Chapter Summaries

At a royal banquet, Count Joyce reported that mine slaves led by Redell had seized his lands, attacked a church, and killed a Priest. Cardinal Bishop Antioch persuaded King Bazer to let Harold and Hattar prove themselves by responding to the uprising, leaving the succession contest tied to the coming campaign.

• Count Joyce burst into the banquet and told Harold that mine slaves had invaded his territory and captured his castle.
• Joyce described how the rebels used traps and ambushes to defeat his guards, seized his castle, and attacked the church in the Barony of Elvis.
• Joyce revealed that Redell had distributed a Baron's wealth and land among the poor and killed the local Priest.
• Grand Duke Rickman and the nobles demanded that the mine slaves be punished, while Antioch questioned whether they were truly ordinary miners.
• Antioch proposed that Harold and Hattar use the southeastern uprising to demonstrate their abilities and settle the question of the royal heir.
• King Bazer agreed to Antioch's proposal.

After Hattar held back from joining Harold’s campaign against the mine slaves, Redell’s uprising reached its final battle at Joyce’s castle, where a Bishop’s divine spells devastated the miners. Redell asked Lynn how to kill the Bishop, and Lynn began to explain a second method.

• Grand Duke Rickman and Harold’s supporters assembled an army of fifteen thousand to march on Joyce’s Count Territory, while Anthony advised Hattar to let them go because the mine slaves would not be easy to defeat.
• Hattar considered secretly coordinating with the mine slaves and wizards to destroy Harold’s forces, but Anthony urged him to send scouts first instead of risking the plan.
• Redell captured Joyce’s castle with a feint, then led more than a thousand miners against the local church, which was defended by a Bishop and five Priests.
• The Bishop blocked the miners’ crossbow volley with a divine shield and killed or incapacitated many attackers with divine spells, forcing the miners to retreat.
• Redell asked Lynn how they could kill the Bishop, and Lynn suggested waiting for him to exhaust his power before Redell asked about another method.

Lynn helped Redell become a spellcaster by linking his mind to the Magic Domain, and Redell used Lightning Call to kill the Bishop. After ordering Ham and the other miners to kill the remaining Priests, Redell was left with a headache as Ham wondered whether he was God's messenger.

• Lynn forced a mental connection between Redell and the Magic Domain, revealing the first-circle spells Lightning Call and Lightning Strike.
• Lynn explained how Lightning Call manipulated lightning, and Redell summoned a bolt that struck the ground beside the Bishop and the Priests.
• The Bishop called the lightning divine punishment and prayed for the Goddess of Moon to strike down the blasphemers.
• Redell used Lightning Call to kill the Bishop, piercing the Holy Light Barrier with a bolt of lightning.
• Redell ordered Ham and the other miners to kill the remaining Priests, while Ham wondered if Redell was God's messenger.

After capturing Count Joyce’s castle, Redell distributed the Count’s wealth among the poor and miners and celebrated with them. As they praised him as divinely favored, Redell reflected that the mysterious Lynn, who had guided and helped him, seemed like a god to the Mine Slaves.

• Redell ordered Ham to search the church and destroy the Goddess’s statue while his men buried the dead and cleared the battlefield.
• Redell gave Joyce’s treasure and lands to the poor and miners, rewarding those who had fought with a gold coin each.
• Redell held a bonfire feast where the poor and miners shared stories of noble and church abuses and ate food from the Count’s stores.
• A young miner asked whether Redell had summoned divine punishment at the church, and Redell tried to explain that the lightning came from electromagnetism.
• The miners praised Redell as favored by a True God, while Redell thought of Lynn’s guidance and miraculous abilities.

Redell learned that Grand Duke Rickman was advancing with a large army and divine support, but Lynn promised reinforcements if Redell bought ten days. Rickman reached the city after enduring harassment, only to find the Mine Slaves gone and Joyce's treasury emptied.

• Redell turned away would-be recruits until they had considered their decision and arranged guards against a possible nighttime attack.
• Lynn told Redell that Count Joyce had exposed the rebellion and that Grand Duke Rickman was approaching with fifteen thousand soldiers, Bishops, and Priests.
• Redell said he would have to retreat to the mountains, but Lynn promised reinforcements if he delayed Rickman for about ten days.
• Rickman's army was harassed by Mine Slaves using traps and nighttime attacks, and the Bishops destroyed a guerrilla unit and seized its crossbows.
• Rickman used Joyce's secret passage to open the city gates, but found that Redell and the Mine Slaves had withdrawn.
• Joyce returned to his estate and discovered that Redell had distributed the gold and silver and hidden the treasures, leaving his treasury empty.

Grand Duke Rickman pursued Redell and the Mine Slaves, intending to destroy them, while Joyce punished the poor left behind and raised a private army. Cornered in a valley, Redell’s followers received the promised reinforcements when airships suddenly appeared, which the Mine Slaves mistook for divine salvation.

• Joyce discovered that Redell had distributed his wealth among the poor, then punished those who remained and accepted command of a five-hundred-man private army assembled by nobles and wealthy merchants.
• Rickman learned that the Mine Slaves were nearby and decided to intercept them on the plains, while he and his nobles toasted King Harold and mocked Prince Hattar’s delays.
• Rickman sent cavalry ahead to drive the Mine Slaves toward a chosen location, but Redell led them into a valley and held position when the cavalry stopped pursuing.
• Ham questioned Redell’s decision to enter the valley, and Redell assured him that reinforcements had arrived from the sky.
• Airships appeared in the valley, and the Mine Slaves fell to their knees, believing the colossal vessels were divine salvation.

Lynn’s airships brought Lydia, the Firearm Team, artillery, and their allies to reinforce Redell’s uprising in the Kingdom of Hadratta. As Duke Rickman’s army approached, both sides prepared for battle, while Archbishop Nord warned that the rebels might have a hidden advantage.

• Lydia disembarked from the airships as thousands of mine slaves knelt and hailed her as a messenger of the gods.
• Lynn’s force arrived with seventy modified airships, the three-thousand-five-hundred-strong Firearm Team, and Daren’s cannons.
• Philip used an enchanted telescope to spot Duke Rickman’s army of more than ten thousand soldiers approaching, and Daren said the cannons needed the enemy closer for greater accuracy.
• Philip ordered the cannons adjusted while Lydia and the others took to the sky and the Firearm Team loaded lead bullets.
• Duke Rickman reached the valley and saw Redell’s poorly armed miners form a line outside it, prompting the nobles to laugh and Archbishop Nord to warn that the rebels must have something to rely on.

Count Johnson led two thousand cavalrymen against the Mine Slaves while Grand Duke Rickman advanced with the rest of his army, confident that Nord's divine spell would protect them. Cannons operated by Iyetar Academy apprentices tore into the charging forces, leaving Rickman and Nord stunned as the bombardment continued.

• Rickman gave Johnson command of two thousand cavalrymen and ordered him to lead the charge against the Mine Slaves.
• Nord and the clergy cast the fourth-circle spell [Divine Bestowment—Hymn of Courage], strengthening more than ten thousand soldiers.
• Johnson charged with his cavalry as Rickman led the remaining legions forward to encircle the Mine Slaves.
• Elock, Pierce, Joanne, and the other Iyetar Academy apprentices calculated their cannon shots and fired on the advancing army.
• Cannon shells shattered cavalrymen and sent others sprawling despite the divine spell's anti-magic protection.
• Nord insisted the Mine Slaves could not sustain such powerful magic, while Rickman glared at him amid the continuing bombardment.

Johnson led a cavalry charge through artillery fire, but Lynn’s Firearm Team cut down the attackers with coordinated volleys. The surviving army fell into disarray as Rickman struggled to control it, and Lynn appeared to call its weakness.

• Johnson urged two thousand cavalrymen to charge through the artillery barrage toward the Mine Slaves.
• The Mine Slaves parted to reveal more than a thousand Firearm Team members, who opened fire and killed hundreds of cavalrymen.
• The Firearm Team rotated Flintlock Guns through its ranks to maintain continuous volleys as Johnson pressed forward alone.
• The Firearm Team shot Johnson dead near its front line after the rest of the cavalry scattered and fled.
• Rickman ordered his troops to cover the retreat with arrows, then called off their shooting when artillery struck his guards.
• Lynn appeared and observed that the nobles’ assembled army was a disorganized mob held together mainly by divine spells.

Lynn’s firearms and artillery shattered Rickman’s cavalry charge, but their limited range and slow rate of fire left his army capable of regrouping. Nord proposed using Doomsday Judgment to burn the battlefield with Hellfire, though he needed time to receive the Lord’s favor.

• Redell asked Lynn whether his weapons used magic, and Lynn explained that firearms and artillery used technology to throw stones with greater force.
• Orlando noted that the Firearm Team was too small and the Flintlock Gun fired too slowly to stop a determined cavalry charge.
• Rickman rallied his shaken army after nearly half his cavalry were killed or wounded, then accused Joyce of hiding the forces behind the mine slave uprising.
• Nord’s Priests raised divine barriers against the artillery while Rickman devised a plan to attack the valley with archers, infantry, and cavalry.
• Nord told Rickman that he could beseech the Lord to unleash Doomsday Judgment and Hellfire, but the prayer would take time.

Lynn ordered Lydia and the airship crew to unleash their new weapon against the Priest corps as the enemy regrouped and prepared another divine spell. White phosphorus shells devastated the advancing army, leaving Rickman’s forces in terror and retreating before what they believed was fifth- or sixth-circle magic.

• Redell spotted the enemy troops regrouping, and Lynn ordered his forces to stop the Bishops from completing another divine spell.
• Lynn sent a fireball into the sky as the signal for Lydia and the airships to attack.
• Lydia maneuvered the lead airship over the Priest corps while the crews loaded and fired shells from all seventy airships.
• White phosphorus shells burst overhead and rained down across the battlefield, burning soldiers and corroding the Priests’ protective barrier.
• Rickman’s soldiers and the Bishops panicked as an Archbishop identified the attack as powerful wizard magic and called for a retreat.

Lynn’s forces devastated Rickman’s army with a rain of white phosphorus, while Joyce and Rickman were consumed by the flames after fighting over escape. Lynn refused to pursue the survivors and warned that the coming battles would be harder because their true enemy was God.

• Joyce fled the bombardment, but his horse threw him, and Rickman grabbed his thigh and accused him of betrayal.
• Joyce cut off Rickman’s hand and tried to use him as a shield, but the next wave of fire swallowed them both.
• Philip and Rowan witnessed the destruction, and Lynn explained that the white phosphorus had broken the enemy’s morale.
• Redell urged Lynn to pursue the fleeing troops, but Lynn refused because the poisonous smoke threatened anyone who entered it.
• Orlando celebrated the victory, while Lynn warned the others not to underestimate the battles ahead or their enemy, God.

Count Gard learned that a Great Wizard had routed Duke Rickman’s army, then carried out Prince Hattar’s secret order by killing Marquis Seren and massacring the fleeing soldiers. Archbishop Nord escaped toward the Royal Capital with a few cavalrymen as news of the defeat spread.

• Count Gard heard cannon fire and watched a battered force approach, initially mistaking them for defeated Mine Slaves.
• Marquis Seren told Count Gard that fire rain had shattered the army, Count Johnson was dead, and Duke Rickman had fallen to a Great Wizard.
• When Count Gard learned Bishop Nord was not with Seren, he killed Seren and ordered his men to slaughter the fleeing soldiers.
• Count Gard’s forces killed many of the survivors, following Prince Hattar’s order to weaken the Church and First Prince Harold’s forces.
• Only about twenty cavalrymen remained to escort Archbishop Nord back to the Royal Capital, where news of the army’s crushing defeat spread.

Archbishop Nord reported to King Bazer and the nobles that Grand Duke Kliman and nearly all the forces sent against the Mine Slaves had been destroyed by a powerful rebel army. The court accepted Nord’s sworn account and panicked, while Bazer asked whether Cardinal Bishop Antioch knew what had happened.

• Archbishop Nord arrived at the palace with more than twenty battered Knights as King Bazer’s court discussed taxes.
• Nord announced that Grand Duke Kliman was dead and that only a few survivors remained from the force sent to suppress the Mine Slaves.
• Harold seized Nord and demanded an explanation, and Nord and the Knights described how muskets, cannons, and white phosphorus had devastated the army.
• The nobles questioned Nord’s account until he swore before the Lord that it was true, leaving the hall in fearful silence.
• Harold realized his troops and supporters were lost, and King Bazer collapsed onto his throne before asking whether Cardinal Bishop Antioch knew the news.

After Grand Duke Kliman’s army was destroyed by the Mine Slaves, Hattar volunteered to lead the campaign against them, prompting Harold to accuse him of conspiring with the rebels and their Wizards. King Basel postponed the decision and went to consult Cardinal Bishop Antioch, leaving Hattar puzzled by his father’s changed attitude.

• Nord told King Basel that the Church had been notified and warned that a Great Wizard might be behind the Mine Slave uprising.
• Hattar urged King Basel not to seek aid from the Empire and offered to lead the army alongside Cardinal Bishop Antioch.
• Harold accused Hattar of collaborating with the followers of the evil gods and cited reports of strangers visiting Hattar’s residence.
• Hattar swore before the Great Lord that he knew nothing of the uprising before Count Joyce mentioned the Mine Slaves half a month earlier.
• King Basel declined to decide on Hattar’s offer, ended the meeting, and left with Bishop Nord to consult the Church.
• Hattar wondered why his father had rejected his proposal and thought of someone who might explain Basel’s behavior.

After learning that King Bazer had only used him and Anthony to curb the Church, Hattar considered rebelling to claim the throne. Anthony urged him to act quickly, explained that ordinary soldiers with Alchemical Creations had defeated Rickman's forces, and secured Hattar's agreement to grant wizards freedom and territory.

• Anthony concluded that King Bazer had no intention of making Hattar king and had only used their power to weaken the Church.
• Hattar panicked, but Anthony urged him to exploit the Church faction's losses and rebel before the king turned against them.
• Hattar asked how many wizards had defeated Rickman's legion, and Anthony revealed that ordinary soldiers using Alchemical Creations had carried out the attack.
• Hattar agreed that, if he took the throne, wizards could openly enter secular society and receive territory.
• Hattar and Anthony began discussing their plan to seize the throne.

Redell seized Joyce's Count Territory, while Old York told the commoners about life in Iyetar and announced Lynn's experiment to illuminate the night. Lynn prepared to test a light bulb using Fire Lion fur as its filament after discovering that magical creature fur could serve as a substitute for tungsten.

• Redell returned to Joyce's Count Territory with a large force, purged resisting nobles, and took control of the territory.
• The Firearm Team distributed food, money, and land to commoners, and Old York explained that they came from Iyetar, a land without nobles or churches.
• Old York described Iyetar's workshops and machines, then announced that Lynn would conduct an experiment to make the night bright as day.
• Lynn brought a generator and a crude light bulb to a gathering in the territory, using Fire Lion fur as a possible filament material.
• Lynn's experiments with Fire Lion fur made him realize he had underestimated how extraordinary magical creatures were.

Lynn demonstrated a bright electric light made from Fire Lion fur, then introduced a prism to show that white light could be separated into seven colors. He left the wizards eager to investigate the secrets of light for themselves.

• Lydia placed the Fire Lion-fur light bulb atop a ladder, and Elock and the others started the generator, illuminating the clearing like day.
• Redell, Ham, Philip, and the crowd marveled at the light, while Lynn explained that the Fire Lion-fur filament had a limited lifespan but could regenerate.
• Joanne asked whether light and electricity were the same, and Lynn challenged her and the other wizards to investigate light's secrets.
• Lynn took out a prism and refracted the light into seven colors, astonishing Lydia, Elock, Pierce, and Philip.

Lynn demonstrated how a prism split light and encouraged the apprentices to investigate its properties, while giving Philip Lightning Stones and electromagnetic runes to improve the Electromagnetic Cannon. As electric-light rumors spread through the Count's territory, Lynn promoted simple demonstrations of rainbows and turned his attention to the church's Cardinal Bishop, Antioch, the final obstacle to controlling the kingdom.

• Lynn explained to the apprentices how a prism separated polychromatic light and connected the effect to rainbows.
• Lynn told Elock and the other apprentices to make their own prisms and study sunlight as an assignment.
• Philip told Lynn that his team had built an Electromagnetic Cannon model, but it could only fire a small projectile at low speed.
• Lynn gave Philip's team Lightning Stones and electromagnetic runes, and Philip left with colleagues to continue research.
• Rumors about Lynn's electric light spread, so Lynn tasked the Firearm Team with making artificial rainbows and teaching children how to do it.
• Lynn identified Cardinal Bishop Antioch as the final obstacle to controlling the kingdom.

After the mine uprising’s defeat, Cardinal Antioch blamed the kingdom’s rulers and nobles and recast the losses as divine punishment. Cody revealed under the Goddess’s truth-light that William had secretly aided the wizards for years, while Antioch pressed him to disclose everything.

• North questioned why God had allowed the church’s forces to suffer a crushing defeat, and Antioch called the disaster a baptism and punishment for the kingdom’s corruption.
• Cody arrived at the cathedral in William’s place and reported that suspicious people, likely wizards, had visited Second Prince Hattar, who was plotting to seize the throne with noble allies.
• Antioch demanded the truth about Cody’s sources and invoked the Goddess’s light, causing Cody to confess that William had helped wizards transport ore and goods and that they had made the glass and paper sold in the kingdom.
• Cody confessed that William had colluded with wizards for more than a dozen years and expanded his power through maritime trade, while Antioch ordered him to continue.