Ranking of Kings returned with its 2nd cour last week, and episode 12 revealed even more mysteries and questions by showing us more about the Underworld Invaders who captured Bosse. While Hiling and the Underworld army were on their way, we saw Apeas and Miranjo face the criminals. Kingbo was said to have unlimited potential and Apeas couldn’t test his strength, but we later saw Ouken absolutely dominate him thanks to what seemed to be magic. He managed to paralyze him, take out his hands and feet, and then inflict several stab wounds to his back.
While they get rid of Kingbo’s apparently dead body, Bebin finds him and we see that he’s actually still alive. There’s also a flashback he has of his father, who is pretty obviously the same king from the wild we saw back in episode 4. From what we could see so far, it seems like he went mad after becoming the 1st ranked king, and he told his son to continue in his footsteps and gain a compassionate heart. However, right afterwards, he left the castle in flames after seemingly annihilating the people inside. Kingbo’s story is probably far from over, and it will be interesting to see how he carries on.
As for Ouken, his name literally means “King’s Sword”, and it might mean he was also a king, or that he still is one. He’s definitely the one that seems like the biggest threat, and I’m looking forward to what’s under that mask. The rest of the invaders didn’t get much action, though the Bandit Leader Zokku also seems like a cunning character who might be a different kind of danger. Hiling and Dorshe are there, with Desha arriving as well. For now it seems like Bosse didn’t even want to try fighting against the invaders, and we’re probably in for a lot more twists.
Not to forget the hilarious Despa and his horse Whiteking. Hopefully he manages to get to the fight on time to actually contribute with his own set of skills. Episode 12 of Ranking of Kings is available on both Funimation and Crunchyroll, and you can vote for it as the best of week 1 if you enjoyed it!
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