Nice interlude. A little disapointed with the Princes but the Princess is definitely the badass of the family. Wiping out three army killers so fast Akua didn't even notice it happen.

 

Prediction time! Akua is trying a little hard to channel her inner Triumphant and her soul detachment is going to bite her in the ass. Final boss is Triumphant possessed Diabolist.

 

Anyone else feel like Akua's dad is way too strong for not having a name? He was smoking fey left and right.

I know he was a candidate for Warlock, but I thought the point of Names was them being capable of things beyond the norm. Apprentice said his soul surgery thing is the most brilliant piece of sorcery he's ever seen, and Warlock is his father.

Either something's fucky that we haven't seen yet or Akua's dad is kind of a Deus Ex Magista.

 

I think his power level is pretty strong but reasonable.
A. They're fighting over confident respawning minions who think less of mortals.
B. They're fighting over confident respawning minions over a city they've had over a year to fortify with scary wards/traps.

Just think of him like teemo and the fey like bronze tier scrubs trying to gank.

 

With the latest installment, and Black all oddly upbeat about his eventual fate, I've been going through previous chapters, and, uh:

This is the story Cat used to become a duchess. She already killed her 'birth father', the Duke, on the field. She still has to kill her adopted father.

Guys, I'm pretty sure the Winter King uses her to kill Black. And it's definitely possible, even probable, if they meet in Arcadia somehow, given how hard the story would be powering her. Hell, it's pretty clear the Gods have been trying to punch Black's clock for years.

The worst part? I think Black accepts it when she comes for him. Hands Cat a great final lesson, and more importantly, a huge revenge story and connection to preserving what he built.

 

I'm kinda interested in how Black plans to remove the White Knight from the equation while also acknowledging that Hanno is set to have a pattern with a different Black Knight (obviously Cat). Or how Tyrant would ever accept a truce as an acceptable result, though maybe he doesn't quite get how Tyrant works.

It's also terrifying how casually Black plans to rip apart Procer, Ashur, and Daoine. Not from a moral perspective; he's a villain. But by how he takes the success of those plots as something of a given and easily possible. Not sure how he could get around the Augur as far as Procer is concerned, though. But Cat has managed to mitigate the Daoine problem.

I'll be sad to see him die. Agreed that Cat'll do it. It's been talked about way too much, and while Errata loves to defy conventions and tropes, it seems like something real important to Cat's story (and something to prevent her from immediately taking up most of the Calamities in her repertoire. Though Black has to know to set things up to make sure that Wekesa, Sabah, Hye, etc. don't immediately rip her apart afterwards).

She does need more Named in her band still. She's got three. Robber half counts just by how bullshit he is. Maybe she holds onto Archer long term; it's implied in the Apprentice interlude how she's falling under Cat's spell a bit. I doubt she'll swing Thief over to the dark side. She's got Juniper as a Grem, and currently Ratface/Hakram/Aisha as a less capable stand in for Scribe. My gut says she's missing one more though, but idk what it'd be.

 

Everything seems to be being set up that Bard is out maneuvering Black to get Captain killed by Champion. Except that I'm suddenly wondering if Black is thinking about the fact that if he dies in the next 2 years then the rest of the Calamities will go crazy and destroy the Empire from within.

So, what if Black thinks that the rest of the Calamities need to die before he does so they don't kill Cat (especially with the Fae story of killing her father figure), so he's planning ways for the Calamities to "accidentally" be killed?

 

Don't believe that for a second. Black would never sacrifice the Calamities like that. Ignoring the fact that they're legitimately friends, it's a recipe for disaster overall. Ideally, Black would want Praes to have the rest of the Calamities for as long as possible because they're just so goddamn good at what they do. Part of his plan would be controlling his death in a manner that prevents this. He absolutely would never send Captain to her death so callously. He's very pointedly not that kind of villain.

Black also doesn't know the details about how Cat dealt with Winter, so if that does lead to her having to kill him, he isn't planning for it. Cat killing him is definitely a way that he can die, and he knows it's happened to plenty of Black Knights in the past, but he can also simply die in battle or something and would rather die that way. And that wouldn't cause the Calamities to all go for Cat's head, even if they'd all be really fucking pissed.

It's simply that he's finally facing an opponent in Bard who is at his caliber (and likely higher) when it comes to recognizing and manipulating patterns and stories for her own benefit. Moreover, rather than being stuck with a dullard like The Lone Swordsman as a catspaw, she has a much more genre savvy White Knight. She also clearly underestimated Cat, which was the real downfall given that the pattern of the Rebellion depended on her failing at Liesse. And Cat's not at the Free City fight, though she does have Tyrant.

Captain's still the target, of course. Tyrant's meetings with Black and Bard established that he wanted to kill a Calamity (but not Black, as he wanted to make an enemy of Black). Assassin, Ranger, and Scribe are obviously off the table, which leaves Captain and Warlock. Warlock also has a timer (of some length, unsure what) on account of Apprentice existing and developing, but there's also the question of what happens to Captain after Black dies given how her Role is so intimately tied to him. I honestly kinda doubt that the Champion is a match for Captain, but with Bard to coach her into a favorable pattern and Captain presumably lacking Black to counter, that could easily tip the balance. I'm sure Captain is appropriately genre savvy herself, but Bard is just in a whole different league. Then who knows how the Tyrant will get involved.

 

I'm not quite so sure. Yes, he's not directly planning on Cat being involved in his death and protecting her from Calamity based retribution.

But, there was an example earlier in the story of Black being captured for 2 days or something short term and the rest of the Calamities going crazy and destroying everything around them. Whatever his plans are they have to take into consideration the Calamities actions after his death which are likely to destroy everything they have been working towards, and his whole Name is about working out the logical action and making that happen despite his biases and feelings. It doesn't matter that the rest of the Calamities are his family if what he needs to do requires them to be dead or ineffective.

I am most likely wrong, but I think that he is the kind of villain who will ignore his friendship to make sure what he considers the right thing to do happen. It's not about backstabbing former friends to gain power, it's about his friends being blockages in the mechanisms of his Name.

Especially since they are in hostile territory where the logical and most effective thing would probably be to plan everything out and work as a group, not send Captain off alone. Black (and Cat) are the ones to wander into a situation, cause chaos, and make the best use of the resulting confusion, not Captain.

 

An artist on tumblr named charsiewspace made one of the best scenes of this web-novel into a great comic. Check it out.

 

My boy Hakram is getting things done as always.

It's also nice to know that there are always at least a few people scheming.

 

And it's a good one as well. Looking forward to Hakram's.

 

Spoiler

I fucking love Catherine.

 

Making the General clean her pipe wasn't even a power move. It was like ordering around a maid or servant, and he just took it. And he can't even poison the pipe because it would be a waste of poison.

 

It reminds me of the time Black ordered Akua to clean her own blood off a table with a rag and bucket, after he Spoke and made her stab her hand in the first place.

 

Interlude is out, and by God does it not disappoint.

Spoiler

Starts out as you might expect, they do all the set up that can be done before opening the gate to Creation since the fae are bound by stories and them coming in as the evacuation starts is most appropriate. First thing of note is that only the supply wagons and Deoraithe regulars are sent to creation, everyone else stands by, with no instructions for who evacuates next. Fae arrive, and some woman takes up a position sharpening her sword on the hills off to the side (my thinking is that's Ranger's first appearance in outside flashbacks).

That out of the way, we have the typical exchange of banter between leadership, with Catherine talking big shit even though the Summer army outnumbers her 2:1. Battle breaks and we get to see some of Ranker's tactical genius, very much a fan of the dry technical descriptions, definitely gives the impression of someone who's done this a thousand times and come on top far more often than not. The big twist comes when battle is fully joined, and another gate opens off to the side. Out of it come the three thousand knights Catherine set in motion some chapters back and they plough into Summer's flank.

Turns out they're not retreating after all.

That section is honestly worth quoting:

 

Agreed, very nice chapter.

I only realised about halfway through what was going to happen with the knights based on Cat saying she wanted blood and that it's not an evacuation. It was only then I figured out that her description a few chapters back about moving through Arcadia being a knitting needle where she knows the start and end points means she knows where she will come out and she can plan for reinforcements.

Possibly more awesome than that is the way that Cat doesn't quite realise how badass her achievements are and how everyone around her is fucking terrified of her. Oh, and she's finally getting the soft cushions and luxuries she was pissed off about Heiress having.

I'm really hoping that the cloaked figure in the hills is Ranger who wants to play with Princess Sulia.