Chapter Summaries

Leonard and the Nighthawks used the dangerous Sealed Artifact 1-42 to track the Desire Apostle, while Angel and the Machinery Hivemind discussed Jason Beria’s motives. Jason escaped pursuit by peeling off his human skin and revealed that his real target was a carriage leaving Parliament.

• Leonard put on 1-42, then soaked in boiling water to remove the silver liquid it drew from his body.
• Leonard asked the Parasite about the armor’s origins and recognized someone among the Machinery Hivemind, but the Parasite evaded his questions.
• Ikanser told Angel, Isengard, and Sherlock that Jason Beria had killed relatives of three detectives and explained how 1-42 could track and kill him.
• Isengard and Sherlock questioned why Jason kept risking himself, and Ikanser promised to consult Arrodes at the Machinery Hivemind headquarters.
• Jason shed his outer layer of skin, stored it in a suitcase, and watched a carriage leaving Parliament as his true target.

Angel and the detectives celebrated surviving the Desire Apostle’s attack, then learned that Jason Beria had escaped the Mandated Punishers after killing three of them. Ikanser brought the silver-mirror Sealed Artifact Arrodes to Isengard’s home, and Sherlock agreed to try questioning it.

• Angel, Isengard, Sherlock, Caslana, and Lydia shared lunch and raised glasses to their survival and the victims.
• Caslana spoke about her fear of dying, and Sherlock lightened the mood by describing his funeral wishes.
• Ikanser arrived and told the group that the Mandated Punishers had found Jason Beria but failed to capture him.
• Ikanser reported that Jason had killed three Mandated Punishers and that Ace Snake was personally tracking him.
• Ikanser presented Arrodes, and Sherlock touched the mirror before agreeing to try it.

Sherlock Moriarty and the others used Arrodes to locate Jason Beria fleeing Backlund by ship, but Sherlock questioned whether the man was truly the Desire Apostle. The group split up to avoid alerting a possible hidden enemy, while Angel and Sherlock declined to take shelter at the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery.

• Arrodes showed Jason Beria boarding a ship near the Tussock River, and Sherlock learned that his answer to its color question was purple.
• Ikanser and Isengard reasoned that Jason was fleeing toward Pritz Harbor, but Sherlock suspected the apparent escape might distract them from another conspiracy.
• Angel warned the group not to investigate a possible second Desire Apostle yet and urged them to follow the plan to block the Devil's dangerous intuition.
• Arrodes began displaying an unexpected message addressed to Angel, but she stopped it before the others noticed.
• Ikanser left with Arrodes, while Isengard invited the others to shelter at a Church of the God of Steam and Machinery.
• Angel declined the invitation, and Sherlock said he would collect belongings before possibly going to the church.

Sherlock and Angel realized that the apparent Jason Beria was a decoy meant to draw the authorities and Ace Snake away while the true Desire Apostle targeted Duke Negan. Arrodes revealed the Apostle’s success and escape, then questioned Leonard about something inside his mind.

• Sherlock told Angel that divination had revealed the real Jason was hidden beneath a human skin and that the apparent Jason was likely an accomplice.
• The true Desire Apostle used the Duke’s surging desires to incapacitate Pallas Negan, while the Duke’s secretary and a Wind-blessed rushed to protect him.
• Duke Negan blew a conch-shaped necklace to summon Ace Snake, then ordered his guards to capture the killer alive.
• Leonard and Ikanser used Arrodes to locate the Desire Apostle, and the mirror showed Duke Negan dead in a villa garden as the Apostle escaped into a sewer.
• Arrodes displayed a question asking Leonard whether something was residing within his mind.

Leonard used Arrodes to help the Nighthawks identify the fleeing Desire Apostle, while Angel and Sherlock discovered that the mirror could reveal his location. Angel intercepted the injured Apostle in the sewers near Campbell Street, and their battle began.

• Leonard answered Arrodes's question about his memories while Soest's team identified the villa and set out after the Desire Apostle.
• Angel and Sherlock discussed Arrodes's unusual behavior, but Angel's divination failed to locate the Apostle.
• Arrodes appeared in Angel's Magic Mirror and revealed that the Apostle was heading toward Campbell Street.
• Sherlock sent Angel ahead while he prepared to join the fight in his Spirit Body form.
• Angel pursued the Apostle through the sewers and confronted him, triggering a clash of ice and fire.

Angel fought the Devil-Transformed Desire Apostle in a sewer and overcame his attacks and planted Desire Seed with help from holy attacks. She killed him and destroyed the shadow he had tried to use to escape.

• Angel attacked the Desire Apostle with Good Luck and her Bone Sword, but he used Mental Shock to create an opening and slash through her Paper Figurine Substitute.
• Angel reappeared and shot a hole through the Desire Apostle’s waist, then avoided his death curse with another substitute.
• The Desire Seed planted in Angel’s mind disrupted her attack, and the wounded Desire Apostle lunged at her.
• A Holy Light Bullet and the Sun Brooch’s holy light weakened the Desire Apostle, allowing Angel to stab through his head with the Bone Sword.
• The Desire Apostle’s body shrank back into a man, but Angel spotted his escaping shadow and pinned it with the Bone Sword, burning it with Cursed Flame.

Angel and Sherlock defeated the Desire Apostle, collected his wealth, and Angel Grazed his soul, but Sealed Artifact 1-42 suddenly attacked and shattered Angel’s body. Klein used Dream Divination to discover that Leonard Mitchell had wielded the artifact and that Angel was still alive, though motionless and covered in blood.

• Angel and Sherlock completed their plan, and Angel opened the Desire Apostle’s suitcase to find more than ten thousand pounds in notes and gold bars worth about thirteen thousand pounds total.
• Angel used the Rose Necklace to Graze the Desire Apostle’s soul and absorb his Beyonder Characteristic.
• Sealed Artifact 1-42 struck, leaving Angel’s body shattered and cutting Klein’s connection to the Black Emperor Spirit Body.
• Klein hurried toward the battlefield, then returned above the Gray Fog to divine Angel’s situation instead of confronting the artifact recklessly.
• Klein’s divination revealed that Leonard Mitchell had worn the silver-white armor of 1-42 and that Angel lay motionless in a sewer passage, covered in blood.

Klein found Angel unconscious in the sewers, brought her to his home, and discovered that her wounds had healed but her condition remained unstable. When Angel woke and tried to leave, she succumbed to madness and threw Klein onto the bed, leaving him to decide whether to use fire to stop her.

• Klein found Angel alive but unconscious amid blood and shattered ice in the sewers.
• Klein carried Angel home, saw that her injuries had healed, and concluded she had survived the attack using the Rose Necklace.
• Klein prepared healing potions and returned to the guest room, where Angel had woken and insisted on leaving.
• Klein noticed Angel's flushed face and signs of impending loss of control, then grabbed her arm as she passed.
• Angel's crazed gaze and sudden force knocked Klein onto the bed, and he lowered his hand instead of using fire to deter her.

The churches investigated Jason Beria’s death in the sewer, and Arrodes showed them a vision of his killers while hinting at the Tarot organization. The chapter ended with Angel waiting, armed and surrounded by safeguards, for someone emerging from the guest room.

• Ace Snake demanded answers about Jason Beria’s death, while Ikanser reported that a woman and a crowned ghost had been at the scene.
• Leonard identified the ghost as the Rogue Black Emperor and linked the killers to earlier incidents involving Tarot Cards.
• Arrodes showed Ace Snake a vision of the Black Emperor and a fair hand killing Jason Beria, followed by burning Tarot Cards bearing The Fool.
• Arrodes asked Ace Snake whether he had ever felt disloyal to his deity, unsettling him before he could answer.
• Angel waited beside the living room window with her revolver and protective artifacts as someone opened the guest-room door.

Angel and Sherlock recovered from the battle with the Desire Apostle and discussed his assassination of Duke Negan, the Rose Necklace’s new abilities, and the missing suitcase. Angel left, while Klein privately reflected on the amethyst pendant on his wrist.

• Angel held Sherlock at gunpoint, then lowered her weapon, and Sherlock made breakfast while she changed into a dress borrowed from Landlady Sommer.
• Angel and Sherlock reviewed the battle and learned that the Desire Apostle had targeted Duke Negan, using the assassination as part of a plan arranged by unnamed sponsors.
• Angel explained that Grazing the Desire Apostle had given the Rose Necklace the abilities Control Desire, Filthy Words, and Malice Induction.
• Angel and Sherlock realized they had not recovered the suitcase containing the assassination payment, and Sherlock planned to search for it in his Spirit Body that night.
• Angel left Sherlock’s home, and Klein hid the amethyst pendant on his wrist before clearing the dishes.

After returning home, Angel reviewed her recent battle, assessed her Pleasure potion acting, and tested the abilities she had gained from the Desire Apostle. Audrey contacted her to ask for protection at a Psychology Alchemists’ gathering, and Angel’s next mirror communication began just as their call ended.

• Angel returned to Red Rose Street, reflected on 0-08 and her connection with Sherlock, and reviewed the Desire Apostle’s death and her rapid potion digestion.
• Angel decided to sell the Madness Ring, then tested the Desire Apostle’s abilities and discovered that using Foul Language stirred violent desires in her.
• Audrey contacted Angel and asked her to accompany her to a Countess’s ball, where the Psychology Alchemists planned to evaluate her.
• As Audrey’s communication ended, another figure appeared in Angel’s mirror, and Audrey overheard a man’s voice before her own mirror went blank.
• Audrey wondered who had contacted Angel and decided to ask Miss Empress about it the next day.

Klein told Angel he had recovered the valuables from her damaged suitcase and discussed the hidden organization behind the Desire Apostle and his progress toward becoming a Faceless. The next afternoon, Angel rode with Audrey to a ball, where Audrey asked whether Angel’s persistent smile was because of the man she had seen the previous night.

• Klein contacted Angel through the mirror and explained that the suitcase’s banknotes were ruined but its gold, jewelry, and diamonds were worth about 3,000 pounds.
• Klein and Angel agreed that the organization behind the Desire Apostle could not be discussed because anything spoken of might be known.
• Klein told Angel he was close to digesting the Magician Potion and hoped to advance to Faceless, while Angel offered to help find ingredients.
• Angel boarded Audrey’s carriage outside Earl Hall’s residence, and Audrey revealed that her family had sent a Beyonder guard and eight armed guards with her.
• Audrey hinted that Duke Pallas Negan’s assassination showed the danger to her family, then asked Angel whether her smile was related to the man from the previous night.

Angel accompanied Audrey to Earl Wolf’s ball, where Audrey left to meet the Psychology Alchemists and Angel encountered Trissy. As commotion outside distracted Trissy’s watchers, Trissy disappeared from the ballroom.

• Angel entered Earl Wolf’s estate with Audrey, her maid, and Susie, and Audrey explained that Earl Wolf had sold land to fund his lavish lifestyle.
• Audrey left the ballroom with a woman who had contacted her, using their agreed signal that the Psychology Alchemists wanted to meet.
• Angel spotted Lola Swann dancing with Vincent and then encountered Trissy, who claimed they had an agreement and said she could handle her watchers herself.
• Angel inferred that Trissy intended to escape her control and chose not to interfere as Trissy slipped away through a side door.
• Sharp whistles and shouts outside distracted the guests and Trissy’s watchers, and Trissy vanished from the crowd.

Angel watched Trissy escape a search by royal spies, only for her to return changed and leave with Prince Edessak. After the ball, Audrey gave Angel three pages of Emperor Roselle’s Diary as part of her promised reward.

• Angel concealed her knowledge of Trissy’s invisibility and misled two royal spies searching the hall.
• Trissy returned with a changed appearance and left with Prince Edessak, who treated her with indulgent familiarity.
• Angel noticed that Lola Swann and her Hunter partner had sensed something unusual, then spoke with Susie before Audrey interrupted.
• In their carriage, Angel told Audrey about Edessak’s relationship with a common girl while withholding Trissy’s identity and the Demoness Sect’s involvement.
• Audrey gave Angel three manuscript pages containing Emperor Roselle’s Diary as part of her reward.

Angel calculated her prospective wealth and learned that the Aurora Order had claimed responsibility for Duke Negan’s assassination, while authorities had raided one of its strongholds. She met Sherman and his bounty hunter partner Xio Derecha at the Oak Bar to discuss their lead on Baelen and how to catch him.

• Angel calculated that her possible assets totaled 7,100 pounds, though most of the money and rewards were not yet available to her.
• Angel read that Duke Negan had been assassinated by Patrick Jason and that the Aurora Order had claimed responsibility, then saw that authorities had raided an Aurora Order stronghold in Empress Borough.
• Sherman contacted Angel to report a lead on Baelen and explained that he had hired a bounty hunter for fifty pounds plus half of anything valuable found.
• Angel met Sherman and Xio Derecha at the Oak Bar, recognized Xio from Audrey’s Mysticism Salon, and learned that Xio had been tracking Baelen in East Borough.
• Angel recognized that Xio was using a Beyonder ability, warned her against using it casually, and said her own employer was not in Loen before proposing they discuss catching Baelen and payment.

Angel hired Xio to capture Baelen, then negotiated a larger reward with the Hanged Man for capturing him and obtaining information about his human trafficking. At the Tarot Club, Audrey reported that Duke Pallas Negan’s assassin had been found dead in the sewers, covered in Tarot Cards, with his important items missing.

• Angel agreed to pay Xio 50 pounds and half of Baelen’s ordinary possessions, and they arranged to capture him that night.
• Sherman told Angel rumors that Xio had once been a noble, then a crash outside the tavern interrupted their conversation.
• At the Tarot Club, Angel told the Hanged Man she had located Baelen and negotiated a total reward of 500 pounds for capturing him and providing exclusive information about his trafficking.
• The Hanged Man accepted the World’s requests to sell a Werewolf Beyonder Characteristic and find Deep Sea Naga hair.
• Audrey told the Tarot Club that Duke Pallas Negan had been assassinated by a Desire Apostle who was later found dead in the sewers, covered in Tarot Cards and missing important items.

At the Tarot Club, Angel revealed that she and one of Mr. Fool’s Blessed had killed the Desire Apostle to target the Twilight Hermits Society, whose name could not safely be mentioned or recorded. The members discussed the political consequences of Duke Negan’s death and made unsuccessful attempts to trade Mystical Items before the gathering ended.

• Audrey announced that Tarot Cards had been found on the Desire Apostle’s corpse, and Angel admitted she and Mr. Fool’s Blessed had killed him and Grazed his Beyonder Characteristic and soul.
• Justice clarified that their target was the Twilight Hermits Society, and Mr. Fool warned the members never to mention, write down, or record its name outside the gathering.
• Justice described how Duke Negan’s death had weakened the Conservatives, prompted military personnel changes, and led to the expected transfer of the Church of Storms Archbishop; Hanged Man thanked her for the information.
• Angel offered a face-concealing Psychiatrist-derived ring for 2,000 pounds, but no one showed interest.
• Sun asked for a Mystical Item to strengthen him for an exploration of the True Creator’s ruins, but no one had one to offer, and the Tarot Club ended.

Angel, Xio Derecha, and Sherman captured Baelen and interrogated him about his role in Backlund’s human-trafficking network. Baelen revealed that he was continuing Capim’s operation and mentioned a mysterious Golden Mask before an armed man entered the attic and sealed it with Imprisonment.

• Angel used the Madness Ring and joined Xio Derecha and Sherman to capture Baelen at his home in the East Borough.
• Angel entered through a window and trapped Baelen with invisible spider silk while Xio knocked him unconscious and carried him to the attic.
• Xio questioned Baelen, but Angel’s unseen power frightened him into revealing that he had taken over Capim’s work transporting kidnapped poor people out of Backlund.
• Baelen said three other men handled separate routes and that a contact wearing a Golden Mask directed them, while others took the captives onward, likely overseas.
• As Baelen began to reveal that some captives were taken somewhere near Backlund, a middle-aged man entered the attic and cast Imprisonment, sealing the room from sound and spirituality.

Angel and Xio fought Harras after he sealed the attic, and Angel killed him. Baelen escaped the room but was struck down by a dagger as he tried to flee.

• Xio failed to break through the sealed window and questioned Harras, who revealed that he had trapped everyone in the attic.
• Harras exposed Angel’s invisibility and attacked her, but she fought back with spells, an Ice Spike, and her Good Luck pistol.
• Harras used Imprisonment and Mental Piercing against Angel, but she impaled him with a Bone Sword and killed him.
• Harras’s death lifted the attic’s seal, freeing Xio and opening the window.
• Baelen cut his bonds and tried to escape through the window, but a dagger struck his chest and sent him flying back into the attic.

Angel used Spirit Channeling to question the dead Harras and learned that a masked Sequence 4 Arbiter led a human-trafficking operation in Backlund. When Harras was prevented from revealing the handover location, Angel hurried to erase evidence and leave, while two hooded figures later discovered the burned bodies and Tarot cards.

• Xio and Sherman entered the attic, where Angel told them Baelen could not be saved and asked them to guard the door while she questioned Harras.
• Angel used the Magic Mirror to channel Harras, who revealed that his group kidnapped poor and homeless people and that a masked Judge, possibly a Sequence 4 Demigod, gave the orders.
• Harras began to name the slave handover location near Tasok, but his Spirit Body vanished before he could finish, leading Angel to suspect a powerful Prohibition.
• Angel Grazed Harras, burned traces in the attic, collected Baelen's Beyonder Characteristic, and left the scene with Xio and Sherman.
• Two hooded figures arrived half an hour later and found the charred corpses and Tarot cards, including Judgment.