WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 20 of Fire Force, "Wearing His Pride."
Company 8 have descended into the Nether, Tokyo's abandoned subway system that is treated by the Hol Sol Temple and -- by extension -- the rest of the city's populace as a gateway to Hell. In the last episode of Fire Force, Maki and Tamaki fended off fierce assaults from two of the villainous Evangelist's Knight of Ashen Flame. Now, two more of the 8th are subject to the Knights' intent to wipe the Special Fire Force unit out, providing the perfect showcase for Arthur Boyle's new skills.
The fight begins with Lieutenant Hinawa, the 8th's non-powered gunsmith, going up against Arrow, the Knights' bow-woman. The two are a match both in weaponry and personality; their stoic pride not allowing either to back down even while the force of their blasts sends them both flying. Hinawa ends up using the velocity of Arrow's shots against her, creating a sonic boom big enough to end the fight for good. This is when the Knights' trickster pair, Jonah/Yonah and Mirage, emerge from the shadows where they've been waiting, like cowards, to pick off a weakened Hinawa.
Hinawa's victory against Arrow cost him dearly, with the bullet he fires up at the Knights from his place on the floor missing its target completely. Or does it? From the hole created by the shot in the ceiling, the 8th's own self-proclaimed knight, Arthur, leaps down into the scene to come to his superior's aid. Mirage, having beaten the teenage recruit before outside of Vulcan's workshop, is unfazed by the prospect of a rematch.
Little does he -- and we -- know that Arthur is far more prepared this time around. When Arthur went to seek Captain Benimaru's mentorship alongside Shinra in Episode 18, the Force's most powerful soldier taught Shinra his (newly-named) "Shinrabanshō" finishing move. But we never got to see what Arthur learnt... Until now. As Mirage spreads multiple copies of himself (his "shimmers") around Arthur, the rookie remembers Benimaru telling him to learn to detect the "breath of an attack trying to take [his] life." Rather than wildly swing his plasma blade around to slice through each shimmer, Arthur stays his ground and concentrates on doing just that.
Using this technique, he's able to disseminate between the shimmers and the real Mirage, who is moving in for an assassination attempt from a dark hiding place. But his target isn't Arthur, it's the slumped Hinawa on the ground. With he attuned senses, Arthur only has to use his sword once and puts his all into it -- stopping the shocked Mirage in his sneaky tracks before he can slice the Lieutenant's throat. Arthur proudly declares his new title: no longer a Knight King but now a Samurai Knight.
Meanwhile, Captain Ōbi and Vulcan, Company 8's new blacksmith, encounter the treacherous Dr. Giovanni and Lisa -- or Feeler, a Junior Knight -- who Giovanni had installed in Vulcan's home as a spy. Vulcan is still pleased to see the red-headed woman despite her betrayal, while she repays this lingering hope with hesitance to attack. That is, until Giovanni reminds her, threateningly, of her debt to him: "I'm the one who showed you how to manipulate flames, and manipulate men." With that, Lisa's molten tentacles stretch out from her body, ready to begin the two-on-two showdown in the next episode.
New episodes of Fire Force are released every Friday on Crunchyroll; every Saturday as part of Adult Swim's Toonami block and are available as SimulDubs from FunimationNow.