I am begining to think that our good ol’ spelleater friend there was either yanked off Jolon’s shoulder by Falst OR is reacting negativivly to the void magic coming from Erin
I wonder if the Spelleater was already somehow connected to void magic? It is the element of consumption, right? Can void magic consume ambient magic and thereby nullify mages?
The way the spelleater is getting out, looks like someone got it in the middle
I think Falst can be the one who took the spelleater out Jolon’s shoulder, he noticed Alinua is not healing and perhaps it’s the spelleater’s fault and he’s going to either kill or throw it far from Alinua
At the same time.. the void “tattoo” smoking may be a very bad sigh O_O
I love how anti-jaded Kendal is. Normally, you’d think someone who’s basically immortal, or at least really old, would be cynical and pessimistic. But Kendal is fundamentally idealistic, and not in a naive way but in a hopeful way. It’s beautiful.
(It’s weird, I used to love morally gray characters and villains so much and cringe whenever a goody-two-shoes showed up, but these days I can’t help but smile whenever I see a genuinely good character–especially one who’s not naive. Maybe I’ve grown up, or maybe it’s just easier to appreciate goodness during these awful times.)
I used to be like that too, but since then I have come to like those narratives less and less. Maybe because I have seen too many people in real life give up on hope and goodness. It is quite refreshing to see characters be genuinely hopeful in the face of adversity. To be genuinely kind in the face of cruelty. And genuinely good simply because that is how they are.
Agreed. Nowadays with everything happening in the world and the tendency in media to make things darker and edgier I find myself more drawn to optimistic characters and how they inspire positive change in others and the world. Give me inspiring heroes over gritty realism any day.
Me too. It’s part of why I find myself drawn to shows like The Last Airbender, or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, or, more recently, The Dragon Prince; the characters in those stories have reason to be hopeful for the future and to keep going despite the odds. That fundamental human trait, the ability to find beauty in ugly times, is one that I want to give my characters when I start making stories.
I used to like dark media because I used to exist in a very dark place could only view life through that lens. Then around the time I started pulling myself out of that hole, I found Madoka Magica, a show that’s core concept is Hope vs Despair, and showed that hope can win. The perfect show at the perfect time.
I do still like dark media, but I find that I lose interest very quickly when the focus is entirely on Grimdark. I need to have a little hope, at least one candle held up against the dark. Otherwise, what’s even the point? What are even they fighting for?
I know what you mean. It’s always refreshing and somewhat heartwarming whenever you see a character, no matter how hard or terrible their life has been, still have the capacity to believe in basic human decency and kindness, especially when they have seen, and possibly used to be part of the worst side of what humanity had to offer. Rurouni Kenshin is one example I enjoy.
An example I enjoy is a webcomic called Gwendy & Ghost. It’s based on the life of its creator, which was filled with quite a bit of trauma, especially parental neglect and emotional abuse. Seeing Gwendy hold on to her compassion in spite of all that is great, even if it is a given. What I really look forward to are the moments where Gwendy snaps and launches intense tirades at those who make her and her loved ones suffer. I love those moments for the same reason I love Superpowered Evil Sides: they’re the ultimate proof of a person’s control over their own life and their capacity to love themselves and others. Witnessing a person’s goodness act as the driving force for their exertion of dominance over injustice rather than the opposing force against it is quite enjoyable. In some cases, it’s downright euphoric.
Last page, I compared Falst to Ryo, Yukiya, and Ayano from Code Geass: Akito the Exiled. Though I didn’t say it out loud, I also compared Kendal to Leila Malcal since both are sympathetic to the plights of the outcasts of their respective stories. This page is showing another similarity between them: their belief in the goodness of people despite witnessing and/or having knowledge of their darkest moments. In Leila’s case, her parents died in a terrorist attack when she was six, yet she continues to believe in her father’s vision of mutual understanding between people, even after learning Akito’s backstory and watching a friend of her father twist his vision to suit his own ends. Kendal’s belief in genuine compassion is what’s going to win Falst over and get him to join the team.
Either a duck noise or just a really loud beep, which makes reading thing like that incredibly fun cuz I read them like “personally I hope the dragon fBEEP Jolon up”
Erin’s void tattoo is glowing, Kendal is barely holding on and the spelleater has been yanked off Jolon. I haven’t been this exited for Friday since my school days.
Is the Void Dragon/Dark Floof/Alduin/Shara Ish-void-a going to try and take over? Or is he just going to lend Erin a bit of power to get him out of his predicament? The latter could make sense in the long run; give SickTats McHubris a taste of what being a Void mage is like so V.D.’s plea in chapter 7, stay alive so Erin could one day control void, would seem all the more appealing.
I love Kendal’s speech and how he draws upon the experiences of kindness from Vash’s people. Putting Windcrest under their protection, having their own Ferin population, Kendal knows that kindness is normal and the actions, and justification of said actions, of Jolon and the Collector make them the real monsters.
I hope that is Falst grabbing the spelleater. I hope he kills is and Alinua can begin to heal (and deprive Jolon of his own life magic in the process). And I hope this marks his official induction into the floof gang.
Walter doesn’t need to stay alive for Erin to commit Void arson. I mean, look at the primordials. But yeah, please commit void Arson Erin, can’t wait for friday.
Ooh, interesting possibility! It could *also* make sense in the long run because The Void Dragon needs to keep Erin alive until he’s free, so interfering here to serve that goal would make sense.
I love you Kendal. I’ve always hated the nihilistic outlook that crappy people have just because they want to convince themselves that everyone is just as bad as they are. And did Falst just grab the spell snake? I think we’re going to witness some snake death in the next pages. Finally, while I did notice Mr. Void dragon getting uppity, I was also wondering if Erin has just realized for the first time that he’s become somewhat of a monster to the world at large. Not that he’s had a public void melt down yet, but I think it’s occurred to him that it’s something he has to live with now. Though, maybe he already feels that way? Maybe being the elemental magus isn’t all fun and games like Jolon seems to think. Anyways, I need more sleep, sorry if anything doesn’t make sense.
The path of the high standing is a lonely one surrounded by those who want to use you, those who want what you have, and those who want to see you fall. Those who genuinely care are generally far out of reach and the farther you rise the further the split. The path of the genius is a lonely one where the only ones you relate to are those who have experienced far more than you. Erin has lived in luxury at the top his whole life but his general need to over exceed we saw early on may be part of a complex where he developed the idea he needed to continue over exceeding to a point of destructiveness because that was the only way people would care.
Unrelated to anything going on in this page, but let’s talk about Walter-body dynamics for a moment. If a spirit possesses an inhabited body, and the original inhabitant dies of natural causes and leaves the body, can the possessing spirit still control the body as a decaying or undead vessel?
That’s an interesting idea. But how would the spirit be able to find a body that was then uninhabited at the moment without any problems in function, like a virus, broken bone/multiple broken bones, a severe injury or failure of function in an organ, aside from killing/ dismantling the original inhabitant?
Well, conceptually, the possession would take place prior to the original inhabitant of the body passing on, like a typical horror movie. But if the possessing spirit wasn’t moving to the afterlife (or otherwise dissipating) to begin with, what about the original inhabitant’s passing would make the possessor move on as well- or move out? The possessor wants a body, not a roommate.
That’s not to say that whatever killed the original inhabitant wouldn’t persist in the body- it very well could be non-functional by conventional means. But possessions are supernatural and unconventional, and if zombies or RPG undead can move around with only a spirit and bones, and no flesh, then why couldn’t a possessing spirit keep possessing a corpse?
(Also, thank you for engaging me in my nonsense)
Jolon: Messes with a demigod, the elemental magus and his hitchhiker, Life’s designated person, and a very motivated cat boy
The audience: oh this is gunna be good-
Ooooooh, this really reminds me of Magneto’s lines of reasoning in the more recent X-men movies.
(Please humor my obsessed ramblings.)
He’s all about offense over defense. Humans have done horrible things to him, so he feels justified in retaliating. He’s convinced they’ll do it all again, so he doesn’t even give them a chance. Humans fight back, but it’s impossible to tell if he was right because his actions may have caused that response in the first place. There’s even the same ‘you can’t possibly understand, so your argument doesn’t count’ thing that he uses on Charles approximately a bazillion times. Also, I love the irony of Jolon using this argument. “Who could look at you and see a monster?” Yes, that is precisely why his reveal as an antagonist was so effective. No one looked at the soft-spoken but passionate small-town doctor and thought evil, horrible, and megalomaniacal, but look at us now!
Anyways, this is all so nuanced and well done. With every update, I love this story and characters so much more. All the props in the world to Red, this is amazing.
Is Jolon Red’s rant at edgy people who think that hope is dumb and childish despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary and how important hope is as a motivator?
TL;DR: Corpse floof uses inspirational speech! Its effectiveness is uncertain! He also flexes being really old, even though he’s a baby. It seems as though Dark floof might have some input.
Not everyone, Kendal, but, yes, the worse they are, the more they tell themselves everyone is just like them. Or they can’t imagine anything else. Most people, though, come on, let’s be real, they fake their kindness to either avoid trouble and drama, or to lure you in.
But not everyone is faking it. Learning to tell the difference is crucial.
If I had a nickel for every life-magic obsessed character that said the word business in a separate speech bubble because they were interrupted by something that surprised them, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
UH-OH WHAT’S HAPPENING
is Erin’s void tattoo glowing?
man, poor Kendal and Falst, they have a LOT to talk about
It looks like it since theres a small wisp of black smoke coming from Erin’s chest
Oh shit
OH CRAP I MISSED THAT
THAT IS NOT GOOD
OHNOOHNOOHNOOHONOOHNOOHNO
OHYESOHYESOHYESOHYESOHYESOHYESOHYESOHYESOHYESOHYESOHYESOHES
*distant sounds of manic laughter*
ohhhhhOOOOOK…Is it just me or do I want to kick Jolon’s face in? Also, keep that Hero Speech TM going!!
I know, I just couldn’t stop smiling while I read Kendal’s lines!
I am begining to think that our good ol’ spelleater friend there was either yanked off Jolon’s shoulder by Falst OR is reacting negativivly to the void magic coming from Erin
I wonder if the Spelleater was already somehow connected to void magic? It is the element of consumption, right? Can void magic consume ambient magic and thereby nullify mages?
Good point. We can’t see part of the spell eater, so Falst might have grabbed it to give our hero’s a chance
The way the spelleater is getting out, looks like someone got it in the middle
I think Falst can be the one who took the spelleater out Jolon’s shoulder, he noticed Alinua is not healing and perhaps it’s the spelleater’s fault and he’s going to either kill or throw it far from Alinua
At the same time.. the void “tattoo” smoking may be a very bad sigh O_O
shf
I love how anti-jaded Kendal is. Normally, you’d think someone who’s basically immortal, or at least really old, would be cynical and pessimistic. But Kendal is fundamentally idealistic, and not in a naive way but in a hopeful way. It’s beautiful.
(It’s weird, I used to love morally gray characters and villains so much and cringe whenever a goody-two-shoes showed up, but these days I can’t help but smile whenever I see a genuinely good character–especially one who’s not naive. Maybe I’ve grown up, or maybe it’s just easier to appreciate goodness during these awful times.)
I used to be like that too, but since then I have come to like those narratives less and less. Maybe because I have seen too many people in real life give up on hope and goodness. It is quite refreshing to see characters be genuinely hopeful in the face of adversity. To be genuinely kind in the face of cruelty. And genuinely good simply because that is how they are.
Agreed. Nowadays with everything happening in the world and the tendency in media to make things darker and edgier I find myself more drawn to optimistic characters and how they inspire positive change in others and the world. Give me inspiring heroes over gritty realism any day.
Me too. It’s part of why I find myself drawn to shows like The Last Airbender, or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, or, more recently, The Dragon Prince; the characters in those stories have reason to be hopeful for the future and to keep going despite the odds. That fundamental human trait, the ability to find beauty in ugly times, is one that I want to give my characters when I start making stories.
(Hooray, anti-grimdark!)
I used to like dark media because I used to exist in a very dark place could only view life through that lens. Then around the time I started pulling myself out of that hole, I found Madoka Magica, a show that’s core concept is Hope vs Despair, and showed that hope can win. The perfect show at the perfect time.
I do still like dark media, but I find that I lose interest very quickly when the focus is entirely on Grimdark. I need to have a little hope, at least one candle held up against the dark. Otherwise, what’s even the point? What are even they fighting for?
I know what you mean. It’s always refreshing and somewhat heartwarming whenever you see a character, no matter how hard or terrible their life has been, still have the capacity to believe in basic human decency and kindness, especially when they have seen, and possibly used to be part of the worst side of what humanity had to offer. Rurouni Kenshin is one example I enjoy.
An example I enjoy is a webcomic called Gwendy & Ghost. It’s based on the life of its creator, which was filled with quite a bit of trauma, especially parental neglect and emotional abuse. Seeing Gwendy hold on to her compassion in spite of all that is great, even if it is a given. What I really look forward to are the moments where Gwendy snaps and launches intense tirades at those who make her and her loved ones suffer. I love those moments for the same reason I love Superpowered Evil Sides: they’re the ultimate proof of a person’s control over their own life and their capacity to love themselves and others. Witnessing a person’s goodness act as the driving force for their exertion of dominance over injustice rather than the opposing force against it is quite enjoyable. In some cases, it’s downright euphoric.
Last page, I compared Falst to Ryo, Yukiya, and Ayano from Code Geass: Akito the Exiled. Though I didn’t say it out loud, I also compared Kendal to Leila Malcal since both are sympathetic to the plights of the outcasts of their respective stories. This page is showing another similarity between them: their belief in the goodness of people despite witnessing and/or having knowledge of their darkest moments. In Leila’s case, her parents died in a terrorist attack when she was six, yet she continues to believe in her father’s vision of mutual understanding between people, even after learning Akito’s backstory and watching a friend of her father twist his vision to suit his own ends. Kendal’s belief in genuine compassion is what’s going to win Falst over and get him to join the team.
Welp, next page is Super Powered Evil Side time, personally I hope the dragon f*cks Jolon up
Anytime I read a censored swear my brain automatically fills it in with a duck noise, which makes this comment a lot funnier.
Either a duck noise or just a really loud beep, which makes reading thing like that incredibly fun cuz I read them like “personally I hope the dragon fBEEP Jolon up”
Um, guys? Erin’s Void brand is sizzling…
On a side note, I believe Falst has come around. Also, I love the little parallel between Jolon here and Falst in the previous chapter.
Yaaay!! Falst stole the Snek-lace
haha danger noodle got thiefed
DANGER NOODLE
DANGER NOODLE! ITS THE MOST DANGEROUS NOODLE
Long life the kind
*king
Actually, I liked the first one better.
Kind also kind of works here, considering the dialogue on this page
*live, also.
But yeah, Jolon is fucked now.
i love that kendal can say both “i’m ten days old” and “i’ve known a hundred thousand mortal lifetimes” and it just makes sense
Ha ha ha ha ha, so true
As I said earlier, Falst is a very fast learner >=} (even if I thought that for the wrong reasons)
YEET THE SNEK!
More “YOINK THE SNEK!” is you ask me. But just as fast! 🙂
Yoieet the snek?
ohhh no I see black smoke coming from Erin D:
Erin’s void tattoo is glowing, Kendal is barely holding on and the spelleater has been yanked off Jolon. I haven’t been this exited for Friday since my school days.
Is the Void Dragon/Dark Floof/Alduin/Shara Ish-void-a going to try and take over? Or is he just going to lend Erin a bit of power to get him out of his predicament? The latter could make sense in the long run; give SickTats McHubris a taste of what being a Void mage is like so V.D.’s plea in chapter 7, stay alive so Erin could one day control void, would seem all the more appealing.
I love Kendal’s speech and how he draws upon the experiences of kindness from Vash’s people. Putting Windcrest under their protection, having their own Ferin population, Kendal knows that kindness is normal and the actions, and justification of said actions, of Jolon and the Collector make them the real monsters.
I hope that is Falst grabbing the spelleater. I hope he kills is and Alinua can begin to heal (and deprive Jolon of his own life magic in the process). And I hope this marks his official induction into the floof gang.
Walter doesn’t need to stay alive for Erin to commit Void arson. I mean, look at the primordials. But yeah, please commit void Arson Erin, can’t wait for friday.
Void arson! I love it!
Ooh, interesting possibility! It could *also* make sense in the long run because The Void Dragon needs to keep Erin alive until he’s free, so interfering here to serve that goal would make sense.
*YOINK*
Has anyone noticed that the spelleater’s scales have turned purple?
Is it trying to eat VD’s power but it filled him?
I think it was already purple
I want a Pride-coloured magic snake scarf! Why do fictional characters get to have all the fun?
It was still rainbow coloured in panels 1, 4, 6, and 8 but in panel 10 and 11 it dulls and turns bluey purple
POV: You’re about to see Jolson get his ass beat by 3 gods and a ferin
Tell him Kendal! Also Erin you about to use some void magic or are you about to get used by the dragon?
Erin can’t use void magic without getting possessed by the Dragon.
Yes! Tek the snek!
And brek the sneak!
Why is no one looking at Falst in the first panel? He looks so sad and confused it’s breaking my heart!
Warning: Eyes Glow mode activated. Base stats increased by 75%. Probability of dire straights reversal increasing rapidly.
I love you Kendal. I’ve always hated the nihilistic outlook that crappy people have just because they want to convince themselves that everyone is just as bad as they are. And did Falst just grab the spell snake? I think we’re going to witness some snake death in the next pages. Finally, while I did notice Mr. Void dragon getting uppity, I was also wondering if Erin has just realized for the first time that he’s become somewhat of a monster to the world at large. Not that he’s had a public void melt down yet, but I think it’s occurred to him that it’s something he has to live with now. Though, maybe he already feels that way? Maybe being the elemental magus isn’t all fun and games like Jolon seems to think. Anyways, I need more sleep, sorry if anything doesn’t make sense.
The path of the high standing is a lonely one surrounded by those who want to use you, those who want what you have, and those who want to see you fall. Those who genuinely care are generally far out of reach and the farther you rise the further the split. The path of the genius is a lonely one where the only ones you relate to are those who have experienced far more than you. Erin has lived in luxury at the top his whole life but his general need to over exceed we saw early on may be part of a complex where he developed the idea he needed to continue over exceeding to a point of destructiveness because that was the only way people would care.
Out of your business? It’s our business now, buddy.
*Soviet anthem plays*
SOYUZ NERUSHIMY RESPUBLIK SVOBODNYKH—
RARARASPUTINLOVEROFTHERUSSIANQUEENTHEREWASACATTHATAREALLYWASGONEEEE
Not the Soviet anthem, but…
Ra Ra, Rasputin! Russia’s greatest love machine! It was a shame how he carried ooooooooooooooooon!
Nooo not the snek!
Ooooooooooooh is the snake gonna have a redemption arc? What a *good snake*
return of Walter on Friday?
Who’s walter?
Nickname for void dragon
HECK HECK HECK
HECKITY HECK
Do yall think the cracked lacrima will be Walter’s fault-er?
The fool turned his back on Falst… >:3
Unrelated to anything going on in this page, but let’s talk about Walter-body dynamics for a moment. If a spirit possesses an inhabited body, and the original inhabitant dies of natural causes and leaves the body, can the possessing spirit still control the body as a decaying or undead vessel?
That’s an interesting idea. But how would the spirit be able to find a body that was then uninhabited at the moment without any problems in function, like a virus, broken bone/multiple broken bones, a severe injury or failure of function in an organ, aside from killing/ dismantling the original inhabitant?
Well, conceptually, the possession would take place prior to the original inhabitant of the body passing on, like a typical horror movie. But if the possessing spirit wasn’t moving to the afterlife (or otherwise dissipating) to begin with, what about the original inhabitant’s passing would make the possessor move on as well- or move out? The possessor wants a body, not a roommate.
That’s not to say that whatever killed the original inhabitant wouldn’t persist in the body- it very well could be non-functional by conventional means. But possessions are supernatural and unconventional, and if zombies or RPG undead can move around with only a spirit and bones, and no flesh, then why couldn’t a possessing spirit keep possessing a corpse?
(Also, thank you for engaging me in my nonsense)
Jolon: Messes with a demigod, the elemental magus and his hitchhiker, Life’s designated person, and a very motivated cat boy
The audience: oh this is gunna be good-
Not just the elemental magas. the elemental magas who has an evil dragon god sharing his body.
To explain Erin to someone I called him, “Cocky Avatar Possessed by Satan the Magic Dragon”
I liked this comment so much that I took a screenshot of it
Kendal is such a sweet boi. Also, I love how he isn’t the smartest in the group, but he’s definitely the wisest.
He’s also less than six months old and has one brain cell, so this really says something about everyone else in the group lol
But he also has all the memories and experiences of a damn god to draw from, so it all makes sense.
I don’t think that the doctor wants to actually hear some good talking points.
I’m picturing VD!Erin grabbing the snake, and it disintegrating in his hand as he grins at Jolon.
that would be the most awesome thing ever! especially if he pairs it with a one liner or something
That’s actually really creepy…
EEEEEEeeeeeehhhhh
kinda.. yeah? its pretty creepy
Will you ever post Aurora on Webtoon Red?
Ooooooh, this really reminds me of Magneto’s lines of reasoning in the more recent X-men movies.
(Please humor my obsessed ramblings.)
He’s all about offense over defense. Humans have done horrible things to him, so he feels justified in retaliating. He’s convinced they’ll do it all again, so he doesn’t even give them a chance. Humans fight back, but it’s impossible to tell if he was right because his actions may have caused that response in the first place. There’s even the same ‘you can’t possibly understand, so your argument doesn’t count’ thing that he uses on Charles approximately a bazillion times. Also, I love the irony of Jolon using this argument. “Who could look at you and see a monster?” Yes, that is precisely why his reveal as an antagonist was so effective. No one looked at the soft-spoken but passionate small-town doctor and thought evil, horrible, and megalomaniacal, but look at us now!
Anyways, this is all so nuanced and well done. With every update, I love this story and characters so much more. All the props in the world to Red, this is amazing.
Is Jolon Red’s rant at edgy people who think that hope is dumb and childish despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary and how important hope is as a motivator?
TL;DR: Corpse floof uses inspirational speech! Its effectiveness is uncertain! He also flexes being really old, even though he’s a baby. It seems as though Dark floof might have some input.
Great. Let’s discuss philosophy.
Kendal, that is an excellent example of “Shut Up, Hannibal”.
Alt text: rude, it was a legitimate question
Image source: believe1
NOOOOOOOOOO FLOOFY BOI’S HAAAAIIIRRRR
JOLON WHY
WWWHHHYYYYY?????!!!!???
Not everyone, Kendal, but, yes, the worse they are, the more they tell themselves everyone is just like them. Or they can’t imagine anything else. Most people, though, come on, let’s be real, they fake their kindness to either avoid trouble and drama, or to lure you in.
But not everyone is faking it. Learning to tell the difference is crucial.
If I had a nickel for every life-magic obsessed character that said the word business in a separate speech bubble because they were interrupted by something that surprised them, I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
oh man I JUST noticed the business call back