Chapter Summaries

Ryan learned that Frost Ghosts were born from the bones of Svafnir’s dead Snake Spirit and that their spreading frost could eventually consume the world. Their godlike power led him to suspect that the Empire’s Extraordinary Legions created domains like those of Demigods, revealing what Count Clayton would need to become the fifth Grand Duke.

• Ryan told Higni about the wider world and planned to build coffins for the active Black Swans using his Shadow Vanguards.
• Griff traveled north through Svafnir, observing that stronger Frost Ghosts slept in the coldest regions and that the wilderness contained a hidden Bonefield.
• Griff found a Rift opening in the earth and saw the Snake Spirit’s colossal skeleton, from which new Frost Ghosts emerged and began drifting south.
• After Griff reported back, Ryan realized Svafnir had no snow because Frost Ghosts served as the Northlands’ weapon, spreading cold across the world.
• Ryan theorized that Frost Ghosts formed a domain through power inherited from a Great Being and that the Empire’s Extraordinary Legions could wield similar godlike authority.
• Ryan concluded that Count Clayton needed to make the Blaze Dragon Knight Legion match the Empire’s greatest Extraordinary Legions to become its fifth Grand Duke.

The Empire used covert assassinations and a military advance to bring the Carlton Earldom to the brink of surrender, while the wider war with the Church of Dawn continued to escalate. Count Clayton’s forces secured the territory, and his army learned that roughly three hundred thousand Church forces were approaching Proud Snow Canyon.

• Black Swan Assassins killed more than a hundred members of the Carlton Family, including Count Carlton’s children, then attacked again the following night and killed the Count and his heirs.
• The assassins’ leader destroyed his own face and died without revealing his family name, while the other assassins burned his body and continued attacking Carlton’s bloodline.
• An Imperial army entered the Carlton Earldom, and Katz Clayton led five hundred Blaze Dragon Knights to the castle, where he offered condolences and protection while accepting Carlton’s surrender.
• Count Clayton discussed dividing Carlton’s fertile land among his children and the Wandering Nobles, while Katz declined to claim the territory for himself.
• A knight reported that roughly three hundred thousand troops from the Nantes Kingdom and the Church of Dawn, commanded by Archbishop Madi, had reached Proud Snow Canyon.

Count Clayton explained how the Empire’s Extraordinary Legions could transform into Divine Kingdoms as he prepared to crush Archbishop Madi’s believers. In Frozen Earth Territory, Grand Mage Macken proposed fusing Frost Specter Crystal with Northern Warhorses, and Ryan let him believe the experiment would risk blaspheming a Deity.

• Count Clayton resolved to defeat Archbishop Madi’s army before securing the Northlands and expanding Clayton territory.
• Count Clayton told Kaz and Ivar that the third stage of an Extraordinary Legion was a Divine Kingdom Domain, and that the Imperial House’s Corona Legion had completed the transformation.
• Grand Mage Macken took Ryan to his Mage Tower and showed him Frost Specter Crystal that had gained warmth.
• Grand Mage Macken proposed fusing Frost Specter Crystal with Northern Warhorses so they could wield frost power.
• Grand Mage Macken accepted the risk of blasphemy and vowed to prove Northern Warhorses could surpass every other mount.
• Ryan withheld that the Deity involved, Svanir, was already dead, and wished Macken success.

Archbishop Madi led the Church of Dawn’s army into battle against Count Clayton, believing the Lord had ordered him to bring more slaughter and death. After the Empire’s attack, Madi sacrificed 100,000 noble soldiers and drove the remaining faithful troops into a nighttime charge, while an abyssal presence took hold of the marching church.

• Archbishop Madi inspected the army and received an apparent oracle commanding him to bring more slaughter and death.
• Count Clayton ordered an attack at dawn, and Ivar sent more than a hundred mages to bombard the Church of Dawn’s First Legion.
• Count Clayton led the Blaze Dragon Knight Legion into battle, scattering the faithful army as Archbishop Madi ordered his forces to kill 100,000 retreating noble soldiers.
• Archbishop Madi urged the remaining 200,000 faithful troops to charge the Empire at night, declaring their deaths worthwhile for his Lord’s glory.
• The black statue inside the marching church laughed as the kneeling clergymen opened their eyes and praised their Lord.

Count Clayton’s army destroyed the Church of Dawn’s forces at Proud Snow Canyon, but Archbishop Madi escaped south after betraying the Church for the Abyssal Demons. As the Empire prepared to invade the Nantes Kingdom, Elector Floyd and Brutus Rodriguez planned how to break the stalemate against the Church’s armies.

• Count Clayton’s Flamedragon Knights and Blaze Dragon Christman slaughtered the believers at Proud Snow Canyon, but they failed to capture Archbishop Madi, whose roughly sixty thousand followers withdrew south.
• A captured priest accused Archbishop Madi of serving the Abyssal Demons, and Count Clayton ordered the clergymen killed to keep the accusation from reaching the Elector’s camp.
• Count Clayton’s forces took the Proud Snow Canyon camp and prepared to advance into the Nantes Kingdom, but Elector Floyd ordered them to wait until the other Imperial armies caught up.
• At the Elector’s main camp, Floyd rejected Brutus Rodriguez’s suggestion to accept noble surrenders, since Imperial lords had eliminated the nobles and their heirs across occupied territories.
• Floyd considered sending troops south to seize the Nantes Kingdom, while Brutus argued that the Elemental Legion was needed to break the Church’s hold on the Solar Corona Legion.

Brutus revealed the undead truth behind the Elemental Legion as it attacked The Church’s forces and broke through their defenses. With the Church’s legions thrown into chaos, Floyd led the Imperial army’s assault while the Solar Corona Legion prepared to strike.

• Brutus ordered the Elemental Legion to attack, and its elemental beams clashed with the Divine Revelation Warlocks’ summoned Giant.
• The Elemental Legion vanished from the Giant’s sight and reappeared among the Oath of Faith, where its knights exposed believers’ wavering faith and killed Gardel.
• Brutus told Floyd that the Lord of Dawn’s long slumber had distorted faith within the Church’s oath legions, leaving them vulnerable.
• Floyd charged the Divine Revelation Giant as the Imperial army surged forward and the Solar Corona Legion appeared beneath the darkening sky.

Prince Duke ordered the Nantes Kingdom’s nobles to defend the royal city while Count Clayton’s intelligence exposed the kingdom’s history of enslaving nobles from another world. After Elector Floyd’s victories weakened the Church of Dawn and drew the Iron Eagle Kingdom toward betrayal, Floyd prepared to attack the Nantes Kingdom and declared the Empire would soon take control of Norris.

• Prince Duke demanded that the Nantes Kingdom’s nobles assemble their armies at the royal city or let him recall the army from Kurla City, despite their fears of slave rebellion.
• Count Clayton explained how the Nantes Kingdom had seized an Otherworldly Plane’s wealth, enslaved its people, and relied on the Church of Dawn to void the nobles’ contract.
• Count Clayton learned that Elector Floyd had routed the Church of Dawn’s army, destroyed the Oath of Faith Legion, and defeated the Temple Knight Legion with the Solar Corona Legion.
• Count Clayton told Katz that House of Hakan of the Iron Eagle Kingdom would join the Empire after the Nantes Kingdom fell, and Katz realized the Iron Eagle royal family would have to break completely with Dawn.
• Floyd arrived at Proud Snow Canyon with the Imperial army, proclaimed the Empire’s coming dominance, and sent surrender offers to every noble in the Nantes Kingdom before ordering an attack in three days.
• Floyd’s ambition and power continued to grow as he approached Demigodhood, while the nobles silently worried about his rising arrogance.

Pope Solarian purged Church of Dawn leaders after its defeats and sent Cardinal Archbishop Arnold to defend the Nantes Kingdom. As the Empire’s Extraordinary Legions began their rapid attack, Arnold sought the secret behind Solarian’s power while the young King of Nantes held a clue his father had left him.

• Pope Solarian condemned Cardinal Archbishop Zachariah and Archbishop Madi, then ordered Cardinal Archbishop Arnold to defend the Nantes Kingdom.
• Arnold arrived in the Nantes Kingdom, rebuked Prince Duke, and learned that the Queen was Martina Lillard, who had been involved with Solarian.
• The young King of Nantes remembered his father’s warning that a secret hidden in an heirloom could kill the Pope.
• Arnold confronted Martina Lillard and tried to learn what she knew about Solarian’s secret, but she remained silent.
• The Empire’s Extraordinary Legions launched their attack before Arnold could prepare for the defense.

Brutus Rodriguez’s forces defeated Prince Duke’s army, while Elector Floyd pressed toward the Nant Kingdom’s capital and prepared to crush the Church of Dawn. As the Empire and the Church committed their strongest legions to battle, the Corona Legion and Adjudicator Guard clashed beneath a divided black-and-white sky.

• Brutus Rodriguez recalled his family’s necromancers and considered using the Nant King’s secrets to undermine the Church before ordering his army to attack Prince Duke’s forces.
• The Elemental Legion routed Prince Duke’s army in less than half an hour, and Brutus reported the victory to Elector Floyd.
• Floyd dismissed the revelations about the Pope and Queen and rapidly marched his forces to the Nant Kingdom’s royal capital.
• Cardinal Archbishop Arnold rallied the Church’s commanders, promising reinforcements and sending the Adjudicator Guard to oppose the Empire’s Extraordinary Legions.
• Floyd ordered the attack, and the Corona Legion and Adjudicator Guard emerged beneath opposing black and white skies as both armies charged.

The battle between the Florian Empire and the Church of Dawn escalated as Count Clayton and Temple Warrior Legion Commander Kiartiel fought, while both sides’ forces suffered heavy losses. Kiartiel and Clayton were left defeated, Matilda Alvarez revealed her Fallen Angel nature, and Grand Duke Gallen Russell took command of the war.

• Flame Dragon Christman and Count Clayton’s forces fought the Divine Revelation Giant and the Church’s Dawn Guards, while Isaac unleashed a blast that devastated the Elemental Legion.
• Kiartiel killed Elemental Knights and wounded Christman before dueling Count Clayton with his Divine Art and Sun Wheel as Witness.
• Count Clayton’s power overcame Kiartiel’s final attack, leaving Kiartiel bloodied and defeated as Matilda Alvarez carried him away.
• Elector Floyd seized the opening to stab Matilda, but she revealed herself as a Fallen Angel and transformed the Angel Attendant Legion, turning the battle against the imperial forces.
• Gray-blooded warriors joined the fighting, while mages and clergy continued their bombardment across the battlefield.
• Gallen Russell invoked his authority as Grand Duke Russell, took command from Elector Floyd, and vowed that the world would mourn his father.

The Thorn Blossom Legion entered the battle after Grand Duke Gallon Russell invoked revenge, using burning Divine Essence to sweep aside Church forces and advance through the battlefield. Cardinal Archbishop Arnold lost control of his faith power and faced the prospect of divine descent as the Pope left him to die.

• The Gargoyles panicked after losing their sensitivity to magic, while Count Stirling identified the change as the burning of Divine Essence and warned Count Pascal that the Thorn Blossom Legion was coming.
• Grand Duke Gallon Russell removed his crown, shouted for revenge, and led eighteen thousand Thornflower Knights into battle for Russell's dignity and glory.
• The Thorn Blossom Legion's thorn blossoms spread across the battlefield, hindering other forces as the knights crushed the Ashblood Legion and broke through the Dawn Guard.
• The Thornflower Knights were slowed by the undead Dawn Believers, but the thorn blossoms adapted by entangling them and draining their vitality.
• Cardinal Archbishop Arnold realized the Church's forces were collapsing and feared that the Pope had deliberately cut off his authority and left him to die.
• As Arnold struggled against the idea of divine descent, sacred Dawn power gathered around him, and Holy Radiance shone across his body.

Cardinal Archbishop Arnold became a vessel for the Pope Solarian and fought Anselmo, whom Gallon Russell elevated to Demigod with the Book of Truth and the Blood of Pallas. With Floyd’s barrier limiting divine power for ten minutes, Anselmo opened a path for the Thornflower Knights to launch a final attack against Arnold.

• Arnold accepted the divine power overwhelming him and became a radiant vessel for the Pope Solarian.
• Gallon Russell wrote Anselmo Russell’s name in the Book of Truth, granting him Demigod fate, and gave him the Blood of Pallas.
• Anselmo used Taisu and his Calamity Bloom to attack Arnold, but Arnold summoned a falling sun that threatened everyone on the battlefield.
• Elector Floyd used a crystal skull to create a barrier that prevented great powers from descending below thirty meters for less than ten minutes.
• Anselmo fused Pallas’s blood into his scepter and summoned a Rainbow Bridge, which the Thornflower Knights charged across to attack Arnold with deity-harming swords.

Anselmo and the Thornflower Knights fought the Great Being Ifrit, who had descended through Arnold, while Gallen and the Empire’s forces watched the battle devastate Nant Royal City. Anselmo sealed Ifrit inside a mountain by sacrificing a Russell-controlled Otherworldly Plane, and the Church surrendered as the war’s aftermath turned into a dispute among nobles.

• Anselmo and the Thornflower Knights drained Arnold’s Divine Essence, forcing Ifrit to reveal himself as a blazing Sunbird and devastate the battlefield.
• Kiartiel urged the nobles to flee as Ifrit’s power cracked the earth and threatened Nant Royal City, while Gallen left the battle to Anselmo.
• Anselmo used the Rainbow Bridge to divert Ifrit’s Divine Punishment into a dying Otherworldly Plane, destroying it, then used the power of Pallas’s Blood to raise mountains around Ifrit.
• Anselmo told Ifrit that the war had been planned as revenge for the killing of Grand Duke Russell, then sealed him beneath a mountain.
• The Church surrendered after losing its Great Being, and Elector Floyd accepted its submission.
• The clergy and imperial nobles argued over the surrender, while Grand Duke Russell condemned the Church for killing his father.

After the war devastated Nantes Kingdom and the Abyssal threat spread, the Florian Empire and the Church of Dawn negotiated the Treaty of Nantes Kingdom. Ryan doubted the treaty would last because every side was dissatisfied and unwilling to uphold it.

• The destruction of Nant Royal City, the royal family's near-annihilation, and the collapse of the roads left Nantes Kingdom in chaos.
• King Hakon declared the Iron Eagle Kingdom’s faith for the light, then ordered a bloody purge that sparked rebellion among Dawn believers.
• Archbishop Madi’s forces and disguised Evil God believers attacked the Church of Dawn, while Evil God’s Kin slaughtered nobles across nearby territories.
• The Empire and the Church of Dawn halted their arguments and negotiated the Treaty of Nantes Kingdom, which settled on nine clauses after repeated revisions.
• The treaty imposed reparations and restrictions while addressing the Abyssal threat and religious access, but rulers, clergy, and nobles across the southern lands remained dissatisfied.
• After inspecting the Great Wall Fortress and returning to Rhino Horn Mountain, Ryan questioned whether anyone would uphold the treaty or whether another war would begin.

After the Treaty of Nantes Kingdom collapsed into covert killings, Ryan focused on his territory while Borgeld and Higni hunted Black Swan Assassins. In Zero Crossing City, Alfie Clayton and Egil tracked the assassins to the Manfred household, where Egil broke in on a gathering of secret believers.

• Elijah Hacon died after an assassination attempt, and the Iron Eagle Kingdom and the Church of Dawn blamed each other and the Empire while clergy and nobles continued dying mysteriously.
• Ryan read reports on the Great Wall of the Northlands and reassured Avril that he would pursue an heir after reaching the Legendary rank.
• Borgeld and Higni tried to investigate Thundercloud Mountain, but Knight Mulan stopped them and sent them away.
• Alfie Clayton searched Zero Crossing City for the Black Swan Assassins after hearing that Ryan would soon visit for the Eight Knights selection.
• Egil followed the trail to the Manfred household and smashed open its door, interrupting a gathering of people worshipping the Church of Dawn.

Egil, Alfie Clayton, and Higni’s forces wiped out the Black Swan Assassins in Zero Crossing City, and Ryan used the province’s new security to rally the nobles behind a shared land-reclamation plan. Elsewhere, the assassins resumed attacks across the Empire, leaving the Pope furious and unable to fully control the Church.

• Little Manfred identified the Black Swan Assassins who had abducted his family, and Egil and the vampires killed the assassins surrounding the Manfred household.
• Believers of the Imperial Church of Light cleaned up the bodies and reassured the Manfred family that their faith did not require surrendering their wealth.
• Higni and the Shadow Vanguards joined the vampires in a night raid that nearly eradicated the Black Swan Assassins in Zero Crossing City.
• Ryan arrived in Zero Crossing City, told Higni to expand the Shadow Vanguards’ operations eastward, and persuaded the Northwind nobles to support a three-year collective land-reclamation plan.
• Black Swan Assassins launched a new wave of attacks against imperial nobles, and the Pope roared in anger as Church personnel silently reminded him that the Church’s power was not his alone.

After the Church of Dawn’s defeat, its leaders struggled to rein in Black Swan and the clergymen seeking vengeance against the Empire. Black Swan assassins attacked Count Pascal’s returning army, and Count Pascal unleashed sacred radiance after his Countess was killed.

• Church of Dawn clergymen blamed Arnold and Zachariah for the defeat and called for Sunbird Ifrit to be freed and the Empire punished.
• Pope and the remaining Cardinal Archbishops ordered Black Swan to withdraw, but their conflicting authority left the assassins largely uncontrolled.
• Clergymen formed Flame of Dawn and took control of Black Swan to force the Empire’s nobles to break Sunbird Ifrit’s seal.
• Black Swan assassins attacked nobles across the Empire, then struck Count Pascal’s army as it traveled through Volga Province.
• Count Pascal escaped the assassins’ attack, but his Countess was killed, so he unleashed sacred radiance on three Saint-domain assassins and one Legendary assassin.

Ryan visited Count Pascal after a Black Swan Assassin killed the Count, then helped expose the assassin’s ties to the Church of Dawn and the attack on Grand Duke Russell. As Black Swan killings spread and the Empire’s leaders refused to break the Treaty of Nantes Kingdom, Ryan prepared to return to Northwind Province and encountered Demigod Anselmo Russell.

• Ryan offered Count Pascal his condolences, but a Legendary Black Swan Assassin attacked him inside Pascal Castle and Higni blocked the strike.
• Count Pascal awakened the castle’s power of divine origin, trapped the assassin in Magic-Immunity Stone Chains, and questioned him about the assassination of Grand Duke Russell.
• The assassin praised Sunbird Ifrit, threatened the Imperial Nobles, and revealed that Dawn’s servants had entered the Northlands; Ryan told the nobles that Demigod Anselmo Russell was hunting the Black Swans.
• Ryan considered why Emperor Columbus III and the nobles had stopped the war against the Church of Dawn, concluding that they had already gained enough territory and wealth to avoid risking more.
• Ryan learned that Black Swan attacks had killed more than one-fifth of the targeted nobles, then encountered Demigod Anselmo Russell as he prepared to return to Northwind Province.

Anselmo invited Count Pascal and Ryan to join Wings of Light, a noble association formed amid the Russell Family’s campaign against Black Swan. Pascal declined, but Ryan accepted the invitation as a way to travel openly through nobles’ territories, and he asked Pascal to tell him about Prince Viking.

• Anselmo told Count Pascal that the Russell Family was organizing Wings of Light to protect nobles and their interests while pursuing Black Swan.
• Count Pascal explained that Grand Duke Russell risked losing influence and benefits as the Electors’ contest shifted power between the other grand dukes.
• Ryan argued that Wings of Light would likely remain a loose association and that joining would connect his people with nobles across the Empire.
• Anselmo invited Ryan to join, while Count Pascal declined; Ryan saw the invitation as a pass to travel freely through noble territories.
• Ryan asked Count Pascal what kind of man Prince Viking was, since no noble supported his bid for the throne.

Count Pascal explained why Elector Viking Columbus was exiled despite his extraordinary talents: he wanted to free the Empire’s slaves and take nobles’ land to redistribute it among commoners. Ryan learned that Viking still held the Elector title for the Imperial House’s stability, then returned to Northwind Province and wondered what Grand Duke Mayers intended for the territory.

• Count Pascal described Viking Columbus’s exceptional abilities and said nobles abandoned him after he proposed freeing every slave and reclaiming nobles’ land.
• Count Pascal explained that Viking was exiled after arguing that giving land to commoners would make the Empire and its nobles wealthier.
• Count Pascal revealed that Lord Lais was a human with Demigod power and that the Church of Dawn had lost many people trying to kill him.
• Count Pascal said Viking could not be stripped of his Elector title without risking greater turmoil for the Imperial House and the Empire.
• Ryan returned to Northwind Province and wondered what Grand Duke Mayers intended to do with the territory.