Just like that, two chapters in and we get answers to some really big questions!

Lucius Zogratis’s World Peace

With this being the last arc and most likely the last villain or the lead into the last villain, we were all left wondering what Lucius Zogratis’s motives are. It turns out his world view and ideals on peace is some type of equality where “everyone is equal in all aspects.” He’s going to “destroy all humans” and “recreate them, where all humans all equal in all aspects.” Then, he’s going to “rule above them all as Wizard King,” in order to maintain this order.

For some reason, everyone’s idea of equality always stems from some communistic ideal. “Equality” is such a triggering word for the audience because it has real world ramifications, where millions of people died over “equality.” Good bad guys always have legitimate “good guy ideals.” Equality is ambiguous and will always be a word that sounds good. In reality, “equality” can come from warped perspectives and can be derived from sinister context.

For example, Lucius points out that Asta lives “outside the confines of possessing magic. “Furthermore, he has an ability that no one else has and that’s his “anti-magic.” Asta’s existence defies Lucius’s theory of equality.

Another example of one of my favorite “good bad guys” is Shinobu Sensui from Yu Yu Hakusho. Seeing humanity’s cruelty inflicted on the demons in the worst of the worst. This led to the whole “Chapter Black Arc” to let all the demons enter the human world because of you know, “equality.”

Like communism in its heyday, equality of outcome through ultimate control is just not the utopia that these characters actually think it will be. Same for the real world. Asta is the perfect hero to symbolize against the fight against this dystopian reality of “equality.” This clashing dynamic between “freedom vs control” and defining what “equality” really means for the characters is a perfect battle of ideals to end the arc.

Two Souls, One Body

Right off the bat, the first page explains that Lucius and Julius shares 2 souls in one body. In their search for world peace, they made a contract with the time magic devil called “Astaroth.” We do not have the details regarding how this works, but Black Clover has done this with William Vangeance and Patolli existing in one body. There is still a ton of context that needs to be filled in, but it seems like sparks will fly first as Lucius shares his intentions to eliminate Asta to create his ideal world.

What Does it Mean for Julius?

If Julius and Lucius do indeed share one body kind of like the William Vangeance and Patolli scenario, then it looks like we won’t be getting the “feeling of betrayal arc” from the other main characters that I was hoping we’ll get. Still, there’s a ton of backstory and context that needs to be weaved into this story to get a grasp of who Julius really is and how is he existing in this predicament.

Last Thoughts

To be entirely honest, I did not expect so much to be revealed so fast. I’m actually glad that we have a well defined motive that has some truth to it. Having a cookie cutter bad guy that just wants to destroy the world would have been one of the worst things that could have happened. There’s still a ton of context that needs to be filled in, but this is an incredible great start to the last arc. We now have two ideals and existences that are going to clash. There’s probably more bad guys on the horizon as Lucius is most definitely not working alone.