Summary:

When bright red flames suddenly erupted around Misaki City, they quickly overwhelm and knock everyone out. Yuuji eventually wakes back up relatively uninjured and finds everything around him in ruin. Right as he stands up, he gets stabbed in the chest by a Tomogara that he quickly realizes has an incredible power that he never sensed. The arrival of Wilhelmina saves Yuuji, and she also identifies this Tomogara as the assassin Sabrac. Wilhelmina uses her ribbons to grab onto one of Sabrac’s blades, but he cuts off his own arm and sends the blade rocketing toward her. Although she is able to avoid it, the blade explodes in a volley of deadly energy spikes that fly in all directions. Sabrac then regenerates his arm and heads for Yuuji, but Wilhelmina stops his approach. Unfortunately, she has started to suffer from an unrestricted method that she refers to as Stigma – it causes her wounds to open further with time. Yuuji realizes that she got hit with this during the initial explosion that knocked him out because she had protected him. He then worries about Shana and is relieved that he can still sense all of his friends even though they’ve been weakened.

Keisaku meanwhile wakes up before Margery does, but she soon regains consciousness too. Seeing the red flames around them, Marchosias figures out that this had all been a trap set by Sabrac. Unfortunately, Margery is also suffering from the Stigma now, as evidenced by how her back is bleeding. By now, Yuuji and Wilhelmina have taken refuge inside a building, and Wilhelmina comments on how she couldn’t sense Sabrac’s appearance this time either. She explains that Sabrac’s strongest weapon is that others aren’t able to sense beforehand that he’s going to appear, and she had experienced this previous when Sabrac attacked during her travels with Pheles and Johan. That was what forced Pheles to put Johan into the Reiji Maigo, and Wilhelmina knows that Sabrac relies on using surprise attacks to kill his targets before they can regain their balance. What makes it harder is that the Stigma worsens any wounds they get, so they’re fated to fall while being kept on the run. Right as Yuuji questions how they fight an enemy like that, Wilhelmina grabs him and jumps out of the building. A split second later, it crumbles under the force of Sabrac’s sudden attack.

Elsewhere in the ruined city, Kazumi is wandering around while thinking about the cross that Pheles gave her. She finds an injured Shana and helps bandage her up, however her main concern remains Yuuji. Part of that comes from how she feels that she had said something cruel to Yuuji, and Shana admits that she shares those feelings. However, Shana feels that they shouldn’t worry anymore because Yuuji returned to normal, and she is sure that he’s okay. At that moment, he’s being dragged through the city by Wilhelmina as they flee from Sabrac, but Wilhelmina notes that Sabrac can only use his large-scale surprise attack only once in the beginning. Plus, he’ll only fight the enemy in front of him and won’t commence another large-scale attack, meaning that Shana and Margery should be safe as long as Wilhelmina’s the one who has his attention. With Sabrac now rapidly closing in on them, she attacks him first, dodges his counterattack, and then tries to strike back with a drill made of her ribbons. This, however, does not hurt him at all. Yuuji thinks of Sabrac as a monster because of how powerful Sabrac is, and he considers his own abilities, but Wilhelmina says that there’s something else she wants him to do .

Meanwhile, after Keisaku bandages her up, Margery decides to dampen his determination to help by asking him what he’d do if she died. Keisaku doesn’t have an answer, and their conversation is soon interrupted by a giant explosion in the distance that actually resulted from Wilhelmina trying to destroy Sabrac after crushing him between two buildings. Even this does not finish him off though, and when Wilhelmina asks him about Zarovee and Bifrons, Sabrac admits that he had Bel Peol arrange it for him. Wilhelmina thus concludes that the request came from the Bal Masqué and that they’re still after the Reiji Maigo. When Sabrac attacks again, Wilhelmina blows him out of the sky with her ribbons, but Sabrac reforms himself and responds with a multi-directional attack that breaks the ribbon that Wilhelmina is using to hold onto Yuuji. This allows him to capture Yuuji, however it turns out to be only a doll made out of ribbons. The real Yuuji had earlier been dropped off in a sewer pipe that he has sensed something from, and as he runs, he tries to think of how to defeat Sabrac. Wilhelmina meanwhile continues her fight with Sabrac, but her wounds have gotten worse, and she’s breathing heavily now.

Preview:

Well that was a pretty exciting battle episode with a lot of back and forth, but I didn’t really feel that Wilhelmina ever had the upper hand. I was a little surprised (in a good way) that the episode was devoted to her fighting, and she got to show off the versatility of her ribbons, however given how powerful Sabrac is, she really could use some backup. Yuuji ended up being fairly worthless and even went back to screaming at one point, though he does seem to realize something towards the end of the episode.

Speaking of backup, what I don’t understand is why the Bal Masque doesn’t ever make a full-force attack. If they want the Reiji Maigo so much, why don’t they overwhelm Shana and company with all of their top people? Sabrac, Bel Peol, Sydonay, Hecate, and Fecor could probably wipe the floor with Shana, Wilhelmina, Margery, and whoever else. Instead, as it stands now, if the preview for next week is any indicator, it looks like Shana and company will combine their powers and find a way to defeat Sabrac. For the sake of keeping things interesting, I’m hoping there’s another twist in there somewhere…

38 Comments

  1. ” Damn, Wilhelmina facing off against Sabrac? A fateful encounter indeed. She has to survive this!!!!! The maid character must survive!!!!! ”

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    Tensai Otaku
  2. “went back to screaming scared.”
    What do you expect? He has very poor experience in battle and then something like THIS pops out and creates one big mess. He’ll kick asses soon enough 😉 In the end Shana will save the day anyways.

  3. Yuuji will do something soon since he’s the only person who knows about Sabrac. He sure looks too powerful 3 on 1 and still looks like nothing happen. One whole episode with just fighting awesome.

    setsuke
  4. Actually, I’m a little disappointed in Sabrac. I expected him to pawn them all, but it looks like Wilhelmina is holding her own against him and the other flame hazes aren’t even involved in the fight. Of course, I’ll know better once I see the episode.

    Concerning Yuuji, I’m not really surprised he went back to screaming. The guy he beat last ep. was a pretty weak opponent after all. He still has ways to go and has no chance against stronger opponents.

    Darklord
  5. Please, I think it’s fairly obvious that Sabrac wasn’t even serious with his fight against Wilhemina.

    As for Yuuji, NOT surprising, since Zarovee isn’t really that much of a challenge. Of course he’ll panic when faced with a very VERY dangerous Tomogara like Sabrac.

    Myssa Rei
  6. Makes you think how powerful is this Sabrac if he can still scare Yuji shitless.

    And it’s actually nice to see Wilhelmina back in all the fighting again, instead of making cooking her biggest challenge every time see her.

    Owaranai Destiny
  7. In terms of fighting technique, Wilhelmina has shown most diverse moves by any flame haze. I haven’t read the book but I think it will need full power from Alastor to damage Sabrac, thus Yuuji needs fetch Shana soon.

    maglor
  8. “-Wilhelmina spent the entire episode trying to take down Sabrac, and she still wasn’t able to. I was hoping for Yuuji to do something, but he was fairly useless and even went back to screaming scared.”

    That’s a bit biased…Wilhelmina is one of the top Flame Hazes(top 4 in fact) while Yuuji just learned how to fight…it’s obvious that he can’t do anything at the moment…but just you wait till next episode…

    iamandragon
  9. Also, Wilhelmina was fighting with a BIG wound fromn protecting yuuji. I think she could have done much better if she had not put herself as a shield to save Yuuji. It is pretty obvious she will survive for so many reasons.

    golthin
  10. Well let see Willhelmina is like 1000 years old, Shana is max 100 years, Margery is about 500~700 years old and Yuuji is 14. Compare this to Sabrac who is an ancient mercenary and has lots of battle experience and had probably faced a small group of Flame Hazes before which tried to take him down. So it wouldn’t be quite surprising that he would be toying with Shana and everyone else.

    Cherubium
  11. Re: Cherubium

    In the Tendou-kyu plot arc in the first series, we see Wilhelmina walking through a modern-looking Japan prior to Shana making her contract. The price listed on a packaged melon-pan given to Shana is 99 yen. These factors seem to imply that this plot arc took place no earlier than the early 90s or so. I would estimate that, at most, Shana has been a flame haze for ten years before the start of the series, making her no older than about 24 or so.

    Also recall that at the start of the series, Shana wasn’t even capable of using her flame without relying on the power of the Nietono no Shana. This means no flight, no energy attacks, and only the simplest of Unrestricted Spells (casting fuzetsu, repairing damage, making torches, etc). Compare her early battles against Margery to what she’s capable of now. If we assume her capacity for growth is due to some combination of latent potential and Alastor’s influence, then there’s no actual reason to believe Shana has been a flame haze for very long at all.

    Anonymous
  12. The problem with Alastor is that he sucks at Unrestricted Spells–being such a powerful demon himself there never was once a time he had to go any further than punching with his fist, so naturally he couldn’t teach any of his containers any unrestricted spells, unlike other Guze residents. Shana is actually growing at an incredible rate.
    Sabrac is simply way too(ridiculously) strong for any Flame Haze to take on alone…he does not only possess great power, but he’s also a very sly assassin.

    iamandragon
  13. Sabrac destroyed Yuji’s bookmark thingy at the start, what was that? Blautsauger? And actually if you look carefully the bookmark seems to appear just before Sabrac stabs Yuji.. Any ideas?

    Anonymous
  14. The way the episode sets it up as impossible for Sabrac to be defeated, I wonder whether Kazumi will wind up summoning Pheles to help save Yuji…Wilhemina is impressive at fighting and yet she hardly stands a chance against Sabrac. Hes awesome. [and yet I can’t help but hate him for trying to kill everyone ^.^]

    cas
  15. Now we remember the episodes on Shana-tan and all…I wonder what they can make up for this episode. Maybe Wilhelmina and her bondage ability. Anyways, great episode! I can’t wait for the next one to come up!

    Dando008
  16. Heh, knives would do crap all against Alastor…
    Why do Margery and Shana become seemingly useless after the wounds while Wilhelmina suddenly shows more power than ever before?

    Darkenedjib
  17. For the poll on KOTOKO I had to pick 1 (horrible). Her singing sounds more like high pitched wailing to me then anything else and I wish Japan would stop this charade of idols. If they can sing, good. If they can sing AND are glamourous all the more intriguing, if they are glamourous but sound like a shrieking banshee when they step up to the microphone then we’re just humouring ourselves and them like with Will Hung.

  18. KOTOKO is alright imo but she is just not suited to soft notes (ie in Blaze before chorus). She sounds better singing with some force (Blaze chorus, BEING, Hayate-N-G)

    Darkenedjib
  19. I just realized this…

    “… with all of their top people? Sabrac, Bel Peol, Sydonay, Hecate, and Fecor…”

    I think it was reasonable as to why they’d want Sabrac to help. Because Sabrac has no actual alignment, he’s just hired by Ball Masque to kill. Or so at least I think 😛

    As for Sydonay, Hecate, Bel Peol and Fecor I think most of the protagonists are able to have an equal face-off fight with them, so that’s when they need a third party – Sabrac – to get rid of them.

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