Chapter Summaries

Archbishop Famiu told Prime Minister Wolf that the Flesh Lord's seal had weakened and sought the Caster Family's aid in destroying it. Meanwhile, John inspected the completed battleship in Faoken's hidden shipyard and named it the Faoken Pioneer.

• Famiu revealed that the Evil God's seal had weakened and said the Church's chance of destroying the Flesh Lord's remains would rise to ninety percent with the Caster Family's support.
• Wolf agreed to send the Children of Ash Guard, accepting that the mission would likely cost the soldiers their lives, and ordered that news of the Flesh Lord be suppressed.
• Famiu denied needing the Caster Family's help in Faoken, and Wolf chose not to investigate the Church's hidden dealings with John Maslow.
• John and Wendy reached the concealed shipyard inside Sea-Gate Cliff, where Wally Willis presented the heavily armed and armored Horst-Class Battleship he had built.
• John named the battleship the Faoken Pioneer.

John learned that the Venomfang Clan and Bull Clan planned to send a joint delegation to the Morning Star Clan to pay homage to a Sage Successor, disrupting his assumption that Saga Kingdom’s tribes would not act against Faoken soon. Gabri decided to lead the Bull Clan delegation himself and promised to bring back the Sage if genuine or punish those responsible if the claim proved false.

• John assessed the eastern Saga Kingdom clans and concluded the Black Panther Clan was the greatest potential threat to Faoken, though he expected any unification campaign to take years.
• Wendy told John that the Venomfang Clan had negotiated with the Bull Clan and that both intended to visit the Morning Star Clan to pay homage to its Sage Successor.
• Gabri read and burned Kha'Zix's letter while Bull Clan elders argued over whether to attack the Venomfang Clan.
• Gabri asked Steel Horn for his judgment, and Steel Horn recommended joining the Venomfang Clan's delegation to the Morning Star Clan.
• Gabri knocked down the clansmen who objected and ordered that he would lead the delegation himself the next day.
• Gabri vowed to bring back the Sage if the claim was true and punish Kha'Zix and the human governor if it was a deception.

John planned to shield Meyer by spreading rumors of multiple Beastfolk Sage Successors while secretly eliminating the Venomfang delegation before it could expose her. Three days later, Kha'Zix waited for the Bull Clan delegation with an uneasy feeling, unaware of John's order to annihilate his group.

• Lunebo warned that the Bull and Venomfang Clans must not reach Meyer before she was secure, and Miles proposed killing the delegations and blaming the Black Marsh Clan.
• John revealed that Gabri Bull, leader of the Bull Clan delegation, was a Crown Tier mage, making Miles's ambush plan too dangerous.
• John proposed spreading rumors and staged miracles about several Beastfolk Sage Successors to make Meyer seem like an unremarkable fraud and protect her from the Beastfolk King.
• John ordered Samantha and Laiya to lead an operation that would kill every member of the Venomfang delegation in Morning Star territory before they could send word.
• Three days later, Kha'Zix waited with thirty High Mage guards for Gabri and the Bull Clan delegation, confident in their strength but troubled by an ominous feeling.

Kha'Zix brought the Venomfang Clan's delegation to Morningstar City expecting the Bull Clan to help expose Meyer as an impostor, but Gabri recognized her as the true Sage and attacked Kha'Zix for insulting her. Gabri spared Kha'Zix after Steel Horn intervened, leaving Gray Hoof to smooth over the conflict.

• Kha'Zix saw Faoken's mixed-race caravan and suspected John Maslow was using it to intimidate the visiting delegations.
• Gray Hoof led Gabri and Kha'Zix to meet Meyer, whom Kha'Zix dismissed as a fake after finding her playing with mud.
• Gabri knelt before Meyer and declared her the Beastfolk Sage, recognizing her through the Bull Clan's Sageguard Art.
• Gabri struck Kha'Zix through a wall after Kha'Zix insulted Meyer, and the Bull Clan's warriors prepared to fight the Venomfang Clan.
• Steel Horn whispered to Gabri, who withdrew his killing intent and spared Kha'Zix on the condition that he show Meyer respect.
• Gray Hoof noticed Gabri's gaze and realized he needed to smooth over the conflict.

Samantha interpreted Gabri’s attack on Kha'Zix as a move to weaken the Venomfang Clan before a planned massacre, and concluded that John had anticipated his scheme. As Faoken prepared for the night’s operation, Gabri ordered the Bull Clan to kill every member of the Venomfang delegation.

• Gray Hoof invited Gabri and Kha'Zix to a banquet, while Meyer excused Gabri and proudly showed them her unfinished Minotaur sculpture.
• Samantha decided that John had predicted Gabri’s plan to destroy the Venomfang delegation and framed Faoken’s assassination mission as a way to secure the Bull Clan’s cooperation.
• Samantha told Laiya to prepare Faoken’s soldiers for an attack in Morningstar City that night, believing Meyer could reveal herself as the true Beastfolk Sage afterward.
• Gabri left the banquet with the Bull Clan and ordered his warriors to kill every member of the Venomfang delegation after the night’s banquet.

Meyer’s staged Sage ceremony lured Kha'Zix and the Venomfang Clan into an ambush by Faoken’s Steel Bone Soldiers, while Gabri met Meyer and learned she was Faoken’s special representative. Meyer ended by offering Gabri an honest discussion about the Bull Clan’s future.

• Meyer’s display of divine power convinced Gabri that she was the new Sage, and she invited the Beastfolk delegations to a later ceremony.
• Kha'Zix led the Venomfang Clan toward the ceremony, grew suspicious, and discovered the messenger had disappeared before more than two hundred Steel Bone Soldiers ambushed them.
• Kha'Zix fled the battle, but a purple-haired transcendent woman blocked his path and struck at him with her greatsword.
• Gabri went to Meyer’s courtyard after she summoned him and recognized the Faoken Autonomous Region emblem on her badge.
• Meyer told Gabri that she was both a Beastfolk Sage and Faoken’s special representative, then proposed an honest talk about the Bull Clan’s future.

Meyer, with John Maslow speaking through her, warned Gabri that the Bull Clan faced absorption by the Black Panther Clan and revealed a danger beneath its ancestral grounds. Gabri recognized the threat as the expanding geothermal rift, and John offered Faoken’s help to resolve it.

• Gabri listened as Meyer warned that the Bull Clan could be absorbed by the Black Panther Clan with the Beastfolk King's secret approval within two years.
• Meyer yielded control to John Maslow, who denied that Faoken planned to threaten Gabri and explained that coercion would make an alliance unstable.
• John hinted that a danger beneath the earth could kill Gabri, prompting him to realize it was connected to the Bull Clan's ancestral grounds.
• John identified the expanding geothermal rift, explained that trying to close it with the Bull Clan's Earthforce technique could kill Gabri, and offered Faoken's help.

John revealed that the Black Abyss Clan had orchestrated Sage Gerdan’s assassination and the disappearance of the Sage Crystal, then offered Gabri Faoken’s support and military technology. Gabri pledged the Bull Clan to John’s side, vowing to help the Sage reclaim her authority or die trying.

• John assured Gabri that Faoken could close the Geothermal Rift with targeted blasting, and Gabri agreed to allow damage to the Bull Clan’s ancestral lands.
• John questioned the Bull Clan’s knowledge of the Sage’s disappearance and revealed that the Beastfolk royal family, specifically the Black Abyss Clan, had arranged Gerdan’s assassination and hidden the Sage Crystal.
• Gabri acknowledged that the Bull Clan’s ancestors had suspected the royal family and asked John whether his forces had destroyed the Venomfang Clan’s delegation.
• John confirmed that his troops used Steel Bone Armor and described Faoken’s plans to mass-produce armor that could be adapted for Beastfolk.
• Gabri joined John’s side, pledging the Bull Clan to help the Sage reclaim her authority even if it cost him his life.

John received reports of the Holy Radiance Church’s troubles and dangerous changes among beasts and Half-Dragon soldiers on the Morno Continent, then ordered precautions and an investigation. Meanwhile, four newcomers from another world arrived in the Loran Kingdom, where one boasted about the magic-rich plane before another told him to shut up.

• John met with Lunebo, who reported that the Holy Radiance Church had sent an unidentified transcendent Mage to replace Lucius in Faoken.
• Lunebo told John that cultists had devastated the Arbiter Knight Order and gravely wounded its archbishop; John ordered Barnabos to monitor the Church and the cultists.
• Lunebo reported that Morno Continent’s magical beasts had grown stronger and more aggressive, while Half-Dragon soldiers showed increased magicules and agitation.
• John ordered the Half-Dragon soldiers transferred to Revival City for quarantine, halted local resupply and training, and raised the base’s protection level.
• Four strangers arrived in Kujit by military jeep, and Amuro excitedly praised his interdimensional travel magic until someone in the back seat told him to shut up.

Amuro, Claudia, Aphsia, and Isabella arrived at Asad Grand Cathedral to investigate the Ehtan Faith’s lead on the Source of the Anomaly. Meanwhile, Elena arranged a visit to Borol Kasga to test whether his family held a key to the ruins, and Borol and Robson planned a massacre to divert her from Dark Cliff Fortress.

• Amuro argued with Claudia about invoking a god’s name, and Aphsia used a holy spell to calm them before Isabella explained their mission to visit the Ehtan Faith.
• The four heroes arrived at Asad Grand Cathedral, where the bishop welcomed them and said the Pope and six archbishops were waiting.
• Elena suspected the Kascga Family might possess the key to the ruins and sent Borol a notice that she would visit the next afternoon to discuss territorial defense.
• Borol received Elena’s notice and worried that she had uncovered the secret beneath Dark Cliff Fortress, while continuing to suspect Fanny Vitas had been involved in Jasper’s death.
• Robson proposed that Borol stage a large-scale raid and massacre to draw Elena’s attention away from Dark Cliff Fortress.

Borol and Robson staged a massacre in White Stone Town to draw Elena away while concealing the altar beneath Dark Cliff Fortress. Elena detected a supernatural ritual linked to an Evil God and rushed to the fortress, where Borol was suddenly stabbed as Robson revealed the concealment no longer mattered.

• Borol agreed to help Robson hide the altar’s power crystal and arranged for Kascga Family men disguised as bandits to massacre White Stone Town.
• Elena sensed the massacre from her convoy, reached White Stone Town, and had her guards examine the victims.
• Elena captured fleeing attackers and detected the dead townspeople’s mental power gathering into a grotesque phantom.
• Elena suspected the Kascga Family was helping Evil God’s lackeys resurrect an Evil God and ordered her party to hurry to Dark Cliff Fortress.
• Borol learned Elena was heading straight for the fortress and asked Robson about the altar, but Robson said there was no need to hide it anymore.
• Borol felt a sharp pain in his chest as someone stabbed him.

Robson killed Borol and completed a soul-sacrifice ritual to summon the Dark Star Lord, but Elena Kamluofei arrived and attacked the True God Embryo. As the ritual neared completion, Elena unleashed her Thousand Blades: Star-Splitting Slash against Robson and the altar.

• Robson stabbed Borol to death, then descended to the altar and found the black crystal absorbing the souls of sacrificed High Mages.
• Robson recited a prayer that awakened the True God Embryo and shook Dark Cliff Fortress as the Dark Star Lord’s presence pressed against its prison.
• Elena Kamluofei broke through the spiral stairs, recognized the soul-sacrifice ritual, and struck at the black nest with her Star-Splitting Sword.
• Robson transformed into a seven-armed apostle and blocked Elena’s sword energy before taunting her about divine power.
• Elena expanded her Crown Tier Domain and used Thousand Blades: Star-Splitting Slash, freezing the chamber before more than ten thousand blades engulfed the battlefield.

Elena Kamluofei drove Robson to flee before he could complete the Dark Star Lord’s revival, but Robson persuaded his master that Elena was a trap and escaped. He planned to revive the Dark Star Lord by sacrificing magical beasts in Morno Continent and targeting Faoken.

• Elena rejected Robson’s offer to serve the Evil God and unleashed a life-burning sword attack against him.
• Robson swallowed the cracked Evil God Embryo crystal and escaped through a passage through the void before Elena could strike him.
• The Dark Star Lord ordered Robson to return and devour Elena, but Robson convinced it that she was bait sent by the gods.
• Robson promised to prepare more sacrifices in Morno Continent and decided to use magical beasts instead of humans.
• Robson planned to seize Faoken and use its resources to support the Dark Star Lord’s revival.

Elena ordered a kingdom-wide purge after uncovering an Evil God plot among Loran Kingdom’s powerful figures, while John dealt with dangerous flowers and advanced his plans in Faoken. The chapter ended with Saga Kingdom approving his mine development application on the condition that he travel to its capital to meet a royal envoy.

• Elena escaped Robson’s attack and ordered the Royal Secret Guard and Steel Warband to investigate and arrest everyone involved in the Kascga Family’s Evil God plot.
• Elena ordered the Kascga Family’s direct members arrested and declared that she would pursue the powerful figures behind the plot.
• John’s research team discovered that pollen from mutated flowers had driven the Half-Dragon soldiers into a frenzy, and John had the flowers cultivated as potential weapons.
• John secretly allied with the Bull Clan, brought Gabri into the Sage Faction, and submitted Faoken’s Windless Wasteland Mine Development application to the Saga Kingdom.
• Lunebo told John that the Saga Kingdom had approved the mines but required him to travel to the capital to meet its royal envoy.

John refused Robrek Black Abyss’s invitation to negotiate in Ashkal and proposed meeting in Faoken or the Windless Wasteland instead. Robrek accepted the new venue and decided to attend in disguise as the delegation’s legal adviser, determined to uncover John’s real plans.

• John identified Robrek Black Abyss as the likely force behind the invitation and weighed the strategic value of securing the Windless Wasteland for the Sage Faction.
• John told Lunebo to refuse travel to Ashkal and said Faoken would reconsider developing the wasteland if the Saga Kingdom would not send its delegation to meet there.
• Robrek learned that John had rejected the invitation, judged the refusal a sensible move for his safety, and concluded that the Star-patterned Stone was not John’s true objective.
• Robrek ordered the royal trade delegation to meet in the Windless Wasteland and decided to join it in disguise as Rob Stone, a special legal adviser.

John prepared for the upcoming commercial talks and urged Gabri to absorb the Venomfang Clan quickly, then received an unexpected visit from Filiche, who revealed himself and questioned John about his intelligence. John deflected the inquiry by invoking the Demon King, but Filiche disclosed that Wolf had investigated the facility where John and Ailafia were developing the Astral Orbital Barrier Device.

• John told Gabri about the Windless Wasteland negotiations and urged him to absorb the Venomfang Clan within a month, offering Bull Clan arms and supplies from Faoken.
• John teased Wendy about her rounder face, and she denied gaining weight before storming out.
• Akweiler entered John's office with Balga, dropped his disguise, and introduced himself as Filiche Kuiliyar, a Demon King's Army general staff member and head of the Eye of Truth Intelligence Department.
• Filiche asked John which Eye of Truth Corps unit had supplied his intelligence, and John said the Demon King could explain how he had obtained it.
• Filiche revealed that Wolf had recently sent people to investigate the facility where John and Ailafia were developing the Astral Orbital Barrier Device.

John received a top-grade Holographic Compass from Filiche, gaining access to the Eye of Truth Corps’ intelligence, and was warned that Ailafia was more formidable than she seemed. Seven days later, he and his negotiation team waited for the Saka Royal House’s delegation to arrive for talks.

• Filiche told John that Wolf had investigated the Astral Orbital Barrier Device, urged him to resume research, and gave him the task of finding its anchor point.
• Filiche gave John a Holographic Compass and granted him access to the Eye of Truth Corps’ intelligence and operations.
• Before leaving Faoken with Balga, Filiche warned John to investigate Ailafia and keep his guard up around her.
• John planned to study Ailafia’s intelligence and prepare to use Robrek’s rivalries to disrupt the Saga Kingdom’s royal family during the coming negotiations.
• Seven days later, John waited at a camp on the Windless Wasteland with Lunebo and his negotiation team as the Saka Royal House’s delegation arrived.

John Maslow negotiated with the Saga Kingdom over Star-patterned Stone mining rights, but talks stalled over his plan to build security outposts. He recognized the delegation’s lawyer as Robrek Black Abyss, who requested a private meeting with him after negotiations adjourned.

• John recognized that the delegation’s lawyer, Rob Stone, was likely Robrek Black Abyss and ordered Lunebo not to harm him.
• Gray presented Faoken’s survey and proposed a seventy-thirty division of profits, with Faoken receiving the larger share.
• Rob challenged John’s plan for five security outposts, arguing that they were military garrisons on Saga Kingdom land.
• John and Rob exchanged suspicions while the negotiations stalled, and Gerhart eventually called for an adjournment.
• Lunebo again suggested killing Rob, but John refused and said the lawyer had far greater standing than Lunebo realized.
• Gray reported that Rob wanted a private meeting with John, who agreed to receive His Highness.

John revealed that he knew Rob Stone was Robrek Black Abyss, third prince of the Saga Kingdom, and proposed a strategic partnership. He offered Robrek intelligence on his royal rivals in exchange for permission to establish outposts in the Windless Wasteland for seven years.

• Robrek rejected John's outpost proposal and accused him of seeking control of the strategic pass through the Windless Wasteland.
• John identified Rob Stone as Robrek Black Abyss, and Robrek dropped his disguise and acknowledged John's insight.
• John explained that he wanted a partnership with a member of the Saka Royal House and described his need for a defensive line after an assassination attempt.
• John argued that the outpost agreement would expire within seven years, when his tenure as governor would end.
• John offered Robrek intelligence on the first prince's military supporters, the second princess's financial network, and the sixth princess's civilian forces in exchange for the outpost agreement.

John and Robrek agreed to a seven-year arrangement granting Faoken three outposts in the Windless Wasteland, while each secretly planned to outmaneuver the other. As John explained Faoken’s larger strategy, he received word that the Ancient Construct Rusted One had gone berserk during Fanny’s awakening test.

• Robrek accepted John’s terms in exchange for Faoken’s unconditional support once, and John revealed that a groom in Robrek’s camp was an informant for Grozniya Black Abyss.
• Gerhart and Lawyer Rob negotiated the final agreement: Faoken could establish three trading posts, each with up to thirty soldiers, and receive seventy percent of the Star-patterned Stone for seven years.
• John told Lunebo that Robrek would never get the chance to turn against Faoken because a transformation led by the sages and Beast God believers would overcome the Black Abyss Clan.
• Lunebo informed John that the Ancient Construct Rusted One had gone berserk and destroyed the testing laboratory.
• At the testing base, Fanny used the Soul Imprint Technique to raise Rusted One’s core activation to eighty-one percent, but Caroline detected a dangerous energy spike and warned Fanny to flee.