Episode 28

Exorcist Krory  (エクソシスト•クロウリー, Ekusoshisuto Kurōrī) is the 28th episode of the D.Gray-Man anime.

Short Summary
Krory, Lavi and Bookman investigate several villages where people keep disappearing. They meet a friendly and mysterious Level 2 Akuma who works on a farm and plays with the children. Days later, they receive news of disappearances in another village, and when they investigate, the village is in flames.

Krory believes there is another Akuma and goes after it viciously but it escapes. Krory lowers his guard as he believes in the possibility of a good Akuma, but the friendly Akuma shows its true self when a fragment of Innocence is revealed after the church’s stained glass window is broken. Krory is forced to destroy it, and accept the fate of being an Exorcist.

Long Summary
An excited Krory sets off on his first mission with Toma, but he quickly loses confidence when he begins to believe they are under attack. As nearby bushes start to rustle, Krory leaps behind Toma for cover, however rather than coming face to face with an enemy, Lavi and Bookman emerge. Meanwhile, Lenalee wonders how Krory’s first mission is going but Allen is confident that Krory will be able to handle it.

As Krory, Lavi, Bookman and Toma head towards a village, Krory explains that he has been sent in to investigate a string of strange disappearances in surrounding villages. He insists that he will be able to handle it on his own and can barely contain his excitement at the thought of receiving praise and affection from the villagers after he solves the mystery—he has even been practising writing his autograph.

It is not long before they spot the village when a shining light catches their eye, and Krory runs ahead of the group, eager to get started. Upon reaching the village, they realise that the light they saw was coming from a stained glass window, and Bookman points out that the air is unnaturally pure. Krory soon begins his investigation by asking a young boy and girl if they have noticed anything unusual, though to his dismay, they claim they have not. However, the young boy soon reveals there is a monster staying at his house, and with that the two children lead them to a barn where they meet not only a few more villagers, but the monster too. Krory and the rest of the group are unsurprised at the fact it is a level 2 Akuma.

The "monster" seems genuinely confused at the accusation that it is an Akuma, and insists it has never killed anyone. As Lavi and Krory prepare to attack it, the Akuma explains that when it first appeared in the village, the villagers realised that it had no ill-intent towards them and they welcomed it into their community. Lavi remains unconvinced but the two children step in and stop him from attacking their new friend. On top of this, the rest of the villagers jump to its defense and refuse to let anyone hurt it, to which the Akuma seems grateful. Nevertheless, Lavi remains unconvinced and once again prepares to attack, but Krory—who is moved to tears by the story—is the one to stop him this time. Krory feels that the Akuma could be telling the truth, as Eliade was similar, and he truly believes that it is possible for some Akuma to co-exist peacefully with humans. Again, Lavi is reluctant to believe it, arguing that leaving the Akuma to freely live in the village could lead to more deaths. Before the altercation can continue, however, a group of villagers frantically run up to the group, announcing that a nearby village, Adel, had been wiped out.

Everyone heads off to investigate, and all they find are the clothes of those who have disappeared. With the amount of carnage within the village and with the presence of the Akuma virus pentacles, it is abundantly clear that it is the work of an Akuma—more specifically, the one that is staying in the village. Despite what has happened, Krory is still determined to get to the bottom of it, and as he witnesses the Akuma get upset at the thought of all the people from the other villages dying, his belief that it is innocent of any wrongdoing strengthens. Meanwhile, Lavi questions a couple of other villages, but they do not take so kindly to the fact he suspects the Akuma is the culprit. Though he does find out from them that at night, it stays in a cabin just outside the village.

That evening, the villagers hold a meeting in the church where they plan to have every available man guard the village. But when one of the villagers is not confident that they will be able to handle something that has wiped out whole villages, the Akuma reminds them they have the stained glass window, which apparently has the power to drive away evil spirits. Nevertheless, the villagers are reluctant to rely on an old legend and instead plan to use the church as a safe haven should their village be attacked.

The Akuma also offers to help keep watch that night, but the villagers tell him he can keep watch the next night and tell him to get some rest in the meantime. With that, the Akuma heads off and Toma keeps an eye on it as it heads out of the village. Finally on its own, the air around the Akuma begins to change as it retires to its cabin. Meanwhile, Lavi, Krory and Bookman head to another nearby village but unfortunately, they do not make it in time—an Akuma has already laid waste to it. When they finally approach the village, they come across people who have already succumbed to the Akuma virus, but Lavi manages to rescue a survivor from burning rubble. Krory, however, detects the presence of an Akuma and swiftly sets off after it.

Krory eventually confronts the Akuma in a nearby forest. He manages to land a hit on its arm, but he is disheartened when it eventually manages to get away. The next morning, as the villagers prepare to remove the stained glass window from the church in order to keep it safe, Toma reports that the Akuma did not leave its cabin until the morning. However, their conversation is soon interrupted when the stained glass window falls and shatters, revealing it had Innocence inside it. Now that the stain glass window no longer houses the Innocence, a whole fleet of level 1 Akuma emerge from the mountains.

While Lavi and Bookman take care of them, Krory stays behind with the villagers, but is shocked to see the village’s Akuma start losing control of itself, and not only this, but he realises it has a wound exactly where he attacked the Akuma the previous night. As it begins to attack the two young children, Krory steps in to shield them, disgusted that it would even consider betraying the villagers after they had put their trust in it. At that moment, Lavi appears and knocks the Akuma away from Krory, explaining that it had not betrayed anyone; it has simply shown its true nature. Since the stained glass window had served to amplify the power of the Innocence inside of it, it formed a protective barrier around the village which level 1 Akuma could not get through. Nevertheless, level 2 Akuma could still easily penetrate it. On this occasion, when the level 2 made it through the barrier, its personality was reversed, and when it went back outside, it reverted back to its usual self. Ultimately, it is the Akuma who has been attacking all of the surrounding villages.

The Akuma begins to beat Krory, who is disheartened over the fact he had let it trick him, but when it goes to attack the group of villagers, he quickly steps in to shield them. Despite what is happening, the children refuse to believe that the Akuma is bad, and try to stop Krory from attacking it. They then implore the Akuma to stop, but their pleas go unheard and it simply lunges at them. With that, Krory destroys it.

The mission ultimately does not end with anyone showering him with praise and affection, with the villagers blaming the Exorcists’ presence for their monster’s change in personality, believing it to be good even after everything that happened. They then order the group to get out of the village, specifically calling Krory a monster. As a downtrodden Krory leaves the village, Lavi congratulates him on completing his first mission but is quick to remind him that the job of an Exorcist is often a thankless one. Nevertheless, despite his tears, Krory maintains that becoming an Exorcist has made him the happiest he has ever been, since he was able to protect a whole village.