Hunting Season

The Twenty-Sided Sorceress #4

by Annie Bellet

The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. Nothing more...

Demon hounds. Celtic legends coming to life. Angry druids. Just what gamer and sorceress Jade Crow needs to help her days feel complete. All her hits will have to be crits to get out of this one as enemies and friends collide and the lines between the two blur.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic, Romance, Witches, Shapeshifters

205 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 2, 2014

About the author

Annie Bellet is a full-time speculative fiction writer. She holds a BA in English and a BA in Medieval Studies and thus can speak a smattering of useful languages such as Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Welsh.

Her books include Avarice (Pyrrh Considerable Crimes Division: Book 1), The Gryphonpike Chronicles series, and the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series.

Her interests besides writing include rock climbing, reading, horse-back riding, video games, comic books, table-top RPGs, and many other nerdy pursuits.


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Reviews

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 5 out of 5]

🎲 A Let's Play Dice with the Slightly Awesome Crow Sorceress Buddy Read (LPDwtSACSBR™) with the MacHalos of Mischief and Mayhem (aka M³) 🎲

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

“If she tries anything, just cut her head off and stick it in the freezer and I’ll deal with her when I get back.”

➽ And the moral of this reread is: to my utterly amazed amazement, the books in this series keep surviving the ordeal of being ruthlessly reread by me. Which is slightly, um, you know, amazing and stuff. I mean, this is UF with a female lead, after all, and it is a truth universally acknowledged than UF stories with female leads have now officially become the Transcendentally Unequalled Trope Kingdom of Fantasy Crap (TUTKoFC™). Which is why I’ve mostly given up on the crappy genre and stuff. BUT. This is Jade Crow, and Jade Crow is Slightly Very Scrumptious (SVC™). Also, this is Annie Bellet, and Annie Bellet is the Mostest Merciless Destroyer of UF Tropes of the Last Three Four At Least (MMDoUFTotLFDaL™). So QED and stuff.

➽ And the other moral of this reread is: unicorns + one-eyed, horned demon dogs (aka creatures of filth and evil, yay!) + witches that are bitches + cudgel-wielding red-haired giants who ride super hot twelve-foot white Russian tigers + fucktoast + really bad, ancient Irish dudes + giant rhino-turtle-insect rock monsters + Super Saiyan + tentacles + super ultra cool violet claws =





[Original review: April 2015]

And it keeps getting better. More action. More crazy magic. More blood-and-gore-yay! More weird creatures. More heart-eating. More everything. Added bonus? As this series keeps getting cooler, my reviews keep getting shorter.



So. Let's do this quickly. This book? Take ALL the awesomeness of ALL the previous instalments, and add:

✔ Friendly advice: you might want to shut your ears NOW Uuuuuuniiiiiiiiiiiiiicooooooorrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnns!!!! Sorry about that, it just couldn't be helped. Because, you know, uuuuuuniiiiiiiiiiiiiicooooooorrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnns!!!!!
✔ Druids
✔ Bloody fantastic time manipulation
✔ Fomorians who are, like, totally cool since they rose to stardom courtesy of Kate Daniels.
✔ Oak tree travel. So time-efficient. So eco-friendly. If a little barf-inducing.
✔ Badasses in flour-dusted aprons (who might or might not be ancient deities).

[We interrupt this review to bring you an exclusive statement from our resident kick-ass sorceress]

“If she tries anything, just cut her head off and stick it in the freezer and I’ll deal with her when I get back.”

♥ Jade Crow, a girl after my own heart. I am SO in love ♥



[And now back to our regular reviewing]

✔ Smelly, tasty magic.
✔ Turtle Devastation Wave, aka the Kamehameha trick.
✔ Vampire archivists with great potential. Because yes, nerdy can be sexy.
✔ Queen Amidala references and quoting ever after.
✔ Freakish demon dogs that make velociraptors feel inadequate. Sorry Mr Crichton, your babies have nothing on these guys here.

Anything else? Yeah. Ze plot thickens, too. SO GOOD. Cannot. Stop. Reading.



This series is my new crack. No, it's not particularly deep. But it's fun. And bloody entertaining. And fast paced. And action packed. And cool. And awesome. And fantastic. And it might have dragons in its near future. What more do you want? Nothing? Yeah, that's what I thought. So get reading.




• Book 1: Justice Calling ★★★★
• Book 2: Murder of Crows ★★★★
• Book 3: Pack Of Lies ★★★★
• Book 5: Heartache ★★★★★
• Book 6: Thicker than Blood ★★★★
• Book 7: Magic to the Bone ★★★★
• Book 7.5: Harper's Tale ★★★★
• Book 8: Dungeon Crawl ★★★
· Book 9: River of No Return ★★★★
· Book 10: Balancing the Scales ★★★★

[Penni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great installment! Can't wait for the next one....

[Booknut 101 · Rating 4 out of 5]

'"We fight with what we have," he murmured. "Not what we wish to have."

"Okay, Obi-Wan." I nipped his chin and settled into his arms.

"I am not quoting Star Wars," he said, glaring down at me in mock annoyance.
"No, but you sound wise for your years."

"Protect you, I will," he said. "Love you, I do."'

Alek and Jade are officially one of the cutest couples ever.

If you don't know what it's like to ship a powerful sorceress, and a guy who can shift into a tiger, together...I just can't describe it. No words will do it justice!

Not to mention, Alek tries so hard to fit in with Jade and her geeky/nerdy friends. Mainly by trying to reference various movies (often incorrectly). Plus, he's got that Russian accent...*sighs*


Can't wait for the next book a.k.a the ultimate showdown!

[Soulfire · Rating 5 out of 5]

So happy with this series. I love all the gaming and pop culture references, even though I don’t always get them. I love the magic and world that’s been created. I love the characters, major and minor. I’m so happy I found these books.

Hunting Season progressed the over arching story of the evil ex-boyfriend sorcerer Samir by a lot, but it still had its own story that was the normal fast paced, butt kicking, magic filled adventure.

The only negative I had was that since it’s been a little while since I read the previous books it took me a little while to remember who everyone was. There wasn’t really a catch up or introduction for people. You just had to know.

Still really looking forward to the next installment.

[Marguerite (M) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating : 4 stars

✓
✓ HASHTAG UNICORN
✓ So many The Last Unicorn's references
✓ UNICORN UNICORN UNICORN
✓ Brie the cupcakes goddess
✓ Ultra badass Jade and her mega awesome language skill (hashtag so jealous).
✓ If i was a vampire I would totally be an archivist too.
✓ Unicorns plural.
✓ It's fucking too short.
✓ I don't have the next books yet.
✓ She totally pwned those witch bitches. Or bitchy witches, that also works.

[Elinor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is goooooood. Also every time Jade says the word dragon xD Because she is a dragon... right ? that's what Alek saw. and that would be super cool.. Also KAMEHAMEHA ! Also, that last chapter !

[Elena Linville-Abdo · Rating 4 out of 5]

 Stars: 4 out of 5

This series continues to impress. The books are short, but the author does a great job of telling the story and managing some pretty solid character development in the space of around 180-200 pages.

As I had mentioned in my previous reviews, the biggest draw for me is the cast of characters. Too often in urban fantasy our female protagonist is a solitary figure who has no family and next to no friends, especially female. Not so with Jade. I love found family stories and this book has that in spades. Jade has a best friend (who is female, which is a rare species in urban fantasy), and she has other friends ready to help and defend her. And she is more than ready to protect them from harm. 

I love the dynamic in this group of friends. They are all different and powerful in their own ways, and they respect each other enough to trust each other to do their job. Yes, Jade worries about her friends and her boyfriend, but she doesn't try to be a noble idiot and run off to face danger on her own in order to "protect" them. She includes them in her plans instead and trust them to do their part, even if that puts them in danger. That's how real teams work, and that's why I love this series so much.

The story itself moves at a pretty good clip as well and we discover some new information about some old characters and are introduced to some new ones. Unicorns, anyone? And the whole Jade vs the local witch coven standoff was rather hilarious. 

My only complaint here is that this "waiting on big bad Samir to come get us" story is getting a bit old. I know that the series is 10 books long, but I hope that we will not live in anticipation until book 10, because you can delay the confrontation only so long before the reader's interest flags. I know I'm already getting irritated with the constant implied treat of violence that never comes and we are only on book 4. I will, however, trust the author, because she hasn't disappointed me so far, so I'm sure she has a good plan for this series.

PS: This book also gets additional points for a great rendition of the "kamehameha" attack.

[Debbie Gascoyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

At last. I've been kind of cruising along with this series - liked it enough to want to know what happened, and they're easy enough reads that I'm not investing a lot of time in any one of them. I like the pop-culture references, but do wish that she didn't find it necessary to tell us that the romantic hero smells of vanilla and musk every time there is an embrace.

That said - this latest in the series finally kicked in for me! Maybe part of the problem has been that each novella is so short that it's been hard to get invested in any of the characters; however, the cumulative impact is much stronger and for the first time I cared about the subsidiary characters for reasons more than that the narrator told me I was supposed to. The stakes in the story-arc have been raised just a bit with each entry, and the suspense is building for a final face-off between Jade and her nemesis. Also, best and most apt Firefly quote ever.

[Charlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

She's a Sorceress with a 20 sided die totem and gaming store.

In this book she and her friends are healing a unicorn.Then they feel like they must protect it.Our heroine fights hounds from hell,meets a vampire,and finds a druidic spellbook.Not to mention her friends are all wer-animals,and her mate is a wer-tiger.

All and all it's a fun read.

[Lisa Flowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book.

It's not literary brilliance, but it's a good, engaging fast read with a good dose of humor. Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs were the same once, so I call this a promising young artist that I plan to keep reading.

[Karen ⚜Mess⚜ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Sarah for recommending this book for a bingo square. I had forgotten how fantastic Annie Bellet is. She's written some of the best novellas I've had the pleasure of reading.

[Margaret Fisk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over
Once again, we have a full and complete story with interesting reveals, but unlike the previous ones in The Twenty-Sided Sorceress, the toying is coming to an end. This book (book 4) is not a sideways effort by Samir, or at least not as sideways as the previous ones. The teaser in the back of Pack of Lies comes to its full nature in Hunting Season, offering new moral questions for Jade to face along with those raised by living in her community openly, a fact not all are happy about.

Her life becomes more complicated, and my suspicions about her nature are more grounded. What I don’t know is whether she is unique (or extremely rare) or if such is true for all sorcerers with her just being very strong. I’m leaning toward her rarity, but will withhold judgment. I’m starting to understand the root of Samir’s obsession in light of this, however, and it fascinates me.

Jade comes to understand her abilities a little differently in this book. Though it doesn’t much change how she approaches her magic, she’s more confident in the path that comes naturally to her. She also learns the world is bigger even than Alek knows, setting her understanding of real against encounters she would have thought only a part of fiction. It’s a lovely demonstration of the human trait of acceptance won by familiarity while not letting that acceptance open up possibilities along the same thread. Shifters are real. She has no difficulty with that because she grew up alongside them, but even the shifters believe all other fantastic creatures to be myth alone.

The world building is both consistent and yet expanding nicely. I know the series is much longer than one more book, but I have a feeling this Samir arc is closing in at last. Jade is still trying to balance including her friends and protecting them from the consequences of befriending her. Those choices may just be taken out of her hands all too soon, but the support of those around her offers as much strength as risk, and I’m curious to see it play out.

While there didn’t seem to be as many humorous moments, some of that is still there. My favorite is right at the end so I can’t say anything beyond that the payoff is worth it and how Jade undertakes to make her point is a lovely demonstration of her determination to be good while not being a pushover.

You might notice the lack of a longer gap between reading books in this series. I mentioned at the end of the previous one that I didn’t think I could hold out, and the right time dropped into my lap, though I have three other books ready to be reviewed, so this wasn’t a case of needing a quick read. I’m enjoying the series immensely. I do apologize for the vague nature of my comments, but I tried to give you a sense of what I experienced while allowing you to see it unfold as the author intended. I’m still bought into this world and eager to see how it unfolds.

[Shera (Book Whispers) · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off I am disappointed in Tess's role. Okay, so her role was pretty epic and moving. The issue was that Tess was everything and more than what I hoped she could have been. I get her role in Jade's hero's journey, but still. I love Tess.

Another thing is the ugly truth is out. Jade isn't really a comic book owner, she's a translator. Ha-ha. Okay so she's both, but I loved how she grudgingly admits it at the start. It's also fun that her supernatural gift is used to make a living so mundanely.

Rock to mud. I couldn’t remember all the details of the spell, though I knew there was something in there about not working on magical stone. Fuck that, because the manual wasn’t a spell book, not in reality. In reality, I just needed to have the power and the belief I could do it.

Sorcery magic still leaves me just a little confused. Jade is still crappy at magic so I'm guessing it's her unconscious doubt. That she's not believing? Why does she need all the fancy stuff? It makes it easier for her to believe? I don't like that it's not addressed fully. Though I do think I am on the right track.

“Curiosity is known to kill cats, Ms. Crow,” he said, raising an eyebrow in a gesture that looked utterly practiced and precise.

“Satisfaction brings them back,” I said, letting go of my magic. I didn’t want to accept what my brain and senses were telling me. “Do you sparkle in sunlight?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “I burn.”

I'm also very thrilled in all the magical creatures being introduced in this entry! Yeah for vampires, druids, and other things! Yippee! The more magical creatures the better. Not to mention unicorns! The world of The Twenty-Sided Sorceress is becoming so awesome. Doesn't heart with The Last Unicorn jokes. (No really I was obsessed when I was younger. Kind of still am.)

Alek and Jade are truly starting to grow for me as a couple. Finally the build up is becoming enough that I can buy it. I enjoy their frank talks and such.

In my nerd obsessed mind I am under the complete belief that Jade and I, not to mention all her friends, would be besties. The references to all things nerdy here just kept me laughing. Especially poor Tess's cruel introductory to sci-fi shows. Poor girl. The look through Tess's eyes to the big bad was also interesting, as you really see how sad and pathetic he is. Yeah, we want him crushed.

Content Warning: Clean sex scene, sexual humor, realistic homosexual relationship (I want more dang it!), nothing to gory though I guess to some extant since we are dealing with heart eating beings ^_-, and overall nothing really stood out.

4/5- Great! Really enjoyed it.

Originally reviewed at Book Whispers.

[Angie ~aka Reading Machine~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jade Crow is doing her best not to think of Samir and the games he plays but it's hard. Jade just wants to protect her friends and allies from harm. When a creature appears out of legend Jade is asked to heal it. Too many coincidences are occurring around Jade for her liking. Someone or something is disturbing the forest near her home. Will Jade trust her instincts? Is she ready for Samir? Your answers await you in Hunting Season.

This series keeps getting better and better. I love watching Jade's growth as a character! The characters and story are so complex, compelling, raw, gritty, down to earth, real, and honest. I look forward to my next adventure in this exciting series.

[Vero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book, but still something's missing. I liked it - as I liked the other books in the series, too - but also like the others, it somehow felt insubstantial. Like they are too short.
They all felt more like novellas than novels.
The story gets a little stretched and the characters are much stronger than the plot.
 
 

[Theresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars... Samir is closing in, sending his toughest assassins yet to finish off Jade and her friends... In this quest of destruction, an ancient enemy is risen from the dead and a legendary mythological creature is at risk of extinction... Jade must learn to trust herself and those she loves in order to face her past and her deepest fears... Action packed and filled with mythological lore; this read is as enchanting as it is engaging:)

[Leather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very favorably surprised by the good performance of this series, which continues to be short, against all expectations. It's a very entertaining read, in the right tone, with a very good balance between the inherent lightness of the genre and the solidity of the plot.
Hope it lasts !

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate that Jade Crow gets wiser and stronger with each story. Another good addition to the series; this book may have been the best yet.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

With an ending like that, I have to buy the next book!!!!!!

[Anniken Haga · Rating 3 out of 5]

REREAD 2019
Reading the whole series from the beginning in preparation for reading Magic to the Bone for the first time.

Listening to this book now, I feel like I've read it before.
Yes, I know I have, but not in the sense that I've read THIS book before, but another book rather like it. I can't remember which one, but the feeling wouldn't give out, which is kind of annoying.

Other than that, I also found the book felt a little messy. There's a lot of story-lines here that I do enjoy, but pushing them all together didn't quite work for me this time around.
To be honest, the problem may be that I'm listening to the whole series in one go, which I usually don't, so I start seeing patterns and such that I didn't notice before, but I'm not sure I want to take a break from the reread either.

New rating: 3/5 stars

------------------------------

Listened to this as an audiobook

Oh, things are going down!
And we got druids and nature magick. I love it!

Not much else to say about this that I haven't already said about the series.
Well written, short and fast listen's.
Also, as said, things are going down! I need the next book in the series NOW!

[Christine Jeffers busser · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it would have been longer! Nice addition to the plot and a good story. The ending was great and I can't wait for the next book.

I LOVE that the author did not rehash the old books. While I did have to recall some of what was going on when previous references were made, I much prefer this style to having the earlier books retold to me.

[Ron MacQuarrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every step more sure than the last

Annie seems more comfortable with Jade with each new story, and Jade is becoming one of the best characters in Fantasy. Excellent story. I can't wait for the next.

[Tia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things are Heating Up

Excellent follow-up to the series. Jade is in the thick of it again. She intelligently follows her intuition and sets wrongs right at a detriment to herself. Honorable, smart and fantastic characters.

[Bookmom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story and am enjoying the entire series. The combination of the different, shall we say specie types, as well as mythology, the characters and the situations make for a very fast-paced, interesting read. Wish the story had been longer.

[Richard Fish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

This is a great follow up in the series. This tale that's told is exciting and helps the reader get involved with the cast in the story making things that happen keep you going on until the end.

[Whitney Bunker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dragonball z reference! Firefly fan girl I love the nerdiness of this book!

[Ioan Camillus · Rating 5 out of 5]

KAMEHAMEHA!!! Hehehe Loved this book, love the series Can't wait for the next one....

[Delitealex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great installment in the twenty sided sorceress series. I loved the action. I also love the nerdy and video game references. My favorite characters are Jade and Harper.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a rocky start, The Twenty-Sided Sorceress series by Annie Bellet really starts to build up some positive momentum in this, the fourth book in the series. ‘Hunting Season’ sees the audience introduced to a wider range of supernatural beings whilst also showcasing the deepening feelings that Jade and Alek, our titular sorceress and her Justice shifter beau, have for each other. We also get the other ‘Scooby’s’ playing a more engaged role in the action whilst introducing some more characters that will spice things up in books to come. My only note is that I really wish these books were more than novella’s. There is so much going on and they always seem to go way too fast. ‘Hunting Season’ is around the length of book 3, ‘Pack of Lies’, for some context. Slightly under 200 pages and took me around 2 hours to read.

We start with Jade dealing with the witches attempt to have her leave Wylde after her run in with their leader, Peggy Olsen (possibly a shout out to the Mad Men character?), at the end of the last book. Peggy and the witches had given Jade 30 days to leave Wylde and are trying to make her life as uncomfortable as possible. Setting off the sprinklers in Jade’s comic book shop, infesting it with bugs etc. Jade is reluctant to strike back at them in fear that they will use her actions as proof that she is the evil sorceress they accuse her of being.

‘“Hello, Peggy,” I said to the head of the Wylde coven, putting a bit of frosty power into my tone so that my breath literally puffed with chill. I wasn’t above theatrics, even if I couldn’t turn her into a toad. Not yet, anyway, not before I heard her out. It would be impolite.’

After cleaning up the witch’s latest hex, Jade and Alek are interrupted by the local vet, and wolf shifter, Vivian demanding that they come with her to help. They arrive at Harper’s Mum’s B&B – The Henhouse – to find an injured and dying unicorn. Jade manages to tap into her magic enough to save the unicorn and we get a flash of how she met her first adoptive family and how closely she treasures her memories of them. On a side note that I was so happy Ms Bellet included unicorns in the world she is building through these stories – plus all the references to the moves ‘The Last Unicorn’ and ‘Legend’ were fantastic

‘My friends were all busy with unicorn fever, taking turns watching over the recovering stallion. There was a minor argument over the name to give him, but common sense had prevailed and we all agreed on Lir, after the prince who had loved the last unicorn.’

This starts the main plotline of ‘Hunting Season’. Who would or could harm the Unicorn and why? We get to see the outcome of the teasing last chapter of ‘Pack of Lies’ and the ever-increasing machinations of Jade’s ex-lover and mentor Samir. Through the first four book’s, Samir has been depicted as the big bad of the series, but from a safe distance. In ‘Hunting Season’ it feels like he is only a step away and that he is continuing to move closer to his end game.

I found the pacing of this book to be a lot more consistent than previous entries and found Jade moving from one event to the next with purpose and direction. Even if it was the direction of a bed after she exhausts herself with her sorcery. Jade also continues to grow as a character and actively participates in the events of the book. I never found her to come off as being arrogant or presumptive, but she continues to step up as the quasi-leader for the group. The relationship between her and Alek also continues to evolve, and after having major issues with them in book 2, ‘Murder of Crows’, I have found myself falling in love with them as a couple. They compliment each other and are much better at communicating to one another and respecting the other’s abilities. Jade’s ‘Scooby’ gang is also back in the action and whilst we don’t get loads of information on them given the length of the book, I still enjoyed the glimpses and snatches of information we do get. Fingers crossed that one of these days we can get some stories from their perspective.

‘Hunting Season’ continues the solid story telling of Book 3, ‘Pack of Lies’, whilst continuing to expand on the world building. We get to meet Unicorns, Druids, Vampires, Demons, to name just a few. Ms Bellet also continues to pack in a plethora of nerd culture into each book which is always a delight. If you enjoyed the other books in the series, you will love ‘Hunting Season’. If you haven’t read the series before I recommend starting at Book 3, ‘Pack of Lies’ as Book 1, ‘Justice Calling’ and Book 2, ‘Murder of Crows’ are not strong entries in my opinion. They are all short though so you can usually power through them if you don’t like to skip books. The series continues with Book 5 ‘Heartache’.

A very solid 4 out of 5 stars!

[Heather Rainwater-Alvarado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Annie Bellet has now established her new universe in the books in her series, and the potential still remains for this to become a great series. The main character is also learning from her mistakes, and growing in complexity and maturity so she no longer runs head first into danger while also endangering everyone around her. I applaud the maturity and direction that the books are finally taking. I still enjoy the humor and sarcasm that Bellet has established from the first sentence in book 1 and it does keep me reading. The glaring issues in the plot and continuity are greatly reduced by book four although the grammar and editing errors remain. Like other readers, I too wish that these books were a bit longer and not so rushed. I also enjoy Bellet's restraint in not recapping what has happened in previous books, although it does keep the books short. I still maintain there are many places where she could build on descriptions and situations to add to the content of the books. The book is unfortunately becoming predictable where the beginning starts normal, with someone showing up and begging for help. Actually that happens a few times in this book, making me wish Bellet could be a bit more inventive in her plot twists.

Thankfully Bellet builds on her universe in this series by adding new characters that are more easily developed than those she's introduced in the past, along with a few new supernaturals. We finally begin to read other situations and experiences from other sorcerers and sorceresses so that the main character is no longer alone. The ending does seem a bit rushed and is difficult to completely wrap your head around; although Bellet does a better job of the plot twists and planting doubt throughout the book on some of the new supporting characters enough to help you understand the tie-in at the end. I enjoyed where the main character comes up with a master plan to overcome all obstacles, but doesn't share it with the reader. There are vague references on what will happen, but she keeps the element of surprise for the reader to experience shortly. The final chapters are not as propelling into the next book as some of the previous books have been, but have more of a black cloud overhanging the readers heads that the final battle is soon to come between the main character and her ex-lover who has been established as the one who's out to kill her and overtake the world.