Chapter Summaries

Hoshino brooded over Black Snake being erased by Shang Boliang’s attempt to become an immortal, then fought Ch'en at the shrine while weighing whether to help. Ch'en’s question about whom Hoshino cared about most ended her hesitation, and Hoshino chose Black Snake over the stranger Shang Boliang.

• Hoshino reflected on Black Snake’s predicament and worried that Shang Boliang might become a corrupted immortal after gaining all available knowledge.
• Hoshino summoned Ch'en to the shrine for a two-hour sword fight, using Sakura Fubuki and Crimson Sakura while offering her blunt instruction.
• After the fight, Ch'en asked what was troubling Hoshino, and Hoshino explained that Shang Boliang needed to replace Black Snake to become an immortal.
• Ch'en asked Hoshino how close she was to each of them, prompting Hoshino to realize Shang Boliang was a stranger while Black Snake was Ch'en’s enemy.
• Hoshino decided she had no reason to hesitate and patted Ch'en on the head for helping her see the answer.

Hoshino comforted Ch'en, then left the shrine to travel to Ursus and deal with Emperor Shang Boliang and the coming political split. Ch'en stayed behind to guard the shrine, discovering that its quiet daily routine left her alone and uneasy.

• Hoshino soothed Ch'en by patting her head and touching her horns, then sent her to bathe in the shrine's hot spring.
• Hoshino considered the ancient genetic curse and planned a staged death for Shang Boliang when the Ursus split began.
• After her bath, Ch'en found Hoshino and Kallen gone, along with a note assigning her to guard the shrine.
• Ch'en read Hoshino's leisurely schedule, made cherry blossom tea, and grew uncomfortable with the silence of the empty shrine.
• Hoshino headed to Ursus under a new identity to investigate the dukes' children, the expected purge, and public opinion.

Hoshino entered Chernobog under the name Delta to observe life under the Reunion Movement and speak with Talulah. After spending the day distributing food, she reached the top of the tower at night and introduced herself to Talulah as the older sister of Rozaliya and Lilia.

• Hoshino transformed into Delta and decided to investigate the Reunion Movement by speaking with Talulah.
• Delta entered Chernobog openly, joined the Reunion Movement, and was assigned to a public security maintenance squad under the Yeti Squad.
• Delta distributed food and observed that Chernobog's residents appeared happier than people in Ursus, while realizing Black Snake's Snake Scale Unit supplied the city.
• Talulah spent the night awake on the tower, thinking the quiet felt incomplete as she looked at Rozaliya's repeatedly collapsed nest.
• Hoshino arrived by elevator and told Talulah that she was Delta, the older sister of Rozaliya and Lilia.

Hoshino, disguised as Delta, confronted Talulah and accused her of imprisoning Rozaliya, but Talulah explained that Rozaliya had stayed with her willingly. Hoshino accepted the explanation and forced Talulah to travel through Ursus under her protection.

• Hoshino revealed that she had put Rozaliya in solitary confinement and challenged Talulah's identity.
• Hoshino drew Swan Lake and held it to Talulah's throat, threatening to kill her for mistreating Rozaliya.
• Hoshino accused Talulah of imprisoning Rozaliya and forcing her to live in a heap of garbage.
• Talulah explained how Rozaliya had chosen to stay with her and showed Hoshino the little nest and its doorplate.
• Hoshino lowered her sword, then invited Talulah to travel through Ursus under Delta's protection and made clear that Talulah could not refuse.

Hoshino ordered Talulah to leave her tower and travel with her to Ursus, using Rozaliya’s confinement as leverage. They flew by Schicksal mechs to the frozen north, where Talulah warned that nearby farms would fear trouble from outsiders.

• Hoshino dismissed Talulah’s claim that she had work and threatened to keep Rozaliya in solitary confinement unless Talulah came along.
• Talulah agreed to go, though she worried that her wanted status in Ursus would put her at risk; Hoshino said the nobles would likely see her arrival as part of Black Snake’s plans.
• Hoshino reassured Talulah that a Fenghuang Down feather would disguise her as Reunion members expected to see her, then took her from the tower.
• Hoshino summoned three Schicksal mechs to carry Talulah, herself, and their weapons to Ursus’s northernmost reaches.
• Talulah warned Hoshino that nearby farms would be wary of outsiders because of Ursus’s tax collectors, while Hoshino hoped the country’s recent changes had made things different.

Hoshino and Talulah investigated a remote Ursus farmstead, where farmers attacked them after mistaking them for grain thieves. They learned that a stranger preaching rebellion and quoting Shang Boliang had visited the village, and Hoshino decided to investigate.

• Hoshino criticized Ursus's disorganized economy as she and Talulah approached a poor farmstead.
• Hoshino triggered the village alarm, then beat back the armed farmers while keeping the fight away from their crops.
• An old farmer told Hoshino that a stranger had urged the villagers to overthrow the nobles and had called Shang Boliang his mentor.
• After the villagers fled, Hoshino decided to investigate the mysterious stranger.

Hoshino and Talulah waited in a snowy field for Shang Boliang’s disciple while, at Reunion headquarters, Crownslayer reported her findings to a figure created by Fenghuang Down. The chapter left Hoshino and Talulah preparing to meet someone approaching after nightfall.

• Hoshino and Talulah waited beside the farmers’ fields for Shang Boliang’s disciple to arrive.
• Crownslayer rode the elevator to Reunion headquarters’ rooftop to report what she had learned about Shang Boliang and Ursus’s reforms.
• Fenghuang Down made Crownslayer see an imagined Talulah, who claimed to control events in Ursus and dismissed Crownslayer’s report as trivial.
• Crownslayer left the rooftop, and the illusion vanished as Fenghuang Down’s feather continued to drift.
• Talulah sneezed in the snow, and Hoshino teased her about her rough habits and told her to take better care of herself.
• Hoshino warned Talulah that someone was approaching.

Hoshino and Talulah encountered Demit, a university student recruiting supporters for Shang Boliang’s ideas, and learned how the movement appealed to Ursus’s powerless young nobles. Demit recognized Talulah as a traitor and fled, after which Hoshino asked her to impersonate Black Snake at a nearby noble manor.

• Hoshino and Talulah approached Demit in the snow, and he drew a hidden hand crossbow as Hoshino charged him.
• Hoshino caught Demit’s bolt in her teeth, introduced herself and Talulah as travelers, and said she was interested in Shang Boliang.
• Demit mistook Hoshino for a friend of the New School and explained that he hoped to win its members over with benefits.
• Hoshino learned that Shang Boliang’s ideas challenged Ursus’s established beliefs and appealed to young nobles excluded from power.
• Demit recognized Talulah as a traitor and fled when she joined the conversation.
• Hoshino suggested visiting a noble manor and asked Talulah if she could play Black Snake.

Hoshino tried to have Talulah impersonate Black Snake, but Black Snake briefly took control before Talulah proved she could reproduce the sinister act. The next morning, Talulah arrived at Count Demit's estate in character, leaving Demit stunned and the count wary of what her visit meant.

• Hoshino dragged Talulah toward a city and insisted that they cooperate by having Talulah play Black Snake.
• Black Snake's soul took over during their attempt to enter the city, but Hoshino quickly overpowered her and warned her that Hyperion could erase an immortal.
• Hoshino asked Talulah to act like Black Snake, and Talulah copied Black Snake's sinister manner convincingly.
• Demit returned to the count's estate, debated reporting his encounter, and sent intelligence to the Hermit Society.
• The count went outside to welcome Talulah, while Demit recognized her from his window and nearly fainted.
• Talulah told the count she had come on important business and began a cryptic speech about the Empire's uncertain future.

Shang Boliang dismissed reports about Talulah while pursuing his plans as emperor, and Talulah used her charm to secure a stay at a count’s manor. Hoshino revealed that Talulah was bait for drawing out the Hermit Society’s leaders, as Demir wrote Shang Boliang a desperate plea for help.

• Shang Boliang learned that Black Snake had entered Ursus but dismissed the report, then ordered palace thresholds removed so he could ride his new bicycle.
• Shang Boliang arranged a show of force and a proposed compromise over a grain dispute between the southern provinces and the north.
• Talulah’s charm persuaded the count to let her and her pink-haired attendant stay at his manor, leaving Demir terrified that his family would be branded rebels.
• Talulah removed her colored contacts and told Hoshino that she had overheard evidence of a scholars’ council behind Demir.
• Hoshino explained that she had made Talulah bait to provoke Demir and assess how the Hermit Society handled a crisis.
• Demir wrote a frantic letter to Shang Boliang asking him to save him.

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.