Dead or Alive

Short Summary
Arashiyama Squad arrives at the scene with Arafune and Murakami as reinforcement in order to help Tamakoma Second and Xeno rescue the captured civilians before Pergrande reaches Shizuka City.

Long Summary
Arashiyama swoops in to save Kitora, and she and Yūma retreat for the time being. Osamu and Xeno are still trapped in the cube, and the two talk about Lilith and Chika. They are able to be up front about their feelings towards the two girls and their desires to protect them. The two are quick to spiral back into dissonance, with Osamu accusing Xeno of only seeing Chika as a source of trion. Usami and Arashiyama have finally been able to get in contact with the two inside the cube, and are informed of the basics of the trion reflector cube. The midrange members of Arashiyama Squad and Murakami land on the ship after confirming that the passengers are being used for their trion, and go against the trion soldiers on board. Osamu is glad that they are back, but Xeno claims that they will only abandon them later.

Arashiyama nearly is enclosed by the cube, alerting the others that they are still in danger of getting captured. Hearing this, Lilith tries to leave and help but Chika tells her that all they can do is believe in them. Meanwhile, more trion soldiers have arrived and Arafune joins the fray. He and Satori work together to take down the flying trion soldier, preventing more reinforcements for the opposition. Giev is not affected much by the loss, and powers up the other trion soldiers. The combatants have an increasingly difficult battle against them, and the ship crosses the threshold.

Usami tells the girls to evacuate, but Chika refuses. Inside the cube, Osamu believes that there is still a way out of the situation. Xeno says he will save Lilith over anyone, and tells Osamu that he is the same with Chika. Osamu continues to try and think up of a way to save all of them, but time is running out. After thinking about the trion reflector's mechanisms, Osamu wants to try something. The combatants on the ship willingly get captured to test his theory and while Murakami thinks this is reckless, he and Arafune acknowledge that they lost to Tamakoma Second before due to this trait.

The plan of thinning the trion reflector works, and everyone is able to escape from their cubes. They split up and go free the passengers on the ship. When Xeno tries to strike a trion soldier with a victim attached to it, Osamu blocks him and detransforms. They are able to save her, but Xeno tells him to stop getting in his way. Xeno uses his Arugda and destroys the core, disabling the explosives.

Giev has one more trick up his sleeve, and brings the giant trion soldier that was underwater up to the surface. This is countered by Chika finally joining the battle, destroying it with an Ibis shot. Shizuka City is saved.

Characters in order of appearance
Characters in italics are seen only briefly and have yet to make a proper appearance.
 * Ai Kitora
 * Yūma Kuga
 * Jun Arashiyama
 * Tetsuji Arafune
 * Kō Murakami
 * Ken Satori
 * Mitsuru Tokieda
 * Giev
 * Charon
 * Osamu Mikumo
 * Xeno
 * Chika Amatori (Flashback then Present)
 * Rinji Amatori (Flashback)
 * Shiori Usami
 * Lilith

Triggers in order of appearance

 * Spider (Ai Kitora)
 * Grasshopper (Yūma Kuga)
 * Training Ibis (Chika Amatori/Flashback)
 * Scorpion (Ai Kitora, Yūma Kuga)
 * Raygust (Kō Murakami/Shield Mode, Osamu Mikumo/Blade Mode)
 * Kogetsu (Kō Murakami, Tetsuji Arafune)
 * Bagworm (Tetsuji Arafune, Ken Satori)
 * Egret (Ken Satori)
 * Ibis (Chika Amatori)