Violet Flash!
He avoided that?
That one was pretty fast. If I hadn't read your pheromones,
I wouldn't have dodged you.
You're so gross!
Bombardier Beetle!
Get off me, you idiot!
—At least let me get out of the way! —Ow... hot... hot...!
Superheated gas. There's no escaping it.
What are you all sneaking around in the Nether about?
Everything is ready.
Our presence in the Nether is only a matter of time now.
What?
The extinction of this world is imminent.
Very shortly, the Pillars will be gathered,
and the Evangelist's plan will be completed.
We're going to put a stop to that plan!
Haven't you discovered in your investigations
that the Tokyo Empire was created by means of the Evangelist's plan?
As were the Holy Sol Temple and Amaterasu, all for this moment.
It is mankind itself that wishes to perish more than anything, isn't it?
There is no stopping it now.
You say that mankind wishes to perish?
Our mission as Fire Soldiers is to protect people's lives and property.
Don't go deciding things for everyone!
Are you saying that the Fire Force will deprive humanity of its chance
to arrive at a higher plane by passing through destruction?
Well, no matter. You will find out soon enough.
Just like your brother did.
What?
What happened to Sho?
He is standing by quietly. Almost as though he were a puppet.
I've always wanted one of these—
a doll as pretty as this one.
Don't look away, Arrow. You stand there quietly and watch.
Watch as I play with my doll.
"Episode 22: Plot for Extinction"
Where...
is Sho right now?
He is where the Pillars need to be, prior to the coming of the Great Cataclysm.
Your brother is on his best behavior, unlike you.
By now, he is probably Haumea's plaything.
Even if you can read my mind, I just have to move faster than you can react!
No one is there. Did he vanish?
I'm right here.
Non!
Such tremendous acceleration...
It seems you do not intend to come with us.
I once sensed the kind of bloodlust you possess.
There's no way I'd ever trust anyone with a heart as sinister as yours!
Sensed?
Then you and I were connected? Via an Adolla Link?
You're certain you heard my voice, right?
Yeah! So what if I did?
That's incredible! I'm so glad you told me! Thank you! Thank you!
You're saying that a mere human like me connected to you through Adolla?
Only those who are connected to Adolla can undergo an Adolla Link!
My Insect experiments! This is the fruit borne of them!
I have become closer to Adolla!
Then are you saying that I can't hear the voices of those
who have never connected with Adolla?
It stands to reason! An Adolla Link
can only be achieved between those who have an Adolla Burst,
or have been in contact with Adolla.
Hold on. I've heard the voices of others through an Adolla Link twice before.
Once with Dr. Giovanni...
Kill Vulcan.
and the other time was...
Shinra!
with Lieutenant Konro.
If you can't have an Adolla Link without an Adolla Burst,
then how did I hear Lieutenant Konro?
Is something the matter?
Shut up!
The Evangelist resides not in this world, but in Adolla.
How are you going to stop the Evangelist, who is in another world?
I don't care if you can meddle with the higher plane of Adolla,
the most that you can do is peer into it.
Are you saying it's impossible for us to go to Adolla?
How are you going to put the fire to rest if you do not go to the scene, Fire Soldier?
This world is doomed to do nothing else but burn away now.
We humans are nothing more than the fuel in which this world will burn!
Humanity has worshipped the sun.
There is no way we will turn down burning as brightly as the sun!
Just as the Evangelist has instilled upon us, right?
Ritsu is getting everything ready now.
Allow us to demonstrate now, at the onset,
how people are implements of destruction.
By utilizing the Nether,
the Tokyo Empire on the surface will be utterly destroyed.
Demolition?
Are you certain?
Yes, it's most likely.
The enemy intends to use Infernals as a shaped charge.
Shaped charge?
From what I saw of the sensors that Vulcan-kun showed me,
the Infernals are positioned in this conical arrangement.
Is there some significance to this arrangement?
The shaped charge used in demolition
employs a phenomenon known as the Munroe-Neumann effect,
which requires this sort of cone-shaped explosive.
When you line the interior of the explosive with a thin metal lining, and then detonate it,
the metal forms a jet forced by the shockwave from the explosion
straight up through the center of the cone.
The metal flies up utilizing the shock of the explosion,
so that jet is powerful enough to blow a hole through anything it hits.
With Infernals standing in as explosives to create that shaped charge,
they are planning to use minimal firepower to produce maximum damage.
Geographically, we are at the center of the Tokyo Empire.
The damage will be enormous.
So you're saying that if they perform this demolition in the Nether...
The Tokyo Empire will be laid to waste.
Is there anything we can do to prevent it?
I heard what was happening.
I'm late getting back here because the man behind me was dragging his feet.
Detective Oze...
I've memorized the entire layout of the construction in the Nether.
Is there anything I can do to help?
The critical component of a shaped charge is the direction of the jet.
If that can be altered, we may be able to get out of this.
To do that, we'll need a second generation
who can control flames over a wide area.
Lieutenant Hinawa is a master of pinpoint precision,
so he is not suited to this kind of operation.
Tch, you're useless.
Hmm? Hey, hey, hey, hey! This is no time for chewing the fat!
They're about to explode!
What do we do? Are there no other second generation pyrokinetics?
No second generations who can affect a wide area.
There's only one person I know of who can pull off anything this freakish.
First Class Fire Soldier Maki Oze— oh, make that Secretary Oze—
who, as I recall, you took away from us, Detective—
Ah! There's no point in talking about people who aren't even here!
We'll just have to do it with the second generations we have on hand!
Lieutenant Hinawa, give me a hand with this!
I can't. I'm useless.
Wha—?
You toot your own horn about putting lives first,
but when it comes down to it, the 8th is nothing more than a violent gang!
We will manage something. The 8th does put lives first.
If we don't stop this, there will be mass casualties on the surface.
Vulcan!
Right!
When it comes to saving lives, regulations be damned!
Right...
Maki-san?
—Maki? —Maki-san?
S-Sorry I'm late!
I'm up to speed on the situation, thanks to the communicator I got from Vulcan.
The 8th doesn't hold back anything from each other.
You're sure about this?
—Yes, sir. —What are you doing here?
It's too dangerous!
Are you still going on about that?
Right now, saving lives comes first.
That doesn't mean you have to risk your life to do it!
Why not? You're taking a risk by coming down here, too!
But you're a girl!
So I can't stick my neck out just because I'm female?
Are you going to take me off the front line, like Mom?
I... am going to use my power to keep people safe!
Vulcan, let me know when!
You got it. The explosion is near. Just stand by as you are.
Maki, there's still time! Hurry up and evacuate!
—Maki! —A moment, please!
It's true that with Maki-san's help, we can inhibit the shaped charge.
But it will not stop the flames that will be produced by the explosion!
There is nowhere in the Nether that will allow the flames to escape!
Meaning?
Meaning that those of us still in the Nether...
are all about to be roasted to death!
I hate to say!
The way this is heading, we're all dead?
What are you talking about, Licht?
If we use Maki-san's ability to control the direction
of the Infernal-explosive shaped charge,
we can prevent this facility and the rest of Tokyo from being destroyed,
but this is the Nether.
There is nowhere for the flames created by the explosion to go,
so we're all going to burn to death from the heat of the trapped flames!
Except for Crewman Tamaki, who is heat tolerant.
—Once again, I survive for no reason! —Are you serious?
—Once again, I survive for no reason! —Oh, God...
What do we do, then?
We are Fire Soldiers!
If this saves the lives of all those people on the surface,
then I'm okay with it.
Vulcan, say when!
Yeah, I'm on it!
Is that all right, Captain Obi?
Yeah. We'll find a way to survive this on our own.
I don't want to die, either, so I'm thinking...
if we can find a place in the Nether for the heat to escape through...
But without any data, this maze-like Nether is simply...
For my job, I memorized the maps of the Nether for the whole empire.
If you include the caved-in facilities,
then maybe there is enough space for the heat to escape.
True, if we knew enough about the geography in here...
As for the flames themselves, there's geothermal dissipation...
If we can use that...
There's no time!
I don't have time to explain, so I'll tell you what to do!
Brother...
You just focus on controlling the flames right now.
You two being in sync will be crucial!
You have to follow the Nether's geography to where I tell you,
and navigate Maki-san's flame control there!
Got it!
The sensors are picking something up! Heat sources within 3km are spiking!
Blow!
It's started!
First, please change the direction of the shaped charge jet!
If we can redirect the blast wave, we can keep the facility from collapsing!
Once the jet is redirected, where should we lead the flames?
Drive them down to the lower floors as much as you can!
Right!
I can arrest the flames. I won't let them have free rein.
All the flames in the area...
are under my control!
This is only the beginning. The real extermination of Tokyo is yet to come.
Huh?
Maki, I'll direct you, so you just control them like I tell you to.
Right.
Flames can go through places where people can no longer pass.
Keep on directing the flames to the deepest part of the Nether!
If there's a point where the walls have collapsed and bare earth is exposed...
then we can avoid the flames' heat through geothermic dissipation.
Geothermic dissipation?
We'll exploit the laws of nature that keep the ground's temperature
at a constant 18 degrees.
Oh, now I get it!
—You hear that? We're chasing the flames into the ground. —Right!
Keep on pushing the heat source into the ground!
With brother and sister combining their abilities with geothermal laws...
over a long enough time, the earth will cool off the flames for us!
It looks like it worked.
Hinawa,
if Maki hadn't been here, we, along with the rest of Tokyo, would be in a crater.
Maki is a role model for all Fire Soldiers.
She is someone absolutely essential at the 8th.
Your judgment was right on the money.
Did we make it?
Brother,
this is what my...
this is what the 8th's job is.
They failed?
Failed? I don't know what you were plotting,
but it looks like it was powerless in the face of Fire Soldier teamwork.
Hey, Arthur, let's show him our teamwork, too!
"Non-self"
Non-self...
How did you...?
Teamwork...?
"Nirvana"
Nirvana...
I am delivered. You can no longer read my mind.
My sword has attained the realm of the bodhisattvas.
No, you're just not thinking anything.
That has nothing at all to do with being a knight.
Non-self: Without drawing the breath of life, a life-taking blow is struck.
This strike, delivered unawares to even masters of breath-reading,
imparts a truly fatal blow.
Hmph, villain. Die now.
You didn't even hesitate.
So the 8th has a ruthless professional, does it?
Perhaps I underestimated you somewhat without realizing it.
Insects?
D-Damn it!
Where's Giovanni?
—Right here. —No, dumb-ass, I mean his head!
My research into the Insects has been productive.
I took part in an Adolla Link.
We'll meet again.
Have all of your men been accounted for?
The damage was worse than I imagined.
However, we're now aware of just how dangerous the White-Clad are.
If Crewman Oze hadn't been here, the damage would have been far worse.
Well, Brother?
Do you understand my— the 8th's work a little better now?
Yeah, I guess.
But he's no good! He only thinks of you as a meat shield!
Well, I guess it goes without saying now...
but I want to return to the 8th.
Indeed. Your ability is better suited for the Fire Force.
It's not just my ability; my ambitions are a fit for the Fire Force!
I see. I'll start the paperwork to have you transferred back to the 8th.
W-Were you testing me, sir?
I was concerned with whether a little princess like you...
could fight against the ever-more-radical White-Clad.
You did well today.
Thank you very much, sir.
Hey! You keep away from the Oze family!
The heat source readings have gone silent. We're out of the woods now.
Search for the remains of those who have fallen in the line of duty.
Find as many of them as you can.
I will take the wounded and return with them...
back to the surface.
It sure is a relief to see the sun again.
What Dr. Giovanni said bothers me.
Only those who have an Adolla Burst or have been connected to Adolla
are capable of an Adolla Link?
If that's true...
He's more-or-less okay.
He's lost his right hand and left leg, and is burned and cut up from head to toe,
but he's still alive. He's got the will to live of a potato.
You really did manage to hang in there...
until you were dug up.
Crewman Kotatsu, it's thanks to you that Juggernaut survived.
"Dramatic sting"
Thank you.
I'm the one who really got rescued.
If it weren't for Platoon Leader Hajiki and Crewman Noto, I...
wouldn't be here right now...
If we didn't have the 8th's help, we might have all been wiped out.
The military and the Fire Force can't afford to be so disconnected.
Tokyo has to unite.
I truly am glad that we made it through this without losing you young crewmen.
Are you thinking about Maki?
Mm-hmm.
As of today, she has gone back to the Fire Force.
Are you still anxious about her?
I want to let my daughter do as she wishes...
but I'm still worried about her.
Maki's ability is a super power she got from her mother, after all.
I'm not nearly that strong.
Madoka-chan, when you quit the military to become a homemaker,
did you also feel discontent about it?
It's all I can do to keep my own home safe.
But Maki isn't like me.
She may be our innocent, adorable little daughter around us,
but she has an incredibly powerful strength and will.
Oh yes, and she gets that from you.
Let's watch over our daughter together.
Who are you calling a gorilla cyclops?
"Platoon Leader" "Maki Oze"
At last, Maki-san has made platoon leader.
Very impressive.
When we don't even have a platoon?
Meaning what?
That nothing is different from before.
Are you sure, 8th? You're okay with this?
"Fish Beat"
"No squads, either"
It's like the 8th is playing Fire Force dress-up.
It's nice and peaceful when they're all idiots, huh?
You're the one who recruited them.
Still...
they're the real deal.
"To be continued"
"Fire Force, Season 2"
"Next time"
I'll try harder, too!
Next time on Fire Force, Season 2, episode 23, "Firecat."
"Episode 23: Firecat"
Return to the great flame of fire. Látom.