Recaps

The Moha Religion’s elders launched the War of the Gods, a yearlong contest to choose a deity image that could become the Future God, and debated whether faith could create real divine power. Shen Yuan returned and secured permission to enter the contest with only Lesser Divine Power.

• The chair opened the meeting at the Future God Temple and reported that the Miracle Plan was progressing as the church spread its slogans and implanted code in players’ accounts.
• The chair explained that elders would create deities and compete for followers over a year, with the winning image becoming the prototype for the Future God.
• Elder Spencer questioned whether the Power of Faith existed, and the chair argued that shared beliefs and miracles could build faith and prove the theory.
• Joshua Li challenged the God-Creation Faction’s plan, and the chair agreed to resign in favor of the Descent Faction if the Future God failed to appear, provided they did not disrupt the Miracle Plan.
• Shen Yuan entered the hall and claimed his experiment was at least half successful; the elders let him join the contest with Lesser Divine Power.
• The chair declared the War of the Gods officially begun.

Xiao Yu used Insight to search for Medivh and concluded that he might be hiding in the Astral Plane, then learned that the War of the Gods would begin the next day. After reviewing its faith rules, he discovered that the system counted the Blasphemers as his faith and ranked him as a Saint.

• Xiao Yu cast Insight to find Medivh, and the spell’s trail pointed straight into the sky, leading him to suspect Medivh was in the Astral Plane.
• A face in a dead tree contacted Xiao Yu and invited him to a Blasphemer elders’ meeting the next day, saying he had qualified for the inner circle as a Blasphemous Saint.
• The system announced that the War of the Gods would begin the next day, and Xiao Yu agreed to attend the Blasphemers’ meeting to learn more.
• Xiao Yu read the Faith System rules, including the follower ranks, divine power levels, and faith leaderboard, and wondered whether the Moha Religion sought to make players more devout.
• Xiao Yu checked his own faith status and found that his faith was the Blasphemers and his rank was Saint.

Xiao Yu attended a gathering of Blasphemous Saints in Lazarus, where the Blasphemous Prophet revealed a prophecy about ending the gods’ reign. The chapter ended with the Earl of Monte Cristo proposing a plan to bring about the gods’ destruction.

• Xiao Yu accepted the Blasphemous Prophet’s remote summon and arrived in Lazarus, the Free City.
• Xiao Yu joined a conference with seven Blasphemous Saints, nine Blasphemous Elders, and the Blasphemous Prophet, where he recognized the Earl of Monte Cristo.
• The Blasphemous Prophet described a prophecy that a Blasphemous Saint would end the gods’ reign and free people from their deception.
• The Blasphemous Prophet said faith was both the gods’ greatest strength and their greatest weakness.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo said he had thought of a plan that might achieve the prophecy’s goal.

The Earl of Monte Cristo proposed that the Blasphemers create the Creator God as the focus of a new faith, and the Blasphemers voted to begin the Creator Project. The prophet then taught the seven Blasphemous Saints Divine Power Seizure, which Xiao Yu learned from runes in a secret chamber.

• The Earl of Monte Cristo outlined a plan to recast the Blasphemers as followers of the Creator God and attract believers with a rewritten version of the Words of Blasphemy.
• The prophet called for a vote, and most elders and Blasphemous Saints, including Xiao Yu, agreed to begin the Creator Project.
• The prophet announced that the elders would devise the Creation Religion's doctrine and explained that Blasphemous Saints could learn Divine Power Seizure.
• The prophet led the seven players into a secret chamber, where Xiao Yu learned Divine Power Seizure from the runes on the wall.

Xiao Yu learned that Astral Plane Communication could help him reach someone in the Astral Plane, but obtaining it would mean infiltrating a temple of Mystra or finding her hidden artifact. After paying Luren Jia for the information, Xiao Yu left Lazarus, while the Earl of Monte Cristo secretly bought the same information and King's Return messaged Luren Jia about their conversation.

• The prophet gave the seven Blasphemous Saints insignias that let them command ordinary Blasphemers and teleport to Lazarus, then left them to explore the city.
• Lei Qianjun, Black Wild Rose, Wang Xiaoer, Wuming, and Luren Jia introduced themselves, while Xiao Yu and the Earl of Monte Cristo were baffled by their reputations.
• Xiao Yu paid Luren Jia 10,000 vouchers to learn that priests of Mystra could use Astral Plane Communication and that the Goddess of Magic's temple might hold the Mirror of the Astral Plane.
• Xiao Yu decided he would pursue the spell or artifact despite the danger of confronting Mystra, paid Luren Jia, and left the group.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo paid Luren Jia 100,000 vouchers to learn what Xiao Yu had asked, and King's Return privately asked Luren Jia whether the Earl had questioned him.

Xiao Yu gathered a forty-five-thousand-strong undead army to attack Mystra’s temple in the Mage Alliance’s territory. He brought his forces to the temple and ordered them to prepare for battle.

• Xiao Yu returned to the Burying Ground and told Chenghong Moli that he planned to attack Mystra’s temple.
• Xiao Yu created a human alt in the Mage Alliance and scouted the temple, learning it had several hundred defenders, including mages, priests, and Arcane Guardians.
• Xiao Yu decided to overwhelm the temple’s defenders with numbers and assembled the undead forces and players under his command.
• Xiao Yu led an army of forty-five thousand undead to the temple and ordered his servants to attack.

Xiao Yu led an Undead assault on Mystra’s temple, but the temple’s mages and Arcane Guardians repelled the army and forced a costly retreat. After spotting Esmeralda among the defenders, Xiao Yu contacted her and arranged to meet in person.

• Xiao Yu taunted Mystra’s guardians in the name of Naraku as his Undead army advanced on the temple.
• The temple’s mages unleashed Meteor Storm and other powerful spells, destroying the first waves of Undead while Arcane Guardians held the gates.
• An undercover agent warned Xiao Yu that Mystra’s followers could replenish their spell slots and that reinforcements were returning, so Xiao Yu ordered a retreat.
• Temple mages pursued the retreating army, and Xiao Yu spotted Esmeralda on a flying carpet casting Blizzard against the stragglers.
• Xiao Yu’s army returned to the Burying Ground after losing fifteen thousand troops, and he messaged Esmeralda to arrange a meeting.

Xiao Yu met Esmeralda to ask for help learning Astral Plane Communication, but their reunion turned intimate before a crow lured him into a poisoned tunnel. He collapsed after breathing green gas, unsure whether he would survive.

• Xiao Yu asked Esmeralda to help him learn Astral Plane Communication so he could find someone in the Astral Plane, and she agreed to learn the spell.
• Esmeralda asked Xiao Yu whether he had a girlfriend, then invited him to her place, and they became intimate.
• Xiao Yu noticed a crow with green eyes tapping at the hotel window, and it beckoned him to follow.
• Xiao Yu followed the crow through the city to a dark tunnel and entered after it.
• Xiao Yu found a pipe releasing green gas, tried to escape, and collapsed as the poison left him unable to breathe.

Xiao Yu survived a gas leak after a crow led him into danger, then asked Esmeralda to locate Medivh through the Astral Plane, but she could not find him. The crow returned with a strange warning, and Esmeralda invited Xiao Yu out that night.

• A maintenance worker rescued Xiao Yu from a gas pipeline, and Xiao Yu went to the hospital before returning home to rest.
• Xiao Yu logged into the game and met Esmeralda, who took him to the temple observatory.
• Xiao Yu asked Esmeralda to find Medivh, but her search of the Astral Plane found no trace of him.
• Xiao Yu left the game, and the crow appeared at his window and scratched the words “Drop dead!” into the glass before vanishing.
• Esmeralda called Xiao Yu and invited him to go out that night, and he agreed.

Esmeralda took Xiao Yu to the House of the Gods, where a prayer gathering seemed to grant worshippers real power. When Xiao Yu called Old Li to report a suspected cult, the club’s host killed the agents with a divine spell and had Xiao Yu seized.

• Esmeralda led Xiao Yu to the House of the Gods, where they answered questions about War of the Gods to enter.
• Xiao Yu joined a prayer session and felt a sacred presence, though he suspected mass suggestion or a trick.
• Xiao Yu called Old Li and reported that the club might be a Moha Religion base recruiting followers.
• Old Li arrived with agents and confronted the host, who claimed a god had granted him power.
• The host cast Divine Punishment Spell, burning Old Li and the agents to ash.
• The host revealed that the god had foreseen Xiao Yu’s actions, and the crowd surrounded and seized him after he surrendered.

Xiao Yu was captured by the Moha Religion and brought to a luxurious villa, where its leader, Mr. Forrest, explained why the group planned to create a god. Forrest said Xiao Yu would be kept there for a year as a witness while the plan unfolded.

• Two men blindfolded Xiao Yu, took him out of the city by flying car, and brought him to a villa.
• Mr. Forrest welcomed Xiao Yu to dinner and said the Moha Religion had captured him because calculations showed he might ruin its plan.
• Forrest explained that the group was pursuing a God-Creation Plan because its members had already achieved ordinary human goals and wanted a more ambitious challenge.
• Forrest told Xiao Yu that the Moha Religion had three factions, whose plans involved creating a god, bringing one down, or mastering the will of the Great Universe.
• Forrest said Xiao Yu could stay at the estate for a year without internet access, and Xiao Yu accepted that he had no choice.

Xiao Yu realized that his comfortable life in the manor was a virtual world designed to keep him trapped, and he escaped by killing himself inside the simulation. He and Chenghong Moli woke from their gaming pods, and Old Li prepared to act against the Moha Religion.

• After months in the manor, Xiao Yu grew increasingly hungry and weak despite exercising and eating lavish meals.
• Xiao Yu dreamed that a crow tore his hand loose and a voice warned him that his time was running out, prompting him to suspect that his life was an illusion.
• Xiao Yu stabbed Forrest and then himself, awakening at the War of the Gods login screen before exiting the game.
• Xiao Yu found that he and Chenghong Moli had been trapped in gaming pods for months, and he forced open her pod and called for help.
• After National Guard Bureau agents arrived, Xiao Yu explained that the manor and its events were part of a virtual world arranged by the Moha Religion, and Old Li said they would now make their move.

Xiao Yu learned from Old Li that Shen Yuan and Naiser had been freed and that the War of the Gods was nearing its end, with the Moha Religion suspected of preparing a God-Creation Plan. He agreed to return to Earth Online 2.0 after resting, but first asked Old Li to find a mage who could use Astral Plane Communication so he could contact Medivh.

• Old Li told Xiao Yu that Shen Yuan and Naiser had escaped with powerful backing, and that the National Guard Bureau was tracking them for a chance to arrest them.
• Old Li reported that the God of Light, the God of Eternity, and the Creator God were the last gods standing in the War of the Gods, and warned that the Moha Religion might use the final victory to launch its God-Creation Plan.
• Old Li asked Xiao Yu to return to the game and investigate the Moha Religion, promising safeguards against him being trapped again; Xiao Yu agreed after resting.
• Xiao Yu asked Old Li to find a mage capable of Astral Plane Communication so he could contact Medivh, and Old Li agreed while asking him to return to headquarters afterward.
• In the flying car, Xiao Yu asked Chenghong Moli what had happened to her in the game, but she avoided answering and unconsciously took his hand, leaving him uneasy.

Xiao Yu returned to War of the Gods and reunited with Medivh, who explained how he survived the game’s destruction and revealed that Azathoth and the Overlord had survived too. The chapter ended with Xiao Yu planning to gain control of Azathoth and track down the Overlord.

• Old Li brought Xiao Yu to the National Guard Bureau, where he met Fashen Wushuang, a powerful mage who could use Astral Plane magic.
• Xiao Yu logged into War of the Gods, found that the God of Eternity had taken over the Burying Ground, and learned he was no longer the Underworld Dynasty’s guild leader.
• Fashen Wushuang used Astral Plane Communication to locate Medivh and Astral Plane Descent to bring him into the Temple of Magic.
• Medivh explained that he had survived the game’s destruction by banishing his soul to the Astral Plane, and that he had helped Xiao Yu escape Earth Online 2.0.
• Medivh revealed that Azathoth had survived the formatting and grown stronger, and said Xiao Yu might be able to control him through brainwave authentication.
• Medivh told Xiao Yu that the Overlord had also survived and entered the Astral Plane, though Medivh had lost track of its location.

Xiao Yu learned that his Azathoth character still existed and gathered a team of Legendary experts to help him reach it in the Chaos Domain. After Medivh teleported the group there, the Earl of Monte Cristo tracked their destination and ordered his guild to pursue them.

• Xiao Yu told Old Li that Azathoth had survived, and he asked for a team of Legendary experts to help him reach the character in the Chaos Domain.
• Old Li gathered twenty top players, including thirteen who had reached the Legendary realm, and joined Xiao Yu's group.
• Medivh used a spacetime beacon and Mass Teleport to send the group to the Chaos Domain.
• The Earl of Monte Cristo's mage traced Medivh's teleport to an unknown chaos zone, and the Earl ordered his guild to pursue them.

Xiao Yu and his group entered the Chaos Domain to find Azathoth, fighting bizarre elemental creatures and losing most of their companions along the way. Xiao Yu reached Azathoth and began floating toward him, but an unidentified voice stopped him.

• Xiao Yu, Old Li, Medivh, and their companions entered the Chaos Domain, where Medivh warned them about dangerous creatures formed from chaotic data.
• Peerless Magic God destroyed a jellyfish-like water elemental with Explosive Flames, and the group later drove off miniature suns with Elemental Decomposition.
• Xiao Yu used Insight to locate Azathoth, and the group followed the Chaos Domain’s spherical wall while battling elemental creatures and suffering casualties.
• The group reached a vast Netherstorm emanating from Azathoth, but a gigantic fireball with a lava face appeared and attacked them.
• Medivh teleported Xiao Yu a short distance toward Azathoth and stayed behind with Old Li and the others, who were engulfed by destructive beams as Xiao Yu ran on.
• Xiao Yu climbed a stone cliff, spotted a way to float toward Azathoth, and began swimming through the air before an unidentified voice called out to him.

Xiao Yu was captured by Naiser while the Blasphemous Prophet set out to destroy Azathoth. Xiao Yu claimed Naiser was a contestant in a deadly reality show, leaving Naiser shaken as the darkness around them disappeared.

• Naiser captured Xiao Yu and revealed that he wanted revenge by making Xiao Yu witness his destruction.
• A Blasphemous Saint summoned the Blasphemous Prophet, whom Xiao Yu recognized as Forrest, and the Prophet headed toward Azathoth.
• Xiao Yu realized Forrest had used the Blasphemers and the Creator God to gather believers and expand his power.
• Xiao Yu cast Darkness Domain and told Naiser that he was a contestant in Great Villain of Humanity, a reality show whose winner would face terrible punishment.
• Naiser questioned Xiao Yu’s story, but Xiao Yu insisted he was a special guest and that the cameras could not see them inside the darkness.
• Xiao Yu said the spell was ending, rubbed his face into a grave expression, and the black mist dissipated.

Forrest used the GM Scepter of Domination and support from the game's GMs to analyze Azathoth so he could absorb its power, while Xiao Yu tried to turn Naiser against him. Naiser stopped his men and hurled Xiao Yu into Azathoth, which awakened and stripped Forrest's data permissions.

• Forrest used the GM Scepter of Domination and the GMs' analysis to examine Azathoth, intending to convert it into his own energy.
• Xiao Yu warned Naiser's men that Forrest planned to create a god and rule the world, but they dismissed him.
• Naiser decided to stop Forrest for the safety of the world and used Time and Space Stop to freeze his men.
• Naiser cast Vector Throw and launched Xiao Yu into Azathoth before Forrest could react.
• Azathoth awakened, absorbed Forrest's energy stream, and stripped the GMs of their data permissions.

Xiao Yu regained control of Azathoth’s body after the system merged his character data, then seized Forrest. Forrest invoked the Creator God’s power, broke free, and prepared to fight with the faith of hundreds of millions of players.

• Naiser declared that he had switched sides to stop Forrest’s scheme, stunning Forrest and his subordinates.
• Azathoth grabbed Forrest as Xiao Yu’s consciousness completed its return to the character.
• The system granted Xiao Yu access to Azathoth and merged his character data, restoring his power and control.
• Xiao Yu taunted Forrest and tried to crush him, but Forrest’s white shield blocked his grip.
• Forrest summoned the Creator God’s form with power drawn from players’ faith and vowed to destroy Azathoth and absorb his power.

Xiao Yu and Medivh forced Forrest to retreat, then Xiao Yu began absorbing the Chaos Domain’s elemental energy to grow stronger. Forrest punished Naiser and called an emergency meeting to accelerate the Moha Religion’s plan, warning that an unprecedented threat could make it fail.

• Medivh arrived after the others died in the Chaos Domain, and he and Xiao Yu confronted Forrest together.
• Forrest retreated with his subordinates, warning that Xiao Yu’s immense energy would make it difficult for him to leave the Chaos Domain.
• Medivh proposed building Dark Portals to connect the Chaos Domain and the War of the Gods, while Xiao Yu stayed to master his power.
• Xiao Yu used Elemental Absorption to drain nearby elemental creatures and decided to make the Chaos Domain’s creatures submit or absorb them.
• Forrest had Naiser beaten, then ordered him healed and imprisoned after Naiser insisted he wanted to be a good person.
• Forrest convened the Moha Religion’s elders and urged them to choose a true god and accelerate their plan against an unprecedented threat.

Forrest and the other faction leaders planned to use the players to weaken Azathoth, then announced an expansion framing him as an invading evil god. Their warning unexpectedly made players curious about worshipping Azathoth, and adventurers in Frost City began discussing it.

• Shen Yuan said Azathoth lacked Power of Faith and player support, and proposed using players to weaken him while the gods prepared their own plan.
• Forrest and the leaders of the Cosmic Will and Descent Factions rejected his push to choose a victor immediately, and their factions resumed an all-out holy war.
• Forrest's designers announced the Great Old One expansion and posted ominous information about Azathoth and the Chaos Domain.
• Players questioned the sudden expansion, and many grew curious about what would happen if they prayed to Azathoth.
• Several adventurers who had finished an adventure discussed Azathoth around a tavern table in Frost City.

Players began worshipping Azathoth after discovering him as a new god in War of the Gods, and their prayers activated Xiao Yu’s Power of Faith System. With hundreds of thousands of followers and several thousand devout believers, Xiao Yu considered using them to build a Dark Portal.

• Qiannianmao prayed to Azathoth and received the Lesser Elemental Mark as a casual believer.
• Saruman told Darth Vader’s group about Azathoth, and the former followers of the God of Darkness prayed to him together.
• Players across War of the Gods began joining Azathoth’s faction, bringing his followers into the hundreds of thousands.
• Medivh explained to Xiao Yu that the Creator God’s faith-powered strength did not transfer between planes, while Xiao Yu’s own power relied on faith.
• Xiao Yu’s Power of Faith System activated and showed 574,863 followers and over 1.1 million power of faith.
• Xiao Yu reviewed the options for appointing Chosen, prophets, or saints and considered gathering his followers to build a Dark Portal.

Xiao Yu established the Church of Chaos and appointed Big Water Cunt as its prophet and leader, tasking him with organizing believers to build a Dark Portal in the Lost Continent. Xiao Yu issued an oracle directing his followers to obey Big Water Cunt as he prepared to bring his dark army into the continent.

• Xiao Yu recognized Big Water Cunt as a believer and granted him the title of Chaos Prophet, giving him Greater Prophecy and Prophecy of Calamity.
• Xiao Yu established the Church of Chaos and appointed Big Water Cunt as its leader.
• Xiao Yu ordered Big Water Cunt to form a guild of believers and arrange construction of a Dark Portal in a remote part of the Lost Continent.
• Xiao Yu asked Medivh to explain how to build the portal and oversee its construction; Medivh agreed and mentioned he had made a deal with an old friend for a way out.
• Xiao Yu issued an oracle promising believers rewards and immortality, and instructed them to report to Big Water Cunt and follow his orders.

Xiao Yu built an army in the Chaos Domain while the gods of the Lost Continent fought for faith, and Forrest prepared to defeat his rivals. Shen Yuan visited Naiser in prison, gave him a gaming helmet, and left him to hurry before it was taken away.

• Players flocked to join Big Water Cunt's Church of Chaos after Azathoth's oracle promised rewards, while Xiao Yu began conquering the Chaos Domain.
• Xiao Yu gathered a million elemental creatures and built a Dark Portal as Big Water Cunt and Medivh organized a large guild to build another portal.
• Forrest gained the advantage over the God of Eternity and the God of Light but remained wary of Shen Yuan, who had stayed out of the struggle for faith.
• Shen Yuan visited Naiser in prison, told him that Xiao Yu had outplayed him, and announced that he was leaving for somewhere far away.
• Shen Yuan gave Naiser a small gaming helmet and urged him to hurry, and Naiser put it on.

Naiser entered Earth Online using a dedicated gaming helmet Shen Yuan had given him and reunited with the Council of Sages. As Shen Yuan and the others watched, monstrous forces poured through rifts above every major city, marking the Overlord’s descent.

• Naiser entered Earth Online and explored its unfamiliar twenty-first-century streets while worrying that he was still imprisoned in reality.
• Kairoz picked Naiser up and brought him to a rooftop gathering with Alodi, Ner'zhul, Lilith, Merlin, and Shen Yuan.
• Naiser ate and demanded an explanation, but Shen Yuan told him to wait and watch the sky.
• A black rift opened above the city, and tentacled monsters emerged as similar invasions began above all 108 major cities in Earth Online.
• The Earth Chronicles recorded that the Overlord descended on December 21, 2012.