Chapter Summaries

As the wedding party began its first rehearsals, Schiller learned that Magneto and the others had captured Mr. Sinister in the Andromeda galaxy. The heroes remained occupied with wedding preparations and their forgotten dream battle against Hydra, while the Mutants gained an advantage over their enemies.

• Charles and Erik returned after Professor X's message, and Magneto and Professor X agreed to let them join Polaris and the others in investigating the High Evolution and confronting the threats to the Mutants.
• Schiller and Dream Power Doctor Strange discussed the heroes' forgotten dream battle, and Schiller denied ordering their memories erased.
• Pepper organized the first wedding rehearsal, sending the women for makeup trials and the men to the island for fittings.
• Schiller helped Carter through her makeup trial, then changed into his groomsman outfit and joined the group choosing wedding attire and testing the chefs' food.
• The heroes discussed how to defeat Hydra over dinner, unaware that their dream memories would fade again and Dream Power Doctor Strange would adjust Hydra's strength.
• Schiller messaged Ultron and learned Magneto had caught Mr. Sinister after he taunted Professor X on the public channel and exposed his hiding place.

Professor X interrogated Nathaniel, discovered that Apocalypse had modified him and that he helped develop an X-gene poison, then revealed a plan to lure Apocalypse and the New Skrull Empire into a trap. The chapter ended with Professor X preparing Rogue and Magneto to use five noble-marked Shi'ar ships to provoke a clash between the Skrulls and Shi'ar nobles.

• Logan, Polaris, Quicksilver, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Rogue, and Blink gathered in Professor X's office and mistakenly assumed his changed appearance reflected some personal regret or reconciliation.
• Magneto brought in the bound Nathaniel, and Professor X used lightning to remove the last of Nathaniel's hair after Nathaniel insulted him.
• Professor X unleashed a Mind Storm that left Nathaniel mentally incapacitated, then learned from his memories that Apocalypse had modified him and that he was not a Mutant by birth.
• Professor X explained that Nathaniel had helped Apocalypse create an X-gene poison and revealed a plan to pretend the X-Men had obtained the antidote, drawing Apocalypse and the New Skrull Empire out.
• Professor X told Rogue to prepare five starships disguised as vessels belonging to powerful Feather Star nobles, intending to provoke conflict between the Skrulls and Shi'ar nobles.

Professor X and Magneto planned to provoke a war between the Shi'ar Empire and the New Skrull Empire to weaken the Queen and protect the Mutants. They also planned to trap Apocalypse when he came to check whether his poison had worked.

• The Shi'ar nobles sought to weaken the Queen by pushing her into a war, while the Kree Empire would likely support a conflict with the New Skrull Empire over its planet-destroying weapon.
• Professor X and Magneto planned to secretly destroy five Shi'ar noble starships and make the empires believe the New Skrull Empire possessed the Life Fusion Plan weapon.
• Professor X persuaded the Divine Spear Bureau to help in exchange for preserving a starship's warp device.
• Professor X and Magneto discussed Apocalypse's poison and concluded that he would likely approach the Andromeda galaxy twenty-four hours after its release to observe the effects.
• Professor X planned to fake a public loss of Mutant abilities to lure Apocalypse into connecting to his brainwaves, allowing him to attack.

The ladies spent the morning trying on elaborate wedding dresses and jewelry while Schiller and the other men waited nearby. Meanwhile, Apocalypse tried to spy on the Andromeda galaxy, but Professor X and Magneto captured him; an alarm in Apocalypse’s mind forced Professor X to seek David’s help.

• The ladies tried on wedding dresses and jewelry for hours, while Schiller asked Pepper about the value of her necklaces and preferred the more expensive design.
• Ultron helped seal off the Andromeda galaxy’s network after Apocalypse attempted to hack its cameras.
• Professor X had Sunspot and Havok stage spectacular losses of control to draw Apocalypse out, and Apocalypse believed he had caught the Mutant leaders off guard.
• Apocalypse’s laughter turned to screams as Magneto captured him and brought him through a wormhole to Professor X.
• Professor X stopped trying to brainwash Apocalypse after discovering an alarm device in his mind, then asked Magneto to find David.

Professor X and Legion altered Apocalypse’s personality so he could pass the Skrull inspection while remaining loyal to the Mutants. At the remote handoff, Magneto and Apocalypse began the exchange, but Apocalypse’s excessive caution delayed it as the fleets prepared to inspect the goods.

• Professor X asked Legion to absorb Apocalypse and taught him how to re-nurture personalities so Apocalypse would retain his memories while becoming loyal to them.
• Legion transformed Apocalypse, and Professor X, Loki, and Thanos prepared to watch the planned handoff before Apocalypse’s virus deadline.
• Apocalypse contacted the Skrull, who chose a remote system in their own territory and arrived with three fleets; Magneto led the Mutant force sent to destroy them.
• Magneto demanded the antidote while Apocalypse demanded the item, and they each presented their side of the exchange.
• Apocalypse stopped the inspection craft, worried about poison and electromagnetic interference, so the Skrull commander ordered shielding equipment activated.

Apocalypse and Magneto’s trap drew the Skrull fleet into fleeing the Shi'ar, while Thanos and Loki arranged for Nick to mediate the coming war between the empires. After Magneto returned injured, Thanos questioned Loki about his relationship with Professor X, then turned the conversation toward Nick and Strange.

• Loki opened a portal that brought a Shi'ar fleet into the Skrull system, prompting the Skrulls to seize the small spacecraft and flee.
• Magneto raised his hand toward the Shi'ar fleet, and Loki watched the ensuing explosions with Thanos and Professor X.
• Thanos proposed sending a human mediator to the coming Shi'ar–Skrull war, and Loki identified Nick as the Director of the Time Variance Authority.
• Loki tried to prevent Nick from attending Security Department training, but Thanos decided to send him after all.
• Magneto returned injured, and Professor X privately asked what had happened; Magneto said he had been distracted.
• Thanos questioned Loki about Magneto and Professor X’s relationship, then began asking her about Nick and Strange.

Thanos proposed that humans mediate the Shi'ar Empire’s war with the New Skrull Empire, and Nick took the assignment while aiming to gain influence over the Interstellar Alliance’s Security Department. Schiller worried that Nick and Thanos might exploit the crisis together, then Thanos learned Nick had accepted a bribe of three hundred million Universal Credits.

• Shi'ar nobles urged Queen Lilandra to retaliate against the New Skrull Empire, while she warned that war could drain the recovering treasury.
• Thanos proposed that humans from Midgard mediate the conflict, and the Interstellar Alliance assigned him to contact them.
• Thanos brought Nick to train in the Security Department, and Nick asked to visit its Finance Department instead of the diplomatic department.
• The Shi'ar Empire declared war, and Schiller learned that Nick had become the mediator after Thanos suggested him.
• Schiller realized Nick wanted to take over the Security Department’s finances and warned him not to let the Three Great Empires collapse.
• Thanos heard that Nick had accepted a bribe from the Shi'ar Empire and was stunned to learn it amounted to three hundred million Universal Credits.

On Tony Stark’s wedding day, Schiller insisted he had no plans to cause trouble while Natasha and others remained suspicious. As the guests gathered, Dr. Connors expected Schiller to spring a shocking surprise.

• Schiller and Natasha discussed her security assignment, her plan to seduce Tony Stark, and the agents’ financial deficits.
• Eddie gave Schiller a map of the wedding venue’s camera positions and asked him not to block the footage.
• Star-Lord returned to fill a groomsmen’s spot and agreed that the wedding should not be disrupted.
• Schiller joined the guests in the manor square, where Obadiah, Howard, Harry, Mary, and old Osborn were gathered.
• Dr. Connors greeted Schiller and asked whether he was preparing a shocking surprise for the wedding.

Schiller attended Stark’s elaborate beach wedding, delivered a speech blessing the newlyweds, and watched Natasha catch the bouquet carried by Loki’s crocodile. After the ceremony, Stark announced that he would show the guests the dream experience that had moved him and answered his doubts about love.

• Schiller opened Stark’s welcome gift, filmed the reception for his account, and suggested that Ultron interview the newlyweds.
• The guests traveled to the beach venue, where Schiller noticed the elaborate wedding decorations and learned that Doctor Strange had prepared the dream experience.
• Schiller joined the wedding procession as a groomsman, and the couples exchanged rings before he delivered a speech praising marriage and love.
• The guests applauded and congratulated the newlyweds, and Natasha caught the bouquet carried by Loki’s crocodile.
• Stark told the guests that Doctor Schiller’s dream experience had answered his doubts about whether their souls would still be drawn together without their identities, and he invited everyone to witness the dream.

At Matt and Elektra’s wedding, Schiller secretly amplified the guests’ emotions so they wept over a love-story film and showered Stark with praise. Stark basked in the attention until Schiller used recordings of his self-deprecating remarks to extort him, leaving Stark roaring with anger.

• Wanda met Schiller in the Lounge, where he prepared to use Billy to intensify the guests’ emotions during the film.
• As the guests watched the love story, they heard a child cry and were overwhelmed by sorrow, then embraced Stark and praised the film as deeply moving.
• Matt confronted Schiller, who explained that support from strangers could reassure people like Stark that their emotions were valid.
• Natasha questioned Schiller about making everyone cry, while Stark happily basked in the wedding guests’ admiration.
• Schiller revealed recordings of Stark calling his past self stupid and demanded five dollars per recorder, provoking Stark’s furious roar.

Schiller entered a role-playing Dungeon as Lodov, a clergyman investigating Wanderers in the snowy village of Farainess, and learned its profession, attribute, dice, and Mental Health Value rules. He chose the Soul Reaver profession and began reviewing his starting stats before assigning additional points.

• Schiller woke in a dilapidated Wooden House and learned from Beyonder that he was playing Lodov, a clergyman from Higeltek, in a role-playing Dungeon alongside Greed.
• Beyonder explained that the Dungeon involved aberrations, role-specific abilities, attribute checks, twenty-sided dice, and Mental Health Value, which could fall through contact with aberrations and reaching zero meant death.
• Schiller concluded that restoring Mental Health Value would be valuable and chose the Soul Reaver profession.
• Beyonder explained that Schiller’s attributes would physically and mentally constrain him, including his strength, thinking speed, and vocabulary.
• Beyonder listed Schiller’s starting stats, including inspiration 7, willpower 6, intelligence 5, and luck 3, and Schiller asked whether they were good.

Schiller allocated his attributes, then entered a modern anomaly Dungeon and found himself among several Batmen, Jokers, Greed, and Bruce. As the group recovered from the shock of a corpse, Batman stared at Schiller and Greed as if he had seen ghosts.

• Schiller spent thirty attribute points on his stats and learned that his total of forty-seven made him middle-tier.
• The Beyonder replayed the opening voiceover, and Schiller entered the game, where seeing a corpse caused severe pain and disorientation.
• Schiller recognized Main Universe Batman, Owlman, Greed, Bruce, two Jokers, and the Pale Rider among the other players.
• The group discovered that their speech was muted, and Schiller identified their professions and inferred that the Dungeon had a modern setting.
• After Schiller stood up, everyone's attention turned to him and Greed, and Batman looked as though he had seen ghosts.

Schiller and the others introduced themselves while investigating a murder in a snowbound cabin, where a tabletop-style game imposed checks on their actions. After an unlucky roll left the door open to freezing wind, they found tools and repaired it, but the corpse moved as they gathered around it.

• Schiller, Main Universe Batman, Bruce, Greed, Pale Rider, Owlman, and Joker explained why they had come to the Farainess region and what jobs they claimed to have.
• The group examined a man whose body had been split in two and noticed dry mud on his shoes despite the heavy snow.
• Schiller failed a Wisdom Check to assess the snow, and Main Universe Batman critically failed his attempt, leaving the cabin door stuck open in freezing wind.
• Owlman failed a check to repair the door, but Bruce found a screwdriver and Main Universe Batman found tape, allowing Owlman to fix it without another check.
• As everyone gathered to resume examining the corpse, it moved.

The group began the battle against a strange corpse and discovered that their mission was to subdue the still-living detective, not kill him. After winning in one turn, they received skill points, and Schiller realized Bruce was about to acquire a copied Psychoanalytic Method that he could not truly use.

• The group discussed the corpse and planned to kick it outside, using the snow and a rifle to restrain it.
• Main Universe Batman kicked the corpse into the snow and shot it, but no victory appeared because the corpse was still alive and needed to remain nearby for clues.
• Greed and Owlman carried the corpse back, and Schiller heard a clue about a wanderer who came with the heavy snow.
• The group won the battle and received one skill point each, while Schiller learned that psychology was unavailable to him as a skill.
• Beyonder admitted it had copied Schiller's Psychoanalytic Method and could only make Bruce believe he could use it; Schiller tried to warn Bruce, but he was muted.

Schiller and the others investigated a mangled detective’s corpse in an isolated Wooden House and deduced that an anomaly had made the victim walk backward through the snow. A diary revealed that the house’s missing owner had summoned the detective to a village plagued by the Wanderer, leaving the group with a warning to flee and a new mystery to investigate.

• Schiller and the others examined the corpse and inferred that the anomaly had controlled it to walk backward, explaining the dirt on its feet and the damage to its scalp.
• Main Universe Batman told the group to search the Wooden House carefully, and Schiller found a candle and household odds and ends while Owlman found a key beneath the carpet.
• Schiller found a hidden key behind the kerosene lamp and unlocked a drawer containing the house owner’s diary.
• The diary described a village where people who ate mutton soup went mad, a reported Wanderer, and the owner’s decision to summon his friend, Detective Raven.
• Schiller concluded that the missing Fisherman had likely known about anomalies and that Raven had come to investigate before dying in the Wooden House.

Schiller and the others investigated two corpses in the house and discovered evidence linking one to the missing goat and the river. They found a panicked woman upstairs, and Bruce began trying to analyze her while the Wanderer’s threat remained unclear.

• Schiller connected the diary’s missing goat and vanished fish to the Wanderer, warning the group not to trust animals.
• The group found a mutilated corpse hanging in the kitchen, and Schiller discovered rotting fish and the man’s missing hands and feet inside its stomach.
• Schiller found reed fragments and handmade fishing lures, while Bruce identified hurried footprints that belonged to a woman heading upstairs.
• The group rushed upstairs after hearing a scream and found a middle-aged woman firing a revolver and shouting that the Wanderer was there.
• Bruce tried to calm and analyze the woman, but Beyonder explained that his skill provided only theoretical knowledge, leaving him to perform the analysis himself.

Schiller reasoned that the apparently terrified woman was luring the group into an ambush, then used his Requiem skill to calm her. She warned them that “He’s here” and killed herself, and the notebook found on her revealed that she was Madeline, a retired church official investigating the Wanderer.

• Bruce used his newly unlocked psychological analysis skill to conclude that the woman was panicked, while Schiller privately considered the incident and suspected she was pretending to be afraid.
• Owlman threatened the woman, but she did not respond, so Schiller approached her as a priest and used his Requiem skill.
• Madeline regained focus, warned the group that “He’s here,” and shot herself with her revolver.
• Greed searched Madeline’s body and found a rose-patterned pendant and a small notebook.
• Schiller read the notebook and discovered that Madeline was a retired church official and researcher who had come to investigate the Wanderer, a monster absent for thirty years.

Schiller and the others studied Madeline’s notes about the Wanderer and inferred that the incorporeal monster possessed people while obeying restrictions tied to their final actions and its footprints. They ended with Joker’s theory that the Wanderer’s bizarre movements were meant to erase or conceal its tracks.

• Schiller read Madeline’s account of the Wanderer and learned that anomalies were intelligent, incorporeal, restricted, and could not be harmed with firearms.
• Schiller connected the Wanderer’s strange corpse positions and lack of ordinary footprints to a possible weakness that could reveal its possessed victims.
• Pale Rider argued that identifying the possessed would help people survive, and Main Universe Batman proposed that the Wanderer was compelled to move.
• Schiller and Bruce suggested that the Wanderer had to complete a possessed person’s final action, while Greed described how that compulsion and the footprints formed two linked restrictions.
• Joker proposed that the Wanderer still left footprints whenever it moved and used its unnatural poses to erase or conceal them.

Schiller and the others realized Madeline had staged her suicide to test whether a monster using a firearm could be cursed, and Schiller prepared for the experiment to fail. After Madeline’s corpse attacked, the group escaped the burning Wooden House and saw the Wanderer’s goat-hoof tracks in the snow.

• Schiller deduced that the Wanderer used blood to conceal its movements and that Madeline had deliberately arranged her suicide as an experiment.
• Schiller concluded that Madeline wanted to learn whether a monster using a firearm against another monster would be cursed, and he prepared the house as an escape route.
• Madeline’s corpse rose and attacked Greed, who dodged her and fired a revolver into her body.
• Greed threw the revolver through the broken window, and Madeline dove after it.
• Schiller led everyone out the back door, ignited the prepared Wooden House, and saw Madeline crawl through the snow, leaving a black goat-hoof print.

The group defeated Madeline by luring her into a burning house, then investigated how the Wanderer possessed and controlled its victims. Schiller proposed exploiting the monster’s compulsion to finish a victim’s last objective, leaving the group to consider using an impossible goal to contain it.

• Greed lured Madeline into the burning house and threw her revolver inside; a collapsing beam pinned her beneath it.
• Schiller concluded that the Wanderer possessed living people before killing them, while the group discovered human blood erased its hoofprints.
• Main Universe Batman and Schiller reasoned that the detective had been possessed in the village and killed on the way to the Wooden House.
• Schiller warned that one of them might already be possessed and that the Wanderer would carry out its victim’s last intention after death.
• Schiller suggested giving the Wanderer an impossible goal, such as having Main Universe Batman try to save an unsavable city.