Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Episode 14: Monolith Code

Impression

I was rather disappointed to see Shizuku lose the Ice Pillars Break final to Miyuki. It was the most likely outcome (and Shizuku herself knew it too) but it was sad seeing her effort go to waste, especially after she was very vocal about her desire to win. At the very least, it’s worth noting that she put up a bit of a fight against Miyuki, instead of standing there helpless against her Inferno magic – Phonon Maser blasted a sizeable hole in one of Miyuki’s pillars even while Inferno was on. Thing is, while it’s a strong magic, its area of effect is too limited for something like this – both Miyuki’s Inferno and Niflheim were wide-range spells that were able to cover the entire field of play. Something like Phonon Maser just wasn’t suited for Ice Pillars Break. Overall, it was an okay game to watch – better than Honoka’s flawless Tatsuya-led victory in Battle Board and Mirage Bat at least.

So Morisaki and his friends are tragically injured in Monolith Code. Poor guy – all his hate on Tatsuya can never be avenged now. It didn’t take a genius to work out that the Chinese terrorists behind Battle Board were behind this too – something as obvious as the “accident” which occurred looked pretty desperate. It’s clear they weren’t thinking things through, because Monolith Code was undoubtedly the worst event to rig in terms of them achieving their dastardly goals. It’s worth a whole heap of points – and Ichijou and Kichijouji are representing Third High in it. Tatsuya is right in calling Ichijou peerless amongst all the first-year competitors in the 9SC – he’s the scion of the Ichijou family after all, famed for their use of the military magic “Rupture”. Ichijou is guaranteed to win Monolith Code for Third High if not for the one guy who would not even be there had the terrorists not pulled off that stunt – Tatsuya himself. So the terrorists practically dug their own grave by trying to rig things, because Ichijou would have won for Third High anyway. Ya dun goof’d.

So the 9SC has been building up to this event – Monolith Code, which will feature Tatsuya finally stepping into the spotlight as a competitor instead of an engineer. Everything surrounding the fated battle between Ichijou and Tatsuya will happen through Monolith Code – looks like Ichijou’s desire to face Tatsuya will happen sooner than he thought. While their first meeting was mostly an attempt on Third High’s part to show off their fangs, I wonder which side got threatened more in reality. Even though Ichijou is a veteran soldier with live combat experience, it just so happens that Tatsuya too is a soldier in the army – and although the former may be known as the Crimson Prince for all the blood spilled on the battlefield, Tatsuya’s magic completely destroyed the battlefield itself. I’m pretty sure someone of Ichijou’s calibre is able to tell that Tatsuya isn’t just an engineering buff. We’ll also get to see some of the other characters do something for once – for example, we haven’t properly seen Leo in action at all, and Mikihiko’s only used his Thunder Child magic so far. Monolith Code will hopefully shine some light on many characters that aren’t Tatsuya.