Chapter Summaries

Sanders explained that the Nightmare Realm could reflect realities from worlds inhabited by intelligent life, though its nature remained mysterious and dangerous. Angel learned that his earlier encounters with the Rabbit Hole and the stitch-faced woman had placed him in mortal danger, while vast thunderclouds remained unexplained overhead.

• Angel asked Sanders what kind of world the Nightmare Realm was, and Sanders described it as mysterious, valuable, and perilous.
• Flora reminded Angel that the Rabbit Hole illusion and the stitch-faced woman had twice endangered him, prompting Angel to recognize his past experiences as Nightmare Realm encounters.
• Sanders recounted seeing a silver pyramid in the Nightmare Realm that later appeared on an ordinary, newly discovered plane, supporting the idea that the realm projected realities from worlds with intelligent life.
• Sanders encouraged Angel to treat his choice to enter the Nightmare Realm as both a challenge and an opportunity.
• Sanders ordered Gude to transfer the ranch's dairy cows into Angel's name after learning Angel liked milk.
• Angel, Sanders, and Flora discussed thunderclouds that had covered the sea all day without producing any rain.

Sanders and Flora explained that the sea-spanning thunderclouds were caused by a fractured plane trying to merge with the world, then left Angel in temporary charge. As Angel waited through the storm, he wondered about his past trip to the Nightmare Realm and the unexplained itching from a wound that had vanished.

• Sanders told Angel that the thunderclouds came from a fractured plane merging with the world and that the Cloud Whale would avoid the storm’s center.
• Sanders and Flora departed, leaving Angel temporarily in charge and telling him to ask Good for help.
• Good told Angel that he belonged to the Shadow Servant Clan of the Black Demon Kingdom and that his mask strengthened his innate abilities.
• Good brought Toby to Angel, who saw that Toby was unharmed and energetic.
• Angel slept in the library through the storm and reconsidered his visit to the Nightmare Realm, the stitched woman’s vanished wound, and what Sanders might know about it.

Major wizard organizations and powerful individuals raced toward Devil Sea as vast thunderclouds and spatial rifts spread across the region. At the heart of the chaos, Poku risked being torn apart to collect more liquid from specks emerging from the rifts.

• Madam Daini and a group of Gravity Forest wizards hurried toward the thunderclouds, while Saiban criticized Poku for acting greedily without informing the organization.
• Deep Sea Song traveled toward Devil Sea on a giant ray, and Sky Mechanical City sent out a steam warship as other wizard organizations also mobilized.
• Poku struggled to evade growing spatial rifts while collecting specks of light that turned into drops of transparent liquid in his bottle.
• Poku reached the outer edge of the rift zone, then bound his feet with a black vine and plunged back into danger to gather more specks.

Sanders rescued Poku from the spatial rifts and took most of Poku’s Constant Shards as payment. As Madam Daini and the wizards of Gravity Forest arrived, Poku’s loss became clear, and she anxiously asked how many shards he had obtained.

• Sanders used Nightmare Substitute to swap a black-flame horse for Poku and pull him clear of the spatial rifts.
• Sanders threatened to send Poku back into the rifts until Poku handed over his twenty drops of Constant Shards; Sanders kept sixteen and left him four.
• Flora prepared a blood-colored magical array as Madam Daini and a group of green-robed wizards approached.
• Poku realized Flora and Sanders had anticipated Madam Daini’s arrival and angrily glared at Sanders while Flora smiled cryptically.
• Madam Daini reached the fusion point, saw Poku’s sorrowful expression, and asked how many Constant Shards he had obtained.

Sanders and Flora held their ground inside a defensive magic energy array as the planar fusion neared its second stage and Deep Sea Song arrived. The chapter ended with Siliwu testing their defenses, then withdrawing after realizing the array would be difficult to break.

• Madam Daini accused Sanders of trapping Poku for his Constant Shards, but Sanders and Flora stayed protected inside their magic energy array.
• Sanders explained that the unstable planar fusion made a fight too dangerous, while the storm and waterspouts intensified around the rifts.
• Deep Sea Song arrived aboard a giant manta ray, and Flora recognized its leader, Great Fish Warlock Siliwu.
• Saiban loudly blamed Flora for taking all the Constant Shards, drawing everyone's attention to Sanders and Flora.
• Siliwu approached Sanders and attacked the array with a water arrow, then stopped advancing after assessing its defenses.

As the second stage of planar fusion began, Madam Daini explained its dangers and opportunities to the gathered wizards. Tensions rose over the Constant Fragments, while Sanders prepared an escape route to the Cloud Whale as the stage was named the Boundless Path.

• A white Cyclone appeared and expanded in the central black domain, marking the beginning of the second stage of planar fusion.
• Wizards from major organizations and lone practitioners gathered near the fusion point, and a tattooed man threatened two feuding wizards to keep them from fighting.
• Madam Daini explained that the first stage, Garden Vessel, produced Constant Fragments, prompting the gathered wizards to demand that she sell them.
• Flora warned Sanders that the crowd's interest in the Constant Fragments could become dangerous, so Sanders used a Nightmarelight Crystal to redirect the Reversal Mana Array to the Cloud Whale.
• Madam Daini said the expanding Cyclone marked the most dangerous stage and named it the Boundless Path.

Madam Daini explained the Boundless Path and the final Moment of Plunder, when wizards could enter the fused plane and seize its resources. Bogula demanded that the first discoverer describe the other world, and Poku was identified.

• Madam Daini explained that only Legendary Wizards could safely enter the Boundless Path and warned the gathered wizards not to interfere with it.
• Daini described the Moment of Plunder, when the passage would solidify temporarily and wizards could raid the other plane before it became an affiliated plane.
• Bogula demanded that the first person to discover the Plane Fusion reveal what he had seen on the other side.
• Poku shrank back, while Sanders, Flora, and Daini kept quiet about his discovery.
• A shrill male voice called out Poku by name and demanded that he describe the other world.

Poku revealed that his attempt to dig up Glowing Velvet Grass had triggered a planar fusion, and the wizards realized the merging plane might hold a vast prairie of the valuable plant. Bogula questioned Poku about Sabo and accepted his claim that he had apologized, while the Constant Shards remained unresolved.

• Saiban publicly singled out Poku, prompting Daini to recognize that he had exposed Gravity Forest's internal discord and left Poku vulnerable to the other wizards.
• At Daini's instruction, Poku stepped forward with his face deliberately disfigured and explained that he had discovered Glowing Velvet Grass on an island in Devil Sea.
• Poku recounted that digging into the island had shown him a world covered in Glowing Velvet Grass before storms and spatial cracks began, leading the wizards to connect his discovery to the planar fusion.
• The wizards imagined the immense value of the merging plane's Glowing Velvet Grass prairie and speculated that it might contain other valuable materials as well.
• Bogula stopped Poku to ask why Sabo was absent and whether Poku had apologized to him; Poku claimed he had, and Bogula accepted the answer.

As the Boundless Path neared its end and the source power flooded the Black Domain, Siliwu secretly coordinated with thirteen black-robed figures and used Biji’s water-control talent to isolate the gathered organizations. Siliwu then appeared before Flora and Sanders, whose group had been sealed off by a psychic barrier, leaving his intentions unclear.

• The vortex expanded toward covering the Black Domain as the world’s source power poured into it, awing the assembled wizards.
• Siliwu exchanged secret signals with the leader of thirteen black-robed figures, who agreed to his plan.
• Siliwu ordered Deep Sea Song to act, and Biji’s water curtains divided the organizations and blocked their view.
• Madam Daini warned everyone not to use sorcery because the fragile space could trigger the world consciousness’s attention, and she confirmed the curtains produced no magic fluctuations.
• Sanders identified a Sound-Sealing Psychic Barrier as psychic power from Hante World, and Siliwu emerged before Flora and Sanders.

Sliu trapped Sanders and Flora and demanded they surrender Constant Shards, using Flying Crow Indico’s psychic power to threaten them while avoiding the danger of the collapsing space. With Flora’s escape route blocked by a Spacetime Psychic Barrier, Sliu began counting down as Sanders weighed their options.

• Sanders explained that psychic power from the Hante World weakened in other worlds and suspected Sliu had recruited a powerful psychic master to ambush them.
• Sliu demanded Constant Shards in exchange for Sanders and Flora’s lives, warning that action could provoke the world consciousness.
• Sliu summoned Flying Crow Indico, a three-star psychic master whose Origin Point ability could protect them from a spatial collapse.
• Sanders realized Sliu had engineered a threat whether they fought or held back, and wondered why Sliu had not simply killed everyone.
• Flora tried to use a teleportation scroll, but Sliu revealed that a Spacetime Psychic Barrier blocked escape and started a one-minute countdown.

Sanders and Flora escaped Siliwu’s trap, leaving him worried about Crow and the Extreme Sect’s scrutiny. Back aboard the Cloud Whale, Angel finished recording nearly all the books in Sanders’s library with his Holographic Tablet and organized them by subject.

• Sanders warned Siliwu that Crow needed proof of residence and that the Extreme Sect’s enforcers would come for him otherwise.
• Flora tossed the leather scroll, and Sanders took her through a strange rift before Siliwu could stop them.
• Crow told Siliwu that the Spacetime Psychic Barrier had not activated and that Sanders and Flora had not used a planar passage.
• Angel returned to Sanders’s tent, took out the Holographic Tablet hidden inside Irene’s pocket watch, and recorded the remaining books in the library.
• Angel sorted the recordings and noted how Sanders’s library was arranged, with basic wizarding knowledge followed by books on formal wizards and miscellaneous subjects.

Angel recorded Sanders's library collection and arranged for the Cloud Whale to wait near the Dusk Harbor Coast until his mentor returned. At midnight, a dark rift opened nearby and began drawing in light, unsettling the Cloud Whale and causing strange flames to appear.

• Angel finished recording and sorting the books in Sanders's library, placing unreadable and ominous volumes in a folder called "To Be Examined."
• Angel told Butler Gude to follow the original route but keep the Cloud Whale at sea near the Dusk Harbor Coast until Sanders returned.
• Aiborne taunted Angel, but Nausicaa silenced him and explained that he had once served as a swordsman under her command.
• At midnight, the Cloud Whale stopped as a dark rift opened and swallowed visible light from the surrounding area.
• Gude sensed the lights dimming and rushed outside, while Nausicaa awoke to find her tinder stick burning with an eerie-colored flame.

Sanders and Flora escaped the planar fusion site with the Constant Fragments, while strange energy from the lingering rift flowed into Angel's Outer Eye as he slept. The passage eventually closed, leaving Angel unharmed and unaware of what had happened.

• Sanders and Flora emerged from the rift, and Flora angrily cursed Siliwu for driving them from the site.
• Sanders told Flora that the enforcers would judge Siliwu and said they had gained most of the Constant Fragments despite losing a Nightmarelight Crystal.
• After Sanders and Flora left, the rift remained open and strange energy began pouring through it toward Angel.
• Sanders sensed a strange fluctuation and murmured that it seemed to be origin, while Flora detected nothing.
• The Outer Eye absorbed the gathering light points and lifted the sleeping Angel into the air before gently lowering him back onto the bed.
• The strange energy stopped flowing when the light-and-shadow passage closed completely.

As the planar fusion faltered, Daini discovered that the power of origin was being drawn into a crack where Sanders and Flora had disappeared. Siliwu’s attempt to conceal his role failed, and the world consciousness ultimately halted the fusion and exiled the black domain.

• The Cyclone began shrinking instead of growing, and Daini and Gandolf could not explain the change.
• Bogula seized Siliwu, who fought back by summoning fish-like monsters, but the world consciousness did not respond to their spells.
• Daini sensed the power of origin flowing toward a crack at Flora’s earlier formation site and demanded to know what Siliwu had done with Sanders and Flora.
• Siliwu claimed he had tried to take the Constant Shards from Sanders, who escaped by teleportation, while hiding Crow’s involvement.
• The crack siphoned away the power of origin until it vanished, and the world consciousness halted the failed planar fusion and exiled the black domain.

Angel arrived on Prosperous Continent after leaving the Cloud Whale and rode a Demon Falcon alongside the Nine-Cabin Blood Fight victors. The group landed on Dusk Harbor Coast, where Angel began to take in his new surroundings and the people who had traveled with him.

• Flora explained that Angel would need to pay magic crystals to read books in Savage Cave, and Angel kept the Holographic Tablet secret.
• Angel packed his and Toby's belongings, and Butler Gude carried Toby's enormous luggage as the group prepared to land.
• Angel departed the Cloud Whale on a Demon Falcon, waved goodbye, and thought of his hometown in Galan Land.
• Nausicaa rode alongside Angel and taught him how to steer his Demon Falcon, and Angel practiced before returning to the route.
• Angel and the other Nine-Cabin Blood Fight victors landed on Dusk Harbor Coast, where Angel noticed a young man teasing a crab and a burly man resting beneath a coconut tree.

Angel was threatened by Hukedik, but Toby and Nausicaa stopped him from being killed. Nausicaa warned Angel to take hostility seriously and identified Hukedik as a gifted minor chief from the Feran Continent.

• Angel noticed that a bald youth on a rock watched him with curiosity while the other victors mostly treated him with hostility.
• Hukedik confronted Angel, threatened him, and grabbed him by the collar.
• Toby attacked Hukedik, injuring him before Angel called the bird back.
• Hukedik charged at Angel with a bone knife, but Nausicaa knocked him away and warned Angel not to spare hostile people.
• Nausicaa told Angel that Hukedik was a murderous minor chief from a fringe tribe on the Feran Continent and a gifted one.

After Nausicaa knocked Hukedik unconscious, Gude guided the Nine-Cabin Blood Fight victors toward Dusk Harbor Town and privately explained that Sanders wanted Angel to socialize with his peers. Angel reflected on the need for companions while traveling, then saw the treated Hukedik threaten him upon reaching town.

• Nausicaa knocked Hukedik unconscious, and Toby's pecking left a wound on his neck that continued to bleed until Shadow Servants carried him away for treatment.
• Gude welcomed the group, explained their route to the Pamiji Plateau, and led them toward Dusk Harbor Town to wait for their escort.
• Gude told Angel that Sanders had sent him with the victors so he could mingle with his peers, and Angel accepted the advice before rejoining the group.
• Angel considered how companionship could help wizards avoid dead ends as he followed the Shadow Servants along the river toward town.
• Hukedik appeared with his neck bandaged, made a violent remark about the town, then gave Angel a throat-slitting gesture while refraining from attacking under the Shadow Servants' watch.

Angel and the other victors arrived at Savage Cave’s hidden underground residence, where he met Serum Pustin, a book-loving boy from the Duchy of Versailles. Nausicaa joined them and revealed she had traveled widely as a pirate.

• Gude led the group to a concealed cave outside Dusk Harbor Town and explained that the Shadow Servants’ magic arrays hid them from ordinary people.
• Gude told everyone they would stay at Savage Cave’s temporary residence for the night and leave the next day.
• Angel found Serum carefully cleaning a table so he could read his cherished book, and decided the boy seemed like a good person to know.
• Nausicaa arrived, introduced herself to Serum, and said she had visited the Duchy of Versailles and remembered its rose fields.
• Angel told Nausicaa that his homeland, the Golden Sparrow Empire, had fought Hailan, and Nausicaa revealed she was a pirate.

Angel and Serum learned that Nausicaa was the celebrated pirate Nausicaa Asberu, the King of Blackberry Sea, and Serum revealed how he survived the Nine-Cabin Blood Fight. The chapter left Angel answering their questions by explaining that he had traveled to the Prosperous Continent to find a cure for his mentor.

• Angel and Serum were shocked when Nausicaa revealed she was a pirate, and Serum initially condemned her for it.
• Nausicaa identified Serum as the victor of the third cabin, then revealed her full name and her reputation for purging the Blackberry Sea of pirates' crimes.
• Serum recognized Nausicaa as the King of Blackberry Sea, praised her achievements, and apologized for judging her.
• Nausicaa explained that Serum had pretended to be dead during the Nine-Cabin Blood Fight, but killed an attacker who discovered him; Angel comforted him.
• Nausicaa and Serum asked Angel about himself, and he said he had left for the Prosperous Continent to seek a cure for his ill mentor.

Nausicaa asked Angel about strange light motes she had seen in his tent, but Angel had no memory of them. Toby revealed that the Outer Eye had absorbed the motes, leaving Angel to wonder what had triggered the pendant’s sudden change.

• Angel spoke with Nausicaa and Serum about their hopes for the future, while keeping details about Jon, Moro, Sanders, and Gloria to himself.
• Nausicaa asked Angel about the firefly-like motes she had seen circling in his tent before dawn, and Angel said he knew nothing about them.
• After Nausicaa left, Angel asked Toby whether it had seen the motes, and Toby confirmed that it had.
• Toby indicated that the Outer Eye had absorbed the light motes, and Angel began considering what might have caused it to change.