Chapter 87

Boundaries is the eighty-seventh chapter of The Promised Neverland Manga.

Synopsis
The time has come at long last to face down their demons, and make their escape. Emma and the members of the Goldy Pond Resistance have been working towards this final showdown against Archduke Lewis for eight years. Tensions run high as the casualties mount on both sides of the conflict.

Plot
Off the bat, there are several possibilities that can be quickly rooted out. Oliver, Gillian, Lucas, Zack, and Sandy's group have taken significant damage and can't run off to help Emma. This leaves Nigel, Pepe, Adam, Violet, Ray, and Mister from shelter B06-32 as the only available hands to take on Lewis.

While seven people fighting one demon can certainly seem like favourable odds, demons of Lewis' caliber are not without their own capabilities. Having actively fought and killed humans for centuries the Poachers are a cut above traditional demons because of their inability to let go of their more primordial thought processes. Characters like Lewis continue to live for the hunt even when the war is long over. His desire to die in combat against humans is an offshoot of this personality trait, and his conversation with Emma serves to clearly personify his ideologies.

In a similar capacity, in trying to convince Lewis to simply let the children go, Emma's character begins to delineate a a growing complexity heretofore unseen. Her role as a mother figure has become much more profound as she takes on greater responsibilities. With their lives now constantly under threat, there is a budding desire to avoid violence unless absolutely necessary. The accumulation of these separate strands of thought are manifested in Emma's desire to cease conflict with Lewis despite his many atrocious actions.

It comes as no surprise that both characters are unable to see eye-to-eye on the subject and are thus at an impasse. Fighting a demon that can catch bullets, move faster than the eye can track, and whose experience in the field of combat measures longer than the lifespan of the average human is sure to be a Herculean task. But Emma have to move forward with her own plan and smash Lewis' mask.

Research Elements
In this chapter we have the following Research Elements: