Chapter Summaries

Daina reunited with Mirror Ace and brought the Enchanting Wizard Apprentices under his command, while he investigated the Legion’s pursuit force and the abyss spreading across the Northern Frontier. He infiltrated the battered soldiers’ ranks and heard Anhel Bayern argue that they should head north despite their mission to hunt Devil Worshippers.

• Daina knelt before Mirror Ace and ordered the Wizard Apprentices to do the same, and Ace used magic to secure their gratitude and loyalty.
• Ace tested the apprentices for traitors and found none, then learned from Daina that roughly three hundred Legion soldiers and six Hero-class fighters were pursuing them.
• Mirror Ace promised to guide the apprentices to safety and warned that the pursuers would die if they continued after them.
• Main Body Ace continued into the Lar Mountains to search for a suitable Wizard Academy site as Mirror Ace scouted from the sky.
• Mirror Ace saw the abyss consuming more than half the Demon Hunting Wilderness and suspected its influence might have affected him and Main Body Ace.
• Mirror Ace secretly infiltrated the Legion after its soldiers repelled a group of imps, and he overheard Anhel Bayern urge the troops to head north while another soldier insisted they continue hunting Devil Worshippers.

Anhel led the surviving divine descendants north toward the Lar Mountains while Ace tracked them and joined the wizard apprentices gathered near their cave. Ace revealed that the legion had killed hundreds of apprentices and urged his followers to stop its escape.

• Anhel persuaded the surviving Hero-class individuals to follow him north and planned to establish a foothold among the Barbarian Tribes before escaping along the coast.
• Ace secretly marked several soldiers with Advanced Magic Trick, then transformed into an eagle and followed the group.
• Ancesta accepted Xavier as his squire and began teaching him the Knight's Path by making him carry a heavy pack.
• Betty arrived in Apprentice Type 1 and teased Ancesta about Donna's affection for him, making Donna blush.
• Black Cat Bayern greeted Daina, who removed her mask and recognized him as Scholar Bayern.
• Ace arrived at the cave, received the apprentices' salute, and urged them to pursue the legion remnants heading for the Lar Mountains.

Ace rallied the wizard apprentices and arranged an ambush for the legion near Mount Baal, while Daina led an attack against its troops. The chapter left the six Hero-class fighters facing Daina’s explosive spell.

• Ace urged the wizard apprentices to strike back against the divine descendants and ordered them to prepare to depart.
• Ace gave Black Cat Bayern a robe, then sent Bayern with the other apprentices toward Mount Baal while he planned the ambush with Daina and eleven Enchanting Wizard Apprentices.
• Ace equipped the apprentices with secret method marks and Crystal Protection Membranes, then explained how they would lure the legion into a trap.
• Daina led ten Enchanting Wizard Apprentices into an ambush near Mount Baal as the legion, commanded by Captain Anhel Bai En and accompanied by six Hero-class fighters, approached.
• Daina launched seven unstable Burning Short Swords at the Hero-class fighters, and Anhel leaped backward as the attack exploded.

Daina and her allies fought Anhel, Shane, and their forces while retreating toward a prepared trap. Ace detonated the trap, killing most of the pursuers, then used Soul Burst to finish Anhel and Bai En.

• Shane attacked Daina with elegant swordplay as Anhel blocked the retreat, while Daina powered up and clashed with Anhel.
• Ace used wind blades to hinder the pursuers, then escaped Anhel’s inevitable-hit spear by flying out of range.
• Anhel led the surviving fighters after Daina and her allies into the hollow, where Ace triggered the buried Magic Glycerin spiders.
• The explosions killed more than 150 people, but Anhel and Bai En survived with severe injuries.
• Ace activated Soul Burst against Anhel and Bai En, killing them and leaving their corpses and wondrous items behind.

Ace’s mirror image destroyed the Legion forces at Mount Baal, then examined the fallen heroes’ hearts and enchanted weapons and discovered a rune structure that concealed other runes. As night fell, the Wizard Apprentices gathered around him, praising him for defeating the Legion.

• Ace descended Mount Baal as the Wizard Apprentices surveyed the crater and learned that the explosions had melted most of the soldiers’ bodies.
• Ace reflected on how the mirror image differed from the main body and resolved to synchronize their minds frequently so the main body would not lose more of its emotions.
• Ace extracted three Hero-class hearts and summoned Anhel’s enchanted spear and shield and Shane’s enchanted longsword, then examined their rune structures.
• Ace discovered that the Spear of Inevitable Hit used a rune structure to conceal other runes and considered researching ways to encrypt runes and spell models.
• Ace turned the hearts and weapons into six metal buttons and fastened them inside his cloak before returning to the waiting Wizard Apprentices.
• Bayern praised Ace for destroying the Legion, while Sulu regretted not speaking first and Daina thanked Ace for saving the Wizard Apprentices.

Mirror Ace reflected on the need to preserve his humanity while evolving, as Main Body Ace reached a valley in the Lar Mountains and set out to conquer its tribes without bloodshed. At Mount Baal, Mirror Ace explained the wizards’ pursuit of truth and challenged his apprentices to consider how limited lives and intellect could answer the four questions of magic.

• Mirror Ace resolved to find a balance between collective life and human emotion, while Main Body Ace surveyed a Lar Mountains valley and counted six Barbarian Tribes with fewer than five thousand people.
• Main Body Ace declared that he would conquer the largest tribe without bloodshed and flew toward it using Blink Technique and geometric wings formed by Crystal Shaping.
• Mirror Ace gathered the wizard apprentices around a bonfire and explained that they were heading north because wizards could not survive among the civilized nations and divine descendants.
• After Valen asked why the wizards pursued transcendence and how limited lives could answer Ace's Four Questions, Mirror Ace praised his questions and asked the apprentices to consider the problem.
• The apprentices discussed Valen's Dilemma, while Daina remembered Ace's earlier lecture and looked forward to the future Wizard Academy.

Ace used the apprentices’ debate about Valen’s Dilemma to explain that gods were powerful but not necessarily omniscient, and that rational thought could guide people toward truth. He called on the apprentices to carry the wizard’s path forward after his own life ended.

• The apprentices debated whether longer lives or godhood could let them answer Valen’s Dilemma and Ace’s Four Questions.
• Ace asked the apprentices what reality was and whether gods could understand all of it.
• Bayern, Betty, and Daina reasoned that gods had limits and could not be assumed to know everything.
• Ace defined gods as powerful beings rather than omniscient ones and argued that humans could approach truth through correct, rational thought.
• Ace declared that generations of thinkers could continue the wizard’s path and asked who would raise the torch after him.

Ace used the cave allegory and the story of Hibbs to teach the wizard apprentices to question accepted beliefs and think rationally. The chapter ended with the apprentices considering whether their own magic system could be wrong as dawn broke.

• Arno eagerly declared that he wanted to become the next Firebearer, while Auli pulled him back and told him to master Elementary Mathematics first.
• Ace described prisoners mistaking shadows for reality and asked how they would treat someone who escaped the cave; Bayern said they would reject or even kill him.
• Ace told the apprentices that the Pythagorean School drowned Hibbs after he discovered that √2 could not be expressed as a ratio of integers.
• Ace asked what the apprentices would think if someone claimed the established Magic Power-Magic Element-rune-spell model system was wrong, and they defended its truth.
• Ace called blind rejection of such a challenge cognitive obstruction and urged the apprentices to maintain objective inquiry instead of worshiping authority.

Mirror Ace inspired the wizard apprentices to pursue truth as the group crossed the Lar Mountains, while Main Body Ace began building a wizard society among the barbarians. The story then shifted beyond the world to the gods’ realms, where the Elegant Goddess Media presided over her favored souls.

• Mirror Ace urged the apprentices to question authority, pursue truth, and pass the flame of knowledge onward.
• Ace led the group toward the Lar Mountains, while Bayern used the dice to watch for danger and Ace scouted ahead as an eagle.
• Main Body Ace organized nearly five thousand barbarians in the Nameless Valley and announced plans to develop the settlement and build a Wizard Academy.
• The narration described the Sea of Reality and Illusion, its planes, and the four great quasi-planes, including Mount Kaya and the Endless Abyss.
• In Media’s divine kingdom, Aleias Rona served the Elegant Goddess while Rona Muth Media sat below her Divine Seat as a Son of God and Legendary Hero.

Gana, Lord of the Ocean, arrived at Media’s divine kingdom with his son Pontos to seek a new divine covenant between Pontos and Media. After Ixia arrived and opened the way into the realm, the gods gathered at Media’s Divine Seat, where she asked Gana why he had come.

• Media waited at her divine kingdom’s boundary for her mother, Ixia, while Rhonamuth accompanied her incarnation.
• Gana and Pontos waited outside the crystal wall, and Gana explained that Media was waiting for another god to arrive.
• Ixia appeared, greeted Gana and Pontos, and listened as Gana said Pontos needed a new divine covenant with Media.
• Ixia opened a passage through the crystal wall, and Media welcomed Gana and Pontos into her divine kingdom.
• Rhonamuth greeted his grandmother Ixia, and Media hosted the visiting gods at her Divine Seat before asking Gana why he had come.

The Lord of the Ocean negotiated with the Elegant Goddess and Ixia over Tsimari City, agreeing to send Pontos and the Elegant Goddess’s projection to kill the Abyssal Lord’s projection in exchange for the city’s independence. After the negotiations, the Elegant Goddess explained to Rhonamuth how divine paths worked and urged him to prepare for godhood through his Grand Theater.

• The Lord of the Ocean offered Pontos’s intervention in exchange for Tsimari City’s independence, and Ixia and the Elegant Goddess rejected the initial terms.
• The Lord of the Ocean agreed that Pontos and the Elegant Goddess’s projection would join forces to kill the Abyssal Lord’s projection, and Ixia and the Elegant Goddess accepted.
• The Elegant Goddess had Rhonamuth demonstrate his Grand Theater to Ixia, who praised his potential and invited him to her divine kingdom.
• The Elegant Goddess told Rhonamuth that the Mother Goddess’s powerful backing protected their family and urged him to remain united with them.
• The Elegant Goddess explained that divine paths determined a hero’s potential for godhood and said Rhonamuth’s Grand Theater could give him a unique path through drama.

Media explained the paths to godhood and warned Rhonamuth against the dangers of faith, then urged him to pursue their divine path by helping the Medimous City-State contain its demonic crisis. The chapter ended with Gana confronting Pontos for turning every human in a city into fishmen through grand faith rituals.

• Media taught Rhonamuth how heroes could ascend from legend to godhood and explained the roles of divine fire, divine sparks, divine offices, and the Great Source.
• Media warned Rhonamuth that faith could empower mortals but could also turn faith-based gods into puppets of their followers.
• Media revealed that the Medimous City-State was meant to support two gods and urged Rhonamuth to prepare to leave for his grandmother's kingdom and help contain the Abyssal Projection in the Northern Frontier.
• Rhonamuth promised Media that he would follow the divine path and become a god.
• Gana reprimanded Pontos for performing grand faith rituals that transformed every human in a city into fishmen, violating the King of Gods' taboo.

The Lord of the Ocean, Gana, warned Pontos against surrendering his identity to faith and urged him to claim a regional divine office. Meanwhile, Betty, Ancesta, and Arno helped a refugee group endure the winter crossing of the Lar Mountains, while Auli could not use her magic power to warm them.

• The Lord of the Ocean, Gana, cautioned Pontos that faith could strip away his self and advised him to pursue the regional divine office of near Salia alongside his ties to fishmen and half-Merfolk.
• The Lord of the Ocean, Gana, revealed that the King of Gods and the Goddess Queen gained power by guiding civilizations and all things toward destruction and renewal, and said the King of Gods now looked beyond the world.
• Betty drove the Apprentice Type 1 through the snowbound Lar Mountains, clearing dead trees and releasing heat to warm the refugees.
• Ancesta and Arno shared their knight heart power with people at the rear of the group, easing their frostbite and giving them courage and peace.
• Auli watched Ancesta and Arno help the refugees and could not offer warmth because her innate magic power would harm ordinary people.

Bayern led the starving, freezing refugees west toward food while Mirror Ace hunted beasts and gathered medicine for them. Main Body Ace organized a wizard settlement in the Nameless Valley, while Dickens reached the royal city and Athena publicly entrusted him with Praise of Frost.

• Valen comforted the gravely ill as Bayern used his spells and Ace's directions to guide the group toward food prepared along the river.
• Mirror Ace hunted Demonic Beasts, secretly took food from barbarian tribes, and searched for medicinal herbs while the refugees made slow progress through the mountains.
• Main Body Ace directed the conquered tribes in building a town in the Nameless Valley and planned a wizard society divided by its members' abilities.
• Ace worried about his family and Teacher Peter, deciding to avoid the city-states until his academy was established and he could seek a breakthrough to formal wizardry.
• Dickens arrived in the royal city as the Northern Frontier's sole survivor and was recognized as a hero after awakening his bloodline with Praise of Frost.
• Athena bestowed Praise of Frost upon Dickens in a mourning-filled ceremony, while Divine Nobles whispered that the artifact was cursed.

After Moor Rona’s death, Medimous City-State mourned and worried about facing the Abyssal Lord Dekbah. Athena bestowed the Praise of Frost on Dickens, then joined Tadeus to seek the Goddess of Elegance’s guidance, as Ace’s parents remained concerned about his disappearance.

• Arnold Bain silenced the mourners, while Tadeus Media’s advisors and heroes debated the city-state’s lack of strength against Dekbah.
• Athena formally bestowed the Praise of Frost on Dickens, making him its servant as the grieving crowd watched.
• Marina worried about Ace’s whereabouts, and Romon kept his suspicions about Ace’s forbidden research to himself.
• Peter comforted Marina by insisting Ace was safe and might have gone north to practice medicine.
• Tadeus and Athena entered the temple and summoned Media, Goddess of Elegance, who called Athena forward and told her to take her hand.
• Athena grasped the goddess’s hands, and a brilliant light filled the temple and royal city.

Athena became the vessel of the Ancestor God and made a covenant with Pontos to free the Tsimari Region and attack Dekbah, Abyssal Lord. The separation weakened Medimous City-State’s rank, and Pontos gave Athena a conch to summon him when she found Dekbah.

• Athena emerged from the temple as the Ancestor God’s vessel and announced that the Tsimari Region would become independent and join Pontos in fighting Dekbah, Abyssal Lord.
• Pontos arrived above the royal city, and Athena, speaking as Media, swore an oath with him to make Pontos the Tsimari Region’s Guardian God and secure fifty years of peace between their city-states.
• The oath’s power split the Giant Lion representing Medimous City-State’s rank, as the Tsimari Region’s system tore away and a killer whale emerged to help the Giant Lion fight The Gloom Serpent.
• Tadeus felt the loss of half the city-state’s rank empowerment and reflected on how little power remained to him as king.
• Pontos gave Athena a conch and promised to appear when she found Dekbah, Abyssal Lord.

After Golden-eyed Athena returned control of her body, she and Tadeus rallied Medimous to launch an expedition against the Northern Frontier and the projection of Abyssal Lord Dekbah. Athena led the army out days later, while Tadeus remained behind questioning whether gods, blood scions, and city-states could ever control their own fate.

• Golden-eyed Athena descended, strengthened Athena with the City-State Status, and returned control of her body as the goddess's projection withdrew.
• Athena announced that Medimous would march north to cleanse Dekbah's projection, and Tadeus appointed her supreme military commander of the Abyssal Expeditionary Legion.
• The people of the royal city rallied for vengeance, including Ato Rona, whose family had lost several members in the Northern Frontier, though his mother urged him not to enlist.
• Several days later, Athena led fifteen thousand soldiers and hundreds of Divine Nobles north, with Dickens commanding the left army and Arnold Bain the right.
• Tadeus watched the army depart and wondered when the gods, blood scions, and city-states would be able to control their own fate.

In the Lar Mountains, Ace treated the sick and protected the migration party from the freezing cold while the travelers shared a meal beneath his magical shelter. As they neared Nameless Valley, Ace resolved to help his main body recover its emotions and considered ways to counter the Abyss whispers.

• Ace treated sick travelers, though several ordinary people died despite his efforts.
• At Daina's direction, the group gathered around Ace, who created a warm crystal shield with ventilation openings.
• Ace and Daina prepared and roasted Demonic Beast meat while Donna reunited with Ancesta and confessed that she liked him; Ancesta gently rejected her, and Betty and Auli comforted her.
• Bayern explained graphical functions to Valen, whose persistent questions had earned him the nickname Big Question Mark Valen.
• Ace shared the roasted meat with the travelers and decided that his main body should reclaim its humanity at Nameless Valley, while he explored ways to counter the Abyss whispers.

Athena devised a plan to reach the Abyssal Lair while Arnold and Dickens held back the demons threatening the Royal City. She left the encampment under cover of night, leaving Dickens to use an ice-crystal double to deceive the enemy.

• Athena, Arnold, and Dickens agreed that Athena would head alone for the Abyssal Lair while the others organized the army and held off the demons.
• Athena borrowed Praise of Frost and used it to create a divine-power puppet identical to herself, instructing Dickens to control it and distract the demons.
• Athena left the Abyssal Expeditionary Legion's encampment silently that night.
• Dickens and Arnold used the puppet to draw the eye demons' attention and make them believe Athena remained in camp.
• Alex worried that the Goddess's projection might appear and kill him, despite his power as a Great Demon.

Alex chose to stay in his camp and wear down the punitive army rather than risk the goddess's intervention. Meanwhile, Athena confronted the Abyssal Lord Dekbah at the Abyssal Lair, and their domains clashed as she pressed forward with her Conch Horn.

• Alex learned that Princess Medimuss and the others were still in the camp, then decided to remain and wear down the punitive army.
• Athena approached the Abyssal Lair, where the Elegant Goddess warned her that the Lord of Gloom was a powerful titled Lord whose influence transformed creatures into Shadow Demons or shadowkin.
• The Elegant Goddess explained that her projection shared her consciousness with her true body and that Dekbah's projection was strengthened by the Abyssal Lair.
• Athena advanced against the Lair, expanding her Elegant Domain and fighting the gloomy kin alongside Spirits of Elegance.
• The Abyssal Lord Dekbah's gloom invaded Athena's domain, making her advance difficult, so she raised an exquisite Conch Horn and blew it.