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Assault Lily: New Chapter

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Assault Lily: New Chapter, subtitled At the Seeds' Frontier / When the Bugle Blooms (アサルトリリィ・新章 種の最果ての地で／金瘡小草の咲く時) is a stage play created by AZONE International and acus. It ran from December 19, 2023 to December 25, 2023 at Theater 1010. The stage play tells two stories simultaneously, one (At the Seeds' Frontier) focused on Legion Sanngriðr, the other (When the Bugle Blooms) about an "Oshima Offshore Nest Investigation Team" made up of a variety of Lilies from many Gardens.

A sequel, Assault Lily: New Chapter 2, ran in May 2024.

Summary[edit | edit source]

The fortress city at Oshima Island had long been established to defend against the existing S-class Nest off the island's shore, but when four new D-class Nests suddenly appeared, the situation turned grim. Legion Sanngrithr, one of Yurigaoka's top legions, is sent to destroy the Nests before they can form a death zone—an area of dense negative magie where even Lilies would be at risk. Before they can even start, they are attacked by nine girls in black called the Flowers of the End. When Misaka crosses swords with one of the Flowers in particular, she senses something painfully familiar.

At the same time, the Oshima Nest Survey Team, made up of members of multiple Gardens across Japan, is sent to the island to survey and assess the risk posed by the Nests and the Huge accompanying them. This, however, was a cover for their real objective: finding out whether GEHENA was behind the convenient appearance of four Nests. What they uncover is far more dangerous than anyone could have expected.

Plot[edit | edit source]

Prologue[edit | edit source]

The Oshima Nest Survey Team arrives on Oshima and immediately is beset by a vast number of Huge, including a Gigant. Funada Ui, Funada Kiito, and Shiba Tomoshibi of Odaiba Girls' School's Legion Hronesnæsse lead the charge to destroy several Large-type Huge, with Fukuyama Jeanne Sachie, Amamiya Sophia Seren, and Kishimoto Lucia Raimu of Ludvico Private Girls' Academy's Legion Ironside moving to follow their example. Meanwhile, Kamigoori Marimo and Ueda Imari of Irma Girls' High School for the Arts's Legion Hakolberand meet up with Herensuge Girls' Academy Lilies Aizawa Kazuha of Legion Hervör and Matsumura Fuka of Legion Cuélebre to sweep the remaining Mid- and Small-type Huge.

Meanwhile, nearby, Legion Sanngrithr—plus two members of the Survey Team they're escorting from Yurigaoka, Futagawa Fumi and Kaede Johan Nouvel both from Team Hitotsuyanagi—touches down on Oshima in their gunship. Upon disembarking, Murakami Tokiwa notes the same Gigant the Survey Team are clearing the way to fight as being nearby, which prompts the legion to celebrate. They seem even more excited when Imagawa Homare suggests that more Nests means more Gigants. The legion falls into formation to perform a Neunwelt Tactic, but Yamanashi Hibari asks legion captain Kondo Misaka if they could change it up so Fumi could join in, a request Misaka readily agrees to, saying they can "handle whatever."

Indeed, as the legion makes their Neunwelt passes, it becomes clear why they're considered a top legion, with Kurokawa Nady Hanna going so far as to play around with the magiesphere, throwing it into the air before catching it again rather than passing it. Even as the legion begins sprinting through the forest to approach the Gigant, Hibari, Homare, and Kaede (as well as a much more hesitant Fumi) bicker over who is better than the other. Kaede passes to Hibari, who then passes to Misaka, who then brings out her catch phrase ("Keep your eyes peeled and don't take 'em off me!") before delivering the finish shot, dispatching the Gigant.

In the aftermath, Hibari continues the argument by prompting Fumi how it felt to fight with Sanngrithr, which builds until it becomes clear that Hibari is making an indirect suggestion that Fumi leave Team Hitotsunagi to join Sanngrithr. This upsets Kaede, particularly when Homare boasts that Sanngrithr, a SSS-ranked legion, is obviously much stronger than the A-ranked Team Hitotsuyanagi, leading Kaede to quip that it was Team Hitotsuyanagi who received the Medal of the Holy White Lily first, not the supposedly stronger Sanngrithr. This is quite the sore spot[citation needed] for Sanngrithr, but the argument diffuses after Seike Tomoyo nearly punches Kaede, only to be stopped by a sharp rebuke from her Schutzengel, Homare.

Despite the argument being settled, the legion goes on alert as something moves hidden around them. Then suddenly, nine girls in black wielding CHARMs burst through the trees and immediately attack Sanngrithr. Initially, they're confused, as the girls give off negative magie—a trait of Huge rather than Lilies, even though they obviously are human in shape. The battle is immediately desperate, as Sanngrithr has used up most of their magie for the just-completed Neunwelt. Luckily, the Survey Team arrives moments later and steps in to fight the nine mystery girls off. For reasons unknown, Marimo and Tomoshibi both hesitate, staring at the nine girls in black.

Then, Misaka crosses swords with a particular girl with white hair. In that moment, Misaka—and, apparently, the white-haired girl—feel something. They both pause, looking at their CHARMs. Then the white-haired girl slashes at Misaka, driving her back, while she collapses to the ground. Tokiwa pulls Misaka away, noting her distress, but Misaka presses closer to the collapsed white-haired girl in black, the two staring at each other as if in shock. Eventually, the girl gets back to her feet, and then, brandishing her CHARM at Misaka to fend her off, flees with the other eight girls, leaving Misaka reaching out for her.

Act 1[edit | edit source]

The Survey Team has given chase to the nine girls in black. Marimo and Tomoshibi are distracted throughout the fight, with Marimo commenting that she is "reminded of the past." When Kiito holds one of the girls at sword point, Tomoshibi suddenly strikes, knocking Kiito's blade away, allowing the girls to escape. When pressed for an explanation, Tomoshibi runs away. Marimo, however, has an explanation for what the nine girls in black are: Boosted Lilies. Specifically, they are "remnants" (成れの果て) who, after repeatedly being subjected to boosting procedures, lost their minds, and were usually disposed of after. Marimo notes that Kuramayama Labs, where the 13 Sisters Project was run, should have been shut down after Tomoshibi escaped from it.

Tomoshibi meanwhile runs into Nakahara Mary Tomoyo (hereafter "Mary" to avoid confusion with Seike Tomoyo). Given the last time they saw each other they parted on bad terms, Tomoshibi is not comforted by her presence, and accuses her former teacher of sending the girls in black after them. Mary waves it off, calling them "imitations" (of real Lilies), and seems skeptical of the value of even keeping them alive. Mary is more interested in Singular Lilies, like the Funada twins. While generally unhelpful, she does tell Tomoshibi that the nine girls in black are called "the Flowers of the End."

Elsewhere, Sanngrithr and the Survey Team meet up to allow Kaede and Fumi to officially join the Survey Team. Eventually, Tomoshibi returns and tells Kiito what she's learned, and Kiito conveys it to Misaka in turn. Misaka then finally reveals what she felt before when crossing swords with the white-haired girl: she felt the girl's magie, and it was Yamaguchi Chihiro's. The legion is stunned, and Homare says that's not possible, because Chihiro died.

Back when they were in elementary school at Yurigaoka, the four girls—Misaka, Homare, Totori, and Chihiro—along with Luise Ingels were caught in a sudden swarm of irregular Small-type Huge. With Luise insisting she was to blame for the attack, Chihiro figured out what the problem was: as she and Luise were both Boosted Lilies, they were agitating and drawing the Huge to them. Realizing this, Chihiro ran off on her own, deliberately drawing as many Huge as she could away from the others. Though she fought hard, her Regenerator Boosted Skill did not make her immortal, and she eventually fell. Misaka notes that they only ever found her CHARM, not her body, and wonders if it's possible Chihiro didn't, in fact, die.

The Survey Team notes that the Flowers are a team of nine, much like a legion. Marimo explains about the 13 Sisters Project, of which she and Tomoshibi were a part of, and says the ultimate goal was to bring about Princess Huge, enough to form a full legion. The team reasons that if the Flowers are on Oshima, GEHENA extremists likely are as well, and they resolve to search the fortress city for signs of them.

Meanwhile, Sanngrithr sets out to strike at a Nest, but then are immediately intercepted by the Flowers. During this fight, Luise suddenly grows ill and collapses. Misaka and Hasebe Touka fight to protect her, but as Misaka and the white-haired Flower clash, Misaka becomes certain. "You're Chihiro, aren't you?" When she says that name, the white-haired Flower collapses, clutching her head. Shortly after, Touka's CHARM begins to malfunction. They only make it out alive due to the timely intervention of Kojima Nadeshiko, a former instructor at Yurigaoka.

Nadeshiko diagnoses Luise with negative magie poisoning, and takes her and Sanngrithr to her lab. During the night, Touka calls Amatsu Marei about the malfunction, and Marei promises to be at Oshima in the morning to look it over. The 1st years—Tomoyo, Hanna, and Imai Seira—talk about Chihiro, Seira being revealed to have offered to make a CHARM for Chihiro when she was alive previously. Touka also speaks with Nadeshiko, showing they knew each other when Nadeshiko was an instructor. Nadeshiko reassures Touka that Luise will be fine. As Touka leaves Luise's room, Misaka calls to her, and the two share an emotional discussion, ending with Misaka telling her, "You are always in my heart, Touka. I swear it on my blade."

Act 2[edit | edit source]

The next morning, Marei arrives at Oshima only to find Touka missing. She can't even be found on MPS—the Magie (Crystal Core) Positioning System, but that would have to mean Touka wasn't carrying her CHARM, which would be unlikely on Oshima. Marei explains Touka called her, but she's skeptical negative magie, even a lot of it, would cause a 4th generation CHARM to fail entirely, an assertion Kaede and Imari—both daughters of CHARM manufacturers—agree with. This leads both Sanngrithr and the Survey Team to conclude GEHENA must be trying to make Touka a Boosted Lily, as she is also a Singular Lily, who have superior results when boosted. Misaka reveals what she believes about Chihiro, as well, and the girls all agree to try and save both Chihiro and Touka.

Tomoshibi sneaks off during the conversation to find Mary. She accuses Mary of kidnapping Touka, which she strongly denies, not wanting to lay a hand on a Singular Lily like her. The rest of the Survey Team finds them, and Mary explains that she knows where Touka is. MPS works by checking for positive magie, and Mary reveals that Touka is giving off only negative magie, a change so sudden that it's not due to boosting, but rather, she's in full-on danger of becoming a Huge.

Sanngrithr finds Touka, but are intercepted by the Flowers. The Survey Team wants to rush out to help them, but Mary stops them. There's something worse on the island, a source of powerful negative magie that is promoting the Nests to grow quickly--and if left alone, would not only allow a death zone to form, but expand it all the way to Tokyo. The Survey Team agrees this is more important, and trusts Sanngrithr to survive. Mary tells them where to find this other source, and the Survey Team departs.

Meanwhile, Misaka has isolated Touka away from the Flowers. Touka mindlessly attacks even her. Misaka pleads for her to remember, both herself and Misaka, and eventually Misaka is able to grab Touka. A mysterious flash of light happens, and suddenly Touka seems to come back to herself, dropping her CHARM. At the same time, Luise wakes up in her hospital room—only for Nadeshiko to apparently place her back to sleep. Then, Nadeshiko reads about Luise's life, including how the girl is a clone of legendary Lily, Laura Ingels. The Act closes with Luise showing how she became Touka's Schild, and how she was willing to give up everything to fight at her side.

Act 3[edit | edit source]

The Survey Team arrives at the point Mary indicated, and finds a vast swarm of Huge, as well as a shielded apparatus. They resolve that they will need to make use of Laplace, Raimu and Tomoshibi's rare skill, to perform a double Neunwelt Tactic: one to break the shield, and the other to defeat the Greater Gigant within the apparatus. As they begin their fight, Misaka and Touka are shown, expressing their mutual relief at having Touka back. Touka even notes her CHARM is working perfectly again. But before they can rejoin the rest of Sanngrithr, Chihiro attacks them. Then, Chihiro speaks, prompting alarm in Misaka and Touka both.

Misaka questions Chihiro, and finds that Chihiro is driven to murderous rage over Touka "taking her place" at Misaka's side. This prompts her to attack Touka repeatedly, focusing solely on her. Once the rest of Sanngrithr and the Flowers join with them, Chihiro begins a Neunwelt Tactic, to the further alarm of Sanngrithr as a whole. Notably, when Chihiro makes the first pass, she calls out to another of the Flowers, naming her Hekiru, which causes the girl distress as well, before the Neunwelt resumes. Sanngrithr huddles together, uncertain of how to protect themselves from the Flowers' Neunwelt.

The Survey Team meanwhile completes their first Neunwelt, blowing the shield apart to reveal the Greater Gigant Huge within. To the shock of all, it's revealed to be the Juggernaut, a humanoid Huge, itself Singular. As they fight, it begins to rain, deathly cold. Tomoshibi notes abnormal, sudden weather like this is similar to Emergence. Kiito and Ui note it's like when the two fought Haru, something brought about when singular Lilies and Huge fight.

Soon after, the surrounding Huge other than Juggernaut begin to detonate, spreading negative magie everywhere. This soon affects the Boosted Lilies on the team, driving them berserk and attacking their allies. Tomoshibi, only somewhat affected, notes they have a spectator: Mary. She laughs, and hints that "the real battle" begins now. Unable to do anything between the Juggernaut and their berserking friends, the non-Boosted Lilies on the team dig in for a grueling fight. It's one they potentially would have lost, had Kaede not at that very moment awakened to Mind's Eye, an aberration that allowed her to cut through the Juggernaut's attacks, canceling them out.

The non-Boosted members of the Survey Team, though taking severe wounds to do it, complete their Neunwelt, and then fire it directly at the Juggernaut, taking it out. Marei has to use her rare skill, Z, to save Kiito's life.

Back with Sanngrithr, the Flowers complete their Neunwelt, and as the other eight hold Sanngrithr back, Chihiro aims for Touka dead on and fires the magiesphere directly at her. She collapses, and Sanngrithr rushes in, assuming the worst. But it seems Touka is still alive—moreover, that the Consecration effect of her rare skill, Heliosphere, allowed her to capture the negative magiesphere, and begin converting it to positive magie. The legion rallies around Touka and Totori (also a Heliosphere-user) to fight off the Flowers, and a question falls to Misaka: do they fire the magiesphere at the Flowers, or throw it away? They don't have any magie to spare, Tokiwa cautions, so a wrong choice could be fatal.

Misaka makes the choice to throw it away, and the entire legion lifts the magiesphere to point it upwards, firing it into the sky, where it detonates. The Flowers run away, leaving Misaka to collapse. She expresses how grateful she is to her legionmates for being there for her despite her not having a rare skill, and despite all the opposition they had to forming. But, she says, it's not enough. Misaka, Totori, Homare, and Chihiro all swore to form the legion together, and without Chihiro, it can't be what they wanted. She pleads for Chihiro to come back to them as the curtain falls.

Epilogue[edit | edit source]

Luise awakens, meeting Mary, who leaves her only with cryptic words. After Mary leaves, she meets with the Odaiba girls from the Survey Team, and notes that while the danger is past, the Nests remain, so it's more like they're back to square one. Kiito and Ui affirm they'll stick to their original goals, hunting down GEHENA. As they all turn to leave, Tomoshibi lingers. "If you do anything to Kiito-oneesama, I'll kill you," she'd threatened before, and now she warns Mary again: no more second chances. Mary brushes her off, saying "imitations can't hope to save the world."

Meanwhile, Sanngrithr happily greets Luise. She asks about Chihiro, and Misaka says that she remembered them all, though seemed different. Touka expresses her concerns over the grudge Chihiro seems to hold for her in specific even. Nadeshiko asks about Chihiro and how much she remembered, and calls her an "unusual case." They resolve to try and save Chihiro, and the other Flowers, but Totori interjects that Chihiro might be even worse next time if GEHENA is experimenting on her. Homare wonders if there even will be a next time. Nadeshiko claims there will be—GEHENA would want to know how their bonds with Chihiro affected her.

Sanngrithr and the Survey Team resolve to begin their missions anew. But Chihiro looks on, quoting ancient poetry about a sworn love that has been forgotten.

Cast (At the Seeds' Frontier)[edit | edit source]

Legion Sanngriðr

Flowers of the End

  • Hinaga Urara[1] as Kou-no-Hana
  • Tachibana Rii as Otsu-no-Hana
  • Makihara Yui as Hei-no-Hana
  • Yazawa Rio as Tei-no-Hana
  • Sanada Uruha as Bo-no-Hana
  • Udagawa Momoka as Ki-no-Hana
  • Hoshino Sae as Koh-no-Hana
  • Inadama Honoka as Shin-no-Hana
  • Suzuki Rina as Jin-no-Hana

Former Yurigaoka Girls' Academy Instructor

Sakuragi Sayaka contributed voice recordings to this story in the role of an unspecified member of the Ingels family[2]. This role did not appear on the cast list.

Cast (When the Bugle Blooms)[edit | edit source]

Yurigaoka Girls' Academy

Odaiba Girls' School

Ludvico Private Girls' Academy

Irma Girls' High School for the Arts

Herensuge Girls' Academy

Ryuto Girls' Academy

Instructor

Production[edit | edit source]

Nishimoto Rimi was originally cast in the role of Futagawa Fumi, but had to withdraw from the play due to worsening symptoms of Graves' disease[3]. Haruka Risa[4], who at the time had played the roles of Yoshii Kasumiko in Assault Lily: The Gleam of Dawn and Matsunaga Brigitta Kayo in the Lily Project version of Assault Lily: Schwester's Prayer, played the role of Fumi during all performances.

English Subtitles[edit | edit source]

English subtitle files for New Chapter have been created by the group Yurigaoka Fan Club, and can be watched along with the Blu-ray release.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

  • During the NC1 Retrospective held on December 29, there was a great deal of discussion about the intimate scene at the end of Act 1 between Misaka and Touka.
    • Makiura Itsuki (Touka) claimed that Oomori Rio (Misaka) had "zero experience" at love, and that they had to get Tanabe, the director, and Ishige, the assistant director, both men, to act out the scene to demonstrate to Oomori how to do it.
    • Makiura also said that she had Hinaga Urara (Chihiro) help her practice the scene, and that Hinaga was "surprisingly good at it!"
    • Just after this section, Nomoto Sora (Tomoshibi) asks Tanabe, "Why did you put a kiss scene in?" He rejects the idea it's a "kiss scene," so Nomoto suggests it's an interpretation-dependent kiss scene, which he agrees with, and says he wanted to demonstrate how close Misaka and Touka were, and to show a "beautiful scene" before the action started in earnest.

Gallery[edit | edit source]

External Links[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Hinaga previously played the role of Imamura Yukari in The Singular Ability under the stage name of "Takatsuji Urara."
  2. ↑ During the setting explanation she delivered prior to New Chapter 2, Sakuragi joked about this: "I am a member of the Ingels family... That was a lie."
  3. ↑ [1]
  4. ↑ [2]
 
Stage Plays
Ensemble
Ludvico
Odaiba
Irma
 
Stage Plays
Ensemble
Ludvico
Odaiba
Irma
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