Chapter Summaries

Li Wei drew out the Goddess of Night and learned how sacrifices let the gods affect the darkened world, as well as how they had sealed the Outer Fiend. After realizing the Goddess knew little about the present era, he showed her a white mask, which she said was connected to the monster and might be activated with blood.

• Li Wei questioned the Goddess of Night about sacrifices, and she explained that devoted believers’ souls became flame that let gods bestow power in the world.
• The Goddess of Night revealed that the Outer Fiend could escape into other worlds, so the gods had once anchored it by merging it with a believer before sealing it.
• She explained that prayer arrays could direct sacrificed believers’ souls to their gods, and urged Li Wei to lure the monster into an array and sacrifice believers to seal it again.
• Li Wei inferred that the Goddess of Night knew little about the current era and might have been near him through the Ring.
• Li Wei showed the Goddess of Night a white mask, and she sensed it was connected to the Outer Fiend and said blood could activate it.

Li Wei investigated the monster’s unusual existence and learned from Annie that its cellular structure absorbed organic matter but struggled with inorganic materials. He infiltrated the spatially fragmented Fairy Spirit Palace disguised as a masked envoy and followed another envoy toward the monster.

• Li Wei spotted a spatial scar over Munich and wondered whether the monster was trapped between worlds A and B like the masked man had been.
• Annie showed Li Wei that the monster’s triangular cells resonated, merged, and devoured organic tissue, leading him to believe steel could stop it.
• Li Wei entered the Fairy Spirit Palace during a storm and carefully navigated its shifting spaces, where worlds A and B overlapped.
• Li Wei encountered armed soldiers kneeling to a masked divine envoy and recognized the envoy’s clothes as matching those of an earlier assassin.
• Li Wei disguised himself as another masked envoy, convinced the first envoy he was Number Nine, and followed him down the stairs to explain himself to the true god.

Li Wei infiltrated the masked cult by posing as Number Nine, then revealed himself to the True God and escaped after planting a bomb. The Eye of the Sky carried him back to his own world as the cult’s palace exploded.

• Li Wei bluffed the masked man into believing he was Number Nine by claiming Baron Hanklis had killed him and changed his personality.
• Li Wei entered an underground hall filled with hundreds of masked people and saw the powerful old priest they called the True God.
• Li Wei revealed his true appearance, warned the True God that he would return, and transformed a coin into a bomb.
• Li Wei vanished as the masked people attacked, and the bomb exploded when an invisible light repaired the distortion and returned them to the hall.
• Li Wei ordered the Eye of the Sky to advance, and it brought them back to the brightly lit city in their own world.

Li Wei returned from the parallel world, brought Annie to the Empire, and reported the surviving monster and his findings to the Queen. As he learned that the Kingdom of Kront had routed Francis and other powers, Francis officially surrendered to Kront.

• Li Wei reviewed his quest rewards, upgraded Demon Hunter, and invited Annie to travel with him to the Empire.
• Li Wei explained the parallel world to Annie, who saw Fog City’s steam-powered technology and the flying battleship Cyclops as the Eye of the Sky arrived.
• Li Wei and Katie presented their evidence and warned the Queen that the monster was likely still alive and that Kront might be connected to it.
• The Queen showed Li Wei reports of Francis’s defeat and the Olucci Empire’s losses as Kront advanced across the region.
• A messenger delivered news that Francis had officially surrendered to the Kingdom of Kront.

Li Wei persuaded the Queen to support Annie’s research into advanced medicine, prioritizing antibiotics and anesthetics over chimera development. He arranged for Annie to design the instruments she needed and offered her a place to live, leaving her research ready to begin.

• Li Wei told the Queen that Annie came from a parallel world and could bring advanced medical knowledge to the Empire.
• Li Wei explained that Annie’s world had effective medicines for infections and tuberculosis, and the Queen agreed to have them tested.
• Li Wei asked Annie to focus on biopharmaceuticals, beginning with anti-infective drugs and anesthetics.
• Annie said she needed specialized instruments, and Li Wei offered to have her designs built.
• Annie asked for a laboratory and somewhere to live, and Li Wei invited her to stay at his place.

Li Wei visited the military factory to inspect the completed fourth stage of a Mecha project and prepare the Eye of the Sky for war. He left the Mecha and all fifty guided missiles with the researchers, urging them to improve the missiles’ power and range.

• After spending a day with Alice and Sophia, Li Wei went to the military factory, where Miss Cront and John Dun reported that the research had advanced.
• John showed Li Wei guided missiles with a range of fifty to a hundred kilometers, though their accuracy remained poor.
• John demonstrated the new Mecha’s steam-powered pile driver, which punched through three layers of test armor.
• Miss Cront and John showed Li Wei the Mecha’s shoulder-mounted engines, which enabled limited acceleration and flight, and its combat test satisfied him.
• Li Wei left the Eye of the Sky at the factory, ordered John to reinstall its launchers and load the Mecha aboard, and took all fifty missiles.
• Li Wei told John to focus on greater missile power and range, joking that the blast radius should match the range.

Li Wei and Annie reviewed the Kingdom of Kront’s military units and the Empire’s preparations to counter them at a top-secret meeting. Afterward, Li Wei offered to take Annie to meet her counterpart from this world.

• Li Wei and Annie examined intelligence on Kront’s Beastman Armored Troopers, giants, Armored Beasts, support units, Blaze Birds, Leviathans, and Deep-Sea Krakens.
• The Empire’s military described new Powered Armor, Guardian-Class Mechs, upgraded Scout Airships, special Blaze Bird shells, and depth charges developed to counter Kront’s forces.
• Li Wei presented his guided missiles, but the meeting’s attendees doubted they could hit targets at long range.
• After leaving the Parliament building, Annie praised the Empire’s meeting and its leadership, while Li Wei complained about meetings.
• Li Wei checked his pocket watch and invited Annie to meet the version of herself from this world.

Li Wei brought an alternate-world Annie to meet the Annie researching the Dragon, where the two compared their temperaments and discussed the institute's work. After learning that Professor Franklin and other biologists were undermining Annie's authority, her counterpart and Li Wei urged her to use the authority granted by the Queen; Annie said she understood.

• Li Wei passed the institute's security checkpoints with the alternate Annie and met Annie Branson in her office.
• Li Wei introduced the two Annies, and they compared their appearances and discussed the alternate Annie's Chimera expertise.
• Annie Branson explained that Professor Franklin and other biologists were obstructing her Dragon research and leaving her to handle too much work alone.
• The alternate Annie urged her counterpart to discipline the insubordinate researchers and use her position to protect her work.
• Li Wei backed the alternate Annie's advice, reminding Annie that the institute served the Empire's goals and that she had a duty to exercise her authority.
• Annie considered their advice and said she understood.

Li Wei explained to Miss Delinte how Annie would need to wield political power to protect her research and achieve her goals. A week later, Annie confronted the institute’s delayed project teams, exposed Professor Franklin’s failure to finish his research, and had his team dissolved as soldiers removed him.

• Li Wei discussed the influence of power and funding with Miss Delinte, who worried that Annie might change as she gained authority.
• A week later, Annie summoned the institute’s research team heads to a meeting and questioned their delays, especially Professor Franklin’s work on dragon blood.
• Professor Franklin blamed security restrictions and accused Annie of stealing his nearly completed report when she announced that she had finished the research.
• Annie presented her more comprehensive report, which the team heads recognized as independent work completed in one week.
• Annie dissolved Professor Franklin’s project team and ordered him and his researchers to leave the institute, then turned to the other teams’ progress.

Li Wei traveled aboard the refitted Eye of the Sky to help Francis’s resistance, whose young saintess commander might be a descendant of Emperor Arthur’s Undying Saintess. Suspecting the Holy Lord Church and Yite Capitalists had ulterior motives behind Francis’s surrender, he decided to investigate the City of Flowers before approaching the resistance.

• Old Butler assigned Li Wei to assist the Francisian resistance, explaining that its young saintess commander had repeatedly driven back the Kingdom of Kront’s forces.
• Li Wei reflected on reports that the commander might belong to the Dark family and be descended from the Undying Saintess among Emperor Arthur’s Twelve Knights.
• Li Wei traveled aboard the upgraded Eye of the Sky, which could carry his mecha, Night Raven, powered by Dr. Tester’s improved steam-electric technology.
• Li Wei reviewed the political situation and wondered whether the Holy Lord Church and Yite Capitalists had helped bring about Francis’s surrender for their own ends.
• Li Wei chose to investigate the City of Flowers and its Church and capitalists before seeking out the resistance.

Disguised as a Cront soldier in the occupied City of Flowers, Li Wei decided to assassinate General Von Cartman to delay Cront’s preparations against the Empire. As Von Cartman arrived at the Royal Palace to accept Francis’s surrender, Li Wei took aim and fired.

• Li Wei read reports of Cront’s advance and observed the disorder, scarcity, and collaboration in the occupied City of Flowers.
• After contacting the rear, Li Wei resolved to assassinate General Von Cartman when the general arrived to formalize Francis’s surrender.
• Li Wei watched troops secure the city as Von Cartman’s carriage reached the Royal Palace.
• Li Wei aimed his Cane Gun at Von Cartman, slowed the flow of time, and pulled the trigger.

Li Wei assassinated General Von Kaleman and Francis's acting president, then fought off the soldiers and a Holy Knight before investigating the church's involvement. He found Jeanne betrayed by her companions and intervened as she left their hideout.

• Li Wei shot General Von Kaleman and Francis's acting president, then killed the Beastmen soldiers who charged toward him.
• A Holy Knight attacked Li Wei in an apartment, but Li Wei's explosives killed him after his power failed.
• Li Wei concluded the Holy Lord Church had been waiting nearby and identified the blonde assassin as Jeanne before heading after her.
• Jeanne told her companions that another assassin had killed the general and acting president, but they turned their guns on her; their weapons burst apart when Li Wei intervened.
• Jeanne confronted her companions as they admitted betraying her for money and status, then left the room; Li Wei mocked them and a gunshot rang out.

Li Wei sheltered Joan Dark after her companions betrayed her and listened as she recounted her amnesia, mysterious powers, and role in Francis’s resistance. With the resistance disbanded and Joan unsure where to go, Li Wei proposed investigating her past.

• Li Wei evaded the soldiers searching for Joan and brought her to a temporary apartment for tea.
• Joan told Li Wei she had lost her memory and only believed her name was Joan Dark.
• Joan recounted defeating Cront’s attackers with overwhelming strength and being hailed as a saint because her name matched a Francisian legend.
• Joan described leading resistance fighters with uncanny knowledge of the terrain and joining a plan to enter the City of Flowers after Francis surrendered.
• Joan explained that her companions had betrayed her and that the resistance had disbanded.
• Li Wei proposed that they investigate Joan’s past.

Li Wei consulted historian Richard Scott about the holy maiden and learned that her title came from Emperor Arthur, not the Holy Lord Church, and that she may have been an alchemist. Richard pointed him toward Mount Aiden, where her lost castle might reveal her secrets, and Li Wei decided to investigate.

• Li Wei called Richard Scott, who explained that the Holy Lord Church and Francis had suppressed records about the holy maiden and the Dark family.
• Li Wei read the Biography of Emperor Arthur and learned that Arthur named the virtuous young woman a holy maiden after recruiting her as one of the Twelve Knights.
• Richard suggested that the holy maiden may have been an alchemist who discovered the elixir of immortality, possibly explaining her apparent undying nature and lost memories.
• Richard told Li Wei that the holy maiden had built a castle on Mount Aiden, also known as Maiden Peak, but no one had found it.
• Li Wei marked Mount Aiden on his map and decided to investigate the castle and the mystery of the undying army.

Li Wei searched Mount Aiden for the saintess’s castle and reflected on her many talents and mysterious history. He spotted a Cront army convoy and camps on the mountain, leaving him to suspect that they were searching for the castle too.

• Li Wei surveyed the peaks of Mount Aiden but found no visible trace of the castle described in the Biography of Emperor Arthur.
• Li Wei reviewed accounts of the saintess’s medical, military, astronomical, and agricultural skills, and questioned why she had built a castle to guard her people after Emperor Arthur unified the world.
• Li Wei considered whether the saintess had sought immortality and concluded that her castle might be hidden inside Mount Aiden.
• Li Wei noticed white soul radiances moving uphill and used his viewing scope to identify a Cront army convoy.
• Li Wei spotted Cront army camps on the mountain’s lower slopes and wondered whether the Cront people were also searching for the castle.

Miller Schneider struggled to find the Holy Maiden's Castle for the impatient Cront military, while Li Wei and Jeanne searched Holy Maiden Peak using Jeanne's memories. Jeanne identified a broad area that she could not remember, giving Li Wei a new place to investigate.

• Miller Schneider argued with a Cront officer that winter snow and the lack of clues made finding the ancient castle difficult.
• Li Wei learned that Jeanne remembered the mountains' terrain but had no memory of a castle there.
• Jeanne reasoned that a remote mountaintop would be an impractical place to build a castle.
• Li Wei questioned Jeanne about the landscape, and she found a large area around the main summit that did not match her memories.
• Li Wei decided to begin searching the unfamiliar area, confident that they could find a way forward.

Li Wei and Jeanne searched the Sunset Mountains for the Saintess's Castle, following waterways and examining clues as they went. After Jeanne found a lily carving, Li Wei matched its pattern to the mountain peaks and believed they could locate the castle.

• Li Wei explained that they should follow mountain streams upstream to find a substantial water source that might have served the Saintess's Castle.
• Li Wei examined Jeanne's hand-knitted clothes and concluded that someone had likely changed her into them not long before she woke up.
• Li Wei sent a Twin-Tailed Pixie into a mountain lake, where a current swept it into a crevice and a fish swallowed it.
• Jeanne found a carved pattern of six lilies on a rock face and said she had somehow sensed it was there.
• Li Wei considered why the Kingdom of Kront sought the castle, then compared the lily carving with his map and the mountain peaks and saw a possible route to the castle.

Li Wei and Jeanne uncovered a vast lily carving beneath the ground, which suggested they had found the hidden entrance to the Saintess's castle. With a Cront army camp nearby, they decided to attack it before continuing, while Jeanne remained uncertain whether she would ultimately side with the Empire or Francis.

• Li Wei realized the entrance might be hidden underground and found a lily motif carved into stone after he and Jeanne dug into the uneven ground.
• Li Wei proposed wiping out the nearby Cront army camp before its soldiers could threaten them or discover their excavation.
• Jeanne warned that the camp held about a hundred soldiers, but Li Wei planned to use the darkness to conceal their attack.
• Li Wei explained that he was helping Jeanne partly to advance the Empire's claim to Francis, and asked which side she would choose.
• Jeanne said she did not know where her allegiance lay and suggested they deal with the camp first.

Li Wei and Jeanne wiped out a Cront camp, then uncovered and activated the entrance to the saintess's domain. The descending platform opened onto a passage filled with bones, leaving them to face the mystery of what had happened there.

• Li Wei disabled the camp's searchlights and killed soldiers while Jeanne frightened the Cront troops by posing as a vengeful spirit.
• The soldiers panicked and fired on one another until Jeanne was the camp's sole survivor, while Li Wei shot down those who tried to flee.
• Li Wei, Jeanne, and the crew of the Eye of the Sky and the Steam Mech Troopers uncovered a circular stone slab carved with lilies and phoenixes.
• Li Wei and Jeanne descended alone on the slab after Li Wei pressed its central mechanism, and it opened into a passage lit by gemstones.
• Li Wei and Jeanne found bones and rusted weapons scattered throughout the passage, and Li Wei drew the Persuader.

Li Wei and Jeanne explored a corridor filled with the remains of horned monsters and found evidence that they had killed one another while fleeing. In a warehouse, Li Wei discovered empty suits of armor connected by strange inner strips, leading him to suspect the saintess had commanded an undying army like his Dolls.

• Li Wei examined the horned skulls and concluded that Dog-Headed Monsters, Bull-Headed Monsters, and Humanoid Monsters had fought and died while retreating from an unknown danger.
• Jeanne suggested that the skulls belonged to demons because they resembled those depicted in the Holy Lord Cathedral's murals.
• Li Wei and Jeanne continued through the passage and confirmed that the open area had been a warehouse connected to a transport route.
• Li Wei found silver-white armor bearing lily and phoenix emblems, but it contained no human bones.
• Li Wei discovered strange strips inside the armor and wondered whether the saintess had controlled an undying army like his Dolls.