Vol 2: Split the Party, illustrated by Stephanie Hans
From the previous volume, the party gets stuck in the middle of a war zone, and the only way to escape it is for Angela to make yet another sacrifice. Once out, the party splits. Isabelle feels responsible for the people of Glass Town and wants to find a place for them to live, while the rest of the party is still insistent that getting home should be their number one priority. Chuck decides to go with Isabelle, but the rest of the party is off to Angria to confront their past, specifically some of the consequences of their actions from the last time they were in Die, with the hope that something will come of this to get them home. Ash is reunited with Zamorna, a vampire Lord and the father of her son in Die, and Ash decides the only way to leave Die is to save it all, not just Glass Town.
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Vol 1: Jewel of the Gravesend, illustrated by Jacquelin De Leon
Zatanna Starr, the daughter of renowned Coney Island illusionist Ezra Starr, is not a fan of crowds and performing. She’s much rather hang out with her friends or boyfriend and ride Coney Island’s coasters, grab cotton candy, walk her pet rabbit, or laze around at the beach. Her whole life changes when they visit a traveling band and find Mirror Script, a backwards script trick magicians used to use to hide their spells and tricks. Everyone else seems to have difficulty reading it, but Zatanna is able to read it just fine. What's more, whatever she reads comes true, and she can't figure out how this illusion is working! Diving deeper into this mysterious world unlocks other secrets about her family and her past that she must confront in order to truly understand what she's capable of.
Nicola is a human girl and a struggling witch, saved by the demon Simon, who now finds herself traveling incognito in the Demon World, where humans aren't allowed. The two of them make a bit of an odd couple as they travel around. Simon peddles trinkets and some possibly fraudulent pieces in his attempt to make a living in what can sometimes be a hostile world. He tells Nicola about the stereotypes in the demon world and she successfully finds beings who buck his stereotype, which encourages Simon to be less judgmental. While searching for rare mushrooms, Nicola finds a little clough demon and tries to keep him as a pet, but the call to rejoin his kind is stronger than their little bond. In a Demon Hotel, seeing ghosts is thought of as good luck, but that doesn't mean Nicola isn't scared of them.
Mao comes across yet another of his fellow apprentices who should not be alive after 900 years. It seems no one remembers every detail of what happened so long ago between all of the apprentices and their master, so Mao keeps searching for answers. Mao and fellow apprentice Hakka take out several water shikigami with the help of Nanoka, who has an affinity for earth spells and can take on water monsters with ease. Many bad guys are looking for the “taizanfukun” spell that Mao's master was guarding, the most powerful onmyoji spell said to grant long life. The last Mao saw of it, Byoki was devouring it, so now everyone's sending shikigami after Mao to see if his connection to Byoki can restore the taizanfukun spell.
Matty has proven to be one of, if not the, strongest student at the Second Academy. The teachers ask him to lead a class on wordless magic casting, and his condition is being able to train with the two sisters, Lurie and Alma, in the dungeon below the school. He teaches them more wordless magic, but also fighting and weapon styles that compliment their crests. The headmaster enters the three into a battle with First Academy, something they haven't won in years, but with Matty's special skills and the sisters' extra training, they trounce the First Academy. But, Matty also discovers one of the Magical Chosen Ones, special extra strong sages, is actually a demon in disguise. He theorizes that the reason magic and knowledge has been derailed in this time period, is from demons messing with human society. Now, he has a few months to get everything ready for a potential demon onslaught.
Illustrated by Pablo Túnica
Aella is an adventure-loving girl stuck on a tiny island where nothing interesting ever happens. Her mother often leaves her behind to go on grand voyages, and Aella dreams of the day she can join her mother on one of her adventures. When a band of Knights comes to the island claiming to be seeking the destruction of demons, Aella's inner monster is awoken. She has the spirit of a fierce demon, Xir, inside of her, which has the destructive capabilities to wipe out life as they know it. Aella and a young knight steal away to find the seer who first told of Xir's rebirth, hoping there might be a way to expel the demon from Aella. But Aella isn't the only member of the family harboring a big secret - her mother turns out to be one of the most fearsome pirates on the known seas, and she's not giving up her powerful daughter so easily.
During the Meiji era, the three brothers of the Kumo family have found work helping recapture escaped criminals. These criminals are then taken to an inescapable prison: Gokumonjo, a fortress built inside of a giant tree in the middle of a large lake. The eldest son is very strong, and the two younger ones train hard to make him proud. Soramaru, the middle son, wants to prove to his brother that he is strong enough to handle jobs, but he gets into a bit of trouble going after a former samurai who is now a criminal. The second half of the book contains the side story “Fleeting Laugher,” which takes place 600 years before. One of the Kumo’s ancestors is present. The story follows Hirari of the Abe clan, who is trying to win the heart of Botan, a shikigami who has been summoned to help seal away the powerful demon dragon, Orochi. Hirari doesn’t want take up the family charge and fight Orochi, but he finds himself in the middle of the fight between Orochi and humanity anyway.
Mao and Byoki's disembodied head square off in a battle that has been building for the last several volumes. Mao unleashes his other form, which looks very much like it could be Byoki's missing body. During the fight, Nanoka's younger self comes through the gate into the battle, and present day Nanoka begins to remember some of the flashes that traumatized her that day. Byoki realizes Nanoka could also be a vessel for his power, so he runs after her as she retreats back through the gate to her time. Mao releases an ayakashi and sends it after little Nanoka to protect her. Present day Nanoka returns to her time to sort out who the ayakashi is, and to determine who Byoki is in her life. Mao, meanwhile, must begin to sort out what happened to him hundreds of years ago when Byoki attacked, which is complicated by him discovering several other apprentices from hundreds of years ago are still alive when they should all be long dead.
Book 2: The Secret of the Wings, illustrated by Michael Dialynas
Wynd and his friends have escaped Pipetown, but what they've found outside the walls is a world unlike what they were told. The King of Pipetown makes an unexpected alliance with the Vamps, specifically the sister of his dear hunter, the Bandaged Man. He wants her to scare his son, but bring him back to Pipetown alive. General Zedra of the Vamps seizes on the opportunity to sew more chaos into the world and potentially settle some very old scores between her people and some of the other inhabitants of Esseriel. After the Vamps decimate the Duke's small fleet of ships, Wynd, Yorik, Oakley, and a gravely injured Thorn find themselves in the Faery city of Escalon. But, they aren't safe there for long either.
Adapted by Dubu
Jinwoo and a couple other survivors of the double dungeon take on a raid at dungeon, and they’re joined by three criminals and their handler. These criminals can take time off their sentence by helping to clear dungeons, but things go south with the handler, and Jinwoo is forced to show some of his overpowered skills in front of the healer and mage from the previous dungeon. Jinwoo is then noticed by a prestigious clan, who have figured out he’s a reawakened being. As Jinwoo’s level finally reaches 40, he is presented with a new quest: job change, where he must survive for an unspecified amount of time and be assessed to see what his classification will be. |
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