Recaps

Xiao Ran oversaw the creation of Darkness Sky, managed the fleet’s dealings with the Wendamirian Kingdom, and entered Full Metal Panic with El-Elf and Luo to find Chidori Kaname. The arc left Luo in Eagle Country negotiating with Mithril after capturing its surveillance team.

• Setsuna reached the giant ELS with Xiao Ran’s help, established an understanding with the ELS, and ended the battle, which had cost the final defensive line more than half its forces.
• Luo led the design of Darkness Sky, a machine with a separable main body and backpack, but Xiao Ran found he could not yet control its full A-class power.
• Xiao Ran kept the 25th Fleet neutral in the Wendamirian conflict while offering discounted supplies and shelter to civilians, then had Dimension Devourers placed across Unity Army territory as a deterrent.
• Xiao Ran entered Full Metal Panic with El-Elf and Luo, learned he had three months to find and protect or control a Whispered, and identified Chidori Kaname as their target.
• El-Elf enrolled at Jindai High School to stay near Chidori, while Xiao Ran and Luo gathered weapons, supplies, and intelligence and considered how to contact Mithril.
• El-Elf investigated Mithril and found that Luo could approach its Technology Department by submitting a small piece of technology, so the team prepared a redacted Small Beam Rifle document.
• Luo traveled to Eagle Country and sent the document to Mithril, then captured three members of its Atlantic Team who had come to assess and surveil him.
• Mole 2 told Luo that a higher-ranking officer was on the way, and several figures entered his hotel suite after she opened the door.

Xiao Ran and El-Elf rescued Chidori, confronted Kowloon, and established a partnership with Mithril while preparing its forces and testing Sousuke’s Lambda Driver. The stretch ended with El-Elf and Sousuke infiltrating the base and targeting Tessa, Kalinin, and Richard.

• Luo persuaded Mithril to accept his offer of technology and expertise, and El-Elf began monitoring Sousuke Sagara and Chidori Kaname.
• Xiao Ran and El-Elf followed Chidori’s class trip to Okinawa, where hijackers seized the plane and took the passengers hostage.
• El-Elf rescued Chidori and Sousuke from the air base while Xiao Ran fought Kowloon’s Hell Monarch and captured Kowloon.
• Xiao Ran and El-Elf brought Chidori and a captured researcher to Mithril’s Danaan’s Son, where Xiao Ran revealed that he knew Tessa was a Whispered.
• Xiao Ran and Mithril agreed to cooperate, and he offered to train Sousuke as a Lambda Driver user while Luo began studying and rebuilding the captured AS.
• Xiao Ran defeated Melissa Mao, Cruz, and Sousuke in a live-fire exercise, provoking Sousuke’s Lambda Driver to produce a golden barrier.
• El-Elf recruited Sousuke and Melissa for a base-infiltration drill, then entered the base with Sousuke and disabled its alarms.
• El-Elf planted explosives in the hangar and chose to capture Tessa, Kalinin, and Richard, while Tessa waited in her room with Jerome and Al.

Xiao Ran dismantled A21, rescued Major Kalinin, and helped destroy its giant AS before sheltering Yani and preparing for Mithril’s next operation. The arc left Xiao Ran with full command authority for an assault on the U.S. base, where Kowloon’s red Hell Monarch was among the enemy machines.

• El-Elf infiltrated Mithril’s base and exposed weaknesses in its defenses, then helped Mithril investigate its personnel while Xiao Ran began training Sousuke Sagara.
• After A21 attacked the facility holding Takuma, Xiao Ran took Tessa and Takuma to an abandoned factory, exchanged Takuma for Major Kalinin, and secured Luo’s cooperation with a temporary team contract.
• Xiao Ran deployed the rebuilt Hell Monarch, renamed it Demon King, and joined the harbor battle against A21’s giant AS while Sousuke Sagara delivered the final blow with the Arbalest.
• Xiao Ran rescued a frightened girl named Yani Garcia from Luo’s care and arranged for her to live near his residence and attend Jindai High School with Chidori.
• Xiao Ran, El-Elf, and Luo investigated Jindai High School, then guarded Chidori and her classmates during their trip to Okinawa before boarding Danner’s Son for Merida Island.
• At Danner’s Son, Kalinin briefed Xiao Ran on the operation against the force occupying the U.S. base and identified a red Hell Monarch as one of the enemy’s advanced AS units.
• Xiao Ran ordered El-Elf to investigate the enemy’s purpose and Luo to support Mithril in an M9, then secured an M9 for his teammate and full command authority for the operation.

Xiao Ran broke with Mithril after its leaders rejected his demands, then built an independent force with support from Japan’s Lin Quan Family. As war between the United States and the Soviet Union began, he set out to raid Amalgam’s stronghold on Sakhalin Island.

• Xiao Ran and his allies defeated the Amalgam force on the island, captured surviving enemies, and exposed Mithril’s compromised personnel.
• Xiao Ran warned Tessa that Amalgam was manipulating the United States and the Soviet Union toward war, but Mithril’s leaders refused most of his proposals and would not evacuate their bases.
• Xiao Ran left Danaan with Luo, El-Elf, Chidori, Yani, and prisoners, while Tessa began preparing Merida Island for evacuation.
• Xiao Ran recruited Kuruzou and Kowloon, then went to Japan and enlisted Hayashimizu Atsunobu and Tsubaki to help oppose Amalgam.
• After Amalgam attacked a Soviet base and triggered open conflict, Xiao Ran proposed using N-Jammers and N-Jammer Cancellers, and Hayashimizu Nobuyoshi joined his alliance.
• El-Elf and the Lin Quan Family eliminated their opponents and secured control of much of Japan’s power, while Luo gained industrial backing to develop the N-Jammer technology.
• Xiao Ran sent Luo to consolidate control and left Chidori and Yani in the Lin Quan Family’s care before sailing north on a modified freighter with his raiding force.
• Xiao Ran reached Sakhalin Island, identified an Amalgam stronghold, and prepared to attack its anti-aircraft guns and warehouses after his helicopters arrived.