Chapter Summaries

Lynn fled through the Blood Mist with Little Darling and Zuo Zuo, then learned Little Darling had reached the Colossus Tower without being attacked. He realized the Mother Tree of Desire had likely used Little Darling to lure him out, and the chapter ended as vines and a Blood Mist vortex surrounded them.

• Lynn suspected the Mechanical Church had joined Colossus flesh consciousnesses with machine consciousnesses to help locate the Colossus Brain.
• Lynn discovered Little Darling could not answer because he was being dragged by his tongue, then released him and listened to his account.
• Little Darling explained that the Colossus Brain's pull had drawn him toward the tower, where he had passed through a hallucinatory state and appeared at its gates unharmed.
• Lynn concluded the Mother Tree of Desire had influenced Little Darling to lure him out in the consciousness space.
• Lynn ordered Little Darling and Zuo Zuo to run, but a vortex formed in the Blood Mist and thick vines sprouted around them.

Lynn confronted the Mother Tree of Desire inside a consciousness space, where she explained how his bonds with others had let her locate him through Little Darling. He warned her that his powerful allies could support him, then flirted with her, leaving her intrigued and increasing her affection for him.

• The Mother Tree of Desire appeared before Lynn in the blood mist and recalled their alliance against the God of Ten Thousand Machines.
• She said Lynn's feelings for his friends, family, companions, and women were a weakness she had exploited to find him through Little Darling.
• Lynn argued that his bonds also gave him support and listed powerful Origins connected to him, including the Cyber Ascender, the Twelve-Winged Holy Angel, the War God, and the Witch God.
• The Mother Tree of Desire asked what made the weak Lynn special, and he joked that it was because he was big.
• When she asked how big, Lynn invited her to find out, and her affection for him increased twice.

Lynn negotiated cooperation with the Mother Tree of Desire to help her find the Colossus Brain, accepting her seductive offer with shameless enthusiasm. The Mother Tree warned that she knew he was no ordinary human, leaving their partnership tinged with suspicion.

• The Mother Tree of Desire offered to protect Lynn if he helped her find the Colossus Brain, then promised him a taste of the Goddess of Desire.
• Lynn claimed he would not trade his integrity for one taste, but agreed when the Mother Tree offered three, leaving Zuo Zuo furious.
• Lynn explained that cooperation was safer than risking the Mother Tree altering his consciousness, while hinting he still hoped to enjoy her charms.
• The Mother Tree warned Lynn not to try anything clever, and Lynn reassured her that he was only a mere human.
• The Mother Tree told Lynn that he was no ordinary human.

Lynn shot himself to force the Mother Tree of Desire to choose between saving him and releasing Zuo Zuo and Little Darling, or risking the awakening of the Colossus Brain and the monster sealed in his consciousness. The Mother Tree hesitated as Lynn’s threat shifted the balance of power in his favor.

• Lynn asked the Mother Tree of Desire to let Zuo Zuo and Little Darling go, but she refused, intending to use them as leverage over him.
• Lynn activated Curse Removal, drew a Revolver from System Space, and shot himself in the head.
• Zuo Zuo rushed toward Lynn, but the Mother Tree of Desire reached him first and used her power to stabilize his damaged consciousness.
• Lynn warned that his dying consciousness could awaken the Colossus Brain and that manipulating his mind could unleash the monster sealed inside him.
• The Mother Tree of Desire doubted Lynn’s claims but hesitated to risk them as he demanded that she save him and release his friends or gamble on the consequences.

Lynn persuaded the Mother Tree of Desire to let Zuo Zuo and Little Darling go, then continued with her into the Blood Mist to find the Colossus Brain. He realized his performance had kept her from discovering that Zuo Zuo was the true consciousness of the Colossus Heart.

• The Mother Tree of Desire agreed to Lynn's demand, and Lynn immediately recovered from his apparent death after taking a bullet.
• Lynn told Zuo Zuo and Little Darling to leave and seek Sir Awen while he stayed behind; Zuo Zuo tried to follow him, but Little Darling held her back.
• Zuo Zuo vowed to rescue Lynn, while the system reported increases in her affection, trust, and attachment to him.
• Lynn walked with the Mother Tree of Desire through the Blood Mist and asked how they would find the Colossus Brain.
• Lynn concluded that the Mother Tree of Desire had not realized Zuo Zuo was the true consciousness of the Colossus Heart.

Lynn used a risky bluff and sharp observations to probe the Mother Tree of Desire while they searched for the Colossus Brain. She revealed her plan to devour its still-pure consciousness and escape Hell, then teased Lynn about how she would outmaneuver the other Origins.

• Lynn admitted to himself that his claims about surviving and the sealed monster were fabricated, and that he had risked shooting himself because he expected to survive.
• The Mother Tree of Desire ordered Lynn to stop looking around, and he walked beside her with an arm around her waist, provoking her with talk of intimacy and beauty.
• Lynn guessed that the Mother Tree hated the monstrous form she had been reduced to, and her anger briefly stirred a terrifying aura before she regained her composure.
• The Mother Tree confirmed that she harbored hatred and intended to escape Hell and reclaim what she had lost.
• The Mother Tree explained that she planned to devour the Colossus Brain's pure consciousness before it was cursed, while the God of Ten Thousand Machines and possibly the heir to the Cyber Civilization sought the same power.
• Lynn questioned whether the Mother Tree could outcompete the other Origins, and she touched his nose and asked what he thought.

Lynn realized his authority as the Colossus Heart weakened the fear projections in the consciousness space, and the Mother Tree of Desire confirmed his theory. He secretly anticipated that separating Zuo Zuo from him would soon expose the Mother Tree to a devastating fear projection, while she remained suspicious of his hidden intentions.

• Lynn explained that his presence weakened or stopped the consciousness space’s fear projections from attacking him and Zuo Zuo.
• The Mother Tree of Desire confirmed his guess and revealed that she had devoured a small piece of the Colossus Heart to delay projections targeting her.
• The Mother Tree explained that the Colossus Heart had been drawn to Curse City and admitted she had expected it to have an underdeveloped mind.
• Lynn privately realized that separating Zuo Zuo from him had split the complete Colossus Heart, leaving the Mother Tree vulnerable to fear projections.
• The Mother Tree asked whether Lynn was worried about the danger to the God of Ten Thousand Machines and Awen, but she still suspected he was concealing something.

Lynn wandered through the Blood Mist with the Mother Tree of Desire and tried to question her about her past and sexual experiences. She left him behind in the argument and ordered him to move on.

• Lynn asked the Mother Tree of Desire about the calamity that had turned Ancient Gods into Origins, but she refused to discuss what he was not meant to know.
• Lynn repeatedly teased the Mother Tree of Desire with questions about whether trees could reproduce and whether she had had sex as a goddess.
• The Mother Tree of Desire grabbed Lynn by the collar and explained that she could sense he had never had sex, leaving him speechless.
• The Mother Tree of Desire mocked Lynn's inexperience and enjoyed getting the better of him.
• Lynn asked how creatures had sex with a tree, and the Mother Tree of Desire's good mood vanished as she ordered him to move.

Lynn and the Mother Tree of Desire found a projection of Sir Awen facing the darkness that had destroyed his civilization. After the darkness began affecting Lynn, he pulled away and dismissed it with a crude joke.

• The Mother Tree of Desire sensed something ahead and told Lynn they had encountered Sir Awen.
• She cleared the Blood Mist, revealing Sir Awen's Psychic Giant confronting a vast darkness above the burning homeworld of the Cyber Civilization.
• The Mother Tree of Desire explained that the projection showed the calamity that had destroyed Sir Awen and the civilization he represented.
• Lynn stared into the darkness and felt his emotions and hope fading as it began to affect him.
• Lynn tore his gaze away, called the darkness a sleeping pile of shit, and made the Mother Tree of Desire laugh.

Lynn and the Mother Tree watched Sir Awen’s projection charge into the darkness before setting off toward the Colossus Brain. Lynn left the Mother Tree furious by demanding a piggyback ride, then climbed onto her back after she gave in.

• Lynn watched the psionic giant charge at the darkness and recognized the hatred that kept the Origins undying.
• The Mother Tree said she would devour the Colossus Brain and erase the projections, and Lynn agreed to go with her.
• The Mother Tree teased Lynn about trying to contact Cyber, while Lynn hinted that he might already have pulled off a trick.
• Lynn pretended he could not walk and provoked the Mother Tree by retracting his limbs and warning that abuse could break the seal.
• The Mother Tree ordered Lynn onto her back, and he restored his limbs with Calamity and climbed aboard.

Lynn provoked the Mother Tree of Desire until she beat him and marched him through the Blood Mist with a vine whip. He endured the humiliation to stall for time, expecting the Projection of Fear to descend soon.

• The Mother Tree of Desire became furious when Lynn touched her, flipped him onto the ground, and beat him with her fists, feet, and a stool.
• After about a quarter of an hour, the Mother Tree of Desire bound Lynn's wrists with a vine and forced him to walk ahead of her.
• Lynn endured her threats and insults while estimating that the Projection of Fear would arrive soon.
• The Mother Tree of Desire mocked Lynn's ambitions and told him to seek a powerful figure to serve.
• Lynn silently vowed to subjugate the Mother Tree of Desire if he ever gained the chance.

Lynn confronted the Mother Tree of Desire about her disguise and tried to resist her attempt to win his trust. After she dropped her vulnerable act, she revealed that she knew he was stalling and demanded to know what he was plotting.

• Lynn taunted the girl about her youthful appearance and reminded her that her true body was a monstrous tree in Hell.
• The Mother Tree of Desire asked Lynn whether he had faced reality, prompting him to recall his longing for his former home on Blue Star.
• The Mother Tree of Desire confessed that she missed her homeland and would give up her power to return, and Lynn recognized their shared longing.
• Lynn explained that he had held back from trusting her because she was a Root-Level being of the Domain of Chaos who might be manipulating him.
• The Desire Mother Goddess abandoned her vulnerable guise, approached Lynn as her branches turned blood-red, and asked what he was plotting.

Lynn revealed that the girl was trapped in a projection of her past, forcing her to relive the destruction of the Woodland and the failure of her desperate escape. She remembered why she had fallen into Hell and the despair and hatred that followed, while the projection's outcome remained unresolved.

• The girl moved to pry open Lynn's consciousness, but he warned that the calamity sealed within him was already present.
• Lynn vanished as the Blood Mist surged, and the girl realized she was seeing a projection of her memories.
• She relived the darkness descending on the Woodland and the great tree—herself—burning beneath a blackened sky.
• She watched the Arks of Nature carry the Woodland's creatures toward the stars, then saw the darkness destroy them.
• The girl remembered that her hatred and fall into Hell came from the loss of her homeland and the failure of her last hope.

Lynn tried to escape the Mother Tree of Desire's illusion while she fought to resist her memories and hunt him down. Just as Lynn neared the projection's boundary, the illusion shifted into a familiar street from his own past.

• The Mother Tree of Desire used a fragment of the Colossus Heart to regain clarity and recognized that her burning-sky vision was an illusion.
• The Mother Tree of Desire spread vines through the forest to find Lynn before the projection of her past could attack her.
• Lynn moved through the burning forest and reasoned that he could not risk trusting the Mother Tree of Desire, despite glimpsing her former goodness.
• Lynn spotted the Blood Mist and headed toward the projection's boundary, hoping to reunite with Zuo Zuo and help Sir Awen.
• The forest transformed around Lynn into a familiar street beneath a blue sky, and he realized the space had manifested a painful scene from his own past.

While the Mother Tree of Desire hunted for Lynn, the space projected his deepest fear: the breakup that had ended his first romance as a child. The memory left him reliving the heartbreak, and he began to remember why he had let the girl go.

• Lynn realized that, separated from Zuo Zuo, he was vulnerable to the space projecting his fears and tried to convince himself that nothing frightened him.
• A projection showed a kindergarten-aged Lynn being dumped by a girl whose teeth had rotted from the lollipops he gave her.
• The little girl explained that her dentist father beat her for the cavities, then skipped away as Lynn remained stunned and alone.
• Lynn recognized the scene as his first breakup and recalled how the memory had haunted him for years.
• Lynn wondered why he had not chased after the girl, then began to remember the reason.

Lynn relived the day two childhood romances ended, first when Le-chan moved abroad and rejected him for being too short, then when he ran into his beloved teacher. The chapter ended as she apologized and said she could not wait ten years for him.

• Little Lynn watched Le-chan arrive and ask to break up because she was moving abroad with her parents.
• Le-chan returned the Tentacle Plush and said her mother disliked boys shorter than her daughter.
• Lynn relived the pain of his second heartbreak and regretted not telling Le-chan he would grow taller.
• Little Lynn ran after Le-chan but collided with his teacher, whom he had loved since kindergarten.
• His teacher gently wiped dust from him and said she could not wait ten years for him.

Lynn endured illusions that replayed his childhood heartbreaks, then confronted a projection of Zuo Zuo breaking up with him and knocked both her and his projected self away. He realized the space was now trying to exploit his separation from Zuo Zuo, and searched through the black mist for a way out.

• Lynn watched illusions replay a series of childhood breakups and reflected that he had tried to manage too many relationships at once.
• After the final breakup, the illusion shifted to the Bloodsaw Apothecary, where a black-haired girl claiming to be Zuo Zuo told a projected Lynn that she wanted to break up.
• Lynn arrived and sent the black-haired girl and the projected Lynn flying with rising uppercuts.
• Lynn accused the space of trying to turn him and Zuo Zuo against each other, then smashed through the projected Apothecary's roof.
• Lynn searched the black mist for a way out and recognized that the Colossus Heart's authority had limited the projections' danger so far.

Lynn fled through the Wandering Soul Alley projection as the Mother Tree of Desire invaded it, suspecting she was setting a trap at its boundary. He tested his theory with a flesh puppet, which the vines seized as soon as it crossed into the blood mist.

• Lynn escaped into an alley and saw the Mother Tree of Desire's blood-red vines spreading through the neighborhood.
• Lynn suspected the Mother Tree was surrounding the projection and waiting to strike as he tried to leave.
• Lynn used Flesh Cataclysm and a puppet mark to create a lookalike puppet and sent it toward the projection's boundary.
• The puppet crossed into the blood mist, and vines erupted from the ground and engulfed it.
• Lynn realized his suspicion was correct and cursed the Mother Tree of Desire.

Lynn fled through Wandering Soul Alley as the Mother Tree of Desire unleashed a devastating assault, then used the Curse Eye to face her from the central tower. He warned her against pursuing the Colossus Brain and left her to decide whether to abandon her plan.

• The Mother Tree of Desire discovered that the captured Lynn was a puppet and crushed it, then sent vines surging through Wandering Soul Alley to hunt the real Lynn.
• Lynn escaped through the winding lanes as the Mother Tree of Desire accused him of stalling and vowed to break free of Hell's shackles.
• With the alley nearly destroyed, Lynn inserted the nearly shattered Curse Eye into his right eye and climbed the central tower.
• The Mother Tree of Desire offered to let Lynn leave unharmed if he led her to the Colossus Brain, but Lynn refused, warning that the Flesh Dominator and the God of Ten Thousand Machines would oppose her.

Lynn used the Titan’s Curse and the Self-Binding Angel’s Curse to withstand the Mother Tree of Desire while carving the Violet Magic Array into his body, hoping to summon the mysterious being that had once saved him. The Mother Tree attacked in a frenzy, but the array’s engraving continued.

• The Mother Tree of Desire sent her vines after Lynn, who fell from the shattered High Tower and activated the Titan’s Curse.
• Lynn bound himself with the Self-Binding Angel’s Curse, preventing the Mother Tree from controlling his movements while his undying body endured her attacks.
• Lynn carved the Pupil-less Eye and Violet Buds of the Magic Array into his body, trying to reach the mysterious being that had saved him before.
• The Mother Tree recognized the array and attacked desperately, but her vines could not stop Lynn from engraving it.