Euyn rides with Mikail out of the desert city of Outton in Fallow, hoping to reach Tile before dark to avoid the deadly heat, serpent pits, and night-hunting samroc. Euyn reflects on leaving possessions behind with the Outton innkeeper and on the danger of returning toward Yusan despite a bounty on Euyn’s head and the looming plot against King Joon.

They spot an overturned cart deliberately blocking the road, and six armed highwaymen emerge. Mikail signals Euyn to stay behind him and approaches as if calm, then instantly kills the ringleader with a thrown dagger and dispatches an archer just as quickly, long before Euyn can properly ready his crossbow.

Mikail draws his flaming poison sword, terrifying the remaining men into fleeing in four directions. He murmurs “Null,” making clear he intends to leave no witnesses who could report a man carrying a royal flaming blade. Mikail rides down and kills the fleeing highwaymen one by one, including shooting one with Euyn’s crossbow before finishing him, and slicing the last man in half—an act that also risks revealing the distinctive sharpness of palace steel.

To hide evidence, Mikail and Euyn drag the severed body off the road and bury it, and Mikail kills the wounded survivor to eliminate any chance of exposure. As they ride on, Euyn questions Mikail about the weight of killing, but Mikail’s answers turn accusatory.

Mikail reveals he always knew Euyn was guilty of the killings that led to Euyn’s exile and implies Euyn would do it again, only more completely. Shaken and silent, Euyn obeys Mikail’s practical advice to watch the sky for samroc, realizing their delay means they will likely be traveling into nightfall and becoming prey themselves.