Chapter Summaries

Players and Sanghaean forces fought to defend Mount Palace from Chaos while Crown Prince Khufu renounced the throne and vowed to reshape the Path of the Sun. Murphy arrived before dawn, helped turn the battle, and began sealing the rifts as Original Sin taunted him from beyond one.

• Eden deployed powered armor and elite players across Mount Palace, where they fought Worldburner demons and Chaos abominations while defending the positions held by Lord Paine and Prince Bai.
• Cat Bro and Khufu’s guards helped repel two Worldburner demons, and Khufu killed them with the Godbane shotgun before climbing to the ruined Great Pyramid of Isus.
• Khufu confessed his guilt, surrendered his crown-prince insignia, and declared that he would follow a new path as a companion of the sun.
• Murphy arrived as Lord Paine defeated the last Worldburner demon, then spread purifying light across the battlefield and moved to seal the Chaos rifts.
• Murphy faced Original Sin beyond a rift and continued sealing it despite the entity’s taunts.

After the battle for the Ptolemaic royal city, Murphy questioned Lord Palpat about Lily’s transformation and her connection to Dusk. Their discussion linked Lily’s fate to Luna’s resurrection and a past Holy Blood Seal, while Palpat hinted that Constance had a plan that would eventually require Murphy’s help.

• Transian warriors and local militias hunted down the Original Sin Church cultists across the Ptolemaic royal city after the fighting at the palace hill subsided.
• Murphy and Lord Palpat discussed the heavy casualties suffered while sealing the rift and repelling the World-Burning Demon Troops, and Murphy said outlanders would have limits in mortal wars.
• Murphy asked why Lily had become an undead monster, and Palpat said she had used forbidden blood arts to protect Palanor before she died during the war against the Bone-Biter King.
• Palpat connected Lily’s transformation to Luna’s death and resurrection, and Murphy recalled that Luna and Triss had entered the Holy Blood Grounds during a seal two hundred years earlier.
• Murphy suspected the events surrounding Lily and Luna were connected to Dusk’s origins, while Palpat denied that Constance lived within Hathor and said Constance had a plan that would eventually need Murphy’s help.

Old Qin and the defenders fought off a sudden insect swarm and a giant sandblast bug at the Origin Vanguard repair site. Murphy sent the Millennium Quicksand to reinforce them and prepared to join the battle with ten Dragoons, leaving the fight poised to escalate.

• Lord Ma explained that the Origin Vanguard was being rebuilt according to an experimental modular design, while Old Qin questioned how it would look.
• Lin reported that the Millennium Quicksand had returned to Ptolemy and that General Kudel was assembling an expedition, but Old Qin warned that the Netherworld Army might defend the rebel oases.
• Old Qin discovered a strange burrowing bug and spotted a swarm approaching, then ordered the repair site to prepare for an attack.
• Flying insects and ground-crawling bugs assaulted the site, and Old Qin, Lin, General Bhopal, Eris, and the power-armored defenders fought to protect the Origin Vanguard from the swarm and an adult sandblast bug.
• Murphy received Old Qin’s call for help, sent the Millennium Quicksand toward the repair site, and prepared to join the fight with War Marshal equipment and ten Dragoons.

Old Qin’s defenders held off the swarm while Salifu Shadowblade infiltrated the Origin Vanguard and tried to recruit Horse King by offering the Dusk’s creation knowledge. Horse King destroyed the data rather than cooperate, and left Salifu confronting the contradictions in his own past.

• Old Qin received a mission warning that the swarm might be a diversion and led an elite squad toward the Origin Vanguard after Horse King stopped responding.
• Salifu Shadowblade captured Horse King, disabled his communications, and forced him to follow while explaining the Dusk’s offer of creation knowledge in exchange for neutrality.
• Salifu argued that Murphy had deceived the outlanders and treated them as tools, while he killed the Sanghai mechanics in the bridge control room and began copying the data.
• Horse King triggered Eden’s voice-activated formatting command, destroying the data before Salifu could copy it.
• Pinned to the hatch by Salifu, Horse King rejected an alliance with the Dusk and challenged Salifu over equality and the mentor he had killed.

Salifu’s attempt to steal data from the Sun Ship failed, and his unstable double was driven off by Liji and the players. After arguing with General Bhopal about faith and the people of Sanghai, Salifu reported to Scholar and requested leave to visit Transia.

• Salifu killed Ma Wangye and fought Qin and the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, while Lady Rose’s messages further enraged him.
• Liji trapped Salifu’s double in water and rescued Qin, but Salifu escaped by letting the double die.
• Disguised as a Sanghai soldier, Salifu confronted General Bhopal, who defended his people’s faith in the Creator and challenged Salifu to offer a better god.
• Salifu kicked Bhopal and fled without killing him, then told Scholar that Eden’s formatting program had thwarted the data theft.
• Scholar sent Salifu toward the Wraith Abyss and the Origin Holy City, and approved his request to visit Transia and learn about the foreigners.

Murphy’s forces defeated a genetically altered insect swarm, and Rose offered support for repairing the Origin Vanguard while seeking Sangha people for her data network. As Freya’s party approached Moon Holy City to transform the Pharaoh into an Ancient King, Nefertari awoke, revealed Bayek survived within her soul, and told Freya to prepare for her coronation.

• Murphy arrived as Eris and the knights finished off the Sandstorm Bug, then discovered that the attacking insects were genetically mutated creations of an unknown laboratory.
• Murphy’s forces cleared the maintenance area, and Rose offered compensation, solar-ship data, and help against the approaching Sun Titan in exchange for a server and Sangha recruits for her network.
• Gubabro’s ship neared Moon Holy City with Freya, the Queen, and three Vampire Grand Duchesses, who prepared to help the Pharaoh become an Ancient King.
• Freya armed herself for the journey, and Nefertari woke from her coffin after nearly five days asleep.
• Nefertari told Freya that Bayek had survived within her soul and would soon enter the underworld permanently, then urged Freya to prepare for her coronation as Queen Pharaoh.

Su Chen wiped out the Bloodbat Clan after killing Elder Gu, while Pablo’s party reached Moonlight Holy City amid a civil war among the Underworld factions. After learning the city’s priests had vanished and the Abyss of Ambition had been unsealed, Nefertari planned to reach the Hall of Death through the Underworld with help from her grandmother.

• Su Chen killed Elder Gu, hunted down the fleeing Bloodbat Clan members, collected their storage rings, and left before investigators arrived.
• Pablo and his companions saw the Okiye and Pirig armies fighting over a watchtower near Moonlight Holy City, and Nefertari explained the danger the Underworld civil war posed to the empire.
• The group entered the city through a hidden passage and found the ritual district deserted, with Underworld factions battling through the streets.
• Xia Ni captured Senior Sennuo, who told Nefertari that the Abyss of Ambition had been unsealed and at least twenty-nine Conquerors of Death had escaped.
• Nefertari asked Senior Sennuo to contact her ancestor, Pharaoh Badis XVII, and arrange a diversion while the group tried to reach the Hall of Death.
• Nefertari proposed entering the Underworld with help from her grandmother, whom she said was a four-time Underworld Beauty Queen.

Nefertari summoned her grandmother, Madam Bomu, from the Underworld to help escort Tutmosis II and the others through the realm of the dead. Madam Bomu agreed to find them a route to the Hall of the Dead, and the group entered the Underworld, where Afeng saw Nefertari's true form.

• Nefertari performed a spirit-summoning ritual, using only four of the thirty-seven materials she requested and pocketing the rest.
• Madam Bomu appeared, scolded Nefertari's dance, and explained that Underworld rebels had abandoned the Creator and joined the Holy Lord of Original Sin.
• Madam Bomu agreed to find the group a shortcut to the Hall of the Dead and warned that war among the Underworld's ancient kings could erupt.
• Nefertari gave the group the blessing of the Underworld Wanderer, and ten mummy dancers carried Tutmosis II's coffin through the gates as everyone followed.
• Nefertari left her mummy body and entered the Underworld as a spirit dancer, where Afeng discovered that spirits regained physical bodies and saw her true form.

The group escaped the chaotic underworld and reached the Hall of the Dead to perform Thutmose II’s Pharaoh King ceremony. High Priest Bayek awakened from Neferet’s spirit and began the rite as the spirits of past Pharaoh Kings appeared.

• Triss, Hathor, and the others discussed the underworld’s role in the cycle of life and death as Neferet guided them along the Road of the Dead.
• Madam Pom hurried the group through the underworld and sent them toward the Hall of the Dead in the material world.
• Shani reported that the Badis family’s forces were fighting other factions outside the Hall, while Neferet and Fuli'er explained the family’s loyalty to the Pharaoh King’s authority.
• Neferet summoned High Priest Bayek from her spirit, and he began the ceremony for Thutmose II as the past Pharaoh Kings appeared.

Thutmose II entered the underworld and the Ancient Kings approved Princess Flier Ptolemy as the Songhai Empire’s next ruler. The decision split the dead: Mamluk rallied a third of the Underworld Pharaohs to rebel, and Bayek accepted that war had begun.

• More than six hundred Underworld Pharaohs gathered as Bayek held Thutmose II’s induction ceremony and asked whether he should become an Ancient King.
• The eleven Ancient Kings approved Thutmose II’s elevation, and the underworld’s power purified his soul and transformed him into a spirit.
• Bayek proposed Princess Flier Ptolemy as the next pharaoh, but Underworld Pharaohs argued over her succession and nominated rival candidates.
• Triss, Shani, Hathor, and A-Feng declared support for Flier, and Triss offered a divine spark to secure the Ancient Kings’ decision.
• Hamons I declared Flier the thirteenth pharaoh and first pharaoh queen, prompting Mamluk to denounce the outcome and call the dead to war.
• More than a third of the Underworld Pharaohs joined Mamluk, and Bayek accepted the challenge as the underworld conflict began.

Murphy launched the God's Rod at the Abyss of Wraiths while negotiating an alliance with Vidyā, destroying Mamluk's stronghold and ending the King of Wraiths' threat. At the Songhai funeral, Freyr declared war on the traitorous Underworld Pharaohs, with the empire's conflict beginning under the threat of Murphy's forces.

• Murphy watched Triss secure Freyr's succession and learned that Mamluk had rallied a faction of the Underworld Pharaohs against the Songhai Empire.
• Murphy negotiated a future alliance with Vidyā, who revealed that Twilight's preceptor came from an earlier era of the Tower of Rings and was likely Plinius Meledin.
• Murphy obtained the required votes and launched the God's Rod at the Abyss of Wraiths, destroying the stronghold and killing Mamluk.
• At the funeral grand hall, Bayek declared war against the dissident faction, and Mamluk realized he had been trapped before the bombardment struck.
• Freyr rejected the Pharaohs' proposed reconciliation and ordered them to return to their pyramids or face the Creator's forces.

After Mamluk’s defeat left the rebellion doomed, Bayek and Tuthmosis II departed for the Netherworld, leaving Fleur to lead Sanghai. Fleur and Nefertari awakened the Moon of Death Giant War Machine and set out to retake the Origin Sacred City and crush Berdinos’s rebellion.

• The rebel pharaohs lost the Netherworld’s support and withdrew from the Hall of the Dead, while the traditionalists prepared to suppress them.
• Bayek told Nefertari to help Fleur activate the Moon of Death Giant War Machine, and Tuthmosis II gave Fleur advice on ruling before he and Bayek entered the Netherworld.
• Lady Mosna used the Beta Seal to purify Tuthmosis II’s remains, and Triss urged Fleur and Nefertari to lead the campaign against Berdinos.
• Fleur and Nefertari reached the machine beneath the Hall of the Dead, where Fleur awakened the Moon of Death Giant War Machine without the stolen pharaoh’s scepter.
• Fleur ordered the Netherworld army to gather and follow her to the Origin Sacred City to put down the rebellion.

Murphy and his allies prepared to assault Origin Holy City, where Berdinos and the rebel Underworld forces were attacking the Sanghai defenders. As the players received notice that the new raid had begun, Sister Pomegranate sensed danger ahead and Old Man Niu wondered how to greet his grandchildren.

• Princess Fuli'er became the twelfth pharaoh queen, awakened the Dead Moon Giant Divine Weapon, and led Underworld forces toward Origin Holy City.
• Khufu and General Bopal reconciled, pledged to defend the Origin Holy Land, and joined Murphy's war council.
• Murphy's allies planned to confront the Solar Giant Divine Weapon and Berdinos while Lord Pa Ying commanded the battle against the rebel army outside the city.
• Murphy gave Lord Pa Ying a protective sculpture and said he might replace Vidia as King of Ten Thousand Curses if necessary.
• Director Rose issued a server-wide announcement opening the Origin Holy City raid, and Cat Bro and Sister Pomegranate discussed their unease about the coming battle.
• Old Man Niu traveled aboard an airship toward the battlefield and wondered how he would greet his grandchildren.

Berdinos continued using the Sunfire Colossus to break the defenses of the Origin Holy City, while an army of Underworld undead approached to help destroy it for their own ends. As Murphy hurried toward the holy land, he resolved to stop Berdinos and give the Sanghai people an answer that would let them move beyond their dependence on the Creator.

• Berdinos rejected Elder Winter's plea to stop the Colossus, and the holy city's guardians chose to fight rather than abandon the Origin Holy City.
• The Colossus overloaded the seventh shield generator and continued weakening the city's defensive matrix as Berdinos urged the guardians to leave.
• Berdinos spotted hundreds of thousands of undead approaching and planned to use their attack to help breach the holy city's defenses.
• Murphy and Eden theorized that Berdinos intended to use a Chaos rift and the Creation Engine's energy in a risky plan to destroy both the engine and the shadow of Original Sin.
• Murphy decided he had to stop Berdinos and give the Sanghai people the answer they needed to move forward without seeking the Creator's approval.

The players and Sangha forces began an airdrop assault to relieve Origin Holy City, while Murphy organized a mission to restore the city’s defenses and confront Berdinos. The White Prince’s battlefield illusions disrupted the Netherworld army as the players joined the fight, but the battle was still unfolding.

• Giant Shark urged the players to kill twenty undead each, but Happy Stick warned him to stay in formation, and Old Qin ordered the troops to secure the landing zone and conserve their strength.
• Murphy, Paine, Bhopal, and Mosna coordinated the operation, planning for the players to fight toward the sun ship’s support zone while the city’s defenders delayed the Sun Titan.
• Murphy persuaded the Sangha royal mechanics that Rose’s World Wide Web was part of the Creator’s plan, then led them and Khufu aboard the Ptolemy’s Heart to reactivate the city’s weapons.
• The landing pods dropped toward the battlefield as the Lord of the Dominion charged ahead on his unicorn, backed by White Prince’s illusions of knights and other game-like troops.
• A-Cha and the student faction admired White Prince’s illusions and worried about his impending loss of memories, until Old Soldier Qing called them to help the Dragon Rider advance the battle line.

Murphy and the players reached the Origin Holy City as the Solar Colossus and the Underworld Army battered through its defenses. While Murphy went to stop Berdinos at the Creation Engine, Old Qin led the effort to restart the city’s powered armor as the invasion poured through the breach.

• Bonebirds attacked the Heart of Ptolemy, forcing it into a crash landing outside the Origin Holy City, where Murphy and the others survived and escaped.
• The Solar Colossus shattered the Guardians’ protective matrix and began tearing through the wall as the Underworld Army attacked.
• Murphy escorted Prince Hufu and the Sanghai engineers onto the wall, where the engineers used Rose’s data power to restart ten Divine Attendant suits.
• Ayu told the players Rose would help them pilot the suits, and Old Qin and Paid Leave Fish climbed into the reactivated armor.
• The Colossus broke through the wall and the Underworld Army poured into the holy city; Murphy left for the Creation Engine to confront Berdinos.
• The Creator’s Defenders deployed against the Colossus as the players received a warning that the Engine’s protection would fail if its 160 Guardians were lost.

Lord Payen prepared an airship-backed assault to seize defensible ground near the Guardian's Great Wall, while Murphy reached the Creation Engine beneath the Holy City of Origin. After Countess Lily failed to assassinate him, Murphy pursued Berdinos, who promised to reveal the truth about the Sangaians' origins and the Eden Zone's collapse.

• Lord Payen spotted an opening in the Netherworld Army's lines and planned to use airships and incendiary bombs to advance toward the Guardian's Great Wall.
• Murphy entered the underground passage to Creation Engine No. 1 while Penny, Bertie, and the Engine Guardians fought the colossus above.
• Countess Lily attacked Murphy at the entrance, but the Creation Engine's defenses wounded her and she retreated into the shadows.
• Murphy gained administrator access to the Creation Engine and continued toward its main control room to find Berdinos.
• Berdinos directed Murphy toward a passage where he said the truth about the Sangai Empire's first residents and the Eden Zone's collapse could be found.

Murphy learned the Shanghais’ ancestors had been imprisoned as experimental subjects by the elves, and that their Pilgrim origins were a fabricated legend. After rejecting Berdinos’s plan to destroy the Creation Engine, Murphy activated its defenses and discovered a recording from the Creator promising further revelations about the Shanghais.

• Murphy saw a holographic recreation of the Creation Engine’s cages and learned that the Shanghais descended from genetically modified slaves who escaped confinement.
• Berdinos explained that the Pilgrim legend concealed the Shanghais’ origins and that the elves had experimented on them to study their connection to Original Sin.
• Murphy questioned how Pharaoh Mamluk had learned the truth and concluded that unseen forces had helped incite the rebellion before a dwarven architect stopped the war.
• Berdinos asked Murphy to help sever the Shanghais’ ties to the Creator, but Murphy refused to let him destroy the Creation Engine.
• Berdinos attacked Murphy, who banished him to the Astral Plane and used his authorization to activate the Creation Engine’s security systems.
• A prerecorded message from the Creator appeared, addressing Murphy as Alpha and promising to reveal the Creator’s first real encounter with the Shanghais.

Murphy learned how the Creator chose to preserve the world and why Chaos remained, then received new abilities from a mysterious being in a parallel universe. He returned to the battle at the Origin Holy City as reinforcements arrived and prepared to end the rebellion.

• Murphy watched the Creator’s recording of the first Sangai girl and learned that the Creator had agreed to rent their world from its indigenous people.
• Murphy questioned the Creator, and a stand-in for Data Deletion explained that the Warp had formed after the Final Star’s interference and that Chaos threatened to bring about the Silent Hour.
• The stand-in gave Murphy the abilities Chaos Immunity and Truth Hunt, then disconnected after striking him with lightning.
• Murphy equipped his Warlord Armor and joined the battle, where players, Sangai, airships, and Khufu’s forces attacked the Netherworld Army and defended the Creation Engine.
• Berdinos returned from the astral realm with the Sun Scarab, Parom, and Murphy ran toward them to finish the rebellion.

Murphy confronted Bordinus over his alliance with Parom and fought him while dragon and serpent demigods attacked the sun beetle. Fuli'er brought the Deathmoon Colossus and an underworld legion to the Origin Holy City, where it battled the Sunfire Colossus, and Khufu pledged to restore the Sanghai people’s faith before confronting the one who had deceived them.

• Parom appeared over the battlefield, empowering the Sunfire Colossus but weakening the undead as Bordinus asked Murphy to lure Original Sin to the Creation Engine.
• Murphy rejected Bordinus’s plan, accused him and Parom of being manipulated, and attacked him with his chainsword.
• Li Ji and Mannis joined forces against Parom, while players advanced toward the Origin Holy City and prepared for the Deathmoon Colossus’s arrival.
• Fuli'er led the Deathmoon Colossus and a powerful underworld legion into the battle, then had the Colossus strike the Sunfire Colossus inside the Origin Holy City.
• Khufu bowed to Fuli'er, pledged to guide the Sanghais back to the Path of the Sunfire, and declared that the deceiver’s end had come.