Trigun Maximum Volume 13- Double Duel by Yasuhiro Nightow

As Knives and the Plants, in rebellion against the humans they have served for so long, circle the planet, getting ready to fire again at the ship come to rescue the humans from the dry desert planet, Vash fights Legato Bluesummers.

Vash doesn't want to kill Legato, but Legato vows to block Vash's way to Knives until he is dead. No matter what Vash tries, though, Legato blocks him, and keeps pushing Vash mentally, telling him to end it and to kill Legato, knowing that this is the truest way to defeat Vash, to strike at his soul instead of his body.

Meanwhile, Michael, the former killer, has teamed up with Vash, following the influence of Nicholas Wolfwood, and is fighting Elendira the Crimsonnail, one of the Gung-Ho Guns. She fights with a huge gun that shoots tremendous nails, but although she's stronger than Michael, he's made a vow not to give up and to defeat her where she stands as a service to Vash, and a penance for hurting him and Wolfwood.

Meanwhile, where the last remnants of humanity are hiding from Knives, an emissary from the approaching fleet lands. He claims the situation is hopeless, as the plants are vastly more powerful than the battleships of the human fleet. But there is a chance that Vash, who is himself part plant, could reach the plants mentally and convince them to ally themselves with the humans.

But the humans have no way of reaching him. He's half the planet away fighting Legato. But for the hope Vash emanates, they decide to try. Two women step forward to go... Meryl and Millie, the former insurance agents.

What can I say about this book? It was lots of fighting, in two separate battles, which I felt went on much too long. Just plain fighting bores me, and it's been so long since I read the last Volume of Trigun that I no longer really remembered why so much of this has been going on. In any case, the fighting merely sets the backdrop for the story of the humans. Two barely humans (Vash, who's the offspring of a plant, and Michael, who made of himself something less than human) are fighting on behalf of the humans and freedom.

I got that Vash is very near death now (when his blonde hair turns black it means he is expending too much energy), and his hair is just about all black. Michael is impaled on several of Elendira's Nails, but neither one will give up. Neither will the humans, who want to be free.

What will happen in the next volume? More fighting, definitely. Hopefully, Vash will be able to triumph without dying, and will be saved by the other plants. I'll be here to read it, but from the Library rather than buying it. Fighting endless battles doesn't really interest me.