If you saw in the last episode, there was a lot of lewdness that went with a lot of Darkness. This episode is another Darkness-centered episode, just without most of the lewd stuff. It’s still going to be perverted, because … well, you already know.
As where we left off last time, Sena, the prosecutor lady, came to see Kazuma. She is complaining about the monsters that are coming out of Keele’s Dungeon, the place him and Aqua explored two episodes ago. Aqua, even though she says it isn’t her fault, tells them that there should be fewer monsters in there because of the magic circle she drew, which makes the monsters not want to approach it. So, the monsters outside? Yeah, her fault. She gets bopped on the head for it. Since they don’t want the town to be in danger, Kazuma agrees to go erase the magic circle. When they get there, they find these little masked doll things outside.
Cute, aren’t they? There are a ton of them outside, and Sena tells them someone is summoning them. All they need to do is beat the spell caster, and place the powerful sealing talisman she gives to Kazuma on the circle. Aqua says the doll things make her sick for some reason. One of them notices her, goes up to her and gets on her leg. And then, KABOOM!!! It explodes, as Sena tells them they do that. Just not quickly enough for Aqua’s sake. Darkness goes near the dungeon where one gets on her shoulder and explodes. But she isn’t affected by it at all, so she lead the way for Kazuma. Megumin, like before, can’t go in there because big explosions and dungeons don’t mix. As for Aqua? She still has trauma from when Kazuma left her alone to get attacked by the monsters in there, so she’s a no-go. It’s just Kazuma and pervy Darkness, as the Exploration Quest to investigate strange activities in the dungeon begins.
Unlike last time, the dungeon is now all lit up. Not only that, but the tiny masked dolls are attacking Darkness, and she is actually hitting them with her sword *GASP!!* She is so happy she is doing good, that Kazuma really doesn’t need the back-up from the other guys with him. It doesn’t matter anyway, since the masked dolls get all over them and explode. As the duo make their way, they find the source of the dolls. He makes them in his image.
He greets them, as he admits he is the one who made the dolls. He is a commander in the Devil King’s army. He is also a duke from hell. He is the archdemon, Vanir. The Exploration Quest quickly turns into an Emergency Quest to beat Vanir. Kazuma wants to run, but Darkness isn’t going nowhere. Not when this guy is rumored to be stronger than the Devil King himself, even if he only just maintains the barrier around his castle (It makes him a “commander in name,” to be exact.) He also points out how he is a “demonkin,” as they feast on the dark emotions humans always are ashamed of. Anyway, he made those dolls to clean out the dungeon of its monsters. But since there are none, he can move on to his next plan. It’s a “death wish” that is basically a video game ending, all in a few steps. First, he gets a dungeon. Second, he makes the rooms full of demons and traps. The adventures who explore it beat them through this exhausting trial and make it to him. They face Vanir in a final battle, and when he gets beat, they find the box he left behind. They open said box, to find a paper that says “You Lose.” Their confused faces please him as he goes off to the afterlife. That’s all he wants. The first thing with the dungeon was going be done by using a friend’s money to buy one (I’m guessing Wiz, since she was also part of their army, and because he disses her too), but he found this seemingly abandoned dungeon before that. The only problem is the irritating magic circle that is blocking his final battle chamber. He has a rule about not killing humans. So he won’t kill the two, but he will beat the crap outta whoever but the circle there. He can see this with his magical eyes of his who did what. It basically can see who’s doing what (Like Aqua being lazy), their thoughts/emotions (Kazuma’s nervousness/Darkness still waiting for the bet to happen) and now that Aqua’s in his sights, Darkness tries to stop him. After escaping his attempts to get them, Darkness attacks Vanir, only to miss yet again, while Kazuma hides like before. It’s a ploy, as Kazuma launches a sneak attack on him. However, he trips on a round statue, and smashes into Vanir. This allows Darkness to actually slice Vanir with her sword, turning him into soil. It’s over, right? Nope.
The mask attaches to Darkness, and Vanir can now see all her dark emotions in her. She also switches voices from her to Vanir as he takes over. It’s only when he tells Kazuma to strike her down, to have Darkness agree to it, that Vanir starts to question her. He makes it worse when he tells her she will be in unbearable pain throughout if she resists, only to see she enjoys it. Kazuma passes them and erases the magic circle as they continue on.
Vanir can see that taking over her was a mistake, as Darkness is quite enjoying it (especially when he lets slips that Kazuma finds her attractive). Kazuma puts the talisman he has on the mask for Aqua to purify him. The two make their way to the dungeon’s exit, as Vanir takes over and now has his sights set on Aqua. However, as he exits, Aqua uses “Sacred Exorcism” on Vanir/Darkness. She did it because she felt a dark presence coming. In fact, she can even smell what’s on Darkness.
Vanir makes it known he hates the Axis cults ways with “etiquette.” Aqua doesn’t have that, so she uses “Sacred Highness Exorcism,” which they dodge. The other guys try to fight Vanir, but him in Darkness makes Vanir unstoppable, even to Aqua’s magic. Darkness is sorry for attacking her friends, and quickly gets excited when the guys look at her angrily for beating them. The girls ask Kazuma to stop her from cutting up Aqua, and even though he hates being dragged around, he has no choice. He tells of his plan to remove the seal, take off the mask, and have Darkness come back to them. But Vanir can see he was going to use Steal, so Kazuma makes another wager with Darkness. if he wins, he’ll do something so unbelievable that goes with the previous bet, it be hard to resist. He then uses “Tinder” to burn the seal off, and Darkness tries to remove the mask. But it’s no use. Darkness decides to have Megumin use her Explosion Magic on her to beat Vanir. Poor Megumin doesn’t want to do that, since she’s more powerful now and will kill even Darkness. But Darkness accepts this fate. She gives Vanir 2 choices: Be purified by Aqua, or take on Megumin’s explosion. As he is a demon, he goes with the Explosion. He did enjoy his time with Darkness (as did she) as this will be a perfect way to die. To make Megumin go with it, Kazuma tells Sena he will take responsibility for what happens. Megumin does her chant, and a big explosion rocks the area.
After this, Kazuma gets rewarded for beating Vanir, with Sena apologizing for everything that happened. Since they beat a Devil King commander, they now can’t suspect that Kazuma is a part of his army. His spy suspicions are all cleared up. Darkness did survive the explosion as well, but lost her armor in it. They give her new, first-rate armor for what she did, along with her gratitude. The people cheer her on, but embarrass her because they’re saying her real name, Lalatina, to whom Kazuma told everyone about. For all they did, not only is their debt and the cost of repairs to Lord Aldarp’s mansion are paid off, the group gets 40 Million Eris for their victory. The Quest is done, and Kazuma is very happy.
This was another Darkness episode, and while it wasn’t as funny as the last episode, it was still good and gave me some good laughs. Vanir was a good villain for the short time he was on, but I can only imagine how differently it would have gone if he picked Megumin or Aqua. Actually, Megumin might be worse since she can only get off one-shot. And Aqua might have driven him more insane. Seeing him deal with Darkness’s perviness, them going back-and-forth throughout, then basically accepting who she is was fun to see. And his wish to die in a video game final boss way was one of weirdly bizarre things I have seen. But that’s Konosuba for you. It will take something weird like that, and make it their own unique thing. As for Darkness, it was great to see such loyalty for trying to sacrifice herself to her friends’ sake. She may be herself throughout it, but she is still a knight. That’s something that she hasn’t forgotten as she tries to be a great adventurer. Overall, it was another good episode. Congrats to the group for not being in debt anymore. Can’t wait to see how they mess this one up soon enough.