Synopsis |
---|
Tired of Spirit Albarn's lollygagging, Death initiates Operation: Rescue Death the Kid, which will require the Calculation Magic of certain witches and the retrieval of a manuscript copy of the Book of Eibon, seized wrongly by a certain student. Elsewhere, Death the Kid is running out of time, as he finds within the Book of Eibon a "horror" with a fearsome soul wavelength. |
The Great Old One is the seventieth serialized chapter of the manga Soul Eater. It was reprinted in tankōbon form in Volume 17.
Featured Appearances[]
Characters[]
Noah's Gang
- Death the Kid (imprisoned)
- Gopher
- Noah
- Sid Barrett
- Franken Stein
- Death
- Spirit Albarn
- Mira Naigus
- Black Star
- Tsubaki Nakatsukasa
- Kim Diehl
- Maka Albarn
- Soul Eater
- Soul's admirer
The Chupa Girls
- Eruka (frog form)
- Great Old One of Power (first appearance)
Locations[]
- Death Weapon Meister Academy
- Book of Eibon
- Power Chapter (first appearance)
Techniques[]
- Magic
- Pumpkin (Flying Pumpkins)
- Butterfly Magic
- Firefly Magic
- Arithmetic Magic: Magic Calculation (mentioned)
- Shinigami Chop
Objects[]
Plot[]
Death Room[]

Chupa Cabra magic persists in the Death Room
Pumpkin, Firefly Magic, and Butterfly Magic seem to vibrate. Sid Barrett and Franken Stein, one nervous and the latter a bit mischievous, both ask Death whether it is time to end Spirit Albarn's Chupa♡Cabra's reception and begin discussing how to rescue Death the Kid. Death agrees, his mask looking more serious as he shouts to the revelers to cease partying. Mira Naigus is impressed.
Risa and Arisa are confused, assuming Death invited them to entertain the Death Room. When Death threatens to Shinigami Chop the witches, Risa claims Spirit had told them their invitation was to host a reception. Despite Spirit's denials, he is chopped in the head. Spirit explains that, even though he as a parent understands the pain to lose a child, he thought everyone at the Death Weapon Meister Academy could use a break after the Kishin's resurrection, the loss of Brew, and the siege on Baba Yaga Castle. Death is not convinced, so Spirit offers a different excuse, pointing out the alcohol was good. This remark earns him another Shinigami Chop to the head.
Death explains to Blair, Risa, and Arisa that he brought the three to the Death Room because their magic can help rescue Kid. Death admits Risa and Arisa have no obligation to help, but Sid explains Death's proposal: if the witches help, then they may return to Chupa Cabra's, but if they refuse, then they will receive life imprisonment. Stein adds that, even if the witches agree, they still will be prohibited by the DWMA from engaging in certain actions.
When Risa asks how they can help Death, the shinigami explains that Kid was trapped in the Book of Eibon, "a Demon Book that runs on magic" that is famous among many witches. But as the DWMA possesses a manuscript copy of Eibon's book, Risa and Arisa can create a magic link between the manuscript to open access to the original Book of Eibon possessed by Noah, then they may find where Kid is imprisoned inside. But Arisa claims the Calculation Magic she and Risa would have to perform is too complicated: Death would do better with a different witch.

Black Star shoves Eruka in Death's face
Black☆Star arrives with such a witch—by shoving a frog in Death's face. This insult earns Black☆Star a shinigami chop, as Tsubaki Nakatsukasa apologizes vigorously. Risa recognizes the frog as Eruka, who is excellent at mathematics and can aid them with this Calculation Magic. They are interrupted by the arrival of Kim Diehl, who was contacted by Marie Mjolnir to come to the Death Room. Surprised to see Arisa, who recognizes her, as well as Eruka, Kim says, "You gotta be witchin' me!" Spirit then realizes Risa and Arisa were accurate about that witch slang, which only confuses Kim more.
Death then learns from Stein that the scientist has determined the culprit who took the Book of Eibon manuscript from the library.
Death Weapon Meister Academy[]
This culprit is right outside the Death Room: Maka Albarn is still annoyed that, as she spies on the closed door to the Death Room (somehow back in place after Black☆Star kicked it down), Soul Evans's admirer is still spying on her around the hallway corner.
Noah's Lair[]
Gopher cackles at Death the Kid's suffering, the young shinigami begging for this asymmetrical torture to cease. Gopher is rubbing Kid's chest with a back-scratcher—just the right side of his chest, as Kid begs for Gopher to make the rubbing symmetrical. While Gopher is amused, he stops laughing when he realizes an annoyed Noah is behind him. "You have gone too far this time, Gopher," Noah warns, as he is displeased to see "a prized piece of my collection, reduced to this sorry state by your antics." Noah takes Kid's chin in his hand, studying the asymmetrical damage.
Noah orders Gopher to depart and to do something to earn back his trust, such as by bringing him tea. As Gopher departs, Noah opens the Book of Eibon, which sucks Kid back into its pages.
Book of Eibon[]

Kid meets the Great Old One of Power
Annoyed at his asymmetrical attire, Kid rips off the left sleeve to his shirt, using it to rub away the marker doodles covering the right side of his face. Upon making himself more symmetrical, Kid realizes that Noah has trapped him within a deeper portion of the Book, likely to prevent Kid from re-arranging the contents yet again. Whereas the Book is usually a white field with obscure markings, he notices a swirling mass of black below him. A Soul Wavelength emerges from this mass, pricking at Kid. Finding this wavelength "disgusting," Kid is surprised to see what resembles a face emerge from this mass.
Kid curses Noah for trapping such "horror" inside the Book of Eibon. Sensing something awful from this horror's wavelength, Kid fears its release upon the world. Kid urges someone to rescue him from this book and its contents immediately.
Trivia[]
- Death says to the Chupa♡Cabra witches something similar that another witch, Medusa, said to him and Spirit in Chapter 44: "I came to make a deal." Coincidentally, Medusa was the one who informed the identity of Arisa and Risa as witches as part of her deal with Death.
- This chapter reveals that Death and Stein have learned who the mysterious "M" was who checked out the manuscript copy of the Book of Eibon, which Death the Kid had attempted to locate at the Death Weapon Meister Academy library in Chapter 32. The next chapter will confirm, as this chapter hints, that Maka Albarn was that "M" who checked out the Book of Eibon manuscript, using her father's Death Scythe identification card, as she had done (for at least the second time) in Chapter 45 so as to confront the imprisoned Medusa.
- Despite Black☆Star knocking down the door to the Death Room in the previous chapter, the door is standing again as Maka and Soul spy it from around the corner. It is possible that someone who entered the Death Room later, such as Kim Diehl, may have put the door back in place.
References[]