Recaps

Angel sent Klein a letter and later rushed to his home after Reinette warned that her boyfriend was unwell. Klein had used the Mental Terror Candle to confront a negative personality in his mind, while Angel waited helplessly nearby as he struggled to resolve it.

• Angel wrote Klein about Qonas Kilgor, her plans to attend Saturday's ball, and her pending requests to Crestet Cesimir, Trissy, Sherman, and Helene.
• Reinette returned and warned Angel that her boyfriend was not well, so Angel entered the Mirror World and hurried to Klein's home.
• Angel found Klein unconscious beside the Mental Terror Candle and realized he had used it to enter his own mind; she hesitated to interfere with his treatment.
• Inside his mind, Klein confronted a negative version of himself, who accused him of stealing Zhou Mingrui's body and begged to be spared.
• The negative personality heard Angel's prayer and smiled sinisterly, while Angel prepared to enter Klein's dream if he did not wake soon.
• Klein stirred, opened his eyes, and reached toward the candle flame to extinguish it.

Klein defeated the negative personality created by mental contamination and emerged from the nightmare feeling mentally restored, while Angel stayed to keep him company. Later, Cesimir told Angel he would leave to attempt his promotion, and she asked to borrow the Antigonus Family Notebook.

• Klein returned from the deeper nightmare and used Admiral of Blood Senior to make his negative personality snap his own neck.
• Angel explained that she had recognized the negative Klein, stopped him from extinguishing the Mental Terror Candle, and sent him back into the dream.
• Klein told Angel how the Internal Watcher’s contaminated dream had caused his split personality, and he realized the ordeal had cleared his accumulated negative emotions.
• Angel offered to stay and talk with Klein, but their conversation left him unsure what to say.
• Cesimir told Angel that Pierce’s case was resolved, that Pierce’s Beyonder characteristic had been assigned to him, and that he would leave to attempt his promotion.
• Angel asked Cesimir to let her borrow the Antigonus Family Notebook sealed beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral.

Fors gave Xio Leimano's Travel Notes and an Interrogator Beyonder Characteristic after Xio reported being followed. Angel learned that the Church had tightened security around the Antigonus Family Notebook, then agreed to investigate Mirror People in exchange for an Unaging Beyonder Characteristic and suspected the Church was testing her and Klein.

• Fors explained Leimano's Travel Notes to Xio and offered it as a last resort for dangerous commissions.
• Xio told Fors someone had followed her, and Fors gave her an Interrogator Beyonder Characteristic to help her advance.
• Cesimir told Angel the Church had raised the Antigonus Family Notebook's danger rating and would not lend it without the pontiff's order.
• Cesimir offered Angel an Unaging Beyonder Characteristic if she investigated Mirror People infiltrating the Church of Evernight and the Church of Steam.
• Angel accepted the investigation and concluded the Church's restrictions on the notebook might be part of a trial for her and Klein.

Angel realized the Church’s trial was meant to guide Klein toward stealing the notebook and tried to contact him. In Backlund, she investigated Xio’s lead on the Aurora Order and persuaded Sherman to advance to Sequence 7, leaving him ready to become a Witch.

• Angel suspected the Church had arranged the notebook theft trial at the Goddess’s direction and blew Klein’s harmonica to contact him.
• Ribak told Angel he could arrange a private meeting with retired officers from the East Balam Veteran Officers Club, and Angel agreed.
• Angel entered the Mirror World and overheard Xio question Sherman about the destroyed gathering organized by Mr. X; Xio showed Sherman wanted posters of Mr. A and Panacea and warned him about Aurora Order surveillance.
• Angel appeared to Xio and Sherman, then asked Sherman if he was ready to advance to Sequence 7.
• Angel warned Sherman that remaining at Sequence 8 left him and his loved ones vulnerable, and Sherman decided he was ready to advance to Witch.

Angel met Sherman to give him the Witch Potion formula, then met retired officer Sander and Major Stuart to discuss using her overseas connections to sell decommissioned weapons and special equipment. The chapter ended with Stuart asking whether her contacts would buy the goods.

• Sherman memorized and destroyed the Witch Potion formula, then agreed to keep watch for disappearances and Aurora Order activity in the East Borough.
• Angel left Sherman and observed that order and daily life were returning to the East Borough after the Great Smog.
• Angel met Major Stuart and retired officer Sander at a private room near the East Balam Veteran Officers Club.
• Angel described her supposed experience in Trier smuggling goods, drawing the officers into a discussion of overseas merchants.
• Stuart asked whether Angel's contacts would buy decommissioned guns, cannons, and a small quantity of special equipment.

Angel considered a weapons-smuggling deal proposed by Sander and Stuart, then prepared for Klein’s ball and joined him for a trip through the Spirit World. She left with Klein after deciding to contact Helene about the dangerous transaction and planning a visit to Trier.

• Sander told Angel that the weapons should reach pirates, Adventurers, and whale-hunting protesters in the Gargas Archipelago, and Stuart said the deal would arm about two thousand people.
• Angel learned that the weapons would cost her 7,000 pounds and said she would decide by the weekend, while privately considering having Helene transport them.
• Angel planned to use the deal to build Sander’s trust and investigate the Great Smog, and resolved to contact Helene and visit Trier.
• Keira showed Angel an ivory vase intended as a gift for Klein’s ball, and Angel reviewed the guest list and prepared for the event.
• Angel completed her preparations, traveled to Klein’s bedroom at No. 160 Böklund Street, and departed with him through the Spirit World.

Alger met Gehrman Sparrow outside Bayam before they prepared to head for an island, while Angel checked Helene’s report on the Demoness Sect and gave her the ingredients needed to advance. Angel also recruited Helene for a planned arms-smuggling job in the Gargas Archipelago, and Helene ended by asking whether Angel would attend an early Pirate Conference.

• Alger left Bayam at midnight and met Gehrman Sparrow at the ruined hillside, where they discussed the battle’s aftermath and waited for Angel.
• Angel visited Helene aboard the Red Haired Woman and reviewed a report on the Demoness Sect’s retreat from the Rorsted Archipelago.
• Helene reported that Vice Admiral of Ailment Tracy had returned to the Fog Sea and that human trafficking had stopped around Bayam.
• Angel gave Helene the hunting black spider ingredients she needed for Conspirer and told her to advance as soon as possible.
• Angel asked Helene to handle a shipment of arms to a designated buyer in the Gargas Archipelago, and Helene agreed despite the region’s unrest.
• Helene asked Angel whether she planned to attend the Pirate Conference, which might be held earlier than October.

Angel considered attending the Pirate Conference to establish herself as a Pirate King, then joined Klein and Alger for an expedition to Nameless Island. There, they found Zombies building a palace and encountered a terrifying Feathered Serpent of the Death Pathway that was likely a Demigod.

• Angel considered attending Nast's Pirate Conference with Anne to strengthen her identity as Angelica Zaki and possibly approach the Vice Admiral of Ailment.
• Angel reunited with Klein and Alger outside Bayam, gave Alger a mirror that could serve as a substitute, and agreed to explore Nameless Island.
• Klein used Teleportation to take Angel and Alger to the island, where Alger led them inland after negotiating first chance to buy any finds for his Pathway.
• The three discovered a moonlit clearing where Zombies, animals, and baboons were building a palace, and the Zombies turned toward them when Alger suggested going around.
• Angel spotted a cave beneath the palace and recognized grease-stained white feathers as signs of Death's power before a giant Feathered Serpent emerged from the cave.

Angel, Klein, and Alger fought a Demigod-level Feathered Serpent whose Death aura threatened to kill them, while it commanded Zombies and Wraiths around an unfinished palace. Angel restrained the serpent long enough for Klein to strike it with Lightning Storm, leaving its fate unresolved.

• Angel drew Klein and Alger into a temporary Mirror World, shielding them from the Feathered Serpent's Death aura while they planned their attack.
• Angel unleashed Disease on the Zombies, while Klein and Alger moved away and Alger prepared to destroy the unfinished palace.
• Klein distracted the Feathered Serpent with an ordinary Copper Whistle, and Alger destroyed the palace's foundations with Wind Blades.
• The Feathered Serpent crushed Alger, but his Mirror Substitution returned him safely; Angel then bound the serpent with invisible threads and attacked it with Black Flame and her sword.
• Klein used Leimano's Travel Notes to cast Lightning Storm through the Sword of Dawn lodged in the serpent, striking its vulnerable flesh.

Angel, Klein, and Alger defeated a demigod-level Feathered Serpent, then escaped a petrifying presence in the forest by using Flaming Jump. They reached the ancient ruins at the island’s center, their expedition’s destination.

• Angel saw that Disease and Lightning Storm had killed the Feathered Serpent, and Klein confirmed it had no spirit body threads.
• The Feathered Serpent decayed into bones, leaving one radiant feather that Angel collected and sealed.
• Angel, Klein, and Alger crossed the abandoned spiderweb territory and discovered that its Hunting Black Spiders had turned to stone.
• A hidden creature’s petrifying power began turning Angel, Klein, and Alger to stone, so they used Flaming Jump to escape the forest.
• Klein and Angel suspected a powerful Demoness-pathway creature had caused the petrification, and Alger pointed out the ancient ruins they had come to explore.

Angel, Klein, and Alger entered the ruins while pursued by a Six-Winged Gargoyle and descended into an ancient tomb beneath a temple of the Ancient Sun God. In the burial chamber, Angel discovered a painting depicting the Ancient Sun God’s corpse being devoured by the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Blazing Sun, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.

• Alger suggested Qilingus had sought a Card of Blasphemy, and the team entered the ruined building to investigate.
• Angel found a mural of the Ancient Sun God above a passage leading underground, while a Six-Winged Gargoyle blocked their exit.
• The three fled down a passage lined with statues and murals praising the Ancient Sun God as the gargoyle pursued them.
• Angel, Klein, and Alger reached giant stone doors marked with symbols of death and rebirth, which Alger opened after extinguishing his lantern.
• Angel saw a floor painting in the tomb showing the Ancient Sun God being eaten by the Lord of Storms, the Eternal Blazing Sun, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.

Angel, Klein, and Alger entered a tomb whose floor showed three gods devouring the Ancient Sun God, then fought three resurrected corpses and a Six-Winged Gargoyle. After the battle, Angel found a Card of Blasphemy marked “Sequence 0, Tyrant!”

• Alger, Klein, and Angel recognized the blasphemous painting and wondered whether the figures had once been Kings of Angel.
• Angel warned that the Six-Winged Gargoyle was approaching, but three corpses rose from their coffins as the gargoyle broke into the tomb.
• Angel used Chaos to redirect the enemies’ attacks, while Klein lured the corpses toward Azik’s Copper Whistle and Alger fought the gargoyle.
• Alger’s amplified Ocean Song stunned the tomb’s occupants and enraged Klein and Angel, who nearly attacked him.
• Angel burned the three corpses with Black Flame, and Klein destroyed the gargoyle with Death Knell.
• Angel searched the tricorn-hatted corpse and found a Card of Blasphemy bearing the words “Sequence 0, Tyrant!”

Angel, Klein, and Alger escaped the Nameless Island after a mysterious sigh preceded its disappearance. Angel recognized the voice as Adam, the Angel of Imagination, and revealed his identity to her companions.

• Angel identified the Card of Blasphemy as the Tyrant card, and Alger realized why Qilingus had sought it in Backlund.
• Klein used his Wraith to extract three Beyonder characteristics from the fallen enemies, including one he recognized as belonging to the Mystery Pryer pathway.
• A mysterious sigh sounded in the burial chamber, and Angel pulled Alger toward Klein as Klein teleported them into the Spirit World.
• Alger steadied the trio above the sea with a gale, and they watched the Nameless Island vanish beneath the clearing mist.
• Klein teleported Angel and Alger to a deserted island near Bayam, where Angel said she had heard the voice before and named Adam as the Angel of Imagination.

After escaping the island, Klein, Angel, and Alger realized Adam may have watched their expedition and sought The Travels of Grosell. They divided the spoils, with the Card of Blasphemy set aside for Mr. Fool in exchange for Alger’s desired potion formula.

• Angel warned Klein and Alger that Adam, the King of Angels on the Spectator Pathway, might have watched their fight while using Psychological Invisibility.
• Klein suspected Adam had targeted The Travels of Grosell and concluded that Adam had imagined the island into existence.
• Angel and Klein agreed to discuss their gains, and Alger urged them to focus on dividing the expedition’s spoils.
• Angel gave Alger the Six-Winged Gargoyle’s core and eyes, then proposed contributing the Card of Blasphemy to Mr. Fool for Alger’s Sequence 4 potion formula.
• Klein assigned the remaining Beyonder Characteristics to himself and the Feathered Serpent feather to Angel, while reminding them that Alger’s Artisan would make the Mystical Items.

After returning to Backlund, Angel and Klein reviewed the strange events at Dantès House and examined the powerful sealed artifact Angel had recovered. Klein was left alone with a temporary fear of loneliness caused by using Death Knell, while Angel departed through the Mirror World.

• Alger returned toward Bayam and froze in shock at the city’s many lights blazing after midnight.
• Klein and Angel returned to Dantès House, where Arrodes reported Walter’s contact with Trissy, Richardson’s prayer to Death, Hazel’s Sun charm test, and Daly Simone watching the house.
• Angel gave Klein the Tyrant Card for the Fool and identified the Feathered Serpent’s white feather as the Grade 1 sealed artifact Wings of Death.
• Klein worried about Angel’s condition and watched her leave through the Mirror World.
• Klein’s six-hour weakness made him fear loneliness, so he summoned Senior for company before retreating beneath the covers.

Angel visited Trissy in Backlund and reviewed her investigation into Viscount Stratford, who Trissy suspected was involved in Prince Edessak’s death. Angel arranged to help Trissy approach him under another identity, while Trissy revealed that Panacea had planned to send her to Trier and that she suspected the Primordial Demoness was involved there.

• Walter and Richardson waited to greet Dwayne Dantès, who emerged from his bedroom looking exhausted and disheveled.
• Angel discreetly accepted Mr. Sander’s terms, prepared for the Dantès residence ball, and traveled through the Mirror World to Trissy’s South District home.
• Trissy recognized Angel as the “Golden Queen” and explained that she had been researching Viscount Stratford, whom she suspected served the faction responsible for Edessak’s death.
• Angel told Trissy to continue tracking Stratford and promised to find a way for her to approach him under another identity.
• Angel gave Trissy the incantation to summon Black Cat Wensa and warned that she might soon leave Backlund for Trier.
• Trissy said Panacea had previously planned to send her to Trier and suspected the Demoness Sect’s activities there were connected to the Primordial Demoness.

Xio received an assignment to monitor Viscount Stratford, linking the work to painful memories of her family’s destruction seven years earlier. At Dwayne Dantès’s dance, Klein partnered with Angel while Hazel watched them, and Klein resolved to keep Angel dancing through his first three dances.

• Xio handed her report to her MI9 contact, who ended the East Borough investigation and offered her full membership in MI9.
• The golden-masked man assigned Xio to track everyone Viscount Stratford met, prompting her to remember that he had been her father’s deputy before the night her family was destroyed.
• Klein welcomed his guests to a dance at his residence and greeted Angel, who arrived as Miss Theresa.
• Klein invited Angel to the opening dance before Major Stuart could, while Hazel refused Stuart’s invitation and watched the couple.
• Klein and Angel teased each other as they danced, and after Angel stepped on his foot, Klein decided to keep her as his partner for the first three dances.

At Klein’s ball, Angel asked Wilma’s unborn child for a blessing before her planned trip to Trier, and the baby kicked in response. After returning home, Angel dreamed of a barren plain and a black tower, where she found a carriage holding a silver-wrapped infant.

• Wilma attended Klein’s ball with Aaron and met Angel, Klein, Lord Macht, Stuart, and Professor Momont.
• Angel told Aaron and Wilma she planned to travel to Intis and asked the unborn child to bless her journey; the baby kicked, giving Angel the reassurance she wanted.
• Angel spoke with Bishop Electra about Klein, then declined to dance and tried to enjoy the food before Klein directed her toward the dining area.
• Angel stayed home that night, expecting Will Auceptin to visit her in a dream.
• Angel entered a black tower in her dream and found a baby carriage containing a tiny infant wrapped in silver silk.

Angel received Will Auceptin’s warning about Trier and learned that Ouroboros had taken an interest in her. The next morning, she followed Will’s advice to seek help at Saint Samuel Cathedral and was brought to Archbishop Anthony Stevenson.

• Angel asked Will Auceptin for advice, and he warned her to avoid Trier’s deep contamination and to seek help at Saint Samuel Cathedral.
• Will Auceptin told Angel to discard Ouroboros’s scale and said that others would explain why she was attracting investments once she became an angel.
• Xio Derecha declined Fors Wall’s invitation to travel to Trier because she had an assignment to watch Viscount Stratford.
• Angel visited Saint Samuel Cathedral in disguise and showed a Duty Bishop her Hidden Holy Emblem, asking to see Saint Anthony.
• Angel followed the hidden passage beneath the Great Prayer Hall and met Archbishop Anthony Stevenson beside an open iron door.

Angel received a silver mirror and a Trier contact from Archbishop Anthony before leaving to investigate the Mirror Person's power. After learning what the mirror might do and arranging for Wensa to watch Trissy, Angel joined the Tarot Club meeting.

• Archbishop Anthony gave Angel a silver mirror left behind when Sherick Madan disappeared, along with a Trier informant's address and code phrase.
• A power sealed beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral overwhelmed Angel until Anthony warned her not to use unfamiliar abilities inside the cathedral.
• Angel asked Wensa about the Demoness Sect in Trier, and Wensa identified its leader as Black Saintess Clarice and warned Angel to avoid Fourth Epoch Trier.
• Wensa said the mirror could open a fixed Mirror World in certain special places and agreed to watch Trissy while Angel was away.
• The Tarot Club members took their seats, and Justice Audrey opened the new week's meeting.

At the Tarot Club, the members traded Beyonder Characteristics and examined a painting from Nameless Island that revealed the Ancient Sun God’s fate. The chapter ended with Derrick identifying the three figures who devoured the Creator as the Eternal Blazing Sun, the Lord of Storms, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.

• Audrey requested to see the new Card of Blasphemy, which revealed Sequence 0, Tyrant, and she observed that several members already knew it had appeared.
• The World offered an Ocean Songster Characteristic for an Artisan to process and sold Sequence 5 Druid and Astronomer Characteristics to Cattleya and Audrey for 8,000 pounds each.
• Angel showed the Tarot Club an ancient painting from Nameless Island and explained Adam’s role in creating the island and testing promising Beyonders.
• The Fool warned the members not to mention or think about the Twilight Hermits Society outside the gathering and said Adam’s target had not been Angel.
• Cattleya recognized the figures in the painting as the last three Kings of Angel, and Derrick identified them as the Eternal Blazing Sun, the Lord of Storms, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, who had devoured the Almighty.

At the Tarot Club, Angel suggested that deities relied on faith as anchors to stabilize themselves, and several members requested a week off, leading Klein to cancel the next gathering. Klein then sent Gehrman Sparrow to contact Queen Mystic and infiltrate the Chanis Gate for the Antigonus Family Notebook, while Angel prepared to travel to Trier.

• Angel proposed that deities needed believers as anchors, and Mr. Fool’s reply tacitly confirmed her theory.
• Audrey shared news of an exploration team driven mad near a dragon-worshipping region, and the Tarot Club members linked the worship to an angelic dragon seeking anchors.
• Fors, the World, and Empress requested a week off, so Klein cancelled the next Tarot Gathering.
• Klein ordered Gehrman Sparrow to contact Queen Mystic, disguise himself as the Wraith Senior, and enter the Chanis Gate.
• Angel warned Klein that the Chanis Gate’s sealing core had sensed her Beyonder abilities, while Klein said he planned to use clever methods to infiltrate it.
• Angel wished Klein well before pouncing on him, and Dwayne Dantès later ordered a nutritious midnight snack.

Angel prepared to leave Backlund for Trier, where she hoped to help with Klein’s operation, and learned that her special mirror could connect her to Arrodes for brief assistance. As Angel and Fors departed by train, Xio met Shermane and headed back to East Borough to deal with gang matters.

• Angel instructed Ribak to maintain her social connections and asked Keira to prepare the house for the Social Season while delaying invitations.
• Angel summoned Arrodes, learned that her silver mirror opened a door to the sealed Trier of the Fourth Epoch, and was warned to avoid it until she became an Angel.
• Arrodes said Angel could use the special mirror to contact it briefly every three days and predicted that Klein’s operation would go smoothly.
• Angel left Backlund by train for Trier after declining Ribak’s offer of a guard, and she spotted a familiar figure from her compartment.
• Fors boarded a train for Intis alone after Xio offered to find her a guard.
• Xio met Shermane near the station and agreed to return with her to East Borough to handle gang matters.

Xue Man told Xio she would advance to gain the power to protect those she cared about, while they planned to put the Black Claw Gang under Xio’s management. Leonard questioned Chuck Hopper about Irene Watson and enlisted Daly’s help recovering his memories; meanwhile, Fors encountered Irene on a train bound for Feynapotter.

• Xue Man showed Xio her Cursed Black Flame and explained that she wanted strength to protect Freyja, Daisy, and Liv.
• Xue Man and Xio headed to the East Borough to reorganize the Black Claw Gang under Xio’s management while Xue Man stayed hidden and sought an Acting Method.
• Leonard asked Chuck Hopper about Irene Watson, and Hopper recalled that he had questioned her during an investigation but could not remember her appearance clearly.
• Daly offered to use spirit mediumship to help Hopper recover his memories of Irene.
• Fors opened her compartment door on the train to Feynapotter and found Irene standing outside.

Angel discovered that Fors helped publish novels secretly written by William Jones, including bestselling series featuring Angel and Klein, and learned that William served under Helene. Meanwhile, Helene prepared the Red Haired Woman to sail toward Toscart Island, planning ahead for an arms deal and hoping to see Tracy.

• Angel visited Fors aboard a train and learned that Fors was traveling to Trier to negotiate publishing rights.
• Fors showed Angel the manuscript for The Great Pirate Angelica series and explained that her pen pal Mr. M wrote it and The Great Adventurer Gehrman series.
• Angel learned that Mr. M was William Jones and divined that he was the Sailor Chief serving under Helene.
• Helene considered her progress toward repaying Angelica and advancing, while worrying about the Hunter pathway’s effects.
• William reported that the Red Haired Woman had finished loading its cargo, and Helene ordered the ship to sail for Toscart Island before returning to Bayam.