The Black Army is a force of darkness that showed up without warning.
Led by the Black King, it seeks to destroy the world.
You're Yuri of the Volunteer Army.
And you are?
I'm Aram.
Aram!
Is he dead?
No way.
Marina, healing magic!
Right away.
It's all right.
He's just unconscious.
Man, don't scare me like that.
Who is this kid?
To Be With Others
So, they're headed for the Vice Capital.
Where am I?
You're awake.
What happened to the old lady and the rest?
They're all safe.
That's a relief.
The villagers said to thank you.
It was nothing.
You're Yuri, aren't you?
You've heard of me?
I heard you're the captain of the Volunteer Army.
Oh, you're awake?
Thank goodness you're okay.
Oh, I'm Phoena.
Nice to meet you.
Sure.
Let's go eat.
Kain and the others will be back from patrol soon.
Yeah.
Here you go.
Thanks.
Here.
Yeah.
Here.
Thanks.
Time to eat.
What is it, Kain?
Ah... Is this...
Don't tell me...
Phoena's cooking, isn't she?
Eat up, everyone.
Seconds, please.
Coming right up.
How can you eat Phoena's cooking?
What do you mean? It's great.
What do you usually eat?
Lizards.
Sorry to keep you waiting.
Here you are.
There's plenty more where that came from.
S-Sure.
Aram, you aren't from that village, are you?
No, I was just passing by.
You were trying to protect the village all by yourself?
I couldn't just let it be destroyed.
Besides, I can't stand those black things.
You're pretty strong.
Y-Yeah.
But...
But I'm not good enough.
I want to get a lot stronger.
Phoena! The Chronicle!
Your Highness!
Phoena!
What's happening?
Look out!
Aram!
Are you all right?
Yeah.
Phoena.
Phoena!
Thank you.
Looks like it's settled down.
Hey, what is that?
The Chain Chronicle.
A chronology of everything about the world.
If the world is stained black, so will the Chronicle.
And vice versa.
That can't be...
More pages have been stained black.
The darkness spreads further.
Have you still not located the sprite?
Was it not killed in the last battle?
The world has yet to fall into ruin.
Then...
Yeah.
Pirika is still alive somewhere.
Pirika?
One of our friends. A sprite.
Tiny and cute.
Pirika has a foul mouth at times, but is very important to this world.
Pirika is the will of the world, a world with hope for the future.
We have to find and save it.
Find her and dispose of it.
So long as that sprite exists, the world cannot be destroyed.
What's up?
Can we talk?
Aram, why do you want to become stronger?
Why?
Because you can't do anything if you're weak, obviously.
I see.
Aram, why don't you join us?
No, I'm not gonna join the Volunteer Army.
I'd rather be my own man. Free.
There's only so much you can do by yourself.
That's not true.
I've fought alone my entire life.
But it's not as if you've never lost, is it?
There must have been times when you had to run from your opponent.
Well...
I'll be able to beat them someday.
What if you were just lucky?
What would you know?
You lost even with your buddies.
That's exactly why I'm asking.
Aram, hear me out...
The highway ahead seems to have escaped the blackening earlier.
Thank goodness.
We'll depart at dawn.
For the Vice Capital.
That's...
Hurry!
Don't let a single one of them through!
This is too easy.
I stock only the best weapons.
Dammit.
Yuri!
It's good to see you.
You, too, Princess.
Sorry to worry you.
Status?
The southern bridge has fallen.
The outer wall is, well, you can see for yourself.
Aludra's defending the castle walls by the slums, but...
New recruit? Kid's got spirit.
Yes.
We'll handle things here.
Got it. I'm counting on you.
All right! We're going to go help Aludra out!
There are so many of them.
What do we do, Captain?
What else?
We take 'em down!
You got it!
Let's finish this!
Yes, ma'am!
Don't forget me!
More of them?
Piece of cake.
You...
You took my mana again!
Wh-What?
Burckhardt!
We'll discuss this later.
Ow...
Man, what's his problem?
Let's do this!
Seize the light!
W-Wow.
We did it.
Yeah.
Hey!
That was amazing!
I-I guess.
That was our chain attack.
Chaining attacks makes them more powerful.
And to do that, we need all our mana to resonate.
I want to try.
I think it might be a bit soon for you.
Why?
I can practice.
Aram, it isn't that easy.
You need strong bonds with your allies to pull it off.
Bonds?
You're wasting your time.
What?!
You understand nothing of battle.
You just fight mindlessly, thinking of no-one but yourself.
What? I have my own way of fighting—
And I'm telling you it's all wrong.
What exactly are you, anyway?
I don't know how you did it, but you stole my mana.
S-So what?
Humans shouldn't be capable of meddling with others' mana.
There's too much about you we don't know.
Shut up!
You're just jealous that you can't do it!
This is getting nowhere.
It's clearly a waste of time trying to explain things to a feral brat like you.
I'm not here because I want to be!
If you don't want me around, I'll just leave.
I'll become stronger my own way!
Aram!
Let him go.
Don't be so undisciplined as to allow that fool to have his way.
Why do you not realize that being so soft only makes you weak?
Aram has potential.
Do you honestly believe that?
That's why I brought him all the way here.
He'll make a good soldier.
Looks like the boss has appeared.
Dammit.
Not this fog again!
Let's go again.
The fog just gets thicker.
I can't...
Captain!
D-Don't worry. I'm fine.
Protect Her Highness!
Aram, hear me out.
When I lost to the Black King, I also lost faith in myself.
But seeing you fight so desperately in that village
reminded me of something important.
I had sworn I would never give up, no matter what.
Wh-What's any of this got to do with me?
When I came to, my friends were at my side.
They'd supported me. They never gave up on me.
Some obstacles can't be overcome alone. They require a little help from your friends.
That is the power of bonds.
Aram, you are indeed strong.
You're better at using mana than anyone else.
But, with bonds of friendship, you can become even stronger.
Let us fight together.
You idiot.
We can't hold out any longer.
We have to!
Wayne!
Stay back, Your Highness.
I can fight.
Your Highness!
Your Highness...
Burckhardt!
Aram!
Y-You've gotta be kidding me.
Amazing.
Hey, take this!
We're even now.
Burckhardt!
Let's end this.
As you wish!
Know your place!
Whoa. He's pretty good.
Look at you. Coming back to steal the show.
Aram.
I figured I might as well stick around a bit longer.
I want to see more of your techniques in action.
Besides...
I want to make him eat his words.
That's fine.
Everyone, there's something I need to say.
I lost to the Black King once.
He said that destruction is the fate that awaits this world.
But, even if that's true, I don't want to give up.
As long as we live, there's hope.
So I'd like to form a Black King Suppression Squad,
once more.
A Black King Suppression Squad?
That won't be enough.
We'll gather troops from every corner of the land
and form a Black King Suppression Army.
Yuri's back to his old self.
That's my captain.
Someone thinks pretty highly of himself.
Yuri, I'm so glad.
Aram.
All right, fine.
Aram, your arm.
You should give him a chance.
He returned your mana, after all.
Excuse me.
Sheesh.
Burckhardt!
Symbol of Loyalty
Fate is set in motion.