Chapter Summaries

Norton, a church-raised cleric, witnessed Father Mia exploiting a boy under the guise of giving him a blessing. Father Mia then allowed Norton to attend the next mass, giving him a chance to leave the church grounds for the first time in twenty years.

• Norton stood guard while Father Mia performed a so-called blessing on a frightened boy.
• Father Mia sent the boy away and praised Norton for keeping the process undisturbed.
• Father Mia told Norton he could join the following week's mass and said someone would explain the procedure the next day.
• Norton returned to his bare room and reflected on the church's strict rules and his long confinement.

Norton received five books, including accounts of the church’s Mass and the Holy Covenant, and learned that this world’s religious texts described vampires as real beings. He remained confined but anticipated going outside for the first time and resolved to take the possibility of vampires seriously.

• A missionary delivered five battered books to Norton on Father Mia’s orders.
• Norton read that Mass would take him to the slums and temple, where he would receive a blessing and become a missionary.
• Norton read the Holy Covenant’s account of Caesar creating monsters and bringing death into the Garden of Eden.
• Norton compared the book’s account of Kuba with the Garden of Eden’s description of vampires and their fear of sunlight.
• Norton recalled vampire lore from his previous life but kept an open mind about whether vampires and monsters existed in this world.

Norton studied church books that described vampires and other supernatural creatures, realizing that the world was far stranger than he had believed. He went to bed after the church bell rang, still uncertain what awaited him beyond the church.

• Norton considered how the sun might cause death and explain the world’s unusually long, increasing lifespans.
• Norton read church rules about vampires and learned how they were created, changed over time, and could be identified.
• Norton read accounts of other strange creatures, including Yindan, Epoch, werewolves, sirens, and human-faced birds.
• Norton concluded that vampires were uniquely caught between life and death and might pose a greater threat than the books revealed.
• Norton laid out the five books, heard the church bell, extinguished his oil lamp, and went to bed.

Norton trained with the other prospective missionaries for Mass at the Holy Lord Cathedral, enduring its filthy conditions and strict rules. After a day of instruction and devotions, he was finally due to take part in Mass.

• A church missionary woke Norton and led him to learn the procedures and precautions for the upcoming Mass.
• Norton studied the cathedral’s mural of Caesar, Shenyin, Jonah, and the bloodied head he suspected belonged to Kuba.
• Father Mia instructed Norton and four other prospective missionaries in the Mass procession and the distribution of black bread.
• Norton ate black bread and gruel, then joined the clerics in afternoon Bible recitation under the church’s strict ascetic rules.
• After days of training and recitation passed, it was time for Norton to take part in Mass.

Norton took part in the Papal State’s Mass procession through Holy Lord City and witnessed the paupers’ desperate poverty and the church’s indifference. Left alone at the end of the procession, he continued into the final street.

• The Papal State halted all work for its weekly Mass, and Holy Lord City’s paupers covered the filthy streets with flowers for the procession.
• Father Mia led missionaries out of Holy Lord Cathedral as the city recited prayers, with Norton following at the rear carrying a basket of bread crumbs.
• Norton watched paupers fight and bite one another for crumbs while church knights kept them penned to the roadside.
• The procession split into eight groups to travel through the city, and Norton stayed behind as the others turned into side streets.
• Norton entered the final street alone, scattering bread crumbs as he went.

Norton walked through Holy Lord Cathedral’s Mass procession, scattering black bread crumbs to starving paupers while imagining he could lead a revolution. When a starving woman begged for bread for her son, Norton had none left and kept walking as a church knight killed them both.

• Norton saw the emaciated paupers lining the road and recalled that the church starved them to deprive vampires of blood.
• Norton briefly imagined becoming a savior and leader of the people, then dismissed the idea and lost himself in fantasy as he scattered bread crumbs.
• Norton reached the end of the road and realized his basket was empty.
• A starving woman begged Norton to feed her child, but he had no bread left and continued walking because stopping during Mass was forbidden.
• The woman crawled onto the flower path and grabbed Norton’s robe, and a church knight beheaded her.
• Norton stepped past the woman’s head in silence as the knight killed her child.

Norton attended a weekly mass where the church served human meat as a blessing, deepening his horror at the system that had kept him confined and obedient. He forced himself to eat under the knights’ watch, left feeling no different from the meat in the cauldrons except for his modern soul.

• Norton finished mass and saw cauldrons of meat prepared for the church’s weekly meal beside bloodstained rags.
• As Father Mia preached to the poor, Norton considered how the church’s confinement had made missionaries obedient and wondered whether rebellion was possible.
• Father Mia led the missionaries to receive bowls of broth, while church knights watched for anyone who might refuse the blessing.
• Norton prayed with the others, then closed his eyes and swallowed the broth despite his revulsion.
• Norton reflected that his only difference from the meat was his modern soul, which he regarded as a sign of impurity.

Norton learned that the church planned to sacrifice him in the Ascension Ritual, and he tried to prepare for survival while remaining unaware of the ritual’s true purpose. The church confined him and ordered him to read books before the ceremony, leaving him with little choice but to comply.

• Norton vomited after eating the church’s foul food, while Father Mia and Bishop Rosen watched from above and discussed his fate.
• Bishop Rosen decided that Norton would be offered in the Ascension Ritual two days later rather than sent to the archbishop’s room.
• Norton returned to his cabin and resolved to secretly stockpile food in case he needed to escape.
• A church knight blocked Norton’s doorway as a jealous missionary delivered books and told him he could not go out or eat until the ritual.
• Norton took the books back to his room and began preparing to follow the rules so he would avoid punishment.

Norton read the church books "Ascension" and "Revival," whose accounts of God, Shenyin, and Jonah left him baffled about the church’s beliefs. With the Ascension Ritual approaching and no instructions in either book, he went to ask the church knight outside his door what he was supposed to do.

• Norton opened "Ascension" and read that Kuba killed God, after which Shenyin severed Kuba’s head and hung God’s corpse on a cross in the sun.
• Norton puzzled over the book’s portrayal of God’s human desires and Shenyin’s treatment of God’s corpse, and decided the church was dangerously strange.
• Norton read "Revival" and learned that God’s consciousness revived in Heaven, Jonah was imprisoned in the sun, and Shenyin cut Heaven off from the Garden of Eden.
• Norton realized neither book explained the steps of the upcoming Ascension Ritual, so he rose from bed and opened the door to question the church knight.

Norton was confined while the church prepared to burn him in the Ascension Ritual, believing he would only observe or take part in a minor ceremony. Father Mia and Bishop Rosen oversaw preparations to ensure Norton was burned thoroughly so he could not become a vampire.

• Norton asked the church knight why he could not read the Ascension Ritual's rules, but the knight refused to tell him.
• Norton reassured himself that he would not be sacrificed and settled back into his confinement.
• Church members prepared the cemetery ritual site with a cross, firewood, oil, and flowers.
• Father Mia and Bishop Rosen reviewed the church's research on how vampires might be created.
• The church decided to burn Norton thoroughly because his resentment and impure faith might make him become a vampire.

Norton was escorted by Father Mia and six church knights to the cemetery for the Ascension Ritual, which Father Mia said required Norton to do nothing. As the cemetery approached, Norton feared the church planned to sacrifice him and send him to Heaven.

• Father Mia arrived with six church knights and told Norton the Ascension Ritual would begin in fifteen minutes.
• Norton followed Father Mia toward the ceremony and learned he was its main character, though he would not need to do anything.
• Norton noticed the group was heading to the cemetery and grew suspicious about the ritual.
• Norton feared the church intended to sacrifice him and tried to coax more information from Father Mia.

Norton learned that the church intended to burn him as the sacrifice in its Ascension Ritual, and he attacked Father Mia in furious desperation. A church knight stabbed Norton through the heart, and he died as Father Mia ordered his body taken to the graveyard and burned.

• Norton asked Father Mia about the Ascension Ritual, and Father Mia revealed that Norton was its main figure and would be burned alive as a sacrifice.
• Norton cursed Father Mia and punched him in the eye, knocking him to the ground.
• The church knights drew their swords, and one stabbed Norton through the chest with a greatsword.
• Norton died before he could strike back, while a knight held his body upright on the blade.
• Father Mia cursed Norton and ordered the knights to take his body to the graveyard and burn it to ashes.

The church burned Norton’s corpse and ordered it dismembered and dumped outside the city, while Bishop Rosen prepared to deal with the six church knights involved in the rebellion. The chapter then described the Holy Lord Church’s vast power and the decline of life across its lands, including Norton’s city.

• Missionaries gathered as Norton’s corpse burned, while Father Mia watched and Bishop Rosen considered purging everyone connected to the rebellion.
• Father Mia ordered Norton’s charred body dismembered, and Bishop Rosen told the church knights to dump it outside the city and summon the six knights involved.
• Church knights drove a stake into Norton’s chest, loaded his brittle corpse onto a handcart, and pushed it away from the graveyard.
• The narration explained how the Holy Lord Church had grown into the Western Continent’s most powerful nation and how its practices had left the population struggling to survive.

A church knight attacked his companion while transporting Norton’s charred corpse to the mass grave, triggering a brutal fight between the two. The surviving knight fled deeper into the grave, while the poor witnesses scattered to escape the church’s coming purge.

• Two church knights dumped Norton’s charred corpse at the edge of the mass grave, and one hesitated as his companion prepared to dismember it.
• The hesitant knight stabbed his companion through the helmet with a sharpened stick, and the wounded knight accused him of heresy.
• The church knights fought with their greatswords until the wounded knight fell, crushing Norton’s charred leg beneath him.
• The poor witnesses fled, fearing both punishment for seeing a heretic and the church’s sweeping purge.
• The surviving knight hurried deeper into the mass grave to escape.

Norton revived in the mass grave after blood seeped into his burned body and helped him expel the stake from his chest. He regained enough strength to kill the church knight lying on him, then woke confused and remembered being burned to charcoal.

• The dead church knight's blood dripped into Norton's chest wound, and his body began to heal as he forced the stake out.
• Norton moved his right arm, lifted the church knight, and drew blood into his mouth through the knight's helmet.
• Norton tore the church knight's head from his body and pushed the corpse off himself.
• Norton stood unsteadily in the mass grave as his damaged body slowly healed.
• Norton remembered Father Mia's words and realized he had been burned to charcoal.

Norton recovered as a vampire and fled into the woods, while church knights confronted a werewolf that had attacked a cow. The werewolf fought back fiercely, but the knights wounded it and closed in to kill it.

• Norton realized he had become a vampire, stole armor from a dead church knight, and escaped into the woods, vowing revenge on Father Mia.
• Church knights kicked an old man and seized his family’s last cow, drawing the attention of a werewolf inside the livestock shed.
• The werewolf tried to escape through a window, but a church knight severed its leg with a greatsword.
• A church knight fired a barbed grappling hook into the werewolf, which turned and knocked a knight down before biting through his steel helmet.
• The pinned werewolf was stabbed through the chest, and two more church knights raised their greatswords to strike it.

Norton watched church knights defeat and kill a werewolf, then assessed his new vampire abilities and the danger posed by the church. He waited for a farmer and her daughter to take the dead old man away so he could sneak into the cowshed and drink cow's blood, while theorizing that God’s death had weakened sunlight and Jonah’s imprisonment had freed vampires to drink the blood of the dead.

• Norton hid in the grass and watched four church knights kill a werewolf before dragging away its corpse.
• He considered his vampire strength, rapid healing, heightened senses, and ability to smell blood from about a kilometer away.
• Norton saw a farmer’s wife and daughter mourn the old man killed by a church knight and decided not to drink his blood.
• He waited for the women to carry the body away so he could sneak into the cowshed and drink cow’s blood.
• Norton recalled that he could endure sunlight and drink blood from dead things, then theorized that God’s death had weakened the sun and Jonah’s imprisonment had removed restrictions on vampires.

Norton worried that the gods and their powers were real, then focused on finding blood to survive. He stealthily entered the mother and daughter’s house and drank from the pot of blood they had collected.

• Norton feared that God, Jonah, and Kuba had died and wondered whether Shenyin was supporting the church or was the pope.
• Norton saw the mother and daughter butcher the old man and the cow, saving their blood and smoking the meat for food.
• Norton removed his armor and quietly slipped into the house while the mother and daughter tended the fire outside.
• Norton found the clay pot of blood and chose to drink deeply despite his revulsion.

Norton drank blood and decided to avoid cities after suspecting the church could detect magical creatures. Meanwhile, Father Mia and Bishop Rosen identified him as a vampire and ordered the Holy Knights activated to capture him.

• Norton tasted blood, found its flavor unlike what he remembered, and drank from a clay jar.
• Norton concluded the church knights could locate magical creatures and chose to stay away from cities and their dangers.
• Father Mia and Bishop Rosen examined the corpse and deduced that Norton had worn the missing steel armor and that a vampire had taken him.
• Father Mia and Bishop Rosen celebrated the discovery of a vampire and summoned two Servants of Faith.
• Father Mia ordered the Holy Knights activated so they could search for Norton.

Norton hid in a cave near the city and explored an underground pool, testing his vampire body and searching for a way to escape if the church found him. He discovered a submerged passage and used clotted blood to lure any predators lurking beyond it.

• Norton entered a vast cave to hide from the church and found an underground pool at its deepest point.
• He removed his armor and bathed, discovering that he could see underwater and did not need to breathe.
• Norton spotted a narrow underwater opening beneath a fallen stalactite and pushed the obstruction aside.
• He carried his jar of blood to the pool, tossed in a lump of clotted blood, and waited to see whether it would attract predators from the passage beyond.