魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 36 Chapter 326 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 326

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Fate, aka Tertium, is activated by Zecht to join with Fate’s predecessor Secundum and two other companions — Nii, the second Atur of Fire, and Septendecim, the seventeenth Adad of Water.  The foursome (initially joined by Dunamis) go “soul hunting,” whereby they find non-human magic world inhabitants and “kill” them, sending them to Kosmo Entelekheia.  Indeed, they enter a war-torn region where a frightened, young, cat girl is near the body of an injured or dead adult and while attempting to defend herself, Secundum causes both to disappear in a flurry of petals even though he took a hit from the girl’s spell. Secundum finds these actions enjoyable though Fate likens their actions to being grim reapers. Secundum disagrees, saying that they are sending these illusions to a better place.

At some other point in time, the foursome are discussing the wanted Nagi, who’s crime was protecting the living sacrifice Arika. Secundum states that he will deal with the Ala Rubra outcasts, though Nii wants to deal with Rakan. Secundum, who has yet to face Nagi, ponders Primum’s loss to Nagi and his own thoughts that it would be impossible for Nagi to defeat him.

Sometime later, Secundum is in a fight with Nagi and is surprised to find himself losing.  Nagi mocks this “second” creation which causes Secundum to summon Fate.  Fate’s spell has Nagi trapped and Nii enters the fight to help overcome Nagi.  Nii demands that Rakan be brought out but Nagi reminds her (?) that Rakan cannot come out on Earth.  Septendecim enters the fight to try to overpower the trapped Nagi and though Secundum initially believes they’ve finally overcome him, Septendecim sees that in fact Nagi still lives.

Arika has Nagi by his hood, having pulled him from the trap.  Nagi speaks to the book at Arika’s side, telling Al to help them and despite the difficulties Al has on Earth, he emerges and he and Arika fight while Nagi begins beating Secundum.  Fate steps in to protect Secundum and asks Nagi if he truly thinks his fists can change anything. Fate tells Nagi that he is a powerless being.  Nagi says that might be true but giving up isn’t the answer. Secundum is annoyed by this talk and steps in to attack, taking heavy punishment instead.

Sometime after the battle, the defeated foursome is off recovering with Secundum very angry at their defeat. Fate and Secundum discuss Secundum’s zeal and Secundum wonders if Fate needs to be recalibrated.  Secundum wants a boost in their settings.

Some other time, Fate is flying solo on a soul hunt when he has core problems and plummets to the ground.  When he wakes up, he finds himself in a bed when the door opens and a woman with a young Shiori (Luna) enters.  The woman asks if he is OK.

Thoughts/Review:

Woo!hoo! Another AstroNerdBoy theory has been proven correct. I’d been saying for some time that beings from the Magic World shouldn’t really be able to exist on Earth because their form and substance is being generated from the Magic World.  I based this on the fact that (1) Jack Rakan was never shown on Earth and (2) Al seemed to be completely unable to move outside of when the World Tree was active and then, it was merely a projection.  My theory became stronger when Cocone, a known resident of the Magic World, was revealed to be a test subject for Earth migration.  That suggested to me that for the last however many years, the mages of Earth, no doubt started by Nagi, came up with a plan to save the residence of the Magic World but needed to make sure that the system installed on Earth to allow Magic World beings to exist was stable.

It was pointed out to me that Al had been on Earth, in Turkey, prior to being forced to live under the library at Mahora.  I could not overcome that aspect but felt that there was some sort of special circumstance to allow Al to exist on Earth.  What it was, I could not say and without further evidence, I basically had nothing else to say on the matter.

This chapter changed all that.  Nagi clearly says that Jack cannot cross over to Earth, thus explaining why he’s never been seen on Earth.  Al can appear on Earth, but apparently it takes a great deal of strength (and I’d guess ultimately, a great deal of power) for him to move. So, Arika had Al as a book (an artifact?) and he comes out to help fight.  Since the focus was on Nagi, both Al and Arika are quickly lost in the fight after Al appears but I’m hoping to get a bit more information on this aspect later.  That said, it is nice to know that Al had been able to have form on Earth for short periods of time and could fight but needed to be carried around.

Time-wise, I believe Arika’s appearance is after Nagi and Ala Rubra saved her from death.  Naturally, going to Earth would be a safer option since Arika is supposed to be dead and Nagi has a bounty on his head.  So, only real humans from the Magic World, as well as the constructs of the Lifemaker (which I’m now more convinced than ever are based on technology very similar to what was introduced in AI Love You, even if not quite the same) are a threat.  I love how Arika saves Nagi in such a casual manner and his sheepish look.  ^_^  Nagi is so powerful but he clearly got a little cocky here and needed bailing out.

Secundum is quite the bastard.  Even though that little cat girl might be living in some version of “heaven,” what Secundum did was murder, pure and simple.  Egad!  I imagine the poor girl was with the body of her dead or injured mother and though afraid, she bravely faced her attackers, got off a spell, but naturally all for naught.  That’s why seeing Nagi beat the crap out of Secundum is so nice and knowing Nagi kills that bastard is even better.  *_*  Even now, the scene is horrific to me and its impact on me has been most unexpected.  As such, I share the two pages the scene plays out in.

That aside, clearly, Akamatsu-sensei is working on making Fate’s character more sympathetic.  Actually, this has been going on for some time, starting with the revelation that Fate was saving orphaned children.  Now we have some idea as to why Fate started doing this as he didn’t care for Secundum’s “reaper” methodology although he participated in it.  I’m guessing this will be further expounded upon when something bad happens to Shiori’s mother and Fate ends up taking care of her and thus starts his quest to save the “Fate Girls.”

So, a really good chapter here with some nice flashback stuff and a confirmation of a theory with a side of brutal murder. ^_^;