Ikta, Yatori and Torway are able to quick take out the Kioka soldiers who stumbled upon them. Ikta and Yatori have little remorse for their actions, but Torway is having a hard time justifying to himself the life he took. Yatori and Torway kill their targets, but Ikta is able to question his soldier before the man dies. The sprites belonging to the three Kioka men give their soulstones to Ikta willingly, trusting that he will regenerate them when he’s able.
Afterwards Ikta has a chat with Princess Chamille and asks her to take better care of herself. He tells her that her way of thinking (that her blood was “rotten”) is “unscientific”, and that there’s nothing wrong with her blood at all. Later that night after everyone has gone to bed, Ikta brings offerings of food to the bodies of the three Kioka soldiers, attempting make reparations in his own way.
The next morning Ikta’s group travels to find the blimp mentioned by the dying Kioka troop, and Ikta reveals he has a plan for the aircraft. It involves their group traveling to the border between Kioka and Katjvan, where Ikta pretends to be a soldier who has brought five stragglers with him who are trying to cross the border. Ikta says that a sixth person has managed to steal Kioka’s blimp, which is flying overhead as this scene plays out. There is of course no sixth person; the blimp is unmanned and drifting, with only Ikta’s group’s weapons on board (since weapons can’t be brought over the border). They are allowed to pass, so Ikta holds his group at gunpoint as he marches them over the border, but he drops the ruse once they are far enough away from the enemy’s sight.
Their group makes it to the Katjvan Empire’s Eastern Region Garrison, where they are welcomed with open arms. One month later, they are still at the garrison being pampered as royal guests. Then Torway comes running over with a copy of the paper, and everything changes. The news is horrible: the Eastern Region has fallen to the Kioka Republic, just as Ikta had predicted, and Lieutenant General Hazaf Rikan has died. There’s a flashback where we see that Ikta had a confrontation with the 
lieutenant, telling him that his garrison was going to be defeated because the war is rigged. The Katjvan Empire apparently wants the Eastern Region to fall, and Ikta wanted to know why the lieutenant remained at his post even when he knew he was going to lose. The lieutenant said it’s all about the matter in which they lose that matters to him, which Ikta tries to fight him about until Yatori gets fed up and knocks Ikta semi-unconscious.
As their group is processing this horrible news, a guard approaches their table and tells them that they’ve been granted an audience with the king. They are dressed up and taken to the king’s throneroom, where he thanks them for saving his daughter, Princess Chamille. The king tells them he will grant them any reward he is able to. In what is clearly meant to be an act of honor, the king grants Ikta’s group the title of Imperial Knights. Yatori and the others are taken aback, but Ikta is furious.
In the carriage ride on the way back to the garrison, Torway reveals the severity of their situation. Being Imperial Knights means they are now a part of Katjvan’s army, and as soldiers they cannot disobey the army. In the other carriage, Ikta lays into Princess Chamille, who blatantly admits that she used their situation to better the lives of Katjvan’s people. The war has made people depressed, and having five new Imperial Knights would give them something to be happy about. Princess Chamille, undaunted by Ikta’s anger, gleefully reveals to him her knowledge of his past. Ikta’s real name is Ikta Sankrei, and his father was General Bada Sankrei. Bada was a respected general who one day disobeyed orders and was arrested, and he eventually died in prison. Princess Chamille also knows about Ikta’s master, Doctor Anrai Kahn, who fled to the Kioka Republic the previous year because he was considered a blasphemer. The reason? He created a way of thinking called “science.” Lastly Princess Chamille rubs in Ikta’s face her knowledge of his mother, Yuhka Sankrei, a beautiful woman from the Kioka Republic whom the Emperor invited to his harem and later “gave” to General Bada Sankrei. This proves to be too much for Ikta, who leaps to his feet and wraps his hands around Princess Chamille’s neck. Yatori throws Ikta back, telling him if he attempts to kill the princess then she will be forced to kill him.
Later that night as Ikta eats alone on the roof, Yatori joins him. Ikta laments the loss of control over his life, and his unwanted change into the three things he never wanted to be: a noble, a soldier, and a hero. He compares this horrible day to the day he lost his mother. There is nothing Yatori can say to comfort him. As the camera pans out, we see that the princess has overheard Ikta’s words and feels horrible. But what can she do?
My thoughts: We learned a lot about Ikta in this episode. We’d already been shown that he despite being lazy and a slacker, he’s still honorable and well-versed in strategy and military matters. Then in this episode Yatori says to Torway that Ikta uses his knowledge of his own boundaries to make decisions, and she later tells the princess that Ikta is quite a twisted man. We also learn about Ikta’s family history, which I found interesting. Yatori’s reaction however makes me wonder if there’s a tie between her and Ikta in their respective pasts, or if there’s a link between Yatori and the princess. Or maybe she’s simply doing the honorable thing as a soldier and I’m reading too much into her reaction?
And, it looks like Princess Chamille has a little crush on Ikta ~ x3
Also, both the opening and ending themes are just as bitching as the animation. <3 Check them out! (Opening theme is “Tenkyou no Alderamin” by Kisida Kyoudan & The Akebosi Rockets, and the closing theme is “nameless” by Kano, respectively.)