Audience with the Dark Elf

Western Keep - Betrayal's Roost: Use the first Cube. Defeat Skeletons, Goblins, and a Harpy. Open the chest for a key. Go through the door, then upstairs and into the room you came from to find a chest and spiders (shortcut to the cube). Leave, open the next door with the key.

Western Keep - Hall of Traitors: Fight a teleporting Shadow (weak to light magic, can use borrowed purple skills). Open the chest to the left. Continue right to fight another Shadow, Skeleton, and Goblin. Follow the path to a room with two more Shadows and a Skeleton. Fight a Coerul. Attack the window with a sword to reveal a chest. Follow the path to the second Cube.

Western Keep - Crimson Ramparts: Go forward, soul shield the giant rampart's blasts. Open the chest. Go left and up a ladder in a tower for another chest. Return to the center. Go right, defeat spiders while avoiding the rampart. Climb the ladder to the tower to defeat a Harpy. Open the chest where the spiders were. Let the rampart hit the wooden barrier, then climb the tower for a chest. Go back to the Harpy's tower, climb up, and jump down from a broken side. Follow the path, avoiding the rampart. Go up stairs to fight a Coerul, paying attention to the rampart. Head towards the large tower with pink symbols to find the third Cube. Continue past the Coerul, defeating enemies (sea creature, spiders, goblins) while avoiding the rampart. Find two chests near the second group of enemies. Jump down a ladder, follow the path to another ladder, and jump down. There's a pink orb with a random weapon across.

Western Keep - Master's Quarters: Continue, defeat enemies, and climb two ladders to reach the fourth Cube. Climb the tower to reach the Rampart. Destroy the dark vent to remove the rampart. Go back down to the cube. Take the nearby ladder down to another tower and fight a Queen Griffon. Break its armor to attack its weakened body. You get the key to the Treasury (behind the Griffon). Open it for three chests and Fools Missive VII. Return to the cube, go back up the tower where the rampart was. Take the ladder down to cross rooftops, fighting goblins, a harpy, and skeletons. At a fork after two skeletons, climb a ladder to a chest. Cross the bridge, jump down, open a chest, and jump down again. Enter the tower.

Demon's Hold: Find a Cactuar in the first room. In the hall, kill skeletons and a Shadow, then open the chest for the front gate key. Go into the next room, ignore the elevator, and open the gate. Use the cubes outside. Go up the elevator. Fight a Coerula with goblins and skeletons. Call the next elevator and go up. Find the final Cube and prepare for the boss.

Black Knight Boss Fight: Beware of red unblockable attacks (Rush, Squash, Hind Kick). Learn to avoid red attacks and soul shield normal ones to deliver Break Damage. The purple attack is an earth-shattering stomp. Destroy his break gauge to destroy his mount. The mount's armor can be broken for increased damage and brief stuns, but focus on the break gauge or HP. Phase 2 begins when the break gauge is depleted or HP reaches 50%.