Chapter Summaries

Saruman revealed that he had spent centuries researching time and Raven, and that his death was part of a plan involving the Black Robed Woman. He showed his student a mysterious black feather whose power could overturn destiny.

• The Black Robed Woman realized Saruman wanted him to kill him, but could not bring himself to raise his wand against his teacher.
• Saruman reminded him of past failures caused by hesitation and argued that killing him was both the Black Robed Woman's duty and a chance to ease his suffering.
• The Black Robed Woman demanded to know why Saruman welcomed death, and Saruman explained that he had researched whether time could be altered.
• Saruman said that Raven was a being who connected branches of possibility and revealed a strange black feather from his robe.

Saruman revealed that he planned to use the Raven Tail Feather to send his soul a thousand years into the past and alter the tragedy involving Ian Prince and R'lyeh. The Black Robed Woman agreed to give him the death his plan required, and their farewell duel began with Saruman demonstrating the gulf between their abilities.

• Saruman explained that the Raven Tail Feather could carry his soul and memories back to the moment before Ian Prince activated the magic formation, though failure would destroy his soul.
• Saruman told the Black Robed Woman that only she could safely kill him, and she resolved to help him change the past.
• The Black Robed Woman offered Saruman a formal dueling salute, and Saruman returned it before raising his bare hands to teach her through their duel.
• The Black Robed Woman opened with a Stunning Spell and a Leg-Locking Curse, but Saruman diverted both without moving.
• Saruman restrained the Black Robed Woman by controlling the magic and forces around him, showing her that she had yet to grasp the source of magic.

The Black Robed Woman endured Saruman’s demanding combat lesson, learning how he used precise control to counter her attacks. After Saruman dropped his defenses and ordered her to kill him, she launched a more deliberate assault, but her surprise strike was neutralized, leaving the final test unresolved.

• The Black Robed Woman attacked Saruman with layered shields, fire, shadows, and corrupted psychic magic, while he countered each move and coached her through its flaws.
• After Saruman diverted her strongest compound spell, the Black Robed Woman knelt exhausted as he praised her progress and told her to remember that power depended on control and suitability.
• Saruman dispelled his defenses and told the Black Robed Woman to give everything she had and kill him.
• The Black Robed Woman began a calculated attack with Earth Pulse and Binding of Wind and Sand, but Saruman disrupted the ancient incantation and explained its weaknesses.
• The Black Robed Woman used Shadow of the Stars to conceal herself, then Shadow Jumped behind Saruman and stabbed at his heart with a concentrated dark spike.
• Saruman formed a thin force field behind himself and dispersed the Black Robed Woman’s surprise attack.

The black-robed man overcame Saruman’s defenses with a desperate, carefully planned collision, making his teacher take a step and leaving a mark. At Saruman’s request, he then killed him, and Saruman’s soul flowed into Raven’s tail feather before the feather vanished in a dark silver flash.

• The black-robed man used his last strength, a flash spell, and a physical feint to strike Saruman and leave a temporary mark.
• Saruman praised the black-robed man’s ingenuity and asked him to send him on his way.
• The black-robed man used his remaining pure magic to pierce Saruman’s chest with a spell, and Saruman fell dead.
• A halo emerged from Saruman’s body and gathered into Raven’s tail feather, which absorbed his soul.
• The feather formed a shifting bird-shaped outline, then vanished in a concentrated point of dark silver light.

The Black Robed Woman ignored orders to report to the Purification Chamber and waited beside Saruman’s body, hoping his plan had changed history. Saruman’s soul returned to his younger self in R'lyeh, carrying a thousand years of memories and knowledge, just as the teleportation began.

• The Black Robed Woman removed his communication badge and stayed beside Saruman’s corpse rather than going to the Purification Chamber.
• Saruman’s Raven’s feather carried his soul through time and into R'lyeh, where it waited for the moment Ian Prince activated the magic array.
• The feather merged elderly Saruman’s memories, wisdom, and emotions into young Saruman as he and his companions were pulled into the array’s teleportation.
• Saruman sensed Karg and Lina drifting nearby and detected Ian Prince standing on a parallel plane.
• Ian Prince remarked that Saruman seemed to have the best physical constitution among the newcomers, leaving Saruman bewildered.

Ian explored the strange space beyond R'lyeh, searching for Cthulhu's sleeping place, while Saruman, Karg, and Lina were swept in after him. Ian warned them they should not have followed, but Saruman mistook the warning for a death sentence and Karg prepared to defend his companions.

• Ian entered the interstitial space through the activated magic array, protected by his domain, and began searching for Cthulhu's true lair.
• Ian sensed Saruman, Karg, and Lina following through the unstable passage and shielded them from being destroyed by the energy currents.
• Ian teased Saruman with a strange remark about being the newcomer with the best physical attributes, leaving him bewildered after his soul fused with an ancient essence.
• Ian noticed the changes in Saruman's soul and told the group they should not have followed him into the space.
• Saruman panicked, believing Ian meant to kill them, while Karg raised his damaged sword and vowed to protect Lina.

Ian warned Saruman and Karg that the rift near the Great Old Ones was too dangerous, but they mistook his cold manner for a threat. When Karg attacked, Ian fought him with an ordinary sword and precise technique, while Saruman began to suspect Ian had known King Arthur personally and might be Merlin himself.

• Ian warned Saruman and Karg to turn back from the dangerous rift, but his icy expression made them fear he intended to kill them.
• Karg charged Ian with his remaining battle qi, and Ian met the attack with an ordinary longsword, redirecting the blow with precise timing.
• Ian sparred with Karg using his own practical swordsmanship, deflecting attacks and pointing out weaknesses in Karg's technique.
• Ian muttered that Karg's way of exerting force surpassed what King Arthur had taught him, and Saruman overheard the name.
• Saruman inferred that Ian might be an ancient contemporary of King Arthur and Merlin, then wondered whether Ian was Merlin himself.

Saruman suspected that Ian Prince was Merlin or a successor as Ian studied Karg’s battle qi and swordsmanship while defending against his desperate assault. Karg’s reserves ran low, but he revealed a dirty surprise attack before Ian countered it and the two briefly separated.

• Saruman connected Ian’s power, knowledge, youth, and ties to King Arthur’s age with the legendary Merlin.
• Karg poured his remaining battle qi into a reckless assault, while Ian calmly blocked and dodged, testing the properties and weaknesses of the energy.
• Saruman realized Ian was using Karg’s attacks to gather combat data and shouted a warning, but Karg could not hear him.
• Karg’s battle qi and strength began to fade, and Ian shifted from testing his defenses to observing his swordsmanship and fighting style.
• Karg turned a downward cleave into a sudden rising slash, but Ian blocked it, slid aside, and opened distance between them.

Ian fought Karg while learning and refining his sword techniques and Battle Qi methods during their exchanges. He defeated Karg’s final Heavy Mountain Cleave and calmly explained how Karg could improve it, leaving the warrior stunned.

• Ian adapted Karg’s battlefield instincts and sword techniques as he defended against Karg’s attacks.
• Karg realized Ian was learning the principles behind his signature moves, including Spiral Slash, and grew horrified and enraged.
• Ian began combining Karg’s techniques, blending Armor-Piercing Thrust with Spiral Slash during combat.
• Ian countered Karg’s Heavy Mountain Cleave by striking a weak point in its force transmission, forcing Karg to stagger back with his Battle Qi nearly spent.
• Ian critiqued Karg’s technique and suggested specific improvements, leaving Karg dumbstruck.

Ian warned Saruman, Karg, and Lina that they had entered a dangerous region, but Karg mistook his warning for a threat and attacked, giving Ian a chance to effortlessly master and improve Karg’s swordsmanship. After clearing up the misunderstanding, Ian explained that they were in R’lyeh’s inner layer and had come to deal with the sleeping Cthulhu; the chapter ended when Lina groaned in pain.

• Ian parried Karg’s attacks, quickly understood his swordsmanship, and pointed out ways to improve it, leaving Karg stunned.
• Saruman shielded Karg, offered Ian their possessions and loyalty, and begged him to spare his companions.
• Ian clarified that he had only been warning them about the danger and had no intention of harming them.
• Saruman asked where they were, and Ian explained that they were in R’lyeh’s inner layer near the sleeping Cthulhu.
• Ian said he had come to deal with Cthulhu for the sake of world peace, love, and justice.
• Lina groaned in pain behind Karg.

Lina’s pollution erupted in R’lyeh, and Ian explained that her gift as a seer had made her especially vulnerable to Cthulhu’s influence. He linked his mind to hers to try to save her, entering the nightmare realm inside her soul as the pollution continued to overwrite her identity.

• Lina convulsed as the pollution markings spread rapidly across her body, and Karg and Saruman realized her condition had worsened.
• Karg and Saruman pleaded with Ian to save Lina, offering anything they could in return.
• Ian explained that Lina’s keen spiritual perception had turned her into an antenna for Cthulhu’s influence, causing the pollution to erupt from within her soul.
• Ian used power derived from the Patronus Charm to touch Lina between the brows and establish a link with her soul.
• Ian entered Lina’s mental abyss and saw her soul being transformed as Cthulhu’s polluted information overwhelmed her memories and sense of self.

Ian devised a way to save Lina by replacing Cthulhu’s corrupting influence with the Raven’s power and began reshaping her soul. As Lina’s condition improved, Ian’s intervention stirred the sleeping Cthulhu beneath the dream.

• Ian judged that Lina’s soul could still be saved and studied the forbidden knowledge leaking from Cthulhu’s dream while planning a careful repair.
• Ian decided to overwrite the pollution with the Raven’s mark, creating a new cognitive framework that could preserve Lina’s self-awareness and prophetic talent.
• Ian formed silvery-white Raven runes and began constructing a sanctuary around Lina’s soul core before grafting it to the Raven’s power.
• Outside, Lina’s convulsions eased, her breathing steadied, and the spread of her dark markings slowed as Saruman and Karg watched with hope.
• Ian’s use of the Raven’s power sent a strange signal through Cthulhu’s dream and reached the sleeping being’s outer subconscious.

Cthulhu’s growing malice nearly crushed Saruman, Karg, and Lina while Ian treated Lina. A future version of Saruman awakened through their merged soul, shielded them with Raven-linked power, and used his research on Cthulhu to deflect its attacks as they waited for Ian.

• Cthulhu’s displaced anger intensified the pressure and whispers in the gap, nearly breaking Saruman and Karg as Karg clung to Lina.
• The older Saruman’s will awakened within Saruman and raised a time-tinged force field that protected him, Karg, and Lina.
• Karg recognized Saruman’s sudden transformation and learned that he had temporarily become a Legend with deep knowledge of Cthulhu.
• When malicious tentacles struck the force field, Saruman used a Cognitive Deflection Charm to disrupt their attacks and explained how he analyzed and diverted Cthulhu’s chaos.

Saruman used layered magic to shield himself and Karg from Cthulhu’s escalating will while Ian continued Lina’s soul treatment. Ian entered the deep dream built within Lina’s soul and reached its temple-like center, where her consciousness was likely trapped.

• Cthulhu’s mental assault intensified, and Saruman countered it with the Starlight Silence Veil, ancient stone armor, time moss, and Raven’s Roost anchoring magic.
• Karg questioned whether Saruman was really himself, and Saruman promised to explain after they escaped.
• Saruman recalled how the original timeline had ended in disaster and resolved to hold out long enough for Ian to finish Lina’s treatment.
• Ian followed Cthulhu’s polluted channels into a bizarre dream city populated by mutated people and identified it as a model of a world under Cthulhu’s influence.
• Ian followed the strongest connection to Lina’s consciousness into the city’s dark green temple and entered without resistance.

Ian infiltrated the dream world built from Lina’s corrupted consciousness and prepared to awaken her without provoking a dangerous backlash. His words and the Raven’s information seeds fractured Lina’s false identity, and she began to question whether she was dreaming.

• Ian found Lina’s divine-like projection in the temple and decided to plant subtle Raven information seeds rather than attack her directly.
• Ian explored the city and observed how its inhabitants’ society followed Cthulhu’s twisted logic, concluding that Lina’s consciousness still remained partly active.
• After spreading the seeds through the dream’s structure, Ian joined a prayer ritual and told Lina that the world around her was a dream.
• Lina recognized her name and began to doubt the reality of R’lyeh, while Ian activated the Raven seeds and disrupted the dream’s underlying patterns.
• Lina’s voice lost its divine quality as she struggled to understand where she was, bringing her close to awakening.

Ian pulled Lina back from her Cthulhu-corrupted identity in a deep dream and helped her regain her sense of self. As they tried to escape toward waking consciousness, Cthulhu’s will trapped them in a weaponized dream labyrinth, and Ian steered them toward a weak point.

• Ian’s attempt to awaken Lina provoked a furious current of Cthulhu’s will that began destroying the deep dream.
• Ian seized Lina and used the Raven’s power to flee upward through the collapsing dream while Cthulhu’s will pursued them.
• Ian and Lina reached a shallower dream layer, where Lina’s human appearance and memories returned and she asked about Saruman and Karg.
• Ian told Lina that her teammates were still outside and guided her toward waking consciousness.
• Cthulhu’s will blocked their route and reshaped the shallow dream into a hostile labyrinth, so Ian turned toward a weak section of flesh wall.

Ian and Lina escaped the shifting dream traps and reached the control node of Cthulhu’s makeshift dream, where Ian disrupted its defenses. As Ian prepared a technical breakout, Saruman sent him a hint that changed his strategy to reshape the dream through imagination.

• Ian exploited weaknesses in the dream’s rules to lead Lina through a flesh-lined passage and into an earlier dream layer.
• Ian overloaded a hidden junction node, then reached a plaza containing the dream trap’s control stele, where Cthulhu’s pursuing shadow cornered them.
• Ian crashed contradictory dream information into the control light, disrupting the cage and slowing the shadow.
• Outside the dream, Saruman used his faint resonance with Ian’s power to send him a message about imagination.
• Ian understood that he could reshape the dream with his will and abandoned his planned technical breakout.

Ian used his imagination and Mental Power to transform into Ultraman Tiga, driving back Cthulhu’s will and rescuing Lina from the collapsing dream plaza. After tearing open a path to the shallow dream, he fought the dream’s endless monsters and realized he needed to destroy their corruption nodes to stop them from respawning.

• Ian manifested a Sparklence and transformed into Ultraman Tiga, whose golden light forced Cthulhu’s will to dissipate.
• Tiga lifted Lina into his palm and tore open the dream boundary, taking her into the shallow dream layer.
• Ian and Lina found that the dream’s defense mechanism had surrounded them with countless monsters.
• Tiga fought through the horde with punches, kicks, and light attacks while protecting Lina.
• Ian noticed that the monsters kept emerging from corruption nodes and planned to destroy them.

Ian, as Tiga, fought through Cthulhu’s dream and destroyed its manifested avatar with an enhanced Zeperion Ray. The avatar vanished, leaving Ian’s chest lamp flashing as he emerged victorious.

• Tiga destroyed an energy node, slowing the monsters spawning around him.
• Cthulhu gathered its dream power into a gigantic avatar and surrounded Tiga with tentacles and monsters.
• Tiga cut through the tentacles, blocked the avatar’s attacks with an Ultra Barrier, and fired a Zeperion Ray.
• Ian poured his will into the beam, overpowering the avatar’s energy sphere and destroying the avatar and its remaining tentacles.

Ian defeated Cthulhu’s dream avatar, removed the remaining pollution from Lina by absorbing it, and made her the Raven’s prophet. He opened a gateway out of the dreamscape, and Lina’s return confirmed that history had changed.

• Ian transformed back from Tiga and examined Lina, finding that traces of Cthulhu’s pollution remained in her soul and body.
• Ian used dark energy threads to extract and absorb Lina’s pollution, restoring her soul while taking the dangerous power into himself.
• Ian bestowed the Raven’s power on Lina, making her its prophet and giving her a new connection to him.
• Ian combined light, darkness, and the Raven’s power to open a gateway from the unstable dreamscape to reality.
• Ian carried Lina through the gateway, reappearing with her inside Saruman’s force field as Karg and Saruman recognized her recovery and the change to history.