What happened to Jack?!

Kept going for a bit further and the questions only keep growing. Jack was engulfed by some weird tentacles and transformed into a nightmare, but he doesn't seem aggressive and is actually linked to Otsuu to the point that she can use him in battle as a second attack (and is the only one who can fully understand him).
Is that going to be his permanent form in this second game? If yes, how do the girls come back from Blood Skelter mode? Is his blood still applicable to this?

As you can see from the video below, Hameln was introduced quite early in the game this time around. In the first game she was sort of a "bonus character" that wasn't really involved with the story much. She's still as cute as I remember her too with her continuous fumbling of words.

I'm not still sold on Otsuu character to be honest, way too tomboy-sh and her prince act feels a bit jarring at times. Let's see if it improves along the way as we get to know her better.