Chapter Summaries

Duanmu Huai helped the Special Countermeasures Bureau search its headquarters after a Ghoul evaded the RC Detection Gate, while the Bronze Tree considered retreating to the 24th District. The chapter ended with Duanmu Huai and Mary leaving to find food, with Mary deciding not to drink.

• The Special Countermeasures Bureau asked Duanmu Huai to use the Augury Device to search headquarters, and he cleared everyone else of suspicion.
• The Investigators began examining the green-haired Ghoul’s body and home, while Duanmu Huai lent them the Augury Device.
• A blue-haired Bronze Tree member protested a proposal to retreat to the 24th District, worried about his missing sister and the organization’s losses.
• A Masked Man argued that the Bronze Tree should regroup underground and wait for a chance to return, and the blue-haired youth accepted that other Ghouls had likely gone there.
• Duanmu Huai teased Mary about her competition, then invited her to eat; Mary said she would not drink this time.

Duanmu Hu and Mary joined the Countermeasures Bureau’s assault on the Ghouls hiding in the 24th District, while the starving Ghouls prepared to defend themselves. Before the battle began, the Masked Man revealed that Bronze Tree had come to awaken an ancient being and vanished into the tunnels chanting to Shub-Niggurath.

• Duanmu Hu and Mary rested while Ghouls crowded into the 24th District, fought over food, and resorted to cannibalism.
• Amon Investigator briefed Duanmu Hu that the Countermeasures Bureau would attack the underground labyrinth in ten groups, and Duanmu Hu chose a route for the Inquisition.
• Duanmu Hu and Mary entered the underground passage as the human forces prepared to attack and the hungry Ghouls readied themselves for battle.
• The Masked Man told the blue-haired youth that Bronze Tree had come to awaken an ancient being he called their mother, who would make Ghouls the rulers of the world.
• The Masked Man walked deeper into the tunnel chanting praises to Shub-Niggurath, and the blue-haired youth ordered Bronze Tree to prepare to wipe out the humans.

During the Countermeasures Bureau’s assault on the 24th District, humans and ghouls fought a desperate underground battle while an Iron Warrior slaughtered ghouls along the tunnels. Duanmu Huai and Mary confronted a blue-haired ghoul, who flew into a rage after learning Duanmu Huai had killed his twin sister.

• A ghoul mother sent her daughter deeper into the tunnels to hide, then charged toward the fighting to rescue her husband.
• The mother attacked Countermeasures Bureau soldiers, but they pinned her down despite the White Phosphorus Grenades burning them, allowing an Investigator to kill her with a spear.
• The Iron Warrior killed the fleeing daughter and continued through the battlefield as humans and ghouls clashed.
• A blue-haired ghoul learned that the Iron Warrior was approaching and recalled the Masked Man’s warning about a new force exterminating ghouls.
• Duanmu Huai and Mary arrived, and the blue-haired ghoul attacked Duanmu Huai with his Light Wing.
• Duanmu Huai said he had killed a blue-haired female ghoul with the same attack, and the blue-haired ghoul charged him in fury.

Duanmu Huai and Mary faced a Black Goat's Child after the Masked Man awakened the creature beneath the earth. Duanmu prepared to hold it off while Mary searched for its core.

• The blue-haired youth charged Duanmu Huai for revenge, but Duanmu killed him and continued fighting the ghouls.
• The Masked Man descended to an underground altar, where a mass of flesh infected and swallowed him.
• A rumble shook the battlefield, and a buried monster burst from the ground, spreading spores that fused the ghoul corpses into a Black Goat's Child.
• Duanmu Huai recognized the creature as a servant of Shub-Niggurath and unleashed his black flames to destroy the spores and prevent further infection.
• Duanmu Huai told Mary to find the creature's core while he kept it occupied, and they moved to attack.

Duanmu Huai and Mary fought the Black Goat's Child underground as it threatened to spread its spores across the surface. After Duanmu Huai ordered a Lance strike on the 24th District, Mary found the creature's core, and Duanmu Huai destroyed it with his Chainsaw Sword.

• Duanmu Huai fought off the Black Goat's Child's regenerating tentacles while Mary searched for its core with her Gold Eye.
• Mary located the core above them as the Black Goat's Child began moving toward the surface, and Duanmu Huai ordered a Lance strike on the 24th District.
• Amon Investigator led the surviving Countermeasures Bureau troops out of the underground as spores transformed Ghouls into monsters, then narrowly escaped the Lance strike.
• Duanmu Huai shielded Mary from the Lance bombardment while she identified the Black Goat's Child's core in the ruined hollow.
• Mary blasted away the creature's tentacles and exposed the Masked Man fused inside its flower-like core.
• Duanmu Huai pierced the Masked Man's head with his Chainsaw Sword, and black flames engulfed the Black Goat's Child in an explosion.

Duanmu Huai returned to the Inquisition after destroying the Black Goat's Child, carrying an indestructible plot item called the Black Goat's Seed. He reunited with the Inquisition members, while Medea settled into her new role as Arkham City's Magic Advisor.

• Duanmu Huai returned from the battle, where the Countermeasures Bureau and the Night Watch had suffered heavy casualties, and found that the Black Goat's Seed could not be destroyed or discarded.
• Duanmu Huai noticed Ilya watching him and reflected on the awkwardness between them because they belonged to different timelines.
• Duanmu Huai returned to the guest room, where Alice Phil told him Mary was upset that the battle had singed a lock of her hair.
• Duanmu Huai left with Okegis after the others reported that there was nothing major to discuss.
• Medea arrived and told Alice Phil and Ann that she enjoyed Arkham City and had taken over as its Magic Advisor.
• Medea and Alice Phil discussed the lack of men among the Inquisition's upper ranks, and Ann said Duanmu Huai refused to let any man more handsome than him join.

Mary recounted her latest world’s grim Ghoul conflict and an unromantic dinner with Duanmu Huai to the Inquisition’s women. Later, Duanmu Huai accepted Dadanier’s invitation to a banquet celebrating a new planetary alliance, where the Galaxy Business Alliance would also be present.

• Mary told Ann, Gureiya, Lorena, and the others that the Ghouls had eaten people to survive and that she believed their deaths had been unavoidable.
• Mary revealed that Duanmu Huai had eaten ten steaks and drunk two bottles of wine during their dinner, while keeping his overnight stay in her room private.
• Duanmu Huai reviewed his reports as Okegis clung to him, and Mia connected him to Dadanier.
• Dadanier explained that his company had secured exclusive commercial rights in a new alliance among several planets and invited Duanmu Huai to its celebration banquet.
• Duanmu Huai learned that the Galaxy Business Alliance would attend and agreed to go.

Duanmu Huai and the girls traveled to Dadanier’s new space station for its opening banquet, where they learned the Galaxy Business Alliance threatened the recovering planets’ trade. After Duanmu Huai showed the alliance’s warship the Inquisition’s strength, Dadanier welcomed the group and offered Mary a chance to publish her books.

• Duanmu Huai explained that the Galaxy Business Alliance was trying to dominate the planets’ trade, and Ann recognized the danger of the alliance exploiting their urgent need for supplies.
• Duanmu Huai brought the Inquisition fleet past the alliance’s warship with its Macro Cannons trained on the vessel, then took the group to the space station.
• Dadanier greeted Duanmu Huai and was teased about his beer belly.
• Duanmu Huai introduced Mary Clarissa Christie as an Inquisition member and writer, and Dadanier immediately asked her to discuss publishing her works.

Duanmu Huai attended a banquet where representatives discussed an alliance and Dadanier’s immigration plans, while Ann realized Mary’s book could help different human civilizations connect. The celebration ended with Duanmu Huai threatening representatives of the Galaxy Trade Alliance, leaving him ready for a larger confrontation.

• Ann explained to Gureiya that publishing Mary’s book across human worlds could give their civilizations common ground, though Duanmu Huai had only intended to make money from selling it.
• Duanmu Huai met representatives including Kade 6, a UAC intern, John Connor, and a diplomat from War Planet, then discussed Dadanier’s three immigration options.
• Ann, Gureiya, and Mary spoke with other guests while Duanmu Huai watched the banquet, until three cloaked aliens entered and revealed their Xenomorph forms.
• A representative of the Galaxy Trade Alliance demanded an apology from Duanmu Huai for his earlier driving, and boasted of the alliance’s power and many member civilizations.
• Duanmu Huai grabbed the leading Xenomorph, threatened the delegation, and hurled it to the floor, sending the aliens fleeing from the hall.

The Lo representative returned to Central Hub Port after failing to intimidate Dadanier, then planned to use its pirate vassals against the Inquisition. Duanmu Huai followed the Lo fleet to its home system and prepared to issue an Extermination Order.

• The chapter explained how the Lo used controlled technology and trade to make less advanced civilizations their vassals.
• The Lo representative intimidated Dadanier and tried to absorb him into the Galaxy Business Alliance, but fled after the Inquisition intervened.
• The Lo representative decided to unleash its pirate vassals on the Inquisition’s planets and merchant convoys.
• The Lo representative arrived at Central Hub Port and discovered a warship bearing the Inquisition’s emblem following its ship.
• Duanmu Huai confirmed that the fleet had reached the Lo’s territory and ordered the Myriad Eagle Battleship summoned to prepare an Extermination Order.

Duanmu Huai ordered the extermination of the Lo Race and the Alpha Triangle Galaxy, explaining that their destruction was simply bad luck in an uncaring universe. After wiping them out, he discovered the purge had barely advanced his Calamity Level.

• Duanmu Huai summoned the Myriad Eagle Battleship and sealed an Extermination Order against the Alpha Triangle Galaxy as Lo Race ships surrounded him.
• The Myriad Eagle Battleship fired on the star while Lo Race attacks failed against its Void Shield.
• Duanmu Huai told Mary, Ann, and the others a story about a civilization accidentally destroying another planet with a stray shot, then compared the Lo Race's fate to bad luck.
• At Mary's suggestion, Duanmu Huai connected to the Lo Race communications network and announced their galaxy was scheduled for demolition to make way for a Warp Space expressway.
• Duanmu Huai ordered the strike, and the Inquisition's warships and the Myriad Eagle Battleship vanished as the Alpha Triangle Galaxy was destroyed.
• Duanmu Huai saw that the Calamity Level had risen only one bar, reaching Thorn in the Back LV1 and granting him the Death from Above trait.

Duanmu Huai visited the Inquisition’s space station in the Boundary God Galaxy and saw how True Clever had turned it into a pastoral resort and venue for the Shining Series. Puzzled by the slow growth of his God of Joy divine power, he suggested that True Clever publish Mary’s novels there.

• Duanmu Huai and the girls arrived at the space station and were astonished by its grasslands, streams, town, and artificial sky.
• True Clever welcomed Duanmu Huai and explained how she had worked with the Horse Girls to transform the station into a place where they could race freely.
• True Clever described how she recruited Girl Monsters, Maid Monsters, Angel Monsters, and the Night Watch to help run and protect the station as a tourist destination.
• Duanmu Huai wondered why his God of Joy divine power was growing so slowly despite True Clever’s successful work.
• Duanmu Huai asked True Clever whether she would be interested in publishing some of Mary’s novels at the station.

True Clever took Duanmu Huai and Okegis to see the Nebula Waterfall in a luxury spacecraft, but the ship was attacked and crashed on an unknown planet. Their communications and Duanmu Huai's ability to summon a Soul Card no longer worked, so he prepared to investigate the place.

• True Clever realized Duanmu Huai could not enjoy the theme park’s ordinary rides and invited him and Okegis to see the Nebula Waterfall.
• True Clever piloted a luxury tourist spacecraft into the Double Serpent Galaxy and activated its starfield projection for Duanmu Huai and Okegis.
• Alarms sounded, an attacker struck the spacecraft, and the ship was forced into an emergency landing and crashed.
• Duanmu Huai carried True Clever and Okegis out of the wreckage, where True Clever discovered her Personal Terminal was unresponsive.
• Duanmu Huai found that he could not contact Ann and the others or summon a Soul Card, concluded the planet itself was disrupting them, and set out to investigate.

Duanmu Huai, True Clever, and Okegis searched for a settlement after their ship crashed on a planet where communications and Soul Cards were blocked. They found a recently destroyed city and discovered evidence of an aerial ambush, then set out to investigate after the Servo-skull was attacked.

• Duanmu Huai concluded that a barrier or seal was preventing communications and Soul Cards from working, and he and True Clever planned to find people and remove it.
• Duanmu Huai spotted a distant city, and the three traveled there, only to find it reduced to ruins.
• Duanmu Huai examined the corpses and buildings and found that the dead were human and the city’s attackers had left its valuables untouched.
• Duanmu Huai reconstructed an aerial assault that overwhelmed the city’s defenders and massacred its inhabitants, but could not determine who the attackers were or why they had struck.
• Duanmu Huai noticed that the Servo-skull had been attacked and led True Clever and Okegis toward it.

Duanmu Huai and his companions learned that the Demon Race was attacking humanity and decided to head north to defeat the demon king. When they reached a village under attack, Duanmu Huai intervened and prepared to fight the Demon Race leader.

• A frightened boy told Duanmu Huai and True Clever that the Demon Race had attacked the area and was driving humanity back.
• Duanmu Huai decided to travel north and kill the demon king, while the boy followed the group despite their attempts to leave him at a village.
• Duanmu Huai, True Clever, Okegis, and the boy reached a village engulfed in flames, where horned monsters were attacking its people.
• A Demon Race man used a Dog Whistle to send the monsters against the village guards and their families.
• Duanmu Huai hurled his lightning-wreathed warhammer through the monsters, then confronted the Demon Race man and vowed to kill him.

Duanmu Huai defeated the demon race leader and helped save a village from its attack. After leaving the boy in the villagers’ care, he set out with Okegis and True Clever for the Paretia Kingdom to find a magic user.

• Duanmu Huai crushed the demon race leader with his warhammer before the Dog Whistle could control him, and Okegis cut down the fleeing monsters with her web.
• Duanmu Huai and the villagers extinguished the fire, though more than half the village had been destroyed, and the village chief rewarded him with a dust-removing spell.
• Duanmu Huai asked the village chief to care for the boy he and his companions had found in the ruins, then left with Okegis and True Clever.
• Duanmu Huai explained that he could not use Soul Cards in this world and decided to seek a Magic User in the Paretia Kingdom.

Duanmu Huai and his companions were trapped in Paretia Kingdom while its army struggled to reclaim the Northern Fortress from the Demon Race. After learning that the Prince might lead the next counterattack, Duanmu Huai reaffirmed the Inquisition’s duty to protect humanity, then adventurers rushed in to ask for his help.

• Duanmu Huai and Okegis returned from another failed advance against the Demon Race, having stayed behind to protect the retreating adventurers.
• Adventurers told Duanmu Huai that the Prince might lead the counterattack, explaining that the Princess was a popular adventurer who could not use magic.
• True Clever performed for the adventurers at the inn and then greeted Duanmu Huai.
• Okegis suggested they leave and head north, but Duanmu Huai said the Inquisition had to protect humanity.
• Several adventurers burst into the inn and asked Duanmu Huai for help.

Duanmu Huai and Okegis defeated a Demon Race poison-mist wielder and fought off a group of dragons with help from a broom-riding girl. After the battle, the girl mistook Duanmu Huai for a demon and attacked him, then fainted when he revealed his face.

• A Demon Race woman killed human scouts with poisonous fog, but Duanmu Huai and Okegis overcame the mist and killed her.
• Duanmu Huai warned the adventurers that the battle was not over when dragons appeared, then flew up to fight them with Okegis.
• A girl riding a broomstick joined the fight and helped Duanmu Huai drive the dragons away.
• The girl charged Duanmu Huai, mistaking him for a demon, but her lightsaber failed to harm his armor.
• Duanmu Huai caught the girl and brought her safely to the ground, then removed his helmet and asked if he looked like a demon.
• The girl stared at Duanmu Huai and fainted.

Duanmu Huai met Anisphia after helping drive off the Dragon Group, then visited King Olfen at the Royal Palace. He agreed to cooperate with Paretia Kingdom’s campaign to reclaim the Northern Fortress and promised to look after Anisphia as they prepared to head north.

• Anisphia apologized to Duanmu Huai for mistaking him for a Demon Race general and eagerly asked to inspect his armor, but he refused.
• Duanmu Huai and Okegis returned to the inn, then went to the Royal Palace when King Olfen summoned the hero who had repelled the Dragon Group.
• Duanmu Huai introduced the Inquisition and explained that it had come to protect humanity and destroy the Demon King.
• King Olfen asked Duanmu Huai to help Prince Yargard reclaim the Northern Fortress and reactivate its Great Barrier.
• King Olfen revealed that Anisphia was his daughter and asked Duanmu Huai to look after her; Duanmu Huai agreed and said he wanted to head north soon.

The King reflected on the Paretia Kingdom’s fragile politics and asked Duanmu Huai to protect Anisphia from nobles who hoped she would die during the Northern Lands Campaign. Suspecting the royal family’s decision to send both heirs to the front concealed a scheme, Duanmu Huai asked True Clever to investigate the kingdom’s nobles and royal family.

• After Duanmu Huai left, the King told Duke Granz he trusted Duanmu Huai to help safeguard the kingdom amid its political turmoil.
• The King recalled how the nobles’ rebellion over the Human Magic System had cost Paretia one-third of its territory and left the royal family wary of challenging their power.
• The King recognized that the nobles supported Anisphia’s participation in the Northern Lands Campaign because they hoped to eliminate her and end her Magicology work.
• The King asked Duanmu Huai to protect Anisphia from the nobles’ schemes during the campaign.
• Back at the inn, Duanmu Huai asked True Clever to gather common knowledge about Paretia’s royal family and nobles, and she agreed.