Chapter Summaries

A flood transformed Asiya Ze City into a deadly underwater battlefield, where the Thunder Beasts fought demons while Headquarters sought a way to break the city’s prison. Ten Thunder Beasts detonated underwater, rupturing the city and releasing the flood, but Claw Number 1 could not tell who had survived.

• Torrential rain flooded Asiya Ze City, and researchers debated whether the extreme weather came from the Sage or another source.
• Demons attacked the scattered Thunder Beasts in the rising water, while Claw Number 1 and Claw Number 16 learned Headquarters believed explosions could break the prison.
• Claw Number 1 and Number 16 faced a choice as the Thunder Beasts’ health signals worsened and the water neared the predicted threshold.
• Ten Thunder Beasts fought toward a whirlpool, then detonated together underwater under their combat-assistance AI’s orders.
• The explosions burst Asiya Ze City open, sending floodwaters outward and allowing lightning to strike inside as Claw Number 1 clamped its claws over a High Demon’s corpse.

The Otherworld shook after the collision of Hell’s power, its native power, and Earth’s world power, while the World Mother anchored it completely. The Ashen Ark began plummeting toward the Otherworld, and Donnybal sensed that an immense unknown force was approaching.

• The Thunder Beasts and surviving demons fled Yaxiaze City, while researchers in Earth's Demon Cave celebrated the survivors and recovered High Demon corpse.
• The upheaval triggered earthquakes across the Otherworld, and the Holy Spirit watched the strange lights over Asiya Ze City while mistaking the Sage’s reaction for evidence of a long-laid plan.
• Qin Xiaoxia monitored the changes as the World Mother seized the chance to anchor the Otherworld, leaving him exasperated.
• The Ashen Ark pitched violently as the Otherworld shook, throwing demons and terrain into the air.
• Donnybal glimpsed a vast power fastening onto the Otherworld and suspected it had caused the Ashen Ark’s sudden fall toward the world.

The Ashen Ark crashed into the Otherworld, spilling a vast number of demons into the region around Yaxiaze and causing a catastrophic earthquake. As the devastation settled, the Holy Spirit warned the Ridge-Crowned People that their world might be nearing the apocalypse.

• The Ashen Ark lost control in the Void and plunged toward the Otherworld as its greater demons tried in vain to stabilize it.
• The Thunder Beasts fled toward a fortified city while violent tremors split the ground and damaged nearby cities.
• Cracks opened in the sky above Yaxiaze, and a dark-red world fragment filled with rubble, blood, and demons crashed through.
• Qin Xiaoxia, Academician Jin, and other observers concluded that the impact came from a world fragment rather than all of Hell.
• The Ashen Ark shattered on impact, leaving the sky murky and the area around Yaxiaze devastated.
• The Holy Spirit told the Ridge-Crowned People that a Hell world fragment had crashed into their world and that it contained very many demons.

After the Ashen Ark crashed near Yaxiaze City, the greater demons Wendo and Donnybal began corrupting the Otherworld and sent demons toward human settlements. At Chimate Fortress, soldiers spotted the approaching horde and rushed to organize a defense.

• Donnybal and Wendo surveyed the Ashen Ark’s wreckage and decided to invade the world and seek the Endless Abyss.
• Wendo admitted he might have damaged the Ashen Ark decades earlier, and the two greater demons used demon blood to create a Lava Formation around its core.
• Once recovered, the demons spread out from the ruins of Asiya Ze City, targeting Ganning Sen Empire strongholds and populated areas.
• The Thunder Beasts fled while sensing the growing power of Hell behind them.
• After an earthquake damaged Chimate Fortress, its officers spotted a vast demon horde approaching and ordered the troops to defend the walls and gates.

The Ganning Sen Empire’s frontier soldiers prepared to defend their fortress against a vast demon army, but the monsters overwhelmed the walls. After holding out for a little over ten minutes, the city was engulfed.

• The officers rallied the frightened soldiers and prepared catapults, ballistae, and spears as the demon army approached.
• The old general learned that the deputy commander was the Third Prince and an Awakened, bringing their number of Awakened defenders to five.
• The catapults and archers struck the advancing Lesser Demons, but their attacks did little to slow the horde.
• The demons reached the walls, climbed onto the battlements, and attacked the soldiers at close range.
• A towering demon broke through a long section of wall, and demons poured into the city until the fortress was engulfed.

As demons overran Gunningsen's fortress city, Earth's leaders debated how to respond while Dawn hesitated to send forces into the Otherworld. Qin Xiaoxia used the World Mother's influence to rouse the Yellow-Gray Demon locust swarm, which took to the skies over the Lunsogt Kingdom.

• The demons crushed the defenders of Gunningsen's fortress city, and a Thunder Beast relayed the battle to Earth before withdrawing.
• Military observers assessed the demons and Ridge-Crowned People as Alliance leaders and scientists debated intervention, risks, and the Otherworld's limited transport capacity.
• Qin Xiaoxia decided to use the World Mother's influence over the locusts to delay the demons while humans prepared their response.
• The locusts stopped feeding, then rose together and darkened much of the sky over the Lunsogt Kingdom.

A vast locust swarm crossed the Ganning Sen Empire, spreading panic as the demons continued their destruction and the empire received urgent reports from the front. Emperor Baffmanter met with the Holy Spirit and the Dawn New Church as the swarm darkened the Imperial Capital, while the locust tide also overwhelmed demons in the mountains.

• A messenger collapsed at the Gunningsen Imperial Capital after delivering an urgent report about the fiends, and more exhausted messengers arrived over the next two days.
• Baffmanter learned that powerful families were preparing to flee and said he would not go to the Holy Mountain, preferring the Fanite City-State if retreat became necessary.
• The locust swarm reached the Imperial Capital and plunged the city into darkness, surprising its leaders with its speed and scale.
• The Holy Spirit arrived with Sword Saint Degoni, Holy Knight Leit, and others, then told Baffmanter they had come to inscribe a Spell Formation Array for reinforcements from Earth.
• Demons attacked the locusts with fireballs in the mountains, but the swarm quickly filled the gaps and covered the peaks in darkness.

A ravenous locust tide descended on a ruined city and overwhelmed its demons with sheer numbers. Several High Demons escaped the swarm and flew to report the invasion to Lord Donnybal, leaving the demons below to fend for themselves.

• A High Demon examined two captured locusts while demons near the mountains realized the swarm had consumed everything edible there.
• The locust tide darkened the sky above the ruined city, then plunged down and attacked the demons.
• Demons fought back with strikes and hellfire, but the endless locusts swarmed and devoured fallen demons.
• Several demons escaped above the insect clouds, where High Demons saw the vast swarm forming shapes to reach them.
• The High Demons abandoned their plan to use spell formations and flew off to report the invasion to Lord Donnybal.

A locust tide overwhelmed the demons and Ridge-Crowned People in a ruined city, while two Middle Demons hid underground as the swarm fed on its dead. In the Imperial Capital of the Ganning Sen Empire, the Holy Spirit continued inscribing a Spell Formation Array and monitored the battle, aware that the locusts could only slow the demons temporarily.

• Locusts devoured the Ridge-Crowned People and most of the demons in the ruined city, while a few survivors escaped by hiding underground.
• Two Middle Demons worked together to dig and seal a deep refuge, and one noticed that the locusts were eating their own dead.
• The locusts continued feeding on the corpses throughout the city as the dark swarm advanced onward.
• Imperial guards secured a square in the Imperial Capital of the Ganning Sen Empire while the Holy Spirit inscribed a massive Spell Formation Array.
• The Holy Spirit monitored the locusts' attacks through puppet locusts and recognized that they could only delay the organized demons for a time.

Emperor Baffmanter asked what would become of the Ganning Sen Empire if the demons destroyed their world, and the Sword Saint urged the royals and officials not to lose courage. At the Ashen Ark’s crash site, two Greater Demons feared that an unknown “devil” had killed the former Flame Demon Lord, while a massive locust tide approached another demon force amid eruptions of magma.

• The Sword Saint told Baffmanter that only a few people might escape to another world if theirs fell, and vowed to remain and perish with it.
• The Sword Saint challenged the Ironwood Family to show courage, and Baffmanter declared that he would test the demons’ strength himself.
• Two Greater Demons discussed reports that Thunder Beasts had cried out about a “devil” before dying and suspected that Niliersawana was already dead.
• The Greater Demons warned that the locusts might not be native to the world, while demons retreated and others inscribed Spell Formation Arrays as magma surged underground.
• The locust tide reached a force of tens of thousands of demons, and magma erupted around them as the swarm darkened the sky.

The Ganning Sen Empire completed a vast magic array as Earth’s forces prepared for the demons and studied locusts that had eaten demon flesh. Claw Number 1 and Claw Number 16 became the first Thunder Beasts to earn the rank of private, received new quarters, and watched a live broadcast of demons undergoing experiments.

• The Ganning Sen Empire finished a palace-wide magic array, and rumors spread that emissaries from the Celestial Realm had come to help fight the demons.
• The locust swarm continued delaying the demons while losing billions of insects, and Earth’s forces assembled elite units as researchers examined surviving locusts that had eaten demon flesh.
• Claw Number 1 and Claw Number 16 followed officers to their new quarters after becoming the first Thunder Beasts promoted to privates.
• An officer told Claw Number 1 and Claw Number 16 that they would help establish promotion rules and assess Thunder Beasts suspected of corruption.
• Claw Number 1 and Claw Number 16 entered their comfortable quarters and watched a live broadcast of Academician Jin beginning experiments on captured demons.

Researchers dissected demons to document their anatomy as the alliance learned that Hell was rapidly draining the Otherworld’s vitality. Seven reinforced divisions and Dawn Association Magic Controllers prepared to deploy, and synchronized teleportation formations began activating across Earth and the Otherworld.

• A researcher dissected a lesser demon alive while laboratory equipment recorded its anatomy and tested its tissues, terrifying nearby demons and the Thunder Beast watching the feed.
• The Dawn Association reported that demons used Hell’s power to drain worlds, and Qin Xiaoxia concluded that the Otherworld’s foundations were being damaged as contamination accelerated around the Ashen Ark’s crash site.
• The World Anti-Dark Tide Convention Alliance prepared seven reinforced divisions for deployment, with the United States securing command by committing elite Nineteenth Organization Department personnel and the Skeleton Division.
• Baru Gersonier led more than a thousand Nineteenth Organization Department agents as troops and Dawn Magic Controllers assembled at bases across several countries.
• At the appointed moment, Magic Controllers activated teleportation magic simultaneously while the Holy Spirit poured its power into the Summoning Spell Formation in the Gunningsen Imperial Capital.

Seven reinforced divisions from the Celestial Realm arrived in the Imperial City and met Emperor Bafumante and Sword Saint Degoni. Commander Baru then led the troops north toward the front, where they prepared to face the demons.

• The summoning array brightened, waking people across the Imperial City as the Celestial Realm's army appeared inside it.
• Baru introduced himself to Emperor Bafumante and asked the Ganning Sen Empire's forces to follow his deployments; Bafumante agreed to cooperate.
• The seven reinforced divisions departed for the front, leaving several hundred soldiers behind in the Imperial Capital.
• Baru warned the troops that powerful demons might be present, ordered them to secure key strategic positions, and commenced Plan A.
• The divisions split onto separate routes after traveling nearly a hundred kilometers, while soldiers studied the unfamiliar world and anticipated the coming battle.

As the demonic advance transformed the land north of the Ganning Sen Empire, a Greater Demon watched the magma-born demons multiply and set out toward the locust swarm. Meanwhile, the Celestial army fortified the empire’s northern strongholds, and both sides prepared for the coming battle.

• At a magma lake, a humanoid Greater Demon saw the strange demons finally laying eggs and leapt toward the locust swarm to the south.
• The Skeleton Division’s convoy followed its assigned positions toward two fortified towns holding tens of thousands of Ganning Sen Empire soldiers.
• After a distant roar and pillars of light alarmed the troops, officials from the Imperial Capital arrived with a tall person from the Celestial Realm, helping steady morale.
• The Celestial army deployed floodlights, defensive stations, mines, and heavy weapons while clearing barracks to make room for artillery.
• As the locust swarm thinned and scattered, vanguard troops along humanity’s battle lines prepared to test the demons.

The human-led forces prepared an ambush at the fortified pass as the demon horde advanced, using dazzling flashes and concentrated fire to devastate the attackers. The assault began with the demons blinded and under fire, ending with a High Demon triggering a concealed bomb on a nearby summit.

• A human major and a Ridge-Crowned general spotted possible survivors near the pass, but the general refused to risk a rescue that might expose the ambush.
• The Skeleton Division positioned its weapons and briefed the Ridge-Crowned People to stay quiet and cover their eyes when the warning alarm sounded.
• The demons finished fighting the locust swarm and rushed south toward the pass, sensing many souls ahead.
• The Skeleton Division commander ordered the ambush to begin, and the soldiers launched devices that filled the sky with blinding flashes.
• Human troops opened fire with machine guns and artillery as the blinded demons charged through the minefield.
• A High Demon fled to a nearby summit, where a concealed bomb exploded beneath it.

Human forces used artillery, firearms, defensive stations, and helicopters to devastate the demons attacking their fortified positions. A Greater Demon far from the battlefield sensed that several of its High Demons had died and that others were in danger.

• A GT Round blast badly mangled a High Demon, while artillery and rifle fire tore through the advancing demons.
• A Middle Demon’s Hellfire burned more than twenty soldiers, but defensive stations destroyed the demon and nearby attackers with autocannon fire.
• Missiles and autocannons wounded a fleeing High Demon, which tried to escape by using another demon as a decoy.
• Sixty-four attack helicopters advanced toward the battlefield, and eight of them launched thirty-two missiles at the High Demon.
• Demon attacks struck several human positions, while the humanoid Greater Demon sensed the deaths and unstable soul marks of its subordinates.

Wendo investigated the massacre of his demons and encountered human helicopters pursuing survivors, only to discover that the aircraft and their weapons could threaten even a greater demon. He escaped with two captured lesser demons, still uncertain what the strange machines were.

• Wendo sensed that many demons had died ahead and cautiously flew toward the ambush site.
• A helicopter sniper wounded a fleeing lesser demon, and a soldier captured it with an electrified metal net.
• Wendo ambushed the helicopter formation, destroying most of its aircraft while the surviving crews fought back with missiles and autocannons.
• Wendo escaped with two captured lesser demons in electrified nets, nursing an injured arm and wondering what the machines were.

After the Skeleton Division’s forces defeated a demon ambush, the Ridge-Crowned People surveyed the battlefield and received encouragement from a lieutenant colonel. Ben and Alice investigated the crashed helicopter, judged the missing demon a severe threat, and withdrew after Baru ordered them to avoid further pursuit.

• Ridge-Crowned generals and ministers approached the battlefield, where they saw the human soldiers recover their dead and began vomiting at the carnage and the demons’ stench.
• A lieutenant colonel accepted the Ridge-Crowned People’s offer of help and urged them to believe they could one day fight evil and win.
• The Skeleton Division commander learned that the advance unit had suffered heavy losses and that the demon had shown intelligence by taking a metal net.
• Ben, Alice, and ten other Evolvers investigated the helicopter wreckage and found signs that a cunning, powerful demon had taken two crew members’ bodies.
• Ben received Baru’s order to withdraw, and the morning sun rose as the long night ended.

Earth’s forces expanded their deployment in the Otherworld, but exhausted Magic Controllers and scarce resources slowed their advance as humans and demons escalated their clashes. The Ridge-Crowned People were caught in a catastrophe they understood only as a war of the gods.

• Human forces suffered hundreds of casualties on two battlefields and about a thousand in the United States' Skeleton Division during the first clashes.
• Qin Xiaoxia discovered that the demons’ use of hell power was slowing the World Mother’s pull and making the Otherworld more closely connected to Hell.
• Holy spirits rebuilt large Summoning Spell Formation Arrays, and roughly sixty divisions deployed across the Ganning Sen Empire, the Fanite City-State, the Jinxite Kingdom, and other regions.
• Dawn’s Magic Controllers and psychic power specialists were exhausted by troop transport and efforts to protect soldiers from human traitors, forcing Earth to slow further deployments.
• Human and demon forces expanded their fighting from scattered clashes to search operations and army confrontations as both sides tested one another.
• The Ridge-Crowned People outside the Celestial Realm’s protection suffered as demons ravaged the Otherworld, while those in the worst-hit regions faced despair.

Wendo and Donnybal used a Spell Formation Array at the Yaxiaze ruins to open a gate to Hell while discussing the spreading Celestial Realm army and the strange forces weakening Wendo. Three Demon Lords emerged, leaving the demons facing an arrival far greater than they had expected.

• Wendo’s chest wound worsened as Lilica’s curses continued to weaken him, and Donnybal warned him that his condition might make him dangerous to consume.
• Wendo and Donnybal discussed their suspicions that the Celestial Realm army came from the world they had glimpsed through the void and was moving this world in a fixed direction.
• The demons amplified the Spell Formation Array until it rose into a volcano and formed a gate filled with a dark-red veil.
• Three Demon Lords emerged through the gate, surprising Wendo, Donnybal, and the assembled demons.