魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 22 Chapter 204

SPOILER Summary: Negi pushes himself to exhaustion trying to master what Jack has taught him. He’s depressed that he doesn’t seem to have made any real progress and Fate and all the others are so much more powerful than he is. Indeed, 1001 cats at a .5 rating each combined would be more powerful than Negi. Chisame is not happy by this, telling Negi he will get stronger.

She takes a bath under a waterfall when she notices Jack on the other side of the rock, also bathing. After this little incident, Chisame goes to consult with Jack on his dock, where he’s eating. Negi comes and tells Jack that he’s hesitant about going the dark route and wants to become “idiotic” like Jack and his father. Jack tells him this is impossible as becoming idiotic is not something one trains for, it is just something one is. As such, Negi has to paths — the light path where one works as a team (which Nagi did) or the dark path where you are a loner (as Eva was). Down the path of light, Negi could achieve his father’s rank in 5 or 10 years. While Eva’s spell is the quick way to get the power Negi craves, it does involve a lot of risk.

The reason the spell is forbidden is that those unsuitable to use it would lose their lives attempting to cast it. Jack decides to demonstrate the amount of damage it can cause a body. He goes out to the water and begins casting the spell, which Negi observes closely. Jack cast a spell to armor up his body, something he really doesn’t need. However, despite Jack’s immense power and physical fitness, the dark magic is too much for him and he soon overloads and is sent into semi-unconsciousness, floating on the water.

Thoughts: I know these kinds of chapters seem a tad tedious (despite the fanservice moments for both Chisame AND Jack), but I always remember that Akamatsu-sensei is doing table setting here for what’s to come. The fact that this dark magic is even too much for Jack to handle shows what Negi will have to overcome should he wish to use it. Eva did it so I don’t see why Negi couldn’t.