Chapter Summaries

Rayne and the Extreme Warriors trapped Shakrales behind the Abyssal Gate and massacred the demons pouring through until she closed it. After absorbing their souls, Rayne greatly strengthened his spells and defenses, then revealed that Desad and several accomplices had opened the gate; the other leaders learned that a wider conspiracy was behind the attack.

• Rayne returned with the captured Desad as the Extreme Warriors held back the Demon Army, and Shakrales hesitated to cross into the Material Plane.
• Lord Luspel, Laudia, Gneus, and other powerful figures arrived, and Shakrales closed the Abyssal Gate rather than face them.
• Rayne used the demons' souls to upgrade Wish Spell, Mithril Body, Mithril Feathers, and Energy Absorption, which evolved into Energy Devour.
• Rayne greeted the leaders and explained that Desad and Elder Fahrun had sealed the area and opened the Abyssal Gate with several accomplices.
• Rayne's Mirror Image threw the unconscious Desad before the assembled leaders, whose expressions changed as they heard the account.

Rayne exposed Nesser Elders Desad and Fahrun for helping open an Abyssal Gate and attack him, and Desad named Buoyangsi as the mastermind. The authorities failed to catch Buoyangsi, who escaped, while Rayne collected the attackers’ weapons and other spoils.

• Rayne showed the gathered leaders Fahrun’s body and confirmed that he had killed her after she participated in opening the Abyssal Gate.
• Luspel awakened Desad and forced him to confess that Buoyangsi supplied the Abyss Crystal, ordered the attack, and directed the diversion of Nesser funds and materials.
• Luspel stopped Desad before he could reveal whom Buoyangsi had given the stolen resources to, then arranged to take Desad for further interrogation and sent the others to arrest Buoyangsi.
• Elder Chronomancer, Harava, and Luspel went to Nesser, but Buoyangsi had already escaped.
• Rayne recovered the attackers’ weapons and valuables, and Belisarius Karl identified the Combat Wizard’s weapon as the Void Demon Blade belonging to Nidasa.

Rayne and Viola oversaw Iliesa’s resignation as pope and Viola’s succession, while the Church of Beauty and Goodness prepared to grow under its new leader. After the banquet, Rayne received news that Desad had died in the Church of Justice’s prison.

• News of the Nether scandal spread across the Empire, confirming the Modu School’s victory and Duke Redstone’s defeat.
• Iliesa announced that she would tour the Empire and hand the Imperial Art Association presidency and papacy to Viola, with the Lady of Long Hair’s approval.
• Rayne watched as the Church’s believers accepted Viola as pope after she promised continuity and focused on recruiting more believers.
• Viola thanked Rayne for helping her take power, and Rayne learned from a note that Desad had died in the Church of Justice’s prison.

After Desad died mysteriously in the Church of Justice's prison, Rayne and Viola considered who might have killed him and how the murder related to Master Ogulvi's Fall. Rayne joined Gneus at the Court of Justice to examine Desad's corpse, and Luspel asked what Rayne had discovered.

• Rayne told Viola that Desad had died in the Church of Justice's prison, and they questioned whether Duke Redstone or someone else was responsible.
• Rayne reasoned that Desad's killer must have known about the truth behind Master Ogulvi's Fall, then went to the Court of Justice.
• Rayne met Gneus and Sissell at the Court of Justice, and Sissell led them into the prison.
• Luspel showed Rayne and Gneus Desad's corpse, which had shriveled and aged dramatically within minutes of his death.
• Luspel noticed Rayne's expression change and asked what he had discovered.

Rayne realized Desad had died after his Longevity Spell was dispelled, but he concealed this secret while the Church of Justice investigated. The culprit remained unidentified, and the Church secretly continued its investigation as Desad’s death deepened its conflict with Duke Redstone.

• Rayne deduced that Desad’s Longevity Spell had been dispelled and suspected Master Ogulvi before realizing the corpse had been left as deliberate misdirection.
• Rayne hid what he knew from Luspel and suggested that the Chronomancer use Light and Shadow Rewind to investigate Desad’s death.
• The Chronomancer’s spell revealed Arcane Interference concealing the moment Desad died, and the Chronomancer confirmed he knew nothing about the killing.
• Luspel said the Church of Justice would investigate secretly and publicly strip Desad of his honors, while Rayne, Gneus, and the Chronomancer welcomed the growing hostility between the Church and Duke Redstone.
• Rayne returned to Maringer Manor and went to bed with Viola.

Viola was crowned the youngest pope in the history of the Church of Beauty and Goodness, while Rayne supported her and discussed their plans to build influence in Northril. After returning to Glamorgan and juggling his responsibilities and relationships, Rayne received the long-awaited arrival of Teklis.

• Madam Iliesa crowned Viola with the Green Vine Crown, and the Lady of Long Hair’s divine approval confirmed Viola as the new pope.
• Viola kissed Rayne during the ceremony, then celebrated her coronation with him and discussed her plans to lead the church from Northril.
• Rayne told Viola he intended to run for consul and asked her to build connections and gather information among imperial legislators.
• Rayne returned to the Demon Capital, supported Viola’s new role, and left two squads of Extreme Warriors to protect her.
• Rayne managed his territory, military, business, and relationships before Teklis teleported into his study.

Reslin and Athina traveled from Flower Mist Island through the chain of long-distance Teleportation Arrays to the New Continent. They arrived at Alber Bay, where their journey into the continent began.

• Reslin explained that the island-based Teleportation Arrays helped protect the Old Continent from an Abyssal invasion.
• Reslin and Athina paid to teleport from Flower Mist Island through Haitok and Crab Harbor to Bear Island.
• Reslin and Athina explored Bear Island’s harbor and canyon settlement while waiting for enough travelers to activate the next array.
• Reslin and Athina teleported through Queen's Port and arrived at Alber Bay.

Reslin and Athina arrived in Alber Bay, explored Saint Fanjig, and went to the Golden Gate Inn to seek out two Transcendents Reslin had once lent money to. Their entrance drew the attention of more than a hundred patrons, who stared at Athina.

• Reslin and Athina studied a map of Alber Bay and learned about its three cities, Great Wall, and powerful rulers.
• Reslin opened Portals to Gordon Bridge and then Hunter's Horn Dock, where they saw Saint Fanjig's Sea Lion Guard and the bustling port.
• Athina noticed that Saint Fanjig had an unusually high proportion of battle-hardened Transcendents.
• Reslin explained that he had arranged to find two former debtors at the Golden Gate Inn, where they might help him learn about Alber Bay.
• Reslin and Athina entered the inn, and more than a hundred Transcendents turned to stare at Athina.

Reslin killed Wilson and the Blood Blade Mercenary Group’s members after they harassed Athina and provoked him at the Golden Gate Inn. After explaining that Wilson was a believer in the Blood God, Reslin received word that Javesk had arrived to meet him.

• Athina entered the Golden Gate Inn, where Wilson and his men harassed her and an inn waitress, so Reslin used Delirium Technique to silence the crowd.
• Wilson identified himself as the leader of the Blood Blade Mercenary Group and challenged Reslin, who incapacitated the group with Mental Whip and trapped Wilson in Bigby's Grasping Hand.
• Reslin tortured Wilson with fire and pain magic until he died, then asked the inn manager to summon Javesk, an Element Shooter on the Path of the Wilderness Soul Hunter Team.
• Athina questioned whether Wilson deserved to die, and Reslin explained that Wilson worshiped Hakkasnu, the Blood Lord, before Athina agreed he deserved his fate.
• The manager informed Reslin that Javesk had arrived at the inn.

Reslin asked Javesk to find information about a Mind Flayer city in the Underdark, while preparing to advance to Archmage. Two days later, Javesk returned with Captain Marino and reported that they had found information about the Mind Flayers.

• Reslin revealed that he was Rayne Augustus's student, showed Javesk Rayne's letter, and asked him to locate people knowledgeable about the Underdark and Mind Flayers.
• Javesk agreed to ask around Alber Bay for information, accepted payment, and promised not to reveal Reslin's identity.
• Reslin secretly listened as Javesk met Captain Marino and the Soul Hunter Team, then learned they intended to help him.
• Reslin meditated and worked on constructing the Ninth Circle Spell Models for Time Stop, Time Jump, and Spatial Barrier as he prepared to become an Archmage.
• Athina used a Magic Ring to disguise herself and explored Alber Bay while Reslin continued his preparations.
• Javesk returned after two days with Marino and told Reslin they had found information about the Mind Flayers.

Reslin and his companions followed Marino’s lead to meet a reclusive Drow who knew the location of the Mind Flayer city. The Drow welcomed them, and Reslin recognized him as a Demon Hunter.

• Marino told Reslin that a secluded Legendary Drow knew the Mind Flayer city’s location and wanted to meet Reslin in person.
• Reslin agreed to the meeting and used an Any Door to join Marino and Javesk in their carriage.
• Reslin observed Alber Bay’s varied faiths and Transcendent forces as the carriage traveled through the city.
• Athina joined the group, and Marino negotiated their passage through an Emerald Staff patrol in Jose City.
• The group reached a secluded courtyard, where a Drow greeted them; Reslin’s Soul Eye identified him as a Demon Hunter.

Reslin and Athina met Yizite, a rare Dark Elf Demon Hunter who worshipped Elune and had survived an encounter with a hidden Mind Flayer city. Yizite agreed to guide them there if they helped him hunt a Balor so he could advance to the Saint Tier.

• Reslin assessed Yizite's soul and faith, judged him trustworthy, and accepted his apology for using a Charm Spell on Marino and Javesk.
• Yizite introduced himself to Reslin and Athina, welcomed them into his home, and told them about escaping a Mind Flayer city more than a hundred years earlier.
• Yizite warned Reslin and Athina that a Saint-Tier creature might dwell in the city, but Reslin confirmed they still intended to go there.
• Yizite offered to guide Reslin and Athina through the Underdark if they helped with his plan.
• Yizite revealed that he wanted to hunt a Balor and use its flesh and blood essence to advance to the Saint Tier.

Yizite asked Reslin and Athina to help him hunt a Balor in Danmofu so he could advance to the Saint Tier, and Reslin agreed in exchange for the Balor’s Soul Fragments. The group still needed a fifth member who could heal and resist Fel corruption, and Yizite named a powerful priest who had recently left Alber Bay to hunt magical beasts.

• Yizite revealed that he was a Demon Hunter and explained that he needed a Balor’s flesh essence to break through his Legendary Peak bottleneck.
• Yizite described the Balor guarding a large Abyssal Gate in Danmofu, and Reslin warned that the hunt was too dangerous for only three people.
• Yizite promised to guide and protect Reslin and Athina on their later journey if they helped him, and Reslin claimed the Balor’s Soul Fragments as his spoils.
• Yizite said he had arranged for a powerful friend to join them, but they still needed a healer who could purify Fel Energy and resist mental corruption.
• Yizite proposed a Legendary priest who had left Alber Bay half a month earlier, and Reslin asked where the priest had gone.

Reslin, Athina, and Yizite found the legendary priest Sir Dawnsos fighting a Fel-Corrupted Bear Goblin tribe in Grey Valley. After Dawnsos slaughtered the entire tribe, the three approached him, and Yizite said they had been searching for him for two days.

• Reslin located Sir Dawnsos near a Bear Goblin Demon Nest after two days of searching Grey Valley.
• Sir Dawnsos collapsed much of the Demon Nest and fought off hundreds of Fel-Corrupted Bear Goblins with Divine Arts and his Flanged Mace.
• Dawnsos killed the Bear Goblin chieftain, continued fighting, and ultimately wiped out the tribe without being seriously injured.
• Reslin identified Dawnsos's twelve Divine Arts and judged that even Athina might not defeat him in a direct fight.
• Reslin opened an Any Door, and he, Athina, and Yizite appeared before Dawnsos; Yizite told him they had been looking for him for two days.

Yizite recruited Dawnsos to join the planned hunt for a Balor, and the group set out to finish Dawnsos's remaining extermination mission. Reslin annihilated a fel-corrupted gnoll camp with a devastating meteor barrage, leaving Dawnsos and the others stunned.

• Yizite invited Dawnsos to join the Balor hunt, and Dawnsos accepted without asking for payment.
• Dawnsos destroyed and purified the bear-goblin Demon Nest, then asked to finish an extermination mission near the Nevada Mountains.
• Reslin used Mass Teleportation to take the group to a fel-corrupted gnoll camp in the Dead Leaf Forest.
• Reslin created twelve mirror images and unleashed repeated volleys of Mage's Minor Meteor, destroying the camp and killing more than eight hundred gnolls.
• Reslin retrieved a Fel Crystal Cluster from the ruined Demon Nest and returned to find Yizite, Dawnsos, and Athina stunned by his display.

Reslin destroyed a large gnoll camp, helped Dawnsos purify its Demon Nest, and secretly returned the group to Alber Bay by bypassing the Great Wall’s defenses. After improving several spells and spending the night with Athina as Rayne, Reslin joined Yizite and the others to begin planning their hunt for the Balor.

• Reslin wiped out more than eight hundred Fel-Corrupted Gnolls with a barrage of Mage's Minor Meteor, and Dawnsos purified the Demon Nest and extinguished the forest fire.
• Reslin teleported the group into Alber Bay, and Yizite and Dawnsos agreed to keep his ability to bypass the Great Wall’s defenses secret.
• Dawnsos visited Yizite’s home, learned that their fifth teammate would return by the next day, and left through a Portal Reslin opened to Oakland City Hall.
• Rayne exchanged places with Reslin and reunited with Athina, while Reslin used more than one thousand charges to improve spells needed for the planned Balor hunt.
• Reslin recovered his mana, began constructing Time Stop, and joined Athina at Yizite’s home the next day, where Yizite introduced their returned teammate, Bellac.

Reslin identified Bellac as the world’s highest-level Saint Gun Ranger, a new class struggling for recognition in the Ramon Empire. After Bellac described his ambition to earn the Sun God’s approval, Yizite began outlining the party’s plan to lure the Balor Dimath away from its Abyssal Gate, with Reslin central to the plan.

• Bellac introduced himself as a mixed-race Bantu from the Ramon Empire, and his humor quickly brought him closer to Reslin, Athina, Dawsos, and Yizite.
• Reslin deduced Bellac’s unusual advancement history and identified him as a level 17 Saint Gun Ranger, winning a bet that earned Yizite a Satyr Demon’s Demon Soul.
• Bellac explained that he was the only Legendary High Tier Saint Gun Ranger and hoped to reach the Saint Tier so the Sun God would recognize his class and allow him to train others.
• Reslin considered Bellac’s abilities as a model for the Gunwing Knights, while Rayne also reflected on the Saint Gun Ranger’s potential from afar.
• Yizite showed the party a map of Danmofu and explained that the level 22 Balor Dimath guarded its Abyssal Gate and commanded a vast demon army.
• Yizite proposed luring Dimath away from the Abyssal Gate and surrounding it, then said Reslin was key to the plan.

Yizite led Reslin, Athina, Bellac, and Dawnsos into Dimath’s territory to begin destroying its Demon Nests and draw out the Demon Lord guarding the Abyssal Gate. After scouting an Evil Orc settlement and strengthening the team with Divine Arts and spells, Reslin teleported them into its center to attack.

• Yizite’s group crossed the Rockchis Mountains and saw the massive Fel Energy Vortex marking Dimath’s territory, where Danmofu lay fifty miles east.
• Dawnsos purified and protected the group from Fel and mental influence, while Athina, Bellac, Reslin, and Yizite prepared their weapons and advanced through the forest.
• Reslin used the All-Seeing Eye to count the settlement’s Evil Orcs, including three Doom Bulls and a Legendary Realm Ram Beast Shadow Priest.
• Yizite explained that they would destroy Demon Nests without leaving survivors, forcing the cautious Balor to leave the Abyssal Gate before they tried to kill it.
• Dawnsos, Bellac, and Reslin layered Divine Arts and spells onto the team, boosting Athina’s strength to level fifteen and greatly enhancing the others.
• Reslin cast Mass Teleportation and sent all five team members into the middle of the Evil Orc settlement.

Reslin and his teammates destroyed Demon Nests across the Rockchis Mountains and eastern Danmofu, with Athina’s overwhelming strength carrying most of the battles. After seven raids, the team withdrew to a concealed sanctuary tent to rest for the night.

• Reslin’s team attacked an Evil Orc settlement, where Athina’s Thunderous Stomp devastated most of the enemies and the others helped kill the survivors and the Doom Bull leader.
• Yizite destroyed the settlement’s Demon Nest and its Fel Crystal Cluster, while Reslin erased traces of the battle and teleported the team away.
• The team killed a Bloodfang Werewolf settlement and destroyed its Demon Nest, then eliminated seven more Demon Nests across eastern Danmofu.
• After nightfall, Reslin teleported the team far east, where Yizite checked the area and set up Riomond’s Sanctuary for the night.
• Athina admired Yizite’s rare portable sanctuary, while Reslin noticed that the Soul Power Pool charge on his phone interface had reached half full.

Rayne’s team rested in Riomond’s Sanctuary, where Bellac discovered the Explosive Bullet Gun and became captivated by its power. Before dawn, Rayne detected Netherfiend Abyssal Knights pursuing human deserters, and Yizite asked whether they should intervene.

• Rayne finished constructing the Spell Model for Time Stop while his teammates rested and Yizite prepared food.
• Bellac showed off Falling Star, and Athina explained that the Soul Gun was not suited to her.
• Rayne let Bellac try the Explosive Bullet Gun, and Bellac was astonished by its power and learned Rayne had invented it.
• Rayne gave Bellac two Explosive Bullet Guns to try in battle, while Athina recognized his plan to recruit the Saint Gun Ranger to Glamorgan.
• During his pre-dawn watch, Rayne heard approaching cavalry and determined they were not headed for the sanctuary.
• Yizite identified two groups: about one hundred and twenty Netherfiend Abyssal Knights pursuing human Transcendents, and asked whether the team should save them.