Chief's Crown III

With Pandragon Castle reclaimed, Silver Arrow holds a strategy meeting and resolves to take the impregnable fortress of Thunderdoom next. Defending it is Kashutar of the Imperial Seven Knights — the same relentless pursuer from the Scepter of Glory raid back in Chapter 1 — who reinforces the fortress personally.

Advancing on Thunderdoom, Silver Arrow is ambushed by Hanzo's Black Shadows and finds itself in danger from the Dark Shadow Slash — until Iljimae, heir of the Pandragon Royal Special Forces Jaegers, appears and saves them. Grateful, Silver Arrow welcomes him into its ranks. ("Mist-Splitter" is the title of this episode, not — as an older guess in this compendium had it — a duel against a separate swordsman by that name.)

Surveying the fortress, Silver Arrow devises a strategy to conquer it, while Kashutar, disheartened by the unfavorable odds, soon steels his resolve to defend it anyway. The army splits into two groups to force the gate: Iyolin's party breaks through the second floor, where an Imperial Asura Machina blocks their path, while Arcia's party clears a separate line held by Rovel Fields — who, true to form, uses a request for reinforcements as an excuse to flee once the front is breached. With both fronts broken, Arcia's party finds the lever and opens the gate.

Regrouped on the fortress's third floor, Silver Arrow charges into the final battle and repels Kashutar, who retreats to fight another day. Pursued further, he stays behind alone to buy his soldiers time to escape, unleashing everything he has in a last, doomed stand before falling back.

Even in total victory, Iyolin shows a hint of the struggle building beneath all the bloodshed she's caused — a thread the story will return to.