Ace Combat 8 Mission 28 (A Thousand Points of Light): Harmonius Trigger, Loadout and Farm Notes

Quick answer

Mission 28 is "A Thousand Points of Light" (Operation Locust Purge), set over Cima Island.^[1][2][3] It has no mission medal.^[1]

It is an air battle. Guides describe the sky as full of enemy aircraft, including slow bombers, and you can land at the Cima Island airstrip to rearm as many times as you like.^[1][4][5]

The conditional enemy ace is Harmonius in an F-35C Lightning II. On Veteran or higher, destroy 5 bombers within 5 minutes of the mission start.^[6][7] A second group, the Lux Lunae 22nd Unit, is tied to a kill in Mission 18 (details and a source disagreement below).

Mission 28 at a glance

What the mission asks of you

No bylined guide has published the full objective list or the order targets arrive in, so we do not give a step-by-step route. What the guides do agree on:

• Expect a crowded sky. KeenGamer says the mission "fills the sky with enemy aircraft",^[1] and PowerPyx says there are "lots of aircraft to shoot down".^[4]
• Bombers are part of the mix. The slow bombers are easy machine-gun targets, according to KeenGamer and PowerPyx.^[1][4] The Harmonius trigger also counts bombers from the very start of the mission.^[6]
• Bring air-to-air weapons. KeenGamer suggests a multi-lock special weapon such as the 4AAM or 6AAM to clear groups quickly.^[1] The Click also says to bring strong air-to-air damage.^[5] Which planes carry those weapons: special weapons.
• Do not ration ammunition. The Click's advice is to land when your special weapons are low, rearm and go back in.^[5]

How to get Harmonius: the steps in order

1. Play on Veteran or higher. Named aces only spawn on Veteran difficulty or above.^[1]
2. Go for the bombers at once. Destroy 5 bombers within 5 minutes of the mission start.^[6][7]
3. Look for Harmonius (F-35C Lightning II). PowerPyx says the ace appears at roughly 23:40 left on the mission clock.^[6]
4. Finish the mission. A named ace kill only saves once you complete the mission. Restarting, quitting or failing after the kill erases it.^[8]

Our calculation: 5 bombers in 5 minutes (300 seconds) is an average of one bomber every 60 seconds from the start, including the flight time to reach them.

Shooting down a conditional ace also unlocks a paint scheme for that ace's aircraft type.^[6] For Harmonius, that is the F-35C. All aces: named aces and skins.

The Lux Lunae 22nd Unit and the Mission 18 kill

PowerPyx lists the 22nd Unit in Mission 28 as Su-57 Felons with the names Doctus, Salatrix, Acrobates, Anteros and Ares.^[6] The sources describe the link to Mission 18 differently:

We do not pick a winner. Either way, the safe route for a full Assault Records list is to shoot down Shadow 24 in Mission 18 first. The Click points out that the same kill also brings in that mission's own ace, Curis (F-15J).^[7]

Farming MRP on Mission 28

PowerPyx calls Mission 28 the single mission that yields the most money, "hands down".^[4] KeenGamer's mission list and platinum roadmap also name it as the mission to farm.^[1][8] No written guide has published how much MRP one run pays or how long a run takes, so we make no per-minute claim. The full route, the difficulty multipliers and a second view on shorter missions are on MRP farming.

Two rules to remember on a farm run:

• Finish the sortie. KeenGamer says MRP is only banked on completion, so do not quit after a long run.^[1]
• Free Mission comes first. It unlocks after your first campaign clear, and it lets you replay Mission 28 on any difficulty you have unlocked.^[1]

What one Mission 28 run can count toward

The Click makes the same point: once the Mission 18 kill is done, you can work on the 22nd Unit, Harmonius, machine-gun kills and MRP in the same cleanup phase.^[7]

Mission 28 and S rank

• PowerPyx says a confirmed ace kill is worth around 2,000 points, so Harmonius is worth taking on a score run.^[10]
• Taking no damage adds a 5,000-point bonus. A checkpoint restart costs points, though PowerPyx notes you still get MRP from a run that misses the S rank.^[10]
• As of October 3, 2026, PowerPyx's Ace-difficulty S-rank walkthrough has no written route for Mission 28.^[10] The S-rank score for this mission is not confirmed.

More on scoring: S rank requirements.

Not confirmed yet

We found no written, bylined source for these, so we do not list them:

• The full objective list and the order the enemy waves arrive
• The time limit
• A specific recommended aircraft (only the 4AAM or 6AAM weapon type is suggested)
• The S-rank score, and the MRP or time for one run

The full mission order is on missions list and length.