...and it's done.

This was actually promised to Eagle-san way back last year, at the end of August/start of September. Between then and now, a lot of things happened, and I think even she forgot about it _/=/o;;

Image shrunk under the cut, it's a present so there's no signature. For your own safety (?) and to avoid distress (that would...be mostly mine), please do not try dangerous things such as zooming in too much. Selectively ignoring the bad coloring is recommended.

Lyrics from the abingdon boys school single HOWLING. Based on the fanfic Ode To Darkness and other related work by Eagle8819 (eagle8819)

"The word Schism (IPA: /ˈsɪzəm/ or /ˈskɪzəm/), from the Greek σχίσμα, skhísma (from σχίζω, skhízō, "to tear, to split"), means a split or a division, usually in an organization or a movement. A schismatic is a person who creates or incites schism in an organization or who is a member of a splinter group. The word is most frequently and usefully used about a religious division that occur with a religious body with a defined organisation and hierarchy...More generally, especially outside of religion the word schism may refer to the separation/split between two or more people, be it brothers, friends, lovers, etc. or any division of a formerly united from the state movement in politics or any other field into two or more disagreeing groups." -Wikipedia



Taking aside 4-5 months for exams, overseas trips, and stuff like that, this piece still took nearly a year to complete. The first draft was actually completed in pencil somewhere within the same week this was promised, but was thrown out later...sometime this year, if memory serves.

Here's a sketchy recollection of what took place:

More tools and skill improvisation
ikka started out with very few relevant skills and using chiefly only PhotoStudio for just about everything. After reading up on and using the techniques from various GIMP tutorials, there was much (or at least quite a bit) of leveling up. lol...I was impressed with how some people did things faster, more efficiently, or just a lot cooler. And the thing was, they were nice enough to let others (ie. myself) learn how to do it like them. It was very useful as a learning experience.

Last/this? month, I chanced upon a drawing tablet while in China. IT WAS A BARGAIN, EXCEPT I DID NOT NEED TO BARGAIN. Hahah. After checking it out online, ikka saw this ad by a local retailer that was selling it at roughly the equivalent price - during a promotion period. x))) Could have sworn I told the lady I wanted the larger model, though...|||OTZ It was very useful...some parts of the lineart were added through tablet, see if you can find them. And it came with more drawing programs (yay)...those were used in conjunction with the 2 abovementioned.

Settings, scenario and other funky business like that
The first draft had Fate in her StrikerS barrier jacket, with the old mantle (because only Nanoha-san can make white look like such a terrifying color. Truefax). For the lineart that was eventually used, a lot more...uh..."customization" can be seen: A's-era Sonic Form, the old cape (different color, but actually just the grayscale counterpart), as well as the Riot Blade.

This was in part due to my interpretation of Eagle-san's settings. Some numbers: the StrikerS-era look was from at least as early as when they were 15, but not until after 1 year or so from the start of the Book of Darkness incident (between June and the end of December, the same year as season 1 - given how long Fate's trial took, the Wolkenritter were probably on trial for half a year or so). Given how the protagonists were...on a different path from the TSAB during the fic's time period, it was not impossible for Fate to have reached the new stage of Sonic Form. Yet, using the StrikerS barrier jacket could be a liability as it would draw attention...at least, I've always thought it was too generically uniform-like.

New knowledge (?)
ikka once read how a bride threw a tantrum after having to decide from over 200 shades of white for her wedding dress. Coloring this image made me understand why...I never knew it was possible to use so many shades of black/gray in one picture...!

I hope I didn't miss out anything important...