The Diabolical Adonis

The Diabolical Adonis (魔性の美少年, mashō no bishōnen) is episode 4 of the anime series The Vision of Escaflowne.

Synopsis
"'If the dragon slips through our fingers, there is no telling how profound the impact on our future will be. Capture the dragon!' - Emperor Dornkirk"

Hitomi drops to her knees with a scared look on her face. Allen gets out of his Guymelef and asks Hitomi what is going on. She tells him that they will be attacked by the invisible giants that destroyed Fanelia. One of Allen's troops arrives on a horse with a captured prisoner, who turns out to be Merle. Van cuts her loose and asks her what happened to Fanelia, and she tells him that it was burned to the ground. Hitomi has another vision while Merle explains more about what happened to Fanelia. After the vision, Hitomi faints. Allen catches her and, feeling her forehead, notices that she has a fever.

A conversation between the emperor and Folken begins and the emperor tells him to capture the dragon. Then Dilandau leaves and says that he will get the dragon. Folken reminded him that Zaibach and Asturia are allies and Dilandau said that they will leave no person alive and besides they have stealth cloaks.

Hitomi wakes up and sees Allen. Thinking about her home, Earth, and her mother, she asks Allen about his mother. He tells her that she was beautiful and loved flowers. One day, Allen's sister disappeared and his mother, consumed by grief, wasted away until she died. Allen tells Hitomi that if his sister were alive today, she would be around his age, and grabs onto her hand. Van, looking after Merle, sees a seed embedded in her cheek. He takes it out and goes to Hitomi to explain what he found, likely intending to check if she also had a seed somewhere on her skin, but when he sees Allen holding her hand, he walks away without saying anything. He goes to the Mole Man to ask him for glar leaves. The Mole Man gives him the leaves, and he holds the bowl while Van uses the hilt of his sword as a pestle to make medicine. It turns out that this leaf will neutralize poison found in the seeds.

Allen prepares their defense. Gaddes asks him if he believes all the things that Hitomi said but he replied that he doesn't like the look on Dilandau's eyes. He orders Gaddes to prepare the Crusade.

In his Guymelef, Dilandau laughs and prepares to attack.

Hitomi and Merle are left alone in a room and both stare at each other. They then exchange unpleasantries until Hitomi sees another vision. She opens her eyes and sees the Mole Man and Van come in. Van applies the medicine he made out of the leaves to Merle's arm and to Hitomi's leg. While being treated, Hitomi experiences another vision about the arrival of the giants.

Outside, the attack begins and Allen goes to his Guymelef. The people defending the castle fight but were easily killed by Dilandau's guymelef. Allen sees Van arrive and Van asks Allen the whereabouts of Escaflowne. Allen says that it's been loaded in the Crusade. Allen then says that they will retreat because Castelo has fallen. This angers Van, who says that he will never turn his back on an enemy after what happened in Fanelia. Allen convinces him that running is not always a cowardly option, and that there is nothing brave about choosing death; a true samurai recognizes that he has to protect his country. Allen takes Van to the edge of the waterfall, and they jump off the waterfall onto the Crusade.

Dilandau rejoices over what he's done but Folken says it's foolish. Folken gives Dilandau a hint that the Crusade is hiding behind the waterfall. Dilandau tells his men to use their flight mode on their Guymelefs to catch up to the Crusade. Dilandau and the Dragonslayers attack the Crusade, and Allen fights them. Van, having been affected by Allen's speech, gets to Escaflowne, turns it into a dragon, and flies around to try and lure the enemies away from the Crusade. He catches a dragon wind and flies away, with the Zaibach Guymelefs in pursuit of him. the Crusade loses sight of him.

Characters

 * Van Fanel
 * Hitomi Kanzaki
 * Allen Schezar
 * Emperor Dornkirk
 * Folken Fanel
 * Dilandau Albatou
 * Gaddes
 * Mole Man

Trivia

 * The plant that afflicts with Merle and Hitomi with the high fevers is the ferips. The medicinal plant Van receives from the Mole Man to alleviate the sickness is glar.

Quotes
All quotes are from the sub.


 * "All the samurai at the castle were killed... The survivors were scattered... Everybody was gone... There wasn't anybody left. I went to look for you... I've been looking for you ever since..." - Merle
 * "What a pain. If we wait for the politicans, our prey will get away." - Dilandau
 * "I wouldn't dream of leaving you at the tender mercies of my men." - Allen
 * "What has me worried is that man Dilandau's eyes." - Allen
 * "And you call yourself a samurai?! I won't run! I'll never turn my back on an enemy and run away! To make them pay for what they did for the people of Fanelia, I'll fight to the death!" - Van
 * "There's nothing brave about rashly choosing to die! Van, you're Fanelia's king. As long as she has a king and a people, Fanelia has a future. Bearing indignities such as this is true courage. A samurai gives his life so that others might live. Never forget that." - Allen
 * "I'll never hand over you or Escaflowne to Zaibach. You have the word of Allen Schezar." - Allen
 * "Not bad, you provincial pipsqueaks. Not bad at all. I'm gonna swat you out of the sky!" - Dilandau
 * "I haven't hunted any dragons in a long time... This is gonna be fun!" - Dilandau