Chapter Summaries

Roland met Verethragna and learned that the god had a fate-bound opponent to defeat before he could fight Roland. After sending Riku and the others away, Roland asked Verethragna how his Assimilation Requirement had changed in this world.

• Roland recognized Verethragna and confirmed that he wanted to claim the god’s authority.
• Verethragna explained that he had to defeat the Dragon King before facing Roland, and warned that killing him prematurely would leave Roland with only an incomplete fragment.
• Verethragna revealed that he hoped an Outsider like Roland could break the world’s fate by using gods as nourishment.
• Roland told Riku to take Kurone downstairs, and Jibril disappeared into the shadows as well.
• Alone with Verethragna, Roland asked what his Assimilation Requirement had changed to after coming to this world.

Roland confronted Verethragna about how he had lost part of his power and learned that Artosh’s unique status as the strongest had taken precedence over Verethragna’s own concept. Verethragna offered Roland a Contract that would grant him all of Verethragna’s power, but Roland questioned why he could not kill both Verethragna and the Final Dragon.

• Roland deduced that Verethragna had changed after losing some of his divine nature, and Verethragna explained that he had absorbed several Divine Cores, including the concept of victory.
• Verethragna revealed that his attempt to claim the concept of the strongest had backfired because Artosh already occupied that unique position, leaving Verethragna diminished.
• Verethragna explained that Artosh had spared the Dragon King of the Dragonia, whose surviving claim to strength prevented Verethragna from reclaiming his full power.
• Verethragna offered Roland a Contract that would transfer all his authorities and divine power in exchange for the possibility of defeating Artosh, with Roland needing to defeat either Verethragna after he became complete or the Final Dragon.
• Roland pointed out that Verethragna still sought defeat and asked why he could not kill both Verethragna and the Final Dragon.

Roland learned that Verethragna had abandoned his plan to use the weak God of Games against Artosh and negotiated a period to face the Dragon King alone. Aware that he still lacked the strength to challenge Artosh, Roland began seeking another way to turn the world's concepts to his advantage and recruited Jibril for the dragon-slaying battle.

• Roland argued that Verethragna might change after recovering his avatars and challenged him over abandoning the plan to use the God of Games against Artosh.
• Verethragna revealed that he had helped Imanity flourish in games to nurture the unborn God of Games, but had given up after finding the deity too weak to challenge Artosh.
• Verethragna departed to recover his avatars, warning Roland that he would join the fight against the Dragon King if Roland had not defeated him by then.
• Roland revealed that he had wanted Verethragna to leave so he could face the Dragon King without interference and gain powers suited to strengthening himself.
• Roland concluded that he still needed outside power to overcome Artosh and began considering how to use this world's concepts.
• Roland invited Jibril to join him in slaying the strongest Dragonia at the cost of her life, and she eagerly accepted.

Roland and Jibril traveled to find Dragon End, while Jibril explained that the Dragonia's immense strength came from spanning past, present, and future. They reached the Dragon End's lair, where Roland announced that he had come to kill him.

• Jibril told Roland that the Dragonia had been avoiding the great war and explained how their temporal nature let them repair damage and combine power across time.
• Jibril described how she had killed a Dragonia by breaking its scales, turning its bone against it, and using her life-burning Absolute Strike, with Azriel saving her afterward.
• Jibril explained that she had surrendered to Roland because she believed she could not defeat him, and asked to witness his coming battle.
• Roland and Jibril reached the mountains where Dragon End slept, and Jibril realized that a golden cavern was actually his eye.
• Roland faced Dragon End and said he had come to kill him.

Jibril learned that Hatireim could withstand the method she had devised for defeating Dragonia, while Roland explained the Dragon King's exceptional power to control its entire lifespan. Hatireim revealed why it had waited fifteen thousand years for Roland, then began their battle by unleashing Planet's Breath, which swallowed Roland in light.

• Hatireim arrived, and Jibril recognized its immense strength and challenged its arrogance.
• Jibril explained how Dragonia could be destroyed by power amplified inside its body, but Roland clarified that Hatireim could control the time it converged and would not self-destruct.
• Hatireim said it had persuaded Artosh to spare it fifteen thousand years earlier so it could await the unpredictable fate brought by Roland.
• Roland declared that he would kill Hatireim, and the Dragon King accepted the fight, announcing that its long wait had made it stronger.
• Hatireim unleashed Ether Magic and Planet's Breath, causing creation to surge toward Roland and engulf him in light.

Hatireim unleashed the Dragonia Language, but Roland survived and revealed far greater control over time, then used time acceleration to overwhelm the Dragon King. Roland left Hatireim hurtling away with him at tremendous speed, while Jibril pursued their battle.

• Hatireim used the Dragonia Language to annihilate the strait, but Roland emerged unharmed and stopped time.
• Roland reversed time across the shattered space, astonishing Hatireim and revealing that he was refining his own status using Hatireim's power.
• Hatireim attacked to disrupt Roland's time stop, but Roland restored the space and launched a barrage of blows against him.
• Hatireim accelerated his body's time and attacked, but Roland's greater speed made every strike miss.
• Roland declared himself the emperor of time and carried Hatireim away at meteor-like speed, while Jibril flew after them.

Roland overwhelmed Hatirem and dismissed its claim that they were equals, while Hatirem unleashed Dragon Roar in desperation. Roland effortlessly stopped the attack and trapped Hatirem in halted time, then revealed that his privileges surpassed even those of Verethragna and Artosh.

• Roland battered Hatirem through repeated cycles of destruction and regeneration, then explained that he viewed the dragon as a stepping stone rather than an opponent.
• Hatirem rejected Roland’s contempt and declared that it would kill him, prompting Jibril to flee as Hatirem prepared its life-consuming Dragon Roar.
• Hatirem fired Dragon Roar at Roland, but Roland closed his hand and crushed the attack without apparent effort.
• Hatirem tried to escape through space-time, but found itself trapped in time that had already stopped.
• Roland denied that Hatirem, Verethragna, or Artosh could stand equal to him, removed a Silver Ring, and tossed it toward Hatirem.

Roland revealed that he had concentrated the Key of All Spirits’ power into an incomplete law that fixed both him and Hatireim in a single instant, explaining why Hatireim’s attacks could not harm him. He called the state the eternal instant, while the Silver Ring continued to pierce spacetime.

• Hatireim unleashed Dragon Roar again, but Roland effortlessly crushed the attack and watched the Silver Ring pierce spacetime.
• Roland invited Hatireim to attack again, and Hatireim enlarged its damaged body to increase its mass before launching another Dragon Roar.
• Roland stood still and took the attack head-on without injury, leaving Hatireim badly shattered and terrified.
• Roland explained that both of them had been fixed in the present instant, limiting Hatireim’s ability to draw power from its timeline.
• Roland revealed that he had reversed the Key of All Spirits’ universal power, concentrating it into an incomplete law he called the eternal instant.

Roland defeated Hatireim by using the Key of All Spirits to trap them in an unchanging instant, then killed the Dragon King when the instant ended. After reuniting with Jibril, Roland revealed that Verethragna had arrived and prepared to face him.

• Hatireim realized Roland’s principle had confined them to a frozen instant that the other lives in the universe could not enter or affect.
• Roland explained that only his or Hatireim’s disappearance could end the instant, then condemned Hatireim for abandoning its pursuit of strength.
• Roland struck Hatireim with a vast cross of light, turning the Time Dragon into energy and killing it as time resumed.
• Jibril rushed to Roland, praised him for killing Hatireim, and asked whether they should return to the Imanity to await the God of Victory.
• Roland said Verethragna would not arrive late after making a promise, then addressed the newly arrived Heretic Verethragna.

Roland confronted Verethragna, whose recovered Avatars had erased his memories and driven him to seek victory in battle. After Roland gained the upper hand, Verethragna used several Avatars to turn the fight around, but Roland began manifesting his own twelve portions of divine power.

• Verethragna answered Roland's call, and Roland declared that he and Jibril would fight him one on one.
• Verethragna transformed into the Goat and attacked Roland with a storm and divine lightning, but Roland countered with psychic power and poisonous flames, wounding him in the explosion.
• Roland rushed Verethragna and shattered his spine, but Verethragna used the Camel Avatar to endure the damage and strengthen himself.
• Verethragna invoked the Youth and Bull Avatars to increase his power and seize the advantage in a contest of strength with Roland.
• Verethragna brought out golden lightning and phoenix wings, but Roland declared that he had Avatar powers too and began manifesting his twelve portions of divine power.

Roland drove Verethragna to the brink with overwhelming attacks, but Verethragna invoked his Golden Sword Warrior Avatar to restore some of his strength and reveal Roland’s true essence. The chapter ended as the sword’s light exposed Roland’s hidden form as a seven-headed, ten-horned Great Red Dragon.

• Roland countered Verethragna’s Avatars and battered him while Jibril watched the battle from afar.
• Verethragna relied on the {Camel} Avatar to endure Roland’s attacks, but Roland’s blows left him badly injured.
• Verethragna manifested the Golden Sword Warrior Avatar, using its power to seal damage and restore part of his fighting strength.
• Verethragna summoned the Golden Sword and declared that he had recognized Roland as a dragon.
• The Golden Sword’s light revealed the shadow of Roland’s true form: a Great Red Dragon with seven heads and ten horns.

Roland and Verethragna fought a desperate battle in which Verethragna sealed Roland’s Beast and infinity statuses, turning the fight in his favor. Roland then revealed his Demon Wizard identity and began casting Lo Pei’s Sealing Spell, leaving Verethragna facing an unfamiliar threat.

• Verethragna used the Golden Sword and the {Phoenix} Avatar to expose Roland’s Beast nature while Roland drove his blade into Verethragna’s body.
• Verethragna sealed Roland’s Beast status, then formed a second Golden Sword and used it to seal Roland’s infinity.
• Verethragna resurrected himself with the Power of the Ram and declared that Roland had lost, while Roland remained calm.
• Roland took out Chinese-style drums and paper talismans, revealed that he was a Demon Wizard, and began chanting Lo Pei’s Sealing Spell.

Roland used a light chi Extraction Spell to seal Verethragna’s avatars into stone tablets, severely limiting the God of War’s transformations. Verethragna responded by summoning his White Horse avatar, which descended as a second sun.

• Roland fired a spell at Verethragna, whose sword strikes failed to break through Roland’s barrier.
• Roland explained how rituals and magic could overcome divine powers, then revealed that his Extraction Spell had activated.
• The spell turned Verethragna’s avatars into stone tablets protruding from his body, preventing him from transforming freely and limiting him to two avatars at once.
• Verethragna summoned his White Horse avatar, and its approach created a second sun that scorched the sky and earth.

Roland faced Verethragna’s final White Horse assault and revealed a spear forged from his own flesh, which Verethragna recognized as the Spear of Longinus. Roland hurled it at the God of War, leaving the outcome of their clash unresolved.

• Verethragna chose to stake everything on the White Horse and charged Roland with the sun’s flames.
• Roland endured the White Horse’s attack and released the Boar Incarnation from the Key of All Spirits to interrupt Verethragna’s charge.
• Verethragna recovered the Boar and asserted that his immortality would prevent Roland from defeating him in one strike.
• Roland revealed the Spear of Longinus, and Verethragna recognized it as a weapon capable of killing a god.
• Roland hurled the spear at Verethragna while declaring its name.

Roland defeated Verethragna and recovered him as a Contract Spirit, then discussed his coming challenge against Artosh with Jibril. He planned to gather the other races, starting with Imanity, and prepare the Key of All Spirits before confronting the god.

• Roland used a spear forged from his own flesh and blood to overcome Verethragna's immortality, and Verethragna dissolved as a recovered Contract Spirit.
• Roland recovered his magical energy and reflected on the cost of his attack and the weaknesses Verethragna had exposed.
• Jibril declared her loyalty to Roland and asked to help him challenge Artosh, and Roland accepted her support.
• Roland decided to unite the other races, beginning with Imanity, and said their abilities could help him defeat Artosh.
• Roland turned his attention to the Key of All Spirits, intending to work it over before proceeding.

After forming a contract with Verethragna, Roland gained the god’s powers and resolved to use Imanity to test the Old Deus who wished to remain neutral. In Avant Heim, Artosh welcomed the prospect of a new challenger, while Azriel set out to bring Jibril back before she could carry out her rebellion.

• Roland contracted Verethragna, absorbing his strength, authorities, and Divine Cores, and learned that full assimilation required defeating Artosh and becoming the strongest in the world.
• Roland looked toward Elkia and planned to use Imanity as a vanguard to test whether two neutral Old Deus could serve his purposes.
• Artosh stood from his throne, shaking Avant Heim, and told Azriel that Roland had killed Dragon End and Verethragna and that Jibril had decided to rebel against him.
• Artosh refused Azriel’s request to retrieve Jibril, saying he wanted to see her challenge him and believed she would grow through fighting beside Roland.
• Azriel left Avant Heim to gather information and find Jibril, resolving to bring her back even if she had to break her arms and legs.

Riku led Imanity’s newly empowered Hunting Team on a supply expedition as Roland’s vanguard, then stayed behind when a high-ranking Phantasma pursued them. He summoned a chess piece granted through Roland’s ritual and prepared to fight, determined to clear the encounter in one life.

• Riku’s team wiped out a migrating wolf pack without casualties and gathered its carcasses for supplies.
• Riku recalled how Roland made Imanity his Familia, greatly strengthening humanity and granting some humans the ability to use magic.
• Ivan asked about Riku’s secret second gift, and Riku said he would perform Ivan’s ritual after he accomplished a great feat.
• Yale warned that an unknown enemy was approaching, and Riku identified it as a high-ranking Phantasma and ordered the team to retreat.
• Riku refused Ivan’s offer to stay behind, ordered him to lead the others home, and promised to catch up.
• Riku drew a chess-piece flag from his chest and challenged the Phantasma, announcing that he would clear the fight in one life.

Riku used his Spirit Garment, NO GAME NO LIFE, to turn his fight with a High-Rank Phantasma into a game and exploit its mechanics. After the Phantasma nearly killed him by dragging him across the ground, Riku leveled up and regained health, and Roland appeared to deliver the finishing verdict.

• Riku wounded the High-Rank Phantasma with an ordinary sword, and it blasted him into a hillside without visibly harming him.
• Riku explained that his Spirit Garment had given them health bars and made the Phantasma a boss, suppressing its regeneration and balancing the fight.
• The Phantasma ignored Riku's explanation, grabbed his leg, and dragged him across the ground as both health bars rapidly fell.
• Riku's health nearly ran out, but he leveled up, gained strength, and extended his health bar while the Phantasma's health dropped to a quarter.
• Roland appeared above them and declared that it was execution time.

Riku defeated a high-ranking Phantasma by exploiting the execution rules of his Spirit Garment, then reunited with Roland and Jibril. As they discussed the power sealed within Riku and awaited a powerful enemy, Azriel appeared with a health bar so vast it pierced the heavens.

• Riku used the uninterruptible Execution Time mechanic to force the Phantasma to expose his neck, then killed him with a single devastating strike.
• Roland restored Riku’s stamina and praised his ability to use game mechanics against a high-ranking Phantasma.
• Jibril offered Riku a Magic Formula in exchange for studying his Spirit Garment, but Riku refused to surrender the divine core sealed inside it.
• Roland explained that Riku’s Spirit Garment drew its extraordinary rules from the Old Deus core within him, while Jibril lamented that she could not study it.
• Riku sensed an approaching enemy whose power exceeded his Spirit Garment’s limit of ninety-nine lives, and Jibril recognized the newcomer as Senior Azriel.

Azriel found Jibril with Roland and confronted her for betraying Artosh, demanding she return to Avant Heim. The standoff turned into a jealous struggle over Roland’s affection for Jibril, and Azriel began gathering spirits to attack.

• Roland admired Azriel’s appearance as she approached, while Jibril explained that Azriel had likely slipped away from her duties and teased her about it.
• Azriel caught Roland stroking Jibril’s head and became jealous, but Jibril rejected her attempts to touch her and mocked her.
• Azriel scolded Jibril for betraying Artosh and offered to drag her back to Avant Heim; Jibril said she would resist.
• Roland laughed at Azriel and pulled Jibril into his arms, rubbing his cheek against hers to provoke her.
• Azriel grew furious at Roland’s affection toward Jibril and raised her arm as pitch-black spirits gathered.