Chapter Summaries

Klein told George how he had used the Gray Fog Space to divine the origin of Sealed Artifact 3-0782 and obtain Sun Sequence formulas and the Sunflame Charm technique. George gave Klein a pacifier that could unleash Samadhi True Fire and summon George for help, and Klein decided to report to his Captain and pursue advancement to Sequence Eight.

• Klein explained that divining the mutated Sun Sacred Emblem had revealed its origin in golden liquid and nearly burned his soul, while also granting him Sun Sequence formulas and the Sunflame Charm technique.
• George realized he could use the Gray Fog Space to obtain knowledge related to gods and suggested Klein seek another chance to use Sealed Artifact 3-0782.
• Klein proposed asking Mr. Azk to help create a ghost incident that could justify deploying the artifact again.
• George gave Klein a pacifier that unleashed Samadhi True Fire, could harm powerful enemies, and let George teleport to his aid when summoned.
• George left the Gray Fog Space, and Klein resolved to report to his Captain and advance to Sequence Eight.

George and the Bartons arrived in Backlund, where Jack’s royal-backed promotion and the Church of the Dark Night Goddess’s intervention helped the family settle into a villa near St. Samuel Cathedral. The chapter left George preparing to deal with Qilingus after the Tarot Club assigned Miss Justice to locate him.

• Jack received a promotion to a leadership position at Backlund City Hall, and the Bartons traveled to the capital with George.
• George secretly set fire to a gentleman reaching for Jack’s pocket as the family left the station, where Heide greeted them and arranged temporary lodging.
• With Heide’s help, the Bartons bought a villa on Pace Fair Street for ten thousand pounds; George recognized the Church of the Dark Night Goddess had arranged the price and location to keep watch on him.
• Jack settled into his new City Hall job while Chris explored Backlund and prepared a banquet, and George continued his research and helped save four low-sequence Loss of Control persons.
• At the Tarot Club, Miss Justice received the Mind Reader Potion formula, and The Hanged Man shared intelligence about Qilingus, prompting Miss Justice to search for him and notify George.
• After the meeting, George read Roselle’s diary pages in Klein’s possession and gained additional intelligence.

George used the mutated Sun Sacred Emblem to divine high-level Sun Sequence knowledge from the Eternal Blazing Sun, enduring its counterattack before stopping to avoid revealing the Gray Fog Space. After returning to his body, he studied ways to convert the knowledge into magic, then later gained a chance to fleece an evil god through Old Neil.

• George told Klein the mutated Sun Sacred Emblem would soon be ready for another divination.
• George divined the Potion formulas and abilities for Sun Sequences Four through One from the Eternal Blazing Sun, but the god's counterattack interrupted his attempt to learn about Sequence Zero.
• George stopped the divination after withstanding the weakened attack, then shared the knowledge he had obtained with Klein.
• George recorded the Sun Sequence information and began adapting it into magic from other worlds.
• A week later, George found an opportunity to fleece an evil god through Old Neil rather than through the fetus inside Meigao'osi.

After learning that Old Neil had lost control while trying to revive his former lover, Klein asked George to help restore him. George traveled with Crestet to Tingen, where he learned about the Hidden Sage’s influence on the Hermit pathway and found Old Neil imprisoned as a monster.

• Klein told George that Old Neil had lost control after attempting to revive Sallysith through Life Alchemy, and George promised he could restore him.
• Crestet arrived to take George to Tingen, and George learned that Crestet had advanced to Sequence Four.
• During the train ride, Crestet explained how the Hidden Sage pursued Hermit pathway Beyonders by forcing occult knowledge into their minds.
• George realized he could use Old Neil’s Hidden Sage-influenced Beyonder characteristics to divine the deity and gain occult knowledge.
• George and Crestet reached the Night Watchers’ headquarters, where Dunn showed them Old Neil, a blood-colored mass restrained with Sealed Artifact No. 3-0611.

George saved Old Neil by removing the contaminated Beyonder characteristic, then used divination to draw mystical knowledge from the Hidden Sage. After the Hidden Sage cut off the knowledge flow, George brought Old Neil back to Dunn, Klein, and Leonard, where he sensed a concealed second soul within Leonard.

• George used Silent Hair to keep Old Neil quiet while he extracted the contaminated Beyonder characteristic and purified his soul.
• George divined the source of Old Neil's contamination and absorbed a torrent of mystical knowledge from the Hidden Sage for over ten minutes.
• The Hidden Sage recognized that George was accepting its knowledge without harm, stopped transmitting, and blocked his divination.
• George removed Silent Hair and led the bewildered Old Neil out, reuniting him with Dunn, Klein, and Leonard.
• George sensed a concealed second soul within Leonard and began to suspect that it was parasitizing him.

George agreed to obtain future Diviner Potions by helping the Church kill cultists or save Night Watchers who had lost control. Meanwhile, Jack and Chris attended Duke Negan’s ball, where Jack wondered whether his deceased father had been the illegitimate child of a royal or noble.

• Crestet assessed Klein’s digestion of his Sequence Nine Potion and gave him the Sequence Eight Clown Potion.
• Crestet told George that the Church would provide him with later Diviner Potions in exchange for killing enemies of the corresponding Sequence or saving Night Watchers who had lost control, and George agreed.
• At the next Tarot Club meeting, Miss Justice reported that her hired Beyonder had found Qilingus but lost his trail after Qilingus nearly killed them.
• The Barton family received invitations to Duke Negan’s ball, and Jack and Chris traveled to the Duke’s residence.
• Jack wondered whether his deceased father had royal or noble connections after recalling his attentive colleagues and the invitation.

George attended Duke Negan’s banquet with Jack and Chris, where Duke Negan’s attention to Jack drew the couple into the company of influential guests. After recognizing Audrey Hall, George received Klein’s warning that Qilingus might be at the ball in disguise.

• George accompanied the Barton family to Duke Negan’s residence and was taken to the nursery while Jack and Chris joined the ball.
• Duke Negan greeted Jack, confirmed that his promotion had received the duke’s support, and prompted other nobles and officials to seek the couple’s favor.
• George recognized Audrey Hall as Miss Justice and learned her identity as Earl Hall’s daughter.
• George continued researching Sealing Magic in the nursery and received Klein’s message that Qilingus might be disguised as Baron Gramir at the ball.

George watched over the duke’s residence during the banquet and stopped Qilingus’s attempt to assassinate Duke Negan. He killed the pirate general, took Squirming Hunger, and found that its Faceless characteristic could help him advance.

• George reassured Audrey that he was at the banquet and could kill Qilingus, then used Eye of Probing to watch the duke’s residence.
• Audrey realized that Mr. Strength was at the banquet, though she could not identify him among the guests.
• Qilingus extinguished the hall’s lights and attacked Duke Negan, but the duke’s guards and preparations forced him to flee.
• George waited along Qilingus’s escape route, stopped his wind blade, and resisted the Nightmare ability from Squirming Hunger.
• George killed Qilingus with a single strike, collected his Wind Usher characteristic, and examined Squirming Hunger for its Faceless characteristic and other uses.

George killed Qilingus at Duke Negan’s manor, then revealed himself to the Kingdom’s leaders and the Churches as the Bartons’ baby. After arranging secrecy around his identity, he returned to the nursery, where his parents found him safe.

• Duke Negan and his men found George beside Qilingus’s corpse, and George confirmed he was the Bartons’ child.
• Ace Snake, Radall Valentine, and Alger Wilson arrived with the Storm Church; George greeted the Church leaders and accepted thanks for killing Qilingus.
• Duke Negan offered George ten thousand Gold Pounds, while Alger recognized him as Strength after George gave him their agreed hand signal.
• George asked Duke Negan to keep his identity secret, then used Flame Jump to return to the nursery.
• Mr. and Mrs. Barton entered the nursery and found George safe in his crib.

Audrey discovered that the baby Mr. and Mrs. Barton carried was Mr. Strength, the person who had killed Qilingus. That night, George tested Squirming Hunger, obtained the Faceless One characteristic, and decided to ask Crestet for Potion ingredients.

• Earl Hall told Audrey that a powerful guest had killed Qilingus, and Audrey suspected the guest was Mr. Strength.
• Audrey noticed the nobles' attention on the Barton baby and confirmed her guess when the baby opened his eyes and made Mr. Strength's familiar gesture.
• After his parents fell asleep, George tested Squirming Hunger's Nightmare ability and subdued the glove when it tried to attack him.
• George had Squirming Hunger release the Faceless One's soul and extract its Beyonder characteristic.
• George chose to seek the supplementary ingredients from Crestet so he could advance by consuming a Potion.

George advanced to Sequence Six Faceless and began studying ways to digest the Potion. Klein summoned him to the Gray Fog Space and showed him a Primordial Witch idol recovered after the Night Watchers killed Madam Sharon, and George began divining from it.

• Crestet gave George the ingredients for the Faceless Potion and promised him a Marionettist Potion after he digested it, with additional conditions for Church-provided mermaids.
• George drank the Faceless Potion and advanced to Sequence Six, then considered how to digest it by impersonating others and converting more magic.
• Three days later, Klein summoned George to the Gray Fog Space and showed him an idol of the Primordial Witch.
• Klein explained that Madam Sharon, a Sequence Six Witch, had ambushed him, Dunn, and Cohen Li after the Spirit Medium Mirror failed to overcome her immunity to dream invasion.
• Klein used George's Magical Pacifier to strike Madam Sharon with Samadhi True Fire, allowing the three Night Watchers to kill her and recover the idol.
• George took the idol and began divining from it.

George divined most of the Primordial Witch’s Sequence formulas, upgraded Klein’s pacifier, and learned how Ins.Zangwill’s plans had been disrupted. Ins.Zangwill decided to stop manipulating events from the shadows and act directly to secure the Saint’s ashes.

• George divined the Primordial Witch’s formulas from Sequence Nine through Sequence Two before she severed the divination.
• George told Klein what he had learned about the Witch pathway and upgraded Klein’s pacifier so it could harm Sequence Five Beyonders.
• Ins.Zangwill realized Klein’s survival and the Attire Ritual had disrupted his plan to corrupt Dunn and obtain the Saint’s ashes.
• Ins.Zangwill arranged for Madam Sharon to kill Congressman John Maynard and evade Dunn, but Klein killed her with a Sealed Artifact.
• Ins.Zangwill decided to enter the fray himself before Klein grew stronger and Dunn advanced to Sequence Six.

Meigao'osi visited Black Thorn Security Company while carrying a potentially catastrophic being, and Dunn chose to delay confrontation until reinforcements arrived. George came from Backlund to investigate the hidden schemer, discovering Ince Zangwill as he began forcing a meteor toward the company to trigger the premature birth of the True Creator's offspring.

• Meigao'osi visited Black Thorn Security Company, and Klein sensed a terrifying existence gestating inside her while suspecting someone was manipulating events.
• Klein alerted Dunn, who evacuated non-combat personnel, requested reinforcements, and chose to stall rather than risk a battle that could kill most of the Night Watchers.
• Klein summoned George with a pacifier, and George promised to investigate the person behind the scheme while Klein rejoined Dunn.
• George transformed into a young man, concealed himself, and used the Eye of Scrutiny to find Ince Zangwill secretly writing in a notebook with a quill.
• Ince Zangwill used the notebook to make a meteor fall toward Black Thorn Security Company, intending to force the True Creator's offspring to hatch prematurely and create an opportunity to profit.

Meigao'osi transformed as a meteor fell toward the Black Thorn Company, forcing the Night Watchers to battle the presence in her belly and restrain it with Sealed Artifacts. Ins.Zangwill ambushed Dunn and the evil god's offspring emerged, but George descended into the hall just as Ins.Zangwill reached for the Saint's ashes.

• Meigao'osi transformed and destroyed the meteor with her bone blades, while Cohen Li retrieved the Saint's ashes for Dunn.
• Dunn and Cohen Li used the Saint's ashes and Silent Hair to restrain Meigao'osi as Leonard and Klein attacked her, but the evil god's offspring began emerging from her belly.
• Ins.Zangwill attacked Dunn, causing him to lose control of the Saint's ashes, and the infant broke free as Klein, Leonard, and Cohen Li's minds began to suffer corruption.
• Ins.Zangwill reached for the Saint's ashes, but George descended into the hall with twelve pairs of angel wings.

George seized the Saint's ashes, defeated Ins.Zangwill and the True Creator's offspring, and sealed both of them inside a Russian Matryoshka Doll. Dunn and the others believed George had killed the pair instantly, leaving them shocked by his strength.

• George summoned the Saint's ashes and destroyed Ins.Zangwill's Gate of the Dead with Fairy Glitter.
• Ins.Zangwill tried to escape, but George dragged everyone into a mirror space.
• Ins.Zangwill allied with the True Creator's offspring, while Dunn and the Night Watchers prepared to hold the offspring back.
• George used Fairy Law to beat Ins.Zangwill and the True Creator's offspring nearly to death, then sealed them inside a Russian Matryoshka Doll.
• Dunn and the others saw the pair disappear and assumed George had killed them instantly.

George returned to the ruins of the Black Thorn Company, healed Meigao'osi, and gave Dunn the name Passerby A before vanishing. After the Three Great Churches began investigating him, George returned to Backlund, captured Ins.Zangwill, and questioned him about the Scepter of Aleshoud.

• George caught Meigao'osi's departing soul, healed her ruined body, and told Dunn to call him Passerby A before disappearing.
• Dunn, Klein, Leonard, and Cohen Li confirmed that George had taken the Saint's ashes, while the Goddess of the Night recognized the name Passerby A as George's.
• The Punishers, Heart of Machinery, and Church leaders arrived in Tingen and began investigating Passerby A, whom they suspected was a Sequence Three expert.
• George returned to Backlund and felt the Faceless One Potion digest as the name Passerby A spread among the Churches.
• George released the barely living Ins.Zangwill, took the Scepter of Aleshoud, and made Ins.Zangwill explain its identity and value.
• George realized the Scepter of Aleshoud had influenced him and ordered Ins.Zangwill to reveal everything valuable he knew.

George extracted Ins.Zangwill’s Gatekeeper Beyonder characteristic, sealed him away, and divined the power and secrets of the dying offspring of the True Creator. The True Creator’s continued attacks revealed that he was a madman, along with secrets about the Hanged Man pathway, Grisha, and the Ancient Sun God.

• George extracted Ins.Zangwill’s Sequence Five Gatekeeper Beyonder characteristic and sealed him in the Matryoshka Doll.
• George learned from Ins.Zangwill that the dying offspring belonged to the True Creator, who sought to descend into the world through it.
• George explained his doubts about the True Creator’s claims and the Aurora Society’s beliefs.
• George divined the source of the offspring’s power and received a counterattack and attempted corruption from the True Creator.
• George continued the divination and obtained the Hanged Man pathway’s sequence information and secrets involving Grisha, the Ancient Sun God, and betrayal.

Wong learned from the True Creator that Grisha was the Ancient Sun God, whose failed plan to escape God’s resurrection led to his betrayal and the creation of the True Creator. With the Primal Creator and its divided selves dead, Wong planned to pursue the world’s powers while guarding against the Celestial Worthy’s return.

• Wong learned that Grisha had risen from the Sea of Chaos, rebuilt human civilization, and ruled much of the world before God began awakening within him.
• Grisha created Amon and Adam, then arranged his own death so they and Saslier could consume his characteristics and free him from God’s possession.
• The Kings of Angels of Wind, White, and Wisdom betrayed Grisha, took his corpse and uniqueness, and became the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Blazing Sun, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
• Saslier became the True Creator but went mad, while Adam contested him for dominance and the Land of the Forsaken remained cut off from North America.
• Wong concluded that the Primal Creator, God, and the Celestial Worthy were dead, and resolved to grow stronger before claiming this world’s uniqueness and source qualities.
• Wong recognized that the Aurora Society’s wars against the three Churches followed from the betrayal of the Ancient Sun God.

After learning that Earth was his former home and that he could never return, Klein accepted his loss and sought a way to protect his new family and friends from the Celestial Worthy. He offered George Origin Castle, and George agreed to refine it while leaving it in Klein’s hands for now.

• George told Klein the clues he had divined from the True Creator, confirming that Klein’s former relatives and friends were dead and he could not return home.
• Klein recovered from his grief and decided he needed more power to protect his family and friends, but feared that advancing would hasten the Celestial Worthy’s awakening within him.
• Klein proposed giving Origin Castle to George in exchange for George’s future help during crises.
• George agreed to refine Origin Castle with his own method but let Klein keep using it and posing as The Fool.
• George reasoned that the Goddess of the Night was likely a modern person and a former soul from Origin Castle, and decided to conceal his ownership from her while continuing to advance through the world’s normal potion system.

George refined Origin Castle, became its true owner, and restored Klein’s access to it while granting him broader permissions. At the Tarot Club meeting, George covered Alger’s debt with Roselle’s Notes, which he accepted in exchange.

• George pulled Origin Castle into his world and refined it, imprinting it with his soul mark.
• Klein’s connection to Origin Castle was severed, then George used the pacifier to bring him back and mark him, restoring his access with expanded permissions.
• The Tarot Club met, and Audrey and Alger noticed George’s adult soul after previously seeing him as an infant.
• Alger gave Klein nineteen pages of Roselle’s Notes and offered George payment for his help against Qilingus.
• George told Alger that The Fool had paid for the information and accepted the Notes as the exchange.