Chapter Summaries

Bagpipe punished Little Ceobe for wrecking her vegetable garden, while Hoshino discovered that unlocking Rozaliya required Ceobe’s head. As Ceobe was tied up and anesthetized, Hoshino stopped Warfarin from drawing her blood.

• Bagpipe struggled to choose a punishment for Little Ceobe, and Hoshino threatened her with the immortal’s heavenly punishment.
• Little Ceobe tried to eat a poisonous mushroom, but Bagpipe stopped her and warned her to check food before eating it.
• Back at Rhodes Island, Bagpipe tied Little Ceobe up in the ruined vegetable garden while Warfarin arrived with an oversized syringe.
• Hoshino heard the system’s unlocking chime, discovered Rozaliya, and determined that Ceobe’s head was needed to unlock her.
• Hoshino injected Little Ceobe with anesthetic and stopped Warfarin from approaching her with blood-drawing tools.

Hoshino arranged a laborious punishment for Ceobe, then visited Pramanix and discovered that Nightmare had become her fan after hearing stories about the shrine. When Pramanix found Nightmare missing from their appointment and her dormitory, she realized she had sent a problem Hoshino’s way.

• Hoshino proposed making Ceobe replant the crops she had eaten and fitting her with an Elizabethan collar if she stole seeds.
• Hoshino visited the medical department and found Pramanix struggling to counsel Specter, whom Hoshino then calmed with Jizo Mitama.
• Pramanix told Hoshino that Nightmare’s symptoms had improved after hearing stories about her and that Nightmare had become her fan.
• Pramanix went to find Gloria for their appointment but found her missing from both the office and her dormitory.

Hoshino discovered that Nightmare had been secretly following her, but a new mission interrupted their confrontation: Mephisto was unconscious, and his returning-to-awareness herd was descending on Lungmen. Hoshino switched to Saintess's Prayer to protect civilians and deal with the threat.

• Hoshino returned to the shrine and suspected Nightmare was spying on her; she called out to Gloria, then detected Nightmare hiding in the backyard.
• Nightmare revealed that Gloria was asleep and attacked Hoshino, who stopped pursuing her when the system issued a new mission.
• The system reported that Mephisto was severely injured and unconscious, while his herd had regained self-awareness and a group had wandered into Lungmen.
• Hoshino resolved to give Mephisto a quick death and considered the danger the herd posed to Lungmen's civilians.
• Hoshino logged off Yae Sakura, switched to Saintess's Prayer, and jokingly announced that she had stopped time.

Hoshino, disguised as Kiana Kaslana, warned Ch'en that a flock of critically ill infected people was heading for Lungmen and offered to help. Their meeting turned into a fight, and Hoshino used Saint's Time Stop to bring Ch'en into its domain.

• Ch'en mistook Hoshino for Kallen and demanded payment for injuries Kallen had caused, but Hoshino introduced herself as Kiana Kaslana.
• Hoshino told Ch'en that infected people whose consciousnesses had returned were heading home, including many from Lungmen.
• Hoshino suggested several organizations might be responsible and said her special abilities could help the Guard Department.
• Ch'en attacked when Hoshino reached for her waist, and Hoshino fired a pistol before using NekoCharm to freeze Ch'en in time.
• Hoshino waited eighteen seconds, drew Ch'en into Saint's Time Stop, and welcomed her to the accelerated world.

Hoshino demonstrated her stopped-time ability to Ch'en before they discussed the returning herd. Meanwhile, FrostNova put the dying herd out of their misery and headed toward Lungmen, as the Nightzmora searched for the shrine maiden and noticed a brief alarm.

• Hoshino showed Ch'en how she could move through stopped time, then refused to explain how she had obtained the ability.
• FrostNova froze the herd's desire to return to Ursus and walked among its dying members, granting them mercy.
• FrostNova set off for Lungmen to intercept a group of lambs before they reached the city.
• The Nightzmora searched Lungmen for Yae Sakura, hoping to ask her how to break free of her shackles.
• Hoshino and Ch'en used stopped time to move bodies out of public view, and the Nightzmora noticed the nine-second alarm.

Hoshino and Ch'en hunted down Mephisto's infected followers, killing them during stopped time and removing their bodies before they could spread Originium contamination. Nightmare discovered one of the corpses and became curious about the pair, while Hoshino continued after a third target and added Mephisto to her death list.

• Hoshino threw the first infected follower's body to Ch'en and rushed toward the second target, while Ch'en planned to have her officers cremate the corpse.
• Hoshino stopped time on the roller coaster track, prayed for the infected man, and shot him in the head before Ch'en helped carry away his body.
• The roller coaster completed its ride safely, and Ch'en hid the body bag in a public restroom stall and called her officers to collect it.
• Nightmare secretly followed the pair, found the corpse in the restroom, and wondered about its peaceful expression and the strange events she had witnessed.
• Hoshino stopped time again to kill a third infected follower emerging from a sewer, then added Mephisto to her death list.

Nightmare tracked Hoshino and Ch'en after noticing their strange ability to appear and disappear, then watched Hoshino stop time to defeat another sewer monster. Hoshino and Ch'en went to investigate Lungmen’s sewers, and Nightmare joined Hoshino before she tried to force open the entrance.

• Nightmare realized the nun and Inspector Ch'en could teleport and decided to track the monsters’ targets instead.
• Nightmare spotted a monster emerging from a manhole, and Hoshino stopped time and collected the bodies.
• Hoshino threw Ch'en’s confiscated knives during the time stop, then told Ch'en the monsters had been cleared and they should investigate the sewers.
• Ch'en said Wei Yenwu had denied her application to enter the sewers, so she and Hoshino went to the sealed entrance anyway.
• Nightmare approached Hoshino and asked to join her so she could watch her fight and ask questions, and Hoshino agreed.

Hoshino opened a sewer entrance with Ch’en and Nightmare, then challenged Nightmare to consider what she wanted beyond defeating Gloria. Nightmare followed Hoshino into the sewers, unsettled by the realization that she had no plans for what came next.

• Hoshino introduced Nightmare to Ch’en as Gloria’s alternate personality, and Ch’en dismissed the condition as the same person beneath a different mask.
• Hoshino knocked out the guards and forced open the iron gate to Lungmen’s sewers, while Ch’en left to avoid leaving evidence linking her to the operation.
• While they waited ten minutes, Nightmare asked Hoshino about Yae Shrine and then asked to join it.
• Hoshino questioned Nightmare’s idea of freedom and asked what she would pursue after defeating Gloria, leaving Nightmare unable to answer.
• Hoshino entered the sewers and called Nightmare along, and Nightmare followed while wondering what she would do after the conflict with Gloria ended.

Mayer tried to sneak explosives and unusual mechanisms into the shrine gate repairs, but Kallen watched her closely. In the sewers, Gloria briefly took control from Nightmare and joined Hoshino in fighting the infected, while the two consciousnesses continued to struggle over their shared body.

• Mayer arrived at Yae Sakura's shrine to repair the gate and planned to plant bombs, but Kallen kept her under constant watch.
• Hoshino and Nightmare entered Lungmen's sewers, where Nightmare killed a wandering infected and questioned what freedom meant.
• Nightmare's inner conflict weakened her defenses, allowing Gloria to take control and thank Hoshino for helping her resist.
• Hoshino told Gloria to consider what she wanted after breaking free of her restraints, then jokingly prompted her to say, “Please, my other self!”
• Hoshino and Gloria fought the infected together, while Gloria and Nightmare alternated in control as their consciousnesses struggled.

Hoshino helped Nightmare recover after her struggle between opposing personalities, then continued onward with her allies. Meanwhile, FrostNova entered Lungmen through its sewers and found a sleeping troll, leaving her to sneak past it.

• Nightmare resisted the pull toward goodness and collapsed, and Hoshino supported her and restored her strength.
• Hoshino and Nightmare continued onward, dealing with stray monsters along the way.
• FrostNova found the sewage outlet where the herd had entered Lungmen and froze a path through the torrent.
• FrostNova entered the sewer and discovered a mountain-sized corpse-like troll sleeping inside.
• FrostNova concealed herself and carefully went around the troll instead of confronting it.

FrostNova hunted Mephisto’s flock in the sewers while Hoshino and Nightmare searched the same maze, where a huge creature began rampaging. Hoshino spotted FrostNova and called her Sister Yelena, prompting FrostNova to demand to know who had told her that name.

• FrostNova froze the flock members she encountered and reflected on the consequences Mephisto would face when he woke.
• Hoshino noticed the sewer kill count rising faster than she and Nightmare could manage and suspected FrostNova was nearby.
• An ice sculpture drifted into the slumbering mass of flesh, which bit down and cried out in pain.
• After several more painful bites, the creature grew enraged and charged upstream, crushing flock members and raising the kill count to 66.
• Hoshino ran toward the creature’s howl, saw FrostNova ahead, and called out, “Sister Yelena!”
• FrostNova asked Hoshino who had told her that name.

Hoshino brought FrostNova and Nightmare to confront a gigantic mass of flesh in the sewers, then revealed a terrifying power that removed the monster’s heart. Nightmare and Gloria were left too stunned to take control of their body.

• Hoshino introduced herself to FrostNova as Kiana Kaslana and explained that Nightmare and Gloria were struggling over control of their body.
• Hoshino used her time-stopping domain to show FrostNova and Nightmare her ability, but FrostNova doubted it could destroy the monster.
• Hoshino led FrostNova and Nightmare toward the monster and told Nightmare and Gloria to watch closely.
• Hoshino called on her other self, who opened a portal and pulled the monster’s heart out of its body.
• FrostNova was startled but relieved, while Nightmare and Gloria retreated inside the body and left it blank and expressionless.

Hoshino defeated the enormous beast with the Spatial Spear while FrostNova watched and asked whether spatial power could help her. FrostNova left with no answer to her hopes, but Hoshino realized that treating patients could give them a reason to meet again.

• Hoshino took control as Gloria and warned FrostNova before turning to the beast’s still-beating heart.
• FrostNova tried to freeze the heart, but it attacked Hoshino with a tentacle.
• Hoshino cut down the beast’s tentacles, then destroyed its heart with Void Realm Impact.
• Hoshino returned to her Saintess's Prayer form and told FrostNova she had stopped time when she regained consciousness.
• FrostNova asked whether Hoshino could kill someone from afar or remove Originium crystals from a patient, and Hoshino said the latter might be possible but could prove fatal.
• Hoshino, FrostNova, and the others cleared the remaining herd, parted ways, and returned to the shrine to bathe and change clothes.

Hoshino advised Gloria to communicate with Nightmare by writing her a letter, drawing on her own experience with a difficult second personality. Gloria followed the advice, but Nightmare tore up the letter and angrily called her a stupid cat.

• Hoshino learned from Kallen that Mayer had repaired the mountain gate and hot spring without planting any bombs.
• Gloria asked Hoshino how she got along with her other half, and Hoshino urged her to treat Nightmare as the same person and write her a letter.
• Nightmare bit Hoshino's hand when Gloria realized she had been listening, and Hoshino told Gloria to ask Pramanix for paper and a pen.
• Pramanix secretly helped cover for Nightmare's absence and left paper and a pen in the treatment room for Gloria.
• Gloria wrote Nightmare an elegant letter, but Nightmare tore it up and left an angry message in childish handwriting.

Hoshino unlocked and tested Swallowtail Phantasm, then went to the Lungmen Guard Department to tell Ch'en that Kiana had succeeded and left. She demonstrated her own unusual speed to Ch'en, who saw it as nearly catching up with time.

• Hoshino used time stop to unlock Gloria's cat ears and gain access to Swallowtail Phantasm, then tested its quantum state and second personality.
• Hoshino claimed her mission reward, receiving a pair of white-and-gold revolvers, before changing back into Yae Sakura.
• Hoshino went to the Lungmen Guard Department and told Ch'en that Kiana had already left and warned her not to challenge Wei Yenwu to a sword fight.
• Ch'en said she would strengthen Lungmen's defenses and asked Hoshino how her time-stopping ability worked.
• Hoshino invited Ch'en to slash at her, then dodged with such speed that Ch'en thought her blade had nearly caught up with time.

Shamare told Feater that her mined-out hometown in Siracusa was being turned into a haunted house, and Feater reported her fears to Rhodes Island. Hoshino received a mission from Amiya to travel to Siracusa with Shamare and Feater, leaving her to wonder why the two needed protection.

• Feater noticed Shamare distracted during a film class and learned that Shamare's former home in Siracusa was being converted into a haunted house.
• Shamare warned that Little Morte would be angry and that something terrifying would happen, so Feater went to report the situation to Rhodes Island.
• Hoshino tested Seele's quantized state and found that Yae Sakura's senses could detect her within three feet.
• Amiya called Hoshino and assigned her to travel to Siracusa with Shamare and Feater to protect them on a noncombat mission.

Hoshino traveled with Feater and Shamare toward Shamare’s hometown in Siracusa, where serious trouble awaited her and Shamare. After a week on the road, they arrived and found Lappland blocking their way, ready to confront Hoshino.

• Hoshino learned that Shamare’s curse had made Rhodes Island operators choke after every two sips of water, and Amiya sent her to help Shamare in Siracusa.
• Feater picked Hoshino up at Yae Shrine, and Hoshino became fascinated with Feater’s enormous iron fists.
• Hoshino met Shamare and Morte in the car, then teased Shamare about Seele being a ghost nearby.
• Feater drove Hoshino and Shamare to Siracusa over the course of a week without encountering a Catastrophe.
• Lappland blocked their road, saying she had caught Hoshino’s scent, and drew her twin blades.

Hoshino reunited with Lappland and recruited her to guide the group to Shamare’s island, which had been turned into a haunted house by a bloodfiend. They entered the island and received a mission to soothe Little Morte’s anger, leaving them inside the haunted house with its mysterious owner, Jiushi.

• Feater watched Hoshino and Lappland spar, and Hoshino quickly defeated Lappland before praising her improved swordsmanship.
• Hoshino told Lappland that Shamare’s island had become a haunted house and asked her to guide the group there.
• Lappland, Hoshino, Feater, and Shamare traveled by ferry to Terror Island, where the gloomy weather and staged haunting displeased Little Morte.
• Hoshino met a sleeping bloodfiend girl at the ticket booth, and Feater bought tickets for the group.
• Hoshino received a mission to soothe Little Morte’s rage and learned that the bloodfiend girl went by Jiushi.

Jiushi realized Shamare had returned to Terror Island and armed herself, while Lappland and her companions entered the haunted house. When Sirucan families arrived to attack Lappland, Jiushi charged in and opened fire on them.

• Jiushi recognized Shamare as the former owner of Terror Island and prepared to defend herself with a stolen shotgun.
• Inside the haunted house, Feater, Lappland, Shamare, and Hoshino explored the set while the ferryman reported Lappland’s location to his organization.
• Several Sirucan families arrived by boat and surrounded Terror Island.
• Assassins approached Lappland and prepared to shoot her with crossbows, while Hoshino and Lappland readied themselves to fight.
• Jiushi rushed in from behind the assassins, firing her shotgun and demanding that they leave the ordinary visitors alone.

Jiushi drunkenly defeated the assassins targeting Lappland, then rejected the idea that she needed a curse to face her enemies. Hoshino persuaded Jiushi to scare the surviving attackers away rather than kill them, while the mafia consuls debated who Jiushi was and how to respond.

• Jiushi charged through the assassins and defeated the squad, then told Shamare she felt annoyance rather than fear and refused to break the curse.
• Shamare checked Little Morte and realized the doll was excited by the fear of the defeated assassins.
• Hoshino pulled Jiushi aside and explained that Lappland, not Jiushi, was the assassins’ target.
• The mafia consuls learned that Jiushi had routed the First Column and debated her identity before deciding her interference had to be repaid in blood.
• Hoshino convinced Jiushi that killing the attackers would feed Shamare more fear, so Jiushi agreed they should be scared away with the haunted house.