魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 25 Chapter 226 (manga)
Mahou Sensei Negima! Manga Chapter 226

Summary/Synopsis: With Fate’s giant pillars about to fall and crush the crowd below, Asuna is able to destroy them all with a wave of her artifact-sword. Setsuna is very impressed and the crowds think a movie is being shot.

Meanwhile, Fate discovers that Negi’s attack is not mere “doping” as Negi continues to press his attack. Negi scores a Gokuen Houzan Takutenshou blow and before Fare can recover, Negi blasts Fate into the giant pillar they are fighting on. With Fate down on the partially shattered pillar, Negi decides to finish it with the Dextra Emittam. While the energy spear breaks the pillar, Fate manages to grasp the spear and cause it to miss him. Fate realizes that Negi’s improvements are the results of training, something Fate has never needed. Fate tells Negi his is a worthy opponent, leaving Negi to wonder if Fate block all of his attacks as Asuna’s attack disolves the pillar they were on.

Elsewhere, the illusion of Koyomi (with Tamaki) gloats as she tells Rakan that her artifact “Mugen Houyou” has the powerful warrior trapped. He remarks on not being able to flip the skirts of illusions, leading Koyomi to say that he can joke all he wants, but they’ll be back when he’s starving to death. Konoka and Chamo aren’t happy with Jack’s apparent weakness for falling into traps and then figuring a way out of them later. Jack decides he has no choice but to use “that,” so he pulls Koyomi’s panties out and sniffs them. That immediately brings the illusion form of Koyomi out, demanding to have her panties returned.

As Koyomi is all flustered and shocked by Rakan’s actions, Jack give’s Chamo a sniff as well. Chamo is then able to determine that Koyomi and Tamaki are actually some 37.35Km west-southwest, which impressed Jack since it is more precise than his own calculations. Chamo is sure about his calculations since he is the self-described “panty god.” The illusion of Koyomi demands to know what they are doing as Jack grabs Nodoka (Chamo on his shoulder) and activates a blade which he then launches and then then jumps on to surf to its final destination (naming the move on the spot as “Hiken Naminori Rakan.”

Tamaki tells the shocked Koyomi that Jack is coming at Mach 3.2. He arrives and tells the two girls that with infinite space to work with, they should be hiding and observing from at least 10,000Km away. Jack explains how he was able to figure out where they were (through scent) and then uses a Higi: Muon Mekuri-Jutsu (secret technique to flip their skirts) while Chamo races to take “pretend” pictures of what he sees). Tamaki states that they should retreat a few hundred kilometers but Jack’s flipping attack continues non-stop, combined with Chamo’s “picture taking” keeps the girls from escaping.

They surrender (Chamo appearing to have been stabbed by Koyomi’s artifact) but Tamaki states that despite this, the only way Jack will escape is to kill her. Jack isn’t up for killing a pretty girl just to escape, so that leaves him one choice. He begins to roar and to Tamaki and Koyomi’s amazement, the barrier keeping the illusion up begin to shatter. The roar crescendos and the barrier is broken, Jack naming the technique “Dai Jigen Yaburi.” This leaves Tamaki and Koyomi just stunned.

Thoughts/Review: After reading this chapter, I REALLY would love for it to be revealed that Fate is somehow tied in with Spider-Zero from Akamatsu-sensei’s first big manga, A.I. Love You (English name). There have been hints all along that Fate is not a true being but an artificial creation. Fate’s remark on never having needed training would fit perfect with Spider-Zero. For those who don’t know, Spider-Zero is a computer A.I. program that was given life (meaning it had a physical, artificially created body) and is the antagonist in the final volume of the manga. If Fate is a copy of the Spider-Zero program, it would make sense that he would not need training because his skills would simply be programmed into him.

Fate being a computer construct would also play into Chao’s coming from a future where magic and technology are fused somehow.

While not all fanservice and ecchi content in Negima! has a purpose, I am amused at how Akamatsu-sensei takes a really ecchi moment (Jack stealing Koyomi’s panties, sniffing them, etc.) and turns it into ecchi fanservice with a purpose. I hear that the Japanese heavily discussed Jack and Chamo being able to catch the girl’s scent though from such a great distance. ^_^;

BTW, can anyone tell me why so many people insist on spelling Jack’s last name as “Racan?” If it is his pactio card, I would remind you that the letter K is replaced by the letter C on all pactio cards. Further, in chapter 202, Akamatsu-sensei spelled Jack’s name in English as “Jack Rakan.” Post a comment if you have an answer.