Chapter Summaries

Duanmu Huai asked True Clever to use her Superior Charisma to challenge the Asari’s species-wide allure and become an idol in the Systems Alliance. True Clever accepted the challenge, and Li Longcheng arranged for an entertainment-industry professional to help her get started.

• Duanmu Huai asked True Clever why she wanted the whole world to recognize her cuteness, and she explained that making people happy through cuteness had been her goal since childhood.
• Duanmu Huai told True Clever that the Asari could attract males of many species through their unusual reproductive ability and challenged her to compete against them with her charm.
• True Clever confidently accepted the challenge, and Duanmu Huai decided to begin by establishing her as an idol in the Systems Alliance.
• Duanmu Huai contacted Li Longcheng, who agreed to provide True Clever with a platform without involving the government directly.
• Li Longcheng had his staff find an entertainment-industry professional and sent the nervous young woman to contact True Clever.

Duanmu Huai let True Clever choose livestreaming as her route to fame, then turned to planning military cooperation with the Systems Alliance to secure the Boundary God Galaxy and prepare for the Reapers. He reviewed the human Elite Squad’s leader, Major Shepard, but could not determine whether Shepard was male or female.

• Duanmu Huai showed True Clever three entertainment proposals, and she chose to become a streamer.
• Duanmu Huai agreed to work with Li Longcheng to bring the Boundary God Galaxy under control and obtain its mineral resources.
• Duanmu Huai explained that the Inquisition and Systems Alliance needed to build up their forces before the Reapers returned.
• The Systems Alliance planned to send a fleet and a human Elite Squad to assist the Inquisition in the Boundary God Galaxy.
• Duanmu Huai read Major Shepard’s service record and wondered whether Shepard was male or female.

Systems Alliance soldiers arrived at the Boundary God Galaxy alongside the Inquisition fleet, while Duanmu Huai discussed weapons production and met the two Major Shepards. He showed them a map and offered to spare any planet they wanted to keep.

• A Systems Alliance soldier worried about the attack on the Boundary God Galaxy, while his comrade praised the Inquisition's firepower and welcomed the joint operation.
• The soldiers spotted the Inquisition's enormous, golden, Gothic warship outside their transport.
• Duanmu Huai told Maria to continue producing Night Raven Black Stars and postponed building other heavy weapons while he waited for a collaboration event offering a space fighter.
• Duanmu Huai learned that True Clever was streaming and that his companions had gone to watch her.
• Two Systems Alliance officers, both named Commander Shepard, reported to Duanmu Huai.
• Duanmu Huai showed the Shepards a map of the Boundary God Galaxy and told them to name any planet they wanted him to spare.

Duanmu Huai ordered the Inquisition to purify most of the Boundary God Galaxy while the Shepard siblings chose three planets for Systems Alliance colonization. After True Clever’s livestream drew 500 million viewers, Duanmu Huai tried streaming himself, got banned, and decided to vent his frustration by attacking the galaxy the next day.

• Duanmu Huai told the Shepard siblings that the Inquisition would purify every planet they did not select for colonization, and the elder Shepard chose three strategically important planets.
• The elder Shepard convinced her younger brother that the Boundary God Galaxy’s criminals would oppose humanity regardless, so they should show their strength rather than hold back.
• Ann and the others told Duanmu Huai that True Clever had retained 500 million viewers during her first livestream despite hostile comments, and True Clever said the abuse had not bothered her.
• Duanmu Huai launched his own livestream, but viewers quickly left and the platform banned it for causing discomfort.
• Duanmu Huai shut off his terminal and resolved to attack the alien forces in the Boundary God Galaxy the next day.

Duanmu Huai rejected Shepard’s cautious plan and chose to seal off the Boundary God Galaxy’s Mass Relay, then destroy its criminal factions. His fleet and the Systems Alliance fleet arrived beside the relay and began their attack.

• Duanmu Huai explained how Mass Relays enabled travel between star systems and how the Reapers used them to leave civilizations dependent on their network.
• Duanmu Huai rejected younger brother Shepard’s plan to pressure the Boundary God Galaxy gradually, arguing that its gangs threatened the Systems Alliance and were backed by Citadel governments.
• Older sister Shepard supported Duanmu Huai’s plan, and younger brother Shepard accepted the decision.
• Duanmu Huai led the Inquisition and Systems Alliance fleets in a secret jump to the Boundary God Galaxy’s Mass Relay.
• Duanmu Huai ordered his fleet to open fire on the warships guarding the relay.

Duanmu Huai’s fleet launched simultaneous extermination attacks across the Boundary God Galaxy, while he destroyed Hiei Star City with the BFG10000. After the elder sister, Shepard’s fleet was mauled by the Collectors near Omega, Duanmu Huai realized the Reaper-backed threat had emerged earlier than expected.

• Duanmu Huai ordered his fleet to blockade the Mass Relay and attack multiple target planets at once.
• Duanmu Huai’s fleet destroyed the defending ships around Hiei Star, then erased Hiei Star City with the BFG10000.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the younger brother, Shepard, to eliminate enemies holding hostages and provide an update on the other teams.
• The elder sister, Shepard, reported that the Collectors had attacked Team A after she destroyed Omega Space Station and discovered an active Mass Relay there.
• Duanmu Huai learned that the Collectors had retreated after inflicting heavy losses on the Systems Alliance fleet and considered whether the Reapers might arrive early.

Duanmu Huai’s forces destroyed the Boundary God Galaxy, and the younger Shepard outmaneuvered an enemy leader while his older sister suffered heavier losses. When Citadel representatives demanded an explanation, Li Longcheng defended the Systems Alliance’s retaliation and they backed down, leaving the Alliance to manage the devastated galaxy and prepare for the Reapers’ return.

• Duanmu Huai learned that the younger Shepard had tricked a planetary ruler into fleeing toward the Inquisition blockade, allowing him to capture the planet and earn more military merit than his older sister.
• A surviving Turian leader contacted a secret number to complain after Duanmu Huai’s Extermination Order destroyed his planet and left him with only a small ship.
• The three major Citadel representatives demanded that Li Longcheng explain the Systems Alliance’s destruction of the Boundary God Galaxy, and Li Longcheng defended the retaliation as a response to attacks on Alliance citizens.
• The representatives hesitated when Li Longcheng invoked the Inquisition, recalled the envoy who had fainted after seeing Duanmu Huai, and ended the meeting without pressing their complaint.
• Duanmu Huai told Li Longcheng to handle the Boundary God Galaxy’s cleanup, and Li Longcheng said he would accelerate colonization, mining, and warship development in preparation for the Reapers.

Duanmu Huai destroyed the Collectors’ Mass Relay, moved the Inquisition into the Boundary God Galaxy, and watched True Clever’s popularity grow across the Systems Alliance. When Maria reported that mining was too slow, he redeemed a bizarre Planet Cracking Ship, only to encounter a psychic presence aboard it.

• Duanmu Huai decided to destroy the Collectors’ Mass Relay and moved the Inquisition into the Boundary God Galaxy to mine resources and expand the fleet.
• True Clever became the Systems Alliance’s most popular streamer, helping Horse Girls gain acceptance among humans.
• Maria told Duanmu Huai that the Inquisition lacked enough resources to build warships, so he redeemed a Planet Cracking Ship.
• Duanmu Huai brought Okegis, Gureiya, Ann, Ranni, and Felin to inspect the unsettling ship, while the Ghost Girl recognized it from Imperial news.
• A strange song played over the communications system, and a psychic force seized control of Duanmu Huai’s Night Raven Black Star and sent it crashing toward the ship.
• Duanmu Huai used Soul Resonance to enter the Planet Cracking Ship, restored control of his craft, and identified himself as Grand Inquisitor Duanmu Huai.

Duanmu Huai investigated the Iron Hammer after discovering that its crew had suffered a strange fatal accident. A surviving foreman revealed that something was calling workers outside, then sang in a little girl’s voice and died, leaving Duanmu Huai facing an unknown threat.

• Duanmu Huai boarded the Iron Hammer with the girls disguised and ordered Captain Murphy to provide the ship’s records and a guide.
• Duanmu Huai learned that fifteen miners had died in a hatch explosion three days earlier and watched footage showing one miner opening the hatch while apparently sleepwalking.
• Duanmu Huai went to the medical section to question Keller, the surviving foreman, who had been restrained after repeatedly trying to kill himself.
• Keller said Kyle had heard someone calling him outside, then confessed that he had heard the same call.
• Keller began singing “Twinkle, twinkle, little star” in a young girl’s voice, twisted his neck, and died as Duanmu Huai realized they had encountered trouble.

Duanmu Huai identified a Blasphemous Relic on the planetary fragments as the source of the ship’s supernatural attacks. After a Guard Team vanished and a hostile song struck the bridge, he sealed the ship and prepared to investigate the fragments himself.

• Duanmu Huai concluded that a dead god’s Blasphemous Relic had awakened and caused the Fragment World around the Planet Cracking Ship.
• Duanmu Huai began taking command, but the ship lost power as interference erupted from the planetary fragments.
• Captain Murphy sent a Guard Team to investigate the dark mining platform, where a girl’s song drove the pilot mad and sent the transport aircraft crashing.
• Duanmu Huai used his Aura of Fear to drive the song from the bridge crew and confirmed that Okegis and Ranni had not heard it.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the ship sealed, assigned Gureiya and Ranni to the bridge, and set out with Ann and Okegis for the planetary fragments.

Duanmu Huai, Ann, and Okegis entered the mining base to investigate a Blasphemous Relic, only to encounter mutants that seemed impossible to kill. Duanmu Huai destroyed them with Destined Death, but gained no souls, leaving the relic’s strange power unexplained as he led the group onward.

• Duanmu Huai sent summoned puppets into the dark corridor, but they vanished without revealing what attacked them.
• Duanmu Huai told Ann to blast through the base, and Ann used her recreated White Destruction Ray to tear open a huge path through it.
• Hundreds of mutants rushed through the breach, and Duanmu Huai charged them while Okegis shielded Ann with cutting threads.
• Duanmu Huai found that the battered mutants kept attacking, so he struck them with Destined Death and burned them to ashes.
• Duanmu Huai realized he had absorbed no souls from the mutants and ordered the others to keep moving forward to investigate the Blasphemous Relic.

Duanmu Huai discovered that the Blasphemous Relic had tricked him by making him search an empty mine while it was secretly transported aboard the Steel Hammer. As undead mutants attacked the ship and crew, he learned the relic was likely on another route and set out to return to the bridge.

• The Captain received reports of riots across the Steel Hammer as crew members went mad, attacked one another, and committed suicide.
• Duanmu Huai and his companions fought grotesque mutants in the Mining Area, and he realized they were dead bodies controlled by the Blasphemous Relic.
• Duanmu Huai reached the ore deposit and found the mine empty, realizing the relic had lured him there as a diversion.
• Gureiya told Duanmu Huai that dead crew members had risen as monsters and were attacking the ship, while Gureiya and Ranni defended the bridge.
• Duanmu Huai learned there were two Raw Material Elevators and ordered Gureiya to hold the bridge as he headed back to pursue the relic.

Duanmu Huai fought his way through the mutant-infested Iron Hammer while Ann and Okegis returned to help defend the bridge. The Blasphemous Relic tried to stop him with illusions, but Duanmu Huai saw through them and continued toward the source of its power.

• Duanmu Huai unleashed his Aura of Fear aboard the Iron Hammer, then sent Ann and Okegis to the bridge while he pursued the Blasphemous Relic alone.
• Ann and Okegis found Gureiya protecting the bridge with Ranni, where the crew and mutants lay dead or scattered across the floor.
• Duanmu Huai cut down the mutants in the corridors and sensed the Blasphemous Relic's divine power near the rear of the ship.
• The relic showed Duanmu Huai illusions of Ann and other familiar women, but he attacked each one and exposed them as mutants.
• Duanmu Huai found a little girl hiding in a wardrobe, tore through the illusion, and revealed another baby-like mutant.

Duanmu Huai destroyed the Blasphemous Relic’s aggregated mutant monster aboard the Steel Hammer and claimed the relic’s power. He examined the Sphere of Blasphemy Soul Card and decided to convert the dangerous relic for his own use.

• Duanmu Huai advanced toward the stern warehouse as the Blasphemous Relic gathered mutants into a gigantic monster.
• The monster ruptured the Steel Hammer’s hull and attacked Duanmu Huai, who cut through its tentacles and charged into its body.
• Duanmu Huai drove his Chainsaw Sword into the monster and unleashed black flames that destroyed it and exposed a spiral tower.
• Duanmu Huai pulled the fleeing tower back and shattered it, completing the purification mission and obtaining the God Seal, the Sphere of Blasphemy Soul Card, and a Planet Cracking Ship blueprint.
• Duanmu Huai realized the card could turn battlefield casualties into Corpse Mutants and combine them into Blood Moon, then decided to convert the Blasphemous Relic.

Duanmu Huai secured the Planet Cracking Ship and began preparing a mass-produced Moon-class Cruiser fleet to face the Reapers, while reflecting on the dangers of artificial intelligence. After a quiet stretch of days, Kaname and Shizuka arrived and brought him a new problem.

• Duanmu Huai reassured Ann and Gureiya that the Planet Cracking Ship was safe, though its crew remained bound to it as a ghost ship.
• Duanmu Huai planned to improve mining logistics and build industrial and transport ships so dangerous relics could be detected before reaching his mothership.
• Duanmu Huai chose Moon-class Cruisers as cheap, adaptable ships for building a large fleet against the Reapers.
• Duanmu Huai used dolls instead of AI to crew and operate his warships, and he considered the risks of AI through the histories of the Geth and Quarians.
• Duanmu Huai spent several leisurely days around Manaria, the Holy City, and the Systems Alliance before Kaname and Shizuka arrived with a new problem.

Duanmu Huai heard about Lia’s plan to build him a castle as a diplomatic hub and traveled with Kaname, Shizuka, and Magica to the new Inquisition territory. There he rescued a Kara woman from men who planned to abuse her and take her crystal, then asked to see the castle.

• Kaname explained that Lia and Gandhi King had arranged to build Duanmu Huai a castle where Lisass, Zeth, and the Free City met, while Magica had been sent as Zeth’s representative.
• Shizuka reported that her sister was still missing, the AL Cult was choosing a new Pope, and the Little Demon King might have gone to O.J.
• Duanmu Huai decided to search for the Little Demon King himself, then traveled with Kaname, Shizuka, and Magica to the border town where Lia had granted him territory.
• In the town square, Duanmu Huai found a captured Kara woman and used his Aura of Fear to drive off the men who intended to abuse her and take her crystal.
• Duanmu Huai freed the Kara woman, warned her not to harm humans, and asked the others to show him the castle.

Duanmu Huai settled into the castle and learned that the Demon Realm was unstable after Camilla’s death, while Kebris wanted him killed. That night, a maid’s alluring performance turned out to be an assassination attempt, and Duanmu Huai woke to find his attacker alive and identifying herself as Ling Nu of O.J.

• Duanmu Huai moved into the castle and summoned Seizer to report on the Demon Realm.
• Seizer told Duanmu Huai that Kebris had lost three Majin, was holding back against the Honet Faction, and had ordered Duanmu Huai killed.
• Seizer reported that only a little over three hundred angels had agreed to follow her, and Duanmu Huai accepted the number.
• Xiao Ling entered Duanmu Huai’s room and used a seductive dance and scent to overwhelm his reason.
• Duanmu Huai woke in the wrecked room, grabbed the injured maid, and learned that she was Ling Nu from O.J.

Duanmu Huai learned that Ling Nu had tried to assassinate him using female-ninja techniques and asked her to become his teacher instead of killing her. Lia then moved her royal palace to stay near him and explained that she had fallen in love with him after their night together.

• Ling Nu told Duanmu Huai that Iga had sent her to kill him because someone claimed he planned to conquer O.J. with Lisass.
• Ling Nu explained that female ninjas seduced men and used secret techniques to kill them, and Duanmu Huai offered to spare her if she taught him how to treat women.
• Ling Nu agreed to become Duanmu Huai's teacher and went to resign from her post.
• Duanmu Huai noticed that his encounter with Ling Nu had earned far more experience for the God of Love and Desire than his encounter with Kaname.
• Lia rushed to Duanmu Huai, announced that she had moved the Royal Palace, and said she had fallen in love with him because their night together had brought her happiness and surrender.

After completing Ling Nu’s training, Duanmu Huai set out for O.J with her, Shizuka, and Magica to search for the Little Demon King. Their journey was interrupted when Ling Nu discovered Herman’s army attacking the Kara Clan, and Duanmu Huai prepared to intervene.

• Duanmu Huai completed Ling Nu’s lessons after practicing with Seizeru, and Ling Nu agreed to accompany him to O.J.
• A mysterious figure watched the Inquisition’s castle, judged Duanmu Huai a threat to the continent’s balance, and decided to wait and watch.
• Duanmu Huai departed for O.J with Ling Nu, Shizuka, and Magica on the Electromagnetic Rhinoceros, leaving Sky City behind.
• Magica spotted smoke near the forest where the Kara Clan lived, and Duanmu Huai sent Ling Nu to scout.
• Ling Nu reported that Herman’s army was fighting the Kara Clan, and Duanmu Huai led the group toward the battle.

Duanmu Huai and his companions rescued the Kara Clan from Hermann’s invasion, then accepted Igis’s invitation to Kara Village. Igis asked Duanmu Huai to provide his Essence Seed so the Kara Clan could inherit his strength and change the traits that made humans covet them.

• Duanmu Huai, Shizuka, and Magica attacked Hermann’s forces after witnessing them assault Kara captives, turning the battle in the Kara Clan’s favor.
• Duanmu Huai met Igis on the battlefield, learned that the Kara Clan’s protective barrier had weakened, and helped drive the Hermann soldiers back.
• Duanmu Huai killed the company commander Allen, and the Hermann Army fled after its leader died.
• Igis invited Duanmu Huai and his companions to Kara Village, where the Kara Clan held a feast in their honor.
• Igis asked Duanmu Huai for his Essence Seed, explaining that the Kara Clan needed a powerful male’s seed to reproduce and hoped to change the traits that attracted human predators.