Hey plot Army it's Anthony fan slice is taking a break this week so I'm gonna be filling in for him for this recap never fear he'll be back with you next week but man what a chapter for him to miss see it's early in the year but I'm gonna make a prediction no other manga release in all of 2023 will be as widely misinterpreted as Black Clover chapter.

347. there's a trick to this chapter Tabata isn't the guy you think of as playing mind games with his audience but this time he's gone full Kira and most of the internet are just a pile of matsudas eating up every word but not you dear viewers because you have plot armor to guide you through the darkness let's get to it we open this chapter.

Truth and deception on the dragon from last time and yeah the the big guy's not getting up the reason did a number on it last time and for now their blows have kept it very firmly Dead with a moment to pause and collect themselves ichiga thinks back to Asta ryuya had told the boy to come join them when he felt ready the reason have reinforcements coming in.

Theory and it's a guy who can nullify even super powerful indestructible magic but ichiga isn't willing to wait either out of concern for asta's safety or her personal Pride she makes it clear to her fellow reason they're not gonna play for time here even though they spent a ton of Magic on taking down the dragon they'll face the paladins themselves.

They're Heroes of the nation some of the greatest Mages in the world they can do this right before they can even make a move however sister Lily is in their midst her polite calm tones sound more like mockery than ever before she asks ichika if the reason can avoid their next spell clasping her hands Lily manifests a star next to each of the.

Five reason in in sequence before the shogun's Defenders can react the ice using Paladin in the distance declares its time in an instance the battlefield is engulfed in ice each star that Lily planted explodes outward in a devastating blast each eruption is the size of one head of the Great Dragon alone this spell should have been enough.

To destroy most of the city if the paladins had spread it around this is a combo spell coupling Lily's spatial magic with her comrad's powerful ice magic to create Infinity Glacier behold the overwhelming strength of uh Heath Grice that's still so weird to say it's somehow even Stranger Than Lily being a.

Villain this guy's gone from a minor Bandit working the eye of the Midnight Sun to a nation toppling threat the Paladin transformation is a crazy upgrade and it's enough to hurt the reason badly we see most of the group in rough shape jozo komadi and daisymon are sprawled over the ice covered in blood grice is just standing there smugly.

Declaring the potency of his attack as though this outcome was simple and inevitable this condescending jerk doesn't even smirk about it it'd be easier to take if he was gloating instead he's acting like he just swatted bugs away it somehow makes this Grice more insufferable than his first appearance the reason trained hard for.

Their power just like Asta had been and new brand he thinks they're so far below him he barely has to care thankfully this one spells not enough to completely Wipe Out the Defenders ichika is still standing though she's clearly hurt she notes grimly that the Paladin's sheer amounts of magic is ludicrous they have the energy reserves to perform spells.

That are objectively just plain crazy massive attacks that are impossible to dodge that's what comes from basically being a demon host Gino is up too and naturally The Silver Fox in blood dyed robes isn't backing down she's more excited than ever all too ready to slash these Invaders to Ribbons she really needs to meet Jack sometime they'd get.

Along great but before Gino can get her murder on a new figure floats slowly over the battlefield the third Paladin The Smiling man with long hair has come to join the party the ice Paladin grins back at her new friend calling out to ask him what's next she sounds like a kid on a sugar rush bouncing up and down in the back of the car the Paladin takes.

His time slowly weaving another Beast magic spell together this one is far smaller than holy howl at first appearing to be just a puff of smoke with two vaguely I like spots it's strangely low-key for the paladins who seem to specialize in large scale all-consuming attacks but the cloud congeals into a monstrous toad looming.

Above the Samurai with the jewels in its eyes and a grin on its Lips This is uduru's Boogeyman the thing isn't that scary on the surface but it gets an immediate and Powerful scream from kezukaku it's like she never even Drew her sword in seconds she's cowering in fear from the creature back to her formerly cowardly Persona muttering.

Scary frog over and over again under her breath the thing isn't even that big about the size of a large dog but it's reduced her to near helplessness just from seeing it ichiga doesn't know what to make of the bloodthirsty Warriors reaction to something so harmless looking Dean's a Fearless Beast of a combatant we've seen that just in this.

Fight she jumped into battle against the gigantic dragon without a second thought cutting her way out of its mouth but now a big frog has left her petrified this is ridiculous but yurudu is all too happy to explain boogeyman is more than just a regular magical Beast it evokes the memories and fears of its Target using them against its enemies its base.

Form is this little Gremlin thing but it can become almost anything before the dark magic user's eyes the boogeyman starts talking to her mutating into more of a human form even before it's finished that drawl is enough to drain the blood from ichika's face in a few seconds the Yami Clan patriarch stands before her sword raised grinning there's.

A bloodthirsty gleam in his eye this imitation is disturbingly realistic the smell of alcohol drifts Over The Air ichiko wave her slightly at this asking under her breath if that's truly her father after so long it's hard to stay objective in a situation like this even knowing what's going on when faced with such a perfect illusion she has to.

Wonder for an instance thankfully the dark reason can reason through this you do do explains this spell to her after all Boogeyman has latched onto her father's image as her fear just as the Frog was geens it's only natural the spell would do this she went through a ton of pain at her father's hands it taking his form makes perfect sense but.

Ultimately it's just a cheap trick it's not him grimacing ichiga charges towards yuduru declaring that she's grown too strong to fall for something like this only to pause in her tracks as visions of the past start to flash before her eyes ichika is rooted to the spot as memories play out a past she'd forgotten up to now is finally revealed to her or.

Is it see it's here that the Mind Games really begin do you remember what yuduru said Boogeyman evokes the fears and memories of its Target this vision isn't a coincidence there's more to yududu's attack than the shape-shifting monster think about it not everyone has a conventional psychological weakness to exploit some people don't have trauma.

That can be turned against them by just copying the right appearance there's no one image that could really scare ichika but Boogeyman can affect your mind to set up its fear it can get into your head show you things mess with you on a psychological level that's what makes it a spell on par with the others the paladins have been using that's the.

Points of this vision and that's why it's so convincing even to the reader it's convincing nobody seriously believes that beloved fan favorite Yami tsukihiro killed his entire family in Cold Blood Tabata knew that as soon as he introduced the idea and didn't try too hard to sell it and here comes the misdirection the grand reveal of the.

Truth a whole five chapters later there's more to learn here it's fascinating to watch the spell play outs in a grim way yududu's pet doesn't really have to add a whole lot Ichigo suffered abuse at her father's hands Asta brought up doubts around what her brother did even if he didn't have evidence to back it up so Boogeyman.

Takes her memory of childhood the fear that she's been wrong about tsukihiro and fills in the gaps to create a scenario that makes everything as bad as possible by mixing truth together with some well-chosen paranoia it can create a false past that's downright devastating ichika's Vision shows us the process of a good lie step by step start.

With the abuse her father drinking away at his table ranting about his Clan's lost Glory this is a firm truth something completely Undisputed and that already leaves your target feeling low then add something plausible that might even be a memory in this case it's their father trying to share a family secret pill with tsukahiro one designed to give.

Him great magic and bloodlust and him rejecting it this Oni Soul pill may be real it fits with Yami Clan history but it could just as easily be a convenient plot device inserted by the boogeyman it doesn't really matter then only at the end do you add the slightest little push her father feeding ichika the pill instead of sukahiro this is the giveaway.

That this story is a lie as simple as this act is it's ludicrously out of character for the patriarch given what we know of him when we last saw papayami he tried to kill ichiga as soon as he saw her he was that enraged at her very existence that's certain that she couldn't amount to anything his anger at the young girl over her mother having.

Died in childbirth was that strong now put that in context of this scene old man Yami this washed up old drunkard who was so focused on the Proud Legacy of his clan and so dismissive of ichka just gave her a Priceless secret of his Clan's greatest warriors a treasured family tradition that would surely only be bestowed on their finest potential.

Heir just because the guy wouldn't waste the pill on her no wait it's ridiculous but it fits in the moments if you don't think back to that scene Papa yami's still dismissive of her B still comes off as a bad parent it's just reframed slightly to fit this version of events that way it feels like it lines up even if it doesn't he goes from anger hatred.

And violence towards ichika to dismissal instead of an eyesore and something he wants gone she's just empty space a vessel to play with it's a different type of abusive Behavior but close enough to trick you if you don't pay attention and after a second we move on to the big shock that diverts ichika's attention before she gets wise to the.

Truth she watches her family running away from her panicked and desperate begging the young girl to stop tsuke Hiro is there clutching his arms the young boy is trembling lost in a cold sweat barely able to say his sister's name and then Yami ichiga sees the people of her clan laid out before her bloodied and dead to a one the slaughter.

She'd always blamed on her brother the field of corpses he left behind before Vanishing to the Clover kingdom was that her doing did she kill all these people and it's here that the clan patriarch returns ichika sees her father the man she hated so much who tormented her for years truly happy for the first time he's laughing and beaming at her finally.

Sincerely proud of his daughter in his dying moments he's been completely Vindicated she lived up to his example in the exact way she accused her brother of she killed the Yami clan in a way that lives up to the finest Yami Clan tradition of bloodthirsty violence ichika blamed tsukahiro hated him for years over something that she was.

Totally responsible for the vision even adds on one more detail to twist the knife even deeper into the gut ryuya knew her Lord her Beloved ryuyasama the man whose respect she worked so hard to gain always knew she was scum he was just being polite to her all their years all that time was just him indulging her attempts to be an honorable Warrior.

Knowing full well she had a river of innocent blood on her hands none of his compliments meant anything none of his kind words were true he was just being polite it's a good lie the perfect story to hurt ichika as much as possible but it's alive or at best a distortion these memories are way too convenient without them Boogeyman would have had no holds.

On ichika her old fear of her father had turned to hatred long ago she was more than ready for that fight at first but thanks to this perfectly timed Revelation a warrior who'd been able to go blow for blow with Asta his left's basically helpless lost to despair in the middle of a crucial fight fear is multifaceted and complex but memory.

Manipulation can do things a simple image couldn't hope to manage ichika isn't afraid of her brother or father she's afraid of ending up like him a violent wretch who hurt the people he was supposed to care about that's why she was so incensed by yami's supposed Slaughter of their Clan and the vision capitalized on that perfectly showing.

Her as the bloodthirsty monster she always believed Yami to be with this idea preying on her Hearts how could ichiga fight it'd just be confirming what she's afraid of how could she be anything but weak when her fear is her strength instead she's shaking Yami ichika proud warrior of the reason 7 is lost in her nightmare there's a clammy.

Sweat on her brow and she's struggling to hold her sword the prospect of being the one who massacred her family is simply too much for her to process if that were true her whole life all her hatred and resentments all her efforts to hold herself up it was all meaningless she can barely block the foe Patriarchs overhead blow even that.

Clumsy stroke has enough Force to send ichika's spiraling painfully down to the icy strewn dirt below her strength is simply gone this isn't the same woman who was going toe-to-toe with osto recently around her the reason are starting to rally diezymon is bathed in blood struggling for breath but the big guy is Standing Tall between gasps he.

Proclaims his intent to Stand Tall the reason can't give in the land of the sun is counting on them jozo and komari are rising to their feet on either side ready to join the monk in this Final Stand Lily gives the battle weary Warriors a happy smile the ever cheerful Paladin tells the reason not to worry they don't have to continue fighting in.

A little while her gracious Master Lucius zogratis will grant them all peace and happiness but it's not time for that so now they all have to rest in peace without so much as a word the paladins revive their great Holy Dragon the Beast Roars in Joy towering over the city all five heads repaired the reason just stare up at the Kaiju in total.

Disbelief of what just happened they used everything they had to kill that thing and with a moment Lily's rendered it pointless who wouldn't feel despair at this their best efforts their strongest attacks and all of it did nothing now they're tired they're injured and they're starting from scratch still facing gududu and the.

Boogeyman ichika is trying to regain some self-control she clutches her sword tight doing all she can to force her body forward but she can barely move her father Towers over her sword held high that demonic grin on his face ichika's all but resigned herself to loss she'd convinced herself that she was strong that she'd risen above her past but she.

Can do nothing here in the end she was weak and here with all things at their lowest in the blade Falling Towards her the past replays itself for Yami ichika just as tsukihiro once parried his father's blade a certain young man with black wings has stepped in to fill his shoes ichika's eyes go wide as before her Asta of the black Bulls stands.

Locking blades with yurudu's Beast puppet with a scowl what do you think you're doing to my benefactor past argument or no Asta doesn't abandon his friends and as strong as his sword arm is the young black Bull's enthusiasm and optimism may be more important here even Asta is going to have issues dealing with all three paladins and the dragon.

But he has backup this time if he can convince the reason 7 that they have a chance they may just turn the tables on these holier than thou Seto Kaiba wannabes getting ichika back into the fights after what she just went through is going to be rough but if anyone can pull it off it's Oster thanks for watching guys have an awesome day.