Stone Pillars arc

The Stone Pillars arc is the nineteenth story arc of the Fire Force manga series.

Connections
Recovered and impatient from his battle at Fuchū Prison, Shinra desides he needs to try to establish an Adolla Link of his own, hoping to find Shō and his mother. Benimaru teachs Shinra how to awaken his Third Eye: a meditation that allows people to connect with the realm of gods. If the Evangelist is God and the Adolla is her realm then it should allow Shinra enter her space. Shinra relaxes his body trying to awaken his sense, briefly thinking about Iris' connection with the First Pillar before falling asleep. In his dreams Shinra appears before Shō Kusakabe in the Adolla.

The brief connection causes Shō to remember everything Haumea had caused him to forget. Confused between his new feelings and his loyalty to The Evangelist, Shō decides he needs to see his brother to settle. Avoiding the other Pillars, Shō threatens Arrow into taking him to the surface. Arrow bows before Shō and promises that following his orders is her only motive and her personal desire is to protect him. Other members of the White-Clad realise that the Third Pillar and his Guardian have escaped them but Haumea and Sumire tells them not to worry. The Eight Pillars are now active and connected to Adolla; it no longer matters where they go. Concluding the Final Mass, Sumire uses her powers to shake the entire Tokyo Empire.

The next day, wanted fugitive Akitaru Ōbi secertly meets with Captain Honda and Captain Pan. Pan promises Company  8 is team's full support if it allows them to save people. Company 2 is offically the Obi's enemy but Honda offer personal support. As it stands: Company 8 can rely on Companies 4. 5 and 7 as allies. In Asakusa, Hibana manages to complete her report on St. Raffles. The casual meeting between allies is interrupted by Scop making a sudden appearence. While Schop wants to tell his friends how he managed to make his way to Tokyo, Shinra just wants to know why. Turns out he is there to deliver the Woman in Black's final message. The Second Cataclysm has already begun and unlike the First, The Evangalist has the Eight Pillars, the Decoded Pi sequence and Sumire's power. Meaning it is more likely to succeed. With another earthquake, Schop shouts that is happening. Off the Tokyo coastline, a mysterious stone pillar rises from the ocean.

Kaiju Waterfront
Company 8, Benimaru, Schop, Hibana and Joker watch television reports on the situation. Licht and Hibana realise seven more pillars will appear and Joker tells Benimaru they will need to quickly counter the White-Clad. From the depths of the water arises a Titanic Infernal that marches towards the shoreline. Shinra and Schop fly to the scene to attempt to stop the creature and stop anyone from damaging the Pillar, as it is preventing a underwater volcano from erupting and destorying Tokyo.

At the sight of the battle Company 2 mobilise with Juggernaut aiming his blast at both the Infernal and Pillar. Additionally, Hajima sends Kurono and Director Oguru to handle the situation as well. Before Juggernaut can unknowingly make the situation worse, Shinra blocks the shot with his own body. The damage knocks Shinra unconscious and he falls into the waters below, with Kurono diving into the ocean to save him from drowning under orders from Oguru. While Kurono has some difficulty saving Shinra and avoiding the Titan's attacks, Juggernaut provides covering for her to draw the monster's attention. Returning Shinra to the bay, Kurono quickly leaps into action against the giant. While Oguru and Honda argue about who's authority the unconscious Shinra belongs to, a mysterious boy floats above, tosses Oguru into the air and kidnaps Shinra.

Kurono easily saves Oguru and initially ordered to secure Shinra, only for the scale of the Titan's attack to cause the director to change his mind and refocus on stoping the beast. While Company 2 and Kurono focus on the Infernal, the newly arrived Company 4 focus on evacuating the civilains and saving their combined powers to protect them. Ogun Montgomery targets the Infernal's left shoulder (the point most damaged by Juggernaut's attack), uses his own Flamy Ink with the support of Pan and Karin's defences to completely destory the Titan's arm with a single hit. Kurono then starts taking advantage of the creature's cracked body to unleash massive smoke attacks from inside its armour.

Ogun sees Shinra being abducted and moved to rescue his friend from the White-Clad. Faerie is suddenly attacked a bowman firing iron poles at him and Shō Kusakabe uses them as footholds to reach into the sky and cut the boy in half. Faerie reveals that his ability to manipulate gravity and his illusions are the result of the Adolla before fading away, telling Shō it was a mistake choosing someone else to be his protector. Shō brings is brother safely to the ground but quickly disappears when Ogun approaches. Kurono finally kills the Titanic Infernal, although its ashes quickly coat the stone pillar and turn it black.

Unconscious
Shinra finds himself in the Adolla with Inca. While Inca cannot see the future well enough to know what will happen next, she talks Shinra into using his ability to see the past as a way of understand the original Disaster as a way of predicting the Second. Traveling through the Adolla and its past, Shinra and Inca see a world of the past. A place where humans were similar but fundamentally different. The visions of the world before the Adolla fundamentally altered reality causes Shinra to break down, barely holding his mind together as he is flooded with images.

Shinra wakes up three months later chained to a bed in Asakusa. He tries to pull himself loose, only to learn Obi and Hinawa tied him down after three months of violent behaviour. The last straw was attacking Sister Iris, which lead to his confinement. Arthur enters the room and notices that the real Shinra is 'back'. While Shinra had been unconscious, a spirit possessed his body and acted like a violent criminal; violating orders, fighting with Arthur and changing his appearence. Shinra and Arthur talk about the experience of the past, with Shinra still being disturbed by the past. Arthur believes that Shinra was replaced by a doppelgänger. A version of Shinra created from 12 years of rumors about him being a grinning devil who gleefully murdered his family.

Iris, with a notable bruise on her face, comes to speak to Shinra in private. Shinra is deeply apologetic about his other self's actions but Iris forgives him instantly. Iris explains that more and more Infernals have appeared as the Adolla moves ever closer. With the news reporting on a 5th Pillar appearing. Additionally the pyrokenetics have become more powerful as well, which caused Iris' own weak Third Generation abilities to fully manifest and her to develop a feeling of discomfort: the feeling she is copy of another person. She went to talk to Shinra about it but he lashed out, confused about why she was 'here' as well. Shinra realises that Iris' personality to exactly what the entire empire believes Amatersasu to be like and that is actually a doppelgänger.