Chapter Summaries

Angel and Leonard watched a house being used for a sinister ritual after Klein identified it and divined that his teammates would survive the day. As night fell, they waited for a chance to investigate, while Leonard hinted that his unusual knowledge came from his special nature.

• A hooded woman completed an altar ritual in a grayish-blue house, then noticed blood seeping from a silver mirror and looked outside.
• Klein recognized the house from the carriage, and Angel and Leonard stayed behind to watch it while he returned to summon the captain.
• Klein divined that Angel and Leonard would both survive the day, then left in the carriage.
• Angel warned Leonard not to use Spirit Vision as they monitored the house from a distance.
• Angel questioned Leonard about his knowledge of curse rituals, and he attributed it to his special nature.

Angel, Dunn, Leonard, and Klein prepared to confront the Criminals at a hidden altar, while Trissy and Mitis realized the Nighthawks had found them. The chapter left Mitis moving to stop the team and Trissy rushing to destroy the ritual and escape before artillery arrived.

• Dunn brought Klein to the house, and Angel gave him and the others Phantom Phosphor Eruption bullets to use against an invisible Witch.
• Angel suggested having Klein divine whether the ritual would take effect soon, so they could call in the police, garrison, Machinery Hivemind, and heavy cannons if time allowed.
• Trissy told Mitis that her mirror had warned her of danger and that her divinations had failed.
• Mitis used a divination mirror and learned that official Beyonders had found the altar and planned to bombard the house with heavy cannons.
• Mitis ordered Trissy to stop the ritual, destroy the bedroom mirror, and take the Primordial's statue while she went to stop the Nighthawks.

The Nighthawks prepared to summon artillery, but a Demoness of Pleasure ambushed them and forced them into a fight. As she stalled them with invisibility and Mirror Substitution, Angel realized her companion was likely escaping with the key items, just as frost spears appeared nearby.

• Dunn sent Leonard and Klein to request five heavy artillery pieces from the military garrison.
• Angel kicked Leonard aside, avoiding a black-flame dagger that appeared where he had stood, and the Nighthawks grouped together against the invisible attacker.
• Leonard identified the enemy as a Sequence 6 Demoness of Pleasure, and Klein used an oil lamp to set the spider silk ablaze and expose her location.
• Dunn's interference revealed the Demoness, but she escaped the Nighthawks' gunfire through Mirror Substitution.
• Angel realized the Demoness was stalling while a companion stopped the ritual and escaped with the key items, and frost spears formed less than ten meters from the group.

Angel fought a Demoness of Pleasure while Dunn and Leonard battled another Witch, and Klein lay gravely wounded after a sneak attack. Angel freed herself from the Demoness’s restraints and returned to the fight, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Angel used Phantom Phosphor Eruption and Bloodthirst to expose the Demoness’s substitutions, but the Demoness transformed into a wooden staff and attacked at close range.
• The Demoness distracted Angel by claiming her teammates were dying, and Angel saw Dunn struggling against a Nightmare while Leonard fought a Witch and Klein lay bleeding on the ground.
• The Demoness bound Angel with spider silk and attacked with Black Flames and Ice Spikes, but Angel ignited herself to break free and evaded the assault with an illusory flame.
• Dunn recognized the statue held by the Witch as belonging to the Primordial Demoness, and his Nightmare ability failed as he struggled to control his spirituality.
• Angel emerged from the flames, helped Leonard by shooting apart a Black Flame, and told Dunn and Leonard to handle the other Witch while she took on the Demoness.

Angel saved Klein by transferring his fatal chest wound to his shoulder, then fought the Witch while Dunn and the other Nighthawks battled the Demoness of Pleasure. Angel cornered the Witch after her mirror substitute failed and aimed Bloodthirst at her head.

• Angel used Damage Transfer to move Klein's wound from his heart to his left shoulder, keeping him alive.
• The Witch recognized Angel and attacked her with black flames, while Angel charged through the flames using Flame Leap.
• The Witch's explosion destroyed Angel's Paper Figurine, but Angel stabbed the Witch's heart with a dagger and heard glass shatter as the Witch used Mirror Substitution.
• Angel spotted the Witch's substitute and struck her with Phantom Phosphor Eruption, setting her ablaze.
• The Witch extinguished the flames with frost, but Angel emerged behind her with Bloodthirst aimed at her head and pulled the trigger.

Angel, Dunn, and Leonard failed to stop the Witch and the Demoness of Pleasure from escaping, but they rescued Klein and prepared to inspect the curse ritual's house. Dunn accepted Angel's use of her hidden Mystical Item, while Angel ended the tense discussion by warning the others about the carriage's burning oil lamp.

• Angel chased the Witch with Phantom Phosphor Eruption rounds, but the Demoness of Pleasure pulled her to safety and both Beyonders escaped.
• Dunn admitted that his condition had caused him to make mistakes, then told Angel to check on Klein before they discussed her situation.
• Dunn treated Klein with Goddess's Gaze, and Leonard used Klein's hair and blood to block the Witch's curse.
• Leonard defended Angel's actions, and Dunn assured her that he would not report her hidden Mystical Item to the Holy Cathedral.
• Klein agreed to continue the mission, and Angel asked the others to put out the carriage's oil lamp before it started a fire.

Klein, Dunn, and Leonard disrupted a curse ritual targeting survivors of the Alfalfa Tragedy and investigated the house for clues about Tris and the two women behind it. Klein spotted an intact mirror that seemed useful for divination, but his spiritual intuition and Leonard warned that it was a trap.

• Klein, Dunn, and Leonard entered the dining room, where Dunn restrained the phantoms while Klein cleared the dolls from the ritual altar.
• Klein replaced the ritual candles and performed a rite to soothe the phantoms, but Spirit Channeling revealed no useful clues because the curse had destroyed their souls.
• Leonard and Dunn identified the dolls as bearing information about Alfalfa Tragedy survivors and reasoned that the culprits had used dying people to curse them while disguising the deaths as natural.
• Klein, Dunn, and Leonard searched the bedrooms upstairs and found that the occupants had smashed most of the mirrors to hinder divination.
• Klein approached an intact wardrobe mirror, but his spiritual intuition and Leonard warned him not to use it because it was dangerous.

Klein and the Nighthawks identified the Witch who attacked him as Trissy, and Klein began using Angel’s sketches to divine her location. Trissy escaped Tingen with Mitis, who planned to remain behind for an important mission.

• Leonard stopped Klein from divining through a mirror marked with a curse, and Klein realized that his Seer Potion had been fully digested.
• Angel identified the attacker as Tris, explaining that male Instigators became women when they advanced to Witch; Klein recognized that the attacker should now be called Trissy.
• Angel gave Klein sketches of Trissy and Mitis, and Klein prepared to divine Trissy’s whereabouts.
• Trissy and Mitis came ashore on the East Coast of the Tussock River and reached an abandoned farmhouse with a hidden case of clothes.
• Mitis told Trissy to change, repeat her Anti-Divination measures, and take the earliest train to Backlund, while she stayed in Tingen for an important mission.

Angel arrived at Blackthorn Security Company after the Magician Pocket Watch’s negative effects had worn off, and Dunn briefed her on Trissy’s escape and the Demoness of Pleasure possibly remaining in Tingen. He postponed reporting Angel’s possession of the pocket watch to the Holy Cathedral, allowing her to keep it until its owner was caught or killed.

• Dunn mistakenly tested whether Angel still feared flames, then realized the pocket watch’s negative effects had already ended.
• Dunn told Angel that Trissy had taken a train toward Backlund but got off before reaching the city, while her Sequence 6 companion might still be in Tingen.
• Dunn explained that the pocket watch should eventually be returned to Machinery Hivemind, but Angel could keep it while the defector Tomaz remained at large.
• Dunn said Leonard and Klein had pleaded for Angel and that he would delay reporting her possession of the pocket watch while privately gauging his superiors’ reaction.
• Dunn teased Angel that the pocket watch’s negative effects were unlikely to cause casualties, leaving her embarrassed.

Klein Moretti prepared for a dinner at the Silver Crown Restaurant with Benson and Melissa, who teased him about inviting female colleagues. At the restaurant, Klein introduced his siblings to Azik Eggers, who hinted that Klein had become more proficient, and another guest arrived.

• Klein dressed in a formal suit, and Benson and Melissa got ready to join him for the dinner celebrating their move.
• Melissa teased Klein about inviting female colleagues, and the Moretti siblings took a hired carriage to the Silver Crown Restaurant.
• Klein led Benson and Melissa to private room number seven, where Azik Eggers was already waiting.
• Klein introduced Azik to Benson and Melissa, and Azik remarked that Klein had become more proficient.
• Benson and Melissa sat across from Klein, and a waiter announced that Mr. Moretti had arrived.

Klein hosted a dinner party at the Morettis’ new home, where his family and Azik met Angel Granger. The meal ended with Angel politely accepting hot soup from Melissa while declining Klein’s offer of ice cream, leaving him puzzled.

• Angel arrived late to Klein’s dinner party, wearing the maple leaf amulet he had given her, and Klein introduced her to his family and Azik.
• Azik proposed a toast celebrating the Morettis’ move into their new home.
• Azik asked about Angel and Klein’s work, and Angel explained that Klein had become a full member of the company with twice his former weekly salary.
• Benson, Melissa, Azik, and Angel praised Klein’s diligence and abilities, while Benson and Melissa shared amusing stories about his youth.
• Angel declined Klein’s offer of ice cream, and Melissa gave her hot mushroom soup instead while taking the ice cream for herself.

Angel spoke with Azik Eggers after Klein and the others left the room, and Azik warned her that strange coincidences might be tied to a force influencing both her and Klein. The conversation ended with Angel recognizing Azik and Quentin Cohen’s names from the mysterious badge that had disappeared after bringing her to the Tarot Club.

• Angel struggled with menstrual cramps and resisted eating the strawberry ice cream Melissa had ordered.
• Melissa led Benson out of the private room, leaving Angel alone with Azik.
• Azik revealed that he could recognize extraordinary people and said he had noticed an inconsistency in Angel’s fate.
• Angel recalled several suspicious coincidences, and Azik warned that the same force might be guiding events around her and Klein.
• Angel remembered seeing Azik Eggers and Quentin Cohen’s names on the badge that had led her to the Tarot Club before it vanished.

Angel and Klein discussed Azik’s lost memories and their shared disharmony of fate as they walked home. Angel gave Klein a new amethyst pendant, and Klein revealed that he had digested the Seer potion and planned to apply for Sequence 8.

• After Melissa, Benson, and Azik left the restaurant, Angel and Klein walked home together.
• Angel told Klein about Azik’s warning that their fates were discordant, and Klein explained that Azik had recognized him as a Beyonder and lost most of his memories from before adulthood.
• Klein said he suspected a dark red-chimneyed building was connected to the force affecting their fate, and Angel decided to hire more detectives to search for it.
• Angel gave Klein an amethyst pendant to replace his damaged citrine pendant, and he attached it to his gold chain.
• Klein told Angel that he had fully digested the Seer potion and planned to apply for a Sequence 8 potion the following month.

Angel realized Klein had deduced that she was an Instigator and resolved to reach Sequence 7 before him. She hired Jules Detective Agency to locate houses matching Klein’s sketch, then asked Detective Jules for information about Tingen’s gangs and illegal organizations.

• Angel concluded that Klein had grasped the Acting Method and knew she had advanced to Instigator, and she resolved to become a Sequence 7 Witch before he caught up.
• Angel visited Jules Detective Agency and asked Buz Jules to find every nearby house with a dark-red chimney, a lawn, and a garden, along with information about its residents and landlord.
• Angel accepted the agency’s three-to-five-day timeline and paid Buz Jules fifteen pounds as the advance on the thirty-pound commission.
• After filling out the commission agreement, Angel asked Buz Jules whether the agency had intelligence on Tingen’s gangs or illegal organizations.

At the Tarot Club meeting, Angel arranged to withdraw 1,000 pounds from Justice and asked Mr. Fool for permission to invite a suitable Beyonder into the group. Mr. Fool allowed her to recommend a candidate but warned her to keep the Tarot Club secret and forbid outsiders from reciting his name without permission.

• Justice asked what a pet dog could do after gaining Beyonder abilities, and the Hanged Man explained how a Beyonder creature might help its owner.
• Justice presented a page of Emperor Roselle's Diary, which Mr. Fool read before opening the meeting to discussion.
• Angel gave Justice the details of her unregistered bank account so Justice could deposit the 1,000 pounds she owed her.
• The Hanged Man asked Justice to investigate whether George III planned to retaliate against the Feysac Empire with a new war in Balam, and Justice negotiated extra payment.
• Angel asked whether she could invite a suitable Beyonder to the Tarot Club, and Mr. Fool permitted her to recommend someone while warning her to protect the club's secrecy.

Angel manipulated the leaders of the Wild Bear Gang and the Labor Mutual Aid Society into planning simultaneous attacks, intending for the police to arrest both gangs during negotiations and help her digest the Instigator Potion. At the Jules Detective Agency, she received her report on houses with red chimneys and learned that Detective Buz Jules was searching for the fugitive Lanevus.

• Angel persuaded Vaughn to accept a secret-goods commission and prepare to eliminate the Wild Bear Gang's leadership while seizing its territory.
• Angel revealed that she had made the same arrangements with both gangs and planned to report their negotiations to the police at the last moment.
• Angel concluded that acting as an Assassin and Instigator could rapidly digest her potion and help her become a Witch again by September.
• A detective at the Jules Detective Agency gave Angel the completed report on every house with a red chimney in Tingen City and its suburbs, and Angel paid the remaining 15 Gold Pounds.
• Angel used her Persuasion ability to learn that Buz Jules was investigating Lanevus, who had absconded with investors' money from the Lanreus Steel Company.

Angel and Klein sorted through leads on the person who had interfered with Klein’s divination, then discussed Klein’s plan to prepare a special application by gradually presenting his Acting Method as experience he had learned from Ms. Daly. The chapter left Angel considering whether to apply for advancement alongside him despite already being an Instigator.

• Angel and Klein reviewed a detective agency’s list of 1,753 houses with dark red chimneys and agreed to investigate likely locations while keeping Klein’s other commission active.
• Klein planned to inspect homes with recent tenant changes, while Angel agreed to search the North Borough and eliminate houses that did not match his vision.
• Angel offered to share the investigation costs and told Klein that the police were offering 100 pounds for information about the con man Lanevus.
• Klein explained that he could not divine Lanevus’s location because the name and available information might be false and he had no personal belongings to use.
• Klein told Angel he planned to present the Acting Method as knowledge he had developed from Ms. Daly, gradually laying the groundwork for a special application to advance.
• Angel considered applying at the same time as Klein but worried about how she could explain her existing Instigator advancement.

Angel continued her Instigator role-playing while waiting for the Wild Bear Gang and the Labor Mutual Aid Society to fall into her trap. With Dunn Smith, Klein, and Frye away, Leonard took her to investigate a possible supernatural homicide in the West Borough, where they discovered a horrific scene.

• Angel decided to wait until the end of August before applying to advance, while her Instigator potion digestion stalled pending the gang conflict she had arranged.
• Angel read that the Labor Mutual Aid Society's message had appeared in the newspaper and sensed that her potion had digested further.
• Leonard arrived at Blackthorn Security Company and asked Angel to accompany him to a homicide case on Park Street because Dunn Smith was away in Lamud Town with Klein and Frye.
• Angel and Leonard reached the scene, where police officers guarded the entrance and said they had left the site undisturbed.
• An officer led Angel and Leonard through a cloakroom into the main hall, where they encountered an overwhelming stench of blood and a murder scene resembling a slaughterhouse.

Angel and Leonard investigated the slaughter of the Pluck Family, whose bodies had been blown apart in a manner that suggested the Aurora Order’s Secrets Supplicant pathway. They found no clear clues and searched the rest of the house while waiting for Old Neil to arrive.

• A policeman told Leonard and Angel that a laundress had discovered the Pluck Family’s gruesome murder and reported it to the police.
• Angel sent the shaken policeman to fetch Old Neil from Blackthorn Security Company.
• Leonard examined the hall and recognized the bodies’ explosive destruction as resembling the Aurora Order’s methods.
• Leonard searched the remains and found only keys, clothing, and blank notebook pages, leaving the motive unclear.
• Angel and Leonard avoided the bloodied parts of the carpet and began checking the other rooms for victims or clues.

Angel, Leonard, and Old Neil investigated the slaughter of Alan Pluck's family, and Old Neil used ritual magic to glimpse the killer and the murder. His vision revealed that the killer had forced the family to drink a red potion before they exploded into blood mist, and that part of their bodies had been taken away.

• Angel and Leonard searched the house and found that Alan Pluck's family had been gathered and murdered in the hall while the valuables and bearer bonds were stolen.
• Old Neil arrived and warned that the bloody scene might be a Devil Sacrifice Ritual like those used by Serial Killers.
• Old Neil performed ritual magic and drew a portrait of a gaunt man with thick lips, black hair, and brown eyes, around thirty years old.
• Old Neil recounted seeing the killer threaten Alan Pluck with his wife and children, then force the family to hand over the valuables.
• Old Neil said the killer made the family drink a red potion and that they exploded into blood mist, leaving less body matter at the scene than his vision had shown.