Chapter Summaries

Dox’s strength forced Witch Sharon to abandon her defenses and hide with the Substitute Technique, while Angel discovered that the shattered substitute contained one of Swift Spirit’s avatars. As Witch Sharon secretly prepared Light Void Shield, Angel’s green illusion marks guided Dox to her hiding place.

• Witch Sharon’s Spatial Thought Membrane and Air Curtain failed to stop Dox, so she used the Substitute Technique and left a Human-Faced Pattern Stone Pillar in her place.
• Dox shattered the pillar, and Angel sensed one of Swift Spirit’s avatars escape from inside it.
• Angel reasoned that Witch Sharon had likely hidden the other five avatars in separate substitute items and decided to watch for a chance to locate them.
• Witch Sharon moved away from Dox and secretly gathered energy for Light Void Shield while avoiding his blood-colored halo.
• Angel’s green illusion nodes entered Dox’s right eye and showed him arrows pointing toward Witch Sharon’s hiding place.

With Angel secretly revealing Sharon’s location and the Substitute Technique’s limits, Dox tried to force her out and provoke repeated uses of the technique. He successfully tricked Sharon into using it twice and continued an elaborate fake prophecy performance while Angel guided him toward his next move.

• Angel revealed Sharon’s location to Dox and told him to provoke her into using the Substitute Technique as often as possible.
• Dox hid his knowledge of Sharon’s position and hammered the arena with punches until the shockwaves exposed her hiding place in deep-layered space.
• Sharon interrupted her spatial spell and used the Substitute Technique to escape Dox’s sword strike, while Dox relied on Angel to locate her again.
• Dox taunted Sharon and pretended to cast a Green Arrow Prophecy, leading her to prepare another Substitute Technique.
• Angel showed Dox that Sharon was observing his supposed prophecy rather than gathering a spell, and Dox continued his act to distract her.

Dox used prophecy and Angel’s Green Pattern to track Sharon, trick her into exhausting her substitute technique, and then charged at her to force her decoy objects to reveal their location. Sharon was wounded and her cloak was cut, while Dox kept up the assault as Angel’s analysis progressed toward finding the remaining objects.

• Dox’s staged prophecy led Sharon to use the substitute technique again, and Angel’s Green Pattern reported that three of Swift Spirit’s avatars had been recovered.
• Following Angel’s instructions, Dox abandoned his act and charged Sharon directly, striking her just as she activated another substitute.
• Sharon survived with a deep shoulder wound and a slashed Void-Crossing Serpent cloak, while Dox’s Green Pattern showed that four of the six avatars had been recovered.
• Dox admitted that his prophecy could locate Sharon, then attacked again as she reached the limit of her substitute technique and relied on spatial displacement.
• Angel’s Green Pattern supplied Dox with Sharon’s likely routes and tracked the search for her decoy objects as Dox continued pressing her for information.

Witch Sharon’s companions arrived through the spatial gate while Angel’s illusion trapped her and rapidly gathered data about the substitute item. The newcomers were Exus and a suited man, leaving Angel and Dox facing two official wizards as their search neared completion.

• The spatial gate surged with energy, and Angel told Dox that Witch Sharon’s companion was about to arrive.
• Angel activated Green Patterns and illusion nodes, surrounding Witch Sharon with dense mist and trapping her while the substitute-item search accelerated.
• Witch Sharon’s companions called for her through the gate, but she could neither hear them nor find her way through the illusion.
• Two official wizards emerged from the spatial gate, and Angel and Dox recognized one of them as Exus.

Angel and Dox raced to recover Swift Spirit’s avatar before Exus could dispel the Mist Illusion. Exus summoned a vast light wheel that transformed the illusion, while Stop realized the spatial seal had fallen and Black Earl was closing in.

• Dox warned Angel that Exus seemed suspicious and watched him closely, while Angel kept his attention on Witch Sharon and the search for Swift Spirit’s avatar.
• Exus formed a glowing light wheel that sent colored strands into the Mist Illusion, leaving Angel unable to understand the strange state it entered.
• Angel rushed toward Witch Sharon after locating a possible hiding place for the avatar, and Dox followed, swinging his sword at her cloak to search it.
• As the mist thinned, Stop and Exus saw Witch Sharon badly injured and Angel and Dox approaching her.
• Stop saw that the spatial seal had been broken and warned Exus that Black Earl had caught up; Exus said he could resolve the illusion within three seconds.

Angel used the Mist Illusion to reach Witch Sharon and steal her necklace while Exus and Stop were trapped, then Dox delayed them as they broke free. Witch Sharon realized Jon had tricked her into dropping the necklace, and she saw him holding it across the arena.

• Witch Sharon expected Exus and Stop to break the illusion, but Dox ambushed her and tore her cloak with the Red Sword.
• Dox found no trace of Swift Spirit's avatar in the cloak and prepared to hold off Exus and Stop while Angel searched for the substitute item.
• Angel reached Witch Sharon under cover of the illusion, while Exus broke through the mist and attacked Dox from a distance.
• Witch Sharon mistook an illusionary thread and warning for Exus's actions, then realized Jon had used an illusion to deceive her.
• Exus told Witch Sharon that Jon had hidden in her shadow, and Stop revealed that Jon had taken her necklace.
• Witch Sharon felt her bare neck and saw Jon holding her necklace across the arena.

Angel stole the substitute item from Witch Sharon and stalled Stop’s group while Black Earl and the Bilos Family assembled a confinement formation. Stop, Witch Sharon, and Exus then escaped through the supposedly sealed teleportation gate, leaving the wizards behind.

• Angel used an illusion to make Witch Sharon dodge, spotted the Human-Faced Pattern stone pillars on her necklace, and stole it.
• Angel spoke with Exus and Stop, pretending to seek answers while secretly stalling for Black Earl.
• Stop deduced that Angel was buying time, but Angel confirmed only that he was stalling and questioned Stop about his confidence.
• Black Earl, Gai Nuo, Shaina, Sea Eagle, Yaji, and other wizards arrived, formed a confinement formation, and damaged the teleportation gate.
• Stop’s group raised a light shield and entered the teleportation gate despite the confinement formation, then the gate closed and they disappeared.

The Bilos Family and Black Earl concluded that Stop and the others had escaped the restriction array, though they could not determine how. Angel questioned Lucia about Exus, whose mysterious origins and reputation as a good man left Angel wondering what abilities he possessed.

• Night Tree No. 9 reported that Stop and the others had left the designated area, and Elder Tree persuaded Gai Nuo not to risk collapsing the nearby space.
• Shaina warned Gai Nuo that a spatial collapse could bring costly retaliation from Elysium Pavilion, and Gai Nuo abandoned the proposal.
• Black Earl admitted that he could not explain how Stop and the others bypassed the restriction array, and he flew toward Lucia to seek clues.
• Shaina redirected Gai Nuo's pointed remark toward Lucia, preventing him from drawing attention to Angel's identity.
• Angel agreed to help Lucia present the truth of the Starry District incident and asked him about Exus, learning of Exus's good reputation and mysterious background.
• Angel asked Lucia whether Exus had ever displayed any special abilities.

Angel, Dox, and Black Earl investigated Exus’s mysterious abilities, while Black Earl began to suspect Exus belonged to a particular wizard school. Meanwhile, Exus escaped Paradise with Stop and Witch Sharon, but their arrival near the Guman capital may have been detected.

• Lucia told Angel that Exus had accepted a Starry District teaching assignment and described his popular lessons, including advanced Chain Slash demonstrations for certain bloodline-side apprentices.
• Dox recognized the technique as Chain Slash and suggested to Black Earl through the Mind Tether that it might be connected to the Wild Gods of the Savage World.
• Black Earl reasoned that Exus may have been the one who broke his confinement array, then heard Angel describe Exus’s Rainbow Threads disrupting his illusion.
• Black Earl considered Exus’s Chain Slash, Rainbow Threads, illusion-breaking, and spatial abilities, then wondered whether Exus belonged to a certain wizard school.
• Stop, Witch Sharon, and Exus emerged from a rainbow gate in a deserted forest; Exus collapsed, and Stop reported they were near the Guman capital, where Paganini had detected spatial fluctuations.

Witch Sharon and Stop discovered that the illusion energy Exus had grazed was violently expanding inside his sea of consciousness, and they suspected Angel’s power was an unpredictable variable beyond Paganini’s script. Witch Sharon proposed breaking Exus’s spacetime condensation cover to release the energy, leaving them to attempt the risky solution.

• Witch Sharon examined Exus and found his body was stable but his mental state was severely damaged, while Stop contacted Paganini about the spatial fluctuations.
• Stop learned that the Guman King had sent royal guards to investigate, including unknown factional spies, but the guard captain was not among them.
• Witch Sharon awakened Exus, who explained that the illusion energy felt connected to something vast and was threatening to make his spacetime condensation cover burst.
• Stop realized Paganini had not foreseen Exus’s condition and suspected Angel was a variable missing from the script.
• Witch Sharon concluded that the illusion energy was expanding rather than hiding, and proposed breaking Exus’s spacetime condensation cover to release it into the outside world.

Exus shattered the Spatiotemporal Barrier, releasing the Mist Illusion and suffering severe physical backlash, while Stop stayed inside to study and break the illusion. Stop later discovered that the illusion’s strange green patterns were dissipating, giving them hope it would soon collapse.

• Exus shattered the Spatiotemporal Barrier, and iridescent threads pierced his body as the Mist Illusion began to spread.
• Stop studied the illusion’s green patterns while Witch Sharon left to watch for guards from Guman Capital and monitor the mist from outside.
• Witch Sharon and Exus spoke through the Mind Tether about Jon, Dox, and the possibility that Jon had come to retrieve wind seeds hidden in her necklace.
• Stop discovered that repeated arrangements of the green patterns caused them to dissipate, suggesting the illusion might soon collapse.

Witch Sharon diverted the Guman Royal House's guards with a forest labyrinth, then entered the Mist Illusion when Stop and Exus stopped responding. The mist eventually vanished, but Witch Sharon, Stop, and Exus were still nowhere to be found.

• Witch Sharon created face-covered ancient trees to warn the royal guards away from the forest, but they continued onward.
• Witch Sharon appeared as a black wizard and trapped the guards in a labyrinth containing spatial rifts, leaving them to wait for rescue or find a way out.
• Witch Sharon noticed two guards acting suspiciously and suspected that one or both might be spies, but Stop and Exus did not answer her through the Mind Tether.
• Witch Sharon followed the Mind Tether into the mist and entered a dense patch where she believed Stop and Exus were trapped.
• The mist gradually disappeared over several hours, but Witch Sharon, Stop, and Exus did not reappear.

Angel, Dox, and Kael left Paradise for Starry District after Black Earl prevented the Bilos Family from detaining them and urged Tree Elder to investigate the family’s internal breach. At the Travel Inn, Angel arranged deep meditation rooms and told Dox that Black Earl had learned something about Exus’s affiliation, leaving Dox eager to hear more.

• Gai Nuo tried to keep Angel and Dox for questioning, but Wai relayed Black Earl’s order to let them go, and Black Earl warned the Bilos Family to investigate its own ranks.
• Tree Elder questioned Moon Elder about why Bilen Tree Court had been left undefended, and Moon Elder agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
• Angel, Dox, and Kael left Paradise and returned to Starry District while Bilos Family members watched the entrance; Lucia remained behind.
• Angel gave Dox a membership card and arranged deep meditation rooms for both of them at the Travel Inn.
• Dox followed Angel to his room hoping to see the Unbreakable Heart Mirror, but Angel postponed showing it until he had settled himself.
• Angel told Dox that Black Earl had learned Exus’s affiliation and would arrive shortly, so Dox returned to wait for him.

As they waited for Black Earl, Angel kept the Unbreakable Heart Mirror hidden because Laplace was still inside it. Black Earl arrived with Lucia, who produced items linked to Witch Sharon and Exus so Black Earl could search them for clues about the attackers.

• Angel refused to show Dox the Unbreakable Heart Mirror while Laplace remained inside its Mirror Realm, though he explained that it was durable in the material world.
• Black Earl arrived at the Travel Inn with Wai and Lucia, explaining privately to Angel that he had secured Lucia’s release from the Bilos Family to open a connection with the Preacher of Starlight.
• Lucia agreed to retrieve items related to the attackers only after Black Earl promised not to harm his guests, including Stop, Exus, and Witch Sharon’s group.
• Lucia took a reservation order signed by Witch Sharon and a training sword used by Exus from his Exile Space.
• Dox detected faint contract power in the parchment, while Angel identified the sword as bloodsteel mixed with Star Iron.
• Lucia explained that Witch Sharon’s parchment was an ordinary fragrance order and that Exus had used the sword for combat lessons; Black Earl accepted both items as clues to investigate.

Black Earl confirmed that Exus was most likely a time-element wizard and explained why knowledge of the element was scarce and dangerous. Angel then asked how Exus’s observed abilities revealed his element, and Black Earl began answering by citing the time-element creature Time Thief.

• Lucia returned the appointment order and teaching sword, trusted Black Earl’s appraisal, and asked whether Exus truly belonged to the time element.
• Wai revealed that Black Earl’s earlier claim to the Tree Elder had been a conjecture that Exus might possess time-element talent.
• Black Earl confirmed that the teaching sword’s evidence indicated Exus was most likely a time-element wizard, and explained that scarce knowledge, deliberate secrecy, and dangerous backlash made advancement difficult.
• Black Earl said Exus was the first time-element talent he had seen become a formal wizard and wondered whether Exus had inherited knowledge in the Southern Region or come from beyond it.
• Angel asked how Black Earl had identified Exus’s element despite seeing no obvious control over time, and Black Earl said even Legendary time wizards could not achieve absolute control before mentioning Time Thief.

Angel and Black Earl explained why Exus's Chain Slash could be a time-element ability, then Black Earl recounted learning about it at Evening Bell Cathedral. After entering a memory stored in a lantern there, Black Earl began experiencing its owner’s memory repeatedly.

• Black Earl explained that time-element abilities were often internalized and that Chain Slash was the basis for identifying Exus as a time-element wizard.
• Black Earl recalled that Monchi had invited him to support his plan to pursue legend through a demon god descendant’s bloodline, then secured his promise with a Frost Blossom reward.
• Black Earl used a clone to visit Frost Blossom and obtained an invitation to Evening Bell Cathedral.
• Black Earl entered the cathedral and was teleported to an unrecorded coachman’s room, where a lantern revealed its ability to project memories.
• Black Earl discovered that the lantern held a memory belonging to its owner and began experiencing that memory repeatedly.

Black Earl repeatedly explored the lantern owner's memory, where a scarlet beam killed him whenever he approached the room's door, and discovered notes identifying the owner as the time-type apprentice Hermes. Back outside the memory, Black Earl explained to Angel and Dox that Chain Slash was a time-type ability with strict conditions for its use.

• Black Earl entered the lantern owner's memory and was killed by a scarlet beam before he could see who was outside the room.
• Black Earl repeatedly relived the memory, found Hermes's Cultivation Notes, and learned that Hermes had studied time-type abilities, including Temporal Memory and Chain Slash.
• Black Earl discovered a secret passage beneath the bed, but the lantern expelled him whenever he entered it.
• Black Earl concluded that the memory's focus was the people outside and the scarlet beam, but left before the bell rang without breaking through.
• Black Earl told Angel and Dox that time-type Chain Slash intercepted an equivalent attack from spacetime and required close range, a durable weapon, and a limited attack scale.

Black Earl explained the strict casting risks and possible spells behind Exus’s time-type abilities. The group concluded that Exus may have used Time Slip to escape the confinement array, while they awaited evidence to determine how he had erased Angel’s illusion.

• Black Earl explained why time-type Chain Slash required precise casting and a specially commissioned weapon, then said Exus’s ordinary practice sword had revealed his time-type energy.
• Black Earl proposed Time-Measure Balance, Body-Substitution Transfer, and Spatiotemporal Barrier as possible spells that could have made Angel’s Nightmare Illusion disappear.
• Black Earl explained the restrictions and risks of each spell, and said they could rule out Time-Measure Balance if the illusion had not erupted by noon.
• Angel’s confusion about Exus breaking his illusion faded, and he asked how Exus and his companions had escaped the confinement array.
• Black Earl confidently identified Time Slip as the trick Exus had used to pass through spatial lockdown.

Black Earl explained the power, costs, and dangers of Time Slip, then discussed why Exus, Witch Sharon, and Stop might have attacked Bilen Tree Court. He concluded that Sharon and Stop could have acted for amusement, while Exus may have been the reason they chose Bilen Tree Court.

• Black Earl explained that Time Slip crossed spacetime distance, was difficult and dangerous to learn, consumed costly materials, and exposed its user to backlash and predators.
• Dox and Angel agreed that teammates could help manage Time Slip's costs and risks, especially when a spatial wizard like Witch Sharon was present.
• Angel and Dox discussed the diplomatic crisis facing the Bilos Family, and Angel noted that the major wizard organizations had supported the family and could demand an explanation.
• At Black Earl's prompting, Angel assessed the three attackers: Witch Sharon seemed driven by amusement, Exus seemed inclined toward good and had saved people, and Stop seemed strange and potentially extreme.
• Black Earl said Stop and Witch Sharon could have attacked Bilen Tree Court simply for pleasure or amusement, while Exus may have been the main reason they chose that location.

Black Earl explained how Exus’s unusual treatment of bloodline apprentices and the destruction of the Sharkstar Pureblood Society might be connected to the attack on Bilen Tree Court. He argued that Stop, Witch Sharon, and their summoned creatures were tied to the Savage Realm and may have shared hostility toward bloodline wizards, leaving Angel convinced this could explain the attackers’ choices.

• Black Earl pointed out that Exus taught some bloodline apprentices but refused to teach others, and his divination indicated an ambiguous connection between Exus and the Sharkstar Pureblood Society.
• Black Earl explained that the Society had suffered most of the deaths in the Guild District attack and suggested its destruction was linked to the bloodlines its apprentices had integrated.
• Angel realized that Exus may have influenced Stop and Witch Sharon’s decision to attack Bilen Tree Court, even though Exus himself had saved people and did not participate in the attack.
• Black Earl identified the attackers’ summoned creatures as beings from the Savage Realm, including a crocodile-headed gatekeeping demon serving the Yalu Deity.
• Black Earl revealed that most Society apprentices had Savage Realm bloodlines and that its recent seminars had focused on Savage Realm creatures, suggesting the attackers opposed such bloodline wizards.
• Angel concluded that the attackers’ ties to the Savage Realm could explain their hostility toward the Pureblood Society and accepted Black Earl’s reasoning.