Chapter Summaries

Xiao Ran weighed whether to kill participants who would not join the Burning Legion, then accepted Cruze’s advice to eliminate them and keep the legion’s Faction Territory secret. After eleven new members appeared on the roster, Cruze began the operation while Xiao Ran stayed away from Orb.

• Eshe urged Xiao Ran to kill the participants who could not be recruited, and he explained his concerns about the Burning Legion’s reputation and future enemies.
• Xiao Ran consulted Cruze, who advised hiding the legion’s existence and Faction Territory by making the remaining participants disappear.
• Xiao Ran agreed to Cruze’s plan, and Cruze said he would take Ray to the Second Archangel for treatment and retrieve a MED Warhead.
• Xiao Ran left Orb under the public pretext of inspecting a base and discussing a new alliance, postponing his meeting with the participants.
• Several days later, eleven new names appeared on the Burning Legion’s roster, and Cruze’s operation began.

Cruze orchestrated the covert elimination of targeted Participants aboard a transport and the Second Archangel, with Athrun, Mu, and others carrying out the first operation in space. Xiao Ran’s guided tour cleared the Second Archangel before MED Micro Missiles swallowed the warship, leaving the remaining Participants aboard it.

• Cruze arranged for targeted ZAFT Participants to be trapped aboard a transport while Athrun, Mu, Mayu, and Billy planted MED Warheads and evacuated the loyal crew.
• The transport vanished with its trapped Participants, while the escaped crew were handed over to a ZAFT warship.
• The Archangel and Second Archangel docked near the Earth Force base, and Xiao Ran brought officials on tours while Burning Legion Participants handled patrol duties.
• Cruze used the tour and the other Participants’ assumptions to clear the Second Archangel of its ordinary crew and officers.
• After Mwu and the officers evacuated, MED Micro Missiles detonated and swallowed the Second Archangel as Xiao Ran watched from the departing convoy.

Xiao Ran completed his mission after establishing Earth Unified and returned to Prometheus with his companions, where both teams received their mission rewards. He reunited with Sheryl and the others, and they agreed to rest before discussing what came next.

• Xiao Ran destroyed Second Archangel after using it to conceal the participants' deaths, while Durandal understood and kept the secret.
• The world’s powers established Earth Unified, with Durandal as its speaker, and formally dissolved the Earth Alliance.
• Xiao Ran received notice that his mission was complete and returned to Prometheus with Cruze, Mwu, and Luo.
• Xiao Ran and his followers received their mission evaluations and chose rewards, including attribute points, evaluations, and plugins.
• Sheryl scolded Xiao Ran for leaving her behind, then accepted his apology, and Xiao Ran told everyone to rest.

Xiao Ran gathered the Burning Legion after its members returned from separate missions and confronted the deaths of four rookies. He called for the Legion to grow closer and announced regular large-scale assemblies to reduce future losses.

• Xiao Ran gave the Legion a day to rest while its members pursued their own plans and he spent time with Sheryl.
• Xiao Ran messaged Legion members to gather at Headquarters the next day and asked Eshe and Nalu to contact potential recruits.
• Xiao Ran arrived at Headquarters and found the Skull Squadron, rookies, and newly joined participants sitting in separate groups.
• El-Elf told Xiao Ran that four members of one squad were missing and had been wiped out.
• Xiao Ran addressed the Legion, mourned the four deaths, urged its members to act as one, and announced regular assemblies on the second day of every mission cycle.

Xiao Ran announced new systems to unite the Burning Legion through mission reports, shared training, points, and mutual support. He planned to take the entire legion into the 00 World using the Ultimate Mission Card after handling Orb Territory, while giving members three days to get acquainted.

• Xiao Ran told the legion that members would submit mission reports for him to review and share, and explained the points system, Legion Warehouse, territory benefits, and training tournaments.
• Xiao Ran decided to use the Ultimate Mission Card from the 00 World to bring all legion members into a Legion Mission, hoping to face a World Intruder and obtain a true Twin Drive Synchronization System.
• Xiao Ran reviewed the final squad's report and arranged for veteran members to pair with newcomers and introduce one another to legion affairs and mission experience.
• Xiao Ran postponed the internal tournament until after the 00 World and planned to deal with Orb Territory before the legion departed.
• Xiao Ran gave most legion members three days to get acquainted, while leaving Skull Squadron free to choose how to spend the time and maintain its special status.

Xiao Ran and his allies planned a management structure for the growing legion, with El-Elf proposing that its territories handle training and administration. Xiao Ran established Orb as a Legion Territory and arranged systems and staff to connect it with the Legion Headquarters; three days later, five new members had joined.

• Cruze warned Xiao Ran that the legion would need a proper management tier as it expanded, and El-Elf proposed managing training and legion affairs through the Fleet World and 0079 Faction Territories.
• Xiao Ran approved El-Elf’s plan and assigned him to organize the territories’ management and training systems.
• Xiao Ran and Cruze confirmed Orb as a Legion Territory, bought a portal, recruited Native inhabitant employees, and purchased a system to connect the territories with the Legion Headquarters.
• Three days later, five participants had joined the legion, including a new female member of W Team.

W Team joined the Burning Legion after Nalo offered them access to custom B-class mecha and Legion support, then discovered that their new leader was Xiao Ran, the participant who had deceived and coerced them in 00 World. Xiao Ran gathered the Legion and announced that he would lead everyone into a Mission World for their first Legion Mission.

• Nalo recruited W Team by explaining the Burning Legion’s benefits, and Xiao Ran offered to build them suitable B-class mecha at cost once they advanced.
• W Team accepted the Legion’s strict terms and learned that it possessed a Faction Territory.
• At the Legion gathering, W Team recognized Xiao Ran as the participant who had threatened and manipulated them in 00 World, while Eshe’s group exchanged sympathetic looks with them.
• Xiao Ran issued plans for Legion communication devices and an information system, then announced that he would take all members into a Mission World together.

Xiao Ran assembled the Burning Legion for its first Legion Mission and used an Ultimate Mission Card to send all fifty-three members into the 00 World. The mission required them to unify the world within half a year and protect Earth from extraterrestrial threats, and the chapter ended as the fleet began checking its status after arrival.

• Xiao Ran explained why the Burning Legion was ready to undertake a Legion Mission and kept the Ultimate Mission Card's risks secret from its members.
• Xiao Ran assigned the legion's members between the Burning Legion and the Frontier, leaving Mwu and Jeffrey in command of the two warships.
• Xiao Ran converted the 00 World Ultimate Mission Card into a Legion Mission, which required world unification within half a year and protection of Earth from extraterrestrial lifeforms.
• Xiao Ran selected all legion members, and the fifty-three Participants lost consciousness as the mission began.
• Mwu ordered Bobby, Moses, and Billy to check the Burning Legion and its surroundings while the others prepared for combat.

Xiao Ran’s forces arrived in the 00 World near Jupiter, where he warned the group that using his Innovator abilities could draw the ELS to him. He sent an eleven-person team to Earth, where their arrival triggered a search by the Federation and A-LAWS and drew the attention of Celestial Being and Ribbons.

• Mwu and Moses confirmed that the Burning Legion and the Frontier had appeared in Jupiter’s orbit, and Xiao Ran warned that the ELS might be there and could target him if he used his Innovator abilities.
• Xiao Ran ordered the fleet to hide in the Meteor Belt between Mars and Earth’s orbits while an advance team went to Earth to assess the situation and contact their established forces.
• Xiao Ran chose an eleven-person advance team, including Sheryl, El-Elf, Cruze, Graham, Luo, and W Team, and led them toward Earth in six Variable Fighters.
• The six Variable Fighters entered Earth and landed on an uninhabited shore, then hid beneath the sea while the team left the area.
• The Federation and A-LAWS searched for the unidentified objects, and the incident drew the attention of Celestial Being and Ribbons.

After returning to Earth four years after his departure, Xiao Ran gathered information about the world and prepared to contact trusted allies while hiding most of his companions. Celestial Being and Ribbons detected the group's high-speed arrival, and Tieria and Ribbons began to suspect that Xiao Ran had returned.

• Xiao Ran divided his companions into three groups to gather information and conceal the less familiar members from the world's intelligence networks.
• Xiao Ran learned that four years had passed, the Earth Federation had expanded under Ribbons's influence, and terrorist attacks had eliminated many opponents.
• Graham tried to contact Billy Katagiri, while El-Elf searched the network and Cruze and Luo relaxed on the beach.
• Celestial Being and Ribbons received reports that several unknown objects had entered Earth's atmosphere at extreme speed and vanished.
• Miss Huang investigated the unclear orbital photographs, while Tieria used VEDA to reconstruct a clearer image and recognized a possible return by Xiao Ran.
• Ribbons saw the reconstructed evidence and wondered whether Xiao Ran had returned to fulfill their deal.

Xiao Ran assessed Celestial Being’s divided leadership and planned to secure its base while preparing to support a coup against the Federation. After his team detected danger, he ordered his allies to regroup and protect their identities, while Miss Huang and Tieria mobilized Celestial Being to protect Alex.

• Xiao Ran reviewed the mission’s six-month deadline and decided that supporting a coup against the Federation was the most feasible route to establishing a new World Government.
• Graham reported that Laguna had reduced his support for Celestial Being and that Wang Liu Mei controlled its intelligence and supply networks, possibly in connection with Ribbons.
• Xiao Ran concluded that he needed to determine Wang Liu Mei’s position and planned to deal with her and Laguna while bringing his Legion members into the conflict.
• El-Elf warned Graham that trouble was approaching, so Xiao Ran told him to contact Katagiri, let Cruze pursue influence in the Federation, and send W Team to Laguna.
• Sheryl and Graham left to retrieve a mecha while Graham stayed with Xiao Ran, and Sheryl promised not to abandon him.
• Miss Huang and Tieria independently detected A-LAWS activity and ordered Celestial Being to deploy to protect Alex.

A-LAWS commanders converged on the town after Xiao Ran returned, and Ribbons visited him before they arrived. Ribbons revealed that he planned to unify the world by destroying opposing forces, while Xiao Ran warned that his methods would provoke Celestial Being and risk war.

• A-LAWS's independent authority and its transformation under Ribbons were described as Kati Manikin, Sergei Smirnov, and Goodman headed toward Xiao Ran's town.
• A-LAWS surrounded the town, cleared out its residents, and confined Xiao Ran there as its commanders moved to decide his fate.
• Ribbons arrived before the others and greeted Xiao Ran, who let him into his room and questioned why he had come in person.
• Ribbons recalled their four-year agreement and asked whether Xiao Ran was satisfied with the state of the world.
• Xiao Ran criticized Ribbons for failing to unify the world and warned that worsening conflict could make future dialogue turn into war.
• Ribbons said he planned to destroy opposing forces with satellite weapons and urged Xiao Ran to return to the Federation, while Xiao Ran warned that Celestial Being would oppose him.

Xiao Ran rejected Ribbons's coercive vision for guiding humanity and demanded that he join Xiao Ran's plan to unify the world before the coming dialogue. The chapter ended with Ribbons sensing Xiao Ran's overwhelming power and asking whether they truly had only half a year.

• Xiao Ran considered using Ribbons's influence to help unify the world, while insisting that people who could aid the coming dialogue should not die needlessly.
• Xiao Ran warned that Ribbons's rule by force would deepen resentment, then learned that Aeolia was dead and Ribbons had taken control of VEDA and claimed Aeolia's plan as his own.
• Xiao Ran explained that Innovators should protect and cooperate with humanity, rather than rule it as inferior beings.
• Xiao Ran said the coming dialogue was only half a year away and gave Ribbons a choice: join his methods or become his enemy.
• Ribbons laughed at Xiao Ran's challenge and asked what power he had, while Xiao Ran threatened to kill him and destroy VEDA if he refused.
• Xiao Ran's golden-eyed Brainwaves suppressed Ribbons, who became serious and asked whether the half-year deadline was true.

Xiao Ran convinced Ribbons that the ELS would arrive in six months and made him choose between becoming an enemy or joining his side. They agreed to work toward unifying Earth and preparing for the coming contact, with Xiao Ran naming Setsuna F. Seiei as the person who would become a pioneer.

• Xiao Ran used his Innovator abilities to convince Ribbons that Earth had only six months to prepare for the ELS and warned that he would kill him if he became an obstacle.
• Ribbons accepted Xiao Ran's terms and asked what he intended to do next.
• Xiao Ran proposed overthrowing the Federation government, establishing a New Government, covertly strengthening military forces, and preparing humanity to understand the ELS through merging.
• Xiao Ran named Setsuna F. Seiei as the only suitable person to become a pioneer, and Ribbons concealed his dissatisfaction.
• Xiao Ran outlined a plan to spur Celestial Being, opposition forces, and a Coup d'état faction into replacing the Federation government while he controlled events from the shadows.
• Ribbons praised the plan after realizing it would bring resistance forces under control while leaving power in their hands.

Xiao Ran accepted Ribbons's challenge to survive a day and prove his strength, but Celestial Being's arrival changed the situation. He sent Cruze's team to support the battle while keeping his own forces' identities concealed, and promised Ribbons he would show him overwhelming power.

• Ribbons proposed a twenty-four-hour wager: if Xiao Ran survived, Ribbons would follow him; if Xiao Ran died, Ribbons would carry out Xiao Ran's plan himself.
• Xiao Ran accepted and contacted Cruze, telling him to prepare the others and reveal their strength to Ribbons.
• Cruze reported that Celestial Being machines equipped with Green Solar Furnaces were descending toward the town.
• Segal sent his MS to protect Xiao Ran's hotel while Goodman redirected his forces to intercept Celestial Being.
• Xiao Ran ordered Cruze to help disable Celestial Being's machines, told Graham to contact them, and directed Luo and Sheryl to return with them afterward.

Xiao Ran watched Celestial Being's four newly upgraded Gundams overwhelm A-LAWS, while Ribbons realized the situation was slipping beyond his control. The battle ended when a Variable Fighter appeared and Celestial Being escorted it away, leaving the reason for the sudden fighting unclear to most observers.

• Xiao Ran rearranged the group's mecha assignments and watched Celestial Being's 00 Gundam, Gundam Virtue, Gundam Dynames, and Gundam Kyrios enter the battle.
• Xiao Ran used his scouting skill and discovered that all four Gundams were B-class machines, while Ribbons realized Celestial Being had hidden their development from him.
• Setsuna, Lockon, Tieria, and Hallelujah coordinated their attacks, destroying many A-LAWS machines and forcing the intercepting force onto the defensive.
• Xiao Ran told Ribbons that A-LAWS could no longer easily act against him, and Ribbons warned that even a stray shot at the hotel could still serve Goodman's objective.
• A Variable Fighter appeared, and Celestial Being's four Gundams stopped fighting and escorted it away, abruptly ending the battle.

Xiao Ran returned to A-LAWS under Segal’s protection and learned how he and Kati had resisted Goodman and gathered evidence of A-LAWS’s abuses. As Segal prepared to escort him to Federal Army Headquarters, Ribbons departed with Cruze, while Xiao Ran warned that the Federation’s deeper power struggle still threatened them all.

• Segal welcomed Xiao Ran aboard his command ship with a formal salute, and Xiao Ran promised to address A-LAWS’s problems after returning.
• Cruze took Ribbons away in a Variable Fighter, while El-Elf chose to act alone and Graham agreed to rendezvous with Cruze later.
• Segal told Xiao Ran that he and Kati had built opposition to Goodman and collected evidence of A-LAWS’s secret operations and massacres.
• Xiao Ran explained that he had left because a hidden power within the Federation threatened him, and he warned Segal that covert attacks could still target them and Kati.
• Segal pledged that he and Kati would protect Xiao Ran, even at the cost of their lives.

Xiao Ran learned about the Federation’s divisions while Army Headquarters acknowledged his return but left him awaiting orders. Meanwhile, Ribbons toured the Burning Legion and Frontier, saw their overwhelming power, and returned to Earth more afraid of Xiao Ran; Xiao Ran’s appointment also arrived.

• Kati Manikin explained the Federation’s opposition, A-LAWS’s internal divisions, and Celestial Being’s continued activity to Xiao Ran as they traveled to Army Headquarters.
• Army Headquarters recognized Xiao Ran’s identity but declined to restore him as A-LAWS commander, leaving him on standby while Segal stayed to protect him.
• El-Elf investigated Wang Liu Mei and the Federation’s abuses, while W Team secured Laguna’s cooperation and arranged supplies for Celestial Being.
• Cruze took Ribbons beyond Earth and showed him the Burning Legion and Frontier, explaining that they had been built with resources and labor from space.
• After a three-day tour, Cruze returned Ribbons to Earth, and Xiao Ran received his appointment.

Xiao Ran settled into his new command in Neo Japan while Ribbons launched a sweeping operation against KATARON and used the resulting violence to shape A-LAWS’ growth. Xiao Ran arranged for his forces to infiltrate the conflict and planned to drive the Federation into chaos before stabilizing it under a government he could control.

• Xiao Ran arrived in Neo Japan, where Brigadier General Jett and regional political and business leaders welcomed him as the new commander.
• Ribbons reported that A-LAWS had begun sweeping the Middle East and Africa, arresting suspected resistance members worldwide and imprisoning them as space miners.
• Xiao Ran ordered Ribbons to leak detention-site information to Celestial Being and preserve battle footage, intending to provoke a prepared A-LAWS defeat and spur its expansion.
• Ribbons revealed that Commander Katagiri was directing A-LAWS’ operations, while Xiao Ran said he had his own plans concerning him and Billy Katagiri.
• Xiao Ran told Graham to lead the Bird into the operation, rescue resistance members, and make contact with them while limiting A-LAWS’ losses.
• Xiao Ran planned to embed legion members among KATARON, the Middle East forces, and A-LAWS, while using Ribbons to expose selected resistance locations and steer the conflict toward his goals.

Celestial Being joined the Resistance Organization's rescue operation against A-LAWS, while Graham and Ribbons waited nearby with plans of their own. As the battle began, Graham entered the fight and Ribbons learned that Wang Liu Mei had found a suitable candidate for their next move.

• Miss Huang received intelligence from Wang Liu Mei and orders from VEDA, then directed Celestial Being to assist the Resistance Organization and protect civilians.
• The Resistance Organization's ship reached the mining facility, and three FLAG pilots cleared its defenses so the ship could enter the harbor.
• Setsuna launched in the 00 Gundam as Lockon, Alleluiah, and Tieria prepared to engage A-LAWS; Lockon destroyed an enemy machine carrying banned anti-personnel robots.
• The 00 Gundam and Gundam Dynames engaged fifteen A-LAWS units while Kyrios provided suppressive fire, and Virtue covered the Resistance Organization's withdrawal.
• Graham launched in the Wild Bird after Ribbons warned that A-LAWS might attack the mining facility with its warships.
• Wang Liu Mei gave Ribbons a computer displaying their chosen candidate, and Ribbons approved the choice.