Honestly this chapter feels incredibly out of place. Except for Rae, the top five seem like personalities that would have long been purged from the Organization. Having claymores that are willing to kill humans would endanger the senses of the council. Those pricks were always in belief of protection for themselves which is why they ingrained each claymore with the 'don't kill humans' rule. So having the 4 recognized as the most powerful be willing to do that just seems like completely wrong towards the goals of the Organization. Even in the manga of being totally for using Alicia and Beth in their awakened forms, they were never shown to kill humans. The only claymore ever shown to actually kill humans was Theresa, and she was very justified in those murders as they were done in the protection of Clare. Ophelia was implied to have a willingness to use humans as bait for awakens but it was never actually shown to result in the death of a human. It is a principle of the world that it just DOESN'T happen. I plan to keep reading for now, but honestly these sorts of things are slowly turning me away from this story. The attitudes of the Black Card Brigade was also a point that seems entirely out of place within this universe. They would have known about Sanctuary and while you could have played the, 'oh the humans must be brainwashed' thought for them you just didn't and had them appear ignorant of how Sanctuary was. It really just made the BCB look more and more incompetent rather than interesting and containing contrasting philosophies.

Glad you’re still writing this. I hope you find the strength to carry through with the story and work through your troubles.

I really wish you had more recognition for your story and it's alternate take on the original Claymore story. I like your characters as well. Keep up your hard work.

I would say the story has pretty much found its own way here, instead of mirroring elements from the original story.

I would ask the question here if Mael being hanged has simply to do with his "grave-robbing" for a good cause... or also about his knowledge of the guard completely failing to stop a Yoma from getting into the city and then letting him kill a large number of people, without even admitting it.

Phew! Finally up to date. Although I admit, I'm dreading the idea of waitung for updates.

And why oh why did everybody pick Deborah's ability? Ugh I really wish it was another...particularly for a happier result! I am still hoping Victoria will come back again. And I hope Gloria returns too.

And Arwen and Noble's castle! I wish they had left on a happier note.

And Grace...she has definitely entered into the annoying and unlikeable territory. Before it was understandable not wanting anybody to see her stigmata, and her anxiety and stress made sense but wasn't all consuming...

But now it's gotten to the point of ridiculousness. She's keeping so many secrets from her so called comrades that I get the feeling she just sees them as burdens to take care of. She isn't trusting anybody, she is stewing in her own misery, and pretty much the only emotion she displays is anger and hate. In moderation this is fine, but right now? I just can't stand her. And maybe that's because I prefer happy stories, but I really think you need to resolve this drama fast and add some more comedy relief and/or happy moments.

And Faith isn't helping matters. Why in the world would she think leaving Grace to think things through herself would solve matters? Maybe she never experienced depression and stuff like that, but thinking things through is only good for a day or so! She should be confronting Grace and giving a blatant show of support! As it is Grace feels she is all alone, like everybody else who undergoes stuff like this. Faith really needs to go in, throw a few punches, and get Grace to stand tall again.

Ugh, I had to get that out there. But there is too much moping going on in my opinion.

Aside from that, I find Constance a bit annoying and I am uninterested in her. Deborah is okay, but her personality seems to flip a lot...and she seems dramatically different from our first introduction of her. Kind of flat honestly.

I'm curious what happened with Alice's suit...can it not form arms/tentacles any more?

Also hoping Grace belives and eventually accepts the Organization's true colors soon. It'll be tough for her, but perhaps a bit more interesting when she stands against it? I could see her rationalizating it as the Claymore's being the symbol of heros, and the organization the true villains, perhaps even starting her own Organization at some point.

And oh man, when Grace and Rae meet again...and when Grace discovers that Rae planned the destruction of the members of Sanctuary and plans on treating 'colored heads' as disposable soldiers...there will be hell to pay.

Well, I'm really looking forward to more and hopefully a resolution to some of this drama. I've really enjoyed the world you created, regardless if it was based on the world of canon. Thanks for writing everything so far!

"Its more likely that they will have to resort to prostitution to survive here. "

Okay, yeah. I certainly do not like Blanc now. From the start he reminded me of a male Mary Sue self insert. Self-righteous, incredible power and confidence (bordering on downright arrogance), and believes he has all of the answers. He only got worse as time went on.

In particular, I had heavy suspicions that he was manipulating Iris for his own use. For example, he should have been able to save Iris' friends, but he didn't. That leads me to believe he wanted Iris in particular. His theft from the mayor confirmed that he was manipulating Iris, but with this sentence here...I have to either assume he is manipulating her in other ways (i.e. clouding her mind or forcing her to feel like she can trust him), or you made a mistake.

Simply put: Claymore's would never be prostitutes without a specific purpose in mind, even without the organization, yoma, and awakened beings. Even ignoring their stigmata making prostitution impossible outside of the most depraved of humanity (and even then, it wouldn't be for sexual pleasure), a Claymore would never reach that point. Maybe if there was a number 1 or an awakened being forcing them to be prostitutes (as no human would be able to enforce it for long, if at all), but otherwise? Claymores don't need much food and they can survive in the elements extremely easily. Living alone outside of civilization would be extremely easy, as canon showed us with Irene (who only had one arm). And while human society would take a while to grow accustomed to Claymore's without yoma, they eventually would as in the case with the mixed human and awakened being society you mentioned in the last few chapters (except this time, Claymore's don't eat humans). Also like you mentioned, the bandit population would grow, so having Claymores to defend cities would be extremely valuable to any militia.

But lets say Claymore's do end up becoming prostitutes out of necessity (as nobody, aside from the EXTREMELY select few in the developed world that get payed a ton with a lot of protection, will enter prostitution willingly). Perhaps for some reason they can't survive in the wilderness or elsewhere (an alternative many prostitutes don't have) and we ignore the stigmata. Now we have Claymore's in the most psychologically damaging 'professions' out there that does not involve fighting on the front lines. Except now with far less control over their situation, albeit at less risk of death. Eventually they will awaken, and the knowledge of this will spread. Nobody would sleep with a Claymore after that. So even prostitution will become inpossible after a time.

So really, the idea of claymore prostitutes (male or female) is ridiculous. The fact that Iris didn't speak up about this...the fact that Iris is so extremely devoted to Blanc that she essentially never questions him...and most blatantly, the spontaneous attraction she feels for him (which has been irritating so far, and kind of has parallels to how Grace views Blanc)...all of that makes it clear that Iris isn't in her right state of mind. Maybe you intended this from the start, or maybe you just had a different interpretation while writing. But either way, I really do not like Blanc. In my opinion he is basically Aizen from Bleach. And I can't wait for Grace or somebody to kill him.

Speaking of Grace...I have no idea why she isn't blaming Alice. She wanted to protect the society and the black cards, if not free them. Alice caused the destabilization of the area, and more importantly, Alice brought them all into the situation to begin with. Ultimately Grace did what she thought was best, and could not have foreseen Alice damaging the place so badly - and even if she did, there is nothing she could have done to stop Alice, as Alice wouldn't have cared about their lives. And if not Alice, then the blame can be on the mysterious party the black cards were sent to investigate and what not. Not just is it far more likely 28 caused the damage, but also the fact they never would have investigated despite her. Regardless, they were aware of the destabilization and should have been prepared to accept the risks. The idea that it was Grace's fault is ridiculous. Likewise the idea that Grace couldn't blame Alice or another - they would work fine as scapegoats. I really hope Faith knocks some sense into Grace.

Now, if it was Feran (the awakened being Grace rescued) that killed those warriors...THAT I could see Grace blaming herself for.

Anyways, I know this review was long but I just had to comment/rant/criticize. The prostitution bit in particular annoyed me for personal reasons. But when it comes down to it, I am really enjoying this story. Your further explorations into the world of Claymore is really fun to read. And while there are many similarities to Bleach that kind of annoy me, they are different enough that I also really enjoy it (no surprise, as I loved Bleach's concept of inner hollows and hollows that assisted the MC and/or weren't pure evil).

One question though. This story has a few heterosexual implications in it, i.e. Iris, but otherwise it's mostly gen. And I am more than fine with gen stories, sometimes I even prefer it. But stories that are hetero just don't interest me as much - there are very few that I enjoyed, and they were in general exceptional stories. Instead I prefer slash and femslash. That probably makes me biased, but it's what I am interested in. Probably because of my sexual orientation myself. But while reading I've also seen a few - very subtle - gay themes in it. For example, Grace and Miri or Grace and Faith. Was this intentional or am I misinterpreting it? I'm sure there will be no actual relationships - and I'm more than fine with that - but I still want to know. It would certainly be easier to identify with Grace if she was bisexual or a lesbian. And if you never thought about it and/or have no plans of bringing it up...would you be fine if it was my headcanon? That is, could you see Grace being at least a little gay? (And just in case, I never interpreted Grace's bias against men as a sign of her being gay - I would never assume somebody is gay because they hate men, or vice versa. It was other stuff that gave me the impression of gay themes).

And if not Grace, are there any others? Because I would really like to know even if it is never brought up, like how JK Rowling never brought up that Dumbledore was gay because it wasn't relevant to the story.

Anyways, again, I would like to reiterate how much I am enjoying this story. The characters are great and I love the extra depth put into awakened beings. The fact that you have so many well written characters is great as well. The plot is amazing, even if there may or may not be unintentional plot holes, and it keeps me wanting more. I admit the perspective changes piss me off sometimes, like in anime fights that always switch between the different fights going on, and there and cliffhangers for some perspectives that makes me want to just skip a few chapters, but I also admit I like reading from these perspectives a lot too (although Blanc and Iris' perspective is my least favorite). The expanded lore is also a delight to read, and overall I just love the world you created. I can't wait to read the next 50 some chapters, and I dread the time when I do - it'll probably be hell waiting for new chapters.

So your story is basically an alternate future were Miriam and the other's rebellion against the organization failed.

Somebody's a fan of aberserk. At first I thought it was a cute easter egg which I don't mind. Claymore definately shares it's similarities to Berserk. However the depth you gave the conversation about the sword and Grace's familiarity to it, leads me to believe that sword will return.

I'm glad to see your back, this last week your return had been plaguing me cause I have a lot of free time and check the claymore section daily and I kept waiting to see this at the top. Anyways, I hope that Million and something words that are come back even better but for the meanwhile, I will re-read from zero cause I don't remember that much anymore. Farewell and stay sharp, Nano.

Hey, I've been reading your fic for years now, though I've never reviewed despite sometimes thinking maybe I should've. Maybe I never could muster the confidence to criticize or say anything, unlike you, who has poured over a million words, which is quite the feat. I remember when this fic was much smaller, and I remember being amazed how you'd update with really quite long chapters every couple days at times. That got me through some tough times of my own, knowing that every few days there'd be another chapter to get through. I know that I got initially hooked because I was intrigued by the backstory of Faith, and I wanted to see if my predictions about her would be true. Piecing that together from those first chapters was a joy. I look forward to one day seeing how this epic all ends. I hope this isn't the last chapter. But if it is, then I must say thank you, and apologize for not reviewing earlier. I don't know if that might've helped; I don't want to presume or condescend that a few words of gratitude from some internet nobody would help you in any way. But if it does help in the smallest of degrees, I wouldn't want to regret staying silent. Your health comes first, so you shouldn't apologize. Don't break your back climbing the wall for us. I'd rather you not write if it causes you distress. This endeavor should be for you above all. What you've given us so far is so much.

Once again, thank you.

Don't worry about it. Your psychological health is way more important. Take care of yourself and come back after a good restful R&R. Thank you.

-Observer

interesting chapter with an interesting development regarding Lizz. curious on where you will go with this. even more so when they eventually meet up with Grace.

the dialogue between Omen and Grace was so deep. Talk about a reality check

this is actually the first story I ever read online
ahh the nostalgia
back then it was only like, 6 chapters long
I followed it loyally
guess who's gonna spend the next few days binge-reading

This chapter was dam good. your writing is spectacular! Seeing the culmination of omen going on a rampage. I love it!