With the brutal torturing of Book 1 not present, Book 2 was better for it. While both Ryuu and Moriko had formed a loving strong bond, it wasn’t long before the pending war sent them on different paths to accomplish some critical tasks. The thrust of this book was really focused on Moriko’s plight of survival from hypersensory hunters and their more powerful leader, along with her Nightblade capabilities improving along the way. Ryuu, too, improved his capabilities but under less harrowing conditions.
Unfortunately, the story suffered from very predictable battle situations. The opponent(s) were always stronger and/or more numerous than before but somehow, just before the protagonists were to meet their doom, some unknown inner strength propelled them forward to win and live to fight another day. It was like listening to a Naruto anime and I kept imagining hearing “BELIEVE IT!”.
Also, the whole method for them leveling up seemed rather thin, some just magically happening by a snap in their consciousness.
Still, the writing and narration was still good enough to maintain my interest.