[manifla]

14 Summary. I had to rewrite this so many times to shorten it.

Spoiler for Yes, Elletear survived:

As it turns out, a gamble on her part was able to offload the excess drugs onto Talisman, a gamble in that he didn’t think she’d be able to grab on to him in such in a condition.
But after their little time together, she’s weakened and crawling on the ground, trying to get into the Astral Fountain that will lead her to the planet’s core
Mizer and Vichy are stunned and silent, but Mizer eventually starts snapping out of it: she’ll never have a better chance to kill Elletear.
Which is why Joheim makes her sit down. Elletear feels that had Mizer been even a little bit like Talisman, this would have been her death. But as it stands, she’s nothing but a silly princess, a terrified little child. And thus, Joheim and Elletear jump.

As for Talisman, his eyes are doubled in size, his body is being replaced by black muscle fiber (like Senator Armstrong??) and he’s talking coherently but about the glory of knowledge and power he’s just seen. Vichy is screaming that they must contain him before he loses it. Mizer is lost in rage and humiliation. What’s been done to her uncle is unforgivable.

Although it’s necessary for someone to go back to the Sovereignty and explain things out in detail to Mirabell, Rin can tell that everyone stinks. A stop at a city along the way to wash up is absolutely unnegotiable. And thus the war between flatties and fatties continues, with Kissing’s input into a unfamiliar situation where she bathes communally.
As everyone finally assembles before Yunmelngen, Iska reaffirms his commitment to his goals. Even if the situation has changed, even if the circumstances and dangers and consequences are all different from what he thought was true before, the war must come to a close. And for that to happen, the Nightmare must die.
The Emperor then speaks in private with the three princesses and Rin. He gets that Alice is worried about what will happen afterwards. That Kissing doesn’t care what she’ll have to do. But that’s a bit hasty of them. Winning against the Disaster was already a unlikely proposition at best, and having to face against its human agents makes it worse. Though Elletear has not thrown away all her heart, it’s all going to be messy no matter what is planned.

Afterwards, there are more meetings and cooldown periods, and Alice is becoming more and more upset with Kissing preferring to stick around Iska instead of him being her exclusive chaperone. Kissing isn’t going to back down in her own way, May is perfectly content to nap and leave it all to him. Sisbell has been chosen to go to the Sovereignty to meet with her mother.

Shanorotte can’t do much on her own despite all her rage. But because she’s in sneaking mode, she spies Mizerhyby along with some other Hydra members and a shaking reinforced container entering the Empire..
Mizerhyby attacks the containment zone around Elsa’s Coffin but finds nothing there. She’s willing to dose up on the Nightmare because she knows of how inadequate her power is for revenge, even if Vichy has serious doubts about this course of action. So Shanorotte decides to reveal herself, taking out surveillance equipment so from that moment on they can negotiate secretly. A location in exchange for the power of Glory.
Everyone in the capital saw the images of Mizerhyby and Shanorotte. But Mismis can’t see Shanorotte as her enemy even now.

Spoiler for Definitely for 15:

Alice calls up her mother to confirm that this wasn’t sanctioned, although politics come into play as this is just as much to confirm the current Nebulis government is not willing to wage open war while keeping the Queen in the dark to an extent. There’s tension with May listening in the background. But Mirabell’s spoken feelings are the same as they have been. Even if she’s been ruminating ever since 9 about Sallinger and his words.
“It’s a rule of thumb that I learned in the Astral Corps. The Imperial Army is tough. The “many sacrifices” of war eventually become “extraordinary sacrifices” when in fact they’re all “unbearable sacrifices”
No Nebulis? No dream power? No all out war.
Alice must stop this impromptu alliance between the moon and the sun
Sisbell and mom meet in Ain, Risya does the drop off. Risya isn’t hiding who she actually is, the Queen has been expecting enemies from all corners ever since the night of the palace invasion, and her hatred of the Empire has not changed. But neutral city rules, cooler heads, etc.
Mirabell finally has some time with her daughter again, hearing some of the story and information about the Apostles, about the Emperor and Nebulis, about Elletear and the Calamity. While a lot of the details remain unspoken (Iska being one of them), Mirabell is having trouble swallowing it all. She believes Sisbell, but what to do…what to do. Sisbell has the chance to ask Shuvalts how he managed to get out of the Snow and the Sun. And Mirabell finally stops looking past the discrepancy when her daughter questions why Sallinger did it. Why would Sallinger kill her predecessor but leave her servant alive?
Somehow, none of it matches up. Looking out the window, Mirabell admits out loud that she was a coward. She knows her daughter took risks to reach the truth. Sometimes the act of knowing requires courage. She must follow Sisbell’s example. She doesn’t say what she wants Sisbell to reveal in the palace, but it’s not the night of the Vichy bombing.
Her personal and professional feelings aren’t in the right place to stick with a response to the Empire. She doesn’t know if she has the guts to condemn her nation to oblivion. She doesn’t know if she has it in her to stop Elletear at All Costs. But she knows she has to straighten something out first.

Spoiler for More War:

All traces of Mizy and Shano fail. Strategies and possibilities are being thought of, but nobody expected the Hydra to attack Omen. Jin and Mismis are the only people that can be left in the Emperor’s tower, and a lot of juggling and on the fly prep is made for Alice and Kissing to be able to start fighting without the rank and file soldiers opening fire. In the end, Nene and Risya believe that Mizy probably wanted the confiscated materials from Elsa’s coffin. And since the site is so huge, only one person probably knows where they are. Normal ways of breaching are out of the question when possible hostages are in play, so Kissing and Rin lend a hand. In the end, Newton can’t hide the drugs from Vichy, but Kissing and Alice confront Mizy before she starts taking them. Vichy goes to prevent Iska and May from getting in the way.
If either were alone and without some information passed on by Iska, Mizy would have overwhelmed Alice or Kissing pretty quickly. Kissing can see that the best way to settle this together with Alice is a war of attrition. Who will run out of juice first? Looks like Mizy because Glory has a heavier toll with more subordinates, she has no choice but to use her subordinates. Whatever can’t be blocked by ice gets erased by her thorns, whatever gets past the thorns gets blocked by ice.
Alice also begins to wonder if this is how Iska felt in 7. Fighting someone so angry and on the verge of losing it – wasn’t she like this back then? She doesn’t like the Sun or the Royal Feud – but she doesn’t want to settle things with Mizy like this. War of attrition it is.

Vichy’s stand against the Disciples isn’t a bad one. Everyone’s underground, there’s limited space to maneuver, and Vichy isn’t taking any chances against Iska and keeps as far away as possible. Risking the collapse of the entire facility by blasting away and keeping their attention on the ceiling, she goes all in on nuking everyone with her black hole.
And so, it’s up to Nene to save the day.
No, I won’t explain how she does it, she hasn’t done much in so long and she deserves her moment of shining glory.

Spoiler for Mismis FIGHTS!:

Shano makes an appearance in front of Mismis while she’s out of the tower, taking out a soldier and stealing their ID. Mismis starts the alert, gets back to the tower, but then the generators and backups and electrical systems go down. Lightning comparable to a high powered laser cannon.
The situation is not looking good, so Mismis and Jin have to play it risky. Shanorotte is probably aiming for the Emperor’s life if she can’t burn down the capital, so they need to keep her attention. Mismis believes that Shano looks down on her and won’t immediately kill her, and so Jin goes along with her ploy. Shano does mow down platoons of mechanical weapons and not feel the slightest bit of threat from Mismis in comparison.
So it’s up to Mismis to start talking. She still doesn’t think of Shanorotte as an enemy.
She knows the score. But if Shanorotte’s definition of enemies and allies is defined by Astral power, well, Mismis has some too now. And she’s not unaware of what that could mean.
She’s thought about what would happen if her other colleagues found out. How they would look at her. How so much of her home has become a prison, or dangerous. How much of the Sovereignty would remain hostile to her as an Imperial Soldier. So she shows her Astral tattoo. She wants to bridge the gap.
And Shano’s response is to shoot Mismis.
She says she hates Mismis more than other Imperials now. Turning down the force lightning settings, she tortures Mismis, but the Captain’s feelings aren’t changing. So Shano decides to go for the kill –
So E lu emne xel noi Es.
As it turns out, Mismis has what would have been Alice 1’s astral power, 風祝, an ability that can sweep away and calm the destructive impulses of other astral spirits, reflecting Alice’s wish that these spirits shouldn’t be dragged into the conflicts between people, be used to do nothing but hurt others.
That spirit decided long ago that Mismis’s gentle and brave character was worth a gamble, not unlike Eve’s sister. Worth lending a hand, as it were.
Without any other options, Shanorotte decides to go for the old fashioned way, strangle and smash. But despite being injured and hurt, Mismis is still able to talk and grab Shano. She can’t win by her own, and she never intended to either!
That’s enough distraction for Jin to shoot Shano in the limbs. But Shano was a captain once with all the skills needed to be one, and is able to escape briefly with the help of a flashbang
Despite bleeding heavily, Shanorotte tries to run, but gets cornered by Jin and Mismis. Her attempt at suicide is stopped, the emperor appears as well, and nothing she does even pains him.
Forced surrender it is. Mismis takes off her ribbon and fist fights her friend, starting with a good shot to Shano’s nose. A lot of feelings are exchanged here, about stubbornness and rage and regret along with a few pretty dirty blows. Eventually Shanorotte feels the absurdity of it all. She’s losing to a tiny woman, unable to do anything about the leader of the Enemy who’s actually not much different from an Astral Spirit, just fighting without accomplishing anything here.
Exhausted, beaten and on the ground, she admits that Mismis is damn stupid to care about a traitor like her. But maybe that’s why someone that naïve and sweet easily gathers people around her. Like her excellent subordinates who are still with her, like her superior Risya who’s still fighting and in the game. She’s not unlike the arrival of spring to renew the living, isn’t she? Just like her astral spirit.

Spoiler for Giving up:

Mizy runs out of juice and is captured. Kissing and Alice go back up on the surface.
Where the mystery container is found.
And where Talisman has been quiet for a while. And he breaks out.
Talisman is now far stronger and faster than before. Alice has no time for her Ice Flower. And Kissing cannot hit him. He sees that her garden of thorns is a creation of the mind, a shared reflection of the fear of contact with others. And she is far too terrified of what she sees.
Luckily, Iska arrives to stop Talisman from erasing the girls.
Talisman is glad to see the “dreamer” again. He now sees what the star swords are, what kind of a threat they actually represent. As a researcher, now he understands the full history of energy and what humanity can be!
But Iska is not happy in multiple ways. He has his own grudge, but he understood what Talisman once said. How they were people who trained beyond madness. And this? This is a horrible distortion of what Talisman worked on. Alice feels that this parody of Talisman’s mind is horrifying. Elletear was bad enough but this is just ghastly. Giving up her astral powers to destroy this horror of flesh and thought that awaits everyone is no longer a difficult choice.
But if the last fight was not in Iska’s favor, then this is flat out a losing battle for survival, because Talisman is just destroying everyone. Even if Talisman’s body is falling apart from the overdose and lack of compatibility, he can still just regrow what he loses. When Yunmelngen said that fighting the nightmare would be horrible, he meant every last word. Talisman can punch hard enough now that he will shatter the Star Swords if he connects.

But Mizy is nearby. And finally, after seeing her uncle like this, she understands her own feelings. She was ultimately mad at herself more than anyone else. For choking up. For not being able to carry through.
Talisman took his chances against Elletear. He stood up in front of her, protected his family, faced his fears down and fought. He was brilliant to see (no comments right now about his moral character or choices), and what is happening is not what anyone should want.
Enough is enough. Her power is not, and never was the greatest in the world. It should remain as the “noblest”, and she throws everything she’s got left into Kissing and Alice.
Their powerup is not enough to destroy Talisman, but it’s enough to overwhelm him long enough for Iska to destroy the core of the Nightmare growth. There’s still something human in him after all that, enough for him to see crying Mizy, and tell her not be ashamed of crying – like this, isn’t she a fine lady already?
And down he goes.
Later on, Talisman and Vichy aren’t dead, but they’re definitely not going to be “alright” when they wake up. The Nightmare isn’t a toy or something temporary.
Mizy has accepted her fate, so long as her family’s safety can be guaranteed even if they'll be secured in prisons. She took her chances and must face the consequences. She’s not in a friendly mood with Iska. But the Emperor calls and gets to the point. Everyone needs help, and he’s willing to make a deal.
Nebulis steals the Emperor’s letter because she wants the information in it.
Sallinger is pondering about the contents of Mizy’s earring that has…somehow made its way to him. Wondering about what exactly will he do. About what’s going to happen if Mirabell makes her choice to fight. What indeed?