Chapter Summaries

Ryan’s forces pushed across Crimsonwing Plains, but Count Weiss’s troops used Magic Potions to grow stronger and turn the battle against them. The Thunder Giant recovered while Count Winter’s mages needed more time to prepare Wrath of the Colossus, leaving the war at a stalemate.

• Ryan led his soldiers through the enemy ranks as Count Soron praised their discipline and Count Weiss watched his army falter.
• Count Weiss ordered his mages to activate Magic Potions in the slaves, and the affected soldiers attacked with sudden, brutal strength.
• Gastro recognized the potion’s effects and warned nearby troops, while Ryan urged his soldiers not to panic and sent Brandt to attack the enemy.
• Viscount Hogg’s cavalry charged through the battlefield as Ryan noticed the Thunder Giant rise and recover beneath the storm clouds.
• Count Winter learned Wrath of the Colossus would take at least half an hour to prepare and ordered his mages to use other enhancement spells and seek an opening.

Count Winter and five Sky Knights contained the Thunder Giant while Ryan survived a Catfolk Assassin’s attack and rallied his soldiers with Dragon Battle Aura. The battle tilted against Count Weiss as Ryan’s forces advanced and the Barbarian Legion was steadily overwhelmed.

• Count Winter and five Sky Knights engaged the Thunder Giant while the Flying Wolf Cavalry refocused on the Barbarian Legion.
• Hector Weiss warned Count Weiss that the Thunder Giant was not enough to win the war and hinted that his father had other plans.
• A Catfolk Assassin attacked Ryan from the shadows, but Ryan’s blood-and-vitality shield stopped the strike and his retainers killed the assassin.
• Ryan unleashed Dragon Battle Aura through his greatsword, frightening the potion-enhanced slave soldiers and inspiring his troops to cry out for victory.
• Count Weiss recognized Ryan’s potential, while Hector complained that Viscount Hogg was afraid to attack Ryan’s army.
• Count Winter’s force held the Thunder Giant as the Flying Wolf Knight Legion and Dragonblood Warrior Legion gradually overwhelmed the Barbarian Legion.

Count Weiss unveiled the alchemists’ creation: a legendary Steel Dragon animated by the Philosopher’s Stone, and demanded the other nobles surrender. Count Soron withdrew his Dragonblood Warrior Legion and left the dragon to Count Winter, whose Mage Tower appeared and unleashed a storm as Countess Winter prepared to face it.

• Ryan watched Count Weiss’s soldiers falter, while Vaan revealed that the alchemists had prepared for this day for ten years.
• Count Weiss handed Vaan the Philosopher’s Stone, and more than forty alchemists assembled an altar and summoned fifteen Two-legged Wyvern skeletons.
• The alchemists combined the wyvern bones with molten iron to create a six-headed Steel Dragon, and Vaan placed the Philosopher’s Stone in its eye socket to bring it to life.
• Count Weiss mounted the Steel Dragon and demanded the nobles surrender; Count Soron refused, then led his Dragonblood Warrior Legion away and assigned the dragon to Count Winter.
• Count Winter opened a scroll that summoned a Mage Tower, where Countess Winter unleashed fierce winds and rain and declared that she had been waiting for Count Weiss.

Countess Winter destroyed Vaan’s Steel Dragon with spatial magic as Ryan rallied the soldiers against the risen undead. With another Forbidden Spell ready and Count Winter battling the Thunder Giant, Count Weiss called desperately for Damon.

• Countess Winter used Void Realm - Storm and the Forbidden Spell Void Trap to tear apart and consume the Steel Dragon.
• Vaan charged Countess Winter in fury, attacking her Mage Tower with weapons built into his metal body.
• The Saint Realm Necromancer cast Undead Resurrection, raising corpses across the battlefield.
• Ryan killed the undead again with his burning greatsword and led the soldiers in driving them back.
• Mages prepared the Forbidden Spell Wrath of the Colossus while Count Winter fought the Thunder Giant with support from Sky Knights.
• Count Weiss cursed his defeat and shouted for Damon to act.

The Church's Holy Kingdom Knights appeared on the battlefield after secretly reaching an agreement with Count Weiss, turning the civil war in Northwind Province into a fight against the Church. Count Soron led the province's extraordinary forces into battle, and Ryan chose to join him as the chapter ended.

• The Holy Kingdom Knights arrived, and Count Winter and Viscount Hogg realized Count Weiss had colluded with the Church.
• Count Weiss ordered Damon and the thousand Holy Kingdom Knights to eliminate his enemies.
• Count Winter sent the Flying Wolf Cavalry to attack the knights, while Count Soron released the legendary Fang of Ranaris and raised his power to the saint realm.
• Count Soron urged Ryan and Viscount Hogg to fight the Church, but Viscount Hogg held back because he still depended on Count Weiss.
• Ryan raised his burning longsword and called for the glory of the Empire.

Ryan’s army, Count Soron, and Horla Winter fought the Holy Kingdom Knights, whose blessings and aerial abilities made them formidable despite being outnumbered. The battle left the Church regiment badly mauled, while Damon wondered why the Grand Blessing had not arrived.

• Ryan’s forces engaged the Holy Kingdom Knights, and Ryan struggled to break through their protective blessings.
• Count Soron, the Dragonblood Warriors, the Flying Wolf Cavalry, and Ryan’s troops pinned down the Church knights despite heavy casualties.
• The Holy Kingdom Knights revealed healing blessings and illusory wings, killing many Flying Wolf riders before Horla Winter led a countercharge that forced them back to the ground.
• The Dragonblood Warriors slaughtered the grounded knights as Ryan ordered that none be allowed to escape.
• Damon kept Count Winter on the defensive while Countess Winter pressed Vaan, and Damon wondered why the Grand Blessing had not descended.

Damon's Holy Kingdom Knights lost the battle on the Crimsonwing Plains, and Ryan's allied forces discussed how to exploit Count Weiss's defeat and The Church's intervention. Ryan proposed hiding the news from the Empire so the Northwind nobles could secure the spoils before imperial troops arrived.

• Damon unleashed his Legendary Combat Skill, Holy Sword, to cover the retreat of the surviving Holy Kingdom Knights, then fled with Count Weiss as their forces routed.
• Ryan surveyed his depleted army after the allied nobles won the battle and began rescuing the wounded and taking prisoners.
• Count Winter and the other nobles concluded that Count Weiss wanted to become king of Northwind Province, not merely its governor.
• Ryan argued that the nobles should keep the battle's events from the Empire, defeat Count Weiss, and seize the wealth of his allies before reporting their victory.

After the nobles agreed to attack Thundercloud County, Ryan discovered that killing Holy Kingdom Knights had greatly increased his Spirituality. The war was set for a month later, but an urgent message from Grand Mage Macken called Ryan back to Frozen Earth Territory.

• Ryan found that his Spirituality had risen to 32,850 and suspected it had increased when he killed the Holy Kingdom Knights.
• The Northwind Province nobles decided not to report the conflict to Winged Gorge or the Empire and agreed to seize Count Weiss's lands.
• Count Winter claimed the Winter Family could handle Legendary Knight Damon, and the nobles tentatively scheduled the war for one month later.
• Ryan examined wyvern bones recovered from Crimsonwing Plains and considered how Count Winter's family might contend with Damon.
• Soldiers from Frozen Earth Territory arrived and told Ryan that Grand Mage Macken urgently wanted him to return.

Ryan returned to Frozen Earth Territory to open a Planar Gate for Grand Mage Macken, then helped him begin experimenting with breeding the plains’ wild horses into warhorses. The first treated horse survived Ryan’s blessing and spiritual power, but Grand Mage Macken said it would need further growth aided by Supernatural Materials or dragon-related power.

• Ryan returned to Frozen Earth Territory, where Count Pascal’s family had supplied Grand Mage Macken with the equipment and materials he needed.
• Ryan opened the Planar Gate and brought Grand Mage Macken to the Crimsonwing Plains, where he gave him twenty or thirty people from Svadilfari’s plains tribes to train as horse handlers.
• Grand Mage Macken explained that the first generation of warhorses would be costly to breed, while later generations would inherit stronger bloodlines and require fewer potions.
• Grand Mage Macken treated a wild horse with twenty-eight Magic Potions, and Ryan used Horse Spirit’s Blessing and one hundred points of spirituality to calm and strengthen it.
• Grand Mage Macken observed that the horse still needed gradual growth and more Supernatural Materials or dragon-related power to reach the size of a Highland Warhorse.

Ryan recognized that the great nobles might have hidden warhorse-breeding resources in their Otherworldly Planes, then accepted command of the armies preparing to invade Thundercloud County. He organized the forces into a vanguard, central army, and rearguard, but his new command already provoked noble dissatisfaction.

• Ryan considered the enormous cost of breeding warhorses and suspected that great nobles could secretly raise them in their Otherworldly Planes.
• Ryan drilled his surviving veterans and judged his army superior to most forces on Crimsonwing Plains, except for two Extraordinary Legions.
• Count Soron and Count Winter appointed Ryan commander of the armies that would enter Thundercloud County in ten days.
• Ryan took up residence in Count Soron's Mobile Fortress and assigned thousands of slave soldiers to clear routes and carry supplies.
• Ryan divided the forces into a vanguard, central army, and rearguard, while reserving other soldiers to care for the wounded.
• Ryan's initial orders caused difficulties and drew dissatisfaction from the nobles.

Ryan organized the allied forces of three regions for their invasion of Thundercloud County, balancing nobles’ demands with military discipline. After inspecting his growing warhorses, he led the tens of thousands of troops into the county in an orderly advance that astonished the nobles and counts.

• Ryan assigned the nobles’ forces to the vanguard, supply duties, and other roles, then threatened military punishment while promising merit to those who protected the supplies.
• Ryan visited Grand Mage Macken’s ranch, blessed fifty first-generation warhorses, and considered growing potion ingredients on land he hoped to receive after the war.
• Ryan ordered the vanguard to prepare camps and latrines near Glimmer Territory and assigned 3,500 rearguard soldiers to escort supplies.
• The allied army began its advance into Thundercloud County, impressing the nobles and counts with its scale and organization.

Ryan’s army reached Glimmer Territory and prepared to confront Count Weiss at Thunder Sound Gorge, where Ryan intended to fight. Count Weiss arrived with fewer than ten thousand men and, after being abandoned by the other nobles, sought the Church’s support to claim Northwind Province.

• Ryan ordered Brandt to keep the soldiers out of Glimmer Town and told the army that its people were not enemies who had betrayed the Empire.
• Ryan studied the newly compiled map and chose Thunder Sound Gorge as the battlefield for Count Weiss’s army.
• Count Weiss arrived at the gorge with fewer than ten thousand soldiers, most of them apparently from another world.
• Count Winter called on Count Weiss to surrender, but Count Weiss refused and asked Damon whether the Feather Dragon Legion could come to the Empire.
• Damon said the Feather Dragon Legion would not appear, and Count Weiss proposed becoming King of Northwind so Church and Andara Kingdom forces could be stationed there.
• Damon agreed to try to secure support for Count Weiss.

Ryan launched an attack across the bridges at Thunder Sound Gorge, seemingly abandoning his army’s numerical advantage to confront Count Weiss directly. He revealed that his knights were massed near the Mobile Fortress while a separate vanguard prepared to attack from the flanks, leaving Count Soron astonished by his strategy.

• Ryan caught a Catfolk Assassin who attacked him from the shadows and had Brandt’s men take the assassin into custody.
• Ryan ordered Kardel and Pluto to lead ten thousand soldiers across the magically created bridges as Count Weiss sent his army to meet them.
• The nobles questioned Ryan’s decision to attack across narrow bridges, but he explained that Count Weiss’s barbarians were depleted and Ryan’s knights could hold the crossings.
• Ryan summoned Brandt and revealed that six hundred knights had gathered beside the Mobile Fortress without the nobles noticing.
• Count Soron learned that Ryan’s own troops were guarding the food and that a separate vanguard was crossing elsewhere to attack Count Weiss’s army from both flanks.

Ryan’s forces used the narrow bridge over Thunder Sound Gorge to turn Count Weiss’s attack into a slaughter, while Brandt led the charge against the barbarians. Count Weiss realized Ryan had chosen the battlefield to neutralize the enemy’s extraordinary fighters, leaving the barbarians’ poor coordination to decide the clash.

• Brandt led six hundred knights across the bridge as soldiers fell into Thunder Sound Gorge, where Ryan intended to contain them until the war ended.
• The advancing soldiers fought with desperate resolve, and the knights gradually overcame the exhausted barbarians in the narrow passage.
• The Legendary Knight explained to Count Weiss that the knights were defeating the barbarians by coordinating in small groups and supporting one another.
• Count Weiss asked Damon to send in The Church’s knights, but Damon refused because the bridge would make their mounts and strength useless.
• Count Weiss recognized that Thunder Sound Gorge had neutralized the necromancer, the alchemist, and the Thunder Giant, and understood that Ryan had prepared the battlefield to counter his forces.

Ryan’s forces sprang a surprise attack on Count Weiss’s army at Thunder Sound Gorge, while Harrington’s troops drew Viscount Hogg into a supply camp whose food had already been secretly removed. The chapter ended with Viscount Hogg fleeing and Harrington leading his soldiers against the remaining attackers.

• Ryan’s mages could not make more stone bridges, but Ryan’s rear force arrived at Thunder Sound Gorge and shocked Count Weiss’s army.
• Harrington let Viscount Hogg’s cavalry attack the supply camp, where they found dry grass instead of grain because the food had been moved away.
• Viscount Hogg realized Ryan had anticipated his mission and rode off to claim the Centaur Potion and other resources from Count Weiss.
• Harrington watched Viscount Hogg leave, then rallied his soldiers to attack the troops still at the camp.

Count Weiss unleashed divinity, transforming tens of thousands of soldiers into raging barbarians who charged up Thunder Sound Gorge. With Ryan warning that the army could not hold without reinforcements, Count Soron committed his Dragonblood Warriors to the fight.

• Count Weiss revealed his divinity, causing his soldiers to grow into powerful, mindless barbarians.
• Ryan watched the transformed barbarians charge across the gorge and ordered his central army to defend the cliffs.
• Ryan urged Count Soron to choose between preserving the Dragonblood Warriors and winning the war.
• Count Soron agreed that the nobles of Thundercloud County needed to be judged and sent his Dragonblood Warriors into battle.
• The Dragonblood Warriors met the advancing barbarians with heavy greatswords as the ordinary soldiers held the high ground.

Ryan watched the battle worsen as the Grand-Blessed Holy Kingdom Knights charged the battlefield and the Thunder Giant grew stronger with divinity. Count Winter drank the Soron family’s Dragon’s Blood and prepared to face the giant with the Sword of the Mountain King.

• Damon moved to attack, but the Countess’s Mage Tower appeared and restrained him while the Holy Kingdom Knights received Grand Blessing and charged toward the battle near Thunder Sound Gorge.
• Count Soron’s Dragonblood Warriors confronted the Holy Kingdom Knights as Barbarians broke onto the high ground and overwhelmed the ordinary troops.
• Love empowered the Thunder Giant with part of her divinity, prompting Count Winter to demand that Count Soron provide his Dragon’s Blood.
• Count Soron opened the metal bottle, and Count Winter drank the Dragon’s Blood, promising to honor the Winter Family’s pledge and granting Soron the Thunder Giant’s corpse and a larger share of Count Weiss’s Otherworldly Plane.
• Count Winter raised the Sword of the Mountain King and prepared to fight the Thunder Giant.

Count Winter and Count Soron killed the Thunder Giant, while Ryan watched the battle turn in the Empire’s favor. Ryan’s rear army arrived and crushed the exhausted barbarians at Thunder Sound Gorge, bringing the war to its end.

• Count Winter struck the Thunder Giant with Between Mountain Kings, shattering two of its three hearts before the Giant’s lightning blasted him away.
• Count Soron beheaded the wounded Thunder Giant with the Fang of Ranaris and prevented Count Weiss from reclaiming anything from the corpse.
• Ryan watched the fierce fighting between the barbarians, Holy Kingdom Knights, and Dragonblood Warriors, and resolved to build his own Extraordinary Legion with the wealth gained from war.
• Ryan’s rear army arrived with provisions and thousands of soldiers, then drove the exhausted barbarians back into Thunder Sound Gorge.
• Ryan ordered the execution of the divinity-influenced barbarians, who could not be captured alive.

After the Empire’s victory at Thunder Sound Gorge, Ryan named the battle the War of Ashes and inspired the soldiers to overcome their fear of the dead. Count Soron sensed the Heart of Legend within Ryan, while the battle between Legends continued overhead.

• Ryan addressed the soldiers beside the burning battlefield, declared victory, and named the battle the War of Ashes.
• The soldiers rose from prayer as their fear of the flames and the dead faded, and Ryan felt a new power settle upon him.
• Count Soron sensed the Heart of Legend in Ryan and explained how an epic war could give rise to a Legend.
• Ryan discovered an entry for an incomplete Heart of Legend on his Spirituality Panel.
• Ryan and Count Soron discussed the ongoing battle between Legends, and a dragon’s roar rang across the night sky.

The Winter Count Family’s Frost Dragon defeated Damon but could not keep him from escaping, and Count Winter received an Ice Crystal as compensation. After Count Weiss’s defeat ended the war, Ryan became responsible for judging the nobles’ merits as they gathered to divide the spoils.

• The Frost Dragon overwhelmed Damon, who escaped at dawn seriously wounded.
• Count Winter challenged Mr. Arryris for failing to capture Damon, and the Frost Dragon gave him an Ice Crystal before flying back to the Northlands.
• Ryan concluded that the war was over because Count Weiss had lost all his troops, and the nobles turned to dividing the rewards.
• Ryan entered Count Soron’s Mobile Fortress as a noble and took up the authority to determine the merits earned during the war.
• Nobles pressed Ryan to recognize their troops’ contributions and casualties, while he heard their inflated claims about the size of the fighting.