A huge blue dome of energy surrounds the clock tower with Yuji staring at the Reiji Maigo in the possession of Hecate. Back at where they keep the Silver, the mad scientist explains how they’ve had Sabrac place a location tracker on the Reiji Maigo, how they inserted a defensive mechanism and a separation mechanism on Pheles’ Keeper as well and how everything has gone off as planned. Hecate sends off the Reiji Maigo to the Silver and tells it to awaken.

Wow, Yuji is so screwed. Now that his, life-support, per se, is no longer with him, he’s pretty much on limited time. And, finally, things are starting to unravel in regards to Bal Masque’s plans. It hasn’t been fully revealed, but now some of the questions are being answered.

Outside the blue dome, Shana finally reaches the front of it as the ground around the area starts to shift and crumble. The other Flame Hazes appear as well. Yoshida is running towards the area too while in the Fuzetsu cast by Margery. Her Hougu starts to light up while she’s heading to the dome. Meanwhile, the Flame Hazes are unable to break open the dome. At the same time, Hecate summons forth pillars of existence power and they all feed into the dome. Alastor believes it’s Bel Peol behind the energy. The energy is then used to power up the Silver. All this time, the clock tower has transformed into a twisted pile of steel. Inside, Yuji knows that if he doesn’t get the Reiji Maigo back, he’s done for. He can still sense the Reiji Maigo, and that it’s being drained.

Outside again, Yoshida finally reaches the dome and explains to them that the Reiji Maigo was removed from Yuji. She further explains that Johan told her what had happened via Hougu she carried. Margery makes use of the situation to ask Sato to use the special device from season one to examine the dome and look for an opening. Inside, Yuji decides that he must do something, so he goes inside the steel-twisted maze to find his Reiji Maigo. However, while inside, he has to fight off a robot fleet defending it.

This episode is starting to get quite thick, as things are starting to get very bad for the main characters. Yuji’s existence is at hand, the help can’t get in, and pretty much all the odds are against them. However, this is the type of anime that always ends on good terms, so it’s not really about how bad it’s turned out. It’s really more about how they’re going to resolve this mess. It’s pretty similar to the Sabrac incident.

Sato locates a possible opening and the Flame Hazes go off. They expect a trap, so Margery volunteers to go in first to take in the attack. As expected, the moment they go in, Metamorphosis is waiting for them and quickly incapacitates Margery. Now it’s a 2v2 fight. The mad scientist guy is there too, who goes on to explain what they’ve been up to this whole time. He explains how Hecate’s clone was used to collect emotions to gain data of the environment to control the experiment. He goes on to point out that a being that uses power of existence as its fuel, emotions for its brain, and the Reiji Maigo as a heart, will be born from the twisted metal. A Tomogara born only of Guze in the human world. Something he calls the Statue of Pride. Shana and Wilhelmina go on the attack to destroy this thing before it’s created while Metamorphosis and Hecate go on the defense.

After the explanation from the mad scientist guy (can’t seem to remember his name, and too lazy to look it up) everything now is starting to make sense. They’ve been after the Reiji Maigo all this time as a fuel source to power their machine and all that crap with Konoe is somehow important for their creation so it could have… common sense?! Whatever. The next episode’s the finale, so it’s going to be an all out battle it seems.

At Bal Masque, it turns out that Sabrac may have been defeated, but not killed as he is talking to Bel Peol. Still, apparently he accomplished what was needed of him and therefore he sets off to do his own things instead of idling around at Bal Masque. Meanwhile, Bel Peol indicates to the rest it’s time to begin. At Sato’s place, Sato tries to make a phone call, but can’t go through with it. He explains to Margery he’s willing to work at Outlaw and will do whatever it takes, even as far as asking for help from those he never wants to rely on (in reference to his father). Margery can’t believe his resolve despite all her threats and attempts to scare him away from Outlaw.

I had a feeling Sabrac would not be that easily killed after all that hype he was given. Him being alive just leaves it open for another season or at least more content for future novels, although I don’t think he will be making another appearance on this series or in the novels any time soon. As for Bal Masque’s plans, get on with it already. They keep alluding to some master plan with the Silver, but not one extra hint as to what they are going to do with it.

As Shana and Yuji head home after the end of the semester, Yuji’s father unexpectedly appear waiting for Yuji. His father has something to tell him so Shana heads off on her own. Meanwhile, at one of the bridges, Yuji’s father asks Yuji for his permission to place the number “three” to the name of his new brother or sister. Yuji realizes then that his mother is pregnant. He goes on to explain that Yuji is actually their second child, as the first one died due to birthing problems, hence Yuji’s name having the “two” in his name, and the third who will carry the “three”.

I guess Yuji’s mom, Chigusa, actually had a reason to be sick, which is pregnancy. I did leave out a lot of detail of his conversation with his father, but you get the gist of it. Now Yuji has even more reason to defend his city, which means he’s stuck there. The thought that comes to mind is, Yuji is already dead and therefore shouldn’t age. Somehow, on terms of some realism, it’s going to be an awkward situation when his family realizes he’s not aging. Anyway, I wonder what the “first born” thing is all about. It can’t just be the author simply wanting to explain Yuji’s name. It must be for some future plot.

At a bench, Shana awaits for Yoshida to show up. When she shows up, she tells Yoshida to teach her how to make babies, which of course, shocks Yoshida. Shana explains that Yuji and his family wouldn’t tell her. Yoshida explains to Shana that she shouldn’t ask those things in public. Afterward, Shana and Yoshida talks about how they will settle once and for all who Yuji will choose. Shana thinks the best way to do this is to make him decide based on separate letters that they write to him. Basically, the letters will both tell him to meet one of the girls. Who he decides to meet will mean that is who he chooses emotionally as well. Shana writes that she will be in the North exit while Yoshida indicates she will be in the South exit during the Illumination Fiesta, which is the next day. The letters are dropped off to Yuji.

It’s just entertaining how Shana blurts out her interest in wanting to learn how to make babies. I’m surprised all the studying that she did growing up did not yield an explanation to her already. If she could recite Shakespeare ala first episode, I would assume she also studied science, and hence some knowledge of biology. At least she came up with a good idea as to how to settle the love triangle. Put all the pressure on Yuji, of course.

Afterward, Ike is headed home when Yoshida bumps into him. He takes the moment to ask her if he can take a moment of her time tomorrow. She tells him it’s fine as long as she can still make it to her scheduled time to wait for Yuji to see who he picks. Upon hearing that, Ike tells her that’s fine as he wants her to hear what his feelings are for her. The next day, at Shana’s place, Shana and Wilhelmina get into an argument when Shana reveals her plans to Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina comes to terms with the facts and decides to help Shana prepare for that night instead.

That night, Ike tells Yoshida his feelings. He tells her she doesn’t have to answer him, but instead when she makes up her mind, to either walk to him or go wait for Yuji. She decides to wait for Yuji. Yuji shows up in front of the clock tower and looks at the directions leading to the girls. Before he could make a decision, Hecate shows up and takes the Reiji Maigo out from him alerting all the Flame Hazes immediately.

What a way to end a rather slow episode. Hecate right off the bat. No tricks to separate Yuji from the others and no need for the Bal Masque goons to assist her. Just show up right in front of him and rip out the Reiji Maigo from Yuji. That was unexpected. I should’ve known it wouldn’t be as easy as Yuji just showing up and choosing one of the girls.

Continuing off from the previous episode, Yoshida is bandaging Shana’s arm when Yuji appears out from the sewers. Yuji asks that Yoshida bandage Shana’s injuries with Wilhelmina’s bandages. Back at the fight with Sabrac, Wilhelmina is fighting a losing battle and Sabrac powers up to prepare for a killing blow. He charges in but is interrupted by Shana. Sabrac can’t believe that Shana is still mobile after being hit with Stigma. Wilhelmina explains that Johan was able to find away to defeat Stigma, and at that point, both she and Shana rid themselves of their injuries to the surprise of Sabrac. Shana also gives Wilhelmina a communicator card where Yuji explains to her a plan that he, Shana, and Margery devised to top Sabrac.

It’s an interesting trump card that Wilhelmina pulled off against Sabrac, but if you think about the time that was spent running away from Sabrac and giving the special bandages to Shana and Margery Daw, would it not be more efficient for Wilhelmina to have healed her own wounds from the start? That and maybe keep some blood stained bandages to not let Sabrac catch on. Another thing I don’t understand is why their clothing restored itself. I guess I shouldn’t question the power of magic.

Yuji further explains that before Sabrac appeared, he sensed a faint energy source around the city. At first he believed it was Zarovee or the Wanderer, but it didn’t disappear after the two were defeated, and he felt the presence was stronger while he was in the sewers running towards Shana. Yuji believes that Sabrac is a large Tomogara that encompasses the entire city, and only manifests only a piece of his total self into a human form for convenience’s sake. Wilhelmina makes the connection as to how Sabrac seemingly does not take any damage despite receiving direct hits. Yuji explains his plan to Wilhelmina, but it’s not revealed what it is, but Yoshida and Sato are directing Wilhelmina and Margery where to go. Wilhelmina agrees while Margery goes around the city casting spell insignias.

Well, all of this explaining actually does seem to make some sense. But Sabrac is actually under the entire city? That was something I never expected. But why doesn’t Sabrac just make himself bigger to become a more imposing figure? Or smaller to be more annoying? Doesn’t seem to be a really well thought out character all of a sudden. Anyway, back to the episode.

The plot thickens as the plan takes shape. Margery is placing spells in a very organized manner while Wilhelmina is luring Sabrac to a certain location. During the fight, Shana exits the fight leaving Wilhelmina to deal with Sabrac. In a quick flashback, it details more of what Yuji explained to the group on how to possibly defeat Sabrac. He explains that Sabrac has a huge body, but really only has enough energy as any normal Tomogara, which is the reason why he only deals with whoever’s in the vicinity of his visible form. Back to the present, Shana sits down to regain all her energy. Elsewhere, while Margery is planting spells, Sato tells her that he can’t think of what happens after Margery dies, and instead prefers to focus his energies on keeping her alive.

After seeing the flashback, I now understand why in the previous episode Wilhelmina spent a good amount of time describing the pros and cons of Sabrac. I thought it was just to introduce Sabrac, not actually something to be recycled to strategize against Sabrac.

Back at the fight, Sabrac goes in for the kill, again, but at that point Margery casts off her spell, which reveals that her insignias create a circular surrounding area with Sabrac in the center. For some reason, the anime’s first opening song (”Joint”) starts playing. Then the area within the spell is lifted off the ground, revealing the existence energy strands that connected to Sabrac breaking off. Shana gets up and before heading off, is ready to tell Yuji something, but changes her mind and heads off to Sabrac. Alastor tells Shana that he’s impressed by Yuji’s contributions during this situation. Shana powers up and charges straight at Sabrac. Sabrac blocks the attack, but without the connection to his power, he’s overwhelemd and defeated. The next day, Yuji’s mom is fine again, and Yuji apologizes to Yoshida for what he said to her. He then asks Shana what she was going to tell him before she defeated Sabrac. Shana is embarrassed and tells him it was nothing, leading to her patented triple Urusais.

After some serious episodes, it’s somewhat nice to see that this arc ended on a light atmosphere. I’m a little surprised that Sabrac, having been hyped up since the appearance of Pheles, was defeated so quickly. I truly believed that Sabrac was going to combine forces with Bal Masque to create an ultimate final battle for this season. But no. Two episodes and the Sabrac threat is neutralized. Oh well. At this point, with only three episodes left, there’s only one more big event left for everyone to deal with. It’s going to be Bal Masque and the underlying plot that has been going on since the appearance of Konoe.