Chapter Summaries

Angel emerged from a mysterious dreamlike space with Spotty Dog and found himself at the center of Sleepless City’s outer city. Spotty Dog led him to a crowd of light-parasitized people, and Angel noticed that an unseen distortion bent the lamplight and muffled their voices.

• Angel watched Spotty Dog take shape as a Mystic Spirit before the bright landscape shattered and he awoke beside Toby in darkness.
• Spotty Dog spat Angel out into the outer city and led him to a crowd of people twisting in strange poses.
• Angel chose to look for Nausicaa rather than wake Gloria, and Spotty Dog dragged him toward the crowd.
• Angel had Spotty Dog sniff the bloodstained stone, and the dog barked toward the people, suggesting the blood’s owner was among them.
• Angel walked closer and saw a parasitized person silently praising the Queen, then noticed the streetlamp’s light bending without an obstacle.

Angel entered a hidden interstitial space where parasitized people worshipped him as Shava, and he learned that the Queen’s procession had been replaced by Yorkshire. He suspected the space’s sky vortex was a half-passage and searched for Nausicaa while Fox and Frog planned to use the area as a temporary stronghold.

• Angel crossed the distorted light, found himself trapped inside a noisy realm, and was unable to return through the black fog.
• A parasitized person recognized Angel as Shava, prompting the crowd to chant his name and clear a path for him.
• Fox and Frog greeted Angel with a harp performance and an aria, and Angel flattered them while pretending to be Shava.
• Fox and Frog said the Queen had sent Yorkshire in her place, and Angel learned that Yorkshire had taken Spotty Dog and was now locked in a stalemate with a Nightmare Domain Watcher.
• Angel realized the realm was a naturally formed interstitial space with a possible half-passage in the sky, then searched for Nausicaa as Fox said they might stay there and recover.

Angel used Shava’s identity to have Fox and Frog clear the Nightmare Realm stronghold, then searched the departing crowd for his companions. After finding Shan and Xiliu and identifying Hukedik, Angel appeared to release her before attacking her through the heart.

• Angel persuaded Frog and Fox to open an exit and send the crowd out slowly so he could search among them.
• Angel found Princess Shan and the sleeping Xiliu but did not spot Nausicaa or Ganke.
• Toby pulled a woman from the crowd, and she attacked Angel before Fox restrained her with white strands.
• Angel recognized the woman as Hukedik, who had survived the parasite and tried to beg her way free.
• Angel ordered Fox to release Hukedik, then struck through her heart with a gray aura.

Angel used the Gravity Veins to destroy Hukedik’s body, then defeated his soul after Hukedik’s Soul-Shaking Howl failed to affect him. Hukedik’s soul mutated into an undead, while Fox and Frog’s knowledge of Angel’s identity and strength left him suspecting a deeper secret.

• Angel revealed that Saka had told him how Hukedik changed his appearance, then used the Gravity Veins to tear Hukedik’s body apart.
• Hukedik’s freed soul used Soul-Shaking Howl and attacked Angel, but Angel resisted the scream and wounded him with gray energy.
• Angel revealed that he was also in soul form, leaving Hukedik shocked that Angel’s soul was stronger than his.
• Hukedik’s resentment corrupted his soul, and Fox offered to destroy him before he became undead, but Angel refused.
• Fox and Frog discussed Angel’s strength and their knowledge of him as Hukedik transformed into an undead.

Angel killed Hukedik with Prelude of Reincarnation after Hukedik transformed into an undead and attacked him. With Hukedik gone, Angel resumed searching Sleepless City for Nausicaa, but Toby drew his attention back to the Spotty Dog eating Hukedik’s remains.

• Hukedik transformed into an undead and charged at Angel, who dodged his attacks with Gravity Veins while Toby blew the poisonous mist away.
• Angel used Prelude of Reincarnation to erase Hukedik’s negative energy, and Hukedik regained clarity before dissolving into motes of energy.
• Fox and Frog praised Angel’s fighting, and Angel noticed they already knew he was human but chose not to ask about it.
• Angel returned to the exit to continue searching the final group of humans for Nausicaa.
• Toby pointed out the Spotty Dog eating Hukedik’s body fragments, then urgently urged Angel to look again.

Angel discovered that Spotty Dog was absorbing faint Law Veins from Hukedik’s corpse, but he set the mystery aside to search for Nausicaa. After the search failed, a Void Puppet Thread summoned Fox to help Yorkshire, who appeared to be in trouble.

• Angel realized Spotty Dog was absorbing soul-related Law Veins from Hukedik’s remains and told Toby to focus on finding Nausicaa.
• Angel and Toby searched the interlayer space as its citizens departed, but Nausicaa never appeared.
• Angel tried to ask Fox and Frog for help with Shan and Xiliu, but Frog and Fox launched into a makeshift musical performance instead.
• A golden Void Puppet Thread appeared, and Fox recognized it as a call from Yorkshire, who seemed to be at a disadvantage.
• Fox left the interlayer space to investigate Yorkshire, while Frog refused to go.

Angel ended Frog’s interrupted concert and questioned Shan and Xiliu about Nausicaa’s disappearance. Xiliu revealed that a powerful creature had abducted Nausicaa and Ganke, and Angel suspected it had been marked by golden threads.

• Frog blamed Yorkshire for ruining the concert, then ended the performance when Angel declined to continue without the piano.
• Angel asked Frog to remove the parasitic seeds from Shan and Xiliu, and Frog expelled them with a command.
• Shan recalled that Ganke pursued Hukedik after the piano music returned, while she lost her memory of what followed.
• Xiliu said Nausicaa had also chased Hukedik, but a strange creature abducted her and Ganke before Xiliu fell asleep.
• Angel revealed that he had killed Hukedik, then asked whether the creature’s golden light had looked like golden threads.

Angel learned from Frog that Yorkshire was abducting people to turn them into puppet protoforms, vessels for layered space, and feared Nausicaa was in immediate danger. He sent Gloria to find Sanders while he followed Spotty Dog’s lead toward the place where Nausicaa might be held.

• Angel brought Shan, Xiliu, Toby, and Spotty Dog to the Restless Bell Tower and asked Toby to wake Gloria.
• Angel told Gloria that Yorkshire’s layered space threatened to cover Sleepless City and asked her to find Sanders, who might be fighting Yorkshire.
• Gloria sensed Sanders’s location through his blood bead and flew off, eager to confront the fox musician as well.
• Angel recalled Frog’s warning that Yorkshire planned to make Nausicaa and Ganke into puppet protoforms, stripping them of their will and potential.
• Angel sensed another protoform merging with the central layered space and feared it might be Nausicaa.
• Angel set out with Shan and Xiliu on Toby’s back, following the direction Spotty Dog had barked toward.

Angel and his companions searched Sleepless City for Nausicaa, witnessing a captive woman become a puppet proto-embryo before finding Ganke suspended over a Rainbow Dragonfly nest. Ganke was still conscious but nearing collapse, and Angel and the others faced the urgent task of saving him and locating Nausicaa.

• Angel led Shan and Xiliu into Firefly Inn, where parasitic creatures and Rainbow Dragonflies avoided him without attacking.
• A green-haired woman suspended by golden threads lost her will as an interlayer space formed around her, then vanished into the void.
• Angel realized the woman had become a puppet proto-embryo and left the inn, more worried that Nausicaa might soon suffer the same fate.
• Spotty Dog guided the group to Rose Cemetery, where they found Ganke bound above another Rainbow Dragonfly nest.
• Shan recognized that Ganke was still conscious but had reached his limit, and Angel explained that the captives' survival depended on how long they could resist psychological collapse.

Angel and his companions found Ganke, but Spotty Dog could not free him before he became a vessel for a layered space and vanished. They eventually reached Nausicaa at the bottom of a lake, where Spotty Dog began breaking her Void Puppet Threads as she silently endured the pain.

• Angel had Spotty Dog bite through Ganke’s golden threads, but Ganke lost consciousness before the last one broke and vanished into the void.
• Angel, Shan, Xiliu, and Toby followed Spotty Dog as it repeatedly changed direction toward other captured people, many of whom had already given up and become layered spaces.
• Spotty Dog led the group to a lake, where Xiliu parted the water and Shan lit their way to a Rainbow Dragonfly nest surrounded by corpses.
• Shan recognized Nausicaa suspended above the nest, partially submerged and in terrible condition, while Angel and the others rushed to her.
• Angel urged Spotty Dog to be gentle, and it began snapping Nausicaa’s threads as she endured the pain without crying out.

Nausicaa endured the severing of the final golden thread and resisted the soul’s temptation with help from a mysterious soul fluctuation. After Gloria and Sanders arrived to confront Yorkshire, Sanders asked whether Angel and the others wanted to enter the Gravity Garden as the area became a battlefield.

• Nausicaa endured the final golden thread’s pain and resisted the abyss’s temptation after an unknown soul fluctuation strengthened her soul.
• The final golden thread snapped, and Angel caught Nausicaa with Gravity Veins while Shan and Xiliu treated her wounds.
• Yorkshire opened a void gate and emerged, accusing the group of destroying his primordial body.
• Gloria arrived and challenged Yorkshire, then Sanders appeared beside Angel.
• Angel explained how Yorkshire had abducted Nausicaa, and Sanders asked whether the group wanted to enter the Gravity Garden.

Angel refused Sanders's offer to retreat into the Gravity Garden and left with Nausicaa and the others while Sanders stayed behind to face Yorkshire. As they flew toward the edge of the Dark Domain, Angel discussed their rescue, Hukedik’s death, and Nausicaa’s recovery, while she began recounting what happened after Yorkshire captured her.

• Sanders questioned Yorkshire’s authority to challenge Lord Shava, and Fox warned Yorkshire privately to watch his words.
• Angel left the lake with Toby, carrying Nausicaa and the others as explosions erupted behind them.
• Angel thanked the Spotty Dog for helping rescue Nausicaa, while remaining wary of its strange abilities.
• Nausicaa agreed to examine the Kula Kuka tribe’s bloodline problem once they escaped, and she confirmed Hukedik had been a threat removed.
• Angel told Nausicaa that he had destroyed Hukedik’s soul and explained that she might have grown stronger after escaping the puppet proto-embryo.
• Nausicaa stopped asking about the Spotty Dog’s origins and began describing what had happened after Yorkshire captured her.

Angel confirmed Spotty Dog could lead them through the Dark Mist, but he and Nausicaa and Shan decided to wait for Sanders before leaving because wizards outside might target them. Meanwhile, Lexa revealed that she had seen Angel, prompting wizards in Fufeng District to question how an apprentice had escaped the Dark Domain and whether he possessed a special alchemical tool.

• Nausicaa and Angel discussed her stolen pipe while Shan tried to take books from an empty bookstore and found its protective magic array blocked her.
• Angel followed Spotty Dog through the Dark Mist, briefly emerged near Lexa, then escaped back into Sleepless City and confirmed the dog could lead them out.
• Angel told Nausicaa and Shan that leaving could expose them to parasites and hostile wizards, so they agreed to wait for Sanders.
• Lexa publicly reported seeing Angel after spotting a Wizard Eye, presenting the news as a favor to Sleepless City.
• Wizards in Fufeng District debated Angel's escape and wondered whether he had a special alchemical tool.

Anglu revealed that the ominous prophecy had not changed, though its meaning seemed altered, and said Angel or Phantom Demon might explain the anomaly. Inside Sleepless City, Angel joined Shan and Nausicaa to investigate a scream from the chapel, where they discovered a captive man suspended above a nest of Rainbow Dragonflies.

• Anglu showed Douglas the blood-written prophecy and said its feeling had changed after he saw Angel.
• Angel worried about being a pawn in the Nightmare Realm and resolved to grow strong enough to escape that fate.
• Angel, Shan, and Nausicaa heard a scream from the chapel and went to investigate.
• The group found a gigantic parasitic creature nest in the chapel's listening room and saw a bloodied man bound above it by golden threads.
• The captive man opened his eyes and asked Angel, Shan, and Nausicaa who they were.

Grak tried to lure Nausicaa into accepting his legacy, but she saw through his deception and escaped with the bloodline bottle. Sanders and Gloria arrived just as Grak tried to destroy it, and Sanders safely stopped the spell.

• Grak introduced himself as a dying bloodline wizard and offered Nausicaa his legacy, including the Nide Demon Lord bloodline.
• Nausicaa pretended to consider the offer while Shan warned her that Grak's invitation was a trap.
• Grak tossed Nausicaa a bloodline bottle containing what he claimed was Nide Demon bloodline, hoping she would trigger its Confusion Spell by picking it up.
• Nausicaa refused the inheritance and ordered Angel and Shan to leave as Angel carried the bottle away with a Gravity Vein.
• Grak made the bottle's energy unstable, but Sanders caught it and dispelled the disturbance as he and Gloria arrived.
• Angel greeted Sanders, while Gloria teased Sanders and he replied with a remark about her purple underwear.

Sanders and Angel encountered Grak, who was trapped by golden threads and begged for help, while Sanders learned that Spotty Dog could bite through them. Sanders left to retrieve something, and Gloria told Angel that Yorkshire had fled into the central region after being frightened by Sanders’s Grudge Doll.

• Sanders introduced Angel to Grak, an old comrade from the Demonblood War, and failed to damage the golden threads binding him.
• Angel calmed the attacking Rainbow Dragonflies, then secretly told Sanders that Spotty Dog had bitten through similar golden threads on Nausicaa.
• Grak offered Sanders a Dingyuan Moke Oath in exchange for rescue, but explained that he could only survive by letting his innate spiritual light escape.
• Sanders asked how long Grak could hold on, then vanished after Grak said he had at most two minutes.
• Gloria told Angel that Yorkshire had fled to the central region after Sanders used the Grudge Doll, while Fox had escaped as well.

Angel and Sanders settled Grak’s transfer into a young body, and Sanders bound him to become Flora’s disciple. After Grak revealed his real name was Spivey, the group left the fallen city by following Spotty Dog into the dark fog.

• Angel gave Nausicaa the Nyd Demon Bloodline, and she accepted it after Sanders confirmed it was hers to keep.
• Sanders helped Grak transfer his source soul into a wizard-talented youth, whose weak soul Grak destroyed.
• Sanders made the youth honor his oath by agreeing to become Flora’s disciple, and the youth revealed his real name was Spivey.
• Sanders decided the group should leave the city immediately rather than search its treasure halls.
• Angel called Spotty Dog, and the group followed it into the dark fog as Sanders questioned Angel through the Mind Tether about the dog’s connection to Minister Dim.

At a gathering in Fufeng District, wizards debated the Dark Domain’s threat and Sleepless City’s responsibility for those trapped inside. After Grak of Edge of the Dark Night apparently died in the Dark Domain, Anglu reported that Lord Phantom Demon and his disciple had emerged.

• Ouna reported that Prada had warned her about the Dark Domain and advised the wizards to wait for a solution.
• Quate and Ouna clashed with Edge of the Dark Night over Sleepless City’s possible relocation, while Wallace pressed Payne to take responsibility for those trapped in Sleepless City.
• An apprentice reported that Grak of Edge of the Dark Night had suffered an abnormal change in his blood essence, prompting Harris and his companions to leave the meeting.
• Anglu said Grak seemed dead but still had a thread of life remaining, then announced that Lord Phantom Demon and his disciple had come out of the Dark Domain.

Spotty Dog guided Sanders, Angel, and the others through the Dark Domain, where Spivey accepted that he was now a mortal and appeased Nausicaa by sharing details about the Nyd Demon Bloodline. After the others left, Sanders and Angel tried to take Spotty Dog out, but its mysterious abilities thwarted them; just as they decided to leave without it, the dog bit Angel's pant leg.

• Spotty Dog led the group through the black fog while Spivey questioned Sanders about why he had to join Flora's faction, and Sanders reminded him that he was now a mortal.
• Nausicaa threatened Spivey over his attempt to seize her body, so Spivey apologized and gave her instructions for using the Nyd Demon Bloodline.
• Spotty Dog stopped near the edge of the Dark Domain, and Sanders sent Gloria and the others outside while he stayed behind with Angel.
• Sanders and Angel tried to bring Spotty Dog out of the Dark Domain, but it evaded Sanders and could not be placed in the Gravity Garden.
• Sanders and Angel gave up trying to capture Spotty Dog and prepared to leave, but the dog ran over and bit Angel's pant leg.

Sanders rescued Angel’s companions from Payne and the assembled wizards, then brought Angel back to his body in the Gravity Garden. Angel examined a diamond-shaped crystal Little Spot had given him and suspected it had formed from the soul-law traces Little Spot devoured from Hukedik, though its true nature remained unknown.

• Sanders emerged from the mist and trapped the surrounding wizards in illusions, stopping Quate from reading the captives’ memories.
• Sanders confronted Payne for attacking people from Savage Cave, while Angel and Toby rescued Nausicaa and the others and brought them behind Sanders.
• Gloria joined Sanders and Angel after fighting through the crowd, and Sanders sent Angel’s soul into the Gravity Garden to return to his body.
• Angel placed Sanders’s essence-blood bead and the diamond-shaped crystal Little Spot had secretly given him on a table before merging his soul with his body.
• Angel recalled that Little Spot had devoured Hukedik’s soul veins and wondered whether the crystal contained transformed soul-law traces, but he could only confirm its nature through appraisal.