Recaps

Leonard prepared with Pallez Zoroast to help Klein and Angel lure and eliminate Amon’s Avatar, then investigated a serial murder in the East Borough. By entering a witness’s dream, Leonard identified the killer as an evil Witch of the Demoness Sect.

• Leonard told Pallez that Klein and Angel had met his conditions for the operation against Amon’s Avatar, and Pallez agreed to join.
• Leonard asked Pallez to help with the Word of the Sea’s negative effects, and Pallez told him to buy the item so he could make it more obedient.
• Rosa informed Leonard that another gang member had been murdered, and they went to investigate the charred victim.
• Leonard and Rosa recognized that the killer had arranged the corpse in a posture praising the Eternal Blazing Sun, matching a pattern of religious poses in the earlier murders.
• Leonard used the street child witness’s dream to see a cloaked woman spare the boy and pay him for food.
• Leonard recognized the woman’s appearance and voice and concluded that the serial killer was a Witch of the Demoness Sect.

Shermane met with Trissy, who warned her to complete her last two public murders and leave the East Borough before the authorities caught her. Angel met Sander and Stuart to collect 7,000 pounds, discussed her engagement to Mr. Dantès, and learned that a woman in the military wanted to meet her secretly.

• Shermane visited the Black Bear Cannery, saw Liv working, and reflected on how the factory helped the gang members and Liv's family.
• Trissy advised Shermane to make her final two assassinations public so she could finish her Witch acting, then urged her to leave the East Borough afterward.
• Trissy told Shermane to get ready for their trip to the West Borough and their upcoming date with Viscount Stratford.
• Angel met Sander and Stuart, and Sander checked and accepted the 7,000 pounds from their deal involving the munitions.
• Angel explained that she and Mr. Dantès were drawn together by affection and shared interests, then learned that a woman in the military wanted to meet her secretly.

Angel considered the military’s interest in her and planned to unite Shermane’s and Helene’s gangs under the Tarot Club’s Empress. At a psychology salon, she was ushered into a private room to meet Hvin Rambis, who addressed her as a Demoness.

• Angel told Ribak to maintain contact with Sander and wondered who the military’s female commander was.
• Angel planned to bring her proposal for organizing her subordinate groups before the Tarot Club and discussed code names with Audrey and Susie.
• Angel and Audrey met furniture merchant Stephen Hampres and jewelry designer Hilbert Alucard at a psychology salon.
• A maid led Angel to a private sitting room, where Hvin Rambis greeted her as the Demoness of Pleasure.

Angel met Hvin Rambis at Audrey’s salon, where he used Psychological Suggestion to probe her identity and implant thoughts about her relationship with Dwayne Dantès and her attraction to women. She pretended to submit, leaving Rambis unaware that she had resisted his influence and remained coldly wary.

• Hvin Rambis identified Angel as a Demoness of Pleasure and tried to calm her with Psychological Suggestion.
• Angel recognized the manipulation and pretended to believe Hvin’s claim that he was an ordinary Psychology Alchemist seeking to protect Audrey.
• Hvin questioned Angel about her escape from the Demoness Sect and her engagement to Dwayne Dantès, and Angel supplied carefully chosen answers.
• Hvin implanted suggestions that Angel should keep attending the salons, forget their conversations, delay her wedding, and feel stronger affection for women of high status.
• Angel acted obediently as she left, then embraced Audrey while keeping her eyes cold, unbeknownst to Hvin.

Angel told Audrey that Hvin Rambis had tried to manipulate her into pursuing nobles and outstanding women, while explaining why she had not attacked him. Later, Angel and Klein asked Will Auceptin how to counter Amon’s avatars, and Will warned them of a coming fluctuation in their fates.

• Angel told Audrey that Hvin Rambis had used Psychological Suggestion to push her toward meeting more nobles and women, and explained that killing him could expose Audrey to retaliation.
• Audrey realized Hvin had been influenced by her earlier comments and worried that the Psychology Alchemists had provoked two demigods; Susie used Placate to soothe her.
• Angel and Klein visited Will Auceptin at Doctor Aaron Ceres’s home and fed him ice cream while asking about Amon’s avatars.
• Will said they could see through Amon’s disguises by praying for help and viewing their surroundings from a higher-level perspective, hinting that they should pray to the Fool.
• Will warned that their fates would fluctuate on Wednesday or Thursday and told them to return the next day with more ice cream.

Angel, Klein, and Leonard prepared to lure Amon’s avatars into an ambush in Backlund, while Angel set up a mirror-filled house as the battlefield. The chapter ended with Klein spotting a suspicious gray rat in a carriage outside his home.

• Angel told Leonard and Klein that their fates might fluctuate within days and outlined a plan to use the Parasite glove as bait, with Klein observing from above the gray fog and Leonard waiting nearby.
• Klein suggested they visit Dr. Aaron again with ice cream, while Leonard realized he had invaded the dream of an angel specializing in fate and feared the consequences.
• Angel prepared a house on Douton Street with more than thirty mirrors, then sealed the Parasite glove and hid it in the Mirror World to delay Amon’s avatars from sensing it.
• Klein returned home after observing the Tarot Club members’ operation against a Sanguine and noticed Councilor Macht’s carriage passing his residence.
• Klein sensed a gray rat watching from inside the carriage beside a bored young woman.

Klein discovered that Amon had arrived on Böklund Street and concentrated his strength in a single avatar capable of spreading countless Worms of Time. As Klein prepared for the coming attack, Angel learned that Amon had already found her and was surrounded by his avatars.

• Klein saw Amon enter Hazel’s home under the identity of the dead Marauder demigod and sent warnings to Angel and Leonard.
• Klein realized Amon could use Worms of Time to parasitize people across the street and expose Dwayne Dantès as an anomaly.
• Klein prepared his equipment and the Evernight Emblem as his connection to Enyouni suddenly broke.
• Angel received Klein’s warning, ignited the Seeds of Disease she had planted in advance, and planned to travel to Böklund Street unnoticed.
• Amon revealed himself to Angel as a stray cat, a worker, and countless avatars surrounding the house.

Angel fought several Amon avatars at Douton Street while Klein faced another near his home, and Leonard set out to help Klein. Angel’s battle continued amid a citywide disturbance, while the Amon near Klein’s house remained poised to attack.

• Angel avoided a covert parasitism attempt, spread a mystical disease to nearby living things, and used Mirror Substitution to evade Amon’s attacks.
• Amon confined Angel’s abilities to a limited area by tampering with fate, but Angel invoked Anne’s power of order to forbid stealing across a two-hundred-meter radius.
• At Böklund Street, Klein learned that Amon had parasitized his marionette at Saint Samuel Cathedral and continued attacking with other marionettes.
• Pallez directed Leonard to go to Böklund Street to protect Klein, and Leonard flew there with the Word of the Sea.
• At 25 Douton Street, Angel’s Black Flame struck through mirrors and engulfed Amon’s position, setting the house’s second floor ablaze as nearby residents coughed and carried on.

Angel fought Amon’s avatars through a burning house, using prepared counters to survive his theft of her thoughts and abilities. Amon gathered his avatars and threatened nearby civilians with the disease Angel had returned to him, but Angel smiled and uttered an Ancient Hermes command: “Betrayal.”

• Angel pursued Amon through the house, but he exploited her Prohibition’s loopholes and stole her thoughts and combat abilities.
• Angel escaped into the Mirror World, only for Amon to shatter it and trap her back in the house.
• Angel used Amon’s blood and a mirror substitute to return his transferred disease, leaving his worker avatar gravely ill.
• Amon’s avatars gathered as a classical-robed Amon threatened nearby civilians with the disease and demanded answers from Angel.
• Amon stole nearly half of Angel’s remaining abilities, but Angel invoked Ancient Hermes and said, “Betrayal.”

Angel defeated the Amon avatars in Backlund by using a Betrayal charm and diseases that turned their power against them. As Pallez and Leonard’s annihilation plan gathered the Marauder characteristics, one Amon avatar awakened with a letter warning about Angel, Pales, and the Evernight Goddess, but the message and the avatar vanished.

• Amon’s avatars merged their power, but the Betrayal charm made their Worms of Time and Beyonder characteristics turn against them.
• Angel explained that her first disease gave immunity to a fatal disease, so Amon’s transfers protected nearby people while exposing the avatars to her second disease.
• Amon’s avatar began to dissolve as its Worm of Time emerged, and Angel revealed that she had used the avatars’ cautious nature to trap them.
• Marauder characteristics flew toward a phantom clock above Böklund Street, where Angel inferred that Leonard and Pales had begun their annihilation plan.
• Angel recovered the Parasite glove and a Worm of Time, burned away traces of the fight, and marked affected pedestrians for the Nighthawks to find.
• On Verdi Street, an Amon avatar awakened beside a bicycle and read a letter warning of Angel, Pales, and the Evernight Goddess before the message and avatar disappeared.

Angel and Klein regrouped after Pallez absorbed the Beyonder characteristics of Amon’s avatars across Backlund and discussed how to help the parasitized victims. As Angel considered asking Audrey to assist Hazel and the others, Arianna appeared.

• Angel emerged beside Klein and Leonard as Leonard struggled to subdue the Word of the Sea cane.
• Klein explained how Pallez had used Reboot and aggregation to absorb the Amon avatars’ Beyonder characteristics and restore the stolen marionettes.
• Angel told Leonard and Klein about her battle on Douton Street, and Pallez advised her to find the victims she had marked with Disease Seeds.
• Leonard and Pallez relinquished their claim to the remaining Worms of Time, while Klein and Angel agreed to divide them and help the parasitized people seek purification.
• Klein suggested that Hazel’s family pray to the Evernight Goddess, and Angel thought Audrey could help the victims and Hazel.
• Arianna appeared at the edge of Angel’s vision.

Angel and Klein learned that Amon’s attacks were part of a planned probe and that the Evernight Goddess might be in poor condition, then helped victims recover with Arianna’s guidance. After Audrey calmed Hazel and other victims, Angel took her through the Mirror World to help more people, leaving Klein behind.

• Arianna told Angel and Klein to sacrifice two Worms of Time each to the Evernight Goddess and showed them an intercepted letter from Amon’s Avatar.
• Klein asked about the letter’s reference to a paranoid fellow, and Arianna identified Adam while assuring them her Concealment hid the name from him.
• Arianna said the Goddess had issued fewer revelations and warned them to beware of Amon before vanishing with the letter.
• Angel used the Mirror World to find parasitism victims, and Audrey joined Klein in freeing and soothing the servants and the Macht family, including Hazel.
• Audrey calmed Hazel and prepared to help other patients, but Angel took her into the Mirror Tunnel before Klein could follow.

Angel brought Audrey into the Mirror World to remotely hypnotize people suffering from the aftereffects of Amon's parasitism, and Audrey bravely tried the unfamiliar technique. After they collected twelve Worms of Time, Audrey advised Angel to talk with Mr. World about his hidden grief and offered her blessing.

• Angel carried Audrey through the Mirror World tunnels to a basement on Douton Street and explained how the tunnels connected mirrors.
• Angel revealed parasitized people in mirrors around the street, and Audrey chose to try transmitting hypnosis through the mirrors rather than visiting each target.
• Audrey hypnotized the targets through the mirrors, helping Angel collect twelve Worms of Time.
• Angel offered Audrey a Worm of Time to make into a Demigod-level Charm, and Audrey reflected on the dangers facing her family and her own path.
• Audrey told Angel that Mr. World seemed troubled and urged her to speak with him, then offered her blessing; Angel embraced her in thanks.

After returning from Douton Street, Angel and Klein cleared up a misunderstanding about her time with Audrey and discussed their plans after defeating Amon's Avatar. Angel prepared to search the Fog Sea for the Fountain of Youth while Klein focused on his investigation in Backlund, and the chapter ended with Angel helping him destroy his Worms of Spirit.

• Angel returned to Klein's bedroom and explained that she had taken Audrey back to Phelps Street after helping victims on Douton Street expel Amon's Worms of Time.
• Klein revealed that the Death Knell revolver had given him an obsession with cleanliness, and he and Angel embraced as she considered his lingering doubts about Ince Zangwill's words.
• Angel and Klein divided the Worms of Time they had collected, setting some aside for Audrey, the Goddess, and Anne.
• Angel announced that she would search the Fog Sea for the Fountain of Youth, while Klein stayed in Backlund to pursue Qonas Kilgor and gave her two Luck Stealers.
• Klein asked Angel to kill three Worms of Spirit so he could use them as materials, and Angel seized them all at once before he could ask her to proceed one at a time.

Angel crafted charms using Worms of Time and sent one, along with two more worms, to Anne, then questioned Lola Swann about the Fountain of Youth and military demigods. Lola revealed that Duchess Georgina Augustus was a retired royal military officer and a female demigod.

• Angel used Worms of Time to create charms that others could activate and sent one charm and two worms to Anne with a request about recharging her mark.
• Keira told Angel that Lola Swann had arrived, and Angel met Lola to ask about the Fountain of Youth in the Fog Sea.
• Lola said her mother had used water from the Fountain of Youth to advance to Unaging, but she did not know where the fountain was.
• Lola said her mother had forbidden her from advancing beyond Sequence 6 and warned that military activity might lead to another Great Smog.
• Angel asked about female demigods in the military, and Lola identified Georgina Augustus, known as Duchess Georgina.

Angel questioned Lola about the Demoness Sect and learned that Katarina suspected a royal-family disagreement connected to the Great Smog. After receiving a summons to meet a female military demigod, Angel obtained a powerful but dangerous longsword and named it Angelica's Edge.

• Angel asked Lola about the Demoness Sect, and Lola said Katarina had likely received the important item promised by the conspirators behind the Great Smog.
• Lola told Angel that Katarina suspected a disagreement within the royal family, possibly tied to the Great Smog's aftermath.
• Two days after Sander's message, Angel prepared to meet the female demigod from the military who was likely a royal-family member.
• Angel received a longsword forged from an Iron-Blooded Knight characteristic, with immense offensive power and a dangerous burning effect on its wielder.
• Angel tested the sword's effect briefly and named it Angelica's Edge.

Angel traveled to Empress Borough for a midnight meeting and discovered that her host was Georgina Augustus, the Duchess and a powerful Arbiter demigod. Georgina recognized Angel as a Demoness and asked her to introduce herself.

• Angel prepared for the meeting with protective charms and Mystical Items, reflecting on how poorly equipped she was compared with her likely opponent.
• A masked military Beyonder escorted Angel by carriage to a secluded estate in Empress Borough, refusing to identify their destination or host.
• Angel waited in the estate's reception room and avoided using her mirror abilities to investigate it.
• Georgina Augustus entered, and Angel recognized the Duchess by her appearance and Arbiter authority.
• Georgina dismissed her maids, confirmed Angel was Christine Teresa, and told her to introduce herself as a Demoness.

Angel met Duchess Georgina, who confirmed Angel was a Demoness of Pleasure and offered her a place in the Loen Military’s structure in exchange for loyalty and access to her connections. Georgina’s real interest was Angel’s link to the Red Haired Woman and Queen Anne’s Revenge, and the chapter ended as Angel prepared to sign a mystically binding contract.

• Angel questioned how Georgina had identified her as a Demoness, then admitted she was a Demoness of Pleasure who had fled Trier and did not belong to the Demoness Sect.
• Georgina explained that Sander’s favorable assessment and Angel’s work selling arms in the Gargas Archipelago had prompted her to seek deeper cooperation.
• Georgina offered Angel military protection and preferential treatment in exchange for her loyalty and connections in Intis, Bayam, Trier, and the Sauron Family’s channels.
• Georgina specifically named the Red Haired Woman, leading Angel to realize the duchess was interested in Queen Anne’s Revenge and its connection to the Golden Queen.
• Georgina wrote out a mystically binding contract, and Angel prepared to sign it.

Angel signed a one-year contract to cooperate with the Loen Military, agreeing to carry out arms deals in exchange for a guaranteed income. Georgina questioned her about Trissy Cheek, while Georgina and her companion revealed that they hoped to use the contract to contact the Golden Queen’s agent and learn about a Balancer.

• Angel negotiated clauses guaranteeing her at least thirty thousand pounds in earnings and voiding the contract if either party died or suffered incapacitating injuries, then signed as Christine Teresa.
• Georgina told Angel that Sander would give her another arms-dealing commission within a month, this time in the Southern Continent, and said she could seek Dwayne Dantès’s help.
• Georgina asked Angel what she knew about Trissy Cheek, and Angel described Trissy’s history and said she did not know whether Trissy remained alive or nearby.
• Georgina invited Angel to bring her any information about Trissy, saying she had a score to settle with her.
• After Angel left, Georgina told a black-haired man that Angel had likely seen through their objective and that the contract could help them contact the Golden Queen’s agent and obtain information about a Balancer.
• Georgina told the man that Angel knew nothing useful about Trissy and that she had only pursued the inquiry because a lovesick fool had made it his sole condition.

Before departing for Bayam, Angel met with Shermane, revealed that she was Angelica Zaki, and tasked her with building a Beyonder organization in the East Borough. As Angel prepared to leave, Arrodes answered her mirror summons with a question about whether the Amons were still in the city.

• Angel watched Xio warn Shermane to stop approaching Viscount Stratford, then emerged from the Mirror World and offered Shermane the option to withdraw from the assignment.
• Angel and Shermane discussed the Black Bear Cannery's ownership and plans to obtain cheaper supplies through Helene in Bayam.
• Angel revealed her identity as Angelica Zaki and gave Shermane the Hunter and Apothecary potion formulas to help establish a Beyonder organization in the East Borough.
• Angel left practical charms with Shermane, who drew the Empress of Pentacles as her code name.
• Angel prepared to travel to Bayam, summoned Arrodes through a mirror, and received its question about whether the Amons were still in the city.

Angel questioned Arrodes about Amon and the Fountain of Youth, then left Backlund for Bayam to prepare for a voyage into the Fog Sea. She met Dominic and Sonia, learned about unrest and shipping costs in the archipelago, and ended by teasing Sonia with a Mirror Substitution.

• Angel found that Arrodes was terrified of Amon, learned Amon had tortured the mirror for information about Klein, and calmed it by assuring it that Amon's avatars were gone from Backlund.
• Arrodes said the Fountain of Youth was an island in the Fog Sea protected by anti-divination, then begged Angel to rescue it from the Church of Steam; Angel persuaded it to stay and act dangerous enough to be upgraded to a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact.
• Angel traveled through the Mirror World to Bayam, visited Lucky Nick's room, and reunited with Dominic and Sonia, who recognized her from a wanted poster offering a 450,000-pound bounty.
• Dominic told Angel that the rebels had become more organized and that the Bayam garrison was focusing on pirates, while higher shipping costs had lowered the prices of local goods; Angel arranged to buy supplies for her canned food factory.
• Sonia mentioned adventurers searching for the Fountain of Youth east of the Sonia Sea, and Angel warned that the King of Immortality used the rumor as a trap before a Mirror Substitution patted Sonia's head.

Angel arrived at the Red Haired Woman and learned that William had gone missing while buying medicine. She found him fleeing the Mandated Punishers with Tia, a Witch hunted by the Demoness Sect, who revealed she had defected to the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom and carried valuable secrets.

• Angel visited the Red Haired Woman, gave Helene the codename Queen of Wands, and learned William had gone to buy medicine.
• When William failed to return, Angel used Magic Mirror Divination and took Helene through the Mirror World to find him.
• William fled the Mandated Punishers with Tia, but he and Tia fell into Angel's mirror trap and were brought aboard the Red Haired Woman.
• Angel questioned William and Tia, learning that William had once used the name Carl and that Tia was a Witch pursued by the Demoness Sect.
• Tia revealed she had defected from the Demoness Sect to the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, taking information about the sect and the true location of the Fountain of Youth.

Angel questioned Tia, a Demoness Sect defector, about the sect’s leadership and learned the location of the legendary Fountain of Youth. After Tia proved the location matched their intended destination, Angel welcomed her aboard the Red Haired Woman as the ship left Bayam for the Fog Sea.

• Tia explained that she had fled the Demoness Sect and sought protection from the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, and Angel used divination to verify that she believed her account.
• Tia told Angel that thirteen color-coded Demonesses managed regional affairs under a leader codenamed Gray, and that the sect was interested in Molora, the City of Exile.
• Tia revealed that she had memorized the location of the Fountain of Youth from an internal Demoness Sect document and offered it in exchange for protection.
• Angel agreed to take Tia away from Bayam for the voyage and considered sending her to Backlund afterward, while Tia asked to remain aboard the ship.
• Tia marked the Fountain of Youth’s location on the nautical chart, and Angel confirmed it matched Wensa’s map.
• The Red Haired Woman departed Bayam at night, and Angel welcomed Tia aboard.

At the Tarot Club, Angel arranged to buy blood from living centenarians and offered to make powerful charms, while members discussed preparations and supplies. Alger warned that Loen’s unusually aggressive campaign against pirates might signal a localized war later that year.

• Angel asked Emlyn to obtain blood from nine living ordinary people aged at least one hundred, and he agreed to provide it by the next gathering for five hundred pounds.
• Angel offered to make charms capable of killing demigods for three thousand pounds each if members supplied Worms of Time or equivalent materials; Sun and the Hermit showed interest.
• Alger asked Leonard whether he still wanted to buy Mystical Items, and Leonard declined because World had already sold him a cane.
• Alger reported that pirates had returned to major shipping lanes and that Loen’s navy had driven them back with heavy losses.
• Cattleya explained that pirates often served as proxies for countries, and Alger inferred that Loen might be preparing for a localized war before the year ended.

At the Tarot Club, Audrey confirmed that Loen might start a limited war within six months, and Angel proposed recruiting subordinate members called the Minor Arcana. After Hanged Man objected over the risk of exposure, Fool supported Angel’s plan, and Hanged Man withdrew his objection.

• Audrey shared information suggesting Loen had the motive and preparations to launch a localized war within six months, alarming the members who lived in Backlund.
• Angel proposed that Tarot Club members recruit Minor Arcana as subordinate agents who would have no direct contact with the club.
• Hanged Man opposed the proposal, warning that the additional connections could expose the Tarot Club and endanger its members.
• Angel argued that Minor Arcana would isolate the risk by making each member appear to be the leader of a separate organization, which she called the Church of the Fool.
• Fool backed Angel’s proposal and said the new layer would help protect the club as members’ unusual positions became harder to conceal.
• Hanged Man interpreted Fool’s words as a hint about preparing to join his camp, then withdrew his objection and agreed to the proposal.