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!

With this show’s relentless pacing, Xylo and company earn themselves a brief reprieve, but it’s only long enough to put all the moving pieces in their right place. In other words, we get a quick debrief, meet a couple of new faces, then before you know it, blood and guts start flying again. This helps keep the majority of viewers at the end of their seats, but I do wonder if our characters will have much depth to them by the end of the first season (this series’ll obviously get a sequel). All we really have so far is that Xylo operates like a typical anime protagonist: willing to sacrifice it all just to be heroic. He’s a bit older looking than your average anime lead, so he’s also a bit more jaded. But there’s nothing here that defies expectations. In seven episodes, I would’ve liked a bit more substance to the cast. But there’s little time for self-reflection when you’re constantly jumping from one Demon Lord to the next.

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!

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.