There was never a doubt in my mind that the good guys would ultimately win. The question, however, was whether or not anyone — any of the heroes, in particular — would have to make a heroic sacrifice in order to attain victory against all odds. Trapped in a fortress, because if they leave, the seal around their necks would detonate. Abandoned by most of the military, because this is their punishment for disobeying orders. Up against a a horde of demons that stretches for miles. Commanded by a Demon Lord with insane regenerative abilities (or so we’re told). Worst of all, there are humans on the other side, demon sympathizers who are hellbent on sabotaging our heroes’ best laid plans. So it’s going to take a Herculean effort to achieve victory, right? Someone is going to die, right? After all, heroes can always be summoned back to the fray. Yeah, they might lose their sense of self, but the stakes have never been higher!
Well, no, that doesn’t happen. A series of individual events ensure that only a couple of faceless mooks bite the dust. For the most part, our heroes emerge from this harrowing encounter relatively unscathed. First, those reinforcements that Venetim mentioned in last week’s episode — the same soldiers that Xylo rejected — are like Chekhov’s gun. Of course they’re going to show up at just the right moment to lend a hand. Our protagonist will eventually have to pay the price for this and “unignore” a certain Franci Mastibolt, but this was always a foregone conclusion. But there’s also Dotta leading a bunch of mercenaries on a wild goose chase through the battlefield. Instead of buying the mercenaries’ services, he stole from them instead. I think he’s supposed to be the lovable fuck-up in our band of heroes, but in my eyes, he’s just a fuck-up. But one man’s fuck-up is another man’s treasure or something, so both Dotta and Venetim’s antics manage to confuse the Demon Lord long enough for Xylo to stick to the original plan.
Yeah, yeah, a surprise attack severely injures Xylo, so there’s some drama. But naturally, it was not enough to take him out. So fueled by the same do-gooder juice as every other anime protagonist — the do-gooder juice known simply as ‘determination’ — our hero keeps on keeping on. Luckily, he even has the time to reflect on his nature as a do-gooder. He has time to bitterly admit that he still wants the praise, he still wants the recognition, etc. — that deep down, he’s no different from the goddesses he lambasts. Cool, so sweet of the Demon Lord to pause its attacks long enough for such heroic epiphanies. It only starts attacking again when Teoritta whips her cloak off and starts summoning the most special of swords — a holy sword that can kill anything! Except… it looks kinda dinky, doesn’t it? Oh well, it’s not the size that matters, but what you do with it! As a result, with some last second assistance from Dotta, Xylo deals the decisive blow that ends the nightmare, which, again, was never in doubt. But I do find it a bit… anticlimactic that all of the VIPs remained relatively unscathed. Maybe we’ll find out in next week’s episode that someone died, but I doubt it.
What’s my problem with this necessarily? I guess it just doesn’t feel like the stakes are all that high. Where’s the drama? Thrice now, our heroes have emerged victorious from all these oh-so-dangerous missions. So the next time they are assigned to yet another “suicidal” mission, I won’t feel any tension. I won’t feel that pit in my stomach that someone important might potentially never come back. And why should I? The story is pulling its punches.
Stray thoughts & observations:
— I guess I’m curious as to who started the conversation between demons and humans. Did the demons somehow spot weaknesses within humanity? ‘Cause to me, they still don’t seem all that smart. They still seem pretty bestial in nature. But if it was the humans who made contact with the demons first, then who? And how did they survive the encounter?
— Teoritta reveals that goddesses cannot attack humans. I suppose that isn’t really all that surprising. The military wants to dissect her and see if they can’t create their own goddesses, but it already kinda feels like they’re manufactured. After all, she says she’s not “structured” to attack humans. “Structured” is an odd word to use here. But I suppose more goddess lore will come our way eventually. It’s just a matter of time.
— Kivia doesn’t quite recognize the demon sympathizers, but she can tell that “they’re some noble family’s private army.” Hm. Unfortunately, we can’t glean any other information from the demon sympathizers, because Tatsuya went and killed them. Apparently, he can scream loud enough to make heads explode. That’s a neat trick, but now we can’t capture the traitors and interrogate them. But you can’t pin the blame on him entirely. The rest of the soldiers go ahead and just murdered the rest of the demon sympathizers. Oh well, maybe we’ll find out one or two survived in next week’s episode.
— Teoritta gets on Xylo’s case for sacrificing himself when he insults the goddesses for doing the same. Sure, but is now really the right time to have this discussion? Yes, actually. In order for Xylo to have his epiphany on the battlefield, she needs to scold him now!
— What’s with his memories being projected on the fortress wall like this?
— When Teoritta launches her assault, which is a rain of gigantic blades, it looks like the Demon Lord can potentially corrupt her swords. This seems to put a strain on the goddess. So is her well-being somehow connected to her weapons? Could we see her get herself corrupted in the future in this fashion?
— Instead of bleeding red, the demons all bleed purple stuff. I get that this differentiates them from humans, but it looks kinda silly. It doesn’t look gross, brutal, or demonic.
— So why does Teoritta need to take her cloak off in order to summon the special sword?
— This is all you get for defeating a Demon Lord, I guess.
— That guy, the one who sentences them all to be heroes, pays Xylo a visit in the infirmary just to say that the demon sympathizers will now see our hero as the enemy. Wasn’t that already obvious?
— Welp, the first headpat has been dealt and received. Get ready for many more before the season ends.
