Hero War II

With Heaven's Castle in hand, Silver Arrow moves to reclaim Pandragon from Karls and the Four Guardians. Lacid's party is startled by the sheer number of Asura Machina waiting for them — but the Sky Fortress proves a secret weapon of their own, its cannon shooting down Kelberos outright and letting the advance push forward on pure momentum.

Realizing the advance can't be stopped, Karls buys the Imperial Army time to withdraw from Castle Pandragon the only way he can: a one-on-one duel with Lacid. The moment he's bought enough time, he disengages and retreats.

With Pandragon reclaimed, Silver Arrow gets its second chance at Trisis. Everyone wants revenge — but Lacid insists this is a war to end the war, not a war for vengeance, and the army marches into the desert to suppress the Trisis forces on the way to Geysir. Kasim mocks him as a coward; Lacid, unfazed, keeps his troops moving, and Kasim — knowing Beradin wouldn't care even if he tried to hold the line — chooses to flee rather than fight. With Trisis pushed back, Lacid's party heads straight for Geysir.

Only the Dark Castle remains. The appearance of the Black Prince is a real concern, but Silver Arrow has no other choice — Queen Iyolin is still a prisoner there, and they have to get her out.

In a parallel thread, Crow — revealed back in Chapter 20 as Lacid's long-lost brother, Ice Pandragon — plans his own infiltration of the Dark Castle to rescue his sister. He commissions the underworld contact Shuan (Chapter 26) to help; once she learns his goal, she sets aside any hesitation about the fee — she has a younger brother of her own, and understands exactly what he's fighting for.

Cornered, Chancellor Beradin plays his last card: he releases his prisoner, Prince Dycus, as an envoy, offering to free the captive Queen Iyolin in exchange for negotiations with Silver Arrow's leader. Dycus arrives with the message — the Black Prince wants only the Black Prince and a Silver Arrow representative present, no one else. Suspecting a trap, Silver Arrow decides to send G.S in Lacid's place rather than risk their king.

This is the chapter's payoff: the return to the desert that broke Iyolin. This time Lacid succeeds where his sister failed — the supply problem solved by Heaven's Castle, Arondite reborn, Kashmir fully committed, the Holy Knights rebuilt. The reasons Iyolin lost are systematically reversed. The underdog earns the names by which history will remember him: Sword Saint and Holy King. The hook that pulls everyone toward a single table, on a bridge, is now set.