Chapter Summaries

Dick learned that Madigan’s widely circulated prophecy foretold the Manslayer’s arrival and the destruction of the world, unlike the uncertain prophecy he had heard before. After returning to the Magic Academy with Ibu, he promised that the Witcher Order would never fall again and went with Ibu to the banquet.

• Ibu recited Madigan’s prophecy, and Dick noticed that its ending differed from the prophecy Madigan had given him.
• Ibu told Dick that Madigan had shared the prophecy with Queen Meve and the nobles, and that Barbara had disappeared before Madigan went mad.
• Dick recognized Barbara as the woman he had seen beside Madigan in the original timeline.
• Ibu opened a portal and brought Dick back to the Magic Academy, where Dick watched young apprentices play with magic.
• Ibu explained the academy’s sorcerer apprentices and mentioned the Witcher Order’s losses, and Dick promised the Order would not fall again.
• Ibu invited Dick to the banquet, where familiar faces would be present.

At a banquet, Dick spoke with Queen Meve, who revealed the dangers facing her family and asked him to protect Luca, the heir to the Northern Kingdoms. After agreeing, Dick reunited with Xiya and confronted Barbara about her role in the prophecy concerning Xiya.

• Dick arrived at the banquet, where Sana performed, and Headmistress Mary told him that Aode had passed out after a drinking contest.
• Queen Meve introduced Luca as the next heir to the Northern Kingdoms and sent him outside to play.
• Queen Meve told Dick that Prince James had suffered brain damage, that West was missing, and that she knew the information about the three nobles had come from West.
• Queen Meve asked Dick to protect Luca and preserve peace between the Witcher Order and the Northern Kingdoms, and Dick promised he would.
• Xiya joined Dick at the banquet, and after she went to speak with other sorceresses, Dick asked Barbara what role she had played in the prophecy about Xiya.

Barbara told Dick how she found and raised Xiya after the infant’s uncontrolled fire magic destroyed her village, and explained the spell changes and mark she placed on her. She also revealed the prophecy’s consequences and shared her measured plans for Luca before Dick went to find Vigo in the basement.

• Barbara concealed her conversation with Dick and agreed to explain Xiya’s origins and the prophecy.
• Barbara said she found eight-month-old Xiya as the sole survivor of a burned village, beside the remains of her parents, after Xiya’s uncontrolled fire magic destroyed it.
• Barbara took Xiya in, altered her spell pathways to hinder her fire magic and strengthen her lightning sensitivity, and placed a rose-shaped formation on her leg to monitor her.
• Barbara explained that Xiya’s lightning spell at Odinburg broke the formation and that Madigan’s crystal ball shattered when he tried to divine her fate, showing visions of Xiya laughing amid flames.
• Barbara said she would continue serving as royal sorceress and guide Luca, while Dick questioned Vigo’s whereabouts and learned he might be in the basement and was far stronger than a mere sorcerer.
• Dick left to look for Vigo, and Barbara ended the concealment spell.

Dick followed Sana into a basement, where a magic formation on a camel sent him through a series of visions before depositing him in a scorching desert. He found Professor Vigo waiting beside a herd of camels.

• Dick left Xiya with the sorceresses and passed the drunken Aode on his way to meet Sana.
• Sana led Dick to bronze doors and told him Professor Vigo was waiting inside to judge his attitude before planning his next step.
• Dick entered a basement and discovered a camel instead of Vigo, then was caught in a portal triggered by the camel's magic formation.
• The portal showed Dick scenes of snowy terrain, an elven city, soldiers, a jungle, and the D'Shar Tribes, whose statue depicted Leofu.
• Dick emerged in a hot, sandy place and saw Vigo standing with a herd of camels.

Dick confronted Vigo in the desert outside Singal over Vigo’s plan to seize control of the royal succession. When Dick challenged him to prove his strength, Vigo began summoning strange creatures to fight.

• Dick questioned Vigo about teleporting him to the desert, and they argued over Vigo’s plan to overthrow the royal family.
• Vigo said Queen Meve was near death and revealed that he and Sana had prepared a banquet array to incapacitate the guests so he could imprison Meve and force her to name a chosen heir.
• Dick warned that Vigo might not be able to affect Headmistress Mary and that the nobles might reject Meve’s decree.
• Vigo offered to pause his plan if Dick proved his strength, and Dick agreed to settle their disagreement by fighting.
• Vigo activated a pentagram array that drained the desert and caused several camels to explode, feeding its power.
• The array vanished, revealing several unfamiliar creatures hovering above the sand.

Dick fought Vigo’s summoned Imps and Demon Cavalry while refusing to use Blood of Madness, defeating the creatures despite taking injuries and enduring Vigo’s lightning. After Dick asked if the test could end, Vigo accused him of looking down on him for not revealing his demon form.

• Vigo summoned Imps and Demon Cavalry from hell and ordered them to attack Dick.
• Dick shattered the Imps’ fireballs and poison orbs with Mind Shockwave, then killed more than ten Imps with his twin swords.
• Vigo sent purple lightning at Dick while the Imps and Demon Cavalry attacked again, but Dick leaped onto the leading rider and struck down the lightning with his black sword.
• Dick killed the leading Demon Cavalry, continued fighting the disordered riders and Imps, and defeated the remaining creatures without using Blood of Madness.
• Dick asked Vigo whether the test could end, and Vigo angrily demanded to know why Dick would endure the fight rather than reveal his demon form.

Dick defeated Vigo in their duel, and Vigo abandoned his plan to ally with the southern lords against the Magic Academy. Dick persuaded him to pursue his ideals among the D'Shar Tribes, and Vigo chose corrupt Simba City as a place to begin.

• Vigo attacked Dick with his lightning-charged staff, but Dick outmaneuvered him and knocked out two of his front teeth.
• Vigo accepted defeat and said the fight had changed his mind about joining forces with the southern lords to govern the Northern Kingdoms.
• Dick suggested that Vigo test his ideas by helping the people of the troubled D'Shar Tribes.
• Vigo embraced Dick's suggestion and named Simba City as the place where he would begin building support among the common people.

Dick resolved his misunderstanding with Vigo, who gathered his warlock followers to pursue a new plan for helping the commoners. After Vigo sent Dick back to the Magic Academy, Artest and Jocelyn arrived at the battle site and argued over their search for Roland Morningstar and their order’s changed faith.

• Vigo explained that he would regrow his missing teeth with a technique he had developed and declared he would pursue his ambitions in the desert.
• Vigo summoned Sana and six other warlocks, then told Dick that summoning abyssal demons had left him needing six months to recover.
• Vigo sent Dick through a magic portal by having a camel lick him, and Dick returned to the Magic Academy’s basement.
• Artest and Jocelyn investigated the bloodstained battlefield and identified traces of lightning and sulfur.
• Jocelyn questioned why the Goddess of Dawn no longer answered their prayers, and Artest ordered him to stop speaking of her.
• The Knights of the Eventide searched the sand for evidence, found nothing, and rode away.

Dick upgraded his Protection Sign and physical talents, then tested them in the basement before returning to find Aode sharing Ali’s potion formula with Mary. He concealed Vigo’s departure with a toothache excuse, while Mary appeared to understand more than she revealed.

• Dick spent 400 Energy Points to advance Protection Sign to elite grade and another 400 to raise Giant Transformation and Extreme Leap to intermediate.
• Dick tested his improved leap, shattered the basement’s crystal energy lamp, and cast Protection Sign over the camel.
• Aode showed Mary Ali’s potion formula and explained how to guide the magical runes during brewing.
• Dick joined Aode and Mary and claimed Vigo had opened a portal to Oxenfurt University for treatment of a toothache.
• Mary accepted Dick’s explanation and remarked that getting fresh air might help young people change their minds.

Dick and Xiya shared memories and discussed what drew them to each other before Headmistress Mary revealed the Academy’s theory about Xiya’s abnormal condition. The chapter ended with the revelation that an ancient demon may have altered Xiya’s origin circuits and possessed her when she was a child.

• Mary arranged for sorcerers to escort Aode back to Kaer Morhen, where the Witcher Order would receive a water purification system, and Aode invited Dick and Xiya to visit.
• Dick and Xiya reminisced about their first date in Odinburg and the people who had died there.
• Xiya told Dick she admired his courage, kindness, and refusal to bully the weak.
• Mary told Xiya that her ritual would take place at midnight the next day, when the Nine Hells’ projection pierced the world’s veil.
• Mary explained that the Academy suspected an ancient demon had used Abyss Language contractual inscriptions to distort Xiya’s origin circuits and possess her before her magic awakened.

Dick learned about the Nine Hells from Dante’s book and connected its seventh-layer ruler, King Lioke, to the voice he had encountered in the well. The chapter left him realizing that his past encounter might be tied to Hell.

• Headmistress Mary warned Dick that Xiya faced risks during the communication ritual but promised to protect her and gave him Dante’s book about the Nine Hells.
• Dick walked Xiya back to her room, then returned to his own room and read the book while bathing.
• Dick learned that Hell had nine layers ruled by powerful demons and that the Abyss lay beneath them.
• Dick read Dante’s account of the Nine Hells and considered its hostile conditions and the dangers of entering it.
• Dick found that King Lioke ruled the seventh layer and remembered the voice from the massive skeletal statue he had encountered in the well after pursuing Feikexai.

Dick read Dante’s account of the Nine Hells and worried about Xiya’s upcoming Abyss ritual, then accompanied her to make a portrait with an Astral Projector. The device captured them together beneath Dante’s statue, preserving the moment Xiya wanted.

• Dick connected Yuejiqi, the World Jester, to Dante’s account of a demon who had never returned to Hell, and wondered about their wager with King Lioke.
• After reading about the rulers of Hell and Dante’s final reflections, Dick decided to stay by Xiya during her ritual and resolved to keep her safe.
• The next morning, Dick joined Xiya for breakfast and went with her to Dante’s statue, where she revealed she had used time magic to grow her hair, sacrificing three months of her lifespan.
• Xiao Ai and several students brought an Astral Projector so Dick and Xiya could have a lifelike portrait made as a keepsake.
• Dick held Xiya’s hand as they posed, and Xiao Ai used the Astral Projector to capture their image.

Xiya gave Dick a custom witcher medallion containing their photograph and a large storage space, and the two shared a quiet embrace. Barbara interrupted them and told them it was time to go.

• Xiya took a tiny photograph of herself and Dick to Headmistress Mary and Barbara, who had prepared materials to make it into a pendant.
• Xiya presented Dick with a lynx-shaped witcher medallion that opened to reveal their photograph and required his blood to activate.
• Dick discovered that the medallion contained a three-by-three-by-three-meter storage space and thanked Xiya for the valuable gift.
• Xiya explained that the medallion was made with Dark Night Meteoric Iron and rare energy stones, and said it could withstand her losing control.
• Dick and Xiya embraced until Barbara appeared and told them it was time to leave.

Dick, Barbara, and Xiya descended into a cavern beneath the Magic Academy, where Headmistress Mary and the sorcerers began a ritual to draw the curse from Xiya and return its power to the demon that cast it. As the ritual reached its climax, demonic energy filled the cavern, Xiya began to suffer, and Headmistress Mary called everyone to prepare for battle.

• Barbara explained that Headmistress Mary and the professors had prepared to communicate with the Abyss and redirect Xiya's curse to the demon that cast it.
• Dick, Barbara, and Xiya reached the underground cavern, where Headmistress Mary instructed Xiya to sit on a smaller array opposite the sorcerers' six-pointed magic array.
• Xiya sat on the stone platform as twelve sorcerers, including Barbara and Headmistress Mary, began chanting to activate the array.
• Black mist gathered inside the array, distorting Dick's senses as strange forms shifted within it and Hell's energy seeped into the cavern.
• Xiya developed lava-like veins on her neck and told Dick that the sorcerers had made contact, urging him to protect them.
• The sorcerers' chanting stopped and the mist fell still, but Headmistress Mary's robe cuffs split as she warned everyone to prepare for battle.

Dick and Headmistress Mary faced a demon invasion after the summoning circle erupted, while the warlocks fought off waves of Imps. An Abyssal Infernal emerged, and Headmistress Mary teleported the warlocks beside Xiya, leaving Dick to confront the monster.

• The black mist exploded, knocking the warlocks backward while Headmistress Mary and Dick endured the blast with their defenses.
• Imps poured from the six-pointed formation, and the warlocks and Headmistress Mary attacked them as Dick protected Xiya and fought off their projectiles.
• A massive Abyssal Infernal emerged from the formation, and Headmistress Mary warned Dick that elemental spells would not harm it.
• Headmistress Mary teleported the eleven warlocks beside Xiya and told Dick to deal with the Abyssal Infernal.

Dick fought and destroyed the Abyssal Infernal while Headmistress Mary and the warlocks dealt with the summoned Imps. After the Imps were wiped out, Dick noticed a new threat emerging from the ruined hexagram array: three enormous canine heads.

• Dick charged through the Imps’ barrage and fought the slow but heavily armored Abyssal Infernal at close range.
• Dick used Panther Zither Jade to shatter the Infernal’s limbs and cut off its head, causing its body to vanish and a red sphere to fall from its chest.
• Barbara completed her illusion spell, putting the Imps to sleep, and Dick joined the warlocks in killing the creatures and gaining Energy Points.
• Dick turned toward the unresolved problem with Xiya as the ground trembled and the warlocks showed signs of magical backlash.
• Headmistress Mary saw three house-sized canine heads rising amid the black mist above the ruined hexagram array.

Dick and the warlocks faced the summoned three-headed hound Ker Bai Nos, whose opposing fire and ice powers tormented them. Headmistress Mary failed to teleport the group, and Nos began pulling her toward its mouth.

• Dick saw the three enormous hound heads emerge after the hexagram formation was destroyed.
• Bai and Nos discussed how the group had summoned only their projections and agreed that devouring the humans would make a fitting sacrifice.
• Headmistress Mary attempted to teleport everyone, but her magic shattered, injuring her and visibly aging her.
• Nos praised Headmistress Mary's potential and began drawing her toward its throat, while several warlocks clung to her wrists.

Bai and Nos clashed over who would eat Headmistress Mary, then identified Dick as possessing divine authority and divided the people around them as prey. Xiya offered herself to save the others, but Dick struggled forward to defend her as the hounds turned their attention toward them.

• Bai blocked Nos's attack on Headmistress Mary with a barrier of frost, and the two argued over who would eat her.
• Dick recognized the hounds as Ker Bai Nos, the three-headed hellhound, and learned that they had sensed divine authority in him.
• Bai and Nos agreed that Nos would eat Dick, Bai would eat Headmistress Mary, and they would split the others between them.
• Ker and Nuoer decided to divide Xiya between themselves, and their supernatural pressure pinned everyone in place.
• Xiya stepped in front of Dick and Headmistress Mary, offering herself to save them.
• Dick fought through the pressure, raised his crossed swords, and shouted that the hounds would not hurt Xiya.

A three-headed dog god descended and threatened Dick, Xiya, Headmistress Mary, and the warlocks, but Ker recognized Xiya’s power and stopped the attack. After healing Mary, Ker vanished, and Dick caught an exhausted Xiya before Mary teleported the group away.

• Nos and Bai argued over whether to claim Xiya and froze Dick in place while discussing the group as food.
• Ker awoke, freed Dick, and scolded Nos and Bai after sensing something unusual about Xiya.
• Ker knocked out the other two heads, apologized to Xiya, and began to withdraw with them.
• Ker returned briefly and healed Headmistress Mary with green light before disappearing with the other heads.
• Dick caught Xiya as she collapsed, and Headmistress Mary teleported everyone out of the underground space.

After the Hell Three-Headed Dog’s appearance, Dean Mary told Dick and Xiya that the Well of the Moon might cure Xiya’s curse, though reaching it would require dealing with the reclusive Noldor Elves. Dick later confronted Dean Mary about his helplessness before the deity and asked how he could begin the Path to Godhood.

• Dean Mary and Barbara suspected that a powerful demon had marked and restrained Xiya, and Barbara warned that the runic formation might eventually fail.
• Dean Mary revealed that Diana, the Moon Goddess and mistress of Noldor Forest, guarded the Well of the Moon, whose water could dispel curses.
• Dean Mary explained that Diana had once been her friend and had raised Geralt, making Dick’s status as Grand Commander of the Witcher Order a possible way to seek her help.
• Dick escorted Xiya to her room, then returned to Dean Mary’s office and admitted that he had been unable to move when the Hell Three-Headed Dog appeared.
• Dick asked Dean Mary what he had to do to set foot on the Path to Godhood.