Chapter Summaries

Count Clayton’s Imperial Army attacked Vera Fortress, where the noble forces and the Holy Kingdom Knights fought back in a devastating battle. As the Flame Dragon and Clayton threatened to defeat Knight Damon, the Feather Dragon Legion arrived and struck the Imperial commanders with a barrage of energy beams.

• Count Clayton rejected Rels’s response on Duchess Vera’s behalf and ordered the Imperial Army to attack Vera Fortress.
• Knight Damon and the Holy Kingdom Knights met the Imperial charge on the causeway, while the Dragon’s breath and the collision between Legendary fighters devastated the battlefield.
• Flame Dragon Knights and Holy Kingdom Knights converged into a brutal fight, and Imperial soldiers bound a fallen Holy Knight to restrain his revival.
• The enraged Dragon unleashed beams of geothermal energy, wounded Knight Damon, and gave Count Clayton an opening to strike.
• Aatrox urged Duchess Vera to choose between Dawn and the Empire, but the Feather Dragon Legion appeared and blasted the Dragon and Count Clayton with thousands of beams.

The Feather Dragon Legion joined the battle against Count Clayton’s forces, prompting Aatrox to lead the Blaze Dragon Knights into the fight alongside Christman. Meanwhile, Borgeld’s Armored Bear Legion seized Vera Fortress and captured Duchess Vera, but colossal constructs appeared overhead before Borgeld could leave.

• Aiffel arrived with the Feather Dragon Legion, and Damon joined Count Clayton’s battle against the Imperial army.
• Count Clayton ordered Aatrox to take command of the Blaze Dragon Knights, and Aatrox led them into battle while Christman fought the feather dragons.
• Borgeld decided to occupy Vera Fortress in Ryan’s name and sent the Armored Bears through its walls.
• Borgeld confronted Duchess Vera, defeated Rels after he used Blood of the Hills, and took the Duchess prisoner.
• Colossal constructs emerged from the clouds above Borgeld and locked their dark openings onto her.

Duchess Vera faced pressure from the Empire and Church of Dawn after Dwarven airships, Hill Warriors, and Elves arrived to support her while pursuing their own claims. As the factions regrouped around Vera Fortress, Count Clayton accused Vera and the otherworldly nobles of betraying humanity.

• Dwarven airships and Hill Warriors arrived at Vera Fortress, and Borgeld resisted their cannons before Duchess Vera asserted her right to defend her territory.
• Dorgon revealed that the Elves demanded the Western Forest Sea, and Sylvian Woodsinger presented the Woodlands’ claim to Duchess Vera.
• Count Clayton mocked the Church of Dawn’s position and declared that the Empire would drive out the nonhumans and protect human lands.
• Duchess Vera tacitly accepted the Elves’ claim to the Western Forest Sea, while Dorgon sent Dwarven warriors into the battle and the Elves advanced toward the northern front.
• Count Clayton accused Duchess Vera of betraying humanity and challenged whether the otherworldly nobles deserved to be called nobles.

House Vera’s conspiracy summoned Isaac’s forces to Vera Fortress, forcing the Imperial and Elven armies to halt their battle as Abyss monsters emerged. Ryan learned from Surtr that Isaac could act through mortal vessels, while the chapter left the armies facing an expanding invasion around the ruined fortress.

• Count Clayton accused Duchess Vera of betraying humanity and led the Imperial Army against Vera Fortress while the Holy Kingdom Knights and Feather Dragon Legion stayed out of the battle.
• Dissatisfied members of House Vera summoned Isaac with an altar fueled by Armored Bear remains and Borgeld’s blood, sending his forces toward Vera Fortress.
• Ryan learned from Surtr that Isaac sought his spirituality, could act through mortal vessels, and would require the destruction of his followers to be defeated.
• Ryan returned toward Rhino Horn Mountain, asked after Avril, and considered the strange technology he had seen at Vera Fortress.
• Count Clayton halted the Imperial Army’s fight against the Elves after reports arrived that Demon armies had appeared in every direction.
• Abyss monsters erupted around Vera Fortress, destroyed it, and forced the Imperial and Elven forces to face the spreading invasion.

Abyss Demons overwhelmed the armies at Vera Fortress, destroying the Dwarf Airships and forcing their former enemies to fight together. As Holden advanced the sacrifice for Isaac, high-ranking Evil Eye Lords struck the Imperial Legions, where the arriving Stag Legion attacked them with arrows.

• Borgeld fought through the demons around the Armored Bear while the Dwarf Airships blasted Abyss Demons beneath Vera Fortress, but the demon swarm destroyed all fifteen ships.
• Damon and Commander Aiffel sent the Feather Dragon Legion against the demons, while Church of Light clergy strengthened the Imperial Legions with Divine Arts.
• Duchess Vera suspected House Vera's own cultists had summoned the Abyssal Worms, and Sylvian ordered the Elven army back toward the ruins to fight the demons.
• Holden ordered captured faith vessels sent to the War Altar as Isaac demanded that his servant hasten the sacrifice.
• Holden led high-ranking demons toward the battlefield, where Evil Eye Lords paralyzed Imperial soldiers and attacked them through their eyes.
• Aatrox warned against looking at the Evil Eye Lords, and the Stag Legion appeared and shot arrows into the giant demons.

The allied armies battled the Abyssal forces at Vera Fortress as Isaac’s servants unleashed stronger Demons and Holden confronted the Legends. When the Deity’s gaze froze the battlefield and the Demon army began overrunning the defenders, Ryan arrived atop Arryris, the Frost Dragon.

• Roaring Ghouls emerged from an Abyssal Worm, and the Armored Bear Legion attacked them despite the Dwarves’ warnings that they grew stronger by consuming metal.
• The Elves shot down the Evil God’s Cultists and their Demon Kin, while Borgeld unleashed her lightning power indiscriminately against Demons and nearby allies.
• Holden descended in black mist and attacked the Stag Legion, but Aatrox and Brandt resisted him before Brandt returned to the battlefield.
• Duchess Vera ordered the nobles to divide their armies among three fronts, but few troops went to the devastated rear, weakening her authority.
• Isaac’s Deity gaze froze the Legends, allowing the Demon army to overrun the defenders as Abyssal Servants and terrified civilians arrived.
• Arryris froze the battlefield with her Dragon breath, and Ryan appeared above the Demon army to confront Holden.

Ryan confronted the Abyssal Evil God Isaac, rallied more than a hundred thousand slaves to declare loyalty to him, and transformed many into Dragonkin Warriors who turned the battle against the Demons. After rejoining Count Clayton, Ryan explained that killing Isaac’s kin could force him from the Norris Continent, and the Imperial army launched a full offensive.

• Ryan challenged Isaac and used his Spirit Domain to identify the slaves among the humans gathered for the Evil God’s sacrifice.
• Ryan summoned Borgeld, who called forward the people bearing his brand, and more than a hundred thousand slaves shouted their allegiance to Ryan Clayton.
• Ryan blessed the kneeling slaves, and many transformed into Dragonkin Warriors who charged the Demons while Arryris fought Holden in the sky.
• Ryan joined Count Clayton and discussed the Dragonkin Warriors, the Elves’ unification, and the need to drive foreign forces from the land.
• Ryan told Count Clayton that killing Isaac’s kin would force the Evil God to leave the Norris Continent, and Count Clayton ordered the legions to destroy the Abyss Demons.

Ryan and Count Clayton called upon Ifrit to drive back the Abyssal Evil God Isaac’s influence and clear the way for the Empire’s forces to defeat the demons. With Holden exposed and weakened, Arryris and Christman attacked him, while Ryan’s spiritual domain suppressed his black mist.

• Damon refused to call Ryan a heretic because he bore the Divine Blessing of the Lord of Dawn, then led the Holy Kingdom Knights toward Vera Fortress as Aatrox moved to stop them.
• Ryan asked Count Clayton to use the Empire’s power to drive Isaac away, and Clayton summoned more than a thousand Church of Light clergy members to pray to Ifrit.
• Count Clayton planted a broken Adamantine sword in the ground, allowing Ifrit to manifest a golden greatsword that dispersed the Abyssal aura across the region and forced Isaac’s influence from the battlefield.
• With Isaac unable to control the demons, Count Clayton ordered the Imperial forces to charge and purge them.
• Ryan’s spiritual domain suppressed Holden’s black mist as Arryris and Christman struck him with ice and fire Dragon Breath.

Ryan killed Holden and helped end the Demon invasion, then confronted Duchess Vera and the other races over their presence on her land. As human and nonhuman armies faced off and the Empire and Church of Dawn prepared to fight, Ryan left the next move to the Duchess.

• Ryan killed Holden, seized and dissolved his corrupted soul, and saw the Demons lose their command and attack chaotically.
• Ryan ordered the Cultists hunted and surveyed the ruined battlefield as the Demon army was slaughtered.
• Ryan summoned Borgeld, then challenged Duchess Vera and the nobles over the foreign armies and invoked the covenant forbidding humans from yielding land to other races.
• Borgeld threatened the Elves, Dwarves, and Hill warriors, while Brandt and the Stag Legion reinforced the Armored Bear Legion and barred them from reaching Duchess Vera.
• North of the fortress, Count Clayton's Imperial army and the Church of Dawn faced off after killing the remaining Demons.
• Arryris asked Ryan for the skies over the land, and simultaneous battles erupted between the human and nonhuman forces and between the Empire and the Church of Dawn.

Duchess Vera used Divine Essence to halt the fighting at Vera Fortress, and the armies withdrew while the battered territory faced a year of political uncertainty and severe food shortages. As Cleric Sven led the Dawn Followers north, Ryan’s forces delivered troops and provisions to support their work among the starving people.

• Duchess Vera’s Divine Essence stripped the soldiers of their will to fight, and the Feather Dragon Legion and Holy Kingdom Knights withdrew west.
• Ryan ordered a joint force to help Grand Duke Oren rebuild Oren City and sent the other armies home, while Duchess Vera demanded an explanation from the Elves and faced the consequences of ruling with Dragonkin Warriors who had only one year left.
• Cleric Sven and the Dawn Followers helped clear the battlefield, then departed as the Church of Light took over the land’s churches.
• Sven saw that the countryside remained barren and its people were starving, so he urged the Dawn Followers to continue serving them.
• An Imperial and Northlands cavalry unit delivered troops and food under Ryan’s orders, and Sven thanked Godfather for the aid.

Ryan considered the fragile alliances and looming Elven threat while rejecting inquiries about his army and slave trade. As Count Clayton’s forces neared the Empire, Ryan and his father discussed their growing influence and the family’s military ambitions, but Clayton’s bid to become a Grand Duke remained uncertain.

• Ryan told his official to deny that his captured soldiers were slaves and to ignore questions about his army, calling its deployment a normal Northern military operation.
• Count Clayton and Kaz traveled toward the Empire, where they saw Northern Kingdom Knight Academy students maintaining Northwind Avenue and discussed Ryan’s growing power and the Clayton family’s plans.
• Arryris defeated Christman in a brief clash above the road, and the Dragons’ arrival at Zero Crossing City astonished its residents.
• Ryan advised Count Clayton to let the family’s Dragon Knight prestige grow, but Clayton said he needed to return to the Imperial Capital to claim the victory’s honor and seek the title of fifth Grand Duke.
• Count Clayton doubted that the nobles would approve his elevation, while Ryan recognized that the Empire’s entrenched titles and limited land made advancement difficult.

After Count Clayton returned victorious, Emperor Columbus IV made him commander of the Imperial Second Legion, while the nobles began fighting over the legion’s interests and stationing. An Elven embassy’s demand for the freedom of Half-elves unsettled the court, but Ryan focused on Grand Duke Fleming’s effort to place the legion in Northwind Province and sought to prevent it.

• Count Clayton returned to the Imperial Capital, presented the Light Legion’s command scepter to Emperor Columbus IV, and was appointed commander of the Imperial Second Legion.
• Nobles argued over the new legion’s interests until Seras Moonshadow arrived with an Elven delegation and demanded that human nobles free Half-elf descendants and let them settle in the Western Forest Sea.
• Ryan and Grand Mage Macken questioned why the Elves had made their demand, and Ryan sent Griff to investigate the Western Forest Sea.
• Ryan learned that Grand Duke Fleming had proposed stationing the Imperial Second Legion in Northwind Province and recognized the proposal as a move against Count Clayton’s influence.
• Ryan told Grand Mage Macken that the Imperial Second Legion could not be stationed in Northwind Province and sought to use Macken’s connections.

Grand Mage Macken, Liv, Borgeld, Arryris, and their companions traveled to the Highlands to negotiate with the Highland Mage Corps over replacing Highland Warhorses with Northern Warhorses. Marquis Frederick Columbus rejected the proposal, and a battle between Legendary Knights erupted above Tower Mountain Land.

• Grand Mage Macken led the party into the Highlands, where Liv befriended bone-corroding silk threads in a stream.
• Alfie Clayton met the party as Count William's guide, and Borgeld attacked Mage Sutton after he insulted Macken and Ryan.
• Macken told Sutton that Ryan and his allies wanted Northern Warhorses to replace Highland Warhorses in the Imperial legions.
• The party reached Tower Mountain Land, where Marquis Frederick Columbus rejected Ryan's proposal and insulted him.
• A battle between Legendary Knights broke out above Tower Mountain Land.

Grand Duke Russell’s proposal to replace Highland Warhorses with Northern Warhorses sparked a political dispute in the Imperial Capital, with nobles using the debate to shape where the Imperial Second Legion would be stationed. Emperor Columbus IV summoned experts to assess the horses, while Grand Duke Mayers concluded that the legion would not go to Northwind Province.

• Grand Duke Russell’s letter proposed replacing Highland Warhorses with Northern Warhorses, prompting nobles to argue over their quality and the Empire’s military needs.
• Count Pascal and other nobles cited Mage Macken’s work and past records to argue that Northern Warhorses had been developed over many years.
• Count Pascal suggested Baron Ryan Clayton’s resources came from Otherworld Planes, and nobles speculated that such planes could supply enough horses.
• Emperor Columbus IV asked whether Northern Warhorses could match Highland Warhorses and sent an envoy to Silver Moon Highlands Province to summon Silver Moon Marquis and Lord Life Cultist.
• At the banquet, Count Clayton and Count Stirling discussed Grand Duke Russell’s support, while Grand Duke Mayers told Chrysus that the Imperial Second Legion would not go to Northwind Province.

The Empire redirected the Imperial Second Legion to Carlos Province after nobles dismissed the warhorse dispute, while Ryan learned that the southern survivors had begun fighting over House Vera’s ties to the Abyss. The chapter ended with a mist-shrouded figure calling on Tristan to gather more believers.

• Grand Duke Mayers told Chrysus that bargaining chips, not wisdom, decided political struggles, and Chrysus resolved to discipline his son Ivan.
• Palacios showed the Mages his Life Magic and judged the Northern and Highland Warhorses’ strengths in different climates, while dismissing magical warhorse research as secondary.
• Liv and Count William negotiated new sources of wealth with the Marquis, and the Marquis agreed to support the Highland Warhorses’ case against sending the Imperial Second Legion to Northwind Province.
• Imperial nobles sent the Imperial Second Legion to Carlos Province to deter the Church of Dawn, and Ryan learned that the Northlands’ influence had been recognized.
• Ryan paused his plans to enter an Otherworld Plane after hearing that his wife’s belly had moved, while House Vera’s exposed Abyssal ties sparked a new conflict among survivors.
• A violet-black mist figure asked its servant Tristan to bring it more believers.

Duchess Starla Vera faced a coup by her relatives and nobles, while Ryan sent Higni to demand that she end the unrest within three days. The next morning, Jeremy was dead and only thirty-seven members of House Vera remained alive, leaving Starla to confront the consequences of her bargain with Ryan.

• Members of House Vera urged Bishop Sebastian to help replace Duchess Starla Vera with Jeremy and promised to support the Faith of Light, while Sebastian asked them to investigate Starla’s agreement with Ryan.
• Starla learned that Jeremy and the elders had helped foment the rumors and coordinated with nobles seeking to seize her lands; Rels defended her authority as the family’s members challenged her rule.
• Ryan dismissed the conflict as a tedious power struggle and sent Higni to warn Starla that she had three days to restore order, offering the Shadow Vanguard’s help if she would not act herself.
• Higni trapped Starla in her bedroom and revealed that Ryan wanted a shipment of Dwarves’ Airship wreckage in return for greater support.
• Rels reported that Jeremy had been killed with six maids and that only thirty-seven members of House Vera remained; Starla said she had made a deal with someone more terrifying than the devil.

Duchess Vera ended the territorial conflicts and challenged Bishop Sebastian over rumors about her and Baron Ryan. Meanwhile, Grand Duke Rodriguez investigated the Clayton Family’s possible mastery of elemental power, then began preparing Brutus to take a larger role in politics as the family shifted its allegiance to Emperor Flor.

• Duchess Vera mediated the nobles’ territorial conflicts and confronted Bishop Sebastian about rumors concerning Baron Ryan.
• Ryan learned from Apia that Grand Duke Rodriguez had sent Bishop Sebastian to investigate him.
• Grand Duke Rodriguez told Brutus he suspected the Clayton Family had found a way to combine knighthood with elemental power, potentially making them candidates for the Empire’s fifth Grand Duke.
• Grand Duke Rodriguez planned to investigate the Clayton Family and the Elves while opposing Count Clayton’s rise and seeking cooperation with The Woodlands.
• Grand Duke Rodriguez explained that Brutus needed to inherit more family authority, then ordered him to tell Freud Columbus that Rodriguez would no longer support him.
• Brutus went to inform Freud Columbus of the family’s decision as the four Grand Dukes were expected to remain loyal to Emperor Flor.

Brutus Rodriguez’s appearance at the Council of Elders signaled that the Rodriguez Family had accepted Emperor Flor’s rule, strengthening the Emperor and weakening Grand Duke Fleming. In the deserted residence of Freud Columbus, Count Teton urged Freud to accept his defeat and leave for Carlos Province to rebuild his influence as Marquis Carlos.

• Brutus Rodriguez attended the Council of Elders, where his presence showed that the Rodriguez Family no longer supported Freud and had accepted the Emperor.
• An imperial envoy announced celebrations for the Light War and awards for the Imperial Second Legion, while Brutus helped block Count Clayton from securing benefits and advancing his bid to become the fifth Grand Duke.
• Freud questioned why Grand Duke Rodriguez had abandoned him, and Count Teton explained that the Emperor’s position was secure and Freud had little chance of winning power in the Imperial Capital.
• Count Teton urged Freud to go to Carlos Province, gain the support of its former Wandering Nobles, and build his standing as Marquis Carlos.
• Freud proposed speaking with Count Clayton in the Imperial Capital, but Count Teton warned him that doing so would make them enemies.

Count Teton advised Floyd to leave the Imperial Capital and build an alliance with Count Clayton, while Emperor Volvo gave Floyd the southern branch of the Northern Kingdom's Braveheart Guild. Ryan responded to the emperor’s political maneuver by arranging a contest between Northern Kingdom Knight Academy students and Imperial Second Legion officers, then planned to use dragon blood to strengthen ties with the legion.

• Count Teton told Floyd to leave the Imperial Capital that day and seek Count Clayton’s support, and Floyd departed with a grand procession and the southern branch of the Northern Kingdom's Braveheart Guild.
• Ryan learned that Floyd had received the guild branch and that the emperor planned to select Imperial Second Legion officers through contests involving academy students and noble knights.
• Instructor Sorp sent Castor Winter and other academy students to Zero Crossing City, where Baron Enzo explained that they would compete against serving officers of the Imperial Second Legion.
• Castor defeated Edmund Fleming in the first contest, while a Wyvern Rider captain stepped forward to face the next legion officer.
• Aatrox joined Ryan on Rhino Horn Mountain, where Ryan explained that he planned to have some Imperial Second Legion knights bathe in dragon blood to foster ties between them.

Ryan used a display of legendary power and a challenge about loyalty to unsettle the knights of the Imperial Second Legion, then identified those who stood by their convictions as potential allies for the Clayton Family. The knights left shaken, while Baron Enzo arrived and ordered them to stop questioning their commands.

• Ryan welcomed the victorious knights and questioned Castor Winter about the Clayton bloodline's affinity with Dragons.
• Ryan overwhelmed the knights with his Spirit Domain and argued that a knight's first creed was absolute loyalty.
• Ryan ordered the Raging Dragon Nightmares to attack Aatrox, then called the knights' willingness to obey his command an example of loyalty.
• One knight declared that he would die rather than betray the Emperor or harm his family, and Ryan urged the knights to become generals and stand up.
• Ryan told Aatrox to inform Father that the Clayton Family should cultivate the most steadfast knights, while Aatrox warned that Ryan's test could unsettle them.
• The knights debated whether the Emperor might threaten their families, until Baron Enzo appeared and told them to focus on carrying out orders.