Chapter Summaries

After a hundred-thousand-strong army descended from the sky, Luxiusi told Geliwusi he intended to die delivering a sermon, leaving Geliwusi to keep the Holy City stable and confront Sailesi. As Geliwusi went to stop Sailesi, Luxiusi prayed and addressed Samuer, who had arrived.

• Sailesi ordered his forces to hold the walls while he handled problems inside the city.
• Luxiusi summoned Geliwusi and revealed that he would die delivering a sermon.
• Geliwusi tried to dissuade Luxiusi and asked him to help resist Sailesi, but Luxiusi refused to explain his purpose.
• Luxiusi told Geliwusi to prevent unrest and leave Sailesi to him; Geliwusi agreed to confront Sailesi instead.
• Luxiusi prayed one final time and murmured, asking whether Samuer had come.

Samuer met with Luxiusi and argued that the suffering caused by the world’s changed conditions justified destroying it and beginning anew. After Luxiusi acknowledged Samuer’s right to reclaim his gifts, he unexpectedly placed a hand on Samuer’s head, leaving Samuer startled.

• Samuer told Luxiusi that Sailesi had sent him to kill his teacher, though Samuer also wanted Luxiusi dead himself.
• Samuer explained that his plans for several simultaneous wars had been disrupted by the god disguised as the Son of God, forcing him to meet Luxiusi in person.
• Samuer challenged Luxiusi’s beliefs about good and evil, arguing that the world’s gifts had become curses and that ending suffering could not simply be called evil.
• Samuer revealed himself as the Tree Worship Church’s god and demanded to know whether he had the right to take back his gifts and destroy the world.
• Luxiusi answered that Samuer did have that right, and Samuer said the world needed to begin anew, including himself.
• Luxiusi placed his hand on Samuer’s head, surprising him.

Samuer explained to Luxiusi that another world had been destroyed by the Demonic Tide and that its dead creator had become the source of the crystal-cluster monsters. He revealed his plan to erase this world and remake it by assimilating the Demonic Tide, leaving Luxiusi grieving but insisting that Samuer believed in the future.

• Luxiusi questioned Samuer about his pain and resolve, and Samuer answered that they stemmed from Seneer Milkristo, a deity from another world.
• Samuer described how the Demonic Tide destroyed Seneer Milkristo's world, leaving its creator dead and its body transformed into crystal-cluster monsters.
• Luxiusi recognized that the monsters of the Skeleton Alliance came from the contamination of that destroyed world.
• Samuer told Luxiusi that he planned to reclaim his blessings, erase the world, assimilate the Demonic Tide, and create everything anew, though his consciousness would cease to be himself.
• Luxiusi wept and urged Samuer to believe in the future, and Samuer replied that destruction could become the foundation for new life.

Luxiusi confronted Samuer about his plan to use death to revive his power, urging him to stay and help free the world from the Demonic Tide. As Luxiusi began to die, he explained his understanding of the Tree God and delivered a final sermon, leaving Samuer with his plea for the god to find release.

• Luxiusi pleaded with Samuer to abandon his course and use his strength against the Demonic Tide, while recognizing that Samuer wielded the Authority of decay and death.
• Luxiusi realized Samuer could grow stronger through deaths and wondered whether the Son of God who wielded life could counter the immense destruction ahead.
• Samuer asked Luxiusi who the Tree God was, and Luxiusi answered that the god was both of them and neither.
• Luxiusi reflected that the god of the past, present, and future could be the same yet different, then rose to deliver a sermon to his god.
• Luxiusi prayed that he was returning the gift of life and wished that the Tree God would one day find release.

The Soul Returners launched a chaotic assault on the Holy City, where the Holy Crusaders held them back with dense fire and volleys of arrows. The Second Holy See’s boat crews turned their fishing boats into wheeled sleds and then overhead shields, while a mobile fortress appeared on another part of the battlefield.

• The Holy Crusaders recovered from their initial panic and repelled the Soul Returners’ first attack with coordinated fire.
• The Second Holy See’s sailors, stranded on dry land with their boats, added wheels and tried to row the boats toward the walls.
• Arrow volleys killed many of the sailors and left their boat-sled advance in disarray.
• Soul Returners took over the boats, flipped them upside down, and advanced beneath them as shields against the arrows.
• Holy Crusader squad leaders spotted a moving fortress and ordered that its appearance be reported.

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.