Vol 2.5: City of Giants, and 3.5: Tales of the Unnamed World, illustrated by Drew Zucker, colored by Vittorio Astone
This volume collects two short adventures of Canto and his friends, which come between some of the other volumes. The first is City of Giants, which happens in between volumes two and three, where Canto travels to the titular city to try and gain the support of the giants in the fight against the Shrouded man. In order to gain their trust, Canto must first solve a labyrinth outside the city, which includes fighting some fierce monsters. In the second side story, Tales of the Unnamed World, Canto and his friends find their way barred by a Bard, who requires, as toll, a story he has never heard before. Canto and his group each take turns telling their best stories, but they're all ones the Bard has heard before! This story takes place after volume three of the published stories.
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Vol 3: The Throne in the Sky, illustrated by Michael Dialynas
Our heroic band of kids is on the run, including from Duke Yadriel, who was supposed to be their savior! So now, humans, faeries, and those pesky vampires are wanting to overtake the group for a variety of reasons. The most terrifying presently is General Eks, a ruthless faery who believes the children are responsible for the destruction of an entire city. A suggestion is thrown out that they take the mountain pass to avoid being tracked, but this terrifies Merien. Faeries aren't built to withstand such extreme temperatures, which might be good for evading Eks, but not for their friend. While refreshing themselves at a mountain hot springs, the kids are picked up by Strawberry, a seemingly-friendly giant, who takes them to the ruins of an ancient city. Merien and Wynd discuss using his likeness to the Winged Ones to win allies, but Wynd still rejects the notion that he's descended from the original creators of the world. 
Shide may be on his own now, but that doesn't mean he's any less deadly. He's determined to take the source of Shin's time loop power, which will make him even more powerful than Heine. Shin has to rally everyone together for one final offensive measure. But first, he has to work out where some allies are after his latest time loop.
Persephone starts her internship with the Underworld Corp, and is struggling with her scholarship with the Goddesses of Eternal Maidenhood. Eros gets her to open up about what's happened, and she breaks down. He brings her to his home, full of Venus' other children, and Venus figures out everything as well - what Apollo did, and that she has a crush on Hades. Persephone swears them to secrecy. Meanwhile, Hades is still trying not to have a crush on Persephone and work things out with Minthe, but Persephone being near him is enough for his resolve to crumble. They tour the Underworld together for several as part of her orientation, not realizing the passage of time. Then, Hecate gifts Hades with something personal - a letter between her and Persephone that tells of the actual first meeting between Hades and Kore, which Hades has no memory of at all.
With the startling realization that Shide is more than meets the eye, Shin and friends are set on trying to find Shide's other form and weaken him that way. Shin loops a few more times with Shiori/Heine going along for the ride and gaining even more insight into what Shin is planning. As before, when Shin loops with another person beside him, he sees their past. This time, he sees Hizuru's memory of her and her twin brother, Ryunosuke, before he was killed. Hizuru shows Shin that she and Heine were friends, but Heine's insatiable hunger led to the tragedy that trapped Ryunosuke inside Hizuru's body. On the latest loop, Heine sets up a trap for Shin: save Hizuru-sensei, who as Ryunosuke, is battling Shide, or save all his other friends who are about to be devoured by the largest shadow on the island.
Persephone is still reeling from the fallout of her assault from Apollo, as well as the night-after the big Olympus party where she ended up in Hades' house. A tabloid publishes a photo of the two of them leaving and accuses her of being a flower nymph sleeping her way to the top. Hera decides to meddle further and approves an internship for Persephone in the Underworld, meaning she'll be working closely with Hades. Minthe, Hades' sometimes paramour, grows jealous from the photo. On Persephone's first day in the Underworld, Minthe gives her terrible directions and lands her in Tartarus with some volatile shades. As soon as Hades realizes Persephone's in trouble, he sprints off to rescue her just as she's being attacked by a shade. Hades can't come to terms with his feelings for Persephone, and worries about his attraction to a goddess who is much younger than he is, so he decides to bottle it up and try to work things out with Minthe.
Shinpei starts his fifth loop and realizes that the event horizon for his looping is catching up with him. If he is killed again too soon, he won't haven enough time, and everything will be set in stone. Heine, in the form of Shiori, has also started looping with Shin, and she susses out quite a bit about what Shin's been doing. The mark on Shin's arm also allows the Shadows to find him quickly. With these added challenges, the group must prepare their next stand against the Shadows. Ushioh, who now has the honor of being referred to as Ushio without the Shadow moniker, once again proves pivotal with her advanced Shadow powers. She helps bring other islanders to the cause by sharing her memories. She can also sever the link between Heine and other Shadows, which brings more Shadows over to help Shin's group. The reinforced group lays a trap for Shiori and Shide, an ultimate shadow with four arms and immense power.
The major evil plans the Homunculi have been crafting for centuries finally come to fruition, but Ed, Al, and their motley crew of friends are there to stop the Father of the Homunculi. In the last volume, Father used his Human Sacrifices he's been gathering all series long, and performed a major feat of alchemy to try to achieve the power of a god. The fate is largely in the hands of all the Elrichs - including their father, Hohenheim, who unleashes his unnatural power as well. In the end, Mai and her Alkahestry from Xing, as well as Scar's tattooed arms that blend Alchemy and Alkahestry, that provide an edge for Ed, Al, and all of their friends against a godlike evil with immeasurable power.
Al is now living with Detective Ellis since there's a killer on the loose and he's most likely going to come after Al next. The detective continues to search for clues while Al dives a bit more into his past. The politics of the police station also play a huge role in this volume as Ellis has to navigate the suspicions of another investigator who is certain Al is the prime suspect. Al also tries to go about his life as normal in going to his job, but the two aren't sure about how he's going to resume going to classes with the new semester starts.
Vol 7: Devourer, illustrated by Sana Takeda
Maika has been captured by the Dusk Court, and the Baroness is bringing her back in a magic-and medically-induced coma. Through wrestling with her guilt, we learn more about the background of the Baroness and why she has had to do the things she's done to her friend. Inside Maika's mind, she and Zinn relive some of Maika's memories that have been trapped away, including what happened to her mother. Kippa continues to fight as staunchly as ever, even trying to gain some allies among the witches and Dawn Court nobility, in order to save Miss Maika from what the Dusk Court plans to do. The intrigues of the past, including the efforts of Maika's father to harness the power of the Old Gods, continue to come to light and make everything in the present much more complicated. |
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