Recaps

Hoshino learned that she could summon vast forces of Annihilation Wraiths and began planning where to deploy them against Ursus. Meanwhile, Shang Boliang investigated the pink-haired attendant and secretly met with Demit, giving Hoshino an opportunity to ask him for a map of the country.

• Hoshino learned that Annihilation Wraith could summon enormous numbers of dead soldiers and asked Talulah whether Ursus had faced the Infected's fury.
• Hoshino decided the dead would soon bring revenge to Ursus, but she lacked an administrative map to choose where to summon them.
• Shang Boliang reviewed the danger posed by local nobles and ordered an investigation into the pink-haired attendant.
• Demit met three artillery adjutants from his family's private army, but they left after discussing a more concealed meeting place.
• Shang Boliang disguised himself and told Demit to gather intelligence on the pink-haired attendant.
• Hoshino watched the meeting and planned to ask Shang Boliang to draw a map showing where she could deploy the Annihilation Wraiths.

Hoshino recruited Shang Boliang to help Lady Durandal and obtained a map for the coming upheaval in Ursus. As Talulah endured Black Snake’s backlash, Hoshino deployed the Annihilation Wraith, whose dead soldiers rose from an Infected mine and attacked its guards.

• Hoshino questioned Shang Boliang, confirmed he wanted to replace Black Snake, and urged him to spread fear while targeting the hardliners during the coming crisis.
• Shang Boliang agreed to provide a map of the nobles’ fiefs, and Hoshino took it to prepare a signal for Lady Durandal’s entry into Ursus.
• Talulah told Hoshino that Black Snake was panicking and resisted her influence until Hoshino knocked her unconscious.
• Hoshino planned where to deploy the Annihilation Wraith and placed its dead soldiers in mine pits where many Infected had been buried.
• Dead soldiers rose from the mine shafts and advanced through the guards’ whips, driving the guards into chaos as some begged for forgiveness.

Shang Boliang exploited the dead soldiers’ attack on Ursus to advance his plans for the Infected, while a scientific expedition encountered a white-haired death spirit and was destroyed. As the capital remained sealed off and the count sought guidance, Hoshino told him to stay put and offered to defend against any dead soldiers that entered the city.

• At the morning meeting, Shang Boliang heard that the dead attackers were high-density energy crystals and ordered more search teams and soldiers to investigate.
• Shang Boliang drafted an article advocating better treatment of the Infected and planned to use public fear of the dead soldiers to spread his ideology.
• A heavily armored expedition recorded several dead soldier variants as it fought through the ruins outside the mobile city.
• The researchers spotted a white-haired death spirit, sent their report by wireless, and were engulfed by flames summoned from a descending pillar.
• The count asked Lord Koschei whether the crisis was part of her plan, and Hoshino, posing as Delta, advised him to remain still and promised to handle any dead soldiers that entered the city.

Hoshino fought through the zombie horde and confronted a Nihilus Clone while waiting for Shang Boliang's signal. At the count's manor, Talulah awakened as Black Snake but remained tied up, and Hoshino returned to punish her.

• Hoshino told the count that everything was the will of the snake, then left Talulah unconscious in his manor.
• Hoshino received Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty from a Schicksal mech and carved through the zombies with her greatswords.
• Hoshino entered a wasteland covered in strength-draining red threads and faced the Nihilus Clone.
• The Nihilus Clone attacked Hoshino with a pillar of fire, and she blocked it with her two greatswords.
• Talulah awakened as Black Snake, tried and failed to burn through her bindings, and was found hanging naked from the ceiling beam.
• Hoshino entered the manor and told the bound Black Snake that disobedient girls got spanked.

Ch'en worried that the shrine’s departure was connected to the undead spreading through Ursus, while Hoshino confronted Black Snake in Talulah’s body. In Chernobog, Crownslayer told the Infected that Talulah had promised Ursus would suffer and fall.

• Ch'en and Swire watched Lungmen mobilize against the undead and discussed the unrest spreading through Ursus.
• Ch'en said Yae Sakura was likely negotiating with the Ursus authorities and believed her teacher was fighting somewhere in Ursus.
• Hoshino confronted Black Snake, who yielded control of Talulah’s body before Hoshino could decide how to punish her.
• Hoshino waited beside the sleeping Talulah and wondered whether Shang Boliang might eventually inhabit her body and become a woman.
• Crownslayer told the Infected in Chernobog that Talulah had promised Ursus would feel pain and meet its end in flames.

Rumors blamed Talulah for the deathless siege, while Hoshino told Talulah that she planned to pin the blame on the Emperor of Ursus. Meanwhile, Shang Boliang prepared to dissolve the empire and summon the Hyperion with a searchlight.

• Rumors that Talulah had orchestrated the deathless siege spread across Ursus, and the grand dukes discussed the Shrine and Hyperion as potential threats.
• The count mistook Hoshino for the undying Black Snake and hurriedly obtained a maid outfit at her request.
• Hoshino dressed Talulah in the maid outfit, explained the rumors, and proposed blaming the Emperor of Ursus.
• Shang Boliang prepared a televised speech announcing Ursus's dissolution and planned to cut the broadcast so he could rally the people as Scholar Shang Boliang.
• Shang Boliang began preparing a searchlight to summon the Hyperion by projecting Schicksal's shadow into the clouds.

Hoshino and Talulah rushed to the capital after Shang Boliang announced his resignation and opposition to Ursus's dissolution. As Shang Boliang began fighting Black Snake to take her station, Hoshino entered the battle and fired her newly acquired weapon at the immortal.

• Shang Boliang announced on television that he would resign as Emperor and commander-in-chief, while rejecting the dissolution of Ursus.
• Hoshino took Talulah aboard Schicksal mechs and flew toward the capital to meet Shang Boliang.
• Shang Boliang declared that Koschei's sins would become his own, and Black Snake emerged from Talulah's body.
• Shang Boliang began using Dustless Land to seize Black Snake's station while Hoshino waited in the imperial bedchamber.
• Black Snake proclaimed that Ursus embodied her will, and Hoshino locked onto her and fired the Mortal Realm Is Hard to Cross.

Hoshino helped Shang Boliang subdue Black Snake and watched him take control of Ursus through a broadcast calling for unity. As the Hyperion arrived, Hoshino began a nationwide assault on the zombie horde and spotted its true body.

• Hoshino used The Mortal Realm Is Hard to Cross to trap Black Snake in an illusion while Shang Boliang carried out his plan to take over Talulah's body.
• Hoshino entered the courtyard, where Talulah told her Shang Boliang was a lunatic who had used nations as his board and city-states as his pieces.
• Shang Boliang took over the television broadcast and called for Ursus's unity, a crackdown on oligarchs, and support from the Hermit Society.
• Hoshino signaled the Hyperion, then joined it as the vessel descended over the capital while Talulah stayed behind.
• Hoshino transformed into five flame-related characters and led an assault on the zombie horde across Ursus.
• Hoshino found the true body from dozens of kilometers away and fired an Annihilation Soul · Core arrow at it.

Hoshino destroyed the Annihilation Wraith and spent more than a day clearing the remaining undead soldiers across Ursus while Shang Boliang and Talulah waited in the imperial bedchamber. After waking, Shang Boliang agreed to let Hoshino end his imperial identity, though he still had a few weeks to live.

• Hoshino annihilated the Annihilation Wraith, but the system began a twelve-hour challenge to eliminate the remaining undead soldiers for doubled rewards and Valkyrie Soul Fragments ×2.
• Hoshino split into five forces and swept across Ursus, burning through the undead as the people watched and feared the blazing spectacle.
• Talulah considered killing both Black Snake and Shang Boliang, but chose to wait rather than abandon her humanity.
• Shang Boliang awoke at noon and judged Black Snake's long life to have been mediocre and embarrassing.
• Hoshino cleared the last undead soldiers by the following evening, then returned to the imperial bedchamber in the form of Dea Anchora.
• Shang Boliang told Hoshino he had only weeks left and suggested that she serve as the executioner who ended his identity as emperor.

Hoshino and the Hyperion helped Ursus end its conflict between Infected and ordinary people, while Shang Boliang staged the Emperor’s public execution and apparent death. Hoshino left Ursus with Abyss Flower and prepared to return to Lungmen.

• Bianca Durandal and the Hyperion helped Ursus resolve its crisis without demanding anything or remaining in the country.
• Swire told Ch'en that the Emperor planned to die publicly to end the hatred between Infected and ordinary people, and Ch'en confirmed the news was real by being bitten.
• Shang Boliang revealed that he had designed a new body for himself and discussed the kind of woman he might want to become.
• Shang Boliang delivered a public speech accepting blame, then vanished in a burst of light as cameras broadcast his smiling face.
• Hoshino left Ursus aboard the Hyperion after receiving Abyss Flower as her mission reward, and prepared to return to Lungmen.

Hoshino returned to the Shrine with White Flower, a Divine Key that might be able to cure Oripathy, and found that Ch'en had been away. When Ch'en came home, Hoshino revealed the lance’s possible healing power and watched her reaction.

• Hoshino transformed, took up White Flower, and headed back to the Shrine to test whether it could heal Infected.
• Hoshino returned to the Shrine and realized that Durandal’s departure aboard the Hyperion had taken many of her worshippers with it.
• Hoshino waited at the Tenshukaku until Ch'en returned from watching the news with Swire.
• Ch'en told Hoshino that people in Lungmen had cheered when they saw her during the turmoil in Ursus.
• Hoshino claimed that the Immortal Blades had lent her Durandal’s lance and told Ch'en that White Flower might be able to cure Oripathy.

Hoshino tried to use Abyss Flower’s White Flower to cure Ch'en’s mild Oripathy, but it had no effect. She then tested Black Abyss on Talulah, and the weapon began breaking away Talulah’s Oripathy crystals.

• Hoshino told Ch'en that the user would pay Abyss Flower’s price and prepared to test the weapon on her.
• Ch'en showed Hoshino the black fragments on her upper arm, but White Flower’s healing light did not affect them.
• Hoshino went to the Reunion Movement and asked Talulah to volunteer for an experiment to cure Oripathy.
• White Flower also failed to change Talulah’s severe infection, so Hoshino tried Black Abyss instead.
• Black Abyss made Talulah’s Oripathy crystals crack and fall away, exposing the skin beneath.

Hoshino used the Abyss Flower to cure Talulah and Ch'en of Oripathy, but grew discouraged by how slowly she could treat people one at a time. Meanwhile, Fiammetta promoted Landon Monastery with a video of Dea Anchora until someone from the Tribunal confronted her about knowing the person on screen.

• Hoshino used the Black Abyss to break down Talulah's Oripathy, then healed the damage with the White Flower, curing her in thirty seconds.
• Hoshino returned to the Shrine and cured Ch'en, then rested in the hot spring as she worried that treating Infected one by one could not keep pace with the disease.
• At Landon Monastery, Fiammetta distributed application forms while promoting Dea Anchora's feats in a video.
• A black-winged angel addressed Fiammetta by her real and middle names, then asked whether she knew Durandal.

Fiammetta learned that Laterano’s founder wanted to meet Durandal, while Hoshino waited at the shrine for FrostNova after curing Talulah’s Oripathy. FrostNova learned of the cure and decided to bring Patriot to the shrine, despite Talulah’s warning that treatment was extremely painful.

• A Justice Office member told Fiammetta that Laterano’s founder wished to see Durandal, leaving Fiammetta wondering what Durandal had done.
• Fiammetta recruited a student to Landon Monastery while Sister Xidejia reflected on the historical significance of recent events.
• Hoshino bathed at the shrine and waited for FrostNova to arrive after Talulah passed along news of the cure.
• Talulah showed FrostNova that her crystalline growths had vanished and explained that the shrine maiden had cured her Oripathy.
• FrostNova decided to visit the shrine and ask Hoshino to treat Patriot, and Talulah warned her that the process was extremely painful.

FrostNova left Talulah and rode an ice cream truck toward Chernobog, hoping Hoshino could heal Patriot rather than cure her own Oripathy. Hoshino joined her, and the truck reached FrostNova’s base as FrostNova challenged her to witness the land’s true suffering.

• After warning FrostNova, Talulah sent her away so she could sort through what she knew in peace.
• FrostNova concealed herself in a refrigerated ice cream truck and reflected that she wanted to remain Infected, but hoped Patriot could recover.
• Hoshino used Heavy Bunny to locate FrostNova, landed on the truck, and fought her with ice until FrostNova recognized her.
• FrostNova explained that she wanted healing for Patriot, not for herself, and Hoshino agreed to accompany her.
• The ice-covered truck traveled into Chernobog, where FrostNova told Hoshino she should be able to see the land’s true suffering.

Hoshino treated Patriot’s throat and concluded that Originium was the root of the Infected’s suffering, resolving to find a way to detoxify it. Back at the Shrine, she learned that Fiammetta had come on behalf of the Pope to ask for Lady Durandal.

• Hoshino treated Patriot’s throat, temporarily restoring his ability to speak despite the Originium fragments still threatening his body.
• Hoshino reflected that the divide between the Infected and ordinary people could not be healed by political change alone and decided to focus on solving the problem of Originium.
• The system announced that an envoy from Laterano would visit the Shrine and rewarded Hoshino with the Chi You Cannon.
• Hoshino returned to the Shrine and found Fiammetta waiting there instead of a stranger.
• Fiammetta told Hoshino that the Pope wanted to invite Lady Durandal to Laterano, but she had been unable to find her.

Fiammetta delivered Laterano’s invitation to Durandal, who agreed to visit after Fiammetta returned. After a fifteen-day journey, Durandal arrived at Laterano in a dramatic landing.

• Hoshino questioned Fiammetta about Laterano’s invitation and asked what kind of person its Pope was, but Fiammetta had no useful information.
• Hoshino told Fiammetta that Durandal had received the message, then delayed her arrival to tease the nervous envoy.
• Durandal accepted Laterano’s invitation and said she would arrive when Fiammetta did, after the envoy’s fifteen-day journey.
• Fiammetta returned to Laterano without stopping, and Durandal descended before the city’s high walls as a blue comet.

Hoshino entered Laterano with Fiammetta and agreed to visit Landon Monastery as an instructor before meeting the Pope. After finding the city dull, she looked forward to seeing the monastery’s younger residents.

• Hoshino told Fiammetta she was sixteen, then continued into Laterano with the convoy.
• Fiammetta relayed the Pope’s request for Hoshino to experience Laterano’s customs before meeting him, and Hoshino agreed to visit Landon Monastery first.
• Hoshino warned Fiammetta not to reveal anything about her, then explored Laterano and found its quiet, orderly streets boring.
• Fiammetta returned to say the arrangements were complete, and Hoshino eagerly anticipated meeting the young residents of Landon Monastery.

Hoshino, posing as Durandal, sent Rita Rossweisse to help Landon Monastery with its mounting problems. Rita proposed harsh, unconventional fixes, including making wheat harvesting part of the freshman assessment.

• Hoshino listened as Landon Monastery's staff described shortages of bedding, food, harvesters, and funds.
• Hoshino claimed her adjutant Rita Rossweisse could handle the monastery's problems, and Fiammetta obtained permission for Rita to come.
• Six minutes later, Rita arrived at Landon Monastery carrying a scythe alongside her stand, Pale Moon.
• Rita entered the meeting and criticized the staff for discussing the monastery's troubles too calmly.
• Rita proposed telling new students that the old bedding was infested with pests and making wheat harvesting part of the entrance assessment.

Fiammetta introduced Durandal and Rita as instructors at Landon Monastery, where Rita observed the rigid entrance examination and students’ disciplined routines. At night, Hoshino listened to the new students whisper and heard one girl declare that she wanted to sleep with Durandal.

• Fiammetta presented Durandal and Rita to the monastery as assistance from the Pope, and Durandal claimed she would teach hand-to-hand combat and special operations.
• The monastery began its entrance examination by making probationary monks compete at cutting grass and harvesting wheat.
• Rita watched the students work and noticed how seriously and obediently they followed their assigned roles.
• After the students went to bed, Hoshino listened from the roof as the girls began whispering in their dormitory.
• One girl loudly confessed that she had come for Durandal and wanted to sleep with her.

Hoshino overheard trainee monks confessing their attraction to Durandal and gossiping about Rita, then learned that Rita had described herself as devoted to serving Durandal. The system offered Stan as a mission reward, and Hoshino decided to keep the girls away from Durandal to claim the cat.

• Hoshino listened from the roof as trainee monks eagerly declared their attraction to Durandal.
• The girls shifted from praising Durandal to criticizing Rita for seeming cold and making them work while she watched.
• A gossiping trainee repeated Rita's statement that she was only a maid serving Durandal, and the girls reacted with shock and excitement.
• The system announced a new mission phase and offered Stan as a reward, prompting Hoshino to decide she would protect Durandal from the girls' advances.
• After the dormitory fell silent past midnight, Hoshino vanished from the roof.

After the new students’ late-night excitement left them exhausted, Hoshino turned their morning lesson into physical training as Durandal. When one student pretended to be injured and clung to her, Rita appeared to intervene, leaving the encounter unresolved.

• Fiammetta noticed that many students were sleepy and listless during morning class, while Hoshino knew the late-night discussion had caused their exhaustion.
• Hoshino persuaded Fiammetta to replace the usual archery lesson with a ten-kilometer run and hand-to-hand training.
• Hoshino appeared as Durandal on the athletic field, and the students eagerly began running under her watch.
• At the five-kilometer mark, Hoshino caught a student who appeared to collapse, but realized the girl was pretending and clinging to her.
• Rita arrived with her scythe and a chilling smile, separated the student from Durandal, and asked where she was hurt.

Rita dragged a trainee monk to the infirmary and convinced him he was seriously ill, while Hoshino watched the students’ growing fascination with Durandal and Rita. After hearing that attempts to change Laterano’s doctrines had ended with their advocates leaving for good, Hoshino learned how deeply those doctrines were rooted in the city-state.

• Rita took a trainee monk to the infirmary, gave him a deceptive examination, and sent him back with a crutch.
• Durandal reassured the students that Rita was trustworthy, but they worried about the trainee monk and ran from the training field.
• Hoshino eavesdropped on the girls discussing Durandal and Rita, then realized their affection came from their lack of love and care.
• Hoshino questioned Fiammetta about why no one tried to change Laterano’s rigid rules.
• Fiammetta told Hoshino that past reformers had left Laterano permanently after mediation and said the doctrine could not be changed.

Hoshino learned that the Pope had granted her the highest authorization in Laterano, equal to his own, and used it to arrange a lavish lunch for the students. Rita won the students over with food and champagne, while Hoshino continued observing their private conversations and probing the state of Laterano.

• Hoshino asked Fiammetta how much authority she had in Laterano, and Fiammetta returned with permission to reveal that Hoshino held the highest authorization, equal to the Pope's.
• Hoshino used her authority to order Rita to prepare lunch for the students, who were delighted by the rich meal after their austere monastery diet.
• Rita watched the students discuss her at night, hearing both praise and condemnation as Hoshino observed from a distance.
• Rita entered the girls' room with wine glasses and champagne, then offered to teach them how to brew illicit liquor with boots.
• The students embraced Rita, and she used her growing rapport with them to learn more about the people and state of Laterano.

Hoshino used her authority to arrange practical training and sent Rita to lead Landon Monastery’s students beyond Laterano’s walls. Rita discovered how rarely they had left the city and took them on an outing with no set destination.

• Hoshino arranged early planting of wine grapes while Rita Rossweisse won students’ favor with her cooking and liquor.
• At a faculty meeting, Hoshino called for practical classes so students could face real enemies and grow into warriors.
• Rita led the students through their regular exercise and armed combat training in Hoshino’s absence.
• Rita asked whether the students had seen the world beyond Laterano and learned that most had left only a handful of times.
• With Durandal’s authority securing permission, Rita led the bewildered students through a city gate into the desert beyond Laterano.