Chapter Summaries

Lu Xiu tested and submitted a new Sister Friede boss encounter, then placed Ariandel Chapel in the Painted World near its iconic tower. Meanwhile, Gallagher recognized the Painted World as a strong base for Prison Rock in the coming battle, while Zhang Chongshan hid from Prison Rock and hoped to return to Nine Provinces.

• Lu Xiu fought Sister Friede and killed her instantly with Sunlight Spear, prompting Father Ariandel to break the Lordvessel and revive her in a fiery second phase.
• Lu Xiu spent nearly two hours fighting Sister Friede four times, testing her skills and confirming the encounter had no problems.
• Lu Xiu added Ariandel Chapel to the Painted World near the iconic tower and prepared to submit the new area.
• Gallagher reached the tower in the Painted World and concluded that its dangerous terrain and monsters made it an ideal Prison Rock base for the large-scale battle.
• Zhang Chongshan hid in a lava lake, regretted betraying Nine Provinces, and hoped his boss would help him return when the large-scale battle began.

Lu Xiu added Darkeater Midir beneath Firelink Shrine as a limited boss while the Dark Souls speedrun battle ended in Nine Provinces’ decisive victory. Nine Provinces gained control of fifty more districts in Prison Rock’s capital, and Director Li Bao considered how to handle Lu Xiu’s growing influence.

• Lu Xiu abandoned her plan to build the Nameless King and placed Darkeater Midir in an underground cavern beneath Firelink Shrine.
• The speedrun countdown ended, and the announcement declared Nine Provinces the winner with 36 first clears to Prison Rock’s 21.
• The victory transferred fifty Prison Rock capital districts to Nine Provinces, leaving it in control of two-thirds of the capital.
• Director Li Bao credited Lu Xiu with Nine Provinces’ advantage and wondered how the Coordination Bureau should deal with her.
• Li Bao opened a report about Lu Xiu’s request to experiment with the Placement Function.

After Nine Provinces seized two-thirds of Prison Rock’s capital, the system announced the rules for the coming 1,000-versus-1,000 group battles. Lu Xiu was assigned to Tier 1 and learned that her death could hand Prison Rock an immediate victory, so Yan Fushou began planning protection for her.

• Nine Provinces players celebrated their victories while Prison Rock’s Prime Minister ordered preparations for the group battles and possible negotiations to reclaim lost territory.
• The system announced that group battles would begin in twelve hours, with five tiers competing in Dark Souls and victories transferring regions between factions.
• Lu Xiu objected to the special Creator debuff, which would reveal her location and draw every monster and boss to her.
• The system assigned Lu Xiu to Tier 1, the first and highest-level group battle.
• Yan Fushou told Lu Xiu that her death was worth five core bonfires, and she agreed to let him arrange protection.

Prison Rock planned to exploit the rule that killing Nine Provinces’ Architect would earn five Core Bonfires, while Lu Xiu met with Jian Li and Shen Nian to arrange a rendezvous for the coming group battle. The chapter ended with Jian Li quietly reflecting that Lu Xiu seemed to notice and praise her skirts.

• The Imperial Prime Minister ordered Gallagher to defend the Painted World Bonfires and lead a group to hunt Lu Xiu, warning him to learn her weaknesses if they could not kill her immediately.
• Jian Li and Shen Nian visited Lu Xiu and said the Strategy Group and mobilizable High Sequence players would gather where she directed and follow her command.
• Lu Xiu chose the lakeside in Darkroot Garden as their rendezvous point and told them to approach through the route past the Black Knight and the watchtower shortcut.
• Shen Nian warned that the Hydra, Crystal Golems, and Havel could threaten Lu Xiu, but Lu Xiu said she would handle them until the others arrived.
• Jian Li and Shen Nian decided to stay with Lu Xiu overnight, and Jian Li suggested that staying close might improve their chances of spawning near one another.
• Jian Li watched Lu Xiu and concluded that Lu Xiu often looked at her pleated skirt and sincerely praised it.

Lu Xiu entered the T1 group battle and found herself in Anor Londo, where she encountered Princess of Sun Gwynevere before heading toward the arena. She arrived as the Anor Londo bosses and players from both factions were fighting, and the chapter ended with the bosses and Prison Rock players charging at her.

• Lu Xiu warned Jian Li and Shen Nian not to cross the map to reach her if the [Creator] BUFF attracted monsters.
• The T1 match began, and Lu Xiu landed in Gwynevere's bedchamber in Anor Londo.
• Lu Xiu tried to persuade Gwynevere to give her the Lordvessel, but Gwynevere recognized her as her Creator and refused.
• Lu Xiu left the bedchamber and took an elevator down toward Ornstein and Smough's hall.
• Lu Xiu entered the arena, where the bosses and players from both factions stopped fighting and turned toward her.
• Prison Rock players identified Lu Xiu and charged at her alongside Ornstein and Smough, while Nine Provinces players called for her protection; Lu Xiu drew Loathing Halberd and Nameless Blade.

Lu Xiu fought Ornstein and Smough after the dungeon’s restrictions lifted, then used their aggression to turn the Prison Rock players’ attack into a massacre. She escaped toward the doorway while Nine Provinces’ players retreated.

• Lu Xiu deflected Ornstein’s spear and evaded Smough’s hammer, realizing the two BOSSes now fought with adaptive instincts and seamless coordination.
• Prison Rock players rushed Lu Xiu as Nine Provinces players tried to reach and protect her.
• Lu Xiu dodged past Ornstein and Smough, parried a Prison Rock player’s strike, and charged through the enemy formation, declaring herself the Train King.
• Lu Xiu escaped behind the Prison Rock players and urged the Nine Provinces players to run, leaving Ornstein and Smough to rampage through their opponents.
• The surviving Prison Rock players fled as Lu Xiu reached the doorway, and the Nine Provinces players withdrew after realizing she had escaped on her own.

Lu Xiu drew the Twin Princes out of their chamber and used her Jump Kit and movement skills to race through Anor Londo, with Ornstein and Smough pursuing her and devastating the corridor. She approached the main hall’s exit as spectators realized Prison Rock players were blocking the way ahead.

• The spectator portal opened, and millions of players watched Lu Xiu battle two bosses before drawing them out of their chamber.
• Lu Xiu equipped her Jump Kit, warned Nine Provinces players to retreat to the walls, and launched herself down the corridor with Ornstein and Smough chasing her.
• Lu Xiu dodged a Prison Rock player’s sword, and the pursuing bosses smashed through the corridor, crushing Prison Rock players while Nine Provinces players took cover.
• A Nine Provinces Strategy Group member cursed Yan Fushou for telling them to protect someone instead of relying on Lu Xiu.
• Spectators recognized Lu Xiu’s combat techniques and realized that more than a hundred Prison Rock players were blocking her route out of the main hall.

Lu Xiu led Ornstein, Smough, Silver Knights, and Anor Londo Giants onto the staircase where Nine Provinces and Prison Rock players were fighting. She deflected Thunder’s attacks, caught Enoch’s dagger, and maneuvered the Twin Princes into striking both Chosen players, leaving them critically wounded as she stood unharmed between the bosses.

• Lu Xiu burst from Anor Londo’s main hall with a monster army following her and charged toward the staircase battle between Nine Provinces and Prison Rock.
• Thunder and Enoch tried to stop Lu Xiu, while Fan Lixin ordered the Nine Provinces players to move aside and let her pass.
• Lu Xiu deflected Thunder’s great axe, caught Enoch’s dagger barehanded, and threw both Chosen players off balance.
• Lu Xiu withdrew into the Twin Princes’ attack path and sidestepped their spear and hammer, causing Ornstein and Smough to strike Thunder and Enoch instead.
• Thunder and Enoch were hurled down the staircase with critical injuries, while Lu Xiu remained standing unharmed between the Twin Princes as both livestream audiences watched.

Lu Xiu used the Twin Princes of Anor Londo to slaughter Prison Rock players as she ran through the outer district, and both factions began clearing her path. She reached the suspended platform connecting Anor Londo to Sen's Fortress, continuing her monster-pulling marathon.

• Lu Xiu deflected Thunder's attack and sidestepped Ornstein's spear, causing the boss to impale and kill Thunder.
• Lu Xiu dodged Enoch's Afterimage attacks, and Smough's great hammer crushed him as it fell.
• Lu Xiu ran through the Prison Rock players, using her evasions to redirect Ornstein and Smough's attacks and kill more than a hundred of them.
• Fan Lixin and the other witnesses watched the slaughter, while Prison Rock players and its Imperial Chancellor reacted with disbelief and despair.
• Both factions moved aside as Lu Xiu raced across a bridge with the growing monster horde behind her, and she reached the platform linking Anor Londo to Sen's Fortress.

Lu Xiu escaped Anor Londo by drawing its monsters to the terrace, trapping the Prison Rock players and giving Nine Provinces the advantage. She raced through Sen's Fortress toward Darkroot Garden, where she encountered Finn, a hostile Sequence 31 player, in place of the Titanite Demon.

• Lu Xiu flew away from the terrace as Ornstein, Smough, and the monsters filled it, blocking Anor Londo's routes and trapping the arriving Prison Rock players.
• Tessa led the Prison Rock players deeper into Anor Londo while Fan Lixin sent the Nine Provinces players after them.
• Lu Xiu reached the top of Sen's Fortress and ran through its traps and guards, reaching the exit in less than ten minutes.
• Lu Xiu passed the blacksmith's chamber and entered the room where the Titanite Demon should have been.
• Lu Xiu found Finn standing beside the demon's ash and saw his hostile-faction ID: Sequence 31.

Finn ambushed Lu Xiu outside Sen’s Fortress and trapped her in his weapon-countering Domain, forcing her into hand-to-hand combat. After Finn’s punch sent her into a wall, Lu Xiu sensed a mysterious woman in the Undead Parish who had manipulated her arm with invisible threads.

• Gallagher sent Finn to watch Sen’s Fortress and hunt for an opening to attack Lu Xiu, while Queenie warned him that Lu Xiu had built the Sifu dungeon.
• Finn confronted Lu Xiu alone and activated his Edge-less Prison Domain, which weakened bladed weapons and empowered his unarmed attacks.
• Lu Xiu put away the Nameless Blade and faced Finn with her fists, drawing alarm from Nine Provinces viewers and confidence from Prison Rock viewers.
• Finn charged and punched Lu Xiu, but an unseen force pulled her arm out of position; the blow drove her into a wall and cost her a third of her health.
• Lu Xiu sensed a woman in the Undead Parish manipulating invisible threads, and the woman smiled as she realized Lu Xiu had found her.

Lu Xiu used her abilities to discover that Jian Ning was secretly controlling threads from the Bell Tower, then stole and sealed Jian Ning’s Hunting Thread skill. After redirecting Finn’s attack with Neutralize, Lu Xiu accused Jian Ning of betraying her country and permanently blacklisted her from the Instance.

• Finn charged Lu Xiu, but she used her Jump Kit to wall-run past him and consumed Divine Confetti to increase her mental power.
• Lu Xiu activated Reverse Visual Imagery, located Jian Ning at the Bell Tower, and used Ellen’s Red Headband to steal and seal Jian Ning’s Hunting Thread for ten minutes.
• Jian Ning lost control of her threads and discovered that Lu Xiu had forcibly sealed her skill.
• Lu Xiu used Neutralize to redirect Finn’s punch, leaving him off balance and revealing threads spreading around her.
• Lu Xiu accused Jian Ning of betraying her country and permanently blacklisted her from the Instance.

Lu Xiu dominated Finn while using transparent threads to control Jian Ning and ring the Bells of Awakening from afar. As Finn and Jian Ning activated their invincibility skills at the same time, both broke free of her control.

• Lu Xiu revealed that Jian Ning was caught in her transparent threads, then used the threads to make Jian Ning ring the Bells of Awakening while she Neutralized Finn’s attacks.
• Lu Xiu overwhelmed Finn with close-range strikes and sent him crashing into a stone wall, while Jian Ning continued to ring the bell.
• Lu Xiu dragged Jian Ning from the Bell Tower and slammed her chin into the pavement, breaking her jaw.
• Finn fled toward the Black Forest, but Lu Xiu caught him in her threads and lifted him into the air, revealing an immense web surrounding her.
• Finn and Jian Ning activated their invincibility skills at the same moment, and golden light enveloped them both.

Lu Xiu used the skill she had stolen from Jian Ning to slaughter the Play Society members in Undead Parish while Jian Ning remained invincible. Jian Ning disabled the skill with her Domain Skill before it could kill everyone, then vowed to remember Lu Xiu as the threads vanished.

• Finn escaped into the passage to Darkroot Garden, while Lu Xiu chose not to pursue him and turned her attention to Jian Ning.
• Lu Xiu used transparent threads to bind the cat-eared girl and the Play Society members hiding near the Bell Tower, then hurled them against buildings and pillars until they were eliminated.
• Jian Ning watched the Play Society members die and laughed as she realized Lu Xiu had stolen and mastered her skill.
• With her invincibility nearly over, Jian Ning activated her Domain Skill to disable Lu Xiu's threads and said she would remember her.
• Lu Xiu's stolen skill vanished, and she calmly said she would remember Jian Ning too.

After executing the Nine Provinces traitors who attacked her, Lu Xiu abandoned her pursuit of Finn and headed to the lake area to meet allies. Jian Li apologized for Jian Ning’s actions, and Lu Xiu reassured her before joining the fight against the crystal monster; Shen Nian’s messages from Blighttown left Lu Xiu laughing.

• Lu Xiu memorized the traitors’ IDs for her blacklist, healed herself, and reflected on needing more skills and battle merits.
• Lu Xiu searched for Finn with Reverse Visual Imagery, found he had fled beyond her perception, and decided not to chase him through Darkroot Garden.
• Lu Xiu reached the lake area and told Jian Li and a round-faced player how Jian Ning had intervened and attacked her, leading Lu Xiu to defeat Jian Ning’s allies and blacklist her.
• Jian Li apologized for her sister, and Lu Xiu told her that Jian Ning was responsible for her own choices; Lu Xiu then agreed to join the fight against the crystal monster.
• Jian Li showed Lu Xiu Shen Nian’s messages about being stranded in Blighttown and harassed by blowdart enemies, and Lu Xiu burst out laughing.

At Firelink Shrine, Finn returned after Lu Xiu defeated him and warned the Prison Rock leaders that she was far more dangerous than expected. Gallagher abandoned the plan to hunt her and ordered his forces to seek and hold three Core Bonfires, while preparing to fight her if she came for them.

• Finn returned to Firelink Shrine and told the Prison Rock players to call Gallagher back.
• Finn admitted that Lu Xiu had beaten him one-handed inside his domain, forcing him to flee with an invincibility skill.
• Queenie suggested that Lu Xiu was a dungeon aggregate, combining abilities drawn from multiple dungeons.
• Finn advised Gallagher to avoid provoking Lu Xiu and instead win by occupying three Core Bonfires.
• Gallagher ordered the Prison Rock players to search around Firelink Shrine for its Core Bonfire and prepare to hold it.

Lu Xiu led Nine Provinces toward Oolacile to secure its Core Bonfires, intending to face the Sanctuary Guardian while the others supported her. The entrance instead dragged the entire group into the spirit temple, while Prison Rock players and Gallagher’s team discovered possible new entrances elsewhere.

• Lu Xiu defeated the Hydra with Jian Li as Nine Provinces’s main force reached the lake, then proposed capturing two Core Bonfires in Oolacile instead of chasing Prison Rock players.
• Wei Yidong revealed he had the Broken Pendant, and the group used it to summon Dusk and open the entrance to Oolacile.
• Lu Xiu warned the group she would hold the Sanctuary Guardian’s aggro, but an Abyssal arm emerged from the vortex and pulled all the Nine Provinces players inside.
• Lu Xiu led the group through the spirit temple toward a familiar fog gate as Gallagher and Queenie found another entrance at Firelink Shrine.
• A Prison Rock player spotted a church in the Painted World and asked Zane whether it had been there before.

The main livestream split into views of the Painted World, Firelink Shrine, and Oolacile as players noticed changes to the battlefields. Lu Xiu fought the Sanctuary Guardian alone with extraordinary precision, then let Nine Provinces attack while Prison Rock viewers complained that her advantage was unfair; Prison Rock’s core players began acting in the other viewpoints.

• The livestream split into three views, showing Lu Xiu at the Sanctuary Guardian, Zane near a church in the Painted World, and Gallagher and Queenie at a hidden entrance in Firelink Shrine.
• Viewers noticed the church and entrance had appeared as new battlefield changes, and suspected Lu Xiu was responsible.
• Lu Xiu faced the Sanctuary Guardian alone, dodging its lightning and rapid horn attacks with tiny movements before striking it and cutting off its scorpion tail.
• Jian Li and the other Nine Provinces core players joined the fight once Lu Xiu had drawn the Guardian’s attention, steadily lowering its health.
• Prison Rock viewers called Lu Xiu’s skill and dungeon knowledge unfair, while Prison Rock’s core players began acting in the other viewpoints.

Gallagher and Prison Rock’s team discovered Darkeater Midir beneath Firelink Shrine, where the dragon nearly wiped them out and forced them to flee. Meanwhile, Zane led Prison Rock’s other force into a newly appeared church in the Painted World, where they found a huge, bound crow-like priest holding a Lordvessel.

• Gallagher led Prison Rock’s core players down a newly opened passage beneath Firelink Shrine to investigate a dragon’s roar and claim its Core Bonfire.
• The team encountered Darkeater Midir, whose laser attack killed two players and left the survivors near death despite Gareth’s defensive domain.
• Midir attacked the survivors with flames and claws, killing another player and forcing Gallagher and Finn to order a retreat.
• Zane chose to explore a newly appeared church in the Painted World before heading to the familiar tower, and his force reached it without encountering enemies.
• Zane and Tessa opened the church doors and found a gigantic, bound crow-like priest clutching a golden Lordvessel.

Zane and the Prison Rock players defeated Sister Friede, only for Father Ariandel to revive her and begin a brutal second phase. As Prison Rock fled and viewers accused Lu Xiu of cheating, Lu Xiu had already defeated the Sanctuary Guardian in Oolacile.

• Zane and the Prison Rock players fought Sister Friede, whose speed, invisibility, and frost attacks killed seven core players before they finally defeated her.
• Father Ariandel broke his chains and struck the Lordvessel, engulfing Sister Friede in flames and reviving her for a second phase alongside him.
• Father Ariandel and Sister Friede attacked together, overwhelming Zane's team and forcing him to order a retreat.
• Nine Provinces viewers marveled at the bosses, while Prison Rock viewers accused Lu Xiu of setting a trap and regretted not going to Oolacile.
• Lu Xiu had already defeated the Sanctuary Guardian in Oolacile.