When Yuma wakes up on the day Walpurgisnacht is predicted to happen, she feels a calm acceptance in the face of the fate waiting in a mere four hours. A check of her symptoms, which include a heavy feeling of weariness indicates a clinical depression. Nonetheless she gets up and reaches for her suit, when someone loudly knocks on her door.
Cavefish, another Culexus, yells at her to get ready for breakfast, happy that there are extra servings of mashed potatoes. Yuma yells to give her time and gets ready while her friend walks around to wake the others. On her way out, she contemplates putting on the reindeer suit Kyoko gave her a few weeks ago, but decides to leave it behind to prevent making fun of the situation.
Cavefish knocks on the door again and, once open, cheerfully greets the green haired Culexus. Hurrying her to the mess hall, she wonders if Yuma is in a bad mood like the others, who replies that while she is not in the dumps, there is no need to rush since the mess hall is just down the hallway.
Glad that her friend is not as depressed as the rest, Cavefish pats “Cat Ears” shoulder, who complains that she will never get to live the nickname caused by her weird hair down. The huge girl offers to finally stop if Yuma really doesn't like it, mentioning how she knows what it feels like to have uncomfortable nicknames, but her friend admits that it is sort of cute.
The two of them make it to the empty mess hall and sit down near the food conveyor belt. While Cavefish happily stacks plates of food in front of them, Yuma checks the news on TV and wonders why the Incubators came up with sudden super typhoons as a cover story instead of just coming clean with the public.
While the cover stories work to get people away from witches, lying to them seems wrong to her, but Cavefish reminds her that people do stupid things and would most likely start a crusade to free the planet from the aliens manipulating everything from behind the scenes.
During breakfast, Malal contacts Yuma on a private vox channel to make her run errands and tell Cavefish to initiate Protocol 8. While unfamiliar to Yuma, the huge Culexus would know what to do without an explanation. Yuma is then to check up on Girl A who will sit the Walpurgisnacht operation out. Afterwards, she should go to Silent Room Regalia while making sure that nobody follows her.
Yuma wonders why Girl A is sitting this out, and after messing with her for asking uncool questions, Malal simply explains that leaving Girl A is better for everyone, both in short and long term plans. The Rank Leader then explains that Kharn is in Silent Room Regalia, who should be giving the Eversors their deployment speech. Explaining that this is why nobody must see her, Malal tells Yuma that she counts on her and returns to tending to the “Warmaster”.
When Yuma lifts her visor again, Cavefish asks what Malal wants, amused about her friend's reaction to her guess. She jokes about Yuma having to wash the Warmaster's car, who drains her coffee, slams the visor shut and replies that she has to do something like that, annoyed by Malal's jokes.
Cavefish offers her help, but Yuma replies that she will be busy herself and tells her about the order to initiate Protocol 8. The huge girl lowers her fork with shaking hands, mentioning that she already expected this order, and gets up with a stiff expression. She grabs her helmet, explains that Protocol 8 is just a long errand that needs to be done right away and dashes off.
Yuma quickly finishes her small breakfast and makes her way to the elevator. Upstairs, she stands in front of Girl A's, or Murderface as the Warmaster called her, room. Remembering how that girl threw up on her boots after insulting her the first time they met, or the time she shot Cavefish's legs off during one of her episodes, Yuma forgoes politeness. She knocks loudly and shouts that she was sent to see if she is okay.
To her surprise, the usually violent girl opens the door only a crack wide and answers with a feeble, hesitant voice that the angel told her not to open the door for anyone other than Yuma Yuckypants. She describes the angel as someone with a spookier helmet and nice voice and that she promised her something nice if she cleans all the guns she lent her, making to close the door again.
Yuma slams her hand against the door to keep it open, scaring Girl A enough to make tears well up in her eyes. She apologizes and tells her with a sigh that she is the Yuma Yuckypants the angel told her about. Pouting, she refuses to let her in until Yuma asks nicely, then unlocks the door t her room full of firearms stashed in plastic boxes.
Girl A sits down on her bed and resumes cleaning the stripped down parts of a rifle, offering Yuma to sit down beside her to talk. Taking a seat, Yuma calls up Malal's frequency who tells her how cute Girl A is now compared to her old self and that she can cuddle her if she wants.
Furious about what she sees, Yuma asks why her Rank Leader reduced Girl A to a weak willed, innocent and slightly confused thing and then joke about how cute she is, screaming and cursing all the while. Malal is caught off guard and splatters her drink all over her helmet and, after cleaning it up, explains that she did not wipe Girl A's memory but instead stopped it from happening and made them return in portions to prevent her from breaking down.
The Rank Leader thinks that her memory is either affected by Walpurgisnacht approaching or by a breakdown after what happened to Kharn. Confused, Yuma asks how anything could have happened to the Warmaster without anyone noticing, to which Malal explains that there is only one way to prevent news from getting out and having the Warmaster in the assembly hall while Yuma should check up on her in Silent Room Regalia.
Taking the hint that a Callidus is at work, Yuma wonders why they go through the trouble. Disappointed that she has to explain something that simple, Malal tells her that morale would suffer greatly if others knew their Warmaster is both near death and near witching out since three days ago. She also mentions that she is fulfilling a promise and tells the doubtful Yuma that she will understand this once she is older, refusing to explain herself further.
The Rank Leader then tells Yuma to go and fulfill her orders. Taking another sip from her drink ,she mentions that while the Spymaster of the Twentieth may be a shallow bitch, her taste in beverage is good. She agrees with Yuma that the Twentieth is not trustworthy, but admits that their own Callidus could not replace Kharn convincingly and mentions that the Spy Master likes the challenge.
Malal then explains how she found Kharn and Murderface nearly dead in the middle of the night three days ago, the Warmaster even decapitated. While she found no bodies of the assailants, they left a black dagger stuck in Kharn's soul gem that disappeared in black smoke when removed.
Malal dragged them back to the Officio for healing and found out that Kharn is infected by something that darkens her soul gem at a fast rate and hinders the healing process. She locked the Warmaster up in Silent Room Regalia and suggested to keep this event secret, to which Kyubey agreed. Murderface recovered easily, but before she could answer any questions, her memory disappeared.
Thinking about how everything fits together way too neatly, Yuma silently wonders if maybe Malal set the event up and gives up on asking more questions. The rank Leader however figured that she would come to this conclusion and assures that she has no reason to betray Kharn and Murderface. She explains that she expected the event with common sense but did not foresee it with her powers and thus decided to ignore it.
Malal then apologizes for making Yuma go through with her errands and allows her to take some time off to see Haruka after finishing her duties. She tells her subordinate to meet her in the Warmaster's office afterwards and cuts the connection.
Girl A has been staring at Yuma throughout the conversation, hugging a rifle to her chest, and mentions that what happened to the Rape Monster is not the Angel's fault but hers. Yuma disables the voice scrambling function of her vox, promises that she will not get in trouble and asks for details in her original voice, but Girl A refuses to talk. She promised the Angel not to tell anyone and is convinced that she will never find a boyfriend should she break her pinkie promise.
Annoyed by being jerked around Yuma growls a curse that makes Girl A move back in fright and decides to get what she needs by force. Convinced that this is the only course of action, Yuma apologizes as she pins Girl A to the bed, grabs her head with a gloved hand and forces her way into the terrified, helplessly struggling and screaming girl's mind. She is both set on uncovering the truth and on affirming her trust in Malal's words.
Clawing through Girl A's memories, she finds that Malal told her the truth. A large group of Callidus hit her and Kharn with a surprise attack and struck them down after taking heavy losses. When she sees Kharn stabbed with the black dagger, Yuma decides to finally stop and retreats from her victim's mind who retreats back into a corner, stained in tears and blood from biting her tongue.
As Yuma realizes the depravity of her deed, she tries to apologize, aware that nothing could heal the wounds her betrayal inflicted, but can only utter one word before Girl A starts screaming again for the angel to save her from the monster in front of her. Yuma leaves the girl alone, aghast at herself, and decides that none must ever know about this.
As she stands in front of Girl A's door, Malal contacts her again and asks how things are, mentioning that they are short on time. Startled at the realization of just how much time has passed, a mere one and a half hour remaining until Walpurgisnacht, Yuma's mind races trying to find an explanation. Malal presses the issue of Kharn's state and Yuma decides to lie to her superior, telling her the Warmaster's condition was exactly like she told her about.
Malal considers this a somewhat good sign, seeing how Kharn did not worsen any further and laughs about Yuma's comment that the Warmaster is too hardy and annoying to die, like weed. She mentions that if Walpurgisnacht wasn't so close, she would make Yuma her temporary replacement as Equerry to prepare her to take over once Malal retires. Finishing their conversation, she suggests meeting in the assembly hall to talk to Kyoko before their deployment.
Torn by regret, Yuma runs to the one person she thinks will never condemn her to confess her sin to. She bursts into Haruka's silent room, removes her helm, throws herself at her friend. Under the soothing words of the seer Yuma cries her sorrow out for the first time since her father's abuse. After she finally calms down and retrieves her helm, Haruka wonders what made the Culexus break down like this, feeling that there is more than just the upcoming mission.
Yuma decides to confess her sins to her friend, under heavy sobs and hurried to get it out, unable to look at her afterward. But Haruka tells her that she was right, that she needed to know and that Girl A's promise is no justification for hiding information. She tells her that Malal would want her to verify herself information instead of simply accepting what she is told when lives are at stake.
Admitting that she often forgets just how young Yuma still is, Haruka tells her to share her burdens with her and to let the feelings of guilt go. While hurting Girl A was bad, she is still alive and will recover, unlike those who are dead. Placing a kiss on her forehead, Haruka assures her friend that she will forgive her as many times as necessary even if she can't forgive herself.
While sure that she will never be able to forget Girl A's desperate expression, Yuma is relieved of the crushing feeling of guilt and returns her friend's smile. Haruka tells her that there will be times when they have to do things that look wrong at first, but she is convinced that the intention matters more.
Admitting that she is more of a burden to the Ninth Officio than a boon, she is glad that she could help her friend. Both of them blushing, they agree to take the kiss earlier as a good luck charm and look forward to drinking tea together once the upcoming mission is over.
Before leaving, Yuma asks if Haruka is still angry at Girl A for murdering her comrades, pointing out the hard edge in her voice when mentioning the name. The seer explains that while she is still angry, she believes that she might forgive her someday. With Haruka's good wishes and prayers, Yuma leaves her alone.
She dashes to the assembly hall to meet up with Malal, who is waiting alongside two foreign magical girls in black armor, and clearly angry about the delay. Yuma politely apologizes and is hit on the back of her head for getting smart with the Rank Leader. Malal then introduces her to the foreigners with both her suit name and real name, and repeats that they are to protect her so that she can do her job of protecting them inn turn.
Malal then introduces the guests as Enyo Karasawa, Marshal of the Black Templars and High Marshal Raleigh Alondight, joking about the latter's height and wheels for feet. Having them pointed out, Yuma can't help asking about the wheels. Malal warns her about asking, but Alondight calms her down and explains that she has wheels to move as fast as possible, following the First Knight's credo of delivering swift judgment.
Malal signals that they are under time constraints and asks the Templars to gather the rest of their squad while she has a word with Yuma, upon which the Marshals leave the assembly hall. Opening a private vox channel, Malal explains that she called in some favors to convince the Second's Black Templars to join the Ninth in this operation to make use of their special training in group tactics and tenacity.
Malal also explains that she made sure that the Templars do everything in their power to ensure Yuma's safe return since things will get worse for the Ninth and that they will need a reliable Culexus and prognosticator like her. Mentioning that this still only raises the odds and does not guarantee her safety, Malal asks her not to mention this to anyone to keep morale from dropping.
Thinking of the many Culexus that are more experienced and more promising than herself, Yuma asks why she was chosen. Malal explains that her plan will not work if it's not done properly and that she can't give it to somebody else because they might get it wrong. Yuma angrily replies that orchestrating her own death is bullshit, but Malal growls at her that she doesn't want to die or see her entire rank die fighting a world ending monster.
Calming down again, she explains that this is exactly what the plan to save the world she has been working on for over ten years will only work this way and that she can only rig it in a way to allow Yuma's survival, nobody else. Forcing herself to nod in agreement, Yuma stays silent as Malal tells her that her plan goes far beyond Walpurgisnacht and that everything depends on the outcome of this day, once again mentioning a promise she made.
As the Black Templars assemble in an orderly fashion, Malal mentions that the other Culexus should be ready due to Cavefish running Protocol 8 and offers Yuma a chance for some final words before the mission.
Yuma decides to tell her the truth and confesses that she never went to check up on Kharn. The Rank Leader silently turns to her, clenching and relaxing her fists with audibly controlled breath. She tells her that while disappointing, her insubordination is easily fixed. Calling her a lying piece of shit, she tells Yuma to make herself useful and lead the Black Templars to the teleportation facility, Malal's anger making her voice short out the vox speakers and broadcast clearly and unfiltered through the room.
Furiously inquiring why Yuma didn't do as she was told while cutting her off every time she tries to explain herself, Malal is interrupted by Alondight. The Black Templar apologizes and points out that they are pressed for time. The Rank leader takes a moment to calm down and tells her that Yuma will guide them while she takes care of something important before joining up.
Alondight bows and starts to drag Yuma off, but the Culexus resists and tears herself out of the High Marshal's grasp despite her warning that her Rank Leader is angry enough to kill her. The wheeled girl grabs Yuma again, but Malal already noticed the commotion and shouts at her. Realizing that words will take too long, Yuma compresses the memories of what she did and forces them past Malal's mental defenses.
Malal stumbles back from the mental assault and freezes in place, gasping at what she saw. Realizing the extent of Yuma's deeds, she is overcome by rage, screams out loud and starts to beat the younger girl. While the Templars hold Malal back, she shouts about how they will all die because of Yuma's selfish actions, how she knew what damage forcing herself into Girl A's mind could cause and doing it anyway, her voice hoarse and bleak over the shorted out vox.
Alondight tries to calm Malal down, who repeats that Yuma's deeds domed them all, wondering how she managed to go from her most trusted subordinate to making everything worse than even the Rank leader expected, in merely three hours. Malal sends her off to guide the Templars while she goes to try salvage whatever is left, apologizing to Enyo and Alondight on the way.
Feeling like her word just ended, Yuma no longer resists the High Marshal who drags her off to go and save the world. They leave the Officio headquarters and head towards the teleportation facility by public train, much to the Templars dissatisfaction. Alondight asks Yuma where the savings of this pragmatic transport go, who politely replies that the facility is deep underground and can currently only be reached this way and apologizes for the inconvenience.
The High Marshal tells the Culexus that she understands and is only unreasonable to make Yuma talk, punching Enyo into agreeing that she complains less than their comrade Mordred. With a wide smile, she offers Yuma one of her handmade macarons, mentioning how everyone at their castle likes them.
Yuma politely declines, explaining that she doesn't like sweets and doesn't feel like eating at all. Alondight forces the treat into Enyo's mouth while explaining that sweets provide the necessary energy to crush heretics, earning a battle shout from the group of Templars in return.
The High Marshal then inquires about the incident with Malal, justifying her bluntness with their imminent death and mentions that her reaction was rather unusual for the infamous Culexus Rank Leader. Yuma decides to give her a censored explanation, leaving out the worst and likely classified details.
From the vague explanation, Alondight fills in most of the blanks on her own and tells the younger girl that her mistake is in the past and that dwelling on it is useless, no reason to refuse her gift and an insult to the Black Templars who she supposedly doomed. She tells Yuma that she needs to ask herself what she wants and takes a guess that it is not pity, despite her behavior calling for just that.
Yuma rises up and claims that her horrible sin compromised the operation, but Alondight, rising herself to tower over the Culexus, has Enyo confirm that Walpurgisnacht has not yet arrived and killed them all. The High Marshal explains that while their Officio values prophecies and respects Malal's skill, they believe that even the most accurate predictions can be wiped out by fighting hard enough and that they intend to do just that.
Yuma takes the macaron from Alondight's hand and opens her visor to eat it, tears of realization flowing from her eyes as she understands that there can still be something she can do. As she finishes, the Templars get up and uniformly salute while the High Marshal asks if Yuma will fight with them or wait for death. The Culexus slams her visor shut and growls that she will fight, her spirit rekindled.
Alondight grins and takes a badge from her armor and explains that the highest ranking Templar picks one from her squad to serve as the Emperor's Champion before every mission, someone she thinks will be vital to the battle, someone to fight alongside with the will of the First Knight. Whispering that this is a very important hing for the Templars, she pins the badge on Yuma's armor and proudly proclaims her as the Emperor's Chosen of the Walpurgisnacht Crusade, followed by a collective salute.
After a while the group arrives at the teleportation facility, hidden in a subway tunnel which is the only place to build a huge, experimental complex out of sight of the public eye. Alondight seems unimpressed at first, but agrees with Yuma's explanation. Admiring the Ninths resourcefulness, she mentions that their own projects are more martial in nature and that they would have to deal with the Fourth for anything more. They even had to go to great lengths to make the secretive technology experts assist in the creation of their armors.
Inside, the Culexus rank is already preparing for departure, led by Cavefish who greets the new arrivals in her usual friendly fashion. Still awestruck by the huge Culexus, Alondight introduces herself and Enyo and asks about the facilities readiness. Cavefish confirms, joking about the possibility to be tossed into the warp but assures that it has never happened during their previous two uses.
An automated voice rings through the hall, announcing the count down of twenty minutes until the emergence of Walpurgisnacht. Cavefish shouts at the gathered Culexus to be thorough with their final equipment checks, and the Black Templar Marshals excuse themselves to tend to their troops checkups and prayers.
Now alone, Cavefish wonders about the Marshals being a couple, but Yuma urgently changes the subject to her lack of arms. The huge Culexus leads her to an adjacent room, explaining that Malal emptied her personal armory for this mission and that Yuma should take something she can reliably kill things with.
Yuma decides to take a spear and her usual firearms, two Beretta 1991 and a sawed off shot gun. Cavefish mentions that Malal predicted Yuma's choice and wanted her to prepare accordingly, but she decided to ask her friend regardless and only now starts gathering everything up. Yuma wonders about this, and her friend replies that there is a limit to predictions and that some things just have to happen, even if you already know the outcome since there is still a chance for it to turn out differently.
While Cavefish wonders if she is even making sense, Yuma asks if Malal told her anything else. The huge Culexus mentions that the Rank Leader told her she would arrive later due to some urgent business. She wonders why her friend asks and easily concludes that she got in trouble, joking about Yuma possibly upsetting Malal by making fun of Alondight's legs.
Yuma replies that this is exactly what happened and changes the subject before Cavefish can press further, inquiring what Protocol 8 is about. Her friend explains that it is a rank wide announcement to put personal belongings in a labeled box so it can be sent to someone in case of death, too dramatic and heavy in her opinion.
She passes her friend the assembled spear, including a gun attachment, and extra ammo, explaining that she took care of Yuma's belongings while she was running errands and labeled them for Malal's quarters since there was nobody else.
The count down hits ten minutes and the two Culexus return to the main chamber where huge screens transfer the Officio video communications, showing the five locations the other squads are deployed to: New York, China, Egypt, the South Pole and Australia where Kyoko and Sayaka are stationed. The Black Templars are caught in rapt attention, staring intensely at the screens showing the feed from Australia.
Yuma asks the High Marshal what caught their attention like this, who in turn asks about the blue haired girl on the video feed. Yuma tells her about Sayaka, second in command Eversor of the Ninth, and Enyo cuts in to tell her superior that blue hair and a sword don't necessarily mean what she thinks. The moment they see Sayaka's cape however, Alondight recites the description of the First Knight and her subordinate can no longer disagree.
The Templars fall to their knees in reverence and the High Marshal explains to the confused Culexus that they believe the girl who looks just like the First Knight to be an omen of good fortune and victory sent to comfort them in the coming darkness. While Sayaka notices the camera, flips it off and drags Kyoko and herself out of view, Yuma tells Alondight that their omen is far from being religious, but the High marshal replies that her identity matters not, only that they got to see her.
With only two minutes left, the Templars and Culexus group up under Alondight's command, small units of one Culexus accompanied by two Templars to shield her with strict orders to close in on the witch cocoon to destroy it as soon as they arrive, no matter what happens.
While standing ready for the transport, Cavefish calls Yuma on private vox, concerned about Malal's absence. She tried to contact the Rank Leader to no avail and mentions that she wanted to arrive before commencing the teleport. She always calls ahead of time when she will be late, so Cavefish is rather worried and looks to Yuma for guidance, claiming that she spends the most time with Malal and should know what to do.
Alondight wonders if anything is wrong since Yuma and Cavefish have been quietly nodding at each other for a while. Yuma decides to take the risk of contacting Malal on a mental level, despite the possibility of interrupting her work and receiving a backlash. She pulses a message requesting confirmation to proceed without the Rank Leader. For half a minute, nothing happens, then Malal's reply arrives.
The words “Kharn is gone”, filled with fear and despair strong enough to cause pain, spread out to the entire group of Culexus who cry out in shock. In her death screams, Malal warns them that Kharn could not be stopped and is heading towards Walpurgisnacht. She begs Yuma to go, who roars at the upset group to get moving, followed by Alondight's battle shout as the teleporter tears them out of the world as the count down hits zero.
The last thing Yuma hears is the silky smooth giggle of an insane goddess (Akuma Homura) before coming to her senses in a place that has been turned into a living hell, albeit different from what she was prepared for. Instead of Walpurgisnacht, she finds herself in the realm of the fallen Warmaster.
Kharn's new form is a gigantic demon of black steel limbs veined with molten bronze, spiked leathery wings, black razor teeth and eyes full of cruelty and murderous hunger. Clad in spiked armor adorned with rattling skulls, she sits upon an enormous spiked bronze throne, her golden chainaxe resting on her lap, a giant black sword with burning golden runes clutched in her fist. Like an incarnation of war, the witch towers over a screaming field of slaughter filled with bones, flesh, raining blood and a host of Daemons.
Her mind being filled with the omnipresent screams, Yuma realizes that she is alone in this nightmare, separated from the group that should have been transported together. She takes cover behind some ruined pillars half sunken in blood and sets her codec to scan the area for all available frequencies. She picks up a cacophony of prayers, angry shouts, despair and death cries.
Yuma clearly makes out Alondight's voice shouting at one f her comrades and connects to their com frequency. The High Marshal demands name, rank, and her favorite pastry to assure she is not deceived by an impostor and is relieved to find out that Yuma is still alive. Locking on to her position, she tells the Culexus to stay put and wait for the group to pick her up, stating her intent to turn the tide of battle despite the high price they had to pay so far.
Confused at her choice of words, Yuma claims that the transport has only been a few minutes ago. After a moment of silence, Alondight tells her that the battle has already raged on for two hours, that they have been scattered from the start and that the enemy was already waiting for them. She admits that they prayed Yuma died before the slaughter of her allies started and remarks that the First Knight denies prayers for a painless death.
“Two hours you took from me, little Culexus. Two hours I've taken back.“
Astonished by the situation, Yuma reminds herself of the first lessons Malal taught her and pushes the panic and fear out of her mind. Calm once again, similar to the Rank Leader's usual bearing, she asks Alondight for a field report. The High Marshal explains that there are only 25 members of the crusade left and that they only found five Culexus still alive after the initial slaughter. She has a plan to turn the tide, but will only talk to her in person for fear of the enemy listening in.
She makes to tell Yuma about Cavefish but is interrupted by the Culexus herself, who makes her relief about finding Yuma still alive known with her usual loud voice. Yuma manages to calm her friend down enough for a normal conversation and finds out that she followed her own advice upon their arrival, moving forward through the enemies until she found the Templars.
Using her already empty heavy weapon as a bludgeon, she asks her friend about the monster in the center of the battlefield. Yuma jokes about the witch not looking nearly as ugly as Kharn, giving Cavefish the good laugh she needed.
Yuma asks if there has been word from Malal, but Cavefish tells her that during the two hours, she could not reach anyone outside their location. However she claims that with Alondight's plan, they do not have to rely on Malal to kill the witch and save everyone.
The beaten up group arrives at Yuma's location quickly and Cavefish, in considerably better shape, lifts her friend up in a crushing hug. Yuma speaks with the remaining Culexus, learns their names and promises to do her best to bring them home before listening to Alondight's plan.
The High Marshal explains that they will exploit Kharn's personal weakness of craving a final sword fight by charging her witch with the main group while a small group consisting of Mordred Pendragon and two Culexus sneak up from behind to exterminate the still sleeping Walpurgisnacht with her strongest skill. While skittish in actual combat, her Sword of Promised Victory is a formidable ability passed on to all Pendragon daughters, with her being the strongest in this generation.
Yuma expresses her concern about Kharn's witch sharing her weakness, but admits that this is the best option they have. Cavefish enthusiastically chooses to accompany Mordred and, convinced of the remaining Culexus capabilities, Yuma follows suit. Alondight admits that Mordred doesn't look inspiring, but assures that she is more than capable as a Black Templar and Pendragon. Should she falter, Yuma should simply remind her of her vows and how she would shame the Pendragon family by failing her duty.
When Alondight tells Yuma to slap Mordred around for emphasis, Enyo cuts in, assuring that a verbal reminder is enough and that her behavior is only a matter of inexperience. The high Marshal smirks, mentioning that Enyo trained Mordred herself and sees her as the potential successor of Swordmaster Paladin Victoria. She also reminds her subordinate that Victoria betrayed her vows, making Enyo stomp off angrily after claiming that despite her bad decision the Paladin's legend remains intact.
As Enyo walks over to Mordred, Alondight asks for any remaining questions, but Yuma tells her that she has talked enough for the short rest of her life. The High Marshal tells her to be optimistic and that their hopes lie with her, Cavefish and Mordred's ability to hold her sword up despite being scared. Before they move toward Mordred, Cavefish hugs Alondight, lifting her off the ground in the process until the High Marshal shrieks for her to stop.
Enyo asks if Yuma and Cavefish are ready and orders a white clad Templar to give them any ammunition and rations they can spare. Meanwhile Mordred keeps sitting on a pile of skulls, sword clenched, ignoring everything around her while Enyo grows angrier with each passing moment.
She eventually starts talking by complaining about her vanguard consisting of a gorilla and a child in gimp suits and that the High Marshal must either want her dead or be a fool. Enyo growls that they are going to follow the High marshal's plan and tells her to finally prepare herself.
However, Mordred matches Enyo's growl, telling her not to talk to her like this before angrily pointing at Yuma. She starts to blame her for jeopardizing the mission like Malal said, points out how she showed up two hours late and still wears the cross of Emperor's Champion. While Enyo tries to reign her in, Mordred rises, unsheathes her blade and shakily points it at Yuma, claiming the Culexus is unfit to bear the insignia.
Yuma pushes the blade away with one finger, complaining that she should wait to be sanctimonious until after they are all dead, mentioning that her family name must mean little to her if she makes a fuss like this. Furious, Mordred tries to assault her, but before she can lift her sword again, Cavefish catches her in a crushing hug, completely ignoring the Templar's shouts and struggles.
The huge Culexus lifts Mordred up and uses her large gun to smack the struggling girl's rear like punishing a child, happy to see that it seems to be working. Yuma turns to apologize to the Templars for shaming one of their own, but notices that they are smiling in amusement and satisfaction, murmuring about how they never thought of disciplining Mordred like the spoiled brat that she is.
Once Mordred stops her struggle, Enyo asks Yuma again if they are ready to head out. The Culexus confirms that they have everything they need, and the Marshal asks for one more favor. Yuma agrees, and the Templar Marshal asks her to tell Alondight that she always admired her should the two of them survive. Pointing out how important this is to her, Enyo admits that she should have told her herself earlier and heaves a sigh of regret.
Yuma agrees, but wonders why she doesn't simply tell her herself right now. Enyo explains that she does not want to risk distracting the high Marshal from her duties, from survival. In return for her favor, the Culexus demands that Enyo tells Alondight herself if she survives, who swears on her life.
Suddenly a huge winged daemon drops down, crushing Templars and one of the remaining Culexus under his feet. Enyo pushes Yuma away and shouts at her to get to her designated zone while the Templars deal with the enemy, raises chainsaw blades from her mechanical arm and charges toward the daemon. Cavefish, still carrying Mordred over her shoulder, pulls her friend away and they run without looking back, except for the crying Templar.
After a while, they stop to rest and prepare for the stealthy part of their mission. Looking back, they see the shades of Templars still fighting the daemon. Mordred sobs that her sisters told her the Crusade was heroic, they never mentioned seeing comrades get killed and eaten by things that should not exist.
Yuma explains that a few people sacrificing themselves to save billions is highly heroic and that stories usually leave the part about dead friends out. Mordred replies that the Black Templars are supposed to return home alive instead of being killed without a chance to even draw their blades, slaughtered like cattle.
After a bit, she asks Cavefish to let her down to walk on her own, assuring that she will play her part. The pair of Culexus agrees and asks about her Sword of Promised Victory. Mordred explains that it is a technique passed down in the Pendragon family that focuses the blessing of the Blessed Lady and the First knight to a devastating effect. She channels herself through her sword to gather enough energy to release it in a wave that travels in a straight line and only knows destruction.
When Yuma asks how long she needs to charge up, Mordred lowers her head and admits that she needs five minutes with her current level of training. Once that time passes, everything in the path of her blade will die, even a monster like Kharn.
After a few more minutes of walking, the group arrives at the designated area. Yuma calls Alondight, who tells her that they will start in five minutes and asks the Culexus t keep Mordred safe until they arrive once the deed is done. Before Yuma can respond to the breathless High Marshal, the connection is cut.
While Mordred starts her preparations, Cavefish, now with a serious tone, states that they will not make it back after this. Yuma jokes about her being the pessimistic part of the duo and punches Cavefish. She tells her friend that standing around and looking important while the other Ranks do the work is what Culexus do best and that they will be eating ramen at Hanegawa's soon.
Cavefish giggles and wonders if what is coming will hurt. Yuma tells her that she is sure about it and hugs her friend, telling her that she will miss her on a private vox channel. The huge Culexus stiffens, chokes down a sob and echoes her sentiment.
A moment later, the Black Templars begin their charge, and just as planned, Kharn takes the bait and rises from her throne, confidently walking toward the group of knights. While Mordred begins charging her power, Yuma and Cavefish fully release their suit limiters to create disintegrating blasts of anti-magic for whatever comes close.
From their position they can see Kharn obliterate the Templars with ease, her prowess even greater than before and completely lacking in the Warmaster's playfulness. While the dying knights try their best to kill the monstrosity, Kharn laughs and turns around, raising her black blade toward Mordred's building lance of energy in mockery.
Alondight screams at them to abort and run, but Yuma decides to stay and orders Cavefish to put up a shield. Their combined strength is easily shattered by Kharn's assault, sending feedback through their bodies. Their suits already damaged, the pair puts up another shield to block the second attack and as it shatters again, Cavefish falls to her knees.
The huge Culexus pulses weakly that she is in pain and can't see, but Yuma roars at her to put up the shield one again. Staggering back to her feet, Cavefish does as she is told, but collapses from the third strike of the black blade.
Yuma registers her suit's notice that Mordred's five minutes are up and turns to her, shouting the order to kill the witch. However the Black Templar staggers back, eyes focused on the giant witch, drops her sword in terror and runs away as fast as she can, screaming for her family.
Stunned by Mordred's cowardice, Yuma feels Cavefish grab her boot, pulsing a weak apology and a scared cry for help. Turning around again, she sees Kharn's blade swing down again. In a last desperate measure, Yuma rises her hands and pours body and soul into her suits system to turn it into power. Curling her hands into fists, Yuma holds Kharn's sword in place.
Roaring in defiance of everything, she manages to fully clench her fists and the blade shatters, blasting pieces across the battlefield and into the witch's body, causing a beastly roar of suffering. Numb with pain, Yuma collapses next to her dead friend.
The last thing she sees is Malal walking past her, suit torn and without helmet, revealing impossibly long pink hair under a radiant halo. A flaming rosewood bow in her hands, Malal wordlessly tells Kharn to get saved so she can keep her promise.
Not long after, Malal's voice wakes Yuma up, threatening to kick her awake if necessary. When she opens her eyes, realizing that her helm is gone, the Rank Leader's revealing white gown and inner radiance are quite startling. Sitting down next to the young Culexus, Malal complains about the dress, but claims that they don't have enough time to chat and mentions that they fucked up.
Yuma apologizes and explains that she simply had to prove to herself that Malal was not the monster she thought. Surprisingly the Rank Leader starts to giggle, failing to stop the sound from coming out and explains that she went through a lot of planning but failed to calculate the one thing right under her nose.
The fact that she trained Yuma to be just like her, to think for herself, to do what she thinks is right instead of simply following orders. While admitting that not everything they did was right, Malal tells her that they can only wait and see if her plan will work out right in a few years.
Yuma asks what kind of plan could warrant this much death, comparing it to ritual sacrifice to a bloodthirsty, fake god. With a guilty expression, Malal explains that she knows how cruel this sacrifice was, but did everything she could to change it from the original plan that called for the life of entire Ninth Officio while still not guaranteeing success.
Wiping her tears away, she tells Yuma that she regrets having to sacrifice a hundred people and that it never stopped hurting since she first thought of it. Malal agrees that saving the universe by sacrificing people should not be justified and explains that she accepted to become the kind of monster who can do this from the day she formed her contract. She claims to willingly bear any sin necessary in order to make things right.
As black feathers start falling from the sky, Malal admits to being a bad role model as her dark transformation begins. While crying blood, her eyes turn black, sharp pointed teeth grow in her mouth, her finger turning into brutal claws and skeletal wings grow that attract the black feathers.
During the painful process, Yuma begs her to tell her what to do to help. Malal refuses, claiming that telling anyone would also mean “She” would find out and ruin everything. The young Culexus insists on learning anything, even a little to help, and Malal makes her promise to look after Girl A.
As a hole tears itself open where Malal's heart should be, she states that she can't hold on anymore since she already stayed longer than she should. Reminding Yuma of her promise, she collapses to the ground and pulses a final apology while the storm of feathers blinds Yuma completely.
Yuma wakes up once again, this time still on the battlefield, now covered in snow, to the voice of Enyo frantically shouting her name and trying to remove her helm. Relieved to find the Culexus still alive, she calls for an Apothecary to treat the Emperor's Champion. Yuma tells her she is alright and asks for Alondight to tell her about Enyo's feelings, but the Marshal explains that her companion is recovering and that she will do it personally.
Shrugging the issue off, Yuma remembers about Cavefish and asks where she is, claiming that her best friend should be alive since she stopped the black blade from crushing them. Enyo confirms that she broke the blade and pulls the huge Culexus' helm from behind her, explaining that they found the suit close to Yuma but were unable to revive her as she dissolved into ashes.
Enyo explains that they analyzed her biometrics and found that Cavefish was completely drained of her magic at some point during the fight, apparently by something else using her power. Yuma realizes that it was likely herself while trying to stop Kharn, but Enyo tells her that it is only a theory and that they do not know for certain.
What they do know is that not even Malal could have done what Yuma did without help, and Enyo tells her that she is stronger than she realizes, mentioning that the Rank Leader chose a worthy prodigy.
Yuma remarks that Enyo refers to Kharn as the Betrayer and asks about the reasoning. The Marshal explains that it seems fitting after the Ninth Warmaster betrayed everyone. She remarks that she would challenge her to a fight if the Ninth Incubator did not request her to be returned intact- But in her current state, it would not be satisfying in the first place.
Kharn is in the center of the clearing, clutching Malal's still suited corpse, crying and pleading her friend not to leave her. Yuma decides to leave her to suffer on her own and instead asks about Mordred. Enyo tells her that she escaped and is hiding herself from their regular tracking methods, but there are already teams looking to find and capture the cowardly Templar to answer for her transgressions.
The Templar Marshal lowers herself to her knees and formally apologizes on behalf of the Second Officio, offering her sword to the Culexus with the promise not to rest until the debt of honor is repaid. Yuma accepts, mentioning that there might be a time when she needs them, and Enyo happily thanks her for this boon, promising not to disappoint her again.
Afterwards, Yuma is treated in the temporary hospital Kyubey had built at ground zero. She remember seeing Kharn fight against being separated from Malal's corpse and how cold she felt when her dead comrades were carried into the mortuary. When she finally gets back to the Officio, she finds the belongings of all Culexus in her room, addressed to her personally.
From that point on, she shuts herself in for a long time, ignoring Kyoko, Sayaka, Mami and even Haruka and Kyubey. She tells herself that she won, that she saved the world from Walpurgisnacht, but can't help wondering if it's still worth saving anymore.
