Panel 2: For the benefit of long-time Empowered readers puzzling about this panel’s chijojutsu ninja skill, rest assured that this particular jutsu was supposed to make an appearance later on in the volume’s ninja fight, but I ran outta pagecount to show it. (Plus, said battle is so grueling, violent, and ugly that deploying such a wacky skill in the midst of it eventually struck me as tonally inappropriate.)

Also, in case you couldn’t follow his baroque speech pattern, the off-panel Demonwolf is saying, “Rather, let those puppies breathe freely, fool!”

Panel 3: Ah, but readers may rest assured that the fiery skill set of enkyo yojutsu (if you’ll pardon the missing vowel extension macrons, which this page’s font doesn’t support; or, alternatively, enkyou youjutsu) absolutely does make an appearance in the fast-approaching Ayakami ninja battle. In fact, you’ll see this pyrotechnic jutsu in action only 20-odd pages now!

Next week, brace yourself for a very unusual take on a certain “booty-centric” tune from the 90s, folks. (Also, brace for some heavy-duty “booty-centric” imagery, appropriately enough.)

Today’s Patreon update: Probably another dose of Vintage Con Sketches, from the late-90s/early-2000s era when I was cranking out a ton of ’em.

-Adam Warren