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lucathiaI came home to Dominion's End waiting at my door~. Finished reading it before bed. Fights after fights. Lots of characters dying, as well as a fairly major character death. D: There always was a death flag, so I'm not surprised. But I'm still sad. Narrative-wise, I'm glad there are very real consequences, and this turn of events makes a lot of sense. (But I'm still going to go off and dream of fanfic situations where the character is still alive. XDDD)
The special bundle came with a towel of the Ice Emperor. What to do with it... Hang the towel on my wall...? XD;
Dage on the cover~. He doesn't actually show up much in the volume, and he's never at the scene depicted. XD
The cover without the see-through outer cover.
Shuyu and an aberrant. After reading the volume, I'm trying to guess if that's Thirteen.
This symbol has been around, but I haven't been able to figure out what each part of it represents.
Title page.
Character intros. They're also on the Dominion's End official page in much better quality. Ceng Yunqian and Lily.
Table of contents and character intro for the Ice Emperor. Prologue, 10 chapters, side story, and afterword.
Now for spoilerish rambling!
In V2, Shuyu got carried off by a bird aberrant and saved by some new characters. Allies of the Flame King. Shuyu also meets a character who also seems to have knowledge of the other world. Anyway, the main point is, Shuyu got separated from the rest of his family. When he returns home, everyone has left to find new shelter and search for him. Instead of his family, Shuyu finds the Ice Emperor, who turns out to be the Jiang Shutian from Guan Weijun's reality. In that world, Jiang Shutian left for his "business trip" and didn't manage to return home. He survived on the other continent with quite an army but was always trying to return home. He made a name for himself as the Ice Emperor, and finally, after ten long years, was able to return home to search for his siblings.
But the Jiang Shujun and the Jiang Shuyu of that world never stood a chance. Jiang Shutian despaired and turned toward time travel, wanting to travel to the past to save his family. That's how Jiang Shutian ends up over in this world with Shuyu/Weijun. He overuses his powers... and turns into a toddler. :'D;; Shuyu calls him Jiang Xiao Tian to distinguish him from Jiang Shutian.
So yeah. A majority of V3 is Shuyu and Xiao Tian trying to regroup with the rest of the family. I was half afraid it wasn't going to happen by the end of V3. T___T I really enjoy the scenes with Shuyu and the rest of his family together! I kept anticipating their reunion, but with every character Shuyu stumbled across and everything he ended up involved with, the reunion seemed less and less likely. It felt more like a solitary story where Shuyu must go on a journey by himself. He gains a sidekick (Jiang Xiao Tian) who is conveniently turned into a toddler so that he won't steal the show and solve all of Shuyu's problems just by his dominating powers. As a toddler, he's still able to advise Shuyu and teach him even though he can't fully use his powers. Shuyu's guide~~~. Shuyu also gains a tree sapling comrade. The tree sapling is CUTENESS. With these two by his side, Shuyu embarks on his journey...!
He truly comes across tons of characters, but he can't help them all. T___T There's a little girl called Bei Bei who will probably play a larger part in the future. (Yu Wo seems to really like the name "Bei." I think there was also a character named that in GOD?) The army characters were pretty fun. I hope we'll see more of the guy who seems to have a crush on Shuyu. I... forgot his name already. XD;; His shooting is very accurate, and he seems like quite a nice guy. /weeps for all his comrades who died
V3 introduces a new force, this lab/group of people who are studying aberrants. Shuyu and Xiao Tian find it unsettling. How were they able to set up this lab within 4/5 months of the apocalypse? Did they have anything to do with the black fog? In Weijun and Xiao Tian's world, this group of people provide humankind with a lot of weapons and technology, but they're also the cause of tons of deaths because of their experiments. Xiao Tian wants Shuyu to exterminate them. (Good luck, Shuyu...)
Anyway, what I found most interesting during this part was the scientist guy who tries to persuade them that their experiments will help humankind out because what if they can force aberrants to wake up and regain memories of when they were human? Wouldn't that mean they are still that person?
Xiao Tian doesn't think so. Only dead people turn into aberrants. That means they're already dead. He was obviously affected though... and by that point, I already guessed that the Shuyu from his world must have turned into an aberrant and even talked with him. DDDD: But that still isn't Shuyu...
Shuyu/Guan Weijun tries to comfort Xiao Tian, telling him that even if the aberrant has the person's memories, they're just a parasite borrowing the body... But wait, isn't this just like Guan Weijun's case with Jiang Shuyu? DDDD:
(My heart breaks for both of them)
There are plenty of new characters in V3. Shuyu really comes across a lot of characters! We'll probably never see some of them again, but I'm finding it really interesting just how many characters are involved. Makes sense. Shuyu doesn't live in a bubble, and he has to constantly be on the move.
One of the new characters, Thirteen, makes me feel he is the Roland of this world. An adorable aberrant so far, and brings up the issue of what the line is between humans and aberrants. If aberrants can talk and are protecting humans more than humans, are they still aberrants? If a human has special powers, or if a human keeps his word less than an aberrant, is he still human? The first thing he says to Shuyu is along the lines of,"Are you one of us, or one of them?" *flails* This theme of human/non-human was also quite prevalent in No Hero~. I love it. Thirteen killed millions in Guan Weijun's world. He killed a whole squad that was under Jiang Shutian's lead and even killed Xiao Sha. DDDD: So, the moment Xiao Tian realizes the lab was keeping Thirteen, he wants to kill Thirteen. He makes Shuyu promise that he will kill Thirteen.
But this Thirteen hasn't killed masses of people yet. This Thirteen isn't the Thirteen from Xiao Tian and Guan Weijun's world. This Thirteen is protecting Bei Bei, cares greatly for his comrades, and keeps his word very well. Is it right to kill him as a preventive measure? Shuyu can't bring himself to.
So, as all this is going on, and just as Shuyu is about to kill Thirteen, the lab people butt in and shoot at both of them. Shuyu doesn't die (thankfully he has the protection of the cute tree sapling! And he sees another memory, this time a memory of the time when he got hit by the brick), but Xiao Tian uses his power to protect Shuyu. He kills everyone from the lab, except that dratted scientist gets away. Overuse of his power is pretty much signing a death warrant. D: Shuyu keeps trying to convince Xiao Tian to hang on, that Shuyu IS his brother, and he should hang on to see Shujun, but Xiao Tian isn't convinced. He has realized by now that this is a parallel world. It isn't his world. He hasn't successfully traveled to the past. He won't be able to save his little brother and sister. He has effectively abandoned his world. If he had traveled to the past, he could have changed things. His plan was to save his world and his family. But he failed in doing so. Instead, he doomed his world, taking away one of their strongest protectors. He left Lily crying after him, begging for him to stay. He pretty much deserted his comrades.
DDDD:
Xiao Tian's story is... tragic. T____T I didn't really know what to think of him in V2, just that he seemed to have come into the story at a very convenient time to lead Shuyu. As a second "Dage," he had a death flag raised from the start, and he's way too overpowered a character to stick around as himself. So, first, he got shrunk and turned into a toddler because of overusing his powers. That was an effective way to curb his powers and work him into the narrative. But, before Shuyu can reunite with his family, narrative-wise, Xiao Tian had to be dealt with. Does Xiao Tian successfully meet the rest? I didn't feel he'd make it.
):
As predicted, he doesn't. He uses the last of his powers to transform himself into weapons for Shuyu. Dammit, Dage, why are you so hard on yourself?
(...I couldn't help being amused at the same time though... Shuyu gaining his weapons... This is very RPG like)
Shuyu lets Thirteen go. He doesn't know if he's making the right decision, but he can't bring himself to kill Thirteen when Thirteen seems so human and is protecting Bei Bei. In fact, Bei Bei seems more afraid of Shuyu. Shuyu makes Thirteen promise to kill all the humans from the lab.
Will Thirteen's fate turn out differently in this world?
After that, Shuyu wanders around in a daze. My heart broke for him during this part. D: He finally arrives home, and Xiao Sha is the one who finds him. Shuyu is in such a daze at this time that he says something like, "Xiao Sha, aren't you already dead?" ;___;
The reunion is touching. And my heart broke for Shuyu some more when he sees Dage and calls him stupid. This Dage isn't Xiao Tian, but Dage is Dage.
Xiao Tian, you will be missed.
This volume wraps up Shuyu's journey. I feel that V2 and V3 should be read together. It's one long, continuous journey. I wondered where the story would head after this. The synopsis for V4 gives some hints. It seems that V4 will be about the Jiang family establishing their dominance in this new city, and Shuyu seems like he will have some trouble calling out his new weapons without feeling guilt. I look forward to seeing more of the Jiang family together!
Oh. And the Shuyu/Weijun business is... I think... wrapped up in this volume? It felt more like an afterthought after what happened with Xiao Tian. When Shuyu is shot, he dreams of the time he got hit by the brick. And then, the "dream" suddenly shifts to memories of Guan Weijun. (Her boyfriend was truly a bastard)
It seems that Jiang Shujun and Jiang Shutian were both correct. Shuyu is Weijun and Weijun is Shuyu. Shuyu got hit by a brick and regained memories of his past self. As for why there are overlaps in time, it's because it's a parallel world. After Weijun died, she was reborn as the Shuyu of this world. But that doesn't mean she is the Shuyu of that other world. Hence why, in the end, she still isn't Xiao Tian's little brother.
I'm both glad and not. XD; Less heartbreak this way, with Shuyu = Weijun, but if Weijun and Shuyu had been completely separate people, with Weijun taking over after Shuyu died, that could have ended up pretty fascinating too.
The side chapter this time features Jiang Shutian from Weijun's world. More heart breaking. DDDD: Lily also made my heart break for her. Shutian finally returns home, only to find out that his brother has died and turned into an aberrant.
So yes. The aberrant Weijun saw the Ice Emperor fight was exactly Jiang Shuyu.
Oh, and I also wanted to note down that Xiao Tian is a little like Scarlet. A guide for the MC, but can't have them around for long, or else we would know too much. Which is probably why both Pink and Scarlet weren't around for long to support their candidates. Also, both keep wanting the MC to have children to protect them in the future. :3;;
Ah, I'm already seeing speculation that maybe Jiang Shutian's powers could revert Xiao Tian from his weapon state. Since, it's highly likely that Jiang Shutian's powers involves reverting stuff and isn't just healing. He dissolved Shuyu's ice spear into water, after all. I kind of don't want Xiao Tian to come back to life though. XD; (but this is excellent fanfic fodder)
ETA: Flipping back through V2 and remembering that Dage was the one who melted Shuyu's ice spear and said he would compensate for it... /screams into the abyss. Don't compensate by turning yourself into Shuyu's ice spear!!!
The special bundle came with a towel of the Ice Emperor. What to do with it... Hang the towel on my wall...? XD;
Dage on the cover~. He doesn't actually show up much in the volume, and he's never at the scene depicted. XD
The cover without the see-through outer cover.
Shuyu and an aberrant. After reading the volume, I'm trying to guess if that's Thirteen.
This symbol has been around, but I haven't been able to figure out what each part of it represents.
Title page.
Character intros. They're also on the Dominion's End official page in much better quality. Ceng Yunqian and Lily.
Table of contents and character intro for the Ice Emperor. Prologue, 10 chapters, side story, and afterword.
Now for spoilerish rambling!
In V2, Shuyu got carried off by a bird aberrant and saved by some new characters. Allies of the Flame King. Shuyu also meets a character who also seems to have knowledge of the other world. Anyway, the main point is, Shuyu got separated from the rest of his family. When he returns home, everyone has left to find new shelter and search for him. Instead of his family, Shuyu finds the Ice Emperor, who turns out to be the Jiang Shutian from Guan Weijun's reality. In that world, Jiang Shutian left for his "business trip" and didn't manage to return home. He survived on the other continent with quite an army but was always trying to return home. He made a name for himself as the Ice Emperor, and finally, after ten long years, was able to return home to search for his siblings.
But the Jiang Shujun and the Jiang Shuyu of that world never stood a chance. Jiang Shutian despaired and turned toward time travel, wanting to travel to the past to save his family. That's how Jiang Shutian ends up over in this world with Shuyu/Weijun. He overuses his powers... and turns into a toddler. :'D;; Shuyu calls him Jiang Xiao Tian to distinguish him from Jiang Shutian.
So yeah. A majority of V3 is Shuyu and Xiao Tian trying to regroup with the rest of the family. I was half afraid it wasn't going to happen by the end of V3. T___T I really enjoy the scenes with Shuyu and the rest of his family together! I kept anticipating their reunion, but with every character Shuyu stumbled across and everything he ended up involved with, the reunion seemed less and less likely. It felt more like a solitary story where Shuyu must go on a journey by himself. He gains a sidekick (Jiang Xiao Tian) who is conveniently turned into a toddler so that he won't steal the show and solve all of Shuyu's problems just by his dominating powers. As a toddler, he's still able to advise Shuyu and teach him even though he can't fully use his powers. Shuyu's guide~~~. Shuyu also gains a tree sapling comrade. The tree sapling is CUTENESS. With these two by his side, Shuyu embarks on his journey...!
He truly comes across tons of characters, but he can't help them all. T___T There's a little girl called Bei Bei who will probably play a larger part in the future. (Yu Wo seems to really like the name "Bei." I think there was also a character named that in GOD?) The army characters were pretty fun. I hope we'll see more of the guy who seems to have a crush on Shuyu. I... forgot his name already. XD;; His shooting is very accurate, and he seems like quite a nice guy. /weeps for all his comrades who died
V3 introduces a new force, this lab/group of people who are studying aberrants. Shuyu and Xiao Tian find it unsettling. How were they able to set up this lab within 4/5 months of the apocalypse? Did they have anything to do with the black fog? In Weijun and Xiao Tian's world, this group of people provide humankind with a lot of weapons and technology, but they're also the cause of tons of deaths because of their experiments. Xiao Tian wants Shuyu to exterminate them. (Good luck, Shuyu...)
Anyway, what I found most interesting during this part was the scientist guy who tries to persuade them that their experiments will help humankind out because what if they can force aberrants to wake up and regain memories of when they were human? Wouldn't that mean they are still that person?
Xiao Tian doesn't think so. Only dead people turn into aberrants. That means they're already dead. He was obviously affected though... and by that point, I already guessed that the Shuyu from his world must have turned into an aberrant and even talked with him. DDDD: But that still isn't Shuyu...
Shuyu/Guan Weijun tries to comfort Xiao Tian, telling him that even if the aberrant has the person's memories, they're just a parasite borrowing the body... But wait, isn't this just like Guan Weijun's case with Jiang Shuyu? DDDD:
(My heart breaks for both of them)
There are plenty of new characters in V3. Shuyu really comes across a lot of characters! We'll probably never see some of them again, but I'm finding it really interesting just how many characters are involved. Makes sense. Shuyu doesn't live in a bubble, and he has to constantly be on the move.
One of the new characters, Thirteen, makes me feel he is the Roland of this world. An adorable aberrant so far, and brings up the issue of what the line is between humans and aberrants. If aberrants can talk and are protecting humans more than humans, are they still aberrants? If a human has special powers, or if a human keeps his word less than an aberrant, is he still human? The first thing he says to Shuyu is along the lines of,"Are you one of us, or one of them?" *flails* This theme of human/non-human was also quite prevalent in No Hero~. I love it. Thirteen killed millions in Guan Weijun's world. He killed a whole squad that was under Jiang Shutian's lead and even killed Xiao Sha. DDDD: So, the moment Xiao Tian realizes the lab was keeping Thirteen, he wants to kill Thirteen. He makes Shuyu promise that he will kill Thirteen.
But this Thirteen hasn't killed masses of people yet. This Thirteen isn't the Thirteen from Xiao Tian and Guan Weijun's world. This Thirteen is protecting Bei Bei, cares greatly for his comrades, and keeps his word very well. Is it right to kill him as a preventive measure? Shuyu can't bring himself to.
So, as all this is going on, and just as Shuyu is about to kill Thirteen, the lab people butt in and shoot at both of them. Shuyu doesn't die (thankfully he has the protection of the cute tree sapling! And he sees another memory, this time a memory of the time when he got hit by the brick), but Xiao Tian uses his power to protect Shuyu. He kills everyone from the lab, except that dratted scientist gets away. Overuse of his power is pretty much signing a death warrant. D: Shuyu keeps trying to convince Xiao Tian to hang on, that Shuyu IS his brother, and he should hang on to see Shujun, but Xiao Tian isn't convinced. He has realized by now that this is a parallel world. It isn't his world. He hasn't successfully traveled to the past. He won't be able to save his little brother and sister. He has effectively abandoned his world. If he had traveled to the past, he could have changed things. His plan was to save his world and his family. But he failed in doing so. Instead, he doomed his world, taking away one of their strongest protectors. He left Lily crying after him, begging for him to stay. He pretty much deserted his comrades.
DDDD:
Xiao Tian's story is... tragic. T____T I didn't really know what to think of him in V2, just that he seemed to have come into the story at a very convenient time to lead Shuyu. As a second "Dage," he had a death flag raised from the start, and he's way too overpowered a character to stick around as himself. So, first, he got shrunk and turned into a toddler because of overusing his powers. That was an effective way to curb his powers and work him into the narrative. But, before Shuyu can reunite with his family, narrative-wise, Xiao Tian had to be dealt with. Does Xiao Tian successfully meet the rest? I didn't feel he'd make it.
):
As predicted, he doesn't. He uses the last of his powers to transform himself into weapons for Shuyu. Dammit, Dage, why are you so hard on yourself?
(...I couldn't help being amused at the same time though... Shuyu gaining his weapons... This is very RPG like)
Shuyu lets Thirteen go. He doesn't know if he's making the right decision, but he can't bring himself to kill Thirteen when Thirteen seems so human and is protecting Bei Bei. In fact, Bei Bei seems more afraid of Shuyu. Shuyu makes Thirteen promise to kill all the humans from the lab.
Will Thirteen's fate turn out differently in this world?
After that, Shuyu wanders around in a daze. My heart broke for him during this part. D: He finally arrives home, and Xiao Sha is the one who finds him. Shuyu is in such a daze at this time that he says something like, "Xiao Sha, aren't you already dead?" ;___;
The reunion is touching. And my heart broke for Shuyu some more when he sees Dage and calls him stupid. This Dage isn't Xiao Tian, but Dage is Dage.
Xiao Tian, you will be missed.
This volume wraps up Shuyu's journey. I feel that V2 and V3 should be read together. It's one long, continuous journey. I wondered where the story would head after this. The synopsis for V4 gives some hints. It seems that V4 will be about the Jiang family establishing their dominance in this new city, and Shuyu seems like he will have some trouble calling out his new weapons without feeling guilt. I look forward to seeing more of the Jiang family together!
Oh. And the Shuyu/Weijun business is... I think... wrapped up in this volume? It felt more like an afterthought after what happened with Xiao Tian. When Shuyu is shot, he dreams of the time he got hit by the brick. And then, the "dream" suddenly shifts to memories of Guan Weijun. (Her boyfriend was truly a bastard)
It seems that Jiang Shujun and Jiang Shutian were both correct. Shuyu is Weijun and Weijun is Shuyu. Shuyu got hit by a brick and regained memories of his past self. As for why there are overlaps in time, it's because it's a parallel world. After Weijun died, she was reborn as the Shuyu of this world. But that doesn't mean she is the Shuyu of that other world. Hence why, in the end, she still isn't Xiao Tian's little brother.
I'm both glad and not. XD; Less heartbreak this way, with Shuyu = Weijun, but if Weijun and Shuyu had been completely separate people, with Weijun taking over after Shuyu died, that could have ended up pretty fascinating too.
The side chapter this time features Jiang Shutian from Weijun's world. More heart breaking. DDDD: Lily also made my heart break for her. Shutian finally returns home, only to find out that his brother has died and turned into an aberrant.
So yes. The aberrant Weijun saw the Ice Emperor fight was exactly Jiang Shuyu.
Oh, and I also wanted to note down that Xiao Tian is a little like Scarlet. A guide for the MC, but can't have them around for long, or else we would know too much. Which is probably why both Pink and Scarlet weren't around for long to support their candidates. Also, both keep wanting the MC to have children to protect them in the future. :3;;
Ah, I'm already seeing speculation that maybe Jiang Shutian's powers could revert Xiao Tian from his weapon state. Since, it's highly likely that Jiang Shutian's powers involves reverting stuff and isn't just healing. He dissolved Shuyu's ice spear into water, after all. I kind of don't want Xiao Tian to come back to life though. XD; (but this is excellent fanfic fodder)
ETA: Flipping back through V2 and remembering that Dage was the one who melted Shuyu's ice spear and said he would compensate for it... /screams into the abyss. Don't compensate by turning yourself into Shuyu's ice spear!!!
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