Chapter Summaries

Shirazumi Rio confessed to attacking Suzuriaki Akiryu and tried to convince Ryougi Shiki that they were alike before fleeing after she cut off his hand. Michael comforted Shiki and erased Officer Kobayashi’s memory, then prepared to pursue Rio that night.

• Shirazumi Rio admitted that he had attacked Suzuriaki Akiryu and killed people to live up to his reputation as a murderer.
• Shirazumi Rio tried to make Ryougi Shiki believe they were alike and declared that he would kill Michael to free her.
• Ryougi Shiki blocked Shirazumi Rio’s attack on Michael and severed Rio’s hand, but he escaped by climbing over the alley wall.
• Michael told Ryougi Shiki that he would not let her become a murderer and offered to deal with Shirazumi Rio himself.
• Michael decided they had to catch Shirazumi Rio that night and erased Officer Kobayashi’s memory of the encounter.

After awakening his Origin, Shirazumi Rio gave in to his hunger and attacked the people in a residence. Michael explained Origins to Shiki as she pursued Rio, and she found him devouring his victims.

• Shirazumi Rio followed the scent of prey to a building and ate its occupants, overwhelmed by the pleasure of satisfying his hunger.
• Shiki asked Michael what an Origin was, and he explained that it was an instinctive command that did not determine a person's actions.
• Michael told Shiki that her Origin was nothingness, represented by death, but that it did not make her a killer unless she abandoned her intellect and will.
• Shiki found a residence with a smashed window and followed the scent upstairs to a bedroom.
• Shiki discovered Shirazumi Rio crouched among the dismembered victims and felt sorrow instead of her usual urge to kill.

Ryougi Shiki killed Shirazumi Rio with Hi Kou, but was left feeling empty and collapsed into Michael’s arms. Souren Araya confronted Michael afterward, who blinded him and invited him to keep struggling.

• Shiki insisted on killing Shirazumi Rio herself, and Michael gave her the uchigatana Hi Kou.
• Shiki pierced Shirazumi Rio’s heart with Hi Kou and killed him.
• Shiki admitted she felt lonely and empty, then collapsed as Michael caught her.
• Souren Araya emerged from the alley and admitted that Shirazumi Rio had been one of his pieces.
• Michael blinded Souren Araya and told him he welcomed any further challenge.

Tōko Aozaki struggled with the bridge project and tried unsuccessfully to borrow money from Michael and Ori. Later, during their nightly walk, Ori noticed trouble ahead and headed toward a fight.

• Tōko Aozaki complained about working on Kanbōzi City’s ambitious bridge project while Michael and Ori played a fighting game.
• Michael and Tōko Aozaki discussed the bridge’s changed name and its impractical plans for attractions inside it.
• Tōko Aozaki asked Michael and Ori to lend her money, but both refused.
• Michael and Ori walked through the city, where Ori reflected that Shiki had been asleep for more than half a year.
• Ori spotted trouble at an intersection and welcomed the chance to fight.

Ori and Michael found a group of thugs assaulting an abducted rich young lady in an abandoned underground bar. Ori disabled the men, and Michael brutally punished them before the pair were left at the scene with the victim rescued.

• Ori and Michael followed the thugs’ footprints to an abandoned underground bar, where they found the men assaulting a girl.
• Michael confronted the thugs, and Ori charged the leader without drawing her dagger.
• Ori broke the leader’s arm and then defeated the other thugs when they attacked her.
• Michael crushed the leader’s remaining limbs and used the fallen knife to castrate the thugs, then broke their limbs.
• Ori showed no sympathy for the injured men and accepted that they had to face the consequences of their actions.

Michael and Ori rescued Asagami Fujino from thugs, and Fujino thanked them over coffee at the Ahnenerbe café. The café’s connection to Zelretch and parallel worlds remained a mystery as the three sat together.

• Michael recognized Asagami Fujino, healed her injuries, and restored her torn uniform with magic.
• Fujino clung to Michael and sobbed with relief, while Ori showed her irritation and knocked an awakened thug unconscious again.
• At the Ahnenerbe café, Fujino thanked Michael and Ori, who introduced herself as Ryōgi Ori.
• Ori praised the café’s iced coffee and remarked on its unusual name and shadowy interior.
• Michael recalled the story linking Ahnenerbe to Gishya Zelretch Shuvain Oug and sensed that the café had a connection to parallel worlds.

Michael, Tōko Aozaki, and Ori traveled to Katori Town for a hot-spring holiday, only to find the baths overcrowded. After hearing the legend of the White Deer Goddess, Ori discovered the old woman telling it was selling deer dolls as souvenirs.

• Ori and Michael returned to Garan no Dō, where Tōko Aozaki proposed using free cultural experience vouchers for a hot-spring trip.
• The next day, Michael, Tōko Aozaki, and Ori arrived in Katori Prefecture for the Miko Festival and found the town crowded with tourists.
• Michael found the men's outdoor bath packed, while Tōko Aozaki and Ori also rejected the overcrowded women's bath.
• Michael suggested they visit the shrine and Miko Festival, then offered to take the group to his private island by jet the next day.
• An old granny told Ori and the others the legend of the White Deer Goddess, then tried to sell Ori deer dolls as souvenirs.

After three shrine maidens were found murdered at Katori Shrine, Michael, Ori, and Tōko Aozaki secretly examined the scene and discovered signs of unusual magecraft. Their investigation was interrupted when a young police officer caught them inside the shrine.

• Michael learned that three girls in the shrine maiden training course had been murdered and their bodies nailed to the main hall wall.
• Michael, Ori, and Tōko Aozaki used Confusing Doppelgangers to enter the crime scene unseen.
• Ori found that all three girls had been disemboweled, stuffed with cotton, and drained of blood.
• Tōko Aozaki and Michael detected fixation magic on the bodies, but found no surviving soul fragments.
• Michael, Ori, and Tōko Aozaki considered whether the culprit was a magus or a serial killer before a young police officer aimed his pistol at them.

Michael, Tōko Aozaki, and Ryōgi Ori encountered police officer Ryūnosuke Kitahara at the murder scene and used a forged commission letter to explain their presence. After registering with the police, the Garan no Dō Detective Agency officially joined the serial killer investigation.

• Ryūnosuke Kitahara saw through the concealment magecraft with his Mystic Eyes and ordered Michael, Tōko Aozaki, and Ryōgi Ori to surrender.
• Michael recognized Kitahara’s Mystic Eyes and joked about taking them before claiming the group were detectives commissioned by a victim’s family.
• Michael used magecraft to make Kitahara see a commission letter on a blank sheet, while confirming that the agency’s detective credentials were genuine.
• Michael said the agency would pursue the case because a magus had violated the Mage’s world’s rules.
• After the police approved their participation, Michael introduced Tōko Aozaki and Ryōgi Ori to Kitahara, who welcomed them onto the investigation.

Michael, Tōko Aozaki, and Ryōgi Ori joined the investigation into three girls who vanished from Katori Shrine, where a shrine maiden had been murdered. After learning the killer left no clues, they visited the guarded side hall where the remaining girls were staying, and Ryūnosuke Kitahara vowed to protect them.

• Ryūnosuke Kitahara told Michael that the police had found no forensic clues and suspected the killer was a cultist or someone with mental problems.
• Ryūnosuke Kitahara said officers were guarding the remaining shrine maiden trainees, though police resources were stretched thin.
• Ori impressed Ryūnosuke Kitahara by saying her agency had helped pursue and kill the Kanbōzi City killer.
• Michael showed Tōko Aozaki a counterfeit Holy Grail that could grant a wish to catch the killer, and revealed that the Animusphere family possessed one of Solomon's Ten Rings.
• Michael, Tōko Aozaki, and Ori arrived at the side hall where the three girls had vanished and learned the remaining girls were safe under guard.
• Ryūnosuke Kitahara took over the next twelve hours of guard duty and vowed to protect the girls.

Michael, Tōko Aozaki, and Ryōgi Ori investigated the shrine dormitory after three shrine maidens vanished and found that Yūko Kitahara and Senka Kiritsugu had been marked by a magical spell. Michael concluded they were the killer’s next targets, and the group prepared to wait for the attacker that night.

• Ryūnosuke Kitahara introduced his sister Yūko Kitahara to Michael, Tōko Aozaki, and Ryōgi Ori as they arrived to investigate the missing shrine maidens.
• Yūko Kitahara told Michael that the girls had returned from their lantern procession, completed roll call, and gone to bed before three disappeared.
• Michael examined the shrine maidens and identified Yūko Kitahara and Senka Kiritsugu as the killer’s likely next targets.
• Tōko Aozaki pointed out a crimson mark on Senka Kiritsugu’s upper arm and said Yūko Kitahara had the same mark on her chest.
• Michael recognized the marks as magical tracking spells and said the group would wait for the killer to come that night.

As Michael, Tōko Aozaki, and the others kept watch at Katori Shrine, a sound-based hypnosis spell put Yūko Kitahara and Senka Kiritsugu to sleep. Ryūnosuke Kitahara resisted it with his Mystic Eyes and revealed his secret to Tōko, while the killer remained unseen.

• The group prepared for the night watch, with Ryūnosuke Kitahara nervously guarding the entrance and Yūko Kitahara, Ori, and Senka Kiritsugu staying alert.
• After an hour, a monotonous knocking sound approached from the woods, and Tōko Aozaki sensed thaumaturgy carried by sound waves.
• Michael identified the magic as a hypnosis spell; Yūko Kitahara and Senka Kiritsugu fell asleep, while Ryūnosuke Kitahara resisted its effects.
• Tōko Aozaki examined the sleeping women and told Ryūnosuke Kitahara that his Mystic Eyes had helped him resist the spell.
• Ryūnosuke Kitahara admitted he could see things others could not, and Tōko explained that the killer also had special abilities.
• Ryūnosuke Kitahara asked whether Tōko Aozaki had special abilities of her own.

Senka Kiritsugu, Yūko Kitahara, and Ryūnosuke Kitahara followed a clapper-controlled trail into the woods, where Senka broke free and attacked the black-robed figure. The figure was revealed to be Katori Shrine’s Chief Priest, whom Tōko Aozaki identified as a puppet controlled by the real killer.

• Michael stayed behind to protect the sleeping girls while Ryūnosuke Kitahara, Ori, and Tōko Aozaki pursued Senka Kiritsugu and Yūko Kitahara into the woods.
• The group found a black-robed figure tapping a clapper, and Tōko Aozaki warned that it was likely only a puppet.
• Senka Kiritsugu regained consciousness by cutting her palm, then unleashed flames on the black-robed figure and broke the control over Yūko Kitahara.
• Ryūnosuke Kitahara and Yūko Kitahara recognized the burned figure as Katori Shrine’s Chief Priest.
• Tōko Aozaki healed the Chief Priest and said the real killer was someone else controlling him.

Airi Tanigawa dreamed of a fairy-tale world before waking under the control of a masked killer, who murdered her and turned her remains into a gruesome display. After discovering her body, Michael identified the killer’s likely method, located his target, and asked Ori if she wanted to capture him herself.

• Airi Tanigawa wandered through a fairy-tale world, then woke in an unfamiliar room where a masked man controlled her body and killed her.
• Ryūnosuke Kitahara learned that another victim had been found, and the police discovered Airi hanging in a blue dress with only her head and spine remaining.
• An officer identified the victim as seventeen-year-old Airi Tanigawa and reported that her parents had last seen her at home the previous night.
• Michael examined Airi’s remains and concluded that her spine had been forcibly removed and carefully preserved.
• Michael used his bird’s-eye view to locate the suspected killer, then asked Ori if she wanted to capture him and pointed north.

Ori searched for the killer and confronted a masked painter calling himself The Artist, whom she suspected was connected to the murders. After he claimed his killings were performances and evaded her attack by creating copies of himself, he threatened to turn her into art.

• Michael gave Ori a brocade pouch and told her it would help when she felt conflicted.
• Ori found a masked painter at an intersection and sat for a portrait after suspecting he resembled the masked man from the previous night.
• The painter handed Ori a blank sheet, and she read Michael’s note telling her to follow her own feelings.
• Ori asked whether the painter had killed the girls, and he described his crimes as performances rather than harm.
• Ori attacked The Artist, but her blade struck a phantom, and he appeared behind her.
• The Artist split into two identical figures, surrounded Ori, and threatened to make her perfect art.

Ori fought through the painter’s illusion and discovered his true form after Ryūnosuke Kitahara arrived. She stabbed and pinned him to a wall, but the dying painter declared that his performance was about to begin.

• Ori battled a crowd of identical painters in an illusion, unleashing a sweeping attack that destroyed their shadows.
• The illusion vanished, and the masked painter ended his performance and disappeared when Ori tried to stab him.
• Ryūnosuke Kitahara arrived to help, and Ori identified the painter as the murderer from the case.
• The painter shot at Ryūnosuke Kitahara, but Ori deflected the bullet with her blade.
• The painter’s illusion broke, revealing his true form; he recognized the effect of Mystic Eyes before Ori pierced his defenses and pinned him to a wall.
• As Ori pulled out her blade, the dying painter said that his audience had taken their seats and the performance was about to begin.

Ori killed the artist, while Zhang Yuanqing woke at his grandparents’ home after worrying that his medication was losing effectiveness. He was left facing his younger aunt Jiang Yu'e’s invitation to shop and his grandmother’s warning, amid another attempt to arrange Jiang Yu'e a blind date.

• Ori watched the artist die and briefly wrestled with the fact that she had killed someone for the first time before putting the thought aside.
• Zhang Yuanqing recognized that his medication was becoming less effective and considered increasing his dosage.
• Zhang Yuanqing got out of bed after his grandmother threatened to wake him with water and joined her and Jiang Yu'e for breakfast.
• Jiang Yu'e offered to take Zhang Yuanqing shopping, but his grandmother threatened them both, and Zhang Yuanqing realized she had arranged another blind date for Jiang Yu'e.

Zhang Yuanqing woke in Songhai City after a restless night, bantered with his family, and tried to join Jiang Yu'e on her blind date before his grandmother stopped him. A mysterious package from Lei Yibing arrived, leaving Zhang Yuanqing with a strange Black Card and an unexplained warning about its power.

• Zhang Yuanqing worried that his illness was worsening, took his medicine, and got up when his grandmother threatened to douse him with water.
• Jiang Yu'e teased Zhang Yuanqing and invited him to accompany her to the mall, while his grandmother revealed that she had arranged a blind date for her daughter.
• Zhang Yuanqing offered to take Jiang Yu'e's place on the blind date, but his grandmother ordered him to stay home as Jiang Yu'e left alone.
• Zhang Yuanqing tried to sneak out after Jiang Yu'e, but his grandmother threatened him with a broom, so he messaged his aunt instead.
• Zhang Yuanqing accepted an unexpected package and found a Black Card and a letter in which Lei Yibing said he could not control the object and believed Zhang Yuanqing could.

Zhang Yuanqing woke in Songhai City worried that his mysterious condition was worsening, then spent the morning bantering with his younger aunt and resisting his grandmother’s attempts to keep him home. A package from Lei Yibing arrived containing an unusual Black Card and a letter asking Zhang Yuanqing to take control of it.

• Zhang Yuanqing suspected his medicine was losing effectiveness, got up at his grandmother’s insistence, and joined his younger aunt Jiang Yu'e for breakfast.
• Jiang Yu'e prepared for a blind date and tried to take Zhang Yuanqing along, but his grandmother stopped him from leaving.
• Zhang Yuanqing messaged Jiang Yu'e that he could not come, then accepted a package with no listed sender.
• Zhang Yuanqing opened the package and found a mysterious Black Card and a letter from Lei Yibing, who said he could not control the item and had sent it as a gift.

Tōko Aozaki relived the memory of her grandfather revoking her inheritance and naming Aozaki Aoko the next Magic User. As Fumihito Eiri attacked her grandfather, Tōko recovered her memories and blocked the strike, revealing what had really happened in the incident that disgraced her.

• Tōko's grandfather stripped her of heir status and gave the Magic to Aozaki Aoko, leaving Tōko stunned and devastated.
• Tōko's grandfather told her she lacked the talent to inherit the Fifth Magic, while privately anticipating conflict between the sisters.
• Fumihito Eiri drew his sword and attacked his teacher while the old man was lost in thought.
• Tōko blocked Eiri's strike, and Rune Script on her earrings restored her memories of the incident.
• Tōko recognized that Eiri, not her, had struck her grandfather, though the family had blamed her for the attack.