Chapter Summaries

As volcanic eruptions and corrosive rain battered Paititi, Enuratu and the camp prepared for the coming battle. The Emperor returned, ordered Aparajita to lead the assault on the Quetzalcoatl Cult, and warned him that their forces might be wiped out by the Feathered Serpent God.

• Enuratu organized the burial of fallen warriors and put non-combatants to work treating civilians injured by acid rain and mudslides.
• Volcanoes erupted across the Andes, and the worsening weather brought toxic ash, thunderstorms, and corrosive rain to Paititi.
• Aparajita ordered the Hellfire Knights to prepare for battle when the clouds cleared and the Emperor's aircraft approached.
• The Emperor arrived with the Praetorian Guard, reviewed the Hellfire Knights, and received Aparajita's reconnaissance and assault plan.
• The Emperor told Aparajita to lead the raid for Chakchel's Dagger while he and the Praetorian Guard formed another assault force and evacuated civilians.
• The Emperor warned Aparajita that the Feathered Serpent God could destroy their entire army, and Aparajita pledged to fight for humanity's future.

The Emperor and the Hellfire Knights launched an assault on the Trinity and Quetzalcoatl Cult stronghold to stop Dr. Pedro Domínguez’s dark ritual. They reached the blood-soaked altar chamber, where Domínguez’s monsters gathered and Constantine’s shot vanished before it could hit him.

• Hellfire Knights disabled Trinity’s anti-air defenses and overwhelmed the mercenaries and Quetzalcoatl Cult believers with coordinated attacks.
• The Emperor advanced toward the mountaintop with Hammurabi, Supiluliumas, Constantine, Hannibal, and Amon carrying the eagle standard.
• Hammurabi and Supiluliumas smashed through the cave doors, and the knights fought scaled, snake-eyed creatures in the passages.
• The Emperor and his guards entered a blood-covered chamber where Dr. Pedro Domínguez performed a heart-removal ritual as the sacrifice revived and transformed.
• Constantine fired at Dr. Pedro Domínguez, but the explosive round disappeared before reaching him.

The Emperor and his forces confronted Dr. Pedro Domínguez at the altar, where he used the Silver Casket to unleash a catastrophic emergence of the giant serpent. As the knights fought the creatures and natural disasters, the Emperor halted the serpent and declared that he knew its true name.

• The Emperor stopped Dr. Pedro Domínguez from sacrificing more people and ordered him to use the Silver Casket as his final redemption.
• Dr. Pedro Domínguez joined Chakchel's Dagger to the casket, which absorbed the altar's blood as he and Laura Croft deciphered its writing.
• At the scheduled time, the mountain erupted, unleashing the giant serpent and devastating the rainforest with magma, earthquakes, and falling debris.
• Aparajita led the knights in an assault on the serpent while the Praetorian Guard sheltered the Emperor among the ruins.
• The Emperor raised the glowing Silver Casket, halted the surrounding chaos, and announced that he knew the serpent's true name.

A colossal feathered serpent rose over Paititi as storms and a global solar disturbance worsened, while Earth’s defenders prepared an orbital cannon. The Emperor suggested the creature might be a being known by different names across ancient myths, leaving Laura Croft to consider whether other cultures had records of it.

• A giant, multicolored serpent emerged from the storm clouds over Paititi as its heat and rain devastated the land.
• Enuratu watched the destruction and mourned the loss of her people’s homeland.
• Mabath announced that the experimental orbital satellite cannon was ready, but warned that geomagnetic interference could disrupt communications.
• Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, and Victoria Hand learned Mabath might independently fire the cannon if the situation went out of control.
• Laura Croft recalled the Emperor’s theory that similar myths arose from convergent environments and asked what could still be impossible.
• The Emperor asked Laura whether other peoples’ myths recorded a Feathered Serpent God under another name.

Jane Foster supplied star-brightness records to Victoria Hand and Laura Croft, who hoped Ursa Minor Zeta’s changes could help identify the Feathered Serpent God. Meanwhile, the Emperor and Aparajita fought the colossal creature and the extra-dimensional beings it summoned, but Aparajita wondered why the Emperor had not ordered a high-yield hydrogen bomb strike.

• Jane Foster told Victoria Hand that she could provide historical brightness charts for Ursa Minor Zeta, while Laura Croft argued the star’s variation could help identify the Feathered Serpent God.
• Victoria Hand questioned the value of learning the creature’s identity and noted that a hydrogen bomb or orbital strike could destroy it.
• The Emperor raised the Silver Casket, freezing motion around him before the Feathered Serpent God opened a breach that unleashed extra-dimensional beings.
• Aparajita rallied the knights as the Emperor and Praetorian Guard fought beside them, and the Emperor’s attacks changed the Feathered Serpent God’s condition.
• The knights’ missiles and artillery wounded the Feathered Serpent God, but it rapidly healed, and Aparajita concluded that only a high-yield atomic weapon could kill it.
• Aparajita wondered what was making the Emperor hesitate to launch the bomb despite the spreading destruction.

Aparajita’s knights fought their way through overwhelming hordes of mutated Snake People toward the Feathered Serpent God, suffering heavy casualties. The Emperor gathered the survivors for a final charge, leading the Praetorian Guard into the fog as a ruby-red beam struck the colossal being above.

• Aparajita’s forces battled mutated Snake People and sorcerers through lava, steam, and dense fog, while the knights’ casualties mounted.
• Aparajita discovered Deputy Nixon badly wounded and reorganized the company’s succession before continuing the advance.
• The Snake People recoiled from the Emperor, and Aparajita assembled every available vehicle and unassigned knight behind him for the final assault.
• The Emperor encouraged the wounded warriors, declaring that their fight still had meaning as long as they stood against their enemies.
• A ruby-red beam pierced the clouds and damaged the Feathered Serpent God, and the Emperor led the Praetorian Guard into the fog as the knights followed.

Sky Sword Space Station fired its experimental laser weapon at the Feathered Serpent God, which escaped and was pursued through the atmosphere by a person in a beam of white light. On the ground, Aparajita and the knights fought through the Snake People and corrupted creatures as Constantine ordered them to keep advancing.

• Mabath's crew fired the experimental laser weapon at the Feathered Serpent God, but communications with the surface and the Emperor remained down.
• The wounded Feathered Serpent God tore free and flew upward, while a person in a white beam struck it and drove it through the atmosphere before both vanished and reappeared far away.
• Aparajita removed his damaged helmet and surveyed the battered knights as the Feathered Serpent God's escape disrupted their defenses and the enemy assault intensified.
• The Emperor ordered Pegasus to charge through the Snake People, and the knights and Praetorian Guard followed, fighting through the enemy under close artillery fire.
• Constantine told the exhausted Aparajita to get up and continue killing Snake People and destroying their symbols, explaining that the Emperor faced a battle on another level.

The Emperor fought the Feathered Serpent God beyond Earth’s atmosphere, wielding the Sacred Sword as the creature’s passage triggered disasters on Earth. The Sky Sword Space Station tracked his attack and concluded that he had reached the Kuiper Belt.

• The Feathered Serpent God and the Emperor rose into space, while a magical shield protected Earth’s atmosphere from the resulting storms and electromagnetic forces.
• The Emperor fought the Feathered Serpent God in orbit, drew the Sacred Sword, and recalled asking who he truly was.
• Mabath ordered the Sky Sword Space Station to focus its Space Telescope on the battle despite the risk of damaging its instruments.
• The Emperor unleashed golden energy that drove the Feathered Serpent God toward Mars and vaporized the asteroid belt in their path.
• An astronomer told Mabath that the Emperor had reached the Kuiper Belt.

Astronomers aboard the Sky Sword Space Station analyzed the Kuiper Belt battle as Natasha Romanoff questioned Mabath about the Emperor’s faster-than-light travel. In Latveria, Victor von Doom managed disaster relief while the Sorcerer Supreme assured him the Emperor could win and passed on his warning about temporary compromises.

• Astronomers explained that the Emperor and the Feathered Serpent God had devastated Kuiper Belt objects during their battle.
• Natasha Romanoff asked Mabath about faster-than-light travel, and he said the Emperor had once been a pirate in the Milky Way and could manipulate time.
• Victor von Doom ended a call with Victoria Hand and Stephanie Malik and continued managing Latveria’s disaster response.
• Victor urged the Sorcerer Supreme to help the Emperor, but she said he could win alone and explained that she had come to maintain his protective magic.
• The Sorcerer Supreme told Victor that the Emperor had asked her to remind him that temporary compromise did not mean defeat and agreements could be torn up.

The Emperor and Pegasus fought the Feathered Serpent God in the Kuiper Belt, suffering severe injuries while inflicting major damage on it. At the Sky Sword Space Station, Laura Croft explained the creature’s possible connection to the Chinese Yinglong, leaving Victoria Hand still waiting to learn when the Emperor could return to Earth.

• The Emperor and Pegasus survived the Feathered Serpent God’s assault but were badly wounded in the Kuiper Belt.
• The Emperor healed Pegasus enough to send it back to find Bayonetta and Athena while he stayed behind to face the hidden enemy.
• The Feathered Serpent God emerged from the void and seized the planetoid beneath the Emperor and Pegasus.
• Laura Croft told Victoria Hand and Natasha Romanoff that the Feathered Serpent God’s legends might identify it as the Chinese winged dragon Yinglong.
• Victor von Doom urged Laura Croft to continue, while Victoria Hand pressed her for news of the Emperor’s return to Earth.

The Emperor fought a colossal serpent inside a forming lava planet, and their clash ended in a planet-wide explosion. Back on Earth, Victor von Doom’s staff discussed Moldova and worried whether the Emperor could return to Cuba before his state visit ended, as new readings from the Kuiper Belt might reveal his fate.

• The Emperor plunged into the newborn planet’s molten iron core and struck the giant serpent with his Sacred Sword, while it accused him of betrayal and recalled their ancient conflict.
• The serpent ignited the asteroid in a violent explosion, burying both itself and the Emperor beneath collapsing rock layers as the Witch escaped through a portal.
• Victor von Doom warned Laura Croft that myths about the Feathered Serpent God and Yinglong could not be trusted, and Laura accepted the danger they posed to humanity.
• Victoria Hand proposed sending combat personnel to Moldova to investigate a flooded U.S. training camp and arrest CIA agents or officers, and Victor von Doom approved a plan for soft control.
• Natasha Romanoff questioned whether the Emperor could return to Cuba for his scheduled public appearance, and Victoria Hand showed a Kuiper Belt anomaly that might clarify his fate.

Aparajita’s company advanced through the Amazon Rainforest, purging mutated creatures while he and Salazar discussed the heavy casualties and Nixon’s recovery. Constantine then led the Praetorian Guard to rendezvous with a warden, Inspector Supiluliumas, and the Sorcerer Supreme to welcome the Emperor.

• Aparajita’s knights and gunboats attacked the corrupted creatures and advanced on operational quadrant Alpha-4.
• Aparajita told Salazar that he could adapt to his grief over the fallen, and Salazar reassured him about Nixon’s possible recovery.
• Hammurabi challenged Constantine about the Praetorian Guard’s absence from the purge operation and from the Emperor’s side.
• Constantine explained that the Emperor had assigned other duties and that the group would rendezvous with the warden, Inspector Supiluliumas, and the Sorcerer Supreme.
• Constantine told the Praetorian Guard that they were going to welcome the Emperor.

Hammurabi introduced the elite wardens guarding Kamar-Taj’s strange prisoners, while the Sorcerer Supreme and Praetorian Guards prepared to reach the Kuiper Belt aboard a Sky Battleship. Tita joined them to hurry the mission to help the Emperor, and the Sorcerer Supreme was set to overcome the journey’s limits with magic.

• Hammurabi described the wardens’ trials and their duty to guard Kamar-Taj’s prisoners, including a wizard made of maggots and the former prisoner Milia.
• The Sorcerer Supreme explained that the golden device had to be taken to the Kuiper Belt and teased Constantine about the Sovrin High Priest’s obsession with the Emperor.
• The Sorcerer Supreme sent automated machines to move the device onto the Sky Battleship.
• Tita welcomed the Sorcerer Supreme, Constantine, and the Praetorian Guards, then urged them to complete the mission quickly because the Emperor had been left alone.
• The crew prepared to depart, with the Sorcerer Supreme ready to use magic to shorten the Sky Battleship’s journey to the Kuiper Belt.

The Emperor’s speech in Cuba advanced his plan to undermine the dollar’s financial hegemony, while the real Emperor remained at the edge of the Solar System preparing for a desperate battle. Back on Earth, Victoria Hand refused to let Steve Rogers leave to help people in danger, citing his political importance.

• The Emperor delivered a speech in Cuba that reinforced Yugoslav Federation cooperation and offered countries an alternative marketplace beyond dollar dominance.
• The Emperor’s military power and the destruction of Wall Street weakened the dollar’s protection, while inflation and social division worsened in America.
• Diana Lister watched the Emperor depart, unaware that the figure aboard the transport was an Alchemical Doll controlled remotely by Victor von Doom.
• Victor revealed that the real Emperor was at the edge of the Solar System, waiting for the Sisterhood and Sacred Guard to act.
• Diana complained about the cost of deploying the knights and suggested taxing the world to pay for it.
• Victoria Hand told Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers that the Emperor’s plans would continue after his departure, then refused Steve’s request to go help people because of his political significance.

A Sky Battleship carrying the Venerable One, Tita, and Constantine searched the Kuiper Belt for the missing Emperor, while the Venerable One explained why she had not teleported him directly back to Earth. The crew discovered a possible enemy swarm near the Emperor’s last known location and prepared to jump toward it.

• The Sky Battleship accelerated out of Earth's orbit, demonstrating Latveria's control of low orbit.
• The Venerable One explained to Tita that their teleportation beacon could pull the Emperor back, but doing so might cause enormous destruction if he had grown to match the Feathered Serpent God.
• The Sky Battleship followed radiation remnants from the Sacred Sword into a trap zone in the Kuiper Belt but found no trace of the Emperor at the expected coordinates.
• Constantine reported that a small, concentrated swarm was surging toward the ship and might be hostile.
• The Venerable One approved activating the weapons and escort fighters, then ordered the crew to mark the swarm's direction and make another jump.

The Sky Battleship reached the anomalous asteroid in the Kuiper Belt and began deploying teleportation and navigation beacons to recover the Emperor. As the rescue continued, Victor von Doom prepared the Emperor’s public appearance in Cuba while concealing his absence from foreign observers.

• The Sky Battleship encountered the Emperor’s enormous corpse and used its weapons and escort transports to clear threats around the recovery site.
• Constantine ordered the launch of a teleportation beacon and escort fighters, while a Mars Foundry technician deployed automatic beacons across nearby asteroids.
• The Sorcerer Supreme activated the teleportation protocol and reassured Tita that she would return her master whole and unharmed.
• Victor von Doom received the Kuiper Belt message, sent instructions to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and prepared to meet the returning flight formation from Cuba.
• Diana List urged Victor von Doom to place Praetorian Guard beside the Emperor, and he said they were with the Emperor elsewhere while dismissing the risk of suspicion.

The Emperor recovered aboard the Sky Battleship after fighting the Feathered Serpent God, while he and the Sorcerer Supreme discussed how his memories tied him to a spacetime loop involving Tiamat and Marduk. He ordered the Feathered Serpent God’s remains destroyed and prepared to return to Earth.

• The Sorcerer Supreme learned through the Emperor’s memories that an ancient city had faced a flood and an immense creature, possibly Tiamat, for the third time.
• The Emperor explained that Marduk had only temporarily occupied the position of the first Demon Pillar and that he himself had started the events leading to his eventual betrayal by Tiamat.
• The Sorcerer Supreme warned that the Emperor would have to follow his memories to complete the spacetime loop, then asked when he would return to Earth.
• The Emperor ordered Tita and Constantine to accelerate the destruction of the Feathered Serpent God’s remains and eliminate any contaminating material.
• Tita reassured the agitated Artificial Humans that the Emperor was safe, then rejected a technician’s request to collect samples and confined him until the cleansing operation ended.

The Emperor oversaw the Sky Battleship’s bombardment of the Feathered Serpent God’s remains and ordered psychological safeguards for its crew. On Earth, Victor von Doom and Stephanie Malik prepared to welcome him in Latveria while concealing that he was still in the Kuiper Belt, where preparations against the Dark Order’s Alien Fleet remained urgent.

• The Emperor watched the Sky Battleship and its fighters attack the Feathered Serpent God’s remains, while Martian Technicians maintained the ship’s main gun between shots.
• The Emperor ordered the Praetorian Guard to conduct psychological evaluations and hypnosis tests on the crew, obscuring or erasing memories if necessary.
• Stephanie Malik led Ministry of Internal Affairs officials toward the military airport to welcome the Emperor, believing he was returning from the Kuiper Belt.
• Victor von Doom told Stephanie Malik that the Emperor was not in Latveria and that the Alien Fleet remained a grave threat despite Latveria’s limited ability to prepare.
• Victor von Doom put on his mask and instructed Stephanie Malik to stand with him without revealing any weakness to the officials.

Natasha Romanoff warned Laura Croft that her sponsor treated people as tools, leaving Laura to question the cost of her adventures. The Emperor arranged aid for the Paititi and Yaaxil people, and Laura accepted two artifacts before preparing to investigate the silver stone door.

• Natasha Romanoff told Laura Croft that her sponsor had seized the space station and warned that he might view Laura as a tool whose death would not matter to him.
• Laura Croft reflected on whether the disaster in Peru could have been prevented, while Natasha explained that she had already made her own bargain and left Laura to decide what hers was worth.
• The Emperor ordered repairs to the Sky Battleship and promised Enuratu help rebuilding Paititi and a route for the Yaaxil Tribe to return there and travel to the underworld.
• Laura Croft recognized the statue beside the sealed silver stone door as the Yaaxil creator deity, the Blood Moon (Waning Moon) Goddess, and joined a mission to survey what lay beyond it.
• The Emperor thanked Laura Croft for helping prevent a worse disaster and gave her the Chakchel Key and Ixchel Silver Box as souvenirs, which she accepted without asking the question she feared.

Laura Croft planned to return to her manor, but the Emperor warned that her exposure to Outer Dimensions energy might have affected her mind and asked her to investigate the Yaaxil underworld gate. After the Emperor described himself as a function devoted to humanity’s survival, Hammurabi explained the repeated extinction crises that had shaped his choices.

• Laura Croft told the Emperor she would take a break from adventuring, visit Winston at her Surrey manor, and sort through her father’s documents.
• The Emperor arranged a sheepdog for Laura and warned that her apparent gin bottle was a vision caused by exposure to Outer Dimensions energy, recommending a mental examination.
• The Emperor asked Laura to help the Yaaxil explore their underworld gate, then said he would never regret his actions or accept praise because his function was to preserve humanity.
• Hammurabi escorted Laura toward the Space Gene Laboratory and said humanity had faced at least ten global extinction crises in the past century.
• Hammurabi defended the Emperor’s record and criticized the Avengers for failing to address the wars, hunger, and suffering beyond the Battle of New York.