Episode 20

Do Your Best, Mr. Exorcist (がんばれエクソシスト様, Ganbare Ekusoshisuto-sama) is the twentieth episode of the D.Gray-Man anime.

Short Summary
Allen and Lavi make their way into the castle, where they are attacked by a group of giant, carnivorous plants. The situation soon becomes even more dangerous when they meet Eliade, who feeds the body of the villager Krory had killed to the plants, which infects them with the Akuma virus.

Having succumbed to the virus, the plants start exploding, setting a portion of the castle on fire. Allen and Lavi successfully make their escape and come across a graveyard, where they find out there is more to the case than meets the eye.

Long Summary
Komui lets Allen know he will be working on a missing persons case, which is unusual for exorcists to take care of. However Komui insists it is something only Allen can take care of. Upon opening the case file, Allen is horrified to find out the person he is being sent to Romania to look for is his master, General Cross.

In the present, Allen and Lavi look on in horror at the sight of the vampire who had just struck down one of the villagers. Nevertheless, Allen is determined to protect the villagers from further harm, so he and Lavi prepare to fight, much to the amusement of Krory. They begin to battle and Krory swiftly closes in on Allen, with Lavi saving him at the last second. With that, Lavi attacks with his hammer but is shocked to learn Krory had caught the tip of it with his teeth. However, this provides enough of a distraction for Allen to grab him with is anti-Akuma weapon.

Krory points out that since they are able to take him on, they must be monsters as well. But Allen simply states they are exorcists. Hearing that, Krory bites into Allen’s left hand and begins to suck his blood, but quickly finds that the blood burns him. With this, he frees himself from Allen’s grasp and quickly flees the scene, but not before taking his latest victim along with him. Meanwhile, since Allen has been bitten, the villagers, Lavi and even Timcanpy begin to back away from him.

Back at his castle, Krory is in tears as he explains to Eliade that he had become a vampire again. He then desperately tries to wake up the villager he brought home with him, but Eliade points out he is already dead, assuring him she will bury the body in the usual place. Krory despairs over being such a monster. Eliade offers comfort, hugging him, but Krory is barely able to hold himself back from biting into her neck. He frantically backs away and tells her to keep away from him, but she again approaches him, telling him she loves him and they will stay together in the castle forever. In the meantime, George and the villagers celebrate Allen and Lavi’s supposed victory, despite now being wary of Allen since he had been bitten. Shortly after, the two head into the castle to investigate.

Meanwhile, Bookman speaks with Komui over the phone, having realised Komui’s involvement in having Lavi and Bookman sent to Romania, seeming none too pleased about it. Despite having been hung up on, Komui pretends to still be on the phone in order to avoid doing more work, to the annoyance of the Science Division. At that moment Lenalee arrives with coffee and comes across a book titled “Botanical of the Ancient”.

While Eliade heads out to bury the body, Allen and Lavi enter the castle as they wonder about why General Cross would have been there. After climbing up the stairs, the two soon find they are surrounded by a purple gas, which instantly knocks out Lavi. Allen quickly recognises the smell and finds himself confronted by several giant, carnivorous plants. He begins to fight them, but soon realises Lavi has been captured by them. As the fight continues, a wall collapses which alerts Eliade, who soon arrives and orders him to stop.

At that moment, Lavi wakes up and sees Eliade, who he instantly smitten by. After Allen grabs him and tells him to quit fawning over her, Eliade notices the crests on their uniforms and realises they are exorcists. She introduces herself to them before asking what business they have at the castle, and when they tell her they are searching for the villager that was taken by Krory, she throws down a coffin containing his body. Before Allen and Lavi can get to it, however, one of the carnivorous plants devour it. The plants then quickly succumb to the Akuma virus and explode. Meanwhile, from the distance, the villagers and Bookman see that the castle has caught fire. While the villagers are excited at the idea of the castle being destroyed, Bookman worries that he should not have let Allen and Lavi handle things on their own.

Meanwhile, having successfully escaped the castle, Allen and Lavi discover a graveyard. Allen quickly concludes they are the graves of the villagers Krory had killed. When he reaches down to touch one of the gravestones it breaks, but he and Lavi notice there are pentacles in the earth surrounding it, which suggests it had been tainted by traces of Akuma blood. Since the pentacles are on each grave, and the plants had been destroyed by the Akuma virus, Lavi and Allen come to the conclusion there is more to this case than meets the eye.