WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Episode 3 of Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, "Encounter: Successor of the Black Steel and the Ice Calamity Witch" now streaming on Funimation and Hulu.
Our Last Crusade has allowed Iska and Alice to bond with each other. Despite being on opposite sides of the battlefield, they both want a better world free from the struggles that they currently face. Considering they get along fairly well despite their differences, they wanting to sort out their feelings with each other. In the latest episode, an unforeseen threat from the past attempts to threaten the Empire, bringing Iska and Alice together on the battlefield once more.
100 years ago, a witch often regarded as The Founder dealt a lot of damage on behalf of the Nebulis Sovereignty. After her rampage where she set the Empire ablaze, she fell asleep for a hundred years. Encased in stone, she was kept in a resting place and observed by the leaders of the sovereignty. Now, she awakens from her long slumber... and it might be partially Alice and Iska's fault.
The Founder threatens the world with something neither Iska nor Alice want. The Founder recognizes Iska's swords, which seem to play a part in the larger mystery of why she's return. The Founder wants to destroy the Empire much like she did 100 years ago, and she doesn't offer any compromise with her ideals. She's more then willing to attack any witch that dares to stand in her way, so she needs to be dealt with in order to establish a peaceful future. Alice agrees to work with Iska and fight against the dangerous witch.
The Founder herself has a couple of tricks up her sleeve that she uses to keep Alice and Iska occupied. Whether it be the scorching flames she throws down at them or winds that she tries to blow Alice away with, she puts up a good fight. However, when Alice and Iska use their abilities in unison, they surprise the Founder with their strength.
In the end, the two of them succeed in fighting off the Founder. The words that Iska tells the Founder at the end of their battle hint at the fact that she wasn't killed, but has been sealed away once more. Once defeated, the Founder falls into a black hole much like the hole that she used to first arrive on the scene, meaning that it is quite possible for her to be awoken at a later point.
Iska and Alice's fight the Founder helps to solidify their viewpoint to each other. While they know that they have fought against each other, they are able to rationalize their actions. They know that they are likely going to end up fighting against each other on the battlefield again, but in this moment, the two can enjoy relative peace together.
