Chapter Summaries

Gawain and the researchers discovered that the Holy Light Rune Substrate could verify the Mind Imprint, and Gawain proved he could power it himself. They debated the danger of using an Inverse Transformation Array to automate Holy Light spells, and Camil proposed restarting the laboratories inside Defiance Fortress to test the process safely.

• Gawain used his own magic to power the Holy Light Rune Substrate, revealing that he was unaffected by the Mind Imprint, and let Emily take the Holy Light to eat.
• Light explained that the magic network could bypass the Mind Imprint, but Camil warned that an Inverse Transformation Array might reconnect the spell to the God of Holy Light and provoke Divine Punishment.
• Gawain and Camil discussed whether a person pulling a Rune Trigger would introduce a mental factor into an otherwise automated spellcasting process.
• Camil requested permission to reactivate the usable laboratories within Defiance Fortress so they could safely test the Holy Light system.

Gawain approved Camil’s plan to restart the laboratories in Fortress of Defiance after hearing that its protection system would not distort experiments and that the Umbral passage could be monitored for danger. Meanwhile, Pope Saint Ivan III decided to withdraw Church leaders from the Eastern Diocese and send the Holy Army to support the Kingdom Army, while Veronica said the traditional order need not endure unchanged.

• Camil proposed restarting Fortress of Defiance’s laboratories, and Gawain approved after learning the Umbral Teleportation Gate could provide advance warning of a collapse.
• Bishops reported that war and cult activity were spreading across the Holy Spirit Plain and that Church influence in the Eastern Diocese was weakening.
• Pope Saint Ivan III ordered the Bishop Council and clergy withdrawn from the Eastern Diocese and declared that the Holy Army would join the Kingdom Army against the Eastern Frontier Rebels.
• Veronica Moen told Saint Ivan III that the Church’s intervention benefited both the Church and the Kingdom Army, and that changing times did not require the old order to remain unchanged.
• Saint Ivan III asked Veronica about the situation in the south, and she replied that it was shrouded in fog.

Veronica briefed Saint Ivan III on Gawain Cecil’s control of the south and the Church’s restricted position there, while the Intelligence Bureau prepared to withdraw its exposed agents from the royal capital. At the White Water River, Gawain reflected on the city’s rapid growth before Tir surfaced and greeted him.

• Veronica told Saint Ivan III that Gawain had restored the Duchy of Cecil, sealed the south, and restricted the Church’s activity in Luan City.
• Saint Ivan III decided to wait and see how Gawain handled Luan City, and told Veronica to prepare to speak with him if conditions worsened.
• Pierce told Gepril that the Intelligence Bureau would withdraw its exposed agents from the royal capital and leave a hidden work group in their place.
• Gepril said she had no attachment to the capital and preferred the wind by the White Water River.
• Gawain surveyed the transformed riverbanks and considered the role of magic in Cecil’s rapid development.
• Tir emerged from the river and asked Gawain whether he was slacking off.

Gawain spoke with Tir about the rapid growth and weaknesses of his territory, then learned that civilizations that survived the Great Magic Tide had mysteriously collapsed afterward. Tir called this recurring catastrophe the “Black Trap.”

• Gawain found Tir swimming in the White Water River after she had slipped away from her Shipbuilding Plant duties.
• Tir assessed Gawain’s territory, warning that its rapid expansion had outpaced its administrators, army, and industries.
• Gawain asked whether any land civilization had survived the Magic Tide, and Tir explained that several had endured the Great Magic Tide.
• Tir said those surviving civilizations later vanished amid apparent wars, destroyed records, mass suicides, and burial sacrifices.
• Tir described the post-Tide collapse as an invisible danger waiting for civilizations and named it the “Black Trap.”

Gawain learned that the sirens believed an unknown “Black Trap” destroyed advanced civilizations, though they could not explain its cause. Tir recounted an ancient war between dragons and a Land Dweller empire, leaving Gawain to consider whether dragons might know something about the threat.

• Gawain told Tir that the Magic Tide remained his immediate priority and that he would keep fighting to survive despite the possibility of the Black Trap.
• Tir explained the sirens’ hypothesis that the Black Trap acted as a filter, destroying civilizations once they became capable of surviving the Magic Tide.
• Gawain questioned the hypothesis because the technologically superior sirens had never encountered the Black Trap, and Tir described a submerged civilization whose people had apparently shut off their own protective shield and drowned.
• Tir told Gawain about the War of the Counter Tide, in which dragons defeated an advanced Land Dweller empire after a decade-long conflict involving attacks on its temples.
• Tir suggested that the dragons might know whether the ancient war was connected to the Black Trap, and Gawain reacted with exasperation.

After Tir revealed that the Black Trap might destroy civilizations that reached a certain stage, Gawain resolved to keep humanity developing and investigate the threat. At Defiance Fortress, Camil restarted the ancient laboratory so the group could begin an experiment with Light’s Holy Light substrate.

• Tir explained that the Black Trap appeared to be a mechanism that destroyed civilizations after they met certain criteria, and said she had shared the secret in repayment for Gawain’s Rainbow Light Technology.
• Gawain accepted Tir’s goodwill and insisted that humanity had to keep advancing despite the danger of the Black Trap and the Magic Tide.
• Gawain brought Light, Amber, Pittman, Rebecca, and other researchers through the Magic Gate to the Umbral Realm laboratory at Defiance Fortress.
• The group entered the prepared laboratory and saw Amun the Giant Deer’s enormous corpse through its window as Camil activated the ancient facility.
• The laboratory’s response mechanism completed its self-check, and Camil greeted the long-dead Defiers before beginning the experiment.

Camil and Gawain tested whether an Inverse Transformation Array could activate Holy Light Runes without triggering Divine Punishment or bypassing a tester’s Mind Imprint. The experiment succeeded, and Rebecca introduced a further test called “Random selection.”

• Camil explained the laboratory apparatus and how paired Holy Light boards would test for Divine Punishment and Mind Imprints.
• Gawain questioned volunteer tester Kornbel, who asked him to bring his family to Cecil if he succeeded and send a message home if he failed.
• Kornbel activated the Rune Trigger, and the board powered by the Inverse Transformation Array lit up while the directly powered board went dark.
• The Protection System reported no divine impact, and Camil declared that the array had activated Holy Light without Divine Punishment or interference from Mind Imprints.
• Gawain promised to bring Kornbel’s family to Cecil, and Rebecca began a further test called “Random selection.”

Rebecca’s random-selection experiment showed that the Mind Imprint depended on the tester’s awareness, while technical systems could isolate its effects. As the researchers celebrated, Gawain heard a warning in his mind and looked toward Amun the Giant Deer’s corpse.

• Rebecca explained a modified Rune Trigger that would test whether uncertainty prevented the Mind Imprint from activating.
• Kornbel ran repeated trials; the Rune Boards sometimes failed to connect, but when they did, both boards produced Holy Light.
• Camil concluded that the Mind Imprint depended on the tester’s self-awareness and that mechanical systems could remain unaffected by it.
• Pittman and Camil questioned how Magic Power separated from the tester could vanish under the Mind Imprint’s influence.
• Gawain considered the strange phenomenon and heard a voice warn him to prepare to face something.
• Gawain looked through the laboratory windows toward the corpse of Amun the Giant Deer.

Gawain approved the safe use of an Inverse Transformation Array to charge Holy Light runes and set plans for the first White Knight order. In Typhon, Mary wandered through town during the Harvest Festival preparations and found an imperial notice recruiting mages with expertise in runes and self-charging magic arrays.

• Gawain heard a voice he believed came from Amun the Giant Deer's corpse, but the laboratory scan showed no abnormalities and the corpse stayed silent.
• Gawain told Camil and Rebecca to develop practical White Knight equipment and instructed Light to recruit candidates who were both committed to the new doctrine and loyal Cecil soldiers.
• Light affirmed that divine authority granted a ruler legitimacy if he upheld justice, and Gawain accepted the statement.
• Mary left her Mage Tower on an errand, resisted buying pancakes, and wandered into the town square to watch Harvest Festival performances.
• Mary read new imperial decrees on the town bulletin board, including a recruitment notice seeking mages skilled in rune techniques, Magic Array research, and self-charging arrays.

Mary wandered through town, read a notice recruiting mages for a research project, and returned late to Daniel’s Mage Tower after buying the ingredients her mentor had ordered. Daniel punished her, but the notice’s mention of Self-Charging Magic Arrays caught his interest, and he sent Mary to her room with birthday pancakes.

• Mary read the town notices and noticed an imperial recruitment notice seeking mages familiar with mathematics, Magic Arrays, and Self-Charging Magic Arrays.
• Mary became distracted by the town square, bought the last potion ingredient before the shops closed, and traveled back to the Mage Tower after dark.
• Daniel struck Mary with lightning for returning late and warned her not to delay an experiment he had assigned.
• Mary told Daniel about the emperor’s mage recruitment, and Daniel wondered whether the empire’s research would interest his master.
• Daniel dismissed Mary and told her there were pancakes on her table because it was her birthday.

Daniel contacted Gawain after learning that Typhon’s ruler, Rosetta Augustus, was recruiting mages with knowledge of Ancient Gandor Magic Technology and self-charging arrays, suggesting interest in the Magic Network. Gawain planned to use Daniel to gain influence in Typhon and asked him for news of the empire’s recent changes.

• Mary left Daniel, whose returning self-control led him to retreat to his room in the Mage Tower.
• Daniel used the strange symbols bestowed by his master to soothe his damaged mind and nervous system, then contacted Gawain through a Magic Array.
• Gawain entered the hidden space in the Mind Network while Heti stood guard in the Lord's Mansion.
• Daniel told Gawain that Rosetta Augustus was recruiting mages with an unusual mix of magical expertise, which suggested that Typhon was investigating the Magic Network.
• Gawain told Daniel to become a technical star in Typhon and asked him to report on the empire’s recent changes.

Daniel reported Typhon’s military, literacy, and agricultural reforms, revealing to Gawain that Emperor Rosetta Augustus had set the empire on a rapid path of development. Gawain ordered Daniel to join Typhon’s Mage Association as a covert agent and began planning to expand his intelligence network.

• Daniel told Gawain that Typhon was replacing conscripts with a professional standing army and promoting literacy among commoners.
• Daniel explained that Burning Stone Acidification Workshops produced Fertility Dust to increase crop yields, and that Typhon was widening roads to support their spread.
• Gawain questioned Daniel about Typhon’s workshops, labor, roads, agriculture, merchants, nobles, and population, then realized the empire’s development had surpassed his expectations.
• Gawain directed Daniel to answer Rosetta Augustus’s recruitment and gradually share his research results while establishing himself in Typhon’s Mage Association.
• Gawain warned Daniel that his frequent use of the Mind Network could expose him and asked whether his research on Non-Implanted Neural Cord and Brainwave Amplification Devices had progressed.

Gawain reviewed Daniel’s progress on a Mind Network connector and considered bringing trusted Ansu researchers into the virtual space. He confirmed that Tir’s patterns were improving Daniel’s mental state, then returned from the Mind Network to find Heti asleep at his desk.

• Daniel showed Gawain his oversized, power-hungry prototype for connecting ordinary people to the Mind Network, and Gawain took the blueprints to improve it.
• Gawain told Daniel he might introduce him to his Ansu subordinates, and Daniel eagerly agreed to meet them while remembering Gawain’s identity as Duke Gawain Cecil.
• Daniel reported that Tir’s patterns had improved his clarity and research ability, though he had not let his apprentices try them because he feared they might surrender to the patterns’ blissful effects.
• Gawain told Daniel to continue testing the patterns cautiously and keep them secret, then disconnected from the Mind Network.
• Gawain returned to the real world and found Heti asleep across his desk, so he let her rest.

Gawain assessed Typhon’s accelerating reforms and concluded that Cecil needed to develop efficiently while secretly steering Typhon toward a costly mistake without destroying its future potential. In Typhon, Rosetta Augustus studied the Magic Net and declared that the Empire needed to develop and control its own version.

• Gawain weighed Rosetta Augustus’s reforms and Typhon’s vast resources against Cecil’s greater efficiency, then decided to focus on consolidating and developing his territory.
• Gawain considered using Magic Net technology to influence Typhon, but judged that the technology alone would not inflict enough damage on the Empire.
• Heti woke and told Gawain that the Administrative Hall was encountering problems with its new Magic Net document transmission system.
• In Alderan, Grand Duke Ferdinand and other officials briefed Rosetta Augustus on the Magic Net and their incomplete intelligence about its second-generation units.
• Rosetta Augustus warned his ministers not to use Cecil’s Magic Net technology carelessly and insisted that Typhon needed its own Magic Net and the means to apply it.

On the fifty-fourth day of Luan City’s blockade, temporary Bishop Franbelang persuaded the cathedral’s clergy that Gawain Cecil intended to force them out through hunger and isolation. The clergy vowed to hold the cathedral and accept martyrdom rather than surrender, while the blockade continued unchanged.

• Cecil Soldiers kept Luan City sealed off, leaving its residents under curfew and strict food rationing while the Church’s clergy remained exempt.
• Franbelang finished his prayers and asked the gathered priests about conditions inside the city and the Cecilians’ actions.
• Franbelang told the priests that Gawain Cecil wanted the Church to abandon Luan City voluntarily so he could take it without appearing to attack the faith.
• Franbelang argued that the clergy’s continued resistance would undermine Gawain Cecil and prepare them for possible sacrifices or martyrdom.
• The gathered priests rose and swore they would never withdraw or allow the God of Holy Light to be shamed.

Gawain reviewed simple propaganda intended to undermine the Holy Light Church in Luan City, then went to the research institute to inspect the completed White Knight Armor prototype. Rebecca and the others explained its healing, protective, and combat features, and Rebecca began demonstrating its warhammer.

• Gawain read Light’s plain-language booklet exposing the northern churches’ abuses and introducing the southern new church.
• Rebecca contacted Gawain to report that the White Knight Armor prototype was finished, and Gawain went to the research institute with Amber.
• Gawain inspected the silver-white armor and its Holy Light insignia alongside Rebecca, Camil, Light, Nicholas Egg, and the research team.
• Rebecca explained that the armor could cast basic Holy Light, disease-removal, and blessing spells through its armguards.
• Nicholas Egg and Camil described the armor’s shock-absorbing, weight-reducing, and wide-area shield features.
• Rebecca presented a long-handled warhammer and began explaining the White Knights’ combat equipment.

Gawain approved the White Knights’ heavily armed design and ordered the first battalion equipped while assigning Amber’s Intelligence Bureau to act. In Luan City, flyers exposing the church’s corruption spread through the lower clergy, alarming Acting Bishop Franbelang.

• Rebecca demonstrated a mechanical warhammer that could convert into a flail, while Light said White Knight candidates had to withstand three punches from him.
• Rebecca and Camil explained the White Knights’ armor, hand cannons, grenades, and Holy Light weapons to Gawain.
• Gawain ordered Nicholas Egg to prioritize equipping the first White Knight battalion and told Amber that the Intelligence Bureau’s turn had come.
• Franbelang noticed growing unease among the cathedral district’s clergy and ordered a senior priest to investigate.
• The senior priest gave Franbelang flyers that had circulated from the outer city into small churches, revealing the church’s corruption and monopolies.
• Franbelang realized the flyers had spread among marginalized lower-ranking clergy, whose wavering faith made them vulnerable to the Cecilians’ campaign.

Bishop Franbelang ordered a crackdown on Cecilian propaganda in Luan City, then staged a public burning that exposed the church’s cruelty to a starving crowd. The priest overseeing the execution left after a faint Magic Fluctuation stirred beneath the platform.

• Bishop Franbelang ordered knights and Discipline Monks to confiscate propaganda materials and punish those who concealed them.
• Church forces searched homes and chapels, seized thousands of booklets and leaflets, and drove the city’s commoners to watch them burn.
• A priest accused the Cecilians of spreading devil contracts and presented Sam, a vagrant arrested with a booklet, as a blasphemer.
• People in the crowd whispered that Sam could not read, but the priest set fire to the propaganda and Sam anyway.
• A faint Magic Fluctuation came from beneath the platform, but the priest saw only frightened commoners and left.

Amber’s Intelligence Bureau team escalated its campaign against the church in Luan City, using propaganda and recorded evidence to sow division. Meanwhile, Gepril and Pierce returned to a rapidly transformed Cecil City, where Gepril received a special assignment from the lord.

• Amber reprimanded her agents for using mission titles, praised their work spreading pamphlets, and ordered them to record church abuses and spread rumors about Bishop Lamont.
• Amber learned that the miniaturized Magic Net Terminal had successfully transmitted footage, then arranged for another twenty thousand leaflets and picture books to be delivered.
• Gepril and Pierce returned to Cecil City after seeing the extensive reconstruction at Stone Fortress and the city’s dramatic growth.
• The Intelligence Bureau receptionist registered Gepril and Pierce, gave Pierce leave to rest, and told Gepril to report to the Lord’s Mansion at four o’clock for an assignment from the lord.

Gawain recruited Gepril for a mission to expose the Holy Light Church’s abuses in Luan City and across the South. He planned to make her message reach everyone in the region, declaring that a new war had begun.

• Gepril arrived at the Lord's Mansion after returning from the royal capital and waited nervously for Gawain.
• Gawain reviewed Gepril’s background and explained that Amber had recommended her for her skill with words.
• Gawain showed Gepril photographs and magical recordings of churchmen abusing civilians in Luan City.
• Gepril proposed presenting the evidence neutrally and connecting the victims’ suffering to the audience, while Gawain insisted they state only the facts.
• Gawain told Gepril that her voice could be heard throughout the South, then declared that the new war had begun.