Turning Point 2

Turning Point 2 (ターニングポイント 2 Tāningupointo 2) is the Twenty-first episode of the Mushoku Tensei anime series originally broadcasted on December 5, 2021.

Synopsis
After parting ways with Lilia and Aisha, Rudeus and his friends head to their homeland. On their way, they encounter Orsted, the Dragon God, one of the seven great powers. Eris and Ruijerd suddenly change their expressions and begin to tremble. Although they have never met before, Orsted knows Eris, Ruijerd, and even Paul well, but he doesn't seem to know about Rudeus. When Rudeus answers a question from Orsted, Orsted suddenly attacks him!

PRELUDE
The inner self of Rudeus explains how life can be unpredictable, since everything happens suddenly. Both Ruijerd and Eris are shown unconscious and Rudeus is spitting blood with a hole in his chest in front of Orsted.

PLOT
The party <> is travelling through Red Dragon Mountain to reach the Fittoa Region of Asura Kingdom. One night, after a brief spar, Ruijerd acknowledges Eris as a warrior. An astonished Eris asks Rudeus to pinch her, to check if it's not a dream. Rudeus asks Eris if she'll not punch him if he does so, to which Eris tells she won't. Rudeus playfully pinches her chest and Eris sends him flying neverthless. Now that she realizes it's not a dream, she gets excited, but Ruijerd warns her not to get cocky, since acknowledging her as a warrior means he won't treat her as a kid anymore.

The next day, they climb the Red Dragon's Lower Jaw valley, to avoid any fights with a group of red dragons. But Eris suggests that, instead of taking a detour, they should climb the mountain and fight them. Both Rudeus and Ruijerd reject this plan, since fighting a herd of Red Dragons is very risky. Ruijerd then goes to explain that even the lower ranked <> will have to retreat halfway, while fighting a herd of red dragons. Rudeus is surprised to hear that even people that strong will have hard time against red dragons, to which Ruijerd tells that an upper ranked <> can easily dominate them even in herds. Rudeus starts thinking how strong the Technique God and Dragon God are when both Ruijerd and Eris stop moving, stiff as rocks. Since they had a terrified look on their face, Rudeus asks them what happened and looks ahead.

In the thick mist, a tall man in white is seen coming in their direction along with a masked girl with black hair. They both pass the members of <> and after a while, the pair stops. There was a long pause. Ruijerd warns both Rudeus and Eris not to move at any cost. <>'s pack animal jumps off the side of the cliff. Hearing that voice, the man in white asks him if he is 'Ruijerd Superdia'. Rudeus tries to look at that man with his clairvoyence eye, but couldn't find anything. The main in white then looks at Eris and asks if she is 'Eris Boreas Greyrat'. The man then looks at Rudeus and tells, he doesn't know who he is. Ruijerd and Eris asks him how he knows them, to which he comments that it is a strange place for them to meet and turns back to leave.

Rudeus, now curious about this person calls at him and introduces himself. He then asks for that man's name, to which he answers his name is 'Orsted'. Rudeus asks Orsted if he knows Ruijerd and Eris, to which he answers that "they haven't properly acquainted yet". Rudeus, surprised by that answer, asks what that means. Orsted tells he doesn't need to know that and asks which Greyrat family is he from and what is his father's name. Rudeus tells his father's name is "Paul Greyrat". To his surprise, Orsted comments that "Paul is supposed to have only two daughters". Orsted then asks Rudeus, why he doesn't look away, to which Rudeus politely tells that he wants to look away since Orsted is kind of intimidating him. Orsted then asks Rudeus why he called for him, to which Rudeus asks if he knows anything about Mana Calamity. Orsted, a little annoyed by the question, tells he doesn't know anything.

Rudeus then thanks him and turns back to leave, when Orsted asks if he knows anything about the word "Human God". Rudeus turns back with a smile on his face and admits he sees him in his dreams, and immediately gets attacked by Orsted. Ruijerd blocks his attack with his spear and tells Rudeus and Eris to run away. Orsted looks at Rudeus with rage telling Rudeus is an apostle of "Human God". Ruijerd then fights Orsted but is immediately sent flying away with a punch. He then approaches Rudeus to finish him. Eris comes roaring at him with her sword, but her swing is stopped by Orsted and sends her flying too. Rudeus looking at his party members getting overpowered, gets terrified and gets a vision of his lungs getting punctured. Orsted catches Rudeus and crushes his abdomen area, and tells him to inform "Human God" before dying that Dragon God Orsted will kill him soon, and turns back to leave. Eris, makes a desperate attempt to attack Orsted with  spell, but couldn't since she was badly injured. Looking at this, Rudeus builds up his mana to make a very powerful  spell and fires it at Orsted, which injures him.

Orsted notices that Rudeus can use chantless magic casting and asks if he learnt that from "Human God". Rudeus uses wind magic to breathe and then builds up a  spell in his right hand. Orsted, now more annoyed, uses  to disperse the magic built by Rudeus. Rudeus uses wind magic to fall back. Orsted notes his skill and calls up a . Rudeus starts developing a very strong, saint level fire magic and fires it at Orsted. Orsted then opens the  and sucks the spell which almost breaks it. Orsted then noted that Rudeus' magic power capacity is as powerful as Laplace's. He then lifts Rudeus and asks why he doesn't heal himself with chantless casting and thrusts his hand through Rudeus' chest, leaving a hole as shown in prelude. Eris looking at this, starts crying for help. As dying Rudeus loses his consciousness, The masked girl, whom Orsted calls 'Nanahoshi', asks him a question that puzzled her.

Rudeus, now in his original form, finds himself in the void dimension. He looks at his body and finds a hole in his chest. "Human God" appears and tells that he wasn't expecting Rudeus would meet Orsted. Rudeus then asks "Human God", why Orsted attacked him after hearing his name. "Human God" starts explaining that Orsted is an evil Dragon God and he hates him, since he is a virtuous Human God. Rudeus comments that, it's easy for people to hate "Human God" and asks why he didnt inform him beforehand about his meeting with Orsted. "Human God" tells that he can't see anything about Orsted since he is cursed. He further goes to explain that Orsted was born as a cursed child, which made living creatures of that world to either hate him or fear him. Rudeus finds that situation relatable and tells that it is a very sad curse. He then asks "Human God", why he didnt hate or fear Orsted in the first place, to which he answers that Rudeus is originally from an another world. A curious Rudeus asks if curses dont affect reincarnated people, to which "Human God" answers that the situation was same, when he met Ruijerd. A surprised Rudeus asks what he meant by it. "Human God" tells that Ruijerd's curse is due to the spear that Laplace gave him during the war, which passed the  to the Superd race. Rudeus now starts thinking that, him helping Ruijerd was useless after all, to which "Human God" tells that the curse is slowly fading away, since Ruijerd shaved his head off. He then tells that Ruijerd can build their good reputation back, by doing good work.

Rudeus then asks "Human God", how he can defeat Orsted. He tells that Orsted can't be defeated, since he is the most powerful person in the world with the power to destroy that world but cannot do so due to the curses that limit his power. Rudeus gets suspicious because "Human God" seems to know a lot about Orsted, even though he can't see him, but tells he doesn't care about it since he is already dead. "Human God" then tells that Rudeus has got the wrong idea and is still alive, pointing at his chest which now didn't have a hole.

Rudeus wakes up on Eris's lap, who explains to him that after he passed out, the girl named Nanahoshi asked Orsted to heal him. Rudeus, filled with a wave of mixed emotions, hugs Eris. She asks if she can punch him, which Rudeus accepts. But she punches him softly and starts crying and tells him that she is glad that he is still alive.

Characters

 * Rudeus Greyrat
 * Eris Boreas Greyrat
 * Ruijerd Superdia
 * Orsted
 * Masked Woman
 * "Human God"

Locations
Central Continent


 * Red Wyrms Lower Jaw

Adaptation Notes
This episode adapts the following material:

Light Novel Volume 6


 * Chapter 8: An Adult.
 * Chapter 9: The Second Turning Point.
 * Chapter 10: The Wide, Gaping Hole In My Chest.

Differences with the light novel:


 * Some short explanation of the Red Wyrm mountains was cut.
 * A short scene where Rudeus thinks about his previous meetings with "Human God" was cut.
 * Rudeus was traveling in a carriage in the Light Novel.
 * In the anime they are walking, but use an Ox to transport their belongings.
 * The Ox that was used by the Dead End group to transport his belongings, fell to the cliff of the mountain because of the curse of Orsted.
 * In the anime, Eris tries to use a Fireball after she was defeated by Orsted.
 * Some comments of Orsted about Rudeus in their battle were cut.

Trivia

 * Is the first Episode PV voiced by Lilia Greyrat.
 * In End-Credit of this Episode Show Masked Woman's Cast as "???".