I wonder if we were talking about the same thing

We were! I remember this interaction between Root and Sophia being kind of shocking when I read the WN because of how different he seems throughout the whole rest of the story up to this point. He is not the silly, flirty, carefree person that we normally see other times, but a cold, indifferent, ruthless immortal being that has determined she has outlived her usefulness.

Something that happened during that interaction that I didn’t remember was him noticing the katana. Is the implication that Lancer turned Root’s former husband (an isekai’d Japanese person, thus katana) into a sword and that is why it is so powerful?

what Mio did to make the demon general a smol lizard

I don’t remember this either. I did find the image of her munching on the spear really funny though.

I agree with your assessment that Makoto doesn’t really come off the best in how he continues to brush off Mio’s (and Tomoe’s) obvious affection. If they are family now, does he see them as sisters or as wives? He really needs to clarify things, with himself more than anything else. Also, does that make Shiki a brother, or a husband? If it’s the latter, Shiki better steer clear of Root, because the jealousy is likely to get him killed.