Well done, Hokaze Kon.
Thanks to your hard work, we've completed the first ritual!
Yeah, that's great.
One question, though.
Yes?
These are marriage rituals, correct?
That's right.
And you're the one getting married, is that right?
That's right.
So it doesn't actually have anything to do with me, right?
That's right.
Then why the hell do I have to do this?!
You do it!
This isn't something you should pass off!
Why did I have to go down the river,
swallow all that water, and almost drown for you?!
Oh me, oh my, it looks like he's really cheesed off!
You're guilty too!
It seems you are not aware of what a ritual entails.
This is a ritual.
Yeah.
Rituals are tradition.
Right.
With tradition comes conventions and practices, which means that
no matter how unreasonable or absurd they may seem,
they need to be performed to the letter.
If you were to ask me why, well,
the answer is that it's a ritual.
That's not an explanation!
I've had it up to here with my DT!
Won't you help me lose my DT (lose my DT)
I want to return home as a real man
(Can I help?)
The treasure I've kept my whole life is too saddening to bear (saddening to bear)
I've long since hoped to give it up to you
Since I crossed worlds and met you, we've hardly been apart
I dream every night, but not always soundly
I toss and turn as my Hyperion bursts into flames
How can I cool my fevered aura?
The closer we become, and the further we clash,
the more my Alma Gear rises for battle
Won't you help me lose my DT (lose my DT)
My right hand has served me faithfully, but now we must part (Farewell!)
It is decided; we shall no longer be apart (no longer be apart)
I won't let you go until our score is settled
(Tonight's the night!)
I will fight to lose what is mine
Abandoned by the Ulga Religious Order, Incognito finally decide to take matters into their own hands.
They plot and scheme to sabotage Princess Ecalarte's wedding from the shadows — how unsporting!
So, the marriage rituals are proceeding wonderfully.
Right now, I am in the process of performing the falling dominoes ritual.
This long winding road is a physical representation of marriage itself.
On the topic of rituals, let me tell you about the past ones!
That log passed the first ritual beautifully.
Now, you will carve swans to represent eternal love.
Swans?
Two swans swearing eternal love to each other.
What eternal love?!
Can you eat that?!
I don't give a damn!
Giving a damn is part of the ritual.
Then here I go!
Pretty damn good, huh?
You have now completed the second ritual.
Good job.
Next...
No, damn it!
I've had enough!
Just get married already!
That's not possible.
If the marriage rituals are stopped halfway,
you die.
Wait a second!
Why do I have to risk my life if it's not even my wedding?
Because that's the ritual.
Enough of that shit already!
Help me out, Princess!
Leave it to me.
I'll get involved in the ritual too.
Why are we folk dancing?
Our love must burn like a flame!
Oh, please!
I can't get that damn song out of my head!
Someone, help!
That was a good fire.
It made some nice ashes.
Now you will use those ashes to draw this here.
What kind of religion is this?!
It's not a religion.
It's a ritual.
Love is something you build up diligently, little by little.
Those old timers knew what they were talking about.
I seriously don't care!
Good job, Kon.
I... I get it now.
A little grain of ash is the universe,
and the universe is nothing more than a grain of ash.
Macro comes from micro, and life has no end.
The truth is always with us.
What are you doing?!
You're blowing away the truth!
Love is also something quite ephemeral.
Do I look like I care?!
Right.
That was the digest of the events up until now.
Right now, I, Hokaze Kon, am in the middle of performing the fifth ritual.
This is so annoying!
I've been putting these things up one after another!
Just how many of these damn things do I have to put up?!
4,503,279 pieces.
4,500,000 pieces?
4,503,278 dominoes were felled for the previous Lord Jugglaburk's wedding.
Therefore, this wedding must exceed that by at least one.
4,500,000 pieces is kinda...
That's right.
It's a preposterous number, but that's the ritual.
It's a holy ritual that must not be sullied in any way!
4,500,000.
Is that the number of sweet nothings he'll whisper in my ear?
Could it be the sound of thundering jeers?
One man is born.
One woman lives. They meet and mingle.
The two become one, and in that time, how many words flow between them?
Hello?
You're not acting like yourself.
Maybe I'm a little bit jealous.
You're jealous? Why?
Marriage.
There is a word that will never grace the pages of my diary.
That word is marriage.
I'm a tiny bit jealous of the princess.
Not that I can tell that to anyone.
That's funny, 'cause you're totally telling me.
You're totally saying it all.
Isn't it strange?
I still have the urge inside me to love someone.
Neither man nor woman can resist me.
I'm beautiful, intelligent, and hardworking.
The world will never stop loving me.
That's me, Mariandel!
And yet!
A feeling will creep into my heart.
I don't want to just receive!
I want to love!
Passionately!
Earnestly!
Someone!
Excuse me.
I've had enough.
You're right.
It's an adult's fairy tale.
Just forget it.
Just stop!
I have no intention of understanding your feelings.
No! I will follow you, even in death!
You're an idiot.
Do as you will.
Honey!
Will you knock off your idiotic lovers' quarrel dub?
Man, you need to learn how to take a joke.
Was that a lovers' quarrel?
Or was it a make out session?
What morons.
They don't even know we're watching them.
Well, we're just observing them, not taking any action yet.
I can't figure out if they are simply pretending not to notice us
or if they really have not noticed us.
If they are merely pretending not to notice us,
that last exchange becomes even more absurd.
If they are really not aware of us, though,
the fact that we lost against them even once becomes even more annoying.
Do they really not know we're here,
but are still pretending that they noticed something?
Maybe they know we're here, and don't know if they should pretend they know,
or pretend that they don't know anything?
Ultimately...
which one is it?
Sir Erec?!
Sir Erec, get a hold of yourself!
You won't get an answer by agonizing about it.
The only thing we can do is—
Stop the wedding!
Why are you stealing my lines?
I thought you were setting up for me to say that.
I was just building it up!
It is as Sir Erec says.
Their movements are strange and warrant suspicion.
Recall how we tried to sabotage the first ritual.
We just need to get him off that log.
Shall we shoot him with arrows?
We can't leave any evidence.
Then how are we going to do it?
With seduction.
What?!
You guys think of me as some kind of funny eroticism expert,
but that's not all that I am!
I am an erotic artisan,
an erotic priest,
and an erotic performer!
I am an eroticism specialist.
I don't care if you're an erotic, neurotic, or moronic specialist.
Just get to the point.
Full nudity!
It's in our interest not to leave a trace.
So what shall we do?
Your friendly neighborhood eroticism specialist knows.
When you're speeding down a dangerous river on the back of a log,
you need concentration more than anything else.
You're forced to make split-second decisions.
No concentration, no surviving.
The best way to kill concentration is being exposed to full nudity!
We need a nudist beach!
I've seen that in traffic warnings!
"Pretty women ahead. Keep your eyes from straying."
In other words, pretty women cause accidents!
Unfortunately we're men, but because we're a group,
he'll assume that we're all from a nudist community.
Where there's nude men, there should be nude women too!
That's how we'll get him.
I get it!
If that's the plan, I'll do it!
Let's rock and roll!
Don't steal the show from me!
I'm sorry, the timing was just right.
Here he comes!
Big! Cut! Nice calves!
Ready?
He's coming!
Gustave!
No, it wasn't my suggestion!
It was him!
That Hyperion is exhausted.
He should be at his spiritual limit.
His mind is sluggish and dim, when suddenly
something appears that can't possibly be from this world.
His spirit will be beaten into an abyss of confusion and self-destruct.
Self-destruct...
So, why don't you tell us already?
No, stop.
I'm honestly not interested in those things.
Wait, so like, do you have crushes on boys instead?
No.
Not at all.
That's not what I meant.
I dunno 'bout that.
Come on!
What about you, KT?
You're asking me?
Now?
If you're asking, I'll tell.
But you first, Variation.
What do you like?
I think I like kind girls.
Lame.
Me next?
Nobody asked you.
Ask me! Ask me! Ask me!
I'm sure Sir Erec's ready to do it!
That level of concentration is nothing to trifle with.
Well, our previous attempts at sabotage have all gone up in flames.
What was that idiotic nudist idea?
And who was the one who got seduced by the campfire and asked everyone who they liked?
No!
No! No!
What?
Sir Erec went straight for a duel!
They do call him the Golden Lion of Ulga!
No, that's not it!
Sir Erec couldn't let it slide!
His perfectionism didn't allow him to!
The line is crooked!
Are you blind?
The thickness keeps changing too!
Don't you know that the gods live in the details?
Give it here!
Watch closely.
You're...
Sir Erec!
You're...
amazing!
What?!
I didn't know whether I could just sit here and do this.
I've been going through the motions by following instructions.
I ran the rails that others had laid for me.
I don't even know if you can call that living.
Meeting you made me realize something.
There are no rails.
It's thinking that those rails exist that prevents me from riding to better, brighter pastures!
What's with this pointless epiphany?
Why are you moved by this?!
We'll meet again.
Let's have our rematch then.
Yeah.
What are you doing?!
And so, here we are.
The enemy has already smoothly progressed to the fifth ritual.
According to Roxana from Maidream in the 5th district,
the fifth ritual is domino toppling.
It looks like that's the end of the line for them.
They will certainly not move on to the sixth ritual.
Why?
Because they will not succeed with this ritual.
Sir Erec, are you going to use your Alma energy to cause an earthquake
and mess up all the dominoes?
I won't do anything like that!
We'll buy up all the dominoes!
You can't treat me like that!
I'm a customer!
That's too bad then.
I guess I won't be selling them.
You said it was 450 before!
Why is it suddenly 620?
We just went to get the money!
I'm sorry, but this is a free economy.
I don't care what you have to say!
Enough.
We'll try another store.
What?! One thousand?!
If you have no intention of selling them, just say so!
No, the price is high because the demand keeps climbing.
Seriously?!
Totally serious!
It's climbing as we speak.
The current price is 1200.
1200?!
Well, it's because of Lord Jugglaburk's wedding.
They're saying money is no object.
They play dirty.
Well, we also tried to buy them up.
What kind of funds do we have right now?
I have this much on me.
Hey, that's barely anything.
What've you been spending it on?
Well, then how much do you have?
W-W-Wait! I'll bring more right away!
I swear!
How?
There's adult alchemy, you know.
Yeah right, you embezzler!
Here's my contribution.
That's it?!
Five sets of tutus don't come cheap.
This is why I said we need one person to manage the funds!
You're too fussy!
I wouldn't need to be if you didn't think anything can fall under "secret funding"!
If you managed our finances, we'd never get any new weapons.
There is no need to replace them when they're still usable.
That sort of attitude keeps morale low!
Well, we might get somewhere if we pooled in our money with Sir Erec's.
Say what?!
I'm sorry.
Poverty is the root of all evil.
Now that I think about it, the Order hasn't been sending us much lately.
Sheesh, they're so stingy.
If I were the archbishop, I would have cut us off right away.
Whose side are you on?
Financially, Jugglaburk has the upper hand.
If things don't change, we're not going to stop their wedding.
I would have never expected dominoes to go up in price this much.
There must be some insider trading going on.
So that means the price of dominoes doesn't even concern Jugglaburk.
And even Jugglaburk is getting married!
Even Jugglaburk!
Despite being Jugglaburk!
How dare he!
What am I doing?
I can't even stop them!
I've only lost.
My balls and my chance at getting married are gone!
I hear you gentlemen are in the market for some dominoes.
Who are you?
I'm a black market dealer for dominoes.
I've got some good ones.
I want to say something, but I think I'll lose if I do.
So, what kind of dominoes do you have?
I'll have to see some coin first.
Wait, he could be a con man.
N-N-No!
I'm not lying.
The dominoes I have are proper, real dominoes!
Top quality.
Then sell them at a proper price!
50 should be enough!
I can't do that!
I need to eat too, you know?!
Name your price, and we'll take those dominoes off your hands.
This world has a free economy.
We'll take that man's dominoes.
I have a firm stance against unnatural price hikes!
Stay out of this!
You stay out!
Mister, the dominoes are mine, right?
Sir, I won't allow any crooked business!
Hey, let go or you won't get away unharmed.
No, you let go!
Let go and I'll let you walk unscathed!
Hey, stop!
You're hurting the innocent black market dealer.
So what?
I just want the dominoes.
Then let's do it this way.
The person who wants the dominoes,
the one who thinks they're the rightful owner,
should pull this black market dealer with all their might!
Ready?
Go!
That was scary.
You made me throw up some red wine.
Yeah, I thought you'd been torn in half for a second.
So what's our Sir Erec...
And your woman doing?
Dunno.
Does this man really have no...
Does this woman really have...
Little did those two know
that this small incident would have a large influence
on the events yet to come.
Aw'right!
Gotta do it, gotta do it, gotta (love!)
Burn with love for me, girl (Fire!)
The imagination is fine training (with the left brain!)
I won't miss my practice swinging today (DT!)
I wander around alone at night, wanting to see a movie
I wind up in a terrible rom-com and love it
Reminds me of how sweet and sour orange jelly is
When will I see you?
Our hearts and our bodies will be connected
Suddenly I want to cry and sing my DT song
We're going to fly soon (Let's fly!)
Nothing beats flying (Fly!)
The imagination is fine training (with the left brain!)
I won't miss my practice swinging today (DT!)
Next Time
Day after day of marriage rituals
are making the princess more and more irate.
That stray hair of hers might come back!
We have to improve her mood somehow!
Wait, this is a karaoke box?!
The karaoke contest from hell has finally begun! Will there be any survivors left standing?
And in the room next door, Incognito is having a "cheer up Sir Erec" party.