[Report This]Date: January 27 2024 9:15 PM Title: The Temple of Destiny
Oklahoma continues to low-key throw out great one-liners. Between that and keeping the academics alive, she may well be the most vital part of team only eat the bad humans.
This was obviously a pretty big chapter for Mika. His feelings on Chloé eating people have always been complicated (mostly negative but sometimes with excuses for her), and now it feels like all the cards are on the table. Now Chloé knows why Mika has a problem with it, that it's nit just her killing people but that she seems to view his kind as food (even if that doesn't apply to him personally). It's his love for her that makes this so hard for him to accept what she is, because, despite what he said, he can't stop loving her even if he believes that she's evil. I think this is why he was at peace when he thought he was going to die; he could neither accept nor reject her, so simply becoming a part of her takes away that struggle (and everything else).
The snake goddess's answer to this is absolutely perfect. Mika tells her that Chloé broke her promise, and the goddess basically says "uh, Duh?" Mika's intentions with changing Chloé have always been good, but the truth is that he has been trying to fundamentally change who she is based on his moral values, which never works in a relationship. Even if he hates that Chloé eats humans, that's a part of her, and if he loves her he had to accept that. He's still struggling with that a bit now, but I think he's on the right path.
And that struggle just so happens to maje him the perfect person to play the judge and jury to Chloé's executioner.
I thought the transformation trick to get into Chloé's second stomach was creative and really clever. I also cracked up when Mika proclaimed that Chloé's stomachs were his. It was symbolic and made sense, but it was more the way he said it.
Yukia continues to intrigue me. I keep wondering what she would be like without the curse. I mean, she'd be kind of crazy either way, I think, but maybe in a more fun-loving sense. The fact that she stood up for Higgins, to me, shows there's at least some good in her. And the fact that she kissed him makes me curious (getting attached doesn't seem to fit her stance on humans).
As for Higgins himself, man that guy has come a long way since chapter one. He went from offering up workers to Chloé as a snack to save his own hide to putting himself between man-eating cat girls and his men. I get why he thinks Emilie did something to make him this way, but I think it's really just this insane situation that had caused him to quietly reevaluate things. I guess maybe the suspicion that she messed with his brain like that could be an excuse he uses to justify doing things he's never dine before, bit I'm not even sure about that.
Finally, I thought the action sequence here was pretty good. You don't write a ton of those, but when you do, you're always to the point while giving us enough details to visualize what's happening. You always throw some personality in to the mix, too, in this case mainly through Chloé's thoughts, which is always appreciated.
Author's Response:
Yeah, this chapter was very much about Mika coming to terms with Chloe's nature. As the snake goddess says, they've got to be in perfect alignment for everything that's coming up.
Yukia and Higgins are both experiencing emotions they haven't really felt before, or at least not in a long time. Higgins is basically rediscovering his humanity after a lifetime of being stoic and cold towards everything.