A Powerful Mage ｢
Synopsis[]
Frieren's many years of training under her teacher Flamme are tested in her confrontation with Aura the Guillotine. Will Aura's scales find her wanting?[1]
Plot[]
Sometime in the past, Frieren questions her master if she considers their technique unfair, and Flamme reminds Frieren of the true nature of demons, where they use words to deceive humans and are nothing more than monsters that can speak. Flamme justifies that demons don't play fair this way, so they must use techniques that are even more unfair, and she is willing to perform dishonorably if it allows her to eradicate the demons.
Lügner feels uneasy about Fern's mana.
Lügner lies against a wall after receiving his fatal wound and realizes the bleeding won't stop, signifying his defeat. Fern aims her staff at him and tells him that his plan has failed. He agrees but points out that Frieren will also suffer injuries if she is facing off against Aura, and the Hero Party that had previously forced Aura's army to retreat is no longer there to protect Frieren. He declares that although Frieren poses a threat, she still has less mana than Aura and will lose if they were to fight directly. Fern responds that Frieren will win, as she is not one to directly face a demon and will deceive Aura to defeat her. Lügner thinks of her words as nonsense and recalls his past encounter with Frieren, where she had fought them directly. He feels that something is off and wonders how Fern was able to overwhelm him with attacks without exhausting her mana, given it was so meager and fragile. The realization dawns on him and he wonders if such a technique is possible. He deduces that Frieren must employ the same technique and calls her and Fern disgraces for mages by using such an unfair approach. Fern replies that Frieren is well aware of the dishonor and blasts Lügner, killing him.
Flamme and Frieren's first encounter.
Some time long ago, Flamme walks through a barren elf village and comments on the destruction. She discovers a general of the Demon King's army, Basalt the Throne, laying dead, and concludes that he was likely the leader of the troops that caused the village's destruction. She addresses a young elf mage collapsed in front of the demon and questions if she was the one that defeated him, commenting that she looked like she was on the verge of death as well. Flamme analyzes the elf's steep mana and notes she must be powerful. She criticizes her for facing the demon head on when there were other options like fleeing or hiding and expresses that she doesn't understand the thoughts of powerful mages. The elf responds that Flamme should be able to understand, given that she is a much greater mage than herself, despite Flamme exhibiting a much weaker level of mana. Flamme questions why she thinks that, and she responds that she just has a hunch. Flamme then asks for the elf's name.
Flamme obliterates the demon pursuers.
Flamme carries Frieren on her back as they leave the village. Frieren tells her that the village was completely wiped out, including the women and children, and she was unable to protect them despite being the strongest. Flamme calls her a fool and that she should've fled, but she tells her she has potential and will become her apprentice. She reminds her that, had she not come across the village, Frieren would've died in vain. As they continue on, Flamme detects pursuers, consisting of three demons more powerful than Basalt. She points out to Frieren that the demons were concealing their mana and planned on taking them by surprise, but they immediately revealed themselves out of confidence in their mana upon realizing Flamme and Frieren were mages. One of the demons commands Flamme to abandon Frieren and leave, and Flamme asks if she will be spared given she complies with their demand. The demon informs her that the Demon King ordered them to massacre the elves, and thus they do not care about Flamme's life.
Flamme reveals her mana to Frieren.
Flamme lets Frieren onto the ground and tells her that she is, in fact, aware of what being a powerful mage feels like and how the demons feel: the demons have sheer confidence in the magic they pursue for their entire lives, and thus, they are arrogant and careless. Immediately, Flamme casts a giant explosion that results in the obliteration of the three demons, leaving a crater in the ground. A shocked Frieren witnesses the destruction, and Flamme discloses that the demons did not consider her a threat compared to Frieren, which ultimately resulted in their misjudgement and deaths. Frieren realizes that Flamme had limited her mana output to give enemies a false idea of her strength, and Flamme's true mana was at a much greater magnitude.
Frieren begins limiting mana for her training under Flamme.
Flamme brings Frieren to her dwelling and treats her wounds. Later on, they begin training together, and Frieren tells Flamme that although she hates the demons and that they took everything from her, she still enjoys magic. Flamme concurs, and she emphasizes that only they need to be the ones that mock great magic. For training, Flamme instructs Frieren to limit her mana to one-tenth of her typical output while they work on other mage fundamentals. Frieren asks how long she is meant to restrict her mana, as limiting it for a prolonged amount of time tires her out, and Flamme responds that she will limit her mana and deceive demons for her entire life.
Aura casts Auserlese, placing both her soul and Frieren's soul on the Scales of Obedience.
Back on the battlefield, Aura detects Lügner's death. Frieren tells Aura her plan has failed with the death of her associates, but Aura responds that as long as she can defeat Frieren, it would be enough. She asks if Frieren expending her mana to free the undead soldiers was the right call, which prompts Frieren to reflect on the workings of Auserlese and how Aura's status as a long-lived great demon would give her the confidence to use a risky spell so freely. As she recalls the demons' inability to mask their mana and voices her pity for Aura, Aura casts her Spell of Obedience: Auserlese.
In a flashback to the past, Frieren questions Flamme why demons do not employ the mana limiting strategy. Flamme responds that they're unable to, as demon hierarchy is established through strength in a similar manner to how human hierarchy is based on wealth. Demons have a physical display of this strength through their mana output, thus they cannot constantly limit their mana and rather do not even imagine doing so. Flamme observes Frieren's restricted mana, which she began three years prior, and praises her for competency.
Frieren creates a field of flowers around her master's grave.
Later on, a much older Flamme finds Frieren training and limiting her mana by a cliff. Flamme and Frieren discuss Frieren's moderate enjoyment of magic, and Flamme mentions that she only taught Frieren magic for fighting and revenge. However, she voices no regrets in doing so and entrusting her magic to Frieren, as her long lifespan will allow for her to one day defeat the Demon King. Flamme makes one final request to Frieren: to grow a field of flowers around her grave, as the spell she loves most and the one that made her fall in love with magic was the spell that creates a field of flowers, which was taught to her by her parents. Flamme advises her to keep out of the public eye and make a name for herself when she defeats the Demon King.
Himmel recruits Frieren into his party.
Flamme passes away shortly after, and Frieren complies with her last wish. She lives a modest and solitary life, watching civilization develop. Eventually, the Hero Party searches for and discovers her in the forest, where Himmel invites her to join their party and defeat the Demon King together. Although Heiter, a priest classifies her as an average mage through her mana, Himmel has a hunch that Frieren is stronger than any mage he has met before. Frieren ends up accepting their request, and the Hero Party makes their journey and ultimately ends up defeating the Demon King.
Frieren reveals her true mana output to Aura.
Back in the present, Aura casts Auserlese and places her soul and Frieren's soul on her Scales of Obedience. She inspects Frieren and her mana, considering Frieren to be a mage of unknown origin who only recently surfaced to defeat the Demon King with the Hero Party but with an unimpressive level of mana, equating to merely a hundred years of training with little change since the Demon King's defeat. Confident in her victory, Aura moves to personally behead Frieren and reflects that she was too cautious in trying to exhaust Frieren's mana. However, the scales begin tipping towards Frieren's soul, and Frieren reveals she was limiting her mana. Aura refuses to believe she would employ such a strategy and there was no instability shown in her mana that she could have overlooked. Frieren explains she has maintained a level of restraint on her mana for most of her life to the point of it feeling natural, and even if it was a ridiculous strategy, she is able to deceive and defeat demons through it. Aura desperately claims that she has lived over five hundred years as a great mage, and Frieren opposes her by revealing she is a mage that has lived for over a thousand years, subsequently revealing her true mana output. Aura falls under Frieren's control, and Frieren instructs her to kill herself. Aura is forced to comply, beheading herself.
Frieren gives her command to Aura.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
Locations in Order of Appearance[]
- Graf Granat's Domain
- Region around the Royal Capital (flashback)
- Demon King's Castle (flashback)
Episode Notes[]
- The initial scene of a flashback with Frieren and Flamme is depicted later in the manga after Fern kills Lügner, during the flasback of Flamme and Frieren's history.
- In the anime, the three pursuing demons are shown to approach Flamme and Frieren from atop a hill, which makes the impact of Flamme's explosion spell more dramatic than in the manga where they encounter each other on flat ground.
- Unlike in the anime, the free-standing house in which Flamme lives and Frieren recovers is in the manga as the dwelling where the 1000-year-old tree grows on top (as seen in Episode 4).
- A panel of the manga that shows Flamme's parents teaching her the spell that creates a field of flowers was not adapted in the anime.
- During the montage of Frieren's journey with the Hero Party, the manga shows a panel that is assumed to depict the Hero Party facing off against the Demon King. This panel is replaced with a frame showing the Hero Party arriving at the Demon King's Castle in the anime.
Notes[]
- ↑ Due to Thanksgiving in the United States, the dub for this episode was delayed by one week and released at the same time as Episode 11's dub.
References[]
- ↑ Crunchyroll: Frieren: Beyond Journey's End Episode 10.
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