Summary: Gabriel knows she's at a disadvantage against Charioce as soon as she recognizes Dromos, the weapon he'll use against her and the gods.
According to Gabriel, Dromos is an ancestral device born from the forbidden knowledge humans stole from the sacred temples when they took the tablets the gods had sealed in them.
Gabriel gives the order to retreat, but his warrior angels disobey because they're overconfident that they'll wipe out what's left of Charioce's army.
Gabriel panics when El disobeys her too, as he won't stop attacking the humans until he has recovered his mother.
Nina, Rita, Jeanne, Favaro, and Kaisar are dragged to the surface by Dromos, remaining among its corridors.
From their location, they see how the Royal Army has been almost completely annihilated by the gods.
Rita notices that Charioce is climbing up to Dromos' control deck and runs in his direction to find out what exactly he'll do with it.
Once in the control deck, Charioce inserts his left hand into the power source to supply it with his life force through his bracelet by offering his left eye as a toll.
As he does so, the black pearl rearranges its passages to take the shape of his left hand, forcing Nina and the others to hold on tightly as long as they can while the weapon changes form.
Watching as Dromos prepares to attack, El attacks too, despite Gabriel's pleading for him to refrain.
As El is at the forefront, Jeanne recognizes his silhouette among the light from where she is.
Charioce shoots Dromos and El uses a protective shield, causing a large shockwave that sends Nina and Favaro flying through the air.
Nina lands in Dromos' control deck, and Charioce catches her on sight. This causes him to lose his helmet and stop shooting at the same time.
Dromos' attack manages to penetrate El's barrier, causing damage to him and the gods.
Rita contemplates the fall of the gods' ship from the point where she landed, just as the gods contemplate how they lost against Charioce.
As the shockwave dissipates, Charioce finds himself on the floor of Dromos' deck with Nina unconscious in his arms, only to realize that he has lost his left eyesight after shooting.
The remnant gods on the surface discover his location and move to kill him. However, now that El isn't using his light as he's unconscious, the Onyx Task Force intervenes, creating a protective shield around Charioce and killing his enemies on the ground.
Sofiel rescues El from the rubble left by Dromos' attack, and Gabriel accepts his defeat with horror.
Jeanne awakens from her unconsciousness and sees with despair how Charioce's army is killing gods and asks them not to continue taking their lives.
Rita wakes Kaisar from unconsciousness, and he asks her where Favaro is, to which Rita replies that she has no idea, that she only saw him flying away quite afar.
As Jeanne runs away from Onyx Soldiers, Kaisar and Rita hurry to help her.
Nina wakes up from her blackout and sees Chris/Charioce in front of her. She notices that he has lost his left eyesight and that his eye has turned grayish.
Seeing her worried about him, Charioce tells her he can still see her with his other eye.
His answer flusters her, but Nina asks him what he intends by hiding his identity, strolling through the city streets, and even dancing with her. Because she mentioned the dance, Charioce ignores the previous questions and asks her if she would dance with him again, and Nina gets excited.
Nina soon realizes that Rita, Jeanne, and Kaisar are being attacked by the Onyx Task Force and rushes to help them, but Charioce tells her there's no way to escape.
Being a decisive situation, Nina asks Charioce to help her.
Charioce doesn't understand how he's supposed to do that, but Nina insists, jumps on him, and asks him to hug her.
Charioce still doesn't understand, but at Nina's insistence, he can't resist and agrees to her request, hugging her tenderly.
His hug triggers Nina's transformation, and Charioce is shocked to confirm his suspicion that Nina was always the Red Dragon.
Since the Red Dragon is in Dromos' command deck —where the king is—, the Onyx Task Force runs to his aid and attacks the Red Dragon using a golem controlled by their ancestral magic.
Jeanne soon realizes that the Red Dragon is Nina, as she remembers that she told her secret in their first breakout attempt.
While everyone fights and takes advantage of Nina distracting the Onyx Soldiers, Kaisar guides Jeanne to a safe place.
Charioce descends from Dromos as fast as he can on his way to the battlefield because he worries about Nina, especially when the golem she faces in her dragon form tries to suffocate her with all its strength.
Nina manages to destroy the golem, and Charioce is amazed by its power.
The Onyx Soldiers use their magic and try to capture the Red Dragon, but it destroys the barrier with its fire.
The Red Dragon walks up to Charioce, whom she instinctively recognizes.
Charioce approaches her and looks on captivated. Fascinated by the Red Dragon, he tries to touch her, but when he realizes that he's wearing the gauntlet of his armor, he removes it and proceeds to do so again. To his dazzlement, at that moment, Nina returns to her human form in response to his touch. And as she hovers in the air and falls, Charioce catches her in his arms.
Unsure if Nina is all right, he looks her over until he verifies that she's breathing, which causes him great relief.
Seeing that Charioce has Nina naked in his arms, Rita attacks him and rescues her friend, whom she takes along with Jeanne in Hipogriff.
Charioce tells her he won't let them escape, but Kaisar gives them the opportunity. Charioce plays along and makes the Onyx Task Force focus on capturing Kaisar instead of Nina and her friends.
When Hipogriff is already away from the battlefield and Nina is safe, Charioce gives the order to return to the castle, as the gods have retreated.
In the Vanaheimr sky, Sofiel reports to Gabriel that El is unconscious.
Gabriel wonders how Charioce managed to build a weapon like Dromos, which is an ancient relic from times far more remote than those when gods, humans, and demons began to roam Mistarcia. It's a weapon with the power to destroy the balance of the world and bring it to its end, for its power is matched by Bahamut's.
Nina wakes up in Bacchus' chariot while flying alongside Jeanne and Rita in Hipogriff.
Rita tells her they're alive thanks to her, but Nina laments that, although she was helpful, Kaisar and Favaro didn't escape with them. And there's something else that leaves her worried, although she doesn't mention it.
Rita goes back to the city to help Kaisar and Favaro and asks Nina to stay with Jeanne and that for no reason should they go to Anatae because they're now criminals and fugitives. Having charged Jeanne with Nina's safety, she descends from Hipogriff and uses her parasol to gently lower herself through the air to the surface.
Jeanne tells Nina that she wants to go to the land of the gods because she's now certain her son is with the gods. She wants to see him but has no idea how to get there.
Nina offers to help her, as her village's elder knows the way to the place. Interested in her words, Jeanne asks her to take her with her.
So, they head to the Dragonfolk Village.
Style: The idea is delivered when Gabriel orders the troops to retreat, but El objects and insists on facing the humans.
It's reiterated once again, on an emotional level, when Chris/Charioce and Nina meet, as Charioce is unable to hold his sword when Nina jumps on him, completely surrendering to her.
Point of view: Charioce's and Nina's are the central ones.
Tone: Daring
Fixed literary devices:
- Transversal themes:
- Love
- Identity and Secrecy
- Transversal symbols (motifs):
- Dromos
- Left hand
- Left eye
- Color black
- Ashes
- Sword
- Hug
- Touch
Mutable literary devices:
- Episode Themes:
- Confrontation and Surrender
- Fear
Conflict: Confrontation vs. Surrender
Thematic elements:
- Confrontation vs. Surrender:
- El and Charioce confront each other, and Charioce causes significant damage to himself and the gods, meaning a pyrrhic victory for the humans.
- When Nina jumps on Charioce to ask him to hug her, he lets his guard down, being unable to hold his sword when he instinctively thinks Nina will confront him. He surrenders to her, for she's his only weakness.
- The Onyx Task Force fights the Red Dragon, but gives up when it overpowers them.
- Fear:
- Gabriel is afraid of the overwhelming power that Charioce has and fears the destruction of the balance of the world, as Dromos' power is as destructive as Bahamut's.
- Nina fears for the lives of her friends and rushes to their aid.
- Charioce fears for Nina's life when the golem captures the Red Dragon and tries to suffocate it and doesn't stay calm until he himself confirms that Nina is okay and breathing.
- Love:
- Nina's feelings for Chris/Charioce don't change even after learning that he's the king she disapproves of, as he's the only one capable of triggering her transformation.
- Charioce's feelings towards Nina don't change after confirming that she's the Red Dragon who gave him so much trouble (*).(*): Certainly, finding out himself that Nina is the Red Dragon only makes him like her more, as he already had a fixation on it, given that he himself has an ancestry related to dragons and is attracted to them, as already mentioned and explained in the analyses of the previous episodes.
- Identity and Secrecy:
- Nina reveals to Chris/Charioce that she's the Red Dragon after asking him to hug her. With this, they're now both completely equal in each other's eyes, as they don't have to hide their secret identities.
Symbols:
- Dromos: Symbolizes death. Before it reveals its pearly form —the one that symbolizes the power of a dragon, as explained in the analysis of episode 12— the device is shown as a corbelled dome, in the same way as the Tholos ancestral tombs.
With its name referring to the tomb entrance, it's assumed that it'll lead to the death of all those who expose themselves to its attack.
- Left hand: Like Dromos itself, the left hand also symbolizes death. Charioce uses his left hand to activate Dromos, making it adopt its form to attack the gods. This symbol gives more meaning to Dromos being a mass destruction weapon.
- Left eye: In Virgin Soul, it symbolizes supernaturalness. It's the eye that's given a power that isn't human. In addition, as his left eye is affected, Charioce becomes El's human parallel.
- Blindness: It always means a refusal to see reality. Charioce loses the sight of his left eye not only because he sacrificed it to offer part of his life energy to Dromos, but because it's a consequence of having refused to see that his actions were arousing the wrath of the gods, as Kaisar had previously warned him.
- Black color: It still symbolizes death. It's most evident when Charioce's left eye turns grayish after using Dromos, losing his sight in the process.
- Left angel wing: It represents the defeat of the gods. This symbol is present when Gabriel sees how Charioce and the humans crush her army.
The symbol is seen again when Gabriel sees through her oracle and only her left wing is in focus, the same one that is in front of her.
- Ashes: They symbolize death and sacrifice. The ashes allude directly to Chris/Charioce, who has just sacrificed an eye and his arm for humanity, charring part of him to achieve his goal.
- Sword: It represents Charioce's strength, and that he's defenseless before Nina.
This is clear when Nina jumps on him, and Charioce tries to take his sword but stops short, as he's powerless before the woman he loves.
- Hug: It symbolizes affection. And, unlike the hugs Nina has received from Azazel in episodes 4 and 7, the one Charioce gives her is tender and delicate, letting her know that he loves her.
This hug is significant because Charioce not only gives it to her because he has feelings for her, but because at that moment, he cares about nothing more than embracing and showing his love for her because she has just survived the use of Dromos.
Being able to be with her and hold her in his arms is something he might not have gotten to do had he died.
And not only that. Nina saved him from continuing to give Dromos his life energy by arriving at the cabin and distracting him from the attack he was carrying out. For this reason, the hug is also a way of thanking her for saving his life.
- Reflection in left eye: Nina is reflected in Charioce's left eye, with which she cannot see anymore. And Charioce is reflected in the Red Dragon's left eye, who sees him but doesn't recognize him, since Nina's human mind isn't fully connected to her dragon mind yet.
This means that their bond is so strong that they recognize each other even without seeing each other at all.
- Touch: Just like when they arm wrestled and danced, the touch between the two is important because it's Nina and Charioce's —twin soul— way of communicating their feelings for each other.
Scenarios:
- Royal City of Anatae
- Prison-Island
- Dromos
- Surface
- Land of the gods
- Vanaheimr
References:
- Tholos tomb: Ancestral Greek Tholos tombs were round stone tombs with a corbelled dome, characteristic of the royal burials of the Mycenaean Greek civilization. It's also known as a beehive tomb. A tholos tomb was accessed through a passage known as a dromos.
- A Farewell to Arms: It's a reference to the movie of the same name whose plot is about an English nurse and an American soldier on the Italian front during World War I who fall in love, but the horrors around them test their romance.
Similarly, Charioce and Nina are, respectively, a king and a half-dragon woman who fall in love in Anatae, and the horrors of war test their romance.
Foreshadowing:
- Dragon-like pose: Nina jumps on Charioce and stares down at him from above. This announces that Nina will reveal to him that she is the Red Dragon.
This same pose is shown again when the Red Dragon looks at Charioce from above.
Her dragon-like pose is reiterated in the conversation she has with Jeanne in Bacchus' chariot.
- Sheathed Sword: Charioce not being able to hold his sword when Nina jumps on him when she calls for his help, foreshadows that his weakness is Nina and that he'll not defend himself against her even if she attacks him.
- Ashes: Being present as Chris and Nina embrace, it could mean that at some point, either or both of them will sacrifice themselves for the good of the other or humanity or both. Concept of great relevance in episode 24.
Characters:
- Chris/Charioce: After synchronizing Dromos' stone with his left hand and paying for its use with part of his eye to give it life energy, he fires the cannon and manages to defeat the gods. He even causes direct damage to Gabriel and El. The attack costs him the loss of vision in his left eye and his left arm wounded and charred.While attacking the gods, he catches Nina, who flies through the air due to the destructive power of his weapon. When Nina regains consciousness, he approaches her to make sure she's okay. Although he's hostile toward his enemies, he's sweet to Nina, whom he hears complaining to him for disguising himself, strolling around the city, and even dancing with her. Charioce thinks her protest is endearing and asks her again if she would dance with him again, causing Nina to blush with emotion.When Charioce sees that Nina wants to come to the aid of Jeanne, who is under attack by the Onyx Task Force, he tells her that there's no escape. Still, Nina asks him to help her. Charioce doesn't understand how exactly she wants him to do so and stares at her. His duties as king prevent him from backing out of Jeanne's capture.Not giving her an answer, Nina jumps on him. Charioce instinctively thinks that Nina might attack him, but he's unable to bring his hand to his sword, and just stares up at her without reacting.Nina asks him to hug her, but when he still doesn't react, Nina asks him again in desperation. Charioce can't refuse and hugs her affectionately, triggering Nina's transformation.As soon as he confirms that Nina is the Red Dragon, he worries about her because he knows that his army will attack her with all its power. Charioce keeps his eyes on the Red Dragon the whole time and watches as it helps Jeanne and Kaisar and disposes of his soldiers.When a golem that the Onyx Soldiers control traps Nina in its arms, preventing her from breathing, Charioce rushes down from Dromos and gets to the battlefield as soon as possible, for he fears Nina will die.Seeing how Nina defends herself and defeats his best men, Charioce is mesmerized not only by her power but also by her beauty as a dragon and as a whole being.Enraptured, Charioce walks over to the Red Dragon, relieved that she's okay.He likes Nina so much that he removes his armor gauntlet to touch her in her dragon form as if touching the face of the Nina he had shared until then.At the precise moment when his hand touches her scales, Nina returns to her original form, albeit unconscious, and Charioce is surprised to confirm again that it's true that Nina and the Red Dragon are the same entity: the woman he has fallen in love with.Charioce holds her in the air before she falls post-transformation, and makes sure she's okay when he confirms that she's breathing normally in his arms (*).(*): Charioce had been left worried for her well-being when the golem prevented her from breathing properly in her dragon form, as she had been almost completely deprived of all breath.Charioce cannot be with Nina much longer, as Rita attacks him and separates him from her.Charioce asks her who she's, but Rita only tells him that she's just his average zombie.Charioce continues to show his concern for Nina as more soldiers arrive where he is to protect him. And not wanting Nina to be killed, he decides to play along with Kaisar, who distracts the soldiers so that Rita, Jeanne, and Nina can escape.Being sure that Nina is out of danger, Charioce announces retreat since there are no more gods around.
- Nina: Her feelings towards Chris/Charioce don't change, but she demands explanations from him for hiding his identity, walking around the city, and dancing with her. She becomes very excited when Charioce asks her if she would dance with him again.As soon as Nina sees that the Onyx Task Force is attacking Jeanne, Rita, and Kaisar, she asks Charioce for help while openly showing her dragon side by jumping on him and adopting a posture that only a dragon would.At that moment, Nina has made up her mind to reveal her identity to him, not only because she wants to help her friends, but because she wants Charioce to know who she really is. When Charioce wraps his arms around her, he does so with tenderness and delicacy, something Nina has never experienced before, and then she transforms into the Red Dragon.Nina knocks out the Onyx Task Force, saving the lives of her friends. She recognizes Jeanne and Charioce while she's transformed, although her human mind is unaware of this. Nina returns to her human form when Charioce touches her, only to fall into his arms.Rita and Jeanne take her away from Charioce in Hipogriff, and she wakes up when they have already left the place.Her friends thank her for saving their lives, but Nina doesn't remember the details and is still worried about Kaisar and Favaro. And also about Charioce, although she says nothing about him.Rita soon leaves her with Jeanne, as she plans to save Kaisar and look for Favaro.Once Rita leaves, Jeanne mentions that she'd like to go to the land of the gods, but she doesn't know how she could get there.Nina tells her that the elder in her village can help her, so they end up heading to Dragonfolk Village as their next stop.
- Gabriel: She recognizes her disadvantage against the humans when she sees Dromos. But, although she tries to make her troops retreat, they refuse, as does El, who won't stop attacking until he gets his mother back.When Dromos destroys El's barrier and wipes out her army, she regrets having trusted and provoked Charioce and wonders what he intends to do after creating a forbidden weapon whose power is equal to that of Bahamut.
- El: He disobeys Gabriel's order to retreat because he hasn't yet recovered Jeanne, which was the condition for going into battle. He's very confident that he'll win his confrontation against Charioce. However, he's defeated by the power of Dromos, becoming unconscious and being rescued by Sofiel.
- Sofiel: She finds out about the existence of Dromos and that humans have been able to create her thanks to the tablets with forbidden knowledge they took from the sacred temples. She is shocked to learn that the cannon has the power to destroy the balance of the world.Sofiel saves El from the rubble after being attacked by Dromos.
- Favaro: He's blown into the air when he tries to hold Nina. His whereabouts are unknown. Rita goes in search of him.
- Rita: She fights against Onyx Soldiers until she's saved by Nina once transformed into the Red Dragon. Then, Rita rescues Nina from Charioce's hands and takes her away from the royal capital in Hipogriff.She doesn't follow Nina and Jeanne on their journey to the Dragonfolk Village, but warns them not to appear by Anatae, but that she will return to help Kaisar and Favaro.
- Kaisar: He helps Rita, Jeanne, and Nina escape by distracting the Onyx Soldiers. Unbeknownst to him, Charioce plays along with him to act as bait so that Nina, Jeanne, and Rita can safely run away.
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