Chapter Summaries

Iver rescued Galatea and reunited with the others inside Insect Amber’s barrier, then explained the history of the Second Sun and Mithra. The barrier was suddenly struck by a hostile force from the void that called out to the Snake.

• Iver used his newly restored wings to carry Galatea to the amber barrier protecting the others.
• Iver resumed speaking with his illusion’s audience and advised Great Mage Sine to complete their transaction before exploring the Water Icosahedron’s ruins.
• Encyclopedia asked whether the deep blue sun had been Mithra, and Iver confirmed that the Second Sun died because of the birth of the twins.
• Iver explained that Mithra’s creation involved the Nine Great Paths and that Supreme Heaven had likely opposed Mithra’s birth.
• A powerful wave of hatred, despair, and killing intent struck the amber barrier, and a voice from the void accused the Snake of appearing before it again.

A crushing force collapsed the Tower to the Heavens' Ninth Layer, trapping the group as a claw tore through their protective barrier and exposed them to the storm. Iver tried to convince the Fallen Angel that he was the Snake's enemy, but its attack killed nearly everyone around him while Cardinal Galatea took the strike meant for him.

• The floor of the Tower to the Heavens' Ninth Layer collapsed under immense gravity, and the Preservation spell barrier was crushed nearly flat around the group.
• Siney urged Master Insect Amber to dispel the barrier, but a claw from the rift tore it apart before he could decide.
• The storm flung Little Cat into the air, while Rogue caught and hurled her toward the floor; Iver tended Mu and held Cardinal Galatea close.
• Encyclopedia recognized the attacker as the Fallen Angel, a celestial being, and prepared to upload what he knew.
• Iver declared that he was the Snake's mortal enemy, but the Fallen Angel accused him of deception and unleashed a Deep Purple lightning slash.
• Cardinal Galatea shielded Iver from the slash, weakening as she took the blow, while nearly everyone else nearby was killed.

Iver resurrected his companions and called on Lord of Scales and Feathers for protection after Fallen Angel attacked with the power of his true body. While Iver prepared to use the Shepherding Method to buy time, Paradox Flame Butterfly tried to hasten the world's destruction with her Dawnfire.

• Mu and Rogue were killed by Fallen Angel, while Insect Amber Master survived by transforming into an amber-like colloid.
• Iver transformed into a Sin Beast and resurrected his companions, including Cardinal Galatea, with a white halo.
• Iver called Lord of Scales and Feathers, who explained that Fallen Angel could attack through the half-shattered world without crossing the Wall of Equilibrium.
• Lord of Scales and Feathers raised a barrier and said he was on his way, leaving Iver to hold Fallen Angel off.
• Iver decided to use the Shepherding Method, but Paradox Flame Butterfly rushed at the darkness and unleashed her Dawnfire to accelerate the world's destruction.
• Paradox Flame Butterfly's flames gathered into a blinding point, and a mushroom cloud rose.

Iver reversed the Fallen Angel’s attempt to transform him into a demon, using Lucifer’s power and the Great Sin Imprints to unleash Lost Paradise. He summoned Lia reborn as the Unburning Butterfly, whose Power of Conflict met the Fallen Angel’s attack as the world shattered.

• The Fallen Angel slowed the collapse of the Tower to the Heavens and seized Iver, using his Great Sin Imprints to begin transforming him into a demon.
• Iver used Lucifer’s Wings to reverse the Fallen Angel’s power and break free of his grasp.
• Iver unleashed Lost Paradise, shattering the Fallen Angel’s spell and restoring the world’s normal flow of time.
• Iver summoned Lia as the Unburning Butterfly, her evolved form reborn from the Paradox Flame Butterfly’s ashes.
• The Unburning Butterfly wielded the Power of Conflict to contend with the Fallen Angel’s attack, and the world shattered as their Lost Paradises collided.

Iver and the others returned safely to the Dense Forest after the ruins disintegrated, and they recovered the belongings and treasures gathered by Zhu Tang. Iver took an Eden Stone and recruited Zhu Tang and his companion for a dangerous task, while Miss Sprengel received a mysterious visitor in Antimony.

• Iver and the others fell back into the Dense Forest, where Little Cat cried with relief and Professor Bard praised Iver for saving them.
• Zhu Tang revealed the fragments and belongings he had collected, and Professor Bard recovered his photographs, camera, and rune stone.
• Sine Wave identified two pieces of Light Amber, and Professor Bard recognized a golden sphere as the core of the device from Tower to the Heavens.
• Iver found an emerald-green gemstone identified by the system as an Eden Stone and chose it from the recovered spoils.
• Iver asked Zhu Tang and his companion to work for him, promising payment and Paladin Legion protection for their return to Anxi, and they agreed.
• A purple, horned-helmeted figure appeared in a mirror before Miss Sprengel, who greeted it as her lord.

Anna Kingsford, known as Miss Sprengel, was revealed as a witch born when the night demon Sprengel took control of her body. After the Fallen Angel ordered her to advance the Ouroboros Ring Ritual, she consulted the Ring Angel, who told her to proceed despite Aleister's interference.

• The chapter explained that Anna Kingsford had brought the Rose Grimoire to Stibium and become a witch when the night demon Sprengel took her body.
• The Fallen Angel contacted Sprengel and demanded that she move the Ouroboros Ring Ritual forward to April 7 or 8, citing the snake's plan for May 5.
• Sprengel told the Fallen Angel that the ritual's Outer Ring had already been completed on April 5 and that its original sacrifice had been killed by Aleister.
• The Fallen Angel ordered Sprengel to find any sacrifice and told her to kill Aleister if she encountered her again.
• Sprengel sealed the mirror, contacted the Ring Angel, and asked whether she could advance the ritual.
• The Ring Angel told Sprengel to proceed and dismissed Aleister's ability to disrupt the plan.

Master Walter rushed to Miss Sprengel’s secret gathering after Lady Malasia warned him that something had happened on the Fallen Angel’s side, threatening the planned Ouroboros Ring Ritual and their position in Stibium. At the meeting place, he found Lady Malasia waiting but noticed that Dr. Levicune was absent.

• Master Walter doubted Miss Sprengel’s hurried invitation until Lady Malasia told him that something had happened on the Fallen Angel’s side.
• Fearing that a delay to the Ouroboros Ring Ritual would leave their faction vulnerable to the Children of the Moon and alchemists, Master Walter hurried to the gathering.
• Master Walter reached the basement meeting room beneath the abandoned Pelican bar and found Lady Malasia already there.
• Master Walter recalled Lady Malasia’s commercial empire, her rivalry with the goblins, and her history as Miss Sprengel’s junior and student.
• Master Walter realized that Dr. Levicune was not at the meeting.

Miss Sprengel, Lady Malasia, Dr. Levicune, and Master Walter discussed accelerating the Ouroboros Ring Ritual and choosing a sacrifice, while Walter schemed to remove Levicune and seize power. Sprengel and Levicune revealed that Walter was their intended sacrifice, and Sprengel began the ritual with him trapped.

• Miss Sprengel told Master Walter and Lady Malasia that the Fallen Angel had fought in the Dream Realm and wanted to descend into the Material Realm, so she proposed moving the Ouroboros Ring Ritual to within the month.
• Miss Sprengel said they could not risk capturing outside Transcenders and that one of their own had to be sacrificed, and Master Walter insisted that Dr. Levicune should be chosen.
• Master Walter argued that Levicune was too dangerous and weak to lead their planned new empire, while privately imagining himself ruling and winning Miss Sprengel.
• Miss Sprengel agreed with Walter, but magic arrays sprang from his chair and trapped him as Dr. Levicune emerged from the shadows and accused him of betraying his trust.
• Lady Malasia confirmed that she had warned Walter, and he realized the others had made him the sacrifice; Miss Sprengel began setting up the ritual and promised to satisfy him soon.

Miss Sprengel completed the Ouroboros Ring ritual, summoning the Fallen Angel into the Material Realm and opening a breach between reality and the Dream Realm. The Fallen Angel spared Lady Malasia and Dr. Levicune after they swore allegiance, then summoned his demon army.

• Miss Sprengel, Lady Malasia, and Dr. Levicune prepared the ritual rings and burned Master Walter, whose body became a Berserker Demon.
• Miss Sprengel activated the Ouroboros Imprints across Antimony, and at least eighty-eight marks formed the ritual’s star chart.
• The ritual altered the stars above Antimony and opened a breach through the Wall of Equilibrium, allowing the Fallen Angel to descend.
• The Fallen Angel seized Miss Sprengel, then released her and learned that Lady Malasia and Dr. Levicune had been brought as sacrifices.
• Miss Sprengel persuaded the Fallen Angel to spare Lady Malasia and Dr. Levicune, who knelt and swore allegiance.
• The Fallen Angel transformed the two into demons and back into humans, then opened portals for his demon army.

After the group escaped the Tower to the Heavens, they returned to the villa and recovered from their ordeal. Zhu Tang reflected on his dangerous journey and spoke wistfully about his family, while Iver recognized that resurrection had eased the bodily damage caused by Zhu Tang’s rituals.

• Rogue recovered first, changed clothes, and suggested celebrating in a nearby village, but the exhausted group chose to hurry back to the villa with their valuables.
• The group reached the villa before sunset, where Little Cat bathed, Zheng Tang cleaned Professor Bard’s robe, and Mu and the Encyclopedia prepared food.
• Zhu Tang sat with Iver in the courtyard and vowed to record the adventures he had witnessed if he returned home safely.
• Zhu Tang told Iver about his children and his longing for home, then laughed and cried as he recalled playing with his youngest son.
• Iver realized that Zhu Tang’s rituals had worn down his body and that resurrecting him had also repaired his lingering ailments.

Zhu Tang told Iver about his daughter and worried that his disappearance might provoke a war, but their conversation was interrupted when a violent quake and a vast purple darkness spread over Stibium. Iver recognized the event as an early Ouroboros Ring Ritual and realized Yulia and Isabel were inside the city.

• Zhu Tang recounted how his daughter had refused to sever ties with him and feared that his disappearance would make the emperor suspect him of defecting.
• Iver reassured Zhu Tang that the emperor would likely investigate and eventually summon him back.
• A powerful earthquake struck as purple darkness spread across the sky, and the Great Sin Imprint appeared on Iver.
• Zhu Tang looked toward the disturbance, saw the Fallen Angel and swarms of phantasmal demons, and cried out in terror.
• Iver resisted a surge of corruption, recognized the Ouroboros Ring Ritual had begun early, and remembered that Yulia and Isabel were in Stibium.

Iver hurried to Antimony after the Fallen Angel’s descent and led prayers to summon aid for the besieged people. The prayers protected civilians, strengthened students fighting demons, and rescued captured souls, but the demons traced their power back to Iver and surged toward him.

• Iver learned that the Ouroboros Ring Ritual had brought a Fallen Angel and a vast demon legion to Antimony, so he sailed there with Zhu Tang, Mu, and Cardinal Galatea.
• Iver prayed aboard the warship to the Pillar Gods and Angels for Antimony’s people, and the ship’s eighty Third Level priests joined him.
• The prayers calmed people hiding in an underground bar in Leipzig, allowing the demons to pass without discovering them.
• Students at a university received prayer-blessed strength and speed, turning the fight against surrounding demons in their favor.
• Knightly phantoms appeared through the Rainbow Bridge, severed demons’ chains, and rescued captured souls.
• The Pope Guard warned Iver that demons were approaching after they traced the prayers’ power to him.

Iver and the crew of the elven warship Cruel Evangelist fought through the demon tide surrounding Leipzig, destroying the low-level demons and advancing toward Stibium. With Greater Demons blocking their way and four Punishment Demons attacking, Iver prepared to summon the Wild Hunt King.

• Iver used amber power to freeze the water beneath Cruel Evangelist, and the priests charged the ship’s weapons.
• On Iver’s order, the ship unleashed eighty Scorching Rays that wiped out most of the low-level demons, then used eighteen beams to hunt down survivors.
• Greater Demons appeared and the evil eyes blocked access to the Dream Realm, interrupting Zhu Tang’s attempt to enter it.
• Iver explained that the Fallen Angel’s rule would eventually lift the demons’ restrictions, then ordered Cruel Evangelist to charge into Stibium so he could contact Isabel through the Dream Realm.
• Four Punishment Demons attacked the ship’s barrier with lightning, and Iver called out to the Wild Hunt King.

Iver summoned Hellerchein and the Wild Hunt to break through the Demon Legion while keeping his strongest countermeasure in reserve. In the Dream Realm, Isabel revealed she was safe in Avalon and urged Iver to withdraw from Star Antimony, while helping him plan how to protect its people.

• Iver summoned Hellerchein, who took a Thunder Strike Halberd and led the Wild Hunt in overwhelming the four Punishment Demons and breaking into the Demon Legion.
• Iver ordered Hellerchein not to pursue too far, then left Zhu Tang and Mu to guard him while he entered the Dream Realm with the Lord of Scales and Feathers' help.
• Isabel told Iver she was in Avalon with Yulia and had deliberately waited in the Dream Realm so he would not risk traveling to Star Antimony to find her.
• Isabel explained that she had arranged for the Minister of Royal Affairs to confirm her location and warned Iver to withdraw because Star Antimony was dangerous.
• Iver agreed to return to Avalon to comfort Yulia and bring Lily and the others back, and Isabel urged him to contact the Spirit Tower and evacuate its people if the tower could not be moved.

After waking from the Fallen Angel’s hypnosis, Iver learned that the people he had sought were safe, but others in Xing'an still needed help. He explained to Zhu Tang that the demons were engineering social collapse to make the Fallen Angel appear as a savior, and insisted that the key to rescuing people was timing.

• Isabel embraced Iver in his dream, told him to take care of himself, and watched him depart before he woke from the hypnosis.
• Iver asked how long he had been asleep, and Zhu Tang told him it had been twenty-five minutes and thirty seconds.
• Iver said the people he had been searching for were safe but that others still needed to be saved, while Zhu Tang warned him that challenging the Fallen Angel could endanger them all.
• Iver reassured Zhu Tang that he understood demons and explained that Greater Demons sought to protect their Great Sin Imprints and earn favor from the Fallen Angel.
• Iver told Zhu Tang that the demons were deliberately creating chaos so they could present the Fallen Angel’s evil order as salvation.

Iver explained how the demons’ selfishness made them easier to handle in groups, then led a rescue mission into Asti. At Prince Siya Erduo’s estate, he reunited with Lily and Leviathan, who tearfully confronted him for leaving her behind.

• Iver explained that demons were intelligent, selfish beings who feared wasting their strength and competing for limited rewards.
• Iver ordered two Pope Guards to remain with the ship and took Zhu Tang, Mu, and the others into Asti to rescue the first group of people.
• Iver rode the Wild Hunt King into Prince Siya Erduo’s estate, where Lily recognized him and Honey Badger appeared.
• Lily said she had prepared everyone to evacuate because she remembered Iver warning that the Fallen Angel might descend.
• Iver arranged for Fenrir and Leviathan to transport the group, and Honey Badger offered to travel through the shadows.
• Leviathan recognized Iver, cried that he had left her behind after becoming Daddy, and received his apology.

Iver reunited with Leviathan and decided to raise her as his daughter rather than seal her as a Great Sin Beast. After Leviathan displayed her growing power, Iver sent his companions toward Avalon while he prepared to visit the Spirit Tower.

• Zhu Tang examined Leviathan and realized she possessed immense strength and powerful Path of Love abilities.
• Iver embraced Leviathan, resolved to care for her, and praised her when she promised to protect the others.
• Leviathan tore through a group of lesser demons, and Selene worried that her rapid growth and evolution were accelerating.
• Iver told Zhu Tang, Mu, and the Pope Guards to return to Avalon while he, Cardinal Galatea, and Hellerchein went to the Spirit Tower.

Aiwass argued with Cardinal Galatea over whether to evacuate Antimony’s civilians or preserve them by avoiding a large-scale rescue that could provoke the demons. He rejected sacrificing people as a rational necessity and vowed to defeat the Fallen Angel God, leaving Galatea silent but unconvinced.

• Aiwass explained his plans to evacuate the Spirit Medium Tower and other refugees through the Theocracy, Avalon, and the Southern Continent, while describing his earlier dealings with the goblin merchant guild and Antimony.
• Galatea warned that a public rescue effort would provoke the demons, endanger civilians and volunteers, and risk sacrificing more lives than it saved.
• Galatea compared Aiwass to the sun but cautioned that its light could not reach everyone and that fires needed fuel, revealing her fear of his willingness to burn himself away.
• Aiwass said hope was essential and argued that sacrifice reflected helplessness rather than a necessary foundation for civilization.
• Aiwass vowed to fight the demons himself and defeat the Fallen Angel God, then stroked Galatea’s head and told her he would burn first if the fire was not hot enough.

Iver told Grunewald that he planned to return and defeat the Fallen Angel, and the lich agreed to take the Spirit Tower’s inheritance to Avalon and help him. Grunewald also asked what kind of Angel Iver would become, leaving Iver with the first name that came to mind: the Radiant Angel.

• Iver and Cardinal Galatea entered the Spirit Tower, where Iver explained the Fallen Angel, the Demon Legion, and the Ouroboros Ring Ritual to Grunewald.
• Iver said he would return to reclaim the land after defeating the Fallen Angel, and Grunewald accepted that plan without questioning whether it was possible.
• Grunewald asked whether Iver would choose to become an Angel or a Pillar God, and Iver admitted he would rather remain alive in the Material Realm unless the world needed him to become an Angel.
• Grunewald asked Iver what his divine name would be, and Iver answered that he might be the Radiant Angel because he wanted people to see his light.
• Grunewald agreed to accompany Iver to Avalon with the Spirit Tower’s inheritance and help him oppose the Fallen Angel, but kept the identity of the god who had sent the question secret.

As the Spirit Tower was evacuated, Iver learned what the Insect Amber Master sought and told Adolf about the Tower to the Heavens. Cardinal Galatea began to find new purpose, while Adolf chose to remain behind in the Spirit Tower, where he promised Iver a gift if he returned after defeating the Fallen Angel.

• With Grunewald's support, Iver and the students shut down the Spirit Tower, packed their belongings, and destroyed unfinished undead and corpse materials.
• Adolf told Iver that Light Amber could create a copy of someone or preserve something from an earlier point on the Timeline, and Iver revealed that the Insect Amber Master had sought it.
• Iver told Adolf that the relic they visited was the last surviving relic of the Tower to the Heavens, and Adolf mourned that its ruins had already been destroyed.
• Adolf described the Tower to the Heavens as a romantic collective miracle, prompting Cardinal Galatea to consider joining a miracle of the new age.
• Adolf told Iver that he was near the end of his life and would stay behind to guard the Spirit Tower, asking Iver to return after defeating the Fallen Angel to receive a gift.