25 — Scars of War

Aliens invade Stories of Legend. Your Into the Future Crystal treasures decide everything here — from 'extremely hard' with none to 'pushover' with all three chapters' worth.

The first Stories of Legend sub-chapter to field Aliens, drawing most of its cast from Into the Future Chapter 1. No new mechanics — instead, an old bill comes due: the wiki rates the difficulty purely by your anti-Alien Crystal treasures. None: extremely hard. Chapter 1's full set: average. Chapters 1–2: easy. All three: a pushover. There is no other sub-chapter where preparation outside the stage matters this much.

The hardest stage is Father's Back, which plays like a tougher remix of Imp's Cold Sweat or Broken Mask. The opener is Valkyrie Plains; the closer, Winning Back.