Fancy Tokusatsu battle suit with voice changer and prompts featuring a chipper electronic Mio voice or no, Makoto could easily put Io into the ground. The thing is, he doesn’t want to. His mission is limited to protecting Hibiki and taking back Fort Stella.
If he doesn’t have to kill a single demon to do so, he’ll do that. He’s not toying with Io, he’s trying to determine how little power he must use, and how many abilities he must reveal, to get the job the Goddess foisted on him done.
Shiki, or should I say Larva, his old name, isn’t so kind to his hulking cow and horse opponents who arrive to back up Io. He ditches the bishounen guise for a very Ainz Ooal Gown-style skeleton appearance and Tsuda Kenjirou drops the gentle voice to his signature sinister purr.
He also puts Hibiki and her party behind a protective shield and warns them not to interfere, being sure she knows that he and his master are only here to protect the Hero, not necessarily her comrades. Meanwhile, Makoto deals a major blow to Io, but taking a page from Navarre he shatters a Rose Sign.
He also roars in such a way that even without telepathy, all of the soldiers in the capital will also shatter their Rose Signs and become nigh invincible killing machines. Shiki releases a weakening smoke across the capital, but Hibiki and the others still can’t abide sitting still.
When they try to escape, Shiki puts up a strong barrier of a design similar to Eris and Aqua’s. Charmed by the hyumans’ moxie, which reminds him of Makoto’s students, He tells Hibiki she has no business going out there to fight if she can’t even bring down his barrier.
So Hibiki tries and tries and tries again, but the barrier won’t budge. She collapses in exhaustion, but wakes up in a strange space. Someone, I’m guessing Tsukuyomi, determines her color (“black”) and asks her what ability she’d like to have bestowed upon her.
In exchange for a reduction in her maximum mana, Hibiki gets the ability to draw strength from the emotions of those around her. Considering how fraught her dealings have been so far and the charisma she exudes, that sounds like an extremely useful and powerful ability. She uses it to shatter Shiki’s barrier, and Shiki is gobsmacked.
Back to Makoto: he uses Investigative Kai and his suit’s dispel ability to take Io’s Rose Sign away. His sudden drop in strength combined with the weakening smoke cause him to collapse, but there’s no rest for the weary Makoto.
Her arrival preceded by a magical bombardment, Sofia drops in and manages to shatter Makoto’s mask. With just the two of them remaining in this hall, Makoto ditches the suit and scowls at Sofia. His fight with Io was plenty entertaining (especially while accompanied by jaunty retro tokusatsu music), but this is the duel I’ve been waiting for.
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