The Trigger of Memories
Opening to a mostly destroyed town and a large trail indent from Hank’s Incarnate form starts the episode. Schaal, who recovered from her gunshot wound, looks at the townpeople cleaning up the rubble.
Weeks later, the destruction of Whitechurch was the least of everyone concern. Cain Madhouse stands before a large crowd and a rank and file army declaring that the previous war changed nothing. People are still divided and the countries disvison of North and South still exists. He tells the people to stand with him and his Incarnates to create a new world, a new country, a New Patria.
Cain headed west, where the land is unused and undeveloped, to set up a base of operations and begin New Patria. But the union government of the war prepared for the upcoming war with Cain and his Incarntes, and declared that the remaining Incarnates that still resided in Patria wer to be killed immediately for fear they would join Cain and his army.
With Hank missing and nowhere really to go, Schaal returned home after six months of traveling. Not long after arriving in her town, Liza appears with a small batalion in tow and the captain that was at Whitechurch, Cain’s younger brother. The reason for the batallion prescense in Schaal’s hometown is that they became aware of an Incarnate living in the mountains closeby. Schaal asks to go with the batallion, which Liza interjects that she would make a wonderful guide since she knows the area and is not afraid of seeing an Incarnate. They all set out to hunt down the Incarnate and kill it upon sight.
They do not find anything and decide to make camp for the night. Schaal and Cain’s younger brother talk for bit until Liza interupts teasing the man and, finally, revealing his name: Major Claude, and commenting that he has jumped in rank at a great speed but also parises his skill as a soldier. Liza also reveals that he is the son of the coutry’s president. Claude then talks about his mission and that he will wipe out the Incarnates for they have no place in this world. Just then they hear rumbling in the forest and set out o investigate.
Revealing itself from among the trees, of all people, is Schaal’s father. Claude aims his gun at it, but Schaal stands in front of him calling out to her father. But something is different from the last time she saw him. His flesh is rotting and his eyes have a white blank stare to them. As she tries to get closer her father readies his tail and whips it at her knocking down the trees behind her. Claude does manage to save Schaal by tackling her to the ground avoiding the tails path. Claude’s men arrive and fires vollys of shots at the Incarnate but to no avail. All it does is drive the Incarnate back and retreats back into the forest.
Back at camp Liza inform them that the Incarnate, Schaal’s father, is named Nidhogg. She also reveals that Hank did in fact kill it and that the military buried it. They speculate that some Incarnates have high life forces and that he may just not have been completely killed, but he has lost all of his humanity and must be killed before any casualties amass. The soldiers begin setting up explosive traps all over forest in hopes of killing Nidhogg. Scahaal who is sitting by a nearby tree is looking at her locket with a picture of the children from the orphanage and of her father. Liza walks over to console Schaal and ask about what kind of man he was. Schaal tells her that he was a kind-hearted man who wanted to help anyone he could regardless of the risk to his life. Liza hands her a box containing Godkiller bullets tellinh her that she wants her to have these just in case, foreshadowing that she may be the one who kills her father.
As they wait for Nidhoog to appear they begin to hear large footsteps approaching fast. Then a soldier who was luring Nidhoog to an ambush, being chased by it. claude commences the attack on Ndhoog and all the soldiers rush in with their high powered jet pack gear. They sourround Nidhoog and fires net shots at it capturing it while gating guns in the back begin fring at Nidhoog. It has little effect except to annoy Nidhogg. Nidhogg fires a fire ball at the gatling guns, destroying them, and making the soldiers operating the guns flee. Nidhogg gives chase after the soldiers only to set off trip wires and set off multiple explosions bringing Nidhogg to the ground. But that was not enough to bring him down permanently, as he extended his wings and took flight. Once in the air he began to head toward Schaal’s hometown. Claude tells Liza to hurry and evacuate the town while he and his soldiers slow Nidhogg down. Claude takes aim at Nidhogg’s wing, fires at it and cuts off one of his wings to bring it down, but then Nidhogg fires a fireball at the soldiers nearly hitting them. Nidhogg rashes to the ground just outside of the town.
Liza and Schaal try to evacuate the town, but they are hesitant in doing so until Nidhogg shows up. They all run for their lives as Nidhogg approaches the town. Schaal rushes in, with her rifle in tow, to try and stop Nidhogg, her father, from destroying the town and killing the townspeople. She raises her gun and points it at her father thinking about why Hank as been killing the others. She realizes that he has just been trying to keep his promise and kill the others while they are still human and before they turn into monsters. She fires her rifle at Nidhogg striking him in its head, but that isn’t enough to stop him. She continues firing shots at Nidhogg as tears well up in her eyes. Her final shot landed in its chest and brought him down by her feet. All what Nidhoog has the energy to do is stretch out its claw toward Schaal. She look at his eyes and sees that its eyes are normal and sees not a monster but her father. Nidhogg closes his eyes and his body begins to crumble before Schaal.
The next morning the town is damaged but still intact. Schaal sits near Nidhogg’s boy, which is now covered. Liza comes over to console her. Schaal still wonders what her father might have been thinking when Hank shot him, but now she believes that he was relieved and saying goodbye. Schaal is somewhat happy now that at least this time she got to say goodbye to her father, unlike last time.
The episode ends with Schaal asking Liza a request: to travel with her and Claude to locate Hank. Claude tells her that it is a dangerous mission that the are on but allows her to accompany them.
Overall the episode was better than last weeks. This one had more of Schaal’s character grow and be center stage. The previous episodes she seemed to be just a background character. I hope she remains in the center fold and remains to be an integral part in the story.
Thank you for reading.
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