YMMV / A Conspiracy of Serpents

• Awesome Moments:
  • The Battle of Japan as a whole, one of the highest stake fights in the entire series up to this point with a ton of glories for both hero and villain.
  • Satannus earns her credentials as the Queen of Wrath and as Neverkind in her Dying Moment of Awesome with Apophis. Even with a metric ton of Apophis' venom killing her from the inside out, Satannus doesn't slow down and thrashes Apophis before she finally gives away, only a few inches from slaying Apophis herself. Her name is spoken eternally afterward as the one who "stood alone against the serpent".
  • How do Grete and Kasumi manage to defeat Yamada, a human who gained phenomenal power by killing countless serpents? By kicking him into the coils of Yig, the father of serpents, a very angry and vengeful father. It's both a karmic and cathartic end to one the most detestable villains in the story.
  • The final battle between Hardestadt and Apophis itself, where both parties put utterly everything they have into one last desperate stand for both parties, ending with Apophis struck down at last—with the face of Satannus one of the last things he sees, holding the blade with Hardestadt that kill him. For extra karmic goodness, the final hesitation of Apophis' is when the pain Satannus dealt him earlier flares up and makes him flinch.
• Catharsis Factor: Apophis' death ends up being oddly tragic in the long scheme of things, but the end of dragon Yamada makes up for it, with Yamada's smug maliciousness broken when Grete and Kasumi team up and kick him to the coils of a very angry Yig, even cutting off his arm in much the same way Yamada had done to Susanoo not long before.
• Complete Monster: Yamada, aka the Yamata no Orochi/Orochimaru himself, is a sadistic serpentine scientist working for Apophis. Once a mortal sage, Yamada made a deal with the Great Old One Serpent Father Yig to become a destructive serpent Yōkai. Supposedly defeated by Susanoo, Yamada survived thanks to the power of Yig, and was later taken in by Apophis because of his cruel reputation. Working with Apophis to replace the afterlife with being eaten by Apophis, Yamada hopes to have the entire Teraverse serve as his own personal laboratory, hoping to experiment on countless humans and Fae. To feed Apophis, he infects countless planets with venom and offers the inhabitants a false cure that causes them to go crazy and kill everyone, with Yamada feeding their souls to Apophis, and using others to create agonized warriors who serve his every command. Seeking more power, Yamada has Yig captured and painfully experimented on as he extracts his power into Apophis, while also using his energies to create the drug Cobra, which Yamada hands it to countless humans who end up poisoned, their souls easier to extract. Tasked by Apophis to feed him the souls of gods, Yamada has countless sun gods captured and tortured to death in order to create more Cobra. Yamada later has serpent Jormungandr cause natural disasters to sell Cobra as an aid, reveals to Kaliya that he killed his wife and son before ripping his heart out; kills Susanoo with his bare hands; poisons millions while attempting to turn the world into ash; and attempts to destroy Valhalla and Hell itself before his death.
• Funny Moments:
  • Hardestadt's failed escapades in stealth continue, and he's clearly had enough of it:
  One day! I will sneak into somewhere successfully without being noticed! One day!
  • A strange, not-at-all familiar bearded man appears near the end of chapter ten, and the serpent Glycon happily singles him out as "my one true follower!" Grete's confusion seals the deal.
• Heartwarming Moments: A Conspiracy of Serpents, more explicitly than any of the previous stories, emphasizes the bond of family and how strong it grows, especially in adversity:
  • The growing bond (and eventual romance) between Grete and the kitsune Kasumi is nothing short of adorable as the story progresses. They eventually settle down as a full item.
  • The familial bond between those in Hell is no less heartwarming. All of the demons and devils are severely, severely flawed people, but they overcome these flaws together and are made all the better people for it, which is especially poignant when the devils have the aftermath of a completely pointless war hanging over their heads from the distant past.
  • Grete Ravenhollow sees her long-departed mother Thorunn among the ranks of Valhalla, looking at her with all the pride a mother and a warrior could have.
• Magnificent Bastard: Apophis is the king of all serpents and a manipulative mastermind who has turned almost all of serpentkind to his agenda through charm, blackmail and bribery alike. Creating his "conspiracy" over the course of centuries under the noses of Heaven and Hell alike, Apophis amps his own power up by tricking entire planets into ingesting his venom and devouring their souls, all to prepare himself to devour his old friend Ra. When his plans are revealed, Apophis massacres angels and devils by luring them into traps, lays siege to Hell to distract its forces, and personally infects Hardestadt Delac with a lethal poison, before successfully consuming Ra. In awe of the Teraverse's beauty yet disillusioned with its corruptions, Apophis plans to reconcile this with his nature as a predator by replacing the afterlife with himself, preserving the Teraverse and promoting peace, yet devouring the souls of all who die and sending them into true oblivion, and very nearly succeeds. Apophis spends his final moments in regret for his many crimes, having one last conversation with Ra and embracing him as they face death together.
• Moral Event Horizon: Yamada is already the nastiest member of Apophis' inner circle of serpents, but he casually crosses it when he reveals to his "comrade" Kaliya that he butchered his family not an hour after Apophis had taken them hostage for leverage, out of spite and petty boredom.
• One-Scene Wonder: The mysterious "Mr. Z," seemingly the next major Big Bad, appears only once in the epilogue to deliver his verdict on Gregory Haines, but the enigma of his goals and his seeming awareness of everything that's happened up to this point make the seem memorably mysterious.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Sudden as it is, Susanoo's death hits hard. He doesn't even get enough time to finish his final request asking Hardestadt and his companions to take care of his sister.
  • The death of Uriel. One of the kindest and most compassionate angels in existence sacrifices his life to help stop Apophis, with his resultant death mourned by Heaven and Hell alike.
  • The biggest ends up being the death of Satannus, one of the Seven Sins and Hardestadt's old mentor, who perishes after her fight with Apophis noting that "my wrath... it's all gone." It's not enough that she dies in his arms—Hardestadt has to deliver the finishing blow himself to keep her soul from going to Apophis.
  • Strangely enough, even the final fate of Apophis and Ra ends up being this; Apophis realizes his entire pursuit of a meaningful existence was utterly pointless, and fades away accepting death with his brother with the comprehension of one more emotion: sorrow.
  • The first and final glimpse Grete sees of her mother Thorunn on the edge of Valhalla, seeing her saluting her proudly with all the pride a mother could have. Grete's reminiscence in the epilogue especially drives in the bittersweetness of her loss.