Episode 26: Lamentation

''“Nothing in this world is done for nothing. Everyone who was born in this world is meant for a reason.” – ''Sanzo to Hazel

Lamentation is the Final Episode of Saiyuki Reload Gunlock.

Synopsis
Hazel goes out of control, trying to kill the whole Sanzo party by himself. Kougaiji’s team will never forgive Hazel for the atrocities he performed on demons. What will happen to Hazel, as he realizes that all he did was for nothing?

Summary
Hazel goes berserk and attacks the Sanzo party. The four try their best to stop him. As Sanzo pulls his trigger, an empty click tells him that he ran out of bullets. Hazel was about to attack Sanzo when out of nowhere, a blast of flame puts him to a stop. Kougaiji's team had appeared. Sanzo asked what they were doing there, and Kougaiji explained that even though the Sanzo party were their enemies, Hazel was a threat to all youkai. He added that if the Sanzo party did not finish him of, he would. Sanzo refused, because of their promise to Gato.

Hazel walks with a burn mark on his face. Suddenly all of the real memories from his past come flooding back, and he realizes that he was responsible for the death of his only master. Later, Hazel feels pain and says, “the spirit is dead”. The souls of all the people he resurrected returned to his amulet, and his wounds began to heal. Hazel cried and pleaded for it to stop because he felt that the monster would come back, as he realized that all his previous efforts had been for nothing. However, he heals completely, and grows white wings on his back. He then attacks the Sanzo party with poisonous feathers. All of them are hit and struck down, except for Sanzo who was only struck by a few because Goku shielded him.

Sanzo then points his gun at Hazel. Goku extends his Nyoi-bou to attack Hazel while Hakuryuu flew and turning into his jeep form in mid-air, drops on Hazel, pinning him down, while Sanzo shoots Hazel’s wings. Hazel smiles, and begins to chant a summons. He stops abruptly when he notices that Sanzo was also summoning the power of the Maten Scripture. Hazel, under the power of Sanzo’s Makai Tenjo, goes back to normal. Kougaiji orders Yaone to prepare an antidote for the Sanzo party.

Hazel wakes up and pleaded, asking Sanzo to kill him because he felt that the monster was still inside him. He admits that he was mistaken in what he did, and that he had thought that all along he had been doing the right thing. Despite his remorse, he is inspired by Sanzo's words, and asks one last time.

“You have to kill me… please.” Hazel says to Sanzo. Then he smiles and says, “Grazie.” (Italian for Thank you) with a smile.

In the end, Sanzo’s party and Kougaiji’s team mourn both Gato and Hazel at their graves. Kougaiji says the until now, he realized that he never really knew who they were. Lirin says that it was not all Hazel’s fault, and that Hazel was just a poor guy who is tired of people abandoning him all the time. She didn't notice at first, but tears had begun to fall down her face, and she hastily wipes them away. Yaone then tells Lirin that Gato and Hazel probably are smiling at each other as they speak.

Kougaiji’s team departs once again to return to India, while Dr. Ni, who was watching all along, says in hindsight that everything that happened, was all for nothing.

Meanwhile, Sanzo says simply that Hazel "was who he was," and smiles, as they continue their journey West. Trivia


 * It is speculated that the spirit was Hazel's master.
 * In the manga, Hazel did not die, and instead fell after attacking Ukoku. He survived, and was clutching Gato's bandana when a man saved him.