i did update my machine with pacman -Syu. after rebooting, i cannot login. i con see this error Failed to start Virtual Console Setup a tiny second right before log in screen. i had to capture it in slow mo to able to read it. i attach the image below.
and on the login, after i enter my username and hit enter it just hangs for a while without asking the password and asks for username again. it acts like when you enter wrong password.
Fix
turns out /bin some how got messed up. thanks to @wwwgem, i looked into system logs (journalctl) and fixed it
To investigate the issue you may want to use a bootable drive and chroot into your system. This will allow you to see any error messages using the journactl command. Once you know what's going on exactly you'll be able to fix it or get a better assistance from people here or on the Arch forum.
I know someone who encountered the exact same login behavior after this update. It appeared that some packages were broken and he had to reinstall them.
sorry for late reply. thanks to you, i fixed it
Glad you're back on tracks! Looks like this update messed up /bin for some people. I love when OPs like you take time to close their first post with the resolution. Thank you. If you have time to quickly summarize the details of the fix that may benefit others as well.