Chapter Summaries

Keosius defied the Fire Giant Grand Sultan’s projection and devoured more than half of Ismail Enver’s essence while the Grand Sultan used a Wish Spell to resurrect him. Keosius gained a portion of authority over the Fire Elemental Plane, and Ismail returned to life, bewildered by his death.

• Keosius ignored the Grand Sultan’s threats and began absorbing Ismail’s remains.
• The Grand Sultan used a Wish Spell to resurrect Ismail, but Keosius resisted the Grand Sultan’s flaming chains with two kinds of divine power.
• Keosius bit off more than half of Ismail’s essence, gaining the Elemental Controller trait, new fire spells, and a small measure of authority over the Fire Elemental Plane.
• Keosius tried to absorb Ismail again as the Wish Spell completed, restoring Ismail unharmed.
• Ismail touched his head and asked in disbelief how he had died.

Keosius confronted the Grand Sultan after killing and draining Ismail, then offered a truce while threatening to help the Holy Flame Prince destroy the Fire Giant Kingdom. The Grand Sultan weighed the danger as Keosius demanded an apology and goodwill in exchange for staying out of the Burning War and possibly supplying the Empire.

• Keosius left Ismail resurrected but weakened, and Ismail knelt to apologize to the Grand Sultan.
• Keosius proposed a temporary truce, while the Grand Sultan angrily accused him of invading his realm and killing his servant.
• Keosius mocked the Grand Sultan’s injuries from Prince Zaman.Rul’s Holy Flame Spear, and the Grand Sultan demanded to know who had sent him and what he wanted.
• Keosius threatened to ravage Fire Giant cities as the Holy Flame Prince’s surprise force if the Grand Sultan continued the conflict.
• Keosius offered to avoid the Burning War and provide military supplies if the Grand Sultan agreed to a truce, apologized, and showed goodwill toward the Empire.

Keosius negotiated a ceasefire with the Grand Sultan, demanding wishes, weapons purchases, and control of three cities in exchange for the Embers of the Burned Empire remaining neutral. The Grand Sultan accepted and signed the contract, leaving Keosius with the agreed concessions and a ceasefire between their empires.

• The Grand Sultan demanded that Keosius state his terms and leave the Fire Elemental Plane, and Keosius initially asked for one hundred wishes per year.
• The Grand Sultan rejected the demand, so Keosius reduced it to fifty wishes per year plus weapons, then presented his final terms: twenty-five wishes annually for ten years, a weapons purchase worth five million Ginars, and three cities as concessions.
• Keosius warned that he would support the Holy Flame Prince if the Grand Sultan refused, while Ismail and the soldiers on both sides prepared to fight.
• The Grand Sultan accepted Keosius's terms to avoid provoking an Ancient Dragon, and Keosius formed a magical contract for him to sign.
• The Grand Sultan signed the contract and called Keosius the greediest dragon he had ever encountered, and Keosius thanked him for the compliment.

Keosius and the Fire Giant Grand Sultan ended the war by signing a treaty, and Keosius gained control over the Fire Giant Pasha's elemental power. With the pact requiring him to leave the Fire Elemental Plane within ten days, Keosius departed to seek the Holy Flame Prince, while Serkan vowed to strengthen the Empire's foothold in his absence.

• Keosius and the Fire Giant Grand Sultan signed a treaty granting the Embers of the Burned Empire annual wishes, elemental ore, and control of two cities while ending incursions against the Brass Fortress.
• The Grand Sultan destroyed his projection in anger, and Pasha Ismail returned to the City of Brass as rumors of Keosius's victory spread across the planes.
• Keosius tested his newly acquired elemental authority, summoned a Fire Elemental Giant, and discovered he could control fire creatures.
• Keosius decided to visit the Holy Flame Prince before his ten-day deadline and flew away from the Black Iron City.
• Serkan saluted Keosius's departure and vowed to become a qualified Colonial Governor and secure the Empire's position in the Fire Elemental Plane.

Keosius arrived at the Fire Elemental Plane and observed the immense armies gathered for the Burning War between the Fire Giants and the Holy Flame Legion. After recognizing the power of the Holy Flame Prince Zaman.Rul and both sides’ allies, Keosius realized powerful beings in the City of Brass and on Obsidian Mountain Peak had noticed him.

• Keosius reached the Heart of Flame and spotted the City of Brass, where the Fire Giants and their allies prepared to fight the Holy Flame Legion.
• The Holy Flame Legion assembled under Zaman.Rul, whose feud with Imist and mission to end Fire Giant rule had led to the Burning War.
• Keosius used the Calamity Dragon Eye to assess Zaman.Rul and the powerful forces gathered on both sides.
• Keosius sensed that dangerous figures on Obsidian Mountain Peak and inside the City of Brass were watching him.

Keosius left the City of Brass after greeting the Fire Giant Grand Sultan, while the Holy Flame Prince’s forces prepared to attack. At the Brass Fortress, Turbocharged Engine Warrior persuaded Shalin to let the Empire help automate Fire Dwarf reproduction.

• Garoslawi Shuo Jin told Zaman.Rul that the arriving Red Dragon was Keosius, who had killed Pasha Ismail but might have a secret treaty with the Fire Giant Grand Sultan.
• Zaman.Rul rallied the liberated slaves to march on the City of Brass as its defenders prepared for battle.
• Keosius opened a portal to the Material Plane, dismissed the Grand Sultan’s accusations, and departed after bidding him farewell.
• Keosius sent Zaman.Rul a message inviting him to the Brass Fortress to discuss military equipment or cooperation.
• Turbocharged Engine Warrior urged Shalin to use automated casting to increase Fire Dwarf reproduction, and Shalin cautiously agreed to consider the Empire’s help.

Keosius returned to Istaria and ordered the Empire to support its Fire Elemental Plane colony while cracking down on companies breaking Imperial law. After the crackdown, gold-seeking enterprises turned their expansion southward, where enforcement was looser.

• Keosius arrived at the Istaria Great Altar, where Lang Pu, Mezhuolash, Dolo, and the gathered troops welcomed him home.
• Keosius asked Lang Pu about aid for the Fire Elemental Plane colony, and Lang Pu reported that supplies and heat-resistant equipment were on their way.
• Keosius appointed Serkan governor of the colony and ordered the Empire to develop weapons for fighting elemental creatures.
• Lang Pu reported that Military Industry Group members were exploiting legal loopholes, so Keosius ordered the Legal Department to strengthen penalties and Mezhuolash to have Nocturne intervene.
• Keosius returned to the palace to rest, and a month later the Empire promulgated corporate law, publicly executed violators, and punished companies that broke the rules.
• Some people began contacting priests of the Church of Waukeen and expanding southward, where they believed they could operate with greater freedom.

Keosius reached level 19 and raised his Charisma to 35, unlocking powerful new dragon spells. After testing Dragon Reaving and creating a simulacrum of himself, he sent the duplicate to hunt demons in the Anstica Mountains.

• Keosius gained enough experience to reach level 19 and chose to advance as a True Dragon Sorcerer.
• Keosius increased his Charisma from 33 to 35, sensing a new level of magic beyond the Weave.
• Keosius gained the ninth-circle spell Dragon Reaving and the seventh-circle spell Dragon's Simulacrum.
• Keosius tested Dragon Reaving by dispelling a fire sphere and transferring it into his palm.
• Keosius created a partly powered simulacrum of himself and ordered it to fly to the Anstica Mountains to hunt demons.

After digesting the quasi-divine essence he had taken from Ismail, Keosius gained the Elemental Master class and unlocked powerful abilities tied to fire and other energies. He tested Energy Burst in the Karkha Glacier Belt, leaving a vast boiling-water pit where the glacier had been.

• Keosius absorbed the last of the Fire Giant essence and gained authority over flames.
• Keosius accepted the Elemental Master class and advanced to level 4, adding it to his Sorcerer and Bloodscale Berserker classes.
• Keosius tested his new abilities, using Energy Substitution to turn a lightning spell into fire and learning he could summon an elemental.
• Keosius traveled to the Karkha Glacier Belt, where he reflected on the six years since the Glacier Destruction Battle.
• Keosius used Energy Attunement and Energy Burst to melt the glacier and create a huge pit of boiling water.

Hart commanded an undead legion in Dragon Shadow City after receiving authorization to exterminate the Shadow Dragonkin Drow of Black Wing. He led the army toward the city to advance the empire’s expansion.

• Hart reflected on his new existence as a lich and declared that he lived to conquer the Underdark for his master.
• Zhaike Granger told Hart that Ingrid had dispelled Dragon Shadow City’s Shadow Curse and that the empire planned to build fortifications near the Howling Abyss.
• Hart demanded to know where he could slaughter living creatures, dismissing Zhaike’s news about Ingrid.
• Zhaike explained that the Jezzred Family had expanded into Black Wing and presented an order from Chief Minister Lang Pu authorizing the complete extermination of the Shadow Dragonkin Drow.
• Hart gathered the skeletal Azure Foot Dragon Snakes and undead skeletons, then led them toward Black Wing.

Shalaina Jezzred realized that the Embers of the Burned Empire had sent an undead army to destroy the Jezzred Family, and the invasion began as Dragon Snake skeletons broke through the city walls. Meanwhile, George began another day as a Dragon Blood Noble and Imperial officer in Istaria, reflecting on how the empire had transformed his life.

• Shalaina Jezzred identified the approaching undead as the Embers of the Burned Empire and warned that they intended to destroy the Jezzred Family.
• Dragon Snake skeletons smashed through the city walls, and wights announced that the hunt had begun.
• George dressed in his Imperial uniform and Baron’s medal, prayed to Keosius, and left his mansion.
• George met his neighbor, Baron Grace. Parrid, and rode with him on a military train toward work.
• George watched Istaria pass by and reflected on his rise from serf to noble and his desire to give everything for the empire.

George reflected on how the Empire had given him a chance to rise from slavery as Istaria grew into a thriving city. At a military meeting, he learned that the army would be reorganized into specialized forces for new battlefields, and he resolved to join the campaign to conquer the southern continent.

• George and Grace discussed Istaria’s growth, the Empire’s expansion, and the new military specialization system while traveling to the Imperial Third Military Training Base.
• George arrived at the infantry base and reported to his commander, Arturo Red Ridge, before attending a military meeting.
• Arturo announced that the army would be reshuffled into forces assigned to homeland defense, the Fire Elemental Plane, the Underdark, or the future conquest of the Feanso Continent.
• George decided that he wanted to see a broader world and conquer the south for Your Majesty Keosius.

Andre Bosk met with the scholar Guges in the Empire’s bustling capital and questioned the nature of its rule. Over the following year, the Empire expanded its industry and agriculture, while worker exploitation, resistance, and war profits exposed the costs of its rapid growth.

• Andre Bosk watched the crowds in Emperor Square and reunited with Guges, who called the Empire advanced but greedy and said he had begun writing about Starfallers’ knowledge.
• Guges suggested he would give everything to oppose the Empire if it ever fell behind history, and Andre hurriedly silenced him in the tavern.
• Over the next year, Imperial farming and manufacturing expanded, food and warm clothing became more available, and reported deaths from hunger and cold fell sharply.
• Factory owners exploited women and children, workplace injuries spread, and industrial production drove many northern artisans and workshops out of business.
• Workers rebelled in Rostin City and elsewhere, prompting the Empire to pass labor laws and carry out the Great Purge Movement against abusive factory owners.
• As the Three Emperors War intensified, the Empire’s military industry and the Empire South Continent Company profited, while some people began to welcome and provoke further war.

Bauer Stanton and his comrades endured the horrors of the southern front while wondering why they were fighting, unaware they would soon be sent to the Holy City. In Istaria, factory worker Lajie struggled through exhausting work and wage deductions as he dreamed of owning a flower shop.

• Bauer Stanton mercy-killed the mortally wounded Busa after an artillery strike, then shared his precious Empire Made cigarettes with the surviving soldiers.
• Bauer remembered his hometown and Jenny, and told Tommy that the war was a fight between Wilhelm and Otis over the old emperor’s golden chair.
• Bauer and the soldiers joked together, unaware that General Misel Benaserraf had selected their unit as reinforcements for the Holy City battlefield.
• At Istaria’s Thirteenth Factory, Lajie made a sorting mistake and learned that half a month’s wages would be deducted, putting his dream of opening a flower shop further out of reach.

Olivia challenged the military’s proposed budget increase in Parliament and, after Prime Minister Lang Pu intervened, decided to seek Keosius’s support. At the Iron Dragon Wing Palace, Keosius continued experimenting with elemental magic and noticed Olivia had arrived.

• Olivia proposed cutting military spending and shifting funds toward education, healthcare, and poverty relief, but Earl Dawn argued that military investment supported the Empire’s finances and jobs.
• Olivia accused the Dragon Blood Nobles of profiting from military spending, but Dawn sought to block her proposal by demanding support from more than 60% of the Lower House.
• Lang Pu backed Olivia’s welfare argument, turning the debate into a heated political struggle between the military and the government administration.
• Olivia resolved to keep working for change and decided she might ask Keosius for help.
• Keosius failed to combine fire and lightning, reflected on his growing size, and sensed Olivia arriving outside the palace.

Olivia visited Keosius to discuss her social welfare proposal and urge him to stop selling weapons into the Fadlan Empire’s war, but he persuaded her that the weapons were not to blame. Keosius then asked her to secure the Melvord Clan’s aid against an Abyssal invasion expected in a year, and Olivia agreed to seek their support.

• Olivia returned to the royal palace, where Keosius welcomed her and discussed her proposal, arguing that its welfare plan could weaken production incentives and invite corruption.
• Keosius read Olivia’s proposal and offered detailed criticism, while Olivia listened and agreed to revise it.
• Olivia accused Keosius’s empire of profiting from the bloodshed in the Fadlan Empire by selling weapons, and asked him to stop.
• Keosius argued that weapons were not evil and that the Fadlan war would have happened regardless, persuading Olivia that she had no clear counterargument.
• Keosius told Olivia that Abyssal Devils would invade the Anzeta Great Wasteland in a year and asked the Melvord Clan to help defend the empire.
• Olivia agreed to contact her grandfather and the Melvord Clan so they could coordinate support against the demons.

Keosius released the Embers of the Burned Empire First Gladiator Tournament as the final major event before the Northern Lands Feng Yun version ended, drawing nearly four hundred thousand players into preparations and heated debates. As the tournament approached, Steamed Bun declared his intent to win while Singo studied opponents and other teammates prepared to compete.

• Keosius unlocked faction events, named the Empire Gladiator Tournament, and released it to players ahead of the coming server shutdown.
• Nearly four hundred thousand Erezege players received the announcement and flocked to the forums to discuss the rewards, rules, and likely champions.
• The Empire and player guilds publicized the tournament, promising Keosius would attend the elimination matches and honor the victor.
• Keosius read the forum arguments and wondered how the tournament's champion would differ from the one in his original timeline.
• Steamed Bun vowed to win the Dragon Flame Champion title, while Singo revealed he had spent two months gathering intelligence on strong players.
• Born Battle Maniac and Xia Ye Qiuyu confirmed they would compete, leaving Steamed Bun nervous about his chances.

Luan Shi Fusheng registered for the Preliminary Round and arrived at the First District, dreaming of beginning a professional career. His confidence collapsed when he learned that his first opponent was Steel Frenzy, piloting a massive Arcane Armor.

• Tens of thousands of players lined up to register for the Preliminary Round, while Imperial spectators eagerly anticipated the tournament.
• Luan Shi Fusheng paid the entry fee, received Contestant No. 22054's token, and headed to the First District.
• Luan Shi Fusheng told Jian Cai Wang Ge that he was competing, and Wang Ge warned his friends that Fusheng would face hell in the First District.
• Luan Shi Fusheng prepared his weapons and buffs, confident that his Fighter skills would carry him through the match.
• The crowd welcomed Steel Frenzy and his powerful Arcane Armor as Luan Shi Fusheng realized he had no idea how to fight it.

Luan Shi Fusheng entered the tournament hoping to begin his professional career, but he was crushed by Steel Frenzy, Dawei Tianlong, and I'm Going to Eat Mantou in three consecutive matches. He became famous on the forums as the player who fought three pros without winning.

• Luan Shi Fusheng faced Steel Frenzy, whose fully shielded Arcane Armor survived his sneak attack before killing him with a punch.
• After reviving and buying armor, Luan Shi Fusheng faced Dawei Tianlong, who shattered his armor and defeated him with a single punch.
• Luan Shi Fusheng entered his final match expecting an easy opponent, but I'm Going to Eat Mantou rode a Wyvern and pierced him with a lance.
• Luan Shi Fusheng became a forum celebrity, and a trending post called him undefeated in never winning after fighting three pros.

Steamed Bun replaced his destroyed cavalry spear by befriending Gino and other Fire Dwarves in the Brass Fortress, then watched Born Battle Maniac face the notorious Black Night Poem. Born Battle Maniac shrugged off Black Night Poem’s tricks and killed him with a decisive axe strike.

• After losing his Red Scale Standard Cavalry Spear, Steamed Bun visited the Brass Fortress to find a replacement weapon.
• Steamed Bun persuaded Gino that he should not blame every Starfaller for the one who had altered the Fire Dwarves’ molds, and Gino agreed to help him.
• Gino introduced Steamed Bun to other Fire Dwarves who had also been changed by the Starfaller, and Steamed Bun proposed paid visits and photo services for Starfallers.
• Several days later, Steamed Bun arrived at the First District with rare-quality armor and a new cavalry spear forged by his Fire Dwarf friends.
• Born Battle Maniac faced Black Night Poem, dispersed his smoke bomb, and resisted his control tricks with his Selfless Rage trait.
• Born Battle Maniac struck Black Night Poem down with his battle axe, drawing a roar of cheers from the stands.