Chapter Summaries

Luo Shu deduced that Yakushiji Katsuhiko was likely another identity used by the Demon Warlock Mapa, who had repeatedly faked his death to pursue the sealed demon. Tachibana Kirika ordered a covert operation at the sealing site and kept Luo Shu behind for a private conversation.

• Chisato Nishikigi welcomed Luo Shu and Takina Inoue back, and Mika explained that the autopsy readings for Yakushiji Katsuhiko were suspiciously ordinary.
• Luo Shu proposed that Yakushiji Katsuhiko may have been Mapa in disguise, leading the group to connect the plan to the Astronomy of Truth defector and his Demon Heart.
• Tachibana Kirika confirmed that Mapa's succubus bloodline limited his use of the Demon Heart and explained why he had cooperated with Yakushiji Katsuhiko.
• Hilda suggested Mapa might be hiding in a Yakushiji family member, while Tachibana Kirika revealed that Mizuki had extracted the sealing site's location.
• Tachibana Kirika ordered Hilda's team to lie in wait in Tokyo Bay and sent Luo Shu, Chisato, and Takina to the sealing site with tactical squads.
• As the others left, Tachibana Kirika stopped Luo Shu to speak with him privately.

Luo Shu learned that SDS planned to establish a branch in Chiba Prefecture and was told to keep Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue safe during the dangerous operation. He and the two Lycoris headed to meet Kannagi Ayano, who confronted him on the beach.

• Tachibana Kirika told Luo Shu that SDS suspected a serious Abyss event had caused the Demon Sealing Ground in Chiba and planned to recruit the Yukinoshita Family as local allies.
• Tachibana Kirika warned Luo Shu that transporting the sealed demon and dealing with people watching from the shadows were dangerous, and asked him to keep Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue in line.
• Luo Shu agreed to handle the Yukinoshita Family after the incident and left to prepare for the operation.
• Luo Shu found Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue equipped in the corridor, then told Takina to drive them to meet Kannagi Ayano.
• Luo Shu, Chisato, and Takina found Kannagi Ayano and Kazemaki Ryūya waiting by a beach fire, and Ayano challenged Luo Shu to prepare to die.

Luo Shu persuaded Kannagi Ayano to stop blaming him over the spoils by revealing that the demon she killed was only a sacrificial pawn and that a Demon Warlock remained at large. Ayano agreed to hear SDS’s plan to catch the target, while Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue marveled at how easily Luo Shu had won her over.

• Kannagi Ayano threatened Luo Shu over the division of the spoils, while Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue expected him to be beaten.
• Luo Shu told Ayano that the demon she killed was a sacrificial pawn and gave her an intelligence report about a body-stealing executive of the Astronomy of Truth.
• Ayano read the report, learned that her father already knew the enemy had deceived her, and worried that she had disappointed him.
• Luo Shu offered Ayano a plan to expose the Demon Warlock and resolve the crisis in Chiba Prefecture, and she grabbed his shoulders and demanded to hear it.
• Chisato warned Takina that Luo Shu might swindle them someday, and Takina said she felt exactly the same.

Luo Shu and the others searched a coastal forest for the sealed High-Ranking Demon, wary of an ambush by Mapa. They entered the Abyss-influenced cavern and found a girl pinned to a tree root by a black-and-red blade.

• Kazemaki Ryūya cleared a path through the forest while Kannagi Ayano encouraged him and Luo Shu explained their suspicions about Mapa's plan.
• Takina Inoue located the group near the reported site and warned that they might enter the Abyss Descent zone.
• Luo Shu told the others they might have to fight the sealed demon and cautioned them to watch for both Mapa and the demon.
• Chisato Nishikigi spotted a huge banyan tree, and Luo Shu recognized the group's trembling Three Flames as a sign they had entered the Abyss's influence.
• Luo Shu led the group through the banyan tree into a cavern, where they found a girl pinned to a massive tree root by a black-and-red blade.

Luo Shu and the others found the sealed demon girl and struggled to free her from the enormous roots. When Luo Shu pulled the blade from her body, she awoke, and Kannagi Ayano attacked her with a flaming sword.

• Luo Shu confirmed that the stone-armored pink-haired girl was a demon, and Takina Inoue's instrument verified her identity.
• Luo Shu and the others found the roots too hard to cut or burn, so they decided to remove the blade sealing the girl.
• Takina Inoue gave Luo Shu the Seal-Breaking Gloves, and he put them on and gripped the blade.
• Luo Shu pulled the blade free, and the Demon Girl opened her wine-red eyes.
• Luo Shu leaped back and called for Kannagi Ayano, who attacked the awakened Demon Girl with a flaming longsword.

Kannagi Ayano, Kazemaki Ryūya, Chisato Nishikigi, Takina Inoue, and Luo Shu fought the demon girl and managed to restrain her with an artifact. Just as Luo Shu warned Kazemaki Ryūya to dodge, “Yakushiji Ken” stabbed through Ryūya’s abdomen and called him Fūga.

• Kannagi Ayano attacked the demon girl with Blazing Thunder Tyrant, but the girl’s rock armor stopped the blade and her demon wings let her evade further strikes.
• Kazemaki Ryūya tried to bind the demon girl with gusts of wind while Chisato Nishikigi’s bullets failed to penetrate her armor.
• Luo Shu drank the golden liquid, then pierced one of the demon girl’s wings with a wind blade as Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue used an Abyssal Artifact to restrain her.
• Luo Shu pressed his hand to the demon girl’s head and used the red eyeball in his ring to incapacitate her.
• Luo Shu warned Kazemaki Ryūya to dodge, but “Yakushiji Ken” pierced Ryūya’s abdomen and addressed him as Fūga.

Mapa attacked Kazemaki Ryūya and fought Kannagi Ayano while Luo Shu hypnotized the demon girl. After Mapa poisoned Ayano and turned on Luo Shu, the others remained strained and unable to intervene.

• Mapa revealed himself to Kannagi Ayano, transformed into his demonized form, and fought her.
• Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue restrained the demon girl with the Puppet Doll while Luo Shu hypnotized her into falling asleep.
• Luo Shu told Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue that the hypnosis made the demon girl love him and serve him.
• Kannagi Ayano weakened and fell to one knee after inhaling Mapa's demonic poison, while he avoided killing her because she could explode at death.
• Mapa recognized that Luo Shu intended to oppose him and charged at him.

Luo Shu outmaneuvered Mapa with demon-targeting poison and the Seal Blade, then revealed he had anticipated Mapa’s parasitic heart-stealing ability. The chapter ended with Kannagi Ayano stabbing the Demon Bug in Mapa’s arm.

• Mapa’s greatsword missed Luo Shu as the poison dulled his senses, and Luo Shu revealed the demon-targeting toxin.
• Luo Shu used the Seal Blade to wound Mapa and explained that the weapon was especially effective against demons.
• Luo Shu identified Mapa’s Demon Bug and its five-meter parasitic range, then suggested Sharon might be seeking Mapa’s true body.
• Mapa claimed that the cavern’s Mapa was his true body and accused Luo Shu of bluffing about precognition.
• Kannagi Ayano stabbed Mapa’s right arm with Blazing Thunder Tyrant, impaling the Demon Bug inside it.

Luo Shu and the others defeated Mapa, treated their wounded, and prepared to leave the Abyss-eroded area with their spoils. As the group began to evacuate, a pink-haired girl on a yacht told Sister Sharon that the fighting appeared to be over.

• Kannagi Ayano burned Mapa to death, and Luo Shu caught her as she collapsed before arranging antidotes and healing potions for the injured.
• Luo Shu repeatedly stabbed Mapa’s corpse and warned that the demon might have left spare bodies elsewhere.
• Takina Inoue reported that Kazemaki Ryūya was recovering and said Luo Shu would supervise the captured Demon Girl; Chisato Nishikigi proposed calling her Kisara.
• Luo Shu urged everyone to gather the spoils and leave the Abyss-eroded area, while the others teased him for being overcautious.
• A pink-haired girl on a yacht near Kisara Port told Sister Sharon that things appeared to be over.

Lacus Clyne intercepted Sharon at sea and traded a holy relic for her promise to obtain the Demon Hunters’ research on demons. After learning Chisato and the others had completed their mission, Lacus decided to meet Luo Shu.

• Lacus Clyne met Sharon aboard an armed vessel and said she wanted cooperation rather than to arrest her.
• Lacus offered Sharon a dagger once used by Jeanne d’Arc in exchange for the Demon Hunters’ internal research on demons.
• Sharon accepted the relic, promised to deliver the research within three days, and warned Lacus to kill any captured High-Ranking Demon after studying it.
• Tachibana Kirika scolded Lacus for giving a holy relic to Sharon, whom they could have arrested and with whom they had a feud.
• Lacus learned that Chisato and the others had completed their mission and said she wanted to meet Luo Shu and hear his thoughts.

Luo Shu and the others escaped the cave beneath the banyan tree, destroyed the connection between the Abyss and their world, and returned to the coast with Kisara. There, Luo Shu met Lacus Clyne, whom he recognized as the pink-haired songstress of peace.

• Luo Shu and the others emerged from the cave, signaled for help, and boarded Mika's helicopter after Kazemaki Ryūya climbed aboard first.
• Luo Shu told Mika that Kisara had been sedated, and Mika relayed that the Chief wanted Luo Shu to bring the demon out to sea and meet her.
• Mika fired a missile at the banyan tree, destroying the connection between the Abyss and their world, and the group headed back.
• Chisato Nishikigi and Takina Inoue argued over whether to celebrate with sukiyaki or barbecue, and Luo Shu chose sukiyaki.
• Luo Shu took the still-unconscious Kisara by speedboat to the Armed Court near the coast and encountered Lacus Clyne.

Luo Shu brought the captured Kisara aboard and met Lux Clyne, whom he recognized from his original world. After he hinted that he knew her from PLANT, Lux teased Tachibana Kirika and asked Luo Shu to speak with her privately.

• Luo Shu brought the unconscious Kisara aboard, and Tachibana Kirika ordered the Action Team to prepare a stretcher and suppressants.
• Tachibana Kirika introduced Luo Shu to Lux Clyne and praised him for capturing a High-Ranking Demon.
• Lux noticed Luo Shu seemed to recognize her, and Luo Shu suggested he knew her through PLANT.
• Lux asked whether Luo Shu had learned about her through television or songs, and he said both.
• Lux teased Tachibana Kirika by calling Luo Shu an old childhood friend, then asked him to speak with her privately.
• Luo Shu agreed to accompany Lux.

Lacus Clyne confronted Luo Shu about being from another world and reassured him that SDS would not imprison or harm him. Luo Shu remained suspicious of her promises and refused to leave SDS, prompting Lacus to say he had no sense of security.

• Lacus stopped the nurses from restraining Kisara and spoke privately with Luo Shu.
• Lacus deduced that Luo Shu came from another world because his behavior did not match what she knew about Coordinators and Naturals.
• Luo Shu revealed that his sources described Lacus as a schemer who had orchestrated the deaths of Patrick Zala and Gilbert Durandal, leaving Lacus shocked.
• Lacus promised she would not harm Luo Shu or innocent people and said she sensed his deeper unease in an unfamiliar world.
• Lacus told Luo Shu that SDS allowed its members to leave, but Luo Shu suspected they disposed of people after using them and refused to leave.

Lux explained SDS’s staffing shortage and her disagreement with Tachibana Kirika over how to recruit members, then asked Luo Shu to hear her proposal. Luo Shu admitted he wanted to avoid dangerous frontline work but was open to gaining power from the Abyss, and Lux began to respond.

• Lux reassured Luo Shu that he could leave SDS if he changed his mind and explained that she disagreed with Tachibana Kirika’s recruitment methods.
• Lux told Luo Shu that SDS had expanded rapidly with her father’s help but remained short-staffed, and that she preferred recruits who freely shared her ideals.
• Lux contrasted her approach with Tachibana Kirika’s preference for broad screening and prioritizing staffing needs over recruits’ ideals.
• Lux explained that she had approached Luo Shu because she was concerned Kirika had recruited him through coercion and because she suspected he was a visitor from the Abyss.
• Luo Shu admitted he valued his safety but was willing to gain power from the Abyss, and Lux asked whether he would hear her opinion.

Lacus Clyne proposed that Luo Shu leave the Tokyo branch of SDS and lead an independent unit directly under her, tasked with guarding Kisara. Luo Shu accepted the partnership after confirming Lacus intended to protect Kisara rather than punish her for being a demon.

• Lacus proposed giving Luo Shu his own unit, funding, intelligence, and limited Abyssal Artifact support, while promising to speak with Tachibana Kirika.
• Lacus explained that Kisara had no criminal record and should not be harmed merely for being a demon, and Luo Shu agreed.
• Luo Shu asked whether he could pursue Lacus, who said she had no such thoughts at the moment and asked to decline to answer.
• Luo Shu confirmed that Lacus meant for him to look after Kisara, whom Chisato had given that code name.
• Luo Shu and Lacus shook hands and agreed to a happy partnership.

On the deck, Lacus Clyne told Tachibana Kirika that Luo Shu would leave the Tokyo branch of SDS to establish an Office guarding and using the Demon, then revealed that he had asked to pursue her. The armed Action Team reacted protectively, while Lacus remained unaware of her effect on them; inside the cabin, Luo Shu began examining his new gains through the system.

• Lacus offered to support Tachibana Kirika if she ever left SDS, but Kirika dismissed the idea and asked about Luo Shu’s future.
• Lacus explained that Luo Shu would establish an independent Office to guard and use the Demon, and Kirika worried about whether he could control her alone.
• Kirika noted that SDS had traded a Holy Relic for Demon research data and joked that the overall deal had still been profitable.
• Lacus told Kirika that Luo Shu wanted to pursue her, prompting the Action Team to ready their weapons in his defense.
• Kirika warned the Action Team not to kill Luo Shu, then reflected that her subordinates were all problem children.
• Luo Shu watched a nurse examine Kisara and used the break to study his new gains through the system.

After earning points from several demon-related events, Luo Shu worried that his supernatural growth was too slow for the dangers he kept encountering. He learned how Sharon could advance to Temple Guardian, but the requirements frustrated him before ripples appeared in the Astronomy Club.

• Luo Shu received points for killing a Lesser Demon and engineering the deaths of a mimic demon and a miasma demon, then earned more points and higher monthly income for capturing a high-ranking demon juvenile.
• Luo Shu calculated that reaching Elite tier would take over a year and worried that the dangerous beings and artifacts he had encountered made rapid growth necessary.
• Luo Shu identified Sharon's holy relic as Joan of Arc's Short Sword and learned the materials and ritual required for her advancement to Temple Guardian.
• Luo Shu complained that the system's guidance was useless, then noticed ripples inside the Astronomy Club.

Toka Takanashi delivered watch components to Mira Tsubakihara, then left after teasing her about having a child. Mira opened the box in the Astronomy Club's divine realm and confronted Ishaha, whose prayer to Vassago revealed that an Ancient God was watching her.

• Toka Takanashi brought Mira Tsubakihara a box of watch components and noticed signs that Mira was living with a man.
• Toka left to return home and care for her younger sister after mentioning her culinary school classes the next day.
• Mira carried the box into the Astronomy Club's space, where Mapa emerged and she identified him as Ishaha, the female Mind Flayer.
• Ishaha prayed to Vassago for knowledge to escape, but learned she was inside an Ancient God's divine realm and was trying to possess one of its favored ones.
• Vassago's will shattered Ishaha's hope of escape and permanently blocked her prayers, leaving her dumbstruck.

Luo Shu watched Ishaha summon the demon god Vassago inside the Astronomy Club's Divine Kingdom and used its power to stop Vassago from escaping. After reassuring Mira Tsubakihara, he left her with Ishaha's body to study.

• Luo Shu sensed Ishaha reciting a prayer to summon Vassago and held back from killing her as the demon god's weak will entered the Astronomy Club.
• Vassago bestowed a flood of chaotic knowledge on Ishaha, killing her, then pretended to challenge Luo Shu while secretly severing his connection to his main body.
• Luo Shu cut off Vassago's retreat, causing his will to lose consciousness, and a blue gemstone formed and vanished into the space he had configured.
• Luo Shu told Mira Tsubakihara that Ishaha's summoned demon had been suppressed and suggested she keep the Insect Sniper's remains to study its powers.
• Mira thanked Luo Shu for saving her again, and he told her to wait until he returned before leaving the space.

Luo Shu questioned the system about its origins and the path to greater power while studying the authority fragment he had taken from Vassago. The system offered to analyze the fragment, leaving Luo Shu surprised by the coincidence.

• Luo Shu examined the blue gem containing power intercepted from Demon God Vassago while using a false body in the Astronomy Club space.
• Luo Shu summoned the system and learned that it was an auxiliary tool created by the Pantheon Reconstruction System to help him return to the Throne of the Sublime.
• The system said the Sublime Spirit was Luo Shu, but refused to explain further until he reached the Deity realm; it also said Demigod permissions could let him destroy its intelligence.
• Luo Shu asked the system for advice on getting stronger and choosing a Class, but it admitted it lacked the knowledge to give useful recommendations.
• The system detected that Luo Shu possessed a Fragmented Crystal of Authority and asked whether he wanted to submit it for analysis.