魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 23 Chapter 205

SPOILER Summary: Negi is going through his Kenpo exercises and thinking back to the moment after Jack’s performance. Jack tells him to give up on the dark magic as it will kill him. Negi knows the risks having seen what it will do. Further, he knows he has comrades in arms, who working together can overcome any obstacle. Chisame comes by, wondering if doing Kenpo is really that helpful to go up against some giant monster or an Aegis Cruiser. Negi explains why it is still good to have the ability to fight close-quarters if needed.

Chisame tosses Negi a scroll, where Eva has scribed the Magica Erebea spell. If Negi opens up the scroll, it will mean he’s chosen the darkness. However, Chisame figures Negi has already made up his mind. As such, no matter what his decision, she’ll stand by him and watch over him.

Negi goes to see Jack, who’s on the pier, seated at a Japanese-style table. He laughs off the wounds he received from attempting to cast Magica Erebea, though he starts gushing blood again from his forehead, despite his bandages. Negi gives the impression that he will chose the path of light, but to the surprise of Jack, he opens the scroll and choses the darkness. His reasoning is that while he looks like his father, he is not his father. Thus, if Negi has elements of darkness in them, then only by exploring them fully will he reach his father. He also states that he loves his master, which Jack teases him for being a love confession for Eva, which Negi denies. With that, an image of Eva appears from the scroll, who then challenges Negi saying that if he can’t overcome the darkness, it will be the end for him as she attacks him.

Elsewhere, Nodoka is in some ruins with a group of people as they flee to the entrance. The escape to the other side of a ravine and looking back, they watch as the ruins crumble and are no more. The group apparently found Nodoka within the ruins as they explored them and as such, they let her join their group. She quickly proved her worth to them by being able to detect traps, an ability amazing for one so young. When asked where she picked up said skill, she states it was in a club. The group is excited at the amount of treasure they’ve acquired and try to encourage Nodoka to take a bigger share. Instead, she only wants one item, which they gladly give her — the Comptina Daemonia (Demon’s Lullaby), which apparently Nodoka had been searching for. It has the ability to read the target’s name and while Nodoka is happy to have it, she does acknowledge that the artifact does seem a bit evil.

Thoughts: Yay, Nodoka! Its nice to see what she’s been up to — being a treasure hunter. She’s also seemingly picked up some new skills and that was nice to see. Having the Comptina Daemonia allows Nodoka to overcome her pactio artifact’s limitation on being able to read people’s minds once she knows their name.

As for the Negi storyline, I didn’t expect to see an image of Eva there. I wonder if it is somehow connected to Eva on Earth or if its just some protection spell placed on the scroll. Either way, Akamatsu-sensei found a way to bring Eva in without bringing her in.