Unable to find information on Rei, Kouga and Gonza speculate that he is from the western district. Kouga made arrangements for the Barankas fruit with Gonza and he heads out for his routine of sealing and entrances used by Horrors; finding that Rei has been doing his job. Kaoru gets a new job as a waitress and Rei stops where she is working for a table full of sweets. Soon after, Rei attempts to kill Kaoru in the back entrance, but Kouga appears to stop him. After having Kaoru be taken back to his manor, Kouga confronts Rei as the two fight their way through Shinjuku's Capital Building where they get a brief interference from a Horror before the two assume their Makai Knight forms. The two fight their way down the Capital Building before they run out of time with Garo the winner to ZERO's dismay.

Kaoru is hired by school headmaster Yagi to restore a mural of a goddess her father painted years ago but no record exists of what the damaged area looked like. While purifying his sword, Kouga is sucked into an alternate reality where he meets a version of Garo. Kouga, having defeated 100 Horrors, must face an ordeal. Kouga instead tries to battle the Horror Humpty, but cannot hurt it. Kouga soon passes the ordeal and is granted the Makai Horse Gouten, which he uses to defeat Humpty. Meanwhile, Kaoru remembers her father's inspiration for the mural, and restores the goddess to her former glory.

Gonza and Zaruba reflect on Kouga's growth as a knight, remembering him training with his father, Taiga. Out one night with his father, they encounter a Horror, with Taiga becoming Garo to destroy it. Later, Kouga witnesses his father dying at the hands of what he thought to be a Horror, though it is actually a figure named Barago. Kouga trains for years to be able to use the Garoken and fight as the new Garo, eventually becoming the man he is today.

Kouga arrives to the home of his father's old friend, the Makai Priest Amon. Explaining that this is a night when Horrors cannot enter their world, Amon reveals that he and Taiga played a game of Bar Chess and wishes Kouga to finish what his father started. During the match, Amon reveals he knows of Kaoru and suspects that Kouga is protecting her the same way his father protected him. However, Kouga admits he used Kaoru as a tool at first to find Horrors, but he grew to love her and is intent to save her. Impressed, Amon reveals he knows of the item Kouga intends to save her with: The Barankas Fruit within the Forest of Glen, which he intends to get for Kouga once it is ripened. Though Kouga is close to losing the game, and ten years of his life, Amon post pones the game like Taiga did years ago. But before Kouga leaves for home, Amon presents him with another revelation: the chance that his father's pupil Barago is still alive and events will unfold where he has to know who is truly friend and who is truly foe.

Arriving to find the Eastern Watchdogs gone, the three given a body to enter by Barago, they approach the Western Watchdog. Though the Western Watchdog refuses to let Rei go, he reveals the vial he found at the Eastern Watchdog Palace holds a disguise potion belong to the previous Ginga user. Back at the manor, while attempting to think up an image for the final page, Ryuuzaki arrives to take Kaoru. By the time Kouga and Rei return to the manor, it turned out Ryuzaki was actually Barago as he spirits Kaoru off. Catching up to him, Kouga and Rei assume their Makai Knight forms to battle the Darkness Knight before being defeated by him as he and his group take their leave to the site of Messhiah's summoning. Driven to save Kaoru to the point of madness, Kouga is confronted by Kodama who drove him more to the deep end with remembering Jabi's demise. Rei arrives as Garo is overpowered by Kodama in his Majuu Armored form. However, when Garo exceeds the time limit, he becomes a monster and slaughters Kodama. Garo then climbs up, as Rei manages to snap him out of it before canceling the armor. Kouga thanks Rei for saving him from himself as the two proceed into the building.

Infuriated of Kaoru's confidence that her friends will save her, Barago sends Glum after Kouga and Rei as they entered the building. As Rei is forced into a physical and psychological battle with Glum before defeated by her Beast Glum form and seemingly killed off, Kouga arrives to the ritual chamber as Barago holds him off. Karou comes to by then, possessed by Messiah as Barago is devoured by the Horror as she then uses Karou to begin the summoning process while Glum holds Kouga off. After knocking Glum out, Kouga is joined by Rei as they attempt to restraint Kaoru as Messiah uses the girl's body to fight them. But at the last second, Kouga reaches Kaoru as she loses consciousness. With Rei holding Glum off, Kouga enters through the portal to where Kaoru's conscious is before entering the realm of the Horrors to face the titantic Messiah as she pint-pointed Kaoru's body to enter the land of the living.

As Rei manages to defeat Glum with Gonza's help, Kouga is unable to slow Messiah down as he is overwhelmed by the vast number of Horrors. By then, Karou's father appears to urge his daughter to complete the painting she started. This in turn cases Garo to assume his Winged Form as he grounds Messiah while Kaoru receives closure from her parents. Catching Messiah off guard by discarding his armor, Kouga manages to put Messiah back to sleep as Karou saves him from being consumed in the blast as they return to the land of the living. However, they are followed by Barago's animated armor, the Darkness Knight Kiba. After throwing Zaruba into the magic tear in response to being unable to summon his armor, the portal expands as Kouga takes his fight with Kiba on it as the stone descends across Tokyo's cityscape with Rei brieftly joining in. Eventually, the circle comes to stop at the wharf as Zaruba comes at the nick of time with Garo's armor. After Kiba is finally slain, Kouga disarmors as Zaruba dies from overusing itself. Later, as Rei gives Kouga a newly forged Madougu, which Kouga names Zaruba, Kaoru takes her leave for Italy, giving him a new version of the Black Flame and the Golden Knight with the illustration on the final page bringing Kouga to tears