Chapter Summaries

Li Wei stopped Mrs. Nicole from driving recklessly and brought her back to the Manor, where he learned that Justice Buckley had apparently killed himself. He examined the scene and questioned Mike, leaving the circumstances of Buckley's death unresolved.

• Li Wei used the Doll Bird and [Shifting Positions] to reach Mrs. Nicole's truck, stop it, and bring her back to the Manor.
• The butler told Li Wei that Justice Buckley had killed himself, and Mrs. Nicole fainted from the shock.
• The butler recounted that Charlie and Harry had fought over a pistol before Mack reported finding Buckley dead in the East Side Corridor study.
• Li Wei examined Buckley's gunshot wound and a note accepting responsibility, then ordered servants to secure the study until the police arrived.
• Li Wei questioned Mike, who said he had rushed to the study after hearing a gunshot while searching for his wife, and recorded Mike's statement.

Li Wei questioned Mrs. Mack, Charlie, and Mr. Harry about Justice Buckley’s apparent suicide and the fight involving Charlie’s gun. Harry confirmed that one shot had been heard, but Li Wei found two rounds missing from the revolver and left to investigate further.

• Mrs. Mack told Li Wei she had stayed in her room after leaving the salon and had noticed nothing.
• Charlie said he had confronted Harry with his gun, which he believed was unloaded, and that it fired during their struggle.
• Charlie suggested Justice Buckley had killed himself because his family’s affairs had come to light and his plans for Harry had fallen apart.
• Mr. Harry told Li Wei he had returned to his bedroom, then wrestled with Charlie after Charlie pointed a gun at him.
• Li Wei examined Harry’s revolver and found two rounds missing, though Harry recalled hearing only one shot.

Li Wei investigated Justice Buckley's apparent suicide and used forensic evidence to expose a plot to frame Charlie. Harry and Mr. Mack were taken in for questioning, while Nicole remained unconscious.

• Li Wei reviewed everyone's movements and learned that a servant had heard a bang before Nicole drove away.
• Li Wei explained that bullet-mark comparisons and the cartridge case in Charlie's revolver connected the murder weapon to the gun found at the scene.
• Li Wei accused Harry of shooting Justice Buckley, staging a suicide, and arranging for Mr. Mack to fire a shot so Charlie's gun would seem loaded.
• Li Wei said Charlie had an alibi and that forensic examination showed the suicide note had been written after the paper was stained with blood.
• Harry denied the accusations, but Li Wei told Lestrade to take Harry and Mr. Mack in for questioning on suspicion of murder.

Li Wei explained how Mr. Harry’s elaborate attempt to frame Charlie exposed his murder of Justice Buckley, and how Mike’s confession and the collected evidence secured the case. Li Wei left the Manor with Lestrade, planning to warn the judiciary about the importance of evidence.

• Li Wei identified flaws in Harry’s forged suicide note that showed Justice Buckley had been murdered.
• Harry confessed that he shot Justice Buckley after the High Judge demanded he divorce Nicole and resign, then pressured Mike to help cover up the crime.
• Mike confessed that Harry recruited him to frame Charlie by staging a second gunshot and switching the cartridges and spent casing between the guns.
• The police found a bullet that supported Mike’s account, and Harry confessed after Mike gave his statement.
• Li Wei decided to issue a notice warning judges about evidence and left the Manor with Lestrade.

Li Wei cooked a hometown-style lunch and taught Erin how to prepare rice and shredded potatoes. The meal delighted his guests, while Li Wei resolved to ask the Holy Maiden about plastic greenhouses and plan a winter vegetable supply initiative.

• Li Wei announced that he would cook lunch, and Erin and the children joined him in the kitchen.
• Li Wei showed Erin how to steam rice and instructed Alice, Sophia, and the Little Mermaid to wash vegetables.
• Li Wei demonstrated shredding potatoes and taught Erin the technique while Sophia watched closely.
• Li Wei prepared a home-style meal, and Katie, Adele, Erin, and the others enjoyed the unfamiliar dishes.
• Li Wei decided to discuss plastic greenhouses with the Holy Maiden and pursue a vegetable supply initiative the following year.

At the New Year's banquet, the Queen formally introduced Dame Joan Dark and condemned the Holy Lord Church, while Li Wei and others received decorations for their wartime service. After the ceremony, Princess Louise asked Li Wei to dance, leaving him to accept her invitation.

• Li Wei discussed Francis's suspicious inactivity with General Haig and watched Sir Aiton fret over how to arrange the Queen's and the Holy Maiden's positions at the banquet.
• Li Wei encouraged nervous inventor John Dun to keep developing aircraft and suggested aiming to reach the moon.
• The Queen introduced Dame Joan Dark as one of Emperor Arthur's Twelve Knights and said the Holy Lord Church had imprisoned her, while Dame Joan accused the Church of worshipping demons and linked them to Francis's tragedy.
• The Queen awarded medals to soldiers and officers, including Li Wei, General Haig, and John Dun; Li Wei also received an oak leaf for another Merit Medal.
• Princess Louise approached Li Wei after the ceremony and invited him to dance, and he accepted.

Li Wei explained to Princess Louise that he would not marry her because becoming prince consort would cost him the power he needed to protect the Empire’s interests. The queen reassured Louise that Li Wei and the Thistle Knight Order were necessary checks on the Royal Family, then took out an old key connected to a question the returned Holy Maiden could finally answer.

• Li Wei told Princess Louise that marrying her would strip him of his political offices and power, preventing him from opposing policies that harmed the Empire.
• Li Wei argued that unchecked business interests could form monopolies, exploit workers, and ultimately weaken the Empire, while Princess Louise questioned whether the Royal Family and Empire were truly separate.
• After the banquet, Princess Louise told the queen about Li Wei’s refusal, and the queen admitted she did not fully trust the Royal Family to avoid corruption in the future.
• The queen explained that Li Wei and the Thistle Knight Order were meant to restrain both the Royal Family and the Order itself, and said Li Wei’s reluctance to seek influence reassured her.
• Princess Louise asked whether Li Wei should be told about Katie, but the queen said she would explain the situation herself when the time came.
• After Louise left, the queen took out an old key and reflected that the returned Holy Maiden had finally answered the question tied to it.

Lydia and Henry investigated a silent outpost and discovered that a group of women had killed its soldiers and enthralled anyone who approached them. After the unit defeated the attackers and captured one, Lydia decided to report the mystery to her superiors.

• Lydia and Henry arrived at the outpost and found strange footprints leading inside, along with signs of a violent gunfight and no bodies upstairs.
• Lydia and Henry found a bloodied, naked soldier in the basement, and Henry knocked him unconscious after he attacked them.
• Lydia noticed octagonal bite marks on the dead soldiers as her companions became enthralled by the imprisoned women and opened the cell.
• Lydia shot at the red-haired woman as she tried to bite Henry, prompting Henry's ghostly wife to appear and Henry to kill the woman.
• Lydia, Henry, and the soldiers killed the other attackers and captured one woman, whom sunlight did not harm.
• Lydia decided that the strange captive and the outpost killings had to be left to her superiors.

Li Wei investigated a woman whose supernatural charm had enthralled soldiers and learned from the Holy Maiden that she was likely a witch bound to a demon. After realizing a powerful demon summoned through a witch might threaten Arthur’s seal in Francis, Li Wei decided to investigate the black fog using nonliving things.

• Li Wei examined the frozen woman with Soul Sight, erased the purple corruption around her soul, and sent Lydia away with the White Cat Fairy.
• Li Wei brought the unconscious woman and the bodies to the Floating City, where the Holy Maiden identified the women as witches who made pacts with demons.
• The Holy Maiden explained that witches could manipulate people, leave a witch’s-kiss mark on their victims, and potentially summon demons by burning their souls.
• Li Wei and the Holy Maiden considered whether a powerful demon could use a witch to destroy Emperor Arthur’s seal in Francis.
• After the Holy Maiden warned that the black fog corrupted living beings, Li Wei decided to investigate with nonliving things.

Li Wei discovered that demons were building eight guarded towers from living humans in Francis, arranged in an eight-pointed star that the Holy Maiden believed was a magic circle. They launched a daylight raid to destroy the towers before the final one was completed, and Li Wei gave the order to begin bombing.

• Li Wei used the Eye of the Sky and a Twin-Tailed Pixie to scout Francis, finding a flesh-and-bone tower protected by a barrier and guarded by demons.
• Li Wei reported the towers to the Holy Maiden, who identified their eight-pointed-star arrangement as a likely demonic magic circle.
• The Holy Maiden proposed sending her mithril golems into the miasma, while Li Wei planned bombardments to clear defenders and expose the towers' barriers.
• Li Wei reported the operation to the Queen and arranged a daylight assault with the Holy Maiden's doll legion and aerial bombing.
• At the appointed time, Li Wei ordered the attack and told his forces to prepare to drop bombs.

Li Wei and the Holy Maiden attacked the demons guarding the Tower, using bombers, angel dolls, and the Eye of the Sky’s main gun to destroy it. With the Tower gone, the miasma dispersed and sunlight weakened the demons, leaving Li Wei ready to launch an assault.

• Li Wei’s airships bombed the demon army around the Tower, but a scarlet barrier protected the Tower and the demons constructing it.
• The Holy Maiden sent her mithril angel dolls into battle, and they wiped out the flying demons while Li Wei’s forces bombarded the advancing ground army.
• The Holy Maiden’s angels destroyed the Magic Array Node and broke the barrier, but could not destroy the Tower, so Li Wei ordered the Eye of the Sky to fire its main gun.
• The main-gun shell struck the Tower, clearing the black fog and exposing the demons to sunlight, which caused them to collapse and flee in pain.
• The Holy Maiden concluded that the Towers sustained the miasma, and Li Wei ordered all forces to attack the weakened demons.

Li Wei and the Holy Maiden discovered that a Soul Prism had sustained the demons’ barrier, and Li Wei recognized it from an earlier encounter with the Holy Lord Church. After retreating at nightfall, Li Wei faced a powerful flying demon in the Night Raven (II), wounded it with an enlarged bullet, and charged in with his blade.

• The demons’ remains melted away after the miasma dispersed, and the Holy Maiden explained that they came from the Bottomless Abyss and did not fear death.
• The Holy Maiden showed Li Wei a shattered Soul Prism that demon worshippers had used to maintain the barrier, and Li Wei remembered seeing similar crystals near Fog City.
• Li Wei concluded that the region’s demons could not restore the miasma and ordered the airships and Floating City to withdraw before nightfall.
• A powerful flying demon attacked the retreating fleet and destroyed an airship with a fireball, but Li Wei intercepted its next attack with a missile from the Night Raven (II).
• Li Wei dodged the demon’s flames with a redirected bullet, enlarged the bullet into a bomb that wounded the demon, and drove his mecha through the smoke to strike with its blade.

Li Wei used the Night Raven’s weapons and abilities to defeat the Flame Demon, then severed its connection to the Bottomless Abyss before its body exploded. He flew deeper into the night as the demon’s flames faded.

• The Night Raven wounded the Flame Demon with its greatsword and escaped through the demon’s flames and pursuing winged demons.
• Li Wei fired missiles at the pursuing demons, breaking their formation, then transformed the Night Raven into a metal bird to evade the Flame Demon’s flaming arrows.
• The Night Raven transformed back into a Mecha, and Li Wei used [Shifting Positions] to exchange places with a bullet and stab the Flame Demon from behind.
• The Flame Demon’s core shattered, and it threatened to return for revenge before attempting to destroy everything with its remaining power.
• Li Wei cut off the Flame Demon’s connection to the Bottomless Abyss, causing it to explode, then flew deeper into the night.

Li Wei and the Holy Maiden discussed the demons’ growing resistance and the threat to the seal as their campaign to destroy the towers slowed. After learning that destroying a divine artifact could unleash enough power to erase a city, Li Wei considered using one, but decided to scout the City of Flowers first.

• Li Wei used the Twin-Tailed Pixie and [Shifting Positions] to destroy the Soul Prisms, then bombarded each tower and withdrew before nightfall as the fog dispersed.
• The Holy Maiden reported that searches of the cleared rear areas found corpses, ritual sites, abandoned prisons, and no survivors, while Li Wei worried that more witches might be hiding among refugees.
• Li Wei suspected the towers might be a diversion while the demons sought to break Arthur’s Seal, and the Holy Maiden confirmed that the City of Flowers was where the seal lay.
• Li Wei proposed using stronger bombs, and the Holy Maiden explained that destroying a divine artifact could unleash enough power to flatten a city, as had happened when a country sank and became the Storm Sea.
• The Holy Maiden described how the two remaining towers near the City of Flowers could reinforce each other, while Li Wei recalled the heavy losses his forces suffered during their last attack.
• After confirming that a physical explosion could not damage Arthur’s Seal, Li Wei decided to scout the City of Flowers again to uncover the demons’ plan.

Li Wei explored the ruined City of Flowers and overheard an armored demon discussing the war, Arthur's Seal, and a mysterious woman trying to open it. After the woman sensed him, Li Wei escaped and learned from the Holy Maiden that she was likely the Goddess of Joy or her emissary, leaving them with the possibility of winning her help by entertaining her.

• Li Wei guided the Twin-Tailed Pixie through the devastated City of Flowers and followed singing to a black-winged woman in a park.
• An armored warrior confronted the woman, and Li Wei overheard them discuss the demons' plans, three remaining Soul Towers, and her attempt to undo Arthur's Seal.
• The woman sensed Li Wei spying, so he severed his connection to the Twin-Tailed Pixie and hurried to tell the Holy Maiden what he had learned.
• The Holy Maiden explained the differences between demons and devils and identified the woman as the Goddess of Joy or her divine emissary.
• The Holy Maiden proposed that they might persuade the Goddess of Joy or her emissary to help them by pleasing her.

Li Wei decided to destroy the Natural Staff, hoping to resist the Goddess of Joy’s influence, and traveled to Gloom Canyon to carry out the plan. There, the mysterious young woman revealed herself, forced him to fight the Iron Warrior in an arena, and let him leave after the Night Raven defeated the Demon Army’s Commander-in-Chief.

• Li Wei obtained the Queen’s authorization to destroy the Natural Staff and chose Gloom Canyon as the site, rejecting the Holy Maiden’s suggestion to perform a ritual.
• Li Wei flew the Night Raven into Gloom Canyon, where a mysterious young woman appeared and revealed that she had previously disguised herself as the Holy Maiden.
• The young woman transported Li Wei and the Iron Warrior to an arena, where the Iron Warrior attacked him and Li Wei fought back using the Night Raven.
• Li Wei trapped the Iron Warrior with the transforming Night Raven and killed him with its pile driver.
• The young woman praised the Night Raven, told Li Wei he had eliminated the Demon Army’s Commander-in-Chief, and disappeared after mentioning that she liked his Imperial Comics.

Li Wei and the Holy Maiden launched a night assault to draw demons away from their towers, while Li Wei destroyed two towers and exposed the hidden Soul Prism in the City of Flowers. The Goddess of Joy’s trap revealed a mutated enemy guarding the Soul Prism, and Li Wei’s transformed Night Raven faced it for a second duel.

• The Holy Maiden explained that the gods had once been banished to the mortal world as saint incarnations, and Li Wei decided to attack the demons at night while destroying their towers.
• The Holy Maiden used explosive decoy airships and Mecha units to lure demons into battle, then reported to Li Wei that the enemy had taken the bait.
• Li Wei sent the Twin-Tailed Pixies to destroy Soul Prisms near the towers, then fired the Eye of the Sky’s main cannon and destroyed two towers.
• The black fog around the City of Flowers began to dissipate, revealing a hidden Soul Prism that Li Wei targeted with the main cannon.
• A mutated giant in red armor appeared to protect the Soul Prism, and Li Wei transformed the Night Raven into a metal dragon to face it.

Li Wei fought the Iron Warrior with his Mechanical Dragon as the enemy mutated into a regenerating mass of flesh and powered the barrier protecting the final Soul Prism tower. He destroyed the monster and tower with a coordinated lightning attack and Thermobaric Bomb, and dawn began to break over the City of Flowers.

• Li Wei commanded the Mechanical Dragon to fight the Iron Warrior with missiles, its extending tail, and aerial attacks.
• The Iron Warrior mutated into an enormous regenerating monster, and Li Wei discovered that it powered the Soul Prism tower’s barrier.
• As the Holy Maiden’s forces struggled against the demons, Li Wei ordered a Thermobaric Bomb loaded to finish the growing monster in one blow.
• The Mechanical Dragon tore into the flesh monster, burned it with steam, and blasted it with a torrent of lightning.
• Li Wei’s Thermobaric Bomb ignited around the monster, destroying it and the Soul Prism tower as the barrier shattered and dawn approached.

After the battle ended, Li Wei and the Holy Maiden discovered that the golden tower in Gloom Canyon was likely the ancient Nail of Order, which had reshaped the world and whose destruction could remove the barrier between worlds. The Goddess of Joy appeared to clarify that the devils had devised the plan involving the Nails of Order, then vanished, leaving Li Wei wary of her schemes.

• The battle ended as sunlight and Imperial forces wiped out the remaining demons across Francis.
• Li Wei took the Holy Maiden to the abyss in Gloom Canyon and showed her the chained golden tower.
• The Holy Maiden identified its carved script as divine language and theorized that the tower was the Nail of Order forged by the Golden Gods.
• Li Wei inferred that destroying the Nail of Order could remove the barrier between worlds, and the system marked the quest to protect it as completed with an SSS rating.
• The Goddess of Joy appeared and said the plan and the Nails of Order belonged to the devils, not the demons, before vanishing.

After the war, Li Wei received major rewards, upgraded Soul Sight and Demon Hunter, and planned to turn the White Lily Palace into an amusement park. At home, Little Mermaid found the Natural Staff, which transformed her tail into legs and unleashed rampant vines, leaving Li Wei unsure whether to destroy the staff.

• Li Wei received a large lifespan reward, upgraded Soul Sight to LV5, and raised Demon Hunter to LV6 with Precision Strike.
• The Empire began postwar operations, and Li Wei agreed to move his amusement park from Derrin to the White Lily Palace in the City of Flowers.
• Li Wei returned home and rested while Little Mermaid grew bored and followed a strange call through the Tower's water pipes.
• Little Mermaid found the Natural Staff in a storeroom, grasped it, and transformed her fish tail into human legs as vines filled the room.
• Li Wei carried Little Mermaid back to the study and learned that the Natural Staff had called to her, then wondered whether to destroy it despite its apparent gift to her.