The Deeper Plan

Deep in the ancient past, Kars turns to Esidisi inside a pyramid and lays out the flaw in his grand design. The gem he holds, the Red Stone of Aja, bends light more than a billion times over into a searing beam, yet it lacks the potency of the fabled Super Aja he would need to conquer the sun and perfect his Stone Mask.

Back in the present, Lisa Lisa fills Joseph and Caesar in on that same history. Kars, who first forged the mask, hunts the jewel to complete his rise into the ultimate organism. She then produces the stone herself and demonstrates how it turns daylight into a cutting ray. Joseph proposes smashing it, but she refuses, insisting the gem is their one weapon against the Pillar Men. With roughly a week left before the poison rings inside him dissolve and kill him, she sets a final trial, pairing Joseph against Loggins and Caesar against Messina.

At nightfall Caesar and Messina open their bout, while Joseph reaches his own dueling ground only to find Loggins already slain by Esidisi. Furious at the loss of a comrade despite his dislike of the man, Joseph squares off with the Pillar Man across a spike-covered field. His Ripple has grown sharp enough to break a Pillar Man's hide, though that edge alone will not finish the job. Rigging Loggins' body with a hidden wire, Joseph slices off one of Esidisi's arms and braces for a careless, rage-fueled counterattack.

Instead, Esidisi vents his grief in a storm of shrieking sobs before seizing Loggins' severed limb for himself and incinerating the corpse with blood that boils near 500 degrees Celsius. His Flame Mode heats his body to deadly extremes and turns his veins into pipes that pump scalding fluid into anyone he touches. Joseph springs a double-layered snare using his wool cap, catches the Pillar Man, and drives the Ripple home. A showy last gambit fails, and Esidisi bursts apart. Joseph recovers the antidote and dissolves the ring choking him, then starts back toward the castle without noticing that Esidisi's brain has latched onto his back.

The adaptation moves the moment Lisa Lisa reveals the Red Stone from a boat in the manga to a balcony, and it trims a lighthearted follow-up along with a subplot where a man harasses her and grabs for the jewel. Staff commentary observed that the installment devotes its entire runtime to the Esidisi clash, a demanding task given the oddity of a foe who fights using his own blood vessels.

To ease the transition into the next episode, the production placed Suzi Q on screen beside Lisa Lisa earlier than the manga did, so that viewers would already recognize her when the following chapter centers on her.