Recaps

Kudel’s starving court debated surrendering to the Magic Empire, and the king chose to seek peace and break from the Five-Nation Alliance. Meanwhile, Li Lin watched Miu'erkasi train an undead cavalry force before Nia delivered an urgent message from Catherine about a serious problem.

• An old adviser urged Kudel’s king to seek peace, explaining that famine, blocked escape routes, and Lalia’s hostility left the country with no viable alternative.
• Kudel’s king decided to send a peace letter to the Magic Empire and declared that Kudel would leave the Five-Nation Alliance.
• Li Lin observed Miu'erkasi drill undead knights and learned that she had adapted her cavalry tactics to their lack of fear and independent will.
• Miu'erkasi lamented that her undead soldiers were cold puppets compared with the lively army she once commanded, and Li Lin comforted her.
• Nia arrived and told Li Lin that Catherine had sent an urgent message about a serious problem.

Catherine told Li Lin that a mysterious girl accompanying Henderson and the young savior was coming to Dideyasi, and Li Lin identified her as an archangel chief. To protect Catherine’s cover, he offered to transform her into a Dark Angel Chief, a dangerous process she accepted; the chapter ended with Li Lin and Nia preparing for her transformation.

• Catherine reported that Henderson had visited the Xialuo royal palace with the young savior and a strange girl whose presence had overwhelmed her and destroyed her spying equipment.
• Li Lin deduced that the girl was an archangel chief and warned that her authority could make Catherine reveal her secrets.
• Li Lin explained that he could transform Catherine into an archangel chief, but the God of Justice might discover her, so he proposed making her a Dark Angel Chief instead.
• Li Lin warned Catherine that the transformation would require her to die and be resurrected, with failure meaning death, and Catherine agreed to take the risk for him.
• After Catherine’s illusion disappeared, Nia told Li Lin that Catherine’s love had already been returned, while Li Lin and Nia went to prepare the materials for the transformation.

Catherine underwent a succubus’s corruption trial, which trapped her in nightmares that tested her loyalty to Li Lin and exposed her doubts about serving him. She rejected the succubus’s attempt to claim her and reaffirmed her devotion to Li Lin, awakening magical wings alongside her dark ones.

• Catherine poured Li Lin’s potion onto the ground, summoning a succubus who recognized her as a saintess and ordered her to reveal her true form.
• The succubus enveloped Catherine in black mist, rendering her unconscious and making her white wings wither.
• In a nightmare, Catherine rejected Herbert, killed him, and condemned the people who had celebrated her sacrifices.
• Catherine dreamed that Li Lin betrayed her during the fall of Ringwraith City and later neglected her, leaving her to question her purpose as his servant.
• The succubus tempted Catherine with a lover and urged her to recognize her own desires, but Catherine awoke and declared that she believed in Li Lin.
• Catherine’s magical light formed a new pair of wings alongside her dark wings, surprising the succubus as the corruption trial neared its end.

Li Lin and Nia discussed Catherine’s transformation into a Magic Angel and agreed to keep its origin secret. Ten days later, Archangel Gabriel met Catherine and presented the God of Justice’s plan to unite Xialuo and Dideyasi as a democratic nation to resist the Magic Empire, leaving Catherine willing to support it despite her doubts.

• Li Lin realized Catherine had gained magic-based powers through her faith in him, and he told Nia the discovery must remain secret.
• Catherine welcomed Henderson, a young knight, and Gabriel to the royal palace, where Gabriel identified herself as the God of Justice’s envoy.
• Catherine followed Li Lin’s instructions and treated Gabriel with respect while concealing her Magic Angel identity.
• Gabriel gave Catherine a letter explaining that Xialuo and Dideyasi would merge into a new democratic nation to unite against the Magic Empire.
• Catherine questioned the timing and risks of changing the nations’ political systems, but said she trusted Gabriel and the God of Justice.

Xialuo and Dideyasi formed a joint government under the God of Justice’s reform plan, but nobles resisted sharing power with commoners. After the Federation Council was established, Catherine attended its first meeting and encountered hostility from the newly elected Xialuo representatives.

• Catherine told Dideyasi’s nobles that the political reforms had to proceed because they were the will of a god, and the proposed council reserved half its seats for elected commoners.
• Angela watched the Temple-supervised election and told Catherine that voting would not help the humans resist her undead army.
• Gabriel placated Xialuo’s powerful nobles, and the final Federation Council gave commoner representatives a vote on proposals but little control over government departments or resources.
• Li Lin criticized the council system to Nia and said that placing a country’s fate in the hands of the majority would eventually lead to failure.
• A month after the elections, Catherine entered the Federation Council’s first meeting and greeted the Xialuo representatives.
• One elected Xialuo representative refused to show Catherine respect, claiming that the representatives were her equals and spoke for the people.

Catherine struggled to keep the United Council focused on preparing for the Magic Empire, while six commoner representatives argued with nobles over taxes, status, and authority. On Angela’s advice, Catherine offered the representatives control of regional military supplies, then proposed that the people vote on who should manage them.

• At the United Council’s first meeting, a commoner representative objected to Xialuo paying for its own military preparations, and the council descended into arguments over taxes, status, and the Saintess’s place in government.
• After the meeting, Catherine told Angela she doubted the commoner representatives cared about the country, and Angela proposed tempting them with authority to expose their divisions.
• At the next meeting, Catherine offered the six representatives control over military supplies in the southwestern border region, prompting them to argue over who should take charge.
• The king of Xialuo offered non-noble councilors authority over logistics in the northeast, and the representatives’ dispute grew fiercer as the nobles watched.
• Catherine called for a public vote to decide who would manage the military supplies.

Catherine's election scheme distracted the six commoner councilors while the nobles advanced wartime reforms, and Li Lin watched the candidates campaign before Catherine reported that Gabriel had returned to Dideyasi. Li Lin told Catherine to continue moving people from Kudel and Lalia through portals, hinting that Kudel's king was seeking a deal.

• Catherine's proposal led the six commoner councilors to request another election, which the Temple reluctantly organized.
• While the six campaigned for two posts, the nobles pushed through military, financial, transportation, and emergency measures, and Li Lin watched the rallies with his companions.
• The six councilors made promises and attacked one another during their speeches, prompting Kalin, Nia, Angela, and Suoxiate to criticize the election.
• Catherine entered Li Lin's room and told him that Archangel Gabriel had returned to Dideyasi; Li Lin said he would avoid stirring up trouble if he encountered her.
• Li Lin asked Catherine about the portals she had created, and she reported transporting people from Kudel and Lalia to Dideyasi; he told her to continue at a measured pace because Kudel's king was seeking a deal.

Gabriel reported resistance to the God of Justice’s political reforms in Xialuo, while the divided council argued over taxes, military spending, and weapons contracts. As Catherine recognized that Li Lin’s plan was turning the council against itself, Anna assassinated a councilwoman and staged the killing to look like an accident.

• Gabriel told the God of Justice that the reforms had met resistance in Xialuo, and he urged her to press ahead while the Magic Empire threatened the human world.
• Two commoner councilors won military supply allocation posts, splitting their faction and forcing the council to end protests.
• At a council meeting, one allocation commander proposed raising taxes by fifty percent, but Catherine opposed the increase and the council rejected it.
• The council approved military funds and let the two commanders choose weapons suppliers, while disputes over oversight and suspected bribes continued.
• Catherine recalled Li Lin’s plan to have Anna kill a councilor and understood that either target would stir suspicion between the factions.
• Anna entered the councilwoman’s room, wounded and incapacitated her, then killed her with a blow to the head while explaining how to make the murder look accidental.

Li Lin met Gabriel in a quiet tavern, where she offered peace on behalf of the God of Justice in exchange for him halting his attacks. He rejected the offer and reaffirmed that he would reclaim the Magic Empire’s lands, leaving Gabriel to prepare for battle.

• Li Lin and Gabriel discussed his presence in Dideyasi as she asked him not to interfere with the God of Justice’s plans.
• Gabriel offered peace, an end to discrimination against mages, and land for the Magic Empire if Li Lin stopped his attacks.
• Li Lin refused, insisting the occupied lands belonged to the Magic Empire and warning the God of Justice not to break the rules.
• Henderson burst into the tavern and threatened Li Lin, prompting Angela to emerge from his shadow and taunt him.
• Li Lin and Gabriel stopped their companions from fighting, then agreed that they had no common ground and would meet on the battlefield.

Miu'erkasi’s Black Edge Knights assembled outside Kudel while Angela prepared to attack despite Miu'erkasi’s concerns about the city’s defenses. Angela revealed an army of undead buried beneath the valley, sent them into the assault, and handed the remaining attack to Miu'erkasi as a mage’s magic reignited the flames.

• Miu'erkasi explained that she wanted to attack during the expected spring rain, but Angela ordered an immediate assault and dismissed the trenches and tree barriers as obstacles the undead could overcome.
• Angela revealed that the undead had been buried beneath the valley and unleashed thousands of them toward Kudel.
• The undead filled the trenches with their bodies, and Kudel’s defenders fired flaming arrows that set the barriers ablaze.
• Miu'erkasi warned Angela that they would lose many troops, but Angela said she could replenish the ranks with the people of the city.
• As the fire and smoke obscured the battlefield, Angela told Miu'erkasi to lead the next attack, then sensed a mage reigniting the flames and challenged them.

Angela unleashed a hidden power that turned the battlefield’s dead into giant skeletal monsters and sent Miu'erkasi’s Black Edge Knights to breach the city walls. After confronting the city’s mage, Angela immobilized him and the city lord and forced them to watch as the city faced destruction.

• Angela summoned more Ghouls, but the city’s spreading flames destroyed the undead waves.
• Angela used an unknown power to raise giant skeletal monsters from the burned undead and sent Miu'erkasi and the Black Edge Knights forward.
• Miu'erkasi led the Black Edge Knights in a coordinated charge that shattered the city wall and carried the knights into the city.
• Angela found the middle-aged mage and demanded to know why he defended people who persecuted mages; he said he fought to protect humans and his home.
• Angela used her red-eyed power to immobilize the mage and the city lord, then ordered them to watch the city and its people die.

Angela and Miu'erkasi's Black Edge Knights annihilated the city and its fleeing inhabitants, leaving the city lord and mage helpless witnesses. When reinforcements arrived, Angela confronted them at the gate and demanded that they kneel, while her undead forces gathered for battle.

• Miu'erkasi's four thousand Black Edge Knights charged through the city, smashing defenses and trampling soldiers and civilians as Angela forced the city lord and mage to watch.
• Angela whistled, and a thousand Black Edge Knights blocked the refugees' escape and slaughtered them while skeletal behemoths and black water consumed the city.
• Angela taunted the mage and city lord, then said she would prepare a gift for the approaching reinforcements.
• Two hours after the signal fires were lit, Kudel's reinforcements arrived to find the roads covered in corpses and thousands of bodies hanging from the city wall.
• Angela greeted the soldiers, made a splendidly dressed man prostrate himself before her, and demanded that they kneel; when they fired arrows, a skeletal hand deflected them and undead forces appeared behind her.

Nisi led the elves’ campaign to reclaim their territory and attacked a town defended by a young paladin, but his scepter and divine power stopped her magic. A divine envoy named Nalu appeared and challenged Nisi to prepare to die.

• Nisi reflected on the elves’ costly war and continued reclaiming territory while human forces retreated inland to face the undead army.
• An elven guard reported that more than three hundred soldiers, including a paladin, remained in the town, and Nisi went to inspect them.
• Nisi saw a teenage paladin directing the defenders and cast Lightning Strike against the town.
• A barrier from the paladin’s scepter blocked Nisi’s lightning, so she set the surrounding grass ablaze and sent smoke toward the town.
• A divine power disrupted Nisi’s magic, and the paladin’s scepter transformed into light that destroyed her final lightning strike.
• Nalu appeared above the town, identified herself as a Divine Envoy of the Seven Sages, and declared that she would destroy Nisi.

Nisi fought a mysterious Divine Envoy of the Seven Sages and was gravely wounded before the Lady of Secrets rescued her. After learning that the envoy wielded powers from several divine domains, Li Lin sent Nia and the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys to investigate and confront them.

• Nisi rejected the Divine Envoy's claims and attacked, but their spells initially met in a draw.
• A Hell Hound and powers associated with destruction, storms, and other divine domains overwhelmed Nisi, while Mobius struck her with a sacred sword.
• The Lady of Secrets brought Nisi to Li Lin, who treated her as she recovered and recounted the battle to him and Nia.
• Li Lin and Nia suspected the God of Justice had created a Weapon Spirit capable of using multiple divine powers.
• Li Lin ordered Nia to lead the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys into elven territory to find the Divine Envoys, capture them if possible, and retreat if the situation became dangerous.

Li Lin investigated how the Divine Envoys of the Seven Sages could possess souls and ordered Nia to capture one alive so he could learn their origins. Nia and the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys decided to attack the human border towns, expecting the Divine Envoys to intervene.

• Li Lin concluded that neither gods nor Arcane Mages could create souls from nothing and suspected the God of Justice had made the Divine Envoys of the Seven Sages to oppose him.
• Li Lin ordered Nia to capture a Divine Envoy alive, hoping to discover where its soul came from.
• Kalin, Yi Aier, Beika, and Anna discussed the unknown Divine Envoys, while Nia warned that their powers might include divine arts absorbed by the God of Justice.
• Nia and Suoxiate proposed searching the human border towns, and Yi Aier suggested bombarding them to force the Divine Envoys to appear.
• Nia gained the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys' agreement to attack alongside the elves and set out to crush the enemies standing in Li Lin's way.

Princess Shirley rejected Kudel envoy Garis’s request to convey his country’s offer of peace to the Magic Empire, judging Kudel by its history of treating the Sea-Encircled Country as inferior. She left Kudel’s future uncertain, while explaining that she had chosen to deal with an empire she did not yet understand rather than a neighbor whose contempt she knew well.

• Garis waited in custody at the sea fortress until Princess Shirley summoned him to the command room.
• Shirley weighed Kudel’s offer against her own political position and, unable to contact Li Lin or his advisers, decided to hear Garis before choosing what to do.
• Garis explained that Kudel had no strength left to resist the undead and asked Shirley to convey its goodwill to the Arcane Mage.
• Shirley refused, citing Garis’s failure to show her respect and Kudel’s past treatment of the Sea-Encircled Country, then burned Kudel’s official letter.
• Garis asked why Shirley had allied with the Magic Empire instead of helping fellow humans, and Shirley said she preferred an unknown empire to a country she knew would never respect her people.

Angela led the Scourge Legion to uncover the townspeople hiding underground, then confronted Walast, who died protecting them. When Angela touched the sacred mark that appeared over his corpse, its power pulled her through a rift and made her vanish.

• Angela used a whistle to reveal the townspeople hiding in tunnels and ordered the undead to dig into their shelters.
• Walast defended the survivors from the undead, and Angela offered to spare him if he left them behind.
• Walast refused to abandon the people he was protecting, so Angela fought him and mortally wounded him.
• After Walast died, a boy blamed him for the disaster, and Angela killed the boy before ordering the undead to attack the remaining survivors.
• A sacred symbol appeared above Walast's body, and Angela's attempt to seize it triggered a clash of holy and evil power.
• The sacred halo shattered into a rift that pulled Angela away and vanished with her.

Angela was expelled from the other world and returned to Earth, where she searched for a concentration of magic and encountered armed strangers in a hidden basement. After the Professor blocked her attack with a golden magic circle, Angela asked who he was.

• Angela realized the plane had expelled her back to Earth, but her connection to Li Lin became too weak for them to communicate.
• Li Lin discovered that Angela was missing, told Nia she was still alive, and decided to investigate while leaving Ringwraith City’s affairs to Nisi.
• Angela sensed concentrated magic in a city building, entered its basement, and fought off a girl and two armed companions.
• A young man led Angela to a research hall after someone inside requested to see her.
• Angela attacked the Professor, who blocked her power with golden runes and introduced himself as the Professor.

Li Lin discovered that Walast had briefly manifested the symbol of the God of Justice, raising questions about the identity and power of the god the deities were fighting. Meanwhile, Angela arrived in another world and tried to bargain with a professor for help opening a spatial passage home.

• Li Lin used Spacetime Retrospection to learn that Angela had likely been expelled from the plane after touching the rune, and he concluded Walast had manifested the symbol of the God of Justice with unusually weak divine power.
• Li Lin showed the vision to the gods, who questioned whether the God of Justice they were fighting truly held that divine office, and he suggested that the god seemed unable to use his power effectively.
• The gods left to investigate the mystery while Li Lin remained concerned about Angela's disappearance and struggled to manage the undead army without her.
• Angela asked the professor to open a spatial passage, but he refused her demands and mocked her threats.
• Angela offered to reveal the origin and use of the professor's golden runic power if he helped open the passage, and he agreed to hear her out.

Li Lin struggled to control Angela’s undead army while Nisi managed Ringwraith City’s affairs and received news of a completed magic weapon. Meanwhile, Nia’s forces realized their devastating raids had prevented the enemy from learning of their advance, so Nia ordered a different approach and prepared to lead an attack herself.

• Li Lin found that the undead lost control during combat, then ordered them to remain inside the city and returned to Ringwraith City.
• Nisi reported that the Magic Weapon Construct Department had completed a new weapon, and Li Lin told her to leave certain concerns about Nia to him.
• Yi Aier’s bombardment erased another settlement, while Nia worried that the Seven Sages’ Divine Envoys had not appeared.
• Suoxiate explained that Yi Aier’s attacks left no survivors to warn other settlements, so the enemy had no reason to respond.
• Nia ordered Kalin to notify the rear troops and said she would lead the next attack while the others waited.

Mobius returned to the front to defend the last town from the elves, where he faced the human mage Nia and her knight Miu'erkasi. As Mobius's holy power began to transform, Nia raised a Space Isolation barrier around the town, trapping everyone inside.

• Mobius returned to the front, ordered his soldiers to prepare an ambush, and learned that a human sorceress was leading the elves' attack.
• Nia's magical illusion was discovered, and she attacked the town with lightning and a Cloudkill spell that Nalu dispelled with divine power.
• Nia confronted Mobius and Nalu, claimed she was helping the elves reclaim their land, and denied being human before attacking them.
• Miu'erkasi blocked Mobius's sword and fought him while Nia and Nalu countered each other's spells.
• Nia dispelled Mobius's blessing, allowing Miu'erkasi to knock away his sword, but a transformed woman appeared to protect him as powerful holy energy gathered.
• Nia cast Space Isolation and enclosed the entire town in a barrier no one could escape.

Nia fought Nalu, a Divine Envoy of the Seven Sages, and used her superior command of magic and divine arts to expose Nalu’s lack of combat experience. Nia defeated and bound her alive, leaving the paladin and soldiers incapacitated or fleeing.

• Nia sealed the town with a rune barrier and attacked Nalu, while Nalu urged Mobius and the soldiers to retreat.
• Nia destabilized Nalu’s divine barrier, knocked Mobius unconscious, and drove the soldiers to flee.
• Nia countered Nalu’s black flames and destroyed a summoned Hell Hound with Corpse Explosion, startling Nalu.
• Nia identified herself as one of the Seven Ring Spirit Envoys and deduced that Nalu was an inexperienced, incomplete Weapon Spirit.
• Nia rushed Nalu at close range, shattered her divine shield, and battered her with magic before binding her with magical chains.

Suoxiate, Anna, Yi Aier, and Beika fought the Divine Envoys of the Seven Sages while separated from the master they were meant to protect. Yi Aier destroyed one of her opponents with overwhelming firepower, then realized Nia had ordered the enemies captured alive.

• Suoxiate repeatedly evaded the young holy knight’s attacks and sent her into an endless labyrinth after baiting her into a lunge.
• Anna exchanged ambushes and close-quarters blows with a bare-handed girl wearing heavy metal gauntlets.
• Yi Aier and Beika battled a pair of weapon spirit sisters who matched their attacks and defended with a greatshield.
• Yi Aier and Beika combined their attacks, and Yi Aier’s sustained bombardment overwhelmed the sisters’ defenses and destroyed one of them.
• Beika reminded Yi Aier that Nia had ordered the opponents captured alive, and Yi Aier admitted that she had forgotten.

Kalin defeated a female archer by luring her into a forest controlled by treants, while Anna killed the girl she had been fighting after the girl nearly struck her down. The Ring Spirit Envoys reported their results, with Anna worried that Li Lin would scold her for killing her opponent.

• Kalin awakened the ancient trees and used them to trap the female archer in the forest, where the archer's ranged attacks were suppressed.
• The female archer reached the plain, but Kalin struck her with a green arrow and the treants restrained her.
• Kalin taunted the captive archer and began tormenting her, then contacted the other Ring Spirit Envoys to ask whether their tasks were finished.
• Anna struggled against the girl’s powerful kicks and was knocked into the mud as the girl tried to stomp on her head.
• Anna attacked with her daggers, cut the girl apart, and killed her before wondering whether Li Lin would scold her.

Li Lin destroyed Kudel and made Catherine’s soul witness the kingdom’s fall, then turned his attention to Lalia and the Five-Nation Alliance. Meanwhile, Angela recruited the professor, who possessed the Power of Origin, to help open a passage to her master’s world, and revealed that her own power governed life and death.

• Li Lin killed Kudel’s king after the undead army destroyed the capital, then told Shirley to proceed with her army’s preparations as long as she did not invade his territory.
• Li Lin showed Catherine’s soul crystal the destruction of Kudel and announced that Lalia would be next.
• Angela explained that the professor had gained the Power of Origin of creation and destruction, but could use only a fraction of it in his human body.
• The professor agreed to help Angela open a passage to her master’s world, and Angela gave him an alchemical booklet and promised to find an item or blood relative connected to her master as a beacon.
• Angela told the professor that her Power of Origin was life and death, and that she would never perish while life and death existed.