Castle of Heaven I

With Pandragon and Cutis both lost to the Four Imperial Guardians' occupation, this is the bottom of the arc — and the backdrop against which a transformed prince walks back into the story. G.S, cleared of the Moselle murder charge after the real culprits surface, returns from Bifrost to Dagal at last.

Lacid returns no longer the timid boy who fled the desert, and reorganises the battered alliance. The command structure that emerges is a study in contrast with Iyolin's style: Lacid, commander-in-chief on paper and frontline assault leader in practice, whose moderate, open-minded temperament means he openly delegates strategy rather than insisting on personal command; G.S, placed in command of all fighting forces under Lacid's authority — the Irregular Knights and Dagal mercenaries take on the primary combat burden after the Trisis disaster, made near-invincible against disciplined Imperial regulars by G.S's flexible, unorthodox tactics; and Draupnir Mond, strategic planner, completing work on the airship Lord of Liberia.

Where Iyolin's charisma-dominant approach held armies together by sheer force of personality — even marching them to annihilation — Lacid's humility, pairing his own awakened ability with G.S's tactical genius and Draupnir's strategic mind, is what turns the war around.

Arcion is stunned to learn that Lacid is Prince Pandragon himself — and to repay the debt, joins his search for the gods' ancient legacy. Along the way, Arcion's party finds Kaja's group under pirate attack and steps in to help; reunited, Kaja fills him in on everything that's happened, including that Lacid's party is chasing the same legacy. To repay the rescue, Largo joins the expedition too, and soon recognizes — through old sailor's instinct and half-remembered charts — that their course matches a voyage he's made before.

The trail leads to the Island of Memories — the island where Largo's late wife, Morita, is buried. As Largo stands in long silence before her grave, thanking Kaja for helping him get there, Gishne studies the island's mysterious standing stones, suspecting they mark part of the Divine Vaults and hide a path underground.