Chapter Summaries

Annan and the Funeral Agency team fought Good Home Reunion Agency's agents, Maynard and Liman, after the agency invaded their smart devices and trapped them in the Hanging Tower. As drones and Mechanical Spiders closed in, a newly arrived man launched himself at the two agents.

• Maynard threatened the group when they failed to accept Good Home Reunion Agency's offer, and corrupted drones burst into the floor.
• Annan split the group into a front team to confront Maynard and Liman and a rear team to hold off the drones, with Harvey volunteering to help defend.
• Bange pierced the ice curtain with controlled openings and fired Bursting Ice Thorn Bullets at the enemy drones.
• Igula used Mind Shriek to strike Maynard and Liman, but Liman summoned drones to shield them as the agency's forces sealed the exits.
• Maynard and Liman resisted the next assault and expected the drone swarm to overwhelm the team before the Red Cicada Duchess arrived.
• A Sword Shadow lodged in the ceiling, and a man in a Dark Red Windbreaker appeared and charged at Maynard and Liman with Rushing.

Harvey and Annan defended a passage against swarms of weaponized drones, using Harvey’s coffin to unleash Alice and Annan’s Void Wings to hold the enemy back. Their defense remained under pressure as the Red Cicada Duchess drew closer, leaving the decisive breakthrough to the front battlefield.

• Harvey activated Immortal Coffin Lock Burial Tomb, shielding himself from the drones’ barrage with his wheeled coffin.
• When the barrier broke, Alice emerged from the coffin, gained strength from the barrage, and began destroying the drones with Painful Awakening Secret Rite.
• Annan spread her Void Wings and used their gun barrels alongside her submachine gun sister to suppress the drones in the passage.
• Little Liss shot a Mechanical Spider that had leapt toward Annan, and Annan thanked her before resuming her attack.
• Annan and Harvey recognized that they could not hold out indefinitely and that the battle’s breakthrough had to come from the front.

Ash and his companions escaped an attack by the Good Home Reunion Agency after Ash terrified its agents and wounded Liman. They fled toward the Red Hats for protection, only to discover that Ash was wanted by the authorities too.

• Maynard attacked Ash with an Earth Art trap, but Ash cut through the spikes with his Sword Art.
• Ash’s presence overwhelmed Maynard and Liman with visions of Doomsday, and Ash slashed Liman’s throat while Maynard fled with her.
• Bange packed Harvey’s Coffin into a suitcase, and the group escaped in a Floating Car before the drones fell without Liman controlling them.
• Annan decided to seek Special Protection from the Red Hats, while the Butler Boy explained the Good Home Reunion Agency’s name and methods.
• The Gospel revealed that Ash was wanted by Imperial Red Hat Headquarters, and Annan admitted her friend Cleo Si would sell them out for a better Ranking List position.

Cleo confronted Aina at the ruined Funeral Agency, where Maynard and Liman revealed the terror caused by Ash Hiss and his artifacts. Aina proposed that the Good Home Reunion Agency and the Red Hats cooperate, and Cleo accepted after the Gospel promised her first place in the National Red Hat Ranking if she completed the Empire’s Wanted Order against Annan.

• Cleo accused Aina and the Good Home Reunion Agency of trespassing and damaging Annan Dolan’s property, but Aina presented an overdue compensation contract as justification for collecting from the Funeral Agency.
• Cleo asked to question Maynard and Liman, and Aina agreed to let her question them at the scene because they were too traumatized to leave.
• Maynard warned Cleo that she had to kill Ash Hiss, while Aina explained that the Fiend Windbreaker and Twisted Mask seemed to have effects beyond their listed descriptions.
• Aina proposed cooperating with the Red Hats to obtain Annan’s loophole, the outsiders, and the Weaving Festival, arguing that they should help the Gospel.
• Cleo consulted the Gospel and accepted Aina’s offer after learning that completing the Empire’s Wanted Order would make her first on the National Red Hat Ranking.

Ash and the others escaped Azula on bicycles and hid in Annan’s grandfather’s underground shelter. As Ash and Liss repaired their strained relationship, the group finally found a place to rest.

• Annan led the group away from Azula on bicycles after abandoning the Floating Car, and Bange explained that an automated truck’s monitor records could not be checked across city boundaries until much later.
• At the hillside hideout, Ash tried to take Liss’s handgun, and Liss accused him of only pretending to be her father and said their game was over.
• Ash told Liss how to manage without him, then offered to learn Gun Art with her and returned her handgun after checking its safety.
• Ash reassured Liss that no child only brought trouble, and Liss clutched his sleeve instead of letting him go.
• Annan and Bange found a hidden entrance in the hillside, and the group descended into a furnished basement that Annan called her Grandfather’s Tomb.

Annan explained how she had prepared a hidden safehouse disguised as her grandfather’s grave and laid out plans for the group to rest and move on. The group began organizing for the night, but someone asked what would happen to Ash.

• Igula woke and joined the others in the basement, where Annan explained that Bange’s suitcase was an exclusive reward from the last Weaving Festival.
• Annan revealed that she had planned to flee Azula before the outsiders’ names appeared in the rankings, but events had forced them to escape early.
• Harvey questioned whether the basement was really a grave, and Annan explained that she had disguised the safehouse as one to mislead the Gospel and delay the pursuers.
• Annan scheduled the group to relocate before six, divide into watch shifts, and use the Gospel to check for nearby people while the others recovered in the Void Realm.
• As Annan asked whether anyone had more questions, someone asked what would happen to Ash.

Igula confronted Annan over Ash’s Wanted Order and negotiated a contract to protect the group from betrayal. Ash later entered the Void Realm and found Sonia waiting for him beside his sports car.

• Igula challenged Annan to address the harm Ash suffered after becoming wanted, and Annan acknowledged her responsibility for involving him.
• Annan and her employees signed a contract requiring her to value Ash, Igula, Harvey, and Liss as much as herself.
• Annan and Bange took turns standing watch while Liss fell asleep hugging Ash.
• Ash realized he had missed the night’s Void Realm exploration and used Sword Maiden’s Gate of Truth to enter the Void Realm.
• Ash found Sonia waiting beside his sports car, and she told him she had been waiting for him.

Ash and Sonia reunited in the Time Continent after he missed their meeting, and their teasing turned into an honest conversation about trust, their growing team, and helping each other. They left the night on warmer terms, while Liss and Diya watched Ash sleeping and guessed at his dream.

• Ash found Sonia waiting in the Void Realm and scolded her for staying in one place despite the danger of the Silent Domain; Sonia punched him and berated him for missing their meeting.
• Ash admitted that he might miss several more nights but could not reveal why, and Sonia asked whether his situation was more dangerous than a prison break.
• Sonia told Ash about Kazami Tsuru's offer to create a War Song for her and her new role in a Monday Night Drama, and Ash encouraged her ambitions.
• Ash and Sonia discussed how comfortable they felt with each other and agreed that their team would grow beyond the two of them; Sonia offered to help him in the Void Realm if he truly needed it.
• Liss woke briefly, noticed Ash smiling in his sleep, and wondered if he was having a pleasant dream, while Diya guessed that he was preparing for prison.

Annan drove the Funeral Agency group away from her grandfather’s tomb in a cramped, modified sports car while they discussed Harvey’s female corpse, Alice. The group continued their escape with Harvey explaining that Ash’s advice had inspired his approach to necromancy and Igula brushing off the others’ teasing.

• Annan drove the six members of the Funeral Agency away from her grandfather’s tomb in the Uzzi Extinguishing Dragon, with Igula in the passenger seat and Ash squeezed into the back row holding Liss.
• Annan asked Harvey about the corpse he had commanded, and Harvey confirmed that it was the male corpse Annan had bought for him, modified into Alice.
• Harvey explained that Ash’s comments about corpses’ sexual function inspired him to create attractive undead to draw people toward necromancy.
• Harvey described the Necromancers’ legendary benefactor Häagen-Dazs, while Igula compared it to the Mind School’s legendary figure, Madara.
• Annan asked why Harvey had made Alice a beautiful girl rather than a boy, and Harvey said he found women played by men more charming because Igula was an example.

As the exiles traveled from Azula through the countryside, Annan showed them how Gospel used localized information to keep rural residents’ worlds narrow and preserve social order. They drove onto a miraculous Sky Bridge toward other first-tier cities, leaving the fields and Azula behind.

• Ash noticed young Orcs working the countryside fields and asked why they had not moved to the cities.
• Annan questioned a young Orc about his XinYue viewing history and learned he watched only village-focused videos and had never heard of a famous Azula beer.
• Igula explained that the rural Orc’s information sources confined his view of the world, and Annan said Gospel maintained such barriers between regions and even individuals.
• Annan described how Gospel used limited information to shape citizens’ understanding and encourage them to stay in their social positions.
• Annan drove the group onto a Sky Bridge, where their car accelerated toward the first-tier cities of He Maira, Astra, and Van Mula.

Annan’s group entered the mist-covered Van Mula, where locals watched them wherever they went. Two agents from the Good Home Reunion Agency trapped them on a tram and tried to force a public attack, but the tram crossed into a district that drained the passengers’ strength and left the agents incapacitated.

• Annan told Ash to keep his Fiend Windbreaker concealed beneath his cloak because its ability could intimidate powerful sorcerers.
• As Annan’s group traveled through Van Mula, residents silently stared at them, and Liss hid in Ash’s arms.
• Two agents from the Good Home Reunion Agency confronted Annan on the tram and revealed that they had tracked the group through Gospel records of outsiders.
• The agents seized control of the tram and sent it toward Azula, hoping Annan’s group would strike first and be marked as criminals.
• After the tram crossed into Van Mula’s New City district, the passengers grew weak, and the Orc and Goblin agents collapsed.

Annan explained that Van Mula’s Mermaid Mist caused psychological dependence and revealed why travelers could not leave the city. The Red Hats captured the group, and Qinna revealed that Annan’s Little Aunt had been detained before greeting the captives as her daughter’s worthless companions.

• Annan explained that Van Mula’s Mermaid Mist came from Mermaid Stinkweed farms and caused the city’s residents to become dependent on it.
• Annan said she had contacted her Little Aunt, but Red Hats subdued and shackled the group as they left the tram.
• A Red Hat Elf arrived, ordered the Broken Home Agency Affairs Commissioners taken away, and identified herself as Qinna.
• Qinna told Annan that Nona Senheiser had been detained and suspended, then kicked Annan for speaking rudely.
• Qinna called Ash and the others the worthless scraps her daughter had picked up and welcomed them to Van Mula.

Ash, Igula, and their companions sat in Van Mula’s Detention Room while Annan explained her estrangement from her mother, Qinna. Harvey discovered that Mermaid Mist kept the city’s residents in constant pleasure, and Annan suggested that love and family were used to counter its harmful effects.

• Ash and Igula assumed Annan’s mother would protect them, but Annan warned them that Qinna cared only about the Senheiser name.
• Annan described her hostile reunion with Qinna and revealed that her mother had kicked her, leaving her cheek swollen.
• Harvey woke and noticed that Mermaid Mist was overstimulating the city’s residents, making pain feel pleasurable and raising their dopamine thresholds.
• Harvey predicted that Van Mula’s people would eventually suffer mental collapse, but Annan explained that Spellcasters used stronger pleasures to prevent that outcome.
• Annan identified love and family as the powerful counterbalance to Mermaid Mist.

Annan explained how Mermaid Mist and the Family Reincarnation Dream System shaped Van Mula into a city bound together by shared joy and bloodline identity. The group learned that Annan had lived there as a child, leaving her connection to the dangerous city unresolved.

• Annan explained that Gospel-guided alchemists developed Mermaid Stinkweed products, including Mermaid Mist, and regulated their use to limit harm.
• Annan described how Van Mula’s spellcasters built a family-based Dream Realm where citizens spent excess positive emotions and could absorb fragments of other people’s memories.
• Bange clarified that the Dream Realm mainly strengthened family bonds, making Van Mula’s residents feel like one family and recognize outsiders.
• Igula summarized how Mermaid Mist and the Dream Realm had isolated Van Mula from the rest of Gospel Country.
• Bange said Annan was not an outsider, and Annan reluctantly revealed that she had lived in Van Mula as a child.

Qinna confronted Annan in the Detention Room, attacked her and Ash, and accused her of plotting to use Senheiser as a shield. Annan offered to join Senheiser after the Weaving Festival and surrender Doran’s secrets, and Qinna demanded that she sign a contract.

• Qinna arrived at the Detention Room and explained how she could legally extend Annan’s detention for more than a month.
• Qinna beat Annan, then shot beside Ash’s ear when he challenged her, warning him not to speak disrespectfully to the Head of Senheiser.
• Qinna accused Annan of planning to join another Emblem family and leave Senheiser to bear the consequences of her scheme.
• Annan promised to join Senheiser after the Weaving Festival and hand over Doran’s secrets and the God-Defying Plan.
• Qinna released Annan and presented a Contract Weaving Paper, ordering her to sign.

While the group traveled through the Void Realm, Ash’s reflections on parent-child relationships made Diya suspect that he was the Watcher, but she eventually dismissed the idea. The chapter leaves Ash considering his unusual relationship with Liss as the group learns that Van Mula’s Second Layer City is divided among six insular Emblem families.

• Sonia, Diya, and Ash discussed their relationships with their mothers while traveling toward the Star Hall Region.
• Ash described a child who used a Contract to pressure an adult, prompting Diya to wonder whether the Watcher was Ash.
• Diya connected the Watcher and Ash through their matching coats, familiar mannerisms, and similar defensive Miracles, then decided the similarities had other explanations.
• Ash realized he did not know Liss’s age and reflected on how his relationship with her resembled the unusual mother-daughter bond between Annan and Qinna.
• Qinna settled Ash and the others above Van Mula’s Second Layer City, where they discovered that its six districts were occupied exclusively by six Emblem families.

Ash, Sonia, and Diya stumbled into a battle between Heroic Soul Legions, where an Eternal Fame-level Commander’s soul merged with Ash and unlocked new troops and rewards. Meanwhile, Annan realized that the war endangered the Agency’s Void Assassination business.

• Annan sent Ash and the others to rest in Van Mula while she prepared to discuss business the next day.
• Ash and his companions approached the Star Hall Region after discovering that the Celestial Cart Bull followed a circular route across the Time Continent.
• A distant battle between Heroic Soul Legions shook the region, and Ash found a War Engagement Zone on the Void Realm Map.
• A golden soul rushed into Ash and was absorbed, unlocking four Star Hall troop types and offering Commander’s Handbook rewards.
• Ash fled as the map marked the surrounding area as dangerous, while Sonia and Diya sensed a terrifying pursuer behind them.
• After her treatment, Annan told Bange that the Agency was finished because its main business was Void Assassination.

Happiness and Peace Agency sent thirteen assassins into the Void Realm to kill Ash Hiss, who was not protected by their Whitelist. Amodo encountered Ash’s speeding sports car, survived its passage, and was left bewildered as an even louder rumble approached.

• Amodo rode through the rain toward Ash Hiss, guided by a blessing that pointed to the target.
• Happiness and Peace Agency had accepted the assassination commission and sent all thirteen of its Two-Winged assassins after Ash.
• Amodo prepared his Murder Miracles as Ash approached, expecting an easy kill.
• Ash’s convertible sports car crushed Amodo’s earth spikes and mud pit as it sped past him.
• Amodo wondered why Ash had called him another one and why two girls were in the car as the dark green exhaust damaged him.
• Amodo heard a rumble growing louder after the sports car had already driven away.

Lookout Danzel’s Spider Tower forces pursued Bledo’s fleeing party, while Danzel realized the supposed Heroic Spirits were Spellcasters sheltering in a special building. He entered the Wooden Cabin and found six people, including three who looked exactly like the others, then said he had also lost his memory.

• The Eight-Eyed Weaver Spider captured Amodo with Fate-weaving silk, and the Retinue Troops devoured him.
• Danzel recognized that the fleeing group had entered the Wooden Cabin, where the Void Realm prevented his troops from following.
• Danzel deduced that the group were Spellcasters, not Heroic Spirits, and that Bledo was already dead while the Avatar of Stars remained with them.
• After another Spellcaster was killed by Spider Tower troops, Danzel entered the Wooden Cabin alone.
• Danzel found six people inside, including three who looked identical to the three others, and told them he had lost his memory.

Ash and the others fled a Heroic Soul Commander who was pursuing Ash after he absorbed a powerful Commander, but the pursuer forced them toward a dead end. They rejected abandoning Ash or destroying the Soul Summoning Spell Spirit, leaving their next move unresolved as they argued over Ash’s choice of Financial Art.

• Ash, Sonia, and Diya realized the pursuing Heroic Soul Commander was hunting Ash, and Ash offered to sacrifice himself so the others could escape.
• Sonia refused to abandon Ash, while Diya and Sonia accused him of trying to make them feel guilty and pamper him.
• Ash checked the Void Realm map and found that the Commander had blocked their route toward the Star Hall Region, leaving them trapped in a dead end.
• Ash proposed that they retreat into the Silent Domain or destroy the Soul Summoning Spell Spirit, but Sonia and Diya refused to give up its powerful troop types.
• Sonia suggested the Commander might want the Commander's Handbook Ash had absorbed, then learned Ash had chosen Financial Art instead of Offensive Art and angrily questioned his decision.