Wilhelm Van Astrea aka the Sword Devil is one of my favorite characters in this series who had a bit of an air of mystery about him. In this volume amid the overwhelming losses and the continued battle against the white whale that has terrorized the world for 400 years we get a chance to peek into his past and meet the woman whom he dedicates the final blow too. Although far weaker then when he was a youth Wilhelm has gone above and beyond to kill the white whale even going so far as to leap into the belly of the beast and slice it up from the inside (it worked for Drax the Destroyer in the 2nd Guardian of the Galaxy movie so why not?) so getting to see this small man leap so high in the sky and striking the final blow was an impressive scene that I admit made me a little emotional after seeing his past.
Now with the whale handled at last (I hope Subaru doesn't die again and have to do everything over) Subaru now has Allies that are coming with him to assist him in one of the darkest events in the series (and the first day had a gut slicing assassin.)
An epic battle, beautifully depicted in the plates. Some of them are without dialogue, but they express well what they want to say. I am curious to discover the continuation. The reading flows smoothly and at a brisk pace. How sweet is Rem!