Light Novel Volume 14/Synopsis

Prologue: Planning the Q’ten Lo Invasion
After the rowdy celebrations the previous night, Naofumi tried to plan ahead but many of the soldiers were still recovering. Fortunately, his own party was in great condition so he was able to go over their information together. Raluva, the mayor of this port town, brought them up to speed on the boy emperor's unpopular policies and how he is being influenced by the wicked Makina. In the end, they decide on charging in, granting Raphtalia the powers of the Heavenly Empress, and then overthrow the current Heavenly Emperor and his advisor. As they were making plans to take over Q'ten Lo, there was an explosion outside.

Chapter One: The Sealed Orochi
Exiting the building, Naofumi and his party see chaos. Apparently, the legendary monster that was sealed underneath the town has been unsealed by some corrupt officials. What makes it worse, the current Heavenly Emperor had placed sakura stones of destiny around every sealed monster which depowers Legendary Weapons and Vassal Weapons. Racing over to the monster, it is revealed to be a hydra or an orochi. Atla could not attack since she had abandoned the sakura stone weapon Erhard's Master had given to her.

As they fought the Orochi and destroyed its heads, they started to regrow immediately. However, they could not attack the body since it was protected by an impenetrable barrier. Raphtalia cut off the blessings that the sakura stones of destiny were providing the beast and they were then able to defeat it. The body dissolved into a cloud of poison gas which Filo blew away. Clearing the area of the thick gas, a buffed and healed Orochi stood in the place of the one that had been defeated. Gaelion deduces that these are only copies while the real body is somewhere in the burial mound. Rishia and Itsuki fight the copy while the rest go to fight the main body.

Chapter Two: Sharing Power-Ups
Naofumi's group which includes Raphtalia, Filo, Gaelion, Sadeena, Atla, and Fohl travel into the mound towards the main body. As they do, they pass by a magical inscription which talks about power-up methods which Naofumi promises to investigate later. Arriving at the sealing structure, they find that the real Orochi's body had rotted away so it had merged with its core. It was absorbing power from its surroundings at the barrier using the Way of the Dragon Vein magic to power itself up. Naofumi and its party were ejected out of the burial mound while the Orochi formed its body. Emerging from its hold, it fought the heroes.

Naofumi used his Beast Transformation Assist ability on Sadeena which transformed her into a massive killer whale with a significant stat boost. Naofumi had also gained a boost by reading the power-up method inscription in the mound. After a dangerous fight, Naofumi's group is able to cut off all 8 heads while Raphtalia cuts off the blessings from the sakura stones of destiny. Sadeena finished off the Orochi's body while Gaelion cleanses the surrounding area from the Orochi's influence. As the Orochi was defeated, something flew out of its body a little distance away.

Chapter Three: The Cursed Ama-no-Murakumo Sword
Investigating the dropped object, they find an extremely powerful cursed sword sticking out of the ground. Naofumi and his party are unable to pick it up. Erhard and his master then come along to congratulate NAofumi and his group for defeating the Orochi. Erhard's master picks up the sword easily and is convinced by Raphtalia to cleanse it. With the port town saved, Ravula and his followers re-affirm their allegiance to her and her apparent campaign to dispose of the other Heavenly Emperor. Apparently Filo's cherry-blossom-like appearance is also proof of her right as Heavenly Empress.

Chapter Four: Tailwind
News of the Orochi's defeat spread and the surrounding leaders started to back Raphtalia. Using their previous experience, Naofumi's team was able to defeat opposing forces and other sealed beasts. During their campaign, S'yne had surprisingly arrived to check up on Naofumi and their progress. On their way, they had also been defeating regular monsters that have been attacking villages and have been leveling up. In only three days, they had taken over about a third of Q'ten Lo.

Chapter Five: Information on the Enemy
Finally, Naofumi and Raphtalia were close to capturing the old capital city. Once it is captured, they can initiate a rite than can give Raphtalia the powers of a Heavenly Emperor. Naofumi, Raphtalia, and the revolution leaders have a tactical meeting to discuss information and how to take over the city. It looks like the main opponent will be the new Water Dragon Miko Priestess who had taken over Sadeena's old position. She is actually Sadeena's sister who was born after she had left Q'ten Lo.

Chapter Six: Use of Life Force
Naofumi finally has time to get back to training seriously. As he watches Atla and Raphtalia fight, he realizes that he is finally able to see life force. He then goes to Rishia, who had been fully approved by the Old Lady in Hengen Muso, to have her test his abilities. Unfortunately, the defensive form of Hengen Muso had been long forgotten so Naofumi could only use it for evasion and redirection. His shield prevented him from using it to attack. With that in mind, Naofumi trained with Atla to learn the evasion and redirection techniques.

After training with Atla and everyone had gone to do their own thing, S'yne approached Naofumi and offered to show defensive techniques from her world. Later on, Naofumi cooked for his party and experimented in cooking using life force. As a result, the food was much tastier than usual. Raphtalia's popular ascension to becoming Heavenly Empress is gaining wide-spread approval.

Chapter Seven: A Terrible Sense of Direction
On the way to see the Old Man Erhard, Naofumi comes across a lost woman. He gives her directions but she accidentally starts heading the wrong way. Naofumi decides to ignore the woman and continue to head to the Old Man. They make plans to purify the cursed sword in the old capital city when they take it over. The Old Man's Master, Motoyasu II, shows that he uses life force when creating equipment to greatly improve their quality. The lost woman arrives at the forge and asks for directions again. Naofumi, S'yne, and the Old Man's master personally show her the way. It turns out that she wanted to see Raphtalia's parade that happened earlier in the day

As a consolation, the perverted Motoyasu II offers her a drink at the bar which she accepts. Naofumi impresses her by his inability to get drunk and introduces herself as "Zodia." They played cards as they drank. Finally, they spiked Motoyasu II's drink so that he couldn't cause any more trouble. Curiously, Zodia reminded Naofumi of Sadeena. At the end of the night, she gives Naofumi a playing card and asks him to be her husband which he refuses.

Chapter Eight: Big Sister
Naofumi returns back to the place they have been staying and catches up with Raphtalia. Apparently, Atla had caused some trouble which required Raphtalia, Filo, and Sadeena to wrangle her up. Raphtalia then chastises Fohl for not keeping his sister's tantrums under control. He then promises to do so in order to protect her.

The next day, Naofumi experiments with imbuing life force into his magic. He also dresses Raph-chan up in a Miko dress. After training, Naofumi's party decides to go to some hot springs and relax.

Chapter Nine: The Miko Priestess of Carnage
When Naofumi arrived in the men's bath, he finds Zodia there. She flirts with him but finally leaves at his rejection. After the bath, Naofumi has a drink with Sadeena to ask about her history. She tells him of her role as the previous Water Dragon Miko priestess, her abusive upbringing, and how Raphtalia's Father took care of her. Sadeena also mentions how Raphtalia's father and mother met and eventually left the country with her.

Chapter Ten: Shield Power-Up Method
The next day, Naofumi and the resistance prepare to take over the old capital. The enemy had already deployed their forces by the city. As the resistance was gathering to take over the capital, the enemy had started to attack the undefended towns. Naofumi asked Atla, Fohl, and Gaelion to take back those towns. The enemy proposes a duel for the old capital city: Sadeena vs. her sister, the current Water Dragon Miko priestess. Naofumi refused and took over the old capital city while the enemy retreated. With the old capital city, they conduct a ceremony to give Raphtalia the powers of the Heavenly Emperor. She is now able to bless all of her allies.

They also found a dragon hourglass and a magical inscription which revealed the power-up methods of whichever Legendary or Vassal Hero read it. Naofumi learned of his remaining two power-up methods for his Legendary Weapon. They use the dragon hourglass for a quick trip back to Melromarc.

Chapter Eleven: A Brief Return Trip
Upon returning back to their village, they receive a warm welcome. Apparently, the village has not been attacked since they have attacked Q'ten Lo. They decide to bring Ren back to help treat his curses at the hot springs. Rat and Wyndia are brought back for research. Tolly was also brought along to assist Erhard and to continue his training. Back at Q'ten Lo, Ren was accepted in Motoyasu II's shop but started degrading equipment with his quality-degrading curse.

Chapter Twelve: Past and Present
By this time, the revolution has taken over 2/3 or Q'ten Lo. Naofumi has a strategy meeting to capture the Heavenly Emperor for the next day. A messenger arrives with another duel challenge with the Water Dragon Miko Priestess, this time with a sincere seal and promise that she will not resist if she loses. Reluctantly, Naofumi accepts.

Sadeena meets her sister on the battlefield. Her sister introduces herself as Shildina. As they fight, Sadeena is clearly in a better position mentally but they were both around the same skill level. Strangely enough, Shildina seemed to be using co-operative magic by herself. Then using Sadeena's old harpoon, she was able to use the same magic as Sadeena. Finally, Shildina used her oracle ability to summon the powers and personalities of Raphtalia's Ancestor which defeated Sadeena. Raphtalia's Ancestor, in control of Shildina's body, admits that she's "cheating" to win. Shildina then collapses. Naofumi is able to confirm that Zodia and Shildina are the same person.

Still on the battlefield, Naofumi and Sadeena are able to talk with Shildina. Apparently, she had some misconceptions about them. However, as they were talking, Shildina started crying in pain. Raph-chan was able to see that something evil is trying to take over her soul. Raphtalia used her Hengen Muso to start to destroy the magical patterns taking over Shildina. With the evil influence halted, Raphtalia's Ancestor took over Shildina's body again and rushed towards the castle to confront the evil Makina. Raph-chan notices the card that Shildina had previously given to Naofumi and says that it contains a part of her soul. With that, Naofumi and the rest of his party also head to the castle to confront the current leadership.

Chapter Thirteen: The Past Heavenly Emperor
They invaded the town to find it already in chaos. Many of the soldiers and nobles have already been killed. Inside, they find Raphtalia's Ancestor over the recently killed Makina. However, the Spirit of Makina rose up and jumped onto Shildina/Raphtalia's Ancestor trying to possess her. Makina's spirit reveals that Shildina was meant to be a spare body to jump into as Makina was getting old. Naofumi, Raphtalia, Ren, and Itsuki switch into their Soul Eater series weapons, which can affect spiritual beings, and attack. With the help of Raphtalia's Ancestor, they are able to use these weapons to see Makina's spirit and finally destroy her.

With Makina defeated, Raphtalia's Ancestor challenges Raphtalia to a fight in order to free Shildina. Raphtalia agrees and they start their battle. Raphtalia's Ancestor clear had more experience and over the deadly battle taught Raphtalia how to use illusions and her Heavenly Emperor powers. Finally, Raphtalia was able to place the playing card on Shildina and receive a passing grade from this ancient Heavenly Empress. The old spirit then disappears and leaves Shildina unconscious.

Chapter Fourteen: The True Terror of Monsters
After treating Shildina, Naofumi goes to confront the boy emperor who had been manipulated by Makina. Naofumi tells the boy that he will be stripped of his title and have his commands reversed. The young boy's bravery and willingness to accept punishment surprised Naofumi. Filo pretended to attack the boy emperor while the event was being recorded. Naofumi used this event to teach the boy how his rule to not attack any monster had been foolish. The recorded video was doctored and used to convince the rest of the Q'ten Lo that their previous Heavenly Emperor had been killed. They they sneaked the boy out of the castle.

Epilogue: Dusk
Two days later, the occupation of the "new" capital had been completed. Shildina had regained consciousness and Raphtalia started taking responsibility as Q'ten Lo's leader. Shildina revealed that she had given Naofumi the card that restored her soul because he was her first friend. Naofumi mentions that her role has execution no longer exists under the new Heavenly Empress. Also, it looks like Makina had killed the rest of the royal family so that she could gain power. Shildina and the boy, Ruftmilia, were offered a place at Naofumi's village which they accept.

Naofumi decides to leave Raluva and his men in charge of Q'ten Lo. Raphtalia will show up occasionally as needed. Naofumi and Raphtalia reminisce their time at Q'ten Lo together.