One Last Chance, One Last Loss
Mayura launches her assault, riding a giant mecha-based sentimonster and attacking the Agreste mansion. Fortunately, neither Marinette or her parents are currently there; she was out with her friends, while her parents were busy catering. As Team Miraculous transforms and prepares to rush to the scene, they see on the news that Chat Noir is already there, trying to tackle the massive monster by himself. They try contacting him, to no avail; he's still not interested in listening to others.
Adrien's fighting for a cause he believes in now: himself. Eager to prove that he's worthy of getting paid for his protection, he figures out how to bring the giant mecha down, Cataclysming the ground beneath one of its massive feet, then baiting its own missiles into blowing up its head. Mayura emerges, and as they fight, realizes just who it is that she's dealing with beneath the mask.
She trips, and he rips the Peacock Pin off her chest, only to find himself faced with none other than Nathalie Sancoeur. She tells him that there was something inside the mansion she couldn't leave behind, and claims that she can't walk, prompting him to offer her his hand...
—enabling her to rip the Ring right off his finger. Forcing Duusu to eat, she uses both the Peacock and the Cat to transform, thanking Adrien for showing her the weakness of her first sentimonster and inspiring her to adjust her plans accordingly.
Team Miraculous does their best to fend off her army, but it becomes clear that they need backup. So Marinette calls in Juleka and Rose, entrusting them with the Tiger and Pig for the ultimate trial by fire, making it to the mansion to discover that Mayura has broken Viperion's wrist, cutting off any use of Second Chance. With Kitsune and Miss Sting's aid, Rose manages to use her Gift on Mayura, revealing what she's after: Emilie Agreste.
Mayura attempts to Cataclysm Ladybug, but is brought down, enabling her to cleanse her final feathers and use Miraculous Cure. Searching the mansion, they find the hidden passage down to where Emilie's comatose body was hidden away. Adrien immediately tries to claim that this justifies everything his father did, but Marinette shuts that argument down. Furious that she's not doing what he wants, Adrien rants about how he doesn't need her. Everyone saw him fighting Mayura, and they saw him get unmasked. Now they know he's a real hero, and he'll get back everything he deserves.
Then he demands his Ring back. Marinette refuses, and easily counters his clumsy attack. Heading out into the public eye, she announces Mayura's defeat, and that the city is safe at last. All of the heroes detransform, revealing themselves — including Miss Sting, as Chloé has finally earned the right to stand proudly among her friends.
Adrien, meanwhile, finds himself getting attention as well... but not the kind he expected. The footage he was counting upon to prove that he was a hero captured the moment where he helped Mayura up... and how she took the Ring. Only to an untrained eye, it looks suspiciously like he gave it to her. As it sinks in for him that his final gambit has backfired, Marinette can't help feeling some pity for her former crush.
But as she told him before, it was never her job to save him from himself.
This chapter contains examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: Chat Noir manages to bring down Mayura's first giant mecha by Cataclysming the ground beneath one of its feet. She counterbalances that with her next sentimonster, using a tank model instead.
- Big "YES!": Chat Noir lets one out when the mecha sentimonster falls.
- Convicted by Public Opinion: Thanks to the suspicions already surrounding Adrien, the footage of him offering Mayura a hand up is interpreted as him willingly offering her his Ring after discovering her identity.
- Dragon Their Feet: Mayura finally puts her plans into action.
- Earn Your Happy Ending:
- After everything she endured at the hands of Hawkmoth, Lila, and her false and Fair-Weather Friends, Marinette has finally succeeded in putting a decisive end to all of the terrorists' plans, recovering the Butterfly Brooch and Peacock Pin with the help of her True Companions.
- Chloé's efforts to redeem herself also pay off in full, as she's allowed to reveal her Secret Identity and stand proudly with the rest of Team Miraculous.
- The Farmer and the Viper: Despite discovering that Nathalie was Mayura all along, Adrien still offers her a hand up, inadvertently giving her the opportunity to steal the Ring.
- Fatal Flaw: Adrien won't stop putting trust in people he should already know are untrustworthy from how they've treated others because he thinks he's immune to the risks and because he personally cares about being proven right more than he cares about the potential harm to others. Trusting Lila despite everything to prove a point to Marinette took his fortune, his home, and his civilian reputation, and trusting Nathalie to prove a point to Paris takes what's left of his comforts.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Upon learning what his father's true motivation was, Adrien tries painting him as a Well-Intentioned Extremist, only for Marinette to remind him that he killed people, terrorized the world and nearly caused several massive disasters.
- Game-Breaking Injury: Mayura breaks Viperion's wrist in order to prevent him from using Second Chance.
- Godzilla Threshold: Marinette taps Juleka and Rose as Miraculi users because they need all the firepower they can get against Mayura's army.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Averted; Ladybug fears that Viperion's throwing himself between her and Mayura in much the same way Chat Noir used to senselessly sacrifice himself while expecting to be brought back by her Lucky Charm. However, Luka goes lower and aims for Mayura's legs, tripping her up.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Adrien's attempt to 'prove himself' by taking down Mayura solo costs him his Secret Identity, the Cat Ring, and what remained of both his and Chat Noir's reputations.
- Hope Spot: For Adrien, the moment where he manages to take down Mayura's giant mecha sentimonster and fight her to a standstill. Just when he thinks that he's set his life back on track, Nathalie exploits his trust in her and steals the Ring right off his finger.
- Internal Reveal:
- Adrien and Nathalie are unmasked as Chat Noir and Mayura, respectively.
- All of Team Miraculous reveal their secret identities to the public, including Chloé, Juleka and Rose.
- Never My Fault: Adrien continues to insist that he's just a victim of happenstance and doesn't deserve anything that's happened to him.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Chat Noir's decision to fight Mayura on his own gives her the chance to steal the Ring. She also takes the opportunity to adjust around the Achilles' Heel he exposed to her.
- Not Helping Your Case: Adrien continues to act spoiled and entitled, demanding Marinette help him save his father from facing justice before viciously ranting about how he doesn't need her and is going to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He then demands his Ring back, and has the audacity to be shocked when she turns him down, even trying to attack her.
- Not What It Looks Like: The footage captured by the news shows Chat Noir defeating Mayura, standing over her, and offering his hand, followed by her taking the Ring. While she stole it from him, this is interpreted by many as him intentionally giving her the Ring. Especially since he's revealed as Adrien Agreste, Hawkmoth's son, while she was Gabriel's secretary.
- One Last Job: Adrien tries to take down Mayura himself in order to secure a better future for himself. It doesn't go as planned.
- Plot Parallel:
- Marinette unmasked Hawkmoth by grabbing the Brooch at the same time he took the Earrings from her. Here, the situation is reversed — Chat Noir has the upper hand and retrieves the Pin, only to lose the Ring in a moment of carelessness, too cocksure about his apparent victory.
- Once again, Adrien trusts somebody he shouldn't out of the belief that he already knows them and everything that they're capable of, failing to see Nathalie as a potential threat the same way he dismissed Lila until it was too late.
- Marinette is so used to Adrien's Senseless Sacrifices as Chat Noir that when she sees Luka throwing himself into Mayura's path, she's terrified that she's about to witness yet another horrifying self-sacrifice. But Luka proves to be more strategically minded than her old partner.
- Rage Breaking Point: When Marinette rejects his stubborn insistence that they need to show his father mercy, Adrien bitterly rants about how he doesn't need her help, then demands she give him the Ring back. She refuses, and he lunges at her, only to be quickly put down.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Marinette calls out Adrien's irresponsibility, skipping the Final Battle and only going after Mayura in hopes of repairing his reputation, without any plans, strategy or backup.
- Saying Too Much: Chat Noir tells Mayura that she shouldn't have come to his house, causing her to realize his secret identity.
- Tempting Fate: After Marinette rejects his continued insistence that she help him defend his father, Adrien rants about how he doesn't need her help, since the media witnessed him taking down Mayura all by himself, and he can use his clout as Chat Noir for leverage. Not only is this deeply ironic given how the public has interpreted what happened with Mayura, he goes off about this before demanding 'his' Ring back.
- Wrong Genre Savvy:
- Adrien bet everything he had left on the notion that if he could beat Mayura by himself, it would fix the damage he'd already done to Chat Noir's reputation and make him just as adored as the other heroes. He failed to take his past experiences with Not What It Looks Like into consideration.
- He also gives Nathalie the benefit of the doubt despite being burned and betrayed by Lila before.
