Chapter Summaries

Fang Ran caught up with Ling outside Milan Cathedral and shielded her from a commandment bullet, where she revealed that Ling was not her real name and tried to send him away. After comforting her, Fang Ran faced the Order Knights and unleashed A-rank Upper Tier power as the rain stopped.

• Fang Ran rushed toward Ling while Maison, Keysti, and Higg pursued him and attacked his failing force barrier.
• A commandment bullet struck Ling's path, and Fang Ran intercepted it by embracing her and taking the impact himself.
• Ling told Fang Ran that her name was not Ling and tried to push him away, but he pulled her into an embrace and reassured her that he would protect her.
• Fang Ran sheltered Ling from the rain, then confronted the Order Knights and released the power of an A-rank Upper Tier.
• The rain stopped as Maison and Higg realized the danger Fang Ran posed.

Fang Ran revealed overwhelming power before Milan Cathedral, stopping the rain across the city and easily turning back the Knights of the Order’s assault. He captured Maison and left him restrained in the shadows, asking whether that was all.

• Fang Ran hovered above Milan Cathedral with Ling as his power stopped the rain across the city.
• Maison, Higg, and Keysti unleashed their trump cards and charged Fang Ran, while Aurelia recognized his cloak as a Night Device.
• Fang Ran absorbed the trio’s arrows and bullets into Night’s Pilgrimage without moving.
• Maison rushed behind Fang Ran and threw his strongest punch, but Fang Ran caught him in shadows before he could land it.
• Fang Ran dragged Maison before him and asked whether that was all, while Hugin and Munin perched on his shoulders.

Wales summoned a gigantic Skeleton Demon against Fang Ran, but Fang Ran devoured it and overwhelmed the Church Knights with future weapons. As he prepared to finish them, Sharon appeared and rescued the four, leaving Fang Ran to confront her.

• Wales used the others’ magical energy to summon a fifty-meter Skeleton Demon and ordered it to attack Fang Ran.
• Fang Ran summoned Gluttony, which swallowed the Skeleton Demon, then seized Wales with shadows and destroyed his summoned servants.
• Fang Ran used future weapons to drive Maison, Higg, Keysti, and Wales around the plaza, then trapped them in walls of light and blasted them.
• The four beams rebounded toward Fang Ran, who cut them apart with Silver Severing Dragon Tooth before noticing the Church Knights had vanished.
• A woman in a Head Maid dress appeared with the four Knights, and Fang Ran recognized her as Sharon.

Fang Ran spared the church figures after Sharon intervened, then left Milan with Ling. When Ling asked to find her parents, he agreed, and they set off in a carriage.

• Sharon revealed herself, rescued the four church figures, and asked Fang Ran to spare them.
• Fang Ran calmed down, forced Wales awake with a Phantom Card, and warned the church that no one would survive another attack.
• Sharon and Aurelia remained in Milan while Fang Ran flew away with Ling.
• Fang Ran offered to take Ling to Rome, but she asked him to help find her parents, and he agreed.
• Ling chose what to bring, and Fang Ran set off with her in a black carriage with vermilion wheels.

As the battle at the North Pole resumed beneath the polar night, Harmon and the mysterious Aurelia Le Guien joined Nevernight Palace’s forces. Ling recognized Le Guien as someone thought dead for a century, and the Queen’s words provoked Ling into revealing her anger as Wandering Night unleashed its weapons.

• Ling Feng and Trinity faced the returning Zero Knights Bayerdians, Klausel, and Yag Nagaen across the shattered Ice Sea.
• Harmon arrived from Asia, identifying himself as Nevernight Palace’s Alchemist and further tilting the battle’s balance.
• A ghostly carriage brought Aurelia Le Guien to the Arctic, and Ling recognized her as a figure who should have died a century earlier.
• The Queen asked whether Ling truly would not return and called her by a name that made Ling cry out in anger.
• Wandering Night activated its weapons and poured its strongest attack onto the Ice Sea as the group faced five enemies with no apparent escape.

Fang Ran briefly encountered an adult Ling in the Sky Palace, where she mistook him for an intruder and attacked before he vanished. Back with the younger Ling in the early Twentieth Century, he told her he had come from a hundred years in the future.

• Fang Ran appeared in the Sky Palace and saw adult Ling, who was sitting by the sea.
• Adult Ling and her mech soldier attacked Fang Ran, and he defended himself while realizing who she was.
• Fang Ran surrendered briefly, called Ling “Queen,” then used a flash to disappear and silently promised to find them.
• An Amber Staff wielder arrived and asked Carol what had happened; Carol recalled Fang Ran's promise and felt an inexplicable familiarity.
• Fang Ran woke in a carriage beside the younger Ling, took over the reins, and reassured her that he preferred her at this age.
• When Ling asked why he cared for her, Fang Ran told her he had come from a hundred years in the future.

Fang Ran told Ling that he came from a hundred years in the future and described the life they would share. Their conversation ended with Ling angry after Fang Ran called her cute instead of reassuring her about her future appearance.

• Fang Ran told Ling he came from a hundred years in the future, and she believed him because of his extraordinary abilities.
• Fang Ran explained how Ling had helped him through a frightening period and revealed that she would become a powerful Participant who lived for a long time.
• Ling gave Fang Ran her real name, Carol, and promised she would not become the tsundere he described.
• Fang Ran told Ling she would remain a slightly older version of her present self, then tried to comfort her by calling her cute.
• Ling pushed Fang Ran away and called him an idiot as their carriage continued across the Po River Plain.

Fang Ran and Ling relaxed together on a carriage roof in Italy, where Ling asked about the future and Fang Ran described modern technology and historical figures. The conversation turned to the attack at the ball, and Fang Ran reassured Ling that his injury had healed and he had only bitten his tongue.

• Fang Ran lounged beside Ling on the carriage roof and claimed his automatic fishing rods would catch fish by themselves.
• Ling asked Fang Ran about cars and life a hundred years in the future, and he explained that cars were common in his era.
• Fang Ran named historical figures who were still alive in their time, but Ling said cars seemed more amazing.
• Fang Ran remembered that he had driven to the ball to intimidate Italian nobles, and Ling asked if his injury still hurt.
• Fang Ran told Ling he had only bitten his tongue and insisted that the C-Rank attackers could not have hurt him.

Fang Ran showed Ling his raven familiars, Hugin and Munin, then created a Hummer for her to try. After two hours of driving practice, Ling mastered the car while Fang Ran realized he was a worse driver than she was.

• Fang Ran summoned Hugin and Munin and introduced them to Ling, though the ravens swapped places to expose his mistake about which was which.
• Fang Ran admitted that his car had been destroyed and offered to make Ling another one.
• Fang Ran used the Book of Creation to produce a black Hummer for Ling by the riverbank.
• Fang Ran began teaching Ling to drive, but first forgot to release the handbrake and struggled to demonstrate the controls.
• After two hours, Ling drove the Hummer smoothly while Fang Ran stood outside, stunned by her skill and his own poor driving.

Aurelia’s mysterious superior sought to end World War I by weakening its causes and guiding a revolution in Russia, while worrying that the growing power of the Narrow Space could overwhelm her. After hearing about a powerful, unknown Huaxian participant encountered in Milan, she recognized the girl with him and believed they would meet.

• Aurelia’s superior watched the Somme battlefield and resolved to end the war by attacking it from the edges.
• Sharon and Aurelia reported that their efforts to stir anti-war opposition in Germany and Austria-Hungary had failed, but revolution in Tsarist Russia was nearing fruition.
• Aurelia’s superior ordered the man involved in Russia’s revolution to return once Tsarist Russia fell, and Aurelia reported that the Church would help contact participants opposed to the war.
• Sharon and Aurelia described a black-haired Huaxian young man in Milan whose strength had reached A-rank Upper Tier and whose power seemed discordant with him.
• Aurelia’s superior viewed an image of the young man and the girl he carried, recognized the girl, and said she expected to meet them.

Fang Ran and Ling continued their carefree journey through towns as they searched for Ling’s parents, growing closer as they traveled. Ling asked whether Fang Ran would return to his own time, and he promised to stay by her side, while a woman in black and a defeated army approached the border town.

• Fang Ran woke Ling in their farm cart and helped her get dressed before they continued toward the next town.
• Ling questioned Fang Ran about characters in Cardcaptor Sakura and teased him about whether he had married in the future.
• Fang Ran asked Ling about the woman in the white villa near Il, and Ling explained that the woman had saved her during the war.
• Ling asked Fang Ran whether he would return to a hundred years later, and he promised to always stay by her side.
• A woman in a long black dress walked toward the border town as a defeated army approached from the Isonzo Plain.

Fang Ran and Ling reached a border town while searching for Ling’s parents, but found no clues before soldiers entered town. That night, Fang Ran’s dream revealed a battlefield and a mysterious woman, and he awoke to a terrifying tide of darkness spreading nearby.

• Fang Ran and Ling arrived at the border town and asked the local Priest about Ling’s parents, but he had never seen them and warned them to leave because soldiers were coming.
• Fang Ran reassured Ling that her parents were probably still alive, then joked with her as they continued asking around town.
• A group of exhausted soldiers entered the town, and their commander noticed a disoriented woman in a black dress and ordered his adjutant to bring her to him.
• Fang Ran dreamed of a bloodied battlefield from a hundred years earlier, where a violet-eyed woman asked a commander, “Are you my doll?”
• Fang Ran awoke and saw a terrifying tide of darkness spreading across the town.

Fang Ran and Ling discovered a spreading darkness consuming the Border Town and fled as its inhabitants became mindless. At its source, the awakened Ominous Demoness turned the commander into a doll and drove the town into chaos.

• Fang Ran sensed an overwhelming danger in the night and woke Ling, then carried her out of the inn.
• Fang Ran saw darkness swallowing a third of the Border Town, leaving houses empty and their residents wandering like corpses.
• Fang Ran chose to flee with Ling rather than investigate, while a mark on his wall of light stirred.
• The Ominous Demoness confronted the commander, dragged him back with a tendril of darkness, and resisted his gunfire.
• The Ominous Demoness forced the commander’s mind to collapse and made him her new doll, causing the townspeople under her control to erupt into madness.
• The Ominous Demoness walked through the darkened town with a smile while wondering why no one loved her.

After seeing the darkness consume a town and its people, Fang Ran tried to stay with Ling rather than risk saving them, but she called out his guilt and reminded him that he could protect her while helping. Reconciled with Ling and reassured by her support, Fang Ran set out toward the town, promising to return quickly.

• Hugin showed Fang Ran a vision of the town swallowed by darkness, where lifeless-eyed residents rampaged and destroyed everything around them.
• Fang Ran chose to camp outside the town and claimed he would not intervene because he needed to keep Ling safe.
• Ling confronted Fang Ran, listing his past kindnesses and pointing out that he wanted to save the townspeople and could protect her with his weapons, Hugin, Munin, and Wheel Cards.
• Ling told Fang Ran that the future Ling's danger was not his fault and that she disliked seeing him deny his own wishes out of guilt.
• Fang Ran apologized, hugged Ling, and thanked her for helping him understand; Ling comforted him and asked him to return quickly.
• Fang Ran gave Ling Munin for protection, donned Night's Pilgrimage, and flew toward the town, declaring that he was strong.

Aurelia defied Sharon’s warning and entered Border Town to divert the Ominous Demoness, using a town-wide teleportation formation to capture her. Just as the Demoness claimed Aurelia as a doll, Fang Ran arrived and clashed with her at the center of the formation.

• Sharon warned Aurelia that confronting the A-rank Upper Tier Demoness would be futile and could endanger the world, but Aurelia chose to protect the townspeople.
• Aurelia rode Garon into the darkness, drawing the Demoness’s attention and laying chains around the town while evading her mental attacks.
• Aurelia completed a teleportation pentagram that trapped the Demoness, but the Demoness overwhelmed Aurelia and took her as a doll.
• Lightning and white barriers appeared, putting the townspeople to sleep as Fang Ran descended with his Dragon Spine Greatsword.
• Fang Ran struck the Demoness at the center of the pentagram, and the Demoness’s heart and Fang Ran’s Dragon Fang lit up together.

Fang Ran battled the Demoness in the early twentieth-century town, using The Erase to overcome her defenses before her mental attack was stopped by a Black Rose Mask. When their masks shattered, Fang Ran and the Demoness recognized each other across time.

• Fang Ran rescued Aurelia from the Demoness and sent her to safety with the townspeople.
• Fang Ran traded attacks with the Demoness but could not penetrate her transparent black barrier.
• The Demoness unleashed a Forbidden Spell as Fang Ran charged, and he used The Erase to make the spell and barrier disappear.
• The Demoness attacked Fang Ran’s mind, but a Black Rose Mask appeared and blocked her control.
• Fang Ran’s strike shattered both masks, revealing the Demoness’s face and leaving her and Fang Ran staring at each other in disbelief.

Fang Ran recognized the Demoness as the woman who had once saved him, but she attacked him in a frenzy, forcing him to defend the sleeping townspeople. After she drew power from dolls and Aurelia to weave a new spell, a blood-red circle appeared in the sky and Fang Ran realized she was summoning something enormous.

• Fang Ran recognized the Demoness from his memories, but she attacked him with relentless magic while he struggled to fight back.
• The Demoness accused Fang Ran of always running from her and summoned a colossal, tree-like mass of buildings to hurl flaming wreckage at him.
• Fang Ran planted Silver Severing Dragon Tooth in the ground and used its shield to protect the sleeping townspeople from the falling ruins.
• The Demoness survived the massive spell by drawing energy from a group of doll-like figures and unconscious Aurelia.
• The Demoness used Aurelia's Magic Weaving to combine abilities she had plundered, and a blood-red circle appeared as Fang Ran recognized the enormous thing she was summoning.

Fang Ran tried to stop the Demoness’s enormous Gluttony from devouring the surviving town, then chose to fight despite his fear and the cost of using The Erase. As his strength failed and Gluttony returned, a light descended from the heavens.

• Fang Ran saw that the Demoness had created a Gluttony larger than the town, and his own attempt to summon Gluttony failed.
• The Demoness celebrated when her new Gluttony spoke, then ordered it to find food and sent it to devour Fang Ran and the remaining town.
• Fang Ran considered fleeing or using The Erase, but rejected his reason’s warning that the people were only part of a scenario and chose to save them.
• Fang Ran used The Erase to erase the giant Gluttony, exhausting his strength as it began to restore itself.
• Fang Ran fell to the ground, unable to stop Gluttony’s return, and a light descended from the heavens.

The Nevernight Palace Queen destroyed Gluttony and prepared to seal the Demoness, but Fang Ran intervened and sent the Demoness away. He then turned to face the Queen from a hundred years ago.

• The Nevernight Palace Queen descended in a beam of light, dispelled Gluttony, and comforted Aurelia as she regained her senses.
• The Demoness became enraged at Gluttony's disappearance and attacked the Queen, who began contracting Aurelia's teleportation pentagram and prepared to seal her.
• Fang Ran rushed through the damaged barrier and shielded the Demoness from the Queen's light, then used a card to teleport her away.
• The Demoness tried to see Fang Ran's face before vanishing, while he coughed, recovered his stance, and turned to face the Nevernight Palace Queen from a hundred years ago.

After Fang Ran apologized for saving the Demoness, the Queen of Nevernight Palace comforted him and recognized that he came from a century in the future. She introduced herself as Van Helsing and asked him to go with her so she could tell him something.

• The Queen of Nevernight Palace soothed the unconscious townspeople while Fang Ran expressed guilt for letting the Demoness escape and destroy much of the town.
• The Queen asked why Fang Ran was apologizing and told him that his actions had helped the survivors.
• The Queen deduced that Fang Ran did not belong to her era and acknowledged that he had come from the future.
• Fang Ran told her his name and confirmed that he came from a century later.
• The Queen introduced herself as Van Helsing and invited Fang Ran to accompany her.