Chapter Summaries

Bram Stoker experimented with a blood-and-wine concoction while arranging to send an old troll to Parthia as a Ritual Mage. He confessed that his bestselling novel had invented parts of the troll’s past, but an unknown force abruptly stopped Bram as he tried to flee.

• Bram tested a black, pulsing substance in wine and ordered the old troll to use a curse to locate Iver.
• Bram offered to send the old troll to Parthia to work for Adil, promising comfort and threatening him when he resisted.
• Bram recounted the troll’s history and explained that his novel had falsely portrayed him as eating his companion, Babi Mu, to strengthen the story.
• The old troll insisted Babi Mu had fallen into the water and that he had not eaten her, but Bram told him to accept the novel’s inventions for the sake of the plot.
• Bram suddenly sensed danger and tried to flee, but time slowed, the room dimmed, and a yellowish light froze him in midair.

Bram Stoker used stolen powers and Blood Wine to transform into a giant, but Pure White and the Pope Guard stopped him before his ritual was complete. The old troll then admitted that he had cursed Zumai Di.

• Bram Stoker scattered into bats and used the confusion to reach the table and drink the Blood Wine.
• Iver attacked Bram with a fire butterfly after Lily alerted him, but Bram transformed into a towering giant.
• The Pope Guard fought Bram as Iver recognized him as the Wildfire Giant Utgarda-Loki and Pure White identified his abilities as theft from the Path of Adaptation.
• Pure White opened an ancient wooden door and unleashed freezing wind, allowing the Pope Guard to cut off Bram’s arm and freeze him until his giant form shattered.
• Bram returned to human form and was bound by Lines of Light, while Sherlock realized his ritual was unfinished because he had drunk the wine too soon.
• The old troll admitted that he had cursed Zumai Di.

Old Rabbihe revealed that he had cursed his own tribesmen to draw Iver and Sherlock to him, hoping to expose Bram’s crimes and secure his rescue. Bram was taken away for interrogation, while Iver left with the others after beating him unconscious several times.

• Old Rabbihe explained that he had staged brief curses against Zumai Di and Babu Lu to lead the church to him and reveal where Red Wine Mister was.
• Sherlock realized Old Rabbihe had deliberately risked killing two young trolls because their deaths would force Theocracy’s authorities to act.
• Sherlock recognized Old Rabbihe as the possible inspiration for The Troll Wizard’s Escape, and Pure White ordered Bram held while his crimes were investigated.
• Bram threatened Iver, who struck him repeatedly with his scepter, knocked out his teeth, and warned him to repent.
• Iver, Lily, Sherlock, and Little Rabbihe left, while Pure White ordered Bram taken to the Eighteenth Circle and told her people to investigate the buyer.

Little Rabbihe explained the Beast Song Tribe’s customs and unfair trade with the Iris People, then asked Iver to help establish trade with Avalon. Iver agreed to connect the tribe with Avalon’s government, leaving Sherlock responsible for following up.

• Little Rabbihe left his grandfather to thank Iver and Sherlock, and explained that trolls considered Curse Masters descendants of sinners.
• Sherlock asked Little Rabbihe about the Iris People’s trade, and Rabbihe described exchanging goods at grossly unfair rates.
• Sherlock calculated that the Iris People made at least fifty times their costs, while Rabbihe said even goblins offered better prices.
• Iver realized Little Rabbihe wanted to trade with Avalon and introduced himself as a leading commercial official.
• Little Rabbihe invited Avalon representatives to the Beast Song Tribe, and Sherlock promised to contact the Privy Council Minister after returning.

Iver learned that the Southern Continent had few Fifth Level users and suspected the Controlled Fire Movement was connected to Professor Moriarty. After Old Rabbihe hinted that Iver was stronger than his father, Iver and Sherlock went to find Freya, arriving at her laboratory while she was still asleep.

• Iver saw Bram and Old Rabbihe taken away in Triangular Light Shackles, and Little Rabbihe learned that his grandfather had cursed Zumai Di.
• Old Rabbihe told Iver that he was far stronger than his father, leaving Iver and Sherlock wondering whether he meant Professor Moriarty.
• Iver agreed to witness Pure White's meeting with Master Yanis the next day, then chose to visit Freya with Sherlock and Lily.
• Iver and his companions ate at a Lizardman curry restaurant before asking local elves to help locate Freya.
• The elves led Iver to Freya's villa-like laboratory and remarked that she might still be asleep; Iver knocked on the door.

Iver and Sherlock visited Yanis’s friend Freya, but Yanis said she was busy and explained why she had stayed away from Grey for two hundred years. Yanis also told them about the writer Gloria Blue Rose, and Sherlock revealed that Gloria had died by suicide.

• Iver and Sherlock knocked repeatedly at Freya’s door, but no one answered until Yanis arrived and let them inside.
• Yanis explained that she had meant to travel for twenty years, stayed away for over eighty, and then lost the courage to return to Grey.
• Yanis described her friend’s Amberization Disease, writing, and interest in using Iver and Sherlock as models for a novel.
• Sherlock recognized Gloria Blue Rose’s name and told Yanis that Gloria was dead and had died by suicide.

Iver and Yanis discussed Gloria’s sudden death and the possibility that it was connected to the unrest in the Theocracy, while Iver kept Grey’s Amberization secret. Freya recognized Iver as her brother, and the group gathered at her home, where she offered them Elixir of Immortality.

• Yanis told Iver and Sherlock that she had met Gloria twice, most recently about two and a half months earlier, when Gloria was preparing a new book.
• Iver suspected Gloria’s sudden decline and death might be connected to the Controlled Fire Movement and Loki, but decided not to reveal Grey’s condition to Yanis.
• Freya emerged from her room, recognized Iver as her brother, and greeted him and Lily with delighted but awkward affection.
• Yanis told Freya that Gloria had died, but Freya brushed the news aside and invited everyone inside.
• Freya offered Iver Elixir of Immortality to drink.

Iver toured Freya’s chaotic laboratory and learned how her salvaged ancient elven machinery ran on Holy Tree Blood. Freya explained that she had obtained the equipment by promising to develop a treatment for Amberization Disease, then declared that she could do it because she was a genius.

• Freya showed Iver her laboratory and explained how its Lightforged Furnace powered the equipment using Holy Tree Blood.
• Freya described an ancient elven device that extracted and purified liquids, while Yanis criticized its size, energy use, and upkeep.
• Freya told Sherlock that ancient elves had followed several Paths and preserved their abandoned traditions and technologies in ruins on the Sixth and Seventh Layers.
• Freya revealed that she had promised the elves a medicine to slow or cure Amberization Disease in exchange for the equipment.
• Lily asked whether Freya could really treat Amberization Disease, and Freya proclaimed herself a genius and the daughter of James Moriarty.

Freya revealed that she was a Fifth Level Trailblazer and showed Iver and Yanis her inventions, including a substance that could forcibly trigger Amberization Disease. The chapter ended when Freya noticed that a third of the dangerous substance was missing.

• Freya told Iver that she was a Fifth Level Trailblazer and had made progress researching a treatment for Amberization Disease.
• Freya showed Iver her protective helmet and invented shampoo, offering him samples despite Yanis reminding her that Avalon and Antimony were at war.
• Freya revealed a sealed medicine called Tears of Time that could induce Amberization Disease with certainty, alarming Yanis.
• Freya claimed that inducing the disease meant a cure was only one step away, then noticed that one-third of the Tears of Time was missing.

Freya revealed that the missing Tears of Time could be used to rapidly kill elves with Amberization, possibly linking Gloria’s death to Controlled Fire and Cardinal Loki. Her research also showed that elven longevity came from a blessing of the Amber Angel, raising the possibility that elves’ lifespans were beginning to decline and that their society faced a grave crisis.

• Master Yanis wanted to inform Cardinal Loki about the stolen Tears of Time, but Iver and Sherlock cautioned her because they suspected him.
• Freya said the missing potion could affect more than ten people slowly, while three drops could rapidly trigger Amberization in a healthy elf.
• Iver and Sherlock considered that an extremist in Controlled Fire could use the potion as an execution drug, and Sherlock questioned Freya about her research.
• Freya explained that elves’ long lifespans were an inherited blessing from the Amber Angel rather than a natural trait.
• Iver connected Freya’s findings to the earlier lifting of Amberization Disease and feared the elves’ lifespans were declining, threatening widespread upheaval.

Freya explained how the Tears of Time could affect elves and why she had been developing them as a treatment for Amberization Disease. After destroying her remaining supply, the group realized the theft and the killings of Grey’s friends were likely a warning that Grey was next, with the Pope Election only two weeks away.

• Freya explained that the Tears of Time could kill pure-blooded elves and might purify Half-Elves’ bloodlines, while the Elixir of Immortality safely extended lifespans slightly.
• Freya said she hoped to use the Tears of Time as an artificial replacement for the Amber Angel’s blessing while treating Amberization Disease.
• Iver suspected his Sin Thorns Fruit might help reverse amberization and decided to show Freya one if he obtained another.
• At Yanis’s urging, Freya destroyed her three-month supply of Tears of Time by heating it.
• Yanis warned that Grey might be attacked on March third, and Iver revealed that Gloria and Bishop Mercedes had been killed and one corpse had been placed in his wardrobe as a possible threat to Grey.

Iver and the others discussed how the Eternal Theocracy’s divided structure could let the Cardinals pursue competing paths while the Pope was unconscious. They planned separate investigations, and Iver left to meet Cardinal Loki again after asking the others to come rescue him if he did not return.

• Yanis became furious when she learned someone had endangered Grey, and Iver explained that the Pope’s Treeification Disease had worsened and he could not be awakened.
• Freya and Yanis explained that the Theocracy consisted of independently ruled Rings and that its history and rules allowed the Cardinals’ factions to divide and compete.
• Iver assigned Lily and Freya to find Oswald, Sherlock to find Yunus, and Yanis to tell the Pure White Saintess about their troubles and ask about Iver’s dates.
• Iver decided to meet Cardinal Loki alone, warned the others to rescue him if he did not return, and reminded Sherlock not to disappear without telling anyone where he was going.

Iver was drawn into the Dream Realm, where Heaven Rakshasa protected him from the Bear Angel and promised to aid him if he ever faced the Bear Angel directly. Iver awoke with a third bear-claw mark and gained the Authority - Mark of Three trait.

• Iver kept his distance from Isabel because he feared the Bear Angel's mark could put her and Morgan's Funhouse in danger.
• Iver woke in the Dream Realm as a burned, four-legged beast beside a campfire, where a spirit maiden examined his sacred marks.
• Heaven Rakshasa explained that he had brought Iver to the Dream Realm to shield his soul from the Bear Angel.
• Heaven Rakshasa promised to become Iver's aid if the Bear Angel fought him directly in the Dream Realm.
• Iver awoke with a deeper bear-claw scar and received the Authority - Mark of Three trait.

Yanis returned to the Twenty-First Ring and confessed to Grey about the Tears of Time and her long absence. Grey forgave her, revealed that she had Amberized, and handed over Iver’s dates; Yanis then learned Cardinal Loki was under investigation and realized Iver had gone to confront him alone.

• Yanis walked through the Twenty-First Ring’s Infinity Corridor to meet Grey, the Pure White Saintess.
• Grey told Yanis she had waited for her for one hundred and ninety-five years, and Yanis confessed her cowardice and revealed the secrets of the Elixir of Immortality and the stolen Tears of Time.
• Grey forgave Yanis, then revealed that she had Amberized and could no longer succeed the Pope.
• Grey crushed Yanis’s recording brooch to protect Yanis and Freya, and gave Yanis the ring containing Iver’s dates for Freya to examine.
• Grey told Yanis that Cardinal Loki was under investigation and that evidence linked him to Bram’s giant power.
• Yanis revealed that Iver had gone to find Cardinal Loki alone and hurried to intervene.

Freya and Lily searched for Mr. Oswald in the Theocracy’s Second Ring, where Freya revealed her past bond with Lily and Iver. They found Oswald’s address was a bar, but the deafening crowd left them wondering whether he could really be there.

• Freya used her connections to learn that Oswald had returned and was living in the Second Ring.
• Lily and Freya discussed the Second Ring’s peaceful, diverse community as they made their way through it.
• Freya revealed that she had cared for Lily and Iver when they were young, and explained how the curse had shifted Iver’s memories of her onto Lily.
• Lily told Freya that Iver was about to become engaged to Queen Isabel, surprising Freya with the Queen’s age.
• Freya and Lily reached Oswald’s address, a crowded bar where patrons erupted in celebration over a unicorn appearing on a crystal screen.

Freya and Lily reunited with Oswald in the Theocracy, where he had settled into a cheerful retirement after being freed from his duties as a Guardian Elf. After hearing about their recent troubles, Oswald recognized the name Cardinal Loki and said his master had mentioned him.

• Freya and Lily found Oswald celebrating a football match in a bar with Robert and the other patrons.
• Oswald greeted Freya and explained that Yulia was well, Iver no longer needed him, Edward was on the right track, and the Moriarty Family had released him from his guardianship.
• Oswald told Lily that he had found his master in the Theocracy and that the Pope had refused to see him, prompting him to wonder whether something had happened to the Pope and whether Iver was nearby.
• Freya said Iver had chosen to handle an important matter alone, and Oswald led the women to a teahouse to talk.
• Freya recounted their recent encounters, and Oswald recalled that his master had recently mentioned Cardinal Loki.

Freya learned that James Moriarty had studied astrology under Cardinal Loki, while Iver suspected Loki was the Wildfire Giant Utgarda-Loki and went to confront him. Loki revealed that James was his enemy and called him a rebellious, mad student, leaving Iver to face a threat tied to his father’s past.

• Oswald told Freya that James Moriarty had studied astrology under Cardinal Loki and that James was handling a matter involving something Loki had stolen.
• Iver reasoned that Loki might be the Wildfire Giant Utgarda-Loki and prepared Viennes with enhanced power and blessings.
• Iver brought Viennes, disguised as a raven, to the Eleventh Ring, where guides led him to Loki.
• Loki told Iver that James Moriarty had been his student and that James, not Bear Angel or Supreme Heaven, was the enemy pursuing him.

Iver questioned Cardinal Loki about his connection to James Moriarty and his role in the stolen Tears of Time. Loki revealed that he wanted to promote Controlled Fire to protect the Nine Pillars God Church, leaving Iver to recognize the doctrine of Premature Death behind Loki’s plan.

• Cardinal Loki told Iver that he was a fragment of Ring Angel recreated by Jacob and that James Moriarty had learned Loki’s Observation Secret Rite.
• Loki explained that Moriarty studied astrology with him, learned many secrets, and later changed after meeting the witch Anna Kingsford.
• Loki admitted that he had stolen the Tears of Time and confirmed that he had attacked Purity, while denying that he cared about becoming Pope.
• Loki said he intended to promote Controlled Fire, sever the elves’ inheritance, and preserve the Nine Pillars God Church rather than the Eternal Theocracy.
• Iver concluded that Loki’s plan relied on Premature Death, allowing elves at risk of Condensation to die before they could harm others.

Iver realized that Loki had stolen the Tears of Time to target the Pure White Saintess and frame Freya, but Professor Moriarty had orchestrated Mercedes’s death and Gloria’s breakdown. Loki revealed that a forbidden ritual had created a Saint Child carrying giant blood—and that the child was his—as a hidden attacker struck at Iver.

• Iver reconsidered Loki’s statements and concluded that Gloria killed Mercedes before breaking down, rather than being driven to murder by the Tears of Time.
• Loki explained that he had concealed parts of the truth because they served his plan, while James had used the ritual and two doomed lives to interfere with him.
• Loki revealed that Mercedes’s ritual was intended to create a Child of the Moon Saint, and that James had placed part of his soul inside the unborn child.
• Iver connected Bram’s giant transformation to the child’s giant blood, and Loki admitted that the child in Mercedes’s womb was his.
• Viennes sensed danger and transformed, but a scarlet streak hidden in a mirror slashed toward Iver.

Iver and the Night Demon fought Cardinal Loki in the mirror-filled Eleventh Ring, using shadow curses and magic to overcome his divine arts. The Night Demon crushed Loki’s phantom heart, killing him before he could self-destruct.

• Iver vanished into a shadow storm as the Night Demon trapped Loki’s blood-colored attack with curses.
• Loki unleashed Advanced Divine Arts while Iver used the Book of Law and mirror images to attack and distract him.
• The Night Demon immobilized Loki and the priests with shadowy hands, then severed Loki’s Sin Thorns with the Thunder Strike Halberd.
• Loki praised the Candleholder and began to self-destruct, but the Night Demon pinned him with three curse spears and stripped away his blessings.
• The Night Demon pulled out and crushed Loki’s phantom heart, and he collapsed dead.