Chapter Summaries

After Nidhogg devoured the Devourer and fled to the Inner River basin, Arthur considered the secrets of the Blood Rebellion ring and prepared to build on his new allies. He suspected Windsor had played a role in the nobles’ troubles, and an explosion interrupted his thoughts.

• Arthur ordered Nidhogg to leave the gold and eat everything else, and the serpent swallowed the Devourer before retreating to the Inner River basin.
• Arthur examined the Blood Rebellion ring and wondered whether its history cast doubt on the Blood Clan’s account of Heber the Blood Drinker.
• Arthur stored the Blood Burst Mystic Art in his Athos Box and watched Sean and Bont lead the River Pirates away while Grindelwald led the Inner River God Cult members.
• Arthur noticed that Windsor was pretending to be frightened and questioned why none of the young nobles’ protectors had appeared.
• An explosion interrupted Arthur as he considered whether Windsor was connected to the events.

Arthur identified the battle near the Inner River as the Marquis of Einhaas and his nobles fighting an Ascendant member of the Blood Clan, then prepared to intervene while concealing his intentions. As the auras of the Einhaas fighters began to vanish, Lady Windsor secretly used a Communication Stone.

• Arthur sensed two Ascendants and recognized the Marquis of Einhaas leading nobles against an Ascendant from the Blood Clan.
• Auben appeared beside Arthur, admitted Arthur had been right, and agreed to grant him another request before riding toward the battle.
• Arthur reminded Auben of their earlier conversation and planned to use his Blood Scion identity as a reason to intervene.
• Lady Windsor asked Arthur to protect the fief if it was threatened and secretly revealed a Communication Stone in her hand.
• Young Leondese sensed his father's aura vanish as the Step-Entry and Major Arcana Rank auras began to fade, and Windsor's eyes brightened.

After the Major Arcana Rank presences vanished, Lady Windsor rallied the young nobles to defend their houses and secured Arthur’s help with a contract. Arthur suspected Windsor was hiding a force in Pult Harbor and confronted her about it.

• Young Leondese sobbed over his father’s disappearance until Lady Windsor slapped him and urged him to gather forces against the Inner Bay.
• Lady Windsor told the young nobles to seek their houses’ emergency plans and offered Arthur forty percent of Pult Harbor’s operating rights for his help.
• Arthur, Windsor, young Leondese, young Yakaz, and young Lalia signed a contract covering the Inner Bay threat and the unknown being in the forest.
• Windsor reminded the young nobles to station forces near West Berlin, and the three rode back toward Pult Harbor to muster troops.
• Arthur stopped Windsor from leaving and accused her of hiding a force in Pult Harbor, asking to meet its members.

Arthur seized Miss Windsor’s Communication Stone and, after hearing her reason for seeking power, offered her a chance to prove herself and spared her. The chapter then revealed how Count Bernaken’s visit to Viscount Windsor’s manor had been arranged and why his footman Peel was killed.

• Arthur’s [Hands of the Void] took Miss Windsor’s Communication Stone, and Arthur asked why she had acted as she did.
• Miss Windsor said she wanted to surpass men’s achievements and strength, and Arthur promised her a chance to prove herself in exchange for satisfying his curiosity.
• Arthur chose to spare Miss Windsor because of his connection to Carral and the force she commanded in the Einhaas Fief.
• Count Bernaken visited Viscount Windsor’s cemetery manor after receiving a letter, and Viscount Windsor agreed to meet him.
• The old steward’s son, Peel, was killed after delivering the letter, and Steward Lynn warned Count Bernaken that the footman had been charmed and asked how he planned to persuade the person they needed.

Count Bernaken and Lynn arrived at Windsor's fog-shrouded manor, where a scarlet-dressed figure appeared at the gate. Lynn and the Old Count vanished, leaving a new group led by a two-sworded Witcher to face the apparition.

• Count Bernaken refused Lynn's attempts to persuade him to take responsibility as South County's Witcher Master, insisting that he was retired.
• Lynn reported that Peel's body had been burned with holy salt and a Silver Sword, and he and Count Bernaken prepared their weapons and Spell Signs.
• Count Bernaken sent the coachman back to wait at the fork before knocking at Windsor's manor gate.
• A scarlet-dressed figure emerged with the fog, combing hair that spread toward Count Bernaken and Lynn.
• Lynn vanished, then Count Bernaken disappeared; a new group arrived, and its leader drew his sword at the sight.

The Marquis of Einhaas attacked Viscount Windsor at the Manor gates, but her strange power overwhelmed the assault. He then offered to help her become a real woman in exchange for her assistance hunting Blood Drinker, and she asked where he was.

• The Marquis of Einhaas and his swordsmen launched Evil-Breaking Slashes at Viscount Windsor, but her animated hair and supernatural defenses made the attacks vanish.
• Viscount Windsor expressed distress that Einhaas had forced her to defend herself and said she only wanted to live quietly with Ross.
• The Marquis recognized that Viscount Windsor had reached ascension rank and detected traces of the Theophat Psychic Order, Blood Clan mystic arts, and other powers.
• The Marquis offered to help Viscount Windsor become a real woman if she helped him hunt Blood Drinker and seize his power to regain his youth.
• Viscount Windsor asked the Marquis where Blood Drinker was.

Viscount Windsor went to tell Ross that the Marquis of Einhaas had everything under control while the nobles prepared for battle against Heber, the Blood Drinker. As the Marquis dismissed Count Bernaken as a doomed Witcher, the Old Count worked to pull Lynn from the illusory realm and sensed that big trouble was coming.

• Viscount Windsor entered the Manor to give Ross the good news, while the Marquis of Einhaas and the barons waited outside.
• Leondese, Yakaz, Lalia, and Darnell renewed their old Battle Formation bond, and Darnell claimed the Front Rank for the coming fight.
• Barons Haran, Tammy, and Kama privately planned to use their guards and family resources against Heber and claim the rewards for themselves.
• The Marquis of Einhaas welcomed the discord among his subordinates and contemptuously judged Count Bernaken for choosing the Witcher's path.
• Count Bernaken ignored the Marquis as he tried to pull Lynn out of the illusory realm, worried that big trouble was coming.

The Old Count Bernaken stopped Lynn from abducting Ross and chose to confront the Marquis of Einhaas himself. After preparing Lynn and declaring it his last time as a Witcher, he used a potion to ignite himself and Turnip, then rode toward his target.

• The Old Count Bernaken realized the Marquis of Einhaas planned to regain his youth by drinking the Blood Drinker’s blood.
• Lynn considered abducting Ross to force Viscount Windsor to return, but the Old Count warned him not to cross his moral limits.
• The Old Count knocked Lynn unconscious, protected him with force fields, and left him with the items he no longer needed.
• The Old Count drank a potion that set his body ablaze, then summoned Turnip and transformed the horse into a Blazing Warhorse.
• The Old Count rode with Turnip toward his target, declaring that he rode for justice.

The Marquis of Einhaas and his nobles pursued Count Bernaken, who raced ahead in flames, while Viscount Windsor used a mystic art to keep pace. Count Bernaken caught up to the Blood Drinker and struck its hidden statue form with a flaming Silver Sword.

• The Marquis of Einhaas identified the flames as part of the Witcher potion legacy and sent his guards to their assigned positions.
• The Marquis of Einhaas rode his Silver Sword forward with three barons and four lords, while Viscount Windsor followed using a mystic art that combined Theophat Psychic Order and Blood Clan techniques.
• The Blood Drinker drove a giant boar through the forest, using its flesh to repair the beast as it fled from the Witchers.
• The Blood Drinker sensed its descendant and a blazing Witcher approaching, then briefly froze at the Witcher’s speed.
• Count Bernaken’s flames sliced through the boar and struck the Blood Drinker’s stone statue body in the heart with a Silver Sword.

Count Bernaken shattered Blood Drinker Heber’s stone body with a life-burning Evil-Breaking Slash, but collapsed from exhaustion before he could finish the fight. The Marquis of Einhaas took over with the family’s Twin Sword Slash and suppressed Heber, though Viscount Windsor warned that Heber had not shown his full power.

• Count Bernaken broke through Heber’s distortion and struck him with an Evil-Breaking Slash infused with his own will, shattering the stone statue.
• Heber’s scarlet eyes remained lit as he praised the attack, then taunted the exhausted Count Bernaken and began reassembling his body.
• The Marquis of Einhaas intercepted Heber as he lunged at Count Bernaken and attacked with alternating Silver Sword and Steel Sword strikes.
• The Marquis used the Einhaas Family’s Twin Sword Slash to suppress Heber, while Viscount Windsor recognized the Mystic Art and realized Heber was holding back.

Viscount Windsor and the nobles helped the Marquis of Einhaas pin the Blood Drinker Heber with a sword bearing her blood, expecting to drain him and gain their wishes. Heber revealed he had anticipated the same method before crimson energy erupted into the sky.

• Viscount Windsor studied Heber's old Mystic Arts in the Windsor Family cemetery, hoping to gain strength and live peacefully with Ross.
• The Marquis of Einhaas unleashed his Twin Sword Slash against Heber, who recognized the technique and used Distortion Field to alter the swords' attacks.
• Viscount Windsor redirected part of the Marquis's Silver Sword damage onto her own arm, staining the blade with her blood and making Heber vulnerable to his kin's blood.
• The Marquis of Einhaas pierced Heber's chest with the blood-stained Silver Sword and waited for the blood to drain through him, while the others expected their plans to succeed.
• Heber smiled, declared that the same method could not hurt him twice, and sent crimson energy surging into the sky.

Einhaas and Euler witnessed Windsor and Elizabeth marry, then later joined Windsor in seeking revenge after the Blood Clan destroyed their home and Elizabeth disappeared. The chapter revealed that Elizabeth became Heber the Blood Drinker, who killed Windsor and survived a curse by becoming a stone statue; in the present, Heber killed Viscount Windsor and harnessed her blood.

• Windsor and Elizabeth announced their marriage, and Einhaas and Euler gave them their savings and stayed at the Farm.
• After Einhaas, Euler, and Windsor returned from a hunt, they found the Farm massacred, Elizabeth missing, and her newborn safe in the Sanctuary.
• The three Witchers retaliated against the Blood Clan, but their search for Elizabeth continued without success.
• Elizabeth appeared to Windsor as Heber and offered to share his ritual, but Windsor stabbed him with a sword coated in their son's blood.
• Heber killed Windsor, became a stone statue to withstand the curse, and later narrowed his fatal vulnerability to the blood of female descendants within five generations.
• Heber killed Viscount Windsor and used the crimson from her body.

The Marquis of Einhaas fought to destroy the Blood Drinker’s Blood Burst while the Old Count finally recognized the resolve behind the Marquis’s refusal to flee. The Old Count sacrificed his life to weaken the blood mist and transfer his Witcher power to the Marquis, who regained the Witcher Path as the Old Count vanished.

• The Marquis of Einhaas attacked Viscount Windsor’s falling blood mist with Evil-Breaking Slashes and ordered his subordinates to flee with Count Bernaken.
• The Old Count recalled his teacher Zibelin’s words about the Einhaas Family and questioned why the Marquis had not escaped.
• The Marquis declared that he would not run from his own fief, and the Old Count recognized the resolve his teacher had described.
• The Old Count burned his organs, bones, and soul to disperse more than half the blood mist and shatter Heber, the Blood Drinker’s stone statue again.
• The Old Count gave his remaining power to the Marquis, restored him to the Witcher Path, and named him Master of South County’s Witchers.
• The Old Count vanished before the Marquis could strike him, leaving the Marquis with his hand raised.

The Blood Drinker, Heber, abandoned his shattered body and possessed Lord Darnell, then targeted the Marquis of Einhaas by exploiting his hesitation and darkest secrets. He killed the Four Exemplars and seized two barons as he began revealing the marquis’s past.

• The Blood Drinker abandoned his original body and possessed Lord Darnell, whose convictions delayed the takeover long enough for the Marquis of Einhaas to notice.
• Heber taunted the marquis for hesitating to strike Darnell and decided to try to take the marquis’s Ascension Rank body.
• Heber detonated Yakaz, Lalia, Leondese, and Darnell in a burst of Descendant Blood Mist, killing all Four Exemplars of the Einhaas Fief.
• Baron Tammy used Blood Reversal on Kama and Baron Haran, and Heber searched Tammy’s memories for a secret that could unsettle the marquis.
• Heber revealed that the marquis’s two sons were adopted and exposed that the marquis had lost his ability to father children after trying to improve Twin Sword Slash.

Blood Drinker manipulated the Marquis of Einhaas into despair and seized the chance to attack his consciousness. As Blood Drinker invaded, Arthur emerged from the shadows and imitated Lord Darnell’s voice.

• Blood Drinker forced the Marquis of Einhaas to impale Kama and Baron Haran on his swords, then tore them apart.
• Blood Drinker taunted the Marquis about his ancestor and the Witcher Path, deepening his doubts and distress.
• Baron Tammy briefly regained control and begged the Marquis to save him, but Blood Drinker made his body explode.
• Blood Drinker entered the Marquis of Einhaas’s body to attack his consciousness.
• Arthur stepped from the shadows and used the Ringing Art to imitate Lord Darnell’s voice.

Arthur approached the Old Count’s hidden safeguard and offered to help the Marquis of Einhaas in exchange for a fair trade. The Old Count considered relying on Arthur to save the Marquis and preserve the Witcher legacy.

• Arthur used [Ringing Art] to imitate Darnell and three other lords, encouraging the immobilized Marquis of Einhaas.
• Arthur suspected the Old Count had prepared a safeguard for his successor and cautiously approached the Marquis.
• The Old Count’s soul fragment appeared and confirmed that his protective power had activated when the Marquis returned to the Witcher Path.
• The Old Count explained that the safeguard could protect the Marquis and help him advance, then considered asking Arthur for aid.
• Arthur offered to help the Old Count and the Marquis only through a fair trade, while the Old Count used Detect Evil and saw no sign of evil.

Arthur refused Count Bernaken’s swords, Witcher training, and Manor, claiming the Creados family legacy and wealth left him wanting for neither. When Arthur asked to borrow the strength of Bernaken’s disciples, the Count refused and thought of Carral instead.

• Count Bernaken offered Arthur his Twin Swords and proposed that Lynn teach him Witcher Swordsmanship and Mystic Arts, but Arthur declined.
• Arthur told Bernaken that he would not learn another tradition until he had mastered more of the Creados family legacy.
• Bernaken offered Arthur his Manor, but Arthur said he had no interest in wealth.
• Arthur asked Bernaken to gather his disciples so he could borrow their strength, and Bernaken refused.
• Bernaken wondered what Arthur might lack and thought of Carral.

Count Bernaken questioned Arthur about his connection to Carral after suspecting Arthur’s ambitions and investigating his mysterious background. He proposed making Carral first in line to inherit the Einhaas Fief, and Arthur cautiously claimed the move might threaten their cooperation.

• Count Bernaken recalled how he had once considered taking Carral as an apprentice, then grew wary of Carral’s growing influence and connections.
• After Carral returned from the Jia'er Mountains and accepted banishment, Count Bernaken investigated Arthur Credos and suspected he was a powerful schemer.
• Count Bernaken considered whether Arthur had caused Heber the Blood Drinker’s appearance, then used Vampire Detection and confirmed Arthur was not a member of the Blood Clan.
• Count Bernaken asked Arthur about his relationship with Carral, and Arthur said they were on good terms while keeping Carral’s Lionheart Salute pledge secret.
• Count Bernaken proposed that Carral return to the Einhaas Fief and become first in line to inherit, while Arthur warned that such an outcome could affect their cooperation.

Arthur negotiated with the Old Count for protection and rewards in exchange for helping drive Blood Drinker Heber from the Marquis of Einhaas. After signing contracts, Arthur watched Heber torment the Marquis with visions of his slain followers and prepared to act.

• The Old Count offered Arthur the Marquis's private treasury and promised to protect his cooperation with Carral if Arthur helped the Marquis.
• Arthur demanded separate contracts securing his safety and legitimate rewards, forbidding him from entering the Marquis's consciousness or mental realm.
• The Old Count agreed on the condition that Arthur prevent Blood Drinker Heber from possessing the Marquis again, and they signed the contracts.
• The Old Count's phantom vanished, leaving projections of the Marquis repeatedly killing his three barons and four lords under Heber's influence.
• The tormented Marquis attacked the projections while Heber laughed, and Arthur called the scene vile before addressing the swirling blood mist: “Move!”

Arthur absorbed the blood mist left after Viscount Windsor’s death and concluded that an Ascendant’s soul was more valuable than their blood. He helped the Blood Scion maintain their separate identities, then struck at Blood Drinker Heber as Heber tried to escape, only for Heber to mock him as immortal.

• Arthur used [Blood of the Night] to absorb the blood mist, gaining 1,000 vitality, and wondered whether an Ascendant’s soul held greater value.
• Arthur refrained from using [Soul Extraction] while the Old Count and Blood Drinker Heber were watching.
• Arthur and the Blood Scion exchanged public words to strengthen the appearance that they were separate people.
• Blood Drinker Heber noticed the blood mist’s disappearance and pretended not to understand what had happened while preparing to escape.
• Arthur used [Spider's Claw], coated its blade with poison, and thrust it into Blood Drinker Heber’s crimson form.
• Blood Drinker Heber mocked Arthur, asking whether he knew Heber was immortal.