Chapter 42

Reason for Fighting (う) is the forty-second chapter of Yamada Kanehito & Abe Tsukasa's Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.

Summary
Right after the events of the previous chapter, Wirbel asks what happened to Ehre. Fern, expressionless, tells Wirbel that she killed Ehre. Since one of the conditions to pass is for all party members to be present, Wirbel concedes defeat and leaves. Removed from the rest of their parties, Land is still fighting Scharf, who controls flower petals to slice and disable Land's dominant arm. As he prepares to behead Land, Land notes that Scharf is bad at mana sensing. Another figure of Land appears behind Scharf, paralyzing him, and Land reveals that he has been using a clone of himself since the beginning of the exam. Wirbel comes across Ehre lying in the middle of a clearing and realizes Fern's deception, but Ehre and Scharf are out of mana and paralyzed respectively. Believing they will fail for sure, Wirbel carries them both around the basin and reminisces on his motivation to fight. By chance, they happen across a Stille perched in a tree which Wirbel summarily paralyzes with Sollganie. Meanwhile, the Thirteenth Party has found the Second Party, with Laufen confronting the three mages in the Second Party alone. Laufen disappears and uses magic to steal the Stille away from Frieren in the blink of an eye, leaving the Second Party to figure out where Laufen has gone.

Plot Details
Right after the events of the previous chapter, Wirbel expresses his suprise that Fern can completely mask her mana. He then assumes that she was the one who had captured the stille. Fern does not respond. Ubel. who is still restrained by Wirbel's Sollganie spell, tells him that they were just lucky. She reveals to him that they stumbled upon a stille's nest, and with Fern's bird capturing magic, were able to capture it. Ubel then mockingly tells Wirbel, that even though he can capture anything, the odds were not in his favor. Wirbel agrees. He then asks Fern, who fought Ehre, what happened to her. She tells him that Ehre has ceased to be. Wirbel recites the conditions to pass, which is to secure a stille before sunset today with all party members present. He then tells them that the 8th party has lost, and he will now depart. Ubel asks him why she hasn't killed her, since he was about to. He tells her that's unnecessary now, and bids his farewell. He also frees Ubel of his spell. Ubel then directs her staff at Wirbel, who has turned his back at them. He stops in his tracks and tells them an unnecessary kill would only turn into a necessary one.

Fern then tells Ubel that they should assist Land. Ubel tells her that there is no need, since Land, who she calls four eyes is quite the devious fox. It then cuts to Land and Scharf fighting. Lands defensive spell has just been broken, severely injuring him. Scharf then tells him that they have reached a verdict. Land compliments what Scharf did, calling it incredible

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Fern
 * Wirbel
 * Übel
 * Land
 * Scharf
 * Ehre
 * Laufen
 * Frieren
 * Kanne
 * Lawine
 * Denken

Locations

 * Grube Basin

Battles

 * Fern, Übel, & Land vs. Wirbel, Ehre, & Scharf (continues)
 * Frieren, Kanne, & Lawine vs. Laufen (continues)

Events

 * The Fourth Party defends their Stille
 * The Eighth Party obtains a Stille
 * The Thirteenth Party steals the Second Party's Stille

Spells

 * Defensive magic
 * Jubelade
 * Unnamed magic that creates clones of the caster
 * Unnamed magic used to paralyze another person
 * Unnamed magic used to levitate another person
 * Sollganie
 * Unnamed magic that allows the user to move faster than perception

Chapter Notes

 * Übel is shown to be good at reading others and was immediately able to tell Fern was lying to Wirbel