魔法先生 ネギま！Volume 23 Chapter 209

Summary: Negi now has the dark magic and the phantom Eva tests him on his new-found skill. Meanwhile Chisame wrestles with her choice over whether to destroy the scroll and make sure Negi stays alive (though potentially without his magic) or to leave it alone and have Negi potentially die. She reflects on how well Negi has treated her despite her “onlooker” status. However, with the sun rising, she also thinks of what she’d tell Asuna and the others in the class, to say nothing of Anya and Negi’s cousin. She decides to save Negi’s life and goes to stab the scroll, only to have Negi stop the dagger with two fingers.

Chisame needs to blow some stress and so attacks Negi with pillows for waiting until the last possible second to wake up. Then when Jack comes in, she attacks him as he informs Negi that Chisame has been nursing him for two days. Negi tries to thank Chisame, but is attacked with pillows again.

Negi’s arms and hands are now marked, proving he’s mastered the dark magic of Eva’s. As such, its time to start training with this new skill.

Meanwhile Fate and companions arrive at the old, abandoned capital of Ostia, which had been the capital of the old kingdom of Vespertatia. Their plan is on schedule and Tsukuyomi arrives to report that the two princesses (Asuna and Konoka) are heading to Ostia with their bodyguards (Kaede and Setsuna). She’s frustrated that she can’t kill them but tells Fate she’ll be patient for a chance to fight “oneesan.” She also reports that Negi is training with one Rakan from Crimson Wing, which causes concern from one of the others. Fate isn’t worried as Negi’s the only fun he’ll have. A wild dragon lands, thinking it will get some food but is quickly killed and petrified by Fate.

Thoughts: There’s a bit too much of a “yeah right” moment when Negi stops Chisame’s blade with two fingers after being out for so long. Why would he know to stop the blade? I don’t know, some throw-away line or something to band-aid this would have helped. That said, we didn’t get that, so it is time to do the Japanese thing and just set that aside for now.

So Negi now has Magica Erebea as a new skill and training with this will now begin with Jack. If there is more training shown, people are going to scream, I think. *lol*

It should be interesting seeing how Asuna reacts to seeing Ostia since this was likely where Nagi rescued her from (if I’ve understood correctly). It would also be interesting if somehow Asuna’s group discovered the petrified dragon.

Finally, there’s Fate. I’ve mentioned this before but I’d love it if Akamatsu-sensei linked Fate with Spider-Zero from A.I. Love You. I didn’t notice this initially, but the dragon that attacked Fate’s group was missing a horn, implying that it was one that either Setsuna and Asuna defeated or the one that Kaede defeated and Konoka healed. Either way, Fate showing how he not only slew the dragon with his earth-spike spell, but also petrified the dragon at the same time (within moments of it landing) helps to show just how much stronger Fate is than the others. It took Kaede hours to win her battle. It should be an interesting fight when things go down.