Both teams have now congregated at the river. When Ikta’s platoon breaks away for some unknown reason, Sarihaslag commands Yatori to take her troops and go intercept. Yatori makes the point that Sarihaslag is making some basic mistakes in his assumptions of Ikta’s actions, but she backs down when the “sadistic hottie” freaks out at her and decides to let him shoot himself in the foot.
Yatori’s scouts are shot down by Ikta’s troops, who give a signal and all three platoons swarm across the river to ambush the two Remeon platoons. Yatori’s squad wastes no time returning and when it’s back to being three-on-three, Ikta’s side retreats.
Both sides have “lost” many troops, but Ikta’s side is the clear winner. Haro’s platoon tends to Ikta’s troops, and Princess Chamille even makes a quick appearance at Ikta’s base camp (though he just brushes her aside, much to her annoyance).
Over at Sarihaslag’s camp, things are not going so well. Sarihaslag is venting his frustrations on Yatori, and he makes the (incorrect) assumption that Ikta and his men will come after them. But they don’t show up, and then a scout reports back that Ikta’s team has blocked the exit to the training grounds. So Yatori’s side will have to fight to get back home, and will probably lose in the process.
The highlight of the episode is when Sarihaslag’s troops are preparing to charge Ikta’s comrades, when he’s suddenly shot in the back of the head with a paintball. The look of shock on his face and his angry scream to his brother hiding in the trees is delicious because the asshole had it coming. With Sarihaslag being “killed”, his younger brother Sushuraf takes command and commands Yatori to open them a path to the training grounds exit.
After the mock battle is over, Ikta briefs his platoon. He hauls four men up in front of everyone to scold them for not listening to directions, and directs them to come up with different ways of thinking. Ikta says scientific thinking is logical, efficient and streamlined, and it’s great because it allows people to be lazy. Ah, Ikta. “If you can slack off during a war, you’re doing it right.” After his speech, Ikta allows his troops to celebrate their win, and he’s embarrassed when they start chanting his name.
Torway mentions that he saw the princess and her men rushing west, but Ikta doesn’t know why they’re heading that way. We see that some of the Princess’ guards have turned against her and have taken her hostage.
Back at Sarihaslag’s base camp, Yatori says that the former leader should surrender. Sarihaslag is against the idea, but Yatori rightly points out that refusing to do so will give him a bad reputation. Sarihaslag is so frustrated and upset that he actually starts to cry. Awww poor baby. /end sarcasm Suddenly there is a signal from Ikta’s team that something is wrong with the Princess, and Yatori leaves with a group of soldiers to go investigate.
Deep in the depths of the forest, the royal guards who have the unconscious princess are intercepted by Yatori’s team. Captain Ison Ho is able to deduct who they are, and Yatori wastes no time holding the Captain’s life hostage. Captain Ho tells Yatori that the reason he and his troops committed treason is because their mentor was Lieutenant General Hazaf Rikan, and they believe he died needlessly to cover up a political failure. My impression is that by killing the Princess, Captain Ho and his men would feel like they had avenged their teacher’s life. The captain manages to turn the fight around in a flash and starts to strangle Yatori as she lays pinned on the ground, but Torway shoots him in the head and then Yatori strikes him him with her sword.
The next scene gets very bloody. Yatori is caught in her bloodlust as she runs through Captain Ho’s men, methodically slaying them all one by one. The ground starts to become muddied as their blood collects and pools on the ground.
When they are all dead and Yatori is able to catch her breath, Ikta emerges and teases her gently. He coaxes her to drop her weapons, and we get a brief flashback 
to when they were both children. As everyone watches the two of them, Ikta and Yatori share a private moment in the middle of all the blood. Afterwards Ikta approaches the dying Captain Ho, who tells Ikta with his dying breath that Ikta’s tactics resemble Bada Sankrei’s. Ikta is visibly surprised to hear this but hides it well.
Ikta approaches Princess Chamille and tries to playfully tease her, but his attempts just cause her to start bawling and she strikes at him as she cries. Everyone around him facepalms at his socially awkward attempt to help her feel better. In the voiceover, Princess Chamille’s voice says that everyone present at that real life battle suffered mental scars which would never fade.
My thoughts: Ha, Ikta’s strategy methods are trying to get everyone to be lazy like him. xD I find it interesting that Tenkyou no Alderamin takes place in a world where “science” is some unknown concept, and with each victory Ikta is slowly opening everyone’s eyes to how the world really works.
I really like the pacing of this show. It’s only one cour and so it makes sense that in order to show Ikta’s transformation from a war-hating sloth to a competent, genius military commander events will have to take no more than a couple of episodes each.
I didn’t think Tenkyou no Alderamin would get very graphic, but this episode surprised me with how bloody it was. Now that we’ve seen that this show pulls no punches, I wonder what the next episode might hold for us. Because, you know what “two become one” usually refers to…
Author’s Note: I will be out of town next week, and while I will aim to get my entries out on time, I will be on a laptop with limited functioning and so my entries may be a little delayed.
I think Ikta’s “teasing” the princess was to prevent her from going into shock. By provoking her, he forced her back into reality, even if it meant he had to take the brunt of her reaction.
We really need to see Ikta’s/Yatori’s back story – it better be good.
Ah, good point! And yes we definitely do. 😀