Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note 09
Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files 09
ロード・エルメロイⅡ世の事件簿 -魔眼蒐集列車 Grace note- 09

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Gray has a dream about Hephaestion. When Olga wakes, Caules and Gray inform her about the Servant that attacked them. They are positive it was a Servant and not a mage using an Invocation. Olga believes this Servant was summoned from Waver’s stolen relic. Further, Olga finds it interesting that Hephaestion gave her name rather than her class.

Their conversation is interrupted as the train is forced to the Child of Einnashe–the Forest of Dead Apostles. A blizzard strikes as some mages attempt to burn the forest. The forest slaughters them. Olga decides to go to her room and raise a barrier despite Gray’s objection.

Meanwhile, Kairi and Luvia pay a visit to his mage, TV personality friend, Jean-Mario. They discuss a series of beheading some years earlier, involving Mystic Eyes. Jean reveals that Trisha had come to him about this very case.

Back at the train, a bloodied Melvin shows up, looking for Waver. Meanwhile, the train’s conductor along with Yvette and Karbo drop in to enlist Gray and Caules to help them move the train to safety. Melvin uses his Tuner ability to increase their Magical Circuits by 20%. Karbo uses a Black Key to secure a Leyline. Add warns Gray about proceeding. As such, she tells Karbo, Yvette, and Melvin to go forward.

Gray turns and confronts Hephaestion. As they battle, the others secure the Leylines. Meanwhile, Olga discovers a spell in the air above the floor in her room. She unlocks it and Trisha’s head and necklace fall out. Adashino’s snake reveals itself as Adashino breaks Olga’s room barrier. Back in the forest, Gray unlocks an ability for Add and continues her fight with Hephaestion.

Thoughts/Review

Things continue to get more interesting in Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files 09.

Servant Concepts

While I do know a decent amount about the Fate franchise, I’m by no means a lore guru. As such, I was unaware that mages could use an Invocation magical ability to use Servant abilities. I did know that in the in the universe that Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA is set, Class Cards were given the power of a Servant. Thus with a proper Mystic Code, a mage could use a Class Card and thus have the power of whichever Saber, Lancer, Archer, etc. was on the card.

As we discussed in the previous episode, I didn’t know that Servants could be summoned outside of the Holy Grail system in Japan. And it is interesting that Hephaestion seems to have been summoned from Waver’s relic. We already saw her connections to Rider Iskandar. Nevertheless, I was surprised that Iskandar’s relic could summon someone other than Iskandar.

Murder Mystery

The murder mystery continues in Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files 09. Sadly, there don’t appear to be a lot of clues that I can find that would say, “So-and-so is the killer!” In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if the murderer is a character we haven’t even met yet. Don’t ask me why, but that’s the feeling I get for some reason.

That said, the series seems to go out of its way to make Adashino look as suspicious as possible. For a start, she’s got her own version of Nagini from Harry Potter. I mean, a mage with a giant snake at your command has to be evil, right? 😂 Plus, the way she just blew through Olga’s “wizard lock” (for lack of a better term) and her general attitude just makes her seem like she MUST be the culprit.

But that’s exactly why I don’t believe she’s the villain. The writers are pushing her too hard. And yet, it is possible that the writers are pushing her so hard that folks like me WILL reject it. That way we are stunned when she’s really the bad guy. 😂

Mystic Eyes and Black Keys

I liked seeing Yvette get to use her Mystic Jewel-Eye. It is kinda jacked up that she had to lose an eye just to get a jewel inserted instead. Yeah, I get that it gives her some nice powers. And without it, the Rail Zeppelin Mystic Eyes train would have remained stuck. But it still is a freaky thing to do.

I also enjoyed seeing Karbo using his Black Keys, which are long daggers. I expected Karbo, Yvette, Melvin, and even Gray have to fight Dead Apostles. So it was surprising when that didn’t happen. I kinda wanted to see Karbo frying these undead with Black Keys. 😅

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files 09 with some final thoughts.

• Luvia and Kairi only score another extended cameo. However, it is interesting that Trisha was looking into beheadings, only to become a victim of one herself.
• It looked like Luvia paid Jean-Mario $20K for his information.
• I wonder if we will see Gray unleash her Noble Phantasm in her fight with Hephaestion.

In the end, Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files 09 was another really enjoyable episode. I’m so glad this series has turned out far better than I ever imagined.