not quite sure what to think about this fight, first things though it really doesnt seem like they are building his character to be the main hero, or even protagonist for that matter. His character devlopment is much more like a drawn out bad guy backstory. I mean distraught past, lost love, love of killing, misguided trust, all point to him being a real bad guy, and assuming dulindall goes bad guy too, shinn would definitely follow suit.
Honestly I cant imagine a senario where he would be likem, my bad, sorry kira, i was a dick, sorry everyone i was a bad guy.
most telling trait is his eyes at the end of this ep, pure bad guy material, whether im gonna be right or not who the heck knows, all i know is during gs you could root for kira or asuran, or even sub characters.
In GSD you have a bunch of whiny lemmings, and you have the good guys you used to root for getting crapped on. Honestly this thing could go anywhere.