Kyle asks Mileina if she’s absolutely certain that Zentos is behind this. Mileina, visibly annoyed, replies that she knows exactly what she heard. Yesterday, she got drugged—courtesy of the prince and Zentos. Right before passing out, she overheard her own brother celebrating like he’d won a lottery. Turns out, she had fallen right into their trap. Now, all he had to do was stuff her into a carriage bound for Sains, claim she left on her own despite the danger, and voilà—monster chow.
She always knew her brother was a greedy idiot, but she never thought of him as an actual threat because, well… he’s kind of useless. But with Zentos on his team? That changes things.
Normally, Mileina would be escorted by Kilan from the Fifth Battalion for protection. But Kilan is practically a celebrity now—always getting summoned to royal ceremonies. So this time, guess who got assigned to protect Mileina? Yep, Zentos himself. In hindsight, she probably should’ve raised an eyebrow the moment her brother showed up for the trip. He had zero reason to be there.
Kyle still finds it hard to believe Zentos would stoop to something so low, but he knows Mileina isn’t the type to lie. So if she says Zentos is the villain, then that’s that. He reasons that since the assassination attempt failed, Zentos will likely launch Plan B soon. And knowing the guy, he’s probably already drafting the press release blaming Kyle and his party for massacring Mileina’s guards to get to her.
If they wanted to play it smart (and selfish), they’d just ditch Mileina and save their own skins. But… that ship has sailed. She promises them a generous reward once they make it back to the royal capital safely—so hey, silver linings.
The good news? Kilan’s Fifth Battalion is supposed to arrive in Archine by tomorrow morning. And when they realize Mileina’s missing, you can bet Kilan will come charging in to find her. Kyle wonders if things will go south if Kilan’s and Zentos’ battalions cross paths. But Mileina says the two groups are roughly equal in strength. If anything, that might give Zentos a headache, not them.
Le suggests they could just lay low in Sains until the drama blows over, but Kyle isn’t sold. Zentos seems like the kind of guy who would burn down a whole village just to clean up a loose end. And considering he already killed royal guards to reach Mileina, it’s not a stretch to think he’d do the same to 100 innocent villagers.
Risky or not, Kyle thinks their best shot is to head back to Archine. With over 10,000 people in the city, there’s no way Zentos can just go full villain without attracting attention. Plus, if they link up with Kilan’s battalion, their survival odds just might go up from “nope” to “maybe.”
Mileina agrees with Kyle‘s plan—but there’s a catch. If they turn back now, they’ll bump right into Zentos‘ men. So, she looks at him and asks, “You got a sneaky little plan to slip past them?” But Kyle, ever the cool cucumber, calmly replies that he’s planning to cut straight through Zentos’ soldiers. No detours. No subtlety. Just boom.
They halt the carriage to prep for the madness. Thanks to Sildonia‘s aerial surveillance, they confirm that Zentos isn’t with the battalion—big relief. That means they just need to deal with the regular troops. And lucky for everyone, Kyle already has a plan… though it includes a lot of explosion stones. Kaboom style.
Now, there’s a minor issue: they can’t guarantee that Mileina won’t get hurt by the shockwaves. So, Liese hands her a case of high-tier healing potions and says, “Drink one if you even stub a toe.” Mileina, a little stunned, wonders just how loaded these guys are. All this gear must have cost a fortune—and it did. But apparently, money’s not a problem when you’re traveling with Kyle.
Meanwhile, back at the capital, the prince is absolutely losing it. The assassination attempt on the princess failed, and now he’s panicking like a student on exam day. Zentos reassures him that he’s already sent men to finish the job, but the prince wants to know: “Why aren’t you out there with your troops?”
Zentos explains that Kilin will be arriving tomorrow morning. And once she realizes the princess is MIA, she’s going to grill the prince like a suspicious mother. Unfortunately, the prince crumbles under pressure faster than a house of cards, so Zentos has to stick around and come up with an excuse for him. The prince tries to protest but is quickly reminded—he’s now deep in this plan, and Zentos won’t tolerate another screw-up.
Meanwhile, as Mileina‘s carriage is still on the run, one of Zentos’ scouts races back and reports, “I saw the carriage turn around—it’s headed this way!” The vice commander quickly orders everyone to halt and ready their bows.
But just as the carriage comes into view—BOOM!—a bunch of explosion stones rain down from the sky. Yep, this was a well-timed aerial strike, coordinated with Sildonia. The chaos disorients the soldiers, and the carriage blazes straight through like a bat out of hell.
Urza uses wind magic to protect the carriage from the blast, while Theron—having the time of his life—chucks explosion stones like he’s in some magical dodgeball tournament. Not exactly graceful, but hey—it gets the job done.
However, once the vice commander shakes off the dust, he shouts at the remaining soldiers to get back on their feet and continue the chase. The team’s not out of the woods yet—they’ve got to keep moving if they want to stay free.
Unfortunately, due to all the explosions, one of the carriage wheels gets blown clean off—there’s no way they’ll fix it in time. So, the group has no choice but to ditch it and continue without. Liese tells Princess Mileina and her maids to hop on the horses, while Kyle plans to use a Wind Walker spell to keep up on foot. The bad news? There’s zero chance they’ll outrun the remaining soldiers like this.
Kyle says someone needs to stay behind and act as a decoy. That someone? Theron. He’s busy fiddling with the broken carriage, hoping he can fix it—until Kyle casually tells him it’s his job now to stall the royal guards. Before Theron can even grumble in protest, the rest of the crew is already leaving.
Soon after, the soldiers catch up to Theron, who greets them… with a white flag and the acting chops of a desperate soap opera villain. He starts begging for forgiveness, claiming it was all Kyle’s idea and that he was abandoned. He even offers them a giant bag of gold in exchange for his life.
But the vice commander quickly realizes Princess Mileina isn’t with him anymore, and coldly orders the troops to kill Theron so they can move on.
Meanwhile, Urza asks Kyle if it was really okay to leave Theron behind, since those soldiers definitely aren’t planning to spare him. Kyle admits he would’ve preferred a bloodless option—but this was the only way.
Urza, still shocked, questions whether Kyle really just sacrificed his best friend. But Kyle clarifies: that’s not what happened. Urza only just met Theron, so she wouldn’t know, but Theron is way stronger than either Kyle or Liese.
Meanwhile, back on the battlefield—plot twist! Theron beheads the vice commander in one clean strike. Turns out, his groveling surrender was all an act to catch the guards off guard. Now that they’re rattled, he removes his heavy gravity training bracelets and readies himself for a 1v30 showdown.
He charges forward and instantly decapitates three soldiers, then darts back in to repeat the process. A few try to sneak up behind him—rookie mistake. He tosses an explosion stone at their feet, blowing them skyward and scaring off the horses. Now the soldiers are stuck, no escape.
Kyle explains to Urza that Theron may lack magic aptitude and have the personality of a circus clown, but when it comes to swordplay, Kyle can’t even compare. Theron trains relentlessly and wears gravity bracelets nonstop to push his limits. And yes—he’s also terrifying in battle.
So why act so goofy all the time? Urza wonders. Well, that’s part of the act—to make enemies underestimate him. That said, he’s still kind of a weirdo regardless.
Kyle is confident Theron will win—but against thirty royal guards, he’ll need to go full lethal mode. They wanted to avoid unnecessary deaths, since the soldiers are just following orders. But war doesn’t always leave room for mercy.
After several intense minutes of fighting, only eight soldiers remain—and Theron is getting tired. He drops his sword and tells the survivors they don’t need to fight anymore. His mission—to buy time for Kyle and the others to reach Archin—is complete. He even offers to let them go if they leave peacefully.
The soldiers hesitate. They’re bruised, battered, and, frankly, not paid enough to deal with this. So, they gather their wounded comrades and begin limping away…
…until Theron, true to his ruthless rep, throws another explosion stone and charges in to eliminate the survivors anyway. Brutal? Yes. Unnecessary? Probably. In-character for Theron? Absolutely.
Meanwhile, back in Archin, Zentos realizes something’s wrong—he hasn’t received a single update from his men. Suspicious. He decides to investigate personally, leaving a few troops to babysit the prince while he rides off into the forest.
High above, Sildonia spots Zentos heading toward the group and immediately alerts Kyle: “Big scary knight incoming.” Unfortunately, Zentos spots her, too—and blasts her out of the sky with alarming precision. Yep, it’s definitely him.
Kyle, now certain who they’re dealing with, tells Mileina to hide in the woods. He also asks Urza and Theron to take her and flee if anything feels off. Mileina asks if Kyle is really planning to fight Zentos—the strongest knight in Zurgus—alone.
Kyle admits he would’ve rather avoided this fight, but he doesn’t have a choice. Mileina, curious, asks why he keeps talking about Zentos like he knows him personally. Is there something he’s not telling her?
Kyle freezes, unsure what to say. Thankfully, Mileina drops it, not wanting to pressure the guy risking his life for her.
Later, Zentos finds Kyle standing alone in the forest road. He asks if Kyle has been aiding Mileina, and Kyle calmly confirms it. He then asks why Zentos came alone—why not bring his battalion?
Zentos explains he didn’t want more men dying in a battle they didn’t sign up for. That earns him a sliver of respect.
Kyle, still hoping to avoid bloodshed, offers Zentos a pardon from the princess if he surrenders—and begs him to explain why he’s doing all this. He doesn’t believe Zentos is the type to be motivated by status or gold.
But Zentos isn’t in the mood for monologues. “No point explaining anything to someone who’s about to die,” he says, drawing his sword.
Both men cast strength and haste spells, then charge. Zentos opens with his signature illusion magic—but Kyle dodges and counterattacks, forcing Zentos to retreat.
Shocked, Zentos stares him down. No one’s ever countered that spell on the first try. That’s when it hits him:
Kyle knows this technique because… in the previous timeline, Zentos was the one who taught him everything he knows about magic swordsmanship.
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