Hearing that the Holy Sword was found immediately grabs Ganias and Yuriga’s attention. That tiny distraction is all Kyle needs to close the distance before Ganias even realizes what’s happening.
Meanwhile, Liese and Urza also see an opening. Urza launches a blast of fire at Yuriga, and while she’s busy blocking the flames, Liese dashes in close. She manages to land a hit—not perfect, but enough to rattle Yuriga. Feeling proud, Liese and Urza suddenly think, “Hey, maybe we actually stand a chance!”
Yuriga, however, is not impressed. She growls that they’ll regret touching her. But before she can follow up, she hears Ganias cry out in pain. She looks over to see him on the ground with Kyle standing over him, holding one of his broken horns.
Now, losing a horn isn’t deadly for Ganias—but socially? Oh, it’s brutal. In demon society, horns are like the ultimate status symbol. Without one, you’re basically signing up for every insult in the demon dictionary. Kyle knows this, and he smirks, perfectly happy to ruin Ganias’ reputation.
Just then, Theron strolls back in, casually holding the Holy Sword. Yuriga demands he hand it over, but come on—why would Theron give up such an epic weapon? No way.
Tension fills the air, so Kyle breaks it with a suggestion. He doesn’t want to drag the fight on any longer—too many people are already hurt. Instead, he proposes a truce: a fair duel in three days. If Ganias and Yuriga win, they’ll get the Holy Sword back, plus Ganias’ horn. But if Kyle’s group wins, the demons must spill everything about their infiltration plans.
Neither Ganias nor Yuriga love the deal, but the odds aren’t in their favor if they keep fighting. And let’s face it, Ganias really wants his horn back. So he grudgingly agrees. With dramatic flair, he blasts a hole in the wall and tells Kyle they’ll return in three days for the duel.
Once the demons leave, the group carries Gazas and Bax out of the caves and heads back to town to meet Gou and Miranda. The moment Miranda spots Gazas, she runs over, tears streaming, hugging him like she’s never letting go. She admits she could never have forgiven herself if he’d died.
The touching reunion warms hearts, but Kyle, ever practical, interrupts with questions. They gather inside, where Bax lies in bed. Despite everything he’s done, Gazas defends him, saying he wasn’t truly a bad man—just someone desperate to secure the future of Kuran, willing to go to reckless extremes to do it.
Gazas first discovered Bax was abducting people about a month ago. He tried desperately to talk him out of it, but Bax refused to listen. Worse, Gazas couldn’t take any forceful action either—after all, Bax was still governor. And if that wasn’t enough, Bax even threatened to kill Miranda and Gou if Gazas interfered. Naturally, Gazas didn’t want to drag them into this mess, so he chose to keep his distance.
While reflecting on Bax’s actions, Gazas remembers that Theron said he found the Holy Sword that Bax had hidden. He’s about to ask for it back, but Kyle cuts him off, declaring that Theron is keeping it. Gazas is left speechless for a moment, then argues that the Holy Sword is a national treasure of Kuran, and Theron can’t just claim it like a shiny toy at a market stall.
Kyle admits that’s a fair point—but counters with, “Well, I did just save your life. And don’t forget, I also saved Miranda when Yuriga attacked the embassy, and Theron protected Gou when Ganias blew up the house. So technically, we’ve saved the three people you care about most. You kinda owe us.”
And just in case Gazas isn’t convinced, Kyle whips out the ultimate bargaining chip: a chunk of pure Mithril. This stuff is rare—harder to find than a polite internet comment section—and Gazas hasn’t had the pleasure of working with it in ages. Kyle casually mentions he has a boatload of the stuff in Sylvie’s vault. If Gazas wants, he can take as much as he needs. Who knows—maybe he’ll even forge a weapon better than the Holy Sword someday. Surely one missing sword isn’t such a big deal, right?
Gazas is conflicted. On one hand, giving up a national treasure sounds like career suicide. On the other hand… Mithril. Luckily, Miranda provides the perfect “official” response: “Holy Sword? Never seen it in my life.” Case closed.
With that settled, Kyle moves on to business. He hands Gazas a set of blueprints and asks him to build something specific. After inspecting the plans, Gazas says it’s doable in three days, especially now that material supply isn’t an issue. But Kyle insists it must be finished in two—because the duel with the demons is in three. Two days means brutal work hours, but Gazas shrugs it off. Kyle saved his life, so he’s not about to complain. He rolls up his sleeves and gets started immediately.
Meanwhile, Kyle checks in on Liese and Urza, who reassure him they’re doing fine—even if they’re a little singed and bruised from fighting Yuriga.
Liese and Urza didn’t suffer any major injuries, but the fight left them with one big realization: if Yuriga had been serious from the start, they would’ve been demon chow. Still, that doesn’t scare them off—they’re fired up for a rematch and vow that next time Yuriga won’t even know what hit her.
The funny part? Kyle actually came here to kick them off the rematch team. He figured Theron had a much better chance at beating Yuriga. But after seeing how motivated Liese and Urza are, he just shrugs and lets them have their shot. That does leave Theron sulking, though—he was itching to test out his shiny new sword.
Kyle, ever the strategist (and occasional cheater), tells him not to worry. If it looks like Liese and Urza are about to lose, he wants Theron to slice Yuriga down while she isn’t looking. Sure, it would be against the “rules” of the duel… but when has Kyle ever cared about playing fair? Victory first, honor later.
While they’re still talking about the duel, Theron wonders why they postponed it for three days instead of just finishing things earlier. Kyle explains that if the demons thought they were losing, they might’ve activated the magic circle and nuked the entire city as a last-ditch effort. The delay not only avoids that risk but also buys Kyle precious time to get his “secret weapon” built.
But first, there’s the matter of the magical time bomb under the city. So Kyle heads down into the caves with Sylvie to check it out. The catalyst is on the verge of exploding, but luckily, Sylvie says she can release the energy slowly to defuse it. Problem solved, right? Wrong—Kyle thinks it would be a waste to let all that juicy magic energy just fizzle away. Instead, he asks if she can funnel it into the dragon heart he’s carrying around like a weird pocket trinket.
Sylvie agrees it’s a smart move, though the transfer will take three full days—cutting it dangerously close to the duel. Kyle, as usual, just says, “That’s fine,” and steps back so she can begin the spell. Out of curiosity, he asks if Bax’s original plan with the energy would’ve worked. Sylvie admits it wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. The mithril in the area is completely depleted, and even if it wasn’t, forcing it up at once would’ve destroyed the city regardless. So yeah, Bax was basically gambling with dynamite.
Over the next three days, Liese and Urza train hard for their rematch against Yuriga. Theron, on the other hand, takes several naps, acting like the duel isn’t even his problem. His snoring gets so bad that Sylvie seriously considers shoving a pillow over his face—not to kill him, just to shut him up.
Kyle tells Sylvia that it’s actually a good thing Theren is so calm—it means he’s confident they’ll be able to defeat the demons. If Kyle truly plans to stop the great invasion, he needs to gather as much information as possible on the new Demon Lord, which means losing isn’t an option.
Eventually, the group arrives at the duel location, only to realize they never actually agreed on an arrival time. Since the demons aren’t there yet, they’ll have to wait. Lee and Urza lay out a picnic blanket so everyone can have some tea while waiting.
As they eat, Kyle asks Öza and Lee if they came up with a plan to beat Uruga. Urza assures him they’re not stupid enough to walk into this without a strategy. Their odds aren’t great, but they still have a chance. She then turns the question back on Kyle—was he sure he could beat Ganas? Kyle explains that he had a weapon crafted specifically for this fight, so yes, he’s confident.
Moments later, footsteps echo in the hall. Kyle quickly gets up to act menacing toward the approaching demons… only to realize it’s hard to look threatening while holding a teacup and with cookie crumbs stuck to his face. The others quickly pack away the picnic, and once they’re ready, Kyle declares it’s time to settle things.
Before the duel begins, Kyle suggests he and Ganas fight somewhere else since this room isn’t large enough for two battles at once. Ganas agrees, though Uruga questions if it’s a wise choice—if things go badly, she won’t be able to help him. But Ganas laughs off her concern, declaring he’d never lose to a mere human in a fair fight.
With that, Kyle and Ganas leave to find another battleground. Surprisingly, Sylvia doesn’t follow Kyle. Instead, she tells Theren her job is to inform Kyle immediately if something goes wrong here. Normally she would have to stay close to her sword, but as long as she can maintain the mana supply, it doesn’t matter where her body is.
Now facing the group, Uruga asks if they’re finally ready and assumes Theren will be her opponent since he’s clearly the strongest among them. But Theren shakes his head—he’s only here to watch. If Uruga defeats Lee and Öza, he says he’ll hand over the holy sword without resistance.
Uruga honestly doesn’t want to fight, but for the holy sword, she has no choice. Acknowledging that Lee and Öza are powerful, she refuses to repeat her mistake from last time. From the start, she unleashes her full power. A fierce gust of wind fills the arena as her aura surges, and she coldly warns the girls that if they don’t want to die, they’d better surrender now.
Sylvia mutters that this is bad—their entire plan relied on Uruga underestimating them. But Theren remains unfazed, calmly saying that as long as they don’t lower their guard, Lee and Urza should be fine.
Uruga charges forward, unleashing a barrage of punches so fast that Lee can barely keep up with blocking. Urza quickly summons a fire spirit to cover her, but Uruga slips past the blaze with ease. The flames nearly hit Lee instead, forcing her to duck behind a pillar to avoid getting scorched.
Uruga then turns her focus on Urza. Even with an earth spirit summoned for protection, Urza struggles—Uruga’s relentless onslaught easily overwhelms the defenses. The difference in power between them is undeniable.
Watching from the sidelines, Sylvia grows anxious and asks Theren why he isn’t stepping in to help. But Theren remains calm, saying the situation isn’t as bad as it looks. Uruga is definitely stronger than they expected, but that doesn’t mean she’s unbeatable.
When Uruga rushes them again, Urza orders her summoned golem to stand in Uruga’s way. Smirking, Uruga scoffs, saying a single golem won’t stop her. But that was never the plan.
As Uruga smashes into the golem, Lee darts forward, punching straight through the construct and driving her fist squarely into Uruga’s chest. The impact knocks the wind out of her, leaving her staggered. Without hesitation, Lee follows up with another crushing blow, sending Uruga reeling even further.
Meanwhile, Kyle and Ganas finally reach their new battleground. With no more time to waste, it’s time for their duel to begin.
