Chapter Summaries

John learned that Tolovsky had captured members of the Allied Special Operations Division and that the Holy Radiance Sect had taken them away, prompting him to plan a rescue. Meanwhile, Anna rejected the order to retreat and insisted the remaining agents rescue their captured comrades before the Empire’s peace negotiations collapsed.

• John struggled to focus during Lothar’s sand-table lesson, then told Olivia that recovering his lost memories about Ailafia had distracted him.
• Olivia advised John to keep an appropriate distance from Ailafia and told him that Count Ementraut had died by suicide and Tolovsky had captured enemy spies.
• John learned that a cardinal had taken captured Special Operations Division members from Tolovsky, realized Anna might be among them, and decided to seek help and demand their return.
• The deputy person in charge ordered Anna and the two other surviving agents to retreat after the Demon King killed Commander Manusius and captured seven division members.
• Anna opposed the retreat, arguing that the agents had to rescue their captured comrades to protect the peace negotiations and the plan to deploy the Third-Generation Anti-Magic Device.

Anna persuaded the Special Operations Division to reject evacuation and target John Maslow, proposing to disguise herself as Laiya Binote and capture him. Unaware of the plot, John arrived at the Holy Radiance Sect headquarters with Galil and Sellviya.

• Anna argued that the division should continue its mission rather than evacuate, and Margaret anxiously objected.
• Anna proposed capturing John Maslow and using him as a hostage to protect the peace negotiations and buy time for the division.
• Royce warned that John was a formidable fighter protected by at least two hundred elite Inspection Forces members, making capture appear nearly impossible.
• Anna revealed that Margaret could disguise her as Laiya Binote, allowing her to infiltrate John’s side and attack him by surprise.
• John arrived at the Holy Radiance Sect headquarters in Ereno with Galil and Sellviya, unaware that Anna had made him her target.

John visited Hagia Sophia Cathedral with Sellviya and Galil to seek the seven assassins the Holy Radiance Sect had received from Tolovsky. Archbishop Famiu Ferona welcomed him and agreed to hand the assassins over, leaving John stunned.

• John recalled the Holy Radiance Sect’s mysterious attack on him and entered Hagia Sophia Cathedral with Sellviya and Galil.
• An old priest told John that Archbishop Victor was away and that Famiu Ferona had anticipated his arrival and arranged to meet him.
• While waiting in the cathedral’s inner hall, John heard a sacred prayer that felt strangely familiar.
• Famiu arrived, greeted John and his companions, and correctly guessed that he had come for the assassins exchanged from Tolovsky.
• Famiu told John she would hand the seven unidentified assassins over to him.

John discovered that Famiu planned to hand him seven prisoners in exchange for his help establishing a pure Church branch in Faoken. He agreed to her plan, and they sealed their deal while preparing to arrange the prisoners’ handover.

• Famiu apologized to John for the Church’s failure to prevent an attack on him and said internal changes had prompted her to surrender the seven prisoners.
• Famiu raised a domain to conceal their conversation and asked John to help reform the Church by establishing a branch in Faoken devoted to pure faith.
• John refused at first, but Famiu insisted that his position and reputation made him uniquely suited to lead the project.
• John realized Famiu’s plan could let her build a new holy center and potentially replace the Church’s headquarters, but agreed to help in exchange for the prisoners.
• John and Famiu clasped hands in a contractual gesture and prepared to discuss the prisoners’ handover.

John accepted Famiu’s commission to investigate monster riots and abnormal magic while agreeing to take a Church priest adviser back to Faoken, whom he suspected was a spy. As he left with the seven prisoners, he remained uncertain about Famiu’s connection to a mysterious attacker and hoped Anna was among the captives.

• Famiu told John that border magic was behaving strangely, monsters had grown more aggressive, Church teams had gone missing, and the Forbidden Gate’s seal was loosening.
• John agreed to send Drow and Half-Dragon troops to investigate, and Famiu arranged for a scholar-priest to accompany him as an adviser.
• John accepted the adviser despite suspecting she was a spy, then left Hagia Sophia Cathedral with Sellviya, Galil, and the seven prisoners.
• Sellviya and Galil warned John about Famiu, and Galil said she had seen the Mark of Death on the archbishop.
• John used his enhanced Magic Eye to examine Famiu’s aura but found no match with the nun who had attacked him, leaving his suspicions unresolved.
• John wondered why only seven Special Operations Department members had been captured and hoped Anna was among them as he headed back to the Imperial Grand Hotel.

John was disappointed to discover that the seven captured Special Operations Division members included neither Anna nor Royce, then faced Sellviya’s demand for an apology and reflected on why he could not pursue a relationship with her. As he prepared to question the prisoners and considered how to lift the Drow Clan’s curse, Galil arrived with news related to the clan.

• John found that the seven prisoners were not Anna or Royce, ordered them secured, and offered Sellviya compensation for disrupting her spell practice.
• Sellviya demanded a vineyard in Pfalz, briefly pulled John into an intimate embrace, then left angrily when he remained unmoved.
• John recalled Sellviya had remembered his old proposal to grow grapes and concluded he could not share his burdens with her while the Empire faced its crises.
• John considered the costly ritual needed to remove the Drow Clan’s curse and resolved to find a way to help them.
• Galil told John that she had come with news related to the Drow Clan.

Galil told John that the Shadow Orcs were resisting the transformation ritual, and John devised a plan to forcibly transform them while revealing he had found a lead on lifting the Drow curse. He promised to help the Drow Clan return to their true forms and received Galil’s oath to defend his vision for Faoken.

• Galil reported that only 269 more Shadow Orcs had accepted transformation, leaving nearly eighty thousand awaiting the ritual.
• John proposed drugging the Shadow Orcs and transforming them while they slept, and Galil enthusiastically agreed to carry out the plan.
• John told Galil that he had found a lead on lifting the Drow Clan’s curse and promised to take them to the Loran Kingdom after peace negotiations.
• John said he wanted Faoken to become a city without prejudice and needed the Drow Clan’s strength to protect that vision.
• Galil swore in the name of the Silver Moon that the Drow Clan would fight anyone who obstructed John Maslow or his descendants.

John Maslow used a carefully staged, silent interrogation to terrify the captured members of the Allied Special Operations Division and isolate Mark Johnson, whom he believed could reveal the operation’s purpose and Anna and Royce’s movements. He confronted Mark in a deceptively welcoming room and opened the interrogation by asking about Mark’s half-sister, Sally Cocolia.

• Mark Johnson recognized John Maslow and feared what the Hellwolf King would do to him.
• Inspection Forces soldiers repeatedly selected and dragged captured operatives from the dark room, leaving the others terrified.
• The soldiers brought Mark into a bright, lavender-scented room and chained him to a chair across from John.
• John explained that he had chosen Mark as the key to learning the Allied Forces’ motives and Anna and Royce’s movements.
• John asked Mark what he thought about his half-sister, Sally Cocolia.

Mark agreed to become John’s informant in exchange for Sally’s safety and learned that the Allied Special Operations Division’s mission was tied to a secret experiment. Laiya then told John she believed the girl they had fought was her supposedly dead cousin, Juliana Binote, and asked him to find her.

• Mark revealed that his mother had secretly given birth to Sally and agreed to serve as John’s informant in exchange for Sally’s safety and the release of his companions.
• Mark told John that the Special Operations Division’s assassination mission was connected to a secret experiment within the Allied Forces, though he did not know its purpose.
• John arranged for Mark and the other six agents to escape the Empire under the guise of an ambush, with hidden spells protecting their loyalty to him.
• Laiya told John that she had learned a surviving infant from the Binote collateral line had vanished after the massacre and was presumed dead.
• Laiya concluded that the girl they had fought was her cousin Juliana Binote and asked John to help find her.

Laiya learned that her cousin Anna might be reunited with her through John’s plan to turn captured Allied agents into spies, then confronted him about Meyer. She restrained herself from attacking Meyer but attempted to act gentle toward John, leaving disappointed when he reacted with fear; meanwhile, a group of strangers arrived outside the Binote Family estate.

• John explained that Anna was likely evacuating with the Allied Special Operations Department and outlined a plan to use seven turned agents to help capture her later.
• Laiya asked John about Meyer, and he admitted that Meyer Sistana was an Allied assassin he had captured after she tried to kill him.
• Laiya drew her sword and rushed toward Meyer, but John stopped her by saying he still needed something Meyer possessed.
• Laiya abandoned her attack and tried to show John the gentle, understanding behavior Head Maid Rolian had advised, but John grew nervous and backed away.
• Laiya became dejected when John did not respond affectionately, while a group of uninvited guests arrived outside the Binote Family estate under cover of darkness.

Anna and her team infiltrated the Binote Family manor to steal Laiya Binote’s uniform, but Anna nearly got exposed when the head maid, Rolian, questioned her about Laiya’s romantic plans. Anna misread Rolian’s comments as evidence of a secret plot by John Maslow, then left with the uniform and her team to head for the Imperial Grand Hotel.

• Anna led Margaret and the allied agents toward the Binote Family manor to obtain Laiya’s uniform for their assassination plan.
• Anna passed the guards by impersonating Laiya, while the manor’s soldiers mistook her silence for a bad mood and let her enter unchallenged.
• Rolian confronted Anna in the main residence and asked about Laiya’s plans with John, leaving Anna scrambling to maintain her disguise.
• Rolian asked Anna to smile, then blamed Laiya’s failed romantic plan on her unsettling grin and offered advice for next time.
• Anna inferred that John Maslow had tasked Laiya with an assassination plan, obtained an Imperial Air Force uniform from Rolian, and left with her team for the Imperial Grand Hotel.

John learned from Laiya that the Astral Orbital Barrier project had been approved by William but stalled after an accident drove its professors away. Unable to trust Ailafia or question William without risking exposure, John chose Manny Copperfield as his next lead.

• John asked Laiya what she knew about the Astral Orbital Barrier, and she recalled that William had approved the project three years earlier after Manny presented an Empire-wide absolute-defense formula.
• Laiya explained that the three academy professors withdrew from the project about a year ago and that William gradually stopped visiting the Binote Manor secret chamber.
• John told Laiya that Ailafia had said he initiated the project before losing his memory and later took away its key authority or materials.
• John considered investigating Ailafia or William but rejected both approaches as too risky.
• John identified Manny Copperfield, the research institute's head and the barrier project's key participant, as his best lead.

John planned to trick Manny Copperfield by offering the location of the Floating City's ruins, while Laiya questioned him about his visit to Ailafia. Laiya interpreted Ailafia's imperial-family pocket watch as a declaration of romantic rivalry and left the hotel with a resolve to confront her.

• John decided to lure Manny with the location of the Floating City's ruins, despite knowing its core had been destroyed.
• Laiya imagined John and Ailafia sharing a past and questioned John about his visit and recovered memories.
• John told Laiya that Ailafia had invited him and insisted they were only friends.
• Laiya recognized the imperial-family pattern on John's pocket watch and concluded that Ailafia had given it as a challenge.
• Laiya left the Imperial Grand Hotel and looked toward Mirror Spring Manor with an icy gaze.

Wendy learned that Ailafia had made a move to win Laiya over and flew toward Ereno to confront the princess. Meanwhile, Anna disguised herself as Laiya and tried to ambush John, but he vanished and held a gun to her head.

• Wendy heard from Laiya that Ailafia had asked to meet John and given him a token of love, then realized the princess was trying to draw Laiya into her faction.
• Wendy concluded that Ailafia had declared war on her and flew toward Ereno after taking her family insignia and leaving her parents a letter.
• John returned to his room after reorganizing his plans, and Anna entered disguised as Laiya, claiming she had discovered something about allegiance.
• Anna approached John and prepared to use the Equality of All Things Spell and an Anti-Magic Nail to capture him, but the figure before her vanished like an illusion.
• John pressed a gun to Anna's temple and called her an Allied Forces rat.

John captured Anna after she and Royce ambushed him, then revealed that he had anticipated their attack and arranged for reinforcements to be blocked. He confronted Royce about his identity, asking whether he should call him Royce Hansen or Royce Walderon.

• John recognized Laiya’s disguise as Anna and captured her, but Royce emerged from the shadows and attacked him with explosive magic.
• John survived Royce’s attack with magic barriers, then burned an Allied Forces sniper’s bullet to ash with Phoenix’s Sigh.
• Anna launched a sword attack, but John trapped her in a spatial binding formula and sealed her in magic chains.
• John told Royce that the Inspection Forces, a Red Dragon lady, and a Drow were preventing the reinforcements from reaching them.
• John asked Royce whether he should kill him and called him Royce Walderon as another possible name.

John revealed Royce’s connection to the Valdren Family and the Child of Light project, then explained how the project could end the world. He offered to help Royce save Peggy in exchange for helping destroy the Child of Light, leaving Royce to decide whether to accept.

• John exposed Royce’s Valdren bloodline and asked whether creating the Child of Light would truly bring order to the world.
• Anna realized Royce’s identity and the project might connect to the mystery of her own origins, so she listened closely.
• John recalled how the Child of Light project fused unique formulas and could produce a collapsing god that destroyed the world.
• Royce feared John might be a god, then asked what he wanted from him.
• John offered to rescue Peggy Malsen and protect her as an imperial citizen if Royce helped eliminate the Child of Light, and urged him to attack the Allied Forces before his destined sacrifice.

Royce revealed that Anna was really Juliana Binote, an embryo cultivator selected by the Valdren Family, and offered John information and cooperation. John took Royce’s Pointer Beacon after posing as a divine representative, then asked Juliana and Royce to return to the Allied Forces.

• Royce explained that the Valdren Family had placed Juliana, living as Anna Splinter, with the Splinter Family to prepare her for the Child of Light plan.
• Royce revealed that his mission was to monitor Juliana and eventually trigger the final sacrifice that would bring about the Child of Light.
• John demanded the Pointer Beacon linked to Royce’s sister Peggy as a guarantee of Royce’s loyalty.
• Royce handed over the Pointer Beacon and asked John for his divine name, believing John served a powerful god called The Internationale.
• John promised to fulfill Royce’s wish in the name of The Internationale’s representative, then asked Juliana and Royce to return to the Allied Forces.

John offered Anna the choice to return to the Binote Family or go back to the Allied Forces, and she agreed to follow his orders if he told her the truth about her past. After learning who was involved in her family’s massacre, Anna struck Royce and chose not to contact Laiya before John teased that his escape plan involved a Human Cannon.

• John freed Anna from her chains and offered to let her return to the Binote Family or serve in the Allied Forces.
• Anna demanded to know what had happened to her family, and John explained that she had been abducted and her father had died protecting her.
• Royce named the Valdren, Sankaster, and Colwin Families as participants in the Binote Family massacre and mentioned a concealed force within the Empire.
• Anna punched Royce and vowed that the families involved, including his, would repay the debt.
• Anna declined to contact Laiya, and John asked whether she knew what a Human Cannon was.

John repelled an Allied Forces assassination attempt and revealed that he had deliberately arranged events to advance a larger plan. At the Allied Forces liaison point, Royce began suspecting John was behind the failed operation, just as news arrived that their captured prisoners had reached a safe station.

• Sellviya and the Imperial troops watched two figures flee after a magical blast erupted from the Imperial Grand Hotel, while Allied Forces agents escaped under cover of smoke.
• John appeared behind Sellviya, told her not to pursue the agents, and reassured Jialier that he had deliberately sent her away to support his plan.
• John hinted that his arrangements would make the Allied Forces regret the assassination attempt, while Sellviya recognized the plan involved the silver-haired girl Laiya had encountered in Gooseberry Town.
• At the Allied Forces liaison point in Ereno, the deputy director explained that Ailafia’s surprise visit had trapped their Crown Tier combatant and prevented him from joining the attack.
• Royce suspected John had orchestrated Ailafia’s visit, and an operative reported that six of the seven captured prisoners had safely reached the 176Z Liaison Station, while Meyer Sistana remained missing.

Mark and the others escaped interrogation after Royce corroborated Mark’s fabricated account, and Mark then falsely accused Meyer Sistana of betraying the operation. Convinced the Empire had uncovered their station, the deputy officer ordered agents to destroy intelligence and prepare to flee Ereno.

• The deputy officer questioned Mark and the other six agents about their escape, but Royce supported Mark’s story by claiming he had sensed their tunnel-digging underground.
• Mark echoed Royce’s account, and the deputy officer accepted it and chose not to punish the agents for retreating during the failed assassination.
• Asked about the missing Meyer Sistana, Mark accused her of being an Imperial spy and claimed he had seen her wearing a Black Eagle Special Forces lieutenant’s uniform in John Maslow’s territory.
• The deputy officer concluded that Meyer had exposed the assassination plan and their station, then ordered his assistant to warn the agents and destroy all intelligence.
• The deputy officer told the Special Operations Division agents to prepare to evacuate Ereno.