The DanMachi franchise has had no shortage of dramatic scenes and epic battles throughout its run, but this volume may contain its most potent effort to date. As the back end of the series' first true two-part story arc, it delivers a crisis beyond anything that has shaken the series before. This time it isn't just Bell and his Familia who are in danger, but the stability of all Orario as well. While the end of the volume doesn't ultimately force the radical turning point that last volume seemed to be aiming for, it's nonetheless a big turning point for Bell, as it will alter his relationship with certain other characters and should spawn consequences that form the foundation for whatever comes next.

As promised in the Afterword for last volume, many prominent players from previous volumes come back to have major roles here. Setting the featured Xenos aside, Dix is back as the main villain, although his background and motives are massive twists; they expand on an aspect of the setting that has been alluded to since at least volume 2 but has never been explored in detail before now. Aisha and Asfi also return, and Lyu would seem to be the fallen adventurer that Fujino Ōmori was referring to in the Afterword. Though they don't get directly involved until late in the volume, the core membership of Loki Familia also makes a prominent enough appearance that they actually get one of the featured battle scenes.

The high-level fight against the Xenos's ace is far from the only highlight of the volume. It also answers a mystery that has been percolating for some time now: is there an alternate path in and out of the Dungeon beyond the entrance at Babel? The resulting answer is far less surprising than how it came to be. I also liked how some other random loose ends, such as the Barbarian Bell encounter back in volume 8 or those hidden passages from volume 7, are tied into this story, as is Lyu's background by implication. Uniting these possibilities is another significant expansion of the setting. Delving into the nature of how curses work is an additional expansion. The suggestion that Freya's ace, Ottar, might be familiar with the Xenos's ace is intriguing, as is a vague implication that the appearance of the Xenos might be connected to an event in the setting's pre-Bell timeline, but sadly, these points don't get expanded on yet.

That's all right, because there's plenty going on in these 299 pages to keep readers occupied. No less than four major battles play out (more if you split the big ones into phases), Bell gets caught in another philosophical bind as he faces down one villain, and in the volume's most dramatic moment, he must decide whether or not to take a stand against people who've been at least loosely allied with him to this point. I am eager to see how deep the repercussions of his decision go, since his choice can be seen as simultaneously right and wrong. It definitely elevates Bell to being a major player in the city's intrigues rather than just someone whose activities play out below the highest level, even if they do occasionally draw broader interest.

The technical side of the production is the same as always: same writing quirks for Omori, though on the whole the writing quality is a little better than normal. Yen Press also offers a similar physical presentation, with a double-sided quad-fold color page, various black-and-white art pages, a character profile summary at the beginning, and an update profile of Bell and one critical equipment item at the end. Not much of consequence is revealed in the Afterword.

While there's no big foreshadowing for the next volume this time, the series is going as strong as ever.