As the demiplane army routs the much larger force of demons and Tomoe rends the very ground asunder to delay any reinforcements, Mio has decided to handicap herself to an extreme degree. To up the difficulty level against her opponent Left and his reflection skill, she’s limiting herself to firing magic bullets inspired by the Walther PPK, and seems to be having an absolute blast even with the injuries she incurs.
Demon Guest Commander Sofia Bulga and her companion Mitsurugi decide to ambush Tomoki and his party. Sofia is eager to fight a hero and demands over and over to be shown his true strength. When his magic eye fails to enthrall her, he and his comrades throw everything they have in an elaborate all-out attack that fails to put a scratch on Sofia, to say nothing of wiping the justifiably arrogant smirk on her face.
While I wish his allies didn’t have to get hurt, it is a little satisfying to see Tomoki get his ass handed to him; he really is a terrible hero. If there’s anything redeeming about him, it’s that Sofia might just think the other hero is just as much of a pushover, which she’s not.
When his Obliterate trump card fails to kill her and only knocks him out cold, Sofia and at Mitsurugi whose dragon powers have been restored encounter a familiar light in the sky: the “Sorcerer” is in Limia, so that’s where Sofia will go, hungry for a rematch.
Meanwhile, in Limia, Hibiki shows off her revealing new outfit, made from the pelt of her guardian beast and likely stylistically inspired by her dearly departed friend Navarre. I’m still sore about her being killed off, but it undeniably adds both tragedy and stakes to Hibiki’s hero’s journey, beyond anything Tomoki or even Makoto have had to endure.
Alas, when Io arrives and cuts off their escape route, even with her new dubs and armaments and her comrades supporting her Hibiki isn’t any more successful at harming him than Tomoki was at harming Sofia. These demon and demon-allied warriors are tough fuckers!
But we know who’s tougher, and he drops in on the battle just when Io is about to deal a critical blow to Hibiki. Only he doesn’t appear as Kuzunoha because he doesn’t wish for his identity to be revealed, either to Limia or the demons. If the Goddess is forcing him to intercede in his conflict, he’ll do it while wearing the tokusatsu hero suit Mio made him.
The reaction from Hibiki and her allies is hilarious, but it was here where I remembered that, Oh yeah, Makoto frikkin’ knew Hibiki back in Japan! As much as I want him to reveal his identity to her—it would probably be a great comfort to her—that’s unlikely to happen, due to the strategic need for anonymity. Regardless, I’m looking forward to Makoto putting on a show worthy of his flashy Mio-made suit.
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