Chapter Summaries

Ian and the Arcane Empire completed the Uranus Project, creating a Void-capable Floating City designed to preserve their civilization and deter powerful enemies. With the fortress ready, Ian prepared to settle his grudge with Herpo.

• Ian and Nicolas Flamel completed the Floating City's inter-universe crossing core, and Ian tested its layered defenses in the Void.
• Ian built an artificial star and added multiple backup energy systems to the Floating City.
• Ian and Rowena Ravenclaw solved the Void Cannon's containment problem by using destructive Void attributes to reinforce its Subspace; Rowena then entered seclusion to advance to the Fifth Tier.
• In Arcane Calendar 41, Ian and Nicolas Flamel saw the completed Floating City, designed as a refuge from which Arcanist Civilization could be rebuilt.
• Ian suppressed his impulse to attack Herpo immediately and declared that he would follow his original plan, preparing to deliver the inheritance he had set for him.

Herpo discovered that Ian had redirected the leyline energy he had spent millennia arranging, and he received Ian’s challenge to a reckoning at the Floating City Ascension Ceremony. Meanwhile, Rowena Ravenclaw, Hermione Granger, and Luna Lovegood advanced to the Fifth Tier, leaving Ian confident that the Arcane Empire was ready for the coming confrontation.

• Herpo found that the activated leyline network was channeling its energy to the Floating City and Gaia instead of the Underworld.
• Ian sent Herpo an invitation to the Floating City Ascension Ceremony, promising a reckoning in one month, and Herpo vowed to kill him.
• Morgana reported that Rowena Ravenclaw, Hermione Granger, and Luna Lovegood were approaching their advancement thresholds, so Ian went to Hogwarts.
• Rowena, Hermione, and Luna emerged from their breakthroughs as newly advanced Legendary combatants, each displaying powerful new abilities.
• Ian counted the three women, the Floating City, and the Orc Fleet among the Empire’s strength and declared that the coming ceremony would end the Old Era’s nightmare.

Ian learned about the abilities Rowena, Hermione, and Luna gained after advancing to the Fifth Tier and fusing with the Perfect Philosopher's Stone. Hermione's summons revealed that the world included an Abyssal Plane and a Material Plane, leaving Ian to reconsider how much he understood about the universe.

• Ian asked Luna, Rowena, and Hermione to describe their new abilities after their advancements.
• Luna said she could monitor the Milky Way Galaxy and see several seconds into the future, while Rowena demonstrated that she could travel between dimensions and parallel universes.
• Hermione summoned an army from another dimension, then summoned a demon one tier above herself and explained that her control was limited by her soul strength.
• Ian asked Morgana to translate the demon's speech, and Morgana identified its language as Abyssal and translated its remarks about being in the Material Plane rather than the Abyssal Plane.
• Ian remembered Merlin's warning that the world was more complex than he imagined.

Ian studied the Balrog’s blood with Hermione, Rowena, and Luna, discovering its genes could adapt to extreme environments. He then sent Rowena and Luna to search parallel timelines for Main God Wristwatches, hoping to prepare for a possible hostile version of himself.

• Ian failed to read the Balrog’s memories and learned Hermione could not let him dissect her summon, but she allowed him to take its blood.
• Ian, Rowena, Hermione, and Luna analyzed the Balrog’s blood and found its genetic code could rapidly adapt to extreme environments.
• Ian explained that Reincarnators served a Main God that fed on timeline disruptions and tasked the women with finding a Main God Wristwatch.
• Luna agreed to use her prophetic abilities to locate promising timelines, while Ian gave Rowena and Luna defensive equipment and escape tools.
• Ian revealed he feared a more powerful version of himself might emerge from Main God Space, and said the wristwatch could help him understand and counter that threat.

Ian planned to travel across the Multiverse to prepare for meeting dangerous versions of himself and recruit powerful talent for the Empire. Three months later, a new Authority of Death appeared in space, prompting Herpo to break free from the Underworld seal and race toward it.

• Ian warned Rowena, Hermione, and Luna that he expected to encounter other versions of himself and planned to seek the Main God Wristwatch.
• Ian proposed recruiting famous wizards and historical scholars from other timelines, while he and Rowena prepared to deal with Herpo.
• Over the next three months, the Arcane Empire secretly prepared for an interstellar war as Luna readied for the Multiverse journey and Pheobe and Bellatrix pursued Fifth Tier breakthroughs.
• A powerful, unfamiliar Authority of Death erupted dozens of light-years from the Solar System, and Ian teleported into space to investigate.
• Herpo recognized the energy as a pure, unclaimed Authority of Death and decided it could help him escape the Underworld seal.
• Herpo burned his stored Faith Power and sacrificed Divine Power to breach the Dimensional Barrier, then raced toward the asteroid belt where the energy originated.

Herpo was trapped in a pocket-dimension cage after touching the black orb that held a purer Authority of Death. Ian appeared and offered him cooperation, promising possible freedom and a chance to claim the Empire if Herpo could defeat him under the Supreme Duel Law.

• Herpo erased all life on the asteroid and found a black orb containing an Authority of Death unlike his own.
• Herpo touched the orb and was transported into a stable pocket dimension that resisted his attacks and prevented him from escaping.
• Herpo realized Ian had lured him with the orb and called for the wizard to appear.
• Ian confronted Herpo and argued that he could benefit whether Herpo cooperated, died, or self-destructed.
• Ian offered to release Herpo after reaching the Eighth Tier and promised him the Empire if he could defeat Ian under the Supreme Duel Law.
• Ian vanished, leaving Herpo alone in the cage, uncertain and troubled.

Ian and Alti tested Herpo’s immunity to ordinary magic and discovered that arcane spells triggered an instinctive shield. After extracting a trace of Herpo’s divine energy, Ian recognized it as a possible sample of Divine Power and saw a chance to resume his research.

• Ian told Tower Master Alti that he would join the early experiments on Herpo before leaving the rest to her team.
• After Herpo ignored Ian’s offer to reconsider, Alti tested Wand Magic and Dragon Tongue Magic on him, but the spells caused no harm.
• Ian had Morgana channel the Floating City’s energy into the tower, yet immensely amplified spells still failed to affect Herpo.
• When Alti attacked with arcane magic, Herpo’s instinctive shield blocked the spells, and the Mana Forbidden Enchantments did not disable it.
• Ian ordered the Energy Drain Enchantment to extract energy from Herpo, and after a three-hour struggle the Tower Spirit obtained a faint sample.
• Alti identified the sample as something other than magic power, and Ian suspected it was Divine Power, rekindling his research into its nature.

Ian and Alti investigated Herpo’s Divine Power, discovering that it contained mana, faith, soul energy, and a small amount of Authority, while experiments showed it violently rejected other energies and destroyed test subjects. Ian decided to publicly dissect Herpo, leaving the Empire poised to treat gods as creatures to study rather than beings to worship.

• Ian sent Alti his research on Faith Power and theories about Divine Power, and she found that Divine Power contained faith, mana, soul energy, and a small amount of Authority.
• Alti tested Divine Power on clones, which exploded unless they had Battle Aura; in those clones, it consumed their Battle Aura and life force until they died.
• Ian and Alti tested Divine Power with mana, Liquid Mana, and Crystallized Magic, finding that it expelled mana or caused the test subject to collapse.
• The researchers tested poisons and potions on Herpo while an enchantment continued siphoning his energy.
• Rowena asked Ian what he planned to do with Herpo, and Ian said he would dissect him live before the Empire’s population.

Ian and Alti developed a Divine Potion from Herpo’s divine energy and discovered it left a deathly imprint that might bind drinkers to Herpo or help him escape. The chapter ended with an emergency broadcast announcing that an Imperial Navy fleet had been destroyed in the Blackwood Star System.

• Ian tested a diluted potion made from Herpo’s divine energy and found that it could heal, strengthen, or poison its users.
• Alti discovered that the potion left a deathly imprint in the souls of those who drank it and suspected Herpo could claim them after death or use them to escape.
• Ian ordered Alti to isolate test subjects, dispose of them after experiments, and find a way to remove the imprint.
• Ian left the research to Alti as Herpo continued to be drained of divine energy.
• The Empire announced that an Imperial Navy fleet traveling through the Blackwood Star System had been completely destroyed with no survivors.

After Imperial media reported that the Steel-Skin Folk had destroyed a fleet, public anger pushed the Arcane Empire toward war. Ian addressed the Empire, warning that the universe was dangerous and calling on citizens to face the coming trials together.

• Akana Mikasa reported that the Steel-Skin Folk had sabotaged Imperial systems and destroyed the fleet, then led the Empire in a minute of silence for the fallen.
• Citizens and media debated the attack, and public calls for war grew as the Imperial Navy commander blamed the defeat on the Empire’s inexperience with interstellar warfare.
• Ian and Amelia confirmed that the fleet’s soldiers had been replaced with clones to provide a cause for war without sacrificing Imperial lives, and Ian described the conflict as a chance to test interstellar warfare theories.
• Amelia questioned whether the war’s final step was necessary, and Ian said the Empire had to learn to accept its costs while she warned him not to become heartless.
• Ian delivered a nationwide address, describing the universe’s conflicts and urging citizens to face the coming adversity, and the people repeated his pledge to be guided by Arcane Truth.

Ian and the Empire’s military leaders reviewed a recording of the Steel-Skin Folk’s High Council as both sides prepared for war. Albert warned the generals not to rely forever on Divination, while Ian quietly planned to replace him as navy commander-in-chief with Olivia Armstrong.

• Ian began a military conference and Albert Montblanc projected a recording of the Steel-Skin Folk’s High Council.
• The Steel-Skin Folk king and council members mocked the Arcane Empire’s declaration of war, but Ailonite warned that the fleet’s defeat and vanished wreckage were unexplained and urged caution.
• The Empire’s generals praised their intelligence advantage, and Albert rebuked them for assuming future wars would be just as easy.
• Ian approved of Albert’s clear strategic thinking but planned to appoint Olivia Armstrong as commander-in-chief and make Albert deputy commander-in-chief.

The Ghost Legion’s Cold Gold Squad infiltrated the Steel-Skin Folk’s interstellar launch center to plant an antimatter bomb. After an unexpected sensor alerted the base, a dark-gold giant emerged from underground and the mission turned into a battle.

• Albert Montblanc ordered the Cold Gold Squad to conduct the special operation codenamed “Ground Penetration.”
• Shadow, Ranger, War Wolf, Vampire, and a fifth squad member parachuted onto the Steel-Skin Folk homeworld to infiltrate its First Interstellar Launch Center.
• Shadow disabled the surveillance system while Vampire and War Wolf eliminated guards, and Ranger planted an antimatter bomb at the spacecraft fuel depot.
• A strange biological sensor triggered the base alarms despite the squad’s successful hack.
• A dark-gold Steel-Skin Folk nearly at the Fifth Tier emerged from underground and declared that the intruders would become sacrifices for his master.
• Shadow recognized the giant’s aura as that of an Outer God and ordered the squad to abandon stealth and prepare for battle.

Olivia and the Cold Gold Squad were exposed during their mission on Solidium Star, cut off from the Empire’s command room and surrounded by Steel-Skin Folk. After Olivia led the squad into battle and defeated their attackers, they regrouped and continued toward the supervisor’s office.

• Shadow reported that the team had been exposed and their room was surrounded, so Olivia ordered him to block communications and asked the command room to respond.
• The Empire’s divination crystal stopped showing the operation, and Ian urged the command room to trust the Cold Gold Squad while recalling that Olivia’s armor prioritized her safety.
• On Solidium Star, Olivia learned that space was sealed and their drone was shot down, then ordered Shadow to take control of the facility’s weapon systems and led the team toward the supervisor’s office.
• Olivia defeated three Fourth Tier Steel-Skin Folk with her ice powers while War Wolf, Vampire, and Ranger fought their own attackers.
• After most of the attackers were dead, the squad regrouped, and Vampire remarked on the taste of Steel-Skin Folk blood while Shadow praised Olivia.

Olivia and the Cold Gold Squad destroyed the Steel-Skin Folk’s launch platforms and communications across six planets, capturing one priest after repeated encounters with their planetary detection abilities. Ian reviewed the limited intelligence on the priests and ordered the war’s second step to begin.

• After capturing the supervisor, Olivia read his memories and learned that Steel-Skin Folk priests could detect intruders by communicating with the Planetary Will.
• Olivia ordered the squad to destroy the launch platforms, cut communications, and capture a priest, but Shadow could not locate any priests in the first stronghold.
• Olivia detonated the planted bombs and teleported the squad between launch platforms, destroying them and the communication towers on the planet.
• Over two days and nights, the Cold Gold Squad raided Steel-Skin Folk strongholds across six of their seven planets, paralyzing their fleet and capturing one priest.
• Ian read the preliminary report on the priests, set it aside, and declared that it was time to begin the war’s second step.

Gellert Grindelwald tested whether a Fifth Tier Arcanist could withstand an interstellar fleet, fighting the Steel-Skin Folk in space. After destroying their fleet, he completed a report on how fleets could exhaust powerful opponents and what countermeasures might defeat that tactic.

• The Steel-Skin Folk king gathered the Council, which sent its warships from Goldinite to attack the other planets.
• Gellert Grindelwald met the fleet in space and survived its opening bombardment with a shield.
• Grindelwald attacked with enhanced rocks, slashes, elemental magic, and Teleportation, destroying many Steel-Skin Folk warships.
• The commander ordered more than a hundred ships to self-destruct and a thousand nuclear missiles to launch, disrupting Grindelwald's Teleportation.
• Grindelwald endured the first nuclear explosions, then used Spatial Transfer to send the missiles, heat, and radiation far away.
• Grindelwald unleashed Fiendfyre to destroy the surviving fleet, controlled the flames to protect the planet, and wrote a battle report on tactics against high-tier opponents.

The Arcane Empire's 123rd Fleet surrounded the Steel-Skin Folk and demanded their surrender, while secretly ensuring their leaders would refuse. After the King rejected the ultimatum, Commander Sisko destroyed Airona Star, leaving the Steel-Skin Folk horrified and facing the same conquest they had inflicted on others.

• Commander Sisko announced that the 123rd Fleet had surrounded the Steel-Skin Folk and gave them five hours to surrender.
• Sisko explained that the Council had been placed under the Imperius Curse so it would reject surrender, allowing the Empire to crush and subdue the Steel-Skin Folk.
• The Steel-Skin Folk Council refused to surrender, and their King declared that their race was born to conquer.
• Sisko ordered the Fire Element Cannon to strike Airona, unleashing flames that destroyed the planet's life and civilization.
• The fleet fired the cannon's second projectile into Airona Star's core, shattering the planet into tens of thousands of fragments.
• The Steel-Skin Folk watched Airona's destruction and realized that higher civilizations preyed upon lower ones, as they had once done to others.

After the bombardment killed 23 billion Steel-Skin Folk, Ian accepted his responsibility and reaffirmed his imperial ambitions, while Sisko forced himself to remain detached and secured their surrender. Ian classified the Steel-Skin Folk as second-class citizens who could earn full rights through service, beginning his plan to integrate them into the Empire.

• Ian watched the bombardment and, despite regretting the deaths, decided he would make the same choice again; he remembered Amelia's warning and drank alone while his wives waited outside.
• Sisko, overwhelmed by guilt after the broadcast, cast the [Mechanical Mind Charm] on himself and demanded the Steel-Skin Folk surrender or face extinction.
• The Steel-Skin Folk Council surrendered, and Ian arrived the next day to accept their surrender and sign a treaty.
• Ian used [Spiritual Pressure] to subdue the Steel-Skin Folk leaders, then declared them second-class citizens who could earn full citizenship through military service and merit.
• Ian planned to domesticate the Steel-Skin Folk by making them work toward imperial rights until they identified as Imperial citizens.

After the Steel-Skin Folk signed a treaty, Ian began shaping plans to integrate them into the Empire while inspecting the conquered worlds and reflecting on the war’s cost. At a peaceful family dinner, Morgana interrupted him with news that the Galactic Federation had seized the Solar System’s communications to send a broadcast.

• The Steel-Skin Folk Council signed the surrender treaty in a live broadcast, and Ian promised the people a better future after they atoned for their past actions.
• Ian withdrew most of the fleet, ordered Warp Gates installed, and temporarily barred travel between the Solar System and the Blackwood Star System while the Empire planned to control Steel-Skin Folk media and education.
• Ian rejected a proposal to spread religion among the Steel-Skin Folk and explained that he wanted a diverse Empire strengthened by many species.
• Ian inspected the conquered planets, found that most enslaved species were near extinction, and identified the Mole Folk as useful for mining.
• Ian shared a peaceful dinner with his family after confiding in his wives, but Morgana interrupted to report that a message from the Galactic Federation had forcibly taken over Solar System communications.

Ian rejected the Galactic Federation’s sanctions against the Arcane Empire and prepared to explore the Multiverse. He departed Earth aboard the Floating City with Rowena, Hermione, and Luna, leaving Olivia Armstrong, Pheobe, and Bellatrix behind.

• Ian read the Galactic Federation’s judgment, which imposed a trade embargo, froze the Empire’s Federation-bank assets, and demanded a fine.
• Ian accused the Federation of using its laws to suppress the Arcane Empire and ordered Morgana to tell them to collect the fine in the Solar System.
• Ian accepted that the embargo would hinder trade but planned to strengthen the Empire through independent development and resources taken from the Steel-Skin Folk.
• Olivia Armstrong stayed behind to reorganize the Steel-Skin Folk’s resources and guard against retaliation, while Pheobe and Bellatrix remained on Earth to advance to the Fifth Tier.
• Ian prepared the Floating City for the journey and departed Earth with Rowena, Hermione, and Luna.
• The Floating City broke through reality and began the Arcane Empire’s second journey through the Multiverse.

Ian and his expedition entered a new world in 1926, where divination revealed occult activity near the Amazon and Egypt. Ian and Hermione investigated the Amazon, where they encountered Dr. Lily Houghton and Frank while searching for the source of the local magic.

• Ian launched Wizard's Eye through the Origin Wall and learned that the destination was an apparently ordinary Earth in 1926, with occult activity near the Amazon and Egypt.
• Ian split the expedition, sending himself and Hermione to the Amazon while Lily and Snape went to Egypt.
• After arriving, Ian and Hermione found that their magic had weakened under the new world's laws, then followed a compass to a river.
• Ian and Hermione appeared aboard a boat carrying Dr. Lily Houghton, her brother, and Frank, startling the group.
• Ian revealed details from Dr. Lily Houghton's memories, then discovered that he could not read Frank's memories.