Along with the monster threat getting taken care of, Hulemy successfully fixes the transfer circle in the Origin Stratum. For now, warping is limited to just Clearflow Lake but on the flipside, monsters won’t be able to tamper with it. Now that the Origin Stratum is back to a decent state, the Menagerie of Fools asks their allies to meet up with them in their base of operations. Knowing that they are actually headquartered in the Origin Stratum, it makes a lot more sense that they headed to that floor during the Netherlord’s assault. I like that the hideout is an underground facility beneath what appears to be a house under construction. It suits the Menagerie’s secretive nature, even more fitting given what happens later.
Quite a lot of new information is given to you in this episode. Kerioyl and Filmina reveal that they’ve actually been married for twenty years (hence why they often across as a bickering couple). Aka and Shiro are actually their sons (okay, that I did not see coming) and the two actually have an identical triplet brother (I didn’t expect that either). The reason why we’ve never seen their brother before is because he suffers from a “negative” Blessing that causes his body to slowly decay. Even with a Blessing that heals him, he’ll eventually succumb to his curse and die. The boy’s family therefore decided to encase him in a “crystal coffin” to temporarily preserve him. Reminding everyone that reaching the end of the dungeon will grant a wish, the Menagerie’s founding family wants to use their power to save their son. Perhaps the most surprising reveal however is that the family has actually been in cahoots with the Netherlord for some time now, in exchange for his help in reaching the final Stratum and getting their wish fulfilled.
I have to hand it to Jihanki; this is a pretty impressive twist. Like yes, Boxxo did suspect an ulterior motive way back at the beginning of the show. If you’ve been following the show very closely, it has always been a possibility that the Menagerie has always been up to something. You would however be forgiven for forgetting that as Jihanki successfully spent the course of a season and half establishing the Menagerie as trustworthy and powerful allies for Boxxo and Lammis. Even if you did suspect something about of them, you likely wouldn’t have imagined they’d stoop as low as team up with the big bad of the show. What also makes this twist work is that it finally establishes a greyer threat in the story. I like the Netherlord just fine but he is a big spooky skeleton mage at the end of the day. The Menagerie is a much more interesting threat. Even with their true colors revealed, you can sympathize with their motivation and it stings to see them as an opposition as the show spent so much time presenting them as allies.
Kerioyl appeals to Boxxo, Lammis, and co. in defecting to the Netherlord to help his family but his former allies all oppose the idea. Aside from the fact that it’s the Netherlord they’re talking about here, it’s very likely that the fiend will double cross everyone for his own gain. Shui refusing to join has a lot of potential. We’ve seen her with the Menagerie since the beginning of the show so I hope to see the show explore how it feels for her to cut ties with the group. I didn’t think Hevee would have a strong reason to join either (though it would be funny if he got bribed with some shoes) but I do like that as unusual as he is, he still wouldn’t join the Netherlord.
A fight naturally ensues though it ultimately ends in a draw. It turns out that Kerioyl has either a Blessing or some other kind of a magical ability that lets him negate other Blessings and magical items. This includes Hevee’s ability to manipulate senses and, perhaps more importantly, Boxxo’s barrier. As overpowered as Kerioyl’s ability sounds, it’s honestly something the show could use for the next few fights. I enjoy Boxxo’s weird creativity in taking down foes with nothing but modern-day items found in Japanese vending machines but this far into Jihanki, his fights could use a shakeup. Against Kerioyl, Boxxo effectively becomes a regular old vending machine again so I’m curious if he actually has a decent shot against his former friend. I noticed that Hevee could use his Blessing again after Kerioyl focused on Boxxo’s barrier so I wonder if the captain is limited to one magical thing at a time. Assuming this to be true, here’s hoping Boxxo catches on.
Thanks to Kerioyl’s ability, the Menagerie is able to escape, leaving the gang to inform Director Bear and Director Origin of the bad news. Hevee suspects that Kerioyl will bide his time by convincing others to join him and the Netherlord so that the Menagerie is strong enough to conquer the dungeon. There happens to be two other reserve members of the Menagerie so everyone assumes Kerioyl will try to talk to them first. Kind of funny that the reason we haven’t seen the two other members before is because Hevee wasn’t able to meet up with them after getting sent to prison. The gang attempts to return to Clearflow Lake but it appears that the transfer circle has been tampered with as it seemingly sends everyone to different locations. Boxxo gets separated from everyone else though fortunately, Director Bear and Hulemy are able to find him. I wonder if Lammis will be able to keep her cool this time around or if she’ll completely lose it again and we get another reunion where she almost kills Boxxo by accident. The past couple of times where the latter happen was funny so I’m not opposed to another instance of that.
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