Chapter Summaries

Left Hand killed a native living corpse with a Resonance Spike, then rested while the team followed the Sage across an invisible path. After Round Card opened a hidden door, three monsters appeared above him, and one began forming a golden spike.

• Left Hand struck the native living corpse in the head with a Resonance Spike, causing it to crumble into ashes.
• Lady Ess checked on Left Hand, and the Sage said he had controlled the mental effects with his willpower.
• Lady Ess told Left Hand to fall back and rest, leaving Round Card at the front of the team.
• Round Card used ash to reveal an invisible path and crossed the hall to open a hidden door.
• Scrooge warned Round Card about three monsters overhead; his Golden Shield blocked two claws while another monster condensed a golden spike.

Fu Qian helped the group defeat three living corpses that copied their abilities, then followed them through a hidden door into a passage filled with glowing eye patterns. There, Fu Qian discovered that the rear guard had disappeared.

• A living corpse copied Fu Qian’s Resonance Spike and shattered after striking Round Card’s Golden Shield.
• Two more living corpses copied Round Card’s defensive ability, and Fu Qian held a charged Resonance Spike to help the team’s plan.
• Round Card withdrew his shield, and the two shielded corpses crumbled as their copied defense drained their rationality.
• The Saintly Sage Old Man led the group through the hidden door into a passage lined with green, glowing eye patterns.
• Fu Qian noticed that the rear guard had vanished, leaving only six people in the group.

After a team member vanished without a sound, the Sage Old Man explained that the awakening Holy Grail could be responsible and led the group back to investigate. They then spotted an Academy walking corpse wearing the missing person's golden leg equipment, and Charlotte charged toward it.

• Ess noticed that one member of the group had disappeared, and Scrooge questioned how Charlotte had failed to notice.
• The Sage Old Man said the Holy Grail might have taken the missing person and urged the group to return while there was still time to reclaim it.
• Fu Qian inferred that the ruins belonged to the Academy and that its dormant Holy Grail could perceive mysteries and imitate abilities.
• Charlotte spotted a figure in the darkness, and Ess recognized the missing person's golden leg equipment on its right leg.
• Round Card wondered whether the Holy Grail could copy equipment, and Charlotte charged ahead to investigate.

The group encountered illusions that made them see one another as living corpses, and Scrooge shot the Sage after mistaking him for a threat. The Sage survived through a delaying trick and Ess's healing, then said he had prepared a countermeasure and the group could continue without seeing false images.

• Charlotte chased a fast figure wearing equipment identical to the group's, while the Sage judged that they had not been attacked.
• Scrooge fired a heated beam at the Sage, blasting away half his head, and claimed he had acted to save the others.
• Ess saw the Sage's head appear whole again before his injury began to spread, then healed him as his golden staff cleared her confusion.
• Fu Qian realized the Holy Grail had shown different people distorted illusions, making Scrooge believe the Sage was a living corpse attacking Ess.
• The Sage recovered, told Charlotte to release Scrooge, and said he had prepared a countermeasure against the illusions.

The Sage explained how the Blind Eye Holy Grail could reveal and counter their abilities, and the group continued toward it after one member fled under a false impression. Fu Qian learned why the Warehouse may have sent him with restricted powers, but he remained unsure of its true purpose.

• The Sage explained that their opponent could see through methods and make them ineffective when used again, while Ess clarified that the fleeing man had been misled by an illusion.
• Charlotte released Scrooge after learning the missing group member was safe, and the Sage said they were too close to their goal to go after him.
• The Sage told Scrooge that the Holy Grail naturally vanished from awareness and had no will of its own, prompting Scrooge to believe it could usher in a new era for ordinary people.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Warehouse had chosen a carefully limited group to approach the Holy Grail, but wondered why it had taken away his own abilities and items.
• Ess praised Fu Qian for staying calm, then pointed out that others had not done as well; Fu Qian returned the compliment while looking at her sacred vestments.

The Sage’s group discovered five shadowy faces with green eyes in the chamber beneath the Invisible Road, and the faces attacked them with beams while a torrent of knowledge assaulted Fu Qian’s mind. Fu Qian and the others dodged the attack, and the 2D Corpses faded away.

• The group entered a chamber centered on a towering statue kneeling with its hands over its face, surrounded by empty chairs.
• The Sage used his staff to sharpen everyone’s perception, revealing five dark-red shadow faces crawling across the ceiling and circling green eyes.
• Fu Qian suspected the shadows were the vanished figures who had once occupied the chairs, transformed into 2D beings to obtain the eyes.
• The Sage warned the Society members to watch for attacks as the shadow faces turned toward them and aimed their eyes.
• Fu Qian endured a sudden torrent of garbled knowledge, calculated an escape route, and dodged as all five faces fired dark-red beams.
• The Sage, Ess, and the others also changed position to avoid the beams, and the 2D Corpses slowly faded away.

Fu Qian survived the Holy Grail’s Knowledge Infusion attack and took Round Card’s Golden Shield, while the Sage Old Man acknowledged his usefulness. As the group approached the statue, the dome’s eyes activated and laser beams struck the others, leaving Fu Qian to withstand the attack behind his shield.

• The Sage Old Man explained that the Holy Grail’s servants had used Knowledge Infusion and copied abilities, and that he had prepared the group to resist it.
• Fu Qian found Round Card unresponsive, took his Golden Shield, and implied that he had prepared himself to resist Knowledge Infusion.
• The Sage Old Man accepted Fu Qian’s help and led the group toward the statue after Ess asked whether the Holy Grail was near.
• The eyes in the dome began shimmering, and the Sage Old Man warned the group before retreating from the hall.
• Laser beams covered the group and left the Sage Old Man’s four companions with no intact limbs, while Fu Qian endured the attack behind the Golden Shield.

Fu Qian survived the Holy Grail’s eye attack by shielding himself, but a final beam killed him. He re-entered the riddle illusion, escaped by repeating Sage Old Man’s method, and woke beside Charlotte and Scrooge as the others lay dead again.

• Fu Qian used his supernatural shield to block the chamber’s beams, but the last eye sliced through it and killed him.
• Back in the Warehouse, Fu Qian considered the Holy Grail’s revealed powers and entered the containment scene again.
• Fu Qian waited through the illusion’s growing pressure, then cut off his fingers and placed his hand in the last cup to escape.
• Fu Qian woke beside Charlotte and Scrooge, saw the two dead teammates, and asked what smelled so bad.

Fu Qian claimed he had solved an incomprehensible puzzle through a sacrificial ritual, planting doubt in the Sage Old Man while urging the team to take the Holy Grail more seriously. The group resumed its journey, and Fu Qian used Heart Calamity to kill a living corpse as the Sage watched with growing concern.

• Fu Qian told the Sage Old Man that he had encountered knowledge beyond comprehension and solved the puzzle by cutting his hand and performing a ritual.
• Scrooge challenged Fu Qian's explanation, but the Sage Old Man praised his composure and led the team onward.
• Fu Qian flirted with Ess and pocketed the golden belt she tossed him.
• The Sage Old Man called on Left Hand, and Fu Qian formed a Resonance Spike with Heart Calamity, destroying a living corpse's head.
• The Sage Old Man relaxed when Fu Qian formed the spike, then grew more solemn.

Fu Qian helped the team cross the invisible bridge while the Sage continued to suspect him and kept him close. As the group moved on, a teammate vanished, and Fu Qian suggested retracing their steps to find him.

• Fu Qian concluded that the living corpses acted on instinct rather than being controlled by the Holy Grail.
• Fu Qian banished the two living corpses when the Sage called on him, then returned to the group as if nothing had happened.
• The Sage allowed Fu Qian to continue with the team, prompting Fu Qian to wonder whether the Sage thought he was connected to the Blind Eye Academy.
• Charlotte noticed that a teammate had disappeared, and Ess asked Fu Qian whether he had seen anything.
• Fu Qian said the missing teammate had been there thirty seconds earlier and suggested retracing their steps for sixty seconds.

Fu Qian led the group back to investigate the fleeing Golden Holy Garment wearer, and the Sage Old Man agreed it was likely one of their own. When Scrooge appeared to attack Fu Qian, Fu Qian claimed Scrooge was turning into a living corpse, though the others could see no evidence.

• Ess deferred to the Sage Old Man, who allowed the group to return and investigate after Fu Qian insisted he had been acting normally.
• Charlotte spotted the fleeing figure again, stopped before pursuing too far, and reported that it wore a Golden Holy Garment and seemed to be avoiding them.
• Fu Qian suggested the figure might be one of their own who had transformed, and the Sage Old Man agreed there was probably no need to fear an ambush.
• Scrooge began objecting while staring at Fu Qian, but Fu Qian struck him with an uppercut before he could finish.
• Fu Qian told the group Scrooge was turning into a living corpse, though Charlotte and Ess saw no signs of it, and he accused Scrooge of attacking him.

Fu Qian and Scrooge discovered that the Holy Grail had deceived them into seeing each other as living corpses, causing Scrooge to attack Fu Qian. The Sage confirmed the Holy Grail was nearby but still weak, and the group prepared to approach it.

• Scrooge accused Fu Qian of turning into a living corpse, but the Sage swept the room with an invisible current and cleared their heads.
• Fu Qian proposed that the Holy Grail had made everyone see each other as living corpses, including the person who had fled, and Ess agreed with his explanation.
• Fu Qian and Scrooge recognized that they had both been deceived, though Fu Qian had interrupted Scrooge's attack with a punch.
• The Sage confirmed the Holy Grail had altered their perceptions and explained that its concealment and ability to copy powers showed it was nearby, while its influence remained limited.
• The Sage said Insight would prevent further deception, praised Fu Qian, and led the group to approach the Holy Grail.

Fu Qian learned how the Blind Eye Academy created its altered eyes and how the Holy Grail Cult descended from the Academy. When the team reached the weeping statue, the Sage sent Fu Qian ahead to open it, placing him in the path of the countless eyes despite a danger the team had not understood.

• The Sage explained that the Blind Eye Academy’s pursuit of knowledge led it to create new eyes that granted greater sight but cost their users independence.
• The Sage said that the Holy Grail Cult preserved the Academy’s ideals by using the Golden Cup to control the supernatural, and that the team’s armor came from those cups.
• The team returned to the chamber with the weeping statue, where the Sage used his golden staff and the Holy Grail flooded their minds with information.
• Fu Qian stepped forward as five rays of light targeted him and the Sage, while the others were ignored.
• The Sage told Fu Qian to approach the statue and open it, and Fu Qian walked into the gaze of the countless eyes.

Fu Qian opened the hidden staircase beneath the statue and reached the Blind Eye Holy Grail in Bell Tower Hall. After he entered, his mission changed to making himself the Grail’s sole anchor point.

• Fu Qian took Brother Round Card’s Golden Shield and went beneath the statue while the Sage Old Man watched.
• Following the Sage Old Man’s instructions, Fu Qian tapped two hollow spaces in a precise rhythm and opened the spiral staircase.
• The Sage Old Man ordered Fu Qian to descend alone while Ess and the other two waited for his signal.
• Fu Qian found the grotesque Blind Eye Holy Grail beneath an intricate, broken clock and entered Bell Tower Hall.
• Fu Qian received a new mission: make himself the Blind Eye Holy Grail’s sole anchor point.

Fu Qian questioned why the mission required him to surrender his abilities, then learned the Star Clock Tower was directly above the hidden chamber. He suspected the tower’s opening could let him see the light beyond it and hinted that moving the dial might reveal more.

• Fu Qian wondered why the Warehouse had taken away his abilities and items, suspecting that the Holy Grail mission concealed a threat he could not defeat by force.
• The Sage Old Man summoned Ess, who entered and admired the Holy Grail while confirming that it knew she was aware of its existence.
• Ess identified the structure above them as the Star Clock Tower, and Fu Qian recalled its history and considered that the chamber might lie beneath the landmark.
• Fu Qian inferred that the largest star on the dial opened onto the darkness outside the chamber and said he wanted to see the light shining through the tower.
• The Sage Old Man grew wary as Fu Qian suggested moving the dial to see what would happen.

Fu Qian deduced that the Star Clock Tower’s design exposed the Blind Eye Holy Grail to the starry gods to control its effects, and the Sage Old Man confirmed his theory. As Fu Qian tried to use the lever and seize the Grail, the others were suddenly killed, but his mission failed and his Golden Shield split apart.

• Fu Qian theorized that the Holy Grail was kept in check by exposing it to the starry sky, while the Academy used outsiders as tools to protect its members.
• The Sage Old Man confirmed that a barrier blocked the gods’ gaze and said the clock face had to be adjusted before they could remove the Holy Grail.
• Scrooge entered, and the Sage explained the Academy’s plan to use the Grail to restrain Transcendents; Fu Qian approached the golden lever with his shield.
• Scrooge fired a dark red beam at Fu Qian, but Fu Qian deflected it and reached for the lever as the Sage summoned Charlotte.
• Charlotte screamed, then Ess, Scrooge, and the Sage all lost their heads; Fu Qian released the lever and rushed toward the Holy Grail.
• Fu Qian received a mission-failed notification, and his Golden Shield split in two before he could reach the Grail.

Fu Qian realized that an invisible being had killed the Sages and broken his shield, and suspected it was another mission target. He reentered the containment scene and cut a diamond-shaped piece from his skull, uncovering an eye that could connect the Blind Eye Academy to the outside.

• Fu Qian reviewed his death and concluded an invisible attack, not the Holy Grail's rays, had killed him and the three Sages.
• Fu Qian suspected an unseen being was concealing itself and might be an anchor he had to eliminate.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Holy Grail's resistance to being understood might let it target the hidden being.
• Fu Qian spent one Sanity Value to reenter the containment scene and began solving the puzzle without cutting off his finger.
• Fu Qian cut a diamond-shaped piece from his skull and found a small, intricate eye embedded in the bone.

Fu Qian tried to make himself a Tool Person for the Blind Eye Holy Grail, hoping it would draw the Grail into conflict with the unknowable entity protecting it. After removing his eyes, he seemed to gain the Grail’s attention, while the Sage decided to keep him in the group.

• Fu Qian failed to fully surrender his sense of self through the puzzle, but noticed that the strange feeling of contact with the Grail remained.
• After the puzzle ended, Fu Qian told the Sage he had somehow known an impossible answer and hinted that his origins were unknown.
• Fu Qian reasoned that the Sage might use him and the being behind him as cannon fodder, then dug out both his eyes to follow the Blind Eye Academy’s belief in seeing with the True Eye.
• In the underground ruins, Fu Qian stood blind as the Grail appeared to recognize him as a qualified Tool Person.
• Ess recoiled at Fu Qian’s bloody face, and Scrooge suggested disposing of him, but the Sage said they should not give up on him lightly.

The Sage’s team continued through the underground ruins, relying on the blinded Left Hand’s heightened perception to find a hidden bridge and passage. Snake Foot transformed into something like a living corpse and attacked Charlotte, but the Round Card’s Golden Shield stopped him before his body disintegrated.

• The Sage insisted that Left Hand remain with the team, and Left Hand said he felt great despite losing his eyes.
• Snake Foot destroyed a living corpse with his dark ability, and Left Hand revealed an invisible bridge by scattering ashes across it.
• The Round Card and Snake Foot overcame more living corpses, allowing the team to enter a hidden passage.
• Left Hand noticed Snake Foot fleeing, and the team caught up with him as he began to resemble a living corpse.
• Snake Foot attacked Charlotte with a black snake, but the Round Card blocked the strike, and Snake Foot’s body crumbled apart.

The expedition discovered that the Holy Grail had transformed Left Hand and granted him powers that could erase fate and restore the dead. Sage led the group to Bell Tower Hall to stop Left Hand, but Left Hand vanished with the Holy Grail after severing Sage’s hand.

• The team found Snake Foot transformed into a living corpse, and Left Hand admitted he had noticed Snake Foot falling behind.
• Scrooge shot Sage, but Sage revived; Left Hand then struck Sage with a beam from his empty eye socket, revealing that the Holy Grail had changed him.
• Charlotte and Scrooge broke Left Hand’s shield and destroyed half his body, but Left Hand restored himself and walked away; Sage returned and said Left Hand’s existence had briefly been erased.
• Sage persuaded the group to pursue Left Hand, and they found him at the Hall of Statues as five shadows appeared overhead.
• Sage entered Bell Tower Hall alone, signaled the others, and tried to adjust the dial while Left Hand approached the Holy Grail.
• Left Hand severed Sage’s hand and vanished with the Holy Grail.