Chapter Summaries

Kang De warned Goth’s nobles against exploiting the coming war or seeking an alliance with the Empire, while the Arcane Council mobilized troops and requested negotiations. He prepared to meet the Council’s challenge with air power as the Grand Speaker faced pressure to negotiate.

• Kang De and Tina discussed the Goth court’s renewed alliance between Grand Duke Reknos and Prime Minister Xide, and Kang De said he would take control of Goth if necessary.
• Goth’s nobles urged the Grand Duke to mend relations with the Empire, while Stella listened from a side room and weighed her loyalties.
• Ulysses delivered Kang De’s ultimatum to the Goth court: nobles who incited unrest against commoners or allied with the Empire would face severe punishment, including execution of their clans.
• Kang De and his advisers reviewed reports of Council troop movements and the Council’s request for a sovereign-level meeting, and Kang De judged the mobilization likely to be a feint.
• Kang De said the Council’s efforts to copy his weapons would be futile and revealed that he planned to surprise it with air power.
• The Grand Speaker faced demands in the Starry Sky Council to begin negotiations with Kang De.

Grand Speaker Griffin defended his plan to wage war on Kang De before the Senate, while a coordinated assault struck the Tower of All-Seeing. The attackers’ identity remained uncertain as an enormous aircraft hurtled toward the tower.

• Griffin argued that Kang De’s machines could transform Goth into a military and industrial power, and urged the Senate to approve war instead of peace talks.
• As the Senate prepared to vote, Griffin resolved to commit a grave crime against the Council and stake everything against Kang De.
• An unidentified aircraft entered Tula Xiaye’s airspace, and officials mistakenly identified it as Distant Harbor’s air force.
• Armored attackers stormed the Tower of All-Seeing, firing powerful alchemical weapons and shouting their support for Kang De.
• When the executive officer asked Griffin to summon reinforcements, Griffin gave him an apologetic smile as a cloaked figure attacked the chamber.
• The enormous aircraft evaded the Wyverns and plunged toward the Tower of All-Seeing.

Kang De inspected the Scout Camp and Children's Home before learning that Tula Xiaye had been attacked and a plane had crashed into the Tower of All-Seeing. At an emergency Shogunate meeting, he asked whether Distant Harbor should launch a surprise attack on Tula Xiaye before the Arcane Council could respond.

• Kang De visited the Scout Camp, thanked its elven instructors, and explained that transforming the youths was his revenge against the person who had denied others hope.
• Kang De toured the Children's Home, answered the children's questions, and received an urgent report that Tula Xiaye and the Tower of All-Seeing had been attacked.
• Kang De convened an emergency meeting, where Tina reported that the Brotherhood could not determine what had happened and the Fate Weaver had warned them to be careful.
• Dong Tianming, Parrot, Hong San, A Fu, Horus, Tina, Nixiyasi, and Tuosidiwa discussed the suspected frame-up, military readiness, and the possibility of a wider war.
• Kang De asked Dong Tianming and Malegith whether Distant Harbor should use Phase Gates to launch a surprise attack on Tula Xiaye and seize the Arcane Council's capital.

As the Council and Distant Harbor approached war after an attack on Tula Xiaye, Kang De overruled Dong Tianming and ordered a risky expedition to the Council capital. He mobilized Distant Harbor for a possible catastrophe and urged former Council soldiers to join him in uncovering who had framed them.

• Dong Tianming warned Kang De that attacking Tula Xiaye would make Distant Harbor appear aggressive, while Parrot and Malegith argued for striking before the Council could mobilize.
• Kang De chose to send troops to Tula Xiaye to assess the Council's strength, investigate the attack, and seek a chance to end the war.
• Kang De ordered Distant Harbor to raise its alert, rehearse its evacuation plan, and have Tina reassure the people and notify foreign powers.
• Kang De appointed Nixiyasi to guide him and told A Fu to assemble former Council troops for the expedition.
• Kang De told the assembled soldiers he had been framed and asked them to accompany him to Tula Xiaye to uncover the conspirators and prevent a destructive war.

Griffin Williams murdered the councilors and manipulated Phaethon into framing Kang De, but Kang De arrived in Tula Xiaye with his forces and launched a devastating attack. The chapter ended as six mountain-sized masses of fire fell from gateways above the city.

• Griffin Williams killed nine councilors, including Senate Executive Kaliusi, to force the Council and the nation into war against Kang De.
• Griffin subdued Phaethon and ordered him to accuse Kang De of betraying the Star Palace and plotting to enslave the world.
• Kang De mobilized his troops from the White Mist World and arrived in Tula Xiaye, where the Suppressor of Rebellion reported the turmoil and anti-Kang rumors.
• Kang De and Malegith concluded that someone in the Council had allied with the Star Palace, and Kang De announced his arrival across the city.
• Griffin welcomed Kang De's arrival as a chance to blame him, but the sky darkened and six mountain-sized masses of fire descended on Tula Xiaye.

Kang De’s meteors were stopped when Grand Speaker Griffin Williams activated the Star Palace’s secret mechanism, which suppressed their kinetic energy. Kang De concealed Griffin’s intervention, continued his assault on Tula Xiaye with a propaganda speech, and was left facing a new spatial seal as an entire universe struck the mechanism.

• Griffin Williams activated the Star-Bearing Titan and the Infinite Wisdom Codex, slowing Kang De’s descending meteors and suppressing their kinetic energy.
• Kang De sent the meteors through portals before they struck Tula Xiaye, then refused Parrot’s urging to retreat and ordered his forces to switch weapons and deploy mines.
• Kang De opened more eyes in the sky and used portals to broadcast a speech claiming he had come to prevent war, while Griffin’s attempt to address the city was drowned out by censoring beeps.
• Kang De secretly used a recording of Griffin’s voice to fabricate statements and blamed the attempted attacks on the Council, as Griffin recognized the speech was turning the city against war.
• Griffin activated the Codex’s spatial seal, contracting Kang De’s Phase Gates, but an entire universe crashed into the divine-age mechanism.

Kang De exposed Grand Speaker Griffin as the architect of the chaos in Tula Xiaye and began a public campaign to prevent war while his soldiers advanced on the Tower of All-Seeing. After recruiting Councillor Aokexindun and preparing to confront the Star Palace, Kang De declared that he intended to claim its slowing-field technology and marched toward the Star-Bearing Titan.

• Kang De concluded that the Star Palace had supplied Griffin with a vast slowing domain and identified him as the mastermind behind the attack and planned war.
• Kang De accused Griffin over the citywide broadcast, while explosions destroyed the dimensional lockstones and Griffin's attempts to respond were silenced.
• Kang De sent 324 surrendered Azure Fleet soldiers into Tula Xiaye to gather evidence and confront the Tower of All-Seeing, publicly insisting they had come for peace.
• The soldiers advanced toward a Council ace unit as Kang De used his overwhelming force and broadcast to discourage the city's soldiers and civilians from interfering.
• Kang De brought Councillor Aokexindun to Tula Xiaye, enlisted his support, and announced that he would take the Star Palace's technology before marching toward the Star-Bearing Titan.

Former Council sailors charged toward the Tower of All-Seeing while Griffin struggled to contain Kang De’s raid and argued with Phaethon. Kang De’s forces pulled the Star-Bearing Titan through a Phase Gate, leaving Griffin exposed to Phaethon’s restored power.

• The unarmed former Council sailors urged the capital garrison to join their march toward the Tower of All-Seeing, and the two forces became entangled.
• Griffin refused Phaethon’s demands to remove the Deceleration Field, then revealed that he intended to offer Phaethon to Kang De and seek peace talks.
• Kang De’s metal locusts opened a Phase Gate beneath the Star-Bearing Titan and dragged the Titan into the White Mist World.
• Kang De shouted that Griffin had fled with the Titan, while Griffin cursed as Phaethon regained his full power.

Phaethon and Griffin fought inside the Tower of All-Seeing while each tried to manipulate the other, but Phaethon escaped after seizing control of the Deceleration Field. Kang De and his allies confronted Phaethon outside, and Griffin discovered that Executive Kaliusi had survived and accused him of conspiring with Phaethon.

• Phaethon attacked Griffin, who secretly welcomed the destruction and tried to keep Phaethon focused on revenge.
• As they fought, Griffin reflected on how Kang De had overturned his coup and began considering a proper discussion with him.
• The Security Committee arrived, but Phaethon shut down the citywide Deceleration Field and burst through the Tower of All-Seeing's outer wall.
• Kang De's forces ambushed Phaethon with a Titan Divine Arrow and powerful allies, while Kang De revealed himself through a Phase Door and called Phaethon the Fire Thief.
• Phaethon fled as Griffin urged the Council forces to join Kang De against him, but the surviving Executive Kaliusi accused Griffin of being in league with Phaethon.

Kaliusi exposed Griffin’s conspiracy to the Arcane Council, forcing the Security Committee to consider cooperating with Kang De while Griffin fought Phaethon. Phaethon offered Griffin a place in the Star Palace and urged him to lead an attack on Kang De at Goth’s border.

• Griffin realized Phaethon had secretly spared Kaliusi, whose accusations threatened to expose the Grand Speaker’s coup, and charged at Phaethon in fury.
• Kaliusi accused Griffin and Phaethon of conspiring to kill the senators, then urged the Security Committee to join forces with Kang De and capture Phaethon.
• Kaliusi argued that Kang De could expose Griffin’s crimes, and Angelos offered Kang De a temporary alliance to defeat their common enemy.
• Kang De mocked Angelos over whether his offer represented the Council’s position, then said he would support the Council’s fight from below.
• Phaethon urged Griffin to join the Star Palace, promising him companionship and a chance to escape humiliation and death.
• Phaethon revealed that his forces were gathering at Goth’s border and urged Griffin to attack Kang De and disrupt the Fire Thief’s rise.

Phaethon persuaded Griffin to defect from the Arcane Council, then fled north with him as the Council reeled from the betrayal. Kang De stopped Kaliusi from dying and demanded repayment, leaving the weakened executive to answer.

• Phaethon offered Griffin power and the world’s safety in exchange for killing Kang De, and Griffin chose to flee with him after Phaethon triggered Kaliusi’s hidden sunlight energy.
• Phaethon and Griffin broke through the mages’ blockade and escaped north while the Security Committee hesitated to pursue them.
• Kaliusi urged the directors to pursue Griffin and join forces with Kang De, but they prioritized saving him and preventing a power struggle within the Council.
• Kang De arrived at the Tower of All-Seeing and absorbed the destructive sunlight energy from Kaliusi, while Naisha treated his injuries.
• Kaliusi woke and thanked Kang De, who explained the political consequences of his death and asked how he would repay the favor.

Kang De demanded compensation from the Arcane Council while explaining the Star Palace’s threat and his intention to fight it. Kaliusi recognized that Griffin’s betrayal and the Star Palace danger had left the Council at a crossroads, but Kang De insisted that the Council still owed him payment.

• Kaliusi considered how Kang De had saved him, exposed Griffin, and gained leverage over the Council, while Naisha misread Kang De’s suggestive words as a deliberate attempt to seduce and reject her.
• Kang De refused to help pursue Griffin and demanded a reward, damages for emotional distress, and compensation; Naisha and Angelos disputed that he was owed anything.
• Kaliusi argued that Kang De’s actions had contributed to the Council’s crisis, but Kang De said saving Kaliusi had been worthwhile because he could help preserve the Council’s stability and testify against Griffin and Phaethon.
• Kang De told Kaliusi and the Council members that the Gods of the Star Palace destroyed civilizations and had deceived the survivors of Yilan-Tai’er into attacking the Azure Fleet.
• Kang De explained that he had hoped to strengthen the mortal world by sharing Yilan-Tai’er’s legacy, then declared that he had come to prevent war and internal strife, not to seek an alliance.
• Kang De insisted that the Council pay him because its resources would be wasted in their hands, while Kaliusi questioned why he was extorting them if they were to unite against the Star Palace.

Kang De pressured the Arcane Council into joining forces with Distant Harbor, while secretly locating and seizing Griffin’s Age of Gods mechanism. Griffin and Phaethon escaped to the border, where Griffin demanded more support from the Star Palace to continue opposing Kang De.

• Kang De urged Kaliusi to become the next grand speaker and offered paid services to help the Council pursue Griffin and Phaethon.
• Kang De revealed that Griffin and Phaethon had escaped, then used Councilor Aokexindun’s return to pressure Kaliusi into protecting him and working with Distant Harbor.
• After Kang De vanished, Kaliusi agreed to join forces and ordered the Council to seize Griffin’s residence, papers, associates, and students.
• In the White Mist World, Kang De and Horus located and seized the Age of Gods mechanism and several unconscious mages, while Kang De resolved to study the device and develop countermeasures.
• Near the border between the Council and Goth, Griffin demanded that Phaethon arrange a meeting with Apophis and secure greater Star Palace support.

Kang De seized the Star Palace Deceleration Field and maneuvered to shape the Arcane Council’s political factions while arranging a meeting with its military marshals. Meanwhile, Griffin and Phaethon planned to revive their war against Kang De by attacking Goth.

• Kang De called Councilor Aokexindun, revealed that Kaliusi had survived and that Kang De had saved him, then offered cooperation with Distant Harbor’s Truth Office and the military.
• Kang De explained to Malegith how he planned to pit Aokexindun against Kaliusi, build an alliance with the industrial sector and military, and told Aokexindun to name his party.
• Kang De briefed Nixiyasi on the Council’s upheaval and asked her to bring him to Tula Xiaye to meet the four marshals; she agreed.
• Griffin told Phaethon that he still planned to weaken Kang De’s influence by proving his weapons could be countered and rallying other powers against him.
• Griffin chose Goth as the place to launch the next war.

The Silver Moon Council celebrated the upheaval in Tula Xiaye and considered exploiting it to split the Arcane Council, while Dairila worried that the Star Palace had orchestrated Griffin Williams’s actions. A report that a mysterious force had weakened Kang De’s forbidden spell transformed the elves’ mood, and they ordered their agents to find Griffin and contact him.

• Elven spies sent the Silver Moon Council reports of the attack in Tula Xiaye, and the elders concluded that Griffin Williams had framed Kang De.
• The elders discussed supporting Griffin and fomenting a civil war between the Arcane Council’s north and south, but Dairila postponed the plan and suspected the Star Palace was behind the plot.
• Dairila decided to contact Kang De to learn what had happened, while the councilors joked about her closeness to him.
• A new intelligence report said a mysterious force had slowed objects and weakened Kang De’s forbidden spell over Tula Xiaye.
• Dairila dropped the report in shock, and the council ordered its agents to find Griffin and ask what support he needed.

The Emperor tried to exploit the belief that Griffin’s weapon could neutralize Kang De’s forbidden spell, while secretly preserving a path to ally with Kang De if he survived. In the White Mist World, Kang De refused to involve Earth and resolved to defeat Griffin publicly and confront Phaethon.

• The Emperor ordered the Empire to spread the claim that Griffin’s technology could counter Kang De, contact Griffin through the Williams Family, and pressure Goth to prepare for the coming conflict.
• The Emperor sent Kang De an offer of territory, wealth, armies, and a possible imperial inheritance, while privately planning to cooperate with Griffin without completely alienating Kang De.
• Parrot urged Kang De to seek help from Earth and prove that his forbidden spell still worked, but Kang De refused to involve his country in the conflict between worlds.
• Kang De said he would use the battle to build prestige, beat Griffin in front of the continent, and deal with Phaethon.

After learning that Griffin was hiding and that the Brotherhood might seek his Deceleration Field technology, Kang De prepared new weapons and plans to study spatial magic. The chapter ended with Griffin accusing Kang De of conspiring with Kaliusi to cause the Tower of All-Seeing massacre.

• Tina told Kang De that Griffin was difficult to find and that the Brotherhood's Fate Weaver had his own plans for the Deceleration Field.
• Kang De revealed that he had secretly used Paradox Element to monitor the Brotherhood's assassins at Sound of the Tide Manor.
• Kang De discussed the threat posed by the Deceleration Field with Tina and described plans for a high-altitude weapon and a continent-wide radar system.
• A Fu told Kang De that the Broken Isles' spatial scholars and teleportation array were ready, and Kang De decided to study how teleportation worked.
• Griffin appeared in the northern Council and accused Kang De and Kaliusi of orchestrating the Tower of All-Seeing massacre.

Kang De and Dong Tianming devised a strategy to keep the Arcane Council’s north and south from fighting while turning their rivalry into strength against the Star Palace. After naming the proposal the Tianming Plan, Kang De returned to Earth and searched the news for a country to target for supplies.

• Kang De ordered his ministries to answer Griffin’s accusations, monitor the Council’s northern cities, maintain troop mobilization, and prepare for a direct war.
• Dong Tianming argued that Kang De should let the Council’s north and south separate politically without allowing them to go to war, so both regimes would prepare for the Star Palace instead.
• Dong Tianming proposed that Kang De defeat Griffin, then support the northern interest groups and bind them to Distant Harbor through aid and shared interests; Kang De named the strategy the Tianming Plan.
• Kang De agreed to let Dong Tianming accompany the army and carry out the plan, while Tina reported that foreign powers were demanding answers about Griffin’s accusations.
• Kang De left Distant Harbor for Earth, considered acquiring weapons and equipment to counter the Deceleration Field, and opened the news to find a country he could target.

Zhang Mianzhi and Han Mingxiu delivered Kang De’s blunt insult to Emperor Otto II’s envoy, then discussed Distant Harbor’s confidence in Kang De as war approached. Meanwhile, Kang De secretly summoned the Titan Warrior at Lake Huron and targeted the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant.

• Han Mingxiu and Zhang Mianzhi visited Ambassador Rodlov and delivered Kang De’s message: “Otto II, eat shit!”
• Rodlov’s guards drew their swords, but Han Mingxiu warned that Distant Harbor’s forces would arrive if they attacked, and Rodlov let the two men leave.
• Han Mingxiu told Zhang Mianzhi that Distant Harbor’s people trusted Kang De because of his past victories, while Zhang wondered how Kang De would win the coming battle.
• Officials tracking Kang De discussed his purchases, including more than a ton of hafnium tantalum carbide, before an emergency interrupted their conversation.
• Kang De summoned the Titan Warrior from Lake Huron and directed it toward the Bruce Nuclear Power Plant.

Kang De used the Titan Giant to attack the Bruno nuclear power plant on Lake Huron, prompting panic in Canada and an emergency response from A Chuan. As the president ordered a conventional air strike, Kang De prepared to use the Age of Gods Mechanism to steal something from the plant.

• Kang De controlled the heavily modified Titan Giant as it crossed Lake Huron and damaged the Bruno nuclear power plant while searching for something inside.
• The plant's workers fled as its operations supervisor ordered an emergency reactor shutdown, and Kang De said the attack was meant to stall for time.
• A Chuan learned that the giant was targeting the plant and refused Canada's request for military assistance until the threat of a nuclear leak became clear.
• A Chuan considered firing another nuclear bomb, but the secretary of defense persuaded him to order a precision air strike with Canada's air force instead.
• Kang De asked Parrot whether the Age of Gods Mechanism was ready, and Parrot told him to take it and steal what they wanted from the plant.