Does Xylo have a plan for the upcoming suicide mission? Of course he’s got a plan. The plan is to lure out the demon lord, then have Xylo swoop in and kill it like he has been doing since the start of the series. This way, they don’t have to rely on the original strategy of poisoning the demon lord (and themselves) to death. But as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. So of course, the plan falls to pieces when they fail to account for every possible contingency. It always goes wrong, because it has to. ‘Cause we need the drama. And the problem is precisely because Xylo is too nice — too heroic for his own good. And this is all in spite of his surly attitude.

For instance, when the heroes go scouting to see what they’re up against — a veritable horde of faeries led by a sea slug of a demon lord — we see Kivia tagging along. She and her order of holy knights will stick around for this suicide mission. This world absolutely abhors heroes, and yet Kivia’s men and women are loyal enough to fight alongside them. They’ll bravely charge into battle with Kivia in the front. This can’t be understated, because even death row inmates in this world look down on heroes. So why is it a problem, you ask? Because people like the holy knights and can die. Like die die. What the villains wanted was for the heroes to be punished for their insubordination, and their punishment was this suicide mission. In a way, it doesn’t really matter if they die, because we already know that they can summoned back to life. But Xylo (and Norgalle) just had to go and be heroic, and look what they get. Now it’s not a suicide mission. Now it’s a mission with some real stakes and real drama. They have lives to protect.

Of course, I’m being somewhat tongue-in-cheek here. Obviously, it’s a good thing Xylo defeated Goggie back in the first episode and prevented Kivia’s order from being completely wiped out. It’s a good thing he saved all those miners and reunited them with their family. But as they say, no good deed goes unpunished, because now those holy knights and miners want to fight with Xylo. And yes, our ragtag team needs all the help they can get, but this isn’t the kind of help you want. The holy knights? Fine. But we shouldn’t be getting civilians involved, and Xylo knows that. But Norgalle… well, he sees their nobility much more clearly than the futility of their sacrifice, so in a way, it’s almost like he’s encouraging them to be here. He’s also way too confident in his leadership.

Then there’s the sabotage factor. Last week, we learned why Venetim was sentenced to be the hero (title drop!): his article full of conspiracy theories was actually true. This world’s finest institutions have been infiltrated by demons and demon sympathizers from top to bottom. And unfortunately, they know all about the hero’s upcoming suicide missions. These weirdo humans actually want the demons to win. In fact, they want humanity to be completely wiped out. So even though our ragtag team of heroes, holy knights, miners, death row inmates, and one plucky goddess has set up quite a defensive position for themselves, it quickly falls to pieces when they fail to account for one enemy: humans. Those dastardly humans. Just to rub salt into the wounds, the enemy humans are even riding the faeries into battle. Welp.

Needless to say, this sets Xylo up for a much harder battle than he bargained for. Whether he wins or loses, again, it doesn’t matter. He and his hero buddies can always come back to life and be press-ganged into duty once more. Yes, yes, I know dying fucks with your memories and sense of self. But it’s still not an actual death. Rather, it is death for the men and women willing to fight with him. They actually have their lives on the line. And unfortunately, his heroic magnetism might have drawn in too many of them. What’s the death count gonna be?

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Stray thoughts & observations:

• So we learn a thing or two about Tsav, the latest hero to join the party. He’s a serial killer, and like most serial killers, he doesn’t feel remorse like the average person. He feels bad enough not to hurt his friends, but everyone else? He couldn’t care less. My nitpick with this scene is how friendly and loquacious Tsav sounds. I’ve seen a few interviews with serial killers, and they’re never like this. I know what the story is trying to do. Oh, look at Tsav being so jovial and carefree. But when he realizes that they’re sentencing him to be a hero, his 1000-watt smile quickly disappears. Being a hero is so horrific that it even chills a serial killer to the bone! Whoa, dude! But again, it just feels a bit contrived.
• During the scouting mission, Xylo stands a little too close to Kivia, so she shuffles away and blushes. What? We really doing this? Romance in my action anime? Plus, it’s a little too soon, isn’t it? Ah, whatever.
• Kivia says she’s a commoner, but she got her post thanks to her uncle being a high priest. I don’t really know the finer details about how this class system works. If your relative is still an important person, wouldn’t that make you more than a commoner? Sure, still not a noble, but she’s not exactly the same as, say, those miners we saw a couple episodes ago.
• For some reason, Xylo seems to command Tsav’s utmost respect. The former can actually curb the latter’s homicidal tendencies. I wonder why.
• We finally get to see what another goddess looks like. They’re all children. Why? This goddess has to be the poison one for obvious reasons. She’s also starving for praise just like Teoritta.
• Speak of the devil, Teoritta doesn’t actually get much screentime in this week’s episode. I assume Xylo’s going to need her help now that his initial plan failed and the shit has hit the fan. But before that happened, where was Xylo stashing her?
• Kivia is so deferential to our goddess. Just for religious reasons?
• According to Venetim, Xylo has a letter from a certain Frenci Mastibolt. Have they been mentioned before? I don’t recall seeing the name come up in previous episodes. But even though Xylo is short on live bodies — even though he doesn’t want to rely on the miners — he refuses this person’s offer to send 2,000 soldiers to help with the mission. Seems kinda foolish, no? Unless this Frenci is so horrible that Xylo would rather have the miners die than work with them. Oh well, the soldiers probably wouldn’t have arrived in time anyway.