Gekiha Dan – Episode 26

Right, I am completely giddy with anticipation so if it’s all the same to you lot? I’m gonna jump RIGHT into the plot, nom nom.

Dan’s been walking up these god damn stairs for the runtime of essentially 2 episodes, even in realtime that’s like a whole 40 minutes of climbing stairs.

I’m sure if he were an entitled rich kid with the funds necessary to open a boarding school designed to teach card games, he’d probably want to find the guy who invented the stairs, and push him down these stairs.

If that’s an obscure reference to you, look up LittleKuriboh, you can thank me later when you’re done wheezing.

Once again, the topic of Yuuki’s humanity is strangely brought up.

It’s being questioned constantly now, we might soon get to the bottom of it.

Pantera has no question in his mind that Yuuki is a Human, which is more confidence than Yuuki has.

Remember, when Yuuki was asked if he was human, he said “supposedly”

Pantera tries to invigorate Dan by saying that they will very soon be at Otherworld King’s Castle.

…Castle? Wasn’t this place already in a Castle? Are you telling me they are GENUINELY on a Sky staircase right now? There’s another Castle at the end of this?

…It’s also by absolutely no means “close”

My presumption is that it’s “Soon” relative to the actual amount of time they’ll be walking, and not in a vacuum.

“If you can see the castle you know you’re close” sounds like a place you’d want to drive to, not walk.

…Especially not up an ever ascending set of stairs.

I’m getting the sneaking suspicion that the Otherworld King doesn’t like to be bothered, the stairs act as a way to ensure that anyone who needs to talk to him must really need to.

Skipping over that, they finally get to the top.

Also, Pantera called this a “Castle”

…I’d hazard to say that this is more akin to a Palace.

And the Episode title spoils the matchup but not the cards being used, which is a good way to keep the mystery of good ol’ Otherworld King.

One can only wonder what all these incredibly vast places are for, there’s even a Kingdom behind that giant wasteland.

Sorry I can’t see anyone walk into a clusterfuck of a room like this without hearing my Mother in the distance telling me “This place is a Tip“

Otherworld King is a hoarder, it seems.

…Wait, this is the Wisdom Gate? Not the second set of stairs?

No, this very closed room, with not a single gate in it, is the Wisdom Gate?

So in other words it’s his Gamer Pad?

Before Dan proceeds, Yuuki reminds him that Otherworld King is the strongest card battler.

Not strongest in Otherworld, not strongest on Earth, not the strongest Human battler.

Strongest. Battler. Period.

And by barely moving an inch, Dan knocks over and completely destroys Otherworld King’s Gamer pad.

In the midst of the dropping sculptures however, we do notice a figure on a suspended platform…

He appears to be writing something, I suppose this “Collection” of Earthly Wisdom begets adding to in some way from Otherworld King himself.

Behold, the source of all of our woes, this exceptionally old guy.

He barely looks threatening truth be told, and it feels like they could wait out the end of his life anyway.

Yuuki confirms that this old man we see here, is in fact, the Otherworld King.

And Dan notes that Otherworld King isn’t an Otherworlder, he’s Human.

It’d be a hilarious plot twist if it turned out all this Human supremacy nonsense was instigated by an Otherworlder, not sure how they’d wrangle that one.

Mate, I know you’re making a comment about privacy but your fucking door is unlocked.

You’re telling me you’re the all powerful Otherworld King who can subdue Otherworld and bend it to his will but you can’t recruit one god damn locksmith?

Dan is gracious as ever though, knowing he just offended the ruler, even if said ruler is only by conquest.

Turns out the Otherworld King can auto-reset his room easily with a snap of his fingers, he doesn’t even need maids or servants to clear it for him.

I suppose that’s why the general workforce that enter his employ only serve one function, Battling, and the ones that can’t are soldiers to enforce the rule of the battle.

When Dan comments that his magic was similar to Magisa’s, Otherworld quite happily explains that it is Magisa’s abilities, and that he stole them.

…Wait so she staked her magic on a battle, you won said battle, took the powers as the bet stated but you’re still happy to say that you stole them?

Either you’re trying your darndest to see it from her point of view or you take some pride in knowing you, a Human, stole powers from a 4000 year old Witch.

This is also the first instance of us hearing that Magisa is a Card Battler in any sense of the word, granted she’s quite knowledgeable about the game so it makes sense that she may have been one at some point.

So here we’re getting a little bit of insight, not only into Otherworld King’s history as he sees it, but also how his mindset functions, it’s a little… stretchy to say the least.

Otherworld King is the bringer of Human Wisdom into Otherworld, Otherworld’s population, though sentient, had no order until Otherworld King arrived, and brought with him, Wisdom, Intellect, etc.

They aren’t total synonyms but here at least it’s the same principal, he educated and domesticated Otherworld’s inhabitants, all of the sophisticated principals we recognise as things Humans have done originate from Otherworld King.

The fact that he calls them Savage Barbarians is striking a somewhat nasty chord for anyone who can tell this is a giant allegory for racism.

He has done the equivalent of travelling to a Third-World Country, Provided the Populace with Education and in return exploited said Country by confiscating what he wanted for himself…

And he believes he has a right to these things because of the Education he has provided, he Controls Otherworld and it’s contents belong to him because he dutifully educated the people of that World.

Anyone who’s a deep reader of history, or perhaps poetry, might feel like this is akin to “The White Man’s Burden”

I won’t go too deeply as I found it while I was writing this post with the help of a very well-studied friend of mine, but briefly, “The White Man’s Burden” is a nasty poem that basically supports the idea that: if you are trying to civilise what you believe to be a less-educated culture, you are justified in any methods you use to exert control over that culture.

Or more simply, to quote said studious friend: “It basically says Colonisers are justified in their actions because they are providing something”

This led into the creation of a complex, and well, an active trope on TVTropes

But in essence, Otherworld King justifies his claim over basically anything in Otherworld under the pretext that he’s the reason Otherworld could even develop enough to wield these things to begin with.

And just incase it was unclear, this is of course, utter tripe. You can’t just start living in someone’s house and acting like you own it just because you taught them maths. Regardless of who it is or how well-off they are afterwards. I like Otherworld King as a character for the same reason people like, say, Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones, he’s so detestable that you realise that evoked reaction was incredible portrayal, his farce of a justification is about as agreeable as the idea of “The White Man’s Burden”, it’s all garbage.

Dan makes the obvious plea he was always going to make as this fact has yet to be contested by just about anybody. Humans have no business seizing and exerting control over a World that isn’t theirs.

It seems Otherworld King isn’t particularly interested in this conversation, he’s more intrigued by Dan’s passion than anything else.

Well Pantera didn’t run that by you so it’s very impressive that you know that.

So Pantera did act on his own, Otherworld King never had any interest in meeting with Dan for any reason. It was by some stroke of luck that they’re even here now.

For this to occur, Pantera had to have everyone believe Otherworld King wanted to see Dan.

He only did this because he wanted to fight Dan and needed a reason to draw Dan in, so he used the one thing Dan wanted, to see Otherworld King.

And the only reason he was interested in Dan was because Julian left an impression on him.

Pantera is the sole reason Dan has made it anywhere.

Otherworld King scolds Pantera softly, almost like he’s educating his own child.

I suppose maybe he sees him that way, given Pantera is Otherworld King’s creation.

This seems a bit out of place, but Otherworld King is asking Yuuki if he agrees with the assertion that Human’s lie

I mean it’s a bit of a hard claim to refute on it’s face, no one can deny that Humans do not have the ability to lie, and to say “humans don’t lie” is equivalent to saying that no Human, at any point in time, ever made a statement of verifiable fact that was demonstrably false with the intention to mislead… Because said statement would be.

But saying that Human’s Lie and then leaving it at that is a gross generalization as if we’re just going around saying shit that isn’t true because why not? Humans typically lie when doing so would benefit them significantly more than the truth, the estimation of pathological liars (People who feel a strong compulsion to lie even when the truth would benefit them or the lie would be detrimental to them) as a population of the world is 8-13% (And that was from a single study which relied on self-identification to generate it’s results). It’s premature to suggest that Humans are prediposed to certain actions or features just because they have the capacity for it to be possible. It’d be like saying Wolves are friendly because 8% of them are and the other 92% of them will rip your face off.

Back in The Violet, Kajitsu is using her abilities for something.

Zungurii’s back from a Honey-run, and notes that he heard goons in the Forest, wondering if they’re able to track Kajitsu due to her abilities.

Mai is somewhat bothered that Leon hasn’t given up pursuing them.

The guy fought 3 battles and won 2 of them, the last one he might have lost on purpose, you didn’t really have a leg to stand on here.

…So… Kajitsu’s going to stop a Military army… with a series of butterflies?

So anyway, Kajitsu’s stopping the military army with a series of Butterflies-

Belga rather hilariously condemns the Lightbearers as Cowards… Not for using the insects in the first place.

But for the sheer volume of insects being used.

Absolutely wild choice of complaint.

“No sir, I’m not angry because they used insects as a defense, I’m angry because they used enough for it to work“

Belga demands they just push through them, the insects have no strength but the Soldier apparently states that they’re causing enough of an obstruction to prevent them from advancing…

I’d love to know how they propose this is the case but we’re interrupted.

I feel like if that was an option it would have been pursued already.

Belga contacts Leon, informing him of the dire situation of being swarmed by bugs.

Leon’s ship also is being swarmed but is clearly not having nearly as much of a problem.

Belga’s astonished reaction at Leon’s suggested course of action is more funny than the directness of the suggestion itself.

“Have you tried setting it on fire?” is often a joked about response but in this case is the one genuinely being considered.

Belga counters that the Horizon Ladder is entirely made of natural resources, being built by Butterflies and all, if they attempt to burn down the forest, the spread of flame would damage the Horizon Ladder, which they kind of need.

…To which Leon reacts with what I can only assume is the equivalent of “Did I fucking stutter?”

Bewitching Leon at it again, he’s aware of Belga’s admiration for his father and attempts to use Belga’s Father as an example Belga should follow, I bet you he doesn’t even know Belga’s Dad, but the deception is easier than trying to counteract Belga’s argument of profitability.

Seems Leon won’t need to do any convincing, Brustom’s offered to commit arson in Belga’s stead.

Also… Fire spreads, like, quickly.

If the Green World entirely consists of greenery and a Fire breaks out…

Hm, that sounds disastrous.

Back to the interesting bit (I like card games, bite me)

Otherworld King words this really weirdly but from what I can tell the translation’s accurate, it seems like he’s saying that if Dan’s Wish wasn’t capable of getting what he wants, then the only other choice would be to get it from Otherworld King directly. So it seems like he understands Dan’s reasons for wanting to face him.

Dan reiterates his rejected wish from the tournament, if he wins, Otherworld King leaves Grand-Lolo.

People who can be held to their words come in 3 different breeds, there are those who only make safe promises they can keep without much effort.

There are those who make incredibly steep promises knowing what the price will be and prepared to suffer it.

…And those who make those steep promises knowing they will never be forced to face that reality.

Otherworld King’s swift acceptance of Dan’s request seems like he might be the 3rd kind.

It seems Otherworld King is also considerate of the spirit of the request, Dan covers his bases by also requesting Magisa’s magic but it seems like Otherworld King had already thought of that.

The counter, if Dan somehow loses, Otherworld King asks Dan merely to heed his words, and accept his fate.

Ah, the best question I like to ask others, “What colour do you wish to face?”

Dan’s initially confused by this question, Yuuki then points out that it’s a Morton’s Fork, it doesn’t matter what Dan chooses, because Otherworld King is so insanely skilled in every colour that the result will end up the same.

Naturally, Dan’s a little offended by the blatant confidence, as Otherworld King’s claiming he’ll beat Dan even if Dan selects a matchup that is favourable to him specifically.

Though from Otherworld King’s point of view, even though this may be true, it’s also possible that even he gets bored of winning with the same strategy everytime, doing it this way not only ensures that he can display his overwhelming strength even with a supposed disadvantage, but also that he can actively enjoy the game for what it is while doing it.

Otherworld King recognizes Dan’s offense, and this likely isn’t the first time the King’s been asked to make a selection on his own.

So Otherworld King decides he feels like he should use the same colour Dan is.

It’s an interesting choice too, Dan forsook the potential for an advantage but rather than select say, White, which has oft been noted to have a poor compatibility with Red in White’s favor, he instead selects Red, to keep him and Dan on an even playing field before the match starts.

Alright, guys, I get that you work for him, but it’ll be hard for Dan to battle over the sound of you sucking his knob!

No, they’re telling you that “could” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

Dan knows the risks, he also doesn’t care. Guy’s willing to throw everything away for the possibility of ending everything right here and now.

It seems like Otherworld King is too old to actually stand, his seat may have many useful functions like LEVITATING OFF THE GROUND, but even with Magisa’s magic he can’t make himself younger? Magisa herself looks 29 in spite of being 4000 years old, you’d think there’d be something there he could do.

Before the battle, Pantera questions Yuuki’s assertion that the King is skilled with any colour. Which is a bit odd because Pantera’s fought him several times!

I did mention a few posts ago that there is an indication from one character that every player has a colour that is more suited to them than the others, however at least here, Otherworld King is presented as an exception to that rule, as all colours suit him just fine.

Yuuki then smirks as he’s intriged at how Dan will handle the Otherworld King, I presume Leon and Yuuki have also fought Otherworld King and lost in the past.

Dan takes the first move.

Dan starts by summoning Ankillersaurus at Lv2.

Dan does his usual quirk of summoning spirits and then talking to them at the introduction of a match.

Otherworld King’s curiosity is piqued, but even so he doesn’t seem overtly surprised by this.

I guess given his age he’s used to new phenomena not mattering in the grand scheme of things, when you’re all powerful I suppose unless something has the capacity to directly threaten you, the minute details just become quirks of life.

Dan ends his turn.

I did say what colour he selected earlier but Dan apparently asked what Colour Otherworld King chose before his turn started even though the King stated he “Felt like they should match”

Anyway, Otherworld King copies Dan’s play, summoning a Lv2 Ankillersaurus.

As Otherworld King has a core spare, he summons Rainydle for the low cost of free and uses it to preserve it’s Lv1.

Rainydle is a Cost 1 Spirit from BS07, not much different to a Rokceratops and just as useful. It even has the same BP values and cost as Rokceratops.

No the key thing to differentiate this from Rokceratops is family. Rokceratops is a Terra Dragon, but Rainydle here is an Astral Dragon.

Uniting Spirits with similar families in the same deck can enable cards that target those families to be more versatile as a result.

Dan comments on Rainydle’s summon, examining his hand to find that, had Dan gone second, he could have made the exact same play.

Also, Dan’s hand also holds Extra Draw, Buster Spear (a card which pops a Nexus and draws 1 card), and a Nexus from BS07

Which means we get to talk about it!

The Fall of Meteorite is a Cost 4 Nexus from BS07, and it’s part of a series of Nexuses released in this set, one for each colour, that all have an effect that punishes the opponent for destroying your nexuses via the effects of Spirits, Nexuses or Magic. This one destroys every opposing 3000 BP or less Spirit.

At Lv2, requiring a hefty 3 core, if a Spirit is defeated in battle by a Spirit with the Clash ability, a 3000 BP or less opposing Spirit is also destroyed.

The first effect is rather situational because it requires an opponent to take an action they know they will be punished for, naturally the idea would be to use this alongside a rather powerful nexus an opponent may want to destroy, but the second effect is somewhat okay, allowing Dan to take out small Spirits for performing his usual game plan.

Most people will run out Nexuses because they’re lingering symbols, but Dan didn’t play this because neither effect of the Nexus is useful right now.

Assuming Dan’s hand matches Otherworld King’s as well, even if he had played it, Otherworld King has a Buster Spear in his hand, so now Dan is probably not going to ever use it this game.

Otherworld King attacks with Ankillersaurus and Dan decides he still needs his Ankiller.

Correct, that hand is looking fairly useless with only a Rainydle and an Extra Draw to help you there, to use those in a way that’ll help he’ll need core.

So Dan takes a life and-…

…Huh, that Barrier looks vaguely different… a Hexagon instead of a Barrier?

Otherworld King seems to have altered the Battlefield in some way, a different system for translating the damage felt from a destruction of life has been amplified to the extent of destroying Dan’s Battle Form.

The pain was so severe the whole squad felt it.

Seems it’s not just pain, the force knocked Dan clean off his feet too.

So it seems that feeling also extended to seeing a brief glimpse of Dan’s immediate surroundings, they can tell he’s battling someone.

Kajitsu’s able to formally introduce the old man Dan’s fighting to the group, which is an interesting way for everyone to be able to place a name to a face without having actually met the guy.

Kajitsu suddenly succumbs to a dizzy spell all of a sudden. Classic Kajitsu, but I thought she was getting better?

Seems Brustom’s taken the reigns on this one and has begun exacting Leon’s commands.

Belga’s resentment here is hard to place, he complained about the forest being unpleasant earlier but immediately resisted the first suggestion given to completely Torch it, I can’t tell if his resentment is to being stripped of authority by Brustom, or if he genuinely didn’t want to burn down the forest regardless of his feelings about it.

Yuuki then details to Dan what’s happening, apparently Otherworld King’s power has an effect on the battlefield he’s in, causing the damage to the life to actively damage a person’s “Core”, essentially risking their life.

Otherworld King asks Dan to imagine what will happen when his lives reach 0, suggesting he might end up as broken as his battle form.

Dan, he’s the reason the damage is even occurring, it’s a bit naive to think the damage also applies to Otherworld King.

Otherworld King seems to be trying to meet Dan on his level, as Dan is being driven by feelings rather than reason, given he didn’t need a reason to actively start helping Otherworld, he has no understanding of what brought Otherworld to it’s current position.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that subduing an entire race of people, robbing them of their sun, magic and energy, all because you “civilised” them isn’t particularly something we’d consider morally good, or fair for the Otherworlders.

The fact that 12 year old Dan probably hasn’t thought that far and knows it’s wrong should be an indication of that.

Oh shit, Flashback.

Oh joy, it’s even simpler than that, the prick has a God complex.

Dan’s raised an excellent point, let’s see how Otherworld King counters…

…Really?

He meets it with Ignorance!?

Dan’s naturally bothered by Otherworld King’s indifferent question.

Otherworld King continues with an attack from Rainydle.

Huh? Rainydle only has 1000 BP, an attack here’s a bit weird, a block from Ankillersaurus seems obvious.

…WHAT?!

IT’S TURN 2

WHAT MAGIC IS HE USING WITH 2 REDUCTIONS AND 1 CORE TO HIS NAME?

He could theoretically play a Cost 3 magic with 2 Red reductions but what such Magic threatens Dan here?

The only 2 Magics I can think of that meets the conditions for something that could threaten Dan’s gameplan of using Ankillersaurus for reduction is a card named Meteor Fall and a card from BS08 called Dragon Scramble.

These 2 Red Magics in question boost a Spirit’s BP by 2000, and with 2 Red symbols on board, could be played for 1 core, this would make Rainydle 3000 BP which would tie with Ankillersaurus, destroying both Rainydle and Ankillersaurus and leaving Dan with no Spirits.

The alternative is the wide array of Cost 4 Red Magics that can achieve a BP Gain of 3000, but using it would require that Otherworld King deplete Ankillersaurus, producing the exact same scenario of a 1-to-1 trade, except Dan trades Ankiller for an Ankiller rather than for a Rainydle.

And I thought Toppa was stupid, this is completely nonsensical! This is so unlike you Dan!

Yeah of course you bloody will.

I’m not even going to comment, Dan wholeheartedly deserved that one.

He has 3 lives remaining.

Suzuri must be in a panic, given that unlike the other Lightbearers he’s completely alone and has no real way of understanding what’s causing him so much pain.

This time around with the Lightbearer group, the pain is accompanied by an incredible feeling of anxiety, something feels generally wrong about Dan’s battle.

This is the most polite possible way of saying “I understand this is all very alarming but the FOREST IS BURNING”

Also at least Serge was listening and smart enough to realise their connection to Dan was the topic of discussion, Dan apparently can’t even memorize his own colour’s card pool.

Magisa explains that Kajitsu’s suffering is a result of Kajitsu using the forest to recover her strength, by doing so she became inextricably tied to the fate of the forest, meaning she’s feeling the flames that’s burning the forest down.

Hoo boy, that’s a mental image, Kajitsu’s genuinely feeling the effects of being burned alive.

To rectify this, they plan to diminish Kajitsu’s connection to the forest by leaving the Green World, which should get her far enough away such that it doesn’t impact her condition anymore.

Kajitsu has a different opinion however, declaring that she can’t run away from whatever’s happening.

The Insect-Loving Princess likely holds a large amount of empathy for the forest and wishes to protect it.

I’m getting the somewhat distinct feeling that Otherworld King is intentionally being obtuse to get him angry, but for what purpose I’m not sure, because I don’t remember and can’t extrapolate from the current situation.

Otherworld King breaks down Dan’s battle tactics, saying they’re just like the rumors about him, which I disagree with because Dan does use Magic when his life is low, though I suppose it’s only when his life is low, which is a shallow battle pattern.

Otherworld King has no more attackers, so he ends his turn.

Otherworld King’s insults are incredibly low hanging fruit too… I wonder if this is a case of Appealing to Emotion, a Logical fallacy in which one attempts to disprove their opponent’s arguments by making them angry, thereby making them appear less reasonable.

Dan’s turn, he summons Erimakilizard at Lv2 and Rainydle, I didn’t see Erimakilizard in his hand earlier, which means that he drew it for his turn.

This is a good draw though.

With 3 Spirits, Dan has 3 symbols with which to wield the maximum reductions for Extra Draw. He should have 7 core available, and he’s used 5 for his spirits, which meaaaans.

Bam, gotcha.

Dan draws 2 cards from his deck, and reveals the 3rd, a Red Spirit revealed this way is also added to Dan’s hand for an effective draw 3.

It displayed as if Dan were simply explaining the effect, but it did infact display the card he revealed.

As The ThunderEmperorDragon Siegwurm is a Red Spirit, Dan gets to add it to his hand.

Yuuki and I both think Dan is a dumbass for different reasons it seems.

Though Yuuki is noting that Dan’s acquisition of Siegwurm would have bolstered his will to fight, as Otherworld King lacks blockers, he’ll therefore be inspired to attack.

Pantera strangely notes that apparently soon, Dan won’t know what he’s fighting for.

Which is an incredibly… sinister thing to say.

Welp, time to see what happens when Dan takes one of the Otherworld King’s lives.

Dan attacks with Ankillersaurus and Otherworld King quite happily takes it from the life, this will leave him with 4 lives.

Well it looks like the damage is at least the same, the barrier is equal and the damage was strong enough to send Otherworld King’s chair reeling backwards.

Dan notices something’s odd, the Mood changed.

…And Otherworld King’s hair appears to have gone down a shade.

Otherworld King says “it’s an honor” and then declares that Battle Strengthens his Life. It seems like Otherworld King finds it about as enriching an activity as I do.

Rainydle attacks and Otherworld King welcomes it again, dropping him to 3 lives.

He’s… all too happy to receive that damage.

His hair is getting darker! And his voice is becoming less raspy too.

So it appears that this is a bit of a shitty situation, the damage isn’t balancing out, Otherworld King’s attacks are practically crucifying Dan and yet Otherworld King appears to be rejuvenated by it.

Otherworld King tries to goad Dan into attacking again but Dan chooses to end his turn, leaving Erimakilizard as a blocker.

This is good, Otherworld King will need 2 spirits to check Dan.

Dan’s having a bit of a crisis now, as despite supposedly being quite effective at winning the Mirror Match in Colour, he’s having trouble.

Well Dan, when you use the same Spirits, the result’s basically a coin flip.

Nah, I’m kidding, skill expression’s a very important thing in Mirror Matches.

Otherworld King’s turn, he uses Extra Draw

Dan’s quite surprised how similar their cards are, and their hands apparently.

Otherworld King draws 2 cards.

Ultimately confirming that their deck order is not the same, Otherworld King’s reveal is Victory Fire, another card Dan frequently uses.

When a card that isn’t Red or a Spirit is revealed by Extra Draw, it returns to the top of the deck. Meaning Victory Fire will be Otherworld King’s next draw.

Dan notes that the card choice similarities are far too convenient, he asserts that they are probably playing a True Mirror Match, that is, they’re playing the same deck, card-for-card.

On it’s face this means Dan has just as much chance of defeating Otherworld King as he does of defeating Dan, but skill expression’s incredibly important in Battle Spirits.

Dan becomes irate, because from Otherworld King’s next turn he’ll have to basically play around Victory Fire. He’s already on the backfoot from the full attack earlier.

Otherworld King summons a 2nd Rainydle, and brings Ankillersaurus to Lv3.

Otherworld King attacks with Ankillersaurus, and Dan notes that even if he blocks with Erimakilizard, he’ll still have the 2 Rainydles to contend with, making it unsafe to block.

Plus he’d lose the Erimakilizard, while he’d take out a Rainydle if he blocked one of those, taking a life here is fine.

With no other options, Dan resigns himself to dropping to 2 life.

And another part of his battle form is utterly smashed.

Suzuri went to bed, as one does when they get massive headpains for no reason, but is still distressed that he can feel Dan.

Everyone else follows suite.

I’m surprised Yuuki isn’t feeling the twinge of pain everyone else is getting, is it because he’s actually there?

Otherworld King seems to acknowledge the danger of losing spirits pointlessly now, and ends his turn. This makes Dan’s life taking a well-calculated choice.

Dan’s getting severe pain just from moving now, with only 3 lives down?

Dan’s motions to summon Siegwurm are also re-animated, he’s clearly feeling immense pain as he does this.

Dan summons The ThunderEmperorDragon Siegwurm

He doesn’t waste time, moving to attack with Siegwurm immediately.

Thanks to Clash, Otherworld King is forced to block, and can’t willingly take from the life.

Otherworld King just seems happy to see it honestly.

Otherworld King sacrifices a Rainydle to Siegwurm’s attack.

You… you defeated one Spirit Dan, it’s not that deep.

Dan attacks with Erimakilizard but naturally, Otherworld King takes it from the life.

Otherworld King is dropped to 2 lives, like Dan, and Dan ends his turn.

Unfortunately

It seems that the darkening of the hair should have been a sign.

The destruction of Otherworld King’s lives, has been rejuvenating the man with Youth.

He’s more than young enough to regain an immense amount of strength back in his legs, let alone just enough to stand.

If you thought that old Crone was the Otherworld King that you expected to be our Main antagonist, you were wrong.

Say hello to the True form of Otherworld King, this man, rejuvenated into a still-mature but much younger form.

And though Otherworld King has regained enough youth to stand firmly and strongly, Dan’s giving everything he has just to stay standing.

And worse yet, Dan is completely terrified.

The entire show thus far we’ve been told the Otherworld King has vast power such that most believe they stand no chance, and everytime Dan has recklessly disregarded these comments.

He’s now realizing the size of the gap in the immense fissure that separates him from Otherworld King, and why the man is so terrifying.

Unfortunately for me however.

It’s the end of the episode.

The card of the day has nothing for us either, no card of the day, just some commentary about how the battle will be violent if both characters use Clash.

But to be honest it’s a 2-part fight, there needn’t be any such break-ups between this battle and the next.

So I’ll take it for what it is, a sign to give my arms a rest, and enjoy the battle we’re witnessing next time.

I’ll see you all in the next one!