A deadly Race Against the Clock facing the Noah.
"Your will is so strong that is overwhelming, Allen. What are you and that clown-like Innocence carrying upon your shoulders? It is as if, like the light, you are going to fade away anytime soon..."
— Lavi
Coverage: Chapters 090-135; Episodes 076-094
Short Summary
With Allen back and stronger than ever, everything seems to be improving for the Exorcists. However, the Earl still has more tricks in his sleeve. Kidnapping the defenseless Lenalee into the old Noah’s Ark with the suspicion she may be the wielder of the Heart, the villain manages to trap Allen and his friends there, leaving them to their luck and hoping for them to disappear with the Ark. When everything seems lost, Tyki reveals himself and challenges the Exorcists to a deadly game where they will bet their lives: advance to the tallest tower inside the Ark and open a door created with Road’s power there with a key he handles them. But things will not be easy. With a few hours before the new Ark gets fully downloaded and the previous one crumbles, the Exorcists will have to face some of the Noah gathered in Japan, in battles of a scale not witnessed before.Main Summary
The Noah's Ark Arc has the following tropes:
- Character Death: Skinn Bolic is killed by Kanda during their fight in the snowy room of the Ark, making him the only casualty of the arc at the end and also the only Noah thus far to die in the story.
- Disney Death: Kanda, Krory, Chaozii and Lavi all fall to the void left in the Ark after its disappearance at different points of the arc, with Miranda even seen from time to time despairing at the fact that she can no longer feel their time and they "died". However, by the end of the arc, the four of them are brought back when Allen restores the Ark in the hidden piano room.
- Dwindling Party: Through their run inside the Ark, the Exorcists start to fall one after another as a result of the erasure of the old Ark as the new one downloads more content of it and their battles against the Noah take a toll on them. Kanda is the first to fall after killing Skinn Bolic, followed by Krory, who gets behind to deal with Jasdevi and give a chance to escape to his friends, and lastly Lavi and Chaozii, who fall into the abyss of the Ark when the download is about to be completed, leaving Allen and Lenalee as the last people standing of the original party. Fortunately, as Allen plays the piano in the 14th Noah’s room, he manages to restore the Ark and bring back his friends with it.
- High-Five Left Hanging: Before crossing the first gate, Allen decides to extend his hand towards his comrades as a way to make them promise that they will come out of the Ark alive. Everyone joins and puts their hands together… Except Kanda, of course, who finds it very corny and refuses to join.
- Immediate Sequel: The arc starts seconds after the previous one ends, with Allen, Kanda, Lavi, Krory and Chaozii rushing to save Lenalee from the gate sucking her into the Ark and getting trapped there.
- The Load: Lenalee (unable to use her Innocence after pushing her limits destroying Eshi in the previous arc) and Chaozii (a normal human with no powers) understandably weight down the group and are used as hostages by the Noah multiple times through the arc due to their helplessness. Chaozii however becomes an Exorcist just in time to save Lenalee from a huge piece of debris of the Ark that the awakened Tyki destroyed after the Innocence Tiedoll was carrying with him chooses him as its Accommodator.
- Next Tier Power-Up: When Tyki uses his Noah abilities to create a vacuum and crush Allen with it, Allen, seeing himself in a desperate situation, increases the synchronization rate of his Crown Clown so much he surpasses the 100% of synchronization and gains the ability to turn his left arm into a big, long sword similar to the one of the Earl with the power to vanquish evil, proceeding to defeat Tyki with it.
- Race Against the Clock: The main plot of the arc deals with our heroes attempting to reach the top of the Ark in three hours before the city inside it gets erased by the download of the new Ark and they disappear with it. Complicating things, they also have to face the formidable Noah in multiple fights to death, elevating the stakes even further.
- Run the Gauntlet: In addition to having to reach Road’s final door before the old Ark gets erased, the Exorcists trapped there are forced to fight against the Noah who arrived in Japan in successive battles. First Kanda fights against Skinn Bolic in a room with a desert environment. Then everyone is forced to fight against the twins Jasdero and Devit in the archive room of the Ark, a huge library, when they ambush them there. After Krory stays to fight the fused form of the twins and manages to take him out before collapsing himself, Allen and Lavi end up facing Tyki and Road respectively in the highest tower of the Ark as the last two obstacles to escape the ship. Finally, when everything seems over and our heroes try to pass through the dimensional door, Tyki’s inner Noah awakens, destroys the gate and proceeds to crush Allen and Lavi before Cross finally reveals himself and defeats Tyki for good, with the Earl arriving in time to save him before leaving the Exorcists to the mercy of the Ark erasure.
- Snow Means Death: Kanda and Skinn fight in a room with a rocky, desert theme decorated with painted rainbows and star/moon motifs. By the time the fight reaches its climax, snow starts to fall out in the battlefield, ending with the death of Skinn and Kanda being erased after the new Ark downloads the room where they were fighting. Kanda gets better thanks to Allen restoring the Ark at the end, but Skinn, who was killed before the collapse of the room, dies for good.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: While Allen's group is trapped in the Ark, the story switches in certain instances to the fight of the Exorcists remaining in Japan (Bookman, Marie, Miranda and Tiedoll) against an army of Giant Akuma the Earl sends to deal with them. It mostly serves to show Miranda reacting to someone in the Ark losing their time (AKA disappearing in the crumbling Ark) and make their Disney Death more convincing.
- Wham Episode: By the end, the arc ends up with lots of shocking reveals and events that change the series as we knew it and impacts the following arcs. A Noah is killed, Allen's new Innocence sword is revealed to be similar to the one of the Earl, the 14th Noah reveals himself and is hinted to be related to Allen, and even Mana is implied to be strongly linked to the 14th when Allen notices that the symbols of music sheet inside Timcanpy with the song of the 14th are the same that those he and Mana made back when he was a child.
- The Worf Effect: Tyki gets subjected to it twice after being proven a formidable opponent:
- In his fight with Allen, Tyki dominates most of the fight and even almost gets to kill Allen with a vacuum he generates by rejecting the atmosphere around him. However, once Allen surpasses the Critical Point of his Innocence and turns his Crown Clown into his Sword of Exorcism, he gets easily struck by the power of the sword and immediately defeated by two hits, apparently losing the Noah inside him. All of these serve to show how strong Allen became after reaching his peak as an Exorcist.
- Later, when his inner Noah awakes and he turns into a monstrous armored warrior, he shows to be even more powerful and Allen with his Sword of Exorcism (along with Lavi) are instead the ones being easily beaten around to show the power of his awakening. Then, once Cross Marian appears to save Allen and the others, he makes quick work of the awakened Tyki with his two Innocence and confirms he’s indeed a very powerful fighter worthy of the rank of General.
