Pandemonium: Chapter 12

## Chapter 12

Domika screaming in horror over Crain's actions.

*"You can shoot as many people as you want, but they won't come back."*

— Zipher, lamenting the tragedies that had occurred.
Chapter 12 is the sixth and final chapter of the second volume of the Pandemonium: Wizard Village manga and the twelfth chapter of the series overall, as written and illustrated by Shibamoto Sho. It is the final chronological chapter of the manga, although the t*ankōbon* release is followed by a short prequel story. Chapter 12 has been released on January 30th 2014.

## Overview

The final chapter wraps up the main story. The villagers are saved from the mercenary band. Zipher's personal baggage is cleared and Molte's fate is revealed. An extensive epilogue is given, showing what happened to many of the characters.

Even though Molte doesn't revive after being shot, Crain isn't convinced the village has no powers. In order to prove to him that magic doesn't exist, Zipher opens his box, ruining the preserved corpse of Anna. Knowing that Zipher would never do that if reviving Anna was possible, he finally realizes the truth. Suddenly understanding that he shot a child, Crain quickly gathers his mercenaries and leaves.

The freed villagers tend to Molte. It is revealed that the bullet was deflected by a locket she kept around her neck. Healing water is brought to help treat her. Some time later, Molte wakes up. Zipher confesses his love to Domika, buries Anna and quickly leaves the village.

Since the knowledge of the village and its location became widely known, it could no longer be a place for variants to hide. In the epilogue, the Wizard Village is revealed to have become an excavation site. Following the events of the manga, many variants rejoined the wider society.

Zipher started a family with Domika. Sixteen years later, he's still touring the world, telling his story in order to dispel the legends that make regular folk fear variant people. Molte is revealed to have become a school teacher. She meets up with Schritt, Zipher and Domika's child. The two go home carrying fressia flowers as a gift for their parents.

## Summary

The villagers are in shock. Crain stares blankly at Molte's body. Zipher yells at him for shooting a child, but he turns to the village chief Ainu, expecting him to resurrect her. Seeing how Ainu's doing nothing, Crain berates himself for shooting a non-variant, an outsider whom the villagers probably don't care about.

While Crain is deciding whether to kill Ainu, Domika, Kayoh or one of the children next, Zipher breaks into a frenzied sprint. Not knowing what Zipher's about to do, Crain shoots towards him. Zipher is hit in his left hand. Undeterred, Zipher reaches his box and to everyone's astonishment, opens it. Crain's shocked, exclaiming that there's no possibility of resurrecting Anna after the box opens and her body is contaminated. Anna is finally revealed in full.

Zipher cries and explains to Crain that resurrecting the dead was never possible. Knowing how serious Zipher was about saving Anna, Crain is shocked and finally believes him. Crain's expression turns sombre as he reflects over what he's done to the village. Looking at Molte, he feels anger and regret. Crain gives an order to retreat. The mercenary army quickly backs out of the village.

Finally left alone, villagers gather around Molte. Checking up on her, Malsus notices that the bullet didn't penetrate her chest, having been deflected by her locket. The villagers quickly tend to her wounds. In a flash forward, Molte is seen on her feet, having recovered from the injury.

Zipher tells Domika about his intention to leave the village. He confesses that he was attracted to her because she and Anna look very much alike. He ends his speech by confessing his love to Domika. The very next day, Anna is buried and Zipher leaves.

#### Epilogue

The epilogue starts with a narration concluding Zipher's tale. The narrator confirms that he started a long journey thru the world, having nowhere to return. As children in the school clamor for more, Molte is revealed to have been the narrator of the epilogue. After she exits the classroom she teaches in, Molte's daily routine is shown. Through her day, she interacts with many ex-villagers. It is revealed that a big number of villagers have left the ruined village after the events of the manga. Molte says that she's working on a book about the "Wizard Village."

Molte remarks that even though 16 years have passed, the separation between the variants and normal people persists. At the moment, the Land of the Variant and the ruins of the village are managed by the villagers who decided to stay after the debacle. Furthermore, Zipher has spread his story far and wide during his travels, destroying myths about the Land of the variant and its peoples. Molte notes that legends of the village are still rooted deeply among the people.

Looking at her damaged locket, Molte senses a peculiar smell of flowers. The smell is revealed to have come from Schritt, Zipher and Domika's child. Calling Molte his sister, Schritt tells her that he just got a message from dad. Zipher and Domika are coming back to town.

As it snows, the contents of Molte's locket are revealed. Crain's bullet destroyed the image of her original parents and in their place, she put a picture of Zipher, Domika, Schritt and herself. Molte comments that she had found a new family.

Schritt reveals a gift for his parents, a potted flower, freesia. He and Molte hold hands and walk home.

## Characters in order of appearance

### Main characters

Molte

Domika

Crain

Ainu

Zipher

Malsus

Kayoh

Brow

Kobolgarde

Marco

Anna

Cosith

### Villagers

* Neil, Brepa, Cornu, Aimu
* Memeko, Solato, Ruvatos, Shiroyabu, Mupos
* Makara, Bothy, Aegis, Agare, Basil
* Irv, Grif, Gulon, Rono, Haggis, Peryu

### Epilogue characters

* Cimel, Garnet, Iju, Lil' Horn, Ashura, Konoanoire, Spora
* Shinoda, Topo, Algernon
* Beatha
* Unicorn-Fox
* Schritt

## Trivia

* Chapter 12 is the first and only chapter which wasn't released on the second Friday of the following month. Originally intended for a December 13th release date, it was delayed until January 30th.
* Crain shooting Zipher marks the last time he's injured during Pandemonium: Wizard Village, bringing his injured index to a total of nine. These include:
	+ When he collapses from dehydration and exhaustion on his way to the village in Chapter 1.
	+ When he overzealously bows to the villagers, hurting his face near the end of Chapter 1.
	+ When beaten by Cosith and Kayoh after the first fireworks display in Chapter 3.
	+ When he gets punched by Marco during his fireworks display at the start of Chapter 5.
	+ When hit by a burning log while attempting to save Brow in Chapter 6.
	+ When the mercenary brigade stops him from approaching Crain near the start of Chapter 10.
	+ When hit by a rock Crain throws at him in Chapter 11.
	+ When hit by the blunt side of an unnamed mercenary's weapon on page 27 of Chapter 11 .
* "I want to give you a present" echoes in Zipher's mind as he's opening Anna's storage box. This is a callback to a line from Chapter 6.
* Pendant which saved Molte's life has been featured multiple times before. This includes scenes in Chapter 1, 4 and 5.
* Anna was buried in the village. In the epilogue, her last name is revealed to be O'Hara.
	+ The text on Anna's grave marks her as being "From the lost town of Arkhamheim" implying the city was never rebuilt after the Sky Golem attack.
* The epilogue happens 16 years in the future.
* During the epilogue, page 38 holds multiple references to other works:
	+ A doll of Baku can be seen next to a ball on the top right shelf. Baku is a character from Baku, Shibamoto's old one-shot manga.
	+ On the shelf underneath Baku are the dolls of Anubis and Sadness from Tsunousagi, another manga by Shibamoto.
	+ The shelves on the left of the page hold a number of books, most notably 2001: A Space Odyssey, Puppet Detective Team, an unintelligible title and Poppy O'Possum.
* On page 39 of the epilogue, multiple children from the village show up fully grown up. These are Molte, Memeko, Solato and Brow.
	+ In the background there are drawings of various characters on the wall. These are Rono, Gulon, Brow, Baku, Lil' Horn, Grif and Shinoda.
	+ The beetle is a reference to Tsunousagi.
* Three characters from Shibamoto's previous manga, Tsunousagi, can be seen during the epilogue. Shinoda and Topo can be seen on page 39 and Algernon on page 40.
* When Molte exits the school building, the snowy landscape of the city reveals multiple snowmen. They include Jackalope from Tsunousagi and Sakasabane from Sakasabame. Both are earlier manga from Shibamoto Sho.
* An unknown villager can be seen on page 40. Shibamoto confirmed via Twitter that she was supposed to be Kayoh and Cosith's daughter at one time and Prakasha at another. However, he eventually decided to have her be a new a new villager. She been nicknamed by fans as Unnamed Unicorn-Fox.
* The *Sky Golem* lullaby from Chapter 1 makes a return in the epilogue. While the lullaby isn't fully heard, a few more lines that are absent in Chapter 1 appear.
* Continuing the motif of flowers set by Domika and Anna, Schritt, evokes the smell of flowers when he meets up with Molte as he bringing potted freesia flowers home.
* Molte's pendant makes a "CLINK" sound for the last time on page 45.
* Even though Chapter 12 is the end of the story, Japanese and French tankōbon releases were bundled with one additional extra chapter. Chapter 0 is a short prequel story showing off Domika's childhood.

## Gallery

So what?Anna revealed.Crain realizes the truth.Molte's locket."*I love you.*"Villagers in the wider world, 16 years later.Here lies Anna O'Hara; in the Pandemonium excavation site.Schritt, revealed.The end.

## References

1. ↑ Although the story has no official name, it is often called Chapter 0 by the fans.
2. ↑ http://hiyokonikki.blog.shinobi.jp/%E3%81%8A%E3%81%97%E3%82%89%E3%81%9B/%E3%83%91%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E3%83%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%82%A6%E3%83%A0%E6%9C%80%E7%B5%82%E8%A9%B1%E6%9B%B4%E6%96%B0%E3%83%BB%E7%AC%AC%E4%B8%80%E9%9B%86%E7%99%BA%E5%A3%B2%E3%81%AE%E3%81%8A%E3%81%97%E3%82%89%E3%81%9B%EF%BC%86we
3. ↑ A children's story illustrated by Shibamoto Sho.
4. ↑ A webcomic drawn by a friend of Shibamoto Sho.
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/hi6sho/status/1260141666670796800