Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Green’s intelligence network identifies Professor Arkansas, a young Imperial Academy scholar specializing in Shaping Magic, as Descartes’s secret contact. Though their meetings alone prove no crime, Green and Cyrabelle proceed without waiting for legal evidence.
• Green and Captain Ruston enter Arkansas’s magically protected home. Green destroys a concealed bookshelf to uncover a basement containing magical and biological experiments, including apparent attempts to combine Alchemy and Necromancy.
• Arkansas spots Green’s Anomalies Bureau general’s insignia and tries to flee through an escape tunnel. Ruston stops Descartes, while Green hurls Arkansas back into the basement.
• Arkansas later appears to escape and reaches a hidden entrance in a factory—the Revolutionary Army intelligence department’s new headquarters, disguised as a Porcelain Factory.
• Back at Bureau headquarters, Descartes is detained with his family on a treason charge. Green has tortured Arkansas by attacking his soul; Arkansas quickly breaks, begs for mercy, and offers to expose the Revolutionary Army’s operations.

Character developments

• Green is shown as decisive, powerful, and unconcerned with legal procedure. His ability to destroy defenses and torment a soul makes him terrifying to Descartes.
• Ruston follows Green closely and hopes that serving alongside him will build their relationship, even wishing for a chance to share in misconduct.
• Arkansas, initially a cautious and capable spy with an escape plan, proves unwilling to endure torture and rapidly turns informant.
• Descartes’s admiration for Arkansas collapses when he sees his former superior beg and betray the cause. Fear replaces his revolutionary conviction, and he is relieved to be only a minor participant.

Character interactions

• Green leads Ruston through Arkansas’s defenses, while Ruston helps prevent Descartes from escaping.
• Arkansas’s failed flight leaves Descartes exposed; seeing Arkansas captured and tortured overwhelms him.
• Descartes is brought in alongside his stunned family, whom he cannot face. His terror of Green contrasts sharply with his former reverence for Arkansas.

Significant themes

• Idealism versus self-preservation: Arkansas’s quick surrender shatters Descartes’s belief in heroic revolutionary sacrifice.
• Power and fear: Green’s supernatural strength and soul-torture turn him into a figure of near-absolute terror.
• Espionage and hidden networks: Arkansas’s secret lab, escape route, and concealed factory entrance reveal the depth of the Revolutionary Army’s operations.
• Justice versus expediency: Green acts despite lacking legal proof, raising tension between the Bureau’s pursuit of security and lawful procedure.

Key plot points and events

• Descartes’s remorse is irrelevant to his fate: he is awaiting execution at the gallows. Professor Arkansas, however, is kept alive because Green sees strategic value in his rare Shadow Scholar abilities and expertise in alchemy, biology, and undead studies.
• Under Green’s control, Arkansas enters the Revolutionary Army’s underground intelligence headquarters and claims that the Anomalies Bureau traced a captured contact to his home, forcing him to flee through a prepared passage.
• Xika questions Arkansas. He blames the exposure on Descartes but insists the young man would never betray the revolution. Xika accepts his explanation outwardly, though the circumstances leave her uneasy.
• Green observes the meeting through their Soul Link. He suspects the headquarters may be a decoy and deliberately avoids destroying the Revolutionary Army outright. He wants it to recover and launch another Northern Expedition, creating a larger war.
• Sebolutes studies the shifting balance of power: the Kingdom is retreating toward Stinnard, the Revolutionary Army is rebuilding with Rune Federation support, and General Lukase has established an independent stronghold at Red Fortress. Lukase’s example may encourage other provinces and factions to break away.
• Sebolutes recognizes that Cyrabelle’s victory at Red Fortress has left the Revolutionary Army with a serious strategic obstacle, then asks Xika about Arkansas.

Character developments and interactions

• Green is revealed as a calculating manipulator who values Arkansas as a research asset and prioritizes the scale and continuation of war over a straightforward victory. He intends to mislead the Revolutionary Army while preserving its ability to fight.
• Professor Arkansas performs loyalty convincingly, framing his escape as a crisis and defending Descartes. Though his apparent revolutionary devotion reassures Xika, Green is secretly directing his actions.
• Xika is cautious and responsible: she investigates the breach, considers what Descartes could have revealed, and promises to find the source of the leak. Her suspicion remains, but she does not doubt Arkansas’s allegiance.
• Sebolutes is politically perceptive and reassesses Cyrabelle’s skill after Red Fortress. She and Xika interact in a restrained, professional manner, with Sebolutes seeking a status report rather than openly discussing her concerns.
• Descartes, absent from the main events and awaiting execution, remains central to the deception: Arkansas uses him as the supposed cause of the security breach.

Significant themes

• Deception and divided loyalties: Green exploits Arkansas’s trusted reputation, while the supposed leak conceals the real manipulation.
• War as a political instrument: Green wants conflict to continue and grow, while the shifting alliances make military outcomes serve broader political ends.
• Fragmentation and independence: Lukase’s de facto autonomy inspires other factions to imagine breaking away, threatening both the Kingdom’s authority and the Revolutionary Army’s plans.
• The uncertainty of trust: Xika must act on incomplete information, and even a respected revolutionary’s account may conceal a deeper plot.

Key plot points and events

• With Cyrabelle back in the Royal Capital, Sebolutes orders her network to stay hidden and stop investigating Professor Arkansas’s exposure. Secretly, however, she sends the elite Shadow Division to verify his situation.
• The operative reports that Marquis Belon has concealed 15,000 soldiers inside the Royal Palace, half of them veterans, ready to act on Sebolutes’s signal.
• Sebolutes reveals her broader plan: she has requested a Void Airship from the Rune Federation to carry 30,000 elite troops past the Red Fortress and strike Stinnard unexpectedly, coordinating with Belon’s forces.
• Meanwhile, Professor Arkansas secretly enters his old laboratory beneath the intelligence base. He uses a concealed machine he invented—an imperfect spatial-teleportation experiment that became a surveillance device—to review recordings from invisible monitoring circles around the base.
• Green watches Arkansas through their Soul Link. Arkansas’s loyalty is imperfect but sufficient for Green to trust him with the mission of gathering intelligence.
• Arkansas finds footage of Sebolutes and passes the resulting intelligence to Green. At the Anomalies Bureau, Green tells Cyrabelle about the planned attack, but admits he has no proof beyond Arkansas’s report.

Character developments

• Sebolutes appears exhausted by Cyrabelle’s return but remains strategically resourceful. She hides her investigation of Arkansas and keeps a major military force ready as a surprise counterstroke.
• Professor Arkansas demonstrates ingenuity and nerve, risking discovery to retrieve intelligence from an abandoned invention. His value to Green rests on his pledge and access to information rather than combat strength.
• Green relies on Arkansas despite lacking full control over him, showing that his relationship with the Shadow Scholar is based on limited loyalty rather than absolute command.
• Cyrabelle is shocked by the scale and audacity of Sebolutes’s plan and must weigh alarming intelligence that cannot yet be independently proven.

Significant themes

• Secrecy and counterintelligence: Both sides conceal their movements, use covert agents, and try to anticipate the other’s plans.
• Loyalty and trust: Arkansas’s pledge is meaningful but not absolute, while Green must act on intelligence without proof.
• Unexpected consequences of invention: Arkansas’s failed teleportation experiment produced a surveillance tool that now has decisive strategic value.
• Deception and misdirection: Sebolutes plans to bypass the Red Fortress rather than follow the route Cyrabelle expects, turning apparent military assumptions against her.

Character interactions

• Xika reports to Sebolutes, who tells her to stand down while secretly continuing the investigation through the Shadow Division.
• The Shadow Division operative reports both Arkansas’s situation and Belon’s preparations, reinforcing Sebolutes’s confidence in her hidden forces.
• Arkansas’s actions are observed by Green through their Soul Link, and his recovered intelligence is relayed to Cyrabelle.
• Cyrabelle challenges Green for proof; he can provide only Arkansas’s account, leaving the Bureau with urgent but unverified information.

Plot points

• Cyrabelle accepts Green’s intelligence that the Rune People are preparing a two-pronged assault: a force hidden in the Royal Palace and 30,000 troops arriving by void airship.
• Green urges her to turn the enemy’s plan against them. Cyrabelle agrees to strike, though she prioritizes confirming the airship’s arrival and is willing to risk Green’s embedded agent, Professor Arkansas.
• Cyrabelle reports the discovery to Grand Duke Mora, who alone can activate the Kingdom’s two high-ranking spies within the Revolutionary Army.
• Arkansas receives Green’s order to withdraw after six that evening. His anxiety eases when the order restores his waning loyalty, but he still faces a dangerous escape.
• Sebolutes sets the Revolutionary Army’s operation in motion, preparing to create a diversion so the 30,000 troops can land. Their arrival is expected in three hours.
• In the Royal Palace, Marquis Belon oversees more than 15,000 Holy Crusaders secretly brought through a portal. The church has joined the attack on the Kingdom, but Belon has kept the real Little King hidden as leverage after Archbishop Hiltonstin seized a double.

Character developments and interactions

• Cyrabelle shifts from shock to decisive action, balancing the chance to defeat the Rune People against the risks of delay and losing Arkansas.
• Green remains focused on exploiting the intelligence advantage and protecting Arkansas, but accepts Cyrabelle’s authority and strategic priorities.
• Arkansas struggles between fear and loyalty; Green’s withdrawal order reassures him that he has not been abandoned.
• Sebolutes confidently directs the final preparations, though she recognizes that the military phase will soon pass beyond her control.
• Belon proves resourceful under pressure, using the hidden king to secure leverage over Hiltonstin. Hiltonstin, despite his power and church authority, must accommodate Belon to avoid jeopardizing the operation.

Significant themes

• Intelligence and secrecy: Hidden forces, spies, doubles, and concealed loyalties shape the conflict.
• Strategic risk and sacrifice: Cyrabelle weighs the larger campaign against Arkansas’s safety, while Green fears both losing his agent and compromising the mission.
• Power and unstable alliances: The church’s intervention turns the invasion into a broader struggle, and even powerful leaders must bargain when plans become difficult to control.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• At Anomalies Bureau headquarters, Cyrabelle learns that Holy Crusaders have appeared inside the Royal Palace, apparently through the Space-Time Gate. Marquis Belon is suspected of helping them, while the captive Little King is believed to be a double; the real king may still be safe.
• The Church of Light’s open intervention adds a new enemy to the conflict. Cyrabelle regrets the royal family’s earlier decision to help create the Holy Crusaders, a choice she had opposed but lacked the authority to stop.
• Cyrabelle prepares to meet a Void airship near Kolba Lake with most of her forces, planning a surprise attack before its troops can organize. She leaves Green in Stinnard with the Anomalies Bureau, City Guard, and ten thousand Royal Guards to contain the Crusaders in the palace.
• Green argues that his undead forces can handle the Crusaders, and sees their bodies and souls as resources for his Graveyard.
• At six o’clock, Professor Arkansas begins escaping the Revolutionary Army’s underground base using an enchanted Invisibility Cloak. Its camouflage works only if he stays still or moves slowly, and it can fool no more than two observers at once.
• Arkansas nearly gets discovered when two people approach and kiss beside him. Later, he follows a squad of guards upstairs, hoping to pass through a locked metal door with them. The chapter ends as their leader uses a rune-marked token to open it.

Character developments

• Cyrabelle remains disciplined and strategic despite anger over the Church’s betrayal and the consequences of a decision she could not influence. The Little King’s apparent safety restores some hope.
• Green displays confidence in his growing power and treats the approaching battle as an opportunity to expand his undead resources.
• Professor Arkansas shows ingenuity through his alchemical inventions, but his escape depends on patience, nerve, and exploiting the guards’ movements.

Significant themes

• Political misjudgment and its consequences: The kingdom’s earlier alliance with the Church has helped create the force now threatening it.
• Deception and uncertain loyalties: The Little King may be a double, the Crusaders have infiltrated the palace, and Arkansas relies on concealment to escape.
• Preparation versus improvisation: Cyrabelle plans a coordinated military strike, while Arkansas must adapt to immediate dangers.
• Power and pragmatism: Cyrabelle seeks to defend the kingdom; Green views enemies as potential resources.

Character interactions

• Cyrabelle questions her intelligence officer about the king, the palace, and the airship, then assigns Green to hold Stinnard while she leads the outside force.
• Green challenges Cyrabelle’s allocation of troops, asserting that he can defeat the Crusaders with his own forces.
• Arkansas silently observes Jenny and her companion, then trails the guards in an attempt to get through the base’s secured exit.

Key plot points

• Professor Arkansas escapes the underground base by using a sweet-smelling gas to incapacitate ten guards. He slips out of the factory as artillery begins booming near Kolba Lake.
• The bombardment signals that Cyrabelle’s ambush of the Revolutionary Army has begun earlier than expected. Marquis Belon and Archbishop Hiltonstin realize their coordinated coup may have been compromised.
• Their communicator cannot reach Sebolutes, apparently because a Psychic Energy jammer is blocking transmissions. Hiltonstin decides to attack anyway, while Belon privately considers fleeing if events turn against them.
• Hiltonstin leads fifteen thousand Holy Crusaders from the Royal Palace. They split up: ten thousand head for the City Guard barracks, while five thousand storm the Anomalies Bureau, hoping to seize the control center for Stinnard’s defensive magic.
• The Bureau is empty. Before the attackers can withdraw, Enchanted Explosives destroy the building, killing nearly all five thousand Crusaders inside. The trap was arranged by Green, who had been left in charge of the city by Cyrabelle.
• A Dragon Lich attacks the stunned Hiltonstin, knocking him from the air and engulfing him in Dragon Breath.

Character developments and interactions

• Professor Arkansas remains cautious but resourceful, using stealth and the confusion caused by the approaching battle to escape.
• Marquis Belon grows increasingly anxious and distrustful of the plan. He questions whether they should proceed, but yields to Hiltonstin while quietly preparing to abandon him if necessary.
• Archbishop Hiltonstin moves from uncertainty to defiant religious fervor, rallying his troops with appeals to the Holy Light. The sudden destruction of his forces shakes his confidence and leaves him vulnerable to the Dragon Lich.
• Green’s strategy shows the same ruthless willingness to sacrifice infrastructure for a decisive military advantage that Cyrabelle demonstrated at the Red Fortress.
• The opposing forces are characterized through contrast: the Holy Crusaders charge with religious zeal, while their enemies rely on preparation, deception, and explosives.

Significant themes

• The cost of fanaticism: Hiltonstin’s certainty drives him to attack despite warning signs, and the disastrous first strike unsettles his faith.
• Deception and preparation: The empty Bureau, communications jamming, and hidden explosives suggest the attackers have walked into a carefully prepared trap.
• Sacrifice for victory: The destruction of a major government building is accepted as the price of eliminating a much larger enemy force.
• Uncertainty and betrayal: With communications severed and the plan apparently exposed, Belon and Hiltonstin must act without knowing who—or what—has compromised them.

Key plot points and events

• Archbishop Hiltonstin survives the initial attack by activating the Divine Artifact Hundred Thousand Swords, whose blade storm overwhelms the Dragon Lich and drives it back.
• Green’s concealed Undead Army attacks Hiltonstin’s forces. Most of the troops are wiped out, while Green’s Legendary fighters finish off the wounded Holy Crusader officers.
• Seeing Hiltonstin’s advantage over the Dragon Lich, Green summons Skeleton Lord Sean Spartiel, a Calamity Rank being. Sean smashes through the blade storm and kills Hiltonstin with a single hammer blow.
• Sean captures Hundred Thousand Swords. The artifact initially resists, but he subdues it, and Green removes its hidden soul imprint for a steep cost of 10,000 Psychic Energy.
• The imprint belonged to the Pontiff of the Holy Light Church. At the Church’s headquarters, the Pontiff learns Hiltonstin had requested the artifact for the occupation of Number Twelve Void World and orders an investigation into who used it.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shifts from observing the battle to decisive action, recognizing that Hiltonstin must die and summoning Sean to ensure the outcome. He also accepts the costly removal of the Pontiff’s imprint so he can claim the artifact.
• Hiltonstin proves a formidable and resourceful opponent, using his Divine Artifact to reach peak High-Level Legendary strength. His confidence collapses when Sean’s Calamity Rank aura becomes clear; he is killed before he can respond.
• Sean Spartiel displays overwhelming power and loyalty, answering Green’s command immediately and taking the artifact for him.
• The Pontiff remains outwardly composed after sensing the loss of his imprint, but orders a discreet inquiry, setting up a wider response from the Holy Light Church.
• Hiltonstin and the Dragon Lich clash fiercely, but the decisive interaction is the sudden matchup between Hiltonstin’s artifact and Sean’s superior rank.

Significant themes

• Power and hierarchy: Even a powerful Divine Artifact cannot overcome the vast gap between High-Level Legendary and Calamity Rank.
• Preparation and deception: Green’s hidden troops and reserve summon turn the battle decisively in his favor.
• The cost of control: Claiming the artifact requires Green to spend substantial Psychic Energy and may draw the attention of its former owner.
• Consequences beyond the battlefield: Hiltonstin’s death and the erased imprint alert the Holy Light Church, expanding the conflict beyond the immediate battle.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Holy Light Church’s pope discovers that the soul imprint he placed on the Divine Artifact Hundred Thousand Swords has been erased. Suspecting someone powerful in the Number Twelve Void World, he orders a secret investigation and warns his agents not to interfere.
• Green uses 10,000 Psychic Energy to erase the imprint, then tries to claim the souls of four slain Holy Crusader leaders through Nightmare Kingdom. The Lord of Light’s Divine Kingdom contests his control, so Green instead corrupts the souls before Holy Light retrieves them. Archbishop Hiltonstin’s soul is badly damaged, threatening substantial memory loss.
• Having been told by Grand Duke Mora not to attack the Royal Palace yet, Green directs his Undead Army toward the City Guard garrison. There, 5,000 guards and over 400 Anomalies Bureau Transcendents have been holding off 10,000 Holy Crusaders with the aid of twenty Undead Cannons.
• Green’s reinforcements—including Kobold Zombies, armed skeletons, a Dragon Lich, and a Cyclops—surround the Holy Crusaders. Their position collapses despite their courage and the priests’ buffs. Green watches as the force is steadily destroyed, gaining far more Psychic Energy than expected, though its devout members cannot be raised as undead and their souls go to the Lord of Light.
• Meanwhile, Professor Arkansas escapes the Revolutionary Army’s underground base. At the abandoned Factories, a Legendary mage’s wind blade cuts down what appears to be Arkansas. It is actually a decoy puppet: Arkansas had sent it in the opposite direction and escaped through a different route.

Character developments and interactions

• Green displays strategic restraint by honoring Mora’s instruction not to strike the Royal Palace, while using overwhelming force elsewhere. He also shows a willingness to torment the Holy Crusaders’ souls even when he cannot keep them.
• Grand Duke Mora remains the unseen authority shaping events: he has nearly extracted the Void World’s World Origin and allows Green and Cyrabelle freedom as long as they do not disrupt his plan.
• Avalon, the Legendary Paladin commanding the Holy Crusaders, is shocked when Green’s army attacks from behind; his troops’ faith and bravery cannot compensate for being encircled.
• Professor Arkansas survives through foresight and an elaborate substitute puppet, demonstrating his skill and caution.
• Sebolutes and her two Legendary companions mistake the puppet for Arkansas. Sebolutes recognizes its craftsmanship and regrets that Arkansas chose the opposing side; the mage, embarrassed by his failed attack, reacts angrily.

Significant themes

• Faith versus force: The Holy Crusaders’ devotion gives them courage and Holy Light, but cannot overcome Green’s coordinated, superior army.
• The cost of spiritual conflict: Green cannot claim the believers’ souls, yet damages them before the Divine Kingdom can recover them.
• Strategy and deception: Mora’s larger plan, Green’s controlled timing, and Arkansas’s decoy all show how planning can matter as much as battlefield strength.
• The destruction of a city: Green’s forces show no concern for Stinnard’s historic buildings, underscoring the devastation of the conflict.

Key plot points and events

• Professor Arkansas tries to escape after being exposed, but Sebolutes and her forces catch up. She offers him a chance, then realizes Death Psychic Energy has transformed him into a shadow creature and orders him killed.
• Just as a Legendary mage is about to strike Arkansas, the Shadow Red Dragon Alshfaro arrives and rescues him with Dragon Breath. Sebolutes counters by summoning a massive four-armed giant.
• Green arrives on Alshfaro, having come in person after learning Sebolutes was involved. He immediately summons the Calamity Rank Skeleton Lord.
• The Skeleton Lord smashes Sebolutes’s giant in one blow, then kills Sebolutes and a nearby warrior she tries to use as a shield.
• Green dismisses the Skeleton Lord, reflecting that a trump card must be used at decisive moments. Arkansas, overwhelmed by what he has witnessed, drops to his knees before Green.

Character developments

• Professor Arkansas accepts that there is no way back after his transformation. His attempted escape gives way to resignation, then to awe and fear of Green’s power.
• Sebolutes is revealed as confident and formidable, but Green’s overwhelming trump card leaves her no chance to recover. Even as she dies, she remains stunned and hateful.
• Green shows strategic decisiveness: he recognizes Sebolutes as a major threat and uses his strongest asset without hesitation. He also sees her as a potentially valuable undead servant, revealing his pragmatic, ruthless ambition.
• Alshfaro demonstrates courage and loyalty by risking a direct clash with a stronger opponent to save Arkansas.

Significant themes

• Trump cards and timing: Power matters most when deployed at a decisive moment; hiding a trump card merely to keep it secret wastes its purpose.
• Overwhelming power and vulnerability: Sebolutes’s strength is impressive by ordinary standards, but becomes irrelevant against a vastly superior opponent.
• No return from corruption: Arkansas recognizes that his transformation has closed off the possibility of returning to his former life.
• Ruthlessness in conflict: Green and Sebolutes alike treat others as tools—Green considers turning Sebolutes into a Lich, while Sebolutes uses a subordinate as a shield.

Character interactions

• Sebolutes offers Arkansas a chance, but he refuses, acknowledging that it is too late.
• Alshfaro’s rescue of Arkansas provokes Sebolutes into a counterattack, setting up Green’s arrival.
• Green confronts Sebolutes directly and answers her giant summon with the Skeleton Lord, ending the fight almost instantly.
• Arkansas’s final submission to Green underscores the gap between Green’s power and that of those around him.

Chapter Summary

Green kills Sebolutes during the assault, and Professor Arkansas—who had resented being forced into Green’s service—becomes markedly more loyal after witnessing Green’s power. Green recognizes Arkansas’s resourcefulness: despite being only Mid Formal Rank, he had escaped an underground base while evading three Legendary fighters. Green sends him to the Graveyard to work on research and development at the Skeleton Workshop.
When Green tries to collect Sebolutes’s soul, he discovers it has vanished. He finds the souls of two other fighters who died in the battle, but cannot determine why Sebolutes’s soul is missing.
The answer lies in Luer City, where a device called the Life Vessel revives Sebolutes after her death. She emerges from the vessel with her memories erased for the preceding three days and weakened by the rebirth process. Though her companions urge an investigation and retaliation, Sebolutes refuses: she believes only a being of Calamity Rank could have forced her to use the vessel, and her lineage cannot safely challenge such an opponent. She also orders her followers not to report the setback to the Council, whom she distrusts.
Back at the abandoned factory, Green prepares to seize Sebolutes’s base, but it suddenly self-destructs. The explosion kills most of the people inside and traps a few survivors underground. Green sends the Undead Devil Vines to search for survivors and hidden passages. Finding no escape route, he has the trapped survivors killed quickly rather than leave them to die slowly.
The chapter ends with Arudika watching the destruction from a mansion in northern Stinnard. She tells an unseen companion that she is about 80 percent certain Sebolutes has died.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Green remains pragmatic and ruthless, but shows a measure of mercy by choosing to end the trapped survivors’ suffering. Sebolutes’s absent soul unsettles him, though he cannot yet explain it.
• Professor Arkansas shifts rapidly from resentment to admiration and loyalty after seeing Green’s strength. Green rewards his ingenuity with a research role.
• Sebolutes survives through the Life Vessel, but loses recent memories and is temporarily weakened. Rather than pursue vengeance, she prioritizes caution and concealment, revealing skepticism toward her lineage’s ability to retaliate and contempt for the Council.
• Arudika appears to be monitoring the aftermath and is highly confident, though not certain, that Sebolutes is dead.

Significant Themes

• Power and survival: Characters’ choices are shaped by the immense gap between their strength and that of their potential enemies.
• Loyalty and opportunism: Arkansas’s allegiance changes when he recognizes Green’s power.
• Death and its limits: Sebolutes’s revival complicates Green’s understanding of death, while her missing soul remains a mystery.
• Mercy and brutality: Green’s decision to end the survivors’ suffering is compassionate in intent but still carried out through violence.

Plot points and events

• Modi Ye Lijin, now fully fused with Archbishop Ye Lijin’s soul, has reached High-Level Legendary strength. He calmly receives news that Sebolutes—the Revolutionary Army’s intelligence chief and a powerful Transcendent—has been killed.
• The Revolutionary Army’s planned attack on Stinnard is collapsing: its intelligence network has suffered heavy losses, its thirty-thousand-strong force is losing at Kolba Lake, and fifteen thousand Holy Crusaders have been wiped out. Ferdinand, a senior official who helped organize the operation, fears he will be blamed for the disaster.
• When Ferdinand angrily confronts Modi, Modi’s presence terrifies him into backing down. Modi then offers to help him—but severs his arm, making the injury permanent.
• Modi explains that Ferdinand can be presented as a wounded battlefield hero, diverting public attention from the defeat. He promises to use his connections to arrange support from Rune Federation newspapers. Ferdinand accepts the plan and leaves to prepare his account for his superiors.
• Modi sends Arudika to assess the battle. After protesting that she is tired and not his subordinate, she gives in and transforms into a giant Golden Dragon to fly outside the city.

Character developments and interactions

• Modi has become detached from his former identity and its immediate concerns. He sees political revolution as futile unless the larger system causing oppression is destroyed, and now seeks the power and influence to pursue that greater goal. His gentle manner masks ruthless calculation.
• Ferdinand shifts from panic and anger to cautious cooperation. Though he recognizes that Modi has coerced him and sacrificed his arm for political cover, he accepts the opportunity to survive the coming backlash.
• Arudika is outspoken and resistant to being ordered around, while Modi remains patient and quietly authoritative. Their exchange ends with her complying, albeit resentfully.

Significant themes

• Revolution and the cycle of oppression: Modi believes replacing the Kingdom’s rulers with the Revolutionary Army would only reproduce exploitation under a new name.
• Power and coercion: Modi’s strength lets him control others, while his political schemes turn Ferdinand’s injury into a public-relations tool.
• Heroism as political narrative: Ferdinand is to be portrayed as a brave casualty, illustrating how institutions can shape public attention and assign blame.
• Transformation and ambition: Modi’s soul fusion brings not only increased power but a radically expanded worldview and a mission beyond the Void World.

Key plot points and events

• Modi warns Arudika, now a golden dragon, to withdraw if she encounters Cyrabelle or Wood Slater. She flies off.
• Green returns to Stinnard after killing Sebolutes and rescuing Professor Arkansas. The Holy Crusaders have been defeated, and their valuable enchanted equipment is salvaged, though their bodies cannot be used to create Undead.
• Green establishes the Anomalies Bureau’s new headquarters in the Prime Minister’s residence, choosing an office with a view of the Royal Palace. The Little King and Marquis Belon’s secret dealings with both the Holy Crusaders and the Revolutionary Army make the palace a serious threat, though Grand Duke Mora’s plan has prevented an immediate assault.
• Cyrabelle wins at Kolba Lake by disrupting the enemy’s Void space and attacking before its troops can regroup. The Revolutionary Army suffers heavy losses and retreats, but Cyrabelle’s Royal Guard also loses more than 13,000 troops, including over 9,000 dead or badly wounded.
• Suzune tells Green that Madam Rand and Sherotna, members of the squad sent against Zero Group, were killed by an unknown attacker. Their precise heart wounds and traces of Death Psychic Energy point toward a powerful Necromancer.
• Green decides against investigating: the killer is likely too strong to confront, and they can only accept that a dangerous, unfriendly Necromancer is operating in Stinnard.
• When Cyrabelle returns, she presses Green about Sebolutes. He admits he defeated her but doubts she is truly dead, since he never collected her soul. Cyrabelle is astonished that he could overcome someone regarded as a leading candidate for Calamity.

Character developments and interactions

• Green remains calm and strategic, prioritizing practical risks over celebration. He suspects Sebolutes may have survived and connects the new killings to the Necromancer he once encountered.
• Suzune is increasingly wary of Green’s hidden strength, but that strength reassures her that he may be able to help rescue her sister, Ivanka. She has now put revenge aside in favor of the rescue.
• Cyrabelle is troubled by the Royal Guard’s casualties despite victory and deeply unsettled by Sebolutes’s apparent defeat. Her admiration and rivalry toward Green surface as she questions him, while his dismissive answer angers her.
• Arudika follows Modi’s warning and departs before entering the danger zone.

Significant themes

• Victory at a cost: Both Green’s battle in the city and Cyrabelle’s victory at the lake come with heavy losses, weakening the triumph.
• Hidden threats and uncertainty: Sebolutes may still be alive, and another powerful Necromancer has appeared without revealing their identity or motives.
• Shifting priorities and uneasy alliances: Suzune’s desire to save Ivanka takes precedence over revenge, while political betrayal forces Green and Cyrabelle to remain alert despite their military success.

Plot points and events

• Suzune reports that Lant Rost, a Necromancer once associated with Cyrabelle’s army, vanished after its return from the Northern Province. His apparent High Formal Rank does not match the powerful Necromancer Green suspects. Green orders Suzune to stop investigating closely and wait for the man to surface again.
• Suzune asks about her younger sister, Ivanka. Green promises to help capture her when the authorities move against Marquis Belon. Relieved and grateful, Suzune pledges lasting loyalty to Green.
• General Kebayifu reports a likely Zero Group hideout discovered by one of his patrols. Green gives him command of the operation, assigns Ruston and Hill Walsh, and asks Cyrabelle to provide two thousand elite Royal Guards. Cyrabelle approves.
• Kebayifu’s attempt to assert himself over Green backfires: although formally in charge, he will bear the responsibility for the operation’s success or failure.
• Green asks Cyrabelle about both the Necromancer and the planned move against Marquis Belon. She remembers little of the former but warns that Belon is dangerous, citing Grand Duke Mora’s advice.
• That night, Kebayifu’s force surrounds a ruined apartment building near Edis Prison. Green watches through crows, suspecting the mysterious Necromancer may appear. Rather than storm the building, Kebayifu plans to pressure its occupants into fleeing. Lookouts inside the hideout notice the approaching troops.

Character developments and interactions

• Suzune accepts Green’s authority and the certainty of having someone else make decisions for her. Her loyalty is reinforced by his promise to rescue Ivanka.
• Green stays cautious about the Necromancer, entrusts Kebayifu with the raid without engaging in a power struggle, and remains alert to possible complications.
• Kebayifu tries to gain an advantage over Green but ends up with the operational burden. He resolves to execute the mission flawlessly.
• Cyrabelle supports Green’s plan and shares the warning about Marquis Belon, though she cannot provide useful details about Lant Rost.

Significant themes

• Authority and dependence: Suzune finds comfort in serving Green, while Green’s greater strength reshapes their relationship.
• Power and responsibility: Kebayifu gains nominal command but also owns the consequences of the operation.
• Caution amid uncertainty: Green avoids provoking the unknown Necromancer and takes seriously the warning about Marquis Belon.
• Surveillance and strategy: The raid relies on intelligence, encirclement, and forcing the enemy to reveal itself rather than launching a reckless assault.

Key plot points and events

• Royal Guard General Kebayifu surrounds what he believes is Zero Group’s base, but it is only an entrance. The actual hideout is on the top floor of a nearby office building.
• Anthony spots the troops, and Xika—temporarily leading Zero Group—orders the group’s eleven remaining members to scatter and regroup later at a temporary base.
• Green monitors the operation through ravens. He notices a familiar trace of Necromancer aura on one reserve member and focuses his surveillance on him.
• Kebayifu adapts when his troops discover the escapees, activating Plan Four and sending interception squads to block their retreat. Several members are caught in the resulting clashes, but the watched reserve member slips through the perimeter.
• The operation ends with five captives, only one of them a full member. Green continues tracking the escaped reserve member as he reaches an abandoned farm outside the city.

Character developments and interactions

• Xika shows composure under pressure, balancing the immediate evacuation with political efforts to protect the Intelligence Department from blame for Sebolutes’s failed raid. She fears Green’s involvement, given his past threat and the deaths of two Legendary reinforcements attributed to him.
• Anthony acts as the lookout and reports the enemy’s strength, helping Xika assess the danger.
• Kebayifu proves methodical and adaptable, though frustrated that his planned encirclement captures fewer enemies than expected.
• Green remains detached from the battle but becomes intrigued by the reserve member’s possible connection to a Necromancer he encountered before.
• The escaping reserve member is resourceful and experienced, avoiding patrols while recognizing that his captured comrades may not survive.

Significant themes

• Survival amid collapse: Zero Group’s losses leave its remaining members scattered and uncertain of the group’s future.
• Political blame and manipulation: Xika tries to shift responsibility for the failed raid onto Marquis Belon’s side to preserve the Intelligence Department.
• Intelligence and misdirection: A false base, layered escape plans, interception squads, and Green’s covert raven surveillance shape the conflict.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: The escapees’ relief is tempered by the knowledge that captured comrades are likely doomed.

Plot points and events

• A surviving Zero Group reserve member goes to an abandoned farmstead seeking “Lant Rost,” but finds no one and leaves. Green keeps his raven watching the site.
• Lant Rost emerges after a surge of Death Psychic Energy. Green identifies him as the Necromancer who killed two of his subordinates, Madam Rand and Sherotna. Lant appears injured from a recent clash with the Holy Light Church.
• Green confronts him and demands accountability. Lant reveals his real identity: Sinem Douglas, the Death Council’s seventeenth councilor, and prepares to fight.
• Sinem opens with a Death Vine ambush and summons more than a thousand Death Ravens. Green evades the first attack using Undead Substitute, then destroys most of the flock with a Bone Spear Array followed by Corpse Explosions.
• Green presses his advantage with instant-cast Bone Spears and his Undead Devil Vine. Sinem blocks the vine and counters with his own. Green then sends a Kobold Zombie toward him; Sinem dodges by swapping places with a raven, but the zombie explodes into a cloud of corrosive poison. The fight remains unresolved.

Character developments

• Green demonstrates composure, tactical creativity, and growing power as a Legendary Necromancer. He explains that he must avenge his subordinates to preserve his authority and the loyalty of those who serve him.
• Sinem Douglas / Lant Rost is revealed as an experienced, high-level Legendary Necromancer and Death Council member. Though injured, he is confident at first, but Green’s destruction of his raven swarm forces him to take the fight seriously.

Significant themes

• Duty and leadership: Green acts against Sinem not out of personal closeness to the victims, but because a leader cannot ignore the murder of his subordinates.
• Strategy over brute force: Green turns Sinem’s large raven swarm against itself and uses layered attacks to keep pressure on him.
• Escalating conflict: The Holy Light Church’s entry into the struggle signals that powerful factions are competing for influence in the Void World.

Character interactions

• Green and Sinem exchange a wary, hostile introduction before openly challenging each other.
• Sinem initially underestimates Green as a newcomer; Green’s counterattacks quickly change Sinem’s attitude.
• Green’s encounter with Sinem also connects the murders of his subordinates to the wider conflict involving the Death Council and the Holy Light Church.

Key plot points

• Green’s modified Corpse Explosion nearly overwhelms Sinem with poison, making the veteran Necromancer recognize Green as a genuine threat.
• Green pauses rather than finishing Sinem, both to recover Magic Power and to see what a High-Level Legendary Necromancer can do. Sinem mistakes the pause for an opportunity and unleashes his Tormented Wraiths.
• Green dodges their attacks with Shadow Flicker and uses a magically shaped bone sword, drawing the precious poison onto its blade. His expert swordsmanship lets him deflect the wraiths and threaten Sinem directly.
• Fearing the poisoned blade, Sinem sacrifices six months of his life and twenty living souls to summon a near-Calamity Rank Wraith King.
• Green counters by summoning his Calamity Rank Skeleton Lord. It brutally batters the Wraith King, tears off pieces of its spirit body, and consumes them.
• Sinem considers recalling the Wraith King but realizes it may turn on him—and that he would then face the Skeleton Lord alone. He flees, leaving the Wraith King trapped beneath the Skeleton Lord’s power.

Character developments

• Green reveals his creativity and composure: he modifies familiar necromancy, conserves rare poison, and uses his sword skill to control the fight. He also demonstrates that he has a vastly more powerful summon in reserve.
• Sinem shifts from arrogant confidence to fear and self-preservation. His reliance on the Wraith King backfires, and he chooses escape over loyalty.
• The Wraith King is powerful but increasingly helpless under the Skeleton Lord’s assault. Its fury turns toward Sinem when it realizes he has abandoned it.
• The Skeleton Lord is established as a terrifying force: it can overwhelm a near-Calamity opponent and even digest part of its spirit body.

Significant themes

• Arrogance and misjudgment: Sinem assumes experience and a costly summon will secure victory, but underestimates Green.
• Power and its price: Sinem’s magic demands lives and lifespan, while the Wraith King’s contract leaves both summoner and summon vulnerable to resentment.
• Pragmatism over loyalty: Sinem abandons his ally to save himself.
• Adaptability and preparation: Green’s inventive spellwork and careful use of scarce poison give him an edge before his stronger summon appears.

Character interactions

• Green and Sinem’s battle is shaped by opposing attitudes: Green stays observant and measured, while Sinem taunts him and grows increasingly desperate.
• Sinem’s summoning contract binds him to the Wraith King through costly terms, but fear makes him unwilling to rescue it.
• The Skeleton Lord’s merciless attack turns the Wraith King against its own summoner, while Green watches the confrontation unfold.

Key plot points and events

• Sinem flees after witnessing the Skeleton Lord devour the Wraith King. Aliotega, Green’s Lich Knight, charges him and shatters his Bone Shield, sending Sinem hurtling toward the Skeleton Lord.
• Sinem tries to survive by encasing himself in a massive ball of bone, but the Skeleton Lord bats it apart with its warhammer, crushing his body.
• Though badly mutilated, Sinem remains alive and attempts to bargain while secretly trying to escape as a soul. Green recognizes the ruse and opens the Nightmare Kingdom, pulling Sinem’s soul inside.
• The Skeleton Lord returns to the Graveyard after eating the Wraith King. Green discovers its combat power has risen from 28,000 to 30,000, suggesting it grows stronger by devouring undead.
• Sinem reforms inside the Nightmare Kingdom as a younger, handsome version of himself, with his memories incomplete and no understanding of why he has not revived through his Soul Coffer.
• He emerges into a respawn hall amid a massive siege of Holy Sanctuary Castle. Orcs attack the walls, while Harpies and Griffin Knights battle overhead. Catapult-launched Orc shock troops and ladder-climbing Kobolds and Gnolls breach the defenders’ position.

Character developments and interactions

• Sinem shows resourcefulness and resolve under pressure, adapting quickly to each threat, but his plans ultimately fail against Green’s overwhelming advantage.
• Green demonstrates both strategic insight and curiosity, recognizing Sinem’s attempted soul escape and learning that the Skeleton Lord can gain strength by consuming undead.
• Aliotega’s charge helps drive Sinem into the Skeleton Lord’s reach. The Skeleton Lord acts with casual brutality, dispatching Sinem and then returning to the Graveyard.
• Reborn in unfamiliar surroundings, Sinem is confused and vulnerable, while the castle’s defenders and attackers remain focused on the escalating battle.

Significant themes

• Overwhelming power and survival: Sinem’s clever tactics cannot overcome the gap in strength between him and Green’s forces.
• Death and uncertain rebirth: Sinem’s soul survives, but his expected resurrection is disrupted; his new existence begins without clarity or control.
• Power gained through consumption: The Skeleton Lord’s growth hints at a dangerous ability that may reshape future conflicts.
• War as relentless upheaval: Sinem’s personal crisis gives way to a vast siege, where newly arrived fighters are immediately swept into combat.

Key plot points

• During a fierce battle between humans and Orcs in the Nightmare Kingdom, Sinem is forced to defend himself. He uses Bone Spikes and a Bone Shield, then releases a Legendary-Rank shockwave that scatters fighters on both sides.
• Sinem’s power is revealed as High-Level Legendary, shocking both armies and bringing the fighting to a halt. The Legendary combatants in the sky also disengage.
• Green explains that the war grew beyond his original plan: souls from conflicts in the Mist World swelled both the human castle and Orc Stronghold to populations of roughly 100,000, making clashes inevitable.
• Green has also discovered that repeated deaths eventually wear souls away, strengthening the Nightmare Kingdom as they merge into it. Survivors who adapt become stronger fighters, while elite warriors may be made into Liches and recruited into his Undead Army.
• Green takes Sinem from the battlefield and reveals that he owns the Nightmare Kingdom. He confirms that he killed Sinem and brought his soul there; Sinem’s Soul Coffer worked, but a Calamity-Rank being had kept his soul bound.
• Green offers Sinem a choice: remain in the Nightmare Kingdom and fight, or become a Lich and serve in Green’s army. Sinem is unsure and asks for time to decide.
• The chapter then shifts to Taman City in the Free Cities Alliance. Maid Akalia enters an underground palace and finds an old mage conducting a disturbing experiment on a still-living, restrained Minotaur. The mage asks what she needs.

Character developments and interactions

• Sinem regains his fighting instincts in battle and displays overwhelming strength, but remains uncertain about his place in Green’s plans. He accepts the fact of his death with surprising composure, even joking about his youthful appearance, and weighs Green’s offer cautiously.
• Green reveals the purpose and consequences of the Nightmare Kingdom, presenting himself as its unquestioned ruler. Though Sinem is technically his property, Green says he will not force him to join the army, preferring willing fighters.
• Akalia approaches the mage carefully, suggesting she knows his habits and understands that interrupting his work requires a serious reason. Their exchange is brief, and the urgent matter she brings is not yet revealed.

Significant themes

• Death and transformation: Souls can be reborn, worn away, or reshaped into Liches; death also contributes to the growth of the Nightmare Kingdom.
• Power and choice: Green controls Sinem’s fate, yet frames enlistment as a voluntary decision.
• Conflict and unintended consequences: Green’s attempt to pressure the humans leads to population growth, cultural division, and a war larger than he anticipated.
• Survival and selection: Repeated battles strengthen capable fighters while weaker souls risk disappearing.

Key plot points

• Sinem’s Soul Coffer shatters, leading Death Council Chairman Freemansta to assume he has died. Sinem is actually alive in the Nightmare Kingdom, where he chooses to stay rather than return to his former life as a Lich.
• Green accepts Sinem’s decision and sees his presence in the Nightmare Kingdom as a useful counterweight to the Orcs’ Behemoth.
• Green learns that General Kebayifu has been gravely wounded in an ambush by a young Golden Dragon capable of distorting space. He suspects an outside faction is intervening to weaken the Kingdom and gain influence in the Void World.
• Soon after, Suzune and her sister Ivanka’s Psychic Energy surges erupt elsewhere in the city. Green and Cyrabelle suspect the incidents are part of a plan to draw Green away from the capital.
• Green goes to investigate, convinced he may be the intended target. The chapter ends with Suzune fighting two giant steam-powered combat puppets while Ivanka watches from a rooftop.

Character developments and interactions

• Sinem chooses warmth and a human-like life over returning to undeath, revealing how deeply his new body has changed his priorities. Green respects the choice and remains pragmatic about its strategic consequences.
• Freemansta is cautious about investigating Sinem’s apparent death, wary of Grand Duke Mora and unwilling to risk more Council members without knowing what happened. Akalia is relieved not to be sent on a dangerous mission.
• Kebayifu survives surgery but is gravely injured and ashamed of being caught off guard. Cyrabelle investigates the attack rather than expressing personal concern.
• Green and Cyrabelle quickly identify the apparent pattern behind the attacks and coordinate through mutual understanding. Cyrabelle trusts Green to confront the threat, while Green suspects he is the target.
• Suzune and Ivanka are reunited under suspicious circumstances: Suzune is in combat, while Ivanka watches with conflicted emotions.

Significant themes

• Identity and the value of life: Sinem’s renewed humanity makes him reluctant to return to undeath.
• Political maneuvering and opportunism: The Golden Dragon’s ambush may be part of a broader effort to exploit the Kingdom’s conflict with the Revolutionary Army.
• Strategic misdirection: The attacks may be designed to split Green and Cyrabelle’s attention and lure Green away.
• Trust and calculated risk: Green and Cyrabelle rely on each other’s judgment as they respond to uncertain threats.

Plot points and events

• Ivanka attacks Suzune with four giant Steam Golems, pushing her into a dangerous fight despite being the weaker fighter. Controlling all four strains Ivanka’s altered body and mind.
• Suzune tries to explain that she never abandoned Ivanka: she believed their parents and Ivanka had died. She blames Marquis Belon and the Little King for their suffering, but Ivanka’s conditioning and despair leave her unable to accept this.
• Green watches from concealment through ravens. He considers Ivanka’s damaged condition and the possibility of repairing her soul, while also planning to capture the golems and repurpose them.
• The Little King appears, taunts the sisters, and orders Ivanka to kill Suzune. Suzune attacks him, but Grand Duke Mora’s protective barrier blocks her.
• Green urges Suzune to stop holding back and kill Ivanka. Though horrified, Suzune trusts his judgment and unleashes her full lethal swordsmanship.
• Suzune pierces Ivanka’s Alchemical Heart. As she dies in Suzune’s arms, Ivanka briefly regains some of her former self and says she is glad it is finally over.

Character development

• Suzune shifts from trying to reason with and protect Ivanka to making the painful choice to kill her, trusting Green even when his order seems unbearable.
• Ivanka is revealed as a victim of the Little King’s brutal modifications and control. Beneath her hatred and mechanical obedience, she still recognizes Suzune as her sister.
• Green remains detached and strategic, viewing the battle as an opportunity to capture the golems and potentially preserve or transform Ivanka.
• The Little King displays his cruelty openly, mocking Ivanka and using her as a weapon while relying on Mora’s protection.

Character interactions

• Suzune pleads with Ivanka to remember their shared past and direct her hatred toward their true enemies; Ivanka responds with despair and hostility.
• The Little King taunts both sisters and commands Ivanka to attack Suzune.
• Suzune turns to Green for guidance, and his blunt order forces her to choose between sparing Ivanka and ending her suffering.

Significant themes

• Family, abandonment, and grief: The sisters’ conflict grows from a tragic misunderstanding and years of separation.
• Control and loss of agency: Ivanka’s modifications have robbed her of her body, mind, and even the freedom to die.
• Mercy through violence: Suzune’s killing of Ivanka is presented as both devastating and potentially merciful.
• Trust and sacrifice: Suzune accepts Green’s difficult command despite not understanding it, placing trust above her own reluctance.