Recaps

Neo pursued Miqi to a tidal flat and defeated her with a newly developed blood-and-light spell art. Kallen watched the fight and realized Neo had been studying how to break through Kallen’s own defenses.

• Miqi’s decoy and sand-based attack wounded Neo, but he escaped and chased her while Kallen protected the VIP Carriage.
• Kallen pursued Neo and Miqi to a tidal flat, concealed himself, and watched them prepare for a duel.
• Miqi used a destructive scroll and buried herself behind layers of sand defense, but Neo sealed the scroll in a blood-red crystal.
• Neo fused his Mad Pope and Bloodthirsty Otherworldly Demon inheritances, then used blood mist and an inverted Tower of Light to break through Miqi’s defenses.
• Neo trapped Miqi with his new spell, Blood-colored Light-Proper Burial, and Kallen recognized that its design targeted Kallen’s Dragon God Armor.

Kallen helped Neo defeat Miqi, then returned to the Ankara Hotel and warned Luther to follow the Church’s security rules. At the banquet, Kallen learned the negotiations’ prospects had shifted in the Desert delegation’s favor and told Leon about the Church’s decision, leaving Leon to accept the change despite his feelings.

• Neo’s red attack devastated Miqi, but Kallen intervened when Neo moved to finish her, and Neo retreated from the fight.
• Kallen carried the gravely injured Miqi to the Ankara Hotel, where he told Luther that Miqi had been hurt after Luther ordered her to pursue the attacker against his objections.
• Luther and Elanga suspected Kallen knew that Walotti had been their Assassin, but Luther said the negotiations would continue because the Desert delegation’s offer could still benefit them.
• At the banquet, Byrne told Kallen that the Dinge District delegation’s change in mood suggested the Desert side had made an offer they could not refuse; Alfred then delivered a message that the wind had changed.
• Kallen had Leon briefed on the Church’s decision, and Leon said he would accept it before Kallen put out a cigarette and admitted he could not pretend to be used to smoking it.

Kallen told Leon that the Order Regulations justified killing the desert delegation, then left the conference and met Neo at the cemetery. He revealed that the delegation’s assassin had nearly killed his entire family and decided they deserved to die.

• Kallen told Leon that the Order Regulations justified his planned action and ordered him to keep managing security without asking about the operation.
• Kallen warned Elanga that anyone who violated Order would be punished, and Elanga realized Kallen was willing to kill the delegation.
• Kallen left the banquet and took a taxi to the cemetery, where he found Neo drinking beside Miss Elisa’s tombstone.
• Kallen told Neo that the higher-ups had changed direction and that he would not let the desert delegation leave York City alive.
• At Dinkum’s grave, Kallen said the delegation’s assassin had nearly killed his whole family and declared that they deserved to die.

Kallen decided to seek cooperation with Dawensi and the fundamentalist Order Followers to kill the breakaway Desert Order God Church’s delegation, since they would not act without his personal assurance. Dawensi agreed, but asked Kallen to show leniency if he ever had to purge them.

• Kallen agreed to stay on leave while promising to return if needed, and told Kallen not to use an extreme approach for the planned operation.
• Alfred showed Kallen Byrne’s three proposed contacts, and Kallen rejected the Desert Order God Church’s original faction and the Light Remnants as unsuitable options.
• Kallen decided to meet Dawensi and personally secure the fundamentalists’ cooperation, while the talks between Luther’s delegation and Order proceeded at the Ankara Hotel.
• Kallen listened to the morning meeting and concluded that the breakaway Desert Order God Church was willing to surrender much of its autonomy to gain Order’s support.
• Kallen received Alfred’s message that Dawensi would meet him, traveled by teleportation formation to a villa, and agreed to discuss cooperation with him.
• Dawensi agreed to send people to kill the delegation if Kallen eased security, then asked him to spare a few fundamentalists if he ever led a purge against them.

Kallen agreed to Dawensi’s request to spare his people from being wiped out if they were ever purged, then learned that Jisen’s arrival had changed the stakes of his planned attack on the Desert Order God Church delegation. Though Byrne warned him that Dawensi’s faction might target Jisen instead, Kallen refused to abandon his plan, and Suss agreed to let it proceed while taking responsibility for the consequences.

• Dawensi asked Kallen to show restraint toward his faction if they were ever purged, and Kallen promised not to wipe them out completely.
• Kallen returned to the Ankara Hotel, rested for several days, and learned that Philomina and the others had recovered and rejoined the team.
• Jisen arrived from Dinge District, and his presence accelerated the meeting and brought the delegation’s departure closer.
• Byrne told Kallen that Suss would take over security and warned that Dawensi’s faction might target Jisen; Kallen refused to cancel his plan.
• Suss told Kallen to proceed with the original plan and said he would accept responsibility, asking Kallen to remember his kindness.

Kallen met Jisen at the Vien Royal Palace, refused his offer of help, and questioned him about the Desert Order God Church’s alleged role in an assassination. When assassins attacked, Kallen recognized the priest supporting them as someone he knew.

• Kallen joined Jisen for dinner at the palace, where the King of Vienne played the violin for them.
• Jisen offered to help Kallen and become his friend, but Kallen rejected the offer and challenged him about rumors linking the Desert Order God Church to an attack on the Chief Bishop’s family.
• Kallen insisted on staying with Jisen after warning that his safety might be at risk, and Drew’s raven fell from the sky as assassins appeared.
• Three black-clad attackers overwhelmed Jisen’s guards, but Drew used enchanted gems to shield Jisen and strike back at them.
• Kallen noticed that the third attacker was healing and blessing his companions, then recognized the priest as someone he knew.

Kallen watched Drew fight three black-clad attackers while refusing to protect Jisen, their intended target. When Jisen activated a powerful protective spell and threatened to settle accounts with Kallen later, Kallen’s formation disrupted it, and he destroyed the sphere before the spell could finish.

• Drew fought the giant warrior and assassin with weapons summoned from gems, but they repeatedly wounded him while a third black-clad figure supported them.
• Kallen refused Jisen’s demands to join the fight, arguing that the attackers targeted Jisen and that Jisen knew how to fight.
• The assassin gravely wounded Drew, who collapsed on the pavilion steps as the attackers prepared to continue.
• Jisen activated a protective sphere blessed by his ancestor, expecting it to alert his family and shield him.
• Kallen revealed that his defensive formation was interfering with Jisen’s spell, then drew the Diamans Sword and shattered the sphere.
• Kallen asked Jisen what accounts he had wanted to settle with him.

Kallen protected Jisen from the attackers, while allies prepared to aid him and a larger operation unfolded around the Royal Palace. The chapter left Kallen facing the three attackers as Tang Li, Delong, Vic, Suss, Byrne, Puer, and Neo each prepared to act.

• Kallen saved Jisen from the Assassin’s needles, put him to sleep, and faced the giant, the Assassin, and the old acquaintance after they threatened him.
• Tang Li brought Delong to the Royal Palace, where he calculated how to break its formation so she could help Kallen.
• Alfred told Vic that he was key to the revised mission and that passing his test could earn him a major reward.
• Suss prepared to record an important remote meeting, while Byrne kept Dawensi under watch and defended Kallen’s actions under the Order Regulations.
• Puer, riding on Little Kangna as she pulled a cart carrying Aisili and others, headed out to help Kallen.
• Neo ended his vacation, revealed his scarlet face, and prepared to join the action.

Kallen’s allies launched their counterattack at the Royal Palace, where Puer and Kevin silently eliminated the guards before Puer joined Kallen’s fight. The Little Bone Dragon arrived in time to stop the giant’s charge, while Kallen confronted an old acquaintance in Dragon God Armor.

• Puer and Kevin entered a skeleton puppet and used Puer’s firefly Spell Art to burn twenty-one concealed sentries to ash.
• Madam Tang Li noticed the sentries’ deaths, and Delong used a prepared scroll to break a gap in the palace barrier.
• Puer flew into the barrier with a Fire Phoenix and used Purgatory of Fire to reshape the battlefield around Kallen.
• Kallen moved Director Jisen out of the magma’s path and blocked an assassin’s strike while Puer’s skeleton recharged.
• The Little Bone Dragon arrived, blocked the giant’s charge with enormous ribs, and Kallen faced the old acquaintance watching from the distance.

Kallen’s team battled the attackers in the magma-filled city while Alfred waited nearby, confident that the hidden reinforcements would soon turn the tide. The chapter ended as Bernie recognized the blood-soaked Neo, who pretended not to know him.

• Little Kangna helped Kallen restrain the giant, while Ventura arrived and fought it in a desperate brawl.
• Xianty brought Aisili, Blanche, and Richard to the battlefield, but its illusion caught fire on the magma and was destroyed.
• Blanche and Richard healed and supported Ventura, allowing him to keep fighting the giant while Kallen watched.
• Philomina countered the Assassin, and Muli shielded her from his sudden attack after a Blessing strengthened him.
• Alfred chose to wait at the Royal Palace art studio rather than join the battle, telling Vic and Tu Shu to keep the Light Remnants in line.
• Bernie was exposed by the corrosive blood-bat swarm, recognized Neo, and heard Neo ask, “Do I know you?”

Bernie’s blessing turned the battle against Kallen’s group, but Kallen trapped the giant in Black Prison Castle while his allies restrained the assassin. Bernie summoned a Regional Guardian to extract him, and Madam Tang Li attacked the guardian as the chapter ended.

• Bernie used his priestly blessing to empower the giant and the assassin, leaving Ventura pinned and Kallen’s allies under pressure.
• Kallen trapped the giant inside Black Prison Castle with Thousand Enchantments’ help, while Ventura and the skeleton reinforced the prison and Philomina caught the assassin in a dream.
• Bernie ignited a scroll and summoned a hand from a dark cloud to rescue him as the battle turned against his group.
• Madam Tang Li and Old Delong identified the hand as a Regional Guardian intervening in the conflict.
• Madam Tang Li flew upward and slashed at the guardian’s enormous hand with her kitchen knife.

Madam Tang Li intervened to defeat the guardian’s Dharma Body, while Bernie destroyed his allies’ souls before Neo killed him. Kallen’s group withdrew as Vic forced Jisen to publicly order the arrest of the Desert Order God Church members, with Suss and Byrne watching through a Communication Magic Formation.

• Madam Tang Li severed the Giant Palm’s wrist and shattered the guardian’s eye with her blade, forcing him to withdraw after Suss and Byrne challenged his intervention.
• Bernie burned the Puppets to annihilate the trapped giant’s and assassin’s souls, then surrendered, but Neo killed him with the Tower of Light.
• Alfred and Vic discussed the corpses and Neo’s connection to Kallen before Vic led the teams of Light Remnants to prepare Communication Formations.
• Kallen ordered his group to withdraw, and he and Neo agreed that Bernie’s death would prevent future trouble.
• Vic awakened Jisen, stabbed him, and forced him to order the arrest of the Desert Order God Church members through a Communication Magic Formation watched by Suss and Byrne.
• Vic called for backlighting as Kallen, Neo, and the other Order Clerics lit up the scene for a group photo with Jisen.

Vic used Jisen as a scapegoat to undermine his faction’s negotiations with the Desert Order God Church, while Suss ordered a crackdown on the church. At the Order God Church headquarters, High Priest Norton emerged from seclusion and confronted evidence of his worsening condition as another version of himself appeared.

• Byrne warned Dawensi that he had broken his agreement with Kallen, while Suss ordered the Desert Order God Church arrested and authorized killing anyone who resisted.
• Vic evacuated Jisen from the Vien Royal Palace and explained that he could preserve his reputation by claiming to have acted for Order, or lose his future through open conflict.
• Kallen and Neo discussed retrieving the Lax Copper Coin, the team’s growing strength, and plans for Kevin’s surgery.
• Norton spoke with Base beneath the administrative hall, who had been storing the corpses of Norton's former selves, then returned to work.
• A second Norton appeared as he reviewed reports on Woforen’s assassination and the Desert Order God Church Subjugation Plan, and he called the situation a beast.

After returning home, Kallen visited Suss and Byrne to thank them for supporting him and discuss the fallout from his actions against the Desert Order God Church. As Kallen’s standing rose within the church, Jisen returned to Dinge District and learned that his grandfather approved of his choices.

• Puer made Little Kangna bathe and sleep in Kallen’s bed, while Kevin found her Kallen’s clothes and read the newspaper.
• Kallen returned to headquarters, where clerics treated him with new respect, and thanked Suss for taking pressure on his behalf.
• Suss told Kallen that Elanga, Luther, and Miqi remained alive but would be sent to the gallows, and said he would publicize Kallen’s role in avenging Woforen.
• Leon drove Kallen to the Church Administration Building, where Byrne thanked him for standing by Woforen and discussed cleaning up their district and retaliating against Dawensi’s group.
• Jisen returned to Dinge District and apologized to his grandfather, who told him he had made the right choice and that the family would thank him.

Kallen visited Delong, impressed him with his skill in formations, and agreed to discuss the subject with him in the future. At the Guman Family home, Madam Tang Li asked Kallen if she could tell Delong that Kallen was his grandson, and Kallen left the decision to her.

• Kallen met Delong at the Church Administration Building, where Delong discovered Kallen could understand a difficult ancient formation text and reproduce its central design.
• Kallen and Delong discussed how to guide a magic formation's effects into a soul, and Delong invited Kallen to consult him about formations.
• Richard told Delong that Kallen already had a Formation Master instructor and had received a copy of the Key of the Magic Cube.
• At the Guman Family home, Madam Tang Li welcomed Kallen warmly and told Richard that his father was waiting for him in the study.
• Madam Tang Li asked Kallen whether she could tell Delong that Kallen was his grandson, and Kallen agreed to let her decide on Delong's birthday.

Richard helped Dark address a large debt wrongly assigned to his Tribunal, and Kallen arranged for Vic to investigate who was responsible. Eisen told Kallen that Delong privately mourned his deceased eldest daughter; after Madam Tang Li hinted that Kallen might be their grandson, Delong realized the possibility and asked if it was true.

• Richard found Dark waiting in the living room, and Dark explained that a large debt from a paper-only transaction had been charged to his Tribunal.
• Richard promised to look into the matter, and Kallen said Vic should identify who was responsible so the debt could be assigned correctly.
• Eisen told Kallen that Delong spent his birthday grieving for his eldest daughter, whose death he blamed on himself.
• Eisen revealed that Madam Tang Li planned to tell Delong about Kallen that day.
• Delong recalled his deceased daughter while looking at a family painting, and Madam Tang Li asked whether he would laugh foolishly if their grandson were like Kallen.
• Delong realized what Madam Tang Li was implying and asked if it was true, while she told him not to laugh loudly that night.

Delong learned from Madam Tang Li that Kallen was his grandson, the son of their deceased daughter and Dis Immoreles. After Madam Tang Li explained their daughter’s fate and warned Delong to keep Kallen’s identity secret, Kallen joined Delong in the studio, where Delong welcomed him as family.

• Delong broke down with emotion when Madam Tang Li confirmed that Kallen was his grandson.
• Madam Tang Li told Delong she had recognized Kallen at their first meeting and warned him to protect Kallen and keep his identity secret.
• Madam Tang Li explained that their daughter had married Dis, given birth to Kallen, and later died with her husband after they were polluted during a secret mission.
• Madam Tang Li revealed that Kallen’s full surname was Immoreles, and Delong accepted that Kallen would never act against Order.
• In the living room, Kallen thanked Mr. Eisen for bringing him ice water, then went downstairs to meet Delong.
• Kallen presented Delong with a rotating magic cube, and Delong embraced the moment by declaring that Kallen was his grandfather.

Kallen reunited with Delong and spent his grandfather’s birthday with the family, while Madam Tang Li arranged a family dinner and urged Kallen to take his personal life seriously. Delong ended the day keeping watch outside Kallen’s room, hoping to hear him call him “Grandpa” again.

• Delong accepted Kallen as his grandson and sent him upstairs for lunch, then privately celebrated the hope Kallen brought to the Guman Family.
• Kallen agreed to Madam Tang Li’s plan for a family birthday dinner, and she encouraged him to marry and have children while he still had time.
• Philomina arrived, received permission from Kallen to take leave for special training, and was told by Madam Tang Li to stay alert and train.
• Kallen rested at the house while Richard returned to work with Eisen, and Delong set up a Resting Formation outside Kallen’s bedroom.
• Delong sat outside Kallen’s room with a newspaper, quietly waiting for Kallen to wake and call him Grandpa.

Kallen celebrated Delong’s birthday with his maternal family, then accompanied Inquisitor Dark and Richard to investigate an otherworldly demon. While waiting in the car, Kallen was approached by the demon, who tried to hide from her pursuers and charm him.

• Kallen woke at Delong’s home and spoke with his grandfather about his life before coming to Vien and the grandfather who had raised him.
• Kallen and his relatives celebrated Delong’s birthday over Yangchun Noodles and cake, with Philomina eventually remembering to wish him well.
• Dark received word that his jurisdiction had located an otherworldly demon, and Kallen let Richard drive them to the homeless people’s gathering place.
• Dark and Richard went into an alley to pursue the demon while Kallen stayed in the car and drank ice water.
• The otherworldly demon climbed into the car, cast a concealment barrier, and tried to hypnotize Kallen before reaching into the formation-cooled refrigerator.

Kallen captured a female Otherworldly Demon and learned she had been collecting qi and blood for the Abyss Church. The interrogation revealed that the Abyss Church had opened a York City mansion where clerics collected qi and blood from clients, and the demon had been hired to fulfill one cleric’s quota.

• Kallen disarmed the woman, ordered her to kneel, and let Inquisitor Dark’s team arrest her after she confessed to killing homeless people by draining their qi and blood.
• The woman claimed she was working for the Abyss Church, and Richard prompted Dark to bring the case to Kallen so his uncle could earn credit.
• Kallen agreed to help Dark’s Tribunal handle the case, and Richard explained how his uncle had been suppressed at work despite his abilities.
• At Dark’s home, Lucy and Lucia welcomed Kallen while the team waited for Dark to interrogate the woman.
• Dark brought Kallen the interrogation transcript, which showed that the Abyss Church’s York City mansion assigned qi-and-blood collection quotas to its clerics and that the captured demon had taken one as a subcontractor.

Kallen investigated a bizarre case involving an Otherworldly Demon who targeted homeless artists and ordered his team to investigate the Abyss Church and obtain membership access to a suspicious establishment. Richard revealed that he already had two membership cards, registered under his own name and Eisen’s, giving Kallen a way to investigate without alerting the targets.

• Kallen accepted the Otherworldly Demon’s account as true, and Dark discovered that she had targeted bankrupt artists who had become homeless.
• Kallen sent Richard to analyze recent Abyss Church investigations and sent Dark to retrieve the Church’s official records, while Vic was summoned to join the investigation.
• Kallen spoke with Lucy about her marriage to Dark, then questioned the Otherworldly Demon and arranged for her to continue her work without alerting the people behind the operation.
• Kallen received a call from Byrne and assured him he would keep him informed about the case.
• Kallen asked Richard to obtain two membership cards for the establishment, and Richard revealed he already had cards registered as a writer under his own name and as a pianist under Eisen’s.

Kallen and the Tribunal investigated the Abyss Church’s secret effort to collect artists’ blood for a newly born artifact spirit, then prepared to infiltrate the mansion where it was taking place. Kallen and Richard arrived disguised as members of a private club, while Kallen suspected the Lax Copper Coin might be connected to the artifact.

• Vic identified the operation’s likely limits, urgency, motive, and recipient, and Kallen concluded that a newborn artifact spirit was involved.
• Kallen claimed the Order God Church’s priority rights to artifacts found in Vien, assigned Vic to prepare the operation, and planned to investigate the mansion with Richard.
• Kallen arranged for the captured female otherworldly demon to be released so the Tribunal could trace the transaction route, and Lucy offered to help with the investigation.
• Richard gave Kallen two membership cards and a color-changing cocoon for covert signals, while Vic reported that Order had publicly demanded the Desert Church eradicate the Desert Remnants.
• Kallen and Richard traveled with Memphis to the mansion, disguised themselves, and entered using Richard’s club membership identity as a realist writer.

Kallen and Richard entered the Manor, where Kallen discovered that a blood-draining service was connected to a hidden Abyss Church operation beneath the building. Following the thread to its source, he found a wounded angel in a sarcophagus, with the Lax Copper Coin resting on its chest.

• Kallen and Richard entered the Manor and passed several famous writers and performers who had come for its services.
• Richard arranged top-floor rooms, and Kallen chose a green meadow setting and a soothing massage.
• Kallen detected a formation draining blood and vital energy, redirected its effects onto the cleric serving him, and substituted Richard’s blood for his own.
• Kallen used the Chain of Order to trace the wooden box’s connection into a heavily guarded underground chamber beneath the Manor.
• Kallen found the Lax Copper Coin on the chest of a badly wounded, black-winged being in a sarcophagus and recognized it as an angel.

Kallen investigated a living six-winged angel in the Abyss, but the angel ambushed him and invaded his soul space. The angel revealed his mission to prepare for the Abyss God’s return before the God of Light, then recognized the overwhelming presence confronting him as the returned God of Order.

• Kallen used the Lax Copper Coin and the Chains of Order to investigate the living angel, who trapped his consciousness and tried to kill him.
• Dis’s phantom stopped the angel’s spear, but the angel followed Kallen’s consciousness back to his body and began invading his soul space.
• The angel told Kallen that he had awakened after the gods’ departure and was tasked with preparing the way for the Abyss God to return before the God of Light.
• Kallen emerged beside a towering figure, and the angel recoiled in terror, identifying it as the God of Order returned.
• Kallen clenched his hands and said that he was hungry too.

Kallen resisted the God of Order’s attempt to consume the Six-Winged Angel’s soul, forcing a compromise by threatening to abandon Order and convert to other faiths. He sent Thousand Enchantments into the Angel’s body to impersonate it for three days, while secretly retaining control through the Lax Copper Coin.

• The Six-Winged Angel willingly dissolved into the God of Order’s Dharma Body, and Kallen’s attempt to stop the devouring left him under the Dharma Body’s crushing influence.
• Kallen resisted the pull of the vortex and threatened to convert to the Light, the Dark Moon, or Dis’s family faith, forcing the God of Order’s Dharma Body to stop consuming the angel’s soul.
• Kallen and the God of Order’s Dharma Body restrained the War Scythe and prevented it from being Orderized; Kallen then ordered Thousand Enchantments to swallow the angel’s remaining soul.
• The Angel’s body lost its faint vitality, but Kallen sent Thousand Enchantments into it to impersonate the Angel and restore its apparent condition.
• The Abyss Clerics believed the Angel had recovered and prepared to transport it, while Kallen relaxed and noted that the Lax Copper Coin still obeyed his commands.