Episode 51

**Assault!! The Masked Devil Lord** (強襲!! 仮面の悪魔ロード, *Kyōshū!! Kamen no Akuma Rōdo*) is the 51st episode of the Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Anime and first aired in Japan on April 4, 2004. While this episode features some moments originally adapted from the Konjiki no Gash!! Manga, this episode is mostly filler.

## Overview

Gash and Kiyomaro are invited to a strange party hosted by a demon known as “Lord” on the outskirts of town inside an abandoned mansion. Curious of Lord and what his intentions are, the two decide to attend the party and investigate.

## Plot

Somewhere inside of a desolate cave, Zofis and Coco, who are both in disguise, look through their impressive collection of stone tablets and think to themselves how their plan involving them will surely secure Zofis the title of king in the battle. Zofis, who has plans on luring out Gash, decides to awaken the demons from inside of a few select tablets using special moonlight he had developed. Three ancient demons emerge through the tablets and thus begins the start of Zofis’ elaborate plan.

Meanwhile, Gash returns home with a freshly caught yellowtail and presents his catch to Kiyomaro. The two of them would talk for a while as Gash eats away at the fish. At the same time, a battle takes place between Brago and Furigaro in the countryside. Their respective partners, Sherie and Gerhardt, stare each other down before resuming their battle by casting spells. Sherie casts *Aian Gurabirei* which forces Gerhardt and Furigaro to defend themselves from it using *Sukeipu Gishirudo*. Recovering from the impact of the spell, Gerhardt casts *Ragikoru Fangu*, a spell that is about to strike Sherie from below. Sherie hesitates when she sees that she’s the target of the spell but Brago pushes her away to safety from it, injuring his arm. When Sherie regains her cool, she becomes more focused and both she and Brago would effortlessly dodge Furigaro’s *Ganzu Gikoru* without needing to use any spells of their own. Brago would then suddenly corner Gerhardt and Furigaro and end the battle by destroying their book using *Gigano Reisu*. With yet another victory under their belt, Brago and Sherie reflect on the fact that by this point in time in the battle, only stronger and more intelligent demons would be left standing and Sherie’s main target, Zofis, should be much stronger by now as well.

Back home, Gash tries to play with his Vulcan in Kiyomaro’s room but him being loud ends up annoying Kiyomaro who then tells him to play elsewhere. The two argue until the doorbell rings and Gash heads downstairs to answer it. When he opens the door, he sees that Suzume had come to visit. Although he tries to talk to her, Suzume ignores him and heads upstairs to Kiyomaro’s room. Her odd behavior catches Kiyomaro’s attention as well as she doesn’t seem to respond to him either. She only gives Kiyomaro a sealed envelope before she tries to leave. Gash and Kiyomaro try their best to stop and hold her back in order to get her to answer them. After a bit of struggle, Gash, who had been pulling her back by grabbing her leg, ends up causing her to trip and hit her head against the wall of Kiyomaro’s room. Suzume suddenly acts normally again but appears to be disoriented not knowing where she is or what she was doing. She then passes out from her concussion and Kiyomaro and Gash would set her on Kiyomaro’s bed to rest.

As they look after Suzume, Kiyomaro shares his observation with Gash that he believes that Suzume appeared as if she was being manipulated through hypnosis which would explain her unusual behavior earlier. Gash then reminds Kiyomaro about the letter she had brought to him and he goes over to take a look at it. The letter turns out to be an invitation for the two of them to attend a party at an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town that evening. When Kiyomaro tries to see who has signed the invitation, a signature suddenly appears and burns the name “Lord” onto the card. This catches both Gash and Kiyomaro by surprise which leads them to believe that the party invitation must actually be a challenge from another demon. Although they figure this must be a trap, they’ve already made up their minds to see what awaits them at this suspicious party.

The two arrive at the mansion in the dead of night and head right in. Inside, the candlelights suddenly turn themselves on and lead Gash and Kiyomaro through a corridor leading to a ballroom. Inside the ballroom are numerous other people dressed in costume that stand completely still and silent. These people would then dance as soon as music is turned on. From the top of the stairs in the room, Zofis and Coco would make their appearance and Zofis introduces himself as Lord. Seeing how impatient Kiyomaro and Gash are for answers about everything, Zofis removes all the other people in the room with a snap of his fingers leaving him and Coco alone with Gash and Kiyomaro to talk. Zofis begins by reassuring Kiyomaro he has no intentions on fighting but rather wants to team up with them instead. This catches both of them by surprise but Zofis elaborates on his reasoning. He begins by reminding them about the premise of the battle to decide king and claims that he shares the same sentiment as them that the next ruler of the Demon World should be pure and righteous. He then asks Gash about the kind of king he wishes to be. Gash responds and Zofis praises him for his answer then talks about how he’s aware of the rumors about how strong he is from the many battles he endured.

Zofis attempts to further persuade him by offering greater powers and shows exactly what he means by bringing out three ancient demons on his command. He offers Gash and Kiyomaro to have those three demons fight and obey them unconditionally if they agree to team up with them. This offer leaves Gash and Kiyomaro stunned and Kiyomaro soon figures out from looking at the blank expressions on the bookkeepers of these demons that Zofis has the power to manipulate the minds of others which also explains Suzume’s behavior earlier. Enraged by this, the two of them refuse Zofis’ offer and cast *Zakeru* in his direction. Zofis and Coco evade this, then order their minions to fight on their behalf. As Gash and Kiyomaro dodge their barrage of spells, they acknowledge the fact that these teams are all being manipulated by Zofis but wonder about the feeling of anger they sense from the demons in particular.

Gash tries to tell the demons he has no intention of fighting them and that they’re being manipulated by Lord but receives no response from them. He and Kiyomaro would then turn their attention to Zofis’ spell book that Coco is holding and attack using *Zakeruga*. Unexpectedly for them, Zofis uses his powers to levitate one of the other bookkeepers over to act as a shield to protect Coco which then causes the spell book that the bookkeeper was holding to disintegrate and disappear along with the respective demon. Gash and Kiyomaro become upset seeing Zofis’ disregard for his comrades but Zofis shares with them how he only views them as nothing more than pawns in his schemes. He demonstrates how little he cares about them by then destroying the book of another one of the demons he had brought with him. Gash tries to pursue Zofis but is suddenly stopped when Zofis uses *Rondo Radomu* to hold the last remaining team hostage and presents Gash with a choice to either defeat him or save the team in front of him. Gash and Kiyomaro destroy Zofis’ spell with another Zakeru and while they manage to free the demon and bookkeeper from it, Gash is confronted by Zofis who prepares to cast Radomu directly at him. Kiyomaro counters this by casting Zakeruga just in time which sends both Gash and Zofis backwards from the close range impact.

While Gash and Kiyomaro are on the ground, Zofis appears before them again and expresses his disappointment in having overestimated them. He leaves them with the last remaining ancient demon to face off with while he and Coco depart from the mansion. This demon prepares himself to fight while Gash and Kiyomaro plead with him once again that he is not their enemy and they don’t want to fight at all. The demon again does not respond and tries to capture Gash using *Eijasu Garon*. Gash easily breaks free from this and confronts the demon once again to tell him that he is not just a tool for Zofis to use and discard and that he cannot allow himself to have his emotions manipulated by Lord any longer. His emotional assurance ends up getting through to the demon somewhat and while Gash hugs him, he destroys his book by using one last Zakeru and vows he will never forgive Lord for all that he has done.

While Zofis and Coco walk away, Zofis senses that Gash has defeated the remaining team he had under his command. Zofis reflects on this revealing that there were some limits on the demons that were not fully under his control and figures that this won’t be enough against Brago and Sherie. In a final attempt to eliminate Gash and Kiyomaro, Zofis uses *Digan Teoradomu* to collapse the entire mansion onto them and the remaining bookkeepers left inside. To prevent the mansion from crumbling onto them, Gash and Kiyomaro use *Baou Zakeruga* to destroy the ceiling above them. As they walk out of the rubble of the mansion along with the other bookkeepers, Gash vows he will not allow Lord to become king no matter what.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Zofis
* Coco
* Gash Bell
* Umagon
* Hana Takamine
* Kiyomaro Takamine
* Sherie Belmondo
* Brago
* Gerhardt
* Furigaro
* Tio
* Suzume Mizuno
* Dartagnan
* Parco Folgore
* Canchome
* Oumi Megumi
* Cook
* Wife
* Kolulu (Flashback)
* Shiori (Flashback)
* Rosa
* Silver
* Razor
* Gollum
* Phantom

### Locations

* Japan
	+ Mochinoki City
		- Takamine Residence
			* Kiyomaro’s Room
* Germany

## Spells by Appearance

* Rājia Furizudo (Debut)
* Reisu
* Aian Gurabirei
* Sukeipu Gishirudo (Debut)
* Ragikoru Fangu (Debut)
* Ganzu Gikoru (Debut)
* Gigano Reisu
* Zakeru
* Ganzu Garon
* Gigano Wigaruga (Debut)
* Zakeruga
* Radomu
* Rondo Radomu (Debut)
* Eijasu Garon
* Digan Teoradomu (Debut)
* Baou Zakeruga

## Manga & Anime Differences

* This episode shows Zofis awakening only a few ancient demons for his plans and leaving the rest of them in their stone tablet state for another time. In the manga however, Zofis awakens all of the ancient demons in his possession at once.
* In the manga, the German town in which Furigaro and Brago’s fight takes place nearby is shown to have completely frozen over most likely due to the effects of Furigaro’s freezing spells. The aforementioned frozen town is not shown in the anime.
* Furigaro and Brago’s fight takes place during Summer on June 8th specifically. In the anime, this battle appears to have taken place close to, or on, April 4th.
* In the manga, Brago loses his arm as a result of pushing Sherie away from Furigaro’s *Ragikoru Fangu* but would have it reattached after the battle. In the anime, Brago only becomes slightly injured and does not lose his arm.
* Sherie and Brago’s conversation after the battle is slightly longer in the manga.

## Censorship & Other Localization Differences

* A crudely drawn pair of boxers was edited over Gash who briefly appears nude when returning home in the VIZ localization.
* The redness seen on Suzume’s forehead bump was edited out.

## Trivia

* The date listed on the invitation Kiyomaro and Gash receive is April 4th, which is the same month and day this episode aired in Japan. The date remains the same in the VIZ localization of the episode although it would air on April 1st in the U.S.
* Phantom, an ancient demon introduced in this episode, bears striking resemblance to another ancient demon seen in the manga, Bahking.