The ship enters the Realm of Darkness, but Miria casts a holy barrier to protect them. Sekai says between that and his healing stone sword, they should be safe. Fury notices they are sailing against the current. It took Miria 5 days to reach them when she was with the current, so it will take longer to reach OffshoreRope, and since Miria was exhausted from maintaining the barrier for 5 days, they have a problem. Sekai gets confused and says if they are going to an island of eternal summer in the south, they should be moving towards the Equator, and if he knows his geography, the current should be with them. They have never heard of the term Equator, and when he tries to explain the North and South Hemispheres, Niña scoffs at the idea of the world being round. Fury says to figure out a solution because she is seasick and is going back to her cabin. Ranga is even more seasick, puking over the side of the ship, and they comment that is to be expected since she never left the mountains before.
Suddenly, darklings off all shapes and sizes start attacking the top of ship's mast, which is outside the barrier. Sekai freezes time to kill them before unfreezing time. Miria walks up and says she has to recast the holy barrier spell every hour and a half. She overheard Fury talking about how it will take longer to get home and doesn't know what to do. Sekai hands her the MP restoring potion. She is delighted and says with this, they should have no problems.
They have a meal except for Fury. Ranga says even though she vomited a lot, she isn't that hungry. Miria says that is because her holy barrier is constantly healing them. She explains her people worship Isawera, the Goddess of Light and Life, so many of them have holy magic. Her island used to be only for monks and scholars, but now it is a tourist trap. Sekai freezes time to strip and grope Miria. He thinks it is strange because the ship's crew are really dark-skinned as expected for islanders, but she is pale as if she never went outside. Still, she sailed through the Realm of Darkness and she has his respect. He puts her clothes back and unfreezes time, then says he'll tell them stories to pass the time. Niña gets excited and says he tells the best stories; her favorite is The Monkey's Paw. He muses that it is easy to tell stories to people who have never heard of them. He tells them several ghost stories. Ranga is unimpressed, but Niña and Miria are.
Sekai walks Miria back to her cabin. She says ghosts are spirits unable to enter Heaven. If the Forces of Darkness win, the cycle of life will be disrupted for everyone. She begs him to eventually defeat the Darkness. He is touched by how sincere her eyes are. Suddenly, a darkling shaped like a giant baby jumps on the ship. It is powerful enough to go past the barrier. Sekai calls on Bahamut, who launches a fireball at the clouds to part them and let the sunlight in. Sekai then freezes time to kill the weakened creature in an instant. Miria is impressed and smitten.
Meanwhile, Leafa arrives at the Council of Swordmasters and presents her findings. They mourn the loss of Swordmaster Magnus, then say the League of Mages will pay for this. Many of them yell that mages are just a bunch of freaks with unnatural powers and swordmasters are the real defenders of the realm. They say they heard of how Sekai helped Mount Cape drive away the Forces of Darkness and are interested in the healing stone swords. However, they will send someone else to retrieve them. A woman walks in who looks like Miria except she has dark skin. They introduce her as Mirei the Shaman and say she asked for help. OffshoreRope is threatened by the Forces of Darkness so they want Leafa to go there and help. They say Sekai is already going to OffshoreRope with Mirei's twin sister Miria, so they order Leafa to work with Sekai to solve the problem.
Miria's ship reaches OffshoreRope. Sekai's party is amazed to see the clouds are parted and letting the sunlight on the island. Miria says this island is the only safe zone in the Realm of Darkness, but she worries it won't last forever. She asks them to save them from both the Forces of Darkness, and their King, confusing them.
