Chapter Summaries

Angel and the Mandated Punishers tracked Bishop Miller to a cave where he was sacrificing captives to the Weather God. They attacked during Donna’s sacrifice, but Miller retaliated by making his cultists tear off their own heads.

• Dodge told Angel that Bishop Miller had killed Pastor Jess, kidnapped people, and fled with cultists to continue a live-sacrifice ritual.
• Angel and the three Mandated Punishers found the cave and entered in formation, following the chanting toward the altar.
• Miller ordered Donna placed on the altar as a sacrifice while Cecil lay gravely wounded nearby.
• Angel’s disease attack weakened Miller and the cultists, and the Mandated Punishers stormed the cave as Angel struck Miller with her blade.
• Miller summoned violent winds, extinguished the candles, and caused the cultists to tear off their heads and float them into the air.

Angel and the Mandated Punishers defeated Bishop Miller and rescued Donna, Cecil, and two other women, but the blood-soaked altar suddenly began to glow. Meanwhile, Klein hurried toward Angel, and the fog over the mountains vanished just as his divination coin fell uncaught.

• Miller transformed cultists into headless Zombies, but Angel used the Judge’s ability to slam him into the cave ceiling and pinned him to the altar with the Bone Sword.
• Angel burned Miller to death with purifying flames, while the Mandated Punishers destroyed the Zombies and flying heads.
• Angel freed Donna, and a Mandated Punisher treated Cecil while the group confirmed that the two other women had also survived.
• Dodge and the other Mandated Punishers approached Angel warily, and she prepared to reveal her Hidden Holy Emblem.
• The altar and its blood-soaked symbols began glowing dark red as Klein hurried through the mountains toward Angel; the fog vanished, and his divination coin fell to the ground.

After the altar’s ritual transported Angel and Miller to an underground chamber, Angel questioned Miller’s spirit and learned that Bansy’s danger was tied to the original Bensi Town. She Grazed Miller for his memories and abilities, then set off into the dark corridor to find a way out.

• Angel found herself in a brick chamber with Miller’s corpse after the ritual displaced them from the altar.
• Angel performed Spirit Channeling and learned that Miller believed the Living Sacrifice protected Bansy Harbor from deadly phenomena connected to Bensi Town.
• Miller insisted he had not betrayed the Church of Storms before his spirit faded from the mirror.
• Angel used the Rose Necklace to Graze Miller, gaining his soul, Beyonder Characteristic, and three Sailor pathway abilities.
• Angel’s divination failed to reveal her location, so she recited Mr. Fool’s Honorific Name and entered the dark corridor.

Angel searched the Underground Catacombs for an exit and encountered Pierre, who explained that the corridors were in Trier rather than Bansy. She realized that the catacombs were altering what she saw and what people remembered, and the chapter left her in the third level of the catacombs beneath Purgatory Square.

• Angel explored corpse-filled passages until she met two candle-carrying men, who screamed and fled when they saw her.
• One man vanished after his candle went out, and Angel caught the other with her threads before his candle could be extinguished.
• Angel lit a White Candle and convinced the surviving man that she was human; he introduced himself as Pierre and offered to guide her out.
• Pierre said black lines overhead marked the route to the exit, but Angel found the familiar passageway had changed into a broad corridor on the third level.
• Pierre told Angel that they were beneath Purgatory Square in the Observatory District of Trier, the Intis Republic's capital.

Klein found Donna and Cecil with the Mandated Punishers, who told him Angel had vanished alongside the cultist leader’s corpse. Angel, meanwhile, was lost in an underground catacomb in Intis with Pierre, but she eventually returned to the sea near the White Agate, where she reunited with Donna and Klein.

• Klein entered the cave, met Captain Dodge and the Mandated Punishers, and learned Angel had disappeared with the cultist leader’s corpse.
• Angel followed Pierre through the vast, strange catacombs in Intis and reached a plaza marked with the symbols of the Eternal Blazing Sun and the God of Steam and Machinery.
• Klein escorted Donna down the mountain toward the White Agate and reassured her that Angel might return.
• Angel emerged from the sea near the dock, and Donna ran to embrace her as Klein hurried over.

Angel explored Trier’s Underground Catacombs with Pierre and discovered that people vanished when their candles went out, while everyone else forgot they had ever existed. She escaped the catacombs and found lodging in Trier, planning to return to Loen by train the next day.

• Angel followed Pierre through the catacombs, where university students performed courage-testing rituals and visitors carried White Candles.
• Angel saw two female students blow out each other’s candles; they vanished, and Pierre immediately forgot they had been there.
• Angel urged Pierre to leave, and they reached the catacomb entrance before their candles burned out.
• Angel and Pierre exited the catacombs and climbed to the surface, where Angel saw Trier beneath the night sky.
• Pierre guided Angel to an inn in the Memorial Hall District, where she exchanged money and rented a Single Room.
• Angel declined Pierre’s invitation to dinner and decided to withdraw money and buy a steam train ticket back to Loen.

Klein discovered that the Angelica with him aboard the ship was not the Angelica who had prayed to the Fool from Trier, revealing that two Angelicas were involved. The Angelica in Trier learned from the Fool that the Underground Catacombs could lead to Binsy and was told to return there in three days.

• Angelica asked Donna to conceal their meeting, and Klein returned Donna to her parents before reporting the night's events to Aierlan.
• Klein reunited with the exhausted Angelica aboard the ship, then went next door to Danitz's room and secretly contacted the Fool from the washroom.
• Angelica prayed to the Fool from Trier, explaining that a ritual on Bansy Island had brought her there and asking about the Underground Catacombs.
• Klein recognized the praying Angelica as a different person from the Angelica waiting in Room 310 and was shocked by the discovery.
• The Angelica in Trier weighed her routes back to Loen and decided to travel by steam train toward Pritz Harbor.
• The Fool told Angelica to return to the third level of the Underground Catacombs in three days, saying it led to Binsy.

Angel planned to return to Bansy Harbor in three days while Klein and the others prepared to leave on the White Agate. The chapter ended with Angel settling into Trier and thinking about Klein as he sailed away.

• Angel asked the Fool to tell Klein she would return to Bansy in three days, then planned to stay in Trier and search for Roselle's diaries.
• Danitz obeyed Gehrman Sparrow's order to listen for a fight next door, but heard Klein and Angel being intimate and quietly moved to the servant's room.
• Captain Erlan told Klein that Bishop Miller and Angelica Zaki had vanished and that the Mandated Punishers planned to issue wanted notices for Angel and a pale-blue crystal.
• Erlan hinted that he had recognized Danitz in Room 312, but Klein denied it, and Erlan announced that the White Agate would leave Bansy Harbor at ten.
• Angel emerged from the bedroom and said the Mandated Punishers would likely detain her if she surrendered; Klein reassured her that they could become wanted Adventurers together.
• Angel planned to explore Trier for currency and Beyonder gatherings, then thought about Klein as she looked toward Bansy Harbor.

Angel explored Trier after arriving, but a spiritual warning led her to ambush Sevillea in the Underground District. After they discussed Sevillea’s flight from Backlund and Lady Despair’s fate, Sevillea escaped, leaving Angel in tears.

• Angel disguised herself as Irene Watson, withdrew money, and enjoyed breakfast before exploring Trier.
• Angel sensed someone was tracking her, descended into the Underground Area, and attacked the pursuer, discovering she was Sevillea.
• Angel and Sevillea recognized each other, and Sevillea revealed that she had left her confiscatable properties to Angel as payment for their past cooperation.
• Sevillea asked about Lady Despair, and Angel told her that an Angel from the Orthodox Churches had confronted her during the Great Smog.
• Angel argued with Sevillea over the deaths in the Great Smog and the East Borough, then cut down her mirror-transferred illusion as Sevillea escaped by carriage.
• Angel chose not to pursue Sevillea through Trier and left in another direction with tears in her eyes.

Angelica obtained five pages of Roselle’s diary in Trier, then evaded the people tracking her and moved to a new inn near the Underground Catacombs. Meanwhile, Klein and Angel arrived in Bayam and released Danitz, who set off to warn the Golden Dream about them.

• Angelica persuaded Pierre to take her to Laura, who gave her five pages of Roselle’s diary and explained her efforts to decipher it.
• After lunch with Pierre and Laura, Angelica spotted a man watching the hotel and used her magic mirror to discover that the pursuers were tracking Irene, Sevillea, and her.
• Angelica left the hotel in a hired carriage, escaped the black carriage following her, changed her appearance, and moved to an inn near Purgatory Square.
• The White Agate arrived in Bayam, where Klein disembarked with Danitz and gave Mr. Uldi a way to contact him.
• Angel appeared and gave Danitz a bottle of preserved blood, while Klein returned Danitz’s golden hair; Danitz then headed off to contact the Golden Dream.

Angel prepared to leave Trier through the Underground Catacombs, but a Bureau 8 agent followed and mistook her for a member of the Demoness Sect seeking the Krismona Night Pillar. After Angel captured him and began questioning him, he escaped with Flaming Jump and resumed the attack, leaving them facing off in the catacombs.

• Angel disguised herself, discarded her Trier clothes, and entered the Underground Catacombs to return to Bansy Harbor.
• A candle-bearing pursuer followed Angel through the catacombs as she headed toward the passage where she had arrived in Trier.
• A silent woman in white led Angel to a clean plaza containing the Krismona Night Pillar, where the pursuer confronted her and accused her of being a Demoness seeking the pillar.
• Angel extinguished her candle, vanished, and reappeared behind the man with a Bone Sword at his throat, forcing him to identify himself as a Bureau 8 agent.
• The Bureau 8 agent accused Angel of helping the Demoness Sect and escaped with Flaming Jump; Angel froze the plaza, but he lit a bundle of ten White Candles.

Angel returned from Trier to Bansi Island by using her blood with Miller’s corpse to reactivate the altar ritual. She found the White Agate still in port and reunited with Donna and Klein, whose unexpected presence left her wondering why he was there.

• Angel left the Bureau 8 Beyonder and returned to the Stone Chamber where Bishop Miller’s corpse lay.
• Angel realized her own blood was needed for the ritual, cut her arm, and was transported back to the cave on Bansi Island.
• Angel discovered that Miller’s corpse had remained in Trier and left the cave to find the White Agate still docked in Bansy Harbor.
• Angel tried to descend toward the ship with Feather Fall, plunged into the sea, and used the Wind-blessed’s Ocean Affinity to swim ashore.
• Donna ran to Angel and embraced her, while Klein approached; Angel asked him why he was there.

Angel returned from Trier to Bansy, but Klein discovered that three days had passed for her while only two hours had passed on the White Agate. After investigating the time loop through divination, Klein encountered a powerful force in the Gray Fog and sent Angel in Trier a revelation that completed the loop.

• Angel recounted her three days in Trier and proved her identity to Klein by describing their shared secrets and returning the Sun Brooch.
• Klein told Angel that it was still December 21, even though she believed it was December 24, and they realized she had existed in Trier and on the White Agate at the same time.
• Klein concluded that Angel had returned to the present rather than changed the past, and Angel despaired that she could not save those who had already died.
• Klein entered the Gray Fog to divine the source of Angel’s journey, but the space reacted as if resisting a powerful force before becoming still again.
• Klein contacted the more distant of two stars representing Angel and instructed her to return to the third level of Trier’s Underground Catacombs three days later, completing the closed loop.

Klein and Angel left Bansy Island aboard the White Agate after sending Mr. Azik a letter about the island’s dangerous ritual and the Trier catacombs. In Bayam, Danitz discovered that Angel was wanted for 6,000 pounds, while Klein and Angel’s plan to compete for bounties remained secret.

• Klein and Angel wrote to Mr. Azik about the Bansy Island ritual, the catacombs in Trier, and several names linked to their mysteries, then sent the letter with the White Bone Messenger.
• Klein and Angel discussed leaving Bansy Harbor, and Angel proposed they compete to see whose bounty would be higher Above the Five Seas.
• On December 24th, Danitz returned to Bayam and checked the dockside bounty board, where he found his own 3,000-pound notice.
• Danitz spotted a Church of Storms wanted poster accusing Angelica Satch of murdering a bishop and offering a 6,000-pound bounty.
• An invisible hand removed Angelica Satch’s poster, crumpled it, and tossed it into a trash bin.

Angel tracked Danitz to a Golden Dream contact point in Bayam, then went looking for Dominic to learn about the city’s underground trade. Alger recognized her as Empress Angel Granger and realized she had arrived in Bayam.

• Angel listened as Danitz warned Old Lynn about Bansy Island and asked him to pass word to the Golden Dream about two dangerous Adventurers in Bayam.
• Angel left the docks without confronting Old Lynn and decided to return to the contact point when Danitz came back two days later.
• Angel went to the Sea Water and Flame bar to find Dominic, but the bartender said he would likely appear the afternoon after tomorrow.
• Alger Wilson asked the bartender about Angel after she left and connected her appearance to a report identifying her as Empress Angel Granger.

Klein and Angel arrived in Bayam, where the Hanged Man recognized Angel and Klein encouraged her to contact him for local information. Angel also discovered that the Church of Storms had placed a 6,000-pound bounty on her, while Alger learned that the wanted woman was the Tarot Club’s Empress.

• Klein received the Hanged Man’s prayer reporting that he had recognized Angel in Bayam, then warned Angel about it.
• Angel told Klein about her activities and considered whether the Hanged Man could help them find Beyonder gatherings, mermaids, and low-difficulty pirate bounties.
• Klein urged Angel to contact the Hanged Man and change her appearance, while Angel revealed that her wanted poster offered 6,000 pounds.
• Bishop Jogoli told Alger to investigate rumors that the Iceberg Admiral had obtained the Key of Death and gave him a wanted notice for Angelica Zaki.
• Alger recognized the wanted woman’s description, including the white feather on her hat, and realized that Angelica Zaki was the Empress.

Alger met Angel in Bayam after Mr. Fool relayed her request, and she explained why she had killed Bishop Miller during a disastrous ritual at Bansy Harbor. They exchanged information and arranged to cooperate on pirate bounties, while Klein ordered local food and wine.

• After seeing Angel’s invitation, Alger worried that she had killed a Church of Storms bishop but agreed to meet her at the Sea Water and Flame Bar.
• Angel and Alger confirmed each other’s identities with a Tarot-card passphrase and discussed her killing of Bishop Miller during a Living Sacrifice at Bansy Harbor.
• Angel asked Alger for information about Beyonder gatherings, the Underground Trading Market, and pirates operating around Bayam.
• Alger warned Angel about openly discussing bounties and identified leads connected to the Admiral of Blood and the Fragrant Tree Leaf Bar.
• Angel and Alger agreed that he would help her claim bounties for a share, then left separately and planned to use Mr. Fool to relay messages.
• Klein ordered Grilled Comb Thorn Fish and Sonia Blood Wine.

Angel met Dominic in Bayam to ask about diviners, pirate contacts, and Beyonder gatherings, while Klein agreed to investigate a gathering himself. Meanwhile, Danitz crawled toward the street after Steel Maviti ambushed him, and Angel appeared in his path as he neared collapse.

• Angel and Klein ate grilled fish and decided to split up: Klein would visit a Beyonder gathering, while Angel would stake out Danitz’s contact point after meeting Dominic.
• Angel met Dominic at the Sea Water and Flame bar, revealed her disguise, and exchanged information about the Backlund Great Smog and Sonia.
• Dominic confirmed that his information about Bayam’s Beyonder gatherings and pirates came from Alger Wilson, whom he believed worked for the Church of Storms.
• Steel Maviti ambushed Danitz and pierced his lung, but Danitz struggled toward the street to warn his comrades before he died.
• Angel appeared in front of the badly wounded Danitz as he approached the alley entrance.

Angel saved Danitz from his fatal wounds after he revealed that Steel Maviti had attacked the Golden Dream’s contact point and killed Old Lynn. Danitz recruited Angel and Klein to help him take revenge, and they agreed to claim Maviti’s bounty while leaving Admiral of Blood Senior for later.

• Danitz delivered his last words to Angel, naming Maviti’s attack, describing the property he had bought in Bayam, and asking her to tell his parents he was sorry.
• Angel used the Magician Pocket Watch to heal Danitz’s chest by transferring the injury to his left arm, then brought him to shelter from the light.
• Danitz offered Angel and Klein information about Maviti and his men in exchange for their help eliminating them.
• Danitz explained that the Golden Dream’s enormous black iron key had sparked rumors that it was the legendary Key of Death, drawing Senior’s pirates to Bayam.
• Danitz described Senior’s fleet and Maviti’s abilities, and Angel told him they would claim Maviti’s head and bounty first.

Angel and Klein prepared to pursue Steel Maviti while the Tarot Club members shared news, traded Beyonder materials, and discussed their advancement. Angel began recounting a strange incident at Bansy Harbor as the meeting continued.

• Angel chose the Bait Plan to draw Steel Maviti and his pirates out, sending Danitz to gather information and spread false rumors while she and Klein prepared for the Tarot Club.
• Azik Eggers returned to the sealed cave on Bansy Island, tested the altar with his blood, and left for Trier after it failed to respond.
• Angel submitted three pages of Emperor Roselle's Diary at the Tarot Club meeting.
• Derrick told the members how he broke the loop in the ruins by destroying the fate power tied to Jack, allowing the Expedition Team to head back to City of Silver.
• Audrey arranged to buy the Wind-blessed formula from Alger, while Alger prepared to acquire a Mystical Item and complete another reserved transaction.
• Emlyn sold Audrey materials, Fors bought Deep Sea Spearfish Blood from Alger, and Angel began to describe what she had encountered at Bansy Harbor.