The noble heirs clash against Jade's squad in the crystal mines as Vera's sanity keeps deteriorating.
- Agony of the Feet: When the incensed Tyrian attempts to finish off Amelia for insulting Jade, she makes him release her by stepping hard on his foot before jumping out of the way of the burning coal dust.
- Badass Boast: When Vera tells Tyrian that he's down to one dagger since he threw the other at Tinsley, he nonchalantly replies that only means he may now actually get some challenge.
- Benevolent Boss: No matter how much he annoys her, Jade extends this trait to Tyrian when she has him sent to be treated of his eye burns.
- Berserk Button: Amelia calling Jade a coward makes Tyrian seriously earnest in trying to kill her.
- Big "NO!": Vera yells this in defiance of Amelia's conclusion that it's time to accept defeat and surrender.
- Big "WHAT?!": Alan cries this out in disgusted shock when Tyrian asks him if a heart taken from an enemy corpse would be a good romantic gift.
- Big "YES!": Vera exclaims this when she manages to ignite coal dust lines… before realizing there's more burning than she wanted.
- Blade Lock: Amelia and Alan do this at different points with Tyrian.
- Blasting It Out of Their Hands: When Tinsley attempts to use Vera's bow against Tyrian, he forces her to drop it by throwing one of his knives in her hand.
- Cliffhanger: After forcing the others to fight the Shadowkhan, Vera spots two Mogriff hatchlings running into a tunnel.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When Tyrian intercepts Vera's team, he dominates the entire fight against the four nobles, and they're able to escape only when Vera weaponizes coal dust against him.
- Curse Cut Short: When Tyrian, blinded by the coal dust explosions, is about to call Amelia a bitch, Alan interrupts him by decking him.
- Dope Slap: When Quinn comments on how just a few of the light crystals would make them rich for life, Jade gives her Uncle's iconic two-fingered strike and tells her not to touch the Mogriffs' crystals.
- Eye Scream: When Vera ignites coal dust as a weapon against Tyrian, he gets burned around his eyes and has sight problems for several chapters forward.
- Fantastic Light Source: Alan comments that the light coming from the crystals removes the need to use torches in the tunnels, and Amelia reveals that some mines forgo torches entirely in favor of crystals due to the highly inflammable "cave dust" (which is real-life coal dust).
- Flowers of Romance: The only advice Alan has to offer to Tyrian's unexpected questions about courting is to give the girl flowers or just being less of a psycho.
- Foreshadowing: Tyrian tells the noble heirs that if they actually think they have any chance of winning, they're even crazier than he is. He's proven to be right on the money with the one noble who refuses to Know When to Fold 'Em.
- HA HA HA—No: When Vera and Amelia interrupt Tyrian and Tinsley's talk about courting, he tells her and Alan that he'll continue their discussion after he has captured them. When Tinsley asks with a nervous grin if he couldn't just let them go, he laughs for several moments before replying "no" in the flattest tone he's used until now. As he resumes attacking her and Alan, he promises to try to leave them at least in one piece, though.
- Hand Behind Head: Tyrian rubs his neck when he admits he's asking romantic advice from Alan because he's never tried wooing a woman before.
- Human Shield: When Vera shoots an arrow at Tyrian who's fighting Amelia, he forces the latter to move and get the arrow in her shoulder. He later uses Alan to force Amelia to stop her attack before kicking him towards her.
- Insult Backfire: Tyrian is all sticks and stones about all the insults and threats the nobles throw at him. Amelia's insult at Jade, on the other hand…
- Kill It with Fire: Vera considers using the cave/coal dust to burn the entire Mogriff nest, but when Amelia warns it could risk bringing the entire mountain down on them as well, Vera decides to make that Plan B.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: When the noble heirs reach the main chamber of the abandoned mine, they're so worn out from their fight with Tyrian and being chased by four Ninja Khan that Amelia openly proposes surrendering while that's still possible. Vera forcibly puts that option on hold by attacking the Ninja Khan.
- No Social Skills: Tyrian being an Ax-Crazy cultist and Cloudcuckoolander shows when he thinks it appropriate to pause in the middle of his fight against enemies to ask them advice on how to court Rosetta.
- Powder Trail: When Vera notices that Tyrian is standing on a good number of coal dust lines, she ignites them, and he ends up getting trapped between explosions.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Amelia's insult towards Jade makes Tyrian ask this:Tyrian: What…did you...just…say?
- Sanity Slippage: By the chapter's end, all the setbacks Vera's encountered have brought her on the doorstep of a total breakdown.
- Serenade Your Lover: When Tinsley advises Tyrian to write a song for Rosetta, he thinks it's a great idea and wonders if he could ask Jade for romantic songs of the Shadow Realm.
- Shipper on Deck: When Tyrian asks romantic advice from the noble heirs in the middle of their fight, Tinsley is the only one giving the madman sincere suggestions. She afterwards wishes his affair with Rosetta will work out and remarks how romantic it is that even war can't stop people from finding love.
- Sword Sparks: Tyrian's daggers cause these when they first clash against Amelia's sword. As the fight drags on, Vera unintentionally scrapes Amelia's sword with her daggers, and the sparks result in a small explosion among the coal dust scattered across the mine's floor. Inspired by this, she traps Tyrian between explosions by causing more sparks with her sharpening stone and arrowhead.
- Tempting Fate: After barely surviving the encounter with Tyrian, Amelia remarks she'd like to find an exit before anything else happens. Cue to the Ninja Khan announcing their arrival by a thrown shuriken, and Alan snarks at Amelia for tempting fate.
- Thwarted Coup de Grâce: Tyrian gets interrupted a few times when he attempts to finish off one of the noble heirs.
- Weapon Twirling: Tyrian twirls his knives once again while fighting Vera's team.
- We Need a Distraction: Vera tells Amelia to keep Tyrian busy while she sets the coal dust ablaze, so Amelia enrages Tyrian by insulting his goddess.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Vera can't believe it when Tinsley starts giving Tyrian courting advice.
