Queen’s Blade 2nd season 9

Seeing their older sister Clodette is not only up against Listy, but also forced to fight in the courtyard of the Vance castle, their very home, Elina hurries to Reina’s quarters in Gainos.

Finding her sister still asleep, with no intention to wake up soon, Elina’s naughtier tendencies take over and she slips under the covers to join her sister in bed.
Happily burying her face in Reina’s ample bosom, Elina is spurred on even more when her older sister lets out content moans under her enamored fondling.

Finally waking up, Reina is shocked to see Elina there, the warrior quickly dons her gear and heads out to watch Clodette’s fight once her younger sister has explained what is going on.

Seeing his trusted general faces one of Aldra’s minions in his own castle, Count Vance surmises queen Aldra is taking action against his own scheme, for the Count’s vast armies are marching towards Gainos to force the queen from the throne.

Fighting Listy with all her might right from the start, Clodette is taken back by the sheer power of queen Aldra’s obviously brainwashed minion, whose spiked mace swings down with lethal force and unseen velocity.

Seeing the swings of her own broadsword fail to break Listy’s combat posture, let alone penetrate her defenses, Clodette switches to her signature magic attack, summoning large bolts of lighting that rain down on queen Aldra’s minion.
Alas for Clodette, Listy comes out unscathed, for she’s able to ricochet the powerful lighting bolts using her combat suit’s thick gauntlets.

Forced back against the onslaught of Listy’s spiked mace, Clodette realizes the power and speed exhibited by the warrior while using such a heavy weapon are not human, however the oldest of the Vance sisters is not about to let that lessen her resolve to win.

Surprising her foe with a blow to he head followed up by a swift kick that sends Listy flying, Clodette brings a powerful lighting strike down on her opponent. Unable to defend herself this time, Listy’s electrocuted body slumps down to the ground, unconscious.

Congratulating Clodette for her excellent performance, Count Vance orders her to lead his armies to wage war on the queen. Clodette refuses however, saying she will keep on fighting in the Queen’s Blade tournament to become queen herself, her goal to lead the country to peace like Maria, Count Vance’s former wife who perished in the previous tournament would have wanted.

The Count berating her for disobeying, Clodette tells him how she met Maria and was told by the proud woman to protect the Vance family from suffering, winning the tournament seems to be her answer to that promise.
Furious, Count Vance tells his disobedient general that their army will take care of the queen and that usurping her throne through the tournament will fail. Turning his back on Clodette, the Count tells her to never appear before him again.

Unbeknown to Clodette, the demon inside queen Aldra has used that time to take over Listy’s body again, invigorating the brainwashed pawn with enough power to not only get up but throw herself at the Count, intent on eliminating the meddling noble.

Intervening in the nick of time to save her own father’s life, Clodette is blown back by Listy’s overwhelming power.
Realizing the queen’s true target was the Count all along, Clodette launches powerful lighting attacks against Listy and attempts a desperate escape with the Count.

Their only path to escape cut off when Listy smashes the chains holding up the bridge over the castle’s moat, Clodette knows their situation is dire, for the fact Listy goes on even after being struck repeatedly by lighting can only mean the demon possessing her body is pushing it beyond the limits of what any human could endure.

Pushed back into the castle’s large domed building, Clodette fears the end for her and the Count has come when Listy looms over them, ready to swing her mace down for a fatal blow. Hearing a crashing sound, Listy suddenly retreats for the entire building’s domed roof collapses, fatally weakened by earlier stray hits that crushed its walls and support pillars.

Hearing Listy declared as winner of the match, Reina and Elina watch in horror, fearing their sister and father may have both perished. Crushed under a large stone slab, Clodette comes to and smiles when she sees that not only did she protect her father from harm, but he affectionately calls her his cherished daughter.

Appearing back through the portal, Clodette is cared for by her worried sisters. Using her last strength, the injured warrior warns Reina to be wary of Listy’s formidable, inhuman strength for the Listy that Reina once knew is gone.

In a bamboo forest, Tomoe avidly trains, the resolve and lethal gaze in her eyes showing clearly that she too has become a fearsome opponent.

Back in the church, an irritated Nanael wonders why Melona is sticking around, and when the shapeshifter talks about Aldra, the cheeky angel fails to realize Melona’s true objective is to snatch away her vial of holy milk.
Revealing she discovered the queen isn’t human at all, Melona shocks Melfa and Nanael, and then slyly uses this diversion to secure the vial of holy milk. Walking away inconspicuously, the shapeshifter is long gone before the angel even realizes her vial is missing.

Another good episode. Different from the previous episodes as they didn’t show the start of the next battle yet, although the preview for next week’s episode reveals it will have Tomoe face Reina, like the queen had already previously let on.

Luckily the fact there was only a single battle was compensated by it being a long, drawn out face off between Clodette and Listy, it was well animated and an enjoyable fight to watch with martial and magic action mixed together.
While the red eye effect for Listy was no doubt meant to illustrate how she’s possessed by that demon that controls her every move, most people’s first thoughts may have been towards an unnecessary Terminator franchise reference.

Also noticed this week the animation went up a notch in most scenes, with especially striking and cared for facial traits and coloring in close ups. As such that it made a few weaker animated scenes stick out like a sore thumb.

Interesting, this week’s episode also indirectly explained what we have wondered about before, namely when a warrior looses her match, she is materialized back to the location she was originally taken from. This explains why Irma seemed to have been left for dead in the middle of the city after her match.

Curious to see what will happen now that the final battle(s) approach, how will Tomoe versus Reina go and will they all band together against the queen or will we see a sole victor?