It is the Demon Lord!
You also got to see and fight through events only referenced in Unsung War. The post-war decade after interviews were an excellent plot touch especially how certain ones were influenced by your fighting slant given you would shoot down or destroy different flight squadrons. I played as close to Knight style as possible given that I believe in fighting the decent fight, let some get away if its allowed instead of shooting out everyone.
Ammo is not unlimited and quite often I nearly expended all my missiles on some missions. You get different rewards for different styles, which was nice, and of course the fighter types are relative to prior Ace Combat selections. However alternate paint schemes were fun too. I was able to fly and fight through nearly every mission level without too much replay aside from the mission where you have to dodge Excalibur's AA system near the end. The Avalon Dam was difficult only when flying inside the dam as many AC players know how well you fly really counts in tight spaces like Avalon, like the tunnels when escaping Sand Island Base in Unsung War, and so on.
I certainly found some flights more challenging than others and then I am reminded of the words of the Reborn Veteran. Words about hatred being useless in conflict, it has to be about more, and yet I could grasp where the others were coming from too. There was a communal experience that bonds all those pilots together forever in a storyline context. Nobody is really sure if your character existed at all though most of the surviving pilots from those missions have proven that you were there. You did your job, got your pay, and saved the day more than once.
The only rule is SURVIVAL.... almost a cliche for the game, but something unspoken fills the skies in an Ace Combat game.