Recaps

As John drowned in the deep sea, she relived John Maslow’s tragic childhood and began awakening a power tied to her bloodline before a mysterious rescuer saved her. On the northern front, An Speyer felt an inexplicable panic, unaware that John had nearly died.

• John exhausted her remaining magic while trying to reach the surface, then sank as she began to suffocate.
• As John neared death, she experienced John Maslow’s memories firsthand and felt the child’s hatred awaken a power within her.
• An orca’s current interrupted John’s transformation, and her blood drew a swarm of deep-sea predators toward her.
• A short-haired figure killed the attacking magical beasts, gave John breath through a kiss, and carried her toward the surface as she fell asleep.
• On the northern front, An Speyer told Avril she felt she had lost something important, then dismissed the feeling and hurried toward the military strategy meeting.
• Avril teased An about introducing her younger brother, and An silenced her with a menacing threat.

An and Avril discussed An’s long-awaited return to her family and Elena’s offer to make An her retainer. An decided she would consider the offer only after reuniting with her family, and Avril volunteered to accompany her home.

• An warned Avril not to joke about her little brother or pursue him, and Avril insisted she had no interest in him.
• Avril reflected on An’s nineteen years away from home and worried that the reunion might disappoint her, so she considered having her family prepare An’s adoptive parents.
• Avril urged An to consider Elena’s offer of a retainer position and the Kamluofei surname as a way to protect her family.
• An said she would decide after returning home, explaining that reunion with her parents and little brother was all she could focus on after nineteen years apart.
• Avril offered to travel with An and use her noble status to support her family, and An thanked her, confident her family would welcome Avril.

John woke in Stargazing City after surviving his near-drowning, but his confusion over his new strength and magic was interrupted by Hawk reporting the Allied Forces’ defeat and welcoming him back. The Cocobia Rainforest campaign ended in a great victory, while enemy commander Roxy Sankaster had escaped by ship.

• John woke after two days unconscious and found Wendy asleep with her head on his arm; their argument ended when he toppled onto her and Miles walked in on them.
• Miles fled the room, then tried to share what he had seen with Marda and the others, but John kicked the door open and sent him flying.
• John noticed spell circuits on his leg and a vast body of magical knowledge in his mind, and wondered whether his system had finally come online.
• Hawk reported that the Allied Forces’ United Legion had been annihilated and that Roxy Sankaster had left Faoken’s northern port aboard a Morning Star Clan merchant ship.
• Hawk declared the Cocobia Rainforest campaign a great victory and welcomed Commander John Maslow back on behalf of the assembled officers and soldiers.

John rejected his officers’ attempts to give him sole credit for the victory and ordered them to submit honest reports. As the meeting ended, he learned that the Empire was sending seventy thousand reinforcements to Faoken, due to arrive in Fang City within two days.

• Hawk reported that John’s forces had suffered only 821 losses and praised John’s command, prompting the officers to heap further credit on him.
• John denounced the officers’ false reports, burned them, and ordered everyone to rewrite them with accurate accounts of who had earned the merit.
• John and the officers discussed security, supplies, the wounded, and the recovery and cremation of soldiers’ bodies for identification and future pensions.
• Mia informed John that the Empire had dispatched 60,000 ground troops and 10,000 Mage Soldiers as reinforcements, with orders for his forces to prepare to meet them in Fang City.

John questioned why the Empire had sent an elite relief force to Faoken, suspecting the Old Guard Party had another objective. Mia revealed that its mission code pointed to a Sacred Revenge Edict, likely requested by Arias after he mistakenly believed Doran had died.

• John reviewed the Rhine Military District's First Ground Army Group's formidable history and wondered why the Old Guard Party had sent it and the First Air Force Army Group to Faoken.
• John asked Mia whether she knew the reason behind the War Affairs Department's support mission, then doubted she could offer useful intelligence.
• Mia explained that the mission code was N001, which identified it as a Sacred Revenge Edict under the Thirteen Round Table Oath.
• Mia reasoned that Arias had likely requested the edict from Emperor William because he mistakenly thought Doran had died after losing contact with him at sea.
• John froze in disbelief at Mia's explanation.

John praised Mia for her work and concluded that the approaching Imperial reinforcements could not take command before his victory at Fauken Bay. That confidence collapsed when Wendy reported that the Beastfolk had sent the Bloodhowl Legion and its Crown Tier marshal, Grommas Shattered Fang Bloodwolf, into the Cocobia Rainforest to destroy the Imperial forces.

• John praised Mia, who vowed to study Wendy's Maslow Quotations and serve as a better Maslowist warrior.
• John reasoned that Wolf's plan to seize command and steal credit would fail because the Fifth Legion had been defeated and the First Ground Army Group could not take command without Duke Mosesiris's approval.
• Wendy told John that Galil had reported the Bloodhowl Legion was advancing into the Cocobia Rainforest under Crown Tier powerhouse Grommas Shattered Fang Bloodwolf.
• Grommas discussed his rise to the Crown Tier with Noah, a Shadow Orc, and revealed his desire to kill John and draw the Ravaging Marquis into battle.
• Grommas ordered the Bloodhowl Legion to advance toward Stargazing City and attack the Imperial forces.

John planned to counter Gromas and the Bloodhowl Legion by secretly carving a 572-kilometer artificial waterway through the Cocobia Rainforest, allowing the Third Navy to attack the enemy with its dreadnoughts. He ordered the work begun before the enemy arrived, believing secrecy and the time gained would let him hold out for reinforcements and kill Gromas.

• John ordered Galil to find the exact locations of the Bloodhowl Legion's and Bloodwolf Tribe's anti-magic facilities within eight hours.
• John assessed Gromas's strength and the danger of facing the Bloodhowl Legion in a direct ground battle.
• John measured a 572-kilometer route from Crescent Strait across the map and had Wendy check the 1st Battalion's remaining High-Energy Magic Stones.
• Wendy reported that the battalion had 1,851.5 stones, enough for the planned operations.
• John ordered Barnabos's Demolition Company to blast a waterway at least 572 kilometers long and five kilometers wide, while Marda's Engineering Company and Edgar's 2nd Division concealed the explosions and cleared the surrounding forest.
• John planned to flood the waterway so the Third Navy's dreadnoughts could bombard the Bloodhowl Legion and Gromas, while the resulting delay bought time for reinforcements to arrive.

Reginald recognized John’s artificial waterway at Crescent Strait and redirected the Blazing Sun Fleet toward Silverscale Port, while warning Gromas away from the Cocobia Rainforest. Gromas halted the Bloodhowl Legion’s advance despite Motas’s challenge, and Darkthorn Clan leaders noticed the division within the legion as it marched south.

• Reginald suspected John had prepared a trap and ordered the Bloodhowl Legion to rendezvous with his fleet at Silverscale Port before attacking Crescent Strait.
• Reginald realized an artificial waterway was accelerating his warship, then ordered the Third Fleet south while the First and Second Fleets continued toward the Aiken Sea.
• Gromas believed Reginald’s warning and ordered the Bloodhowl Legion to halt and change course instead of entering the Cocobia Rainforest.
• Motas and his faction challenged Gromas’s authority and urged the legion to advance, but Gromas rebuked Motas for risking the lives of the tribe’s soldiers.
• Gromas led the Bloodhowl Legion south while Darkthorn Clan leaders watched the dispute and considered exploiting the legion’s internal divisions.

John learned that 158 Allied warships were approaching Crescent Strait from two directions, with the Crown Tier commander Reginald Solaris among them, and devised a waterway-based surprise attack for Bob’s Third Navy. The chapter ended with Bob accepting the mission while John stayed behind to face the remaining enemy fleet, the Bloodhowl Legion, and the other Crown Tier threats.

• John heard from Bob that two enemy fleets totaling 158 ships were advancing toward Crescent Strait and that Reginald Solaris could neutralize the Horst Battleship’s Omega-Class Magic Cannon.
• John asked Bob how confidently the Third Navy could destroy the northern fleet if he created an opening for a rear assault.
• John revealed that Mage Soldiers had built a 572-kilometer Artificial Waterway and ordered them to expand it into a route through Fauken Bay for all thirty-two Third Navy warships.
• John planned for Bob to attack the northern fleet with support from fifty Beam Mage Cannon Vehicles, then draw the southern fleet into the eastern island chain while a decoy concealed the navy’s movements.
• John told Bob he would handle the remaining eighty-three warships, the possible arrival of the Crimson Sun Crown, and the Bloodhowl Legion, despite privately doubting his ability to do so.
• Bob recognized John’s desperate position but accepted the assignment in the name of the Empire.

John struggled to find a way to stop both the Bloodhowl Legion and the Hellfire Suicide Doll Legion, but new intelligence revealed that his spies were already infiltrating the enemy transports. Elated by the opportunity, he celebrated with Wendy, who mistook his excitement for madness and tried to revive him with a kiss.

• John concluded that he needed to destroy the Hellfire Suicide Dolls before they landed, but feared he could not spare the Black Eagle Special Forces from their mission against the Anti-Magic Devices.
• Wendy reported that the Bloodhowl Legion had changed course toward Silverscale Port and that the spy division was boarding enemy transport ships alongside its soldiers.
• John realized the infiltrating spies were assassination specialists with concealment abilities comparable to the Black Eagle Special Forces, and laughed that victory was now within reach.
• John lifted Wendy and praised her as his goddess of luck, while Wendy believed his laughter meant he had broken under the strain of battle.
• Wendy recalled the legend of her ancestor Wendia Elaine and decided to perform the Kiss of the Covenant to restore John, but discovered that he had already sealed her lips.

John planned three troopless decoy fronts to delay Reginald’s fleet while his forces struck the Bloodwolf Tribe’s core city and awaited reinforcements. He intended to use an Image Fern as his final bait and left convinced the plan would succeed.

• John stopped Wendy from getting close, then punished her with copying the Maslow Quotations ten times before returning to his strategy.
• After learning the Bloodhowl Legion was sailing to join Reginald, John redirected his plans toward crippling enemy ground forces and capturing the Bloodwolf Tribe’s core city.
• John planned to make Blackstone Beach appear lightly defended, then trap landing troops in quicksand and bombard them from the hills.
• John planned to use wrecked vehicles and false banners at the Mangrove Forest to provoke enemy bombardment, while his troops withdrew toward Stargazing City and planted Mage Arcane Mines along a reconnaissance route.
• John planned to use an Image Fern as his final decoy at Sea-Gate Cliff, hoping the three fronts would delay Reginald long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Jamanla and the Shadow Orcs destroyed the Hellfire Suicide Doll Legion weapons aboard twenty transport ships, though the sabotage cost 120 soldiers. Reginald ordered his fleet onward toward Blackstone Beach, while John judged that many enemy suicide weapons remained and flew to the rear defensive line to prepare for the landing battle.

• Jamanla sacrificed himself by unleashing his demon blood to melt through an armory door, and two of his companions destroyed the weapons inside as the rest of the squad fought the defenses.
• Shadow Orc teams carried out simultaneous attacks on all twenty transport ships, destroying their armories and sinking the ships.
• Reginald learned of the coordinated sabotage, suspected a traitor had revealed the weapons' location, and ordered the fleet to continue toward Blackstone Beach while destroyers collected the Bloodhowl Legion.
• John received Galil's report that the mission had succeeded at the cost of 120 Ironblood Tier soldiers and inferred that the enemy still had at least a thousand suicide weapons.
• John chose not to send Galil another assassination order and flew with Wendy and the Guard Unit toward the rear defensive line.

Lieutenant General Bilson’s Fleet One was ambushed and destroyed after John Maslow’s forces used Explosive Magic to turn the Crescent Peninsula into an island. Marshal Reginald pursued the retreating enemy and chose to bombard Blackstone Beach, unaware of what awaited his fleet there.

• Bilson ordered Fleet One to bombard Crescent Strait, but the enemy coastal guns and fleet did not respond.
• An enemy fleet appeared behind Fleet One and destroyed it with a Gamma-Class Magic Cannon strike.
• Reginald realized John Maslow had used Explosive Magic to create an Artificial Waterway and had far more military resources than intelligence had suggested.
• Reginald ordered Fleet Two to pursue the withdrawing enemy and sent Fleet Three’s destroyers toward Bone Forest Swamp while the battleships headed for Blackstone Beach.
• Reginald activated the Blazing Sun Domain and ordered the fleet to bombard Blackstone Beach.

John Maslow’s forces were pushed toward collapse as Reginald’s fleet captured Blackstone Beach, leaving them short on ammunition and facing the approaching Bloodhowl Legion. Rather than retreat north to escape, John ordered his troops to regroup and march straight toward the enemy for a decisive battle.

• Reginald ordered a massive naval bombardment of Blackstone Beach, then landed troops who breached John’s traps and defenses.
• John directed his forces through twenty-five hours of withdrawals and fierce fighting as the Blazing Sun Fleet advanced toward the Mangrove Front.
• Wendy reported that John’s forces were nearly out of ammunition, medical units were overwhelmed, and the enemy fleet had entered the artificial river.
• Wendy relayed Galil’s delayed intelligence that the Bloodhowl Legion would reach the Mangrove combat zone in five hours and surround John’s forces.
• John rejected retreat and ordered the main force to abandon its defensive lines, regroup, and march north to fight the Bloodhowl Legion.

John Maslow tried to find a way to defeat Gromas's advancing Bloodhowl Legion before the Allied Forces trapped his army, while Wendy prayed and invoked the Golden Law to bless him with luck. Her prayer coincided with a miraculous new shoot growing at the roots of the Golden Tree in the Brown Kingdom.

• John ordered his 11,000 remaining troops to use guerrilla tactics against the Bloodhowl Legion, hoping to draw its forces into ambushes.
• Gromas kept his legion in a tight formation, sent the Darkthorn Regiment to scout and probe, and refused to pursue the small Imperial units.
• John realized Gromas had thwarted his plan to divide the enemy and strained his mind with the Analysis Spell Formation as he searched for another way to survive.
• Wendy watched John suffer, prayed for his safety, and invoked the Golden Law to grant him the blessing of luck.
• A jade-green shoot appeared among the rotting roots of the Golden Tree in the Brown Kingdom, with faint golden light shining from its leaves.

Galil brought John intelligence about the Bloodhowl Legion’s divided command and rivalry between Motas and Gromas, giving him a way to turn the battle around. John proposed using false information to lure Motas and most of the legion into an ambush.

• Galil described how she and the Darkthorn Clan had uncovered their Drow heritage and begun breaking the Sage Seal, though only 137 clan members had transformed so far.
• Galil told John that Motas Bloodwolf and Gromas Shattered Fang Bloodhowl were rivals who disputed the Blood Core and leadership of the Bloodwolf Clan.
• Galil explained that Motas controlled four-fifths of the Bloodhowl Legion, while Gromas commanded only one-fifth and had a strained relationship with his brother Nils.
• John proposed leaking false intelligence about the Empire’s main force to Motas so he would lead four-fifths of the Bloodhowl Legion into an ambush.

Motas discovered that Noah held a map to the Empire’s main force and killed Gromas’s confidants to seize the intelligence for his own ambitions. Noah threatened to burn the map unless Motas accepted a condition, and Motas began bargaining while giving him three minutes.

• Motas resented Gromas’s orders and blamed him for wasting Motas’s troops through passive defense.
• Motas noticed Noah meeting a bloodied Darkthorn Clan member and realized the map revealed the Empire’s main force.
• Motas declared his intention to overthrow Gromas and demanded that Noah hand over the map.
• Gromas’s confidants tried to destroy the map, but Motas killed them with his blood-red blade and drained their bodies.
• Noah threatened to burn the map unless Motas agreed to a condition, and Motas offered to negotiate while warning him not to delay the battle.

Noah tricked Mortas into leading the Bloodhowl Legion into a prepared trap, where an explosion and bombardment annihilated more than thirty thousand soldiers. With Gromas advancing on John's main force, John chose to withdraw toward Sea-Gate Cliff and revealed that he had a plan to defeat the Crown Tier commander.

• Noah secured Mortas's oath to clear the Darkthorn Clan's name and then gave him a false map showing the Empire's main force nearby.
• Mortas led thirty-six thousand Bloodhowl Legion soldiers to attack an empty camp, where buried Magic Cannon shells detonated beneath them.
• John's forces bombarded the blast zone, killing more than thirty thousand Bloodhowl soldiers and leaving Mortas gravely wounded.
• Bababela reported that Gromas had breached the first defensive line with ten thousand elite Bloodhowl soldiers and could reach John's main force in about half an hour.
• John analyzed the situation and ordered the army to withdraw toward Sea-Gate Cliff instead of escaping north through the tunnel.

John planned to lure Gromas and the Bloodhowl Legion into the Blazing Sun Fleet’s bombardment by staging a mutiny and sending false intelligence, despite the danger to himself. Galil revealed she could briefly reach the Crowned Rank, but John kept her in reserve and ordered the army to withdraw and prepare the Bait Plan.

• John explained that his exhausted army had less than a twenty percent chance of defeating Gromas directly, so he planned to trick Reginald into bombarding Sea-Gate Cliff.
• John ordered Edgar Thorne to stage a mutiny and shoot him for real so Gromas would believe the Imperial Army had split apart.
• Galil revealed that the Crown of Silver Moon Benediction could raise her to the Crowned Rank for twenty-four hours, but John refused to let her use it yet because Reginald remained a second Crowned Rank threat.
• John told his officers that risking his life was necessary to secure victory and urged them to grow stronger from their helplessness.
• John ordered all units to withdraw southwest and carry out the Bait Plan once they reached the outer combat zone.

Gromas learned that the Imperial Army had attacked the Bloodwolf Clan’s lands, but he killed the messenger and used the news to spur his troops into pursuing John Maslow. After a scout reported that Edgar Thorne had wounded John and seized command, Gromas sent forces to block John’s escape by sea, unaware that two Darkthorn Regiment units were closing in on key targets.

• A messenger told Gromas that the Imperial Army had captured his wife and sons and threatened the Bloodwolf Clan’s capital unless the Bloodhowl Legion withdrew.
• Gromas rejected the demand, killed the messenger, and ordered Nils to spread a distorted account of the attack to raise the legion’s fighting spirit.
• Gromas led the Bloodhowl Legion in pursuit of John Maslow, whose troops delayed them with roadblocks and a northbound breakout.
• A Shadow Orc scout reported that Edgar Thorne had shot John and taken command, while John continued toward Sea-Gate Cliff with fifteen Mage Soldiers.
• Gromas sent an elite unit with the Anti-Magic Device and Anti-Air Device toward Sea-Gate Cliff, while Nils pursued Edgar’s forces with two thousand soldiers.
• Two concealed units from the Darkthorn Regiment split off and approached the Allied Forces communications platoon and the device-carrying elite unit.

John Maslow’s retreat and plan to escape by ship led Reginald to unleash a full-power cannon strike on Sea-Gate Cliff, even though it would also destroy his own allied forces. Reginald believed the blast had killed John and secured an Allied victory.

• John learned that Gromas was pursuing him and continued retreating to lure the Bloodhowl Legion toward Reginald’s bombardment.
• Reginald concluded that John was heading to Sea-Gate Cliff to escape by ship and ordered a communications unit to report the Empire’s movements.
• Reginald charged the Damonster’s main cannon with his Crown Tier power and decided to strike Sea-Gate Cliff without warning Gromas.
• After learning that the Empire had reached Sea-Gate Cliff and was boarding ships, Reginald fired the cannon toward the cliffs.
• Reginald watched a towering pillar of fire erupt and believed his bombardment had killed John and ended the war in the Allied Forces’ favor.

John lured Gromas toward Sea-Gate Cliff while reflecting on the three consciousnesses he had sensed inside his body and the mysterious Blood Ring in his eyes. Gromas stopped at a distance, convinced he had uncovered John's trap and that victory was near.

• John drove ahead alone after sending Wendy and the 14th Squad away, evading the Bloodhowl Legion's attacks with enhanced calculations.
• John recalled sensing three separate consciousnesses in his mind and wondered whether the vanished one had been the original John Maslow.
• John noticed the Blood Ring patterns in his pupils and decided he might ask Headmaster Tolovsky to investigate them after the battle.
• After chasing John to Sea-Gate Cliff, Gromas heard that John wanted to speak with him and rode ahead alone, stopping eight hundred meters away.
• John taunted Gromas and held him there while the Darkthorn Regiment's plan advanced, and Gromas waited for confirmation that the anti-air and anti-magic devices were active.

John Maslow lured Gromas and the Bloodhowl Legion to Sea-Gate Cliff while concealing his true plan: a strike from the Blazing Sun Fleet’s main cannon. The bombardment killed Gromas and destroyed the legion’s main force, leaving John alive above the battlefield.

• John taunted Gromas and refused his offer to join the Saga Kingdom, while Gromas claimed he had anticipated John’s trap and kept his army outside its reach.
• Gromas’s adjutant reported that the troops sent to install Anti-Air and Anti-Magic Devices and the Allied Forces communications unit had disappeared.
• Gromas realized John had disrupted communications to guide the Blazing Sun Fleet’s cannon strike, but the shell’s light appeared before he could order a retreat.
• John flew above the clouds with his Mage Pack as Gromas tried to withdraw the Bloodhowl Legion from Sea-Gate Cliff.
• The naval bombardment overwhelmed Gromas’s domain and killed him and seven thousand Bloodhowl Legion soldiers.

After John disappeared during the Bait Plan, Edgar and the officers prepared a search while Hawk warned that sending too many weakened soldiers would endanger the army. The chapter ended with a small rescue force being organized, the Drow asked to help, and Hawk anxiously waiting for news of John.

• Edgar ordered Marda to contact the Mage Guard Unit, and she reported that its members were approaching without John.
• Charlie revealed that John had ordered the 14th Squad to withdraw before the Bait Plan, leaving the officers alarmed by his disappearance.
• Hawk persuaded Barnabos to send a small team of fit Mage Soldiers to search for John instead of exposing the weakened main force.
• Edgar sealed the news, while Jialier agreed to ask the Drow near Sea-Gate Cliff to assist and reported that the enemy's anti-air facilities had been destroyed.
• Hawk reassured Charlie and helped the officers settle the army's next orders, then remained alone in the tent, praying for John's safety.

John tried to carry the Blood Core back to his forces, but its aura rapidly drained his magic power and enemy armies blocked his route. He attempted to sneak between them and was forced to kill two Bloodhowl Legion patrolmen when one approached his hiding place.

• John discovered that the Blood Core was causing his magic power to drain rapidly, but kept it because it could benefit the Empire and prevent Nils from absorbing it.
• John abandoned flight and set out on foot toward his main force, only to find Allied Forces landing troops and Bloodhowl Legion soldiers blocking his routes.
• John realized the two armies would soon move toward one another around him, leaving him at great risk of detection and capture.
• John planned a route through the gap between the forces, calculated that he had an eighty percent chance of reaching his own troops, and continued carrying the Blood Core.
• A Bloodhowl Legion patrolman approached John's hiding place, so John shot him with his Magic Pistol and killed the second patrolman with a silver blade.