Things moved rather quickly in this episode. Another episode that wasn’t lacking action as we saw the Flame Haze continue their retreat and having to make some major sacrifices in the process. But in the end they made it out of there alive and that was the most important thing. The episode was plenty busy with discussing retreat plans, fighting against masses of enemies, and of course having Shana and Carmel face off against Sydonay. In a sense it’s hard to believe so much fighting and sacrifice was made in a losing battle. Besides seeing events first hand the Flame Haze really didn’t accomplish many of their goals at all. The best they could do was seriously damaging the home base of Bal Masqué.

It’s good to see there are a variety of Flame Haze that are able to handle themselves despite this mental assault that’s been unleashed by the Snake of the Festival. It might only be a small group that have been able to struggle on, but those that have will still be able to do their best going forward. It’s just a case that proves that having something important other than revenge is crucial. Unfortunately it’s been seen as perfectly fine for most Flame Haze to simply be motivated by revenge. The only question is if enough of the Flame Haze have their senses in order to make a difference. Hope will probably have to be put on those who initially faltered, but found enough of something within themselves to continue on.

Unfortunately the amount of good Flame Haze left to help fight is now much smaller. They lost some major players like Centerhill and Demantius. Those were some of their best and sadly they had to lose them in order to get this far. Though if there is any positive to take from this it is that the other 3 Gods should now take some action with Centerhill falling in battle. The only question is if his death and message will be enough to make them move.

A positive is that we got to see Margery back on the battlefield again. We’ve known she has been alright for a while, but having some help out there was definitely a good thing. Does seem like she and Satou will be separate for a while, but I suppose that can’t be helped since they have so much on the line. I’m sure he’ll factor back into things, but considering they are going to be fighting crazy opponents, it might be for the best for him to be away from the line of fire.

The real question is how will the Flame Haze decide to act now that they have fallen away. Obviously Shana is going to fight, but everyone has to decide their reasons. Is that the Snake of the Festival is going to create a new world that could go to hell a good enough reason to stop him? Are there other moral reasons why they can’t just allow this? Not sure I can grasp onto a reason like making a new world will disrupt the greater world overall. But I’m sure they will decide on something other than just fighting for the sake of fighting. Could go with something simple like wanting payback for all the deaths that this war has already taken.

Regardless, the series will continue to move forward and use the remaining episodes to frame the major battle coming. Should be fun to see how it all works out.
Score: A