Recaps

Kaidezi and the Silence Society’s captain investigated an underground site and found the bodies of several powerful figures, including Marquis Darkblood, the Chronicle Court’s head, and Grey Eye. They suspected an awakened god had killed them, while Duke Desolation had escaped, and the captain planned to find him before he revealed what he had seen.

• Kaidezi sensed ancient energy in the murals as the Silence Society’s team explored the underground passages.
• Kaidezi and the captain found Marquis Darkblood, the head of the Chronicle Court, and other powerful figures dead in a hall.
• The captain identified the dead black-robed man as Grey Eye, the hidden leader of the Destruction and Revelation Society, and found a drained crystal fragment beside him.
• Kaidezi and the captain concluded that an awakened god had likely killed Grey Eye and that Duke Desolation had probably escaped.
• The captain reasoned that the continent’s turmoil would delay investigations but identified Duke Desolation as the greatest threat because he might reveal the site.
• The captain led the team out, planning to contact Duke Desolation in the Far Wasteland before he could speak about what he had witnessed.

Kaidezi and the others fled as a supernatural storm reached the ruined mine, where King Ghidorah dropped Valeria into the pit to recover its body with ore. The storm had devastated Weierna, and a child sheltering in the flooded city spotted the black, lightning-filled clouds approaching.

• Kaidezi saw the storm spreading across the sky, and the captain ordered everyone to flee the mine.
• King Ghidorah hurled Valeria into the mine pit, then waited for it to recover by consuming the ore below.
• King Ghidorah surveyed the storm-damaged landscape and decided Valeria could help him find Voraksa once it recovered.
• The storm had flooded Weierna, leaving its poorest residents stranded in makeshift shelters while others escaped.
• A child looked through a gap in a boarded window and saw the black storm clouds glowing with golden lightning on the horizon.

Chaluoke woke to find another storm approaching the flooded city and worried about escaping with the child and the elderly neighbors. He confronted a group of Silence Society members near the ruins, but instead of explaining himself, he asked them for money, a boat, bread, and alcohol.

• The child woke Chaluoke and warned him that a storm was approaching, while worrying about the elderly couple next door.
• Chaluoke said he would fly them all to safety if necessary, then noticed someone approaching from the direction of the mine ruins.
• The Silence Society members stopped at a half-submerged building and discussed the unknown being they had seen emerge from the storm.
• Chaluoke stepped out of the building and made the Silence Society members wary with his powerful mana and battle-hardened presence.
• The captain tried to reassure Chaluoke that the group was only gathering information, but Chaluoke interrupted to ask whether they had money or could bring a boat, bread, and booze.

Chaluoke accepted money and food from the Silence Society and shared bread with the child before a huge golden creature fell from the storm near the mining ruins. King Ghidorah urged Valeria to emerge from underground, and Valeria stopped its recovery and moved.

• The captain gave Chaluoke a pouch of money, bread, and an offer of an escort, and Chaluoke thanked him before entering the building.
• Chaluoke shared the bread with the child and called the departing white-robed figures “good people.”
• A distant golden, many-necked silhouette crashed down near the mining ruins, and the child wondered if it was a dragon.
• King Ghidorah looked down at Valeria underground and asked whether it was done yet.
• Valeria withdrew its roots from the ore, gathered the remaining useful substances into its chest crystal, and moved.

Valeria emerged from the ground and accepted King Ghidorah’s order to find him a palace, recalling a possible site inside an extinct volcano. After Valeria left, King Ghidorah sensed Voraksa’s location and flew toward him, while Lufuna continued her work in Valerilus City.

• Valeria climbed out of the pit with its injuries still healing and told King Ghidorah it was ready to work.
• King Ghidorah ordered Valeria to find him a palace and mentioned Voraksa, whose name left Valeria visibly shaken.
• Valeria flew west toward its original’s former palace inside an extinct volcano, hoping it had survived.
• King Ghidorah sensed Voraksa deep in the continent and flew in that direction to find the old dragon.
• In Valerilus City, Lufuna carried the last stack of books toward the castle library after unloading the others.

Lufuna worked in Vagrian’s library while searching for a rare book to support her thesis on ancient history and legends. After learning the book could not be found, she reflected on her life in Vagrian and how she had left her family to pursue her studies.

• Lufuna finished sorting old books, and the librarian told her he could not find the book she needed for her thesis.
• Lufuna accepted the librarian’s answer and returned to writing in the journal she had kept since leaving home.
• Lufuna recalled how life in Vagrian differed from the Karelia Empire, where people with bestial features were marginalized.
• Lufuna remembered how her old professor had urged her to travel to Vagrian to study ancient documents and artifacts.
• Lufuna recalled how her parents opposed her scholarly ambitions, but she remained determined to leave home.
• Lufuna escaped over the family wall with her younger brother’s help, hurt her ankle, and departed by carriage at dawn.

Lufuna left the library in Vagrian, where she reflected on the Red Dragon Emperor Valerirus’s ancient rule and met a dragonborn girl who had brought her an old ore. After wondering whether the girl had been bullied, Lufuna noticed the sky had suddenly grown dark.

• Lufuna finished writing in her diary, left the library, and looked toward Valerirus’s vast palace.
• Lufuna met a dragonborn girl who gave her an ancient stone ore in exchange for three silver coins.
• Lufuna asked whether the girl had been beaten up, and the girl answered no after a brief hesitation.
• Lufuna considered offering help to the girl, then looked up as the sky seemed to grow dark.

A colossal black dragon arrived over Vagrian City and hurled the Red Dragon Emperor Valerirus into a mountain, devastating the city as scholar Lufuna tried to protect a little girl. At the palace, King Ghidorah inspected the building Voraksa had found for him.

• Lufuna recognized that the black dragon above Vagrian City was not the Red Dragon Emperor as it flew toward the palace.
• The black dragon seized Valerirus and flung him into a distant mountain, shattering its peak and sending deadly rocks raining down on the city.
• Lufuna shielded a little girl from the debris, then helped her toward the library as the black dragon's roar left her unable to hear.
• King Ghidorah examined the palace gates while Voraksa, with one wing only partly regrown, cowered behind him and called it a palace he had found for his lord.

King Ghidorah entered the Red Dragon Emperor’s palace and claimed it as his new home while Voraksa carried the badly injured Valerirus. After touring the palace and its treasure vault, King Ghidorah ordered Voraksa to heal Valerirus so he could question him, then noticed several things curled in a shadowed corner.

• King Ghidorah questioned Voraksa about who had lived in the palace before him, and Voraksa brought over the battered Red Dragon Emperor, Valerirus.
• King Ghidorah found that Valerirus could not speak and went to inspect the palace doors, so Voraksa pressed Valerirus’s head against their gap and made them open.
• King Ghidorah explored the palace, including its vast treasure chamber, bathing pool, and rooftop terrace overlooking Vagrian City.
• King Ghidorah told Voraksa to heal Valerirus because he wanted to question him, then sat on the throne and considered changes to the palace.
• King Ghidorah noticed several things curled up in the shadow of a pillar in the main hall.

Sangis watched a black dragon defeat the red dragon emperor, then saw the enormous three-headed King Ghidorah arrive at the palace. She led the palace staff out from hiding and introduced herself to him as the emperor’s former courtier.

• Sangis saw the black dragon knock the red dragon emperor into the mountains, where he crashed and caused an explosion.
• King Ghidorah emerged from the black storm, and Sangis judged that the empire’s ruler had changed.
• Sangis left the palace guards and attendants’ hiding place, deciding to approach the dragon rather than wait to be discovered.
• The attendants, guards, dragonkin, and half-dragons followed Sangis into the open hall.
• King Ghidorah examined Sangis and the gathered palace staff.
• Sangis greeted King Ghidorah and identified herself as the palace’s former administrator and trusted courtier.

King Ghidorah learned that the palace belonged to a vast empire of more than thirteen million people and declared Sangis his subordinate, ordering her to bring him government documents. Sangis went to the archives while the shaken attendants recovered, leaving King Ghidorah in control of the palace.

• King Ghidorah used telepathy to question Sangis about the red dragon ruler and the empire.
• Sangis explained that Valerirus had founded the empire about a thousand years earlier and that it now had over fifty cities and more than thirteen million people.
• Sangis reported that the empire had about 13.4 million registered residents and sixty-seven dragons, prompting King Ghidorah to question Apekus's claim that the dragons had been exterminated.
• King Ghidorah appointed Sangis his subordinate and told her to continue managing the palace and bring him some documents.
• Sangis headed to the second-floor archives and ordered the stunned attendants to get to their feet.

Lufuna prepared to flee Vagrian with the head librarian, the silent librarian, and a little girl as the city reeled from upheaval. A palace guard announced that Valerirus had yielded the throne to Caesar, while shocked nobles gathered near the palace.

• Lufuna rushed into the library carrying the little girl, and the head librarian gave her credentials for Gerlen City and urged her to leave with only essentials.
• Lufuna and the little girl gathered rare books while the head librarian packed ancient texts and the silent librarian kept watch at the entrance.
• Hearing the square grow calmer, Lufuna saw a palace guard on a wyvern announce that Valerirus had passed the throne to Caesar and that the city guard would respond.
• The head librarian told Lufuna to stop watching and leave, and she gave the little girl a book with a red dragon on its cover to carry.
• Near the palace, more than a dozen powerful nobles, including the Lord Protector and Duke Luer Yas, sat in stunned silence around a table.

The empire’s nobles discussed how to respond after the Red Dragon Emperor was defeated and taken away, while the Silence Society confirmed that the black dragon was Voraksa and noted his mysterious golden companion. The chapter ended with the Society urging its contacts to act quickly regarding the empire’s forbidden zone.

• The Lord Protector and the nobles agreed that they could not resist the new rulers directly and planned to seek the Red Dragon Emperor’s return while showing deference to the new emperor.
• Duke Luer Yas proposed sending a young dragon knight from the Lannaro Family to watch the forbidden zone instead of risking the Lord Protector.
• White-robed members of the Silence Society confirmed that their target was Voraksa, whom legends called the Silencer of the Gods.
• The Silence Society members discussed the golden three-headed dragon, which they believed might be as powerful and mysterious as Voraksa.
• A senior white-robed man ordered his companions to press their contacts to move faster regarding the forbidden zone.

Sangis briefed King Ghidorah on routine imperial affairs, the empire’s administration, and the mysterious Forbidden Land. King Ghidorah assigned Voraksa to investigate it and prepared to meet the Lord Protector, the Imperial Guard commander, and several grand dukes.

• Sangis read reports about the Noble Academy’s expansion, flooding in Antioch City, a miners’ strike in Tharsis, and a lost wyvern, prompting King Ghidorah to question why such matters reached him.
• Sangis explained that the Lord Protector, an ancient black dragon, dealt with threats to the empire, though she could not explain why he had failed to intervene when the red dragon was attacked.
• Sangis presented a sealed report about the Forbidden Land, which had been protected by Valerirus for over a thousand years and was guarded by an order to kill unauthorized visitors.
• King Ghidorah summoned Voraksa and told him to investigate the Forbidden Land; Voraksa first reported that the red dragon was nearly recovered.
• Sangis told King Ghidorah that the Lord Protector, the commander of the Imperial Guard, and several grand dukes wanted to meet him and had brought gifts.
• Sangis outlined the empire’s Senate, consuls, officials, and local government, then King Ghidorah ordered her to admit the visitors.

Duke Luer Yas, the Lord Protector, and the grand dukes met King Ghidorah and learned that Valerirus had survived and been made a governor. King Ghidorah appointed Voraksa captain of the guard, leaving the Lord Protector puzzled by Valerirus’s calm reaction to his former enemy.

• Duke Luer Yas led the Lord Protector, the imperial guard commander, and the grand dukes into the palace to meet their new sovereign.
• The group knelt before King Ghidorah and introduced themselves, and he asked what they wanted.
• The Lord Protector asked about Valerirus, and King Ghidorah summoned Voraksa, who brought the recovering Red Dragon Emperor into the hall.
• Sangis announced that King Ghidorah had appointed Valerirus governor, demoting him from emperor to a provincial official.
• Sangis announced Voraksa’s appointment as captain of the guard, and Voraksa solemnly thanked King Ghidorah.
• The Lord Protector noticed Valerirus looked unusually calm beside Voraksa and wondered whether Voraksa was pleased with the outcome.

Sangis and King Ghidorah heard Valerirus explain the forbidden land’s ancient history and his reason for coming to guard it. The chapter ended with a white-robed man sitting in a room lined with books.

• The dukes left the great hall, and the Lord Protector glanced back at King Ghidorah before departing.
• Sangis recalled arranging Valerirus’s appointment as provincial governor and Voraksa’s appointment as captain of the guard.
• King Ghidorah asked Sangis to explain the forbidden land, and she deferred to Valerirus’s knowledge.
• Valerirus said the land was once called the Land Abhorred by the Gods, where an evil god had fallen, and that his ancestors had made a pact to guard it.
• Valerirus explained that he had crossed the continent a thousand years earlier to continue fulfilling his ancestor’s promise.
• A white-robed man sat at a desk in a book-filled room, tapping his fingers on an open notebook.

Valerirus explained to King Ghidorah that he had guarded the Forbidden Land in Vagrian to keep the evil god Weiergalun sealed, and King Ghidorah agreed to visit it. Meanwhile, Nuoyaji led his ragged group away from the flooded ruins of Weierna, leaving their destination unanswered.

• A white-robed member of the Silence Society identified Weiergalun as an ancient evil whose fall in Vagrian had created the Forbidden Land, and said the empire's new rulers were no longer human.
• Valerirus told King Ghidorah that Weiergalun's followers had repeatedly tried to resurrect Him and that the Forbidden Land's corruption turned those who entered into murderous monsters.
• King Ghidorah concluded that Valerirus had stayed to guard the Forbidden Land and told him they would go inspect it soon.
• Nuoyaji watched the survivors rest near the flooded city of Weierna, then told them to head west.
• The white-haired girl asked Nuoyaji where they were going, but he did not answer.

Nuoyaji found Fuyila hiding in his caravan and later recruited the fallen spellcaster Chaluoke Weier by confronting him about his past. Chaluoke agreed to help Nuoyaji change the world, then recalled seeing a golden, three-headed dragon after a storm.

• Nuoyaji discovered Fuyila hiding among the caravan’s rations and gave her a place to ride and food to eat.
• A knight riding a griffin delivered several people to the caravan on Lady Meweiro’s behalf, including Chaluoke Weier.
• Nuoyaji recognized Chaluoke and challenged him about abandoning his talent after his closest friend, teacher, and lover died.
• Nuoyaji asked Chaluoke to help prevent disasters and build a stable world, and Chaluoke agreed.
• Nuoyaji asked Chaluoke what unusual events he had witnessed, and Chaluoke recalled a storm followed by a golden, three-headed dragon.

King Ghidorah settled into his role as Vagrian’s new ruler, ordering Sangis to notify other nations and Voraksa to fetch Valeria before flying over the capital to inspect his empire. Members of the Silence Society recorded his flight and discussed making contact, while learning that Valerirus was returning from the Forbidden Land.

• Sangis suggested notifying the continent’s nations that Vagrian had a new ruler, and King Ghidorah approved the announcement under the title Caesar.
• King Ghidorah summoned Voraksa and ordered him to find Valeria and bring her to the palace.
• King Ghidorah flew over Valerilus City to survey the capital, as its people watched and identified him as their new emperor.
• Kaidezi recorded King Ghidorah’s flight, and she and the captain recognized him as the beast from the Western Mine in the Karelia Empire.
• The captain said the Silence Society could try to contact King Ghidorah, and told Kaidezi that Valerirus was returning and the Forbidden Land should be safe for now.

Felipe VIII weighed reports of Vagrian’s new emperor, the empire’s disaster and mysterious beasts, and his son’s unauthorized actions. As he ordered the Crown-Carving Guard to restrain Crown Prince Felipe Kedaoer, he discovered the guards already filled the corridor and his son had arrived.

• Felipe VIII and his confidants discussed Vagrian’s new emperor, Caesar, and decided to send an envoy with proper courtesies.
• The Speaker-General described Crown Prince Felipe Kedaoer’s relief efforts and punishments of profiteering nobles, and Felipe VIII ordered the Crown-Carving Guard to make him behave.
• Felipe VIII read a report of two giant beasts at the Western Mine and learned that Lord Medici could not investigate because the Tower Mage Corps was dealing with storm damage.
• Felipe VIII ordered the Crown-Carving Guard summoned, but the Grand Duke of the Eastern Marches and Marquis White Wind found the guards already lining the corridor.
• Felipe Kedaoer approached the study and greeted his father.

Felipe Kedaoer confronted Emperor Felipe VIII and explained that he had joined the Silence Society to uncover the world’s hidden history and protect the empire from threats beyond its borders. He then revealed that the Crown-Carving Guard had seized the palace and declared himself regent.

• Felipe Kedaoer dismissed the Grand Duke of the Eastern Marches, Marquis Whitewind, Marshal Chesko, and the Speaker-General so he could speak privately with Emperor Felipe VIII.
• Felipe VIII accused Kodaor of ruining the empire, but Kodaor said he was trying to remove corrupt parasites and safeguard the people and the empire.
• Kodaor told Felipe VIII that he had worked with the Silence Society and learned that the gods were real and a demonic god slept in the empire’s eastern Forbidden Land.
• Kodaor described the empire as only a small clearing in a fog-filled world and said he wanted to uncover the truth before the empire was destroyed.
• Kodaor announced that the Crown-Carving Guard had taken control of the palace and that he would govern as regent, then told Felipe VIII to rest.

Hermann von Grimm learned that Valerirus had abdicated in favor of Caesar, a gold dragon, and then encountered the enormous three-headed King Ghidorah above Gerlen City. King Ghidorah declared himself emperor, and Hermann bowed to him.

• Hermann von Grimm read the Senate's urgent notice that Valerirus had abdicated and Caesar had become emperor.
• Hermann saw a huge golden shape pass over Gerlen City, and his secretary reported that it was an unfamiliar three-headed dragon.
• King Ghidorah surveyed the city and its wyverns from the air.
• Hermann flew toward King Ghidorah on a wyvern and recognized his immense size and golden scales.
• King Ghidorah told Hermann, “I am your emperor,” and Hermann bowed and addressed him as His Majesty Caesar.

King Ghidorah toured Gerlen City after its city lord Hermann welcomed him, while Lufuna settled into a house the curator had arranged. The curator then handed his collected artifacts and a key to a member of the Silence Society, asking them to fix the world.

• Hermann welcomed King Ghidorah to Gerlen City and explained how express wyvern deliveries had spread news of the new emperor.
• King Ghidorah learned that Gerlen City was a major hub for roads and wyvern transport, then ended Hermann's report.
• The curator gave Lufuna a key to a small house and left her to return to his family.
• Lufuna recognized the golden three-headed dragon flying overhead as the one from the capital, while the curator and his taciturn companion departed.
• The curator met a white-robed member of the Silence Society and gave him his collected books, scrolls, artifacts, and a key to an iron cabinet.
• The white-robed man thanked the curator on behalf of the Silence Society, and the curator told him to fix the world.

King Ghidorah announced himself as Caesar the Great to the people of Gerlen City, while his agents arrested members of the Destruction and Revelation Society who were plotting to enter the Forbidden Land. After Ghidorah returned to the capital, Mayor Hermann ordered the prisoners interrogated, and the Society’s leaders agreed to seek help from someone by accepting all his conditions.

• Lufuna joined the crowd gathered in the square, where King Ghidorah used telepathy to proclaim himself Caesar the Great, and the people shouted their loyalty.
• King Ghidorah spotted several figures slipping into an alley and privately ordered Mayor Hermann to handle a job.
• Members of the Destruction and Revelation Society discussed their plan to enter the Forbidden Land despite losing contact with the First Seat, but Vagrian wyvern cavalry surrounded and captured them.
• Hermann reported the capture to King Ghidorah, who declined to inspect the prisoners and flew back toward the capital.
• Hermann ordered the heretics taken to the basement for interrogation and worried their presence would harm his standing.
• The Society’s leaders learned their Gerlen City agents had been captured and decided to invite someone to help, agreeing to all his conditions.

King Ghidorah let Sangis handle the diplomatic preparations while he reflected on how the world's mana was slowly changing his body. Elsewhere, a woman gave Venerable An a key to retrieve Tyrfing, setting up an expedition to the Forbidden Land while the empire was distracted by its new emperor.

• King Ghidorah told Sangis to arrange the visiting envoys' reception as before, leaving her to manage the Senate and the empire's preparations.
• King Ghidorah realized that his body instinctively absorbed mana from the air and that the energy was gradually changing his constitution.
• A hooded woman met Venerable An on a wasteland and gave him a wooden box containing a key to retrieve Tyrfing from one of her group's bases.
• The woman and her companions discussed using the empire's change of emperor as an opportunity to enter the Forbidden Land, despite the cost of giving up Tyrfing.