Kazimierz is called the country of knights. But what really drives this nation isn't the sword — it's the Commercial Federation's ledgers.

Six years ago, former champion Margaret Nearl was exiled after being branded one of the Infected. Now she returns under the name 'the Radiant Knight.' In this tournament, tangled up with an uprising of Infected knights and a power struggle among the wealthy, chaos follows wherever she goes.

And underneath all this chaos lies a truth even she doesn't know.

1. The Champion Returns After Six Years, and Nobody's Happy About It

At Kavalerielki National Arena, commentator Bigmouth Mob's voice rings out as the Kazimierz Special Tournament kicks off. The prize pool swells, sucking up every last coin the crowd spends in the city, while Commercial Federation spokesperson Mackie carefully drops the two syllables 'Infected' to the incoming spokesperson Malkiewicz.

The Nearl sisters' longtime neighbors — blacksmith Sophia and her younger sister Maria — are busy tuning up Margaret's armor and weapons. Maria's uncle Młynar lives quietly like an ordinary office worker, but rumor has it he recently lost a serious duel against Margaret without using a single Arts.

That man is looking down on Margaret — and on the Radiant Knight.

— Sophia

Meanwhile, in the cracks of the city, the Infected knights' gathering, the 'Pinus Sylvestris' knights, is on the move. Its leader Sona ('the Knight of the Blazing Tail'), Greinerti ('the Knight of the Grey Brush-Tail'), and sharpshooter Justina ('the Knight of Fangs') take in the young noble Ševčík ('the Knight of Plastic'), who's been hunted by the Armorless Union.

The Armorless Union operatives they're up against are Lazurites Roy and Monique. On the surface a smooth-talking comedy duo, in truth they're contract killers 'handling' the Infected across the city on the board's orders.

The newly appointed spokesperson Malkiewicz doesn't know why his predecessor Czarny was exiled overnight, but he receives one 'unspoken rule' from his senior Mackie: don't ask anything about Sector Zero.

2. A Life Cheaper Than the Championship Prize

On the tournament's first day, a nameless Infected knight steps into the melee event. His noble opponent, Olmer Ingra, mocks him as 'Oripathy trash' and beats him down. In his final moments the Infected knight wrings out every last drop of Originium Arts to fight back, but in the end he dies in the middle of the arena.

His death, broadcast live, sends all of Kazimierz into an uproar. Yet the broadcast itself brushes it off as 'the man's own fault for breaking the rules,' and Ingra walks free within a day.

His name was Jamie. A former Knight Sports fighter, divorced, raising a daughter alone, a man who looked after other people's children every morning. His companion Ivona ('the Knight of the Wild Mane') quietly breaks down under the guilt of failing to protect him to the end.

......Please...... help me......

— Jamie

Ivona answers not with words but with a promise: Sona will find his wife and daughter, no matter what. It was a night when everyone was reminded, all over again, of exactly how this city called Kazimierz 'consumes' the Infected.

3. The Nearl Family's Secret, and a Mysterious Guest

At the tavern, old knight Fogelweide and blacksmith Koval are still trading their usual bickering, while Maria racks her brain over her sister's new weapon. Amid this peaceful scene, Sophia suddenly finds herself wondering — is Młynar really living the way Młynar should?

Then one night, the tavern door opens and a strange armored knight walks in. Muttering something in an ancient tongue, he calls old Fogelweide by an unfamiliar name — 'Batbayar.' A name no one else knew, an old title from the long-forgotten Kuranta people.

This knight — later to be known as 'the Knight of Nightmares' — is Tola. With no parents, no kin, he's the last of the Naitsmora, drifting all the way to Kazimierz alone to complete the coming-of-age rite called Cheondo.

Around the same time, a freelance knight from Leithanien, Viviana Droste ('the Knight of the Candle'), is being hounded by a baseless scandal. While spokesperson Mackie handles the fallout, her next opponent is decided — none other than the Radiant Knight.

Droste was born the illegitimate child of Leithanien high nobility, locked in a tall tower, raised reading poetry by the light of a single candle she'd secretly stolen. To her, Kazimierz was the first place that ever gave her back the name 'knight.'

The night before the match, she deliberately seeks Margaret out to drop her a quiet warning: that this time, the Federation intends to push the Radiant Knight into the losers' bracket.

A storm's coming soon. Lately when I look up at the sky, the stars have been shining unusually bright.

— Droste

4. Candle Meets Sun

Droste's Arts don't control the candle flame itself, but the shadows around it. As the two cross swords, they talk about what it means to be a knight, and Margaret answers plainly.

A knight is a noble being who lights up the whole world.

— Margaret

After a long duel, it's Droste herself who calls it — declaring her own loss. The moment her candle is severed, she accepts defeat and vows a rematch.

The night the match ends, Margaret walks Kazimierz's night streets together with Rhodes Island doctors Shining and Nightingale. They trade a few jokes, and she even takes Nightingale's hand for a dance.

We'll be waiting for you — before the moment comes when you burn through all your own light.

— Shining

That calm doesn't last. An arrow from Dark Iron flies out of the night sky, and Armorless Union's Roy appears to propose a 'ceasefire': leave the Radiant Knight and Rhodes Island untouched, and they'll take care of the rest of the Infected themselves.

Margaret refuses flatly, on the spot. Pinning the blame on others was never the kind of peace she wanted to begin with. Quietly, the shadow of those willing to trample the Infected to get ahead keeps growing.

5. A Single Night's Sleep Over the Grand Knight Territory

Sona's group raids Kavalerielki's power plant, cutting power to the whole city, and uses the chaos to infiltrate the Commercial Federation building and steal Sector Zero's classified files. Bounty hunter Tolland Cash joins in as an unexpected ally.

While Ivona draws the Armorless Union's patrol out head-on, Greinerti raids the energy sector, and Sona slips into the building in the meantime. The Sentiment Council had quietly pulled its own guards out of the way too.

But the Armorless Union had read the whole plan from the start. The instant Roy's arrow sends Sona falling through a gap in the sector, an unknown hand secretly catches her. Ivona goes toe-to-toe with Monique, battered to pieces, but never gives in.

While the blackout drags on, at the tavern, Fogelweide and Koval switch on the backup lights and start beating down Armorless Union agents. Against the assassins who've come looking for the Nearl sisters, the old knights show off skills that, surprisingly, haven't rusted one bit.

I might die. But I won't lose.

— Ivona

As the blackout throws the city into chaos, the Sentiment Council finally breaks its silence and moves. The disguised Silverlance Pegasus Knights march straight into the heart of Kavalerielki.

They are the legendary order once led by Margaret's grandfather. A name that neither the Commercial Federation nor the Armorless Union dares to touch sweeps through and cleans up Kazimierz's night.

6. The Hunter Who Lost His Steppe

Tola's mother lost her life to a beast of prey long ago. From that day on, he chased the legends of the Kagan (king) and Kheshig (royal guard), convinced he was the last heir to that tradition.

To him, Kazimierz didn't even deserve to be called a country of knights. With no beast left to hunt, no kin left to walk beside him, only the Infected, the Minosians, and himself left on an empty steppe — he swallowed his anger alone.

The duel against Margaret ends in a draw on a rules violation, and Tola, unable to control his fury, chases it all the way to the Nearl house. The only one who stands in his way, without so much as armor, is Maria.

My sister taught me a knight's shield exists to protect others. Honor......doesn't matter at all!

— Maria

In the end, Tola backs down. For the man who once said 'you can't grow strong on someone else's beliefs alone,' it's the first time he's ever been shaken — by a fearless girl trying to protect her sister.

A few days later, in the semifinal, Tola's real opponent is the Infected champion, the Knight of Blood, Dikaiopolis. Tola blankets the arena with visions of an old army he summons, but Dikaiopolis calmly clears them away with an axe.

Defeated, Tola quietly heads north. Admitting failure, but no longer afraid of weakness, telling himself over and over that his Cheondo isn't over yet.

7. Light and Blood Meet in the Final

In the final, the two Infected champions, Margaret and Dikaiopolis, stand face to face. Amid the crowd's roar, Dikaiopolis calmly admits it — that in the end Margaret accomplished nothing at all, and yet, she is still 'a great failure.'

Dikaiopolis calls Margaret 'a great failure.' He respects her devotion and fighting spirit, but points out that in the end, she protected no one — and even dragged her own family into it.

Trading blows hard enough to break their weapons, the two share their life stories before the outcome ever settles. And for the first time, Margaret speaks the truth she's kept hidden all this while.

She was never Infected at all. Six years ago, her grandfather Kiril Nearl exiled her on purpose, to protect the young granddaughter who would have become the Commercial Federation's target. The stands erupt instantly.

Even amid the chaos, the match ends in Margaret's victory. She helps the fallen Dikaiopolis back to his feet.

There are......no losers here, Knight of Blood.

— Margaret

The two champions walk side by side toward the Champions' Wall. Arrows from the Armorless Union fly in more than once, but each time, Infected knights, Sarkaz doctors, and the Nearl family's old friends step in to block them.

In the end, the Silverlance Pegasus Knights escort the two of them, clearing the final path. Grand Knight-Commander Ioleta Rossi looks at Margaret with old eyes and smiles, saying she looks just like her grandfather.

After That, the Light No Longer Walks Alone

Młynar suddenly leaves Kazimierz, saying he's cashing in three months of unused leave. He quietly confides to Tolland alone that he's going to look for an older brother who's been out of touch for years, and someone he once said was as beautiful as a jewel.

The Armorless Union's Roy and Monique quietly open a new shop before long — an ordinary store selling cleaning products, but really a cover identity for people who are about to become Commercial Federation directors. Platinum only now realizes she was supposed to have died as a scapegoat from the very start.

Spokesperson Malkiewicz's face goes stiff after a single phone call. The person on the other end is the head of the Rose Media Group, the true power behind his appointment as spokesperson — and, as it happens, none other than his own father.

Sona's group follows Tolland to a village outside the Grand Knight territory. There, Infected who've turned their backs on the Commercial Federation mingle with farmers, fallen nobles, and bounty hunters. It means the fight against the Commercial Federation is far from over.

Amiya and the Doctor, Shining and Nightingale, all leave Kazimierz safely. Margaret promises that if Rhodes Island calls on her someday, she'll join them again — and that whenever they need her, she'll fight for them without fail.

The lights of Kavalerielki come back on, and the lamps of the Commercial Federation building glow bright once more. The city will keep turning to the tune of the Commercial Federation's ledgers — but now, outside those ledgers too, candle and sun walk side by side.