GAURON SPOILER!

Gauron survives the events of the first series, but by The Second Raid his body is ruined and his role has changed. He no longer needs to beat Sosuke in an Arm Slave to hurt him. From hiding in Hong Kong, Gauron uses the Xia sisters and coded messages to pull Sosuke away from Mithril's operation and into one final private confrontation. He knows exactly where Sosuke is emotionally weakest and uses Kaname's absence, the military recall and Sosuke's uncertainty about the Arbalest to make him question whether anything in his life can be trusted. Gauron's physical condition means the meeting cannot become the kind of battle they once had. Instead, his last weapon is information and cruelty, an attempt to leave Sosuke psychologically broken even after Gauron himself is gone.