Smoky God starts narrating and refers to you as his old friend as he talks about how vivid the memory of the day he met you was. It was back in the world of the void underneath the earth, with the unrevolving sun sitting in the center of its sky. In one part of the world was the golden city of Hiranyapura, the place where you and the other Asuras lived. It was there he met you, clashed with each other, and spoke of the same ideals. You had both sworn to stop all suffering in the world, forgive all sins, and abandon all attachments. You would always spar with him since then, and he remembers how you'd swing your sword even after you were wounded.
But eventually, the two of you started having divergent ideals. One day, another friend of yours's daughter was hurt. This was caused by another of the Smoky God's friends, and you went in to cause a bloody battle in a rage you wouldn't give up. You turned away from the things the two of you believed in, and you were exiled from Shangri La. Those who refuse to leave their attachments behind and pick the path of endless battle fall to the world of Asuras. Their fate becomes decided, and they are sent to fight endlessly in an eternal loop of reincarnation. The shadow of regret has darkened Smoky God's heart ever since.
Back to the present, Masanori greets Kresnik when he finally turns up at the Akihabara studio cafe. Kresnik greets him back and apologizes for the wait. They are different in just about every way from their race to their age range and other details, but they once protected the peace of the city together. Their friendship rekindles as they clap each other on the back, delighted to see the other. Kresnik notes that the way Masanori dresses means he's still sticking with walking the path of a writer, so Masanori sighs about how Kresnik sees through everything and confirms that he has indeed not changed. He's surprised Kresnik became a teacher and wished he told him back then.
Kresnik says he may be a teacher now, but he still has to work hard every day still. He then introduces Ellie as a student from the school he works at and a vampire like him, though he figures Masanori knows that already. Ellie just looks surprised but doesn't say anything, and Masanori comments after a while that Kresnik has changed a lot to protect a vampire now. Kresnik then moves to introduce Masanori to Ellie, but she beats him to the punch in saying Masanori's full name. Kresnik is surprised by her doing so, and Ellie reveals that she knows Masanori is a necromancer and a revolutionary belonging to the Invaders.
Flashback kicks in to some earlier time where Tanetomo being every bit the annoyed, put upon secretary, is on the phone with Ellie. He makes a point of saying he's doing this to repay her for that one time, then brings up the loops being a thing. He explains that each of the big three guilds keep memories of those loops, and this is obviously an advantage as stockpiling data is the basis for any organization. By analyzing past trends, it becomes easy to predict how people will act in the same situations. Each guild is using these memories as strategic resources in their own way.
Tanetomo notes that this loop, the Invaders have taken a lot actions he's about to talk about. In short, they are taking the memories and distributing them in a limited way to the general public and making them into vanguards without any self-awareness. If you compare them to historical parallels you could call it the wiles of the people called revolutionaries. The memories of the past loops is basically how the World Representatives control people. Even the leaders of the big three guilds have limits to the memories they can access, so the memories Tanetomo can get are limited too, which in turn means there's only so much he can tell Ellie about the person she's looking for. Masanori is one of the Invaders, so he acts with their ideas in mind. He also has the role of being made to be the moral aggressor in terms of revolutionary conflict.
Back to the present Ellie says she has a lot of questions to ask, but she decides to go with the most important one: is Masanori the one who set up her schoolmates to attack her? Kresnik is surprised by this question and Masanori doesn't immediately respond, so Kresnik turns to him looking sad. Masanori sighs and says if he were a real literary man he might have been able to dodge the question, but then says it'd be a waste of time trying that in front of his old friend. He rechecks Ellie's name, then confirms both his identity and admits he's a follower of one of the people causing the strife in Kabukicho.
Back on your end, the Smoky God's presence at the chaos that popped up when your disguise was messed up and randos seemed slightly suspicious after the fact causes everyone to look at him. Refined behavior and deep seated sadness visible in his eyes just pulls everyone in. Smoky God apologizes and smiles, asking that people let him pass. He does this on an individual basis for every rando he gets near on his way forward, and the randos trip over themselves to comply. By this point the mayhem has stopped.
The crowd attempts to ask Smoky God for his name. He declines to reveal it saying he's there in secret, but he does say a foreigner referred to him with the epithet Smoky God. It's also his way of introducing himself to you as well as answering the question, and you either ask if it's his name or point out that it's obviously an alias. Cops run up to demand what the crowd is here for, which the Smoky God takes as his cue to leave. He asks if you can run as he addresses you by name, saying it's better to go before another commotion happens and your friend gets dragged into it. He holds his hand out to you, and you do note that it's odd that he knows your name, but you set the thought aside to take his hand and go.
Time passes to the point where you and Smoky God have separated yourselves from the crowd, and he figures you guys have run far enough. You think him for saving you, then ask why he did so to begin with. He says he hasn't actually saved you yet, still keeping up his serene smile from before. You ask him what he means as you step back cautiously from him, and Smoky God starts saying he wanted to rekindle his friendship with you, though he notes that this would probably be a first meeting in your perspective. He's known you for a long time, since before even the loops.
You ask Smoky God what he just said and/or activate the app to defend yourself, so Smoky God figures he should tell you now that he's one of the leaders of the Invaders. His smile is noted to be full of kindness, bright enough to light up any darkness. It makes people feel like they'll be accepted no matter what flaws they have in their heart and let themselves be saved by him. It's the smile of kindness that would trample over the anxiety of emptiness, and it's the vainglory of someone who would revolutionize a world. Smoky God adds that he's the World Representative of Shangri La, so you summon your sword and stand off against him. He says up front that he won't fight you right now, but he tells you you'll be hurting yourself if you don't stand down. Your will to fight in itself will harm you, just like it used to he says as you start the episode battle. More happens after that.
After the battle, things tune in partway through where you are swinging your sword at the Smoky God despite not being able to hit him however hard you try. You say it's like you're constantly cutting at nothing before you eventually jump back to see what happens. Smoky God says that as you should already know, your sword can't actually hit the World Representatives. He also says it's wise of you to not be trying hard to actually hit him since his bodyguard would have shown no mercy otherwise.
You decide to summon Solomon, and when he answers you tell him to be ready to use Dual Heaven Dragon or tell him to stand by. The former has Smoky God reveal he knows about it and suggests you not go through with using it, and the latter has him glad you can make calm enough judgments. Either way, he talks about how you'd be paralyzed even if you did manage to cut him. He's not your only enemy, and he brings up the possibility someone else may be around waiting for you to do so. You either react with hostility, say he has a point, or ask if negotiations are possible. In A, Smoky God looks sad as he asks you to calm down. In B and C, he says that's fine.
Anyways, Smoky God says he knew that a meeting with you would turn out to be a fight since that's how it was in older loops. He says that exposing you to danger is not the Invaders', or at least his, true intention. You ask about this with some level of disbelief since your school was attacked and you've been made public enemy #1, so Smoky God says you didn't die and you're in a relatively safe place now. The Akihabara guildmaster's policy is why the place isn't involved with guild battles.
You ask Smoky God what he means, so he starts talking about how there's been a lot of loops. They've been trying to reach nirvana from the repeated suffering, and many of the ominous causes of those loops come from your death. The loops occur because everyone didn't want you to die, and he thinks the plan was also to keep you away from the upheaval from the upcoming guild battles.
You ask the Smoky God what he meant by 'also,' be outraged he's speaking so casually like he's uninvolved, or say that might be true. Smoky God starts talking about how each World Representative has their own opinions regarding the loops up to this point. The Invaders are not a monolith. Their expectations intertwine, and they move forward not expecting anything from anyone. He himself at least wants to keep you safe, so he's been making some moves to ensure that.
Smoky God tells you that he's been born to privilege, so he has looks, talent, and money, so he's hired a pro dealing with chaos (Sandayu) to protect you from the shadows. He didn't do it expecting you to thank him since he did it for himself. He mentioned before that he came to save you, but he says that by nature everyone has to save themselves. Someone who chooses on their own to go into battle is someone he won't save. He still wants to save you though, and he asks if you understand. Right now Akihabara's safety has been guaranteed, so you probably won't be harmed if you don't make any more moves than this. If you want to, then the next time you two meet he can help ease your anxieties.
You ask Smoky God exactly whose safety is guaranteed, ask if he's telling you to save yourself, or shake your head silently. He doesn't respond, so you ask him what will happen to everyone else. He admits he can't say he'll protect them since he's just one person and Tokyo is a big place. He could use people as proxies to defend others, but they still aren't him so he can't make any promises. And that's still not getting into the possibility of you wanting to protect those proxies. Smoky God looks sad as he says it really has come to what he expected of things. He knows that his old friend inside you is bound by the karma to fight for other people. But then, the World Representatives are the same. They are trapped by their past regrets, even himself.
Back at the Akihabara cafe studio, Kresnik starts lamenting how Masanori is his old irreplaceable friend who survived the days of battle they fought together. Masanori doesn't give a response to that, and Kresnik says that if he's going to harm his students then they are going to have to fight. He demands to know why Masanori would sell his soul to terrorists after all they've been through, so Masanori says he's learned that's the best way forward. History is written by the winners when it comes to revolutions, and while some people may die from it, others may be saved. If the math is done before hand and the best possible future is selected, then helping a revolution isn't that strange.
Kresnik angrily points out that Masanori is giving the same arguments the terrorists they fought have used for their actions. Masanori says the discussion isn't going anywhere so he decides to excuse himself, but Kresnik pulls his sword and gun out, arming the latter to stop him. Masanori admits that he's a rear supporter while Kresnik is a frontliner with actual experience, so he can't hope to compete. But he's said he learned about the future earlier, so he points out he's planned for this as his contingent of agent bodyguards pop in.
Kresnik notes that they've gotten more skilled since Kabukicho at hiding their aggression. Masanori says the agents don't need to worry about collateral damage because Kresnik will be protecting everyone else in there. Kresnik is angry but silent at that, and Masanori talks about also knowing how things can be drawn a certain way by saying things in a certain manner. He decides to give Kresnik a present, throwing him a business card with a URL written on it and saying he should learn what the world's future is. That link is where Masanori found his own reasoning to do what he's doing, but Kresnik says he won't accept it no matter how shocking it may be.
Back to your end, you say you want to protect the people important to you, say you won't let the Invaders do as they please, or apologize and say you can't go with the Smoky God. He looks sad, then resolutely accepts it and says he'll save you this time despite that. And if that's what you want to do, he feels you need to know how the world is set up. He asks if you remember what he said, then brings up the question of why you were led to Akihabara and why it's supposed to be safe for you. You remember what he said about the Akihabara guildmaster's policy being that way and ask what that means. The Smoky God just says he'll probably come confront you again, and when he does he'll actually fight you without holding back. He excuses himself there, and so ends the episode.
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