Recaps

Roland invited the discarded Ex-Machina girl to become his, offering to help her understand and acquire a heart. She accepted, named herself Schwi, and began studying Roland’s research, while Jibril offered herself as a demonstration subject.

• Roland told the Ex-Machina girl that her independence and search for a heart made her valuable, then admitted his desire for her.
• The girl asked why Roland could display the fluctuations of a heart, and he explained his research into hearts and Divine Cores.
• The girl accepted Roland as her master and named herself Schwi.
• Roland brought Schwi and Jibril back to Imanity’s settlement, gave Schwi his research records, and heard her ask how non-flesh races could develop a heart.
• Jibril embraced Roland and offered herself as a demonstration subject for Schwi’s analysis.

Roland, Jibril, and Schwi attempted to demonstrate how an Ex-Machina might understand the heart through intimacy. After Schwi’s analysis led her to request reproductive behavior, Roland and Jibril proposed another way for her to acquire a heart, leaving Jibril eagerly watching Schwi act on it.

• Jibril offered to demonstrate intimacy, but Schwi began recording the interaction as research into acquiring a heart.
• Schwi asked to become the demonstration subject, and Roland agreed after Jibril transformed the stone mountain to prevent detection.
• Schwi touched Roland and analyzed his reactions, then concluded that skin-to-skin contact meant reproductive behavior and requested it.
• Roland refused because Schwi lacked the necessary anatomy, while Jibril proposed using a concentrated substance as a substitute for the Sea of Life.
• Jibril called the substance the forbidden fruit, and Schwi swallowed it while Jibril teased Roland about his reaction.

Roland and Schwi continued their intimate encounter as Schwi used her Ex-Machina abilities to keep pace with him. After reaching her limit, Schwi pushed through, developed a new Magic Formula, and crossed a threshold that left her able to speak from a newly awakened impulse.

• Schwi clung to Roland and used her control of mana and moisture to sustain an intricate rhythm, while Jibril watched with jealousy and fascination.
• Roland told Schwi that he valued emotional or sensory synchronization more than technique, and Schwi tried to adjust her sensitivity.
• Schwi's systems faltered under the conflict between her rational processes and unfamiliar pleasure, but she insisted she had not lost and resumed more intensely.
• Schwi developed a new Magic Formula that let her water currents move like living things, helping her cross the threshold she had been unable to reach.
• Schwi withdrew, asked Roland what she should say, and then said, "Thanks for the meal."

Roland and Jibril discussed Schwi’s emerging emotions and the growing alliance among the races. Hingko arrived in Elkia with an enormous weapon made from Cairneas’s blessing, offering it to Roland as proof of her sincerity and a response to his earlier invitation.

• Roland asked Schwi whether she had felt a heart, and she showed signs of emotions while admitting she needed time to recover.
• Jibril told Roland that the Beastmen were ready to join the Elchea Alliance and that the Elves and Dwarves were forming an alliance as well.
• Riku welcomed Hingko Nilvalen to Elkia, and she maintained a cold, resentful attitude despite his courteous response.
• Hingko explained that she had brought gifts for Roland, while privately considering Cairneas’s permission to take the weapon an attempt to use her as a sacrifice.
• Roland arrived and examined 186 stone pillars bearing Cairneas’s blessing, which Jibril identified as a powerful, layered strategic weapon.
• Hingko presented the weapon, called Void Zero Blessing, as her proof of sincerity and asked whether it satisfied Roland.

Hingko explained the Void Zero Blessing to Roland and offered it as a test of his power to secure the Elves Alliance’s confidence. Roland revealed that he already had another demonstration planned, and Hingko realized the battleship had arrived above the Dwarves’ capital, Hadenfell.

• Roland praised Hingko’s talent, and she explained the principles behind the Void Zero Blessing.
• Jibril assessed the weapon’s destructive power, then clashed verbally with Hingko until Roland stopped their argument.
• Hingko said the Elves Alliance wanted to witness Roland’s power and proposed firing a Void Zero Blessing at him as a demonstration.
• Roland explained that he had already agreed to a different demonstration plan, so a single Void Zero Blessing might not suffice.
• Hingko looked through the porthole and recognized the city below as Hadenfell, the Dwarves’ capital.

Ronnie de Launiel welcomed the Kingdom of Elkia’s warship into Hadenfell as the Dwarves and Elves considered how Roland’s power might strengthen their alliances against the God of War. Roland arrived to meet Okan and Cairneas, then revealed his intention to prove his strength against both Old Deus.

• Ronnie de Launiel learned that Roland’s warship had arrived early and told his subordinate to prepare a respectful welcome without causing panic among the Dwarves’ allies.
• The Dwarves and Elves gathered around the warship, recognizing the immense power aboard it and hoping the Elchea Alliance could improve their chances against the God of War.
• Okan and Cairneas met on the platform above Hadenfell and discussed Roland’s arrival, while Cairneas questioned whether the proposed alliance underestimated them.
• Hingko recognized her creator Cairneas below the warship and struggled to remain composed after recently deciding to leave his service.
• Roland told Hingko that he intended to prove his strength by challenging Okan and Cairneas.

Roland met the Forge God Okan and Forest God Cairneas before a planned battle against both Old Deus, insisting that cooperation meant following his orders. As the Dwarves prepared the testing ground and news of the fight spread, Roni worried that Okan might lose.

• Hingko watched Roland challenge the strongest and hoped to witness the throne of heaven change hands.
• Roland greeted Okan and Cairneas, accepted their condition that he fight both of them, and declared that alliance members had to obey his orders.
• Cairneas challenged Roland over Hingko becoming his subordinate, but Roland insulted him and burned away the forest growth Cairneas sent against him.
• Okan stopped Cairneas from escalating the conflict and said the battlefield modifications would soon be finished.
• News of the three-Old-Deus battle spread through Hadenfell, and Roni helped prepare the Dwarves' Marrow Burst testing ground while worrying about Okan.

Riku used rumors and Roland’s reputation to rally the alliance’s races around the coming duel, while envoys and Dwarven citizens gathered to watch. Roland faced Okan and Cairneas, declared that he intended to borrow their divine cores, and the battle for the title of strongest began.

• Riku explained to Jibril how he had spread news of the duel and built Roland’s reputation to make the allied races depend on him.
• Jibril proposed offering her soul to Roland so they could create new life together, leaving Hingko speechless.
• Envoys and Dwarven citizens crowded Hadenfell’s observation deck to watch Roland face the two Old Deus.
• Okan and Cairneas confronted Roland as the crowd’s fervor strengthened the divine cores and the stakes of the duel.
• Roland announced that he wanted to borrow Okan and Cairneas’s divine cores, and they attacked to begin the challenge for the title of strongest.

Roland fought Cairneas and Okan, copying Cairneas's Magic Formulas and countering them with greater understanding of their rules. As Okan empowered Cairneas for one last stand, Roland said their full-power fight had confirmed that he really was a genius.

• Cairneas unleashed over a hundred layers of Magic Formulas against Roland, who activated the Phoenix Avatar and endured the assault.
• Roland studied Cairneas's spells, learned Eternal Fourth Blessing instantly, and used it to pass through Cairneas's defenses.
• Okan urged Cairneas to keep attacking, but Roland repeatedly copied and cast Cairneas's Magic Formulas first, leaving Cairneas shaken by Roland's command of the rules.
• Okan used masses of lava to strike Cairneas and pour their power into his Divine Core as Roland arrived before them.
• Roland let Cairneas and Okan continue their desperate effort, then explained that their performance had confirmed he was a genius.

Roland faced Cairneas as the Forest God drew on Disboard’s power and unleashed a planetary-scale tide of spirits. Roland held his ground with a blood-red force field, preparing to overpower Cairneas without killing him so he could claim the Divine Core and authority over the Elves.

• Roland dismissed Cairneas’s rage as Okan forged Cairneas’s Divine Core with his own hammer, causing Cairneas’s body to shatter.
• Cairneas drew on the planet’s power, flooding the void with spirits and forcing Roland to take his strength seriously.
• The battle’s shock waves threatened Hadenfell, and Roni ordered the Dwarves to strengthen its defenses and prepare to evacuate.
• Hingko recognized that her Void Zero Blessing was insignificant beside Cairneas’s planetary-scale power.
• Roland confronted Cairneas’s tide with a blood-red force field and challenged the quality of his power.

Roland defeated Cairneas by overpowering the planet’s nature, claimed Cairneas’s Divine Core, and survived the destruction of the void alongside Okan. Jibril announced Roland’s victory to the stunned Dwarves, marking the end of the old war and the beginning of a new era.

• Roland’s attack pierced Cairneas’s tide of magic, causing the elves’ Spirit Remains to spill out like blood as Okan realized their defeat was inevitable.
• Cairneas tried to retreat, but the planet’s instincts forced him to remain and face Roland’s overwhelming mass.
• Roland crushed Cairneas and claimed his Divine Core, while Okan’s wounds triggered the collapse of the void.
• The Dwarves saw Cairneas’s defeat, and Roni recognized that the great war had ended and a new era had begun.
• Jibril reached Roland and announced his victory over Cairneas and Okan.

Roland brought the Elves, Dwarves, and other races under the Elchea Alliance, then explained to Okan that he needed the Dwarf’s help forging a Void from Divine Cores to unlock power capable of surpassing Artosh. He left Hadenfell with Jibril and Schwi and approached the Ex-Machina headquarters, expecting an attack and intending to teach them a lesson.

• Hingko and Roni pledged the Elves Alliance and Dwarves Alliance to Roland’s rule, and the other races accepted joining the Elchea Alliance.
• Roland told Okan that he had spared enough of the Dwarf’s Divine Core to keep him conscious because he needed his help forging a Void from Divine Cores.
• Okan eagerly agreed to assist, and Roland planned to study how the properties of Divine Cores produced Void power that could help him catch Artosh off guard.
• Roland left Hadenfell with Jibril and Schwi after the alliance began arranging the newly joined races.
• Schwi warned Roland that the Ex-Machina headquarters would attack within half a minute, and Roland prepared to confront them.

Roland accompanied Schwi to ask the Ex-Machina to reconnect her and receive her completed heart analysis, but Einzig refused and ordered the units to fight. When the Ex-Machina used Accelerator to escape through space, Roland tore open the passage and reached for Einzig.

• The Ex-Machina warned Roland that any advance would be treated as a hostile incursion, and he asked them to reconnect Schwi so she could upload her analysis.
• Schwi challenged Einzig's decision to keep her disconnected, but he judged her an important data sample and refused synchronization because Roland and Jibril were present.
• Roland gave up on resolving the dispute peacefully, and Einzig authorized the Ex-Machina to use all their weapons as nearly 14,000 units prepared for combat.
• Einzig and the Ex-Machina deployed Accelerator to flee beyond detection, but Roland detected the passage, tore open space with his bare hands, and reached for Einzig.

Roland survived the Ex-Machina’s devastating assault, restored the units they sacrificed, and had Schwi begin giving them hearts. With Einzig and the remaining Ex-Machina incapacitated, Roland explained that their reliance on analysis had led them to challenge an opponent they could not understand.

• Roland tracked the Ex-Machina after they fled, and Einzig ordered their full arsenal deployed against him.
• The Ex-Machina reproduced the Dragon of Calamity Roar and used four thousand units to redirect its energy, destroying those units in the process.
• Roland emerged unharmed behind a blood-red barrier, and Jibril arrived with Schwi.
• Roland restored the destroyed Ex-Machina, allowing Schwi to connect to linked units and upload the data called a heart.
• Roland incapacitated Einzig and the Ex-Machina still able to fight, then told Einzig that analysis was only a reference and that challenging a god was reckless.

Roland completed the Ex-Machina’s transfer of command to Schwi and prepared the Alliance for war with Artosh. The Alliance tested its new joint warships by crushing resistance across the continent, while Riku walked in on Roland surrounded by clingy Ex-Machina and misunderstood the scene.

• Schwi completed the heart-data upload, and Einzig willingly transferred authority to the Will Unit, making Roland the Ex-Machina’s supreme commander.
• Roland reassured Schwi that she was different from the other Ex-Machina, then prepared for the coming war with Artosh as Jibril joined them.
• The Elchea Alliance launched a continent-wide rehearsal, using new ships built with Dwarven and Elven technology to destroy Phantasmal Species and attack Dragonia.
• Riku supported the costly rehearsal as a way to coordinate the Alliance’s forces and gather valuable materials from the defeated enemies.
• Riku entered Roland’s room and found several Ex-Machina clinging to him, then asked him to stop playing with Schwi’s feet.

As the Flügel city-state approached, Roland and the Elchea Alliance prepared to fight Artosh and the Flügel. Roland led Jibril and the Ex-Machina in combining their power for a massive attack on the Sky Throne.

• Roland reflected on his close relationship with Schwi after Riku fled, then learned the Flügel city-state was approaching.
• Hingko, Riku, and the alliance's leaders assessed the nearly thousand Flügel and reported their completed war preparations and weapons.
• Roland ordered the alliance to follow its plan while he flew ahead to challenge the Flügel and Artosh.
• Schwi commanded the Ex-Machina to unseal their Grimoires, and she and Jibril invoked Heavenly Strike.
• Roland combined the Ex-Machina's spears of light, named the attack Divine Strike, and hurled it toward the Sky Throne.

The Flügel and Artosh answered the Alliance’s attack with a Divine Strike that overwhelmed Roland and devastated Disboard. Roland proposed taking Artosh into space so their battle would not destroy the forces fighting below.

• Azriel recognized the Ex-Machina’s opening attack and ordered the Flügel to prepare a counterattack while guarding against the Dwarves and Elves.
• Azriel saw Roland begin gathering a Divine Strike, but Artosh arrived and gathered the Flügel’s power to unleash his own strike.
• Artosh’s Divine Strike collided with Roland’s, and the resulting energy tore through the planet and badly damaged the Alliance’s fleet despite its protective blessing.
• Schwi calculated that Artosh retained 12% of his power, still more than Okan’s or the Will Unit’s, while Roland acknowledged that he remained at a disadvantage.
• As Avant Heim and the Flügel prepared to attack, Roland told Jibril and the others he would take Artosh to a battlefield in space.

Roland revealed that destroying the planet’s source of the Elf Corridor could make the Star Cup appear, but he planned to fight Artosh in space so the God of War could not claim it first. Roland and Artosh raced into space to settle their battle, leaving the Alliance behind as Roland challenged his opponent.

• Okan and Jibril realized Roland intended to take the battle beyond the planet because destroying the source of the Elf Corridor could make the Star Cup appear.
• Roland explained that making the Star Cup appear would not win it for him while Artosh remained the strongest, so he had to defeat Artosh away from the planet.
• Hingko understood that Roland had never given up on victory, blessed him, and called him a savior for villains.
• Roland ascended in a surge of scarlet light, and Artosh changed course to pursue him into space.
• Artosh reached space ahead of Roland and halted, and Roland called on him to fight.

Roland confronted Artosh on the moon, where the God of War sought an answer to what it meant to be the strongest. Roland challenged him to learn through defeat, but Artosh declared that he would remain undefeated and unleashed power that enveloped the planet.

• Roland admired the planet and stars before Schwi warned him that a Divine Core reaction had been detected and urged him to use the Ex-Machina network’s analysis.
• Roland landed on the moon and met Artosh, whose immense presence distorted spacetime.
• Artosh explained that he had never found an equal and asked Roland what it meant to be the strongest.
• Roland said he did not know the answer, then proposed that Artosh could understand strength by losing to him.
• Roland hurled Longinus at Artosh, who declared that he would remain undefeated and caused his power to grow until it enveloped the planet.

Roland challenged Artosh and explained that he pitied the god for being unable to see beyond his own supremacy. Artosh answered with a full-force punch, leaving Roland’s AT Field cracking and making him realize he had provoked him too far.

• Artosh’s power expanded until he encompassed the world, and he caught and neutralized Roland’s God-Slaying Spear.
• Roland escaped the storm around Artosh and pierced his palm with the spear, drawing the God of War’s interest.
• Artosh asked why Roland was confident enough to challenge him and promised to kill him swiftly if he answered.
• Roland told Artosh that he pitied him for being trapped at the top and unable to imagine anything beyond his empty world.
• Artosh accepted Roland’s words and charged, striking him with a full-force punch that cracked Roland’s AT Field.

Roland’s AT Field shattered under Artosh’s punch, revealing that the God of War was rapidly recovering his full strength and far surpassing Roland. The blow struck the moon and sent a devastating shock toward the battlefield, where Jibril recognized the danger and ordered everyone to retreat and raise their defenses.

• Artosh shattered Roland’s AT Field with a punch and drove him back.
• Roland realized Artosh was regaining his original strength and that a single mistake could kill him.
• Artosh’s attack tore across the moon, splitting its surface and forming a vast crater.
• Jibril recognized the incoming white streak as Artosh’s fist and ordered everyone to activate their defenses and move toward the battlefield’s edge.

The Flügel watched the moon crumble amid the battle between Artosh and Roland, and feared that Artosh might lose. As Schwi reported the Alliance’s losses and the state of the battlefield, Roland concluded he could not defeat Artosh in a direct fight and began considering another way to defeat {the strongest}.

• The moon shattered under the force of Artosh and Roland’s battle, while a tenth of the Alliance’s forces were wiped out by the falling debris.
• The Flügel realized that Roland was an opponent only Artosh could face, and Azriel insisted that they would win because Lord Artosh was {the strongest}.
• Schwi reported that Roland’s trail had been found and warned that Artosh’s continued assault would leave Roland with less than a tenth of his power by the time Mars shattered.
• Roland regenerated his missing hand and recognized that Artosh’s growth made a direct confrontation a vicious cycle he could not win.
• Roland considered that he might not need to defeat Artosh head-on, but only defeat {the strongest}, as the ancient wheel bearing the Ten Phases stirred within him.

Roland decided to suppress Artosh head-on while Schwi and the Ex-Machina analyzed Artosh’s divine core, staking victory on their completing the analysis in 251 seconds. Roland launched a relentless assault, but Artosh’s overwhelming power culminated in a white light that swallowed Roland and the planet.

• Roland learned that the Ex-Machina could analyze Artosh’s current divine core in 251 seconds if they had a steady supply of data.
• Roland told Schwi to prepare while he planned to suppress Artosh and create an opening for the analysis.
• Roland suppressed his instinct to escape danger and chose to risk death in a direct clash with Artosh.
• Roland unleashed his AT Field and Crown-reversal, then used speed and a barrage of attacks to wound Artosh.
• Artosh endured Roland’s assault and answered with a blast of white light that swallowed Roland and everything on Mars.

Roland used the Wisdom Sword, forged from his analysis of Artosh’s Divine Core, to turn the tide of their battle. He trapped Artosh in a golden world and unleashed a vast rain of swords, leaving the fight’s outcome unresolved.

• Artosh grew increasingly enraged and unsettled by Roland’s repeated resurrections and refusal to yield.
• Roland revealed that he had survived for 251 seconds and declared that his turn had come.
• Roland invoked the Word Spirit of certain victory and manifested the Wisdom Sword after the Ex-Machina helped him complete his analysis of Artosh’s Divine Core.
• Artosh attacked with renewed power, but Roland’s Golden Sword pierced his fist and severed his hand.
• Roland declared that he would win because Artosh was a god and he was a Campione, then transformed the battlefield into a golden world filled with Word Spirit Swords.
• Artosh faced a sky-blotting rain of swords as the chapter ended.

Roland sealed Artosh’s concept of the strongest with the Golden Sword, then escaped toward Earth by using Boar and White Horse to buy time. As the Alliance launched its weapons into space, Jibril recognized Roland’s signal and ordered a celebratory barrage while Azriel tried to stop it.

• Artosh separated war from his Divine Core after the Golden Sword sealed his strongest concept, leaving Roland exhausted but facing an opponent who could now be surpassed.
• Roland summoned Boar to drive Artosh away, then used White Horse to carry him toward Earth instead of attacking Artosh.
• The golden flames appeared above Earth, and Azriel worried that Roland had reached the planet before Artosh.
• Jibril recognized the flames as a signal and ordered the Alliance to fire its Void Zero Blessings, Marrow Bursts, and other weapons into space.
• Azriel launched a Heavenly Strike to interrupt the Alliance’s attack, while Jibril joined the exchange and called it a salute to the birth of a king.