Chapter Summaries

Angel learned how Lady Isabella had saved the Kula Kuka people and discovered that Axo protected the lost sacred land of Pokladi. As the Sky Choir selection continued without finding a chorister who could activate the secret treasure, Angel recognized Babaya among the next contestants.

• Angel asked the High Priest about the Fairy Epic, and the High Priest revealed that his father had helped Lady Isabella before dying in the Flowering Garden, prompting her to save the Kula Kuka people later.
• Angel confirmed that the giant serpent kingdom was Axosania and that Axo was the serpent’s name; the High Priest said Pokladi was Axo’s protected sacred land, southeast of Xipolak.
• Shadow deduced that Angel had encountered Axo and pressed him for its location, but Angel warned Shadow that going to Pokladi would mean certain death.
• Angel learned that each chorister’s bloodline could activate the secret treasure only once, while the Sky Choir selection continued without success.
• Angel spotted Babaya of Sprout Village among the next batch of choristers.

Angel helped Babaya recover from a mistake during her performance, but the secret treasure did not select her. Yelena was chosen instead, and her song activated the treasure, purifying Shadow’s soul and gathering the gray mist in Angel’s soul into one place.

• Angel used an illusion to help Babaya resume singing after her voice cracked, but the secret treasure showed no reaction and she left without being chosen.
• After two more groups performed, Yelena’s singing caused the secret treasure to flash, and the high priest selected her for the Sky Choir.
• Angel created an illusory grand stage and summoned the Teacup Band to help Yelena perform without mistakes.
• Yelena’s song activated the secret treasure, and its clear light purified Shadow’s soul while gathering the gray mist in Angel’s soul into a clump.
• Shadow said the purification had removed nearly half his soul’s impurities, and the high priest explained that Angel’s gathered Veins were not impurities but could cause problems if they spread.

Angel learned that Pokladi’s holy emblem was the Immortal Serpent Crest and that its cone represented the Cone of Immortality, then returned to Black Castle to meet Felicia and found Gloria behaving strangely. The chapter ended with Gloria offering Angel more food after his Qi-Measure Vortex revealed that he liked milk.

• Angel told the High Priest to keep the Law Threads in his soul secret, and Shadow took Fiona aside to learn that the early ceremony and proposed Sky Choir performance had been Fiona’s idea.
• Angel showed the High Priest the crest and learned that Pokladi’s emblem was called the Immortal Serpent Crest and depicted a Cone of Immortality.
• The High Priest told Angel that Bula had sold his family to slave traders who sought Pokladi, and Angel wondered whether Dodolo’s broken bowl might be connected to the cone.
• Angel and Shadow returned to the Inner World, where Angel went to Black Castle to meet Felicia while Shadow searched for Naga.
• Gloria offered Angel a Qi-Measure Vortex, and Felicia explained that it would improve his magic source’s efficiency for a week.
• After Angel tasted milk in the vortex, Gloria said that she now knew he liked milk and offered him a plate of round, metal-looking food.

Felicia offered Angel three versions of Mystic Butterfly, each concealing a trap, and Angel chose Darknight Butterfly Dance because he believed it would let him retain some control if she entered his soul. After Felicia served him the wine, Angel drank it and was carried into a tranquil world of butterflies.

• Felicia offered Angel Darknight Butterfly Dance, Unstable Mystic Butterfly, or plain Mystic Butterfly, and Angel suspected that each choice concealed a different attack.
• Angel chose Darknight Butterfly Dance, reasoning that he could respond if Felicia probed the wound in his soul.
• As night fell, Gloria rejected the appetizers and demanded wine from Felicia.
• Felicia gave Angel Darknight Butterfly Dance as repayment for his kindness to Toby and warned that it would become ordinary Mystic Butterfly if the ice melted.
• Angel wished Felicia good luck, drank the wine, and felt butterflies carry him into a tranquil world.

Angel was drawn into Soul Land, where he discovered that Striped Green Velvet had transformed into a defensive Soul Grassland around his increasingly solid soul. Felicia probed the grassland and Angel’s soul, then began investigating its interior after learning that Lord Nis had refined it.

• Angel’s consciousness followed a swarm of butterflies through Soul Land and merged with his soul, which now stood on a glowing grassland.
• Felicia sent a butterfly into the Soul Grassland, where spores consumed it, and identified the growth as nearly mature Striped Green Velvet.
• Angel and Felicia discussed the grassland’s defenses, and Felicia warned that Striped Green Velvet’s maturity might not be good for him.
• Felicia sent stronger black-and-white butterflies past the grassland’s defenses to examine Angel’s soul and discovered that Lord Nis had refined it.
• Felicia found a Soul Furnace inside Angel’s soul and sensed a strange stagnation as she investigated further.

Felicia inspected Angel’s soul and disturbed a mysterious wound, drawing the attention of a terrifying stitched-face woman who nearly destroyed Felicia’s consciousness. Gloria helped pull Angel’s soul from Soul Land, but as lightning gathered around Black Castle, a hand emerged from Angel’s chest.

• Felicia found a strange network of laws in Angel’s soul and a wound that continually replenished it with pure soul power.
• Angel told Felicia that a woman with stitches across her face had caused the wound, and he warned Felicia not to touch it.
• When Felicia disturbed the wound, the stitched-face woman noticed her and nearly dragged her consciousness out of her body.
• Gloria deciphered Felicia’s coded message, made Black Mud Soul-Luring Soup, and used it to draw Angel’s soul from Soul Land.
• Felicia told Gloria that the woman was not Sanders and described the terrifying power of her single glance.
• As lightning flashed outside Black Castle, Angel’s body slumped backward and a hand reached out from his chest.

Isabella stopped Felicia’s attempt to probe Angel’s soul, warning that it bore the mark of a terrifying existence beyond the legendary level. After Angel woke from three days of sleep, Shadow explained that his mentor had thwarted his attempt to claim Naga, a wizard-level Shadow-school puppet promised to him.

• Isabella forced Angel’s soul back into his body, then warned Gloria and Felicia not to interfere with the terrifying being whose mark Angel carried.
• Isabella said Toby was recovering and would be handed to Angel in the Soul Domain in a week; Gloria and Felicia discussed Angel’s mentor and their memory of a stitched woman, which Gloria suspected came from the Nightmare Realm.
• Angel woke after three days and learned from Shadow that Felicia seemed fine, while Shadow complained about being injured during his search for Naga.
• Shadow explained that Naga, a wizard-level magic puppet made from a formal wizard’s body, had been promised to him by his mentor but was now too strong for him to take.

Angel tested Prelude of Reincarnation on the undead in the cemetery and discovered that their destruction gathered white light inside the gun’s cylinder, forming a special bullet. He aimed the bullet at a lone, hate-filled undead near Black Castle, preparing to test its effect.

• Angel advised Shadow to reconsider his battles with Naga as a possible path to survival, and Shadow left after finding a lead.
• Angel went outside Black Castle to test Prelude of Reincarnation on the cemetery’s undead.
• The gun’s low-frequency attack annihilated undead, and Angel noticed white points of light flowing into its cylinder.
• After Angel killed nearly two thousand undead, the gathered light formed a bullet in one of the cylinder’s six chambers.
• Angel found a lone undead staring toward Black Castle and aimed the special bullet at her.

Angel discovered that a white-light bullet partly restored a female undead’s rationality, then swept the undead near Black Castle to fill his revolver’s cartridges. After visiting Huahua and returning to the castle, he met Gloria, who said one of Toby’s feathers was special.

• Angel shot a female undead with a white-light bullet, and she regained some awareness before fleeing into Black Forest.
• Angel used the revolver to purge undead around Black Forest for nearly three days, filling all six cartridges as Felicia and Gloria watched.
• Isabella observed Angel’s purge and said he had done Black Castle a good deed before returning to meditation.
• Angel visited Huahua, noticed her new hammock and handicrafts, and left her an illusion stocked with virtual materials.
• Gloria greeted Angel in the hall, clarified that she was the real Gloria, and began telling him that one of Toby’s feathers was special.

Angel told Gloria about Toby’s experiences and showed her the Dusk Auction scene where Houston was sold, provoking Gloria’s fury. The next morning, Isabella summoned Angel to the Soul Domain to keep her promise, but he found himself crossing a perilous darkness and heard a familiar voice.

• Angel recounted Toby’s adventures to Gloria, including his understanding of the Gravity Veins, and recreated the Dusk Auction scene where Houston was put up for sale.
• Gloria recognized Houston, learned that Fire Lotus Lydia had bought him, thanked Angel, and then returned to her innocent, naive state before falling asleep.
• Felicia stopped Angel from explaining his unusual soul, fearing the powerful being Isabella had warned them not to draw attention from.
• The next morning, Isabella summoned Angel to the Soul Domain, where he entered alone after being escorted by the mute servant.
• Angel wandered through an endless darkness where he could not use his spiritual force and had to keep moving to avoid falling into an unknown abyss.
• After walking for an unknown length of time, Angel heard a familiar voice.

Angel learned the Soul-Severing Murmur from Isabella, gaining the ability to leave his body in soul form, and learned that it came from a trade involving Augustine’s Twin Mirrors. Isabella also strengthened his Source of Rhythm, allowing him to control how much Gravity Veins he used, and gave him a method to cultivate his soul.

• Angel repeated Isabella’s strange syllables in the darkness, found the exit, and emerged as a soul beside his unconscious body.
• Isabella explained that the syllables were the Soul-Severing Murmur, a technique she had obtained from the Mist Seed through Augustine’s Twin Mirrors.
• Isabella described the Source World and its routes, while Angel asked whether Augustine had created the mysterious mirrors.
• Isabella reinforced the Source of Rhythm in Angel’s soul and gave him a parchment containing a soul-cultivation method.
• Angel tested the Gravity Veins and found that he could now release them in controlled amounts.

Angel learned how to use Soul-Severing Murmur and retrieved Toby from the Soul Pool, then asked Isabella about the Kula Kuka tribe. Gloria explained that Toby’s soul contained five extreme emotions that he must overcome to become truly himself.

• Angel tested his Gravity Veins, and Isabella explained the limits of Soul-Severing Murmur and how he could return to his body.
• Angel found Toby in the Soul Pool, then asked Isabella about the Kula Kuka tribe and relayed the high priest’s request; Isabella allowed them to separate a branch clan and left Angel to find a solution to their bloodline problem.
• Angel found Gloria on the fourth floor and handed Toby to her, learning that Toby’s soul had been repaired but still had flaws.
• Gloria revealed that the five seasonings used to create Toby had brought extreme love, hatred, resentment, rage, and sorrow into his soul.
• Gloria explained that Toby had to subdue each emotion, beginning with the rage that had caused his recent collapse, and that overcoming these trials would help him grow stronger and become himself.

Angel tried to understand how Toby’s emotions had triggered an extreme reaction, then entertained Gloria with an illusion while seeking her advice. The chapter left Gloria enjoying Angel’s evolving illusion and Angel improving his craft as he wove Toby’s life into a play.

• Angel guessed that Toby’s fury at believing Angel was dead had triggered the extreme rage emotion, and wondered whether keeping Toby calm could delay the calamity.
• Gloria watched Diablo’s humiliating fight with Naga and complained about boredom and the loss of her ingredients.
• Angel asked Gloria to assess his Magic Bread, but she found it foul and told him he lacked the talent for food magic.
• Gloria explained that Shadow was using his fight with Naga to break through his limits and exhaust the puppet’s energy.
• When Gloria considered joining the fight, Angel offered to make her a play through illusions and created a holographic film about his life with Toby.
• Gloria enjoyed the illusion and answered Angel’s questions, while Angel became absorbed in its creation and advanced his understanding of illusions.

After Gloria warned Angel that he was not ready to bear the Mystic Alchemist title, he prepared to leave Black Castle. Gloria agreed to let Toby stay with him if he made an alchemical illusion of Toby, and Angel headed to the Ice Cavern to gather materials.

• Gloria praised Angel's illusion, then warned him that his current abilities and status made the Mystic Alchemist title dangerous to bear.
• Angel told Gloria he planned to leave Black Castle and asked if Toby could go with him.
• Gloria agreed to let Toby stay with Angel on the condition that he make an alchemical item containing a lifelike, touchable illusion of Toby.
• Angel accepted the condition and went to tell Shadow he would spend the next few days refining the item; Shadow said he would wait for him at the Centennial Hall in Soul Garden.
• Naga's aura overwhelmed Angel as he left Shadow, and he wondered whether she had been going easy on Shadow and whether magic puppets could think.
• Angel followed a mute servant to the Ice Cavern on the fifth underground level to choose materials.

Angel crafted a flying vehicle called the Gondola, a crescent-shaped boat powered by a Leaping Core. Tide Shells used as decoration unexpectedly granted it a special effect that treated the sky like the sea, boosting its flight speed to rival an intermediate-grade vehicle.

• Angel chose to craft a single-purpose flying vehicle and selected a roomy, crescent-shaped boat shell for the Leaping Core.
• Angel completed the Gondola after two days of work, successfully inscribing its levitation magic pattern.
• Angel discovered that the Tide Shells on the Gondola's underside produced the appearance of ripples and foam even while it floated in midair.
• The Tide Shells' special effect treated the sky as the sea and enhanced the Gondola's speed enough to rival an intermediate-grade flying vehicle.

Angel began designing Gloria’s Toby-themed tactile illusion tool while events unfolded at Savage Cave, where Samantha’s arrival and the loss of the Garden of All Spirits enraged Baroque. The chapter ended with Flora asking Sanders whether Angel would go to Purification Garden.

• Angel stored the gondola and began sketching a new design for Gloria’s portable Toby-themed tactile illusion tool.
• Samantha arrived near Savage Cave, and Rheinmut, Sanders, and other wizards gathered in Tree Spirit Court after evacuating the square.
• Flora reported that Melantha had left Sky Tower to find Baroque, while Sanders said the people pursuing the Garden of All Spirits were furious that the Frost Moon Alliance had claimed it.
• Baroque argued with Melantha over Rheinmut’s decision to give the Garden of All Spirits to the Frost Moon Alliance in exchange for a chance to advance.
• Liana arrived at Tree Spirit Court and told Flora that Sanders had asked her to teach Angel alchemy and that she had returned to distribute Purification Garden invitations.
• Flora asked Sanders whether Angel would attend Purification Garden.

Samantha appeared at Tree Spirit Court and demanded that Sanders accompany her to the Abyss, while a bloodied youth watched from the Eternal Tree. In the Inner World, Angel struggled to create a tactile illusion earring and eventually set aside his attempt to incorporate Nightmare Illusion.

• Sanders said he would go to Sky Mechanical City, and Liana and Flora discussed Angel’s disappearance before Sanders insisted that Angel was only missing.
• Samantha arrived, confronted her former father Rheinmut, and pressed Sanders to go with her to the Abyss; Sanders said he would go to Sky Mechanical City and could not say when he would visit the Abyss.
• Rheinmut opened the Garden of All Spirits and led Samantha and Sanders inside, while Liana and Flora discussed Samantha and Sanders’s past.
• A white-robed youth watched the opening fissure from the Eternal Tree, wept bloody tears, and headed toward the Tree Spirit Hall with a blood-scented object.
• Angel chose to craft a feather-shaped earring, but his attempts to make its illusion tangible through Nightmare Illusion failed whenever he deactivated and reactivated it.
• After days without progress, Angel temporarily gave up on incorporating Nightmare Illusion into the earring.

Angel presented Gloria with a feather earring whose illusion could not deceive the senses of powerful wizards unless they lowered their mental guard. Gloria accepted it, entrusted Toby to Angel, and gave him supplies and a golden VIP card as he prepared to leave Black Castle.

• After three days of training, Angel refined a Toby-themed feather earring that could deceive touch only for apprentices around his level or weaker.
• Angel explained the earring’s limitations to Gloria, who accepted it and asked him to refine a better version only when she chose the time.
• Gloria returned Toby to Angel and entrusted him with the bird because her enemies and circumstances made Toby unsafe with her.
• Gloria gave Angel a pouch of Soul Pearls and Felicia’s Butterfly Tavern golden VIP card before he left Black Castle.
• After Angel disappeared from the Inner World, Gloria told Felicia that Toby was better off with Angel and activated the earring.

Angel agreed to take eighty-one Kula Kuka people from Soul Garden and find them a new home, while promising to seek a way to fix their bloodline without damaging Xipolok City's magical array. The Kula Kuka hesitated when Angel required them to obey his orders until they were settled, leaving their departure uncertain.

• The High Priest asked Angel whether he could take selected Kula Kuka away, and Angel agreed after Shadow explained how the people might support his family and build a branch of their own.
• Angel told the High Priest to bring the selected people with their belongings and emergency rations, and Shadow suggested choosing those with magical talent.
• Angel and Shadow discussed traveling to Silent Hill, but the High Priest returned before Angel could show Shadow his newly refined vehicle.
• The High Priest brought thirty families, eighty-one Kula Kuka in total, and explained that he had told them about their bloodline problem and their mission to establish new lands.
• Angel promised to find the Kula Kuka a home and swore he would not deliberately harm them, but required them to obey his orders until they settled; the people remained silent and looked to the High Priest.

Angel prepared to take eighty-one Kula Kuka people away from Soul Garden, arranging their belongings and homes inside a miniature building. After Babaya asked him to bring her grandmother too, Angel departed with Shadow, while the people left behind mourned and the Sky Choir sang a new verse of the Fairy Epic.

• Babaya led the Kula Kuka people in pledging loyalty to Angel, and Angel carved a miniature high-rise for them to live in during the journey.
• Angel asked the high priest to gather items preserving Kula Kuka culture and knowledge, and the priests and Hummingbird Knights brought books, seeds, crafts, and livestock.
• Angel filled the building’s compartments with soil, let the Kula Kuka people arrange their belongings, and gave them a final minute to say farewell to their homeland.
• Babaya asked Angel to bring her grandmother, and Angel agreed after warning her that the journey would be difficult and her grandmother might not want to leave.
• Angel stored the building in his bracelet and departed with Shadow, while the high priest died after thanking him and the Sky Choir sang a fifth verse of the Fairy Epic.