This is the episode where Priscilla finally makes herself useful by dying.
— Y’know, the evil pope man isn’t wrong. The Lords do fight all day and night. I’ve been told, however, that the people support Theo. I haven’t seen it, but that’s because this anime rarely ever shows anything. We’ll just have to take the anime at its word.
— Evil pope man ends up declaring a holy war on Theo. I’m still kinda surprised that he would have an army strong enough to resist the combined might of the Lords. Like I’ve said before, if his faction was always this strong, why did they wait so long to make their move? Why did they allow Theo to consolidate so much power?
— Okay, just to keep things straight in our heads, we have the evil Mage Academy and the evil Order of the Crest. The Order of the Crest are religious and fanatical. Also, there’s Pandora, a shadowy organization within the Mage Academy. The last thing they want is for magic to disappear from the continent, which would happen if Theo gets the Grancrest and eliminates Chaos from the world. I think I have this right.
— 5000 warriors and 70000 crazy followers? Wow, that’s rather lopsided. But I guess this is why the evil pope man thinks he can win against Theo. Plus, our hero is naturally hesitant to fight. After all, he doesn’t want to spill the blood of innocent women and children. Yep, there are children in the pope’s army. I’m surprised to hear that too.
— Priscilla claims that no fighting will be necessary. She’s going to talk to Sir Leone and convince him otherwise. Wait… who is Sir Leone again? Is that the evil pope man’s actual name?
— Man, Theo is getting super worked up about Priscilla’s plan. Unfortunately, as a viewer, we’re lacking a ton of context. Just how close is he to Priscilla? Just how dangerous is this Sir Leone? In any case, Theo doesn’t want to send the priestess in alone, but he ultimately relents when Siluca volunteers to accompany her. So… uh, he’s less worried that his future wife might be in danger? ‘Cause I’d still be freaked out in his shoes.
— Who is the One God? This seems to imply that there might be other Gods, but this “One God” is the only one we should worship. Man, I know next to nothing about the religion in Record of Grancrest War universe.
— In any case, the villains are laughably arrogant as usual. They’re certain that they’ll win. After all, even if they lose the battle, Theo’s reputation will suffer for murdering non-warriors.
— Apparently, the evil pope’s followers are also hesitant to fight Theo because the Holy Maiden Priscilla is on his side, but since when did she garner such a following?
— But y’know what? We have yet another episode full of people sitting around in a room, talking our ears off about their plans. At least they’re not walking around each other in a circle, I guess.
— Siluca won’t be going completely alone; she’ll have her two followers Irvin and Aishela on her side. I still wouldn’t be thrilled with the idea of sending my future wife into the lions’ den, but I guess Theo has no other option. Also, she now has a broom to replace her wand. It sounds like they can cast magic without a wand, but having some object helps them concentrate. I think.
— These guys seem more like a cult than a proper religion. I know, I know, the distinction isn’t exactly huge.
— Leone wants all of the Crests for himself. Naturally.
— You can tell how poorly news travel in this universe. Siluca tells the entire crowd that Theo has no wish to monopolize the Crests (obviously). He simply wants to eliminate Chaos (naturally). Nevertheless, these fanatical followers are just hearing this for the first time.
— If the followers are this easily swayed, why did the evil pope man even allow them to attend this meeting between him and Siluca? Arrogance again? Are we gonna blame the villains’ downfall on arrogance each and every single time?
— So Priscilla reveals herself, and Leone is shook! Shook, I tells ya! Why did he allow her to attend the meeting without checking her identity first?
— Priscilla says they should all be equal before god, but I mean… she’s serving the emperor.
— Priscilla’s father is the founder of the entire order? Is this the first time we’re learning this? It sure feels like it! I still have no clue what Priscilla is about. No, no, I understand that she’s the Holy Grail. But she just showed up one day, pledged to follow Theo, then disappeared for months and months on end only to suddenly become the big, shiny MacGuffin at the very end of the story.
— Speaking of the big, shiny MacGuffin…
— It turns out Leone is also a member of Pandora. The bad guys cut straight to the point: let’s just murder Priscilla and be done with it! So much for appealing to the evil pope man.
— Leone’s going to try and kill her in front of everyone. Ballsy.
— But Priscilla gives Irvin one look and that’s enough to stop the guy from stepping in and protecting her. Did she stop him with magical powers or something? Sure enough, Leone stabs her right in the stomach. Priscilla actually wants to die. Maybe she gets to be a martyr this way.
— Oh come on, how can you just declare her a heretic? She literally just summoned forth the Holy Grail! Leone still doesn’t believe that he’s standing before the real deal.
— Her stab wound is glowing! Oh shiiiiiit, here comes the plot twist, right? Hell, I don’t even know anymore.
— Magical wisps of whatever emerges from Priscilla’s body as she tells her friends that it was her duty to die. Huh. So there won’t be a plot twist? She literally came here to die? Why even drag Siluca, Irvin, and Aishela into this then? Priscilla must have been 100% confident that her friends would survive. Otherwise, she needlessly endangered them if her plan all along was to die. It’s either that or she doesn’t think death is really that grave of an outcome. Still, I’d be hella pissed in Theo’s shoes. He agreed to this plan because he thought Priscilla wouldn’t die. It turns out Priscilla died anyways, and his future wife was put in peril for no reason.
— Even a weakened Aishela appears to have no trouble murdering all these soldiers. The events from last week’s episode didn’t seem to impact her all that much. Blood seeps from her lips, but I don’t know if that’s because she’s weaker or what.
— So the “plot twist” here is that Priscilla’s Holy Grail won’t turn into a Chaos Core like every other Crest. In other wordds, she’s the real deal, you guys. Dying was her only way to prove that she was the Holy Maiden all along. Whoopsy.
— The other evil guy tells Leone to just take the Holy Grail for himself. Bet you he can’t. But look at the evil pope man. He’s actually feeling guilt! Evil pope man is not actually that evil.
— I can’t really get too worked up about Priscilla because I hardly knew her. Like I said, she was barely in the story at all. At this point, the only characters I really have any emotional investment in are Theo and Siluca. The rest of them could lose their lives, and I’d just shrug.
— Well, I guess we could spare Lassic. He’s always been a bro.
— As suspected, Theo is devastated to hear the bad news. Again, if the adaptation had bothered to flesh out his relationship with Priscilla, I could understand why he’s so worked up about this…
— Theo blames himself, but I’m just like, “Dude, you were literally the only person who didn’t agree to her plan. I think you’re in the clear.”
— So the Holy Grail is floats there until someone grabs it? I’m surprised no one else has made an attempt on it. Nevertheless, yet another powerful thing falls into Theo’s hands.
— Oh no, he can hear Priscilla’s voice after absorbing the Holy Grail. She’s not gonna keep watch on the guy, is she? Imagine trying to consummate your relationship with your wife only to have Priscilla’s disembodied voice telling you to stop sinning.
— Siluca actually tells these religious followers to now worship Theo. Yeesh. That’s going a bit too far, isn’t it?
— Snark aside, Priscilla did a great thing. She traded her one life for the lives of tens of thousands. If a battle had broken out, who knows how many people would’ve died? Theo’s hands are stained with the blood of the people. Sure, he’s fighting for a just cause, but at the end of the day, he lets the people do most of the fighting for him. He only shows up to fight the likes of Milza and whatever. Priscilla, on the other hand, actually managed to protect the people’s lives.
— But enough about that. We only have two more episodes left! We’re almost done with Record of Grancrest War.