Recaps

Catherine’s diary recorded her growing confusion and despair as captivity and Angela’s treatment undermined her resistance, while she continued to pray and planned an escape that failed. The chapter ended with Li Lin and Angela forcing her into a new lesson, as Catherine cooperated and feared that the god had abandoned her.

• Catherine wrote that her prayers had gone unanswered and that her body and feelings were changing under Angela’s treatment.
• Catherine recovered in a luxurious room, tried to strengthen her holy power, and resolved to resist her captors.
• Catherine overheard that Angela and Li Lin would be away, attempted to escape, and failed.
• Li Lin began personally tormenting Catherine, who struggled with her loss of faith and growing physical responses.
• Angela made Catherine practice servicing Li Lin and then black tentacles, while Catherine stopped resisting and wondered if this was her future.

Angela abducted Xiali and had a devil use magic and drugs to corrupt her, intending to use Catherine’s friend to force Catherine back to the training room. Catherine found Xiali and brought her to her room, but Xiali’s altered desires turned against her, leaving Catherine overwhelmed by guilt and unable to resist.

• Xiali worried that Catherine had not returned to the Temple when Angela appeared in her room and promised she could help her find the saintess.
• Angela knocked Xiali unconscious and took her to a dark cell, where Li Lin used a devil and drugs to make her submit to Angela’s plan.
• Catherine chose not to visit the training room, but later went to Li Lin and Angela’s room after hearing a woman’s voice.
• Catherine found Xiali naked and under the effects of the devil’s magic, then took her back to her room after Angela struck Catherine with a whip and threatened to find another source of amusement.
• Catherine used divine spells to calm Xiali, but Xiali soon pushed her onto the bed and demanded that Catherine satisfy her, leaving Catherine too ashamed and stunned to resist.

Catherine gave in to her desire and sought help from Li Lin, who used the encounter to awaken and capture the soul of the original Catherine, one of the Five Heroes. Li Lin planned to make the holy maiden Catherine help destroy the nation her ancestor had once protected.

• Catherine exhausted Xiali with her relentless advances, then left to find Angela when Xiali could no longer respond.
• Catherine found Li Lin alone and begged him to relieve her, and he taunted her by invoking her love for Herbert.
• Catherine rejected her former identity and surrendered herself to Li Lin, after which a burst of white light revealed the awakened soul of the original Catherine.
• Li Lin revealed that he had suspected Catherine's soul was inside the body and had waited for it to awaken so he could take revenge.
• Li Lin used magic to tear Catherine's soul from the body and seal it in a gemstone, then planned to use the remaining Catherine to bring down her ancestor's nation.

Li Lin used Catherine to confront Herbert, who died when Xiali stabbed him and Catherine beheaded him. As Angela fought an unexpected attacker at the castle entrance, a small girl appeared and called Li Lin her father.

• Li Lin ordered Catherine to welcome Herbert and serve him while remaining devoted to Li Lin.
• Herbert entered Li Lin's castle and found Catherine, who rejected his plea to return with him and seduced him instead.
• Catherine mocked Herbert during their encounter, and Herbert tried to strangle her before Xiali stabbed him from behind.
• Catherine seized Herbert's discarded sword and beheaded him, then ran to Li Lin for comfort.
• Angela attacked a dark figure at the doorway, but the figure blocked her strike and revealed herself as a little girl who reached for Li Lin and called him father.

Li Lin returned to Ringwraith City with Anna after she and Angela fought to a standstill, then ordered preparations for an assault on Casablanca City to begin the destruction of the Five-Nation Alliance. Nia ended the chapter by reporting that one of the students sent from the City of a Thousand Towers could become an Arcane Mage.

• Anna reunited with Li Lin and explained that someone in Hell had sent her back with a pouch containing gems, a necklace, and a divine artifact.
• Angela challenged Anna, and the two fought through the hall until Li Lin stopped them after their final clash left the castle badly damaged.
• Li Lin sent Catherine and Xiali through a portal to Dideyasi’s capital, where Catherine planned to provoke conflict between Dideyasi and the Temple by claiming a paladin had violated her.
• Li Lin returned to Ringwraith City, where Nia reported that missile trials were underway, the Virgin Goddess's Jewelry system was calibrated, and the sisters had been reassigned.
• Li Lin ordered Angela to assemble at least thirty thousand Ghouls within half a month for an attack on Casablanca City, a free trading city in the Xialuo Kingdom.
• Nia revealed that one of the 9,500 students sent by the City of a Thousand Towers had the aptitude to become an Arcane Mage.

Kelisi’s harsh past led her from a northern village to the City of a Thousand Towers, where she was chosen to study magic and identified as a possible successor among the Arcane Mages. As Li Lin prepared to reveal the Magic Empire’s strength and seek allies, he decided to test the Mages’ Association’s true attitude.

• Kelisi lost her father and mother, fled her village after refusing a merchant association president’s demand, and eventually settled in the City of a Thousand Towers.
• After Kelisi demonstrated talent for protection magic, the mages sent her to Ringwraith City, where she passed her usual test and underwent an unexplained additional assessment.
• Li Lin and Nia identified Kelisi as a possible chosen successor, but Li Lin ordered that she continue her lessons without special changes while her potential was monitored.
• Li Lin considered the Magic Empire’s need for allies and military strength, relying chiefly on Angela’s Ghoul legion while improving satellite detection and missile systems.
• Li Lin told Nia to prepare to discover the Mages’ Association’s true attitude.

Li Lin and Nia entered Korte City, killed the tavern owner and the patrons who witnessed them, and broke into the Mages' Association tower. Li Lin revealed himself as Loxia Kaiser Erland and called on mages across the continent to choose between joining the returning Magic Empire or dying with the Five-Nation Alliance; afterward, he and Nia discussed the operation Angela and Anna were about to begin.

• Li Lin and Nia entered a Korte City tavern, where Li Lin killed the owner and Nia extinguished the lives of the immobilized patrons.
• Li Lin and Nia broke through the mage tower's doors, and Nia cast a Temporary Mythal that restricted the spellcasting of mages below legendary level.
• Xiulading Xieersi recognized Li Lin as Loxia, a Magic Empire Arcane Mage, and Li Lin took control of the tower's magical communication system.
• Li Lin addressed mages across the continent, announced that the Magic Empire would return, and demanded they choose between joining it or dying alongside their masters.
• Xiulading ordered an Inner Circle Council meeting and told the Mages' Association to repair its doors and stall the Temple and the Five-Nation Alliance.
• On a hillside, Nia told Li Lin that Angela and Anna were nearing their destination and that the operation to levy soldiers would soon begin.

Angela raised the dead villagers as Ghouls and led them in an assault on a castle, where they devoured its guards and guests. Anna killed the lone human survivor, and as dawn approached, a vast black object emerged in the sky above the undead.

• Angela revived the slaughtered villagers as Ghouls and sent them marching toward the castle.
• The Ghouls attacked the castle guards, killing and devouring them as Angela praised her undead army to Anna.
• The Ghouls stormed the castle and consumed its occupants while Angela overpowered a newly risen noblewoman with her authority.
• A girl who had survived the banquet came out of hiding, but Anna killed her because she was an enemy of Li Lin.
• Angela left Anna to prepare as the clouds parted and a vast black object appeared in the night sky above the undead.

Li Lin confirmed Angela’s Ghoul army was growing and saw the twelve satellites of the Maiden Goddess's Adornment activate, completing a magical network over the Magic Empire’s former territories. That night, the bishop learned that Catherine was alive and had accused Temple paladins of raping her, and he set out for Dideyasi to investigate.

• Li Lin left the Mages' Association after forcing its mages to choose whether to resist the paladins, while Angela and Anna raised a legion of nearly twenty thousand Ghouls near Casablanca City.
• Suoxiate urged Li Lin to rest after thirteen hours of work, but Yi Aier interrupted him with news that all twelve satellites of the Maiden Goddess's Adornment had activated successfully.
• Li Lin inspected the satellites, confirmed their magical network worked, and watched them reach their positions over the Magic Empire’s twelve territories.
• A paladin told the bishop that Catherine had been found alive in Dideyasi and had accused the Temple’s escorting paladins of raping her.
• The bishop read the royal family’s warning, worried about the Temple’s political and internal fallout, and ordered a carriage so he could investigate in Dideyasi himself.

Weijia helped the prince overthrow the Grand Duke of Lalia, killing the Grand Duke after he murdered Weijia’s father. She then used her influence to bind the prince to her and encourage his ambition, advancing Angela’s plan to take control of Lalia.

• An injured minister warned the Grand Duke of Lalia that the prince had rebelled, but the Grand Duke dismissed him and killed him when he tried to remove Weijia from the room.
• The prince confronted his father, and the two fought after the prince revealed that Angela’s medicine had made him powerful.
• Weijia stabbed the Grand Duke with an enchanted dagger, weakening him so the prince could kill him with his broken sword.
• The prince declared his love for Weijia and promised to marry her alongside his sister, while Weijia concealed her plans.
• The prince vowed to drive the Kingdom of Kudel from Lalia and conquer the world as Weijia resolved to take control of the country through him.

Li Lin summoned gods, human mages, and the elven queen and Dark Elf matron to reveal the Magic Empire’s Scourge Legion and explain how it would be used in the coming war. After securing their responses to his plans, he asked the elven queen and Black Elf matron to stay for a private discussion.

• Nia gathered the three old mages, gods, and elf leaders at Ringwraith City and led them to Li Lin.
• Li Lin brought the group to the Garden of Silence and revealed an army of more than three thousand undead called the Scourge Legion.
• The Goddess of Dawn objected to using the dead in battle, and Angela challenged her before Li Lin explained that the Ghouls could turn enemies into undead but remained under Angela’s control.
• Li Lin asked Maya to discuss deploying undead alongside the Dark Elves, advised the elven queen about defense, and urged the three old mages to seal off the City of a Thousand Towers and stockpile supplies.
• The God of Light agreed to relay Li Lin’s proposal to the other gods, and Li Lin asked the elven queen and Black Elf matron to speak with him privately.

Li Lin negotiated an alliance with the Elf Queen and the Dark Elf Matriarch, offering fertility potions and weapons in exchange for their cooperation and strict conditions for the war’s aftermath. After they left, he learned Angela had gone to the academy and discussed her interest in a struggling student with Suoxiate.

• Li Lin offered the Elf Queen and the Dark Elf Matriarch an experimental fertility potion that shortened their races’ lifespans and would further reduce the lifespan of later generations.
• Li Lin demonstrated a repeating crossbow and a low-grade Weapon Spirit, then offered free spirit weapons to suitable elven and Dark Elf warriors.
• Li Lin asked the Elf Queen for first rights to recruit rescued elven slaves and demanded that Maya execute all prisoners, including every man from the Five-Nation Alliance; both leaders accepted his terms.
• After the Elf Queen and the Dark Elf Matriarch departed, Li Lin asked Suoxiate where Angela had gone and learned she was at the academy.
• Li Lin saw a student’s name on Suoxiate’s list and remarked that Angela liked the student despite her poor grades.

The Vila Federation Council chairman received a declaration of war from Nia, who identified herself as an emissary of the supposedly destroyed Magic Empire, and convened the Federation Council. After learning that other nations had received declarations as well, the council remained uncertain about the Magic Empire’s strength and ordered the Federation’s border troops to heighten their vigilance.

• The chairman reviewed the turmoil affecting Lalia, Kudel, Dideyasi, and the conflict between the Mages' Association and the Temple, and suspected a conspiracy.
• Nia appeared inside the chairman’s guarded study, introduced herself as the Eternal Library and an emissary of the Magic Empire, and delivered a declaration of war to the Five-Nation Alliance.
• The chairman summoned the Federation Council and told its members that the Magic Empire had declared war on their alliance.
• The curator identified Nia as one of the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys and explained that the Magic Empire could transform weapons into human forms.
• The chairman received word that Xialuo, Kudel, and Dideyasi had also received declarations of war from the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys.
• The chairman ordered the Federation’s border troops to heighten their vigilance while the council postponed other decisions.

As the Five-Nation Alliance and the mages struggled with growing turmoil, Li Lin prepared Nisi to become an Arcane Mage. Nisi accepted the power of the Evocation Rule and survived the ritual, though her training had only begun.

• The Five-Nation Alliance kept the Magic Empire’s declaration of war secret, while Ringwraith City produced weapons and the Mages’ Association split into factions amid Temple persecution.
• Nisi arrived in Ringwraith City and asked Li Lin to take her to her sister Ailinna’s memorial, where she affirmed her resolve to become an Arcane Mage.
• Li Lin led Nisi to a hidden ritual chamber and explained how the original thirteen Arcane Mages divided magic’s power and bound themselves to protect the Magic Empire.
• Li Lin reclaimed the magic rune he had previously given Nisi and granted her the Evocation Rule’s rune.
• Nisi touched the rune, was overwhelmed by its power, and lost consciousness; Li Lin confirmed that she had been recognized as an Arcane Mage and welcomed her as the Evocation Master.

At the academy, Angela pushed the blind elf Aila to keep choosing life and punished students who had tried to manipulate her. When Li Lin summoned the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys, he announced the Magic Empire’s war of vengeance and ordered an attack on Casablanca City, leaving Angela and Anna to lead the assault.

• Aila recalled how the elves had sent her to Angela as dinner, and how she had been rescued and enrolled at the academy despite being blind and unable to speak.
• Angela told Aila to endure and seek strength, then ordered Mina and Fina to punish students who had tried to use Angela to frighten the elf.
• Angela explained to Fina that she wanted to see whether Aila could survive, then rushed to the mage tower when Li Lin’s signal announced that war had begun.
• Li Lin gathered the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys and identified Casablanca City as the first target of the Magic Empire’s war of vengeance.
• Li Lin ordered Angela and Anna to attack Casablanca using the Garden of Silence and the Virgin Goddess’s ornaments satellite system, and commanded them to kill everyone who resisted.

Li Lin launched a war of destruction against Casablanca, sending Angela, Anna, and the Scourge Legion to slaughter its people and turn them into undead. As the city fell, Anna infiltrated the city lord’s quarters and killed him and his family.

• Angela and Anna arrived above Casablanca in the Garden of Silence as Li Lin announced the attack.
• Li Lin began the assault, and a luminous projectile smashed through Casablanca’s gates and walls, setting the city ablaze.
• Angela summoned the Scourge Legion, and thirty thousand Ghouls descended to kill residents and raise them as undead.
• Angela left the massacre after sensing a sacred presence in the darkness.
• A soldier told the city lord to flee as Ghouls breached the city’s defenses, but Anna appeared behind his wife and daughter and killed them.
• Anna killed the city lord with her dagger and vanished into the darkness.

A priest led survivors and two paladins toward the church, but Angela trapped them inside and forced the congregation to submit through torture. After the crowd killed the priest, Angela summoned Ghouls to devour everyone in the church.

• The priest blessed the survivors and led them across the street toward the church while two paladins held back the Ghouls.
• Angela entered the church ahead of them, shut its doors on the retreating paladins, and revealed herself by playing the organ among the corpses.
• Angela shattered the statue of the God of Justice and tortured a young woman until the congregation knelt and barked like dogs.
• The priest refused to submit, and the frightened congregation beat and stabbed him to death.
• Angela spared the kneeling survivors briefly, then opened the church doors and let the Ghouls pour inside to attack them.

After Casablanca City was destroyed, the Vila Federation Council concluded that the returned Magic Empire sought revenge rather than conquest, while the Xialuo Kingdom mobilized its army against the floating city. Li Lin honored the dead Arcane Mages and prepared to confront the advancing Xialuo forces.

• The Vila Federation Council debated the Magic Empire's strength, and a general argued that its attack on Casablanca City was revenge for the city's betrayal a thousand years earlier.
• The council decided to keep watching the floating city and seek help from the Temple, despite the Temple's conflict with the Mages' Association.
• A messenger informed the Vila Federation Council that the Xialuo Kingdom had mobilized its army and was advancing on Casablanca City.
• Li Lin praised Angela for destroying Casablanca City, and she showed him a tower built from fifty-three thousand human heads.
• Li Lin burned the tower as a tribute to Aotenade and vowed revenge for the Arcane Mages.
• Nia reported that one hundred thousand Xialuo soldiers, with siege vehicles and catapults, were nearing Casablanca City, and Li Lin prepared to show them the Magic Empire's power.

Kane led the Xialuo Kingdom’s army toward the ruined Casablanca City, unaware that Li Lin and Angela had prepared a trap beneath the concealed city. After Kane ordered his troops inside to investigate, tiny mounds began appearing silently behind them.

• Kane marched his army of a hundred thousand toward Casablanca, bringing priests, paladins, and weapons prepared to fight the undead.
• Li Lin watched the approaching forces from the ruined city and activated the Temporary Mythal while Angela and Anna stayed beside him.
• Scouts reported that Casablanca appeared empty, so Kane ordered the army’s catapults to break through the city walls.
• Kane’s vanguard searched the city and found bloodstains and signs of fighting but no living people or corpses.
• Kane ordered the entire army into Casablanca to search the city and establish defenses, while tiny mounds appeared in the ground behind them.

Li Lin lured Kane’s hundred-thousand-strong army into a trap outside Casablanca City, using lightning to shatter its ranks while Angela’s buried undead attacked the fleeing soldiers. Kane sought to gather survivors and retreat, but Angela blocked his path and demanded they pay for trespassing.

• Kane ordered the allied army to camp outside Casablanca City, but the other commanders challenged his cautious approach.
• Lightning struck one defiant commander dead, and Li Lin appeared to demand the army leave the Magic Empire’s territory.
• Li Lin unleashed waves of lightning that devastated the army, and Kane ordered the soldiers to retreat into Casablanca City for cover.
• The Ghouls Angela had buried around the plain rose and attacked the fleeing soldiers, completing the encirclement.
• Kane hid in the city, then decided to gather the remaining forces and retreat to report their defeat.
• Angela confronted Kane and his guards, declaring that they could not leave without paying for trespassing.

Li Lin returned after the destruction of the Xialuo army, learned that the Five-Nation Alliance had acted without a formal meeting, and prepared to withdraw with his forces. In Ringwraith City, he rallied the mages around a war to destroy the Five-Nation Alliance.

• Angela presented Kane to Li Lin after Anna and Nia had helped wipe out the invading soldiers, and Li Lin searched Kane’s mind for information.
• Li Lin learned that Xialuo had sent its army before the Five-Nation Alliance reached an official decision, while Nia warned that Dideyasi and the Temple remained a concern.
• Li Lin ordered his group to leave the city, and Angela dragged Kane away to be devoured by the undead soldiers.
• Li Lin revealed the Garden of Silence and returned with Angela, Anna, and Nia to Ringwraith City, where the mages greeted him solemnly.
• Li Lin vowed to restore the Magic Empire and destroy the Five-Nation Alliance, and the mages answered by shouting that they would kill every enemy on sight.

Li Lin responded to the mages’ demand to be reborn in human bodies by tightening security and promising to consider a compromise, then prepared to negotiate with the dragons aboard the magic ship. He chose Yi Aier and Suoxiate to accompany him, leaving Angela and Yi Aier arguing over the trip as they prepared to depart.

• Li Lin ordered Nia to raise the Barrier of Undeath’s alert level, monitor the academy, and tell the mages he would seek a way to meet their demands while protecting the empire.
• Li Lin decided to negotiate with the dragons and take Yi Aier and Suoxiate aboard the magic ship, whose propulsion system was ready despite other technical problems.
• Angela and Yi Aier objected to traveling together and exchanged insults while Li Lin watched.
• Suoxiate told Li Lin that Angela’s antagonism was her way of trying to get closer to people, and Li Lin agreed that the two might actually get along.

Li Lin set out aboard the restored magic ship Moon Princess to negotiate an alliance with the dragons, assigning Angela and Yi Aier to demonstrate strength when dealing with evil dragons. As the ship crossed the sea of clouds, he explained his plan and the need to approach the proud dragons as equals.

• Angela and Yi Aier admired the Moon Princess and argued over its design and the state of technology in Angela's world.
• Li Lin ordered Yi Aier to operate the ship, and Moon Princess began its voyage across the sea of clouds.
• Angela admitted she avoided airplanes because they seemed like narrow tin coffins, while Suoxiate served tea and explained that her power was the Infinite Corridor rather than combat ability.
• Li Lin reassured Suoxiate that she was valuable and explained that he had brought her along to attend to the group.
• Li Lin told Angela that she and Yi Aier would need to show the evil dragons their strength without frightening them, while he negotiated with the good dragons.
• Angela agreed to the plan but warned that she might retaliate if the dragons insulted her or Li Lin.

Li Lin sent Yi Aier to investigate a distress signal from a battle near Dideyasi’s border, where Temple paladins were fighting black-armored troops. Yi Aier annihilated the paladins, then brought the surviving troops to meet Li Lin aboard the magic ship.

• Yi Aier detected an incomplete Magic Empire distress signal from a nearby battle, and Li Lin ordered her to investigate.
• Li Lin identified the Temple’s Paladin Order fighting black-armored troops near the border of Dideyasi, and sent Yi Aier down to help.
• Yi Aier asked the black-armored warriors to retreat, then destroyed dozens of paladins after one of them cut her maid’s robe.
• The surviving black-armored warriors thanked Yi Aier and tried to leave, but she told them Li Lin wanted to question them.
• Yi Aier pointed the black-armored warriors toward Li Lin’s magic ship in the sky.

Li Lin questioned the black-armored warriors about their country's magic beacon, then met the Red Armament commander and identified the commander's spear as an ancient augmented armament. After learning the beacon's technology had been passed down through generations, Li Lin asked the commander to invite his country's ruler to meet him in two days.

• Li Lin asked the black-armored captain where his country had obtained the magic beacon, but the captain said he was not authorized to know.
• The Red Armament Forces attacked Li Lin's magic ship, then stopped when the black-armored warriors emerged and identified themselves as allies.
• The Red Armament commander, called Red Lions, met Li Lin and demanded to know who he was and what he wanted.
• Li Lin pulled the commander's spear from his grasp and recognized it as an ancient augmented armament.
• The commander said the magic beacon's technology had been passed down in his country from generation to generation.
• Li Lin asked the commander to tell his country's ruler that he would visit the palace in two days for talks.