Previously on Strike The Blood:

Kojou and Yukina succeeded in defeating Eustach and Astarte. Kojou has a better handle on his abilities, but he still has a ways to go before he realizes his potential as the 4th Progenitor. Spoilers Ahead!

Things have cooled down since the fight with Eustach, but things are still far from normal. During the school’s sports festival Kojou is attacked by a pair of shikigami’s and someone shooting a bow and arrow before being saved by Yukina. Later Kojou & Yukina are invited to a party on a boat, but when they are attacked by a familiar on the vessel they find themselves face to face with Dimitrie Valter…the 1st Progenitor.

It’s the beginning of a new arc and things have certainly started off with a bang with plenty of questions left in the aftermath.

Dimitrie Valter, The First Progenitor

At the top of the episode we follow Minamiya as she takes down a terrorist who works for a man named Christoph Gardos, the surviving member of something called the Black Death Emperor Faction. Here we see just how powerful Minamiya is as she effortlessly takes down the operative. We see her a bit later when she locates Gardos, and we also see that Astarte has begun working with her, helping Minamiya take down Gardos and Minamiya uncovers something called Nalakuvera. Although it is unknown why she is working with Minamiya, it is nice to see Astarte again as there are more things to explore with her character.

Kojou and Yukina continue to live their relatively normal school life as the school’s sports festival comes around. Yukina is begged by the boys of the school to become a cheerleader and Kojou is signed up to play a mixed doubles badmitton match with his partner being Asagi. We focus a bit on Asagi during the episode as she deals with her feeling for Kojou, including a slightly sad moment when she catches up to Kojou after he is attacked and confuses his party invitation for a love confession when she sees Yukina there.

Minamiya using her magic

Speaking of the attack, Kojou is attacked by two lion Shikigami (paper creatures) before being saved by Yukina; the mosters dropping off his invitation to the party. There is a brief moment of jealousy with Yukina as Kojou contemplates taking Minamiya with him due to her abilities and the fact she knows his secret, with Yukina almost pleading to go (the LKO even give her a dress on short notice, i mean extra short seeing as how the party was literally hours after their discussion).

On the boat the pair are attacked by a familiar, who just so happens to belong to the First Progenitor Dimitrie Valter, who has an interest in Kojou. he is seen earlier talking to a mysterious girl who claims that Kojou is her organization’s enemy. Things are coming to a head so far and there are questions that need answers: Who is this girl? Who does she work for? What is Dimitire’s interest in Kojou? What is the LKO’s true objective? and What is Nalakuvera?

“From the Warlord’s Empire I” is good introduction into the next arc with plenty of open questions, action, and character development. The animation may have been a bit inconsistent but it was nothing too glaring, and all the mystery set up made it more than watchable.

4/5