Not long after the bombing attack, a number of soldiers-on-duty die in an ambush initiated by a still unidentified terror group. Saal (Sid Lucero), the leader of the rebel group, receives his mother’s praises for yet another successful attack against their rivals.
It has recently been established that Saal is an agitator’s son. His father (Lito Pimentel) died in a skirmish between the rebels and the army. Saal escaped with his mother, Yasmin (Irma Adlawan); thinking that his younger sibling, Hakeem, also died in the encounter. Unknown to them, Hakeem managed to survive from the bloodshed and was taken in by Dante (Rommel Padilla), a military officer. Hakeem was raised as Alex Marasigan.
Rasheed (Matt Evans) approaches Saal and urges him to take responsibility for the bombing and ambush attacks. But Saal has other plans in mind, saying he wants to remain silent while the authorities fret on identifying their group. It turns out that Saal has a bigger ambition. He aims not only to govern the entire Mindanao but also to take over the entire country and build the first caliphate in Asia. He wishes to intensify their camp first before going on to their next attack.
Another faction enters the scene. The leader, whom they call Apo, scolds Saal for his recklessness and insists that their group would never enter an allegiance with Saal’s team. Apo then criticizes Saal’s leadership.