Shadow Skill TV Anime Series Episode 7 – Synopsis Cast of Characters: Elle Ragu - 59th sevalle of Kuruda Gau Ban – her adoptive brother Faury Brazmetizer – Sui Reme Kyo Ruu – Septia Louis Frasniel – Sui Reme Droga – Watchman of the Sui Reme Association Teaser: Identical in every way to the teaser in the first episode. (Opening Credits) Act 1 A sunny day in Kuruda. A man is washing a long bolt of cloth in a stream, humming to himself. Suddenly feet are heard splashing through the water and two other men face off behind the bewildered washerman. One of them, dressed in white, leaps into the air with a talisman in his hand. The talisman’s power manifests as a bolt of ice, hitting the water, freezing the stream and encasing the poor washerman in ice. The talisman’s target, having leaped aside in time, confronts his pursuer on the riverbank. The white-robed Sui Reme tells his target, Droga, not to hinder his purpose. Droga replies that he can’t let the other go on, because it is a self-serving act of revenge. The Sui Reme chuckles and holds a talisman in the air, and we find out his name is Louis Frasniel as he activates another ice talisman. Sheets of ice encase everything in sight: a windmill, a barking dog, Droga. Frasniel solemnly states that the vengance must be accomplished for the honor of his master Okita Kline, who passed away. Droga protests, “The honor of…? What are you talking about? You are black-hearted…” The rest of his words are swallowed up as the ice engulfs him completely, and with a single blow, Frasniel knocks Droga into the river. “Even if it is black, I will color it again with my own power, with the beautiful color of white,” declares Frasniel. The sun glitters down on the ice-encased landscape before dissolving into… Kuruda’s main street. Faury and Elle are at a cloth merchant’s stall, and Elle is roundly protesting the need for new clothing. Faury is adamant that Elle have proper clothes to wear at the public occasions where she will appear as a sevalle. Elle insists that her suit of armor should be enough – which provokes Faury into pinching the other girl’s ear and exclaiming that since all the money Elle has ever made always transform into drink, then it’s a certainty that Elle has never bought a dress before. Elle can’t see what’s wrong with that, and Faury pushes Elle to one side (ear still caught between fingers) and firmly tells the sevalle that she’s going to choose a new dress, so she had better stay quiet. Elle huffs but subsides, clearly in a bad mood. Observing this exchange from a hay cart are Gau, esconsed in the hay, and Kyo, leaning on the wheel. Kyo remarks that they seem like good friends, and look like real sisters. “They are now,” replies Gau, and proceeds to relate a story when Elle got so drunk she kept picking a fight with Faury until Faury’s own temper burst. “Talismans flew, and Shadow Skill came out, and there was absolute chaos.” Kyo wonders aloud which is stronger, which makes Gau sweatdrop and say, “You’re brave to say that!” Kyo presses Gau for his opinion, and the lad lies back on the hay looking thoughtful. He says he’s never given the matter much thought, but if they fought seriously, he is sure one of them would get really hurt. The cloth merchant offers Faury and Elle a bolt of cloth dyed a rich blue, the indigo of Tarpa. Faury explains to Elle that the indigo made in Tarpa is famous, and the cloth merchant says that it’s the very last bolt out of Tarpa. Thinking it is a sales ploy, Faury smiles and says he’s a good business. But the merchant insists that he means it, and tells the girls that the village has been totally destroyed. The entire village is covered with ice, even though it is not yet winter. The mention of the word “ice” shocks both the girls, even as the merchant says the incident only happened yesterday or the day before that. The story draws the attention of Gau and Kyo as well, and Gau whispers, “Elle…” Act 2 Night at the Green Octopus Island. At the practice ground, Elle and Gau are having their usual sparring session, but Elle seems unusually distracted, thinking of the one person who would have the power to ice an entire village. Gau manages to back Elle against a pillar of the stone circle, and aims a potentially winning kick for her with a cry of triumph. But his kick connects with stone instead, as Elle manages to jump out of his way and returns to land in front of him, gripping him in a choke-hold with one hand. Her good mood seemingly restored, Elle tells Gau it’s too early for him to be taking advantage of her unguarded moments. Poor Gau manages to gasp out that it is unlike his sister to think about something else during a training session. Gau’s perception brings Elle back to her sober mood, and she releases him abruptly, walking away a few steps from him. He continues that she’s been in a strange mood ever since she heard the story of the village that turned into ice. Elle, with her back turned to Gau, soberly tells him that she does think of things sometimes, and at his startled exclamation, adds that “There are times when a sevalle must fight, no matter what. No matter what kind of result, we can’t avoid that…” “Whom are you going to fight?” “The strongest enemy I’ve met in my life.” In her room at the Green Octopus, Faury is busy with calligraphy, creating new talismans. She places her hands on the fresh pile of papers, her eyes far away and sober. Dawn at the Green Octopus. Gau is searching for Elle in the inn’s back yard. He hears someone calling his name and turns around with a happy smile, only to discover that it is Kyo after all. He turns to hide his disappointment from her, and she tells him that Faury isn’t around, either. “Could they be together, then?” Kyo wonders, and Gau is stricken with the thought that perhaps the strongest enemy Elle will face is the one who froze the whole village… Cut to the village of Tarpa, where everything is frozen and the people are encased in ice. In the middle of the icy main street, Elle and Faury are facing off like two opponents in a duel – which they are. Elle tells her friend, “So you are determined to fight?” Silence. “Either one of us will die for sure, then.” More silence, and then the sound of ice crunching underfoot draws both their attentions. “Shadow Skill. And Follinkmeyer Brazmetizer,” says Frasniel, watching them from the roof above. “Or perhaps I should refer to you by another name – Fear Arcana!” Faury recognizes Frasniel and calls him “the watchman”. Elle also acknowledges Frasniel’s presence and knows it is the signal for the duel to begin. Faury admits that she no longer has a grudge against Elle, but it is the rule of the Sui Reme – Faury must kill Elle. (This means, conversely, that in order to survive, Elle cannot let Faury live.) Elle states her intention to fight for as long as she has life, and the duel begins. Gau and Kyo are racing through the forest on the way to Tarpa when they come across the frozen river and the men locked in the ice. For a long moment they are paralyzed by shock, taking in the sight of everything shrouded in clear, glittering ice, ice that doesn’t melt even with the sun shining fiercely down on it. As Gau admits feeling fear the sight of “a little ice”, the sounds of battle reach them. Gau races ahead over the bridge, leaving Kyo to struggle behind. As she pauses for breath midway across the bridge, she is horrified to see Droga’s agonized expression through the clear ice. His hand is exposed to the open air…and it moves. Kyo sinks to the ground in terror. The two young women so lately friends, are hard at their death-duel when Gau arrives at the scene of the battle. He wonders aloud why they should be fighting against one another, when Frasniel commands the young man not to interrupt them. Frasniel explains that it is a vengance match, and no one should interrupt their private battle…which only puzzles Gau the more. Act 3 Gau is caught in the nimbus of the energy blasts created by Faury’s talismans and Elle’s Shadow Skill power. He cries out “But WHY? Why is it that the two of you have to fight against one another?” Both women tell him in no uncertain terms to stay out of the way without answering his question. Frasniel realizes that Gau is in the company of Elle, and takes it upon himself to explain as the fight continues. He introduces himself as the watchman dispatched by the Sui Reme Association to see Faury’s vengance completed. He accuses Elle of having killed Faury’s father, who was a Sui Reme master. Flashback in black-and-white. We see Faury kneeling at a freshly-made grave, and Louis standing behind her. Louis is telling Faury that her father, Okita Kline, was killed by Shadow Skill in a duel. Faury asks if her father fought proudly until the last moment of his life; Louis pauses, and Faury asks, “A demon?” Louis goes on to say that Shadow Skill broke Okita’s arms and legs and crushed his throat, so that he couldn’t use his talisman, and an anguished Faury listens to him say that Shadow Skill then beat Okita up until he died. With anger and grief, Faury vows to avenge herself for her father’s death. In the present, Gau angrily denies the entire story, saying that there is no way Elle would do such a cruel thing. Frasniel insists that it is a fact, and that he has heard a sevalle’s career begins when he defeats his master; that he can only survive in battles just like a demon. Elle is half-listening to Frasniel’s words to Gau as the Sui Reme says, “I don’t see it as strange if she kills her own master…A Sui Reme who has killed their own master changes their name to seek revenge for the master. That’s the rule of the Sui Reme. Fear Arcana once failed to kill our personal enemy, Shadow Skill…” Flashback to an old building. Faury and Elle are engaged in another death duel, when Faury sets up a huge talisman. Elle calls out that if the power of the talisman is released, Faury is sure to die. Faury replies that she is determined to die, and asks the talisman what it is, to which it answers, “I am the atmosphere…the one who fills the air just like the white mist…” Elle, determined to destroy the talisman before it awakens, is shocked when she flies through it and lands on the same side as Faury. The Sui Reme says, “Father…” as the talisman’s power explodes through the building. Gau finds it hard to believe that Faury could be capable of such a thing, since in all the time he has known them, they have always been as close as sisters. He calls out in a fierce voice to Faury: “Do you actually still believe that Elle could have killed your father?” Faury replies that she postponed her conclusion on whether Elle was her real enemy or not all those years, since the time she spent all of her power as was ready to die in the burning flames... Flashback to the old building, now in flames from the power of the talisman. Faury is prone on the stone flags, her legs pinned by a stone plinth, flames all around her and the building collapsing everywhere. She thinks to herself, “So I’m dying in this kind of place. I guess I deserve it…that’s fine, because now my hatred will disappear within this fire. Father…I’ll be with you soon…” The sound of crumbling rock startles Faury, and she looks over her shoulder to see Elle trying to wrestle the plinth from off her erstwhile opponent’s legs. Faury exclaims, and Elle manages to heave the stone upwards and away, freeing the other girl. Elle carries a wondering Faury on her back, replying only, “Hold on to me tightly! Once you fall, you’ll die!” when asked why. Faury presses for an explanation, unable to comprehend why Elle would risk her life for someone who would cheerfully have killed her outright. Elle’s reply is characteristic: “I don’t know! But what can I do, I’ve already saved you!” Faury continues, “I thought I’d never be deceived by her. I thought she would be so wrong if she was trying to make atonement for what she had done…” The scene fades from the burning building to scenes of Faury shadowing Elle everywhere – in town, on the road – “in order to judge who she really was…I was going to kill her right away as soon as I found that her bright eyes were actually fake. However, as the hatred faded and the anger was gone, and by the time the sorrow had passed, doubt had crept into my mind.” We see a scene of a laughing, happy Elle sharing drinks in a tavern, being a simple and honest girl; Faury is watching this from the shadows, and we hear her voice from the present saying, “Doubt as to whether this person was really my enemy…doubt about whether this person could really kill someone with all of her malicious desire…” Act 4 Back in the present, Frasniel is positively gloating as he accuses Faury of having grown attached to Elle. He reminds her that the fact still remains: Faury’s father was killed by Shadow Skill. Frasniel asks why, if Elle is innocent, she has never bothered to defend herself…is not silence an admission of guilt? Frasniel lifts a talisman in the air and prods Faury into resuming the fight, to show him that she is worthy of the talisman of fear. The fight comes down to its final stages: Faury with a talisman, and Elle with her martial words, launch themselves at each other for death blows, but a voice cries out, “Please wait!” and the girls manage to miss each other just in the nick of time. It is Droga, leaning on Kyo – the true watchman sent by the Sui Reme Association. Horrified at what she has nearly done, Faury demands to know what role Frasniel has in all of this. The watchman, weakened by his ordeal, drops to his knees and relays the message of the Association to Faury: the true killer of her father and Sui Reme master is not Shadow Skill, but stands on the roof above them. None other than Louis Frasniel. Faury demands to know from Frasniel if this true, but he only smirks in reply. Droga goes on to say that yes, Okita Kline fought Shadow Skill to the end of his ability, but when Kline lost the battle, the one who finished him off is…and Droga reaches behind his back to throw a group of talismans at Frasniel, who avoids them with a high jump. Frasniel declares death for all of them, and sends a monstrous ice wave sheeting down the main street. It pins down Droga, Kyo, Gau, Elle and Faury, enveloping them in ice. Faury angrily demands to know if Frasniel did the same thing to their master – and he sneers, “What would you say if I did? As you put everything into the fight against the sevalle, I’m sure you have no power left to resist me now, Faury!” Faury expresses disbelief as the ice seals her up, and Elle is furious that Frasniel would have used Faury’s love for her father/master to work the situation so that he could become famous. She declares she will never forgive him…as ice envelops her, too. Frasniel laughs his triumph, surveying his handiwork, savoring the knowledge that now he’ll be the only one who can take over, now that Okita Kline is gone; he will be the sole master in their particular style. Trapped in the ice, Faury’s eyes shine with tears, and we see that in her mind she is a child again, on her knees in tears before her father. Her voice says that it is all her fault…she let the rules interfere with her judgment and she trusted Elle…! Okita appears as Faury once knew him, tall and full of life, and his voice tells her to get a hold of herself. He speaks to the child she once was, while her grown-up voice says, “I guess somewhere, deep down inside of my heart, I couldn’t trust Elle entirely…” Okita asks the child-Faury if she hates Elle, and in the little-girl voice, Faury says, “No, I don’t.” Then Okita says, “Then don’t worry about it. You can still make it. You should go…go to where your friend is. Trust, and follow your feelings…” Faury tries to hang on for a little while to the image of the father she loved, and in the meantime, the hot anger inside Elle is fast breaking through the power of the ice talisman. Frasniel says, “You’ll never get away with this,” and casts ice darts at the still entrapped sevalle. Faury’s own love for Elle is also breaking through the ice, but she is just as helpless. It is Droga who takes in his back the darts meant for Elle’s heart, and as he slips into unconsciousness, he hands her the talisman meant for the true revenge on her master’s behalf. This is the final push that allows Faury to escape the ice, and as her fingers light on the talisman, she chants the words that bring to life the power of fire… Talisman in hand, Faury launches herself into the air and aims a kick for Frasniel’s heart. As she deals the death-blow, she asks him if he remembers the rule of Sui Reme – the one who kills his own master must avenge his death. “If you ever fail, there is only death for you,” completes Faury, as the fiery blast consumes her fellow Sui Reme. As blood seeps out from Frasniel’s broken head, we hear him protest with his dying breath that his white robes are so beautiful that they are not supposed to be dyed with any color. The scene fades and shifts to a quiet shady area by the river. The town has returned to normal, as if nothing has happened. Elle is lounging under a tree, and Faury is behind the trunk, hidden by the shadows of the leaves. She wants to know how come Elle never told her the whole truth before. Elle says, no matter how much she could have tried to explain things to one who had lost her own master, it would just have sounded like an excuse. “When I met you for the first time, you were captured by the grip of hatred,” explains Elle, making Faury start in surprise. “There are times when we can’t survive without hating someone…a mercenary like myself makes a career out of having enemies; we are all raised to accept those things, like anger, and sorrow.” Faury peeks out shyly around the trunk and says, “Thank you, then…” but the quiet moment is broken by Elle’s happy call to Gau and Kyo a little distance away. Kyo comments as she waves back, “Well, I’m glad to see that Elle and Faury are really good friends again.” Gau, busy bandaging someone unseen, is saying, “Yeah, they look like real sisters, don’t they?” The camera pulls back to show Droga bandaged and otherwise whole, if a bit battered by his experiences. Kyo calls out happily, “We’ve finished his treatment!” (Closing Credits)