As Vera prepares to undertake on a renegade mission to have her revenge, she feeds lies to the other five noble heirs of Castwell's Peak so that they'd join her. Meanwhile in the Stone Nest, Jade reaches a mutual understanding with Metalbeak as the Mogriff alpha tells her what Vera's grandfather was to his people.
- Anti-Mutiny: Vera considers her desertion as this; in her point of view, Elyon has betrayed her people first by forbidding the army from fighting the Shadowkhan, so it's no treason if Vera refuses to be a coward and continues the fight by her own means.
- Ask a Stupid Question...: When Vera tells the others she and Captain Bakurk met Commander Bastian, Alan asks if the situation is that serious. Amelia and Philip are outraged by his lack of seriousness, with the latter telling Alan that the question is dumb even by his standards.
- Big "WHAT?!": This is Jade's reaction when she's informed that contrary to her expectations, the rebel army has withdrawn from the mountains.
- The Butcher: Vera's grandfather was known among the Mogriffs as the "Nest Butcher" because not only he took part in driving them out of their nesting grounds, but he also enjoyed killing and torturing them, hatchlings and eggs included.
- Call-Back: After hearing the story of the Nest Butcher, Jade reflects on when she killed Shendu to prevent him from coming after her family for revenge. When Metalbeak tells her that in such a situation she was justified to do so, she notes that Raythor said something similar when she told him about it in Kage.
- Childhood Friends: The Sky Hunter nobles grew up and trained together, though they're not all mutually close with each other.
- Cliffhanger: The surprised Jade and Phobos loyalists find the enemy's main camp completely deserted.
- Commonality Connection: Metalbeak connects with Jade over their readiness to kill enemies to avenge/protect their loved ones.
- Continuity Nod:
- Jade admits that with all the shapeshifting she's witnessed both before and after coming to Meridian, she hasn't considered the Mogriffs would have deep-rooted reasons for copying the appearances of certain individuals.
- Jade refers to Shendu returning as a ghost following his death at her hands and getting resurrected by Daolon Wong when she jokingly remarks that the Mogriffs didn't have the same problem with the Nest Butcher.
- Crush Blush: Tinsley has this to show she has feelings for Alan, and it becomes a regular occurrence in future chapters.
- Cycle of Revenge: Metalbeak turns out to be the Mogriff who killed Vera's grandfather, which is why she makes him the target of her renegade assassination mission. Metalbeak in turn killed Vera's grandfather to avenge all the Mogriffs the man had slaughtered as a soldier of the past queens.
- Determinator: After witnessing as a hatchling the Nest Butcher's savagery, Metalbeak dedicated himself to becoming a strong leader in preparation of avenging all the suffering the man inflicted on his people to the point of choosing to shapeshift into him in order to not let himself forget this goal, which he achieved after three decades of waiting when Phobos took over and told him where to find the retired Nest Butcher. Jade compares his resolution to that Raythor demonstrated by climbing out of the Abyss of Shadows.
- Establishing Character Moment: The rest of Vera and Amelia's fellow nobles — Philip Wildstorm, Caroline Hart, Tinsley Gendi and Alan Ascelot — are introduced with quickly established personalities and inner dynamics.
- Harmful to Minors: Metalbeak was only a hatchling when he first witnessed the Nest Butcher murdering his conspecifics regardless of age or gender.
- I Like Those Odds: After learning that they're to assassinate Metalbeak, Alan flatly surmises that it's likely going to be a suicide mission before volunteering with an excited grin.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: When Jade suggests at the chapter's end that the rebel army will try and do something stupid soon, a Mantis Khan appears to inform her that they have retreated. The chapter ends with Jade admitting she stands corrected.
- Karmic Death: Vera's grandfather killed and tortured many Mogriffs, including hatchlings and eggs, before retiring from military service. He was ultimately killed and mutilated by several Mogriffs he had wronged, including Metalbeak who was only a hatchling when he first witnessed the Nest Butcher in his brutality. Jade considers the man's brutal death overdue justice in-universe.
- King Mook: Metalbeak is this in the noble heirs' point-of-view; all the Mogriffs look the same to them, and they're able to distinguish Metalbeak thanks to his larger size and greyish-white coloring.
- Loyal to the Position: Philip's family's history as soldiers has ingrained him with a strict code of behavior, which makes him respectful of Vera's unofficial leadership position even though he agrees with Amelia that Vera's personal enmity towards the Mogriffs and Leeroy Jenkins tendencies make her too volatile to be an effective leader.
- The Medic: Caroline Hart serves as one of the Sky Hunters' healers with her skill at brewing medicines and healing balms.
- Military Brat: Philip Wildstorm is a born soldier from a line of military career that started from his great-grandfather.
- Not Always Evil: Whatever it's due to her Queen side or the Fantastic Racism she's witnessed on Meridian, Jade is considering that just being a Shadowkhan/Oni doesn't necessarily make her evil. This doesn't make her happy to think her family might consider her just like their demon enemies or return her to human without her consent.
- Oblivious to Love: Tinsley has on Alan a crush which seems to be obvious to everyone else but him.
- Odd Friendship: Vera is confused why Amelia of all people would regard Caroline Hart as a close friend.
- The Pollyanna: Tinsley Gendi is described to be a ray of sunshine who's always trying to keep everyone's spirits up with a smile.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Alan Ascelot and Philip Wildstorm grew together almost like brothers, but whereas Alan is a thrill-loving and carefree hunter, Philip is a disciplined and rule-abiding soldier.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: In an interesting example wherein most of the faction doesn't even know they're renegade, Vera goes rogue and deceives her friends into believing that they've been ordered to go on a covert mission to assassinate Metalbeak, the main target of Vera's vendetta.
- Revenge Is Not Justice: The chapter's title serves as a question to if there's a real difference between revenge and justice. Metalbeak's act of killing Vera's grandfather to avenge all the Mogriffs the latter had killed as the Nest Butcher is a zig-zagged example; Vera and many others regard it as murder, but Jade views it as justice, with Metalbeak admitting this is the first time anyone has ever called it that.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Vera has little qualms about manipulating her friends into joining her on a renegade mission to assassinate Metalbeak as she feels getting justice against her grandfather's killer is worth defying the direct orders of her commander and queen.
- A Simple Plan: Vera's plan of action to find and assassinate Metalbeak is summarized by Alan as "in, shoot, out".
- Straight for the Commander: Vera lies to her friends that the army is pretending to retreat and that in order to win time to come up with a new strategy, Commander Bastian has tasked them with infiltrating the Stone Nest and assassinating Metalbeak to put the enemy troops into disarray.
- Transhuman Treachery: Downplayed; Jade has realized that while she wanted to turn back to human before her Split-Personality Merge with the Queen, she's no longer thrilled by that prospect and wants to believe that being an Oni doesn't automatically make her evil. While she does display viciousness in battle, her overall personality hasn't changed that much.
- Two Girls to a Team: Inverted; the team of noble heirs is composed of four women and two men.
- You Monster!: Jade has a mental image of her family looking at her like she were a monster no better than Shendu or the rest of their demon enemies. She herself is absolutely disgusted by the cruelties Vera's grandfather committed on Mogriffs and asks Metalbeak what became of the monster whose face he's now using.
