Recaps

The Soul Returners attacked the Holy City with mobile fortresses, and the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess, protected Rock Love to Death or Not as he played his flamethrowing guitar. Nuowa spotted the fortress on the battlefield and asked Ed why it had come from Great Labyrinth City.

• The Holy Crusaders and Stained Ones fired at the approaching mobile fortresses, while Gu Gugu urged Rock Love to Death or Not to take cover.
• Rock Love to Death or Not played his flamethrowing guitar on deck, drawing the defenders’ attention and a barrage of attacks.
• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess blocked the barrage with its vine tentacles and batted seed missiles back toward the wall.
• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess hoisted Rock Love to Death or Not onto a mast and told him to keep playing as it charged the city.
• Nuowa recognized the King of Fall Resistance, I Guess and asked Ed why it had come from Great Labyrinth City.

Ed revealed that the Soul Returners cared most about being included, then sent Noya’s plant-dragon body into the air as part of the assault on the city. The defenders spotted the dragon and panicked, while Nuowa still wondered what Ed’s plan was.

• Ed told Nuowa that the Soul Returners had been testing the city’s defenses and that they valued participation above death or defeat.
• Ed awakened Noya through the knight’s sword, and she took flight in her enormous plant-dragon body with the character cards aboard.
• Ed explained to Nuowa and Liya that the Second Holy See matched opponents by tier and that Soul Returners needed to be included and entertained.
• Nuowa asked Liya whether his jokes could win the Soul Returners over, and she recalled several of his embarrassing schemes.
• A Holy Crusader spotted Noya above the city, and a Stained Ones cleric corrected him that she was a real dragon.

Noya’s dragon dive finally broke the Holy Crusaders defending the walls, but the Stained One crushed Sailesi’s red spider lily and witnessed a horrifying vision that reignited their resolve. With Sailesi at his side, he rallied the soldiers to regroup and counterattack as the enemy approached.

• Ed told Noya to keep pressuring the Holy Crusaders, and she circled above the walls before diving like a Stuka bomber.
• Noya’s dive terrified the Holy Crusaders into fleeing, while the Stained One feared what would happen to him if they lost.
• The Stained One found Sailesi’s red spider lily, recalled Sailesi’s instruction to use it if the situation became untenable, and crushed it.
• The Stained One saw the battlefield transform into a grotesque vision and cried out that the Stained Ones had been right to oppose such monsters.
• Sailesi appeared beside the Stained One, who rallied the fleeing soldiers to hold the walls and launch a counterattack.

Sailesi activated the spider lilies’ hidden power across the Holy City, turning residents into defenders under his influence. As the city’s inhabitants joined the growing ranks, Geliwusi approached Sailesi in the square.

• Noya simulated dragon breath at Ed’s instruction, and Ed explained that she could not produce real dragon breath as a plant dragon.
• Sailesi saw a spider-lily petal wither and concluded that the enemy’s attack had activated his preparations.
• Sailesi left the Holy Soul Hall and sent commands through the roots beneath the Holy City.
• Spider lilies emerged from residents and a family’s home, enthralling people and driving them to take up weapons to defend the city.
• Sailesi recognized Geliwusi in the square and challenged him as the cardinal approached without answering.

Geliwusi confronted Sailesi in the Holy City, relying on Luxiusi’s gift of the root network and Clear Void Pine resin to fight him. Sailesi’s allies intervened as Geliwusi trapped him, and Sailesi realized Luxiusi had given Geliwusi his power.

• Geliwusi revealed that Luxiusi had given him the root network covering the Holy City and transformed into a gigantic tree.
• Sailesi summoned nine subordinates, and all ten Stained Ones attacked Geliwusi with their symbiotic plants and [Dream of Rebirth] spider lilies.
• Sailesi struck Geliwusi’s trunk with a powerful punch, blasting a huge hole through it and destroying much of the plaza.
• Geliwusi held Sailesi’s fists fast in the trunk and sent branches rushing to attack him.
• Sailesi’s allies blocked Geliwusi’s branches, and Sailesi recognized that Clear Void Pine resin had trapped his hand.

Geliwusi fought Sailesi’s assault while Sailesi used an illusion to send tens of thousands of Holy City residents against him. Geliwusi unleashed Symbiotic Mistletoe seeds that freed the crowd from the illusion, and Sailesi recognized the plants as parasites.

• Sailesi tore his trapped hand free and pulled the Stained One archbishops back to his side as Geliwusi’s wound began to heal.
• Sailesi bewitched the Holy City’s residents and ordered them to attack Geliwusi, then headed toward the northern city wall.
• Geliwusi coated the charging crowd in resin, breaking Sailesi’s illusion and trapping people in layers while trying to save civilians from being trampled.
• Geliwusi weakened the Clear Void Pine and released a rain of seeds that took root on the crowd’s Symbiotic Trees, freeing tens of thousands from the illusion.
• Sailesi called the spherical plants parasites, and Geliwusi identified them as his Symbiotic Mistletoe.

Geliwusi used the Clear Void Pine and his Symbiotic Mistletoe to protect the citizens and confront Sailesi with an army of plant puppets. Sailesi fought off the puppets, but the last attacker revealed Geliwusi himself.

• Sailesi learned that Geliwusi could imitate abilities from plants his Symbiotic Mistletoe parasitized.
• Geliwusi trapped the freed citizens behind a wooden wall and sent plant puppets to attack Sailesi.
• Sailesi summoned his Stained Ones to fight the growing puppet army and smashed two puppets himself.
• Three puppets ambushed Sailesi, but he dodged their spikes and tore the mistletoe growth from one attacker.
• The surviving puppet turned to reveal that it was Geliwusi.

Geliwusi exposed the Sailesi fighting him as a brainwashed stand-in, Luorui'er Fitz, and learned that the real Sailesi had fled the Holy City from the start. He imprisoned Luorui'er and began suppressing Sailesi’s loyalists as he considered how to help take the city.

• Geliwusi tested Sailesi’s combat ability and concluded that his opponent was a fake.
• Geliwusi overpowered the stand-in, peeled away her facial covering, and recognized her as Luorui'er Fitz.
• Geliwusi recalled that Sailesi had appointed Luorui'er after she escaped Fitz Province, suspecting he had prepared her as a brainwashed stand-in.
• Geliwusi realized the real Sailesi had already fled and imprisoned Luorui'er in a plant prison.
• Geliwusi summoned more pinewood puppets to suppress Sailesi’s loyalists while planning his next move.

Noya turned herself into a ramp so the Soul Returners could storm the Northern Holy City’s wall, while Sailesi’s illusions made the attackers seem even more monstrous to the Holy Crusaders. After the mobile fortresses secured a foothold on the battlements, Ed ordered Duma to deploy the Soul Returner Legion for street fighting.

• Noya landed before the Holy City wall and hardened her body into a ramp for the attacking forces.
• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess and the other mobile fortresses led the charge up Noya’s back as the Dream of Rebirth made the Holy Crusaders see them as terrifying monsters.
• The Holy Crusaders fired at Noya and converged on the ramp, but her hardened body resisted their weapons.
• The King of Fall Resistance, I Guess used its tracks to crush Holy Crusaders while the Soldier Bees and other Soul Returners supported the assault.
• The Soul Returners took a foothold atop the battlements, and Ed ordered Duma to deploy the Soul Returner Legion for street fighting.

Duma led the disciplined Soul Returners toward the Holy City, relishing his command under Ed, who had promised him authority over the city’s remnants and future military posts. As the assault approached the walls, Ed checked on the captive Cuiske, who saw the Holy City again from inside Willow’s alchemical golem.

• Duma reflected that the Soul Returners had solved his old problems with troop supply and discipline, and he prepared to carry out Ed’s orders.
• The Soul Returners advanced in orderly formations, frightening the Holy Crusaders on the walls with their seemingly unstoppable march.
• Ed kept the Adrian Imperial Guard and Gungnir’s child soldiers beside him for the coming entry into the Holy City, while leaving Motley’s Wild Hunt behind.
• Ed asked Willow about Cuiske, and Willow checked the elderly captive inside her alchemical golem.
• Cuiske saw the Holy City through the golem’s faceplate and said that it had been a long time.

Ed entered the Holy City atop Seraphina, a Red Dragon, after players opened the north gate for him. His procession advanced toward the central square while fighting continued across the city.

• Ed ordered the players to parade the traitorous Cardinal Cuiske through the streets, and they carried him bound to a towering cross.
• Seraphina arrived as a Red Dragon, carried Ed above the procession, and helped him lead the march toward the city.
• Players attacked the north gate, using Oil Vine explosions to clear a path, and opened it just as Ed arrived.
• Ed praised the blood-soaked Soul Returners who had seized the gate and ordered them back into the Adrian Imperial Guard.
• The procession entered the Holy City as Duma's troops swept the northern district, where battles and resistance continued.
• Ed chose not to plunder the city, since he considered the Holy City his own.

Ed led an armed procession into the Holy City, where Cardinal Geliwusi Kruger and more than a hundred thousand people welcomed him as the Son of God. Ed began punishing Geliwusi by drawing a strange, blood-red fruit from a mistletoe growing out of his body.

• Ed arranged an imposing procession led by himself on Seraphina, followed by Xilǐ'er, Gungnir, and the Adrian Imperial Guard carrying Cuiske.
• Ed's force marched unopposed through the Holy City toward its central square as the city's residents watched from hiding.
• Geliwusi Kruger knelt before Ed and welcomed him as the holy Son of God, while more than a hundred thousand people in the square also bowed.
• Ed considered how to punish Geliwusi without provoking the onlookers into desperate action.
• Ed lifted his hand, causing Geliwusi to convulse as a strange mistletoe grew from him and produced a blood-red fruit that floated into Ed's palm.

Ed stripped Geliwusi of his Symbiotic Mistletoe, sparing its life, then learned that Sailesi had escaped and Luxiusi had warned Geliwusi he would die that day. Ed was left wondering what had kept Luxiusi from fleeing.

• Ed deprived Geliwusi of his Symbiotic Mistletoe, leaving the plant alive to sustain him.
• Ed ordered Geliwusi to rise and learned that he had captured Sailesi's double while Sailesi escaped.
• Ed questioned Geliwusi about Luxiusi, who had not appeared to welcome him.
• Geliwusi privately told Ed that Luxiusi had met with him an hour earlier and said he would definitely die that day.
• Ed wondered what had held Luxiusi back when he could have fled.

Ed coordinated the Imperial Guard’s response across the Holy City, then used his robe to absorb the symbiotic plants of the captured Stained Ones. He followed Geliwusi to the cathedral’s prayer hall, where they found Luxiusi’s lifeless body.

• Ed assigned Duolin, Xilǐ'er, and Nuolun to stabilize the seminary, maintain order, and secure the Holy Soul Hall and Records Office, while Willow and Seraphina stood by.
• Ed had Noya’s quests appear for the Soul Returners, who accepted tasks to help manage the aftermath.
• Ed stripped the captured Stained Ones of their symbiotic plants and absorbed the plants into his robe, leaving many of them in agony.
• Ed and Geliwusi entered the Holy City Cathedral and climbed to Luxiusi’s prayer hall.
• Ed saw Luxiusi’s withered body beneath the sacred statue and confirmed that he was dead.

Ed investigated Cardinal Luxiusi Sawini’s silent death and suspected that the World Tree’s Authority had compelled him to die. He found a mysterious dead twig in Luxiusi’s hands and picked it up, only to have it rapidly drain his life force.

• Geliwusi carried Luxiusi’s body into the prayer hall, and Ed reflected on the cardinal’s kindness and the strange circumstances of his death.
• Ed reasoned that Luxiusi’s death could have resulted from an Authority he had no wish or ability to resist, and wondered whether the World Tree had killed him.
• Ed opened Luxiusi’s clasped hands and found a tiny dead twig resting in them.
• When Geliwusi moved to pick up the twig, Ed warned him away from it.
• Ed picked up the twig, and it caused his right hand to rapidly age and wither as Geliwusi watched in shock.

Ed recognized the dead branch as part of the World Tree, his former material body, and realized that its remains had given rise to a new Authority of Passing and a being embodying true death. He understood that he must reclaim this fragment by devouring that being or being devoured, and that every death would strengthen his new enemy.

• Geliwusi called out when Ed's gaze went vacant and the marks of decay spread up his arm.
• Ed replenished his incarnation with vitality, driving the decay back from his body.
• Ed realized the dead branch came from the World Tree, the body his former self had left behind after dispersing into Psionic Energy.
• Ed concluded that the Authority of Passing, representing irreversible death, had emerged from the Tree God's remains and completed the counterpart to his primordial life.
• Ed recognized that a being born from his corpse possessed the missing fragment of his Authority and had already crossed paths with him in Fir City.
• Ed understood that he and the being would have to devour one another to master life and death, and that death would help the being grow.

Ed assigned Geliwusi to manage the captured Stained Ones by overseeing a charcoal factory and the Wild Hunt. Geliwusi then identified Luxiusi’s missing personal attendant, Samuer, as a possible hidden enemy, and Ed ordered his records retrieved.

• Ed decided he could not truly revive Luxiusi until he defeated the being who commanded death and completed his own authority.
• Ed appointed Geliwusi to regulate the captured Stained Ones, improve the factory’s efficiency, and organize transfers between the factory and the Wild Hunt.
• Ed told Geliwusi to establish the factory’s first branch in the northern outskirts of the Holy City and staff it with captured Stained Ones.
• Ed asked whether any other prominent Holy City figures had disappeared, and Geliwusi recalled that Luxiusi’s personal attendant, Samuer, was missing.
• Ed suspected Samuer might be the hidden enemy and ordered Geliwusi to fetch his records.

Ed uncovered Luxiusi’s efforts to reform Samuer and arranged a public execution for the Stained Ones, including the woman impersonating Sailesi. After absorbing the Territory Secret Pact and replacing the cardinals’ roots across the region, Ed took control of the Holy City, which became an exclave of the Second Holy See.

• Ed read Samuer’s file and learned that Luxiusi had written it more than twenty years earlier, apparently knowing Samuer’s true nature and trying to reform him.
• Ed protected Luxiusi’s body with his vines and heard Geliwusi explain that Luorui’er Fitz had been brainwashed into believing she was Sailesi.
• Ed ordered Geliwusi to announce the crimes of Cuiske and Sailesi and arrange for Nuolun to execute the condemned Stained Ones, including Luorui’er’s stand-in persona.
• Geliwusi transferred the Holy City’s Territory Secret Pact to Ed, who absorbed the emerald into his body.
• Little Green’s belch triggered hours of earthquakes as Ed’s Root Network replaced the cardinals’ roots and brought the Holy City under his control.
• The Holy City officially became an exclave of the Second Holy See.

After the Second Holy See took control of the Holy City, Ed learned that Sailesi had likely escaped toward the Skeleton Alliance rather than the Empire. Ed reassured the returning scouts and directed Geliwusi to manage the Stained Ones and publish his account of the events.

• With Geliwusi's help, Nuolun's Soul Returners found city plans that let Duma's troops clear the Holy City street by street.
• By early morning, Ed's forces had secured the city, restored its civilians from Sailesi's illusion, and established Second Holy See defenses and services.
• Luxiusi's scouts returned without finding Sailesi and learned that Luxiusi had died.
• Ed concluded that Sailesi had probably fled toward the Skeleton Alliance, puzzling over why he had not sought refuge in the Empire.
• Ed told Geliwusi to manage the Stained Ones and reassure the civilians, then ordered him to publish the document he had written.

Ed’s decree blamed the Oathbreakers and Stained Ones for the Holy City’s suffering, honored Luxiusi as a saint, and ordered the captured leaders executed. Three days later, Ed attended the public beheadings as the city’s residents accepted the Soul Returners and his rule.

• Geliwusi’s decree was posted throughout the Holy City, and Soul Returners read it aloud to spread its accusations, punishments, and praise of Luxiusi.
• The Holy City’s residents grew comfortable with the Soul Returners, who helped repair their homes and gained their trust.
• Ed gained the residents’ support after word spread that he had drawn away the symbiotic plants.
• Ed arrived at the execution platform three days later, where Luorui’er, still believing she was Sailesi, and Cuiske awaited execution.
• Pure One Holy Crusaders brought dozens of condemned Stained Ones to the platform, and Nuolun took his place as executioner.

Ed publicly established his rule over the Tree Worship Church Theocracy, announced sweeping new laws, and learned from Geliwusi that the Holy City had a hidden treasury. The chapter left Ed with a potential source of precious-metal currency to support his new regime.

• Ed appeared before the Holy City as the sole ruler of the Theocracy, while the Adrian Imperial Guard used Forget-Sorrow Mint to sway the crowd gathered for Luorui'er’s execution.
• Ed had Geliwusi announce new laws that abolished conscription, tithes, alcohol taxes, and agricultural taxes, encouraged land reclamation, and restored precious-metal currency.
• Ed relied on Seraphina as financial backing for his debt and considered launching a company, but postponed the plan.
• Geliwusi told Ed that the Holy City had a treasury containing precious metals sealed away when the Theocracy was founded.

Ed secured the Holy City's vast treasury and established plans for a Root Network bank, while the Theocracy punished its enemies and completed its unification. As celebrations began, Ed reflected on the growing threats ahead, then faced Seraphina's questions about their accounts.

• Geliwusi revealed the Holy City's underground treasury to Ed, who opened it and connected it to the Root Network for future banking.
• Geliwusi announced new decrees and read the Stained Ones' crimes, while Nuolun carried out the executions.
• Messengers delivered surrender ultimatums across the provinces as Duma's troops prepared to attack, and the Theocracy's forces secured victory.
• A notification announced the completion of phase three of “The Only Holy Church” and made the epilogue quest “Lasting Peace” available.
• The Holy City celebrated unification as Ed considered his allies and enemies from Luxiusi's room in Saint Savini Cathedral.
• Seraphina confronted Ed about discrepancies in their recent accounts, and Ed responded awkwardly.

After Ed Adrian took control of the Theocracy, Soul Returners helped make its new name, the Holy Tree Worship Church Theocracy, official. Sailesi Richter denounced Ed from the Skeleton Alliance, but his claims were dismissed because the Theocracy had already announced his execution, and Ed’s forces unified the country.

• Ed Adrian took control of the Theocracy without claiming the title of pontiff, while Geliwusi switched sides and retained high office.
• Soul Returners paid Nuowa to alter [Elf's Dream], making people say the name Holy Tree Worship Church Theocracy in a solemn tone, and the name was officially adopted.
• Sailesi Richter arrived in the Skeleton Alliance and denounced Ed, accusing him of forbidden experiments and declaring plans to retake the Theocracy.
• People dismissed Sailesi’s accusations because news had already reported that he was executed and his head displayed across the country.
• By mid-August, the Soul Returner Legion had reclaimed the Theocracy’s other ten provinces, unifying the country.

After confirming Sailesi and Samuer had fled, Ed prepared the next stage of the story and released a quest to develop the Wilderness of Chaos north of Klaf City and strengthen ties with the Graycast Corridor. He also considered using immigration to share the benefits of Soul Returners with other factions.

• Ed learned that Sailesi and Samuer had escaped beyond his Root Network, then suspected Sailesi’s public statement had either been badly written or issued by the Skeleton Alliance’s leadership.
• Ed planned to shift the next main storyline toward the Skeleton Alliance and the Starlight Empire, while giving players a breather with a new quest in the Wilderness of Chaos.
• Ed released the special quest “Wilderness Big Cousin,” directing players to expand north of Klaf City, guard trade routes to the Graycast Corridor, and prepare a buffer zone near the Eternal Domain.
• Players took up the quest in modest numbers, though the game’s player population had exceeded five hundred thousand and continued to grow.
• Ed adjusted quests to distribute players more evenly and began considering immigration as a way for other factions to benefit from Soul Returners.

[Good Times Don't Last] and [Shit Appraisal Master] opened the Great Prospects Import Trading Company in Graycast Corridor, selling imported wooden and metal parts with help from half-dragon staff. As business grew, a burly man entered and requested assembly service, prompting a half-dragon to fetch the owners.

• [Good Times Don't Last] and [Shit Appraisal Master] celebrated the shop opening with homemade firecrackers outside the trading company.
• The two owners explained how they had prepared for opening and how their connections to Gray Gris helped the business get established.
• [Good Times Don't Last] described how he made the firecrackers from smoke cakes, Oil Vine-soaked plants, and mechanical arms.
• The owners and half-dragon staff began selling parts and assembly services to customers, explaining the differences between the High-Quality Charcoal Processing Plant and the Half-Dragon Workshop.
• A burly man entered, selected several products, and asked for assembly service, so a half-dragon went upstairs to fetch the owners.