So this chp. is FUCKIN WILD(ESPECIALLY AS A GAME FAN LMAO)! So shadow finally confronts the true culprit of this all Black Doom & the truth is revealed. Everythin. Shadow is born of BD's cells, shadow is partly made in the goal of creatin bioweapons in the space colony ark, BD gave his Cells in the deal that he would get dibs on the findings/results in the research, The human who made shadow utlizin BD's cells made the deal but wit other intentions in mind himself(likely in regards to maria's illness), But "ethical issues & the dangers" as BD puts it causes the humans to want to shut it all down & destroy everythin includin the Ark itself which leads to the raid at the start. This all happened *50YRS* AGO! When we JUS left the Ark right after the incident took place. Apparently that's not quite true tho. It really HAS been 50yrs real time but shadow doesn't remember ANY of it & ofc Maria doesn't even know a raid happened cus she's from a point before it took place. Shadow was actually asleep after bein sent off by maria in some containment & when 50yrs past shadow had ALR defeated BD. So it hasn't been too long since shadow defeated BD the last time they met before all this. BD wants shadow for his own goals(restoration of his body that was likely heavily damaged or destroyed from last time they fought) so he entered this location they've been in since issue 2(?). before shadow did & started gettin his plan in gear startin wit manipulatin shadow's memories. He altered some memories & pushed other harsh memories more to the forefront jus so shadow would come to hate everythin. He even ofc erased the bulk of the memories shadow had built up since the raid incident & anyone he met. He even created shadow's lil buddy(Bug eye) while not havin his own body so that someone shadow could be led to trust would lead him to absorb the Orbs up till now. This obv all put shadow in distress so much so that he even silently wonders if the maria he's been runnin around wit is a made up memory. Bug eye even happens to add that maria beein there was a part of the whole plan he specifically made up to give shadow a reason to run around for the Orbs(as a game fan u have no idea how much this fixes a huge issue in the plot of the game this is based on). As the time is nigh due to shadow gainin all the requirements for BD to use him the sky & landscape change & BD transforms havin gained much of his power back. BD tests his strength on a bunch of city buildings that were nearby by & decimates them in 2 moves(a big punch & a bunch of orb shaped floatin beam shooters). He's ready to absorb shadow to finish his plan now. Maria asks of wut's best to do now in all the chaos that jus erupted but she's laughed at by bug eye who states everythin is done & all he has left is to be absorbed or erased as his purpose is served. Maria counters this by simply... thankin him. Due to Bug eyes plan to use shadow by gettin him to the orbs & assist him in his goals which in turn necessitated maris bein there she got to experience somethin outside of bein in the Ark all the time. So despite this ultimately bein for the purpose of servin BD's goals & usin both shadow & maria she got somethin she appreciates so much out of it that she's grateful for. This surprises Bug eye a lot. Ofc it prob would anyone who did wut he did & Y he did it. BD realizes a good way to get shadow mentally where he wants him he tries to kill maria. Shadow is still too distraught to move so maria tries to get to him before BD attacks but then Bug Eye stops the attack by bashin himself into it. Confused BD asks wut Bug eye is doin & he simply states he doesn't know, he felt shadow didn't treat him very well but despite that the time they spent got Bug eye to C how determined shadow is to protect/save maria. It made him envious that shadow had somethin like that & was even touched by bein so sincerely thanked by Maria despite Y he did it. This may imply he'd never get/gotten a thx from anyone before or after this cus he was made recently to expressly trick shadow & that was it. Ofc BD would not care to genuinely thank someone who is especially of his own creation in the 1st place. In short he gained a "heart" & for that BD will now reabsorb him back into his being. Before this Bug eye asks shadow to protect maria. This causes a reaction in shadow & he painfully pulls out wings from his doom powers but he's still out of it & seems to be more consumed by it & everythin goin on. Shadow's hate has gone wild & BD is in joyous glee by the display of the power he's been seekin. So he can destroy that which he pleases. Everythin was accordin to plan in BD's case except for Maria. BD only wanted shadow to keep his memories of hatred from things like his poor ark life or the raid that killed maria but maria herself remains the 1 factor he fully remembers outside the hatred. This wasn't accounted for & he doesn't get Y this is the case. Maria does her best to snap shadow out of his mental breakdown. She tells him that the reason she of all things he remembers fully even in his hatred is cus he has "a heart that cares for another". She asks for shadow to keep himself safe & falls off the buildin they're on expectin to die in her fall. Shadow in his own mind barely hears all her cries to him & even started to forget her & who he was. However Maria's voice did jus enough to anchor shadow & he saves her jus in time usin his wings. His mind bein cleared represented by the black sludge of the wings that covered the top part of his head & eyes now gone from his face. He might now be ready to face BD & solve this whole thing.
So this was def the big "answers all" part of this manga. It was kinda wild ESPECIALLY as a game fan, like this is LEAGUES diff in a lot of ways while holdin some similar themes & ideas. I actually prefer so much of wut they did here compared to the game & for ppl readin blind it gives a solid rundown of important things they need to know bout shadow's history for the story in a natural way. Outside a couple things I'm sure of that will stay intact from the game I GOT NO FUCKIN CLUE how they'll conclude certain things cus this was so wild. I really enjoyed it for a multitude of reasons like how shadow & Maria inspire Bug eye. The reveal of shadow's memories bein messed wit is wild & all this & more sets up wut will be up next really well imo. The Art was really cool here too. BD before & after he transforms looks fantastic. I really like the way the black sludge from the doom power wraps around all over shadow & even his eyes. It jus looked really cool. Potentially the best lookin chp. tbh. As I mentioned before this all also fixes issues I had wit the game this is based on too which I love & I jus really liked wut it went for for the most part here & enjoyed it the whole way through. The next 2 chps. will be the end of this & as I said there's a lot bout this idk how close it may play itself to the game wit a lot bein diff here but I really am hopeful it sticks it & I can say I really liked the whole thing. We'll C. Till next month on the penultimate chp. |
