As a recap page, all spoilers below have been unmarked. You have been warned.
- Peony: Lucy… It’s okay…
Lucy: Just shut up, Peony! It’s NOT okay!! Weren’t you listening?? I can’t do anything! I can’t “zap” anyone, or protect you! I can’t even protect myself! I don’t know why I keep trying… I shouldn’t even be here… I can’t do magic. Everyone knows I’m useless… Ana, Tetsu, my master… He doesn’t even try to teach me anymore… He knows it’s a waste of time… That I’ll never amount to anything. That I’m –-
Peony: Lucy!! You’re not useless!! You’re nice and pretty and— and!! I don’t care if you can’t do magic! That’s not why I like you! And I can’t do magic either!! But— but— You still like me!! So it… it isn’t fair to not like yourself!
The chapter opens on a pair of goat's legs stepping on a twig in a lush, forested environment. We pan up to see that the legs belong to a goatlike woman, similar to the "crocodile husk" Emilia mentioned last chapter, with long, tangled black hair, lurid red skin, and a pair of curled horns. Though she's alone, the trees she walks past indicate that she's much taller than a normal human. She says nothing, but we can hear her breathing heavily.
We abruptly cut to the competitors currently in the running, sans Lucy, gathered at a dock. January, Ana, Testu, and Philomena talk together, Broom Girl sits quietly on a coil of rope, and Sylas stands some distance away from the others, conferring with Fineas and Fenn. The focus shifts to the girls (and Tetsu), who are discussing their outfits. January brags to Philomena about her guard training, Ana shows off her handmade outfit, and Philomena compliments Broom girl and Tetsu on their matching outfits. When Philomena gushes about how cool everyone's outfits are, January takes the opportunity to mention how cool and authentic Philly's looks.
- Philomena: Oh! Um, well… it… is… authentic… My Dad had it made custom for me… Before I told him I needed it.
Sylas attempts to cut in, bringing up that his costume is authentic too, but nobody appreciates his joke. As he slinks off in shame, Lucy steals the spotlight, showing off the outfit they've spent the better part
of this week putting together by hand, as well as the hat and cape Ivy has to match. Philomena and Broom Girl express their appreciation for Lucy's sense of style, and with that, this week's proctor, Lady Derry Lake arrives, accompanied by Martha, Billy, Peony, Rascal, Hanzi, Sasha, and Cedric. Derry wastes no time in launching into her explanation of today's test rules:
- Derry: Today you’ll be tested on your offensive and defensive skill, similar to some of the duties you can expect as representative. You’ll each be assigned a child to defend from threats.
Sylas: Wait -– defend them? Defend them from what?
Derry: [chuckling] Each other.
Sylas: Oh no…
Derry: I’ve given you all quartz shooters, the toy version of the basic tools used by our city guards and representatives. They’ll just leave temporary marks, instead of, y’know.
Derry’s familiar: Wounds.
Derry: For safety though, I’ll have to collect your gemstones. Can’t have you accidentally drawing power and hurting somebody! They’ll be returned after the test.
The competitors all put their focus stone jewelry in the box Derry provides… except Lucy, who demurs, admitting their earrings are made of glass and can conduct no magical power. Ana needles them about it, but Derry's already moving on — it's time for the contestants to pick a kid to protect! All the kids except Sasha and Cedric immediately flock to Lucy, and after some prompting from Derry, they have a quick conference over who gets the honor of pairing with them. Peony wins, and the rest of the kids partner up:
- Tetsu and Broom Girl pair up with Billy and Martha, respectively.
- Sylas, the tallest individual present, pairs up with Cedric, the shortest individual present.
- Sasha, picking up that January has a crush on Philomena, immediately pairs up with the latter.
- January pairs up with Rascal.
- Ana pairs up with Hanzi.
Once everyone's paired up, Derry loads them into a boat and they head off towards an island some ways away from the city. There are some last details of the test rules, which Derry explains:
- Derry: You’ll have ten minutes to spread out! If either you or your child is hit, you’ll be returned to the beach.
January: So if there’s only one winner, who gets booted? The first loser?
Derry: The winner… chooses who goes. When the ten minutes are up, you’ll hear my whistle. You’ll hear it again whenever somebody is eliminated.
With that in mind, Derry blows her whistle, and the competitors are off! ... Except Lucy, again, who remained sitting on a rock with Peony. Their plan for this round, it seems, is to wait on the safety of the beach until everyone else has been eliminated. This doesn't fly with Derry, who uses her magic to send them flying into the depths of the woods, Peony and Ivy hurrying at their heels. With that last distraction out of the way, Derry finishes setting up a picnic, and Lady Ophelia teleports to the beach, revealing Derry's plans to multitask. We cut to a quick establishing shot of what all the competitor/child partnerships are doing with their grace period:
- Lucy is still being magically propelled through the woods. Peony follows them, carrying Ivy in her arms.
- Tetsu and Broom Girl, who have paired up for this round, help Billy and Martha hide with Ferb and Merlin in a bush full of berries.
- January, already prepared to fire her shooter, sneaks through the woods with a terrified Rascal.
- Ana and Hanzi sit high up in a tree while Merrylegs weaves a web around them.
- Sylas and Cedric walk through the woods together, nervously keeping an eye out for the others.
- Philomena, as carefree as she's been the whole chapter, leads an apprehensive Sasha through a clearing.
Once everyone's positions and strategies (or lack thereof) have been established, we jump to the end of the ten-minute grace period. Derry blows her whistle, cutting the spell she's been using on Lucy right as they're on the precipice of a pit. They stumble gracelessly onto their face, insisting they're fine, and Peony and Ivy hurry after them. Peony asks what the plan is now, since Derry put a kibosh on the first plan, and Lucy "confidently" tells her it's the same: hide somewhere safe until everyone else has eliminated each other.
As Lucy and Peony set off, we return to January, who's dashing from bush cover to bush cover as Rascal struggles to keep up. Breathless, they ask her how she got so good at this, and she boasts to them that she's a guard apprentice. Oblivious to their panicking about her being a cop, she continues to brag about the skills she's gained from her training: namely, the ability to focus her magic through the quartz shooter so tightly the toy becomes a legitimate weapon. Hearing someone rustling nearby, she gleefully prepares to demonstrate... until she realizes the source of the rustling is Philomena. Although Rascal wants to see Philomena go down, January argues that she's not gonna shoot someone with her back turned. Rascal sees through this, needling her for liking Philomena, and January suplexes them.
We cut to what Philomena has been doing with Sasha: making garlands. Sasha's on tenterhooks, biting her fingernails as she hears January and Rascal scuffle in the distance, but Philomena is unconcerned. She laughs off Sasha's worries even as Sasha tries to physically drag her away, telling her to relax, as she's almost done. Sasha begins to panic, since she can't tell what Philomena's planning, and is unimpressed when Philomena sets a crown of yellow wildflowers on her head. Sasha storms off, and we pan away from Philomena chasing playfully after her to reveal the gaunt, red-faced goat woman. She literally burns with anger, and as the foliage framing her face smolders away, she speaks for the first time:
- Su-Yeong: VASILLIA...
On that note, we transition to Ana and Hanzi, still sitting on a branch. Ana fondly holds Merrylegs as the latter confirms that she's woven an impenetrable web, but a frustrated Hanzi grumbles that the ambush plan is boring. Ana dismisses him as "just a liability" just in time for Merrylegs' trap to alert her to the presence of some hapless competitor. She tosses Merrylegs down to weave a tighter cocoon around her victim, who turns out to be Lucy. Delighted by her catch, Ana immediately begins mocking Lucy, asking if Peony and Ivy had abandoned them. Lucy snaps at her, but she's undeterred:
- Lucy: You can’t talk to me like that!!
Ana: Oh yeah? You gonna do something about it? Can you even do something about it? You act like you’re so cool, but I know you’ve got nothing to back it up. You’ve never used any magic, you wear glass jewelry, and your eye doesn’t match anything you wear! It doesn’t even match your cat’s! Why are you here? You think you have a chance against a bunch of real magicians? You think you can fake your way through a battle with a husk? You think you can get away with wasting everyone’s time? Well. You won’t waste any more of mine.
With that, Ana prepares to shoot Lucy, but is distracted by Hanzi yelping. She turns to see that he's dangling from their tree branch hideout, laughing. He addresses Lucy, telling them to get him two baguettes next time, then drops from the branch, revealing that he's been shot in the back by Tetsu. Realizing too late what's just happened, Ana attempts to shoot Lucy anyway and take them down with her, but before she can she's teleported back to the beach in a puff of Derry's red magic.
Lucy's no longer in any immediate danger of being eliminated, but they're still immobile. As Derry's whistle signals Ana's elimination, Tetsu steps out of the bushes with Broom Girl, quipping about the dangers of leaving one's kid out in the open. Spotting an easy target in the form of Lucy, they make another joke and prepare to shoot them, but Broom Girl cuts them off. Both Tetsu and Lucy look on in confusion as Broom Girl fires four shots: not to eliminate Lucy, but to free them from Merrylegs' webbing. She clarifies that she would have felt bad shooting someone who couldn't move, and Tetsu agrees. The pair leaves Lucy, unaware that they're stewing in self-loathing over their uncharitable-towards-themselves interpretation of what Broom Girl and Tetsu said.
Lucy stands in silence for a while after the two leave until Peony hesitantly asks them if Tetsu and Broom Girl have left. This serves to get Lucy going... but not much else. Peony can tell they're upset and desperately attempts to defuse the situation, finally asking Lucy if they're okay. When they flatly respond that they aren't, Peony panics, trying to make the most of what just happened — it isn't fair that Ana set up that trap, she's sure that the next time they encounter someone they'll come out on top, and oh! What if she walks back to back with them! That way nobody will be able to sneak up on them! And even if they do, they can just shoot—
This proves to be Lucy's breaking point, and they snap at Peony to shut up. It's not going to be okay, because they can't do anything. They can't protect Peony, they can't protect themselves, and they certainly can't shoot anyone! Tearfully, they admit what they've been hiding this whole time: they can't do magic.
As Lucy sobs about being useless, how Rothart has stopped even trying to teach them, how they'll never amount to anything, a horrified Peony hugs them from behind.
- Peony: Lucy!! You’re not useless!! You’re nice and pretty and— and!! I don’t care if you can’t do magic! That’s not why I like you! And I can’t do magic either!! But— but— You still like me!! So it… it isn’t fair to not like yourself!
Lucy is shocked, but comforted all the same. As they thank Peony, though, their moment is interrupted by Philomena stepping on a twig. They snarl at her to back off, but she assures them it's okay! She heard everything! And she doesn't wanna be there, either! She's got less than a year's experience using magic, and needs emeralds to do even basic magic, and never signed up for any of this! She's relieved to finally have some common ground with Lucy...
Except Lucy isn't having any of it. Even if Philomena is floundering in this round, their overall situations are still nothing alike. Where their dead pigeon is met with "I suppose there's no rule against it", Philly's dead pheasant is met with "it's so sweet you're worried about something like that". Where Lucy's only "family" is a grouchy old man who berates them at every turn, Philomena's dad rushes to praise her for mediocrity.
- Lucy: You think you’re like me? You think we’re anything alike??
Philomena: I— I thought—
Lucy: You thought what, that I’d run crying into your arms? That we’d be best friends now? Because you need emeralds? Because your dad is too proud of you? I’d LOVE to have your problems! I’d LOVE to have even a scrap of what you have! Magic! Family! Friends! But no, no, you definitely, completely understand me!
Ivy tries to rein Lucy in, but they're on a roll. After all, they haven't even mentioned yet what they feel is the biggest kick in the teeth: that since the elimination in this round will be based on the winner's choice rather than anyone else's actual performance, Philly's guaranteed to make it to the next round. After all, Ana, January, and Sylas all adore Philomena too much to eliminate her, and Tetsu and Broom Girl are too clever to waste time eliminating someone who isn't a threat.
- Lucy: The only one who'd want you gone is me, and I can't win.
Lucy finishes their diatribe against Philomena, telling her the only reason she's even there is that she has nothing to be afraid of... not noticing that she's begun to cower in legitimate fear. They glare her down, unaware that they're standing right in front of the vengeful goat woman, finally shown in full.
We abruptly cut to Sylas and Cedric making their way through a clearing of tall grass. Sylas, not having seen or heard from anyone since the test started, is petrified, wondering where everyone is. He starts to nervously babble about Cedric taking too long, and when Cedric points out that Sylas has a much longer stride than he does, he lifts him onto his shoulders. While they walk, Cedric asks Sylas whom he'd eliminate if he got the chance. Sylas, surprised, starts laughing and promptly disregards the notion as ridiculous — hasn't Cedric seen how terrifying January is?
As if on cue, Cedric hears a rustling in the bushes nearby and shoves Sylas down as a bright blue shot from January arcs over their heads, cracking the bark of a nearby tree. The two hunker down on the ground, fearing for their lives, and we cut back to January, who's furious at missing. Rascal points out the hypocrisy in January being perfectly willing to shoot Sylas from behind when only earlier she had objected to shooting Philomena on those grounds. January's only response to that is to threaten to flip them again, but it's effective and they shut up.
Hearing more rustling, January fires off another shot into the bushes. Nothing happens for a moment, Tetsu pops up behind January, pressing their gloved index finger to the back of her head. January tries to chide them for ganging up on her, but they brush it off dispassionately... right before teasing January for her crush on Philomena. January snaps at them and they giggle, preparing to shoot her—
But are shot in the hand by Sylas, who then shoots January herself and Broom Girl in rapid succession. Broom Girl, January, Rascal, Tetsu, Billy, and Martha are all teleported back to the beach, startling Derry, Ana, and Ophelia. The three eliminated competitors (and Sylas) are still reeling, not sure if they can believe what just happened.
Derry's whistle sounds thrice, signaling the three eliminations, but the competition is the least of Philomena's, Lucy's, Peony's, Sasha's, and Ivy's worries. Noticing the three girls' terrified expressions, Lucy turns around to see the goat woman standing right behind them. She grips them by the shoulders, urging them to keep going. Lucy nervously falls silent, but the goat woman continues:
- Su-Yeong: Don’t stop. Tell her how spoiled she is. She doesn’t deserve to be here… Just look at her… She’s never suffered a day in her life. Never worked for anything. I want to see her cry.
As she goes on, she takes Lucy's hand in her own, magic spiraling around the two of them as she prepares to cast a spell. While Philomena, Sasha, Ivy, and Peony panic, Lucy falls into a trance as the goat woman readies a magical attack against Philomena. Just as she's ready to cast, Peony recognizes the husk and leaps in front of Philomena, spreading her arms wide.
- Peony: SUSU!!
Su-Yeong recognizes Peony and drops Lucy, suddenly distraught. At a loss for words, she's torn between wanting to know why Peony's here, concern at being seen in her current state, and wanting to explain what's happened to her. As she struggles to explain why she was so angry, she undergoes a transformation from a massive bipedal goat with a human head to a natural-toned woman barely a head taller than Peony, save for the impressive horns still curling from her head. She explains that Philomena did this to her, and Philomena experiences a moment of realization. Su-Yeong rushes forwards to embrace Peony—
But Philomena, using the emerald affixed to Tully's forehead to power her shot, shoots Peony in the back. A horrified Ivy looks up from Lucy's inert body, Su-Yeong is distressed but unsure what to make of the development, and a shell-shocked Sasha stands behind a panicking Philomena. Peony has just enough time to look tearfully back at Philomena, betrayed, before she and Lucy disappear in a cloud of red magic. Ivy has just enough time to warn Philomena to shoot herself before Su-Yeong realizes what's going on and, in a fit of rage, shifts back into her larger form. Philomena and Sasha are teleported to safety just before Su-Yeong's fireball connects, and Ivy hisses loudly at Su-Yeong, preparing to cast some sort of spell.
We cut to Lucy regaining consciousness on the beach, their ears ringing as Billy, Martha, Hanzi, and Rascal crowd around them in concern. Philomena frantically explains what happened to Derry and Ophelia as Sasha clings to her and a startled Sylas looks around in confusion, Tetsu argues furiously with January, who appears to be heading into the woods, and Lucy finally gains the wherewithal to realize that Ivy is missing. Ophelia and Derry begin to herd the kids onto the boat, but Lucy is desperate to find Ivy. With a loud crackling noise, she teleports directly into Lucy's arms. Lucy freezes, aghast at how heavily wounded she is, until Derry uses magic to drag them into the boat and they take off.
On the safety of the boat, the competitors are abuzz about having been that close to a real husk. January still thinks that she could take the husk, revealing what she and Tetsu had been arguing about when Lucy was still out of it: January had wanted to head into the forest to fight the husk herself, and Tetsu had thought that was stupid. They still do, arguing that it would be suicidal to attempt to fight a husk with as little preparation as they have. They confidently assert, though Philomena has her doubts, that Philomena made the smartest choice in ending the test.
When Tetsu says this, the competitors collectively realize that, since the game is over, Sylas was the last one standing and is as such the winner. Tetsu expresses vaguely disappointed surprise that Sylas made it to the fourth round at all, Ana is outraged that he won, and January is furious that Sylas winning counts at all, despite him taking out half the people competing against him in a matter of seconds. She first threatens him vaguely if he even thinks about picking her, then demands he "do us all a favor and choose [himself]".
Overwhelmed and tearful, Sylas caves. The other competitors look on — January and Ana in astonished glee, Philomena in startled concern, and Tetsu, Broom Girl, and Lucy in stunned bewilderment — and Ophelia and Derry are briefly unsure if forfeiting is even allowed. Even though they conclude it is, they still ask Sylas if he's sure about quitting, urging him to reconsider his choice, or even demand a rematch. He nods, head buried in his hands, and Ophelia and Derry face the prospect of telling Lapointe the results of the day's test — not only about Sylas quitting, but about the husk on the island as well.
On the subject of the husk, Ophelia suddenly turns intense, cautioning the contestants to not even think of going after the husk. No matter how cocky they may be about their own personal strengths, a husk is a unique level of danger and power, only to be dealt with by a representative with the proper training. Oblivious to Peony bursting into tears, Ophelia tells the competitors to keep themselves safe until the husk is destroyed.
The boat reaches the city again, and everyone disembarks, ready to hurry home. The kids complain that the events of today weren't worth the silver they were paid, January gleefully taunts the others to not get cocky, as they could've been eliminated, and Sylas humorlessly laughs that they should have left him on the island with the husk. As Derry and Ophelia reach out to Philly, asking if she's okay on her own, Lucy sneaks off. The proctors reflect on the day's drama, and Derry shudders in anticipation of the call she has to make.
The scene cuts to a party at Lapointe's house. Lapointe entertains Elodie Invidia, Tilde Superbia, and Rin Soga, Sylas' dad looks pensively out the window, and Seiji is bored out of his mind as Lapointe's butler enters the room, holding a telephone on a tray. Lapointe cheerfully picks up the phone, excited to hear how today's test went, but her pleasant demeanor immediately drops when she hears first of Sylas' forfeiture, then of the husk. She leaves the room in a furious huff, taking the phone with her and slamming the door behind her. Once alone, she barks orders at Derry:
- Lapointe: I want the entire island sealed off, all vessels to steer clear, everything! Nobody goes anywhere near it until you hear from me. And not a word of this to anyone, do you understand? Ugh… of course this happens after Eudora went and got herself pregnant. Listen up. I want dossiers on all the remaining candidates immediately. One of them should prove more useful than a cowardly whelp afraid of CHILDREN.
Enter Sylas' dad, amused at Lapointe's distress. He taunts her, but she's not amused, and quickly shuts him down with news of Sylas dropping out. Seiji, gleefully eavesdropping at the door, immediately becomes concerned, and Sylas' dad hisses in anger, doing something with magic that causes a nearby vase of flowers to wilt. Lapointe drives the point home, calling Sylas useless, "just like his father", and the flowers wither away further.
We abruptly shift to Philomena, approaching the last set of stairs on her way home. She's presumably spent the entire walk in glum silence, which Tully breaks by telling her it isn't her fault. Frustrated, Philomena goes over all the things she feels objectively are her fault: upsetting Lucy, causing Su-Yeong to transform into a husk, and making Peony cry. Guiltily, she tells Tully that she's a coward, brushing off his attempts to reassure her that she didn't mean to hurt anyone.
- Philomena: That’s not the point, Tully! Su-Yeong is… is like that because of something I did. Lucy was so angry because of something I said. I hurt that little girl, even if it was to get her away. And I cheated to do it! What does it matter what I meant? What happened happened because of me. And I ran away! I’m the worst.
Tully: But you’re a good person, Philly. Everyone else likes you.
Philomena: I don’t know if I want to hear that right now. I think Su-Yeong was right. Maybe I do deserve to suffer a little.
Tully: Well… Then I’ll suffer with you.
We cut to Lucy, despondently holding Ivy as Rothart berates them for their irresponsibility, their foolishness, their ridiculous outfit, and for endangering Ivy, who glowers at Rothart. He declares that he's grounding them — if they're not on one of his errands, they stay home. He's about to continue, but Ivy cuts him off.
- Ivy: [scathingly] Thierry.
Rothart is taken aback, and Ivy uses his silence to gently urge Lucy to rest in their room. Lucy reluctantly sets her down, and once they leave, Ivy looks wearily at Rothart.
The scene shifts to Tobi watering his flowers in the light of the setting sun. The kids run up to him, calling his name and excitedly showing him the money they've earned. They invite him to dinner, and he politely declines, congratulating them on having earned it. As he fondly regards the kids who run off, Peony, on the verge of tears, approaches him. Still smiling fondly, he begins to comfort her, but drops his watering can when Peony mentions Su-Yeong by name. He demands to know more — where is she? is she okay? — and Peony sobs that she's turned into a monster. Tobi himself begins to cry as he says what Peony cannot: that Su-Yeong is going to be killed. The chapter closes on Su-Yeong in her smaller form, huddled under her thick, shaggy hair as she recovers from her fight with Ivy.
In summary: The fourth round of the representative competition. A simple game of magic laser tag goes awry due to a husk determined for revenge against Philomena. Sylas, though victorious, forfeits due to bullying. We learn that Lucy cannot perform magic and has been "borrowing" Ivy from their master, Thierry Rothart.
Tropes
- All Webbed Up: Ana's strategy to have Merrylegs immobilize her competition so she can shoot them. Only Lucy falls prey.
- Battle Couple: Tetsu and Broom Girl pairing up for this test round.
- Beast Man: Su-Yeong.
- Beware the Quiet Ones: January, Tetsu, and Broom Girl get caught up enough in the temporary drama of Tetsu about to shoot January that they forget Sylas, who is a rapid shot with remarkable aim, is still right there.
- Call-Back:
- The "weapons" used this test round are quartz shooters, gloves with a quartz cabochon embedded in the back. Emilia was playing with a quartz shooter of her own last chapter.
- The beggar kids deciding who gets to partner up with Lucy.
- The page where the test officially begins has the same layout as its corresponding page in chapter one.
- "I want two longbreads, Eyepatch."
- We finally see Su-Yeong in person and find out why she hasn't come into work.
- Character Overlap:
- Ladies Derry Lake and Ophelia Banksly are both from Riverside Extras.
- Lapointe's butler, Matthew, is Oceana's driver in Riverside Extras.
- Elodie Invidia and Tilde Superbia of Widdershins show up as guests at Lapointe's party.
- Coordinated Clothes: All the competitors whose familiars wear clothes in this chapternote match their familiars' outfits to their own costumes. Broom Girl and Tetsu even match each other's costumes!Tetsu: It's not hard to match a hat and cape.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Though she won't be identified as such until next chapter, Rin Soga is shown from behind at Lapointe's party.
- Energy Weapon: The quartz shooters focus a magician's magical power into a shot. The ones Derry uses for the test have been modified to minimize energy, but that doesn't stop January from misusing them to cause actual damage.
- Godiva Hair: In her smaller form, Su-Yeong's hair is conveniently long enough to cover that she's completely naked.
- Good News, Bad News: Though we don't hear Derry's end of the conversation, Lapointe's dialogue when she hears about the test implies she opened with some version of "Would you like the bad news first, or the worse news?"
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Philly, despite confessing to Lucy that she can't operate the quartz shooters without an additional magical focus, manages to shoot Peony... using the emerald that's been pasted to Tully's head since chapter one.
- Loophole Abuse:
- January attempting to complain about Tetsu and Broom Girl teaming up backfires when Tetsu points out she could've done it too.
- As the winner, Sylas is perfectly within his rights to eliminate himself.Derry: ... Can he do that?
Ophelia: There's no rule against it. We need clearer rules.
- Magitek:
- The boat the competitors take to the island operates like a motorboat.
- The phone in Lapointe's house is in the style of a rotary phone, but has no visible wires and can be carried around on a tray.
- Two-Part Episode: At 81 pages, this chapter is easily twice as long as those preceding it.note Although there was no formal chapter break, there was a two-week break between page 43 and page 44 akin to the two-week break between chapters.
- Not So Similar: Lucky furiously point out that Philomena has been coasting through the competition without a care in the world, since she has a loving family who will be proud of her no matter what happens and everyone present either likes her too much to want her gone or has correctly deduced that eliminating her from the competition would be a waste of time.
- Scared of What's Behind You: "You have nothing to be afraid of."
- Terms of Endangerment: "What is it, Fidelia? You sound distressed."
- Tournament Arc: The chapter centers on the fourth round of the representative competition.
- Vampiric Draining: Sylas' dad does something with magic that desiccates a nearby vase of flowers when Lapointe tells him what Sylas did.
- Visible Sigh: Ivy once everyone's on the boat.
- Wham Line: "I can't do magic."
- "Look at [Ivy]! I never should have let you borrow her so often!"
- You Are Grounded!: Rothart is furious at Lucy for what happened to Ivy on the island, even though Lucy themselves could have been killed.
