Chapter Summaries

Iori and Beatrix traced the magic beast disturbance to a bizarre desert and encountered a hostile Crimson Dragon. After discovering that his magic was harder to control in this world, Iori prepared to challenge the dragon and asked it to come down.

• Iori persuaded Beatrix to help investigate why magic beasts had fled their territory, and they set out the next morning.
• They crossed the forest and found a scorched, barren desert where the villagers’ map had indicated a swamp.
• Iori and Beatrix encountered a Crimson Dragon, which ordered them to leave its territory.
• The dragon attacked with scorching wind and flames, and Iori used Splitting Void to block its attacks.
• Iori noticed his spell was weaker outside his body, then drew his sword and gathered magic power before asking the dragon to come down.

Iori defeated and exposed the limits of the flame dragon’s power, then learned that its “attribute” let it ignite magic power in anything around it. After Iori challenged it to show its remaining abilities, the dragon abandoned its fighting spirit and asked to make peace.

• Iori broke through the flame dragon’s breath, battered it with iron pillars, and overwhelmed it with a lightning-filled sword strike.
• The flame dragon recovered from its wounds and explained that its attribute allowed it to ignite magic power in its surroundings and opponents.
• Iori shrugged off the dragon’s ignition attack and asked whether its immortal body was its final trump card.
• The flame dragon reconsidered their battle and asked Iori if they could make peace.

Iori befriended the Flame Dragon after their battle and questioned it about magic, ancient relics, and the lost Ancient civilization. The Flame Dragon revealed that a secret organization collecting relics had brought it to the swamp because it possessed a treasure the dragon needed.

• Iori sheathed Ama-no-Murakumo and made peace with the Flame Dragon, while Beatrix asked whether the dragon had dried out the swamp.
• Iori asked whether Dragon's Breath was magic and learned from Beatrix that his Lightning Emperor Summon was an ancient relic powered by magic.
• The Flame Dragon explained that magic power had appeared from outside the world, that magic tides had repeatedly disrupted civilization, and that an organization sought to revive the Ancient civilization by collecting relics.
• The Flame Dragon said it had moved to the swamp because of that organization and revealed that the group possessed a treasure it urgently needed.

The Flame Dragon explained that it had agreed to help the Diabolos Cult find an ancient relic in exchange for their help producing offspring. After locating the Crown of Thorns, it discovered the Cult had betrayed it and captured it, but it fought back as the Cult prepared to use a potion.

• The Flame Dragon told Iori that the Diabolos Cult had promised to use ancient technology to help it produce offspring in return for searching a swamp for a relic.
• Iori and Beatrix left the Flame Dragon, which resumed searching the swamp and later found the buried Crown of Thorns.
• The Diabolos Cult arrived, praised the Flame Dragon, and began excavating the relic before the leader inserted his crystal wand into its center.
• The Crown of Thorns trapped the Flame Dragon, drained its magic power, and bound it with runes while the Cult revealed that it had used a curse to make the capture possible.
• The Flame Dragon tried to overpower the relic, but the Cult threatened to kill it and the gaunt old man prepared to use a potion tied to the otherworld Demon King.
• The old man’s hand suddenly grew lighter and lifted several inches just as he was about to use the potion.

Iori cleared the cultists attacking the Flame Dragon and watched Beatrix battle Lancelot, a powerful Diabolos Cult executive. After rescuing Beatrix from Lancelot’s enhanced strike, Iori faced him, and Lancelot appeared to cut Iori in half with his magic sword.

• Iori took the red potion from the old man, cut down three attackers, and used Mirror Water to wipe out nearly all the cultists.
• Beatrix intercepted a concealed attacker who tried to ambush Iori, and he revealed himself as Lancelot, the ninth-ranked member of the Diabolos Cult’s Round Table.
• Beatrix fought Lancelot, who overwhelmed her with a surge of Magic Power and struck her away.
• Iori caught Beatrix in a princess carry, set her down, and approached Lancelot with Ama-no-Murakumo.
• Lancelot mistook Iori’s abilities and sword for ancient relics, then used his magic sword to deliver a supposedly lethal cut.
• Lancelot appeared behind Iori and declared that he had cut him in half.

Iori killed Lancelot and freed the Flame Dragon from its magical restraints, but the curse drove the dragon berserk. After battling it through the night, Iori repeatedly struck it to restore its reason while he and Beatrix removed the incantations, leaving the dragon free and grateful.

• Iori beheaded Lancelot, then tore the crystal staff from its force-field-bound platform.
• The Flame Dragon killed the withered old man, and the curse’s backlash sent it into a berserk rage.
• Iori and Beatrix fought the Flame Dragon, and Iori gained a Dragon Tamer soul contract with it.
• Iori studied the curse and repeatedly slapped the Flame Dragon whenever it lost control, while Beatrix stood guard.
• By morning, Iori had removed the incantations, and the Flame Dragon thanked him and Beatrix.
• Iori offered Beatrix the dragon scales and flesh, but she refused them.

Iori and Ciel studied the Flame Dragon’s magical physiology and used their findings to create a powerful new spell by altering Iori’s body with Magic Circuits. They named their invention the Iori Ciel Spell, nicknamed Hadō Zero, while Beatrix continued waiting for her promised match.

• Beatrix asked Iori to spar with her using their swords, and Iori agreed to postpone the match until after his research.
• Iori introduced Ciel to Beatrix and the Flame Dragon as his wife and brought her and Crown to help study Dragon kind.
• Iori and Ciel used Crown to analyze the Flame Dragon’s magical adaptations and develop a human-compatible design for Magic Circuits.
• Iori and Ciel spent weeks calculating and testing a dangerous spell based on compressing magical energy until it triggered a powerful chain reaction.
• Iori and Ciel completed the spell, confirmed it worked, and named it the Iori Ciel Spell, with the nickname Hadō Zero.

Iori met his Zanpakutō spirit, Mirror Water, in a dreamlike inner world and learned that mastering Bankai would require confronting his own desires. Back in The Eminence in Shadow, he fought Beatrix using only swordsmanship and began to overwhelm her with superior skill.

• Iori and Ciel completed their work on Hadō Zero, and Iori stayed in Akame ga Kill! to spend time with her.
• During an intimate moment with Ciel, Iori entered a vast mirrored world and encountered the shape-changing Mirror Water.
• Mirror Water told Iori that he would have to defeat the other side of himself and subdue his desires to tame her and achieve Bankai.
• Iori returned to Ciel and wondered whether confronting his true self was the key to Bankai training.
• Iori fought Beatrix in the forest under their agreement, restricting himself to swordsmanship and comparable physical strength.
• Beatrix attacked at high speed, but Iori redirected her sword with ease and drew her into his rhythm.

Iori defeated Beatrix in a swordsmanship duel, and she left for the Elf Kingdom after recognizing the gap between them. Iori then explained to the Flame Dragon why the battle mattered to Beatrix and other swordsmen.

• Beatrix briefly turned Iori's strike against him and launched a fierce assault, but Iori outlasted her and broke through her defense.
• Iori defeated Beatrix with a decisive slash that split a distant tree and tore her clothing; she admitted defeat and praised his strength.
• Beatrix apologized for suspecting Iori of deliberately tearing her clothes, then said she would never forget their battle and departed with her sword.
• The Flame Dragon called the duel meaningless, and Iori explained how a swordsman's honor, resolve, and growth were tied to the blade.
• The Flame Dragon asked why Iori studied swordsmanship despite his strength, and Iori laughed and questioned whether he was truly that strong.

Iori discussed his origins and the dangers of traveling between worlds with the Flame Dragon, which revealed that dragons depended on ambient magic power to survive. Iori offered to give the Flame Dragon a constitution that could produce magic power, potentially allowing it to travel safely with him.

• The Flame Dragon explained that Iori's enormous soul and unfamiliar magic and tools convinced it he was not born in this world.
• The Flame Dragon said its kind could not safely leave their home because they depended on magic power, then recounted how an ancestor nearly died after visiting a world without it and a hostile world beyond.
• Iori explained that he could create infinite magic power even in a world without it, and the Flame Dragon sensed that he was telling the truth.
• Iori offered to give the Flame Dragon the same constitution so it could overcome the danger of traveling between worlds.

Iori recruited the Flame Dragon to help confront an approaching magical apocalypse and discovered that Japan would be the first place affected. Meanwhile, Kage no Minoru intervened in a group of delinquents bullying students and began defeating them with overwhelming strength.

• Iori offered the Flame Dragon a chance to evolve its life form in exchange for helping him fight the apocalypse.
• Iori and the Flame Dragon crossed Purgatory and reached Earth, where Iori estimated that the magical tide would begin within a month and strike Japan first.
• Iori explained that the magical tide would spread gradually through breaches, potentially giving people years or decades to adapt.
• Kage no Minoru confronted delinquents who were bullying two middle school students in a dark alley.
• A delinquent stabbed Kage no Minoru, but the knife barely penetrated; Kage no Minoru grabbed the attacker and used him to smash the others while declaring that love was power.

Kage no Minoru told Iori how he gained and learned to control magic power by eating monster flesh, despite the danger of mutation. Iori attacked him to force him to give up, but Kage no Minoru refused and embraced the chance to die in a legendary battle.

• Kage no Minoru revealed that he had eaten monster flesh to gain magic power and used years of eccentric training to control it.
• Iori warned Kage no Minoru that monster flesh could cause malignant mutations and asked whether he would stop eating it.
• Kage no Minoru refused to abandon his pursuit of becoming the Eminence in Shadow, so Iori attacked him and threatened to kill him.
• Kage no Minoru dodged Iori's spell and charged him, but Iori's released magic power blasted him away without a direct strike.
• Iori urged Kage no Minoru to give up magic power and return to an ordinary life, but Kage no Minoru refused and declared himself ready to die by his master's hand.

Iori Aizen accepted Kage no Minoru as his disciple, renamed him Shadow, and transformed his body while teaching him to control magic power. He left to travel the world, warning Shadow that a massive upheaval was coming and that the boy’s wish to become a shadowy mastermind might soon find its stage.

• Iori tested Kage no Minoru’s resolve by nearly killing him, then accepted him as a disciple and renamed him Shadow.
• Iori trained Shadow for several days, using his unusual constitution to help him endure painful exercises and grow stronger.
• Iori examined Shadow’s chaotic magic-power pathways, repaired and reorganized them, and altered his physique into a leaner, more powerful form.
• Shadow mourned his former muscles but accepted his new appearance when Iori pointed out that it would help conceal his identity.
• Iori told Shadow to call him Teacher Aizen, said he would prepare further training, and announced that he was leaving to travel around the world.
• Iori warned Shadow that a massive tide would soon sweep through the world, leaving Shadow to wonder what disaster was coming and whether magic power could stop it.

Iori helped Kage no Minoru prepare for the coming apocalypse, then returned with spatial data that allowed Ciel to complete a powerful teleportation Imperial Arms. After testing its capabilities and reuniting with the Flame Dragon, Iori returned to the other world just as a massive tremor began beneath the planet.

• Iori gave Kage no Minoru a magic sword and urged him to train before departing on the Flame Dragon.
• Iori gathered spatial data across worlds and brought it to Ciel, who completed the Dimensional Square Array · Shangri-La as a belt-type Imperial Arms with teleportation and storage functions.
• Iori used the new Imperial Arms to teleport back to the Flame Dragon in the Sahara Desert, startling it with his sudden arrival.
• Iori showed off his new clothes and told the Flame Dragon that he had acquired a new toy to test.
• A violent tremor began deep beneath the earth, though no one on the surface had noticed its cause.

Kage no Minoru became Shadow and fought monsters attacking Nishino High School, but a colossal swarm of aberrations overwhelmed the survivors. Iori arrived, transferred nearly a thousand teachers and students to safety in the air, and prepared to confront the swarm.

• Spatial rifts opened across Japan, and monsters poured into the city, attacking students gathered on Nishino High School’s athletic field.
• Kage no Minoru donned his black outfit, introduced himself as Shadow, and killed the monsters attacking the students.
• A massive rift opened above the school, and hundreds of identical aberrations emerged and surrounded the athletic field.
• Iori used Splitting Void to transfer the surviving teachers and students into the air inside a barrier, praising Shadow for doing everything he could.
• Iori faced the approaching swarm and snapped his fingers after saying he had no time to waste.

Iori and the Flame Dragon fought the monsters invading Japan, destroying the Aberration Queen and other Lord-class threats while rescuing survivors. After the Flame Dragon collapsed from exhaustion, Iori continued alone, fighting for seven days and nights as he swept through major cities across Japan’s four great islands.

• Iori used Five Dragon Annihilation to burn through the aberration horde and then severed the Aberration Queen with the Heavenly Cloud Sword.
• Iori and the Flame Dragon attacked monster groups across devastated cities, while Iori used his spells and sword to eliminate a Lord-class centipede monster.
• Iori prioritized large groups and powerful leaders, leaving scattered monsters for survivors to resist as he moved from district to district.
• The Flame Dragon collapsed after helping clear fifteen cities, but Iori continued fighting without rest.
• Iori fought for seven days and nights, using the spatial Imperial Arms to sweep through major cities on Japan’s four great islands.

As Japan’s survivors rebuilt scattered shelters after the apocalypse, Kage no Minoru continued training and secretly protecting Nishino High School. One night he watched Iori play the violin beneath the moon, and Iori offered him a katana while asking whether he desired power.

• Iori’s work helped survivors establish more than a hundred shelters, while Japan’s isolation and enormous death toll left the country divided among local powers.
• Kage no Minoru stayed at Nishino High School, working on defenses by day and secretly hunting monsters by night as Shadow.
• While searching the ruins for cup noodles, Kage no Minoru heard violin music and found Iori playing beneath the moonlight.
• Iori asked Kage no Minoru what he intended to do in the chaotic world, and Kage no Minoru answered with improvised, meaningless words.
• Iori asked whether Kage no Minoru desired power and threw an Asauchi katana into the concrete in front of him.

Iori separated Kage no Minoru’s soul from his body and began teaching him to use an Asauchi, while outlining a path that united soul and flesh. Meanwhile, Iori traveled to Washington as Japan’s representative and negotiated disaster aid with the President using gold from Japan’s reserves.

• Iori used a Kido device to separate Kage no Minoru’s soul from his body and explained how spiritual perception worked.
• Kage no Minoru discovered he could hold the Asauchi as a spirit, and Iori promised to teach him to awaken its true name.
• Iori told Kage no Minoru to balance the growth of his soul and body rather than make Shinigami power his main path.
• Kage no Minoru asked how to return to his body, and Iori told him to experiment with their connection himself.
• Iori arrived at the White House, evaded its security, and asked the President to sell Japan medical supplies, food, and clothing.
• Iori presented more than two hundred tons of verified gold, persuading the President and officials to consider his request.

Iori used a US supply handover to draw out an ambush, then obliterated much of the harbor with Hadō Zero: Kai and forced the military to abandon its attack. He remained under surveillance, and military leaders urged the President to issue a non-aggression declaration, but the President questioned their account.

• Iori arranged to receive ten containers at a US military port and refused to renegotiate the contract when the colonel raised transport costs.
• Iori sensed the forces surrounding the harbor and revealed that he had deliberately chosen the United States to provoke a confrontation and establish his strength.
• US troops fired tank cannons at Iori, but he emerged unharmed in the sky and unleashed Hadō Zero: Kai, destroying much of the harbor while sparing most of the troops.
• The colonel and other officers ordered the military to abandon the combat plan, recognizing that they could not defeat Iori.
• Military representatives asked the President to issue a non-aggression declaration, explaining that Iori had stayed at the harbor for twenty-four hours to let them test their weapons.
• The President challenged the military's request and asked what the results of their weapons tests had been.

The President agreed to a secret non-aggression declaration with Iori after witnessing his power, and Iori transported the officials around the world before the signing. A month later, Iori assessed Kage no Minoru’s training progress and urged him to be patient as he pursued greater strength.

• The major general warned the President that the military could neither kill Iori nor reliably strike him, and advised against using nuclear weapons.
• The President agreed in principle to a secret pact with Iori, who appeared inside the underground bunker and offered to sign the agreement there.
• Iori transported the President and officials through several locations before settling beside the Great Sphinx, where the President read the non-aggression declaration aloud.
• A month after beginning his training, Kage no Minoru listened as Iori praised his progress but told him that reaching the peak would take time.
• Kage no Minoru reaffirmed that he wanted more power and looked toward the severed serpent, determined to become as strong as Iori.