Chapter Summaries

Three men from a rival faction entered the church’s bottom layer to retrieve an artifact from a dead man’s remains, but their search was interrupted by a figure who killed or seized them. As the figure approached the Glasses Man, a coffin opened and a blood-red butterfly emerged.

• The Thin Man, Scarface Man, and Glasses Man used the Knocking Stone to reach the bottom layer and searched the coffins for their target’s remains.
• Blood Wraiths attacked the three men, but their blessing-enhanced strength let them destroy the wraiths temporarily.
• Scarface Man found the target’s body but not the artifact, while Gaunt Man found the target’s wife; Glasses Man ordered them to take both coffins and leave.
• A figure emerged from the darkness, killed Scarface Man, threw Gaunt Man into the dark, and defeated Glasses Man after he drew the Radiant Corona.
• A coffin in the third row opened, and a blood-red butterfly flew out as a pale, bloodstained hand gripped its edge.

He Ao explained how the Eternal Sect may have lured the Eternal Old Sect into a trap while concealing its own plans. He and the Red Haired Woman emerged from the darkness into a chamber, where He Ao faced a White Robed Man and found his parents inside a coffin.

• He Ao led the Red Haired Woman along the Paper Butterfly’s safe path through the darkness and explained why Locke’s mission to capture Alice suggested a trap around the church’s core.
• The Red Haired Woman reasoned that the Eternal Sect may have arranged for Locke to leave his post so it could isolate and execute him while ambushing the Eternal Old Sect.
• He Ao and the Red Haired Woman reached a door in the darkness, which He Ao opened to reveal an open coffin and a bloodied platform.
• He Ao saw a glasses-wearing man pinned by Golden Spears and gripping a white sun disk, while a White Robed Man greeted him as Young Master Ilo.
• He Ao opened the coffin, saw the person inside, and told the White Robed Man he was taking his father and mother home.

He Ao fought Seratt in the church’s core area while trying to reclaim his parents’ remains, and learned that Seratt had used the remains to set the trap. He Ao rejected Seratt’s offer of Eternal Radiance and launched another attack, leaving their battle unresolved.

• He Ao refused Seratt’s offer to stay with his parents and fought him to keep the remains from being taken.
• He Ao discovered Seratt’s chest was hollow but that his Energy Circuits remained intact, and Seratt’s attacks nearly cut He Ao’s throat.
• He Ao adapted to Seratt’s growing Golden Greatsword and struck him in the brow, while Seratt’s blade shattered the platform and exposed darkness below.
• Seratt tried to influence He Ao into believing in Eternal Radiance, but He Ao remained determined to take his parents home and cut off Seratt’s ponytail.
• Seratt identified himself as Talent Sequence 194, Fanatic believer, and confirmed that he had used He Ao’s parents to set the trap; He Ao called Seratt’s promised divine kingdom hell and attacked again.

He Ao fought Seratt across the coffin platform and discovered that the Eternal Radiance in the darkness sustained the space and Seratt’s recovery. As the battle reached a turning point, the Glasses Man fired the Radiant Corona’s final charge at the strange light He Ao had found.

• He Ao dodged Seratt’s attacks and the grasping hands in the darkness, then realized Seratt recovered more slowly away from the radiance.
• He Ao and Seratt resumed their duel as the Paper Butterfly disrupted the Twisted Patterns, and He Ao wounded Seratt while searching for the source of the radiance.
• He Ao used Seratt’s sword rings to pull him close and kick him in the throat, then briefly approached Truth and spotted an intense radiance within the patterns.
• The Glasses Man secretly aimed the Radiant Corona while the Red Haired Woman tried to warn He Ao, but a force silenced her.
• He Ao struck Seratt’s temple and stunned him as the Glasses Man fired the Radiant Corona, tearing through a sphere of pale arms and striking the twisted light at its center.

He Ao killed Seratt and Glasses Man as the Inner Church collapsed, then used the Knocking Stone to escape with Laina and his parents’ coffins. They vanished from the collapsing darkness and returned to the surface world.

• He Ao shattered Seratt’s Energy Circuit and defeated him in a final fight, killing him with a blow through the chest.
• As the Inner Church began to collapse, He Ao moved his parents’ coffins to safety and learned through Glasses Man’s thoughts that the Eternal Old Sect wanted the Hidden Observer wooden plaque.
• Glasses Man tried to kill He Ao, but He Ao beheaded him with the Golden Greatsword.
• He Ao collapsed from his injuries, and Laina chose to carry him and secure the coffins instead of abandoning them.
• He Ao warned Laina that her disk would release dangerous contamination and used the Knocking Stone to open a way out.
• He Ao invoked Atmorayeh, causing the church’s stabilizing mechanism to collapse; the Knocking Stone enveloped He Ao, Laina, and their belongings and transported them away.

He Ao escaped the collapsing Main Church with Laina and entrusted her with his parents’ bodies while he stayed behind to cover her retreat. After learning that United Industries had betrayed the Federal Bureau of Investigation and allied with the Eternal Sect, he took control of Vili’s Fallen Angel Mecha and prepared to face the approaching enemy mechs.

• Laina and He Ao escaped the collapsing church, and He Ao used his swords to reach the rooftop of a nearby building.
• He Ao and Laina opened his parents’ coffins, and He Ao told her about their ordinary struggles before entrusting their bodies to her.
• Laina carried He Ao’s parents away as Vili’s white Fallen Angel Mecha arrived, and He Ao climbed into its cockpit.
• He Ao told Vili that United Industries had betrayed the Federal Bureau of Investigation and joined forces with the Eternal Sect.
• He Ao activated the mecha’s manual controls and drew its greatsword as the black mechs approached.

He Ao fought off the Federation mecha squad in his modified Fallen Angel Mecha while the off-road vehicle escaped. After defeating the squad, he flew toward an enormous object hovering in the direction of the fleeing mecha and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

• The Federation mecha squad opened fire on He Ao, while two mechas broke away to pursue the off-road vehicle.
• He Ao charged into the formation, destroyed several Hell Apostle Mechas, and confronted the red-painted commander’s modified mecha.
• He Ao used a decoy made from a wrecked Hell Apostle Mecha to trick the commander, then destroyed the red-painted mecha with a Plasma Cannon shot.
• He Ao defeated another attacking mecha and reassured a boy hiding nearby with a silent gesture.
• He Ao destroyed the two mechas pursuing the off-road vehicle, learned from Eve that it had escaped, and flew toward the enormous object on the radar.

Director Gaster and a young agent fled through Winter City while United Industries and the Eternal Sect cut off their signals and pursued them. Gaster fought a Sky Behemoth’s forces alone until the agent returned, and a white mecha arrived to save them.

• Gaster destroyed a pursuing Hell Apostle Mecha, then told the young agent that their survival was the only way to expose the attackers.
• Gaster spotted a Sky Behemoth and ordered the young agent to flee while he stayed behind to confront it.
• Gaster rejected the attackers’ offer to cooperate and fought their drones and Dragon Rider Fighters as they overwhelmed him.
• A hidden blue-painted mecha struck Gaster from behind, but the young agent returned and disrupted its next attack with the off-road vehicle.
• A white mecha blocked the blue mecha’s greatsword, split the blue mecha in two, and charged into the drone swarm.

He Ao fought the Sky Behemoth that United Industries had brought into the city, using the Fallen Angel Mecha and a captured Hell Apostle Mecha to reach its main cannon. He left the outcome hanging as Eve fired at the cannon just after He Ao sent the damaged black mecha plunging into it.

• He Ao refused the Sky Behemoth commander’s demand to surrender and attacked the drones, Dragon Rider Fighters, and mechas guarding the warship.
• He Ao dodged the Sky Behemoth’s missiles and main-cannon blast, then removed energy batteries from four disabled mechas.
• He Ao drew the Sky Behemoth’s fire toward the sea and used a sudden turn to evade its cannon while the blast destroyed the pursuing drone swarm.
• He Ao broke into a damaged Hell Apostle Mecha, shot its pilot, and flew it toward the Sky Behemoth’s charging main cannon with the four batteries.
• He Ao leaped from the Hell Apostle Mecha before it entered the cannon, and Eve caught him in the Fallen Angel Mecha.
• Eve fired the Plasma Cannon at the main cannon as the Hell Apostle Mecha plunged into it, triggering a massive explosion.

He Ao destroyed the Sky Behemoth by sabotaging its charged main cannon, then rescued Gaster and a young agent as the Dragon Rider Fighters let the Fallen Angel Mecha pass. The Old Man learned of the defeat and ordered negotiations with Rockville Energy Group while seeking help at Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters.

• He Ao timed the Hell Apostle Mecha’s battery explosion to disrupt the Sky Behemoth’s main cannon and destroy the weapon, escaping in the Fallen Angel Mecha.
• Eve reconnected to the network as the Sky Behemoth fell, its drones lost control, and Dragon Rider Fighters arrived too late to help.
• Gaster and the young agent boarded the Fallen Angel Mecha, which passed through the Dragon Rider Fighters without provoking them to fire.
• The Old Man learned that the Sky Behemoth had been destroyed and that Gaster had escaped with the unknown Seventh Faction’s Mecha.
• The Old Man ordered his subordinate to offer Rockville Energy Group compensation and to bring the people from the Eternal Sect to the Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters.

Laina brought Gaster and a young agent to a safehouse, while Vili cared for the badly wounded Ilo after he returned in the Mecha. As Laina and Vili compared what they knew about the failed alliance’s plans, they recognized that Ilo’s actions had shifted the city’s conflict from an apparent dead end into an uncertain struggle; Ilo remained unconscious but began to stir.

• Laina met Gaster and a young agent, offered them a safehouse and an underground doctor, and drove them away from the battle zone.
• A blonde twin-tailed girl found Ilo unconscious and bloodied in the Mecha cockpit, placed his head on her thigh, and summoned medical help.
• Laina assessed how United Industries and the Eternal Sect had failed to defeat the Twilight Society, absorb the Security Federation, and secure control of the Storm District.
• Laina arrived at the Funeral Home and met Vili, who told her that Ilo was stable but extremely weak and still unconscious.
• Laina and Vili discussed how Ilo’s actions had disrupted the enemy alliance’s plan and changed the city’s conflict; Ilo’s eyelids trembled as a phantom butterfly appeared above him.

He Ao recovered with a new power gathered around Alice’s Paper Butterfly, then learned that Laina’s disc had been meant to expose her to Eternal Radiance. He hired Laina to lure her former client out by claiming she knew where the Wooden Tablet with Eyes was, offering the Warrior Talent Sequence taken from Si Wente as payment.

• He Ao woke beside Vili and Laina as the Paper Butterfly on his shoulder gradually became solid and helped repair his body.
• Laina told He Ao that the Security Federation was recovering, that United Industries had placed a fifty-million bounty on him, and that the Eternal Sect had plastered Winter City with Wanted posters.
• He Ao inspected Laina’s disc and explained that its stored contamination would turn her into a monster if she used it again; he suspected her former client was a high-ranking believer of Eternal Radiance.
• He Ao asked Laina to contact the client and arrange a meeting because the man might be connected to his parents’ deaths, and she agreed in exchange for Talent Sequence 98: Warrior’s secret medicine and ritual.
• Laina realized the Warrior material came from Si Wente’s corpse in He Ao’s vehicle, and He Ao told her to lure the client out by claiming she knew where the Wooden Tablet with Eyes was.

The Old Man uncovered the Brown-haired Man’s betrayal of the church and killed him, then received a message from a girl who should have died. At the Funeral Home, He Ao and Vili cremated Ilo’s parents and discussed Mayor Endier’s past and his possible knowledge of their deaths.

• The Old Man arrived at the wounded church members’ hideout and questioned the Brown-haired Man about the Kingdom of God and the missing Radiant Corona.
• The Old Man accused the Brown-haired Man of betraying the church; the Brown-haired Man admitted he served the Pope’s ideal and attacked, but the Old Man killed him with golden spears.
• The Old Man promoted the Bald Man to oversee the churches in the northwest, then received a message from a girl who should have died.
• He Ao and Vili cremated Ilo’s parents and shared milk tea at the Funeral Home.
• He Ao asked Vili about Mayor Endier, and she recalled how he had changed after her parents were assassinated and wondered whether he knew the truth behind their deaths.

Vili explained why Endier had given up searching for the truth behind her parents’ assassination, and He Ao’s questions helped her decide to visit the Mayor’s Residence and pursue change. After leaving the Funeral Home with Ilo’s parents’ urns, He Ao met Laina, learned his bounty had risen to eighty million, and discovered their mysterious client wanted to meet near Ilo’s home, where the Eternal Sect was likely waiting.

• Vili told He Ao that an investigation had blamed the Eternal Sect for her parents’ deaths but found no evidence against Vincent or United Industries, and that Endier had struggled to protect the poor after losing support.
• He Ao asked Vili whose support had sustained her father’s rule, prompting her to recognize the difficult path ahead and resolve to visit Endier at the Mayor’s Residence.
• After the cremation, Vili handed He Ao the urns of Ilo’s parents, and the two parted as Vili set her navigation for the Mayor’s Residence.
• He Ao collected his equipment and drove to meet Laina, who told him his bounty had risen to eighty million and gave him the client’s meeting address.
• He Ao saw that the address was near Ilo’s home and realized the Eternal Sect might be gathered there.

He Ao prepared Rank C Secret Medicine with Laina and confirmed their plan to use a dangerous Warrior promotion ritual. As Laina waited in Aka District and the Old Man fought his way through the Eternal Sect’s guards, He Ao returned to his apartment and awaited the hidden client.

• He Ao gave Laina the Rank C Secret Medicine and warned her that the promotion ritual could kill her, but she agreed to proceed.
• The Old Man criticized a Youth’s report and told him to learn about life in Aka District and Storm District before inheriting his father’s electoral district.
• Laina waited near Novis’s apartment, holding the secret medicine and watching the Eternal Sect’s surveillance perimeter.
• He Ao slipped into his apartment, changed out of his hospital gown, put on a hand-knitted red scarf, and brewed coffee.
• The Old Man killed the White Robe Priests guarding the apartment and entered after the smart lock opened.
• He Ao greeted the Old Man with two cups of coffee, welcoming him as “Mr. ‘Leader.’”

Laina escaped a church pursuit while He Ao confronted the Old Man and deduced that he led the Eternal Old Sect and had manipulated Laina’s mission. The Old Man confirmed He Ao’s insight and asked whether he knew of the Eternal Divine Kingdom.

• Laina sped out of the alley as Bald Man pursued her, and Bald Man’s group collided with a plainclothes church agent who was then killed by a blade-wielding attacker.
• White-robed figures found the agent’s body and reported that heretics were fleeing northwest, including a suspected dangerous C-rank.
• The Old Man realized He Ao had arranged for his church companions to be isolated, and the two calmly discussed the Old Man’s position and He Ao’s refusal to join the church.
• He Ao explained that he had guessed the Old Man was the Eternal Old Sect’s leader by tracing Laina’s suspicious commission and the plan to use her as a backup for recovering the Radiant Corona.
• He Ao accused the Old Man of treating people as pieces for his goal and asked what he wanted to find using Truth monsters; the Old Man asked whether He Ao knew of the Eternal Divine Kingdom.

He Ao confronted the Old Man, leader of the Eternal Old Sect, and uncovered his scheme to find and control the Eternal Sect’s artificial divine kingdom. He rejected the Old Man’s offer and escaped through a window as the Old Man pursued him into the night sky.

• The Old Man explained how the Eternal Old Sect’s original end-of-the-universe doctrine differed from the Eternal Sect’s promise of an afterlife, and He Ao inferred that the Old Man sought power in the future sect.
• He Ao deduced that the Eternal Sect had created a hidden divine kingdom and that the Old Man wanted to locate and control it using the Hidden Observer.
• The Old Man offered to preserve He Ao’s soul in the divine kingdom, then revealed that He Ao’s father had high compatibility with the Hidden Card and that Locke had helped advance the Old Man’s plan.
• He Ao accused the Old Man of manipulating Locke and the Eternal Sect, and explained that the Eternal Sect had anticipated the scheme and badly weakened the Old Man’s forces.
• The Old Man threatened to turn He Ao into a mindless Truth monster, but He Ao leaped through an open window and flew away with the blood-red butterfly as the Old Man chased him.

He Ao fought Wright, the Old Church leader, on a rooftop, using the Golden Greatsword and Alice’s support to close the distance despite Wright’s power to suppress external abilities. He Ao identified Wright’s Talent Sequence and the danger of his orange eye, but the battle continued with both men still standing.

• He Ao pulled a partly dissipated Golden Greatsword from the rooftop and used Alice’s domain and healing to prepare for battle with Wright.
• He Ao shattered Wright’s regenerating Golden Spears while pretending to struggle, then used their scattered radiance to charge through and attack at close range.
• Wright’s orange eye weakened Alice’s healing and disrupted He Ao’s connection to his mark, while Wright revealed that He Ao’s body was close to collapse.
• Wright named himself and identified his Talent Sequence as Fanatic believer, while He Ao recognized similarities to Seratt’s abilities.
• He Ao deduced that Wright’s eye erased the patterns through which external Transcendent Items operated, then asked whether Wright could see Truth Patterns and accused him of being afraid.
• Wright gathered his golden radiance to repel He Ao, who steadied himself and condemned Wright for endangering innocent people for his own benefit.

He Ao battled Wright through the United Industries high-rises, studying Wright’s evasive movements and selective defense while enduring severe injuries. He Ao used Wright’s own footwork to surprise him with the Knight Sword, piercing his neck, but Wright’s body gathered into light as He Ao struggled to stand.

• He Ao gave up using his two marks to monitor Wright and attacked with the Golden Greatsword, recognizing that Wright’s seemingly effortless dodges came from precise movement and muscle control.
• He Ao tracked Wright’s energy and struck him into a United Industries building, then destroyed an attacking Dragon Rider Fighter before Wright met him again.
• Wright used his footwork to attack He Ao and boasted that He Ao could not break his defense, while He Ao provoked him into close combat.
• He Ao observed that Wright’s defense protected only anticipated attack points and confirmed the weakness by punching his abdomen.
• Wright disarmed and battered He Ao, but He Ao adapted Wright’s footwork and used the Knight Sword to pierce Wright’s neck after the Golden Greatsword shattered.
• Wright struck He Ao away as the patterns on his body burst into light and gathered again, while He Ao stood bloodied with several broken ribs.

He Ao fought Wright across a collapsing high-rise and used the Radiant Corona, the sealed contamination, and Wright’s own spear to destroy his final Energy Convergence Point. After Wright died, He Ao took the Eye of Dissipation and other items, destroyed two pursuing Hell Apostle Mechas, and escaped into the night.

• He Ao battled Wright, whose reconstructed body and golden spear gave him a decisive advantage, while the damaged high-rise began to collapse.
• Wright wounded He Ao and destroyed the attacking Mechas and Dragon Rider Fighters, but He Ao used the disc he had given Laina to release sealed contamination and activate the Radiant Corona.
• Wright weakened the Radiant Corona and pierced He Ao’s chest, but He Ao held the spear in place and stabbed Wright’s final Energy Convergence Point with his Knight Sword.
• He Ao removed the Eye of Dissipation from Wright’s decaying body and collected a Finger Bone Fossil and a golden brooch.
• He Ao destroyed two newly arrived Hell Apostle Mechas with broken spear fragments and fled into the night.