Shaman King Volume 22 by Hiroyuki Takei

The Shaman fight is over and Hao won. Or is it? Yoh and his friends are flying back to the hotel on the back of Faust's Spirit Ally, Eliza, when Amidamaru brings Yoh word that Ruy is under attack by Hao's minions. He is knocked out, but he is helped by Gandara, the third force, whose spirit allies are all manifestations of Buddha, embodied in Buddha statues.

Ryu asks them why they saved him, but the leader, a beautiful woman, tells him to thank "him" for them saving him. It's unclear whether they mean the Buddha or Yoh, though. Then they leave, leaving Ryu lovestruck by the beautiful woman he's just seen. Luckily for him, though, his attacker also leaves.

Back at the hotel, Joco decides to look in on friends of his who are also involved in the Shaman Fight. But when he and his spirit-ally, the Jaguar spirit Mic, he finds them all dead, slain by a young boy named Ludsev, who pilots a spirit machine known as a golem. With him is his sister, an emotionless girl named Salerm.

When Joco asks why they killed his friends, they tell him it was in revenge for Joco killing their father. Joco apologizes, and tells them that he's a different person now, but neither cares, and they kill Joco with a single shot from Golem. Yoh comes in time to catch him before his body can hit the ground, and asks Ludsev if he feels better now that he's killed the man who'd killed his father.

Ludsev expected that Salerm would be better after he'd achieved his vengeance, but she's still emotionless. So instead he blames Yoh for her continued emotionlessness and attempts to kill him as well. But Yoh fights back and tells Ludsev that when you hurt people, they will hurt you back. The only way to stop fighting and pain is to stop the cycle of klling and hurting.

Yoh is angry. He wouldn't mind killing both Ludsev and his sister for what they did to Joco. But he isn't willing to continue the cycle, either. He manages to convince Ludsev he is right, but Salerm continues the attack, against not only Yoh, but her brother as well. But why?

Ah Yoh and Ludsev attempt to both elude and keep an eye on the golem in the forest, Joco's spirit is in the underworld, at the gates of death. There, he meets the old man who was his mentor and begins to undergo a spiritual journey. but can his friends bring him back to life in time to save him from residing permanently in death's kingdom?

And when Yoh and Ludsev are tracked down by Hao and his minions, they want the Golem, and reveal the true reason for Salerm's emotionlessness and why the Golem attacked both Yoh and Ludsev, seemingly on its own: Salerm is possessed by the spirit of her father, the man who built the golem, Dr. Camel Munzer. But Hao is less interested in the Golem than in its mana drive, which can hold 550,000 Mana. And there is no way Yoh and Ludsev can stand against Hao, less Hao and all his team.

But when Yoh's friends, Lyserg, Tao Ren and Horohoro arrive to help, can Yoh and Ludsev stand against Hao and his minions?

This book is filled with people who are going on spiritual journeys, from Joco's journey into the lands of death, to Ludsev's journey into vengeance and learning to forgive and cut the endless cycle of vengeance, but no one can get complacent just yet. With the Shaman fight stalled for a bit, it looks like Hao is using the time to cut out the competition and give himself an edge by stealing the Mana Engine.

But to what end? Hao is already so frighteningly powerful, why could he need such a device? He hardly needs it to boost his power, so why? We don't know yet, but it's likely he needs it for some nefarious reason. What that is, we don't know, but I am willing to bet it's for something beyond the Shaman Fight itself. Hao isn't only using the Shaman fight to assert his primacy as a Shaman, it seems, but also to make sure he's the only powerful Shaman left- or so it seems.

You can't help but feel a little sorry for Ludsev and his sister, who are merely pawns in a much larger scheme. But when they killed Joco, it lost me a lot of sympathy for them, so I am a bit conflicted about them. I'm still not completely sure if I want them to be saved. But I will continue to read. Recommended.