Manithan Vaanam

After a night of feasts and fireworks, the party heads to the town hall for a meeting. At the meeting, Ilanka, Thooli, Lasoo, and a fisherman named Batu stand at a round table, with the group standing on the other side. The group explains the mirughams and raatchi that are heading to Lagaab due to the news of Ashitham staying in town with the Dharma Villu. Ilanka then explains a battle plan of sorts: Batu will set up his fishermen on a 24-hour schedule, where they shall keep lookout and attack the enemies from afar; if that does not slay them, Thooli and Ilanka will fight them at the entrance of the town. The party offers their help with fight, which Ilanka accepts, but explains to them that the town will not be able to compensate them in return. The group accepts the task regardless and the meeting adjourns. Aadhi stops Lasoo from leaving and asks if she could see the prophecies that Thooli foretold. Lasoo tells Aadhi to follow him and Thooli to their home; everyone else heads out, leaving for their respective huts.

Aadhi follows Lasoo and Thooli to their makeshift home: a cave built into a sandy mound. As Lasoo looks for prophecies, Aadhi looks around the home's walls, which are covered with scraps of parchment, all bearing writing. Lasoo finds one scrap from the wall and hands it to Aadhi. The parchment reads:

"Dhara shall be covered / The evils of the Vaanam walk again / The red comet lighting their path."

Lasoo also hands Aadhi another scrap, a reading that pertains to Kamacolor:

"The Saviour! They shall bloom from this soil, the weapon of Dharma."

Lasoo offers the scraps to Aadhi to take with her, and he then explains the inner workings of Thooli's manthiram, reassuring Aadhi that her fate is still not decided. After Aadhi tears up for a moment, she leaves, making her way to the the group's hut.

At the hut, Haavani reads her book The Divinity of Veyyon, looking for information on the slayings of mirughams and raatchis. She learns that mirughams can be harmed by normal weapons, but very slowly, and that raatchis can only be harmed by weapons or manithan blessed by Kadavuls. Aadhi arrives to the hut, and a heavy discussion emerges among Aadhi, Haavani, and Shwari; Shwari asks if it is worth helping the people of Lagaab, and Aadhi and Haavani explain that they must, and that they must not become martyrs in the process as well. After an argument breaks out, Shwari leaves, heading to a tavern named The Karavad and drumming the rest of the night away, booking a room there as well. Aadhi leaves promptly as well, walking towards the riverside and meditatively dancing. She later returns to the hut; everyone sleeps.

Just before sunrise, Ilanka wakes everyone in the hut with a yell, proclaiming that the mirughams are here. The party sleeping in the hut rushes out, sprinting towards the gate. Aadhi sends out a message telepathically to Shwari but gets no response. They arrive at the entrance to the town and find two mirughams, one beetle-like and the other wolf-like. The mirughams both have glowing red eyes, though the beetle has two beady ones, while the wolf has one massive one. They stalk towards the group with fishing spears and arrows sticking out of their bodies, and, after a few grim seconds, combat ensues. While the battle rages, Shwari jolts awake by a vision of sorts, and sprints towards the entrance, joining the fight a few minutes later. The mirughams manage to incapacitate Bhavannan, which prompts Haavani to strike down the wolf-mirugham in a fit of divine rage. However, the beetle-mirugham fortifies itself, and, after multiple rounds of gruesome combat, Shwari saws its head off with her dagger, embolstered by an unknown force. When the beetle-mirugham falls, Thooli captures the mirugham's soul with the spell Soul Cage. As the sounds of battle finally cease, the party realizes that there shall be no saints today.