Chapter Summaries

Anisphia dreamed that the Paretia Kingdom had become a desolate wasteland and that a tentacled Iron Warrior swallowed her, then woke with no memory of the nightmare. Duanmu Huai learned that Paretia’s royal family and nobles contracted with Magical Elves, and he suspected the beings might be Warp Space demons as he considered why Anisphia could not use Elf Magic.

• Anisphia wandered through the ruined Imperial Palace and Royal Capital, finding no one and believing the entire world had been destroyed.
• An enormous Iron Warrior seized Anisphia with tentacles and pulled her into its hollow armor, whereupon she woke screaming.
• Anisphia told a red-haired maid she had dreamed, then briefly saw a mark on her wrist that vanished when she looked again.
• Duanmu Huai asked True Clever what she had learned about Paretia, and she reported that its royal family and nobles used magic through contracts with Magical Elves.
• Duanmu Huai suspected the Magical Elves might be Warp Space demons and wondered why Anisphia could not contract with one despite possessing magical power.

Duanmu Huai met the nobles and soldiers assigned to the air squad and learned that he would command them. He warned the newcomers about the danger of Demon attacks, while Euphilia and Tirtei accepted the risks of joining the expedition.

• Anisphia arrived with soldiers, her maids, Tirtei Kula Leiter, and Euphilia Mazanta, explaining that nobles had been ordered to send representatives for the Northern Fortress campaign.
• Tirtei said she had come to watch over Anisphia, while Anisphia revealed that Euphilia was her younger brother Yargard's fiancée and had been ordered to join the squad by the prince.
• Duanmu Huai questioned why Euphilia was not fighting on the front line and warned the group that Demons might attack them while he and Anisphia were away.
• Tirtei said she wanted to study Demon Magic, and Euphilia vowed to fight for Paretia Kingdom even if it cost her life.
• Anisphia told Duanmu Huai that the King had left command of the squad to him, and he privately resented the King for dumping the responsibility on him.

Duanmu Huai asserted the Inquisition’s independence by killing a noble who challenged his authority at the allied military meeting. Euphilia then asked Anisphia to take her to the battlefield, and Anisphia redirected her to seek Duanmu Huai’s permission.

• Duanmu Huai rejected the nobles’ attempts to command the Inquisition and said Anisphia would follow his orders.
• When a red-haired noble threatened him and fired magic missiles, Duanmu Huai killed him in front of the assembled nobles.
• Duanmu Huai told Anisphia, Tirte, and Euphilia that he had secured their freedom to act independently and explained why he considered the killing necessary.
• Anisphia felt pleased that the Magicology Province had suffered a setback, while Euphilia reflected on Duanmu Huai’s words about war.
• Euphilia asked Anisphia to take her to the battlefield, and Anisphia told her to ask Duanmu Huai for permission.

Duanmu Huai accepted Euphilia’s decision to join the battlefield and taught her and Anisphia how to serve as an air force. After explaining their reconnaissance and bombing roles and giving them signal markers, he warned them to flee if they encountered a Demon Race foe they could not defeat.

• Euphilia insisted on fighting as the next Royal Wife and the duke’s daughter, and Duanmu Huai told Anisphia to take her into the air.
• Duanmu Huai explained that Euphilia could charge a powerful spell from above while he engaged flying enemies and Anisphia helped with aerial reconnaissance.
• Duanmu Huai gave Anisphia a Signal Marker and explained how its symbols would report enemy positions, threats, casualties, and requests for reinforcements.
• Duanmu Huai told Anisphia and Euphilia to signal and retreat if they encountered a Demon Race enemy too dangerous to fight, then urged them to treat the Demon Race as foes to exterminate.

Duanmu Huai recognized that the allied army was being lured north and warned that it would have to face a trap to reach the Northern Fortress. When the army found a monster-held city, Prince Yargard ordered an attack, despite General Gaius’s concerns about an ambush.

• Duanmu Huai explained to Anisphia and Euphilia that the Demon Race was drawing the allied army deeper into its territory, where it could cut off their retreat.
• Duanmu Huai, Anisphia, and Euphilia spotted a ruined city occupied by monsters, and Anisphia and Euphilia reported it to Prince Yargard.
• Prince Yargard ordered the army to advance quickly and retake the city so the soldiers could rest behind its walls.
• General Gaius warned Prince Yargard that the quiet march and abandoned city might conceal an ambush, while a young knight dismissed the danger.
• Prince Yargard raised his hand and ordered the army to prepare to attack.

Ann took charge of the Inquisition while Duanmu Huai remained unreachable, and she worried that he might return with more girls. Meanwhile, Duanmu Huai fought flying magical beasts over the city and wiped them out with a devastating lightning strike.

• Ann confirmed that Duanmu Huai's ship had disappeared and that she could not contact him, though Alice Phil believed he was safe.
• Ann took over the Inquisition's duties and proposed betting on how many girls Duanmu Huai would bring back.
• Duanmu Huai and Anisphia fought supersonic flying magical beasts above the city while Allied Forces battled beasts in the streets.
• After Anisphia teased Duanmu Huai about his poor agility, he summoned black clouds and struck the ground with lightning and black flames.
• The sky cleared, and the flying magical beasts had vanished.

Duanmu Huai destroyed the flying monsters and warned General Gaius that Prince Yargard’s plan to use the abandoned city as a base risked leaving the Allied Forces without supplies. After Anisphia and Euphilia mistook Duanmu Huai for a demon, he corrected their understanding of how the Demon Race thought and urged them to kill demons rather than appeal to their emotions.

• Duanmu Huai wiped out the flying monsters, leaving Anisphia and Euphilia stunned by his power.
• Duanmu Huai criticized Prince Yargard’s plan to make the city a base, warning General Gaius that the supply unit could be ambushed and the army stranded.
• Euphilia told Anisphia she suspected Duanmu Huai was a demon, and Anisphia invented a story about him being abandoned by the Demon Race.
• Duanmu Huai grabbed Anisphia and dismissed her theory, explaining that demons were born without human emotions or family bonds.
• Duanmu Huai explained that demons imitated human behavior only to lure prey and told Anisphia and Euphilia to stop projecting human feelings onto them.

Duanmu Huai warned Anisphia, Euphilia, and Tirte not to trust Prince Yargard, arguing that rulers could be cruel and that Yargard might be scheming or conspiring with the Demon Race. After Duanmu Huai left, Tirte realized they did not know where he lived, so Anisphia decided they should go find him and Okegis.

• Duanmu Huai dismissed Anisphia and Euphilia’s defense of Prince Yargard and warned that a ruler could act cruelly, telling them not to assume Yargard was an ideal king.
• Duanmu Huai told the girls that he suspected Yargard was stupid, evil, or both, and threatened to crush him if he colluded with the Demon Race.
• Euphilia said she would find time to speak with Prince Yargard, while Anisphia protested that Duanmu Huai had dragged them into the discussion.
• Duanmu Huai left with Okegis, and Anisphia complained about his behavior after he was gone.
• Tirte pointed out that they did not know where Inquisitor Lord lived, and Anisphia proposed going to find him and Okegis.

Anisphia, Euphilia, and Tirte followed Duanmu Huai into a tiny tent and discovered it opened into a lavish home filled with unfamiliar magic tools. After intruding and catching Duanmu Huai wearing only a towel, the girls apologized, but Anisphia grew indignant when she learned how comfortable he had been while they endured the hardships of the march.

• Anisphia, Euphilia, and Tirte wondered where Duanmu Huai slept and followed him to a small roadside tent.
• Anisphia entered the tent, and Euphilia and Tirte followed her into a grand corridor hidden beyond its entrance.
• The girls explored the corridor and found a luxurious room, where Anisphia walked in and surprised Duanmu Huai wearing only a towel.
• Duanmu Huai dressed and scolded the girls for entering without permission, then explained that his home used magic tools.
• Anisphia realized Duanmu Huai had enjoyed a comfortable home while they suffered through the march and accused him of eating alone.

Anisphia, Euphilia, and Tirte accepted Duanmu Huai’s offer to stay at his home after he demanded rent. In Pareitia Royal City, True Clever learned that the Magicology Province was sending weapons north, survived an ambush arranged by Count Chartos, and decided to run to the Northern Fortress to warn Duanmu Huai.

• Duanmu Huai offered Anisphia, Euphilia, and Tirte rooms in his home but told them they would have to pay rent.
• True Clever heard guards mention an urgent shipment of heavy weapons from the Magicology Province and connected it to Count Chartos.
• Masked attackers ambushed True Clever, but she defeated them and learned Count Chartos had ordered her capture.
• True Clever learned Count Chartos might be involved in the weapons shipment and decided to go to the Northern Fortress to tell Duanmu Huai.

True Clever caught up with a supply convoy and helped its guards defeat a demon that had ambushed them. After learning the convoy carried unknown supplies from the Magicology Province, she suggested opening the heavy chests before the group continued to the fortress.

• True Clever followed the convoy through the night in N7 armor and spotted a demon attacking its soldiers.
• The demon used blood magic to slaughter the guards and prepare an attack on the convoy.
• True Clever fired on the demon, blinded him with a flash grenade, and killed him with her M27 Cutlass shotgun.
• The guards thanked True Clever, who explained that she was trying to reach her companion with the Allied Forces.
• True Clever learned that the convoy carried unknown supplies from the Magicology Province and suggested opening its heavy chests.

Viscount Julius and other noble scions speculated that Anisphia might reclaim her claim to the throne with Duanmu Huai’s support. When they heard a rumor that Anisphia, Euphilia, and Tirte had spent the night in Duanmu Huai’s room, Julius decided to warn Prince Yargard and strike first.

• Viscount Julius and the noble scions mocked Gaius and praised Prince Yargard while discussing their return to the ruined city.
• A noble reported hearing that Anisphia and her companions had entered Duanmu Huai’s room after patrol and stayed until morning.
• Viscount Julius suggested that Duanmu Huai might be Anisphia’s fiancé and that she could reclaim her right of succession, alarming the nobles.
• The noble scions feared Anisphia’s possible return to the succession and discussed killing their rivals during the war.
• The gossipmonger added that Euphilia had also been in Duanmu Huai’s room, and Viscount Julius resolved to request an audience with Prince Yargard.

Anisphia returned from patrol and found Yargard meeting Duanmu Huai, where the prince revealed his plan to use the Northern expedition to weaken the nobles and reform Paretia. Duanmu Huai agreed to consider helping him, but warned that he would kill Yargard if he allied with the Demon Race.

• Anisphia arrived at Duanmu Huai's tent and found Yargard waiting to speak with him privately.
• Yargard asked Duanmu Huai to help him become a king who could control Paretia and change its divided magic-based society.
• Yargard revealed that he planned to send the nobles' private armies into the Northern Lands so their defeat would leave the nobles unable to resist his reforms.
• Yargard asked Duanmu Huai to delay his attack on the demons and help stop Anisphia and Euphilia from interfering.
• Duanmu Huai agreed to consider Yargard's request on the condition that Yargard never ally with the Demon Race.

Duanmu Huai agreed to help Prince Yargard overthrow the nobles in exchange for eradicating Elf Magic, which he identified as a Warp Space threat. Yargard publicly broke off his engagement to Euphilia, leaving her and Anisphia at Duanmu Huai’s residence as his political plans moved forward.

• Duanmu Huai and Yargard agreed that Duanmu Huai would assist him if Yargard severed the country’s ties to Elf Magic.
• Yargard explained that he planned to replace the noble forces with common-born soldiers and reform the class system, and he asked Duanmu Huai to help deal with Anisphia and Euphilia if they resisted.
• Yargard publicly accused Euphilia of immorality and broke off their engagement.
• Anisphia told Duanmu Huai that she and Tirte had vouched for Euphilia, while Euphilia accepted responsibility for what happened.
• Anisphia asked to remain at Duanmu Huai’s residence, and he reluctantly allowed it.

Duanmu Huai discovered a girl sealed inside a crystal among the supply convoy’s cargo and brought her to the Wizard’s Mansion. After he freed her, she revealed herself as Lumiel Rene Paretia, the Founding King’s daughter and an Elf Contractor, and began explaining the truth about the Elves.

• Duanmu Huai spotted the supply convoy and learned from True Clever that Demon Race attackers had deliberately targeted it.
• True Clever showed Duanmu Huai a crystal containing a platinum-blond girl that had been added to the convoy’s supplies by the Magicology Province.
• Duanmu Huai took the crystal to the Wizard’s Mansion, where Anisphia, Euphilia, and Tirte recognized the girl’s royal hair color.
• When Euphilia could not break the seal, Duanmu Huai shattered the crystal with his warhammer and identified the girl as a being tainted by Warp Space.
• The girl introduced herself as Lumiel Rene Paretia, daughter of the Founding King and an Elf Contractor.
• Lumiel said the Elves were Demons who had deceived humanity and driven the Founding King mad, then began telling her story.

Lumiel revealed that the Magical Elves were former humans transformed through contracts with Warp Space demons, and that she had destroyed the First Kingdom’s King to stop its people from abusing that power. Duanmu Huai concluded that the Demon Race and the Magical Elves might be working together, and that the Magicology Province had sent Lumiel out so the demons could learn how to breach the Great Barrier.

• Lumiel explained that Elf Contractors surrendered their souls to Magical Elves, and that her father’s wish to help his people had turned into a desire for conquest and slaughter.
• Lumiel confessed that she destroyed the King and tried to end Elf Contracts, but the Magical Elves abandoned and sealed her away.
• Duanmu Huai identified the Magical Elves as Warp Space demons, while Euphilia and Tirte struggled to accept that the beings they worshiped were demons.
• Lumiel revealed that she carried the First Kingdom’s memories, including the secrets of the Great Barrier she and her father had built.
• Duanmu Huai reasoned that the Demon Race had attacked the convoy to capture Lumiel and obtain knowledge that could help it destroy the Great Barrier.
• Duanmu Huai suggested that the Magical Elves and the Demon Race were both seeking to rule humanity, and that the Magicology Province might be serving the Magical Elves.

Duanmu Huai used an Inquisition relic to destroy Tirte’s Elf Contract, while Lumiel warned that Euphilia might be drawn into becoming an Elf Contractor. Convinced the Magical Elves were benevolent, Euphilia resolved to contract with one, so Duanmu Huai entered her mental world to intervene.

• Duanmu Huai offered Tirte a Holy Relic that could undo her Elf Contract in exchange for becoming a believer of the Inquisition, and Tirte accepted immediately.
• Tirte prayed with the Rosary Beads, and Duanmu Huai destroyed her Elf Contract, leaving her unable to use Elf Magic.
• Euphilia refused to undo her own contract and left the room, while Lumiel warned Duanmu Huai that Euphilia might be manipulated into becoming an Elf Contractor.
• Euphilia decided that becoming an Elf Contractor would help her prove the Magical Elves were good, and Duanmu Huai entered her mental world to change things directly.

Duanmu Huai entered Euphilia’s consciousness world and discovered that Warp Space monsters had overlaid it with a false manor and manipulated her memories. After destroying the fairies and uncovering her original consciousness, he found Euphilia terrified and decided to forcefully break through her indoctrination.

• Duanmu Huai explored the manor and saw portraits replaying Euphilia’s family’s expectations and her broken engagement with Yargard.
• Duanmu Huai recognized a suspicious voice as evidence of Warp Space interference and unleashed black flames that destroyed the fairies and false manor.
• Duanmu Huai entered the remaining Small Wooden House and found Euphilia cowering beside a fairy that tried to protect her.
• Duanmu Huai crushed the fairy, grabbed Euphilia, and declared that she would become his slave and obey him.
• Euphilia resisted as Duanmu Huai threw her to the ground and shut the door.

Euphilia remained isolated and was tormented by a disturbing dream while Duanmu Huai fought the Magical Elves’ influence in her Mental World. After learning that his God of Joy Divine Office had reached LV2, Duanmu Huai tested his new Quality Confirmation skill on Anisphia and discovered it revealed her qualities and imprints.

• Anisphia checked on Euphilia, who asked to be left alone while she sorted out her thoughts about Elf Magic.
• Euphilia fell asleep and dreamed that a dark figure dragged her away from meeting the King and forced her to submit.
• Duanmu Huai explained that he had been driving the Magical Elves out of Euphilia’s Mental World, but they kept returning to influence her.
• Duanmu Huai said Yargard had also agreed to abandon Elf Magic and that people with stronger aptitude suffered greater influence from the Magical Elves.
• Duanmu Huai received the Quality Confirmation skill when his God of Joy Divine Office reached LV2.
• Duanmu Huai used Quality Confirmation on Anisphia and saw her qualities and imprints listed.

Duanmu Huai learned how the God of Joy gained experience and helped Euphilia dissolve her Elf Contract, telling her to study Human Magic instead. After reports that the nobles had retaken the Northern Fortress, he and Anisphia inspected it and found no obvious signs of trouble, leaving the cause of the fortress’s quiet condition uncertain.

• Duanmu Huai discovered that the God of Joy gained experience only when both he and the person he was educating felt pleasure.
• Euphilia dissolved her Elf Contract, and Duanmu Huai advised her to learn the Human Magic System while Lumiel planned to dissolve her own contract after the battle.
• True Clever told Duanmu Huai that the nobles’ frontline troops had retaken the Northern Fortress and sent back a report.
• Duanmu Huai and Anisphia flew to the Northern Fortress, where they saw intact defenses and apparently normal soldiers.
• Duanmu Huai found no signs of brainwashing or control and decided to return to report before choosing what to do next.