Chapter Summaries

Ron and Chloe returned from Paradise and learned that its distorted time had made their five days inside less than five minutes in the outside world. After a humorous encounter with Cecilia and Caroline, Ron invited Chloe to join the expedition to the World of Chaotic Blood, but she declined for now and gave him a Life Card for future divinations.

• Ron and Chloe told Diaz how long they had experienced Paradise, and Diaz explained that the Wizard Kings had severed its connection to outside time, making time inside stretch or compress unpredictably.
• Diaz relayed Princess Eve’s message that she would return soon and had much to say, then Ron and Chloe left the Upside-Down Cafe and found Cecilia and Caroline waiting nearby.
• Cecilia mistook Ron for Eve and confessed her private thoughts, including Eve’s feelings for Ron and her plans to give him a cufflink, before realizing Ron and Chloe had overheard her.
• Ron reassured Cecilia that he would keep her secrets and said he would consider how to respond to Eve’s feelings; Cecilia advised him to give Eve a serious and certain answer.
• Ron invited Chloe to join the World of Chaotic Blood expedition, but she declined because she needed to develop her Fate Weaver ability and avoid making things awkward with Euphemia.
• Chloe gave Ron a Life Card for long-distance divination and promised to appear when he faced an unforeseeable crisis before she departed.

After returning to the Abyss Observatory, Ron received invitations and learned that his achievements qualified him for a full professor title once he became an Archwizard. He prepared to travel to the World of Chaotic Blood despite warnings of an approaching Blood Moon Eternal Night, then discovered that a violin in his belongings was tied to a person erased from his and his attendants’ memories.

• Ron received forty-three invitations and an evaluation report showing that he met the academic standards for full professor, pending promotion to Archwizard.
• Salamander told Ron that Patri and Laku had married and had a child, so Edwin would be the only one of the three available to join Ron’s expedition.
• Salamander warned Ron that the World of Chaotic Blood’s twin Blood Moons had synchronized, signaling a cataclysm as Vampires grew unstable and heard a mysterious summons; Ron chose to go anyway, with Edwin set to join him in a week.
• While packing with Ailan and Dail, Ron found a violin whose giver none of them could remember, and he suspected the person had been erased by the Land of Oblivion.
• Ron opened a preserved box of hair labeled with his family members’ names and worried that time was wearing away the keepsakes as their owners aged.

Ron assigned Dail to visit his family and guide his grandniece, then spoke with Patri and Laku about their family life before meeting Eve. Eve confessed her love, and Ron agreed to give her a proper answer after returning from the World of Chaotic Blood, leaving her with an engagement ring and a promise to come back.

• Ron sent Dail to the Farouk Kingdom to visit his family and help his grandniece begin Wizard cultivation, while Ailan stayed to guard the manor.
• Patri and Laku introduced Ron to their son, Little Dylan, and explained that they had chosen a settled family life near the Sand Sea School.
• Eve prepared to confess her feelings to Ron with help from the King of Illusions, and Ron came to the Emerald Small Building after she contacted him.
• Eve confessed that she loved Ron and asked for a chance to stand beside him; Ron said she already held an important place in his life and promised a proper answer after his return.
• Eve and Ron exchanged engagement rings and shared an intimate moment before Ron left for his duties, promising to return safely.
• Cecilia and Caroline found Eve celebrating and learned that Ron had agreed to their engagement after the World of Chaotic Blood.

Ron assembled a team to explore the World of Chaotic Blood, explaining that he could use the Prismatic Gate to bring in members below Monday-Level. After mapping the world’s factions and stabilizing his improved mineral salt with vampire blood, he prepared to depart and met Chloe, who had arrived with bad news.

• Miller warned Ron to protect his happiness, and Ron explained that he had recruited him and other allies for an expedition to the World of Chaotic Blood.
• Ron revealed that Eve Saint-Manzhi controlled the Prismatic Gate and that he had the right to use it to transport a team regardless of rank.
• Ron briefed the assembled team on the World of Chaotic Blood’s cities, vampire clans, human forces, wizard academy, and Euphemia’s stronghold.
• Ron discovered that cursed vampire blood could stabilize improved mineral salt by converting forced obsession into a neutral anchor point, and he planned to test the method on living vampires.
• Chloe waited for Ron at the Emerald Small Building and apologized that she had brought him bad news again.

Chloe warned Ron that the King would awaken beneath the Blood Moon in ten years, but Ron chose to enter the World of Chaotic Blood anyway. After a tender farewell with Eve, Ron led his team through the Prismatic Gate and arrived at the Border Fortress, where they learned about its uneasy neutrality and rising Vampire frenzy.

• Chloe told Ron that a Blood Moon and the King's awakening would threaten the World of Chaotic Blood in ten years, and that Ron's arrival could alter fate.
• Eve admitted that the King of Absurdity controlled the Prismatic Gate, and Ron reassured her before they spent the night together and promised to reunite after his mission.
• Ron, Miller, Camilla, Blake, and six students prepared to use the Prismatic Gate, whose Dimensional Crystals were powered by seven dormant Prismatic Spirits, and Ron led them through it.
• Ron and his team arrived in the World of Chaotic Blood and met Velen Stone, the Border Fortress's administrator, who explained that the fortress was a neutral zone shared by rival factions.
• A Church exploration captain warned Ron's team that Vampires had been frenzying more often and that even a Viscount could overwhelm powerful opponents when enraged.

Ron and his companions set out for Dusk City with Old Tom as their guide, but a frenzied Vampire viscount attacked their vehicle on the way. Ron used [Concealment] and [Mental Induction] to make the Vampire’s bloodlust overwhelm him until he self-destructed, and the team continued toward Dusk City as Church observers withdrew rather than confront them.

• Viren arranged for Old Tom to guide Ron’s group to Dusk City and warned them that the city’s leader was dangerous.
• Ron’s group met Old Tom at the inn and departed in his armored Wilderness Rover after Silas and Edwin arrived.
• Liz observed that the wilderness’s ecosystem had collapsed under what seemed like a vast binding spell.
• A frenzied Vampire viscount attacked the Rover, and Ron manipulated its fractured mind until its bloodlust caused it to burst apart.
• Silas and Edwin collected samples while the students recorded the Vampire’s condition, and Church observers classified Ron’s team as a maximum threat and withdrew.
• Old Tom restarted the Rover, and the group continued toward Dusk City.

Ron and his team reached Gear City, where bartender and information broker John Jeffery revealed the danger facing Euphemia and the wider vampire world. After a Church hunter and a Vampire fought in the bar, Ron learned more about Aiden’s origin and the world’s looming crisis, then prepared to take the train to Dusk City.

• Old Tom drove Ron and his team to Gear City and left them at the Scarlet Rose Bar.
• Ron paid John Jeffery for intelligence, and John explained that Euphemia’s treatment for frenzy weakened vampires and that the Heart Clan was conspiring against her.
• A Church hunter confronted Caleb Dela in the bar, and Silas used magic to throw both fighters outside before they could destroy the neutral territory.
• John shared a historical account claiming Aiden came from the Main World, created the vampires, and spread frenzy through their bloodline.
• Ron learned that Euphemia was researching a way to sever the vampires’ connection to Aiden, then ordered his team to rest before traveling to Dusk City by train.

Ron and his companions boarded the day train from Gear City to Dusk City after learning about the dangers of the night express. As they witnessed the Industrial Alliance’s harsh treatment of workers and civilians, Grand Duke Arcadi Valentin separately contacted Gaetano Reggio to ask about Ron Ralph.

• Ron agreed to take the safer day train after apprentice guide Tommy Grayson described the risks of the night express, including a massacre attributed to the Fang Clan.
• Ron and his companions boarded the Gear in a protected first-class carriage as Alliance propaganda portrayed Vampires as enemies of humanity.
• Tommy showed Ron the factories, where workers endured brutal conditions, and recounted how the Alliance had crushed a strike with lethal force.
• Tommy described how the Alliance had destroyed a village during a mistaken Vampire purge, leaving Ron and the apprentices to reflect on the suffering behind the Alliance’s claims of progress.
• Grand Duke Arcadi Valentin contacted the dwarf Wizard Gaetano Reggio and asked what he knew about Ron Ralph.

The grand duke learned from Gaetano that attacking Ron Ralph could provoke the Wizard Kings, but he still planned to have Erix defeat Ron and seize Euphemia’s formula. Meanwhile, Euphemia’s experiments continued to fail, and she admitted her political failures to Ron, who ordered her to provide information about Dusk City’s power structure.

• Gaetano showed the grand duke Ron Ralph’s powerful connections and warned that killing or seriously injuring him could bring disaster upon the Heart Clan.
• The grand duke agreed that Erix should only defeat Ron and take the formula, despite Gaetano’s suggestion that cooperation with Ron would be safer.
• Gaetano privately told Salamander that he had pressured the vampires to keep them from killing Ron.
• Euphemia’s three hundred and twenty-seventh experiment failed, and she reflected on how her trust and approach to governing had left her vulnerable.
• Euphemia confessed her failures to Ron, who told her punishment could wait and asked for details about three people and Dusk City’s distribution of power.

Ron forced Euphemia to confront how Ivan, Serafina, and Alyosha had infiltrated and undermined Dusk City, then said he would handle the traitors while she watched and learned. Meanwhile, the Heart Clan’s operatives debated Ron’s power and received orders not to kill him, but Erix rejected that restriction and declared Ron might die.

• Nari tormented Euphemia while Ron made her read files exposing how Ivan, Serafina, and Alyosha had gained control of Dusk City’s intelligence, administration, and allied clans.
• Ron condemned Euphemia’s failures, then told her he would deal with the traitors and that she should watch and learn.
• Ivan, Serafina, and Alyosha discussed their failed formula research and watched footage showing Ron destroy a frenzied vampire viscount with a conceptual strike.
• The grand duke told the three Heart Clan operatives that Ron had ties to all three Wizard Kings and ordered them to obtain the formula without killing him.
• Erix confronted the operatives, called the grand duke’s order foolish, and said he would not hold back if he fought Ron.

Ron arrived in Dusk City and uncovered signs that Euphemia's trusted aides were secretly manipulating the city. Ivy revealed that she had watched them for years and led Ron to meet a shaken Euphemia.

• Ron and his team reached Dusk City, where Bern Henderson and Ivy welcomed them and took them underground in a Blood-Bone Car.
• Ivy exposed the staged nature of Dusk City's coexistence ceremonies and warned that the deepest levels held dangerous failed experiments.
• Ron met Ivan, Serafina, and Alyosha, recognized their suspiciously flawless behavior, and questioned them about Euphemia's research and condition.
• Ivy dismissed the three aides and escorted Ron's team away from the reception hall, while Ivan briefly dropped his friendly disguise as he left.
• Ivy told Ron that she and the other Blood Brides had observed the aides' betrayals but had followed Nari's order not to intervene.
• Ivy led Ron toward Euphemia's laboratory and explained that Nari's harsh lessons had left Euphemia doubting herself.

Ron divined that the Heart Clan had infiltrated Dusk City through its intelligence, finances, and influence over people's minds, and foresaw that killing the battle-crazed Erix would provoke the Grand Duke to imprison his allies and destroy the city. After the Grand Duke sensed the powers behind Ron and became cautious, Ron decided to cripple Erix and make an example of Ivan, Serafina, and Alyosha.

• Ron left Euphemia in Nari's care and entered Euphemia's heavily warded meditation room to perform divinations.
• Ron's first divination revealed that the Heart Clan had manipulated Dusk City's intelligence network, siphoned its wealth, and influenced its people's thoughts.
• Ron's second divination identified a battle-crazed, undead marquis as the hidden threat and showed that he would disregard orders to kill Ron.
• Ron used the Dice of Paradox to foresee that killing Erix would lead Grand Duke Arcadi to take the city and Ron's companions hostage and reduce Dusk City to ruins.
• Grand Duke Arcadi sensed the powers behind Ron during their two-way observation and decided Ron could not be killed or provoked too far.
• Ron concluded that he would cripple Erix rather than kill him and punish Ivan, Serafina, and Alyosha as an example.

Ron set Euphemia up to feign a worsening Chaos rejection so the Heart Clan’s moles would expose themselves, while Ivan and the others took the bait. Meanwhile, Ron and his students completed a first-stage potion to suppress Aiden’s madness signal, though Herman questioned its deliberately engineered dependency.

• Ron had Nari loosen her control over Euphemia’s Chaos Force, giving her genuine-looking mutations, and planned a staged public deterioration to lure Ivan, Serafina, and Alyosha into acting.
• Ivan and Serafina heard reports of Euphemia’s mutations, concluded that her condition might be fatal, and told Alyosha to prepare to seize Dusk City if she lost control.
• Euphemia displayed mutated features and an Abyssal aura in the council hall, then left with Ivy as the frightened representatives watched and Ivan accepted the rejection as genuine.
• Silas completed an Echo Network of rune-nail surveillance nodes across Dusk City to monitor the three suspected moles.
• Ron’s students analyzed Aiden’s bloodline signal and helped synthesize a first-stage stabilizing potion that required weekly use for at least three months.
• Herman asked Ron whether he had deliberately designed the potion’s dependency.

Ron explained that dependency on his medicine would make him indispensable to Dusk City, while Miller’s team deployed a surveillance node and witnessed Ron erase a frenzied Vampire from existence. As Euphemia’s rivals planned to seize the city, Silas recorded their preparations and sent the evidence to Ron.

• Ron told Herman that the medicine’s dependency was designed to make Vampires rely on him, and he ordered Euphemia to stage another collapse.
• Miller, Blake, and Camilla installed the Seventh Echo Node in an abandoned clock tower and disguised the site to keep it hidden.
• A frenzied viscount discovered the node and killed two Vampire barons, but Ron remotely erased him before he could destroy it.
• Silas confirmed that the surveillance network covered key areas and identified Ivan, Serafina, and Alyosha plotting to take control of Dusk City and transfer its resources.
• Silas recorded Ivan’s report, Serafina’s preparations, and Alyosha’s appeal to minor clans, then sent the evidence to Ron.

Ron developed a plan to suppress Erix Valentine’s immortality with chaos-enhanced contaminants, while Edwin found an outlet for his restlessness in Dusk City’s arena. The chapter ended with Ivy summoning Edwin for a job Ron had found for him.

• Aselia explained that a Vampire’s regeneration depended on a bloodline memory Anchor Point, and Nari suggested weakening it by contaminating the bloodline.
• Ron tested contaminants on Vampires, then found that chaos-enhanced contaminants injected into Ivy suppressed her powers and regeneration for at least ten minutes.
• Ron refined a plan to weaken Erix Valentine with poisoned weapons before using [Threshold of Darkness] to cripple him, and he summoned Ivy to gather test subjects.
• Edwin went to an underground arena and defeated Blood Fang, a berserk former Shadow Clan count, in a fierce fight.
• Ivy found Edwin after the match and told him that Ron had a job for him, prompting Edwin to leave eagerly.

Ron sent Edwin and Ivy to Gray Tower Town to seek Gaetano Anvil’s help making an immortal-killing weapon, while Edwin began learning the Fire Forging Art. Back in Dusk City, Ron gathered evidence against the conspirators and prepared to close the net before the Heart Clan’s retrieval team arrived.

• Ron asked Edwin to take his potion-carrier designs to Gaetano Anvil, and Edwin agreed to study Fire Forging in Gray Tower Town.
• Edwin passed Gaetano’s Rejection Barrier, met the dwarf wizard, and accepted a demanding first lesson in shaping metal with flame.
• Ivy gave Gaetano Ron’s weapon designs, and he recognized their ambition to create a weapon that could suppress immortality and remember a target’s soul traits.
• Silas revealed Ivan’s coded communications, Miller traced Serafina’s embezzled funds to the Heart Clan, and Ron reviewed evidence that Alyosha was plotting rebellion.
• Ron ordered his team to prepare to close the net and received Contamination-infused rune weapons from Herman and the students.
• Ron assigned his students to help Silas seize Dusk City’s intelligence, financial, and public-sentiment systems while he prepared to face Erix Valentine.

Ron planned to build influence in the World of Chaotic Blood to accelerate his rise to Archwizard and secure Dusk City. After consolidating control and exposing local conspirators, he divined that Erix Valentine would infiltrate the city before dawn and prepared a trap for him.

• Ron concluded that he needed to become an Archwizard within decades and planned to gain Grace by curing vampire frenzy, rebuilding order, and advancing civilization in the World of Chaotic Blood.
• Ron immobilized Ivan, altered a secret letter to provoke the Heart Clan into acting sooner, and revealed Ivan’s seven informants; he also ensured Serafina’s embezzlement records had been copied as evidence.
• Ron demonstrated his potion’s ability to cure a vampire viscount, won the minor clan leaders’ allegiance, and forced Alyosha to submit after removing him from his duties.
• Ron used divination to predict that Erix Valentine would enter Dusk City through the underground sewers between three and five the next morning and target Euphemia’s secret chamber.
• Ron went to the laboratory to prepare a trap centered on a door designed to lure Erix into a counterattack.

Ron organized a trap to lure Erix Valentine into a prepared confrontation, using layered defenses and a staged rumor about Euphemia’s advancement ritual. Erix broke through the first two defenses and reached Ron, where he rejected the Grand Duke’s restrictions and threatened to kill him.

• Ron planned a layered trap for Erix, and Edwin showed him ten reforged memory-alloy daggers made with Gaetano.
• Ron instructed Euphemia to leak a false report that she would perform an advancement ritual at midnight, and the rumor reached Erix Valentine.
• Silas and the students installed a locking rune array while Edwin prepared a magma diversion, and Ron’s reversed Judgment divination depicted Erix being brought to judgment by Contamination.
• Erix infiltrated Dusk City through the sewers, broke the rune array, and escaped the magma trap by smashing through the ceiling.
• Erix entered the reception hall and saw a recording of the Grand Duke ordering him not to kill Ron, but he dismissed the restrictions and threatened to kill Ron anyway.

Ron fought Erix in Dusk City's underground hall, using precise control, prediction, and hidden poison to weaken him while keeping the structure intact. After Ron turned Erix's devastating attack back on him, Erix regenerated with the Archduke's [Red Hook] Amulet and challenged Ron, who was exhausted and unable to use [Concealment] again.

• Ron provoked Erix into attacking, dodged his strikes with [Starlight Observer], and explained how the confined hall limited both fighters' power.
• Erix transformed through his second and third stages, while Ron used [Silent Theater] and precise counterattacks to disrupt his blood magic and evade his assaults.
• Ron secretly cut Erix several times with a poisoned dagger, using intelligence from Ivan, Serafina, Alyosha, and Miller to choose the wounds and exploit Erix's weaknesses.
• Erix unleashed [Blood Calamity Breath], but Ron used [Chaos Concealer] to make him forget the critical ninth node, causing the attack to explode inside Erix and nearly destroy him.
• Erix regenerated in seconds and revealed the [Red Hook] Amulet sewn into his body, which restored his reason and accelerated his healing.
• Erix taunted the exhausted Ron and advanced, asking whether Ron could use his earlier move again.

Ron fought Erix, using the contaminated blood carried by Erix’s [Red Hook] to undermine his regeneration and immortality. Erix was left kneeling and dying as Ron revealed that the contamination was the judgment of the lives the Vampires had oppressed.

• Erix charged Ron, who summoned Carlos, Leila, and Fenrir to slow and distract him while Ron recovered his mental power.
• Ron used [Silent Theater], [Starlight Observer], and [Local Time Acceleration] to evade Erix’s attacks and secretly inject Contamination with shallow cuts.
• Ron provoked Erix into attacking recklessly, then faked a devastating injury while using the apparent hit to inject the last of the Contamination.
• Erix’s [Red Hook] accelerated his blood circulation, spreading the Contamination through his body until his regeneration and supernatural strength failed.
• Ron used [Threshold of Darkness] and [Verdict] to pierce Erix’s heart, and Erix desperately tore at his own chest while trying to remove the Amulet.
• Ron explained that the reversed Judgment meant the lives and lands corrupted by the Vampires were judging Erix, who knelt before him as his body failed.