Holy Magic

The magic system taught and controlled exclusively by the Holy Church. Only Holy Knights and ordained clergy may learn it. Training in holy magic requires years of rigorous study at the Knight Academy in Venus City, where students must pass triple examinations of faith, physical ability, and magical aptitude before earning the right to cast spells.

Holy magic encompasses the following major branches:

• Healing: mending wounds and curing diseases (but not resurrection). Healing magic is the Church's most widely known ability and one of the key reasons the populace depends on the Church.
• Purification: cleansing dark magic corruption. Purification rituals are typically performed in Church sanctuaries and require multiple clergy members working in concert.
• Protection: barriers, wards, and blessings. High-ranking Holy Knights can erect protective wards over entire towns, though this demands enormous magical energy and stamina.
• Limited offensive spells: divine light that burns those deemed 'unholy.' These spells are primarily used against Black Sorcerers and so-called heretics.

The Church claims this power comes directly from Venus. In reality, holy magic is the same natural force as all magic, channeled through specific rituals and incantations that the Church has standardized and monopolized. The Church has spent centuries packaging this system as a divine gift to establish its unshakeable authority.

Forbidden Magic

Any magic outside the Church's system is classified as forbidden. This category is extraordinarily broad, encompassing:

• The Wood Magic inherited by the Eastern Children
• The dark magic of Black Sorcerers
• Hedge magic practiced by rural healers
• Any supernatural ability of unknown origin

Possession of forbidden magical knowledge — even without the ability to use it — is a capital offense. The Church's classification of 'forbidden' versus 'holy' magic has no basis in the actual nature of magic; it is purely a tool of control. A village grandmother who heals a feverish child with herbs and whispered words wields the same fundamental force as a Holy Knight performing healing rites in a sanctuary. Yet the former is bound to a stake, while the latter is revered as a saint. The absurdity of this classification is visible to very few, and those who see it have mostly fallen silent — or have already died.

Wood Magic

The ancestral magic of the Eastern Children, deeply connected to nature and life force. This is one of the oldest magical traditions, its history stretching back thousands of years before the Church's founding. Wood Magic manifests in several forms:

• Superhuman sensory abilities — for example, Viviane's extraordinary hearing that can detect sounds miles away
• Telepathic communication with animals
• Plant growth acceleration and manipulation
• Intuitive understanding of weather and natural cycles
• In rare cases, healing abilities that rival or surpass Holy Magic

Wood Magic is inherited through blood. It often awakens around puberty, even in descendants who don't know their heritage. This is precisely why the Church hunts Eastern Children descendants — an awakening child could expose everything. A seemingly ordinary family can be dragged into the abyss overnight when a child suddenly manifests unusual abilities.

Viviane Damelle in Uva Village has begun to exhibit these abilities, though she doesn't understand their source. Her extraordinary hearing is not a chance gift but a sign that the ancient heritage flowing through her blood is awakening.

The Swaying Clock

An extremely secret spell known only to the highest ranks of the Church, particularly Temple Knights. The Swaying Clock forces non-magic users into deep sleep and allows the caster to extract their recent memories — seeing their experiences as if watching a dream.

The spell is supposedly 'holy,' but its invasive, mind-violating nature makes this classification deeply hypocritical. A spell that forcibly invades another's consciousness and steals their private memories stands in direct contradiction to the 'merciful grace of Venus' that the Church preaches. Yet the Church has never publicly acknowledged this spell's existence, let alone debated its morality.

Crucially, the spell may fail against those with magical bloodlines. This side effect has been weaponized: if the Swaying Clock doesn't work on someone, it reveals they carry magical blood. This makes it not just an interrogation tool but a bloodline detection device. Azriel Leman wields this spell in Uva Village — it serves as both his means of investigation and his trap for identifying heretics.

Known Temple Knight Spells

Besides the Swaying Clock, the Temple Knights possess at least two other Holy Spells. These are documented only in the Church's highest-level secret records — ordinary Holy Knights and clergy know nothing of their existence.

• "Puppet Person" — The exact effects remain unclear, but the name suggests some form of mental control or manipulation. Azriel is known to have mastered this spell.
• "Grand Barrier" — A protective spell capable of erecting a defensive shield over a large area. Azriel is known to have mastered this spell.

Notably, in Tanapocia's magical system, spells can only be used to activate special abilities (such as memory extraction, mental influence, or protection) — they cannot be used for direct attack. Physical combat is conducted exclusively through martial skills like swordsmanship. This rule applies to all types of magic, whether Holy Spells or Wood Magic. Anyone possessing any magical ability can resist spells that target non-magic users (such as the Swaying Clock) — which is why Lina can resist it.

Combat Abilities

In Uva Village, combat abilities are highly unevenly distributed — reflecting a society where the Church strictly controls the means of force.

Dark Magic

The magic attributed to Black Sorcerers who emerge from the Dark Realm every decade. Church doctrine teaches that dark magic is fundamentally corrupt — a perversion of natural forces that corrodes the soul of its wielder. Black Sorcerers can wield destructive power that threatens entire settlements, which serves as one of the Church's primary justifications for maintaining the Holy Knights as a standing military force.

However, the truth is far more complex than doctrine suggests. The 'Black Sorcerers' may be remnants of the Eastern Children, driven to extremism by generations of persecution. Their 'dark' magic may simply be Wood Magic warped by rage and survival. If this theory holds true, then the 'evil' the Church fights is precisely the product of the Church's own persecution — a cruel cycle where oppression breeds retaliation, and retaliation justifies deeper oppression. The Church needs Black Sorcerers as a threat to justify its own existence, while the Church's persecution continually creates new Black Sorcerers. This is perhaps Tanapocia's darkest irony.