Chapter Summaries

Angel overcame the awakened consciousness of the City of Calamity and took control of the Sefirah, becoming a half Great Old One because she still lacked the Red Priest pathway’s remaining cornerstone. After confirming the catastrophe had passed, she returned to Sefirah Castle and drew Gray into the gray fog, where Klein appeared.

• Angel resisted the City of Calamity’s accumulated memories and the Malevolent Dragon’s remaining instincts until she reached the bloodstained throne and defeated the Sefirah’s awakened consciousness.
• Angels across the Demoness and Red Priest pathways sensed a new existence at their pathways’ pinnacle, while Glaide Sauron, Medici, Diste, Judith, Tisha Vika, and Eugina reacted to the change.
• Angel told the Celestial Master, the Holy Monk, the Haoli Sect Master, and the Master of the Shadow Cottage that the Malevolent Dragon had fallen and that she controlled the City of Calamity, but she was only half a Great Old One.
• Angel and Gray vanished from the Western Continent, and Angel later used Sefirah Castle to draw Gray into the gray fog.
• Angel looked toward the Fool’s seat, and Klein appeared at the head of the long bronze table.

Klein explained how the Celestial Worthy’s compromise let him steadily approach control of Sefirah Castle while keeping its consciousness dormant until the apocalypse ended. Angel then used her Mirror Ruler authority to exchange the City of Calamity with its reflection and pull the true sefirah out from behind the Western Continent’s seal.

• Klein met with Angel and Gray, learned that Angel had defeated the Malevolent Dragon, and heard that she had accommodated the City of Calamity but still needed Red Priest authorities to become a Great Old One.
• Angel and Klein discussed the tiers of Great Old Ones and why ordinary ones could not break the Celestial Worthy’s seal over the Western Continent.
• Klein explained that Amon’s compromise and the Celestial Worthy’s concessions had allowed him to approach accommodating Sefirah Castle without entering deep slumber, and that the Celestial Worthy had agreed not to interfere before the apocalypse ended.
• Klein said the Celestial Worthy’s conditions were that neither the Original Creator nor Primordial God Almighty come into being, and revealed that the Celestial Worthy had disclosed the existence of the Fourth Pillar.
• Angel teased Klein about the destructive urges she had gained from accommodating the City of Calamity, while Gray coughed at their exchange.
• Angel used the Mirror Ruler’s authority to swap the true City of Calamity with its reflection across the seal, drawing the sefirah out of the Western Continent.

After accommodating the City of Calamity, Angel assessed Earth’s preparations for the approaching apocalypse and the vast power gap between Great Old Ones and True Gods. She received Tia’s report that the search had uncovered the portion of the corpse Angel had requested.

• Angel returned to her divine kingdom, where the True Creator helped seal the barrier while the Outer Deities tested it.
• Angel considered the approaching apocalypse, Klein’s plan to delay accommodating Sefirah Castle, and the preparations of Earth’s other gods and allies.
• Angel judged that Earth’s gods would be overwhelmed by the Outer Deities without the power of sefirahs and considered Lilith’s danger and Earth’s possible chances.
• Angel sensed prayers from her believers and focused on Tia in an inn in Azshara.
• Tia called on Angel and revealed that she had found the portion of the corpse Angel had asked them to search for.

Angel received half of Zedus’s corpse from the Church of Knowledge and sent it to her divine kingdom as she continued gathering his remains. She confirmed the apocalypse was approaching, then presided over the Tarot Club, where Fors returned from the cosmos and announced that she had become an angel.

• Angel appeared before Tia, who explained that Hella Berg had handed over half of Zedus’s corpse in accordance with a divine revelation.
• Angel confirmed that three other pieces of Zedus’s remains were hidden across the Spirit World, the Southern Continent, and the ocean, then sent the corpse half to her divine kingdom.
• Angel told Tia that the apocalypse would come sooner and considered how to protect ordinary people from the coming war.
• At the Tarot Club gathering, Angel appeared in the Fool’s seat, and the members realized that Mr. Fool had not awakened.
• Angel welcomed Fors back from her journey through the cosmos, and Fors announced that she had become an angel.

Fors returned to the Tarot Club as an angel and described her Planeswalker abilities, while the members exchanged reports on Zedus's remains, Loen's withdrawal from the Southern Continent, and a cult serving Inevitability. Angel explained the Circle Inhabitant's power and warned that its cosmic origins were dangerous to investigate; as the gathering ended, Leonard asked to give letters to Mr. Fool, and Angel agreed.

• The Tarot Club members learned that Fors had become an angel, and she explained her Planeswalker abilities and offered to help with difficult matters.
• Alger reported that part of Zedus's corpse was moving through the Fog Sea toward the Western Continent, while Emlyn reported that another portion and Omebella's power had entered the Underworld.
• Audrey reported that Loen planned to reduce its overseas garrisons and relinquish Southern Continent colonies, and Angel linked the change to Roselle Gustav's return as the Black Emperor.
• Leonard described fighting an unusual saint who served Inevitability, and Angel identified the enemy's power as that of a Circle Inhabitant, which could loop up to nine times.
• As the gathering ended, Leonard asked Angel whether he could give letters to Mr. Fool, and she told him he could do so anytime.

Fors and Azik prepared to enter a special Underworld to search for Zedus’s remains, while Alger’s crew found another part of the corpse at sea. The chapter also showed Medici and Glaide discussing the Conqueror characteristic and the Goddess’s progress toward becoming the Calamity of Destruction.

• Glaide Sauron and Medici discussed the missing Conqueror characteristic, Einhorn’s prospects, and the Goddess’s struggle to control the City of Calamity.
• Fors met Azik Eggers in the Lakre region, where they prepared to search for Zedus’s remains and wait for another helper before entering a special Underworld.
• Azik explained the Underworld’s dangers and gave Fors a Golden Mask to protect her from its deathly aura.
• A blond, red-eyed woman in a somber gown arrived to join Fors and Azik.
• Alger used a Brass Compass and part of Zedus’s corpse to search the sea, then ordered his ships to stop and search underwater.
• Alger’s crew found a head in the sea.

Fors, Reinette Tinekerr, and Azik entered the Underworld and began traveling toward the River Styx, while Azik explained its history and dangers. Elsewhere, Antigonus visited the ruins of the Nation of the Evernight and reunited with Bethel.

• Azik led Fors and Reinette through the gateway beside Dalsh Lake, explaining that an Undying’s skull had opened the passage to the Underworld.
• Azik described the Underworld’s layered worlds and guided the group into a wilderness of skeletons, where they spotted the River Styx.
• Azik explained that the original Death, Phoenix Ancestor Gregrace, created the Underworld using the Door Uniqueness, and that Salinger killed her and took control of it.
• Fors tested a short-range teleport, avoided the Underworld’s grasping arms, and returned to Azik and Reinette before the three vanished together.
• Antigonus walked through the ruins of the Nation of the Evernight and greeted Bethel, who appeared in the shadows of his former palace.

Antigonus and Bethel encountered Amon, who had stolen Termiboros’s fate and identity, while hunting the Archangel of the Circle of Inevitability. Meanwhile, Fors, Azik, and Reinette crossed the River Styx in search of Zedus’s final body part, heading toward the palace where Gregrace’s divine body lay.

• Bethel and Antigonus met at the ruins of Antigonus’s former castle and revealed that both were pursuing Termiboros.
• Amon appeared wearing Termiboros’s face and explained that the Circle of Inevitability had sent a Sequence 1 Characteristic into the barrier for a purpose beyond disrupting events.
• Amon gave Antigonus Zedus’s severed arm and proposed continuing their old game of angels chasing one another, with the loser owing the winner a request.
• Fors, Azik, and Reinette reached the River Styx and crossed it by boat with the aid of a ferryman who obeyed Azik.
• Azik led the group onward toward a church and passage to the Underworld’s deepest palace, where he believed Zedus’s final body part might be found near Gregrace’s divine body.

Fors, Azik, and Reinette reached Death’s ruined palace in the Underworld and found the Phoenix Ancestor’s corpse linked to the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s power of new life. After Fors retrieved Zedus’s half-corpse, Gregrace opened her eyes, and Reinette declared that she was only a phantom with status but no power.

• Azik explained why Salinger had kept Gregrace’s corpse in the Underworld and guided Fors and Reinette through its deepest levels.
• Fors, Azik, and Reinette found Gregrace’s corpse atop Death’s ruined palace, along with a black egg and signs that the Phoenix might be affected by the Mother Goddess of Depravity.
• Fors noticed the crawling half-corpse of Zedus and stole the distance to bring it to them before storing it away.
• Gregrace opened her eyes, and her awakening shook the Pale Kingdom and suppressed Fors, Azik, and Reinette.
• Fors used the Sun pathway’s purification power to free herself and help Azik, while preparing to retreat with him and Reinette.
• Reinette transformed into her giant cloth-doll mythical creature form and said Gregrace was only a phantom with status but no power.

Angel watched Fors, Azik, and Reinette battle the resurrected Phoenix Ancestor Gregrace in the Underworld, then empowered a charm that let them destroy her. Gregrace’s crimson aura fled toward her egg but was trapped inside a mirror, leaving the fate of her resurrection uncertain.

• Angel observed the battle through a mirror and sent power into a Calamity charm used by Reinette.
• Fors realized Gregrace was not a true God and attacked her with Purification, lightning, meteors, and a Reenactment of a black hole.
• Gregrace’s Pale Kingdom suppressed Fors’s abilities until Azik donned the Pale Crown and restored their strength.
• Reinette cursed Gregrace and restrained her while Azik tried to separate her spirit from her body and Fors summoned Angel’s historical projection.
• Reinette pressed the empowered Calamity charm to Gregrace’s forehead, causing the Phoenix Ancestor to disintegrate and collapse onto the palace.
• Gregrace’s crimson aura flew toward her egg, but a small mirror intercepted it and trapped it within its surface.

Fors, Reinette Tinekerr, and Azik defeated Gregrace and sealed the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s power in the Underworld, then reunited Zedus’s scattered remains with Bethel Abraham, Alger, and Emlyn. Zedus returned to life under the influence of the Mother Card of Blasphemy, but his transformation stopped halfway as he stared at Emlyn.

• Reinette Tinekerr used a mirror to contain the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s escaping power, while Azik sealed the Pale Crown after it helped defeat Gregrace.
• Fors teleported herself, Azik, and Reinette out of the Underworld, leaving Gregrace’s Phoenix egg and the sealed power behind.
• Zedus’s remains turned toward Bethel Abraham and Alger, who brought the final pieces of his corpse; the parts fused together and the corpse stood up.
• Bethel identified a boon’s power within Zedus, and Emlyn arrived with the Mother Card of Blasphemy after the Sanguine Ancestor had directed him to bring it.
• Under the Mother card’s influence, Zedus shed his decayed flesh and began transforming, but the change halted halfway as his scarlet eyes fixed on Emlyn.

Emlyn and the angels discovered that Zedus had revived and reacted violently to the Mother card, whose power appeared linked to the Mother Goddess of Depravity. After Angel seized the card and extracted a hidden Beyonder characteristic, Audrey received a message that Adam—or the True Creator—wanted to see Angel and the Fool.

• Zedus revived when Emlyn displayed the Mother card, and a distant voice drove Emlyn and Alger toward losing control before Roselle and Angel intervened, taking Zedus and the card away.
• The angels concluded that Zedus had been killed after receiving a boon from the Moon pathway and that the Mother card had triggered his incomplete transformation toward a female form.
• Angel activated the Mother card inside the City of Calamity and found hidden Sequence names for Valley God and Tree God, then used her chaos authority to destroy the card's manifestation and obtain a withered-root Beyonder characteristic.
• Audrey returned from a Review Council meeting, recalled that she needed to report the ancient Mind Dragon Edefana's whereabouts, and went above the gray fog.
• Audrey told Angel that Adam, or the True Creator, wanted to see Angel and the Fool.

Angel learned that the True Creator’s preparations were complete and that Lilith had agreed to sacrifice herself in a plan against the Mother Goddess of Depravity. With Klein, she decided to stop hiding as the true Fool awakened within Sefirah Castle.

• Audrey told Angel that the True Creator had asked her to relay the messages “Everything is ready” and “Lilith has agreed,” and gave Angel a lead on the Mind Dragon Edefana.
• Angel offered to let Audrey discern her subconscious to help complete the ritual for advancing to Sequence 2, and Audrey accepted the prospect with surprise.
• After Audrey left, Klein teased Angel about becoming the Tarot Club’s first choice for help, then asked what the True Creator’s messages meant.
• Angel explained that the plan used Zedus and Omebella’s remains and symbolism to let Lilith influence the Mother Goddess of Depravity, though Lilith would have to die for it to work.
• Angel and Klein agreed to begin, and Klein became indistinct to Angel’s perception as the true Fool awakened within Sefirah Castle.

Klein explained how he had mastered Sefirah Castle and how Angel planned to become the Calamity of Destruction while containing the danger of the Mirrored Original Creator. Audrey entered Angel’s dream and uncovered clues about Chariot’s identity before arriving at the Moretti home in Tingen City.

• Klein told Angel that he had fully mastered Sefirah Castle and could become the Lord of Mysteries quickly if necessary.
• Angel explained that she planned to accommodate an extra Apocalypse characteristic to keep the Mirrored Original Creator from awakening, while Klein warned against using that danger as a weapon.
• Audrey entered Angel’s dream through a corridor of mirrors and avoided a trap by sending a virtual persona through a suspicious doorway.
• Audrey recognized that the figure of Empress in the black mirror resembled Chariot and inferred that Chariot was Empress’s other identity.
• Audrey stepped through the black mirror and found herself on Daffodil Street in Tingen City, outside Number 2, the Moretti home.

Audrey explored the depths of the Goddess of Calamity’s subconscious and discovered both a warm family dinner and a hidden, dangerous manifestation of Miss Empress. After seeing signs that Storm and Wisdom might be merging with the True Creator, Audrey fully digested her Dream Weaver potion and stood ready to advance to Sequence 2.

• Audrey recognized the Moretti and Granger families gathered for dinner in the dream, including Angel preparing a lamb stew that won everyone’s praise.
• Audrey watched Benson, Lily, and their young daughter leave, then entered the house and found a crying girl resembling a younger Angel locked in the basement.
• A flash of radiance revealed three terrifying figures hidden in the basement, and Audrey escaped before she could clearly remember them.
• Audrey saw lightning, shadows, and a book-built tower in the sky and realized that Storm and Wisdom might be joining the True Creator.
• Audrey completed the digestion of her Dream Weaver potion and had already fulfilled the ritual to advance to Sequence 2 Discerner.

Grisha Adam asked Herabergen and Leodoro to fuse with him so he could become the Pillar-level God Almighty, and both agreed despite Leodoro’s pride. As the fusion began under Amanises’s concealment, Amon warned that the Mother Goddess of Depravity could trigger the Apocalypse before its predicted time by invoking the Chaos Primogenitor.

• Amanises secretly gathered Grisha Adam, Leodoro, and Herabergen to discuss the need to create another Pillar before the Apocalypse.
• Herabergen agreed to fuse with Grisha Adam, relying on his avatar Hella Berg as a fallback, while Leodoro initially refused to submit to his former lord.
• Amanises persuaded Leodoro that sacrificing everything for the greater good was not surrender, and he agreed to face the fusion.
• Grisha Adam began the fusion in the Forsaken Land of the Gods as Amanises concealed the process, and the stars and crimson moon vanished from the sky.
• On the Plains of Evernight, Amon told Bethel Abraham and Angel Gray that the Mother Goddess of Depravity could invoke the Chaos Primogenitor and shatter the barrier, bringing the Apocalypse unexpectedly early.

Amon explained how the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s Chaos Primogenitor symbolism could threaten the barrier, while the Outer Deities launched an assault that Evernight, Calamity, and Roselle helped repel. The attack paused, but a colossal figure of light appeared on the southeastern horizon.

• Amon told Gray and Bethel that the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s Chaos Primogenitor symbolism could shake the barrier and that the Uncertain Mist’s defeat had helped prevent her from invoking it.
• The Outer Deities discovered changes inside the barrier and pressed eight great stars against it, while Lilith and Stiano realized that only four gods remained to support it.
• Evernight and Calamity moved their divine kingdoms into position, concealed cracks, and weakened the attack, stabilizing the barrier for a time.
• The Black Emperor, Roselle Gustav, arrived after accommodating part of the Nation of Disorder’s power, further calming the Astral World and stopping the Outer Deities’ assault.
• Amon explained that the Outer Deities feared triggering Primordial God Almighty’s revival, then Gray, Bethel, and Amon saw a giant of light appear in the southeast.

God Almighty returned and stabilized the barrier, while his influence reached people across the world. Audrey learned that she might soon advance, Derrick and Lovia recognized the radiant giant differently, and Leonard wrote to the sleeping Klein before receiving no response.

• Audrey and other Beyonders saw a radiant Giant of Light as God Almighty returned, changing the Astral World’s authorities and strengthening the barrier for another year or two.
• Audrey reflected on the divine war and told Earl Hall and Hibbert that the churches were directing the kingdom’s reforms through their control of Beyonder power.
• Fors Wall arrived to help Audrey deal with a Mind Dragon and took her into the Spirit World.
• Derrick Berg and Luvia Tiffany realized they had shared a dream of the radiant giant, which Luvia identified as the Creator reclaiming every authority.
• Leonard wrote to the sleeping Klein about his and Shermane’s expected child, then recited the Fool’s honorific name, but the letter remained unsacrificed.

Bernadette learned that the gods were preparing for the apocalypse while Anne arranged to obtain a Hand of Order for Roselle. As the Tarot Club shifted its gatherings and Emlyn worried about advancing before the apocalypse, the Ancestor appeared in his dream with an important task for him.

• Bernadette heard that Cattleya and allies had killed Letitia, then sensed that only one of the ancient Mind Dragons remained.
• Anne announced that she planned to borrow a Hand of Order, and Empress Roselle revealed that the Master of the Mirror World would provide it in exchange for the Mirror People’s submission.
• Alger weighed possible Sequence 2 pathways and wondered whether his dream of a Giant of Light and a thunderclap foretold the gods’ conflict.
• The Tarot Club gathering was postponed, and Emlyn feared the apocalypse was approaching before he could become an angel.
• Emlyn sought advice from Olmer about digesting his potion, then dreamed that the Ancestor called him and said she had an important task for him.

Cattleya foresaw and prevented a catastrophe in the East Sonia Sea, while the Tarot Club reconvened after a month with Mr. Fool and Miss Empress absent. Its members revealed that many had advanced to angelhood under mysterious circumstances, and they began to suspect Klein and Angel had helped arrange their advancements.

• Cattleya dreamed of an apocalypse, sailed to the East Sonia Sea, and prevented the catastrophe by finding Miss Empress in the God War Ruins and making her smile.
• Benson considered the concentration of Beyonders around his family as Melissa, a Savant, discussed the Analytical Engine with Lily.
• Leonard asked Xio to protect the Moretti family and Shermane while he left for a church mission, then learned that Xio had an opportunity to advance to Sequence 2.
• Audrey opened the Tarot Club gathering and revealed that she had become a Sequence 2 Discerner after killing the Mind Dragon Edefana.
• The Hanged Man, Derrick, Emlyn, Cattleya, Xio, and Leonard each described recent events that had advanced them to Sequence 2.
• The Tarot Club members suspected that Klein and Angel had arranged their rapid advancements and looked to Fors for answers.