Recaps

Renard explained how he abandoned the corrupt Dawn Knight Order and stole Light Choice to pursue true justice, then joined Roland in tracking Oswood. Roland’s forces found Oswood trapped between a forest fire and the Fallen Ones, but Oswood fled and ran into an even larger group of them.

• Renard gave Roland Light Choice and recounted how he had opposed the Dawn Knight Order’s abuses, escaped its prison, and taken the seal to serve justice as a wandering knight.
• Elano spotted smoke to the south, and Roland led his troops after Oswood.
• Oswood fled south from the Fallen Ones but was driven back into the forest by a fire that blocked the southern exit.
• Roland arrived as Oswood fought the Fallen Ones, but Oswood abandoned his troops and escaped with his trusted followers.
• Oswood recalled his role in covering up the Lion Knight Order’s crimes and the losses that had left him with only a small force.
• Oswood escaped the forest with several dozen survivors, only to charge into a huge mass of Fallen Ones.

Roland and his followers were trapped between Fallen Ones in the forest until Risadiran guided them to safety. Meanwhile, Li Ang worked to evacuate nearby villagers and draw the Devourer Aigrem away from populated areas, while Aigrem captured Oswood and began tormenting him.

• Oswood’s men abandoned him as Fallen Ones surrounded him, while Roland caught and killed the fleeing remnants before his force encountered more Fallen Ones in the forest.
• Roland, Renard, Elano, and the villagers who followed Roland formed a defense against the Fallen Ones, and Risadiran arrived to lead them out of the forest.
• Risadiran explained that fire and smoke would not stop the Fallen Ones, while Roland asked how Li Ang planned to deal with Aigrem’s growing army.
• Li Ang and King Vidis coordinated attacks to distract Aigrem as Li Ang’s cavalry evacuated villagers near Lion Lake City and Payne, but Vidis could not break out of the city.
• Aigrem captured Oswood alive, recognized the resentful souls caused by his crimes, and stripped and wounded him with its battle axe.

Li Ang learned the history of Aigrem, the demon called the Gloomy Eye, and the Heretic Codex from Roland. He suspected the Dawn Knight Order had never truly defeated Aigrem and planned to use its approaching knights to test the Devourer.

• Roland told Li Ang that the demon Aigrem had once caused the rise of the Fallen Ones, and recounted how the Dawn Knight Order's purge of heretics had become a pretext for its own abuses.
• Roland revealed that the Three Prophets had once been priests of the Temple of Justice, had escaped his attempt to capture them, and had stolen the Heretic Codex linked to Aigrem's summoning.
• Li Ang argued that the Dawn Knight Order had kept the Heretic Codex because it let the Order define heresy and justify its privileges.
• Roland explained that Aigrem drew in people with evil thoughts and devoured the souls of skilled warriors, but admitted that the Order had no record of how it supposedly defeated the demon.
• Li Ang proposed letting the Dawn Knight Order confront Aigrem first, and told Roland that he had sent word to Light Roar Bay that Roland was in Lion Lake City so the Order would come after him.

Li Ang’s plan to lure Aigrem away interrupted its ritual and sent Roland and the Fallen Ones east, while Elano escaped with the Heretic Codex. Risadiran found the mutilated Oswood still alive and recognized him, ordering his men to save him.

• Li Ang chose Roland to lure Aigrem east of Lion Lake City while grenades distracted it, and Roland led an elite squad toward the altar.
• Aigrem’s ritual using Oswood was interrupted by explosions, which scattered the black mist and blasted the Heretic Codex away.
• Roland charged for the Heretic Codex as Aigrem attacked, then threw the book to Elano and led Aigrem and the Fallen Ones east.
• Elano carried the Heretic Codex south while Oswood regained movement on the altar and called for help.
• Risadiran’s Noldos found Oswood, and Risadiran ordered them to stop his bleeding after Oswood gave his name.

Roland lured Aigrem away from Lion Lake City, but the Devourer turned back and began besieging the city. At Payne Village, Li Ang discovered clues linking the Heretic Codex to the Abyssal Gate, then faced an attack from Elano, who seemed to be possessed or transformed.

• Roland bombarded Aigrem with grenades and arrows, damaged its warhorse, and withdrew after the Devourer stopped pursuing him.
• Aigrem led the Fallen Ones to besiege Lion Lake City, where Vidis's defenders destroyed the ladders after a day of fighting.
• Li Ang studied the Heretic Codex and found two matching spiral patterns on its black metal pages while Elano guarded the barracks.
• Li Ang questioned the mutilated Oswood, who described Aigrem attempting to summon a demon through a pitch-black gate with eye-like doors.
• Li Ang recognized the codex's metal pages as the Abyssal Gate, then saw Elano approach him with a short spear.
• Elano caught the codex, broke Li Ang's spear with her arm, and hurled a heavy table at him as he shouted that she might be one of the Three Prophets.

Li Ang confronted Media, who had taken over Elano’s body, and learned that the Three Prophets were gatekeepers serving Goddess Eredar and that Aigrem had stolen the Abyssal Gate. Media explained that Aigrem intended to summon other Gloomy Eyes, and the chapter ended with Li Ang learning how their souls could enter the world in physical bodies.

• Li Ang had Risadiran pull the guards back and lit the barracks, revealing that the woman in Elano’s body was the prophet Media.
• Media asked where Anna and Cersi were, and Li Ang told her that Anna was in Ulrich’s grave and Cersi was imprisoned in the form of a fat cook.
• Media explained that her Divine Art could suppress weak souls but could not affect Li Ang because of his Noldo blood, and she recognized him as Chosen of God.
• Media offered to return Elano and have the three prophets work for Li Ang if he freed Anna and Cersi, but Li Ang questioned her about Aigrem and the Heretic Codex.
• Media said the Heretic Codex was the Abyssal Gate, which the prophets had taken to keep the Gloomy Eye sealed, and claimed that Goddess Eredar guarded the world against abyssal demons.
• Media revealed that Aigrem had stolen the Abyssal Gate to summon other Gloomy Eyes, who could gain physical bodies through sacrifices of evil souls and pure flesh.

Media revealed that the gods were power-hungry spellcasters and explained how Astaria and the Temple of Justice had betrayed Eredar, then Li Ang agreed to cooperate with the three prophets against Aigrem. After Media left Elano’s body and possessed Oswood, Li Ang asked how they could send Aigrem back to the abyss.

• Media told Li Ang that the Temple of Justice had summoned Aigrem and that Astaria had betrayed Eredar to seize followers and power.
• Li Ang concluded that the gods acted like selfish rulers and that they would oppose anyone trying to reunite Pendor.
• Li Ang and Media swore to cooperate against Aigrem, with Li Ang promising to reunite Media with Anna and Cersi.
• Media left Elano’s body and entered Oswood’s body, then exiled Oswood’s soul into the Blood Prison Abyss.
• Li Ang closed the Heretic Codex’s Abyssal Gate and asked Media how to send Aigrem back to the abyss.

Li Ang learned how Aigrem could be defeated and planned to use lightning against it before Media expelled its soul. Meanwhile, Sigismund lured Boris’s force into Aigrem’s army, creating an opening for the Dawn Knight Order and Aiding to retreat into Lion Lake City.

• Media explained that Aigrem devoured souls, revived through nearby corpses, and could be banished by a pure-hearted person once its army was eliminated and its body restrained.
• Li Ang concluded that lightning might weaken Aigrem and told Risadiran to watch over Media while he arranged to draw a storm.
• The Dawn Knight Order and Aiding reached Lion Lake City to aid Vidis, but Roland and Aigrem’s pursuing army trapped them outside the city and forced them to retreat inside.
• Sigismund impersonated Wolfberd and drove Boris south across the grasslands, then led him toward Lion Lake City.
• Boris’s force blundered into Aigrem’s army east of the city while Sigismund escaped southeast to Li Ang’s troops with loot taken from Boris.
• The Fieltzwe troops and the Dawn Knight Order seized the eastern battle as an opportunity and broke out from the west into Lion Lake City.

Li Ang studied Aigrem’s battlefield control and chose a lightning-prone hill as the site of a plan to destroy it, while waiting for the storm his plan required. Wendy arrived with Noldo reinforcements, and Aigrem continued to besiege Lion Lake City without attacking Li Ang’s camp.

• Boris held off the Fallen Ones outside Lion Lake City, then entered the city with just over two hundred men after Vidis’s western breakout failed.
• Li Ang watched Aigrem use Fallen Ghosts to direct its forces, and concluded that its control of the battlefield made conventional attacks costly and dangerous.
• Li Ang and Gondor selected a hill between Payne Village and Lion Lake City where giant trees had repeatedly been struck by lightning, then prepared iron chains and sent riders to watch for storm clouds.
• Wendy arrived with over four hundred Noldo warriors after Forster and Eric had crushed the heretic Seekers around Long River Town.
• Wendy told Li Ang that Dalion’s knight order in Kewen Village and Charles had both disappeared, but Li Ang chose not to investigate Charles’s absence yet.
• Aigrem discovered Li Ang’s camp at Payne Village but did not attack it, continuing to focus on Lion Lake City.

Li Ang prepared a plan to lure Aigrem into a lightning-strike zone, using Wendy’s ancestral ritual and an approaching summer storm to create the chance to kill it. He and Risadiran rode out to support Roland, who baited Aigrem with the Abyssal Gate, as Aigrem pursued with a newly strengthened cavalry force.

• Li Ang trimmed the surrounding trees and arranged for Wendy to conduct an ancestral ritual, hoping lightning would strike the tallest tree.
• Wendy’s ritual coincided with a south wind and gathering storm clouds, and Li Ang urged her to pray for lightning while ordering the troops to prepare.
• Li Ang explained that Roland would lure Aigrem with the Abyssal Gate while he and Risadiran guided Aigrem toward the planned strike zone.
• Roland appeared before Aigrem with the Abyssal Gate, and Aigrem immediately pursued him with more than a hundred Fallen Ghosts and many Fallen Warriors on flesh horses.

Li Ang led the Noldo forces in a charge to rescue Roland, then used the Heretic Codex to draw Aigrem away from the battlefield. He lured Aigrem to a burning giant tree beneath an approaching storm, but Aigrem called the Abyssal Gate “Heaven’s Gate” just as lightning neared.

• Roland’s men were badly mauled by the Fallen Ones, so Li Ang charged with the Noldo forces to break through and reach him.
• Li Ang rescued Roland’s position, but Roland’s horse was killed, and Li Ang took the Heretic Codex to draw Aigrem away.
• Aigrem’s soul-shaking roar affected Li Ang and Roland’s men, while the Noldos remained unaffected and used mounted archery to hinder the encirclement.
• Li Ang led the Noldos through erratic turns that left the Fallen Horses behind, while Roland and his survivors escaped in the opposite direction.
• Li Ang set a giant tree alight and had the Heretic Codex wedged high in its branches to lure Aigrem beneath it before the storm arrived.
• Aigrem warned Li Ang not to destroy the object, calling it “Heaven’s Gate” instead of the Abyssal Gate.

Li Ang lured Aigrem’s Fallen One army into a trap, using the burning giant tree to draw lightning while his allies fought to keep the enemy contained. The lightning struck the tree and electrified the connected chains, enveloping Li Ang and Aigrem as their battle reached its climax.

• Li Ang resisted Aigrem’s soul magic, then had Risadiran ignite the oil barrels and set the giant tree ablaze.
• Grenades collapsed the narrow passage, trapping Aigrem’s forces in the U-shaped mountaintop enclosure, while Li Ang discovered that Aigrem’s spell had incapacitated Gondor’s human troops.
• Wendy and the Noldo Elves used volleys, grenades, and obstacles to defeat a company of Fallen Ones, but Aigrem’s assault left them locked in a desperate battle.
• Roland, Renard, and Li Ang attacked Aigrem as Risadiran and the Twilight Knights intercepted the Fallen Ghosts; Renard, Roland, and Wendy were knocked down or injured.
• Aigrem charged Li Ang, who grabbed an iron chain, and lightning struck the burning tree, electrifying the chains around them both.

A devastating lightning strike stopped the battle and left Li Ang and Aigrem missing, while Wendy refused to give up searching for Li Ang. Li Ang awakened as a spirit beside Aigrem in an unfamiliar place, learned about the Blood Prison, and was carried off by Kualis with Althea.

• A second bolt of Heavenly Lightning split the giant tree, scattered the fighters, and stopped the Fallen Ones.
• Wendy survived the blast, but Li Ang and Aigrem vanished beneath the fallen tree, and Wendy searched the slope in grief.
• Li Ang awoke in a disembodied state and discovered that Aigrem was beside him as a spirit.
• Aigrem explained that the Blood Prison was once the Goddess's Divine Kingdom, but became a hell where spirits heard one another's thoughts and fought to survive.
• Althea and the little white dragon Kualis found Li Ang and Aigrem on a beach, then Kualis carried them into the sky.

After Althea revived Li Ang on the island, he told her about the Noldo Elves and learned she could not send him back to the Pande Continent. As Li Ang worried about how to return, a voice from a black flame in the temple offered to help if he came to it that night.

• Kualis and Althea recognized Aigrem as a demon that had devoured countless souls and sealed it inside the temple.
• Althea used runes to restore Li Ang's senses, then pushed him underwater after he accidentally squeezed her.
• Li Ang told Althea about Wendilf and his plans for the Noldo Elves, and she was pleased by their future prospects.
• Li Ang discovered that Althea and Kualis had no way to send him back to the Pande Continent, so he stayed on the island.
• A voice from a black flame in the temple offered to help Li Ang return if he came to it that night.

Li Ang learned from Kualis and Althea about the temple’s hidden god and the powerful souls within it, then discovered Kavala could help him return to the Pande Continent. Kavala revealed that the codex was likely destroyed and recounted how Li Ang’s disappearance had reshaped the wars at home, where Amy was searching for him with the strength of the nation.

• Kualis told Li Ang that a god had occupied its consciousness and Althea’s, granted them eternal life, and brought Kavala’s soul to the temple centuries earlier.
• Li Ang realized that Kavala, Ulrich, and Aigrem were among the temple’s souls and considered asking Kavala how to return to the Pande Continent.
• Althea teased Li Ang about Wendy, while Kavala confirmed that Li Ang was his descendant and said he knew a way home if the codex remained intact.
• Li Ang said lightning had probably destroyed the codex, and Kavala laughed that Li Ang had accomplished what he could not in a lifetime before telling him Amy was searching for him.
• Kavala recounted that Aigrem’s Fallen Ones had run amok, the city defense army and Vidis’s forces had clashed, and Gondor’s surprise attack had routed the Dawn Knight Order.
• Kavala explained that Wendy and Risadiran had returned to Noldo Forest, Godric was besieged at Misty Marsh Fortress, and Amy had renewed the war against Cliff Bay while ordering a nationwide search for Li Ang.

Amy accepted the Bacchus Empire’s offer of aid as the Lionheart Kingdom faced invasion after Li Ang disappeared. Trapped with Kavala and Althea, Li Ang discovered the temple gate could return him home and learned that the gods were once humans who sought immortality through faith.

• The Raven Kingdom withdrew its forces, and Brennus, the Bacchus Empire, Fieltzwe, and the Dexian people seized Lionheart territory while Amy prepared to defend Lion City.
• Ansen evacuated Calundru Castle and Seren Village to Long River Town after recalling Li Ang’s advice to preserve people over land.
• Amy accepted Emperor Marius’s offer of military aid despite recognizing that Bacchus intended to use the Lionheart Kingdom as a battlefield.
• Li Ang realized the temple gates could perform the same function as the missing Codex and might provide a way back.
• Kavala explained that Eunomia had made him the temple’s gatekeeper to prevent gods from returning to earth.
• Kavala revealed that the gods had arisen from humans who used faith to preserve their souls after abandoning their mortal bodies.

Kavala explained how the gods’ wars, the abyssal demons, and the Supreme King's campaign led to the gods being sealed away, then asked Li Ang to help him destroy the final codex. As Kavala tried to borrow Li Ang’s body, Ulrich warned that he was actually the first-generation High Priest of the Snake Worship Cult, seeking a body for Az-Dahaka.

• Kavala recounted how the Creator God forbade gods from intervening directly in the mortal world and how Astaria’s failed heaven became the Blood Prison Abyss, spawning abyssal demons.
• Astaria and Erebus were exiled after fighting the demons, while Eunomia guided Kavala to defeat them and unite Pande Continent.
• After other gods stirred up wars, Eunomia led Kavala in destroying most divine codices, then entered the void herself and left Kavala guarding its gate.
• Kavala told Li Ang that destroying the gate would seal the void and send him back to the continent, and asked Li Ang to take him there to destroy the last codex.
• Kavala gently urged Li Ang to relax so he could borrow his body, but Ulrich warned that Kavala was the first-generation High Priest of the Snake Worship Cult and wanted a body for Az-Dahaka.

Li Ang learned that Kavala had tried to steal his body so he could escape the temple, and Ulrich helped Althea interrupt the spell. Li Ang refused to let Kavala possess him and prepared to leave the island, knowing he would forget Althea and the temple once he departed.

• Ulrich warned Li Ang that Kavala was trying to take his body, and Althea interrupted the spell when she touched him.
• Ulrich revealed that Kavala had been sealed in the temple by Eunomia and planned to possess Li Ang before taking Maltis’s body.
• Kavala claimed Li Ang needed his help to cross the void, but Li Ang refused to be controlled and declined to let Kavala possess him.
• Ulrich asked Li Ang to bring Anna to the temple, and Li Ang promised to bring the sisters to keep him company.
• After Althea awakened him, Li Ang said he would leave the next day; Althea warned that he would forget the temple after leaving and said Wendy had prayed for him using Dragon Tear.

Li Ang entered the Blood Prison Abyss and discovered that its spirits could not touch him, then crossed a featureless void by marking his route with coins. After realizing the void’s entire outer wall was a portal, he broke through and found himself in a strange star-like space, where touching a small blue sphere made him lose consciousness.

• Li Ang rode Kualis through the temple’s dome door and drifted toward the lava in the Blood Prison Abyss.
• Li Ang discovered that the abyss’s evil spirits could not touch him and flew upward through a glowing exit into the void.
• Li Ang used a button and glowing coins to keep his direction while traveling through the featureless space.
• Li Ang searched the void’s outer wall, noticed his hair and nails had grown, and crashed through the wall after realizing it was a portal.
• Li Ang emerged into a simulated starry expanse, touched a small blue sphere, and lost consciousness.

Kavira arrived in war-ravaged Lion City and delivered Roland’s warning to Queen Amy’s council about a heretic army preparing to return under the name of ten-year-old Denise. The council was left uncertain whether Denise was truly leading the forces, while Kavira confirmed she had seen a girl matching her description among the heretics.

• Kavira entered Lion City and reflected on its battered defenses, impoverished residents, and the kingdom’s worsening losses.
• Sigismund escorted Kavira into the royal council chamber, where Queen Amy, Godric, Alina, and Eric awaited her.
• Kavira gave Godric Roland’s message and reported that the heretics seemed to take orders from a little girl.
• Godric read a note announcing that Her Majesty Denise would personally lead an army back to Lion City at the end of October.
• Kavira said she had seen a girl among the heretics who was about the right height to be ten years old.

Amy learned that nobles in Balanli had incited a refugee uprising, likely in league with the Three Prophets, and decided to abandon Lion City with everyone willing to leave. On the Winter Solstice Festival, a deposed queen and her warrior rescued a drowning noble clutching strange gold coins near Ulrich’s grave.

• Kavira suggested that the heretics’ letter might concern Denice’s relatives in Balanli, prompting Eric to warn that trouble there would be serious.
• Eric reported that Balanli’s refugees had rioted and looted relief stations, while Alina said Queen Town’s nobles had plotted with the Three Prophets to install Denice as king.
• Amy rejected the plans to contain the uprising and announced that she would abandon Lion City, taking its people and resources and leaving the city and Harlingosburg to the nobles.
• On the Winter Solstice Festival, a deposed queen and her female warrior pulled a badly injured man from Deerheart Lake and found glowing gold coins in his hand.
• The women noticed a Golden Griffin emblem on the man’s clothing and carried him toward Ulrich’s grave, hoping the grave goods might help them build an army.

Li Ang woke in King Ulrich’s empty grave after Baudess and her companion mistook him for a corpse, and he promised to fund Baudess’s effort to reclaim Ficavia. As they fled approaching soldiers, Li Ang discovered he could sense movement over several miles and wondered whether the prophet Madigan had possessed the same ability.

• Baudess and her female warrior dug into King Ulrich’s tomb, found it empty, and placed the unconscious Li Ang in the coffin before fleeing when he sat up.
• Li Ang explained that he had returned from the void after nearly drowning underwater, and Baudess told him it was the year 357 of the Pendor Calendar.
• Li Ang identified himself as the Duke of Long River Town, while Baudess explained that she had fled Ficavia after her sister Eleanor seized the throne and ended her reform plans.
• Li Ang promised to fund Baudess’s army in return for her having saved him and asked her to take him to Long River Town.
• Li Ang sensed soldiers approaching from miles away and led Baudess and her companion away from the mausoleum.
• Li Ang realized his new, wide-ranging awareness might resemble the ability of the prophet Madigan.

Li Ang and Baudess witnessed an undead army led by Ulrich, whose corpse had been possessed by the Prophet Anna, and Baudess joined Li Ang to fight the Three Prophets. They rode toward Long River Town as armies converged around Lion City and the undead force entered Deerheart Lake.

• Li Ang and Baudess hid from a silent, breathless army, but Baudess's warrior was spotted and killed while fleeing; Li Ang recognized the army's leader as the resurrected Ulrich.
• Baudess buried her warrior, and Li Ang explained that the spirit possessing Ulrich was likely Anna, one of the Three Prophets.
• Baudess swore to kill the Three Prophets and pledged to fight alongside Li Ang, who agreed to help her raise an army.
• Li Ang and Baudess bought two horses in Yalagar and rode toward Long River Town, learning that Amy had moved the capital while preserving economic stability in the eastern regions.
• Armies from several nations gathered around Lion City and Baranli, while Ulrich's undead force entered Deerheart Lake after defeating another army.

The Fieltzwe, Dexian, and Bacchus armies converged on abandoned Lion City, each pursuing a different strategy as Queen Sonade's evacuation left tens of thousands of people behind. When refugees poured out and the city gates opened, the Dexian cavalry rushed inside and encountered hordes of Fallen Ones as the Noble Council tower collapsed.

• King Vidis ordered the Fieltzwe army to advance on Lion City despite Earl Aiding's objections, while the Dexian army also set out to seize it.
• Alistair led the Twilight Knights toward Long River Town to seek refuge with Queen Sonade, believing he could earn power there and offering the secret of the Three Prophets.
• Agason and Creon debated whether to attack Lion City or let their rivals fight for it, then agreed that Creon would assault the city while Agason held the bridgehead against the Fieltzwe forces.
• The next day, Creon and Tahir's forces met beneath Lion City's walls as Agason blocked the Fieltzwe army at the bridgehead.
• Refugees streamed out through Lion City's suddenly opened gates, and Creon halted his troops while the Dexian cavalry charged into the city.
• Fallen Ones poured out to attack the Dexian soldiers inside Lion City, and the Noble Council tower crashed down.

Amy struggled to keep Lionheart Kingdom stable while resettling people in Long River Town, then learned that Li Ang might be returning. Li Ang discovered the Three Prophets had massacred Kewen Village and escaped into the mountains with Baudess as they plotted to lure Amy into a trap.

• Amy kept Pande Bank operating, enforced corn cultivation, and suppressed nobles who threatened the kingdom's stability.
• Forster told Amy that a spy had seen someone resembling Li Ang near Yalagar, and Amy rushed out to meet him.
• Li Ang and Baudess found Kewen Village deserted and discovered the Countess and other villagers murdered in the winery cellar.
• Li Ang deduced that the Three Prophets had taken the village's girls and children, then sensed their armies closing in and led Baudess west.
• Media and Cersi gathered their forces at Kewen Village and planned to lure Amy there by posing as villagers.
• Li Ang watched the Three Prophets from the western mountains and led Baudess toward a concealed valley to find another route to Long River Town.