Chapter Summaries

Norton escaped through an underwater passage and found a hidden pool where he could examine his new vampire body and plan his next moves against the church. He stayed in the cave, misjudged the danger of daylight, practiced with his greatsword, and fed on the blood he had stored.

• Norton swam through a narrow underwater passage and emerged at a secluded pool outside the cave.
• Norton examined his pale body and considered how the church threatened him, deciding he would eventually need to kill Father Mia.
• Norton spent his first day in the cave and discovered that his strength was greater than an ordinary person's.
• Norton tried to leave the cave the next day but retreated when the sunlight made his body tingle.
• Norton practiced swinging his greatsword in the cave until he felt confident in his swordsmanship.
• Norton drank the stored blood after noticing it had darkened, then decided to wait and digest before going out.

Norton tested his vampire body's limits, then endured weeks of danger and boredom while making a home in a forest cave. After a vampire bat arrived and offered him blood, he let it stay, wondering whether it might become his companion or reveal new abilities.

• Norton discovered that physical injuries healed within seconds, tested fire and other supposed vampire weaknesses, and found that only the cross seemed to suppress him slightly.
• Norton mapped the area, encountered a Human-Faced Bird, and later hid from a creature whose tapping searched for life inside his cave.
• After a month in hiding, Norton found the Human-Faced Bird's rotting corpse and deep holes made by a creature with a huge beak, and decided the forest was more dangerous than the city.
• Norton built a coffin and furniture, blocked the cave entrance, and continued to feel no hunger despite weeks without blood.
• A vampire bat arrived at Norton's cave and offered him blood, so he decided to let it stay and see what happened.

After nearly sixty days in his cave, Norton left the forest and went to Holy Lord City in search of safer shelter. He found that the city’s religious murals could burn him even while he was hidden, leaving him wary of the church’s power.

• Norton decided to leave his cave after weighing the dangers of the forest against the outskirts of Holy Lord City.
• Norton failed to find a small town and saw church caravans return from the official road with dead knights and monster hides.
• Norton entered Holy Lord City and cautiously explored its filthy outer districts while avoiding people and church personnel.
• Norton felt his skin burn when he looked toward a God Shepherding Sheep Picture, even though he was concealed beneath roof thatch.
• Norton moved into an alley to escape the mural’s effect and feared that the church could locate or kill him.

Norton fled the city after a mural harmed him, while two Holy Knights tracked his aura and pursued him toward his cave. He prepared to hide in the cave’s pool and fight them if they arrived.

• Norton wrapped his head, left the alley, and hurried toward the city gates.
• Church knights sealed off the street as two Holy Knights arrived and tracked Norton's aura through walls in pursuit.
• Norton raced back to his cave, collected his greatsword and leaf cloak, and climbed into his coffin.
• Unable to settle, Norton put on his steel armor and decided to prepare for the church knights.
• Norton planned to hide underwater and attack the knights if they entered the cave.

Norton hid underwater to ambush the Church’s Holy Knights, but two heavily armored fighters plunged into the pool and attacked him. He realized they were strange bioweapons, and watched them struggle to move through the water while remaining wary that they might adapt.

• Norton heard the Church knights approaching and hid beneath the pool, planning to attack them or escape through the far exit.
• The two Holy Knights smashed through the cave and jumped into the pool in their golden armor when they detected Norton.
• Norton struck one knight between the eyes with his sword and dodged a powerful counterattack that gouged the rock.
• The Holy Knights sank to the bottom and repeatedly leaped and slashed at Norton, unable to move effectively underwater.
• Norton recognized the knights as Church bioweapons and stayed alert in case they learned to advance through the water.

Norton watched two Holy Knights drown and tested their blood, confirming it was safe to consume. At Holy Lord Cathedral, Archbishop Adam confronted Father Mia over the deaths, while Bishop Rosen arrived and blamed Mia for the failure.

• Norton waited for the two Holy Knights to die, then removed their helmets and tasted their blood.
• After an hour without ill effects, Norton opened his mouth and showed that his teeth had begun to change.
• Archbishop Adam entered Father Mia's room, seized him, and ordered a church knight to kill the boy there.
• Adam accused Father Mia of hiding a vampire's appearance and causing the deaths of two Holy Knights.
• Bishop Rosen knelt before Adam, admitted fault for failing to control Father Mia, and left Mia furious at his attempt to shift blame.

Bishop Rosen sacrificed Father Mia to avoid responsibility for the deaths of two Holy Knights, while Archbishop Adam ordered him to stop pursuing Norton after the Pope issued a Holy Judgment Order. Norton suffered severe agony after drinking the knights’ poisoned blood, but it accelerated his transformation into a full vampire and derailed his revenge plan.

• Bishop Rosen urged Archbishop Adam to let Father Mia redeem himself, but Adam rejected the plea and the church knights killed Father Mia.
• Archbishop Adam told Bishop Rosen that the Holy Judgment Order meant their faction must abandon the vampire, then warned him not to let anyone find Norton.
• Norton writhed in a cave after drinking the Holy Knights’ poisoned blood, even cutting out his organs in a futile attempt to stop the pain.
• Norton’s body became gaunt, his teeth and nails sharpened, and his eyes turned scarlet as the blood completed his transformation into a vampire.
• Norton realized the transformation had disrupted his plan to take revenge on the church.

Norton discovered that his body had changed into a withered, red-eyed form he believed was a stage in his growth as a vampire, though his strength had increased. Fearing the Church would track him after its knights found his hiding place, he packed to flee and took his bat companion with him.

• Norton studied his revolting reflection and concluded that his appearance might mark the second stage of a vampire’s growth.
• Norton found that he had grown much stronger and decided he could no longer safely show himself to anyone.
• Norton resolved to flee to a large river, fearing the Church could track him through the dead knights or their equipment.
• Norton packed his belongings, left the Church equipment behind, and carried his coffin out of the cave.
• Norton took the bat from the cave and hung it upside down from the wrinkled skin on his chest.

Norton chose a mountaintop cliff as his new home, then began building a house there to escape his years of confinement by the church. In Holy Lord City, the arrival of five hundred Holy Knights in the Holy Judgment Order interrupted Mass and drew Bishop Rosen to meet them.

• Norton traveled through the wilderness with his coffin, avoiding lakes and searching for a safe cliffside refuge.
• Norton reached a high mountain with a view of the distant city and settled on its summit.
• After living there briefly, Norton made a stone axe and began building a house, enjoying his newfound freedom.
• A formation of five hundred golden-armored knights arrived in Holy Lord City and halted a Mass as the people prostrated themselves.
• Bishop Rosen left Holy Lord Cathedral to meet the Holy Judgment Order, whose members were all Holy Knights.

The Holy Judgment Order took control of Holy Lord City and triggered a year of slaughter as residents used false accusations to seize and defend wealth. The city was left nearly depopulated and facing plague, while the search for Norton remained fruitless.

• Bishop Rosen welcomed the Holy Judgment Order, which declared it would take over all church affairs in Holy Lord City and shut Holy Lord Cathedral.
• The Holy Judgment Order began killing people deemed unclean, and residents learned they could prompt the knights to act by accusing others of heresy.
• Poor and rich residents alike made false accusations to have rivals killed and seize their property, turning Holy Lord City into a massacre.
• One year later, fewer than one in ten residents remained, the streets were covered with corpses, and the vampire Norton had still not been found.
• As the heat intensified the stench, Holy Lord Cathedral reopened and sent missionaries and church knights to supervise the removal of bodies.
• The pope continued seeking immortality, while Bishop Rosen and Bishop Adam focused on ensuring the pope did not find Norton.

Norton remained hidden in the wilderness as he concluded that nutrients and time were necessary for his evolution and suspected an epidemic had devastated Holy Lord City. Meanwhile, the dying pope learned that fewer than one in ten residents remained and summoned Adam and the Holy Judgment Order so he could name his successor and reveal something to Adam.

• Norton reflected on his year in the wilderness and concluded that his stalled evolution required nutrients and a long period of time.
• Norton suspected an epidemic had struck Holy Lord City because its lights were disappearing and a foul stench was spreading, but he chose to remain in hiding.
• The pope asked his attendant for news of the vampire and learned that fewer than one in ten people remained in Holy Lord City.
• The attendant reported that Bishop Adam seemed to be stirring up disputes to divert the Holy Judgment Order's attention.
• The pope ordered Adam and the Holy Judgment Order summoned back so he could decide on an official successor and tell Adam something important.

After feeding on a deer, Norton recovered some flesh but found that ordinary blood did not speed his growth. He decided to return to the cave where he had encountered the Gold Saints and began climbing down the cliff.

• Norton fed on a deer and felt his stalled growth resume faintly, though the blood did not accelerate it.
• He considered seeking out the Gold Saints again for their blood but remembered their overwhelming strength and reconsidered.
• Norton decided to check whether the armor remained at the cave and whether anyone had discovered it, since the cliff was dangerous and conspicuous.
• He tested the vine rope attached to his hut, then lowered himself over the cliff.

Pope His Holiness revealed that Archbishop Adam had passed his test to become the next pope and said humanity’s fate would rest in his hands. He began taking Adam to the secluded hill behind the Holy See to reveal the church’s secrets.

• His Holiness told Adam that capturing a vampire was not the point of his test and explained that he had chosen Adam as his successor.
• The pope explained that Adam’s ambition, patience, ruthlessness, and ability to see the bigger picture set him apart from the other bishops.
• His Holiness said he was dying and wanted Adam to learn the church’s true secrets before inheriting responsibility for humanity’s fate.
• Adam pushed the pope outside, where His Holiness admired the sunset and spoke about life, God, and the church’s texts.
• His Holiness directed Adam to take him behind the artificial mountain, then fell asleep in his wheelchair as Adam pushed him toward the secluded hunting ground.

Archbishop Adam accompanied the weakening pope into a hidden crevice in the mountain, where ancient murals depicted events from the scripture Ascension. The murals suggested a deeper meaning to the wings shown on God and Kuba, which Adam recognized as a symbol of divinity.

• The pope asked Adam whether the church's scriptures were true, and Adam said their correspondence with reality made the question unimportant.
• The pope told Adam to follow a path through the woods to a crevice in the cliff, and Adam pushed him onward.
• Adam and the pope passed two ancient Holy Knights guarding the crevice and entered with their torch-bearing escorts.
• Adam saw murals depicting scenes from Ascension, including God being killed by Kuba and God's body being nailed to a cross by Shenyin.
• Adam noticed that only God and Kuba were shown with wings, which in the Holy Lord Church signified divinity.

Archbishop Adam learned why vampires bore God’s divinity as the Pope led him into a cavern containing hundreds of dormant Holy Knights and a corpse he identified as God. The chapter ended with Adam staring in shock at the body on the bone cross.

• Archbishop Adam noticed that the murals gave wings only to God and Kuba, while Shenyin and Jonah had none.
• The Pope explained that vampires could bear divinity because they were copies of God, created when his genes were nurtured in corpses.
• Archbishop Adam realized that vampires might be God’s true children and asked whether God had really existed.
• The Pope led Archbishop Adam into a vast cavern filled with hundreds of dormant Holy Knights.
• Archbishop Adam saw a pale, inhumanly perfect corpse hanging from a bone cross and recognized it as God.

Archbishop Adam and the Pope discovered that the Church’s records were true when they visited God’s corpse, which was nailed to a bone cross. The Pope explained that God was sealed rather than dead, leaving Adam shaken by the existence of beings far beyond his understanding.

• Archbishop Adam and the Pope entered the chamber and saw God’s pale body nailed to a bone cross.
• Adam noticed what seemed to be God’s chest rising and falling and recoiled in fear.
• The Pope told Adam that the movement was a manifestation of life and that God was sealed, not dead.
• The Pope recited the Church’s prophecy about God’s divine body, Heaven, Shenyin, and Jonah, confirming the accounts were real.
• Adam realized that powerful beings could easily overwhelm him and began to fear what God’s existence might mean.

The dying pope revealed that Shenyin had used Kuba’s divinity and remains to keep God’s corpse from awakening, then warned Adam to protect the secret at any cost. Adam became pope after the old pope died, burdened with the knowledge and responsibility.

• The pope told Adam that Shenyin, not Kuba, had sealed God by hanging God’s corpse on a cross made from Kuba’s bones and exposing it to focused sunlight.
• Adam realized the Ascension Ritual used sunlight to prevent God from awakening, rather than to restore God’s power.
• The pope warned Adam that God’s awakening would destroy everything and ordered him to ensure future rulers learned of the corpse, even if the Church fell.
• The pope died in his wheelchair, leaving Adam as his successor and responsible for protecting God’s corpse.

Norton built a fortified wooden cabin on a cliff to escape the growing hordes of animals and monsters drawn to Holy Lord City's mass grave. A year later, after the creatures fought and migrated, the Werewolves emerged as the final victors.

• After the mass grave attracted more predators and monsters, Norton abandoned his cave and began building a safer shelter.
• Norton fed from a deer and recovered his former appearance and some strength, while his body continued to improve gradually.
• Norton chopped down trees and built a cabin with sharpened roof spikes and barricades around it.
• A year passed as the animals around Holy Lord City's mass grave multiplied, then fought over dwindling food and territory.
• Norton watched from his cabin as the Werewolves emerged as the final victors.

Norton prepared to defend his cabin as a disciplined pack of Werewolves surrounded him and charged. He decided that after the attack, he would go to the city rather than remain in the dangerous wilderness.

• Norton saw that Werewolves had gathered around his cabin and were watching him from the forest.
• Norton considered why the monsters kept targeting him, despite the plentiful prey nearby.
• Norton put on the Holy Knight's armor and picked up his golden greatsword.
• Norton sensed the Werewolves closing in and resolved to fight them with his Vampire abilities.
• A howl sounded, and dozens of Werewolves charged toward Norton's cabin.

Norton was overwhelmed when the wolf king led dozens of werewolves in an attack on his cabin. He escaped by leaping off a cliff after maiming the wolf king, while the pack gathered at the edge and then raced back into the forest.

• The wolf king charged through Norton's cabin, and Norton severed its right arm before it knocked him into the wreckage.
• The werewolves swarmed Norton, biting and tearing at his armor until they pinned him down.
• Norton broke his own arm to stab a werewolf through the chest, then threw off his attackers and fled toward the cliff.
• Norton shed his limb armor and struck the wolf king's muzzle while leaping off the cliff.
• The werewolves howled at the cliff's edge, then followed the wolf king into the dark forest.