[Theory] Edens Zero – How Witch Can Return Using The Chronophage

One of the most fascinating and creative aspects of Edens Zero are the existence of Chronophages which presents a unique spin on the time-travel mechanic popular in science fiction stories. Rather than tethering space and time into one encapsulating concept where time overarches all space, the Chronophage distort that reality and detaches time from the overall space, restricting it to just the space in their proximity. What this allows for are time-travel instances that don’t drag the whole world setting along with its momentum. It introduces a more manageable mechanic existing outside time paradoxes that is just as fascinating as general time travel if not more. You can have two version of a character present in the same time or a planet saved from the corruption of insatiable greed by turning its present state into a past form. Additionally, another event that is theoretically possible using the nature of the Chronophage is having a fallen character return back into the story i.e. Witch.

Edens Zero Chapter 164 – Shiki VS Shura: Gravity’s Beginning

What we thought was the end of the gravity was but a layer masking the deeper depths that lay beyond. Gravity doesn’t just affect the world but ALL matter whether it holds form or not. Poseidon Nero discovered this truth much too late and as such not only had his life crushed but his Ether Gear drained by Ziggy’s gravity. Shura even learned about gravity’s potential right before his defeat. What Shura thought was merely a force to weight others down with was only a fraction of the face of possibility. Gravity, as a power, exist in a form much deeper than that. The weight of its force lies in the resolve driving its application. A foundation shaken within Shura by the doubts manifesting within his heart. It is also due to gravity that Ziggy managed to activate the antimatter bombs on Nero 66. What remains now is to see whether gravity can in turn also remedy this situation. How will Shiki and Rebecca use their combined powers to save everyone?

Edens Zero Chapter 163 – Shiki VS Shura: Resistance

Victory blinds one to the shadow of failure and desire eludes sight from the light of prudence yet desperation empowers recklessness with the weight of resolution. As Shiki and Ziggy are cornered in their respective battles, their loses become solidified in their opponents minds creating a blind spot for Shura and Nero. The weight of the convictions challenging them crash down on them like the reality they chose to ignore. What an absolutely spectacular chapter filled with thrills, twists and terrifying possibilities. Will Rebecca come into play or will the battle be decided in the current reality with the participants present? The resistance Shiki’s offers Shura suggest that Rebecca may not need to use her Cat Leaper abilities.

Edens Zero Chapter 162 – Ziggy VS Nero: Absolute Victory

How fascinating. So the Empire Dice Nero possesses is not his Ether Gear but a relic he obeys in order to escape the reality of defeat. Rather than purely using the Empire Dice according to his will, Nero instead follows the guidance provided by the Dice. Their relation is a transactional one with an equal cost balancing out the triumphant. Nero has continually chosen to pay the price in the face of that absolute victory. If the Dice possesses some form of sentience, did it have a reason for leading Nero to adopting Shura? And if so, does its awareness extend to the Shura’s intentions for Nero 1? How does the Empire Dice perceive the path to victory and where exactly did it come from?

Edens Zero Chapter 161 – Ziggy VS Nero: The Fall Of Jaguar

What exactly happened with Ziggy? What programming is compelling him on the path he is currently treading? The goals that once drove Ziggy have been almost rewritten or warped into his current schemes of a world of mechanical lifeforms. Were such desires always path of his system or where they updated into Ziggy by a mysterious force that has yet to reveal themselves? Whatever the case, Ziggy needs the Aoi Cosmos and intends to drop Nero into the void of endless darkness.

Edens Zero Chapter 160 – The Flicker Of Stars

Even with Shura’s forces dissembled, Nero still remains. And with the bulk of the Imperial Army military under his command, he exist as an active player within the conflict around Nero 66. Detached from any analysis, Nero preemptively took matters into his own hands and gambled on the fate he places within his dice. Such a roll dictated he dispatch one of the Temple weaponry to Nero 66, the Sea Serpent. A devastating weapon capable of mass destruction. The death of soldiers on all sides cascade on top of each other leaving but grief, terror and dread in its wake. Beyond the Sea Serpent, what else does Nero have lying in wait?

Edens Zero Chapter 159 – Laguna VS Ijuna: Destiny

A heart brought to the point of desperation where the desire for survival constructed the deception that was the affection Ijuna felt toward Shura. It was an escape from the agony washing over Ijuna day after day, cruelty after cruelty, torture after torture. A subconscious defensive mechanism activated alongside her Ether Gear and in the maelstrom of hopelessness and torment, a red string of ether driven by anguish connected Ijuna to Shura. The love binding Ijuna to Shura is but an illusion of emotions conjured by her despair and connection to Ether. What ultimately saved Ijuna were the tears of her heart longing for the bonds she was already connected by. Unbreakable bonds that tied Oasis together in the form of their desire for liberation. Laguna awakened Ijuna’s heart and released Ijuna from the bindings entrapping her allowing her to sever the red thread tying her to Shura. The destiny awaiting Ijuna isn’t Shura but the red destiny of Oasis.

Edens Zero Chapter 158 – Laguna VS Ijuna: Broken

I was not expecting such a dark take on the tragedy existing in Ijuna’s past. To think that what led Ijuna to commit her servitude to the Imperial Empire was not her desire to gain vengeance on Shura but rather the fragility of the human mind being brought to the point of hopelessness and despondency. In the state of perpetual torture, her psyche broke and began being shaped by the twisted narrative of despair. In the pit of darkness, Shura became her light and guided by the desire to end her suffering, her mind warped her perception to conjure illusions of affection. The nature of her pure soul became dyed by such anguish and served to fetter her mind from recalling a reality outside such torment. Ijuna was psychologically broken down and brainwashed by Shura into championing the corrupt and inhumane actions of himself and the Imperial Empire he seeks to shape.

Edens Zero Chapter 147 – Oceans 6: Lyra And Nasseh

More members of the Oceans 6 begin to move targeting the Edens Zero team that they are aware of whom have snuck inside the Nero 66 facility. As first impressions go about the personality of Lyra and Nasseh, I can’t help but notice the hubris emanating from their dialogue and composure. Elevated they are by their own power that the prospect of a challenge has ceased to exist as a possibility within their minds. The Oceans 6 shown within this chapter carry themselves as the next step of Aoi Cosmos warriors. Powerful they may be but contained within a regulated bubble they have existed, at least in terms of their time within the Imperial Army. The universe is vast with impossibility only a word.

Edens Zero Chapter 146 – Homura And Milani

I had suspected that Milani was more a victim of her surrounding norms than a willful participant who instinctively despised androids but I did not expect that Milani all along cherished androids and only followed Shura out of fear. If Milani has been cornered emotionally and mentally to such an extent, how many other members of the Nero Empire are in a similar situation where even though they know what they are doing is wrong, they can’t help but conform to the status quo lest they risk the wrath and madness of Shura. If the hatred for androids isn’t a universal feeling across the Aoi Cosmos, then defeating Shura and removing Nero’s control over the cosmos can very well help in bringing living beings (mainly humanity) and androids back together. Shura may hate androids but there are those within the Aoi Cosmos that still shed tears for the lives of androids. Will Milani team up with Homura to help stop the All-Link system from activating? And will she also assist in providing information about Ijuna to the Edens team and recovering Witch?