Recaps

After the two great empires launched sweeping attacks against the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s allies, Xu Yi dismissed the public’s confidence in their victory and resolved to answer their aggression with war.

• The Malo Empire and Frank Kingdom attacked the Drake Duchy, while another Malo army invaded Lampari Kingdom, forcing both to retreat under assaults led by Archmages.
• The Candel Empire launched attacks on Lampari Kingdom, Rulson Kingdom, and Dero Kingdom, wrecking mines, destabilizing guild holdings, and overrunning most of Wales Duchy.
• Thirteen countries led by the Mana Magical Kingdom invaded the Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom, whose forces retreated behind the Mana Defense System after repeated defeats.
• Newspapers praised the two great empires and predicted the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s camp would be crushed, shifting public opinion across the continent.
• Xu Yi acknowledged to Archmage Camilla that he had been too idealistic and declared that he would answer the empires’ attacks with war.

Lieutenant Nokmo patrolled the cold outskirts of Greenway while reflecting on how the Lampari Kingdom’s rule had improved his family’s life. He left questioning whether he could still support the Frank Kingdom’s effort to reclaim the town when his sister wished the Lampari Kingdom would occupy it forever.

• Lieutenant Nokmo’s soldiers grumbled about patrolling in the cold and resented being made to do the Malo Empire’s dirty work.
• Lieutenant Nokmo recalled how the Malo-Frank allied forces had retaken Greenway, allowing him to reunite with his family after months without contact.
• His family told him the Lampari Kingdom had reduced taxes, helped with the harvest, and brought jobs that let them earn more than thirty gold coins.
• Lieutenant Nokmo compared his family’s warm, inexpensive new coats and improved harvest with his own thin, costly military coat and modest pay.
• Lieutenant Nokmo remembered his eleven-year-old sister saying she wished the Lampari Kingdom could occupy Greenway forever.

Lieutenant Nokmo’s reconnaissance squad watched the Lampari positions near the Grixius Mountain Ranges during the standoff. He spotted a growing formation of Mana Airships gathering above the mountains, suggesting the Lampari Kingdom was preparing for a major move.

• Lieutenant Nokmo led his squad through the forest toward the Grixius Mountain Ranges and ordered his men to conceal themselves and stay alert.
• Nokmo watched the Lampari positions through a telescope, expecting the enemy to remain out of sight.
• Nokmo spotted a Mana Airship descending into the Lampari positions, apparently carrying supplies.
• More Mana Airships appeared in the southern sky until they formed a vast black cloud above the Grixius Mountain Ranges.
• Nokmo realized that the unusual arrival of so many airships meant something was about to happen.

The Lampari Kingdom launched an offensive from the Grixius Mountain Ranges with unfamiliar Steel Magic Locomotives, which the Marfa Coalition Army’s commanders suspected were Mana Tanks. As four archmages prepared forbidden spells against the advancing troops, more than thirty Mana Airships appeared, leaving their purpose and the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• The Lampari Kingdom broke from its defensive tactics and advanced with Steel Magic Locomotives that senior Malo Empire generals recognized as likely Mana Tanks.
• General Phil ordered the four archmages accompanying the Marfa Coalition Army to intervene against the Lampari Kingdom’s advancing forces.
• The four archmages began casting the forbidden spells Doomsday Calamity, Thunder God Descends, Earth Net Crosses, and Ice Spikes Dance.
• General Phil spotted more than thirty Mana Airships flying from the Grixius Mountain Ranges toward the battlefield.
• The Mana Airships arrived in the range of the four archmages’ forbidden spells, and their next move was left unrevealed.

The Lampari Kingdom’s army overwhelmed the Marfa Coalition Army in the Grixius Mountain Ranges, killing Archmage Nargan and forcing the other three archmages to flee wounded. News of the defeat shocked the continent and left people questioning whether archmages—and the empires they protected—were truly invincible.

• The Lampari Kingdom’s mana airships scattered glittering objects around the battlefield as its mana cannons unleashed a relentless barrage on the Marfa Coalition Army.
• Archmage Nargan and the mages maintaining shields began falling from the sky, and the other three archmages descended beside General Phil.
• An archmage warned General Phil to retreat, but a nearby mana cannon shell exploded and knocked him unconscious.
• News spread that the 160,000-strong Marfa Coalition Army had been crushed by the Lampari Kingdom’s force of just over 40,000, with more than 60,000 coalition troops killed and fewer than 50,000 retreating.
• The report that Archmage Nargan had died and the other three archmages had escaped seriously wounded spread shock and fear across the continent, especially in the Malo and Candel Empires.

The Lampari Kingdom crushed the Marfa Coalition Army, reclaimed the former Frank Kingdom, and then invaded the Malo Empire despite winter conditions. After a week of fighting, the Malo Empire’s defenses collapsed, leaving its territory open to the Lampari army as the new year began.

• On December 6, the Lampari Kingdom’s army captured Saint Luce City and drove the surviving Marfa Coalition troops north.
• On December 9, General Phil surrendered the remaining Marfa Coalition Army at Slode Valley, and the Lampari army soon retook the former Frank Kingdom’s territory.
• On December 23, the Lampari Kingdom’s army crossed the border and invaded the Malo Empire.
• From December 24 to December 30, the Malo Empire lost over one hundred thousand soldiers and several mages while failing to stop the Lampari offensive.
• On January 1, 3783, the Malo Empire’s defensive line had collapsed, leaving the Lampari army free to advance deeper into its territory.

At the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Main Base, Xu Yi inspected wartime production and reflected on the losses of archmages before hearing that the guild’s planned spending could push it into its first major deficit. The chapter ended with Sebas urging him to stop providing free assistance to the Lampari Kingdom and its allies before the guild went bankrupt.

• Xu Yi inspected the military magic machinery production base and urged Lawens to maintain its efficiency and avoid mistakes.
• Xu Yi reflected on the three archmages killed in the war and regretted losing their talents to the magic industry.
• Sebas presented the guild’s preliminary budget, which projected a deficit of twenty to forty million gold coins.
• Sebas warned Xu Yi that continuing free aid to the Lampari Kingdom and other nations could bankrupt the guild within two years.

At the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s New Year meeting, Xu Yi acknowledged the financial strain of the war but insisted the guild must keep supporting its allies and end the conflict quickly. He then met the returning Guard Corps, whose captain described defeating several Archmages as almost too easy to believe.

• Sebas warned the guild executives that continued war spending could drive the Xinfei Merchant Guild toward bankruptcy, while other leaders argued that the war was necessary and promised future profits.
• Xu Yi rejected reducing support for the Lampari Kingdom and the guild’s other allies, and executives described falling orders, blocked trade routes, and heavy losses.
• Xu Yi concluded that the war had to end as quickly as possible, then finished the meeting without explaining how he planned to achieve that.
• Xu Yi went to the Guard Corps’ training base and greeted Hart as the corps returned safely from its mission.
• Hart told Xu Yi that the corps had defeated several Archmages according to plan, though he was still bewildered by how easily it had happened.

Xu Yi prepared Captain Hart and the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps to keep developing tactics against mages as war with the Two Great Empires escalated. The Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces captured Babrara City after a month-long siege, bringing the Candel Empire's Southwestern Province under enemy control.

• Xu Yi told Captain Hart that the Guard Corps would train further to counter Archmages before its next assignment, and explained that Stille had left for the Demoncloud Continent to investigate Illusion Films and develop its market.
• On January 16, the Rulson Army attacked across the Candel Empire's border, defeated its border forces, and advanced to Mero City to join the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps.
• The Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces defeated the Southwestern Province Army Corps, then marched toward Babrara City and overcame six attempts to stop their advance.
• The Allied Forces besieged Babrara City for a month, while Xinfei airships and cargo locomotives protected their reinforcements and supplies from Candel Empire attacks.
• After a final breakout attempt cost the Candel Empire more than fifty thousand soldiers and many mages, its remaining forces and five Archmages abandoned Babrara City, and the Southwestern Province fell.

Marquis Descartes arrived in Babrara City to lead the Candel Empire’s peace delegation, aware that the empire’s defeats had forced it to seek terms from the Xinfei Merchant Guild and the Rulson Kingdom. Miss Soriel welcomed him and said President Xu was waiting, leaving Descartes hopeful that the talks would be taken seriously.

• Marquis Descartes and his delegation arrived in Babrara City and were met by Xinfei Merchant Guild guards.
• Marquis Descartes reflected on the Candel Empire’s decision to seek peace after its army failed to stop the allied advance into the Southwestern Province.
• Marquis Descartes recognized that the empire wanted a pause in the war to develop its Military Magic Machinery and catch up with the Xinfei Merchant Guild.
• Miss Soriel greeted Marquis Descartes on behalf of the Xinfei Merchant Guild and led him toward President Xu.
• Marquis Descartes learned that President Xu was present and took it as a sign that the guild was serious about the peace talks.

Xu Yi rejected the Candel Empire’s preliminary peace agreement as insulting and left the talks, making clear that the Xinfei Merchant Guild would rather continue fighting than accept its terms. The chapter ended with Marquis Descartes and the Candel delegation left alone in the drawing room.

• Xu Yi considered the Candel Empire’s request for peace and attended the talks because he was willing to accept a satisfactory settlement.
• Marquis Descartes presented the empire’s preliminary agreement, which offered the Rulson Kingdom preferential access and the Xinfei Merchant Guild favorable trade and legal treatment.
• Xu Yi dismissed the agreement and told Marquis Descartes that the parties could meet on the battlefield instead.
• Xu Yi and the Xinfei Merchant Guild personnel left the drawing room, and Count Didamans criticized the empire’s offer before leaving with the Rulson delegation.
• Marquis Descartes and the remaining Candel Empire delegates sat alone in the room, stunned.

Marquis Descartes’s failed attempts to negotiate gave way to the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces’ rapid conquest of Candel Empire territory and a wave of provincial secessions. As the allied forces entered Central Province and threatened Wimbledon City, the Xinfei Merchant Guild finally agreed to peace talks, giving the desperate empire a chance to negotiate.

• Marquis Descartes learned that the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces had captured Mobigan City and, after their requests for talks were refused, concluded that the Candel Empire could only wait on the battlefield.
• The Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces captured Talaman Province in twenty-one days, killing Duke Lagor and defeating or driving back the Archmages sent to reinforce the province.
• Duke Elman Windsor declared Southern Province independent, and Tural Province seceded from the Candel Empire to join the Stantin Duchy, stripping the empire of its southern coast and much of its magic industry.
• Thirteen more provinces declared secession as the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces advanced, and on August 16 they captured Saint Antonis City and entered Central Province.
• Five days later, Marquis Descartes arrived at Saint Antonis City and learned that the Xinfei Merchant Guild had agreed to another round of peace talks.

Xu Yi presented the Candel Empire with strict ceasefire terms and gave it one week to respond, while Marquis Descartes tried to buy time for the empire. After the delegation departed, Xu Yi and Count Didamans discussed how the war had strengthened the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s position and profits.

• Xu Yi gave Marquis Descartes a ceasefire agreement requiring the Candel Empire to open its economy to the Xinfei Merchant Guild and prohibit research into military magic machinery.
• Marquis Descartes objected to the terms, and Xu Yi said the guild had signed nearly identical agreements with seventeen countries and allowed the empire one week to consider them.
• Count Didamans presented the Rulson Kingdom’s ceasefire agreement, which Marquis Descartes took back with the guild’s terms for the emperor and the Elders' Parliament to review.
• The Candel Empire’s delegation left Saint Antonis City after two days, asking the allied forces to suspend hostilities while it deliberated.
• Count Didamans said Marquis Descartes was stalling, and Xu Yi explained that the war had brought the guild new allies, restored its commerce, and yielded valuable resources and profits.

After the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces halted outside Saint Antonis City and entered peace talks with the Candel Empire, Xu Yi explained to Stille why he had no intention of capturing Wimbledon City: destroying the empire would fracture it and obstruct the spread of magic industry. He then asked Stille about her inspection of the Demoncloud Continent, and she said it had gone wonderfully.

• The Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces rejected the Candel Empire’s proposed terms, negotiated for five days with Marquis Descartes, and sent him back with a new ceasefire agreement and half a month to consider it.
• While the allied forces remained at Saint Antonis City, Xu Yi and Stille relaxed on a beach in the Tural Autonomous Territory and Stille questioned his decision to delay the advance.
• Xu Yi explained that capturing Wimbledon City would not destroy the Candel Empire and that breaking the empire into smaller states would make spreading magic industry harder.
• Stille agreed that the Xinfei Merchant Guild could not absorb a fragmented empire and complained that promoting the New Moon Merchant Guild’s mana projection devices in the region had been difficult.
• Xu Yi advised Stille to focus on the Demoncloud Continent and asked how her inspection had gone; Stille replied that it had gone wonderfully.

Stille reported on the Demoncloud Continent’s development potential, while Xu Yi weighed its limits and considered how the war with the Candel Empire could affect the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s plans. After peace talks failed, the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces advanced toward Wimbledon City but were surrounded on the Tara Plain by a vastly larger enemy army.

• Stille told Xu Yi about the Demoncloud Continent’s dragons, local races, human visitors, and potential as an untapped market.
• Xu Yi considered the continent’s resources and weak population, and concluded that the guild still depended on the Sains Continent as its main market.
• Stille asked Xu Yi how long the war would last, and he explained that he wanted the Candel Empire to remain stable and compliant.
• The sixth round of peace talks between the Candel Empire, the Rulson Kingdom, and the Xinfei Merchant Guild ended without an agreement on October 2.
• On October 5, the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces captured three cities in the Candel Empire’s Central Province and advanced toward Wimbledon City.
• On October 16, the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces encountered a 200,000-strong Candel Empire army and 250,000 Malo Empire troops, who surrounded their 60,000 soldiers on the Tara Plain.

Candel and Malo Empire commanders prepared to attack the encircled Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces, believing their combined army of 450,000 offered their best chance to defeat the Xinfei Merchant Guild. The chapter ended with both empires treating the coming battle as decisive for their survival.

• Borogor questioned why the Xinfei Merchant Guild had entered the encirclement, while Generals Soros and Talenmir offered competing explanations.
• Marshal Sudiman warned Candel's generals that losing the battle could doom their empire and ordered the Malo forces to attack according to plan.
• Sudiman worried that Mana Tanks and the Xinfei Merchant Guild's anti-mage weapons could undermine the empires' plans and put their remaining Archmages at risk.
• Marshal Senli rallied the Malo Empire's commanders, insisting they commit themselves fully to winning the battle.
• Senli reflected that the battle might be the two empires' only chance to defeat the Xinfei Merchant Guild and secure their futures.

Count Darcy and Captain Hart prepared the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces to fight while surrounded by the Candel and Malo Empires, and the allied armies launched a cavalry assault. The chapter ended as the Mana Cannon Battalion’s barrage shattered Baron Ramos’s charge and devastated the First Cavalry Regiment.

• Count Darcy asked Captain Hart about the Mana Airship Battalion, and Hart explained that it would focus on suppressing the enemy Archmages.
• Count Darcy assessed the enemy armies and proposed sending Mana Tanks to disrupt their formation, but the empires’ forces launched attacks from every direction.
• Baron Ramos led the Candel Empire’s First Cavalry Regiment in a charge, driven by hatred over his brother’s death.
• Captain Hart ordered the Mana Cannon Battalion to fire, and explosions tore through the charging cavalry, breaking its formation.

The Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces devastated the Candel and Malo Empires’ cavalry with Mana Cannon fire as the empires launched their attack. The battle continued with Marshal Sudiman ordering the surviving Light Cavalry to charge, despite their catastrophic losses.

• Mana Cannon Shells tore through the two empires’ Heavy Cavalry, leaving fewer than thirty percent of the twenty thousand riders still mounted and advancing.
• Marshal Sudiman accepted that traditional soldiers could no longer dominate the battlefield and ordered two new corps into battle without holding back.
• Captain Hart told Count Darcy that Xinfei Merchant Guild’s Military Magic Machinery was even stronger on defense, then ordered the Mana Cannon Battalion to fire at full strength.
• The Allied Forces’ bombardment annihilated the remaining Heavy Cavalry and inflicted more than fifty percent casualties on nearly forty thousand Light Cavalry in less than two minutes.
• Marshal Sudiman refused to withdraw the Light Cavalry and ordered them to keep charging, threatening to behead anyone who fled.

The Candel and Malo Empires tried to exhaust the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces’ Mana Cannon ammunition with repeated attacks, forcing Commander Hart to send out Mana War Chariots and Mana Tanks. The Malo Empire’s counterattack slowed the vehicles, but the allied forces destroyed its light cavalry and prepared to continue the battle.

• The Candel and Malo Empire armies pressed their attack despite the destruction of their cavalry, while Count Darcy warned Commander Hart that allied ammunition would last only half an hour.
• Commander Hart sent the Rulson Kingdom’s five hundred Mana War Chariots and the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s two hundred Mana Tanks against the Malo Empire’s southwest formation, while allied cannons concentrated fire on the Candel troops.
• Marshal Senli sent Malo light cavalry to harass the advancing vehicles and ordered the empire’s Mana Cannons to bombard the ground, creating craters that slowed the tanks and chariots.
• Commander Hart ordered the two hundred Mana Tanks to form a line and fire on the charging Malo light cavalry, killing most of the first ten thousand riders in two volleys.
• Rulson soldiers emerged from the Mana War Chariots and fired on the surviving Malo cavalry, completing the destruction of the thirty thousand light cavalry sent by the Malo Empire.

The Xinfei Merchant Guild's Mana Airship Battalion crushed the Two Great Empires' forces, while its blue light rendered even the Archmages' magic useless. Xu Yi gathered the seven enemy Archmages and asked what magic was, leaving the fate of the battle—and the continent—poised for a new discussion.

• The Mana Airship Battalion's overwhelming arrival ended the Two Great Empires' hope of victory and left their armies unable to fight back or flee.
• Count Darcy questioned why Xu Yi had made the Rulson-Xinfei Allied Forces fight so long, and Captain Hart explained that Xu Yi wanted to destroy the empires' will to resist.
• The four Archmages and sixteen Great Mages failed to affect the Mana Airships with spells, Forbidden Spells, or Magic Domains.
• Xu Yi appeared before the enemy Mages, repelled their combined attack with blue light, and explained that his High-Frequency Magic Particle Stabilizer neutralized their magic.
• Xu Yi invited the Archmages from the Candel Empire and the Malo Empire to join him, gathering all seven before asking them what magic was.

Marshal Senli and the Malo Empire prepared to face the advancing Rulson-Xinfei forces, but the arrival of the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s enormous Mana Airship fleet overwhelmed both the Malo and Candel armies. The Archmages’ magic proved useless against the ships, leaving the empires’ forces in chaos and despair.

• Marshal Senli asked four Malo Empire Archmages to take responsibility for the coming fight as the Rulson-Xinfei forces advanced.
• More than a hundred Xinfei Merchant Guild Mana Airships appeared, prompting Archmages and Great Mages from the Malo and Candel Empires to attack them.
• The Archmages’ spells vanished against the airships’ blue light, and the ships spread across the battlefield.
• The Mana Airships fired beams that passed through the empires’ Magic Shields and struck their soldiers, plunging both formations into chaos.
• A Candel Empire Archmage recalled Archmage Orphalian and Archmage Laduka’s warning that Archmages were no longer decisive in war.

Xu Yi challenged seven Archmages to reconsider what magic was, explaining that the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s strength came from studying magic scientifically rather than treating it only as a tool for powerful spells. When the Archmages struggled to grasp his ideas, Xu Yi decided to demonstrate them with an experiment.

• Xu Yi asked the seven Archmages what magic was, provoking the Malo Empire Archmages, then argued that their limited understanding explained why the Xinfei Merchant Guild could defeat them without deploying Mages.
• An Archmage from the Candel Empire defined magic as Mages using mana to control magic elements and give them different forms, and the others agreed.
• Xu Yi questioned how mana and magic elements worked in measurable detail, but the Archmages did not understand his terms and admitted they had not read the Xinfei Magic Industry Weekly.
• Xu Yi introduced the foundations of magical science and explained that the Xinfei Merchant Guild studied both how magic worked and why, including magic elements themselves.
• Seeing that the Archmages could not grasp his scientific perspective through explanation alone, Xu Yi decided to conduct a small experiment.

Xu Yi demonstrated to seven Archmages that magic could take many forms and explained his theory that mana and magic elements had no inherent elemental attributes. He left them confronting a scientific view of magic that challenged the continent’s traditional understanding.

• Xu Yi asked seven Archmages to cast Fireball Spells and pointed out how their fireballs differed in size, color, and brightness.
• Xu Yi challenged the Archmages to explain why their spells behaved as they did, then described how years of research had helped him investigate the nature of magic.
• Xu Yi expanded and shrank a fireball with precise control, then transformed it directly into water, wind, and earth forms.
• Xu Yi explained that magic elements had no inherent attributes and that mental vibrations could shape them into different forms.
• Xu Yi compared a Mage’s ability to control magic elements with magic arrays and said the Xinfei Merchant Guild studied arrays more precisely and scientifically.

Xu Yi demonstrated the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s new Magic Particle Wave-Splitting Beam Cannon to Marshal Sudiman and the armies, showing that its power surpassed even a Forbidden Spell. The blast split the Tanggula Mountain Ranges, leaving Sudiman and the assembled Mages stunned.

• Xu Yi told the seven Archmages that traditional magical thinking could not stop the Xinfei Merchant Guild and urged them to explore magic through scientific research.
• Marshal Sudiman refused to surrender the Candel Empire’s army and challenged Xu Yi to let his fists do the talking.
• Xu Yi contacted Rokel and ordered a test firing of the Magic Particle Wave-Splitting Beam Cannon.
• Ten Mana Airships converged their beams into a sphere of magic that grew more powerful than a Forbidden Spell.
• The sphere fired into the Tanggula Mountain Ranges and blasted a vast gap through them, after which Xu Yi asked Sudiman if his fist was big enough.

A series of ceasefires ended the year-and-a-half war, while the defeated powers lost territory and influence to the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s allies. With the other countries’ postwar outcomes established, the chapter left the Xinfei Merchant Guild’s own next move unanswered.

• The Candel Empire signed a ceasefire with the Xinfei Merchant Guild and the Rulson Kingdom after its defeat, while unrest and provincial independence continued to threaten the empire.
• The Malo Empire, the Lampari Kingdom, and the Drake Duchy signed a ceasefire, and the Frank and Sark Kingdoms disappeared as Lampari and Drake divided their territories.
• Grand Duchess Caroline declared the Drake Duchy a kingdom and became its first monarch, while the Lampari Kingdom began incorporating its expanded lands.
• The Wales Duchy captured Dero City with help from the Xinfei Merchant Guild Guard Corps, and King Wakeli died defending the palace as the Dero Kingdom fell.
• The Nozdormu Commercial United Kingdom counterattacked with Xinfei military magic machinery, then secured unrestricted trading rights across the southeastern countries through the Southeastern Treaty.
• The Mana Magical Kingdom signed a ceasefire with the Xinfei Merchant Guild, ending the war, while the guild’s own postwar plans remained unknown.