1. What do you think about the Captain and Maschenny's meeting?
B. What do you think is their common purpose?
C. What do you expect of their interactions going forward?
Both want to help Baam prevail in the middle of all this mess, but the motives behind their actions should be somewhat different most likely.
I doubt there's going to be any sort of clash between the two here. The Captain clearly isn't there to fight with her and a fight at this point would probably bring nothing but harm to both parties, although depending on how the conversation flows, it's not totally impossible either.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to hearing more of their conversation. One can hope we get to learn something new about the Captain(s), Wangnan and Karaka's existences. Unless Maschenny has never seen Zahard in person at all, it would be very strange if she doesn't comment anything on his appearance or there's no reaction at all regarding that.
2. What do you think about the destination change?
B. Why did the Captain propose a destination change?
C. What is the new destination?
No idea about all of this tbh. Maybe he wants to make sure to separate Baam from some of his Regular friends
(yes please), but even if the destination isn't changed, so far it's not looking like Baam will leave through the same means as them anyway. Let's see if Maschenny accepts the suggestion or not first.
3. What did you think of Yasratcha's death and the reaction to it.
It was alright. He defied Traumerei as much as he could in spite of knowing he didn't have the slightest chance at all against him. Yas' entire existence has been one of the highlights of Season 3 to me. I think he's one of the best characters SIU has created so far and is definitely among my Top 5 favourites. Him dying here was pretty much inevitable since the moment Cobalt teleported him to Traumerei, but I'm fine with how things have gone for his character. I hope SIU doesn't pull any BS and lets him die here. He's fulfilled his purpose as well as he's been capable of and he's been a very fun and interesting character to me.
4. What do you think of Traumerei's presence and actions in this chapter.
I'm going to be really frank here. So far, and for me, he's a walking disappointment. Not just because a supposed master of Fate and Destiny like him has been outwitted left and right by the same people he deems as inferior in any way, shape or form (the comments of Perseus about how he's supposed to already be aware of everything don't help him at all lol), but also for his feats so far, which have been very lacking in my eyes.
I'm aware he's yet to fight himself, but my god, baring Raging Rapid (which is also quite mediocre for someone of his hype IMO), the rest of his personal Shinheuh shown so far have been pure garbage in the sense of how incredibly weak and pathetic they're:
- Fandore Harpe and Cobalt put together were unable to stop Yas from reaching Traumerei. It didn't seem all that difficult for him to break through their lines and killing attempts either.
- Then Traumerei was forced to summon another Shinheuh (Kraken) just to start overwhelming Yas (and even then, the hit he took from Kraken was more like a surprise attack).
- Yama (not even with half body FT) and Yas put together managed to break through the lines of Cobalt, Harpe and Kraken with relative ease, which forced Traumerei to summon yet another Shinheuh (Raging Rapid).
- In spite of Raging Rapid being clearly the strongest Shinheuh and tipping the balance in their favour, Yas and Yama were still managing to hold their ground.
Then half body FT Yama came in and wiped out Kraken with two attacks. All signs so far point to the beast being dead. It looks as if it has despawned from existence. This in turn strongly suggests that Traumerei doesn't have a way of enhancing his Shinheuh further. Basically, what we've seen from the beasts is most likely their optimal max level. If that's the case, massive disappointment (I can still be wrong on this, I seriously hope I am). Friendly reminder that CCs are portrayed as ants in front of Gods when they're compared to the FHs.
After countless threats that have resulted in him being mostly ignored, he's finally in the mood to do something, but even his Shinwonryuu doesn't feel that impressive either, at least not yet. Sophia Tan managed to block/deflect some of it in this chapter with her Light-Houses (which speaks very well of her, but very bad of Traumerei) and it's unlikely it's going to do much more than destroy his own base. I seriously doubt it's going to kill any relevant player from FUG. Best case scenario, it is strongly suggested everyone will get wiped out but he stops it after hearing Gustang is attacking his Mothership.
It doesn't help that most of the people he's fighting against are not at their best and/or have power-ups to get:
- Yama
- Not Full Body Complete Transformation.
- No Acrinak Awakening.
- No 3rd Fang.
- Jinsung
- His arms are still damaged from his fight against Kallavan.
- SIU said he got weaker from his old days.
- Baam
- No Thorn, no Revolution, no Souls, just his base. Going by Charlie's comment, he shouldn't even be using a tenth of his power right now.
If Traumerei is already looking like that, how is he going to look when Yama and especially Baam start showcasing all of that? That's the thing. At the phase of the fight Traumerei should have the easiest time, he's already looking underwhelming.
SIU is still on time to make him look like the being on a higher plane of existence he's supposed to be from his portrayal, but from each chapter that goes by, the more I'm convinced that I have simply been giving the Irregulars in general too much credit. I hope I'm wrong and SIU just shuts my mouth though.
5. What do you think happens next?
Depends on what Traumerei values more. His entire Family or Baam (who now has Leviathan inside him). On the one hand, we had the 8th Son's comments about him being enraged and saddened by the death of one of his sons at the hands of the Hidden Grove Team, which suggests he cares considerably. On the other, and during the Yas flashback, he really didn't seem to give a shit. He instantly agreed to Yas' idea of executing two Branches (including the Leaders) because it seemed fun and alright to him.
I'm of the idea that Baam's final fight in this arc (if he has one) is going to be against Kallavan, so I believe Traumerei is probably going to retreat to his Mothership, leaving some of his Shinheuh or a puppet (Lo Po Bia Ren style) behind to assist the Top 3 Branch Leaders, Kallavan and Lyborick in the capture of the Irregular for his Family.
6. Is anyone at the Nest working/collaborating with Gustang?
B. Who?
SIU's comments by the time he appeared on the Mothership, as well as Gustang's own comments, suggest IMO that this wasn't a premeditated move from Gustang and that someone told him. If that someone is on the Nest, it's either Maschenny or the Boss. Nobody else really fits since it looks like they're the only people there that work behind the scenes. If someone told him and if that person is on the Nest, I'm betting on the Boss personally.
