Chapter Summaries

New players ambushed and defeated two thousand Sentar Oasis rebels on the road to Origin Harbor, with Old Mr. Niu proving himself a formidable fighter. After the victory, he asked whether the players were truly fighting for justice, and the paratrooper affirmed that they served order and could become heroes.

• The paratrooper spotted the Sentar rear guard and arranged a surprise attack, while Old Mr. Niu led the new players toward the enemy camp.
• The players charged under Pom banners as flank teams opened fire, throwing the Sentar soldiers into disarray.
• Old Mr. Niu killed several rebels, rescued Reno Jim, and led the players in routing the Sentar force.
• The paratrooper ordered the captured rebels sent to the Pom Oasis for imprisonment and forced labor, while Old Mr. Niu insisted they be restrained before the march.
• Old Mr. Niu told the paratrooper that battle had reignited his martial ambitions and asked whether their side stood for justice.
• The paratrooper said they fought for order and predicted Old Mr. Niu would become a hero to the Sangheili and Transians.

After the Pharaoh’s assassination plunged the Sanghaan Empire into crisis, Lord Paing investigated the foreign leaders and uncovered a conspiracy among the Pharaoh’s courtiers. A question about the holy spear’s limits led Paing to realize that Berdinos had used the investigation as cover to take Khufu, Fleur, and the Titan activation key to the Holy City of the Sun.

• Berdinos persuaded Lord Paing to investigate the heads of state while he took Khufu and Fleur to activate the Blazing Titan.
• Berdinos slapped Khufu out of his despair and urged him to help save the Empire, and Khufu agreed to go with him.
• Lord Paing examined the foreign leaders and their attendants, exposing chaos followers among them and uncovering two poison tasters’ plot with the Lord of Original Sin.
• Governor Hood questioned who had placed the poisoned wine on the Pharaoh’s tray, and Countess Margaret challenged the limits of Eternal Silence’s ability to detect guilt.
• Lord Paing realized that the spear might not detect a Sanghaan who sincerely believed his actions were right, then suspected Berdinos had taken the Titan’s key and the heirs under false pretenses.

Old Qin and the players rescued a Pharaoh-loyal oasis and continued toward the crashed Thousand-Year Quicksand, while the Origin Vanguard came under missile attack. Liji’s seal was lifted, and she caught the falling solar ship, leaving the group with two ships to repair.

• Old Qin sent ten power armors into the rebels’ rear, forcing them to surrender and prompting their young pharaoh commander to kill himself.
• Old Qin told the oasis’s young pharaoh that the rescuers were from Transia and agreed to take the captured rebels with them.
• Miss Ayu estimated that the Thousand-Year Quicksand lay about 270 kilometers southeast, while Lord Ma explained that repairing its control system would be easier with data from the Origin Vanguard.
• Yan Sang’s scouting spell revealed the damaged Origin Vanguard being struck by a Purger missile and falling from the sky.
• Mannis lifted Liji’s seal and ordered Eris to conceal her with a sandstorm, allowing Liji to transform into a dragon and catch the falling ship.
• Old Qin told Lord Ma to report the discovery and expand the repair team, since they now had two solar ships to repair.

Old Qin and Lord Ma coordinated with General Bhopal after the Origin Vanguard crashed, arranging to transfer its God Scepter launch platform and Eden's control algorithms to the Millennium Quicksand so they could reach Murphy. Lord Ma also negotiated access to Sanghaan sunship technology, while Eden warned that the Twilight Organization might attack the damaged ship.

• Old Qin reached the crash site with the Transians, learned Madam Liji was recovering, and told General Bhopal about the Pharaoh's assassination and the crisis in the capital.
• General Bhopal explained that Eden had guided the Origin Vanguard to a safe landing, but the damaged sunship could not take off again; Lord Ma proposed transferring Eden and the God Scepter launch platform to the Millennium Quicksand.
• Lord Ma connected a portable data device to the Origin Vanguard, and Eden agreed to copy control-system subprograms after Lord Ma argued that the data would help repair Creator relics.
• Eden warned that the Twilight Organization might attack to steal the ship's data, advised the Sanghaans to prepare defenses, and gave instructions for repairing the vessel.
• Lord Ma learned that the Empire had seven sunships and negotiated access to an unfinished ship and the Creator shipyard's equipment for study.
• Old Qin prepared to seize the Millennium Quicksand and ordered the God Scepter launch platform and Eden's algorithms sent to Murphy; Lord Ma, General Bhopal, Eris, Madam Liji, and guards stayed behind.

A-Feng investigated the Pharaoh’s poisoning aboard the Heart of Ptolemy and used a sample from the wine to identify a clue implicating Priest Berdinos. As the airship neared the Sun’s holy city, A-Feng and Nefertari prepared to protect Princess Fulei and Crown Prince Khufu and call for help.

• A-Feng reviewed players’ theories about the Pharaoh’s assassination and discussed the possible motives of the Sangha Empire’s religious factions with Nefertari.
• Nefertari explained how the ceremonial wine had been selected and inspected, narrowing the practical suspects to the two priests who examined it.
• A-Feng showed Nefertari three components he had separated from the poisoned wine, and she identified one as a corpseflower additive.
• Nefertari recognized the corpseflower as a substance she and Fulei had found in Berdinos’s meditation room and concluded that he had poisoned the Pharaoh.
• Berdinos entered the laboratory to announce their arrival at the Sun’s holy city, while A-Feng urged Nefertari to find Fulei and said he would stay with Khufu and seek reinforcements.

Murphy raced toward Sun City to find the Radiant Relic and save Hither, while the Worldburning Fiendhost besieged Lord Palling’s forces. At the Sun Pyramid, Nefertari exposed Berdinos as the Pharaoh’s poisoner, and Berdinos admitted his ties to the King of Wraiths before revealing he had his own reasons for activating the Colossus.

• Murphy learned from Lord Palling that the Worldburning Fiendhost had surrounded Palace Mountain, then promised to send reinforcements and warned that the decisive battle might unfold in the sea of sand.
• Murphy told Triss and Adele that he planned to find the Radiant Relic in Sun City to free Hither, and he urged Triss to contact the Bloodline Grand Duke.
• Berdinos arrived at the Sun Pyramid, where High Priest Pafi told him the dying Chief Priest Jomni had chosen him as successor and asked him to lead the Blazing Sun Colossus’s activation.
• Nefertari accused Berdinos of poisoning the Pharaoh and presented a vial whose carrion bloom linked the poison to the Wraith Abyss and the Church of the Dying Moon’s forbidden texts.
• Berdinos confessed that his full name was Berdinos Firm Mamuluk and that the King of Wraiths was his grandfather; three High Priests attacked Pafi when he tried to punish Berdinos.
• Berdinos told Freya that he wanted the sun to surpass the sky and stars, and said that although the gods did not care about the people, he did.

Nefertari and Freya confronted Bedinos, who revealed his plan to destroy the Origin Holy City and free the Sangheili from dependence on the Creator, then activated the Colossus of the Blazing Sun. After Bedinos departed, the remaining High Priests moved to kill the witnesses, but Murphy arrived with Triss and intervened.

• Bedinos explained to Nefertari and Freya that he intended to use the Colossus to destroy the Origin Holy City and end the Sangheili’s faith in the Creator.
• Bedinos revealed that the elves held the Creation Engine’s activation key and that his grandfather had attacked them to seize it before it could threaten the Empire.
• Freya gave Bedinos the Quicksand Scepter after he promised to place Khufu on the throne, then stabbed him as a farewell.
• Bedinos and the High Priest of the Blazing Sun inserted their scepters into the altar, awakening the Colossus, and Bedinos ordered the priests to suppress the rebellion before heading toward the Origin Holy City.
• The three remaining High Priests prepared to kill Khufu, Freya, and A-Feng, but Murphy arrived and attacked them while Triss engaged the others.

Murphy and his companions escaped the Great Sun priests and fled through the sewers, where they found Hathor, Grand Duke of the Secret Blood Clan. As Hathor took in the wounded, Murphy learned that she had continued research Triss began into freeing vampires from the sun’s restrictions.

• Murphy’s group escaped the solar attack and hid in the sewers while the Great Sun priests searched the city.
• Adele led the group to a sewer maze, and Triss prepared to dispel the illusion guarding her old safe house.
• Murphy comforted Khufu and Fuli'er, then learned from Fuli'er that Berdinos sought to destroy the City of Origins because the key remained with the elven royal court.
• Triss broke the illusion and exposed Hathor, the Secret Blood Clan’s Grand Duke, who had disguised herself as a Sanghai priestess.
• Hathor treated the wounded and explained that she had continued Triss’s abandoned research into freeing vampires from the sun’s restrictions.

Murphy recruited Grand Duke Hator to help him find a Radiance Artifact and break through the City of Blazing Sun’s defenses. After Hator healed Palanno and High Priest Pafi, Murphy revealed his plan to kill the Lord of Darkness and asked her to preside over the candle’s unsealing ritual.

• Murphy and his companions met Grand Duke Hator in her underground laboratory, where she examined the injured Nefertari and Palanno.
• Hator extracted the sun fragments from Palanno and exchanged life force between him and High Priest Pafi, bringing both men out of mortal danger.
• Triss explained that Hator had become the most powerful vampire spirit-energy user and warned Murphy that Hator had implanted something dangerous in Pafi.
• Murphy asked Hator to help stop Berdinos and locate a Radiance Artifact, offering to guide her into the City of Origin in return.
• Murphy showed Hator the candle of the Lord of Darkness and revealed that he planned to kill the god and use the ritual to open an escape route through the Sun City.
• Hator agreed to preside over the unsealing ritual, provided reliable partners in the Astral Realm supplied a reference point.

Murphy and his companions infiltrated the Grand Cathedral of the Primordial Sun to search for the Radiance Artifact while Duke Hathor prepared to unseal an Old God and spoke with the dead Bayek. High Priest Pafi stayed behind to confront the rebel priests as the others entered the vault.

• Duke Hathor sent Murphy, Triss, and their companions toward the Grand Cathedral and kept Sir Palanno with her while she prepared the unsealing ritual.
• Bayek told Hathor to escort his disciple to the Dead Moon's holy grounds and revealed that the Netherworld held knowledge and resources tied to the Creator's plans.
• Adele incapacitated a Sun priest, and High Priest Pafi used the sanctuary's mirrors to open the treasure vault for Murphy and the others.
• Pafi urged Khufu and Frier to seek the empire's future in the vault, then sealed the route behind them as rebel forces entered the cathedral.
• Pafi denounced the rebel High Priests and ignited his sun fragment to form a wall of golden light between them and the upper level.

Murphy and his allies searched the Primordial Sun Cathedral for the Radiant Artifact as the Lord of Darkness began entering the material world. With darkness swallowing the Sun Capital, Murphy recognized Adele’s old lighter as the artifact and ignited it, leaving the Lord of Darkness baffled.

• Murphy explained that Parom had severed ties with the Creator, while Mannis reported that Parom and Hades were fighting and warned that the Lord of Darkness would arrive in ten minutes.
• Murphy rejected several promising relics as the Radiant Artifact, identifying them as Parom’s shed shell, a purification cannon, the Raven’s Third Leg, and an unfinished artificial star.
• The Lord of Darkness tore open an astral rift and unleashed Devouring Light over the Sun Capital, while Great Priest Paphy survived as a cursed flame skeleton.
• The Lord of Darkness attacked Murphy and his companions in the cathedral’s treasure hall, and Triss and Hufu fought back with the star staff and purification cannon.
• Adele gave Murphy an old-fashioned lighter, and Murphy ordered Triss and Hufu to extinguish their weapons so the darkness could swallow them.
• As the Lord of Darkness swallowed the group, Murphy struck the lighter and produced a tiny flame.

Murphy used the Divine Artifact of Radiance to dispel the Lord of Darkness’s assault on the City of the Blazing Sun, then rescued Lord Heather and learned that the Sangha Empire’s crisis was still unresolved. As a sunship arrived, Murphy chose to keep pursuing the darkness’s roots rather than leave the empire’s problems to its next Pharaoh.

• Murphy activated the Divine Artifact of Radiance, blinding the Lord of Darkness and driving Him from the City of the Blazing Sun.
• Pafi chose to remain in the city as its executioner, while Hufu led the untainted priests out and Murphy’s group left the ruined basilica.
• Murphy found Lord Heather beneath the city, broke the candle sealing her consciousness, and recruited her to fight in the Sangha Empire’s civil war.
• Hufu sealed the City of the Blazing Sun behind him, leaving Pafi and the darkness-tainted traitors inside.
• A sunship arrived as Murphy’s group waited outside the city, and Murphy decided to keep investigating the darkness beneath the blazing sun.

Murphy took command of the Millennium Quicksand and ordered it toward Origin Harbor, planning to rally loyal forces while keeping the God's Scepter in reserve. In Ptolemy Royal City, the foreign rulers chose to resist the Chaos assault, but Frod summoned them to Lord Payne for another task.

• The Millennium Quicksand arrived with sixteen suits of war power armor, and Murphy learned that the Origin Vanguard had crashed and that Chaos forces were attacking Palace Mountain.
• Khufu urged Murphy to fly over the empire’s oases to rally loyalists, while Princess Furiel warned that the netherworld armies at Moonlight Holy City also had to be kept out of the conflict.
• Murphy accepted their advice, took command of the sunship, and ordered Eden to fly to Origin Harbor by way of the oases while preparing landing bays and powering the God's Scepter.
• Eden warned Murphy that the Blazing Sun Colossus could breach the Creation Engine’s defenses, but Murphy chose to keep the God's Scepter as a last resort while the colossus was still days away.
• At Ptolemy Royal City, King Louis, Governor Hood, Lord Oufge, and the Wolf Woman resolved to resist the Chaos forces and protect the city rather than flee.
• Frod entered the palace and told the rulers that Lord Payne was calling for them to undertake an important task.

Venerable Panying sent the foreign rulers out of Palace Mountain with the Pharaoh’s containment device as Chaos renewed its assault, and the disguised convoy fought its way through Ptolemy City. A world-burning demon ambushed them near the city walls, leaving King Louis injured and frozen for protection while Governor Hood suspected a traitor was among them.

• Chief Warrior Frode led the heads of state across Palace Mountain’s devastated battlefield to meet Venerable Panying, who ordered them to escort the Pharaoh’s spirit coffin to safety as the containment device’s power dwindled.
• King Louis and the other rulers agreed to help, and Prince Bai disguised them as ordinary Sanghai civilians and concealed their carriage as a salted-fish wagon.
• After Chaos forces attacked Palace Mountain again, the convoy fled toward a city gate, where King Louis led a mounted charge against cultists and helped destroy their Chaos Egg monster.
• A world-burning demon crashed down near the city walls and attacked the convoy; Lady Margaret shielded King Louis, and the wolf girl froze him to protect his mind from Chaos corruption.
• Governor Hood told Lord Oufge that the demon’s precisely timed ambush suggested a Chaos cultist had infiltrated the convoy.

Murphy arrived at Origin Harbor and mobilized Transian players and allied forces to reinforce the Sanghai campaign, while ordering expanded Dragon Rider production to prepare for the Netherworld Army. The chapter ended with a wounded Aztec Sky Warrior reporting that vampires had attacked the group escorting the Pharaoh’s sarcophagus, putting Chuchute and other foreign leaders in danger.

• Murphy arrived at Origin Harbor, where Five Wheels reported that the city’s defenders were ready for orders.
• Murphy assigned 3,500 elite players to reinforce Ptolemy Royal City and sent the remaining fighters to regroup at Bome Oasis before attacking the rebels.
• Murphy met Kudell, Xani, and other allies, then agreed to transport up to 500 reinforcements to Ptolemy Royal City aboard the Millennial Quicksand.
• Triss and Hathor warned Murphy that the Netherworld Army could overwhelm the allies, so Murphy ordered Dragon Rider production increased to twenty units per day.
• A wounded Aztec Sky Warrior reported that vampires had attacked the Pharaoh’s escort north of Bome Oasis, leaving Chuchute and the other foreign leaders in danger.

Murphy and the others rushed to the desert after a Sky Warrior was found wounded by Blood Pact techniques, and they arrived as a battle against the White Devils threatened the spirit coffin and King Louis. The attackers’ leader was revealed to be Lily, Lord Payne’s long-lost female counterpart, whose blood could transform vampires into Bloodmad vampires.

• Triss, Hathor, and Palanno examined the wounded Sky Warrior and identified injuries caused by Blood Pact techniques and Sin Judgment.
• Murphy, Triss, Hathor, and Palanno set out aboard the Heart of Ptolemy to rescue the heads of state, avoiding an ambush in the Astral Realm.
• Lord Oufger and the convoy’s defenders fought the White Devils as they attacked the spirit coffin and the ice-bound King Louis.
• The masked leader broke through Oufger’s divine barrier, overpowered Penny, and was surrounded after Shani wounded her and the grand dukes arrived.
• Murphy and Triss recognized the leader as Lily, and Hathor warned that her blood created Bloodmad vampires, explaining why Lord Payne had sealed away the Secret Blood Clan.

Lily escaped after fighting Triss, Hathor, Shani, and Murphy, leaving the vampires to investigate her corruption and her death. Murphy treated King Louis after a chaos attack, warned him that a spy codenamed Nun was aboard his ship, and learned that Lady Margaret was Margaret Sunny Jia Lorraine.

• Shani attacked Lily, but Lily used Sin Judgment to weaken her before Murphy rescued Shani with the Omega program.
• Triss and Hathor sealed Lily in, but Lily opened an astral rift and escaped after warning them and rejecting Palano’s plea to stay.
• Hathor confirmed Lily had been infected with mad blood, and Palano said only Sovereign Paine could explain how Lily had died.
• Murphy treated King Louis for lingering chaos corruption and warned him that a hidden Chaos spy, likely codenamed Nun, was aboard his ship.
• King Louis thanked Murphy, reunited with Queen Elizabeth, and resolved to prepare for the threat.
• Lady Margaret revealed to Murphy that her full name was Margaret Sunny Jia Lorraine.

Murphy learned that the Pharaoh’s Chaos corruption left the Church of the Dead Moon’s transformation into an Ancient King as the safest option, while Princess Fuleiya struggled to accept her father’s fate. High Priest Bayek then revealed that Twilight was destabilizing both the living world and the netherworld, and proposed a plan to stop it.

• Adele reported the leaders’ departures and gave Murphy Lady Hood’s invitation to the Tide Festival in Great Reef Province.
• Murphy comforted Triss with news that Countess Margaret might be related to her, but Triss insisted she had no surviving descendants and continued mourning Lily.
• Grand Duchess Hathor recommended sending Tutmosis II to Moonlight Holy City to become one of the Ancient Kings, but Fuleiya rejected the plan and fainted.
• Crown Prince Khufu carried Fuleiya to Green Shade Palace, while Mosna warned Murphy that her shaken faith could make her vulnerable to the Primordial Sin Lord’s followers.
• Murphy opened the wooden coffin, and High Priest Bayek revealed that Twilight was spreading its influence through the netherworld as well as the Sanghai Empire.
• Bayek proposed activating the Dead Moon Colossus to stop Bedinos and setting a trap to capture those stirring unrest in the netherworld with the Creator’s power.

Murphy and Bayek planned to expose Mamluk’s rebellion and stabilize the underworld by creating a god of death. At the Green Palace, Khufu chose a path of exile, the queen secured Fuli’er’s succession, and Murphy dispatched allies to prepare the Dead Moon Colossus and the journey to the Holy City of Origins.

• Bayek identified Mamluk as the likely force behind the underworld unrest and proposed using Thutmose II’s funeral and succession to draw him out.
• Murphy proposed elevating Hades as a god of death and asked Bayek to secure the sacred scarab’s agreement to a Borderlands Pact.
• Murphy told Khufu that purifying his father would destroy him, warned him against the Twilight’s influence, and heard Khufu reject the throne in favor of becoming a sun for the people.
• The queen accepted her husband’s fate and demanded that Murphy recognize Fuli’er’s succession, which he promised to support.
• Murphy sent Hathor and Xani to escort the queen and Fuli’er, activate the Dead Moon Colossus, and study the Midnight Scripture.
• Murphy gave Triss an artificial divine essence to use if the underworld’s will questioned the Creator’s promise, then instructed her to keep the underworld forces in check and activate the Colossus.

The Millennium Sands began its assault on Ptolemy's royal city, deploying elite players and power armor to support the city's defenders against the servants of the Sinful Lord. As the attack reached Palace Hill, Lord Payen saw Lily return and resolved to leave the battle to Murphy while making amends to her himself.

• The players prepared for the assault as sixteen newly armed suits of power armor were sent toward the drop pods.
• Crown Prince Khufu joined Cat Bro's assault team, saying he would fight to reclaim his homeland, and Cat Bro ordered his squad to protect him.
• Eden began the first-wave drop, sending 1,200 elite players into the outer city, where their arrival rallied the Sanghai militia against the cultists.
• The solar ship bombarded the inner ring and sent down a second wave of drop pods to attack the servants of the Sinful Lord and their Chaos abominations.
• Lord Payen watched the Millennium Sands descend on Palace Hill and decided to entrust the battle to Murphy while he went to make amends to Lily.