Silva observes all the evil spirits about. A mysterious person named Fudou-sama comments that this is just a warm up before they seal Amidamaru. Silva overhears and goes to investigate, but Fudou casts Kanashibari to paralyze him. Team Fudou Myouou then disappears. Mikihisa appears and breaks the spell. He says the mystery people aren’t bad people. They’re just enthusiastic about their work, which is exterminating bad spirits.

Soon, Fudou Myouou has captured Lily Five in attempt to find Yoh. They call forth their spirits Sentadouji and Kongaradouji to create a circle of Indian Buddhist spirits around Lily Five. After a brief spell, they seal all of Lily Five’s spirits. The long haired girl of Fudou Myouou explains that thanks to Fudou’s powers, they have all been freed from their evil spirits.

Anna is having Yoh practice “Amidamaru in Harusame in Futunomitama no Turugi”. He’s tired, but Anna is not taking his excuses. Manta asks if it’s because Amidamaru has become a Seirei and is eating up Yoh’s furyoku. Their fight has been postponed three times now. Silva explains that many of the shaman participants are going home. Some have disappeared. Silva originally thought it was because of Dairedo, but the shaman disappearances haven’t stopped since.

Suddenly, they hear Ryu call out for Tokageru, who’s trapped in a mysterious light and is ascending happily. He disappears in a cloud of smoke. Ryu looks down to find his sword has been sealed and a voice explains that they have rid him of his evil spirit. Anna explains that the Sanskrit characters for “Fudou Myouou” mean “Karma.” The Fudou Myouou punish sins.

Amidamaru remembers that Fudou once declared to show everyone his true nature. Meanwhile, Lily Five sneak into town and Manta spots them. Amidamaru decides to go out investigating. He thinks he feels Mosuke’s presence. He then overhears two men talking about his past and how a group of three from Japan are trying to seal evil spirits.

Meanwhile, Lily Five shows Tamao their sealed spirits. They use Fudou Myouou Reibaku Hou to draw characters over their mediums. Fudou Myouou decides to possess Manta to convince Yoh that he is being possessed by an evil spirit. Manta, now possessed with a bounded Mosuke’s spirit, goes nuts with a sledge hammer trying to destroy Tamao’s spirits.

Fudou appears and Yoh demands he release Manta. Mikihisa appears and explains that Fudou thinks that all spirits that possess people are evil. To him the Shaman Fight is a gathering of evil spirits. Yoh defends Amidamaru, claiming that he’s not evil. Fudou then performs Phantom Myouou, to create a bird of fire that serves her. We then learn that Amidamaru escaped from his seal at Fumizuka a while back, and she has come to take him back.

Faust calls forth Mephisto E, but with the power of Buddha, Fudou Myouou seals Eliza. Yoh has had enough of their assumptions and decides to fight. Unfortunately, Amidamaru is buying into the accusation that he is evil and deserves to be bound. He refuses to OverSoul. Yoh runs up to him and hugs him, and declares that Amidamaru is not an evil spirit, but his friend. The two have a mutually beneficial relationship where Yoh provides his body and Amidamaru provides his strength. Amidamaru then explains that he was bound once before by a man with the power of Fudou Myouou.

Fudou doesn’t buy it and calls forth Manta. Manta is consciously aware of what his body is doing and pleads with a bound Mosuke to use his body to help Yoh and Amidamaru. He is willing to sacrifice his body to save Yoh and Amidamaru. Soon, Yoh is able to again ask Amidamaru for strength. He OverSouls and to prove he isn’t possessed, stops before he kills Fudou..

Anna and gang head to Silva’s diner for dinner only to find no one there. Silva walks in concerned. The 10th priest, Nichrome, was supposed to be on kitchen duty this week, but lately he’s been acting weird. Silva scans the group, notices Ren isn’t with them, and asks about him.

Ren, Horo Horo, and Chocolove relax in a bath. Horo Horo has heard rumors that some shaman have been disappearing. After an unfunny joke, Ren leaves the bath and goes inside. The 10th priest, Nichrome, is waiting for him. He explains that while Ren killed his brother Chrome, the previous 10th priest, he has not come for revenge. He wants to deliver a message from Mistress Nyorai. She will save him before he is consumed by his own inner darkness. Silva appears, but Ren mistakes him for Chrome and grabs his weapon. Horo Horo and Chocolove hold him back.

Later, the three boys reflect on what just happened. Bason thinks Ren feels responsible for Chrome’s death, while Horo Horo and Chocolove tease him for getting worked up over an illusion. A strange humanoid creature with glowing red eyes and a skull necklace sits on the roof above their room observing…

Several men make their way up a mountain towards a palace and a singing girl. Nichrome is among them. Silva follows and is greeted by Hao, who explains that the group is following Dilade. They used to appear as a group of three nameless people. Since then, they’ve taken in many shaman and won match after match. Their leader is a cute, singing girl, Nyorai. She always says “There is darkness in your heart.” It’s that part of us that we refuse to accept and keep sealed within ourselves - hatred, sadness, unbearable pasts. In Silva’s case, the darkness is his hatred for being an ancestor of the Patch people. He decides he can’t accept this and heads up the mountain, only to be greeted by three shadow beings that paralyze him and attack.

Meanwhile, Ren is going nuts in his room, destroying most of the furniture in the process. He sees the shadow beings above him as Horo Horo and Chocolove watch concerned. Bason explains that Ren is troubled by his past. He passes out and Horo Horo picks up Ren and carries him to Nyorai, keeping his promise not to tell Yoh about this.

Nyorai greets the boys by telling them that Ren is about to be devoured by the darkness in his heart. Chocolove makes another joke and Horo Horo tells him to go back. He then presses forward. Nyorai then shows Horo Horo the darkness in his heart - that he can’t win against Yoh

Yoh and gang are back in town inspecting Ren’s room. Chocolove told him that the place was hit by a meteor. When Horo Horo returns, they ask him casually what is going on. Yoh walks towards him, but Horo Horo screams to stay away and freezes his arm. He says that he lost to Asakura Yoh. He was never able to forget and even now, he is afraid that he can’t win against Yoh if they meet again. He powers up to attack, but Anna steps in with her skikigamis and demands to know what he is about to do to her Yoh. Chocolove decides to confess the Ren situation and then vows that Team Ren can handle it without the others. He sets off for Nyorai himself as Faust walks in and announces their next opponents have been revealed…

Silva asks Nichrome why he’s acting the way he is. He explains that Nyorai saved him. He once hated Ren, but her prayer saved him. At the next devotee ceremony, Nyorai greets Horo Horo as a member of Dilade. Ren is tied and lies at her feet. Chocolove shows up and demands to know what is going on. Silva accuses Dilade of using their techniques to win the Shaman Fight without a fight. Sure enough, the Ren Team is notified that they are Dilade’s next opponents… the battle is today.

Chocolove seems to be the only coherent one of the Ren Team and makes his first attempt to hold Dilade off with his spirit, Mick. The three Dilade members don’t use regular Hyoui Gattai, so the first step is determining what they are using. Nyorai still has power over Horo Horo and forces him to attack his teammates. Ren decides he needs to face his darkness and steps forward. They summon an illusion of his father to meet him. Ren OverSouls with Bason, but starts swinging blindly. He has lost control because he can’t accept the darkness of his past and falls off a cliff. Chocolove is the final opponent to stand. She starts in on his biggest fear - that he is a comedian that no one finds funny. She tells him that her light will cleanse the darkness in his heart if he only confess it. He OverSouls and does Dancing Goat, with Yoh finds amazingly funny. Horo Horo and Ren realize what he’s doing and snap out of their daze. They attack the three shamans only to learn that they were three rocks that Nyorai used to pretend she had three members. Silva disqualifies her team from the tournament.

As she turns away, Chocolove reveals Nyorai’s darkness - that she doesn’t trust anyone.

After a quick recap of past events from Manta, the question still is who will become Shaman King…

Manta and Faust head out to buy groceries and then sit on a park bench eating ice cream. Faust notices a woman who looks like Miss Eliza from afar. The woman falls over, and Faust goes over to her rescue. The woman is a participant in the Shaman Fight. Soon her concerned family joins her and they receive notice that they have a match tomorrow. Manta is concerned that Maiya won’t be able to fight.

At dinner, the boys discuss the family of Shamans, who are probably Team Enceous. They fight by pouring Furyoku into each other.

Next morning, Manta oversleeps and then frantically motors to the fight between Team Enceous and Team LCD. Maiya pours her Furyoku into her husband and LCD is defeated. After the match, Maiya collapses, sending Manta into a fit of worry. Faust agrees that if she keeps it up, she most likely will die, but she does this of her own Free Will…to become the Shaman King.

Soon, Yoh and the boys receive their next match: with Team Enceous. Manta is concerned, but it has already been decided that they must fight. Faust requests that they let him fight alone. That night, Manta has another nightmare of Faust, but Yoh tries to calm him down, explaining that Faust isn’t the same person he was before.

Next morning, Yoh and the boys are up against Team Encaeous. Mephisto E takes out Athos’s OverSoul pretty easily. Maiya powers up again and calls Goddess of the Earth to OverSoul. Faust calls for him to stop for the sake of his family. Athos’s new OverSoul is huge. Yoh senses it’s already too much and soon, it fades away before touching Faust. The parents collapse in front of their daughter, Meloce. Faust offers his medical treatment, first to her parents and then to cure Meloce of her deadly disease.

As Manta and Faust walk home from the grocery store again, Manta apologizes to him with renewed faith that Faust will be able to cure Meloce.

As Horo Horo walks through town, he overhears a man prophesizing the end of the world… a time when the sun won’t appear anymore. They must stop the witch’s spirit or everyone will die. Pirika is one of the believers in the crowd. Horo Horo tries to comfort her and she confronts the men about their little lie. They sternly rebuke her accusations that they are lying. The man continues: the current world which lasted for 500 years will soon end. The devil will come.

Horo Horo has enough of this talk and walks away. The man demands he listen up, but Horo Horo reveals he is a participant in the Shaman Fight. The man accuses him of being way too young to be able to handle the responsibility of being Shaman King. He then explains that there are many kinds of darkness, but one will arise and become the enemy of all the people. He will become the master of darkness.

As they eat, Pirika explains that Karimu sent her an invitation with a map to get to Patch Village. To his horror, she then pulls out her training schedule and demands that he get to work. The guys from before enter and tell him that he is following the wrong path and must give up on his dream of becoming the Shaman King. The man cannot fathom the concept that a kid could handle the responsibility of the Shaman King, especially when he hears Horo Horo’s dream of growing a big butterbur field to save the endangered Koroppokuru. The man then becomes particularly angry and declares that the Shaman King is the leader who will lead all people in the world on the correct path. Horo Horo meets up with the rest of the gang and explains more about his previous encounter.

Later that night as Pirika is coaching Horo Horo, the men again show up and tell him to give up his limited vision of becoming Shaman King. As they are talking, they receive notification that they will be fighting in the next Shaman Fight: Team Sabasu vs the Ren Team, tomorrow at 9AM.

The next morning, the Sabasu leader demands that Horo Horo fight him one on one so that he can unlock his heart and show him that a child can’t become Shaman King. Ren tells him to accept the challenge and if he can’t finish him, he, personally, will take him out. The participants OverSoul and prepare to fight.

As Horo Horo fights head to head with Sabasu’s captain, Ren and Chocolove make short work of his teammates, Ayumi and Ogi. As he looks at his fallen teammates, Horo Horo attacks, but the Sabasu leader’s White Dragon Oversoul eats him in the process of counterattacking. A strange mystical ball forms around the two of them as everyone else looks on worried.

Inside, Horo Horo is trapped in Rainbow in Dark. None of his attacks work. The white dragon attacks but Horo Horo can’t defend. He then remembers Pirika and uses her dream to defeat the dragon. Team Ren wins. The man then offers his hand in friendship.