Chapter Summaries

Kallen discovered that he could command Mandila’s ritually refined corpse, while Puer recognized his unusual power as a gift that made him unlike an ordinary believer. Puer urged him to go to Vien and offered to serve as the Sacred Artifact for his Purification there.

• Kallen learned from Alfred that an Order God Church figure had fled after admitting he could not defeat Dis, and that the circus had also left town.
• Kallen commanded Mandila’s corpse to rise, and she performed actions as he directed before returning to the steel-plated bed.
• Puer identified the runes on Mandila as formation patterns left by a bewitching otherworldly demon and questioned how Kallen had gained control over her.
• Kallen explained that Mandila had called to him during the performance and that he had sensed her emotions before discovering he could command her.
• Puer insisted that Kallen go to Vien to complete his Purification perfectly, then revealed that she was a Sacred Artifact and offered to help him there.

Dis learned that the Order God Church expected him to join the temple, but divination showed he might instead turn the Sword of Order against it. He delayed negotiations for seven days so he could attend to his family, then declared the Immerlis Family a forbidden ground for the church and even the gods.

• Dis received the Ruilan District administration’s praise for stopping the invasion and rejected Simon’s questions about seeking promotion.
• Dis told Simon that Rasma had come for him, and Rasma revealed that the temple expected Dis to become a Temple Elder but feared he would attack the Order Temple.
• Dis told Rasma he wanted to negotiate with the Church and scheduled the meeting for seven days later, after listing the family obligations he planned to fulfill first.
• Rasma warned that three Temple Elders had come with him, but Dis insisted the temple could negotiate sooner if it accepted the consequences of his choice.
• Dis returned home, recalled Kallen calling the house home, and declared the Immerlis Family forbidden ground for the church and gods.

Kallen spoke with Dis about the Order God Church, Dis’s refusal to become a Temple Elder, and the family’s past before an Evil God summoning forced the church’s elders to act. After the ritual failed and Linda’s soul was destroyed, Kallen heard from Piaget, who mourned Linda’s departure and agreed to pay extra for counseling.

• Kallen shared lunch with his family, then asked Dis about Rasma, the Order Temple, and Dis’s plans to refuse the church’s offer and leave in seven days.
• Kallen speculated that the Ferocious Beast in the painting “Light of Order” might have been Puer, and Dis agreed that the idea made sense.
• The Order God Church’s elders sensed a ritual summoning Rilielsa, and three elders destroyed the Female Giant’s manifestation before Xidi erased Linda’s soul.
• Rasma visited Dis, refused to enter the family home, and left after repeating that negotiations would take place in seven days.
• Piaget called Kallen to mourn Linda and agreed to pay a higher counseling fee after Kallen explained that repeat customers paid more.

Kallen took Mandila out for a late-night walk and learned from Alfred how his ability to awaken corpses differed from the circus demon’s control. He realized he might use his unusual affinity to awaken powerful, well-preserved corpses as protection in Vien, but Mandila’s independent kiss reminded him that an awakened corpse could also be dangerous.

• Kallen left his room, brought Mandila out of the basement, and met Alfred, who reported that the circus was hiding on a farm near Rojia City.
• As they walked through a park, Alfred explained that Mandila’s corpse was gradually losing its preserved spirituality and contrasted her condition with Molly’s transformation.
• Alfred described how powerful corpses might retain memories and replenish their spirituality, though awakening them could demand enormous effort and risk the caster’s life.
• Kallen considered searching Vien for powerful, well-preserved corpses to awaken as bodyguards, and Alfred eagerly agreed to look for candidates.
• After returning home, Kallen asked Mandila whether she was willing to be buried; she agreed, then kissed him before returning to the basement.
• Kallen warned Alfred that Mandila’s independent action showed an awakened corpse might turn on its awakener.

Kallen arranged Mandila’s burial and helped Aunt Winnie reject her ex-husband, Parker. After Winnie reconciled with Dis, Kallen told his grandfather that he had sent Alfred to kill Parker and send him to heaven.

• Kallen arranged for the dead magician to be cremated and Mandila to be buried in a cemetery, and he touched her headstone to wish her peace.
• Kallen and his family returned home to find Aunt Winnie’s ex-husband, Parker, pleading to reunite with her; Chris rejected him, and Alfred carried him outside.
• Aunt Winnie spoke with Dis in his study, apologized for her past choices, and emerged having found relief in his forgiveness.
• Puer asked Kallen about his relationship with Eunice, then began preparing a radio script about relationship problems.
• Kallen told Dis that Parker had visited and challenged his grandfather’s decision not to punish him, then revealed that he had sent Alfred to kill Parker.

Kallen received an enforcement warrant from Dis to deal with Parker, while Mason and Winnie worried that Kallen’s plans to go to Vien meant he was being pushed out of the family home and business. Kallen reassured them that he chose to leave and would always have a home to return to, ending the chapter determined to protect his family.

• Dis gave Kallen an enforcement warrant that made it legal for an official Otherworldly Demon to act against Parker.
• Mary told Mason that Dis seemed to be keeping the family from involving themselves in Kallen’s relationship with Eunice, and Mason feared Kallen was being sent to Vien so he could inherit the family business.
• Mason confronted Dis, then scolded Winnie for not telling him her concerns and asked Kallen whether he planned to go to Vien.
• Mason and Winnie offered to give Kallen all their shares, but Kallen said he wanted to see the world and trusted that his family would welcome him back.
• Kallen persuaded Mason and Winnie that family mattered more than shares, and Dis told Kallen he was proud of their family as Kallen vowed to protect it.

Kallen received an invitation from Simon to meet at Mink Street Church, but told Dis about it and went with him to West Street Cemetery instead. On the way home, Kallen realized Dis had been shielding him from a dark figure during their earlier encounter.

• Kallen read Diary of Wild Fantasies and learned that Lunt had done poorly on his exams, though Aunt Mary calmly encouraged him to work harder next term.
• Mina gave Kallen a letter from Simon inviting him to meet at Mink Street Church at eight that night, and Kallen tore it up before reporting the message to Dis.
• Dis took Kallen to West Street Cemetery, where he explained that the day marked the anniversary of Kallen's parents' deaths.
• Kallen discovered that Dis had stood at a random couple's gravestone each year to remember his lost family, and the two returned home in the rain.
• As Dis opened the door and told Kallen to go home, Kallen recalled that Dis's murderous gaze in their earlier encounter had been aimed at a dark figure behind him, while Dis had been protecting him.

Kallen learned that Dis had hidden the source of his injuries and was preparing to resolve an unknown threat before Kallen left for Vien. At Oak Cemetery, Dis awakened Mr. Hoffen and asked him to help seal the newly descended Evil God, intending to give it to Kallen as a companion.

• Kallen questioned Puer about Dis's old injuries and reconsidered whether Alfred had caused them.
• Kallen's family gave him a bankbook and loan documents to help him buy a house in Vien, and Dis told him an unnamed danger would end within two days.
• Dis lit a candle for Kallen to watch, then secretly took Alfred to Oak Cemetery and awakened Mr. Hoffen from his grave.
• Dis explained that the Evil God brought down by the Divine Descent Ritual had failed to enter Kallen's body and was now hiding nearby.
• Dis asked Mr. Hoffen to help seal the Evil God, saying he wanted to give it to Kallen as a companion.

Kallen sat before a candle as two unseen gazes gradually accepted him, while Dis, Mr. Hoffen, and Alfred planned to lure the lurking Evil God out of its uncertain state and seal it. Dis revealed that he would provoke a crisis around his emerging Godhead Fragment, and the chapter ended with him choosing the Golden Retriever as the Evil God’s vessel.

• Kallen watched a candle burn in the Immerlis study as two unseen gazes observed him and their scrutiny grew gentler.
• At Oak Cemetery, Mr. Hoffen celebrated his return from death with Alfred, then joined him and Dis to plan how to seal the Evil God.
• Dis explained that Kallen could serve as bait because the Evil God could no longer alter another body and would have to seek Kallen’s.
• Mr. Hoffen deduced that Dis had gathered Order Church figures and rival church elders by revealing his coming Godhead Fragment, and Dis confirmed that he had leaked the information himself.
• Mr. Hoffen learned that Kallen had called him Grandpa and vowed to seal the Evil God as a gift for his grandson.
• Dis pulled the Golden Retriever over with a leash and declared that the Evil God would be made into a dog.

Mr. Hoffen prepared to seal the weakened Evil God inside Golden Retriever as Dis unleashed his divine power, drawing the major churches toward Oak Cemetery. Meanwhile, Raniedal tried to take over Kallen’s body, but Kallen’s parents stopped him, and Dis revealed he could reach the Evil God through a hole in Kallen’s chest.

• Mr. Hoffen began drawing a sealing formation on Golden Retriever while Dis raised a barrier over Oak Cemetery and released his cultivation level.
• Dis’s divine presence summoned three pillars of light from Rojia City, and the Abyss Church, Reincarnation Church, Night God Church, and Principle God Church sent forces toward the cemetery.
• Raniedal entered Kallen’s body as the candle flame turned black, but Kallen’s parents appeared and stopped him by touching his otherwise insubstantial form.
• Raniedal tried to withdraw and wait for another chance, but a slit opened in Kallen’s chest and a hand seized him.
• Dis told Mr. Hoffen that he could catch Raniedal because he was Kallen’s grandfather, then put his hand into a black hole in his chest and said he had once opened a hole in Kallen’s chest too.

Dis sealed the Evil God Raniedal inside the Golden Retriever and rejected the Order Temple’s demand that he return, leaving negotiations until the following afternoon. Kallen dreamed of his birth parents, woke in Dis’s study, and was told to take the Golden Retriever with him to Vien.

• Dis called the gray mass Kevin, and Hoffen used a formation to seal it inside the Golden Retriever.
• Dis confronted the visiting churches, who affirmed the Order God Church’s authority, then declined the Order Temple’s offer and set negotiations for Sunday afternoon.
• Kallen dreamed of the man and woman who had been his parents; they told him to live well and try to be happy.
• Kallen woke in Dis’s study and found Dis had returned safely with the Golden Retriever, while Puer reacted nervously to the dog.
• Dis gave Kallen the Golden Retriever’s leash and told him to take the dog to Vien.

Kallen attended Mr. Hoffen’s memorial ceremony, where Hoffen explained the previous night’s events and gave him forbidden formation knowledge. Hoffen revealed that the failed Divine Descent Ritual had cost Dis nothing, then wondered whether the God of Order had granted everyone what they wanted and what he wanted in return.

• Kallen visited No. 128 Mink Street and joined Mr. Hoffen for his own memorial ceremony.
• Mr. Hoffen told Kallen that an Evil God lived inside Kevin and gave him a notebook of forbidden formations and ten books of beginner formation knowledge.
• Kallen asked what price Dis had paid for the Superstandard Divine Descent Ritual, and Mr. Hoffen said the God of Order had taken nothing because the ritual had failed.
• Mr. Hoffen asked Kallen to cremate him in two days, and Kallen left to invite Eunice to dinner.
• After Kallen left, Mr. Hoffen revealed that Dis, Puer, and Mrs. Linda had helped prepare the ritual and wondered what the God of Order wanted.

Kallen prepared for Eunice’s birthday, welcomed her into the Immerlis family, and celebrated with her alongside his relatives and friends. The next day, Dis attended church, where Rasma and the Order God Church clergy surrounded him in a show of force, and Dis answered their praise of Order with an insult to the God of Order.

• Kallen visited the exhausted Piaget, cleaned his house, and left him a note thanking him for the coffee.
• Kallen picked Eunice up in the family hearse, brought her home for her birthday, and introduced her to his family and friends.
• Dis welcomed Eunice and blessed her relationship with Kallen, then quietly reflected that it would not matter if she forgot him.
• Kallen gave Puer a birthday cake after the party, and Dis told Kallen to read in his study after noon the next day.
• Rasma and the Order God Church clergy gathered at the church and praised Order, while Dis answered them with an insult to the God of Order.

Kallen read Dis’s letter revealing that the God of Order had fabricated his faith and posed as a True God to conceal his hunger and hunt other deities. As the church transformed into an Order Inquisition Grounds, Dis publicly declared the God of Order a fraud.

• Kallen brought refreshments to his grandfather’s study and read an older copy of “Light of Order,” where Dis had left a letter.
• At the church, Rasma questioned Dis about his alleged crimes, but Dis refused to answer and rejected Rasma’s attempt to begin peaceful negotiations.
• The clergy summoned the Order Divine Seat, transforming the church into an Order Inquisition Grounds as the Temple Elders confronted Dis.
• Dis challenged the church’s account of the God of Order’s sacrifice of Ankara and explained that the God had created the Light of Order to hide his hunt for other deities.
• Kallen read Dis’s letter proposing that Ankara might have survived and concluding that the God of Order had falsely fashioned himself as a god.
• Under the Sword of Order and the gaze of the twelve Order Knights, Dis proclaimed that the God of Order was not a True God and had acted only to become one.

Dis rejected the Order God Church’s demand to enter the Order Temple and used his multiple godhead fragments to force the church to release him. He cursed the Immerlis Family’s spiritual aptitude and left Kallen wearing a mysterious mask as a blood thread tried to reach him.

• Dis told Rasma and the Temple Elders that he rejected the God of Order, then agreed to give them a godhead fragment if they accepted his three conditions.
• Geller, Niwen, Xidi, and Rasma swore not to erase their memories of Dis’s words, but Dis said he needed guarantees and sent Young Dis to detonate his godhead fragment against the Order Temple.
• Dis revealed middle-aged Dis and threatened another strike, prompting Geller to order the Seals removed so the real Dis could escape by teleportation.
• Middle-aged Dis traveled through regional teleportation arrays, killed the Raphael Family’s head and another man, and continued onward.
• At the church, Dis used a blood sacrifice to sever the Immerlis Family’s descendants from the spirituality needed to enter a church.
• Kallen obeyed Dis’s instruction to wear the silver-white mask, which caused a blood thread reaching for him to disintegrate as he recalled that Order was a mask.

Kallen mourned Dis and vowed to keep wearing his mask until Dis returned, while Dis negotiated with the Order God Church after returning from the past. Dis secured his family’s safety through a Godhead Fragment, then attacked Xidi and left her sealed to the church’s cross as he prepared to go home and sleep.

• Puer comforted Kallen as he wept, and Kallen said he would keep wearing his mask until Dis came back.
• The middle-aged Dis returned to the church, gave Xidi a Godhead Fragment, and warned that it would detonate if his family suffered retaliation.
• Dis told Geller, Niwen, Xidi, and Rasma that he would return home and seal himself in a deep sleep, watching over his family until his body died.
• Simon and the Whip of Order members outside the church heard whispers questioning whether the God of Order was truly a god, and Simon hesitated to report them.
• Dis used the Godhead Fragment to interrupt Xidi’s spellcasting, dragged her outside, and sealed her to the church’s cross with Order-Cage before saying he was going home to sleep.

Dis explained to Rasma that the Order God Church’s dwindling Godhead Fragments came from a broken cycle in which the Order God consumed the power it once gained by hunting other gods. After returning home, Dis reassured Kallen, entrusted Puer’s care to him, and asked Kallen to wake him if he ever suffered an injustice he could not endure.

• Dis and Rasma discussed how the Order God Church’s operating rules had changed as gods stopped appearing, leaving fewer people able to condense Godhead Fragments.
• Dis suggested the Order God Church might be changed because its True God had not yet arrived.
• Dis returned to 13 Mingke Street, where Kallen welcomed him and asked whether his choice had cost him more.
• Dis told Kallen he had arranged what he could for the family, and asked him to take care of Puer.
• Dis told Golden Retriever that its emergence in an age without gods was an opportunity, then reflected with Kallen on the life they had missed and the journey ahead.
• Dis held Kallen’s hand, asked him not to suffer in silence, and told him to come home and wake him if he faced an injustice he could not swallow.

Kallen prepared to leave Mink Street for Vien while his family and friends arranged to care for the sleeping Dis and the home. Before his cremation, Mr. Hoffen revealed that Dis had protected Kallen in the same way the God of Order’s stories described protecting Ankara, leaving Kallen to grasp the meaning of his grandfather’s actions.

• Uncle Mason urged Kallen to stay home after Dis fell into a sleep from which he might never wake, but Kallen insisted on going to Vien; Mason supported his choice and promised the family would care for Dis.
• Rasma ordered the Whip of Order to stop watching Mink Street and took up the role of priest there while Dis slept.
• Miss Molly chose to remain at home to look after it, while Alfred planned to accompany Kallen and learn from Mr. Hoffen’s formations.
• Kallen collected Mr. Hoffen in the hearse and drove him to the Immoreles Crematorium, where Hoffen said he had decided to share something important before his cremation.
• Hoffen explained that Dis was the third Purple Bookmark and that his presence kept the Order God Church from interfering with the Immerlis Family; he then told Kallen that Dis had done for him what the God of Order did for Ankara.

Kallen learned that Mrs. Jenny planned to fake his death in a shipwreck so he could enter Vien under a clean identity, while Puer questioned whether he wanted to escape the Allen Family and his engagement to Eunice. Aboard the sea monster Aselos, Puer revealed she was Paul Allen, the young lady its dead father had waited for, and finally said she was home.

• Mrs. Jenny told Kallen that the ship would suffer a staged accident near Sedes Island, allowing him and the others to transfer to Aselos and erase his identity as Kallen from Ruilan.
• Puer accused Kallen of hoping the Allen Family would reject him so he could leave without guilt, while Kallen denied it and learned from her that Aselos was a sea monster connected to the Allen Family’s pirate past.
• Mrs. Jenny, Eunice, Kallen, Puer, Alfred, Mrs. Daili, and the Golden Retriever boarded Aselos after it emerged from the fog.
• Puer recognized that the sea monster was not the original Aselos but its son, whose father had waited for the young lady Paul Allen to return home.
• Puer identified herself as Paul Allen, thanked Aselos for coming to get her, and rode with it as it recreated the water-spouting game she had loved with its father.
• At dawn, Kallen held the fragile Puer as she told him, “Kallen, I'm home.”

Kallen arrived on Corona Island with Mrs. Jenny and Eunice, where Wood tested him before learning of the deal against the Raphael Family and apologizing for his hostility. Wood offered Kallen his position, wealth, and daughter Camilla if the Allen Family treated him badly, then declared the Allen Family’s old creed of repaying its debts of gratitude.

• Aselos brought Mrs. Jenny, Eunice, Kallen, and their companions ashore on Corona Island, where Wood greeted them and burned Kallen’s hand with a forceful handshake.
• Wood challenged Kallen over the Allen Family’s traditions, but Eunice stood by Kallen, and Wood led the group to the family clubhouse in Corona Town.
• Kallen learned from Puer that Corona Island had once been the Allen Family’s pirate stronghold and was now a smuggling transfer station.
• Wood invited Kallen to dinner, apologized for trying to put him in his place, and explained that he had seized a nearby town from the weakened Raphael Family.
• Wood told Kallen how he had been exiled to Corona Island after choosing to marry Elena, and Kallen praised his sense of responsibility.
• Wood promised Kallen his position, wealth, ships, and Camilla if Kallen was mistreated at the family manor, then proclaimed that the Allen Family always repaid its debts of gratitude.