Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• After several days away, Green returns to Wilson Castle, where an atmosphere of gloom hangs over the household.
• Earlier that day, senior maid Ginny Will and two male servants had gone to a farm for supplies, avoiding Landon City’s markets amid growing fear of the Eerie and the Tower of Yin Spirits.
• On the journey back, their carriage struck a vagrant who seemed dazed. When Ginny approached him, he suddenly sprang up, grabbed her skirt, and warned that the Eerie were coming and everyone would die. The servants pulled him away, and the carriage continued.
• That night, the two servants who had accompanied Ginny became violently deranged and attacked their roommates, biting one badly.
• A vagrant then appeared beside Ginny’s bed inside the guarded castle. She beat him to death while defending herself, though she could not understand how she had managed it.
• Viscount Paul’s main concern was how the intruder had breached the castle’s defenses. With Doctor Wilkins absent and the junior Magic Apprentices unable to investigate the protective circle, Paul and Vincent tightened security and kept the castle lit.
• Several hours later, another scream rang through the castle. Paul, already on alert in his study with a loaded enchanted pistol nearby, was informed of the new disturbance.

Character developments and interactions

• Ginny Will is shown as capable and practical, but the vagrant’s warning and later appearance leave her deeply frightened. Her violent defense of herself is especially unsettling because she is not trained or physically formidable.
• The two male servants first help Ginny deal with the vagrant, but later become attackers themselves, suggesting the encounter—or some larger influence—has affected them.
• Viscount Paul and Vincent respond to the intruder as a serious security threat and take immediate precautions. Paul’s foreboding keeps him awake and armed.
• The vagrant shifts from a seemingly helpless, disoriented beggar to an ominous intruder who appears inside the castle, reinforcing the sense that ordinary safeguards cannot be trusted.

Significant themes

• Fear and contagion: Panic about the Eerie spreads through the city and reaches the castle, while the servants’ sudden violence suggests the danger may also be taking hold in people.
• The failure of security: The vagrant’s unexplained entry undermines the castle’s defenses and leaves its occupants vulnerable even within their supposed refuge.
• The uncanny and the unexplained: The vagrant’s strange behavior, the servants’ transformation, and Ginny’s unexpected strength create an atmosphere of supernatural menace.

Chapter Summary: “Face-to-Face Encounter (1)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The supernatural crisis at Wilson Castle escalates rapidly. The vagrant’s body disappears, Xilatia—who lived with Ginny Will—is found dead, and Steward Laurence realizes that an ominous supernatural force has infiltrated the castle.
• Viscount Paul identifies Ginny Will as a possible key to the mystery and orders her confinement. Before help can arrive, two servants who had accompanied Ginny die mysteriously, and the guard assigned to watch her goes insane and kills himself.
• When Green returns, the castle is overwhelmed by fear. Servants consider fleeing, while the Anomalies Bureau investigates but discovers nothing. Viscount Paul therefore seeks aid from the Mages Association, though that effort also proves unsuccessful.
• Green visits Ginny in the dungeon and uses Death Spirit Sight to examine her. He sees dense black, ominous energy surrounding her, revealing that she has been afflicted by a powerful curse.
• Green concludes that Ginny is probably not the true target. The curse’s scale and viciousness suggest that the real objective is the Wilson Family—particularly Viscount Paul—and that Ginny is merely the means through which the attack is being carried out.
• Viscount Paul explains that the continuing deaths and panic are damaging the family’s authority. Another death is then reported: the gardener Gilmore has been killed.
• With outside authorities unwilling or unable to intervene, Green agrees to investigate Gilmore’s death and leaves with Steward Laurence.

Character Developments

• Green becomes the castle’s primary defender. His supernatural abilities, especially Death Spirit Sight and Ghost Eye, give him confidence against what appears to be a ghostly or spiritual form of weirdness.
• Viscount Paul remains composed, but the crisis exposes his helplessness. He recognizes that wealth, rank, and political authority are useless against supernatural forces and increasingly relies on Green.
• Vincent shows frustration and fear as the deaths continue, though he remains responsible for managing the castle in the absence of effective outside assistance.
• Ginny Will deteriorates drastically. Once graceful and charming, she is now mentally unstable, physically exhausted, and covered in ominous curse energy, suggesting that she is both a victim and a possible conduit for the supernatural attack.
• Steward Laurence demonstrates insight and experience, immediately understanding that the events point to an invading supernatural presence.
• The servants’ growing terror and desire to flee show how quickly the castle’s social order is collapsing.

Significant Themes

• The limits of worldly power: The Wilson Family’s noble status, wealth, and authority cannot protect it from weirdness, revealing supernatural power as the true foundation of influence in this world.
• Fear and social collapse: Unpredictable deaths create panic, weaken loyalty, and threaten the family’s authority even beyond the immediate physical danger.
• The nature of supernatural attacks: The curse appears disproportionate to Ginny’s importance, implying that supernatural violence often operates indirectly and uses seemingly insignificant victims to attack greater targets.
• Isolation and reliance: With the Anomalies Bureau and Mages Association unwilling or unable to help, the Wilson Family is forced to depend almost entirely on Green.

Character Interactions

• Viscount Paul consults Steward Laurence about the disappearances and deaths, then orders Ginny’s imprisonment.
• Green and Vincent discuss the castle’s worsening condition before entering the dungeon to examine Ginny.
• Green’s supernatural examination of Ginny leads him to explain the likely nature and purpose of the curse.
• Viscount Paul, Vincent, and Green meet in the study, where Paul admits the threat to the family’s authority and places his trust in Green.
• After Gilmore’s death is announced, Green volunteers to investigate, reinforcing his role as the castle’s principal protector.

Plot and events

• Green and Steward Laurence overhear servants linking a recent death to an Eerie supposedly brought into Wilson Castle by a kitchen maid. Laurence is too exhausted by the crisis to discipline them.
• They visit the gardener Gilmore’s room. Green senses a chilling presence and, wary of the Eerie’s curse, sends Skeleton Soldiers to test the locked door rather than touch it himself.
• The missing manservant Striker is found hanging above the doorway, apparently unnoticed until Green points him out. Green recognizes that the Eerie has drawn near and summons the ghost Maxim, preparing to confront it—or flee if it proves too powerful.
• Pale vapor slips beneath the door, accompanied by a mournful sigh that attempts to charm them. Green resists by anchoring part of his consciousness to the Graveyard’s clock, but Laurence falls under the spell.
• Green summons six more ghosts and blasts open the reinforced door with Bone Spikes. Inside, he sees a room filled with churning, bone-white and gray fog. The Eerie seems to be concealed within it, and Green waits for the right moment to use the Ghost Eye.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shows caution and resolve: he uses minions and magic to avoid direct contact, relies on his strengthened mental defenses, and has a fallback plan rather than risking his life blindly.
• Laurence’s usual authority has been worn down by the deaths and disappearances; once exposed to the Eerie’s Charm, even his loyalty and strong will cannot protect him.
• Green and Laurence cooperate in investigating Gilmore’s room, but the encounter leaves Green to face the creature alone while Laurence stands entranced.

Themes

• Caution versus courage: Green confronts the threat, but plans carefully and keeps retreat as an option.
• The fragility of control: The Eerie’s influence overcomes even the castle’s capable steward and appears to evade ordinary detection.
• Escalating danger and uncertainty: The unseen creature’s powers are revealed gradually, and Green does not yet know its true form or strength.

Plot points and events

• News spreads through Wilson Castle that Green will investigate the Eerie, calming some residents who had considered fleeing.
• A ghostly figure attacks Green with white light and a fishy-smelling haze that briefly clouds his mind. Green recovers because part of his Divine True Spirit is anchored to the Graveyard bell.
• Green sends Maxim to intercept the attacker. Maxim easily drives it off, leading Green to suspect it is only a minion or fragment of the real Eerie.
• The figure escapes into the fog. Green and his Ghosts search the room but find neither it nor the missing gardener, Gilmore. They discover dead rats arranged in a summoning circle, suggesting Gilmore may have been a cultist connected to the Tower of Yin Spirits.
• The ghost reappears briefly at the doorway, then vanishes again. Its thick fog obscures its trail, defeating Green’s attempt to track it with Death Spirit Sight. Green returns to the room without further clues.

Character developments

• Green remains cautious and analytical despite the attacker’s weakness. He revises his assumptions about the Eerie and becomes alert to a possible cult connection.
• Maxim shows eagerness to fight and proves strong enough to repel the ghost, but cannot catch it.
• Steward Laurence, badly shaken by the encounter, regains consciousness and thanks Green.

Significant themes

• Fear and reputation: Green’s intimidating reputation gives the castle’s residents hope, even as they fear him.
• Deception and uncertainty: The ghost’s frightening entrance masks its apparent weakness, while its evasive behavior leaves its true nature unclear.
• Hidden connections: The summoning circle raises the possibility that the incident involves cultists as well as the Eerie.

Character interactions

• Viscount Paul and Vincent spread word of Green’s investigation to prevent panic.
• Green directs Maxim and the other Ghosts to defend him and search the area.
• Green helps Steward Laurence recover, then sends him away from the dangerous room.
• Green’s first clash with the ghost—and its later return—becomes a contest of strength, caution, and evasion.

Key plot points

• Green falls into an illusion while walking through the castle corridor. He escapes by entering the Graveyard, where Maxim and several Ghosts have been holding off the attackers.
• Using the Ghost Eye, Green captures one of the white spirits. The illusion then collapses: gardener Gilmore is dead, while Steward Laurence is unconscious but alive.
• Maxim detects traces of a Demonic Insect in Gilmore, confirming Green’s suspicion that the gardener was a Tower of Yin Spirits believer and likely a spy. Green sends Laurence to report this to Viscount Paul.
• Green studies the captured spirit and discovers that its soul is unusually powerful. He converts it into a Ghost, which takes the form of a snake-tailed woman. Its violent awakening drains more than sixty Psychic Energy from the Graveyard.
• The Graveyard identifies her as one of the Six Sisters of Xignos, or the Six Witches, transformed from the dead soul of the Six-Headed Snake Woman. Green concludes that the other spirits that escaped were probably her five sisters.

Character developments and interactions

• Green reacts to the ambush with anger and caution, then turns the danger into an opportunity to investigate the spirits. His curiosity about the captured witch leads him to risk a costly conversion.
• Steward Laurence survives the encounter with the Eerie beings and, despite his fear, follows Green’s instructions to alert Viscount Paul.
• Gilmore is revealed to have been a likely enemy infiltrator; the Demonic Insect traces in his body support Green’s suspicions.
• The snake-tailed Ghost emerges as a powerful, intelligent but bewildered new being. Green contains her in the Graveyard rather than risking her escape.
• Green relies on Maxim and the other Ghosts for protection while trapped, and on Maxim afterward to examine the bodies.

Significant themes

• Illusion and vulnerability: Even a cautious Transcendent can be deceived, and the spirits exploit victims’ perceptions rather than overpowering them directly.
• Suspicion and survival: Green distrusts appearances and refuses to be swayed by the attacker’s human form or apparent pleas.
• Power versus potential: The witch’s soul is exceptionally strong despite her modest combat ability, hinting at greater significance and future development.
• Costly transformation: Green gains a potentially valuable ally, but the process consumes substantial Psychic Energy and reveals that her identity is tied to a larger mystery involving Xignos and the Six Witches.

Plot points

• Green learns that a Six-Headed Xignos can become a powerful Corpse Witch, but the creature he captured is only one of six spirits—and gathering the others will be difficult.
• The captured spirit is assimilated by the Graveyard and summoned as Holly, a thinking, speaking Graveyard Evil Spirit who retains some memories.
• Holly identifies her five sisters—Rota, Hill, Nancy, Lily, and Talaga—and explains that they were ordered by Mr. Caspar to terrorize Wilson Castle. Their orders came from Lord Akalusi.
• Green learns that the group behind the attack is Blood Eye, a secret Transcendent organization led by Blood Knight Akalusi, with Bloody Undead Martinez as second-in-command and Snett Caspar as chief steward. Its rival, the larger and stronger Void Club, has kept it in check for decades.
• Green tells Viscount Paul about the witches and Blood Eye, withholding that Holly now serves him. Paul recognizes the danger and refrains from demanding the source of Green’s information.
• A servant reports that two stable workers, Old Nante and Xihado, have gone missing and are likely dead. Green concludes that the remaining witches are still active and sees their continued boldness as an opportunity to capture them.

Character development and interactions

• Green moves from curiosity about Holly’s strength to recognizing her value as an unusually intelligent and communicative undead. He also grows more confident in his position as the Wilson family’s main hope.
• Holly is cooperative and deferential toward Green, yet provides crucial information about her sisters and Blood Eye.
• Viscount Paul is visibly shaken by Blood Eye’s involvement. He adjusts to Green’s growing power and accepts that he cannot demand every answer from him.
• Vincent reacts with distress to the latest deaths, reflecting the strain on the household.
• Green and Paul’s relationship shifts: Paul now treats Green with greater caution and respect, while Green shares information strategically.

Significant themes

• Power and authority: Paul’s restraint shows that influence depends on strength, and Green’s standing has changed.
• Fear as a weapon: Blood Eye’s plan was to prolong terror rather than kill quickly.
• Hidden threats and shifting alliances: The conflict involves secret organizations, with Blood Eye opposed by the stronger Void Club.
• Opportunity amid danger: The new deaths are tragic, but Green sees the witches’ continued activity as a chance to pursue them.

Key plot points and events

• Green is told that two Xignos Banshees attacked the stables, where Old Nante and Xihado were hiding while planning to steal horses and flee. Green prepares to investigate after handling the crisis at the castle gates.
• A mob gathers outside Wilson Castle, led by Oriland, a former patrol captain dismissed by Vincent for misconduct. He claims the Wilson family’s crimes attracted an eerie presence and urges the crowd to burn the castle down.
• Green summons armed skeleton soldiers and confronts the crowd. When Oriland uses Charm to inflame them again, Green orders a skeleton to shoot him.
• With Oriland dead and the Charm broken, the crowd panics and disperses. Green orders the guards to defend the gate and says the Viscount will accept responsibility if anyone is killed. He then searches Oriland’s soul before heading for the stables.

Character developments

• Green shows decisive, intimidating leadership. He treats the mob as a dangerous distraction and kills Oriland without hesitation, revealing how his growing power may be hardening him.
• Viscount Paul is impressed by Green and again regrets that he is not his biological son. He reflects that power can erode anyone’s humanity, drawing on his own experience as a ruler.
• Vincent is struck by Green’s coldness, contrasting it with the person he remembers.
• Oriland is exposed as both a malicious agitator and a user of Charm, exploiting the public’s fear for his own ends.

Significant themes

• Power and moral corruption: Paul argues that magic, authority, wealth, and other forms of power can make people increasingly ruthless.
• Fear and manipulation: Oriland turns public anxiety into a mob and uses magic to sustain its anger.
• Order versus chaos: Green’s armed skeletons quickly restore control, though through lethal force.
• Family and belonging: Paul’s wish that Green were his son highlights the importance he places on their bond.

Character interactions

• Green takes charge when Paul and Vincent seek his judgment, then protects the castle from the mob.
• Oriland attempts to rally the citizens against Green, but Green’s counterattack ends his influence and disperses the crowd.
• After witnessing the shooting, Paul and Vincent discuss Green’s changing character and whether power has made him less humane.

Plot points and events

• Green arrives at Wilson Castle’s stables and finds more than twenty horses slaughtered, confirming that Nancy and Lily have recently passed through.
• Holly says the two banshees are individually weaker than she is, but stronger together. The Ghost Eye can restrain them.
• A sudden, unnatural darkness and torrential storm engulf Landon City, especially the area around City Hall. Green suspects a powerful Eerie he and Lola encountered earlier is attacking it, but decides the crisis is beyond his reach and focuses on capturing the banshees.
• Holly senses Nancy and Lily nearby. Green spots them hiding behind the stables and waits for them to approach.
• When they come within range, Green activates the Ghost Eye. It cannot capture both at once, so he releases one and concentrates on trapping the other. The freed banshee escapes; the captive lunges at Green in desperation.

Character developments

• Green remains strategic and single-minded: although the City Hall attack may have major consequences, he prioritizes his plan to capture the remaining banshees and eventually create a powerful Giant Corpse Witch.
• Holly serves as Green’s guide, identifying the banshees and assessing their relative strength.
• Nancy and Lily’s predatory instincts lead them to mistake the darkness for cover, leaving them vulnerable to Green’s trap.

Character interactions

• Green questions Holly about the banshees’ abilities and relies on her warning when they draw near.
• Nancy and Lily approach Green intending to attack him, but he turns the encounter into an ambush.
• Green’s attempt to capture both fails, forcing him to let one escape while confronting the other.

Significant themes

• Ambition and pragmatism: Green’s plans for power shape his choices, even during a wider supernatural crisis.
• Deception and preparedness: The banshees think darkness conceals them, while Green uses their confidence and predictable behavior against them.
• Shifting power and order: The Eerie’s apparent attack on City Hall threatens the fragile coexistence between governments and powerful supernatural beings.

Summary of “Nancy and Lily (3)”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Nancy, the older twin sister, attacks Green to give Lily time to escape. Green anticipates her move, and Maxim intercepts her, allowing Green’s Ghost Eye pendant to capture Nancy.
• Lily initially flees but stops when she realizes Nancy has been taken. Holly and two Ghosts block her escape route.
• Green attempts to capture Lily with Ghost Eye, but her extraordinary speed lets her evade the pendant’s suction. Green responds by surrounding her with Maxim, Holly, a Ghoul, and Skeleton Soldiers, whose undead nature allows them to physically harm and restrain spirits.
• Holly recognizes Lily as a former sister among the Xignos Banshees. She explains her own history, identifies Green as her master, and assures Lily that Nancy will be safe in Green’s Graveyard, which she describes as a paradise for undead creatures. Lily refuses to believe her and attacks Green.
• Green strengthens Ghost Eye and successfully restrains Lily. Maxim wounds her, and Lily is captured just like Nancy. Before disappearing into the pendant, she calls out to Rota, the strongest of the remaining Banshees apart from Talaga.
• Rota immediately ambushes Green, but he counters with Bone Spikes, injuring and driving her back. Her escape through a wall is disrupted when she collides with another Ghost, seriously damaging it and allowing Maxim and Holly to catch her.
• Green fires a prepared volley of Bone Spikes at Rota. In desperation, she unleashes a powerful high-frequency sonic attack that injures Maxim and Holly.
• Green protects himself by summoning three Iron-Skinned Zombies. The sonic wave instantly destroys one of them, revealing that Rota’s attack is especially devastating against physical bodies.

Character Developments

• Green demonstrates increasing combat experience and tactical control. He uses Ghost Eye, undead allies, Bone Spikes, and summoned zombies in coordinated succession, though Rota’s sonic attack exposes a serious danger.
• Nancy shows unwavering devotion to Lily, sacrificing herself to delay Green.
• Lily displays exceptional speed and the same fierce loyalty to Nancy. Her grief and anger lead her to abandon escape and fight in an attempt to rescue her sister.
• Holly continues to accept her identity as Green’s subordinate and tries to persuade Lily that serving Green offers undead creatures safety and freedom from abuse.
• Rota is introduced as a powerful and aggressive Banshee. Even while cornered, she reveals a devastating ability capable of destroying heavily armored undead in one strike.
• Maxim and Holly act as Green’s primary spirit-combat forces, successfully restraining Rota but suffering injuries from her sonic attack.

Significant Themes

• Sibling loyalty and sacrifice: Nancy and Lily remain inseparable even in death, with Nancy sacrificing herself and Lily risking capture to save her.
• Transformation and belonging: The Banshees’ repeated deaths have changed them into spirits, while Holly’s conversion suggests that undead beings can find a new home and purpose under Green.
• Control versus freedom: Green views capturing the Banshees as adding them to his Graveyard, while the sisters experience it as imprisonment and fight to retain their independence.
• The possibility of an undead paradise: Holly sees Green’s Graveyard as a refuge where undead creatures can live without fear, but Lily cannot accept this promise because she still sees Green as an enemy.
• Strategic adaptation: The battle highlights the importance of matching abilities to different forms of opponents, especially as Rota’s sonic attack proves far more effective against physical undead bodies than spiritual ones.

Character Interactions

• Green and Nancy/Lily: Green treats the sisters as dangerous targets to capture, while both sisters resist him out of loyalty to each other.
• Holly and Lily: Their confrontation is emotionally charged because they were once associated as sisters. Holly attempts persuasion, but Lily interprets Holly’s cooperation with Green as betrayal.
• Maxim and Rota: Maxim repeatedly intercepts and restrains Rota, helping Green keep her from escaping.
• Rota and the Ghosts: Rota’s collision disperses one weak Ghost, showing both her power and the hazards of fighting in a crowded supernatural battlefield.
• Green and his undead summons: Green relies on his undead forces as shields and restraints, culminating in the sacrifice of an Iron-Skinned Zombie to block Rota’s lethal sonic wave.

Chapter Summary: Heroes: Xignos (1)

Key Plot Points and Events

• Green survives Rota’s powerful sonic attack by summoning three Iron-Skinned Zombies in succession. The first absorbs the brunt of the wave, weakening it enough for the second to survive, while Rota is exhausted and pulled into Green’s Ghost Eye.
• Green realizes he has captured four of the six Xignos Banshees and becomes determined to find the remaining two so he can potentially fuse them into the Spirit of Xignos.
• A massive supernatural battle erupts near city hall. Green sees a gigantic, translucent black figure attacking a light barrier and speculates that it may possess the power of an Advanced Formal Mage or even an Archmage.
• Rolt, deputy captain of the castle patrol and Vincent’s chief guard, arrives with ten patrolmen. Green warns him not to approach, but one patrolman is revealed to be possessed by a ghost.
• Rolt reacts decisively, shooting the possessed man in the head. However, the body continues advancing like a Zombie until Green orders his Skeleton Soldiers to destroy it.
• A white spirit escapes from the ruined corpse. Green and his undead surround and capture it, bringing his total to five Xignos Banshees.
• The final surviving Banshee, Talaga, remains hidden in the castle’s ice cellar, unknowingly sleeping on a pig carcass while Green searches for her.
• A fanatical servant of the Tower of Yin Spirits opens a concealed tunnel beneath the ice cellar and allows four armed infiltrators—three men and a female half-elf—to enter the castle.
• Talaga awakens, attacks the half-elf Sword Spirit from behind, and possesses her. Despite the half-elf’s attempts to resist and call for help, Talaga overwhelms her mentally within seconds.

Character Developments

• Green grows more confident and ambitious after successfully countering Rota. His focus shifts from simple survival to completing the collection of all six Xignos Banshees and obtaining the Spirit of Xignos.
• Rolt demonstrates his battlefield experience, rapid judgment, and willingness to kill a possessed subordinate immediately to prevent further danger. His composure briefly falters when the corpse continues moving, showing that even he is disturbed by the supernatural threat.
• Talaga is established as the clever and dangerous last surviving Banshee. Her laziness and hidden position allow her to evade Green, while her successful possession of the half-elf proves her considerable mental strength.
• The female half-elf Sword Spirit is introduced as a capable and versatile combatant, but her lack of preparation leaves her vulnerable to Talaga’s ambush.
• The possessed patrolman and the infiltrators reveal that the supernatural crisis extends beyond Green’s personal hunt and involves organized forces connected to the Tower of Yin Spirits.

Significant Themes

• Power and escalation: The appearance of the enormous lightning-wielding figure suggests that the conflict involves forces far beyond Green’s current level of understanding.
• Survival through strategy: Green succeeds not through overwhelming strength alone, but by using expendable undead tactically to weaken attacks and trap spirits.
• The danger of the unseen: Ghost possession, incorporeal Banshees, and hidden tunnels emphasize that enemies may be concealed within bodies, buildings, or seemingly safe locations.
• Ambition and supernatural advancement: Green’s desire to gather all six Banshees reflects his growing willingness to pursue greater power and transformation.
• Deception and infiltration: The possessed patrolman, the servant’s secret allegiance, the concealed tunnel, and Talaga’s takeover of the half-elf all reinforce the chapter’s atmosphere of betrayal and covert invasion.

Important Character Interactions

• Green and Rota: Green counters Rota’s sonic attack with successive Iron-Skinned Zombies, after which he captures her weakened spirit.
• Green and Rolt: Green warns Rolt away from danger, while Rolt responds with decisive action against the possessed patrolman. Green later supports Rolt’s forces by directing Skeleton Soldiers to destroy the undead body.
• Rolt and the possessed patrolman: Rolt recognizes the possession immediately and kills the affected man without hesitation, prioritizing the safety of the group.
• Green and the fifth Banshee: Green’s undead surround the escaping spirit, enabling him to capture it and move one step closer to completing his collection.
• Talaga and the infiltrators: Talaga observes the Tower of Yin Spirits’ agents entering through the secret tunnel and chooses the rear guard as her target.
• Talaga and the half-elf Sword Spirit: Talaga possesses the half-elf before she can use her combat abilities, suppressing her consciousness and taking control of her body.

Key plot points and events

• Talaga, the strongest of Xignos’s six Banshee spirits, possesses Woody Silk. Talaga’s enormous mental power drains her spirit form, leaving her drowsy and scatterbrained; she sustains herself by consuming the souls of intelligent beings.
• While Talaga finishes feeding, she accompanies three other infiltrators: a bearded leader, a pimple-faced young man, and a kitchen servant. Their mission is to assassinate Viscount Paul and his son, Vincent, for a well-paying employer.
• Unable to enter the guarded upper floors unnoticed, the leader decides to force their way in. A maid discovers them and raises the alarm; the leader kills her, and the intruders then slaughter a twelve-person patrol.
• The kitchen servant escapes through a tunnel. The remaining three, with Talaga in Woody Silk’s body, head toward the study as more guards are drawn by the gunshots.
• In the study, Vincent reflects on his lack of combat training and recognizes how fragile wealth and status are without personal strength. He compares the Wilson Family’s predicament to its earlier role in taking Baron Lonanks’s estate.
• Viscount Paul remains confident, arguing that unlike Lonanks, the Wilsons prepared for the Eerie threat and are not yet defeated.

Character developments and interactions

• Talaga is introduced as immensely powerful but impaired by her spirit form. Her casual hunger and post-meal belch contrast comically with the assassins’ urgent, deadly mission.
• The bearded leader is decisive and ruthless, but has limited authority over the loosely assembled team.
• Vincent moves from anger and regret toward a clearer understanding that inherited status cannot replace strength.
• Viscount Paul offers Vincent a pragmatic, unsentimental lesson in how power attracts opportunists, while insisting the family is better prepared than its fallen rival.
• The infiltrators’ brief coordination is undermined by their mismatched priorities and lack of trust; the servant abandons them when the plan goes wrong.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Wealth and rank offer little protection when a family appears weakened; personal ability and preparation matter.
• Predation and reversal: The Wilsons once profited from another family’s downfall and now face similar opportunists.
• Survival at a cost: Talaga must consume souls to sustain herself, while the assassins and defenders alike resort to lethal violence.
• Dark comedy amid violence: Talaga’s hunger, sleepiness, and belch undercut the grim seriousness of the assassination plot.

Key plot points and events

• Green returns from the stables after converting four Xignos Enchantresses into undead, leaving only Talaga unaccounted for. Holly says Talaga is a loner whose hiding place is unknown, so Green plans to search the castle.
• Elsewhere, four intruders are fighting their way toward the castle’s upper levels. Cadisson Barton, the patrol captain, and six Wilson retainers struggle to stop them.
• The bearded attacker, Rost, grievously wounds a patrolman. Cadisson prepares to sacrifice himself to protect Viscount Paul and the Wilson family.
• Green arrives with three zombies and twelve skeleton soldiers. Their coordinated rifle volley turns the fight against the intruders, badly injuring the possessed half-elf, Woody Silk.
• As Woody dies, a white spirit leaves her body and enters the young man who had rushed to help her. Green recognizes the spirit as Talaga, whose presence the other Xignos Enchantresses can sense.
• Green abandons his plan merely to repel the intruders: now that Talaga has revealed herself, he decides to keep every attacker from escaping.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shows adaptability and tactical decisiveness: he shifts from searching the castle to seizing the unexpected chance to capture Talaga.
• Cadisson Barton is established as fiercely loyal to Viscount Paul, willing to give his life despite being badly outmatched. Green’s arrival also forces the patrol to reassess the young necromancer they had doubted.
• Rost, the bearded brute, is brutal and intimidating, but the undead reinforcements leave him rattled and his group increasingly desperate.
• Talaga reveals her survival strategy by jumping from Woody Silk into the young man. Green catches the transfer, though the young man’s altered state goes unnoticed by Rost.
• Green’s forces rescue the patrol from a losing fight, creating a sharp reversal in the encounter.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and sacrifice: Cadisson’s devotion to Paul contrasts with the intruders’ practical concern for maintaining their fighting strength.
• Power underestimated: The patrol’s doubts about Green collapse when his undead troops prove decisive.
• Opportunity and adaptation: Green’s ability to change plans quickly turns a defensive battle into a chance to capture the last missing Xignos spirit.
• Possession and hidden identity: Talaga’s movement between hosts makes her difficult to locate and introduces a concealed danger amid the battle.

Chapter Summary: Hero Xignos (4)

Key Plot Points and Events

• The assassination operation fails, forcing the bearded giant and his two injured companions to retreat rather than continue targeting Viscount Paul and Vincent.
• Their escape is blocked by Green’s large undead army, including iron-skinned zombies, hard-skin ghouls, and gun-wielding skeleton soldiers.
• The bearded giant reveals a hidden ability: he transforms into a massive black bear, using druidic natural magic reinforced by fighting aura. His unexpected strength allows him to smash aside Green’s undead and briefly create an opening.
• Green responds by deploying all his elite undead forces. The giant bear’s size and strength are offset by its poor mobility, while continuous gunfire and attacks steadily drain its defensive shield and psychic energy.
• The bearded giant eventually loses the ability to maintain his transformation and reverts to human form, exhausted and severely weakened.
• Green focuses especially on the young man possessed by Talaga, recognizing that Talaga’s spiritual body is the true target. The youth is already physically dead and survives only because Talaga is animating his corpse.
• Green uses the enchanted pistol Silva’s Malice, firing cursed bullets at the bearded giant. The first shot misses, but the second destroys the giant’s left shoulder, leaving both arms severely injured.
• Taking advantage of the giant’s helplessness, the evil spirit Maxim attacks from within and uses Evil Spirit Wail. The sonic assault causes the bearded giant’s head to explode, killing him.

Character Developments

• The bearded giant demonstrates both tactical decisiveness and a powerful hidden druidic ability, but his transformation consumes too much energy. His failure to escape leaves him exhausted, crippled, and ultimately killed.
• Green proves increasingly ruthless and strategically competent. Rather than being distracted by the giant bear, he identifies Talaga as the important target while coordinating his undead army and using Silva’s Malice at the decisive moment.
• The young man possessed by Talaga is revealed to be a living corpse. Although his body continues fighting despite massive injuries, his condition is terminal because Talaga has already consumed part of his soul.
• Maxim shows the lethal power of an evil spirit, exploiting the bearded giant’s weakened state to deliver the final attack.
• The bearded giant’s companion is shocked to discover that he can transform like a druid, revealing that the ability had been carefully concealed.

Significant Themes

• The cost of hidden power: The bearded giant’s druidic transformation gives him overwhelming temporary strength but rapidly exhausts his resources and leaves him vulnerable afterward.
• Numbers and coordination versus individual might: Even a powerful transformed warrior is gradually worn down by Green’s numerous undead, ranged attacks, and coordinated assaults.
• Life, death, and spiritual possession: The possessed youth’s body continues moving after death, emphasizing the distinction between physical life and the soul. Talaga’s presence turns a human body into a temporary vessel.
• Calculated ruthlessness: Green values strategic objectives over individual lives, concentrating on Talaga while allowing the surrounding battle to eliminate the other enemies.
• The danger of misused talent: The narration suggests that the bearded giant wasted his natural druidic potential by disguising himself as a knight and cultivating fighting aura instead of pursuing formal druid advancement.

Character Interactions

• The bearded giant commands his companions and orders them to break through toward Green, hoping that killing the necromancer will disable the undead.
• His transformation surprises his allies, who had not known he possessed druidic abilities.
• Green’s undead repeatedly surround and harass the giant bear, combining melee attacks, gunfire, and attrition.
• Green directly targets the bearded giant with Silva’s Malice once the transformation ends.
• Maxim exploits Green’s attack, passing through the giant’s body and finishing him with Evil Spirit Wail.

Key plot points and events

• Maxim’s Evil Spirit Wail kills the bearded warrior, whose soul Green prepares to collect with the Ghost Eye.
• A tiny white-bearded spirit emerges from the corpse. Green recognizes it as a Split Soul—a fragment of a powerful Necromancer’s soul that escaped its Soul Coffer and hid inside the warrior.
• The Split Soul had posed as the warrior’s helpful “old grandpa,” secretly steering him away from developing his Druid talents so he could use him as a vessel.
• Seeing the Split Soul as a chance to obtain an Archmage’s memories, Green orders his Ghosts and Evil Spirits to capture it. The spirit’s escape attempt fails when Maxim knocks it back and drains much of its Psychic Energy.
• The Split Soul pretends to surrender, then suddenly attacks, killing three of Green’s Iron-Skinned Zombies and attempting to possess him.
• Green anticipates the danger, raises the Ghost Eye, and absorbs the Split Soul.

Character developments

• Green shows both professional knowledge and caution: he identifies the Split Soul, recognizes its potential value, and senses that its surrender is a trap. He sacrifices three zombies but survives by using the Ghost Eye at full power.
• The Split Soul shifts from arrogant threats to desperate pleading, then reveals its ruthless nature in a final possession attempt. Despite its knowledge and powerful origins, it is weakened and unable to escape Green.
• Maxim demonstrates the strength and solidity of his spirit body, intercepting the fleeing Split Soul and helping prevent its escape.

Significant themes

• Deception and exploitation: The “old grandpa” disguised a predatory scheme as guidance, using the warrior’s trust to prepare him as a host.
• Knowledge as power: Green values the Split Soul’s possible Archmage memories as a prize beyond ordinary wealth or energy.
• Vigilance and survival: Apparent surrender can conceal danger; Green’s suspicion and quick response save him.

Character interactions

• Green’s Ghosts, Evil Spirits, and zombies act as an organized force under his commands, pursuing and containing the Split Soul.
• The Split Soul threatens Green and tries to flee, but Maxim blocks its path; after failing to escape, it begs for mercy before attacking.
• Green and the Split Soul’s encounter ends with Green turning the spirit’s attempted possession into an opportunity to capture it.

Key plot points and events

• Green’s Ghost Eye begins to crack under the strain of containing the Split Soul. Since it cannot transform or register the powerful spirit, Green releases it to save the artifact.
• The Split Soul pretends to fight to the death but tries to escape by attacking Rota, eldest of the Xignos Banshees. It traps her in suppressive black mist and attempts to devour her.
• Talaga emerges from the young man she had been hiding in and cuts Rota free. She then plunges into the Split Soul and devours it, destroying it.
• Talaga notices that the Graveyard has changed the other Xignos Banshees but quickly loses interest. After Rota coaxes her, she willingly enters the Ghost Eye, allowing Green to bring her into the Graveyard.

Character developments and interactions

• Green abandons his plan to subdue the Split Soul rather than risk destroying the Ghost Eye. Talaga’s power also makes him reconsider his plan to capture and transform her; he proceeds cautiously, relying on Rota to persuade her.
• Talaga reveals extraordinary strength and a protective bond with Rota, acting without hesitation when Rota is threatened. Despite her power and awareness of the Banshees’ changes, she remains absent-minded and easily distracted—especially by sleep and food.
• Rota struggles against the Split Soul’s attack and later helps Green by persuading Talaga to cooperate.
• The Split Soul proves cunning and dangerous, but its escape attempt fails when Talaga destroys it.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and unexpected bonds: Talaga’s rescue suggests the Banshees’ connection is more than nominal.
• Power versus control: Green’s plans are repeatedly limited by the risk of losing the Ghost Eye and by Talaga’s overwhelming strength.
• The danger of underestimation: Talaga’s muddled manner hides formidable ability, while the Split Soul’s apparent desperation masks a calculated escape attempt.

Key plot points and events

• Green visits Old One-Eye to inspect his second shipment of weapons, especially an Enchanted Cannon.
• He recalls that the Wilson Castle Eerie incident has subsided: Talaga was subdued, and one of the four would-be looters was handed over to Viscount Paul. Green remains focused on the six Xignos Banshees in the Graveyard.
• After Talaga enters the Graveyard, Green spends 500 psychic energy to fuse all six Banshees into Xignos, the Six-Headed Snake Woman—a powerful Tier Three Hero Unit with combat power 59 and twelve spells, including two fourth-circle spells.
• Xignos is currently a Ghost. Green believes that finding her—or a suitable Xignos Giant Python—corpse could let him transform her into a stronger corpse witch.
• Green arrives at Old One-Eye’s shop, which is closed to other customers for their meeting. They go to the basement, where the Enchanted Rifles and a large, unexplained crate await.

Character developments and interactions

• Green gains a formidable high-level ally, easing his shortage of Formal Rank combat power. He is delighted by Xignos’s strength and potential.
• Xignos is restored from six separate Banshees into one spirit, retaining six distinct heads named Rota, Holly, Hill, Nancy, Lily, and Talaga.
• Old One-Eye warmly greets Green but senses an unusual aura around him. He wrongly concludes that Green has a powerful Formal Rank patron who helped resolve the Wilson Castle crisis.
• Green and Old One-Eye exchange friendly teasing and embrace, while Old One-Eye’s suspicions grow.

Significant themes

• The Graveyard’s mysterious power: It can divide and reassemble souls with precision beyond even powerful Necromancers.
• Power and potential: Xignos is already formidable as a spirit, but a suitable corpse could make her stronger still.
• Misjudgment and reputation: Old One-Eye interprets Green’s aura and the castle’s resolution as evidence of a powerful backer, unaware that the aura comes from Xignos.

Key plot points and events

• Green inspects the shipment from Old One-Eye, including enchanted firearms and armor, then has the Skeleton Soldiers dismantle a large crate. Inside is a well-preserved Lado Cannon, a powerful mobile Enchanted Cannon from the Lorenzo Kingdom.
• Though impressed by its condition and price, Green does not commit to buying it. He is unsure whether the Graveyard can use or recognize the cannon; without a way to turn it into a useful undead unit, it may be worthless to him.
• Green has two Iron-Skinned Zombies carry the cannon away, pays Old One-Eye, and returns to Wilson Castle.
• After Green leaves, Zaga Dietrich emerges from concealment. Old One-Eye tells him about Green and suspects a powerful Formal Rank Necromancer may be supporting him. Zaga orders Old One-Eye to monitor Green’s attitude toward the Dietrich Family, but not to interfere unless Green becomes an enemy.
• Zaga’s real concern is the Blood Eye, the Dietrich Family’s principal rival. He learns that City Hall intends to continue its ritual to summon the Void Yin Spirit. Though he condemns the plan as suicidal, he decides not to stop it.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shows excitement over the cannon but keeps his judgment cautious and his intentions hidden. His restraint also helps sustain Old One-Eye’s belief that a powerful superior stands behind him.
• Old One-Eye remains a discreet, commercially minded intermediary. He is wary of the dangerous summoning plot and hopes to protect his profitable relationship with Green.
• Zaga Dietrich is introduced as proud, commanding, and politically influential, yet measured rather than impulsive. He regards Green as a secondary concern and focuses on the Blood Eye and City Hall’s ritual.
• Green and Old One-Eye conduct a careful transaction, while Zaga later gives Old One-Eye instructions about observing Green and reporting on City Hall.

Significant themes

• Power and political rivalry: The Dietrich Family dominates the province, while the Blood Eye remains its chief challenger.
• Secrecy and uncertainty: Green conceals his real motives, and the truth of his supposed backing remains unknown.
• Ambition and recklessness: City Hall’s plan to summon the Void Yin Spirit may unleash a danger it cannot control.
• Pragmatism: Green weighs the cannon’s practical usefulness; Zaga lets City Hall proceed, judging that its leaders will bring about their own downfall.

Key plot points and events

• After completing the arms deal with Old One-Eye, Green nearly gives himself away when the Six-Headed Snake Woman detects a Formal Rank figure watching him. He stays composed, leaves without drawing attention, and only relaxes once the watcher’s spiritual presence fades.
• Green returns to the Graveyard to test whether Zombies can operate the Lado Cannon. Their clumsy movements and limited adaptability make them unsuitable, so he turns to Skeleton Soldiers.
• Green assembles six Skeleton Soldiers into an artillery crew, using a military manual to train them. After more than three hours of repeated drills, the cannon fires its first shell.
• The Graveyard recognizes the cannon and crew as a new troop type: the Undead Cannon, a level-three elite “mutated composite” with powerful attacks but limited mobility and a slow firing rate.
• The shell creates a large, destructive crater, showing that the cannon could threaten even Formal Rank Transcendents. Green cannot improve its rate of fire, so he concludes that he will need multiple cannons in a major battle.

Character developments and interactions

• Green’s encounter with the unseen watcher heightens his caution and urgency. He recognizes how vulnerable he would be without the Six-Headed Snake Woman’s warning.
• The Snake Woman proves her value as Green’s strongest hidden asset, detecting the watcher while remaining concealed.
• Green shows patience and persistence during artillery training, accepting repeated failures before achieving the first successful shot.
• Green’s practical experimentation reveals that Skeleton Soldiers are better suited than Zombies to precise, coordinated tasks.

Significant themes

• Preparation and vigilance: Green’s survival may depend on noticing threats before they act.
• Adaptation and experimentation: The Graveyard’s troop system rewards new forms of cooperation, but success requires the right creatures and procedures.
• Strength versus limitations: The Undead Cannon has exceptional destructive power, yet its slow firing and poor mobility mean it must be used strategically and in numbers.

Key events

• Green drills his undead army at an abandoned ranch, testing coordinated formations of Skeleton Soldiers, Undead Cannons, Ghosts, Iron-Skinned Zombies, and Hard-Skin Ghouls. The force performs well and could overwhelm a much larger contingent of ordinary knights, but still lacks enough firepower to break fortified defenses.
• Green decides to expand his artillery and visits Old One-Eye’s shop. He orders ten Lado Cannons and asks Old One-Eye to find a Xignos Giant Python corpse.
• Old One-Eye says he knows of a five-headed specimen but cannot guarantee he can obtain it. Green agrees to a 500-Gold-Pound deposit. The ten cannons are due in a month; the full set of purchases will cost 4,000 Gold Pounds.
• Viscount Paul readily finances the purchases, viewing Green’s growing strength as an investment in the Wilson family’s security.
• Though the recent attack on Landon City has stopped, the city remains under oppressive Psychic Energy. Green suspects the assault was only a probe, with a larger confrontation still ahead.
• Before Green hears back about the corpse or cannons, another person goes missing at Wilson Castle.

Character developments and interactions

• Green shows increasing confidence as a commander, but recognizes the limits of his army and plans to strengthen it. He is especially eager to acquire the python corpse: he hopes to remake it as a physical vessel for the Six-Headed Snake Woman, potentially increasing her power severalfold.
• Old One-Eye shifts quickly from frustration to enthusiasm when Green arrives with a lucrative order. He remains cautious about the difficult python deal but pushes for a substantial advance.
• Viscount Paul demonstrates trust in Green by paying without questioning him, believing Green’s power is vital to protecting the family.
• Green and Old One-Eye maintain a teasing, familiar rapport while negotiating, though the scale and risks of their deal are serious.

Significant themes

• Preparation amid looming conflict: The apparent lull in Landon City feels temporary, and Green uses it to build his forces.
• Power and its limits: Green’s army is disciplined and formidable, yet its lack of concentrated firepower leaves a clear weakness.
• Investment and family duty: Green’s purchases are costly, but both he and Viscount Paul see strengthening Green as a way to protect the Wilson family.
• Escalating danger: The renewed disappearance at Wilson Castle signals that the threats have not ended.

Key plot points and events

• Penny, Viscount Paul’s niece, disappears shortly after returning to Wilson Castle. Green and the Six-Headed Snake Woman search the castle but find no evidence of an intruder, and the search turns up nothing.
• Paul reports Penny missing, asks the police to watch for her, and posts a large Mercenary Guild reward: fifty gold pounds for useful information and one hundred for her safe return. The bounty attracts attention, though rumors of eerie activity at the castle make many mercenaries wary.
• Three Anomalies Bureau agents—Peter, Shirley, and Keenant—visit the castle to investigate its recent eerie disturbances. Paul refuses to discuss what happened, and they leave without answers.
• Determined not to fail their assignment or lose their bonus, the agents use the bounty as leverage. They accept the commission to find Penny, then return to Paul with the Guild paperwork.
• Paul agrees to tell them what he knows about the eerie disturbances—but only after they complete the search for his niece.

Character developments and interactions

• Green is suspicious of Penny’s disappearance and oversees an unsuccessful search. He recognizes the visiting Bureau agents from an earlier case.
• Viscount Paul is deeply worried about Penny and remains guarded about the castle’s eerie events. His concern for his niece ultimately gives the agents a way to persuade him.
• Peter shows persistence and tactical sense, turning the bounty into a means of reopening negotiations with Paul. He also appeals to their shared history in the Kingdom Knights Order.
• Shirley is quick-witted and eager to find a solution, readily understanding Peter’s plan. She shows admiration—and possible romantic interest—in him.
• Keenant remains mostly silent, but grows visibly grim as the agents face the prospect of a failed assignment.
• Paul’s exchange with Peter shifts from refusal to conditional cooperation: the agents take responsibility for finding Penny, while Paul promises information in return.

Significant themes

• Leverage and negotiation: Personal stakes—in this case, Paul’s love for Penny—become a route to information.
• Duty and institutional frustration: The agents are caught between investigating the eerie disturbances and navigating bureaucratic pressure and a hostile local authority.
• Risk and desperation: The lucrative bounty tempts impoverished mercenaries to brave danger, while the agents accept it as both a real task and a strategic opportunity.