Gotho, Vanilla, and Coconna are ecstatic about their new found riches. They have enough jijirium to live in luxury the rest of their lives. But Chirico shows no joy; he has other plans for their treasure. Elsewhere, Borough proposes to Iskui that the time has come to play their trump card against Chirico. Rochina, meanwhile, dispatches his operatives into Uoodo city to start observing Chirico directly.

Coconna reports to Gotho and Vanilla that the police are active throughout the city, looking for the stolen jijirium. Gotho realizes they will probably never get out with their treasure and suggests they instead use it to buy their freedom. Vanilla is incredulous, but Chrico agrees with Gotho's plan; it will also serve his purposes.

Shortly after Albert Killy gives Borough and Iskui permission to use the Prototype against Chrico, Gotho is brought into police headquarters. They strike a deal for the jijirium and let him go, seeing this as the perfect opportunity to nab Chrico. Gotho travels to a ruined coliseum where he is to meet Iskui. Coconna drives the jijirium truck up a policeman elsewhere in the city and runs off. The policeman reports to Iskui that the treasure has been recovered, and Iskui breaks the deal, refusing to pay Gotho anything for his trouble. Gotho slinks off and Chirico roars into action, bearing down on Iskui in a Scopedog. No the final trap is sprung. Another AT (a Brutishdog) appears and grapples with Chirico. For the first time, he is evenly matched...and for the first time, he is beaten! Police surround him as he gazes into the face of his mystery opponent - The phantom Lady!

"Who are you? Near-perfect reflexes, almost supernatural intuition. Who are you...?"

"I had managed to escape the police...but hadn't been able to take the Prototype with me. I didn't even notice the airborne AT units drifting down like snow."

Iskui and Borough watch helplessly as the police tower is surrounded by Melkian Scopedogs. Rochina leads the assaul force, demanding that they give themselves up. Instead, they call Albert Killy, who orders Iskui to wait for the backup he is sending. Borough is to escape to the heliport with Proto-One.

Rochina barks the orders to move in, and all hell breaks loose. Chirico and his companions discover this, and Chirico explains to them what he has learned, namely that all these events have centered around the Prototype, who is an experimental Perfect Soldier created by the Melkian army. Chrico was just a pawn in the Lido raid, and it has made him a fugitive.

Iskui is killed as Rochina's men enter the police tower, but the Prototype is nowhere to be found. Overhearing their radio transmissions, Chirico deduces that she has gone to the heliport and he intends to follow her there via the abandoned subway. He locates her, and asks her to escape with him. She cannot, claiming that if she tries to leave her captors, she will die.

Finally, time runs out. Rochina's army attacks the heliport and are met by a new enemy: Tortoise-type ATs sent by the Secret Society to cover the escape of Borough and the Prototype. The entire base, like Uoodo itself, collapses in flames. Chirico walks through the inferno alone, cut off from everyone he now holds dear.

"The city of Uoodo was disappearing. Vanilla...Gotho...Coconna...Fyana...please don't leave me to be alone. Where are you? Where have you all gone?"

"So many villagers killed. caught in the midst of the war. The stench I smelled seemed full of the anguish of the dead."

Travelling by boat toward the inner reaches of Kummen, Chirico and the others try to keep a low profile; no easy task with the hot-tempered Kan Yu in charge. Against Chirico's batter judgment, Kan Yu stops another boat that passes by, insisting it must be searched for Veela weapons. The search turns up nothing...but when kan Yu fires a cannon at the boat, explosives hidden within it rip across the water. Kan Yu gloats that Veela Guerrillas cannot be underestimated.

Later, the boat reaches Ramoh Temple, a religious colony that is supposed to be neutral. Again, Kan Yu insists that the platoon march in with their ATs to look for enemies. Exasperated, Chirico agrees, and reluctantly follows the others into the huge compound. Nothing turns up until Kan Yu spots a boat similar to the one he blew up earlier. he repeats his action, and gets the same result - it also carries Veela weaponry.

Their cover blown, Veela Guerrillas burst out of hiding and open fire on Kan Yu's task force. The battle is joined and quickly ends...but now the secrecy of the mission has been compromised, and they must ask for new orders from EX-10. Those orders are delivered a short time later by a helicopter pilot new to the EX-10 ranks: Vanilla! Chirico wanders the wreckage of the temple, pondering this turn of events.

"What is it that leads men to the battlefield? For some, they pull the trigger to earn their daily bread. For others, the chance to fight for their ideals. For me, I can't live without the scent of gunpowder and death. This was no longer a house of God. It was now merely a pile of rubble."

Far away at his home near EX-10, Gotho receives a radio message for Vanilla, who is about to join the attack on the palace. Gotho and Coconna can do little more that wish him luck as all hell breaks loose.

Under the cover of air-to-ground fire, Kan Yu leads an AT platoon as they drop to the ground. Vanilla's helicopter is hit, and he bails out, intent on finding Chirico somewhere in this madness. Inside the palace, Ypsilon's new AT has finally arrived: the Strikedog. He jumps in immediately and peels out. He runs right into Kan Yu's platoon, and demolishes even Shako's AT with ease...but Chirico is nowhere to be found.

Elsewhere, Chirico, Fyana and Kiderra stand waiting for Potaria to return. Instead, Vanilla emerges from the palace with the news that Potaria has gone after Kangelman himslef. Chirico decides he must now go after Borough. Deep within the palace, Kanjelman retires to his quarters, content to wait for the inevitable conclusion of the battle raging outside. But Potaria appears and threatens to kill him for all he had done to their nation. Kanjelman faces him down - but then agrees to a Balancing duel.

Ypsilon is alerted that the prince is in danger, but there is little he can do now that mercenary ATs are beginning to overrun the palace. Kanjelman fights Potaria with grace and skill, but Potaria is a Balancing expert as well, having practiced against kanjelman many times in their younger days - and it is Potaria that finally gets the upper hand, piercing kanjelman through the chest in one quick motion!

Elsewhere inside the palace, Chirico finally locates Borough and bears down on him with full fury. Again, the call goes out for Ypsilon, who charges back into the palace, leaving the grounds undefended.

Kanjelman lies dying in Potaria's arms, finally admitting his reasons for doing all of this; he decided long ago that the only way for Kummen to be born into a new age was to test fate itself. If the old ways were destined to survive, Kanjelman's guerrilla war would have succeeded. Now that it has failed, he will allow himself and his followers to be swept away as symbols of the old order. Before he dies, he hands Potaria a small metal key.

Chirico finally corners Borough and holds him at gunpoint above a deep mineshaft. The time has come for questions to be answered.

"Of course I knew he wasn't the man responsible for all this...but he'd used Kummen's war and manipulated the two Perfect Soldiers all for some purpose. And that purpose...was what?"

Recap episode.

"After escaping the military, I was ensnared into working the jijirium mine at the city of Uoodo. I thought I'd escaped hell...but this was hell, too...It was in Uoodo that I finally found him...Major Iskui. He and the others on the decommissioned ship Teltain had thrown my life into chaos. It's been a long six months.

"Before I knew it, we were in an underground armory, fighting each other in our ATs. The clanging of steel and the smell of gunpowder were both familiar and disquieting to me. I understood. This girl was that strange life form I saw. She was called a PS, and was the military's deepest secret.

"When I deserted the army, I picked up a bloodhound who was after the Secret Society that stole the PS. Always floating in the back of my mind was the mocking laughter of Captain Jean Paul Rochina. To maintain this secret, they destroyed a city. But all the death and destruction was merely a prelude to the destiny I was burdened with."

Zanjeny and his crew debate the continuing situation. Space Battleship X cannot be identified as a Gilgamesh ship, but the Balarant still cannot risk starting an incident in the nonaggression zone. All they can do is wait for their opponent to make the first move. On the ship, Fyana has come to a decision - she will surrender herself to the Balarant in exchange for medical treatment for Chirico. Her attempt to do so is observed by Futtor's men, and just as Fyana seems to have won, the Balarant ship is destroyed by the Teltain.

She makes it back safely to Battleship X, and as the unknown planet looms closer, the Teltain launches another attack. Fyana attempts to radio Ypsilon, begging him to stop the assault, but communication is knocked out before anything can come of it. The ship begins to descent into the atmosphere of the planet, and a platoon of MKII Tortoises is launched against Fyana. Ypsilon joins the attack in his Strikedog, but when he faces off against her directly, his emotions begin to cloud his judgment.

Despite this, he manages to capture her, and as his men haul her away, Teltain launches another barrage of missiles at the descending battleship. Horrified, Fyana tears herself away and plummets to Chirico's aid once again. She dives inside, followed by more Tortoises, but everyone is thrown into chaos when the giant ship finally smashes into the surface of the planet and comes to rest. Just as Fyana is finally cornered, Chirico rushes to her aid in a Scopedog of his own, and fights his way out to the surface of the smoking ship...where Ypsilon awaits. The sun of the unknown planet rises as they level their weapons at each other.

"My strength had returned to me. But, as strong as Ypsilon's murderous rage was, the smell of blood from this planet's past was even stronger."

As Chirico and his friends go to work patching up derelict vehicles, a familiar face looks down on Sunsa from orbit: Rochina. Now in command of a Leslion-class Balarant Battleship, he has crossed both the nonagresssion zone and his allegiance to Melkia in order to find Chirico again. Rochina's ship descend on the abandoned supply station, and Chirico's group is quickly overwhelmed and taken captive. Chirico is taken directly to Rochina, who offers the release of his friends if Chirico will consent to face Ypsilon again. Chirico questions Rochina about who he really is. Rochina's only answer is that he is a man from the kingdom of heaven.

Captain Futtor discusses the situation with Arron and Gurran aboard the Teltain. They have not heard from Ypsilon since the raid on Zophie's fortress, but they are sure he will go after Chirico despite the Balarant presence. When that happens, the Secret Society must be ready to recover him.

Chirico agrees to Rochina's terms, and is freed to prepare for the battle. He doesn't have long to wait - Ypsilon and his small platoon launch an attack on the Balarant landing party and fight their way quickly inside the perimeter. Rochina orders all ships to launch, and Chirico is left behind in a Fatty to face his enemy. In short order, they find each other in an empty chamber deep inside the supply station. Once again, they draw their weapons and prepare to engage. Rochina arrives to watch with Fyana in tow, but there is nothing that can be done to stop the fight now.

"His will to fight was practically a madness. But, as opposed to him, my heart didn't burn. the thing that drove me on was an almost pitiful craving for battle that raged within me."

Arron and Gurran have tracked Chirico's progress and speculate about following him themselves. Killy agrees to let them go, provide they use extreme caution.

Chirico and Shako enter the Quentian village, but rather than talking with the chief, Shako instead gives Chirico a drink which causes him to pass out. That night, the women of Shako's tribe perform a strange ritual. Chirico wakes afterward, and Shako explains that they wanted to determine if he was "one who was changed," but says no more.

Rochina prepares to leave the Sunsa system, and Fyana demands to know what he thinks Chirico will find on Quent. Rochina doesn't know precisely, but he does admit to having been following the orders of a higher mind...and has questions of his own to be answered on Quent.

The next morning, Chirico questions Tedaya, the chief of Shako's tribe. Tedaya explains that Chirico might be "one who was changed," but says that he must speak with Meji to learn more. Venturing deep into an underground labyrinth, they find Meji, who appears more ancient than the very rocks around him. Meji explains something of Quent history, about beings who appeared 3,000 years ago and where driven away into darkness after they said all Quentians would be reborn by their hands.

More confused than ever, Chirico later runs into Arron and Gurran, who chase Chirico and Shako deeper into the caverns...which give way to ancient underground technology. They corner Chirico and fire a tranquilizer dart at him. The air around them comes alive with power, and everything begins to fade away...

"Even as consciousness faded from me, I saw it. Saw how they'd disappeared. What had happened? And what was going to happen to me? Was I still even alive?"

Vanilla makes one final attempt to radio Fyana as he flies the others to safety away from Quent. She begs him simply to leave her behind. Only she can reach Chirico now.

The Gilgamesh and Balarant landing forces descend in staggering numbers, but Chirico cuts right through them in his Rabidlydog with the Secret Society's Zwerg platoons backing him up. They quickly fall to the greater numbers, and when Chirico is down to only a few allies, he orders Gurran to begin the second phase of their plan. Gurran orders the Secret Society ship to descent into the battle.

Fyana trails Chirico in secret, and just manages to attach herself to a landing craft as Chirico hijacks it. Chirico orders Gurran to prepare missiles, calling atention to himself and drawing the fire of the enemy. Gurran interposes his ship between Chirico and the combined army, taking devastating hits and striking back as best he can. As Chirico descends into the crevasse toward the underground labyrinth, the ship is overwhelmed and crashes to the ground. Gurran is mortally wounded, surviving just long enough to see an uninjured Rochina step out of hiding and slip away. He will find out once and for all if Chirico is a suitable successor to God.

Pursued relentlessly by a few tenacious enemies in Scopedogs, Chirico and his last two Zwerg pilots plunge into the labyrinth. Exhausted and bereft of ammunition, Chirico is called ever deeper by Wiseman, who declares that his true successor should need no help reaching his final goal. Chirico pushes beyond his fatigue and fights on.

"I'll have my vengeance on everyone in this galaxy! Unending war and chaos...I'll plunge them all into hell! To be the absolute ruler of this galaxy, that is what I desire! To become a living God!"