Chapter Summaries

Changguang examined Bronya and reassured everyone that her life was not in danger, while Han Jiang and Kiana visited the orphanage children. Kiana admitted she wanted to see Siberia’s Manjusaka flower sea, so Han Jiang arranged for Bella to take them there, leaving Mei behind in Storm City.

• Changguang joined Han Jiang’s group for breakfast, declined Mei’s offer to cook for him in the Far East, and took Bronya away for further research.
• Changguang told the group that Bronya was not in serious danger, though finding the Dominance Herrscher would require more research.
• Han Jiang visited the children’s base, where Klar told him she wanted to see the Manjusaka flower sea and teased him about dating her when she turned eighteen.
• Klar revealed that Xing secretly read romance books about girls, prompting Han Jiang to suspect Xing had feelings for Bronya and to wonder about her rivalry with Seele.
• Kiana quietly told Han Jiang she wanted to visit the flower sea, where her mother had fallen, and Mei agreed to stay behind while they went.
• Kiana summoned Bella outside the city, and the dragon-shaped Honkai Beast landed before her and Han Jiang.

Kiana visited the flower-covered site where Cecilia died and struggled with doubts about her identity, while Han Jiang reassured her. They met Raven, who explained her connection to the Second Honkai and Cecilia, then Han Jiang tried to learn more about World Serpent’s plans.

• Kiana remembered Cecilia’s final battle and questioned whether she could become a Valkyrie like her, while Han Jiang affirmed that she was Siegfried and Cecilia’s daughter and promised to stay by her side.
• Han Jiang and Kiana encountered Raven, who said she visited the area each year to remember her brother and the people Cecilia had saved.
• Raven recounted how her parents died during the Second Honkai and how Cecilia’s blood protected her, though she still struggled with her hatred of Kiana as the Herrscher of the Void.
• Han Jiang questioned whether humanity could defeat Honkai, and Raven insisted that World Serpent’s Venerable Lord could succeed.
• Han Jiang pressed Raven for details about World Serpent’s progress and its intentions toward the Dominance Herrscher’s core.

Kiana confessed her feelings to Han Jiang and agreed to compete with Mei for his affection until Honkai was eliminated. After returning to Storm City, Han Jiang learned that Bronya still had the Core of Reason inside her, despite reports that the Dominance Herrscher had taken it.

• Raven told Han Jiang and Kiana that the Dominance Herrscher's extra cores could be used to create mass-produced Divine Keys, then left.
• Kiana asked Han Jiang how he felt about her, and he told her he liked her but could not deny his feelings for Mei.
• Kiana said she would compete with Mei and wait until Honkai was gone for Han Jiang to choose whom he liked most, then kissed him before they returned to Storm City on Bella.
• Kiana clung to Mei after returning, and Mei noticed Han Jiang's swollen lips and scolded him before still making him dinner.
• Master Changguang said Bronya was healthy apart from old injuries, then showed Han Jiang and the others a scan revealing the Core of Reason inside her body.

Bronya dreamed of a ruined German city and saw Joyce, prompting Welt and Einstein to explain that she had witnessed an echo left in the Core of Reason. Einstein believed Bronya’s growing connection to the core might signal that the Dominance Herrscher’s hold was weakening, so the group began preparing for what might come next.

• Master Changguang explained that the Dominance Herrscher had dominated Bronya’s power and was borrowing it rather than taking the Core of Reason outright.
• Einstein independently reached the same conclusion, while Han Jiang trained Rosaliya and Liliya as the Blazing Blades squad waited in Storm City.
• Bronya dreamed of a burning German city, saw a blue-haired man, and woke before she could touch him.
• Bronya told Welt about the dream, and he identified the man as Joyce, the first Sovereign and first Herrscher of Reason.
• Einstein explained that Bronya had seen Joyce’s echo in the core and outlined several reasons it might be resisting the Dominance Herrscher’s control.
• Welt and Einstein warned that Bronya’s connection to the Core of Reason might be strengthening, but they could not confirm whether her power would return, so they resolved to prepare.

Bronya reflected on the echo in the Core of Reason while the others trained and searched for the Dominance Herrscher. Han Jiang sparred with Durandal, whose reluctance to use Black Abyss White Flower came from her admiration for its former owner, and Kiana felt Sirin awaken within her mind.

• Bronya recalled Joyce's memories and went to train so she could reclaim more of the Core of Reason's power, while Xing stayed in Storm City to care for the orphanage children.
• Kiana and Mei trained to keep their minds off Han Jiang, while Rita investigated possible locations where the Dominance Herrscher might appear.
• Han Jiang invited Durandal to spar, and they fought with a spear and prototype longsword using skill alone.
• Durandal's prototype longsword broke, ending the match, and Kiana and Mei said Black Abyss White Flower was unsuitable for sparring.
• Durandal explained that she hesitated to use Black Abyss White Flower because she did not yet feel worthy of Cecilia Saniat, its former owner.
• Kiana clutched her head as Sirin's consciousness awakened within her mind.

Kiana’s attempt to control Sirin’s power briefly caused a headache, but she recovered and joined Mei and Han Jiang for lunch with Durandal. After lunch, Kiana drew close to Han Jiang in the lounge, but a Blazing Blades squad member walked in before she could finish speaking.

• Kiana felt Sirin’s emotions surge and struggled to remain in control, then recovered after sitting down.
• Mei invited Durandal to share lunch, but Durandal left after realizing the food was Han Jiang’s portion.
• Mei and Kiana panicked when Han Jiang pretended he had been hurt sparring with Durandal, and he admitted he was fine.
• Han Jiang ranked Durandal among the top three fighters he knew, prompting Kiana to protest that she should rank higher.
• After lunch, Kiana moved close to Han Jiang and opened her arms, but a Blazing Blades squad member entered and asked whether they had been interrupted.

Mei confronted Raven at a World Serpent stronghold in Storm City and learned that Raven was helping World Serpent destabilize the city to secure its population. Meanwhile, William of Remaining Fire summoned Han Jiang to discuss the Lake Baikal ruins, leaving Han Jiang wondering what they could want after Schicksal had already excavated them.

• Kiana panicked when a Blazing Blades member teased her and Han Jiang, and Han Jiang told her to return to training.
• Mei tracked Raven to a bar and questioned her about World Serpent's presence in Storm City and the children she had rescued.
• Raven admitted she had killed two pharmaceutical businessmen to create chaos, which would help World Serpent take over the city and benefit the Stigmata Project.
• Owl brought Han Jiang to meet Serval, who explained that someone from Remaining Fire wanted to see him.
• William arrived and told Han Jiang that Remaining Fire wanted to discuss the Lake Baikal ruins, prompting Han Jiang to ask what remained after Schicksal's excavation.

Han Jiang learned that an out-of-control Previous Era combat AI lay beneath the Lake Baikal Ruins and brought Schicksal and Anti-Entropy together to prepare to contain it. The group organized a response and began evacuating nearby civilians while waiting for Remaining Fire's captain to arrive.

• William told Han Jiang that Ai-chan came from Shelter 19-K23 and that Remaining Fire had found another shelter beneath the Lake Baikal Ruins containing A2, an S-rank combat AI that had gone out of control.
• William said Remaining Fire wanted to recover A2 and offered to share the shelter's technology and materials in exchange for help; Han Jiang agreed to contact Durandal and demanded that Captain Luo Nianxi come explain the mission.
• Han Jiang warned Himeko and Theresa to hide Ai-chan, informed Schicksal and Anti-Entropy about the danger, and urged the evacuation of Cocolia Orphanage's children and Xing from the area.
• Han Jiang briefed Durandal and the others, and Changguang and Durandal agreed to deploy forces near the Lake Baikal Ruins and coordinate with Remaining Fire.
• Rita assigned combat roles, Durandal declined to ask World Serpent for help, and Han Jiang arranged transport for the children to Anti-Entropy Headquarters while Schicksal prepared to bring Changguang back to its headquarters.

Han Jiang and the others prepared to open the Flame-Moth containment facility at the Lake Baikal Ruins, while the factions coordinated against its dangerous S-rank machine. The facility’s defenses opened, leaving Han Jiang poised for the first encounter with the machine.

• Welt, Einstein, and Raiden Ryoma refused to leave Storm City, and Einstein explained that the Dominance Herrscher’s threat there outweighed the danger to Anti-Entropy’s headquarters.
• The orphanage children were evacuated, and two days later Han Jiang joined Durandal, Luo Nianxi, and the other factions outside Storm City.
• Han Jiang volunteered to open the containment facility, securing Anti-Entropy first access to study its scientific materials and telling Kiana and Mei he could escape into the Sea of Quantum if attacked.
• At the Lake Baikal Ruins, Han Jiang located the hidden entrance and opened its layered defenses using Flame-Moth identity checks and prepared blood samples.
• The containment facility’s protections finally opened, and its lights came on while Han Jiang sensed a nearby World Bubble as an escape plan.

Han Jiang and the S-rank fighters battled the Erosion-corrupted giant Ai-chan No. 3 as the containment facility's weapons, spatial rifts, Quantum Shadows, and Honkai Beasts endangered the surrounding forces. Han Jiang severed Ai-chan No. 3's arm, triggering a massive explosion that buried William, who survived.

• Han Jiang entered the containment facility and found a combat robot resembling a grown-up Ai-chan, which identified him as an intruder and attacked.
• Han Jiang escaped as the facility erupted, and Ai-chan No. 3 emerged to attack the assembled fighters with its weapons.
• The S-rank combatants took turns fighting Ai-chan No. 3 while spatial rifts opened and Quantum Shadows and Honkai Beasts threatened the second line and Storm City.
• Han Jiang, Kiana, and Mei attacked together, and Han Jiang pierced and tore off one of Ai-chan No. 3's arms.
• William's attack struck the severed arm, causing a huge explosion that threw him into the distance and buried him beneath the earth.
• Luo Nianxi dug William out, and he said he was fine because his attack had shielded him from much of the blast.

Han Jiang and Durandal coordinated to destroy Big Ai-chan, but the robot’s three reactors detonated and forced Durandal to shield the area while Han Jiang searched for an escape route. A mysterious power stopped the explosion from triggering a massive earthquake, and Han Jiang and Durandal recognized it before the chapter ended with them still in danger.

• Durandal ordered Rita to withdraw and defend the second line while she stayed to fight Big Ai-chan with Han Jiang, Kiana, and Mei.
• Han Jiang blocked Big Ai-chan’s attacks for thirty seconds, allowing Durandal to strike and break apart the combat robot.
• Three intact reactors collided after Big Ai-chan’s destruction, and Kiana escaped with Mei while Han Jiang and Durandal stayed behind.
• Durandal used Black Abyss White Flower to create a vine barrier, while Luo Nianxi strengthened it with her Outer Key.
• The blast shattered Luo Nianxi’s enhancement, and Han Jiang threw her clear before Durandal continued holding the barrier alone.
• A mysterious power stabilized the Eurasian Plate, and Han Jiang and Durandal recognized it as they searched for a way to escape.

After escaping a reactor blast, Han Jiang and Durandal became stranded in a ruined Previous Era World Bubble, where their powers were sealed by the surrounding turbulence. They encountered Kevin carrying Sakura’s ashes and learned that her hometown had been destroyed, then decided to speak with him before searching for a way home.

• Han Jiang pulled Durandal through a spatial rift moments before the explosion breached the vines, and Bronya rescued Remaining Fire and several Blazing Blades Valkyries from the blast.
• Han Jiang explored the ruined city with Durandal and explained his theory that the World Bubble’s will had stabilized itself while the Sea of Quantum or Imaginary Tree interfered with their powers.
• Durandal spotted an aircraft approaching, and Han Jiang recognized the white-haired man who stepped out as Kevin.
• Kevin said he had come to send his teammate home, mourned the destruction of Sakura’s hometown, and explained that survivors would have to live in residential bases.
• Kevin walked away carrying Sakura’s ashes, and Han Jiang urged Durandal to follow him so they could learn more about the World Bubble and Kevin’s knowledge of resisting the Herrscher of the End.

Kevin honored Sakura by leaving her ashes in the ruins of her hometown and promised to return after the Honkai was defeated. Han Jiang and Durandal rescued survivors in the devastated city, then entered another World Bubble and encountered young Bronya in war-torn Siberia.

• Kevin reassured Han Jiang that humanity would survive underground, placed Sakura's ashes in the ruins, and promised to rebuild her hometown after the Honkai was defeated.
• Han Jiang and Durandal explored the ruined city, found survivors, and helped defend them from a group of Honkai Beasts before moving to another World Bubble.
• In an icy Siberian World Bubble, Han Jiang and Durandal saw young Bronya and other children fighting as assassins in a battle between factions.
• A faction leader mistook Han Jiang and Durandal for buyers seeking child assassins, and Han Jiang threatened the group after they raised their weapons.

Han Jiang and Durandal witnessed Bronya’s failed assassination of Cocolia in the Sea of Quantum, then returned to the real world and regrouped with their allies. At Anti-Entropy Headquarters, Tesla traced the first Dominance Herrscher’s appearance to a New Jersey university, and Han Jiang set out to investigate with Fu Hua.

• Han Jiang agreed to wait for Bronya’s final mission, but her squad left to assassinate Cocolia before an unknown force attacked the base.
• Han Jiang and Durandal followed Bronya’s squad and watched Cocolia find and capture Bronya.
• Han Jiang and Durandal left the Sea of Quantum and learned that less than three days had passed in the real world and that the Dominance Herrscher had caused more disappearances and deaths.
• Han Jiang reunited with Kiana and Mei, then took them to Anti-Entropy Headquarters to address the Dominance Herrscher and Bronya’s situation.
• Tesla identified a New Jersey university and a medical professor as the location and host of the first Dominance Herrscher, and assigned Han Jiang to investigate with Fu Hua.

Han Jiang and Fu Hua set out for New Jersey to investigate the disappearance of a professor connected to the first Dominance Herrscher. After campus security refused them entry, they climbed over the university wall and entered the grounds.

• Han Jiang walked in on the Herrscher of Reason controlling Fu Hua's body, and she bound him before revealing that Tesla had sent him to summon Fu Hua.
• Fu Hua regained control, changed into her combat uniform, and explained that the Herrscher of Reason was a curious, mostly harmless presence she called Little Senti.
• Han Jiang told Fu Hua that Tesla had located the first Dominance Herrscher's appearance site in New Jersey, and they left immediately to investigate a missing professor and recover the core.
• At the university, guards told Han Jiang and Fu Hua that a professor had disappeared, several deans had died by suicide, and the campus was closed to visitors.
• After the guards denied them entry without student IDs, Han Jiang and Fu Hua found a secluded wall, climbed over it, and entered the campus.

Han Jiang and Fu Hua searched a sealed professor’s office and dormitory, finding a diary that linked the professor’s obsession and dreams to the Dominance Herrschers. Their investigation was interrupted when a marionette-like man in a security guard’s uniform recognized their unusual powers and attacked them.

• Han Jiang and Fu Hua broke into a sealed office and found the missing professor’s schedule, overdue bills, and diary among his papers.
• Fu Hua and Han Jiang read the diary, which described the professor’s rejected research, dreams of a theater and library, and growing belief that he was a puppet in a world of puppets.
• Han Jiang and Fu Hua connected the professor’s experiences to the Dominance Herrschers and suspected they had been trapped by their own obsessions.
• Han Jiang and Fu Hua searched the professor’s sealed dormitory but found only clutter and scraps about human evolution, with no further useful clues.
• A man dressed as a security guard entered the dormitory, sensed Han Jiang and Fu Hua’s unusual powers, and claimed he could examine and cure them.
• The marionette-like man charged at Han Jiang and Fu Hua, and Han Jiang kicked him back out through the door.

Han Jiang and Fu Hua fought a Dominance Herrscher puppet, then Anti-Entropy investigated the strange behavior of its cores. They accepted a bodyguard mission from Lareus Gatti, whose account ended with a dead delivery man turning into a puppet.

• Han Jiang and Fu Hua destroyed a puppet that claimed Honkai would let humanity evolve, and Fu Hua recovered its core for study.
• Tesla, Einstein, Schrodinger, and other researchers examined the puppet while another puppet was implicated in the deaths of two company heads.
• Einstein explained that Dominance Herrscher consciousnesses might multiply and that their cores remained below normal Herrscher strength.
• Einstein assigned Han Jiang and Fu Hua to protect wealthy client Lareus Gatti from suspicious people lurking near his home.
• Lareus and his secretary described a series of unexplained deliveries, then showed Han Jiang and Fu Hua a delivery man who had died and become a puppet.

Han Jiang and Fu Hua investigated a suspicious doll core and intercepted a courier, only to learn the package held awards sent by Lareus’s daughter, Emera. Lareus rushed to her apartment after reading her farewell letter, where they found her hanging in midair and greeting him.

• Han Jiang and Fu Hua examined the doll’s weak Honkai Energy core, and Fu Hua warned a bodyguard exposed to it to get an Anti-Honkai Serum injection.
• Han Jiang and Fu Hua waited for the nighttime courier, seized him, and discovered he was delivering a package from Emera Gatti to her father, Lareus.
• Han Jiang opened the package and found Emera’s trophies and a letter saying she was tired and saying goodbye to her father.
• Lareus rushed with Han Jiang and Fu Hua to Emera’s apartment after reading the letter, and Han Jiang learned about her family history on the way.
• Lareus and the others broke into Emera’s apartment and found her hanging in the air, where she greeted her father.

Han Jiang and Fu Hua confronted Emera, whose suicide-like apparition attacked Lareus and revealed herself as a newly formed Dominance Herrscher. Han Jiang stopped her and removed her core, while Anti-Entropy arrived to secure the scene and Lareus was left grieving over what had happened to his daughter.

• Emera accused Lareus of neglecting her and attacked him with an iron rod, but Han Jiang and Fu Hua knocked her back.
• Han Jiang told Lareus that Emera was dead and that the puppet before them was a Dominance Herrscher, while Emera continued to taunt and plead with her father.
• Emera transformed into a wooden doll and declared that she and her companions would return for revenge.
• Han Jiang disabled Emera by severing the connection between her core and the doll, then warned Lareus not to approach it.
• Anti-Entropy soldiers arrived to contain the doll, and Han Jiang told Lareus that the creature was a monster born from his daughter's twisted obsession.

After the Dominance Herrscher’s attack left Lareus grieving and vulnerable, Han Jiang and Fu Hua uncovered how she had planted a puppet arm in his villa. Anti-Entropy’s investigation advanced, and Han Jiang agreed to join a preliminary mission while Kiana and Mei stayed behind.

• Lareus begged Anti-Entropy to let him bury Emera, but Einstein kept her puppet body for research and assigned Han Jiang and Fu Hua to protect him.
• Lareus began having terrifying dreams, and Han Jiang and Fu Hua found a puppet arm beneath his bed.
• Han Jiang reviewed the villa’s surveillance footage and identified a suspicious courier who had delivered puppet parts before Lareus moved in.
• Einstein examined Lareus, and Tesla later said Anti-Entropy was close to tracing the Dominance Herrscher’s movements.
• Tesla told Kiana and Mei they could not join the mission because of the risks to their Herrscher powers, and Han Jiang agreed to go instead.