Chapter Summaries

Theresa and her companions rested at the Goethe Hotel before exploring the Lower City and visiting its Fighting Club. Dr. Curious explained the club’s fees and escalating prizes, while Dan Heng suspected something was amiss.

• The landlady treated Theresa and her companions to dinner, arranged rooms, and hugged Theresa before reluctantly letting her go.
• March 7th, Stelle, and Bronya teased Theresa, then the girls washed up, followed a skincare routine, and talked about their feelings before falling asleep.
• The next day, Theresa and the others had breakfast and followed Dan Heng around the Lower City toward the Fighting Club.
• The group entered the Fighting Club, where Dr. Curious described the costs of watching or competing and the club’s cumulative rewards.
• Dan Heng narrowed his eyes as he listened to Dr. Curious, sensing that something was not right.

Theresa and her companions entered Scott’s fighting challenge, agreeing to ten rounds despite the club’s refusal to accept responsibility for injuries. The Teruriri Magical Team easily defeated their first opponents, and Stelle began their second match by beating the Lower City F4.

• Scott offered the group a grand prize of ten thousand Belobog Shields for winning ten rounds, while warning that the club would not cover injuries.
• Theresa accepted the challenge and demanded that the club could not interfere once a match began; Scott agreed to share responsibility for any damaged facilities.
• March 7th, Stelle, and Bronya named their team the Teruriri Magical Team, and Dan Heng bet more than a thousand Belobog Shields on them.
• Theresa and her companions defeated the Don't Want to Mine Squad in seconds during the first round.
• Stelle fought the Lower City F4 with a baseball bat and left all four men sprawled on the ground.

Theresa and the Teruriri Magical Team continued through the Fighting Club’s challenges, and Theresa destroyed Scott’s five deadly robots. Scott summoned Luca for the final battle, while Luca and Theresa both recognized the chance to bring down the club.

• March 7th insisted that the Teruriri Magical Team keep challenging Scott’s opponents, despite Dr. Curious warning them about the robots’ dangerous weapons.
• Theresa smashed the Hammer Machine King and Whip Machine King, then destroyed the Greatsword, Chainsaw, and Crushing Machine Kings with Oath of Judah and her attacks.
• Theresa and March 7th demanded the promised final battle, so Scott ordered Dr. Curious to fetch Luca, the Fighting Club’s three-time champion.
• Dr. Curious revealed that Luca had stopped coming to the club after learning the truth about Scott’s schemes, but Scott insisted Luca owed him for paying for his Mechanical Arm.
• Luca arrived, recognized Theresa’s effort to dismantle the Fighting Club, and prepared to fight while making clear to Scott that this would be his last time.

Theresa and the others sabotaged Scott’s Fighting Club, scattering its Winter City Shields and leaving Scott dead. Luca promised to confess his role in Scott’s business and make amends, while the group went after Sampo.

• Theresa proposed that both sides dodge their attacks into the Fighting Club, and March 7th and Bronya helped bring its walls crashing down.
• Theresa and Luca smashed the table of Winter City Shields, and the Lower City residents rushed to collect them as Scott collapsed and died.
• Luca picked up Scott’s body and left, promising to reveal how he had helped Scott and seek atonement.
• Bronya and March 7th discussed the hardships of the Lower City and the solitude expected of Supreme Guardians.
• Theresa spotted Sampo and the group chased him; after Underworld Fire arrived to handle the ruins, Theresa caught Sampo and March 7th scolded him.

After Sampo betrayed the group again, Theresa and the others punished him and made him promise to lead them to Underworld Fire's leader, Oleg. The next morning, Sampo kept his word and waited at the Goethe Hotel, where he explained to the landlady why he was bringing the wanted newcomers to meet Oleg.

• Theresa stepped on Sampo while Stelle and the others confronted him for trying to run away again.
• Stelle struck Sampo's backside with her baseball bat, and Sampo promised to take the group to meet Oleg the next morning.
• Sampo explained that he had sold Underworld Fire the Silvermane Guard weapons and Gepard's armor, and Bronya decided not to try to reclaim the armor.
• The group returned to the Goethe Hotel to rest, while Sampo went back to his own lodging nursing his injury.
• Sampo arrived at the Goethe Hotel before ten system time and told the landlady he planned to bring the wanted newcomers to meet Oleg to help resist Cocolia.

The group met Oleg and Underworld Fire after breakfast, while Seele confronted Sampo over his profiteering. Oleg welcomed the newcomers, and the chapter ended with him mistaking Theresa for a young child.

• The old woman affectionately fed Theresa breakfast, and the group left the inn with Sampo after eating.
• Sampo led Bronya, March 7th, Stelle, Dan Heng, and Theresa to Underworld Fire’s hidden meeting place, where Seele and Oleg awaited them.
• Seele tried to stop Sampo from leaving and demanded an explanation for the profit he made selling Oleg the armor.
• Oleg introduced himself as Underworld Fire’s leader and explained that he had bought the armor to help fight the Abyss Monsters.
• Bronya introduced herself without revealing her position, while Oleg noticed her Guard-like manner but did not expose her.
• Oleg mistook Theresa for a twelve- or thirteen-year-old girl, prompting Sampo and the others to struggle to hold back their laughter.

Dan Heng explained why the group sought cooperation with Underworld Fire, and Oleg recounted the Lower City's struggle against the Abyss Monsters and pleaded for help. Seele remembered how the monsters destroyed Rivet Town and how her experiences led her to train and fight as a Pathstrider.

• Theresa insisted she was an adult, and Dan Heng and Sampo confirmed it to Oleg.
• Dan Heng offered to cooperate with Underworld Fire against Cocolia and the Upper City, while Theresa sat in Bronya's lap and Seele watched them sourly.
• Oleg described how he formed Underworld Fire after the Silvermane Guards withdrew and how its first battle against the Abyss Monsters caused hundreds of casualties.
• Oleg pleaded with Dan Heng to help the Lower City, and Seele remembered losing her home and children from the orphanage in Rivet Town.
• Seele recalled how Underworld Fire and Natasha rescued her, how Oleg adopted her, and how she trained with a scythe to avenge those who died.

Seele agreed to lead Dan Heng and the others through Rivet Town to the Great Mine Area, where they hoped to find Svarog. Reluctant to walk the twenty-kilometer route, Theresa bought and deployed a huge Schicksal fighter jet, and the group set off aboard it.

• Seele volunteered to guide Dan Heng and the others to the Great Mine Area and warned them about the dangerous route through Rivet Town and the drifters.
• Seele led the group as they accepted rations and water from Underworld Fire and prepared to travel the twenty kilometers to the Great Mine Area.
• Theresa resisted the long walk, then spent ten thousand Joy Points to buy a Schicksal RPC-6626 fighter jet.
• Theresa deployed the huge aircraft, surprising Seele, Dan Heng, March 7th, Bronya, and Stelle.
• Theresa activated 6626, and the fighter began flying the group toward the Great Mine Area at a cautious speed.

Svarog and Clara waited in the Great Mine Area for a mysterious flying fighter, with Svarog ready to defend Clara until she persuaded him not to attack first. The 6626 Destiny fighter landed safely, and Seele, Bronya, Theresa, March 7th, Stelle, and Dan Heng emerged to meet them.

• Refugees in the Lower City watched the 6626 Destiny fighter fly overhead in astonishment.
• After robots reported the approaching fighter, Svarog brought Clara to the central Geodough vein and prepared to defend her.
• Clara asked Svarog to wait before attacking, and he lowered his arm as the fighter landed.
• Seele stepped off the fighter and greeted Svarog and Clara, easing their suspicion.
• Bronya nearly fell while disembarking, but Seele caught her and teased her.
• Theresa, March 7th, Stelle, and Dan Heng exited, then Theresa stored the fighter away to protect it.

Theresa and the others sought information about the Stellar Core from Svarog, who attacked when Bronya mentioned it but surrendered after Clara pleaded with him. Svarog shared the records in exchange for the Mechanical Tribe’s neutrality, and the group left with a clearer picture of Jarilo-VI’s history and the Stellar Core’s threat.

• Bronya asked Svarog for his records about the Stellar Core, and he activated extermination mode and fired missiles at the group.
• Theresa blocked the missiles and bound Svarog with the Oath of Judah’s chains, but she released him after Clara begged him to surrender.
• Svarog led the group to the Mechanical Tribe and agreed to share the Stellar Core records if Underworld Fire kept the tribe neutral.
• Svarog’s projection showed how the Stellar Core’s arrival brought the Antimatter Legion, the Great Cold, and Belobog’s decline, and revealed that Cocolia had been bewitched by it.
• The group left after Svarog said the Mechanical Tribe might cooperate if they found hope, while Clara asked him to delete an embarrassing memory and he refused.

Cocolia ordered Gepard to lead most of the Silvermane Guard into the Lower City to retrieve Bronya, while the Upper City’s leaders chose to keep quiet about her unsettling behavior. Meanwhile, Theresa received a new ability that triggered a transformation into Sakura Dance, a five-tailed fox spirit.

• Cocolia told Gepard to take seventy percent of the Guard into the Lower City, rescue Bronya, and fight Underworld Fire if necessary.
• Pela agreed to handle Bronya’s abandoned work, while the Guard officials avoided challenging Cocolia’s orders.
• Gepard gathered Dunn and most of the Guard, then boarded a train bound for the Lower City as the troops cheerfully anticipated seeing their families.
• Theresa received Bear Grylls’ Word of Eating ability, which awakened the Vishnu Hyper-Mutation Factor and filled her with intense hunger.
• Theresa’s hair turned pink, fox ears and a tail appeared, and Sakura Dance emerged behind her as a five-tailed demon fox made of crimson flames.

Theresa transformed Oath of Judah into Sakura's Redemption and, driven by hunger, led the group into the Great Mine Area to devour Abyss Monsters. After nearly clearing the area and growing stronger, she returned to the others, explained that Vishnu had caused her transformation, and let the girls pet her fox ears and tail.

• Theresa's Oath of Judah transformed into Sakura's Redemption, and her hunger made her see the others as food.
• Theresa summoned Crimson Fox Spirit and led the group to the Great Mine Area, where Sakura's Redemption and Heavenly Judgment cut apart and absorbed Abyss Monsters.
• Crimson Fox Spirit charged through the monsters as Theresa absorbed their energy, and her strength and speed increased.
• Theresa nearly cleared the Great Mine Area, returned to the others, and changed Sakura's Redemption back into a necklace.
• Theresa explained that Vishnu had caused her transformation, reassured the group that she rarely lost control, and let the girls pet her fox ears and tail.

Theresa realized that bringing the enormous Crimson Fox Spirit into Rocktown would alarm the civilians, so the system transferred its consciousness into the fox and transformed her into Himeko. The new Himeko joined Theresa’s group, where their teasing and playful quarrel left everyone laughing.

• Theresa stopped near Rocktown and worried that her changed appearance and the huge Crimson Fox Spirit would frighten the Lower City civilians.
• The Herta Space Station System transferred its consciousness into Crimson Fox Spirit, who burst into flames and emerged as a petite Himeko.
• Crimson Fox Spirit transformed again into a tall, pink-haired girl and panicked over losing her Kun Kun, while Theresa teased her.
• Theresa introduced Himeko as her little sister, but Himeko lifted Theresa into the air and insisted she was the big sister.
• Stelle photographed Himeko holding Theresa aloft, and the group laughed as Theresa chased Himeko with Sakura's Redemption.

Welt and the others were mocked in a group chat after Immortal Dragon—Qin changed their names and revealed personal knowledge about Welt before signing off. In Rocktown, the group discussed terminals and Sampo’s sales pitch, while Sampo secretly prepared a show for Aha.

• Immortal Dragon—Qin and God of Mischief Aha teased Welt and Theresa in the group chat, and Immortal Dragon—Qin changed Theresa’s nickname.
• Immortal Dragon—Qin addressed Welt as Joachim and mentioned his father, prompting Welt to accuse him of being Otto.
• Oath Under Moonlight · Give Love With Heart clarified that Immortal Dragon—Qin was not Otto, and Immortal Dragon—Qin claimed to be a wise janitor and Captain married to Airi before going offline.
• Theresa and Himeko realized that Immortal Dragon—Qin was a senior transmigrator who had become an Aeon and revived Elysia.
• Dan Heng explained terminals to Seele and Bronya, while Sampo tried to sell them refurbished devices.
• Sampo followed the group into Rocktown and quietly announced that his show for Aha was ready.

Gepard brought Silvermane Guards to the Lower City to seek cooperation with Underworld Fire, explaining that the Supreme Guardian had ordered an attack but seemed to have been replaced. After Bronya volunteered to meet Oleg with him, Sampo led them away while Seele took the remaining guards to the Goethe Hotel.

• Gepard pinned Sampo down over the theft and sale of his custom armor, then asked Underworld Fire to arrange a meeting with Oleg.
• Seele introduced herself as an Underworld Fire officer and revealed Bronya, whose appearance surprised Gepard and the guards.
• March 7th, Dan Heng, Himeko, and Theresa arrived, and Gepard explained that he wanted to cooperate because the Supreme Guardian had changed and ordered a fight to the death.
• Bronya volunteered to accompany Gepard to meet Oleg, and Seele ordered Sampo to lead them there.
• Stelle asked Seele to find a place for the guards to settle down, and Seele led the group to the Goethe Hotel.

Theresa and Himeko joined Gepard, Bronya, and Underworld Fire as they agreed to oppose Cocolia, who they suspected had been changed by the Stellar Core. Theresa proposed using Cocolia’s order to attack Underworld Fire against her, but the chapter ended before she explained the plan.

• Theresa and Himeko discussed Theresa's confusion about her feelings and the promised Flame-Chaser Signet while Himeko held her close.
• Gepard and Bronya reported that Underworld Fire had agreed to join forces with them against the Supreme Guardian.
• Seele explained that Cocolia had changed under the Stellar Core's influence and that they needed to infiltrate the Upper City through the furnace core passage guarded by Svarog.
• Sampo agreed to guide the group through the furnace core passage, surprising Seele and Gepard with his loyalty.
• Gepard and the Silvermane Guards said they would not fight Underworld Fire, and Theresa proposed turning Cocolia's orders against her.

Theresa planned a deception to make Cocolia believe Gepard and many Silvermane Guards had fallen in battle, while the others helped Underworld Fire resist the Abyss Monsters. Gepard returned to the Upper City with the Stellaron Hunters posing as prisoners, only to learn that Cocolia had disappeared with Serval.

• Theresa proposed that Bronya accompany Gepard back to the Upper City while most Silvermane Guards stayed behind to aid Underworld Fire and appear dead to Cocolia.
• Sampo disguised Gepard in women’s clothes and fake breasts, prompting Gepard to wrestle him before Seele, March 7th, and Bronya made Gepard look battered.
• Gepard led the Stellaron Hunters and fewer than half the Silvermane Guards through the Furnace Core passage, while some guards exchanged outfits with Underworld Fire members.
• The Silvermane Guards escorted Gepard and the Stellaron Hunters, pretending to hold them captive, into Fortress City before dawn.
• Gepard learned that Cocolia had disappeared with Serval, leaving him unsure where his sister had been taken.

Gepard learned that Cocolia had taken Serval to Everwinter Field to awaken Belobog’s Creation Engine, so he set out with the others to find them. Welt agreed to join after Theresa teased him in the group chat, while Theresa struggled to find safe cold-weather gear in the Houm System shop.

• Gepard rushed into the Fortress City meeting and demanded to know where Cocolia had taken Serval.
• Pela said Cocolia had gone to Everwinter Field to awaken the dormant Creation Engine.
• Theresa invited Welt to help, and the group chat turned into a teasing exchange about his love of robots and magical-girl outfits.
• Gepard led the group toward Everwinter Field on Silvermane Guard sleighs, bringing Bronya and Seele but no guards.
• Theresa asked the Houm System for cold-weather gear and found absurdly powerful weapons listed as warming items.

Theresa and the others reached Everwinter Peak with Welt, who agreed to help contain the Stellar Core. They found Cocolia possessed by the Core, Serval trapped in ice, and the Core greedily eyeing Stelle.

• Theresa bought warm necklaces for Seele and Bronya, and the group waited for Welt at the foot of Everwinter Peak.
• Welt arrived and learned that Cocolia had been influenced by the Stellar Core and that Serval needed rescuing.
• Welt agreed to help, and Gepard led everyone toward Everwinter Field as Himeko carried Theresa through the deep snow.
• Theresa confronted Cocolia at the summit and demanded that she hand over the Stellar Core.
• Cocolia revealed that the Stellar Core had sealed her consciousness and frozen Serval, then recognized another Stellar Core inside Stelle.

The group fought the Stellar Core, but Stelle was impaled and fell from the mountain before awakening to the Path of Preservation. As the Creation Engine turned against the Stellar Core, Theresa merged with Hua Ling and transformed into a winged figure wielding a chainsaw.

• Gepard, Welt, Bronya, Seele, Dan Heng, Himeko, Theresa, and the others attacked the Stellar Core, who unleashed freezing energy and turned Gepard into an ice statue.
• After Himeko's orbital strike hit the Stellar Core, Stelle charged through the smoke and was pierced by an ice spike, then fell down the mountain.
• While Seele rushed to save her, Stelle wandered through the gap between Paths, witnessed Belobog's Supreme Guardians' histories, and gained Qlipoth's recognition and the Path of Preservation.
• The Stellar Core summoned the Creation Engine, but the giant robot attacked her instead of the group.
• Theresa put on the Mask of Elation, merged her memories with Hua Ling, and transformed as Dragon Wings unfolded behind her and Sakura's Redemption became a chainsaw.