Emilio and Shun are back in Endora, and they’ve been tossed right into the middle of a battle between the Ignauts and Ibelda. The guys equip their Warp Relics and join the fight, but don’t let it prevent them from discussing their current situation and Shun’s return to Endora from the surface, to the point where Ibelda has to repeatedly taunt them to get them to focus their attention on him.
Guidoro tries to get Ibelda to fight him, but Ibelda’s only concern is fighting Shun and Emilio. Hard to believe this rivalry stems from Shun and Emilio injuring Ibelda at the beginning of the series. Ibelda uses his mutated arm and back to grab Guidoro, and this allows Shun and Emilio to attack from behind and deal what would normally be a fatal blow.
However this has the opposite effect on Ibelda. Instead of killing him, the black ooze swells forth from Ibelda’s body, growing and magnifying until it has become a giant version of the little spirits he’d been generating. His new deformed spirit body is somewhat jelly-like, complete with tentacles which can grow back almost instantaneously.
Inside the castle, Demetrio and Alicia are keeping tabs on Eljuia, who is still meditating to commune with Endora’s spirit. Alicia wants to intervene to give Eljuia some food, but Demetrio convinces her to continue to leave him be. Breaking his concentration at this point would do more harm than good, and he won’t starve even if he hasn’t eaten for a day or two.
Outside the castle the battle rages on. Mischa has a couple of close calls with Ibelda’s tentacles, but Felix and Louise both just in to take the hits for her, causing Mischa to become emotional over their actions. These three have spent most of the series bickering with each other, but after so much time together I’m glad to see that they aren’t above jumping in to help the other when needed. Felix’s sacrifice in particular was a bit of a surprise to me. Felix and Louise are unconscious, but otherwise not injured thankfully.
Eljuia’s finally reached his limit, and Alicia and Demetrio rush in to check on him and see what he’s learned. Eljuia was able to communicate with Endora’s “Gaia” if you will, and he has discovered some mythical ruins called Tir Na Nog. This is a place in the middle of the ocrean where the Warp Particles are being extracted 
from Endora. It’s rumoured to be a land high above the ocean, a place almost impossible for mere mortals to reach.
Shun and Emilio return just then, and Shun fills everyone in on his side of the story. His father’s plans to extract the Warp Particles, his backstory and relation to Emilio, everything.
After night falls, Pascal is out in the forest with the royal army doing some digging. Alicia and Emilio watch over their actions, and Alicia expresses concerns over recent events. Emilio confirms that he and Shun are leaving for Tir Na Nog the next day, and after some teasing Alicia reveals that she will stay behind to do everything she can do to help the Ignauts. Felix, Eljuia and Louise are to remain at the castle because they’re too weak to move much, and it looks like Mischa will probably stay with them to take care of them.
The next day, Shun, Emilio and Pascal are preparing to leave for Tir Na Nog. They will ride on a transformed Falarion. However just as they’re leaving, the monstrous form of Ibelda returns, larger and more dangerous than ever. The army jumps into action and springs their trap, causing Ibelda to shrink in size to a more manageable foe.
Shun, Emilio and Pascal take this opportunity to leave while they can, but as they fly over Ibelda’s body, two tentacles reach up from the ground below and grab ahold of Falarion’s claws, threatening to pull the quartet to the ground.
Pascal is unable to keep his grip and he falls towards the ground, landing instead on one of Ibelda’s tentacles. Shun and Emilio want to rescue him, but Pascal tells them not to, insisting that they have to carry out their mission. Instead from within his jacket he withdraws an explosive, and after some quiet words, he detonates the grenade in his hand. The explosion severs Ibelda’s grip and allows Shun and Emilio to fly safely away, but at the cost of Pascal’s life.
My thoughts: Pascal’s never been my favourite character, but holy shit I did not see this turn of events. I kinda feel like his sacrifice was unwarranted – like surely Shun or Emilio could have summoned their Warp Relic, thrown it to sever the tentacle and escaped? Or even if they jumped down long enough to rescue Pascal and cut the tentacle away, would that not have worked instead? Poor Emilio has now lost his birth father, the man he thought was his father, and the man who was his substitute father figure while he was growing up. Like fuck, how much more loss is one teenager supposed to take?
I thought the brief scene with Emilio and Alicia was a nice touch. She’s a minor character in this series and her feelings for Emilio are one of the many subplots in Endride, but their conversation was a nice reminder that she is supposed to be sorting through her feelings for him. Plus giving them a chance to talk in private helps strengthen their friendship. They were both honest and up front with each other, and their mature reactions show that there’s a potential for more development with their friendship. I mean when’s the last time we saw Emilio give her a genuine smile like that??
Two more episodes to go. What will Shun and Emilio find at Tir Na Nog?