Chapter Summaries

Lynn and Zuo Zuo discovered that the Flesh Dominator’s lair was an ancient raven tomb, and Lynn realized that he had built its gravestones in the distant past. Accepting that their journey through time had become part of history, Lynn began studying recordings of his battles with the God King.

• Lynn carried Zuo Zuo through the underground abyss and found a vast burial chamber filled with enormous gravestones bearing familiar names.
• At the chamber’s center, Lynn found the Flesh Dominator’s mass of rotting corpses and realized its hatred subsided as he approached.
• Lynn concluded that he had built the gravestones more than two hundred thousand years earlier, and told Zuo Zuo that they could escape time but not causality.
• Zuo Zuo comforted Lynn, who accepted that history might be unchangeable and lit the burial chamber.
• Lynn reviewed recordings of his battles with the God King and reasoned that the reincarnation cycle had already been broken, though he did not know why the God King remained.

Lynn studied the God King's control of firstborn power for 210,000 years while Zuo Zuo trained to reproduce the Left Hand's sword strike. After Zuo Zuo finally split a massive tombstone, Lynn awakened from his meditation and began tracing a delicate line with yellow sand.

• Lynn replayed his battles against the God King and studied how the God King transformed firstborn power into intricate laws.
• Zuo Zuo trained day after day with a stone sword, trying to imitate the Left Hand's slash from the Old Days War.
• Zuo Zuo's sword strike finally cut through an enormous stone monument, which fell apart after she sheathed her sword.
• Zuo Zuo celebrated her success, then quietly sat beside Lynn and continued supporting him as he meditated.
• After 210,000 years, Lynn opened his eyes, formed a wisp of yellow sand, and slowly traced a stroke through the air.

After understanding the Firstborn as the source of order, Lynn returned to the Wasteland with a new command of its power. He challenged the God King again and showed that he could manifest rules, though his attack still failed to reach him.

• Lynn learned to manipulate space and create light in the darkness, realizing the Firstborn was the beginning of order.
• Lynn returned to the Wasteland three days before the present and possessed the raven’s corpse again.
• The God King offered the same three-move challenge, while the Pighead Butcher and Feather Pen noticed Lynn had changed.
• Lynn used a tiny wisp of Firstborn power to manifest rules that immobilized the surroundings and constrained space.
• Lynn’s fragment stopped half a meter from the God King, who acknowledged that Lynn had improved a little.

Lynn tested his Firstborn Power against the figure from the past, but the figure effortlessly stretched space beyond a galaxy and taught him to control chaos rather than simply countering rules. Back in Dark Night City, Lynn recognized the enormous gap between them and wondered what would have happened if the Great Lord had fought the figure directly in the Reality Domain.

• Lynn accelerated a fragment of Firstborn Power toward the figure, but his spatial rules made the seemingly half-meter gap exceed a galaxy.
• The figure told Lynn to learn to draw chaotic beings into a system he controlled, then sent him back to his own time.
• Lynn returned to his body in Dark Night City, where only minutes had passed since Sir Awen and the others left.
• Lynn told Zuo Zuo that the figure's mastery of rules far surpassed what centuries of training could achieve.
• Lynn wondered what the outcome would have been if the Great Lord had fought the figure in the Reality Domain.

After being crushed by the Feather Pen, Lynn resolved to become unrivaled and vanished from Dark Night City to train. As the Origins debated whether a mysterious challenger defeating powerful beings across Hell was Lynn, they learned that Lady Eve had been found gravely injured outside the city.

• Lynn decided to use every means necessary to prepare for the future calamity and declared that he would become unrivaled in the world.
• Lynn left Dark Night City, telling his family in a letter not to worry, and remained out of contact for nearly a month.
• The Titan Head, Sir Awen, and the other Origins worried that Lynn might have gone looking for the Feather Pen after their one-sided fight.
• Silver Fantasy reported that a mysterious individual had defeated at least eight Fallen and native Origins across Hell.
• The Origins considered whether the mysterious challenger was Lynn, but they had no proof and agreed to remain vigilant.
• A Night Doctor rushed into the Conference Hall and reported that Lady Eve had been found gravely injured outside Dark Night City.

Sir Awen and the Origins learned that a mysterious black-robed figure had severely wounded Eve and challenged Dark Night City to a fight in three days. As the city prepared its defenses, Colossus confronted a phantom in a mirror space and attacked him.

• The Night Doctor Forces found Eve badly wounded outside the city, along with a blood letter challenging Dark Night City to send someone to fight in three days.
• Sir Awen determined that Eve was unconscious with a serious soul injury but would recover, and the Origins recognized the attack as a provocation.
• Titan Head accepted the challenge, while Sir Awen ordered the city to stay inside and instructed Miss Machine Intelligence, Miss Dollhouse, and the Captain to establish surveillance.
• The Self-Binding Angel told Sir Awen that Colossus was training and had been notified.
• Colossus encountered a black-robed phantom in a mirror space, rejected his offer to identify himself, and charged at him with a punch.

The Colossus fought a black-robed figure in the Mirror Space, escalating from rapid punches to her enormous spear as he revealed mastery of strength laws. Recognizing his power, she prepared to show him the results of her own two months of training.

• The Colossus unleashed a barrage of punches, but the black-robed figure caught her hand and slashed her back with his blade.
• The Colossus transformed into her giant form, summoned an immense black spear, and attacked the black-robed figure.
• The black-robed figure blocked the spear and struck the Colossus with a punch imbued with strength laws, shattering her armor before her wound healed.
• The Colossus recognized the laws in his attack and, after acknowledging she had underestimated him, focused her own rule fluctuations and challenged him to continue.

After Colossus vanished from her allies’ senses, Captain Constantine found her mental reflection where she had disappeared, while she was actually trapped in Mirror Space. Exhausted from fighting the Black-Robed Figure, Colossus faced his demonstration of a way to wield the laws as he attacked her again.

• Sir Awen and the others found Colossus’s room empty and suspected she had been taken by the mysterious person who had captured Eve.
• Sir Awen asked Captain Constantine to search the Sea of Loss for Colossus’s mental reflection.
• Captain Constantine found Colossus’s reflection at Sir Awen’s location, even though she was missing from the room.
• In Mirror Space, Colossus’s giant form gave way to her human form after the prolonged battle left her wounded and mentally exhausted.
• The Black-Robed Figure explained the backlash of controlling laws without a Divine Spark and formed a Void Law Disk as he offered to teach Colossus a trick.
• The Black-Robed Figure punched toward Colossus, and the blast drove her into the ground while damaging her faster than she could regenerate.

The Colossus was defeated by a black-robed stranger who warned that the Titan was his next target. Dark Night City’s Origins prepared for the stranger’s next attack and considered whether he might be Lynn, while Silver Fantasy proposed a way to test him.

• The black-robed figure defeated the Colossus, warned her not to empower herself with laws before forging them into her body, and announced that he would challenge the Titan next.
• The Colossus recovered in her room, warned the Titan that the stranger was extremely strong, and refused to share details of the encounter.
• The Titan Head went to the wasteland and waited for the stranger, while Sir Awen warned the others that anyone in Dark Night City could be targeted.
• The Self-Binding Angel suggested that the black-robed figure might be Lynn, and Sir Awen noted that the stranger had held back against his opponents.
• Silver Fantasy asked how they could test whether the stranger was Lynn, and Sir Awen revealed that Lynn had hidden Black Skull Coins, comics, and books beneath the second layer of stone slabs in his room.

Self-Binding Angel led everyone in searching Lynn’s hiding places, and they uncovered piles of valuables, odd keepsakes, and forbidden books. Silver Fantasy found her old Monomolecular Sword and a hard drive containing footage of the first time Lynn captured her in Curse City.

• Self-Binding Angel proposed searching Lynn’s stashes and using his hidden valuables to test whether the mysterious person was Lynn, and the group approved the plan by a four-to-two vote.
• Everyone gathered in the Conference Hall after half an hour with a mountain of coins, gems, books, and other objects they had found.
• Self-Binding Angel found a large stash of black tea bags, while Dollhouse recovered a missing wooden fragment and Xiao Xiao found a box of baby teeth.
• Silver Fantasy opened a buried box, recognized her old Monomolecular Sword, and remembered Lynn had claimed her belongings were destroyed.
• Silver Fantasy connected to a mechanical hard drive, saw footage from when Lynn first captured her in Curse City, and realized he had recorded it.

The Origins uncovered an album of scantily clad photos of themselves hidden among Lynn’s belongings and angrily summoned the photographed victims, while Lynn woke to a flood of falling-affection alerts without knowing why. Three days later, as Dark Night City’s defenses and surveillance were reinforced, Silver Fantasy left the monitoring center to help Sir Awen.

• Xiao Xiao found an album of revealing photos, and Witch God Head and the other Origins discovered that it featured many familiar women, with the inscription “My adorable family~” on the back.
• Self-Binding Angel and the others destroyed the photos, declared they would punish the black-robed figure, and summoned the people depicted, prompting ominous storm clouds to gather over the Divine Temple.
• Lynn woke to system alerts showing that Self-Binding Angel, Silver Fantasy, Colossus Brain, and others had become angry or murderous toward him, though he did not know why.
• Three days passed without another challenge in Dark Night City, while Titan Head waited unnoticed outside the city and Silver Fantasy oversaw its surveillance and Mechanical District preparations.
• Silver Fantasy agreed to Sir Awen’s request for help, handed monitoring duties to Light Banquet and Number One Intelligent Brain, and returned to her Supreme Body.

Silver Fantasy confronted the black-robed swordsman who had injured Colossus and Eve, while testing whether he was Lynn by burning Black Skull Coins and other items. When he attacked to stop her, she called for Zuo Zuo, but received no answer.

• Silver Fantasy left her underground room and arrived at the empty Central Plaza, where her connection to Dark Night City's machinery disappeared.
• The black-robed swordsman descended from the Divine Temple, challenged Silver Fantasy, and attacked her with a saber that cut through the temple and nearby buildings.
• Silver Fantasy scattered and burned engraved Black Skull Coins to provoke the swordsman, but he remained silent.
• Silver Fantasy brought out a mountain of coins, gems, and strange books, and the swordsman struck at her before she could burn them.
• Silver Fantasy concluded that the swordsman was Lynn and challenged his denial, then called for Zuo Zuo, who did not reply.

Silver Fantasy used provocative photos to expose the black-robed swordsman’s hidden connection to Left Hand, triggering a fight between them. She then tore away his disguise and revealed Lynn, leaving him stripped to his boxer shorts.

• Silver Fantasy showed the black-robed figure embarrassing photos, and he attacked her when she accused him of secretly taking them.
• Silver Fantasy’s power stopped his blade, and Left Hand turned on him and berated him over the photos.
• The black-robed figure subdued Left Hand with pesticide and tried to explain away their outburst to Silver Fantasy.
• Silver Fantasy discarded her Monomolecular Sword and stripped off the black robe, veil, and disguise, revealing Lynn in his boxer shorts.
• Lynn pleaded that seeing his face should have been enough.

Silver Fantasy discovered that Lynn was the mysterious swordsman and confronted him about recordings he had kept of her defeat. Lynn admitted he had saved the footage from when they were enemies, while Silver Fantasy remained unconvinced by his excuses.

• Silver Fantasy recognized Lynn as the mysterious swordsman, and he tried to deny it until she beat him with a broken stool.
• Silver Fantasy showed Lynn a hard drive containing footage of her defeat beneath Curse City and questioned him about keeping copies.
• Lynn pretended to be outraged and tried to destroy the evidence, but Silver Fantasy stopped him.
• Lynn admitted he had kept the recordings for observation and study when they were enemies, then claimed he had not used them since bringing her to Dark Night City.
• Silver Fantasy's hard drive crackled in her grip as Lynn insisted he had not yet had time to destroy the recordings.

Silver Fantasy forced Lynn to destroy his hidden collection of copied materials, then demanded an explanation for his disguise and his attacks on Eve and Colossus. Lynn explained that he had staged the incident to create a pretext to challenge Dark Night City, but Silver Fantasy questioned why he had not simply told everyone.

• Silver Fantasy threatened to expose Lynn unless he destroyed every copy of his materials, and Lynn reluctantly produced stacks of hard drives.
• Silver Fantasy searched Lynn's system space, found optical discs, and burned them while Lynn salvaged books and Black Skull Coins from the ashes.
• Silver Fantasy stopped Lynn from leaving and demanded to know why he had disguised himself as a Black-Robed Figure and injured Colossus and Eve.
• Lynn said he had asked Eve to act injured as part of his plan, but she had cut her major artery, and he had fought Colossus for real after suspecting she had recognized him.
• Silver Fantasy asked why Lynn had gone to such lengths instead of simply telling everyone he wanted to fight.

Lynn explained that he wanted to create a powerful opponent to help everyone master rules before they faced the Polluters and other threats in the Main Universe. He told Silver Fantasy that he was exploring how to draw chaos into a system governed by rules, perhaps by creating worlds with their own rules and automatic programs.

• Lynn argued that their strength made it hard to find opponents capable of helping them improve, and that they needed life-and-death battles before returning to the Main Universe.
• Lynn demonstrated his power by reducing a third of the city in Mirror Space to dust and explained that rules surpassed the powers they had mastered before.
• Silver Fantasy asked how they could ever defeat chaos, which could corrupt rules, and Lynn said rules could also make chaos orderly and subject it to restrictions.
• Lynn shared his idea that his firstborn power might create rules within worlds, like a Heavenly Dao, and asked whether Atomic Machinery could follow programs that activated automatically.

Lynn shared his idea of creating higher rules that could make the Main Universe reject and attack Disorderly Existences, giving orderly beings a defensive home ground. Silver Fantasy believed in him and reassured him that she and the others would stand by him, while Lynn admitted she was becoming like family to him.

• Lynn explained to Silver Fantasy his idea of establishing rules that governed the laws of the Main Universe and could defend against Chaos and Polluters.
• Lynn reasoned that the Calamity's growing will might diminish its power, as becoming orderly had diminished Painter's magnitude.
• Silver Fantasy asked whether Lynn believed his idea could work, and he said he was still trying to understand Firstborn Power and laws.
• Lynn suggested that the God King might be able to create rules for the Main Universe, or at least establish them in a single region.
• Silver Fantasy took Lynn's hand and told him she believed in him and would face the future at his side.
• Lynn thanked Silver Fantasy and said she was becoming more like family to him.

Silver Fantasy accepted Lynn’s challenge to fight him and programmed herself to suppress her emotions and kill him. She attacked with devastating weapons, leaving Lynn dodging amid the battle machines filling the mirror space.

• Silver Fantasy agreed to act as Lynn’s enemy and challenged him to prove he could defeat her.
• She suppressed her emotional module, blacklisted Lynn, and activated a command to kill him.
• Silver Fantasy attacked Lynn with her Monomolecular Sword, and he escaped the strike with Psionics Warp.
• She launched enormous warheads at Lynn, then filled the mirror space with war machines and fired a barrage of beams at him.
• Lynn summoned spatial laws to lock down the space in front of him.

Lynn relocated the Mirror Space to the Strange Otherworld as Silver Fantasy attacked him with powerful War Machines and rules-based abilities. He survived her assaults, then demonstrated the rule of Creation and began teaching her how it could shape matter and energy.

• Lynn moved the Mirror Space out of Dark Night City and into the Strange Otherworld within the Trident to prevent further damage.
• Silver Fantasy trapped Lynn in a collapsing Iron Abyss and compressed it into a Mechanical Cube, but Lynn reappeared unharmed.
• Lynn recognized that Silver Fantasy had grown stronger than the other leaders of Dark Night City and praised her mastery of the Scholar's legacy.
• Silver Fantasy fired another barrage, and Lynn used Creation to make steel spikes that intercepted and froze her projectiles.
• Lynn formed a black sword, cut through Silver Fantasy's Atomic Machinery wall, and explained that Creation could produce exceptionally strong matter and imbue it with energy.

Lynn demonstrated his command over the rules of creation by stripping Silver Fantasy of her machines and the matter and energy in the mirror space. He left her fighting for survival and urged her to transcend her limits by learning to use rules herself.

• Silver Fantasy escaped Lynn's sword strike by atomizing her body and rapidly manufacturing war machines to attack him.
• Lynn used the rules of creation to gather matter and energy, disintegrating Silver Fantasy's machinery and absorbing her attacks.
• Lynn emptied the mirror space of matter and energy, then asked Silver Fantasy how she could fight with nothing left.
• Silver Fantasy rebuilt war machines from her own body, but Lynn took control of them and made them attack her.
• Lynn struck Silver Fantasy with a dense sphere of matter and energy, then challenged her to find a way to survive in a lifeless domain.