Chapter Summaries

Chen Xing trapped Chen Kong and Vivian in her Red Lotus Karmic Fire and unleashed an army of remnant souls against them. Chen Kong and Vivian fought back together, but Chen Xing remained the true obstacle to their escape.

• Chen Kong dragged Vivian toward the Steam Train station, but Chen Xing’s Red Lotus Karmic Fire blocked their way.
• Chen Kong used Mark of the Void: Return to Dust to open a path through the flames, but Chen Xing’s fire replenished faster than he could assimilate it.
• Chen Xing explained the limits of Return to Dust, drew her Demonic Blade, and summoned a horde of evil ghost remnant souls.
• Chen Kong fired Mark of the Void Bullets at the remnant souls while Vivian used her Seconds Hand Rapier to fight them off.
• Chen Kong and Vivian stood back-to-back and began thinning the horde, while recognizing that Chen Xing was still the real threat.

Chen Xing confronted Chen Kong and Vivian, insisting that her duty as a Star Envoy required her to capture them while challenging Chen Kong to prove his objections. After overpowering him, she revealed that her harshness came from wanting her younger brother to protect himself and stay alive.

• Chen Xing drew her Demonic Blade, transformed with Bloodflame, and told Chen Kong that he still could not escape her.
• Chen Kong questioned why she would uphold the trial despite its apparent injustice, and Chen Xing said capturing fugitives was her duty and she would not change her mind based on words alone.
• Chen Xing attacked with a colossal flaming blade, and Chen Kong dodged while continuing to remind her of their childhood and their parents.
• Chen Xing rebuked Chen Kong for risking his life in the name of justice, then struck again and sent him and Vivian flying.
• Chen Xing pressed her blade to Chen Kong’s throat and asked him to admit his mistake, but he stayed silent because he believed he had done nothing wrong.
• Chen Xing reflected that she had come partly on Tiandao’s instruction and partly to stop Chen Kong from endangering himself, because she wanted him to live well.

Chen Xing brutally beat Chen Kong for risking his life to save Vivian, then left with Vivian after she intervened. Isabelle arrived, arranged medical treatment for the unconscious Chen Kong, and had him taken away in a Skysea Group convoy.

• Chen Xing confronted Chen Kong for risking his life to save a woman he had just met.
• Chen Xing repeatedly struck and kicked Chen Kong, ordering him to get up each time.
• Vivian stepped between Chen Xing and Chen Kong and said he had saved her life, so Chen Xing sheathed her blade and left with her.
• Isabelle appeared beside the unconscious Chen Kong and called for a Skysea Group convoy.
• Isabelle ordered her employees to take Chen Kong to the medical department and ensure he woke without a scratch.

After Chen Xing traded Vivian’s release for the revocation of her brother’s warrant, Tiandao confronted Vivian about her plans and revealed that she had stolen the Church’s Holy Relic herself. Vivian admitted her scheme was driven by revenge for her father William, and she entered the Brass Tower determined to carry it through.

• Chen Xing handed Vivian over to Tiandao after he agreed to revoke the warrant for her brother.
• Tiandao questioned Vivian about her determination to act, then warned her not to let revenge blind her.
• Tiandao revealed that Vivian had stolen the Holy Relic and worked with Bishop Cleve and Saintess Euphemia to deceive everyone.
• Vivian admitted she wanted revenge on those who had framed her father, even if it meant making the Clockwork Knight’s justice a false legend and causing upheaval.
• Tiandao brought Vivian to the Brass Tower, where she stepped out ready to carry out her plan.

Vivian faced the Twelve Brass Nobles in a public trial and denied stealing the Gear Church's Holy Relic. She presented both witness testimony and physical evidence, beginning with the name Jack Bailey, which shocked Bishop Cleve and Saintess Euphemia.

• Tiandao accompanied Vivian into the council hall, where the Twelve Brass Nobles convened her trial.
• Vivian declared herself innocent and began explaining that she had never stolen the Church's Holy Relic, but Saintess Euphemia tried to silence her.
• Euphemia sent invisible threads toward Vivian, but Tiandao warned her, and the threads withdrew.
• The Council President asked Vivian for evidence, and she confirmed she had both witness testimony and physical evidence.
• Vivian named Jack Bailey, owner of the Rust Nail Bar in the Lower City, and Bishop Cleve and Saintess Euphemia reacted with shock.

Old Jack presented evidence that Vivian had acted on Euphemia and Cleve’s orders, but the Brass Nobles dismissed it and sentenced Vivian to Furnace Punishment. As the verdict spread through the Steam Capital, Tiandao anticipated the Lower City’s anger and prepared to fan it into rebellion.

• The Council President summoned Old Jack, who presented a ledger documenting the Gear Church’s dealings in the Lower City and a recorder containing Euphemia’s orders to Vivian.
• The recorder revealed that Euphemia had instructed Vivian to take the Holy Relic and promised her a mech suit, but Cleve argued the recording could be forged and pressured the Brass Nobles to reject it.
• Cleve stripped Vivian of her Silver Knight status, and the Council President declared her guilty and sentenced her to Furnace Punishment seven days later.
• Most of the Brass Nobles voted to approve Vivian’s sentence, while Fischer and two Association representatives voted against it.
• Tiandao anticipated that the broadcast verdict would ignite the Lower City’s anger and decided to fan the uprising himself.

Chen Xing and Tiandao discussed his awakened Stellar Eclipse Heavenly Eye and the potential of its Subspace ability, then turned to Tiandao’s plans for changing Upper City. Chen Xing confessed she had watched him for eight years, leaving Tiandao flustered and her uncertain how he felt.

• Chen Xing burned Tiandao’s Gomoku pieces after he declared victory, and they ended the game in a draw.
• Chen Xing examined the Star Mark in Tiandao’s eyes, and he demonstrated how his awakened Stellar Eclipse Heavenly Eye opened visible Subspace nodes to store and retrieve objects.
• Chen Xing deduced that Tiandao could eventually use Subspace to evade physical attacks, and he confirmed that he hoped to develop the ability into “Phasing.”
• Tiandao told Chen Xing that Enit would tolerate his plans to change Upper City if they benefited ordinary people, and he intended to charge a service fee for his work.
• Chen Xing said she had watched Tiandao since eight years ago and asked whether he hated it; Tiandao said he did not, while she looked disappointed when he avoided her gaze.

Chen Xing urged Caroline to delay testing the Spirit Realm until after advancing, while hiding her own reasons for wanting Caroline to wait. Though Caroline agreed to be cautious, she felt unexplained unease and called Jing Liuli for a conversation.

• Chen Xing told Caroline she had found leads on the Sentient Species and Caroline explained that the Spirit Realm could expose their disguises.
• Chen Xing asked whether Caroline would use the Spirit Realm to investigate her sealed memories before advancing, and Caroline said she planned to test it first.
• Chen Xing warned that using the Spirit Realm before advancing could risk Data Assimilation, then admitted she feared losing Caroline as a friend.
• Caroline promised to avoid risks until the Spirit Realm experiments produced results, which would take at least half a year.
• After their call, Caroline felt uneasy, left her calculation pod, and contacted Jing Liuli to talk.

Jing Liuli helped Caroline infer that Chen Xing was struggling with the Demonic Blade’s threat to take control of her, and Caroline realized Chen Xing might want her to supervise a deadly trial. Alone in the Gear Tower, Chen Xing drew the blade and answered its desire to possess her with a defiant challenge.

• Jing Liuli told Caroline that Chen Xing’s evasiveness likely meant she had encountered a serious problem unrelated to combat.
• Caroline recalled that Chen Xing’s Demonic Blade was her true Star Core organ and that it could enslave her if it gained too much influence.
• Caroline suspected Chen Xing wanted her to supervise the coming battle and kill her if she became a blade slave, but she kept the matter private from Jing Liuli.
• Chen Xing stood before the Demonic Blade in the Gear Tower, drew it, and challenged it to prove it could take her body.
• The Demonic Blade trembled with violent battle intent, and Chen Xing mocked its ambition.

Chen Xing threatened the Demonic Blade into submission by revealing her willingness to die by Tiandao’s hand so he would remember her. Tiandao sensed the blade’s growing influence on her and decided to test her strength, but first put on his Mysterious Masked Man disguise to handle another matter.

• Chen Xing told the Demonic Blade to submit and help her stand beside Tiandao, or become a weapon that cut down anything in his way.
• Chen Xing said she would accept dying by Tiandao’s hand if it made her the only one he could never forget, frightening the Demonic Blade into silence.
• Tiandao noticed the killing intent left on the chessboard and concluded that the Demonic Blade was increasingly affecting Chen Xing’s will.
• Tiandao recalled that Chen Xing had once vented her killing urges by challenging him, and reasoned that the Demonic Blade needed to accept him as a resting place rather than merely be defeated.
• Tiandao decided to test Chen Xing’s current strength, then put on his mask to take care of another matter.

The Gear Church split into factions after Bishop Cleve and Saintess Euphemia’s actions caused believers to doubt their faith. Fischer killed Per when he attacked him, but the Purification Faction rose against Fischer, leaving the church on the verge of further violence.

• The Purification Faction gathered to pray, and Per rang the Great Pendulum Church’s clock to signal their plan to purify those they considered unclean.
• Fischer arrived and ordered Per to stand down, insisting the knight order could not act against a bishop or Saintess without authorization.
• Per attacked Fischer with a Steam Sawblade and accused him of allowing the doctrine to be trampled.
• Fischer caught the sawblade and killed Per with a punch to his helmet.
• The remaining believers rose against Fischer, who concluded that more of them needed purification.

Tiandao Siming confronted Fischer in the blood-soaked Great Pendulum Church and used his abilities to overpower the mechanical knight. After revealing his identity and disabling Fischer’s armor, Tiandao left him unable to move.

• Fischer killed the believers corrupted by “sensibility” inside the Great Pendulum Church.
• Tiandao entered the church and said he had come to take the Central Authority from Fischer’s chest.
• Fischer attacked Tiandao, but Vector Control redirected his sword and Tiandao evaded his follow-up strike.
• Tiandao used a Quantum Cube to block Fischer’s encrypted signal and revealed that he was Tiandao Siming.
• Tiandao used Vector Control to disrupt Fischer’s armor, then placed a hand on his shoulder and left Fischer unable to control his body.

Tiandao defeated and killed Fischer, taking the Steam Capital Quantum Key from his body. He escaped the cathedral unseen as Church knights arrived, while an ominous storm gathered over Steam Capital.

• Tiandao seized control of Fischer’s golden mech, but Fischer shed the armor and attacked him with Star Envoy-targeting bullets.
• Tiandao turned Fischer’s bullets against him and used his foresight to pierce Fischer’s chest, destroying his power core.
• Fischer made one final attack before dying, and Tiandao drew the Steam Capital Quantum Key from his body into the Quantum Cube.
• Church knights rushed into the cathedral, but Tiandao walked past them unseen and left for home.
• The cathedral clock rang out, a cicada began to sing, and dark clouds spread toward Steam Capital as a summer storm approached.

Chen Kong and Isabelle discussed the rising tension between Upper City and Lower City, while a flashback revealed the stakes and secrets of the Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Competition. When a riot erupted at Bolt Hub Station over Upper City's planned overhaul, Chen Kong left to find Jack Bailey, the one person he believed could stop it.

• Chen Kong turned off a radio broadcast announcing Upper City's planned overhaul of Rust Iron District and suspected the news had been released to provoke conflict.
• Isabelle suggested Chen Kong ask Yu Qianxia about the overhaul, but he hesitated because he already owed her a favor and was unsure whether to enter the Starry Sky Ladder Ranking Competition.
• In a flashback, Yu Qianxia explained that the competition could grant top-ranked Star Envoys an item needed to reach Calamity-class and revealed that Dragon and another classified disciple had defected from the Association over the same woman.
• A crowd of Rust Iron District citizens attacked Bolt Hub Station, setting buildings alight and charging the mechanical guards in protest against Upper City's planned demolitions.
• Chen Kong left the office to find Jack Bailey, believing the former owner of Rust Nail Bar was the only one who could stop the riot.

Chen Kong refused to abandon the Lower City residents or Vivian, while Old Jack chose to leave the Steam Capital. Isabelle then informed her father, Dorian, that she intended to take action, leaving him alarmed as she explained the crisis.

• Old Jack told Chen Kong that he could not give the Lower City residents hope and decided to leave the Steam Capital.
• Chen Kong vowed to help Vivian and the Rust Iron District, then headed for Bolt Hub Station.
• Isabelle contacted Dorian and invoked his advice about braving dangerous waves to pursue valuable fish.
• Dorian encouraged Isabelle to act until she warned him that her plan might turn the Steam Capital upside down.
• Isabelle described the situation to Dorian, who grew increasingly alarmed.

After Shui Mo was found apparently murdered at the Fifth Squad's station, the Brass Nobles rushed to Gear Tower as the Steam Capital's major organizations struggled with simultaneous crises. Chen Xing and Tiandao revealed that Shui Mo's corpse was a lifelike fake, and Tiandao said it was time to reel in the net.

• Frank learned that the Association and Gear Church would not intervene to suppress the Lower City riot.
• A Brass Noble reported that Captain Shui Mo had died at the Fifth Squad's station, prompting the seven Brass Nobles to hurry to Gear Tower.
• Dimensional Audience members saw Shui Mo impaled against a wall with no signs of a struggle and speculated about who had killed him.
• Chen Xing and Tiandao watched the fake corpse, and Tiandao agreed that it was time to reel in the net.

Liam questioned Yu Chen about Shui Mo, who had been murdered while Yu Chen was detained, and revealed that Golden Knight Fischer had been killed at the same time. Liam left to pursue the investigation after appointing Yu Chen captain of the Fifth Squad and ordering him to guard the prison block.

• Liam brought Yu Chen from his cell to a secure interrogation room and asked about Yu Chen's investigation of Shui Mo.
• Yu Chen said Shui Mo might have ties to a mysterious organization but that he had found no conclusive evidence.
• Liam told Yu Chen that Shui Mo and Fischer had been murdered, likely by the same person, and ruled out the Gear Church as the killer.
• Yu Chen named Saintess Euphemia as a possible suspect because he had found her identity suspicious and suspected a connection between her and Shui Mo.
• Liam said he would bring Euphemia in for Yu Chen to interrogate and declared that the Star Envoy Association would not answer to the Church or the Mechanical God Cult.
• Liam appointed Yu Chen captain of the Fifth Squad, ordered him to guard the prison block, and shattered his Obsidian Handcuffs as he left.

Chen Xing watched Chen Kong infiltrate the Gear Church while Tiandao assured her he had Liam’s support. As explosions shook the Lower City, the chapter left Chen Kong pursuing his promise to clear Vivian’s name and win fair treatment for the Rust Iron District, despite the growing violence and the perilous path ahead.

• Chen Xing worried as Chen Kong used the Mark of the Void to infiltrate the Gear Church, while Tiandao said Liam would back him up.
• Tiandao reflected that Liam’s Domain and the Steam Branch’s Star Envoys made the Calamity dangerous, and that Liam leaving the Branch would let Tiandao steal the two Quantum Keys more easily.
• Chen Xing and Tiandao heard more explosions from Bolt Hub Station as fighting intensified between the Upper and Lower Cities.
• Chen Xing recalled that Chen Kong had promised the Lower City’s citizens he would clear Vivian’s name and secure fair treatment for the Rust Iron District before Vivian was executed.
• Tiandao sighed that Chen Kong had chosen the hardest road as gunfire and explosions continued around them.

Chen Kong infiltrated the Gear Church to investigate Euphemia’s Star Energy traces, using his copied Treasure-Seeking Rat Star Source to find her bedroom. He entered the chamber by disintegrating its Quantum Door Lock, leaving his investigation poised to continue inside.

• A Brass Knight worried that Captain Fischer’s death was suspicious, while Alex warned him to stop voicing accusations against the Church’s bishop and Saintess.
• Chen Kong slipped past the Gear Church guards and patrols without being noticed, using his Mark of the Void: Presence Erasure.
• Chen Kong activated the pseudo Treasure-Seeking Rat Star Source, which detected Star Energy traces and mapped an infiltration route.
• Chen Kong followed Euphemia’s Star Energy residue to her bedroom and disintegrated its Quantum Door Lock with Return to Dust.
• Chen Kong entered Euphemia’s lavender-scented chamber.

Chen Kong used his awakened Mark of the Void to search Euphemia’s room, found her hidden Quantum U-disk, and discovered the Star Energy pistol Void Weaver. Euphemia caught him in the room and attacked, leaving Chen Kong to fire the newly found weapon at her.

• Chen Kong awakened his Mark of the Void and used its microscopic assimilation effect to search through the room’s belongings.
• Chen Kong found a Subspace hidden inside an oil painting and retrieved Euphemia’s Quantum U-disk and a Star Energy pistol.
• Chen Kong identified the pistol as Void Weaver, which used his compressed Star Energy as ammunition and siphoned energy from its surroundings to recharge.
• Euphemia entered the room, confronted Chen Kong, and raised silver-white threads as she moved to attack him.
• Chen Kong sensed danger, raised Void Weaver, and fired at Euphemia.