Wings of Light and Darkness

As Sonia leads Mule toward Griffith, the young noble is struck by the camp's cheerful energy despite the Kushan invasion, until he spots Kushan horsemen inside the perimeter and cries a warning. Sonia calms him, saying these are no enemies. Locus rides over to explain: captured Kushan who chose to switch sides rather than die now serve a role much like the war slaves the invaders themselves use. He describes how such captives are sent to fight their own kind three times, and any who survive the third battle must choose between joining the Band in earnest or execution, with those who join granted the same rights as any member.

Mule concedes the logic is sound but cannot stomach it, given the ruin the Kushan have brought to Midland. Locus counters that on the battlefield one accepts whatever allies will come, whatever their origin, and rides off. Only after does Mule learn from Sonia that the intimidating man is Locus, a warrior of childhood legend, and she hints that far greater surprises about the Band await him, ones that will make the presence of Kushan seem trivial.

Sonia takes a shortcut through a pitch-black forest where Mule stumbles blindly over roots while her own steps stay smooth and sure, leaving him to suspect she can see in the dark. When she offers her hand and again seems to read his thoughts, an eerie presence closes in. His eyes adjust to reveal armored, animalistic humans, and Sonia names them the war demons, the ones who slew and devoured the last Kushan, now feeding on a raw, unskinned deer.

One demon snatches Sonia by the ankle and dangles her, delighted to recognize her, while others seize Mule's face to keep him from helping. As the demon licks her, meaning to eat her, she coolly threatens to tell Griffith. Grunbeld arrives, crushes the demon's wrist to free her, and catches her gently, while an arrow from the hidden Irvine pierces the arm of the demon holding Mule. Grunbeld declares the pair honored guests and calls Sonia the Falcon's medium, a title that puzzles Mule. Emerging from the wood, they meet Zodd, who steps aside at Sonia's word to reveal Griffith seated on a tree stump amid drifting white wisps.

Chapter 194 runs twenty-one pages within the Millennium Falcon Arc, published in Young Animal issue 02 on January 11, 2002. It deepens the unsettling makeup of the reborn Band through the war demons and the growing roster of apostle legends, framed by Mule's dawning unease.