Chapter Summaries

Duanmu Ai defeated Akechi Goro and forced him to reveal his connection to Shido Masayoshi, the murders, and a plan to control the city through Cognitive Kexue. After learning that the Collective Unconscious may lie beneath the subway station, she killed Akechi and set her sights on Shido and the subway.

• Akechi Goro summoned a Demon to attack Duanmu Ai, but she shattered its sword and knocked him down with her warhammer.
• Duanmu Ai interrogated Akechi, who revealed that he had gained PERSONA after entering the world through a television and that Shido Masayoshi was his father.
• Akechi explained that he had killed people to help Shido undermine his political rivals, and that Shido had halted Cognitive Kexue research and eliminated its researchers to conceal the secret.
• Duanmu Ai pressed Akechi about the Midnight Channel and the murders, then forced him to admit that Shido planned to use Cognitive Kexue to control the city's population through the Collective Unconscious.
• Akechi revealed that he believed the Collective Unconscious lay deep beneath the subway station, where the other selves of the city's residents traveled.
• Duanmu Ai killed Akechi with her warhammer and decided to deal with Shido before investigating the subway.

Duanmu Ai followed the Soul Projections beneath the subway station to the Prison of Returning to Origin, where the city’s people surrendered their worries and choices to a hidden system. She reached the Collective Unconscious’s depths and confronted a huge Holy Grail, preparing to destroy it.

• Duanmu Ai questioned Shido Masayoshi’s Soul Projection, learned little beyond what Akechi Goro had told her, and smashed it apart.
• Duanmu Ai found the city’s exhausted Soul Projections gathered in a subway station and rode with them to the terminal.
• Duanmu Ai entered the Prison of Returning to Origin, where prisoners praised its freedom from worries and decisions.
• Duanmu Ai recognized the prison as a manifestation of collective thinking and leaped into the depths of the Collective Unconscious.
• Duanmu Ai landed before a huge Holy Grail fed by blood vessels from the surrounding cages and drew her war hammer as a voice addressed her.

Duanmu Ai destroyed the Holy Grail with the Sealed Seraph, then confronted the Tiger Demon behind the plot and learned that it was Goetia, who planned to burn human history and remake the planet. After summoning a Steel Giant, she launched it at Goetia, beginning their battle.

• Duanmu Ai, Alice, and Yellow Dragon attacked the Holy Grail, but it regenerated and claimed that humanity had chosen to surrender its will to it.
• Duanmu Ai awakened Lebis, and the Sealed Seraph destroyed the Holy Grail despite its warning that humanity’s minds would be shattered with it.
• The Tiger Demon emerged from the ground, admitted it had given PERSONA powers to humans, and identified itself as Demon God King Goetia.
• Goetia explained that it intended to burn human history and travel back to the planet’s birth to recreate the world without death, while Duanmu Ai dismissed its plan as foolish.
• Duanmu Ai summoned a Steel Giant with a PERSONA card, and it tore through Goetia’s tentacles and charged into the Tiger Demon.

Duanmu Huai defeated Goetia and erased the distorted future, restoring the Human Order. He returned to Chaldea, where he learned how the repaired timeline had changed the organization and reunited with Reines, Sakura, and Fiolee.

• Goetia tried to escape, but Duanmu Huai broke through the Demon Pillars’ tentacles and killed it by smashing its chest.
• Goetia’s defeat erased the fixed future, returning its people to uncertain possible futures, and Duanmu Huai received an S evaluation, the Hall of Heroes fragment, and the ability PERSONA.
• Mash brought Duanmu Huai to Chaldea’s Command Room, where Olga Marie explained that Chaldea had been jointly established by Animusphere and the El-Melloi Family, with the Inquisition providing funding.
• Olga Marie recounted how Duanmu Huai and Chaldea had stopped the Incineration of Human Order, while Olga Marie and Doctor Romani supported him from the rear.
• Reines arrived with Sakura and Fiolee, and Duanmu Huai confirmed that the Human Order had been restored.
• When Reines asked what came next, Duanmu Huai told them to focus on space travel and extraterrestrial colonization.

After returning to the Inquisition, Duanmu Huai reviewed its operations and reports from its allies, approving an official casino while declining to mediate a dispute over resettling populations. His companions noticed how naturally he and Rumiere interacted, leaving him scrambling to explain their closeness after spending sixty years together in another timeline.

• Duanmu Huai brought Ilya aboard the flagship, and Mary and the others questioned whether she was his daughter before he gave up trying to explain her timeline.
• Duanmu Huai reviewed reports on Dadanier’s reconstruction agreements and refused to decide whether people should be relocated to the underpopulated planets.
• Duanmu Huai increased Arkham City’s alert and planned more defense towers, then approved True Clever’s proposal for official Inquisition casinos after horse races sparked underground gambling.
• Duanmu Huai learned the Colonial Fleet was still searching for a habitable planet and lamented that it had encountered no powerful interstellar civilizations to raise his Calamity Level.
• Rumiere handed Duanmu Huai coffee without needing to ask, prompting Ann, Okegis, Odel, Mary, Medea, and Eclair to comment on their familiarity.
• Duanmu Huai realized that his sixty years with Rumiere in another timeline explained their easy understanding, but he feared revealing what had happened there.

Duanmu Huai explained the Inquisition's standards for classifying supernatural beings after Mary asked whether Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghouls counted as Xenomorphs. He declared that they threatened humanity and ordered an expedition to Mary's world to exterminate them, leaving with Mary immediately.

• Duanmu Huai told Ann and the others that Chaldea's Spiritron Transfer used Singularities as anchors and could not provide ordinary time travel.
• Mary reported that organized Vampire and Werewolf factions in her world fought public battles with modern weapons, and that she had fled after being overwhelmed on a commission.
• Mary showed Duanmu Huai footage of the creatures transforming and mentioned a separate commission to eliminate man-eating Ghouls in the Far East.
• Duanmu Huai classified the transforming creatures as dangerous Xenomorphs and said the Inquisition would kill them all, including infants, while explaining its standards for human and demi-human races.
• Duanmu Huai decided to take a fleet to Mary's world and left with her at once to begin the extermination campaign.

Duanmu Huai and Mary entered a quarantined city where vampires and werewolves were battling for control, and the Inquisition agreed to help the authorities. As they walked the dark streets to draw out their enemies, a gang of punks revealed themselves as werewolves, and Duanmu Huai recognized one as a Xenomorph and ordered Mary to attack.

• Duanmu Huai and Mary underwent ultraviolet irradiation and biological tests before meeting the bearded official, who explained the city's vampire-werewolf conflict and requested the Inquisition's help.
• The official described how the deaths of vampire and werewolf leaders had unleashed factions seeking to conquer humanity, prompting a citywide curfew and lockdown.
• Duanmu Huai and Mary entered the deserted city at dusk and walked its streets to lure out the hidden creatures.
• A group of punks confronted them, and their leader transformed into a werewolf.
• Duanmu Huai identified the werewolf as a Xenomorph and ordered Mary to attack.

Duanmu Huai and Mary tested a way to identify werewolves, then the Night Watch began a citywide purge of werewolves and vampires. The bearded man arranged martial law to cover the killings, and Duanmu Huai promised the operation would be over by morning.

• Mary cast Silence Spell while Duanmu Huai fought the werewolves, and she killed several with Creation Star Rain and the Moonlight Greatsword.
• Duanmu Huai used the Augury Device to collect a werewolf’s data and explained how the Inquisition would use scans to find the remaining werewolves.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the Night Watch to eliminate the werewolves first and then the vampires, and the soldiers began killing them throughout the city.
• The bearded man told Duanmu Huai that the municipal government would impose martial law and arrest the gangs while the operation continued.
• Duanmu Huai assured the bearded man that the purge would soon end and that he could return to work the next morning.

Duanmu Huai and Mary discussed the Inquisition’s mission and what kept him fighting, then prepared to attack a vampire gathering. Duanmu Huai broke into the gathering and confronted the vampires as the city fell under martial law.

• Mary wondered whether the werewolves and vampires could be captured and saved, but Duanmu Huai explained that the Inquisition had to destroy threats to humanity.
• Mary asked why Duanmu Huai kept fighting, and he said he needed strength to survive and believed he was suited to being an Inquisitor.
• Duanmu Huai paid for the food and told Mary it was time to move as storm clouds gathered and rain began to fall.
• Vampires argued about the human crackdown, their lost lairs, and whether they should fight or flee as the city was placed under martial law.
• Duanmu Huai smashed open the vampires’ doors, entered in his armor, and announced that their party was over.

Duanmu Huai and the Night Watch wiped out the vampires and werewolves who stayed behind, then pursued the faction fleeing from the city. Serilin was killed before she could reach Michael, and Duanmu Huai destroyed the escape boat and confronted Michael as he transformed.

• Duanmu Huai crushed the vampires at their lair while Mary reported that most of the werewolves had been eliminated and discovered that a united faction was gathering at Pier Twelve to escape.
• Duanmu Huai ordered Mary to meet him at Pier Twelve as a black-haired vampire Death Dealer raced toward the pier, hoping to reunite with Michael.
• The vampire encountered a golden-haired girl who dodged her gunfire and froze her with a Light Blade, killing her before she could reach the pier.
• Michael refused to leave without Serilin, but Duanmu Huai destroyed the fishing boat with a beam of light and confronted him at the pier.
• Michael transformed into a bat-and-wolf-like monster, and Duanmu Huai prepared to kill him.

Duanmu Huai and Mary traveled to the Far East to help the Special Countermeasures Bureau investigate its humanlike Ghouls, while Duanmu Huai explained why Mary’s world required special precautions. They met investigators Amon Kotaro and Mado Kureo, who took them straight out on a Ghoul hunt.

• Mary read Duanmu Huai the Bureau’s invitation and report, which described Ghouls with Red Eyes and combat organs called Kagune.
• Duanmu Huai told Mary that powerful beings with influence across the universe threatened her world, so he personally handled its cases and restricted travel there.
• Mary wondered why she felt safe around Duanmu Huai and tried to work out what kind of man she liked.
• Duanmu Huai and Mary arrived in the Far East and met First-Class Investigator Amon Kotaro and Senior Investigator Mado Kureo.
• Mado told Duanmu Huai and Mary that the investigators were heading out to hunt and began explaining how the Bureau worked.

Duanmu Huai used an Augury Device to track Ghouls while Mado Investigator and Amon Investigator pursued clues about Jason and Big Eater. When Jason attacked them, Duanmu Huai killed him brutally after he lunged for Mary, leaving the Investigators stunned.

• Duanmu Huai used the Augury Device on a captured Ghoul, locating another Ghoul nearby.
• Duanmu Huai, Mary, Mado Investigator, and Amon Investigator watched the doctor’s shack, where Jason appeared.
• Mado Investigator and Amon Investigator attacked Jason, but he defeated them and destroyed Mado’s weapon.
• Jason lunged at Mary, and Duanmu Huai intercepted him.
• Duanmu Huai overwhelmed Jason, tore out his Kagune and spine, and killed him.

After Duanmu Huai and Mary rested, they joined Mado and Amon’s nighttime operation to lure out ghouls connected to the slain doctor. The plan drew in Rabbit and a second ghoul, and Mary intervened when the latter attacked Amon, but the ghoul’s hunger then turned toward her.

• Mado and Amon examined the doctor ghoul’s corpse and concluded that his missing wife and daughter were still part of the investigation.
• Duanmu Huai discussed ghoul mimicry with Mary, then called Mado and agreed to join his nighttime hunt.
• Mado used the mother’s remains to lure the doctor’s daughter, but Rabbit and another ghoul also appeared at the riverbank.
• The second ghoul wounded Amon and destroyed his weapon, then warned him to flee because he feared he would kill him.
• Mary arrived and cut through the ghoul’s tentacles with her greatsword, while Amon accepted her offer to handle the fight.
• The ghoul’s hunger overwhelmed him, and he leaped at Mary with his tentacles.

Mary killed the young Ghoul while Duanmu Huai intervened in Mado Investigator’s fight and slaughtered the two remaining Ghouls. After Mado Investigator identified the Safe Zone coffee shop as the Rabbit’s likely hideout, Duanmu Huai went to deal with it while Mado stayed behind.

• The young Ghoul attacked Mary and protested that Ghouls were not so different from humans, but Mary said the Inquisition had to eliminate threats to humanity and killed him with her Light Blade.
• Duanmu Huai arrived as Mado Investigator recovered from the fight, and Mado handed the remaining enemies over to him.
• The blue-haired Ghoul charged Duanmu Huai with her Light Wings, but he tore them off and killed her.
• Duanmu Huai killed the little Ghoul after she cowered before him, saying she did not live by eating humans like Banbi.
• Mado Investigator showed Duanmu Huai a matchbox identifying the Safe Zone coffee shop as the Rabbit’s likely hideout, and Duanmu Huai set off to attack it.

Duanmu Huai slaughtered the Ghouls at the coffee shop and defeated One-Eyed Owl in a street fight. After learning the Inquisition had killed several top-ranked Ghouls, Kuroiwa Commander considered using them for a secret plan to eradicate the Ghoul race.

• Duanmu Huai entered the coffee shop and killed the blond man, the pompadour-haired man, and the long-haired woman.
• Duanmu Huai followed the old man outside, where the old man transformed into One-Eyed Owl and attacked him.
• Duanmu Huai smashed One-Eyed Owl’s arm, head, and body, then summoned Mary and said he would call Amon to clean up before going to a restaurant.
• Amon Investigator reported to Kuroiwa Commander that the corpses included Black Dog, Demon Ape, and One-Eyed Owl.
• Kuroiwa Commander ordered Amon Investigator to keep information about the Inquisition secret and considered recruiting them for the Countermeasures Bureau’s plan to eradicate Ghouls.

After Mary woke from a drunken night with Duanmu Huai, they met Amon, who asked the Inquisition to investigate a secret Ghoul auction selling abducted humans. Duanmu Huai accepted the case and proposed using Mary as bait.

• Duanmu Huai carried the drunk Mary to her room, stayed beside her when she asked him not to leave, and reflected on her loneliness and family.
• Mary woke to find Duanmu Huai beside her, blushed at what she had said while drunk, and later met him for breakfast.
• Duanmu Huai and Mary met Amon, who explained that the Countermeasures Bureau had spent the night investigating their battle against the One-Eyed Owl.
• Amon gave them files on a secret Underground Auction where powerful Ghouls bought abducted humans to eat or keep as pets.
• Duanmu Huai accepted the assignment and suggested using Mary as bait, calling her a piece of Tang Sanzang Meat.

Mary posed as bait to draw out the Ghouls and was captured after Ma You, a Ghoul and fan of her novels, lured her away. At the auction, the Ghouls became frantic over Mary’s scent as Duanmu Huai waited to strike.

• Mary pretended to be a tourist and evaded local thugs until Ma You intervened and invited her for coffee.
• Mary recognized Ma You as a Ghoul, accepted her invitation to visit another location, and was drugged during the drive out of the city.
• Mary woke handcuffed in a cage beneath an auction house and told Duanmu Huai that their plan was proceeding smoothly.
• Duanmu Huai watched the Ghoul auction crowd while Mary was brought onstage as its final lot.
• The host introduced Mary Clarissa Christie and set her starting bid at fifty million as the Ghouls reacted to her scent.

Duanmu Huai unleashed the terror of a Great Old One at a Ghoul auction, driving the Ghouls into a murderous frenzy, then ordered the Night Watch to wipe out their families and human accomplices. After the massacre made headlines, he told Amon Investigator that the Inquisition judged threats to humanity, not questions of justice.

• Duanmu Huai revealed himself at the auction and used his divine might to make the Ghouls hallucinate and slaughter one another.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the Night Watch to investigate the dead Ghouls and eliminate their families and all humans working with them.
• The Inquisition wiped out the Ghoul families before dawn, and the mass killings became front-page news.
• Amon Investigator confronted Duanmu Huai about the massacres, and Duanmu Huai defended the killings as the Inquisition's duty to eliminate threats to humanity.

The Countermeasures Bureau agreed to keep cooperating with the Inquisition while asking it to report before taking action, though Duanmu Huai refused to let the Bureau direct its operations. At the Bureau, Duanmu Huai exposed a supposed interviewer as another One-Eyed Owl and attacked it as it tried to escape.

• The Countermeasures Bureau's leaders argued over the Inquisition's brutal Ghoul extermination and chose to continue cooperating while requiring advance notice of its actions.
• Duanmu Huai told Investigator Amon that the Inquisition would notify the Bureau of its operations but would not obey its requests.
• A green-haired woman approached Amon at the Bureau and secured permission to interview him about Ghouls.
• During the interview, Duanmu Huai dismissed the idea of communicating with Ghouls and declared that they were monsters who needed to be killed.
• Duanmu Huai grabbed the woman, who transformed into a huge, one-eyed Ghoul and broke free as Investigator Amon recognized it as the One-Eyed Owl.
• The One-Eyed Owl tried to flee, and Duanmu Huai roared and swung his fist at it.

Ann warned Gureiya that they needed to be more proactive with Duanmu Huai amid growing competition from the women around him, and encouraged her to accept her role in the Inquisition. Meanwhile, Duanmu Huai and Mary defeated a giant Ghoul at the Countermeasures Bureau, where he left the Investigators criticizing their security.

• Ann told Gureiya she wanted a daughter with Duanmu Huai and listed Mary, Ellie, and Medea as rivals for his attention.
• Ann urged Gureiya to take more initiative with Duanmu Huai, while Gureiya voiced her unease about the Inquisition's hostility toward nonhuman races.
• Gureiya asked Ann whether their child might look as fierce as Duanmu Huai, and Ann admitted that could be a problem.
• Duanmu Huai fought the giant Ghoul at the Countermeasures Bureau while Mary identified its true body hidden inside its shell.
• Duanmu Huai held the Ghoul aloft as Mary struck it with Soul Torrent, killing it.
• Duanmu Huai tossed aside the Ghoul's remains and criticized the Investigators' security.