Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut – Episode 9 [The Promise]

We’re down to the last 4 episodes and shit’s finally starting to happen. How can one tell? There’s less ecchi and we’re getting some concrete answers to some of the questions that have been raised so far. *happy dance*

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Lux gets Philuffy to stop strangling him, but Hayes shows up immediately after to get in on the action. He taunts Lux, saying that Lux can’t kill him or else Philuffy will die too. Hayes has put a Ragnarok seed inside Philuffy, and that’s why she’s been feeling ill lately: Hayes gives her commands to carry out, but if Philuffy disobeys then she suffers effects like a fever or headache. Until she transforms completely into an Abyss, her insides are being eaten away by worms. Gross!

Hayes offers Lux a deal. He’ll tell the Ragnarok inside Philuffy to save her, in exchange for Lux giving him access to the Ruins within the next two days. Hayes confirms that Krulcifer is a Key to get into the Ruins, although this still hasn’t been fully clarified and I’m continuing to assume it’s because she’s from one of the other Ruins. As Hayes leaves, Lux asks him about his true identity, and Hayes drops a tantalizing hint about Lux’s family. Are we going to get some mysterious clone shit like in Final Fantasy VII with the Jenova clones??

Inside the Ruins, the rest of the Chivalric Order has eliminated the two remaining Abyss creatures. Airi and Krulcifer talk via their com system, but the scene is much more entertaining if you pay attention to the conversation in the background. Tillfarr and Sharis’ Drag-Rides took a bunch of damage in battle, and when Noct comments with her usual “Yes,” the other girls try to get her to say something different for a change. ヽ(^◇^*)/

This episode jumps around a lot for the first half between Lux & Philuffy and the Chivalric Order. After everyone regroups at their shelter for the night, Lux visits Philuffy who is resting in her room. When he leaves, Headmistress Reiri finds him out in the hallway and they move to a more private location to speak.

Lux tells Headmistress Reiri that he remembers that he and Philuffy met most recently five years ago on Ries Island. Philuffy had been experimented on, and Lux tried to help her. However Philuffy had already died, but somehow was revived. Headmistress Reiri believes that if they make their way to the very bottom of the Ruins, they’ll find a technique which will magically save Philuffy from the Abyss eating away at her from the inside.

The next day Lisha makes more repairs to Lux’s Bahamut Drag-Ride. She leaves to get permission from their headmistress to use the code which will take the limiter off Bahamut, and then Lux suddenly gets a com call from… Fugil?! Nine episodes in and he finally shows his face, teasing Lux with information about how to foil Hayes and save Philuffy. Hmmm, interesting. Perhaps Hayes and Fugil aren’t working as closely together as we’ve previously been lead to believe.

Later on Lux goes to see Philuffy, and they talk for a bit. Philuffy says she knows about the Abyss, and how she can keep it under control. Lux confesses that he’s always been weak, but it’s because of Philuffy’s presence that he’s been able to fight this time.  ★~(◠‿◕✿)

Back inside the Ruins, Krulcifer touches the door and gives their team access to the bottom of the Ruins. However once they access the deepest part, La Krulshe regains her memories and says that she must kill everyone because they are acquaintances of the people who killed her original masters.

Just then Hayes shows up, with Philuffy under his control. She summons her Drag-Ride and begins to attack her friends, while Lux is left to deal with the unmanned Drag-Rides conjured by La Krulshe. We see that Philuffy’s Drag-Ride has a unique limit in that it makes other Divine Drag-Rides’ limits null and void.

While they’re all fighting Fugil shows up. Just then Airi decides to use the whistle she got from somewhere (I missed where she got it from, if it was shown at all), bringing Philuffy back over to their side. Hayes decides to summon a new Ragnarok, but every time they attack it, it becomes stronger! It takes Lux using Lisha’s code and superpowering his Bahamut for the Ragnarok to die.

Upon killing the Ragnarok, the whale Ruins begins to crash back into the ocean. La Krulshe, who blacked out during the battle it seems, can’t remember anything from the group fight and decides to go back to sleep.

Back in the safety of their shelter, Lux is lying bandaged in his room while Philuffy feeds him. She tells him she’s more resistant to the sound of the whistle now, and that she’s ok because he kept his promise. Just before the screen fades to black, Philuffy tells Lux that she loves him. I know I know, it’s standard shoujo romance, but still. I’m a sucker for the sappy cliches I guess.

My thoughts: If you’d have told me at the start of this series that the main ship was going to be Lux x Philuffy, I’d have thought you were wrong. And yet here we are. Their close bond has evidently been the foundation for something more, at least on Philuffy’s part. I’m curious to see what Lux will do about Philuffy’s feelings for him. Maybe he will actually reciprocate them by the end of the show?

It’s interesting to note that in the flashback when a young Lux and Philuffy are at Lux’s mother’s grave, the only inscription on the tombstone aside from her name is “Lux and Airi’s Beloved Mother.”  Why no mention of Fugil or Hayes? And if Lux is a clone of either Fugil or Hayes… or wait, what if he and Airi are both clones? Hayes and Fugil are the two with dichromatic eyes, while Lux and Airi’s eyes are monochromatic. Could that mean anything? Next to the relationship between Lux & Philuffy, the aspect of this show which I am most interested in is Lux’s background and his identity.

This episode is unique in that for the first time this season, we get a sneak peek of the upcoming episode. Next week we get the introduction of a bloodthirsty woman with her eyes bound by strips of cloth. Is she working with Fugil and Hayes, or is she a new villain?