Welcome to the debate. Usually, when we measure
danger on a battlefield, we look for things we
can actually quantify, right? Right. You know,
we look for craters. We look for plasma fires.
Exactly. We measure the blast radius of a concussive
explosive, and we just point at the destruction
and say, well, there it is. That is the threat.
Yeah. It's tangible. It is. But today, we're
looking at a weapon that doesn't break bones.
It breaks causality itself. But before we get
into that, let's do a quick recap of our previous
discussion. We definitely should, because it
perfectly sets the stage for how we evaluate
power in Neogentric's universe. It really does.
So, last time... We spent our entire session
dissecting the Fuse Master's dynamite staff during
that massive sequence in the Shaolin Timber Forest.
Right. And we went back and forth on whether
that gunpowder coated staff was like a brilliant
paradigm shifting tactical design. Or just a
fragile gimmick, right? Like something that could
be completely neutralized by a simple pouch of
water. Exactly. And where we ultimately landed
was looking past the immediate explosions to
the overarching logistical impact. Because the
actual physical death of the Fuse Master quietly
but permanently cut off Crater Steve's supply
line for his heavy kinetic weaponry. Right. Without
even realizing the geopolitical magnitude of
what he had done, the protagonist essentially
severed the enemy's entire research and development
arm. It was just a massive structural blow to
Eon Pax's terrestrial forces. Crater Steve was
suddenly fighting a war of attrition without
his primary manufacturer. It really highlighted
how a single localized victory can just unravel
an entire continent supply chain. Which is actually
the perfect lens for our discussion today. We
spent all that time last session evaluating the
physical output and logistical consequences of
a strictly kinetic weapon. Right. But what happens
when the battlefield manipulation isn't kinetic
at all? Today, we're asking a central question
about a very different kind of elemental art.
Is Zai, Rill, the single most dangerous power
in the book? And we are definitely split on this
one. Oh, absolutely. Because I have to argue
that Zyryl possesses what is essentially the
weakest power on the page, since it has zero
combat viability and it nearly destroys the user.
And I will argue that Zyryl's ability is unequivocally
the most dangerous, because it is the sole catalyst
for every major tragedy in the narrative, doing
catastrophic damage without ever throwing a punch.
Okay, well, let's actually look at the metrics
of power across the continent of Pekadesh, right?
Power in this universe is strictly defined by
physical output and the capacity to survive a
conflict. Okay, but... Hang on. Just think about
it. We see Iolite wielding his corrupted red
wind, leveling entire landscapes. We see the
concussive force of the Fuse Master's staff.
Sure, those are highly visible. They are credible,
lethal threats. By contrast, Zarrel's ability
to warp spacetime using the Void is fascinating
from a theoretical physics standpoint, but it
is objectively the weakest power shown in the
text. I just, I can't agree with that framing.
It cannot inflict physical harm on an opponent,
though. If you put Zarrel in a direct fight,
he has absolutely no offensive capabilities.
Furthermore, the physical toll of utilizing this
spatial anomaly taxes his biology to the absolute
breaking point. Well, it is an extreme burden,
yes. It's an act of sheer desperation that he
can only perform once. So when you compare it
to the devastating practical applications of
the other elemental arts, Zyrel is a liability
on the battlefield. He isn't a credible threat.
Look, I hear your emphasis on physical output,
but the definition of dangerous simply does not
require immediate lethality. How so? You are
measuring danger by looking for a smoking crater.
I am measuring danger by looking at the timeline
of suffering for the protagonist's family. Zeril's
spatial manipulation is the single undeniable
cause of every major catastrophic event in the
story. I mean, I guess you could trace it back,
but... Think about what actually happens. It
is the only reason Zeonisk was able to meet his
grandfather, Zeon Clerics, during the Congo War.
And because of that impossible meeting, It is
the exact reason Iolite ever noticed the novice
bloodline existed in the first place. But is
that the power being dangerous or just the circumstance?
When you look at the ripple effects of that single
action, nothing else in the book has caused this
level of generational devastation. That is what
makes it dangerous. I see why you think that,
but let me give you a different perspective on
how we evaluate cause and effect here. We really
need to dig into the mechanics of how the void
actually works. Okay, let's get into the mechanics.
You are arguing that simply triggering an event
makes the power itself inherently dangerous.
But let's look at the strict canon of what Zeril
is doing. He is not some omnipotent deity warping
reality on a whim. Right. No, the elemental arts
don't work like that. Exactly. What he actually
does is utilize his specific affinity to create
a localized vacuum in the void. Right. A vacuum
that connects two distant points in time. Yes.
But we have to explain how unstable that actually
is. In Neogentric's world, the universe isn't
just a passive backdrop where things happen.
It is a living ecosystem with strict natural
laws, and time travel is absolutely forbidden
by those laws. It really is. The universe pushes
back. Violently. It isn't just risky. The universe
actively rejects the paradox like an immune system
attacking a virus. The atmospheric pressure of
normal space -time violently rushes in to crush
that vacuum. Which is why Zeryl struggles so
much to hold it open. Exactly. Zeryl is essentially
acting as a biological tent pole, trying to hold
up a collapsing tent of space -time. Which is
why it nearly kills him. This is exactly why
Zeryl explicitly warns Zeonix right before the
jump. He says, If you're seen or you change anything,
we're in serious trouble. Right. So think about
a broken lock on a heavy iron door. Zeryl is
just the broken lock. He provided a temporary
opening. But a broken lock is not dangerous in
and of itself. I see where you're going with
this. It's the monster that walks through that
door that poses the actual threat. You're blaming
the door for what the monster did. See, I come
at it from a different way. It's less like a
broken lock. and more like introducing a microfracture
to a massive hydroelectric dam. Okay. A dam.
Yeah. Zerol didn't cause the flood himself, but
he fundamentally compromised the structural integrity
of the timeline to let the water through. And
that microfracture is precisely what makes his
ability a weapon of mass disruption. But he doesn't
use it as a weapon. Because, as you just perfectly
articulated, time travel is forbidden by the
natural laws of the universe. When you break
those fundamental laws, you don't just quietly
slip through a door. You create massive, violent
shockwaves. But let's be very clear about the
text here. Zerol didn't even travel through the
rift. Only Zeonix travels through time in this
universe. Nobody else. Ever. Exactly! Zerol just
stayed behind and held the fracture open. He
stayed behind because the physical toll was so
immense he couldn't survive the journey. But
even though only zionics physically travel through
time, the sheer atmospheric pressure of that
paradox collapsing is what allowed the timeline's
greatest tragedy to take root. Think about that
moment on the battlefield of the Congo War. Why
did Iolite look over? Because the atmospheric
pressure of the universe trying to crush that
localized vacuum created an undeniable spectacle.
The visual disturbance, yeah. Right. That localized
vacuum breaking the rules of nature is what drew
everyone's attention. If Zyro never bends the
void, that paradox never happens. The universe
remains intact. The danger isn't in a blast radius.
It's in the structural compromise of reality
itself. That's an interesting point, though.
I would frame it differently. Okay. You are placing
the blame for the resulting tragedy entirely
on the shockwave of Zyrel's spatial anomaly.
But that completely strips away the terrifying
human agency of the actual villains. I'm not
stripping away their agency. Let's look at exactly
what happened after that shockwave on the battlefield.
Zeonix drops into the past. He fights alongside
his grandfather, Zeon Clerics. Iolite sees them
fighting across the smoke. Right. Now we must
be absolutely clear on the canon facts here,
because this is where a lot of readers get confused.
Iolite never learned the future. He did not witness
some magical prophecy of his own defeat. No,
he deduced it. Precisely. Iolite deduced the
survival of the bloodline purely from observing
Zeonix's face and recognizing the highly specific
green wind fighting style being used on the battlefield.
He's incredibly observant. As Kenshin. I argue
that the true danger in this story lies in Iolite's
chillingly patient paranoia and Malamar's methodical,
decades -long grooming process. It is horrific,
I agree. Malamar spent 20 years assuming the
identity of Kenshin, lying to a child every single
day. Blaming Zeryl's one -time spatial anomaly
gives Iolite a pass for orchestrating one of
the most insidious psychological tortures in
the narrative. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy
that. Let me tell you why. I am not giving Iolite
a pass for his cruelty. It kind of sounds like
it, though. No, the psychological torture that
Malamar inflicts as Kenshin is horrific. But
human agency in Neogentric's universe is almost
always reacting to elemental catalysts. Reacting,
sure, but the choice is theirs. You say Iolite's
paranoia is the true danger, but what triggered
the paranoia? Without Zeryl bending the void
to force that impossible battlefield meeting,
Iolite never looks across the smoke and makes
that deduction. Okay, yes, the initial spark.
He never sees the green wind style being wielded
by a boy who looks exactly like his brother,
which means Malamar is never assigned to infiltrate
Zeonix's life in Sukar in the first place. But
the execution of that infiltration was entirely
human malice. Zeryl didn't force Malamar to manipulate
a child for 20 years. The Void didn't dictate
Kenshin's betrayals. No, but... That was a choice
made by a highly intelligent, deeply compromised
individual operating on orders from an even more
paranoid commander. Zeryl's power was just the
flash in the pan. The 20 -year burn was all human.
It is human malice ignited by a void mechanic,
though. You cannot separate the two. Look, if
the elemental arts of Orion and P. Kodoish are
a massive powder keg, Zyreel's space -time fold
was the spark. But again, spark versus the explosion
itself. Zyreel's power is dangerous precisely
because it operates entirely outside the predictable
kinetic warfare of Eon Pax. It bypasses terrestrial
armies and strikes directly at causality. It's
unconventional, I'll give you that. It doesn't
matter that Zyrel couldn't throw a punch. He
changed the board so radically that the enemy
had to resort to a 20 -year psychological operation
just to counter his one move. I'm not totally
convinced by that line of reasoning, because
you're treating the catalyst as if it possesses
the intent of the resulting explosion. How so?
It's like blaming the person who discovered fire
for every arsonist in history. Xeroa's intent
was survival. It was a desperate gambit to save
Zeonix. He wasn't orchestrating a generational
war. But intent doesn't dictate danger, right?
A runaway train doesn't have malice, but it's
still incredibly dangerous. That is true. Xeroa's
manipulation of the Void unleashed forces he
couldn't control, and the fallout was catastrophic.
Well, that's a fair distinction between intent
and outcome. And honestly, while I maintain that
Xeroa is mechanistically the weakest combatant
on the board... I have to concede a massive point
to you regarding the structural impact of visibility.
All right, I'm listening. From a purely narrative
perspective, looking at the entire scope of the
book, I cannot deny that the trauma unleashed
because of that closed causal loop is infinitely
worse than anything Eon Pax does with their terrestrial
armies. It really is. The systemic damage is
staggering. It is. When we step back and look
at the sheer scale of the suffering, the fact
that Malamar raised Zeonix with the deliberate
conscious intention of breaking his spirit from
the inside out, that is profound. It far exceeds
the localized kinetic damage of a plasma fire.
Absolutely. By creating that localized vacuum
in the void, Zeril inadvertently facilitated
unparalleled psychological and systemic damage
to the protagonist's lineage. So structurally
and narratively, the damage is unprecedented.
I will concede that. That is a deeply fair point,
and it really gets to the heart of how Neogentrix
uses the elemental arts to explore psychological
trauma. And look, to be equally fair to your
initial premise, I have to concede the strict
physical parameters of Zyrela Lens' ability.
The complete lack of combat viability. Exactly.
On a purely mechanical and physical level, Zyrela's
power is useless in an actual skirmish. Right,
it's just not practical. The physical toll of
acting as that biological tentpole is so debilitating
that it renders him completely vulnerable. If
Zyreel were to step into an arena against Crater
Steve or any master of the whistling wind style,
he is dead in three seconds. Instantly defeated.
Right. It requires too much time, demands too
much concentration, and exacts way too heavy
a biological price. So you are absolutely correct.
It is not a combat viable art. It is a fascinating
dichotomy, isn't it? And it really brings us
to the core of what makes the elemental arts
in this universe so compelling to analyze. It
really does. We've spent this entire discussion
circling how danger is actually measured. I have
maintained that danger is best evaluated by immediate
kinetic destruction. And under those metrics,
creating a localized vacuum in the void is an
extreme liability. Right. It breaks the user
long before it breaks the enemy. And I have maintained
that true danger should be measured by the terrifying
ripple effects of defying the universe's natural
laws. Which it certainly did. Right. I think
what we can completely agree on is the underlying
brilliance of how the void is written. By making
the universe actively reject time travel, the
text prevents the void from becoming a cheap
escape hatch. Absolutely. The intricate mechanics
of this universe leave plenty of room for our
listeners to form their own interpretation of
what constitutes the greatest threat. Exactly.
Is it the corrupted red wind you can see burning
towards you or the space -time anomaly you can't
even touch? We will leave that for you to decide.
But the fallout of that Congo War battlefield
meeting leaves us with some incredibly heavy
character dynamics to unpack in our next session.
Because the man Zeon went back to see is arguably
the most complicated figure in the lore. He certainly
is. Join us for our next discussion, where we'll
be asking the question, Zeon Cleric's Hero or
Cautionary Tale? It's going to require us to
question every piece of conventional wisdom we've
gathered about the novice bloodline so far. Until
then, think back to our earlier premise. When
you are navigating the intricate, elemental world
of Pigadesh, you have to remember that not every
threat leaves a smoking crater in the ground.
Sometimes, the most devastating weapon isn't
the one that breaks your bones. Exactly. It's
the one that quietly breaks causality and lets
the monsters walk right through the front door.