Recaps

Angel, Sherlock, and Sharon confronted the evil spirit possessing Raft, which offered occult knowledge and potion formulas in exchange for help breaking its seal. It gave them a method to free it and a lead to the hidden Redemption Rose before returning to the seal.

• Sherlock questioned the spirit, which claimed Alistar Tudor had wronged it and offered knowledge and rewards for its release.
• The spirit revealed a Card of Blasphemy showing the Red Priest Sequence 0 and offered Sharon and Angel potion formulas and advancement options.
• Angel asked how to release the spirit, and it demanded blood from descendants of the Sauron, Einhorn, and Medici families mixed with holy water.
• Sherlock connected the Medici family to the Redemption Rose and the True Creator, while the spirit suggested searching for Bensi Town and warned them not to kill Raft.
• Raft collapsed unconscious, and Angel found that the evil spirit had returned to its seal.

Angel, Sherlock, and Sharon discussed whether to trust the ancient evil spirit trapped beneath the Pound estate and agreed to monitor Rafte Pound rather than free it. After Sharon warned them that a demigod had arrived in Backlund, Angel and Sherlock split their earnings and discussed their plans, ending with Angel suspecting Sherlock had sought out an apothecary.

• Angel corrected Sherlock by confirming that the evil spirit's information about her potion sequences and the Wraith pathway seemed accurate, and she revealed her true face to Sharon.
• Sherlock concluded that the sealed evil spirit was likely a demigod or stronger, but explained that reporting it would expose his earlier visit to the underground ruin.
• Angel, Sherlock, and Sharon agreed to keep watch on the passage and Rafte Pound, who had been injured while trying to release the spirit.
• Sharon gave Sherlock 2,800 pounds from selling their gold bars, then vanished after warning that a demigod had come to Backlund.
• Angel and Sherlock divided the money, discussed buying Mystical Items and Sherlock's potion ingredients, and Angel suspected he had visited an apothecary.

Angel told Lola about the East Borough deaths, Trissy’s failed escape, and her suspicions about the royal family, military, and Demoness Sect, then sought advice about facing Lady Despair Panacea. Lola warned her to protect herself and suggested Angel’s unusually rapid Pleasure potion digestion might come from an intense emotional change or a special acted object.

• Angel used a communication potion to contact Lola and reported Baelen and Harras’s deaths, Talim’s suspected curse, and Trissy’s failed escape.
• Lola linked Talim’s death to his closeness with Prince Edessak and said the prince’s apparent lack of activity did not rule out a secret plot.
• Angel told Lola that Sevillea had arranged for her to meet Lady Despair Panacea, and Lola warned that the Sequence 4 Demoness could easily overpower her.
• Lola advised Angel to conceal her thoughts from Panacea and said she would investigate Edessak and the military’s ties to the Demoness Sect.
• Angel asked why her Pleasure potion had digested so quickly, and Lola proposed that intense emotions or a special acted object could cause stronger feedback.
• Angel suspected that recognizing his identity had triggered the emotional change behind her rapid digestion, then noticed Lola had disappeared from the mirror.

Angel exchanged two pages of Roselle's Diary for Mr. Fool's protection before her expected confrontation with Panacea, then asked Justice to discreetly investigate allegations involving the royal family. The Tarot Club arranged new transactions and discussed accumulating Beyonder Characteristics, ending with the Hanged Man recommending that Miss Magician have more descendants to reduce Potion residue.

• Angel gave Mr. Fool two pages of Roselle's Diary and requested protection from a Demigod's scrutiny, which He granted.
• Angel privately told Justice about Prince Edessak's alleged crimes and urged her to investigate cautiously through her family and social connections.
• Angel commissioned the Hanged Man to arrange a Sequence 6 Mystical Item using her Dawn Paladin Beyonder Characteristic and 500 pounds, agreeing to pay the remaining fees.
• The Hanged Man reported that people were disappearing in large numbers across colonial islands and suspected evil rituals, then settled transactions with World.
• Miss Magician asked how to resolve the problem of accumulating too many Beyonder Characteristics, and the Hanged Man suggested having more descendants to reduce Potion residue.

The Hanged Man explained how Beyonder Characteristics could pass to descendants, while Angel prepared to confront the Demoness Sect’s conspiracy and managed her allies in Backlund. At 15 Minsk Street, Sherlock turned to greet Angel as Klein Moretti, revealing his true face.

• The Hanged Man explained that Mid Sequence Beyonders could pass small amounts of Beyonder Characteristics to descendants, and told Miss Magician that having children might help dispose of her excess characteristics.
• Angel accepted the Fool’s promise and an Angel’s blessing, deciding that meeting Panacea was necessary to learn more about the Demoness Sect’s conspiracy.
• Angel continued preparing in Backlund, supporting Sherman’s work, coordinating with Xio Derecha, and learning from Lola about missing MI9 Beyonders and Prince Edessak.
• Audrey planned to reveal her Spectator Sequence to the Psychology Alchemists and seek the next Potion, while Angel avoided drawing the Nighthawks’ attention during her search for Lily Granger.
• Angel struggled with acting as Pleasure alongside Sherlock, then accepted his invitation and arrived at 15 Minsk Street.
• Sherlock turned from the dim living room and revealed himself as Klein Moretti.

Klein reunited with Angel after advancing to Sequence 6, and they discussed their abilities and Angel’s progress digesting her Potion. They uncovered that Trissy likely killed Talim Dumont, while Prince Edessak’s motives remained uncertain, before Klein raised the matter of Lady Despair.

• Klein demonstrated his Faceless abilities by changing his appearance and partially imitating Angel’s body, then Angel welcomed him back and they reunited.
• Klein and Angel discussed his advancement and Angel’s rapid progress digesting her Pleasure Potion after acting toward people of higher Sequences.
• Klein revealed that Prince Edessak had hired him to investigate Talim Dumont’s death and that divination pointed to a Demoness wearing a Sapphire Ring.
• Angel recognized the ring as Trissy’s and reasoned that Talim had died after trying to help Trissy escape the Demoness Sect’s arrangements.
• Angel warned Klein to avoid getting entangled with Prince Edessak’s conspiracies, and Klein planned to submit a report claiming Talim had died normally.
• Klein and Angel avoided discussing the commission further, and Klein turned to the subject of Lady Despair.

Angel prepared to meet Lady Despair, accepting Sherlock’s Sun Brooch while leaving behind the dangerous Master Key. After returning home, she received a warning that Sevillea had cursed her, confirming Lady Despair was back in Backlund.

• A beautiful woman compelled a railway staff member to carry her suitcase and then ordered him to kill himself; he hurried back to the tracks to obey.
• Angel told Sherlock she was prepared to meet Lady Despair, and Sherlock lent her the Sun Brooch while asking her to leave the Master Key behind.
• Sherlock revealed that his teacher might be in Backlund, though the military wanted him, and offered to contact him for help.
• Angel left Sherlock’s home considering moving in with him and decided to end her lease with Mrs. Wallis the next morning.
• A warning from Angel’s mystical substitute alerted her that Sevillea had cursed her, revealing that Lady Despair had returned to Backlund.

Angel prepared for Sevillea’s summons and traveled with her toward Backlund’s eastern outskirts, where Lady Despair was expected to meet them. Meanwhile, Klein ended his investigation for Prince Edessak, but Trissy appeared in his carriage and urged him to report her for Talim’s murder.

• Angel gathered her Mystical Items and Storm Convergence Bullets, then prayed to Mr. Fool for a blessing before leaving home.
• Sevillea met Angel at Baron Landon’s Residence and took her by carriage toward the eastern outskirts of Backlund to meet Lady Despair.
• Klein told Prince Edessak that he had found no evidence beyond heart disease in Talim’s death and handed over his report.
• Prince Edessak released Klein from the investigation and arranged for a carriage to take him back to the city.
• Trissy appeared in Klein’s carriage, admitted to killing Talim, and urged him to alert the authorities so they would arrest her.

Angel traveled with Sevillea to a hidden Demoness Sect base in an ancient ruin in the East Borough suburbs to meet Panacea, Lady Despair. Panacea exposed Angel’s disguise and asked where she had obtained the complete Pleasure potion formula.

• Angel’s carriage wheel came off near the East Borough, and Sevillea transferred her to another carriage before leading her on foot to a hidden cave.
• Angel and Sevillea passed through an ancient ruin and reached a windowless room without encountering any guards.
• Panacea finished communicating through a mirror and recognized Angel as Irene Watson, a newly advanced Demoness of Pleasure.
• Panacea ordered Angel to remove her disguise, and Angel took off the Madness Ring to reveal her constructed appearance.
• Sevillea apologized for failing to see through Angel’s disguise, and Panacea asked Angel where she had obtained the complete Pleasure potion formula.

Angel passed Lady Despair Panacea’s questioning about her Potion formula and learned that Trissy would be renamed Cheek. After Angel left, Panacea revealed to Sevillea that Angel was not truly one of the Demoness Sect.

• Panacea used divination to test Angel’s account of buying the Pleasure Potion formula, and Angel’s half-true story passed.
• Panacea asked Angel what she thought of Trissy Cheek, and Angel realized the Sect might be preparing to bring the Primordial Demoness Cheek into the world through Trissy.
• Panacea praised Sevillea’s work and said the Sect’s long-planned operation would begin after the New Year.
• Sevillea sent Angel back to her home, where she planned to confront her about advancing to Demoness of Pleasure without telling her.
• After Angel left, Panacea told Sevillea that Angel was not one of them.

Angel discovered that Lady Despair planned to accelerate the Demoness Sect’s operation involving Trissy Cheek, and she warned Mr. Fool. Klein realized that 0-08 might silence him, but the story left him facing a meteor shower as a scripted rescue brought him toward Ince Zangwill, while Audrey urged her mother to report the threat to the Goddess Church.

• Lady Despair grew suspicious of Angel’s flawless divination answers, ordered Sevillea to take Trissy from Edessak, and summoned Mr. A to accelerate the plan.
• Angel memorized the ruins’ location and warned Mr. Fool that Trissy Cheek was likely the Primordial Demoness’s Divine Descent Vessel.
• Klein warned Justice about Trissy and considered escaping Red Rose Manor, but 0-08 scripted a meteor shower to kill him.
• 0-08 crossed out its account of Klein’s death and wrote that Azik Eggers would rescue him, though a traversal error would bring them near Ince Zangwill.
• Audrey told her mother Caitlyn that she was a Beyonder and relayed the threat, then urged her to report it to the Goddess Church.

Klein escaped into underground ruins, where Azik faced Ince Zangwill and a masked man, then discovered a plot to set fires in Backlund and summon the True Creator. After warning Angel, Klein heard the sacrifice begin and chose to confront Mr. A rather than flee.

• Azik carried Klein through the void, but they landed in underground ruins as Ince Zangwill emerged from Bronze Double Doors and a Golden Masked man forbade teleportation.
• Angel watched meteorites pass over Backlund and hurried toward North Borough, but worsening smog slowed her carriage before a patch of Gray Fog appeared.
• Klein disguised himself as Ince Zangwill and used a Teleportation Gate, then overheard Mr. A and Lady Despair discuss their plans to summon the True Creator and start a fire in East Borough.
• Klein prayed to Mr. Fool, then sent Angel a warning through the Grey Fog Space.
• Mr. A sacrificed four attendants as Lady Despair’s attack in East Borough killed people whose souls flowed into the True Creator’s ritual.
• Klein recognized that he could escape but chose to charge toward Mr. A with his revolver.

Angel discovered that Lady Despair, Panacea, had begun a large-scale Sacrifice Ritual in the East Borough and rushed toward the deadly smog’s center. As the Great Smog spread through the East Borough, Docklands, and Factory District, Sherman and Xio tried to save those around them while Panacea surveyed the death she had unleashed.

• Sherlock Moriarty told Angel that Lady Despair was holding a large-scale Sacrifice Ritual in the East Borough, and Angel realized Panacea had deceived her before starting the plan.
• Angel used Flaming Jump and raced across rooftops toward the iron-black smog, praying to the Evernight Goddess as residents and sanitation workers collapsed and died below.
• Sherman sensed danger, sealed his windows, and brought Liv and Freyja to shelter in his attic after warning them that the smog was poisonous.
• Xio ordered Flagg and the survivors to flee south upwind, while the Great Smog spread through the East Borough, Docklands, and Factory District.
• Lady Despair, Panacea, strolled through the scene of death with a faint smile.

Panacea spread the Mist of Death through East Borough while the churches mobilized to stop the disaster. Angel confronted Panacea and briefly halted the poisonous mist, but Panacea counterattacked with a powerful wave of ice.

• Panacea let the poisonous mist spread through East Borough, expecting the deaths to aid Mr. A's ritual and help her escape Backlund.
• Saint Anthony ordered the awakening of Grade 0 Sealed Artifact 0-17, a living Angel held beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral.
• Angel attacked Panacea with her Good Luck pistol, shattering Panacea and her ice wall before the Demoness re-formed.
• Angel used a Prohibition to halt the spreading disease and recovered from the poisonous mist with the Rose Necklace.
• Panacea stomped the ground, sending a surge of ice toward Angel as the chapter ended.

Angel fought Panacea in the iron-black fog, using her abilities and a carefully timed ambush to wound the Sequence 4 Demoness before succumbing to the poisonous smog. As Panacea moved to kill her, a mysterious hooded woman appeared and made the ice spear vanish.

• Angel realized Panacea’s fog was part of a large-scale ritual and attacked her with the Desire Apostle’s abilities.
• Panacea cursed Angel through her mirror-like eyes, while the spreading diseases weakened Angel and made her attacks increasingly difficult.
• Angel lured Panacea close and fired an amplified Storm Convergence bullet, striking her through a Magic Mirror Substitute.
• Panacea approached the collapsed Angel and raised an ice spear to kill her.
• A hooded woman appeared in the fog, making Panacea’s ice spear disappear.

A Hooded Woman killed Panacea and gave Angel Trissy’s Sapphire Ring and an Affliction Beyonder Characteristic, which eased Angel’s disease. Learning that Klein was still fighting and that she could help stop the smog, Angel advanced to Sequence 5, Demoness of Affliction.

• Panacea fled from the Hooded Woman, but the woman immobilized and erased her.
• The Hooded Woman approached the dying Angel and gave her Trissy’s Sapphire Ring and a dark green Beyonder Characteristic.
• Touching the Characteristic stopped Angel’s diseases from spreading and began to heal her.
• The Hooded Woman told Angel that he was still fighting and instructed her to wear the ring and consume the Characteristic to stop the smog.
• Angel put on the ring, consumed the Affliction Characteristic, and advanced to Sequence 5, gaining Disease Control.

Angel used the sapphire ring and her new Affliction abilities to make the East Borough’s lethal smog less dangerous, then asked the hooded woman to let her die as a human. Klein escaped after the Master Key destroyed Mr. A’s descent ritual, while Edessak and Sevillea each began their own escape from the fallout.

• Angel replaced the lethal pathogens in the spreading smog with bacteria that caused only itching and coughing, then removed the sapphire ring as her body neared loss of control.
• Angel asked the hooded woman to let her die like a human, and the woman agreed and pointed at her chest.
• The Master Key’s explosion wrecked the altar and interrupted Mr. A’s ritual; Klein fled while Mr. A climbed from the rubble.
• Edessak’s bullets all misfired, and he transformed before plunging the sunroom into darkness.
• Sevillea loaded valuables into a carriage and left her estate, planning to flee Backlund for Intis.

Angel awoke powerless in a strange land and discovered two Tarot Cards revealing the Sequence 0 Demoness and Red Priest. As she studied the Demoness Pathway’s Potion information, the strange world pulled away and she glimpsed a pale, ravaged moon before losing consciousness.

• Angel awakened in darkness without her Beyonder Abilities, climbed out of a dirt pit, and found herself amid volcanic mountains and ancient-looking buildings.
• Angel approached a figure that looked like her with blood-red eyes, then an invisible force hurled her through streets of different architectural styles and back into darkness.
• Angel found Tarot Cards labeled “Sequence 0: Red Priest” and “Sequence 0: Demoness,” realizing the evil spirit possessing Rafte Pound had lied about owning the Red Priest card.
• The Demoness card revealed the Pathway’s Potion names, characteristics, and formulas to Angel as her spirituality ran low.
• Angel saw a star-filled sky and a pale moon split by a vast ravine before darkness overtook her.

After the deadly smog devastated Backlund, Xio and Sherman carried the ill Liv toward help while survivors mourned the dead. Klein and Azik found Angel’s body and took her home, confirming her fate when Azik found an Affliction Demoness Beyonder Characteristic nearby.

• Xio found Sherman, Freyja, and the critically ill Liv sheltering in an attic and decided to take Liv to a North Borough hospital or church.
• Xio and Sherman carried Liv out on a makeshift stretcher as Freyja joined them, while residents across the city helped smog survivors and mourned those who had died.
• Klein and Azik searched the smog’s center for the strongest death aura and found a cloaked woman’s body.
• Klein discovered the body was Angel, removed her Madness Ring and Faceless Beyonder Characteristic, and held her against his chest.
• Azik recognized a dark green Affliction Demoness Beyonder Characteristic nearby, then accompanied Klein as they left to take Angel home.

Klein brought Angel’s body home after Azik rescued him from the aftermath of the battle, believing she had died and grieving beside her. Angel unexpectedly revived, and she, Klein, and Azik began discussing her unexplained return and the danger that awaited them in Backlund.

• Azik carried Klein and Angel to Klein’s home, explaining that Ince Zangwill and 0-08 had likely left Backlund to recover and that Klein should leave the city soon.
• Klein laid Angel’s body on the bed, and Azik gave him the pure Beyonder Characteristic of a Demoness of Affliction that had been separated from her.
• Klein sat beside Angel, mourned her, and spoke of taking her to Desi Bay or northern Feysac; Angel opened her eyes and asked about Desi Bay.
• Angel told Klein and Azik that she had awakened after losing consciousness in a dark street, while Azik said her described surroundings did not match the Underworld.
• Klein asked whether Angel remained a Beyonder, and she confirmed she was still a Demoness of Pleasure as the Affliction Characteristic floated into her hand.

Angel and Klein reunited after stopping the Demoness Sect’s plans, and Azik warned them that Ince Zangwill might return to Backlund with 0-08. Azik departed, then reappeared with a Mystical Item and caught Angel and Klein in an awkwardly intimate moment.

• Angel and Klein compared their encounters with the mysterious hooded woman, while Azik identified her ability as likely belonging to an Angel of the Darkness pathway.
• Klein worried that Ince Zangwill might discover his and Angel’s identities, but Azik said 0-08 was unlikely to reveal them and warned that they had about a week before Ince might return to Backlund.
• Azik advised Angel and Klein to leave Backlund and its surrounding areas, then departed to seek his lost memories and evade the Goddess Church’s pursuers.
• Angel and Klein admitted they had feared losing each other, and Klein asked Angel to promise not to risk her life without discussing it with him.
• Azik returned to give Angel and Klein a human-skin glove Mystical Item and found them standing close together, then asked if he had arrived at a bad time.

Klein and Angel discussed their unexplained resurrections, the Cards of Blasphemy, and why they could no longer safely remain in Backlund. Angel agreed to leave with Klein, and their reunion helped her fully digest the Demoness of Pleasure potion.

• Klein and Angel examined Creeping Hunger and wondered how Mr. Azik had obtained it and what his connection to Mr. Fool was.
• Klein described waking in his coffin after Ince Zangwill killed him, and Angel told him about seeing the Demoness and Red Priest Cards of Blasphemy while near death.
• Klein and Angel agreed that staying in Backlund was unsafe and discussed leaving to hide or go out to sea.
• Klein asked Angel to leave Backlund with him, and she agreed before teasing him about his earlier plans.
• Klein embraced Angel, and she stopped resisting as the Demoness of Pleasure potion was fully digested.

Nighthawks investigated the aftermath of Backlund’s Great Smog and found evidence of a large-scale sacrifice, while Leonard wondered about the Church’s Grade 0 Sealed Artifact. The rain cleared the smog, but the death toll and suffering remained immense as Audrey and Earl Hall discussed relief efforts.

• Anthony Stevenson searched the ruined underground site, found four corpses and a destroyed altar, and ordered the Nighthawks to track the missing people with a Sealed Artifact.
• Leonard Mitchell and Soest’s Red Gloves team reached a devastated East Borough street, where they found battle traces and learned that it was the central point of a three-location sacrificial ritual.
• A Nightmare reported that the suspected officiant’s corpse had lost its Beyonder Characteristic, and Soest said the Church had mobilized a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact.
• A sudden storm blew away Backlund’s smog and washed the streets, though the dead and suffering remained in the hardest-hit districts.
• Earl Hall told Audrey Hall that the East Borough likely had tens of thousands of casualties and that he had pledged at least 50,000 pounds for relief; Audrey worried that the donations would not be enough.

Daisy reunited with Freyja after believing her mother and sister had died in the plague, while Sherman resolved to become a Beyonder. Angel and Klein visited Harvest Church, where Angel asked Father Utravsky about her new Knight Bracelet as the church treated victims of the Great Smog.

• Daisy found corpses being removed from her apartment and was barred from entering, but Freyja returned and the sisters embraced while Sherman watched from a nearby street corner.
• Angel and Klein visited Harvest Church and saw patients of many faiths receiving aid during the epidemic.
• Angel showed Father Utravsky her Knight Bracelet and asked about the Dawn Paladin abilities it possessed.
• Klein spoke with Emlyn, who said he planned to pray to the Fool for help with his problem after finishing his work at the church.
• Angel helped Father Utravsky distribute Potions to patients, and Klein warned Emlyn off when he remarked that Angel was pleasing to look at.

Angel and Klein sought false identities so they could leave Backlund without attracting attention, but Ian could not help because the Great Smog had triggered a broad search for people with unknown identities. Miss Sharon appeared in their carriage and offered to arrange identities for them, leaving Angel to provide her details.

• Angel told Klein that the Mystical Item summoned a Dawn Paladin’s Sword of Dawn and weakened the effects of many Beyonder abilities.
• Angel and Klein went to Bravehearts Bar to arrange false identities, where they learned that Kaspars had died and Ian had taken over as the information broker.
• Ian warned Angel and Klein that searches after the Great Smog made it too risky to obtain false identities, so they considered using their backup plan to travel separately to Pritz Harbor.
• Miss Sharon appeared in their carriage and offered to arrange false identities within two days for one hundred pounds.
• Klein gave Sharon the name Gehrman Sparrow, and Sharon asked Angel if she wanted to use the identity of a book reviewer.