Chapter Summaries

After helping Philomina return to headquarters, Kallen went home to recover from his severe soul and physical injuries, then insisted on traveling to Allen Manor despite his condition. The chapter ends with Old Anderson welcoming Kallen back as he arrived in a coffin.

• Philomina drove Kallen to headquarters, where Neo arranged for her identity and the Felsher Family's assets to be handled while Kallen went home to rest.
• Kallen slept through a dream featuring the [War Scythe], then woke and learned that Blanche had treated his external injuries but that his soul remained badly damaged.
• Kallen approved Alfred taking Philomina to the Opera House at Allen Manor and decided to leave for the manor immediately, bringing Puer and Kevin with him.
• Kallen had Muli and Ventura carry him in a comfortable coffin, frightening Mrs. Lake until she saw that Kallen was alive.
• At Allen Manor, Mrs. Jenny prepared Eunice to welcome Kallen, and Old Anderson greeted him as he arrived in the hearse.

Kallen spent time with Eunice at Allen Manor while Puer directed the family to support Kallen and his circle. Alfred brought Philomina to the Opera House to turn her loyalty into faith, where she recognized Kallen as the God of Order’s inheritor but struggled to believe Kevin was an Evil God.

• Eunice fed Kallen Crystal Grapes and spoke with him about his transformation and the past, while Kallen reassured her that he had no wish to return to a life that would not have brought them together.
• Puer told Old Anderson that Allen Manor should serve Kallen by preserving his coffins and offering his associates the highest hospitality, and Old Anderson agreed.
• Kallen asked Muli to train Ventura in combat and said he wanted to bring trustworthy people into their group rather than focus on expanding it.
• Alfred brought Philomina to the Opera House, explained that Kallen planned to grant eternal life to those sealed there, and urged her to turn her loyalty into faith.
• Puer staged Kevin’s appearance to impress Philomina, but Philomina said she believed Kallen was the God of Order’s inheritor and found it hard to believe Kevin was an Evil God.

Kallen gathered his companions for a secret dinner and study session, then tested Ventura and Muli in combat as he recovered and trained. Kevin began mentoring Philomina, who apologized to him and accepted him as her teacher, while Alfred wondered whether Kevin’s choice had anything to do with her grudge against Immoreles.

• Kallen hosted a private dinner with Alfred, Ventura, Muli, Philomina, Puer, and Kevin, and Alfred led a study session on Kallen’s notes.
• Kallen tested Ventura with Spell Arts, and Muli agreed to train Ventura to think more clearly during Giantification.
• Kallen sparred with Muli, who reached him but recognized that Kallen had barely strained himself despite still being injured.
• Kevin met with Philomina, accepted her apology, and offered to teach her after Alfred reminded him that Kallen might react badly if she called Kevin her teacher.
• Philomina called Kevin her teacher, and Alfred asked whether Kevin wanted to mentor her because she held a grudge against Immoreles.

Kallen prepared to remove another seal from Kevin, while Alfred urged the dog to teach Philomina and reflected on Raniedal’s past. During the ritual, Kallen witnessed Raniedal’s memory of battling a Red-Scaled Dragon and learned that he had hunted a Sea God Church cleric over her vote against promoting the Mills Goddess.

• Alfred warned Kevin that he would need to teach Philomina and said the young master planned to remove Kevin’s seal that day.
• Kallen examined paintings sent by Mr. Bede and Piaget, then chose not to show Mr. Bede’s ominous-looking painting to Eunice.
• Kallen and Alfred discussed Raniedal’s claim that he had assassinated a third of the Sea God Church’s senior ranks, then Kallen began the unsealing ritual with Kevin.
• Inside Kevin’s memory, Kallen saw Raniedal escape from an enormous creature and defeat a weakened Red-Scaled Dragon.
• A woman in blue Clerical Robes pleaded with Raniedal to spare the dragon, and Raniedal explained that he was hunting her because she had voted against moving the Mills Goddess up in the Sea God Church’s rankings.

Kallen explored more of Raniedal’s memories, then recovered from the strain and learned about recent developments from Alfred. He went to see Kevin and Puer modifying the Memory Compass, where he found Puer beating Kevin.

• Kallen watched Raniedal kill a Sea God Church woman, devour her Sea God Heart, and process a Great Dragon with a Bloodthirsty Otherworldly Demon.
• Kallen viewed another memory of Raniedal watching followers of the Mills Goddess perform a prayer ritual, then removed another layer of Raniedal’s seal.
• Kallen woke after sleeping for a day and a night, and Alfred told him that Mr. Dalis had come looking for him and that the Felsher Family’s house had burned down, likely due to Madam Tang Li.
• Alfred reported that the Director had bought Kallen a Memory Compass for thirty-five thousand Order Vouchers and shared news about church conflicts and unrest at a Thunder Order God Church sacred land.
• Kallen learned that Kevin and Puer were modifying the Memory Compass, then went to the workshop with Alfred and found Puer beating Kevin.

Kallen let Puer and Kevin decide how to upgrade the Memory Compass, and they made it a temporary vessel for Thousand Enchantments. The weapon succeeded, and Kallen tested its new defensive and flight forms as the Chains of Order strengthened its wings.

• Puer and Kevin argued over whether to make a safe upgrade to the Memory Compass or risk a radical redesign, and Puer proposed using Thousand Enchantments as a temporary artifact spirit.
• Kallen agreed to the plan after Kevin explained the risks, then left Thousand Enchantments with Puer and Kevin while he visited Old Saman and Earl Recar in their coffin-bound consciousnesses.
• Kallen chatted with Old Saman and Earl Recar, who asked him to put people in the other coffins so they would have company.
• Kallen returned to the forge, where Puer said the upgrade had succeeded and Thousand Enchantments had learned its assigned runic route.
• Thousand Enchantments entered the transformed stack of Steel Plates and formed armor and three pairs of wings around Kallen, who reinforced them with the Chains of Order and flew.

Kallen tested the wings forged by Puer and later asked Eunice to return to the Funeral Society with him, but she chose to stay at the manor while pursuing her own ambitions. Kallen accepted her decision and agreed to speak with her family about their plans.

• Alfred painted Kallen flying with his new wings, while Muli and Ventura discussed the wings’ speed, control, and Kallen’s improved physique.
• Kallen tested Thousand Enchantments by diving into the ground, then told Puer he was satisfied with it as a secondary weapon and still needed a main weapon from the Kongpacini Burial Ground.
• While cooking with Eunice, Kallen invited her to live with him at the Funeral Society, but Eunice said she wanted to remain at the manor and develop her own projects until he was ready to return.
• Eunice explained that she understood Kallen’s desire to travel and promised to wait for him, and Kallen agreed to respect her wishes and speak with her family.
• Puer and Kevin eavesdropped on the couple’s conversation, and Puer threatened to destroy their stockings.

Kallen and Neo led their group into the Pester Desert Forbidden Zone to find Kongpacini's Burial Ground, relying on Marlie and his granddaughter Nailing as guides. When the guides revealed themselves as bandits and attacked, Kallen bit the threatening Curse Fruit while Neo reattached his severed head.

• Kallen left Puer and Kevin at Allen Manor and joined Neo's expedition toward Kongpacini's Burial Ground.
• Neo arranged covert teleportation to Maixinla and hired Marlie, who was secretly a faction leader, to guide the group through the Pester Desert Forbidden Zone.
• Marlie and Nailing took the group into the desert aboard a Sand Boat, where Kallen sensed pollution in the air as they traveled through strange weather.
• As the Sand Boat neared its destination, Nailing slashed Neo's neck with a concealed dagger, and Marlie threatened the group with a Curse Fruit while his men surrounded them.
• Kallen bit and chewed the Curse Fruit, and Neo lifted his severed head back onto his neck and twisted it into place.

Kallen and Neo’s expedition defeated Marlie’s sand bandits and reached an underground fissure connected to their search for Kongpacini. Kallen awakened a centuries-old cleric, whose first words accused Order of conspiracy.

• Kallen swallowed Marlie’s cursed fruit, then killed Marlie with Thousand Enchantments when he tried to attack; Neo killed Nailing with Bloodfall.
• Ventura, Muli, Alfred, and Philomina routed the sand bandits surrounding the sand boat while Kallen and Neo watched.
• After dinner, Neo used a scroll to reveal an underground entrance, scouted it as black mist, and led the group inside.
• The group found a mercury-silver corpse in Desert Order God Church robes, and Neo asked Kallen to awaken it.
• Kallen used a Chain of Order to awaken the corpse, which shrieked that it was all Order’s conspiracy.

Neo and Kallen investigated the ancient burial ground, where an awakened corpse revealed that the Order God Church had supposedly conspired against the Desert Order God Church. They discovered the remains of long-dead church clerics and encountered ten apparently preserved Order clerics circling a still patch of sand, one of whom suddenly blinked.

• An awakened corpse told Neo and Kallen that the Order God Church had conspired in the fall of the God of the Desert and planned to absorb the Desert Order God Church’s faith, then burned away its remaining spiritual power.
• Kallen reasoned that the church’s investigators from three hundred years earlier had likely died at the burial ground, and he and Neo decided to continue exploring.
• The group found a living pool of quicksand surrounding a vast crystalline skeleton, with ten motionless Order clerics being carried in a circle around a calm patch.
• Kallen and Neo descended into the sand, and Neo uncovered several dozen skeletons, including members of the Desert Order God Church who had held high ranks.
• Kallen and Neo noticed the emblem of the Whip of Order on one cleric’s staff, then saw the woman carrying it blink.

Kallen and Neo encountered the cursed, undead Torisa Squad and learned how they could break the sand curse. After Luna claimed all twelve squad members were present, Kallen realized a full Whip of Order squad should have thirteen people and confronted the group about the missing member.

• Kallen and Neo fought the Torisa Squad’s swordsman and spearman, then realized the veterans’ thinking had been suppressed and that they were being controlled.
• Luna Reis Manful explained that the Torisa Squad had been trapped by the Sand Evil Spirit after defeating Kongpacini, and said three fivefold defensive magic formations could break the curse.
• Kallen identified himself and agreed to help the Torisa Squad, while Neo returned to arrange for the formations to be set up.
• The Torisa Squad gave Kallen their weapons and magical implements, and Luna asked him to search for her husband Torisa’s head and Diamans Sword.
• Kallen noticed that Luna counted twelve people, although a full Whip of Order squad consisted of thirteen including its captain, and said the squad was missing one person.

Kallen investigated the Order squad’s cursed condition and concluded that their missing teammate was Torisa, whose headless corpse lay beside Luna. Meanwhile, Neo spoke with the hidden presence controlling the sand pool and began deducing its true identity.

• Kallen saw the squad members repeatedly fail to count beyond six and realized their thoughts were being guided by a missing person.
• Kallen examined the squad members, found their lifelike bodies lacked vitality, and heard Kuzan warn him about the curse.
• The hidden presence told Neo it needed his help to break the curse and offered to free him from Kallen, whom it mistook for Neo’s Keeper.
• Neo inferred that the presence had avoided Kallen because it feared his apparent power, then asked whether there was truly an Evil Spirit of Sand.
• Kallen told Luna that the squad’s twelve members were all present and identified their captain, Torisa, as the missing person represented by the headless corpse.

Kallen uncovered Torisa inside the sand platform and learned that Torisa had preserved Luna and trapped his former squad for three hundred years. After Torisa imprisoned Kallen and offered to become his Puppet in exchange for protection, Neo ordered Alfred to amplify the sand pool instead of stopping it.

• Kallen convinced Luna and the other squad members to resist Torisa’s mental Restrictions, then smashed open the platform.
• Kallen found Torisa inside a cocoon, but Torisa awakened, attacked him with Mental Power, and imprisoned him in a sand cage.
• Torisa explained that he had preserved Luna and the squad after Luna’s death, while Luna challenged his lies about why he had trapped them.
• Torisa asked Kallen to enter a Sand Sea Contract with him and protect him, claiming that Neo planned to betray Kallen.
• Neo returned to the platform and told Alfred to set up a Magic Formation that would boost the sand pool’s operation.

Kallen questioned Torisa about his past and learned that Torisa had used his team’s minds to cultivate, then ruined his progress by pursuing Order and desert faiths at once. Kallen offered to help him recover through Orderization in exchange for a Master-Servant Contract, then revealed Dis’s image and convinced Torisa he was a Temple Elder.

• Kallen used conversation to draw out Torisa’s regrets and learned that Torisa had commandeered his subordinates’ minds to cultivate for nearly three hundred years.
• Torisa explained that he had cultivated both Order and desert faith, but the two faith systems became tangled and withered.
• Kallen identified Orderization as the way to maintain multiple faith systems, and Torisa asked him to teach him.
• Kallen offered to help Torisa recover and achieve Orderization, but demanded that Torisa sign a Master-Servant Contract.
• Kallen displayed powers associated with several faiths and projected Dis’s image, leading Torisa to recognize him as a Temple Elder.

Alfred was buried in the sand pool and encountered Kongpacini’s spiritual imprint, which offered him an inheritance in exchange for carrying a message to the Desert Order God Church. Alfred refused to let the offer distract him from protecting his Young Master, but after the imprint relented, he learned that a Light Believer named Phileas had visited more than a hundred years earlier.

• Neo sent Alfred into the sand pool to set up a formation while he and the others waited on the platform.
• A strange force buried Alfred and drew him into an illusion, where Kongpacini offered him an inheritance and asked him to deliver a message.
• Alfred refused the inheritance because he would not act without his Young Master's approval, and he continued setting up the formation despite Kongpacini's warnings.
• The black-robed ivory elder tried to attack Alfred but dissipated after repeatedly using up his remaining strength.
• The white-robed ivory elder offered Alfred the inheritance without requiring an oath, but Alfred insisted on finishing his formation first.
• The white-robed ivory elder revealed that a Light Believer named Phileas had visited the place more than a hundred years earlier.

Alfred qualified to receive Kongpacini’s inheritance, but delayed it to activate a formation and rescue Kallen. As the Sand Pool accelerated and threatened to crush Kallen, Alfred’s formation brought the chapter to the moment of his rescue attempt.

• The White-Robed Ivory Elder explained that Alfred met the inheritance’s requirements because he embraced illusion while remaining clearheaded, and Alfred persuaded him to describe Kongpacini as flamboyant.
• Alfred postponed the inheritance and completed a formation, while Neo admitted he knew of the place and grieved privately over Elisa and Phileas.
• Torisa agreed to become Kallen’s slave but hesitated to release him, fearing his intuition that doing so would bring regret.
• Torisa lost control of the Sand Pool as it accelerated, reinforcing the Sand Wall around Kallen and compressing the space until Kallen’s Greatsword broke.
• Alfred finished activating the formation and announced that he had come to save Kallen.

Kallen escaped the collapsing sand pool after Alfred stopped the reversed Formation, while Alfred began receiving Kongpacini’s illusion-arts inheritance. Neo joined Kallen and Torisa, revealed that Torisa was his subordinate, and challenged him to fight.

• Kallen used Order Cages and Thousand Enchantments to hold back the contracting sand pool as Torisa searched for the Formation’s location.
• Alfred broke the Formation’s core after the tusked old man warned him that it was crushing Kallen, then agreed to accept Kongpacini’s inheritance.
• The old man showed Alfred Kongpacini’s history, including his defection from the Order God Church and his eventual death at the hands of Torisa’s squad.
• Alfred began absorbing Kongpacini’s illusion-arts knowledge as Neo entered the sand pool and found Kallen free beside Torisa.
• Neo mocked Torisa, revealed that Torisa was his subordinate, and challenged him to fight.

Kallen and Neo fought Torisa, who had the upper hand, while Kallen used the Key of the Magic Cube to deduce what was happening. After Kallen carried the badly injured Neo out of the Sand Pool, Torisa’s power collapsed, and Kallen revealed that Kongpacini’s illusion had deceived him for three hundred years.

• Torisa attacked Neo after realizing that Kallen and Neo had deceived him, and Neo fought him alone despite being badly outmatched.
• Torisa repeatedly wounded Neo while watching Kallen for signs of interference, and Kallen used the Key of the Magic Cube to work out the cause of Neo’s strange behavior.
• Neo provoked Kallen with insults, then admitted that Elisa’s First Embrace was one reason he had kept living.
• Kallen grabbed Neo and fled the Sand Pool, drawing Torisa beyond the area where he had been confined for three hundred years.
• Torisa’s power and level rapidly declined, and Kallen explained that Kongpacini had trapped him in an illusion that made him believe his shortcut was working.

Kallen and Neo watched the White-Robed Ivory Elder reveal Torisa’s betrayal and grant him one final dream before his body dissolved into sand. Torisa chose loyalty to his squad in the dream, but his dead companions and wife still turned on him, leaving him trapped in their hatred.

• Torisa crumbled into sand as Neo condemned his betrayal and warned that the church would expose his crimes and shame his family.
• The White-Robed Ivory Elder revealed that Kongpacini’s consciousness had arranged the inheritance and explained that Torisa and his squad had been dead for centuries.
• The elder confirmed that Phileas had been Neo’s source, then told Torisa that his companions could not truly be brought back to life.
• The elder transformed the sand into Torisa’s final dream, where Torisa woke after defeating Kongpacini and reunited with Luna and his squad.
• Torisa rejected a voice urging him to raise his cultivation and chose to spare a captured enemy, but his wife and subordinates stabbed him in the dream.

Leon asked Richard about the squad’s inner circles, then joined him on Red Leaf Street, where he discovered Richard visited the pastry shops for comfort and conversation. Richard’s parents followed him there on his birthday and found the street’s women celebrating their beloved Young Master Eisen.

• Leon asked Richard why he had not joined Kallen and the others on leave, and Richard explained the squad’s factions and Kallen’s inner circle.
• Richard drove Leon to Red Leaf Street, where Leon received Deanna’s soothing Spell Art massage and talked about the pressure of his family’s expectations.
• Richard played cards with Rhonis and Lisa, who learned that he felt lonely because a female colleague had gone away.
• Mr. Eisen left work expecting Richard to come home for his birthday, then drove with Ms. Kaixi to Red Leaf Street when he discovered their son was elsewhere.
• The women of Red Leaf Street lined the road and wished their beloved Young Master Eisen a happy birthday as Mr. Eisen and Ms. Kaixi arrived.