Chapter Summaries

Sir Begning learned that High Priest Wood’s successor and an envoy were coming to the Sanctuary, while Princess Magdal warned him about Marquis Yuxi. Brando began his Templar Knight ordination after impressing an older priest, but High Priest Wood arrived and stopped the ceremony.

• Magdal told Begning that the Sanctuary would remain neutral, though Wood’s approaching successor might change its stance.
• Magdal revealed that Brando had declined Lord Zhuoya’s offer to have High Priest Wood preside over his ordination, stirring Begning’s jealousy.
• Magdal warned Begning to distance himself from Marquis Yuxi, and Begning left without waiting for the marquis.
• Brando answered the older priest’s questions about Temple of Flames doctrine, impressed him, and declined an offer to join the Sanctuary as a holy knight.
• As the older priest prepared to ordain Brando as a Templar Knight, High Priest Wood entered and stopped him.

High Priest Wood confronted Brando about his identity and revealed that Tulamann believed he could help Eluin escape its troubles. Wood then performed Brando’s Templar Knight class-change ceremony, granting him the new class and its skills.

• Wood sent Priest Zhuoya away and told Brando that Tulamann had revealed his identity.
• Wood explained that Tulamann believed Brando could help Eluin escape its mire, and Brando acknowledged that he was trying to do what he believed was right.
• Wood asked Brando to kneel and warned that Cruz Lionmen were stirring in the north as he began the Templar Knight ceremony.
• Brando and Wood exchanged the sanctuary’s vows, and the ceremony granted Brando the Templar Knight class, fifteen free class levels, and the skills Conflict Aura, Blood of the Sun, and Crown of Thorns.

Brando completed his advancement to Templar Knight and learned that High Priest Wood would delay the Temple’s possible intervention in Eluin’s civil war. After leaving the sanctuary, he headed toward Ambersell’s auction house, but an unfamiliar woman’s angry voice stopped him before he reached the courtyard.

• Brando learned the effects of Blood of the Sun and Crown of Thorns, two core Templar Knight skills he had gained.
• High Priest Wood warned Brando that the Temple might intervene in Eluin and that Wood’s successor might not share his restraint.
• Brando admitted he supported That Princess, and Wood revealed that Tulamann had asked him to help by remaining in Ambersell and delaying the Temple’s decisions.
• Brando finished his advancement ceremony, bid farewell to Wood, and left to seek a buyer for his painting of Princess Dark Radiance.
• Brando heard an unfamiliar woman rebuke someone for disrespecting the Temple of Flames and wondered where Antitina and Qian were.

Brando confronted Marquis Yuxi after the marquis’s men injured Antitina and Qian, and he provoked Yuxi into a duel. The marquis sent Eagle Dejar, a renowned swordmaster, to fight Brando.

• Marquis Yuxi tried to claim Brando’s maids and threatened Magdal, while Brando learned that his men had injured Antitina and Qian.
• Brando cut Yuxi’s face with a thrown dagger, then framed the act as a challenge to a duel.
• Magdal began to support Brando, but Brando mocked Yuxi instead of accepting a duel with him.
• Yuxi ordered his attendant Kagbo to duel Brando, and Eagle Dejar stepped forward as Brando’s opponent.

Brando fought Dejar, who was disguised as Kagbo, in a noble duel and overwhelmed the famed swordsman with brutal, battlefield-style swordsmanship. Dejar survived by activating his Silver Wall defense and asked Brando who he was.

• Magdal warned Brando that Dejar possessed Element Manifestation, then secured a larger wager from Marquis Yuxi for the duel.
• Marquis Yuxi staked his Serpent Coil Ring and a pouch of gold coins, and Magdal declared the duel underway.
• Brando attacked first and drove Dejar onto the defensive with unusually lethal Military Swordsmanship.
• Dejar used his paired swords to force Brando back, but Brando took a deep hand wound and continued attacking.
• Dejar activated his Silver Wall Passive Element to block Brando's strike, then recognized the young man's swordsmanship as being in the realm of a Sword Saint and asked who he was.

Brando fought Dejar in the Andefuller Grand Sanctuary, using his unusual swordsmanship and a brief awakening of Spatial Fault to sever Dejar’s right arm. The battle wrecked much of the courtyard before High Priest Wood intervened, leaving Brando and Marquis Yuxi to face the sanctuary’s master.

• Brando revealed his Gold Rank strength and attacked Dejar with Wind Empress Nine Luminaries, overwhelming him despite Silver Wall.
• Brando broke Dejar’s rune dagger and damaged the sanctuary as their duel escalated.
• Dejar unleashed Silver Wave, wounding Brando, but Brando awakened his elemental power and cut off Dejar’s right arm with Spatial Fault.
• Brando sheathed his sword as the sanctuary began collapsing, and High Priest Wood used his power to calm the destruction.
• Brando awkwardly told Wood that he had not meant to cause the damage, while Marquis Yuxi bowed to the High Priest.

After Brando defended his subordinates at the sanctuary, he thanked Princess Magdal, who offered to introduce him to Ambersell’s auction organizer. Marquis Yuxi left plotting over Brando’s identity and High Priest Wood’s plans, while Brando explored the city with Antitina and Qian before returning to the inn to hear Su had new information.

• Brando thanked Magdal for her help, explained his duty to protect his followers, and accepted her offer to introduce him to Baron Donal, who ran Ambersell’s auction.
• Marquis Yuxi questioned the injured Dejar about Brando and High Priest Wood, then dismissed the idea that Wood could extend his term while vowing nothing aloud about his resentment.
• Antitina rebuked Brando over his clash with Yuxi, and Brando took her and Qian shopping through Ambersell.
• Brando used experience to raise his Templar Knight skills, then bought Antitina a pair of magic glasses.
• Brando and the two women returned to the inn at sunset, where his subordinates told him Su had come back with new information.

Brando kept a low profile in Ambersell while investigating Anlek’s suspicious movements and seeking a way into the nobles’ peace conference. Two days before the conference, Su and Medisa arrived at a nearby town, where something in the bushes answered Medisa’s call.

• Brando and Roman impressed Baron Donal during negotiations over the painting, and Roman later admitted she had learned to recognize people’s weaknesses.
• News of the approaching war and holy war spread through Ambersell as the temple prepared for its leadership change.
• Brando had Su and Andriga’s vampires investigate Anlek, whose guarded castle deepened Brando’s suspicions.
• Brando decided he needed to infiltrate the nobles’ peace conference without involving High Priest Wood.
• Two days before the conference, Medisa and Su confirmed the location of a town near Ambersell and called for Brando, who replied from the bushes.

Brando’s party secretly approached the manor where the Earl of Yanbao might be staying, intending to capture an envoy and impersonate him at the nobles’ peace conference. Roman unexpectedly revealed her strange ability by magically shrinking the manor’s gate guard into a cage, leaving Brando and the vampires stunned.

• Andriga and Mordefis drank Brando’s blood, and Medisa reminded him that the undead needed blood or other anchors to remain in the world.
• Brando chose the Earl of Yanbao as the easiest noble to impersonate and led his group to inspect the rented manor near Ambersell.
• Brando kept Medisa and Qian farther away because Medisa’s glowing armor could reveal the group, while Roman secretly followed and joined the infiltration.
• Roman used her keen sight to spot hidden sentries, and Tiger Sparrow advised capturing someone for questioning.
• Roman produced a silver cage and used a spell to shrink the gate guard inside it, astonishing Brando and the vampires.

Brando questioned a captured guard and used Roman’s dark magic to seize a patrol squad, then led a disguised team into the estate. The group entered the courtyard undetected and headed toward the stables.

• Brando learned the estate’s guard numbers and patrol schedule, while Roman explained that her dark magic could imprison people in convincing illusions.
• Brando warned Roman not to use her spells openly and sent the captured guard back under threat of a curse.
• Brando had Roman capture six patrol riders, knocked them unconscious, and dressed Mordefis, Andriga, Tiger Sparrow, Charles, and Fuluo in their uniforms.
• Brando led the disguised group to the estate’s back gate, where Charles quietly suppressed the truth-seeing spell network for ten minutes.
• Brando and his companions passed the guards at the back gate and continued through the courtyard toward the stables.

Brando and his companions used Boerner and a feigned report about the count’s prized Pinot horse to infiltrate the manor without raising immediate alarm. They reached a room where Gold Rank Knight Captain Lord Ronin was staying, and his concern for the horse drew him into the deception.

• Andriga charmed Boerner and made him deliver Brando’s claim that the count’s Pinot-blooded warhorse had a problem.
• Boerner imitated Brando’s message so convincingly that the knight at the back door believed the report and came to the stable.
• Brando and his companions seized the knight, and Brando promised under oath to spare his life if he guided them into the manor.
• The knight led Brando’s group through the kitchen entrance and brought them to Lord Ronin’s room.
• Lord Ronin heard that the count’s horse Lone Fire was in trouble and demanded to know what had happened.

Brando and his companions subdued Knight Captain Ronin and tried to enlist his help reaching another Gold Rank expert in Earl Yanbao’s estate. Just as Ronin was considering their request, an enormous explosion shook the second floor and stirred the estate’s knights into action.

• Brando, Andriga, and Mordefis rushed into Ronin’s room and forced him to surrender while Charles muffled the fight with a Silence Domain.
• Brando asked Ronin to help lure out another Gold Rank expert, but Ronin initially refused because it went against his beliefs.
• Brando assured Ronin that he was no petty thief or Cultist, and Ronin offered to consider helping if Brando swore before Lady Martha to keep his promises.
• An enormous explosion struck the second floor, and Brando ordered his companions to close the door as knights rushed into the corridor.

Brando fought and killed an Abyssal Lord that erupted from the estate’s staircase, then confronted Knight Captain Ronin about how the demon had appeared. A voice from the staircase apologized for accidentally summoning it, leaving the summoner’s identity unknown.

• The estate shook as golden flames poured down the staircase and an Abyssal Lord attacked Brando.
• Brando struck the demon with Fool's Fanaticism, killing it with one punch but suffering reflected damage.
• Brando told Fuluo to search the demon’s ashes for loot and questioned Ronin about a possible passage to Scorching Hell.
• Ronin denied knowing anything, but an unseen speaker on the damaged staircase apologized for accidentally summoning the demon.

Brando negotiated with Dirfiel de Audenard after the Earl accidentally summoned a demon, securing permission to attend the Ambersell Conference as one of his attendants. The Guard Detachment arrived, along with Royal Knights, and Brando recognized their leader as Freya.

• Dirfiel introduced himself as the Earl of Yanbao and thanked Brando for restraining the demon, while Nia attacked Brando and was thrown into the ruined staircase.
• As the Guard Detachment approached, Brando asked Dirfiel to let him attend the Ambersell Conference in his place, but Dirfiel refused to abandon his family’s interests.
• Brando and Dirfiel agreed that Brando would attend as one of Dirfiel’s attendants, and Brando recorded their deal with a Crystal Ball.
• Dirfiel went downstairs to meet the arriving guards while Froa finished clearing away the demon’s summoning circle.
• Brando spotted Royal Knights among the arrivals and recognized their female leader as Freya.

Brando and Charles concealed their identities after an explosion at the Yanbao manor, but the arrival of Nemesis, a Royal Knight captain unknown to Brando, unsettled him and left both her and Freya suspicious of the pair. Nemesis and the knights departed without confronting them, while Freya continued to wonder whether she recognized Brando and Charles.

• Freya questioned Dirfiel about the ruined manor, and he claimed a subordinate had caused the damage while experimenting with a spell.
• More experienced Royal Knights arrived, and Brando was shocked to see their captain, Nemesis, whose voice reminded him of his senior from another time.
• Brando wondered whether Nemesis was an alias or evidence that history had changed, and he and Nemesis exchanged a brief, uneasy glance.
• Nemesis greeted Dirfiel and led the knights away, looking back at Brando before leaving the manor.
• Freya told Nemesis that Brando and Charles seemed familiar and suspicious, but Nemesis dismissed the matter.

Brando and his companions secured Dirfiel’s cooperation to enter the nobles’ venue, while concealing his identity and the count’s disguise. Afterward, Flo showed Brando a valuable Demon Armlet, which he stored away rather than risk using.

• Brando agreed that Dirfiel could claim they had forced him to come if the Temple questioned their arrival, and Dirfiel pledged to keep their secret unless circumstances became dire.
• On the ride home, Charles praised Brando’s negotiations, and Roman revealed that the supposed Recording Crystal had been a fake glass ball.
• Brando and Charles concluded that Dirfiel was actually the Yanbao Family’s young daughter in disguise and suspected the family had fallen on hard times.
• Flo showed Brando an amber Demon Armlet containing infernal script, and Brando recognized it as a dangerous tool that could summon powerful demons.
• Brando put the Demon Armlet in his Dimensional Pouch and called it a timed bomb.

Brando arrived at a gathering of Eluin’s factions with Countess Dirfiel, where the nobles assembled amid talk of Princess Griffine’s agreement to marry Grand Duke Anlek. Dejar recognized Brando as soon as he stepped from the carriage, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

• Marquis Yuxi watched Princess Griffine and Grand Duke Anlek arrive together, and Griffine confirmed that she would marry him after Haruze ascended the throne.
• Duke Xifah, Marquis Barta, and representatives of other factions arrived, followed by the mysterious Yanbao carriage carrying Brando and Countess Dirfiel.
• Brando spotted Freya and Nemesis near the royal party and felt reassured that Eluin’s future might still be changed.
• Brando and Dirfiel stepped out of the carriage, prompting the nobles to notice Yanbao’s young heir.
• Dejar recognized Brando and shouted at him, shifting the gathering’s attention onto Brando.

Brando entered a noble gathering with Dirfiel, where rumors about his strength and Temple ties drew widespread attention. As Princess Griffine approached, Freya recognized Brando, prompting Nemesis to suspect that he and his companions were impostors and order the group to protect the princess.

• Brando faced Dejar at the gathering, and the nobles recognized him as the swordsman who had defeated Dejar and speculated that he was a Templar Knight.
• Brando and Dirfiel entered the hall with Nia, Ronin, and Charles, whose Gold Rank strength fueled discussion about the Yanbao Family.
• Marquis Yuxi mistook Brando for the heir of the White Egret Family and introduced himself to Brando and Dirfiel.
• Grand Duke Anlek, Grand Duke Xifahe, and Princess Griffine approached, leaving Brando anxious at the prospect of meeting the princess.
• Freya recognized Brando from outside the manor, and Nemesis inferred that he and his companions were suspicious before ordering everyone to protect the princess.

At a gathering at the Temple of Flames, Princess Griffine met Brando and Dirfiel just as cultists launched a coordinated attack on the estate. Nemesis led the defense outside, while Freya noticed suspicious tactics among Grand Duke Anlek’s guards, leaving the attack’s true purpose unclear.

• Princess Griffine spoke with Dirfiel and questioned Brando after finding him strangely familiar, while Macaro and Livuz recognized him.
• Wolf Knight Oufwell warned Griffine that cultists had appeared outside the estate, shocking the nobles in the hall.
• Disguised cultists attacked the Royal Knights and stormed the estate, prompting Nemesis to rally the noble guards and lead a counterattack.
• Nemesis worried that Brando might threaten the princess and prepared to charge into the estate to protect her.
• Freya pointed out that Grand Duke Anlek’s guards were taking defensive positions despite attacking, and Nemesis suspected a conspiracy involving a powerful figure.

Cultists and assassins attacked the Ambersell Conference, and Brando protected Princess Griffine while uncovering signs of a planned assassination. As the Royalists faced overwhelming odds, Brando summoned Andriga and Mordefis, turning the battle in their favor.

• Cultists stormed the hall and cut down the fleeing nobles as Princess Griffine ordered Lord Oufwell to clear a path and prepared to fight.
• Brando drew the Sword of Earth from his Dimensional Pouch, exposed an invisible assassin, and killed him with a single blow.
• Griffine recognized Brando, who told her he had come to protect Eluin; he noticed that most of the attackers were targeting her group.
• Dirfiel offered to summon creatures, while Livuz and Macaro discussed how to buy time; Macaro then entrusted Griffine and the Countess to Brando and chose to stay behind.
• Brando opened two Gates of Light and summoned Andriga and Mordefis as he revealed his command of the Elements.