Chapter Summaries

Mare Mare brought Zhao Si to Eleonora to learn Ohega's Dancing Blade, while Helena and Malenia grew closer in conversation. After Zhao Si passed Eleonora's test by using Ghostflame to burst a piece of wood apart in midair, Eleonora agreed to teach him the technique.

• Helena and Malenia chatted and found comfort in their shared disabilities and growing friendship.
• Mare Mare introduced Zhao Si to Eleonora and demanded that Eleonora teach him Ohega's Dancing Blade.
• Eleonora said Zhao Si had to demonstrate that he could control a weapon and split a piece of wood in midair.
• Zhao Si chopped stationary wood, then threw an axe at airborne wood and used Ghostflame to freeze and shatter it.
• Mare Mare insisted Zhao Si had passed and threatened to take Eleonora's executioner's sword, so Eleonora agreed to teach him.

Zhao Si learned a ghostflame version of Ohega's Dancing Blade and prepared to push Mare Mare toward a change of heart while discussing Malenia's future help in protecting Miquella and Godwyn. After Eleonora's Executioner's Sword disappeared following a dinner, Zhao Si and Malenia offered to search for it, giving them a reason to leave the city.

• Zhao Si learned to use ghostflame to perform Ohega's Dancing Blade, while Helena advised Mare Mare on courting Malenia.
• Zhao Si told Malenia he would stir up trouble to push Mare Mare along, and Malenia accepted him as her junior brother so long as their interests did not conflict.
• Zhao Si asked Malenia to accompany him to Leyndell and warned that a threat to Godwyn could also endanger Miquella; he also considered Morgott a potential ally.
• Helena encouraged Mare Mare to invite Eleonora to dinner, where Eleonora discussed swordsmanship with Malenia and Mare Mare touched Malenia's prosthetic hand.
• Eleonora woke to find his Executioner's Sword missing, and Zhao Si and Malenia volunteered to search for it while Mare Mare kept the loss quiet.

Zhao Si explained how he stole the Executioner's Sword and urged Malenia to seek help from the Full Moon Queen, despite the risk of trespassing in Ranni's territory. Malenia overcame her hesitation and agreed to go with Zhao Si and Helena to look for a cure for her scarlet rot.

• Zhao Si struggled to lift the Executioner's Sword, and Malenia tested his strength by tossing it to him before he stored it in his Inventory with ghostflame.
• Zhao Si told Helena and Malenia how he had used Mare Mare's banquet to distract Eleonora and steal the sword.
• Malenia stopped before Ranni's territory, worried that entering without permission could provoke a war, and questioned Zhao Si's claim that Ranni was connected to the plot against Godwyn.
• Zhao Si left with Helena after Malenia suspected the Two Fingers might be manipulating him.
• Malenia caught up with Zhao Si and agreed to seek the Full Moon Queen's help, deciding that the chance to cure her scarlet rot was worth pursuing.

While Zhao Si prepared to meet Ranni, Shabriri returned to Liurnia and spread the frenzied flame through a village, launching a large-scale assault on the Academy of Magic. The chapter ended with the Academy under siege as the Frenzied Flame Ball attacked its defenders and burned away the Erdtree’s grace.

• Zhao Si worried about how to speak with Ranni and considered revealing that Radagon was Marika if she became angry.
• Thops told the prawn seller that Sellen had helped him develop his Barrier Magic, while Azur and Lusat struggled to understand Zhao Si’s Glintstone Computer blueprints and successfully tested a Glintstone Firearm.
• Shabriri possessed a corpse and began infecting a village near Liurnia, planning to gather a frenzied legion and attack the Academy of Magic.
• The frenzied flame erupted in Gatefront Town, forcing healthy residents to seek refuge at the Academy as the Cuckoo Legion and sorcerers fought to protect them.
• Shabriri’s infected horde advanced on the Academy, and a giant Frenzied Flame Ball fired deadly beams at its defenders while burning away the Erdtree’s grace.

Thops and Shrimp-Meat Boy watched the Academy endure a siege by Shabriri’s frenzied-flame forces while both sides struggled with the costs of a prolonged war. Azur and Lusat unleashed their legendary spells against the attackers, ending with their magic striking toward the Frenzied Flame Ball.

• Thops reassured Shrimp-Meat Boy that the Academy could withstand the siege, while Shrimp-Meat Boy worried about Zhao Si and Helena.
• Shabriri concluded that his afflicted forces were poorly suited to a prolonged war, as the Academy faced dwindling supplies and its sorcerers struggled to recover their focus.
• Sellen and the two masters recognized that ordinary sorcery could not reach the Frenzied Flame Ball, and Azur and Lusat agreed to use their legendary spells.
• Azur cast Comet Azur, piercing the wall of frenzied flame and scattering the afflicted in the streets.
• Lusat cast Comet of Destruction, sending twelve dark meteors after Azur’s comet toward the Frenzied Flame Ball.

Zhao Si and Malenia attacked Shabriri’s Frenzied Flame army and broke the siege of the Academy. With Shabriri defeated and the orb destroyed, the Cuckoos joined the fight as the survivors considered whether the afflicted could be cured.

• Shabriri’s Frenzied Flame orb absorbed its followers’ prayers and survived the Academy sorcerers’ powerful attack, though it shrank and the two masters collapsed.
• Zhao Si arrived with Malenia and Helena, then charged the Frenzied Flame camp while Malenia attacked from the flank.
• Zhao Si used Ghostflame to counter the orb’s attacks, while Malenia’s Ghostflame-enhanced Waterfowl Dance killed the praying sufferers and helped destroy the orb.
• Zhao Si struck Shabriri with a dagger and cut off his head, then joined Malenia in clearing out the remaining Frenzied Flame sufferers.
• The Cuckoos rushed out to help and cheered their two reinforcements, while Zhao Si and Malenia discussed whether Ghostflame could cure the afflicted.

Zhao Si and Malenia sought an audience with the Full Moon Queen after helping the Academy, while Zhao Si wondered whether Shabriri’s attacks were weakening the Erdtree. Their request brought Loretta and the Carian knights to the Debate Parlor, where Malenia revealed herself and a mysterious princess arrived in a surge of cold.

• Zhao Si considered whether the Erdtree was weakening and whether Shabriri’s frenzied flame outbreaks deprived it of bodies.
• Zhao Si, Malenia, and Helena entered the Academy and asked to meet the queen, while Thops delivered a Glintstone Firearm and took the Executioner's Sword away with Shrimp-Meat Boy.
• The Academy brought Zhao Si and his companions to the Debate Parlor and left them waiting behind closed doors.
• Loretta arrived with ten Carian Sorcerer Knights and challenged the group over their request to see the queen.
• Malenia removed her disguise and introduced herself, prompting a sudden frost as an unseen voice asked what Radagon and Marika’s daughter was doing there.
• Loretta and the knights knelt and addressed the arriving figure as "Princess."

Malenia sought Rennala’s help at the Academy, but Ranni rejected her because of Radagon’s betrayal of their mother. As Malenia and Zhao Si prepared to leave, Zhao Si hinted at a secret involving the conspirators and told Ranni that the Fingers already knew.

• Ranni arrived at the Academy with Blaidd, Darriwil, Adula, and her enchanted knights, confronting Malenia and her companions.
• Malenia asked for Rennala’s help with her illness, but Ranni called her presence a provocation and condemned Radagon for abandoning Rennala.
• Zhao Si tried to intervene, but Blaidd refused to let him speak privately with Ranni, and Malenia apologized for her junior brother.
• Blaidd ordered Malenia and her group to leave Caria, but Zhao Si decided to reveal his knowledge publicly.
• Zhao Si looked at Ranni and told her that the Fingers already knew.

Zhao Si bluffed that the Two Fingers knew Ranni planned to steal the Rune of Death and revealed his claim that Radagon and Marika were one person. Malenia's Scarlet Rot surged as she struggled to process the revelations, leaving Zhao Si pleading with Ranni for help.

• Ranni transported Zhao Si, Malenia, and Blaidd to her moonlit domain, where Blaidd attacked Zhao Si and Malenia deflected his strike.
• Zhao Si claimed the Two Fingers knew Ranni planned to steal the Rune of Death and warned that someone intended to kill Godwyn with Destined Death.
• Zhao Si told Ranni and Malenia that Radagon was Marika, explaining that they shared one body and recounting Radagon's relationships with Rennala and Marika.
• Malenia's Scarlet Rot surged as the revelations overwhelmed her, and Zhao Si held her and begged Ranni to help.

Zhao Si and Ranni stopped Malenia’s Scarlet Rot from taking hold, and Malenia accepted Zhao Si’s account of Radagon and Marika. Ranni revealed her plan to use the Rune of Death to kill her own body and sever her ties to Radagon, while the group uncovered questions about rebirth and the plot involving Godwyn.

• Zhao Si restrained Malenia as her Scarlet Rot worsened, and Ranni calmed her with [Calm] before dispelling the Rot’s released energy with [Ranni's Dark Moon].
• Malenia thanked Ranni and believed Zhao Si’s account of Radagon and Marika, recalling that her parents were rarely together and that Miquella had given Radagon [Rings of Light] on their wedding anniversary.
• Ranni admitted she planned to use the Rune of Death to kill her flesh while preserving her soul, and urged Malenia to reject Radagon’s deception.
• Ranni said her mother’s power of rebirth had never restored anyone to good health, while Blaidd identified a Larval Tear from the Eternal City as an important item for the process.
• Zhao Si asked what Ranni knew about Godwyn and who had contacted her; Ranni denied knowing about his death, and Blaidd said unknown shadowy assassins had led the effort.