Recaps

A young guard decided to report his centurion’s plan to burn the plant people as they approached the Skeleton Alliance. He reached [Practice More If You're Bad]’s tent and revealed the plan to a gathering of players, who erupted in laughter.

• The centurion considered the guard’s suggestion to use arson, while the guard privately decided to leave his command and warn someone.
• The guard chose to approach [Practice More If You're Bad] and, after nightfall, secretly made his way to the centurion’s tent.
• He entered the tent and found [Practice More If You're Bad], [Howling Pothos], and other players gathered to discuss the One Heart Society’s next steps.
• The guard told them that his centurion was considering setting fire to the plant people.
• The players burst into laughter, leaving the young guard stunned.

[Practice More If You're Bad] recruited Xiuyi Aluode after learning of the centurion’s plan to set fires, intending to turn the scheme against him. Meanwhile, the young viscount learned that his men despised him and resolved to build an army of his own.

• Xiuyi Aluode gave [Practice More If You're Bad] his name, and the players laughed at its resemblance to an old friend’s name.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] promised to protect Aluode and told him to return to the centurion until the arson plan began, then flee to his unit.
• Aluode returned to his tent and fell asleep while [Practice More If You're Bad] prepared to discuss the hidden threat with his companions.
• A personal guard reported the centurion’s disparaging remarks to the young viscount, who rewarded him with Empire gold coins.
• The young viscount reflected on his lack of loyal soldiers and resolved to lead his own army and earn his own merits.

Viscount Lange accepted Saili’s allegiance and sent him to warn [Practice More If You're Bad] to protect his men. At breakfast, a neighboring centurion overheard that equipment for over a hundred men had been left at the sand fort and confronted [Practice More If You're Bad] as he was led away.

• Viscount Lange asked Saili whether his loyalty belonged to the Lang Family or to him, and Saili pledged himself to the viscount.
• Viscount Lange knighted Saili and ordered him to tell [Practice More If You're Bad] to protect his men and convey the viscount’s willingness to pay any price for victory.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] invited a neighboring centurion to his company’s camp for soup.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] assigned two squads to investigate who had occupied the sand fort, then let slip that equipment for over a hundred men remained there.
• The neighboring centurion realized the camp wanted him gone and confronted [Practice More If You're Bad] as he led him away.

Centurion Atli and [Practice More If You're Bad] agreed to raid the sand fort for spoils, while Viscount Alfonso Lange recognized Atli's negligence and tightened security. Atli's force found the fort repaired and occupied, and the chapter ended as [Practice More If You're Bad] drew his weapon instead of turning back.

• The centurion persuaded [Practice More If You're Bad] to combine their soldiers for a surprise raid and split the spoils, with the raid set for that night.
• Centurion Atli left his unit's night watch with most of his men and headed toward the sand fort after receiving [Practice More If You're Bad]'s messenger.
• The Soul Returner quietly told Xiuyi Aluode to move toward their unit if danger arose, and Xiuyi welcomed the promised protection.
• Viscount Alfonso Lange discussed Atli's poor judgment with Saili and ordered his personal guards to tighten security.
• Atli and [Practice More If You're Bad] found the sand fort repaired and occupied, so Atli began to call off the raid.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] drew the weapon at his waist as Atli looked to him.

Colin’s forces learned that Howling Pothos had approached Sandcastle Number Fourteen with an elite squad, while Mules and Horses Drive the Sun concealed their planned match-fixing deal behind a fabricated report of a deadly clash. As the staged battle was about to begin, the account revealed that one Soul Returner had turned Deathrattle against a skeletal teammate.

• Mules and Horses Drive the Sun reported to Colin that an elite Imperial force was nearing Sandcastle Number Fourteen and claimed that his scouting party had suffered heavy losses.
• The chapter revealed that Howling Pothos led the approaching party and that both sides had arranged a second rigged match through their representatives.
• Mules and Horses Drive the Sun exaggerated the danger to Colin, who demanded details about the enemy and the scouting party’s casualties.
• The scouting party’s mixed Soul Returner and skeletal composition served as mutual surveillance, and one Soul Returner activated Deathrattle against a skeletal teammate.

Colin ordered a defense after hearing how the Empire elites had attacked his men, and the Empire force advanced on Sandcastle Number Fourteen. As the Soul Returners staged a deliberate retreat from the walls, Atli’s soldiers followed, and an Empire warrior reached the battlements.

• After [Mules and Horses Drive the Sun] reported the earlier clash, Colin angrily ordered his troops to assemble and said he would oversee the battle himself.
• Centurion Atli and [Practice More If You're Bad] led their forces toward the sandcastle, while [Practice More If You're Bad] warned his companions to prepare for their plan.
• The Soul Returners charged ahead and began climbing the walls as Atli held back, then hurried his soldiers forward once ladders were in place.
• The defenders dropped logs and rocks onto the attackers, while the Soul Returners pretended to fall, flee, or collapse in combat.
• [Western Sharpshooter] saw a hulking Empire warrior break onto the battlements and received [Practice More If You're Bad]'s message telling him to attack the man.

Atli transformed and rampaged across Sandcastle Number Fourteen’s wall until [Western Sharpshooter] shot him, sending him tumbling off the wall. Soul Returners spread word that the centurion was dead and fled, while the wounded Atli realized [Practice More If You're Bad] had deceived him.

• Atli grew larger and smashed skeleton soldiers and Soul Returner mercenaries as [Practice More If You're Bad] and [Western Sharpshooter] discussed his strength.
• Castle Knight Colin agreed to let [Western Sharpshooter] face Atli and offered to promote him to squire, but the mercenary asked for gold instead.
• [Western Sharpshooter] shot Atli in the shoulder, damaging his saber and knocking him off the wall.
• A Soul Returner announced that Atli was dead, and other Soul Returners spread panic before fleeing west.
• Atli survived the fall but lay badly wounded, then recognized [Practice More If You're Bad]'s voice and realized he had been tricked.

Centurion Atli fled the Alliance counterattack, leaving his soldiers behind as he planned to warn Viscount Alfonso Lange. The chapter then showed the night raid that had caught Alfonso’s camp off guard and ended with him ordering his guards to tighten the defenses.

• Atli rallied a dozen loyal subordinates and escaped on Hoofed Beasts and skeletal horses while the Alliance troops attacked the Imperial soldiers left behind.
• Atli’s guards fell to bolts from the sand fortress, but he kept riding and counted their deaths as improving his own chances of survival.
• Alfonso cursed Atli and the other centurions as the chapter shifted back to the start of the raid, when a howl and battle cries woke the camp.
• Alfonso recognized the whistling arrow as a warning of a night raid and ordered Knight Saili to strengthen the defenses and check every company.
• Alfonso summoned two guards and ordered them to take down his tent and tighten the defensive perimeter.

Viscount Alfonso Lange’s camp came under a night raid, and he rallied his guards while learning that the attackers had come from the Skeleton Alliance. As [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] charged Alfonso, Saili deflected and broke his flaming spear, with Alfonso joining the counterattack.

• Two raiders brought down Alfonso’s tent as enemies attacked his camp under cover of darkness.
• Alfonso praised Saili for following his orders to increase patrols, then organized guards and gathered fleeing soldiers into a defensive formation.
• [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] spotted Alfonso and charged toward him, hoping to capture him alive.
• Alfonso entered a combat state as [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] thrust a flaming spear at him.
• Saili deflected the spear away from Alfonso and snapped its shaft, while Alfonso moved in to support the attack.

Viscount Alfonso revealed his hidden fighting ability during the night raid, while Atli survived the defeat of his force only to find the main camp burning. As Atli considered fleeing, Alfonso’s men arrived to arrest him for his failures.

• Alfonso and Saili fought [Lion Hidden in the Eyes], and Alfonso wounded him with a concealed strike before he escaped.
• Alfonso ordered the routed soldiers to regroup, then waited as the night raid wound down.
• Atli returned from battle with only a handful of followers and planned to rebuild his company after escaping blame.
• Atli discovered the main camp burning and realized his company had been responsible for its watch.
• A messenger acting under Viscount Alfonso’s orders accused Atli of misconduct and neglect, then demanded his surrender.

[Practice More If You're Bad] returned from the staged battle to find Alfonso's camp burning and met [Gill's Cuisine], [Lion Hidden in the Eyes], and their roving bandits, who had raided it for spoils. He offered [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] three gold coins for his life, leaving their bargain unresolved.

• [Practice More If You're Bad] and the Soul Returners returned to camp after their staged assault on Fortress Number Fourteen and discovered it engulfed in flames.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] encountered [Ginseng Rooster], the poisoned [Lion Hidden in the Eyes], and a group of riders returning from the raid.
• [Gill's Cuisine] explained that he and his companions had raided the camp to earn military merits before joining the Skeleton Alliance.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] recognized the banners and spoils the bandits had taken and realized they had attacked the camp during the staged battle.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] offered [Lion Hidden in the Eyes] three gold coins for his life.

[Practice More If You're Bad] presented the half-dragon’s head to Viscount Alfonso and claimed the victory had followed the viscount’s secret orders, restoring Alfonso’s prestige. He then exposed Atli for leading a night raid on an Alliance sandcastle, and Alfonso ordered him to pursue Atli and bring him back.

• [Practice More If You're Bad] arrived with his century and presented the half-dragon’s head to Viscount Alfonso, claiming Alfonso had secretly ordered their successful counterattack.
• Viscount Alfonso praised [Practice More If You're Bad] and asked Knight Saili which century had been assigned to guard duty.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] revealed that Atli had led his elite troops on a night raid against an Alliance sandcastle.
• Viscount Alfonso ordered Centurion [Practice More If You're Bad] to track down Atli and his adjutant and bring them back.

Viscount Alfonso and [Practice More If You're Bad] exposed Centurion Atli’s unauthorized raid and used his defeat to justify a public execution. Alfonso warned the soldiers that military violations would be punished, then ordered the arrest of Vogt, Luca, and Jeffrey.

• [Practice More If You're Bad] and his hundred-man unit surrounded Atli and the four surviving soldiers when they returned to camp.
• After the soldiers regrouped, Saili counted about fifty casualties, and players brought Atli before Viscount Alfonso.
• Atli admitted that he had ordered the raid on the sand fort, then accused [Practice More If You're Bad] of leading him there and betraying him.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] claimed his unit had obeyed Alfonso’s orders and fought the bandits, and Alfonso condemned Atli to death for neglecting his duty, deploying troops without authorization, and framing a fellow officer.
• Saili beheaded Atli, and Alfonso warned the soldiers to obey military law before ordering the guards to seize Vogt, Luca, and Jeffrey.

Viscount Alfonso used the marauder raid to punish the centurions who had disobeyed his orders, ordering the Soul Returners to capture Vogt, Luca, and Jeffrey. He accused them of neglecting security, stealing supplies, and hiding ghost soldiers, then left Luca with no answer as the three men faced execution.

• Alfonso decided to blame the losses on the centurions and make the affair as public as possible.
• After Alfonso ordered the soldiers to stand aside, the Soul Returners seized Vogt, Luca, and Jeffrey.
• [Howling Pothos] knocked Jeffrey down and pinned him with triangular spikes before helping bind him.
• Luca protested that they were the marquis's soldiers and demanded to see the marquis and general.
• Alfonso accused the centurions of ignoring his security orders, taking extra supplies, and concealing ghost soldiers, then asked whether they had anything to say.

Viscount Alfonso sentenced Jeffrey, Luca, and Centurion Vogt to death, then promoted [Howling Pothos], [Retreat Drum Player], and [Elderly and Children Fly First] to centurions. After the soldiers were reorganized and given orders, Alfonso met the four players in his tent and praised their work.

• Viscount Alfonso condemned Jeffrey, Luca, and Centurion Vogt to beheading for their crimes and ordered [Howling Pothos], [Retreat Drum Player], and [Elderly and Children Fly First] to carry out the executions.
• Viscount Alfonso ordered [Practice More If You're Bad] to mount the heads outside the camp and told Saili to check the troop numbers and divide the soldiers into three groups.
• Viscount Alfonso appointed [Howling Pothos], [Retreat Drum Player], and [Elderly and Children Fly First] as centurions, each responsible for a group of one hundred men.
• Viscount Alfonso ordered the units to arrange patrols and sentries, then instructed the three new centurions to meet him with [Practice More If You're Bad] after assigning the troops.
• [Howling Pothos], [Retreat Drum Player], [Elderly and Children Fly First], and [Practice More If You're Bad] met Viscount Alfonso in his tent, where he praised their work.

After promoting four northern soldiers to centurions, Viscount Alfonso instructed them to strengthen the camp and prove his decision worthwhile. His boast that he would even sell his soul to a devil prompted [Practice More If You're Bad] and the others to offer to introduce him to demons, and Alfonso agreed to try a deal.

• Alfonso warned the new centurions that his promotion of them faced opposition and asked them to prove his decision right.
• Alfonso ordered the centurions to avoid attacking, strengthen camp patrols, and learn how to manage their soldiers.
• Alfonso declared that he would trade his soul to a devil for power in the army and standing in his family.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] asked whether Alfonso truly meant it and offered to introduce him to a demon.
• Alfonso asked whether he could refuse a deal he disliked, and the four centurions said demons had to follow the basic law.
• Alfonso agreed to try making a deal, and the four centurions smiled happily.

A Huan reunited with four former comrades in the Theocracy and learned that strange disorder incidents were troubling their world. The reunion ended when someone showed him a post asking about a demon who might be his employer.

• A Huan met four former comrades for breakfast in the Holy City, and they told him they had attended his memorial service.
• A Huan explained that he was working as a consultant for a demon who wanted to learn advanced troop-training methods.
• A Huan's former comrades said they had come to the Theocracy for peacekeeper training and described several bizarre disorder incidents back home.
• One comrade reported that all living things within a hundred-kilometer radius of an uninhabited Pacific island had died, prompting the area to be sealed off.
• A former comrade showed A Huan a post asking about a demon and asked whether it was the one who had hired him.

A Huan learned that he could not respawn and joined his Soul Returner friends in answering Howling Pothos’s urgent request for help contacting Duma. After Duma received permission from the Son of God, he vanished, leaving the players to wonder if he had gone to help.

• A Huan explained that he could not access the forum and might not be able to respawn because his body in the other world had been cremated.
• A Soul Returner read Howling Pothos’s request for help contacting Duma, and A Huan agreed to take the job and split the reward.
• A Huan led his friends to the Holy Soul Hall, where Duma was reviewing documents with his four arms.
• A Huan told Duma that Howling Pothos wanted him to intimidate a young viscount and offered to pay his fee later if needed.
• Duma asked whether the Son of God knew about the request, received a message granting permission, and disappeared in a flash of embers.
• The players wondered whether Duma had gone to help Howling Pothos.

Duma gave [A Huan] instructions for summoning him, including an elaborate charcoal circle and the use of the summoner’s blood. He admitted he had invented most of the requirements to make the flames distinctive and discourage an Imperial noble from bothering him casually.

• Duma reappeared in demonic attire and drew a fiery summoning emblem for [A Huan] to pass on to the Soul Returners.
• Duma required the summoning circle to be drawn with burning charcoal and his name written inside in cursive Imperial script.
• After reciting his extremely long full name, Duma said the summoner could write only his first five and last five names.
• Duma added that the summoner had to extinguish the name with their own blood without disturbing the outer circle.
• When [A Huan] suspected the method was made up, Duma admitted it and explained that the extra steps made the flame distinctive and made the noble work to earn a demon’s help.

Viscount Alfonso performed a demon-summoning ritual with help from the Soul Returners, and Duma appeared in his tent. Duma immediately identified Alfonso as the nobleman he had come to meet.

• Alfonso questioned whether the Soul Returners' instructions would truly summon a demon, and [Practice More If You're Bad] explained that [Howling Pothos] had sensed the demon's presence.
• Alfonso began arranging burning charcoal into a summoning circle, but the Soul Returners took over and used Directed Alienation to construct and inscribe it.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] told Alfonso to light the circle and use his own blood, so Alfonso cut his wrist and dripped blood onto the burning letters.
• The circle's flames surged, collapsed into red embers, and formed a fiery vortex that brought Duma into the tent.
• Duma appeared nearly a thousand li from the Holy City, recognized Alfonso as a native nobleman, and opened his mouth to speak.

Duma offered to grant Alfonso’s wish in exchange for a price, and Alfonso wished to earn a legendary feat in the war between the Starlight Empire and the Skeleton Alliance. Duma said Alfonso could gain High Tier strength and arcane knowledge by losing a tiny bit of memory, leaving the price to be explained.

• Duma revealed that he had been speaking nonsense before asking Alfonso whether he had summoned him.
• Duma told Alfonso to state his deepest wish and warned that he had only one chance.
• Alfonso reconsidered his resentment toward his family and realized his father had brought him to the battlefield to help him earn military merit.
• Alfonso wished to accomplish a feat in the war so great that future generations would always associate his name with the Empire.
• Alfonso offered everything he owned and his soul, but Duma said those were not enough and proposed granting him High Tier strength and arcane knowledge in exchange for a tiny bit of memory.

Duma offered Alfonso a cheaper way to fulfill his wish by combining it with another person's similar wish, then explained that summoning him did not make him Alfonso's exclusive servant. He left Alfonso with a strict deadline to choose between sharing the wish or paying with his entire past and future.

• Alfonso prepared to accept Duma's offer to possess his body, but Duma told him there was a second option.
• Duma explained that Alfonso could combine his order with another person's overlapping wish and potentially pay only half his lifespan.
• Alfonso questioned why Duma would serve anyone besides the person who summoned him, and Duma explained the difference between summoning and sustaining a demon.
• Duma used Demonic Whisper to tell Alfonso that nineteen other people were summoning him and warned that the offer would expire soon.
• Duma gave Alfonso the choice of sacrificing his past and future for his wish or sharing the wish through combined orders, then began waiting for his decision.

Viscount Alfonso agreed to share his wish with another customer to reduce the price, then met Nuowa Leo Stral, a prince presumed dead for over a century. Alfonso realized Duma had likely arranged for him to help Nuowa reclaim the throne, leaving him bound to a rebellion he had not intended to join.

• Duma persuaded Alfonso that sharing a wish would cost less, and Alfonso signed the contract.
• Duma summoned Nuowa, who introduced himself as the sixth son of Leo VI and heir to the Starlight Empire.
• Alfonso recognized Nuowa as a prince believed to have been killed by Leo VII about a hundred years earlier.
• Alfonso inferred that Nuowa wanted to overthrow Leo VII and that his own wish to earn merit could be fulfilled by supporting the prince's rebellion.
• Alfonso understood that he had committed himself to Nuowa's cause and cursed Duma's twisted arrangement.

Alfonso accepted Nuowa's investiture as a viscount and pledged to serve him, while Nuowa promised to help win the war before considering any move against the capital. Duma then explained Alfonso's demonic contract, revealing the Soul Returners as his demon servants and limiting him to commanding two hundred.

• Alfonso knelt before Nuowa, who invested him as a viscount, and Alfonso swore to serve him unto death.
• Nuowa told Alfonso he would fight the Skeleton Alliance before making any move against the imperial capital, for the Empire's sake.
• After Nuowa and Liya departed, Duma explained that Alfonso's contract granted him control of demon servants until his wish was fulfilled.
• Alfonso realized the four Soul Returners were the supposedly undying demon servants and accepted the revelation.
• Duma told Alfonso his command ability allowed him to control only two hundred servants, despite his rank as a thousand-man commander.

Duma collected Alfonso Lange’s supposed payment for the wish and left the Soul Returners allied with the viscount. Back in the Holy City, Duma revealed that he had only convinced Alfonso that half his lifespan was taken, leaving his actual lifespan unchanged.

• Duma told Alfonso Lange that the contract required him to lose half his lifespan, then used Demonic Whisper and psychological suggestion to make him believe the payment had been collected.
• Duma vanished from the military tent, and Alfonso rose with Saili’s help before welcoming the Soul Returners as true allies.
• [Practice More If You're Bad] and the other three newly promoted centurions pledged to serve Alfonso, while each player received notice that ten gold coins had been deducted for Duma’s appearance.
• Duma returned to the Holy City and explained the contract to [A Huan] and the others, who had been waiting for confirmation that their commission was complete.
• Duma said he could not take Alfonso’s life and had only made him believe his lifespan was shortened, wondering how long Alfonso would live under the psychological burden.