Noriko was worried and wondered what she should do. In the end, she started cleaning up the room. Agol watched her and was surprised that she behaved like a ordinary girl as he thought Noriko was Mezame. He continued to wonder if he should report to Rachef. Agol had agreed to search for Mezame for the sake of money in order to find a cure for his daughter's eyes. He wondered if he should use Gina's power to find a curse (Mezame).

In Rienka, the leaders were discussing about Agol and why he had not reported back. When all had gone, Goriya told Rachef that Keimos had recovered from his injuries. Keimos, on another hand was destroying huge rocks and testing his own power. He swore to defeat Izark one day when he can fully control his power.

In the jail, Izark heard Jeida and the rest talking about Garya and Noriko in the opposite cell. He asked them about their conversation and realised both his legs and hands were chained. Jeida, his sons and Banadam explained the situation to him. Izark remembered that Noriko's cries for help was after the attack. He tried to break the chain and realised his strength was gone due to the effects of the poison. Sawing that, the guard laughed at Izark and went off to inform Nada. Izark wondered if Noriko was safe and felt upset about leaving her.

Noriko woke up in the middle of the night and saw a floating spirit in front of her, asking her for help. She screamed, awaking Agol and Gina in another room. Agol offered to check out and saw a woman face in the dark. He screamed and Noriko ran over to realised the woman was Garya. Garya asked Noriko the identity of Agol.

The next morning, Izark wondered if he could contact Noriko (like the way he could hear her cries). Meanwhile, Noriko apologised for not taking care of the house and also explained why Agol and Gina were there. Agol offered to help but in return wanted them to take care of Gina. At this moment, Noriko heard Izark's voice and told Garya and Agol. Noriko shouted for Izark and for a few seconds, Noriko and Izark saw each other.

The guards shouted at Izark to greet Nada and the communication between Izark and Noriko was broken. Nada laughed at Izark and thought that Izark was foolish to ignore him. Nada continued to tell him about the competition and the 17 strong men who emerged as winners, however, Izark was only thinking about Noriko, Garya and strangers beside her that he saw during the few seconds. Nada was angered by Izark's ignorance and Barago offered to punish Izark for Nada.

After a struggled fight, Izark drew a sword on Barago's neck, Nada encouraged Izark to kill, but however, Izark chose not to kill Barago. Nada offered a deal with Izark, saying if he could win the competition held a few days after, he would give him 20 bags of gold and his freedom. Izark agreed. Nada went off to the next cell and meanly invited Jeida to watch the competition. On his way back, Nada told his fighters that he planned to let Izark battle with all the 17 fighters and make Izark regret that he had opposed him.

Agol carried out his plans to join the competition and snatched his belongings back from the soldiers. Upon getting her prediction stone, Gina predicted that her father would win the competition and emerge as the 18th fighter. Garya realised that Gina was a prophetess and asked her to predict the route to Guzena where her sister (also a prophetess) lived. Gina told Garya that she saw a forest with trees that have purple leaves and white trunks. Garya said that place was the 'White Fog Forest' where monsters appeared.

Garya was surprised that both Gina and Noriko had special powers. Noriko denied saying that was the power of Izark. Garya began to wonder about the relationship between Noriko and Izark. Meanwhile, Gina tried to predict the identity of Noriko as her father requested. However, she could see nothing except for many shades of colours, exactly what she saw when she predict the identity of Mezame.

Barago tried to warn Izark about the unfair competition and asked him to escape. At this moment, Noriko tried to communicate with Izark through telepathy and Izark managed to hear her. The next day (the day of competition), Agol heard about the unfair competition. Agol wanted to help Izark but when he remembered that he was the one who defeated Keimos, he hesitated. Barago who was angered that Izark had not escaped, jumped on the stage and asked him why. Izark asked Barago to help him.

Barago fell down the stage and the other fighters started battling with him. Izark easily defeated them. Meanwhile, Barago found Agol and told him about the plan that Izark had in mind. Agol was surprised that Izark knew him and was even more surprised when Barago said that it was Noriko who told Izark. The battle continued and the fighters fought more seriously while Kaidaru (the man who poisoned Izark) planned to defeat Izark with his poison again when the others are defeated.

Noriko, Gina and Garya waited for the arrival of the others at a place that Izark had agreed to meet. Battling, Izark thought if he could save the others and escape to a safe place, maybe Garya could help to take care of Noriko again and he could leave. He wondered why he missed Noriko so much after two days of separation.

After most of the fighters had been defeated, Agol rushed up the stage and secretly gave Izark a pot of Kaidaru's poison. Seeing that all the fighters are defeated, Kaidaru used his poison again. Barago and Agol rushed toward Jeida, his sons and Banadam and told them to covered their nose and mouth. Kaidaru was surprised that Izark did not faint. Instead, Izark broke the pot and create wind to spread the poison.

Izark escaped with the rest and met with Noriko, Garya and Gina. Noriko ran towards Izark and hugged him with tears in her eyes.
I miss you so much!", Noriko said.
Izark blushed and realised that everyone was looking at them.
"Don't keep hugging me. Get on the horse!", Izark pushed Noriko away.
"I'm sorry! Because... ehh", Noriko tried to explain. "From the first time since I met you, I had been hugging you. I don't hug guys in my world...", Noriko ended up explaining in Japanese.
The rest looked at her in astonishment.

When asked, Gina lied to her father that she did not managed to see the identity of Noriko. In fact, she felt fear when Izark nears her. They continued their journey and decided to walk through the 'White Fog Forest'. Creatures in the forest swore to kill all of them. A spirit (the one that Noriko saw) waited for Noriko.

In the forest, the horses became very bad temper so they decided walk on foot. Hair-liked creatures started moving in the forest. As they walked farther in the forest, Noriko noticed that Banadam was getting more irritated. Finally, they found some old, deserted houses and Barago decided to look for food inside. Banadam scolded Barago for his foolish action (as the houses looked deserted for many years). They continued to walk but ended up in the same place again.

Banadam became more bad tempered and started blaming everyone for entering the forest. Everyone was angered by Banadam's words. Noriko noticed that Banadam was acting strange just like the horses and tried to explain. Angered, Banadam tried to slap Noriko but Izark stopped him and told everyone what Noriko tried to say. Noriko asked Banadam to remember himself. Glitters of lights appeared, Banadam seemed to wake up and realised that he had been acting strangely. Suddenly, there was a heavy rain.

Everyone hid in the house for shelter and started discussing the situation.
"What am I afraid of? Am I afraid that one day Mezame will turn me into a monster? Or am I afraid that she will become afraid of me and leave me?", Izark wondered uneasily.

The rain stopped. Izark sensed something and warned the others. Suddenly, hair-liked creatures appeared and attacked Noriko. Izark tried to save her but in the end got surrounded and trapped inside the creatures...