Previous Links: Preview | #0 | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4
Investment Talk: Bulk resellers only. This is not a high value book and does not have much prospects to become so. It does have some cool art and characters though!
Thus Far: Aldaran was released by the emperor, seemingly out of curiosity or perhaps overconfidence. Kazuo met up with him and convinced him to help Kameko overthrow the empire.
Minako tracks Aldaran and Kazuo to the city at the start of this issue. She is not happy about her establishment being burnt down but she does not blame Aldaran. Instead she wants revenge and is eager to join the new plot to destroy the empire. This gets Aldaran thinking about who else might want to join up.
Minako leads them to Goyo, the underground weapons dealer. Aldaran reveals that the other feudal lords are coming to the festival in a few days to pledge loyalty and legitimize Gurakai's claim to the throne of Shidima.
Goyo does not believe him. But Aldaran makes a pretty convincing point that if it is true, Goyo will be out of business. With all the lords under one rule he won't be able to run his trade so easily. Most likely the emperor will also hunt him down and take him off the streets permanently.
Even though Goyo still doesn't believe him, Aldaran thinks he'll come around if they can give him a reason to think the Adashi rebellion has a chance of succeeding. And to do this, the plan is to attack Mitsura, the Ice Prince.
The rebels gather a small force and plan a sneak attack. Turns out they suck at stealth! 😅 Mitsura is aware right away as they approach. Aldaran tries to abort but the others are thirsty for revenge for what Mitsura did in the village to their friends and family so they run in anyway.
The whole time they were thinking the overconfident prince was unguarded, but it turns out to be a trap. There is a small band of imperial soldiers that surround the rebels.
After the most zealous of the bunch gets himself killed by Mitsura, the rest go to confront the soldiers. Led by Kazuo, they seem to have the upper hand. This just leaves Aldaran to face off against the prince.
Aldaran is using the blade of an imperial soldier named Ikeda. I cannot remember where he got this... it must have been explained in a side issue somewhere. But Mitsura, overconfident as always, taunts him for not being able to use it properly. It is true that Aldaran is an outsider, so he hasn't been trained to use it. So when he lets loose a gigantic powerful attack, it takes a huge toll on his body. Mitsura easily avoids it as well and begins to toy with him.
Mitsura is kind of baffled by how someone so weak could ever beat Ikeda. Then we learn how. By deception. With Aldaran beaten on the ground, Mitsura tauntingly strolls up ready to deal the final blow. But this is what Aldaran wanted, just like the surprise when he killed Karasu in front of them, he was just waiting for the right moment that he could jolt into action and land a killing blow.
Just like that, Mitsura is dead. Sneaky but effective! Minako and the others finish up with the soldiers around the same time and come back just as surprised to see Aldaran is victorious.
Aldaran ends the issue with a bold prediction that Hakara and the Emperor are next!
This is probably one of the best issues of the series. We get to really see plans start to unfold, story, and character progress. Aldaran shows again that he is not exactly the most powerful warrior but he has his ways of coming out on top. He also is 100% committed to the rebellion this time. Minako is on his side. Goyo may be joining the fight. One of the three most powerful imperial soldiers is dead. The festival is coming up. I bet the emperor is regretting releasing Aldaran now!
Only 2 more issues to go. This is the first issue released directly by Dreamwave, not Image. Will be interesting to see if like Banished Knights, they start to rush things. Think there is only like 1 year or so after the series ends before Dreamwave went out of business. Guess we'll find out soon!
To Be Continued!
