Recaps

Aleister defeated Pengbo Naqi, while the Spirit Tower withdrew as Stibium’s rule collapsed and new nations emerged. As the Ouroboros Ring Ritual began, Aleister and Iver entered the Dream Realm, where the Promoters gathered.

• Adolf froze Earl Leipzig, and Aleister met Pengbo Naqi while disguised as Bayard, then heard how Pengbo Naqi’s family and Bashir shaped his path and ambitions for Stibium.
• Aleister challenged Pengbo Naqi’s ideals and fought him, but his many manifestations escaped until Hellerchein and the Wild Hunt Legion broke his Crimson Storm and Aleister purified every soul bearing his name.
• Aleister healed the Spirit Tower’s students, learned its history from Adolf, and arranged for Albert to move to Avalon while the Spirit Tower prepared to withdraw from Stibium’s war.
• Louise transformed Valentine VIII as the Winter Angel’s snow crippled Stannum’s army, Narcissus declared independence, and Lanmalok became the Rebellious Angel.
• Isabel agreed to accompany Yulia and Nobel to Stibium, while riots and political turmoil spread after Black Eagle declared independence and Stibium’s government faltered.
• Aleister told Siya Erduo that Stibium’s leaders had committed themselves to the Ouroboros Ring Ritual as the world descended into chaos.
• Iver undertook Cyril Cardinal’s ritual while Aleister performed her blood ritual, and the Candle Holder Apostle appeared to her in the Dream Realm before leaving a statue of Winged Flame.
• Aleister greeted Iver as Sun among the Promoters, where Laro and Andrea Walter confronted the Great Mage over his ties to the Children of the Moon.

Iver and the other participants faced paintings that turned their choices into competing histories, while Aleister’s path led through a future Avalon and exposed the ritual’s contradictions. Iver discovered that the Ring Angel was his former self, who had guided him through repeated reincarnations to gather power and now demanded his soul.

• Winged Flame began the three-hour ritual, and Iver entered the banquet painting, where he uncovered its false history and worked with Princess Noel to complete the Endless Mad Banquet.
• Iver sacrificed his body to the banquet ritual, while Aleister and the others pursued the Animal World painting and helped shape its new kings.
• Aleister entered a future Avalon, learned from Inspector Weber about its dangers, and discovered that two Ascenders had been arrested by the authorities.
• Iver and Aleister chose different doors as the ritual revealed contradictory worldlines, and Iver entered a ruined Camelot nearing the end of the world.
• Ai Shiping told Iver that Amber had preserved the world through eight restarts and that one of them would eventually claim the Eighth Source River’s power.
• The Ring Angel revealed that he and Iver had once been the same person, explained that this was their ninth reincarnation, and demanded Iver surrender his soul.
• Iver refused the Ring Angel’s demand, questioned why the Pillar Gods had supported him, and was drawn toward the Blood Wine the Ring Angel opened.

Iver completed the Promotion Ritual, restored Aleister within himself, and returned to the world as the Child of Candle Holder. He ended the Theocracy’s neutrality, prepared it for the coming crisis, and gathered a team in the Narcissus Principality to explore a ruin.

• Aleister sacrificed herself to restore Iver’s memories and complete his soul, allowing him to win the Promotion Ritual and choose to remain in the world.
• Iver fused Serpent of Transcendence with Candle Holder’s Horn, then used his new power to cure Grey’s Amberization Disease and make her Acting Pope.
• Iver ended the Theocracy’s permanent neutrality, appointed Pure White Pope and Theresa Black Saintess, and ordered the Church to confront injustice and prepare for war.
• Iver reunited Fafner with Hellerchein and restarted the Theocracy’s factories, military divisions, and recruitment to prepare for the Fallen Angel.
• Isabel arranged a visit to Astyn as the Theocracy’s conscription stirred concern, while Iver traveled to the Narcissus Principality with Cardinal Galatea.
• Iver joined Professor Bard’s archaeological expedition, where the group’s nine transcendent members suggested a great ritual might be involved.
• The expedition members introduced themselves, and Zhu Tang honored Iver as the Child of Candle Holder before explaining why he had been exiled for helping starving Parthians.
• Iver promised to protect the expedition and Zhu Tang, then announced that the group would set out the next day.

Iver’s expedition uncovered the Tower to the Heavens’ ancient ritual, the origins of its demons, and the truth behind Lucifer’s preserved consciousness. After Lucifer entrusted him with his legacy, Iver gained the power to pursue a path beyond the Ring Angel’s design as the Tower’s preservation began to collapse.

• Insect Amber Master revealed the hidden Tower to the Heavens, and Iver’s group explored its defenses while uncovering ancient runes and a mind-reading device powered by thoughts.
• Iver and Cardinal Galatea entered the Blood Altar, where Iver killed Lester, retrieved a gemstone, and recovered Sister Sasha’s contaminated holy relics.
• Iver concluded that the Tower’s ritual had tried to connect to the Eighth Source River and create a god by stealing its power, then chose to keep exploring despite the danger.
• As the group reached the Eighth Layer, Galatea revealed that demons descended from the Winged Ones’ corrupted souls, and the companions fought off a horde that killed Sine before Iver resurrected him.
• Iver and the group reached the Ninth Layer, where Galatea explained how the Second Sun’s destruction sealed the heavens and divided the Material Realm from the Dream Realm.
• The Deep Blue eye struck down the moon, Supreme Heaven pierced it, and Lucifer appeared to explain the ancient events and ask whether Iver would deceive him again.
• Lucifer told Iver about the Ring Angel’s cycles and revealed that he had never hated him, then vanished and left his wings as a legacy.
• Iver absorbed Lucifer’s wings and gained new powers that could unite the Great Sin Beasts with the Gospel White Wings, just as the Tower’s preservation spell failed and Galatea led him back toward the others.