Chapter Summaries

Lynn took command of the Seven Border Kings' forces and cleared the frontier, then used his Mechanical Forces to draw matter from the Nether Sea into the chaotic being. The vortex paused briefly as Lynn's plan began to take effect.

• Lynn warned that attacking the Polluters in Chaos Deep Space was too dangerous and persuaded the Seven Border Kings to place their armies under his command.
• Lynn ordered the armies to retreat, shut down energy operations and shields, and move the front-line Edge Worlds away from the border.
• Lynn sent waves of Mechanical Units into the lightless vortex, allowing them to be destroyed while forming a silver-white line from the Nether Sea.
• Lynn activated the machinery, drawing vast streams of matter from the Nether Sea toward the vortex, which briefly halted its advance.

Lynn redirected the chaos creature away from the base by feeding it a mechanical torrent of matter, then used the torrent to lure the Polluter armies into the creature’s reach. The chaos creature swallowed more than half of both armies, leaving the battle’s outcome poised to turn.

• Lynn explained that the chaos creature could be guided by feeding its instincts, and his mechanical torrent turned it toward the Nether Sea.
• The Polluter army attacked Lynn’s mechanical torrent to disrupt his control of the chaos creature.
• Lynn waited until both Polluter forces approached the torrent, then redirected matter toward them and detonated the Mechanical Units among it.
• Lynn severed his connection to the front-line Mechanical Legion, cutting off the chaos creature’s food supply.
• The chaos creature rapidly expanded and swallowed more than half of the two Polluter armies.

Lynn used a chaos creature to annihilate most of the Polluter armies, then baited their hidden commander into revealing a traceable signal. He ordered the surviving Polluters destroyed and identified a direction in Chaos Deep Space where their stronghold might lie.

• Lynn guided the chaos creature to devour more than half of the Polluter armies and mocked their commander over the void.
• The surviving Polluters charged toward the Edge World, but Lynn’s troops cut off their retreat and attacked them.
• A Polluter commander shouted, “Who the hell are you?!” and Lynn and Clown traced the signal through the chaos power protecting it.
• Clown identified the signal’s direction in Chaos Deep Space, and Lynn concluded the Polluters might have a stronghold there.
• Lynn ordered the Mechanical Units to surround and annihilate the remaining Polluter armies.

Lynn drove the Chaos Being into the Nether Sea, helped the Border Kings defeat the Polluters, and then took two uninhabited Sky Island Worlds as payment. He moved the worlds into his Strange Otherworld to test whether his Laws could create a sustainable ecosystem there, while his forces confirmed the Polluters had been eliminated.

• Lynn guided the Chaos Being into the Nether Sea and told the Border Kings they could restore their worlds and rebuild their defenses.
• The Border Kings thanked Lynn, who asked them to give him one or two worlds in return for his help.
• Lynn directed his mechanical army to move two Sky Island Worlds through a Spatial Rift into his Strange Otherworld, despite Zuo Zuo's embarrassment.
• Lynn explained that he wanted the worlds to test whether his Laws could create an ecosystem capable of sustaining normal planets.
• A commander reported that the remaining Polluter troops and hidden stragglers had all been eliminated.

Lynn waited with the Seven Border Kings for the return of the Edge World's Eldest Miss, Aivier, the Violet Great Lord's daughter. After she arrived, she confronted Lynn with her sword and warned him that he should not have come.

• Lynn decided to leave a Central Computer and Mechanical Units in the Edge World to help defend it and monitor events.
• The Seven Border Kings welcomed the returning Eldest Miss as she approached Lynn at the Nether Sea's source.
• Lynn recognized the masked woman as the woman he had encountered in the Nether Sea, while Clown admitted he could barely remember the Princess.
• Lynn greeted Aivier by calling her his daughter, then joked that he counted as half her father, embarrassing Clown.
• Aivier sent the Border Kings away, drew her sword to Lynn's neck, and told him he should not have come.

Lynn met Aivier, Painter’s daughter, who warned him that her mother had been using him all along. Lynn admitted he understood but continued on because he wanted to delay the approaching apocalypse, then asked Aivier to help him.

• Lynn recognized Aivier and told her he was glad she was alive.
• Aivier removed her mask, revealed her identity, and warned Lynn that her mother had been using him from the beginning.
• Lynn said he understood the arrangement and would keep going because the apocalypse was drawing near.
• Lynn offered Aivier his hand and asked for her help.
• Lynn and Aivier entered a palace in Edge World, where Aivier watched Lynn bicker with Zuo Zuo and recalled her father.

Aivier explained that the Sleeper had corrupted the Divine Realm and that even a Firstborn could not defeat the Calamity, the dream’s creator. She and Lynn considered whether power from outside the dream could offer a way to fight him, and Aivier said the world beyond the dream might fear his awakening even more than they did.

• Lynn teased Aivier about her father abandoning her in the desert as a newborn, and Aivier knocked over a marble pillar while telling him to drop the subject.
• Aivier told Lynn that the Sleeper had corrupted the Divine Realm, beginning the Calamity, and described his power as unlike that of other chaotic beings.
• Aivier changed into the Azure Princess’s gown and told Lynn he needed at least God King-level strength to survive the Calamity.
• Aivier said becoming the Firstborn would not let Lynn defeat the dream’s creator, and that attempts to create a replacement Firstborn had failed.
• Lynn realized that power from outside the dream might be their answer, and Aivier said Ether and the builder of the Main Universe’s Defense Line had given her a sliver of hope.

Lynn and Aivier discussed how to oppose the Sleeper, whose awakening might have been set in motion by the outsiders entering the dream. They considered whether time was a power beyond the Sleeper’s control, but Aivier suggested that time might only overwhelm chaos on the scale of the entire River of Time.

• Aivier said power from outside the dream, or power slipping beyond the Sleeper’s influence, might offer hope against Him.
• Lynn proposed that time could be beyond the Sleeper’s control because it continued to pass even in Chaos Deep Space.
• Lynn explained that chaotic beings existed at particular points in time but resisted any direct influence from time laws.
• Aivier suggested that time laws might be ineffective moment to moment while still outweighing chaos across the entire River of Time.

Lynn theorized that time existed beyond the dream world and might hold the key to confronting the future calamity. Aivier offered to help him find the former Time Divine Kingdom, but Lynn became more interested in locating the Time Divine Spark.

• Lynn questioned whether Chaos Deep Space could rival the River of Time and led Aivier to consider time outside the dream world.
• Lynn speculated that time spanned both the dream and the world beyond it, and wondered whether timelines branched and whether his future self was guiding him along a correct path.
• Aivier asked whether time could help defeat the future calamity, and Lynn said his ideas remained untested speculation.
• Aivier offered to take Lynn to the Divine Realm to search for the former Time Divine Kingdom, which her mother had glimpsed using the new Time Divine Spark.
• Lynn told Aivier he cared more about the Time Divine Spark and asked whether she knew where it was hidden.

Lynn asked Aivier about the Time Divine Spark and their past, then revealed his plan to find the Abyss and lead Hell’s army against the Polluters in the Main Universe. Aivier agreed to help him, though she warned that the route had changed and hinted he might find an unexpected gift.

• Aivier said she had seen the Time Divine Spark only once and thought it might still be in her mother’s possession.
• Aivier told Lynn that their differences in belief had separated her from her mother and hinted that the Ravens before him might not all have died at the Calamity’s hands.
• Aivier urged Lynn to break free of Fate and live the life he wanted, then fell silent as chaotic corruption briefly appeared on her body.
• Lynn explained that he wanted to find the Abyss and use it to send Hell’s army across the Main Universe to fight the Polluters and protect the universe as an anchor for his father.
• Aivier warned that Lynn would be vulnerable outside her mother’s protection, but agreed to help him find the Abyss and said he might receive an unexpected gift there.

Lynn and Aivier agreed to raid a Polluter stronghold in Chaos Deep Space, though they haggled over how to divide anything they found. As Aivier carried Lynn into the depths, she explained that her inherited chaotic nature let her control chaos and transform into a Chaos Creature.

• Aivier told Lynn that her father's former domain might hold a legacy, and Lynn jokingly accepted the inheritance.
• Lynn said he had pinpointed a Polluter stronghold and asked Aivier to help him attack it.
• Aivier demanded a share of the spoils, negotiated a split with Lynn, and then carried him into Chaos Deep Space behind a chaos-infused barrier.
• Lynn saw Aivier travel through Chaos Deep Space and asked how she could control chaos without undergoing the Jailers' transformation.
• Aivier explained that she had inherited her mother's chaotic nature and could shift between her current body and a Chaos Creature.
• Aivier asked Lynn if he wanted to see her transform.

Lynn and Aivier discovered a Nether Sea branch where Polluters and enormous Flesh Arks were gathering matter, revealing the scale of the Corruption forces. As they approached to learn more, Aivier explained that the Polluters were now mass-produced using constructs called Misfortune Engines.

• Lynn warned Aivier against entering her chaotic state, and she admitted that doing so could leave her unconscious for hundreds of years.
• Aivier spotted a luminous branch of the Nether Sea deep in Chaos Deep Space, and they saw Polluters and at least five Flesh Arks around it.
• Aivier identified the Flesh Arks as corrupted war machines built to transport and deploy Polluters, while Lynn realized the enemy was gathering matter to prepare another invasion.
• Aivier led Lynn toward the branch and explained that the Gods of Corruption had developed ways to manufacture Polluters for wartime losses.
• Aivier told Lynn that Misfortune Engines were semi-chaotic constructs used to create Polluters, usually by summoning them inside a planet.

Lynn and Aivier tracked the Polluters to a scarlet planet and discovered a Misfortune Engine producing vast armies. Aivier charged toward the planet to attack its commander while Lynn planned to steal a Flesh Ark.

• Aivier explained that a Misfortune Engine could transform a planet into a factory that created Polluters and said she had been searching for the enemy base.
• Lynn and Aivier followed five Flesh Arks through a tributary to a scarlet planet, where the Polluters unloaded matter for the planet to consume.
• The scarlet planet produced clouds of newly formed Polluters, and Aivier confirmed that a Misfortune Engine was operating there.
• Lynn identified the planet as a likely base for a Polluter commander, and Aivier set out to kill him while telling Lynn to stay hidden.
• Lynn asked Clown to take him to the tributary so he could try to steal a Flesh Ark.

Lynn used the Nether Sea’s laws to create a hidden teleportation trap while Aivier attacked the Scarlet Star. He captured half of a regenerating Flesh Ark and its Polluters in his Strange Otherworld.

• Lynn concealed himself with Clown’s power and entered a tributary of the Nether Sea while Aivier charged toward the Scarlet Star.
• Lynn wove the local spatial laws into a stable passage to his Strange Otherworld and tested the teleportation trap on Clown.
• Aivier drew the Scarlet Star’s attention as she slaughtered Polluters and attacked its defenses in orbit.
• Lynn reached the wreckage of the Flesh Ark, and Clown neutralized its chaos power so the trap could seize it.
• Lynn transported half the Flesh Ark and its Polluters into his Strange Otherworld, where his Firstborn Power suppressed them.

Lynn used his teleportation mechanism to collect the Polluters' constructs while Aivier drew their fire, then boarded a massive Flesh Ark and seized control of it. He left the Ark fleeing the battlefield under his command.

• Lynn teleported around the battlefield, collecting the Polluters' creations while their forces focused on Aivier.
• Lynn and Clown entered a Flesh Ark by breaking through its outer hull and followed its neural network toward the central hub.
• Lynn and Clown fought through the Ark's interior and reached its cerebral chamber.
• Lynn killed the Faceless Ones controlling the Ark and took over its neural hub.
• Lynn ordered the Flesh Ark to reverse course, and it fled the battlefield.

Lynn stole another Flesh Ark while Aivier slaughtered the Polluters and confronted their commander. After the commander claimed the Heavenly Father had spared Aivier and her mother, Aivier destroyed its projection, then rushed toward the transforming Scarlet Star as Lynn received her warning to stay back.

• Lynn cut off the Number 4 Ark’s connections and stole it into his Strange Otherworld while the Scarlet Star tried to contact it.
• Lynn returned to the battlefield to study and steal Polluter constructs as Aivier overwhelmed their forces and destroyed a massive Flesh Ark.
• The Polluters withdrew, and their blood-red commander appeared to tell Aivier that the Heavenly Father would spare her and her mother after awakening.
• Aivier rejected the commander’s claim that the Sleeper was her father and destroyed its projection with a sword strike.
• The Scarlet Star began transforming as Polluters rushed into it, and Aivier warned Lynn to stay away before charging toward the planet.

Lynn and his allies discovered that the Scarlet Star concealed a Misfortune Engine, which was transforming the planet into a controllable Chaos Being. The Chaos Being began to form, and Lynn suspected the Corrupted Ones had uncovered the Reincarnation God-King’s lost technology while Clown reacted strangely to it.

• Lynn watched the Scarlet Star collapse as its Polluters and chaos power were drawn into a vast vortex.
• A beam erupted from the planet, shattering part of its crust and revealing the Misfortune Engine implanted throughout its interior.
• The Misfortune Engine merged with surging chaos power, and Aivier warned that the Corrupted Ones were making a controllable Chaos Being.
• A voice from within the forming abyss claimed the Corrupted Ones had used fragments of Joybringer and knowledge left by the Reincarnation God-King to advance their work.
• Lynn recalled the ancient connection between the Reincarnation God-King, Painter, and the Fallen God, then saw Clown stare speechlessly at the forming Chaos Being.

Lynn and Aivier fought a Chaos Being whose will let it resist their usual tactics, and Lynn tried to overwhelm it with Aivier’s chaotic power. The Chaos Being’s mass stabilized despite the forced influx, leaving their plan uncertain.

• Lynn asked whether the Reincarnation Divine Spark had fallen into the enemy’s hands, and Aivier said she did not know but suspected a newly appeared being connected to the Divine Spark of truth.
• The Lightless Abyss attacked Aivier, and its voice revealed that it wanted to experiment on her because she could provide useful data.
• Aivier said she could keep the Chaos Being occupied but could neither substantially harm it nor defeat it without sacrificing her sense of self.
• Lynn proposed luring the Chaos Being into the Nether Sea to destabilize its will, but it recognized the plan and headed toward the Edge World instead.
• Aivier intercepted the Chaos Being in Chaos Deep Space, and Lynn told her to force chaotic power into it to overwhelm its will.
• Aivier poured her chaotic power into the Chaos Being, but after swelling briefly, its mass stabilized.

As the Lightless Abyss advanced toward the Edge World, Lynn searched for a way to stop it without letting Aivier become a Chaos Being. After realizing the laws of reincarnation might offer a solution from inside the Abyss, he prepared a dangerous plan that depended on Aivier hiding his presence.

• The Lightless Abyss discarded excess chaos to resist Aivier and continued toward the Edge World, while its controller planned to transmit the experiment's data to the Divine Realm upon death.
• Aivier considered becoming a Chaos Being, but Lynn stopped her and searched for another solution.
• Clown suggested entering the Abyss and losing control inside it, but Lynn knocked him down and rejected the plan.
• Lynn recalled that Aivier's earlier strike had triggered the engine's reverse regeneration and connected it to the laws of reincarnation.
• Lynn told Aivier his plan and asked her to conceal his presence as he entered his Coffin Beyond Time.
• Lynn instructed Clown to throw the coffin into the Chaos Being once Aivier formed a barrier, and Clown agreed.

Lynn and Clown carried out Aivier’s plan to send the Coffin Beyond Time into the Chaos Being, where Lynn found a womb marked by the symbol of Reincarnation. Lynn recognized the laws sustaining it but could not yet understand their complex workings.

• Aivier formed a Chaos Barrier around the Chaos Being while Clown hurled Lynn’s coffin into its body.
• Lynn’s coffin passed through the Chaos Being and reached its central region, where Lynn emerged beside a vast womb that repeatedly disintegrated and restored itself.
• Lynn spotted the Ouroboros symbol on the womb and recognized it as the sign of Reincarnation.
• Lynn ignited his Firstborn Power and charged into the womb, prompting the Chaos Being to recognize him as the raven it had been ordered to erase.
• Lynn used his power to disperse the surrounding Chaos and saw that dense laws of Reincarnation sustained the womb, but he could not understand their workings.