Made in Abyss Season 2 Episode 09

The Return is the ninth episode of the Made in Abyss: The Golden City of the Scorching Sun anime series.

Synopsis
Reg and Faputa are seen making their way back to The Village of Iruburu.

Reg is carrying the body parts Faputa ripped off herself, while she is resting on his head. A short exchange between the two follows, in which Faputa requests to be patted on the head by Reg, followed shortly by noises of creatures attracted by the smell of Faputa's blood, and they quickly hurry to the entrance of the village.

Riko, alarmed by Meinya, quickly peeks outside Iruburu's barrier to greet Reg. In doing so, she catches a short glimpse of Faputa, and Faputa notices Prushka's new embellished form. Immediately after Reg steps inside the barrier with Faputa's body parts, the village reacts similar to the Iruburu Balancing, but far stronger and more uncontrolled.

Reg panics and contemplates to bring the parts to Belaf right away, but is stopped by Vueko because she assumes seeing them could drive Belaf insane. When Vueko asks Reg how he acquired the parts, Reg tells her Faputa gave them to him so that he would fulfill his promise.

In a flashback, it is shown how Faputa, knowing Reg is too kind to destroy the village, requested him to become her "helper". In the past, Reg had told her his incinerator should be able to "rewrite" the laws of the Abyss itself and allow Faputa to bypass Iruburu's barrier.

Wazukyan, who had eavesdropped the conversation, concludes Reg must have been "The Prince" and is surprised Reg managed to secure parts of "The Princess". He also casually greets Vueko, expresses his joy of her finally being able to leave her pit, and asks her if she already told them about "The Princess". Vueko reluctantly confirms she has, but notes she told the story from her point of view.

Wazukyan shifts his attention to Riko and asks her if she has come to hate him now, knowing the past occurrences. Riko states she doesn't really know Wazukyan well enough to come to hate him, but likes the village as it has many inhabitants who she can relate to.

Wazukyan elaborates that she most likely feels that way because she is one of the few Delvers diving past the point of no return, and the villagers were once the same, with the village being a place for the ones with nowhere else to go. This makes Majikaja and Moogie a bit nostalgic and they admit they often dream of challenging the Abyss again, because their journey wasn't over before they came to Iruburu.

Riko, addressing Wazukyan again, says while she doesn't know him too well, he doesn't seem like a person whose deepest wish was a place for the ones who have nowhere else to go. An adventurous person like him who set out to find the Golden City would never stop at the entrance to it, which is the 6th layer, and Riko asks him why he is pretending to have given up on his quest.

Wazukyan expresses his joy for her observation skills and notes in the last 150 years she is the first to notice. Riko takes some time to think and when asks Wazukyan if he perhaps hopes for her to use the power of the Cradle to allow the people of the village to set out for an adventure once more. Wazukyan, speechless, asks how she came to that conclusion, to which Riko says she was in a similar situation before, and Wazukyan once more praises her obsertivity.

Moogie, addressing Wazukyan, tells him while they would like to venture in the Abyss again, Moogie feels it would be unfair to force Riko to make such a wish, to which Wazukyan replies that nobody is forcing Riko and it is a decision only the ones challenging the Abyss can make; namely Riko's group.

Before anyone else can say something, Juroimoh shows up and starts attacking. Wazukyan quickly grabs Vueko and moves to a higher position to avoid Juroimoh. Reg manages to draw Juroimoh's attention and a fight erupts between them, which leads to Juroimoh transforming into an even more monstrous form with the dark gooey liquid masses. While observing, Vueko asks Wazukyan why Juroimoh has the same name as her adoptive father who used to abuse her.

Wazukyan explains that Irumyuui created Juroimoh from the signals she received from Vueko, and Juroimoh is the very will of the village itself.

Juroimoh continues his attack by compressing the gooey liquid masses and firing them in Reg's direction. Reg contemplates using the part of Faputa he still holds to trick Juroimoh into stealing it, and thus triggering the Iruburu Balancing.

However, Vueko notices his plan, and shouts at him to not try it because Juroimoh is unaffected by it. As Reg is thinking of another way, Juroimoh creates a thin membrane with the gooey liquid masses and flings it towards Reg. Reg manages to pull himself out, but, because of the size, villagers and Riko also get caught up in the membrane.

Without much time to think, Reg decides the best solution is to fire his incinerator and rips away the membrane as well as parts of Juroimoh. However his shot also creates an opening in the village. Afterwards, he starts panicking because soon Faputa will arrive and the situation will likely turn into the worst-case scenario. Reg asks Moogie, Majikaja and Maaa to protect Riko while he is unconscious, and gives them the part of Faputa as payment.

Shortly afterwards, Faputa arrives. Juroimoh roars at her, but is quickly hit by a shot fired by Gaburoon. Faputa tells the onlooking villagers she will not forgive their sins and the time for their "extermination" has come.

Juroimoh fires the gooey liquid masses at Faputa, but instead of causing her damage it heals her injuries. She leaps down in front of the crowd of villagers and charges at them.

The scene switches to Belaf's house, where the trembles of the ongoing battle shake the ceiling. Due to that, Nanachi wakes up and tells Mitty they had a dream they didn't want to wake from. Upon waking up completely, Nanachi notices the ceiling has been destroyed. They ask Belaf what is going on, and he tells them it is time for them to wake up and that the dream is not a dream anymore.

Adapted From

 * Volume 9, Chapter 52: Faputa's Promise
 * Volume 9, Chapter 53: Prelude of Disintegration

Character Appearances

 * Belaf
 * Gaburoon
 * Faputa
 * Juroimoh
 * Maaa
 * Majikaja
 * Meinya
 * Minor Characters
 * Moogie
 * Pakkoyan
 * Prushka
 * Reg
 * Riko
 * Nanachi
 * Vueko
 * Wazukyan

Bestiary Indexing

 * Irumyuui's Children
 * Meinastilim

Background Music

 * Mallets of Abyss
 * Mori
 * Ref & his Interference Unit
 * SAN-KEN
 * Belaf's Lullaby