The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic – 11 – Doing What Needed to Be Done

As she lies on the ground beaten and bleeding, Suzune remembers that dark, rainy day when she and Kazuki were at school late. She hid her sad smiles from Kazuki when he praised her for earning the teachers’ complete trust and exceeding their expectations.

Then they met Ken, who forgot his umbrella, ended up in another world, and Suzune was able to be herself, and Ken accepted her true self, not the fake Suzune she’d created back home. She thought as long as the three of them were together, everything would work out.

My attitude going in? If Suzune or Kazuki die, I RIOT. Well, we don’t know how this story ends, but so far, Suzune’s still right! Before the Black Knight can deliver a killing blow, Ken charges in at Mach K and delivers a hell of a right hook to the Black Knight, sending them flying.

When Suzune comes to, she and Kazuki are being healed by Ken. They were certainly in a bad way like his vision, but they were still breathing. He made it in time by not hesitating. They all stuck together, and things worked out.

As expected, the nanosecond things started not going exactly the Black Knight’s way, she (as it turns out) gets all whiny and petulant about How Things Are Supposed To Be, and fury at why those things Aren’t That Way. She’s nothing but a cheatin’-ass bully, and it’s time to put her in her place. Not only is Ken able to actually harm her and damage her suit of mana armor, but her attacks have no effect on him.

Throughout their battle Ken is surrounded by a green healing aura that turns her razor-sharp attacks into black goop. But this is no stalemate; Black Knight can’t hurt Ken, but he can most definitely hurt her. When Kazuki comes to, he and Suzune watch the battle and aren’t sure why Ken’s attacks aren’t continuously healing his opponent.

Then it dawns on Suzune: the Black Knight has a weakness to healing magic. Not only that, but Ken’s healing fists are powerful enough on their own to deal significant damage. When Suzune actually says the titular line, “That’s definitely the wrong way to use healing magic,” I did a fist pump.

At first Black Knight is able to heal her armor, but as the battle wears on, it’s clear she’s losing mana. We’d seen her in the past lazing around, sailing by with her nigh-invincible armor. But Ken isn’t tiring; thanks to his ridiculous training regime, this is a walk in the park.

When she tries to go all out with one final attack, Ken’s fist meets the tip of her enlarged sword, blows through it, surrounds both of them in an gleaming emerald aura, and delivers a devastating punch to her gut. The Black Knight is knocked out and her suit of armor melts away, revealing a beautiful young demon woman with silver hair.

She’s promptly tied up and taken as a prisoner. Suzune messes with him a bit by telling him she overheard his embarrassing shounen name for his attack, but then gets serious and thanks him for saving her. Since she and Kazuki are all healed up, they head back to the front, while Rose orders Ken back to camp with her.

While he, Rose, and the other healers continue to treat the wounded and poisoned, they suddenly see a bright flash of light mixed with lightning: Suzune and Kazuki have done their part by taking down the giant snake monster, which was never going to be as tough as the Black Knight with her reflective anti-hero armor.

With the capture of their most powerful knight and killing of the giant snake, the Demon Army beats a swift retreat, their morale in tatters. Amila is at least level-headed enough to know they don’t stand a chance against Rose, Siglis, and a second Healing Monster in White.

With the battle being a complete victory thanks to Ken, Rose gives him his proper due, while also praising him for making it back to her alive. She admits he reminds her of comrades who only live on in her memory who represented the best of the Rescue Team, and now Ken has similarly distinguished himself.

Upon hearing her kind words, Ken can’t help but tear up, reminding Rose that at the end of the day he’s still a green seventeen-year-old kid. When he finally runs out of mana and stamina and passes out in her arms, she holds him close and tells him he did good.

So did this episode, which was full of heart, emotion, and some outstanding character work while also providing quite a bit of nifty, satisfying action. It’s a true gem of an episode that brought the whole season together—an emerald, if you will.