Chapter Summaries

Xia Xiu arrived at Amsterdam’s police special cases department under Deer College’s agreement to help eliminate the region’s flame beasts. He met Section Chief Ebei and offered to help resolve the department’s problems, after recalling how Professor Laugen had maneuvered him into the assignment.

• A police officer verified Xia Xiu’s credentials and welcomed him as a Deer College representative with chief-inspector-level assistance.
• Xia Xiu recalled that Professor Laugen had tested him by making him fight Havis and a second-year student, then assigned him to help the Amsterdam region.
• The officer led Xia Xiu to the special cases department, where he met Section Chief Ebei.
• Xia Xiu introduced himself to Ebei and said he had come at Professor Laugen’s request to help clear up a few minor problems.

Xia Xiu learned that the Amsterdam Regional Government had concealed the [Holy Sun Cult] while trying to recruit its virus-compatible hosts. Ebe gave him evidence that the cult was preparing to spread the [Flame Beast Interface] across Amsterdam through an unfinished descent ritual.

• Ebe explained that [Adora Explosion] virus-compatible hosts had formed the [Holy Sun Cult] and abducted people to infect them.
• Xia Xiu accused Ebe and the Amsterdam Regional Government of hiding the cult from the Sanctum and warned that compatible hosts could spread contamination.
• Ebe admitted the government wanted to recruit the hosts and said officials who understood the danger had begun to recognize the consequences.
• Ebe showed Xia Xiu a dossier linking twenty-six homicides and crime-scene symbols to the cult's ritual preparations.
• The dossier concluded that the cult's ritual had placed outer-layer anchors at twenty-six Amsterdam locations, while the inner-layer anchors remained unidentified.

Xia Xiu learned that Amsterdam officials were hiding the danger of the [Interface Pan-consciousness Layer] while asking Deer College to clear surface rifts. After he left Ebei, eight Dark Division operatives attacked him, and Colonel Norman’s soldiers raided the Special Case Division to seize the missing files.

• Ebei told Xia Xiu that the Special Case Division had sent most of its personnel after Inner Layer Anchors and asked Deer College to clear twenty-six Surface Layer Anchors.
• Xia Xiu realized Ebei was caught in an internal Amsterdam power struggle and accepted the assignment while suspecting the Special Case Division wanted Deer College to expose the matter to Heaven.
• Eight Dark Division operatives closed in on Xia Xiu on a bridge, and his Holy Spirit Doves exploded, killing all eight.
• Norman’s soldiers raided the Special Case Division, but Ebei and the sealed files were gone; Norman ordered everyone who had contacted Ebei detained.
• Norman learned that Nora had pursued Xia Xiu and said the [Holy Sun] would help them take control of their future.

Xia Xiu fought Nora and the covert operatives in Amsterdam’s De Wallen after they tracked him to Love Paradise. He escaped the operatives’ ambush and faced Nora, whose transformation revealed him as a level-two Distortion threat.

• Nora surrounded Xia Xiu with covert operatives in a backstreet and used smoke to conceal their Matter Traversal.
• Xia Xiu deduced the operatives’ traversal limits, then shot two as they appeared and paralyzed three more with his serpentlike gaze before killing them.
• Nora transformed into a flame-engulfed Manifestor and ordered the covert operatives to withdraw.
• Nora hurled fireballs at Xia Xiu, who shot them out of the air as the explosions wrecked the alley.

Xia Xiu fought Nora, a late-stage compatible individual with an [Achilles' Heel], and hacked him apart after a Holy Light Dove attack left Nora briefly armless. Meanwhile, Amsterdam's containment officials learned of the Flame Beast Interface's descent ritual and prepared to evacuate civilians and impose an [Orbital Sanction] if the crisis escalated.

• Xia Xiu attacked Nora with a Chainsword and a boltgun, but Nora caught the blade and hurled him away.
• Nora grabbed the Holy Light Doves, which self-destructed and blew off his hands as they began to regrow.
• Xia Xiu used his Chainsword and swordsmanship effects to slash Nora repeatedly until the weapon shattered and Nora lay in pieces.
• Xia Xiu sent the broken Chainsword for repairs, chewed gum, and complained about overtime and the Amsterdam regional government.
• Director Theodore briefed Amsterdam officials on intelligence about the Flame Beast Interface's descent ritual and infiltration of the regional government.
• Theodore said the Inquisition had sent a Heretic Hunter and warned that he would evacuate civilians and order an [Orbital Sanction] if the threat could not be stopped.

Xia Xiu received Eden’s order to delay the Amsterdam regional government’s Interface Descent Ritual and entered the local Flame Beast Interface to gather intelligence. He arrived in a volcanic landscape, where Heaven’s equipment began monitoring the environment.

• Xia Xiu received orders to investigate the Inner Hidden Backdoors and delay their ritual.
• Xia Xiu entered an Amsterdam restricted area and saw the Flame Beast Interface, which remained open despite the eligible’s coup.
• A burly local approached Xia Xiu and asked to team up, and Xia Xiu suspected the man had an assassination-type Class.
• Xia Xiu entered the red vortex and landed in a cracked, lava-covered landscape.
• Heaven’s standby equipment activated its adaptive and monitoring modules and detected environmental distortion at level two.

Xia Xiu infiltrated a Flame Beast territory to hunt and sacrifice Flame Beasts, hoping to earn Shaping Points and use them to shape organs. After sacrificing two Wolverines, he decided to hunt more before trading for flesh and blood from [The Boundless Covered by It].

• Xia Xiu used his distortion detection display to locate two level two readings and hurried toward them.
• Xia Xiu found two fire-wreathed Wolverines feeding on a human corpse and attacked them with [Stheno], [Octant Light Wheels], and his Elegant Chainsword.
• Xia Xiu killed the Wolverines and used their corpses to draw a sacrificial magic circle for [The Boundless Covered by It].
• Xia Xiu recited the incantation and sacrificed the Wolverines, earning 200 Shaping Points.
• Xia Xiu planned to hunt more Flame Beasts and trade with [The Boundless Covered by It] for flesh and blood to take back to the "cute little bunny."

Xia Xiu gathered enough shaping points in the Flame Beast Interface, rented a quiet apartment, and prepared to perform his third Divine Feast ritual. After sculpting a Bone-Strengthening Organ and taking the Divine Feast Elixir, he entered the Ether Sea.

• Xia Xiu killed a colony of Flame Beast Moles and sacrificed their bodies, reaching 1,200 shaping points.
• Xia Xiu used a safe teleportation point to leave the Flame Beast Interface and returned to the street.
• Xia Xiu rented a private apartment in Nunspeet, Amsterdam, and prepared medical supplies for the ritual.
• Xia Xiu sculpted a Bone-Strengthening Organ-Adora Explosion and adjusted its shaping values using 1,000 shaping points.
• Xia Xiu injected the Divine Feast Elixir, activated the Nälkä Subsystem, and followed his spiritual vision into the Ether Sea.

Xia Xiu completed the Divine Feast, devouring three hearts inside [The Boundless Covered by It] before being forcibly expelled from the [Ether Sea]. He gained major increases to his lineage attributes and a new bone-strengthening organ, then discovered that he had grown taller.

• Xia Xiu endured the mutations caused by [The Boundless Covered by It]'s flesh as the [Timed Infusion Device] treated his fever and restored his sanity.
• Xia Xiu flew into a chamber of beating hearts, chose a small heart, and began the Divine Feast.
• Xia Xiu devoured three hearts before the ritual ended and expelled his spirit body from the [Ether Sea].
• Xia Xiu checked his lineage interface and saw his Measurer progress and EVE Particle content rise, along with his loudness and frequency.
• Xia Xiu examined the new [Bone-Strengthening Organ-Adora Explosion], which granted stronger bones and control over Adora Explosion flames.
• Xia Xiu noticed that his clothes had become tight because he had grown taller.

After his growth spurt, Xia Xiu headed into Amsterdam to infiltrate the qualified ones’ factions. At city hall, Pansy Jane confronted District Officer Gray over his mistreatment of the public and warned him about the dangers gathering around their seizure of power.

• Xia Xiu admired his taller appearance, changed into clothes that fit, and set out to infiltrate the qualified ones’ factions in Amsterdam.
• Gray enjoyed his authority over the city hall staff until he learned that Pansy Jane was coming to see him.
• Pansy Jane reprimanded Gray for abusing his position and driving a wedge between the qualified ones and the public.
• Gray revealed his burning horns and challenged Pansy Jane’s authority, while her Dark Division subordinates prepared to draw their weapons.
• Pansy Jane warned Gray that Amsterdam was not fully secured and that Heaven and Deer College had taken notice of the coup.
• Pansy Jane reminded Gray of the armed Inquisition operative who had attacked their forces and threatened to have Gray transferred to the front line if he continued misbehaving.

Xia Xiu used a reckless gangster persona to attract the compatible ones in Aalsmeer's Underground Dark Street, then met Julius, who believed they shared a divine bond through their flames. Xia Xiu pretended to accept Julius’s invitation despite his own flames craving to devour Julius’s.

• Xia Xiu beat a group of card cheats and robbers in Aalsmeer's Underground Dark Street while displaying his [Adora Explosion] flames.
• Xia Xiu continued making trouble to draw the compatible ones to him, and Julius confronted him after reciting his fabricated identity as Tommy Shelby.
• Xia Xiu struck Julius with a flaming fist, fracturing Julius’s Flame Beast Organs and throwing him into a concrete wall.
• Julius told Xia Xiu that they were both children of the [Holy Sun] and invited him to join their sacred mission.
• Xia Xiu felt no affection toward Julius and instead sensed his flames hunger to devour Julius’s, but he pretended to feel the Heavenly Father's love.

Pansy Jane tried to recruit Xia Xiu for the Dark Division, but he demanded concrete benefits and fought her to prove his worth. After surviving his powerful attack, Pansy Jane persuaded him to come with her, leaving Gray’s office in ruins.

• Julius brought Xia Xiu to the government building, where Dark Division personnel led them to Pansy Jane instead of Mr. Gray.
• Pansy Jane offered Xia Xiu a job and criticized Gray, but Xia Xiu insisted on knowing what benefits she would provide.
• Pansy Jane challenged Xia Xiu, and he dodged her magma whip before striking back with Adora Explosion · Flame Fist.
• Pansy Jane emerged from the wreckage largely unharmed and told Xia Xiu that he belonged to her, then promised to satisfy him.
• Xia Xiu agreed to leave with Pansy Jane, while Julius watched them go and Gray returned to find his office destroyed.

Xia Xiu joined Pansy Jane’s personal guard unit in the Dark Division and received supernatural equipment made from ember ingots. After settling into his assigned room, he suspected the Serpent's Hand had supplied the Qualified uprising and wondered how much dangerous supernatural information it had revealed to the public.

• Pansy Jane gave Xia Xiu ember-ingot knuckle dusters, and he adjusted their flames into tiger claws.
• Pansy Jane let Xia Xiu choose the code name Wu Liuqi and made him a member of her personal guard, answering only to her.
• Zero One escorted Xia Xiu to room 77 and explained that the unit waited there for mission assignments.
• Xia Xiu examined his equipment and inferred that a powerful group had supported the Qualified uprising with controlled ember-ingot supplies.
• Xia Xiu suspected the Serpent's Hand had backed the uprising and questioned whether ordinary people knew the dangers of mimesis and the Interface Pan-consciousness Layer.

After learning that Lemuel Gaumont had lost the [Balmung Holy Sword], Xia Xiu suspected the [Crimson King] was preparing the Dragon Slayer story for the first act of the "Reprise Performance." He realized Farlan’s destined hero might come from Fog City, leaving Mr. Night’s past actions and the coming performance in a new light.

• Eden informed Xia Xiu that Lemuel Gaumont was imprisoned in the Bright Layer interface stratum and had lost his [Heavenly Armament] during a clash with the Flame Beast Interface.
• Xia Xiu reflected on Lemuel Gaumont’s bad luck and connected it to the [Crimson King], who was preparing a deadly performance on Terra.
• Xia Xiu recalled that the first act, "Dragon Slayer," had begun in Farlan without a hero, allowing the evil dragon to devastate the region before Heaven could intervene.
• Xia Xiu reasoned that the [Balmung Holy Sword] might be the hero’s stage prop and that the Dragon Slayer did not necessarily have to come from Farlan.
• Xia Xiu concluded that Mr. Night may have killed the Dragon Slayer before his entrance by attacking Fog City, a disruption the [Crimson King] might reward.

Xia Xiu accompanied Pansy Jane and the Dark Division as they received an Ember shipment from the Serpent's Hand and attended a meeting where the Qualified approved plans to confront Heaven and build a huge supernatural force. After Pansy Jane ordered the Dark Division to clear outsiders from ritual sites, Xia Xiu sent Eden reports exposing the Qualified and the Serpent's Hand.

• Xia Xiu joined Zero One and the Dark Division as Pansy Jane traveled to Rotterdam Port and met with Mr. Bark of the Serpent's Hand.
• Zero One and Xia Xiu inspected the Ember shipment, and Xia Xiu recognized that the Serpent's Hand was encouraging the Qualified to defy Heaven and build a supernatural army.
• Xia Xiu guarded a meeting where the Qualified debated their regime's future, approved a plan to establish a fifty-thousand-strong supernatural force, and granted the Dark Division more Ember supplies.
• Pansy Jane ordered the Dark Division to drive outsiders from ritual sites needed for the Holy Sun's descent, using force if necessary.
• Xia Xiu sent Eden reports about the Serpent's Hand, the Qualified's inner circle and plans, and a proposal to replace the Qualified's Ember Ingot.

Fosis Tucker took control of the [Serpent's Hand] freighter while Xia Xiu received orders to help replace the Qualified's [Ember Ingots] and used Dark Division target data to investigate their plans. After Xia Xiu and Zero One killed intelligence operative Roy Shalin, Zero One explained the Qualified's generations, leaving Xia Xiu ready to draw up an execution list.

• Fosis Tucker used [Narcissus] to enthrall the divers and take control of everyone aboard the [Serpent's Hand] freighter.
• Xia Xiu received Eden's order assigning him the follow-up [Ember Ingots] replacement mission and used Heaven's Algorithm to analyze scattered Dark Division targets, producing 57 possible ritual plans.
• Xia Xiu and Zero One attacked Roy Shalin at her piano studio, and Zero One killed her before they set off an explosion to disguise the operation.
• Xia Xiu questioned Zero One about his loyalty to Pansy Jane, and Zero One said she had saved his life.
• Zero One explained the generations of Qualified and their connection to the [Holy Sun], prompting Xia Xiu to consider drawing up an execution list.

Xia Xiu arranged to implant false memories in Nat so he could secretly deliver defective [Embers] to the Qualified as part of a plan to undermine their forces. The shipment reached Amsterdam, and Nat woke believing he had helped inspect it before falling asleep again under the influence of the memories.

• Zero One told Xia Xiu how he had encountered the [Holy Sun] and how Pansy Jane saved him from the flames that scarred his face.
• Pansy Jane assigned Xia Xiu and Eleven to handle the [Serpent's Hand] order handover, and Xia Xiu arranged for defective [ember ingots] and [ember ash] to be shipped to Amsterdam.
• Xia Xiu took Eleven, whose real name was Nat, to a hotel, knocked him unconscious, and had Chef Duvall inject him with [Virtual Memory].
• Xia Xiu met Mr. Buck at Rotterdam Port and accepted a large shipment of [Embers] for the Qualified, while the planted memories made Nat believe he had inspected the cargo with him.
• Nat woke in Xia Xiu's car believing the day had gone as usual, then fell asleep again as the false memories continued to affect him.

Xia Xiu learned that the Qualified planned to reveal the supernatural and attack the North Sea peacekeeping forces, while Heaven assigned him to disrupt Amsterdam’s Interface Descent Ritual. He recruited Fosis Tucker to help carry out a plan involving the Dark Division’s operation against Lemuel Gaumont.

• Gray announced that Amsterdam would reveal the [Holy Sun] in seven days, form the [Holy Sun Government], and send a supernatural force to destroy the North Sea peacekeeping forces.
• Gene ordered the Dark Division to join him in executing Lemuel Gaumont, and Pansy Jane gave Xia Xiu his mission file for the operation.
• Xia Xiu read Eden’s directive to disrupt the descent ritual and learned that the peacekeeping forces planned to counterattack after the swapped [Ember Ingots] exploded.
• Xia Xiu met Fosis Tucker and asked him to help tamper with the ritual by impersonating Pansy Jane during the operation.
• Fosis Tucker agreed to memorize Pansy Jane’s voice, then caught a fish and prepared to leave with Xia Xiu.

Xia Xiu and Fosis Tucker captured Pansy Jane and discussed Heaven’s view of its role in shaping the world. They prepared for the next day’s containment plan, with Eden’s mission deadline approaching.

• Pansy Jane reflected on her resistance to Heaven and its control of the supernatural world.
• Xia Xiu and Fosis Tucker entered Pansy Jane’s office, and Fosis Tucker’s [Dominion Avatar] immobilized her while Xia Xiu arrested her.
• Xia Xiu told Pansy Jane that Heaven would contain her and neutralize her symptoms, then argued that Heaven acted as a child creating its own world.
• Fosis Tucker told Xia Xiu that [Locking Memes] had been planted in nine Hidden Backdoors and that the Flame Beast Interface’s [Pan-Interface Consciousness Layer] would encounter them when it possessed Gene.
• Xia Xiu and Fosis Tucker arranged emergency devices to remove Pansy Jane’s personnel from the coming fight and discussed the next day’s containment plan.

Gene led the Dark Division into the Flame Beast Interface to execute Lemuel Gaumont, whose prolonged resistance had kept the Flame Beasts occupied. As Lemuel and [Samson] battled the Flame Beast Interface Incarnation, Xia Xiu arrived with a hidden force and turned the battle against the Dark Division.

• Gene led 584 Dark Division personnel through a red vortex to attack Lemuel Gaumont, while Fosis Tucker disguised himself as Pansy Jane and Xia Xiu joined the operation undercover.
• Lemuel fought the Dark Division’s Matter Traversal attacks, but their Holy Sun’s Blessing burned him as Gene revealed himself as the Flame Beast Interface Incarnation.
• The Flame Beast Interface Incarnation drew [Samson] away from Lemuel using [Restrictive Separation], then trapped [Samson] while the Dark Division surrounded Lemuel.
• Lemuel continued fighting the attackers until Xia Xiu revealed himself, rescued him from the encroaching Qualified, and announced that Heaven would claim victory.
• Xia Xiu’s command prompted Pansy Jane’s troops to attack their fellow Dark Division personnel, tipping the battle in Lemuel’s favor.