Chapter Summaries

A black-haired maid flew south after Victoria blessed her departure, while the Crystal Giant invasion destroyed Valley Corridor and left Saint Suniel facing an imminent assault. In Typhon, Rosetta examined the booming trade with Cecil and sensed something troubling before receiving word that Master Daniel had arrived.

• A black-haired maid leaped from Victoria's terrace and rode a snow-filled gale south, while Victoria turned to defend her castle district.
• Nobles in Golden Oak Hall debated Saint Suniel's defenses as reports described the Crystal Giants overrunning forts and transforming soldiers.
• A Royal Knights officer reported that Valley Corridor had fallen, Count North was missing, Count Bariel was dead, and the reinforcing Knight Order and Pontiff Guard had been wiped out.
• Cromwell Whiteson urged the nobles to concentrate their troops around the royal capital as they considered retreat, while Wales Moen and Baldwin Franklin remained guarded and silent.
• Saint Ivan III ordered the Church to defend the sacred city and approved saintly honors for fallen Pontiff Knights and battle priests, while Veronica Moen murmured that darkness would bring light.
• Rosetta Augustus reviewed intelligence on Cecil's surging trade with Typhon, sensed an invisible mire beneath its benefits, and summoned Master Daniel.

Rosetta Augustus questioned Daniel about Cecil’s technological advantage and ordered him to devise a way to control Typhon’s magic networks. Afterward, Daniel found Mary helping a lost child and removed the collar that had restricted her movements.

• Rosetta Augustus discussed the imitation Magic-infused Vehicle and the military risks posed by Cecil’s railways with Daniel.
• Daniel proposed centrally controlling Typhon’s magic networks so the Empire could cut power to any region, and Rosetta ordered him to prepare a plan.
• Rosetta said he preferred offense and expected Ansu to be badly weakened after the war.
• Daniel found Mary entertaining a lost girl with magic orbs and asked a guard to reunite the child with her parents.
• Daniel scolded Mary for leaving her designated area, then unlocked her iron rune collar and told her to discard the collars worn by the others.

Jinna and Sonia Frostleaf’s scouting team found Maggie, a wounded black dragon surrounded by Crystal Giants, and intervened to help her escape. Maggie told them that Boulder City and the last Mountain Legion were still resisting, leaving the team racing to get her to safety and report the crisis to Duke Cecil.

• Jinna escorted Sonia Frostleaf’s Elf Giant Eagle through the devastated battlefield, and the scouting team spotted Crystal Giants surrounding a fallen black dragon.
• Sonia contacted headquarters for support and ordered Jinna and the griffon riders to distract the giants while she guided the dragon out.
• Maggie, badly wounded and unable to fly, heard the scouts promise to help and began breaking out with them.
• Maggie told Sonia that Boulder City needed support because the Duke of the Northern Territory and the last Mountain Legion could not hold out much longer.
• The Griffon Knights attacked from the air as Sonia guided Maggie toward the south, and Maggie wondered how much the battlefield had changed during the siege.

Maggie was rescued by Cecil’s forces after fighting through a Crystal Giant siege, then brought news of Victoria Wilde’s encirclement at Boulder City. Gawain learned the enemy’s positions and announced a plan to reach Red Maple City and destroy it within a day.

• Gawain dispatched a support force after Sonia’s squad reported that a black dragon was under attack by Crystal Giants.
• Cecil’s soldiers rescued the wounded Maggie, and she reached the forward stronghold after receiving treatment from the White Knights.
• Maggie revealed that she was the black-haired maid who served Victoria Wilde and explained that her dragon form was stunted by an illness.
• Maggie marked Boulder City, Red Maple City, and enemy movements on the command map, reporting that Victoria and the Mountain Corps were surrounded by more than fifty thousand enemies.
• Gawain told Maggie that his army could not reach Boulder City within two days, but could reach Red Maple City in one day and level it.

Gawain planned to draw the Crystal Legion away from Boulder City by attacking Red Maple and arranged for Melita to secretly deliver Crystal Bombs in exchange for an ancient relic. As Cecil's forces advanced toward Red Maple, Maggie revealed her connection to the exiled dragons of the Holy Dragon Duchy.

• Gawain planned to attack Red Maple so the Crystal Giants would abandon their assault on Boulder City and return to defend their command center.
• After Maggie admitted she was a poor flyer, Gawain contacted Melita and asked for her help against the Crystal Legion.
• Melita explained that dragons were forbidden from participating in continental wars, but agreed to deliver three tons of Crystal Bombs to Red Maple in exchange for a larger fragment of God Metal.
• Melita revealed that Maggie and her people were exceptions to the rule because they descended from dragons exiled from Tarlonnd; Maggie said she came from an unimportant family and wanted nothing to do with the Holy Dragon Duchy.
• Cecil's fleet and ground forces departed toward Red Maple and Boulder City on the forty-third day of the Month of Revival.

The Cecil Legion’s rapid assault overwhelmed the Godspawn defenses on the Holy Spirit Plain as its commanders and soldiers gained combat experience. Heaton reached Red Maple City to organize its defense, but a Cecil explosive struck before the city shield fully closed, destroying a giant defender.

• Sonia Frostleaf reported enemy reinforcements and requested naval cannon support while observing the Cecil Legion’s coordinated tank, infantry, and artillery attacks.
• Gawain monitored the front as a reserve company replaced Fourth Company after its mistaken advance cost seven vehicles and caused severe casualties.
• Heaton learned that the Cecil Legion had erased the first and second defensive lines, then ordered Godspawn forces to reinforce the city and attack the Cecilians from behind.
• Heaton reached Red Maple City as Cecil vehicles advanced across the plains, and the city’s defenders raised giants and began activating its shield.
• A Godspawn giant caught a Cecil projectile, which exploded and shattered his lower leg before Red Maple City’s shield closed.

Cecilian forces attacked Red Maple City from land and the Gorgon River, while Victoria’s exhausted defenders in Boulder City tried to keep Corrod’s monsters from reinforcing it. Red Maple’s shield neared collapse as black objects descended from the sky, and Victoria’s use of Cold Calamity froze Boulder Castle and everyone in its district.

• Red Maple City’s shield withstood the Cecilians’ first bombardment, and Hitton ordered reinforcements while warships began attacking from the Gorgon River.
• Victoria saw Corrod’s monsters withdraw from Boulder Castle toward Red Maple and used her family amulet to invoke Cold Calamity, freezing the castle district, Corrod, and both armies.
• Cecilian armored vehicles advanced on Red Maple as its defenders struggled to maintain the shield and learned that Corrod’s mind had vanished.
• Hitton urged his priests to hold until reinforcements arrived, but a voice overhead announced a delivery as black objects fell from the sky.

The Cecil Legion destroyed Red Maple City and killed Heaton, whose uncontrolled transformation and desperate charge could not withstand the War Machine’s firepower. Gawain then led Light’s White Knight Legion toward Boulder City to investigate the missing Crystal Giant force and carry out a rescue mission, wondering whether Ansu could recover from the devastation.

• Heaton detonated the falling bombs with Dark Lightning, causing a chain of explosions that shattered Red Maple’s weakened shield and devastated the city.
• Heaton transformed into a Crystal Giant, charged the Cecil tanks, and destroyed one chariot before artillery and supporting forces overwhelmed and killed it.
• Solderin reported that the Crystal Cluster Wanderers were losing control and that their command node in the Maple Region had disappeared.
• Gawain ordered the Cecil troops to secure Red Maple City, prepare defenses against the out-of-control Crystal Infected, and investigate why the elite force from Boulder City had not appeared.
• Gawain and Light departed for Boulder City with the White Knight Legion and mechanized escorts to investigate and conduct a rescue mission.
• On the way, Light expressed regret over the war’s destruction, while Gawain looked over the abandoned farmland and wondered whether Ansu would grow new shoots.

Gawain’s convoy reached Boulder City and found the Crystal Legion frozen by Victoria’s Cold Calamity. After the spell ended, he rescued Victoria and the Mountain Legion, then learned the Verde Family had lost the spell’s inheritance generations ago; he noticed Victoria’s pendant might be made from an Eternal Stone Tablet.

• Gawain’s convoy entered Boulder City and discovered its inner districts and Crystal Giants frozen by a powerful magical spell.
• Gawain identified the spell as Cold Calamity and ordered the White Knights to destroy the frozen Crystals while preserving one giant for research.
• Gawain and his companions found Victoria and the Mountain Legion frozen inside an iceberg in the castle courtyard.
• The iceberg vanished as Cold Calamity ended, and Gawain’s forces treated and supplied the surviving Mountain Legion.
• Victoria told Gawain that the Verde Family had lost Cold Calamity’s inheritance generations ago and relied on a snowflake pendant.
• Gawain examined Victoria’s pendant and asked whether its material came from an Eternal Stone Tablet.

Gawain learned that Victoria’s charm was tied to a mysterious maritime expedition resembling his own lost voyage, while his forces assessed the cost of the Red Maple victory and prepared to advance toward Saint Suniel. Far below, the Grand Priest began the Final Defiance ritual by awakening the Artificial God.

• Victoria told Gawain that Cold Calamity had been forged by Grand Duke Modir Wilde from an unknown material after a mysterious voyage across the Endless Sea, and Gawain connected it to his own voyage a century earlier.
• Gawain learned that the Red Maple command node’s destruction had paralyzed Crystal forces across the region, but other command nodes remained active and Saint Suniel was still threatened.
• Byron reported that Crystal Cluster Monsters had attacked the inland fleet from underwater, damaging its vessels, and Gawain ordered a detailed battle report for future ship modifications.
• Victoria warned Gawain that Saint Suniel’s nobles might not hold out without news of reinforcements, and Gawain planned to resume the northward advance after a day of rest.
• Beltira told the Grand Priest that Heaton was dead, and the Grand Priest entrusted her with the Ultimate Book before ordering the Final Defiance ritual to begin.
• The Grand Priest approached the Artificial God’s body and called for it to embrace its humanity, and the giant deer opened its eyes.

The Grand Priest completed the ritual to inject humanity into the Artificial God, but it reopened its eyes filled with chaos and madness. As the Wanderers set out for the Old Imperial Capital and mad Crystal Cluster Monsters besieged Saint Suniel, Wales Moen prepared to return to the walls while the city’s nobles debated fleeing.

• Beltira watched the Grand Priest dissolve into the Artificial God as the Dark Chapter Masters completed their ritual, but the god opened its eyes again with only chaos and madness within them.
• The Wanderers’ leader mocked the Grand Priest’s belief that he could give a god humanity, then ordered the Wanderers to travel to the Old Imperial Capital and use the Azure Well.
• Crystal Cluster Monsters went mad and launched relentless attacks on Saint Suniel, while sacred light from the cathedral’s priests periodically restored the defenders’ strength.
• Wales Moen told Baldwin Franklin that Saint Suniel’s shield could hold for now and ordered half the Western Territory Legion to defend the Gorgon River against wandering monsters.
• Baldwin Franklin warned Wales that the capital’s nobles were divided over fleeing, and Wales left to return to the walls despite the danger.

Crystal Giants across the front went berserk, while Gawain's forces tried to contain the spreading contamination and protect the Eastern Territory. With Saint Suniel cut off and in danger, Victoria proposed using the Mage Tower at Tulip Castle to contact Silver Castle.

• The commander at Height Three reported that the frenzied Crystal Giants had been suppressed, while Philip confirmed they showed no signs of weakening or regaining reason.
• Gawain concluded that a new, insane mind had become the Crystal Legion's highest node after learning that commander-class Crystal Giants at Pompeii Laboratory had also gone mad.
• Amber delivered Maryland's report that Iron Throne-Zero was holding the pass into the Eastern Territory against the berserk Crystal Infected.
• Sonia reported that some Crystal Infected had crossed the Gorgon River, and Gawain ordered Byron and Sir Wald to strengthen the northern blockade and clear the western bank.
• Gawain learned that contact with Saint Suniel had failed and rejected Sonia's dangerous journey, but Victoria offered to use Tulip Castle's Mage Tower to contact Silver Castle.

Victoria and Gawain planned to send her through the Shadow Realm to Tulip Castle so she could relay a message to Saint Suniel, while Gawain prepared an accelerated northern relief effort. Their discussion of the kingdom’s defenses was interrupted by Tir’s warning about a growing, unstable presence in the eastern Holy Spirit Plain, and the chapter ended with news that the Great Wall construction had succeeded.

• Victoria persuaded Gawain that she could infiltrate Tulip Castle and send a message, and he arranged for Amber to guide her through the Shadow Realm while an elite force raced toward Saint Suniel City.
• Victoria told Gawain she believed Grand Duke Baldwin Franklin, Wales Moen, and other defenders would hold Saint Suniel if the reinforcements arrived in time.
• Gawain challenged Victoria over why the kingdom’s reformers had failed, and Victoria pledged to remain his loyal ally personally.
• Tir reported sensing a powerful, unstable living presence deep in the eastern Holy Spirit Plain and said the Sea Sirens would assist against nonhuman threats but stay out of human wars.
• Heti informed Gawain that the Great Wall’s supplementary construction had succeeded, and Gawain ordered the returning engineers to rest before starting new military projects.

Amber and Victoria explored the Shadow Realm near Tulip Castle, where Amber explained that her loyalty was to the society Gawain had built rather than to a noble or family. Meanwhile, Gawain prepared to lead an advance force by river to reinforce Saint Suniel, leaving Philip to command the main legion.

• Amber guided Victoria through the Shadow Realm toward Tulip Castle and explained that she had joined Gawain after he caught her hiding in his grave.
• Amber told Victoria that she was loyal to the Duchy of Cecil and the principles Gawain had established, not to nobles or the Cecil Family.
• Amber described Cecil City's food supply and population management as Victoria asked how the city had prevented deaths from starvation.
• Philip reported that Victoria and Amber had reached Tulip Castle and confirmed that its Mage Tower was operating.
• Gawain prepared to sail with the advance force to Saint Suniel, while Philip remained behind to command the main legion.

As the Cecil fleet sailed north to relieve Saint Suniel, Wales Moen seized control of the royal capital and crowned himself King of Ansu. The chapter ended with Wales ordering the city defended until the reinforcements arrived.

• Captain Nabil sailed his armored cargo vessel with the Cecil fleet toward the northern front, while Gawain, Victoria, and Byron discussed the voyage and Saint Suniel's defenses.
• Victoria said Saint Suniel needed to hold for seven days, and Gawain saw the besieged capital's two fortresses resisting the monsters outside its walls.
• Wales Moen told Baldwin Franklin he would reinforce the city walls, then entered Golden Oak Hall and ordered the nobles to defend Saint Suniel until the Cecil reinforcements arrived.
• Wales executed Count Lucre for treason, and Koen Loren's knights seized the hall and declared their loyalty to Wales as king.
• Baldwin Franklin brought the crown, but Wales placed it on his own head and ordered the defense of Saint Suniel.

Wales Moen was crowned as Ansu’s defenders rallied against the monster siege, while Veronica’s holy light strengthened the city walls. Gawain’s fleet continued north after clearing the river, and the chapter ended with news that communications with Saint Suniel had returned and Wales had been crowned.

• Wales Moen’s coronation and news of southern reinforcements temporarily restored order and morale in the royal capital.
• The defenders repelled attacks on Saint Suniel’s walls as Veronica protected the soldiers and helped stabilize the defenses.
• Wales Moen and Duke Baldwin Franklin discussed the city’s casualties, dwindling defenses, and the need to hold until Duke Gawain Cecil’s army arrived.
• Gawain’s fleet cleared crystal clusters from the Gorgon River, and Amber reported that forces on the western bank were blocking their spread.
• An Intelligence Bureau agent reported that the fleet had restored unstable communications with Saint Suniel and that Wales Moen had been crowned.

After Wales’s coronation temporarily stabilized Saint Suniel, the city’s defenders faced mounting losses as the siege worsened, while the Holy Light Church prepared for the God of Holy Light to descend. Meanwhile, Petia oversaw preparations for an Elemental Warp Tower and the arrival of living cookies.

• Amber reported that Wales had been crowned and that the royal capital had temporarily regained order, prompting Gawain to reflect on the end of Ansu’s regent duke system.
• On the fourth day of the siege, Crystal Giants nearly breached Saint Suniel’s eastern wall, and the defenders lost over a thousand soldiers before repelling them.
• A tall, thin man and his companion learned that Amber’s forces had reached the river mouth near the Valley Corridor, then watched the Pope’s inner court guard march toward the walls.
• Veronica went to the Hall of Great Light, where Saint Ivan III announced that the God of Holy Light had ordered preparations for His descent and assigned her to guard the sealed hall.
• Petia learned that the Elemental Warp Tower would be ready within twenty-four hours and instructed her officials to prepare for the arrival of living cookies.

As Saint Suniel’s great shield collapsed, the Divine Descent Ritual raised a new barrier that gave the city’s exhausted defenders time to recover. Veronica then entered the Hall of Great Light, took the platinum scepter from Saint Ivan III, and revealed that the Norton Royal Family had sent its regards to the power behind him.

• Wales inspected the battered walls as Baldwin Franklin reported that the great shield was collapsing and its southern node had burned out.
• Wales watched the Divine Descent Ritual begin and said the city’s divine authority had to fulfill its duty.
• Saint Ivan III completed the ritual, summoning a giant of light that replaced the shattered shield and protected Saint Suniel from the monsters.
• Wales ordered the soldiers to rest and prepare while the Divine Descent Ritual’s protection lasted.
• Veronica entered the Hall of Great Light, took the platinum scepter from Saint Ivan III, and told him the ritual would continue without his god.

Veronica killed Saint Ivan III and took control of the Divine Descent Ritual before her body collapsed and restored itself. As the ritual ended and Saint Suniel prepared for the final assault, Gawain’s reinforcements arrived and began landing across the Gorgon River.

• Veronica turned the holy light against Saint Ivan III, seized the platinum scepter, and later reactivated herself after her body collapsed.
• On the sixth morning, Wales ordered the exhausted mages and other scholars evacuated through Saint Suniel’s northwest gate while the defenders prepared to keep fighting.
• Griffins escorted a giant eagle carrying Cecil’s banners over Saint Suniel, and Wales rallied the city as the Divine Descent Ritual and its protective barriers ended.
• Byron led the Pioneer and other warships in suppressive fire while cargo ships landed tanks and ground troops on the eastern bank of the Gorgon River.
• Gawain ordered Byron to fire the Pioneer’s main guns toward the plains near Saint Suniel to announce the reinforcements’ arrival.

Gawain led Cecil forces in a coordinated assault that cut into the Crystal Legion and relieved the siege of Saint Suniel. As the royal capital’s defenses held and the enemy attacks weakened, Wales recognized the Cecilians’ military system and prepared to receive Duke Cecil.

• Wales rallied the defenders after the Holy Light barriers collapsed, while Cecil reinforcements began bombarding the Crystal Legion from afar.
• Gawain planned a southern attack route and went ashore with Amber to command the ground troops.
• Cecil tanks and artillery captured high ground southeast of Saint Suniel and cut through the Crystal Legion’s positions.
• Wales observed the siege weakening and pieced together how Cecil’s weapons, communications, and command coordination worked.
• Baldwin Franklin reported that the Crystal Legion’s attacks had been cut off, and Wales said he would prepare to receive Duke Cecil.