Sale-san,
looks like everyone's really down.
Loss of morale, I guess you'd call it?
Everyone's completely miserable.
This is it for the pursuit squad.
What a crappy outcome.
I suppose we can't just sit here and cry.
We'll have to go ourselves.
As soon as command issues us our course...
Hey!
You haven't been drinking at all, have you?
I couldn't drink right now.
You always drink when you mull over something difficult.
So she discovered that,
in the face of the Declaration of the Grand Order,
not even the Puppeteer of Devilish Skills can keep his cool.
That Grand Order thing was heard throughout the whole world.
Which means Flame Hazes across the world are
probably in the same shape as those outside.
As someone heading toward the battlefield, it's depressing to consider.
It's fine.
A century ago,
I found myself. That enables me to keep standing now.
I'm sure there are lots of others like me,
doing their best to fight.
That's our Chiara! So cool!
But what about your two teachers?
Will you be any use?
If you don't mind the fact that he's forgetting his drink.
Shut up.
Well,
I was forced into a contract. I didn't do it for destiny or revenge.
So I guess nothing I hear will stop me from fighting.
Can you hear me?
Sale? Chiara?
There she is!
So these are the only ones who made it?
Many of our allies still flee through the mountains.
They've splintered off completely, and will not regroup.
The group will abandon our plan.
Abandon?
Then we are not moving toward the Palace of Heaven's Road?
Correct.
"We" are not.
In other words, as the few who have retained their sanity,
we have a greater responsibility than retreat?
That is correct.
We shall halt the enemy pursuit,
sending those who have lost their way on to the Palace of Heaven's Road.
That's gonna be damn tough.
But if we simply take them there,
the enemy will learn the Palace of Heaven's Road location.
We will need every trick at our disposal.
Search, guidance, pursuit interception,
and concealing our motives from the enemy.
Despite the tricks we muster, we do not have the manpower.
Regardless, we must save those we can.
Everyone,
might I pose a question?
And the enemy forces on the plains?
They've been eliminated.
The survivors have fled into the mountains.
Attention, pursuit squads.
Expand your search area to include the mountains.
Your primary target
is the mobile fortress, the Palace of Heaven's Road.
Before scattering, they were clearly headed east.
So they must have something there to enable their escape,
which limits what could be there.
You believe it to be the Palace of Heaven's Road?
I've had the reinforcements,
from the north and south, encircle the mountains at a distance.
Even if they hide, we'll draw them out eventually.
Snow?
No, rain?
Yes.
My Burning Field is being destroyed.
That isn't just Sirotci's Unrestricted Method.
That lapis lazuli-colored flame...
This rain is the great barrier, Tlalocan?
You can't mean the Four Gods of the Earth...
Those monsters are here?
Even as a last resort, why would they make such a tower?
And light a flame on it, to ensure we see it...
Is it a decoy?
"Rout in the Rain"
Come.
Please stand.
I know you can do it.
You see that, right?
Run toward the light.
You will find a means of escape.
There they are!
Over there!
Don't let them get away!
This is...
A transformation enacted by my Tlalocan.
But more importantly...
Ask yourself again why you were able to stand.
As a Flame Haze,
you must act, based solely on what is before you.
Allied forces in this area are heading for that tower.
The rain has cut off long-distance communication,
and we can't organize them.
My Burning Field has been disabled, too.
Is that what they're after?
And we know it's a decoy... What a disaster!
Send a messenger to tell the rear forces to hold their position.
Reach the advancing squads, and have them withdraw.
If we let our encirclement collapse...
We won't let you approach!
If you advance, we shall stop you, indeed.
Have they come to draw me out? Then...
So they draw the pursuit squads toward that decoy?
It's the General!
He's finally appeared, indeed.
Thousand Changes Sydonay.
He is here?
It seems so.
We're almost there!
Don't stop!
Excellent work, comrades!
Into the tower!
Explode!
Yeah, the work done by the Beckoner of Brightened Dew
and the Guardian of Steady Passage has made our lives easier.
Easier? How?
Yeah,
we just sit here and wait...
And we have an unlimited supply of things to destroy and explode.
You got that right!
It's unharmed?
Fire! Fire!
We make it seem like a decoy,
while actually gathering our forces here,
to carry out our true objective.
Yes.
We will show them a tactician's greatest trick,
control over what is false and what is real.
You've finished your job by now, haven't you?
Try and stop me this time.
I have always desired
to fight you at full strength.
I shall handle them.
While I do, at least get the forces surrounding the mountain under control.
Yes, Sir.
Now, then...
Our master never ordered that I not kill you.
Therefore, I shall kill you.
Wilhelmina!
Understood, indeed.
All forces within the encirclement have been saved.
Your drawing the enemy here made it go much faster.
Not at all.
It was only possible with your rain and the tower flame.
And we are not yet finished...
Indeed.
Now things get difficult.
I hope this works.
I hope we can make it work.
What's wrong?
Hero of the Great War? Contractor of the Dark God?
This is not the time for caution.
I hoped you would do that.
Soaring Flame!
That's what I wanted.
I can expect even more than this, right?
If you are prepared to burn to death amidst the flames,
then feel free to attack, indeed.
Unnecessary words.
Prepared for death?
Very well. I shall show you.
What is this?
They do not attack as fiercely as their words would suggest.
No.
They have taken clearly unnatural positions.
We can take it down! We can raze it!
Now!
Fire! Fire!
Now! Attack!
They will not stop until they've completely destroyed that tower.
In the end, we completely fell for your gambit,
Sirotci, my rival...
Fight for what you care for, huh?
Nothing has changed since I was human.
However,
that is the war I chose...
My war!
The decoy's role ends.
The Palace of Heaven's Road probably flees already...
Even if they are defeated soldiers, with no effect on the battle,
I do not wish to let them escape.
One of the Four Gods of the Earth?
This will be fun.
Might I pose a question?
Depending on your answer,
we may agree to aid in your escape.
We will join the battle.
Given that the Snake of the Festival's words were correct,
you may take this decision to represent all four Gods of the Earth.
His words?
That the creation of a new world
will not affect this one?
We Four Gods of the Earth...
Our former teacher, the Heart of the Sky,
told us the true reason for the storm in the rift between worlds,
which foretells the great disaster.
It occurs because the Crimson Denizens
transformed humans into the unstable energy called power of existence.
As each portion of it is lost, the world shakes.
And those vibrations create waves...
A storm in the rift.
If the Creator God takes his Denizens to a new world,
that unstable energy will return to this world,
and the storm will subside.
But if they act in the new world, as they have in this one...
At some point, once again...
Disaster comes.
Of course, the people on this side need not
concern themselves with that.
Even so, we Four Gods of the Earth,
shall fight the Creator God, the Snake of the Festival.
Because...
...this world, the Crimson World, and the new world in the rift
are all parts of the world.
The Four Gods of the Earth will fight the madness
that would create an innocent new world.
If you would accompany us,
we shall use all our power
to send you to the next battlefield.
Shana, you will fight, yes?
Yeah.
I see...
That strange positioning...
There is a direction they do not attack...
A direction they prevent my attacks from striking.
The only thing they would hide here is the Palace of Heaven's Road.
Did they make me believe it had already launched,
while they were hiding it here?
True Crimson!
Below us!
Is that where the Palace of Heaven's Road...
...is hidden?
Pierce through!
Wrong!
What?
Six little mice...
...sat down to spin!
Pussy passed by, and she peeped in!
"Shall I come in and bite off your threads?"
"No, no, Miss Pussy!
You'll bite off our heads!"
"Oh, no. I shan't!
I shall help you spin!"
I'm tired.
I want a beer...
Well, you've been out of it a long time.
I'm glad you're safe.
Rendezvous complete.
Hey, it feels like it's been a really long time, girlie.
You're looking quite well.
This is what I am now.
More importantly, how long will that seal hold?
A little over ten minutes would allow us to go with them.
A true god shouldn't be greedy,
Lord of Atonement.
We cannot undo the Tlalocan right now.
We need time enough to make the enemy believe
the true Palace of Heaven's Road has vanished, and time enough that
they do not know where you've gone.
We all agreed on this plan, did we not?
If we give any consideration
to ourselves or to the Guardian of Steady Passage, who fights their armies alone,
all will be for naught.
Even as we speak, time is lost.
Hurry.
That's right...
Let's get started.
Our ride should be here...
No way! He's already broken the seal?
You have more strength than this.
Whom do I fight next?
Thousand Changes!
I see...
You remain to delay me,
and maintain the Tlalocan barrier,
to aid their escape.
Is that the plan?
I'm sure the real Palace of Heaven's Road is long gone by now.
One of the Four Gods of the Earth will die in such a place?
Yes.
As long as my power holds,
I shan't allow you to do anything.
In that case,
would you do us the honor of a battle?
The plan is to stop me, even should I refuse, right?
The mission was successful...
It really doesn't ever change.
Nothing has changed since I was human.
But this is exactly where I wanted to die.
Zirnitra, my comrade,
did you ever feel that an end would come to my fight?
Of course, my comrade, Samuel Demantius.
For six long centuries, I have thought so.
It seems that this is the time.
Will you die, Samuel Demantius?
Yes, so it seems.
As this is the second time, it means nothing to me.
Farewell, Samuel Demantius.
I shall leave in anticipation of the next battle.
I wish you well,
my comrade, Zirnitra...
I thank you for your cooperation,
my comrade, Samuel Demantius.
Suddenly...
What is holding you back?
It is well.
Like the endless rain, an excuse is keeping you here
None could have done more than Thousand Changes Sydonay.
And we are in no position to mourn an unexpected defeat.
You make your mind, look up, and stand paralyzed once more
Yes, Sir.
More importantly, when will my body be able to move?
Aah, will it be sunny tomorrow?
Presently, it is fifty percent stabilized.
Enlightenment...
With our other tasks,
I looked at the silent blue skies
it will likely be twilight before we can leave.
Very well.
The glisten in my eyes won't bow to the blinding morning sun
I wish to be away, as soon as I can.
Toward that place...
No matter how many times I may break It's a hard intension like a stone
Transporting our defeated troops in the Palace of Heaven's Road
It all comes piling down again
through the enemy's vast armies is impossible.
So we decided not to do so.
For some reason, we were trying to read each other
We dug a huge pit, concealed the Palace of Heaven's Road there,
All these games do is deceive yourself, so you lose
and then covered the land with Tlaloc's greenery.
Simultaneously, we constructed the tower,
and led the recovered forces here, via an underground path.
Sight of who you are and have to pick yourself back up
During that time,
the Guardian of Steady Passage defended the tower as an obvious decoy;
Ah, are we doing this again?
the Chanter of Elegies made them believe a fake was hidden nearby;
I can faintly... hear
and in the end, the Beckoner of Brightened Dew functioned as a rear guard.
Someone's laughter and someone's wailing
We lost the battle.
Right now, our worlds are linked
And after all that, what do we have to show for it?
hand in hand.
We always reached an understanding in the end
And after all that, what do we have to show for it?
First, we are alive.
All of us here...
The answer, "if," is our hint
And that is required for anything we must do.
Whether it is enough or not,
We always reached an understanding in the end
that is the truth.
There's no point if we don't go together
My answer...
To fight,
a good answer.
We will flutter in this land that continues from the road of "if"
The answer of a contractor to a true God.
Bright Flame,
would you give the other three gods, and my fellow priests, a message for me?
"Deux en un"
"I have become a drop of rain, and sacrificed myself,
to force you to act.
And my friends...
...the decision to fight
is the right one, without doubt."
After their complete defeat, Shana and the others stand at a crossroad.
Should they face Ball Masque again?
Is the construction of Xanadu right or wrong?
What path will they choose?
Next time, on Shakugan no Shana Final:
"To Battle, Once More."