Chapter Summaries

Klein investigated a supernatural outbreak at Admiral Emilius’s residence, where its occupants’ desires had turned violent and Cynthia had mutated into a monstrous creature. After Klein’s attempt to contain the force left him trapped by Cynthia, Angel arrived and freed him, confronting her.

• Klein left his bedroom and found a chef bingeing on food and maids attacking and sleeping through the chaos.
• Klein entered the master bedroom and saw Lü'er An behaving arrogantly, guards and servants indulging in desire, and Cynthia transformed into a tentacled monster.
• Klein used the Ninth Law charm and the Corrupted Baron’s distortion to halt Cynthia briefly, but she targeted him after he impersonated Emilius.
• Klein used the charm to forbid interaction with the outside world, isolating the force behind the outbreak, but Cynthia’s remaining power bound and dragged him toward her.
• Angel broke through the bedroom window, severed the branches holding Klein, restored his eyes, and confronted Cynthia.

Angel used Anne’s blood to isolate the villa from the outside force that had mutated Cynthia, allowing the influence to be cut off. Cynthia died after revealing that the Celestial Sect and Mother Tree of Desire had promised her a child with Emilius.

• Angel broke through the villa’s barrier and freed Klein from the branches binding him.
• Angel and Klein fought Cynthia as she attacked them and everyone else in the bedroom.
• Angel used Anne’s Mythical Creature blood to block the outside force and isolate the room.
• Cynthia’s mutation collapsed after the outside influence was cut off, and she confessed that the Celestial Sect and Mother Tree of Desire had corrupted her.
• Klein and Angel comforted the dying Cynthia, and Klein purified her remains with Holy Light.

After Cynthia’s death, Klein and Angel dealt with the contaminated aftermath while Navy Admiral Emilius Livett left the island without finding the ghost ship. Klein stayed behind to explain the night’s events to Emilius, and Angel vanished before the recovering Lü’er An awoke.

• Emilius searched the island’s coastline for the legendary ghost ship, found nothing, and departed to return to Olavie Island.
• Anne noticed that her connection to a strange mark had deepened and began forming the outline of a massive three-masted warship.
• Klein and Angel inspected the unconscious servants and guards after purifying Cynthia’s contaminated remains, and they concluded that the necklace pendant had caused the strange events.
• Klein decided to remain and explain the incident to Emilius rather than flee, while Angel teased him about a dream she had seen through the Magic Mirror.
• Angel disappeared as the isolation power faded, and Klein woke the recovering Lü’er An with several kicks.

Klein interrogated Flett Ken and uncovered the Naturism Sect’s plot to contaminate Navy Admiral Emilius through Cynthia, along with the Mother Tree of Desire’s direct instructions. He realized that the scheme had actually targeted him and could have led to both him and Angel being corrupted.

• Klein used Creeping Hunger and Mental Piercing to interrogate Flett Ken, the Naturism Sect’s leader, and learned that the black horn pendant was the source of Cynthia’s contamination.
• Flett revealed that Cynthia’s necklace powder and the Mother Tree of Desire’s Honorific Name were meant to make Emilius accept her and conceive a child while contaminating him.
• Flett confessed that the Mother Tree of Desire instructed him in a dream on February 9th to turn the plan into an attempt to make Emilius its blessed one.
• After sending Lü'er An out, Klein learned that the sect had used a ritual to amplify a vagrant’s appetite, causing him to eat himself to death and creating the vacancy Klein had filled as Emilius’s substitute.
• Klein pieced together that the Mother Tree of Desire had targeted him, and that intimacy with Cynthia could have contaminated both him and Angel.

Klein, impersonating Emilius, uncovered and stopped Mother Tree of Desire’s plot on Oravi Island, while Angel wondered whether an unseen force had guided their actions. The real Emilius returned after three days and learned that his villa, mistress, and island had been transformed by the crisis.

• Klein questioned Flett about his crimes, then killed him with Creeping Hunger and ordered a purge of Naturism Sect cultists across the island.
• Angel returned home exhausted and wondered whether her divination and the strange Gray Fog had been guided to help Klein.
• Klein spent the following day resting in Emilius’s villa while the secretary and authorities handled the aftermath and pursued the cultists.
• Emilius returned to the villa early the next morning and asked Klein what had happened during his absence.
• Klein told Emilius about the damaged villa, contaminated servants, Governor Auston’s removal, and Cynthia’s death.

After Gehrman Sparrow finished acting as Emilius, the admiral approved his choices and increased his payment. Klein checked himself for contamination at the Gray Fog, then went to the Sweet Lemon Bar, where Bilt discovered that his deputy was actually Gehrman.

• Klein told Emilius what had happened over the past three days, including his decision to have Lü'er An hunt down the Naturism Sect.
• Emilius approved Klein's choices, dismissed him, and ordered Biert to pay him an additional 200 pounds.
• Klein used the Gray Fog to check for contamination from the Mother Tree of Desire and considered whether its influence could evade the Gray Fog's protections.
• Klein hurried to the Sweet Lemon Bar while Bilt and Sotos Yang discussed the admiral's crackdown on the Naturism Sect.
• Sotos Yang transformed into Gehrman Sparrow before Bilt, revealing that Gehrman had been posing as his deputy.

Klein completed his commission on Oravi Island, sold the Lunatic Beyonder Characteristic, and returned to Angel. After the Red Haired Woman was repaired, they set sail for Bayam as Emilius left the island aboard his flagship.

• Klein collected 700 pounds and a fishman swim-bladder cufflink from Biert, then sold him the Lunatic Beyonder Characteristic for 650 pounds.
• Klein warned Biert to remove or surrender Naturism Sect believers in his organization before leaving.
• Klein returned to Angel, and they shared a tender reunion after his commission ended.
• Klein and Angel spent several leisurely days on Oravi Island until repairs to the Red Haired Woman were complete.
• Klein decided to return to Bayam with Angel, while Emilius departed Oravi Island aboard his flagship.

Audrey learned the Main Material needed for the Hypnotist Potion and arranged to buy it from Angel, while the Tarot Club members continued their respective missions and Acting. In Bayam, Angel located a lead on Fingers and prepared to wait for him at the Red Theater.

• Audrey received the Hypnotist formula from Smin and recognized its Main Material from the Tarot Club.
• Angel agreed to offer the Fruit of the Hypnotic Wind Chime Tree to Mr. Fool so she could sell it to Audrey for 2,000 pounds.
• Angel, Klein, Alger, Fors, and Derrick continued their missions, Acting, and preparations for advancement.
• Angel focused on tracking Connors Victor through Fingers, who handled the sale of young women at the Red Theater.
• William told Angel that he had found out when Fingers would finish work, and Angel decided they would wait for him.

Angel used a Nightmare Beyonder Characteristic to enter Finger Maduni’s dream and learn that he had forgotten to receive a shipment from the Mad Captain on March 2. The next evening, Connors Victor brought enslaved girls to a private dock, where his hooded guard sensed someone watching them.

• Angel had William quietly disable Maduni’s servants and guards while she entered Maduni’s bedroom under cover of invisibility.
• Angel twisted Maduni’s dream into a nightmare, posed as Tracy, and frightened him into admitting he had missed the Mad Captain’s shipment on March 2.
• Angel erased evidence of her visit and left with William after learning that Maduni would meet the Mad Captain the next day.
• Connors Victor brought the One-Eyed Skull to a hidden Bayam dock and delivered enslaved girls to Maduni in exchange for £1,400.
• As Maduni considered how the girls would be divided among buyers, Connors’s hooded guard sensed someone spying and pulled him back.

Angel was exposed while spying on Mad Captain Connors and fought a cloaked man whose powers distorted her actions, but she escaped as the Sea King arrived. Adam then appeared to Angel and offered to answer her questions before the Mandated Punishers arrived.

• Angel infected the men at the dock with her Affliction, but a cloaked man's power distorted her Invisibility and Flaming Jump, exposing her among Connors's crew.
• Angel attacked the cloaked man, who distorted her strike and battered her through magnified blows; she used substitutions to survive and reach her prepared lantern.
• The cloaked man forbade teleportation, but Angel vanished despite his command, leaving him searching for her as the Sea King's approach startled him.
• The Sea King Yarn Courtman arrived over the beach and found the burning pirate ship, dead Connors and Finger, scattered Sailors, and freed slave girls.
• Adam appeared to the unseen Angel, explained that the cloaked Demigod had killed potential witnesses and burned the ship, and offered to answer her questions.

Adam revealed that he had shaped Angel’s memories and life, challenging her belief that she had come from another world. He left her with the revelation that her original name was Cole Granger and that her memories of being reborn had been deliberately created.

• Angel remembered earlier encounters with the blond man and realized his power had made others overlook him.
• Adam identified himself and explained that he had saved Angel to maintain his design, while denying her the chance to mistake him for a mere Sealed Artifact.
• Adam told Angel that her life, memories, and actions were his Imagination and challenged her memories of another world with questions about her knowledge and past.
• Angel tried to use her unusual bullets as proof, but Adam explained that similar ammunition and techniques existed in this world.
• Adam showed Angel a memory of himself arranging for her memories to be shaped and her past sins forgotten, then called her by her original name, Cole Granger.

After Adam revealed that Angel was actually Cole Granger and that her assumed identity was his Imagination, Angel struggled with her memories, guilt, and sense of self. She returned to the hotel alone, where a strange transformation began before the Crimson Moon's tranquil light calmed her breathing.

• Adam told Angel that her identity and memories as Angel Granger were products of his Imagination, then warned that the Mandated Punishers might connect her to Klein.
• Angel gathered her special bullets and left the beach as the Mandated Punishers arrived, finding the slave-trading ship One-Eyed Skull burning and Connors Victor and Fingers Maduni impaled.
• The Mandated Punisher captain identified the dead men and the rescued women, but found no trace of the person who had attacked the slave traders.
• Angel returned to the Azure Wind hotel and agonized over her past crimes, her faith, and how she could face Klein.
• Angel fell asleep in tears as black markings and living branches spread over her body, until the Crimson Moon dimmed and a tranquil aura eased her breathing.

At a Tarot Club meeting, Angel hired Admiral of Stars Cattleya to take a ship into dangerous waters and search for wild mermaids, while Klein worried over Angel’s troubled state. After Justice described a dangerous path toward Miracle City Liveseyd, Angel asked whether the others had heard of Adam.

• Klein noticed that Angel’s aura showed melancholy and sorrow as the Tarot Club gathered.
• Angel privately identified Hermit as Admiral of Stars Cattleya and hired her ship for 3,000 pounds to search for wild mermaids east of the Sonia Sea.
• Alger shared rumors that the Ghost Empire had reappeared near the Gargas Archipelago, but the club had no further information.
• Justice recounted finding a giant dragon in the Collective Unconscious, and Cattleya warned her that exploring further could be dangerous.
• Angel, unsettled by the discussion of imagination and changes to memory and personality, asked the Tarot Club whether anyone had heard of Adam.

At the Tarot Club, Angel asked about Adam and learned he was a child of the Creator and a King of Angels, while Klein realized Adam was connected to her memory changes. Klein’s divination confirmed the connection, but Adam noticed him in the vision, prompting Klein to stop and decide to finish his acting and return to Bayam.

• Angel asked the Tarot Club about a golden-haired man, and Mr. Fool warned the members not to speak Adam’s name outside the gathering.
• Cattleya identified Adam as a child of the Creator alongside Amon, and Klein recalled that Angel’s earlier memory disturbances had also involved the Spectator Pathway.
• Angel said she was unsure about Adam, while Audrey noticed she was hiding something and redirected the discussion.
• After the gathering, Klein divined that Angel’s abnormality was related to Adam and saw Adam greet him in the vision.
• Klein woke in fear, ended his divination, and decided to finish his acting in Tiana Port and return to Bayam.

Klein returned to Bayam and found Angel preparing to leave, though she claimed she had only arranged a birthday gift for him. Realizing she was hiding plans to leave him behind, he teleported after her and confronted her in the hallway.

• Klein saw Angel's bounty had risen to 23,000 pounds and burned the wanted poster.
• Angel told Klein she had sold the Fruit of the Hypnotic Wind Chime Tree, collected a bounty, and lost the trail while investigating slave trafficking.
• Klein discovered Angel had packed her belongings and learned she had booked him passage aboard the Future as a birthday gift, but did not plan to travel with him.
• Angel kissed Klein and left the suite, prompting him to infer that she intended to leave him behind.
• Klein used his flames to appear in front of Angel and demanded to know whether she was secretly planning to leave.

Klein stopped Angel from leaving and reassured her that his love was for the person she was now, despite her doubts about her identity and memories. After they reconciled, Klein secretly investigated whether Adam had tampered with Angel’s memories, and his pendulum divination gave a positive result.

• Angel questioned whether she was real if her identity, past, and memories were false, and Klein insisted that their experiences and his feelings for her were genuine.
• Klein reminded Angel of her promise not to give up her life easily, and she apologized for trying to leave without considering his feelings.
• Angel said she still needed to confirm some doubts herself but chose to believe their affection was real, and Klein shifted the conversation to her unsatisfactory birthday gift.
• After Angel fell asleep, Klein went to the Gray Fog and reviewed evidence that Adam might have tampered with her memories.
• Klein divined whether Angel’s current memories were real, and the amethyst pendulum rotated clockwise.

Alger learned that the Church of Storms wanted the Ghost Empire to remain undiscovered and was ordered to report to its headquarters on Pasu Island. Meanwhile, Angel and Klein sailed toward Nass, where new information about special bullets deepened Angel’s doubts about Adam’s claims, and their public embrace sparked rumors among the crew.

• Alger reported his failed search for the Ghost Empire to Bishop Jogoli, who explained that the Church of Storms cared that no rival faction found it and ordered Alger to sail to Pasu Island after a week in Bayam.
• Alger asked about powerful special bullets sold in Gargas, and Jogoli learned that they were called Thunder Bullets and were rarely used because they were difficult to make.
• Angel sailed aboard the Red Haired Woman with Klein and heard Alger report through the Gray Fog that the Church of Storms possessed Thunder Bullets.
• A pirate ship turned away after apparently recognizing Angel, and Klein’s divination confirmed her guess that her bounty had frightened its captain.
• Angel reflected on the contradictions in Adam’s claims and embraced Klein, whose Potion digestion advanced as the crew watched.
• William Jones told Helene rumors about Gehrman Sparrow and two female Pirate Admirals, leaving her startled.

Angel and Klein arrived in Nast, the Feysac colonial port known as the White City, and prepared to continue east aboard the Future. After meeting a contact who used a crystal ball to summon a woman, they were asked to confirm their identities.

• Klein told Angel that someone aboard the Red Haired Woman had seemed hostile toward him, and he suspected the new Sailor Chief, Lucky William, was watching him.
• Angel and Klein disembarked at Nast, where they witnessed a street gunfight and learned that the city’s wealth came from whaling and Gray Amber.
• The pair found an inn and planned to board Star Admiral Cattleya’s Future the next evening, with Angel having arranged Klein’s passage for an additional 500 pounds.
• Angel and Klein ate local whale dishes and braised fish offal before traveling to Gray Amber Street.
• At the Fanatic Whale Dance general store, Angel and Klein exchanged passwords with the owner, who summoned a woman through a crystal ball.
• The woman in the crystal ball asked whether they were Angelica Zaki and Gehrman Sparrow.

Angel and Klein spent their last hours in Nast before boarding Star Admiral Cattleya’s ship, where rumors about Gehrman Sparrow’s supposed ties to Pirate Admirals drew unwanted attention. The chapter ended when Klein confronted the rumor-spreading drunks and someone in the bar recognized him.

• Cattleya recognized Klein as Gehrman Sparrow and arranged to meet Angel and Klein at Pier Six in Nast at eight that night.
• Angel explained that Tracy had publicized Klein’s strength and appearance, helping spread his identity and reputation among pirates.
• Angel and Klein watched a protest against whale hunting turn into a violent clash with the police before leaving the area.
• At a bar, Angel and Klein overheard sailors embellishing rumors about Klein’s relationships with Iceberg Admiral and Disease Lieutenant General.
• Klein angrily confronted the drunks, invoked Star Admiral, and was recognized by someone in the suddenly quiet bar.

Klein and Angel prepared to meet Admiral of Stars after encountering an impostor claiming to be Gehrman Sparrow and a notorious pirate in a bar. They boarded Cattleya’s ship, the Future, in full view of the harbor, leaving Klein worried that everyone would suspect him of joining forces with her.

• Klein recognized the fake Gehrman Sparrow in a bar, but a young man fleeing the Slaughterer, Kircheis, interrupted him before he could expose the impostor.
• Kircheis noticed Klein and abruptly left the bar, while the fake Gehrman collapsed after Angel secretly made him ill; Klein confirmed that he was alive and walked out.
• Angel teased Klein by imitating his claim to be the real Gehrman Sparrow as they waited at Nast Port for Admiral of Stars to arrive.
• Klein and Angel armed themselves with Mystical Items, Charms, and ammunition while waiting for Cattleya’s ship, the Future, to reach the harbor.
• Cattleya created a bridge of stars from the Future to Pier Six, and Klein and Angel crossed it aboard as the watching sailors looked on.