Recaps

William and Lorien traveled to the Old World to repay William’s debt to the Duke’s Guild and buy Moonlight Shards for Lorien to create a temporary moon. Golden Mask met them on the train and brought them to the Duke after William offered Count Greed’s vault as payment.

• William and Lorien decided to seek Moonlight Shards from the Duke’s Guild after Lorien explained that the Moon could not cross worlds directly.
• William and Lorien traveled through the passage with Nash and nurses from the Crimson Cross Society, arriving in the Old World city of Lup.
• The Duke sensed the arrival of William and Lorien and ordered Golden Mask to bring them to him.
• Golden Mask met the group aboard the Black Roundworm Train and noticed William’s concealed right eye.
• William asked whether the guild had Moonlight Shards and offered the Greed Ring, containing Count Greed’s vault, for appraisal.

William and his companions met the Duke in Lupu and bought three Moonlight Shards to create a moon for their circus theater. The Duke warned William to restrain the circus’s performances, and the group was invited to stay in his castle before creating the moon the next day.

• Nash and the others arrived in Lupu and followed the Golden Mask to the Duke’s castle, where Jessica explained the power and history of the Duke and his Golden and Silver Masks.
• The Duke asked William about his missing eye, and William explained that he had willingly paid the price to encounter a dangerous creature from a higher plane.
• William asked to buy Moonlight Shards for the circus’s moon and theater, and he explained his plans to the Duke, including the Abyssal Skin Factory.
• The Duke warned William that the circus’s accelerated performances and the exiled Cancerous One had caused serious incidents, and he told William to keep the performances restrained.
• The Duke sold William three Moonlight Shards for 200,000 Ancient Coins, required Lorien to create the moon in Lupu, and revealed that the Evil Sun Kindling had been bought by someone with Evil Sun bloodline.
• The Duke gave William back his Greed Ring, arranged for the group to stay in his castle, and fell asleep before the moon creation scheduled for the next day.

William and his companions visited Black Roundworm Company headquarters, where Regan’s transfer technology reacted to their arrival. William invited Regan to help with the Moon Making Plan, and Regan agreed in exchange for a meal.

• William arranged a four-person suite and told Jessica and Lorien they would visit Regan, whose research might help with the Moon Making Plan.
• Regan’s Black Pivot transfer test surged out of control, and William, Lorien, Jessica, and Nash arrived in the laboratory through the device.
• President Burn recognized Nash as the source of the employees’ fear, and William left Nash with Burn to learn ancient parasitic abilities.
• Regan found that the transfer device remained connected to the abyss and recorded how it had responded to William’s arrival.
• William asked Regan to join the Moon Making Plan, and Regan agreed if William took him to eat Nine-Turned Large Intestine.

William and his companions escaped a disturbing meal at Jennifer's Large Intestine and began planning the Moon Making Plan with Regan and Lorien. After Fei sensed a dangerous woman connected to William's storybook, they worked through the night on an alternative celestial body design and asked Golden Mask to gather materials.

• William and the other three Silver Circle Diseased fled Jennifer's Large Intestine after seeing the Nine-Turned Large Intestine dish and its preparation.
• Regan praised William's instant noodles, and William offered to supply them during the Moon Making Plan and discussed an external cooperation agreement.
• Fei appeared through Regan's Metal Spine and sensed a dangerous woman associated with a book William carried, prompting William to explain his Middle-Earth adventure.
• William encouraged Regan to work with Lorien, and Regan proposed beginning Moon Making Plan preparations immediately using Old Moon research and blueprints.
• Regan, Lorien, William, and Jessica worked through the night designing an alternative celestial body, and Golden Mask agreed to try to obtain their requested materials.

A rumor that a new moon would rise over Loop City drew visitors and the attention of powerful factions across the Old World. After learning the moon might be real, Art took Catherine and the circus toward Loop City, hoping to investigate and kill William.

• The Duke's Merchant Guild delayed its evacuation from Loop City, while major transport companies moved supplies and rumors spread that a new moon would appear there in five days.
• Fish Origin connected the rumor to the missing Silver Sea Area and ordered his Octopus Girls to investigate Loop City and capture the target alive if possible.
• A clown circus transformed depressed patients in Melancholy City, including its city lord, into laughing clowns with red-nose tumors in their brains.
• Catherine walked Kordell Delgado as though he were William until Art interrupted her and told her they had to travel.
• Art said he believed the moon might be real and took Catherine toward Loop City, intending to investigate and kill William.

As Loop City went into lockdown ahead of the rumored new moon, Mother arrived searching for Catherine, who hid from her while waiting outside the city. At 11:50 p.m., a monstrous black sphere rose from Loop City, revealing itself as a Living Skull that Ater recognized as William’s New Theater.

• Loop City shut down its transport routes for 24 hours as moon watchers gathered outside and formed a Security Supervision Team.
• Mother reached Loop City's gates, sensed the Duke's presence, and turned back before recognizing Catherine's scent nearby.
• Catherine sensed Mother in the forest, concealed her aura, and settled into a Treehouse to wait for sunrise.
• Catherine spotted a powerful cloaked figure in the Inner Ring and concluded that the new moon was probably connected to William.
• At 11:50 p.m., the moon watchers watched a black sphere rise above Loop City, and Ater identified it as William's New Theater.

William used Lorien’s authorization to raise Yin-Head, a false moon that announced a performance-based Preliminary Selection offering viewers a chance to gain power beyond the Old World. As the participants prepared their identities and masks, William planned to use the event to locate Art and deliver a message, while the Duke warned that his cooperation was limited to this performance.

• Yin-Head rose over the gathering and trapped viewers inside a ten-kilometer area, then introduced itself as the Old World’s temporary moon until the worlds fused.
• Yin-Head announced that participants would act as ordinary people, make masks, and complete a Main Quest within 24 hours without revealing their True Nature or becoming excessively frightened.
• Lya Roman chose to participate, while Art pondered his identity and Catherine began making her mask.
• William remotely controlled Yin-Head from the Duke’s castle and identified Art and the woman from the Vibrio Sea as the most troublesome participants.
• The Duke agreed to maintain balance during the performance but warned William he would end their cooperation if the event harmed the Old World.

Gryph joined the moon’s performance as Number 71 and entered a simulated Loop City as a detective. After receiving a client’s request to investigate a presence haunting their home, he encountered a shadow in his apartment and succumbed to fear.

• Gryph learned that the moon’s false reality could impose identity templates, then created a detective identity and carved a mask marked with Number 71.
• The Yin-Head began the performance, transporting Gryph and 780 other qualified participants into a new Loop City and assigning Gryph to awaken in a rented apartment.
• Gryph discovered that his abilities had been suppressed, with only a faint Third Eye remaining, and found a commission letter from Ferenc Eaton about a presence watching his family.
• Gryph heard water running in the bathroom, saw a dangerous Dark Shadow in the mirror, and refused to activate his Third Eye.
• A failed spiritual vision check left Gryph frightened, so he drank whiskey to reduce his Fear Value loss.

Gryph encountered frightening anomalies while making his way through Loop City to Roman Street. After a deadly collision involving Suni, he took a taxi and discovered in the rearview mirror that the driver had no face.

• Gryph saw a Dark Shadow in a mirror, felt part of his fear extracted, and set out for the address on his commission letter with a revolver and whiskey.
• Gryph used his Third Eye to identify the woman in the elevator as normal and suspected her identical counterpart in the corridor was an anomaly.
• Gryph met Suni Waxman in the elevator, learned about strange events in Loop City, and accepted her business card.
• An anomaly identical to Suni fell from above and collided with her, killing her as Gryph watched.
• Gryph drank his remaining whiskey, left the scene, and took a taxi to 07A Roman Street.
• Gryph looked in the taxi's rearview mirror and saw that the driver had no face.

Gryph passed a dangerous Sanity Check by using Third Eye to face the taxi driver’s true appearance, gaining the driver as a servant. He arrived at 07A Roman Street to investigate and recognized the villa’s owner, Ferenc Eaton, as someone he had met before.

• Gryph used Third Eye to look at the taxi driver’s monstrous face and passed the Sanity Check, making the driver his servant.
• The driver told Gryph about his past and warned him that Roman Street had been having frequent incidents, then gave him a business card.
• Gryph called the driver with a metal device, and the taxi took him to 07A Roman Street, where he sensed someone watching from a second-floor window.
• The driver gave Gryph a new bottle of whiskey before speeding away on tires and strange human legs.
• Gryph approached the villa and asked its owner to reveal his face; the owner raised his umbrella, and Gryph recognized him as Mr. Ferenc Eaton.

Gryph investigated a villa where its owners claimed an unseen presence had been watching them for months, while trying to understand why William was pretending not to know him. As Gryph began searching upstairs, a hoarse bubbling sound came from beyond the staircase bend.

• Gryph entered the villa and noticed a spoon that seemed to reflect a black-haired woman watching him from the second floor.
• William introduced his masked wife, Jessica, and explained that they had experienced a growing sense of being watched and that an apparent double of him had once frightened Jessica.
• Gryph spotted black hair in the food and refused to eat, prompting William to grip his arm and insist that he try the meal.
• Gryph used his Third Eye to watch William and Jessica eat, then headed upstairs to investigate the house.
• A low, hoarse bubbling sound came from above the stairs, as if something were about to crawl around the bend.

Gryph explored the villa after bypassing a supernatural staircase event and uncovered clues about the House Owner’s wife and a sealed attic. Trapped in the attic with a crawling Black-haired Woman, he passed a Sanity Check, and the woman left behind the same spoon he had found earlier.

• Gryph ignored the check prompt and vaulted past the staircase junction, then searched the second floor and found a bathtub full of water, black hair, and bloodstains.
• Gryph discovered a hidden, locked attic entrance and a locked desk drawer containing the House Owner’s notebook before William interrupted him.
• William gave Gryph the attic key and claimed the attic had been unused, but Gryph found it strangely dust-free and marked with scratches, bite marks, and restraint chains.
• The attic entrance locked behind Gryph, and a Black-haired Woman appeared; Gryph faced her without attacking and passed the Sanity Check.
• The woman spat out the spoon Gryph had seen on the staircase, then vanished.

Gryph escaped a deadly trap at the Eaton mansion by killing William with the Spoon of the Watcher, then left with the taxi driver. He later woke in a medieval-style room and attacked William again.

• Gryph discovered that the sharpened spoon could vanish into his wrist when he focused on malice.
• Gryph tried to escape through the master bedroom window, but the gas weakened him and he fell into the courtyard, where an attacker struck him from behind.
• Gryph woke restrained on an operating table as William revealed that he planned to harvest Gryph’s organs for his terminally ill wife.
• Gryph stabbed William in the eye with the spoon, disrupted his vision with his Third Eye, and killed him by cutting his throat.
• Gryph escaped the mansion with the taxi driver and later woke in a medieval-style room, where he threw a bedside lamp at William.

William reunited with Gryph, called Little Grape, after the performance left him dangerously consumed by his role. William revealed that the show had warned the Old World of a threat from beyond the world, and Gryph offered to fill the gap left by William’s missing eye.

• Golden Mask found William embedded in a wall and saw Gryph transformed and burning with the Evil Sun, but William calmed him by welcoming him back as Little Grape.
• Gryph expelled four Corpse Eyes and calmed down after William explained that Jessica was a teammate, then withdrew the Evil Flame from William’s cheek.
• Gryph sensed an evil presence in William’s storybook and briefly saw a dangerous woman holding a spoon before William recalled the book and explained that the threat came from beyond the world.
• Gryph noticed William’s silver eyeglass and learned that he had traded an eye for the book and a new understanding of the world.
• As they walked downstairs, Gryph offered to fill the conceptual gap left by William’s missing eye, and William warned that doing so could bind Gryph to him permanently.

William and Gryph surveyed the False Moon’s Preliminary Selection and met Lorien at the theater, where Lorien discussed the likely candidates and asked for help dealing with Ater. Nash warned that Ater was too dangerous to target, leaving the group to prioritize the performance and avoid provoking him.

• Jessica examined Gryph’s Evil Sun Kindlings from afar, warned that they could eventually take over his personality, and explained that a complete examination required instruments from the Dental Hall.
• William took Gryph to the top of the castle, where they watched the False Moon collect fear and spotted Ater seemingly enjoying the selection alongside Catherine.
• William brought Gryph to the theater on Yin-Head, where Lorien revealed that he had already prepared a list of likely candidates and planned to take some to his hospital afterward.
• Lorien asked William, Gryph, and Jessica to help kill Ater, but William refused to initiate a fight because the circus forbade internal conflict.
• Nash crawled out of William’s ear and warned everyone that Ater was terrifying enough to end the performance unless Duke personally stopped him.

Lorien agreed to prioritize the performance but would try to kill Art if Art threatened him, while William warned that his Final Performance would put Yi Chen in a position to deal with Art. As the preliminary selection ended, Yi Chen and Nash trained in William’s Thought Library, where Nash glimpsed a hidden room through a crack in the wall.

• Lorien explained his fear of Art and agreed to prioritize the performance while reserving the right to kill him in self-defense.
• William introduced Gryph, whom he called Little Grape, to Nash and showed him Yi Chen’s External Body.
• Nash returned to the Thought Library to coordinate with Yi Chen, who suspected William’s ambition was growing but agreed to continue their training.
• The final day of Lu Pu’s Public Performance ended with 188 people qualifying for Moon Landing Qualification and the Final Performance.
• Yi Chen’s training exhausted Nash, who crashed into a library wall and spotted what appeared to be a hidden room through a crack.

Nash glimpsed a possible hidden room in the library before William dismissed it as exhaustion, while Yi Chen and William discussed the upcoming Final Performance and William’s increasingly ruthless methods. Yi Chen rested in the aquarium, reflecting that evil thoughts were spreading and that he was nearing his goal but found living exhausting.

• William visited Nash in the library, told him the Preliminary Selection had ended, and urged him to eat and prepare for his performance with Yi Chen.
• Nash noticed a seam in the wall that showed a dim room, but it vanished before he could investigate, and William said the library had no such room.
• Yi Chen mastered the old man’s Breathing Technique, and William gave him the Final Performance roster, including Yate, the Progenitor Strain, and Catherine.
• Yi Chen warned William that his actions were becoming less gentlemanly, while William defended using any means necessary to grow strong enough to face future dangers.
• Yi Chen searched the wall where Nash had seen the seam but found only cement, then returned to the aquarium to rest among the coffins.

After passing the Preliminary Selection, At, Catherine, and the other contestants reached the false moon, where William explained their choices for the Final Performance. At decided to participate, encouraged by the prospect of danger and a chance to confront someone who would give him a headache.

• Catherine and At discussed the preliminary performance and what they might do if they encountered Moon Boy, while At said he would give him more fear rather than kill him outright.
• William’s voice announced that contestants who passed the Preliminary Selection could follow the Yin-Head’s breathing to land on the moon, and At and Catherine were pulled inside along with the others.
• Lya Roman recognized Catherine as her daughter but failed to control her through the Maternal Gene; she sensed a threat from At and followed Catherine toward the false moon with her nine daughters.
• The selected contestants reached a fork where William explained that the left path led to modification and the audience, while the right led to an interview and possible participation in the Final Performance.
• At asked William whether the performance would involve real danger and whether Lorien would participate; William said Lorien would not, but someone else would give At a headache.
• At chose to sign up for the Final Performance after William confirmed that killing would be permitted under special circumstances.

William demonstrated a Crimson Cross modification that created a Little Nurse, then managed the Silver Circle candidates and interviewed the performers backstage. He warned Catherine that the upcoming performance would be genuinely dangerous and revealed his eyes, leaving her shocked.

• William threw out a borrowed Crimson Cross, which transformed into a Little Nurse whose chaotic nature drew the Sick Ones’ attention.
• William offered At a visit to the Chaos Laboratory if he performed without deliberately ruining the show, and At went backstage.
• William intervened when Catherine and Liya Roman nearly clashed, then led Liya and her daughters backstage for interviews.
• William used Social Phobia to verify the candidates’ fear tolerance, and seven of Liya’s daughters fled and were eliminated.
• William told Catherine she passed automatically, warned her to prioritize survival during the dangerous performance, and revealed his eyes to her.

Yi Chen left the deep memory zone and entered the theater backstage in his altered form, where he clashed with Clown Art before Nash interrupted them. As the performance approached, Little Grape received a warning to beware of William, while William began combining with her.

• William woke Yi Chen in the aquarium and offered to help choose his identity, but Yi Chen refused to cheat and left to join Nash for calibration.
• Yi Chen's Second Body combined with Nash, who had strengthened through joint training, and they headed toward the theater backstage.
• A child’s head formed from killing intent warned Little Grape, “Beware of William,” before William began a temporary combination with her.
• Yi Chen entered the backstage area, and his killing intent collided with Clown Art’s malice until Nash interrupted their confrontation.
• Art threatened Nash and promised to watch him during the performance, while Nash urged Yi Chen to consider assassinating Art and began recalling what he could do.

Yi Chen encountered Catherine backstage and accepted her gift of a bracelet made from suicide-obsessed patients’ skulls. William arrived with a strange new eye and organized the cast’s identity draw for the Final Performance, which would revolve around fear and Danger Value.

• Catherine questioned Yi Chen about his ruined body and gave him a bracelet made from the skulls of severely depressed patients; a baby on his arm took it from her.
• Mother Liya Roman sensed a black sea of death around Yi Chen, while Babullo Intestine-Finger focused on cleaning his fingers.
• William arrived with a transformed eye that reminded everyone of the Evil Sun and explained that the Final Performance would take place in a mansion.
• Catherine drew an Identity Card first, and William gave every participant a role and script without allowing them to reveal their identities.
• William explained that Danger Value would rise when performers strayed from their scripts or disrupted the show, and named fear as the performance’s theme.

Yi Chen drew the role of Jennifer Bello for the theater's first public performance, while William prepared to launch the show and discovered he could make a small alteration to a storybook. The audience entered the snowy estate setting as the performance began.

• Yi Chen learned that he had drawn Jennifer Bello, a woman with a fiancé, and William reminded the actors to stay in character and keep their identities secret.
• William used Little Grape's Evil Sun and his Mad Brain to change one character in the Human Body Collector storybook, leaving the altered text intact.
• William became excited by the storybook's potential and ate dry instant noodles to recover his energy.
• The curtain rose, and William instructed the audience to put on Play Skulls and enter the performance through their senses.
• The audience's view shifted to a snowy night and a massive estate on a snow-covered mountain.

Eldest Daughter Jennifer returned to the Bellow mansion with her fiancé, Calvin Frey, as a blizzard trapped the family and guests inside. After the power failed, Jennifer and Nash prepared to investigate Layton Bellow’s identity while the people in the mansion revealed sinister sides.

• Jennifer and Calvin arrived at the Bellow mansion during a heavy blizzard, where Nurse Ima and Officer Yumaz warned them that the roads and phone lines were cut.
• Jennifer learned her younger sister Sharon had been kept at home since Jennifer left, and electrician Dick Drum was allowed to stay overnight after the power system failed.
• Layton Bellow, Sebastian Wilkerson, and Sharon joined the others, and Layton excluded Calvin from the dinner table, prompting Jennifer to angrily confront her father.
• A dead pigeon smashed through the dining room window, and the storm forced everyone to remain in the mansion for the night.
• The generator suddenly went out, revealing sinister smiles among the guests and family as a seal deep within the mansion began to loosen.
• Jennifer revealed her stitched, monstrous body to Nash, a Gu Worm symbiotically joined to her, and they set out to investigate Layton’s identity.

Yi Chen, disguised as Jennifer, moved through the mansion to kill Layton Bello while trying to identify the other performers. He found Layton already brutally murdered, leaving the killer unknown.

• Calvin returned with a travel bag and snow shovel, made unwanted advances toward Jennifer, then escaped through the window after she left.
• Yi Chen left the room, resumed his mission to kill Layton, and encountered Nurse Ima, who warned him not to disturb the master and advised caution around Calvin.
• On the first floor, Policeman Sebastian threatened to shoot Jennifer if she tried to kill Layton, while Nash restrained Yi Chen from retaliating.
• Yi Chen reached Layton's study and found Layton dead, his face smashed and abdomen cut open, but could not determine who had killed him.

After Chief Clown Yate killed The Master and framed Jennifer, Yi Chen investigated the study and discovered a hidden passage beneath Bello Manor. He descended to uncover the family’s secrets as the Policeman encountered a dangerous masked woman in the mansion.

• The audience watched Bablo Finger Intestine’s brutal death in The Master’s study, and William reacted with concern about Yi Chen’s ability to handle the situation.
• Nash warned Yi Chen that Jennifer would become the prime suspect, but Yi Chen examined the corpse and concluded that the killer had carefully staged the scene to frame her.
• Yi Chen found a blood-activated switch among the bookshelves, opened a secret passage, and went underground to investigate the manor’s secrets while staying out of sight.
• The Policeman waited for Jennifer to leave the study, then headed upstairs and encountered a long-haired, masked woman who seemed to be a dangerous creature summoned by the rising Danger Value.