WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Platinum End Episode 4, "Time to Assemble," now streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
Mirai Kakehashi seeks to lead an ordinary life of humble happiness, but first, he must enter and win the battle royale to determine the next God, and his first major obstacle is Metropoliman, an armored God candidate with big plans. More and more God candidates join the fray, all lured in by Metropoliman himself.
Metropoliman seeks a quick and clean victory in the battle royale, so he calls a summit of all twelve surviving candidates in the Jinbo baseball stadium. Mirai and Saki watch as two more armored God candidates arrive to challenge Metropoliman, only to realize too late that this is one giant trap with no way out.
The two new God candidates, Metro Blue and Metro Yellow, each have angelic wings and red arrows, and they fail to control Metropoliman with their red arrow. Bewildered, and without a backup plan, Blue and Yellow can only listen in shock as Metropoliman explains his plan, one piece at a time. Then, another God candidate arrives, a tween girl with just angel wings, and her arrival tricks Blue and Yellow into lowering their Guard. Metropoliman outmaneuvers them both and controls the girl with his red arrow, revealing in the process that he had brought a decoy to the stadium. And now he has another ally.
Metropoliman quickly proves that he has planned ahead for everything, including using his decoy and two more stunt doubles while firing his two arrows in rapid succession to minimize his enemies' chances to return fire. In addition, Metropoliman uses the jumbotron to trick everyone into thinking he had left the stadium. In reality, he swaps places with his double, striking down Metro Blue. Then, he handcuffs the girl and Metro Yellow to each other and a post, trapping them. He prepares a deadly white arrow and reveals the limits of the red arrows.
Metropoliman now has the girl and Metro Green and Pink on his side, and this resourceful antihero has even more tricks in store. He proves the limits of the red arrow by aiming his white arrow at Metro Yellow, who had been stricken by his red arrow of love. Despite Yellow's commitment to Metropoliman, Yellow refuses to let Metropoliman kill him, and he attempts to fly away. Metropoliman shoots him dead and threatens to kill the girl next. Not even the girl's own angel patron can convince Metropoliman to lower his white arrow.
This puts Mirai and Saki in a difficult situation. Mirai intends to lay low and not draw attention to himself, since he must survive to pursue his dream of achieving mundane happiness. However, he also has compassion for others and cannot in good conscience allow Metropoliman to shoot and kill an innocent girl who can't defend herself, even with her angel wings. Metropoliman aims to pressure the God candidates in the audience into challenging him, and at this rate, Mirai just might do it.
Mirai summons his red halo at the last second, making it highly likely that he will act in the next episode. Nesse and Revel are at Saki's house watching all this on the news and cannot help him, so Mirai, possibly with Saki's help, must handle Metropoliman alone. Mirai no longer feels confident that he can hit Metropoliman with a red arrow, but he must try anyway, and anyone worthy of becoming the next God will definitely risk their lives to do what's right, putting their divine gifts to good use. As Tonma Rodiguez's death proved, God candidates who abuse or toy with their powers stand no chance. Mirai's point of no return has come.
