Recaps

Freya explained how the Tears of Time could affect elves and why she had been developing them as a treatment for Amberization Disease. After destroying her remaining supply, the group realized the theft and the killings of Grey’s friends were likely a warning that Grey was next, with the Pope Election only two weeks away.

• Freya explained that the Tears of Time could kill pure-blooded elves and might purify Half-Elves’ bloodlines, while the Elixir of Immortality safely extended lifespans slightly.
• Freya said she hoped to use the Tears of Time as an artificial replacement for the Amber Angel’s blessing while treating Amberization Disease.
• Iver suspected his Sin Thorns Fruit might help reverse amberization and decided to show Freya one if he obtained another.
• At Yanis’s urging, Freya destroyed her three-month supply of Tears of Time by heating it.
• Yanis warned that Grey might be attacked on March third, and Iver revealed that Gloria and Bishop Mercedes had been killed and one corpse had been placed in his wardrobe as a possible threat to Grey.

Iver and the others discussed how the Eternal Theocracy’s divided structure could let the Cardinals pursue competing paths while the Pope was unconscious. They planned separate investigations, and Iver left to meet Cardinal Loki again after asking the others to come rescue him if he did not return.

• Yanis became furious when she learned someone had endangered Grey, and Iver explained that the Pope’s Treeification Disease had worsened and he could not be awakened.
• Freya and Yanis explained that the Theocracy consisted of independently ruled Rings and that its history and rules allowed the Cardinals’ factions to divide and compete.
• Iver assigned Lily and Freya to find Oswald, Sherlock to find Yunus, and Yanis to tell the Pure White Saintess about their troubles and ask about Iver’s dates.
• Iver decided to meet Cardinal Loki alone, warned the others to rescue him if he did not return, and reminded Sherlock not to disappear without telling anyone where he was going.

Iver was drawn into the Dream Realm, where Heaven Rakshasa protected him from the Bear Angel and promised to aid him if he ever faced the Bear Angel directly. Iver awoke with a third bear-claw mark and gained the Authority - Mark of Three trait.

• Iver kept his distance from Isabel because he feared the Bear Angel's mark could put her and Morgan's Funhouse in danger.
• Iver woke in the Dream Realm as a burned, four-legged beast beside a campfire, where a spirit maiden examined his sacred marks.
• Heaven Rakshasa explained that he had brought Iver to the Dream Realm to shield his soul from the Bear Angel.
• Heaven Rakshasa promised to become Iver's aid if the Bear Angel fought him directly in the Dream Realm.
• Iver awoke with a deeper bear-claw scar and received the Authority - Mark of Three trait.

Yanis returned to the Twenty-First Ring and confessed to Grey about the Tears of Time and her long absence. Grey forgave her, revealed that she had Amberized, and handed over Iver’s dates; Yanis then learned Cardinal Loki was under investigation and realized Iver had gone to confront him alone.

• Yanis walked through the Twenty-First Ring’s Infinity Corridor to meet Grey, the Pure White Saintess.
• Grey told Yanis she had waited for her for one hundred and ninety-five years, and Yanis confessed her cowardice and revealed the secrets of the Elixir of Immortality and the stolen Tears of Time.
• Grey forgave Yanis, then revealed that she had Amberized and could no longer succeed the Pope.
• Grey crushed Yanis’s recording brooch to protect Yanis and Freya, and gave Yanis the ring containing Iver’s dates for Freya to examine.
• Grey told Yanis that Cardinal Loki was under investigation and that evidence linked him to Bram’s giant power.
• Yanis revealed that Iver had gone to find Cardinal Loki alone and hurried to intervene.

Freya and Lily searched for Mr. Oswald in the Theocracy’s Second Ring, where Freya revealed her past bond with Lily and Iver. They found Oswald’s address was a bar, but the deafening crowd left them wondering whether he could really be there.

• Freya used her connections to learn that Oswald had returned and was living in the Second Ring.
• Lily and Freya discussed the Second Ring’s peaceful, diverse community as they made their way through it.
• Freya revealed that she had cared for Lily and Iver when they were young, and explained how the curse had shifted Iver’s memories of her onto Lily.
• Lily told Freya that Iver was about to become engaged to Queen Isabel, surprising Freya with the Queen’s age.
• Freya and Lily reached Oswald’s address, a crowded bar where patrons erupted in celebration over a unicorn appearing on a crystal screen.

Freya and Lily reunited with Oswald in the Theocracy, where he had settled into a cheerful retirement after being freed from his duties as a Guardian Elf. After hearing about their recent troubles, Oswald recognized the name Cardinal Loki and said his master had mentioned him.

• Freya and Lily found Oswald celebrating a football match in a bar with Robert and the other patrons.
• Oswald greeted Freya and explained that Yulia was well, Iver no longer needed him, Edward was on the right track, and the Moriarty Family had released him from his guardianship.
• Oswald told Lily that he had found his master in the Theocracy and that the Pope had refused to see him, prompting him to wonder whether something had happened to the Pope and whether Iver was nearby.
• Freya said Iver had chosen to handle an important matter alone, and Oswald led the women to a teahouse to talk.
• Freya recounted their recent encounters, and Oswald recalled that his master had recently mentioned Cardinal Loki.

Freya learned that James Moriarty had studied astrology under Cardinal Loki, while Iver suspected Loki was the Wildfire Giant Utgarda-Loki and went to confront him. Loki revealed that James was his enemy and called him a rebellious, mad student, leaving Iver to face a threat tied to his father’s past.

• Oswald told Freya that James Moriarty had studied astrology under Cardinal Loki and that James was handling a matter involving something Loki had stolen.
• Iver reasoned that Loki might be the Wildfire Giant Utgarda-Loki and prepared Viennes with enhanced power and blessings.
• Iver brought Viennes, disguised as a raven, to the Eleventh Ring, where guides led him to Loki.
• Loki told Iver that James Moriarty had been his student and that James, not Bear Angel or Supreme Heaven, was the enemy pursuing him.

Iver questioned Cardinal Loki about his connection to James Moriarty and his role in the stolen Tears of Time. Loki revealed that he wanted to promote Controlled Fire to protect the Nine Pillars God Church, leaving Iver to recognize the doctrine of Premature Death behind Loki’s plan.

• Cardinal Loki told Iver that he was a fragment of Ring Angel recreated by Jacob and that James Moriarty had learned Loki’s Observation Secret Rite.
• Loki explained that Moriarty studied astrology with him, learned many secrets, and later changed after meeting the witch Anna Kingsford.
• Loki admitted that he had stolen the Tears of Time and confirmed that he had attacked Purity, while denying that he cared about becoming Pope.
• Loki said he intended to promote Controlled Fire, sever the elves’ inheritance, and preserve the Nine Pillars God Church rather than the Eternal Theocracy.
• Iver concluded that Loki’s plan relied on Premature Death, allowing elves at risk of Condensation to die before they could harm others.

Iver realized that Loki had stolen the Tears of Time to target the Pure White Saintess and frame Freya, but Professor Moriarty had orchestrated Mercedes’s death and Gloria’s breakdown. Loki revealed that a forbidden ritual had created a Saint Child carrying giant blood—and that the child was his—as a hidden attacker struck at Iver.

• Iver reconsidered Loki’s statements and concluded that Gloria killed Mercedes before breaking down, rather than being driven to murder by the Tears of Time.
• Loki explained that he had concealed parts of the truth because they served his plan, while James had used the ritual and two doomed lives to interfere with him.
• Loki revealed that Mercedes’s ritual was intended to create a Child of the Moon Saint, and that James had placed part of his soul inside the unborn child.
• Iver connected Bram’s giant transformation to the child’s giant blood, and Loki admitted that the child in Mercedes’s womb was his.
• Viennes sensed danger and transformed, but a scarlet streak hidden in a mirror slashed toward Iver.

Iver and the Night Demon fought Cardinal Loki in the mirror-filled Eleventh Ring, using shadow curses and magic to overcome his divine arts. The Night Demon crushed Loki’s phantom heart, killing him before he could self-destruct.

• Iver vanished into a shadow storm as the Night Demon trapped Loki’s blood-colored attack with curses.
• Loki unleashed Advanced Divine Arts while Iver used the Book of Law and mirror images to attack and distract him.
• The Night Demon immobilized Loki and the priests with shadowy hands, then severed Loki’s Sin Thorns with the Thunder Strike Halberd.
• Loki praised the Candleholder and began to self-destruct, but the Night Demon pinned him with three curse spears and stripped away his blessings.
• The Night Demon pulled out and crushed Loki’s phantom heart, and he collapsed dead.

Iver killed Cardinal Loki and suspected the Cardinal had deliberately provoked him as part of a concealed plan. With Loki’s death disrupting the Theocracy’s surveillance system, Iver considered whether he could become a Cardinal Bishop himself.

• Iver received 1,500 Free Experience for killing Cardinal Loki and questioned why Loki had seemed so weak and willing to die.
• Viennes explained that the bloody light had been only a mirror projection, leading Iver to suspect Loki had engineered his own apparent death for a hidden purpose.
• Iver considered how Loki might have pursued a Perfected One identity but doubted that a substitute could have gained the necessary levels in Love and Transcendence.
• Yanis arrived at the Eleventh Ring, found Loki’s corpse, and agreed to leave the scene untouched until Pure White arrived.
• Yanis warned that Loki’s death could cripple the Theocracy’s Central Observatory and leave it vulnerable to chaos before the Pope’s succession ceremony.
• Iver asked whether Advanced Divine Arts and resonance with a Pillar God could make him a Cardinal Bishop, then decided to try.

After Cardinal Loki’s death, Iver learned that Lily’s strange reaction to Bram and Loki resembled her experience with the 'Silken Grimoire.' Pure White confirmed that the stolen Tears of Time had been found, cleared Iver of attacking a Cardinal Bishop, and explained that the Theocracy’s rules let her settle the matter because Loki was dead.

• Iver learned from Lily and Freya that news of the incident had already caused unease in the Fifth Ring, and Freya repeated Oswald’s remark that the matter would end safely in Moriarty Style.
• Iver asked Lily about her reaction to Bram and Cardinal Loki, and she recalled a fleeting sensation like the one she felt when reading the 'Silken Grimoire.'
• Iver explained that Loki had stolen the Tears of Time and harbored ill will toward the Saintess, while Freya inferred that her father had tried to frame him.
• Pure White visited with two Pope Guards and told Iver that the Tears of Time had been found in Loki’s possession, confirming his involvement.
• Pure White said Loki would be stripped of his Cardinal title pending further investigation, so Iver had not committed the crime of attacking a Cardinal Bishop.
• Pure White explained that she could settle the matter because no Cardinal Bishop had objected and Loki was already dead.

Iver learned how the Theocracy handled wrongdoing through restitution and how Cardinal Bishops bore responsibility for its Necessary Evil. Pure White arranged for Freya to develop a cheaper healing potion, then warned Iver about Controlled Fire’s remaining loyalists and explained the stages of Advanced Divine Arts.

• Freya agreed to develop a healing potion costing at least eighty percent less than existing medicines while retaining half their efficacy, with Pure White sponsoring her research and protecting her patent.
• Pure White explained that the Theocracy often made criminals atone through beneficial labor, but could turn irredeemable people into materials or use them for experiments, leaving Cardinal Bishops to judge their own limits.
• Iver agreed to apologize to, treat, and compensate the innocent priests caught up in the affair.
• Pure White warned Iver that Loki’s fanatical followers might retaliate, even while Controlled Fire underwent an investigation.
• Pure White explained that Advanced Divine Arts involved mastering techniques, completing a long ritual for a chosen deity, and passing that deity’s test, and offered to send Iver study materials.

Iver visited the Eleventh Ring to apologize for the Night Demon's actions, but the elves had already recovered and welcomed him with gifts instead. After receiving a set of Advanced Divine Arts textbooks, he struggled to read them and decided to ask the Pure White Saintess to explain them so he could learn through experience.

• Iver arrived at the Eleventh Ring too late to treat anyone, and the elves reassured him and gave him gifts rather than blaming him for Cardinal Loki's death.
• Iver learned that Freya had returned with all the jujubes he had given the Pure White Saintess, and he considered what that might mean for the Saintess's plans.
• Iver opened a medicine gift set from Antimony and set it aside to take home because it was unsuitable for sacrificial transport.
• Two Pope Guards delivered a sealed bookcase containing eleven Advanced Divine Arts textbooks and taught Iver how to open it.
• Iver read the introduction, learned the history of Advanced Divine Arts, and stopped after forty pages because the taboo knowledge made him ill.
• Iver decided to ask the Pure White Saintess to explain the books so he could master the art by spending experience.

Iver met Isabel in a dream and turned her request to experiment with restraints into a game that included questions about the Southern Continent. Afterward, he went to the Eleventh Ring, where Pure White began teaching him Advanced Divine Arts and his system offered him a chance to learn it for 384 public experience.

• Isabel told Iver she had waited for him, and he explained that Bear Angel had hunted him again before Lord Heaven Rakshasa saved him.
• Isabel proposed trying restraints, and Iver blindfolded and handcuffed her while promising to discuss the Southern Continent through a question-and-answer game.
• Iver learned that Sherlock had stayed out all night, decided he was likely pursuing a clue, and told Lily to write him a letter demanding a reply.
• Iver carried a shelf of books to the Eleventh Ring and asked Pure White to explain Advanced Divine Arts.
• Pure White sealed the room, explained the Theocracy’s secret phrases, and began teaching from Introduction to Advanced Divine Arts.
• Iver’s system offered to let him master Advanced Divine Arts for 384 public experience, and he eagerly accepted.

Pure White taught Iver the foundations of Advanced Divine Arts and saw signs that he mastered the material by remembering it rather than learning it. She considered whether he could become Acting Pope, but rejected the idea because the role would consume his lifespan, and continued teaching him while hoping to witness a miracle.

• Pure White explained that Phantom Demon Eggs had a special aptitude for Advanced Divine Arts and began teaching Iver about the Vessel of Souls.
• Iver accepted the system prompt to master the second Advanced Divine Arts lesson for 112 Public Experience.
• Pure White saw the sunrise-like glow in Iver’s eyes grow brighter and recalled reports of how quickly he had mastered the Sacrificial Fire Method.
• Pure White considered making Iver Acting Pope to delay a crisis in the Theocracy, but decided she could not sacrifice his lifespan.
• Pure White continued teaching Iver and hoped to witness a miracle.

Iver mastered Advanced Divine Arts and became a vessel capable of hosting a phantom demon, receiving the First Generation Pope An Eternal’s offer of a contract. After the Pure White warned that he could safely perform only one divine descent before his next Promotion Ritual, Iver chose the Lord of Scales and Feathers.

• Iver spent 644 public experience to master Advanced Divine Arts and learned how its rituals prepared his soul to host powerful beings.
• As Iver’s soul opened and his body was marked, he encountered An Eternal in a vision, and the Candle Heaven Holder offered him a contract if he could not find another god.
• The vision ended, and the Pure White healed Iver as a black, snake-eating-its-tail brand formed in the center of his chest.
• The Pure White congratulated Iver for becoming the first Short-lived Race to master Advanced Divine Arts and warned that another divine descent could damage his soul before his next Promotion Ritual.
• Iver chose the Lord of Scales and Feathers as his first contract target.

Iver chose Lord of Scales and Feathers for his first Advanced Divine Arts contract and went with Pure White to the Ninth Ring for the ritual. After meeting Cyril Cardinal, Iver realized that Lord of Scales and Feathers had foreseen his choice and had already agreed to their future partnership.

• Pure White explained the risks of Advanced Divine Arts, and Iver confirmed that he wanted to contract with Lord of Scales and Feathers.
• Pure White brought Iver to the Ninth Ring to meet Cyril Cardinal, who would oversee his first ritual.
• Cyril greeted Iver with words that recalled Lord of Scales and Feathers' greeting in a dream, then revealed that he was Living Silver.
• Iver remembered meeting Living Silver in the dream and recognized that Lord of Scales and Feathers had used the same words.
• Iver concluded that Lord of Scales and Feathers had foreseen his decision to apply for a contract and had already welcomed their partnership.

Cardinal Cyril performed Iver’s first ritual and praised him for resisting Heavenly Sin, after which Iver awoke in a dreamlike vision of his former life. The Lord of Scales and Feathers revealed that Iver was not the transmigrator Ai Shiping but an abandoned former self, a fragment of Heavenly Sin and the remains of reincarnation.

• Cardinal Cyril told Iver he foresaw him resolving the Theocracy’s troubles and performed a ritual without using materials.
• Iver awoke to alarms in an unfamiliar apartment and heard someone outside call him Ai Shiping.
• The Lord of Scales and Feathers appeared and challenged Iver’s memories of his supposed previous life.
• The Lord revealed the River of Survival and explained the Path of Adaptation as changing oneself or making others adapt.
• The Lord told Iver he was not Ai Shiping or a transmigrator, but an abandoned former self and the remains of reincarnation.

The Lord of Scales and Feathers revealed that Iver was a fragment of the Ring Angel’s transcendence and showed him a possible future in which the Ring Angel devoured him and became the Ouroboros Ring. Iver asked how to escape that fate, and the Lord accepted their contract but required him to undergo a Promotion Ritual.

• Iver realized his memories of his previous life were incomplete and wondered whether the Ring Angel had kept valuable memories when it separated him.
• The Lord of Scales and Feathers explained that Iver inherited overflow from the Ring Angel’s transcendence, not its power of the Equilibrium Path.
• The Lord showed Iver a vision of a future self wielding the Ouroboros Ring and explained that the Ring Angel would eventually need to merge with Iver to complete its cycle.
• Iver learned that the Silver Crowned Dragon was a failed experiment by the Ring Angel and that the Lord of Scales and Feathers had chosen him as another possibility.
• Iver asked how he could avoid becoming food without dying, and the Lord cryptically told him that he was the answer.
• The Lord accepted Iver’s contract and said that completing the Advanced Divine Arts required a Promotion Ritual personally presided over by the Lord.

Iver agreed to undergo a solo Promotion Ritual hosted by the Lord of Scales and Feathers, who planned to use him as bait to weaken the Bear Angel and claim the Warrior profession. The ritual left Iver marked with a new emerald, and Cyril Cardinal prepared to complete the final step.

• Iver worried that the Ring Angel might oppose his promotion and that the Bear Angel's pursuit could endanger others, but the Lord of Scales and Feathers explained that the ritual would be a solo Lunar Eclipse Ritual.
• The Lord of Scales and Feathers revealed that he intended to lure the Bear Angel through Iver and seize the Bear Angel's monopoly over the Warrior profession.
• Iver realized that restoring the Warrior profession could reshape warfare and world politics, and agreed to help disrupt the future planned by the Ring Angel and others.
• Iver offered to bait the Bear Angel, and the Lord of Scales and Feathers promised him a share of the gains before the world shattered and Iver awoke.
• Iver saw that the Ouroboros mark on his chest had become a vertical slit holding an emerald, and Cyril Cardinal asked what color robes he wanted for his Cardinal Bishop attire.

Iver learned how his Path Crystal safely carried the Lord of Scales and Feathers’ power and chose black and gold for his Cardinal Bishop robes. After hearing about Cardinal Loki’s brutal trial and death, Iver realized Loki’s plans might have cleared the way for Iver to become the Eternal Pope.

• Iver asked Cyril Cardinal about the gemstone in his chest, and Cyril explained that the Path Crystal contained incompatible power so it would not overwhelm Iver’s body.
• Iver chose black robes with gold or platinum details and asked that his chest stigmata remain exposed without restricting movement.
• Cyril Cardinal described his own lengthy promotion trials, Cardinal Matilda’s monument task, and Cardinal Loki’s trial of repeatedly burning his sins and enduring death.
• Iver considered whether Loki had sincerely atoned and how his death benefited the Pure White Saintess, the Theocracy, and Iver.
• Iver connected Loki’s death to the Moriarty Style and suspected Loki had planned for Iver to become the Eternal Pope.

After realizing that Iver’s temporary ascension to the papacy could satisfy the factions of the Theocracy, Iver planned to wait until the New Moon Ritual to strike the Bear Angel. Lily’s emerging split personality, Selene, offered an unforeseen path forward, while a letter from Sherlock summoned Iver to investigate an astonishing new problem.

• Iver concluded that the factions could accept a human Pope and estimated that he could relinquish the crown within six months, once Pure White cured crystallization.
• Iver resolved to conceal his ritual plans until the New Moon Ritual in fewer than ten days, when he would attack the Bear Angel.
• Lily told Iver that her study of the Ovum Moon Grimoire was progressing, and Selene revealed she could create a moon monster from Iver’s flesh and blood.
• Iver agreed to Selene’s request, recognizing Lily’s split and the creature’s creation as developments outside anyone’s plans.
• Iver read Sherlock’s letter asking him to come the next day to address a client’s incredible but supposedly non-dangerous problem.

Iver and Lily reached a secluded villa and met Neelim, a young fairy who warmed to Iver after he treated her respectfully. Neelim transformed his leaf gift into a shining Princess crown, astonishing Lily.

• Iver took Lily across the Fifth Ring to the secluded villa named in the commission.
• Iver caught an invisible fairy hiding in his collar, and she introduced herself as Neelim.
• Iver explained how fairies responded to respectful forms of address and called Neelim a respected lady.
• Iver folded a Chestnut Tree leaf into a ring and gave it to Neelim as a gift.
• Neelim said she liked Princess crowns, placed the leaf ring on her head, and transformed it into a genuine crown while Lily watched in surprise.

Iver met Sherlock’s client, Yunus, and listened as Yunus and Neelim performed a song about life far from home. Yunus recognized the necklace Isabel had given Iver and invited him to dinner, leaving Iver wary that Yunus knew its significance.

• Neelim befriended Iver, then hid in his hair when Sherlock appeared, upset that Sherlock had called her a fairy.
• Sherlock introduced his client Yunus and explained that he had brought Iver because the matter might require a priest.
• Neelim recognized Yunus’s singing and joined him in performing a melancholy song about a wanderer missing home.
• Yunus invited Iver to dinner and asked to hear the story behind his deeds, while Iver suspected Yunus had recognized Isabel’s necklace.