Chapter Summaries

Duanmu Huai and Ann returned from the past to their own world, unable to reach Terra because the timeline would not allow further changes. Duanmu Huai discovered that the Inquisition’s work over millennia had greatly strengthened his Divine Power, then ordered everyone to return to Faerûn.

• Ann was astonished when the Inquisition Fleet emerged from Warp Space alone, and Duanmu Huai explained that they had returned to their own world.
• Duanmu Huai said the timeline allowed only limited changes, making it impossible to reach Terra and alter the Emperor’s fate.
• Duanmu Huai revealed that his God of Destruction and Old God Willpower had gained levels, Divine Power, and new or upgraded skills.
• Duanmu Huai saw that souls collected by the Inquisition over several dozen millennia had enlarged and fueled the Inquisition’s Oblivion Realm.
• Duanmu Huai suspected the Chaos Gods had used time travel to build their power, but set the thought aside and regretted that the God of Joy had gained nothing.
• Duanmu Huai ordered everyone to pack up and return to Faerûn.

Duanmu Huai returned to Arkham City and learned that Soul Loss Syndrome had spread across the Northern Lands, driving refugees to seek shelter in his territory. After visiting the patients held by the Church of Tyr, he asked Mary to examine them, leaving her to find a way to describe what she sensed.

• Duanmu Huai questioned Mistrina about the crowds at the city gates and learned that Soul Loss Syndrome had left its victims without souls while turning them into fanatical Supreme True God believers.
• Mistrina reported that at least eight hundred to a thousand people had been infected, that several patients had arrived among the immigrants, and that the Blade of Judgement had destroyed cult strongholds without finding anything unusual.
• Duanmu Huai went with Mary to the Church of Tyr to see the isolated patients, and he noticed Shirley's unusual, worshipful gaze but dismissed it.
• A priest explained that the patients behaved normally except for their devotion to the Supreme True God, and Duanmu Huai silenced their shouting with his Aura of Fear.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the guards to bring the patients out and told Mary to examine them; when he reached for the Pink Book, she refused to let him use it and offered to draw instead.

Duanmu Huai learned that the Lost Souls were ordinary people transformed into Untouchables, and Mary spotted a faint thread leading north from their shadows. Suspecting someone was controlling them, he began assembling a team of physical fighters and went to the barracks to find Dione.

• Mary drew the Lost Souls as figures with black-hole-like forms, and Tyr Priest confirmed that magic barely affected them and that they made people feel uncomfortable.
• Duanmu Huai recognized the Lost Souls as Untouchables and wondered whether someone had artificially created them.
• Mary spotted a faint thread connecting a Lost Soul’s shadow to the sky and traced its direction north.
• Duanmu Huai decided to investigate with Mary and physical fighters, including Lorena, and went to the barracks to find Dione.
• Duanmu Huai encountered Dione’s swordsmanship instructor drilling recruits, and she offered to take him to Dione.

Duanmu Huai took Tione to investigate the Supreme True God’s hidden base in the World’s Peak Mountain Range. After locating it underground, he ordered a Moon-class Cruiser to bombard the site, striking as the Supreme True God demanded more souls from his followers.

• Duanmu Huai summoned Tione and set out with her to investigate and fight, while Mary guided their Thunderhawk by following a Lost Soul’s shadow.
• Duanmu Huai used the Augury Device to locate life signs beneath the World’s Peak Mountain Range and ordered Echote to send a Moon-class Cruiser for a ground bombardment.
• In the underground lair, the Supreme True God consumed the refugees’ souls and transformed a follower into a shadow monster.
• The Supreme True God ordered the monster to attack the Northern Lands and bring him more souls.
• The Moon-class Cruiser’s Lance blasted through the cavern, annihilating the worshippers and engulfing the Supreme True God.

Duanmu Huai and his companions confronted a Shadowfell Creature that survived the Lance by escaping into the Shadow Plane, then fought their way through its shadow fortress. The chapter ended as Githyanki riding Red Dragons emerged from portals and charged them.

• Duanmu Huai identified the giant shadow as a Shadowfell Creature after it survived the Lance’s attack by shifting into the Shadow Plane.
• Duanmu Huai struck the creature with his Thunder Warhammer, and it pulled him and his companions into the Shadow Plane.
• Duanmu Huai led Lorena, Mary, and Tione in an assault on the shadow fortress, where they fought the Untouchables and shadow soldiers.
• Tione tore through the shadow soldiers with her twin swords, while Lorena used holy light and Mary attacked with bullets after her magic failed.
• Duanmu Huai and the others reached the fortress hall, where Githyanki riding Red Dragons emerged from portals and charged them.

Duanmu Huai and his companions defeated the Githyanki’s first dragon-riding assault, then he destroyed the Shadow Castle with an explosive. A black-armored man emerged from the ruins and claimed to be a hero who had once saved the world.

• Duanmu Huai killed a Red Dragon and its rider with his Thunder Warhammer as Lorena, Tione, and Mary took down the other three dragon-riding Githyanki.
• More Githyanki appeared through dimensional gates, and Tione offered to hold them back while Duanmu Huai’s group advanced.
• Duanmu Huai rejected Tione’s plan and detonated an explosive inside the Shadow Castle, destroying it and shielding Mary and Lorena from the blast.
• A black-armored man emerged from the ruins, objected to being called a Demon King, and identified himself as a hero who had once saved the world.

Duanmu Huai listened as the black-armored man recounted how he had been betrayed after defeating the Shadow King, then cursed with a hunger for souls and erased from Neverwinter City's history. The man traced the curse to the death god Yagg, leaving Duanmu Huai suspecting that Yagg’s schemes lay behind his transformation.

• Duanmu Huai asked the black-armored man to explain his past, and the man described how he had recovered fragments of the Gith Silver Sword and fought the Shadow King’s forces.
• The man said Neverwinter City had made him a knight and given him a fortress, then he reforged the sword and confronted the Shadow King with his companions.
• The man recounted that his companions betrayed him, so he killed them and the Shadow King before the dying Shadow King’s self-destruction buried him beneath the underground palace.
• The man awoke with the sword fragment gone and a hunger that could only be satisfied by devouring souls, then discovered Neverwinter City had reclaimed his fortress and declared him dead.
• The man said he traced his hunger to a curse from Yagg, while Duanmu Huai recalled how Yagg had secretly manipulated successive gods of death.

Duanmu Huai learned how the man gained his soul-devouring power after Myrkul cursed him and he later devoured the former God of Death. The man’s army attacked as Duanmu Huai challenged him, beginning a new battle.

• The man explained that Myrkul had placed his soul on the Wall of the Faithless and put a traitor’s soul in his body, but he later devoured Myrkul and reclaimed his own soul.
• Kelemvor negotiated with the man, allowing him to reclaim his soul, and the man gained the power to devour souls and turn victims into loyal puppets.
• The man obtained the Shadow King’s legacy, defeated the Githyanki who pursued the sword, and allied with them to wage war across the Prime Material Plane.
• Duanmu Huai decided to kill the man and take his ability, rejecting his offer to rule together.
• The man and Duanmu Huai clashed with shadowy tentacles, then ordered their forces to attack as they charged at each other.

Duanmu Huai defeated the man wielding the Gith Silver Sword, destroyed the souls he had devoured, and kept his God of Devouring Divine Office without inheriting it. After the battle, Duanmu Huai collected the Gith Silver Sword and prepared to pursue the fleeing Githyanki.

• Duanmu Huai overpowered the man in a clash of divine power, then battered him with a relentless barrage of punches.
• Duanmu Huai transformed his head into tentacles to evade the man's soul-devouring attack, crushed his heart, and killed him.
• Duanmu Huai retained the God of Devouring Divine Office but refused to inherit its dangerous power, deciding to have it forged into an artifact.
• Duanmu Huai saw the Untouchable Shadow Guards turn to ash and learned the Githyanki had fled after Tione attacked them.
• Duanmu Huai picked up the Gith Silver Sword and resolved to track down the fleeing Githyanki.

After destroying the souls cursed by the God of Devouring, Duanmu Huai found himself unable to forge an artifact from the Gith Silver Sword and the Divine Office. Stifal offered to train a master forger through her Foundation, and Duanmu Huai funded it before heading to Kelemvor's divine realm to burn the Wall of the Faithless.

• The Inquisition destroyed the souls consumed by the Supreme True God, leaving Faerûn's factions wary of its ruthless methods.
• Duanmu Huai realized he did not know how to forge Frostmourne from the Gith Silver Sword and the God of Devouring's Divine Office.
• Stifal said she had no master forger to recommend and proposed that Duanmu Huai fund her Foundation to train one.
• Duanmu Huai questioned Stifal about the Foundation's costs and prospects, then transferred her some Divine Power.
• Duanmu Huai went to Kelemvor's divine realm, determined to burn the Wall of the Faithless.

Duanmu Huai pressured Kelemvor into handing over the Wall of the Faithless so the Inquisition could recruit useful souls and burn the rest. After returning to Arkham City to resume its expansion, he left the story as factions across Faerûn began watching the new territory.

• Duanmu Huai demanded that Kelemvor give him the Wall of the Faithless, explaining that the Inquisition could use its souls against the Chaos Gods.
• Kelemvor shrank the Wall of the Faithless into a crystal ball and agreed to send future Faithless souls to the Inquisition.
• Duanmu Huai gave the Wall to his Vampire followers in the Oblivion Realm, who sorted out useful souls and burned the rest as firewood.
• Duanmu Huai returned to Arkham City and resumed its expansion and reorganization.
• Factions across Faerûn quietly turned their attention toward Duanmu Huai's new territory.

Kalga prepared to negotiate with the Inquisition on behalf of the Red Wizard Society, hoping to secure access to its mineral trade as Thay’s magical-equipment business faltered. He was summoned to meet Lady Amarilis, with the outcome of the negotiations still unknown.

• Kalga waited nervously before negotiations, aware that the Red Wizard Society coveted the Inquisition’s technology and sought to establish a base in Arkham City.
• Kalga considered how the Inquisition’s abundant, inexpensive ores—especially Extraterrestrial Meteorite Iron—had disrupted Faerûn’s magical-equipment trade.
• The Inquisition limited access to most valuable ores through official partners, while Thay’s magical-equipment monopoly weakened as other nations built their own production chains.
• Kalga doubted that the Inquisition would grant the Red Wizard Society a share of its mineral trade, given Thay’s political reputation and its ruler’s true nature.
• A maid told Kalga that Lady Amarilis was waiting, and Kalga rose to begin the negotiations.

Amarilis informed Kalga that the Red Wizard Society could establish a base in Arkham City only by following the Inquisition’s rules, while Duanmu Huai approved the application and ordered Jia Wei to watch Thay for signs of a ninth faction. As the Inquisition expanded its defenses and forces, Okegis told Duanmu Huai that Shirley wanted to meet him.

• Amarilis told Kalga that the Red Wizard Society had to follow the Inquisition’s land, construction, and jurisdiction rules, and that trade relations needed the Grand Inquisitor’s approval.
• Duanmu Huai considered Thay’s unrest and the danger that Deceitful Trickster might exploit the Red Wizard Society, then ordered Jia Wei to monitor debate about creating a ninth faction.
• Duanmu Huai approved the Red Wizard Society’s base application on the condition that it obey the Inquisition’s regulations.
• Duanmu Huai continued building the second defensive perimeter, integrating units, recruiting Grey Knights, and developing the Assassin’s Court.
• Okegis told Duanmu Huai that Shirley wanted to meet him, and Duanmu Huai wondered why she had come again.

Duanmu Huai investigated a strange greeting broadcast from an unfamiliar human civilization after Rumiere suspected it was connected to an Evil God. Finding the planet apparently harmless and technologically backward, he decided to visit as an invader from outer space.

• Shirley brought Duanmu Huai afternoon tea while Ann, Gureiya, and Mary secretly watched and speculated that Shirley had fallen for him.
• Lorena summoned Duanmu Huai to the Command Room after Echote's reconnaissance fleet discovered an artificial satellite broadcasting a message from Beautiful Star.
• Rumiere played the satellite's oddly affected greeting, and Duanmu Huai suspected the Obsessive Sin might be involved.
• Duanmu Huai and the others reached Beautiful Star, where Rumiere found no immediate threat and reported that the civilization was technologically primitive.
• Duanmu Huai decided to pose as an invader from outer space.

Duanmu Huai and his companions met Beautiful Star’s officials, whose bizarre gender customs and president’s behavior disgusted him. After Duanmu Huai killed the president and ordered the planet burned, an elderly military officer stepped forward to speak, and Duanmu Huai agreed to listen.

• Duanmu Huai ordered the Night Watch to prepare for landing after Beautiful Star’s government invited the visitors to meet.
• Duanmu Huai, Ann, and Mary landed and met President Alice, who described Beautiful Star as a free civilization that had transcended gender.
• Ann and Duanmu Huai challenged Alice’s claims, and Duanmu Huai smashed Alice with his warhammer during the live broadcast.
• Duanmu Huai ordered Beautiful Star burned, but an elderly military officer asked to speak, and Duanmu Huai let it continue.

Duanmu Huai gave Beautiful Star’s former soldier seven days to undo the planet’s gender policies or face an Extermination Order, then watched as the man became president and imposed sweeping reforms. After the military resisted, Duanmu Huai destroyed its bases, while unrest and brutal repression spread across the planet.

• The old man told Duanmu Huai how a movement for intersex acceptance had expanded into political privileges for transgender and intersex people, reshaping Beautiful Star’s laws and society.
• The old man asked Duanmu Huai to help restore the planet, and Duanmu Huai gave him seven days to eliminate the policies or face an Extermination Order.
• Duanmu Huai ordered Rumiere to hack into Beautiful Star’s network, and footage of his threat sparked planetwide protests and military preparations.
• Duanmu Huai’s Macro Cannons and Lances wiped out Beautiful Star’s military bases, clearing the way for the old man to take office as president.
• The old man repealed transgender preferences, ordered sex screenings and rewrites of gender-related courses, and imposed martial law and military suppression as protests and riots spread.

After containing Beautiful Star, Duanmu Huai found a recruitment quest from Chaldea and decided to visit the organization. He arrived at its remote, snowbound base alone, unsure whether it was still functioning or humanity’s last refuge.

• Duanmu Huai left Beautiful Star under fleet blockade and ordered a warship to watch for signs of renewed trouble.
• Back in Arkham City, Duanmu Huai discussed Beautiful Star and checked quests to gauge threats facing other worlds.
• Duanmu Huai found Chaldea’s recruitment quest to protect human history and prevent human extinction, then chose to investigate it alone.
• The system transported Duanmu Huai to Chaldea and identified him as a human visitor.
• Duanmu Huai surveyed the empty-looking corridor at Chaldea’s snowy mountain base and walked inside to find out whether anyone was there.

Duanmu Huai met Olga Marie Animusphere and Mash Kyrielight at Chaldea, where he learned that humanity faced extinction in 2016 and that Chaldea planned to investigate the past through a Spiritron Transfer. After attending the briefing, he squeezed into an undersized transfer chamber, and the experiment began with a violent shockwave.

• Duanmu Huai collided with Olga Marie Animusphere in a corridor, and she confirmed his identity as a Master Candidate from the Inquisition.
• Olga Marie left Mash Kyrielight to show Duanmu Huai around Chaldea and bring him to the pre-operation briefing.
• Mash explained that Chaldeas had gone dark, humanity was predicted to become extinct in December 2016, and Singularity F might be the cause.
• Duanmu Huai listened to Olga Marie's briefing and watched the other candidates keep their distance from him.
• Olga Marie arranged for Duanmu Huai to use the Spiritron Transfer equipment despite its cramped chamber, and the transfer began in a powerful shockwave.

Duanmu Huai and Mash were transferred to Singularity F, a devastated city where they fought off an archer atop an iron tower. After the tower was destroyed and the archer escaped, a blue-haired man emerged from the ruins and offered to join them.

• Duanmu Huai escaped the wrecked transfer chamber and found Mash pinned beneath rubble, then lifted the stone and treated her with Medical Gel.
• The Anti-Summoning System transferred Duanmu Huai and Mash to Singularity F, where Mash appeared recovered and equipped with a shield.
• A red-haired rain of arrows attacked them, and Mash blocked it with her shield while Duanmu Huai donned his Power Armor.
• Duanmu Huai flew toward the iron tower and threw his Thunder Warhammer at the white-haired archer, destroying the tower, but the archer escaped.
• Mash identified their location as Singularity F, and a blue-haired man offered to join them against their common enemy.

Duanmu Huai and Mash learned that the altered Holy Grail War had left the city in flames and turned defeated Servants into SABER’s followers. After the blue-haired Caster led them toward SABER, Duanmu Huai killed LANCER and fought BERSERKER, whose repeated regeneration and Twelve Labors made him difficult to kill.

• The blue-haired Caster explained that SABER had defeated the other Servants and that defeating her might resolve the disaster.
• Mash explained that a Servant had transferred his powers to her, though she could not yet use her Noble Phantasm.
• Duanmu Huai grabbed LANCER’s chains, dragged her out, and killed her with a punch.
• BERSERKER attacked Duanmu Huai, who smashed his head despite the blue-haired Caster warning that Heracles could revive twelve times.
• Duanmu Huai pierced BERSERKER with his Chainsaw Sword and burned him with black flames before dismissing him as ordinary.