Chapter Summaries

Leonard learned how to counter Amon’s avatars, but Amon ambushed him in Backlund and trapped him and Pallez in a Corpse Cathedral to seize the Jacob Family characteristic. Klein sent Leonard to seek Evernight’s help and summoned Angel’s powerful Mirror Person, who broke open the cathedral as Amon took the characteristic.

• Pallez told Leonard that stopping an Amon avatar from transmitting information required Sequence 1 power, though an Advanced Charm might work against avatars below Sequence 2 if every nearby avatar was destroyed.
• Pallez finished absorbing the Jacob Family characteristic and urged Leonard to focus on advancing to demigod.
• Leonard returned to 7 Pinster Street and found Amon waiting inside; Amon revealed that a hidden avatar in the Jacob Family Treasure had exposed Pallez’s presence and that he had stolen a Corpse Cathedral to delay the gods.
• Pallez pushed Leonard out of the Corpse Cathedral so he could pray to the Fool, and Klein ordered Leonard to go to the cathedral and pray to Evernight.
• Klein used the Staff of the Stars to summon Angel’s Mirror Person, who destroyed the cathedral’s entrance and exposed Amon holding the characteristic Pallez had left behind.

Klein witnessed Amon defeat Pallez in Backlund, but Pallez survived by reviving inside Leonard at Sequence 2. After the Lord of Storms and Angel’s Mirror Person failed to stop Amon from escaping, Klein learned Amon was injured and turned his attention to the City of Silver, while Angel received a prayer from Ilian Sauron.

• Amon ambushed Pallez at 7 Pinster Street, took his Sequence 1 characteristic, and escaped as the Lord of Storms struck Backlund with lightning.
• Klein learned that Pallez had left Worms of Time inside Leonard and revived there at Sequence 2, then told Leonard he no longer needed to pray to Evernight.
• Pallez informed Klein that Amon was seriously injured and shared the Error pathway’s apotheosis ritual: taking another person’s place during their apotheosis.
• Klein returned to the Forsaken Land of the Gods and decided that purging Amon’s avatars from the City of Silver could proceed.
• Angel received a prayer from Ilian Sauron, who wanted to meet her about Tia and the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.

Angel investigated the Church of Knowledge’s attempt to contact her and received a report on the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact Salinger’s Blood Banner. After studying its history and properties, she concluded that it was the Red Priest pathway’s Uniqueness.

• After learning that Amon had taken Pallez Zoroast’s Sequence 1 characteristic, Angel sent Bernadette information about the School of Truth and notified the Goddess that the Church of Knowledge was seeking her.
• Angel traveled through the Mirror World to Helene’s smuggling convoy, where her arrival caused a storm that frightened the sailors and prompted Ilian Sauron to offer her command saber.
• Tia told Angel that a Church of Knowledge bishop had asked her to deliver a sealed item, and Angel opened the metal sphere inside the Mirror World to retrieve its document.
• Angel read the Church of Knowledge’s description of Salinger’s Blood Banner, a dangerous artifact sealed in the city of Molora.
• Connecting the Blood Banner to Salinger, the Primordial Demoness, and the Pale Calamity, Angel concluded that the artifact was the Red Priest pathway’s Uniqueness.

Angel learned that the Church of Knowledge wanted her to take possession of Salinger's Blood Banner, the Red Priest's Uniqueness, and suspected it was contaminated by sefirot. She consulted Arrodes, which confirmed the contamination involved the Darkness, Death, and Twilight Giant pathways, and identified the Blood Emperor and Death as the Uniqueness's only previous holders.

• Angel concluded that the Church of Knowledge hoped she would claim Salinger's Blood Banner and considered whether Helene Sauron could safely approach it.
• Angel offered Tia help advancing to Pleasure and suggested she join the Witch Church to escape the Demoness Sect.
• Angel summoned Arrodes and asked what it knew about the Sealed Artifact designated 0-01.
• Arrodes revealed that Salinger's Blood Banner was the Red Priest's Uniqueness, had been contaminated by multiple sefirot, and was in Molora.
• Arrodes identified the contamination as connected to the Darkness, Death, and Twilight Giant pathways.
• Angel asked whether the Blood Emperor and Death were the only previous holders, and Arrodes confirmed they were.

Angel questioned Arrodes and realized its answer about the past owners of Salinger’s Blood Banner might have been a hint that someone else had possessed it. After praying to the Fool about her suspicions, she went to Saint Samuel Cathedral to ask the Goddess about Azik and unexpectedly saw Leonard and Shermane.

• Angel doubted Arrodes after it denied that Medici had possessed Salinger’s Blood Banner, then suspected the answer hinted at a fourth owner.
• Arrodes explained that Amon’s apotheosis ritual required him to replace a Sequence 1 of an adjacent pathway, and it confirmed that Sequence 0 of the Seer pathway was called the Fool.
• Arrodes said Azik was asleep in a concealed location and would awaken with a new identity and memories; Angel ended the session and prayed to the Fool about her suspicions.
• Angel traveled to Saint Samuel Cathedral to ask the Goddess about Azik, then hid in the shadows when she spotted Leonard and Shermane.

Angel overheard Leonard urging Shermane to move in with him for safety, then prayed to the Evernight Goddess for information about Salinger's Blood Banner and Azik Eggers. She recruited Audrey to help enter Azik's dream and arrived with her at the abandoned castle where he slept.

• Angel secretly listened as Leonard told Shermane that an enemy threatened her and suggested they rent a home together near Saint Samuel Cathedral.
• Angel prayed to the Evernight Goddess for information about Salinger's Blood Banner and a safe way to contact Azik Eggers.
• The Goddess revealed Azik's location and a method to enter his shallow dream, so Angel sought help from Audrey, a newly advanced demigod of the Spectator pathway.
• Angel brought Audrey through the Mirror World to an abandoned castle outside Lamud Town, where Azik was sleeping.

Angel and Audrey entered Azik Eggers’s castle and used Audrey’s dream abilities to explore his dream. Audrey avoided the dangerous deeper layers before reaching a realistic university dream, where she spotted Klein Moretti.

• Angel led Audrey through the castle’s defenses to Azik Eggers’s sealed bedroom and explained his identity and repeating lives.
• Angel and Audrey prayed to Mr. Fool for blessings, then Audrey brought Angel into Azik’s dream.
• Audrey briefly entered the dream’s dangerous deeper layers, saw a damaged inverted pyramid mausoleum, and escaped to the Sea of Collective Subconscious.
• Audrey found a corridor of doors representing Azik’s lives and entered the dream of his most recent life, which depicted a university.
• Audrey approached the dream’s center and recognized Klein Moretti walking beside a veiled young woman.

Audrey and Angel entered Azik’s dreams to reach him, but they were separated into different memories: Audrey found Azik at Khoy University, while Angel was trapped in his first life as the Lamud Baron. Azik recognized Audrey and learned Angel was lost in another dream fragment as Angel fought Feysac invaders outside his castle.

• Audrey recognized Klein and Angel in the dream and followed them to Azik’s office at Khoy University, where she overheard their engagement announcement.
• Angel found herself in Azik’s first life, discovered that her Beyonder abilities were suppressed, and traveled toward Lamud Family Castle.
• After two months following Azik’s ordinary life as a university instructor, Audrey began to leave the dream, but Azik saw her and asked why she had come.
• Audrey told Azik that Angel had entered his dream to seek help, and Azik agreed that she should be brought to him before learning that Audrey had lost her.
• At the castle, the Lamud Baron shut Angel outside as Feysac invaders attacked, then tossed her a short sword and demanded that she prove herself.
• Angel fought the attackers without her Beyonder powers, using their weapons and bodies to kill several of them.

Angel and Audrey entered Azik’s dreams, where Angel was rescued from a fragment depicting the Feysac siege of the Lamud Baron’s castle. Azik explained that his dreams reflected his divided soul and told Angel that Death Salinger became stronger but mad after accommodating the Red Priest Uniqueness, probably at the True Creator’s urging.

• Audrey learned that seven months had passed during Azik’s slumber and told him about recent events, including George III’s death and Feysac’s invasion.
• Azik realized Angel was in the Lamud Baron’s dream fragment as Feysac soldiers besieged the castle.
• Audrey found Angel in the dream and brought her back to Azik’s room, where Azik asked to speak with Angel alone.
• Azik explained that his dreams divided his humanity and hopes from his fears, and that the invasion symbolized his fear of losing his family and home.
• Angel asked Azik about the Red Priest Uniqueness, and he said Death Salinger tried to accommodate it using the River Styx’s power and went mad.
• Azik guessed that the True Creator had enticed Salinger to accommodate the Uniqueness.

Angel asked Azik about Death Salinger’s alliance with the Primordial Demoness, and Azik explained that she had promised to give Death the Blood Emperor’s remains. He revealed that the True Creator proposed using the River Styx and City of Calamity to help Death accommodate the Red Priest Uniqueness, making him half a Great Old One.

• Angel questioned why Death Salinger would cooperate with the True Creator, and Azik said believers of the True Creator and Hanged Man angels had joined Death’s forces.
• Angel asked what the Primordial Demoness and Death had gained from their alliance, and Azik said Cheek promised to bring Trier and the Blood Emperor’s divine body to the surface for Death.
• Azik explained that Cheek’s powers and persuasiveness swayed Death and his followers, though Death also wanted to counterattack the North Continent.
• Angel asked why Death had risked accommodating a non-adjacent Uniqueness, and Azik explained that gods could endure the resulting madness and sometimes gain strength from mixed pathways.
• Azik said the True Creator offered to use the River Styx and the City of Calamity to cleanse corruption from the Red Priest Uniqueness, allowing Death to become half a Great Old One.

Angel visited Azik in his dream and discussed the Great Old One level, sefirahs, and Death Salinger’s use of the Red Priest Uniqueness. After Angel left, Azik returned to a dream of Khoy University and awaited the real wedding he hoped to see.

• Angel asked Azik what he knew about Great Old Ones and sefirahs, and they compared their knowledge of the River of Eternal Darkness and the City of Calamity.
• Angel pieced together how Salinger used Gregrace’s corpse and the River of Eternal Darkness to accommodate the Red Priest Uniqueness and unleash the Pale Calamity.
• Azik told Angel that the Primordial Demoness had already been in poor condition before the war and warned her against trying to accommodate the corrupted Red Priest Uniqueness.
• Angel asked how she could help Azik recover, and he said time or soul-repairing items might help while urging her not to push herself.
• Angel hugged Azik and left, promising to write letters that could help him remember his past.
• Azik returned to a dream of Khoy University, where a mechanical dream version of Klein and Angel told him they were engaged, and he looked forward to their real wedding.

Angel and Audrey escaped Azik’s dream, where Angel learned that Azik had chosen to sleep rather than risk losing his memories. After sending Audrey back toward Backlund and deciding to visit Tingen, Angel left to pursue her plans while Klein infiltrated the City of Silver to eliminate Amon’s Avatars.

• Angel and Audrey returned from Azik’s dream, and Angel saw the letters Klein had left beside Azik’s coffin.
• Angel asked Audrey about her progress as a Manipulator, gave her three Mirror Shuttle charms, and said she would return to Tingen.
• Klein watched the women leave the dream, then infiltrated the City of Silver to attack Amon’s Avatars while Amon’s main body was weakened.
• Four Worms of Time gathered in an underground area beneath the City of Silver and merged with an Amon Avatar, who prepared to send information to his main body.
• Klein used Luck Stealer and Petrification charms to freeze and destroy the Avatar before it could transmit its message.

Klein and the City of Silver trapped and destroyed an avatar of Amon, then Colin Iliad offered the recovered characteristics to Mr. Fool in return for a blessing. Klein granted Colin the blessing needed for his promotion, and Derrick later announced at the Tarot Club that the Chief had advanced to Sequence 3.

• Klein and Colin lured an avatar of Amon underground, where Klein petrified it and used a Betrayal charm to stop its Worm of Time from returning to Amon.
• Colin offered Amon's Sequence 3 characteristics to Mr. Fool in exchange for the blessing required for his Silver Knight promotion.
• Klein received the characteristics and Worm of Time above the gray fog, then studied the City of Silver's books for information about Cottar and other mysteries.
• Klein used Sefirah Castle's power to bless Colin's promotion ritual, surrounding the Demon Hunter with sacred light and an angel with twelve pairs of wings.
• At the Tarot Club meeting, Derrick thanked Mr. Fool and announced that Colin had advanced to Sequence 3.

Angel asked the Fool about Sealed Artifact 0-01 and revealed that she wanted to bring it under her control, while denying any plan to switch pathways and become a god. The Tarot Club completed several transactions and discussed the Witch Church, whose followers Alger suspected Angel had gathered.

• Angel asked Klein whether he knew about Sealed Artifact 0-01, and Klein explained that it was corrupted, could only be sealed, and required a proxy to approach it safely.
• Angel told the Tarot Club that she wanted to control 0-01 through a suitable candidate and asked the Fool to bless and assist that candidate during the operation.
• Audrey received her completed Black Knight glove, Leonard received a bracelet made from the Faceless characteristic, and Emlyn reserved Angel's Witch King characteristic for purchase after digesting his potion.
• Cattleya asked about the Witch Church, and Alger described its worship of natural disasters and connected its Saint Angelica Church to Angel.

At a Tarot Club gathering, Angel acknowledged her small Witch Church, Alger received Mr. Fool’s blessing to explore elven ruins, and Cattleya warned that Intis would soon attack Loen. Elsewhere, Helene’s investigation found no city called Molora in Lenburg, but a group of official Beyonders raided her apartment and arrested her while William and Tia disappeared.

• Angel confirmed that the Witch Church had very few official members after Alger explained where it preached.
• Alger asked Mr. Fool about exploring elven ruins on Sonia Island, and Mr. Fool told him to pray for his blessing before entering.
• Cattleya warned the Tarot Club that Intis’s fleet would soon attack Loen’s coast.
• After the gathering, Klein gave Leonard the Beyonder characteristic from Amon’s avatar and headed toward the ruins of North City State to seek clues to his advancement.
• Helene wrote to Angel that her search across Lenburg had found no city called Molora and considered contacting the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
• A Saint and his team of official Beyonders broke into Helene’s apartment to seize her and the stolen documents, but William and Tia had vanished.

Helene was arrested by the Church of Knowledge and sentenced to exile at its temple, while Angel fought Feysac angels on the Midseashire battlefield and helped secure a Loen victory. After returning to Limon, Angel received a letter delivered by a familiar death-omen bird and heard prayers from Tia.

• The Church of Knowledge arrested Helene for entering Lenburg under a false identity and stealing state secrets, then took her toward the Knowledge Temple as her place of exile.
• Angel attacked Feysac troops with disease and meteors, but the Weather Warlock and Silver Knight countered her with coordinated supernatural powers.
• Angel petrified the Silver Knight’s weapon, struck him with her sword, and revealed her mythical creature form as the Weather Warlock joined the fight.
• After the plague devastated the Feysac ranks, the Feysac Hunter angel fled with the Silver Knight, and Derlink Augustus thanked Angel for helping Loen win the battle.
• Angel returned to Limon, where a death-omen bird delivered an envelope and she heard prayers from Tia, a new believer of the Witch Church.

Angel realized the Church of Knowledge might be sending Helene into the hidden City of Exile, while she weighed the war’s stalemate and followed developments involving Klein, Partis, and Bernadette. The chapter ended with Ilian Sauron being imprisoned beneath the Church of Knowledge’s temple in Azshara.

• Angel connected Helene’s arrest and supposed exile to Molora, the City of Exile, and chose to wait rather than attack the Church of Knowledge.
• Angel reflected on the costly stalemate between Loen and its enemies, where angels fought on battlefields but avoided attacking civilians.
• Angel considered Klein’s discoveries about Sastiel and Amon, his journey east through the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and their ability to meet there.
• Angel noted that Partis had become the Rorsted Archipelago’s largest port after Bayam and that Bernadette was investigating cooperation between the School of Truth and the Great Mother’s followers.
• Clergy from the Church of Knowledge took Ilian Sauron underground and locked her in a damp dungeon beneath the temple.

Helene, William, and Tia were imprisoned in Lenburg without a trial, and Helene suspected the Church of Knowledge planned to exile them. Angel answered Bernadette’s prayer about a dangerous operation in Leusel Harbor and learned that the cultists could corrupt her by revealing an Outer Deity’s honorific name.

• Helene found William in the dungeon, where he explained that he had been caught while drawing pursuers away from Tia.
• Tia was brought into the same cell and told Helene that Lenburg’s military had captured her before she received a response to her prayer to Miss Angelica.
• Helene inferred that the Church of Knowledge intended to send the three of them directly to the City of Exile, then questioned the other prisoners.
• Bernadette prayed to Angel from Leusel Harbor, where she planned to observe an operation against a cult stronghold assembling a fleet.
• Angel consulted her Mirror Person, who explained that bestowing power on Bernadette would be dangerous and that cultists could corrupt her by exposing her to an Outer Deity’s honorific name.

Angel and her Mirror Person discussed why the Outer Deities avoided mass exposure, while Bernadette investigated a cultist hideout in Leusel Harbor. After an ambush sent her back to the slaughtered battlefield, she found Nast Solomon waiting for her.

• Angel reasoned that mass exposure to the Outer Deities could kill millions and trigger the Original Creator's awakening, which the Outer Deities feared.
• Bernadette watched the Machinery Hivemind clear a cultist hideout in Leusel Harbor, but her prophecy of a School of Truth Saint's appearance failed.
• As Bernadette tried to leave through the Spirit World, attackers darkened and distorted the space around her, and she escaped by following a magical ball of yarn.
• Bernadette emerged from the Spirit World back in the warehouse, where the Machinery Hivemind squad had been killed and Nast Solomon greeted her.

Bernadette confronted Nast about his alliance with the Great Mother and learned that he was helping the School of Truth locate one of Roselle Gustav's remaining mausoleums. As Machinery Hivemind reinforcements attacked Nast, he revealed the Great Mother's true nature, and an unseen gaze fell upon Bernadette.

• Bernadette stalled Nast with questions while her servant carrying Sealed Artifacts approached through the Spirit World.
• Nast explained that his aid to the Great Mother's believers was part of a transaction that promised him extended life and his father's awakening.
• Nast revealed that the Great Mother wanted him to use sacrificial rituals to locate Roselle Gustav's ocean mausoleum, and he planned to make Bernadette remember its location by turning her into one of them.
• Bernadette summoned her servant, but Nast's distortion turned him back through the Spirit World door, so she manifested the Spear of Longinus and attacked Nast.
• The Spear of Longinus dissipated harmlessly, but Machinery Hivemind reinforcements struck Nast with explosions and beams of light.
• Nast declared that the Great Mother was the Origin of Evil, the Undying, the Filthy Mother Nest, a Great Old One and a pillar, and an invisible gaze fell upon Bernadette.