Chapter Summaries

After the Herrscher of a Thousand’s defeat, Su Jue tried to leave Kiana and the world behind, but returned when he found Kiana sick and alone. Kiana woke and caught him trying to leave, demanding to know why he had returned after she believed he was dead.

• Su Jue sculpted an elaborate snow statue of Kiana for a group of children, then disappeared into the winter sky as a snowflake.
• Su Jue reflected on the Thousand’s defeat and decided that his story had ended and Kiana would have to continue without him.
• Su Jue entered Kiana’s home and found her sleeping in the cold with the window open, feverish and shivering.
• Su Jue covered Kiana and warmed her hands with his own, staying beside her as she slept.
• When Su Jue tried to leave, Kiana grabbed him, pinned him down, and accused him of lying about being dead and abandoning her again.

Kiana tried to keep Su Jue captive, but repeated interruptions sent Himeko, Bronya, and Seele to a snowy wasteland before Kiana finally confronted Su Jue about his deception. Later, on the Moon, Su Jue gave Kiana a chance to cross an incomplete Stargate to Earth, leaving her joyful but worried that her Honkai Energy made it impossible for her to return safely.

• Kiana pinned Su Jue down and tried to stop him from escaping, but Himeko's arrival interrupted them.
• Kiana sent Himeko, Bronya, and Seele to a snowy wasteland whenever they tried to enter her room.
• Kiana broke down in tears and accused Su Jue of repeatedly making her believe he was dead while secretly watching her.
• On the Moon, Su Jue comforted Kiana as she looked at Earth and missed home.
• Su Jue revealed that he had repaired an incomplete Stargate and brought Kiana through it to Earth.
• Kiana recognized her home but worried that the Honkai Energy she carried would prevent her from returning to Earth.

Kiana and Su Jue used a stargate to revisit Earth as consciousness projections, allowing Kiana to see how her old friends had grown before they returned to the ranch where she and Su Jue danced beneath the moon. The chapter then began the story of Su Jue’s first meeting with Kiana, when he put a dying kitten out of its misery and was attacked by a Honkai Beast.

• Su Jue brought Kiana to Earth as a consciousness projection and explained that they could walk among people without being noticed or harming them.
• Kiana saw Bronya Zaychik’s image on a game billboard and visited Raiden Mei at the former World Serpent headquarters.
• Kiana and Su Jue traveled around to see familiar people and the rebuilt St. Freya, then returned to the ranch where Kiana remembered a past regret and thanked Su Jue for accompanying her.
• Kiana and Su Jue danced on the grass beneath the stars, and their dance continued on the moon after the stargate’s energy ran out.
• During a Honkai Beast attack, Su Jue found a badly injured kitten trapped in rubble and ended its suffering before fleeing.
• A Honkai Beast cornered Su Jue, but a white-haired girl arrived and struck it with a spear and a powerful kick.

Kiana saved Su Jue from a Honkai Beast, but Sirin took control of her before Su Jue suppressed the Herrscher of Void and carried Kiana home. At Su Jue’s home, his father attacked him and Tread Snow, and Su Jue drove the man away with his money and a steel bar.

• Kiana killed the Honkai Beast and helped Su Jue gather his scattered change, then Su Jue noticed her bleeding arm and bandaged it.
• Sirin took over Kiana’s body and attacked Su Jue, but Su Jue absorbed her Honkai Energy and she collapsed.
• Su Jue carried the unconscious Kiana toward his home on the outskirts of Sky City, and Kiana woke after they fell on the way.
• Su Jue rushed inside after hearing Tread Snow cry and found his father threatening him and kicking the kitten.
• Kiana stopped Su Jue’s father from striking him, then Su Jue punched the man, gave him his change, and chased him away with a rusty steel bar.

Kiana stayed with Su Jue and his deaf, mute mother, learning about Su Jue’s illness and difficult family history while hiding her identity as a Valkyrie. As Kiana bathed, Sirin’s consciousness began to overwhelm her again.

• Su Jue brought Kiana home, where she met his deaf and mute mother and saw the bruises from his father’s beating.
• Kiana shared a meal with Su Jue and his mother, then found Su Jue’s medical record showing he had one year left and needed 500,000 for initial treatment.
• Su Jue treated Kiana’s arm and revealed bruises on his neck from when she had lost control, prompting Kiana to apologize and embrace him.
• Kiana bathed at Su Jue’s home and reflected on hiding her name and evading Schicksal and Anti-Entropy.
• Su Jue told Kiana how his father had once saved his mother but later became abusive after losing his job and turning to gambling.
• Kiana’s thoughts turned to Otto and the unfairness of Su Jue’s suffering as Sirin’s consciousness began to erode her mind again.

Sirin took control of Kiana and attacked Su Jue, but Kiana fought back before Sirin could kill him. Su Jue later reflected on his life as the Herrscher of a Thousand, went to school with Jian Yun, and began plotting amid Sky City's deep inequality before a teacher interrupted him.

• Sirin seized Kiana's body, pierced Su Jue's hand with Spears of the Void, and pinned him down until Kiana broke free and fought for control.
• In the Theater of Domination, Tread Snow and the puppets condemned Su Jue for failing to kill the Herrscher of Void, while Su Jue said Kiana would become their blade.
• Su Jue coughed blood and revealed that a rare curse was killing him, despite his Herrscher powers.
• Su Jue left for school and met Jian Yun, who asked whether the white-haired girl she saw was his girlfriend; he denied it.
• At school, Su Jue considered Sky City's inequality fertile ground for the Theater of Domination, and a piece of chalk struck his forehead.

Su Jue took control of a despairing girl who had tried to jump from a high-rise and investigated her life after returning to her family’s home. He discovered that her relatives favored her younger brother and treated her as a burden, and the story left him waiting to learn what finally drove her to despair.

• Su Jue caught himself with threads of domination after the girl jumped, then muted her and examined her phone to learn about her life.
• Su Jue followed the map to the girl’s home, where her grandmother called her a burden and ordered her to wash her brother’s clothes.
• Su Jue found a family photograph that showed the girl’s face blacked out and a childhood drawing labeled with the words “ugly freak.”
• Su Jue saw that the girl slept in a cramped balcony partition while her brother had the master bedroom, and he confronted her mother after admitting he had skipped class.
• Su Jue waited for the father and for the final straw behind the girl’s suicide attempt, while the family ignored him and Xiao Bao announced that he was hungry.

Su Jue confronted Xiao Lei’s abusive family and discovered that her deepest fear came from her younger brother’s violation of her privacy. In the Theater of Domination, he offered her a choice between vengeance and preserving her humanity; two days later, a transformed girl drew attention at a milk tea shop as someone remarked that they had expected her to choose destruction.

• Xiao Bao’s mother slapped Su Jue after he returned home, while his father failed to protect him.
• Su Jue seized the mother’s wrist and slapped her back, then ignored his father and returned to his room.
• At night, Su Jue found Xiao Bao secretly rummaging through Xiao Lei’s wardrobe and rubbing her clothes against himself.
• Su Jue presented Xiao Lei with a choice between taking the black wolf’s power of vengeance and choosing the white ram’s path, which would preserve her existence while removing her resentment.
• Two days later, Woman A’s boyfriend kept staring at a beautiful girl at a milk tea shop, and someone said they had expected her to choose destruction.

Su Jue’s new Griseo puppet awakened after absorbing his blood, gaining a lively, responsive persona while remaining under his control. As Su Jue considered what had changed, a Honkai Beast attack disrupted life in Sky City’s W-024 district.

• The newly awakened girl chose the name Griseo and agreed to join Su Jue’s Qianjue company.
• Su Jue recovered some of his health through the power of his new puppet and planned to use Xiao Lei’s drawing talent to expand Qianjue.
• Su Jue summoned a wooden girl puppet and named her Griseo, but his blood splashed onto it and the puppet began moving on its own.
• Griseo took on the appearance Su Jue remembered and remained under his control, though she showed unusual liveliness by rubbing her head against his hand.
• A piercing siren shattered the quiet of Sky City’s W-024 district as a Honkai Beast roared.

Kiana used the Herrscher of Void's power to defeat a Honkai Beast and save an officer's family, but exhaustion left her trapped between two more. Su Jue rescued her as Sky City's military arrived, and they fled with Tread Snow toward the evacuation zone, where a blockade came into view.

• Kiana ignored Sirin's taunts and pursued a Honkai Beast to save the officer's wife and child, drawing strength from her memories of Su Jue.
• Kiana destroyed the Honkai Beast with a Spear of the Void, then collapsed as two more Honkai Beasts surrounded her.
• Sirin tried to take control, but Kiana refused to release her even as the nearest Honkai Beast prepared to bite her.
• Su Jue used the Authority of Domination to divert the Honkai Beast's attack and carried Kiana clear of its jaws, while Tread Snow landed on her head.
• Sky City's military arrived and attacked the Honkai Beasts, allowing survivors to evacuate as Su Jue and Kiana ran toward safety.
• Su Jue and Kiana reached the edge of the district, where a blockade came into view.

Kiana and Su Jue tried to pass a military checkpoint without revealing her identity, but Shencheng Technology forces attacked and began abducting survivors for experiments. Su Jue secretly controlled a puppet sniper to kill the attackers, and the chapter ended with him shoving Kiana out of the way of a bullet.

• Kiana tried to separate from Su Jue to keep Schicksal from discovering her, but he reassured her that he trusted her and helped disguise her so they could pass the checkpoint.
• Su Jue bribed an inspector with two hundred yuan and presented Kiana as his girlfriend, allowing them to slip past the identity check.
• Shencheng Technology personnel exposed the checkpoint guards as unauthorized Schicksal affiliates, killed them, and began abducting survivors as experimental subjects.
• Su Jue controlled a puppet sniper from a rooftop and systematically killed the Shencheng Technology squad.
• Kiana realized the sniper had targeted her and chose not to dodge because Su Jue was beside her, but someone shoved her aside as the bullet arrived.

After escaping the checkpoint, Kiana resisted Sirin’s attempt to take over her consciousness and woke beside the wounded Su Jue. The pair crossed a ranch outside Sky City and encountered a mysterious girl painting beneath the stars.

• Kiana teleported herself and Su Jue away from the checkpoint, while Gray Serpent arrived and investigated the scene before ordering it cleaned up and disguised as a Honkai Beast attack.
• Sirin tried to break Kiana’s will with memories and phantoms of her friends, but Kiana destroyed Mei’s phantom and held on to her sense of self.
• Kiana woke with her head on Su Jue’s lap, then cleaned and rebandaged his gunshot wound.
• Su Jue told Kiana they were still near Sky City and admitted he trusted her despite her teleportation ability.
• Hungry, Kiana and Su Jue crossed the ranch and found a barefoot girl painting the stars, who panicked at their arrival and ran toward a nearby house.

Su Jue and Kiana found shelter at a ranch, where they met Su Jue’s uncle and spent the night. After Kiana confided in Su Jue about her family and past, a photograph of her in Sky City led Otto to send Rita to find her.

• Su Jue and Kiana were confronted by the rancher, but Griseo persuaded her father to let them stay for the night.
• The rancher recognized Su Jue as Su Lin’s son and revealed that he was Su Jue’s uncle.
• Kiana told Su Jue about her absent father, her friends, and the guilt she carried over harming them, while Su Jue encouraged her to reconcile with family.
• Kiana overheard Su Jue’s uncle ask about a photograph of her in Sky City and learned that the image had been deleted after appearing online.
• Otto informed Rita that a photograph might show the missing K423 and ordered her to find Kiana’s whereabouts.

Su Jue used a photograph of Kiana as bait to draw Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, and the World Serpent into searching Sky City, then returned home to keep his identity concealed. The Theater of Domination began a new act centered on Chris, an ordinary driver who witnessed a traffic officer get killed and returned to his uneasy home.

• Otto identified Gray Serpent as a Sky City intelligence broker, while Rita set out to investigate the source of his information before Theresa arrived.
• Einstein confirmed that Kiana was likely in Sky City, and Theresa, Mei, Bronya, and the others boarded a helicopter to find her before Schicksal did.
• Su Jue left Kiana's phone and hair ornament behind, cleared the controlled ranch of clues, and returned home after setting the factions on Kiana's trail.
• Su Jue considered stealing World Serpent's surveillance-network core but judged himself too weak to confront them, then resumed his ordinary identity and entered the Theater of Domination.
• Chris received a traffic ticket, then watched a driver behind him kill the young traffic officer and fled the scene in panic.
• Chris calmed himself on the drive home, found unfamiliar shoes and candy in the house, and retreated to his room to play games.

After a bitter argument with his sister Corona, Chris was arrested and framed for murdering a young police officer. A gang ambushed the police car, which crashed and burned, and Chris faced a gun pointed at his forehead.

• Chris woke from a bizarre dream and argued with Corona, who smashed his gaming equipment.
• Chris insulted Corona, grabbed a baseball bat, and left the house, then regretted what he had said.
• Police arrested Chris and accused him of murdering a young police officer.
• Chris overheard officers discussing how they had framed him as a scapegoat for the shooting and planned to hand him over if needed.
• A gang attacked the police car transporting Chris, causing it to crash and catch fire.
• Chris crawled through the wreckage, but someone cocked a gun and pressed its muzzle against his forehead.

Chen Tianwu spared Chris, who returned home to find Corona under treatment, but gang violence soon turned Chris into a murder suspect and brought an attack to their house. Corona died in the fire, and Chris carried her body out of the burning home.

• Chen Tianwu stopped the squad leader from killing Chris and urged him to set the wrong world right.
• Euryca treated Corona at home and warned her that her Honkai erosion left her with less than two years to live.
• After the news named Chris as a murder suspect, Corona armed herself when gangsters forced their way into the house.
• Corona fought off the intruders, but they set the house on fire and she died after saving her final bullet for herself.
• Chris rushed into the flames, found Corona, and carried her body outside.

Chris became a violent puppet after the Theater of Domination awakened his power, slaughtering the officers sent to arrest him before Su Jue buried him beside Corona. Raven arrived to take a commission and fought Chris, but a sniper intervened and helped her target his joints.

• Chris heard the voice of the Theater of Domination, and Su Jue empowered him with the strength of the puppets.
• Chris slaughtered the police officers who surrounded him, while their calls for Schicksal went unanswered.
• Su Jue buried Chris beside Corona, then severed the puppet threads and left Chris to become a monster bent on revenge against the gangs.
• Raven arrived to carry out a commission for the Fanghe Society and found the town strewn with corpses.
• Chris attacked Raven, overpowering her until a sniper shot him and advised her to target his joints.

Su Jue entered Imaginary Space to find the Plague Gem, using the hair ornament imbued with Kiana’s power as a beacon. After fighting through Imaginary Monsters and reaching the ruins of the final battle, he found Murata Himeko lying among the wreckage.

• Raven defeated Chris’s monster with help from Su Jue’s puppet, then escaped the blood-soaked town by helicopter with the wounded Chen Tianwu.
• Chris became Su Jue’s sixth puppet, raising his combat power to B-rank while costing him two months of lifespan.
• Su Jue activated Kiana’s hair ornament and entered Imaginary Space, where he fought and used domination threads to turn Imaginary Skeletons against one another.
• Su Jue followed the beacon to the ruins of the final battle and fought through waves of Imaginary Monsters as his energy dwindled.
• Su Jue spotted Murata Himeko’s red hair and found her lying among the ruins.

Murata Himeko agreed to become Su Jue’s puppet after hearing Kiana’s recording, though she secured a degree of freedom and kept the recording’s contents secret. A day later, she tested Su Jue’s control over her and began investigating its limits, while reflecting on her belief that Herrschers could be guided rather than simply condemned.

• Su Jue provoked the dying Himeko by describing Kiana’s troubles and threatening to use Himeko’s body against her, but Himeko recognized his manipulation.
• Himeko listened to Kiana’s recording, destroyed Su Jue’s phone, and agreed to become his puppet on the condition that she retain some freedom.
• Himeko linked her soul to the Theater of Domination, halting her body’s decline, and refused to tell Su Jue what Kiana’s recording contained.
• The next day, Himeko watched Tread Snow evade Su Jue and challenged him to demonstrate his control over her.
• Su Jue used the domination threads to take control of Himeko’s body, inadvertently revealing how his power worked before releasing her.
• Himeko concluded that Su Jue was an immature Herrscher and recalled her conviction that young Herrschers could be guided through care and education.

Himeko investigated Su Jue’s past and discovered that he had a fatal Honkai disease before becoming a Herrscher, while Su Jue revealed that he had deliberately misled her with a layered plan. The chapter ended with Su Jue weighing the danger of drawing Himeko into his play as evening fell.

• Himeko found a disability certificate for Su Jue’s mother and a childhood photograph that made him angrily reject his old nickname.
• Himeko discovered Su Jue’s medical reports, which showed he had a rare, incurable illness and had been given less than a month to live four months earlier.
• Himeko connected Su Jue’s worsening illness three months earlier to the awakening of the Herrscher of Void, but Su Jue caught her searching his records.
• Su Jue spoke with the conscious Tread Snow in the Theater of Domination and explained that he had deliberately misled Himeko about his control, his strings, and his past.
• Su Jue realized that Himeko’s kindness could draw her into his play, but that becoming too immersed in it could also threaten his own identity and survival.