Chapter Summaries

After Firstborn helped Lin En escape the Blood-red Wasteland, they agreed to be friends, and Firstborn gave him a modified storage ring for ten Spirit Coins. Tyrael recognized that the ring was worth a fortune, but Lin En did not know its true value.

• Lin En and Firstborn discussed how the Gods' Families and outer gods treated mortal lives as insignificant, and Lin En insisted he still remembered being an ant.
• Firstborn led Lin En out of the Blood-red Wasteland and asked what had caused his latest fall.
• Lin En counted Firstborn's rescue as a second favor, then agreed they could be friends after shooting Firstborn when he started to ask for something.
• Firstborn suggested killing Tyrael because he had overheard their conversation, but Lin En kept him alive and promised he would not reveal their secrets.
• Firstborn gave Lin En a ring that could hold living people for up to twenty hours, and Lin En bought it for ten Spirit Coins.
• Tyrael realized the ring was worth enough to buy several streets, but he was too weak to warn Lin En.

Lin En returned to his body during the dangerous crossing, leaving Firstborn to carry him back to the Eighth Layer. Firstborn declared Lin En his protected friend before the assembled Gods' Families and Church representatives, while a Divine Attendant recognized a possible resemblance to someone in a portrait.

• Firstborn explained that he had to take Lin En to his own domain before sending him back, and Lin En warned him not to imprison or mistreat him.
• As the Spirit Realm's spatial turbulence surged, Lin En dismissed his projection and returned to his body, falling into suspended animation as Firstborn caught him.
• Firstborn arrived at the assembly carrying the unconscious Lin En, shocking the gathered Gods' Families and Church representatives.
• Firstborn told the assembly that Lin En was his friend and warned that anyone who offended him would be offending Firstborn.
• A Church Divine Attendant said Lin En resembled someone she had seen in a portrait.

Lin En returned from the Spirit Realm to the Firstborn’s residence and asked to be sent back to Clockwork City. After Lin En left, the Firstborn studied information about Link Lucifer and the Vessel Families, reacting to a tradition he found absurd.

• Lin En woke in the Firstborn’s lavish residence and asked him to send him back to Clockwork City.
• The Firstborn asked Lin En to promise a favor in the coming days, and Lin En agreed.
• The Firstborn gave Lin En a ring containing a few dozen pieces of discarded Origin Substance, which Lin En accepted as a sale.
• Lin En teleported away, leaving the Firstborn alone and feeling the emptiness of his departure.
• The Firstborn examined a portrait of Link Lucifer and information about the Vessel Families, then muttered about an absurd tradition involving a brother and sister.

Lin En discovered that he could teleport within the same layer of the Spirit Realm, then learned that Little Red had exposed him in the newspapers as a demon tied to the Vessel incident. After Church forces beat people for reading the reports, Lin En confronted them and revealed his identity as the Divine Chosen.

• Lin En confirmed that he could warp through space within the same realm without his identity being detected.
• Lin En read a newspaper accusing him of being a Spirit Realm Monster and showing photographs of him with Tyrael at the Vessel Factory.
• Lin En saw Church Clerics and Exorcists beating people who read or protested the reports, and he stopped an Exorcist from striking a protester.
• Lin En severed the leading Cleric's arm and wounded the Exorcists after they claimed the Divine Chosen had ordered them to suppress the rumors.
• Lin En revealed his true appearance to the Cleric and declared that he was the Divine Chosen.

Lin En returned to the Spirit Realm with a stronger Vessel and learned that the Lord of Crimson’s followers had spread recordings and rumors to discredit him while causing chaos in Clockwork City. He assessed the Church’s divided response and prepared to answer the attack.

• Lin En recognized that the fires and violence in Clockwork City were part of a scheme to undermine his status as a Divine Chosen.
• Lin En returned to Mesijie Street, showed Salgon and the others his new Vessel, and asked for intelligence about the day’s events.
• Mirror reported that recordings and rumors had spread through Clockwork City and that Exorcists and Clerics had attacked civilians, with over a hundred incidents of arson and assault.
• Mirror explained that Archbishop Ophiel supported Lin En, while most Church leaders and factions had stayed silent or were waiting to see what happened.
• Lin En examined the circulating Impression Crystals and found recordings of his conversations with the Lord of Crimson.

Lin En weighed Tyrael’s usefulness against Mirror’s desire for revenge, then revealed that he had brought Tyrael back for her to deal with. Mirror stayed with Lin En after he promised to keep his word and leave Tyrael to her.

• Lin En told Mirror that Tyrael was useful because he could create Vessels, including one that might let Lin En’s true body descend intact.
• Mirror admitted that Tyrael had masterminded the Vessel incident and set the fire that killed her companions, and she decided to leave rather than work beside him.
• Lin En stopped Mirror at the doorway and reminded her that he had promised to leave Tyrael to her.
• Lin En summoned Tyrael from the Ring and told Mirror to come deal with him.

Lin En revealed that he had brought Tyrael back for Mirror to take revenge, while preserving Tyrael’s knowledge for the organization. Mirror confronted the man who had tortured her, declared that she was a person rather than his creation, and began her revenge.

• Lin En told Mirror that Tyrael had never been promised a place in his organization and that she could take her revenge.
• Lin En ordered Mirror to copy Tyrael’s knowledge of vessels and the Crimson Secret Cult before finishing her revenge.
• Tyrael tried to escape, but Lilith and Salgon stopped him and began torturing him.
• Mirror removed her false face, confronted Tyrael, and stabbed him while declaring that she had never been his creation.

After Mirror avenged the children by capturing Tyrael, Lin En comforted her and reaffirmed that she belonged with him. Mirror vowed to become his Vessel Master and devote her life to making a perfect vessel, while Lilith reacted jealously from outside.

• Mirror captured Tyrael and left him to face the children's vengeance, but afterward she felt no satisfaction and feared she had cost Lin En too much.
• Lin En reassured Mirror that he had helped because she was one of his own and told her he believed she could become his most important assistant.
• Mirror embraced Lin En, apologized through tears, and asked to become his Vessel Master, pledging to make him a perfect vessel.
• Lilith saw Mirror hugging Lin En through the window and tried to charge inside, but Salgon restrained her.
• Salgon dragged Lilith away while privately celebrating that his plan to help continue Lin En's bloodline had begun to make progress.

Lin En revealed the dying mother used to create his vessel and asked his companions what should be done with her. Though she had suffered centuries of torment, Mirror joined the others in choosing to keep using her, leaving Lin En momentarily surprised by her decision.

• Lin En assigned Mirror to copy Tyrael’s memories while Lilith kept him imprisoned and suppressed his power.
• Lin En summoned the pale, dying mother he had brought back from the Spirit Realm and explained that Tyrael had drained her vitality to complete his vessel.
• Lin En inspected his vessel and worried that it had inherited some of the mother’s bloodline and could eventually fail under the strain of his power.
• Salgon and Lilith urged Lin En to preserve the mother as a source of future vessels.
• Mirror agreed that Lin En should keep using the mother, explaining that she could produce another compatible vessel.

Lin En chose to restore the mother’s human body and give her another chance at life, despite his doubts about whether compassion fit his nature. He left her unconscious in a room beneath the council chamber, uncertain whether she had asked him to save her or kill her.

• Lin En reassured his subordinate, then used his power to transform the mother’s insect body into human legs.
• Lin En decided to spare the mother and give her a new life, leaving the choice of what came next to her when she woke.
• Mirror said she felt she had chosen the right person to follow, while Lilith privately acknowledged Lin En’s surprising gentleness.
• Salgon declared that everything Lin En did was right and that he would follow his master’s will without question.
• Lin En laid the still-unconscious mother on a bed beneath the council chamber and told Mirror she might not have gone mad.
• Lin En recalled that the mother’s lips had seemed to form either “save me” or “kill me.”

Lin En left the unconscious green-haired woman to recover and returned to a Clockwork City wracked by protests and violence. As he headed for the Church, the Great Sun began to fade, prompting fears that Eternal Night was approaching.

• Lin En left the underground room with Mirror, while the green-haired woman opened her eyes after they departed.
• Mirror reported that protests, clashes with Clerics, arson, and attacks on Churches had spread throughout Clockwork City.
• Lin En learned that Ophiel's people supported him while Mogans and Nero stayed neutral, then set out with Mirror for the Church.
• The Great Sun dimmed, and Lin En realized the warning that it would eventually go out had been true.
• Ophiel watched the fading Sun in fear, while Mogans and Nero recognized the danger of Eternal Night and Mogans warned that the Spirit Realm's creatures would soon act.

As the Great Sun dimmed and the Spirit Realm Overlay spread through Clockwork City, Lin En rang the Spirit Bell and lit the Tower with his Holy Flame. The tenth chime calmed the city and echoed the historic declaration that ended the Eternal Night Era, and Lin En told Mirror he intended to rekindle the Great Sun.

• The Spirit Realm Overlay swept through Clockwork City as the Great Sun dimmed, transforming streets and buildings and sending residents fleeing.
• Lin En climbed the Tower and struck the Spirit Bell, while his Holy Flame spread over it and pushed back the overlay nearby.
• Ophiel saw the flame, ordered the Clerics to defend the Tower, and rebuked the Bishops for questioning Lin En’s status as Divine Chosen.
• The churches across Clockwork City kindled their flames in response, helping contain the overlay as the Spirit Bell rang ten times and the city’s panic subsided.
• Lin En told Mirror to keep everyone away while he tried to rekindle the Great Sun, warning that Eternal Night would descend if anything happened to him.

Lin En returned to the Warp and found the great sun close to collapse, so he negotiated with the imprisoned Shinsen Saya to stabilize it without freeing her. Shinsen Saya offered her ninth origin substance as a means to restart the sun, but Lin En demanded control over any instructions she sent through it.

• Lin En saw that the great sun was shrinking rapidly and returned to his lair, where Shinsen Saya had nearly exhausted herself trying to escape.
• Shinsen Saya attacked Lin En with a golden blade, but stopped when he warned that killing him could bring eternal night sooner.
• Lin En told Shinsen Saya he would not release her and demanded a way to stabilize the great sun while keeping her under his control.
• Shinsen Saya explained that the sun was her body and that she could restart it by placing part of her divine soul inside it.
• Shinsen Saya extracted her ninth origin substance, the Sequence of Nine [Holy Flame], and offered to use it to reconnect with the great sun.
• Lin En demanded an intermediary relay that would require his approval for every instruction Shinsen Saya sent, or he would refuse the arrangement.

Shinsen Saya forced her way into Lin En’s mental world and tried to merge their souls to draw out his essence and corruption, hoping to use him as an intermediary. The chapter ended with her pressing the soul-mingling on him despite his protests.

• Lin En refused to help Shinsen Saya and warned her that killing him could bring Eternal Night.
• Shinsen Saya dragged Lin En down and punched him with Holy Flame, knocking his consciousness into his mental world.
• Shinsen Saya invaded Lin En’s mind and burned away his soul’s defenses while isolating its corruption.
• Shinsen Saya pressed her soul against Lin En’s and explained that she needed to draw out some of his essence and corruption.
• Lin En realized Shinsen Saya was forcing their souls together, and she insisted she had no other way to act as his intermediary.

Shinsen Saya merged souls with Lin En to establish a relay that could save the world from eternal night, and the connection revealed his memories of a lost human life. She saw past his monstrous appearance and recognized the young man concealed beneath it.

• Shinsen Saya forcibly began merging her soul with Lin En so he would send a piece of origin substance to the Great Sun.
• Lin En resisted being forced and retaliated by wrapping her in his tentacles and kissing her, but Shinsen Saya slapped him and insisted they hurry.
• Shinsen Saya opened her soul to Lin En, allowing his corrupting essence to plant an anchor in her divine soul.
• The merging showed Shinsen Saya Lin En's memories of his human childhood and the sorrow of losing his former home and life.
• Shinsen Saya saw the young man beneath Lin En's monstrous form and asked what she was seeing.

As the Great Sun faded over Clockwork City, Mogans and Nero doubted that the Divine Chosen could restore it, while Mirror kept them from disrupting his efforts. The Sun went out and Spirit Realm Weirds invaded the city, leaving Mirror looking toward the tower for the Divine Chosen.

• Ophiel told Mogans and Nero that the Divine Chosen was contacting the Valkyrie and might restore the Great Sun.
• As the Sun dimmed, Mogans and Nero tried to enter the tower, but Mirror stopped them and warned them not to disappoint the Divine Chosen.
• The Great Sun vanished, and the Eternal Night Era began.
• Black rifts opened across Clockwork City, and Weirds poured into reality to attack.
• Mirror looked urgently toward the top of the stairs and called for her Master.

As the Lord of Crimson and a Great Demon opened rifts into Clockwork City, Lin En revealed he had delayed restoring the Great Sun to lure the creatures into the open. He reignited it just as the demons began invading, burning them beneath its light and preventing Eternal Night.

• The Lord of Crimson summoned a Great Demon and watched as it forced its way into Clockwork City, while Mogans, Nero, and the citizens faced despair and chaos.
• Mirror reached Lin En in the Tower and found him awake; he explained that he had already prepared to restore the Great Sun but had delayed it to draw the creatures into reality.
• Lin En lamented that the Lord of Crimson had stayed behind and called for the Great Sun to shine.
• The Great Sun blazed back to life, scorching the invading creatures before they could begin their destruction.
• Ophiel collapsed in relief as Mogans, Nero, and the Exorcists looked up at the sunlight and realized Eternal Night had not come.

The Great Sun returned, turning Clockwork City into humanity’s domain and trapping a Great Demon in a shrinking rift. Lin En led the counterattack, then presented himself to the survivors as a guilt-stricken Divine Chosen who had suffered a fatal soul wound.

• The Great Sun reappeared, forcing the Weirds to flee or hide as Exorcists and Clerics counterattacked across Clockwork City.
• A Great Demon became trapped halfway through a shrinking rift, while the Lord of Crimson closed her own rift and abandoned him.
• Lin En ordered Ophiel, Mogans, Nero, and the others to keep the Great Demon from escaping.
• Lin En descended from the Tower and told the gathered survivors he was a fellow believer who had failed them by not rekindling the Great Sun sooner.
• Lin En clutched his chest, claimed his soul had suffered an eighty-percent fatal injury, and showed the crowd a bloodied handkerchief.

After rekindling the Great Sun, Lin En presented himself as the Valkyrie's self-sacrificing emissary, earning the Street District's devotion and vast quantities of emotional fragments. Still pretending to be gravely injured, he continued healing residents and gathering fragments until they overflowed and filled his reserves.

• The Clerics, Exorcists, and residents of the Street District knelt and wept, praising Lin En after witnessing the Great Sun's return.
• Lin En claimed he had only fulfilled his duty as the Valkyrie's emissary, and the crowd's gratitude and fervor produced an overwhelming flood of emotional fragments.
• Mirror realized Lin En was using his moving performance to gather fragments, while Lin En insisted he had to keep helping the wounded and moved through the city.
• Lin En healed injured residents with his Holy Flame as he walked, gathering fragments so quickly that he repeatedly reached his collection limit and forged origin substance.
• Lin En healed a wounded mother and child, and the scene later became an iconic image revered by believers around the world.

The Lord of Crimson ordered the Youzhi Family man to deliver his daughter before the next Red Moon Descent, while Lin En prepared for the attention his actions had drawn. After Lin En entrusted Mirror with greater responsibility and reassured her about her vow, Mirror unexpectedly kissed him and panicked.

• The Lord of Crimson recognized that Lin En had disrupted her plans and ordered her contact to bring his daughter to her before the next Red Moon Descent.
• Lin En celebrated the fragments he had collected and warned Mirror that the Church headquarters and other factions would soon investigate Clockwork City.
• Lin En assigned Mirror responsibility for the Tribunal Office's team and told her to leave creating a Vessel to someone else so her kind heart would not be stained by blood.
• Mirror struggled to understand Lin En's care for her, then rose onto her tiptoes and kissed him.
• Mirror stumbled back, knelt before Lin En, and apologized in panic.