01x05 - Performance of Swords and Scales, Good and Evil

[bunniefuu]

Backup band, give us fire!

Directors, give us light!

And now, water!

Fire, light, and water

Three layers of wards, huh?

Vanguard, cleave through the darkness!

Right!

They're getting too far ahead.

Should we be worried?

What?!

Ah!

Damn!

Wings, support the vanguard!

Isn't that a

Stand back!

Here!

Chew on this!

You fool!

Yeah!

Way to go, Gordon!

We've got this!

Advance!

Get back, you idiot!

What in the world?

Bye Bye, Earth

Bye Bye, Earth

Talk about a distraction!

Don't panic! They're not that tough!

The enemy's going for our rear line!

We'll have nowhere to run!

Damn!

Who's there?

What's going on?!

They've taken over the water!

Their Restau Rant will swallow us whole!

Restau Rant

The magic of consumption

Retreat!

Here they come!

Conductor!

We need guidance!

Is that Tiziano?

Belle! We can't stay here!

Retreat for now!

Damn it!

sh*t.

I should've been able to do something

Who's that?

Benedictine?

Not exactly the one I was hoping to run into.

Can you get any more jumpy?

Hey, over here.

It can't be

Hey, I'm on your side, remember?

What's wrong with you?!

You were practically asking to get

k*lled, calling out like that!

Sorry, jeez.

Why is this happening to me?

And what were you doing?!

Couldn't you have at least helped Gordon?!

Seriously

Gordon!

You made it out!

Goodness! I was worried sick about—

What's happened?

What's wrong with him?

His blood's all congealed.

He's dead.

He's already dead!

Something's controlling him!

I have to erase him. Wipe him out.

I have to. I have to. I have to.

I have to erase him.

I have to. I have—

Benedictine! That's enough!

No more

No

This can't be real

Here.

Pull yourself together.

I can cut him?

That almost went poorly.

Kitty?! What are you doing here?

Thanks for the help.

That was one hell of a trick you just pulled.

Hardly. Just a bit of mental math.

I've had it

It's too much!

I can't take any more of this place!

Wait!

Sorry.

I didn't mean to break your sword.

No

No No more!

Hey!

What have we here?

C'mon. Just get a grip already.

But But without Gordon, I

Mermaids have minds like mirrors,

reflecting those of others.

They build their identities

on that foundation.

One might even call the whole

tribe mental parasites.

Gordon! Gordon!

So that's how she ended up

as obnoxious as Gordon.

And why her personality collapsed

when she lost him.

How awful

Most mermaids favor a wealth of shallow

relationships for their own protection.

What am I supposed to do

now that I'm all alone?

Don't ask me.

I don't know either.

Monsters!

They're all monsters!

Not here too

Calm yourself, Gwyn.

Oh, it's you.

Is that Gordon behind you?

Yeah.

I see.

You. What is a traveling

Rabbitia doing here?

First, why are you in such a hurry?

Allies I saw die started attacking us.

Ah. Just like he did, then?

What? So she got Gordon too?

Did Tiziano do all this?

What's up?

I can hear something.

Huh?

Someone's talking.

Excellent. You can always count on

a mermaid's hearing in a pinch.

Let's go investigate.

Sure.

This is the place.

I'm glad someone like you

was on the other side.

People are talking.

This'll cost us, but we've got to do it.

I know.

Adonis!

Thank goodness you're okay!

Perry

He just died.

Adonis?

Belle, how many of ours made it?

Just those of us here.

Okay.

I'll take his sword.

The sword thief.

There's a lake up ahead.

To people on the outside,

it's one of the few places

that soothes the souls

of good and evil alike.

I hear there's quite a show to see there.

A show, you say?

Who would arrange such a thing?

Why don't they show themselves?

He's the Underdog conductor.

What?!

You're in league with the forces of evil?!

Hold on!

We had this all wrong.

Who is our enemy?

Our enemy.

Who sowed the seeds of this battle?

Tiziano.

Exactly!

We're up against Tiziano, and only Tiziano!

The Topdogs and Underdogs have that in common!

Adonis

I'll say it again: our enemy is Tiziano!

No one else!

This must be the lake.

But where's the show?

Over there.

Tiziano.

She's recreating a battle of good and evil?

Using corpses, yeah.

She wants to play god.

What's that light?

It looks just like Gordon's wounds.

No, it looks more like

that god's tree.

The mermaid appears to control the dead

by embedding shards of her

sword in their bodies.

H-Hang on

Isn't this bad?

Adonis!

Crap!

This doesn't look good!

Enemy reinforcements?!

Over here! Hurry!

An illusion?

We'll run for it! Follow me!

Watch out!

Bamboo! Give me something hot and fragile!

It broke?

He treated his sword as disposable?

Is that how Adonis fights?

He only thinks about efficiently

taking down his foes

The polar opposite of me.

Look there!

Hurry!

No need!

I'll see to it that no one breaches this door.

Anyone who touches it from the other

side will taste a scorching hell.

There you are.

So, we meet again.

I know you.

From my first trial.

The name's Gin Buck.

I'm the Underdog conductor.

Then you gave Tiziano orders?

Yeah.

What was that "show" supposed to be?

That watery lass wasn't so far gone

when she first showed up.

She could think straight,

and she had life in her eyes.

I mean, she came to us

and proposed an alliance.

She what?

She said the Topdogs would attack this place

and that she'd come because she had

good reason to bloody their noses.

Basically, "Let's team up."

What's he talking about?

I thought we came here to fight Tiziano

because she went over to evil.

Want me to tell you when that watery

lass went off the deep end?

When she laid eyes on me.

You got it.

Soon as she saw you, she started

cutting up everyone in sight.

Are you to blame for this, Adonis?

Not me. Another man.

He defied a divine summons

and fled from battle.

The priests ex*cuted him.

No!

I was the one who broke the news to Tiziano

that the man she loved most was dead.

She started to lose it after that.

And now we're in this mess, huh?

Seeing me must have brought back memories.

Adonis

Well, whatever.

One thing's for sure. We'll all end up

her puppets if we don't we act fast.

So

what do you say we join forces for a while?

You must be joking!

How do we know you won't

lead us into a trap?

Excuse me? Is your head on straight?

What was that?!

Why would we bother tricking you?

We could've just picked you off

one by one in the caves.

Nevertheless, if we join forces,

you'll learn of our swords and tactics.

Exactly! You're Underdogs!

We'll end up fighting you again someday.

That's for sure.

I'll have to beat your puppeteered

corpse once they k*ll you.

Come on, you lose this round.

We've gotta team up this time, Bennett.

All right, fine.

I'll play along if you say so, Belle.

Good. Let's divvy up roles, then.

Anyone object to me as the conductor?

Conductor

How could we? I mean, we haven't got one.

Okay, that settles it.

Next, we need a director.

Director

Hey, you there, want to give it a try?

Me, you say?

We're a mixed force of good and evil.

Who better to direct us

than a nomad who's neither?

Besides, there might be a lucky find

in it for you if you take the job.

Oh?

Hey, Mist.

Cough up that thing you

"found" the other day.

What? Darn it

This look familiar?

Sure enough, the threads of fate hold fast.

Come again?

Nothing. It certainly does.

Well then, to show my gratitude,

allow me to accept the role.

Great!

Next we need a libretto

to plan our strategy.

Libretto

Scriptwriter

I'll do it if you really want me to.

What, giving up already?

Well

So, what sort of script should I write?

Don't look at me. That's your job.

Yes, of course.

But I, er, thought I'd better

take requests beforehand.

Are you stupid?!

Trying to make everyone happy is how you

wound up with a formation so easy to break!

Just write it how you want.

You sure are strong.

What? You sure like hiding

behind your weakness.

It's pathetic.

Maybe you're right.

I'll do it.

There's something I've been wanting to try.

Good to hear.

Next up

I'm a pianistus. I can't be anything else.

Pianistus

Accompanist

Oh yeah? And why's that?

So that I may report the outcome

of battle to the king, I—

Oh, so you just watch.

We priests may not wield our swords.

Come again?

While I wear this mask and chain,

I am a solist and yet not.

I merely observe battle in our god's

stead and bring word to the king.

Got it.

Then stay behind me

and out of our way, you hear?

Adonis.

What of your hands?

I see. So even sacred ashes couldn't

fix them after all.

That wasn't the only reason

I moved to the inside.

You two know each other?

He's my son.

Your son?

Yes.

I never dreamed we'd wield

our swords together.

What a pleasant surprise.

So Adonis really used to be an evil solist?

No.

Our family, the Collinses, are outsiders,

but we're neither good nor evil.

Huh?

For generations, our sole duty

has been to guard the Katakombe.

You're not on either side?

Now then,

let's get in a little practice!

Libretto, give us our formation!

Right!

Tom Collins

(Outsider)

John Collins

(Outsider)

Adonis the Question (Topdog)

Sandy Collins

(Outsider)

Solists, Right Flank

Benedictine (Topdog)

Belle Lablac (Topdog)

Mist

(Underdog)

Toddy

(Underdog)

Cloud

(Underdog)

Solists, Left Flank

Snow

(Underdog)

Froze

(Underdog)

Coral

(Underdog)

Solists, Rear Guard

Cassis (Topdog)

Pianistus

Kitty the All (Nomad)

Director

Gwyn (Topdog)

Libretto

Ease into working together! Got that?!

Gin Buck (Underdog)

Conductor

Why do I feel so excited?

This has never happened before.

Here they come!

Don't go slipping up now!

Fifth Movement

Performance of Swords and Scales, Good and Evil

A Question mark! But why?!

I'll make this place a fortress.

Will this do?

The art of ward inversion.

That my life has value

I believe in you.

Sixth Movement

Concerto in a Land Where Death Blooms