Episode 42

**Coldhearted Foes: Zeon and Dufort** (非情なる敵 ゼオンとデュフォー, *Hijō naru Teki Zeon to Dyufō*) is the 42nd episode of the Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Anime. This episode first aired in Japan on February 1, 2004.

## Overview

Gash develops a cold and Kiyomaro tells him to stay home to rest and recover while he's at school. Not wanting to be left alone, he and Umagon end up following Kiyomaro anyways. Kiyomaro finds out about this and they argue until Gash eventually collapses from his high fever. While Gash stays in the nurse's office to recover, Kiyomaro is visited by Apollo who tells him about Ropes' fate and recounts the battle they endured.

## Plot

Gash wakes up one morning with a fever and after Kiyomaro takes his temperature, he confirms that Gash had developed a cold and needed to stay home and rest. Not wanting to be home alone all day, he asks Kiyomaro if he can come with him to school but he refuses. Gash becomes upset but despite his protests, Kiyomaro goes on with his day and leaves him behind. Gash cries then calls out to Umagon who would come running to Gash's side. At school, Kiyomaro's classmates, Suzume, Iwashima, and Yamanaka, all surround him and demand for his attention at once as they talk about their interests. While he tries to listen, he ends up noticing that both Gash and Umagon ended up following him to class despite what he told Gash.

Frustrated with this, he distracts his classmates by drawing their attention elsewhere while he confronts Gash and Umagon at the back of the class to frantically tie them both up so he can get rid of them together. Umagon however, with his arms still free, ends up beating Kiyomaro up before he gets away and runs towards Kiyomaro's classmates in tears. He then points out to them that Kiyomaro was the one that made him cry and they all become upset at him for his actions. The homeroom teacher would come in during the commotion and and start demanding answers for all the chaos going on in class. A mock trial would soon be set up where Kiyomaro would try and testify for himself against Gash and Umagon in front of the entire class. Kiyomaro argues that he is completely innocent and blames Gash for following him to school in the first place but Gash brings up the fact he would have been left home sick and alone. Kiyomaro counters this by reminding him that Umagon was with him but Gash points out that Umagon would not have been much help to him due to his limitations from having no hands and the fact he ended up eating the lunch that was left for him. The class concludes that everything had been Kiyomaro's fault but he refuses to accept this and continues to argue with Gash in front of everyone. Gash tries to get Umagon to attack Kiyomaro on his behalf but Umagon instead ends up snuggling himself inside of the bag Gash usually stays inside of. Gash becomes upset at this but as he expresses his anger, his fever ends up getting the better of him and he becomes too dizzy to concentrate on anything. He would then collapse and be taken to the nurse's office to be looked after.

When Gash wakes up, he finds himself in bed in the nurse’s office with Suzume there who tells him she’ll be looking after him for the day. Kiyomaro would come in to give Gash a new Vulcan 300 and a reminder to actually try and get some rest until he picks him up after school. After Kiyomaro leaves, Apollo approaches him in the hallway and Kiyomaro becomes surprised to see him again. Noticing Ropes’ absence, Kiyomaro asks him about this. Being reminded of Ropes causes Apollo’s expression to change to sadness and it’s there that Kiyomaro learns that Ropes’ spell book had been burned. During lunch period, Kiyomaro would meet Apollo on the school’s rooftop to talk more about what had happened. While there, Kiyomaro mentions Apollo’s change in attire where he’s dressed much more formally than how he remembered him. Apollo tells him that he finally stepped into his new job as CEO of his family’s financial corporation and he’s no longer the wandering traveler that he once was.

After some small talk, Apollo gets to the point and tells Kiyomaro that the demon they had faced great resemblance to Gash appearance-wise but was far different from him in terms of presence and power. Hearing this, Kiyomaro realizes that the demon in question must be the same one he had heard about that was seen in England and the one who had erased Gash's memories. Shocked that they ended up being overpowered by that demon, Kiyomaro asks Apollo to recollect everything that had happened during their encounter. Apollo begins his story by explaining this had taken place around three weeks ago when he and Ropes were traveling through Holland. During their travels, Apollo notices that Ropes appeared to be distracted by someone and in the moment he thought that they saw Gash and tried calling out to him. This ended up becoming a severe mistake as the demon they called out to, Zeon, starts questioning them if they had met and defeated Gash. Apollo answers by saying that they had fought Gash but he proved to be powerful and that their battle had ended in a draw. Zeon refuses to accept the idea that Gash is anything but weak and suggests that Apollo and Ropes were actually just weak opponents. Not wanting to stick around any longer, Apollo prepares to leave with Ropes and says he's not interested in fighting. Zeon informs him that they don't have a choice in the matter and on his command his bookkeeper, Dufort, comes to his side. As he tells Kiyomaro through his story, Apollo notes that he immediately sensed an abnormal feeling from Dufort and that would show itself during their battle.

Apollo and Ropes make the first move during the battle by casting *Riguron* to hurl wooden pillars towards Zeon and Dufort. To their shock however, they see that neither of them reacted to the incoming spell and already knew they were not planning on hitting them directly. Zeon then attacks using *Zakeru* and both Apollo and Ropes just narrowly dodge it as it was much faster and more powerful than Gash's. Apollo would then move on to cast *Rigurosen* to try and attack their opponents from a variety of angles with the assumption that it would force them to either use Zakeru or a possible shield spell. Apollo did not anticipate however that Dufort would walk towards the incoming spell and effortlessly dodge every attack on his own. This forces Apollo and Ropes to use their strongest spell, *Dino Rigunoon*, in an attempt to end the battle as soon as possible. Dufort shows them once again he was one step ahead of them and managed to point out the correct spot in which Zeon should aim his next Zakeru to take down Ropes' attack.

Apollo and Ropes end up completely cornered with their book knocked out of their hands and Dufort holds Apollo against a wall by his neck. Despite being held in place, Apollo still tells Dufort about his ability to predict and perceive the strength of others and notes Dufort's keen intellect and strong battle instincts. He would then go on to point out that what stands out to him the most is Dufort's lack of fear when facing any incoming danger and questions the amount of hatred he must be harboring underneath it all. This ends up angering Dufort who then throws Apollo onto the ground and starts gathering energy to cast one last spell. Before he does, Zeon interrupts him from saying it in full and tells him that the particular spell wasn't worth using on them. With them distracted, Apollo tries to reach out for Ropes' book but before he could reach it, Dufort stops him and casts Zakeru to set the book on fire. With Ropes' book burning, Ropes begins to fade away along with it and he and Apollo try to spend their last moments together. Dufort however uses Zakeru one last time to destroy the book completely and Apollo and Ropes' last moments together end up becoming cut short as Ropes disappears along with the book. With Ropes defeated, Zeon teleports away along with Dufort and Apollo is left alone to cry over losing Ropes without ever having said goodbye to him.

Apollo finally concludes his story and Kiyomaro is overcome by both anger at what had happened and determination to avenge Apollo by facing off with them someday. Meanwhile, Gash ends up experiencing nightmares as he dreams about the various encounters with enemy demons he had up to that point and all the kind-hearted demons who had their books destroyed. He then jolts awake when Zeon appears in his dream. As he calms down, he realizes he no longer has a fever and is feeling much better. At the same time,as Apollo prepares to leave, he shares to Kiyomaro that although he had failed in helping Ropes become the king he wanted to be, he wishes for Gash to succeed in his place. Kiyomaro agrees wholeheartedly with that sentiment and promises he will make it happen for Ropes' sake. Just as Apollo leaves, Gash meets with Kiyomaro outside and wonders who he had been speaking with. Kiyomaro fills him in and just before he tells Gash about what had happened with Ropes, Gash had figured that part out on his own. With them on the same page, Gash and Kiyomaro reaffirm their resolve to win the battle and ensure the Demon World has a kind ruler looking over everyone.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Kiyomaro Takamine
* Gash Bell
* Umagon
* Suzume Mizuno
* Hiroshi Yamanaka
* Mamoru Iwashima
* Wife
* Hidetoshi Nakata
* Kaneko
* Suzuki
* Takeshi Kaneyama
* Apollo Genesis
* Ropes
* Reycom (Flashback)
* Hosokawa (Flashback)
* Sugina (Flashback)
* Haruhiko (Flashback)
* Fein (Flashback)
* Eshros (Flashback)
* Shinichi (Flashback)
* Luc (Flashback)
* Robnos (Flashback)
* Yopopo (Flashback)
* Jem (Flashback)
* Gordo (Flashback)
* Danny (Flashback)
* Nyarurato (Flashback)
* Shion Hibiki (Flashback)
* Kolulu (Flashback)
* Shiori (Flashback)

### Locations

* Japan
	+ Mochinoki City
		- Mochinoki Middle School
		- Takamine Residence
			* Kiyomaro's Room
* Europe
	+ Holland

### Spells by Appearance

* Riguron
* Zakeru
* Rigurosen (Debut)
* Dino Rigunoon
* Gikoru (Flashback)
* Juron (Flashback)
* Uruku (Flashback)
* Wigaru (Flashback)
* Guranbaison (Flashback)
* Biraitsu (Flashback)

## Manga & Anime Differences

* When Kiyomaro is seen speaking to his classmates, they originally talk about Kiyomaro's trip to Hong Kong since in the context of the manga, that was the most recent thing he had done. In the anime however, the order of events that transpire in the series end up being different from the manga. As a result the conversation topic was changed to something different.
* In the anime, Kiyomaro meets with Apollo on the rooftop of the school to talk about things there. In the manga, they sit and talk at the front steps leading up to the school building outside.
* While most of Zeon and Ropes' battle between the anime and manga remain mostly the same, the manga depicts additional moments during the battle that were not adapted into the anime.
* The final scenes of this episode of the anime showing Gash experiencing nightmares and eventually going to meet Kiyomaro outside of the school are entirely filler.

## Censorship & Other Localization Differences

* A scene that originally shows Umagon hitting Kiyomaro across the face was censored over with a bright flashing screen