Chapter Summaries

Jonas set rules for Nightingale after her excessive use of spatial psionic energy, then visited Yucas in the hospital and learned about Federation Psionics operating near the Alt District. He left to enlist Chelsea and the Nathen Conglomerate in a plan to lure Zero into an ambush.

• Eiffel prepared Jonas a lavish breakfast after mistaking his exhaustion for the effects of their night together, while Nightingale emerged from a spatial rift.
• Jonas cut off Nightingale's fragments temporarily and ordered her to accept fixed allotments and train her spatial ability for three hours each day.
• A week after Zero attacked her, Yucas received Jonas at the hospital, and he discussed the Peacekeeping Forces' factional conflict and his plan to draw Zero out.
• Yucas told Jonas that Detective Kawei had uncovered evidence of Radical collaboration with the Federation and intelligence about five Federation Psionics, two active near the Alt District.
• Jonas left Yucas to recover and headed to the Nathen Conglomerate to seek Chelsea's help with his ambush plan.

Chelsea canceled her meeting with Delana after learning Jonas was coming, then welcomed him with a fox-girl surprise and Shigure Ryoko in a maid outfit. After flirting, Jonas gave Chelsea an operation plan targeting the Federation through the Peacekeeping Forces.

• Shigure Ryoko told Chelsea that Delana had arrived early for their meeting, and Chelsea agreed to go before changing plans when she learned Jonas was coming.
• Chelsea asked Shigure Ryoko about Jonas's preferences and had her wear a maid outfit while Chelsea dressed with fox ears and a tail.
• Jonas arrived at the Nathen Conglomerate, admired Chelsea's surprise, and teased her by comparing her outfit with Shigure Ryoko's maid outfit and Eiffel's.
• Jonas transferred an operation plan to Chelsea and explained that its real target was the Federation, not the Peacekeeping Forces.

Jonas explained his plan to lure the Federation’s hidden Psionic, Zero, into the open by using a Nathen Conglomerate operation with the Conservatives. The plan began to leak through Delt, while Shigure Ryoko was assigned to lead the operation and stumbled upon Jonas and Chelsea’s private encounter.

• Jonas told Chelsea that the Federation, rather than the Peacekeeping Forces, was the real threat and proposed using a purge operation to draw Zero out.
• Chelsea assigned Shigure Ryoko to represent the Nathen Conglomerate in the operation, and Ryoko left to prepare before overhearing Jonas and Chelsea through the office door.
• Delt told Jonas he suspected the Radicals had exposed him, and Jonas offered him a management job at the Alt Conglomerate in exchange for helping the Conservatives seize the Bebops District.
• Delt accepted Jonas’s offer and learned the Conservatives’ plan, unaware that Clio was recording his call and informing Zero that the Alt Conglomerate’s operational plan had been obtained.
• After leaving Chelsea’s office, Jonas found Shigure Ryoko waiting outside, and she concealed that she had been eavesdropping and had secretly touched herself.

Jonas gave Yushua access to the Black Ring and asked her to prepare her dream psionic abilities for an upcoming operation, winning her trust while concealing his manipulative intentions. Elsewhere, two black-robed figures confirmed that Noel Misen was under house arrest and prepared to act when Lady Zero distracted Jonas.

• Celine told Yushua she was still a peak fourth-tier Psionic, while Yushua wondered how Celine could siphon so much energy from her prayers.
• Jonas arrived, reunited with Celine, and stopped her from trying to get intimate with him in front of Yushua.
• Yushua secretly used her psionic energy to imagine herself in Jonas's embrace, experienced an overwhelming sensation, and ended the dream when Jonas noticed her.
• Jonas showed Yushua the Black Ring and offered her access so she could strengthen her dream psionic energy for an upcoming operation.
• Yushua accepted Jonas's responsibility, and Jonas privately considered his plan to win her over through apparent sincerity.
• Two black-robed figures confirmed Noel Misen was being held under house arrest by Jonas and planned to wait for Lady Zero to draw his attention before acting.

Jonas used the Black Ring to grant Yushua Delan authorization, greatly enhancing her dream abilities, while Anpa warned him that something else was awakening in the Void Realm. Yushua demonstrated her powers by putting Celine to sleep and reading her thoughts, and Afanisi discovered that Yushua had gained access to the Black Ring.

• Jonas summoned the Black Ring and granted Yushua Delan preliminary authorization to use it.
• Anpa summoned Jonas, offered to help him against the Federation, and showed him a vision of a civilization being destroyed by a starfield-like force she called lowly ants.
• Yushua used the Black Ring's enhancement to create a realistic dream that put Celine to sleep within a five-hundred-meter radius.
• Yushua read Celine's thoughts and revealed that Celine imagined tying Jonas up and having her way with him.
• Afanisi read on her Terminal that Jonas had given Yushua access to the Black Ring and angrily felt that Yushua had taken what used to be hers.

Jonas tested the Black Ring’s ability to enhance Yushua’s dream psionic energy, and she used it to trap Celine in a dream before exhausting her own energy. The chapter ended with Afanisi arriving and facing Yushua in a jealous, hostile reunion.

• Yushua ended her dream, and Celine awoke to Jonas ordering her to write a five-hundred-word self-criticism for making improper advances toward him.
• Celine agreed to write the self-criticism after Jonas warned that Miss Esnie would conduct her review if she missed the deadline.
• Jonas learned that the Black Ring-assisted dream had completely depleted Yushua’s psionic energy and told her to rest before an operation in a week.
• Jonas embraced the exhausted Yushua, but Afanisi entered the courtyard and saw them together.
• Afanisi glared at Yushua with jealousy, and Yushua hesitantly greeted her.

Afanisi joined Jonas’s operation after misreading Yushua’s closeness to him as a deliberate provocation, while Jonas secretly planned to use her as bait to draw out Zero. A week later, the Radicals had gained ground in the leaderless Peacekeeping Forces, but Miss Yucas returned to lead the Conservatives.

• Afanisi confronted Yushua over the Black Ring and grew jealous as Yushua innocently spoke with Jonas.
• Afanisi asked Jonas to include her in his operation so she could earn a reward and get back at Yushua, and he agreed while intending to use her as bait for the Radicals.
• Jonas told Yushua that his method could restore her psionic energy, and she went to her knees to receive the treatment.
• Over the following week, the Alt Conglomerate exposed and executed Federation moles, while the Radicals took more than half the Peacekeeping Forces’ territory.
• Miss Yucas returned to the Peacekeeping Forces, poised to change the balance between the Conservatives and Radicals.

Yucas joined forces with the Nathen Conglomerate to launch a counterattack and seize Bebops District from the Radicals. As Yucas confronted Zero on the battlefield, Jonas sent Esnie a message to prepare to close the net.

• Yucas arrested three Conservative officers who opposed her counterattack and brought in Shigure Ryoko and Nathen Conglomerate forces.
• Yucas and Shigure Ryoko planned to use the Conservatives' Fourth-Generation Tactical Mecha and Nathen Conglomerate personnel to capture Bebops District.
• Afanisi routed the reinforcements sent to aid the Radicals in Bebops District.
• Radicals struck back with missiles and gunfire, and Yucas rushed to meet their arriving reinforcements.
• Zero blocked Yucas, setting up a rematch as Jonas sent Esnie the instruction to prepare to close the net.

Zero fought Yucas and Esnie as the Conservatives seized Bebops District, while Jonas waited for Zero at the rear. He detected her arrival and introduced himself, asking whether she had come to District 25 to assassinate him.

• Yucas confronted Zero in Exoskeleton Armor and asked whether she had learned about the Conservatives' operation in advance.
• Zero attacked Yucas with a High-Frequency Cutting Blade, but Yucas dodged and countered before Zero cut a scar into her armor.
• Esnie Nora arrived to help Yucas, and together they forced Zero to retreat.
• Jonas learned that the Conservatives had taken Bebops District and that Yucas and Esnie were fighting Zero.
• Jonas detected Zero's psionic energy, greeted her, and asked if she had come to District 25 to assassinate him.

Zero assassinated Jonas, but he trapped her in a dream and tried to force her to reveal Dorothy’s plan. She escaped by breaking the dream from within and in reality, while Jonas revealed that he had let her discover the dream deliberately to pursue a bigger target.

• Zero ambushed Jonas and stabbed him, but he appeared unharmed and trapped her in an illusion that warped the city around her.
• Jonas bound Zero in a dark room inside the dream and tried to interrogate her while using a sensory machine and a drug to overwhelm her.
• Zero confirmed she was dreaming, established an anchor in reality, and unleashed psionic energy to attack the dream’s weakest point from both sides.
• Zero broke free and vanished, while the exhausted Yushua apologized to Jonas for letting her escape.
• Jonas told Yushua that he had deliberately hinted that Zero was in a dream because he planned to use her escape to catch a bigger fish.

Yucas’s Conservatives seized control of the Peacekeeping Forces, while Jonas and Yucas dealt with the captured Clio and the turncoat Delt. As Delt was arrested, a Federation Psionic squad completed its search for Noel Misen and prepared to contact her secretly.

• The Conservatives captured the Peacekeeping Forces’ headquarters, and Clio realized Jonas had used the factional conflict to draw out the Federation.
• Clio punched Delt, but Conservative soldiers stopped Delt from retaliating and kept Clio in custody for Jonas.
• Jonas congratulated Yucas on taking control, and the two kissed in his Hovercar before Delt interrupted them with the unconscious Clio.
• Delt demanded the promised rewards and leadership of the Radicals; Jonas agreed, but Yucas ordered soldiers to arrest him and send him to a military tribunal.
• Jonas suggested placing Delt and Clio in the same cell, and Yucas approved.
• A Federation Psionic squad found Noel Misen’s location and a coded channel for contacting her, using Zero’s diversion to complete its mission.

The Federation planned to rescue Noel Misen within two days, while Jonas tightened District 25’s search for the injured Zero Misen and drew Carol closer to the Alliance. Jonas revealed that he could track Zero and intended to let Noel return to the Federation, though her return might not restore her former role as its strategist.

• The Federation’s Psionics reported that Zero was badly injured, but Zero sent word that she would join a rescue operation beginning within two days.
• District 25’s leaders publicized the Radicals’ betrayal, and Yucas Amili became Director of the Peacekeeping Forces.
• Carol feared Jonas would target the Arbitration Bureau, then accepted an invitation to dinner with him after Eiffel clarified that the District 25 Alliance wanted her assistance.
• Jonas told Eiffel that he meant to restore some of the Arbitration Bureau’s authority so Carol would side with the Alliance against the Federation.
• Eiffel reported that Beigong Ling believed Zero Misen’s psionic energy simulated a duplicate body and might have reached the fifth tier.
• Jonas revealed that a Void Realm brand let him track Zero and that she would need half a month to recover, then said he intended to let Noel return to the Federation.

After a series of humiliating dreams about Jonas, Zero nearly died when she used a Special Psionic Replenishment Drug, but a mysterious figure in the Void Realm saved and healed her. She pledged herself to the supposed Lord of the Void Realm, only to discover that he was Jonas in disguise, and he had branded her with a mark that could control her body and soul.

• Zero woke from another dream in which Jonas had made her act like a cat, then recalled that the Federation team planned to rescue Noel in two days and that she would serve as bait.
• Zero injected herself with a Special Psionic Replenishment Drug, but its effects sent her psionic energy out of control and left her on the verge of death.
• A black-robed figure appeared in the Void Realm, identified Zero as a believer, and offered to restore her body if she accepted him as her Lord.
• Zero agreed to join the Void Realm and honor its Lord, who branded her mind with a golden mark and restored her body and psionic energy to peak strength, making her a Fifth Tier Psionic.
• After Zero left the Void Realm, the figure revealed himself to be Jonas, who admitted he had marked her so he could control her body and soul.

After Esnie recovered from her nap, Jonas cared for her injuries and shared an intimate moment with her. Celine, upset that she had been excluded from the mission, went to surprise her sister with an apple and opened her bedroom door.

• Esnie woke and Jonas gave her apple slices while treating her wounds from the fight with Zero Misen.
• Jonas told Esnie to prioritize her safety in future emergencies, and Esnie fed him a piece of apple.
• Celine learned that her psionic energy had reached the fifth tier but remained upset that Jonas had left her out of the mission.
• Celine took an apple to Esnie's room to surprise her sister and slowly opened the door.

Celine visited Esnie in the hospital and found her being intimate with Jonas. Esnie drove Celine away with an exaggerated display of affection, then admitted she wanted Jonas to herself and made a bolder move.

• Celine arrived and caught Esnie and Jonas kissing while sharing an apple.
• Celine tried to take Jonas away so Esnie could rest, but Esnie insisted they stay.
• Esnie asked Jonas to channel Psionic Energy through skin contact to help her recover, and Celine watched in disbelief.
• Unable to endure their affectionate behavior, Celine said goodbye and left the hospital room.
• Esnie admitted she had acted lovey-dovey to chase Celine away and asked Jonas to let her take control.

Jonas left Miss Black Valkyrie’s hospital room and agreed to help Celine approach the fifth tier after she teased him about a nun’s habit. He then met Arbitration Bureau director Carol for their planned negotiations, which began as they entered the restaurant.

• Jonas found Celine waiting outside the hospital room, where she denied being jealous of her sister.
• Celine asked Jonas to help her reach the fifth tier, and he agreed on one condition after she mentioned a nun’s habit.
• Carol dressed for her meeting with Jonas and prepared for the negotiations by investigating risks and planning her responses.
• Carol arrived at the restaurant and met Jonas, and the two entered together as their negotiations began.

Jonas met Carol over dinner to discuss District 25's position against the Federation and the Arbitration Bureau's future. Carol expected him to demand her submission, but Jonas instead offered cooperation and said she herself could answer for District 25, leaving her unnerved.

• Jonas and Carol exchanged pleasantries at dinner before he asked what she thought of District 25's circumstances amid the Federation conflict.
• Carol warned Jonas that the Arbitration Bureau could still switch sides, while he argued the Federation would no longer accept it after Dorothy executed a returned spy.
• Carol asked whom the Arbitration Bureau should answer to, and Jonas replied that it should answer to District 25—or to Carol herself.
• Jonas said District 25 offered cooperation between parties pursuing their own interests rather than orders that treated the Arbitration Bureau as disposable.
• Carol grew suspicious and frightened by Jonas's unexpected offer of authority.

Carol negotiated with Jonas over his proposal for cooperation, but she distrusted his motives and his claims of integrity. Their discussion left Carol accusing him of using Yucas as a puppet while Jonas teased her.

• Carol tried to control the negotiations after Jonas proposed cooperation and a win-win arrangement.
• Jonas interrupted Carol by ordering red wine, then let her raise her doubts about trusting him.
• Jonas cited Yucas’s rise to Director of the Peacekeeping Forces as proof that he treated partners well.
• Carol accused Jonas of making Yucas his puppet and called her a subject beneath his crotch.
• Jonas invited Carol to explain what she would do in Yucas’s place, and Carol withdrew her remark, embarrassed.

Jonas reassured Carol that the Alt Conglomerate wanted cooperation rather than control of the Arbitration Bureau, while keeping her uncertain about his plans. He offered to send terms and warned her to watch for rats in District 25.

• Jonas told Carol that Yucas was his partner and friend, not his puppet or Executor.
• Carol grew anxious as she realized Jonas remained unmoved by her negotiating tactics and asked what she had to do to keep him from purging the Arbitration Bureau.
• Jonas said the Alt Conglomerate sought cooperation and would not arbitrarily interfere with the Arbitration Bureau's operations.
• Jonas promised to send the cooperation details to Carol's inbox and warned her to pay attention to the rats in District 25.

Carol signed the Alt Conglomerate's reasonable contract, while Jonas revealed that he intended to use the Arbitration Bureau to provoke a clash with Zero and the Federation. Jonas then arrived at the Alt Conglomerate to perform Mana Restoration.

• Carol found that the Alt Conglomerate's contract offered the Arbitration Bureau support without demanding excessive concessions, and she signed it.
• Eiffel told Jonas that Carol had signed, and Jonas explained that the contract was meant to reassure her while concealing his real trap.
• Jonas planned for the Arbitration Bureau to search the Alt Conglomerate's properties, where it would likely encounter Zero and a Federation Psionic squad.
• Jonas expected a clash to convince the Federation that the Arbitration Bureau had joined the Alt Conglomerate, leaving the Bureau with no choice but to align with it.
• Jonas arrived at the Alt Conglomerate, where someone was waiting for him to perform Mana Restoration.