Chapter Summaries

Lorien created a temporary moon to preserve his independence, then sensed that William had lost his eyes and rushed into Central Park. There, William used the moon’s inverted form to gather the story’s projections into one body, and Yi Chen destroyed it with a single slash that split the dark moon and ended the story.

• Lorien used moon crystals to create a Moon Embryo, which consumed half the city before becoming a Disposable Moon.
• Lorien sensed that William’s eyes had been erased and entered the story-affected park.
• William and Yi Chen realized their enemy was a story rather than an individual, and William transformed into his Abyss Body.
• William inverted the Disposable Moon, using its gravity to draw the evil women together into the story’s true body.
• Yi Chen struck down the gathered evil woman, splitting the dark moon and erasing the story.

After William and Yi Chen defeated the Dark Moon, William negotiated with the Lung Celestial Venerable over their rewards and learned more about the Old World and the crisis in the Prime Material Plane. William gave Lorien a Token of Soldier and arranged for Yi Chen to receive the purple lung, leaving the old man to implant it in him.

• William and the paralyzed Yi Chen landed outside the park after the Dark Moon fell, and Lorien watched from a nearby skyscraper.
• The Lung Celestial Venerable arrived with his purple lung and offered William a Token of Soldier and other rewards for killing the Human Body Collector.
• William gave the Token of Soldier to Lorien, who accepted it, and asked the old man about the Focus of Infection and the Prime Material Plane’s crisis.
• The Lung Celestial Venerable explained that the Focus of Infection was a contained Chaotic Neutral world, while the slain evil was Chaotic Evil, and said he would take the Dragon Lung Cultivators back to train them.
• William asked the Lung Celestial Venerable to implant his purple lung in Yi Chen, who cut open his chest, and the old man’s Purple Qi entered him.

After Yi Chen accepted the Purple Lung, William seized the Vile Filth left by the Dark Moon and was drawn into a vision where a Story Narrator offered him a reward. William claimed a hidden prize, a complete Human Body Collector storybook, and woke in a hospital with the book beside him.

• William revealed that he had created an incomplete Second Body for Yi Chen, and Yi Chen’s acceptance of the Purple Lung strengthened it.
• The Lung God explained that the city barrier would fall and the Gu Dragon Sick Ones could pass through the Lung Temple to his Immortal Palace.
• William and Yi Chen challenged the Lung God for the Vile Filth, then returned to the park with Lorien to examine it.
• William touched the shattered black crystal, which entered his body and transported his consciousness to a dark street where Daria Mico lay dead.
• A Story Narrator offered William a reward from Daria’s corpse, and William drew a hidden prize: a complete Human Body Collector storybook.
• William awoke on an iron bed in a hospital room with the evil-aura storybook beside his pillow.

William examined the storybook he had acquired and learned it could bring the book’s urban legends into reality when read aloud. He remained without his right eye, but Lorien gave him a moon-crystal monocle that restored a limited silver-and-black image as William planned to consult Yi Chen about recovering the lost concept.

• William checked himself for evil and spoke with Yi Chen, who warned that losing his right eye had affected his completeness and might be difficult to reverse.
• Lorien, Doctor Fana, and Jessica visited William, and Lorien gave him a moon-crystal monocle that let him see through the missing eye in silver and black.
• Lorien angrily scolded William for losing an important sense without preparation, then explained that the storybook could not be touched by others and always returned to William if moved away.
• William opened and read the storybook, causing a dangerous woman from its urban legend to appear in the ward.
• William shut the book to end the manifestation, and Lorien left for Chaos Tower while William stayed behind to study the book and consult Yi Chen.

William tested whether his Human Body Collector urban legend could harvest fear, then planned to split up with Yi Chen: Yi Chen would go to the Original Tomb while William pursued performances and the restoration of his right eye. The story then shifted to the City of Lights, where an unusual dark-arena competition drew dangerous groups and a mysterious contestant.

• William told the Little Nurse a frightening elevator story and extracted a wisp of Essence of Fear from her.
• William and Yi Chen discussed Nash's role, and Yi Chen agreed to treat Nash as a partner rather than a tool.
• William proposed that Yi Chen and Nash travel to the Original Tomb while he staged performances to collect fear and restore his right eye.
• William said he expected Little Grape to find him once his theater grew stronger.
• In the City of Lights, Ignasi, organizers held an unlit arena competition to attract visitors and promote their lamps.
• Anti-Evil Sun groups entered the competition, alongside a contestant who used his own abilities for light and handled four ancient eyeballs.

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.