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This week’s episode of Strike the Blood closes The Labyrinth of the Blue Witch chapter on a rather depressing note.

Apparently, Yuuma was only created (she’s a test-tube baby) by her mother, the Witch of Notaria, as a trump card so she could eventually escape from her prison.  This is a fairly common recurring theme with villainous witches in anime: seeing their children as mere tools to accomplish their own ends.  It’s kind of a bummer that their children always go along with it blindly, though.

As La Folia and Sayaka finally catch up to Kojou and the others, Yuuma uses her Blue Knight (Le Bleu) to summon Regulus Aurum to break the prison barrier.  Even Le Bleu can’t fully control the Familiar, though, so Yuuma suffers some damage from this.  Once she reaches the prison, though, we find out that Natsuki is actually the key to the prison barrier.  It turns out she’s actually been sleeping there for ten years, and the Natsuki that Kojou and the others know is only an illusion.  In order to open the prison completely, Yuuma must kill Natsuki.

But, of course, Kojou and Yukina can’t have that.  Yukina had planned to attack Kojou’s body in order to return both him and Yuuma to normal, but finds herself unable to do so.  In an unexpected move, Kojou takes up Yukina’s spear to fight Yuuma himself!  And he’s actually pretty darn good with the weapon.  Working together, Yukina and Kojou manage to get his body back, and all seems well.

After the credits, though, is a final scene in which Le Bleu, possessed by the Witch of Notaria, stabs both Yuuma and Natsuki.  Chances are, this will free all the inmates from the prison barrier.  Are both Yuuma and Natsuki going to die?  The next chapter of Strike the Blood promises to be interesting!

Strike the Blood Episode 16 Preview

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