Recaps

After the plantation disaster, Lai and Philly helped Timothy replant magical crops while Philly lamented missing the Champion Mage Challenge. Nora arrived in Number Three Floating City for the tournament and overheard that a Magic Duelist named Philly had entered the Main Tournament.

• Timothy put mages from The Alliance to work planting magical cuttings and seeds and maintaining the Alchemy Devices at his ruined plantation.
• Philly told Aurora she had missed plans to watch the Champion Mage Challenge with a friend and described the undefeated Magic Duelist with thirty-one consecutive wins.
• Philly planned to write to Nora to ask what the mysterious Magic Duelist looked like.
• Nora arrived in Number Three Floating City four days before the Champion Mage Challenge and heard that a Magic Duelist named Philly had reached the Main Tournament.

Nora attended the Champion Mage Challenge expecting thrilling duels, but drug inspections and Suppressants turned early matches into slow, miserable fights. Fran’s winning streak restored some of the crowd’s anticipation, and the chapter left her about to face Leander, who was already shaken by her energy.

• Nora chose the arena where Philly was competing and watched the group stage begin.
• Officials inspected competitors after drug accusations, forcing them to take Suppressants and delaying matches.
• Two drugged mages fought a painfully slow bout, which Nora regretted watching after one won with terrain magic.
• Fran’s 31-match unbeaten streak was introduced, and the commentators revived the crowd’s interest.
• Leander entered his match against Fran looking haggard, while Fran appeared energetic and unsettled his confidence.

Fran defeated Leander almost immediately in the Group Stage with an unusually powerful Greater Fireball, while the crowd complained that the match was unsatisfying. Nora noticed the winner’s purple hair and resemblance to the Philly she knew, but dismissed it as coincidence.

• Leander realized Fran had not taken Suppressants and decided to study her fighting style despite expecting to lose.
• The match began, and Fran cast Greater Fireball faster than Leander could finish Darting Spell.
• Fran’s enhanced fireball overwhelmed Leander’s shield, and the referee confirmed her victory.
• Spectators angrily demanded refunds after the brief match, while commentators struggled to explain what had happened.
• Nora saw Fran leaving the arena and wondered why Philly had purple hair and resembled the Philly she knew, then decided it was coincidence.

A Felistin Family member reported that Philly Felistin had qualified for the Champion Mage Challenge's main tournament despite having left the family. Ivan realized Philly’s success could threaten the family’s reputation and began considering how to persuade her to return.

• A first order mage on the Champion Mage Challenge review team reported Philly Felistin’s qualification to Ivan.
• Ivan concluded that Philly had defected from the Felistin Family and wondered why no one had reported her departure or tournament progress.
• Ivan struggled to reconcile Philly’s name with an old list of promising young family members and could not determine her age.
• Ivan rewarded the messenger and considered how other families might exploit Philly’s success and departure.
• Ivan decided the family could not abandon a mage with Philly’s potential, but wondered what it could offer her now.

Dean and Selma discussed how to disrupt Number Three Floating City after their plan to undermine the Champion Mage Challenge with drugs failed. Dean proposed spreading a sequence of allegations against the competition, and promised the deities would protect them as they carried it out.

• Dean complained about the Alchemy Amber Lamp he had bought for half a gold coin, and Selma redirected him to their mission.
• Dean told Selma that mandatory Drug Testing had made the duelists afraid to use their Suppressants, undermining their plan to discredit the Champion Mage Challenge.
• Selma suggested spreading match-fixing rumors or bribing contestants, but Dean argued that they lacked the money and evidence to make those tactics convincing.
• Dean proposed building a campaign of insinuations about past match-fixing, the duelists' poor condition, and alleged collusion over Drug Testing.
• Selma worried that mages would silence them, and Dean assured her that the deities would protect them.

Fran used the controversy surrounding the Champion Mage Challenge to plan a publicity campaign that would make the committee reluctant to investigate her identity as Philly. After winning another brief match, she approached the press and agreed to an interview.

• Fran received a letter from Ivan Felistin and realized the Felistin Family had not yet confirmed where Philly fit into its family branches.
• Fran read reports accusing Philly of bribery and suggesting the Burns Family and Felistin Family had made questionable deals around the Challenge.
• Fran decided to become a popular public figure and temporary face of the Champion Mage Challenge to discourage scrutiny of her identity.
• The committee introduced full drug tests before matches and banned extra tests afterward to prevent delays.
• Fran defeated her opponent with a Greater Fireball in two seconds, prompting the crowd to shout that the match was rigged.
• Fran approached the press after the match and agreed to give an interview.

Fran gave her first interview after her undefeated run in the Magic Duel tournament and made a series of provocative claims about her opponents. She left the reporters with sensational material, including her assertion that Battle Mages were no stronger than Magic Duel competitors.

• Fran agreed to an interview, and Declan of Number Three Daily asked her why she had won her Group Stage matches so quickly.
• Fran called her opponents trash and said she was ashamed to compete alongside them.
• Fran told another reporter that competitors in both tournament stages were equally weak and that she could have finished matches faster without the Preliminaries' shield-device delays.
• Fran said she trained little, suggested her opponents might need unrestricted-duel equipment and a time limit to have a chance, and admitted she might miss the championship if her mentor called her back to write a paper.
• Fran told a reporter that Battle Mages were nothing special and could not last twenty seconds against her.

Fran rejected Ivan’s offer to bring “Philly” back into the Felistin Family, while continuing to hide that she was not the real Philly. Ivan then ordered his subordinates to intensify the negative coverage, hoping to make her need the family’s support.

• Ivan visited Fran at the inn and scolded her for showing him too little respect.
• Fran insisted that her ties to the Felistin Family belonged to the past and rejected Ivan’s offer to erase the negative coverage and sponsor her Magic Duels.
• Ivan left after telling Fran she could seek the family’s help if she changed her mind.
• Fran felt relieved that she had concealed her identity and decided to pay newspapers to publicize “Philly.”
• Ivan ordered his subordinates to find out who funded Philly’s Magic Duels and encourage newspapers to amplify the negative story.
• Ivan explained that making things harder for Philly would make her more likely to need the family.

Declan received two lucrative assignments to spread negative and sensational coverage of Philly, while Fran arranged for newspapers to keep her in the public eye during the Champion Mage Challenge. The coordinated campaign was set to make her increasingly famous as she competed.

• Declan returned to the Number Three Daily with notes from his explosive interview with Philly and planned to put them on the front page.
• The Editor-in-Chief gave Declan the Felistin Family's request to dig up dirt on Philly and publish negative stories until the Top Sixteen round ended.
• Declan received a separate Black Market commission to publicize Philly and expand coverage, including interviews, betting odds, spectators' opinions, and predictions.
• Declan realized the two assignments both targeted Philly, accepted the work, and decided to recruit newcomers to help.
• Fran had proposed the coverage ideas to reporters, and similar Black Market commissions had gone to newspapers across Number Three Floating City.

Nora became curious about the contestant called "Philly" after seeing her name dominate the newspapers and recognizing her resemblance to Nora’s friend. At the group-stage arena, Fran entered to a cheering crowd, pleased that the publicity had boosted her popularity and might protect her from the tournament committee.

• Nora decided to attend another match featuring "Philly" after the first two days of the Champion Mage Challenge disappointed her.
• Nora saw newspapers attacking "Philly" and hurried to buy a ticket, finding that only a little over twenty seats remained.
• Nora read matching interviews in two newspapers in which "Philly" repeatedly insulted her opponents and praised herself.
• Nora recognized that the newspaper picture of "Philly" looked exactly like her friend Philly, but convinced herself it was a coincidence.
• Fran entered her third-day match to loud cheers, and she credited her paid publicity campaign with drawing a larger crowd.
• Fran hoped her growing popularity would make the committee think twice before moving against her by the Top Thirty-Two.

Nora recognized that a contestant named Philly looked much like the Philly she knew and decided to send her a newspaper about the resemblance. In the arena, Fran defeated an opponent who tried to counter her Greater Fireball with a Shield Spell Ring, extending her undefeated record.

• Nora questioned whether the contestant Fran was Philly or someone impersonating her, then decided to send the newspaper to Philly despite the long delivery time.
• Fran's opponent prepared a Shield Spell Ring after studying her swift Greater Fireball strategy, but he had little information about her matches.
• When the match began, Fran fired an unusually large, fast Greater Fireball at her opponent as he activated his Shield Spell Ring.
• The Greater Fireball overwhelmed the shield, and the referee declared Fran the winner after checking that the result was valid.
• The referee blamed the loss on the poor quality of the opponent's Shield Spell Ring, while spectators cheered Fran's continued victories.

Ivan read widespread newspaper coverage of Philly and worried that the stories might threaten the Felistin Family’s reputation. He could not identify which branch Philly came from, and the Evening News’s overwhelming focus on her left him uneasy.

• Ivan questioned how newspapers had obtained and published so many disparaging interviews about Philly, then asked whether she had won her match.
• Ivan read the Evening News’s analysis suggesting Philly might have ties to the Felistin Family through a defective Shield Spell Ring sold by a merchant guild the family partly controlled.
• Ivan ordered a subordinate to check the family’s businesses for Spell Ring-related risks and asked for news about which family Philly belonged to.
• The subordinate said the family had ruled out Second Order Mages and people with Magic Duel experience but had not identified Philly’s branch.
• Ivan decided to leave Philly alone for now, then noticed that more than half the Evening News focused on her and felt that something was wrong.

By the fourth day of the Champion Mage Challenge, Fran had become a notorious favorite, drawing spectators and bets as she kept winning with a single Greater Fireball. After her morning victory, gamblers debated whether her next opponent could finally defeat her, while Fran's growing fame continued to attract attention.

• Fran's boast that no Main Tournament contestant could beat her fueled public attention and hostility, while spectators waited for her to lose.
• An upscale tavern installed Magic Element Broadcast Devices, and customers crowded around them to watch the Challenge and place bets.
• At Fran's ten o'clock match, the broadcast's deafening sound briefly dazed some mages, who looked back to find Fran had already won.
• Tavern patrons argued over whether Fran's Greater Fireball had overcome her opponent's Shield Spell Ring or whether the match had been fixed.
• Gamblers placed bets on Fran's afternoon match and speculated that opponents would eventually prepare a counter to her tactics.

Fran defeated her final Group Stage opponent by using two Elemental Conversions to unleash a Pyroblast that broke through his unfinished Iron Shield Tactic. She advanced undefeated as her popularity grew, while furious Black Market bettors lost their wagers and one damaged the match screen before fleeing.

• Black-robed bettors watched Fran face her last Group Stage opponent, many expecting her to lose to the Iron Shield Tactic.
• Fran used Mithril Body and began preparing Pyroblast through two Elemental Conversions while her opponent continued stacking shields.
• Fran's Pyroblast overwhelmed the opponent's incomplete defenses, and he fainted as the referee found his nearly shattered shield.
• Fran decided she should hold back next time and avoid aiming Pyroblast directly at an opponent.
• After losing their bets, several black-robed spectators cursed Fran, and one swordsman cracked the screen before running away.

Dean and Selma struggled to disrupt Number Three Floating City because Philly’s fame had eclipsed their efforts and obstructed the other priests’ work. Just as they began planning to confront her during the break, a deity ordered everyone to suspend their work and remain hidden.

• Dean explained that Philly’s strength and fame had drowned out the negative publicity he arranged against the Champion Mage Challenge.
• Selma suggested killing Philly, but Dean argued they could not safely attack her in Number Three Floating City or call in reinforcements.
• Selma received a message saying the other priests wanted them to deal with the Champion Mage Challenge because it was undermining their work.
• Dean told Selma to contact the other priests so they could discuss confronting Philly during the two-day break after the Group Stage.
• A Divine Statue delivered an order from a deity telling everyone to suspend their work and remain hidden.

Ivan learned that the famous 'Philly' in the Magic Duel was recognized by her relatives in Number Nine Floating City as the same woman who had left with the Gold Alchemy Award winner, despite the family’s earlier belief that they were two different people. He realized she was likely using the real Philly’s identity, but exposing her could make the Felistin Family look like it was trying to suppress a successful relative.

• Ivan learned that a branch-family member named 'Philly' had left with the Gold Alchemy Award winner, who held key components of the Mana Telecommunications System.
• Ivan blamed Ruge for failing to use the connection to secure operating rights and discovered that the Alchemy School and Northern Lands Society would not help trace 'Philly.'
• Ivan concluded that the Magic Duel competitor was unrelated to the Felistin Family after finding no matching mage among those who had left the family.
• The subordinate told Ivan that 'Philly's' sister, other relatives, and the Number Nine Floating City branch head had identified the competitor from a newspaper photograph as their missing family member.
• Ivan suspected that the competitor had taken the real Philly's identity documents and warned that accusing her could make the Felistin Family appear to be persecuting a successful relative.

The Felistin Family reported Philly to the Champion Mage Committee, claiming she had falsely assumed their name and lacked Alliance mage certification. After the committee refused to act without decisive evidence, Ivan and Ruge planned to secretly weaken her before her next duel.

• Ivan brought the Felistin patriarch, Ruge, and other family members to the committee and asked it to investigate Philly’s identity and eligibility.
• Kiran accepted the family’s documents but said the committee would review them, refusing to promise action or accept the family’s proposed benefits.
• Ivan explained to Ruge that the family lacked influence within the Alliance and could not get the committee to disqualify Philly through official channels.
• Ivan and Ruge decided to use covert methods to rob Philly of her ability to fight so she would lose in the Duel Arena.
• Ivan and Ruge looked at a billboard promoting Fran and remarked that she was still only a Second Order Mage, while Camilla silently studied the image.

The Felistin Family struggled to find mages willing to attack Fran and settled on a disguised operation planned for seven days later. Meanwhile, Camilla visited Fran, who was impersonating her sister Philly, and Fran let her into the hotel room.

• Ivan asked the Felistin Family elders to provide a Third Order Mage for the attack, but none volunteered.
• Ivan proposed using six Second Order Mages, and after pressuring Ruge, he arranged to supply three while the other factions would draw lots for the remaining slots.
• Ivan said the team would disguise themselves as recently arrested Priests and planned to attack on the nineteenth day of the Champion Mage Challenge.
• Camilla arrived at Fran's hotel room and asked to come in, and Fran welcomed her as Philly's sister.

Camilla questioned Fran about her identity, her entry in the Champion Mage Challenge, and the real Philly, but Fran answered without revealing a flaw and warned that Philly’s future depended on her becoming champion. Fran secretly destroyed Camilla’s recording device, then began preparing time-related Alchemy Devices using Temporal Change Residue.

• Camilla questioned Fran about her mage rank, Magic Duels record, and decision to enter the Champion Mage Challenge, while secretly recording her.
• Fran claimed that Lai had agreed to let her enter the tournament and hinted that Philly was unharmed but under her control.
• Fran warned Camilla that Philly might not get another chance to watch the Champion Mage Challenge unless Fran became champion, prompting Camilla to leave.
• Camilla discovered that Fran had destroyed the recording device with the Secret Word “Black Phantom Destroys Mental Power Device.”
• Fran took out Temporal Change Residue and began processing it with water element to create a Slowing effect for her time-related alchemical experiments.

The Champion Mage Challenge began its grueling best-of-nine knockout stage, and Elton won a nine-round duel before publicly predicting that Philly would be vulnerable to experienced opponents. Meanwhile, Harbos investigated Fran’s disappearance from Number Nine Floating City but found no clear explanation.

• The knockout stage opened with best-of-nine duels, and contestants fought through exhaustion to avoid elimination.
• Elton won his match in the ninth round with a longsword, then told reporters that Philly’s patterns and inexperience could make her easy to defeat.
• Elton later regretted drawing attention to himself by criticizing Philly, though he still believed his assessment.
• Harbos reviewed Fran’s airship records and found no matching arrival record for her entry into Number Nine Floating City.
• Harbos read witness statements describing Fran vanishing after people nearby repeatedly thought she was about to collide with them, and he ruled out the Elemental School as the likely culprit.
• Harbos continued searching for Fran and worried that he could not reach Iris to ask whether she had given Fran a communications device.

In Bohan, 'Lai' altered a letter from Nora so Philly would not return to the Alliance before the Champion Mage Challenge ended. She then answered the Lord of Radiance’s summons to the Spirit Realm, where a gathering awaited an opportunity.

• Philly received Nora’s letter saying that a contestant resembling her was a Felistin Family member and had reached the Champion Mage Challenge finals.
• Aurora told Philly they could not return to the Alliance for at least another month, disappointing her.
• 'Lai' revealed that she had altered Nora’s letter to prevent Philly from learning enough to disrupt her championship plans.
• The Lord of Radiance summoned Fran to the Spirit Realm after sending her a long list of messages about the Radiance Domain’s activities.
• Fran went to the Divine Temple, where Lyle and others had gathered to hear the Lord of Radiance describe an opportunity.

Fran was summoned to the Spirit Realm as the Lord of Radiance proposed seizing another lord’s domain to expand the Radiance Domain. Fran resisted joining the operation until the Lord of Radiance revealed that the target contained part of the Sun Domain, which Fran could take back.

• Fran arrived in the Spirit Realm and warned the Lord of Radiance that she might not have time to join the operation.
• The Lord of Radiance explained that Spirit Realm domains reflected their lords’ strength and could be seized and absorbed by other lords.
• The Lord of Radiance told the believers that the Radiance Domain needed a larger territory to increase its supply of faith and help them advance.
• After the other believers left, the Lord of Radiance offered to raise Fran’s priest rank to the third order if she helped obtain a domain.
• When Fran remained reluctant, the Lord of Radiance revealed that the target domain contained part of the Sun Domain and promised that Fran could take it back.

Fran asked Zali whether recovering scattered Sun Domain fragments was the Sun Messengers’ duty and what restoring them would do. Zali confirmed it was the Great Sun’s final command, but he could only say the Great Sun might give them further instructions.

• The Lord of Radiance told Fran that retrieving a Sun Domain fragment was a Sun Messenger’s duty and asked her to help take the domain.
• Fran postponed her answer so she could consult her seniors in the Sun Domain.
• Fran examined the lingering damage from the Deities’ attacks and found Zali at the boundary between the Sun Domain’s outer and inner regions.
• Fran asked Zali whether Sun Messengers were meant to recover scattered Sun Domain fragments, and he warned her that the Deities must not learn she knew about them.
• Zali explained that the Great Sun had ordered the fragments gathered before the Gods attacked, but the Sunflame Knight legacies had been destroyed and only he and Fran remained.
• Fran asked what the Great Sun would do if she restored all the fragments, and Zali said it might give them further instructions.

Fran learned that restoring the Sun Domain would bring no immediate reward and provoke attacks from the gods, but she considered recovering a few fragments to divert divine attention before the Ocean Operation. She agreed to join the Lord of Radiance’s operation in ten days, discovering that Radiance also intended to use the effort to distract the gods.

• Zali explained that collecting every Sun Domain fragment would only prompt Great Sun to reveal the next step, and that the gods would try to stop Fran from restoring fragments.
• Zali said he would make the Sun Domain reject the deities’ direct power and help Fran withstand their followers for about three minutes while each fragment returned.
• Fran decided to recover only a few fragments to keep the gods occupied ahead of the Ocean Operation, then returned to the Radiance Domain.
• Fran accepted the Lord of Radiance’s invitation to enter a Trial in ten days and subdue any forces that resisted.
• Fran asked whether Radiance also wanted to distract the gods by having her retrieve a fragment, and Radiance confirmed that plan while saying it had not arranged for her to return many fragments.

Fran, competing as “Philly,” faced a seasoned opponent in the Champion Mage Challenge’s Top Thirty-Two round and ended the first bout with a swift second-order spell. Nathanael, a leader of the Yobner Society, watched and reconsidered his doubts about her prospects.

• Fran took a high patch of ground while her opponent positioned himself behind a collapsed artificial hill.
• A commentator explained the opponent’s tactical position, but Fran stayed where she was.
• In a private box, Nathanael asked his assistant about Fran and doubted she had enough duel experience to win the championship.
• When the match began, Fran cast a defensive spell and then pierced her opponent’s terrain and two Shield Spell Rings with a second-order attack.
• The referee confirmed the bout was valid, and the crowd cheered as “Philly” won the first bout.