Chapter Summaries

Keosius emerged from North Wind Fortress into a shadowed landscape and realized a planar vortex was opening above Twilight Forest. He discovered that the legendary Shadow Dragon Mortifer was descending through it, leaving Keosius determined to stop the invasion.

• Keosius abandoned his pursuit of the black mist and smashed through the fortress to reach the outside.
• Keosius recognized that the Night of No Light and the vortex above Twilight Forest signaled a breach between the Shadowfell and the Prime Material Plane.
• Keosius attacked the vortex with his barrier, dragonfire, and spells, but could not stop the black mist from growing.
• A huge Shadow Dragon emerged from the vortex and identified himself as Mortifer, thanking Keosius for driving his contractor to sacrifice everything.
• Keosius learned that Mortifer was a legendary being with Challenge Rating 21 and resolved to prevent his full descent.

Keosius faced Mortifer as the Shadow Dragon transformed Twilight Forest into a sealed Shadow Domain and began descending toward the Material Plane. Keosius discovered that only force, psychic, and radiant attacks could harm Mortifer, leaving him trapped as the Shadow Dragon’s domain closed in.

• Keosius realized the Shadow Domain had distorted space and trapped every living creature in Twilight Forest.
• Mortifer confirmed he had offered Brad Lachmann ascension, then declared he would fulfill his promise to take Keosius’s life and make him a Shadow creature.
• Keosius’s fire breath and Storm Echo Body passed harmlessly through Mortifer’s projection, while the contact drained some of Keosius’s Life Force.
• Keosius’s Magic Missiles struck Mortifer, and the panel revealed that Shadow Dragons in darkness were immune to all damage except force, psychic, and radiant damage.
• Mortifer began casting Mortifer's Shadow Avatar Spell as the dome descended, the mountains closed in, and Shadow Creatures surged toward Keosius.

Keosius used an illusion of Tiamat to make Mortifer doubt whether the Red Dragon was the Dragon Queen’s chosen, interrupting the Shadow Dragon’s attempted descent. Mortifer withdrew to the Plane of Shadow but warned that he would return.

• Keosius dismantled his Mind Barrier and cast Tiamat’s Terror Illusion directly into Mortifer’s mind.
• Mortifer recognized Tiamat in the illusion and wavered, fearing that Keosius might be favored by the Dragon Queen.
• Keosius challenged Mortifer to consider whether he could withstand the Dragon Queen’s wrath.
• Mortifer’s hesitation let the Prime Material Plane’s repulsive force break his attempt to descend.
• Mortifer withdrew to the Plane of Shadow and promised to return after the site had been marked by the Plane of Shadow.

After driving away Mortifer, Keosius faced an apparition of Tiamat, who demanded that he unify Anzeta and help her conquer the world. He recognized the danger behind her promises and considered the Dragon Usurpation conflict that lay ahead.

• Keosius healed his wounds after Mortifer left, vowed to kill the Shadow Dragon, and realized the curse had left the area dangerously close to becoming a boundary with the Plane of Shadow.
• Tiamat appeared to Keosius and praised his rule in Anzeta before ordering him to unify the region within ten years and march south into Fadlan.
• Keosius pretended to accept Tiamat's command, then sealed her Terrifying Illusion behind a Mind Barrier and received the status Tiamat's Greedy Gaze.
• Keosius resolved to strengthen himself and recalled how Tiamat planned to use her cult and control of Seleucia to restore Dragon's Rule amid the shattered Holy Fadlan Empire.

Keosius claimed the rewards from the war, reaching level 10 as a True Dragon Sorcerer and gaining powerful dragon spells. After taking control of the Lakman Duchy, he assigned Lang Li Bai Tiao to lead a new Vampire unit called Nocturne, leaving the Red Dragon to prepare for the occupation of the Anzeta Great Wasteland.

• Keosius advanced two True Dragon Sorcerer levels, gained Empowered Spell and Delayed Spell, and learned four dragon spells, including the Seventh-Circle Calamity Dragon Eye.
• Alger apologized to Keosius for being controlled by Duke Brad, while Mezhuolash asked what to do with the surviving Vampires.
• Keosius decided the Vampires could serve as infiltrators and ordered Lang Li Bai Tiao to establish Nocturne, a special unit for covert missions.
• Keosius promised to fund Nocturne’s blood supply and warned Lang Li Bai Tiao to keep the Vampires from attacking ordinary residents.
• Lang Li Bai Tiao eagerly accepted leadership of Nocturne as Keosius planned to take over the Lakman Duchy and prepare to occupy the Anzeta Great Wasteland.

After Keosius conquered the Lakman Duchy, he founded the Embers of the Burned Kingdom and issued demands to the Northern United Kingdom's nobles. At their gathering in Strasbourg, the nobles struggled to find a way to resist him until Schroeder said he knew someone who could help.

• Ember Nest occupied North Wind Fortress after Duke Brad's death, and the city was placed under martial law.
• Keosius proclaimed the founding of the Embers of the Burned Kingdom and issued demands for compensation and supervision to several northern duchies.
• Duke Leo Bosk and Grand Duke Oliver Norton denounced Keosius's demands and called for war to reclaim the Lakman Duchy's territory.
• The nobles considered seeking help from the Twilight Blade and the Holy Fadlan Empire, but learned neither option was available.
• Schroeder told Duke Leo that he knew someone who could contend with Keosius and might offer help.

Keosius and the Embers of the Burned Kingdom established dragon rule in North Wind Fortress, exposed Duke Brad Lachmann’s atrocities, and punished nobles who had aided his crimes. Under Mezhuolash’s pragmatic leadership and Keosius’s laws, the city resumed daily life, though some residents still plotted resistance.

• Keosius declared the founding of the Embers of the Burned Kingdom and the end of the old nation’s rule over North Wind Fortress.
• Evidence of Duke Brad Lachmann’s crimes emerged, and the Tieflings executed dozens of nobles who had knowingly assisted him.
• Mezhuolash chose peaceful coexistence with ordinary humans over the hawks’ demand for revenge, reflecting on the war and Leiresa.
• Keosius issued laws against theft, fighting, and murder, while the Security Team and Nocturne unit purged criminal groups and improved public safety.
• Players established factories, magical services, and an employment hall as residents resumed their lives, though some continued plotting against the new regime.

Keosius ordered Yun Danfengqing and a group of law students to draft a simplified Kingdom Law within a month, then gained the Kingdom Domain trait after establishing his nation. He tested his new power and prepared to attend the second Arcane Hermit Order meeting.

• Keosius gave Yun Danfengqing's team one month to produce a simplified framework for the Kingdom Law, promising access to the Lakman Duchy's archives and generous rewards.
• Yun Danfengqing told the gathered players they faced a month of rushed work, then broke down over having to work in another world.
• Keosius reflected that the kingdom needed a real law code and received the advanced King achievement, upgrading Dictatorial Law to Kingdom Domain.
• Keosius tested Kingdom Domain and found he could control or suppress magical energy within its reach while strengthening his own spells.
• Keosius noticed his Arcane Hermit Order Badge flashing, used Polymorph to take human form, and prepared for the second meeting.

Keosius attended an Arcane Hermit Order gathering where Northern nobles condemned the Red Dragon and Schroeder urged the members to resist him. The chapter ended with Schroeder warning that the Norton Duchy and the rest of the North would fall next if they did not act.

• Keosius listened as members condemned the Red Dragon and vowed to defend their lands, while he memorized their names and affiliations.
• Olivia told Keosius she had identified him as Anher, son of Castro, and he challenged her for violating the Order’s rules.
• Schroeder revealed that he had been a Court Mage of the fallen Lakman Duchy and described the Red Dragon’s conquest.
• Olivia questioned Schroeder’s claims, but he dismissed her evidence and accused the Red Dragon of evil.
• Schroeder warned the gathering that the Norton Duchy would be next and urged the members to resist before they were slaughtered.

Schroeder recruited Keosius to help capture the Red Dragon with a dragon-binding array, while Keosius planned to use the alliance to eliminate Schroeder afterward. Keosius arranged to send spellcasters to the secret chamber, and Charlotte received a high-reward mission to infiltrate it.

• Schroeder appealed to the gathering’s sense of justice, and Keosius agreed to cooperate with him in hunting the Red Dragon.
• Olivia warned Keosius that Schroeder served a Vampire Duke, but Keosius persuaded her that he would eliminate every evil and might leave her a message if the operation failed.
• At the Avenger's Secret Chamber, Schroeder showed Keosius the Wagnerd Dragon Binding Array and proposed luring the Red Dragon into it.
• Keosius offered his spellcasters and contacts at North Wind Fortress, and Schroeder said the operation could begin in one month.
• Charlotte received a faction mission to gather players disguised as Anher’s retainers and infiltrate the Avenger's Secret Chamber, then rallied Magic Coin to take it.

One month later, Schroeder prepared to use the Wagnerd Dragon Binding Array to kill the Red Dragon, while Keosius's disguised avatar gathered the plotters and their allies near North Wind Fortress. Keosius planned to turn the dragon-slaying operation into a trap that would wipe out Schroeder and the assembled forces.

• Charlotte reported that her subordinates had memorized the seventeenth section of the Wagnerd Dragon Binding Array, and Schroeder promised her Spell Scrolls and Gold Coins.
• Keosius's avatar arrived at the secret chamber, where Schroeder introduced twelve gray-robed Mages who would control the array's core.
• Keosius saw that the twelve Mages and twenty Magic Coin Guild players had gathered to help slay the Red Dragon, though most of them were secretly his spies.
• Schroeder told Keosius that the Lionheart Knight Order and Double Headed Eagle Warriors were waiting near North Wind Fortress to help the group escape after the dragon's death.
• Keosius praised Schroeder's preparations and urged the group to begin the operation, privately intending to destroy the assembled enemy forces.

Keosius lured Schroeder and the Northern Kingdom’s Court Mages to a secluded clearing under the pretense of helping them cast the Wagnerd Dragon Binding Array. When Schroeder discovered Keosius was the Red Dragon he hated, Keosius nullified the array and the Hobgoblin army captured the Mages.

• Keosius brought Schroeder and the Mages to his hidden Kingdom Domain near North Wind Fortress, where they began drawing the Wagnerd Dragon Binding Array.
• Schroeder entered the array’s center and asked Keosius to provide a dragon scale and dragon blood to lure the Red Dragon.
• Keosius revealed his Red Dragon form, and Schroeder recognized him as the one who had destroyed his family, status, and hopes.
• The players exposed themselves as undercover agents and attacked the unprepared Court Mages while Keosius watched.
• Schroeder forcibly activated the incomplete array, but Keosius used Kingdom Domain—Nullification to silence its magic.
• The Hobgoblin army captured Schroeder and the Court Mages after their escape spells failed.

Lang Pu explained how the Embers of the Burned Kingdom handled captured mages and revealed that he had killed Bennett to make a powerful spell-storing pendant from his skull. Keosius reprimanded Lang Pu to report such experiments in advance, then left him with the newly captured mages as he anticipated the arrival of the Bosk Family’s Lionheart Knight Order.

• Lang Pu landed beside Keosius and praised him for capturing the hidden mages, then received orders to make use of them for Ember Nest.
• Lang Pu described stripping captives of their Magic Equipment, interrogating them, and using Charm Spells to control survivors; he admitted he had killed Bennett and turned his skull and brain into Magic Equipment.
• Keosius examined Bennett's Wisdom, which boosted Intelligence and stored spells, and told Lang Pu to report similar experiments in advance.
• Keosius assigned the captured mages to Lang Pu, who eagerly took them away, particularly coveting Schroeder’s powerful spells.
• Keosius noted that the Wagnerd Dragon Binding Array remained ready for use and anticipated the Bosk Family’s Lionheart Knight Order, crediting Schroeder with luring them in.

Freed Olber led the Lionheart Knight Order toward a signal that suggested the Red Dragon had been defeated, but he grew suspicious of the eerily quiet forest and ordered a retreat. As the knights withdrew under an invisibility curtain, a massive shadow fell over them and exposed their position.

• Freed reassured Jayden that the Lionheart Knight Order would retreat if the mission became too dangerous and waited for Grand Duke Leo's signal.
• Golden ripples appeared in the sky, and Freed believed the signal meant the Red Dragon had been restrained or slain, so he led the knights toward the forest.
• Freed and the knights found no signs of battle and heard only an eerie silence, which made Freed suspect a trap.
• Freed ordered the Lionheart Knight Order to abandon the mission and withdraw toward a safe position where he could activate a portal.
• A massive shadow fell over the retreating knights, and the invisibility curtain failed.

Keosius attacked the Lionheart Knight Order, while Freed rallied his knights to defend themselves with their linked shields and Lion Guardian. The spirit began to falter as Keosius increased the intensity of his flames.

• Keosius appeared before the Lionheart Knight Order, and Freed recalled Tarick's death as he faced the dragon.
• Freed ordered the knights to form Guardian Bond, linking more than twenty of them into a shared defense.
• Keosius struck the Lionheart Knights with his Scratch Spell, but they held their formation and distributed the force among themselves.
• Keosius unleashed dragon breath, and Freed ordered the knights to stand fast behind their shield wall.
• Freed summoned Lion Guardian, whose lion spirit briefly held back the flames before Keosius intensified his fire and began to overwhelm it.

Keosius destroyed the Lionheart Knights’ formation with dragonfire and offered the survivors a choice between serving the Embers of the Burned Kingdom and dying. Freed, the last knight standing, abandoned the identity he had built by following Tarick and submitted to Keosius.

• Keosius burned through the Lionheart Knights’ silver-shield formation, killing many knights and leaving Freed among the survivors.
• Keosius offered the surviving knights immense power and long lives if they became Evil Dragon Kin, but Deputy Commander Jayden defied him and was killed.
• The Lionheart Knights attacked Keosius in the name of the Bosque Duchy and Grand Duke Leo, and he killed them one by one.
• Freed realized he had spent his life imitating Tarick and admitted that he wanted to live as himself rather than die for the Lionheart Knights.
• Keosius landed before Freed and demanded his submission, and Freed lowered his head as his Heronius pocket watch fell into the dust.

Keosius turned the surrendered Lionheart Knight commander Freed into a dragon-blooded follower, creating a new faction subclass for the Embers of the Burned Kingdom. Freed accepted his irreversible break with the Bosque Duchy as Keosius named the class Dragon Oath Paladin.

• Keosius questioned Freed about why he betrayed the Bosque Duchy, and Freed said he wanted to survive, gain power, and choose his own fate.
• Keosius decided to use Bloodline Gift on Freed before his broken Lionheart Knight oath stripped him of his powers.
• Freed accepted becoming Keosius's follower and endured the painful transformation caused by dragon blood.
• Freed emerged with dragon-vein traits and submitted to Keosius, knowing Grand Duke Leo would hunt him if his betrayal became known.
• Keosius created a faction advanced subclass and named it Dragon Oath Paladin.

Keosius created the Dragon Kinship Oath, turning Freed into the first Dragon Oath Paladin and discovering that the subclass extended his own power through their bond. He ordered Freed to build a Dragon Oath Hall at North Wind Fortress and train more Paladins.

• Keosius devised the Dragon Kinship Creed, commanding Dragon Oath Paladins to crush hope, enforce order, and obey him without question.
• Freed recited the oath, and its words branded themselves onto his upper arm as Keosius bound him to the Red Dragon’s power.
• Keosius created the Dragon Oath Paladin subclass, granting abilities including Dragon Majesty, Dragon Vein Link, Dragon Lord’s Descent, and Blazing Aura.
• Freed demonstrated Dragon Majesty and Dragon Vein Link, and Keosius recognized the abilities as an extension of his own power.
• Keosius ordered Freed to build a Dragon Oath Hall within North Wind Fortress and train more Dragon Oath Paladins.

Keosius decided to annex the Norton Duchy quickly, using the weak neighbor to intimidate the northern nations while postponing war with the stronger Bosque Duchy. In Strasbourg, the battle report spread through the city and left its people wondering whether war was coming.

• Keosius learned from Darena that the Norton Duchy had been established from conquered Val Barbarian tribes and was effectively a Bosque vassal.
• Keosius weighed the risks of a wider war and reaffirmed his plan to unite the North in five years, when the Holy Fadlan Empire weakened and more players arrived.
• Keosius ordered Darena to annex the Norton Duchy quickly and use the invasion to deter the northern nations and curb Bosque's schemes.
• Darena welcomed the chance for war, while the dragonblooded retainers longed to return to bloodshed and fire.
• Wyverns dropped the battle report over Strasbourg, where residents learned the Bosque Lionheart Knights had been wiped out and worried that war might follow.

Olivia searched for news of Anher after reading a flyer about the failed attempt on the Red Dragon, while Duke Leo Bosk considered how to respond to the setback. The chapter ended with news that the Embers of the Burned Kingdom had conquered Norton Duchy in a single day.

• Olivia bought a flyer and learned that the attempt on the Red Dragon had failed, but it gave no news of Anher.
• Olivia worried about Anher and vanished from the alley, hoping to meet him at the next gathering of the Arcane Hermit Order.
• Duke Leo Bosk discussed the failed operation with Count Trischka and considered using Wagnerd against the Red Dragon.
• A messenger knight announced that Norton Duchy had fallen to the Embers of the Burned Kingdom.
• The messenger knight explained that the conquest had taken only one day, shocking Duke Leo.