Shibasaki just seems to be continuing to answer the mysterious man’s questions about the history of the library over drinks. He gives her his card and asks if he can talk to her again since he doesn’t have any friends who work at the library. She says that she only offered her help as a librarian, not friendship. Iku and Hikaru continute to spy, and Hikaru gets a text mysterious message on his phone telling him to expect a phone call that night.

Iku asks what’s going on and he says that its none of her business. Back at the dorm Iku sees that her favorite book of fairy tales is getting some harsh criticism online. She tries to tease Shibasaki about her date, but Shibasaki just says that Iku’s the one getting excited, not her. Shibasaki’s intelligence network has told her that the man Asahina has recently joined a Library Affairs Research Committee. Iku finds her intelligence scary!

Hikaru is dressed in a dark tracksuit, getting a call about a meeting in the middle of the night! The next day at the library Iku runs into Sunagawa, the co-worker who posted a harsh review of her favorite book. He asks for some help moving books. Iku confronts him about his review, pointing out that the harsh words can hurt the feelings of people who love books.

Sunagawa replies that even a librarian has the right to free speech. Iku thinks he’s just making lame excuses and threatens to beat him up the next time she sees him.

Sunagawa asks Hikaru if Tezuka Satoshi is his older brother. Sunagawa’s just joined the Library Future Planning Committe that Satoshi leads. Sunagawa continues to praise the Planning Committee until Hikaru grabs him and shoves him against the wall, telling him to shut up.

At work, Shibaskaki’s library patron runs up to her, asking where he can view Mt. Fuji from the library. She says that it can only occasionally be seen, depending on the weather. She’s reluctant to show him the view, but he’s very pushy. He asks if she’s angry and she says no. He bets that he’ll be able to see Mt. Fuji and asks her if she’ll have dinner with him if he wins the bet. They look at the mountain together.

Hikaru is alone in his room at night, remembering his parents and brother celebrating his admission to high school by giving him a watch. In their room, Iku comments that Shibasaki is paying even more attention to her grooming than usual. Shibasaki reveals that she’s going out for dinner with him, and Iku says that if Shibasaki is serious about the relationship, she’ll definitely support her.

Hikaru meets with his brother in the middle of the night!

Hikaru wants to know why his brother is accepting people like Sunagawa on his committee. He invites Hikaru to join too. Hikaru says he refuses to cooperate. They debate about the best means to improve society, and Hikaru says that it is his brother’s fault that their family fell apart. Satoshi leaves, saying that he’ll do his best to persuade Hikaru slowly.

On their date, the library patron Asahina says that he has information from a reporter that Shibasaki’s library has been disposing of books improperly. She says that’s impossible. He says he can get the reporter to cover up the story, but asks what she wants to do. Shibasaki says she will give him an answer tomorrow and leaves.

When Shibasaki gets home Iku can tell that something is wrong. Shibasaki asks Iku what she would think of a friend who committed a crime in secret, if she would help cover it up. Iku says she’d ask him to surrender himself to the law, because there would be no way for the person to learn from their mistakes.

Shibasaki realizes that a Library Corps that covers things up isn’t the organization she wants to work for. She hugs Iku. Shibasaki calls Asahina and tells him to pretend that she never heard the conversation yesterday. Asahina throws away his business cards and calls Satoshi. Satoshi comments that Hikaru’s colleague has integrity, but there are other deceits they can use.

The news breaks that the library improperly disposed of books. Everyone is gathered in Genda’s office and Shibasaki comes in saying that statements were made without following proper procedure. Genda says that Sunagawa is also involved. Dojo and Genda leave together and argue outside. Dojo comes back in and says that Iku has been summoned by the Commission of Inquiry because Sunagawa named her as his accomplice.

Iku is calm because someone (Dojo) already was angry for her.

They talk about how harsh the Commission of Inquiry is, and it is revealed that Dojo has been sent there before for questioning. Iku asks him why he’s upset and Dojo says that he can’t stay calm when his idiot subordinate is being sent in for questioning!

There wasn’t too much action in this episode, but it was nice to learn more about Shibasaki and Hikaru. It looks like Hikaru’s brother is being set up as an agent of evil for the next couple episodes, so it’ll be interesting to see how Iku gets out of being named as an accomplice to book burning!

Well, we’re getting close to the grand conclusion of the first mini-series.

The cover for this issue features Emmy cowering behind a tree, looking at an unconscious Amethyst being nuzzled by her winged unicorn.

The trees surrounding Emmy and Amethyst have faces, and many strange forest creatures are peeking at the two princesses.

The first page of the comic shows a striking map of the Gemworld. The twelve houses come together in the shape of a skull, with Opal’s kingdom taking up the top part of the head.

Garnet, Sardonyx and Ruby make up the forehead. The eyes are the Bog of One Thousand Despairs and the Ruby Lake. Topaz is the left cheekbone, and Moonstone the right.

Emerald is the nose. Amethyst and Sapphire are the area below the nose and partial cheeks. The Diamond Kingdom is the skull’s grinning teeth and Turquoise is a sliver of jaw.

Opal is pointing to the map, saying that soon they will come for him, riding into the jaws of death.

Opal is very confident because he’s faced Lord Garnet before and knows how his mind works. Sardonys points out that Opal never managed to decisively defeat Garnet, and Opal throws a mini-temper tantrum.

Prince Carnelian grabs a machine gun and heads out to track down the amethyst fragment. Sardonyx asks what he’s doing, but Carnelian pinches him on the cheek and says he’ll only tell when it’ll be too late for Sardonyx to stop him. He bids Sardonyx “Ta Ta Lizard Lips!” in farewell.

Back at Castle Amethyst, Topaz and Amethyst are standing on the roof letting the wind blow through their pretty blond hair. Amethyst doesn’t see how Topaz will be able to convince his sister to join the fight against Dark Opal. Topaz feels he has to try. They kiss. Topaz says that for the first time in his life he feels like he has purpose and direction. Suddenly Emmy falls out of her hiding place. Amethyst immediately recognizes a kindred spirit, as Emmy is the same age she is as Amy back on Earth.

Emmy senses that Amethyst’s gemstone is in danger. Citrina gazes in the Well of Vision, and indulges in some exposition about poor Granch losing the stone while he was rounding up his deformed siblings in the dark dimension. The Well of Vision shows that the amethyst fragment is in Dark Opal’s domain but not in his possession yet. Amethyst intends to fetch back her lost stone, but Citrina points out that her magical abilities will be lessened when she visits the country of her enemy. Emmy volunteers to help because her unique green magic won’t be compromised by going to Dark Opal’s realm. Amethyst is reluctant to take Emmy along, but realizes it would be hypocritical of her to exclude Emmy due to her age.

In Fortress Opal, Sardonyx and Dark Opal are discussing Opal’s collection of stones. His collection is lacking only the Amethyst. He was even able to get a garnet. Lord Sardonyx comments that getting the garnet wouldn’t have been so simple if Lord Garnet knew his son was still alive. The Emissaries of Varn suddenly appear. They’ve come to collect their payment. Since Opal had Sardonyx sign the contract, they’ve come for him. Opal says that the Emissaries failed to meet the terms of their contract because they left a diamond priest alive. He blasts them away from his fortress.

Dark Opal and Sardonyx return to their business. Opal is slightly absent minded, but he’s reminded of what he’s doing by his creepy creepy Opal brooch.

Amethyst and Emmy are flying over Opal’s kingdom when they spot the lizard with Amethyst’s missing gemstone. They also see Carnelian chasing the lizard with a unique mode of transportation.

Carnelian shoots at Amethyst and Emmy. Amethyst loses control of her unicorn and they start to fall. At Castle Amethyst the allies discuss their strategy. Princess Emerald tells Citrina that her mother is now completely insane and incapable of helping Amethyst. Emmy gets up after her fall and sees that Amethyst is unconscious. Emmy uses her magic to make vines immobilize the lizard. Carnelian sees that he’s tied up and decides to make his move. Yelling “Farewell Emerald, one so Green should never have ventured hither!” he shoots at Emmy. Amethyst struggles to get her bearings. The lizard frees itself and Carnelian decides that if a gun doesn’t work he’ll try a grenade. During the fight Carnelian gets his hands on the Amethyst and decides to retreat, leaving another grenade behind for Amethyst and Emmy.

Amethyst contains the explosion with a magic shield, but she’s upset that she wasn’t able to beat a man with no powers of his own. She’s not sure how she’ll be able to beat Dark Opal when he has a fragment of her gemstone.

Topaz has returned to Topaz keep. He hides when he sees soldiers stationed nearby. He overhears the soldiers discussing his sister’s increasing paranoia. He’s captured!

Only two issues left! Will Topaz escape his sister? Will Amethyst get her act together? Will Emmy trade her Princess Leia buns for a more attractive hairstyle?

Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 2: The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven by Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, and David Aja - Iron Fist has to fight in a massive martial arts tournament of champions as seven mystical cities align. This volume also explores the background of the previous Iron Fist Orson Randall. Plenty of mysticism and kung-fu action!

When I moved out to Utah, I stopped going to the comic store for monthly issues. Going on this mini-binge of superhero comics reminded me to dial down my manga habit a little bit. I really need to make more of an effort to pick up some of the recent comic series in collected format.

This issue features the resolution of Amethyst’s battle against the Emissaries of Varn and Prince Carnelian’s most hilarious comment ever.

The cover shows Amethyst battling the trio from Varn from her winged unicorn. Lord Garnet is being attacked and Lady Moonstone looks irked which is understandable since her husband was swallowed in the last issue.

Marion and Herb Winston sit alone in their house. Marion is on the phone with Amy’s friend Rita, saying that Amy is still visiting her “Aunt Esther”.

Marion hangs up the phone and comments that Herb hasn’t touched his food. He’s too worried about Amy to eat.

Back on the Gemworld, he Diamond Priest who suddenly appeared looks as though he is crazed with magic. Now that everyone in his house is dead, he is the sole conduit for all their power. He vows that the House of Diamond will be avenged!

Amethyst’s response is “Ohmigosh!”

The Emissaries of Varn take a moment to confer and Amethyst’s allies think they have to press the attack. Amethyst wonders if the Diamond Priest is as powerful as he says, and he claims that he has power because he alone wields the pure magic of the diamond. He blasts the Emissaries of Varn. They absorb his magic and do their usual regurgitating rock trick, blasting Amethyst and the other nobles with a stream of rubble. I think you would not want to be around the Emissaries of Varn if they’ve been drinking too much. I hate to think of what they might vomit up if they’d been downing Thunderbird.

Amethyst tries to get a shield up and Garnet fights back.

Unfortunately his sword is swallowed up too. The Blue-Cloaked Varn man spits the sword back, point first. It heads for Garnet with incredible speed, but Topaz knocks Garnet away. Topaz is cut by the sword instead and Turquoise rushes to his defense by slicing off the Emissary’s claw. Unfortunately the Emissaries have claw-regenerating abilities and the hand grows back in seconds. Blue-Cloak sends Turquoise flying, but Amethyst grabs her with magic before she can be injured. The Emissaries bury everyone under a pile of rubble.

The Emerald Princesses have set out on their journey to ally themselves with Amethyst. I’ll just call them Princess Emerald and Emmy, even though the youngest princess doesn’t get her nickname until much later. They talk about their sick mother. Princess Emerald says that they must do what their mother is too sick to do - represent their house by joining Amethyst. They come to a river where the bridge is washed out. The Princess Emerald doesn’t want to deplete their magic by using it to cross the river. Emmy decides to ask some nearby faeries for help. She calls to them and they start building a bridge of flowers. Princess Emerald envies the unique “green magic” ability that Emmy shares with their mother.

This ability doesn’t end up being so handy after all, because faeries are notoriously flakey. The insects that live in the flowers used to build the bridge start to encircle the princesses, trapping them. Fortunately Lord Aquamarine is sailing nearby and decides to investigate the commotion.

He uses his power to create a water spout, washing the insects away.

Lord Ruby decides to act. He grabs his stone and rises to the top of his house, letting loose an intense beam of read light that burns away the rubble burying Amethyst and her allies. She’s kept everyone safe in a handy magic purple bubble. Lord Ruby blasts the Emissaries and Amethyst is reminded of something from junior high science class.

The ruby light reveals that there’s an energy link between the Emissaries like an integrated circuit. Amethyst wonders if Ruby will be able to overwhelm them, but they promptly drain Ruby’s power and he collapses.

Back in his fortress, Dark Opal is very distressed that is efforts in matchmaking for Lady Sapphire didn’t work out.

She keeps telling him not to worry about her love life, but he doesn’t want to break his promise that he’ll find her a husband, so he introduces her to a deformed sub-human fellow with inferior enunciation capabilities.

Lord Opal says that he can see he’s chosen poorly and he vaporizes Lady Sapphire’s would-be suitor. Opal says “Never fear Sapphire, I will scour the universes to find the man for you!” Sapphire says “Ulp” in reply. I’d be saying “Ulp” too, if Lord Opal was my matchmaker. I somehow doubt that he’ll find a mensch for her to marry.

Since one of the Emissaries swallows up energy and the other spits everything out, Amethyst has everyone focus their energy on the one Emissary that doesn’t seem to do anything.

Her strategy works, and the Emissaries start to flee back to their strange dimension.

Before they disappear entirely, Amethyst spots Lord Moonstone floating in the darkness. She grabs his hand before the portal closes and Topaz and Garnet pull Amethyst back, liberating Moonstone from the dimension that is connected to the Varn trio.

Citrina has been watching everything from the Well of Vision, and she’s delighted in how well Amethyst did against the Emissaries. Citrina sees another vision, this one is of Dark Opal seeking to augment his power by stealing the amethyst in order to create his magic breastplate. She puts her visions aside because the Emerald Princesses have arrived.

Prince Carnelian is chasing the dragon with the amethyst fragment. His insults don’t seem to be having the desired effect. He tells the dragon that when he said “Overgrown Lizard” he meant it affectionately.

He takes the time to reflect on his less than winning personality, thinking “I’ve always had this trouble! I simply can’t make friends! Oh, a demon whelp once in a while, but those things never last!”

And that exchange is why I have a soft spot for Carnelian even though he is a total ratfink. I mean, growing up as Dark Opal’s magicless adopted son with only an occasional demon whelp and a pet snake for company has to be tough.

The dragon drives Carnelian off a cliff, into an extremely smelly snail pit. Carnelian returns to the fortress without the stone and Sardonyx comments on the stench.

Short Sunzen! Volume 1 by Sasugi Sakurai (amazon)

Satsuki Kurakawa is the most violent girl in her school, getting into fights and winning arm wrestling bouts with boys in order to claim the window seats in her classroom. Aya Sendo is the strongest boy in her class, and they are best friends. Satsuki is totally oblivious to Aya’s non-platonic feelings for her, dragging him along to a festival at a girl’s school in order to find him cute girls to look at. Sakurai’s art has thin lines that sometimes gives her characters a bit of a pinched look. I had to force myself to finish reading Short Sunzen!, as I didn’t find the characters or situations very compelling at all. Satsuki’s personality is basically defined as “violent, but likes cute things”, and a back-up story featuring a different girl with similar motivation makes me wonder if Sakurai is capable of writing about a different type of female character. Aya is content to follow Satsuki around without expressing his feelings, which leads to a lack of character progression and anything interesting to read about.

Love Attack Volumes 1 & 2 by Seino Shizuru (amazon)

I had somewhat better luck with Love Attack. Shizuru also wrote Girl Got Game, a gender bending shoujo manga about basketball. Chiemi has a horrible school record, because she always gets in trouble for fighting, usually in order to stick up for someone who’s being picked on. Her teacher decides to involve Chiemi in some creative blackmail involving another problem student. If Chiemi can get “Deranged Devil” Hirata to stop fighting and come to school, her own record will be cleared.

When Chiemi spots Hirata acting up, she leaps out of the window and kicks him in the face. Then she tells him to straighten up:

Hirata is stunned:

Of course, after Hirata experiences Chiemi’s face kicking abilities, he falls in love and asks her out:

She refuses:

Of course as Chiemi gets to know Hirata she realizes that he’s an OK guy for the usual reasons a shoujo heroine ends up going out with a bad boy:

1. He’s an orphan
2. He skips school because he’s working to support himself
3. He has a cute younger brother that he takes care of
4. His reputation as a “Deranged Devil” is undeserved

Once Chiemi and Hirata start going out their romance is fairly typical. Neither of them have really dated before, so they don’t know what to do. The art for Love Attack is simple and dynamic, easily rendering fight scenes and slapstick comedy. The second volume of Love Attack features Chiemi and Hirata struggling to defend their relationship to Chiemi’s father, an extremely overprotective retired professional wrestler. Love Attack doesn’t really provide a new twist on shoujo conventions, but the characters are engaging even though the storyline is very familiar.

Simply Divine by Wendy Holden
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party by M.T. Anderson
Sharing Knife Trilogy (Beguilement, Legacy, and Passage) by Lois McMaster Bujold

Manga and Graphic Novels

High School Debut #3
Nana #10
Tail of the Moon #11
Venus in Love #3
Boys Over Flowers #29
Love Attack #1, 2
Nephilim #1
Short Suzen #1
Basara #27
Skip Beat #12
Sand Chronicles #2
Gorgeous Life of Strawberry Chan #1
Queen’s Knight #11
Y The Last Man #1-10
Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 1: The Last Iron Fist Story (reread)
Immortal Iron Fist Vol. 2: The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven

This series was an occasionally pretty yet incredibly incoherent mess. Guy is a talented assassin who shops for his clothing at Fabio’s Romance Cover Puffy Shirt Store. I don’t know why an assassin would run around in a shirt unbuttoned to his navel all the time, it doesn’t seem very sneaky. Perhaps Guy contracted some sort of fever and needs to feel the breeze on his chest in order to keep cool.

Guy meets Abel who is a Nephilim, a member of a secretive tribe of gender-bending people who are male by day and female by night. Their strange tribal customs extend to their attire, as they seem to roam around in the jungle barefoot while wearing a skimpy bathrobe. When Guy sees Abel in her female form, she vows to kill him.

Abel embarks on one of the least effective campaigns for revenge I’ve encountered in manga. She trails after Guy as he pursues his mission to rescue the kidnapped mistress of a king. Abel will occasionally brandish a knife and try to slice Guy up, but he easily disarms her. When she isn’t making feeble threats on his life, she’s defending him from danger because she wants to be the one to kill him. Do they end up falling in love despite their adversarial relationship? Are there horrible complications in the form of Abel’s Nephilimese curse? Yes!

After throughly enjoying another Aurora release, Walkin’ Butterfly, this book was a disappointment. While it wasn’t absolutely horrible, the predictable plot combined with characters I don’t really want to read about ensures I won’t be buying further volumes of this series. The author note stated that Hanamaki invented the characters for this story in middle school, and it does read like a book written by an adolescent who was mainlining romance novels. Perhaps the story and characters should have been put back in the oven to bake another 10 years.

This issue’s cover shows Amethyst is sitting in the middle of some shattered crystals filled with the reflections of Prince Topaz, Lord Garnet, Citrina, her mother and father, Princess Emerald, and Lady Turquoise.

The mysterious Emissaries of Varn are at the Diamond Sanctuary. The Emissary in the green cloak begins to inhale.

The Diamond Priests sense that their magic is leaving for a higher plane of mystic unity. One of the priests comments “Then the day of oneness is achieved! The day of death!”

Most of the Diamond Priests welcome their fate, but one senses that they are under siege from evil forces. He wants to fight.

The Emissaries of Varn swallow up the Diamond Sanctuary. The Emissary in the yellow cloak spits it out again, leaving a pile of rubble.

In the meantime Amethyst and Topaz have been sitting up all night talking around a campfire. Topaz is feeling guilty that he hasn’t been thinking about his father.

Amethyst talks about her anger over Granch’s death and says that her father told her when her grandfather died that no one you love is ever dead.

Camping in the Gemworld!

Topaz is sorry he never got a chance to know the people that Amethyst loved so much. He takes her to view the sunrise. Topaz really enjoys perching in high places and looking at the scenery. I wonder if he’ll get another hobby.

The yellow Emissary of Varn rides through the Gemworld landscape, approaching Dark Opal’s fortress. He meets with Dark Opal and hands over a diamond fragment. Carnelian is lurking around, wondering what will happen to him as Dark Opal’s hier if Opal succeeds in linking the twelve stones. Opal sends the Emissary on to his next mission. Opal tells Sardonyx that when his breastplate with the twelve gems is completed no power on Gemworld will be able to stop him.

Sardonyx isn’t happy about Opal’s deal with Varn, and he’s worried about what would happen if one of the diamond priests survived, since the diamond stone is so powerful. Carnelian is loking out the window and spots the tiny lizard that ran away with one of Granch’s amethysts. Carnelian decides to pursue the stone without telling Dark Opal. As he runs outside and grabs the lizard’s tail, the lizard somehow taps the amethyst’s magic, turning into a powerful dragon while exclaiming “WOOGA WOOGA!”

At least Topaz will let Amethyst drive when they go out on dates. They are riding Amethyst’s winged unicorn back to Castle Amethyst. Amethyst apologizes for the condition of her home, saying that she heard it was more glorious when her parents were alive. Topaz is always ready to try out his smooth moves, saying “No need to make apologies, Princess…any house where you are a mistress must be a place of unmatched beauty!”

Lord Moonstone pledges his loyalty again. He’s brought along his son and heir. Turquoise appears to be very excited about the prospect of battling Dark Opal. Amethyst and her allies walk through the castle, talking about their situation. Lord Garnet points out that they are only 4 houses united, with another 4 standing against them; Dark Opal, Sardonyx, and Lady Sapphire. Moonstone chimes in “And this lad’s evil-minded sister the new Lady Topaz!” Amethyst tells Moonstone to stop being so insensitive, saying that Prince Topaz doesn’t need to be reminded of his sister’s treachery. She asks Garnet to continue his comments. Garnet says that their hope lies with the remaining houses. Diamond is aloof and Ruby is afraid. Lady Emerald is on the brink of insanity and since Lord Aquamarine is a water sign, he’s ruled by too much feeling.

Amethyst wonders about the reference to Earth astrology and asks Citrina if there’s a reason behind it. Citrina tells Amethyst about the Gemworld’s origins. Citrina has Amethyst to gaze with her into the Well of Vision for a flashback sequence. It turns out that Gemworld’s inhabitants originally came from Earth. When a star going supernova threatened to disrupt the mystical energies of the universe, a young Citrina led a migration of magical creatures from Earth to their new home on the Gemworld.

Citrina senses that something is wrong with the House of Diamond. Amethyst and her allies start to journey there. Garnet advises Amethyst that she needs to show courage and valor when facing the Diamonders to win them to her cause. She says she’s ready, but:

Everyone is shocked to see the rubble in the diamond realm. Lord Moonstone is furious, saying that they have to go after Dark Opal now. Garnet tells Moonstone to keep his head together. Prince Moonstone says that he shares is father’s anger but waits for Amethyst’s instructions. Amethyst decides to stick with her original plan and go to the House of Ruby next. Everyone hops on their flying unicorns!

Lord Moonstone comments that he hopes Amethyst is choosing her actions because of conviction, not because she’s afraid. Lady Turquoise brandishes her sword saying “Watch your worlds carefully old man! No one speaks to Amethyst that way!” Amethyst tells Turquoise to put her sword down. She says that since she wasn’t raised on Gemworld where battle is a way of life, so she’s less eager to fight. She knows what she’s doing though, and she’s not afraid.

Down below in the shattered Diamond Sanctuary, a solitary priest digs himself out of the rubble.

In the Emerald Domain the vizier tells the middle Princess Emerald to speak to her mother gently, because she’s still upset over her eldest daughter’s death. The Princess tells Lady Emerald that she has to act against Dark Opal, especially since they both saw the power of the Princess Amethyst. Lady Emerald continues to cry saying that Dark Opal will swallow everything in the end. The Emerald Princesses decide to act on their own.

Ruby used to be the ruling house of Gemworld, now the red kingdom is called the Ruby Ruins. Amethyst introduces herself to the elderly lord, saying that she’s been told that Ruby ruled the Gemworld before her parents, and he was Amethyst’s loyal ally against Dark Opal. Ruby points out that he’s suffered greatly for his service to Amethyst. She asks him to join the cause again, but everyone is distracted by some tremors. Ruby is being attacked by the Emissaries of Varn!

Amethyst prepares to defend Ruby’s kingdom. Garnet blasts the Emissary in the green cloak with no effect. Amethyst tells him to save his magic while they develop a plan of attack.

Lady Turquoise says the Varn trio haven’t fought back yet, so they should strike now. Green Cloak blasts Turquoise with a stream of boulders. Lord Moonstone decides to fight back, lifting a giant boulder himself and heaving it at the Emissaries. Green Cloak swallows up the boulder and Lord Moonstone. No one knows what to do!

Prince Topaz starts to be sucked into the vortex, but Amethyst blasts the Emmisary. Topaz tells her to save herself, but she says “I’m not going to leave you! I won’t let you die!”

There’s an explosion and a Diamond Priest suddenly appears! He says he’s the bringer of death.