Chapter Summaries

At the Tarot Club meeting, Alice’s answer about the Fool and Emlyn’s claim of Equivalent Exchange sparked a debate over whether members should pay for divine help. The chapter left Emlyn facing Alice’s offer of a gift after he boldly challenged the need to pay.

• Alice said she could not ask the Fool about the Fragment of Prophecy because he was an idiot, prompting the Fool to call her Fortune.
• Derrick announced that he had become a Notary, and Alger explained the Sequence’s abilities and suggested a suitable Mystical Item.
• Emlyn showed the Tarot Club a Moon Puppet, and Cattleya identified it as a dangerous Moon Emissary made by believers of the Primordial Moon.
• Emlyn revealed that he had defeated a believer with the Fool’s help and claimed he had paid through Equivalent Exchange.
• Alice argued that Emlyn owed the Fool for hearing his plea, then offered him a gift after he challenged why he had to pay.

After the Tarot Club, Alice explained to Klein why Emperor Roselle’s account of an Angel’s madness did not fully apply to her, since she had awakened thousands of years ago with little humanity to corrupt. They read Roselle’s diary about resisting Beyonder Characteristics’ influence through the devotion of others, and Alice considered the risks of the Fate pathway and her own advancement.

• Alice unnerved Emlyn by promising him a gift he would never forget, and the Tarot Club ended before he learned what it was.
• Klein warned Alice about Roselle’s diary account of Angels becoming bloodthirsty, and Alice explained that she had awakened in the Second Epoch after already encountering the Key of Light.
• Alice and Klein read Roselle’s diary about the madness brought by Beyonder Characteristics and how his subjects’ praise helped him resist it.
• Alice joked about water being poisonous, and Klein compared Beyonder Characteristics to oxygen for Beyonders.
• Alice read that Roselle had decided to go to the moon and joked that she hoped it had a delivery room.
• Alice told Klein that all three Sequence 1 Fate characteristics already had owners and that the important question was which potion Fate wanted her to drink.

Klein and Alice discussed the Nameless Island diary, Emlyn, and Alice’s potion ingredient before Alice tested her new White Sail in a restaurant. Meanwhile, Allen overheard Velma discussing divination, Ouroboros wondered about Auceptin, and Alice set out to use divination to find a suitable bridge arch.

• Alice read diary entries about Green’s death and a ritual on the Nameless Island, and she and Klein suspected the extinct creatures and Green had been contaminated rather than resurrected.
• Klein warned Alice not to endanger Emlyn or involve the Sanguine, and Alice explained that the Fragment of Prophecy was an auxiliary ingredient for her Chaos Walker potion.
• Alice feared Klein’s Beyonder Pathway might have been designed specifically for him, and Klein sent her back to the Real World after patting her head.
• Allen overheard Selina suggest divination to Velma about her unborn child, but Velma’s baby kicked before Selina could explain further.
• Ouroboros studied a painting of a woman with a silver infant and repeated the name Will Auceptin with faint confusion.
• Alice received her White Sail, tested it while blindfolded at a restaurant, and used spirituality to search for a suitable bridge arch for divination.

Alice investigated a church she had seen in a divination and identified its island as Oravi, then met Klein in the form of a black cat. After bathing and trimming Klein’s matted fur, Alice accompanied him to meet Mr. Eisinger Stanton.

• Alice asked Klein to send her painting supplies, and they arranged to meet Above the Gray Fog after she prepared a ritual and gave him the 'Puppet' Beyonder Characteristic.
• Alice painted the church and island from her divination, used maps and magazines to identify Oravi Island, and recalled Klein’s past connection to the island.
• Klein arrived at Alice’s home possessing a filthy black cat and introduced himself as Sherlock Moriarty.
• Alice bathed the cat and cut away its matted fur before asking Klein where they were going.
• Alice followed Klein’s directions to an inconspicuous house in Hillsdon District, where the black cat requested a meeting with Mr. Eisinger Stanton.

Alice accompanied Klein to meet Isengard Stanton and signed an agreement transferring Klein’s bicycle shares to her. At the hospital, Aaron asked Selina about Magic Mirror Divination, learning its method but not the details of the dangerous ritual she had once performed.

• Alice waited with Klein in black-cat form while Klein explained to Isengard that he wanted to transfer his bicycle shares to her.
• Isengard mistook Klein and Alice for romantic partners, but Klein clarified that they were friends and that Alice had paid for the shares.
• Alice signed the share-transfer agreements and gave Isengard her address, while mentioning that she might travel to Aulavy to find a bridge underpass from a prophecy.
• Aaron arranged to speak with Selina alone and used his worries about Velma’s pregnancy to ask about Magic Mirror Divination.
• Selina described the divination’s timing, preparations, and interpretation, and recalled that an earlier attempt had gone badly after she secretly recited an honorific name.
• When Selina reminded Aaron that Velma’s examination should be over, Aaron stopped asking questions and returned to her, still concerned that Will Auceptin might discover his investigation.

Alice asked Klein about a church from her dream, then traveled to Aulavy and found a Fate pathway Beyonder who said Fate had chosen her as his student. She recognized Rejoice as a Chaos Walker and revealed that she had once belonged to the School of Life.

• Alice showed Klein a painting of St. Draco Church, and Klein told her about the sunset over Mount St. Draco.
• Alice went to Aulavy and confirmed that the church’s bell tower matched the one from her dream.
• Alice searched for a house by knocking on doors until the person inside the thirteenth house invited her in as a “little girl of fate.”
• Alice sensed that the white-haired old man inside was a Chaos Walker and entered his home.
• Rejoice introduced himself as a Fate Council Member of the School of Life and said Fate had told him that Alice would come to inherit his legacy.
• Alice told Rejoice that she had once been a member of the School of Life.

Alice confronted Rejoice to obtain his Chaos Walker Beyonder Characteristic, but he called on Will Auceptin for help. After Alice drew Ouroboros’s attention to loosen Will’s hold, she trapped Rejoice in her Fate Cycle and transformed into a serpent around him.

• Alice revealed that she was a Demigod and told Rejoice she needed his Chaos Walker Beyonder Characteristic.
• Rejoice used a rune-covered leather object bearing Will Auceptin’s Honorific Name to summon his help.
• Selina divined for Velma and drew the Reversed Wheel of Fortune, but Velma’s stomach pain interrupted their conversation.
• Ouroboros sensed Will Auceptin’s aura while painting in Backlund and looked outside.
• Alice broadcast her presence to draw Ouroboros’s attention, escaped Will’s attack, and depleted much of her spirituality.
• Alice transformed into a white great serpent and wrapped around Rejoice while the Fate Cycle kept him trapped.

Alice fought Rejoice after realizing she was an Angel, but he lost control and became a Monster before she could finish him. Meanwhile, Klein arranged for Arrodes to impersonate him during his planned assassination of Mr. X, then agreed to help Alice attack the Monster and found a way to see her through the Gray Fog again.

• Rejoice tried to persuade Alice not to kill him, but she transformed into a white Great Serpent and worsened his instability.
• Rejoice lost control and became a white-scaled snake with a human face, so Alice fled and went to sleep rather than confront it.
• Klein arranged for Arrodes to impersonate Dwayne Dantès and handle his household while he attended Mr. X's gathering on Friday.
• Alice asked Klein to strike the Monster formed from Rejoice with the Sea God Scepter, and Klein agreed to provide the attack.
• Alice lowered her resistance to being observed, allowing Klein to see her through the Gray Fog and send her a message.

Alice retrieved Rejoice's Beyonder Characteristic and questioned Arrodes about collecting fragments of a broken prophecy, while Selina's Tarot reading left Velma calmly fearing a bad future. The chapter ended with Alice asking how to obtain fragments of a prophecy carried by a dream.

• After Rejoice's death, Alice sent Klein to retrieve the sheet of scribbles left as the Beyonder Characteristic, then returned to sleep.
• Selina agreed to divine for Velma and drew two upright and one reversed Wheel of Fortune cards, which she interpreted as a bad future.
• Velma asked Selina to persuade Allen not to grieve too much if something happened to her, and Allen entered the hospital room.
• After waking Friday night, Alice visited Arrodes and asked how to collect the Chaos Walker potion ingredient called All Fragments of a Broken Prophecy.
• Arrodes explained that the prophecy's carrier had to be destroyed and that a prophecy related to Alice or broken by her would be more complete.
• Alice recalled her dream of being swallowed by a white serpent and asked Arrodes how to obtain fragments of a prophecy carried in a dream.

Alice used Arrodes to impersonate Dwayne Dantès and answer Bishop Elektra’s visit while Klein hurried back, producing an awkward conversation about marriage and the kinds of women the men in the room liked. After Klein returned, Alice helped him obtain a coin for the wishing machine and used Restart to relieve his fear of mirrors, though she refused to promise she would help if his Mystical Item’s side effects troubled him again.

• Alice stopped Arrodes from finishing an answer when she sensed Walter approaching, then told the disguised Dwayne Dantès to prepare for Bishop Elektra’s visit.
• Bishop Elektra visited the bedridden Dwayne Dantès, explained that the Church of Evernight neither forbade nor encouraged clergy to marry, and said he had a wife and child.
• Dwayne Dantès described several kinds of women he liked, making Richardson, Bishop Elektra, and Walter react as Alice realized his answers reflected their preferences.
• Klein returned in time to see Bishop Elektra leave, and Alice asked him what sort of woman he liked because she worried a future partner might object to him getting pregnant.
• Arrodes ended his disguise after Klein praised his performance, and Klein asked Alice to help him obtain Traveler’s Door by using the wishing machine.
• Klein’s fear of mirrors triggered Death Knell’s side effect, but Alice used Restart to restore him; she then said she might not help if the weakness did not endanger him.

Aaron learned that Velma had behaved strangely and, with no other help in sight, turned to the White Snake for hope. At the Tarot Club, Cattleya asked whether Emperor Roselle could still be alive, Alice warned the members away from dangerous angelic secrets, and Fors arranged compensation and plans to rent out Leymanno's Travel Notes.

• Selina told Aaron that Velma had acted strangely on Friday, and Aaron returned to his office in despair, believing the White Snake might be his only hope.
• Cattleya gave Mr. Fool two pages of Roselle's Diary and asked whether Emperor Roselle might still be alive; Klein answered, "Perhaps," and Alice joked about an Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital on the moon.
• Alice said her remark involved a secret only Angels could know and warned the Tarot Club members not to investigate it.
• Cattleya accepted that she would have to wait until Will Auceptin was born for Alice's Mythical Creature blood.
• Fors offered Mr. World five thousand pounds as compensation for helping with Mr. X, and the World accepted the payment for Alice.
• Fors asked when Mr. World would need Leymanno's Travel Notes, and he said he might need it that weekend and throughout the following week.

At the Tarot Club, Fors arranged rentals of Leymanno's Travel Notes while the members discussed recent dangers and the approaching birth of Will. After the meeting, Alice read Roselle's diary and learned that he suspected there were other transmigrators in the world.

• Fors explained the rental terms for Leymanno's Travel Notes, rented it to Emlyn, and sold an Interrogator Beyonder Characteristic to Fors for 1,000 pounds.
• Fors warned Emlyn about heightened security in the East District, and Alice revealed that the incident there had resulted from Klein using a Demigod-level ability from the Domain of Storms.
• Alger warned Derrick that the Council of Six's investigation of the Former Chief's mausoleum could put him in danger, and Alice advised the members to stay away from Backlund because Will was about to be born.
• After the Tarot Club ended, Klein gave Alice Roselle's diary, where she read Roselle's entry about completed mausoleums and a later note saying he believed other transmigrators existed.

Alice learned that Roselle had warned future readers to choose their Beyonder Pathways carefully and beware the Moon, then told Klein that the Fool was the Diviner Pathway’s Sequence 0. She later investigated Selina’s magic mirror divination and saw a brown-haired girl notice something abnormal in the mirror before leading Selina outside.

• Alice read Roselle’s warning that adjacent Pathways could determine future allies and enemies, and that readers should beware the Moon.
• Alice told Klein that the Diviner Pathway’s Sequence 0 was the Fool, leaving him shaken by the implications for his past choices.
• Alice asked Allen whether he had found Ouroboros’s Honorific Name, and Allen shared Selina’s account of a magic mirror divination.
• Alice warned Allen that a conflict involving Ouroboros could endanger his wife, who was connected to Will Auceptin.
• Alice watched Selina’s mirror divination and saw a brown-haired girl notice the red-haired figure inside the mirror.
• The brown-haired girl claimed to have a surprise for Selina and led her toward the door.

Alice tried to draw Ouroboros’s attention by reciting his Honorific Name in Aaron’s dream, while Aaron woke determined to find someone who could translate it. Meanwhile, Klein contacted an Internal Watcher at St. Samuel’s Church, developed a second personality, and ended the chapter by messaging Alice from Above the Gray Fog.

• Alice sent Klein the scene from Selina’s fate and asked about the Honorific Name Selina had used; Klein identified it as connected to Ouroboros.
• Alice entered Aaron’s dream and recited Ouroboros’s Honorific Name in Loenese before breaking a mirror, causing the dream to collapse.
• Aaron woke with the Honorific Name fixed in his memory and decided to find someone who could translate it.
• Klein watched an Internal Watcher at St. Samuel’s Church and heard a voice in his mind warn him that the Church might not know the Goddess approved his actions.
• Klein suspected he had developed another personality, drank holy water from Bishop Electra, and returned home to go Above the Gray Fog.
• Klein found that his condition had not improved and sent Alice the message, “I'm just as mentally healthy as you are.”

Alice worried when Klein failed to answer her messages, then learned he had resolved his dual personality. They discussed her plans for a new Honorific Name and whether she could prevent Will Auceptin's birth, leaving Klein doubtful that her plan to lure Ouroboros would work as intended.

• Alice found no reply from Klein, checked that he was safe, and waited anxiously until he contacted her at dinner.
• After Klein described resolving his dual personality, Alice entered the Castle of Origin and joked that Marionettists played perverted games with their marionettes.
• Alice asked for a way to know immediately if Klein was in danger, and Klein replied that his marionettes would know first if anything happened to him.
• Alice asked Klein to help choose an overpass, but he advised waiting for Will Auceptin's imminent birth and raised the unfinished New Honored Name.
• Klein showed Alice two proposed Honorific Name lines, and Alice abandoned the idea of calling herself another god's attendant.
• Alice proposed luring Ouroboros to prevent Will Auceptin from being born, but Klein warned that relying on luck could lead to premature birth instead.

Alice and Klein discussed whether she should ask an obstetrics and gynecology hospital about premature and delayed births, while Allen sought a Hermes Language tutor to translate an honorific name. Alice watched Allen’s meeting with Islent in a dream, learned that Islent belonged to the Psychology Alchemists, and promised Archbishop Anthony she would not set Ouroboros and Will Auceptin against each other in the city.

• Alice suggested asking an obstetrics and gynecology hospital whether premature babies or delayed births were more common, and told Klein she would think of the last line of the honorific name if needed.
• Allen chose to hire a private tutor to learn Hermes Language and asked Islent to teach him and translate an honorific name.
• Islent agreed to give Allen two classes a week, warned him about his concerns for his wife, and offered to help if he needed it.
• Archbishop Anthony brought Alice into a dream to watch Allen's meeting with Islent, then revealed that Islent was a Psychiatrist and a member of the Psychology Alchemists.
• Archbishop Anthony asked whether Alice planned to make Ouroboros and Will Auceptin fight in the city, and Alice agreed not to do so.
• Alice asked Archbishop Anthony whether Nightmares could eat dreams.

Alice investigated a disturbing dream that seemed connected to Heath Doyle and the Sea of Ruins, while waiting to learn whether Klein needed her help. She later spied on Allen’s Hermes lesson with Islent, where Allen asked her to translate the True Creator’s Honorific Name, and Islent agreed while questioning whether his source was trustworthy.

• Anthony told Alice that a Nightmare could not create dreams and suggested she contact someone from the Spectator pathway, prompting her to wonder about Adam.
• Alice dreamed of calves growing from trees aboard a ship and a baby she recognized as Heath Doyle, then divined that Frank Lee’s research had made progress without a major breakthrough.
• Alice questioned Heath Doyle in his dream, found no clues about recent events or treasure, and divined a vision of a black monastery that led her to suspect the Sea of Ruins was involved.
• Alice asked Klein about his plans, declined to join his and Alger’s island exploration, and decided to wait for Klein’s account while preparing to spy on Allen and Islent.
• Alice listened as Allen told Islent a partly fabricated story about seeking mystical help and recited the Honorific Name, “Lingering Wraith; True Creator’s Favored One; Eye Gazing Upon Fate.”
• Islent agreed to translate the Honorific Name and asked Allen whether the person who gave him the Magic Mirror Divination procedure was reliable.

Alice stopped Aaron from revealing the truth about the True Creator, then sensed that Velma was about to give birth to Will Auceptin. She left the hospital vigil to attend Klein’s party, where she unsettled Walter by handing him ice cream she found too sweet.

• Alice brought Aaron back to his senses, and Escalante taught him the honorific name in Hermes without reciting it aloud.
• Alice sensed Velma was about to give birth and warned Aaron, who hurried to the hospital, but Will Auceptin had still not been born by evening.
• Alice attended Klein’s party and met Bishop Elektra and his wife, Shauna Johnson, who said Elektra hoped their child would not be as lively as Alice.
• Alice found the ice cream too sweet and handed it to Walter, who carried it back to Klein.
• Ollory approached Klein and remarked that his butler seemed to receive excellent benefits, while Walter tried to explain the ice cream.

At Velma’s delivery, Alice tried to draw Ouroboros toward Will Auceptin but discovered Will had fled before the birth. She cut and took the bloodless umbilical cord, then sealed its Mythical Creature Blood in Klein’s water pipe; Allen was left facing troubling news about Velma.

• At Klein’s banquet, Alice watched Allen care for Velma, whose painful labor left her too weak to eat much.
• When Velma entered the delivery room, Alice spotted Adam in the hospital waiting area, then heard Allen recite an Honorific Name that drew Ouroboros’s attention.
• As the doctor prepared to cut the newborn’s umbilical cord, Alice saw that Will Auceptin had fled and stopped the scissors from spilling Mythical Creature Blood and endangering the hospital.
• Alice cut off the umbilical cord, told the stunned staff to report Miss Fortune to the Church, and carried the blood away.
• Alice summoned Klein and used the water pipe from Above the Gray Fog as a temporary container for the Mythical Creature Blood.
• After Alice left, Velma groaned and the medical staff resumed their work; Allen learned from a colleague that he needed to prepare himself.

After Velma survived childbirth but lost the baby, Aaron collapsed from relief, while a supernatural disturbance at Dwayne Dantès's ball left Hazel unconscious and Winifred bleeding from her eyes. The churches investigated the strange incidents, and the next day the ball’s bizarre events appeared in the newspaper.

• Aaron learned that Velma was safe but the baby had been stillborn, then collapsed after visiting her.
• Hazel Macht fainted at Dwayne Dantès's ball, and Bishop Elektra calmed the guests while a doctor examined her.
• Winifred Grigori began bleeding from her eyes and demanded to be taken to a church; her maid brought her home instead.
• The Church of Evernight contacted the other churches after receiving reports involving Miss Fortune, while Alice failed to divine Will Auceptin and went to sleep.
• Klein considered asking Alice about Hazel but found her asleep, then went to bed himself.
• The next day, a newspaper reported that a young woman had wept blood and fainted at Dwayne Dantès's ball.