Demon/Snow

tl;dr

The Story Itself

• This event feels similar to the Bandit Returns event, as it revolves around exploring Gio Niflhel.
• The dynamic between Satsuki and Yukino is pretty nice. Both in the "serious" manner and the "cute" manner.
• Rurui gets some cute moments there and there, but it's pretty minor all things considered. Understandable, since she's not the main focus of this story,

Difficulty

• Satsuki's formal greeting made me go "what the fuck?"
• Yukino has that yakuza tounge, but still somewhat managable.
• Why the fushck dyoes Rurui spcheak lhike thyis? Thyis dyoesn't affhect dyiffhichulty ayt ashll, but iyt wyhas shtill anhyshyign.

The Story Itself

The Worldbuilding

Bandit Returns focused on things that happen outside of Nephi's jurisdiction, the bandit activity that happens in Gio Gehenna. Snow/Demon, while focuses on things that are still within Violet's jurisdiction, covers things are still things outside the royal palace. Those things are oni culture and the Eternal Glacier Yukino manages.

Oni Culture

Satsuki, the oni, is fucking dead. Of course, it's only natural for someone from the oni tribe village to be present at her funeral, and that someone is the oni tribe village chief. And from there, the audience is exposed to some oni customs.

Bedside Knife

From the get go, you're exposed to oni funerary customs. The oni chief is disappointed in the lack of Violet's presence. Rurui explains that it's because Violet isn't feeling feel and also because Satsuki's knife is missing. What knife? The bedside knife. It's a knife that you put besides the pillow of the deceased, it is said that the deceased will used said knife to protect themselves in their journey through the afterlife.

Onis' Sense of Honor

Shit happens during Satsuki's funeral, because her body went missing and because Satsuki herself decided to show up as a spirit with KSKN as the only person being able to see her. KSKN tries to relay what Satsuki is saying, as Satsuki suggests that there might be a way to get her back into her own body. Of course, everyone else thinks it's bullshit. They try to convince the others by saying things that only Satsuki would say, some are convinced...until it's Yukino's turn to ask. Yukino asks Satsuki about a question that she asked a long time ago. She doesn't say what the question is, she only wanted to hear what was Satsuki's reply then.

No response from KSKN. To the others, it obviously looks like he's starting to run out of bullshit to spew, but in reality, it's because Satsuki suddenly got headaches as she tried to muster up the answer. Yukino tries to play it off as if the reply she got was Satsuki's silence, but that doesn't work. Count Orlok (the vampire guy) commands his army of headless soldiers to catch KSKN. KSKN, Yukino and Rurui run away.

They run until they arrive at Satsuki's birth village. The villagers there are suspicious at KSKN, but they eventually ease on him when they see Yukino, happy to see her finally managing to nab a boyfriend. Hilarity ensues.

The group explains the situation, while the onis would be glad to grant them shelter, housing fugitives would also spell problem for them. They propose a deal, if Yukino and KSKN manage to prove the passion of their bond to them, they'll let them in. Obviously, Yukino was about object because they're not dating, but Satsuki tells them to go along with it. Onis have a sense of honor, and one of them is being open with how passionate you are.

They decide to hold a performance. KSKN dances (while copying the invisible Satsuki), Yukino plays her shamisen. They manage to convince the onis in the end after some struggle.

Eternal Glacier

Satsuki's body has been found...but it's been possessed by Miyako! Miyako came to Gio Nifhel looking for pudding, but only found Satsuki's body, and just decided to possess it...because. Obviously, the group tells her to fuck off from Satsuki's body, but for some reason, Miyako can't leave it. Miyako throws an idea out that she may be able to leave if she eats a pudding so good that she floats away from the pleasure. Count Orlok hears this and proposes that Miyako give him the body in exchange for pudding. Miyako agrees, much to the group's chagrin. There's no friend or foe when it comes to pudding...

The story cuts to Miyako's judging the pudding. Count Orlok's is shit because it was made from ingredients from Gio Gehenna. The group's is good because it's a pudding straight out of Gio Teogonia. How did the group manage to get pudding from a whole nother world on such short notice? That's when being allied to one of the Three Demon Princesses makes the difference.

They went to the Eternal Glaicer. Just so we are on the same page, Gio Niflhel is basically the recyling bin of LoA. Dead people end up there as zombies and ghosts and souls and whatnot, while things in general end up in the Eternal Glaicer, frozen. Since most of Gio Teogonia's infrastructure is made out of sweets, some pudding ended up after some demolition or something. It's like a time capsule, Yukino remarks. As Yukino explains stuff to KSKN, she realizes that she's talking to a man just fine. She starts to wonder if this is how dating feels like...and starts to feel nervous that she starts melting.

The glacier around her also starts melting! It's because if the manager of the glacier is heated, so will the glacier itself! They see the pudding defrosting and uses the opportunity to take it and leave before it gets worse.

The Character Interactions

Here comes the fun part. I actually wrote more than I expected for the worldbuilding part, as you know I'm the kind of guy who cares more about the girls inside the world than the world itself. I really liked how the worldbulding is done through the character, if that makes sense. Satsuki's death which results in oni culture exposition, and Miyako's pudding demand which results in Eternal Glacier exposition. Anyway, let's talk characters.

Satsuki's Lesson in Proper Speech

You...know...how...Yukino...speaks...like...this...like...a...certain...other...singer...? Unlike that certain other singer, we actually see her overcome this issue of hers in the story.

In the prologue, a flashback happens as Yukino is doing her speech in the funeral. It shows her and Rurui practicing formal greetings like Satsuki did when meeting with Nephi Nera in the main story. Yukino is doing it because she's one of the three demon princesses, so having articulate speech would definitely help her with her job, while Rurui, the same thing, because she's an attendant which mean having to entertain guests and all that.

Satsuki notices them doing this, and offers them some advice since they are struggling. Raise your head, straighten your chest, and control your breathing. Finally, really put your thought into it before opening your mouth, try to think about how to make the other speaker understand you.

The flashback ends, with Yukino revealing that's how she's able to make that speech. The funeral visitors are amazed, praising her. KSKN wonders if that's normal, and it is revealed that it's a Gio Niflhel thing where funerals are supposed to be a celebration of someone's life, and not simply a ceremony of mourning death. Hey, that's another piece of worldbuilding!

However, this isn't the end of Yukino's arc. In Episode 6, the council is agreeing to cremate Satsuki's body. Obviously, Yukino objects, since it's been said again and again that a revival is possible. They're agreeing to cremate to prevent further possessions, the alternative would be to lock up Satsuki's body somewhere, which Count Orlok argues that the oni chief might take that as an insult to the oni race.

Satsuki, being a ghost, simply floated into the castle. Seeing the situation, Satsuki tells Yukino to speak up. Obviously, Yukino trembles at the thought, so Satsuki offers more advice, or simply motivations this time. She reminds Yukino how she stepped forward despite her trembling legs, she minds Yukino the time she made the sled when leaving the Eternal Glacier despite being afraid she might freeze KSKN again, she reminds Yukino how KSKN remarked that things will be alright because it's Yukino handling things.

So, Yukino decides to speak up. First, she gets the attention of council by playing a note with her shamisen. Count Orlok tries to butt in, but Yukino is firm, playing another note telling him to shut the fuck up. And so, Yukino pleads her case and proposes a stake, if the revival doesn't work, she's willing to resign her position as one of the three demon princesses. Seeing her resolve, the council is finally swayed and holds another vote. The vote ends on a 50/50, which normally would mean that cremating would proceed as planned, but the oni chief tribe arrives just in time and places his vote on Yukino, tilting the situation into her favor.

Yukino's 100-page Letter

The side content covers the letter Satsuki finds in her casket when sorting through all the shit that was in there. She finds a letter from Yukino, which is your usual farewell letter. Yukino says she remembers all the time they'd go to the Eternal Glacier to freeze things, now how it sucks that she'll have to go there and do the unfreezing alone. So that's what she means when equating the Eternal Glacier to time capsules!

At the end of the letter, Yukino remarks how 2 pages isn't enough to convey all her thoughts. Turns out, there's a 100 pages! While surprised, Satsuki resolves to read the entire thing because Yukino already went through the trouble of writing it. Yukino barges in and acts all embarrassed when finding out Satsuki has found the letter.

Violet's Porn Books

Very minor thing, but there's a certain character trait of Violet that I don't see people talk about often. She's also a pervert that hides erotic books, and by also I'm referring to Louise Marie. The main difference is that she's a shipfag and not a self-inserter, I forgot when or where, but I definitely remember the time she went "are nea-sama and kariza-sama lovers!? or perhaps...kariza-sama is with kishi-sama instead!?". Something like that.

Anway, the reason I bring this up is because that's how Rurui got the idea that KSKN should kiss Satsuki to revive her. She found Violet's books and thought that was an educational things instead of a fictional thing. In the end, it wasn't all fictional after all.

Overall Thoughts

This event focused more on worldbuilding, but that didn't mean the character interactions and development here were shafted. As I said before, I like how the worldbuilding happens because of the characters' circumstances, and not the other way around. Like how Vision Empress made the copy worlds, which resulted in a whole slew of trouble for Hiyori and Rei. Not saying that I dislike how they handled Lynx and Cor Caroli, I like how it gave spotlight to locations that has only been visited once and a location that has only appeared in text, but this event handled it much better imo, despite the smaller scale.

Gave some stink to Ranpha up there, but I really didn't mean to. Ranpha just decided to resolve something else. The Andante with You event focused on her finally becoming an official Song Summoner because she never "finished" the rite of passage. I guess they want to keep Ranpha's stilted speech as her character trait. I mean, I can see the appeal in that. So, there you go. For those who said that Yukino is just colder Ranpha.

Honestly, despite being the shortest part of the event, the part of that resonated with me the most was Yukino's 100-page letter. It really shows how close Yukino and Satsuki are. Yukino caring enough to write that much in the first place, and Satsuki caring enough to want to read all of it. While I think Yukino's development in overcoming her shyness in this event was well written, sometimes the smallest things have the biggest impact. The issue here is just the quantity, only one episode? Would've been fun if we actually got the entire letter. Although that probably would've been a big challenge for me to get through...

Difficulty

None of characters here speak normally, what the fuck? Satsuki's greetings, Yukino's yakuza talk and...Rurui. Although the only thing that really stumped me was the formal greetings. Still understood everything else.

99% (821/825) comprehension. Only missed the formal greetings.

That is all. See you on the next blogpost.

Sorry Yukino but I prefer smaller girls *proceeds to plap satsuki in front of her*

Notes

prologue

• satsuki's funeral
• where the hell is violet? this is disrespectful to the oni race
• um, she doesn't feel well. syo iy'm hyere! and we had to hurry up because satsuki lost her pillow knife
• pillow knife?
• gio niflhel costum. someone die, place knife besides their pillow. to protect them in their journey
• rurui, start your speech
• um, okay. satsuki was a wonderful person, even if she seems aloof and brutish
• flashback
• rurui and yukino are practicing formal greetings like how satsuki did it with nephi nera in the main story
• so, you guys figured it out?
• lol no
• here, let me tell you how. raise your head, straighten your chest, control your breathing
• ah, i feel much better now!
• and make sure to think before saying things, keep it simple, so that people understand
• and that's how i'm able to make this speech now
• people in the audience seem to be having time
• is that normal?
• yeah, another gio niflhel costum. people having fun in your funeral = you were looked at favorably
• yukino, your turn
• ah...satsuki was a childhood friend. again, brutish, but always so reliable
• i loved her, i'm going to miss her
• i wanna look at her face one last time...
• wtf? she's not here!?
• satsuki: sup niggers lol

episode 1:

• uh, kskn, who are you talking to?
• huh? can't you see her?
• this is an insult to satsuki!
• get out here and fight!
• stay here, i'll think of something
• sit down, raise your right hand
• repeat after me
• formal greeting
• oni man is convinced, vampire man isn't
• suggests to believe maybe there's a way to revive satsuki
• satsuki tells kskn they need to hurry or she'll be ghost forever
• everyone agrees except for the vampire man, only agreed when outvoted
• rurui asks satsuki for advice, always seen as a squid, even though she's an octopus
• you need to puff out your octopus aura more
• that's such a satsuki response...
• why did this become a counseling session? go, yukino
• um, i asked a special question that one time, what was your answer?
• satsuki suddenly feels pain, doesn't answer
• see? bullshit. catch him!
• um actually, her answer was her silence, so kskn was telling the truth
• and you expect me to believe that? catch them!
• kskn, satsuki and yukino run away

episode 2:

• they run to the oni tribe village
• satsuki's hometown
• the villagers there find kskn
• not a warm welcome
• yukino shows up
• ah, nice to see you've got a boyfriend, yukino
• wtf, nooo
• the group tells the story
• yeah but if we take you in that's also trouble for us
• how about this, proof the bonds between you two and we'll let you in
• satsuki tells them to just do it, oni tribe appreciates these kinds of things
• they decide to perform, kskn dances, yukino does her shamisen
• kskn copies satsuki's dance
• not going well at first, the villagers notice
• kskn remembers that time in the xmas event
• need to be in harmony
• kskn takes the lead, tells yukino to watch his hand
• now in sync, villagers notice, satsuki notices
• the headless knights come to the oni village
• the villlagers tell them to fuck off
• the knights come in anyway
• yukino pretends to be an oni, kskn pretends to be a zombie
• kskn pretends to have infected people
• the knights decide to kill them all
• kskn powers up yukino
• yukino yells
• fuck this shit, i'm not paid enough to get frozen
• hey you guys, they told me to stop searchign the village
• thank fuck! let's get outta here
• satsuki: nice going you two
• thanks satsuki...wait, i can see you!

episode 3:

• yukino was able to see satsuki because she got powered up by kskn
• rurui suddenly arrives, saying that she took care of things back in the funeral site
• she has news, there's a way to revive satsuki
• satsuki needs to be kissed by a prince
• where did you learn about that?
• violet's book
• isn't that just her romance novel
• whatever, let's try it
• can't kiss, because satsuki is a ghost
• oh...
• oh, and one more thing, your body was found!
• by the count
• well, that can't be good, we need to hurry
• too far, satsuki asks yukino to make a sled
• afraid, don''t wanna freeze anyone
• satsuki is fading out, pulled back in with kskn's power
• seeing this, satsuki makes the sled anyway
• arrive, headless knights already there
• the knights are jobbing
• lol....give me pudding!

episode 4:

• miyako came to gio niflhel looking for pudding, couldn't find it
• decided to possess satsuki instead
• jesus. get off me already
• can't, for some reason
• but maybe, if i eat a pudding so good, i'll be able to float out from the pressure
• count: ok, we'll get you the pudding, you'll give me the body
• deal
• wtf miyako!? whose side are you even on?
• there's no ally or foe when it comes to pudding...
• judging time
• count's pudding is shit, made with gio gehenna ingredients
• kskn's pudding is good, because it was from gio teogonia
• wait, how did you get a gio teogonia pudding this quickly? tell us
• wyell...
• things from other worlds flow into gio nifhel, because it's basically the recycling bin of LoA
• yukino takes the group to the chasm of the eternal glaciers, all kinds of things freeze there
• like a time capsule
• they find a frozen geo teogonia pudding
• wtf is that? looks like frozen tofu
• that's a bavarois!
• amazing, how do you know so much about food
• because he's from GOURMET guild duh
• must be because he have taken lots of girls on dates...
• yukino remembers the time she chickened out in the oni village (couldn't make the sled)
• want to make it up to kskn by guiding him around the chasm
• thanks, then...tell me your type
• type!? uuhhhhhhhh
• well, that's embarassing...but talking to a guy sure is fun
• i wonder if this is what dates are like
• dates...dates...with kskn...sounds hot...
• oh no...i'm getting hot too...
• uh, why are the glacier malting?
• oh no, must be because if the manager gets hot, the area gets hot too!
• the pudding just defrosted, take it!
• well, that was how it went. give me back my body.
• wait, i need to savor the pudding
• suddenly, nigger elf says that they're summoned back to the whale castle
• count forcibly takes miyako
• wtf!? you had a deal
• the meeting takes precedent
• yukino, you can take the carriage
• not this gaijin though
• since satsuki is fading away, kskn stays behind, rurui coems with yukino
• the nigger elf was behind things, did something to oni village, count tells him to look for the pudding source

episode 5:

• left behind, satsuki starts to fade away
• kskn tries to keep her together with his power
• satsuki starts to give up
• guess the pudding hint was a bust
• wait a second...pudding
• remembers when riza attacked bskd, riza used a different arrow
• that sucks life, bringing them close to death, and therefore ridding their appetite
• meanwhile miyako could eat pudding just fine
• this means riza knew that she couldn't use her usual method of killing, since violet is already dead
• this also means riza wasn't planning to kill violet, and only wanted to knock her out
• usually use cursed arrow, but now banishing arrow
• then satsuki goes around how people usually don't get to choose how they die
• she saw a chance to die honorably and took it, but that wasn't her intention
• satsuki has a death sister whose death really fucked her up
• why her and not me, etc
• became suicidal because of that
• but meeting yukino reminded her of her sister
• she enjoyed seeing her perform with kskn
• and she enjoyed seeing her dig out the time capsule
• now realizes she wants to live
• alright, heading to the whale castle
• on the way, some zombie man is trying to break a pot
• rurui is inside
• you know, why not use your knife to break it?
• ah right! sorry, my brain is half rotted
• rurui freed, she explains what's going on in the castle
• people are agreeing to cremate satsuki's body
• so that she won't be posessed
• the oni chief isn't present because the village is being attacked (thanks to the nigger elf)
• there's potential of revival though?
• yes, but then we'd need to confine her to prevent further posessions
• and the oni chief would take it as an insult to satsuki
• one member of the meeting noticed rurui
• fuck this squid doing here? fuck off
• and that was how rurui ended up in the pot

episode 6:

• short break in the meeting
• the count is smiling way too much because his plans are going his way
• satsuki waltz in, comments on this
• satsuki!?
• we found a way to revive me, it should work...probably
• you need to convince them though...
• i can't...i'm shit at talking
• c'mon, you know you're strong
• your feet are trembling, yet you still step ahead
• you made that sled despite being scared that you might freeze people
• and remember what kskn said, things will be just fine because you're yukino
• yukino remembers the promise she made to satsuki, that she'll be the one helping now
• okay...got it. i need to get their attention first
• plays a note on her shamisen
• huh? we already reached a majority, you ni-
• shut the fuck up (plays another note)
• yukino pleads her case, that the count is being too reckless
• she doesn't know if the revival will work, but is willing to stake her position
• another vote
• 50/50
• the oni chief finally arrives, tilting the situation to favor yukino
• suddenly, explosion
• nigger elf comes in, accidentally released the monster
• making use of the chaos, kskn and rurui break in
• feed pudding to miyako
• miyako comes out of satsuki
• satsuki goes back to her body and...
• it doesn't work
• rurui chimes in, you need to kiss her
• wtf!?
• you kiss her too, yukino! two people kissing, twice as effective!
• yukino starts melting at the prospect
• she gets wet and trips
• accidentally kisses kskn
• the two accidentally kiss yukino
• it works and satsuki wakes up
• the monster from before shows up
• it was because of this spirit! it's evil!
• ???? fuck off nano
• help us fight this thing, miyako
• nah
• this guy is from the eternal glacier, if we don't beat him, there goes all the pudding
• yah
• then the group beats up the monster

epilogue:

• violet and grace return to gio niflhel after getting the news it's safe now
• i wonder how satsuki's resurrection went..
• sup, it went fine
• huh!?
• so...what happened?
• so, this and that
• i don't understand...
• oh, i get it
• how?
• grace proceeds to tl'dr the entire event
• oh, i see
• the count is treating everyone to a feast
• they all remark that it sucks that liza couldn't be here
• what should be her punishment?
• let's make ger a mountain of pudding for miyako
• sounds good
• they all toast together
• after that, satsuki confronts the count
• brings in the knife licker as witness
• tells him to lick her pillow knife to find out who threw it away
• what, he can do that!?
• no, but your reaction tells me everything
• anyway, since you resolved things peacefully with yukino, i forgive you
• oh phew
• doesn't mean you are free from consequences though
• ah!?
• satsuki punts him away

dear satsuki-chan

• satsuki is sorting the things that was put with her in her casket
• finds letter from yukino
• was adressed to her dead self
• in it, the usual farewell letter
• remembers the time they'd freeze things in the eternal glacier
• promise to unfreeze them in the future
• but now it'll be lonely that she'll be unfreezing them alone
• says that satsuki is a beloved friend to her, and that she'll write often to her
• there are 100 pages
• "holy shit", says satsuki
• but now i already started, might as well read all of them
• yukino barges in on satsuki, embarassed
• yukino freezes the letter after satsuki reads them, much to the latter's chagrin