魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 21 Chapter 187

Summary: Negi realizes he’s been fatally hit with a stone spear, he tries to warn away Asuna and Anya who are rushing to his aide. Setsuna orders Ku to bring Konoka there and Kaede has Kotaro go protect Makie and the other girls who weren’t supposed to be there. Konoka arrives as Makie, Akira, Yuuna, and Ako have trouble processing what’s going on. Setsuna tells Konoka she needs to use her power to heal Negi, but Konoka reminds Setsuna that all of their pactio cards were sealed within the box along with all the group’s weapons. Since it impossible for them to release the seal, Negi is in real trouble as Konoka can only heal injuries that severe by her powers if they are less than 3-minutes old.

A guard tells them that support will be arriving shortly as will a healer. However, Negi gasps out that they need to run away. An attack hits and Kaede, Setsuna and Anya erect a barrier to protect Negi, Asuna, Ku, and Konoka while Kotaro does the same to protect Makie’s group. The massive attack kills the guards though and Fate steps forwards with three others, tossing a remark at the injured Negi about having insufficient power. Setsuna, Kotaro, and Kaede attack with Negi tries to get them to run away. Kaede is attacked from behind by one of Fate’s (Shadow?) companions (of which there are two), Kotaro is attacked by a sword girl similar to the Shinmei Ryuu girl, Tsukuyomi, and Setsuna has a stone spikes attack put on her by Fate. The battle continues with the three getting their butts handed to them. Kaede finds herself trapped in a black spherical prison, Kotaro gets knocked out buy the girl’s special attack, and Setsuna gets a beating.

Asuna demands to know what Fate wants and why they are following them. Fate assures her that their being there at the same time is a coincidence since even he was unaware of their plans thanks to the school leaders keeping a tight lid on the information. Their only object is the gate area. Negi noticing Fate was unexpected but it forces them to immediately proceed with their objectives to prevent backup from arriving. As such, there will be no one to help Asuna and company.

Setsuna can still fight but is very troubled that Kotaro and Kaede are out of it. Asuna is worried about Negi and with their weapons sealed in a magical storage device, there appears nothing that can be done to retrieve them.

Fate tells the injured Negi that his comrades are garbage and that he’ll use his Eternal Petrification spell to remove them, starting with Setsuna. As he starts the magic, the wounded Negi lands a blow on Fate, interrupting the spell. Negi, using his magic to stand and remove the stone spear, faces Fate, who tells him that Negi will die, which would be troubling. Without his staff or weapons, Fate wonders what Negi could possibly do. However, a flash of power catches his attention as Asuna has punched the magic box and with her magic nullification ability, she has released the seal. Thus, all of the group’s weapons and the pactio cards now fly out of the box to be used.

Thoughts: Well, the guards were pretty useless. While Negi’s getting up and landing a blow on Fate is a clichéd moment, it worked for me in that Negi has always been more powerful than expected and at times, does the impossible. I think back to his fight with the Graf where upon being goaded, he unleashed some mad power against that youkai (or whatever creature he is). Or there’s Negi’s first fight with Fate where he managed to hold off Fate (despite slowly being petrified by Fate’s spell) along with Asuna until Eva arrived.

Asuna defeating the seal on the box puts a new twist on her power. Until now, that power was activated when force-emitting spells were cast directly at her. However, I speculated that her power may have also come into play when Eva encased her in magical ice and she broke out after a few minutes.

Well, with the weapons and cards free, its time for Ala Alba to counterattack.