Recaps

Philomina reflected on her failure in the Final Selection and retreated into a dream of her parents and a happier home, while Kallen considered his new prospects with the Whip of Order. After learning he could form his own squad, Kallen looked forward to choosing his recruits, and Puer successfully summoned a smaller version of Allen’s sword.

• Mrs. Felshev told Philomina that Kallen had outthought her, and Philomina admitted she neither hated him nor had investigated him.
• Philomina went to sleep and dreamed of her parents welcoming her home, where she shared smoked meat with the dog beneath the table.
• Kallen discussed the colonial witnesses’ testimony with Daishan and described how Vien’s cultural influence had reshaped their sense of identity.
• Kallen’s captain told him that new recruits could form autonomous Whip of Order squads, and Kallen realized he could bring his companions into his own squad.
• Puer adjusted the summoning spell art to draw a smaller red sword, then rode Kevin and shouted, “Stupid Dog, charge!”

Kallen arranged to recruit his Final Selection teammates into his planned Whip of Order Squad and visited the Guman Family, where Richard agreed to join. A message from Mr. Eisen drew Kallen toward the Pottery Gallery, while Philomina killed her driver and escaped as Memphis approached the gallery.

• Puer joked with Kallen, requested Point Vouchers for a custom sword, and later patrolled with Kevin while Kallen agreed to leave the house in their care.
• Kallen recruited Aisili, Bart, and Ventura for his planned Whip of Order Squad, then asked Alfred to look into Teacher Daishan.
• At the Guman Family villa, Kallen reunited with his maternal grandmother and Richard, who gave him a lower-grade Key of the Magic Cube and agreed to join the squad as a logistics member.
• A crow delivered a message to Kallen saying someone from the Pottery Gallery had arrived, so Kallen left Richard's room to go there.
• Philomina killed the fat man driving her car as Memphis approached the Pottery Gallery, then fled as black mist.

Kallen pursued Philomina after she helped a puppet-maker escape, but she agreed to lead him to the man instead of fighting. Meanwhile, Madam Tang Li visited Mrs. Felshev and revealed that Dis had become a supreme Temple Elder, leaving Felshev in denial and remembering him as a young man.

• Kallen reached Lemar's pottery gallery, learned that Memphis was pursuing Philomina, and used a tracking ruler to follow him.
• Philomina and Memphis continued their chase until Kallen intercepted her and demanded she reveal where the puppet-maker was hiding.
• After an eagle appeared overhead, Philomina agreed to take Kallen to the puppet-maker, and Kallen put away the Sword of Arius.
• Madam Tang Li visited Mrs. Felshev, who revealed that Philomina was her granddaughter and the child of the creature beneath the table.
• Madam Tang Li explained that Dis had entered the Order Temple and become a supreme Temple Elder, but Mrs. Felshev insisted he had only gone there to retire.

Madam Tang Li confronted Mrs. Felshev about her fixation on Dis and left after telling her that he had spared her to let her suffer. Kallen handled a new funeral for Whip of Order captain Mr. Giotto and later learned that Lemar had begun teaching Selena the Puppet Creation Art.

• Madam Tang Li challenged Mrs. Felshev's insistence that she understood love, then left the villa as black mist swallowed it.
• Kallen and Mr. Eisen waited while Philomina retrieved a fat man from a farm, then Mr. Eisen took him to the Pottery Gallery for Lemar.
• Philomina invited Kallen to meet her grandmother, but Kallen declined and went back to the Funeral Society.
• Malena and the Giotto Squad hired Kallen's Funeral Society to bury their captain, who had chosen euthanasia after pollution from a mission injury worsened.
• Alfred told Kallen that Teacher Daishan had attended activities held by new-thought organizations unconnected to any church.
• Lemar freed Selena and offered her the Yılmaz Carving Knife, urging her to learn the Puppet Creation Art by using the restrained man as material, and Selena accepted the knife.

Puer and Kevin went out with Alfred, encountered Anita and Ruimoer at his newly founded club, and attended a lecture where Alfred discussed God and the attitude people should take toward the road ahead. After Anita called Puer weak, Puer resolved to grow stronger and take Kallen flying.

• Mrs. Lake prepared Mr. Giotto’s body while Puer and Kevin decided to go out with Alfred.
• Alfred took Puer and Kevin to his club, where they encountered a powerful woman in white and hurried to warn him.
• Puer attacked Ruimoer, but Alfred explained that Ruimoer was his vice president and that Anita was her symbiotic partner.
• Anita apologized after insulting Puer, who became angry and vowed to grow stronger for Kallen.
• Alfred began his club lecture on God and the attitude people should take toward the road ahead.

Alfred’s lecture club was raided, but Neo and Kallen intervened and drove off the Public Morals Office. Kallen planned his next assignments and attended to funeral preparations before learning that Dis’s true self had returned.

• Alfred taught the club about grounding until Keyaer arrived with Public Morals Office staff and accused him of organizing Otherworldly Demons.
• Kallen and Neo arrived after Alfred was shackled, and Neo beat Keyaer until his subordinates released Alfred and left.
• Kallen learned that Anita had called Puer the weakest symbiotic companion and promised to help her get even if it happened again.
• Kallen told Puer he would travel to Dinge District and listed his upcoming plans, including the Gate of Reincarnation and forming his own Whip of Order Squad.
• Alfred brought Kallen a plan for Mr. Giotto’s funeral, and Kallen said he would preside over the Memorial Service.
• The old man appeared in Kallen’s study and said he sensed that his true self had returned.

Kallen tracked down Mr. Will, the former owner of his first home, and met him at the villa where two Light Remnants were recovering. Mr. Will said he would leave York City and entrusted the two to Kallen, while Neo unexpectedly appeared in Kallen’s car and asked where he was.

• Kallen learned from Alaye that Mr. Will had returned to York City and was looking for his nephew and niece.
• Kallen took Kevin to Apple Street, where Kevin tracked the Light Remnants to a rebuilt villa.
• Kallen entered the villa under concealment, fought briefly with Helen and Vernon, and learned that Mr. Will was waiting upstairs.
• Mr. Will told Kallen he had come to wake Helen and Vernon, planned to return to his studies in the colonies, and would leave the two children in Kallen’s care.
• Neo appeared in Kallen’s car and asked where Kallen was and where the person he had arranged to meet had gone.

Kallen met Mr. Will, who entrusted Vernon and Helen to him and asked him to investigate a distorted mental imprint in books from his former home. After Kallen and Neo compared notes, Kallen let Kevin drive him through York City, reflecting on how cautious the journey had made him.

• Mr. Will discussed the Church of Light’s decline with Kallen and asked him to guide Vernon and Helen, who agreed to Kallen’s test of living in the city without using their powers.
• Mr. Will asked Kallen to investigate who had bought his former home and distorted the mental imprint in his books, and gave him a bank key as payment.
• Kallen realized Bersha’s letter had led him to take the Captain’s place at the meeting, then left the villa after giving Vernon and Helen their instructions.
• Kallen returned to find Kevin driving the car with Neo as a passenger, and he explained what had happened at the villa.
• Neo said Vernon and Helen could join Kallen’s future squad if they proved themselves, then left to visit the Cemetery.
• Kallen let Kevin drive through York City and compared Kevin’s careful driving with his own cautious journey.

Kallen organized Mr. Giotto’s funeral, then departed York City with his squad for the Dinge District. When his teammates enthusiastically wore their new Demon Masks in public, Kallen joined them and led the masked group onward.

• Kallen prepared Mr. Giotto’s funeral with Aisili, Bart, Ventura, and the staff, and the squad helped serve mourners throughout the ceremony.
• Neo praised Kallen’s funeral arrangements, warned him to be cautious in the Dinge District, and gave him a box containing thirteen Silver Masks.
• After the funeral, Kallen learned that Kevin hoped to use the refrigerator as part of a larger teleportation formation, though the plan remained far from ready.
• Kallen and his squad traveled by hearse to the Church Administration Building and used its Teleportation Magic Formation to reach the Dinge District.
• Mars and Blanche joined the group, and Ventura handed them Silver Masks; the squad members put on their masks, prompting Kallen to wear his too and lead them out of the hall.

Kallen and the other trainees arrived at the training base, where Kallen and Muli agreed their teams should build relationships and support each other inside the Gate of Reincarnation. Their first lesson with Pilo turned into a demonstration of his overwhelming formation skills, and he left them with a lesson about seeing formations from a different perspective.

• Kallen assigned the six teammates to rooms and arranged for them to collect the free food, cigarettes, and alcohol provided at the hotel for their shared fund.
• Muli visited Kallen, explained the four training subjects, and proposed that their teams get to know each other and cooperate when they entered the Gate of Reincarnation; Kallen agreed.
• Kallen and Muli collected the timetable and brought their teams to the first class, where the formation teacher Pilo introduced himself with a powerful sound wave.
• Pilo teleported the trainees to the beach, showed them how he had used sound waves to form a formation, and then transported them into the sea and onto a towering pillar of ice.
• Pilo explained that the essence of formations was perspective and concluded that a true formation could let a Divine Servant seal a deity.

Pilo took the students through a practical lesson in formations, testing their judgment before showing them the beauty that formations could create. Kallen impressed Pilo, who invited him to seek him out in Dinge District in two years, and the students returned to the Conference Hall to discover that the scheduled teacher had been looking for them.

• Pilo explained his view of formations and transported the students through a series of demonstrations, while Kallen recognized the lesson's connection to Mr. Hoffen's Formation Notes.
• Kallen stayed put during Pilo's trick, guessed his teaching approach, and received a coin that granted temporary Purification after answering a question about Pilo's pipe.
• Pilo questioned Kallen about his background and formation studies, then told him to find him in Dinge District in two years for a proficiency test.
• Pilo took the students to examine Demon Beasts restrained by formations, and Kallen encouraged Mars to share his own observations.
• Pilo created a rainbow bridge and a dazzling night-sky display before returning the students to the Conference Hall.
• A middle-aged man in red-trimmed Order Clerical Robes arrived with hotel security and revealed that he was supposed to teach the class that night.

Kallen and the other trainees attended a lesson led by retired Deputy Knight Commander Liwen, whose erratic training methods tested their strength and patience. When Liwen chose Kallen for a sparring match and demanded his realm, Kallen revealed that his identification listed him as a Divine Servant.

• Muli refused the Security Captain’s investigation, and Kallen led his own squad back to their rooms without cooperating.
• Kallen and Ventura suspected that powerful Church officials had taken over the lessons after hotel staff delivered illustrated catalogs of the demon beasts in the Cave.
• Liwen introduced himself as a retired Deputy Knight Commander, led the trainees through the sea to a submerged courtyard, and subjected them to intense gravity.
• Kallen resisted Liwen’s attempts to disrupt his spiritual power, while Ventura collapsed after Liwen lightly patted him.
• Liwen released the gravity, made the students fall, and announced that he would spar with each of them at their own level.
• Liwen selected Kallen to go first, but Kallen’s identification revealed his realm as Divine Servant.

Kallen concealed his true strength and defeated Instructor Liwen in a close-combat lesson, leaving Liwen to praise his battlefield skill. The lesson ended with Kallen and Muli’s squads agreeing to protect Liwen’s reputation, while Pilo and the other elders laughed at the fight and spread the story.

• Liwen questioned Kallen’s identification as a Divine Servant, and Kallen used a prayer and Muli’s help to keep Liwen from raising his strength above the first stage.
• Kallen chose a greatsword and initially pretended to struggle with it, while his squad recognized the weapon from a case he had brought from York City.
• Liwen attacked Kallen with a spear, but Kallen used Spell Arts, body enhancements, and sword skill to take control of the fight without revealing the Sword of Arius or his other powers.
• Kallen disarmed Liwen, trapped his black panther phantom with Chains of Order, and knocked him down with the greatsword.
• Liwen praised Kallen as a dangerous opponent and a valuable comrade, while Kallen and Muli’s squads promised not to tell outsiders about the lesson.
• Pilo and the other elders watched the fight through a scrying mirror, laughed at Liwen’s defeat, and began spreading the story that a Divine Servant had knocked him flat.

Kallen impressed Liwen and the elder observers with his fighting skill, then learned from Liwen during three rounds of combat instruction. The chapter ended with Liwen cheerfully telling the other elders that a Divine Servant had knocked him flat.

• The watching elders praised Kallen's tactical skill and spell arts, while Pilo recalled that the higher-ups had plans for the students.
• Kallen advised his squad to study Liwen's combat choices and conserve their strength, then Liwen defeated Muli and the other students in turn.
• Kallen asked Liwen to fight at fourth-tier strength while he restricted himself to Divine Servant strength, and the two exchanged attacks as the class studied Kallen's thinking.
• The elders discovered Kallen was an orphan with little formal schooling, and Pilo compared his talent to that of former High Priest Lord Rasma.
• After three rounds of instruction, Kallen thanked Liwen, returned to his room to rest, and reflected that Liwen was a competent knight.
• Liwen entered a room of six elders and announced that a Divine Servant had knocked him flat.

Kallen’s squad attended a team-combat lesson on the Black Prison Castle, a war spell art Mavario summoned and explained. After learning that the castle’s authorization would grant lasting access to a divine artifact’s power, both squads began choosing who would receive it.

• Kallen and his teammates held an early-morning discussion to review the previous lesson, and Muli asked to include his squad in future discussions.
• Kallen’s squad and Muli’s squad traveled to an island, where Director Husen introduced Mavario as their instructor for team combat.
• Mavario summoned the Black Prison Castle, and Kallen examined its weapons, structure, and control hub while Bart explained its battlefield functions.
• Mavario explained that authorization would let one person in each squad draw on a divine artifact to cover most of the castle’s power consumption.
• Mavario listed the qualities an authorization holder should have, and Muli’s squad began discussing candidates while Kallen’s teammates stepped back from him.

Kallen received authorization to study the Summoning Spell Art for [Black Prison Castle], then watched Mavario demonstrate the castle’s devastating weapons. As the teams began studying the spell, Kallen started forming its foundation beneath his feet, astonishing Muli’s team.

• Kallen was chosen to receive authorization, and Mavario marked his and Muli’s hands with runes before Husen gave each team a scroll containing the Summoning Spell Art for [Black Prison Castle].
• Muli suggested that Mavario was an inheritor of Marchetini’s memories and spirituality, and Mavario summoned [Black Prison Castle] to demonstrate its Piercing Crossbow and Magic Crystal Cannon.
• Kallen deduced that the Church’s war equipment would be a costly, one-use benefit restricted to the Gate of Reincarnation, and the teams began dividing the scroll’s contents for study.
• Kallen spread his hands and began thinking through the spell art, while an enormous black Star Glow and the castle’s foundation appeared beneath his feet.

Kallen redesigned his squad’s Black Prison Castle as an Eastern-style fortress, assigning spaces and weapons to suit each member’s abilities. After both squads summoned their castles, Mavario inspected Kallen’s design and asked what lay behind a room’s door, which Kallen revealed was the washroom.

• Kallen stopped forming a standard castle and planned customized stations so each squad member could use their abilities with his support.
• Kallen’s squad selected a Formation Curtain, Tracking Repeating Crossbows, a Cage of Imprisonment, a Priest Star Chain, and a Judgment-grade Magic Crystal Cannon.
• Muli’s squad summoned a rough, crooked version of the standard Black Prison Castle, and Mavario told them to stay overnight to refine it.
• Kallen’s squad summoned a carefully modified castle with an Eastern-style design, a formation room, two crossbow platforms, and a cannon emplacement.
• Mavario inspected the castle and instructed Kallen to activate its Divine Artifact; before Kallen could do so, Mavario asked what the room behind a door was, and Kallen answered that it was the washroom.

Kallen established a connection with the War Scythe, learned to control the Black Prison Castle and its weapons, then returned to the hotel to rest before the Trial briefing. His nightmare ended with the scythe falling into an abyss and an unseen figure angrily saying, “Order...”

• Mavario guided Kallen through a mental connection that let the War Scythe acknowledge him and answer when he called through the Black Prison Castle.
• Kallen connected the castle to his squad’s weapons and tested them against Aisili’s summoned bird, trapping it with Mars’s formation and firing the Magic Crystal Cannon into the sea.
• Kallen’s squad returned to the hotel, where Ventura gathered the other rooms’ cigarette and alcohol allotments while Kallen told everyone to rest before practicing the next day.
• Kallen dreamed of the War Scythe, watched it fall into an abyss and heard an unseen figure angrily say, “Order...”

Kallen dreamed of the War Scythe and heard a prisoner in the abyss ask Order how much longer he had to wait, then awoke badly injured but recovered after sleeping. Later, he told his squad their borrowed war equipment would have to be left behind after the Gate of Reincarnation and arranged for their hotel meals to be downgraded so they could receive the difference in Point Vouchers.

• Kallen resisted an impulse to enter the abyss, endured visions of a vast battlefield, and heard a prisoner ask, “Order, how much longer must I wait?”
• Kallen woke bleeding and in severe pain, washed himself, and told Ventura to keep the incident secret.
• Kallen slept until the afternoon, learned that the day’s lessons had been postponed, and arranged for a hotel logistics director to buy the squad’s cigarettes and alcohol.
• Kallen told his squad that their war equipment would remain inside the Gate of Reincarnation, and promised they could earn Point Vouchers to buy equipment later.
• Kallen sold the goods to the hotel representative and asked him to provide simpler meals in exchange for the difference in Point Vouchers.

Kallen and the other candidates attended their final class before traveling to Reincarnation Valley, where McKinney warned them about the Church’s factions and insulted Kallen for having no family. Barrett later revealed that two figures from the previous era had sent a message from the Gate of Reincarnation, and Kallen privately confirmed the Church’s suspicion about an evil god.

• Kallen slept through another nightmare of being split in two by the War Scythe and woke at four in the morning to join his team for breakfast and coordination discussions.
• At the final class, McKinney described Reincarnation Valley and warned Kallen and Ventura that church factions would target them because they had no families.
• Kallen’s team and Muli’s group stood in protest until McKinney retracted his remarks and apologized to Kallen and Ventura.
• Barrett introduced Gaitenbert and Funites, whose names had appeared in a soul message from the Gate of Reincarnation, and said the Church suspected an evil god had helped send souls there.
• Kallen agreed with Muli to explain what he knew about the Gate of Reincarnation over dinner and privately confirmed that the evil god had indeed helped.

Kallen and the two squads prepared for their upcoming entry into the Gate of Reincarnation, agreeing to prioritize finding compatible souls while treating the other assignments cautiously. After a day at Amber Bay, Kallen noticed that Muli and Ventura appeared blurry in a moving photograph taken before Passio’s birthday banquet.

• Barrett assigned the trainees three tasks for the Gate of Reincarnation: find compatible souls, gather intelligence about its factions, and seek contact with Gaitenbert and Funites; Kallen later called Kevin, who warned him that the third task might be a trap.
• Kallen and Muli agreed that their two squads would focus on finding souls, gather intelligence when possible, and travel together under Kallen’s command.
• Kallen described his knowledge of the Gate and the Simosen Family to both squads, and the trainees discussed how to cooperate and prepare for possible danger from the Reincarnation Church.
• The next morning, both squads visited Amber Bay for Passio’s birthday; Kallen relaxed on the beach while his teammates played and socialized.
• Muli arranged a group photograph, and Kallen noticed that Muli and Ventura appeared blurry in the moving image.

At Passio’s birthday banquet, Kallen sparred with Muli and the two became friends, while Muli’s grandfather secretly selected him and Ventura as candidates to serve as vessels for the Order God Church. The chapter ended with Ventura keeping watch beside Kallen as Kallen wondered whether Ventura was lucky.

• Kallen relaxed at Passio’s banquet, where Muli invited him to visit his family’s manor and later asked him to spar in a secluded coconut grove.
• Kallen used his Spell Arts to keep Muli at a distance until Muli conceded, and the two returned to the banquet to eat and talk about their families.
• Kallen correctly guessed that Muli’s grandfather had treated him harshly, and Muli declared that Kallen had become his friend.
• The photographer, who served as a divination-system director, told Muli’s grandfather that Ventura and Muli were the best candidates to replace two vessels; the grandfather refused to consider replacements.
• At the hotel, Ventura made a bed beside Kallen’s door, and Kallen asked whether he thought he was lucky.

Kallen studied formations at the Training Base before traveling with his squad to Reincarnation Valley, where he learned that Ventura and Muli had been ordered to serve as vessels for returning souls. Kallen persuaded Geluowen to let him take Ventura’s place, and the group prepared for the token-binding ceremony.

• Kallen declined Muli’s invitation to a family dinner, then received formation notebooks and advice from Instructor Pilo.
• Kallen and the others departed for Reincarnation Valley, delayed by a teleportation problem before continuing by ship from a small island.
• On the ship, Geluowen explained that fog near Reincarnation Valley recorded spiritual imprints and described the strange activity around the valley.
• Geluowen showed Kallen and Ventura an order requiring Ventura to host Funites’s returning soul, and Kallen objected to the danger.
• Kallen offered to replace Ventura and threatened to keep his squad from entering the Gate of Reincarnation if the order was not changed.
• Geluowen agreed to make Kallen the host, and Muli told Kallen that he too had agreed to sacrifice himself because of his grandfather’s influence.

Kallen took Ventura’s place in the Token Binding Ritual, reassuring his squad that he could withstand the danger while confronting what the Church’s faith demanded of its members. After the ritual, Muli gave Kallen a valuable Purple Pill to improve their chances of keeping their identities, and Kallen realized it was meant to buy his life.

• Ventura told Aisili, Blanche, Bart, and the others that Kallen had chosen to take his place, and Kallen refused to discuss changing the decision.
• While eating with his squad, Kallen reconsidered the Order God Church’s practice of sacrificing people without needing to justify it, then had his new thoughts appear in Alfred’s black notebook.
• Kallen reassured his worried squad that his strong soul gave him a better chance of resisting Funites and promised to lead them after they left the Gate of Reincarnation.
• Geluowen led the Token Binding Ritual, during which clerics embedded a snake scale in Kallen and a lion’s hair in Muli to prepare them as vessels for Funites and Gaitenbert.
• Muli confessed his fear of losing his name and soul, then gave Kallen one of his two Purple Pills, which could improve their odds of surviving with their identities intact.

Kallen and Muli arrived in Reincarnation Valley ahead of their trial in the Gate of Reincarnation, where Kallen rejected Peide’s offer of information and spent the evening exploring town with Muli. Back at the hotel, Kallen tested Muli’s purple pill and discovered that it suppressed the soul, leaving Muli more vulnerable to Lord Gaitenbert taking over his body.

• Kallen and Muli arrived in Reincarnation Valley and met Tengge and the Reincarnation Church’s welcoming delegation before reporters interviewed Kallen.
• Geluowen held a brief meeting, distributed Reincarnation Vouchers, and encouraged the squads to explore before entering the Gate of Reincarnation.
• Kallen refused to meet Peide at the hotel and later rejected Peide’s offer to share information about the Gate of Reincarnation.
• Kallen and Muli walked through town, declined to enter a brothel, and ate dinner before returning to the hotel.
• Kallen tested Muli’s purple pill with the Power of the Dark Moon and realized that it suppressed the soul and made it easier for Lord Gaitenbert to occupy Muli’s body.