Welcome back to the Isu Codices. This month, we are going to be going into a completely different style of comic: manga, specifically the first volume of “Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun” by Minoji Kurata, encompassing the first four issues serialized in Monthly Sunday Gene-X and translated to English by Viz Media.
Technically speaking, roughly half of this manga is material already covered in the 2.5D side-scroller video game Assassin’s Creed: China, and is a manga adaptation of the same game (a vague summary of which is listed below), which has also been adapted into novel form under the title Assassin’s Creed: The Ming Storm, written by Yan Leisheng in 2019 (and only available thus far in Chinese and French, with an English translation on the way). As such, this analysis will be a bit different from the usual fare here in the Isu Codices. Rather than go into those elements in the issue summary, we will only go into the new parts, and address the historical elements in “History Lessons” and “New Concepts” unless they include parts that are wholly new, such as elements of history not yet shown to fans.
Due to the fact that most of this is going over the same material known to fans already if they had been playing the games, we will have increased focus on the historical information provided, for educational purposes.
There are three more ideas to consider before we dive in. As a manga, this story is read from right to left, both in terms of panels and the structure of dialogue bubbles. Second, the images will be grayscale, as with most manga. Third, in terms of naming, “the [name] Emperor” and “Emperor [Name]” appear to be equally valid, and so may be used interchangeably for certain characters.
For those who may have seen this story in earlier translations or incarnations, be it Chinese or French, there are some spelling changes, but the most drastic is likely the modern protagonist, whose name is translated into English as Lisa Huang, rather than Kō Risa.
Personnel Files
This may be a section with limited use, but here we will go into the relevant backstory for various people, factions, or sub-factions showing up in the comics, as is relevant to their appearances in previously-released media. Here, we will give summaries of relevant games to help things along, especially if the story is going over previously addressed material. With exception of if they are the protagonist of a given story or otherwise central, we will only be addressing real-life figures who happen to be Assassins or Templars in-universe in the “History Lessons” section instead.
Shao Jun
First, let us go into a bit of background for elements directly relevant to those presented for the manga.
Shao Jun was the daughter of a woman who was a member of the imperial court and consort of Emperor Zhengde (i.e., a concubine) in early 16th century China, as well as one of said consorts in training herself until his death led to her joining the Chinese Brotherhood. She was first seen in Ezio Auditore da Firenze’s last chronological story, the short film Assassin’s Creed: Embers. Fleeing the destruction of the Chinese Brotherhood in 1524 due to the manipulation of Zhengde’s successor Emperor Jiajing by the Chinese Templar rite led by eight eunuchs known as the “Eight Tigers,” she traveled to Italy to seek guidance from the esteemed Italian Master Assassin and Mentor. She came alongside the Chinese Mentor, Zhu Jiuyuan, but the latter was assassinated by Templar agents in Venice before they could reach the Auditore villa, leaving her to learn on her own. Returning to China, she destroyed the Eight Tigers between 1526 and 1532, though not without failures on her end. Wang Yangming, the Mentor before and after the tenure of Zhu Jiuyuan, died in the process, and a Precursor box (see below) was sent away to another rite of the Templars before she could secure it. She eventually passed away in 1567, her last known act as Mentor herself being the masterminding the death of Emperor Jiajing, having learned not to give in to revenge without considering who else could be hurt. She also is somewhat important in other parts of the franchise, but this series seems to adapt only her early life and that during her quest for revenge.
Continued belowHer special distaste for Gu Dayong seems to come not only from his torture, but also from her own life as a concubine, hating slavery from personal experience (which she likely looks back on negatively even if she had hoped to rise in the ranks earlier in life).
Saeko Mochizuki
Saeko Mochizuki, also known by her alias “Osoroshii Baba” (translation: Terrifying Crone), is the current Mentor of the Japanese Assassins, as well as the leader of the yakuza faction known as Onmoroki-Gumi, operating in Osaka, Japan.
Saeko’s leadership seemingly began in full when the Assassins had to move their Japanese headquarters in 2013, which aroused the attention of the aforementioned Onmoroki-Gumi. In the ensuing attack, Saeko’s husband Kenichi Mochizuki, the Mentor who preceded her, was killed, along with many other Assassins. Bringing together the rest of the survivors, Saeko struck back in revenge against the yakuza faction, killing their leaders and taking over the gang in full.
Rather than disband the entire organization, Saeko decided that it would be best to use their image to blend in with the populace. After all, the yakuza were a known threat, and their way of acting, of working in the shadows to help the common people (or to quote Ezio Auditore da Firenze, they “work in the dark to serve the light”) is not all that dissimilar from the way in which Assassins operate anyway. As such, they used the public face of the Onmoroki-Gumi to continue their operations without direct suspicion of Abstergo.
Ever since, she has been acting as a support for the rest of the Brotherhood at large. Following the fall of Medeya Voronina’s Russian cell of Assassins in March 2014 due to the actions of Juno, she helped a new collection of Georgian Assassins set up a replacement cell in the country by way of sending weapons via Philippine gun suppliers. By late 2015, she was organizing search teams to go into the Koreas and China in the hope of finding Álvaro Gramática’s secret laboratory (which was actually in Australia, but it’s the attempt that counts).
By 2019, she is 84 years old, but evidently still very much in charge, with Kiyoshi Takakura (who we have seen all across “Assassin’s Creed: Uprising,” and so will not be expounded upon) continuing to take orders from her as he has been since at least 2013, barring his work with Charlotte de la Cruz or Layla Hassan on and off in the latter half of the decade.
New Concepts
Hidden Footblade
Also known as the “Hidden Shoe Blade,” this modification to the Hidden Blade of the Assassins was made by Shao Jun, who was able to use it to keep a concealed weapon on her when others would look for weapons to be held by hand. She made use of this lighter, more versatile variation in her study of leg-based martial arts, which she used on account of her skilled footwork and flexibility honed dancing as a concubine in the Zhengde Emperor’s imperial court, a skill that had him refusing to bind her feet. Unlike the more common use of a Hidden Blade as a thrusting weapon, this one seems more geared toward a slashing motion for her powerful kicks, though both are admittedly possible in each iteration.
Notably, which boot has the blade depends upon the source, with the “Blade of Shao Jun” manga and the database of Chronicles: China either showing or telling that it is underneath her left boot, while Embers, The Ming Storm, and Chronicles: China’s gameplay have it on the right boot.
While the “footblade” is a signature of Shao Jun and has yet to be seen in any Brotherhood members aside from herself, it has also been utilized by French Templar Julie de la Serre in 1776 Paris to combat two rogue Assassins aiming to kill both her and her daughter Élise.
Precursor Boxes (Isu Data Caches)
The “Precursor boxes” are an enigma in Assassin’s Creed lore, or at least they were. Also known as Isu Data Caches according to Aletheia’s simulations in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, they are a type of device used to interact with other Pieces of Eden in order to accomplish various functions. In the absence of the Piece of Eden it is paired with, the box can be powered by electricity, though the magnitude of electricity necessary, that of a lightning strike, could also damage the box itself.
Continued belowFirst and foremost, they are, as the name implies, used to store vast amounts of knowledge on any one subject. Other uses include the translation of Isu script, which can lead the user to other Isu artifacts, such as the other temples, such as the dangerous seismic temples (both of which will be discussed if they come up in the comics).
Combined with Staves of Eden, or even Shards of those Staves, the boxes also demonstrated to have the ability to imprint the memories of someone into another individual, as if an instantaneous Bleeding Effect, though it can be overcome with effort.
There is an unclear number of data caches in existence, with information contradicting itself at times from various in- and out-of-universe sources. Rather than discern which box is which, it is perhaps better to merely list the groups who have held it overall, which include, but are not limited to, the Assassins of the Italian, Chinese, West Indies, Saint-Domingue (Haitian), Colonial (American), French, Russian branches, and the Templars of the Chinese, British, and American rites, along with seen at latest in the hands of the modern Templars of Abstergo Industries. The entire history so far as is currently known stretches from 1524 until 2015, with the latest mention being by the Assassins under the implication that they do not have a box themselves to translate through.
Struggles over data caches have taken up various important events in Assassin-Templar history, especially in the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles games (of which China is the first of three). Outside of that, it has been directly connected to the overall story of Colonial Assassin-turned-Templar Shay Cormac in Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, and by proxy through his assassination of Charles Dorian in Versailles, France, the story of Dorian’s son, Arno, in Assassin’s Creed: Unity.
Rope Dart
A flexible weapon purportedly invented by Shao Jun, the shéng biāo, or “rope dart,” consists of a long rope with a sharp metal blade, or “dart,” attached to one end, with the rope being roughly three to five meters in length. It can be seen as a whip with a sharp end, used as a weapon or a tool. The dart has been used for impromptu hanging of foes, slicing them, or even as a makeshift grappling hook to pull oneself up to a higher location or swing from one to another.
The dart is commonly known as Jun’s signature weapon, despite her not actually using it (though holding one) in her debut. The weapon is so synonymous with her that when her memories came to various individuals, such as a certain girl in 1918 Russia (to be discussed if the plot of Chronicles: Russia is adapted or directly referenced somewhere) or Lin, Jun’s direct descendant in the 21st century seen in the 2016 live-action film Assassin’s Creed, their primary weapon and tool was a version of it, be it deliberately made or cobbled together from scraps.
According to Achilles Davenport of the Colonial Assassins, Shao Jun is also responsible for the dart’s proliferation around the world to other branches of the Assassins. For instance, it has some history in the Americas as of the 18th century at earliest known point, such as with the West Indies Brotherhood (depicted in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag) and the Colonial/American Brotherhood (depicted in Assassin’s Creed III and Assassin’s Creed: Rogue). Outside of the Americas, it was seen in use in 1841 by Arabaaz Mir of the Indian Assassins, who focused on its grappling applications; and by Russian Assassin Nikolai Orelov in 1918, who focused on its long-range, silent assassination usage.
History Lessons
Wang Yangming
Wang Yangming (1472 – 1529), was a calligrapher, military general, philosopher, politician, and writer during the Ming dynasty. While his birth name was Wang Shouren, and his courtesy name was Bo’an, his style name was “Yangming,” leading to his most commonly stated name of “Wang Yangming.”
He was is widely regarded as the most important Neo-Confucian thinker, with interpretations of Confucian tenants that deny the rationalist dualism of orthodox teaching, instead adhering to a school of thought identified as the “School of heart,” or “Yangmingism.”
Continued belowIn terms of philosophy, Wang Yangming put forth three core concepts. One teaching he put forth is that of innate knowing: the idea that people intuitively, rather than rationally, know the difference between good and evil from birth. A second teaching is the integration of knowledge with action, the belief that only through simultaneous action can one gain knowledge, rather than the (at the time traditional) Chinese belief that once someone gained knowledge, they then had a duty to put that knowledge into action. Third, he believed that the mind gives reason to the world by shaping objects in it through reasoning, thereby making the mind a source of “inner light” and all reason, leading to an innate moral goodness and an understanding of what goodness is (i.e., the aforementioned innate knowing).
While he rose in power to become the vice-minister of the Ministry of Rites, he was expelled from the capital and from government service in 1506 upon offending the eunuch Liu Jin, only later becoming the Governor of Jiangxi. As a general, he was known for his strict discipline, iand suppressed peasant revolts in Xiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong in 1517 and 1518, though even as he did destroy rebel military forces, his concern over the destruction that came with war led him to petition courts to allow amnesty. As governor, he suppressed the Prince of Ning rebellion in mid 1519 through deception, notably being one of the first in China to utilize fo-lang-ji, breach-loaded cannons brought to China from Portugal. After that rebellion, he had schools built, rebels rehabilitated, and whatever else had been lost in the fighting reconstructed. However, despite his successes, even after becoming the Earl of Xingjian, he was ostracized for his opposition to the centuries-old teachings of scholar Zhu Xi.
In the franchise, he was also a member of the Chinese Assassins, as well as their on-and-off Mentor during the period of the manga.
Eight Tigers
The “Eight Tigers,” also known as the “Gang of Eight,” were a group of eight powerful eunuchs who controlled the Chinese imperial court of the Empire of the Great Ming (China) during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor. They had vast authority, essentially being the power behind the throne, though their ability to influence the government diminished greatly after the execution of Liu Jin, as the system Liu had built was swiftly dismantled by government officials upon his death. Though Emperor Zhengde allowed them to continue operating for some time in the name of financial security, the majority of those remaining were banished after his death in 1521.
There is incomplete information regarding each of the others, though we will address them as they come up in the series (in the order of appearance, rather than rank), given that Shao Jun’s quest involves going after them one by one.
Before we do, we will simply name them: Liú Jĭn, Zhang Yong, Gao Feng, Ma Yongcheng, Gu Dayong, Qiu Ju, Wei Bin, and Luo Xiang. Not all of these appear in the first volume of the manga, or rather are only mentioned, so only those who are either seen or confirmed as already dead (and thus not likely to be showing up) will be stated until the rest appear.
In the world of “Assassin’s Creed,” the Eight Tigers were an incarnation of the Chinese Rite of the Templar Order, with only Luo Xiang not referenced in any franchise media until this manga confirmed his membership.
As a side note, some of the Eight Tigers have beards, including rather large ones, despite having been neutered before the necessary male hormones could be secreted. In real life, the majority of them would have had no beards, due to having had their sources of testosterone removed at a very young age, such as the historically recorded neutering of Zhang Yong at age ten.
Gao Feng (Unknown – 1526)
Gao Feng’s birth year is unknown, but he is known to have died in 1526. Beyond the fact that he was made one of the new heads of the Directorate of Ceremonies alongside Wei Bin (to be discussed later) upon the fall and death of Liu Jin, information about this person is limited.
Continued belowQiu Ju
Qiu Ju was in charge of the Eastern Depot of the Inner Branch Depot (see below under Liú Jĭn) up until the arrest of Liú Jĭn. Information on Qiu is limited beyond occasional mention in the biographies of the other Eight Tigers, as he does not have any records of his own.
Liú Jĭn (1451 – 1510)
Famous as one of the most corrupt officials in Chinese history and emperor in all but name, Liú Jĭn was the leader of the Eight Tigers (see above) until his death. As the Head of the Directorate of Ceremonies (essentially a secret police), he was notorious for altering rescripts to and from the Emperor, thereby controlling what the Emperor knew or approved. Later, upon becoming the chief of the imperial staff, he was known for taking bribes.
He convinced the emperor to create Neixinchang, the Inner Branch Depot (split into an Eastern and Western branch), which was nominally to supervise dangers to the throne and the emperor’s safety, but was actually a method of ridding himself of any opposition, with an estimated one thousand people eventually executed by this branch. At the height of his power, all military actions had to be approved by him, making him more powerful than any of the generals. Liú Jĭn was not shy about his wealth and power, building a palace for himself in his hometown.
His reign ended in 1510 (or according to the manga, 1505). After a failed assassination attempt by Zhu Zhifan, Prince of Anhua, which was backed by many officials and other eunuchs on account of his controversial reforms in the face of Neo-Confucianism (such as encouraging widows to remarry) and overtly corrupt behaviors, an official named Yang Yiqing persuaded another eunuch, Zhang Yong (ironically another member of the Tigers) to report Liú’s plotting of rebellion. Though the Zhengde Emperor did not take the report seriously at first, thinking of expelling the corrupt official to a different county and province, the discovery of a massive amount of evidence, including hundreds of millions in gold, tens of millions in silver, gems, false seals, and fans with concealed knives, sealed Liú Jĭn’s fate as a traitor. He was executed by lingchi (see above) over a period of three days in Beijing, a process resulting in him being cut 3,357 times. However, he actually died on the second day of his punishment, after roughly three to four hundred cuts.
Ma Yongcheng (1468 – 1526)
Ma Yongcheng came from either the Bazhou or Wenan area of China. He grew rich off of accepting bribes from the region’s bandits so as to grant them favor with the Emperor. He took control of the Eastern Depot of the Inner Branch Depot, a spy and secret police agency during the Ming dynasty.
Luo Xiang
There is next to no information known about Luo Xiang, beyond his name and membership in the Eight Tigers. Not even his birth or death years are clear, and all that seems concrete is his gender and status as a eunuch, even then being by extrapolation to the other members.
As a minor side note, this manga is the first time that we have had confirmation that, within the context of the franchise, Lui Xiang was in fact a Templar (albeit one who had died of old age by 1526), as other installments did not mention him beyond being one of the members of the Eight Tigers.
Gu Dayong
Gu Dayong is mostly known for his place at the head of the Western Depot, retaining Emperor Zhengde’s favor even after it was closed down in the wake of Liu Jin’s arrest. By 1511, Gu was appointed the overall superintendent of military affairs, leading troops south of the capital against the rebel forces of the Liu brothers, a victory that allowed him to reward his brothers by naming them earls, with other members of his family also assuming important positions and roles within the dynasty over time.
Continued belowGu worked in charitable construction projects in Beijing, donating to temples and other projects around the city. At least one of said projects, the restoration of an old temple in the far Western Hills, was deliberately chosen in order to turn it into “a bright and glittering precinct.”
Following the death of Emperor Zhengde, he was temporarily honored, but then banished to Nanking, where he died.
Lingchi (Death by a Thousand Cuts)
While the term “death of/by a thousand cuts” is famous in history (and to a degree in fiction, such as a scene in the first season of Jessica Jones), it originated from a method of execution in China. Variably translated as the “slow process,” “lingering death,” or “slow slicing,” this form of torture and execution was reserved for especially heinous crimes, such as treason, and was used in China roughly from 900 CE until its practice was banned in 1905. Even some from countries to the west were executed in this manner, though perhaps not as many as implied by depictions in artwork. It was also used in other countries in the region, such as Vietnam and Korea.
In this form of execution, a knife was used to methodically remove parts of the victim’s body over an extended period of time, the injuries and blood loss eventually resulting in death.
Great Rites Controversy
The period known as the Great Rites Controversy took place in the decade after 1524 (up to an undetermined period in the 1530s) in Ming Dynasty China.
After the Zhengde Emperor (born Zhu Houzhao) died in 1521 at age 29 without leaving any heirs, there were no other children of his predecessor, the Hongzhi Emperor (born Zhu Youcheng) for direct descent. Therefore, rule transferred to Emperor Zhengde’s first cousin (and the Emperor Hongzhi’s nephew), the roughly fourteen-year-old Jiajing Emperor (born Zhu Houcong), who went up against Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe and most of the Confucian scholar-officials in the government.
The most prominent source of the conflict was a resistance to tradition. Custom dictated that any emperor who was not a direct descendant of the previous one should undergo rituals to be adopted posthumously by the ruler two emperors before the current one, to maintain an unbroken line of descent. However, Emperor Jiajing was wary of the influence of his uncle’s surviving wife, Empress Dowager Zhang. In this reluctance, he was supported by his biological mother, Lady Chiang, who was angry by the prospect of her son being taken from her by adoption. The fact that Empress Dowager Zhang treated her with disrespect by affording her the courtesies of an imperial princess rather than an empress dowager herself did not help matters for mother or son.
However, the disrespect was not one-sided, by the assumptions of a counterargument led by Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe’s son Yang Shen. By the scholar-officials’ reckoning, refusal to go through the rites would be insulting to Emperor Zhengde’s widow, Empress Xia. After all, Zhu Houcong had not been needed to be chosen at all for being next in line, as lineage could have gone back to the two cousins’ mutual grandfather, the Chenghua Emperor (born Zhu Jianshen), with one of his great-grandsons selected instead, or Emperor Zhengde and his wife could have chosen to adopt a child of their own.
The disagreement was finally broken down by newly qualified scholar-bureaucrats Zhang Cong and Gui E, who noted in carefully-prepared essays known as “memorials to the throne” that rituals performed against what the emperor truly believed would be contrary to human nature itself. Emboldened by this concept, Emperor Jiajing fostered the idea of “ascending the clan but not the lineage.”
In the end, the Jiajing Emperor defied custom. Instead of allowing himself to be adopted by his uncle who had died roughly two decades previously, he preferred to have his father, the late Zhu Youyuan (Prince Xian of Xing), declared an emperor posthumously. Such a change was compounded by the former prince being given superiority over Emperor Zhengde, who had been his superior in life.
Continued belowBy the end of the one-sided settlement, enemies and dissenters at court were (occasionally fatally) beaten, imprisoned, or banished. Yang Tinghe was forced into retirement in disgrace, and Yang Shen was exiled and, in the process of leaving, nearly murdered.
The controversy as a whole has been marked by historians as the beginnings of the young emperor’s authoritarianism.
New Issues
As this volume contains four issues, we will continue the pattern set by prior installments of the Isu Codices: chronological analysis. As such, we will not be separating out the chapters individually, but dealing with the entire story, barring elements already directly addressed in the source game.
While the first scene takes place in the 16th century, the others will be separated by chapter, as they are one continuous tale. As there are no present-day portions in the fourth chapter (‘The Slave Trader’), it will be excluded beyond the overall analysis of new parts above.
Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun, Volume 1 (Chapters 1-4)
As a minor note (pun preemptively stated as not intended), before we begin, we should address a continuity issue. The earliest point in this series is stated to be 1505, with Shao Jun being five years old at the time, designating her birth year as 1500. This is the second different year given for Jun’s birth, following, in order of release dates, 1506 (Assassin’s Creed III and Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China) and succeeded by 1505 (Assassin’s Creed: The Essential Guide 2nd Edition). Such a change is more of a minor adjustment and perhaps a problem for lore-hunters, but nonetheless should be noted when reading.
The story as we know it starts in Beijing, China, stated to be in 1505. Amidst a school filled with children, a five-year-old Shao Jun was learning calligraphy when her teacher Hong Liwei called out for her to leave her brush, and that all of the children should come outside, as they were to bear witness to the execution of a rebel.
Said rebel was Liu Jin, who was sentenced to “slow slicing” for the crimes of “plotting to usurp the imperial throne”, “misappropriate[ing] the nations finances and disrupt[ing] the peace.” Despite Jun’s shock after learning what the punishment means, she heard the same stranger who told her the meaning instruct her not to look away, but rather to behold “the barbarous cruelty of those who hold power.” Thereafter, the man introduced himself, revealing his identity to be Wang Yangming before the crowd bore witness to the beginnings of Liu Jin’s torturously long execution.
Chapter 1: Homecoming
In 2019, at an Abstergo laboratory in Yokohama, Japan, eighteen-year-old Lisa Huang is startled out of a session with an Animus by Doctor Kaori Kagami, who reminds her that the simulation is not real; even if she had performed the leap of faith that Shao Jun had (irrelevant to our discussion), she would have come to no physical harm. Moving with the patient to Kagami’s office, the doctor explains how the Animus works, also revealing that Lisa is the blood descendant of Shao Jun, though Lisa remains unconvinced by such a “sci-fi” explanation for what she experienced.
According to Kaori’s file, Lisa is quite a problem child. She was expelled twice for attacking teachers, and taken into custody on two other occasions for assault, and this history of violence has followed her since the start of her adolescence. At eighteen, Lisa has taken to becoming a shut-in at her home. According to Kaori (hereafter primarily referred to as Dr. Kagami), this experience is Lisa’s therapy, a means of finding the root cause to her violence through the experiences of Shao Jun and working toward making her into a more functional member of society at large as a result.
Almost nothing in this reasoning truly adds up for fans of the series. The idea that she could help herself be rid of her violence by viewing the past from nearly five hundred years later is suspect enough, but the entire concept falls flat when one thinks of it in any other sense. Of course, some people do get some elements of their personality from their parents, but from their far-reaching ancestors who they have likely never even heard of? Such an idea ignores the entire concept of nurture in shaping personality at all, and would indicate that such an endeavor would probably have been doomed to failure anyway if it had never been solved until then by anyone.
Continued belowHowever, even more damning is the fact that they are using the Animus, a device that fans would know has a history of causing extreme emotional and psychological trauma when used in most cases, for this “therapy.” This story takes place seven years after the fall of Warren Vidic, and his research likely was known to others, hence why they had mostly moved over to the Abstergo Entertainment methods of gaining traction in the Assassin-Templar War for a time. If any effects come from this “therapy,” they are likely to be negative, not positive, and instead delving deeply into the Bleeding Effect.
Lisa leaves once the appointment is over, calling her mother on the phone to let her know she finds Dr. Kagami very nice, and that she has decided to keep going with the current therapy, putting up her hood to keep away the rain hammering down and heading home. Meanwhile, the reason for such suspicious, dangerous use of the Animus is made absolutely clear by a phone call in the doctor’s office: Dr. Kagami is not just a member of Abstergo, but is actually a fully knowledgeable Templar (complete with one of their signet rings), and picked out Lisa Huang not to help her, but to utilize her high level of synchronization with Shao Jun to obtain “the treasure,” likely the Precursor box (which wouldn’t have been in China in the present day anyway).
Chapter 2: The Assassin Order and The Templar Brotherhood
Horrified at witnessing Liu Jin’s execution, Lisa begins calling out in her next session in the Animus, only to be taken out of the session by Dr. Kagami. Lisa is covered in sweat and tears after the ordeal, struggling to catch her breath. By Lisa’s estimates, the experience of the Animus is much more real than virtual reality, as she seems to actually feel everything rather than just watching it happen. Despite Kagami apologizing for the distressing image (and explaining what ultimately happened to Liu Jin), Lisa insists on continuing the treatment if it is the best way to cure her of her violent impulses, going back into the memories of her ancestor.
After some more time, the session ended, and Lisa asks for specifics regarding the Assassins and Templars. Kagami’s response is decidedly very much biased, calling the Assassins agents of chaos who further rebellions and disrupt law and order wherever they can, while the Templars are responsible for upholding peace and stability. As fans of the franchise would know, this is, while true from the most technical standpoint imaginable on the thinnest of premises of “order versus chaos,” the statement is otherwise a lie. Templars tend to act first and impose their order, while Assassins work to stop them, not the other way around, to the point that by December 2012, Rebecca Crane was lamenting how they did nothing but stop things from getting worse, rather than working to make them get better. While the Assassins are no saints, and do have their agents of chaos for its own sake (just see Pierre Bellec or Jack the Ripper), to say they are some overwhelmingly evil group is patently false.
In fact, as a guilt trip, Dr. Kagami also notes that Shao Jun’s Assassin genetics passed down to Lisa are likely responsible for her violent urges, as “an Assassin embodies chaos and violence down to [their] very DNA.” This statement is also extremely inaccurate, as, from as recently as 1500 CE in Rome, Assassins were chosen not only due to their bloodlines (many of which were tied to the Isu), but also due to their willingness to help. As such, while many of those bloodlines did have Isu genetics (to the point that most of the protagonists playable could use the “sixth sense” of Eagle Vision), many others, including in the modern day with the majority of Lucy Stillman’s cell in 2012, did not.
Continued below
One way or another, regardless of whether or not it is based in fact (it wasn’t), Lisa was convinced. Judging from what we had heard from Kagami’s review of her file, along with a wordless flashback, it seems that Lisa’s violent tendencies included assaulting her own classmates, specifically one of her friends, to the point that her family had to apologize. As she declared that she had to change and wanted to be different, Kagami agreeing to help her any way she could.
The two of them are oblivious to the fact that they are being monitored through an audio bug being listened to by Japanese Assassin Kiyoshi Takakura (last heard from in the games in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, and last seen in the comics in “Assassin’s Creed: Uprising”). He is frankly amazed at the ease with which Kagami spews her lies, and feels he needs to take action sooner, rather than later. According to his subsequent phone call with “Granny,” all but certainly Mentor Saeko Mochizuki, he was sent there by her to the Abstergo facility in Yokohama. It is unclear if he was deliberately told to rescue the subjects, but he does tell “Granny” that if they don’t act soon to save Lisa, Abstergo is going to “break” her, likely meaning the Bleeding Effect.
As if on cue, Kagami shows her true colors when talking with a knowledgeable associate. She all but gloats about Lisa’s self-loathing, laughing about the “healing process” she was proposing. Even her fellow researcher seems to be more than a little put-off by her disregard, noting the harm done to the psyche by having someone remain in the Animus for such long periods of time. However, Kagami apparently could not care less if a descendant of Assassins is harmed so long as her goal of securing the “Precursor Treasure” is fulfilled.
Chapter 3: Port
At some point during one of Lisa’s Animus sessions, a teenaged girl named Mari comes to a restaurant in Yokohama, and asks a woman, presumably Lisa’s mother, as to where Lisa was. On learning she was running late, she just requested that Lisa be told that she dropped by to say hello, as she started college in the past month, and so is living in the city.
It’ll be a bit more time until the next volume of ‘The Blade of Shao Jun’ is translated, so unless another project is announced or released (or we go into other, less current projects), we’ll see you again next time with the second volume of the story to be released in August!
