Chapter Summaries

Ansu, Liszt, and Arthur infiltrated a gathering of the Three Great Esoteric Cults using souls molded by Merlin. They befriended the cult’s young geniuses and got them drunk before the bishops arrived, leaving the meeting on the verge of beginning.

• Merlin gave Ansu, Liszt, and Arthur deformed souls to maintain their disguises and instructed them to gather intelligence on the cults’ spies.
• The three learned that the cults’ young Saints would meet to discuss selecting a Candidate Holy Son and plotting against Ansu, while Bishop Rada hosted the gathering.
• Ansu, Liszt, and Arthur reached Crow Street without raising suspicion and found the alley crowded with Esoteric Cult geniuses.
• Ansu befriended Chaos Elevator by praising his strength and learning his real name and address, while Liszt and Arthur also made friends among the attendees.
• Arthur supplied wine, Ansu bought cups, and Liszt urged the cultists to drink until the young geniuses were dancing drunkenly when the bishops arrived by projection.

Ansu used Wine of the Fire God to unite twenty-four Esoteric Cult Geniuses in a drunken oath of brotherhood and record their real names for future sacrifices and rewards. Bishop Rada arrived to announce that the orders would reassess the candidates and expose any infiltrating saint through a ritual invoking the Mother Goddess.

• Ansu, Liszt, and Arthur pretended to drink safely while the Esoteric Cult Geniuses got drunk on Wine of the Fire God.
• Ansu used Friendly Exchange and the crowd's enthusiasm to get chosen as their speaker, then urged the cultists to swear brotherhood against Ansu Morningstar, Arthur, and Liszt.
• Ansu led the twenty-four cultists in an oath before mud statues, learned their real names, and arranged them by strength in a list he intended to use for sacrifices.
• Arthur brought out more wine as the newly sworn brothers celebrated together, surprising Bishop Rada and the Vice Bishop when they arrived expecting bloodshed.
• Bishop Rada announced that a traitor or saint might be hiding among the candidates and that a ritual would judge their qualifications beneath the Mother Goddess's gaze.

Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt entered a hidden ritual site where three demigods tested the Esoteric Cult Geniuses with candles meant to reveal their natures. Arthur and Liszt unexpectedly passed as favored cultists, and Ansu stepped forward as the next test began.

• Bishop Rada opened the hidden space in Crow Alley and announced that everyone would undergo a test to expose any saints among them.
• Bram of the Ocean Faction arrived, and Elvera, the Ladder Saintess, appeared in place of the Chaos Bishop.
• The bishops and Elvera summoned the Mother Goddesses’ gaze, and priests used three Human Oil Candles to judge the cultists.
• Arthur passed through the candles without any going out, and the priests prophesied that he would become the future pope’s right-hand man and cause chaos among women.
• Liszt’s three candles burned even brighter than Arthur’s, producing similar prophecies and stirring the assembled cultists.
• Ansu’s turn came, and he prepared to pass between the three candles.

Ansu underwent the Three Gods Ritual, where his candle flames revealed extraordinary affinities and bewildered the assembled cultists. The Life Candle erupted with a strange, overwhelming power, leaving the old priest shocked as the ritual’s outcome remained unresolved.

• Ansu watched Chaos Elevator finish the ritual with the brightest three candles and accepted his offer of future support.
• Ansu entered the candlelit altar and used the Heart of Water Moon to create a flashy, music-filled entrance that amused the Ladder Saintess and astonished the cultists.
• Ansu faced the Suffering Candle’s illusion and relived painful memories of his past life at Hengshui Holy Academy, causing the candle to blaze like an incandescent lamp.
• Ansu entered the Chaos Candle’s domain, where an illusion of a city in turmoil appeared and the flames formed a scepter that the old priest read as a sign of a future District Bishop.
• Ansu stepped into the Life Candle’s domain, where its flames overwhelmed the other candles and filled the believers with strange knowledge and an urge to see him as food.

Ansu’s ritual candles caused a fire that destroyed the Esoteric Cult stronghold, but he and the other candidates survived. Bishop Rada selected nine cultists for a secret mission: infiltrate the Radiant Holy See and take over the bodies of Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt.

• The ritual flames grew out of control after Arthur threw Wine of the Fire God onto the burning array, filling the sealed space with fire and toxic fumes.
• Bishop Rada opened the pocket dimension, and Ansu escaped with the others as the fire consumed the stronghold and its spatial structure collapsed.
• Ansu asked the old priest about his candle signs, and the priest explained the first two but said the Life Candle showed no sign he could interpret.
• Bishop Rada selected nine candidates, including Ansu, Liszt, and Arthur, as the most loyal Esoteric Cultists.
• Bishop Rada revealed the cults’ plan to exploit the Empire’s weakness and ordered the candidates to infiltrate the Radiant Holy See and replace Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt using a transformation spell.

Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt each suggested a way for their cults to approach and possess their own targets, while Elvera ordered the Chaos Followers to tempt Ansu with forbidden knowledge. The chapter left the Pain and Life Cults devising their own schemes to lure Arthur and Liszt.

• Bishop Rada told the cult geniuses that possessing Ansu, Arthur, or Liszt would make one of them a Candidate Holy Son, and Merlin secretly agreed to pretend he had not noticed the plot.
• Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt each praised one target and dismissed the others, leading the cultists to conclude that Liszt was the least threatening.
• Elvera questioned Ansu and tested his knowledge of Holy Light, while Ansu impressed her by answering her questions and praising her exam skills.
• Ansu proposed using forbidden knowledge and taboo magic to lure Ansu into a vulnerable state, and Elvera ordered the Chaos Followers to send him gifts and possess him before the advancement examination.
• Arthur told the Pain Cultists to use money to tempt Arthur Sunny, whose living expenses had been cut off by Grand Duke Annan.
• Liszt proposed using a honey trap to make Liszt fall, eyeing the Life Cultists as he suggested the plan.

Ansu talked Bishop Rada into renaming the Ape Cult as the Star Faction and earned the Pain Blood Blade while the Esoteric Cults prepared to target Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt. The cults set a six-day deadline for the possession plot and assigned a broader assassination mission, and Ansu returned to Heaven claiming he had taken over the Cult of Suffering.

• Ansu proposed possessing Merlin, but Bishop Rada rejected the plan as too difficult and invited Ansu to join the Ape Cult instead.
• Ansu refused to change his faith, suggested renaming the Ape Cult the Star Faction, and Bishop Rada accepted the new name and gave Ansu the Pain Blood Blade.
• Arthur pledged ten thousand gold coins toward winning over his target, while Liszt and the Chaos Followers organized offerings of beauty and forbidden knowledge.
• Bishop Rada announced that the cultists would begin assassinating Acolyte Deacons in six days, while Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt had to be possessed within that time.
• Bishop Rada distributed transformation spell scrolls and ordered the followers to study them before the Ladder Saintess inspected their progress the next day.
• Ansu returned to Heaven and told Merlin that he had taken over the Cult of Suffering and renamed it the Star Cult.

Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt reported their infiltration of the Esoteric Cult to Merlin, who muted them repeatedly before rewarding each with a copied magic technique. After they left Heaven, Ansu encountered Cersei Milton at the Magic Guild and considered targeting her faction to earn the heresy demigod’s trust.

• Ansu told Merlin that the Church of Suffering had become the Star Cult, and Merlin muted him when he doubted Ansu’s claims.
• Arthur presented a list of twenty-seven Esoteric Cultists and their value in Devotion Points, then tried to blame Ansu for withholding Merlin’s share; Merlin muted Arthur and Ansu.
• Liszt offered Yoko to Merlin, who muted Liszt before giving the three companions their promised magic techniques.
• Merlin ordered them to continue their mission, locate demigods, and prepare for the Promotion Exam in ten days, noting that the Princess was nearing the fifth tier.
• Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt left Heaven and saw Cersei Milton arrive at the Magic Guild, prompting Ansu to consider targeting her faction.

Ansu tried to keep a low profile at the Magic Guild, but rumors that he might become Merlin’s successor drew the attention of Al, a Chaos Holy See agent disguised as a Royal Guard knight. After Al and other undercover agents staged their defeats, Ansu became famous in the Imperial Capital as “Azure Eyes,” and Princess Cersei took notice of him.

• Ansu heard Sorcerers discussing rumors that Merlin might choose him as his successor instead of the Imperial Princess.
• Al confronted Ansu, offered him two books of Forbidden Knowledge, and invited him to Crow Alley in three days.
• Ansu accepted the books, while Al misread his signals and pretended that Ansu had injured him with a glance.
• Several undercover agents from other heretical churches also staged their defeats when Ansu looked at them, making the crowd believe he had subdued three powerful Sorcerers.
• Ansu’s reputation soared under the title Azure Eyes, and Princess Cersei reacted coldly to his growing fame.

Ansu summoned Bone to study two Transformation Techniques and used their Mana Circuits to create his own Legendary Magic. Bone examined the result and discovered that Ansu had made a Holy Light transformation spell that turned him into a giant.

• Ansu escaped reporters outside the Magic Guild and returned to the growing Chaos Frontier.
• Ansu summoned Bone and asked her to compare the Chaos Holy See and Radiant Holy See Transformation Techniques.
• Bone separated and organized the spells’ Mana Circuits, identifying Soul Separation, Change Soul Shape, and Soul Fusion.
• Ansu studied the circuits and created a twenty-circuit Legendary Magic with the help of his Azure Scale Dragon Heart pendant.
• Ansu summoned Bone again, and she examined his Holy Light Transformation Technique, which transformed him into a Holy Light Giant for five minutes.

Ansu tested a Holy Light Transformation Technique that turned him into a radiant giant, then tried combining it with Merlin’s radiation-based Holy Light. The experiment left his soul unharmed but so delicious to the Saintess of Life that she barely resisted eating him, and Ansu headed toward his appointment with the transformation still untested.

• Ansu transformed into a towering being of Holy Light, gained increased Holy Light attack power, and struck Miss Bone with an Illumination Spell before the transformation ended.
• After Miss Bone urged him to learn the original Transformation Technique, Ansu proposed combining his spell with Merlin’s Radiant Light Illumination Technique to create a dark form.
• Ansu and Miss Bone tested the combination by bathing his separated soul in increasing amounts of radiation light, and Ansu reported feeling refreshed and comfortable.
• Miss Bone stopped the experiment when the radiated soul became irresistibly fragrant to her, forcing her to fight her appetite to avoid breaking her contract.
• Miss Bone confirmed that the experiment had caused no harmful effects to Ansu’s soul and told him he could use the Magic Combination at the scene.

Ansu received a banned book that turned out to be an illustrated youth manual, then rushed toward his appointment with the Chaos Saintess alongside two Chaos Heresy members. The three arrived in Crow Alley just as the Saintess revealed herself from the coachman’s body and challenged Ansu over his insult.

• Enya showed Ansu the delivered book, which Ansu discovered was an illustrated manual marked as prohibited for readers under sixteen.
• Enya teased Ansu and followed him to the lower city by hiding in his shadow.
• Ansu shared an Alchemy Carriage with Chaos Elevator, who admitted he had sent the book to distract Ansu, and Chaos Escalator, who claimed he was going to Crow Alley to catch his girlfriend cheating.
• The coachman picked up both Chaos Heresy members while Ansu hurried him toward Crow Alley, and the group reached the alley exactly on time.
• The Chaos Saintess emerged from the coachman’s possessed body and demanded to know what Ansu had called her.

Elvera confronted Ansu and his companions after overhearing them spread rumors about her, while Enya’s possessive antics in Ansu’s shadow nearly exposed her. Elvera then brought them to a Chaos Heresy gathering, where Bishop Rada began an exam and Ansu discovered that Merlin and the other missing candidate had mistaken its date.

• Elvera confronted Chaos Elevator and Chaos Escalator over calling her their girlfriend and wife, while Ansu suspected she had been watching him.
• Enya secretly made increasingly provocative gestures through Ansu’s shadow, and Ansu mimicked them to conceal her presence from Elvera.
• Elvera revealed that she had deliberately given Ansu the wrong meeting time, then used stairways to take him, Elevator, and Escalator to a concealed castle.
• Bishop Rada announced that candidates who failed their transformation would be disqualified and killed, then learned two candidates had not arrived.
• Ansu contacted the missing candidates, who said they had thought the exam was the next day.

Ansu watched the Esoteric Cult Geniuses take a test in Chaos Transformation while Liszt and Arthur arrived too late for the exam. After the others demonstrated increasingly dangerous innovations, Ansu began his own Holy Light Transformation, filling the stronghold with radiance.

• Rada grew furious when Liszt and Arthur missed the exam, while Elvera lamented that she had arrived too early.
• Ansu offered to cover for Liszt and Arthur in exchange for ten percent of their gifts, then watched Rada begin the transformation test.
• Rada brought eliminated cultists forward as practice targets and required the candidates to separate their souls and fuse with another being.
• The Ocean Faction genius fused with clams, and Chaos Escalator transformed a man's body into that of a mature woman, earning high scores.
• Chaos Elevator fused his soul with lightning and earned ninety points before Ansu stepped forward as Chaos Stairway.
• Ansu cast Holy Light Transformation, and radiance filled the stronghold.

During the Chaos Stairway trial, Ansu refused to possess a cultist and instead fused his soul with Holy Light he had twisted using Legendary Magic. He transformed into a towering, blasphemous Radiant form, leaving the stronghold near collapse as he prepared to strike.

• Ansu declined to choose a cultist for Soul Fusion, and the five remaining cultists believed they had survived the test.
• Ansu separated his soul, impressing the spectators with its exceptional clarity and strength.
• Ansu cast Radiant Light Illumination Technique and twisted Holy Light, alarming the cultists and exciting Elvera, Bram, and Rada.
• Ansu drew the defiled light into his soul and transformed, while the nearby cultists’ souls mutated and the spatial stronghold began to collapse.
• Ansu named his towering new form the New Century Radiant Warrior and prepared to strike in Radiant Form.

Ansu used his Radiant Warrior form to overwhelm the cultists with forbidden knowledge, then absorbed three bursts of radiance to strengthen his transformation. The Chaos Stronghold began collapsing as a crimson moon appeared in the fractured sky, drawing the Mother Goddess of Life’s attention.

• Ansu’s Radiant Warrior form projected forbidden knowledge into the cultists, driving weaker followers into madness and soul distortion.
• Demigod Rada and Demigod Bram tried to recruit Ansu with increasingly absurd offers, while Elvera considered giving him exam papers.
• Ansu tested his new form and found that his soul strength and otherworldly knowledge could incapacitate enemies below Saint rank.
• Ansu absorbed two more Radiant Light Irradiation Techniques, intensifying the radiance and tormenting the Chaos Geniuses.
• Ansu absorbed a third burst, triggering cracks in the Chaos Stronghold’s space until its sky split open and revealed a crimson moon.

Ansu’s Radiance Transformation drew the Mother Goddess of Life’s blood-moon gaze and destroyed the Chaos Stronghold, but he escaped with the Old Priest’s corpse and claimed first place. The bishops summoned Ansu to stay behind to investigate the omen as they prepared to address two late arrivals.

• Ansu fused three Radiant Illumination Techniques, transformed into a twisted giant, and attracted the Mother Goddess of Life’s blood-moon gaze.
• Ansu returned to his body as the Chaos Stronghold collapsed, then carried the Old Priest toward the exit; the Old Priest killed himself after Ansu tried to comfort him.
• Ansu emerged into Crow Alley with the Old Priest’s corpse, and the Esoteric Cult Geniuses recognized his exam performance as an undisputed first place.
• Ansu received one thousand Devotion Points, and Bishop Rada ordered him to stay behind while the bishops investigated the blood moon.
• Liszt asked Ansu whether they could sneak into the examination hall, and Ansu told him the hall had already been destroyed and the proctor had died by his hand.

Ansu exposed the Serpent of Suffering and the Son of Sacrifice as the popular maidens Yoko and Moon, who had married Arthur and Liszt and completed their mission. After they proved their identities with Transformation Magic, Ansu offered to share the sex-change spell and proposed that the Three Great Orders use it to seduce Saints across the Seven Great Holy Sees.

• Ansu told Bishop Rada that the Serpent of Suffering and the Son of Sacrifice had married Arthur and Liszt and handed him their marriage proposal as proof.
• Bishop Bram confirmed that the proposal came from Demigod Annan, but Rada demanded that the pair appear as Yoko and Moon before he would accept their achievements.
• Ansu summoned Liszt and Arthur, who arrived disguised as Miss Moon and Miss Yoko using Stealth Sex Change, convincing Rada and Bram of their identities.
• Rada excused the pair's late arrival and their rankings rose, while the Esoteric Cultists mourned their lost money, relationships, and faith.
• Ansu claimed the Transformation Magic as his own and offered to share it with the Three Great Orders so they could transform into maidens and seduce Saints of the Seven Great Holy Sees.

Ansu persuaded the cult leaders to make the Esoteric Cultists learn his Sex Change Technique, then manipulated Bishop Rada into targeting Merlin by revealing that Merlin wanted a girlfriend. Rada accepted the challenge and turned his attention to Moon and Yoko, threatening their place on the Most Popular Female Saint Ranking.

• Ansu proposed having the Esoteric Cultists use the Sex Change Technique to seduce the Saints, and Bishop Rada, Elvera, and Bram approved the plan.
• Bishop Rada ordered every Esoteric Cultist to learn the technique by the next day and shamed them into accepting it.
• After finding that Merlin was not monitoring them, Ansu suggested that the bishops use the plan on Merlin, but Rada initially refused because he believed Merlin loved his duties too much.
• Ansu played a recording of Merlin admitting that he liked knowledge, lacked money, and had no beautiful girlfriend, making Rada feel betrayed and furious.
• Rada declared that using the Sex Change Technique would be easy for him and threatened Moon and Yoko’s places on the Most Popular Female Saint Ranking.

Ansu and his companions entered the Chaos Market, where they exchanged their Devotion Points for unusual items and spells. Ansu planned to resell the Chaos magic to Merlin, while the Esoteric Cult Geniuses prepared to target him before the Sex Change Technique test.

• Bishop Rada scheduled the Sex Change Technique test and the possession plan for the next day, prompting the Esoteric Cult Geniuses to focus their efforts on possessing Ansu.
• A priest led Ansu, Arthur, and Liszt through a hidden entrance into the Chaos Market beneath the imperial capital.
• Arthur bought the Sun Sword, which awakened as a Legendary Low-tier weapon that could burn away clothing, and Liszt bought a Golden Finger that increased finger-casting speed and could provoke enemies.
• Ansu bought sacrificial materials, Bleed Magic spells, and Chaos small magic, intending to use the first two against the approaching witches and sell the Chaos magic to Merlin.
• Ansu and his companions left the market, and Ansu prepared to report his purchases to Merlin while Bishop Rada practiced the Sex Change Technique.