Chapter Summaries

Iver recognized that Anastasia had arranged to leave the Fairy Kingdom and meet Yunus, intending to give him a harp made from her own trunk before her Treeification Disease reached its end. As she began turning into a tree, Iver offered her a choice between sleeping in the Dream Realm and coming with him to see the world.

• Iver understood that Anastasia had used her reunion with Yunus as a chance to leave the Fairy Kingdom and give him her final gift.
• Anastasia reassured Yunus that he had done nothing wrong and thanked him as her body began transforming into a tree.
• Sherlock and Iver explained that Anastasia had chosen this fate after glimpsing the outside world and wanting to keep her promise to Yunus.
• Iver told Grace that no one was at fault, while Neelim asked why everyone was still unhappy.
• Iver offered Anastasia a choice: ascend to the Dream Realm and sleep until the next Brave awakened her, or come with him and see the whole world.

Iver turned Anastasia into a Fool Follower Card so she could leave behind her fate as a phantom. After she ascended beneath the moonlight, he obtained the card depicting Treant Moon Spirit Anastasia.

• Anastasia asked Iver to take her with him, and he offered her three Tarot Cards to choose from.
• When Anastasia said any card suited her, Iver chose The Fool and decided to make her a Follower Card.
• Madam Grace and Maxim gathered the ritual materials, while Yunus donated the feather from his beloved hat.
• Iver used the materials and mead to prepare the card beneath Anastasia as she grew into a tree.
• Yunus played his harp through the night, and at sunrise Anastasia's tree became golden light and entered the bundle.
• Iver opened the bundle and received the Level 40 card for Treant Moon Spirit Anastasia, which could summon her treant and moon spirit forms.

Iver transformed Anastasia into a Treant and then released her as a healthy Moon Spirit, allowing her to experience a pain-free body and watch the sunrise. Mage Maxim pledged his heart to Iver in a solemn ritual, and Yunus offered him the harp.

• Iver used his Book of Law to summon Treant Anastasia and assessed her steady, mana-free healing ability.
• Iver released Anastasia from the Treant, and she embraced Grace and marveled at feeling healthy again.
• Anastasia wept with joy as she watched the sunrise, while Grace comforted her.
• Mage Maxim performed the Sacrifice Ritual to thank Iver, who answered with a solemn Illumination Spell.
• Yunus approached Iver and handed him the harp.

Yunus gave Anastasia’s harp to Iver to pass on to Isabel, and Anastasia agreed before becoming Iver’s student and returning to her Fool card. Iver recognized that his growing need to be needed was distorting his Path of Dedication, and planned to give Isabel the harp before preparing for his solo Lunar Eclipse Ritual.

• Yunus explained that he planned to return to Glass Island and asked Iver to give Anastasia’s harp to Isabel.
• Anastasia agreed that Yunus could give away the harp and accepted Iver as her teacher, returning to her Fool card afterward.
• Iver examined the harp and found that it could heal its player and target, among other extraordinary abilities.
• Iver realized his Path of Dedication had made him anxious about no longer being needed and hoped the harp would ease that anxiety by letting Isabel care for herself.
• Iver planned to give Isabel the harp and prepare for a solo Promotion Ritual to capture Bear Angel with the Lord of Scales and Feathers’ trial.

Isabel studied the Puppet Mask Grimoire while worrying about Iver’s dangerous ritual and praying for his safety. After discovering how the grimoire’s riddles and answers were intertwined, she was drawn inside it and faced a question from her predecessor.

• Isabel woke missing Iver and prayed to the Silver Crowned Dragon to protect him during his dangerous ritual.
• Isabel studied the Puppet Mask Grimoire and its reference booklet, trying to understand the layered diary entries within it.
• Isabel realized the booklet’s objects revealed riddles hidden in the grimoire and that the Queen of Kings’ words were their answers.
• Isabel grasped the book’s secret and was pulled into a vision of stories nested inside books and masks dancing on invisible threads.
• A layered voice asked Isabel, “If I am the answer, then what is the question?”

Isabel awakened from a vision of the Snake Tail Queen and discovered that the Puppet Mask could transform its wearer and connect them to her. She tested the mask on Ke Er and sent it with Mycroft Hermes to Iver, while promising to handle Avalon’s growing pile of political work.

• In a vision, Isabel saw the Snake Tail Queen reveal another Isabel, who placed a mask on her and claimed they were one and the same; Isabel awoke with a cut on her cheek and the bloodstained Puppet Mask in her hands.
• Isabel dropped the mask and felt a phantom thread link it to her right middle finger, then asked Ke Er to put it on.
• Mycroft Hermes brought Isabel documents and an elven harp, and warned her that Avalon’s political factions were growing active while rumors spread about her drinking over Iver’s departure.
• Isabel removed the Puppet Mask to reveal Ke Er, while the real Isabel emerged from a wardrobe, demonstrating that Mycroft could not distinguish the masked wearer from her.
• Isabel asked Mycroft to deliver the Puppet Mask to Iver at Candle Holder Cathedral and promised to deal with the accumulated documents.

Iver conducted a dangerous Promotion Ritual while Sherlock guarded him, and the ritual drew the gaze of a Pillar God. As Iver was suspended in the air, Lily began her separation on the Second Layer.

• On February 28, Iver prepared his Promotion Ritual as Sherlock stayed nearby to guard his body while Lily prepared to divide herself.
• Iver used a white dove, a deep-blue fish, a green snake, and fasting as offerings, then drew the ritual array and began chanting.
• The ritual unleashed a violent storm and an emerald light, and Sherlock felt the gaze of a Pillar God pass over him.
• Iver remained suspended above the ritual site in a curled, baby-like pose, while Sherlock closed his grimoire and tidied the wrecked room.
• Lily drank a glass of red wine containing a drop of Iver's blood and declared that the time had come.

Iver awoke in the body of Hellerchein Dragonflame, a legendary White Knight, and learned that his Promotion Ritual required him to fight giants on Avalon. He accepted the task list with excitement but wondered whether its blunt focus on killing giants could truly lure out the Bear Angel.

• Iver woke in a small cabin, recognized a moving picture of himself with Fafna, and recovered his memories of the ritual.
• Lord of Scales and Feathers explained that Iver was playing Hellerchein Dragonflame, who had traveled to Avalon with forty-eight followers to investigate the giants’ habit of eating other races.
• Lord of Scales and Feathers revealed that Hellerchein had foreseen his death at Arctos and that Giant Priests would come to capture him.
• Iver received tasks to stay alive, protect Hellerchein’s identity, and kill giants, Giant Priests, a Skinless One, and the Giant King, while destroying Supreme Heaven’s idol.
• Iver praised the straightforward tasks, then questioned whether such an obvious plan could actually draw out the Bear Angel.

Iver arrived in Avalon aboard Hellerchein’s ship and discovered that Hellerchein had early-stage Treeification Disease and a powerful sword from Fafna. As Hellerchein’s followers gathered, Iver began a speech about confronting the Giant Country’s crimes, and his viewpoint shifted into an outside perspective as Hellerchein spoke.

• Iver noticed bark-like Treeification on Hellerchein’s forearm and examined Fafna’s Dragon Tooth, a powerful enchanted sword.
• Albert greeted Iver and asked whether a new adventure was beginning; Iver told him to wait aboard while he scouted ahead.
• Iver walked through the ship, where the followers greeted him, and saw its large deck and a Pegasus whose radiance protected the vessel.
• Iver raised his hand to quiet the followers and began addressing them after the ship arrived at Avalon.
• Iver’s viewpoint shifted to a third-person perspective as Hellerchein argued that they must punish the Giant Country rather than remain silent about its crimes.

Hellerchein committed the Mediators to fighting the giants, knowing the cause would likely cost him his life. Iver flew ahead with Viennes and unleashed her to kill every giant she could reach.

• Hellerchein declared that he would invade Arctos and fight to the death rather than retreat or compromise the Mediators' cause.
• Iver recognized that Hellerchein had become a symbol of justice and warned the followers that someone needed to survive and remember their deaths.
• Iver mounted a pegasus and flew ahead to scout while the elves decided who would return with the final letters.
• Iver summoned Viennes, whose aura frightened the pegasus until he calmed it by merging their consciousnesses.
• Iver released Viennes's restraints and ordered her to kill every giant within reach, and she eagerly accepted.

As the Night Demon’s cursed blood rain devastated the giants, Iver rode toward a settlement on Avalon and ordered her to destroy its temple. Utgarda-Loki also charged into the storm, leaving the confrontation at the temple about to begin.

• A storm darkened the sky above Avalon, and Origen set out with armor and a lance to reach Lord Hellerchein.
• Utgarda-Loki decided to fight the Night Demon’s curse and charged from Supreme Heaven, while Signe watched him leave.
• The Night Demon’s Snake Head Curse targeted creatures over three meters tall, and the blood rain corroded exposed giants to bone.
• Iver rode east on a pegasus with the Night Demon pursuing him and reached a giant settlement.
• Iver ordered the Night Demon to destroy the settlement’s temple before apostles could teleport through it, and she dove toward the building.

Iver watched as the Night Demon and Blood Rain devastated the giants at the temple and settlement. The giants were wiped out, while the captive humans survived unharmed.

• Iver sent the Night Demon into the temple, where it slaughtered the giants inside.
• Giants who charged out were cut down by Blood Rain, while surviving giants turned on one another under sorcery.
• A Fifth Level giant attacked Iver, but the Night Demon blocked his strikes and struck him with a series of curses.
• Blood Rain and the curses weakened the giant until his flesh melted away and a black storm scattered his remains.
• The humans watched the Giant Gods die beneath the Judgment Blood Rain while they remained unharmed.

Iver destroyed the giants who had terrorized humans and discovered a sanctuary tied to his first Promotion Ritual. Inside, he found Aspar Waton, the giant who had nearly killed him, and prepared to settle their score.

• Iver’s blood rain melted the giants, shattering the humans’ belief that they were invincible gods.
• Iver spotted a pyramid-like stone building and recognized a familiar resonance from the Dedication Path.
• Iver ordered Viennes to prepare for battle, and Viennes smashed through the sanctuary’s stone door.
• Iver recognized the building as Kastenning’s sanctuary, where he had completed his first Promotion Ritual.
• Iver found the old giant Aspar Waton beside the Magic Cauldron and challenged him.

The Night Demon and Arthur fought Aspar Waton after Iver arrived at Pankerde Temple. Aspar Waton’s attacks failed to stop them, and Arthur emerged through the Giant’s eye as flames consumed him.

• Arthur held the Holy Lance Rhongomyniad as Aspar Waton faced him and the Night Demon beside the shattered Magic Cauldron.
• The Night Demon cursed Aspar Waton, reflected his Petrification Gaze back at him, and made his body brittle until it cracked apart.
• Arthur pierced Aspar Waton’s heart with the Holy Lance, but Aspar Waton fell backward and pinned him against the ground while firing Crushing Beams at the Night Demon and Iver.
• Aspar Waton’s beams shattered an Iver-shaped illusion, and the Night Demon sent a spear of curses into the Giant’s ruined chest.
• Flames spread through Aspar Waton as Arthur crawled through the passage he had carved from the Giant’s back through his heart and burst out through his eye.

Iver rescued a battered warrior named Arthur during his Promotion Ritual, then realized the man could not be the historical Arthur and might be the Silver Crowned Dragon himself. As Arthur instructed him about the Great Sin Imprint and giant-based rituals, his extensive knowledge left Iver increasingly convinced that he was no ordinary human.

• Iver caught the collapsing warrior, who introduced himself as Arthur, and began preparing a healing ritual with parts of the giant.
• Iver realized Arthur's presence contradicted the timeline and suspected that the man was actually the Silver Crowned Dragon.
• Arthur explained that the Great Sin Imprint judged kin according to a person's own sense of belonging and warned Iver against treating his kind as ritual material.
• Iver cooked pieces of the giant's heart and liver on a copper shield, while Arthur praised his method and described further uses for giant parts.
• Arthur continued giving detailed instructions on processing giant bones, skin, and fur, leaving Iver wondering when he would stop pretending to be human.

Iver learned that Hellerchein’s Promotion Ritual let him travel between the present and a prophetic future, where he had to defeat Supreme Heaven as well as complete his own task. He rushed to save Oligan from Utgarda-Loki, but the giant called down a devastating meteor attack on the battlefield.

• Arthur warned Iver that he could still claim Isabel’s throne before their wedding, but Iver refused and reaffirmed his love for her.
• Arthur revealed that he lacked the Constant Self aspect, then sent Iver back to the present outside Pankerde Temple.
• Iver realized that Hellerchein’s prophetic visions connected the present to the future and that his tasks involved both his own death and defeating Supreme Heaven.
• Iver heard a battle and found Oligan being overwhelmed by the Sixth Level Wildfire Giant, Utgarda-Loki.
• Iver and the Night Demon moved to intervene, but Utgarda-Loki invoked Supreme Heaven and summoned burning meteors over the battlefield.

Utgarda-Loki battled the Night Demon beneath a sky filled with flaming meteors, while Iver found the critically wounded Oligan and used a giant tree to heal him. Iver then acquired a powerful three-piece armor set, whose strongest abilities were locked to specific members of the Theocracy.

• Utgarda-Loki used the meteor fire rain to strengthen the flames around him and struck the Night Demon, cleaving through one of her wings while suffering an unknown curse.
• Utgarda-Loki decided he could not prolong the battle and prayed to the Great Supreme Heaven, which struck him with crimson lightning from the Eye of the Rift.
• Iver followed the trail of smoke to find Oligan barely alive and ordered him not to speak.
• Iver summoned a giant golden-leaved tree beside Oligan, causing his wounds to begin recovering.
• The armor and cloak from Oligan's chest flew onto Iver, revealing the powerful Three Phases of Light set and its restrictions.

Iver learned to use Holy Healing and restored Oligan, who had been gravely wounded fighting Utgarda-Loki. After Oligan protected Iver’s dryad from a meteor, Iver summoned the Thunder Strike Halberd and gave it to him, transforming the warrior’s aura.

• Iver struggled to use Holy Healing until Oligan instructed him to gather and restrain its radiance, allowing him to learn the Sacred technique.
• Iver used Holy Healing alongside the dryad’s aura to heal Oligan’s severe injuries and restore him to near-perfect health.
• Oligan assessed Utgarda-Loki’s fighting style and explained that his old halberd was too fragile to withstand the giant’s attacks.
• When a huge meteor flew toward them, Oligan shattered it with a punch to protect Iver’s dryad.
• Iver summoned the Thunder Strike Halberd from his Wheel of Fortune card and tossed it to Oligan, whose aura changed dramatically as he gripped it.

Oligan received the Thunder Strike Halberd and used its power to wound Utgarda-Loki, while the Night Demon’s Implosion Curse continued to intensify inside the giant. Utgarda-Loki’s body began swelling toward an explosion as he realized the Night Demon was feeding the curse through a mark she had planted in him.

• Oligan thanked Iver for the Thunder Strike Halberd and recognized its storm, lightning, and punitive sin powers.
• The Night Demon’s Implosion Curse grew stronger whenever Utgarda-Loki was hurt, making his body increasingly fragile.
• Oligan narrowly avoided Utgarda-Loki’s grasp and cut off two of the giant’s fingers with the halberd.
• Oligan struck Utgarda-Loki six more times with Sevenfold Slash, drawing fountains of blood.
• Utgarda-Loki’s abdomen swelled as the curse expanded, and he realized the Night Demon was continuously feeding it through a mark inside his body.

Oligan defeated Utgarda-Loki with a devastating combination of seven strength skills, while Utgarda-Loki reflected on the weapon and authority the Giant King had taken from him. Iver woke at dusk to find the forest mostly restored and Arthur beside his pegasus.

• Utgarda-Loki fought Oligan, whose attacks steadily wounded him as he recalled being stripped of his guardian status and the demonic sword Wounding Branch by the Giant King.
• Utgarda-Loki recognized Oligan's talent and saw him unleash seven overlapping skills in a final attack.
• Oligan's thunderous strike split Utgarda-Loki's head and reduced his body to powder, while the shockwave swept Iver and his pegasus away.
• Iver regained consciousness at dusk and found Arthur feeding his pegasus.