Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• The Watchful Elder discovers that the Mist Sage has secretly survived as a presence within the Cross-World System and is trying to seize control of its Forum. The Elder transforms into a vast, tentacled monster, drawing power from the Genesis Dragon Vein.
• The Elder remembers the Deceiver of Yore, whose ability to hide knowledge and distort memory helped the Mist Sage leave a trace in the Material World. The Elder and Mist Sage fight over the Forum until the system bans both accounts.
• On Edian Star Sector, Su Yi learns that the Mist Sage is alive and that the Elder has also gone silent. He sees this as an opportunity to weaken the Wall Watchers’ influence over the Human Alliance Pioneers.
• Su Yi assigns Leg Kicker and Windsor to negotiate with the Stardust Clocktower Faction and unite the sector’s forces. He reveals that a ravenous Wildfolk Fleet and a Second Empire holy-war expedition are approaching—one seeking prey, the other the Human Emperor’s Eye.
• Su Yi gives Leg Kicker a new eye by combining his own strange eye with Leg Kicker’s. Leg Kicker gains Binary Magic, which can edit and reconstruct matter, and a connection to Su Yi’s Origin Dharma Form, supplying vast energy.
• Leg Kicker leaves exhilarated and demonstrates his new power by making a bottle of cola appear. He promises Two-Way Passage and Pillar’s Sweet Potato Roast that they may receive similar gifts after the mission.

Character developments and interactions

• The Watchful Elder is exposed as vulnerable to the Mist Sage’s hidden influence and the Deceiver’s memory-altering tricks, though he remains confident that his control over the Players gives him an advantage.
• Su Yi shifts from reacting to threats toward preparing a wider coalition. He shares his power with trusted allies and casts the mission as part of saving the universe.
• Leg Kicker demonstrates deep trust in Su Yi by enduring the painful eye transplant without resisting. His new abilities bring him from loyal subordinate to empowered agent and negotiator.
• Two-Way Passage and Pillar admire Leg Kicker’s gift and eagerly anticipate their own rewards, strengthening the group’s loyalty to Su Yi.

Significant themes

• Power and trust: Su Yi’s gifts empower allies, while Leg Kicker’s willingness to suffer reflects his faith in their bond.
• Hidden knowledge and manipulation: The Deceiver’s influence over memory and the Mist Sage’s survival show how unseen forces can shape events.
• Crisis as a catalyst for unity: External invasions may force the rival factions of Edian Star Sector to cooperate.
• Transformation and escalation: The Elder’s monstrous change and Leg Kicker’s new eye mark a sharp rise in the scale of conflict and power.

Plot points and events

• Leg Kicker returns to the Toynbee patriarch’s villa after receiving a new boon from his Godfather, Su Yi. He says he has finally earned Su Yi’s trust and has been tasked with uniting the five Sacred Mechanism Families, the Stardust Clocktower, and ultimately the Edian Star Sector.
• Windsor has just been insulted at an alliance meeting. The Sainz and Laika families blame her for provoking conflict and bringing in an outside power, and are preparing to expel the Toynbee family from the alliance. She tells Leg Kicker, who promises they will no longer have to endure such treatment.
• At the villa’s data center, Leg Kicker activates Binary Magic Authority, gaining control over network data—but its enormous Bandwidth cost quickly becomes apparent. He counters the drain with a second power from Su Yi, drawing seemingly limitless energy through a connection to a vast, mysterious source.
• Leg Kicker enters the network and breaches the supposedly impenetrable defenses of Dream Star, a showcase planet jointly operated by the Sainz and Laika families. He targets it both as a prominent example and because family leaders, including Little Sainz and Laika the Twelfth, are there.
• The two heirs are preparing to torment captive women through a neural system that amplifies and directly transmits sensations. Leg Kicker takes control of the system, traps them in a constructed mental world, and inflicts severe pain on them.
• He reveals that he controls the Absolute Space Domain: their senses are heightened ten thousandfold and their perception of time slowed a thousandfold, letting him torment them for hours while barely any time passes outside. He threatens to break their minds and alter their self-perception.

Character developments and interactions

• Leg Kicker is newly empowered and increasingly confident. He treats the families’ insults as a challenge, using their own technological pride against them. His composure reassures Windsor, but his response to her humiliation is cold and punitive.
• Windsor remains outwardly controlled despite being furious and hurt by the meeting. Her growing trust in Leg Kicker is evident: she feels unusually safe with him and is moved by his confidence and attention to her feelings.
• Little Sainz and Laika the Twelfth are exposed as cruel, entitled predators who abuse their technology and social power. Their confidence collapses when Leg Kicker turns their own system against them.
• Leg Kicker’s tenderness toward Windsor contrasts sharply with his hostility toward her antagonists. Their exchange strengthens their bond, while his confrontation with the heirs turns the political dispute into direct retaliation.

Significant themes

• Power and technological control: Leg Kicker transforms the families’ advanced network infrastructure from a source of dominance into a vulnerability.
• Humiliation and revenge: Windsor’s public mistreatment motivates a forceful reprisal against the people responsible.
• Appearance versus reality: The Sacred Mechanism Families’ claims to nobility and refinement are undermined by their vicious behavior and the heirs’ cruelty.
• The danger of unchecked power: Leg Kicker’s new abilities make him nearly omnipotent within the network, raising the stakes of his promised campaign to unite the sector.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Leg Kicker takes control of two Sainz heirs. Using the Unity Divine Eye, he rewrites the young men’s souls and personalities, turning them into devoted servants who will spy on their families. Their apparent medical emergency lasts only seconds in the real world.
• The Toynbee Family rises rapidly. Over two weeks, it uses its new intelligence network and support from the Human Alliance’s Pioneers to seize more than twelve Sainz planets.
• The Edian Star Sector faces several threats. A Wildfolk fleet devastates the border defenses and massacres civilians. At the same time, the Second Empire’s Holy War Expeditionary Fleet returns, targeting the Human Emperor’s Eye. Though publicly revered as a holy relic, it is actually a seal over a catastrophic Void Abyss Breach, made from the remains and souls of five hundred billion people. The Stardust Clocktower rallies fleets and seeks unity with the five Sacred Mechanism Families.
• The Bloodburn war intensifies. The Eternal Wall appeases Players with better gear and rewards, keeping many fighting despite their discontent. Withered Branch relies on servants to support them, and Molten Alliance forces arrive. The allied side gradually advances, while Shadow King’s faction suffers the loss of two Demigods and worsening injuries and nightmare corruption among its leaders.
• The Cassini Star System remains engulfed in a four-month war. The Second Empire, drawn by the Human Emperor’s Saint Mark, fights Casalis and Copper Tomb’s forces. Both sides counter each other’s supernatural tactics, while the Empire captures three of the system’s eight planets and battles for two more.
• The Second Empire commits fully to victory. Seven fleets of Human Emperor Heavenly Soldiers arrive, partly motivated by hatred of Copper Tomb. The Six Sages Council keeps supplies and reinforcements flowing, determined to capture the system, claim the Saint Mark, and kill Copper Tomb—apparently to prove the Empire needs no Holy Son.
• 108 fights on Planet Four. After volunteering to test himself against the Empire’s soldiers, he improves from tending the wounded to confronting a Fallen Human Emperor Heavenly Soldier, though the relentless fighting has reduced him to exhaustion and instinctive combat.

Character developments

• Leg Kicker demonstrates the disturbing reach of his divine power by remaking minds and souls. His affection for Windsor is genuine, though he also treats her in an explicitly possessive, godlike manner.
• Windsor is impressed and emotionally overwhelmed by Leg Kicker’s success, regarding him as her “heaven and god.”
• Copper Tomb is increasingly strained by a war he cannot understand and lacks the forces to sustain, especially with many followers away preparing for his ascension.
• 108 grows substantially as a fighter, adapting through experience, but his prolonged exposure to battle is wearing down his awareness and body.
• The Players remain useful to the Eternal Wall despite their dissatisfaction, accepting improved rewards while continuing to fight.

Significant themes

• Power as control: Leg Kicker’s divine authority allows him to erase and reconstruct people’s identities, turning them into tools.
• Faith, propaganda, and hidden history: The revered Human Emperor’s Eye conceals a mass sacrifice and a dangerous cosmic seal, exposing the gap between public legend and historical truth.
• War’s escalating cost: Multiple sectors are consumed by battles that destroy fleets, civilians, leaders, and entire worlds.
• Resolve and institutional pride: The Second Empire’s commitment to Cassini is driven not only by strategy but also by its desire to demonstrate its strength without Copper Tomb.
• Adaptation under pressure: Players and 108 improve through combat, but their growth comes at the cost of exhaustion and dehumanization.

Character interactions

• Leg Kicker remakes the Sainz heirs and commands them to report on their families; afterward, he reunites with Windsor, who praises him, and he embraces her.
• The Stardust Clocktower responds to the approaching Empire by recalling its forces and seeking cooperation from the Sacred Mechanism Families.
• On the Bloodburn front, the Eternal Wall tries to regain Player support through supplies and rewards, while Withered Branch and the Molten Alliance provide additional assistance.
• In Cassini, the Second Empire’s soldiers, Copper Tomb’s forces, and Casalis’s Void Abyss troops engage in a prolonged contest of tactics and endurance; 108 experiences that conflict directly on Planet Four.

Key plot points and events

• On corrupted Planet Four, 108 and the coalition forces endure another wave of artillery and enemy reinforcements. Raptor, a commander of the Shatterstar Hammer, praises 108’s courage and asks about the source of his strength. 108 credits their “Godfather,” Horus, saying he has Nine Blades’s recognition and the Human Emperor’s Divine Blood Boon.
• The chapter looks back to the arrival of Qingshan and roughly a million elite Players, who rescued the battered Second Empire forces from Casalis’s near-victory. Their Resurrection Eggs let them return to battle quickly, giving the small force the staying power of a much larger army.
• The Players’ arrival helped stabilize the front alongside the Human Emperor Heavenly Soldiers and the Sacred Sword Corps. At the rear command center, Qingshan, Marshal Kexma, and Light Archlord Severus coordinate operations.
• Mountain Dog reports that the enemy is nearly exhausted and plans to detonate its own followers to inflict casualties before retreating. Qingshan reveals that Copper Tomb has weakened his forces while pursuing godhood and that Horus defeated him in the Mountain River Star Sector.
• The commanders are surprised that Horus is described as the Holy Son’s mentor. Qingshan insists that Horus is no ordinary Mortal and that meeting him will make this clear.

Character developments and interactions

• 108 remains exhausted but resolute. His exchange with Raptor highlights both the Players’ battlefield reputation and their devotion to Horus.
• Raptor moves from admiration of 108’s endurance to curiosity about the power behind it, though he remains uncertain about the claims concerning Horus.
• Qingshan acts as a trusted bridge between the Players and the Second Empire’s forces, sharing intelligence and urging the commanders to keep an open mind about Horus.
• Severus is increasingly impressed—and unsettled—by the Players’ resilience, unusual abilities, and apparent immunity to corruption. He begins considering whether aligning with the Holy Son could strengthen his Sacred Sword Corps.
• Kexma already supports Qingshan’s force, while Severus weighs the political consequences of doing the same. Their contrasting positions show how the coalition’s leaders approach the Holy Son’s return.

Significant themes

• Faith, loyalty, and legitimacy: The troops’ devotion to the Human Emperor and the Holy Son shapes their willingness to fight and their response to Horus’s influence.
• The cost and nature of war: The Players’ rapid revival makes them extraordinarily effective, but their lack of visible grief and willingness to use bodies as cover unsettle the conventional forces.
• Power and trust: The coalition depends on cooperation among groups with different traditions and loyalties, while Severus must decide whether practical gains outweigh his ties to the Six Sages Council.
• Hope amid corruption: The Players’ ability to withstand the Void Abyss offers a striking contrast to the fragile defenses required by the Sacred Sword Corps.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Qingshan and Kexma suspect Copper Tomb has a hidden escape contingency: a one-way passage that can transport him somewhere distant. Severus argues that forcing Copper Tomb to flee would still be a victory if they recover the Human Emperor’s Saint Mark.
• An urgent report arrives: Copper Tomb’s forces have launched a massive, near-suicidal counterattack. Qingshan refuses to spend the scarce Human Emperor Heavenly Soldiers and instead sends Iron Root and Iron Pot’s troops to blunt the assault.
• The Soul Annihilator Expeditionary Corps is in dire shape. Fewer than 400 of its original 1,020 Human Emperor Heavenly Soldiers remain, yet they refuse to leave the front because they see retreat as dishonor.
• The enemy’s mutated Fanatics explode on impact, spreading the Pleasure Virus and overwhelming conventional defenses. Fallen Heavenly Soldiers, led by former deputy commander Kurus, exploit the chaos to ambush isolated defenders.
• Kurus’s betrayal is personal and deeply resented: he defected to Copper Tomb, helped kill the former commander, and took roughly 500 soldiers with him. His actions crippled the corps for millennia.
• When the defenders face possible annihilation, Iron Root’s force arrives: 10,000 Mortal warriors in rune-covered armor, each bearing a skull banner. Burning their life force and soul power, they unleash swarms of virus-resistant tormented spirits that overwhelm the enemy.
• Kurus attempts to kill a wounded soldier held in place by sacred chains linking him to his dead comrades. The chains cannot be broken, and the soldier reveals they were meant to bind Kurus.
• Iron Root intervenes by catching Kurus’s blade with a net of spirits. He introduces himself as the “Ten Thousand Ghosts Demon Lord,” revealing the dangerous power he can wield for only about fifteen minutes.

Character developments

• Qingshan demonstrates tactical restraint, refusing to squander elite troops against a costly enemy assault. He trusts the Holy Son’s blessing and Iron Root’s abilities.
• Kexma remains focused on killing Copper Tomb, while Severus prioritizes the strategic victory of recovering the Saint Mark.
• Hunter Tiger is consumed by grief and hatred after discovering fallen comrades, but remains determined to hold the position rather than retreat.
• Kurus appears as a cruel, confident traitor whose past betrayal still defines the Soul Annihilators’ mission.
• Iron Root emerges as a formidable and unconventional commander. His spirit power comes at a severe cost: it burns his life and soul, and he can sustain it for only fifteen minutes.

Significant themes

• Revenge versus strategy: The Heavenly Soldiers’ fixation on vengeance and honor conflicts with commanders’ need to preserve forces and make tactical withdrawals.
• Sacrifice and loyalty: The soldiers risk death rather than abandon their comrades, while Iron Root’s troops knowingly burn themselves out to save the line.
• Betrayal and its legacy: Kurus’s defection continues to shape the Soul Annihilators’ identity and fuel centuries of resentment.
• Power with a price: Iron Root’s spectacular abilities are temporary and consume his own life force.
• Different meanings of victory: The Mortal commanders may count recovering the Saint Mark as success; the Heavenly Soldiers consider Copper Tomb’s death essential.

Character interactions

• Qingshan and Kexma briefly clash over whether to commit elite forces, with Qingshan overruling Kexma’s instinct to send Shattered Dragon.
• Severus objects to using Iron Root’s troops as expendable reinforcements, but Qingshan insists that waiting for other forces would be too late.
• Hunter Tiger and Wright disagree over retreat: Wright wants to save the defenders, while Hunter Tiger refuses to abandon the Soul Annihilators.
• Kurus taunts the soldiers he once commanded, and they answer with vows of vengeance.
• Iron Root’s arrival shifts the confrontation: he saves the chained soldier, blocks Kurus’s strike, and directly challenges the traitor.

The chapter description is limited to a single sentence: the narrator takes a day off at the start of the month to rest an aching back and sort out their thoughts.

• Plot: The narrator sets aside work for a day to lie down and recover.
• Character development: The narrator recognizes a need for both physical rest and reflection.
• Themes: Self-care, recovery, and taking time to reflect.
• Character interactions: None are described.

Key plot points and events

• Iron Root confronts Kurus, a Human Emperor Heavenly Soldier and traitor, while burning through his soul and life to power a fifteen-minute ultimate form.
• Using the White Bone Banner and linked ghost banners, Iron Root activates the Ten Thousand Ghosts Spirit-Severing Formation. He combines Soul Abyss power with ancient Human Emperor runes and the Golden Saint King’s spatial power, weakening and binding Kurus and his forces.
• Iron Root opens a route for Hunter Tiger and two other powerful fighters to arrive. Hunter Tiger attacks Kurus; Kurus’s subordinates flee, and Kurus escapes through a Teleportation Gate badly mutilated, though still alive.
• Hunter Tiger questions Iron Root’s use of both Human Emperor and Evil God powers. Marshal Kexma identifies Iron Root’s group as the Holy Son’s covert special forces and orders Hunter Tiger to prepare for a counterattack.
• On the main battlefield, Iron Root and more than ten thousand Players surround five million corrupted Fanatics. They sacrifice themselves, activating the formation and offering the trapped souls to their “Godfather.”
• A vast bronze-armored figure and an ancient Bronze Gate appear in a vision. A partially formed Black Crystal Longsword devours and grinds up the five million souls.

Character developments and interactions

• Iron Root demonstrates the strength and ingenuity of his evolution, using runes, Soul Abyss power, and allied abilities in concert. His willingness to sacrifice himself—and his troops—reveals the group’s extreme devotion to their mission and their “Godfather.”
• Kurus shifts from smug confidence to panic when restrained and outnumbered. Abandoned by his own subordinates, he survives only by summoning Copper Tomb and escaping at great cost.
• Hunter Tiger arrives driven by long-held hatred of traitors. Though Iron Root saves him from a dire situation, Hunter Tiger is disturbed by Iron Root’s blasphemous-looking mixture of powers.
• Wright watches the formation unfold, recognizing that its cost and scale are horrifying but unable to stop it.
• The Players act in concert, following Iron Root’s lead and willingly giving up their lives.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and fanatic devotion: Iron Root and his forces treat their lives and the captured souls as offerings.
• Power’s moral ambiguity: Human Emperor runes, Golden Saint King power, and Evil God authority are combined for a common cause, unsettling even allies.
• Betrayal and loyalty: Kurus is abandoned by his followers, while Iron Root’s forces remain united to the end.
• A looming, greater power: The Bronze Gate and unfinished sword suggest that the mass sacrifice serves a larger, still-unfolding purpose.

Key plot points and events

• A ritual led by Iron Root and ten thousand Players successfully sacrifices five million cultist souls to Su Yi. Their combined psychic energy helps forge the enormous black crystal sword at the center of Su Yi’s Bronze Gate.
• The Players had devised the sacrifice after discussing whether Su Yi had become a god. They reasoned that his control of the Soul Abyss and Dark Universe—and his apparent unification of several gods’ powers—might let him receive souls offered to him across vast distances.
• Su Yi answers the sacrifice and grants the Players the Revenge Rune. When their bodies are destroyed, they can fight as souls, immune to ordinary physical attacks, able to use their skills without paying energy costs, and teleport between one another. The sacrifice extends this power’s duration from four hours to twenty-four.
• The ten thousand Players break free of their bodies as black-flamed Revenge Souls and unleash a devastating assault on the enemy forces.
• Su Yi chooses Iron Root as his Divine Envoy. He gives him authority over the Soul Abyss and runes, allowing him to wield Soul Abyss power and reconstruct matter through runic control. Su Yi also reveals that Iron Root and the other nine Players may eventually become the Ten Sages of the Gate, each commanding a gate with an ultimate Divine Authority.

Character developments

• Iron Root proves himself bold, resourceful, and capable of leading the sacrifice without Su Yi’s guidance. He eagerly accepts the role of Divine Envoy and gains immense new power.
• The Players move from speculation and experimentation to direct service under Su Yi. Their faith and trust are rewarded with a powerful, reusable ability that lets them keep fighting after death.
• Su Yi is shown consolidating divine powers and advancing a larger plan. He values the Players’ devotion, but also recognizes Iron Root’s independent judgment and leadership.

Character interactions

• The Players collaborate in their group chat, with Winter and Leg Kicker reasoning that Su Yi has become a god and Evil God suggesting a sacrifice.
• Iron Root acts as the link between the Players and Su Yi, voicing the legion’s gratitude and accepting the Divine Envoy position on their behalf.
• Su Yi responds warmly to the Players’ trust, rewards them, and then personally appoints Iron Root, while promising the others future opportunities.

Significant themes

• Faith and reciprocal loyalty: The Players’ sincere devotion reaches Su Yi, who responds with gratitude and tangible aid.
• Sacrifice and transformation: The sacrificed souls fuel Su Yi’s weapon, while the Players’ own deaths become the means for a new form of combat.
• Agency and recognition: Iron Root earns advancement not merely through obedience, but through initiative, courage, and sound judgment.
• Power and unity: Su Yi’s growing authority links gods, runes, and the Soul Abyss, while the Players are drawn into an emerging divine order.

Plot points and events

• Iron Root’s five million frenzied souls strengthen Su Yi’s nascent Sword of Destruction, allowing it to overcome the Shadow King’s Divine Authority. The Players’ devotion also helps Su Yi establish a connection across millions of light-years.
• At General Command Headquarters, Qingshan reveals that Horus is the prophesied “god who is not a god.” Horus once refused ascension, helped awaken the Golden Saint King, and carries Divine Blood from the Human Emperor’s umbilical cord. Convinced by Qingshan’s account, Severus chooses the coalition’s side; Qingshan orders the forces to destroy the enemy and take the planet.
• On Planet Four, Horus’s Azure Wolf Banner grants powerful buffs to Players across the battlefield, restoring their stamina and energy while enhancing their abilities. Inspired by Horus’s appearance and the banner, the Players rally and lead a sweeping counterattack. The allied forces drive the Desire forces off the planet.
• Copper Tomb recognizes Horus as the figure who previously defeated him and is enraged that he shares divine power with mortals. As the enemy’s position collapses, Copper Tomb orders a retreat toward Planets Two and Three and sends Casalis to prepare a doomsday device that will destroy the star system.
• Over the next ten days, the coalition continues its advance. Capturing Planet Four gives it a vital staging ground behind enemy lines and shifts the campaign’s balance in its favor.

Character developments and interactions

• Qingshan reveals crucial history about Horus and the Golden Saint King, earning Severus’s trust and helping secure his allegiance.
• Severus moves from uncertainty to a calculated commitment to the coalition, judging that the Six Sages Council has lost its chance to rule.
• Horus becomes a direct source of strength for the Players: his banner’s blessings transform their morale and battlefield effectiveness.
• The Players, especially 108 and Great Wu Territory’s group, treat Horus as their “Godfather.” Their faith and battle cries help connect their devotion to Su Yi across immense distance.
• Copper Tomb grows furious and baffled by Horus’s power-sharing, then resorts to retreat and mass destruction rather than risk defeat. Casalis and Raya report the deteriorating battlefield situation to him.
• Su Yi learns that intense faith and sacrifice can extend a deity’s influence beyond its normal limits, making devotion a powerful means of establishing distant connections.

Significant themes

• Faith as power: The Players’ devotion not only inspires them but helps Su Yi reach across vast distances.
• Power shared rather than hoarded: Horus’s willingness to empower mortals contrasts sharply with Copper Tomb’s belief that divine authority should remain exclusive.
• Turning points and allegiance: Horus’s intervention changes the battlefield, while Severus’s decision reflects the political consequences of the coalition’s growing strength.
• Unity and momentum: The banner’s blessings turn an embattled alliance into a coordinated force capable of reversing the campaign.

Key plot points and events

• Su Yi watches the Cassini Star System after the players’ earlier victories. Later attempts to reach him through sacrifice fail, since they lack the scale and resonance of Iron Root’s offering.
• He detects Copper Tomb using concealed Soulless technology to draw Dark Universe energy toward Cassini’s first planet. The process could trigger the star system’s destruction.
• Su Yi warns Iron Root, who relays the threat to the commanders. Qingshan’s plan is to keep the assault going, secretly recover the Human Emperor’s Stigmata Rune, then withdraw most forces. A small team will remain to investigate Copper Tomb’s escape method; Qingshan and some of Marshal Kexma’s troops volunteer to stay.
• In the Bloodburn Star Sector, the war against the Shadow King’s forces bogs down into a costly stalemate. Players fight fiercely but prioritize farming mission rewards over the Eternal Wall’s strategic goals.
• The Shadow King’s Demigods grow distracted by unrest and invasions in their own territories, while supply lines are raided. With few allies and enemies attacking on multiple fronts, the Shadow King struggles to respond.
• Su Yi benefits from the prolonged fighting: his interventions deepen the players’ loyalty and bring him many souls. These souls finish tempering the Doomsday Sword Embryo into a new artifact, the blood-red Divine Blood Cloak.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi acts as observer and strategist, warning the Cassini forces while exploiting the drawn-out Bloodburn conflict to strengthen his power and forge an artifact.
• Iron Root, now empowered by Rune Power, leads the assault, purifies corrupted worlds, and helps locate the Human Emperor’s Stigmata Rune. He remains devoted to Su Yi and quickly passes along the warning.
• Qingshan responds calmly, turning Copper Tomb’s secret plan into an opportunity to secure the Stigmata Rune and learn how Copper Tomb travels. Kexma supports the risky follow-up mission and offers troops; Severs declines to leave his main force exposed.
• The players are effective fighters but increasingly loyal to Su Yi rather than the Eternal Wall. Their reward-seeking disrupts coordinated advances.
• The Shadow King’s Demigods become frustrated and consider abandoning him as their own holdings come under pressure and the campaign yields few rewards.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and connection: Iron Root’s exceptional sacrifice creates a channel to Su Yi, while smaller offerings prove insufficient.
• Pragmatism under threat: The Cassini commanders turn an apparent catastrophe into a chance to achieve their objective and gather intelligence.
• Conflicting loyalties and incentives: Players’ personal rewards and allegiance to Su Yi undermine the Eternal Wall’s plans.
• War as an opportunity: Even a stalemate can benefit Su Yi, who converts combat, souls, and devotion into greater power.

Plot and key events

• Su Yi completes the Divine Blood Cloak, an Ancient Artifact built from multiple Divine Authorities, especially devouring and assimilation. It can expand to planetary scale, consume matter, and weave itself into forms such as a furnace, web, or tree. Its Red Dragon-derived blood and Ember Divine Flame make it especially destructive. It can also imitate the Shadow King’s power, helping Su Yi move through the Bloodburn Star Sector undetected.
• Su Yi reviews Leg Kicker’s campaign in the Edian Star Sector. Players have aided the Sacred Mechanism Family against the Wildfolk and the Stardust Clocktower against the Second Empire’s Holy War Expeditionary Army. They win key victories by striking enemy command and capturing a supply ship, earning both factions’ respect and willingness to cooperate.
• Leg Kicker delays arranging a meeting between the factions’ leaders and Su Yi, hoping to build his own standing and make his godfather’s eventual appearance more impressive. Meanwhile, two player legions—ten thousand strong—arrive eager to earn rewards from Su Yi.
• Su Yi turns his attention to the Human Emperor’s Eye, a massive artificial planet that suppresses Void Abyss influence. He recalls that it exploded in his previous life after the Twins of Pleasure ascended, though the cause was never understood. Before he can investigate further, Fun God contacts him with urgent intelligence.
• In the Bloodburn Star Sector, Fun God’s double-agent force has captured a spaceport but deliberately advances slowly, prioritizing information gathering while pretending to fight at full capacity. The Eternal Wall’s Shadow Attendants are also conducting secret missions.
• Fun God’s informants report that a small elite force led by Outlaw and Free Man, accompanied by a Doppelganger of Withered Branch, is heading to the Forge Expanse. Other clues suggest the fighting there has intensified and players are being kept away. Fun God deduces that the mission is likely meant to arrange a secret surrender by a Demigod, rather than kill one.
• Fun God proposes striking during the negotiations to disrupt the emerging alliance. Su Yi approves of the idea enthusiastically.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi gains a powerful, versatile artifact and remains alert to both the Shadow King’s vulnerabilities and the mystery surrounding the Human Emperor’s Eye.
• Leg Kicker proves himself as a capable commander and increasingly shrewd political operator, balancing service to Su Yi with his own ambition to gain influence.
• Fun God demonstrates strategic insight by piecing together scattered reports and recognizing an opportunity. He encourages his players to offer intelligence to Su Yi, motivated by the rewards others have received.
• The players are increasingly eager to serve Su Yi and earn Boons, with many treating intelligence-sharing and battlefield accomplishments as routes to recognition.
• Su Yi’s relationships with his agents are practical and collaborative: Leg Kicker handles diplomacy and military support, while Fun God’s network supplies intelligence.

Significant themes

• Power through adaptation: The cloak’s ability to change form embodies Su Yi’s growing capacity to meet different threats.
• Loyalty, ambition, and reward: Players cooperate with Su Yi not only out of allegiance but also in pursuit of personal advancement.
• Information as a weapon: Surveillance and careful inference may create opportunities as decisive as direct combat.
• The cost of hidden history: The unexplained destruction of the Human Emperor’s Eye foreshadows a major danger whose cause remains unknown.

Key plot points and events

• Fun God gives Su Yi crucial intelligence about the Shadow King’s defectors. Su Yi assigns the Players to plant Void Abyss suppressors among their spoils, then intercept Withered Branch’s retreat and help weaken her forces. He plans to claim the Nightmare power for the Players, since he cannot safely absorb it himself.
• Two Shadow King Demigods, Darkfire and Hundred Ghosts, negotiate with Withered Branch to defect to the Eternal Wall. In exchange for the Goddess of Black Cinders’ Boons and control of territory after the war, they agree to help kill two other Demigods and betray the Shadow King.
• Outside the negotiations, the opposing Player factions of Free Man and Outlaw nearly come to blows. Their personal rivalries distract them from their guard duty.
• Su Yi warns the Shadow King about the secret meeting. The two temporarily cooperate, and the Shadow King kills the Players guarding the rift. Su Yi takes Outlaw’s form and enters the negotiations while the Shadow King attacks the rift from outside.
• The sudden attack makes both negotiating sides suspect betrayal. Disguised as Outlaw, Su Yi claims Free Man exposed them and the Shadow King is coming. When Withered Branch approaches to help, Su Yi strikes and tears the core heart from her Doppelganger.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi shows strategic generosity: he gives the Players a meaningful role and promises rewards for intelligence work, while turning Nightmare power into a potential boon for them. He also uses the Shadow King’s anger and the factions’ distrust to set up a surprise attack.
• The Players are eager to serve and excited by the prospect of becoming Nightmare Walkers. Fun God reinforces their confidence that Su Yi rewards every contribution.
• Darkfire and Hundred Ghosts abandon their former arrogance to negotiate for survival and future status, though they remain wary of Withered Branch.
• Free Man and Outlaw embody the defectors’ internal divisions: Free Man’s hypocrisy and Outlaw’s violent entitlement fuel their feud, undermining the mission.
• Su Yi and the Shadow King cooperate against a shared threat despite their hostility, agreeing that they can settle their conflict later.
• Withered Branch tries to manage distrust on both sides, but her attempt to comfort the disguised Su Yi leaves her vulnerable.

Significant themes

• Pragmatism and temporary alliances: Former enemies cooperate when a greater danger threatens them.
• Distrust and betrayal: The negotiations are built on mutual suspicion, while infighting makes the defectors easy to exploit.
• Recognition and belonging: Su Yi values intelligence work and promises that even less visible contributors will be rewarded.
• Power and risk: Nightmare power offers the Players strength, but its connection to the Primordial Evil Gods makes it dangerous.
• The cost of division: Personal grudges distract the guards at the decisive moment, enabling the ambush.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi ambushes Withered Branch and tears out the core heart of her doppelganger, but its Nightmare energy erupts into a second, monstrous form that forces him to retreat.
• He realizes that pure Nightmare energy can turn buried fears and desires into reality—and may ultimately be capable of making dreams come true.
• Su Yi draws out the Shadow King, who destroys the world-rift and defeats Withered Branch’s doppelganger. Her two Shadow Attendants are killed, and the Shadow King later punishes the traitors Darkfire and Hundred Ghosts.
• Su Yi and the Shadow King’s apparent clash was part of their arrangement. The Shadow King scatters Withered Branch’s remains, while Su Yi uses the Divine Blood Cloak to guide the dangerous Nightmare fragments away.
• Since Nightmare energy cannot simply be destroyed, Su Yi’s solution is to contain it in players. He brings roughly forty thousand players, temporarily grants them his Divine Authority, and prepares them to merge with the fragments.

Character developments

• Su Yi recognizes that he cannot yet fight pure Nightmare energy directly, but responds with a risky, unconventional plan: turning players into vessels for it.
• Withered Branch is confident in Dreamwalker’s power and underestimates Su Yi, but her doppelganger is ultimately destroyed.
• The Shadow King demonstrates overwhelming strength and remains wary of Dreamwalker’s energy, though he cooperates with Su Yi to manage the threat.
• The players eagerly embrace the dangerous opportunity, treating the painful fusion as an exciting path to power.

Significant themes

• Power and danger: Nightmare energy offers immense strength but can corrupt even Deities.
• Fear made real: Nightmare power draws on the subconscious, transforming inner horrors into physical threats.
• Improvisation and risk: Su Yi turns an unsolvable cosmic hazard into a calculated gamble involving the players.
• Fragile alliances: Su Yi and the Shadow King cooperate out of mutual advantage, not trust.

Character interactions

• Su Yi mocks Withered Branch to provoke her, but she answers with contempt and confidence in Dreamwalker.
• The Shadow King and Su Yi coordinate the attack and containment plan, though each remains alert to the other’s interests.
• Darkfire and Hundred Ghosts plead for mercy after their betrayal is exposed.
• Su Yi warns the players about the pain and danger of fusion; they respond enthusiastically and submit to the process.

Plot points and events

• Su Yi uses his Unity True God power to let the Players fuse with nightmare energy, temporarily granting them the ability to absorb it and gain its power.
• Fun God is the first to try. The nightmare shard nearly overwhelms his mind and body, but the Players’ system protects his consciousness. He emerges as a powerful Nightmare Walker, with greatly improved stats and two abilities: trapping targets in nightmares and summoning nightmare beings.
• Encouraged by his transformation, tens of thousands of Players absorb the remaining nightmare energy and change class. Su Yi forms them into a new Nightmare Walker force.
• Su Yi orders Fun God and the fighters to travel to the Human Emperor’s Eye in the Edian Star Sector, where he expects trouble and where other leading Players are already gathered. He sends additional Players to join them, and Maria’s group is already traveling with the Toynbee Family fleet.
• After dealing with traitors, the Shadow King arrives and recognizes the Players’ unusual ability to withstand nightmare power. He fears the Dreamwalker’s goal of ending all existence and would rather die at Gheros’s hands than see the world destroyed.
• At allied headquarters, Withered Branch discovers she can no longer sense the nightmare energy hidden in her Doppelganger. With the mission’s details compromised and Outlaw and Free Man blaming each other, she loses trust in both.
• Unable to identify the mole, Withered Branch revokes both men’s nightmare-based revival Boons, removes them from her personal guard, and assigns them to the front lines. She has selected replacements from other Players.

Character developments and interactions

• Fun God embraces his new Nightmare Walker form and its combat abilities. Though he notices unsettling whispers, he remains unfazed, joking that they are weaker than a fellow Player’s rap. He accepts Su Yi’s orders and eagerly takes charge of the mission.
• Su Yi acts as both benefactor and commander, enabling the class changes, assessing their safety, and directing the new force toward the coming crisis.
• The Shadow King reveals a deeper fear of the Dreamwalker and shows that preserving the world matters more to him than his own survival.
• Withered Branch responds to the apparent leak with suspicion and decisive punishment. Outlaw and Free Man, once privileged personal guards, protest the decision and profess loyalty, but their accusations against each other leave them both discredited.

Significant themes

• Power and transformation: Nightmare energy brings dramatic strength, but carries risks of mental and bodily corruption.
• Trust and betrayal: The suspected leak fractures the enemy leadership, while Withered Branch’s uncertainty forces her to act without proof.
• Factional conflict and uneasy alliances: Players who once opposed Su Yi now join his forces against a larger threat.
• Survival versus annihilation: The Shadow King’s choices reflect the stakes of confronting a power bent on destroying everything.

Key plot points and events

• Withered Branch harshly confronts Outlaw over suspected treachery. Free Man taunts him, and their argument turns into a fight. When Withered Branch threatens to strip them of rank and power, Outlaw insults her and accuses her of incompetence; she kills him. Free Man immediately offers to betray other players to prove his loyalty, but Withered Branch calls him more repulsive and kills him too.
• Acting on Su Yi’s plan, Spinning Dragon King, Fake Person, and others report that thousands of Human Alliance Pioneers have vanished. Withered Branch suspects Gheros has found a way to conceal players carrying fragments of the Master’s power and possibly use them against the Wall Watchers.
• Withered Branch summons a new group of capable commanders and removes opportunists who had been appointed largely because they opposed Su Yi. The leadership change and revised battle plans provoke complaints, especially from the displaced players.
• Outlaw, Free Man, and their former allies turn against the Eternal Wall on the Forum, first revealing insider information, then spreading fabrications. Their attacks draw in trolls and Funsters, and the Eternal Wall’s reputation collapses among many players. Watchful and Misty do little to intervene.
• The Watchful Elder accepts that the Forum’s public outrage matters less than the war effort. Over the next twenty days, the new leadership improves the advance by at least 40 percent. The coalition secures about a tenth of the Bloodburn Star Sector, while four enemy Demigods have been lost.
• The chapter ends with the Watchful Elder visiting the Dreamwalker, a childlike Master connected to an immense, damaged wall. He learns the command: “Move faster. Kill the Shadow King!”

Character developments and interactions

• Outlaw moves from resentment to open rebellion after feeling mistrusted and humiliated; his attack on Free Man and abuse of Withered Branch make his break with the Wall Watchers definitive.
• Free Man tries to exploit Outlaw’s downfall by flattering Withered Branch and offering to expose fellow players. His opportunism only deepens her contempt.
• Withered Branch responds decisively to dissent, purges unreliable commanders, and promotes more competent players. Her suspicions about Gheros and the missing pioneers also sharpen.
• Spinning Dragon King, Fake Person, Veteran MT, and Two-Headed Ogre emerge as trusted replacements, rallying around Su Yi and the “Godfather.”
• The Watchful Elder remains focused on strategy rather than reputation, and his encounter with the Dreamwalker clarifies the urgency of the campaign.

Significant themes

• Trust, loyalty, and opportunism: Outlaw and Free Man both expose the instability of alliances built on self-interest.
• Leadership and competence: Replacing unfit commanders improves the campaign despite backlash from entrenched players.
• Public reputation versus practical results: Forum outrage damages the Wall Watchers’ image, but battlefield progress proves more consequential.
• Power and hidden stakes: The missing players may be linked to the Master’s power, while the damaged wall and the Dreamwalker reveal a much larger conflict behind the war.

Key plot points and events

• The Watchful Elder reports that the plan to reclaim Unity’s Divine Authority is failing because the Mist Sage helped its bearer mature early and turn against them. The Dreamwalker gives the Elder more nightmare power, but threatens to kill him if his next report disappoints. The Elder plans to empower five hundred exceptional beings as Nightmare deities.
• The war continues on two fronts. The Second Empire is losing ground in the Bloodburn and Edian Star Sectors, while the Sacred Mechanism Family struggles against the technologically advanced Wildfolk Fleet. The Fleet has captured four planets and devoured thirty million civilians.
• Maria arrives with reinforcements, helping stabilize the Wildfolk front. At an outpost, Wildfolk stone fields suppress ordinary magic, Void Abyss energy, communications, and powered armor, while allowing Wildfolk warriors to teleport through the altered terrain.
• Two-Way Passage and the Players suffer heavy losses. Their best counter is an acid that harms the silicon-based Wildfolk when they consume fallen Players, but the tactic is dangerous and only partly effective.
• When the Wildfolk attack Outpost Twelve, Maria arrives through a Teleportation Gate and uses her Order Divine Authority to restore normal space and laws of nature. The Wildfolk withdraw, having apparently tested her abilities. The outpost has lost nearly ten thousand people in under twenty minutes, and Maria promises that headquarters is developing a countermeasure.
• After checking the front, Maria returns to her command post and complains that Su Yi has left her with all the work. He immediately appears and answers that he is there.

Character developments and interactions

• The Watchful Elder remains obedient despite the Dreamwalker’s threats, convinced of his master’s invincibility. He is entrusted with spreading nightmare power through chosen agents.
• The Dreamwalker is portrayed as immensely powerful but nearly mindless, acting through instinct and blunt threats rather than human emotion.
• Maria demonstrates decisive leadership and the importance of her Order Authority, which can counter the Wildfolk’s reality-warping fields. She also shows concern for casualties and frustration at Su Yi’s absence.
• Two-Way Passage commands the Players effectively and coordinates with the Sacred Mechanism Family, but the battle reveals how vulnerable even his Scholar Field is to Wildfolk weapons.
• Maria and the Players share a warm, familiar rapport: they call her “Godmother,” celebrate her arrival, and joke about her relationship with “Godfather” Su Yi. The Sacred Mechanism Family’s officers also treat her with gratitude and respect.

Significant themes

• Power and coercion: The Dreamwalker’s gifts come with absolute obedience and the threat of death.
• The cost of war: Civilian deaths, captured populations, and rapid battlefield losses underline the human toll, even as Players can revive.
• Adaptation and countermeasures: Both sides rely on specialized methods—acid against Wildfolk bodies, and Maria’s Order Authority against their disruptive fields.
• Leadership and reliance: Maria’s presence restores the front, while the Players and allied soldiers depend on cooperation across factions.

Key plot points

• Maria reunites with Su Yi, who explains that the Wildfolk Fleet tracks humans through Silicon-Based Symbiotes. Molly removed the tracking modules from the symbiotes he supplied.
• To resist the Wildfolk’s suppressive stone domain, soldiers must use a symbiote to transform their whole bodies into metal. Su Yi argues that the domain may be useful against the Void Abyss and Nightmare powers, so the goal is to exploit it rather than suppress it.
• Su Yi reveals that he recently joined the secretive Time Rift, whose member the Mist Sage recruited him. The Mist Sage explains that time travel forced him to split himself into ten-year versions, and that the Soulless were nearly wiped out when the Dreamwalker infected most of them.
• The Mist Sage clarifies that the researchers Su Yi found at the institute were remotely controlled robots, not the researchers’ real bodies. He hid the survivors’ locations to protect them and says the Goddess of White Frost holds a vital key to victory.
• Su Yi learns that the figure known as Gray Shadow Venerable is actually the Deceiver of Yore, who fooled the entire universe—including Su Yi and the Unity Bloodline. The Mist Sage brings Su Yi into the Time Rift’s larger plan and points him toward the Primordial Empire.
• Back in the present, Su Yi tells Maria that the Wildfolk’s forging methods could be adapted with help from the Divine Smith Lineage at Open-Heaven Manor. He also warns that the Headhunter Clan’s orderly retreat may have been a ploy to identify Maria as an assassination target. They must prepare for an alliance that will determine the universe’s fate.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi shows strategic confidence and extensive knowledge, connecting the Wildfolk’s technology, ancient history, and current threat. He moves from operating behind the scenes to taking a more active role in the Time Rift’s plan.
• Maria shifts from frustration and curiosity to understanding the battlefield implications. She recognizes that the Wildfolk’s withdrawal may have exposed her to danger.
• The Mist Sage reveals the personal cost of his time-travel methods and the extent of the Soulless’ losses, while entrusting Su Yi with the next stage of the plan.
• The Deceiver of Yore delights in revealing that he has impersonated Gray Shadow Venerable so convincingly that even powerful factions accepted the false identity.
• Su Yi and Maria work as strategic partners: he explains the enemy’s technology and motives, while she questions how the fleet can counter them.

Significant themes

• Deception and unreliable history: Even a revered deity’s identity and the memories of the universe may be false.
• Time and sacrifice: The Mist Sage’s divided existence illustrates the severe costs of manipulating time.
• Turning enemies’ strengths into advantages: The Wildfolk’s domain, initially a threat, may become a weapon against greater powers.
• Alliance and shared fate: The looming conflict requires cooperation across factions and realms.

Plot and events

• Su Yi and Maria plan a trap for the Wildfolk force. Maria will act as bait, drawing in an elite assassination squad; Su Yi’s counterattack will exploit the Silicon-Based Symbiotes to turn the Wildfolk’s stone domain against them. The coalition will attack the fleet at the same time.
• Maria orders a joint operation while Su Yi gathers the players. He chooses 12,000 players with Molly-enhanced symbiotes for the elite strike force. He refines their bodies, gives them temporary Boons, and uses their soul-bond with him to supply energy and help them control the Wildfolk power they will absorb—potentially transforming them into a new class.
• The players are thrilled, though those who spent their points on other gear regret missing out. Veteran Two-Way Passage reassures them that the class change may later be offered more broadly.
• After five days of preparation, the Deceiver of Yore summons Su Yi to the Rift of Time’s regular meeting. The usually distant deity drops his solemn act to tease Su Yi, who learns the Deceiver somehow knows his private tastes.
• The meeting’s members discuss their recent activities and troubles. The Deceiver then makes an unprecedented announcement: he is bringing in a “partner,” not merely a new member. He reassures the group that their status, privacy, and security will not be threatened.
• The newcomer appears: Su Yi, introduced as the great Wolf Lord of Unity. Ilis recognizes him and is visibly excited.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi and Maria act as strategic partners, coordinating a high-stakes operation around their informational advantage.
• Su Yi takes on a mentor-like role toward the selected players, preparing them physically and enabling their new abilities through their soul-bond.
• The players display both enthusiasm and envy: the selected 12,000 welcome the chance to gain Boons and change classes, while others regret their earlier choices.
• The Deceiver of Yore shows a more playful, familiar side with Su Yi, but resumes his grand, mysterious persona for the meeting.
• The meeting members reveal their individual circumstances: Gu Yang is focused on restoring the Empire; Leotos envies his influence; Ilis is occupied with other plans; and Flame Dragon faces trouble that an expeditionary army may not solve. The group’s concern about the newcomer exposes how protective they are of the Rift’s exclusivity.

Significant themes

• Information and preparation as strategic weapons: The Wildfolk trap depends on concealing the coalition’s real capabilities and striking at the right moment.
• Collective power and transformation: The players’ symbiotes, soul-bonds, and Unity’s fusion Talent turn teamwork into a means of acquiring a new form of power.
• Trust, status, and secrecy: The Rift members fear a partner could disrupt their private circle, while the Deceiver insists the newcomer will not compromise it.
• The personal behind the mysterious: The Deceiver’s teasing familiarity contrasts with his imposing public persona.

Key plot points and events

• The Deceiver of Yore introduces Su Yi, titled the Unity Wolf Lord, as a new partner in the Rift of Time. Ilis and Nightmare recognize his distinctive appearance and are stunned by the status he must hold, while the others sense different traces of power or fate in him.
• Su Yi greets the group warmly. Because he lacks the coldness associated with ascended Deities, the members conclude he is not a god—making his place at the head of the table all the more puzzling.
• The Deceiver of Yore allows Su Yi to take the seat of honor. Su Yi explains that he will coordinate the Rift’s meetings and cooperation, and that, unlike a Deity, he can act freely in the Material Universe to help members with their crises.
• When Roots questions how a non-Deity could solve problems requiring divine power, Su Yi claims he can slay gods. Fine Iron probes whether he relies on Soulless technology; Su Yi says he has such technology but can also kill gods through his own Divine Authority.
• Su Yi opens the meeting by warning that the Human Emperor’s Eye, a vast seal in the Edian Star Sector, is about to erupt. Its failure could devastate the sector and disrupt space-time, potentially freeing dangers trapped beyond it.
• He explains that the Stardust Clocktower is fighting the Second Empire’s Holy War Expeditionary Fleet, which is trying to approach the Eye. The group looks to Gu Yang, who denies knowledge of the expedition and says he has separated from the Six Sages Council to serve the Holy Son.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Yi establishes himself as a courteous but confident leader, promising practical aid rather than relying on the Deceiver’s prestige. His claim that he can slay gods sharply raises the group’s expectations and suspicions.
• Ilis suppresses her excitement at recognizing Su Yi, then steers the gathering toward its real business.
• Nightmare is deeply shaken by the revelation of Su Yi’s apparent standing, given his reverence for the Deceiver of Yore.
• Roots respectfully challenges Su Yi to explain how he can help without being a Deity. Fine Iron tests him specifically about Soulless technology.
• The other members respond with wary curiosity, each sensing something familiar in Su Yi: Black Cat considers a connection to Unity, Gu Yang senses the Human Emperor’s aura, Fine Iron detects destruction, Cold Blade foresees intertwined fates, and Flame Dragon sees an unprecedented hope.
• Gu Yang becomes the focus when the expeditionary fleet is discussed, but insists he has no connection to its actions.

Significant themes

• Power versus status: Su Yi lacks the recognized status of a Deity, yet claims power beyond ordinary limits.
• Humanity and godhood: The group believes ascension strips away human warmth, making Su Yi’s courtesy evidence that he remains human.
• Trust and uncertainty: The members accept Su Yi’s appointment but continue testing his identity, motives, and abilities.
• Impending catastrophe and responsibility: The threatened eruption of the Human Emperor’s Eye shifts the meeting from introductions to a crisis with potentially universe-wide consequences.

Plot points

• Black Cat reveals that the Human Emperor’s Eye is more than a golden artificial planet: its interior contains vast, partitioned transit passages linked to distant regions. Those distant regions provide the energy needed to balance the Eye’s immense forces. If that balance is disrupted, the structure could erupt.
• Su Yi suspects the distant counterweights are connected to the Human Emperor’s surviving power and associated ruins. He thanks Black Cat, but says he still needs to verify his theory.
• After the meeting, the attendees linger, hoping to speak privately with Su Yi, who is using the identity of Unity Wolf Lord. He postpones their requests until they know one another better.
• Su Yi and Ilis reunite privately. Ilis plans to kill the Shadow King, reclaim the Goddess of Black Cinders’ Divine Authority from him, and then help Su Yi dismantle the Wall Watchers. Su Yi warns her that the worsening front could make her position more dangerous; she says the Lord of Mysteries has agreed to protect her.
• Su Yi asks the Deceiver of Yore how he learned of the coming eruption and whether he can take on the price Ilis owes. The Deceiver refuses: Ilis has her own price, and Su Yi has his.
• Su Yi contacts Leg Kicker and shares what Black Cat disclosed. Leg Kicker connects the threat to the Cassini Star System, its Human Emperor’s Saint Mark, and Copper Tomb’s teleportation technology. He suspects the holy war fleet is an outside force meant to help trigger the Eye’s eruption.
• Rather than simply prevent Copper Tomb’s escape, Leg Kicker proposes ambushing the fleet as it emerges from its jump passage. Capturing and stabilizing the passage could also drastically shorten travel between the regions. Su Yi enthusiastically approves.

Character developments and interactions

• Black Cat trades sensitive knowledge for future favors from Su Yi, Nightmare, Roots, and Flame Dragon; Cold Blade and Fine Iron decline.
• Su Yi and Ilis show deeper trust and understanding, but remain focused on their separate duties rather than indulging in a romantic reunion.
• The Deceiver of Yore makes clear that bargains and obligations cannot simply be transferred, leaving Su Yi with a debt of his own.
• Leg Kicker demonstrates sharp strategic thinking, quickly reconstructing the likely plot and turning a defensive problem into an opportunity. Su Yi’s approval reflects his confidence in Leg Kicker’s judgment.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as leverage: Black Cat shares crucial information only in exchange for future assistance.
• Balance and interconnectedness: The Human Emperor’s Eye depends on distant regions to contain and counterweight its power.
• Debt and consequence: The Deceiver’s response underscores that bargains carry personal costs.
• Turning danger into opportunity: Leg Kicker aims to exploit the suspected attack both militarily and as a chance to seize a valuable transit route.