Chapter Summaries

Jaye killed a Deep pilgrim and wondered what its remains were, while Skadi arrived in Lungmen hoping to relax at the Yae Shrine. On the way back from work, Hoshino and the others struck another pilgrim with their car, and Hoshino killed it as a storm gathered overhead.

• Jaye cut apart a Deep pilgrim's bindings and watched its tentacles dry into branches, then wondered whether its remains could be made into fish balls.
• Skadi said she wanted a vacation in Lungmen, and Exusiai explained how the city treated newcomers as citizens.
• Skadi chose to relax at the Yae Shrine hot spring, while Kallen offered to show her around Lungmen.
• Exusiai drove Hoshino and Bison back after work, but their car struck a Deep pilgrim in an iron shell.
• The pilgrim spoke of the Deep, and Hoshino cut it apart as dark clouds gathered and rain began to fall.

Hoshino killed a Deep-sea creature in the rain while Kallen discovered that Warfarin had secretly drugged Skadi, dulling her ability to sense Deep-sea monsters. On Rhodes Island, Saria broke into Warfarin’s blood donation station to confront her and demand compensation.

• Hoshino used her Abyssal Hunter training to kill a Deep-sea creature as rain revived its body, while Exusiai reflected on how freely Hoshino could carry her divine blades in Lungmen.
• Skadi told Kallen that she felt nothing unusual and identified Warfarin as the person who had mailed her to the shrine.
• Kallen learned that Warfarin had tried to sedate Skadi and take her blood, and suspected that Warfarin had instead used hallucinogenic plant extracts that weakened Skadi’s senses.
• Skadi returned to soaking in the hot spring and asked for hot spring eggs, while Warfarin drank blood in seclusion on Rhodes Island.
• Saria broke through the door of Warfarin’s blood donation station, listed the damage and demanded that Warfarin pay for it.

Hoshino accepted a mission to eliminate every Pilgrim in Lungmen without Skadi discovering it, earning the chance to use Goushinnso Memento while Skadi enjoyed her vacation at the shrine. Hoshino and Exusiai began hunting Pilgrims by car as Kallen accompanied Skadi, leaving Bison to witness the grisly work firsthand.

• The system gave Hoshino a mission to protect Skadi by secretly eliminating every Pilgrim in Lungmen and offered the Divine Key Star of Eden as a reward.
• Hoshino transformed into Goushinnso Memento, and Exusiai drove over a monster while Hoshino explained that Pilgrims had spread throughout Lungmen.
• Kallen told Skadi she could stay at the shrine for many days and offered to show her around Lungmen after the rain stopped.
• Hoshino used her mental map to direct Exusiai toward Pilgrims while Bison rode along and learned how Penguin Logistics handled monsters.
• Hoshino stepped out of the car and burned a Pilgrim to charcoal with a single slash of Goushinnso Memento.

Hoshino and Exusiai hunted Deep pilgrims across rainy Lungmen while Hoshino tried to keep Skadi from discovering them. Skadi and Kallen wandered the city, and Hoshino raced ahead to clear Skadi’s route as her mission’s alert level rose.

• Hoshino returned to the jeep after defeating a pilgrim and explained that she could locate enemies through her Abyssal Hunter intuition.
• Exusiai drove Hoshino through Lungmen as they hunted pilgrims, and she asked about the Deep and the Abyssal Hunters.
• Skadi left the shrine with Kallen to explore the rain-soaked city, prompting Hoshino to notice that her mission now tracked Skadi’s suspicion.
• Hoshino redirected the jeep to clear pilgrims from Skadi’s route, while Kallen steered Skadi away from smoke and a speeding car with excuses.

Hoshino cleared the Pilgrims while Kallen distracted Skadi by dancing and flirting with her. Hoshino then prepared to enter the sewers, where Pontiff Sulyvahn waited as a boss.

• Goushinnso Memento burned a Pilgrim Butterfly while Kallen danced in the rain and kept Skadi occupied.
• Sulyvahn entered the sewers and chose them as a testing ground, carrying two swords infused with different Originium Arts.
• Hoshino defeated the remaining Pilgrims and ended the lesson, while Exusiai and Bison drove away to collect live ammunition.
• Hoshino decided to enter the sewer boss room and planned to bring Durandal because Sulyvahn was weak to parries.
• Kallen finished her dance, teased Skadi about being in love, and urged her to seize the moment.

Hoshino defeated Shaliwan in the Lungmen sewers while Kallen and Skadi passed the time in the rain. After the skies cleared, Kallen led Skadi to sample Lungmen’s food, where Skadi spotted a dried Deep monster being sold as a specialty.

• Kallen and Skadi traded dramatic lines in the rain while Hoshino reached the sewer gate.
• Hoshino knocked out the guards and broke open the sewer doors, then confronted Shaliwan with KING and QUEEN.
• QUEEN parried Shaliwan’s attacks, and KING struck him down to end the fight.
• The rain stopped, and Kallen invited Skadi to have morning tea and try Lungmen’s local delicacies.
• Skadi questioned Jaye about the dried monster in his fishball shop and decided she would return to buy and burn it.
• Kallen led Skadi toward a restaurant called Shark Fin over Rice.

Kallen took Skadi to a restaurant, where Skadi’s strange exhaustion culminated in a long, peaceful sleep. After waking at the shrine, Skadi thanked Hoshino for the holiday and prepared to return to Rhodes Island, while Hoshino confirmed she had already dealt with a monster at the seafood market.

• Kallen treated Skadi to shark fin rice, dumplings, noodles, and egg tarts after the rain stopped.
• Kallen warned Skadi that Warfarin’s injection had a delayed effect, then helped her fall asleep and carried her to the shrine.
• Skadi slept for sixteen hours with her head on Kallen’s lap and woke feeling rested.
• Skadi went to the hot spring and touched Yae Sakura’s hair, admitting she felt defeated by how soft it was.
• Skadi thanked Hoshino for the holiday and said she would return to Rhodes Island to confront Warfarin.
• Skadi asked Hoshino to deal with a monster at the Lungmen seafood market, and Hoshino said she had already burned it.

Skadi returned to Rhodes Island and frightened the recovering Warfarin by cutting through her door with her greatsword. Hoshino claimed the Star of Eden reward, tested it through Bronya's Heavy Bunny, and began considering a new identity for Bronya.

• Skadi checked on the seafood market in Lungmen, called Amiya, and learned Warfarin had recovered from her injuries.
• Warfarin ate calcium supplements and worried about Saria before Skadi arrived at her door.
• Skadi cut through Warfarin's door and frightened her, completing the mission to give Titi a restful vacation.
• Hoshino claimed the Star of Eden and separated its chaotic core from its cannon mount.
• Hoshino had Bronya fire Star of Eden through Heavy Bunny, creating a black morning star that darkened the sky before disappearing.
• Hoshino decided to use Rope to help give Bronya a new identity.

Amiya questioned Skadi about beating Warfarin, while Rope secretly watched the shrine after learning Yae Sakura had adopted Bronya. Hoshino caught Rope spying, and Bronya mistook her for a threat.

• Amiya brought Skadi to her office and learned that Skadi’s dispute with Warfarin was connected to her visit to Yae Shrine in Lungmen.
• Amiya sent Skadi to a confinement room to reflect while Warfarin remained hospitalized.
• Rope learned that Yae Sakura had adopted a Lungmen orphan named Bronya and searched unsuccessfully for information about her.
• Rope hid in the shrine’s backyard to watch for Yae Sakura, but Bronya appeared and activated Heavy Bunny 19C’s defenses.
• Hoshino caught Rope and asked why she was spying, while Bronya said she had detected hostility.

Rope misunderstood Yae Sakura’s intentions and learned that the shrine’s work was closer to containment than adoption. After Bronya left the shrine, Rope followed her beyond Lungmen and was caught by the girl.

• Rope became upset when she thought Yae Sakura had already forgotten her, but Hoshino clarified that the adoption carried a deeper meaning.
• Bronya questioned Hoshino about that meaning, while Kallen took Rope aside and explained the shrine’s work as containment.
• Bronya gathered her belongings and left the shrine, and Yae Sakura told Rope the misunderstanding was her responsibility.
• Rope followed Bronya out of Lungmen and into the Outer Ring, not realizing she was actually tailing Hoshino.
• Bronya ambushed Rope against a rock and demanded to know her purpose.

Rope followed Bronya after noticing her injured leg, then resolved to convince her to return to the shrine. After learning that Rope had gone missing, Ch'en visited Yae Sakura, heard what happened, and agreed to investigate and find them.

• Hoshino noticed Rope's concern about her leg, but left after explaining that Bronya had run away from the shrine.
• Rope chased after Hoshino, then decided she had to make Bronya return to the shrine.
• Hoshiguma told Ch'en that Rope had failed to report in and urged her to visit the shrine immediately.
• Ch'en tried to catch Yae Sakura off guard at the shrine, but Yae Sakura restrained her and told her about Rope and Bronya.
• Ch'en assured Yae Sakura that the situation was not her fault and offered to investigate and track Rope and Bronya down.

Ch'en began investigating Bronya and Rope after returning from Yae Shrine, while Hoshino and Rope encountered a bandit ambush on their way through the wasteland. Bronya destroyed the attackers and their canyon with Heavy Bunny, and Hoshino asked Rope whether she had the courage to keep company with demons.

• Ch'en returned to the Guard Department, where Hoshiguma noticed her excitement and teased her about it.
• Ch'en reviewed informants' reports about Bronya and Rope, then left to find them carrying her standard sword and Chi Xiao.
• Hoshino led Rope toward a settlement and spotted twenty-nine bandits waiting in ambush.
• Bronya used Star of Eden and Heavy Bunny to erase the bandits' canyon, leaving Rope stunned.
• Hoshino asked Rope whether she had the courage to keep company with demons, and Rope said yes before following her onward.
• At the remains of a mobile village, Rope identified the bandits as an organized raiding group, while Hoshino said Bronya's power made the truth unbelievable to almost everyone.

Hoshino and Rope searched the abandoned settlement for Bronya while Ch'en followed their trail through a devastated wasteland. Meanwhile, Bales's fleeing bandits crashed near a Treasure Hoarder camp, where the leader ordered them abandoned and kept plans to raid a mining village.

• Hoshino investigated the abandoned settlement with Rope, warned that anyone trying to possess Bronya would face the death penalty, and said they could not defeat Yae Shrine.
• Ch'en followed Rope's tracks, found a vast spherical canyon and the remains of a settlement, and worried about the destructive power housed at Yae Shrine.
• Ch'en continued pursuing Rope, hoping to catch up with her and Bronya.
• Bales's deafened bandits crashed their vehicle near a Treasure Hoarder camp, and the Treasure Hoarders surrounded them.
• The Treasure Hoarder leader ordered the bandits left to die, sent scouts to inspect their camp, and kept the planned raid on a mining village for the next day.

Hoshino and Rope met a mobile mining village whose chief wanted Rhodes Island to upgrade its power core so it could outrun bandits. As Heavy Bunny rebuilt the system and Durandal arrived, the Treasure Hoarders attacked early and Ch’en confronted them alone.

• Hoshino and Rope met a Forte village chief who explained that Treasure Hoarders had chased his mobile settlement and asked them to make it faster.
• Hoshino told Rope that Bronya was watching to see how Yae Sakura’s follower would handle the job, prompting Rope to resolve to act bravely.
• Bronya sent Heavy Bunny to rebuild the village’s power system, while Hoshino promised to eliminate the enemies in its way and a Shrine clone set out to cause a Catastrophe.
• Durandal arrived carrying Dawn’s Glory as Heavy Bunny began replacing the deteriorated power core with a redesigned system.
• The Treasure Hoarders attacked the settlement that night, and Ch’en drew near Chi Xiao as she faced their armed group alone.

Ch'en lost Rope's trail after destroying a Treasure Hoarder fortress that had erased the girl's footprints, and she resumed searching rather than face Yae Sakura's imagined ridicule. Meanwhile, Hoshino oversaw Bronya's village-engineering project as Durandal watched from above and anticipated that only a Catastrophe could provoke Rope.

• Ch'en cut the Treasure Hoarders' mobile fortress apart, then discovered its tracks had obliterated Rope's footprints and lost the trail.
• Ch'en calmed her anger and continued searching, determined not to give Yae Sakura a reason to mock her.
• Hoshino told the village chief to set performance specifications for Bronya's modifications, while Rope invited Bronya to join the children for ice cream.
• Hoshino considered how a disaster and verbal provocation might make Rope open her heart to Bronya.
• Durandal watched Ch'en searching from the sky and concluded that a tremendous Catastrophe was now the only likely way to provoke Rope.

Hoshino manipulated Rope into believing that helping the villagers would follow Yae Sakura’s example, while Durandal unleashed a scorching disaster during the base upgrade. As the villagers evacuated, Rope asked Hoshino to help, and Hoshino refused, waiting for Rope to confront her.

• Durandal landed near the mining village, and Rope entertained local children with a magic trick until Bronya’s presence frightened many of them away.
• Hoshino suggested that Rope’s kindness toward the children resembled what Yae Sakura would do, and Rope resolved to serve the light in Yae Sakura’s imagined fashion.
• Hoshino warned the village chief that the base would be immobile for three days, and the village began its upgrade.
• Durandal drew her lance and set the wasteland ablaze, bringing extreme heat and a natural disaster to the village.
• The village chief ordered an evacuation, and Rope helped direct the children while Hoshino refused to assist, saying the crisis was not Bronya’s fault.

Rope urged Hoshino to help the villagers by invoking Yae Sakura, and Hoshino instead went to stop the volcanic disaster herself. After extinguishing it, Hoshino pretended to fall asleep and asked Rope to take Bronya to the shrine.

• Rope confronted Hoshino and argued that Yae Sakura would help the villagers who were being evacuated.
• Hoshino reversed their positions, ended the argument, and walked toward the volcano with Heavy Bunny.
• Ch'en told Rope that Hoshino was going to face the natural disaster alone.
• Hoshino created a pitch-black star that swallowed the volcano's light and heat, leaving a vast, smooth basin.
• Rope caught the apparently exhausted Hoshino, who quietly asked her to take Bronya to the shrine before pretending to fall asleep.

Ch'en and Rope brought Hoshino and Bronya to the shrine after Heavy Bunny destroyed the Catastrophe and wiped out the Treasure Hoarders. Mayer arrived to inspect Heavy Bunny's reactor, whose astonishing power left her and the village chief stunned.

• Ch'en reassured the villagers that Heavy Bunny would finish the work and said she had already wiped out the Treasure Hoarders.
• Ch'en carried Bronya and told Rope that Yae Sakura was burdened and had asked her for help.
• Amiya sent Mayer to inspect the completed machinery, and Doctor Kal'tsit warned Mayer not to bring explosives.
• Mayer discovered Heavy Bunny in the engine room and watched it finish overhauling the reactor.
• Mayer activated the system at full speed, was thrown into a wall, and learned that the village's power system was far faster than she had expected.

Mayer inspected Heavy Bunny and was amazed by its power before it flew away from her fascinated gaze. In Lungmen, Yae Sakura reassured Rope about her imperfect image, then told Ch'en that the Shrine’s true strength—and her own—was far greater than Ch’en realized.

• Mayer examined Heavy Bunny, judged its safety, and told the village chief he would need a new driving license for its speed.
• Mayer admired Heavy Bunny and imagined naming her otters, but the machine detected her stare and flew away.
• Hoshino woke in Lungmen after Rope apologized for idealizing Yae Sakura, and Ch'en advised Rope that Yae Sakura was an ordinary person too.
• Ch'en questioned Yae Sakura about the Shrine taking in powerful girls, and Yae Sakura said she welcomed them with love and power.
• Yae Sakura claimed she could subdue the Lightning Empress before she unleashed her full destructive power.
• Yae Sakura said no one knew her true self and asked Ch'en to witness the future she disliked.

Ch'en arranged for Bronya to repair the Lungmen Guard Department’s equipment, hoping the work would strengthen ties between the department and the shrine. Heavy Bunny arrived in Bronya’s place and transformed the department with futuristic, energy-hungry upgrades, leaving Ch'en to deal with the resulting static shocks.

• After returning to her office, Ch'en reconsidered Yae Sakura’s advice and called the shrine to propose that Bronya repair the Guard Department’s equipment.
• Hoshino agreed to pass the proposal to Bronya when she woke, while teasing Ch'en about learning to reform people through love.
• Three hours later, Hoshino told Ch'en that Bronya had agreed, and Heavy Bunny arrived at the Guard Department with a note identifying itself as Bronya.
• Heavy Bunny replaced Ch'en’s office equipment with Tesla coils and upgraded the department’s lighting, communications system, and facilities within three hours.
• As the guards left work, Heavy Bunny watched Hoshiguma speed away on her electric scooter, while Ch'en noticed the new lights had left her prone to static shocks.