Chapter Summaries

Angel reflected on how quickly she had digested the Assassin Potion and considered asking the Tarot Club for guidance. At Blackthorn Security Company, the Backlund Nighthawks departed with the Antigonus Family Notebook and Sealed Artifact 2-049, and Angel learned that the captain wanted to see her about the previous battle and a bounty.

• Angel wondered whether her rapid digestion of the Assassin Potion came from her body or Cole’s past acting, and considered consulting the Tarot Club.
• Angel met Lorotta and the Backlund Nighthawks, who were preparing to escort 2-049 and the Antigonus Family Notebook back to Backlund.
• Lorotta explained that Aier Hassen had been called to support an emergency in Enmat Harbor, leaving the visiting team short-handed until two teammates arrived.
• The Backlund Nighthawks left Tingen, and Leonard told Angel that Lorotta liked coffee, sweets, maids, and large breasts.
• Leonard told Angel that the captain wanted her in his office to discuss the previous battle and collect a bounty.

Angel learned that the police had confirmed the man she killed was the wanted Docklands Assassin, making her eligible for the bounty, and Dunn explained the limits on Nighthawks’ use of police authority. Klein later invited Angel to his family’s celebration at the Silver Crown Restaurant, leaving their chance to discuss his secrets unresolved.

• Dunn gave Angel police documents confirming that the Docklands Assassin she killed was wanted for human trafficking and attempted murder, with a 100-pound bounty available.
• Angel questioned whether official Beyonders could exploit the system, and Dunn explained that inspectors were registered with the police and could face punishment for abusing their authority.
• Dunn told Angel that Leonard had traced the Tuxedo Clown’s carriage to a temporary hideout, but the Secret Order had withdrawn and Old Neil’s divination had yielded no useful clues.
• Dunn said Klein had been shaken by seeing the Clown’s corpse and that he had not asked Klein to attempt divination because of the risk of losing control.
• Klein invited Angel to his family’s celebration at the Silver Crown Restaurant on Saturday evening, and she accepted.

Angel prepared Phantom Phosphor Eruption ammunition at the Tingen City Nighthawks headquarters before Dunn assigned her to an emergency mission in Enmat Harbor. She was to join a regional operation against a human-trafficking network and leave by noon the next day.

• Angel crafted a small batch of Phantom Phosphor Eruption rounds in the Alchemy Room.
• Dunn told Angel that Holy Cathedral had ordered her to report to the Enmat Harbor Nighthawks Squad before noon tomorrow.
• Dunn explained that the mission concerned the Tingen City Labor Mutual Aid Society's suspected involvement in human trafficking and needed reinforcements from nearby cities.
• Dunn said the Red Gloves could not assist because they were away on another mission, so Nighthawks from several regions would be gathered temporarily.
• Dunn advised Angel to prepare ammunition and collect the fifty-pound bounty as operational funds.

Angel Granger left Tingen for an urgent Nighthawks operation in Enmat Harbor, and Klein Moretti gave her a protective charm before she departed. On the train, Angel discovered that a missing Beyonder Characteristic had merged with her damaged revolver, leaving her eager to consult an Artisan.

• Angel told Klein that she had been ordered to join a major Nighthawks operation in Enmat Harbor and expected to be away for about a week.
• Klein hurried after Angel and gave her a silver maple-leaf protective charm before she left for the train station.
• Angel caught the morning train to Enmat Harbor and brought her weapons, cash, and a metal box from home.
• Angel opened the box and found that the missing purplish-red Beyonder Characteristic had merged with her damaged revolver, restoring its hammer and turning the weapon black.
• Angel sealed the revolver back in the box after its bloody odor drew attention, and planned to ask an Artisan in Enmat Harbor about the weapon.

Angel traveled by steam train from Stoen City to Enmat Harbor and reached the local Nighthawks base, where Daly Simone welcomed her and found her a room. The chapter left Angel settling into her accommodations while waiting to meet the rest of the team.

• Angel rode the train from Stoen City to Enmat Harbor and avoided further conversation with the man who had chatted with her during the journey.
• Angel hired a carriage to Saint George Church, challenged the coachman’s inflated fare with her Inspector Badge, and paid one soli.
• Angel arrived at the Enmat Harbor Nighthawks’ Silver Bullet Detective Agency and reunited with Daly Simone.
• Daly explained that Nighthawks from Pritz Harbor had arrived to provide support and that Clement would return in the afternoon.
• Daly took Angel to room 306, a single room in the team’s residential quarters.

Angel Granger joined Nighthawks from across southeastern Loen at the Silver Bullet Detective Agency while the Backlund squad remained delayed. She discovered that the Tarot Club had drawn the attention of Enmat Harbor’s Nighthawks and learned that Justice could be found at the local underground market.

• Bell Clement welcomed Angel and explained that the Nighthawks were waiting for the Backlund squad, which would not arrive that day.
• Angel and the other members introduced themselves, revealing that nearly everyone present belonged to the Sleepless pathway.
• Clement allowed the Nighthawks to move around Enmat Harbor as long as they stayed within the city and reported extended absences.
• Angel asked Daly Simone about Beyonder markets, and Daly directed her to Carrion Bird’s underground market on Pitts Street.
• Daly told Angel that Clement had investigated the Tarot Club and that a member called Justice often bought materials at the market.
• Angel realized the Tarot Club members she knew were in Enmat Harbor and resolved to learn more about Justice without revealing her connection to the club.

Angel went to the Carrion Bird Bar’s underground market to investigate the Tarot Club and look for Miss Justice. She found a message seeking materials for the Seer Potion and left a note offering Star Crystal, still uncertain whether Justice was the buyer.

• Angel changed her plans after Daly told her the Nighthawks were investigating the Tarot Club, and she traveled to the Carrion Bird Bar in Enmat Harbor.
• Angel found the underground market on the bar’s third floor and used Dark Vision to check whether Justice was there, but she did not see her.
• Angel questioned a merchant about her goods and learned that Justice had bought from her before but had not come that day.
• Angel found Justice’s blackboard message seeking Star Crystal and Lava Octopus blood, materials for the Seer Potion.
• Angel wondered whether Justice was seeking a potion for herself or someone else, then left a note offering a small amount of Star Crystal for Friday evening.

Angel visited Kavi the Artisan in Enmat Harbor to have a strange revolver appraised. She learned its powers and dangerous drawbacks, then paid Kavi one hundred pounds for the information.

• Angel left the market after posting a Star Crystals trade message and traveled to Oak District to find Kavi the Artisan.
• Angel initially mistook Kavi’s elderly assistant for the Artisan, then showed Kavi the revolver that had transformed after reacting with a Beyonder Characteristic.
• The revolver released dark-red vapor and a strong blood smell until Kavi shut its box and identified it as a Mystical Item.
• Kavi charged Angel one hundred pounds to appraise the revolver and explained that it enhanced bullets and could unleash a powerful attack by consuming spirituality.
• Kavi warned that the revolver’s powerful attack triggered a blood-draining negative effect and that wielding it made its user more vulnerable to curses.
• Angel paid Kavi one hundred pounds after hearing the appraisal.

Angel named the fused revolver Bloodthirst and fed it 400 milliliters of her own blood, eliminating its negative effects and making it her new main weapon. After returning to the Nighthawks' base, she learned there was a mission and Daly mistook her pallor from blood loss for menstruation.

• Angel learned Bloodthirst needed spiritually rich blood and decided to feed it her own rather than harm a stranger.
• Angel drew 400 milliliters of blood and poured it into Bloodthirst, which absorbed the blood and returned to its gun form.
• Angel found that her blood had removed Bloodthirst's negative effects and that the fused revolver had repaired its damaged hammer.
• Angel transferred her bullets into Bloodthirst, chose it as her main weapon, and stored her old revolver in her suitcase.
• Angel brought her Star Crystals downstairs, where Daly told her there was a mission and asked if she was on her period.

Angel learned that the Artisan wanted by the Machinery Hivemind was a civilian employee named Tomaz who had secretly become a Sequence 8 Beyonder and killed two teammates. She went to the Carrion Bird Bar to sell Star Crystals and found Justice’s reply, along with a message offering the next stage of the Assassin Potion.

• Daly explained that Tomaz had been positioned nearby, then left with Herman and the Machinery Hivemind’s armed members to pursue him.
• Angel avoided Rupert Norman and went to the Carrion Bird Bar for her planned meeting with Justice.
• Angel found Justice’s message agreeing to buy all her Star Crystals at a negotiable price and directing her to a stall by the staircase.
• Angel scanned the crowded market’s message board but found no Main Materials for the Instigator Potion.
• Angel discovered a discreet message offering the next stage of Assassin for a negotiable price at table thirteen on Saturday afternoon.

Angel met a young woman calling herself “Justice” to sell her forty grams of star crystal for two hundred pounds. She learned the buyer had once been tricked by a counterfeit Tarot Club, confirming she was not the Justice from the Tarot Club Angel knew.

• Angel decided to pursue the noticeboard lead for star crystal despite suspecting it might be a trap.
• Angel approached the young woman and her bodyguard, then showed them the star crystal she had for sale.
• The buyer agreed to pay two hundred pounds for all forty grams, and the pair verified the weight before completing the trade.
• Angel asked whether the buyer had joined the Tarot Club, and the woman described how Mr. Wilson had exposed a fraudulent group using that name.
• Angel concluded that the woman was not the Tarot Club’s Justice and felt reassured that the counterfeit group had been exposed.

Angel learned that the fugitive Tomaz had escaped a joint Nighthawks and Machinery Hivemind arrest, then prepared to buy potion materials and visit Artisan Kavi. She entered Kavi's clock shop and found the old man dead and Kavi held at gunpoint by an armed stranger.

• Angel returned to the Silver Bullet and learned from Daly that Tomaz had evaded capture using Anti-Divination and fled his apartment before the raid.
• Angel shared dinner with Daly, who explained that Tomaz had murdered two Machinery Hivemind teammates and stolen Spiritual Materials.
• Captain Clement announced that the Backlund Team would arrive Sunday, and the Nighthawks would begin their operation that night.
• Angel planned to contact a trader about Instigator potion materials and visited Kavi's Clock Shop to discuss having a weapon made.
• Angel found the old man dead on the floor and Artisan Kavi wounded, with a stranger holding a revolver to her forehead.

Angel encountered the fugitive Tomaz in a clock shop and fought to survive his attacks, using Bloodthirst and her knowledge of his abilities to counter him. After Tomaz’s bomb blasted Angel and Kavi against the back wall, he approached them through the ruined entrance.

• Angel recognized Tomaz, drew Bloodthirst, and shot at him as he hid behind the counter.
• Tomaz used Flaming Jump to appear behind Angel and fired, but Angel dodged and struck him with an enhanced Phantom Phosphor Eruption.
• Tomaz escaped the blast with Paper Figurine Substitute, then reappeared and threw a bomb into the shop.
• Angel kicked a Hunting Rifle into the bomb to send it toward the entrance, then grabbed Kavi and dove behind the workbench.
• The bomb exploded, crushing Angel and Kavi against the back wall, and Tomaz walked toward them through the wreckage.

Angel helped Kavi survive Tomaz’s attack, and Tomaz escaped after being struck by a High-Pressure Steam Rifle. Kavi revealed that Tomaz was only Sequence 8, leaving Angel and Kavi to suspect he had used Mystical Items to wield stronger Beyonder abilities.

• Angel freed Bloodthirst from beneath herself and Kavi, shot at Tomaz, and watched him flee after a Steam Rifle bullet wounded him.
• Machinery Hivemind members arrived, and Kavi defended Angel while explaining that Tomaz had killed Bern and attacked her for her Beyonder Characteristic.
• Kavi mourned Bern and stopped herself from explaining what Tomaz intended to do with her Beyonder Characteristic.
• Kavi told Angel that Tomaz was Sequence 8, not Sequence 7, and could not use the abilities Angel had witnessed herself.
• Angel and Kavi realized Tomaz had likely carried Mystical Items that granted him Flame Leap and Paper Figurine Substitute.

After discovering that Tomaz had used a Mystical Item containing Magician abilities, Angel learned how he had obtained it and then went to the Carrion Bird Bar to meet the seller of an Instigator Beyonder Characteristic. She followed Dominic upstairs, realizing his earlier message had been about a Characteristic rather than a Potion, and began considering how she could afford it and whether it could advance her.

• Kavi concluded that Tomaz had used a Mystical Item formed from a stolen Magician Beyonder Characteristic and went to check whether the Characteristic was missing from the warehouse.
• Kavi told Angel that the Machinery Hivemind had killed the Magician by bringing in heavy cannons and destroying the house.
• Angel reported the morning's events to Clement, tended to her injuries, and went to the Carrion Bird Bar to meet the seller of the Instigator Potion.
• Dominic approached Angel at the bar and explained that he had left the message about selling the Instigator Beyonder Characteristic.
• Angel learned that Dominic was selling a Beyonder Characteristic rather than Potion materials and considered whether she could use it to advance.

Angel bought an Instigator Beyonder Characteristic from Dominic for 400 pounds after persuading him that the Demoness Sect might pursue him. She then visited Kavi, who explained the law of conservation of Beyonder Characteristics, leaving Angel aware that the Characteristic could let her advance to Sequence 8.

• Angel negotiated with Dominic and used the threat of the Demoness Sect to make him lower the Instigator Beyonder Characteristic's price to 400 pounds.
• Angel returned to Oak District and found Kavi outside her wrecked clock shop, preparing to transfer to Backlund.
• Angel asked Kavi to explain how Beyonder Characteristics could be used to advance, and Kavi agreed to share what she knew.
• Kavi explained that Beyonder Characteristics could not be destroyed and that a separated Characteristic could serve as the Main Material for a Potion of its corresponding Sequence.
• Angel realized that the Instigator Beyonder Characteristic in her pocket could help her advance to Sequence 8.

Angel secretly prepared and drank the Instigator Potion, survived a terrifying near-loss of control, and successfully advanced to Instigator. Rupert Norman then summoned her to the first-floor hall because Clement said the operation might be moved up.

• Angel used the Instigator Beyonder Characteristic and Auxiliary Materials to prepare the Potion in her room.
• Angel drank the Potion, suffered frightening visions and a sensation of watching herself die, then recovered and confirmed her advancement to Instigator.
• Angel examined her enhanced abilities and decided not to advance directly with a Beyonder Characteristic again.
• Rupert Norman knocked and told Angel that Clement had called everyone to gather because the operation might be moved up.

Clement briefed the Nighthawks in Enmat Harbor on a human-trafficking network linked to the Demoness Sect and the Aurora Order, then assigned teams to raid its three sites before the traffickers could escape. Angel, Rupert Norman, and Clement were tasked with confronting a powerful suspected Beyonder at Warehouse No. 16 using Sealed Artifact 2-032.

• Clement explained that Yarn Clinic, a sugar factory, and Warehouse No. 16 formed a trafficking route that had sent over a thousand victims away this year.
• Clement said the operation had to begin immediately because all three sites had become active and the enemy might have learned of the Nighthawks’ plans through divination.
• Clement assigned Morrow and Brandon Poirot to arrest the Aurora Order’s Listener at Yarn Clinic.
• Clement sent Daly Simone, Mallo, and Cliff to raid the sugar factory with Sealed Artifact 3-0431 and rescue its captives.
• Clement assigned himself, Rupert Norman, and Angel Granger to confront the suspected Beyonder at Warehouse No. 16 with Sealed Artifact 2-032, Hand of Declaration.

Angel, Clement, and Rupert prepared for a nighttime operation at Warehouse No. 16 in Enmat Harbor’s Port District, with Rupert assigned the dangerous Hand of Declaration. After confirming the target and arranging police to guard the perimeter, Clement led the team into action.

• Clement explained the Hand of Declaration’s effects and risks, then assigned Rupert to use it no more than twice while Clement monitored him.
• Angel and Rupert prepared their weapons, and Angel briefed Clement on her Assassin abilities and Phantom Phosphor Eruption ammunition.
• The team reached a point near Warehouse No. 16, where Andrew reported that the target and armed guards had remained inside all day.
• Clement sent Andrew to bring armed police to guard the perimeter and ordered them not to enter the warehouse or join the battle.
• At the agreed time, Clement checked that Angel and Rupert were ready and ordered them to move.

Angel, Clement, and Rupert confronted Mr. C in the cellar beneath the slave market, where he worshipped a chained, one-eyed giant statue. The battle began with Rupert driven nearly mad by the statue, and Mr. C emerged from the darkness to attack Clement.

• Angel and Rupert subdued five slave traders, and Clement learned that Mr. C was the only Beyonder guarding more than twenty slaves below.
• Mr. C discovered he had lost contact with the flesh he had placed on two accomplices and revealed the chained, upside-down giant statue to prepare an offering.
• Clement gave Rupert the Sealed Artifact Hand of Declaration, but Rupert opened his Spirit Vision and was horrified by the statue.
• Angel pulled Rupert away as Mr. C extinguished the candles and vanished into the darkness after being shot.
• Angel revealed a moving shadow with a Phantom Phosphor Eruption round, and Mr. C emerged from it to reach for Clement's face.