Recaps

Hao Ren and his companions fought their way through Steam Section Six’s Machine Spiders after the force surrounded them in Twilight City. They broke through the blockade and reached the lift, leaving the elite troops behind.

• Wendell identified Steam Section Six as Twilight City’s highest-level combat force after its Machine Spiders surrounded the group.
• Lily transformed into a giant wolf and carried Hao Ren into the fight, while Little Elizabeth began dismantling the machines.
• The Machine Spiders regrouped and launched an organized counterattack, but Vivian, Anthony, Izax, and Nangong May helped hold them off.
• Hao Ren directed the group toward the lift, and Lily charged through the weakest point in the Machine Spiders’ formation.
• The group broke through the blockade, and Elizabeth waved a stolen mechanical leg at the pursuing warriors.

Hao Ren and his companions raced through Twilight City toward the Grand Elevator, while Wendell heard the Ancient Saint order him to bring them there. At the elevator, the Twilight Guard opened fire on the group after the defenders mistook them for descendants of legendary monsters.

• Hao Ren, Lily, Vivian, Elizabeth, and Wendell broke through the blockade and headed toward the Grand Elevator as Twilight Guard forces pursued them.
• Wendell questioned whether bringing the strangers to Twilight City had been a mistake, but the Ancient Saint commanded him to bring them closer.
• Wendell announced that they had reached the Grand Elevator, where Twilight City had assembled guards, cannons, and the Wizard Corps.
• Wendell warned Hao Ren about the wizards’ strange Rune-based abilities, then said that the Ancient Saint was guiding their destiny.
• The wizards identified the group as descendants of mythical beings, and a frightened soldier fired, triggering the defenders’ full barrage.

Hao Ren’s group faced the Twilight Guard’s overwhelming defense at the Grand Elevator Platform and devised a plan to send the Data Terminal into the elevator while others drew the guards’ attention. The chapter left Izax, Lily, and Galadriel confronting the Twilight Guard as a streak of blue light slipped past unnoticed.

• The Twilight Guard opened fire, and Izax, Elizabeth, and Anthony shielded Hao Ren’s group from the bombardment.
• Hao Ren realized the Data Terminal could bypass the blockade and teleport the group into the elevator, while others kept the guards occupied.
• Galadriel volunteered to stay and fight, and Izax and Lily transformed as the smoke cleared.
• The Twilight commander rallied his soldiers against Izax and Lily, then spotted Galadriel’s Golden Dragon form overhead.
• A streak of blue light silently swept past while the Twilight Guard watched the battlefield.

Hao Ren’s group drew Twilight City’s forces into a chaotic battle while he, Vivian, and Wendell descended through the ancient elevator shaft. They reached the lower district, where they saw the altered people who maintained the city’s engine room.

• Twilight City’s commanders received confused reports about the intruders and speculated that they were survivors of Ragnarok.
• Lily, Izax, Anthony, and Galadriel kept the Twilight Guards occupied on the elevator platform, allowing the defensive line to be breached unnoticed.
• Hao Ren, Vivian, and Wendell entered the Vertical Shaft and flew downward without activating the city’s transport equipment.
• Wendell explained that the city’s steam condensed and returned to Milton Lake beneath the elevator passage.
• Hao Ren saw pale, hairless humanoids maintaining pipes and gears in the engine room, and Vivian insisted they were still human.
• Wendell announced that they had reached the lower district.

Hao Ren, Vivian, and Wendell descended into Twilight City’s ancient Downcity, where they found the guard outpost eerily silent and its soldiers magically immobilized. A Caretaker named Angelica led them toward the Ancient Saints and revealed that their silence had left the Iron Throne unable to command the city guard.

• Hao Ren, Vivian, and Wendell entered the gloomy Downcity and noticed that no guards were stationed along the streets.
• They found the Twilight Guard outpost abandoned of its usual watch, though Vivian sensed living people inside.
• Hao Ren and Vivian entered the outpost and found six immobilized soldiers under the control of a young woman in a flax-colored robe.
• The woman identified herself as Angelica, a Caretaker sent by order of the Ancient Saints, and led the group away from the outpost.
• Angelica explained that the Ancient Saints had barely spoken for five hundred years, leaving the Iron Throne unable to issue orders to the Twilight Guard.

Hao Ren and his companions met the Ancient Sage in Twilight City’s Iron Throne sanctuary and discovered that he was Odin, still alive but almost entirely unable to communicate. Vivian used Gungnir to activate the crystal surrounding him, but a voice warned that he could not recover.

• Angelica explained that the Ancient Sage had summoned the travelers, and the caretakers escorted Hao Ren, Vivian, and Wendell to his sanctuary.
• Hao Ren and his companions entered the Iron Throne sanctuary and saw the withered Ancient Sage sealed inside a crystal.
• Vivian recognized the Ancient Sage as Odin, while Wendell celebrated the discovery of what he believed was a paradise for Asgard.
• Vivian placed Gungnir on the platform beneath the Iron Throne, causing the crystal around Odin to glow.
• A weak voice told Hao Ren that Odin could not recover.

Odin reunited with Vivian and explained how Ragnarök led him to protect humanity in Twilight City. He described the humans’ resilience and ingenuity as the reason he came to see them as the true masters of the world.

• Odin awakened and asked Angelica and Wendell to leave with his token and tell the Steam Council to stop the fighting.
• Odin recognized Vivian as his old friend and learned that humans now ruled the world.
• Vivian questioned Odin about why he had changed, and he described fleeing the ruined kingdoms after Ragnarök.
• Odin explained that humans rebuilt Twilight City, mastered runes, and developed steam power despite the devastation.
• Odin concluded that humans were not inferior but would become powerful once the gods were gone.

Odin explained that he was dying from sustaining Twilight City's barrier and asked Hao Ren to evacuate the people. He revealed that the barrier came from the ancient spacecraft Hao Ren was seeking, which lay beneath the city and was still powered.

• Hao Ren learned from Galadriel and Anthony that Odin's envoy had stopped the fighting above under the Steam Council's orders.
• Odin told Vivian that the outsiders had wrongly assumed humans were incapable of ruling or advancing, and Vivian described humanity's progress on Earth.
• Odin asked Hao Ren to take Twilight City's people out, explaining that the city was nearing its end because he was dying while maintaining its defenses.
• Hao Ren offered to restore Odin's health and asked him to locate Mimir's spacecraft, while Vivian promised they could evacuate the city if he helped.
• Odin revealed that the spacecraft was beneath the throne hall and that its shield was the Twilight Barrier he had adapted to protect the city.
• Odin explained that he had kept the ship's shield active for years by continuously stimulating it from his Iron Throne.

Hao Ren and his companions freed Odin from the Twilight Barrier’s energy drain and discussed how to protect Twilight City while exploring the ancient starship. Odin then offered a suggestion for dealing with the danger posed by the sleeping Firstborn.

• Odin explained that he had maintained the Twilight Barrier for twenty-three centuries, nearly dying from the effort, and Vivian acknowledged his sacrifice.
• Angelica, Wendell, Galadriel, Anthony, Izax, and Lily joined Hao Ren in the hall, where he explained Twilight City’s secrets to them.
• Anthony used a magical array to divert the Barrier’s energy from Odin, stopping his deterioration, though Odin remained physically attached to the throne and its cables.
• Hao Ren and the inspectors discussed evacuating Twilight City or building an additional shield, weighing the risk of disturbing the sleeping Yggdrasil.
• Odin recognized the name Yggdrasil and offered the group a suggestion.

Hao Ren and his companions entered Nibelungen to investigate the corruption of Yggdrasil, following clues Odin had given them. They found signs of diseased Firstborn tentacles and considered treating the Firstborn so they could use its power to counter the Demonic Energy radiation.

• Vivian explained that Nibelungen and Niflheim overlapped near the Fog Gate, where the Firstborn's brain core and nerve ganglia were believed to lie.
• Hao Ren identified the group’s location as the source of Níðhöggr’s corruption and said the key to resolving it should be there.
• Elizabeth carried off a Mechanical Spider leg, while Vivian reported finding six large tentacles with severe pathological changes.
• Hao Ren recalled Odin’s account of dreams in which Yggdrasil appeared to be suffering, prompting the expedition to investigate the World Tree.
• Hao Ren reasoned that treating the Firstborn might let the group borrow its power to clear the Demonic Energy radiation across the Nine Kingdoms.

Hao Ren’s team investigated the corrupted Firstborn vines in Nibelungen and reached the crater where Níðhöggr had died. A probe revealed a biological chamber beneath the dragon’s skull, and Hao Ren concluded that the corruption had begun in the Firstborn’s brain tissue.

• Hao Ren’s team examined Nibelungen’s vast fissures and found evidence that Yggdrasil’s vines had violently torn apart the rock.
• Hao Ren organized the team’s samples and readings into a map of the corrupted regions and sent the data to the research station for analysis.
• Hao Ren’s team reached Níðhöggr’s crater and found the dragon’s enormous skeleton wrapped in unusually active, corrupted vines.
• Hao Ren’s team descended into the crater and examined Níðhöggr’s skeleton while staying alert for signs that the Firstborn might awaken.
• Hao Ren sent a probe into a fissure beneath Níðhöggr’s skull and discovered a biological chamber resembling the Firstborn’s brain-core chamber.

Hao Ren and his companions explored a cavern above one of Yggdrasil’s brain nodes, where a mental shock caused vivid hallucinations. They found a brain core that Hao Ren identified as healthy, leaving the source of Yggdrasil’s corruption unresolved.

• Hao Ren explained that the cavern’s tentacles were neural lines connected to the Firstborn’s brain tissue, while Vivian warned the group about nearby source blood.
• Nangong May mistook her own tail for a moving tentacle, then the cavern collapsed into a hallucination of a plunge toward a molten planetary core.
• Galadriel used Dragon’s Might to break the group out of the mental shock, and Hao Ren suspected Yggdrasil’s organs were losing control.
• The group reached a large node containing a brain core, and Hao Ren confirmed that the organ was healthy.

Hao Ren and his companions sedated Yggdrasil and used Dodo to suppress its source blood so they could inspect the suspicious shadows around its brain core. The operation began when their cutting beam opened the connective tissue and released a foul stench.

• Hao Ren and the Data Terminal discovered that healthy and corrupted tentacles surrounded Yggdrasil’s seemingly healthy brain core, with unexplained black shadows in the tissue around it.
• Hao Ren decided to cut open the tissue, and he called Dodo to suppress the source blood while the team sedated Yggdrasil.
• The Data Terminal brought Dodo and the Firstborn sedatives, and Autonomous Mechanical Units injected Yggdrasil until its neural activity was suppressed.
• Dodo leaped into the source-blood pool, causing it to retreat and making Yggdrasil’s life reactions fall to their lowest point.
• Hao Ren ordered two Autonomous Mechanical Units to cut the connective tissue around the brain core, and the incision released a foul stench.

Hao Ren and the others uncovered a diseased black brain core inside Yggdrasil and discovered that it was fighting the healthy brain core for control. Galadriel named the corrupted organ the Heart of Darkness, leaving them with a possible explanation for the divided state of Yggdrasil’s tentacles.

• A foul, harmful stench poured from Yggdrasil’s brain chamber, overwhelming Lily and the others while Doudou remained unaffected.
• Hao Ren ordered the Autonomous Mechanical Units to continue cutting, and Galadriel spotted black fibers behind Yggdrasil’s healthy brain core.
• The group extracted a second, shriveled black brain core whose fibers had fused with the tentacles and connected it directly to Yggdrasil.
• The Data Terminal confirmed the black core was part of Yggdrasil and said it had been fighting the healthy core for control for more than two thousand years.
• Galadriel proposed naming the diseased organ the Heart of Darkness, and everyone agreed.

Hao Ren and the others discovered that Yggdrasil’s two brain cores were locked in a long-running conflict, and the Data Terminal suggested the apparently diseased Heart of Darkness might actually be the original organ. With Galadriel’s Soul Suppressing Stone protecting his mind, Hao Ren connected to the healthy brain core and heard a furious voice challenge its opponent.

• Hao Ren and Galadriel examined Heart of Darkness and found that it was damaging and draining the healthy brain core.
• The Data Terminal concluded that Heart of Darkness might be the original brain core, with the healthy one created by Yggdrasil’s immune system to fight it.
• Hao Ren proposed contacting the patient directly, despite Vivian and the Data Terminal warning that his Mind Link could be dangerous.
• Galadriel gave Hao Ren the Soul Suppressing Stone of the Spirit Seizer to strengthen his mental resistance.
• Hao Ren touched the healthy brain core and entered a mental connection, where a voice shouted a challenge.

Hao Ren entered Yggdrasil’s mental world and found the World Tree raging from within a mountain of tangled tentacles. After Hao Ren told Yggdrasil that he knew about the Creation Goddess and the war ten thousand years ago, Yggdrasil recognized him as a demigod who had crossed the Wall of Reality.

• Hao Ren adapted to Yggdrasil’s mental world and followed the furious voice toward a mountain rising from the black sea.
• Hao Ren discovered that the mountain was Yggdrasil’s mental form, a mass of intertwined tentacles glowing with dim red light.
• Hao Ren called out to Yggdrasil and explained that a diseased brain core was fighting its healthy core.
• Yggdrasil warned Hao Ren to flee, then admitted it knew something was wrong and was waiting to die.
• Hao Ren identified Yggdrasil as the Firstborn created by the Mother of All Beings and explained that his team was investigating the ancient war.
• Yggdrasil recognized Hao Ren’s demigod nature and revealed that its mother had ordered it to cross the Wall of Reality.

Hao Ren connected with Yggdrasil and learned that she had crossed the Wall of Reality on the Creation Goddess's orders, then discovered that the corrupted Yggdrasil was trying to die while her healthy brain core resisted. Yggdrasil asked Hao Ren to help kill her.

• Yggdrasil distrusted Hao Ren at first, but explained that the Creation Goddess had ordered her to cross the Wall of Reality.
• A violent storm erupted in Yggdrasil's mental world as the corrupted brain core fought the healthy one.
• Yggdrasil revealed that she was the corrupted consciousness and that the contamination began after she crossed the wall ten thousand years earlier.
• Yggdrasil explained that she created the healthy brain core to kill her before her corruption worsened, but it refused to complete the task.
• Yggdrasil recognized Hao Ren's demigod aura and asked him to help kill her.

Hao Ren learned that Yggdrasil’s corruption began as a mind virus planted by the Root Cause of the Universe and eventually spread into the physical world. He revealed that he had taken control of the Godslayer Sword, leaving both of Yggdrasil’s consciousnesses stunned as the sword appeared in their mental world.

• Yggdrasil’s light consciousness urged him to trust Hao Ren, while the Heart of Darkness described how corruption had overwhelmed his thoughts and body.
• The Heart of Darkness explained that the corruption had spread from his mind and dreams into Nibelungen, transforming his severed limbs and poisonous secretions into threats.
• Hao Ren connected the corruption to the Root Cause of the Universe, which had incited the rebels who slew the gods.
• Hao Ren told Yggdrasil that he had found parts of the Creation Engine and taken control of the Godslayer Sword.
• Hao Ren summoned the Godslayer Sword into the mental world, where it introduced itself as Little Sword and Stabber Layman.

Hao Ren learned that the corruption afflicting Yggdrasil came from whispers related to the God Slayer Sword’s origin, then used the sword to try to cure Yggdrasil. The cavern fell silent after the stab, leaving Hao Ren afraid he had killed him.

• The God Slayer Sword sensed inhuman voices in Yggdrasil’s spirit world and identified them as whispers like those that had corrupted the God Slayers.
• The sword proposed that its blessed power might counter the corruption, and Yggdrasil agreed to let Hao Ren try a small cut.
• Hao Ren ended the mental dive, woke to Lily licking his face, and told the others what he had learned.
• Hao Ren used the Data Terminal to find a safer spot and stabbed Yggdrasil’s brain core with the God Slayer Sword.
• A howl shook the cavern before the vines, runes, and Nerve Ganglion went still, making Hao Ren fear he had killed Yggdrasil.

Hao Ren’s surgery with the God-slaying Sword removed the corruption from Yggdrasil, who recovered enough to communicate with the group. Yggdrasil revealed that Twilight City and Odin’s perseverance had helped him endure, while he had been unaware that Asgard’s ecosystem survived Ragnarok.

• After Hao Ren stabbed Yggdrasil’s brain core, Yggdrasil briefly stopped moving, then awakened as his tentacles, runes, and wounded brain core revived.
• Yggdrasil explained that he had passed out from excitement after waking and confirmed the corruption had vanished, though some damaged organs would not return to their original state.
• Hao Ren had the Autonomous Mechanical Units replace Yggdrasil’s brain cores, and Nangong May healed the surgical wounds.
• Yggdrasil said he was still extremely weak but no longer deteriorating, and told Hao Ren that he knew of Twilight City.
• Yggdrasil revealed that Twilight City and Odin’s determination to protect something had inspired him to keep resisting corruption.
• Yggdrasil said he had been unable to sense Asgard and Vanaheim since before Ragnarok and had believed both realms were destroyed.

After Yggdrasil awakened and stabilized, Hao Ren learned that the World Tree could purify much of Midgard and create a habitable area for Twilight City’s refugees. As the group returned to the city to tell Odin the news, Hao Ren named Yggdrasil’s backup soul Little White.

• Yggdrasil told Hao Ren that he could keep Midgard stable and that his Runic Body could absorb magical-energy radiation.
• Little White explained that Yggdrasil could purify about seventy percent of Midgard and create an ecosystem large enough for Twilight City’s population.
• Hao Ren agreed to use Yggdrasil’s help to relocate Twilight City’s residents so he could retrieve the spaceship beneath the city.
• Yggdrasil warned Hao Ren that resettling the population could cause social chaos, but Hao Ren insisted that moving people was his specialty.
• Hao Ren’s group returned toward Twilight City with Little White, and Little White described the damaged state of Yggdrasil’s distant limbs and Asgard’s brain core.
• Hao Ren named the backup soul Little White and said Yggdrasil’s main soul could be called Little Black.

Hao Ren and his companions returned to Twilight City after Odin reclaimed control, where the Steam Council and Twilight Guard welcomed them. Hao Ren warned Council Chairwoman Lavinia that the sky would clear within twenty-four hours and the city would soon become uninhabitable.

• Odin awakened and restored the city to his command, allowing Hao Ren's group to return through Twilight City's main gate.
• The battered Twilight Guard and spider robots formed a welcoming line, while Galadriel and Anthony praised the guards they had just defeated.
• Hao Ren's group noticed signs that some Steam Council members had resisted Odin's return and that several councilors were absent.
• Little White appeared and wandered around the city, startling the Steam Council members until Hao Ren identified her as the World Tree Soul.
• Hao Ren told Lavinia to prepare for the sky to clear within twenty-four hours, after which Twilight City would soon become uninhabitable.

Hao Ren returned to Twilight City with Yggdrasil’s soul and told Odin that the corruption had been dealt with. They agreed to evacuate the million residents before extracting the ancient spaceship, and the city began preparing for the arrival of dawn.

• Hao Ren introduced Yggdrasil’s soul, whom he called Little White, to Odin, and the two recognized each other from their shared dreams.
• Hao Ren explained that Yggdrasil would purify the Midgard space and asked Odin to arrange the relocation of Twilight City’s residents and equipment.
• Galadriel and Anthony explained that extracting the spaceship was safest and that the city’s failing systems and toxic leaks made it dangerous to keep living there.
• Odin ordered the great evacuation, and the Steam Council announced that the Barrier would soon activate and dawn would arrive.
• The Steam Council restored order, took control of critical facilities, and began preparing the city for migration.
• Galadriel returned to her kingdom to gather assistants who could help transport Twilight City’s large equipment.

Hao Ren and the leaders of Twilight City gathered to witness Yggdrasil awaken and restore Midgard. As daylight began to return, the wilderness outside the city rapidly grew green, and Lavinia learned the Steam Council might not be disbanded.

• Lily complained of hunger while Hao Ren watched Yggdrasil’s distant Runic Body and Little White surveyed the continent.
• Lavinia admitted she had ordered the Light Seeker team disbanded and asked Hao Ren not to blame the Steam Council for clinging to its remaining resources.
• Hao Ren questioned Lavinia’s assumption that the Steam Council would be disbanded, but Yggdrasil’s awakening outside the Twilight Barrier interrupted them.
• Yggdrasil’s enormous rune-covered tentacles emerged from the ground and absorbed magical energy, forming sixteen vast vortices as daylight began to pierce the clouds.
• Nangong May spotted vegetation spreading across the wilderness as Yggdrasil purified the atmosphere and used his source blood to restore the ecosystem.

As the World Tree reshaped Midgard and ended the Long Night, a dragon formation led by Galadriel arrived at Twilight City to help with the relocation. Hao Ren began the next phase of the plan, assigning the dragons to help dismantle the city's boilers.

• Yggdrasil transformed Midgard, raising vegetation, reshaping the land, and restoring rivers as the Twilight Barrier vanished and natural daylight reached Twilight City.
• Boken felt the first clean breeze and saw the daylight as the barrier disappeared.
• Hao Ren spotted more than a hundred dragons approaching, and Lavinia calmed the frightened crowd after someone shouted that Nidhogg's descendants had arrived.
• Galadriel led the dragons down to the steel platform, where they landed or hung from nearby towers.
• Hao Ren told the Steam Council to evacuate residents, the Twilight Guard to move supplies, and the dragons to help dismantle the boilers.
• Galadriel introduced Shirley, then explained that she had recruited young dragons by offering them extra points on their final exams.