Chapter Summaries

March 7th and Dan Heng met an elderly woman and her granddaughter while searching for Oleg, and the woman welcomed them as saviors from beyond the sky. She told them the story of the girl’s parents, ending with her daughter-in-law choosing to join her missing husband at the front despite the child they would leave behind.

• March 7th and Dan Heng met an elderly woman and her granddaughter, and March 7th gave the girl a lollipop after asking about her parents.
• The elderly woman said old books described visitors from beyond the sky bringing progress, and she hoped March 7th and Dan Heng could save the Underworld.
• Dan Heng asked about the girl’s parents, and the woman agreed to tell their story so they would not disappear from memory.
• The woman recounted how the girl’s parents grew up together, fell in love, and struggled as the man served as a Silvermane Guard while the girl’s health worsened.
• The woman described how her daughter-in-law chose to follow her missing husband to the front, despite the risk of leaving their child without her mother.

March 7th and Dan Heng concluded that the Underworld’s factions followed an agreement after hearing the old woman’s story. In the Upper District, Stelle met Bronya while collecting Shields from a trash can, but Bronya’s account of the Underworld conflicted with what Stelle had learned, leaving her suspicious.

• The old woman explained that the little girl’s mother had left her because she loved her husband above all else, then took the girl back inside.
• Dan Heng told March 7th that the Underworld’s factions likely followed an agreement to handle their own problems while protecting law-abiding residents.
• Stelle collected Shields from a trash can and explained its supposed beauty to Bronya, who confirmed the money was valid currency.
• Bronya said Prometheus was a useful puppet handling official business and claimed the Underworld was thriving and self-sufficient.
• Stelle questioned Bronya about the Underworld after hearing from Sampo, then watched Bronya leave and checked her call history with March 7th.

Stelle reunited with March 7th and Dan Heng in the Underworld, where they learned about the Mechanical Settlement and discussed how to address the divide between the Underworld and Upper District. The group planned to seek out Clara in Rivet Town, visit Svarog’s settlement, and find Sampo, while Lingchen watched events unfold from the Theater.

• March 7th and Dan Heng met Oleg and Seele, who discussed selling bread for 500,000 Shields to support Wildfire.
• Stelle arrived with a 500,000-Shield steamed bun and Pela’s message, prompting Seele to threaten to sell her own bread in the Upper District.
• Oleg explained that Svarog ran the Mechanical Settlement under strict rules and suggested finding Clara in Rivet Town.
• Stelle reported that Bronya seemed uncontroled and said she might help stabilize the Upper District if she learned about conditions in the Underworld.
• Dan Heng proposed visiting Rivet Town and the Mechanical Settlement, then finding Sampo to bring Bronya underground.
• Lingchen watched the group from the Theater, while Sparkle teased him about Clara and he said they could talk when she was legal.

Lingchen and Sparkle reaffirmed their feelings before the Astral Express crew found Clara and followed her to the Mechanical Settlement. There, Stelle asked Svarog about the Stellaron crisis, but he said his data showed it could not be resolved.

• Lingchen told Sparkle that she was his family and that he would always love her, and Sparkle quietly accepted his embrace.
• Stelle, March 7th, and Dan Heng found Clara in Rivet Town and asked her to introduce them to Svarog.
• Clara led the visitors through the robot-guarded route to the Mechanical Settlement, where she opened the gate with her identification.
• March 7th and Stelle tried to open the gate with shouted phrases before Clara let them in.
• Svarog identified the visitors as outsiders and asked their purpose; Stelle asked what he thought about Clara walking barefoot, then redirected the conversation to the Stellaron and the Upper District.
• Svarog said there were insufficient variables to assess the situation and that past data indicated the Stellaron problem could not be resolved.

The Astral Express crew defeated Svarog and learned that Cocolia knew about the Stellaron, while Bronya did not. After Svarog rejected Joyce’s proposal to cooperate, the crew returned to the Upper District and tried to arrange a way to bring Bronya to the Underworld, but Sampo’s scheme was exposed when Bronya arrived.

• Stelle, March 7th, and Dan Heng fought Svarog and his robots until Svarog conceded and agreed to answer their questions.
• Joyce explained his plan to help Svarog restore order in the Underworld, but Svarog refused to cooperate and ordered him to leave.
• Svarog told Dan Heng that Cocolia had researched the Stellaron, Bronya had no recorded knowledge of it, and the Underworld might survive for no more than thirty years.
• Stelle, March 7th, and Dan Heng met Sampo outside the Neverwinter Workshop and paid him ten thousand Credits for a way to get Bronya into the Underworld.
• Bronya arrested Sampo after hearing him describe a plan to knock her unconscious, freeze her, and smuggle her downstairs, while Gepard restrained him.

Bronya agreed to accompany the Astral Express crew to the Underworld and said she was willing to trust them, though she wanted to see the situation before deciding whether to act against Cocolia. In Rivet Town, the group encountered an eerie swarm of plastic-looking Voidrangers that came alive and attacked, and Dan Heng suspected they might not have entered the real town.

• March 7th joked that the crew had been wanted in about one out of every three civilizations, while Stelle asked what being wanted felt like.
• Bronya asked why the crew planned to take her to the Underworld, and Dan Heng explained they wanted her to see its condition before they resolved the Stellaron crisis.
• Dan Heng warned Bronya that Cocolia was connected to the corrupted Silvermane Guards and might disappear when the Stellaron was sealed.
• Bronya agreed to visit the Underworld and decide after seeing the evidence, then reacted with shock at the strange scene in Rivet Town.
• Dan Heng told March 7th, Stelle, and Bronya not to touch the plastic Voidrangers, but the nearby dolls turned toward them and attacked.
• The crew fought their way through the dolls, and Dan Heng suspected they might not have entered Rivet Town as Sampo prepared another disguise in the Upper District.

Dan Heng and the others used Sampo’s navigation tools to escape the shifting maze in Rivet Town, while Lingchen watched his larger plan unfold around Belobog. They continued following Stelle’s voice navigation, leaving the group still navigating the strange space.

• Bronya, March 7th, Stelle, and Dan Heng repeatedly returned to the same spot in Rivet Town despite marking their route.
• Sampo appeared in a ninja cosplay and offered the group tools to navigate the shifting space.
• Stelle haggled Sampo down from 120,000 Credits to 40,000, and he accepted the deal.
• Dan Heng suspected Sampo had deliberately lost the bargaining game, but Stelle suggested he wanted to experience losing money.
• Lingchen manipulated the space around Belobog with the Authority of The Door and prepared for Welt to enter the scene.
• Dan Heng led the group through Rivet Town using the Genius Navigator Watch, whose directions in Stelle’s voice confused March 7th and Bronya.

Stelle, March 7th, and Dan Heng crossed into a sinister space where Dolls and Voidrangers reflected people’s twisted thoughts, then reunited with Natasha and Seele. Bronya ended up in another theater space with Serval and Gepard, and the groups continued searching for answers.

• Dan Heng, March 7th, and Stelle fought Dolls that grew increasingly lifelike and emerged into a broken corridor, where Bronya disappeared.
• The trio encountered Dolls mimicking people they had met, ranting about their grievances and behaving violently.
• Dan Heng theorized that the space was connected to twisted wishes answered by the Stellaron, and Stelle resolved to hit the wicked people with her Bat.
• March 7th and Stelle found Natasha and Seele in a theater-like space, where Dan Heng noticed the ground patterns formed an optical illusion of a giant Doll.
• Bronya met Serval and Gepard in another theater space, and she described the three-dimensional illusion the group had encountered.

Welt reached Belobog after losing contact with Dan Heng, Stelle, and March 7th, then entered a strange theater-like space and deduced that someone had made a second wish to the Stellaron. Lingchen watched Welt advance while Sparkle unsuccessfully pressed to join the scheme, leaving the confrontation nearing its center.

• Welt received Dan Heng's messages describing Cocolia's corruption, Prometheus No. 17, and the group's growing unease before the messages stopped.
• Welt entered Belobog and found the streets deserted, then stepped into a fragmented space resembling the Domination Theater.
• Welt fought through hostile people and Dolls, concluding that a second wish to the Stellaron had created the theater and put Dan Heng and the others in danger.
• Lingchen watched Welt's progress and noted that another side was about to set out.
• Sparkle asked Lingchen to let her participate, but he refused and teased her while recording the events.

Stelle’s group reached the Theater’s central building and learned that the Dolls were made from people they had encountered, while Welt met Sampo on the way and bought mech blueprints from him. The chapter leaves Stelle’s group facing a Doll that taunts them inside the Theater.

• Dan Heng explained that the Dolls had been transformed from people the group encountered, and Bronya recognized many as former Belobog residents.
• Serval, Natasha, Seele, and Dan Heng accepted the Dolls’ fate, while March 7th felt distressed about the deaths.
• Dan Heng led the group toward a building resembling an enormous Kliperburg, as Welt made his way toward the Theater’s end.
• Sampo stopped Welt and offered him an assortment of goods, including twelve remotely controlled mech blueprints, which Welt agreed to buy.
• Stelle’s group entered the central Theater and a Doll appeared, taunting them with claims about Stelle’s loneliness and motives.

The Astral Express crew fought the Dolls in the Qlipoth Theater, discovering that the Dolls grew stronger by stealing their power and could return as long as one remained. The Dolls taunted Dan Heng about his past and March 7th about her missing memories, and Bronya angrily confronted them.

• The Doll mocked the crew for being strong Pathstriders, and Stelle knocked it away with her Bat before it quickly stood back up.
• Hundreds of Dolls surrounded the eight and attacked while draining their power, so Dan Heng led everyone through a gap to the second floor.
• The Dolls appeared again and used their collective ability to return after Stelle destroyed one, while Dan Heng suspected their strings were linked to Order.
• A Doll identified Dan Heng as the former Vidyadhara High Elder Imbibitor Lunae and taunted him about the past-life oath and the death of one of his companions.
• March 7th asked the Doll about her past, but it mocked her lack of memories and left her dejected.
• Bronya cut off the Doll’s taunts and angrily insulted it.

The group resisted the power-draining Dolls in Qlipoth Theater and reunited with Welt before confronting a Doll controlled by Cocolia. Cocolia rejected their offers to resolve the Stellaron crisis and unleashed another wave of Dolls as everyone prepared to fight her.

• Bronya, Seele, and Stelle comforted March 7th about her missing past and affirmed their friendship.
• The Dolls opened Qlipoth Theater, suppressed the group's power, and failed to persuade the Nameless to leave.
• Welt joined the group before they advanced to the third floor and found Cocolia's Doll.
• Bronya and the others recognized the confrontation as Lingchen's arrangement to let them vent their resentment toward Cocolia.
• Cocolia defended her reliance on the Stellaron and rejected Welt's promise to resolve its threat and help protect Belobog.
• Seele and the others readied their weapons, and Cocolia summoned countless Dolls to attack them.

The Astral Express Crew fought No. 17, the Stellaron-created Prometheus Doll, after she separated Bronya, Seele, Natasha, Gepard, and Cocolia from them. No. 17 revealed the Beast of Domination of the Universe and began transforming the Dolls into a monstrous form as the Crew faced her.

• Seele and Natasha attacked the Cocolia Doll while the others battled the endless Dolls, until No. 17 appeared and introduced herself as Prometheus.
• No. 17 divided the fighters, transporting Seele, Bronya, Natasha, Gepard, and Cocolia away and leaving the Astral Express Crew to face her.
• No. 17 summoned the Hand of the Rabble, but Stelle, March 7th, Dan Heng, and Welt shattered it with their attacks.
• No. 17 revealed that the Beast of Domination of the Universe was not defeated and merged with the Stellaron as the Theater filled with Dolls and weakening threads.
• The Dolls transformed into a huge black-and-gold monster with multiple masks and hands while No. 17 declared that they were the will and despair of ten thousand.

Stelle entered a space guarded by Belobog’s Supreme Guardians, learned how the Stellaron had corrupted the planet, and claimed the power of [Preservation]. Back in the Theater, she struck No. 17’s Beast of Finality’s Malice so hard that it crashed through a wall.

• No. 17 transformed into an Emanator-level Beast of Finality’s Malice and attacked Welt, Dan Heng, March 7th, and Stelle.
• Stelle shielded March 7th and was sent flying, while Dan Heng drove the beast back with an enormous dragon.
• Stelle woke in a strange space and questioned Alisa Rand about the Stellaron, Belobog, and the Eternal Freeze.
• Stelle seized the Flame Lance after recalling her companions and the people of Belobog, and Qlipoth granted her the power of [Preservation].
• Stelle returned to the Theater and defended herself from No. 17’s attack, sending the beast crashing through a wall.

Joyce seized control of the Beast of Finality's Malice by taking its Stellaron, then revealed his plan to use the power of [Domination] to remake the world and bring his mother back. The chapter ended with No. 17 challenging Joyce's claim that everything he had done was for his mother.

• As the amber shield weakened, Stelle, Welt, Dan Heng, and March 7th prepared to fight or escape rather than leave anyone behind.
• Joyce returned and pierced the beast's chest with canes, revealing that Cocolia's Consciousness Vessel had been its weakness.
• Joyce explained that defeating the Consciousness Vessel let him seize the beast's authority, and he took the Stellaron from it.
• Joyce revealed that he had been a failed product of the Imperial Research Institute, Lab 42, and described how he built the laboratory to research a Black-and-Gold Gemstone.
• Joyce said he planned to use [Domination] to control every living being and bring his mother back.
• No. 17 challenged Joyce's claim that everything he had done was for his mother, making Joyce's expression twist.

Joyce absorbed the Authority of [Domination] and tried to force the Astral Express Crew to submit, but Lingchen stopped him before the fight began. Lingchen restored the Theater and vanished, then met Aha in Hyperspace.

• Joyce absorbed No. 17, the giant beasts, and the black-and-gold gem, gaining Emanator-level power and demanding that the Astral Express Crew submit.
• March 7th and Stelle rejected Joyce's offer and prepared to fight, but a Doll's arm suddenly pierced his chest and disrupted his power.
• Lingchen appeared behind Joyce, took the Stellaron and gem from him, and turned him into a mindless Doll.
• Lingchen restored the damaged Theater, then disappeared before Welt and the others could question him.
• In Hyperspace, Aha praised Lingchen's script and complained that its divination had been wrong.

Lingchen received Qlipoth’s hammer and gained the Emanator-level Authority of Redemption, then met Xipe, who blessed him and granted the Authority of Coordination. The blessing changed Lingchen’s power and revealed a vision of a divine version of himself.

• Qlipoth appeared before Lingchen, recognized his importance to the universe’s future, and gave him the hammer and the Authority of Redemption.
• Aha asked to see Lingchen’s hammer, but Lingchen refused and wondered how he could return from Qlipoth’s domain.
• Xipe appeared and offered to embrace Lingchen, who instead asked for part of Xipe to become his.
• Xipe touched Lingchen’s finger, blessed him, and increased his capacity for power and his generation of Imaginary Energy.
• Lingchen saw a vision of a divine version of himself before awakening with the Authority of Coordination.

Lingchen returned from Xipe’s mental space and reunited with the Astral Express crew, who discussed time travel and the fate of Jarilo-VI. He revealed that the planet’s leaders had given him its debt claims and ownership in exchange for resolving the Stellaron crisis and protecting the world, then admitted he had been watching events unfold.

• Xipe told Lingchen they would be waiting for him before leaving, and Lingchen reappeared before Stelle, March 7th, Welt, and Dan Heng.
• March 7th said Lingchen felt familiar, and Lingchen suggested his future self might have traveled into the past; Welt described the Herrscher of Finality’s control over time.
• Lingchen ended the Domination Theater and explained that Bronya, Natasha, and the others had been returned to their territories to handle the aftermath of the crisis.
• Lingchen showed the crew Jarilo-VI’s enormous debt claims and said he had received them from the Corporation, prompting March 7th and Welt to react with alarm.
• Lingchen explained that Jarilo-VI’s leaders had handed the planet over to him in exchange for ending the crisis, extending repayment deadlines, and providing protection and material support.
• Welt asked whether Lingchen had known what was happening, and Lingchen admitted he had been observing while claiming he attracted Aeons and sometimes awakened strange powers.

Lingchen revealed that he had controlled the Stellaron and arranged parts of the crew’s journey, while insisting their experiences and feelings had been real. After the others accepted his explanation and discussed Belobog’s future, Welt and Dan Heng returned to the Astral Express to recover and work.

• Lingchen told Welt, Stelle, March 7th, and Dan Heng that Cocolia and a few others had known parts of his plan, but the journey and its history were real.
• Lingchen explained that without his intervention Sampo would have guided the crew, Stelle would have been badly wounded, and Cocolia would have died.
• Dan Heng asked whether Lingchen had controlled the Stellaron, and Lingchen confirmed he had stopped its erosion while leaving it in place for his plan.
• March 7th worried about the people transformed into Dolls, but Stelle, March 7th, and Welt agreed that removing the parasitic threat would help Belobog.
• Lingchen discussed reconstruction with the crew, and Welt and Dan Heng decided to return to the Express while Stelle prepared to take on side quests.
• Welt told Himeko what had happened and went to study robots, while Dan Heng shut himself in his room to organize the Data Bank and avoid memories of his past.

Belobog’s leaders organized postwar recovery while Lingchen left for the Xianzhou Luofu after Tingyun’s protection was triggered. Tingyun’s merchant convoy was surrounded by the Antimatter Legion and Denizens of Abundance, and a hidden attacker revealed that she had been watching Tingyun closely.

• Cocolia told Bronya and the others that Lingchen had left for the Luofu and that Topaz would arrive with supplies.
• Cocolia assigned recovery duties to Bronya, Natasha, Clara, and the other Belobog leaders.
• A Luofu merchant convoy carrying Tingyun was surrounded by Denizens of Abundance and Antimatter Legion troops.
• Tingyun urged the convoy to prepare for battle as a mysterious woman spoke from inside the ship and claimed she had long observed Tingyun.