The thundersnake has arrived, and he's bringing the party.

You asked for miracles, Burando-san, I give you Tar. An. Ouji.

Watch him actually just be impressed 'Saida' can do lightning now.

Unless he took off before the surviving vanguard arrived back home, screaming incoherently about a monster kitsune, Saida, and the Eyestone?

He knows. And he's very protective of Saida. I think a better question to ask is:

Is that crystal antenna of Suzokon-kyo's following him? If it's Suzocon aiming that thing at him, he may be about to find out what it's like to be on the receiving end of a smiting.

I think that's showing that each rooftop has one. So its probably something like four of them are up now to do, whatever it is they do.

Heh. Then he's very well aware that DJ Shock Jockey just showed up to the party. Yeah, Suzokon-kyo ain't going down without a fight. Best guess, those are shrine defenses. He's dealt with quetz before. The Eyestone is the offensive weapon he's hoping to use.

Apropo of nothing, I'm glad to bounce stuff back and forth with you. It's been such a joy to do so. I quite like you, Menagerie (with that icon, how could I not?) and this is some of the most fun I've had in a very long time.  Virmir does a better job getting a nogitsune right than some Japanese anime directors! And that's a joy to see, even if Suzokon-kyo is an utterly vile, dishonorable piece of work as a character.

I'm going out on a mere whim, and say those crystal antennae are some sort of lightning rod? But I don't really know... Just guessing from here on out, ha ha.

I have very little doubt they're an anti-quetz measure. As I've been saying elsewhere, this ain't Suzucon-sama's first rodeo.

It's what they DO with the lightning that's the intriguing part. With an arcane artificer, that energy could be used for ANYTHING. But most of all, I'd guess it's going to be used to give Prince Shock Jockey a huge load of unhappiness. He's going to try and smite Suzocon, and somehow, it's gonna blow up right in his face.

Might even break his Chicago shades. Wouldn't that be an embarrassing insult.

Of course, if you are right, he's going to be in for quite the surprise reception, isn't he?

I've been waiting for this return since Chapter 2

He be live, ain't no jive, ready to smite. Taran-ouji is in da house.

Oh, goody! The heavy artillery has arrived, fully armed with his Ralph Rosario fly shades(*). Let the smiting begin.

(*) Old Chicago in-joke.

"This gon' be good! Heheheh."

things just got very bad :O

Oh hi Teran.

That might not be good...

Here comes the cavalry!

This guy might actually be scarier than a wiznerd

O-o uh oh

uh oh

Ayy Taran's back :D

General Kenobi!

Sparks are gonna fly with this heavyweight matchup. Live in 2025!

WELCOME TO THE THUNDERDOME THROWDOWN!

Two demigods enter, one demigod leaves!

Oh fu-dge it's him o.o;;;

Of course it is. I'm just surprised Taran-ouji came with no backup. Looks like Suzokon-kyo is not the only overconfident one here.

The party has officially started.

Yeah considering what he's shown to be like it's no surprise

Most definitely, can't wait to see where this goes!

This is a quetz I dare say Suzocon can't just eat. But the four different crystals he just rolled out the roof have to be a shrine defense. My way back when original prediction was that Taran was going to try and smite him and get a faceful of kitsunebi in return, but the reality may be worse.

Arcane artificers are a BASTARD to fight and he's about to learn that the hard way. You never know exactly what they're going to whip out and start firing at you. This is NOT the first time Suzocon has fought quetz; that much is obvious.

Indeed, and most certainly! Perhaps a lightning rod meant to draw and/or absorb his power, or perhaps generate some sort of restraints or behavior. Indeed... like perhaps even having his power stolen or being used for his experiments!

Quite so, and indeed. Oh very true! He's dealt with them before and shows no issues handling their guards, practically making a game of it. He got serious when he knew the big guns were coming though, and immediately set to work on preparations as well, which I realize now shows just how powerful they are and how much of a threat - or at the very least, a major inconvenience - they are to him

Well, yeah. When you're basically a tank and they send small arms scouts after you, that's just practice, or a demonstration. But when they roll up the second biggest antitank howitzer they got and aim it right at you, that's a threat and he's reacting as I'd expect. And he knew, the moment the surviving vanguard got away, that they WOULD be bringing out the heavy weapons. The only shocking thing to me (ahem) is that he didn't show up with half the quetz army backing him up.

Very true! And oh yeah. Given what he's like it makes sense for him to be confident enough to take care of this himself though, thinking he won't be needing any backup to deal with what's going on

If the Quetz have a history with Suzocon, they probably realize that sending the army of small fries is just going to end up with a lot of dead cannon fodder.

Now the $64k question is, can this bigger skysnake live up to his hype, or is he going to end up getting humiliated as well? Considering he was treating Surya, the sun god, as if they were equals (referring to him as "bro"), things are going to get interesting.

The way I see it, and I could be totally wrong, is this: If Taran had two brain cells in his head, he'd stay out of range - Suzocon's kitsunebi seems to only work in melee - and rain death from above on him and his shrine. The nogitsune can't do squat to stop him - directly.

Which is probably why he built those shrine defenses and is so keen on getting the Eyestone charged up. Tanks have a main gun for a reason. It's to give Suzocon a ranged attack so Taran/Vetra/the quetz army can't just stand off and Shock Jockey his shrine into burning wreckage. It's to even the odds.

I expect fireworks. A LOT of them.

Admiral Shokaku Yamamoto - Schwerer Gustav has arrived. Not good...

Taran isn't quite the Schwerer Gustav, but he's a very heavy siege cannon, and he's got a very itchy trigger finger.

Subtext is important here when it comes to finding out how capable Suzocon is. He didn't catch the stray fleeing quetz, which means he most likely can't physically move that fast. He was also worried about a second squad of them showing up, probably because of this exact situation right here. He's got plenty of tricks, but I think it's clear he can't handle a heavy hitter like Taran 1 on 1.

Technically, I'd guess they are about equal strength, as they are both demigods (but not full deities). But Suzocon's spells only work at close range, whereas Taran can call down storms and lighting from long range. Suzocon is also earthbound; he can't fly, or he'd have gone after the surviving vanguard. It gives Taran a natural advantage and he's gonna be pissed.

If this was Suzocon's first rodeo with the quetz, I'd say he'd be about to get fed all eight of his tails, but it obviously isn't. And as I always say, arcane artificers are bastards. A good one will have a big enough bag of tricks that they can punch way above their weight class, and Suzocon is intelligent. He's been here before, and he knows to take their heavy artillery deadly serious.

To give him credit, it sounds like he was the one who went out and flattened Darya's kingdom. His overconfidence may or may not be that misplaced, it just depends on what Suzocon's little bag of tricks does here.

“General Kenobi!”_Star wars episode III

Prince Taran has the high ground. Or so he thinks.