Chapter Summaries

After Angel awakened Onassis’s primary personality, the judges and contestants prepared for the New Star Tournament awards ceremony. As the ceremony began, the arena announced that the selected venue card was Glory Road.

• Melantha thanked Angel and sent Trom and Onassis to wait backstage while she prepared the awards ceremony.
• Hydra asked Onassis whether he regretted his request, and Onassis said he did not because he valued the present over uncertain future possibilities.
• Onassis said he would have wished to discuss philosophy with someone, while Angel suspected he meant Angel himself.
• The judges were astonished to learn that Angel had awakened Onassis’s primary personality.
• Melantha opened the awards ceremony as the judges and contestants entered the Boundless Arena.
• A light screen announced that the venue card selection was complete and revealed Glory Road.

Nausicaa and Serum discussed their worries in the Boundless Arena waiting area before contestants were sent to the Glory Road. A light screen revealed the tournament’s 100th-place contestant, Void Shadow, who received a card and headed toward the mountain palace.

• Serum told Nausicaa that he believed the Black Codex’s promise that Angel would return, then pressed her to explain her unease about Reynolds’s invitation to a forbidden laboratory.
• Nausicaa admitted she wanted an object inside the laboratory, but their conversation was interrupted when a door appeared and contestants were ordered to enter the Glory Road.
• Nausicaa and Serum emerged in a square beneath a mountain palace, where a light screen welcomed the contestants to the Glory Road.
• The light screen announced Void Shadow as the New Star Tournament’s 100th-place contestant and sent a glowing card into his hands.
• Void Shadow received information from the card, passed through the square’s barrier, and ran toward the road leading to the mountain peak.

Cards summoned the New Star Tournament contestants from the plaza to stone pillars along the mountain road, where their rankings determined their positions. Nausicaa reached her pillar near the back, while the top ten, led by Onassis, remained in the plaza.

• Galactic Wanderer received a card and ran from the plaza toward the mountaintop.
• Nausicaa received her card, followed its call, and climbed the mountain after Void Shadow and Galactic Wanderer.
• Nausicaa reached a stone pillar and discovered that pressure stopped her from going farther along the road.
• The contestants followed their cards' guidance to pillars placed according to their tournament rankings and accepted their positions.
• The contestants noticed that only ninety pillars were occupied and saw that the top ten, led by Onassis, still stood in the plaza.

The ten finalists began the Glory Road as spectators watched their ascent through a carefully framed Magic-Energy Eye. Their journey eased into conversation, while Azaz spoke with Kafolian about Xiliu, who remained unconscious on her shoulder.

• The barrier in the plaza vanished after the ten finalists caught their cards, and Philosopher led them onto the road to the summit.
• Falina told Angel that the Magic-Energy Eye’s scene transitions were inspired by Shadow of the Cage, and Angel praised the wizard’s skill.
• Trom asked why the path was called the Glory Road, and Su Yatutai explained that being watched by the crowd was itself a kind of glory.
• Qili dismissed the idea as superficial vanity, but Su Yatutai argued that rituals had power, and the ten gradually began talking more freely.
• Azaz approached Kafolian about their earlier match, then asked about Xiliu, whom Kafolian had knocked unconscious so the ritual could proceed safely despite Jiebo’s presence.

The ten finalists reached the mountaintop platform, where Sky Mechanical City judges and distinguished guests gathered to witness the New Star Tournament’s closing ceremony. Melantha began distributing the rewards, and Nausicaa learned that her Endless Corridor access extended to floor 140.

• The ten contestants climbed the final road as giant statues lit their candelabras and knelt before them.
• A doorway appeared on the platform, and Sky Mechanical City judges entered and arranged themselves to watch the finalists.
• Kemonai, Hydra, Falina, Angel, Melantha, and the other guests arrived, and Melantha welcomed the top ten and delivered the closing address.
• Melantha announced that every contestant who reached the second round had earned access to the Endless Corridor, with permissions determined by ranking.
• Nausicaa checked her card and discovered that she could enter the Endless Corridor up to floor 140.

Melantha announced the competition rewards, including custom alchemy for the finalists and a request to the Infinite Battle Tower for the top three. Trom made his request: to fight the Transcendent Dimension Wizard.

• Melantha announced that the top fifteen would gain access to three hundred floors of the Endless Corridor and one opportunity to enter the Infinite Battle Tower’s materials repository.
• Melantha said fourth through tenth place would receive custom alchemy from Ashilia Comprehensive Academy, while the top three would receive custom items from the Research Institute.
• Melantha explained that the top three could each make one reasonable request of the Infinite Battle Tower, and Kafolian asked what counted as reasonable on Xiliu’s behalf.
• Onassis asked whether he could designate the maker of his custom alchemy item, and Melantha said it would depend on that person’s availability and willingness.
• Trom declared that he wanted to fight the Transcendent Dimension Wizard.

At the Sin Demon Laboratory, Angel and Frod discussed how a Sin Demon appeared in Knight Sabel’s Heart House and concluded that the experiment offered little insight into Toby’s obsession demon. Frod identified Shalu as a better subject for investigation, and Angel and Frod headed to the library to see him, where Frod mentioned that an apprentice was challenging Angel that day.

• Angel watched the Sin Mist’s boundary advance by about half a meter and told Frod to keep recording its spread.
• Frod reported that Knight Sabel encountered the Razor Sunflower Sin Demon in his Heart House, alongside a door connected to his past obsessions.
• Angel and Frod concluded that Sabel’s experience would not provide much help with Toby’s obsession demon and decided to seek someone with an obsession demon in their heart.
• Frod told Angel that Shalu still secretly harbored resentment, despite behaving obediently around the library scholars, so he had kept him confined.
• Angel and Frod went to the library, and Frod told Angel that Leon had mentioned an apprentice challenging him that day.

Angel told Frod that he had refused Trom’s challenge but agreed to face him at any time over the next three years. He and Frod arrived at Firstheart City’s largest circular library.

• Frod asked Angel how his encounter with Trom had ended, and Angel said he had not accepted the challenge.
• Trom challenged Angel, alarming the audience, judges, and contestants because Trom was an apprentice and Angel was a formal wizard.
• Angel tested Trom’s resolve with his pressure, then revealed that he knew Trom’s mentor, Queenie Sudoer, and the three-year agreement she had made with Trom.
• Angel refused the formal challenge but offered to let Trom find him and fight at any time during the next three years, preserving Trom’s tournament reward.
• Angel explained the encounter to Frod, and they arrived at Firstheart City’s largest circular library.

Shalu pretended to repent while secretly plotting to manipulate the scholars into helping him escape confinement. Angel and Frod arrived and took him away, and after a disorienting fall, Shalu awoke somewhere unknown, apparently unharmed.

• The old pedant and other scholars praised Shalu's apparent repentance, while Shalu privately planned to win them over and use them against Tisen.
• Sunny called Shalu an actor, and he grew uneasy when he saw Jon watching him knowingly.
• After the scholars left, Angel and Frod came to the library, and guards seized and blindfolded Shalu.
• Shalu felt himself falling into darkness, then regained his senses without pain as a strange fragrance reached him.

Shalu entered the Heart House, where a floral fragrance guided his thoughts as he approached a cabin and found three doors tied to his past. He recognized the first two as the entrances to his childhood home and his uncle’s home, then faced a miniature version of Firstheart City’s gate.

• Shalu followed the path to the cabin, while Angel explained to Frod that the Heart House’s floral fragrance guided Shalu’s decisions.
• Frod declined to enter the Heart House because he did not want to face his past.
• A shadow passed the cabin window, but the floral fragrance weakened Shalu’s unease and he continued toward the cabin.
• When Shalu stepped onto the cabin stairs, the cabin vanished and he found himself in a corridor with three doors.
• Shalu recognized the first door as his childhood home’s entrance but could not bring himself to open it.
• Shalu recognized the second door as his uncle’s home, refused to touch it, and then identified the third door as a miniature city gate of Firstheart City.

Shalu entered the third door and found himself trapped in the Stone Pillar Colosseum, where the monster that had once merged with him appeared and attacked. Outside the Heart House, Angel sensed a sudden surge in illusionary energy and suspected Shalu was fighting his inner demon.

• Shalu considered the doors representing his childhood home, painful scars, and current state, then chose the third door without hesitation.
• Shalu entered the Stone Pillar Colosseum and found the gates opened onto a dark void instead of Gensen Street.
• A chilling wind blew Shalu into the arena, where a whistle sounded and the monster that had once merged with him appeared.
• The monster accused Shalu of abandoning it and attacked him, while Shalu insisted that the master of New City had removed it from his body.
• Frod reported on Mr. Jon's plans for New City, and Angel noticed the Heart House's illusionary energy fluctuations intensifying.

Angel observed Shalu awaken from the Heart House’s trial and explain his experience to Frod. Angel concluded that the Snake-Tailed Worm Shalu fought was not a lingering Sin Demon but Shalu’s inner demon, and Shalu asked for another chance to take the trial.

• Angel watched the Heart House’s fluctuations subside, and Shalu woke from the trial.
• Frod pressed Shalu to describe his nightmare, and Shalu recounted entering the wooden house, finding three doors, and fighting a Snake-Tailed Worm.
• Frod explained that the wooden house was a treasure used to train demon hunters to confront weaknesses within their hearts.
• Shalu asked to take the trial again, and Angel said he would allow it if Shalu gave him a sufficient reason.
• Angel and Frod reasoned that the Snake-Tailed Worm in the trial was Shalu’s inner demon rather than a true Sin Demon.

Angel and Frod questioned Shalu about his Heart House battle and concluded that the Snake-Tailed Worm was an inner demon shaped by Shalu’s own character. Angel then considered how reliably the Heart House could simulate the Extreme Grudge Intent for Toby.

• Angel questioned Shalu repeatedly about his battle with the Snake-Tailed Worm and learned that dying inside the Heart House had not harmed Shalu’s core consciousness.
• Frod reviewed reports on the Snake-Tailed Worm and questioned why Shalu had survived its attacks for several minutes.
• Shalu explained that the Snake-Tailed Worm had kept asking why he abandoned it, and Frod told him the creature was his inner demon questioning him through his own heart.
• Shalu recognized that the voice accusing him of cowardice had been his own, while Frod wondered whether Shalu’s reaction showed genuine remorse.
• Angel and Frod discussed whether an inner demon’s strength reflected a person’s understanding of it, and Angel concluded that the Heart House might not accurately reproduce the Extreme Grudge Intent’s combat strength.
• Angel still considered the Heart House valuable for Toby because it would let Toby face the Extreme Grudge Intent directly.

Shalu told Angel how childhood dreams gave way to years of abuse and loss, then asked for another trial so he could open the first door in Heart House. Angel did not promise him a chance, but told him to keep reflecting and prove he was worthy of becoming a knight.

• Shalu recounted growing up with his brother Lisa in Kudo Town, where their mother supported their dreams of becoming an auditor and a knight.
• After their mother died, Shalu and Lisa endured six years of torment in their uncle's home, then escaped to a cabin before a mountain flood destroyed it.
• Shalu explained that he wanted another trial to open the first door, which showed the childhood home and drawings representing their dreams.
• Shalu offered Angel a knight's salute and vowed to become a knight, but Angel told him he was not yet qualified and sent him back to the library to reflect.
• Angel told Frod that Shalu would have to seize his own opportunity through lasting resolve.

Sanders researched the Dream Wilderness’s energy system and assessed the risk of obtaining a second Authority, while Angel helped him interpret the calculations. They also discussed Angel’s decision not to accept Trom’s challenge, and Sanders asked what Angel had come to see him about.

• Angel entered Sanders’s room and watched him calculate the energy composition of the microscopic world to lay groundwork for the Dream Wilderness’s energy system.
• Angel recognized that Sanders’s calculations also estimated whether the unknown Authority needed to construct that system was within Sanders’s capacity to bear.
• Sanders said he would study energy from the macroscopic perspective before deciding whether to seek the second Authority, since it might require research beyond his current abilities.
• Sanders asked about the New Star Tournament, and Angel explained that he had refused Trom’s challenge because he sympathized with the apprentice.
• Sanders praised Angel for not caring about others’ opinions, then asked why Angel had come to see him.

Angel asked to remain in Sky Mechanical City for a few days so Toby could face the Extreme Grudge Intent, and he prepared a dream experiment to help. The chapter ended with Angel and Toby entering the Dream Wilderness while Gloria and Shali watched over Toby’s sleeping body.

• Angel told Sanders he wanted to stay in Sky Mechanical City and use Shali’s sensing ability to address Toby’s condition; Sanders agreed and went to review Frod’s Heart House reports.
• Angel interrupted Gloria’s training of Toby and explained that he planned an experiment that might benefit Toby’s condition.
• Angel told Gloria the experiment would happen in a dream, with Toby entering Angel’s dream rather than Angel entering Toby’s.
• Angel asked Shali to record Toby’s emotional changes, then brought Toby into the Dream Wilderness.
• Gloria and Shali watched Toby sleep after Angel and Toby entered the dream.

Gloria watched Toby sleep beside Angel and became alarmed when his Extreme Grudge Intent surged into visible black mist. Angel woke, confirmed his suspicion, then fell asleep again, and Toby’s negative emotions receded without explanation.

• Gloria questioned Shali about Toby’s emotions and suspected Angel’s dream research was connected to his safety.
• Shali sensed Toby’s negative emotions rising rapidly as black mist began spreading around him.
• Gloria feared Toby’s Extreme Grudge Intent was breaking free and that he might have to face the Five Flavors Tribulation.
• Angel woke, said he would deal with Toby’s problem, and then closed his eyes and fell asleep again.
• The black mist contracted back into Toby, and Shali confirmed his emotions had returned to normal.

Angel pulled Toby from the Heart House after the Extreme Grudge Intent began seeping through its seal, leaving Toby dazed by the illusion’s lingering effects. Toby recovered beside Angel and described confronting the Jealousy Snake Bird, the manifestation of the Extreme Grudge Intent.

• Angel noticed the Extreme Grudge Intent connecting to Toby inside the Heart House and confirmed it had begun leaking into reality.
• Angel used Green Pattern to pull Toby out before the Extreme Grudge Intent could break Frost’s seal and trigger the Extreme Grudge Tribulation.
• Sanders explained that Toby’s blank state was lingering fear caused by being forcibly removed from a Mind Illusion.
• Toby regained its senses, fled to Angel for comfort, and described seeing two doors in a corridor: one leading to its obsession and the other to a dark void.
• Toby recalled facing the Jealousy Snake Bird, whose negative emotions overwhelmed its senses and dredged up memories of hatred, resentment, and jealousy.

Angel, Frod, and Sanders discussed how Toby's Heart House trial related to the Extreme Grudge Tribulation. Sanders explained that the Heart House in the Dream Wilderness could let Toby approach the tribulation without immediately breaking its seal, while using it in reality might trigger the tribulation at once.

• Angel explained that Toby's Heart House opponent was its own heart tribulation, unlike Shalu's imagined inner demon.
• Sanders clarified that Toby was facing a simulated Extreme Grudge Tribulation, and Frod realized repeated attempts might help Toby prepare.
• Angel recalled that Toby had stirred the real Extreme Grudge Intent during its trial, so he had been forced to pull it out.
• Sanders suggested the Heart House could still be crucial because its Dream Wilderness version was separated from reality by a barrier.
• Angel realized that using the Heart House in reality could immediately break Lord Frost's seal and send Toby into the tribulation period.

Angel realized Toby could use the Heart House in the Dream Wilderness to repeatedly simulate the Extreme Grudge Tribulation, but each attempt still disturbed the seal and risked drawing Toby into the real tribulation. After returning to reality, Angel reassured Gloria that Toby was safe and explained his experiment as a Bright Dream simulation, while Toby stayed asleep to avoid Gloria’s training.

• Angel recognized that the Heart House gave Toby an advantage in the Dream Wilderness, but could not figure out how to prevent its use from disturbing the seal on Toby’s Extreme Grudge Intent.
• Sanders left the Dream Wilderness after asking Angel to write more experimental records about the Heart House.
• Angel returned to reality, picked up the still-sleeping Toby, and told Gloria that Toby was fine and only resting.
• Angel told Gloria that he had used a Bright Dream to create an Extreme Grudge Intent for Toby to face, but the simulation had still disturbed the seal in reality.
• Gloria remained suspicious of Angel’s explanation, while Toby stayed asleep to avoid facing the demonic training she had planned.