Chapter Summaries

Roy defeated Pandora, then suppressed the Witch Factor tormenting Hughes. After Roy explained that their history was a distortion created by Pandora, Feltona asked for a Witch Factor to protect the elves, and Roy agreed to give her Wrath.

• Roy used his Angelic Arts to tear apart and annihilate Pandora, whose Vanity Authority could no longer affect him, while recognizing that her immortality remained until the world's distortion was restored.
• Roy revealed that he had transformed the Witches' Authorities into Angelic Arts and was pursuing the power to become a Demon God.
• Hughes resisted the Witch Factor of Sloth to protect Emilia, and Roy suppressed its influence while warning that Hughes would still have to rely on his own will.
• Roy sent Emilia, Archie, and Hughes back to the village, then told Feltona that the present history was a distortion created by Pandora three hundred years earlier.
• Feltona asked Roy for a Witch Factor so she could protect the elves, and Roy agreed to give her Wrath because she was more suited to it than Pride.

Roy gave Feltona the Witch of Wrath’s Witch Factor and considered returning to the Mercury Foundation, then taught Reinhard about Lugnica’s history and warned him of a plot against the Oni Clan. The chapter ended with Rem bringing clean clothes to her sister Ram in the Oni settlement.

• Roy handed Feltona the Witch of Wrath’s Witch Factor and told her to wait until she was healthier before absorbing it.
• Roy wondered whether to return to the Mercury Foundation so he could master the Mercury Formula and face the Demon God.
• Roy questioned Reinhard about the Demi-human War and revealed that nobles planned to attack the Oni Clan’s settlement.
• Reinhard promised to stop the attack, but Roy warned him against acting impulsively and said he would handle the crisis.
• Roy reflected that Reinhard might one day oppose him if he learned Roy founded the Witch Cult.
• Rem brought Ram freshly washed clothes, and Ram praised her younger sister’s work.

Ram and Rem fled their burning village during a human attack, and Ram fought to protect her sister and captured oni children. A Witch Cult Arch-Bishop of Sin named 'Sloth' announced that he would kill everyone there by order of the Highest Archbishop, while the human army prepared to breach the Oni Clan’s mountain gate with Magic Cannons and a dragon’s roar interrupted them.

• Humans attacked the Oni Clan’s village, and an adult oni urged Ram and Rem to evacuate to the rear mountain.
• Ram and Rem escaped through the flames, and Ram killed a human who attacked them.
• The sisters found human attackers holding oni children hostage, but an unseen force and flashing blades killed the captors.
• A man identified himself as the Witch Cult Arch-Bishop of Sin, 'Sloth,' and declared he would kill every human there by order of the Highest Archbishop.
• At the mountain gate, the human commander brought forward three Magic Cannons, and thirty oni volunteered to destroy them.
• A dragon roared, unsettling the Earth Dragons and drawing the human commander’s attention to its owner.

Roy Crowley rescued the Oni Clan from a human attack and persuaded them to submit to the Witch Cult, promising protection and trade with Lugnica. The Oni accepted his offer, leaving their future tied to Roy and the Witch Cult.

• Capella Emerada Lugnica transformed from a black dragon and slaughtered the human soldiers attacking the Oni Clan.
• Roy and Aiwass discussed Roy’s balance of good and evil as they traveled toward the Oni village.
• Petelgeuse Romani Conti and the Witch Cultists killed the abductors, extinguished the fires, and rescued the Oni children.
• Roy arrived in the village, healed the injured Oni, and told them their clan had no safe future without protection.
• Roy offered to protect the Oni if they became vassals of the Witch Cult, and revealed that he was also Roy Crowley, chairman of Lugnica’s Sage Council.
• The Oni Clan Leader accepted Roy’s terms, and Roy promised the clan a safer life and trade with the Kingdom of Lugnica.

Roy reflected on his rule over Lugnica while Ram and Rem served him through his daily routine and reported political news. After hearing about challenges to his authority and the royal family's illness, Roy dismissed the threats and refused to meet Anastasia Hexin, while the twins teased him about his reputation.

• Roy considered the relationship between humans and gods as Ram and Rem watched him with admiration.
• Ram and Rem served Roy breakfast, and Roy asked Ram for news from outside the Crowley mansion.
• Ram reported that Crusch Karsten had been pelted with rotten food after calling for Roy's impeachment, and Roy dismissed the challenge.
• Ram told Roy that the royal family sought a cure for its fatal illness, but Roy refused to help and said he had stopped caring about the blame.
• Ram reported that Crusch wanted Priscilla to marry Roy and that Anastasia Hexin had arrived seeking a meeting; Roy rejected the meeting.
• Ram and Rem accused Roy of taking them in when they were five because he liked young girls, and Roy lamented that his reputation had been ruined.

Roy visited Priscilla Valiere after her latest husband died, while the chapter recounted how her Sun's Blessing had shaped her rise among Lugnica's nobility. He arrived at the Valiere manor and met Priscilla and her knights.

• Roy learned that the last surviving member of Lugnica's Imperial Family had contracted the strange disease, bringing the selection of the king closer.
• Roy left the capital to visit Priscilla, and Ram and Rem stayed behind to manage the household and Sage Council affairs.
• Roy reflected on Priscilla's seven dead husbands and her rapid rise to wealth and hereditary nobility, which he attributed to her Sun's Blessing.
• Roy's dragon carriage arrived at the Valiere manor, where Priscilla greeted him alongside her knights Aldebaran and Schult.

Roy traveled with Priscilla through Valiere's territory, where he warned her about relying on her Blessing and challenged her to a wager. Priscilla saw through his scheme and refused the bet, but Roy claimed his reward anyway, leaving her blushing and furious.

• Priscilla complained about Valiere's rough roads, and Roy warned that repairing them without a financial plan could bankrupt her territory.
• Roy cautioned Priscilla against relying too heavily on her Blessing and proposed betting on whether her willful spending would bankrupt Valiere.
• Priscilla refused the wager, pointing out that Roy could influence Valiere's finances and that her Blessing failed around him.
• Roy leaned toward Priscilla and claimed his reward despite her refusal, then said he had confirmed her breasts were real.

Roy accompanied Priscilla to the Valiere territory, where she defeated a Wicked Spirit that had taken Roy's appearance. On the ride back, Roy sensed that the outcome he had awaited for years was near, while Emilia arrived in the capital and went to investigate a boy being attacked by thugs.

• Priscilla ordered her knights to wait while she and Roy went to the lake to confront the Wicked Spirit.
• Priscilla drew the Wicked Spirit out with sun-aspected magic, then cut off its head after it transformed into Roy.
• Priscilla twisted her ankle during the fight, and Roy teased her while massaging it in the dragon carriage.
• Priscilla told Roy that the Dragon Stone had named her a royal-selection candidate and that Laius Valiere had proposed to her to gain control of the kingdom.
• Roy sensed that the result he had awaited for years was approaching as the carriage traveled back toward the capital.
• Emilia explored the capital with Puck, heard a boy crying in an alley, and confronted the three men bullying him.

Roy gave Subaru the Witch of Pride factor and tasked Elsa and Meili with arranging a meeting between him and the Bishops of Greed and Gluttony. He left Subaru’s future to his choices while ordering Elsa and Meili to protect themselves.

• Roy watched Subaru after Emilia left and reflected on Subaru’s past identity as Fluggel and his obsession with Satella.
• Roy approached Subaru, explained Emilia’s role in the royal selection, and gave him a wooden box containing the Witch of Pride factor.
• Subaru recovered from his fear of Roy, speculated that the world was following a game-like plot, and left the alley to investigate the royal selection.
• Roy told Elsa and Meili to arrange for Subaru to meet the Bishops of Greed and Gluttony after a week, allowing them to help him but not protect him.
• Roy ordered Elsa and Meili to stay alive and let Subaru decide what kind of person he would become.

Roy reunited with Emilia at his mansion, where Priscilla announced she intended to become Emilia’s stepmother. That night Roy encouraged Emilia about the Royal Selection and the future of Lugnica, but Emilia asked whether he had used the Witch Cult to commit many wrongs, and Roy admitted that he had.

• Roy returned to his mansion and found Priscilla waiting for him.
• Emilia ran to greet Roy, and Priscilla declared that she would become Emilia’s stepmother; Emilia refused and said she already had Mother Feltona.
• Roy interrupted their argument and invited Priscilla to stay for dinner with him and Emilia.
• Unable to sleep, Emilia spoke with Roy about her doubts over the Royal Selection and her resemblance to Satella.
• Roy encouraged Emilia to lead Lugnica and resolve its human and Demi-human conflicts after he was gone.
• Emilia asked whether Roy had made the Witch Cult do many bad things, and Roy admitted that he had.

Roy comforted Emilia after she learned about his sins, then began studying Subaru Natsuki’s repeated Death Returns as Subaru grew more confident and planned to undermine the Royal Selection candidates. Subaru recruited Elsa and Meili to investigate the Sage Council chairman’s mansion, while Roy used the repeated days to examine Death Return and pursue his relationship with Priscilla.

• Emilia told Roy she believed in him and wanted to share his burdens, and Roy promised not to abandon her.
• Priscilla teased Roy about Emilia’s prospects and said she wanted to become her stepmother; Roy took her to his bedroom.
• Roy recorded that Subaru had activated Death Return seventeen times and concluded that the Witch Factor of Pride had made Subaru more proactive.
• Subaru resolved to help the nameless girl enter the Royal Selection and decided to use repeated cycles to gather information on her rivals.
• Subaru asked Elsa and Meili for help, and they reported that the Sage Council chairman’s mansion belonged to a suspicious, long-lived line of identical successors.

Roy continued preparing his countrywide ritual while Crusch learned of his possible ties to the Witch Cult and questioned his rule. At Roswaal’s mansion, Roy found Beatrice in the Forbidden Library and revealed their connection from four hundred years ago.

• Roy told Elsa to help Subaru Natsuki, whose rapid changes she had noticed, and reviewed the completed ritual sites across Lugnica.
• Wilhelm van Astraea warned Crusch Karsten that Roy might be a legendary hero connected to the Witch Cult, and Crusch decided she needed to learn the truth.
• Crusch asked Felix Argyle to bring Subaru Natsuki to meet Wilhelm, but Felix said Subaru had gone to the border after Roswaal L. Mezas summoned him.
• Roy traveled to Roswaal’s mansion, found Roswaal absent, and entered the Forbidden Library.
• Beatrice recognized Roy, who reminded her that he had known her four hundred years earlier and teased her about calling him Father.

Roy reunited with Beatrice and learned that Echidna had made her wait four hundred years for someone who would never come. He freed Beatrice from the false contract and gave her a new purpose and freedom, then brought her to his mansion, where she eagerly explored her new life.

• Beatrice complained that Roy and Puck had not visited her in four hundred years, and Roy explained that Puck had spent that time searching for Emilia.
• Roy opened Beatrice's blank Gospel Book, and Beatrice revealed that it had once told her to wait before its pages became empty.
• Echidna appeared and admitted that she had invented Beatrice's duty to wait as an experiment, and that no one had ever been meant to come.
• Roy told Beatrice she was free of the old contract, and Echidna designated Roy as the person Beatrice had been waiting for.
• Beatrice asked Roy for a new purpose, and he offered her a free life managing the Forbidden Library at his mansion while Dona lifted the Sanctuary's restrictions.
• At Roy's mansion, Beatrice hurried Roy to visit the Sanctuary and embraced Puck when he appeared, while Emilia apologized for Beatrice's interruptions.

Subaru used his knowledge of the Witch Cult to organize an alliance against Roy and the Arch-Bishops of Greed and Gluttony. Roy learned of the plan and arranged to keep Reinhard away while preparing to sacrifice Greed and Gluttony and rescue their victims.

• Roy sent Emilia and Beatrice to the Sanctuary with Puck guarding Emilia and taught Emilia how to release its barrier.
• Subaru, captured by the Witch Cult, used repeated Death Returns to learn its secrets and persuaded Petelgeuse to help him remove Emilia’s rivals.
• Roswaal arrived to rescue Subaru, and the two agreed to support each other’s goals.
• Subaru persuaded Crusch and Anastasia to join a campaign against Greed and Gluttony by revealing Roy’s supposed identity as the Witch Cult’s highest archbishop.
• Roy ordered Ram to send Reinhard abroad and told Hughes to lure Greed and Gluttony into battle, remove Greed’s heart from her victims, and return the girls home.

Roy arranged for Hughes to capture Crusch Karsten and Anastasia Hexin, met Priscilla and offered Aldebaran a chance to return to his original world, then watched the expedition against the Witch Cult’s Arch-Bishop of Sin depart. The army set out under Crusch, while Subaru Natsuki accompanied it, intent on carrying out his conspiracy.

• Roy told Hughes to send Crusch Karsten and Anastasia Hexin to him so they could later serve Emilia, and he anticipated the coming conflict between the Bishop of Pride and Reinhard.
• Roy visited Priscilla at the Barielle estate, explained that the expedition was a conspiracy against Crusch and Anastasia, and asked to speak with Aldebaran.
• Roy revealed that Aldebaran was a transmigrator and offered him a choice between returning to his original world and dying; Aldebaran chose to live.
• After Roy and Aldebaran finished talking, Roy stayed with Priscilla, and Aldebaran returned to his quarters while resolving to survive and hope for her prosperity.
• Anastasia, Crusch, Julius, Wilhelm, and their forces assembled in the capital for the expedition, while Reinhard remained away in the Flagey Empire.
• Crusch led the expedition out of the capital, and Subaru Natsuki followed the main force while counting on the Bishop of Sloth to carry out his plan.

Roy freed Regulus Zernias’s imprisoned wives, removed the curse and heart sustaining Regulus, and accepted responsibility for the suffering caused by his past choices. On the battlefield, Regulus’s weakened Authority gave the allied fighters an opening, and Elsa attacked him as Subaru Natsuki tried to understand the sudden change.

• Roy entered Regulus Zernias’s palace and told the imprisoned women they were free, then removed their curse and extracted Regulus’s heart from one of them.
• Roy gave the women the palace’s valuables and let them leave, then crushed Regulus’s heart while reflecting on the people who had suffered because of his choices.
• Subaru Natsuki watched Regulus maim Wilhelm and briefly considered retreating, but renewed his resolve to protect Emilia and called for Roswaal’s help.
• Regulus discovered his heart had returned to his body and realized he could no longer make his wives bear the cost of his stopped-time ability.
• Crusch Karsten and Julius attacked Regulus, and Felix treated the wounded fighters as Regulus’s repeated use of his Authority caused him pain.
• Elsa attacked Regulus, kicking him between the legs and then in the cheek after he insulted her.

After Subaru Natsuki arranged Crusch Karsten’s capture and framed Anastasia and Julius for treason, Crusch woke in the Witch Cult’s custody and discovered that the Supreme Archbishop was Roy Crowley, chairman of Lugnica’s Sage Council. The chapter left Crusch bound before Roy, unable to expose the shocking truth aloud.

• Elsa killed Regulus, but an invisible hand seized Crusch and carried her away while Subaru secretly approved.
• Felix grieved over Crusch’s capture as the survivors gathered their dead, and Subaru began considering Felix useful to his ambitions.
• Anastasia rewarded her mercenaries after hearing the battle report, but Lugnica’s Royal Guard surrounded her hotel and arrested her and Julius for treason.
• Anastasia guessed that Subaru had reported her, and the Commander of Knights’ silence confirmed her suspicion.
• Crusch regained consciousness bound and blindfolded, then the Bishop of Sloth took her to meet the Supreme Archbishop.
• Crusch recognized the Supreme Archbishop as Roy Crowley, the chairman of Lugnica’s Sage Council, but her gag kept her from speaking.

Roy held Crusch captive and pressured her to support Emilia, using her guilt over the dead knights and threats against her family to break her resistance. Crusch agreed to his demands, but Roy then implied he intended to make her a mother.

• Roy revealed to Crusch that Subaru Natsuki had deceived her, making her blame herself for the knights who died because of her decision.
• Roy recounted Crusch’s past and challenged her belief that she should reclaim Lugnica’s authority from him, arguing that the people’s welfare mattered more than the king’s power.
• Roy offered to spare Crusch if she helped Emilia become queen and swore loyalty to her, explaining that Emilia could address Lugnica’s racial divisions.
• Roy showed Crusch newspapers claiming her family had been imprisoned for rebellion, and Crusch broke down and begged him to spare her father and relatives.
• Crusch agreed to swear loyalty to Emilia and obey Roy, but Roy suggested he wanted to make her pregnant.

Roy visited the political prisoners after Crusch accepted that she could not abandon her family or Lugnica, and Anastasia reflected on how greed had alienated her from the people. Roy offered Anastasia a chance to survive and asked her to tell him about her past, leaving her beginning to recount how Ricardo had saved her in the slums.

• Roy dressed in noble attire and told Crusch that he would restore the Karsten Family’s title while urging her to serve Lugnica and its people rather than let hatred rule her.
• Crusch admitted that Roy had bound her to her family and country, then wondered whether she could become a mother.
• Anastasia reflected in prison on how wealth and ambition had made her forget her origins and grow distant from the poor.
• Roy visited the prisoners, heard the Duke of Karsten accept blame alongside Crusch, ordered punishment for the demi-human mercenaries, and confronted Julius about violating his knightly code.
• Anastasia offered the Hexin Merchant Guild’s fortune to Lugnica and asked Roy to spare her subordinates, while Roy told her she still had a chance if she would meet his demands.
• Roy asked Anastasia about her past, and she explained that she had been an orphan in the slums until Ricardo saved and protected her.

Subaru manipulated Felix into setting a fire across Lugnica's royal capital so he could use the chaos to free the Karsten Family, while Roswaal exploited the blaze to reach the Dragon Stone. The Karsten Family refused to escape after revealing that Crusch was alive and Subaru had deceived Felix, and Roswaal found Echidna inside the Hall of the Divine Dragon.

• Subaru persuaded Felix to help him break into the prison and rescue the Karsten Family by setting a fire in the royal capital.
• Ram and Rem protected Priscilla from the blaze, while Priscilla left her burning mansion under their guard.
• Felix opened the Karsten Family's cells, but Duke Karsten told him Crusch was alive, the family had been pardoned, and Subaru had caused their troubles.
• Felix realized Subaru had used him to start the fire and collapsed, while Julius recognized that Subaru had manipulated them both.
• Roswaal entered the Hall of the Divine Dragon to take the Dragon Stone and revive Echidna, but froze when he saw her there.