Nell can’t figure out how Naye got in through the window — this is the second floor, after all. Naye casually explains that she just flew up using her axe. Her power lets her attract and repel anything made of iron. She simply hurled her axe into the air, clung to the handle, and let physics (and magic) do the rest.
Apparently, she discovered this ability thanks to a massive dark beast turtle with an iron shell — any metal weapon that touches it gets stuck there forever. But enough storytime — Naye has work to do. She pulls a pill from her bag and approaches Luna.
When Nell demands to know what she’s doing, Naye says she’s giving Lumis “medicine” to test his magic potential. If the baby can use magic, his eyes will change color, and he’ll be fine. If not… well, he might cough up blood and die. A nice, even 50/50.
Horrified, Nell yells for her to stop. Hearing the commotion, Alicia rushes upstairs, but Meynard uses his centipede to smash her into a wall before she can get there. He doesn’t know exactly who she is, but he’s not about to let her ruin his plan — in fact, he’s ready to kill her.
Meanwhile, Nell struggles against the bed frames holding her down. Naye smugly informs her that the force from those frames could stop a charging bull. With two frames, Nell would need the strength of two bulls — and her “tiny arms” obviously can’t manage that.
Except… they do.
To Naye’s shock, Nell shoves the frames aside and knocks her out cold in one swift push. Meynard hears the crash but finds his centipede suddenly immobilized — Alicia, still alive, has tied its antennae into a knot, leaving it dazed. She kicks it to the floor and dashes to the room.
When Alicia bursts in, ready for a fight, she finds Naye unconscious, Nell holding Luna, and a gaping hole in the wall. Nell admits she made the hole accidentally when she pushed the bed frame, which hit Naye and flew right through the wall. Alicia has no time to process this — they need to escape.
Grabbing her sword, she tells Luna to stay close. They leap out the window, and Alicia slices through the airborne bugs blocking their way. By the time Naye regains consciousness, they’re long gone — and she can’t pursue without Meynard’s help, since the bugs attack indiscriminately.
A short while later, Alicia and Nell make it past the city limits, where the bugs stop chasing them, thanks to Meynard’s order to only surround the city. If they’re lucky, they might reach the forest before dawn. But luck runs out quickly — a second wall of insects blocks their path, far too many for Alicia to cut through. They’ll need to hide.
Back at the inn, Naye reports their escape. Meynard asks if she at least tested the baby’s magic, but she admits Nell knocked her out first. He realizes they underestimated the women — and that the blonde is definitely Alicia Glenfall, the hero. He knows because he was there when Drel killed her father. A hero traveling with an ordinary baby makes no sense, which means Luna must be the Hidemic prince they’ve been hunting.
Practically gleeful at the thought of torturing a hero, Meynard orders Naye to gather all the townspeople in the main square. The town leader boldly tells him that bugs won’t make them submit. Meynard responds that none of this would be happening if the king of Heiden hadn’t foolishly attacked Clevatess. Now that the capital is destroyed, Clevatess might return to claim the land, so the Bolate army is here to “protect” them — which is really just an excuse for an invasion. Without the king’s magic weapon, the people have no way to resist.
Mar tells the townspeople they have a bigger enemy to worry about right now — the blonde woman from earlier is one of the Thirteen Heroes who started this entire mess. If they want to take out their frustrations, they can start by hunting her down.
Meanwhile, Drell’s army is marching toward the fallen capital of Heiden, wading across a shallow river, when Drell suddenly halts. He senses someone watching. Under the bright moonlight, hiding is pointless, so he calls for the stalker to show themselves.
From the bushes, Road emerges and immediately thrusts his frost spear into the water, freezing the entire river solid and trapping the feet of Drell’s soldiers. His own troops, equipped with ice cleats, move freely while even the enslaved dark beasts struggle to stand. Mikl rallies their forces, telling everyone to target Drell’s wizards first so they can’t undo the ice.
Drell knows the frost spear’s abilities, but even at full power it shouldn’t be able to freeze an entire river at once. He suspects Road stationed mages upstream to chill the water beforehand — a clever tactic. Clearly, Road has mastered his regalia. If he defeats Drell here, the war could end.
But Drell warns it won’t be that easy. Road lunges forward, but Drell swats him aside with a heavy backhand slash. Road retaliates with an ice magic strike, but Drell dodges and the attack freezes harmlessly behind him. Their blades and spear clash, and Drell grudgingly admits Road’s skill — a regalia may grant power, but true mastery takes strength and training. Still, he doubts Road has the power to “break the shackles of the world.”
Then Drell unleashes his trump card: summoning a massive dragon’s claw in midair. Road is stunned — regalia aren’t supposed to create physical objects — but the claw is real, and it sends him flying across the frozen river.
Mikl and the soldiers try to assist, but Drell fuses magic with his sword, creating something far beyond a normal weapon. When some of Road’s men rush in, Drell annihilates them — and his own soldiers — with another dragon claw strike. To him, anyone weak enough to die from such an attack is unworthy to see the world beyond their borders.
Road, bewildered by Drell’s talk of “borders” and “shackles,” demands an explanation. Drell says his goal is to destroy the legend of the heroes — a tradition that has, for thousands of years, driven people to challenge unbeatable foes with hopeless methods. No one has ever questioned it… until now.
He spares Road’s life, calling him a worthy opponent, but warns there’s no way he can win. Exhausted, Road can only watch as Drell continues his conquest.
Suddenly, Clevas — the Southern Lord of the Dark Beasts — descends onto the battlefield. The sight of him sends a shiver through soldiers and beasts alike. Clevas singles out Drell, saying he has a question: someone has been kidnapping both human and dark beast children, and he’s heard it’s connected to Drell’s magic. Is Drell responsible?
Drell asks if a Beast Lord really traveled all this way just to ask a question. But Clevas replies that it’s part of his duty — if someone defiles his lands or his people, the law demands he kill them himself in retribution.
When Drell scoffs and questions his right to decide “the law of the land,” Clevas grows irritated and drives his claw straight through Drell’s stomach. He tells him this could have been avoided if he’d just answered the question. But even with a hole in his chest, Drell shows no fear. He says he knew Clevas would come for him — and that he has no intention of fighting a battle he knows he can’t win head-on.
Drell had planned ahead. A third eye suddenly opened on his forehead as he prepared his ultimate spell — Dark Echra Prison. This caught Clevas completely off guard; he had no idea humans could wield Dark Icar.
In the next instant, Drell’s body exploded, splattering Clevas in blood. When the smoke cleared, the only things left were Drell’s sword and a massive black sphere — the prison — enclosing Clevas.
But Drell wasn’t dead. Before detonating his body, he had transferred his consciousness into his sword, abandoning his human form and becoming a being composed entirely of the sword’s magic. The Dark Echra Prison was the result of that sacrifice, and Drell was certain even someone as powerful as Clevas wouldn’t break free easily.
Inside the sphere, Clevas appeared unconscious and unmoving. Drell intended to leave him there until he perished from starvation or old age.
Road could only stare in shock. The Thirteen Heroes had failed to defeat Clevas, yet Drell had done it so quickly. If Drell possessed that kind of power, Heiden would stand no chance. More determined than ever to complete his mission, Drell ordered his surviving troops to move out.
Meanwhile, deep in the forest, Alicia and Nell were still fleeing from Maynard when Alicia suddenly sensed something was wrong. She couldn’t tell what it was — and there was no way to contact Clevas from here — so she told Nell they needed to keep moving. Unbeknownst to them, a mob of angry townspeople was slowly closing in, following Maynard’s orders.
