WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 14 of Fire Force, "For Whom The Flames Burn."
It's the conclusion of the Asakusa arc in Fire Force and, as you'd expect from a show about pyrokinetic fire-fighters, things end with quite a bang. In fact, one character pulls a move that's more befitting of Superman than it is your average emergency service worker -- no matter how super-powered they might be.
The White Clad has spread both fire and chaos through the district, forcing citizens to turn against each other in order to rid their homes of the doppelgangers the elusive group infiltrated the area with. Benimaru, Captain of the 7th, takes to the sky to rally his Company together and they look to him with unquestionable faith in his ability to quell the panic. His attention from this height is soon drawn to where Arthur and Shinra are facing down an even more troublesome threat: an Infernalized White Clad agent by the name of Haran. If that wasn’t enough, Haran’s horned form is revealed to be a higher-class of Infernal -- a demon.
The transformation also has a curious side effect on Shinra, whose traumatizing memories of the fire that claimed his mother's life flash on-screen to remind us of the similarly horned figure who was also present on that day. Shinra also has a horrifying vision of his legs -- where his Ignition ability centers -- becoming skeletal, causing him an unnerving sensation that stops him in his tracks while Arthur alone is left to fend off the demon's brutal attacks.
Spotting this reaction, Arrow, Haran's companion, identifies it as an "Adolla Link." She points out that he doesn't belong in the Special Fire Force. "Devil, yours are the flames that exterminate mankind." Before he can properly process her words, however, she's gone.
This is when Benimaru makes his entrance on the scene, further incensed by the Infernal's hellish appearance because it is also a demon who is responsible for the telephrosis that his best friend and Lieutenant suffers from. (Demons, eh? They're just bad news, all round.) The Captain lays into the creature with the kind of incredible force we've seen him demonstrate continuously over the last couple of episodes against both humans and Infernals. The demon, however, resists all of his blows -- its hardened hide not allowing for a single scratch.
Benimaru recalls that when Konro, his second in command, fought the demon that left him so badly injured, the power it took to pull off the feat left a huge crater in the ground; something he isn't keen to repeat considering Asakusa is already so worse for wear. So, in a move we've seen many a superhero do in order to avoid collateral damage, Benimaru uses his Ignition ability to blast both himself and the demon off into the sky so he can land what he hopes will be a killing blow.
Down on the rooftops, Konro, keeping a close watch on his comrade, spots Arrow taking aim at his Captain as he ascends, trying to knock him out of the air. Unable to stop her in his weakened state, he calls for Shinra instead. The Company 8 rookie is still a little wobbly on his feet thanks to the Adolla Link's effects, but he manages to talk himself out of it by dismissing Arrow's earlier words: "Mine are the flames that preserve mankind!" Copying Benimaru's own rocket technique, Shinra similarly takes off after the flaming arrow and knocks it off its course.
High above the city, Benimaru calls in a Matoi drone strike on the demon from his crewmen before eviscerating the shocked beast with a pyrokinetic force so devastating, the huge moon hanging in the sky turns blood red. The eerie scarlet glow falls over everything as Benimaru falls back to Earth -- depleted of all his energy. Shinra is on-hand to catch him, and the White Clad are forced to fall back. However, the exercise wasn't a complete waste, as Arrow informs us. Their suspicion about Asakusa was confirmed by Haran's sacrifice: the 7th's territory is a breeding ground for demon Infernals.
New episodes of Fire Force are available every Friday on Crunchyroll, and as SimulDubs from FUNimationNOW.
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