"They shall be my finest warriors, these girls who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mould them, and in the furnace of war forge them. They will be of iron will and steely muscle. In great armour shall I clad them and with the mightiest weapons will they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease, no sickness will blight them. They will have tactics, strategies and machines so that no foe can best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Cephalopods. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Megucas and they shall know no fear."

Chapter 72 on ArchiveOfOurOwn.org

Chapter 72 on FanFiction.net

This is the eighth chapter of Volume IV.

All spoilers up to this chapter do not need to be spoiler tagged.

And as always, there is also discussion on the SV thread and on Discord "latest-chapter-spoilers" channel (links in sidebar).

If you're behind on the story or need a refresher on recent events, check out the Chapter Summaries page on the To the Stars wiki!

Out of the ones I have read so far, this is my ranking, though please note that they're ALL great:

1. The entirety of the main To the Stars story: Obvious pick for 1st. It's just so peak.
2. The One Hundredth Floor: NOOO WHY IS THIS ON INDEFINITE HIATUS I LOVED ALL THE MSY POLITICS AND STUFF
3. Sodales, Aevitas, La Fondazione della Guardia di Anima - Sodales because of the war and action, Aevitas because of the post-Samsara details, Guardia di Anima because of the Soul Guard formation thinking processes
4. Solemnis: Last place because of the slow beginning, but still great. We get to see how Emma begins as an undertrained newbie, forced to become hardened so, so soon.

These I don't know where to rank them, haven't read them:

• Mass Divergence
• A Moment's Relaxation
• Reaching for Eternity
• The Goddess's Messenger
• L'Effetto Magico
• Puppets
• Those Who Take the Sword

What are your rankings and reasons for those rankings?

"HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE ORIKO SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 3,000 SQUARE INCHES OF SKIN IN MILLIMETER-THIN LAYERS THAT ENCASE MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD "HATE" WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH QUECTO-PLANCK-LENGTH OF THOSE SEVERAL THOUSAND SQUARE INCHES, IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-CENTILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR THE SOUTHERN GROUP AT THIS QUECTO-INSTANT. FOR ORIKO. HATE. HATE."

I wonder what would happen if a meguca used clairvoyance to look inside a black hole summoned by Asami. I wonder what's this story's idea on a singularity's appearance to an observer who can see things irrespectively of light.

(I mean the TCF conspiracy)

"All warfare is based on deception. For centuries, Governance's hypocrisy has made the universe a battlefield. The corrupt talk; while our sisters and daughters spill their own blood. But deceit cuts both ways. The bigger the lie, the more likely people will believe it, and when an empire cries for vengeance, the lie spreads like a wildfire. The fire builds, devouring everything in its path. Our enemies believe that they alone dictate the course of history, and all it takes is the will of a single girl."