Makoto, despite the ever-growing number of his companions who have superhuman powers, somehow fails to stop Jinnai from simply walking directly into Ifurita's castle and seizing control of the legendary demon god. Clearly Jinnai's plan of announcing his intentions to the world and then performing them is too ingenious and wily for Makoto to possibly foil.

Ifurita turns out to be an ancient android who gains invincible power after Jinnai winds her up like a matchbox car. She is also, as it turns out, the same beautiful woman who appeared and transported the humans to El Hazard in episode one. Apparently she and Makoto have an unexplained bond. Before they can get to know one another better, Jinnai orders her to go and destroy the Allied troops, and she must obey.

"The World of Thunder" begins with Ifurita razing a city, which understandably motivates Roshtaria and its allies to assemble to deal with the problem. Rune Venus' fiancée, Lord Galus, persuades her and the priestesses to unseal the Eye of God, the only weapon capable of defeating Ifurita. Lord Galus of course secretly commands the Phantom Tribe who kidnapped Princess Fatora. They now prepare to use her to seize control of the Eye of God.

With the two most unstoppable pieces of technology ever to appear in the world of El Hazard- The Eye of God and Ifurita- under the control of the Phantom Tribe and Jinnai respectively, the situation seems hopeless. Oh, but wait. In the most freakishly fortunate coincidence yet, Rune Venus' wiseman promptly learns that Makoto also gained a superpower when he jumped through dimensions- the ability to "synchronize" with the technological artifacts of the ancient El Hazard civilization and possibly to control them. As if on cue, the demon goddess Ifurita descends and begins blasting Roshtaria to rubble.

Finally "El Hazard" has decided to make sense. In episode one the story was a jumble. In episode two it was ignored in favor of parodying its own genre. Episode three exercised the creators' exploitative whimsy. Now suddenly the writer and director have decided to focus on all the various espionage plots, military threats and mysteries introduced and ignored in earlier episodes.

A fair amount of "The World of the Demon God" devotes itself to characters standing around explaining plot details solely for the benefit of the viewers. For instance, because Sensei gained superhuman kung fu skills, Nanami gained the ability to see through illusions and Jinnai gained the superability to communicate with a race of bugmen, we therefore can expect Makoto to do something superhuman in the near future. Also, it turns out that Ifurita has a special key, and whoever holds it controls her. Why didn't Jinnai mention this in episode three? Or didn't he know? Retroactively explaining plots constitutes an admission of how sloppy the narrative has been thus far, but at least after "The World of the Demon Gods" the groundwork exists for the story to make sense from here on out.

Having belatedly embraced logic, Hayashi and Tsukimura have one obstacle left in their attempt to tell a good story within the remaining episodes. They have not developed a single intelligent human character sympathetic enough to be a protagonist. Remarkably they solve this problem by introducing a new character, Ifurita. From the moment she rises, the demon goddess is clearly the most human character onscreen. Jinnai's key binds her to obey him, but her feelings draw her to Makoto. Hayashi depicts the conflict between her humanity, which she denies, and her servitude, which she resents, with admirable restraint (unlike the temperamental ranting and raving of other characters). Imbuing her with clear, but conflicting, motivations and infinite power, Hayashi develops Ifurita into a strong and compelling center to the ongoing conflict. Her mission may be to consume El Hazard, the land, in an apocalyptic conflagration, but her arrival virtually saves "El Hazard," the series.

The newfound focus on plot exposition unfortunately produces a distinct lack of humor. Brief interludes such as locking Fujisawa Sensei in a medieval oubliette to keep him from drinking; or Sensei sneaking a cig in the middle of a sacred ritual to unseal the Eye of God, are amusing. Other vignettes meant to be comical, like Shayla Shayla and Nanami starting a catfight over Makoto during a discussion about the impending Armageddon, are just an infantile distraction. The fact that Alielle now greets the high priestesses by tackling and groping them admittedly deserves a laugh. Perhaps she'll do the same to Ifurita.