Chapter Summaries

Lynn and Hattar prepared to defend the Royal Capital as the Church’s army and allied nobles arrived in overwhelming numbers. Edwell ordered the hesitant nobles to lead the assault, while Arno set his sights on claiming the bounty on Lynn.

• Raphael, Lynn, Hattar, and their allies watched an army of at least eighty thousand approach the Royal Capital, including the Church’s Divine Punishment Army and troops from rebel dukes.
• Redell and the others proposed meeting the attackers in battle, but Lynn chose to wait until their airships could be equipped with Laser Emitters, and Hattar agreed to defend the city before striking.
• Arno identified Lynn as the wanted Great Wizard, and Edwell warned him about Lynn’s Hellfire and ice magic.
• Edwell ordered Dukes Hebrew, Auston, and Barrow to lead the kingdom’s army as the vanguard, despite their fears of the wizards’ weapons.

Edwell promised the noble who captured the Royal Capital or served best the throne of Hadratta, spurring the nobles and their troops to attack. The city’s musketeers opened fire, but divine shields and armor allowed most of the first wave to survive, revealing that the attackers were far more resilient than expected.

• Edwell declared that the noble who captured the Royal Capital or rendered the greatest service would become Hadratta’s next king.
• Hebrew rallied the soldiers with religious claims and rewards for killing enemies, wizards, and the first to scale the city walls.
• Dozens of nobles led tens of thousands of troops toward the Royal Capital as Priests and Bishops used divine arts to strengthen them.
• Old York and the defenders fired muskets from the walls, dropping over a thousand attackers, but most rose again and charged onward.
• Lynn recognized that the attackers had one-use divine shields that weakened musket shots, while Raphael reflected that Lynn’s decision to defend the city had prevented a dangerous battle on the plains.
• Old York observed that the muskets could penetrate the attackers’ defenses at weak points, but divine protection and armor often kept bullets from killing them.

Lynn and the defenders repelled the Royal Capital’s first assault with rifle fire, artillery, and magic, inflicting enormous casualties. As the attackers kept advancing, Dennis claimed the defenders’ bullets really did fall from the sky.

• Old York and the Firearm Team shot down nobles including Duke Barrow, whose divine arts and armor failed to protect him.
• Hebrew and other leaders began recovering from the divine arts’ influence as the attackers suffered thousands of casualties.
• The attackers brought siege ladders and an enchanted battering ram to the walls, but Lynn’s concrete barrier held and the wizards destroyed the siege equipment with spells.
• The common soldiers continued charging under divine influence, while Raphael watched and Lynn wondered what Edwell hoped to achieve with the assault.
• Sanchez suggested that Edwell was trying to exhaust the defenders’ ammunition, but Dennis said the bullets really did fall from the sky.

Lynn explained how tower factories used gravity and surface tension to produce musket balls in bulk while the wizards experimented with falling water droplets. Outside the capital, Edwell and Arno watched the devastating battle and prepared to attack the city with fire oil carried through the air.

• Lynn explained that the Kingdom of Hadratta had built more than a dozen tower factories to make musket balls from its abundant lead ore.
• Raphael and the other wizards experimented with falling water droplets on the city wall, while Edwell mistook their actions for a possible spell and cast Heaven's Protection.
• Arno observed that the noble armies had suffered nearly ten thousand casualties without breaching the capital, and he proposed capturing surviving wizards to learn how their weapons were made.
• Edwell asked about the fire oil, and Arno's guards brought more than a hundred barrels of the combustible liquid.
• Arno agreed with Edwell's plan to send the fire oil from the sky because trebuchets could not reach the capital.

The Church’s Griffin Knights attacked the Royal Capital from the air, forcing the wizards to defend the city walls. Lynn recognized the Church’s burning fire oil as petroleum, leaving him astonished by the discovery and its potential value.

• Edwell sent Devi and the Griffin Knights into the sky carrying fire oil, while Arno joined the mission.
• Devi’s Griffin Knights provoked the wizards and evaded their spells, prompting Raphael to order the defenders to conserve their magic.
• Arno and a small group of Griffin Knights dove toward the city-wall cannons and hurled burning fire oil at them.
• The wizards raised a Magic Barrier, where some of the black liquid stuck and gave off a pungent smell.
• Lynn identified the liquid as petroleum and explained its importance as a potential fuel for the Kingdom of Hadratta.

Lynn and Anthony combined Magic Missiles with Thunder Magic to create an electromagnetic field above the Royal Capital. Their lightning storm destroyed the Griffin Knights’ divine barriers and sent griffins crashing down, ending the aerial assault.

• Magic Barriers protected the Royal Capital’s key sites, but Griffin Knights attacked the city and set homes ablaze with flaming oil.
• Hattar urged Lynn and the others to save the city, while Raphael hesitated to divert defenders as the Divine Punishment Army advanced.
• Lynn refused Anthony’s suggestion to use Laser Magic and summoned hundreds of Magic Missiles to track and harry the Griffin Knights.
• Arno and other Griffin Knights evaded or endured the missiles, but Lynn explained that he needed Anthony’s help to concentrate the spell’s power.
• Lynn and Anthony unleashed Thunder Magic through the electromagnetic field, forming a lightning net that shattered divine barriers and killed or disabled Griffin Knights and griffins.

Lynn used a vast lightning spell to drive off the Griffin Knights, then ordered the Electromagnetic Cannons prepared against the advancing Divine Punishment Army. Edwell ordered the Church forces to retreat, but a surge of magic from the Royal Capital’s walls left the Bishops wondering what the wizards were about to do.

• Lynn’s lightning engulfed the Griffin Knights, and he sent Glen and the others to capture survivors and put out fires.
• Lynn explained that the spell’s power was dispersed and that he had waited for the Griffin Knights to lower their guard before striking.
• Lynn assessed the Griffin Knights as a serious threat and ordered the Electromagnetic Cannons prepared against the silver-armored force.
• Edwell ordered the Church’s troops to retreat despite his deputy’s warning that Commander Arno remained inside the Royal Capital.
• The Bishops noticed a surge of magic from the city walls, beyond the range they had expected the artillery to reach.

The Royal Capital’s seven Electromagnetic Cannons battered the Church’s forces, but Edwell’s divine protection shielded the Bishops while the Divine Punishment Army suffered heavy casualties. The Church retreated, and the defenders captured five surviving Griffin Knights, including Arno, who had pretended to be unconscious.

• The Electromagnetic Cannons struck the Bishops, but Edwell’s [Heaven’s Protection] weakened the shells before they could reach them.
• The cannons devastated the Divine Punishment Army, and its soldiers formed a shield wall as the bombardment continued.
• Devi tried to lead his squad down to cover the retreat, but the frightened griffins refused to descend.
• Edwell swept the battlefield with golden Divine Light to hide the Church’s retreat, and the elite legions withdrew more than two kilometers from the Royal Capital.
• The seven Electromagnetic Railguns stopped firing because the distance and sustained bombardment risked melting the shells and overloading the weapons.
• Glen and the others captured five surviving Griffin Knights inside the Royal Capital, including Arno, who had given up on escaping and feigned unconsciousness.

After the Royal Capital repelled the Holy See’s first attack, Lynn rewarded the defenders and warned that the battle had only been a probe. At the Alchemy Research Institute, Wilson revealed that smokeless powder, fixed ammunition, and a Percussion Lock Gun prototype were ready.

• Glen captured Arno, a Cardinal Bishop hiding among the Griffin Knights, and sent him to the interrogation room.
• Lynn rewarded the Firearm Team and ordered the Royal Capital’s patrols and defenses strengthened as the Holy See’s army retreated.
• Lynn told Lydia and the other witches that the defenders had killed at least twenty thousand enemies, but warned that the Holy See’s main force had not yet committed itself.
• Lynn asked Wilson about the new ammunition and powder, and Wilson presented a sample Percussion Lock Gun.

Lynn praised the Percussion Lock Gun and introduced the alchemists to a machine gun, a weapon he believed could give them an advantage against supernatural armies. The alchemists were stunned by its rate of fire and learned that its inventor, Gatling, had once been a battlefield doctor.

• Lynn inspected the Percussion Lock Gun and decided Flintlock Guns could not provide enough firepower against the Church’s supernatural forces.
• Lynn drew a machine gun blueprint and explained how its recoil-powered mechanism automatically fired successive rounds.
• Lynn told Wilson and the other alchemists that the machine gun could fire about one thousand rounds per minute, leaving them horrified by its destructive potential.
• Lynn said Gatling had invented the weapon after serving as a doctor who saved lives on the battlefield, hoping to end wars and reduce casualties.

Lynn urged the alchemists to build machine guns by promising them Morning Star Medals, while planning to use the new weapons to go on the offensive and seize the oil-producing region. After the Church coalition’s disastrous defeat outside Hadratta, Edwell heard the casualty report as Pulsen blamed him for retreating too soon.

• Lynn explained that the Secret Magic Society had sealed away the machine gun until the war against the Church and promised the alchemists Morning Star Medals if they produced five qualified guns within a week.
• Wilson, Lydia, and the other alchemists eagerly began working on the machine guns despite the tight deadline and technical challenges.
• Lynn planned to use machine guns and anti-air laser weapons to shift from defense to offense and claim the oil-producing region.
• The Church coalition built a camp outside Hadratta, where Priests comforted shaken soldiers and Bishops used divine spells to calm the griffins.
• Edwell received a report that more than 23,500 soldiers, 117 Griffin Knights, and 200 Divine Punishment Army members had died in the battle.
• Pulsen blamed Edwell’s retreat for the defeat and argued that the coalition should have continued its assault until the wizards’ weapons ran out.

Edwell silenced the Bishops’ argument and declared that the first battle had achieved its strategic objective by revealing the wizards’ weapons. After Vede showed the Royal Capital’s defenses, Edwell summoned a noble and asked whether the secret passage into the city remained intact.

• Edwell used a display of power to silence the Bishops, then warned them that the Wizard Council’s weapons made a reckless assault costly.
• Edwell said the first battle had revealed the wizards’ new weapons, though the lightning web had crippled the Griffin Knights and blocked a swift capture of the Royal Capital.
• Vede presented a map marking the capital’s Magic Barriers, guarded sites, and suspected weapons facilities.
• Pulsen examined the map and speculated that the heavily guarded former training grounds housed weapon production, while overlooking the churches’ conversion into factories.
• Edwell summoned an elderly kingdom noble and asked whether the secret passage into the Royal Capital remained intact.

Edwell planned to seize the Royal Capital by sending the Dark Guard through a secret passage while exploiting the defenders’ weaknesses in a night assault. As the Holy See’s army prepared outside the city, Lynn remained wary and considered ways to protect the capital from a surprise attack.

• Suzz told Edwell that the secret passage beneath the Royal Capital remained passable, and Edwell ordered Pulsen to send Dark Guard members inside to await his command.
• Edwell and the Bishops planned a coordinated assault, deciding to attack at night five days later, when reinforcements were expected to arrive.
• Lynn’s forces monitored the Holy See’s encampment with telescopes and controlled animals, but the camp’s divine barrier detected magical creatures, including Lynn’s mole rats.
• Raphael reported that the Holy See’s army was building siege equipment and showed no sign of attacking soon, but Lynn warned that they should stay alert.
• Lynn asked Raphael whether the wizards could create a citywide Magic Barrier, and Raphael explained that the Royal Capital was too large for them to maintain one.

Lynn strengthened the Royal Capital’s defenses and proposed undermining the believers’ faith in [Ella], while the alchemy team completed a new weapon. The chapter then followed Lahuan, a poor man whose faith had faltered after the city’s occupation, as a Cardinal Bishop reassured him that the disaster was God’s trial.

• Lynn questioned Redell about unrest in the Royal Capital, then advised him to use experiments and lessons for children to expose errors in the Bible.
• Lynn worried that the Holy See’s Crusading Army might infiltrate the city, despite Raphael’s confidence in the defenses.
• An apprentice told Lynn that Master Anthony and several alchemy masters wanted to see him, and Lynn suspected their new weapon was finished.
• Lahuan recalled his devotion to [Ella], his fear of answering the Lord’s summons, and his doubts after hearing that the Lord’s incarnation had been defeated.
• A Cardinal Bishop told Lahuan that the disaster had befallen the kingdom of Hadratta because its people had wavered in their faith, and that it was God’s trial.

Pulsen hid in the Royal Capital while Ring gathered intelligence, and he learned that Arno had been captured and that the wizards were spreading claims about the world that he dismissed as demonic nonsense. After receiving secret orders, Pulsen prepared to act, while the chapter ended with a massive enemy army beginning its decisive assault on the city walls.

• Ring reported to Pulsen that Arno and four other Griffin Knights had been captured and were imprisoned in District XC, prompting Pulsen to consider rescuing them.
• Ring told Pulsen that the wizards claimed the continent was round and revolved around the sun, but Pulsen dismissed their explanations as demonic lies.
• Pulsen questioned Ring about a heavily guarded residence, then sent him to sleep and accepted a scroll of secret orders from the Dark Guard.
• Ham struggled to stay awake while guarding the eastern wall, then woke to an enemy attack as wizards lit the battlefield with fireballs.
• Sanchez saw tens of thousands of soldiers and more than a thousand Priests and Bishops advancing, and recognized the assault as the decisive battle.

The Holy See's Crusading Army launched a surprise night assault on the city, overwhelming its defenses with Divine Kingdom Guards, divine magic, and a massive charge. As the defenders struggled to hold the walls, Pulsen and Edwell began coordinated operations inside the Royal Capital.

• The Crusading Army summoned seventy Divine Kingdom Guards and advanced toward the city while Sanchez ordered the defenders to fire the Electromagnetic Cannons.
• Yoland identified the Guards' abdominal cores, but poor visibility and their self-repairing bodies limited the cannons' effectiveness as the Crusading Army charged behind them.
• Two hundred Official Wizards triggered concealed pits that trapped thousands of allied soldiers and nearly half the Divine Kingdom Guards, but the Bishops formed magical bridges and shattered the defenders' Magic Barrier.
• Sanchez realized the defenders faced their hardest moment as the Bishops' magic and Griffin Knights joined the attack, despite the garrison having grown to twenty-five thousand.
• Pulsen sent Dark Guards in two groups to rescue Arno from prison and infiltrate the Alchemy Research Institute.
• Edwell led Divine Punishment Army soldiers through secret passages into the Royal Capital to attack from within.

The Holy See’s Crusading Army launched a major night assault on the Royal Capital, forcing Lynn to send reinforcements while preserving troops to prevent unrest inside the city. Lynn prepared the city’s electrical grid for the battle, but the council chairmen had still not arrived from the Land of Wizards.

• Sanchez reported that the Crusading Army had launched a massive attack and urgently requested reinforcements for the city walls.
• Lynn learned that about forty thousand reinforcements had joined the enemy and ordered Anthony, Adela, four Great Wizards, two hundred Official Wizards, five thousand musketeers, and ten thousand Imperial Guards to reinforce the gates.
• Lynn refused to mobilize more troops from the capital’s defenses, ordered Yali and the others to send airships against the fire-setting Griffin Knights and support the front, and had Elock activate the city’s electrical equipment.
• Raphael told Lynn that two council chairmen had left the Land of Wizards but had not yet arrived, leaving Lynn’s forces to face the battle without them.

The Griffin Knights and Dark Guards attacked the Royal Capital, but the city’s new electric lights exposed the attackers and let the musketeers counterattack. As Griffin Knights moved to intercept approaching airships, Glen prepared to carry out Dean Lynn’s plan to destroy them.

• The Griffin Knights harassed the Royal Capital’s guards while Dark Guard elites used the chaos to launch a bloody street battle.
• Hayden, a workshop laborer who had begun doubting the Priests, prayed that the wizards would win after they had paid him and helped repair his home.
• Electric lights spread across the Royal Capital, exposing the Dark Guards and allowing the musketeers to counterattack.
• Vede spotted the airships approaching and led the Griffin Knights to attack them from a distance of fifty meters.
• Yali asked Glen when they would act, and Glen told him to wait until the Griffin Knights came closer before asking whether he had witnessed the Speed of Light.

Glen and the airship crews used Laser Magic to ambush the Griffin Knights above the Royal Capital, while the knights’ suicidal counterattack brought down more than twenty airships. On the ground, Old York’s defenders were overwhelmed until Elock and Lydia arrived with a small, heavily armed force.

• Glen used Heat Perception to spot the approaching Griffin Knights and prepared a concealed beam of light.
• Glen’s laser killed Vede, and 150 airships swept the sky with intersecting beams that cut down more than a hundred Griffin Knights.
• The surviving Griffin Knights launched suicidal attacks, and their numbers forced more than twenty airships to crash into the Royal Capital.
• Old York struggled to hold the Royal Capital’s streets as the Divine Punishment Knights broke through the defenders’ line and casualties exceeded two thousand.
• Elock and Lydia arrived with a little over a hundred troops, Percussion Lock Guns, and three superweapons, and Lydia said they were enough.

Lydia and Elock’s forces used armor-piercing rounds and machine guns to wipe out a Divine Punishment Army contingent, though the victory consumed their ammunition. Meanwhile, Pulsen and Arno attacked the Alchemy Research Institute, the center of the Royal Capital’s magical defenses, and Arno unleashed destructive holy power against its defenders.

• Lydia and Elock organized musketeers and machine guns to defend the street as several hundred Divine Punishment Army soldiers charged.
• The musketeers’ armor-piercing volley killed more than twenty soldiers, but the Divine Punishment Army continued its advance.
• Three machine guns opened fire and killed the attacking force, leaving Lydia’s side with all three thousand rounds expended.
• Old York warned Lydia and Elock that thousands more Divine Punishment Army soldiers had entered the Royal Capital, with the main force heading for the Alchemy Research Institute.
• Pulsen and Arno entered the Alchemy Research Institute, and Pulsen identified it as the center of the city’s defensive magic.
• Arno unleashed holy power that tore trenches through the ground and collapsed buildings, sending ruins surging toward the resisting wizards.