Recaps

Kallen read Mr. Pavaro’s notes and learned that the investigation into Blood Spirit Powder had led to the abduction of young female illegal immigrants and a suspected Demon Swamp in Bluebridge Community. As Kallen decided to continue the investigation, he began Divine Shepherd, astonishing the old man who appeared in his study.

• Kallen watched Puer and Kevin hang up his washed clothes, then read Mr. Pavaro’s investigation notes after dinner.
• Kallen learned that Inquisitor Covendi had offered Pavaro Blood Spirit Powder, while Arbiter Rook and Order God Church officials had pressured and suspended him.
• Kallen read that Annie and Pavaro had linked missing female illegal immigrants to a Demon Swamp, and that a dying woman had cried out “Blood,” “Blue,” and “Bridge.”
• Kallen realized the suspected Demon Swamp was in Bluebridge Community, where he lived, and wondered whether he should continue Pavaro’s investigation.
• An old man appeared in Kallen’s study and urged him to seek courage and hope from a god, but Kallen declared that no god stood ahead of him because he was at the front of his own path.
• A black mark appeared on Kallen’s brow as chains revolved around him, and the old man exclaimed that Kallen had begun Divine Shepherd after blaspheming against a god.

During Divine Shepherd, Kallen examined the people and powers in his memories, including Puer, Alfred, Raniedal, and his own past, while the old man's Thought Imprint watched in astonishment. The process continued beyond Kallen's attempt to end it, and the old man finally saw a Family Faith System emerge from Kallen's bloodline.

• Kallen began his Divine Shepherd self-examination, seeing the spiritual traces surrounding Puer, Alfred, and others from his memories, but chose not to examine his grandfather, Dis.
• Kallen examined the image of his Guide, Puer, and encountered her immense power, the God of Light's radiance, and Raniedal's gray shadow.
• Kallen ended Divine Shepherd, but an inner force kept him from waking and continued the examination of his own body and history.
• An old man appeared behind Kallen as the sole bearer of Immoreles's bloodline, and the Thought Imprint recognized the emergence of a Family Faith System.

Kallen awakened as a Divine Shepherd after deciding to investigate the corruption case tied to Demon Swamp, which he believed was in Bluebridge Community. As he prepared to see Mr. Tadel at the clinic, he learned that Tadel had died in a car accident on the way there.

• Kallen recalled Rasma's divided nature and concluded that contacting him about the corruption case would be dangerous because it could reveal Kallen's existence to the High Priest.
• After waking, Kallen told Puer and Kevin that he had become a Divine Shepherd without inviting a god into his heart, and insisted on continuing the investigation that had led to his advancement.
• Kallen asked Puer and Kevin to investigate Demon Swamp and asked Alaye to look into employment agencies that recruited many young women.
• Kallen noticed that Mr. Tadel's textile factories were located in Bluebridge Community and waited at the clinic for Tadel's appointment.
• Bersha told Kallen that Mr. Tadel had died in a car accident on his way to the clinic.

After Mr. Tadel died in a suspicious car accident, Kallen learned that a Family Faith group was searching for him and went to Piaget’s house to clear himself of suspicion. Meanwhile, Gerson mistook Piaget’s meeting with the Allen Family Clan Leader for evidence of Tadel’s betrayal and ordered his men to kill them.

• Miss Bersha told Kallen that Mr. Tadel had died in a car accident, and a group led by Gerson came to the clinic seeking Kallen’s photograph and address.
• Kallen used Selena to hide from Gerson’s men, then learned from Miss Bersha that they belonged to a Family Faith System and were investigating Tadel’s appointment.
• Kallen drove Selena to the Lemaire Pottery Gallery and decided to visit Alfred before going to Piaget’s house.
• Piaget met Mr. Bede after leaving the art exhibition, and the two agreed to go to Piaget’s house to talk about Linda and the scenery she had longed to see.
• Gerson concluded that Tadel had contacted the Allen Family after seeing Piaget arrive with the Allen Family Clan Leader, and he ordered his men to kill them.

Bede and Piaget were ambushed by Raphael Family attackers, but Elder Doke and his Church of Light companions intervened and killed them. Later, Kallen and Alfred arrived at the villa, where Kallen greeted Bede as if they were strangers.

• Bede sensed something was wrong outside the villa, then Gerson and six Raphael Family bodyguards attacked him and Piaget.
• Bede's driver fought the attackers but was killed, while the Raphael Family members closed in on Bede and Piaget.
• Elder Doke, Vernon, and Helen defeated the attackers and began burning the bodies and cleansing the scene.
• Piaget recognized that Elder Doke's group belonged to the Church of Light and revealed the villa was also owned by his father.
• Kallen and Alfred arrived at the villa, and Kallen asked Bede who he was while pretending not to know him.

Kallen confronted Elder Doke and the Light Remnants over their handling of the Raphael Family, then helped broker a truce around a mural that might reveal a chance for revival. After leaving, he and Alfred discussed the signals they had read and decided to investigate Mr. Pavaro’s case, accepting that the Order God Church might react.

• Kallen challenged Elder Doke’s claim that his trouble had been handled and warned that destroying the Raphael Family’s bodies would not erase the risk of their families noticing their disappearance.
• Alfred pretended to be a Bloodthirsty Otherworldly Demon, alarming Helen, while Kallen confronted Elder Doke and declared that he had lost interest in cooperating with the Light Remnants as they were.
• Piaget and Mr. Bede proposed working together on a mural, and Kallen explained that viewing it could influence events; they agreed to use the villa as a guarded workspace with Kallen and Miss Bersha as the only visitors from their respective sides.
• Kallen warned the group that danger would increase as their opportunity approached and said they might face the Order God Church, which had opposed the revival of fallen gods.
• After leaving, Kallen explained to Alfred how he had interpreted Mr. Bede’s, Piaget’s, and the Light Remnants’ signals, then decided to continue investigating Mr. Pavaro’s case.

Kallen learned that Tadel had likely been a Church of Light believer trying to expose the Raphael Family before they killed him, and he decided to investigate Tadel’s textile factory. The chapter ended with the Whip of Order Squad confronting Pavaro, who prepared to fight after accusing them of desecrating Order.

• Kallen spoke with Alfred on the drive home, and Alfred mistakenly treated Kallen’s word “flamboyant” as an epithet bestowed on him.
• Kallen ate the meal Alaye brought, then helped Hand reconnect with his father by comforting the boy and guiding Alaye to apologize.
• Alaye reported that Tadel’s textile factory recruited large numbers of illegal immigrant women and had unusually high worker turnover.
• Kallen and Alfred concluded that Tadel had probably planned to bring evidence of the Raphael Family’s crimes to a Church of Light gathering before he was killed.
• Kallen realized the Church of Light could be blamed for traces of their investigation and planned to visit Tadel’s factory the next day.
• Tiers and the Whip of Order Squad surrounded Pavaro, who accused them of desecrating Order and readied Black Flames for battle.

Pavaro and Annie tried to escape the Order God Church’s pursuit and expose its crimes, but Rook killed them on the bridge. Their bodies drifted downstream, where Puer and Kevin rushed to retrieve them.

• Pavaro fought Tiers and the Whip of Order squad, using a purified soul-attacking toxin to delay them before Tiers trapped him again.
• Annie rescued the wounded Pavaro, and they headed toward an Abyss Church chapel while discussing how their investigation notes had reached a handsome young man.
• Rook blocked their path on the bridge, and Pavaro’s Forbidden Spell failed to summon the Eye of Order.
• Annie attacked Rook with water barriers, but Rook’s Sword of Judgment pierced and killed both Annie and Pavaro, sending their bodies into the river.
• An elderly man from the Abyss Church challenged Rook over the Order God Church’s intrusion, while Tiers was ordered to search for the bodies.
• Puer rode Kevin along the riverbank, urging him to catch up with Pavaro and Annie’s drifting bodies.

Kallen and his companions recovered the bodies of Inquisitor Pavaro and Annie after they were killed by the Order God Church. Kallen failed to awaken Annie, but Pavaro’s body began to respond, and Kallen realized it was because Pavaro truly believed in Order.

• Puer told Kallen that Pavaro and Annie had been killed by the Order God Church and that Kevin was guarding their bodies.
• Kallen, Alfred, Puer, and Kevin went to retrieve the bodies, and Kallen distracted a passing Cleric while Alfred carried them to the car.
• The group returned to the apartment, where Kallen examined the bodies and attempted to awaken Annie, but the Sword of Judgment had erased too much of her spiritual power.
• Kallen tried to awaken Pavaro and was surprised when the corpse began trembling.
• Kallen explained that Pavaro’s awakening was possible because he truly believed in Order.

Kallen awakened Pavaro and learned about his final moments with Annie, confirming that the Order God Church’s corruption ran deeper than the stolen profits. Pavaro urged Kallen to continue investigating and offered him a way to take over his identity, directing him to a mask-maker at the Lemaire Pottery Gallery.

• Kallen listened to Pavaro’s memories and witnessed Pavaro and Annie’s final moments before their bodies were washed over by the river.
• Pavaro awakened in the washroom, learned Annie could not be revived, and warned Kallen that his investigation might put him in danger.
• Kallen told Pavaro he would investigate Mr. Tadel’s Textile Factory, while Pavaro suspected the imprisoned women were being tormented to refine something beyond Blood Spirit Powder.
• Pavaro offered Kallen his position in the Order God Church and explained that a skilled mask-maker in York City could help him assume Pavaro’s identity.
• Pavaro directed Kallen to the Lemaire Pottery Gallery on Second Street off King’s Avenue to seek the mask-maker’s help.

Kallen and Pavaro pursued the Tadel case, while Alfred’s investigation revealed that women workers were being secretly transferred. At the Tadel villa, Little John turned Muen’s poisoned soda against him, and Kallen arrived to take the boy to a new home next door to Piaget’s House.

• Kallen brought Pavaro along to investigate the Tadel textile factory, and Alfred hypnotized two managers, learning that Tadel and his butler handled the transfer of female workers.
• Pavaro explained that he had seen Kallen’s face in his visions but could not remember it, and Kallen connected this to his own inability to recall the God of Order’s face.
• At the Tadel villa, Muen transferred Tadel’s assets to the Raphael Family and handed over letters and notebooks that he believed showed Tadel had been influenced by Light Remnants.
• After the Raphael representative ordered Little John killed, Muen tried to poison him, but Little John used his power to force Muen to drink the poison himself.
• Kallen arrived and told Little John that his father’s soul had been guided to the Light, then took him to 3-07 Apple Street, next door to Piaget’s House.

Kallen arranged for the Order God Church to attack the Light Remnants, then joined Piaget and Bede to draw out an infiltrator at Piaget’s House. The group discovered Tiers inside and drove him away, leaving them to wait for the larger confrontation.

• Kallen explained to Pavaro how the clues he planted would lead the Order God Church to target the Light Remnants, and they returned home with Little John.
• Alfred brought Pavaro and Little John into the apartment, where Xili had found Annie’s body; Kallen then went to Piaget’s House.
• Kallen warned Piaget and Bede that danger might come that night and arranged for a pizza delivery to let them observe anyone watching the neighboring villa.
• The deliveryman hinted that someone was inside the neighboring house, and Bede signaled that an intruder was upstairs.
• Kallen and Piaget staged a flirtatious exchange that prompted Tiers, the Whip of Order Squad Leader, to flee the washroom as black mist.
• Bede confirmed that Tiers had left, and Kallen said they would wait for the curtain to rise.

Rayson mobilized the Raphael Family against the Light Remnants after Tiers concluded that Piaget was innocent, while Rayson privately doubted the explanation. As the battle spread into Piaget’s villa, Kallen, Piaget, and Mr. Bede hid in the basement, where the fight between Vernon and the Order God Church’s forces ended with Mr. Bede killing a wounded Order squad member.

• Rayson questioned the evidence linking Piaget to the Light Remnants, but Tiers declared Piaget and his companions ordinary people and ordered the Raphael Family to attack.
• Rayson gathered the family’s faith system practitioners and sent them out, while warning his butler that Tiers needed them as cannon fodder and sought the secret of Blood Spirit Powder.
• Kallen, Piaget, and Mr. Bede took shelter in the basement as the Raphael Family attacked the neighboring villa and the fighting damaged Piaget’s house.
• Vernon fought the family practitioners and the Whip of Order Squad, then sent a wounded squad member crashing through the floor into the basement.
• As Kallen prepared to use an Order art, Mr. Bede killed the wounded squad member with a broken bottle shard and mutilated the corpse.

The Tower of Light gave the Light Remnants time to escape, while Elder Doke sacrificed himself and the churches began a joint hunt across York City. Kallen left the cellar with Mr. Bede and Piaget, then rejoined Mr. Pavaro and Little John, who revealed that their investigation led to a place called the pigsty.

• The Tower of Light revived Helen and Vernon long enough for them to flee, and Elder Doke sacrificed his soul to wound the Law Expounder as the Order Church’s reinforcements arrived.
• Rook and Tiers pursued the escaped Light Remnants, while Miss Bersha ordered the believers in York City to evacuate and changed her appearance.
• Mr. Bede discovered Helen and Vernon sealed thirty meters beneath the neighboring building, then led Kallen and Piaget out of the cellar.
• Kallen parted from Mr. Bede and Piaget after agreeing to visit Eunice, then bathed and changed at an Allen Family café.
• Alfred picked up Kallen, Mr. Pavaro, and Little John, who identified the Misu Sausage Factory as the place they called the pigsty.

Kallen, Pavaro, Alfred, and their companions infiltrated the Misu Sausage Factory to investigate the abuse of contaminated girls. After discovering people being kept like livestock, Pavaro invoked the Order Regulations to seal the premises and hold the church members responsible.

• Alfred warned Little John that the Pigsty was taking revenge on him and urged him to have faith in the true First Church.
• Kallen recognized a truck associated with the factory, and Alfred used a formation to confirm that a concealment formation protected the site.
• Alfred took control of a truck driver and brought Kallen, Pavaro, Little John, Kevin, and Puer into the factory.
• Little John trembled with fear when he reached the place where he had been corrupted, while Pavaro explained why he had pursued the case.
• Kallen and the others discovered women confined in pens and treated as livestock, and Pavaro declared the premises sealed under the Order Regulations.

Kallen confronted Little John, the Sacred Artifact being nurtured by sacrifices, while Kevin, Puer, and Alfred prepared to deal with the site. Little John revealed that he was a Lax Copper Coin called the Source of Sin, then sensed that Grandpa had returned.

• Little John possessed him and attacked the group with a soul-piercing shriek, but Kallen and the others withstood it.
• Kallen explained that he had come to stop the sacrifices, not to claim Little John, and Alfred began preparing a formation below.
• Little John said he pitied the women in the pigsties and regarded them as the family who had raised him.
• Little John described his earlier possession of a young boy and his wish for the Law Expounder who sealed him to suffer the same fate as the women.
• Kallen identified Little John as the Source of Sin, a Lax Copper Coin, and Little John announced that Grandpa had returned.

Kallen prepared to detonate the contamination source beneath the factory, intending to expose Qi He's crimes and force the churches to respond. As the Law Expounder appeared, Kallen ordered Alfred to set off the trap.

• Loya confronted Qi He, revealed that the resentment of the women had awakened her consciousness, and rejected his attempt to raise her as a tool.
• Qi He imprisoned Loya in an Order cage and prepared to annihilate her, but sensed someone underground.
• Kallen told Mr. Pavaro that he planned to detonate the contamination source to draw the churches' attention, admitting he did not want to die trying to solve the case.
• Alfred completed a simple Formation at the spot Kevin had identified, and Kallen prepared to trigger it.
• The Lord Law Expounder appeared on the platform, and Kallen told Alfred to light it up.

Kallen and his allies struggled to contain the contamination released at the factory while fighting the Law Expounder and the Whip of Order. Kallen discovered a second, more concentrated source of contamination in the trough and prepared to awaken the dead within it.

• Alfred activated his formation, releasing contamination that spread through the factory, and Qi He used advanced Order spells to suppress it.
• Alfred and Pavaro attacked Qi He while Kallen protected himself and prepared to aid them, but Tiers and his squad arrived and shifted the balance.
• Qi He transferred the burden of his Purification Barrier and Triple Seal to Tiers, then cast Returning Tide to compress the contamination back down.
• Pavaro explained that Qi He was a highest-rank Law Expounder and urged Kallen to escape, but Kallen noticed that the trough held another source of contamination.
• Kallen realized the trough contained accumulated contamination from generations of corpses, then summoned a Black Chain and prepared to wake them.

Kallen connected his Order Iron Chain to the second Source of Pollution and endured the resentment within it as Qi He prepared to finish [Reflux]. He awakened the trapped dead, whose white chains began to glow, while Arbiter Rook witnessed an astonishing change outside.

• Qi He told Tiers that Kallen could not reach the second Source of Pollution, while Loya taunted Qi He and predicted his death.
• Kallen extended an Order Iron Chain into the recess, and Little John, Puer, Mr. Pavaro, Alfred, and the others watched as he confronted the pollution.
• Kallen was overwhelmed by the resentment and suffered as black pollution marked his body; Alfred kept faith and beat out a rhythm beside him.
• Golden Retriever revealed that Kallen’s body had been made to house Raniedal and that repeated exposure could build resistance, just as the pollution began to recede.
• Kallen rose as white chains branched from his chain into the dead in the recess, prompting Mr. Pavaro to praise Order and Alfred to weep.
• Kallen opened his eyes, declared “Awaken!”, and Arbiter Rook stopped in disbelief at what he saw outside.

Kallen awakened the dead women in the trough, breaking Qi He's restriction and exposing the horrors of his underground factory. As Qi He used the Lax Copper Coin to crush everyone and erase the evidence, Kallen awakened Loya from the traces of her presence in the dreams of Little John and the women, turning the Divine Artifact against Qi He.

• Kallen awakened the corpses and skeletons in the trough, and they broke the restriction as the women’s accumulated contamination rose into a black cloud.
• Qi He restrained Tiers, destroyed Loya with the Order-Fire of Discipline, and used the Lax Copper Coin to erase the contamination and kill Tiers.
• Kallen learned that Little John grieved for the nameless girl who had visited him and the women in their dreams, then realized her spiritual traces might remain there despite her lack of a corpse.
• Kallen used Order-Awakening through Little John and the women’s memories, restoring Loya and stopping the descending barrier.
• Loya gained control of the copper coin, pinned Qi He in place, and told him he would die that night.

Loya killed Qi He with Lax’s Coffin, then let the dying women in the pigsty pass peacefully and merged into the Lax Copper Coin. After the survivors left the factory, Kallen reunited with his companions, but Mr. Pavaro died after handing him the skin from his face.

• Loya saw through Qi He’s death-substitution puppet, trapped him between barriers, and defeated his forbidden spell with the phantom of Lax’s Coffin.
• Loya sent Kallen, Alfred, Pavaro, Little John, Puer, and Kevin away from the fight, then sealed Qi He inside the coffin, where his own Black Flames burned him to ashes.
• Loya comforted the women in the pigsty with shared dreams, and they died as the pollution dissipated; she then merged into the Lax Copper Coin, which the Order God Church took into custody.
• Kallen reassured Little John, spoke with Pavaro about awakening Loya, and agreed to help Pavaro visit his family before making a mask from his facial skin.
• Kallen caught Puer after she fell from a tree, then watched Pavaro tear off his facial skin and hand it to him before dying.

Kallen brought Mr. Pavaro’s body home and took his donated face to Lemar’s Pottery Gallery to have it made into a mask for infiltrating the Order God Church. Lemar refused to help because he feared the trouble, but Selena arrived and mistook Kallen’s visit as being for her.

• Alfred and Kallen carried Mr. Pavaro’s body home after Kallen thanked him for the identity and promised to care for his family.
• Kallen reflected on the Church’s corruption, ate breakfast, and set out with Alfred to have Mr. Pavaro’s face made into a mask.
• At the gallery, Kallen told Lemar he intended to use the mask to infiltrate the Order God Church, and Lemar sensed that Mr. Pavaro had given his face willingly.
• Lemar refused to make the mask because Kallen’s plan could bring trouble to the gallery.
• Selena entered the gallery, recognized Kallen, and excitedly assumed he had come to see her.

Kallen visited Lemar Ding Voss to have a mask made from Mr. Pavaro’s facial skin, and Selena persuaded her brother to do the work for free. The Voss siblings completed an enchanted ring that let Kallen assume Pavaro’s appearance, leaving him ready to enter the Order God Church as an Inquisitor while pondering the meaning of his new disguise.

• Selena convinced Lemar to make Kallen’s mask without charge and gave him 500 Abyss Vouchers, which he left on the desk.
• Kallen learned that the Voss Family specialized in Puppet Art and that Lemar’s family had once suffered persecution for refusing the Church of Light.
• Lemar used a purple gemstone and Mr. Pavaro’s facial skin to create a disguise, then set the gemstone into a valuable Ring Band at Selena’s urging.
• Selena told Lemar that she felt an unusual connection to Kallen and admitted she had been hoping to become his lover despite his engagement.
• Kallen tried on the ring and transformed into Mr. Pavaro, discovering that the disguise reproduced his face and body even to physical touch.
• Kallen switched back to his own appearance and wondered whether he was Pavaro or Kallen as the thought “Order is a mask” came to mind.

Kallen contemplated the Mask and the meaning of Order, weighing several possible paths to becoming an Inquisitor before choosing to wait and understand judgment more fully. He left the mirror without advancing, tested the Mask, and ended by insulting the God of Order.

• Kallen put on and removed the Mask in front of a mirror, entering a contemplative state as Chains of Order spread through the bedroom.
• Lemar and Selena watched as Kallen considered Mr. Pavaro’s life and manifested several possible Inquisitor uniforms, including one bearing the aura of a family faith system.
• Kallen recalled Dis’s words about Order and masks, then stopped reaching toward the family-faith uniform after remembering that Dis had admitted his youthful path was wrong.
• Kallen concluded that he wanted to practice while wearing a mask and test what he learned without it, manifesting a faint, personalized Inquisitor uniform but deciding not to advance yet.
• Kallen turned the mirror away, used the ring to take on Mr. Pavaro’s appearance and praise Order, then returned to his own form and cursed the God of Order.

Kallen visited Lemar at the Pottery Gallery, obtained Blood Spirit Powder, and used Mr. Pavaro's appearance to return to the Pavaro Family Funeral Society. He reunited with Mrs. Lake and her daughters, helped bathe them with the powder, and the chapter ended with Mrs. Lake silently breaking down in tears after leaving him.

• Kallen thanked Lemar for helping him, exchanged contact details with Selena, and received Blood Spirit Powder while warning Lemar that supplies might soon become scarce.
• Kallen transformed into Mr. Pavaro and entered the Funeral Society, where Pike and Dinkum welcomed him back after he said he had been cleared of charges.
• Mrs. Lake struck and pinched Kallen, then stopped when she learned he had brought Blood Spirit Powder for her daughters.
• Kallen helped Mrs. Lake bathe her daughters with the powder, which eased their discomfort and expelled black contaminants from their bodies.
• Mrs. Lake brought Kallen food and scolded him as Mr. Pavaro before leaving to check on the girls; afterward, she slumped by the bedroom door and wept silently.