Nanatsu no Taizai Chapter 288 Review - by eefritNanatsu no Taizai 289: Pride vs. Piety
Summary289 kicks off with The One, Escanor's 60 second God Mode, no selling Zeldris' Ominious Nebula's suction effect, much to the surprise of Cusack. Chandler expresses that he's felt this magic before, but can't seem to recall it at this moment. Zeldris speaks down to Escanor, who, last week, noted his defeat of the previous "two" demonic princes. Zeldris assumes that Meliodas was toying around with Escanor, something he apparently had a bad habit of doing, and thus was beaten as a result. He then notes that, unlike his brother, he doesn't have such a bad habit and fights all of his opponents at full power...
Escanor isn't the least bit impressed by the threat and commences his attack on Zeldris' magic with his sacred treasure, Divine Axe Rhitta. The clash explodes a cloud of dust, obscuring the view of the two fighters for a moment before it clears. Much to Merlin's surprise, Ominous Nebula manages to repel Escanor's blow in this form. On the side of the opposition, Cusack expresses disbelief in The One's lack of serious injuries, noting that he barely received any type of damage Zedris' magical assault. Upon exception of Rhitta, Escanor notices a slight chip on the edge, causing him to discard the weapon. Despite this normally meaning one has given up, Zeldris notes that Escanor has no intention of giving up as Escanor readies his hand for the technique that took out Melidodas not long ago, Divine Sword: Escanor.
With a forceful downward chop, Escanor once again clashes with the field of darkness surrounding Zeldris. Cusack is even more astounded that, not only is Escanor facing off against Zeldris' magic with his bare hands, despite being human, he's able to contend with it at all. Finally, it hits Cusack as to where he recognizes this ability. Mael the Sun, the strongest of the Archangels. Cusack question how a power such as that, gifted from the Supreme Deity, could fall in the hands of a human. They conjecture that Mael's Grace was lost and eventually found it's way to Escanor. As the clash continues, Zeldris asks Escanor why he is fighting in a war that has nothing to do with him, as it is between the Demon and Goddess Clans. Escanor simply notes that he is doing it for the sake of his friends, which seems to even surprise Merlin.
Escanor's chop begins to push it's way through as Cusack notes that Zeldris is being pinned down. Zeldris pushes back slightly, while shouting that the cruel and emotionless Mel that he knows, or knew, was never the type to consider such things. However, that comeback was shortly lived as Escanor goes all in and manages to break through Ominous Nebula by force, much to everyone's surprise and/or relief. Zeldris manages to stop the chop with his blade and retreats to gain some distance between himself and Escanor. However, Escanor isn't allowing that and quickly strikes back with a new technique, Divine Spear: Escanor, nearly skewering the young prince with a sharp jab of his index finger. Cusack shouts in surprise and worry as Escanor prepares to finish the fight...
Only to shift back into his weakly form. Chandler, coming through in the clutch, brings about True Night, erasing Escanor's power in an instant. In that instant, narration explains what Zeldris was experiencing. Both of his magics, Ominous Nebula and Demon King, were dispelled due to Escanor's attack knocking him out. Zeldris was only out for .8 seconds before awakening. Zeldris needed only one more second to reactivate Demon King. Unfortunately for him, that wasn't fast enough. Ludociel blitz the Demon Prince with a new technique, Gold Shining, which, I don't know, burns him or something. Everyone is shocked and Ludociel gloats, ending the chapter.
Review/AnalysisChapter was a good continuation of the last chapter.
Pride vs. Love. Winner: Pride. Pride vs. Wrath. Winner: Pride. Pride vs. Piety. Winner: ...Come on, we know how it would've ended had it continued. Escanor is 3 for 3 on the Demon Bros now. A very interesting thing that the series kept going back to. I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of such a pattern or turn of events was, but it's certainly entertaining. Escanor remains the strongest Sins by virtue of his perfect win streak.
For the first time, we get a piece of genuine camaraderie from this form, which is a sudden surprise. For the longest time, Escanor's only shown this vulnerability in his night form, while his day form had shown nothing but love for himself and Merlin. There maybe something more to these forms than we know.
Cusack and Chandler are running with the theory that Escanor got the Grace after it, apparently, roamed Britannia after Mael's fall until it found a host in Escanor. However, we know that Mael never actually fell in battle. So Escanor's magic most likely has another explanation for it's existence inside his body.
Zeldris always fighting at full power...
Despite being on the losing end, Zeldris performed better than his brothers. Estarossa didn't even make it to The One. Meliodas was taken down practically instantly after The One showed up. Zeldris not only withstood two blows from the giant sun man, one of being the blow that put his brother down for quite a bit, he took another blow at full force and was well on his way to recovering in under a single second. While he was bailed out and most likely would've lost had Escanor finished the attack, the fact that he took that much damage and pretty much instantly recovered is pretty damn amazing.
ConclusionDouble spread looked great. Zeldris was a good sport. Next week should be fun.
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