Chapter Summaries

As the Scylla entered the Ghost Empire, a strange warm fog erased the crew’s sense of direction and stirred suspicion among the factions. A mysterious sea-monster song then threatened them, and David warned everyone not to listen.

• Novat said the fog meant they had reached their target, while David noted it had disrupted the Seafarers’ sense of direction and could not be cleared by wind or water.
• Earnest compared the fog to the legendary Mirage, but Novat refused to impose a decree because they were inside the Ghost Empire’s order.
• Cosmi mocked the Arbitrator Pathway, and Bruce warned the crew that the fog was making them hostile before using his voice to calm them.
• Cons heard a sound, and Jones tried to amplify it through the Black Pearl’s receiver, causing the equipment to explode.
• Fran confronted David, who explained that he had stopped Jones because the sound was a sea-monster song and warned everyone not to listen.

Integra lowered the protections against the sirens’ song, trusting her abilities to weaken its supernatural influence while she investigated the strange fog. As the Scylla and Black Pearl continued through the fog, Cons crossed onto the bone bridge and heard an unfamiliar voice greet him.

• Integra stopped Helene’s ability and used her powers to weaken the sirens’ song, while wondering whether the fog was connected to the Gray Fog.
• David ordered the Scylla’s sails lowered, and the passengers set up protections against the sirens’ influence.
• Novat sent Cons to inspect the Black Pearl across the bone bridge, and Cons left the Machinery Hivemind’s ritual protection.
• Cons resisted the sirens’ pull as the sensation beneath his feet cleared his mind and made the song seem merely pleasant.
• Cons reached the Black Pearl and heard a voice say that a guest had arrived.

Integra welcomed Cons aboard the Black Pearl, protected him from the sea sirens’ song, and helped him recognize a safe route through the fog. Cons left with a way to guide his colleagues through the sirens’ singing.

• Integra brought Cons to the bow and explained that she had placed a barrier against the sea sirens’ song.
• Integra offered Cons black tea and pastries, but he grew wary of the refreshments and focused on his colleagues’ danger.
• Integra told Cons to listen carefully to the sea sirens’ song as the Black Pearl advanced through the fog.
• Cons distinguished the sirens’ separate voices and identified a winding passage where no source of sound was present.
• Integra confirmed Cons’s discovery and explained that the soundless areas were safer routes through the sirens.

After the Black Pearl left the Scylla, Bruce used his resistance to the sea monsters’ song to guide the Scylla through a dangerous channel. The ship emerged from the fog at an island where Integra’s Ghost Ship had already landed, and Earnest decided they would go ashore.

• Cons told Novat and the others that Integra had severed the connection because the channel was too narrow, then explained how to navigate by listening to the sea monsters’ song.
• Bruce agreed to guide the Scylla and used self-hypnosis to resist the song while the Machinery Hivemind narrowed its noise-reduction range.
• Bruce gave mechanical directions as David and then Marshall steered the Scylla through the channel for sixteen exhausting hours.
• The sea monsters’ song faded and the fog cleared, revealing an island with a towering spire and Integra’s Ghost Ship at the shore.
• Earnest sensed the rhythm of the ruby-like characteristic and announced that they would go ashore.

The group landed on the island after their Blood Servants vanished, then followed their trail through the jungle and found a deadly hunting trap. Novat warned that the island seemed to forbid turning back, leaving the group to face its rules as they continued onward.

• Russ, Cosmi, and Earnest discovered that their Blood Servants had vanished or died after landing on the island, and Bruce led the group ashore.
• Bruce and the others found signs that a large predator had attacked the Blood Servants, including a pool of blood and scattered tracks.
• The group split into four teams as they moved through the forest and discovered a Blood Servant’s corpse in a pit lined with sharpened stakes.
• Cosmi questioned why his Blood Servant had continued onward despite orders to return, and Novat revealed that his spirituality warned him against turning back.

The Beyonders escaped the forest and found farmland and a seemingly empty village on the fogbound island. At the entrance, they met Integra, who reported that the fields used farming methods almost identical to Loen’s, suggesting the village had contact with the outside world or had hosted a knowledgeable Beyonder.

• Earnest examined a dead Blood Servant, and Novat explained how the Judgment domain punished deliberate attempts to turn back or leave.
• The group crossed the forest and discovered wheat fields thriving beneath the island’s crimson moon, where Cons and Fran speculated about who farmed them.
• Earnest led the Beyonders toward the village, but they saw no residents before reaching its entrance.
• The group found Integra waiting with a red-haired maid, and Integra said she had stayed outside overnight in case the town had a rule against going out at night.
• Integra described the fields’ advanced farming methods, and Fran suggested that an All-Knowing Pathway Beyonder of a high Sequence might have visited within the past ten years.

Integra and the Beyonders investigated the town of Netip after a Blood Servant entered without trouble. Their attempt to ask about the town’s taboos ended in the servant’s death, leaving Novat to test another question.

• Integra felt an unexplained tremor within her heart and wondered whether she had begun acting Lorenz Butterfly before taking the potion.
• Earnest sent Russ’s Blood Servant into Netip, where the townspeople ignored him but allowed him to enter.
• Novat had the Blood Servant ask a local about the town, and the local said Netip had about fifty thousand residents and was led by Town Chief Kandi.
• When the Blood Servant asked about the local taboos, the local ran away and the Blood Servant lost his head.
• Integra gave Russ hot cocoa after the mental shock of the Blood Servant’s death, and Novat ordered another Blood Servant to ask about a library or school.

The Beyonders entered Netip cautiously and tested its rules while trying to learn how to leave the island. After more investigators died for using abilities against residents, Cosmi proposed seeking answers from the Town Chief.

• Integra led Lily and Helene toward Netip, then waited outside while the advance party scouted the town.
• Novat exchanged three gold pounds for 270 naer and learned that Miller had died after using an ability to interrogate a villager.
• A Sanguine died after trying to turn a resident into a Blood Servant.
• Cosmi and Russ reported that Netip’s residents, buildings, and shops reflected many eras and suggested that the town had contact with the outside world.
• Cosmi proposed questioning the Town Chief about leaving the island, and Earnest told him to take responsibility for proving his conjecture.

At a Tarot Club meeting, Sno described a dangerous island in the Northern Sea where an Arbitrator’s rules forbade prayer, criminal acts, and leaving. He asked Little Sun to investigate beings connected to order and began commissioning Hermit and Hanged Man, while Klein considered how to help him.

• Justice apologized to Mr. Fool for failing to obtain Roselle's Diary, and Sno explained that his location had kept him from praying.
• Magician asked Sno about her returned manuscript, and he reassured her that she could publish the novel, Dark Dungeon.
• Justice asked whether Sno was at the Ghost Empire, and Sno said he had instead reached an isolated island in the Northern Sea.
• Sno explained that the island's rules prohibited reciting honorific names, committing crimes, and leaving, with attempts to depart resulting in decapitation.
• Little Sun offered to help, and Sno asked him to investigate ancient gods, deities, or Angels associated with order.
• Sno turned to Hermit and Hanged Man to make a commission.

At the Tarot Club, Sno commissioned Madam Hermit and Mr. Hangman to spread information about the Ghost Empire and asked Mr. Fool for a five-minute blessing that could distort rules. After the meeting, Klein began preparing a way to grant Sno the blessing without compromising Mr. Fool’s mystique.

• Sno asked Madam Hermit and Mr. Hangman to spread credible information about the Ghost Empire and lure adventurers to the North Sea.
• Sno offered one Mysterious Item crafting service as a reward, and Madam Hermit and Mr. Hangman accepted the commission.
• Sno asked Mr. Fool to exchange his accumulated merits for a five-minute blessing from a high-level existence capable of distorting rules.
• Mr. Fool agreed that Sno could use an item bearing his holy emblem as a medium for the blessing, and they arranged to meet around six that evening.
• After ending the Tarot Club, Klein considered how to provide the blessing and touched the Crimson Star pointing toward Xio as a test subject.

Xio received the Interrogator Potion Formula and a new mission to investigate the Passion Organization, then panicked after unknowingly reciting the Fool’s complete honorific name and experiencing the Black Emperor card’s influence. Meanwhile, Sno forged a symbolic gold coin as a Holy Relic and announced that he would make a whole set.

• A golden-masked man rewarded Xio with the Interrogator Potion Formula and tasked her with confirming the Passion Organization’s target.
• While buying Dixie Pie and Sweet Iced Tea for Fors, Xio felt a sudden surge of power and heard a voice remark on her change.
• Xio realized she had recited the Fool’s complete honorific name and feared the sensation had been a warning, so she decided to ask Fors for help.
• Above the Gray Fog, Klein recognized that the Black Emperor card had caused Xio’s experience and considered how to respond to Fors’s questions.
• On an unnamed island in the Northern Sea, Sno forged a gold coin bearing a symbolic emblem and a Devil holding chains, then said he would make a whole set.

Helene finished making gold coins and began meditating while Lily reported that the Beyonders had found the Town Chief. Sno explained that Netip Town could be navigated by asking the townspeople questions, but he wanted the group to explore beyond the town and uncover the island’s real challenge. The Town Chief told the survivors how they could leave temporarily, setting a three-month deadline to return with recruits.

• Helene exhausted her spirituality while making gold coins, and Lily arrived to report that the Beyonders had found the Town Chief.
• Sno explained that Netip Town’s rules could be understood by asking its residents what they were able to say, and that leaving the island was only a step toward its greater challenge.
• The Town Chief told the thirteen surviving Beyonders that they could temporarily leave by defeating the Monster in the tower and swearing to return with more people.
• The Town Chief warned that each survivor had to bring back at least two people within three months or return as a corpse, and Bruce was whipped for asking an unsafe question.

Klein used the Black Emperor card to lend Sno power, allowing him to place subtle new rules around the island’s existing order. Sno succeeded before the power ran out, while Klein returned to reality and planned his next search for mermaids.

• Sno watched twelve Beyonders enter the tower, then waited for Klein to contact him.
• Klein touched Mr. Devil’s Crimson Star and saw a clear image of Sno on the island, surrounded by a vast net of lightning and blood.
• Klein channeled the Black Emperor card’s power into Sno’s gold coin, temporarily giving it the status of an Angel-level Sealed Artifact.
• Sno poured spirituality into the coin and used its power to analyze the island’s rules and embed subtle new rules around their edges.
• Sno stopped before the coin’s power ran out and bowed toward the heavens, while Klein realized the plan had succeeded and returned to reality.
• Klein planned to contact Madam Hermit the next day and search for traces of mermaids.

Novat and the surviving Beyonders reached the tower room where Integra waited beside scales that could let them leave the island temporarily. They discovered the island was the uppermost layer of the Ghost Empire, and Integra revealed that becoming its master was the only way to leave permanently.

• After defeating the Bizarre Golem, Novat's group used potions and materials to continue climbing while First Law remained active.
• Russ scouted ahead with his rats and reported seeing the scales on the next floor.
• Novat's group found Integra and her maids waiting in a tower room, and his attempt to expose an illusion confirmed they were real.
• Integra urged them to look through the windows, where they realized the island was shaped like a ship and formed the uppermost layer of the Ghost Empire.
• Integra explained that swearing before the scales would let each person leave for three months if they brought back at least two people, but would bind their soul and body to the Ghost Empire.
• Integra told Bruce and the others that permanent escape required becoming the Ghost Empire's master, which would take plenty of cannon fodder.

Integra identified the island’s forests as the likely entrances to the Ghost Empire’s hidden compartments, then used Ammon’s avatar to decipher a ghost ship within it. She began transforming the ship with Heavenly Punishment, and it started singing as Beyonders appeared on the observation platform.

• Integra asked David where a sailing ship’s treasure and entrance would be, and he pointed to the forests and the ship’s hidden compartments.
• Integra, Helene, and Lily swore to return with more people and vanished from the hall.
• Integra reached the Ghost Empire’s giant ship and used Ammon’s avatar to discover it was a projection and offshoot of the Ghost Empire crewed by ghosts.
• Integra took out a piano and Heavenly Punishment, explaining that she was adding to the Stone Tablet’s rules rather than modifying them.
• Integra played a melody that stirred the ghosts, and the ship began singing as nine figures appeared on its masts and Beyonders arrived on the observation platform.

David and the others escaped the dangerous island aboard the Ghost Empire token, but learned they had to bring back at least twenty-four people or break their oath. After reaching the Sunia Sea, they planned to approach the Gargas Archipelago, and David asked Integra for her opinion.

• The ghosts aboard the Ghost Empire token danced to Integra's piano music while the Beyonders learned they had only one chance to disembark and had to return within three months.
• David heard the anchor being raised, and the token sailed away as the grotesque sirens sang from the fog.
• Half a day later, David determined that the group had reached the Sunia Sea, and he said they needed to bring back twenty-four people to honor their oath.
• Earnest ordered David to steer toward the Gargas Archipelago, while Bruce explained that the Sanguines had Blood Servants aboard the Scylla and Jones said MI9 and the Machinery Hivemind could stay aboard.
• Bruce signaled David to consult Integra, and David asked her what she thought of the plan.

Klein and the Future encountered the Death Announcer and the Ghost Empire amid a storm, where the ships’ supernatural songs and laughter drove their crews toward madness. The Future escaped, and Klein was left wondering why the Ghost Empire’s song sounded familiar.

• Klein and Frank spotted the Death Announcer approaching the Future, and the ship sounded its horn as its crew prepared for battle.
• A dense fog appeared despite the storm, and Cattleya used starlight to thin it enough for Klein to spot an even larger ship inside.
• The Ghost Empire emerged, and its crew’s cheerful song clashed with the Death Announcer’s maddening laughter.
• David ordered the Ghost Empire to dive to escape the two pirate ships, but Integra, her maid, and her piano vanished afterward.
• The Future fled at supernatural speed, and Klein told Frank that the Ghost Empire’s song sounded familiar.

Sno sent Lily and Helene through a hidden door to Black Swan Castle, then waited for the chaos surrounding the Ghost Empire to provide the ritual conditions for advancing. Bernadette confronted him about the ship and his motives, and he ended by warning her that her younger brother’s descendants might become monsters.

• Sno gave Lily money and instructions before Helene took her through the door to Black Swan Castle.
• Sno determined that his First Cause was already settled and waited for a chaotic storm of adventurers and pirates to complete the Infinite Fruit ritual.
• Bernadette appeared behind Sno and questioned him about whether the ship was the Ghost Empire and why he had boarded it.
• Sno told Bernadette that news of the Ghost Empire would spread among the Loen royal family and the Sanguine, and claimed fate’s gravity had drawn him aboard.
• Bernadette recognized Sno as the Detective who had held the Black Emperor card and wondered whether he was linked to the Fool or Paradox.
• Sno warned Bernadette that her younger brother’s descendants might become monsters that only knew how to reproduce.

Sno warned Bernadette that the Rose School had targeted Sharpe Gustav, and she agreed to watch over Sno’s small sect in Bayram. Aboard the Future, Klein and Cattleya encountered a perilous sea left behind by the war of the gods, where they learned that its dangers could drive even demigods mad.

• Sno told Bernadette that the Rose School was interested in Sharpe Gustav, a descendant of her brother Ciel, and asked her to keep an eye on a small sect in Bayram.
• Bernadette accepted Sno’s request and questioned him about his concern for Gehrman Sparrow before leaving his cabin.
• The Future plunged over a sudden break in the sea, then was hurled back onto the other side by a surge of water.
• Klein examined the golden-lit sea and nearby ruins while Cattleya explained that the region contained dangerous ruins, mutated creatures, and unpredictable hazards.
• Cattleya told Klein that higher-Sequence Beyonders could hear dangerous voices there and that demigods who explored the sea often went mad or suffered Loss of Control.

As the Future passed ruins containing a corpse, Sno was nearly overwhelmed by its breathing but survived through the corruption of Heavenly Punishment. He learned the corpse was connected to the True Creator and left with the intention of returning to the ruins someday.

• The Future approached the ruins, and Heath Doyle warned that a corpse lay among the rocks and pillars.
• Sno endured the corpse’s corrupting breath by using A Foot of Rod and Heavenly Punishment to hold himself at the edge of losing control.
• After the Future passed the ruins, Sno heard the True Creator’s mutterings and realized whose corpse he had encountered.
• Sno memorized the terrain and told Bernadette he had gained valuable information, though the corpse exceeded his expectations.
• Sno stopped Bernadette from speculating about the corpse’s power and shared breakfast with her.