Another author, Alan Harnum, wrote a piece (still unfinished) titled "Mortal Engines" which addressed this issue... but from a different angle. (yeah.. I know... you have it up on your website... heh)...You'll see that the explosion seems to wash along a spherical "safe" area around Makoto, looking rather like the force bubble that demongods are supposed to have around them according to the manga.
Unfortunately, every source I have suggests that all "polite" requests to Harnum to finish Mortal Engines were rebuffed. ...Yeah, Seifert's "A Paradise Built For Two" was funky spooky weird. But he more than redeemed himself with "Jinniyah and The King." Maybe I'm just dense, but I was guessing as to just whom the storyteller was right up to the final TWO WORDS. And in those last two words, the entire story seemed strangely satisfying.......Avery, is that you? From our dialogue after Wolfe and I published Rough Justice I would say so! .... If you haven't written the piece yet, I hope I can take that to mean you're gainfully employed once again. And the last line of your last post contains an absolutely hideous pun, I'll have you know.