Kai falls to his knees, eyes wide in disbelief. He never imagined Natada would betray him like this. But Natada calmly explains that he just stabbed Kai with a god-killing relic—a weapon designed to pierce the divine protections of guardian bearers and suppress their powers temporarily.
He tells Kai that wanting to use godly power to protect loved ones is arrogant. All great power, he insists, must be controlled by the Kingdom of Humans, which is why Kai has to die. He plans to extract and drink Kai’s god stone to claim that power for himself.
Kai tries activating his divine crest to fight back, but the relic still embedded in his back causes searing pain whenever he moves. Natada pins him down and pulls the dagger out—intending to deliver the final blow. “Don’t worry,” he says coldly, “your name will be recorded in the history books.”
But Kai, summoning his remaining strength, slips from under him and kicks Natada away.
Back in Lag, the villagers scramble to ready their defenses against the incoming ape invasion. Fear and tension fill the air as they know no reinforcements are coming. Vzan rallies the troops, assuring them that he will stand and fight alongside them to protect their home.
The healthy villagers prepare to battle outside the gates, while the injured—Elsa and her family among them—are being treated inside the castle walls.
Back with Kai, Natada tries once again to convince him to surrender—for the greater good of the human kingdom. Kai doesn’t doubt that the god’s power could save lives, but he refuses to abandon the people of his valley. He won’t let that power fall into the hands of someone like Natada.
Realizing that Kai won’t be swayed, and that his ambush failed, Natada prepares for a deadly fight.
But before he can strike—
An ape bursts out of the forest and swings an axe straight at him!
At the same moment, the ape army launches its assault on Lag. The defenders try to hold their ground, but the apes are skilled at throwing rocks. Vzan steps up to lead the counterattack himself, but things quickly escalate.
Deeper in the woods, the ape chief advances. He seems to have upgraded their tactics—because now they’re throwing flaming rocks at the village.
Back at Kai’s location, a massive flaming rock crashes near them. Natada is forced to retreat, only to be chased down and wounded by the axe-wielding ape. He’s now locked in a duel for his life.
Kai could have escaped during the chaos—but two other apes arrive, both charging at him with lethal intent. The three apes trap Kai and Natada, demanding answers. Their leader, a guardian bearer, asks if they were the ones who dispelled the curse from the stone.
Neither man answers. It doesn’t matter—the ape announces they won’t be leaving alive.
Even worse, all three apes are guardian bearers, just like Kai and Natada. Natada, realizing he’s outmatched, starts to panic.
But when Kai learns these are the apes who cursed Jose and Orha, rage fills his eyes.
One ape lunges at Kai with a spear. Kai sidesteps, narrowly avoiding it. Another swings at him, and Kai jumps back—only to get snagged midair and hurled into a half-collapsed house.
As one of the apes closes in to finish him off, Kai rises just in time and slashes its belly. The wound isn’t fatal, and Kai’s own injuries—especially the ones from the god-killer—aren’t healing.
A bloodied Natada reappears, looking for the apes, but Kai no longer trusts him. He prepares to summon his energy blade and finish Natada then and there.
But before the battle between them reignites, the apes begin taunting them from the shadows.
Natada, trying to hold onto what little advantage he has, warns that the power of the Arbitrator God must not fall into ape hands. As one of the apes rushes him, he spins his staff like a shield—but he’s not nearly as strong as he thought.
After several crushing blows, Natada is knocked flat and helplessly writhing on the ground.
The ape looms over him, raises its axe, and prepares to finish the job.
At the very last moment, Kai leaps in to save Natada, shielding him from the ape’s finishing blow. Natada is stunned—after everything he did, he never expected Kai to risk his life for him.
But there’s no time to process the moment. The spear-wielding ape charges at them, and this time Natada returns the favor. He unleashes a burst of flame magic, creating a distraction that lets both of them escape.
Once they’re safe, Natada looks at Kai, confused.
“Why did you save me? I tried to kill you,” he asks.
Kai simply responds, “I was just… acting on instinct.”
Natada chuckles at the irony. He finally understands why the Arbitrator God chose Kai as its vessel—this kind of selfless resolve is rare. The apes are already searching for them, so time is running out. Natada quickly tells Kai they need a strategy if they want to survive.
“If you follow my instructions,” Natada says, “we can both make it out alive.”
Kai narrows his eyes. “And if I do survive, what’s stopping me from killing you?”
Natada gives a weak smile. “Nothing. But that’s a problem for future me. Besides… I still want to see how strong you really are.”
Kai doesn’t trust him—but with the odds stacked against them, he agrees to the plan.
As the apes close in on their hiding spot, Kai rushes out to draw their attention, giving Natada time to sneak into a better vantage point. The apes are terrifyingly stealthy, blending into the forest despite their size. But Natada’s Thousand Eyes technique lets him track them from afar.
He begins calling out positions to Kai.
“One’s behind that tree—now!”
Kai pivots and decapitates the first ape cleanly.
“Above you!”
Kai doesn’t flinch. His energy blade whirls to life and slices the second ape in half mid-air.
Natada watches in awe. He had heard stories of Kai’s strength, but seeing it in action is something else entirely.
But in his amazement, Natada drops his guard. The third and final ape sneaks up behind him—and stabs him through the chest.
Natada’s weapon clatters to the ground as he collapses. The ape looms over him, ready to finish the job—
—when Kai drops from the sky and splits the beast in half.
The battle is over.
Or rather… Kai has won.
Because Natada is dying.
Back in Lag, Ola finally wakes up, the curse no longer weighing on his body. But he’s confused—how did he recover?
Just then, the sounds of battle ring out from outside. Ola realizes the apes are attacking and struggles to rise. His maid, Akui, tries to stop him, but he refuses to sit idle.
“Get me a sword… and some clothes,” he commands.
Akui hesitates—but she obeys.
Meanwhile, Kai desperately tries to keep Natada alive. He drags him into a ruined house and offers him one of the god stones from the apes.
But Natada weakly laughs.
“Even now… you’re still trying to save me?”
He appreciates the gesture, but explains that it’s no use. The ape’s spear damaged his god stone—the source of his divine power.
No amount of magic can fix that.
His vision is already fading. “This… is the end for me.”
But Kai refuses to give up. He remembers his healing miracle, a rare divine technique. He summons it and pours the energy into Natada, but nothing happens. The wound won’t close.
Still, Natada is amazed.
“You even have a miracle? On top of your invisible blade? You’ve… surpassed what any human should be capable of.”
He knows he’s dying, but in his final moments, he’s glad. Glad to have witnessed the full potential of the Arbitrator God. He reaches a trembling hand toward the sky and whispers an apology to his high priest. He failed to bring the god back to the kingdom—but he has no regrets.
Natada closes his eyes for the last time.
And as if to mourn his passing, rain begins to fall on Kai.
Back in Lag, Joes finally wakes up. She’s confused. The last thing she remembers was collapsing in Elk’s village—but now she’s in her father’s room.
Then comes a crash outside.
A few moments later, Akui bursts in to check on her. Joes asks what’s happening, and Akui informs her:
“The apes have invaded.”
She also brings a message from Vzan: if the situation becomes hopeless, Joes must flee the village to survive.
Joes is heartbroken. She understands her father wants to protect her, but it hurts that he still doesn’t trust her to fight.
She steps out of her room and sees villagers huddled in the corridor.
“Why are they here?” she asks.
Akui explains that Vzan ordered all women and children to hide inside the castle.
But that’s not what Joes meant.
She raises her voice: “You don’t need to be packed in like this. Please—use my room. Use anything you need inside it.”
Then, turning to the crowd, she declares:
“The Moolok Family will fulfill its duty. We will defeat the apes. So don’t panic.”
At that same moment, two soldiers rush into Gandal’s room to warn him of the attack—
But to their shock…
He’s gone.
One of the soldiers suspects that Gandal might have gone out to help with the battle, but another quickly dismisses the idea. Given how lazy and selfish Gandal is, it’s far more likely that he fled as soon as the fighting began—and that soldier is absolutely right. Gandal is currently sprinting toward the village gates. Just then, a rock flies toward him, and he panics.
It becomes clear that all the rumors about Gandal being stronger than Vzin were lies. In truth, he’s nothing but a cowardly weakling who only got this far by relying on Nada‘s strength.
Meanwhile, up on the wall, Elsa has been distributing food to the soldiers to help restore their energy. She apologizes for not being able to prepare anything better, but the soldiers are grateful for her thoughtfulness. As Elsa heads back down to restock the food supplies, she sees Gandal fiddling with the front gate. She wonders if he’s planning to help fight the apes—until she hears him demanding to be let out because he wants to return to the capital as soon as possible.
The soldiers tell him they’ve been trying to open the gate, but none of them are strong enough. Gandal eventually realizes there’s a crank and begins turning it to open the gate. When the others see this, they rush down to stop him, warning that if he opens the gate now, the apes might break in. But Gandal doesn’t care. Instead of being reasonable or even just climbing the wall, he stabs the soldier captain in the gut and shouts for everyone to stay out of his way.
No one liked Gandal to begin with, but after killing one of their own, the soldiers are ready to jump him. Unfortunately, Gandal grabs Elsa and takes her hostage, preventing them from making a move. He couldn’t care less about the village—as long as he escapes alive. When his carriage arrives, he cuts the rope and opens the gates, still holding Elsa hostage.
As soon as the apes see the open gate, they march right into the village. With the gates breached, all available soldiers are forced to form a defensive line. But most of them are no match for the apes. That’s when Vzin leaps down from the wall and cuts down three of the beasts with ease. Still, there are far too many for him to handle alone—surviving this battle won’t be easy.
Meanwhile, Kai is sprinting back to Lag as fast as he can. He knows that even with Vzin present, there’s no way they can defend the village against the entire ape army. Though he still hasn’t figured out the right way to use his power, he knows one thing for sure: he wants to protect Lag, and that’s what he intends to do.
Back in Lag, a few officials are informed that the main gate has been breached—which is disastrous. Even though Vzin is holding the apes off, the officials are even more worried upon hearing his name. They suspect the apes are targeting him specifically to seize his God’s Stone.
Meanwhile, Gandal is riding away from the destruction he caused, knowing full well this will be the end of Lag—but he’s just happy that he managed to kidnap a new “toy.” However, Elsa refuses to let Gandal get anywhere near her and kicks him away.
Back at the village, Vzin is beginning to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of enemies. That’s when Manso and the other soldiers come up with a clever plan: they paint divine crests on their faces and pretend to be Guardian Bearers. They’re still just regular soldiers, but the apes don’t know that. Their fear and hesitation give Manso and his team just enough of an edge to defeat them.
Now that the apes inside have been taken care of, the soldiers rush to block off the gate to stop any more from getting in. They manage to barricade it just in time, but the apes outside start trying to break it down again. It’s only a matter of time before it gives way.
Manso and the others urge Vzin to retreat and let them handle the rest. They can’t risk him getting hurt—since Vzin and the Land God are practically one and the same, he must survive. As long as he lives, the village can eventually be rebuilt.
Meanwhile, Kai finally arrives at Lag, only to be stunned by the overwhelming number of apes. When they notice him, the entire horde charges toward him—but Kai is ready to fight.
Back in the village, Orha briefly considers running away. But then he remembers all the people he swore to protect and refuses to abandon them. He tells one of the soldiers to look after Jose and ensure the apes don’t reach them. As for Orha, he stays behind to fight.
Eventually, the apes break through the gate.
Vzin and the other soldiers prepare for another clash. While Vzin can still easily overpower the regular apes, the enemy forces now include several Guardian Bearers, making things much more difficult for him.
At the same time, Orha slowly limps his way onto the battlefield. Despite being in poor condition, he refuses to stand by while the village is under attack. When the other soldiers realize Orha has joined the fight, they are visibly relieved—having another Guardian Bearer on their side gives them a glimmer of hope.
Orha slashes one of the apes in half with his sword as soon as he enters the fight, but due to his weakened state, he quickly exhausts himself. When he faces one of the ape Guardian Bearers, his sword fails to cut through its neck, and he’s knocked to the ground. The ape raises its weapon to finish him off—until, at the last second, Jose jumps in and blocks the strike with her shield.
Despite still recovering from her injuries, Jose manages to push the ape back. She drops her shield and raises her spear. While she may not be as physically strong as Orha or Vzin, she’s incredibly fast, and the ape struggles to keep up with her movements. Before it can even register what’s happening, Jose leaps into the air and slices off its head in a single clean strike.
Witnessing Jose‘s victory lifts the morale of the soldiers. With renewed energy, they charge back into battle. Thanks to the combined efforts of Vzin, Orha, and Jose, they are able to defeat the ape Guardian Bearers.
Vzin glances over at Jose with pride—he never expected her to become such a formidable warrior. However, one of the dying apes gives a chilling warning: a few Guardian Bearers won’t be enough to save the village because their King is right outside.
That worries Vzin. Oddly, the rest of the apes surrounding the village have stopped attacking, but they haven’t retreated either. Curious, Vzin climbs the wall to investigate—and is stunned to see Kai tearing through the ape horde with his bare hands. Vzin has no idea how Kai is doing it, but he’s clearly more than capable.
Vzin calls out to Kai and tosses him a club to use as a weapon. Kai catches it mid-air and begins demolishing the ape army with terrifying force. Manso and the other soldiers watch in awe. They already knew Kai was strong—but this level of power is comparable to a genuine Guardian Bearer.
Even Vzin can’t explain Kai’s strength, but one thing is clear—with him on their side, they have a real chance to win. After just a few minutes, Kai has wiped out most of the apes and still shows no signs of slowing down. Realizing they’re outmatched, the remaining apes retreat into the forest.
The battle is finally over. The soldiers cheer in celebration.
After the victory, Orha walks over to Akui and asks what she thought of the fight. Akui praises Orha’s combat skills and says it’s thanks to him that the village was saved. But while Orha made a major contribution, he knows the true hero was Kai—the same boy he once looked down on as a commoner.
Everyone clearly saw Kai fighting with a divine crest, so to protect his secret, he pretends it was fake and wipes it off in front of them.
Just then, Vzin approaches Kai and asks where Nada is. Kai delivers bad news: while he and Nada were dispelling the curse in Ada Village, they were ambushed by three ape Guardian Bearers. Kai skips over the details but reveals that Nada died during the battle—he wasn’t able to save him.
Vzin is stunned. He knows how powerful Nada was—comparable to a Guardian Bearer—so it’s hard to imagine how he could’ve been killed. Kai explains that during the attack, one of the apes mentioned the assault on Lag. As soon as he heard that, he rushed back to help—meaning he never got the chance to give Nada a proper burial.
Vzin understands and promises to send a small team to retrieve Nada’s body so it can be laid to rest.
Just then, Elsa‘s younger sister approaches and asks if Kai has seen her. Kai is surprised—he had no idea Elsa was missing. The last time he saw her was when she evacuated to the castle, but now she’s nowhere to be found.
Manso joins the conversation and explains that during the attack, Gandal kidnapped Elsa and fled with her in his carriage. Everyone was too preoccupied with the battle to chase after him. The moment Kai hears this, he takes off running in the direction Gandal fled—he has to rescue Elsa.
Manso, however, wonders how Kai plans to catch up with a carriage that had such a massive head start.
Meanwhile, in Gandal’s carriage, he peers out the window to ensure the area is safe. His attendant reassures him that there are no apes nearby and nothing to worry about. Gandal then asks how long it will take to reach the capital. The attendant informs him they are still 1,000 miles away.
It’s going to be a long journey.
Gandal plans to pass the time by toying with Elsa, but before he can do anything, he suddenly senses a terrifying presence. Alarmed, he uses his Guardian Bearer abilities to enhance his vision—and spots Kai sprinting toward the carriage at full speed.
Panicking, Gandal grabs a bow and arrow, planning to shoot Kai before he gets too close. But Elsa, determined not to let that happen, shoves Gandal and ruins his perfect aim. Enraged, Gandal pulls out his sword to punish her. Just then, the carriage begins to shake violently—the horses can feel Kai‘s overwhelming pressure and are terrified. The driver loses control, and the carriage crashes after slamming into a rock.
Gandal is flung from the wreckage, landing hard on the ground. The horses bolt, and the driver chases after them. Inside the carriage, one of Gandal‘s men is impaled by debris during the crash and dies instantly.
Kai rushes to the wrecked carriage to check on Elsa, only to find—to his horror—that she has been stabbed by Gandal. Desperate, he lifts her out of the wreck and tries to heal her with his magic, but her injuries are too severe for his powers to work.
Meanwhile, Gandal, though suffering from multiple broken bones, uses his Guardian Bearer abilities to heal himself and slowly stands up. But now, he must face Kai.
Kai confronts Gandal, demanding to know if he was the one who stabbed Elsa. Gandal, already aware that he’s no match for Kai, tries to talk his way out of it. He blames Kai, saying his overwhelming presence scared the horses, which caused the crash—and that’s when Elsa was accidentally stabbed.
For a moment, Kai hesitates, unsure if it really might have been his fault. But then he remembers that Gandal kidnapped Elsa in the first place. That alone makes him responsible.
Gandal, trying to reason with him, warns Kai that attacking an imperial inspector like himself will have consequences. But Kai doesn’t care. He grabs Gandal by the neck and slams him to the ground.
Gandal desperately defends himself, saying he did nothing wrong—claiming it’s only natural for the strong to dominate the weak, and that someone like Kai, a mere commoner, should never possess such power. But Kai has had enough. He rips the God Stone out of Gandal‘s chest, ending him for good.
While Kai may have gotten revenge, he still doesn’t know how to save Elsa—until he remembers the God Stone. Since it belonged to a Guardian Bearer, it might contain enough energy to heal her. He gives it to Elsa, hoping it will save her life.
But something goes horribly wrong.
The moment Elsa swallows the God Stone, her body begins to writhe in agony. Kai, clueless about the risks, panics. He doesn’t understand what’s happening and realizes he needs help. His only option now is to bring Elsa to Poric and hope he can save her.
As he runs, several apes observe him silently from the treeline.
Eventually, Kai reaches Poric and explains everything. Poric immediately realizes the problem: feeding someone a God Stone from the same species without preparation can lead to severe poisoning. While it’s true that God Stones can aid in healing, they must be processed or purified first. Otherwise, the patient could die.
But there’s still hope.
Poric begins treatment right away, aiming to make Elsa vomit up the God Stone before it’s too late. Kai steps outside the tent to give him space.
Just then, he notices three apes approaching. Instinctively, he takes a defensive stance and asks if they’re here to attack his valley too. But to his shock, the apes kneel before him and begin praising him. They recognize the divine crest of the god Kane and respectfully ask him to follow them—back to their FFTOM
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