Chapter Summaries

An unexplained outbreak of allergic reactions spread through Lungmen, and Ch'en traced it to the shrine’s Dustless Land. Hoshino said the effects would last only a few days and revealed that she intended to show Rhine Lab what a successful research project looked like.

• Lungmen Hospital reported that sampled patients were suffering allergic reactions to an unknown, widespread trigger.
• Ch'en suspected the shrine was involved after learning patients felt better after praying there, but Swire dismissed the relief as psychological.
• Ch'en visited the crowded shrine and felt her Originium crystals begin to deactivate inside the Dustless Land.
• Ch'en confronted Hoshino, who showed her the Oath of Judah hidden in the shrine’s basement.
• Hoshino told Ch'en the disturbance would last only two or three days and said she wanted to demonstrate a truly successful research project to Rhine Lab.

Hoshino reassured Ch'en that Rhine Lab could not reproduce her breakthrough, then tended to Lungmen's believers as Rhodes Island investigated the city's strange healing phenomenon. Muelsyse received Silence's delayed reply and decided to investigate the shrine herself.

• Ch'en worried that Rhine Lab would copy and commercialize Hoshino's results, but Hoshino assured her they could not reproduce them and promised to handle its delegation.
• Hoshino sprinkled water from cherry blossom branches over the believers and told them they had been healed.
• At Rhodes Island, Silence received an inquiry from Rhine Lab asking whether she had caused the shrine's phenomenon.
• Silence requested information from Lungmen and studied Bagpipe's report, recognizing symptoms resembling her own reaction after leaving a world bubble.
• Muelsyse criticized Silence's delayed reply and decided to investigate the shrine.

Muelsyse traveled to Lungmen to investigate the shrine, but her water clone failed in the domain without Originium, forcing her to return with her real body. Hoshino accepted a mission to make Muelsyse stake everything and drew her into a dreamscape, where she appeared as the Herrscher of Sentience.

• Muelsyse decided to investigate Lungmen's shrine and sent a water clone ahead, but it collapsed when she entered the domain without Originium.
• Three hours later, Muelsyse returned to the shrine with her real body and stepped beneath the vermilion torii.
• Hoshino woke to a mission asking her to make Muelsyse go all in, with a reward that let her control the Herrscher of Sentience.
• Hoshino accepted the mission and covered the shrine in black mist, pulling Muelsyse into a dream.
• Hoshino appeared on a throne in the dream and told Muelsyse to amuse her.

Muelsyse was trapped in Hoshino’s cruel game, where she had to run from repeated attacks and endure a lethal dreamlike world. After testing whether she could escape by killing herself, Muelsyse returned to the shrine only to be pulled back into the game and struck with prolonged pain.

• Hoshino summoned Muelsyse into a game and declared that Muelsyse had already lost the first round.
• Hoshino transported Muelsyse to an empty, storm-lashed Lungmen and ordered her to run and use her abilities.
• Muelsyse stopped the rain and transformed its droplets into spears that pierced her own body, testing whether the world was a dream.
• Muelsyse awakened at the shrine, but climbing a step brought the storm and the game back.
• Hoshino was stunned when Muelsyse endured the reset, while Muelsyse suffered prolonged pain under her gaze.

Hoshino trapped Muelsyse in a dream and challenged her to a fight after enhancing her abilities, while Muelsyse resolved to understand Hoshino. At Rhodes Island, Kal'tsit read Muelsyse’s strange messages and decided to send someone to investigate the shrine, considering Saria for the task.

• Hoshino freed Muelsyse from pain, taunted her with unfamiliar emotions, and demanded that she worship her.
• Muelsyse rejected Hoshino’s attempts to control her and said she would understand her.
• Hoshino enhanced Muelsyse’s abilities and the rainfall, then challenged her to a one-on-one duel.
• At Rhodes Island, Ptilopsis forwarded Muelsyse’s three emails to Kal’tsit while Silence slept at her desk.
• Kal’tsit read Muelsyse’s questions about Lungmen’s plague and the shrine, along with her later message containing only an ellipsis.
• Kal’tsit decided to investigate whether Muelsyse was alive and considered sending Saria, ruling out Red.

Saria set out to rescue Muelsyse after Kal'tsit concluded that the shrine needed investigating, but Hoshino pulled Saria into her consciousness domain when she tried to smash the shrine steps. Hoshino challenged Saria to a fight and hurled her away by the tail, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Kal'tsit told Saria that Muelsyse had sent an incomprehensible symbol and revealed her location near the shrine, and they suspected she had deliberately arranged for someone to rescue her.
• Saria traveled to the shrine with a riot shield and medical supplies and found Muelsyse frozen on the steps.
• Saria raised her Calcified arms to smash the shrine steps, but Hoshino dragged her into her consciousness domain before she could damage them.
• Hoshino appeared as an immortal on a throne, provoked Saria into fighting, and struck first.
• Saria judged that Hoshino was not truly an immortal and deliberately exposed an opening, but Hoshino grabbed her tail, spun her around, and threw her away.

Hoshino flung Saria into Muelsyse's path, and the two reunited and exchanged what they knew about the inescapable realm. Hoshino began a battle against them, leaving Saria to meet her first attack amid a torrent of weapons.

• Hoshino threw Saria through the air toward Muelsyse, who dodged the falling figure with a water shield.
• Saria emerged from the crater, and Muelsyse recognized her as Director Saria and told her that Hoshino had overwhelmed her control of water.
• Muelsyse explained that the false city had an impassable barrier, while Saria confirmed that Hoshino was too powerful to defeat and that dying only brought pain.
• Saria proposed that they stall until the shrine maiden noticed them, and Muelsyse agreed.
• Hoshino arrived on the Xuanyuan Sword and announced that the game had begun.
• Hoshino attacked Saria and Muelsyse with martial skill and a torrent of weapons, and Saria's fists clashed with Hoshino's before her sleeves were torn apart.

Hoshino fought Saria and Muelsyse in an illusory Lungmen, then decided to summon Nian to help guide them. Nian was abruptly transported into the illusion and recognized Hoshino as resembling the Immortal, wondering whether the Immortal had sisters.

• Hoshino attacked Saria and Muelsyse, insisting they should devote themselves to her, while Saria resisted and argued that Hoshino was not the Immortal.
• Saria and Muelsyse realized they needed to shatter the illusion's three formation cores and call for help, but they had not understood how to escape it.
• Hoshino stopped fighting and returned to her throne, deciding to summon Nian as a more helpful guide for the trapped pair.
• Nian was preparing to eat spicy ice cream when Hoshino transported her to a rainy, deserted Lungmen street.
• Nian saw Hoshino and wondered whether the Immortal had sisters.

Nian met Hoshino in the illusion over Lungmen and agreed to guide Saria and Muelsyse through its trial. Hoshino revealed that three weak points could break the illusion, while Nian settled in to enjoy a dream hot pot and hurry the others along.

• Nian climbed the mountain to confront Hoshino, who summoned weapons and challenged her to fight, but Nian swallowed her greatsword and tried to reason with her instead.
• Hoshino demanded that Nian worship her, but Nian refused, calling herself a nihilist.
• Hoshino left to beat up Saria and Muelsyse, then returned and complained that they had not made progress in the trial.
• Hoshino told Nian that she had placed three weak points in Lungmen and granted her authority to try returning to reality.
• Nian volunteered to act as a guide, and Hoshino created a hot pot restaurant where Nian explained that she would help them break the illusion.

Nian enjoyed a hotpot meal with Muelsyse and explained that they could escape the illusory Lungmen by destroying three formation cores. Hoshino tested Nian in battle, then Nian led Saria and Muelsyse away and pointed them toward the supposed way out.

• Nian invited Muelsyse to eat hotpot while Saria stood aside, and the three stayed in the restaurant until Nian finished her meal.
• Nian described the illusory world as a formation and said they could escape by destroying its cores rather than waiting for Hoshino to lose interest.
• Hoshino appeared before the group and challenged Nian, who answered with a torrent of tools from her great cauldron.
• Hoshino defeated Nian in a single clash, but Nian used giant stone hands to carry Saria and Muelsyse away.
• Nian told Saria and Muelsyse that three formation cores were scattered across Lungmen and claimed she had found them using the Mountain Gazing and Aura Reading Art.

Hoshino’s group reached the first array node and faced Lightning Empress, a powerful illusion of Mei, while Nian, Saria, and Muelsyse fought to overcome her attacks. Muelsyse trapped Lightning Empress in an enormous mass of water, and Nian set off a barrage of firecrackers inside it.

• Nian explained that time in the illusion could pass at different rates, then urged Muelsyse and Saria to hurry.
• Hoshino’s group arrived at the first array node, where Lightning Empress appeared and immediately attacked them.
• Nian’s shield failed to stop Lightning Empress’s electrified blade, and Nian joined Saria and Muelsyse in the fight.
• Saria used Calcification to withstand Lightning Empress’s lightning strike while Muelsyse prepared a water trap.
• Muelsyse gathered thousands of tons of rain into a huge bubble around Lightning Empress, and Nian threw firecrackers into it, setting off repeated explosions.

Nian, Saria, and Muelsyse destroyed the Lightning Empress and found what Nian claimed was a formation node, then stopped for hotpot instead of continuing their task. Hoshino prepared to confront them, but Ch’en’s arrival distracted her, and the Three Mecha Brothers descended as the next opponents.

• Nian survived Muelsyse’s prolonged bombardment, and the Lightning Empress vanished, leaving a katana that Nian pulled from the ground and swallowed.
• Muelsyse replenished her water while Nian complained about being exhausted and led the group to a nearby hotpot restaurant.
• Hoshino prepared to teleport to Nian and overturn her table, but Ch’en arrived at the shrine and Yae Sakura told her to leave Saria and Muelsyse alone.
• The Herrscher of Sentience decided to adjust the flow of time and make the next fight three against three.
• Father, Hephaestus, and Heimdall descended as the Three Mecha Brothers, blocking the sunlight while Nian inspected their construction.

Nian, Saria, and Muelsyse fought three mechs Hoshino sent to stop them from reaching a moving formation node. Nian held off Father while Saria and Muelsyse struggled against Heimdall and Hephaestus, and the chapter ended with berserk Heimdall forcing Saria to one knee.

• Nian, Saria, and Muelsyse assigned themselves one mech each after the three mechs attacked their hotpot meal.
• Nian opened a path to Lungmen’s core furnace and created a colossal lava giant to fight Father.
• Saria fought Heimdall head-on and matched its greatsword strikes with her fists.
• Muelsyse discovered that Hephaestus was waterproof and tried to escape to a canal.
• Heimdall turned berserk red, overwhelmed Saria, and drove her to one knee as Hoshino urged Nian to help.

Nian defeated the lava giant's opponent and rescued Saria from Heimdall, then joined Saria in attacking Hephaestus before Muelsyse could counterattack. Muelsyse's battle remained unresolved as the chapter ended with Nian and Saria grappling with the mech.

• Nian overloaded the lava giant with a second furnace and ordered it to self-destruct while she escaped, defeating Father in the ensuing explosion.
• Nian broke Heimdall's shield and smashed the mech, rescuing Saria, who was embarrassed to be naked in front of her.
• Nian told Saria to help the pointy-eared fighter and charged toward Muelsyse's battlefield.
• Muelsyse stopped the canal and summoned water spears to counter Hephaestus, but Nian and Saria rushed in and grappled with the mech before she could attack.

Nian defeated all three mechs while Saria and Muelsyse survived the battle, but Nian forgot to identify the formation core. Hoshino appeared and declared that she was the final step before they could leave successfully.

• Nian attacked Hephaestus, dodged its electromagnetic beacons, and forged the mech with her cauldron and hammer.
• Muelsyse and Saria discussed Muelsyse’s lack of involvement while Nian finished destroying the mechs.
• Nian claimed she had saved Saria and Muelsyse, then realized she had destroyed everything and forgotten to find the formation core.
• Hoshino arrived, praised their performance, and announced that she was the final step before they could leave.

Hoshino trapped Nian, Muelsyse, and the others in her domain and demanded that they entertain her before she would let them leave. As Hoshino attacked with a mind-erasing sword, Yun Mo appeared beneath her umbrella, and Nian immediately took shelter behind her.

• Hoshino revealed that the only way to leave her flawless domain was to earn her permission by entertaining her.
• Hoshino challenged the group to fight and unleashed eight enormous Taixu Divine Swords.
• Hoshino warned that the swords could erase their consciousness, leaving them as vegetables even if they escaped the illusion.
• Hoshino brought Yun Mo into the illusion as a sudden solution to the confrontation.
• Yun Mo invited the group beneath her umbrella, and Nian ran to hide behind her.

Yun Mo ended the trial by turning the illusory world into an ink-wash painting and guiding Saria, Muelsyse, and Nian through her domain. After sending them back as the dream shattered, Hoshino returned to the shrine and considered how to make Muelsyse feel threatened.

• Hoshino confronted Yun Mo, while Nian, Saria, and Muelsyse crowded beneath Yun Mo's umbrella for protection.
• Yun Mo questioned Hoshino's desire to become her, and Hoshino condemned Yun Mo for protecting the weak.
• Yun Mo invoked her art and transformed the world into an ink-wash painting, causing the Herrscher of Sentience's illusion to disappear.
• Yun Mo led the others through the painted landscape, then put away her umbrella and told them to return.
• The illusory world vanished and the group began to awaken; back at the shrine, Hoshino saw Saria raise her fist and formed an idea to unsettle Muelsyse.

Hoshino used an illusion of two Fu Huas fighting to frighten Muelsyse into fleeing for her life and complete the mission. The illusion ended with Muelsyse stranded in the wasteland outside Lungmen, disheveled and bewildered.

• Saria struck the Shrine floor and sent Muelsyse flying onto her shoulder, leaving Muelsyse injured and dazed.
• Muelsyse saw two Fu Huas battling in an illusion, and the shock waves made her fear for her survival.
• Muelsyse ran from the battlefield in panic while Saria watched her leave.
• Hoshino received the mission reward, and the illusion shattered to reveal Muelsyse in the wasteland outside Lungmen.

Nian experimented with spicy milk tea on Rhodes Island while Hoshino tested Fenghuang Down's firearm form and contemplated her unfinished mission to assassinate the Emperor of Ursus. Her boredom ended when Shang Boliang arrived at the shrine looking for Ms. Durandal.

• Nian made a spicy stocking milk tea and decided to share it with the Demon King.
• Hoshino fired The Mortal Realm Is Hard to Cross at a boulder, but the shot had no visible effect.
• Hoshino reflected on her unfinished mission to assassinate the Emperor of Ursus, then grew bored at the shrine.
• Hoshino opened a package from Ursus Logistics Company and found a white scholar's robe inside.
• Shang Boliang entered the Tenshukaku, asked Hoshino for his clothes, and said he was looking for Ms. Durandal.

Shang Boliang told Hoshino that he had discovered a truth about Originium that would cause his death, then revealed his plan to seize the immortal Black Snake’s position. Hoshino was left to pass his request to Durandal as Shang Boliang prepared to exploit Ursus’s collapse.

• Hoshino questioned Shang Boliang, who said that discovering and speaking the truth about the world had made his death inevitable.
• Shang Boliang explained that he believed an ancient civilization had exhausted other energy sources, transformed itself into Originium, and left a curse that killed anyone who uncovered the truth.
• Shang Boliang told Hoshino that he wanted to usurp the immortal Black Snake’s position to escape death.
• Shang Boliang said he had made a pact with the dukes’ children to bypass parliament and divide Ursus, weakening the Black Snake in the process.
• Shang Boliang left his scholar’s robe with Hoshino to send by courier, and Hoshino began considering what he had told her.