Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• After a year as Duke of Northwest Province, Green has successfully brought the territory’s four counties, seventeen cities, and 132 towns under control. He delegated resistance from local nobles to Viscount Paul, backed by a Bone Dragon Rider and Skeleton Soldiers.
• Green visits Princess Mulesina, now meeting her as an equal and a fellow veteran of battle. Their friendly tea conversation reveals that Mulesina is lonely and talkative, while Green has also felt the distance his new rank creates between him and former associates.
• Green raises a business partnership based on the Dragon Bone technology Mulesina previously gave him. He has already built a production line and can make high-quality Dragon Bone more cheaply than she can.
• Mulesina examines samples, confirms their remarkable quality, and eagerly offers to buy all of Green’s stock—then realizes she cannot afford the amount he could produce.
• Green proposes selling Bone Dragons to other customers. Mulesina is initially shocked at the idea of selling such powerful creatures, but, recalling that she herself once sold a Divine Core and Divinity, she recognizes the opportunity. The chapter ends as she considers the market and waits to hear Green’s proposed terms.

Character developments

• Green is shown as efficient and strategically minded: he has consolidated his territory, expanded production quickly, and arrives with a larger commercial plan rather than simply seeking a buyer.
• Princess Mulesina moves from surprise and hesitation to enthusiasm. Her personal experience as a Necromancer helps her see the unmet demand among others, and she is increasingly open to unconventional business.
• Both characters are shown as socially isolated by their status and power, making their relaxed, trusting conversation especially valuable.

Significant themes

• Power and status: New titles and strength change how others behave, even when personal relationships remain important.
• Trust and partnership: Green and Mulesina build on past cooperation and their bond as comrades.
• Innovation and commerce: Green’s production breakthrough turns a scarce resource into a potential large-scale business.
• Necromancer disadvantage: Newly promoted Calamity-Rank Necromancers may lack powerful summons, creating demand for Bone Dragons.

Character interactions

• Mulesina welcomes Green warmly and chats freely, treating him as a trusted friend rather than merely a duke.
• Green presents his production results transparently, while Mulesina tests the product and reacts with genuine astonishment.
• Their discussion shifts from a simple supplier–buyer arrangement to a possible joint venture, with Mulesina weighing the commercial prospects and Green preparing to negotiate the terms.

Plot and key events

• Green and Princess Mulesina form a Bone Dragon business: Green supplies dragon bones and Divine Power Cores; Mulesina handles assembly and sales. They agree to split profits evenly.
• Mulesina quickly finds their first customer, a Calamity Rank Necromancer facing a desperate crisis. After testing Green’s Bone Dragon, Mahabam, he orders a luxury model with three optional abilities and pays a premium for expedited delivery.
• To meet the tight deadline, the pair repurpose a Bone Dragon frame Mulesina had previously given Green as collateral. Production and assembly require several days of coordination, and they miss the promised deadline by two days.
• The buyer watches the dragon take shape, installs his own Dragon Soul, and successfully awakens the completed Bone Dragon. Though weaker than Mahabam, it satisfies him so completely that he overlooks the delay.
• After he pays the balance, Green and Mulesina calculate a net profit of sixty-three million Gold Pounds—an extraordinary sum even by kingdom-wide standards.

Character developments and interactions

• Mulesina moves from cautious interest to confident enthusiasm. Closing her first major sale—and earning money independently for the first time—makes her joyful and eager to expand the business. She also shows initiative by devising an extra fee for expedited delivery.
• Green proves careful and commercially minded. He anticipates the value of Mulesina’s connections, spots how she plans to meet the deadline, and accepts using the unfinished frame as a practical way to turn idle collateral into profit.
• The Necromancer arrives desperate and doubtful but becomes excited after testing Mahabam. Watching his dragon assembled builds his anticipation; once it awakens, he is reassured and delighted, seeing it as the answer to his crisis.
• Green and Mulesina coordinate closely on materials, logistics, assembly, and costs, while leaving Dragon Soul installation to the customer so he can trust the safety of his own weapon.

Significant themes

• Entrepreneurship and collaboration: Green’s production expertise and Mulesina’s network and sales skills make the venture possible.
• Profit, risk, and ambition: A high-value product with custom options and expedited service brings huge returns, but also creates pressure to meet promises.
• Trust and control: Buyers keep control of their Dragon Souls, reflecting the importance of security when purchasing a powerful creation.
• Renewed purpose: For Mulesina and the customer alike, the Bone Dragon business offers more than wealth—it gives them excitement and confidence in the face of hardship.

Plot points and events

• After selling a Calamity Rank Bone Dragon, Green advises Princess Mulesina to preserve its rarity rather than sell them frequently. They agree to expand production while keeping supply limited, and to spread rumors about the Dragons through discreet channels so buyers will seek them out.
• Green argues against selling lower-end Legendary Rank Bone Dragons, since doing so could weaken the species’ prestigious, high-end image. Instead, he unveils a cheaper alternative: the Dragon Bone Skeleton Warrior, a giant made entirely from Dragon Bone. Though its first version is only Early Legendary, Green believes it can be upgraded to High-Level Legendary strength. It uses less than a fifth of the material required for a Legendary Bone Dragon.
• Mulesina confirms she can assemble the new unit and plans to redesign her workshop. Green returns to expand Dragon Bone production.
• The Bone Dragon’s first sale has already made waves: buyer Joule Hamilton, previously considered weak for a Calamity Rank Necromancer, uses it and his million-strong Undead Army to defeat Angdalagon, an Elder White Dragon. Rumors of the sale gain credibility when a bank confirms Joule recently took out a huge loan. Necromancers begin investigating, and Mulesina’s involvement starts to surface.
• In the Mist World, Green learns that a neighboring Human City-State has erupted into civil war and withdrawn troops from its border. Refugees cross into his territory. Penny, commanding that front, sees a chance to exploit the disorder and conquer the city-state.

Character developments and interactions

• Green proves both commercially shrewd and inventive: he develops a scarcity-based sales strategy, protects Bone Dragons’ prestige, and creates a cost-efficient substitute for the lower-end market.
• Princess Mulesina shifts from excitement over profits to a more disciplined business outlook. She readily understands Green’s marketing strategy, recognizes the workshop’s production problems, and confidently takes responsibility for improving assembly.
• Green and Mulesina work as complementary partners: he directs strategy and develops new products, while she handles production and manufacturing.
• Joule Hamilton gains a dramatic reversal in reputation by using the Bone Dragon to defeat Angdalagon. Angdalagon, once confident he could exploit Joule’s apparent weakness, is forced to retreat.
• Penny responds to the city-state’s instability with an aggressive strategic proposal, though the causes and sides in the civil war remain unknown.

Significant themes

• Scarcity and perceived value: Limited availability, secrecy, and selective access help make the Bone Dragon more desirable and expensive.
• Brand image and market positioning: Green prioritizes the Bone Dragon’s reputation as a terrifying, elite creature over the greater volume profits of cheaper models.
• Innovation and efficiency: The Dragon Bone Skeleton Warrior shows how changing the design can reduce costs and open a new market.
• Power, reputation, and opportunity: Joule’s victory overturns expectations, while both Mulesina’s business and Green’s territorial ambitions benefit from carefully exploiting changing circumstances.

Key plot points and events

• Green hears that the Human City-State may have survived the previous Terminal Stage with enormous reserves. Rather than act rashly, he sends Ghosts and Ravens to scout; Penny handles the investigation while he continues his research.
• Green discovers that human bones from at least Formal Rank Transcendents can be transformed into dragon bone. Using this insight, he develops the Dragonman Warrior: a smaller, flying, agile skeleton soldier with dragon-bone wings.
• Though slightly weaker than a dragon-bone Skeleton Warrior, Dragonman Warriors can fly and maneuver effectively, cost far less to produce, and could become much deadlier with ranged weapons. Green orders one hundred for the Angel Squad’s elite spearhead company.
• Princess Mulesina’s Bone Dragon business takes off. She limits sales to one Calamity-Rank Bone Dragon per year, but contracts quickly fill more than a decade of production, bringing in nearly 300 million Gold Pounds in deposits.
• Grand Duke Mora visits hoping to claim part of the apparent windfall. Mulesina conceals Green’s improved production process and persuades him that the business will earn little profit. Mora leaves disappointed, while Mulesina privately resolves to warn Green not to reveal the truth.
• Penny calls Green to the Human City-State border. He sees an elite force of over two thousand pursuing fewer than three hundred Mercenaries, who are retreating toward Undead Empire territory. As the Mercenaries approach safety, the pursuers target their healer, Old Keen, with a powerful heavy crossbow. A mage raises three shields, but the first is shattered by the shot.

Character developments and interactions

• Green is increasingly cautious in dealing with the Human City-State and combines strategic judgment with practical experimentation. He trusts Penny to manage the investigation and develops troops tailored to his tactical needs.
• Penny has matured into a disciplined, ruthless commander, far removed from her impulsive childhood. She reports the border crisis directly to Green, showing their continued close coordination.
• Princess Mulesina proves commercially savvy and politically guarded. She keeps the scale of the Bone Dragon profits hidden from Mora, who recognizes her strength and treats her carefully.
• Grand Duke Mora, under financial pressure from the God-Making Plan, seeks a share of Mulesina’s money but backs off when he believes the profits are modest and knows she is too powerful to pressure safely.
• The fleeing Mercenaries depend on their Legendary fighters to hold off the pursuers and on Old Keen’s Divine Arts to sustain morale. Cynthia responds quickly to protect him, illustrating the group’s cooperation under fire.

Significant themes

• Innovation and military adaptation: Green’s research turns an idea about dragon bone into a more economical and mobile elite force.
• Power, money, and political leverage: Mulesina’s success attracts Mora’s attention, but her growing strength lets her protect her interests.
• Growth through responsibility: Penny’s command experience has transformed her into a capable leader.
• Precarious refuge and escalating conflict: The Mercenaries are almost at the border when a devastating attack threatens their escape.

Key plot points

• Golden Heavy Crossbow Marcus kills Old Keen and another mercenary with precise shots, then breaks the mercenaries’ morale by firing repeatedly. His golden bolt proves powerful enough to kill a Legendary Rank fighter.
• As the mercenaries’ defeat becomes nearly total, Green orders Penny’s undead forces to rescue the survivors and summons the Dragon Lich Hill Morleti as a show of force.
• Penny claims the fleeing mercenaries as imperial subjects and threatens war if Marcus’s troops do not withdraw. Faced with the Dragon Lich and a much larger undead army, Marcus retreats rather than risk a new conflict.
• Green is surprised that the Human City-State’s Calamity Rank fighter does not intervene. He suspects the fighter may be incapacitated and considers whether the turmoil creates an opportunity to annex the city-state.
• Penny questions the fifteen surviving mercenaries. Their accounts differ, but they confirm that a civil war has erupted: General Ernest staged a coup, seized much of the city, and defeated the Elders’ forces. The mercenaries fled after hearing an unverified claim that Ernest planned to destroy their guild.

Character developments and interactions

• Marcus is established as a feared, disciplined marksman. He tries diplomacy with Penny, but his pride is strained by her refusal; he ultimately chooses a tactical retreat over confronting the Dragon Lich.
• Penny acts decisively, using the uncertain border to justify protecting the mercenaries and asserting imperial authority. Though only Formal Rank, she commands respect through Green’s backing and the Dragon Lich’s presence.
• Green proves cautious and strategic: he uses the rescue both to gain intelligence and to test the Human City-State’s response, while keeping his forces ready for a larger opportunity.
• The mercenaries shift from a fighting force to a panicked, shattered group. Their fear of Marcus and the pursuit leads them to scatter, while the survivors cooperate with Penny under the Dragon Lich’s intimidating presence.
• Marcus’s troops and Penny’s forces avoid a direct battle: Marcus seeks the fugitives back, while Penny refuses and turns the standoff into a display of strength.

Significant themes

• Fear and morale: Marcus’s reputation and accurate killing shots collapse the mercenary line more effectively than force alone.
• Power and restraint: Green’s side has overwhelming strength, but Marcus’s withdrawal prevents the confrontation from becoming a war.
• Political instability and opportunity: The coup weakens the Human City-State, raising questions about its leadership and the fate of its Calamity Rank protector.
• Uncertainty and unreliable information: The survivors’ stories conflict, leaving Green with a clear picture of the rebellion but no firm explanation for the mercenaries’ pursuit.

Key plot points and events

• Green doubts the story that General Ernest intends to purge the Mercenary Guild. He suspects the guild’s leaders deliberately sent Mercenaries into danger to distract from a hidden plan.
• Ernest appears to have nearly taken control of the Human City-State, but the city’s mysterious Calamity-Rank guardian has not intervened. Green considers whether the guardian supports Ernest, or has been killed or incapacitated.
• An explosion shakes the region, followed by a surge of Psychic Energy from the city. Green recognizes signs of a large Magic Array and leads Penny’s Undead Army toward it.
• Marcus’s human troops avoid fighting the Undead and clear their path, believing their advance may help Ernest. Marcus prays that the general succeeds, suggesting the city’s fate is at stake.
• Green discovers that six ancient spires are activating a Hexagram Magic Array built into the city’s inner-city layout. This suggests the array was planned long before Ernest’s sudden coup. Green concludes Ernest may have rebelled to stop the scheme, not initiate it.
• The array seals off the inner city, trapping about 200,000 residents—mostly the wealthy and powerful—inside. Black Evil Spirits appear and drain people’s souls and blood. Though individually weak, they overwhelm even Transcendents in enormous numbers.
• Within fifteen minutes, nearly everyone in the inner city is dead. The chapter ends by revealing a vast, ancient basement beneath the empty council chamber.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shifts from speculation about the guild and Ernest’s coup to recognizing that the city itself was designed around a sinister, pre-existing ritual array. He responds decisively by ordering Penny’s army forward.
• Penny follows Green’s command and leads the Undead Army toward the city.
• Marcus chooses not to engage the Undead. Though devoted to Ernest and concerned for the city, he sees no point in a futile sacrifice and hopes their passage will aid the general.
• The residents and Transcendents attempt to resist the spirits, but their efforts collapse under the array’s scale and the spirits’ numbers.

Significant themes

• Hidden schemes and misdirection: The Mercenary Guild’s apparent crisis may conceal another agenda, while Ernest’s coup may be a desperate response to an even greater threat.
• Powerlessness against overwhelming forces: Individual strength and courage prove insufficient against a mass supernatural attack.
• Sacrifice and survival: Marcus’s decision reflects the tension between military duty and avoiding pointless death.
• The danger of systems built in secret: The city’s original design becomes a trap, turning its infrastructure into the mechanism of mass death.

• Green’s army takes the outer city: Amid an earthquake and the activation of a mysterious magical array, the Human City-State’s outer districts descend into panic and lawlessness. Green arrives with roughly 40,000 troops and orders Penny to capture people rather than simply occupy the city. The defenses have collapsed, so Penny’s forces break through the gate with enchanted cannons and advance with disciplined caution.
• Penny’s growth as a commander: Green is pleased by Penny’s careful, methodical leadership. She is not a brilliant strategist, but she has become reliable and avoids needless risks—someone who will not lose a battle she should win.
• A hidden guardian is revealed: A blast destroys the Elders’ Council hall, exposing the unstable aura of a Calamity Rank powerhouse. Green realizes the city’s guardian has been affected by whatever has happened. He enters the Hexagram Magic Array through its psychic barrier using the Death Angel and absorbs more than 20,000 black Evil Spirits into his Nightmare Kingdom, where they are restored to physical forms.
• The Blood Sacrifice Cycle is challenged: Beneath the city, the Guardian is being revived through purified blood and souls collected by the array. He confronts Elder Leihard and Leihard’s son, Wengestair, about activating the array early. Wengestair declares that the recurring Blood Sacrifice Cycle must end, rejecting the idea that some people are born to be sacrificed so others can survive. He sees the city-state not as a refuge but as a prison built on exploitation.
• Personal grief and ominous influence: Wengestair’s hatred is tied to Denisa’s death; he speaks of joining her, and his grief breaks through his rage. Leihard, gravely weakened, offers no defense. The Guardian cannot understand Wengestair’s accusations—and sees a sinister black vapor forming a face above him, suggesting that Wengestair is under a malevolent influence.
  Themes: The chapter contrasts order and chaos, survival and sacrifice, and the value of human life. It also raises questions about whether a society can be justified as a refuge when it depends on the systematic exploitation of its own people.

Key plot points

• Possessed by a corrupting force, Wengestair leaves the Guardian after revealing his intent to watch the city-state and its people die.
• The Guardian discovers that the souls and blood fed into him have poisoned his body, making its enormous Psychic Energy uncontrollable. He channels the excess into an ancient stone platform, triggering the emergence of the Titan Colossus.
• The Guardian’s consciousness transfers into the Colossus, but his original body withers and dies. The Colossus devours the glowing orb, interrupts the city’s six-tower Magic Array, and assembles the towers’ components into a giant key.
• The key draws the Mist World’s lightning. The Colossus absorbs it and rapidly increases its power. Green observes but does not intervene, believing the Colossus is immobile and waiting to see what happens next.
• Meanwhile, Wengestair reaches a vast emergency shelter beneath the city, where General Ernest and 30,000 soldiers are gathered, all touched by the same black mist. Ernest reports that Hilbert escaped with help from the Mercenary Guild; Ernest claims he has dealt with the mercenaries and expects Hilbert to die in the wilderness. He then reveals that the Undead have discovered their plans and seized the Outer City.

Character developments and interactions

• The Guardian remains devoted to preserving humanity and the city-state, even as he recognizes Wengestair as a threat. His sacrifice activates the Colossus, though it costs him his body and life.
• Wengestair is consumed by grief over Denisa’s death and by an unnatural urge for destruction. He remains confident that the city-state’s downfall is inevitable and coordinates with Ernest.
• General Ernest is still lucid enough to report events, but the black mist fuels his murderous impulses. His exchange with Wengestair shows their alliance and shared hostility toward Hilbert and the mercenaries.
• Green watches the Colossus with caution rather than attacking, judging it to be a stationary defensive weapon.
• Hilbert, though absent, becomes a point of anger for Wengestair and Ernest after escaping the city.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and legacy: The Guardian gives up his life to protect the city and preserve civilization for a future era.
• Corruption and vengeance: The black mist intensifies grief, rage, and murderous intent, turning personal loss into a threat to the whole city.
• Power and unintended consequences: The Colossus’s activation protects the city but also provokes the Mist World and unleashes a growing force whose ultimate purpose remains uncertain.
• Crisis on multiple fronts: As the Colossus rises within the city, the Undead take the Outer City, and Wengestair’s faction prepares for further conflict.

Key plot points and events

• Wengestair and General Ernest discuss their plan to open the Civilization Treasury using the assembled Civilization Key. They believe its power will let them control the world and become deities. A transformed Titan Colossus guards the key, keeping the Undead at bay.
• Green, forced to retreat when the Colossus appeared, has Ravens spy on the enemy. One overhears the plan, though Green doubts that the enormous object in the Colossus’s hand is really the key.
• Green orders Penny to evacuate and resettle the roughly 700,000 people captured after his forces entered the Human City-State. He prioritizes securing the population over property.
• General Ernest takes the First Regiment away, leaving the remaining soldiers behind. Clouds of black mist then provoke them into a murderous frenzy, and thousands die fighting one another.
• Green discovers that the mist consists of fragments from countless souls, saturated with hatred, pain, and other negative emotions. The Nightmare Kingdom can absorb and break it apart. Green gathers the mist and the fallen soldiers’ souls, hoping to recover clues from the fragments’ few surviving memories.

Character developments and interactions

• Wengestair and Ernest grow increasingly fanatical, seemingly under the influence of the black mist.
• Green remains cautious and observant: he delays confronting the Titan Colossus, uses Ravens to gather intelligence, and investigates the mist rather than intervening in the soldiers’ doomed battle.
• Penny carries out Green’s orders to manage the captives, while Ernest leads the First Regiment away from the rest of the City Guard.

Significant themes

• Corruption and loss of reason: The mist turns soldiers’ negative emotions into uncontrollable violence and appears to intensify the leaders’ fanaticism.
• Power and ambition: Wengestair’s desire to become godlike drives the plot, while the true danger may lie in a force beyond his control.
• Souls, suffering, and mass violence: The mist’s immense collection of tortured soul fragments suggests a catastrophe on a vast scale.
• Pragmatic survival: Green focuses on protecting and relocating civilians, even as he lets the soldiers’ slaughter continue because he believes intervention would be futile.

Key plot points and events

• Green reconstructs the origins of the Evil of All Evils from the black mist’s soul fragments. For generations, the Human City-State sacrificed millions of people in rituals to sustain its guardian. Their positive qualities were stripped away, and the accumulated hatred and cruelty eventually formed the mist.
• The entity cannot directly kill or control people; instead, it amplifies the darker impulses they already suppress. Green recognizes its danger and preserves it in an isolated part of the Nightmare Kingdom rather than destroying it.
• Underground, Wengestair and General Ernest lead more than two thousand First Regiment soldiers to an immense ancient gate: the Vault of Civilization, believed to contain the Light of Civilization. Thousands of nobles have already been slaughtered before it, and Wengestair’s doubles merge back into him.
• The gate’s light shields Wengestair from the Evil of All Evils. He reveals that he had allowed it to influence him because he lacked the courage to act, then pulls it down and destroys it with the gate’s light.
• Wengestair orders the soldiers to kill themselves before the gate. They obey without hesitation, while Ernest directs the operation. Once they are dead, Wengestair activates the arrays on their packs.
• Green realizes the packs contain Enchanted Explosives—potentially over a hundred tons—and fears Wengestair intends to destroy the gate and devastate the city-state. He orders Penny to abandon other operations and evacuate anyone willing to flee.

Character developments

• Green learns the black mist’s horrifying historical origin and sees its potential as a weapon. He chooses to preserve it cautiously, then shifts to emergency evacuation when he recognizes the scale of Wengestair’s plan.
• Wengestair is revealed as a deliberate, tragic actor rather than simply a victim of the mist. He believes the old civilization’s legacy should end and that “evil” is necessary to protect kindness. He used the entity to overcome his hesitation, but the Vault’s light restores his emotional control.
• General Ernest remains loyal and obedient, carrying out Wengestair’s orders without visible resistance.
• The First Regiment soldiers are treated as expendable instruments, following orders to take their own lives.

Significant themes

• The cost of preserving civilization: The city-state’s survival rests on generations of mass sacrifice and the destruction of victims’ souls.
• Evil and human nature: The mist does not create evil so much as release what morality and law restrain.
• Kindness, protection, and moral compromise: Wengestair concludes that only “true evil” can protect kindness, especially the kindness he associates with Denisa.
• The end of an era: Wengestair rejects the Vault’s mission, arguing that a destroyed world cannot be restored and that new civilization should arise on its own.
• Sacrifice and fanaticism: Both the historical rituals and Wengestair’s present plan frame mass death as a means to a greater end.

Character interactions

• Green observes Wengestair and Ernest from hiding, unable to intervene directly.
• Wengestair addresses the destroyed entity with gratitude, crediting it with giving him the courage to act, before killing it.
• Wengestair commands Ernest and the soldiers, who comply mechanically, underscoring the power imbalance and the soldiers’ role as sacrifices.
• Green responds to the looming danger by directing Penny to prioritize evacuation over all other objectives.

Plot

• Under Green’s urgent orders, Penny forces the city’s inhabitants to evacuate. Half an hour later, more than a hundred tons of Enchanted Explosives detonate beneath the Titan Colossus, destroying the inner city and much of the outer city. The evacuees survive, though the blast devastates the area around them.
• The Titan Colossus survives but is gravely damaged. The explosion also exposes and destroys the entrance to the Civilization Treasury beneath the city.
• After the Psychic Tide caused by the blast subsides, Wengestair and General Ernest emerge. Ernest attacks Wengestair and rushes into the Treasury, but Wengestair reveals that he anticipated the betrayal and was unharmed.
• Green appears in the Death Angel, judging that the crippled Colossus no longer poses a serious threat.

Character developments and interactions

• Penny carries out Green’s evacuation order with ruthless urgency, prioritizing survival over the evacuees’ comfort or consent. The people who resented being driven out realize that leaving saved their lives.
• The Titan Colossus’s guardian survives physically, but the destruction of the city and Treasury shatters his faith. He reflects on the sacrifices made to preserve civilization and is devastated that the city was destroyed by the very people he protected. He collapses in despair.
• Wengestair remains composed and appears to anticipate Ernest’s treachery, turning the apparent attack into a successful deception.
• General Ernest, whose ambition and desires have been intensified by a dark aura, betrays Wengestair and enters the Treasury alone.
• Green waits until the explosion has crippled the Colossus before revealing himself, while Penny has already acted on his order to get the civilians clear.

Significant themes

• Civilization destroyed from within: The guardian’s defenses cannot protect the city from betrayal by its own people.
• Sacrifice and disillusionment: The guardian’s lifelong dedication to preserving humanity’s legacy ends in failure, leaving him without purpose.
• Survival and moral cost: Penny’s forceful evacuation saves lives, but underscores how desperate circumstances demand harsh choices.
• Legacy and corruption: The Civilization Treasury embodies humanity’s shared hope, while Ernest’s betrayal suggests that ambition can undo what past generations sacrificed to preserve.

Key plot points and events

• Green, piloting the Death Angel, watches the Titan Colossus weaken and surveys the newly exposed entrance to the Civilization Treasury. General Ernest has already been defeated by Wengestair.
• Wengestair recognizes that Green is likely an avatar rather than the Undead Empire’s true Calamity Rank leader. Believing the city-state’s destruction has ended its residents’ obligation to preserve civilization, he offers Green the city-state’s hidden wealth and knowledge in exchange for protection for the survivors. Green agrees.
• Wengestair explains that he chose the Undead Empire as the survivors’ likely protector, though he had also considered a northern power led by someone called the Silver King.
• A tremendous, decayed Psychic Energy erupts from the Treasury. Emperor Tattle, a ruler from the Previous Era, emerges carrying the dying General Ernest. He demands to know why the Treasury was opened early and where Albert—the guardian—is.
• Wengestair identifies Tattle and realizes the Treasury was also a place where the emperor had slept through the ages. Tattle insists that he genuinely sees himself as the flame of civilization, not merely a survivor exploiting that ideal.
• The Titan Colossus, realizing he has been deceived, attacks Tattle with the last of his strength. Tattle stops the nearly High Calamity-level blow effortlessly with a magic array.

Character developments and interactions

• Wengestair reveals that his destruction of the city-state was intended as liberation, not simple ruin. Though he accepts the deaths as a price of freedom, he remains concerned for the survivors and arranges for their protection.
• Green honors Wengestair’s bargain and learns that the Undead Empire may not be the only major power in the region.
• Emperor Tattle is introduced as an ancient, powerful ruler whose conviction that he must preserve civilization appears sincere, even as his actions and the Treasury’s true purpose complicate that claim.
• The Titan Colossus shifts from exhausted guardian to betrayed adversary, channeling his grief and fury into one final attack on Tattle.
• General Ernest is left mortally wounded after Tattle throws him aside.

Significant themes

• Freedom versus preservation: Wengestair rejects the city-state’s inherited duty to preserve civilization, arguing that people should be free to choose their own futures.
• The cost of liberation: His plan frees survivors from an oppressive purpose but involves deaths he considers unavoidable.
• Competing visions of civilization: Wengestair seeks to release people from history’s burdens, while Tattle believes he personally must carry civilization into the future.
• Betrayal and disillusionment: The Titan Colossus’s final attack reflects the pain of discovering that the cause he served may have been built on deception.

Plot points and events

• Emperor Tattle saves Green from the Titan Colossus’s final blow, but the Colossus—whose soul belongs to Tattle’s old guardian, Albert—dies immediately afterward.
• Tattle’s body is badly weakened by waking early and by the effort of blocking the blow. Green senses that he remains dangerous, while Wengestair tries to influence how the two communicate.
• Green reveals that Wengestair’s real motive was to protect Aifuli, the younger sister of his beloved Denisa. Wengestair admits the truth and translates Green’s offer: he will not fight Tattle, but Tattle must leave.
• Green demonstrates his strength by summoning Skeleton Lord Sean Spartiel and Six-Winged Angel Talaga, while the Death Angel unleashes her full power. Faced with three Calamity Rank opponents and unable to risk further damage, Tattle departs.
• Green assures Wengestair that he will neither favor Aifuli nor interfere in her life. Wengestair thanks him and walks away.
• Green destroys the entrance to the Civilization Treasury rather than investigate it. This severs its connection to the Mist World, and the hidden space is swept into the Void World.
• The scene reveals that Tattle had left a trap inside the Treasury, but Green’s caution prevents him from entering it. Tattle, meanwhile, searches for something in an underground ruin.

Character developments and interactions

• Green acts cautiously and strategically: he avoids a costly battle, uses his forces to make his terms unmistakable, and refuses to be manipulated by Wengestair. His restraint does not keep him from taking decisive action against the Treasury.
• Emperor Tattle is revealed as formidable but near physical collapse. Grieving Albert’s death, he chooses retreat over a fight he cannot safely win, though he continues making secret preparations.
• Wengestair drops his evasive act once Green exposes his concern for Aifuli. His final exchange with Green is sincere and respectful.
• Albert, the guardian whose soul inhabited the Titan Colossus, is lost, adding a personal tragedy to Tattle’s awakening.

Significant themes

• Caution over curiosity: Green avoids the Treasury’s trap by refusing to enter, showing that restraint can be a form of strength.
• Power and changing fortunes: Tattle’s former supremacy has been undermined by his damaged body and the Mist World’s hostility toward Calamity Rank beings, while Green expects his own influence to grow.
• Loyalty and protection: Wengestair’s schemes stem from his desire to honor Denisa by protecting Aifuli.
• Grief and the past: Tattle’s reaction to Albert’s death underscores the emotional cost of surviving into a changed era.

Key plot points and events

• Green’s forces recover the badly damaged Titan Colossus and haul it to a research site near the Graveyard. Its Psychic Energy is depleted, its guardian soul is gone, and its immense power needs make repairing and operating it impractical.
• Professor Akes and Dr. Vincent lead more than a hundred ghost researchers in documenting and carefully dismantling the Colossus. Green prioritizes studying its technology over restoring the machine.
• Green is especially interested in its Psychic Energy power core and exceptionally durable shell. He hopes to adapt the shell’s material and Magic Circles into Enchanted Armor, potentially protecting Skeleton Soldiers or larger units such as Cyclopes and Bone Dragons.
• Green upgrades the Graveyard’s Meditation Method at the Town Hall. His level rises to Mid-Level Legendary, and his Mental Power Limit increases to 15,000, allowing roughly 12,000–13,000 troops in his direct Undead Army.
• Reflecting on the vast armies commanded by Princess Mulesina, Green considers how to obtain an effectively endless supply of undead. The Mist World’s stagnant Psychic Energy makes natural undead far rarer than in her Void World, so he begins thinking about other ways to acquire them—and about using his wealth and connections.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shifts from excitement at possessing the Colossus to a pragmatic decision: its technology is more valuable than the machine itself, whose operating costs are prohibitive.
• Akes and Vincent demonstrate strong scholarly partnership, efficiently directing the research team and coordinating the Colossus’s examination.
• Their transformations have strengthened their dedication to research: Akes’s shadow-creature form frees him from ordinary physical limits, while Vincent embraces his identity as a Lich and has advanced in extraordinary rank.
• Green delegates the technical work to Akes and Vincent, then focuses on his own upgrade and longer-term military planning. He recognizes that he may need Princess Mulesina’s help, though likely through financially troubled Bone Dragon customers rather than by buying undead from her directly.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and resource management: Great power is not useful if its upkeep is unsustainable; Green values efficiency over spectacle.
• Research and adaptation: Rather than restore an ancient weapon, Green seeks to repurpose its innovations for future forces.
• Limits of power: A larger troop capacity does not solve the problem of facing armies numbering in the millions.
• Environmental scarcity and dependence: The Mist World’s failing energy and reproduction constrain undead growth, pushing Green toward external resources, money, and alliances.

Key plot points and events

• Green identifies financially strained Necromancers who bought Bone Dragons as potential suppliers of Undead in lieu of some payment. He asks Princess Mulesina to negotiate; she agrees, though Green declines her offer of an immediate million Undead.
• Over the next six months, Green strengthens his territories. In the Main World, Viscount Paul helps him secure the Ducal Territory, reward loyal supporters, and establish a large private army and security force.
• In the Mist World, Green’s forces conquer the northern Orc alliance ruled by the Silver King. General James commands the campaign, with Penny assisting and Frio and Aliotejia confronting the Silver King. The Orcs surrender, while the Silver King escapes.
• The battle tests Green’s new troops: Dragon Bone Skeleton Warriors excel, but Dragonman Warriors prove fragile. Research into the Titan Colossus’s armor stalls because its ancient Vela Alchemy foundations are difficult for Green’s scholars to master.
• Green pauses further Mist World expansion to absorb the conquered lands, reorganize his army, and establish laws binding the diverse peoples of his growing empire.
• In Void World 7, a succession crisis ends in bloodshed. The old Count of Feilagon planned to bypass his eldest son in favor of his youngest, but the secret leaked. The eldest and second sons seized Tulip Castle, killed their younger brother and his mother, and accused them of poisoning the Count.

Character developments and interactions

• Green remains a pragmatic, strategic ruler: he balances production, finances, military growth, and the need to consolidate conquered territory rather than expand recklessly.
• Princess Mulesina is burdened by a Bone Dragon order queue stretching more than ten years, but still makes time to help Green. Their relationship is cooperative and businesslike.
• Viscount Paul helps Green turn economic rewards and military organization into tools for securing loyalty and control.
• General James and Penny lead the Orc campaign without Green’s direct involvement, while Frio and Aliotejia take on the Silver King.
• Professor Arkansas and Dr. Vincent are capable researchers, but their unfamiliarity with Vela Alchemy limits their progress.
• In Feilagon County, the old Count’s favoritism and the Countess’s indiscretion fuel a violent contest between his sons.

Significant themes

• Power and control: Green builds durable authority through force, economic incentives, administration, and law.
• The limits of military innovation: New troops can be formidable yet flawed, and battlefield testing exposes weaknesses.
• Consolidation after conquest: Expansion creates political and logistical burdens that must be managed.
• Secrecy and succession: A leaked family plan transforms a private inheritance dispute into a public massacre.
• The fragility of rule: Green recognizes that an empire held together by a Necromancer cannot rely on loyalty alone.

Plot points and events

• Following the suspicious death of Ferragon’s old count and the executions of his wife and son, the new count claims the countess’s thirteen-year-old sister killed his elder brother. He inherits the title and hires the Rock Mercenary Company to capture Mrs. Cassel.
• Mrs. Cassel reveals she has been expecting the confrontation. As the basement shakes and black vapor engulfs the mercenaries, Rondok arrives, apologizes for being late, and joins her.
• The mercenaries and the new count are defeated. Rondok’s black-vapor power takes control of them, and he destroys the remaining bodies. Mrs. Cassel and Rondok move on to the next stage of their plan.
• Over the next three months, Rondok gains control of influential people in several northwestern noble territories. Carefully stirred-up disputes—including an affair involving a viscount’s wife and a neighboring count’s son—ignite a war among more than twenty territories.
• The Lorenzo Kingdom’s central government offers only weak appeals for peace, encouraging ambitious nobles to join the conflict and expand their lands.
• In the Main World, Grand Duke Mora meets with King Prady XIV, Marshal Santos, and Rune Federation Calamity Rank fighters at a seaside villa. Mora disputes how to divide the rewards, proposing the Federation receive only one place. Clark objects, arguing for an equal split based on the Federation’s greater number of fighters.

Character developments and interactions

• Mrs. Cassel is revealed as composed and calculating: she anticipated the attack and treats the mercenaries’ participation as part of a larger plan.
• Rondok returns with a changed bearing and devastating control over black vapor. He can defeat enemies, absorb corpses, and apparently turn opponents such as the count and scar-faced mercenary into controlled followers.
• The new Count of Ferragon proves easily frightened and dependent on the mercenaries, despite his confidence when accusing Mrs. Cassel.
• The Rock Mercenary Company’s scar-faced leader recognizes the danger and tries to negotiate, but Mrs. Cassel refuses. His defeat makes him Rondok’s subordinate.
• Clark openly challenges Grand Duke Mora in defense of the Rune Federation’s interests; the other Federation fighters appear to support his position, while Tanasova seems uncomfortable. Cyrabelle and Sebolutes remain hostile rivals, adding tension to the gathering.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and manufactured conflict: Rondok and Mrs. Cassel exploit grievances to provoke a regional war.
• Power and coercion: Rondok’s supernatural control turns defeated enemies into instruments of his plan.
• Political opportunism: The Kingdom’s passivity enables nobles to pursue territorial gain.
• Rivalry and bargaining: The final scene shifts from covert violence to open negotiation over resources and influence between the Kingdom and Federation.

Chapter Summary: “A Sudden Twist”

Key plot points and events

• During negotiations, Clark proposes terms that Grand Duke Mora suggests would end cooperation if they reflect George Washington’s position. Kelsen apologizes, explaining that he and Clark had acted independently to secure more for the Rune Federation. After receiving a Magic Message, Mora postpones further discussion until the next day.
• Once alone with King Prady XIV, Mora reveals that the Holy Light Church has declared war on the Light of Wisdom in Number One Void World.
• The conflict threatens the Divine Eagle Empire’s God-Making Plan, which is backed by the Goddess of Wisdom. Mora and Prady recognize that the war is part of a larger confrontation between political powers and religious institutions.
• The Divine Eagle Empire sends Lorenzo Kingdom urgent requests to support the Light of Wisdom. Mora concludes that Lorenzo has no real choice but to stand with the Empire, given the Prady family’s history as descendants of “blasphemers.” He decides to send Green, though only a double, and offers him valuable Vera Alchemy research materials.
• Several days later, Green is in a desert camp in Number One Void World, disguised as the Demon Warlock Takrama. He has a level-eight Hellhound as his companion and is instructed to act independently, prioritize his safety, and reveal his allegiance at the decisive moment. A rough-looking swordsman approaches and praises the dog.

Character developments

• Grand Duke Mora shifts from calm diplomatic negotiation to decisive strategic leadership. He sees that Lorenzo cannot safely remain neutral and chooses to support the Divine Eagle Empire while taking precautions for Green.
• Prady XIV is shaken by the Church’s sudden declaration of war and worries about the kingdom’s secret plan. He ultimately accepts Mora’s assessment that the family’s background makes alignment with the Empire necessary.
• Green accepts a dangerous assignment but sends only a double, balancing the mission against his safety. He remains wary of Mora’s motives, while recognizing that the promised research materials will greatly advance his work.
• Kelsen and Clark are shown to have overstepped their instructions in the negotiations; Kelsen takes responsibility and apologizes.

Significant themes

• The struggle between secular and religious power: The Church’s attack on the Light of Wisdom signals a broader battle over political authority, faith, and access to Saint Spirit Rank.
• Alliance and necessity: Lorenzo’s choice is driven less by trust than by the realization that the Holy Light Church will never truly accept the Prady lineage.
• Strategy and self-preservation: Mora supports the Empire while limiting Green’s risk by sending a double and granting him freedom to act.
• Research as power: The Vera Alchemy materials connect political maneuvering to Green’s technological work, including research on the Titan Colossus and future Enchanted Armor.

Character interactions

• Mora firmly challenges Clark’s proposal, while Kelsen defuses the tension by apologizing on behalf of the pair.
• In private, Mora and Prady exchange concerns about the war and the kingdom’s plans; Mora’s forceful reasoning persuades Prady that neutrality is not a viable option.
• Mora arranges Green’s mission and offers him research materials as an incentive, though Green privately suspects the disguise has an ulterior purpose.
• At the camp, Green’s Hellhound responds proudly to a stranger’s praise, while Green’s recollection of having disciplined the dog adds a comic note to the tense setting.

Key plot points and events

• Green rests at a desert-edge campsite with Erha, his Hellhound. A rough-looking mercenary tells him he is hiding from the Inquisition after allegedly spying on Saintess Xiweina Ye; Green doubts most of the story but recognizes the Saintess’s name.
• That night, a band of raiders plan to attack the sleeping travelers. Their leader carries a strange object that has apparently put the entire campsite—including two Legendary Rank experts—into an unnatural deep sleep.
• Green quietly lets Erha act. Erha enters the Spirit World, where time and space behave differently, and kills every bandit in an instant. The travelers survive, still asleep and unaware of the attack.
• Green finds a sealed crystal bottle on the bandit leader. Inside is a conscious, glowing orb that released the sleep-inducing Psychic Energy. Its nature is unclear, but it seems far more sophisticated than any artificial soul Green has encountered.

Character developments

• Green remains composed and pragmatic. He is focused on earning the Alchemy records he came for, but the orb’s extraordinary nature sparks his curiosity.
• Erha is both resentful of Green’s harsh treatment and increasingly obedient, partly because he has grown attached to the unusual bones Green feeds him. He proves his power and awareness by swiftly eliminating the raiders, then eagerly retrieves the pouch for Green.
• The rough-looking mercenary presents himself as a shameless fugitive, though Green suspects his tale about Saintess Xiweina is mostly fabrication.

Significant themes

• Control and submission: Erha’s struggle for freedom contrasts with his learned obedience and desire to please Green.
• Hidden danger and power: The raiders’ apparent weakness masks the advantage of their mysterious sleep-inducing orb.
• Curiosity amid pragmatism: Green avoids unnecessary risks, yet recognizes that the orb may represent technology far beyond what he knows.

Character interactions

• Green treats Erha as a useful companion and commands him to demonstrate his abilities; Erha responds instantly and later brings Green the bottle.
• Green and the mercenary exchange casual conversation, with the mercenary boasting and Green listening skeptically.
• Green does not wake the sleeping travelers after the fight; his attention shifts instead to examining the orb.

Key plot points and events

• Green senses that a Holy Light Church scout has been watching him after he kills the bandits. The scout’s remote-surveillance device lets him project his consciousness over great distances.
• Aboard a Church airship, the scout reports that Green used demonic power and may have taken the long-monitored Nightmare Bottle. Saintess Xiweina Ye recognizes a possible opportunity—but also wonders whether the discovery could be a trap.
• In Void World 7, Duke Vra, Mrs. Cassel, and Rondok begin a ritual using the Three Gods’ Blood and the body made for Isabelle. Their effort to resurrect Isabelle has secretly become part of Grand Duke Mora’s God-Making Plan: Isabelle is to receive a divine bloodline, a Divinity, and a Divine Core.
• As the ritual begins, the sky over the northwest turns crimson. More than a million soldiers and seven Calamity Rank powerhouses surround the affected territories, preventing escape. A pillar of light erupts from beneath Tulip Castle, destroys it, pierces the Void World’s crystal wall, and lifts Isabelle’s body into the air as her eyes open.
• Xiweina approaches Green and proposes a deal. Green considers killing her but judges that he cannot overcome her formidable strength and resources. Xiweina appears to sense his intent and jokes that she is relieved he changed his mind. Green openly admits he wanted to kill her but gave up.

Character developments and interactions

• Green remains calculating and composed. He uses his Demon Warlock identity to attract Xiweina’s attention, assesses whether he can kill her, then pragmatically decides against it. He and Xiweina trade wary, pointed remarks about morality and their opposing institutions.
• Xiweina Ye is poised and diplomatic, but dangerous. She treats Green as a potential negotiating partner rather than simply an enemy, while closely reading his mood and intentions.
• The young cleric is startled by Green’s power and reports confidently that Green took the Nightmare Bottle, although he did not actually witness the theft.
• Duke Vra, Mrs. Cassel, and Rondok carry out their part in the ritual, then withdraw once the Three Gods’ Blood has been used. Vra’s personal wish to restore Isabelle has been folded into Mora’s broader political scheme.
• Erha senses Xiweina’s danger and growls protectively beside Green.

Significant themes

• Hidden agendas and deception: The apparent halt to Lorenzo’s God-Making Plan conceals its rapid progress, while Vra’s resurrection plan serves Mora’s larger design.
• Pragmatism over moral labels: Green and Xiweina dismiss “good” and “evil” as simplistic stories, emphasizing power, survival, and political necessity.
• Power and risk: Green’s restraint reflects a clear-eyed calculation of what he can—and cannot—defeat, while the ritual demonstrates the immense scale of the forces gathering in the wider conflict.

Key plot points and events

• Saintess Xiweina Ye asks Green to sell her the Nightmare Bottle, which she claims belongs to the Holy Light Church. Green refuses bluntly.
• Xiweina then offers him a rare creature or other resources in exchange for eliminating certain people. Green agrees to consider the offer, joking that he will charge extra if she intends to frame him. She leaves a bottle of Calamity Rank demon blood as a deposit and disappears.
• Xiweina secretly watches Green’s reaction. Because Green is not truly a Demon Warlock, he shows no excitement, and she dismisses him as greedy and disgusting.
• Ten days later, Green reaches Becklan City, a neutral free city, following Grand Duke Mora’s secret instructions to meet someone at Maple Café. The Holy Light Church and the Divine Eagle Empire are preparing for a major conflict, though they have so far limited fighting to small skirmishes.
• Green is unaware that Mora’s God-Making Plan is advancing in Void World 7: Isabelle has been resurrected and fused with part of the Sea God’s Divine Core and Divinity, making her a Demigod without Divine Power. She must still gain faith and ignite the Divine Fire before she can help Mora advance.
• At the café, Green unexpectedly sees Modi, a revolutionary with whom he has cooperated before. Before he can decide whether to approach or avoid him, a person from the kitchen appears, carrying a clear aura of Holy Light.

Character developments

• Green remains wary of Xiweina and suspicious of Mora’s deeper plans. His calm response to the demon blood helps him maintain his disguise, while his history with Modi makes him cautious.
• Xiweina reveals a ruthless, calculating side beneath her friendly performance: she views Green as a disposable pawn and judges him by his usefulness.
• Modi appears in a polished, respectable guise, but Green still associates his arrival with trouble.
• Isabelle has been transformed into a near-godlike being, but her lack of Divine Power leaves the plan incomplete and dependent on faith.

Significant themes

• Deception and hidden motives: Xiweina’s warmth conceals contempt, Green’s identity is a disguise, and Mora’s plan proceeds unnoticed amid the looming war.
• Power and its limits: Isabelle has attained Demigod status but still lacks the power needed to complete her transformation.
• Political maneuvering: The major powers prepare for conflict while other factions exploit the distraction.
• Trust and caution: Green weighs every encounter—especially with Xiweina, Modi, and the mysterious cleric—against the risk of being used.

Character interactions

• Green refuses Xiweina’s initial demand and negotiates over her real request; she pays him with demon blood, while secretly assessing him.
• Green’s familiar, Erha, catches the bottle and later provides a light, comic contrast to Green’s tense vigilance.
• Green observes Modi without making contact, uncertain whether to keep watch or stay away.
• The chapter ends with Green recognizing the Holy Light aura of the café’s new arrival, setting up a likely encounter.