Re.Gray 036 - Vampire pt. 6: Repatriation
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Summary: Lavi vs. Krory. Meanwhile, Eliade and Allen reveal their true colours.
Volume 4, Chapter 36
Vampire of the Lonely Castle ⑥: Repatriation
♦ 175
36th Night - Vampire of the Lonely Castle ⑥: Repatriation
♦ 176
sfx: DON BAAN gagah [various battle noises, as Lavi and Krory go at it hammer and teeth in the cemetery garden]
Lavi: ...In short, Akuma are weapons1 wearing human skin! Krory: That so.
Lavi: So it's Akuma blood you've been sucking, okay?
Krory: That so. Krory: But wait? If that were true, should I not be dead of its poison? Krory: I find your tale hard to credit. sfx: zah [he and Lavi break apart momentarily]
Lavi: Heh. Actually, I can think of others who've survived it. Lavi: This is what I'm thinking: Lavi: Akuma poison doesn't work on you because, like Allen, you're a parasitic-type Accommodator. Lavi: And you've unconsciously only gone after Akuma...
♦ 177
Lavi: Those crazy-hard teeth of yours are Innocence, right?
Krory: ......
Lavi: You like hunting Akuma? Join up with us and you'll never run out. Lavi, side: Red-carpet welcome! Lavi: You're strong, so to make you listen, Lavi: it looks like I've gotta go all-out. Lavi: So tell me yea or nay when you come to, yeah? sfx: zu [a ring of seals springs up in the air around the hammer 2] Lavi: Krow. ♪ 3
♦ 178
sfx: baki baki baki [Allen's ribs creaking under the pressure of Eliade's tightening grip]
Allen: cough Allen: hack Allen: cough
Eliade: What's the matter? You were breathing fine a second ago. Eliade: I'll crush your ribcage if you don't fight back, you know?
Allen: ——... Allen: wheeze... Allen: ——...
♦ 179
Allen: ? Allen: It's hot... Allen: I'm losing my grip... Allen: It's like something is sapping the strength from my whole body. Allen: My senses are fading... Allen: I'm sleepy...
sfx: dokah [Eliade punches him hard in the face with her free hand] Eliade: No? No reaction? Eliade: Or don't you have the guts to fight?
sfx: bota bota [books fall from the shelves around Allen's shoulders] Allen: ......
Eliade: Perhaps Arystar did you some real damage.
♦ 180
Eliade: Well, then.
Allen: I mustn't... Allen: Mustn't fall asleep. Allen: Can't feel the pain, or anything else... Allen: My senses are numb. Allen: If I fall asleep, I'm dead. Allen: Talk. Allen: Come on, think. Allen: We have no... intention of... slaying Arystar Krory... Allen: So there's... no reason to fight...
Eliade: Ah. Eliade, side: It speaks.
Allen: He may... be neither vampire... nor monster... Allen: but rather... one of us...
sfx: baki [Eliade hits him hard across the face, no longer smiling]
♦ 181
Eliade: Aha! Eliade: Ahahahahaha!! sfx: doka baki doka baki goki dogo goki dogo [vicious successive hits, sound changing as his face gets pulpy] Eliade: Ahahahaha!! Eliade: One of you? Don't make me laugh. sfx: DON [she slams him back into the shelves with both hands] Eliade: He is a vampire! Eliade: You think I'll let you take him...?
♦ 182
Eliade: This is why Eliade: I have to kill you. sfx: dokan [impact]
sfx: dosah [Allen slumps bonelessly to the floor, prone] sfx: nuh [Eliade produces a wood axe]
Eliade: Off with your head. sfx: goh [she approaches] Eliade: I'll drain the blood from your body and hang it it from the gate, sfx: goro [she kicks him over onto his back] Eliade: so that no one will ever come near this castle again.
♦ 183
sfx: nu [she lays the blade against his throat] Eliade: I'll save some face if I offer his life in place of Krory's.4
sfx: ZAN [she swings]
♦ 184
Eliade: !! sfx: gugugu... [she strains, but Allen holds the blade fast in his left hand and it won't budge] sfx: gugu [still trying] Eliade: Tch. Eliade: Still got some juice, huh. sfx: gugugu [his grip remains tight and unyielding] Eliade: !! Eliade: Wait, he's... Eliade: unconscious...!?
♦ 185
sfx: gikin [the red hand tightens and the axe-blade shatters] sfx: kah [a sudden light shines in Eliade's face] Eliade: !?
♦ 186
sfx: DO [Eliade jumps back, wounded in the chest but not fatally] sfx: zuzu [the arm makes the zipper noise] sfx: haa haa haa [Eliade panting] sfx: dokuh dokuh dokuh [Eliade's heart thundering] Eliade: What is he? Eliade: His left arm is moving on its own!?
♦ 187
sfx: zu zu zu [a black pentacle appears over his closed left eye in a slow, twisted knot] sfx: ZU [it finishes unfurling, an ornate capital D forming in the center] sfx: shu... [a wisp emerges from it] sfx: shuru... [the wisp slowly takes the shape of a skull, black pentacle blazoned across the top and D written above its left eye socket]
♦ 188
sfx: kah [it stares at Eliade, sees her, and she feels it like a physical blow]
Eliade: !?
Mana?: I'm home, Allen. Mana?: The darkness has returned... sfx: zuuu... [the skull begins to retreat back into Allen's head without losing its shape, phasing through his skin and bone] sfx: zubububu [there seems to be some resistance, an almost elecrical buzzing at the boundary being crossed]
♦ 189
Allen: My senses have returned...
sfx: kachin [the skull settles comfortably into place within Allen's, ghostly black tail dangling into his throat; Allen's cursed eye, healed, opens for the first time since Road stabbed it out, and it's pitch black]
♦ 190
Allen: So you're an Akuma. sfx: sutoh [his left arm sets him lightly on his feet]
sfx: jujujuju [Eliade's wound churns with scales and little gears] Eliade: Strange boy...
Allen: It's returned again. Allen: This black-and-white world.
♦ 191
Mana?: Welcome home.5
Allen: I'll have to eat my words. sfx: vuvu VU [Innocence thrumming, now in controlled cannon form] Allen: Seems there is reason to fight.
END OF VOLUME 4 - MARSHALS IN DISTRESS
♦♥♦
FOOTNOTES
Mismatch: Kanji: 兵器 heiki "weapon" Furigana: メカ meka "mecha"
Lavi calls Akuma "mechas", which is an interesting reversal; normally, with mechas, the squishy human bit is on the inside, piloting, and the metal is the outer skin being piloted, but Akuma are the perfect opposite. [ ♠ ]
Starting from the frontmost, counterclockwise: - 天 (heaven) - ? - 木 (wood) - ? - 火 (fire) - hidden behind Lavi - ? - 地 (earth) - ? - 水 (water) [ ♠ ]
Original: クロちゃん kurochan "Kro-chan". Kuro also means "black", of course, so there's a bit of wordplay there I can't preserve. Opted to add a little to make up for it, playing on "black" and "has wings, or something like them". [ ♠ ]
This is a reference to her mission as an Akuma; she hasn't killed Krory as she was supposed to, so she's hoping killing an Exorcist will make up for that somewhat. [ ♠ ]
I'm pretty sure this is what the chapter title "Repatriation" is referring to; that word describes the return or restoration of a person to the country of their birth or citizenship, the return of an exile to the place where they belong. Here, the curse is welcoming Allen back to the monochrome world, which he was temporarily exiled from by his injury. (Will have to be careful when typesetting to make it clear through font which of them is speaking through this section. It's obvious in Japanese because the curse speaks mostly in katakana, while Allen's thoughts are normal, but English only has the one alphabet.)
Also, I know it's a bit awkward, but where I used the word "return" three times in short succession at the end there, those were (also somewhat awkwardly) all the same word in Japanese, 戻ってきた modottekita. I don't know how significant that is but it struck me. [ ♠ ]