Chapter Summaries

Norton questioned why the Southern Continent’s history and technology so closely resembled Earth’s, especially after studying its contradictory cell theory and fossil record. He considered whether God had shaped the world using his memories or whether the Garden of Eden had been unconsciously influenced by them, which might mean his evolution was continuing.

• Norton observed the Southern Continent’s development and wondered why it followed a path so similar to Earth’s.
• He read about Liewen Make’s microscope and Dulan’s cell theory, which proposed that life evolved from simple organisms and was used to challenge the Church’s creationism.
• Southern Continent scholars searching for fossils found that older organisms were more powerful and complex, while the oldest fossils dated back only three hundred thousand years.
• Yalian VII ended the archaeological effort after the discoveries failed to support evolution and instead appeared to support creationism.
• Norton suspected that God might be using his memories to shape the world, or that the Garden of Eden had been influenced by his memories and his evolution was still progressing.

Luka, Aibolan, and Ryan began examining Norton's flesh under a microscope to uncover the Pale God's nature. They discovered that it had no visible cells or microbes, and that separate pieces merged together, leaving Ryan horrified by the possibility that the Pale God was one enormous cell.

• Luka rejected cell theory and hoped the research would expose the Pale God as a fraud or reveal his weaknesses.
• Aibolan defended microscopic research, and Ryan argued that cell theory could explain the Pale God's living body and perhaps help humans gain his power.
• Ryan placed a slice of Norton's flesh under the microscope and found it smooth, alive, and apparently without cells or surface microbes.
• Luka speculated that the Pale God's flesh might be a primordial cell like God in the Church's ancient records.
• Ryan touched two pieces of Norton's flesh together and watched them merge, then shouted in disbelief that the Pale God could be one enormous cell.

Norton considered whether his experiments could create a new primordial lifeform from his and God's genes, but rejected the dangerous idea for now. Three years after settling in the Aodelan Empire, he imposed holy-water rituals and Masses on its churches, prompting widespread ridicule and an official denunciation from the Holy Lord Holy See.

• Norton watched an experiment and wondered whether a Primordial Lifeform could be a new generation of Kuba created from his genes and God's.
• Norton decided not to pursue the risky experiment, wary of the danger despite seeing it as a possible path to growth.
• In Holy Year 1563, Norton ordered the Aodelan Empire to restructure its churches and monasteries, distribute his blessed holy water, and hold Masses twice a year.
• People across the Aodelan Empire and beyond mocked Norton's decree as a return to oppressive papal rule.
• The Holy Lord Holy See declared Norton a heretic and impostor, identified Caesar as its only God, and ordered its churches and monasteries to resist him.

The Holy See condemned Norton, the Pale God, but the nations mocked its decrees and ignored its arrest warrant. Miles XIII then decided to end the stalled negotiations over the division of interests and use the Pale God's name to draw supernatural powers into the nations' conflict.

• Pope Nicholas declared Norton an enemy of all servants, issued a Southern Continent-wide arrest warrant, and condemned Miles XIII for sheltering him.
• The nations ridiculed the Holy See's decrees, and the Kaimen Empire imposed export restrictions that forced Nicholas II to change his tune.
• At a meeting with Kaili Kaimen and George XV, Miles XIII said his experts considered Norton largely harmless and Abraham ambitious but manageable.
• Miles XIII announced that he would stop negotiating with the Holy Boya Empire and the Holy Noah Empire and redraw the world's order.
• Kaimen XVI and George XV agreed to stir up conflicts in Norton's name to pull him and other supernatural powers into the contest between nations.

Norton focused on advancing technology in the Aodelan Empire while allowing Miles XIII to use his name to provoke neighboring countries and pursue unification of the Southern Continent. Elizabeth reported the military tensions and struggled to understand Norton's increasingly human manner and the dangers of his experiments with holy water.

• Norton devoted the Aodelan imperial family's wealth to supporting scholars, universities, patents, and titles, and called for the empire's first science exhibition.
• Elizabeth told Norton that the Aodelan Empire had been provoking small clashes and using Abraham's converted vampires to destroy ships blockading the empire.
• Norton said Miles XIII had not crossed his limits and that unifying the Southern Continent would help spread his beliefs, regardless of which empire ruled it.
• Elizabeth recalled Abraham's claim that Norton's holy water could help vampires advance and wondered whether Norton was using common people as experimental subjects.

Norton learned that the Eternal Life Society, a group of wealthy third-generation vampires, planned to overthrow him, and chose to let them proceed. The Society’s ritual revived a rotting goat, which spoke for a deity demanding endless slaughter and souls.

• Norton read news about the coming Science and Technology Exhibition and hoped to use the industrial age to spread his name and achieve godhood.
• Elizabeth told Norton that the Eternal Life Society was plotting to usurp him, but Norton ordered that its members be spared and brought into the Pale God’s faith.
• The Eternal Life Society gathered underground around a corpse-covered ritual site and chanted as a hooded figure performed a strange dance.
• The Society’s ritual channeled black aura into a rotting goat, which rose and spoke of death, slaughter, and the souls needed to summon its deity.

The Aodelan Empire’s clash with the Holy Boya Empire triggered a continent-wide religious and military crisis as rival nations prepared to resist vampires while trying to manipulate Norton. Norton’s science and technology exhibition opened in the Aodelan imperial capital, drawing huge crowds eager to see his first public appearance.

• The Aodelan Empire sent holy water through a blockade, and after the Holy Boya Empire’s forces intercepted the ships and dumped the water, Miles XIII declared war in the Pale God’s name.
• The Holy Boya Empire, the Holy Noah Empire, and their allies established the Holy Lord Church as the orthodox Church and publicly claimed to honor Norton while guarding against vampires.
• Norton’s science and technology exhibition opened at the Aodelan royal estate, attracting scientists, scholars, and reporters from across the Southern Continent.
• The exhibition staff gathered the crowd and welcomed Norton, the Pale God, for his first major public appearance.

Norton made his public debut at a technology exhibition, presenting himself as a champion of scientific progress and freedom of thought. His speech persuaded the gathered reporters that history had wrongly portrayed him as a villain, though one reporter ended with a crude theory about his old enemies.

• Norton swooped down onto the exhibition platform, terrifying the crowd with his inhuman appearance and overwhelming presence.
• Reporters questioned Norton about his identity, his past, and why he had organized a technology exhibition.
• Norton declared that he had opposed the Papal State’s suppression of thought and intended to lead humanity toward a new age through technology.
• The reporters reinterpreted the hundred-year war as a struggle against the Church and concluded that the Papal State had smeared Norton in its histories.
• A reporter joked that Norton, rather than the priests, had been the one to sexually assault his enemies.

Norton toured an inventors’ exhibition, praised mechanization, and promised support for useful inventions. He renamed inventors’ creations after himself and offered one inventor eternal life, leaving the crowd clamoring for his favor.

• Norton announced a ten-billion subsidy for science and mechanization, thrilling the scholars and inventors at the exhibition.
• Norton toured the displayed machines and renamed a new spinning machine the “Norton Machine.”
• Volt presented his Voltaic Pile and pledged it to Norton in exchange for praise.
• Norton renamed it the “Norton Pile,” ordered a patent application, and promised Volt eternal life and exalted status.
• The crowd surged around Norton, hoping to earn the same chance at eternal life.

After the technology exhibition made Norton famous across the Southern Continent, rival empires and smaller kingdoms escalated disputes over holy water, trade, and territory. By the end, the continent’s alliances and conflicts had taken shape, and Norton watched the growing crisis without speaking.

• The technology exhibition ended, and the public largely credited Norton with its inventions after his appearance as the Pale God.
• The Aodelan Empire and the Holy Boya Empire clashed over a holy-water convoy, while the Aodelan Empire and the Kingdom of Del opened a trade route carrying holy water.
• The Kingdom of Himala converted to the Holy Lord Church and joined the Holy Boya Empire’s opposition to the Aodelan Empire, then attacked the Kingdom of Del’s holy-water convoy.
• The Kingdom of Del retaliated against Himala’s merchant ships, and escorts from the Aodelan Empire and the Kaimen Empire deterred further action by the Holy Boya Empire.
• The Holy Noah Empire fought the Balkan tribe but agreed to its independence after neighboring empires threatened its borders, worsening regional trade disputes and rivalries.
• Norton saw the Southern Continent’s opposing alignments forming but said nothing.

At a decadent banquet in the Aodelan Empire, nobles mocked Norton and spread rumors about his divine power while pursuing the Disease of Affluence. Miles XIII watched the Southern Continent’s elite with disgust and decided to bring in fresh blood.

• Count Lansen and the nobles laughed about the Disease of Affluence as they displayed their rotting bodies.
• The nobles discussed Norton’s origins and rumors that Kuba, the Primordial God of Death, might revive as the sun weakened.
• A man reported that a mysterious group in the imperial capital worshiped Kuba and sought his recognition through death.
• Count Lansen questioned whether people could gain power like Norton’s, while Miles XIII silently observed the gathering.
• Miles XIII concluded that the country’s corrupt elite had to be replaced with fresh blood.

Norton spent time with Maria, the young princess Miles XIII had sent to test the Pale God’s character and build a bond with him. Though Maria’s company touched his loneliness, Norton chose to encourage her selfishness and make clear that he was no benevolent guardian.

• Miles XIII sent his young daughter Maria to spend time with Norton, hoping to learn more about the Pale God and influence him.
• Maria listened as Norton hummed, and he remembered the kindness he had received from Bill (Karl) in Lino City.
• Elizabeth saw Norton’s smile as a sign that he was becoming more human.
• Norton told Maria that royalty was born to enjoy itself and that commoners were honored to serve her.
• Norton reminded Maria that he was greater than her, revealing that his loneliness did not make him a good person.

Norton’s holy water continued to cause supernatural mutations in the Southern Continent, while he frightened Princess Maria by cutting her arm to collect her blood, then healed her and revealed his monstrous mouth. He told Maria that just as humans were his food, everyone in the Aodelan Empire was food for royalty.

• Norton sensed that holy water had begun transforming women in Sak City into witches and men into demon hunters.
• Princess Maria brought Norton a cream puff cake and admired his appearance.
• Norton cut Maria’s arm and caught her blood on the cake despite her frightened sobs.
• Norton licked Maria’s wound closed, then revealed a huge mouth full of sharp teeth and ate the bloodstained cake.
• Norton told Maria that he regarded humans as food and that, as royalty, she could regard everyone in the Aodelan Empire as her food.

As the Southern Continent’s rulers prepared for a succession crisis, the Holy Noah Empire’s defeat and rising rivalries drove nations into an arms race and two opposing military blocs. The Madrid Empire remained outside both alliances as the continent moved closer to war.

• Norton ignored most outside affairs while Maria continued his harsh training, and he monitored developments such as Abraham’s preparations and Duoxia’s return to the Holy Lord Church.
• After Yalian LIII died, Yalian LIV became emperor, but the Liba tribe invaded the Holy Noah Empire and forced him to sign the Imperial City Accord, ceding territory and paying compensation.
• The Aodelan Empire and Holy Boya Empire expanded their militaries and clashed through attacks on holy-water convoys and merchant caravans, while other nations’ conflicts further inflamed tensions.
• Miles XIII, Kaimen XVI, and Edward XVII signed an alliance in 1571 to support one another against the Holy Boya Empire, prompting Yalian LIV and Noah XIII to form a rival mutual assistance pact.
• The two military blocs rapidly expanded their armies and budgets, while the Madrid Empire remained uninvolved and full-scale war drew nearer.

George XV prepared to abandon the Madrid Empire and pursue transformation through the revival of Jonah as the Southern Continent plunged into war. After the Madrid Empire collapsed under attacks from the Aodelan Empire and the Holy Noah Empire, its fate was left in ruins.

• George XV watched performers in an underground chamber and learned from Lide that preparations were complete for his departure to a refuge.
• George XV ordered the plan to begin, seeking to become a god's favored one through Jonah's revival.
• In autumn 1572, the Madrid Empire invaded the Liba Tribe, prompting the Holy Noah Empire to send troops to defend it.
• Miles XIII and Yalian LIV signed a non-aggression treaty, but the Aodelan Empire soon attacked Madrid with a million troops while the Holy Noah Empire opened an eastern front.
• Within half a year, the Madrid Empire fell completely.

Norton watched the Southern Continent’s war spread while reflecting on his desire to be betrayed in a way that could force his advancement. The Aodelan Empire’s invasion of Holy Boya drew the continent’s military blocs into a vast war, leaving the conflict escalating across the region.

• Norton learned through the Pressure that Miles XIII had conquered more than half of the Madrid Empire without promoting the Pale God and was allowing the Holy Lord Church to grow.
• Norton reflected that he wanted a betrayal powerful enough to threaten him, and decided he needed to reveal his ugliness to encourage others to turn against him.
• War production in the Aodelan Empire surged as Miles XIII funded factories and the machines associated with Norton, creating jobs and accelerating industrialization.
• After a brief period of peace, the Aodelan Empire provoked Holy Boya and invaded in spring 1574 with three million troops, advancing sixty kilometers before the empire’s rulers learned of the attack.
• The Holy Noah Empire declared war on the Aodelan Empire, and the Aidebao and Kaimen Empires joined under alliance treaties, turning the conflict into a massive war between military blocs.

Lide and James died in a rain-soaked trench battle after tobacco distributed by the Aodelan Empire left Lide too intoxicated to fire his musket. The war between the great military blocs then ground to a costly first ceasefire, and Miles XIII turned to Norton, the Pale God, as a force that might change the conflict.

• James gave Lide an empire-issued cigarette and urged him to ignore religious rules because he believed the soldiers would never be allowed to return home.
• An enemy surprise attack began, and rain-soaked muskets forced the soldiers into close combat; James was killed, then Lide was struck down without firing his weapon.
• The chapter described how population growth and tobacco-fueled militarism drove the Southern Continent into a year-and-three-month war that killed millions.
• In winter Holy Year 1575, the Aodelan-led alliance and its enemies began their first ceasefire after enormous casualties and stalled advances.
• Miles XIII, alarmed by the war’s cost to the Aodelan Empire, decided it was time to deploy Norton, the Pale God.

Miles XIII asked Norton to turn five hundred thousand people into vampires so the Aodelan Empire could gain an advantage in the war. Norton rejected the plan and ordered Abraham to display the Pale God’s authority, leaving the scale of his response unknown.

• Miles XIII greeted Norton respectfully and explained that he wanted the Aodelan Empire to prosper rather than gain eternal life.
• Miles XIII asked Norton to make five hundred thousand people vampires to help the empire win the war and expand overseas.
• Norton rejected the idea, calling vampires an inferior species that would pollute the Garden of Eden.
• Norton told Elizabeth to contact Abraham and show the world the authority of the Pale God.

Abraham returned to Norton after secretly drinking his holy water and advancing to a True Ancestor-level appearance. Norton exposed Abraham’s theft, then spared him and ordered him to lead the Blood Progenitors in a devastating campaign against those who refused to worship him.

• Abraham arrived before Norton, hid his changed green eyes, and claimed his mutations came from longing to sense Norton’s aura.
• Norton told Abraham he knew he had been stealing holy water, terrifying him with his control over the Blood Clan.
• Abraham begged Norton to forgive him and let him continue serving.
• Norton declared that the empires beyond the Aodelan Empire treated him as a heretic and gave Abraham authority to destroy them.
• Norton ordered Abraham to lead the Blood Progenitors in unleashing the Taotie Blood Feast against all who refused to revere him.

A monstrous transformation and explosion at Norton’s bedchamber alarmed Miles XIII, while Abraham led a devastating assault on the Holy Boya Empire’s imperial capital. Abraham and more than fifty giant figures destroyed the palace and city, killing Noah XIII and many nobles.

• A winged monster rose from Norton’s bedchamber, and Miles XIII ordered the head of intelligence brought to him.
• Noah XIII hosted a victory banquet and welcomed envoys from five small nations and a general from the Holy Noah Empire.
• The banqueters mocked Miles XIII and Norton as a powerful wind approached the imperial palace.
• Abraham announced that those who dishonored Norton would suffer death, then crashed into the palace roof.
• More than fifty giant figures descended on the imperial capital, wrecking its buildings and crushing Noah XIII and numerous nobles.