Chapter Summaries

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.

Nils concluded that John Maslow and a small Imperial remnant force were vulnerable, so he ordered the Bloodhowl Special Forces to pursue them. Cornered in the forest with the Blood Core, John devised a plan to disguise himself and provoke a clash between the Bloodwolf patrols and the Allied Forces, creating a chance to escape.

• Nils learned that two patrolmen had been killed and reasoned that a small Imperial force led by John had attacked them while retreating.
• Believing he had a chance to kill John and claim the Blood Core, Nils ordered the Bloodhowl Special Forces to pursue the Imperial remnant force.
• John realized the Bloodwolf patrols were closing in and weighed breaking through against hiding until reinforcements arrived.
• John decided to use disguises and his command of Orcish and Victorian to spread conflicting information and provoke the Bloodwolf and Allied Forces into fighting each other.
• John located a lone Bloodhowl Legion soldier and prepared to begin his deception.

John Maslow escaped the encirclement by provoking the Allied and Bloodhowl forces into fighting each other, but Nils ambushed him at his chosen withdrawal route. As Nils's attack threatened to kill him, a familiar woman intervened.

• John, disguised first as Aruba and then as Sika, manipulated Allied and Bloodhowl patrols into a clash that escalated as both sides called in reinforcements.
• John slipped away from the battlefield and headed north with the Blood Core, expecting to reach his main force before his deception was discovered.
• Nils ambushed John at a valley exit and nearly killed him with a Blood Thorn, leaving him drained of magic and unable to escape.
• Nils unleashed a barrage of blood orbs at John, but a dense burst of gunfire stopped the attack.
• A familiar woman taunted John for standing helplessly before death.

Selvia rescued John from Nils, defeating him with a devastating Karmic Flame attack, and revealed she had become a transcendent Mage after completing the Dragon God Trial. As they flew toward the Empire camp, her lingering anger from a nightmare about John’s betrayal clashed with his scientific curiosity about her dragon wings.

• Selvia transformed into a dragonkin and broke through Nils’s attacks, then used the Karmic Flame Chains to devastate the battlefield and defeat him.
• Selvia carried John toward the main camp and told him Marshal Dormammu had sent Major General Jett, a thousand Mage Soldiers, and the Black Eagle Special Forces as reinforcements.
• John asked how Selvia had become a transcendent Mage, and she said she had completed a challenge and reclaimed things that belonged to her.
• Selvia privately recalled surviving the Dragon God Trial’s Nightmare Trial, where an illusion of John betrayed and stabbed her before she overcame it and claimed the throne.
• Selvia rebuked John for touching her wings, but his apology briefly eased her annoyance before he began poking them again and asking for samples.
• Selvia shouted John’s full name in anger as he proposed studying her dragon wings to develop equipment for Mage Soldiers.

John faced an hour of reprimands from his subordinates for risking his life alone, then heard that the battle for Faoken had ended in an Imperial victory. The story left him preparing to report to Fang City, where the Imperial Army’s “allies” were expected to arrive.

• Sellviya teased Wendy with a knowing greeting before leaving the command tent, while Wendy resolved to protect John from her.
• John endured his subordinates’ condemnation and wrote a guarantee that he would not act alone again.
• The officers reported that Sellviya’s reinforcements had rescued John, driven Reginald’s Third Fleet into retreat, and helped annihilate the Blazing Sun Fleet’s Second Fleet.
• John learned that the battle for Faoken was over, though postwar reconstruction remained.
• Hawk told John that their “allies” would arrive in Fang City in two hours and that the “Marquis of Ravaging” had ordered him to assemble his troops and report there.

Arias confronted John about Doran’s disappearance and learned that Doran was alive and had secretly returned to the Empire. Arias accepted John’s explanation, then revealed that Major General Ram von Eisenblut had been listening outside the chamber.

• Arias brooded over the Imperial victory at Fauken Bay and feared that his son Doran had died or gone missing.
• John arrived to join the defense forces, and Arias used his domain to demand the truth about Doran.
• John told Arias that Doran and Toby had boarded a cargo ship for the Empire and were expected to arrive in thirteen days.
• John explained that Doran’s retreat followed a secret transaction, but kept its commercial details confidential.
• Arias confirmed that John was telling the truth, withdrew his domain, and accepted that Doran was alive.
• Arias called out Major General Ram von Eisenblut for eavesdropping outside the door.

Major General Ram rejected Arias’s order to withdraw and revealed that the War Affairs Department had authorized the 1st Division to bombard Faoken’s Beastfolk regions. After dismissing John and binding him with ice, Ram led ten thousand Mage Soldiers west to begin the attack, leaving John to watch the war spread.

• Arias ordered Ram to return to the Empire because Faoken had been pacified, but Ram refused and disclosed his orders to bombard the Beastfolk tribal regions.
• Ram revoked John’s command, froze him to a cross, and condemned him for abandoning strength and the Demon King Trial Path.
• Arias forced Ram to release John, who was confused by Ram’s references to Professor Barn and his past.
• Ram declared that he would make John reclaim his former glory and blamed him for the deaths to come.
• Ram and ten thousand Mage Soldiers flew west toward the Beastfolk tribes as John realized the war was beginning again.

John struggled to make sense of his forgotten connection to Ram and his unexpected status as a former first Demon King candidate, while Arias offered him a major partnership. John accepted Arias’s support in exchange for arranging military credit for Doran, and the two sealed their alliance.

• After Ram left, John wondered why his memories conflicted with her account and worried that the bombing in Faoken would deepen Beastfolk hatred of the Empire.
• Arias offered to support John with political protection, trustworthy personnel, military supplies, and mage specialists if John granted Doran military merit.
• Arias decided to invest heavily in John because Tolovsky had once named him the first Demon King candidate, and Arias believed the Demon King’s judgment was worth trusting.
• John accepted Arias’s offer and proposed that Doran receive credit for leading a surprise attack that seized three weakly defended Darkmoon Clan cities.
• Arias approved the arrangement, and he and John shook hands on a partnership intended to benefit both the Beyat Family and John.

After arranging the troops’ return to the Empire, John watched Hawk mistake his expressions for approval of a secret political plan, while John briefly feared Hawk had rabies. Wendy reunited with John in a tearful embrace, and as he sat outside the tent afterward, someone took his cigarette and accused him of arrogance.

• John returned to the encampment after agreeing with Arias to reorganize his troops, board ship, and leave the Defense Forces to garrison Faoken.
• Hawk imagined that John wanted him to build a covert support network and independent merchant association for a future political party, then swore to carry out the plan.
• John mistook Hawk’s emotional trembling for a rabies attack, but Bababela misread their standoff as a romantic moment and fled after dropping her supplies.
• John learned Hawk was not sick and told him to pack for their return to the Empire.
• John found Wendy waiting in his tent, and she clung to him until she fell asleep; he carried her to bed and covered her with a blanket.
• As John sat outside smoking, a shadow took his cigarette, and a cool voice called him arrogant.

Sellviya reunited with John and prepared to return to the capital with him, while their teasing exchange hinted at her growing interest in him. John and his troops sailed from the Golden Lion Territory toward the Empire, where a dangerous political struggle awaited them.

• Sellviya told John she would return with him to complete the incorporation ceremony and rank appointments, while leaving the Ember Scale Clan and the Abyssal Scale Clan in the Golden Lion Territory for garrison duties.
• Sellviya and John exchanged teasing remarks, and she tried to provoke him before asking for his guidance on the journey to the capital.
• John gathered his troops and supplies, and he and Arias led the force toward the port of the Golden Lion Territory.
• John boarded a warship with his troops after greeting Bob and the others waiting at the port.
• The warship departed, and John realized that a dangerous political conflict awaited them in Faoken.

After returning from the Fauken Campaign, John met Conrad at Ereno’s eastern gate before continuing to Pandoram Palace to meet Emperor William. Conrad secretly passed him a note and left for Orte Manor, his feelings and intentions still hidden.

• Seventeen days after the events of the Fauken Campaign, Conrad waited in the rain outside Ereno for John’s convoy.
• John stopped the convoy and approached Conrad, while remaining wary of the Imperial agent’s loyalties.
• Conrad greeted John and suggested they discuss his experiences at Fauken later at Orte Manor.
• Conrad passed John a note during their handshake, and John acknowledged it without comment.
• John returned to his convoy and continued into Ereno, while Conrad watched him before driving toward Orte Manor.