YES!

a well deserved f bomb for levin lmao

She's carry someone on her back who may just fit the bill if rescued from her insane kidnapper. Thinking about it, isn't she the only threat to Tobi left in the game?

As for dying alone and forgotten, the very same fate awaits Shalhia at the exit. Personally I'd be less hell bent on making enemies with a destiny like that hanging over me.

He's got a point about the arrogance tbh. She's been might makes right thug from the start (she really didn't need to kill that infinigangster early on for example). And... the idea that she has compassion, or anyone or anything? Laughable. She's a twisted mockery of a paladin.

Leaving current events to one side... did we ever find out who the player who entered the game under false pretences was? Or what doing so may even entail?

I would have prefarred she put one of her flesh tentacles through his face but I suppose this is god enough for now.

@Whispers : It was yellow, who was smuggling black crystals and entered the game to learn about the source of Smile's crystals.

Whispers, Tobi is someone who explicitly has said she wants Levin dead. :P

I can't really relate to the other stuff. Definitely a way to read the character.

@Whispers of Sorrow: The Infinithug was very much threatening her life, tbf.

Also, until her breakdown started, Shalia was 100% the most moral participant in the game, and went out of her way to protect *everyone* as best as she could.

The player who entered under false pretenses would be Tobi herself, right? They got her to participate by promising information they didn't have.

This is the best page in the history of all comics, especially panel 2.

@Whispers I imagine either Three or Levin (or both) are about to forcefully free Tobi. Three isn't going to let the Paladin make off with Tobi, and Levin would be desperate enough to bargain with Tobi if he can't with the Paladin.

@Silver She won't do that for the same reason Foxy didn't go for the kill: she might explode like the Smile player for breaking the rules if she did that.

@Whispers The false pretense was the "gangster" guy, Mr. Yellow I think it was, Jay. He joined because someone leaked him what the different "games" were and the location of the traps&treasures. Apparently after Smile discovered there was this leak to a black crystal smuggler, they contacted Housten, so he joined.

I guess that the most impactful element of the subplot here is that Housten got "Phantasmified" arguably due to the devotion to his cause, a. k. a. finding and fighting the enemies of Ballance. I guess that the shock here has been how it pursued Tobi after Jay while completely ignoring Erza, Green. Green was not an enemy of Vallance because he is a whistleblower of a rival government/organization (the enemy of my enemy). Why pursue Tobi then? Apparently she's the King of the ghouls, as suggested a long time ago, and Vallance sees the ghouls as an enemy (Duh).

All in all, that subplot was key to unveiling the nature of the game and showing how "successful" has it been. I mean, with the exception of Infinighoul going rogue, killing the Smile personel, etc... Phantasm was created, shit hit the fan, etc. But they were able to manufacture a phantasm!

Yeah, fuck Levin

Also, the game doesn't require to kill other players; but Levin was the one to enjoy it and backstab everyone with a smile in her face.

So, fuck Levin

I'm guessing he's going to survive and continue to be a problem but I am really enjoying Levin getting treated to the results of choosing betray at every possible opportunity.

I like this "find out" arc of Levin's life. It's been a great pay-off to all the "fucking around" he's done up until now. Being outright told by one of the most morally principled characters that she won't even save him on principle is a great way to illustrate that compassion and grace is not just a matter of morality, they are a part of the social contract and, when your life has come to revolve around nothing but lethally fucking over everyone else for your own short-term personal gain, then you've broken the social contract to such a fundamental degree that no-one has any obligation to show you any compassion or grace. Heck, you've given them the go-ahead to actively sabotage your ability to survive, because that's just how much of a liability you have become to everyone else's well-being.

Alternate take: Humans are pack animals. But you fucked with the pack for so long, and to such a degree, that they've all decided to exclude you from the pack. You're alone, Levin, and pack animals' ability to survive PLUMMET when they're on their own.

I know she (rightly) hates Levin's guts, but that's a funny response for someone who foresaw themselves getting shot in the back. If she really wanted him to just die, she should at least have knocked him out first.

Firstly, thank you Shalia for saying what needed saying for a LONG time. \o/

Secondly, I honestly can’t tell if Levin is just an arrogant jerk wad - or if he’s in a situation similar to Smile (masked player).

Cause in moments like these, where he can’t seem to comprehend why. Someone he tried to kill, would pass on benefits to screw him over.

Is his behavior just death game “culture”? And let’s be honest - if this is your “career” - your personality has got to be twisted.

Or did he get a role of basically, “let your ENTIRE ass hang out at ALL times or get exploded”?

He seems intelligent. Clearly looks out for #1. Even getting Indu & Tobi to trust him before the backstab. Yet he acts in the stupidest / least beneficial ways.

Like when he laughed it up when Infinite died - creating hatred for no reason. Granted he knew he wouldn’t be trusted after Indu & Tobi survived his sabotage. But why go out of his way to antagonize?

@Saturine

I think it's basically Lorg deathgame culture. Way in the beginning Levin stated that he is a "deathgame expert", implying he's done a lot of Lorg deathgames - and, to be fair, given what we know of Lorg, pretty much all of those games were probably free-for-all fragfests, in which Levin's mindset would actually be a pretty good idea. But he's been doing that kind of thing for so long, he can't get it through his skull that THIS game in particular is different. He has a lot of genuine skill and smarts, but his social aptitude never evolved past "backstab everything" - because, likely, he never actually needed anything more complex than that before.

Unfortunately, this would seem to doom Ezra- he can't kill Levin, and won't be able to furnish him with a way out.

Assuming the ghoul didn't kill mr green this will put him in a bit of a pickle with the whole last to leave thing.

Pretty sure the Paladin has gone entirely insane at this point and barely realises it. She's trying to fulfil a sense of duty or is she taking the King to a place of safety?

Oh hi there Infini-Ghoul. Still hitting up that xp chart? We got a Levin right here...

@Aston Whiteman - Taking Toby to a safe place was her goal all along, since she's under orders to bring her in for questioning regarding Three.