Chapter Summaries

Qiantiao advanced to the Sword Saint Realm and helped Suren and Miko escape the monsters surrounding Mount Cang, after which the three spent weeks hunting in Yomi-no-Kuni. With Yellow Springs Qi contaminating them and their options dwindling, they prepared to contact Izanami the next day and faced the possibility that they might not escape.

• Qiantiao arrived, killed Hundred-Faced Hair Ghost, and then defeated Ghost Hero: Toyotomi Hideyoshi while Suren protected Miko and gathered what remained from the battlefield.
• Qiantiao told Suren and Miko that she had reached the Sword Saint Realm after gaining insight from Takemikazuchi-no-Kami's statue, the Bodhi Seed, and the sword masters' intent within Munemasa.
• Over the next several days, Suren, Qiantiao, and Miko ambushed ghosts and monsters, killing more than a dozen Ghost Kings before their reputation drove most enemies away.
• Suren realized that Yellow Springs Qi was contaminating them, so the three decided to contact Izanami the following day and discussed the Lord of the Underworld's likely strength.
• Before sleeping, Qiantiao told Suren to live if he got the chance, then switched places with him; Miko leaned against his arm as they settled down for the night.

Suren and Chijou watched Miko perform a ritual that summoned the true god Izanami, who agreed to send them out of the Land of the Dead only if Miko gave her life. Miko sacrificed herself for her friends, and Izanami then forced Suren and Chijou to choose who would leave and who would stay.

• Suren, Chijou, and Miko returned to the shrine on Mount Cang, where Miko performed a Shinto ritual to contact Izanami.
• As Miko's Kagura Dance drew monsters to the shrine, Chijou killed Furukuri Baba before it could reach the altar.
• Izanami descended, confirmed that the living could not leave the Land of the Dead, then agreed to help Miko alone.
• Miko pleaded for Suren and Chijou to be sent out too and offered her life in exchange, despite Izanami's warning that only one of them could leave.
• Miko transformed into cherry blossom petals and died, and Izanami told Suren and Chijou to decide which one would stay behind.

After Miko sacrificed herself, Suren and Qiantiao refused Izanami’s demand to choose who would escape and fought their way down Mount Cang. Izanami summoned all the ghosts of Yomi-no-Kuni, leaving the pair surrounded as Suren searched for a way to overcome the impossible odds.

• Miko died to give Suren and Qiantiao a chance to escape, but they refused to leave one another behind.
• Suren and Qiantiao defied Izanami’s ultimatum and activated their powers before fleeing down Mount Cang.
• Suren used the All-Seeing Eye to glimpse Izanami’s true form and realized her mastery of the Law of Death might be below God-tier.
• Izanami opened the Gate of Yellow Springs and summoned the ghosts and monsters of Yomi-no-Kuni, including its Ghost Kings and a million followers.
• Suren and Qiantiao used their abilities and Suren’s planted explosives to fight through the pursuing monsters, but ghosts eventually blocked every escape route.

Suren and Sister Chijou were trapped by Izanami after their escape route vanished, and both fought the endless monster horde rather than abandon each other. As Sister Chijou broke through to the Third-Stage Rakshasi, she challenged Izanami to face her strike.

• Izanami altered the terrain and erased the cliff Suren and Sister Chijou had planned to use to escape.
• Suren realized his absorbed Demonic Energy and ghost energy were corrupting his body, while Sister Chijou had nearly exhausted her Dark Spiritual Energy.
• Sister Chijou swallowed two sealed Fallen Angel fingers and unleashed her Rakshasi secret technique, then charged into the monster horde to create an opening for Suren.
• Suren summoned his Colonel-Grade Ship-Slaying Type IX Mechanical Armor and joined Sister Chijou in battling the growing tide of monsters.
• Sister Chijou told Suren she had glimpsed a path to the Third-Stage Rakshasi, and the Bodhi Seed at her waist shattered to release its High Divinity.
• Sister Chijou manifested a Rakshasa Golden Body and challenged Izanami to take one strike from her.

Qiantiao reached her peak and sacrificed herself in a final attack on Izanami, giving Suren a chance to hide and survive. After discovering that Qiantiao’s strike had been stopped by the True Flame of Kagutsuchi, Suren realized the truth of the Cursed Space, while Natasha finished reading Gustav’s story and was returned to the beginning of their romance.

• Qiantiao advanced to the Third-Stage Rakshasi and charged through the ghosts toward Izanami, wielding her ultimate technique, Dawn of the New World.
• Qiantiao’s sword strike shattered the Gate of Yellow Springs, but Izanami countered with the True Flame of Kagutsuchi as Qiantiao burned.
• Suren used the lightning and battlefield chaos to escape the Mechanical Armor and hide underground with the Hibernation Feigned-Death Art and Ötzi the Iceman’s Shroud.
• Suren emerged to find the battlefield devastated and concluded that the True Flame of Kagutsuchi had stopped Qiantiao’s sword qi; he then realized what the Cursed Space was.
• Natasha read the end of Gustav’s unfinished story, then reopened it from the beginning and became young again as time returned her to her first meeting with Gustav at Lu Ying Royal Academy.

After breaking through the limits of the Death Novel’s world, Suren realized its author was the true god of the story and sought the author’s shadow in Ghost City. He met the Storyteller, who explained how Fujiwara Hayato had built the Land of the Dead, then revealed that Suren’s dead companions could be revived at a price.

• Suren realized that surpassing the world’s laws let him see how the novel’s logic had constrained his perception and concluded that finding the author was the way out.
• Suren discovered that his body was undergoing an uncontrolled mutation, while his increased Law of Death let him wield Hypnos’s Night Black Scythe with far less curse backlash.
• Suren returned to Ghost City and found the Storyteller, whom he recognized as a character carrying Fujiwara Hayato’s shadow and obsession.
• Fujiwara Hayato’s story character explained that he had refined his novel into a Cursed Object and used collected souls’ experiences to complete and extrapolate the Land of the Dead.
• Suren asked whether his dead companions could be brought back, and Fujiwara Hayato said they could, but that doing so would come at a price.

Suren learned how to bargain with the devil aboard the Cursed Ship to revive Qiantiao and Miko, then returned to Edo Castle and discovered the Takeda Shogunate had taken power. He met Abe Taihe, received a treasure to suppress his worsening condition, and asked him for help learning the Dun Jia Technique before setting out to confront Mitejima Yo.

• Fujiwara Hayato told Suren that he could revive Qiantiao and Miko by offering his future to the devil and completing the Cursed Ship's voyage.
• Suren left the Cursed Space and learned that the Takeda Shogunate had overthrown the Kamifuku Imperial Family and become the new regime.
• Suren found Abe Taihe in a tavern, where Abe explained that Katyusha had sent him to locate and protect Suren.
• Abe Taihe examined Suren's mutations, declared his condition irreversible, and gave him a Dark Gold Onmyoji's Teru Teru Bozu to suppress some of the ghost qi.
• Suren asked Abe Taihe to teach him the Dun Jia Technique so he could improve his Hormone Rampage technique before facing Mitejima Yo.
• Abe Taihe warned Suren that Mitejima Yo was extremely dangerous, then called him back as Suren prepared to leave.

Suren and Abe Taihe prepared to confront Miteya Hime, and Suren attacked her at the One-Foot Space Geisha House after cutting off her access to the Power of Faith. Suren resisted her bewitchment and, after unleashing a dangerous secret art, forced her to reveal that the cursed novel was hidden in a secret compartment.

• Suren told Abe Taihe he would act against Miteya Hime within three days, and Abe agreed to help him and shared Onmyoji knowledge.
• Suren and Abe studied their secret arts together, then Abe arranged Energy Crystal Cores and other preparations around the Geisha House.
• Suren entered the Geisha House under the identity of Young Master Shota and ambushed Miteya Hime with a cocoon trap while Abe Taihe suppressed the Power of Faith outside.
• Suren fought Mitejima Yo, resisted her mental bewitchment, and discovered that his linear Mental Power protected him from her technique.
• Suren unleashed Hormone Rampage Unleashed, overwhelmed Mitejima Yo, and threatened her with the Black Scythe until she revealed that the cursed novel was in a secret compartment.

Suren escaped Edo Castle with the Fatal Novel: Land of the Yellow Springs and Mitejima Yo, then used the novel and a demon contract to resurrect Qiantiao and Miko. After reuniting with them, he collapsed from his injuries and exhaustion.

• Suren bound Miteya Hime, retrieved the mirror and Fatal Novel from the hidden compartment, and stored Mitejima Yo and the items in his Small Void Realm.
• Suren fled Ginza while Abe Taihe held back the attackers, then escaped Edo Castle and hid in a mountain cave.
• Suren examined the novel and found passages describing Qiantiao and Miko's deaths.
• Suren performed a Demon Contract ritual and sacrificed the pages describing their deaths to bring Qiantiao and Miko back to life.
• Qiantiao and Miko recognized Suren and embraced him, but he fainted before explaining what had happened.

After waking from a two-day coma, Suren reunited with Chijou and Miko at Chaming Mountain and learned that his demonic mutation could be treated by Dr. Banks. The group recovered the Yata no Kagami and discussed their next steps, while Miko decided to remain in Hidden Mountain; the chapter ended with Chijou teasing Suren and Miko about his uncontrollable reaction to his injuries and mutation.

• Suren woke at the hot spring cliff in Chaming Mountain after two days unconscious, and Chijou and Miko explained that they had kept moving to avoid attention.
• Suren told Chijou and Miko that Dr. Banks might cure his mutation and that he needed to reach Pirate City as soon as they found a ship leaving Hidden Mountain.
• Suren recounted how he had defeated Mitejima Yo and revived Chijou and Miko by sacrificing his soul to a demon.
• Miko identified the mirror Suren had taken from Mitejima Yo as the Yata no Kagami and sealed it with talismans, and Suren gave it to her to keep.
• Miko decided to stay in Hidden Mountain to serve the Kamifuku Clan and Iga Shrine, though she said she might join Suren and Chijou on future adventures.
• Chijou teased Suren about his involuntary physical reaction, blamed his mutation and long time without a woman, and told him to ask Miko for help.

Suren and Chijou left the Mountain Concealed Country and reunited with the Dawn Pirates, but their passage through the Rockseman Strait exposed a secret battle over submarine technology. When three of Grand Duke Raphael’s Mechanical Octopuses pursued their ship, Suren captured them intact for study.

• Suren and Chijou said goodbye to Miko, secretly boarded the Hiyori, and escaped the harbor after killing Black Dragon Society informants.
• Chijou’s messenger led Suren and Chijou to the Dawn Pirates, and the reunited crew sailed south toward the Rockseman Strait.
• Suren and Chijou investigated reports of missing ships and discovered Mechanical Octopuses attacking a Mafa submarine in the strait.
• Suren ordered the Dawn to flee through War Fog, but three Mechanical Octopuses pursued the ship.
• Suren used threads to haul the Mechanical Octopuses out of the water, cocoon them, and disable their self-destruct protocols, capturing all three intact.

Su Lun returned to Pirate City with three captured Mechanical Octopuses and sought Dr. Banks’s help for his worsening mutation. Banks outlined possible treatments and revealed new developments surrounding Oleg, Mafa, and the Void Ruins, then decided to join Su Lun’s Dawn Project.

• Su Lun brought the Dawn Pirates back to Pirate City by a roundabout route and studied how to control the three Mechanical Octopuses along the way.
• Su Lun met Dr. Banks at the Shark Inn, where he learned that Skadi Harris had married Oleg’s son Gaar Popov in a political alliance.
• Dr. Banks examined Su Lun’s mutation, gave him a temporary inhibitor, and described three possible ways to address the condition permanently.
• Su Lun learned that Oleg was consolidating power and that several factions were pursuing an Alchemy Academy’s Void Ruins, where Void Monsters had once been studied.
• Dr. Banks discussed Neuro-Mechanical Technology with Su Lun and announced that he had decided to join the Dawn Project.

After Dr. Banks joined Suren, they deciphered the Mechanical Octopus schematics and refined Mutation Inhibitors that would protect Suren for a year. While shopping in Pirate City, Suren saw how Mafa’s support was transforming the North Sea and bought a collection of remarkably precise nautical charts, whose mysterious seller might lead him to a skilled cartographer.

• Dr. Banks joined Suren’s group, and he and Suren deciphered the Mechanical Octopus schematics while preparing to build them in small batches.
• Dr. Banks gave Suren Mutation Inhibitors that would prevent him from becoming a monster from Demonic Energy for the next year.
• Suren visited the Black Market, bought alchemical materials, and realized that Mafa’s cheap military supplies and factories were rapidly strengthening the North Sea.
• At the Seven-Colored Conch Market, Suren found a vendor selling twenty-seven exceptionally detailed nautical charts and bought them all.
• When Suren asked who had drawn the charts, the vendor refused to identify the cartographer but said Suren could post a bounty with the guild to reach him.

Suren gathered information about Fahl's Holy Grail and the Cyclops from a mysterious map seller, while learning that Gurlin Tani was a cursed navigator who possessed Black Sam's last Cursed Gold Coin. The chapter ended with Suren spotting Tani being bullied and realizing the boy was the same mysterious man he had encountered three times that day.

• Suren posted bounties for information about the Cyclops, Fahl's Holy Grail, the Daru Tribe's Sacred Object, and Black Sam's last Cursed Gold Coin, then waited in the Blacksmith Tavern.
• Suren heard Captain Hijay describe Tani as an unlucky but exceptionally skilled navigator whose voyages were plagued by storms.
• A disguised map seller told Suren that Fahl's Holy Grail had belonged to Marquis Hayes before Pirate King Sam Bellamy took it, and that it sank with Black Sam's fleet.
• The map seller sold Suren a detailed sea chart leading to the Cyclops, then escaped after Suren sent a Black Crow to follow him; the seller destroyed it with a beam from a strange device.
• Suren found youths insulting and beating a brown-haired boy named Tani, then realized the boy was the same person he had met in three different disguises that day.

Suren discovered that Tani possessed Black Sam’s third Cursed Gold Coin and might be the Pirate King’s descendant, then learned about Tani’s Naga heritage and his mother’s petrification. Suren offered Tani a place aboard his ship as navigator, but an urgent message from Qiantiao redirected him to the War God Arena, where Kai had appeared.

• Suren followed Tani through Pirate City and watched him trade money and a potion with Squad Leader Fischer.
• Suren inspected Tani’s coin and learned that its curse spared the designated bloodline, leading him to suspect Tani was related to Black Sam.
• Tani brought Suren inside and explained that his mother was a Naga whose petrification began after their people fled a Gorgon invasion.
• Suren offered to have Dr. Banks examine Tani’s mother and invited Tani to join his crew as navigator, with his mother aboard as well.
• Qiantiao urgently summoned Suren to the War God Arena after spotting Kai, a member of the Mirror Organization who had gone missing after sending a distress signal.

Suren went to the War God Arena to find Qiantiao and assess how to rescue Kai, who was forced to fight as a gladiator. The bounty hunter Vincent F. Van Gogh attempted to assassinate Princess Skadi, throwing the arena into chaos, but Kai remained under guard as Suren and Qiantiao withdrew to seek another chance.

• Suren found Kai in chains among the gladiators and saw that rescuing him by force would mean facing Princess Skadi's powerful Royal Mechanical Guard Legion.
• Suren spotted Princess Skadi watching the matches with Figol Bourbon and prepared to create a disturbance so he and Qiantiao could rescue Kai.
• Vincent F. Van Gogh approached Suren, revealed his ability to attack through his painting, and slashed Skadi's neck, but a protective treasure healed her wound.
• Assassins attacked Skadi's party, plunging the arena into chaos, while Van Gogh escaped and Suren realized the attack had given him the distraction he wanted.
• Qiantiao joined Suren, but heavy forces had secured Kai, so they withdrew from the arena and planned to find another opportunity to rescue her.

After the assassination attempt on Skadi, Suren and Dr. Banks built three improved mechanical octopuses and learned they could halt the spread of Tani’s mother’s petrification. When Skadi’s people arranged to send the Nineteenth Squad to sea, Suren suspected she intended to seize their Neuro-Mechanical Technology and saw a chance to target Mafa’s Secret Mechanical Research Institute.

• Suren returned to the Shark Inn, gave Dr. Banks the sample of Tani’s petrified mother, and began building mechanical octopuses while Kai remained imprisoned.
• Suren completed and tested three mechanical octopuses, and Dr. Banks reported that he could stop the petrification from spreading and expected to produce an octopus mutation-tolerance potion within one or two months.
• Skadi’s chief mechanic sent people to question the Nineteenth Squad, and Suren and Dr. Banks worried that their technology had drawn Mafa’s attention.
• Suren predicted that Skadi would arrange a secret sea mission to isolate Banner and the Nineteenth Squad, and a messenger soon delivered orders to sail the next day.
• Sister Chijou told Suren that Skadi’s people had taken Kai and were preparing a ship, so Suren urged her to get ready to sail.
• Suren concluded that Skadi’s fleet might carry the Secret Mechanical Research Institute, possibly a submarine, and began considering a plan to seize it as well as escape.

Suren and Dr. Banks used a staged storm and Ghost Fleet illusion to help the Nineteenth Squad escape Princess Skadi’s fleet, then Suren fought the Mafa submarine’s armored soldiers. The battle turned dangerous when a Major General Grade Mechanical Armor appeared, but Qiantiao arrived to assist.

• Princess Skadi’s fleet set sail toward the Four Northern Continents, and Suren deduced that it was headed for the Void Ruins in Roman Country.
• Suren confirmed submarines were following the fleet, while Qiantiao and the Dawn Pirates moved into position offshore.
• Tani’s storm-triggering ability and Suren’s Ghost Ship illusion gave the Nineteenth Squad cover to break away from the Princess’s Fleet.
• Suren and Banner led the squad through the storm as Mafa’s submarine pursued and fired a Concussion Bomb that crippled their ships.
• Suren used Mechanical Octopuses and the Black Scythe to kill the submarine’s armored soldiers, but a Major General Grade Demon Blade X1-Type Mechanical Armor disabled one octopus.
• Qiantiao arrived across the sea amid lightning as Suren prepared to face the Major General.

Su Lun and Qiantiao escaped the Princess’s forces by luring a major general into a storm, while Dr. Banks secretly marked the retreating submarine. After the crew welcomed Tani as their sailor, he heard that dozens of strange mechanical sea creatures were following them, and Su Lun recognized them as Mechanical Octopuses.

• Qiantiao fought the major general’s Mechanical Armor while Su Lun attacked its crew and used vengeful spirits to help them escape.
• Su Lun and Qiantiao returned to the Dawn, which Tani steered through the storm, while Dr. Banks confirmed he had placed a biological mark on the submarine.
• The storm passed, and Su Lun and Qiantiao welcomed Tani, Banner, and the Steam Party into the Dawn Pirates.
• Tani told Su Lun that fish had reported strange sea creatures following the ship, and Su Lun realized there were dozens of Mechanical Octopuses nearby.

Su Lun lured the Mechanical Octopus controller into attacking the Dawn Pirates, then used his threads to seize the machines and helped Qiantiao kill him. After extracting the controller’s memories, Su Lun discovered the location of Grand Duke Raphael’s secret factory, and he replaced the destroyed ship by pulling another three-masted vessel from his spatial storage.

• Su Lun realized the Mechanical Octopuses were following the Dawn Pirates and used a conversation over the communicator to bait their controller into attacking.
• Tani detected the approaching swarm, and Su Lun identified the controller’s position as the octopuses began tearing apart the ship.
• Su Lun trapped and disabled the Mechanical Octopuses with his threads while Qiantiao and the other fighters pursued and killed the controller, Sid Hawent.
• Su Lun stripped Sid Hawent’s soul and learned that Grand Duke Raphael’s mechanical lifeform factory was near Gold Digging Island.
• After the Dawn was destroyed, Su Lun opened his spatial storage and produced a replacement three-masted ship, astonishing the crew.