For all the build up, Spriggan gets sniped immediately at the start of the episode, and by Tsav of all people, too. Rhyno, the demon formerly known as Puck Puca, then personally finishes the job by stomping the life out of Spriggan. Not before relishing in Spriggan’s cries of fear, of course. Naturally, I don’t feel bad for the demon who murdered a bunch of orphans. I just… sure, I didn’t expect Spriggan to go out like this, so I guess you could argue that the show surprised me. But why? Why take this route? Franci did this whole “I must find the demon lurking within the city” schtick episodes ago just for said demon to go out like a chump. Spriggan didn’t even put up a fight. Hell, its best laid plans were to try and assassinate Teoritta in relative daylight. It’s so anticlimactic. Defying expectations doesn’t mean it’s automatically narrative brilliance. What it does mean, however, is that Xylo was just a decoy. All this time, I thought that this was his story, but it was someone else’s instead: Kivia’s.

When we last left off with Xylo and gang, a bunch of people had decided to shelter in place instead of evacuating the city. As a result, our heroes, who are already short on manpower, have to protect these folks against a seemingly unending horde of faeries. So as you can imagine, it would help a lot if the civilians could lend a hand and fight for their lives. It doesn’t take long before Rhyno offers his two cents on the matter. He definitely thinks like a Demon Lord. “Oh, you consider this unethical?” Bro, c’mon. How long have you pretended to be human? You still haven’t picked up on basic human ethics? Then again, there are actual humans around us who still haven’t picked on basic human ethics.

After last week’s bombshell of an ending, I wanted the show to keep up the momentum. But instead of a direct encounter against Spriggan or even Boojum, we get another setup episode. Basically, the faeries have taken over an important defensive position — some coastal tower — and they’re about to attack the city itself. As a result, we spend most of this week’s episode making plans. Oh well, it is what it is. Some loose thoughts and observations then.

Lideo opens the episode by saying, “Family willing to die for family. That’s how the world should be.” I get it. We all value our immediate family more than this vague idea of humanity. We all have a stronger emotional connection to our immediate family over anyone else. But isn’t that precisely the problem? Nepotism and corruption in general are all strangling society as we speak, because we worship at the altar of “family.” It’s not the sole reason; greed is certainly another major (if not the biggest) factor. But we’re in this mess, because a lot of people do think like Lideo. How many of these “Coexisters” believe that they’re simply protecting their family? The world’s going to hell anyway, so fuck it, lemme get my tiny slice of the pie! I’ll sell anyone out as long as I can protect my family! Well, when a bunch of people feel the same way, no wonder humanity is losing! You people can’t look past the trees to see the forest! Hell, why did I bother even writing all of this out? Later in the episode, Boojum pretty much spells it out for us: “Lideo Sodrick taught me something important. There’s nothing more important to humans than protecting themselves and their families, or securing proportionate benefits for themselves. To value other things more than protecting their race as a whole…” The demons have us completely figured out.

A bunch of holy knights were supposed to back the gang up in last week’s episode, but Kivia’s crew never showed up. Obviously, someone sabotaged them, but who? It doesn’t take long before they instantly clue in on the adventurer’s guild. They thus hatch a plan to kidnap the guildmaster for questioning. You know how Dotta has sticky fingers? Apparently, he can even steal a grown ass man. It wouldn’t be the most audacious thing he’s tried to steal; just before he was sentenced to be a hero, he tried to abscond with a dragon in order to save the crown prince. So swiping a guildmaster should be easy, right? Not if he’s flanked by an army of child assassins!