Recaps

Abraham reported that public opinion had turned against Norton, with people demanding that he solve humanity’s problems and spreading rumors about his motives. As Abraham and Duoxia reflected on human nature, they considered whether conflict and competition might help humanity more than peace alone.

• Abraham told Norton that people were questioning why he did not suppress mutated creatures or help humanity achieve faster-than-light travel.
• Abraham described rumors claiming Norton kept humans as nourishment and withheld help to control their population.
• Abraham reflected that Norton had already granted humanity peace, eternal life, and help with its development, yet people still demanded more.
• Duoxia suggested that war, oppression, exploitation, and competition might spur human society to correct itself.
• Abraham and Duoxia’s studies of human nature had made them increasingly detached from individual suffering, and they wondered if this was part of becoming gods.

Norton explained to Abraham and Duoxia that he planned to destroy humanity’s peaceful society and create suffering so people would depend on him and worship him. With his preparations nearly complete, he was ready to trigger the final catastrophe and secure the faith he needed for his return.

• Norton told Abraham and Duoxia that humanity’s doubts and resentment proved people could not appreciate peace, freedom, and immortality.
• Norton declared that he would create a real Hell and bring misery to humanity so they would struggle for peace and believe in his holiness.
• Norton reasoned that destroying humanity’s comfortable life and unleashing nonhuman invaders would make people miss, adore, and depend on him.
• Norton mocked Abraham for failing to understand that his goal was universal faith and an Anchor for his return.
• Norton concluded that his plans were nearly complete and that humanity deserved the suffering he intended to inflict.

Norton sacrificed himself by sealing his body into the sun, separating the Garden of Eden from Heaven and suppressing the escaping souls. His death was broadcast across the Human Federation, and people in other star systems also saw his cross-shaped figure on their suns.

• Norton appointed Abraham and Duoxia the supreme leaders of the Pale Church and declared that humanity must keep fighting Heaven.
• Norton grew to enormous size, took the shape of a cross, and flew toward the sun as the Human Federation broadcast the event.
• The sun darkened and revealed countless black hands and phantoms struggling to escape from its surface.
• Norton embedded himself in the sun, silencing the screams and restoring its orange-red surface as he closed his eyes.
• Pale Churches across star systems rang bells to mourn Norton, while residents elsewhere saw his cross-shaped outline on their own suns.

Norton staged his apparent sacrifice on the sun to become a distant, visible god whom humanity could believe in or slander. A week later, Abraham confirmed the spectacle was flawless while Norton revealed that the figure on the sun was a convincing special effect.

• Norton’s apparent sacrifice bewildered the Human Federation, and many citizens mocked him and spread slander online.
• The Human Federation Government warned that slandering the Pale God violated the law, while detractors circulated records of Norton’s past actions.
• One week after the sacrifice, Abraham inspected the towering figure on the sun and told Norton that the effects looked flawless from every angle.
• Norton explained that he had created physical bodies within the stars from matter like his own, making the sunbound figure appear real even under scientific examination.
• Norton revealed that the spectacle was staged to remove him from above humanity and make him a distant, visible god.

Norton explained that he had engineered humanity’s long peace, immortality, and ensuing crisis so that war and his sacrifice would make him revered as a true god. After Duoxia pieced together the scheme, Norton hinted that even recognizing it might be part of his trap.

• Norton said he had sealed reality and Heaven and arranged for humanity’s own expansion efforts to bring Soul Matter and war, letting him avoid blame for divine inaction while becoming humanity’s hope.
• A breach at the Holy See palace interrupted Norton and Abraham, and Abraham and Duoxia guessed that people were already seeking to transfer power.
• Abraham and Duoxia admitted that humanity needed external threats or internal conflict, and Duoxia reflected on how immortality and peace had contributed to the crisis.
• Duoxia realized that Norton may have guided humanity’s development and engineered its war and his own path to godhood, then felt rage and terror at the possibility.
• Norton told Abraham and Duoxia that people who thought they had uncovered the mystery might already have fallen into the hunter’s net, leaving Duoxia drenched in sweat and Abraham having wet his pants.

Norton let rebels attack the Holy See so the Pale Church could appear persecuted and later claim credit for saving humanity, while Abraham, Duoxia, and Elizabeth staged their capture. After the attackers carried them away, Norton restored them to the chamber, leaving the apparent transfer of power as part of his scheme.

• As rebels attacked the Holy See, Norton explained that he wanted the Pale Church and himself to escape blame for the coming war and gain public devotion by first appearing persecuted.
• Norton told Abraham, Duoxia, and Elizabeth to surrender and act helplessly when the attackers arrived.
• The rebels broke into the chamber, and their leader declared that the Pale Church’s political rule should end.
• Abraham challenged the attackers, while Elizabeth was wounded and Abraham endured repeated blows without resisting.
• The rebels restrained Abraham, Duoxia, and Elizabeth and took them away, but Norton then restored them to the chamber, where Abraham poured him tea.

After Abraham and the Pale Church’s leaders surrendered political authority to the Human Federation Government, the government reclaimed power and prepared to confront the Church’s supporters. The chapter ended as fanatics launched widespread attacks on government institutions.

• On December 31, 3159, Abraham and the Pale Church’s archbishops agreed to relinquish ruling authority and disband the Church’s knight forces.
• The Human Federation was shaken when news spread that the Pale Church’s leadership had submitted without resistance.
• On January 1, 3160, the Human Federation Government reclaimed ruling authority and gathered allies in preparation for armed conflict.
• Pale Church fanatics stormed the presidential residence and government departments across the Federation, including large numbers of power-armored Fifth Stage knights.

After the Pale Church surrendered political power, Norton’s self-sacrifice and the Church were attacked and defended in a fierce online debate. As tens of billions of believers gathered at the Pale Holy See, the Church ordered them to return home, leaving extremists and false believers behind.

• People online mocked Norton and the Pale Church, while others defended the Pale God and challenged accusations of corruption.
• The Human Federation reclaimed political power in Norton 3k, year 160, though the Pale Church still had many powerful knights.
• In year 163, fanatics from across human space gathered outside the Pale Holy See, led by Archbishop Marcus, to urge Abraham, Duoxia, and Elizabeth to resist the transfer of power.
• Marcus and the other leaders failed to persuade the Church’s leadership, and the Pale Church declared that believers must preserve order and return to their families.
• Most believers obeyed and departed for their home planets, while extremists and false believers, including Marcus, remained.

After returning from the Pale Holy See, Bishop Marcus rallied fanatics and opportunists to form an opposition faction within the Pale Church. The fanatics began organizing a College of Cardinals Outside the Church and a Crusade Holy War, while Marcus revealed that he intended to use the movement to bargain with the Human Federation and rise to power.

• Bishop Marcus gathered Pale Church extremists and opportunists on Lesser Abraham Star after the Pale God’s death.
• A priest called for enslaving nonbelievers, and the meeting’s extremists agreed to launch a holy war against the Human Federation.
• Marcus proposed establishing a College of Cardinals Outside the Church to replace the Church’s three leaders and restore the Church’s orthodoxy.
• The extremists left to begin organizing the College and Crusade, while Marcus stayed behind with the opportunists.
• Marcus explained that he wanted to use the faction’s military strength and claim to orthodoxy to negotiate a split Church and secure high-ranking positions for its leaders.

Marcus and his followers formed a rival College of Cardinals and launched a Holy Crusade, breaking the Human Federation’s three-thousand-year peace. As war spread and the Federation fractured into competing factions, its government conscripted and exploited civilians while the elites indulged in brutal abuses.

• Marcus and other clergy condemned the three old stalwarts, established a separate College of Cardinals, and declared a Holy Crusade to cleanse the world of sin.
• The College of Cardinals and the Human Federation began fighting as religious, political, and commercial factions formed across the fragmented star regions.
• The Pale Church Elder Faction rejected both sides, the Church Independence Faction stayed neutral, and the Human Federation Lord and Noble Factions pursued their own interests.
• The Human Federation Government abolished the Pale God’s support policy and forced civilians into military service and twelve-hour factory shifts.
• The Federation’s elites arrested people for research materials and introduced cruel entertainments and abuses that the Pale God had once forbidden.

The Human Federation Government and Marcus's College of Cardinals began a controlled war, each side using it to expand its power and weaken rivals. The conflict escalated into atrocities and mounting casualties, while both governments lost control of their forces and distorted reports obscured conditions on the ground.

• The Human Federation Government rejected the opportunists' demands but delayed its response and encouraged a war that could weaken independent forces and the Pale Church.
• Marcus recognized the Federation's plan and used the fighting to seize planets and expand the College of Cardinals' territory.
• The two sides escalated raids and attacks, and their clashes caused thirteen billion casualties over ten years.
• Believers resisted the College of Cardinals' leaders and Marcus, while the Federation military grew increasingly unrestrained as its government gained influence.
• After a delayed warning failed to reach a targeted city before a strike in 3173, the Federation military used chemical weapons and other covert attacks, then manipulated media coverage to blame the Pale Church.
• The war expanded as the College of Cardinals lost control of its followers and Federation elites and military departments distorted orders for their own gain.

As the Human Federation’s war against the Pale Church worsened, the government and elites exploited and impoverished the public, driving widespread protests and intense devotion to Norton. The government responded by pushing outward expansion and, in Norton 3k,190, announced that all reproductive restrictions were abolished.

• The war’s escalating costs and the abolition of public support drove ordinary people back into factory labor, while elites profited from their hardship.
• The Human Federation introduced thousands of taxes and assigned jobs to residents, while exploitation, prostitution, gangs, and human trafficking spread.
• Public opinion reversed, with people across the Federation praying for Norton’s return and treating him as a god.
• As opposition approached ninety percent, the government accelerated spaceship production to redirect internal unrest toward expansion.
• In Norton 3k,190, the Human Federation announced that childbearing was completely free and all reproductive restrictions were abolished.

Norton revealed to Abraham that he intended to use engineered disasters and population control to make humanity worship him forever, demonstrating his power by destroying a planet. Meanwhile, legislators began impeaching the Human Federation government over massive fraud involving a fictitious planet, leaving the corruption scandal unresolved.

• Norton showed Abraham that public opinion had turned against the Human Federation and said humanity's survival would ensure his own immortality.
• Norton explained that he planned to control wars and population density, with Abraham choosing regions whose populations would be destroyed.
• Norton crushed a populated planet in his constructed star chart and told Abraham he could erase matter, life, souls, and memories in designated regions.
• Days later, a legislator moved to impeach the Human Federation government, alleging fabricated aerospace projects, population reports, and a fictitious planet used to steal subsidies.

The Human Federation recovered rapidly after reproductive restrictions were lifted, as people married, had children, and rebuilt industries around newborns. The Pale Church, led by Abraham, then opposed the policy in the Pale God’s name and provoked widespread public anger against the Church and Norton.

• The Human Federation’s repeal of reproductive restrictions led to more marriages and newborns, helping restore social institutions and industries.
• Over the next decade, parents worked harder for their children, and public protests against the government’s policy became less common.
• The Pale Church’s leaders, led by Abraham, declared that unrestricted reproduction violated the balance established by the Pale God Norton.
• People who had previously criticized the government’s use of reproductive freedom turned against the Pale Church and defended the right to have children.
• Influencers and prominent online personalities condemned the Pale Church, and public anger erased much of the goodwill it had previously held.

The Human Federation Government failed to control Abraham and tried to split the Pale Church by recognizing the Church College of Cardinals, while humanity’s rapid expansion and growing population increased the danger from soul matter. Abraham declared holy war against the government, and Pale Church forces devastated the Garden of Eden, leaving the Federation’s leaders fleeing by space jump.

• The Human Federation Government exhausted its negotiating tactics with Abraham and turned to the Church College of Cardinals to divide the Pale Church.
• The Human Federation’s population surged, prompting rapid expansion through space-jump technology and research into changes in soul matter.
• After the government recognized the Church College of Cardinals and failed to issue a birth ban, Abraham blamed humanity’s actions for the coming catastrophe and declared holy war.
• Hundreds of millions of Pale Church believers attacked the Human Federation Government in the Garden of Eden, joined by angels, other mutated fighters, and awakened Gargoyles.
• The Garden of Eden was devastated, most civilians and officials perished, and the Federation’s top leaders escaped aboard ships using space-jump technology.

The Pale Church’s holy war against the Human Federation spread across the stars, and decades of fighting gradually weakened the Church while the Federation expanded. After a century of war, the Pale Holy See’s vast fleet finally reached the battlefield.

• After the Garden of Eden fell, the Pale Church began an all-out war against the Human Federation, with fighting erupting throughout its interstellar cities.
• The Pale Church gathered hundreds of billions of ships to pursue the Federation Government, but the fleets arrived too slowly to destroy it at once.
• Over forty years of fighting, the Federation used space jumps and population growth to reinforce its forces and seize territory from the Church.
• The Church’s ban on reproduction and space jumps drained its strength, while its reputation worsened and some believers began comparing it to the former Holy Lord Empire.
• After another fifty years, the Pale Holy See’s fleet of ten billion ships finally reached the battlefield.

Norton commanded the Pale Holy See’s vast fleet as it approached war with the Human Federation, and he gave Abraham Holy Blood to raise him to the Seventh Stage. Abraham transformed into a monstrous warrior and set out to lead the Church into battle.

• Norton lounged among adopted orphans aboard the Pale Holy See’s enormous space city while Abraham waited nearby.
• Abraham reported that the Pale Church had detected the Human Federation Government’s front lines and that battle was imminent.
• Norton ordered Abraham to begin the battle and promised to reveal how everything was under his control.
• Norton gave Abraham a drop of golden Holy Blood, which Abraham recognized as the substance once used to create Church knights.
• Abraham swallowed the Holy Blood, grew larger, and transformed into a horned, fanged creature with two pairs of bat wings.

Abraham led the Pale Church into war against the Human Federation Government, displaying power on a planetary scale. After destroying the planet Sinuo and hurling half of it toward another Federation world, he declared the holy war begun as the Church’s warships advanced.

• Abraham announced that he had inherited His Holiness’s bloodline, reached the Seventh Stage, and would lead the Pale Church against the Human Federation Government.
• Abraham grew to the size of the planet Garden of Eden, terrifying the Federation outpost and its defenders.
• Abraham flew into the planet Sinuo, smashing its cities and knocking it out of orbit.
• Abraham tore Sinuo in half and hurled one half toward another Human Federation planet.
• Abraham proclaimed the holy war, and the Pale Church’s warships advanced.

Abraham revealed overwhelming power by hurling half a planet at the Human Federation’s forces, and President Cliff ordered the Federation to resist despite its leaders’ desperation. The Pale Church began its assault on Adam Three, where Church ships battered Federation defenses and deployed troops while the Federation’s weapons fought back.

• Abraham hurled half a planet toward the Human Federation’s frontline planet, and Federation leaders recognized him as a being who had reached at least the sixth stage.
• President Cliff pressed the emergency button and ordered the Human Federation to fight the Pale Church, while officials refused to evacuate nearby populations.
• Abraham’s will rallied the Pale Church believers, who charged into the star system and attacked Federation fleets, bases, and cities.
• The Pale Church deployed small cruisers and armored knights from its space carriers as Federation ground defenses fired missiles and lasers at them.
• Church Elves cast defensive magic formations aboard the ships, intercepting the Federation’s attacks.

Pale Church forces invaded a Human Federation city by dropping armored knights into its streets, slaughtering civilians and overwhelming the city's defenses. The attack left the city in chaos as the Church knights began their purge.

• Pale Church cruisers released drop pods toward the Human Federation city, and residents mistook them for a meteor shower.
• The government launched missiles at the pods, but its defenses failed to stop them from breaking through the city's ionosphere.
• A mother and her young daughter sheltered in a tea shop as the pods grew larger and the government announced the Pale Church invasion.
• Drop pods crashed into streets and buildings, killing civilians and destroying parts of the city.
• Church knights emerged from the pods and attacked civilians and resisting humans with swords and guns.

Norton watched the slaughter on Uranus and realized that the overcrowded Heaven was driving souls back into reality, creating a bridge between the Garden of Eden and Heaven. He declared that he would transcend the universe or devour it rather than be destroyed by its entropy.

• Norton observed the massacre on Uranus while Elizabeth stood silently behind him.
• Norton saw soul particles being expelled from an overfilled Heaven and gathering in reality.
• Norton concluded that each death strengthened a bridge connecting the Garden of Eden and Heaven.
• Norton recalled his fifteen thousand years of existence and vowed to escape the universe’s eventual destruction by transcending it or devouring the starry sky.
• Norton calmed down after his outburst, while Elizabeth remained expressionless and unresponsive.

Norton reflected on his endless ambition and decided that he would sacrifice the Garden of Eden to transcend the universe by awakening and devouring God's will. He opened a gateway between reality and Heaven, preparing to send humanity across it as nourishment for God.

• Norton recalled his journey from mortal life to godhood and lamented that immortality and supreme power could not satisfy his desire to transcend.
• He compared himself with Jonah, Kuba, and Shenyin, concluding that unlike them, he knew of worlds beyond the universe and had a chance to escape it.
• Norton rejected settling for his current position and vowed to twist the Garden of Eden and Heaven, awaken God's will, and seize God's body.
• Norton formed a miniature galaxy showing Heaven's invading souls and pierced a gateway between reality and Heaven.
• Norton declared that humanity would march through the gateway to build a bridge between reality and Heaven, becoming nourishment for God.

The Human Federation fought Church forces across a city and the surrounding star system, where a Human Federation knight died destroying a Church knight. In the main space battle, an artificial sun engulfed Abraham and tens of millions of warships, leaving Norton to watch the Federation’s technological power.

• A Human Federation knight fought a Church knight who had attacked fleeing civilians, and the two killed each other in a blaze of light and fire.
• Church and Human Federation knights clashed across the city as both sides fought to break through the other’s defenses.
• Abraham battled among the fleets at the center of the star-system battle as a massive warship appeared before him and detonated.
• The explosion expanded into an artificial sun, engulfing Abraham and evaporating tens of millions of warships.
• Norton observed the artificial sun as the battle paused to witness the destruction.

During the Grand Holy War, a wave of soul infestation animated buildings, machines, and other objects into flesh-eating monstrosities, halting the battle between the Human Federation and the Pale Church. As the Human Federation fractured and fled, the Pale Church redirected its forces to purge the creatures.

• The Church knights attacked fleeing civilians and troops amid repeated artificial-sun explosions and waves of heat.
• A strange muttering swept across the star system, stopping combat before a giant flesh-and-blood tree emerged from a ruined building and crushed the Deputy Pontiff.
• Brother Delga charged the tree with his greatsword and nuclear bomb as other objects across the planet also mutated and attacked the living.
• Leaders of the Human Federation and the Pale Church argued over whether the creatures were caused by Soul Infestation and the sealing of reality and Heaven.
• The Human Federation's leadership splintered and its troops retreated, while Pale Church forces ceased firing at them and attacked the mutated creatures.

The Pale Church’s hundred-year war ended abruptly, and leaked footage from the fallen Adam Three Star System showed reality transformed by anomalous life-forms and humanity facing extinction. As panic and economic collapse spread through Pale Church territory, the Church imposed order and circulated propaganda blaming the Human Federation for the disaster.

• The Central Holy See halted the Pale Church’s resistance war after the front collapsed and the Adam Three Star System was lost.
• A leaked report and video showed mutated planets, monstrous life-forms devouring people, and Church knights fighting a losing battle.
• Copies of the footage spread across Pale Church territory, prompting panic, hoarding, flight attempts, and a sharp economic decline.
• The Pale Church deployed troops, arrested people, forced workers back to their posts, and sealed spaceports to restore order.
• The Pale Church circulated edited reports accusing the Human Federation and its elites of causing the apocalypse through greed, childbirth, spatial jumps, and war.