Chapter Summaries

Angel prepared for a possible confrontation with Pierce Turner and hired Reinette as her bodyguard, while the Church began investigating her after she approached Hibbert Hall. Leonard Mitchell entered Angel’s dream to question her, and she woke in her own bedroom realizing the Church was watching her closely.

• Angel sealed a report for Gehrman Sparrow, hired Reinette as her bodyguard, and planned to prepare for Trissy’s move against William Sykes.
• Cesimir arrived at the Nighthawks’ headquarters and read Leonard Mitchell’s file on Christine Teresa, Angel’s assumed identity.
• Leonard entered Angel’s dream, questioned her about her identity and past business dealings, and asked whether she knew about Beyonders.
• Angel resisted Leonard’s probing and gave him a partly true account of her life in Intis before he ended the dream investigation.
• Angel woke in reality and concluded the Church had scrutinized her because she had made contact with Hibbert Hall.

Angel attended the Tarot Club meeting, where the Fool showed Justice two Cards of Blasphemy and gave Angel information about the dangers of High Sequence advancement. The chapter left Angel wondering whether anchors kept Beyonders and the Gods grounded in their humanity.

• Angel reflected on how advancing to High Sequence had made ordinary news less interesting and recognized that she needed to digest her Despair potion to reduce the risk of losing control.
• At the Tarot Club meeting, Cattleya asked whether Roselle had joined an ancient secret organization, and the Fool confirmed that he had.
• The Fool showed Justice the Demoness and Red Priest Cards of Blasphemy, explaining that the Empress had collected them.
• The Fool gave Angel a translated parchment explaining that High Sequence Beyonder Characteristics carried dangerous mental imprints and that Beyonders needed established anchors to resist divinity.
• Angel connected anchors to the Orthodox Churches and their believers, then wondered whether the Fool had given her the information because she had reached Sequence 4.

Angel and Alger exchanged information about Mad Captain Connors Victor’s trafficking network while Cattleya arranged to contact a descendant of the Abraham Family. The Tarot Club traded resources and discussed advancing, and Fors revealed that she had found her target, an Oracle of the Aurora Order.

• Alger told Angel that Connors had trafficked thousands of people and described the Demigod who had killed him, while the Church of Storms had shelved its investigation for lack of leads.
• Alger said he had not yet advanced to Sequence 5 and planned to ask Cattleya about the sea monster required for his ritual.
• Cattleya offered Fors payment to establish contact with a direct descendant of the Abraham Family concerning Mr. Door, and Fors agreed.
• Cattleya obtained potion materials for Audrey and Fors, while Derrick bought the auxiliary materials for his Notary potion.
• Audrey decided to prepare for advancement to Sequence 6 as soon as she received her ingredients, after Angel and Alger urged her not to delay.
• Fors announced that she had found Louis Wien, an Oracle of the Aurora Order, whom she wanted to kill.

Angel agreed to watch over Trissy as she planned to capture William Sykes, a Sequence 6 Baron of Corruption, while Trissy struggled with the consequences of advancing to Affliction without completing the Promotion Ritual. The next morning, Trissy and William arrived at the Royal Museum, where Angel watched from the Mirror World.

• Angel received Trissy’s report that William Sykes would visit the Royal Museum with his mistress and agreed to provide backup during Trissy’s attempt to capture him.
• Trissy described William’s abilities and pocket watch, then insisted she could handle him unless another Beyonder intervened; Angel planned to observe from nearby and avoid unnecessary risks.
• Angel burned and discarded the mirror she had used to contact Trissy, then canceled her next day’s appointments to keep her schedule open.
• Trissy endured a painful transformation in her East Borough room, reflected on the consequences of her advancement, and vowed to continue her revenge after finding a clue.
• The next morning, William Sykes and his mistress entered the Royal Museum, while Angel watched them from a mirror in the Mirror World.

Angel followed William Sykes through a museum while Klein, disguised as Dwayne Dantès, learned about William’s ties to Prince Edessak. Trissy lured William into a hotel room to attack him, but he revealed his strength and struck her with overwhelming force.

• Angel disguised herself as Irene and encountered Klein at the museum, then left to keep following William Sykes.
• Klein learned from Walter that William had served Prince Edessak Augustus and decided to leave investigating him to Angel.
• Angel followed William to a hotel and met Trissy, who planned to attack him after his mistress left.
• Trissy used her Demoness allure to enter William’s room, where Angel watched from a mirror.
• William abruptly resisted Trissy’s seduction, burned away her threads with golden flames, and punched her through her ice defense into the wall.

Angel and Trissy fought William Sykes, then questioned him about Earl Edessak’s death and uncovered the royal family’s role in silencing him. Angel killed William and Grazed his soul, leaving the conspirators’ connection to the royal family exposed.

• Trissy overcame William’s Bribe and Distortion abilities by trading wounds with him, leaving them both badly injured and William unable to fight.
• Angel emerged from the Mirror World and used Spirit Channeling to question William, who admitted that Viscount Stratford had ordered him and Finkel to arrange Earl Edessak’s death.
• William revealed that he had passed the Spirituality-destroying bullets to Finkel, who supervised the Earl’s supposed suicide, and that he had survived the subsequent fire because he had been sent elsewhere.
• Angel and Trissy realized the royal family might have kept William under surveillance as bait, and Trissy burned away her blood from the scene.
• Angel stopped William’s heart, then used her Rose Necklace to Graze him and gained the Mentor of Disorder.

Angel escaped after defeating William Sykes, then examined the abilities she had Grazed from him and considered his connection to Viscount Stratford. The chapter ended when a broken message from Trissy reached Angel, pleading for help.

• Angel burned away the evidence of the fight, left William's body behind, and escaped through the Mirror World as a masked man arrived too late to save him.
• At a literary salon, Angel discovered that a popular pirate-adventure series featured a character based on her.
• Angel examined William's Grazed abilities and learned she had acquired Disorder, Bribe, and Corruption.
• Angel considered whether Viscount Stratford was involved in human trafficking and decided to let Trissy investigate while she recovered.
• Angel received a garbled message through the Magic Mirror, and Trissy's voice suddenly called, "Save me..."

Klein followed Walter into the sewers and discovered that he was helping Trissy investigate Prince Edessak’s death. When Klein confronted Trissy, she lured him into a trap and summoned Angel from the Mirror World.

• Klein followed Walter’s Wraith through the sewers and sent Hazel back to her home when she approached them.
• Walter brought food to an injured woman hiding in the sewer and promised to return the next day.
• Klein recognized the woman as Trissy Cheek and deduced that she and Walter were investigating Prince Edessak’s death.
• Trissy recognized Klein’s Marionette as Admiral of Blood Senior and offered to reveal what she knew about the prince and the royal family.
• Trissy sprang her trap and summoned Angel from the Mirror World, leaving Angel and Senior staring at each other.

Angel found Trissy in the sewers with Senior, Klein’s marionette, and agreed to help her investigate the Great Smog and Prince Edessak’s murder while warning her to watch for coincidences. After returning home through the Mirror World, Angel discovered Goddess’s Sword Crestet Cesimir waiting in her bedroom.

• Angel emerged from a mirror in the sewers and found Trissy facing Senior, whom she recognized as Klein’s marionette.
• Angel explained that she and Trissy were cooperating to uncover the truth behind the Great Smog and Prince Edessak’s murder, and Senior left them alone.
• Angel offered Trissy limited help with her investigation and warned her to pay attention to coincidences when pursuing Viscount Stratford and his hidden allies.
• Angel returned through the Mirror World to her home in Hillston Borough and resolved to write Klein about what had happened.
• Crestet Cesimir appeared in Angel’s darkened bedroom and remarked that he had waited while she was away.

Angel met with Cesimir in Backlund and gave him her account of the Mirror Person impersonating Pierce Turner. After Cesimir confirmed the evidence, he revealed that Angel was considered part of the Church’s secret Goddess Troop and named her the Goddess Shadow.

• Cesimir arrived from Berdan to investigate Angel’s prayer under the witness of the Sword of the Goddess.
• Angel recounted the events on Para Island and her suspicion that Pierce Turner in Saint Samuel Cathedral was a Mirror Person.
• Cesimir confirmed the suspicious Pierce’s identity after examining the Night Watchman Beyonder Characteristic Angel had brought.
• Cesimir said he would report to the Goddess and Arianna before deciding how to deal with Pierce, rather than rushing to capture him.
• Cesimir explained the secret Goddess Troop and revealed that Angel was the Goddess Shadow.

Angel learned that the Goddess had named her a Goddess Shadow and received a new holy emblem and news of her accrued allowance. Later, she met Klein at the theater, where they discussed the Church, the Antigonus Notebook, and his dangerous plan to confront Mr. X, and Angel agreed to help.

• Cesimir told Angel that the Goddess had appointed her a Goddess Shadow, confirmed her rank and allowance, and gave her a new holy emblem before departing.
• Angel realized that the Goddess had begun watching her around the time she first arrived in this world.
• Angel attended a performance of Betrayer's Ring with Klein and secretly told him about Trissy, William, and Cesimir's visit.
• Angel and Klein discussed the Church's plans for the Mirror Person and agreed to keep both borrowing and stealing the Antigonus Notebook as options.
• Klein told Angel he planned to confront Lewis Wien, or Mr. X, on Friday, and Angel agreed to help.

Angel met with Klein to discuss killing Mr. X and learned that Ouroboros had likely left Backlund. After Angel narrowly avoided recognition by Daly at Saint Samuel Cathedral, Crestet Cesimir told her the Church had approved the operation against Pierce Turner, provided he died a hero and not at a Church member’s hands.

• Angel agreed with Klein on the plan to kill Mr. X, whose abilities Klein hoped to obtain, and learned that Ouroboros had likely left Backlund.
• Angel accepted Dwayne Dantès’s invitation to a ball and went to Saint Samuel Cathedral to pray.
• Leonard watched Christine Teresa donate to the Church and worried about Dwayne Dantès, whom the Parasite believed was a High Sequence Beyonder.
• Daly noticed Angel at the cathedral and later watched her leave, leaving Angel anxious that she might have recognized her.
• Crestet Cesimir drew Angel into a dream and told her that the Church had approved the operation against Pierce Turner on the condition that he die a hero, not by a Church member’s hand.

Angel arranged with Cesimir to lure the false Pierce to an underground gathering in East Borough so his death could be blamed on the Aurora Order, and joined World’s plan to kill Mr. X. At the Tarot Club, Fors agreed to help with the operation and introduce Angel to the Abraham Family for questions about Fourth Epoch history.

• Angel learned that the Church wanted the false Pierce to die with a dignified end and agreed to handle him without official Beyonder support.
• Angel proposed that Cesimir bring Pierce to Mr. X’s gathering on Friday night, where Pierce could die in an apparent Aurora Order attack.
• Angel woke from the dream, recited Mr. Fool’s Honorific Name, and arranged a private Tarot Club meeting with Fors and World.
• Mr. Fool summoned Fors, and Angel asked her to provide details about Mr. X’s gathering, avoid attending, lend Leimano’s Travel Notes, and introduce her to the Abraham Family.
• Fors agreed to help with the plan after Angel clarified that she only wanted to ask the Abraham Family about Fourth Epoch history.

Fors offered Mr. Fool Leimano's Travel Notes and a Spirit World Shuttle Stone, while Klein prepared for a three-sided fight against Mr. X and the Mirror Person. The Nighthawks also planned to strike the Aurora Order meeting place on Friday night, and Klein summoned Arrodes as the operation began.

• Fors returned home, offered Mr. Fool Leimano's Travel Notes and a Spirit World Shuttle Stone, and asked Xio to join her on Friday night.
• Klein examined the Travel Notes, decided to proceed against Mr. X despite the Mirror Person's interference, and failed to record Lightning Storm in the notebook.
• Archbishop Anthony told Pierce Turner that Mr. X was a Traveler, and Pierce agreed to destroy the Aurora Order meeting place on Friday night with Nighthawks support and Sealed Artifact 1-63.
• Klein feigned illness, created a convincing Mirror Substitution in his bed, and summoned Arrodes, who greeted him with exaggerated devotion.

Klein and Angel disguised themselves to infiltrate Mr. X’s Beyonder gathering and prepare to kill him, while Arrodes impersonated Klein at home. The Witch Mirror pulled the gathering’s powerful Beyonders into a separate Mirror World, where Angel and Klein discovered that someone had recognized the trap as an attack by Evernight’s forces.

• Klein instructed Arrodes to impersonate him at home without embarrassing or punishing the servants, then set out disguised as Gehrman Sparrow.
• Angel left her home through the Mirror World, and she and Klein met in the East Borough before disguising themselves as Xio Derecha and Sherman.
• Angel and Klein entered Mr. X’s gathering, where Angel tested the attendees’ strength with her disease and secretly planted Disease Seeds on Mr. X.
• Cesimir explained that the Mirror Person would likely use the Witch Mirror to draw only Sequence 5 Beyonders or higher into a Mirror World and keep the fight from harming bystanders.
• Angel realized that she, Klein, and Mr. X were the only living figures visible through Spirit Vision in the Mirror World, then heard an attendee accuse them of being Evernight’s hounds.

Pierce Turner and the Nighthawks trapped the gathering in the Mirror World and attacked Mr. X and Saint Tenebrous Kisma. Angel helped Pierce fight Kisma, who tried to escape the Mirror World but was caught in Angel’s cursed flames.

• Pierce Turner used Sealed Artifact "1-63" to pull the gathering’s Beyonders into the Mirror World, while Daly dispersed people outside.
• Saint Tenebrous Kisma recognized the Mirror World and attacked, but Pierce’s power put him into a nightmare and Mr. X found that Travel could not take him out of the building.
• Angel pushed a hooded figure out of the Mirror World, and Mr. X’s attempt to attack her failed when Pierce’s power left him confused.
• Kisma escaped the nightmare by exploding into flesh and reforming, then prepared to cut through the barrier between the Mirror World and reality.
• Angel used reflections to channel cursed black flames onto Kisma, burning his flesh and blood.

Klein, Angel, and Pierce fought Saint Tenebrous Kisma and Mr. X in the Mirror World, then Klein used a Wraith and demigod abilities to capture and kill Mr. X. Angel killed Pierce Turner, the Mirror Person, while Kisma escaped; the chapter ended with Archbishop Anthony Stevenson presenting Pierce’s body as a hero who died capturing the Aurora Order’s Oracle.

• Angel and Pierce fought Saint Tenebrous Kisma while Angel’s Disease ability continued to weaken Mr. X.
• Kisma used the Spirit Flesh Blade to shatter the Mirror World, and Klein emerged from concealment to control Mr. X with Spirit Body Threads.
• Klein struck Kisma with Lightning Storm and Tornado, then shot Mr. X with Death Knell and sealed him in The Travels of Grosell.
• Angel infected Pierce with Disease, revealed that she knew he was the Mirror Person, and took his mirror fragment and Nightwatcher Characteristic.
• Saint Tenebrous escaped into the sewers as Anthony Stevenson and Radar Valentine arrived at the destroyed alley.
• Anthony Stevenson covered Pierce’s body and told Radar Valentine that Pierce had died heroically capturing the Aurora Order’s Oracle.

Radar Valentine learned that the Church of Evernight deacon Pierce Turner had died mysteriously, while Klein used Arrodes to impersonate a sick Dawn Dantès during a visit from Bishop Electra. The chapter ended with Arrodes asking Klein to make the armed woman outside lower her weapon.

• Radar Valentine heard that Pierce Turner, an Evernight high-sequence deacon, had died in an alley and wondered about the dangers in Backlund.
• Bishop Electra visited the supposedly ill Dawn Dantès, and Dawn asked him about clergy marriage.
• Dawn described his ideal partner in suggestive detail, making Electra and the servants uncomfortable before Electra offered to help find the woman.
• Dawn hinted that his intended was a young Goddess believer who attended sermons, then asked Electra whether he had a wife.
• Klein returned to the bedroom and revealed that Arrodes had been impersonating Dawn, then warned Arrodes not to answer questions that way again.
• Arrodes thanked Klein and asked him to have the armed woman outside lower her weapon.

Angel learned that the mirror fragment was linked to corruption beneath Trier and that Arodes perceived an apocalyptic power associated with her. After she and Klein compared the results of their mission, Angel departed, then returned through the mirror to kiss him goodbye.

• Arodes explained that the mirror fragment could detect nearby mirror persons and warned that Machinery Hivemind Beyonders were investigating the East Borough incident.
• Angel asked what special traits Arodes saw in her, and it revealed images of an apocalypse tied to a power resembling Sequence 1, Apocalypse.
• Arodes left after Angel permitted it, and Klein told her he had grazed Mr. X's Travel ability and a Door ability.
• Angel reported that she had killed Pierce Turner and returned his characteristic to the church, while she and Klein discussed the Blood Flower ring and its mind-dulling negative effect.
• Angel left through the bedroom mirror, then appeared in Klein's reflection and kissed his cheek, making him smile.

Church investigators examined the storm-damaged Aurora Order gathering place and used Arodes's Mirror to identify the battle's apparent participants, while Fors met her teacher Dorian in Backlund and revealed that her allies had already killed Louis Wien. The chapter left Dorian surprised by Fors's news.

• Radar Valentine and Anthony Stevenson investigated the destroyed gathering place and found traces of Storm, a Demoness's Frost and curses, short-distance Travel, and Black Knight flesh.
• Daly Simone questioned Arodes's Mirror, which showed Mr. A, Panacea, Saint Tenebrous, Mr. X, and Pierce Turner at the battle.
• Radar and Anthony debated whether the images were genuine, while Arodes exposed Daly's feelings for a man and she explained that he had accepted her confession.
• Fors Wall secretly checked into an inn and met Dorian, telling him about her recent progress and her wish to avenge him by killing Louis Wien.
• Dorian warned Fors that Louis Wien had likely become a Traveler and had Aurora Order support, but Fors told him that her allies had already succeeded.