Chapter Summaries

At the world meeting, Axel urged the assembled races to cooperate and keep developing, revealing that the Holy Church had discovered evidence of space pirates and planned to reach the stars. He announced that Azure Star’s Starport could usher in interstellar travel within five to ten years, leaving the crowd fervently celebrating the Holy Church.

• Axel praised Princess Mansherry and the Tontatta for supporting the New Government and called for equality and peaceful coexistence among all races.
• Axel warned that the world still faced powerful enemies and revealed that space pirates had once attacked the ancient civilization.
• Axel showed the delegates an image of Azure Star from space and explained that the Holy Church’s surveillance technology and discoveries came from outer space.
• Whitebeard and Red-Hair Shanks reacted to the vision of space, while the Adventurers watched Axel’s presentation eagerly.
• Axel showed the Starport being built in orbit and said it could enable interstellar travel within five to ten years.
• The meeting attendees and the people of Marineford shouted, “Long live the Holy Church!”

The Holy Light Clerics entered a despairing New World to investigate its cause and discovered police officers abusing a hungry, red-eyed girl they called a cursed child. After the captain killed one officer who attacked them, the team prepared to confront the others.

• The Holy Light Clerics flew to a walled city and entered it in stealth to investigate the world's despair.
• The team spotted a little girl fleeing police officers and followed them to abandoned villas.
• The officers beat the girl for stealing bread and planned to blind her with varanium because of her red eyes.
• The captain stopped an officer's bullets in midair and redirected them, killing him.
• The captain told the team to act quickly against the remaining officers as they came out.

The Holy Light Clerics rescued Irene from men who had tortured her for stealing bread, and Aiki punished the man who had tried to gouge out her eyes. After learning Irene and other Cursed Children were hungry and living in a blocked sewer, the Clerics agreed to help them.

• The Holy Light Clerics killed Banzai and two men who attacked them as they entered the building.
• Aiki seized the fat man, while Elsa carried the injured Irene outside and used holy light to soothe her.
• Aiki blinded the fat man as punishment and left him alive, telling him to live with the lesson.
• Irene told Aiki and the Clerics that she was a Cursed Child with no parents and that her sick Granny and little sisters were hungry in a sewer blocked from the city.
• The Holy Light Clerics promised Irene they would care for the children and asked her to lead them to the sewer.

Aiki and the Holy Light Cleric Squad followed Irene into the sewer and found her starving little sisters. Elsa discovered the girls carried dangerous mutations, leaving Aiki to weigh how to help them while the world's power limit prevented a stronger priest from joining the group.

• Aiki and the Holy Light Cleric Squad entered the sewer with Irene, reassuring her that they would not look down on her home.
• Irene led them to her little sisters, who hid in fear until she introduced the group and handed out Elsa's candy.
• Elsa treated the girls with holy light and discovered their mutated genes could eventually turn them into monsters.
• Elsa said she could only suppress the mutations, while a stronger priest could seal or redirect them.
• Aiki explained that the world's power limit meant bringing in a stronger priest would force the other clerics to leave, hindering their efforts to help more children.

Elsa discovered that Irene’s Granny had died and led the children in mourning before promising to care for them. Elsewhere, police blamed Cursed Children for a violent attack, and Rentaro and Enju left the scene after hearing the crowd condemn them.

• Elsa learned that Irene’s Granny had been dead for three days and could not be revived because her soul had already scattered.
• The Holy Light Clerics prayed for Granny, and her body dissolved into motes of light as the children watched.
• Elsa promised the children they might see Granny again if they studied, then explained the Holy Light Clerics’ calling.
• At the villa, the blinded and mutilated Fat Du blamed Cursed Children for attacking him and demanded revenge.
• Rentaro and Enju reached the police cordon, where a bystander said a Cursed Child had attacked officers and called the children monsters.
• Enju quietly left with Rentaro after hearing the crowd’s hatred, and Rentaro hurried after her.

Elsa brought Irene and the other Cursed Children out in public, where they met Rentaro and Enju. After Enju joined the girls at play, Elsa’s companions drove off a hostile crowd, and Rentaro agreed to visit their home.

• Enju asked Rentaro whether he would hate her if Cursed Children had killed police officers, and he reassured her that she was one of a kind to him.
• Elsa led Irene and the other girls through the street in pretty clothes and promised they would live in a big house and study.
• Enju ran over to Elsa’s group and asked to play, and Irene and the other girls happily gathered around her to hear about Celestial Pearl Girl.
• Elsa invited Rentaro to their place, and he introduced himself and thanked her for looking after Enju.
• When a hostile crowd confronted them, Elsa signaled to the Holy Light Clerics, and Yuta used a Fear Technique to scatter the people.

Rentaro followed Elsa and the Cursed Children to their new manor, where he learned that Elsa’s group planned to spread their faith in Tokyo. Elsa condemned Tokyo’s treatment of the children and vowed that her order would protect and try to cure them.

• Rentaro followed Elsa and the girls from the city center to their lavish manor, where the children eagerly explored the grounds.
• Rentaro asked Elsa about her group, and she explained that they were clergy who had come to spread their faith while their captain handled official matters.
• Elsa criticized Tokyo for mistreating the Cursed Children, and Rentaro struggled to defend the city’s people.
• Rentaro challenged Elsa’s belief in the Holy Light, and she explained that it guided people without forcing them to believe.
• Elsa told Rentaro that her group would protect the children who followed the light and would do everything possible to cure them.

Rentaro visited Elsa’s Manor with Enju, who befriended the girls and considered studying with Elsa instead of attending school. Aiki returned after failing to meet Prime Minister Tendo and planned to try again the next day, while Elsa and Aiki later judged Rentaro’s goodwill to be limited.

• Elsa reassured Rentaro that she hoped to cure the Cursed Children and invited him and Enju to stay for dinner.
• Enju watched Celestial Pearl Girl with the girls and said she might study with Elsa if her guardian agreed.
• Aiki returned and welcomed Enju, then told Rentaro he had failed to meet Prime Minister Tendo and would try again tomorrow.
• Elsa and Aiki escorted Rentaro and Enju home after dinner, then Elsa said Rentaro had some goodwill, but not much.

Aiki learned that Tokyo mistreated Cursed Children and that officials had rejected his attempt to register a church, so he planned to establish a Civil Security Agency called Holy Light instead. Rentaro agreed to keep watch on Elsa's group for Enju, then returned with her to find Kisara starving and to tell her about the foreigners taking in Cursed Children.

• Aiki told Elsa that Tokyo treated fighting Cursed Children as disposable weapons and abandoned those who could not fight.
• Aiki explained that officials had rejected his church registration, so he planned to open a Civil Security Agency named Holy Light.
• Rentaro warned Enju to avoid Elsa's group, but Enju insisted on staying friends with them, and Rentaro agreed to keep watch on them.
• Rentaro and Enju returned to the agency, where Kisara attacked Rentaro with a wooden sword because she was starving.
• After Rentaro gave Kisara instant noodles, he told her about Elsa's group taking in Cursed Children and preaching in Tokyo.

Ria approved sending a Medical Fruit and other Holy Fruits to the advance team in the New World so they could treat and protect the Cursed Children. In Tokyo, the Holy Light Civilian Police Office faced a hostile mob, and its clerics blocked the crowd’s thrown stones.

• Ria learned that the advance team had found a world hostile to the Cursed Children and ordered the clerics not to force the faith on its people, but to act boldly to save the children.
• Ria gave the intelligence officer a Medical Fruit made by the Holy Church and authorized sending more Holy Fruits and clerics to help the children protect themselves.
• Residents gathered outside the Holy Light Civilian Police Office in Tokyo, encouraged by people with malicious intentions to demand that it stop sheltering Cursed Children.
• A blond-haired man confronted the clerics and urged the crowd to drive them out; when he pointed at one cleric, the cleric broke his finger.
• The crowd hurled stones at the clerics, and one cleric stopped them with an invisible barrier.

Aiki and the Holy Light Clerics protected the Manor’s children from an angry crowd, then drove the protesters away and confronted a black-clad spy. Aiki forced the spy to shoot himself, while Tendo Kikunojo waited in vain for Ozawa to answer his phone.

• Aiki reassured the frightened children that he and the Holy Light Clerics would protect them, then received Pope Ria’s decree to spare no effort in saving them.
• The Holy Light Clerics blocked the crowd’s stones with a holy force field and advanced as the protesters charged.
• Aiki and the men in black suits drove the crowd back and marked the road to the Manor with a deep sword cut, warning them not to cross.
• Aiki spotted a black-clad man in an alley and compelled him to shoot himself.
• Tendo Kikunojo called Ozawa repeatedly but received no answer.

Aiki's team set a trap for hostile residents while Elsa struggled with the hatred directed at the Cursed Children. After meeting Enju on the street, Elsa protected her from a man transforming into a Gastrea and destroyed the monster with magic.

• Aiki ordered two teammates to build a malice-triggered illusion array at an intersection after residents blamed the Cursed Children for monster attacks.
• Elsa recalled how an elderly client had blamed her and the Cursed Children for his family's deaths and vowed to see the children rescued from hatred.
• Elsa met Enju, who was searching for Rentaro, and insisted on taking her to him despite Enju's protests.
• A bloodied man emerged from an alley and began mutating into a spider monster as Enju warned Elsa to flee.
• Elsa summoned her Magic Staff, shielded herself and Enju, and blasted the spider monster apart with Holy Light Arcane Bullets.

Elsa revealed her magical abilities to Enju after killing a monster, then left as Rentaro and Officer Jiantai questioned her about the Holy Light Office. After a government intelligence officer was found dead near the office, Jiantai, Rentaro, and Enju headed there to investigate.

• Elsa told Enju she was a Magical Girl and asked her to keep the secret.
• Rentaro and Officer Jiantai arrived, and Enju identified Elsa as the one who had killed the monster.
• Elsa defended the Holy Light Office’s work protecting Cursed Children before saying goodbye to Enju.
• A police report led Jiantai, Rentaro, and Enju to a scene in District 51, where investigators identified the dead man as a suspected intelligence operative whose identity was classified.
• Residents accused the Holy Light Office of killing the man with sorcery, so Jiantai decided to question the office and invited Rentaro and Enju to come along.

Officer Kentai and Rentaro investigated the death of a government intelligence agent at the Manor, where they questioned Captain Ishida Aiki. Kentai left suspecting Aiki might be involved, while Rentaro stayed behind because Enju was playing with the children.

• Kentai and Rentaro felt an inexplicable chill near the Manor, then showed their identification to the clerics guarding its gate and entered to investigate.
• Kentai surveyed the Manor and questioned a cleric about its care for the Cursed Children, then asked to speak with the person in charge.
• Ishida Aiki told Kentai he knew the dead man had killed himself and had watched from a distance without trying to stop him.
• Rentaro challenged Aiki for standing by while someone died, but Aiki said he had no obligation or desire to save the man.
• Kentai warned Aiki that the dead man was a government intelligence agent and left the Manor, while Rentaro stayed behind as Enju played with the children.

Rentaro and Enju discussed the mysterious masked killer and the attack on the Holy Light Office, while Kikunojo Tendo plotted to destroy the office. The next morning, Aiki led his clerics to a Defense Department meeting, suspecting their escort was leading them into a trap.

• Rentaro realized that the crowd's attempt to drive Irene and the others from the Manor might explain Captain Aiki's strange behavior.
• Kikunojo Tendo ordered his subordinate to exploit the meeting and attack the Holy Light Office while its clerics were away.
• Aiki told the Holy Light Clerics that some would stay behind to guard the children while the rest accompanied him to the Tokyo Defense Department.
• Aiki and his team encountered hostility on their way to the Defense Department and suspected the meeting was a setup.
• A black-uniformed man escorted the clerics into the building, and Aiki told his team to defend themselves if anyone attacked, as long as they did not kill anyone.

Captain Aiki and the Holy Light Clerics confronted Tokyo civil security officers over their treatment of Initiators and Cursed Children. After the officers opened fire, the Clerics repelled their bullets, defeated them, and took the children away.

• Aiki knocked down Shogen after Shogen attacked him, then offered candy to Shogen's pale-haired Initiator and held her as she agreed to go with him.
• A slick-haired civil security officer demanded that Aiki put the girl down, and officers aimed their guns at the Holy Light Clerics as Kisara and Rentaro arrived.
• A Holy Light Cleric broke the hand of an officer who admitted mistreating his Initiator, and the slick-haired man ordered the civil security officers to fire.
• Aiki and the Clerics stopped the bullets in midair and sent them back, striking the officers who had fired.
• Aiki split the conference table with his Knight Sword and declared that the Holy Light Office could take children away from anyone who abused them.
• Aiki ordered the Clerics to take the children of the officers who had fired, and the team left the Meeting Room with them.

Seitenshi summoned Tokyo’s civilian security agencies to retrieve a case containing the Seven-Star Relic, but Kagetane Hiruko interrupted the meeting and revealed he planned to compete for it. Aiki’s Holy Light Clerics subdued Hina and sent Kagetane crashing into the wall, leaving the meeting hall stunned.

• An official stopped the Holy Light Clerics from leaving and urged them to hear Seitenshi’s address about Tokyo’s safety.
• Seitenshi showed the agencies a case swallowed by the infected monster and asked them to recover it, but she refused to explain its contents.
• Kagetane Hiruko entered with his daughter Hina, announced that he would compete for the Seven-Star Relic, and revealed it was inside the case.
• Aiki stopped Hina’s attack, took her Kodachi, and put her to sleep.
• A Holy Light Cleric struck Kagetane twice at great speed, leaving him bloodied and embedded in the damaged wall.

Aiki confronted Tokyo’s civil security leaders over their treatment of the infected children and agreed to help search for the Seven-Star Relic only if their living conditions improved. Seitenshi accepted his condition and promised to expedite the Cursed Children Protection Act, leaving the Holy Light Office responsible for helping protect Tokyo.

• Aiki silenced the agency presidents and defended the Holy Light Office’s decision to take in infected children.
• Seitenshi arrived at the Meeting Room with armed guards and invited the Holy Light Office to join the search for the Seven-Star Relic.
• Aiki demanded improved living conditions for infected children and condemned the adults who forced them to fight monsters.
• Seitenshi rejected Kikunojo Tendo’s objections and agreed to expedite the Cursed Children Protection Act.
• Seitenshi entrusted the protection of Tokyo to Aiki and the Holy Light Office, and Aiki promised they would not let her down.

Raven’s bombing attempt against the Holy Light Office ended in his henchmen’s unexplained deaths and his retreat. In the meeting room, Aiki refused to return the children to the civil security agencies and prepared his team for the mission that night.

• Raven sent his henchmen to plant bombs at the Holy Light Office, but they froze at an intersection and died after encountering something unseen.
• Raven told Aide Tendo that something was strange about the Holy Light Office, but Aide Tendo ordered him to finish the job; Raven then fled when he saw the Holy Light Clerics.
• Seitenshi asked Aiki whether the Masked Man’s defeat would affect the mission, and Aiki said it would not.
• Aiki refused the agency presidents’ request to take the children into battle and announced that the Holy Light Office would handle the mission itself.
• Aiki led his teammates and the girls away, while Seitenshi dismissed the remaining officers and hoped Tokyo would survive the night.
• Rentaro prompted Kisara to leave, and Kisara followed him after reflecting on the day’s events.

Aiki brought a group of Initiators to the Holy Light Office, where Elsa arranged medical examinations and Irene helped them adjust to the Manor. Kayo began to feel safe with Irene, while Hibana remained intent on escaping and wondered about her father.

• Aiki brought the Initiators back to the Manor and asked Elsa to examine them because their fighting had raised their infection levels.
• Elsa sent Irene to guide the new arrivals to the Infirmary, and Kayo asked Irene about her claim that Elsa could use magic.
• Irene reassured Kayo that the children could live safely without fighting, and Kayo warmed to her and laughed.
• Irene answered the other girls’ questions about life at the Manor, easing their unease and making them hopeful about living like ordinary children.
• Hibana stayed apart from the group, considered escaping, and wondered how her father was doing.