Spoiler Latest Chapter Discussion Thread for Death Mage Raws

That's a very cartoonish, stereotypically villainous thing to do.

Van: "Grr. My greatest weakness: innocent pen pals! I see my archnemesis is as incompetent as ever. CURSE YOU, HEINZ!"

 

heiro001 I doubt that MarshkuzarlxSchneider happens, after marshkuzarl sacrificed his son for the good of his country lost any opportunity to negotiate with the love without borders that is Schneider, although the scene reminds me of an extreme reason to rescue fiona in shrek one.

Will the day come when Wakgnolovanland will open to the public and start using vandeliu as a pet?

it is good that densuke has decided to recover almost forgotten characters and even more that he has done it taking into account how the difference of physical and growth rates is an aspect to be taken into account when relating to the races of life.

 

Whew, lot of stuff happening since I last popped up. Seems war is on the horizon. Civil, Religious, and the good old standard. Still, plenty of ways for it to get spicy. Big one is this becoming a four way battle by Gilly being revived by the very dumb decision of having Rokudo and that Thief to be nearby. It would not only allow him to get access to his reincarnation system and possibly getting the dungeons running on full power, but with Rokudo being part god, and the jobs and cheats, he'd get a pretty good consolation prize for what Van claimed.

I also get a feeling that Rodiot is going to fuck up his situation somehow. Either by Alda finding out he gave TWO people parts of the demon lord's soul, or finding out he is indeed a god of the world. Either could force him to actively make cheap reincarnators for Alda. Slap a bunch of curses on them and Holy magic and you have an anti undead unit. As much as he wants to keep his system working, he probably wants to keep himself from being staked more in this scenario.

 

Oh no, don't put this on Van. Narumi and Hiroto were the ones who decided to be absentee parents who left their children's care to literal super-villains... I do admit Van is responsible for introducing Mei to wiggly bits though.

"While agonizing over what reply he should write to the second letter, he heaped curses on the [5 Colored Blades] who were behind encouraging her to send it." Despite it being his go to, Van doesn't respond well to passive-agressiveness himself.

I am kinda with Van on this one though, you literally kidnapped his mother and sold her to a lunatic who burned her alive for having him Heinz. Even if you don't give a crap about Van, do you want Van to tell Selen all that? Is that good for her emotionally to have a stranger explain you did the exact thing the people who killed her parents did in whatever way he feels like, with whatever context or lack thereof he feels like, instead of you? You've put a child you're supposed to be responsible for in potential harms way for some real emotional damage, if not physical (which I guess I can give him a pass on since he knows Van only wants the 3 remaining original Blades dead and no one else, but at the same time he learned from that last encounter Van can show up at any time. There is nothing to assure he can't get to Selen and tell her whatever he wants.)

You really need to only look at how Van's been looking after his "daughter" / adopted sister Pauvina in this arc, assuring her he won't let Alex do anything to her after he found out she had an issue with Alex being creepy, vs. what Heinz is doing, encouraging Selen to be a point of contact with someone who he knows does not have his well being at heart, to see that (as usual) Heinz has some serious empathy / putting himself in other people's shoes problems.

Just because it won't happen doesn't mean we can't fantasize about the forbidden romance of an emperor and a rebel! (Though yes, probably not. I think the only thing Densuke's done so far that's even close is Vida's pansexuality.)

 

@ heiro001 yes, that is impossible has never stopped those who make fanfics, on the other hand I think that it was mentioned in the first encounter with the vampire that uses lipstick (mille?) that there are homosexual and bisexual vampires due to their long life, something that should be similar in other races of life. and knowing how liberal they usually are in the life faction, I don't think they have too much prejudice towards them.

 

Miles isn't gay. He just likes looking beautiful and likes beautiful things and people. It was never said that there are homo or bi vampires, what was said is that the longer lived vampires tend to become more eccentric because they're not totally alright in the head.

 

Heinz's party members refer to him as a "justice meathead" after all. Putting it another way, if it's more complicated than swinging a sword at a monster it's too advanced for his brain. (Well, not literally and he has sometimes been insightful). It's like he's been taught to "think positive" and does so and hence doesn't bother with all those little details that separate a realistic/practical approach/outlook from a dumb one. It's very rare that he genuinely reflects upon his actions and the effects it has had on others. He's not malicious but he is a fool and is lacking in empathy / seeing things from a different perspective. I wonder if he'll ever overcome his flaws.

He's not nearly as bad as Alda though.

PS I wonder what Selen actually wrote to Van about. I don't think it was ever stated. From the context in which is came up it sounded like they were curious about what exactly was going on with the reincarnators, other worlds etc etc but for Selen to write a letter about all that they'd first have to explain it all to her, which seems unlikely.

PPS Amused to note that Jadal (Basdia's daughter, Zadiris's granddaughter) expects to marry Van in future. So he's going to marry 3 generations of ghouls? Nice...

 

That goes way beyond a simple oyakodon. Nice...

 

Well, part of Heinz's problem is that for the most part he has picked safe/slow options as oppose to Van going for the riskier ones with higher rewards. While he was making some progress with the Vida-Alda alliance, the moment he went into Bellwood's dungeon, he took himself out of everything. His grinding was safe, he had no real outside interaction, and for his party who he had coming was who he had coming out. His lack of desire to actively buck rules to improve the situation makes any growth slow there, and by trying to appease everyone, he has appeased no one.
Schneider is the exact opposite. He was incredibly high risk and the rewards matched it. Functionally immortal, keeps getting allies, has gone out of his way to do crazy stuff, bucked rules to save lives, and while he has made enemies, he has made more allies. Van is also like this. Even Fitun was like this and he gave Van a good run himself.
Because of all the rules, his own ignorance, and lack of desire to either put himself out there, he has become stagnant. He still grows in power, but even with Bellwood, he's going to have trouble catching up with Van 'I accidentally hijacked a over god'. Van's allies have grown, his presence has been constant, and in terms of politics, his plans have progressed swiftly while Heinz's are still stagnant or even worsened since he entered the trials.
He is going to lose, but in what way and how brutally is going to be important.

 

Heinz care other but he sight is bias because Alda teaching still keep root him.
Same as Asagi who cause problem to other because his perfect ideal (Asagi sound like Young Belwood).
Heinz is the people hero and god chosen one no doubt but other expectation bit him hard.
Heinz ideal is collective ideal from mass, he maybe forget what really want. (Heinz love Selen like his real daughter but he never think about her future so he forget his own common goal)

 

Now I can't help but think of Mei playing with doll (made of tentacles) before suddenly being interrupted by grown ass adults an telling her "Mei, we love you, but you tentacle love is going out of control, this is a intervention" "Muh, but wiggle bits are fun!" "Yes, but having a bed made out of them is too much!"

That sound like a bad crack fanfic villain and I love it! And I guess the funniest part is that it is not really a joke....

Sometimes I wonder if what pisses of Van more is not that Heinz is alive, but that Heinz kinda don't care. CARE DAMMIT!

 

That's actually pretty in character. Mind you, Van is pretty vindictive when crossed, he would still want him dead even if Heinz genuinely regretted what he did. However, Heinz won't even afford Van that much contrition. For Heinz it was an unfortunate event, something that he HAD to do and not a moral decision on his part, it's what makes him an interesting antagonist. He's like Schneider's evil twin.

 

@Mesaphrom the ironic thing is that she among the three wizards of death is the most normal, Maria is a woman who was broken and then hit with soul glue talosheim mark and vandeliu is ... vandeliu

@vannn would not say that heinz is the evil version of Schneider, we see heinz as dangerous, evil and imconpetent because we have an omniscient observer point of view but before the moral values and laws of lambda it is not and Schneider would be and is A criminal across the continent. if this were the story on the side of alda we would see him as an idiot but not as a villain.

and I don't like compare our dragon slayer, lover of everything that can be considered as a woman who fights the gods with her fists with that aspiring champion (who in the best case has only had one or two girlfriend in her life , being perhaps even a virgin at worst) who needs the power of bellwod to feel safe. It's like comparing an 80 -90 series b action star with a protagonist of modern action movies.

 

Thinking on it Vannn, its a bit worse than that. Looking at his interactions with others and all he said, it seems that Heinz is simply incapable of putting himself in other people's shoes. If a human child ran up to him and said 'Please help, 5 horrible monsters kidnapped my mom and had her sacrificed by a demon cultist at the stake!', he would likely help and even emphasize with the kid when he can't forgive them. Even the act with the letter is pretty shallow, assuming two people from the same 'race' and age would understand each other and mellow Van out. I sort of want to see the letter and the follow up just to laugh at it.
It's less than he has to do it, it's that he is doing the absolute minimum for the situation at hand without understanding why its like that. He's the sort who would give five bucks to a charity on a whim, but when someone less fortunate gives him the stink eye for ignoring his request for some change, he thinks his donation to the random charity is enough. I don't know if its intentional, but it makes him a better antagonist as well as your point.

 

So Van perfect plan is to pretend to be insane?

 

Chapter's out!

"The Emperor That Lies in Wait and the Emperor That Inches Ever Closer." (Hidden Emperor, Crouching Emperor? )

In case you forgot the last chapter, Densuke decided to sum up the key points in this one: Schneider kidnapped Marshkuzarl. Hiroshi and bunch of the kids (?) from Talosheim had a meet up in Van's inner world. Also general purpose transformation equipment is now in production.

Uh, so apparently Schneider didn't get Van's approval after he decided to kidnap Marshy, he decided to get Van's approval after he actually kidnapped Marshy. While the former Emperor's gagged, blindfolded and bound in rope. And the rest of Schneider's party is just standing there mortified at Schneider being Schneider.

I think it's an interesting distinction that Van doesn't feel a need to kill Marshkuzarl despite feeling strongly about Heinz's need to die because he's a "former emperor" and a "captive". Yes, Marshy made the laws that led to Darcia's death, and gave the orders that led to Mirg attacking Talosheim and a number of the swords coming after Van in the Scylla Autonomous Region. But at the same time, he now has no power to be a threat to Van or those he cares about. Van is more motivated by wanting to protect his loved ones than punish past transgressions (which actually kinda puts him on the complete opposite side of things as Alda too.)

Also ooh boy: Mashy's capture made Van late for picking up a daily quest for school and one of the only ones left was "weed the backyard of the asylum". And the groundskeeper there couldn't be bothered with the count's / his superiors' frankly weird order to not let anyone talk to the patients. At which point Manas-Vijnana (or maybe just Van being such a mother-con) led him to go say hello to Elizabeth's mother Amelia who was looking out the window while he was weeding, Van (being a mother-con) plays along with her and even makes her a crown and necklace of flowers using his various abilities... and now congratulations Elizabeth, Van is your now not so imaginary step father!

But ugh Rudel Sauron, he apparently made up rumors that Amelia and Elizabeth only got away because Amelia slept with the soldiers. In case you forgot, Amelia and Elizabeth got away because Amelia's whole fucking family of knights and their friends died escorting them. Avalon cannot get here soon enough to do his proper plot device job as a super-villain and kill all the awful nobles in Orbaume just like he did with all the corrupt politicians back on Origin. Just have Elizabeth be the new duke. Or Privel. Or heck give it to Iris (I know she's kinda in line to become the Queen Knight of the Majin nation somewhere down the road when Godwin finally weasels his way out of work, but still).

Anyway, Elizabeth asked, and Van agreed to help with Amelia's treatment, so t-minus 2-5 chapters before the corrupt count at least is dead! But first, Van gets himself committed the the Asylum by basically saying he sees dead people (don't mind the fact the dancing light, flame and water ghosts are all entirely real and are dancing because Kanako cannot be stopped) so he'll have direct access to Amelia while he's trying to treat her. Also given this is a feudal asylum where explicitly those committed are left by society to rot, I'm guessing by next chapter the majority of the patients will be on the Manas-Vijnana path.

Also good on Van for still being so diplomatic with this whole Selen thing: "P.S., the next time you send me a letter, I'm putting what happened in the Mirg Shield Nation in my reply." Final warning Heinz! Also I'm getting the sense there's a literal curse in Van's latest letter back. My guess is it'll make Heinz go bald. The V-Cream giveth and the V-Cream taketh away!

 

so instead go to elizabeth we go for her mother eh.......
i wonder what will elizabeth think latter when her mother hypothetical say she will marry van lol

 

So the next chapters are going to be a crossover with I am the demon king and I remarried the heroine's mother? Does vandel's mother complex now affect the mothers of others? How will Elizabeth react when she finds out that she has a stepbrother dragon and two stepsisters who are committed to her stepfather? Will someone congratulate Schneider for defeating the swords that break evil and capture the emperor alone? What kind of fate awaits marshkuzarl? What fate awaits the poor gardener and the unnamed employee? discover the answer to even half of these questions in the next chapter of the death mage.

@ImanotherGuyFroyou no, vandeliu's plan is to act as usual.
because when I think of van they send curses to heinz I imagine a whole book instead of a letter while that of selen is only going to have even two pages. Question: does Selen know that Vandel is a demon king or not?

 

what was the reason heinz doesn't ask van about the undeads through the letters agian? i seem to have forgotten or did he not think about it?

and that shows that heinz took the one wrong path, when dealing with van, getting stronger. if he stayed weak, he wouldn't be a threat to van or his loved ones and van would lose that as a reason to kill him

 

The reason Heinz wants to do it in person is basically
1) so if HE can't accept vans reasoning for making more undead he can kill Van
2) if Van dies and the undead go back to mindless killing machines, what is Vans plan to ensure this doesn't happen (other then don't die).
3) if Heinz FEELS it too much of a threat even after hearing a reasonable options he can kill Van.
4) Heinz knows that Van won't read a letter from him and even if he writes his questions in Selena's letter he won't get a reply.

And yes, Heinz will likely not see eye to eye with Van on this matter as to his common sense Undead are evil monsters who just kill.
Heinz believes if Van dies the undead will return to being mindless, so in his view its better to kill them all whilst he can and also kill the cause before it becomes a issue thousands of years down the line and 'mankind' is wiped out. (which when seen from his p.o.v is a reasonable view)
Remember Heinz has a lot of skills specialised to kill undead, it likely reflects how he feels about them and the number he has killed.
now vise versa it also means if he starts to see them as people (at least Vans) it means his whole world view will start collapse even more then it did when Van told him he was scum in the dungeon for going into a village and murdering a bunch of people just trying to live in peace without any proof of wrong doing.