Unexpectedly summoned to the world of Aletia from modern-day Japan, Hiro Oguro soon discovers this isn’t his first visit. As the legendary Hero King Mars, he once ruled battlefields, conquered nations, and founded the continent-spanning Grantzian Empire before giving up all memories of his hard-won glory to return home to his old life. Now he’s back, a thousand years after he left, and his legacy is in peril. The Grantzian Empire creaks under a warmonger’s rule while ambitious royals squabble for power and foreign nations sharpen their swords. After a chance encounter with Princess Elizabeth von Grantz draws him into a cutthroat struggle for imperial succession, Hiro must don the mantle of the War God once more. Can he live up to his own legend now that Aletia needs him again?

Exhausted after their successful defense of the Gurinda Mark, Hiro and Liz would like nothing better than a few weeks of respite. There’s no rest for the wicked, though, and Hiro’s claim to the War God’s bloodline has echoed in high places. Soon, he finds himself summoned to the imperial capital for an audience with the emperor himself. Hiro’s first appearance at court will determine his future in Aletia, but he must tread carefully—powerful nobles are already plotting to use him, and the emperor has his own plans for his newest son. Meanwhile, Liz joins the Fourth Legion’s march into Lichtein, while a mysterious figure’s arrival in a southern port marks the first rumblings of a coming landslide. And as its enemies close in, an increasingly desperate Lichtein turns to its final hope... A storm is brewing in the south, and fate conspires to put Hiro and Liz right in the center of it!

Two years have passed since Hiro and Liz parted ways, and much has changed in Soleil since Six Kingdoms’ ill-fated invasion. Now Liz is acting empress of the Grantzian Empire, closer to the throne than ever, yet tormented by how distant her ambitions still seem. Hiro reigns as the king in Baum, seemingly dormant but quietly pursuing his own goals. When an ongoing civil war conspires to call them both to the Republic of Steissen, swords will be drawn once more. Which will prevail: Liz’s path of kingship or Hiro’s path of conquest?

The Faerzen offensive has collapsed. Aura is trapped behind enemy lines, Liz is missing, presumed captured, and every passing second is a second that their lives hang in the balance. With the clock mercilessly ticking, Hiro readies the Crow Legion for its first true engagement. But right from the start, some things don’t add up. Who is really pulling the strings of this war? And as Hiro rides into the battle-scarred west, he unwittingly draws closer to his greatest challenge yet: a renegade princess hellbent on revenge, wielding the fearsome Gáe Bolg.

The Black Prince has fallen, cut down in battle against Six Kingdoms. As news of the tragedy sweeps the empire, Liz and her allies resolve to set aside their grief and finish what Hiro started. Yet the new heir apparent faces a treacherous path to the throne. In the palace, forces conspire to undermine her rise, some driven by mundane self-interest, others by more sinister motivations. On the field, she must contend with Luka du Vulpes, grievously wounded by her clash with Hiro but all the more dangerous for her scars. And just when the stage seems set for a decisive battle, Queen Claudia of Lebering steps into the fray, accompanied by a mysterious new confidant: a masked man with black hair who identifies himself only as Surtr...

The bitter conflict in Faerzen has drawn to a close with the Grantzian Empire’s victory. As Hiro and his allies return to the capital, it would seem that, for the moment, the bloodshed is done. Yet only a fool would take this temporary lull for a lasting peace. The empire’s foundations are creaking. War is coming; indeed, for those with eyes to see, its harbingers are already here. Second Prince Selene has left the north, an almost unheard-of occurrence. The beleaguered House Krone scrabbles to maintain its grip on power. First Prince Stovell, to the astonishment of all, announces that he will relinquish his place in the line of succession. And as Hiro plots to place Liz on the throne, blood is spilled at last on imperial soil. When schemes months, years, and even centuries in the making come to a head in the capital, who will prevail—and at what cost?

The battle is done. The war is won. Peace reigns once more on the empire’s southern border. Returning in triumph to the capital, Hiro learns that his next assignment will take him to the northern kingdom of Lebering, where he will attend the coming-of-age ceremony of the lovely Princess Claudia. But Lebering is a harsh land, steeped in grudges both new and old. When a scheming prince makes a play for the throne, Hiro and Claudia find themselves fleeing through the snow with no one to rely on but each other. As the frozen north runs red with blood, can they avert a war of historic proportions—and what will be left once the fighting is done?