Chapter Summaries

Ryan’s plan to weaken the Baron Mendes Family through a staged war faltered when Archbishop Adriana intervened and halted the fighting. He concluded that influence in the Sera Kingdom depended on balancing the King and The Church, but saw a chance to bring the Wandering Nobles under his control.

• Kaeld Valencia rallied Wandering Nobles and accused the Mendes Family of murdering Zar, while Connie Deane swore that the Deane Family had not killed him.
• Valencia assembled more than three hundred soldiers, and Connie led the Deane Family army against the Baron Mendes Family after the two sides arrived at its territory.
• Connie killed several knights with Frostmourne, while Valencia’s forces defeated another Mendes force and captured its soldiers.
• Archbishop Adriana stopped the battle, questioned Connie and Baron Mendes about their faith, and entered Mendes territory to seek believers.
• The Church’s arrival ended the war, and Baron Mendes declared Valencia a mortal enemy as the nobles reconsidered the accusations.
• Ryan decided to seek influence in the Sera Kingdom by balancing divine and royal authority, and planned to approach MacReynolds about the Wind Emperor.

Bishop Nelson rallied nobles and clergy into an army against the Empire, but Ryan annihilated the force when it confronted him on the road. Ryan then brought Kaeld to meet the Sera Kingdom’s king, where he discovered King MacReynolds had been meditating to touch the will of the gods.

• Bishop Nelson used Adriana’s inaction to gather noble support and clergy, forming an army of Dawn to march against the Empire.
• Otto and Roland learned that the Church’s forces were gathering, while King Sela remained absent from the kingdom’s affairs.
• Ryan stopped Nelson’s army on the road, charged with three hundred retainers, and killed Nelson as his forces routed the Church’s army.
• Ryan met Kaeld in the royal capital and promised to help restore the Valencia Family, then arranged for them to meet the King.
• Ryan entered the palace and found King MacReynolds meditating with Godbone Potion remnants, seeking to touch the will of the gods.

Ryan persuaded King MacReynolds to balance the Church’s power with royal and imperial authority, proposing that the Church collect taxes but lose its right to levy the kingdom’s armies. The King accepted the political direction, Valencia received a barony, and Ryan ended the chapter wondering whether he would inherit command of the kingdom’s army.

• Ryan told King MacReynolds that the Empire would soon pressure Sera and proposed granting the Church taxation powers while stripping away its ability to levy armies.
• Ryan offered to establish the Northern Kingdom's Braveheart Guild in Sera, bringing imperial influence to the kingdom through his and Volvo Columbus’s connections; King MacReynolds was persuaded.
• Ryan urged the King to rely on the nobles to force changes on the Church, warning that resistant nobles could be replaced.
• After leaving the palace, Ryan teased Prince Otto about his ambitions and promised Kaeld that Valencia would receive land; the King then crowned the Valencia Family as barons.
• Ryan inspected the site of the Braveheart Guild and learned that Valencia’s new fief bordered Baron Mendes’s territory, setting up a feud between the families.
• Ryan returned to his estate and wondered whether, as commander-in-chief of Sera’s army, he would take over the Church’s military authority if it were stripped away.

King Sela’s military freeze triggered a political struggle as Ryan armed Wandering Nobles to claim disputed lands, leading to bloody conflicts across the kingdom. In Valencia Barony, Kaeld Valencia used a chest of silver to enlist Father Connally’s help in disguising the barony’s true population and tax revenue.

• King Sela ordered a military freeze, while Archbishop Adriana remained silent as the nobles and clergy debated the policy.
• Ryan traded protection and strength to Wandering Nobles for their inherited magical and knightly knowledge, then urged them to reclaim their granted lands.
• Wandering Nobles fought entrenched families, and Baron Valencia and Kony Deane captured Baron Mendes’s territory, killing the Mendes family and destroying its castle.
• The Griffin Legion pressured the four great nobles to tolerate the wars, leaving the Wandering Nobles free to seize more power.
• Kaeld Valencia offered Father Connally silver and claimed his barony had only five hundred subjects so the priest would underreport its church taxes.

Ryan settled the Sera Kingdom’s political struggle and agreed to help Archbishop Adriana establish settlements in the Northlands in exchange for a divine gift from the Lord of Dawn. He then struggled to find a way to expand his influence in the Andara Kingdom, until news arrived that a member of its Royal Family had become a ghoul.

• Ryan learned that The Church’s clergy were driven by personal gain and concluded that his plan in the Sera Kingdom was complete.
• Archbishop Adriana told Ryan she had received an oracle to use fire to drive back the Northlands and asked him to support settlements there.
• Ryan agreed to provide assistance within his means, and Adriana granted him a divine gift that appeared on his Spirituality Panel as one unit of Taisu Divinity: Eternity.
• Ryan offered Adriana stone and temporary labor from Frozen Earth Territory, then watched her depart after accepting his help.
• Ryan considered how to gain greater influence in the Andara Kingdom but found that his usual political, economic, and military methods would not work there.
• News reached Ryan that a member of the Andara Royal Family had turned into a ghoul.

Ryan learned that Hobii had returned and was creating ghouls, then sought Arryris's help in the Northlands and learned that fire could counter them. In the Andara Kingdom, Hobii's kin massacred the Royal City through the night, while dawn restored the survivors' faith in the Lord of Dawn.

• Ryan learned from Adriana that Deity's Kin were transformed mortals and concluded that a deity had descended upon the Andara Kingdom.
• Ryan warned Arryris that Hobii had returned to claim the dragon remains, and Arryris said blazing energy, especially fire, could resist Hobii's power.
• Ryan returned to the Frozen Earth Territory and considered sending troops to the Northlands to protect the dragon remains.
• King Adams learned that ghouls had escaped the dungeon and transformed Royal Family members, while Darryl warned that the monsters included Legendary power and the army could not defeat them.
• Hobii's kin gathered in the Royal City, transformed corpses into more ghouls, and massacred the city through the night.
• Dawn drove the monsters from sight, and the survivors' faith in the Lord of Dawn swelled.

The Andara Royal City descended into a growing ghoul disaster as Darryl struggled to protect the royal family and stop Hobii’s followers. When Darryl faced a powerful ghoul, Ryan arrived on Arryris and attacked the monster.

• Otis Brooks discovered that supplies had stopped arriving from the royal city, forcing the army on the northern front to retreat as nobles questioned the Andara Royal Family.
• Darryl ordered searches throughout the royal city, but the army failed to find the hidden ghouls before nightfall brought another attack.
• Farrell and Aven discussed the Empire’s order to resolve the ghoul crisis while waiting for Nix Columbus to decide when they would leave Winged Gorge.
• Darryl fought ghouls in the Royal Palace, including a transformed royal elder, but the royal forces remained overwhelmed as the attacks continued into the next day.
• When ghouls appeared before nightfall, Darryl tore open the seal over his heart and regained peak Sanctuary power, letting two divine forces clash within him.
• Ryan arrived atop Arryris, froze thousands of ghouls with dragon breath, and charged the Legendary ghoul with his flaming sword.

Ryan destroyed the legendary ghoul, took command of Andara’s forces, and uncovered the graveyards where Hobii’s ghouls were hiding. After Arryris burned the corpses, it warned that Hobii could return while any connected medium remained, and Ryan’s attention turned to a place inside the Royal Palace.

• Arryris descended on the legendary ghoul and froze it, while Ryan arrived at the Royal Palace and sent the knights out to fight.
• Ryan killed royal family members corrupted by Hobii and warned Adams that the Empire might replace him as King.
• Ryan took command of the army before the imperial envoy arrived and ordered a search for the missing ghouls.
• After learning that the city’s graveyards held many unaccounted-for bodies, Ryan ordered the soldiers to dig them up and destroy the ghouls with fire.
• On the third night, Arryris burned the ghouls across the city, then told Ryan that Hobii could return as long as a connected medium remained.
• Ryan fixed his gaze on a corner deep within the Royal Palace.

Ryan used the Giant Mammoth divinity to free Darryl from the powers fighting within him, then helped the Andara royal family respond to the northern war and the arrival of an Imperial delegation. The chapter ended with Archbishop Nix proposing joint action against the Dawn Faith while mage Aven watched Ryan suspiciously.

• Ryan stopped Arryris from killing Darryl and used the Giant Mammoth divinity to tear the darkness out of him, leaving Darryl alive with legendary power.
• Darryl thanked Ryan for his blessing, while Ryan realized he could grant a power stronger than the Godbone Potion.
• Ryan told Grand Duke Leta that the Rhino Orcs had breached the northern defenses, and Leta pledged his army to King Adams before marching north to join Otis Brooks.
• King Adams presented Hernan as the sole source of the royal city's Evil God crisis, and the nobles reconsidered their schemes against the royal family.
• Nix Columbus arrived as the Empire's representative, and Ryan warned him that the Dawn Faith had risen again in the kingdom.
• Nix proposed that he and Ryan drive out the Dawn Faith, but Ryan referred him to King Adams, while Aven continued to regard Ryan with suspicion.

Ryan sought to build wealth and influence by organizing an expeditionary faith for the Northlands, while Archbishop Adriana led believers north and Ryan arranged to support her. Back in the Frozen Earth Territory, Borgeld returned from an unsuccessful attempt to meet the Woodlands elves, and a clash between Krostman and Arryris awakened the Dragon Emperor’s vacuum domain, trapping dragons and soldiers in midair.

• Ryan urged his allied nobles to establish a faith and recruit brave warriors to gather wealth from the Northlands, then secured land near the Church of Light for the project.
• Ryan learned that Archbishop Adriana had led Andaran citizens into the Northlands and arranged to supply her while barring ordinary citizens from entering.
• Ryan returned to the Frozen Earth Territory, where Borgeld reported that she had never seen the Woodlands elves, though they had silently traded supplies and left a fine sword cut in Volibear’s armor.
• Ryan sensed that his Spirituality Panel had grown stronger and that a gateway to another, vital world had become easier to open.
• Krostman fought Arryris in the Northlands, and their battle broke the seals around the dragon remains and triggered the Dragon Emperor’s vacuum domain.
• Ryan arrived at the edge of the vacuum domain and considered how to bring the floating dragons and his soldiers back to the ground.

Ryan entered the Dragon Emperor’s vacuum field and encountered the dead spirit of a world, who recognized his arrival and transformed him with a Dragon Spirit Blessing. He returned to Frozen Earth Territory wearing the Dragon Emperor’s Crown, gained the dragons’ wary attention, and discovered that the crown could open a gateway to a new world.

• Count Clayton’s warning about attracting the Dragon God’s hostility left Ryan torn between caution and the Dragon Emperor’s crown, but he decided to claim it and entered the vacuum field.
• Ryan reached the Dragon Emperor’s crown and was drawn into a vision where the dead spirit of a world told him it had waited for his arrival and called him “King of all kings, God of all gods.”
• Ryan returned transformed, wearing the crown, while his retainers knelt and Arryris and Krostman watched in shock; neither dragon agreed to bow to him.
• Ryan and the dragons defeated a swarm of Goblins, and Ryan concluded that Hobii could no longer use the place to restore his power.
• Ryan returned to Frozen Earth Territory, where Borgeld mistook his crown for a royal claim; Ryan dismissed the rumor and learned the crown could open a gateway to a new world.

Ryan explored Nidhogg World, where dragons ruled over humans and dangerous dragon-blooded beasts roamed, then returned to investigate its strange human sacrifices. When Ryan used the Dragon Emperor’s crown to sense faith in Nidhogg, he drew the attention of the furious fire giant Surtr.

• Ryan opened the Planar Gate to Nidhogg with one hundred soldiers, where dragon-blooded beasts attacked his force and forced him to retreat after numerous battles.
• Grand Mage Macken identified several of the beasts Ryan brought back, while Ryan described how dangerous Nidhogg was and how a dragon had burned the land nearby.
• Ryan led his knights back into Nidhogg using Rose’s odor-eliminating potions and found a human village ruled by the dragon Monarch Drummond.
• Ryan learned that Drummond had burned the village while demanding Dragon Chosen, and he stopped villagers from taking three young men to an altar as sacrifices.
• Ryan put on the Dragon Emperor’s crown and sensed no faith in Nidhogg, but Surtr awoke beneath a land of flames and declared that he had found the thief.

Ryan gathered information about Nidhogg and learned that humans served dragons, while Dragon Chosen appeared every fifty years to challenge and kill the Dragon Monarchs. In Odin City, Sven heard how Grandpa Xian’s son had died following a Dragon Chosen, then faced Dragon Monarch Drummond as it reached for his heart.

• Ryan learned from the bards that Nidhogg was divided between northern Aesir and southern Muspel, where dragons enslaved humans and sacrificed them to create Dragon Soldiers.
• Ryan ordered the bards to investigate the Dragon Chosen and learn more about the cities and Dragon Monarchs.
• Sven visited Grandpa Xian in Odin City and learned that Dragon Chosen appeared every fifty years to challenge the Dragon Monarchs, though each had been defeated.
• Grandpa Xian revealed that his son had followed a Dragon Chosen, returned with Milly, and later died fighting alongside the Chosen.
• Grandpa Xian urged Sven to flee because he stood out among the slaves, but Sven encountered Milly outside and then saw Dragon Monarch Drummond descend and reach for his heart.

Sven survived Drummond’s attack and secured ten Dragon Warriors to search for the Dragon Chosen, but Ryan’s forces captured eight and uncovered how the warriors were made. Ryan learned that Nidhogg held thirty dragon-ruled cities and, unable to see a way to kill a Dragon Monarch, turned his attention to the Dragon Chosen.

• Drummond found no dragon’s mark in Sven’s heart, then spared him after Sven offered to help locate the Dragon Chosen and bound him with a contract.
• Ryan healed Sven and discussed whether the Dragon Chosen were selected by the Dragon God, while ordering Sven to investigate the dragons’ army.
• Sven obtained ten Dragon Warriors from Drummond and led them to a mountain, where Egil’s soldiers captured two and drove the others away with Sven.
• Ryan’s team examined the captured Dragon Warriors and found that sacrifices transformed human slaves into dragon-powered warriors, with their vital points at their necks.
• Sven reported that Aesir and Muspel contained thirty cities, and Ryan concluded that his forces could not yet kill a Dragon Monarch, so they would focus on the Dragon Chosen.

Fuan survived the Dragon Monarch’s grave with newfound power, but returned to find his hometown destroyed by a dragon. He and the executioner headed south toward Blue Butterfly City, where Mikael’s cavalry attacked the city and killed its ruling Sharon Family.

• The executioner freed Fuan from the execution platform, and they escaped into The Wilds, where Fuan consumed a green light inside a Dragon Monarch’s skull.
• Fuan awoke with azure flames around his heart and newfound strength, then rescued the executioner as a dragon burned their hometown.
• Fuan and the executioner set out for Blue Butterfly City, and Fuan recovered two swords and an axe from their ruined home.
• Mikael’s cavalry rode south, defeated Blue Butterfly City’s soldiers, and freed two captured Knight Retainers.
• Mikael questioned Lord Sharon, learned that no city in Muspel had a Dragon Monarch, then killed Sharon and ordered the ruling family slaughtered.

Fuan and the Executioner reached Blue Butterfly City, where a blind servant recognized Fuan as the Dragon Chosen and led him to an ancient dragon-slaying sword. Meanwhile, Ryan investigated the Dragon Chosen legends and pursued Yelena’s wheat research; the chapter ended with Fuan discovering he could draw power from humanity’s faith.

• Fuan and the Executioner found Blue Butterfly City in chaos after Lord Sharon’s family had been killed, and Fuan rescued a blind servant from a looter.
• The blind servant called Fuan the Dragon Chosen, explained the legends and history of Muspel, and led Fuan and the Executioner to a cavern beneath the city.
• The blind servant gave Fuan a rusted sword said to awaken with blood and grant him the power to slay dragons, then warned him that his presence would bring disaster to those nearby.
• Ryan analyzed reports about the Dragon Chosen, ordered Ross to investigate dragons’ weaknesses and Sven to find Fuan, and visited Yelena to discuss modified wheat seeds.
• Fuan and the Executioner heard people in Blue Butterfly City praise the Dragon Chosen, and Fuan used the people’s prayers to give the Executioner a surge of power that Fuan identified as the Power of Faith.

Emperor Florian declared himself the Grand Pope of Light, bringing the Empire closer to war with the Church of Dawn, while Ryan prepared Northwind Province for the conflict. In the South, the Dragon Monarch devastated a city searching for the Dragon Chosen, and Sven found Fuan just as the Dragon Warriors attacked him.

• Count Pascal's Gargoyle Legion carried Wonder Estate toward the Imperial Capital, while Ryan and Viscount Hogg discussed the Emperor's plans for the Church of Light.
• Emperor Florian announced that he would unite royal and divine authority as the Grand Pope of Light, and sunlight gathered around him as the Church of Dawn felt the Empire's Power of Faith.
• Archbishop Adriana remained in the Northlands, while Ryan ordered Northwind Province's nobles to reduce Iron Ore production and stockpile resources for the coming war.
• The Dragon Monarch destroyed a city after burning false Dragon Chosen alive, and Fuan and the executioner rescued survivors from the ruins.
• Sven arrived with more than a hundred Dragon Warriors, recognized Fuan as the Dragon Chosen, and watched as the Dragon Warriors charged; Fuan drew his sword to fight them.

Fuan fought through Drummond’s Dragon Warriors but escaped into the ruins, while Sven helped Drummond collect human sacrifices and received a Feral Dragon Nightmare to hunt him. After learning that Dragon Monarchs used Dragon Essence as a substitute for a true Legendary Boon, Ryan decided to pursue a more aggressive campaign against them, beginning with one Dragon Monarch.

• Fuan slaughtered many Dragon Warriors with his blood-empowered sword, then fled underground with the executioner as Drummond arrived and burned the ruins.
• Drummond ordered Sven to gather sacrifices, and Sven watched the green flames turn some people to Ash and others into new Dragon Warriors.
• Drummond granted Sven a Feral Dragon Nightmare, and Sven led it and two hundred new Dragon Warriors away from the city to search for Fuan.
• Ross watched Rheindart battle the Crystal Python, and Ryan later explained that Dragon Essence let Dragon Monarchs imitate the power of a Legendary Boon.
• The Viscountess told Ryan that Sven had found the Dragon Chosen, and Ryan decided to kill one Dragon Monarch as a first step toward confronting them.

Mikaela recruited and trained soldiers in Sai under the Dragon Chosen’s name, then led them against Sven’s Dragon Warriors. Egil overwhelmed the Feral Dragon Nightmare, while Fuan entered a bloody frenzy and unleashed Dragon Crushing Mountain as the battle continued.

• Ulf and Brunamigis searched The Wilds for the Dragon Monarch’s lair, and Ulf vowed to get ahead of Egil so he could earn blessings and strengthen his soul.
• Mikaela recruited five hundred men in Sai, trained them with the Knight Retainers, and prepared them to fight the Dragon Monarchs’ forces.
• Sven led his Dragon Warriors toward Sai, where Mikaela’s army met them and used hidden pits and arrows to disrupt their charge.
• Egil and the White Wolves pinned down the Feral Dragon Nightmare, and Egil’s berserk assault battered it into a lump that struck down Fuan as he tried to attack Sven.
• The Feral Dragon Nightmare healed with green flames and attacked Fuan, who awakened into a frenzied state and clashed with it while Sven fled.
• Fuan unleashed the knightly feat Dragon Crushing Mountain, sending a dragon-shaped mass of bloody flames crashing down with his sword.

Fuan and the army discovered a Dragon Chosen’s underground altar, where taking its stone sword awakened a powerful dragonman skeleton. Ryan arrived, gave the skeleton’s pure Dragon Essence to Brandt, and uncovered a hidden shortsword as Fuan set out north; Ryan ended the chapter wondering whether Dragon Slayers eventually became evil dragons.

• Egil questioned Fuan about his Knight Combat Technique and learned that Fuan’s power came from beneath Saiyi.
• Mikaela led Fuan and the others underground, where they found a humanoid skeleton on an ancient altar and Egil pulled a stone sword from its grasp.
• The revived Saint Realm skeleton emerged beneath Saiyi and attacked, forcing Mikaela and Egil to lead the army against it until Brandt arrived with Ryan’s forces.
• Ryan removed the pure Dragon Essence and bestowed it on Brandt, after which the skeleton targeted Fuan and tried to reveal the fate of the Dragon Slayer.
• Brandt shattered the stone sword, revealing a shortsword with Braille-like carvings, and Ryan gave Fuan a potion to conceal his Dragon Chosen identity.
• Fuan headed north to seek the blind old man, while Ryan told Avril about the Dragon Slayer’s curse and wondered whether Dragon Slayers became evil dragons.