Chapter Summaries

Duanmu Huai agreed to help a settlement secure an Oil Depot and reopen its fuel route in exchange for supplies. After explaining the Inquisition’s duty to protect humanity, he persuaded the survivors to join the dangerous mission.

• Aiden helped Duanmu Huai and the others gain entry to the settlement, where they saw the bodies of people killed during the previous night.
• Joel argued with a guard over the high price of medicine and preserved food, so Duanmu Huai suggested completing a commission instead of haggling.
• The guard explained that the settlement needed help clearing zombies from an Oil Depot and opening a route to it after an earlier team failed.
• Duanmu Huai accepted the task and told Takagi Saya that protecting the settlement served the Inquisition’s duty to preserve humanity.
• The survivors agreed to join the mission, hoping to earn supplies and relying on Duanmu Huai’s strength.

Duanmu Huai led Aiden, Joel, Komuro Takashi, and Miyamoto Rei toward the Oil Depot, clearing wrecked vehicles and zombies so a fuel tanker could reach the settlement. After the survivors fought until they were exhausted, Duanmu Huai called on Okegis and Jia Wei to take their turn.

• Duanmu Huai set out with Okegis and Jia Wei while Aiden, Joel, Komuro Takashi, and Miyamoto Rei joined the expedition to the Oil Depot.
• Duanmu Huai smashed wrecked vehicles out of the road as the others killed the zombies drawn by the noise.
• Miyamoto Rei chased off an Akita, and Joel frightened it away with a warning shot because the survivors feared dogs would attract zombies.
• Aiden, Joel, Komuro Takashi, and Miyamoto Rei fought zombies with improvised weapons, a baseball bat, a spear, and ranged weapons.
• Duanmu Huai saw that the fighters were exhausted and told Okegis and Jia Wei to contribute next.

Duanmu Huai’s group reached the Oil Depot and found no zombies, but an explosion revealed that the settlement had come under attack. He flew back with Okegis, was caught in a miniature nuclear blast, and then confronted armored Greenskins emerging from the flames.

• Duanmu Huai’s group rested at a restaurant, where Jia Wei demonstrated her skill as a sniper by killing zombies outside.
• The group reached the Oil Depot, searched it, and found no threats, though Aiden noticed that parts had been removed from the control panel.
• An explosion erupted in the direction of the settlement, and Jia Wei reported that it was under attack.
• Duanmu Huai flew toward the settlement with Okegis while the others stayed behind at the Oil Depot.
• A miniature nuclear bomb exploded near Duanmu Huai, and he fell into the burning settlement.
• Duanmu Huai set Okegis down and saw armored monsters emerge from the flames, recognizing them as Greenskins.

Duanmu Huai repelled a mutant raid that destroyed the settlement and rescued Mary, who had taken a miniature nuclear blast while protecting the survivors. After stabilizing her injuries, he learned how she had been hurt and set out to discover the attackers’ origins and avenge her.

• Duanmu Huai and Okegis killed the mutants attacking the settlement, but their miniature nuclear bombs left the settlement in flames and filled it with radiation.
• Duanmu Huai found Takagi Saya, Ellie, and Shili Alice sheltering with Mary, who was badly wounded, and used Medical Gel to stabilize her before evacuating everyone.
• Takagi Saya and Shili Alice explained that Mary had taken a miniature nuclear bomb’s blast to protect the crowd, then fought the mutants while covering their escape.
• Duanmu Huai treated Mary and comforted her as she woke, then gave her a robe to change into and promised to improve her defenses.
• Duanmu Huai approached the injured settlement commander to learn who the mutants were and where they had come from, intending to wipe them out.

After rescuing the settlement’s survivors, Duanmu Huai set out to hunt the mutants who had destroyed their home and suspected they had planned the attack. He was ambushed by an RPG but survived, emerging from the wreckage with one of the mutants in his grasp.

• The settlement commander told Duanmu Huai that a dying wanderer had reported demons south of the city, and Duanmu Huai rescued the settlement’s survivors after its destruction.
• The commander gave the group access to a hidden weapons cache, and Aiden, Joel, Miyamoto Rei, and Komuro Takashi took equipment.
• Duanmu Huai left Jia Wei to guard the Oil Depot while Mary chose to stay behind, then flew toward the city to find the attackers.
• Duanmu Huai reasoned that the mutants had likely scouted the settlement and acted under a plan rather than attacking by chance.
• A mutant fired an RPG at Duanmu Huai, who crashed through a building but survived and emerged to seize a mutant by the head.

Duanmu Huai defeated the remaining mutants, captured their commander, and learned that he belonged to the Salvation Army, a faction with a powerful mutant army. After killing the commander and deciding to investigate the Salvation Army, Duanmu Huai learned that Joel was supposed to take Ellie to its headquarters.

• Duanmu Huai killed the remaining mutants while Okegis dragged their hidden commander from a ruin.
• The captured man identified himself as a minor leader of the Salvation Army and claimed his mutants had attacked the settlement after its sentries fired first.
• The settlement commander recognized the man as the one who had previously demanded that the settlement submit to the Salvation Army.
• Duanmu Huai killed the commander and said he would visit the Salvation Army because its mutants showed signs of genetic modification, viral activation, and radiation exposure.
• Joel revealed that his commission was to take Ellie to the Salvation Army's headquarters, though he did not know why.

Duanmu Huai and his companions reached the Salvation Army, where Ellie was taken for surgery to extract the mutated pathogen that made her immune. Joel learned the operation would kill her, and the chapter ended with Marlene refusing to let him stop it.

• Duanmu Huai decided to investigate the Salvation Army for evidence that it was creating mutants, while Komuro Takashi, the other students, and Aiden stayed behind at the settlement.
• Duanmu Huai, Joel, Ellie, Mary, Okegis, and Jia Wei entered the Salvation Army camp, where Duanmu Huai saw armed mutant guards and unarmored mutant laborers.
• Salvation Army staff took Ellie through an inner gate, and Marlene arrived to explain that Ellie's immunity could be used to develop a vaccine.
• Marlene told Joel that the pathogen had spread to Ellie's brain and that surgery to remove it would sacrifice her.
• Joel tried to stop the operation, but a soldier knocked him down, and Marlene left Ellie inside and told Joel to forget her.

Duanmu Huai decided to let the Salvation Army use Ellie to pursue a cure, while Joel tried to stop her and was killed by Jia Wei on Duanmu Huai’s orders. After waiting for Ellie’s surgery to change the world’s Destiny, Duanmu Huai opened a Teleportation Gate and prepared to act.

• Duanmu Huai told Joel he would not interfere with Ellie’s sacrifice, and Joel insisted he would not let her die.
• Joel left to find a way into the secret facility, but Jia Wei shot and killed him on Duanmu Huai’s orders.
• Duanmu Huai explained that he would investigate the cure and the Salvation Army’s role in creating mutants, and said he could bring Sherry if the world’s Destiny changed.
• Duanmu Huai returned to the train with the others, where they waited as Ellie’s surgery began.
• Duanmu Huai snapped his fingers, opened a Teleportation Gate, and told the others it was their turn to act.

Duanmu Huai secured the Inquisition’s defenses against the Tyranid Swarm and the Chaos Legion, then learned that his God of Destruction could undergo a Specialization Trial. Mary brought him a mysterious recorded plea from Hito Island, and they decided to investigate the island in Wakayama Prefecture.

• Duanmu Huai learned from Echote that the Inquisition had destroyed nearby galaxies to block the Tyranid Swarm and was monitoring the Milky Way for new threats.
• Duanmu Huai sent Sherry and the Night Watch to suppress the Salvation Army in the Wasteland World, where Sherry created an antidote named Ellie.
• Duanmu Huai received a System Prompt saying his God of Destruction qualified for a Specialization Trial and considered developing more precise uses for Destruction Magic.
• Mary told Duanmu Huai that her answering machine had received a message she never heard, pleading for help on Hito Island during a festival.
• Duanmu Huai listened to the indistinct Japanese recording and agreed to travel with Mary to investigate Hito Island.

Duanmu Huai and Mary arrived on Hito Island to investigate a cryptic warning about its festival, where a shadow monster appeared to attack the shrine. After Duanmu Huai fought the creature, they suddenly found themselves back at the moment they first arrived on the island.

• Duanmu Huai and Mary arrived on Hito Island, where Duanmu Huai planned to investigate the warning about the upcoming festival.
• Duanmu Huai and Mary explored the island, then headed to the shrine after the festival began and Mary grew concerned.
• A red light appeared above the shrine, and a black tide surged down the mountain before Duanmu Huai drove it back with his power.
• Duanmu Huai and Mary reached the shrine, where they found human-shaped ash marks and confronted a four-armed shadow monster.
• The monster's gunshot failed to hurt Duanmu Huai, who charged and punched it, but he struck the pier ground instead.
• Duanmu Huai and Mary realized they had returned to the moment they first arrived on Hito Island.

Duanmu Huai realized that he and Mary were being swept along by repeated time reversals caused by someone else, and he suspected a Great Old One was involved. After another reset, they watched a shadow monster lead townspeople and a little girl through the night, then followed the group to discover its purpose.

• Duanmu Huai concluded that someone else was traveling through time and dragging him and Mary back with them.
• Duanmu Huai identified the festival's strange aura as belonging to a Great Old One, while Mary recalled that one of his deflected bullets had struck a local man.
• Duanmu Huai and Mary were thrown back to dusk again, and Duanmu Huai decided to search the town at night instead of waiting for the festival.
• Duanmu Huai spotted townspeople silently leaving their homes behind the four-armed shadow monster, which carried a little girl.
• Duanmu Huai told Mary to follow the group and find out what they were planning.

Duanmu Huai and Mary joined Ajiro Shinpei and his allies at the school, where they learned the island’s truth and the limits of Shinpei’s time loops. Duanmu Huai declared he would kill the Great Old One and urged Shinpei to stay alive as the group prepared to fight.

• Duanmu Huai and Mary confirmed that Ajiro Shinpei’s death caused the time rewind and set out to intercept him at the school.
• Ajiro Shinpei explained that each death pushed his rewind point later and that he might have only one loop left.
• Duanmu Huai emerged at the school, and Nezu Ginjiro’s shot revealed that Duanmu Huai was not a shadow.
• Ajiro Shinpei and his allies exchanged information with Duanmu Huai and Mary, who learned that a higher-dimensional creature had created the shadows.
• Duanmu Huai dismissed the creature as a weak Great Old One and said he would kill it, while warning Ajiro Shinpei not to die again.

Duanmu Huai ambushed the shadows at the school and destroyed their forces with Mary’s help, then killed the Four-Clawed Monster and the twin-tailed girl, who was only a clone. After learning that the Great Old One’s true body lay beneath Hito Island, he prepared to find another route into the underground hollow and asked Mary to keep Ajiro Shinpei from triggering another time rewind.

• Ajiro Shinpei and his friends hid in the school while Duanmu Huai waited on the sports field for the shadows.
• The Four-Clawed Monster led the shadows onto the field, and Mary summoned starlight so Duanmu Huai could destroy their shadows with a blow to the ground.
• The Four-Clawed Monster and the twin-tailed girl escaped the initial attack, but Duanmu Huai crushed the monster and killed the girl, who dissolved into shadow liquid.
• Ajiro Shinpei warned Duanmu Huai that the girl had been a clone and revealed that the Great Old One’s true body was in the Great Hollow beneath Hito Island.
• Unable to fit through the secret passages and sewers, Duanmu Huai planned to scan for an ocean entrance and told Mary to prevent Ajiro Shinpei from reloading.

Ajiro Shinpei and Mary organized the townspeople at the school to stop Hado’s shadows from killing their originals, while Duanmu Huai forced his way through the sewers to confront Hado. He found the white-haired girl and another four-clawed Shadow at the cavern, killed the attacker, and moved to destroy her.

• Ajiro Shinpei warned that Hado might send shadows to kill townspeople before the festival, and Mary agreed to help protect them.
• Duanmu Huai got stuck in a sewer entrance, smashed open the ground, and caused an earthquake that sent residents to the school for shelter.
• Mary used her Gold Eye to identify shadows among the crowd, and Minakata Hiyori and Minakata Hizuru killed one of them.
• Duanmu Huai fought through Shadow monsters in the sewer and smashed the black-shadow wall blocking the cavern.
• Duanmu Huai found the white-haired girl in a red kimono and crushed a four-clawed Shadow that attacked him from behind.
• Duanmu Huai turned toward the terrified girl and prepared to kill her.

Duanmu Huai destroyed the weakened Great Old One and gained the rare abilities Past Sight and Shadow Clone, but its death erased the shadows on the island, including Kozune Ushio. Back at the Inquisition, he began a Divine Office enhancement trial that tasked him with transforming mortals into divine servants.

• Duanmu Huai devoured the white-haired Great Old One and gained Past Sight and Shadow Clone.
• Duanmu Huai tested the abilities, discovering that Past Sight rewound up to ten seconds and Shadow Clone copied a person's data and memories.
• Duanmu Huai returned to Mary and learned that Kozune Ushio had vanished because the Elder God's destruction cut off the shadows' source of power.
• Duanmu Huai left the island and began an enhancement trial, which assigned him the mission "Divine Favor Summons" to transform enough divine servants.
• Duanmu Huai realized he could turn mortals such as Mary and Echote into divine servants and prepared to learn how to complete the mission.

Duanmu Huai began his enhancement mission in a seemingly peaceful world, where he worked as a physical education teacher while waiting for the mission to reveal itself. After a black-haired girl lured him to an abandoned church and attacked him, he fought back and discovered the mission’s first enemy.

• Duanmu Huai reviewed his chess pieces and planned to give Mary a queen, Echote a rook, and Ling Nu a knight, but the system had sealed his pieces and summons until he completed the first mission stage.
• After leaving Komaou Academy, Duanmu Huai saw a black-haired girl flee from thugs and let her lead him to an old church.
• At the church, the girl revealed black wings and attacked Duanmu Huai with a spear of light, but he shattered it with a punch and sent her crashing into the altar.
• The girl summoned dozens of black-robed fighters armed with Light Swords, and Duanmu Huai unleashed a blast that scattered them and destroyed the church floor.
• Duanmu Huai appeared in Power Armor with a war hammer, and when the girl tried to flee, he leaped after her and swung at her.

Duanmu Huai defeated a Fallen Angel who had attacked him and learned that the world’s angels, Fallen Angels, and demons were engaged in a long-running conflict. After he destroyed the church, Rias Gremory confronted him and invited him to the Occult Research Club.

• Duanmu Huai killed the white-haired priest and subdued the black-haired girl who had led the ambush.
• Duanmu Huai used Shadow Clone to create a copy of the girl, and the copy identified her as Lena Li, a Fallen Angel seeking to destroy a suspected Sacred Gear host.
• Lena Li’s shadow explained the factions and their hidden struggle, but Duanmu Huai dismissed it and killed the original Lena Li.
• Duanmu Huai emerged from the collapsed church and met Rias Gremory, who claimed the area as her territory.
• Rias Gremory invited Duanmu Huai to visit the Occult Research Club at school the next day.

Rias Gremory offered Duanmu Huai protection and a place among her demon servants in exchange for his strength, but he refused and reaffirmed that he would fight only for humanity. After he left, Rias decided she would keep trying to recruit him into the Occult Research Club.

• Duanmu Huai met Rias and her demon servants in the Occult Research Club and learned that they believed he possessed a powerful Sacred Gear.
• Rias warned Duanmu Huai that the fallen angels would likely keep hunting him and offered to reincarnate him as one of her demon servants for protection.
• Duanmu Huai refused because he would not serve the demons or abandon humanity, and he said he would handle the fallen angels himself.
• Duanmu Huai warned Rias that he would kill any being that harmed humans, regardless of whether it was an angel, demon, or god.
• After Duanmu Huai left, Rias dismissed the others' doubts and vowed to bring him into the Occult Research Club.

Duanmu Huai rescued a student from her teacher’s harassment, exposed the teacher’s collection of photos and videos, and helped the police arrest him. When he returned home, he intervened in a deadly supernatural fight next door and killed the demon attacking a red-haired girl and her white-haired friend, then offered to get them somewhere safe.

• Duanmu Huai caught a teacher trying to assault a student and found incriminating photos and videos on the teacher’s phone.
• Duanmu Huai called the police, gave a statement with the student, and informed the principal about the incident.
• An explosion erupted in Duanmu Huai’s neighboring apartment, where he found a red-haired girl, a white-haired girl, and the bodies of a murdered couple.
• A horned old man attacked Duanmu Huai, but Duanmu Huai shattered his Demonic Sword, beat him, and destroyed his heart.
• Duanmu Huai checked on the white-haired girl and suggested they leave the apartment before discussing what had happened.

After Zorlki killed Naruse Mio’s foster parents, Duanmu Huai and Maria explained that Mio was the heiress of a High-level Devil family caught in a power struggle. As they arranged to protect her, an unexpected magical ritual linked Mio’s soul to Duanmu Huai and marked her with a strange symbol.

• Naruse Mio woke at Duanmu Huai’s home and learned that the parents she had seen killed were not her biological parents and that Maria was a demon posing as her cousin.
• Maria explained that Mio was Wilbert’s daughter and heir, and that Zorlki had attacked her amid a struggle for control of the family.
• Duanmu Huai offered to help Mio and Maria, while Maria rejected seeking protection from Rias Gremory because it would undermine their family’s standing.
• Maria altered the responders’ memories so the deaths appeared to result from a gas explosion, and Duanmu Huai returned home to sleep.
• Maria began a ritual to link Mio’s and Duanmu Huai’s souls, but a golden flash appeared on Duanmu Huai’s hand and Mio collapsed with a distinctive mark on her neck.