Chapter Summaries

After the destruction of Forward Island, Sirius and the allied nations negotiated an end to the Silver War, with Sirius conceding the last silver mountain to the alliance. The chapter then turned to the looming divine war in the Black Sea, where the followers of Ecto and Hipponoe began fighting across the sea and its shores.

• Evan and his crew began their return voyage aboard the Morning Star, towing two captured ships.
• Admiral Trivier raged over Forward Island's destruction, but Lieutenant General Adonis Auston urged him to wait for negotiations.
• Envoys from Sark, Atlan, and Tulip presented their demands, backed by a threat to detonate Alchemy Bombs and sink Third Island.
• Sirius signed an unequal treaty recognizing the allies' ownership of the last silver mountain, and church clergy witnessed the settlement before the Treasure Fleet departed.
• Ecto and Hipponoe withdrew to their lairs while their followers prepared to fight over the Black Sea's authority.
• Sea monsters and human followers of the two goddesses clashed throughout the Black Sea, on barren islands, and along humanity's sea routes.

Evan completed an extraordinary transformation of White Gulls, creating a powerful reconnaissance and communication network. After testing their abilities, he turned toward the Spirit World as the next frontier for his growth as a Formal Wizard.

• Evan and Milan entered a cave where more than a thousand White Gull eggs were incubating, with Bess monitoring the site.
• Milan confirmed the transformation had stabilized, and 152 White Gulls hatched successfully.
• Evan activated the gulls’ Spirit Body Transformation, which let them shift between matter and spirit but cut their lifespans in half.
• Evan released the gulls, and Bess directed them to survey a vast area from the stratosphere and relay their observations through the network.
• Evan demonstrated that the transformed gulls could support long-distance Mind Speech and concealment, then considered how the network could aid Spirit World exploration.

Evan prepared for his first Spirit World exploration and entered it using the Spirit Communication Potion. He arrived among enormous prehistoric ruins, glimpsed a glowing girl nearby, and planted a jade-green seed that rapidly grew into a vast tree.

• Evan tested Sorcery White Bird, helped Calvin begin meditation, crafted Soul Armor, and prepared for his Spirit World journey.
• Evan drank the Spirit Communication Potion on a full-moon night while Gary and Milan kept watch.
• Evan passed through a Brass Gate and descended through strange landscapes into a ruined city of colossal structures.
• Evan glimpsed a glowing girl near a distant pyramid as he arrived in the ruins.
• Evan planted a jade-green seed, which grew into a broad-canopied tree surrounded by grasses, shrubs, and specks of light.

Evan established his beacon in the Spirit World and used his White Gulls to scout the ruins of Poseidia City, which he claimed as a base for future exploration. When he investigated the Sun Palace, learning its name triggered a scorching force that drove back his birdman incarnation, suggesting a powerful sun-related treasure lay inside.

• Evan examined his luminous Spirit World form and the changed appearance of his Soul Armor after reaching temporary safety beneath his beacon.
• Evan sent a flock of White Gulls across Poseidia City and learned that the vast ruins held no active large creatures, though unknown black insects crawled through the cracks.
• Evan's reconnaissance revealed that the city's major temples and other central buildings were strangely scattered along its lowest level, blocking his route outward.
• Evan possessed one White Gull to investigate the palace marked on a broken stele as Poseidia City's Sun Palace.
• After Evan read the palace's name aloud, an unseen heat forced his birdman incarnation backward and charred its wings, leading him to suspect a sun-related treasure was inside.

Evan explored the ruined city of Poseidia, uncovered clues about its extraordinary civilization, and fought a monster made of Black Worms. As the Spirit World shifted the city into a new layer, he spotted a jewel-armored girl nearby before giant locusts swarmed toward them.

• Evan explored the city square and used Animated Aura to uncover a shattered emerald pillar inscribed with Poseidia’s civic code.
• Evan learned that Poseidia’s Three-Eyed People had built a powerful civilization around Magneto-Europe Stone, an energy source and weapon.
• A monster assembled from Black Worms ambushed Evan, but he crushed it with a stone hand and gained Spirit Power.
• Crimson clouds appeared as the Spirit World rearranged its landmasses, and Evan saw a glowing girl atop a nearby pyramid.
• The shifting regions entered a desolate wilderness, where dog-sized locusts swarmed toward Evan and the girl.

The Sirius Treasure Fleet encountered a Giant Water Wolf Tooth Fish and then sailed into a lethal storm, where the Great Vortex Charybdis destroyed nearly the entire fleet. Doyle Griffiths escaped aboard the Red Maple, and Charybdis declared the Eye of the Storm forbidden to human vessels.

• The Red Maple used its Dragon Breath Torch to kill a Giant Water Wolf Tooth Fish that was attacking the fleet, leaving fifty-two dead and several ships damaged.
• Doyle Griffiths ordered the fleet to continue through the Eye of the Black Sea toward the Suvi Islands Naval Base while thinking about the kingdom’s politics and his plans after returning home.
• After three days of stormy sailing, the fleet spotted a Great Whirlpool, then nine more vortices formed around the ships.
• Doyle Griffiths recognized the wild Child of the Sea Goddess as the Great Vortex Charybdis and ordered the Red Maple to flee at full speed.
• The Red Maple escaped with the angel’s blessing, while the rest of the fleet was swallowed and destroyed; Charybdis declared the Eye of the Storm forbidden territory for human vessels.

After his first exploration of the Spirit World, Evan asked Milan to interpret fragments he had received from humanity’s collective consciousness, and they suspected Sirius’s Treasure Fleet had met disaster. Meanwhile, preparations in Saint Cruz for Philip II’s engagement to Princess Mary Theresa promised to give him a path to the imperial crown.

• Evan sheltered beneath a rocky dome from the migrating Giant Locusts until his Spirit World stay ended.
• Evan described his visions to Milan, who used crystal ball divination to connect them to a treasure lost in bloodstained seawater.
• Evan and Milan identified Sirius’s recently returned Treasure Fleet as the most likely treasure in the omen, though they could not tell whether the disaster was past or future.
• Evan considered whether the awakened Goddess of the Black Sea and her conflict with the Sea Monster Mother’s dependents could threaten the fleet, and wondered how the event might affect him.
• In Saint Cruz, the royal court prepared for Philip II’s engagement to Princess Mary Theresa, an alliance that could make Philip the next emperor of the Holy Losa Empire.

Philip II celebrated his engagement to Princess Mary Theresa and plotted with Anduin to free Sirius from the Eternal Fire Church and claim imperial authority. Evan sent Crown Princess Livina his Hegemon Disqualification Plan, hoping to unite the nations harmed by Sirius and begin the Bleeding Plan.

• Philip II met with Anduin and heard that the Curse School would help him seize supreme royal authority by arranging Emperor Maximilian’s death after his marriage.
• Philip II vowed to challenge the Eternal Fire Church’s influence and establish a lasting Sirius Empire.
• Evan wrote the Hegemon Disqualification Plan and sent it through the Spirit World to Crown Princess Livina.
• Evan reasoned that Sirius would answer the Treasure Fleet’s destruction by plundering others, creating an opportunity to unite its victims.
• Evan looked over his modified ships and wondered whether he was ready to join the conflict.

Livina read Evan’s Hegemon Disqualification Plan and rushed to bring it to Principal Princeton and the Queen. Meanwhile, the Red Maple reached Sirius with news that Charybdis had annihilated the Grand Fleet, leaving the kingdom facing a catastrophic military funding shortfall.

• Livina reviewed Evan’s warship blueprint and considered how to reward him for his role in the Potosi campaign.
• Linda delivered Evan’s urgent letter, and Livina became absorbed in his Hegemon Disqualification Plan against Sirius.
• Livina ordered Linda to accompany her to Principal Princeton so they could seek an immediate audience with the Queen.
• The Red Maple reached Saint Cruz after an eight-day voyage and reported that the Great Whirlpool, Charybdis, had destroyed the Grand Fleet.
• Philip II and the Kingdom High Command faced the loss of nearly a year’s military funds and began looking to the overseas colonies for a solution.
• News of the disaster spread across the explored human world, unsettling people near Sirius’s military bases.

Evan fought his way through the Black Worms in Lost City Poseidia and began mastering the Three-Eyed People's Secret Art: Sudden Thunder Swordsmanship. Meanwhile, General Trivier confronted Mr. Bradley, the Oathbreaker, after Sirius lost its fleet and the Eye of the Black Sea route.

• Evan killed Black Worms in Poseidia and comprehended the Extraordinary Esoteric Truth Chirp, bringing him closer to mastering Steel Cleaving.
• On the city's third level, Evan fought an overwhelming swarm and learned that killing Black Worms with swordsmanship revealed the Three-Eyed People's Secret Art: Sudden Thunder Swordsmanship.
• As the monsters grew stronger, Evan used White Bird possession to fly away, planning to return for the complete swordsmanship.
• General Trivier learned that sea monsters had taken over the Eye of the Black Sea, cutting off Sirius's sea route and leaving a breach in its Maritime Great Wall.
• General Trivier entered a reception room and told Mr. Bradley, the Oathbreaker, that his last chance had arrived.

Sirius-backed pirates attacked the nations’ silver shipments from Potosi, while Evan strengthened his swordsmanship and received an urgent summons. The attacks pushed the other nations to form an Anti-Sirius Alliance.

• Sack, Atlan, and Faletis sent their first shipments of Potosi silver home, but Oathbreaker Bradley and his pirates attacked the fleets at sea.
• Evan practiced White Sail Swordsmanship and pierced an ironwood stake with a powerful strike, impressing Calvin.
• Evan received an urgent summons to Fort Dearborn and attended an emergency meeting with Vice Admiral Gustav and other officers.
• The nations learned that pirates and Sirius’s military had attacked silver shipments and other interests across the New Continent.
• The nations agreed to counter Sirius, and an Anti-Sirius Alliance quietly formed.

Evan Garratt was promoted to Naval Commodore and given authority to organize a privateer fleet and carry out Faletis's Bleeding Plan against Sirius. With the Kingdom backing his strategy to undermine Sirius through privateering, trade, and colonial independence, Evan began his new role in the struggle between the nations.

• Evan Garratt received the rank of Naval Commodore, a General's Uniform, a Fleet Command Saber, and discretionary authority across the Kingdom's colonies.
• Naval Headquarters justified Evan's promotion by crediting him with the death of the Grand Knight Daos during the Interdiction Battle at Forward Island.
• Vice Admiral Gustav gave Evan a privateering license, ownership of Hatlafa Port, and responsibility for implementing the Bleeding Plan against Sirius.
• Evan learned that his license allowed him to establish a New Continent trade company and command an officially sanctioned Privateer Fleet.
• Vice Admiral Gustav explained the Hegemon Disqualification Plan's three stages: bleeding Sirius through privateering, weakening it through trade competition, and supporting the independence of its conquered nations.

Evan sought sailors for his Faletis privateer fleet and learned that the Arawak people of Tortuga Island might provide recruits. Meanwhile, Iron Bone William struggled to find a place in the Golden Sea before a White Gull arrived with a reminder of his promise to Evan.

• Evan asked Director Niekado for help recruiting sailors, and Niekado suggested the Arawak people, who had been driven from Hispaniola by Sirius and become pirates near Tortuga Island.
• Evan agreed that the Arawak people's customs would not prevent him from recruiting them, then spotted Milan walking with a young woman wearing a feathered headband.
• A pirate first mate complained that Iron Bone William was spoiling their chances to rob merchant ships by escorting them for a quarter of their cargo.
• William argued with his crew about their repeated moves and their inability to return to the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
• A White Gull dropped an Ancient Geshna Gold Coin at William's feet, and its messenger asked whether he still remembered the three things he had promised Evan.

Evan used a risky dream projection to show Anita his success and sent her a fleet-affiliated letter of marque, which she accepted while choosing to remain on the Black Sea's East Coast for now. Back in Hatlafa Port, Evan prepared to meet guests brought by Niekado and announced his next bold move to build his pirate crew's reputation.

• Evan projected himself into Anita's dream with Milan's help, but the unstable dream shattered when Anita recognized him.
• Anita received Evan's letter of marque, signed it, and decided to keep building her East Coast pirate base before returning with a mysterious gift.
• Evan asked Milan about Apusuya, and Milan explained that the Huron Princess had come seeking Evan and that he had only guided her in Raleigh City.
• A soldier told Evan that Niekado had brought the guests, and Evan led Milan out to meet them as he planned to do something bold for the pirate crew.

Evan led a hundred-person raiding party into Sirius territory to ambush a gold convoy traveling the Golden Post Road. After the group established a jungle camp near the planned ambush site, a sentry vanished during the first night.

• Evan revealed that the party would rob the gold, silver, and gems Sirius was transporting across the Balboa Isthmus, and the raiders reacted with shock and excitement.
• Evan explained how Sirius moved treasure along the Golden Post Road and how his seagull network had tracked the convoy and confirmed its cargo.
• Evan's party traveled through the rainforest and made camp seven kilometers from the planned ambush site, where they intended to wait for the convoy to lower its guard.
• Evan instructed Baldwin to call him White Knight or his lord, then rushed from his tent when Baldwin reported that a sentry had vanished during the watch change.

Evan’s team discovered that an Arawak guide had vanished from everyone’s memories, then exposed and destroyed the Evil Spirit Aida, who had been hiding among them by stealing another person’s sense of existence. Evan suspected that spiritual beings across the New Continent were growing unusually strong and asked Milan to investigate further.

• Evan ordered the camp assembled after learning that one Arawak guide was missing and no one could remember him.
• Milan used Formal Sorcery Vision to reveal that the missing guide’s attacker was still among the group, disguised as Jack.
• Evan coated the group with No. 2 Holy Water, exposing the Headless Ghost, and he and the seagulls destroyed it before it could flee.
• The team found the guide’s corpse, and Qinaluo identified the Evil Spirit as Aida, a former ghost whose legend involved a beheaded runaway slave.
• Evan wondered why spiritual beings were growing stronger across the New Continent and asked Milan to question the Huron Princess about strange events.

The United Nations Alliance’s privateering campaign spread across the seas, while Vice Admiral Gustav urged Commodore Evan to help Tulip join in. After Evan finished preparing in the rainforest, his force ambushed a Sirius treasure convoy and introduced itself as the Pirate White Knight.

• Sak, Atlan, and other nations eagerly expanded their privateering against Sirius, while Tulip lagged behind because its people distrusted unofficial piracy.
• Vice Admiral Gustav pressed Commodore Evan to establish a heroic privateer image and help Tulip claim a share of the spoils.
• Evan completed several preparations, studied four Totem Warrior Training Methods, and led his ninety-eight surviving people out of their rainforest camp.
• Colonel Hubbard Rudolph escorted a convoy of roughly 230 mules and horses carrying treasure through the rainforest toward Dios Port.
• At a narrow mountain pass, Evan’s force detonated buried Alchemy Bombs and opened fire on the Sirius convoy.
• When Hubbard demanded to know who was attacking, a young voice answered, “Pirate... White Knight!”

Evan, acting as the White Knight, ambushed Sirius’s treasure convoy and confronted its commander, Hubbard Rudolph. After Rudolph’s concealed pistol attack failed, Evan charged to finish him.

• Evan ordered William and Gary to handle the remaining soldiers while he faced Hubbard Rudolph, a Peak Knight.
• Evan knocked Rudolph from a high tree, and the two met again on the rainforest canopy.
• Rudolph challenged Evan to a formal sword duel, then secretly fired a ten-barrel Jer Organ at close range.
• Evan deflected every bullet with his sword and activated Flesh Liberation at eighty percent.
• Evan charged Rudolph and declared that he would chop him into eight pieces.

Evan killed Rudolph and collected the Jer Accordion after the raiding squads defeated Sirius’s escort. As the survivors faced the mercenary Clockwork Man Billy Buddha, Gary ordered an immediate attack, and Billy deflected the gunfire with his blades.

• Evan overwhelmed Rudolph with Sudden Thunder Swordsmanship and killed him in a final clash.
• Evan burned Rudolph’s corpse and took the Jer Accordion, planning to give the weapon to a weaker ally.
• Gary and William killed the last Sirius major officer after the rest of the escort had fallen.
• Billy Buddha emerged from a wooden crate and revealed himself as a metal-bodied mercenary who had waited for the escort to weaken the raiders.
• After Qinalo recognized Billy Buddha, Gary ordered his men to fire, and Billy blocked the bullets with his twin blades.

Evan faced Billy Buddha, the Clockwork Man, after Billy’s mechanical body and Steam Furnace overwhelmed the defenders. As Billy activated Steam Furnace Overload and Evan unleashed Animated Aura Overclock, the two prepared to clash.

• Milan struck Billy with a Doom Curse while Gary and the Navy Soldiers transformed into fish monster warriors and attacked him.
• A gear jammed in Billy’s body, letting Gary survive a blow that sent him flying, before Billy charged toward Milan.
• Evan intercepted Billy’s attack on Milan, then exchanged sword strikes with him as Billy revealed his mostly mechanical body and asked about Rudolph.
• Billy used a smoke bomb and wound his Clockwork Key, activating Steam Furnace Overload and power beyond a Second-Order Knight.
• Evan reached his eighty-five-percent Flesh Liberation limit and activated Animated Aura Overclock as he faced Billy.