Let’s be honest – none of this is likely to end well for anybody.  This is Made in Abyss.  I expect the big three to come away relatively intact – probably bloodied but more or less unbowed.  The show must go on and all.  But everybody else?  When do these stories ever end happily for any of the in-house characters?  I don’t think Tsukushi-sensei is moralizing here, because that’s not something he does.  None of the principals have totally clean hands.  But they’re all victims to one extent or another, no matter how some would like to simplify the moral argument.  That’s what the Abyss does –  make victims of all kinds.

One of the core truths I see here is that Faputa’s entire existence is futile and hopeless.  She’s chasing a peace she can never achieve by the means she’s using, but she’s been committed to it for literally her entire existence.  Everything is being taken away from her – Reg (from her perspective), her very purpose, and now Gaburoon.  One gets the sense that Gaburoon has known all along Faputa was lost and headed down a path that would never lead to being found, but knew he was helpless to do anything about it.  His last gift to her, really, was to prevent her from making a terrible mistake (killing Riko) that would have implications far beyond her perception.

Losing her closest companion is a blow, no question.  But Belaf’s gift to her is perhaps even more impactful – he shows Faputa the memories of her mother’s life.  For Belaf, passing these memories on to Irumyuui’s daughter was the only reason he was sticking around.  Dying is no tragedy for Belaf – it’s clearly something he’s longed for since the creating of Maison Irumyuui.  What she sees (smells) further clouds Faputa’s sense of purpose.  All along she believed what she was born to do was simple, and people and events keep making it more complicated.

Belaf’s other gift is bringing Nanachi back into the game, which was pretty much a necessity if anything is to be salvaged from this situation – especially with Reg out cold again.  Nanachi urges Moogie and the surviving villagers to take Riko and hide in the deepest part of the village, though there’s no way to hide from what’s coming.  She also theorizes that Wazukyan – who Belaf warned her categorically not to trust – may be planning to use Riko to create another village in his pursuit of the Golden City.  There’s no proof that she’s right, but that would be quite a Chekov’s gun to introduce to the plot at this stage if she’s not.

This being Made in Abyss, The immortal Goddess intent on obliterating it isn’t even the worst thing to happen to Iruburu today.  With the protective barricade down it isn’t only Faputa that can get in – so do the horrific beasts that thrive at this depth (including that ridiculously OP dragon).  They soon set in to graphically dispatch whatever hollows are still around, which pisses Faputa off pretty good (though to be fair, she’s usually pissed off) because they’re stealing her prey.  Those beasts do a number on her too, and her being immortal doesn’t mean she’s immune from damage and discomfort.

The hollows deciding to literally feed themselves to Faputa to see her survive is the closest thing to a redemptive moment we get, which paints quite a picture of this episode’s tone.   In spite of her nature so many are sacrificing herself for her just in this episode –  Gaburoon, Belaf, the villagers.  If there’s to be any real redemption for Faputa it will be if these sacrifices help her see that this path she’s been on is not the only one available to her.  Now that she knows what Vueko meant to her mother, she might even bond with her over their shared love for Irumyuui.  But that would be too neat for Made in Abyss, I think that much is pretty obvious.