Recaps

White Ansell used his family’s army to seize Hausman and demanded that Elizabeth be taken to him. Caroso intervened to protect Elizabeth, and White challenged whether Caroso’s status could stop him from taking her.

• White Ansell revealed himself as Marquis Frank Ansell’s son and threatened to destroy Hausman’s dance hall with his family’s military forces.
• Hausman agreed to go with White, but White ordered his soldiers to find the singer Elizabeth and take her away.
• Caroso escaped through a window with Elizabeth and confronted White, declaring that White would not take her.
• Teresa refused to intervene for Elizabeth but ordered Will to rescue Caroso if he was in danger, while Nimel joined Caroso’s side.
• White dismissed Caroso’s claim to protection through his ties to Azure Wolf Province and insisted he would take Elizabeth anyway.

Caroso confronted White to protect Elizabeth, while White revealed he also wanted Sophia. When White ordered his soldiers to fire, Caroso charged into their gunfire and faced imminent danger.

• Bai and Kong agreed they would not interfere unless White tried to kill or abduct Caroso.
• Caroso refused White’s offer to trade singers and demanded that White leave Elizabeth alone.
• White offered Caroso Sophia as well, alarming Sophia, who found the exits guarded and began looking for another way out.
• Elizabeth realized White might be targeting her father, Russell, and clung to Caroso for protection.
• After White declared he would take Elizabeth, Caroso equipped himself with cards and charged at him as the soldiers opened fire.

Caroso used rogue cards to escape with Elizabeth after White’s troops threatened the dance hall. White sealed off the area and began searching for them, while Teresa protected Nimel.

• Kong used Guardian Angel to block the gunfire, and Caroso and Elizabeth disappeared in the resulting light and mist.
• White ordered his troops and aircraft to seal off the area and find Caroso and Elizabeth alive.
• Teresa pulled Nimel behind her and challenged White, who threatened to fight anyone who tried to leave.
• Caroso explained that he had used Shadow Clone, Phantom Step, and Smoke Bomb to escape with Elizabeth.
• White kicked Hausman and declared that he was dead.

Caroso and Elizabeth encountered a large troop deployment outside the district, and Elizabeth left alone after refusing to tell him what the soldiers wanted. White learned from his father that capturing Elizabeth was part of a larger plan, then confronted Caroso, who challenged him to act.

• Caroso hid with Elizabeth from the troops and questioned why an entire division had been deployed.
• Elizabeth thanked Caroso and left alone, saying the matter involved him and could cause a diplomatic crisis.
• White confronted the captured Hausman, then received orders from his father to bring back Sophia and keep Caroso and Teresa under control.
• Caroso walked alone into a ring of White's troops, and White demanded to know where Elizabeth was.
• Caroso said Elizabeth had left and asked White what he could do about it.

Caroso returned safely with Bai, while Teresa and the others suspected White had blockaded the Free City to seize Elizabeth and a shipment of weapons. Caroso revealed that the crisis showed the same signs as the disaster that had struck Azure Wolf Province, leaving the group alarmed.

• Bai protected Caroso from White’s soldiers and brought him back to the noble suite, where Teresa and the others had been discussing the blockade.
• Teresa and Eugene reasoned that White had captured Elizabeth to take a shipment of weapons from Russell Heckmedia’s ship, while Caroso had been taken as a distraction.
• Caroso returned and learned about their theory, but questioned whether a weapon shipment justified the army deployment and the communications blockade.
• Caroso told everyone that he had seen signs identical to those that preceded Azure Wolf Province’s disaster, and the group reacted with alarm.

White searched for Elizabeth and Sophia, while Sophia hid with her bodyguard Jenny and voiced her dream of an equal society. White then pressured Scarface to use the Buano Family’s network to find both women, intending to send Sophia to Caroso and force Elizabeth to apologize.

• White discovered Sophia had escaped and threatened Hausman into helping him search for Elizabeth and Sophia.
• Sophia and Jenny hid at a rundown inn, where Sophia worried about Caroso and discussed her wish for a world without class divisions.
• Jenny warned Sophia that her egalitarian ideas were dangerous, while the two considered whether they could escape the army’s blockade.
• White arrived at Scarface’s villa, where armed men aimed their weapons at him.
• White offered to spare Scarface’s older brother if the Buano Family found Elizabeth and Sophia, then ordered them sent to his troops.

Caroso and the others suspected that Marquis Ansell’s actions might be connected to a mass-casualty disaster, and they decided to investigate the other districts. Teresa and Caroso prepared to confront the threat with their forces, while Caroso revealed that he had brought his elite Guard Battalion.

• Caroso explained that Azure Wolf Province had suffered a similar catastrophe in the past and warned that the current crisis might become both a disaster and an opportunity.
• Teresa, Bai, Eugene, and Kong considered whether Marquis Ansell and his allies were responsible and agreed they needed to investigate the other districts.
• Teresa announced that she could mobilize a regiment from the Presia Empire’s temporary garrison and ordered the group to restore communications.
• Eugene warned Teresa not to force her way through because the enemy might overwhelm them with soldiers.
• Caroso revealed that he had brought his elite Guard Battalion, and Teresa and Caroso agreed to prepare for a confrontation.

Marquis Frank Ansell declared war on the Presia Empire and other powers while preparing a ritual to bring his Lord’s followers into the world. Caroso assembled his elite Guard Battalion to respond, but the dungeon’s mist appeared an hour earlier than expected, leaving the group facing an early crisis.

• Frank refused Grand Duke Morgan’s demand to lift the Free City lockdown and, after the ritual advanced, demanded weapons from Grand Duke Osiris in exchange for Caroso’s life.
• Frank threatened Emperor Orsay with Teresa’s life and told Grand Duke Morgan that he had defected and would kill the royal hostages if troops intervened.
• Caroso brought Nimel and Krumen to an underground warehouse, where Luca assembled the 467-member Guard Battalion and reported its available weapons.
• Caroso assigned Krumen to the Mechanized Armor Company and Nimel to the Machine Gun Company, then led the soldiers to join Teresa and Will.
• As mist carrying the dungeon’s distinctive smell appeared early, Caroso ordered the Guard Battalion to maintain marching formation and prepare to fight.

Grand Duke Osiris ordered Red to send troops to rescue Caroso from the Free City, then negotiated with Emperor Orsay over their debts and the rescue of Teresa. Osiris agreed to commit two divisions after Orsay promised two hundred million Bronze Coins, while Orsay insisted that his daughter be brought home.

• Osiris ordered Red to lead two navy divisions to the Free City and bring Caroso back, threatening to raze the city if Caroso died.
• Emperor Orsay confronted Osiris about the Empire's unpaid loans, and Osiris blamed officials while reaffirming his loyalty.
• Orsay told Osiris that Teresa had gone to the Free City with Caroso and that unrest had broken out there.
• Osiris pretended that Caroso was unimportant and said he could not afford to send troops, prompting Orsay to insist on rescuing Teresa.
• Osiris offered two divisions to help, and Orsay agreed to transfer two hundred million Bronze Coins for the deployment.

Elizabeth disguised herself as a thief and entered an underground casino to investigate a route into District Nine, but the owner recognized her as a target and arranged an ambush. Trapped in a double-layered cage and struck by tranquilizer darts, Elizabeth claimed she was no ordinary sixth-tier thief.

• Elizabeth questioned the casino owner about the army lockdown and learned that Mora Dance Hall had been shut down while police searched for a singer.
• Elizabeth asked for a way into District Nine and agreed to pay ten Magic Crystal Coins.
• The owner secretly triggered a trap and sealed the casino entrance before ordering his men to capture Elizabeth alive.
• Elizabeth used Skyfall of Blades, Smoke Bomb, and Phantom Step against the attackers, but a cage caught her and tranquilizer darts struck her.
• The owner approached Elizabeth's double-layered cage, and she insisted that he had not caught an ordinary sixth-tier thief.

Elizabeth escaped the underground casino but was tracked down by White’s soldiers and captured as he prepared to take her out of District Seven. Caroso emerged from the fog and destroyed the helicopters guarding White’s forces, interrupting the abduction.

• Elizabeth cut her way out of the underground casino, cured the anesthetic with a Universal Antidote, and fled across the rooftops.
• White captured Sophia and Jenny, killed a soldier who had handled Sophia, and ordered Sophia sent to his father.
• Scarface threatened to mobilize the underground forces unless White surrendered his brother, so White agreed to the exchange and demanded Elizabeth’s real location.
• White’s forces found Elizabeth in an alley, surrounded her with soldiers and helicopters, and captured her.
• White struck Elizabeth with his rifle and prepared to take her out of District Seven, but Caroso appeared and brought down the helicopters with machine-gun fire.

Caroso rescued Elizabeth from White’s forces and used an explosive card-drawing strategy to cripple and kill the seventh-rank rogue Terry. He left the street victorious, though the battle caused civilian casualties and White’s fate remained unresolved.

• Caroso revealed himself and ordered his machine-gun company to attack White’s exposed troops, forcing White, Elizabeth, and Terry to flee into an alley.
• Terry knocked Elizabeth unconscious, then used fog and stealth to disappear with White while Will confronted him.
• Caroso summoned Fair Mermen and used copying and card-drawing spells to empty Terry’s reserve deck, disrupting his magic and leaving him vulnerable.
• Will attacked Terry as Caroso continued summoning mermen, preventing Terry from escaping and weakening him further.
• Will killed Terry with a sword strike, while Caroso’s soldiers secured the street.

Caroso’s new card-based combat method let him defeat a seventh-rank commander, and he explained its mental-shock effect to Teresa and the others. After the Guard Battalion confirmed its full strength, Caroso ordered a withdrawal toward the next battlefield to pursue Elizabeth and the enemy command headquarters.

• With Will leading the attack, Caroso defeated the seventh-rank commander, alarming Will and the others with the power of his deck.
• Caroso explained that Alita had developed his card method, which could cause mental death below the seventh rank and endanger even stronger opponents if enough cards burst.
• Teresa questioned Caroso about his relationship with Elizabeth, and he said rescuing her would let them borrow weapons from Russell.
• Caroso revealed that he had marked Elizabeth and intended to use her and White to locate the enemy headquarters, arguing that war required accepting risks.
• Luca reported that all 467 expected Guard Battalion personnel were present, and Caroso ordered the unit to withdraw as armed helicopters approached.

Portals opened across the city, unleashing monsters as Kong and Bai confronted an eighth-tier figure while Caroso’s forces tried to rescue civilians and push toward the source. The attack proved worse than expected, with poison men joining the assault and Caroso’s team facing mounting losses.

• Kong and Bai debated whether to fight the monsters or search for their source, then spotted an eighth-tier figure emerging from a portal by the sea and went to meet him.
• A ghoul attacked a family, but a soldier from Caroso’s Reconnaissance Company killed it with a grenade and urged the survivors to seal their doors and windows.
• Caroso, Teresa, Will, Nimel, and the soldiers advanced through the city, fighting monsters while trying to rescue civilians and protect their forces.
• Will handled the fifth- and sixth-tier monsters, while Nimel froze enemies for the soldiers, but Will grew exhausted and the Reconnaissance Company suffered casualties.
• Teresa and Caroso realized the monsters were more numerous than expected, including poison men, and warned that the battle could become a long war.

Osiris freed Minette and asked her to rescue his son, while Caroso and Teresa fought through District Seven’s ghoul outbreak and organized new civilian strongholds. White reunited with Elizabeth and Sophia, but their group came under machine-gun fire as the chapter ended.

• Osiris revealed that Minette led the hidden Dark Elves and persuaded her to help rescue or avenge his son in exchange for her freedom.
• Caroso and Teresa rescued civilians near the Buano Villa and helped defeat the ghouls attacking them.
• Teresa ordered Scarface to open a stronghold to civilians, and Eugene negotiated shelter, protection, and a sale of ammunition materials.
• Caroso left biscuits with a little girl beside her dead mother before he and Teresa moved on to another battlefield.
• White joined Elizabeth and Sophia with a Black Robe Priest, who declared that the Free City’s people would become offerings to the Lord.
• A heavy machine gun opened fire on White’s group, and its attackers ordered their troops to target Sophia.

Sophia was forced into the center of a battle as Caroso’s group attacked the priest and his monsters to rescue Elizabeth. Caroso withdrew with Elizabeth toward Presia’s garrison, while Sophia remained with the enemy, whose efforts to protect her suggested she was crucial to their plans.

• Caroso ordered his forces to fire on Sophia, but the Black Robe Priest made the soldiers protect her and turned fleeing troops into skeletons.
• White’s soldiers suffered heavy losses as ghouls shielded the enemy gunner, and Will seized Elizabeth and defended himself from the Black Robe Priest’s attack.
• Teresa urged Caroso to help Will, but Caroso ordered cannons fired toward Sophia, forcing the priest to block the shells and summon more monsters.
• Will escaped with the unconscious Elizabeth, and Caroso ordered his group to withdraw rather than risk being surrounded while trying to take Sophia.
• Caroso took Elizabeth from Will and said he would lead the group to Presia’s garrison with equipment for an entire division.

After waking in a ruined room, Elizabeth learned that monsters had taken over the Free City and joined Caroso and Teresa as they planned a route to Presia's garrison. Meanwhile, Frank discovered that soldiers were defecting as Morgan's army and ships advanced.

• Elizabeth woke in the group's hideout and found Caroso, Teresa, Nimel, Krumen, and Will debating how to reach Presia's garrison.
• Nimel explained the monster occupation to Elizabeth, who learned that Blank was still fighting an eighth-rank enemy.
• Caroso overruled Teresa and chose to cross the bridge, then asked Elizabeth to help obtain weapons and ammunition from her father's ships.
• Frank learned that soldiers from three divisions had defected and was told that Grand Duke Morgan's army and ships were approaching.

Frank’s forces held Sophia and Jenny while preparing to capture Caroso and Teresa, and the Black Robe Priest promised White an army of undead. Caroso and Teresa fought toward their rendezvous, with Caroso suspecting the monsters were gathering around Sophia because she had a special trait.

• Frank ordered Sophia and Jenny taken to a guarded room, then rebuked White for failing to capture Elizabeth and sending Terry alone to attack Caroso and Teresa.
• The Black Robe Priest promised White ghouls, skeletons, and warlocks to help him capture Caroso and Teresa alive.
• Sophia worried that she and Jenny had become involved with monsters, while Jenny suspected the dungeon riot had been deliberately caused by a ritual.
• Caroso and Teresa fought through the monsters toward Teresa’s army as artillery blasted ghouls.
• Caroso guessed that the monsters were gathering around Sophia and that their efforts to reach her had drawn troops away from his path.

Caroso and Teresa reached the Presia Empire’s settlement, where Teresa pushed to send troops to help civilians and recover weapons. Caroso reflected on the Guard Battalion’s losses and reaffirmed his resolve to strengthen Azure Wolf Province.

• Caroso and his group broke through the monsters’ blockade and reached the Presia settlement, where Teresa was welcomed by an embassy official.
• Teresa rejected the official’s advice to remain safely inside and argued that they should help civilians trapped in the Free City.
• The official reported that interregional communications were still down, while Caroso ordered Luca to count the Guard Battalion’s survivors.
• Luca reported that 324 of the battalion’s expected 467 soldiers remained, and Caroso accepted their deaths while insisting that Azure Wolf Province had to grow stronger.
• Teresa persuaded the official to let her take two battalions to retrieve weapons, offering to make it appear that he had sent them to search for her.

Caroso and Teresa fought their way through a huge ghoul horde toward the harbor, where Caroso sought help from Russell Heckmedia. The chapter left Caroso threatening to kill Elizabeth unless Russell sent reinforcements to rescue Teresa.

• Teresa and Caroso led their upgraded forces toward the harbor and fought through ghouls with guns, magic, and swords.
• Teresa and Caroso became overwhelmed by the enemy, so Caroso used Smoke Screen and his enchanted dagger to clear a path forward.
• Caroso and Elizabeth reached the docks, where soldiers let them inside after Caroso identified himself and invoked his family’s authority.
• Caroso learned where Russell's ship was and ran there with Elizabeth.
• Caroso told Russell that Teresa was fighting outside the walls, then held Elizabeth at knifepoint and demanded immediate reinforcements.

Caroso used Elizabeth as leverage to force Russell to respond, and Russell sent armed helicopters to help Teresa’s forces fight the ghouls. The reinforcements healed the soldiers and began burning the monsters as Teresa’s exhausted group struggled to hold its ground.

• Caroso revealed his identity and Teresa’s situation to Russell, threatening him with Elizabeth’s safety if he refused to cooperate.
• Russell ordered four armed helicopters to attack the ghouls without harming Caroso or Elizabeth, then confronted Caroso aboard the Heimeidiya.
• Caroso and Russell traded threats while Elizabeth defended Caroso and explained that he had saved her.
• Teresa refused Will’s demand to withdraw, asking him to wait one more minute while her troops faced mounting losses.
• Four armed helicopters arrived and fired on the ghouls as blue cards restored the soldiers’ wounds and magic and golden light burned the monsters.

Russell's mercenaries helped Teresa and Caroso secure the battlefield, and the group regrouped aboard Russell's casino ship. Caroso explained his real reason for bringing his Guard Battalion to the Free City, while Elizabeth confronted Russell and Caroso revealed that he had risked his life to save her because she was Russell's daughter and Russell could help him.

• Russell's mercenaries stabilized the battlefield, cleared a path for Teresa and her companions, and Teresa reunited with the wounded Caroso.
• Russell welcomed Teresa and Caroso aboard his casino ship, where the group rested and Russell asked Caroso about his motives.
• Caroso admitted that he had chiefly brought his Guard Battalion to the Free City to get Teresa's help equipping it, while attending Elizabeth's concert had been incidental.
• Elizabeth argued with Russell over his absence during her childhood and with Caroso over his role in saving her and the restrictions of her rogue profession.
• Teresa explained how Nimel learned Elizabeth's true identity, and Caroso said he had risked his life to save Elizabeth because she was Russell's daughter and Russell could help him.

Russell agreed to supply Caroso with weapons in exchange for Elizabeth’s safe return, then secretly ordered a bounty on White Ansell. As Caroso and Teresa fought through the Free City, Caroso prepared to investigate the people guarding Sophia and a little priest, hoping to rescue them.

• Russell gave Caroso the weapons requested for the Presia garrison and Buano's Villa, then ordered his mercenaries to kill White Ansell for hurting Elizabeth.
• Elizabeth overheard Russell’s order as Caroso and Teresa departed heavily armed.
• Caroso and Teresa’s forces battled their way through the Free City, where rebel soldiers and church members joined the fighting.
• Caroso led Teresa’s troops to watch the police station and investigate why its defenders were protecting Sophia and a little priest.
• Two little heads appeared at a police station window, and Caroso recognized the moment he had been waiting for.

Cardinal Celica Urien arrived in Free City and fought the ghoul-controlling mayor as a heavily armed battle priest. Meanwhile, Caroso used an Underworld Flower to lure away the poison humans, but it consumed them, grew stronger, and broke free of his control.

• Jenny and Sophia saw holy light spread across the sky as an airplane approached the ghoul-infested city.
• Celica jumped from the airplane, confronted the transformed mayor, and attacked him with her sword and holy magic.
• Caroso and Teresa watched Celica fight, and Caroso proposed using his Underworld Flower to draw the poison humans away.
• Caroso summoned the Underworld Flower, and its pollen drew the poison humans toward it as he and Teresa led their troops away.
• The Underworld Flower consumed the poison humans, grew stronger, and severed its connection to Caroso, leaving him to warn Teresa that he had created a new threat.

The Holy Temple Knights and Teresa’s forces entered the battle as Sophia and Jenny escaped the government hall, while Frank struggled to secure reinforcements for the cult’s ritual. Red’s warships arrived and bombarded the monsters, leaving Kong and Blank to confirm whether Caroso and Teresa were alive.

• The Holy Temple Knights chose to aid the archbishop rather than confront the Underworld Flower, while Teresa ordered her people to use guerrilla attacks and move toward city hall.
• Jenny broke through the bathroom wall with Sophia and carried her outside as the cultists realized their defenses were collapsing.
• Frank learned that his reinforcements were being held back, while Bai sent a young knight and mercenaries to rescue Sophia.
• Red’s warships arrived and shelled the shore, destroying many ghouls, poisonmen, and skeletons.
• Red ordered Kong and Blank to evacuate civilians and asked whether Caroso and Teresa were safe.