Chapter Summaries

Satra and Hozeru negotiated with Duanmu Huai for help rescuing Honet as the Human Coalition crushed the Majin forces. After Babola fell, Duanmu Huai demanded that all three Majin become his familiars, leaving Satra and Hozeru to consider his terms.

• Hozeru decided to join Satra in seeking Duanmu Huai's help, and they agreed to discuss becoming familiars after Honet was rescued.
• Kebris worried that the Human Coalition would overwhelm his remaining Majin now that the Invincible Barrier had vanished.
• The Emperor Titan killed Babola with plasma and cannon fire, causing his Demon Army to collapse and flee.
• Satra recognized that the humans used a device displaying the Demon Realm to locate enemy armies and commanders.
• Duanmu Huai insisted Honet must also become his familiar, and he told Satra that the Inquisition protected humanity rather than serving morality or justice.

As the Human Coalition wiped out most of the Demon Race, Kebris learned that Miki was hiding at Soaring Dragon Mountain and went to seize her power. Duanmu Huai arrived to stop him, and the chapter ended as he swung his warhammer at Kebris and Ogawa Kentaro.

• Kebris blamed Honet for the Demon Race’s defeat and decided to find Miki so he could claim the Demon King’s throne.
• Hozer and Satra rescued Honet, who warned them that Kebris was heading to Soaring Dragon Mountain; Duanmu Huai arrived at the Demon King's Castle and ordered Seizeru and Ling Nu to watch them.
• Duanmu Huai learned that Miki was at Soaring Dragon Mountain and flew there in a Valkyrie Gunboat.
• Ogawa Kentaro explained that he had been discovered while searching for lemons to keep Miki from transforming into the Demon King, and he refused to hand her over to Kebris.
• Duanmu Huai confronted Kebris and Ogawa Kentaro, demanded to know where Miki was, and attacked them with his warhammer.

Duanmu Huai defeated Kebris and Ogawa Kentaro, then purified Kirisui Miki’s Demon King’s Blood and ended the threat she posed. With the Demon Realm destroyed, he turned to Honet and demanded that she lead the Girl Monsters as part of human society, leaving her to decide whether she would submit to becoming his familiar.

• Duanmu Huai killed Kebris with his warhammer and brushed aside Ogawa Kentaro’s attack before pinning him against a wall.
• Duanmu Huai forced Miki out of the cave, and her Demon King’s power erupted as she froze the nearby Demonic Soldiers and Kebris’s corpse.
• Duanmu Huai overwhelmed Miki with his aura of fear, purified the Demon King’s Blood inside her, and restored her to an ordinary human.
• Ogawa Kentaro and Kirisui Miki learned that Duanmu Huai had freed her from the Demon King’s Blood and explained that they had attacked him because they mistook him for the Demon King.
• Duanmu Huai told Honet to lead the Girl Monsters as demi-humans and demanded that she become his familiar, warning that he would use another method if she refused to submit.

After purifying the Demon King's Blood, Duanmu Huai finished settling the Demon Realm and helped establish a continent-wide organization led by the Inquisition. Back aboard the mothership, he investigated a strange scientific report that might indicate higher-dimensional interference, then recoiled at the name of the next Collaboration Event.

• Duanmu Huai divided the reclaimed territories among Herman, Zeth, Lisass, Gureiya, Honet, and others, while Xierqi chose to purify her Majin blood and return to the human world.
• Duanmu Huai convened the continent's factions and proposed a United Nations-like organization centered on the Inquisition, which could intervene in other countries when it found problems.
• Duanmu Huai returned to the mothership to rest as the Inquisition's angels stirred religious speculation across the Systems Alliance and helped bolster its claims to the Human Empire's legacy.
• Rumiere brought Duanmu Huai reports about cults, colony diseases, and a scientific measurement that contradicted established physics; he ordered her to keep monitoring it.
• Duanmu Huai checked the system for the next Collaboration Event and nearly spat out his water when he saw its name.

Duanmu Huai learned that the Unspeakable Challenge had begun and recognized its terrifying SAN Value mechanics, but its Reality Stabilizing Anchor reward was too valuable to ignore. He chose Ling Nu and Lorena to accompany him, and they agreed to set out with him.

• Duanmu Huai reviewed the Unspeakable Challenge and recalled how its disturbing visions and SAN Value system made the quest dangerous for players and NPCs.
• Duanmu Huai realized that the quest’s appearance might foreshadow an encounter with the unspeakable beings he had suspected were connected to the Elden Beast.
• Duanmu Huai ruled out his intelligent, artificial, weak, or busy companions and decided Ling Nu and Lorena were suitable choices.
• Ling Nu eagerly agreed to join Duanmu Huai, and Lorena accepted the challenge as a test of her faith.
• Duanmu Huai told Ling Nu and Lorena to prepare for their departure.

Duanmu Huai rolled an 80-point fate score and entered a new world as a wealthy, powerful retired soldier living in Arkham City. He gathered his companions, received an invitation to an art banquet, and discovered that his vehicle was a heavy truck.

• Rabbit Rabbit rolled three dice for Duanmu Huai, producing 5, 5, and 6 and giving him an 80-point fate score.
• Duanmu Huai read his character card and arrived in the bedroom of his luxurious Arkham City mansion.
• Duanmu Huai found Ling Nu as a Black Cat and Rabbit Rabbit as a White Rabbit, while Lorena came to tell him that Ling Nu had disappeared.
• Duanmu Huai read an invitation to a banquet hosted by a distant relative who was a famous artist.
• The maid offered to drive Duanmu Huai to the banquet, and he found a heavy truck waiting in the garage.

Duanmu Huai, Lorena, and the maid arrived at a deserted villa and began investigating its strange silence. After killing a Ghoul and finding clues linking it to a missing guest, they searched the house for more evidence.

• Duanmu Huai arrived at the brightly lit villa with Lorena and the maid, found it deserted, and entered to investigate.
• Duanmu Huai tore open a locked drawer in the entrance hall and found invitations among the papers inside.
• Ling Nu alerted Duanmu Huai to a Ghoul in the dining room, and he killed it after it attacked.
• Ling Nu found a pocket watch on the Ghoul, and Duanmu Huai matched its initials to an invitation for art dealer Mulis White.
• The maid found bizarre miniature specimens in the kitchen refrigerator, and Duanmu Huai told the others to search the remaining rooms.

Duanmu Huai found a diary revealing that his distant relative had arranged a private viewing of Cliff Pitt’s disturbing paintings. After overcoming a hallway distortion and killing three Ghouls in the recreation room, Duanmu Huai and the others prepared to inspect the paintings.

• Duanmu Huai searched the library and found his distant relative’s diary, which described how he had discovered Cliff Pitt and agreed to exhibit his paintings.
• Duanmu Huai learned that the relative had become horrified by Cliff’s completed paintings and invited relatives and friends to a private viewing at the mansion.
• Lorena found books about myths, legends, and Demons, while Duanmu Huai concluded the recreation room was the temporary exhibition hall.
• Duanmu Huai drove back the shadowy tentacles that attacked the group in the distorted hallway.
• Duanmu Huai charged into the recreation room and killed two Ghouls, while Lorena purified the third with her Holy Book.

Duanmu Huai and Lorena uncovered the Ghouls’ plan to attack Arkham City and interrupted Cliff’s ritual, killing the summoned monster and rescuing the intended sacrifice. After giving the police his evidence, Duanmu Huai was asked to become an investigator.

• Duanmu Huai examined paintings showing Ghouls infiltrating and planning to destroy Arkham City, and concluded that Cliff was leading them.
• Ling Nu directed Duanmu Huai to a study, where he found Cliff conducting a ritual with Ghouls and a captive man.
• Cliff summoned a monstrous creature, and Duanmu Huai tore it apart while Lorena and the maid dealt with the people inside.
• Duanmu Huai learned that Cliff had been killed by the summoned monster and that Lorena had killed the remaining Ghouls; he rescued the captive art dealer.
• Duanmu Huai gave the police his evidence, and a detective asked him to assist the police as an investigator.

Duanmu Huai learned how investigators worked with the police and examined the Foundation’s benefits after receiving his D-Rank credentials. While arranging a custom cane and truck modifications, he chose Innsmouth as his next destination.

• Duanmu Huai received a Foundation card and website address in the mail and logged into the Foundation’s internal site.
• Duanmu Huai found that his D-Rank status limited the equipment he could obtain and decided to commission a massive black-steel cane.
• Duanmu Huai arranged for a company to modify his heavy truck so people could ride inside it.
• Duanmu Huai turned his attention to Innsmouth and prepared to seek trouble there.

Duanmu Huai reviewed Innsmouth’s history of player-caused chaos and the fates of its four major families before setting out to exploit the town’s secrets and earn points. After three days crossing the salt flats, he reached Innsmouth at dusk and announced that the real show was about to begin.

• Duanmu Huai recalled how players had disrupted Innsmouth and how the Flink Family, Fulsome Family, Spock Association, and Tolomini Family had all been destroyed.
• Duanmu Huai planned to uncover evidence linking Innsmouth’s leaders to high-ranking government officials and to kill the town’s Chaos-mutated residents.
• Duanmu Huai left Lorena at home and traveled on foot with Rabbit Rabbit and Black Cat across the salt flats.
• Duanmu Huai arrived at Innsmouth after three days and observed its church, fishing boats, and sparse crowds from a hillside.
• Duanmu Huai caught and read a travel poster, stroked Black Cat, and disappeared into the darkness as torrential rain began.

A hidden killer slaughtered Innsmouth’s slave-hunting parties and the townspeople awaiting transformation into Deep Ones, spreading panic among the four ruling families. Chieftain Flink called for the families to meet and discuss who was responsible.

• A cloaked cultist leading an Innsmouth patrol was dragged into an alley and killed by a shadowy attacker.
• Chieftain Flink learned that his slave-hunting party had been murdered and examined one victim’s hooked neck wound at the police station.
• The Fulsome Family’s slave hunters were killed, and the Spock Association’s armed patrol later died without firing a shot.
• The four families searched Innsmouth and discovered that all the residents hiding in sealed houses while awaiting transformation into Deep Ones had been killed.
• The families realized an unknown killer had committed blasphemy against their gods, and Chieftain Flink called for a meeting.

Duanmu Huai used staged murders and fear to pressure Innsmouth’s Four Great Families while secretly gathering evidence of their crimes. As the town’s residents gathered at the Dagon Church to summon help against the killer, Flink prepared to begin the ritual.

• Duanmu Huai explained that he was using the murders to spread fear and provoke the Four Great Families into seeking aid from Dagon or Cthulhu.
• Ling Nu’s investigation found that the families had gathered to respond, while the police had suppressed reports of the murders.
• Duanmu Huai infiltrated the families’ strongholds and collected evidence of bribery, human experiments, and police collusion.
• Duanmu Huai concluded that the cultists were unlikely to summon Cthulhu and planned to destroy Innsmouth once they revealed their hand.
• In heavy rain, Innsmouth’s residents gathered at the Dagon Church, where Flink and the Fulsome patriarch prepared to begin the ritual.

Duanmu Huai interrupted Innsmouth’s ritual just as Dagon emerged, then attacked the Evil God with his Black Flame. After the cavern collapsed, Dagon’s companion appeared from the sea, and Duanmu Huai prepared to fight them both.

• Innsmouth’s cultists sacrificed outsiders and summoned Dagon during a ritual led by Chieftain Flink.
• Duanmu Huai entered the cavern and used his Aura of Fear to overwhelm and kill the cultists.
• Duanmu Huai charged Dagon, striking it with a Black Flame hammer and stabbing its eye with his cane.
• The cavern collapsed during the battle, and Duanmu Huai emerged to find a giant female half-fishman striding out of the sea.
• Duanmu Huai recognized the newcomer as Dagon’s companion and vowed to kill them both.

Sheriff Anthony Howard reviewed investigator Duanmu Huai’s report on the destruction of Innsmouth and was struck by how unemotional and formulaic it seemed. Unable to reconcile the report with the horrific evidence, Anthony headed to Newburyport to meet Duanmu Huai.

• Anthony arrived at the police station and received a U-Level case file from Dominic about Innsmouth.
• Dominic told Anthony that the entire town of Innsmouth had been destroyed, prompting him to examine the transferred federal case.
• Anthony read Duanmu Huai’s report describing the cult, its human experiments and sacrifices, and the ritual that ended in Innsmouth’s destruction.
• Anthony studied the photographs of the ruined town and the evidence of mass death, but found Duanmu Huai’s calm report unsettling.
• Anthony learned that Duanmu Huai was still at the police station in Newburyport and set out to meet him.

Anthony Bock reviewed Duanmu Huai’s file, met him at the Newburyport police station, and was impressed by his unusual size and composure. After clearing Duanmu Huai to leave, Anthony invited him to help investigate a suspected U-Level case involving a missing person.

• Anthony read that Duanmu Huai had killed a group of Ghouls and cultists and rescued their victims during an earlier U-Level incident.
• Anthony found Duanmu Huai locked in a warehouse at the Newburyport police station and was startled when he looked up and saw him.
• Duanmu Huai showed Anthony his investigator’s certificate and explained that he had been born with his imposing physique.
• Anthony questioned Duanmu Huai about the Innsmouth case, completed the paperwork, and allowed him to leave.
• Anthony returned and invited Duanmu Huai to help investigate a suspected U-Level case involving a missing friend.

Duanmu Huai agreed to help Anthony investigate a string of disappearances at a Newburyport museum and learned that the cases had occurred throughout the building over five years. After arriving at the museum, he encountered someone he recognized, though the chapter ended before revealing what they said next.

• Anthony invited Duanmu Huai to investigate a suspected U-Level case, and Duanmu Huai readily accepted.
• Duanmu Huai arrived in a heavily decorated truck, and Anthony climbed aboard to discuss the case.
• Anthony explained that fifteen visitors and employees had disappeared from the Newburyport museum over five years, with no consistent time or location.
• Duanmu Huai agreed to assist with the investigation, and he and Anthony arrived at the museum.
• After Anthony and his partner went inside, Duanmu Huai heard an unfamiliar yet familiar voice and recognized the person who had called out to him.

Duanmu Huai reunited with Charlie Simon, whose friend had vanished after entering a museum exhibition hall, and agreed to investigate the disappearance. With Anthony, he entered the museum after closing to search Hall B, where Anthony spotted something in a painting that nearly made him scream.

• Duanmu Huai encountered Charlie Simon, who explained that his friend had disappeared inside the museum and asked him to investigate.
• Charlie described surveillance footage showing his friend enter Hall B but never appear on its cameras or leave it.
• Duanmu Huai agreed to take the case and met Anthony to compare their information.
• Anthony secured permission from the curator for himself and Duanmu Huai to search the museum after closing.
• Duanmu Huai and Anthony entered Hall B and inspected its paintings and exhibits.
• Anthony swept his flashlight across a painting and nearly screamed at what he saw.

Duanmu Huai deduced that the museum monster might hide inside paintings and set out to lure it into the open. Anthony was trapped in a darkened exhibition hall, but Duanmu Huai appeared and struck the creature as it attacked.

• Anthony saw a monster in a painting, but it vanished and left only a sunflower painting behind.
• Duanmu Huai theorized that the monster hid inside the museum’s paintings and decided to lure it out rather than search for it.
• Duanmu Huai gave Anthony a skull-and-warhammer talisman, and they split up to search the exhibition halls.
• Anthony entered Hall D, where the doors shut, the lights went out, and an unseen barrier blocked his escape.
• A nearly transparent monster approached Anthony, but Duanmu Huai emerged from the shadows and punched it away.

Duanmu Huai and Anthony fought off dozens of eyeless monsters that had appeared in the museum. Afterward, they found a damaged painting that pointed to the source of the creatures, leaving them with a new lead to investigate.

• Duanmu Huai revealed that he had followed Anthony to find lawbreakers, then attacked an eyeless monster that Anthony could not see clearly.
• Duanmu Huai crushed the first monster with a punch, drawing a swarm of others toward him and Anthony.
• Duanmu Huai fought off and killed the remaining monsters while Anthony stayed near him, unable to get a clear shot in the darkness.
• After the lights returned, Anthony contacted the logistics personnel, while Duanmu Huai concluded the monsters had entered through a door and that they needed to find it.
• Duanmu Huai and Anthony discovered a damaged painting labeled “Void Ghoul,” donated by Christine. Celes of the Art Department of Miskatonic University.