Chapter Summaries

Orsaga visited the Beast Arena, where he recognized its resemblance to the ritual that had summoned him and secretly added his blood to a ritual being prepared beneath it. As a fight between Ottok and a Qiya Demon Lion began above, the underground ritual continued unnoticed.

• Orsaga entered a lavish private room at the Beast Arena and dismissed a maidservant’s suggestive offer of service.
• After studying the arena, Orsaga realized why it seemed familiar and flicked a bead of his blood into the ground.
• The blood seeped into a Magic Ritual that several black-robed people were drawing beneath the arena, and one of them briefly sensed something amiss.
• The host introduced Ottok, a condemned warrior from the Saiya Tribe, and his opponent, a Qiya Demon Lion captured in the Qieke Wilderness.
• Ottok took a defensive stance as the hungry, baited Qiya Demon Lion prepared to attack, hoping to survive thirty battles and earn freedom.

Ottok defeated the Qiya Demon Lion in the Beast Arena while Orsaga watched, then Orsaga left with his companions. Several days later, Crown Prince Jem Woz prepared to use Orsaga’s item against the approaching army of the Duchy of Yar, though his commanders misunderstood his orders.

• Ottok wounded the Qiya Demon Lion’s tail, then fought on until he killed it after a brutal battle.
• The spectators celebrated Ottok’s victory and ignored his record as a murderer, while Orsaga watched their reactions before leaving.
• At Mogus Fortress, Jem Woz weighed the Duchy of Maldon’s dire military and political situation and touched the item Orsaga had given him.
• Jem Woz ordered his commanders to gather enough rope for seventy or eighty thousand people, intending to capture the approaching enemy soldiers.
• Jem Woz’s commanders thought he meant to surrender, and he let their misunderstanding stand when he found the truth difficult to explain.

Jem Woz faced the invading Yar Army at Mogbusburg and rejected Harry’s offer to surrender. As the battle began, Jem activated a ruby obtained through his deal with Orsaga, causing Yar soldiers below Great Knight rank to turn on everyone around them.

• Harry mocked Jem Woz and urged him to surrender, but Jem refused and accused the Duchy of Yar of meddling in Maldon’s affairs.
• Harry ordered the siege engines, infantry, and cavalry to advance, while Jem told his archers and cannon crews to wait until the Yar Army came within one hundred paces.
• Jem discussed Orsaga’s growing threat with Baron Duke and admitted he feared both the Demon and the Church.
• As the Yar Army attacked Mogbusburg, Jem crushed the ruby and released a scarlet radiance over the battlefield.
• The Yar soldiers below Great Knight rank became savage and began attacking everyone around them, including their own comrades.

Harry discovered that Jem Woz had used an ancient magical artifact to drive most of the Duchy of Yar’s army into madness, securing a victory for Maldon. In the Royal Capital, Orsaga grew closer to Trina, then revealed that he was a demon and left her stunned.

• Harry broke free from the artifact’s influence, dodged an attack from Yar’s commander, and saw Yar’s soldiers turn on one another.
• Harry accused Jem Woz of using a powerful magical artifact, and Jem explained that its effects could not be stopped until time ran out.
• Jem ordered his commanders to capture the surviving Yar soldiers, while Baron Duke kept quiet as the others speculated about Maldon’s hidden powers.
• After news of the victory reached the Royal Capital, Orsaga declined to join the celebrations and stayed home with Trina.
• Orsaga and Trina grew intimate, and he said he might consider her important to him in the future.
• Orsaga told Trina that he was a demon, then left her stunned and went into the courtyard.

Jem Woz arranged for captured soldiers from the Duchy of Yar to be sent to Mobius Island, where they would serve his political plans, then returned to the Royal Capital for a victory celebration. The next day, a bishop arrived with an emergency document, and Jem began to suspect the church’s visit concerned something more serious than building a church.

• Jem Woz ordered more than seventy thousand captured soldiers transported to Mobius Island and rejected Baron Duke’s suggestion to ransom back important nobles.
• Jem explained that the captured nobles’ deaths would weaken the Duchy of Yar and deepen conflict between its nobles and royal family.
• Harry shouted a threat at Jem while being transported, so Jem ordered him sent to Mobius Island in the first batch.
• Jem returned to the Royal Capital and nearly drank himself sick at the victory celebration.
• The next day, Jem learned that a bishop had arrived with an emergency document, prompting him to suspect the church had brought urgent news.

Jem Woz learned that the Wailing Spirit Society, a surviving Demon Cult branch, was preparing to summon a Demon in the Royal Capital of the Duchy of Maldon. He agreed to join Bishop Safi’s effort to stop them and secured the Church’s help, while concealing that Orsaga was already in the capital.

• Jem Woz met Bishop Safi and asked why he had come to the Duchy of Maldon.
• Bishop Safi revealed that the Wailing Spirit Society had been found in the Royal Capital and explained that it was a branch of the Demon Cult.
• Jem Woz realized the cult intended to summon a Demon and worried that Orsaga was already staying in the capital.
• Jem Woz vowed to stop the cult, and Bishop Safi promised the Church would help.
• Jem Woz and Bishop Safi reached an agreement to cooperate, with each hoping to secure the other's support.

Harry and the other Yar prisoners were forced into the sea and sent toward Mobius Island, where Orsaga used Harry as the first carrier in the second phase of his Death Plague experiment. As Orsaga considered how to develop his powers while avoiding the world's growing hostility, the plague began spreading through Harry.

• Harry watched the imprisoned Yar soldiers approach Mobius Island and vowed to repay their captors.
• The Duchy of Maldon soldiers forced the prisoners into the sea on driftwood, pushing Harry in first after his warning about sea creatures was dismissed.
• Orsaga watched Harry wash ashore through a Far Sight Mirror and explained his plans to use the plague to alter bodily structure and genetic state.
• Orsaga made Harry the plague's original carrier, causing the infection to take root and spread from him across Mobius Island.
• Orsaga reflected on the world's growing resistance to his actions and on the risks and rewards of invading Outer Planes to gain power.

Orsaga puzzled over his emerging romantic feelings after Trina recoiled from him, while Jem Woz arranged for the Church to establish a district in the Royal Capital. Jem then reunited with Salter, now living under the name Shire, who warned that Orsaga was far beyond anything humans could oppose.

• Trina entered Orsaga’s room acting awkwardly, dodged his attempt to touch her cheek, and left; Orsaga removed and examined his heart as he wondered why he felt human romantic emotions.
• Jem Woz ordered a minister to allocate land for a Church district in the Royal Capital, explaining that Church involvement would benefit them despite the political risks.
• Jem Woz reflected on the kingdom’s deep-rooted corruption and his plans to stabilize the realm before his coronation.
• Jem Woz received Salter under his new identity, Shire, and welcomed him as an old ally.
• Shire explained that Orsaga’s power had terrified him and warned Jem Woz that humans could not challenge Orsaga by force.

Jem Woz asked Shire to use his experience as a cult leader to find the Wailing Spirit Society’s hiding places in the Royal Capital before they could summon a Demon. Meanwhile, Bishop Safi suspected Jem Woz was concealing his true motives and summoned reinforcements and Holy Artifacts.

• Shire told Jem Woz that Orsagar had been vastly more powerful than him and that their link had been severed as Orsagar grew stronger.
• Jem Woz revealed that the Wailing Spirit Society was hiding in the Royal Capital and preparing a ritual to Summon Demon, with influential nobles possibly sheltering them.
• Jem Woz asked Shire to identify likely cult hideouts using his expertise in evading searches, and Shire agreed to study maps and construction reports.
• In a carriage, Safi told Hariga that Jem Woz’s willingness to accept a church diocese in the Royal Capital seemed suspicious.
• Safi ordered a clergyman to tell Yate to bring the Heretic Hunting Department’s finest talents and every Holy Artifact to the Kingdom of Maldon.

Shire advised Jem Woz to investigate suspected cult sites across the Royal Capital and eliminate any dangerous conspirators, even if powerful nobles were involved. Jem committed to a forceful purge, and at dawn he led loyal troops into the city and ordered Kroht to secure the gates.

• Shire marked suspected cult locations on a map and advised Jem Woz to use the Church to investigate difficult sites.
• Shire warned Jem Woz to destroy any cultists found at the most sensitive locations, and Jem decided to leave those targets until last while clearing the others.
• Jem Woz resolved to bring his loyal army into the Royal Capital the next day and carry out a purge.
• Before dawn, Jem Woz arrived with troops at the city gates, where Kroht recognized him and opened them.
• Jem Woz ordered Kroht to seal the gates and assigned him several hundred Soldiers to prevent unrest.

Jem Woz introduced Shire to Bishop Safi and arranged a joint search for Cultists across the city, bargaining for Church support with territory and money. Afterward, Safi grew suspicious of both Shire and Jem Woz and ordered his clergy to investigate Shire.

• Jem Woz introduced Shire as an expert on Cultists, and Shire enthusiastically greeted Safi.
• Safi examined Jem Woz's map, questioned the plan to search the Royal Palace, and learned Jem Woz intended to explain the search to his Queen Mother afterward.
• Jem Woz and Safi argued over dividing the search locations until Jem Woz offered the Church expanded diocesan territory and six hundred thousand gold coins.
• Safi accepted the bargain and chose the city's left half for the Church to search, while Jem Woz assigned Soldiers to accompany them.
• After the parties separated, Jem Woz washed off the encounter, and Safi ordered his clergy to gather information on Shire and investigate what he and Jem Woz were hiding.

Jem Woz and Safi led raids across the Royal Capital, uncovering smugglers, criminal hideouts, and several cults while searching for the Wailing Spirit Society. After a raid on the Evil Language Society ended in a chaotic fight, Orsaga collected and ate the remaining souls.

• Jem Woz executed Sir Karl after soldiers recovered evidence of a military-supplies smuggling operation.
• Jem Woz and Shire raided several locations, uncovering smugglers, child traffickers, assassins, fugitives, and other illicit groups instead of their intended target.
• Safi identified the fifth cult they had found as the Evil Language Society and confronted its leader, who wrongly accused his own men of being Church informants.
• The Evil Language Society leader stabbed two subordinates, and one revealed that he belonged to the royal family of the Duchy of Yar.
• Safi attacked the cult leader with his warhammer, and the Heretic Hunting Department defeated the group.
• Orsaga appeared after the battle, gathered the lingering souls into a shard, and ate them.

Orsaga left his basement as Jem Woz and Safi gathered their forces to search the Royal Capital for cultists. They found the Wailing Spirit Society entrenched in the Beast Arena, and Jem ordered an assault that opened the gates from within.

• Orsaga enjoyed the aftermath of the Great Purge and vanished from his basement, eager to move around.
• Safi complained that his church had taken on more work than agreed, but Jem Woz refused to offer additional payment.
• Jem Woz entered the Royal Palace, where his Queen Mother rejected him, then ordered a search that found nothing amiss.
• Safi and Jem identified the Beast Arena as the likely Wailing Spirit Society stronghold and prepared to assault its defenses.
• Jem ordered archers to fire flaming arrows while over a thousand warriors scaled the walls with climbing hooks.
• The climbers broke through the defenders, and the Beast Arena gates opened from within as Jem ordered the archers to switch to melee weapons.

Jem Woz and Safi confronted Richard Woz over his attempt to summon a Demon to cure his daughter Sena, but Richard completed the ritual and summoned Karlra. Karlra discovered that the sacrifices meant to restore his strength were missing, while Orsaga watched from above after eating them.

• Jem Woz and Shire opened the cellar’s reinforced door by prying away the surrounding stone and found a chamber filled with chanting Cultists and the corpses of slaves.
• Jem confronted his uncle Richard Woz, who revealed that he had arranged the ritual in hopes of curing his sick daughter Sena.
• Richard offered to send the Demon to another country after it cured Sena, but Safi warned Jem that Demons were dangerous, and Jem rejected the plan.
• Richard’s Summoning Ritual brought forth the goat-headed Demon Karlra, who complained about the Holy Item Safi carried.
• Karlra reached for the souls of his sacrifices to recover his strength but found them gone, while Orsaga watched from above after eating them.

Karlra discovered that an unknown force had stolen his offering and altered the summoning circle, then tried to escape the basement with Richard Woz while facing Jem Woz’s troops and priests. With the secret passage blocked, Karlra ordered his followers to fight their way out, and the battle began.

• Jem Woz and Safi prepared their forces to attack Karlra with Holy Water-blessed heavy crossbow bolts, but Karlra deflected them with a wind spell.
• Karlra asked Richard Woz for an escape route, and Richard led him toward a secret passage while Karlra used a Wind Blade to strike the advancing Soldiers.
• Karlra noticed that the summoning circle had been draining the dead soldiers’ souls elsewhere and destroyed it, realizing an unknown outside force had interfered with his ritual.
• Richard Woz returned and reported that the secret passage was blocked by exceptionally hard stone, so Karlra ordered his Cultists and Richard to fight their way out.
• Jem Woz’s Soldiers and priests overwhelmed the Cultists, who were the first to fall in the basement battle.

Karlra fought the church’s forces in the basement, where Safi used Saint’s Ashes to grievously weaken him, while Jem killed Richard Woz after refusing to let him save Sena. Karlra escaped by abandoning most of his power, but a familiar presence found him, and he realized his death was imminent.

• Karlra absorbed the souls of the dead to restore some of his strength, then used airflow armor and blades to slaughter the Soldiers surrounding him.
• Safi activated the church’s holy badge and used Saint’s Ashes against Karlra, who lost an arm and was worn down by Holy Water and sacred medicines.
• Jem Woz fought Richard Woz and killed him after Richard accepted that he had no chance of winning.
• Richard told Jem that his family supported his actions and urged him to keep going before Jem closed his eyes.
• Karlra secretly escaped the basement in a frail beggar’s body, leaving most of his power behind.
• Karlra sensed a familiar presence above him, recognized the being who had altered his Magic Circle, and became certain he was about to die.

After Jem Woz’s citywide purge, Harry’s exiled Yar Army suffered an infectious outbreak that transformed the island into a mass of corpses and malformed monsters. Jem sought Orsaga’s permission to deal with the island, and Orsaga allowed him to proceed.

• Jem Woz’s notices announced that the royal search had killed Karlra and 946 criminals, and listed the addresses of eradicated organizations across the capital.
• On the deserted island, Harry learned that over a hundred soldiers had developed matching symptoms and ordered them isolated while he consulted the army’s doctors.
• More than two months later, an officer reported that the Yar Army had slaughtered one another and that huge malformed creatures had emerged from the corpses.
• Jem heard the officer’s report and decided the island could not be left alone, then asked Orsaga for permission to intervene.
• Orsaga approved Jem’s plan, saying he had already obtained what he needed.

Jem Woz was crowned king of Maldon as the duchy prospered, while Orsaga grew close to Trina. After Trina died and Jem led an attack on Orsaga, the Demon transformed and unleashed a fiery assault on the Royal Capital, leaving Jem charging into the flames.

• Shire told Jem Woz that Karlra's body was unlike ordinary life and said he had invited Orsaga, a scholar of supernatural creatures, to study it.
• Jem Woz was crowned king and swore to lead the Duchy of Maldon to greatness.
• More than a year later, Orsaga spoke with Trina, who asked why he had told her the truth; after she thanked him and kissed him, he killed her and watched her vanish.
• Jem Woz, Shire, Safi, and their forces confronted Orsaga, and Orsaga admitted he had drunk Trina's drugged tea before the attack began.
• Orsaga turned a soldier into a blood-red flower, transformed into a giant Demon, reshaped his runes into flower patterns, and unleashed a rain of fire over the Royal Capital.
• Jem Woz charged into Orsaga's pillar of fire.

After returning to the Bottomless Abyss, Orsaga left his flower-covered refuge to vent his anger in Howling Forest’s slaughter. He discovered and killed a Demon with a spatial ability, then found that its essence gave him little of value.

• Orsaga waited in seclusion among the Death Tribulation Flowers after turning the mountain’s inhabitants into flowers so he could rest in silence.
• Sensing the Soul's Boon and the vast bloodshed in Howling Forest, Orsaga flew toward the battlefield to slaughter Demons and Demonic Beasts.
• Orsaga rapidly improved his fighting techniques as he fought the creatures attacking him from every direction.
• Orsaga sensed a Lower Demon’s spatial ability, pulled the creature out of hiding, and explained how he had located it.
• Orsaga broke the Demon’s bones, tore off its head, and drained its essence, but was disappointed by the small increase in Evolution Points.

Orsaga reflected on the Bottomless Abyss’s endless cycle of slaughter and then exploited the chaos around Soul’s Boon to harvest Demonic Beasts for Evolution Points. He left the battlefield burning as he hunted the weaker creatures, while the fleeing survivors slowed his progress.

• Orsaga recalled the multiverse-wide Blood War and its role as the ultimate arena for slaughter and growth.
• When Soul’s Boon began to descend, Orsaga formed a vast Bloodflame fireball and sent a tide of flames toward the Demonic Beasts below.
• Orsaga dove at a Lower Demon, shattered its ice shield, crushed it into a crater, and drained its essence.
• Orsaga killed nearby Lesser Demons and spread a concentrated domain of Bloodflame that burned creatures, soil, and plants within its range.
• Orsaga pursued the Demonic Beasts to collect Evolution Points, but their attempts to fight back or flee slowed his hunt.