The Old "Abrupt and Inconclusive Ending" Bit

Come on, man, you have to make the fanfic writers' search for subtext to mine a little tougher than that.

We looked at Volume 1 of Sekihiko Inui's Murder Princess a month ago, and now we're at the second, and final, volume. The first volume ended with Falis, the bounty hunter whose soul is stuck in the princess' body, suffering a defeat at the hands of a mysterious Black Knight, who Alita is sure is her brother, the long-missing prince.

Volume 2, however, only gets back around to that near the end, when the Knight reappears at the side of a witch, seeking a Destiny Stone (one of four) that will help them unlock some incredibly powerful source of knowledge. Prior to that, Falis is trying to help Alita through her confusion at what has happened to her brother, and we learn about Falis' past. Why she's a bounty hunter, what drives her to be as strong as she is.

The most interesting thread is one that turns on the notion Alita was supposed to die that night Dr. Akamashi attacked the kingdom at the start of Volume 1. That she instead not only survived the fall off the cliff, but switched bodies with Falis, giving her kingdom a ruler strong enough to protect it (if not necessarily rule it), has altered history from the path it was meant to take. This has somehow unleashed chaos, which is manifesting as corruption of the souls of their subjects, turning them into monsters.

Which would have presented a sort of ticking clock for them to find the stones and use the knowledge to find some way to counteract the problem, before they were corrupted. At least, I assume that would have been a looming threat. The series ended with no further development along that line. It also hinted that the witch, Cecilia, was serving someone else, but obviously that never got resolved either. So frustrating when that happens.