Chapter Summaries

After Xia Mi woke from a prophetic nightmare involving Chu Zihang and Fenrir, she considered changing her plans and moving to Cassell College. At Cassell, Professor Guderian learned that Lu Mingfei might enroll early, while Von Schneider warned that the decision came with serious safety conditions and scrutiny from the Board of Trustees.

• Xia Mi recalled a nightmare featuring Chu Zihang, Fenrir, and an unidentifiable figure, and feared it was an omen tied to an approaching threat.
• Xia Mi considered advancing to Cassell College so she could stay close to Chu Zihang, despite recognizing that she would be exposing herself to danger.
• Guderian told Von Schneider that Lu Mingfei was about to enroll early and would take the 3E Exam with the preparatory students.
• Schneider pointed out that Lu Mingfei had not received an invitation and that his mentor had not been decided, then warned Guderian not to assume the assignment would bring rewards.
• Schneider explained that the Board of Trustees had questioned the decision and that Lu Mingfei’s early enrollment depended on confirming his safety.

Schneider warned Guderian that the Board of Trustees had prepared an assault team to capture or execute Lu Mingfei if he proved too dangerous, and urged Guderian to earn the boy’s trust. After Guderian left, Schneider investigated an unrelated special-admissions file and discovered that two trustees had anonymously approved freshmen, including Zero Razumovskaya Romanova, Abdullah Abbas, and Ronald Tang.

• Schneider explained that a well-trained assault team answered directly to the Board of Trustees and could capture Lu Mingfei if his danger level crossed a threshold.
• Guderian protested that Lu Mingfei was an innocent student, and Schneider told him to show his student goodwill so the academy would view him as safe.
• After Guderian left, Schneider examined a file for three freshmen whose special admissions had required Executive Department approval.
• Schneider asked Nono to identify the trustees behind the admissions, but she could only confirm that two different approval procedures had been used.
• Schneider read the freshmen’s names: Zero Razumovskaya Romanova, Abdullah Abbas, and Ronald Tang.

Lu Mingfei worked as a temporary assistant coach at a youth center, attracting children to its kendo classes with praise and sparring. A mysterious foreign girl named Zero challenged him and joined the lessons, while Chip Girl and Shuuder Mai watched her from a nearby building and discussed her mission.

• Lu Mingfei sparred with young students, praised their swordsmanship, and persuaded several to sign up for kendo lessons.
• The youth center coaches praised Lu Mingfei's recruiting skills as enrollment rose, crediting Chu Zihang for recommending him.
• Zero arrived for a trial lesson, introduced herself, and struck at Lu Mingfei with a swift, tricky slash.
• Lu Mingfei praised Zero's potential and invited her to train; she agreed to pay for the lessons and left.
• Chip Girl and Shuuder Mai watched from the abandoned Universal Building and debated whether Zero's brief approach had advanced their mission.

Lu Mingfei struggled to save money while weighing whether he would attend Cassell College, then signed a lawsuit against his aunt and uncle after Lu Mingze offered to recover his child support. He asked Lu Mingze to avoid unnecessary trouble and retrieve his old computer mouse, but could not tell whether the devil would honor his wishes.

• Lu Mingfei counted his new wages and worried about the cost of college after questioning how Cassell College judged its students.
• Lu Mingze offered Lu Mingfei money in exchange for a hug, but Lu Mingfei refused and joked that he could profit by selling rumors about himself.
• Lu Mingze presented a lawsuit against Lu Mingfei's aunt and uncle and explained that lawyers were ready to pursue the child support they owed.
• Lu Mingfei hesitated over signing because he still felt sympathy for his uncle, then signed and told Lu Mingze not to cause unnecessary trouble.
• Lu Mingfei asked Lu Mingze to bring him his old computer mouse, and Lu Mingze smiled without saying whether he would comply.

Lu Mingfei learned that Lu Mingze could delay his entry into the next dungeon, but only for a price. Lu Mingze led him through a frozen, sleeping Binhai Town to an abandoned elevated highway and asked him to use an Emperor’s authority to drive away a mounted rider glimpsed in a puddle.

• Lu Mingfei hugged Lu Mingze and joked about wishing to become the hands-off leader of modern hybrids, but Lu Mingze said dragons stood above hybrids and refused the request.
• Lu Mingze offered to delay Lu Mingfei’s entry into the long, two-in-one Grand Escape and Tokyo Tower Dungeon for two days, explaining that it would not disrupt Lu Mingfei’s waking life.
• Lu Mingze froze Binhai Town and asked Lu Mingfei to follow the lights through the sleeping streets as part of a show.
• Lu Mingfei rode to an abandoned toll station at the entrance to elevated highway 10 and glimpsed a mounted rider reflected in a puddle.
• Lu Mingze told Lu Mingfei to order the rider out of his domain using the tone of an Emperor.

Lu Mingfei used the Emperor Word Spirit to destroy Odin’s Shaking Road to Heaven, while Lu Mingze revealed that the power had come from Lu Mingfei himself. Afterward, Lu Mingfei invited Lu Mingze to supper and rode off with him through the city.

• Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze opened their Golden Eyes and commanded the world to get lost, causing the overpass and Odin’s rider to vanish into a vortex.
• Lu Mingze explained that the Shaking Road to Heaven, or Bifrost, had been severed and Odin would need time to rebuild it.
• Lu Mingze praised Lu Mingfei and said that no one in the current era could truly use the Emperor Word Spirit, then claimed Lu Mingfei’s power exceeded his own.
• Lu Mingfei offered to spend his seven hundred yuan on supper to celebrate Lu Mingze’s release, and suggested braised intestines and grilled chicken wings.
• Lu Mingze asked for yellow peach ice cream, and Lu Mingfei pedaled onward with him as the city lit up again.

Lu Mingfei learned that Lu Mingze's world was a dream where he could rest for up to seven days, but he refused to stop training. He jumped through the bronze door into the Grand Escape and Tokyo Tower Dungeon, with Lu Mingze following him.

• Lu Mingze told Lu Mingfei they were in his dream world and offered him up to seven days of rest there.
• Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze competed over the last grilled chicken wing while discussing the dream's comforts.
• Lu Mingfei explained that he could not afford to slack off and recalled choosing to keep fighting rather than seek a normal life.
• Lu Mingfei grabbed two Desert Eagles and jumped through the bronze door into the Grand Escape and Tokyo Tower Dungeon.
• Lu Mingze followed Lu Mingfei as the dungeon activated in Normal Mode and warned that the challenger possessed a cheat.

Lu Mingfei wandered through rainy Tokyo with Erii after Lu Mingze left to visit old friends, and he struggled to understand why the outing felt so gentle and easy. The chapter left Lu Mingfei following Erii toward their plans for the day, worried that he was becoming too attached to her.

• Lu Mingze gave Lu Mingfei Japanese Proficiency and warned him to keep Erii safe before leaving to visit two cats.
• Lu Mingfei remembered that Caesar and Chu Zihang had given him yen earned through work in Tokyo, though he suspected their jobs were more compromising than they admitted.
• Erii asked to hold the umbrella, but Lu Mingfei told her to keep writing in her notepad and continued carrying it.
• Lu Mingfei and Erii headed toward Sensoji and a restaurant, while Lu Mingfei repeatedly checked that she was still nearby.
• Erii turned back and waited for Lu Mingfei as he followed her through the rain.

Angers visited Uesugi Etsu’s ramen stall to question him about God’s Hatching Ground and the Snake-Branch Eight Families. Uesugi revealed the danger of God’s emergence and planned to leave for Paris, while a mysterious child with a cat overheard their conversation.

• Angers arrived at Uesugi Etsu’s stall, teased him, and urged him to defend Tokyo from the revived Holy Remains.
• Uesugi said he had grown content with his life as a ramen seller and no longer had a reason to draw his sword.
• Angers asked about God’s Hatching Ground, and Uesugi sketched what he knew about the Divine-era Ruins’ drilling plan.
• Uesugi warned that completed God would rival the Black King and said he had booked a ticket to Paris because he doubted they could defeat it.
• A child with a cat appeared beside Angers and laughed after overhearing their discussion.

Uesugi Etsu feared that the White Emperor might have returned, while Angers left to meet an old friend in Tokyo. Lu Mingfei and Erii were swept into an inexplicable matchmaking spectacle, which ended with Lu Mingfei realizing the artists were being pressured by a powerful boss.

• Uesugi Etsu heard an unexplained laugh and wondered whether the White Emperor had begun moving through Tokyo.
• Angers said an old friend had come to Tokyo, then left after wishing Uesugi Etsu happiness in Paris.
• Lu Mingfei and Erii posed together in a Tokyo pavilion as painters and photographers treated them like a couple.
• Lu Mingfei reassured Erii by holding her hand and passing her prepared notes.
• A painter showed Lu Mingfei a portrait depicting him and Erii as newlyweds, while the artists fawned nervously under pressure from their boss.