Two *CRACK*s in one page! You’ve got to be setting some sort of webcomic record with that (ok, probably not).
Tynan is surprisingly vulnerable to just being (lightning-)punched, although I don’t know if this discorporation will last for as many seconds than Erin’s fiery one. Obviously, none of it helps in the long term, but for “the storm that would be king”, it is looking like he has a solid chance of being defeated by a simple Elemental Magus (unless VD pulls shenanigans, which is a bit of a coin toss; I don’t see what he has to gain or lose from this conflict, unless his vessel becomes mortally threatened).
Furthermore, nothing Erin is doing so far couldn’t be done by a well-organized group of powerful mono-element mages (with optional martial backup to do what Kendal’s doing here). Really, there is precious little Erin *can* do that can’t be achieved by a bunch of mono-element mages, although braving the Storm was a crucial one of them. So why, I ask, was Vash so instrumental in his defeat? Does the Academy care so little for such threats? (side note, I have pored over a ton of available maps and I have no idea where Asera is on the map. But it’s definitely closer to the storm than the far side of the planet, and so presumably would have had an interest in dealing with Tynan).
I will not mention my ordinal position in the chronology of comments on this page… but that’s how the comments are sorted anyway. Australian timezones are a boon for watching content by those Americans that upload in the middle of the night. Well, if you consider compulsively reloading pages all day a boon.
Though Tynan, raging, mocks and taunts,
Neither Kendall nor Erin listens,
And nor does Tess, with a CRACK! she punches,
Off her skin, his lightning glistens.
I love the congenial hand on the shoulder before inverting his face.
Also, gosh, Tynan, what has gotten into you? As a response to, “You’re just a problem, and I’m going to solve you,” “Try dying” lacks the wit that I expected from you. I mean, come on; I expected better of you. For Zurrith you at least used the word “perish,” but “try dying?” That is disgraceful retort. From now on, the only acceptable things to come out of your mouth are either witty comebacks or screaming as you run away from Tess.
I clicked in and DANG that first panel was a MAJESTY TO BEHOLD. And then it somehow got better?! The gorgeous art in this chapter is just *chefs kiss* and man the dialogue HITS!
Tess has punched dragons with those fists, wonder if a god will be easier or harder?
Oh my goodness the Tess panels absolutely sent me. The mix of their expressions followed by her punching him was just brilliant and actually got me laughing allowed
Also @Anorien, I also read try dying at first and didn’t even realize I read it wrong until you pointed it out (Ig it kind of ties into the “I’m going to solve you” from the previous page?)
Also props to whoever said Tess would punch him on the previous page. I wasn’t actually expecting that to happen which probably made this whole thing even better
Oh my gods she actually did it.
(Remember when she said she wanted to go in and punch his body?)
Her face.
“THERE you are!”
I burst out laughing.
@Anorian
Agreed. I think he’s really having a breakdown when the best he can do is ‘try dying’.
Actually, though, he might be doing a thing that I do where I script a conversation in my head, but now it’s been thrown off and you get really awkward and everyone thinks you’re weird and…
Well, that’s how it goes for me, anyway.
@Effyis Biblos
I suspect it’s less that Vash was the only so much as the first. Like, it was his blast of starfire that caused people to realise fire was a viable option, but obviously, Tynan hasn’t come back since then, so no opportunity to put the theory into practice until now
@Effyis Biblos a number of poorly formed theories!
i dont think erin being an elemental magus is particularly important in this fight . he just needs to be able to use fire and lightning . 2-element fire/lightning mages are much more common than elemental maguses
we dont know how long ago the vash encounter was and im not entirely sure how old asera was at the time anyway. either way im not sure they had trained mage hero squads just Lying Around in the event of a storm, especially not back then. and even if they did they might not be inclined to help a rival city. gods dont seem to be very friendly with one another, vash being pretty much the exception to this rule
it could also be the case that nobody really KNEW how to fight a storm yet, because there had never been an issue like this before
either way vash didnt want to send his citizens out into danger anyway. vash wanted to solve this problem himself to keep all his people out of danger . even if vash had a buncha mages it wouldnt have helped because he wouldnt have sent them out to fight
also uh… personally.. … whatever the heroes’ plan is, i dont think its exactly working yet . kendal was getting his butt kicked and tynan doesnt seem very impressed by erins fire . tess is pretty much just an annoying punchy distraction. they probably will need something unusual in order to win, top contenders being void powers or dainix’s soulfire, both of which almost nothing is known about yet
Tess has been waiting to do this since she saw the storm, but the fact he threatened her brother made her punch harder. No I am not off the Ruunaser siblings hype train and I never will be.
I wonder what Voidy thinks of this turn of events. I wonder if he’s in there shaking his head like “why the heck is he trying to fight a god?! He’s going to get himself killed and then where will I be!?” before sighing and being like “well he’s doing alright right now so maybe he’ll be okay. Still going to keep an eye on things though”. Honestly I want to see more Voidy. I mean, if you look at the next chapter’s cover, there’s a silhouette in the clouds of a person with dragon-like wings, suggesting that either Michael or Voidy (maybe) will show up. Or both.We’ll see.
Uhhh, so you all know how I kept saying that Tess is just a minor annoyance to Tynan, and therefore at no risk of being targeted by him? Yeah, so that just went out the lightning-scorched, fist-shaped hole in the window… At least he’s not going to focus on Erin quite as much.
Goldfinch:
I hadn’t noticed that before, so I looked, and sure enough, there’s a draconic silhouette up there with the lightning bolts coming from the silhouette’s eyes. It can’t be The Paladin Champion, his wings are made of light, so they wouldn’t cast a shadow (plus they don’t have webbing like the silhouette wings do), plus the neck is too long for the individual to be humanoid. The Void Dragon might project himself into a shadowy puppet form to protect Erin from Tynan, but 1) he has no access to lightning magic outside of Erin, 2) it’s unlikely that he has access to a lot of his energy when the group is so far from an entrance to The Singing Caves and in an area so saturated with non-void elemental energy, and 3) even if he could manifest a temporary pseudo-incarnation via projecting shadows around a possessed Erin, it wouldn’t be wise for him to do so, as a headquarters to his most hated enemies are right friggin there, and he hasn’t risked exposure before now so as to not put a target on Erin’s head. I don’t think it’s The Void Dragon either… but that just leaves a big f*ckin blank on who it could be, other than “maybe Tynan used his divine shapeshifting to manifest a draconic form”, or “it’s just a metaphor, bro, don’t read so deep into it”. We’ll just have to wait and see.
OMG! Just when I thought nothing could top snarky Erin getting a chance to show off his magery, Tess does one better with just her smile. Well, her smile and then punching Tynan in the face. This is just masterful!
You tried to kill Erin in front of his friend and his sister. Ya shouldn’t a did that.
Tynan is getting more unhinged by the page, even though he still has the upper hand in the mortality department, the words and actions of the gang are making him slip. I guess he can dish out emotional turmoil but can’t take it.
I wonder what’s going through Kendal’s head as he watched Tess punch Tynan into water droplets; this is his first time meeting her. Then again, Tess knew the story of Vash’s triumph over Tynan, could Tess have visited Vash before it got Collector’d? I’ve now got an image of Vash and Tess being friends and fighting dragons together and I can’t shake it.
Once again, amazing visuals, palatable energy of the punch and lightning in that final panel and proof of the amzing versatility of the CRACK SFX.
@Goldfinch I was recently re-watching the trope talk on dragons and realized that Red spends half the time talking about their relation to storm gods. Coincidence? I think not.
@ Goldfinch I was just re-watching Red’s trope talk on dragons and realized that she spent half the time discussing their relation to storm gods. Coincidence? I think not.
So like storm god lightning and Erin and Tess lightning, so they make the lightning not hurt everyone else, Tess also punch punch punch while Kendal goes stab stab stab and flame guy goes soul-fire soul-fire soul-fire, Erin can use wind to blow him around. Good plan me.
We admittedly don’t know at this point how much of his energy the Void Dragon has to use in order to become ‘visible’– him just coexisting with Erin obviously doesn’t set off any alarms, nor does full possession, otherwise the Paladins would have been on the warpath the moment that he dragged Erin into the caves. And I’d have to check, but if I recall the only one to notice anything was wrong was the dragon Tess was fighting, and that was when the binding was broken (or possibly when Erin was still trying to fight off VD; the two events obviously happened very close together and would have thrown off a lot of energy). But either way, I don’t think the Paladins knew about it until Michael was told by the Light Dragon, and I don’t know if she sensed it or somehow heard from the other dragon (like I said, gotta go back and take a look at that). So it’s quite possible that if Walter keeps things relatively small-scale as far as power seep (and he probably would, because Paladins, danger to his host, etc), he probably could get away with possessing Erin and getting involved himself.
That being said, I am hoping for a somewhat-literal interpretation of the cover art. This does feel like a point to reintroduce Voidy as a long-term threat (in traditional frying pan/fire style–and yes, I am aware that we just had that kind of escalation with the Dainix/Tynan shift, and like all tropes too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing). And it might be interesting to see Erin’s herald-form (for lack of a better descriptor right now) and how it contrasts Michael’s in form and execution (if anyone’s watched D.N.Angel you might see what I’m getting at here). Also, I admittedly think it would be funny if Erin got stuck with manifested VD wings for a bit, if only for the resulting shenanigans that would be involved in concealing them…
(On a side note, I think I have somehow managed to use all the names for the Void Dragon currently existing in one post.I’m not sure how to feel about that. Though now I’m obligated to ask, did I miss any?)
A suggestion as to the meaning of the new cover that I don’t think has been suggested yet: Tynan second form?
The lightning seems to be originating from around the dragon if not from the dragon itself, and the silhouette looks more like someone transforming into a dragon than doing some sort of energy-silhouette thing like Micheal does
Void dragon is probably more likely tho, since we haven’t seen any relation between Tynan and dragons in this comic as far as I can tell (unless it’s a new thing or something)
(sorry if this idea ends up basically being posted twice, I tried to comment a bit earlier, but I think it got eaten)
To add another option to the new chapter cover debate, could it be a Tynan second phase? The lightning is coming from the area at or around the dragon’s eyes which feels more Tynan-y than Erin-y. Plus the more humanoidish bottom half of the dragon makes it look more like a physical morph than an energy silhouette like Micheal does, which might be something Tynan could do with his incarnation
(then again, we’ve never heard of Tynan being associated with dragons, or gods really taking non-humanoid forms, so idk)
Okay i officialy love fluff squad disrespect for Tynnan,
Ty: ” I will teach you fear I am terror itself! HIGH AND MIGHT GOD!
E: ” Nuisance is what you are. And excuse me i going to solve you, you angry weather.”
Te: ” I cast fist :D”
And i gotta say for someone who’s goal is inspiring fear such nonchalant attitude must be reallyi rritating.
@Skye *technically* you missed VD Walter, but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who uses that permutation. But I find it amusing enough that I use it whenever I get a chance
Even if this doesn’t outright destroy Tynan, it is REALLY pulling the metaphorical wind out of his sails. Hard to be intimidated by a guy who keeps monologuing at a bunch of young adults who could not care less and getting punched by a bunch of mortals. Honestly, my prediction for this fight is the tale of Tynan being beat up by a ragtag group of (admittedly powerful but still mortal) magic users might strike at the strength of his power in a way that the tale of the epic three-day fight against Vash didn’t
I highly recommend getting a copy of “The Armored Rose” by Tobi Beck, a female SCA (medieval society) fighter who discusses both the psychology & especially the physiology of females fighting. I suggest it, because I look at that lovely last panel, and I think, “Okay, she’s just dinking around with an off-hand punch–I can’t wait to see the REAL haymaker hit this cumulodouchebag!”
Why, may you ask?
Because of physiology. Given the way the thigh bones socket into the pelvis on physiologically female folks (for a given range of such biological things), trying to throw a right-fist punch with the left-leg forward actually robs that punch of at least half of its impact. Women literally hit harder when we instead punch (or swing a sword, etc) with the same leg forward.
Also, because of these physiological differences, we will break our hand (or at least microfracture it, which was effing painful in my karate classes before I learned better, and literally stopped fracturuing my hand while delivering a LOT more power per punch) IF we try to throw a punch by aming the first and middle finger knuckles at our target, which is how a guy’s hand is designed to align for combat success. Surprise, surprise, we ladies DON’T break our hand when we throw a punch with the ring & pinky finger knuckles lined up as the point of our hardest impact, BECAUSE of the way our hand bones and forearm bones line up being distinctly different from physiologically male bone-and-ligament arrangements.
…Also, butt-wrap shots (a rising underhand blow like throwing a bowling ball or hurling a softball, aka, wrapping your sword under your opponent’s shield and striking up onto the buttocks & lower back with the blade) will hurt like HELL when a woman delivers one, because of the way our ligature (tendons, joints, etc) articulates best, far better than men…whereas overhand blows (think of an axe chopping down onto firewood motion) are more difficult for females since male ligature lines up much, much better for that maneuver for them.
The Armored Rose, by Tobi Beck. Totally worth it, AND it has flipbook style reference photos of various attacks!
Also also also, PLEASE let Tess smakkadoon with a massive blow! I love fellow ladies who can kick divine butt, especially when they do it, well, divinely! 8D
LadyoftheMasque, that was very informative–thank you! *puts book on Amazon shopping cart tut suit*
Red, I was so anxious for an update, so looking forward to the next slot of the action, that when I woke unusually early today, I immediately ran here… and was disappointed. No update. Refresh, refresh, refresh. Dang it.
I’m counting down the days to a new chapter release.
(4!!!!)
To add to the chapter cover discussion…
There’s pretty clearly some Dainix fire action going on there. (You know, Firestorm, plus the fire around the edge/bottom)
As for the dragon silhouette… I hope it’s not Voidy, because that would just mess things up for everyone, but I don’t really know what else it could be.
Skye:
I’m pretty sure it showed up in chapter 5, when we first see a possessed Erin, as well as chapters 6 and 7 before we learned The Void Dragon’s name.
Personal prediction: Tynan has a few more tricks up his sleeve. Erin is going to do something that will give us a Hope Spot, then Tynan will up his game, but Erin will eventually save the day by consciously using Void magic, which will solve the Tynan problem, but reveal to the Paladins what he is, which will cause a whole slew of new problems to fall into the Floof Squas’s lap.
@Very Exited
She’s probably not gonna be part of the main squad after this
I don’t remember seeing anything like her in the trope talk screenshots
(though I might be wrong, and feel free to correct me)
@27 Paper Frog Flays the Undying i’m sure Tess has appeared in a few Trope Talks, or at least the Five-Man Band one
@Very Excited I think Tess doesn’t count as a protagonist yet because we don’t actually know much about her or her motives: why was she searching for Erin in the first place? We know the motives of every other protagonist, but Tess, and Dainix too, are too mysterious right now to be classified as part of the inner Floof Squad. plus, she literally only just met Kendal
I mean, thunder punch is super effective against a flying type… tynan being dual flying electric just makes it neutral, but I bet Tess not only has STAB, she has also a high enough Physical Attack to make it work
I wish I had time to look at this on Wednesday, because I absolutely CALLED IT last page. Somehow Red managed to make it more fabulous than even I was expecting, and I was expecting this to be pretty damn fabulous.
Now that I’ve gone and read a few of the comments, I see that I’m the subject of this page’s haiku. I cannot properly express how much that has brightened up my day. Thank you, HelloHaiku.
im in love with her
<3 this is my favorite comment
Crack! My bones! Crack! Nice Punch! Crack! Lightning! Take cover!
Very versatile indeed.
RUUNASER!!! PAAAWWWWWNNNNCCCHHHHH!!!!!!
Those last two panels still have me giggling… HER FACE! … this comic rules xD
Tynan taunts and mocks,
but it seems no one fears him.
Tess punches his face!
Woo!
I fucking love Tess, she’s my favourite character. She looks so genuinely happy to punch him.
What a pleasant smile, so friendly
Ooh, Tess gets to join the fight!
To Steve, Lord of Darkness:
Dang, you were spot on
with that prediction last page.
That is pretty neat!
POW right in the kisser!
Tess really was like (^‿^)
I love Tess
Tess be like:
“I cast FIST”
Am I the only one who reads Tess exclusively in Red’s voice?
Two *CRACK*s in one page! You’ve got to be setting some sort of webcomic record with that (ok, probably not).
Tynan is surprisingly vulnerable to just being (lightning-)punched, although I don’t know if this discorporation will last for as many seconds than Erin’s fiery one. Obviously, none of it helps in the long term, but for “the storm that would be king”, it is looking like he has a solid chance of being defeated by a simple Elemental Magus (unless VD pulls shenanigans, which is a bit of a coin toss; I don’t see what he has to gain or lose from this conflict, unless his vessel becomes mortally threatened).
Furthermore, nothing Erin is doing so far couldn’t be done by a well-organized group of powerful mono-element mages (with optional martial backup to do what Kendal’s doing here). Really, there is precious little Erin *can* do that can’t be achieved by a bunch of mono-element mages, although braving the Storm was a crucial one of them. So why, I ask, was Vash so instrumental in his defeat? Does the Academy care so little for such threats? (side note, I have pored over a ton of available maps and I have no idea where Asera is on the map. But it’s definitely closer to the storm than the far side of the planet, and so presumably would have had an interest in dealing with Tynan).
I will not mention my ordinal position in the chronology of comments on this page… but that’s how the comments are sorted anyway. Australian timezones are a boon for watching content by those Americans that upload in the middle of the night. Well, if you consider compulsively reloading pages all day a boon.
Lookit Tess there pulling a Falcon Punch while the opponent’s not looking!
When Mom catches you fighting to the death with your siblings
I love Tess <3 Muscle wizards cast Fist! Her attitude is just THE best <3
Also, we're really being spoiled with all these ahmazing lighting effects <3
Tess was like: I’ve been waiting for ages and now you are finally in the punching distance.
*Punchmas is here,
bringing good cheer
To young and old
brave and the bold?
Merry merry merry Punchmas*
*Crack*
Deck the halls
With petty tyrant, lalala la la la.
Casting fist and bending lightning lalala la la la.
The Ruunaser siblings are really out to ruin Tynan’s whole moment of villainous triumph
Jeez Louise, I forgot how strong Tess is.
Ahahahahaha
Aaah, Tess, will you ever not be awesome?
this feels like a good time to say happy Lesbian visibility week
Everyone, welcome onboard the Tynan Pain Train. Entry this way, don’t forget to punch your ticket in Tynan’s face as you climb.
We’re just still waiting on Dainix now.
Though Tynan, raging, mocks and taunts,
Neither Kendall nor Erin listens,
And nor does Tess, with a CRACK! she punches,
Off her skin, his lightning glistens.
I love the congenial hand on the shoulder before inverting his face.
Also, gosh, Tynan, what has gotten into you? As a response to, “You’re just a problem, and I’m going to solve you,” “Try dying” lacks the wit that I expected from you. I mean, come on; I expected better of you. For Zurrith you at least used the word “perish,” but “try dying?” That is disgraceful retort. From now on, the only acceptable things to come out of your mouth are either witty comebacks or screaming as you run away from Tess.
I clicked in and DANG that first panel was a MAJESTY TO BEHOLD. And then it somehow got better?! The gorgeous art in this chapter is just *chefs kiss* and man the dialogue HITS!
Tess has punched dragons with those fists, wonder if a god will be easier or harder?
Did, did she just punch him into dust? I’m so happy rn.
Wow, as it turns out, I totally misread that. c: Still, “die trying” isn’t much better than “try dying.”
Oh my goodness the Tess panels absolutely sent me. The mix of their expressions followed by her punching him was just brilliant and actually got me laughing allowed
Also @Anorien, I also read try dying at first and didn’t even realize I read it wrong until you pointed it out (Ig it kind of ties into the “I’m going to solve you” from the previous page?)
Also props to whoever said Tess would punch him on the previous page. I wasn’t actually expecting that to happen which probably made this whole thing even better
Thunderbolts and lightning. Very, very frightening.
Tess used thunder punch!
It’s super effective!
Oh my gods she actually did it.
(Remember when she said she wanted to go in and punch his body?)
Her face.
“THERE you are!”
I burst out laughing.
@Anorian
Agreed. I think he’s really having a breakdown when the best he can do is ‘try dying’.
Actually, though, he might be doing a thing that I do where I script a conversation in my head, but now it’s been thrown off and you get really awkward and everyone thinks you’re weird and…
Well, that’s how it goes for me, anyway.
go Tess!
TL;DR: …and now she’s punching GODS.
Hah! typical evil boss talk 😀
Until Dainix appear and send him some (soul)warm Tess will be softening him >:D
Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me (Yeah, frightened Tynan)
@Effyis Biblos
I suspect it’s less that Vash was the only so much as the first. Like, it was his blast of starfire that caused people to realise fire was a viable option, but obviously, Tynan hasn’t come back since then, so no opportunity to put the theory into practice until now
@Effyis Biblos a number of poorly formed theories!
i dont think erin being an elemental magus is particularly important in this fight . he just needs to be able to use fire and lightning . 2-element fire/lightning mages are much more common than elemental maguses
we dont know how long ago the vash encounter was and im not entirely sure how old asera was at the time anyway. either way im not sure they had trained mage hero squads just Lying Around in the event of a storm, especially not back then. and even if they did they might not be inclined to help a rival city. gods dont seem to be very friendly with one another, vash being pretty much the exception to this rule
it could also be the case that nobody really KNEW how to fight a storm yet, because there had never been an issue like this before
either way vash didnt want to send his citizens out into danger anyway. vash wanted to solve this problem himself to keep all his people out of danger . even if vash had a buncha mages it wouldnt have helped because he wouldnt have sent them out to fight
also uh… personally.. … whatever the heroes’ plan is, i dont think its exactly working yet . kendal was getting his butt kicked and tynan doesnt seem very impressed by erins fire . tess is pretty much just an annoying punchy distraction. they probably will need something unusual in order to win, top contenders being void powers or dainix’s soulfire, both of which almost nothing is known about yet
Tess has been waiting to do this since she saw the storm, but the fact he threatened her brother made her punch harder. No I am not off the Ruunaser siblings hype train and I never will be.
I wonder what Voidy thinks of this turn of events. I wonder if he’s in there shaking his head like “why the heck is he trying to fight a god?! He’s going to get himself killed and then where will I be!?” before sighing and being like “well he’s doing alright right now so maybe he’ll be okay. Still going to keep an eye on things though”. Honestly I want to see more Voidy. I mean, if you look at the next chapter’s cover, there’s a silhouette in the clouds of a person with dragon-like wings, suggesting that either Michael or Voidy (maybe) will show up. Or both.We’ll see.
Also, that muscle tone on Tess’s arms! She really looks strong in that shot and I am here for this!
What a shocking development ;-j.
@DragonMaster66: She’s punching a cloud man, if it’s not easier, it most definitely is softer than punching hardened scales.
Uhhh, so you all know how I kept saying that Tess is just a minor annoyance to Tynan, and therefore at no risk of being targeted by him? Yeah, so that just went out the lightning-scorched, fist-shaped hole in the window… At least he’s not going to focus on Erin quite as much.
I’m sure this has been said before, but this party is definitely “oops all powerhouses” and I’m here for it lol.
Goldfinch:
I hadn’t noticed that before, so I looked, and sure enough, there’s a draconic silhouette up there with the lightning bolts coming from the silhouette’s eyes. It can’t be The Paladin Champion, his wings are made of light, so they wouldn’t cast a shadow (plus they don’t have webbing like the silhouette wings do), plus the neck is too long for the individual to be humanoid. The Void Dragon might project himself into a shadowy puppet form to protect Erin from Tynan, but 1) he has no access to lightning magic outside of Erin, 2) it’s unlikely that he has access to a lot of his energy when the group is so far from an entrance to The Singing Caves and in an area so saturated with non-void elemental energy, and 3) even if he could manifest a temporary pseudo-incarnation via projecting shadows around a possessed Erin, it wouldn’t be wise for him to do so, as a headquarters to his most hated enemies are right friggin there, and he hasn’t risked exposure before now so as to not put a target on Erin’s head. I don’t think it’s The Void Dragon either… but that just leaves a big f*ckin blank on who it could be, other than “maybe Tynan used his divine shapeshifting to manifest a draconic form”, or “it’s just a metaphor, bro, don’t read so deep into it”. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Hey hey, I love you Red and I love this
All problems are punchable if you try hard enough! 😀
It’s awfully nice of this storm to manifest a punchable face and leave it within arm’s reach of Tess.
I…no, okay. Thanks, Red. No, I wasn’t in love enough with Tess already.
I gave my email to this site just to comment that Tess just popping up out of nowhere made me laugh so hard I’m only capable of wheezing now ?
alt text: finally, a punchable problem
Tess can now cross “punch a storm in the face” off of her bucket list.
i have a crush
this arc really emphasizes either how strong our protagonists or how weak the god of law truly is
OMG! Just when I thought nothing could top snarky Erin getting a chance to show off his magery, Tess does one better with just her smile. Well, her smile and then punching Tynan in the face. This is just masterful!
Kendall is ten times a better fighter when protecting a friend.
SLAY TESS!!!
You tried to kill Erin in front of his friend and his sister. Ya shouldn’t a did that.
Tynan is getting more unhinged by the page, even though he still has the upper hand in the mortality department, the words and actions of the gang are making him slip. I guess he can dish out emotional turmoil but can’t take it.
I wonder what’s going through Kendal’s head as he watched Tess punch Tynan into water droplets; this is his first time meeting her. Then again, Tess knew the story of Vash’s triumph over Tynan, could Tess have visited Vash before it got Collector’d? I’ve now got an image of Vash and Tess being friends and fighting dragons together and I can’t shake it.
Once again, amazing visuals, palatable energy of the punch and lightning in that final panel and proof of the amzing versatility of the CRACK SFX.
@Goldfinch I was recently re-watching the trope talk on dragons and realized that Red spends half the time talking about their relation to storm gods. Coincidence? I think not.
@ Goldfinch I was just re-watching Red’s trope talk on dragons and realized that she spent half the time discussing their relation to storm gods. Coincidence? I think not.
Punch
Yay!
So like storm god lightning and Erin and Tess lightning, so they make the lightning not hurt everyone else, Tess also punch punch punch while Kendal goes stab stab stab and flame guy goes soul-fire soul-fire soul-fire, Erin can use wind to blow him around. Good plan me.
@Trash why not both?
To Goldfinch, TheUnknownGame:
We admittedly don’t know at this point how much of his energy the Void Dragon has to use in order to become ‘visible’– him just coexisting with Erin obviously doesn’t set off any alarms, nor does full possession, otherwise the Paladins would have been on the warpath the moment that he dragged Erin into the caves. And I’d have to check, but if I recall the only one to notice anything was wrong was the dragon Tess was fighting, and that was when the binding was broken (or possibly when Erin was still trying to fight off VD; the two events obviously happened very close together and would have thrown off a lot of energy). But either way, I don’t think the Paladins knew about it until Michael was told by the Light Dragon, and I don’t know if she sensed it or somehow heard from the other dragon (like I said, gotta go back and take a look at that). So it’s quite possible that if Walter keeps things relatively small-scale as far as power seep (and he probably would, because Paladins, danger to his host, etc), he probably could get away with possessing Erin and getting involved himself.
That being said, I am hoping for a somewhat-literal interpretation of the cover art. This does feel like a point to reintroduce Voidy as a long-term threat (in traditional frying pan/fire style–and yes, I am aware that we just had that kind of escalation with the Dainix/Tynan shift, and like all tropes too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing). And it might be interesting to see Erin’s herald-form (for lack of a better descriptor right now) and how it contrasts Michael’s in form and execution (if anyone’s watched D.N.Angel you might see what I’m getting at here). Also, I admittedly think it would be funny if Erin got stuck with manifested VD wings for a bit, if only for the resulting shenanigans that would be involved in concealing them…
(On a side note, I think I have somehow managed to use all the names for the Void Dragon currently existing in one post.I’m not sure how to feel about that. Though now I’m obligated to ask, did I miss any?)
What an excellent time to be a lesbian
ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC
A suggestion as to the meaning of the new cover that I don’t think has been suggested yet: Tynan second form?
The lightning seems to be originating from around the dragon if not from the dragon itself, and the silhouette looks more like someone transforming into a dragon than doing some sort of energy-silhouette thing like Micheal does
Void dragon is probably more likely tho, since we haven’t seen any relation between Tynan and dragons in this comic as far as I can tell (unless it’s a new thing or something)
(sorry if this idea ends up basically being posted twice, I tried to comment a bit earlier, but I think it got eaten)
To add another option to the new chapter cover debate, could it be a Tynan second phase? The lightning is coming from the area at or around the dragon’s eyes which feels more Tynan-y than Erin-y. Plus the more humanoidish bottom half of the dragon makes it look more like a physical morph than an energy silhouette like Micheal does, which might be something Tynan could do with his incarnation
(then again, we’ve never heard of Tynan being associated with dragons, or gods really taking non-humanoid forms, so idk)
Skye:
You missed Golden Eyes; otherwise, I think you got them all.
Trash:
Both? Both. Both is good.
Okay i officialy love fluff squad disrespect for Tynnan,
Ty: ” I will teach you fear I am terror itself! HIGH AND MIGHT GOD!
E: ” Nuisance is what you are. And excuse me i going to solve you, you angry weather.”
Te: ” I cast fist :D”
And i gotta say for someone who’s goal is inspiring fear such nonchalant attitude must be reallyi rritating.
To TheUnknownGame:
I don’t think I’ve seen that one before. When did it come up?
Tess!!!!
@Skye *technically* you missed VD Walter, but I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who uses that permutation. But I find it amusing enough that I use it whenever I get a chance
why is Tess not a protagonist in the character page?
This comic makes me feel happy
Tess really went “Hey bestie!” and then decked a god
Even if this doesn’t outright destroy Tynan, it is REALLY pulling the metaphorical wind out of his sails. Hard to be intimidated by a guy who keeps monologuing at a bunch of young adults who could not care less and getting punched by a bunch of mortals. Honestly, my prediction for this fight is the tale of Tynan being beat up by a ragtag group of (admittedly powerful but still mortal) magic users might strike at the strength of his power in a way that the tale of the epic three-day fight against Vash didn’t
I ship it. XD
you SAY the sound effect is “crack” but all I heard in my head was the vine boom
Just when I thought my crush on Tess couldn’t get any bigger, there she goes punching the most punchable face in the universe.
(Transcriptions aside, I’m imagining a deep and satisfying gong sound)
Usually, the sky chooses, but sometimes, it seems, the ground chooses back. :V
The sheer number of sucker punches in this arc is extremely satisfying.
Total so far: 2
to jax:
you aren’t the only one
So do two CRACKs on one page mean you’re becoming a Crack Addict?
i will re-read this chapter after it finishes.
Tess is Saitama-happy.
I highly recommend getting a copy of “The Armored Rose” by Tobi Beck, a female SCA (medieval society) fighter who discusses both the psychology & especially the physiology of females fighting. I suggest it, because I look at that lovely last panel, and I think, “Okay, she’s just dinking around with an off-hand punch–I can’t wait to see the REAL haymaker hit this cumulodouchebag!”
Why, may you ask?
Because of physiology. Given the way the thigh bones socket into the pelvis on physiologically female folks (for a given range of such biological things), trying to throw a right-fist punch with the left-leg forward actually robs that punch of at least half of its impact. Women literally hit harder when we instead punch (or swing a sword, etc) with the same leg forward.
Also, because of these physiological differences, we will break our hand (or at least microfracture it, which was effing painful in my karate classes before I learned better, and literally stopped fracturuing my hand while delivering a LOT more power per punch) IF we try to throw a punch by aming the first and middle finger knuckles at our target, which is how a guy’s hand is designed to align for combat success. Surprise, surprise, we ladies DON’T break our hand when we throw a punch with the ring & pinky finger knuckles lined up as the point of our hardest impact, BECAUSE of the way our hand bones and forearm bones line up being distinctly different from physiologically male bone-and-ligament arrangements.
…Also, butt-wrap shots (a rising underhand blow like throwing a bowling ball or hurling a softball, aka, wrapping your sword under your opponent’s shield and striking up onto the buttocks & lower back with the blade) will hurt like HELL when a woman delivers one, because of the way our ligature (tendons, joints, etc) articulates best, far better than men…whereas overhand blows (think of an axe chopping down onto firewood motion) are more difficult for females since male ligature lines up much, much better for that maneuver for them.
The Armored Rose, by Tobi Beck. Totally worth it, AND it has flipbook style reference photos of various attacks!
Also also also, PLEASE let Tess smakkadoon with a massive blow! I love fellow ladies who can kick divine butt, especially when they do it, well, divinely! 8D
“She straight up just *punches you uwu*”
-max0r
LadyoftheMasque, that was very informative–thank you! *puts book on Amazon shopping cart tut suit*
Red, I was so anxious for an update, so looking forward to the next slot of the action, that when I woke unusually early today, I immediately ran here… and was disappointed. No update. Refresh, refresh, refresh. Dang it.
Took a bit to recall it was Thursday.
Not a morning person,
Icarus
^in Amazon cart, sigh, I hate when autocorrect has poor grammar.
@Ladyofthemasque
Wow, that’s really cool.
I’m counting down the days to a new chapter release.
(4!!!!)
To add to the chapter cover discussion…
There’s pretty clearly some Dainix fire action going on there. (You know, Firestorm, plus the fire around the edge/bottom)
As for the dragon silhouette… I hope it’s not Voidy, because that would just mess things up for everyone, but I don’t really know what else it could be.
@SarissaTeiflingDruid
it could be the lady… (that monster hunter maybe?)
Skye:
I’m pretty sure it showed up in chapter 5, when we first see a possessed Erin, as well as chapters 6 and 7 before we learned The Void Dragon’s name.
@GoodbyeBallad
Are you collecting your stanzas?
If you’re not, tell me the first chapter you did one one and I’ll collect them at the end of a chapter
Oh my gosh, I love this page so much.
Personal prediction: Tynan has a few more tricks up his sleeve. Erin is going to do something that will give us a Hope Spot, then Tynan will up his game, but Erin will eventually save the day by consciously using Void magic, which will solve the Tynan problem, but reveal to the Paladins what he is, which will cause a whole slew of new problems to fall into the Floof Squas’s lap.
@Very Exited
She’s probably not gonna be part of the main squad after this
I don’t remember seeing anything like her in the trope talk screenshots
(though I might be wrong, and feel free to correct me)
@KittenyKat
TessxStomboi?
Just read the archive, great story!
Tess: *touches shoulder* Hey!
*CRACK*
@27 Paper Frog Flays the Undying i’m sure Tess has appeared in a few Trope Talks, or at least the Five-Man Band one
@Very Excited I think Tess doesn’t count as a protagonist yet because we don’t actually know much about her or her motives: why was she searching for Erin in the first place? We know the motives of every other protagonist, but Tess, and Dainix too, are too mysterious right now to be classified as part of the inner Floof Squad. plus, she literally only just met Kendal
@Oz: Welcome to the Aurora fandom!
Miss Tess I have feelings for you
Soon…very soon
I mean, thunder punch is super effective against a flying type… tynan being dual flying electric just makes it neutral, but I bet Tess not only has STAB, she has also a high enough Physical Attack to make it work
I wish I had time to look at this on Wednesday, because I absolutely CALLED IT last page. Somehow Red managed to make it more fabulous than even I was expecting, and I was expecting this to be pretty damn fabulous.
Now that I’ve gone and read a few of the comments, I see that I’m the subject of this page’s haiku. I cannot properly express how much that has brightened up my day. Thank you, HelloHaiku.
what i heard was a thunk
@veggiesnake
There’s a list in the aurora discord (which I am not able to access right now for . . . reasons)
TESS used THUNDER PUNCH! It’s super effective!
(also that grin is adorable)
This one sparks joy (je… jejeje)
I feel like those last 2 panels sum up Tess’s personality, and I honestly love her so much.
she looks so happy to punch him
Ah. I see why everyone is in love with Tess now.
damn i’m getting a lot of new fictional crushes from this comic ok
Alinua
Dainix
Tess
god why why must I only fall for the fictional characters not real people pov Cupioromantic problems
Tynan just keeps dropping all these quotable lines. “Then shatter” “Feel free to panic now” “Them die trying”
Oh, the joys of having a monk in the party.