Chapter Summaries

Bai Jun entered Belobog with Pela and met Serval, who thanked him for saving her sister and questioned his intentions. The chapter left Serval surprised when Bai Jun described the Nameless she had encountered in the Upper District.

• Pela and Bai Jun reached Belobog, where Pela introduced him to Lieutenant Gray as her new assistant.
• Pela brought Bai Jun to Serval's Mechanical Workshop, and Serval mistakenly assumed he was Pela's boyfriend before Pela denied it.
• Serval thanked Bai Jun for saving Pela and embraced her; Pela then noticed her disheveled appearance and went upstairs to clean up.
• Serval spoke privately with Bai Jun about the danger of remaining in public and asked why he had come to Belobog.
• Bai Jun asked Serval about the Nameless and accurately described three of them, leaving her puzzled about how he knew.

Bai Jun revealed that he and the Nameless were pursuing the Stellaron, and Serval agreed to help him find it so she could resume her research. In the Underworld, the Astral Express Crew and Wildfire gathered certifications to enter Svarog’s base, but a collapse interrupted their search for Clara and revealed Bai Jun arriving with a blonde woman.

• Bai Jun told Serval that he was seeking the Stellaron, and she explained how her research and friendship with Cocolia had ended before agreeing to work with him.
• Pela came downstairs, saw Serval and Bai Jun embracing, and froze in shock.
• Natasha, Oleg, Bronya, Seele, and the Astral Express Crew agreed to approach Svarog, while Sampo guided them through the Underworld to collect three entry certifications.
• The group reached Svarog’s base but learned that Clara’s permission was also required, so they headed back toward the Great Mine to find her.
• A collapse shook the Great Mine, and Xing rushed to the scene, where she saw Bai Jun standing in the rubble while carrying a blonde woman.

Bai Jun and Serval traveled to the Great Mine to meet the Astral Express crew, where Bai Jun reunited with Stelle and joined their search for Clara. After the group heard Clara cry out, Seele rushed to stop Sampo, who had approached the girl.

• Serval led Bai Jun through a secret passage to the Underworld, but they found its entrance sealed with concrete and refined steel.
• Bai Jun smashed through the sealed gate and caught Serval as they fell into the Great Mine.
• Stelle recognized Bai Jun and ran into his arms, while March 7th and Dan Heng vouched for him and the group welcomed him and Serval.
• Bai Jun noticed Bronya's resemblance to Silver Wolf, and Seele shielded Bronya when she caught him staring.
• The group heard Clara scream and found Sampo near her, so Seele struck him down and demanded he keep away from little girls.

After Clara refused to take Wildfire to Svarog, Bai Jun persuaded her that the Nameless might be able to save the Underworld, and she agreed to guide them to him. The group reached the Mechanical Settlement, where Clara and Bai Jun continued chatting while Seele watched enviously.

• Seele and Serval beat Sampo until Clara explained that she had scratched herself by accident, and Bai Jun stopped Serval from continuing.
• Clara told Bronya that she had come to the Great Mine to find parts to repair the Mechanical Settlement's power supply.
• Clara refused to take the group to Svarog, explaining that he believed the Underworld could not withstand the coming disaster and intended to keep its people safe from it.
• Bai Jun asked Clara whether she would help the Nameless if they could save the Underworld, recognized her hope and fear of conflict, and won her trust.
• Clara agreed to take the group to Svarog, surprising Seele, Bronya, and the others.
• The group arrived at the Mechanical Settlement, where Clara and Bai Jun walked ahead together and chatted as Seele watched enviously.

Bai Jun accompanied Clara and the others to Svarog’s base, where Svarog challenged him after interpreting Clara’s trust in him as a threat. Bai Jun defeated Svarog with one punch, leaving the group amazed and Wildfire’s planned confrontation unnecessary.

• Clara and Bai Jun bonded as he answered her questions about machinery, while Seele and the others discussed Bai Jun’s appeal to women.
• Clara led the group through the Mechanical Settlement to Svarog’s base and warned them about its complicated layout and automated defenses.
• Svarog questioned the group, then challenged Bai Jun after noticing Clara clinging to him and trusting him.
• Bai Jun reassured Clara, accepted Svarog’s challenge, and knocked him out with a single punch.
• Svarog entrusted Clara to Bai Jun, and the group celebrated his victory as Seele and the others praised his strength.

After learning that Belobog’s leaders had concealed the Stellaron’s role in the catastrophe, Bronya struggled with guilt and doubt about her mother and her own place as successor. She met Bai Jun on a balcony and admitted that the problem was hers.

• Bronya remembered Svarog’s revelation that the Guardians had known the Stellaron caused the disaster and concealed the truth.
• Overwhelmed by the revelation at the celebratory dinner, Bronya left the table and went alone to a balcony.
• Bronya questioned why Cocolia had hidden the truth and whether she had been groomed to become an accomplice to the deception.
• Bronya apologized through her tears to the people of the Underworld and Upper District.
• Bronya noticed Bai Jun nearby, and he approached her while keeping a respectful distance.

Bronya confided in Bai Jun about her regrets and uncertainty, but reaffirmed that she wanted to become Supreme Guardian and accepted support from her companions. The group reached Serval's Mechanical Workshop, where Bronya explained their situation to Pela and won her agreement to help them.

• Bronya told Bai Jun she regretted how little she had known about the people of Belobog, and he helped her recognize that she still wanted to become Supreme Guardian.
• Bronya thanked Bai Jun, returned his coat, and asked him to share a drink with her after she resolved matters with her mother.
• Natasha announced that the group would return to the Upper District and hide at Serval's Mechanical Workshop, and the next morning they traveled there through Wildfire's passage.
• Pela confronted the group at the workshop and mistakenly assumed Bai Jun had brought four women back from an outdoor tryst.
• Bronya explained the crisis to Pela, who agreed that protecting Belobog's people outweighed following orders blindly and joined Bronya's side.

The group planned to find the Stellaron in the northern snowfields while Bronya prepared to question Cocolia, with Bai Jun assigned to protect her. After the others went upstairs to wash, Bai Jun stayed to help Serval repair machines, and she asked what he thought of Bronya’s ideals and convictions.

• Serval revealed that she believed the Stellaron was somewhere in the northern snowfields beyond the Silvermane Guards’ frontline and the Fragmentum.
• Serval warned the group that Gepard, her younger brother, would likely arrest them rather than disobey his orders.
• Bronya said she needed to confront Cocolia, and the group agreed Bai Jun would accompany and protect her under a fabricated central administration identity.
• The group planned for Bronya and Bai Jun to go to Kliperburg while the others headed north to investigate the snowfields.
• After the group went upstairs to bathe, Bai Jun stayed with Serval and helped repair mechanical parts.
• Serval asked Bai Jun what he thought of Bronya’s ideals and convictions.

Bronya returned to Kliperburg with Bai Jun to confront Cocolia after witnessing the Underworld’s conditions. Cocolia greeted her with apparent relief, then turned cold and demanded an official report, leaving Bronya to face the conflict she had feared.

• Serval pretended Bai Jun was her boyfriend when Gepard found them together, and Gepard left believing her.
• Bronya put on Bai Jun’s coat and insisted they return to Kliperburg immediately.
• Bronya and Bai Jun hurried to Kliperburg, where Bronya entered Cocolia’s office and asked Bai Jun to wait outside.
• Cocolia tearfully welcomed Bronya back and asked whether she was hurt.
• After Bronya mentioned the Underworld, Cocolia became cold and ordered her to report what she had seen as Commander Bronya.

Bronya confronted Cocolia about the Stellaron and her orders, but Cocolia used its influence to silence her before agreeing to reveal the truth. Cocolia led Bronya to Everwinter Hill and described her plan to end the dying world and create a new one.

• Bronya challenged Cocolia over the outsiders, the Silvermane Guards, and the people abandoned in the Underworld, but Cocolia rebuked her and began to beguile her with the Stellaron's voice.
• Bai Jun interrupted Cocolia, then comforted Bronya and made a plan with her before her afternoon meeting with Cocolia.
• Cocolia admired Bronya's changed composure, then took her beyond Belobog toward Everwinter Hill to explain the history of the Stellaron and the Eternal Freeze.
• Cocolia told Bronya that the first Guardian, Alisa Rand, had summoned the Eternal Freeze to fight the Antimatter Legion, but that Belobog's survival was now hopeless.
• In the Corridor of Fading Echoes, Cocolia embraced the Stellaron's influence and led Bronya into Everwinter Hill, where she described a new world without suffering.

Bai Jun disguised himself as Bronya to follow Cocolia to the Stellaron, where he revealed himself and defeated her Engine of Creation with Platonsanks's Lightning. The real Bronya and the Astral Express Crew arrived as Cocolia realized her plan had been exposed and her forces had turned against her.

• Bai Jun gave Bronya the Mask of a Thousand Faces and transformed himself into her so he could follow Cocolia to the Stellaron.
• At Everwinter Hill, Cocolia explained her plan to erase the old world, but Bai Jun revealed himself and knocked her away.
• Cocolia summoned the Engine of Creation and ordered it to attack Bai Jun.
• Bai Jun unleashed Platonsanks's Lightning, destroying the Engine of Creation's upper body.
• Bronya and the Astral Express Crew arrived, and Cocolia realized Bronya had exposed her plan and gained control of the Silvermane Guards.

Cocolia nearly accepted Bronya’s plea to return home, but the Stellaron lured her back into its power. She swallowed it and transformed into a monster, leaving Bai Jun and the gray-haired girl watching as the fight escalated.

• Bronya embraced Cocolia and begged her to abandon the Stellaron and return home with her.
• Cocolia began to relent, but the Stellaron’s voice reminded her of her ambition and pulled her back under its influence.
• Cocolia shoved Bronya away and challenged her to defeat, kill, replace, or surpass her.
• Cocolia swallowed the golden Stellaron and transformed into a monster.
• Bai Jun and the gray-haired girl watched Cocolia’s transformation and remarked that she had entered phase three.