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Summary:
As the invading forces drop an army of Slaves onto the city, Natsuki declares an emergency, releases the safeties to all of the Robes, and tells the Otome to guard their guests. But John Smith points his cannon right at the arena and blows it up. Mashiro wakes up from the blast in the safety of some nearby woods with Aoi, Mikoto, and Arika. They are found and joined by Erstin. Inside the city, Sergay sends Nina to Nagi while the Aswald group appears and heads toward the academy. From her office, Natsuki is worried about Arika and Mashiro, and declares that the Otome need to take up defensive positions. Miss Maria rushes in to tell her that the Aswald group has reached the steps of the academy. Meanwhile, Arika and Mashiro’s group are hiding when they are spotted by a woman who alerts the Schwarz forces to Mashiro’s presence, forcing the group to run.
As Natsuki and Shizuru walk out to meet the Aswald group, Shizuru comments about how their juniors have been bullied by the Aswald and Natsuki notes that the Aswald have somehow become entangled in this mess. After Midori declares that she’ll defeat them, Natsuki and Shizuru materialize their Robes. Midori summons Gakutenou, and the two groups face off. In the sewers under the city, Mikoto senses something and starts to hiss. Sergay appears and fires his gun twice, killing the two cloaked men who were behind Mashiro. Back above ground, John Smith loads a special cartridge into his weapon, which emits a female figure (who looks like Rena) that disrupts Fumi’s mausoleum and destroys the underground structures. The immediate result is that all of the Robes, including Natsuki and Shizuru’s, are disabled. Midori has Natsuki against a wall when Yohko comes to stop her. She explains that the Robes disappeared because the certification system is experiencing interference. To add to the chaos, several Slaves land around them and Midori’s hand GEM breaks. The Aswald group takes their leave, but Yohko calls out Midori and Reito’s names. Before he jumps off, Reito tells her that he’s Rado – a cyborg. On the outskirts of the city, Nina watches as a fleet of Nagi’s ships appear.
At the old airport, Arika is noticing that her Robe and GEM are gone when John Smith rides up to them. Arika tries to attack him, but his hover bike’s gun keeps her away. Her Sapphire of the Azure Sky starts to glow, and on Sergay’s advice, Arika and Mashiro activate her Meister Robe. But John Smith has another card up his sleeve: Erstin. A shocked Arika watches as Erstin opens her hand to reveal a glowing purple crystal. As Erstin summons her Slave, John Smith tells Arika that Erstin’s family has always served Schwarz. Meanwhile, Natsuki and Shizuru are surrounded, so Shizuru acts as a decoy while Natsuki gets away. She meets up with Nao and the two make their way to the old airport.
Arika has no choice but to fight the slave. Each of her hits also hurts Erstin because a Slave and its Lord are connected in the same way that an Otome and a master are. It’s at this time that Nagi, with Nina at his side, finally appears. Nagi reveals himself to be the person behind all of this and wants Mashiro to give herself up. John Smith orders Erstin to attack Arika, and she reluctantly complies while apologizing to Arika. However, it is Sergay who saves Arika from a deadly blow. Though he himself is relatively unhurt, the handkerchief comes flying out of Sergay’s coat. Everyone is in shock, especially Nina, and they become even more so when Sergay announces that Arika is the real princess and true successor to Windbloom. Nagi accuses Sergay of betraying him, and then figures out that Sergay protected Arika because he is serious about her. The revelations are too much for Nina, and as she starts to crack, Nagi’s jewel starts to glow. It brings forth two red GEMs – one for her and one for Nagi. Nina nods in agreement to the contract, and so Nagi activates the Ultimate Black Diamond, summoning Nina’s Meister Robe. In her anger, Nina brings forth her weapons and rushes towards Arika. Erstin cries for them to stop and her Slave gets in the way of Nina’s attack. By destroying the Slave, Nina has caused Erstin’s death. Erstin apologizes to both Arika and Nina, and tells them not to fight. Her final words say that she was happy because they were friends. Arika and Nina are in tears after Erstin disappears into green sparkles. But the two of them are now even angrier at each other. Both jump back and summon giant versions of their weapons, and the ensuing explosion envelopes the area.
This episode is awesome on so many levels. Brand new Robes, tons of twists, and even a death! As people have said, the sh*t is really hitting the fan now.
–Pillars=Columns. Or rather, they translate it as “Colums” lol. I’m not very comfortable with saying the five Columns, so I’ll probably stick to calling them Pillars.
–Natsuki’s Robe! Well we caught a glimpse of Natsuki’s Robe in the new OP last week, but this week shows it in action. We only get to see her use the extendable parts of her Robe to attack Gakutenou before John Smith spoils the fun.
–John Smith’s Weapon It really looks like a projection of Rena that disables the thing underground Fumi’s mausoleum. But what does that mean? Did Schwarz somehow preserve Rena, and that’s what is in the capsule they loaded into the cannon?
–A Fumi sighting!
–Erstin the traitor. I guess it’s not that fair to call her that, since she is a rather reluctant pawn. I hadn’t expected Erstin to be the recipient of the letter (from last week) coming into this episode. But it becomes pretty obvious once the episode starts and Erstin is all fidgety.
–Sergay the invincible. Just how the heck did Sergay manage to survive that slash from a Slave? I thought he’d at least be bleeding, but there appears to be not a scratch on him, save for the rip in his shirt. I guess the big damage was done when Nina saw the handkerchief. Makes me wonder how much further down the line they’re going to keep him alive. Maybe he’ll even survive through end…
–Nina the insane. Nina really loses it after seeing the handkerchief and not hearing Sergay refute that he protected Arika because he’s serious about her. It’s interesting that Nagi’s jewel reacts to Nina’s anger/shock and that’s what brings forth the GEMs. I can’t help but think that Nagi is like Emperor Palpatine during that scene.
–Erstin’s death. I think Erstin dying really sets Arika against Nina. Before, Arika was trying to dissuade Nina from attacking, but after Erstin dies, the gloves come off. Animation quality really goes up as Erstin went up in green sparkles (not that it is bad during the episode).
–No new ED. Perhaps a new ED next week when we get into the new arc? As much as I like the current song, I’d like to see a new ending animation even more.
Next week, the cast goes traipsing in the desert. I look forward to Miyu’s scenes.
