VS. Holy Sol Temple arc

The **VS. Holy Sol Temple arc** is the eleventh story arc in the *Fire Force* manga series.

After returning from China, the Fire Force have to wrestle with the Holy Sol Temple repressing the findings of their research expedition. Meanwhile, a disgruntled Victor Licht and Joker finally make their move against the church.

## Summary

Returning to headquarters, Licht's suspicions from the end of the last arc proven correct. The government decides to wait at least three years to release any information gathered from the China expedition to the public. While Shinra is angered by this, Akitaru convinces him that undermining the foundation of the church and the Amaterasu generator would cause chaos throughout the Tokyo Empire.

### The Night's Events

Later, members of Special Fire Force Company 7 search for their missing captain, unaware that Benimaru Shinmon has left Asakusa alongside Joker. The duo observe the The Holy See and plan their attack on the church. The goal is to uncover the 'True Sacred Scriptures' of the Sol Temple and they attack the heart of the Empire's religion directly and openly, while Raffles III is still inside. While Benimaru briefly struggles against the church's monks, he and Joker manage to overpower them and enter the Holy See. Only to find it completely abandoned. Joker quickly uncovers a hidden passageway into the Netherworld and leads his ally into the depths below the Empire.

While tensions between Joker and Benimaru flare up, Joker eases the situation by revealing he used to be part of the church. Deeper into the underground world, the pair are confronted by a group of warriors known as The Shadow of the Holy Sun: assassins of the Holy Sol Temple and the order Joker was raised in until he escaped. While the leader of the assassins is shocked that '52' has returned to them after 12 years of absence, Joker grins and readies himself for battle.

Benimaru battles the unrelenting assassins while Joker duels their captain. Despite their combat skills and dismissal of pain, the shadows are beaten by Benimaru. Joker struggles against the captain and his tandem use of his Whip-Sword and Third Generation abilities. They fight to a standstill until the captain's weapon and knowledge manage to overwhelm Joker's abilities, only to be confronted by mirages of Joker created by the criminal's hallucinogenic smoke. In this confusion, Joker manically slices his tormentor to pieces and turns to face his next foe: Leonard Burns. Before they can battle and after noticing Benimaru, Burns decides to aid their investigation. Joker then reveals to Benimaru that he and Burns used to work together. After being forced into an Adolla Link and transported to the Adolla Realm, the pair each lost an eye but returned with a piece of rock from the other dimension, which Burns still holds. Having conducted his own research into the Holy Sol Temple, Burns believes the Church is not willfully hiding anything and that there are no secret scriptures. However, he did discover a dairy written by the wife of Raffles I, which details the mysterious change in behaviour by the founder of the Temple after he discovered the Adolla. While Joker dismisses this at first, Benimaru remembers that somebody was capable of changing faces during the attack on Asakusa.

With nothing left to discuss, Burns moves to cover up the night's events while the others move on to investigating Haijima Industries and its ties to the Preacher. The next morning, Haijima scientists discuss an interesting new test subject:Nataku Son, the boy who survived Rekka Hoshimiya's tests and possible host of the Adolla Burst.

### The Next Investigation

After a poor night's sleep, Shinra finds out that Lisa Isaribi has joined Company 8. The company toast to celebrate, alongside Konro, who is visiting to tell them about Benimaru's attack on the church and allience with Joker. With the results of this investigation and Lisa's testimony, Company 8 decide that they should not continue investigating the Holy Sol Temple and instead focus on Haijima Industries, due to Giovanni's place within the organisation.

Meanwhile, Victor Licht is called to Haijima's Paper-Making Factory to meet with the Company President, Gureo Haijima. On his way to the office, Licht is warned by Hibana that he is in danger, who has also noticed that he is starting to turn on the organisation. Once the meeting begins, Goro disapproves of Lichit's report about the Amaterasu-like generator from the Chinese Peninsula and his claims it is fueled by human sacrifice. After this, Gureo orders Victor to bring Shinra to them. When Licht leaves, Gureo plans on killing the scientist if you does not return with Shinra.

Returning to the Company 8 barracks, Lichit calls a meeting to reveal that he originally sent to investigate Company 8 (which only Iris is shocked by). His original goal was to observe Shinra and his Adolla Burst. Having fired to spot Shinra's true power, Haijima Industries experiments on child in their care have intensified and resulted in serious harm. Licht plans to take Shinra to Haijima in order to investigate their practices, which Shinra agrees to in order to protect the children. Before their plan can commence, Akitaru askes Licht about his loyalties and he admits that he is only serving his own interests.

While Shinra and Licht are driven to Haijima Industries, the Skill Development Department begin another experiment on Nataku. The test forces the boy to battle Kurono under the threat of death in order to awaken the Adolla Brust through combat. However, Nataku's tramua and unstable body result in his failure and allowing Kurono to beat savagely without effort. After the experiment ends, Kurono awaits Shinra's arrival.

## Trivia

* This is the first arc of Fire Force that does not follow a member of Company 8 throughout.