Chapter Summaries

Li Xiu woke in a military tent in the body of Mulan Jonester, a wounded officer whose memories and bond with his revolver, Ring of Light, flooded into him. He learned that he was being blamed for the defeat at Moxia Ridge and was due to face a court-martial the next morning.

• Li Xiu awoke wounded in an unfamiliar tent and discovered a leather bag marked with the name Mulan Jonester.
• Reading the name overwhelmed Li Xiu with Mulan's memories, and he realized he had taken over Mulan's body.
• Li Xiu touched the silver revolver in the bag, awakened its will, and named it Ring of Light.
• Soldier Jerry visited Li Xiu and told him that a court-martial had been arranged to blame him for the defeat at Moxia Ridge.
• Li Xiu recalled that the Third Battalion had fought valiantly and recognized that he had been made a scapegoat.

Li Xiu learned that he and the Third Battalion survivors had been charged with abandoning their position and causing the Moxia Ridge front to collapse, and he prepared to defend them at the Military Tribunal. Despite his severe injuries, he insisted on attending the hearing and was carried toward a carriage for the journey to Dia City.

• Li Xiu learned that the charges against him included fleeing in battle and exposing the main force's flank, and he decided to attend the hearing.
• Li Xiu instructed Jerry to rally the seventy-seven survivors and seek support from other units while keeping them from losing control.
• A warrant officer and two military policemen delivered the trial order and told Li Xiu he could be absent because of his condition.
• Li Xiu forced himself to stand and walk despite intense pain, declaring that he had to defend his dignity and the Third Battalion's honor.
• The doctor and nurse joined Li Xiu on the journey, and the military police carried him past watching soldiers toward a carriage bound for Dia City.

Li Xiu, appearing as Second Lieutenant Mulan Jonester, endured the journey to Dia City and stood to defend himself at his trial despite his grave wounds. After rejecting the charges and revealing his injuries, he demanded that his soldiers be brought in so the court could see their wounds.

• Li Xiu questioned the warrant officer on the way to Dia City, while the people accompanying him grew suspicious of the charges.
• Officers dining in the city discussed Mulan Jonester’s arrival and agreed that they should at least spare his life.
• At the military tribunal, Mulan rose from his stretcher and walked to the defendant’s stand despite his injuries.
• Mulan rejected the charges and silently watched witnesses testify that his unit had fled and failed to fight.
• Mulan had the nurse remove his bandages and explained how his wounds proved he had faced the enemy head-on.
• Mulan swore that his soldiers’ wounds would prove their courage and asked the judge to bring them into court.

Mulan’s trial ended with the Third Battalion disbanded and Mulan stripped of his rank, after which he secured his discharge. After recovering enough to travel, he said goodbye to Brooke and boarded the Princess Niseriel to begin his journey home.

• The wounded survivors of the Third Battalion testified about their desperate battle, and a prosecution officer challenged their account.
• A mysterious man asked Mulan to demonstrate his marksmanship, prompting Mulan to fire three shots that struck coins in midair; the judge handcuffed him for contempt of court.
• The court found the Third Battalion responsible for losing its position but reduced its culpability, disbanded the unit, and demoted Mulan to private.
• Mulan accepted the verdict without appealing and requested discharge, which the judge granted.
• After his wounds healed unusually quickly, Mulan packed and left for Dia Port with Brooke, thanking him and saying goodbye.
• Mulan boarded the Princess Niseriel with his leather bag and Ring of Light, facing his new life with apprehension and anticipation.

Mulan left Dia Port aboard the Princess Niseriel, where he encountered two young pickpockets and later heard an eerie song that most passengers could not hear. The chapter ended with Mulan approaching the frightened pair as the song sounded beside the ship.

• Mulan boarded the Princess Niseriel to travel from Dia to Valentine, leaving the war behind.
• A girl and boy tried to pickpocket Mulan by bumping into him, but the boy backed off after sensing Mulan had a gun and might have noticed them.
• The girl and boy watched five robed figures kill a bound girl in a cabin aboard the ship.
• A storm hit as Mulan ate dinner, and he heard a beautiful, unsettling song that the other diners seemed not to notice.
• The two young pickpockets returned frightened and covered their ears when the song sounded again, and Mulan went to speak to them.

Mulan investigated a mysterious song aboard the Princess Niseriel after the ship veered off course in a storm. He reached the bridge, fought off an ambusher, and confronted a bloodied Sea Siren outside the window.

• Mulan questioned two frightened children who said they heard beautiful, terrifying singing, and a passenger linked it to a Sea Siren rumor about the Higgins.
• Mulan checked his Direction Dial and discovered the Princess Niseriel had left its expected course and was heading north.
• Mulan led a growing group of passengers toward the bridge, where a bearded gentleman gave him a cane concealing a silver short sword.
• An attacker sprang from beside the bridge door, and Mulan kicked him away, grabbed his pistol, and fired at a shadow that left only bullet holes in the wall.
• Mulan saw a naked, bloodied woman singing outside the bridge window, drew his revolver, and fired as flames burst from it.

After Mulan shot the strange woman on the Princess Niseriel, he examined her body and suspected she had been undergoing a supernatural transformation. The woman was identified as a tailor’s daughter, but Mulan concluded that someone aboard the ship was responsible for something more sinister than a Sea Siren.

• Mulan shot the eerie woman through the bridge window, and her scream caused people nearby to collapse or cover their ears.
• Mulan and several men found the woman’s corpse on deck and observed its stab wounds, sharp teeth, and ridged skin behind the ear.
• The ship’s crew took charge after the missing bridge crew and captured attacker were discovered, while rumors spread that a Sea Siren was aboard.
• A young man told Mulan that the dead woman was a tailor’s daughter who had boarded at Dia Port and stayed in Room 313.
• Mulan suspected the woman’s corpse had been undergoing a transformation and that someone aboard the ship had helped cause it.

Mulan experienced a vivid, unsettling vision aboard the Princess Niseriel, then slept well before the delayed ship approached Valentine through fog. The chapter left him looking toward the city as the ship neared port.

• Mulan saw the restaurant become an eerie, decaying space, but the scene faded and he could not tell whether it had been a dream or a hallucination.
• Mulan suspected the Siren Case might be connected to his nightmares, then paid his bill and returned to his room.
• Mulan slept well and stayed in bed until evening as the Princess Niseriel's arrival at Valentine was delayed.
• Mulan woke when the ship's horn sounded and spotted a hazy lighthouse beam through the fog as the ship approached port.

Mulan disembarked from the Princess Niseriel and reunited with his older brother Leo, a detective arriving to investigate the shipboard murder. Mulan warned Leo that the real killer had likely escaped, but Leo dismissed the warning and went aboard as Mulan noticed a priest watching the ship.

• Mulan left his cabin and found passengers disembarking despite the shipboard case, while the crew said the killer had been caught and the Valentine police had been notified.
• Mulan went ashore at Valentin Harbor and saw police officers and detectives arrive from the Valentin Police Department.
• Mulan reunited warmly with his older brother Leo, who introduced him to his colleagues.
• Mulan told Leo that the person in custody was only a lackey and that the real killer had probably gone ashore, but Leo went to handle the case himself.
• Mulan headed toward a carriage and noticed a priest watching the Princess Niseriel; the priest nodded to him and walked away.

Mulan returned to Valentin after leaving military service and traveled home with his older brother, Leo. He reunited with Grandpa Buck, who welcomed him with tears of joy.

• Mulan arrived at Valentin Harbor, spoke with a young coachman about an approaching storm, and avoided discussing his wartime experiences.
• Priest Evan sensed that Mulan had shed much blood and prayed for his forgiveness as an old man in a tower wrote about the storm.
• Mulan explained to Leo that he had voluntarily left the service, but Leo misunderstood and teased him during their carriage ride.
• Mulan and Leo reached their family home and reminded each other not to say the wrong thing to Old Buck.
• Grandpa Buck opened the door, recognized Mulan, and tearfully embraced him when Mulan said he was back.

Mulan Jonester struggled with insomnia and troubling battlefield hallucinations after returning home, and sought medical help in the city. As he approached a holy temple, his discomfort visibly eased, leaving him to wonder whether the religious institution had special powers.

• Old Buck cared for Mulan at home, and Mulan left to see a doctor about his insomnia.
• Mulan bought a newspaper reporting that Nisheriel had become Empress and that a great storm would soon envelop Valentine.
• The doctor warned Mulan not to increase his medication and suggested praying at a church because his condition might be related to the war.
• After reading about the coming storm, Mulan experienced a frightening hallucination and painful battlefield memories.
• Mulan spotted the priest he had nicknamed the “good head” at a holy temple, and felt his spiritual discomfort ease as he approached its doors.

Mulan visited the Holy Temple to seek help for his nightmares and told Priest Evan about the Siren incident aboard the Princess Niseriel. Evan explained the Otherworld and the growing supernatural dangers facing their world, leaving Mulan to suspect that spiritual energy was reviving.

• Mulan entered the Holy Temple, where Priest Evan invited him to describe his nightmares and unusual experiences.
• Mulan recounted the Siren incident aboard the Princess Niseriel, and Evan realized the retired officer was capable and justice-minded.
• Evan offered to help Mulan in exchange for his devotion to God, then explained that the murdered girl had transformed into a Siren through an evil ritual.
• Evan told Mulan that an Otherworld filled with Evil Spirits, demons, and monsters lay beyond ordinary reality, and that learning more could bring danger closer.
• Evan connected the approaching storm and the end of the war to forces changing the world, while Mulan concluded that spiritual energy might be reviving.

After speaking with Evan about the world's growing dangers, Mulan returned home through the strengthening wind and waited for Leo. A police officer arrived with news that Leo was near death, and Mulan hurried out to reach him.

• Evan told Mulan that the world was becoming more dangerous and praised him as someone suited to wield the power of Holy Light.
• Mulan left the Holy Temple as the wind worsened, reflecting on Evan and Sir Walton while noticing a grayish tint in the air.
• Mulan returned home, reassured Old Buck, and waited for Leo rather than eating before his brother came back.
• Mulan examined the sword cane given to him by the elderly gentleman aboard the Princess Niseriel while Old Buck assessed it.
• A police officer arrived and told Mulan that Leo was at the Police Station and might not survive.
• Mulan grabbed coats, gave one to Old Buck and another to the officer, and rushed toward the Police Station to learn what had happened.

Mulan learned that Leo had been badly wounded in a failed operation to capture a knife-wielding killer who had murdered children. On his way home to extinguish the stove, Mulan was ambushed by the escaping killer and unexpectedly summoned the Silver Sword to block his attack.

• Mulan and Old Buck reached the hospital and learned that Leo's chest wound was serious-looking but not fatal, though he had lost considerable blood.
• Leo told Mulan that the officers had found dismembered children in a basement and that the killer had escaped despite their attempt to arrest him.
• Mulan wondered whether the killer's grisly actions were connected to a cult, then left the hospital to put out the stove at home.
• A knife-wielding attacker ambushed Mulan on a dark street and pressed him with a rapid series of strikes.
• Mulan summoned the Silver Sword and blocked the attacker's knife, although the sword's cane had been left at home.

Mulan survived a close fight with the attacker suspected of abducting and dismembering children, but the man escaped wounded. Mulan returned to the hospital to warn everyone and resolved that the attacker had to die.

• Mulan fought off the attacker with his Silver Sword and drew his revolver when the man charged again.
• Mulan fired four shots, hitting and wounding the attacker, who escaped into a nearby alley.
• Mulan picked up the warped Boning Knife and returned to the hospital to warn everyone to stay alert.
• The wounded attacker left the alley, still determined to kill Mulan.
• Mulan reached the hospital shaken by how easily his life could have ended and decided the attacker had to die.

After surviving a clash with the criminal, Mulan urged the police to hunt him while he was wounded and helped them search for evidence. Touching the attacker’s blood awakened a strange sense that let Mulan perceive the man’s cruel, crazed emotions.

• Mulan told Leo and the officers that the criminal was wounded and gave them the warped Boning Knife from their fight.
• Officer Peter escorted Mulan home, where Mulan placed three bullets in different locations and then decided to return to the police station.
• Mulan persuaded the police to protect the hospital and accompany him to the site of the fight to search for the attacker’s trail.
• Officers found bloodstains in an alley and followed them until the trail ran cold.
• Mulan touched the attacker’s blood and sensed the man’s cruel, crazed emotions.

As a fierce storm battered Valentine, Mulan wondered whether the city’s drainage system could withstand the flooding while he recovered at home with Leo. At the harbor, Sir Walton and a bishop observed a shadow in polluted seawater and discussed the Otherworld’s growing activity and the threat posed by heretics.

• Mulan and Leo left the hospital and returned home before the storm intensified with heavy rain and lightning.
• Mulan studied the weather reports and wondered whether Valentine’s old drainage system could handle the rain, while Leo struggled to follow his reasoning.
• Floodwater rushed through Valentine’s streets toward the harbor, carrying rubbish into the sea and darkening the coastal water.
• Sir Walton and a bishop watched an enormous shadow move beneath the murky sea and agreed the Otherworld had become more active.
• The bishop warned Sir Walton to watch for heretics who had performed a successful sacrifice and might possess a sacred relic.
• Sir Walton remained at the harbor as the storm’s connection to the Great Vortex signaled the Otherworld’s further expansion and increased magical activity.

During Valentine’s severe flooding, Mulan spotted two young pickpockets from the Princess Niseriel with an unknown woman and followed them into the rain. A gunman ambushed him, and Mulan pursued the shooter, whom he suspected was the deranged murderer.

• Mulan watched residents struggle through the flooded streets and learned the Jonester household had only potatoes left for dinner.
• Mulan recognized two young pickpockets from the Princess Niseriel walking with an unknown woman and left home to investigate.
• Mulan heard the woman humming a melody that made him suspect she was a Siren, then dodged a gunman’s shot.
• Mulan broke into the gunman’s building and shot him in the thigh as he fled through a rear window.
• Mulan leaped from the second floor and chased the wounded gunman into an alley.

Mulan Jonester pursued the wounded attacker through Valentine, determined to stop him despite the danger to civilians. After a final struggle in an attic, Mulan killed the attacker and declared victory.

• Mulan chased the attacker through the streets as both men exchanged gunfire and the fugitive endangered civilians to escape.
• The attacker took a woman hostage inside a house and tried to tempt Mulan with promises of extraordinary power.
• After the attacker killed the hostage and fled upstairs, Mulan followed him into the attic and shot through the wall at his hiding place.
• Mulan disarmed the attacker in a close fight, but the wounded man raised Mulan's gun and claimed victory.
• The attacker could not pull the trigger, and Mulan shot him in the forehead and declared, "I won!"

Mulan killed the Mad Killer and handed the case over to the Valentine police before going home to treat his wounds. As he left, a mysterious gentleman recovered the killer’s Boning Knife and quietly took an interest in Mulan Jonester.

• Mulan checked that the Mad Killer was dead, noticed strange black smoke around the corpse, and heard a horrifying voice that reminded him of Father Evan’s warning about the Otherworld.
• Mulan told the Valentine detective and police officers that the criminal was dead, gave them the killer’s pistol, and reported the rifle and missing knife.
• Mulan dismissed the detectives’ questions, noted his shoulder wound was minor, and left the house after offering a prayer for the murdered woman.
• A Valentine Daily reporter photographed Mulan as he stepped into the rain, while Mulan wondered where the two boys and the woman who might be a Siren had gone.
• A gentleman in formal attire found the killer’s Boning Knife in the flooded street, handed it to the officers, and murmured Mulan Jonester’s name with a slight smile.