Chapter Summaries

Manaria’s mages repelled the Herman Army’s night and day assaults on Bonn Fortress with Phantom Magic and powerful earth summons. After suffering heavy losses, Kriolev ordered scouts and assassins to infiltrate the fortress.

• A girl used Phantom Magic to make Herman soldiers fight deadly shadow illusions, forcing Kriolev to retreat for the night.
• Hanna explained to Uluze and Kierty that the girl controlled the soldiers’ shadows using light from a burning match.
• The next day, a Flower Magician summoned armored Mud Golems that wounded hundreds of Herman soldiers before they were destroyed.
• The Flower Magician then summoned an Earth Dragon, which killed hundreds and wounded more than a thousand Herman soldiers before Kriolev’s forces defeated it.
• Kriolev abandoned another frontal assault and ordered scouts and assassins to infiltrate Bonn Fortress.

Kriolev sent Black Swan to threaten or kill the Grand Inquisitor, but she was caught while infiltrating Bonn Fortress. Duanmu Huai spared her and sent a message urging Kriolev to face Herman’s problems, leaving Black Swan to decide whether to deliver it.

• Kriolev tasked Black Swan with threatening the Grand Inquisitor, and she chose to infiltrate Bonn Fortress alone.
• Black Swan entered the fortress and discovered the girls holding a banquet while discussing the arriving Second Army and Kriolev’s possible removal from command.
• After learning Duanmu Huai was alone in his room, Black Swan approached the command center but Ling Nu ambushed and captured her.
• Duanmu Huai spared Black Swan, set her arm, and asked her to tell Kriolev that Herman needed to change and that the Inquisition would otherwise leave the matter to him.
• Black Swan left the fortress, and Duanmu Huai praised Ling Nu for helping catch her.

Kriolev reconsidered whether his loyalty to Herman required him to stop avoiding its political crisis, but the Council stripped him of command and put Kombat in charge of the allied army. Kombat attacked Bonn Fortress, where Elsa unleashed a seemingly endless army of magical chess pieces against Herman's forces.

• Black Swan delivered Duanmu Huai's message, prompting Kriolev to question his silence about Herman's royal succession crisis and the Council's rule.
• Kombat arrived with the Second Army and a Council order appointing him supreme commander in place of Kriolev.
• Kombat announced that he would lead the attack on Bonn Fortress and capture the target alive before the Steel Giant arrived.
• Elsa summoned giant soldier chess pieces, walking fortresses, and reinforcements to repel the Herman Army's assault.
• After Kombat's troops destroyed the first wave, Elsa summoned the enormous Ultimate King of the Chessboard and more pieces, leaving the Herman forces facing a renewed attack.

After the Fifth Army was captured in Story 13, its commander Rolex Gadras learned why the Fourth Army’s new recruits fought so fiercely and questioned Krim about her reforms. Convinced by her plan to transform Herman from the bottom up, Rolex offered to join her.

• Kombat ordered a retreat as the Second Army was crushed and demanded to know where the Fifth Army had gone.
• Rolex Gadras recounted how the Fifth Army had attacked Story 13, found itself vastly outnumbered, and surrendered; he asked a young soldier why he fought so desperately.
• The young soldier said the Fourth Army had protected his family, ended noble oppression, and shared food with the people, so he would fight to defend their new lives.
• Rolex asked Krim why the Fourth Army had killed Story 13’s nobles and distributed their property, and she explained that the army needed the people’s support to reform Herman.
• Krim said she intended to change the country from the bottom up rather than replace one ruler with another, and Rolex offered to join her.

After Kombat's failed attack on Bonn Fortress, Kriolev led the First Army away from camp and defected to Duanmu Huai. Duanmu Huai showed Kriolev how the allied armies captured Roses City, leaving him puzzled by the Fourth Army's orderly conduct after the battle.

• Kombat failed to take Bonn Fortress and returned to camp after losing thousands of soldiers.
• Kriolev read Lord Rolex's letter, decided to leave, and led the First Army toward Bonn Fortress under the cover of a night patrol.
• Kombat discovered the First Army had deserted and collapsed after learning its destination was Bonn Fortress.
• Kriolev met Duanmu Huai, who showed him the Valkyrie Gunboat and flew him and the First Army's commanders to Roses City.
• The Fourth Army and Fifth Army captured Roses City's gates and defeated the garrison.
• Kriolev noticed the Fourth Army helping civilians and keeping the battlefield orderly, and Duanmu Huai promised to explain.

After the Fourth Army captured Roses City, Duanmu Huai enforced order and explained the campaign to the residents. He exposed the AL Church priest for sheltering Council nobles, while Lucian avoided recognition by Kriolev.

• The Fourth Army prohibited looting in Roses City, put oppressive nobles and officials on trial, and distributed some confiscated supplies to the poor.
• Duanmu Huai told Rolex and Kriolev that the Fourth Army sought the people's support by explaining why it fought.
• Kierty reported that the AL Church priest had refused to let soldiers search the church, where officials were suspected of hiding.
• Duanmu Huai challenged the priest's devotion to Goddess Alice, then ordered soldiers to search the church and arrest the nobles they found.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the priest taken for interrogation and public trial, and the priest fainted.
• Lucian saw Kriolev watching her, left with the soldiers, and Kriolev wondered whether she had been someone he knew.

After the First Army and Fifth Army joined the Rebels, Stisser resolved to use his hidden forces to seize power. He unleashed an army of Flesh Puppets, declaring that he would destroy anyone who stood in his way.

• The Council learned that the First Army and Fifth Army had joined the Fourth Army, and Barton warned that the Inquisition’s Steel Giant made retaking Bonn Fortress impossible.
• Stisser and Kaichak clashed over the rebellion, while Barton considered securing his own retreat and leaving Stisser to take the blame.
• Stisser recalled that Shila was his daughter with Queen Mother Pamela and that she had stolen the key to activate a powerful weapon before fleeing the Royal Capital.
• Stisser decided to rely on the preparations he had made and led Fighting General Bastet to a hidden workshop filled with Flesh Puppets.
• Stisser activated the workshop and ordered the Flesh Puppets to deploy and destroy everything in his way.

Shizuka found Na Ji, who attacked her in a bid for revenge, but Duanmu Huai intervened when Shizuka lowered her defenses. As Na Ji lay dying, Shizuka tried to save her by offering to share her body.

• Shizuka searched for Na Ji in Herman but could not find her until Na Ji appeared and threatened to kill her friends and lover.
• Shizuka fought Na Ji while holding back, hoping to handle the conflict herself.
• When Na Ji's magic struck Shizuka, Duanmu Huai blocked the attack, then sent Na Ji flying with a punch.
• Shizuka cradled the badly injured Na Ji as she spoke of her loneliness and admitted she had directed her grief and anger at Shizuka.
• Shizuka promised to become ordinary sisters with Na Ji and formed a Magic Circle, offering to give Na Ji half of her body.

Shizuka explained how she used Splitting Magic to separate Na Ji’s soul, while Okegis tried to make Jia Wei forget their feud by repeatedly hitting her with a club. The group then learned that spies in the Royal Capital had gone silent after sending a bloodstained warning that the Council was killing people.

• Shizuka explained that Splitting Magic had separated Na Ji’s soul from her own body, leaving Na Ji without her old memories and full of energy.
• Okegis summoned Jia Wei and repeatedly struck her unconscious, hoping to erase her memories so they could get along as sisters, until Duanmu Huai stopped her and explained that dolls did not think with their brains.
• Kierty summoned Duanmu Huai to the command center, where Lord Wuluze reported that contact with their spy in the Royal Capital had been lost.
• Lord Wuluze showed Duanmu Huai the spy’s bloodstained note warning that the Council had gone mad and was killing people.
• Duanmu Huai learned that investigators sent to the Royal Capital had also stopped responding and said they needed to prepare early.

Duanmu Huai’s team investigated the ruined Royal Capital and rescued a sewer cleaner and his sick daughter. The survivor revealed that armored soldiers had massacred the city’s inhabitants and taken their bodies to the castle, so Duanmu Huai ordered an assault on the Royal Fortress.

• Duanmu Huai scanned the Royal Capital and found only seventeen life signals, sending Kaname and Ling Nu to investigate them.
• Kaname and Ling Nu entered the sewers and rescued a man and his feverish daughter.
• The sewer cleaner told Duanmu Huai’s group that golden-armored soldiers had killed the city’s residents and taken their corpses to the castle.
• Duanmu Huai ordered everyone to move out and attack the Royal Fortress.

Duanmu Huai learned that Shila Hermann, the missing emperor of the Hermann Kingdom, had fled the Royal Capital with a mysterious box tied to Stiser’s plan. After destroying the box and freeing the soul sealed inside, he invited Shila to travel with them.

• Duanmu Huai told his allies that the Royal Capital had been attacked and kept their plans for the Fourth Army and the Inquisition unchanged.
• Lucian asked Kierty to bring her to Duanmu Huai and requested that Shizuka dispel her Transformation Magic.
• Shizuka revealed Lucian as Shila Hermann, and Shila explained how she escaped the Royal Capital with the box Stiser called a key.
• Shila gave Duanmu Huai the empty-looking box, and he destroyed it, releasing a humanoid soul that vanished in his Black Blazing Flame.
• Duanmu Huai invited Shila to travel with them.

Duanmu Huai led the allied army to attack the Royal Capital, where the Council’s forces defended the city with a royal barrier and corpse soldiers. After the army broke through the gates, Hanna explained how the dead troops were controlled, and Duanmu Huai told Shila to lead them to the secret passage.

• Shila explained that her mother had activated the Royal Defense Barrier, which protected the capital’s core district and could be shut down by a royal family member.
• Duanmu Huai urged Shila to stop regretting what had happened and focus on dealing with the current crisis.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the Titan to blast open the city gates, and the allied army charged into the Royal Capital.
• The golden-armored defenders attacked as suicide troops, and Ann reported that they were dead bodies animated by magic and metal cores.
• Hanna identified the metal control cores inside the corpse soldiers, and Duanmu Huai told Shila to lead the army through the secret passage.

Duanmu Huai and his companions breached the barrier beneath the Imperial Palace while the Resistance Army steadily overcame Stiser’s Flesh Puppets and advanced on the castle. Stiser’s defeat became inevitable, and Shila confronted him after Duanmu Huai knocked him down.

• Duanmu Huai tore open the red barrier with his bare hands, allowing Shila and the others to pass through before it closed behind them.
• The Resistance Army adapted its tactics and pushed through the Flesh Puppets with airstrikes, Steel Titans, tanks, magic, and infantry.
• Stiser panicked as his army failed to stop the advance, and Queen Mother Pamela urged him to surrender.
• Stiser struck Pamela and proclaimed his ambition, but Duanmu Huai arrived with Shila and punched him across the Royal Court.
• Shila stood over the injured Stiser and told him that it was all over.

After the Inquisition demanded that Oz Bishop answer for his suspected connection to Herman’s Flesh Puppets, the AL Cult faced public distrust and a collapse in believers. Duanmu Huai stormed its audience chamber, killed Oz Bishop and other leaders, confronted Goddess Alice, and demanded she take him to the God of Creation before attacking her.

• Herman began rebuilding after Stiser and Queen Mother Pamela were arrested, while the Inquisition accused Oz Bishop of ties to Stiser and demanded he submit to an investigation.
• The AL Cult’s leaders argued over Oz Bishop’s responsibility as the Inquisition’s popularity grew and the cult lost believers across the continent.
• Duanmu Huai burst into the AL Church’s audience chamber, killed Oz Bishop, and caused the old man and a bald priest to die.
• Duanmu Huai tore open the chamber’s space and confronted Goddess Alice, demanding that she take him to meet the God of Creation.
• When Goddess Alice refused to comply, Duanmu Huai leaped at her.

Duanmu Huai exposed Goddess Alice and the White Whale as threats to humanity, killed Alice, and began fighting the White Whale. He broke into the creature through its shattered eye and prepared to attack its brain.

• Kulukulu watched without reacting as Duanmu Huai beat Goddess Alice and forced her to take him to the God of Creation.
• At the cliff, Duanmu Huai killed Alice after Ghost Girl identified the White Whale as the creature behind the world shard and the Mechanicus Sage’s psychic experiments.
• The White Whale admitted it had created a world where humans were treated as livestock because humans had once tortured it.
• Duanmu Huai fought off the monsters and broke through the White Whale’s psychic storm.
• Duanmu Huai shattered the White Whale’s eye, entered its body, and drew his Chainsaw Sword to attack its brain.

Duanmu Huai killed the White Whale and gained ownership of Duel City, the Rudelacem Continent, and an Essence of God. He converted his God of Love and Desire Divine Office into God of Joy, then returned to the AL Church and considered putting the cult to use.

• The White Whale recalled its imprisonment by humans as Duanmu Huai entered its brain and carved it apart with his Chainsaw Sword.
• Duanmu Huai killed the White Whale, destroyed its Divine Domain, and received the Rudelacem Continent, ownership of Duel City, and an Essence of God.
• Duanmu Huai used the Essence of God to replace his God of Love and Desire Divine Office with God of Joy.
• Duanmu Huai returned to the audience chamber beneath the AL Church and told the girl he would think about what to do next.
• Duanmu Huai considered putting the AL Cult to use instead of abolishing it.

After killing the White Whale and Alice, Duanmu Huai reshaped the world's divine order and planned an Allied Forces campaign against the Demon Realm. He discovered that True Clever's three-hour stream had caused the God of Joy's experience to rise, though he did not yet know why.

• Duanmu Huai learned how the White Whale had created the gods and races, spared the human-born Level God, transformed the Saintess Monsters into humans, and decided to kill the Boy Monsters and Demon King.
• Duanmu Huai proposed that the Inquisition lead Lisass, Zeth, Herman, and the Free City Alliance in an invasion of the Demon Realm, offering conquered territory as a reward.
• Lia, Magica, Shila, and Copandon agreed to bring their nations into the Allied Forces discussions, while Gureiya considered founding a Dragonkin nation in the Demon Realm.
• Duanmu Huai noticed that the God of Joy's experience was increasing on its own and found that the gains began accelerating during True Clever's three-hour stream.
• Duanmu Huai realized that True Clever's stream coincided with the increase in the God of Joy's experience.

Duanmu Huai learned that True Clever’s streams were helping him gain joy-related power, while the Inquisition organized a vast alliance to invade the Demon Realm. The army gathered on Herman’s western border, and the chapter ended with Duanmu Huai’s reinforcements arriving aboard a gigantic cathedral warship.

• Duanmu Huai realized True Clever’s streams were increasing his Experience Points and decided to let her continue as she liked.
• Lia sent Lisass’s forces, Seth and Herman committed armies, and the AL Cult and Gureiya’s Dragonkin joined the campaign.
• Duanmu Huai assembled the Inquisition’s forces, including an Emperor-class Titan, armored vehicles, and fifteen hundred Night Watch.
• Three months later, an allied army of nearly three hundred thousand gathered on Herman’s western border, encouraged by Duanmu Huai’s news that the Majin had lost their Invincible Barrier.
• As Uluze asked when the army would depart, a colossal cathedral warship emerged through the clouds.

Duanmu Huai led the Inquisition and a 300,000-strong human alliance into the Demon Realm, where they routed the Demonic Army with overwhelming firepower. As Kebris mobilized the remaining Majin after discovering their Invincible Barriers had failed, Ra Seizeru brought word that Satra wanted to meet Duanmu Huai.

• Duanmu Huai brought the Inquisition’s warship into the world and ordered the allied forces to invade the Demon Realm.
• Kebris learned that the million-strong Demonic Army had been defeated, Galtia had died, and the Majin’s Invincible Barrier no longer worked.
• Kebris tested his own barrier, confirmed its failure, killed the subordinate who attacked him, and ordered the Majin to assemble against the humans.
• The Inquisition’s ships, Iron Warriors, Titans, and armored forces devastated the Demonic Army as the human alliance advanced behind them.
• Ra Seizeru told Duanmu Huai that Satra wanted to see him, and he agreed to meet her.

Satra sought Duanmu Huai’s help to rescue Honet, but he refused to treat the Demon Realm’s factions as allies and demanded that Satra and Honet become his familiars if they wanted to live. Satra was left facing Duanmu Huai’s ultimatum: submit or die.

• Satra asked Seizeru to arrange a meeting with Duanmu Huai and explained that she wanted help rescuing Honet in exchange for helping defeat Kebris.
• Seizeru learned that Honet had been defeated but that Hozeru was safe for now.
• Duanmu Huai told Satra that the human allied forces intended to eradicate the Demon Realm, not merely defeat Kebris, and said Honet’s fate did not concern him.
• Duanmu Huai revealed that the Majin had lost the Invincible Barrier, while Ling Nu held a dagger to Satra’s throat to demonstrate that a Majin could be killed.
• After Seizeru pleaded for Honet’s life, Duanmu Huai offered to spare Satra and Honet only if they became his familiars, then gave Satra the choice between submission and death.