventually everyone will end up back together.

This chapter moves around a bit in tone, Yuki's influence for sure. But it does hit on one of the more important notes, the question of Yumi wanting more power. She refuses the training and denies the need for more, even though she does repeatedly wish to be stronger. There is a conflict going on inside Yumi that this very combat focused arc is drawing out of her. She's got a lot of changing going on and she'll need to figure out what it all means in time.

And a demon does join the group. He'll get his name once back to Yumi's group. In many ways, he'll fill that rival position as they are fairly equal in power at the moment. But he's also rather fun because he's a little more like Yuki in that he takes a more casual approach to fighting. He's serious about it, but also carefree, especially out of battle. Which throws Yumi off balance and it's good for her to see that there are different sorts. Something she knows, but needs to understand.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Keeping the pace, chapter 409 is available as well now! This picks up where Seiji and Nerine have been entertaining themselves while Yuki and Yumi have been off on their own thing. Being a more level headed and rational person that Nerine is, the adult of the party despite not actually being anymore of an adult than the others, she keeps them in one place. Which does end up working out for them in the end.

How they spend their time keeping a low profile fits with their personalities. The fun thing for Seiji is that he is treating it like training. He is trying to use as little of his strength as he can because Nerine told me to not use it. So it acts as a training for him to improve his control, something that he is not necessary good at right now. He goes full strength on everything. Which does beg the question how he is managing a normal life with things that don't have that durability. I never explore it, though for comedic sake, he's broken a lot of things before getting that down.

One of the more important things for this little bit is how much Nerine is stressing herself and pushing herself. Seiji is also not blind to this as one might think. I do have to walk a careful line with him, but he's not blind about the things going on around him, just doesn't like thinking about them. He's a pretty thoughtful person over all as seen on more than one occasion with him. But you do finally get to see Saki as well. Slowly pulling the group back together now.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 410 is now available! Continuing the lighter tone of the previous chapter, this is much more comedy focused. Since the stakes are not present and any sort of drama Yumi is going through is not around, it's a good time to ease back into the softer side of the series. Seiji and Saki banter continue to provide a lot of fun. For all that Saki really dislikes Seiji, she definitely misses it when he's not around and he manages to lighten the mood when things need it.

I don't explain everything that happened with Saki and I joke around with a flashback. I had considered doing full from waking up scenes for everyone, but it was going to end up bloating the story for no really good need. It wasn't really enhancing anything. The stuff happening with everyone that's not Yumi is not as important. I will make some character moments for the others in the story, but it'll be fewer and further between since it is about Yumi and not the others.

And because I am keeping things leaner for them, picking up a useful clue about someone comes up now. And with everyone, but Yori found now, getting them back together is going to be the focus now. It'll take a bit of time and some detours, but they'll get back together soon enough, which will kick start the main plot of the arc. It's already in motion, but it's slower to reveal itself since it is more character focused right now than plot beats.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 411 is now available for reading! After the tease of the last chapter, this one start to lay down the foundation for what's to come. This is the pieces moving into place for the primary arc. While this is not the actual primary arc, it is explaining the threat therefore the main plot that is going to be surrounding Yumi's trials in the the land of demons.

Saki unexpectedly is being the lore/info dumping person this time around. Due to her largely absent nature from the third arc due to being brainwashed, she's making up for her disappearance as a result, in a way. And shown in the epilogue of the last arc, she's becoming more independent and a leader when Yuki is absent. Ever since she cut off her family and walked away from it, she's only been walking forward, perhaps a little unhealthy so, but it has made her a significantly more prominent character as a result. She's someone unlike the rest that has figured out her place in the world as it is currently and driving it.

The biggest threat on the horizon is all of the chaos that Yumi is stirring up. One of the things with Yumi is that she's working very blind. She doesn't know what's going on or anything about the demons. And she is electing not really to learn about them either, since she doesn't view it as necessary or important. So the other side finally gets to start putting all of the pieces into place. The tail end of Yumi's adventures with the demons and Saki are now filling that in. Most of the info dump stuff will get resolved prior to them meeting. Which will allow more of a focus on the problem and Yumi rather than explaining everything that might seem weird.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 412 is now available! Continuing with the exposition, a lot of the rest of it gets dumped out here. There is not too much massive amounts that need to get dropped. So this provides the passage of time to the next point in the story. And Seiji's proving himself with some smart questions. Though I do sort of use him as the way to answer what's going on.

I do continue to have a little fun with the notion of the Kasuo-ryoku/MP powers being treated like a tool to pull out whenever it is needed. I toy with it a little previously with Nerine. Which is a call back all the way to Ayumi being thrown around by Saki as a insta-heal item like in a RPG. So it mostly a call back joke.

But nothing can go smoothly, if it did nothing would happen. So there'll be a little encounter here. This will lead into a rather important little bit of discovery. So while it seems incidental, the actual results are rather important on the characters as well as some good bit of information.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 413 is now available! This chapter turns out to be probably one of the more surprising and important ones in a while. The minor note comparatively is that there is a finally another answer about the demons. The blood can be used to track. More details about that come later, but it is the key to what's been going on with Yumi. The reason that they are able to find her wherever she goes is because of the demon blood on her. It's that last little piece that was missing to explain what was going on with them.

Though the bigger surprise was the bit of revelations about Seiji and his power. He knows the power that he wields and doesn't like it. He is opposed to the power and refuses to acknowledge it. Which leads to some very interesting implications about him. Some things that you thought you knew about him got turned around. It adds a new layer of depth to his character, which everyone views as the mindless muscle head that enjoys a good brawl. This is something that's always been a part of his character and something that he has to confront. He didn't really get to choose the power. Though there is some implication that it came from within him as well, since things about Yumi that don't make sense come from her as well. So it stirs up some interesting internal conflict for him.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 414 is now available! The last bits of details come out in the chapter, resolving things. Seiji's issue like before is the most interesting. He avoids his full power because its a corruption of his beliefs, so he feels that what Yuki thinks is actually an insult, even though Yuki's ideas are just working off the popularized media version. Though there is the question of how much is comes from Yuki or within Seiji himself. All of that is at the heart of the matter for him and one of his crippling issues that he needs to confront. Once he can face it down and find a resolution to it, he'll change.

Everything with the blood and tracking is setup and partial resolved. The rest of the issue will be delayed to a later point, but is not necessary to the plot really. These are all just lore things anyway, nothing that is actually important to the plot. Yumi is the important part to the plot and they're back on the trail of that. The next chapter will push that forward and start pressing the main subject. The reunion will be at hand soon and some all important explanation from Yuki about what he was doing the whole time.

One thing that I'm going to work on that I feel I failed to do in the arc that it was intended, was build the bonds between everyone. Most of them are tied together because of Yuki and not really each other. I want that to change. Everyone has interaction and relationships of some sort now with everyone thanks to merely being together. But a lot of those relationships are not very healthy. Seiji's relationship with Nerine is good, his with Saki a little shaky it's mostly Saki's issue than Seiji. But they have things to settle between each other. Fumiko had a big falling out with the whole group after what happened in Atlantis, something I originally didn't plan for, but she had no motivation. She's got a huge chip on her shoulder now and ended in loner territory and hates Yumi, something that will be directly addressed after Yumi's arc finishes for very good reasons. Haruo is the worse as he hasn't made any real connections with anyone, even Yuki it is a little tenuous. Hence why he's not even in Yumi's arc. Haruo is the big piece of work to resolve. And Chiharu, who's been completely out of the picture for more than 100 chapters now and won't be seen until the end of Yumi's arc actually has a pretty good relationship with everyone despite how she presents herself, thank the tsundere in her for doing that. By the time next core story arc comes around I want them to have a stronger foundation. It's going to be important since I plan on testing that foundation. The time together in Yumi's arc is going to be going a long way to bending what I ended up breaking previously.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 415 is now available! This is the big one that starts kickstarting the major plot beats for this sub-arc. The cliffhanger at the end is pretty important and a big one, but only if your memory is really good. The name was actually first dropped about 200 chapters ago during the Atlantis arc. I could name drop this person it actually be used a big cliffhanger moment because it means a lot.

The woman that they've been chasing the rumors of were Masa, something that I named dropped back in the Atlantis arc during the Yori rescue sub-arc. If you recall during the time that Yumi was fighting, one of her personalities fully took command for the first time. They talked with the Atlantean and shared their name of Masa with them. The Masa that Saki, Seiji and Nerine face now is the same one that's the first personality and most prominent one during the Atlantis arc. Masa more than the others seemed more willing to step in and aid Yumi. So seeing her now is a big moment and can start drawing up some new speculation on what's going on.

The fun thing with this chapter is that Saki, Seiji and Nerine are walking in Yumi's footsteps. So there's that hint that possibly they're going to meet Yumi. But once you get to the big site that Yumi had with the demon it's clearly not her. However, the fact that they found someone so immensely powerful that it actually scares Seiji and Saki is a pretty big sign. And with Masa's appearance now, the story will start dramatically pushing forward with a lot of things happening and none of them being good things.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 416 is now finally posted! Yes, I've been a way for a long time. I've continued to write, but I hadn't been posting them here. So I'll be playing catch up on the chapters for a bit to get back to pace. But things should ideally be getting back to normal more or less. Things are still following Saki and company on the trail of Yumi. Things move along pretty quickly now, as I didn't want to drag out the time to get everyone back together. The sub-arc involved here I already knew would be longer and it is easily getting longer than I wished. But with the plan for this arc as a whole I knew it was going to be a long arc, no likely longer than the second arc, the Atlantis arc, but it'll definitely be long.

Given Saki's more dominant role in the other group, I had Seiji step forward for the questioning with Masa. He's the more likely of the group to not think too hard about what might happen if things go poorly. So it made more since for him to be doing the Seiji. So the chapter splits time between him and Nerine pulling the focus off Saki. None of them are the main character of the arc, so they get more balanced time spread out rather than the sole focus.

And now that Yumi is back in the cliffhanger, things will start moving forward again. Yumi's appearance along with Manekamaru reveals how friendly she has gotten with him since fighting him. And setups for more questions as well. While there is still a lot left to go in the sub-arc, now that everyone is back together things will be moving forward on the core plot of the sub-arc. Everything before was just setup and development for Yumi. Much of the future chapters play out on how she is growing and the direction she is going.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 417 is now up! Missed a posting back there, trying to get back in the swing of things. But things were a little rough last week. Anyway, the chapter is up and hopefully I'm a little more focused on delivering the rest of the chapters to get you all caught back up. This chapter picks back up from where we left off with everyone finally reuniting after the many chapters that they were apart.

This is a definitely more of a cool down chapter while also getting things prepped for the next wave of things to come. Showing off how Yumi and Manekamaru have settled into an agreement of sorts and how she's getting along with him. After all of the darkness of the first part, Yumi's able to start showing off more humorous tendencies, hinting at her acceptance of things as well as coping with the reality she has right now.

They also address one of the more obvious things in the room dealing with Yuki's powers. He provides the more explicit reasoning for why he doesn't exploit his powers more, though it is already something people understand. But it gives that really good sense of how unfair his powers can be if they needed to ever be. The only time his powers aren't impossibly broken is against another of his kind. And another point of Yuki being healed already starts making sense in the context of what he is doing with Yumi. Now that they're all back except for Yori, things will start moving to a head.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 434 is now available for the reading entertainment of everyone! Yeah I've been having a little bad pacing with the posting. I've had more distractions than I was expecting to have. But I'll keep trying to post weekly. This chapter really brings out Seiji to the forefront doing exactly what he has a tendency to do, know emotionally what's going on, even if he doesn't always follow along with the strategy.

This one is important since it does end up calling Yuki on his plan. While he has been good about forcing Yumi to take the lead, he has also been more than a little bothered with the way that she has been doing it. And once he saw that he was not making the right sort of progress he forced her to move in a way that he wanted. Though it was still a little out of his control, she did end up doing what he planned for. And Seiji calls him out on that. Something that Yuki should have been doing more frequently is being direct and honest with the issues he saw forming in Yumi.

However, they don't really get much time for that as the gravity of the situation that Yumi has created gets exposed to her. I have a little fun with Yumi sort of ending up as the normal role Seiji gets being confused and lost while the others talk around her. She just hasn't thought through all of her actions and what the consequences of them are. An important element of the sub-arc for Yumi is the weight of her decisions. But even that can't really take time to sink in as the demons are on the attack now. They've come for her.

Enjoy!

[Andromeda]

Chapter 419 is now available for your reading entertainment! Picking up immediately from the cliffhanger with the demon attack, it's time for a plan to come together. This is a fun chapter for all the things that go on in it. Everyone is finally back together after so many chapters of being apart. So it's nice to just see thing being themselves. They've already faced so many terrible things now that they can actually laugh in the face of danger and death.

The Saki and Seiji dynamic remains a lot of fun for me. They keep their antagonistic relationship, but have a clear sign of friendship despite everything. Saki's got her issues with Seiji, but she still values him and sees him as a friend that she can trust. She just also wishes not to see him have an influence on Yuki. Though with the ways things are now, she'd got less to worry about that now. Yuki's been less leaning that way.

And I get to do another one of Seiji's entertaining and silly plans. I always enjoy coming up with plans that Seiji would do, because he's a very straightforward sort. I can do really ridiculous stuff with him and still make it work as well. So I get to do round 2 with him, the last time with Chiharu like 200 chapters back (ouch). Which sets up nicely for a really action packed cliffhanger into the start of the fight.

Enjoy!