Template:Infobox/SoulEater/Chapter
Salvage (Part 5) is the seventy-sixth chapter of the manga Soul Eater. It is collected as part of Volume 18.
Featured Appearances
Characters
Spartoi inside the Book of Eibon
Noah's Gang
- Giriko (golem in disguise)
- Female form (first appearance)
Book of Eibon occupants
- Death the Kid
- The Table of Contents
- Great Old One of Power
- DWMA student (imagined)
Black Room
Locations
- Book of Eibon
- Chapter 6: Sloth
- Chapter 7: Greed
- Hidden Section
- Black Room
Techniques
Objects
- Golem
- Brew (mentioned)
- Piano
- Enchanter Gloves
Plot
The Book of Eibon, Sloth Chapter
Upon seeing Soul Eater stand again despite Giriko's earlier attack to his chest, his blade ready to attack the saw weapon again, Maka Albarn realizes that, as a meister, "on my own, I can't do anything," so she intends to get stronger with Soul. Already sense Maka's Grigori Soul increasing in strength, Soul smiles, turning away from Giriko and transforming back into a weapon. Despite Maka's attempts to apologize, Soul interrupts: "It's all right. You don't need to say anything."
Giriko is amused, throwing off his outer jacket and revving his engine. Giriko reminds himself that for 800 years he waited for Arachne, so he refuses to let Maka "keep me waitin' no longer." Giriko swings his Saw Foot forward, as Maka dodges the chains. Soul warns her that the chains are returning behind them, and as she dodges, Giriko leaps and attacks, transforming momentarily into what resemble a large buzzsaw with an Arachnophobia mask upon it. As this buzzsaw knocks Maka back into one of the many sofas in the Sloth Chapter, Giriko uses this distraction to leap and swing his Saw Foot at Maka's head. Maka ducks in time, Giriko's foot only slicing the back of the sofa.
Undeterred, Giriko lifts his Saw Foot and drops it onto Maka's lap, but she leaps away in time, as his foot crashes through the sofa and into the floor. Giriko then transforms his entire leg into a chainsaw, asking what is wrong with this "little girl." Maka is shocked at Giriko's strength, as well as how more direct he is with his power compared to Arachne. This moment of fear allows the images of the Envy Chapter's mocking students to criticize her ostensible ineffectiveness as a meister, but Maka does not give in: now that she has reaffirmed her faith in her partnership with Soul, Maka focuses on her fight.
But even with her focus returned to this fight, Giriko's chainsaw leg sweeps into Maka. She dodges with Soul, but the force knocks the two down into a pile of furniture. Soul yells at Maka, reminding her that she can win this fight, but not alone: "Meister and weapon are a unit--two acting as one. Now let's show this jackass our strength."
The floor vibrates underneath Giriko's feet, as he revs his engine to complete a fatal blow. Maka reminds Soul that Giriko is not an opponent who can be match blow-for-blow: they must find a way to knock him down in one attack. Therefore, Soul calls to the Little Ogre to prepare. Soul enters the Black Room, as he remembers that Arachne's defeat gave him his current Death Scythe abilities, hence he and Maka can use her Soul Perception to sense Giriko's Soul Wavelength, after which point Soul will practice Noise Canceling: he will play on his piano a wavelength the opposite of Giriko's, and this antiphase wavelength will shut down Giriko's engine.
Maka's Devil-Hunt Slash causes Giriko to explode
While Maka and Soul discuss their plan, an impatient Giriko rides his blades forwardat fast speed, slamming his Saw Foot again into Maka, who blocks with Soul. Even as Giriko attacks, Maka tells Soul to begin. Soul slowly hears Giriko's wavelength, portions of it scattered around the room with each of Giriko's attack that Maka then identifies. Feeling these wavelength portions like musical notes through his Soul Resonance with Maka, Soul plays to these notes, slowly cancelling out Giriko's very soul. Giriko himself hears the music until his attacks stop, his engine slows down, and his run slows to a walk. With this Soul adagio, Giriko falls to his knees. Soul calls to Maka to use Devil-Hunt Slash now, and Giriko, eyes dulled and unable to move, is sliced in half, blood exploding from his wound before his entire body explodes in a flame, gears and shrapnel littering the Sloth Chapter.
Soul is amazed at their victory, as Maka says his strength and her Soul Perception made them powerful enough to defeat even someone as strong as Giriko. Maka then realizes that a Death Scythe is at their best only when alongside a meister, not alone, so she is ready to "move on to the next page."
But Maka sees and senses someone behind herāa familiar presence, as Giriko is not dead, and Giriko is now a woman, wearing Enchanter Gloves. "I ain't alone neither," this new iteration of Giriko explains, as she performs Saw Hairāthree spires of her hair transform into smaller but powerful chainsaw blades, slicing Maka's back and neck, knocking her to the floor.
Giriko explains that the Sloth Chapter dulled Maka's Soul Perception so that she failed to notice Giriko's soul was not actually inside that male body but inside this female body, and as such Giriko was hiding the entire time while letting that male body, actually an enchanted golem, fight Maka and Soul to weaken the two. Giriko also explains that she had partied with that male body too hard, hence it was about to fall apart anyway. "I got this other body here just so I could kill you with it," Giriko explains. "I imprinted memories onto my genes and put 'em in a kid for sakekeepin'." Giriko then used Brew to mature the child to this older age for capable combat.
Giriko then chides Maka for being so ignorant in this Sloth Chapter not to be smarter: she should have known that a person does not explode upon death. Whether out of a simple desire to correct Giriko's erroneous statement, or to attack him verbally, corrects Giriko that indeed Arachne's body exploded when she died. Giriko pauses, then screams with happiness, impressed that her "girl" could produce such an explosion upon death. Giriko then initiates Saw Hair again, determined to see whether Maka too will explode upon death.
The Book of Eibon, Chapter 7: Greed
The Table of Contents confirms that Death the Kid is in "the next chapter," but it may not take Spartoi into that hidden section without permission from the Great Old One. But an entrance can be opened if the students answer the question posed by the Greed Chapter: what do they desire?
"Power," Black Star answers, is what he desires, "to defeat enemies" and "to protect friends," including Kid.
Within the Hidden Section, the Great Old One takes notice of this answer. Madness emerges from the bride upon which Black Star and his classmates stand, crackling upward like electricity, expanding to form the arcane letters so familiar by now that form a portal between the chapters. Tsubaki Nakatsukasa to allow Black Star to enter the portal alone, but The Table of Contents explains that this portal is "an invitation" that will allow only Black Star to enter. Black Star silences Tsubaki, patting her head and ruffling her hair with a promise that "the Great Black Star" will return. Black Star also tells Liz and Patty Thompson that he is bringing Kid home "as a souvenir." Before Kilik Rung and the other students can stop him, Black Star has already fallen into the portal.
The Book of Eibon, the Hidden Section
Whiteness appears below Black Star, as he falls down what seems like a bottomless pit. Anticipating that something will happen eventually, Black Star does not worry that he is falling, instead flipping forward so he can lie back, arms crossed behind his head, and relax. As he falls, Black Star again remembers his duel with Kid, when he almost fell to madness and his own death. "I still owe you," Black Star says to Kid, for reminding him of his goal to transcend the gods.
As Black Star intends to repay Kid, he is surprised when his body falls right past the shinigami. Black Star smiles upon finding his friend, but frowns when he notices the change in the young reaper: Kid's eyes are cold, black lines fall from his lips down his chin, he wears a cravat, and he is not smiling. Black Star realizes that, as he learned when fighting Crona, Kid has fallen into madness. "Without me around to keep your heads screwed up straight," Black Star claims, both Crona and Kid have become "completely useless." Therefore, as it is Black Star's presence that will normalize Kid, he is bringing him back, "even if I gotta drag your ass the whole way."
Against this threat of a fight, Kid silently stares at his former friend.
Trivia
- This chapter features colorized pages featuring Black Star, Death the Kid (influenced by the madness of the Great Old One of Power), and Maka Albarn. The colorized pages of Maka feature symbols that resemble the cover of the Book of Eibon.
- It is unclear when Giriko removed his consciousness and placed it into the female body, although it is likely this change occurred some time before Noah put Giriko and her Golem inside the Sloth Chapter of the Book of Eibon.
- Signs in Chapter 7, Greed, say, "Great Wealth," "Thousands," and "High Returns."