Huh.

So pieces of the sovereign appear to fit into whatever game is near by. Mere characters, however, keep their own form.

Also, poor Celes.

Guess we know who the child really is now.

Also, looks like everyone there is now Touched, at least slightly.

Did anyone else find it interesting that the child had trouble completing the song?

It looked to me like Celes sort of... zapped the girl with the energy from Runic. With the "I won't let you!" and lowering the sword to point at her...

As Kefka said in the last comic, it feels good to be vindicated - regarding shard girl's apparent true identity.

It looks like there's a spotted purple outline around the text in Cyan and the Figaro Bros' dialogue boxes - not a solid one like around the text of Celes and other Touched. How badly (and how permanently) were they affected, I wonder.

Well, that just confirmed the Kid Rydia theory...but what that implies, is yet to be seen.

Also, is it just me, or does the fact that the purple aura has completely vanished from Kid Rydia's sprite, mean that the Shard of Tears was absorbed by Celes's Omega Runic...

Oh dear, this bodes poorly. :o

Time for mass speculation on the final task?

I'm pretty sure Celes' choices are either death or sealing

Don't forget suicide. We still don't know Celes' motives.

Given the nature and tendency of the Touched to follow Her agenda unintentionally even when trying to fight or thwart her, I suspect that if she is trying to kill herself, it'll either unleash the Shard or cause it to latch onto a different host (probably Kefka).

I suspect sealing to be her best bet, but if she does lean towards that, it probably means that the Sovereign has something to gain by it. Remember, once Touched, judgement cannot be trusted.

Death or sealing of what, though?

Celes herself, presumably. Kidia isn't glowy anymore and is back to normal, which implies that Omega Runic caused Celes to absorb the Shard of Tears and become its new host, and she probably knows this, and will want to do SOMETHING to neutralize the threat she now poses.

Or it could even be that Celes sucked all of the magic out of the Shard, which is now a pointy rock. Guess we'll find out whenever the next comic rolls around.

I'm reasonably sure that whatever it is, it has to do with child Rydia.

A couple of things I just thought of.

First, this reasonably proves that these events are happening concurrently with the main thread of the story. Wily's statement that "the child" had escaped, and having a child show up in FF6 (with the Shard of Tears), is much too coincidental otherwise, especially with said child having apparently lost the Shard now.

Second, it shows that the Shard's power can cloak the true appearance of whoever's holding it. Meaning that Lisa was almost certainly Touched by a previous Shard-bearer, especially given the emphasis on the past that whole episode had. There are a couple of caveats. First, I think it may be limited to working on female sprites, as Bob was apparently not affected. Second, it may not work on people who actually know the sprite in question, as Celes so far has not changed in appearance.

Third, things created with the Shard's power apparently are not innately Touched. Kefka did not act like a Touched in any way prior to the song (as an aside, Kefka's insanity may serve as an effective buffer against the power of Sorrow), and child-Rydia was apparently able to generate Hope despite the Shard's power.

I bet anyone that Lucca will get the Mask in the end.

I think its more that it can't alter his behavior because its already at the Touched extreme to begin with in its natural state. He's already an omnicidal nihilist who doesn't see anything as having meaning and so finds meaning in destroying things randomly, what more can Sorrow do?

...Make him frown?