Chapter Summaries

After Jules’s letter prompted Theus to expand Castel’s military and investigate the world’s hidden history, he learned that the Banshees felt little connection to the Sea God and that even long-lived people knew almost nothing about gods. Research into seawater disappearing from rivers revealed a vast underground river network, and Theus realized Little Bu had traveled through it from Rhine toward Blood Port.

• Theus ordered a full-scale military expansion, recruited large numbers of ordinary auxiliary troops, and assigned Faithguard Army soldiers to lead them.
• Theus questioned the Banshees, Nora, and Helena, discovering that the Banshees did not care much about the Sea God and that the others knew little about gods.
• Theus established research groups to investigate the hidden history of gods with support from Beatrice and the Silent Temple.
• Researchers used rune-carved wooden blocks to trace vanished seawater and found that nearly every river in the Duchy of Tis connected to an underground river.
• Nini told Theus she had found Little Bu in an underground river near the Duchy of Tis, prompting him to ask whether the river ran directly from Blood Port to Rhine.

Theus learned that Nini was exploring the vast subterranean waterways near Tis and warned her to stay safe after she admitted she had gotten lost. At the battlefield, Galahad protected Isabella with Morningstar Twenty-Three, then reached for a Gatling Gun as an enemy scout fled.

• Theus realized that underground rivers near Tis might connect to Rhine and asked whether anyone was exploring them.
• Nini told Theus she had gotten lost underground because the waterways were too complex to navigate, and he warned her not to die.
• Isabella went to the battlefield with Galahad, despite usually directing the war from Blood Port.
• Galahad reflected on his intended sacrifice for Isabella and the way events had strayed from the original plan.
• Galahad split an arrow aimed at Isabella with Morningstar Twenty-Three, then took an ordinary Gatling Gun from his back as a scout fled.

Isabella and Galahad found the Holy See’s forces retreating in an unusually orderly fashion, despite their superior weapons. Suspecting the withdrawal was part of Pope Jules’s plan, Isabella prepared to charge the enemy formation with her personal guards.

• Galahad used a heavy machine gun to kill a scout who had taken cover in the ruins.
• Isabella said the Holy See’s retreat was out of character and suggested that its new Pope, Jules, had planned the withdrawal in advance.
• Isabella ordered Galahad to assemble the cavalry so they could charge the enemy formation.
• Isabella put on her armor and formed up with more than seventy personal guards, each armed with a bolt-action rifle, against an enemy force of at least a thousand.

Isabella led the Tis Knights against the Empire’s battle line, where bolt-action rifles and Galahad’s Gatling gun devastated the tightly packed soldiers. The Knights charged through the panicked survivors as the Empire’s line collapsed.

• Isabella led fewer than a hundred Knights to within a hundred meters of the Empire’s front line and ordered them to halt.
• The Knights fired two rapid volleys from their rifles, inflicting more than a hundred casualties before the Empire’s soldiers understood what was happening.
• Galahad rode forward carrying a Gatling gun and used it to cut down the remaining soldiers across the front of the line.
• Isabella ordered the Knights to advance, and their charge sent the Empire’s soldiers fleeing and trampling one another.
• The Knights rode through the broken formation, leaving the Empire’s battle line in collapse.

Isabella’s forces overwhelmed the Empire’s soldiers with new weapons, but she warned Galahad that the Holy See might have hidden war machines and ordered her army to adapt quickly. Meanwhile, Little Bu was quarantined at Castel after delivering her letter, where she asked for clothes and then knowledge.

• Isabella led repeated cavalry charges against the Empire’s troops, then ordered her knights to withdraw after the battlefield descended into chaos.
• Isabella realized the Empire’s investigators should have known about her army’s weapons and suspected the Holy See was focused on other plans, possibly including ancient war machines.
• Isabella ordered her armies to replace their old equipment, gain experience with new weapons, and develop new tactics, especially under Galahad’s leadership.
• Theus had Little Bu quarantined at Castel’s testing grounds because she might carry an unknown disease, but agreed to grant most of her requests as a reward for delivering the letter.
• Little Bu asked for clothes, changed into an outfit from Blood Port, and then told Theus she wanted knowledge.

Theus discovered that Little Bu had mastered the Empire Truth Holy Scripture and advanced concepts in only a few days, leaving him stunned by the Untouchables’ exceptional abilities. Suspecting that Rhine’s condition hid deeper secrets, he sent Nini to find a water route there with Little Bu’s help.

• Little Bu asked Theus for more knowledge and revealed that she had finished the Empire Truth Holy Scripture and its continuation.
• Theus tested Little Bu on waves and harmonics, then called for Yami to teach her and arranged for her isolation while she continued reading.
• Gaia asked whether Little Bu and the others had faced Cognitive Interference, but Little Bu said they had never encountered it.
• Theus realized that the Untouchables’ intelligence made their long underground struggle against the Candlelight Society difficult to explain.
• Theus redirected Nini from the seawater backflow project to finding a water route to Rhine, and Nini agreed to bring Little Bu along.

Nini, Monica, and Una followed Little Bu’s map through underground rivers to the route beneath Rhine. They found a garbage dump and spotted a mechanical claw reaching into it, suggesting they had reached an inhabited area.

• Theus raised the investigation of Rhine to the highest priority after learning of Little Bu’s extraordinary ability, but kept her information secret and suppressed calls to eradicate the Untouchables.
• Little Bu drew Nini a simplified map of key underground waterways, allowing Nini to navigate the route with Banshee support.
• Nini, Monica, and Una followed the map, with Una recording their path, Nini widening narrow passages, and Monica inspecting small openings.
• The group reached a rift valley beneath Rhine and confirmed that its rock pillars matched Little Bu’s map.
• Una found a large garbage dump, and the three Banshees saw a mechanical claw collecting parts from the trash.

Nini met Gragra after the Banshees discovered the Untouchables operating machinery based on Theus’s designs. Gragra agreed to take her to Frey, while Monica returned to Castel with news of their discovery.

• The Banshees saw an excavator matching Theus’s blueprints and realized the Untouchables had built it.
• Nini ordered Monica to return to Castel with the news while Una stayed behind to support her.
• Nini introduced herself to Gragra and explained that she had come from Castel with a reply to Little Bu’s letter.
• Gragra warned Nini not to touch him because contact brought misfortune, then offered to take her to Lord Frey.
• Nini followed Gragra through the garbage dumps and saw the Untouchables’ strange machines and curious people.

Nini met Frey among the Untouchables at White Stone Fort and delivered Gaia and Zoe’s letters, while learning that he was well-liked and eager for Castel’s support. She arranged for further contact and supplies, leaving Frey and the Untouchables in place for now.

• Nini reported the Untouchables’ complete lack of wariness to Una, who stayed hidden and continued observing.
• Nini met Frey in a cavern and introduced herself as a Banshee from Castel, bringing Gaia and Zoe’s reply.
• Frey recognized Nini as the author of The Strange Tales of Headless Nora and asked her to autograph his robe, easing their initial tension.
• After checking the coded letters, Frey welcomed Nini and asked whether Castel had come to take over leadership of the Untouchables.
• Nini explained that Castel would send someone to meet Frey later and offered to arrange supplies; Frey requested copies of the Holy Scripture and other books.
• Nini confirmed that Little Bu was in Castel and said they planned to invite her to stay and see the island.

Nini’s meeting with Frey and the Untouchables was interrupted when their underground cavern collapsed, but Big Guy saved the group by pushing back the falling ceiling. The collapse revealed sunlight and an excavated opening above, where Nini recognized the Candlelight Society and the Holy See waiting.

• Nini sensed danger through Una’s warning and her water vein perception, then spotted something above the cavern.
• Nini shielded those nearby as the ceiling collapsed, and Frey called for Big Guy.
• Big Guy rose from beneath the junk, blocked the falling rocks, and hurled the cave roof aside.
• The collapse opened a hole to the surface, exposing the Untouchables to sunlight for the first time.
• Nini noticed excavation marks and saw the Candlelight Society’s priests and machines above, then identified them as the Holy See.

Nini, Una, Frey, and the Untouchables fought the Candlelight Society after its forces tunneled into the underground ruins. Nini and Una opened an attack on the clerics’ battle line, but a massive shield appeared and stopped their assault.

• The Candlelight Society’s clerics and Transcendents formed up after tunneling into the ruins, while Nini learned they would not accept surrender.
• Nini and Una opened fire, and Frey led the Untouchables into battle using their damaged machines as weapons.
• The Candlelight Society’s steam rifles pinned Nini and Una down and pierced Nini’s Banshee armor.
• The Untouchables’ machines provided cover, allowing Nini to advance and Una to fire her Dragon Breath Cannon at the clerics’ line.
• A massive shield appeared in midair and blocked every attack from Nini and Una.

Nini and Una were overwhelmed by Jules and the Candlelight Society’s forces in the junkyard, leaving Nini near death. Big Guy awakened and shielded her from Jules’s finishing shot, turning the battle’s course.

• A huge shield blocked Nini and Una’s Dragon Breath Cannon, then dissolved into black liquid as Candlelight Society priests and choir performers appeared.
• The priests opened fire, and Jules confronted Nini before shooting her through the head despite her attempts to dodge.
• Una and Nini were left near death, while the priests’ gunfire killed several Untouchables who tried to rescue them.
• Jules pressed his gun to Nini’s head, but Big Guy awakened and blocked the shot with its mechanical arm.
• Several Untouchables pulled Nini to safety as Big Guy stood in the sunlight and entered war mode.

Nini realized the Holy See could use Una’s capture to drain the Life Pools of everyone bound by the Symbiotic Pact, but Una broke free and reinforcements arrived. As the Untouchables and Banshees pushed back the priests, Jules ordered the choir to begin the Sacred Hymn.

• Nini recognized that the Holy See might exploit Una’s capture to drain the Life Pools of all the Banshees and Theus, so she called for the pact to be terminated.
• Una broke free of the priests’ control, attacked them, and restored Nini’s life force through the Symbiotic Pact.
• Ash reported that the Fourth and Eleventh Advance Squads were coming, while Nini learned that Jules’s forces had powerful steam rifles and an unknown shield.
• Frey sent Big Guy’s steel arm crashing down, but the priests blasted it back with overloaded steam rifles that became unusable afterward.
• Ash and the other Banshees arrived, and Nini opened fire as Jules ordered the choir to begin the Sacred Hymn.

Ash and the Banshees charged the Candlelight Society’s priest corps and annihilated them with Dragon Breath Cannons. Jules and his choir remained unharmed behind a shield as he prepared to answer the Banshees’ attack with a hymn.

• Nini shared her assessment of Jules with Ash as the Banshees formed up to attack the Candlelight Society’s forces.
• Ash ordered the Banshees to charge, and they endured the priests’ gunfire before wiping out the priest corps with a volley of Dragon Breath Cannons.
• Nini wondered where Jules had gone, then saw him standing calmly with his choir on a stone stairway.
• Ash ordered the Banshees to fire on Jules and the choir, but a shield blocked the bullets and scattered the cannon blasts.
• Jules praised Castel’s firepower and announced that the choir would sing a hymn of praise.

Jules overwhelmed the Banshees by conjuring weapons and machines that carried dangerous pollution, forcing Ash to lead a retreat toward the underground river. As the cave began collapsing, Frey sent Big Guy charging straight at Jules.

• Jules conjured swords, Dragon Breath Cannons, and other weapons, bombarding the Banshees and forcing them to scatter.
• Nini realized Jules could create anything he had seen, while his conjured constructs rained down on the Banshees and Untouchables.
• Una survived a Dragon Breath Cannon blast through the Symbiotic Pact and warned that the attacks carried pollution.
• Nini discovered that Jules's constructs were contaminated, and Ash ordered the Banshees to retreat through the underground river with the Untouchables.
• Frey ordered Big Guy to charge Jules, and the machine smashed through the cave, bringing more than half of it down toward him.

Ash and the Banshees retreated through the underground river after Jules destroyed [Big Guy], while Blood Port prepared for a possible attack through its tunnels. Zoe learned that Jules had defeated thirty Banshees, despite their overwhelming advantage over ordinary soldiers.

• Ash ordered the Banshees to evacuate the Untouchables through the underground river, and Nini led Frey and others into the water.
• Jules destroyed [Big Guy], shot off Ash's arm as she escaped, and ordered the priests to seal the cave with cement.
• Blood Port entered emergency preparations, and Zoe inspected underground routes with Hodge and a Faithguard Army squad.
• Hodge explained that a Banshee could defeat a fully equipped company, and Zoe learned that Jules had beaten thirty Banshees.

Zoe and Hodge discussed how Castel’s organized army and industrial capacity could counter powerful Transcendents like Jules, and considered ways to use Cognitive Interference for production. Gaia told them Castel and Blood Port were preparing for wartime mobilization and an offensive alongside Isabella’s forces.

• Zoe learned from Hodge that coordinated troops, fortifications, logistics, and industry could counter the Banshees’ battlefield strength.
• Hodge explained that Jules’s ability to summon weapons could affect a battle but was unlikely to outweigh Castel’s industrial system across an entire war.
• Zoe and Hodge considered whether Jules’s creations and Cognitive Interference could be used in production, despite the risk that fabricated objects would become Pollution.
• Gaia told Zoe that the Banshees were reviewing the battle, injured Untouchables were receiving treatment, and Castel and Blood Port would enter wartime status for an offensive alongside Isabella’s forces.
• Gaia fined Zoe fifty Leo for not wearing a hard hat.

Little Bu learned that the Holy See had attacked the Untouchables underground and hurried to Blood Port to help her injured kin. At the hospital, she reunited with Gaia and Zoe and heard that most of her people, including Frey, had survived.

• Rebecca pulled Little Bu from the testing grounds and told her the Holy See had attacked the Untouchables and Lord Ash had brought many of them to the hospital.
• Little Bu and Rebecca boarded the Black Pearl, which Jeremiah sailed to Blood Port.
• Little Bu wondered whether prosperous Blood Port could become her home as she and Rebecca rode to the hospital.
• Gaia and Zoe met Little Bu and Rebecca at the hospital, where Gaia reassured Little Bu that most of the Untouchables had survived and Frey had returned.

Theus promised the displaced Untouchables a new home in Blood Port and Castel after they lost their homeland, while weighing whether their supposed misfortune posed any real danger. In sealed-off Rhine, Lina found the ruined Gear Sage, which recognized her as an authorized user.

• Little Bu reunited with her people in the hospital lobby, and the Untouchables mourned their lost homeland and Big Guy.
• Theus told the Untouchables that Castel would eventually march into Rhine and promised Blood Port and Castel as their new home.
• Theus decided the Untouchables' alleged misfortune was a risk worth accepting, noting that Frey had been unharmed by his long contact with them.
• The Untouchables calmed down and thanked Theus, while Little Bu cried in his arms.
• After the Holy See sealed the underground entrance in Rhine, Lina searched the rubble and found the damaged Gear Sage, which identified her as the authorized user Lina.

Theus let the injured Untouchables recover, dealt with Castel’s urgent administration, and publicly revealed the Banshees’ defeat to correct overconfidence in elite fighters. As Castel’s leaders and Isabella gathered around him, he reflected on how their lives had changed and marveled that the Empress now fought at his side.

• Theus arranged medical care for the Untouchables, then returned to his office to handle Castel’s accumulated administrative work.
• Theus decided to publish the details of the Banshees’ defeat by Pope Jules, hoping to discourage the Faithguard Army from relying too heavily on Transcendents.
• Theus found Isaac, Josh, Tata, Erwin, Ken, Gaia, Zoe, Alexei, Patriarch Ignati, and others gathered in the corridor.
• Theus reflected on how Josh, Zoe, Gaia, and his other companions had changed since arriving in Castel.
• Isabella returned from the battlefield with Galahad, and Theus told her he could hardly believe the Empress was fighting at his side.