Recaps

Bai Zhu escaped the believers after destroying the Holy Stone Shard, while Ella let the deacons capture her so the Mechanical Spiders could track the route underground. The altar entered its second stage, and Illumi asked Milluki to send him Ella’s route.

• Ella’s dangerous reaction subsided, and Milluki told Bai Zhu to retreat while Ella was taken underground as planned.
• Bai Zhu bluffed the silver-robed bishop and used smoke bombs and flashbangs to escape into a side alley.
• Ella pretended to collapse, allowing the deacons to recover her while the Mechanical Spiders transmitted her route to Milluki.
• Bai Zhu reached a shed and caught his breath as Ella confirmed she would continue with the plan.
• Illumi contacted Milluki and said the altar had entered its second stage, then asked for the route Ella’s captors had taken.

Illumi, Milluki, and Bai Zhu uncovered how the Sanctification Descent used pregnant women and children to create the Holy Infant, while Ella was escorted back underground. Illumi prepared to disrupt the altar before Ella could be bound to the ritual.

• Illumi reported the altar technicians connecting women to the Black Crystal Mother Stone, while Milluki treated Bai Zhu's injuries and monitored Ella's escort.
• Ella questioned the believers about the women and children underground, then demanded to see the elder before the silver-robed bishop had her restrained and drugged.
• Milluki identified the unregistered Choral Agent as a substance that enhanced group synchronization while harming the children who received it.
• Milluki pieced together the Sanctification Descent and explained that the ritual relied on the Mother Stone, pregnant women, fetuses, and Ella as its core sacrifice.
• Illumi warned that killing the elders could trigger a deadly self-destruct, then decided to create chaos at the altar through its backup medicine pump.

Illumi disrupted the Sanctification Descent by contaminating the eastern medicine supply and sabotaging the altar’s control console. As the technicians struggled to keep the ritual running, Milluki identified the choir children as failed Holy Infants stabilized with Choral Agent.

• Illumi used a controlled attendant to spill Holy Water Stock and spread its fumes through the eastern supply corridor, halting medicine deliveries.
• Illumi reached the altar and saw pregnant women restrained in glass compartments as the Black Crystal Mother Stone converted their life force and fetuses for the ritual.
• Illumi explained that the women were fuel, the fetuses were ignition, and the elder guided the conversion, while Bai Zhu and Milluki listened.
• Milluki concluded that the choir children were failed Holy Infants whose cognition and lifespans had been reduced by Choral Agent.
• Illumi controlled a maintenance worker into triggering alarms across the altar’s western instruments, throwing the technical team into chaos as they argued over whether to stop the ritual.

Illumi, Milluki, Bai Zhu, and Ella disrupted the church’s Sanctification Descent ritual, exposing its cruelty and diverting the guards so Ella could reach the altar. When a hidden achievement demanded that Bai Zhu enter the core and interrupt the Holy Infant connection or Ella would die, he ordered Milluki to find him a way down.

• Illumi’s planted disruptions exposed the imprisoned women to lower-ranking believers, while the Grand Elder killed a believer and ordered the extraction to continue.
• Illumi misled the silver-robed bishop into redirecting three guard squads to escort Ella, weakening the core area’s defenses.
• Ella reached the altar with the escort team as the unstable ritual threatened the women and the technicians warned that the core offering could collapse.
• Bai Zhu received a hidden achievement requiring him to enter the altar’s core and interrupt Ella’s connection, or she would die.
• Bai Zhu, despite his severe injuries, told Milluki to find him a way down because the church was about to tie Ella to the altar.

Bai Zhu tried to reach the underground altar to save Ella despite his injuries and exhaustion, while Illumi insisted the ritual could not be completed. Ella stalled for time as Bai Zhu pushed toward the maintenance passage, still too depleted to know whether he could help her.

• Bai Zhu demanded that Milluki find him an underground route to the altar, but Milluki refused because the passage was guarded and Bai Zhu was barely able to stand.
• Illumi told Bai Zhu not to come underground, insisting the ritual could not be completed without explaining why.
• After learning Ella had entered the core area, Bai Zhu ignored their warnings and headed toward the maintenance passage.
• Milluki coached Ella through her earpiece to pretend she was dizzy and slow the attendants carrying her toward the altar.
• Bai Zhu used Kaidō #33: Angel's Glance to ease his wounds, but his severe exhaustion remained.

Illumi sabotaged the Church’s ritual, forcing the elder to postpone Ella’s connection to the Mother Stone. With Ella temporarily safe and the altar locked down, Bai Zhu prepared to create chaos so Illumi could escape.

• The elder ordered the Church to skip Number Fifteen’s calibration and proceed with Ella’s connection despite the technicians’ warnings.
• As Ella was about to be placed on the frame, Number Twelve died and failures spread through the drug pipelines and Mother Stone’s circulation.
• Illumi admitted he had contaminated the pipelines to stop the ritual, and the elder killed a technician before ordering the altar repaired and Ella guarded.
• Milluki confirmed Ella had been taken to the lounge, while Bai Zhu’s pursuers closed in outside the underground entrance.
• Illumi said he would blend in with the maintenance crew and told Bai Zhu to meet him on the outer level and create chaos.

After disrupting the Holy Advent Ritual, Bai Zhu received a random Bankai reward but agreed not to infiltrate the core area, following Milluki and Illumi’s advice. He escaped to the motel to recover while Illumi continued his underground infiltration and Ella’s vital signs remained stable.

• Bai Zhu received 100 Achievement Points and a random Bankai for completing the Holy Advent Ritual achievement.
• Bai Zhu asked Milluki to prepare an infiltration route, but Milluki and Illumi convinced him that entering the core area would endanger their plan and expose Illumi’s position.
• Bai Zhu agreed to stay on the surface and followed a Mechanical Spider through the church district to escape the search teams.
• Bai Zhu returned to the motel and collapsed onto the bed instead of treating his wounds, while Milluki checked Ella’s status and reviewed footage of Bai Zhu’s Sōkatsui.
• Milluki watched Bai Zhu’s blue-white flames suppress the bishop’s Nen strike and wondered about the strange ability.

Milluki watched Illumi infiltrate the core area disguised as a medical tester and examine the restrained Ella. Ella recognized Illumi and silently smiled at him, while both mechanical spiders remained hidden.

• Milluki watched the guards investigate the contaminated drug pipelines and strengthen the lockdown around the core area.
• Milluki spotted Illumi disguised as a temporary medical tester and warned him that security was tight.
• Illumi and the medic used a follow-up check as an excuse to enter Ella's room.
• Illumi examined Ella and confirmed that the mechanical spiders hidden in her clothes and boots had not been discovered.
• Ella recognized Illumi, noticed the spider disguised on him, and looked at him gently.

Illumi protected Ella from further medication and transfer while Milluki treated Bai Zhu at the inn. After the elders ordered Holy Knights to the surface and launched identity checks underground, Illumi told Milluki to wake Bai Zhu and separate from him.

• Illumi arranged medical notes forbidding sedatives and Ella's transfer, and secretly left her medicine and a weakened restraint strap.
• Milluki confirmed the three fronts remained stable and treated Bai Zhu's wounds at the inn.
• The elders ordered Holy Knights to hunt the surface heretics and demanded renewed identity checks for everyone who had recently encountered Number Fifteen.
• Illumi passed the roster check, then told Milluki the Holy Knights were targeting Bai Zhu and that Bai Zhu needed to separate from him.

Bai Zhu woke to find Holy Knights searching the town for him and agreed to draw them away from Milluki’s inn while Illumi prepared underground. Milluki gave Bai Zhu Exploding Beetles as a last-resort weapon, and Bai Zhu left to lure the search party from the area.

• Milluki woke Bai Zhu with a Mechanical Spider and showed him the Holy Knights emerging from the underground passage to search for the fire-wielding heretic.
• Bai Zhu realized the Holy Knights could expose the inn and agreed to lead them away so Milluki could keep supporting Illumi’s operation.
• Bai Zhu teased Milluki about his body pillow before Milluki gave him six Exploding Beetles and warned him to avoid harming civilians.
• Bai Zhu pocketed the beetles, thanked Milluki, and headed out to draw the Holy Knights away.

Bai Zhu drew the Holy Knights away from town while Milluki guided him toward a trap involving a Zoldyck Beetle. As the Knights closed in, one struck the ground with his spear, and Milluki shouted for Bai Zhu to jump.

• Bai Zhu healed his injuries with Kaidō No. 33: Angel's Gaze, then learned that Milluki had planned a route to draw the Holy Knights after him.
• Bai Zhu deliberately revealed himself to two followers, prompting a Holy Knight team to pursue him as Milluki warned him about their Black Crystal-amplified attacks.
• Bai Zhu escaped through a tavern and over rooftops, conserving his Reiatsu as he ran toward the town's north gate.
• Bai Zhu reached the forest with all three Holy Knight teams following and learned that Milluki planned to use a Zoldyck Beetle near a hunting shack, though its safe distance was thirty meters.
• A Holy Knight slammed his spear into the ground, causing the snow beneath Bai Zhu to bulge as Milluki yelled for him to jump.

Bai Zhu fled the Holy Knights with Milluki guiding him and using explosive Beetles to escape. The Beetles devastated the pursuing force, leaving Bai Zhu alive in a snow trench beneath a rising mushroom cloud.

• Bai Zhu dodged a guided Black Crystal attack and ran from the Holy Knights while Milluki explained their tactics through his earpiece.
• Bai Zhu tried a Smoke-Blast Bug, then deployed a Black-Shelled Rhinoceros Beetle that turned out to be a dud because of its fifty percent failure rate.
• Bai Zhu escaped the Holy Knights' first attack with Shunpo and learned that they wanted him alive to investigate the Blue Flame Heretic and Holy Stone contamination.
• Bai Zhu planted more Beetles along an abandoned logging road and dove into a snow trench as Milluki detonated them.
• Three Beetles exploded, wrecking the Holy Knights' formation while Bai Zhu survived in the trench and saw a mushroom cloud rising over the forest.

Bai Zhu survived the beetle explosion but found himself outnumbered by Holy Knights, who linked their Nen through Black Crystal armor to trap him. As the circle closed around the snowy ditch, Bai Zhu drew his Zanpakuto.

• Bai Zhu climbed out of the ditch after the explosion, learned that only two Black-Shelled Rhinoceros Beetles remained, and conserved his weakened Reiatsu.
• Milluki spotted at least six surviving Holy Knights, including two heavily armored squad leaders, while Bai Zhu hid in the ditch.
• The Holy Knights abandoned their attempt to capture Bai Zhu alive and prepared to hunt him from a distance.
• The Holy Knights inserted black spikes into their armor and linked their Nen through their Black Crystal, spreading patterns across the snow to surround Bai Zhu.
• Bai Zhu used Shunpo to escape the ditch, but the formation blocked his landing routes and forced him back inside.
• As the Black Crystal patterns tightened around the ditch, Bai Zhu drew his Zanpakuto from his system inventory.

Bai Zhu was cornered by six Holy Knights until Milluki sent swarms of Mechanical Bees and Mechanical Worms to attack them. The machines trapped the knights and overwhelmed their Black Crystal Shield, while Bai Zhu retreated from the blast zone.

• Bai Zhu weighed using his remaining Kidō and Bankai options as the Holy Knights' Black Crystal Formation closed around him.
• Milluki revealed that he had sent a private swarm of Mechanical Bees, which struck the Holy Knights' shield and gave Bai Zhu a chance to escape the formation.
• The Holy Knights cut through part of the bee swarm and tried to withdraw toward town.
• Mechanical Worms burst from beneath the snow, entangled the Holy Knights, and disrupted their shield as the bees attacked from above.
• Milluki told Bai Zhu to retreat fifty meters as the machines pinned the Holy Knights and began their final assault.

Bai Zhu and Milluki used swarms of Mechanical Bees and Earthworms to break the Holy Knights’ formation, while Bai Zhu helped bring down their leader and the remaining attackers. After receiving a mission to rescue pregnant women underground, Bai Zhu learned that someone was transporting a group of them through the passage.

• Bai Zhu disrupted the leading Holy Knight’s escape with Byakurai, but the Holy Knights trapped his landing points and prepared to charge him.
• Milluki unleashed a larger Mechanical Earthworm attack that tore apart the Holy Knights’ formation and dragged the attackers into the snow.
• The leading Holy Knight charged Bai Zhu, but Milluki’s Mechanical Bee swarm stopped him, allowing Bai Zhu to strike the Black Crystal in his armor with White Lightning.
• Bai Zhu received achievement points and a mission to rescue the pregnant women underground and cut off their supply line.
• Bai Zhu struck down a fleeing Holy Knight, then heard Milluki report that someone was transporting pregnant women through the underground passage.

Bai Zhu learned that the church was moving more pregnant women through an underground supply network and decided to intercept a convoy before it reached North Warehouse. With Milluki and Illumi coordinating from underground, he prepared to stop the transfer without harming the women or exposing Illumi.

• Milluki told Bai Zhu that intercepted transfer orders revealed a new batch of pregnant women being sent underground, and Bai Zhu resolved to save them.
• Bai Zhu persuaded Milluki to help him intercept the women outside, promising to protect Illumi if anything went wrong.
• Bai Zhu used Kaidō #33: Angel's Glance to ease his injuries, then moved deeper into the forest while Illumi confirmed the transfer records.
• Illumi reported that eight newly received women were being taken to North Warehouse, and Milluki identified it as a secret backup route connected to an old mine tunnel.
• Milluki laid out a plan for Illumi to confirm the route, Milluki to disrupt traffic and communications, and Bai Zhu to intercept the convoy without damaging the vehicles or harming the pregnant women.

Bai Zhu scouted the North Warehouse and discovered pregnant women being drugged before their transfer underground. As he prepared an ambush, a barefoot woman in white appeared on the roof and looked straight toward his hiding place.

• Bai Zhu learned that Milluki had few explosive bugs left and reached the North Warehouse, where caretakers loaded pregnant women into vehicles.
• Bai Zhu watched a caretaker inject a struggling pregnant woman while Illumi confirmed Ella had reacted to Number Nineteen, an acquaintance on the transfer list.
• Illumi revealed that Ella was carefully working at her restraint, and Bai Zhu told her not to take reckless action.
• Bai Zhu and Milluki planned to intercept the vehicles at an old drainage channel before they entered the mine tunnel.
• Milluki detected an unknown strong signal, and Bai Zhu saw a barefoot woman in white ceremonial robes standing among floating black crystalline syringes.
• Illumi warned Bai Zhu to stay away from the woman, who raised her head and looked directly at his hiding place.

Bai Zhu hid from a mysterious woman in white while Milluki and Illumi warned him to stay away. When the System unlocked Body Enhancement in response to the danger, Bai Zhu spent most of his achievement points boosting his physical abilities and discovered his new strength was difficult to control.

• Bai Zhu spotted the woman in white looking directly at him from North Warehouse, and Milluki's nearby surveillance bugs were disabled one by one.
• Illumi and Milluki could not identify the woman, and Milluki told Bai Zhu to avoid her and intercept only the convoy's rear vehicles if she followed it.
• The System unlocked the Body Enhancement interface after detecting extreme danger, and Bai Zhu used 306 achievement points to raise his Strength, Stamina, and especially Agility.
• Bai Zhu felt his body transform, cracked the frozen earth with his fingers, and nearly launched himself out of cover when he tested his new agility.

Bai Zhu used his newly enhanced stamina and Reiatsu to evade the woman in white and raid the convoy, trying to rescue the pregnant women before they were taken into the mine tunnels. The woman held three captives at needlepoint, but Bai Zhu revealed he had teammates as the standoff continued.

• Bai Zhu discovered his enhanced stamina let him recover Reiatsu more quickly, then the woman in white ambushed him with Black Crystal Needle Tubes.
• After the woman in white halted the convoy and Number Nineteen was loaded early, Bai Zhu asked Milluki to disrupt the attendants' communications and create a diversion.
• Bai Zhu charged the buses instead of fighting the woman, dodged her needles, and knocked down two gray-robed attendants after Milluki jammed their communications.
• Bai Zhu freed Number Nineteen's wrist and told her to sort useful medicine from the stolen medical kit, but the woman in white aimed needles at three pregnant women and ordered him to leave.
• Bai Zhu lowered his Zanpakuto, then grinned and reminded the woman in white that he had teammates.

Bai Zhu fought the woman in white as her Black Crystal Needle Tubes threatened him and the pregnant women inside the bus. Just as he prepared to gamble on a Bankai trial, the old mine tunnel collapsed and cut off the transport route.

• Bai Zhu dragged the woman in white away from the bus, but her Black Crystal Needle Tubes destroyed the Exploding Beetles he had planted on her.
• Bai Zhu battled the returning needle tubes while ordering Number Nineteen to avoid the black injections and free the pregnant women.
• The gray-robed attendants activated the Black Crystal lines beneath North Warehouse, trapping Bai Zhu as the woman in white nearly pinned him with a syringe.
• Bai Zhu prepared to use his Random Bankai Trial Ticket when the mine tunnel behind North Warehouse collapsed, blocking the transport route.
• Bai Zhu asked Milluki whether he had caused the collapse, and Milluki said he had not blown out the truck tires.

Bai Zhu rescued Number Nineteen from the bus, but the woman in white killed the pregnant women before he could save them. Milluki arrived in a modified vehicle and helped Bai Zhu escape, though the woman pursued them with a newly formed Black Crystal Spear.

• After the mine tunnel collapsed, Bai Zhu freed himself from the Black Crystal spikes and rushed to the bus while the woman in white investigated the blockage.
• Bai Zhu carried Number Nineteen away after telling her Ella was alive, and he left scissors for the pregnant women to free themselves.
• The woman in white killed the pregnant women with her Needle Tubes, and Bai Zhu suppressed his anger and fled with Number Nineteen toward the old water channel.
• Bai Zhu evaded the pursuing Needle Tubes until Milluki rammed them with a modified vehicle and brought Bai Zhu and Number Nineteen aboard.
• The woman in white fused her Needle Tubes into a Black Crystal Spear as Milluki accelerated away.

Bai Zhu and Milluki fought off the white woman’s Black Crystal weapons while escaping with Number Nineteen, who revealed that she and Ella had been raised as Holy Infant Incubators. Underground, Illumi’s attempt to disrupt the church failed as Sanctification Descent began, and he told Milluki to retreat and summon Grandpa.

• Bai Zhu climbed onto Milluki’s damaged car and used White Lightning and his sword to fend off the woman’s pursuing Black Crystal Needle Tubes.
• Number Nineteen told Bai Zhu and Milluki that she and Ella had been Holy Infant Incubators, and that the woman was a completed vessel while the Pope’s child was called the Holy Son.
• Illumi reported that the ground rescue had failed, then prepared to withdraw from the underground archives with stolen ritual records.
• A white-clothed man confronted Illumi underground as Illumi’s controlled workers sabotaged the facility and triggered alarms.
• The white-clothed man declared that Sanctification Descent would proceed, while Black Crystal patterns activated beneath Ella and spread onto her abdomen.
• Illumi told Milluki that the ritual had begun and ordered him to call Grandpa and retreat if he could.

Bai Zhu chose to head for the Church and use a temporary Bankai to stop the ritual, despite Milluki's warnings and the pursuit of the woman in white. The chapter ended as he activated the Random Bankai Trial Ticket and faced the Holy Knights on the road to the Church.

• Illumi told Milluki that the ritual had begun, Ella was sealed by the Black Crystal Circuit, and a man in white was underground; Milluki sped away with Bai Zhu and Number Nineteen.
• Bai Zhu refused to retreat, resolved to avenge the people who had died, and decided his one-time killing move could help him take down the enemy base.
• The woman in white intercepted the car, but Bai Zhu cracked one of her Black Crystal Needle Tubes with White Lightning, and Milluki used decoys and a sabotaged bridge to slow her pursuit.
• Illumi reported that the man in white could track his real body despite decoys, while Milluki learned that Ella's ritual would lock into its core in ten minutes.
• Bai Zhu stopped Milluki from contacting the Zoldyck family and ordered him to drive straight to the Church; as Holy Knights blocked the road, Bai Zhu activated Temporary Bankai.

Bai Zhu used his temporary Bankai-enhanced power to break through the Holy Knights and reach the Church, where Ella remained trapped in the ritual. With just over nine minutes left, he stood at the doors and prepared to confront the threat inside.

• Bai Zhu received Minazuki and a temporary boost to his strength, agility, stamina, and Reiatsu, then vowed to make the Church's forces fear him.
• Bai Zhu cleared a path through the Holy Knights using his sheathed sword and dodged the white-robed saintess's spear, which struck three Holy Knights instead.
• Bai Zhu used Bakudō #4: Hainawa to trip the congregants gathering near the Church while Milluki drove onward.
• Illumi warned Bai Zhu to retreat and reported that Ella was still on the bed as Black Crystal Patterns spread across her chest.
• Bai Zhu reached the Church doors with Milluki, held off on activating Bankai and playing the music, and prepared to show off as a man inside called the outsiders heretics.

Bai Zhu unleashed Bankai—Minazuki and stormed the Church, while Illumi fought the holy son underground as the Pope’s rebirth neared completion. The Pope emerged and pinned Illumi in place, leaving him trapped with his escape routes sealed.

• Bai Zhu activated Bankai—Minazuki, and his spreading blood pool corroded the Church’s Black Crystal formations and overwhelmed the Holy Knights.
• Bai Zhu broke the saintess’s Black Crystal spear, protected Number Nineteen with bloodwater, and entered the Church with Milluki.
• Bai Zhu restrained the praying children with Bakudō #4: Hainawa, then sent Milluki to contact Illumi as they headed toward the underground core.
• Illumi evaded the holy son’s Black Crystal Surgical Knives and damaged a formation, but the holy son blocked his escape routes.
• The Pope rose from a Black Crystal-covered coffin, and his immense Post-Mortem Nen pinned Illumi down as he considered destroying the intelligence he carried.