Chapter Summaries

Elwin discovered a journal that convinced him Celestine Novak had been created in a secret human-modification experiment backed by the Brown Kingdom’s upper echelons. He destroyed the laboratory, ordered Anna and the others to keep silent, and hurried them toward Mistral Academy, fearing they were being watched.

• Elwin connected Celestine’s origins to a hidden experiment and suspected the disappearances around the Astra Mountains were part of it.
• Believing the journal had exposed him to the conspirators, Elwin threw it away and burned the laboratory until it collapsed into a pit of ash.
• Elwin ordered Anna, Royce, and the other youth to deny knowing anything about what had happened.
• Elwin told Anna that the attacker was probably connected to the Brown Kingdom’s upper echelons and was not their enemy, then told her to stop worrying about him.
• Elwin rushed the three youths to their jeep and drove toward Mistral Academy.

John planned the Empire’s ambush in the Gloom Corridor and considered Balnabo for a military intelligence post, then offered him the position of Air Force Intelligence director. Balnabo instead challenged John to explain why he had written the Maslow Quotations, leaving John to face his subordinate’s suspicion about his true aims.

• John sent Samuel and 1,500 soldiers down the underground river to raid enemy cities in the Cocobia Rainforest, while deploying forces throughout the Gloom Corridor for an ambush.
• John decided Balnabo was the best candidate to lead the Air Force Intelligence Department and summoned him to discuss the appointment.
• John offered Balnabo the director’s position, but Balnabo asked why John had created the Maslow Quotations despite the danger they posed to his future.
• Balnabo recalled how he had come to believe John intended to bring the noble class to extinction and feared the consequences for the 1st Battalion, the Seventh Legion, and commoners tied to them.

John explained that he promoted the Maslow Quotations to challenge noble privilege and win glory and fair rewards for the common people, and Balnabo pledged his loyalty and accepted the Minister of Air Force Intelligence post. As the Faoken campaign continued, John planned around Roxy’s likely moves and contacted the Imperial agent Mole to activate a contingency.

• John told Barnabos that nobles had exploited commoner soldiers and their families, and declared that his goal was to overturn bloodline privilege and reward the Empire’s true sacrifices.
• Balnabo Gustav swore an oath of loyalty to John, and John formally accepted his allegiance.
• John accepted Balnabo’s appointment as Minister of Air Force Intelligence and dismissed him after explaining that he would study intelligence courses after the Fauken Campaign.
• John considered Roxy’s possible attacks on the 2nd Division and Fang City, decided not to send reinforcements, and planned to use the Silverstone Mine resources to support Faoken after the campaign.
• John activated Jett’s special communication device, and Imperial Level 2 Agent “Mole” reported in.

Roxy planned to split the Allied Forces and attack on three fronts while setting a trap to uncover the spy in the Fifth Legion. Suspecting Will Hoffman, she assigned him a dangerous mission to test his loyalty, and he accepted despite realizing she distrusted him.

• Roxy decided to divide her forces, strike the 2nd Imperial Army Division, raid Fang City, and defend Blue Lake City while betting John Maslow would not launch a desperate assault.
• Davis Bacht left Roxy’s command tent with an assignment, frightening Will Hoffman, who mistook his presence for evidence that the spy had been caught.
• Will entered the tent and faced Roxy’s scrutiny as she recalled the suspicious circumstances of his survival after facing John Maslow.
• Roxy ordered Will to lead his twelve-hundred-man battalion to hold a position against a possible Imperial attack while the main force struck the 2nd Imperial Army Division.
• Will recognized that refusing would expose him to interrogation, so he promised Roxy he would complete the mission.

Will discovered that Elliott Vane was the Imperial spy codenamed Mole and gave him intelligence about Roxy’s plans before the Independent 1st Battalion departed. As John weighed the many possible layers of Roxy’s strategy, his exhaustion weakened his restraint over [Dominion], which began to awaken within him.

• Elliott revealed the code phrase that identified him as Mole, and Will confirmed his identity with the matching response.
• Will told Elliott that Roxy planned to send the 502nd Division to the Tarzan Wetlands to join the 109th Division, while the Independent 1st Battalion was ordered to block Imperial forces at Gale Slope.
• Will asked Elliott to tell John to protect his family after his expected death, and he shared suspicions about Davis Bacht’s mission and possible plans involving the 503rd Division.
• John received Will’s intelligence and considered numerous possible layers in Roxy’s divided-force strategy.
• As John’s tactical calculations exhausted him, [Dominion] began consuming his magic power and awakening within him.

John finalized his plans for the coming war and set a five-day limit for the battle at Gloom Corridor before ordering a withdrawal. As enemy forces entered the corridor, Siegfried continued resisting Doran’s efforts to recruit him while serving as his acting guard commander.

• John assigned Samuel to sabotage Crescent Fleet ports, arranged a trap for Allied Forces near Silverstone Mine, and planned for Igonila’s Assault Company to strike the enemy headquarters during the Gloom Corridor battle.
• John ordered Kambert to prepare plague formations on magical-beast corpses as a defense against an enemy breakthrough and set a five-day deadline to avoid being trapped by a flood.
• John expected to join Samuel’s forces after withdrawing from Gloom Corridor and use control of the Cocobia Rainforest and Crescent Strait to help destroy the Fifth Legion and its supporting fleet.
• Marda informed John that the enemy had reached Gloom Corridor and that Frontline One was about to engage.
• Doran showed Siegfried his rare, costly wine and tried to draw him into praising its artistic value, while Siegfried reflected on Doran’s gifts and repeated recruitment attempts.
• Siegfried told Doran that, as someone from a commoner family, he did not understand art and apologized for disappointing him.

Siegfried rejected Doran’s attempts to recruit him, left the Guard Regiment, and returned to his unit, while Doran reluctantly sent him the valuable wine anyway. Hawk then arrived with orders from John: an enemy force of at least three thousand was heading to raid Fang City, and they needed to plan its destruction.

• Doran offered Siegfried an expensive barrel of magical wine and tried to persuade him to join his side, but Siegfried refused the gift and reaffirmed his loyalty to the 1st Battalion.
• Siegfried invoked his Imperial Air Force assignment and direct chain of command, then resigned as acting commander of the Independent 3rd Division Guard Regiment and left Doran.
• Doran raged over Siegfried’s rejection, broke his treasured art, and lamented that John Maslow had earned the soldier’s unwavering loyalty.
• Doran ordered his guards to deliver the wine to Siegfried, who was confused when they left the barrel in his tent.
• Hawk visited Siegfried and reported John’s orders that an enemy force of at least three thousand was preparing to raid Fang City.
• Hawk proposed that they meet to plan how to annihilate the enemy force under John’s instructions.

Hawk interpreted John Maslow’s orders as a plan to ambush the force heading for Fang City, capture its commander, and protect the Empire’s spy, while John redirected his troops in Gloom Corridor to eliminate enemy scouts and regain the initiative. The chapter ended as Garl and Roderick’s forces clashed, Laiya prepared to capture the enemy commander, and John set his sights on Roxy Sankaster’s weakened main camp.

• Hawk explained that Mia and he could use their magic to destroy the force approaching Fang City, then concluded that John wanted them to capture its commander and frame him as the Allied Forces’ spy.
• Laiya claimed the live-capture mission, and Hawk assigned Siegfried to support her from the perimeter.
• Garl’s City-Burner Corps entered the cavern, suffered heavy losses from traps and an ambush, and Garl confronted the transformed Roderick as their attacks collided.
• John observed that Roxy had divided her forces and ordered his front-line troops to openly destroy the enemy reconnaissance units.
• John planned to keep forcing Roxy to send more troops into the fighting until her main camp was weak enough for the Assault Company to attack.

Roxy Sankaster revealed her plan to collapse the Gloom Corridor and destroy John Maslow’s forces, while Leon committed himself to revenge for Frank’s death and developed a third-stage portable Anti-Magic Device. In Morning Star Territory, Adam prepared to bargain with Leon for his clan’s survival as Leon arrived at the council hall.

• Roxy explained that she had kept twenty-three thousand soldiers at headquarters and planned to use Orian’s teleportation magic and detonated facilities to collapse the Gloom Corridor in three days.
• Leon gave Carl a manuscript describing a third-stage miniaturized portable Anti-Magic Device, then resolved to wage war against John Maslow solely to avenge Frank.
• Adam concluded that the Morning Star Clan needed Allied protection and considered offering Leon a marriage alliance with Sanna, along with the clan’s formulas and techniques.
• Leon and Carl entered the council hall, where Adam prepared to persuade Leon to accept the Morning Star Clan’s loyalty.

Hawk’s forces lured Doran away from Silverstone Mine with a staged attack, while Davis’s brigade pursued an apparently fleeing Imperial unit into an ambush. The chapter ended with a silver-haired girl confronting Davis and demanding his surrender or his limbs.

• Davis learned that an enemy force was stationed near Silverstone Mine and that the mine held valuable ore, then redirected his brigade toward it.
• Hawk ordered Siegfried to carry out the Bait Plan, and Siegfried persuaded Doran to approve a military drill at the mine.
• Siegfried staged a bloody defeat and convinced Doran and Toby to flee toward Lionheart Wharf, while Laiya helped fake the bombardment.
• Davis’s brigade attacked an Imperial force that fled in apparent panic, and Davis ordered his troops to pursue it.
• A terrifying attack devastated Davis’s guards, and a silver-haired girl appeared before him and demanded that he surrender or lose his limbs.

After Hawk fell unconscious, Mia devised a deception that convinced Major Edmund Hawthorne that Colonel Davis Bacht had betrayed the Allied Forces, allowing Edmund to escape with false intelligence. With the ruse complete, Mia ordered the unit to advance toward the Cocobia Rainforest and coordinate with the main force.

• The Imperial unit captured 231 Allied Forces soldiers after Hawk and Mia’s Explosive Magic strike routed their force, but Hawk fell unconscious from mana depletion.
• Mia proposed framing the Allied Forces major by staging a meeting between a Davis impostor and Laiya, then letting the escaping prisoner witness it and carry the false story to Star of Dawn.
• Edmund escaped his cell by breaking his Anti-Magic bracelet and used a staged Beastfolk riot to slip through the Imperial camp.
• Edmund overheard the staged meeting and became convinced that Davis Bacht had sold out the brigade, so he fled to warn General Roxy.
• Mia confirmed that Edmund had taken the bait and ordered Siegfried’s unit to advance toward the Cocobia Rainforest and support the main force.

Roxy recruited Zalga’s 109th Division for her plan to destroy Gloom Corridor, while John discovered the enemy’s preparations for a massive cave-in. After identifying the threat, John ordered his troops to evacuate and prepared a countermeasure against Roxy.

• Roxy offered Zalga a Purple Warrior Banner, but he demanded mineral rights; she settled on twenty-five percent if his division led the attack, and Zalga accepted.
• John struggled to understand Roxy’s troop movements until Wendy mentioned hearing drilling sounds across the caves.
• John had Wendy mark the locations on his map, and he and Marda identified them as preparations to trigger a chain-reaction collapse throughout Gloom Corridor.
• John realized Roxy intended to bury both armies underground and considered how to evacuate his soldiers and challenge her command authority.
• John ordered the frontline troops to abandon their positions and supplies, retreat along the underground river, and connect him with Lieutenant Igodala of the surface Assault Company.

Roxy Sankaster’s attempt to destroy both enemy troops and the 109th Division collapsed after John Maslow exposed the plan and tricked her with a false magical strike, leaving her facing the fury of her allies. John then led the 1st Magic Battalion toward Blue Lake City, while Leon warned Marshal Reginald about John’s command and psychological warfare, prompting Reginald to vow to kill him.

• Roxy ordered Lyria Colwin to carry out the Sinkhole Plan despite the danger to the 109th Division, but John revealed that he knew of it and appeared to prepare a massive magical strike.
• Roxy canceled the demolition and ordered Lyria and Zalga to withdraw, then realized the apparent strike was a feint and that John had tricked her into abandoning her chance to destroy his forces.
• Zalga confronted Roxy over the Sinkhole Plan as she acknowledged her defeat, while John led the 1st Magic Battalion toward Blue Lake City and ordered them to seize it within half an hour.
• At Morning Star Port, Leon refused Marshal Reginald’s offer to resume command and described how John had defeated him, Frank, and Roxy through tactical ingenuity and control of human nature.
• Leon urged Reginald to kill John without hesitation, and Reginald invoked his title as the Crimson Sun Crown to declare that he would execute John on the battlefield.

Galil endured the call and agony of an ancient underground Drow homeland, where the Gray mist restored her true Drow bloodline, transformed her into a woman, and raised her to Transcendent Tier. She claimed two holy relics and returned toward her clan, resolved to expose the Beastfolk’s lies and uphold her oath to John Maslow.

• Galil used a mana bomb to break through a blocked passage in an abandoned mine and pushed deeper despite the pain and warnings from within his body.
• Galil fell into an underground abyss, where Gray mist and the souls of Drow ancestors purged the Beastfolk bloodline, restored her damaged body, and raised her rank to Transcendent Tier.
• Galil discovered the ruins of the Drow homeland and witnessed ancestral phantoms teach her the Reverse Gravity Formula and the Silver Moon Dance.
• Galil completed an ancestral rite before the statues of the first Drow ancestors, which vanished and left her the Ring of Spell Reversal and the Crown of Silver Moon Benediction.
• Galil recorded her discoveries, hid the holy relics, and headed back to her clan, vowing to expose the Beastfolk’s lies and remain loyal to John Maslow.

John struggled to plan the decisive campaign after capturing Blue Lake City, fearing the many enemy towns that could threaten his forces. Wendy reported that Laiya and the Ground Support Unit had unexpectedly captured seven cities, but her attempt to put out John's burning belt with highly alcoholic fruit wine ended in an explosion.

• John captured Blue Lake City and ordered his exhausted troops to rest while he planned how to secure the Crescent Strait and prepare for the decisive battle.
• John calculated that enemy reinforcements and fifteen nearby cities threatened his plan, and lamented that he lacked more Black Eagle Special Forces members.
• Wendy reported that Laiya and the Ground Support Unit, led by Sergeant Hawk and Sergeant Mia, had captured seven cities and taken their defenders prisoner.
• John celebrated the news and thanked Wendy, then realized that sparks had set his greased belt on fire.
• Wendy tried to douse John's burning belt with ninety-six-percent fruit wine, which caused an explosion as John shouted at her.

Glenn brought Sellviya news of John’s sixth victory at Fauken Bay, and she secretly read the report despite pretending not to care. Before she could leave to inspect the fields, two Mage Soldiers arrived with an unexpected summons from Marshal Dormammu.

• Glenn reported that John had won his sixth consecutive victory and might become a general or marshal.
• Sellviya scolded Glenn for interrupting her, then told him to leave the battle report behind.
• After Glenn left, Sellviya read the report and learned John had repelled Roxy and captured Blue Lake City.
• Two Mage Soldiers told Sellviya that Marshal Dormammu had summoned her to the count’s residence for an important matter.

Dormammu summoned Sellviya and devised a plan to send her to the Half-Dragons’ ancestral land to claim two tribal thrones and bring their forces to John’s aid. He intended to persuade her with promises of power and marriage, while John remained isolated on the Fauken Front awaiting reinforcements.

• Sellviya entered Dormammu’s guarded meeting room, where Colonel Jett’s concealment magic frightened her before Dormammu welcomed her as John’s friend.
• Dormammu considered the fifteen days of failed efforts to secure Parliament’s support for John and decided to dispatch a thousand Mage Soldiers and all 736 Black Eagle Special Forces members to the Fauken Front.
• Dormammu concluded that those forces could help John escape but would not guarantee victory, so he planned to have Sellviya undertake the Dragon God Trial and claim the Red Dragon and Sea Dragon Tribe thrones.
• Dormammu planned to entice Sellviya with promises of military rank, command, and marriage to John so she would lead the tribes’ forces to his aid.
• Dormammu silently resolved to send Sellviya into the dangerous trial and urged John to hold on until his reinforcements arrived.

William approved Arias Beyat’s request to invoke the Sacred Revenge Edict after his son Doran disappeared on the Fauken Front, opening the way for the Norman Empire to intervene in force. Wolf opposed a limited campaign but proposed a much larger assault, leaving William to decide whether the Empire would unleash the destruction Wolf demanded.

• William concealed his anger at the ministers’ obstruction and used repeated meetings to buy Dormammu time to root out Old Guard Party spies while preparing to rescue John.
• As William moved to end the meeting, Arias Beyat knelt before him and invoked the Sacred Revenge Edict in the name of the Thirteen Round Table Brothers’ Oath.
• William approved Arias’s request and swore that the Empire would fight the enemy to the death, prompting the Reformist Faction to roar its support.
• Michel waited for Wolf to order the Old Guard Party to suppress the proposal, but Wolf challenged William’s decision as too rash.
• Wolf declared that Fauken Bay alone was not worth such a force and proposed sending the 60,000 Ereno Defense Forces, the Imperial First Army Group, and ten thousand Mage Soldiers from the Imperial 1st Air Army Group to annihilate the enemy.

John sought Edgar's support for a Cocobia Rainforest plan and persuaded the 2nd Division to march south. He also ordered Siegfried to the Moonfall River, where Hawk interpreted the order as a hidden plan to assemble powerful weapons and prepare an ambush.

• John called Edgar and offered to clear the 2nd Division's previous defeat if it joined him and helped destroy an enemy division.
• After weighing the danger of serving as bait against the chance to win military merit, Edgar ordered the 2nd Division to march south overnight toward the Cocobia Rainforest.
• John ordered Siegfried to take the Fang City forces to the Moonfall River within three days and establish a camp.
• Hawk awoke, heard John's order, and concluded that John wanted the Guard Regiment to bring ore and hidden magecraft equipment to the river and prepare for a major battle.
• Hawk ordered Siegfried to weld fifty Beam Mage Cannon Vehicles, transport the ore and camouflage installations, and build a concealed jungle camp.

John used false intelligence to draw the Allied Forces into a trap while secretly gathering information on their headquarters and moving the 2nd Division to Cloudfoot Valley. Roxy saw through the deception but could not stop Zalga from dividing the Allied army, and John prepared to move his forces to the next battlefield.

• John ordered Marda to spread false intelligence that the 2nd Division would launch a fire attack from the Western Front, prompting the Allied Forces to halt their march.
• Zalga planned to send the main force west, but Roxy exposed the signal as a feint intended to leave Allied logistics units vulnerable and warned him of the danger.
• Zalga rejected Roxy’s further objections, split his forces between a western advance and an ambush, and granted her command of the Silent Thorn forces.
• Roxy accepted command of a thousand Silent Thorn members and began studying the map for John’s real objective and the enemy headquarters.
• John ordered Edgar to use an 800-member death squad carrying Mirror Crystal Sub-bodies to raid the Allied camp, then withdraw the 2nd Division to Cloudfoot Valley.
• The death squad was wiped out after planting the Mirror Crystal Sub-bodies around the Allied headquarters, while the 2nd Division reached Cloudfoot Valley and John ordered the 1st Battalion to depart for the next battlefield.