Recaps

Caroso unveiled zero-star cards at the festival, gained both warrior and card-maker classes, and negotiated protection and funding from the kingdom’s factions. After studying the cards with Alita, he left for Azure Wolf Province with new knowledge that a future conflict had destroyed Mal Academy and a resolve to investigate the dungeon.

• Caroso opened a custom card-making stall, then accepted Harvey Colin’s wager that he could not make a card below three stars.
• Caroso produced genuine zero-star cards, and Alita publicly credited him with inspiring her research while he revealed that Messiah had been posing as Krumen.
• Caroso entered a domain while watching Kong and Bai make cards, then survived the struggle between the War God’s mark and the Card Maker mark by gaining both classes.
• Caroso advanced to fourth tier and demanded compensation and safety guarantees from the factions, while Grand Duke Osiris sent Red to the capital and warned the kingdom against threatening his son.
• Caroso and Teresa discussed their political ideals and agreed to ally as long as they remained aligned, while Elizabeth bought custom Rogue cards and invited Caroso to her concert.
• Alita studied Caroso’s zero-star cards and independently explained how material and magic-array resonance could lower a card’s Star Level, while rumors spread that she and Caroso were engaged.
• Caroso agreed to cooperate with research and flew back to Azure Wolf Province, where the barrage told him that Blank’s work on the Revival of the Dead would lead to a conflict that killed Mal Academy’s principal and vice principal.
• Caroso realized that his future war had helped cause the attack on Mal Academy and decided to investigate the dungeon where he had been held.

Caroso and his companions survived a deadly dungeon where the God of Wisdom tried to claim Nimel, then escaped with Nimel carrying a mysterious crystal. After reaching Free City, Caroso reunited with Teresa, and their visit to a dance hall ended with armed soldiers surrounding the venue.

• Osiris approved Caroso’s plan to invest three hundred million in a pharmaceutical factory, while Caroso investigated the prisoners in the Kolia dungeon and Karei led a group into its simulated depths.
• The dungeon became real, suppressed its entrants’ powers, and forced Caroso, Nimel, Krumen, and Karei to hide their identities and survive its hunts, fog, and violent prisoners.
• Caroso and Krumen joined Karei’s group as they uncovered the dungeon’s traps and faced Black Long Coat, while Nimel encountered the God of Wisdom and resisted its attempt to possess her.
• Caroso defeated Black Long Coat with the Godslayer card, shattered the God of Wisdom’s statue, and freed Nimel, who gained a crystal and reached the fourth tier.
• The group escaped, but Tristan died beside Joe’s body, and Caroso learned that Nimel’s blood held divine traces, and Osiris and the Mage agreed to conceal her condition and secure the manor.
• Caroso returned to Cantwell, then traveled to Free City with Nimel and Krumen, where he reunited with Teresa and won most of their sparring matches using a new combination of weapons.
• Teresa introduced Caroso and Nimel to Eugene Buano at the Mora Dance Hall, where Elizabeth sang, Hausman Buano expelled a man who insulted her, and the man returned with soldiers and armored vehicles to surround the hall.

Caroso and Teresa fought through the Free City’s military blockade and monster outbreak while trying to rescue civilians and secure weapons. The Underworld Flower became a new threat, and Red’s warships arrived as Sophia’s rescue began.

• White Ansell threatened Hausman’s dance hall and tried to seize Elizabeth, but Caroso escaped with her as White tightened his blockade.
• Caroso reunited with Teresa’s group, recognized signs of a catastrophe like the one in Azure Wolf Province, and mobilized his Guard Battalion as monsters emerged.
• Frank Ansell escalated the crisis while Caroso and Teresa fought through the city, rescued civilians, and sought weapons from Russell’s ships.
• Caroso reached Russell and secured helicopters and weapons, allowing Teresa’s troops to survive a battle against the ghouls.
• Caroso and Teresa returned to the fighting, where Caroso’s Underworld Flower consumed poison humans and broke free of his control.
• Teresa ordered guerrilla attacks as Jenny escaped with Sophia, and Red’s warships arrived to shell the monsters and begin evacuating civilians.

After the Free City ritual awakens Sophia’s power, Caroso and Nimel become trapped in layered dreams. Caroso joins forces with his younger self to find Nimel, while Saya and Herman’s assault on Kolia Manor escalates into a battle.

• Caroso threw Sophia into the monsters, but her awakening shattered the barrier and healed nearby allies as Minette killed the Gray Robe Priest.
• Caroso’s forces secured much of Free City, and Celica explained that the ritual had meant to place the Lord of Eternal Life inside Sophia.
• Caroso and Nimel were drawn into a dream, where Caroso woke from a false life and joined Bai to search for Nimel in her dream.
• Caroso convinced his younger self that he was Bruce Kolia, and the two agreed to find Nimel and investigate their father’s death.
• When Saya’s forces besieged Kolia Manor, Caroso activated its defenses and Old Snow’s troops emerged behind the attackers.
• Caroso and Bai learned Nimel had disappeared, while Nimel absorbed power from the God of Wisdom’s statue until Dream Caroso destroyed it and rescued her.
• Kazan and Caroso confronted Saya, but Herman’s allies attacked Kolia Manor and Dream Caroso returned with Nimel.
• Dream Caroso fought Herman with Bai’s cards and a summoned meteor, while the real Caroso watched from inside the manor.