It’s episode 20, and in the left corner we have Destructive Blade, Sabrac, one of the most famous, and deadly, assassins in the Crimson World. And in the right corner we have the Manipulator of Objects, Wilhelmina Carmel, the powerful Flame Haze and teacher of Shana. Let’s get it on!
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Go Straight to the Screenshots | Go Straight to the Review
The highlights of this episode:
- A flaming circle suddenly appears in the crater created from the last episode, shooting up flaming missiles, causing Shana and Wilhelmina to try to protect themselves. Yuji is dropped by Wilhelmina, and then suddenly finds himself with a sword pointed right at him by a shadowy denizen: Sabrac. However, Wilhelmina recovers from the initial attack and saves Yuji.
- Sabrac and Wilhelmina engage in a fierce battle, each unable to hit the other, when Yuji notices that Wilhelmina is bleeding, and that her bleeding isn’t stopping. She explains that it is one of Sabrac’s speciality unrestricted methods: stigma, the ability to not only prevent wounds from healing, but actively causing them to get worse over time.
- Yuji suddenly realizes that Shana is nowhere to be found and realizes that she must have been hit by Sabrac’s initial barrage as well. However, even though he can’t see her, he can sense her and clams down. Meanwhile, at the map of Misaki, Satou has been protected from the blast by Margery, who also has several wounds which won’t heal due to stigma. Also, Yoshida wonders outside due to the Fuzetsu and eventually finds Shana, who also has an unhealing wound on her arm, unconscious within the devastation
- During a lull in the battle, Wilhelmina tells Yuji that another one of Sabrac’s specialities is the ability to hide his presence until he is right on top of someone. She also explains that his usual way of doing things is using this stealth to mount a massive first attack, such as the one he launched against them, and to finish off his target before they can recover.
- Sabrac attacks Wilhelmina once again, and she escapes with Yuji. However, when flying over the crater, Yuji gets and odd feeling, but can figure out why. Meanwhile, Wilhelmina continues to explain that while Sabrac is incredibly strong, he does have a few weaknesses: the massive attack he uses can only be used once in a battle, and Sabrac always fights the target directly in front of him, ignoring anyone else who might be around.
- During the fight, Wilhelmina looks like she finally gets the advantage, and attacks Sabrac with a spiral created by her ribbons, ramming Sabrac into a building and then having the ribbons explode. However, Sabrac appears untouched from the attack. Yuji thinks about using Blutsauger, but Wilhelmina tells him to stop since she wants him to do something else.
- The pair continue to battle, with Wilhelmina tricking Sabrac into going down an ally, where Wilhelmina uses her ribbons to close two buildings on top of him and shooting a giant fireball at him. However, once again Sabrac is untouched. Wilhelmina fires ribbons at Sabrac, which he cuts up. However, Wilhelmina has put a spell on the ribbons to explode after being cut up, but once again Sabrac is unharmed. Sabrac then attacks Wilhelmina and she drops Yuji and Sabrac catches him. However, Yuji suddenly turns into a bunch of ribbons which suddenly explode in Sabrac’s hands. Once again, Sabrac is unharmed.
- Meanwhile, Yuji, who was dropped off while Sabrac was trapped in the alley way, climbs into a sewer line in the crater so that he can look for some clue that can lead to Sabrac’s defeat. Meanwhile, Sabrac launches his finishing attack against Wilhelmina…
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NOOOOOOO!!!!!! Screw cliffhangers!
The days of Shana and Yoshida angst are long gone. This episode is fighting, fighting, and more fighting. Wilhelmina throws everything but the kitchen sink at Sabrac, showing just show powerful she is. Unfortunately for her, Sabrac seems to be impervious to any attack she throws at him. Meanwhile, Shana and Margery still seem too injured to enter the battle yet. And it’s clear Wilhelmina can’t last much longer against Sabrac.
The main thing I’m curious about is this feeling Yuji is getting form the crater. I think he suspects - and I kind of suspect it too - that something isn’t quite what it seems. Either Sabrac is being fed a seemingly unlimited amount of energy, much like Sorath and Tyrael in the first season, or the possibility that Wilhelmina has just been fighting a series of avatars, and that Sabrac is actually hiding somewhere, replacing one avatar with another once they get destroyed (but since the avatar’s destruction would typically be shielded by smoke and/or explosions, Wilhelmina can’t see it). Either of those would lend a sense of indestructibility to Sabrac.
I’m also wondering when/if Shana and/or Margery will enter the battle. Sabrac’s weakness of only fighting the person right in front of him could cause him trouble by causing him to be susceptible to a from-behind attack by someone else. We also have Yoshida involved now, and remember that she has the treasure which can call Pheles, but which will, according to Pheles, result in her death. Will that be used next?
We also learn (even though I didn’t put it in my write-up) that Sabrac was sent to kill Wilhelmina by the Bal Masqué, and that the situation with Zavoree was just a trap set up by Sabrac with help of Bel Peol.
This is really a situation which feels like one of the Flame Hazes could get finished off. However, part of that problem is that puts them at a serious situation when they have to face the Bal Masqué again, given that they’ll be fighting probably 6 denizens: the 3 core members of the Bal Masqué, the Silver, the professor, and Fecor, though I get a feeling that Hecate may end up turning.
I most definitely can’t wait for the next episode after this cliffhanger.
