Chapter Summaries

Li Lin assembled a group to reconstruct a dangerous weapon from the Magic Empire’s past, which could damage the plane by distorting its rules, and prepare it for use against Mount Celestia. Kelisi overcame her doubts and agreed to take part in the ritual.

• Li Lin learned that the Elf Goddess had returned a hidden, unfinished prototype of a weapon made by radical elven mages in the Magic Empire.
• Li Lin judged that the weapon was too incomplete and dangerous to rely on without reconstructing it, but decided to attempt the work with the time remaining.
• Li Lin assigned the ritual’s different powers to the elven queen, Yi Aier, Gabriel, Angela, Beika, Nia, and Kelisi.
• Li Lin warned that the ritual was dangerous and asked anyone who lacked confidence to leave, but no one departed.
• After Nia’s reassuring smile helped her understand why she had been chosen, Kelisi declared that she had no problem taking part.

Li Lin and the mages began a dangerous ritual to fuse four opposing primal powers within the black weapon. The energies reached a fragile balance, and Li Lin forced the final convergence as the weapon trembled.

• Beika raised three protective barriers, and Li Lin bound them with magical chains before the elf queen covered the weapon in grass and flowers with her power of life.
• Yi Aier released an inorganic radiance that turned the growing plants to steel, while Li Lin and Beika suppressed the clashing powers.
• Gabriel added sacred power, then Angela introduced darkness and death, dividing the energies into opposing alliances.
• The mages strengthened the four powers, while Kelisi repaired flaws in the barrier and Li Lin used the Eternal Library to contain the growing danger.
• Beika contracted the barrier around the balanced powers, and Li Lin brought his hands together to force them to converge within the trembling weapon.

Li Lin’s attempt to forge a weapon from four conflicting forces ended in an explosion, but he confirmed that the forces had been sealed and condensed. Afterward, he praised Kelisi’s bravery and reflected on the mages who could help the Magic Empire flourish again, while reaffirming his determination to destroy the Five-Nation Alliance.

• Li Lin used Time Stop and cast a series of defensive spells, but the unstable weapon exploded and blasted a hole through the tower wall.
• Angela, Gabriel, Beika, the Elf Queen, and the other mages protected those around them, while Nia and Kelisi helped shield the mages and repair a barrier; no one died.
• Li Lin praised the exhausted Kelisi, and Nia offered her a potion, free access to the tower, and a future assistant position that Kelisi agreed to consider after finishing her library work.
• Li Lin told the Elf Queen that the weapon had half succeeded because its forces were sealed and condensed, though its attack still had to be tested.
• Li Lin told Gabriel that the mages gave him hope for the Magic Empire’s future and vowed never to forgive the Five-Nation Alliance until it was destroyed.

Catherine prepared the United Kingdom for Li Lin’s coming assault by gathering civilians and troops around the capital while using holy light to keep the population calm. She and Nalu then revealed their plan to corrupt paladins and clergy into loyal servants who would prevent refugees from escaping when the Scourge Legion invaded.

• Catherine ordered border residents evacuated to the capital, moved troops there, and had local supplies redirected as divine spells failed and disease spread.
• Catherine used her holy light each morning to heal people and reassure the crowds gathering around the capital.
• Catherine told Nalu that Li Lin wanted to personally massacre the Five-Nation Alliance and reflected on her own bloodline and loyalty to him.
• Nalu reported that the Dog Training Plan had produced over thirteen hundred loyal servants and five thousand paladins prepared to block refugees from fleeing.
• Nalu showed Catherine paladins murdering captives to earn continued access to their indulgent hideaway, while corrupted clergy and women watched.
• Catherine approved the operation and ordered Nalu to find more priests to serve as helpers.

Angela reflected on her growing attachment to Li Lin as he completed preparations for the coming war against the United Kingdom and the God of Justice. Li Lin laid out the encirclement plan and told Angela he would need her help at the war’s end.

• Angela recalled how she first met Li Lin, came to trust him, and gradually became attracted to him.
• The other Angela told her that Li Lin had given them the acceptance and affection they had long sought, while Angela insisted she would destroy him if he changed.
• Li Lin learned that Mount Celestia had broken through four layers and that the Magic Empire’s army was ready, including 3,500 mages, fifteen ground fortresses, and more than a million undead.
• Li Lin ordered Anna, Yi Aier, and Miu'erkasi to position their floating cities around the United Kingdom’s people and strike after he drew them into a rout near the royal capital.
• Li Lin explained that the Great Book of Law was essential to defeating the God of Justice and told Angela he would need her help at the end of the war; Angela agreed.

Catherine prepared the United Kingdom to face the advancing Scourge Legion, while the return of divine power strengthened the Temple and its armies. She summoned Mobius to guard the royal capital’s final defensive line and persuaded him that protecting the city mattered more than fighting undead at the front.

• Knights reported that the Scourge Legion had begun moving, and Catherine ordered civilians enlisted and defensive lines built before Dideyasi’s royal capital.
• Clergy regained their divine spells, allowing the Temple to expand the Paladin Order and raising morale across the United Kingdom.
• Catherine worried that Henderson had disappeared and might return with the God of Justice’s support, so she ordered temples to watch for him.
• Mobius returned to the capital after patrolling the border and destroying undead, and Catherine appointed him to guard the last defensive line.
• Catherine told Mobius that the Magic Empire’s mages posed a greater threat than the Scourge Legion, and Mobius swore to protect the city and its people.

Angela prepared powerful high-level undead for the coming battle, while Li Lin watched her tests and ordered Ringwraith City to make final preparations. With the upheaval in the Upper Planes already affecting the Prime Material Plane, the story left Li Lin and his allies facing a battle that could begin the next day.

• Angela transformed the rotting corpses into towering skeletal soldiers and judged how long they could withstand holy light.
• Angela began combining the corpses’ flesh and blood into even more powerful undead creatures.
• Li Lin watched Angela’s preparations through an illusion and concluded that her army was ready for the coming conflict.
• The king of the Kingdom of Serei and Princess Shirley visited Ringwraith City, heard Li Lin’s explanation, and arranged to send people with magical talent to study at the academy.
• Li Lin noted that the stars were visible in daylight and ordered everyone to finish their preparations before dark, with fighting expected to begin the next day.
• Li Lin invited Nia, Anna, Yi Aier, and Miu'erkasi to a banquet, then decided he could not eat meat after seeing Angela’s undead.

Angela’s million-strong Scourge Legion attacked the United Kingdom’s sacredly protected defenses at Gruya Plateau, while Li Lin explained why Angela was initially holding back her other forces. The defenders repelled the undead with holy power, but Angela sent enormous bats from the clouds, leaving the wall under a new kind of attack.

• Angela ordered the Scourge Legion to charge the walls at Gruya Plateau, where the United Kingdom’s soldiers and priests fought back with sacred arrows and divine spells.
• The defenders killed thousands of undead, but Angela kept sending the legion forward as soldiers and priests died protecting the wall.
• Nia questioned the assault, and Li Lin explained that Angela wanted to test the enemy’s resolve without revealing all their forces at once.
• Angela darkened the sky with black clouds as the exhausted defenders continued to fight and a priestess spent her remaining life force casting a powerful Holy Light Spell.
• Enormous bats emerged from the clouds, killed the priestess, and attacked the soldiers, while Angela declared that the main event was still to come.

Angela used the giant bats to carry undead over the city wall and infect the soldiers in the rear, throwing the United Kingdom's defenders into chaos. As the fire barrier weakened and holy power faded, she ordered the Scourge Legion to launch its decisive charge.

• The bats overwhelmed the priests on the wall until the soldiers ignited blessed fire oil to block the undead and force the aerial attackers back.
• Angela whistled for the giant bats to swarm into the Scourge Legion, where the undead climbed onto them and rode them over the defensive line.
• The bats landed undead behind the defenders, and the infected soldiers rose again to attack their former comrades.
• Angela's scattered rear assault disrupted the defenders and weakened their resolve as the front line came under renewed attack.
• The wall of fire began to falter, and Angela ordered all forces to charge and kill the defenders.

After the first defensive line fell, the United Kingdom struggled to counter the Magic Empire’s flying monsters, which could drop undead behind their lines. Catherine proposed using catapults to launch red-hot pebbles at them, while Angela watched the kingdom’s efforts as part of her cruel game.

• The Scourge Legion breached the United Kingdom’s first defensive line after it held for three days, and the kingdom kept the news secret.
• The United Kingdom’s ministers debated how to stop flying monsters from carrying undead over their defenses, but lacked enough trained archers and arrows.
• Catherine admitted to Lady Angela that she had no way to stop the flying creatures, while Angela explained to Li Lin that she wanted Catherine to offer the kingdom hope before taking it away.
• Catherine proposed modifying catapults to launch red-hot pebbles into the air and scatter them over an area to damage the flying monsters.

Catherine’s heated-stone catapult tactic forced Angela’s Scourge Legion to retreat and raised Catherine’s standing across Dideyasi. Li Lin visited Catherine, who affirmed she would continue his plan despite knowing her bloodline sealed her fate.

• Catherine’s defenders launched bound clusters of scorching stones, damaging the flying monsters and setting undead alight.
• Angela halted the Scourge Legion and withdrew it, saying she had her own plans.
• The defensive-line commander ordered repairs and sent news of the retreat to the royal capital; Catherine made the report public, sparking celebrations and boosting her prestige.
• Catherine told Li Lin she would stay with the people until the right moment and admitted she expected Angela to punish her.
• Li Lin told Catherine her fate would not change because of her bloodline, but promised he would not forget her.
• Catherine promised to carry out Li Lin’s task to the final moment, and Li Lin left.

The gods debated how to stop Mount Celestia before Luoxia sealed off the Prime Material Plane, and the Goddess of Theft brought Raven and other allies to join them. An evil god attacked Mount Celestia and escaped by sacrificing his divine domain, leaving the other gods to consider following his example.

• The Elf Goddess warned that Luoxia would soon seal off the Prime Material Plane, while the gods discussed obtaining the Great Book of Law and slowing Mount Celestia.
• The Goddess of Theft brought Raven and a regal noblewoman to the gods, and both agreed to help oppose the God of Justice.
• An unnamed god launched his dark divine domain into Mount Celestia, slowing its descent and damaging the plane.
• The God of Justice devoured much of the dark domain, but the attacker escaped beyond the multiverse's boundary by sacrificing it.
• The God of Light said the gods could use the same tactic, and the Elf Goddess decided they had no choice.

After an earthquake devastated the second defensive line, Li Lin focused on shielding the Prime Material Plane from the gods’ battle while Angela prepared a new plan against the United Kingdom. The chapter left Angela about to reveal her secret method to Suoxiate.

• A massive earthquake destroyed the second defensive line and damaged both armies, so Catherine ordered the surviving soldiers to retreat to the third line and share their experience with its defenders.
• Angela’s undead suffered heavy losses in the earthquake, including severe damage to her giant bone soldiers, forcing her to pause her attack.
• Li Lin used the power of the twelve magical schools, with Nia and Nisi’s help, to reinforce the Prime Material Plane against the gods’ battle in the Outer Planes.
• Li Lin trusted Angela to make a rational decision, while Suoxiate reported that the mobile fortresses were moving into position to encircle the enemy.
• Angela rejected Suoxiate’s concerns about using the mobile fortresses and announced that she would use her secret method, then asked Suoxiate whether she liked pudding.

A gelatinous monster attacked the defensive line, swallowing the scouting patrol and beginning to consume the soldiers who gathered to face it. Angela watched from the night sky and unleashed the creature, hoping it would feast on the humans.

• Soldiers patrolled the dark ground ahead of the defensive line, hoping the earthquake-ravaged roads would slow the Scourge Legion.
• After one patrol finished its shift, a translucent mass burst from the earth and swallowed the soldiers and their horses.
• The defensive line lit fires and assembled to meet the approaching threat, but found no undead or flying monsters—only a foul-smelling pool of gelatinous matter.
• Soldiers saw their trapped comrades being dissolved alive as the gel corroded their armor and bodies, while the Holy Light failed to save them.
• Angela watched from above, said she disliked ugly creatures, and ordered the gelatinous monster to eat its fill.

A gelatinous sea advanced on the defensive line, resisting flaming arrows, catapult stones, and boulders while consuming anything it touched. When Angela caused the ground behind the walls to collapse and the liquid to surge through the defenses, the soldiers ordered an immediate retreat.

• The clergy used holy magic to clear the stench as soldiers prepared to attack the approaching gelatinous sea.
• Flaming arrows and red-hot stones failed to slow the monster, which absorbed them and dissolved trapped soldiers.
• The commander ordered the catapults to fire boulders, but the gelatinous sea caught and consumed them.
• Angela snapped her fan shut, causing the ground behind the walls to crack and collapse.
• The gelatinous sea surged through the ruined defenses, engulfing soldiers and clergy and corroding their weapons.
• The surviving soldiers ordered an immediate retreat.

Catherine suppressed public unrest, reinforced morale at the final line of defense, and prepared to confront the monster that had destroyed the second line. Five days after she arrived, the foul-smelling solid ocean came into view.

• Catherine ordered protesters dispersed and threatened to send them to the front, then decided to take the field herself.
• Catherine sent transformed priests to reassure nearby residents while secretly arranging for them to destroy the people’s hope later.
• Catherine reached the final line of defense, revived the soldiers’ morale, and released the isolated survivors to tell the army how the monster had swallowed the second line.
• Catherine and Nalu discussed the soldiers’ resolve and prepared to face Angela’s monster.
• Five days later, the foul-smelling solid ocean appeared within sight of the final line of defense.

Catherine used Nalu’s ice power and a magical blast to freeze and shatter the gelatinous monster threatening Dideyasi’s final defensive line. As the defenders pelted the immobilized creature with boulders, Angela watched and prepared to make her entrance.

• Catherine faced the advancing gelatinous monster at Dideyasi’s cliffside defensive line while the soldiers waited for her to stop it.
• Catherine directed Nalu to use the Goddess of Winter’s power, freezing the monster and its path.
• Catherine unleashed a powerful magical blast that shattered the monster’s hardened front and tore open its body.
• Catherine ordered the defenders to fire their catapults as Nalu’s icy wind froze the monster from within.
• The defenders’ boulders cracked and broke pieces from the frozen creature as its struggles weakened.
• Angela watched with Suoxiate and said she would make her entrance according to Master’s script.

After Catherine returned to the royal capital, Angela launched a solo attack on the defensive line and began slaughtering its soldiers and clergy. The survivors faced the start of a bloody massacre as Angela eagerly continued her assault.

• Catherine returned to the royal capital after destroying the gelatinous monster, leaving the soldiers confident and the defensive line energized.
• Angela confirmed that Yi Aier, Kalin, and Miu'erkasi were in position, then left Suoxiate behind and went alone to attack the soldiers.
• Angela appeared on the wall, tore apart a guard, and killed a priest who tried to strike her with divine magic.
• Angela blocked sacred attacks with her wings, hurled warriors over the cliff, and crushed two paladins while the defenders struggled to fight back.
• Angela pierced a paladin's chest and slowly tore his body apart before rushing at the crowd to continue the massacre.

Angela massacred the defensive line and used her power to turn a priestess and her paladin lover into unwilling actors in a cruel parody of Romeo and Juliet. As night fell, Catherine ordered the soldiers to withdraw to the royal capital, believing Angela had had enough fun.

• Angela killed the paladin and seized control of the young priestess, forcing her to undress, denounce her god, and submit before draining her blood.
• A paladin charged Angela after she killed the priestess, and Angela restrained him and turned the priestess into a zombie.
• Angela forced the paladin to kiss the zombie and then made her attack and kill him, before raising him as another zombie.
• Angela mocked the soldiers as her toys while the undead lovers stood before them, spreading fear through the defensive line.
• Catherine withdrew her gaze from the scene and ordered Nalu to tell the soldiers to retreat to the royal capital.

The Scourge Legion surrounded Dideyasi's royal city as Li Lin arrived with the Magic Empire's floating city and steel fortresses. Catherine revealed her allegiance to Li Lin, sacrificed Mobius to give Li Lin his power, and took command of the Scourge Legion to attack the city.

• After the defense line fell, frightened civilians fled toward the royal city while Catherine ordered soldiers to let them enter.
• The Scourge Legion appeared before the city, followed by the Magic Empire's floating city and enormous steel fortresses.
• Li Lin arrived with Angela, and Catherine ordered the city gates shut before flying out to meet him with Mobius.
• Catherine bound Mobius, stabbed him, and helped Li Lin absorb his Power of Manipulation.
• Catherine pledged herself to Li Lin, accepted command of thirty thousand Scourge Legion soldiers, and ordered them to kill everyone in the royal city.