The tale of a boy and his living, singing doll in a town forsaken by God comes to an end.
"Kanda... Although what you said is true, I want to become a destroyer who can save."
— Allen Walker
Coverage: Chapters 008-016; Episodes 003-005
Short Summary
Now an official member of the Black Order, Allen is told by Komui that he's going to be sent in his first mission as an Exorcist. He will travel to an ancient, abandoned town in Italy known as Mater, where a 500 years old being from legends known as "The Ghost of Mater", suspected to be related with the Innocence thanks to reports from the scouting team of the Order, has been spotted. Unfortunately for Allen, he will have to partner with the no-nonsense and unfriendly Yu Kanda, an Exorcist who attacked him when he first arrived at the Order, for the mission, and in Mater he will have to face an enemy he wasn't prepared for...Main Summary
The Ghost of Mater Arc has the following tropes:
- A Boy and His X: The latter half of the arc puts the focus on the relationship of Guzol (a deformed old man close to the end of his life) and Lala (a living doll powered with a shard of Innocence that has been roaming the abandoned Mater for centuries) and how he met her when he was left behind by his family as a child. In an interesting version of the trope, this is used to show how Lala was the one who got the most affected by the company of the kid, finding a temporal end to her long solitude with a friend that will not attack her on the spot.
- Arc Villain: The Pierrot Akuma becomes the main antagonist of the arc after evolving into a Level 2 after killing a handful of Finders. He proves to be a more powerful, cunning and vicious enemy than any other Akuma Allen fought previously, to the point he and Kanda need to combine their abilities in order to destroy him.
- Bittersweet Ending: Though the Pierrot Akuma is defeated and Lala's Innocence is retrieved, both Lala and Guzol are mortally wounded by the Akuma and end up dying at the end of the arc, leaving Allen heartbroken.
- Death of Personality: As a result of the Pierrot Akuma forcefully extracting the Innocence out of her body, Lala loses her humanity and memories and reverts to the mindless, robotic doll she was once. Not even after putting the Innocence back into her heart does her personality returns. However, when Guzol finally dies after three nights (where Lala kept singing nonstop), her "soul" briefly comes back to thank Allen for letting her stay with Guzol till the end, with her body crumbling afterwards.
- Kick the Dog: At the beginning of the arc, Kanda gets into a fight with a Finder named Buzz in the dining hall of the Black Order's headquarters because he belittled the efforts of the Finders, calling them worthless people who couldn't get chosen by the Innocence and can be replaced at any time, almost strangling Buzz to death until Allen arrived to stop him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Lala and Guzol are only for a single arc and end up dying by the end of it, but their tragic deaths makes Allen want to commit even more to his goal of saving the souls of the innocent even if his role as an Exorcist is being someone who destroys.
