Corporate flameout Ned Altimer dreams of leaving his world behind. So when Earthblood Online splashes onto the VRMMO scene, he dives in and never looks back. His advantages are twofold: exclusive access to the game’s three-day Head Start period, and a ridiculously handsome talking axe named Frank who has knowledge of the game’s deepest secrets…if the magnificent Frank ever feels like sharing them. But those advantages also make Ned a target. Once the Head Start period ends, his fellow players will stop at nothing to rip that suave, violent-yet-disarmingly-charismatic axe right out of his hands. In seventy-two hours, the greatest manhunt in gaming history is set to begin. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.

The manhunt has officially begun. Now the target of a game-wide Holy War, Ned is forced to flee the Onyx Sands. The odds are stacked against him; Tyrann has tens of thousands of followers, a religion that’s spreading like wildfire, and a powerful god that will be stepping into the world of EBO in a matter of days. Meanwhile, Ned’s allies are a squirrel-exploding bard, a repurposed home security system who takes her instructions far too literally, and a wildly unreliable talking axe named Frank. But even as the inevitable conflict draws closer, change is coming to EBO. An old power is stirring, bringing with it strange new enemies, fearsome challenges, and rewards that every player will be vying to obtain. There will be blood. Not enough for Frank, but a very substantial amount.

The race to claim the Worldbranch Throne has begun. Now the site of EBO’s first completed Red Cathedral, the Onyx Delta has become the center of the virtual world, and the entire player base is descending on Ned’s city to try their hand at the fearsome new raid and reap the game-changing rewards within. At the same time, a powerful, menacing guild is running roughshod over the western continents, razing every city in their wake and winning Frank’s obnoxiously loud approval from afar. But Ned knows that it’s only a matter of time before their forces sail east to the delta and attempt to burn down everything he’s built. There will be blood… again, but more this time. There will also be substantially more cats.

The first wing of the Red Cathedral has been conquered, and the next phase of the Possibility King’s invasion is officially on. Strange towers have arrived all across EBO, bringing with them fragments of new and dangerous realities. Some will threaten the Onyx Delta, others will offer new opportunities, and one tower in particular will awaken something in Frank that really should have remained dormant. And in the midst of so much change, the Thousand Tower Tournament rapidly approaches, presenting a host of challenges that will pit Ned and Omen against not mobs, but other players, including a formidable new enemy whose cunning and ruthlessness may very well put an end to the guild’s quest for the World Branch Throne. There will be more blood this time too… again. More cats as well.