'Four Knights Of The Apocalypse' Season 2 Part 1 Recap & Ending Explained

The legacy of Nakaba Suzuki’s Seven Deadly Sins continues as Netflix’s anime adaptation of Four Knights of the Apocalypse returns with the first part of its second season, kicking off the next stage of the conflict between Arthur Pendragon’s forces of Chaos and the four Knights of Apocalypse. The first season had revolved around one of the prophesied knights, Percival’s childhood, the death of his grandfather Varghese at the hands of Percy’s father, Ironside, chaos knight of Arthur who wants to eliminate the threat of the four knights, as they are destined to bring doom to Camelot, Arthur’s high seat, which has been built again with the powers of Chaos. Awakening his latent powers, Percy embarked on a journey to reach Liones with the teenagers he befriended along the way, Donny, Nasien, and fellow knight Lancelot. All the while, Arthur had sent his chaos knights and assassins to kill Percy and co., but each attempt resulted in failure. Reaching Liones, the four Knights of Apocalypse, Tristan, Lancelot, Gawain, and Percival, united for the first time in the presence of the present king of Liones, Meliodas, when Arthur finally decided to step into the game and made a grand entry. The second season focuses on yet another journey, as the knights head towards Camelot, and Percival’s mysterious past gains focus.

Spoilers Ahead

What Did Arthur Promise to the People of Liones?

Picking up right from the ending of the first season, the second season opens with King Arthur addressing the humans of Liones to join him in the everlasting kingdom of Camelot. According to Arthur, the history of Britannia has proved time and again that conflict between mankind and other species is inevitable, and even though the Seven Deadly Sins brought an end to the three millennia-spanning Holy War sixteen years ago, they will not be able to stop the perennial cycle of conflict in the future. Arthur believes that humanity has suffered long enough for the sake of other species, fairies, giants, goddesses, and demons. According to Arthur, driving out other species from Britannia is the only solution for humanity to end the conflict, and to convince the people of Liones to join his cause, he shows them a vision of Camelot where they will be able to reunite with the ones they have lost. 

Arthur’s big speech is interrupted by Tristan, who tries to take him on his own once again, and this time his father, Meliodas, joins his side as well. Tristan is severely beaten, prompting Meliodas to turn his attention to his son, and in the nick of time, Lancelot defends the duo from Arthur’s empowered attacks. Lancelot even goes toe to toe with Arthur for quite a while, until Ironside asks his master to retreat for the time being. Following Arthur’s departure, Meliodas officially knights Percival, Anne, Donny, and Nassiens, acknowledging their bravery and honor, and brings the four knights up to speed with the matters at hand. 

Why Do Four Knights Need To Venture To Camelot?

With the help of Queen Elizabeth’s associate, Sorceress Thetis, Meliodas shows that the new Camelot, which Arthur has rebuilt with Chaos powers, is gradually replacing Britannia by taking away its land bit by bit. Percival’s grandpa, Varghese, used to be one of the holy knights of Arthur, who later defected to Meliodas and settled for a peaceful life with his grandson, until Ironside killed him, that is. Varghese knew that Chaos was tinkering with Arthur’s psyche, leading him down a destructive path by turning his back on his former friends, the Seven Deadly Sins. Varghese wanted to convince Arthur to stop his mad pursuit of bringing back his lost kingdom of Camelot, which was destroyed during the final moments of the Holy War. Affected by Chaos, Arthur was beyond reason. According to legend, the Knights of Apocalypse will bring an end to Camelot, and the kingdom of Britannia in the process, and this is the reason King Arthur is trying to hunt them down. 

Learning about Varghese’s past, Percival gets restless as he wants to take the battle to Arthur by storming into Camelot. However, it appears to be a tall task, as Jericho, Lancelot’s former mentor who defected to Arthur, had killed a captive Chaos Knight. The new Camelot exists in a dimension separate from the physical realm; there are very few ways to get there, and the easiest of them is to use the mark of a Chaos Knight, which could have taken them to the threshold of the worlds. Additionally, being from the Demon clan, Meliodas cannot venture into Camelot, and the same applies for other sins who belong to any other race except humans. Which is why Meliodas has no option except to entrust these four young knights and their comrades with the fate of Britannia, as he assigns them to find an alternate gateway to Camelot. Meliodas himself decides to seek help from the legendary master craftsman of the Giant clan, Dubs, to forge a weapon suitable for Lancelot’s heightened powers. Before bidding adieu to the fellowship, Meliodas entrusts Percival with the sword, which has a part of the Coffin of Eternal Darkness attached to its hilt. If Arthur obtains it, then he can use it to seal the demon clan away forever, which means Meliodas will be gone as a result. Despite the risks, the king of Liones puts faith in Percival’s spirit and heart. Percival’s team is accompanied by Tristan’s team, Gawain and Lancelot, as the band begins their journey to Camelot, with their first stop being Wolnack, from where the knights will go their separate ways to cover most of the areas in search of a gateway. 

Why Did Arthur Abduct Guinevere?

Princess of Cameliard, Guinevere, who was hinted to be in a romantic relationship with Lancelot, reveals her unique precognition and clairvoyance powers, ‘Kaleidoscope,’ to him, revealing an ominous fate to befall Lancelot in the near future. Later on, Ironside sneakily infiltrates the royal quarters in Liones to abduct Guinevere to take her to Lancelot, and she decides to go willingly to meet Arthur. It is revealed that Arthur wants to take Guinevere as a consort and use her powers to destroy the four knights even before they have a fighting chance against him. Guinevere warns Arthur that altering the future will only worsen his predicament, a warning to which Arthur pays no heed. Despite learning from Guinevere that the fellowship will stop at Wolnack, and his attempt to take down the teenage heroes will fail on this occasion, Arthur sends his two Chaos Knights, Teaninich and Macduff, to apprehend them. Additionally, Arthur holds a band of demons captive and forces one of them, Loradio, to create a magical barrier over the town of Wolnack to stop magic detection, in exchange for the lives of her companions. Taking down even one knight from the group will annul the prophecy, and Arthur is desperate to make that happen. 

Why Did Loradio Help Tristan and Co.?

After arriving at Wolnack, the team settles in and decides to participate in the town’s festival of mourning the departed loved ones. Taking the guise of a human, Loradio distracts Tristan while Arthur’s knights keep the rest of the team busy. Teaninich’s beast summoning powers don’t really pose that much of a problem, but Macduff’s Serenity sound-blocking abilities prove to be quite a nuisance. As Tristan battles Loradio, he learns about her predicament of being forced to trap the fellowship in order to defend her captive comrades, and he assures her that his team will stop Arthur and protect her friends. A vital member of Team Tristan, Jade sacrifices his life to save his comrade Isolde from Macduff’s attack before being able to profess his feelings for his longtime friend. Aggrieved by his friend’s demise, Chion ends up killing Macduff, and holding Teaninich captive, the team plans to use her mark to access the gateway to Camelot. However, afraid of the repercussions of failure and betrayal, Teaninich ends up taking her own life.

While all this was taking place in the city alleyways, two heavy hitters of the team—Camelot and Gawain—were absent as they had decided to scout the surrounding area. The duo came across the demon group (Loradio’s friends), who were brainwashed by Arthur, and despite being able to beat them easily, Gawain and Lancelot spared their lives. Out of gratitude and a sense of guilt for her role in Jade’s death, Loradio took the fellowship to a hidden access to the demon realm, from where a gateway to Camelot can be found. Also, Loradio recognizes Percival’s remarks hint that he shares a connection with the demon realm, which is revealed over the course of the narrative. On the other hand, frustrated by the failure of his knights, Arthur decides to raise the stakes as he sends another troop of Chaos Knights, this time led by Ironside’s brother-in-law, Mortlach, a formidable warrior. 

What Was Percival’s Connection With Demon Realm?

Given the hostility the Demon clan shares with the rest of the races of Britannia, no sooner does the team enter the realm than they are surrounded by Demons and taken captive. However, Percival’s presence changes everything as he is hailed as a saviour by them and taken to their king, Zeldris, brother of Meliodas, and Queen Geldach, to the surprise of Tristan and the rest of the teammates, who become curious about his true identity. It is revealed that, in the years following the Demonemon King’s defeat at the hands of the Seven Sins, the primordial entity of the realm, Behemoth, who used to preserve the life force of the Demons, went on a rampage, and his dark miasma sapped the lives of Demons all around. At this point, Percival, who was still a child, accidentally traveled to the Demon realm on his own and was not only able to revive the fallen demons but also pacified Behemoth, sending him back to deep slumber. Since then, Zeldris and Gelda, along with the rest of the demon clan, considered Percy as their own and hailed him as a savior who was destined to save them in times of peril. Zeldris reveals that the gateway to Camelot is located on the back of Behemoth, which is impossible to access for the team given they will not survive an encounter with the beast. But seeing Percival by their side, he speculates about their success at the same time. 

In the meantime, Mortlach and his crew had entered the Demon realm as well, tailing Percival’s team, and unbeknownst to them, Gawain had infiltrated their ranks, replacing one of their knights, Rosebank. However, Mortlach was able to see through her ruse, and even though he couldn’t have harmed Arthur’s niece of all people, he ended up incapacitating and taking her captive. Percy discovered that he had accidentally dropped his sword, the one with the Eternal Darkness part, and while searching for it, he came across a fatally injured Rosebank. While Nasien held the opinion that they should leave her to her fate, given what happened with Jade previously, Percival shows kindness by healing her, much to Rosebank’s surprise. Rosebank finds the extension lying around and flees, much to the dismay of Percy and Nasiens. 

What Is Percival’s True Origin?

Percival apologizes for his negligence to his teammates, but Zeldris assures him that the Chaos Knights won’t be able to escape as long as Rain of Fire, a manifestation of Behemoth’s rage, is raging on Demon Realm, and they have a week to prepare for a final encounter with Arthur’s lackeys when they will have a chance to take the extension back. Under Lancelot’s guidance, Percival rigorously trains for physical combat and dueling, and the combined essence of the hope of the Demon Clan brings out an empowered spirit self of Percival, who introduces himself as Zarura N’Du. Throughout the first and second seasons, Percy had died a couple of times and was resurrected by the sentient life spirits following him, and this spirit self appears to be the completed form of those protective entities. Percy isn’t able to understand what Zarura means by stating that both of them are part of Great One but decides to go with the flow anyway. 

Finally, Percival and his friends take on Mortlach and his Chaos Knights in the back of Behemoth, who continues to go out of control, threatening the existence of the Demon realm itself. Mortlach brings Gawain and threatens the team with her life, and ignoring Gawain’s warnings, her fellow Knights of Apocalypse jump in to rescue her. Percival is suddenly transported into a spirit realm by Zarura, his spirit self, where he sees the true spirit form of Behemoth, a combination of numerous souls, who appears to be frightened and anxious of the presence of the gateway to Camelot. Percival is able to calm the spirit of Behemoth by reaching out and comforting it, putting the chaotic situation to an end. During his time in the spirit realm, Percy is shocked to learn from Zarura that they are life spirits themselves, who exist beyond every race and being of the known universe. Percival is in disbelief, as he wants to hold on to the only truth he has known since the beginning, that he is the beloved grandson of Holy Knight Varghese. However, Zarura assures him that, in time, someone like Ironside will share all the details of his true origin with him. 

Did Percival Find the Gateway to Camelot?

As Behemoth’s rampage stops, the gateway to Camelot appears in front of Percival and his team, and Mortlach regains the strength to make a last-ditch attempt to stop them. At this point, Rosebank shows her gratitude to Percival by returning his sword back to him, and Mortlach transports Percival with himself in a dimension of his own, where he will not be able to access magic and has to rely on his swordsmanship skills to survive. In the meantime, Arthur’s trainer, Tomintoul/Nanashi, a master swordsman, takes on Lancelot by separating him from the team. Rosebank creates a gigantic Testament Beast by combining present demon associates of Percival, and unleashes it upon the rest of the fellowship. 

As Percy takes on Mortlach, he reveals his connection with Diodora, the son of his late sister and Ironside, whose survival was possible only due to the existence of Camelot. Mortlach appears to share a strong bond with Diodora, whom Percival considers to be his sibling, given he too is Ironside’s son, and he is able to relate to Mortlach’s drive to protect the ones he loves. But at the same time, he is determined to stop Arthur, knowing his despicable plans will separate people from their loved ones forever, and he is ready to take on Mortlach or any adversary for that matter to prevent that future from happening. The first part of the second season ends in a cliffhanger, leaving Percival and his team’s fate in question, and most importantly, hinting at a troubling revelation awaiting Percival regarding his true origin. 

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