Sorcerous Stabber Orphen: Battle of Kimluck Episode 5: Shed Bloody Tears, Holy City

As Orphen, Majic, and Cleao navigate the damp, claustrophobic tunnels beneath Kimluck, their guide, Laniote, maintains a suspicious composure. He leads them deeper, his lantern casting long shadows that mirror the unease growing in Orphen. The guide's too-calm demeanor and a subtle warning against letting one's guard down hint at deception from the start. Orphen, ever watchful, senses the trap long before it springs.

In a vast, ancient chamber, Laniote cuts the rope ladder, sealing their path back. Orphen immediately understands the strategic move, while Majic and Cleao react with understandable alarm. Orphen's sharp analysis of the colossal, crumbling tunnel system hints at its deeper purpose. Cleao's lighthearted teasing of Orphen offers a brief, almost desperate, moment of humanity before the true danger unfolds.

Laniote warns the group about flash floods, noting the tunnels' instability, yet his concern feels hollow. A contrived stumble by Laniote further raises Orphen's suspicion, as does the grinding sound from the walls. The reveal that church soldiers likely tracked them all along tightens the screws. Suddenly, a distant rumble grows into a deafening roar, confirming Orphen's gravest fears as water begins to ripple violently.

A monstrous wall of water crashes through the passage, separating Orphen from Majic and Cleao. Orphen fights the torrent, tumbling through the darkness until he regains consciousness alone, coughing up water. His desperate calls for his apprentices echo through the empty tunnels, met only by silence. When Laniote reappears, unnervingly calm, Orphen's relief quickly turns to cold suspicion, knowing something is deeply wrong.

Orphen confronts Laniote, whose façade crumbles, revealing a chilling, professional demeanor. Laniote confesses his role as an infiltrator for the Kimluck Church, using Orphen to flush out rebels. The appearance of masked church soldiers and a body confirms their lethal intent. Laniote then introduces himself as Name Only, a 'Death Instructor' wielding a translucent glass sword designed to nullify magic, revealing him as Orphen's true, deadly adversary.

Meanwhile, Majic discovers a gravely injured and unconscious Cleao, with Leki standing guard. Panic-stricken, Majic fumbles with a healing spell, but his magic proves insufficient under the immense pressure. His desperate pleas for Leki to help, and for Orphen to appear, underscore his youthful inadequacy and crushing helplessness. This moment reveals the true burden of responsibility he now faces.

Orphen unleashes a powerful spell, cutting through soldiers to escape and find his friends, but Name Only pursues relentlessly. Name Only's physical prowess and tactical cunning force Orphen onto the defensive. He then uses Majic and Cleao as leverage, revealing they are surrounded, causing Orphen's concentration to waver. A glancing blow and Name Only's taunts solidify the high stakes of this fight, pushing Orphen to a desperate resolve.

The scene briefly shifts to Quo in the Cathedral, who expresses absolute confidence in Name Only's fanatical determination against sorcerers. Back in the tunnels, Name Only delivers a chilling monologue about the superiority of human effort over magic. He articulates a profound, almost religious, fear of sorcerers. His conviction to protect Kimluck, even at the cost of his own life, reveals a formidable opponent driven by an unshakable, if twisted, belief.

Name Only attacks Orphen with a precision dagger, his movements unnaturally swift. He reveals he is a 'Hashashin,' an assassin who uses powerful, life-shortening drugs to enhance his physical abilities, allowing him to fight sorcerers on equal footing. Quo's explanation confirms Name Only's terrible sacrifice, revealing he is only seventeen but has already given half his lifespan. This revelation paints a tragic picture of a man literally burning his life away for a cause.

Name Only pins Orphen in a brutal, close-quarters struggle, mocking his impending death. Despite Orphen's desperate counter-punch, Name Only retaliates with a bone-breaking blow, sending Orphen reeling. The drugs push Name Only into a terrifying, hysterical madness as he rants at the gods. His body begins to give out, coughing up blood, as Orphen watches in horror at the grotesque collapse of his opponent.

Back with Majic, church guards close in on him and the unconscious Cleao. Faced with absolute defeat, Majic makes a terrifying choice. He unleashes a colossal blast of magic, an uncontrolled explosion of pure energy that incinerates the guards and shatters the surrounding tunnels. The sheer, overwhelming power is far beyond his previous abilities, leaving Majic shocked by the scale of his own destructive force.

The shockwave from Majic's spell destabilizes Orphen's tunnel, trapping Name Only under falling debris. As he dies, Name Only rages at the gods for denying him, a sorcerer's power, the very audience he sacrificed for. Orphen stands over him, offering grim truth to the dying man. Meanwhile, Majic carries Cleao through the wreckage, his face now etched with the profound sorrow of his new, destructive power.

In his dying breath, Name Only taunts Orphen about his restraint, predicting Orphen's eventual destruction by his own power. Orphen stands alone over the corpse, the silence heavy with the understanding that he has become a killer. He sees the blood on his hands, a stark visual of his own loss of innocence. Azalie's voiceover chillingly confirms Orphen's failure to reach his goal in time, emphasizing the profound weight of this night's events and the looming, darker path ahead for Orphen and Majic.