Chapter Summaries

Klein’s marionette learned that Nast believed Roselle was the ideal Black Emperor, while Angel worried about the danger behind the Church’s plans for Backlund. Leonard discovered that Dwayne Dantès was being matched with Christine Teresa, then told the awakened Pallez about recent events and wondered why no Demoness had fallen for him.

• Nast told Klein’s marionette that Roselle had been better suited than anyone to become the Black Emperor, and Klein’s marionette agreed to convey Nast’s request to Bernadette.
• Angel left Saint Samuel Cathedral after Archbishop Anthony and Cesimir approved her supervised handling of Trissy and revealed that Arianna would soon arrive in Backlund.
• Bishop Electra told Leonard that Dwayne Dantès and Christine Teresa might start a family, leaving Leonard stunned by the connection to Klein.
• Leonard returned home and recounted his recent experiences to the awakened Pales Zoroaster, including Klein’s advancement and proposal.
• Leonard questioned why a Demoness had not fallen for him, and Pales ended their conversation with a derisive chuckle.

Angel showed Audrey her newly acquired Iris Flower Winery and discussed its decor, wine, and Audrey’s expected confrontation with Hvin Rambis. The chapter ended with Klein returning to Backlund accompanied by disguised marionettes Enzo and Ludwell.

• Angel welcomed Audrey to Iris Flower Winery, which Baron Cinderas had given her as an apology, and showed her the estate.
• Audrey criticized the villa’s decor and estimated that refurbishing it would cost about 5,000 pounds, so Angel decided to keep the furnishings for now and showed her the wine cellar.
• Angel and Audrey sampled a ten-year-old red wine and discussed Audrey’s upcoming gathering with Mr. Hampres, where she expected to face Hvin Rambis.
• Audrey told Angel that Cinderas’s move toward her father’s New Party had intensified conflict with the Conservative Party, and both women suspected the royal family might be encouraging the division.
• Angel mentioned that Dwayne Dantès would return to Backlund that evening, and Audrey struggled to respond while Susie fell asleep.
• Klein arrived in Backlund with the disguised marionettes Enzo and Ludwell, who carried his luggage.

After advancing to Sequence 4, Klein returned to Backlund and resumed his household and investigations. Angel visited him, and after Klein told her about Nast’s invitation to explore the Ghost Empire, she spoke confidently of advancing to Sequence 3, leaving Klein wondering how she could complete the Unaging ritual.

• Klein returned to No. 160 Böklund Street with Enyouni and Ludwell, whom he introduced to the household as Enyouni and Raphael.
• Klein reassigned Richardson to help Walter investigate estates, intending to invest in property outside the city.
• Klein reviewed his plans to investigate the Great Smog’s true culprit, Qonas Kilgor, and the last transmigrator.
• Angel emerged from Klein’s bedroom mirror, and Klein changed back from Dwayne Dantès before embracing her.
• Klein told Angel that Nast had invited her and her Ghost Ship to join an expedition to find the Ghost Empire and its connection to Roselle.
• Angel said she would consider the expedition after advancing to Sequence 3, and Klein asked how she had solved the Unaging promotion ritual.

Angel and Klein privately prepared to announce their commitment at a ball while each kept suspicions about the other's hidden identity to themselves. Leonard learned that the Church planned to give him opportunities to digest his potion and advance to Spirit Warlock.

• Angel explained her preparations to advance to Unaging, and Klein's pendulum divination confirmed that she could likely succeed without the usual ritual.
• Klein suspected Angel might be a fellow transmigrator but decided not to reveal his own identity or question her about it.
• Angel and Klein revealed matching rings and agreed to announce their commitment at Councilor Macht's ball the next day.
• Angel and Klein began acting out the Pleasure and Affliction aspects of their potions together.
• Archbishop Anthony Stevenson told Leonard Mitchell that he could apply for the Spirit Warlock potion and assigned him investigations into suspected hauntings so he could digest his Soul Assurer potion.

Leonard was sent to investigate East Borough murders suspected of involving a mid-sequence Beyonder, while Angel followed a disturbance in the Mirror World and found Trissy undergoing a dangerous blessing from the Primordial Demoness. Their conversation revealed Trissy’s plans involving Shermane and Viscount Stratford, and left Angel wondering whether her own advancement had also come from the Primordial Demoness’s blessing.

• Leonard received East Borough murder files from Anthony and suspected the cases might involve Demonesses connected to a past Tingen City incident.
• Angel sensed a dangerous disturbance in the Mirror World, went to investigate in the East Borough, and found Trissy in a dilapidated apartment.
• Trissy told Angel that the Primordial Demoness’s blessing was rapidly advancing her while threatening to turn her into a Divine Descent Vessel.
• Trissy reported that Shermane was drawing close to Viscount Stratford and planned to use their relationship to uncover the truth about the great smog and Edessak’s suicide.
• Angel showed Trissy the Sapphire Ring, and Trissy reacted with terror before Angel wondered whether the ring had enabled her own advancement through a blessing.

Angel discussed the Sapphire Ring and Trissy’s situation, then Audrey used Susie to apply Psychological Suggestion to herself before meeting Hvin Rambis. The chapter left Audrey temporarily set to forget his true identity and her preparations concerning him.

• Angel concluded that the Sapphire Ring had involved the Primordial Demoness and returned it to the Mirror World.
• Angel offered to seek the Goddess’s help for Trissy, but Trissy rejected the offer and chose to pursue revenge.
• Baron Cinderas met with Earl Hall and Hibbert Hall to discuss drawing newly titled nobles and wealthy businessmen into the New Party.
• Audrey performed a ritual and obtained Leimano’s Travel Notes, then learned from Susie about Baron Cinderas’s political plans.
• Audrey asked Susie to use Psychological Suggestion, and Susie made her forget Hvin Rambis’s true identity and her preparations concerning him for two hours.

Audrey visited Stephen Hampres, where Hvin Rambis tested her suitability for the Sequence 5 Dreamwalker potion while secretly probing her consciousness. Angel monitored the meeting through a blood curse and a mirror, and Hvin ended by suspecting Audrey had an illicit relationship with Christine Teresa.

• Audrey used Psychological Suggestion to suppress her memory of Hvin Rambis's identity, then traveled to Hampres's mansion with Susie.
• Angel used a doll made with Hampres's blood and a mirror to monitor Audrey's meeting, learning that Hvin was waiting for her.
• Hvin revealed himself to Audrey as a Psychology Alchemists council member and questioned how she had become a Hypnotist so quickly.
• Hvin invaded Audrey's consciousness, but her preparations and the angel's blessing helped her maintain convincing answers and behavior.
• Hvin said Audrey could apply for the Sequence 5 Dreamwalker potion after he confirmed her abilities, then asked about her relationship with Christine Teresa.
• Hvin mistook Audrey's brief surprise at the question for evidence that she and Christine were having an illicit relationship.

Audrey discovered Hvin Rambis planned to use her friendship with Christine Teresa to lure Angel into his control, while Angel considered how to respond. At Councilor Macht’s ball, Dwayne Dantès arrived with Christine, whose ring prompted Macht to question their relationship.

• Angel eavesdropped as Hvin Rambis urged Audrey to bring Christine Teresa to a psychology salon so the Alchemists could assess her.
• Audrey concealed her true thoughts and acted as though she accepted Rambis’s suggestion, while recognizing his plan to manipulate Christine and Angel.
• Angel concluded Rambis had mistaken her for a mid-Sequence Demoness and weighed the risks of confronting him.
• Angel prepared for Councilor Macht’s ball, where Dwayne Dantès arrived with Christine Teresa on his arm.
• Macht noticed the ring on Christine’s left ring finger and questioned her relationship with Dantès.

Angel and Klein discovered that Hazel’s teacher, a Marauder demigod, was close to losing control, and Hazel slipped away to warn her. Angel left the ball through a Mirror World passage to follow Hazel toward the Suburban Manor, while Klein remained behind with her substitute.

• Angel used Mirror Magic to confirm that Hazel’s gray-rat teacher was on the verge of losing control, and Hazel interpreted the illusion as a warning that someone planned to harm her teacher.
• Hazel told her maid she was going to bed, disguised herself in practical clothes, and climbed out of the residence to warn her teacher.
• Angel told Klein that the demigod’s loss of control could endanger the manor and its surroundings, then said she would follow Hazel while he finished at the ball.
• Angel switched places with a Mirror Substitution and entered the Mirror World, leaving Klein to dance with the substitute and greet the guests.
• Angel used divination to find Hazel and caught up with her hired carriage as it hurried toward the edge of the city.

Angel followed Hazel toward Elk Manor, where Hazel planned to confront her Marauder teacher, while Klein attended the ball using Angel’s Mirror Substitution. As Hazel crossed the Tussock River, a sudden danger forced Angel out of the Mirror World and left her unable to use Mirror Substitution.

• Angel shadowed Hazel’s carriage and prepared to deal with the hostile Marauder hiding at Elk Manor, while Klein smoothly answered guests’ questions about his engagement using Angel’s substitute.
• Hazel prepared her charms and equipment as she traveled toward Elk Manor, and Angel concealed her identity while avoiding any chance of attracting Amon.
• Hazel left the carriage, stole a bird’s ability to fly, and crossed the Tussock River toward the manor.
• Angel sensed an imminent threat in the Mirror World, escaped to the riverbank, and discovered she could no longer use Mirror Substitution.
• After the ball, Klein’s Mirror Substitution shattered in the carriage before he could contact Angel.

Angel encountered an Amon avatar while traveling toward Elk Manor and fought to escape his ability thefts. The chapter ended with her Reapers attacking Amon after she exploited the brief interval between his thefts.

• Angel recognized the Crystal Monocle-wearing stranger as an Amon avatar after he stole her thought of entering the Mirror World.
• Amon stole Angel's position and exchanged places with her, disrupting her escape and avoiding her black flames.
• Angel bound Amon with threads and attacked with cursed flames, but he escaped using her stolen mirror and Mirror Substitution.
• Amon stole Angel's Transfiguration ability, identified her as Angelica Zaki, and hinted at alterations in her fate linked to the Great Serpent.
• Angel seized the interval after Amon stole her Cursed Black Flame, summoned her Reapers, and ordered them to attack.

Angel outmaneuvered Amon during their battle on the beach, using an illusion and her resistance to the Wings of Death to turn his trap against him. She burned Amon’s body to ashes and collected the three worms left behind.

• Angel led her Tinplate Soldiers against Amon, who stole control of several soldiers and abilities before Angel drove him into the flames.
• Angel used Frost to resist the fire, then charged Amon with the Iron-Blooded Knight characteristic while he countered with invisible threads and Black Flame.
• Amon revealed the Wings of Death and immobilized Angel and her soldiers, then offered to join forces and admitted he had lied about not wanting to steal her fate.
• Angel revealed that Amon had parasitized her illusion and that the feather was less effective against her, then resisted his attack and pulled the feather from his chest.
• Angel burned Amon to ashes, stopped those around her from using Mirror Substitution, and caught the worm that drifted toward the two worms left on the beach.

Angel defeated an Amon Avatar and fled into the Mirror World, but other Amon avatars gathered nearby and continued tracking her Worms of Time. She escaped their immediate watch by entering Saint Samuel Cathedral, prayed to the Evernight Goddess, and ended the chapter contacting Klein through a Magic Mirror.

• Angel collected the remains of Amon's Avatar, sealed her Mystical Items, and left for the Mirror World because she still felt watched.
• Amon's other avatars gathered around the riverbank and discussed why they had not joined the fight, while the stray cat revealed that Angel's fate was part of another being's plan.
• The Worms of Time left Angel's pocket and vanished after she entered Saint Samuel Cathedral, ending the avatars' use of them to monitor her.
• Angel reasoned that the Worms of Time carried Marauder Beyonder characteristics and prayed to the Evernight Goddess to report Amon's activities.
• Angel received no apparent response from the Goddess, then used her Magic Mirror and saw Klein's face appear.

Klein defeated a deranged Marauder demigod near Elk Manor and learned from Angel that other Amons were hunting him. Klein escaped when an Amon appeared, while Amon found the demigod’s dying remains and turned his attention to Flora Jacob.

• Klein and his marionettes overwhelmed the Marauder demigod with repeated air cannons and searched the battlefield for his remains.
• Angel contacted Klein through the magic mirror, explained that she had encountered trouble, and warned him that other Amons might be searching for the demigod.
• Klein burned the battlefield, destroyed the marionettes’ mystical connections, and prepared to leave before Amon arrived.
• Amon appeared in the woods, but Klein, Raphael, and Enyouni escaped into the Spirit World before Amon could establish a parasitic connection.
• Amon found the dying Marauder demigod, offered him hope, and watched him die after he recognized Amon.
• Amon absorbed the demigod’s remaining light and told his hidden companion to return to Backlund because he had seen something interesting in Flora Jacob’s fate.

Hazel found Amon waiting for her in the form of a rat after the battle. Angel and Klein reunited at a safe house to compare their encounters and plan how to deal with Amon, but their discussion was interrupted when Arianna arrived, saying the Goddess had sent her to hear their needs.

• Hazel returned to Elk Manor and found Amon in the form of a rat, who confirmed that he was all right.
• Angel used the Mirror Tunnel to reach her East Borough safe house, checked that her belongings were intact, and reunited with Klein and his two marionettes.
• Angel gave Klein three Worms of Time to use in making Luck Stealer charms, and they discussed how Amon could parasitize people, steal things, and interfere with fate.
• Angel proposed asking Leonard's Parasite for advice at the Tarot Club, while Klein secretly considered arranging a private meeting above the gray fog.
• Arianna appeared in the safe house and told Angel and Klein that the Goddess had sent her to listen to their needs.

Arianna confirmed that Amon's avatars were gathering Marauder characteristics in Backlund and warned that the Goddess could no longer directly deter the Blasphemer. She tasked Angel and Klein with helping eliminate every avatar, leaving them to rely on Klein's plan and the Church's concealment powers.

• Arianna questioned Klein and Angel about their encounters with Amon's avatars and agreed that the avatars sought Marauder Beyonder characteristics.
• Arianna explained that the Church could not easily eradicate the avatars because they could parasitize animals and other spiritual creatures.
• Arianna revealed that the Goddess had previously threatened Amon's true body with divine punishment, but implied that this protection was no longer available.
• Arianna warned that Amon's avatars could trace Klein and Angel through changes in fate, and said they needed to be eliminated before they could inform the true body.
• Klein said he had a preliminary plan, and Arianna gave him an Evernight Emblem and strengthened Angel's Hidden Holy Emblem so they could contact or draw on her power.
• Arianna vanished, leaving Angel and Klein to face the task of eliminating Amon's avatars in Backlund.

Leonard Mitchell investigated hauntings and an East Borough serial murder case before joining Angel and Klein in the Fool’s kingdom to discuss Amon’s avatars. The meeting ended with Klein revealing that Pales Zoroaster was a Sequence 1 of the Marauder pathway, a fact Leonard had never known.

• Leonard pacified a resentful spirit and returned to the East Borough Nighthawks base, where he reviewed autopsy reports with Rosa.
• Leonard concluded that an Assassin pathway Witch was likely responsible for the serial murders and began considering how to investigate despite the perpetrator’s anti-divination.
• The Fool summoned Leonard to a meeting after Klein requested permission to discuss new information about Amon with Angel and Leonard.
• Leonard consulted Pales, who warned that Amon’s avatars were extremely dangerous and told him to explain the risks to his colleagues.
• Angel told Leonard and Klein that they had encountered several Amon avatars, gained three Worms of Time, and suspected the avatars were gathering information and Marauder characteristics.
• Klein asked Leonard whether he had known that Pales Zoroaster was a Sequence 1 of the Marauder pathway, and Leonard was surprised.

Angel explained to Leonard that Amon was seeking the remaining Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristic and Uniqueness needed to become the Marauder pathway’s Sequence 0 god. Leonard agreed to consult Pallez about a plan to eliminate Amon’s avatars, while a monocled raven watched Emlyn leave Böklund Street after selling medicine.

• Angel told Leonard that Amon sought the power to ascend to Sequence 0, and that the Goddess was working to prevent him.
• Leonard asked whether he and Pallez could flee the city, but Klein warned that Amon’s avatars could still find them in Backlund or elsewhere.
• Angel asked whether Pallez could gather and eliminate Amon’s avatars, and Leonard said he would ask the Old Man and report back at the next Tarot Club gathering.
• Leonard described Amon’s methods to Angel and Klein, including using expendable avatars to investigate disturbances and hiding other avatars nearby.
• Emlyn sold eight bottles of enhanced medicine for 120 pounds and left Böklund Street as a monocled raven watched him.

At a Tarot Club gathering, Leonard submitted five pages of Roselle’s diary, and Klein found an entry about Roselle’s suspicions over schemes targeting his children. The members discussed transactions and Mystical Items before Klein warned that an avatar of Amon was operating in Backlund.

• Leonard gave Mr. Fool five diary pages, and Klein read Roselle’s account of Issaka, Bornova, and a plot to control one of his children.
• Leonard chose to save his request for later, while Alger reported that Angel’s items had sold for 5,400 pounds and apologized for not finding Leonard a suitable Mystical Item.
• The World offered Leonard the Mystical Item Word of the Sea, and Leonard said he would consider it despite its dangerous negative effects.
• Angel asked Cattleya to have an Iron-Blooded Knight characteristic crafted into a melee weapon, and Cattleya quoted an 8,000-pound fee while waiving the introduction fee.
• The World warned the Tarot Club that an avatar of Amon had recently been operating covertly in Backlund.

The Tarot Club discussed Amon’s avatars in Backlund, Derrick’s advancement ritual, and a string of suspected Demoness Sect murders. The World then asked to speak privately with the Empress and the Star, and Leonard began explaining Pallez’s plan to eliminate Amon.

• The World explained that Amon’s avatars were seeking Marauder pathway characteristics, while Angel warned the Tarot Club about how Amon could parasitize people and steal their identities and fates.
• Mr. Fool told the members they could pray to him if anything unusual happened, and Derrick asked for advice on his Priest of Light advancement ritual.
• The Tarot Club advised Derrick to ask the City of Silver’s Chief for help with the dangerous ritual.
• Leonard asked the members for leads on East Borough serial murders suspected to involve the Demoness Sect, and Angel agreed to investigate through her channels.
• The World requested a private conversation with the Empress and the Star, and Leonard began describing Pallez’s plan to annihilate Amon.