Episode 11
| Episode | Book of the Tower Knights | BGM |
- This article is about the episode's article. For the episode's release event, see Episode 11: Return to Mist.
The eleventh episode of Arknights' Main Theme is titled Return to Mist.
Synopsis
Honor of the Past
As it turns out, the relic of Edward Artorius is actually one of the two keys representing the Aslan and the Draco monarchs to unlock the underground mausoleum of Londinium where generations of Victorian kings are buried. It is the safehouse of the Kyngasycath, the "Sighs of Kings", which is a legendary magical sword and the national realmblade possessed by Shah Lugalszargus, the great Aslan Padishah of Sargon during the grand conquest of the Foehn Hotland. With the sword, the Rhodes Island-Eartha alliance will be able to literally "cut" the artificial Catastrophe created by the Shard, hence stopping a world-wide disaster and rallying the Victorians to overthrow the Kazdelian overlords. In order to get to the mausoleum, there must be two forces with one distracting the Kazdelians and the other finding its location.
While preparing the mission, Allerdale and Siege have a nice chat about the past. Allerdale recalls the day twenty-six years ago (the year 1072) when she met young Siege carrying the "Sighs of Kings" during a royal birthday banquet, and she is happy to meet her again as promised by Gawain the Beast Lord. In turn, Siege describes her witness of the current dilemma among Londinium's common folks while fighting for her own survival. Victoria needs to have its king back to the throne to restore peace.
However, such peace will be broken. Under the order of the ex-Gaulish Lettou, a supporter of the Military Commission, every noble within the Auchterigg Borough must be purged to counteract against usurpers. The Sanguinarch even burns down the Cumberlands' mansion, costing the life of Allerdale's faithful servant Ailshie and the destruction of the family's Steam Knight armor. Nevertheless, most of Eartha's and R.I.'s forces have retreated much earlier, hence they managed to avoid being captured.
Workers United
In the meantime, the Doctor and Feist are infiltrating the military factory of the Highbury District to seek for the Kazdelian production line and hence sever it. However, the duo encounter Catherine, the supervisor of the factory and Feist's grandmother. It is revealed that Feist once argued with his grandmother about joining Eartha, leading to a disagreement with the two. Nevertheless, as a caring grandmother who does not wish her grandson facing the same fate as his father, Catherine reluctantly provided some information to the duo through her notes inside her office, including a map that pinpoints the factories controlled by the Commission.
While the duo are gathering the notes, Catherine and other senior factory leaders are ordered by their Sarkaz superiors to gather up at the field. To their horror, the Sarkaz are executing them to avoid information leakage after the completion of the Shard. Through the words of other workers, Feist learns the situation and decides to rally them and rebel against the Sarkaz. With his leadership, they rescue Feist's grandmother from the executioners' hands. While Catherine leads other workers for the escape, she has no worry for her grandson but is proud of him.
Sighs of Kings
Days later, the alliance is ready to execute the plan. The R.I.-Eartha force heads on to lure the Kazdelians away from their military posts, but they only find themselves standing against Manfred, the Sanguinarch, General Leto, and the Confessarii warriors . The gang also learn that the troops led by the Nachzehrer King and the Lich King are on their way back to Londinium despite Kal'tsit's attempt to delay them back at the Rhodes Island landship. If the Nachzehrers and the Liches return, the alliance will be in total disadvantage due to their gruesome Arts. Even with Logos' supreme verbal Arts and Ascalon's assassination skill, they could not easily suppress the Sarkaz troops.
On the other side, the Glasgow gang, Allerdale, and her hired mercenaries led by Totter are entering the underground mausoleum of the Victorian kings. There, they discover the corpses of all the Victorian Steam Knights. They realize the reason why the Steam Knights did not appear during Londinium's fall four years ago: they were completely betrayed by the nobles of the Parliament by being ordered to guard the tomb until their last man, hence falling into the Kazdelians' ambush. Out of honor, the gang pay their last respect to the fallen heroes.
The gang eventually reaches the center of the mausoleum, the safehouse where the "Sighs of Kings" is kept. However, Allerdale and her mercenaries suddenly turn against Siege and Dagda and order them to hand in the sword to them. Siege figures out that Allerdale was forcefully ordered by the Duke of Caster to enter the mausoleum and retrieve the the "Sighs of Kings" despite the two's close friendship. Just before a fight is about to break out, a Steam Knight corpse suddenly comes to life seemingly and attack the gang. As the guardian of Victoria's last hope, this "last Steam Knight" proves to be an invincible foe against the gang.
An Inevitable War
On the surface, the fight seems to be out of control. Amiya's power as the Lord of Fiend suddenly goes rampage where she sees a vision of Kazdel's past and the root of the Sarkaz's suffering. She witnesses a grand crusade of many nations two hundred years ago that led to the kingdom's most recent disintegration, and she meets the preparator of that war --- the familiar Feline named Kal'tsit—who vowed to stop Kazdel's vengeance against Terra through the power of the Lord. Back in the battle, Regent Theresis suddenly appears amidst the confusion, and Kal'tsit suffers a severe injury while protecting the Doctor; had Shining not being on the spot for emergency treatment, it could easily result in her death. Seeing themselves losing the battle, the alliance quickly retreats back to the underground basement.
At the mausoleum, Siege and the rest are hurriedly leaving the place before they will be crushed by the "last Steam Knight." To buy them some time, Allerdale uses her Arts to bring the boulders into collapse, thus blocking the path and luring the knight away from Siege. Despite Allerdale seemingly sacrificing herself, she promises that she will meet Siege again, just as Gawain prophesized twenty-six years ago.
While the mission to retrieve the sword is a success, its outcome weights more than its achievement. Even then, they reinvigorate themselves by encouraging each other. Misery and Horn regroup with the rest, and Clovisia heads on to rally other workers to join Eartha. The Doctor comforts Amiya after she wakes up from her unconsciousness by promising her that they will stick with her until the end.
While the alliance force are recovering, other factions are on their move. While on their way to meet Mr. Hughes, Ch'en and Bagpipe pass by Harmonie, and as a graduate from the Royal Guard Academy, Harmonie is interested to meet them again someday. Meanwhile, the Kazdelian airship fleet is finally completed and is ready to create the artificial Catastrophe from the Shard. Dublinn has convinced the other seven Grand Dukes outside the capital to ally with them through the influence of the Duke of Wellington, which strengthens its overall might. At an R.I office in southern Victoria, the recovered Loughshinny thanks the operator in-charged, delivers a letter to the Doctor and Kalt'sit, and heads on to Londinium to face her sister Eblana, the "Leader" of Dublinn and heir to the Taran Draco throne.
Operations
Harder operations are in orange-red; cinematic operations and those with a fixed squad are in dark gray.
| Main | 11-1 • 11-2 • 11-3 • 11-4 • 11-5 • 11-6 • TR-21 • 11-7 • 11-8 • 11-9 • 11-10 • 11-11 • 11-12 • 11-13 • 11-14 • 11-15 • 11-16 • 11-17 • 11-18 • 11-19 • 11-20 • 11-21 |
|---|---|
| Extreme Mode | H11-1 • H11-2 • H11-3 • H11-4 |
| Addendum | |
All operations are worth 42  . | |