Chapter Summaries

Jack told Nomila how his Trunsoest ancestors hid their lineage and how his great-grandfather’s sacrifice led to the creation of the Black Pearl. As Jack revealed the ship’s rules and claimed an Evernight Church agent had taken control, Nomila drew the Dragon Tooth after Jack hinted that he had already paid a price.

• Jack explained that his great-grandfather deliberately let a pirate kill him and steal the ship’s core and a Potion Formula.
• Jack told Nomila that the Black Pearl’s core required an Arbitrator Beyonder to set three rules and sacrifice a Sequence Six Beyonder to activate it.
• Jack revealed that the ship would kill rule-breakers, absorb their flesh and blood, and eventually sail toward the Ghost Empire.
• Jack said the man who played piano aboard the ship had taken control of it, identifying him as an agent of the Church of Evernight.
• Jack claimed he had already paid a sufficient price, prompting Nomila to draw the Dragon Tooth.
• Jack began explaining that the Night Emperor had been on the Lawyer Pathway before becoming a Justiciar.

Jack removed 2-031 from Nomila and let Barbosa take over his body, then headed for the boiler room after learning the Black Pearl was under someone else’s control. Sno was transforming the ship by turning its instincts toward the True Creator when Jack and Barbosa arrived, and Sno wondered if he had become the Boss.

• Jack used Ancient Hermes to stop Nomila from harming himself, removed 2-031, and allowed Barbosa to take over the dying body.
• Barbosa recovered Nomila’s body and agreed to obey Jack, who learned Barbosa could regain about thirty percent of his combat strength in half an hour.
• Jack decided to go to the boiler room, believing the person controlling the Black Pearl was there.
• Sno used the True Creator’s power, music, and Firm White Same Different to weaken the Black Pearl’s allegiance to Trunsoest and reshape the ship.
• Jack and Barbosa blasted into the boiler room, where Sno greeted them amid the transformed ship and asked why he felt like he had become the Boss.
• The narrator explained that Trunsoest’s descendants had likely let the core go to reduce Church surveillance while preserving the chance to reclaim it.

Light and Sera waited while Sno confronted Jack and Barbosa in the ship’s boiler room, where Jack tried to bargain with the Trunsoest bloodline secrets needed to enter the Ghost Empire. Sno revealed his allegiance to the Aurora Society, prompting Jack and Barbosa to attack.

• Sera wondered whether the music had stopped and asked if they should help, but Light told her they would only get in the way.
• Jack recognized the organ boiler and proposed negotiating with Sno, claiming his Trunsoest blood could grant access to the Ghost Empire.
• Sno rejected Jack’s offer and questioned why he should not report the Ghost Empire to the Church of Evernight.
• Jack argued that the Church could not afford to seize an Angel-level Ghost Ship and urged Sno to cooperate for a share of its treasures.
• Sno revealed the inverted cross of the Aurora Society, and Jack recognized it as Barbosa launched a Sulfur Fireball at him.

Sno and Jack fought aboard the Black Pearl while Barbosa broke free of his restraints and attacked them. Sno killed Barbosa, then resumed his duel with Jack, who used a Dragon Tooth and a blade of light to defend himself; Sno ended the chapter by throwing a coin.

• Sno blocked Jack’s Sulfur Fireball with an Ice Wall and used altered rules to pressure him.
• Barbosa transformed and attacked Sno and Jack with the Language of Foulness, hoping to escape his true-name contract.
• Sno used Divine Profanity to cripple Barbosa, then killed him with a Spirit-Flesh Blade, breaking the contract.
• Jack stabbed 2-031 into himself to resist losing control and struck Sno with Mental Pierce, but Sno distributed its impact among his split souls.
• Jack deflected Sno’s attack with his bracer and released a Blade of Light as Sno widened the distance and threw a coin.

Sno killed Jack and removed the Dragon Tooth, then the Black Pearl spat Sera and Light into the sea as the blockade disappeared. Sera surfaced near Sno, who offered to help her.

• Sno used the many eyes covering the ceiling to pin Jack in place and pull the Dragon Tooth from his chest.
• Jack learned the Dragon Tooth had made him believe he could not die while holding it, then died after Sno threatened to uncover the secrets of his bloodline through his remains.
• Sno returned to the piano as the eyes dissolved into his shadow and the moss spread across the Black Pearl.
• Sera's brass communication plate lit up, and she told Light she had contacted a senior student who would come to meet them.
• The Black Pearl's deck turned to moss and hurled Sera and Light into the sea, and Sno offered Sera a hand after she surfaced.

Sno, Light, and Sera survived in the sea on an ice floe until Sera’s contacts arrived aboard the Golden Dream. Sno boarded the ship and introduced himself to its captain, Vice Admiral Iceberg.

• Mr. Sno pulled Sera from the seawater, warmed the ice floe, and used a spell to dry her clothes.
• Sera contacted her friends through the secret art network, while Light fished from the floe.
• The Golden Dream approached, and Sera sent a glowing talisman signal that prompted the ship to lower a boat.
• Sno boarded the Golden Dream and introduced himself to its captain, Vice Admiral Iceberg.

Sno advanced to Sequence V: Shakespeare's Ape aboard Adwina's ship, while Adwina questioned Sera about her adventures. Sno discovered that the potion had strengthened his mental resistance and granted him two new spell-like abilities.

• Adwina welcomed Sno and led him, Light, and Sera toward the captain's cabin after Sera urged her to pursue a clue to the Ghost Empire.
• Sno asked Adwina for a room to take his potion, and she arranged a private space for him.
• Adwina told Light the ship would reach Olavie Port in two days and asked him to sign a contract not to reveal their whereabouts for three days.
• Adwina asked Sera to recount everything that had happened to her, and Sera began describing her journey from Lenburg to the Black Pearl.
• Sno drank the Winner potion, united his expanding soul fragments, and advanced to Sequence V: Shakespeare's Ape.
• Sno learned that his mental resistance had greatly increased and that he had gained the spell-like abilities South Carriage North Horse and Different Paths Same Destination.

Sno struggled to manage the Paradox Path’s limited probability-altering abilities and the constant flood of scripts produced by his Curly-Haired Baboon soul fragments. After adapting by organizing the All-Nuo Council, he left the Golden Dream’s dining hall and learned that Senior Adwina wanted to see him.

• Sno recognized that Different Paths Same Destination and South Carriage North Horse observed possible futures and altered probabilities, but could neither overcome fate nor make the impossible happen.
• Sno realized that constant inspiration from his soul fragments caused severe thought overload and threatened his ability to maintain a stable sense of self.
• After meditating with the monkeys in a substitute, Sno returned them to his body and ordered the All-Nuo Council to divide into groups and refine their scripts.
• Sno adapted to following the baboons’ increasingly elaborate scripts while handling his ordinary thoughts and movements.
• Sno finished his meal on the Golden Dream and headed for the dining hall entrance, where a pale-golden figure told him that Senior Adwina was looking for him.

Sno met with Adwina to discuss the Decoy Earring and revealed that the decoy ability could be mastered as a spell. Adwina’s curiosity deepened, and the conversation turned toward how the ability worked.

• Adwina showed Sno her collection, and he recognized the Decoy Earring as one he had made.
• Adwina led Sno to her cabin and offered compensation for information about the decoy spell.
• Adwina asked whether the decoy ability could be learned rather than only inscribed into a Mysterious Item.
• Sno confirmed that the ability could be mastered, leaving Adwina eager to learn more.

Sno offered Adwina a spell based on a specialized spirit body and introduced her to the great existence Paradox. After weighing the implications and considering the ring, Adwina prepared a message and summoned Bernadette Gustav’s messenger.

• Sno explained to Adwina that the spell could be learned and that its spirit-body substitute could grow alongside its owner.
• Adwina asked Sno to reveal the spell’s principles, and he asked whether she was a devout believer before presenting Paradox’s honorific name.
• Adwina analyzed the name and inferred that Paradox might represent a hidden sixth Pathway adjacent to Reader.
• Sno warned Adwina that the ring carried the symbolism of a contract, offered the possibility of praying to his Lord, and then left without taking it.
• Adwina wrote a message, prepared a ritual, and chanted the summoning incantation for Bernadette Gustav’s messenger.

Sno tested the limits of his Paradox ability and used subtle adjustments to steer Adwina’s choices while pranking the Golden Dream’s crew. As the ship took aboard two returning sailors, they reported trouble at several contact points and news that Danitz had joined forces with someone to defeat an unknown target.

• Sno found that his ability struggled to rewrite immediate events, but he could use converging scripts to assess success and macro skills to redirect outcomes.
• Sno concluded that Adwina knew about adjacent Sequences, the Five Families, and Roselle’s possible revival, but not the connection between the Kabbalah Tree of Life, the ring, and the number ten.
• Sno used a gold coin and a series of mishaps to prank a sailor, prompting Adwina to ask him not to tease her crew.
• Adwina continued to observe Sno because she was curious about his unfamiliar Paradox pathway, while Sno subtly nudged her choices with his ability.
• Two people arrived aboard the Golden Dream and told Adwina that several contact points had run into trouble and that Danitz had teamed up with someone to take down an unknown target.

Danitz dreamed that Adwina visited him and recounted his encounters with Gehrman Sparrow, but Gehrman and Sno entered the dream as well. The chapter ended with Sno recognizing Danitz and offering to give Gehrman and Adwina privacy.

• Danitz dreamed that Adwina came to rescue him, then warned her about Gehrman Sparrow and described his experiences with him.
• Adwina judged that Gehrman bore no ill intent and began teaching Danitz a spirit-summoning ritual in the dream.
• Gehrman entered the dream with a talisman and recognized Adwina as Adwina Edwards.
• Sno appeared in the room, introduced himself, and revealed that he was aboard Adwina's ship, the Golden Dream.
• Sno suggested that Danitz, whose bounty had risen to 4,200 pounds, leave Gehrman and Adwina alone to talk.

Danitz struggled to understand Sno’s hints about Gehrman Sparrow and then blurted out that he would never switch to the Demoness Pathway. In Backlund, Sno hired Xio to remind Viscount Grellint about a Mysterious Item and told her to pass on a cryptic message about Substitute and an arrow.

• Sno teased Danitz about his Hunter Pathway and Adjacent Pathways, leaving him confused.
• Danitz described a local faction to Gehrman Sparrow, who changed his appearance into an ordinary native.
• Gehrman Sparrow asked Danitz what he wanted to say, and Danitz insisted he would never switch to the Demoness Pathway.
• Sno offered Xio a debt-collection job that would count as ten commissions toward her remaining debt.
• Sno told Xio to remind Viscount Grellint that, if he had mastered Substitute, it was time to pass the arrow on.

At the Tarot Club gathering, Klein read Roselle’s diary and discovered that Perrdax had found and sealed ancient Solomon Empire ruins containing records about the True Creator. The revelation reminded Klein of Mr. Devil’s family mansion, and he considered asking him about it.

• Xio returned home and told Fors that Sno had given her a debt-collection commission; Fors warned her to act quickly before Backlund’s nobles left for their estates.
• The Tarot Club members gathered, and Audrey apologized for having no new diary pages while the Devil and Magician provided one each.
• Klein read a diary entry in which Roselle complained about missing Backlund’s social season after receiving his title.
• Klein read that Roselle had found Solomon Empire ruins, discovered records about the True Creator, and sealed them in a dungeon beneath his estate.
• Klein connected Roselle’s dungeon to Mr. Devil’s family mansion and considered asking him about it.

At a Tarot Club gathering, Sno recounted his encounter with the legendary Ghost Empire ship, while Emlyn brought the Audra family news about the Life-Giver’s characteristics and the Trunsoest legacy. Cosmi agreed to wake Lord Nabeus to hear him.

• Klein opened the Tarot Club gathering, and World described the events at Bansy Harbor and introduced Medici as the Red Angel, a King of Angels.
• Sno told the Tarot Club how he had encountered the Ghost Empire ship, where Jack and Barbosa died before the ship escaped with Mr. Devil aboard.
• Hanged Man explained that the Ghost Ship was an intelligent, living Sealed Artifact and a key created by the Trunsoest family.
• Emlyn told Cosmi he had found clues about the Life-Giver’s characteristics and linked them to the Trunsoest Empire’s legacy.
• Cosmi, realizing the information might help Lord Nabeus become an Angel, agreed to wake his grandfather.

Emlyn brought Nabeus intelligence about a Ghost Ship tied to Trunsoest and a Life-Giver characteristic, prompting the ancient Sanguine to send Cosmi to investigate. Emlyn returned home convinced he had helped his people and planned how to spend his reward.

• Cosmi awakened his grandfather Nabeus and told him Emlyn had information about the Life-Giver.
• Emlyn told Nabeus that Jack, a descendant of Trunsoest, had created a Ghost Ship using characteristics of the Arbitrator Pathway and a Life-Giver.
• Nabeus confirmed Emlyn's guess and judged the intelligence valuable, while Emlyn also reported the ship's attacks on pirates and the forces represented among its crew.
• Nabeus ordered Cosmi to investigate Jack and the Black Pearl in Pritz Harbor before searching for the ship.
• Emlyn returned home, reassured himself that Mr. Devil was not setting him up, and planned to use his reward to buy dolls and outfits for Emily.

Audrey searched a ruined Ancient Tower for clues about the Dragon of Daydreams and discovered that her substitute Brilliant Diamond made a hidden door appear. She left without entering, suspecting the land had once belonged to the Perrdax family.

• Audrey rode to the ruined Ancient Tower with Susie and her attendants, but found nothing unusual at first.
• After hearing a rustle, Audrey summoned Brilliant Diamond when a rabbit emerged from the grass.
• Audrey listened to local legends and studied clues about the Dragon of Daydreams before noticing an ancient door with a white-horse crest.
• Audrey found that the door appeared during Spirit Vision and became clear when Brilliant Diamond was present.
• Audrey resisted entering the door, returned toward the estate, and learned that the land had once belonged to another family.
• Audrey concluded that the vanished family was the Perrdax family.

Audrey decided to investigate the Gate of Light alone and slipped away from her estate with Susie. At the Ancient Tower, she opened the illusory door and discovered that it led to a furnished, restored version of the ruined tower.

• Audrey chose to scout the Gate of Light herself, planning to pray to Mr. Fool if she encountered danger.
• Audrey used Psychological Suggestion on the estate staff to keep them from noticing her departure.
• Audrey changed into hunting clothes, and Susie agreed to accompany her after making Audrey promise to leave if danger appeared.
• Audrey and Susie rode to the Ancient Tower, where they summoned Brilliant Diamond and Susie's flying-dog substitute.
• Audrey opened the door and sent Brilliant Diamond through it, revealing a magnificent furnished tower beyond the ruined interior.
• Audrey asked Susie to catch a rabbit so they could test the restored tower.

Audrey and Susie entered the illusory version of the Ancient Tower and explored its rooms, where Audrey discovered phantom books and a readable notebook describing experiments in storing spells within believers. She found a second volume of the notes and hoped Mr. Devil could help her read more at the next Tarot Club gathering.

• Audrey used Lies to divine that the wild rabbits had undergone no unfavorable changes, then prepared to enter the illusory doorway with Susie.
• Susie rushed through the doorway first, and Audrey followed into a version of the tower where the ruins and an archaic interior overlapped.
• Audrey explored a study filled with phantom books about mysticism and the extraordinary world, but she could not touch them.
• Audrey read two pages of an open notebook describing experiments to store spells within believers and make the use of divinity more accessible.
• Audrey found a notebook titled "Bestowal Register (Part Two)" and tried to memorize the readable pages so she could show them to Mr. Devil.

Audrey discovered a demon-carved door beneath the Ancient Tower that seemed to lead to the Perrdax family's Trial Ground, but she left without entering and planned to return the next day. After checking her mental state, she went back to the tower, while the narration explained why City of Silver and the God of Combat could not leave or return through routes tainted by the Chaos Sea.

• Audrey found a demon-carved door on the Ancient Tower's ground floor and sensed the word "trial" when Brilliant Diamond touched its handle.
• Audrey postponed exploring the door because she had been away from the manor for too long and said she would return the next day.
• Audrey dreamed of conquering the Trial Ground, then analyzed her curiosity, ambition, and guilt before falling back asleep.
• Audrey checked her mental state with Mr. Devil's doll and, after arranging the manor with Psychological Suggestion, rode with Susie back to the Ancient Tower.
• The narration explained that City of Silver's prayers did not reach the True Creator and that Chaos Sea contamination prevented ordinary people from using the exit.
• The narration explained that the God of Combat did not return to the Giant King's Court because Sarsiriel's Chaos Sea influence would contaminate him.