How to Beat the High Elder in Phantom Blade Zero (Ritual at the Heart of the Lake)

Quick answer: Press E on Puppet No. 99 while holding both Crystal Puppet Eyes. Then walk up to each kneeling figure in the ritual arena and attack it at close range until none are left.

The High Elder’s ritual is one of the gentler fights in Phantom Blade Zero. The kneeling figures don’t chase you and barely strike back, so most of the work happens before the fight starts. You need the right items in hand and the right spot on the frozen lake.

How to start the fight

You need both Crystal Puppet Eyes. You also need the Four Guardians’ Mirror opened with all four Acolytes’ masks, as the Secrets at the Heart of the Lake walkthrough shows. When both are done, the quest step reads “Socket the crystal eyeball into Puppet No. 99”.

Rest at the Whiteshadow’s Fall bell. It’s the closest bell to the ritual site.

Walk out onto the frozen lake to Puppet No. 99, the many-armed statue. It sits about 40 m on foot from the bell.

Puppet No. 99 on the frozen lake with the E prompt, Phantom Blade Zero

Stand next to the statue and press E. Soul offers the red eye and the blue eye, and the statue takes both.

Soul holding the red and blue Crystal Puppet Eyes, Phantom Blade Zero

Let the cutscene play. It starts right away, with no menu or confirmation prompt, and drops you straight into the ritual.

How to beat the High Elder

Shallow water covers the ritual arena’s floor, enclosed by a curtain of red light. Kneeling figures are scattered around it; each has an individual health bar and about 3,646 HP.

High Elder ritual arena with shallow water and red light, Phantom Blade Zero

The figures stay put and rarely fight back. On Pathbreaker, your health stays full for the whole fight, and you don’t need the gourd.

Pick the nearest kneeling figure and walk until you’re standing beside it.

Keep attacking until its health bar is empty.

Attacking a kneeling figure in the High Elder ritual, Phantom Blade Zero

Walk to the next closest figure and repeat until none are left.

Defeating the last figure makes it burst into red. The banner “SECRETS AT THE HEART OF THE LAKE / COMPLETE” appears, and the achievement “Forbidden Arts Beneath the Lake” unlocks then.

The last kneeling figure falls in the High Elder ritual, Phantom Blade Zero

What happens after

The fight itself gives you no item card and no Remnant Dust. A cutscene follows instead. It shows a huge red flower, and the Lady of the Veil says “Struggle all you want. The Blight’s arrival is inevitable!”

You then wake in the Realm of Mirage next to Inanis. Talk to her to receive the Violet Blossom, the Soul Temper material for Inanis’ Radiant Fan.

Soul talking with Inanis in the Realm of Mirage, Phantom Blade Zero

Soul Temper	Weapon	Cost
Nirvana	Inanis’ Radiant Fan	1 Violet Blossom, 5,000 Remnant Dust

Nirvana’s effect reads “Upon taking fatal damage inside the field, revive once and restore 30% HP”.

Violet Blossom item card, Phantom Blade Zero

Pressing E near Inanis again only gets one more line: “Between the Waking Realm and the Discordance lie countless scattered memories and lingering regrets.”

How to leave the Realm of Mirage

To exit, take the portal on the small islet with blue flowers, across the water from Inanis. Approach it from the islet’s far side, the side facing away from Inanis, to make the E prompt appear.

Portal on the blue flower islet in the Realm of Mirage, Phantom Blade Zero

If you come at it from the side nearest Inanis, you stop at the edge and get no prompt. Walk around the islet, approach the portal from the other side, and press E to leave.