Synopsis |
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After Maka Albarn defeats Arachne, Medusa betrays Maka and reveals her true plans for helping the DWMA. Where is Crona, and just who are the mysterious monkey and the mysterious bear? |
Operation Capture Baba Yaga Castle (Part 15) is the sixtieth serialized chapter of the manga Soul Eater. It is the final chapter in the arc Operation Capture Baba Yaga Castle. It was reprinted in tankōbon form in Volume 15.
Featured Appearances[]
Characters
the DWMA Baba Yaga Castle Infiltration Force
- Medusa Gorgon (possessing the bodies of Rachel Boyd and Arachne)
Other Characters
- Rachel Boyd (freed from Medusa Gorgon's possession)
- Crona
- Ragnarok
- Arachne Gorgon (killed; body possessed by Medusa)
Locations
- Baba Yaga Castle
- Arachne's Room: The Spider Queen Room
Techniques
Objects
Plot[]
Arachne's Room: The Spider Queen Room[]
Facing Arachne Gorgon in a monstrous spider form, Maka Albarn, wearing a dress produced by the Black Blood gained through Soul Resonance with Soul Eater, wields her weapon in Demon-Hunt Slash form. Maka asks how this dress appears, with an embarrassed Soul responding, “It’s the piano—it kinda stirs up the madness in me…I let my emotions get a little out of hand and wound up activating my black blood, that’s all. Don’t worry. It’ll settle down.” Soul abruptly changes the subject to direct Maka to use the Black Blood as armor in this fight against Arachne. A less than convinced Maka responds, “R…Right!!”
Still collapsed upon the floor, and still possessing the body of Rachel Boyd, Medusa Gorgon fears how dangerous Maka’s Anti-Demon Wavelength is to witches. But spying Arachne’s hollow, soulless body, Medusa smirks, a snake tongue slithering out of her mouth.
Maka swings Soul at Arachne, the spider witch leaping—then firing web-like madness at the meister. But Maka is impressed at the irony of how Black Blood, the very infection upon Soul, is protecting her and strengthening her. Maka leaps to reach Arachne, promising to end her. Arachne bemoans that, without her body, she cannot attack with enough power. Realizing she will be killed, Arachne attempts to shake Maka’s confidence, claiming it was Arachne’s shedded power that led to this defeat, not Maka’s reckless courage. Maka disagrees: “Face it—I’m stronger than you.”

Maka completes her swing of Devil-Hunt Slash, as her face is within centimeters of Arachne’s. The spider witch’s bodily form becomes to dissipate until, with a cry of pain, all that is left is Arachne’s soul. Maka has done it: she has killed a witch.
Soul returns to human form, collecting Arachne’s soul into his hand, but not consuming it. Soul and Maka have finally collected a witch's soul to turn Soul into a Death Weapon. Maka asks how he is after using the Black Blood, and he promises he will recover soon enough. Soul changes the subject, asking Maka to locate where Arachne has imprisoned Crona. As Maka attempts Soul Perception to find her friend, she looks to where Medusa collapsed—only to find that the soul within Rachel Boyd is her own, free of Medusa’s possession.
But Maka senses another response: behind her, the corpse of Arachne rises, and a familiar voice within it speaks with a snake’s tongue: “There’s nothing like a sister’s body.” From Arachne’s body, Vector Arrows emerge, slicing into Maka’s side before either she or Soul can react. Arachne arises, thanking the two for their “services,” as her hair twirls into a familiar style, that of that body’s new owner: Medusa Gorgon now possesses the body of her dead sister.
Medusa mocks Maka: “I just drop Crona’s name, and you’re like putty in my hands. As powerful as you are, in the end, you’re still just children,” believing whatever Crona’s mother claims. Soul tends to Maka as Medusa announces that Maka accomplished what Medusa wanted: to kill Arachne. But Medusa reminds the two that Joe Buttataki died with such a similarly powerful ability, or else he would have impeded the change people such as her are trying to accomplish in this world. Soul accuses Medusa of killing Joe, but Medusa says she merely watched the actual murderer—and that Franken Stein will inevitably find that killer. Medusa concludes that, because of Maka’s far too powerful Soul Perception abilities, this meister is an impediment to the change this world demands, hence Maka must die.

Before Medusa can strike again, a mysterious monkey leaps out from the side, swinging at Medusa. The witch attacks with Vector Arrows, which the monkey swings along before kicking at Medusa. The witch recognizes her opponent as a Death Weapon meister. Behind the monkey is that Death Weapon. Calling the monkey Enrique, the mysterious bear begins laughing at the monkey’s remarks, evidently a coarse joke. Enrique continues talking, causing the mysterious bear to fall onto the floor laughing. Medusa grows tired of this usual foolishness of the DWMA, stabbing at the bear and the monkey.
Enrique speaks, and the bear follows the direction: he transforms into a mirror, which clasps along Enrique’s right leg. The bear, now confirmed as a weapon, tells Medusa that the DWMA will soon claim Baba Yaga Castle, hence the witch is in a losing battle. Medusa is not impressed by a mere monkey, until the demon mirror reveals himself as the Death Weapon, Tezca Tlipoca.
Before Medusa continues to fight, she senses that Arachne’s body retains some consciousness, resisting Medusa’s full possession of the body. Realizing that “Archnophobia destroyed the Gorgon body obtained,” hence fulfilling most of Medusa’s goals, she announces her departure. Maka calls out to the witch, demanding to know where is Crona. Medusa smirks, and Maka realizes how this witch lied about her parental concerns for her own child. Medusa concludes that “the Crona you knew doesn’t exist anymore,” and she will not give up Crona to anyone like Maka.
With a Vector Plate, Medusa departs swiftly. Maka does not stand; she balls her hand into a fist, which she slams against the floor, putting a dent into the tiles. As Maka clutches her weapon’s hand and shudders, she complains of how unfair this situation is, after the trust Maka put into Medusa.
Medusa’s lair[]

Crona is found
A person emerges from bedsheets. The eyes of Ragnarok look upon Crona, crawling behind this unclothed meister. But Crona, or rather Ragnarok, is not the same as before: in addition to his head and two arms emerging from Crona’s back, there emerges also a third arm, gripping another version of Ragnarok in his sword form. Hence it would appear that Ragnarok has doubled, or that he and Crona are now capable of assuming additional limbs.
Manga and Anime Differences[]
- In this chapter, it is revealed that Maka and Soul are the ones who kill Arachne, but in Episode 48 it is Asura who kills Arachne who then eats her soul.
- Soul doesn't eat Arachne's soul until he and Maka kill Frey D. Sadoko which promotes Soul to Death Weapon, as for the anime's timeline Soul doesn't become a Death Weapon.
- Medusa leaves Rachel's body to possess Arachne's, but in the anime she stays in Rachel's body until she is destroyed by Maka when she masters the Majin Hunt.
- This chapter also marks a significant change for Crona, one that changes how the character is portrayed throughout the rest of the manga compared to the anime.
- This chapter reveals that Crona has return to Medusa, forced to lose memories of the DWMA friends in order to continue the quest to become a Kishin. After that point, Crona is never successfully apprehended by the DWMA for rejoining Medusa, or for committing other crimes such as the Moscow attack against Feodor and Tsar Pushka, instead is trapped on The Moon in an attempt to prevent Asura from harming the Earth.
- However, in the anime, Crona does not return to Medusa, hence does not follow the path of the Kishin that would trap Crona on the Moon. Instead, Crona returned to the DWMA where, despite Maka's protest, Death expels Crona for betrayal. After Crona is imprisoned in the dungeon, he/she along with Marie Mjolnir (who had quit her job at DWMA) go after Medusa to rescue Franken Stein and Rachel Boyd. Maka arrives to help them battle Medusa, but Crona dies after he/she pushed Maka out of the way from his/her mother's Vector Arrow. Once Stein is freed from the madness, he senses Crona's soul in Medusa's lair and vows to bring Crona back. Crona survives his/her wound and because of helping rescue Stein and Rachel, Death allows him/her back into DWMA as a full time student and later moves in with Maka, Soul, and Blair.
Trivia[]
References[]