Ellipsis

Ellipsis (エリプシス) is the first part of the eponymous series.

The story follows Sada, a high-school girl with no recollection of her past, awakening alongside ninety-nine other unfortunate souls within the Olam Tzalmavet: a purgatory where the dead await final judgement. Lord Samvara, the realm's ruler, forces the one-hundred souls to compete in the Rings of Rebirth; a gauntlet of ten trials meant to test their morality, strength and mind. The last man standing will win back their life and return to Earth. Those who fail, however, are dealt eternal damnation.

The series' pilot was released in July 2020. It is scheduled to be published on the comic and novel website Tapas and Royal Road in the near future.

Abandon All Hope (Ring Zero)


A high-school girl is awakened within a void of darkness by the voice of a child. The child refers to the high-schooler as Sada, prompting her to regain fragments of her lost memories. As the child's voice becomes more clear, a shining light burns brighter in front of Sada. The child reveals itself as a perpetually burning spectre, touching Sada's neck while taunting her.

Sada wakes up from the ordeal, brushing it off as a nightmare. However, she quickly realizes she's in an unfamiliar swamp entirely naked and slathered in blood. Confused and afraid, she discovers a bizarre horn sprouting from her forehead. Trapped within the swamp by the surrounding quarry, she attempts to find a means to escape. As Sada investigates, she soon finds numerous others in the same predicament as herself. Finding a young American boy named Jimmy, Sada notices that Jimmy bears similar horns on his arms along with a bizarre brand on his neck.

More and more people begin to wake up within the swamp, crying and pleading for help. Once all one-hundred have awakened, a malicious voice rings throughout the entire quarry. The demonic voice welcomes them and explains that they are deceased souls now trapped in the Realm of Null: a purgatory between Heaven and Hell. It then tells Sada and the others that they will have to compete within the sacred Rings of Rebirth. Their first trial is escaping the swamp with their lives. Before disappearing, the voice hints that their salvation will be found on the "cusp of despair".

Upon leaving, two statues guarding a massive set of iron gates come to life. The chimeric demons named Gozu and Mezu respectively immediately set upon the people closest to the sealed gates, tearing them to pieces. Realizing that she needs to find a solution and fast, Sada begins to formulate an escape while evading the demons with Jimmy. A few more of the nearby people join Sada, hiding behind a fallen tree as Mezu rampages around the swamp.

Sada is keen on observing Mezu, since Gozu is much slower and relies on his weapon for ranged attacks. She sees that Mezu's eyes are concealed by wrappings and he continually throws himself toward the cacophony of noise around him. Sada theorizes Mezu is blind and therefore using sound to locate his prey. She realizes that the gates are completely locked with no way of opening them. She spots a few of the people far away from them running toward the cliffside. The voice's cryptic hint comes back to Sada, and she deduces the secret of escape is located on the cliff.

Multiple grooves are carved into the cliffside around the quarry with each one hiding a single chain within. Seeing a few of the people grabbing these chains, Sada confirms her theory when they are rocketed up to safety above. Sada relays the info to those around her, but warns them to approach the chains cautiously with as little noise as possible. A few of Sada's group rush off toward the nearest cliff, prompting Mezu to jump over the fallen tree Sada and others are hiding behind. Mezu slaughters the two that rushed off but fails to notice Sada and her gang inches away due to its blindness.

Mezu rushes off after hearing others escaping for the cliffs, but as more and more grab their chains, the only ones left are within dangerous areas near Gozu. Sada and Jimmy sneak off toward a section of the unclaimed chains, meeting a girl and her group along the way with a similar idea. The girl introduces herself as Natsukawa, who proceeds to tell Sada that she's helping the younger and older people trapped within the swamp to their chains. Sada goes to introduce herself, but finds she is unable to recall her family name. Having a vision of the Cindered Waif, the spectre reveals her full name as Sada Shuiro. Sada tells Natsukawa her name, but secretly finds her idea of helping others foolish. Once they reach the area, Natsukawa's group grab their chains and are whisked away out of the swamp. However, Jimmy abandons Sada and rushes for the remaining chain; claiming it for himself and escaping.

Sada prepares to leave on her own, but Natsukawa convinces her to travel together. Sada, annoyed by Natsukawa's genuine traits, gives up and begrudgingly forms an alliance with Natsukawa. Sada and Natsukawa spot roughly twenty people remaining within the swamp at this point, all pinned down behind fallen trees and carnage with nowhere to go. The remaining chains are within the section of the quarry nearest to Gozu. With the deathly silence in the swamp now, Mezu begins to methodically hunt down the remaining souls. Sada is informed by Natsukawa that the chains are disappearing. Having counted exactly one-hundred notches around the quarry in total, Natsukawa deduces that with every person killed, a chain disappears.

The two girls are forced to snake across the swamp avoiding Mezu while Gozu sits in the muck holding his massive blade. As the two inch towards a massive hollow tree at the center of the swamp, they notice one man peek up above a far-off log to find a way around Gozu for his group hiding in the tree. Gozu spots the man leading a group of four toward his position and slams its blade down toward the direction of his hiding place. Following the sound, Mezu lunges at the log and snatches the man up: crushing him to death. As Mezu slaughters the other four, Sada deduces that Gozu serves as Mezu's "eyes" and directs the demon toward other survivors Gozu spots. Reaching the hollow tree, Sada and Natsukawa make their way inside, finding the remaining four survivors trapped within.

The six survivors whisper back and forth, with Sada telling them the means of escape while Natsukawa formulates a plan. They opt to split into two groups of three, with each group moving to the opposite section of the wall guarded by Gozu. Sada and her team sneak off to the right while Natsukawa sneaks off to the left. A young man on Sada's team nicknamed Dennis "The Moron" Morin creates problems after throwing up from crawling through the blood. The noise attracts the attention of Mezu, who approaches to investigate. Fearing they'll be killed, Natsukawa from the opposite side throws a severed arm across the swamp. The noise immediately sends Mezu leaping after the arm, catching it and skidding across the swamp. While Mezu is far away, Gozu notices the oddity and raises his blade to crush the source of the arm.

Natsukawa, seeing this, immediately grabs Gozu's attention by jumping up and sprinting with her group toward the wall closest to them. Gozu raises his blade and swings it horizontally at Natsukawa and the others. She falls to the ground in order to duck but the two others in her group continue onward despite her warnings. The blade misses Natsukawa and bisects the two men, embedding itself in the cliff. Natsukawa shimmies underneath the trapped blade and grab her chain. As she ascends to safety, she signs for Sada and her group to be safe.

Sada and the others spot only two chains in front of them as Mezu runs to investigate the sword in the wall. Her teammate, a man nicknamed "Neon Deon" betrays Sada and pushes her head underneath the blood to drown her. Dennis joins in and after several seconds, they successfully subdue Sada; allowing him and Deon's friend to escape with the remaining two chains. Sada realizes that the only chain left is one located behind Gozu's back. Sada turns over onto her back, realizing she's all alone, where she sees another vision of the Cindered Waif above her. The waif goads Sada into seeking revenge against those who betrayed her.

Infuriated at the betrayal and with the pointless deaths of those who failed to escape, Sada grabs ahold of an severed leg. Stripping the splintered bone from the leg itself, she arms herself as she crawls through the bog; inching closer to Gozu. Mezu wanders near the center of the swamp, trying to find more survivors. As Sada carefully stands up behind the unaware Gozu, she stabs Gozu in the back with the leg bone. Immediately, she grabs ahold of the last chain as Gozu screams in pain. The scream from Gozu alerts Mezu, prompting Mezu to attack Gozu and disembowel the demon. Mezu realizes his mistake too late, howling in fury while Sada is pulled up to safety.

Minor Characters

 * See also Minor Characters § Ellipsis and Unnamed Characters § Ellipsis