Red, the Mysterious Swordswoman

Red, the Mysterious Swordswoman is an optional Phantom Blade Zero boss on a rooftop tower near the Dovecote bell in the Mandate Encampment. Guides agree you should not finish her: escape by the hanging chain so she returns beside the Chief Disciple of the Seven Stars and you keep her Memory Flower and accessory. She drops nothing.

15:28 Do not finish Red, the Mysterious Swordswoman: the guides to this optional rooftop duel in the Mandate Encampment agree you should use the nearby chain to leave the arena rather than kill her, because the way to win it is not to win. In S-Game's 2025 S-Party demo walkthrough, a build from before launch where her bar read "Red Wraith", a swordswoman in red fights Soul on a tiled roof and at 15:48 leaps high over its ridge. She drops nothing; the fight belongs to the tale Daughter of the Dark Sect, which sparing her keeps going and killing her closes off. Game8 files her as a Perfect Transcension enemy, and the guides give her no chapter number: the Encampment opens once Gu Wanyue falls in Pangzhen.

Where the guides put her

The guides place her differently. AllThings.how finds her dying 11 m from the Dovecote bell; speaking to her starts Daughter of the Dark Sect ("Learn the identity of Red"), and the fight can break out there before she leaves. Game8 puts the fight on the tower near the Dovecote bell. Maxroll puts it at the top of the tower near the Main Encampment Gate, reached by climbing past the Sha-Chi Amber Fragment. PCGamesN says only that she comes out of nowhere on the roof of a building in the Encampment.

Should you fight Red or spare her?

Spare her. Game8 calls escaping the only way to get all rewards: she reappears later alongside the Chief Disciple of the Seven Stars, a harder fight, and defeating her the first time means you miss the Twin Fish Pendant. Maxroll gives the same advice: use the hanging chain to disengage, since fighting her locks you out of a Memory Flower and an accessory, and the tale then reads "Will Red appear again?"; it lists the Twin Fish Pendant among the Chief Disciple's rewards.

AllThings.how follows the spared path to its end. Once the Seven-Stars Formation falls, her Memory Flower appears about 6 m from the Tower Rear Exit bell and grants the memory "I. THE MANDATE'S DECISION" and a Sha-Chi accessory, and she returns at Mount Soulrend before the final battle. Her tale is one of the Missables that a single swing too many can close.

The Chief Disciple she returns beside is a fight most Steam players have not reached yet: his achievement, Sword Against the Seven-Stars, stood at 37.9% of Steam players on Nov 9, 2026. If you do beat Red, PCGamesN notes that there is no reward and that she says she will see you soon.

Holding her off until the chain

PCGamesN calls it an easy fight with little room to move. Whether you fight her out or only hold her off until you reach the chain, these are her moves:

One-Two Slash to Backflip: two quick slashes, then an unblockable retreating strike. Dodge the last hit.
Dagger Throw: she flips backward and fires a fast projectile; it is unblockable. Spot the backflip and the red glint, then dodge with a slight delay.
Air Step Slash: a flurry of slashes while she seems to walk on air. Perfect parry the final hit to open her to a counterattack.
Crimson Thread: when she binds you with crimson threads, a gap-closing strike always follows. Game8 says the threads give you time to set up a block or parry early; PCGamesN says the follow-up is a red attack, the color the game asks you to dodge (Combat), so the two guides differ on the answer.
Leap to the spire: PCGamesN says to keep an eye on her when she jumps to the spire.

The Red Wraith in the 2025 demo

The 2025 demo's rooftop boss bar read "Red Wraith", and S-Game's director, Soulframe Liang, told Inverse (Aug 11, 2025) that you "can either fight her to the end, or you can escape for now", and that escaping grants an extra Memory Flower; a spared Red Wraith joined the Chief Disciple's second phase. Guides to the released game call her Red, the Mysterious Swordswoman, and Game Rant lists her as Red, the Mysterious Wraith. The demo itself is on Demo.

Frequently asked questions

Should you kill Red in Phantom Blade Zero? No. Game8 and Maxroll both advise escaping Red, the Mysterious Swordswoman by the hanging chain: killing her costs a Memory Flower and an accessory, the Twin Fish Pendant goes with the Chief Disciple's later fight, and the tale Daughter of the Dark Sect ends there.

Does Red come back in Phantom Blade Zero? Only if spared. Game8 says she reappears alongside the Chief Disciple of the Seven Stars, and AllThings.how follows her to Mount Soulrend, where she returns before the final battle.

Is Red the Red Wraith from the Phantom Blade Zero demo? She plays the same part. The 2025 demo's Red Wraith was a rooftop swordswoman Soul could flee from, who then joined the Chief Disciple's second phase, as Red does in the released game.