Chapter Summaries

After the Human Empire destroyed the United Marauders, Hydra fled determined to rebuild his fleet, but the Bruggan Marauders betrayed him and sacrificed the survivors to the Void Mother. Reborn on a Shroud planet as a powerful Necroid devoted to the Shroud Lord, Hydra became the Great Khan and vowed to conquer the Sea of Stars.

• Hydra and the remnants of the United Marauders escaped the Human Empire’s attack, and Hydra vowed to build a fleet powerful enough to rival humanity’s.
• The Bruggan Marauders welcomed Hydra, then stabbed and drained him and the other survivors as offerings to the Void Mother.
• The Necroids carried the corpses to a Shroud planet, where a rift’s psionic power restored Hydra and the dead Marauders.
• Hydra awoke transformed into a Necroid, pledged himself to the Shroud Lord, and accepted the Bruggan Marauders’ submission as their leader.
• Hydra declared himself the Great Khan and announced that he would conquer everything in the Sea of Stars.

Hydra united the Brugan Marauders as the Great Khan, and the Golden Holy War Khanate prepared to launch a campaign across the galaxy. Xi Yan learned that the midgame crisis had begun and, seeing several empires between the Khanate and his own territory, hoped the Great Khan would attack them first.

• Hydra became the Brugan Marauders’ chosen leader, uniting their starbases under faith in the Void Mother and a mission to conquer the Milky Way.
• Psionic rifts transformed the Brugan Marauders’ systems overnight, creating habitable worlds, resources, fleets, and an empire.
• The Shroudwalker Enclave’s grand master cursed the Shroud as mentors discussed the triggered contingency and warned that a greater scheme might be underway.
• Xi Yan and Little Gray realized the Great Khan crisis had begun after Hydra fled to Brugan territory and became a powerful leader.
• The Ashes Agent reported that Hydra’s galleon fleet was ready to strike and that the Brugan Marauders had become the Golden Holy War Khanate.
• Xi Yan saw that several empires separated the Khanate from his territory and hoped Hydra would attack them instead.

Xi Yan was summoned to a meeting where [Teacher] and the Heavenly People explained that the Shroud was invading reality and that Xi Yan, as the Fate-Chosen Emperor, was destined to oppose it. The discussion revealed the Heavenly People’s past disaster involving [the End], and Xi Yan stunned the Empress by naming the Shroud entities.

• Shroud Mentors and Sky Bishops discussed a Shroud Rift in the Golden Holy War Khanate’s Homeworld System and learned that Shroud power was spreading with its fleets.
• [Teacher] said the Shroud had already permeated reality, identified the Great Khan as its handiwork, and described Xi Yan as a key figure in resisting it.
• [Teacher] explained the difference between the physical universe, subspace, and the Shroud, while the Sky Bishop warned that the Shroud sought to merge with reality.
• The Empress and [Teacher] recounted how Heavenly People apostates summoned [the End], whose contract and divine punishment devastated their civilization during the Apostasy War.
• Xi Yan concluded that worshipping the other Shroud entities was permissible but worshipping [the End of the Cycle] was not, shocking the Empress and the meeting attendees.

Xi Yan explained the hidden costs of Shroud covenants, from mutations and deaths to the End of the Cycle’s catastrophic Reckoning. He revealed that the Great Khan had entered into a covenant with the End of the Cycle.

• Xi Yan described how covenants with the Weaver of Life, Eater of Worlds, Instrument of Desire, and Whisperers in the Void harmed populations and leaders.
• He explained that the End of the Cycle granted immense bonuses for fifty years while marking every colony in the empire and its dependent states.
• Xi Yan recounted how the Reckoning would devour the empire’s colonies, fleets, and resources, leaving only a small group of exiles and a powerful energy entity.
• Xi Yan revealed that the Great Khan had entered into a covenant with the End of the Cycle.

Xi Yan learned that the End of the Cycle was behind the Void Mother and had created the Great Khan to kill him. He realized that the lore connecting the Shroud, the Holy Guards, and the Khan all fit together, while the End of the Cycle could still attack reality directly.

• Xi Yan explained the End of the Cycle and the Shroud gods to the Shroudwalkers and Holy Guardians, claiming Zarqlan had revealed the knowledge to him.
• [Teacher] and the Empress explained that faith in Xi Yan could counter the End of the Cycle’s contracts and mind control, especially after his empire completed psionic ascension.
• The Sky Bishop showed the gathered Psionics Users images from the Sentinel Array and said the End of the Cycle had opened a rift in the Golden Holy War Khanate.
• [Teacher] revealed that the Void Mother was the End of the Cycle and that it had created the Great Khan to kill Xi Yan.
• Xi Yan connected the Great Khan’s immense fleets and psionic power to the End of the Cycle, then shouted as the lore finally made sense to him.

Hydra entered the Shroud and encountered the End of the Cycle, which corrupted him into signing a contract on behalf of the Golden Holy War Khanate to bring the Reckoning in fifty years. The End of the Cycle empowered Hydra and identified the Interstellar Human Military Junta and the Sea of Stars Most Holy Human Empire, Xi Yan, as enemies in its way.

• Hydra descended onto the Shroud Planet [Keeper of the Holy] and entered the Shroud in the flesh.
• The End of the Cycle summoned Hydra across a silent ocean and offered him power in exchange for bringing the End.
• Hydra struggled against the Shroud's corruption but agreed to sign a contract for the Golden Holy War Khanate to bring the Reckoning fifty years from then.
• The End of the Cycle drained the Bruggan Necroids of their psionic energy and poured it into Hydra.
• Hydra named the Interstellar Human Military Junta and the Sea of Stars Most Holy Human Empire, Xi Yan, as enemies standing in the End's way.

Xi Yan learned that the End of the Cycle would empower the Great Khan to attack him, while the Holy Guardians could not intervene without risking corruption. He accepted the fight and persuaded the Sacred Guard Empress to provide powerful weapon and ship technologies.

• [Teacher] warned Xi Yan that the Great Khan would attack him with the End of the Cycle's support, and defeating it could disrupt the entity's plans.
• The Sky Bishop and [Teacher] explained that the Holy Guardians could not fight the Shroud-marked Khan's fleets without risking corruption by the End of the Cycle.
• Xi Yan reassured the Holy Guardians and declared that he would handle the Great Khan himself.
• The Sacred Guard Empress agreed to give Xi Yan Focused Arc Emitter technology and, after his persistent pleading, ordinary Titan technology, but not the empire's fallen Titans.

Hydra emerged from the Shroud with immense psionic power but struggled against the End of the Cycle’s influence, eventually accepting the Shroud’s command to conquer. Xi Yan agreed to fight the Great Khan and prepare a fallback plan in exchange for ten technologies of his choice.

• Hydra emerged from the Shroud, gained immense psionic power, and fought to retain control of himself.
• The Shroud’s Brugan Necroids urged Hydra to conquer the universe, and he ordered his fleet to march.
• Xi Yan agreed to gather galactic support and lead the fight against the Great Khan.
• The Empress and the Shroud Mentors asked Xi Yan to prepare a fallback by confronting the Great Khan directly.
• Xi Yan negotiated with the Empress and accepted ten technologies of his choice as compensation for fighting the Great Khan.

Xi Yan mobilized his empire for war against the Great Khan, relocating civilians and building shipyards while preparing battleships. The Great Khan conquered the Voor Technocracy and threatened the Sekadari Federation, as Xi Yan waited for time to finish preparing an eastern battlefield.

• Xi Yan declared a state of emergency, halted foreign trade, redirected the population to resource production, and evacuated people from the eastern star region.
• Xi Yan ordered rear-area Stellar Bases and shipyards built, completed battleship research, and designed Carrier Battleships using technologies from the Holy Guards and the Celestial Dragon.
• The Holy Guardians and the Shroudwalker Enclave warned the Sea of Stars Community about the Great Khan, while Xi Yan offered to lead resistance and the Great Khan broadcast a demand for submission.
• The Great Khan’s fleet attacked the Voor Technocracy, crushed its forces, and forced it to surrender and support the Khan’s war effort.
• The Great Khan prepared to attack the Sekadari Federation, and Xi Yan privately advised the federation to send its fleet to him and surrender while he prepared his eastern battlefield.

Xi Yan mobilized the Empire for war against the Great Khan, ordering battleship production and the pursuit of two ascensions. As the Shroud corrupted and conquered Routinized Progression, Xi Yan vowed that humanity would fight to the bitter end rather than surrender.

• Xi Yan ordered the Empire to mass-produce battleships, study the Great Khan’s asteroid warships, advance its weapons, and begin Cosmogenesis while continuing synthetic ascension.
• The Empire entered a state of emergency, conscripting citizens, imposing rationing, and redirecting shipyards and scientists toward the war effort.
• The Great Khan attacked Routinized Progression, and the Shroud corrupted its Psionics Users and spread through their machine intelligences.
• Routinized Progression surrendered to the Great Khan and ceded its infected planet and star system to the Golden Holy War Khanate.
• Psionics Users across the universe recognized the Shroud’s threat as its infection spread, while other nations feared the Great Khan’s advance toward the Interstellar Human Military Junta.
• Xi Yan declared before the Sea of Stars Community that humanity would never surrender to the Necroids or the Shroud, even if it had to fight to the last human.

Xi Yan declared a state of emergency and prepared the Human Empire to resist the Shroud-backed Great Khan, while keeping the Dessanu Concordat in reserve. He secured the Zirick Cooperative and the Nier Guardians as vassals, with the right to integrate their territories after the crisis.

• Xi Yan mobilized the empire with wartime policies and edicts, and other empires found that invoking his title could resist the Shroud's mental corruption.
• Xi Yan refused Big Gray's offer to put nearly every fleet under his command and kept the Dessanu fleets at Terminal Egress as a reserve.
• Xi Yan offered the Zirick Cooperative and the Nier Guardians protection in exchange for becoming vassals and obeying his orders.
• The Zirick and Nier leaders agreed to consider the submission treaty, trusting Xi Yan rather than face the Great Khan alone.
• Within a month, the Zirick Cooperative and the Nier Guardians became vassals of the Interstellar Human Military Junta, and Xi Yan began consolidating forces against the approaching Great Khan.

Xi Yan gathered fleets and resources from nearby Sea of Stars Community states to prepare for war with the Great Khan, while Minamar Specialized Industries fled its threatened territory and joined the Interstellar Human Military Junta. After the Great Khan slaughtered those left behind, the Shroudwalker Enclave and the Holy World Guardians prepared to use a Relic to strengthen Xi Yan for a one-on-one confrontation.

• Xi Yan secured fleets and supplies from nearby member states, while distant states refused to support his plan.
• Minamar Specialized Industries withdrew its surrender, evacuated its people and resources, destroyed much of its infrastructure, and fled west with the Luopeng Resistance.
• The Great Khan occupied the abandoned territory and ordered the slaughter of residents who had not escaped, sacrificing their consciousnesses to the Shroud.
• Minamar Specialized Industries joined Xi Yan's Interstellar Human Military Junta, where Xi Yan settled its refugees and put them to work.
• Xi Yan continued building his forces as the Shroudwalker Enclave and the Holy World Guardians devised a way to use a Relic to strengthen him against the Great Khan.

The Sky Bishop and [Teacher] trained Xi Yan to control his psionic power and equipped him with Curator relics for his fight against the Great Khan. After [Teacher] returned with Ancient Technical Data, Xi Yan opened it and found a brain-shaped design.

• The Sky Bishop taught Xi Yan to draw psionic power from the Empire and use it to fight the Great Khan.
• Xi Yan left the Golden Throne in psionic form and struck the Sky Bishop's barrier with a Psionics Road Roller.
• [Teacher] stopped Xi Yan's attack and gave him the Blade of the Huntress, the Entangled Relay, and other Curator relics.
• Xi Yan learned to activate the relics with his psionics, while the Sky Bishop helped train him and grew less fanatical.
• [Teacher] disappeared for several days, then returned with Ancient Technical Data that showed a brain-shaped design.

[Teacher] gave Xi Yan an ancient blueprint for the Synaptic Lathe, and Xi Yan began building the megastructure to process the Golden Holy War Khanate's contaminated population. As the Great Khan approached, Xi Yan also expanded his Space Marines and defenses, leaving his empire prepared to meet the invasion with fleets and Arc Emitter Turrets.

• [Teacher] returned with an ancient storage device and gave Xi Yan the Synaptic Lathe blueprint.
• Xi Yan recognized the Synaptic Lathe as a Crisis Carrier megastructure and ordered its construction in the Western Former Iron Purifier Sector.
• Xi Yan planned to use the Synaptic Lathe for the Brugan Necroids and increased the number of Space Marines to escort them.
• Xi Yan outfitted Battleships with Focused Arc Emitters and ordered scientists to adapt the weapons for Defense Stations.
• Xi Yan allocated alloys to build Arc Emitter Turrets along the Great Khan's expected route.

As the Great Khan’s Golden Holy War Khanate advanced west, Xi Yan built up fleets while the Heavenly People Holy Guardian Empire shared intelligence on the Khan’s movements. The United Nations of Earth surrendered unconditionally before the Khan attacked, becoming his vassal and leaving the Sea of Stars stunned.

• The Heavenly People Holy Guardian Empire used its Sentinel Array to track the Great Khan’s fleets and send Xi Yan real-time intelligence.
• Xi Yan rapidly expanded his fleet as battleships and support forces gathered in the Interstellar Human Military Junta’s Core Sector and along its borders.
• The Great Khan sent the Khan’s Envoy Fleet to the United Nations of Earth’s border, while Xi Yan, Little Gray, and the Sky Bishop discussed how long Earth could resist.
• Before the Great Khan attacked, the United Nations of Earth brought out its fleets and surrendered unconditionally.
• The United Nations of Earth became a satrapy of the Golden Holy War Khanate, pledged monthly tribute, and offered its fleets, supplies, and repairs to the Khan.

Xi Yan and the Sea of Stars nations reacted with fury and disbelief after the United Nations of Earth surrendered to the Great Khan without fighting and urged others to surrender. The chapter ended with the nations turning their exasperation into a shared flood of memes in the community chat.

• The United Nations of Earth surrendered unconditionally to the Great Khan, who toured Earth as bewildered residents welcomed him.
• Xi Yan learned that Bai Fengfeng had died of a heart attack, while Sidney went to the hospital to have his heart checked.
• Xi Yan led xeno-linguists in denouncing the United Nations of Earth, and the Human Federation and Interstellar Human Military Junta severed diplomatic relations with it.
• The United Nations of Earth praised the Great Khan in the community chat and urged member states to surrender, prompting other nations to respond with memes.
• The United Nations of Earth invited the Great Khan into the chat, where Xi Yan and the other nations continued mocking it with memes as the Great Khan threatened Xi Yan.

The Sea of Stars Community leaders laughed at the United Nations of Earth's surrender and celebrated a satirical painting about it. Meanwhile, Sidney prepared the Human Federation to fight the Great Khan and the surrendered fleet, leaving his daughter in Xi Yan's care as his people vowed not to surrender.

• The Sea of Stars Community leaders shared memes mocking the United Nations of Earth, while Xi Yan amused the Starfish Republic leader.
• A painter presented an oil painting called United Nations of Earth Surrenders, which showed Xi Yan and the allied leaders but left the United Nations of Earth absent because it had surrendered.
• Sidney rejected Xi Yan's offer of help, sent half his population to Xi Yan's territory, and took the Human Federation's fleets to defend its borders.
• The Human Federation mobilized its citizens and industry for war as the Great Khan used the surrendered United Nations of Earth's fleet as cannon fodder.
• Sidney entrusted his daughter to Xi Yan and declared that the Human Federation would never surrender and would make the aliens and traitors pay.

Xi Yan counted on the Human Federation to resist the Great Khan while his shipyards built up strength, as the United Nations of Earth’s surrendered fleet was forced to lead the Khan’s advance. When the fleet reached the Human Federation, an alien captain turned against the Great Khan and ordered a final fight.

• The Human Federation gathered its fleet at the border, determined to resist the Great Khan and buy Xi Yan time to build his forces.
• The Great Khan forced the United Nations of Earth's surrendered fleet to lead its attack, destroying ships that tried to turn back.
• An alien captain and crew condemned their leaders’ surrender and discussed their desire for safety and a future for their families.
• After ten days in the hyperlane, the fleet encountered the Human Federation’s forces, and the captain ordered the crew to attack the Great Khan instead.

The United Nations of Earth's fleets defied their rulers and joined the Human Federation in a devastating battle against the Great Khan, where they were annihilated alongside a third of the Federation's forces. Xi Yan honored the fallen, while the United Nations of Earth disavowed them and the Human Federation prepared for the Great Khan's next attack.

• Sidney held the Human Federation fleet back as the United Nations of Earth's fleets turned toward the Great Khan's forces and secretly coordinated with the Federation.
• The Human Federation and United Nations of Earth fleets attacked together when the Great Khan's ships emerged from the Hyperlane, but his Shroud-empowered forces kept pouring into the system.
• The United Nations of Earth's fleets fought to the last ship, while the Human Federation lost a third of its fleet and the Great Khan lost two of his five formations before withdrawing.
• Xi Yan learned the scale of the losses and praised the fallen United Nations of Earth crews for refusing to surrender.
• The United Nations of Earth condemned the fallen fleets and stripped their crews of citizenship, while Xi Yan granted the dead honorary citizenship and protection for their families.
• Several Sea of Stars Community states severed diplomatic relations with the United Nations of Earth, and Xi Yan continued building fleets to confront the Great Khan.

Xi Yan held back while building his fleet and organizing resistance against the Great Khan, even as he tried to recruit the Heavenly People Holy Guardian Empire’s psionics users to interfere with the Shroud. With the Shroud’s support cut off and his fleet growing to an enormous scale, Xi Yan waited for the Great Khan to reach his borders.

• Xi Yan urged the Sky Bishop to use elderly people or suspected heretics to disrupt the Shroud, then assigned her to coordinate with the Zirick Cooperative and the Nier Guardians.
• The Human Federation and United Nations of Earth’s resistance slowed the Great Khan, while threatened nations and distant powers such as the Starfish Republic and Blorg Hegemony sent Xi Yan ships or other aid.
• The Heavenly People Holy Guardian Empire’s Psionics Users briefly blocked the Shroud’s support, prompting the End of the Cycle to stop supplying the Great Khan with energy.
• Without Shroud energy, the Great Khan’s shipbuilding and weapons weakened, while Xi Yan’s Empire sped up battleship production and advanced its Synaptic Lathe construction.
• Xi Yan’s fleet quietly grew to a terrifying scale at the border, where it waited for the Great Khan to arrive.