Chapter Summaries

Yulia told Isabel that Nobel wanted her to accompany him to an alchemist competition in Stibnite to clear his name, and Isabel suspected Yulia was the real target of a conspiracy. Isabel decided she would travel with Yulia on a state visit, while Yulia worried about falling behind as Iver prepared to advance to the Fifth Level.

• Isabel visited Yulia in disguise, and the two friends joked and spoke affectionately in Yulia's room.
• Yulia explained that Nobel's supposed student had claimed Nobel's inventions and patents, prompting Nobel to plan a return to Stibnite with Yulia for an alchemist competition.
• Isabel and Yulia suspected the scheme was a conspiracy, and Isabel realized Yulia might be its intended target.
• Yulia considered refusing to go, but Isabel said she would accompany her on a state visit and bring the Queen Guard to protect Yulia and Nobel.
• Isabel said they would wait for the snow to stop and for her to consult Aleister in her dreams; Yulia then fretted that Iver was nearing the Fifth Level while she had not reached the Fourth.

As Stibnite reeled from Narcissus Principality’s independence and rumors of deaths among its leaders, economic collapse and public anger erupted into widespread looting and violence. Black Eagle Principality declared independence, and the Department of the Army announced that Stibnite had entered a state of anarchy and would impose martial law.

• As the snow began to ease, Stibnite’s newspapers spread conflicting reports about Winter Angel’s ascension, Narcissus Principality’s independence, and the deaths or disappearances of major leaders.
• Stibnite residents blamed Black Eagle soldiers for abandoning the northern war, while the loss of Narcissus’s financial support deepened the economic crisis and Leipzig’s government departments began shutting down.
• On the evening of March 31, Black Eagle Principality declared independence.
• As desperation and resentment surged, supernatural beings and masked Stibnite police looted banks and shops, and deadly fights broke out across the city.
• The Children of the Moon gathered at the royal palace, while the Department of the Army declared a state of anarchy and announced martial law would begin the next day.

Prince Siya Erduo agreed to cooperate with Master Walter and the Academy’s plan to make him King of Stibium, while secretly relying on Honey Badger and seeking Aleister’s insight. Aleister explained that Stibium’s leaders had gambled on the Ouroboros Ring Ritual because they believed they had no other choice, leaving the country’s future tied to its outcome.

• Master Walter told Prince Siya Erduo that the Academy and Department of the Army would support his bid to become King and predicted Stibium would stabilize by May.
• After Master Walter left, Honey Badger revealed that she had deliberately let him sense her presence to show the Academy that Siya Erduo had his own backing.
• Siya Erduo asked Honey Badger to find out why Master Walter expected Stibium to recover by May, despite the world growing more chaotic.
• Aleister appeared and told Siya Erduo that his prediction was right: the world would descend into irreversible chaos, and the plans built around that chaos would ultimately fail.
• Aleister explained that Stibium’s leaders had gone all-in on the Ouroboros Ring Ritual because they saw no alternative to using its power to suppress the coming violence.

Iver and Aleister began separate preparations for the New Moon promotion ritual, with Iver refusing extra escorts so he could protect his friends and offer himself if necessary. Aleister entered the Dream Realm, where the Candle Holder Apostle appeared briefly and warned that the ritual could be vital to her.

• Iver rejected Cardinal Matilda’s offer to bring more Ascenders, explaining that he would rather risk himself than deprive others of a chance to succeed.
• Iver changed into an archbishop’s robe and lay on the prepared ritual bed as Cyril Cardinal presided over the ritual.
• Aleister performed her blood ritual in Leipzig and declared that all eight others would die before being drawn into the Dream Realm.
• Aleister found the nine chairs empty beneath a black crescent moon and saw the Candle Holder Apostle glowing above the Blood Sea.
• The Candle Holder Apostle told Aleister he had come to see her and urged her to perform well, then vanished, leaving a statue of Winged Flame behind.

Iver and Aleister reunited in the Preparation Room before their Promotion Ritual, and Aleister named him Sun while he named her Great Serpent. Other Promoters arrived, and Laro’s sudden curse at Andrea Walter left the room stunned.

• Aleister greeted Iver in No. 14’s body and asked him to call her Great Serpent.
• Iver and Aleister exchanged names, with Aleister choosing Sun for Iver.
• A Great Mage, Laro, and Andrea Walter appeared among the other Promoters.
• The Great Mage recognized Laro, who teased him about their past and his ties to the Children of the Moon.
• Andrea challenged the Great Mage over his remark about the Children of the Moon, and Laro abruptly cursed at her.

Iver and Aleister gathered with the other participants in the New Moon Ritual, most of whom had ties to Aleister, as the Stibnite figures erupted into a bitter argument. The final participant, Sour Wine, arrived just before Winged Flame ended the fighting, leaving the ritual poised to begin with its examiner already exasperated.

• Iver identified the old mage as Pelican, Clown Laro as a court jester presumed dead, and the woman beside Laro as Princess Noel Valentine.
• Laro traded insults with Andrea Walter, repeatedly drawing her anger back onto himself while Aleister joined in and taunted her.
• Professor Lasimi appeared, and Andrea accused him of betraying Valentine VII and Prince Heinrich by luring them to the Spirit Tower.
• Sour Wine arrived as the ninth participant and mistook the participants’ quarrel for fierce competition in the ritual.
• Winged Flame awakened the stone statue and shouted for everyone to stop arguing, after apparently waiting for all participants to arrive.

Winged Flame explained the dangerous rules of the New Moon Promotion Ritual, including its death-based victory conditions and the consequences of failure. As the ritual began, Iver realized that dying early might give him a strategic advantage.

• Winged Flame announced that the ritual would last three hours and select three winners by points, while participants had to survive and complete a special victory condition.
• Winged Flame explained that participants could surrender by raising a hand and saying “I surrender,” though doing so counted as ritual failure and could carry injuries back to reality.
• Winged Flame revealed the conditions “Three Choices, One,” “Sin-Laden,” and “Holy Resurrection,” including that cursed souls could interfere with killers and the highest-scoring dead participant could be resurrected to win.
• Iver reasoned that dying early might let him observe opponents and earn points as a soul, while the survivors would still face a timed elimination.
• Sandro asked Winged Flame about the duration and frequency of the Sin-Laden curse, and learned that it lasted three minutes, could be used once per hour, and could cause considerable trouble.
• Winged Flame began the ritual, and the world sank into darkness.

Iver awakened inside a vivid oil-painted ballroom and deciphered the Candlebearer’s cryptic promotion ritual, which revolved around completing paintings and escaping. He resolved to learn how to complete a painting and find the other candidates, especially Aleister.

• Iver realized the smiling guests and white Candlebearer statue were part of an oil painting, then matched the guests’ expressions to join their dance.
• Winged Flame explained that Iver had awakened without knowing who he was or why he was there, and the ritual listed three paintings with competing completion routes.
• Iver reasoned that candidates would have to compete over each painting’s outcome, though the dead could still influence the ritual and vie for victory through points.
• Iver concluded that surviving alone was not enough: he needed to complete a painting and escape, or die with the highest score to win.
• Iver decided to investigate how to complete a painting and search for the other candidates, preferably Aleister.

Iver realized the banquet in the painting was not a real historical scene but a human painter’s imagined version of the past. The chapter left him startled when Sasha said the arriving host was her son, Cain, whose existence contradicted the history Iver knew.

• Iver danced while listening to the guests and learned from Sasha that she had arrived two days earlier and was Lord Zagreus’s lover.
• Iver recognized that Sasha and the other guests looked human, unlike the elves who would have attended a banquet in the Banquet Lord’s era.
• Iver concluded that the painting was created during the human era and drew on records of Sister Sasha, while its details reflected the painter’s mistakes and imagination.
• After Iver finished his wine, Sasha announced that the banquet’s host was her son, Cain.
• Iver realized Cain could not have existed during Zagreus’s era and was baffled by the painter’s historical error.

At the banquet celebrating Zagreus’s death, Iver faced a timed choice between three explanations for the feast and chose Funeral and Sacrifice. He returned to the dance floor as other people entered the painting, while Aleister appeared in a vivid, childlike world and ordered an attack.

• Cain arrived at the banquet, led the guests in toasts to Zagreus, and transformed the gathering into a wild feast.
• Time froze, and Iver found three doors labeled Funeral and Sacrifice, Celebration and Revelry, and Madness and Slaughter.
• Iver chose Funeral and Sacrifice, then found doors marked by different numbers of lit Three Petal Flower petals before returning to the banquet.
• Iver noticed the dance floor had grown crowded and saw a blonde woman invite Cain to dance.
• Aleister, transformed into a red fire fox, ordered a crow to attack a staff-wielding baboon in another world.

Aleister used her knowledge of Jacob’s fairy tale “White Horse King” to align herself with the White Horse and steer him toward challenging the Giant Bear. After the baboon mage fled to the Golden Lion, the Lion revealed he would never allow the White Horse to rule.

• Aleister recognized the animal world as the setting of Jacob’s fairy tale and identified its characters with figures from the Land Partition War and the War of Heavenly Punishment.
• Aleister joined the White Horse, while a baboon mage arrived and demanded to become his adviser; Aleister attacked, but the mage escaped through a portal.
• Aleister persuaded the White Horse to distrust the baboon’s motives and the Golden Lion’s ambitions, and the White Horse agreed to investigate the Lion.
• The baboon mage reached the Golden Lion and reported that the White Horse wanted to become king.
• The Golden Lion told the baboon that the White Horse could serve him but could never rule, because subjects would not fear a king who shared their food and way of life.

Sandro, the old mage known as Pelican, identified the Great Serpent as Duchess Bayard and devised a plan to survive the New Moon Ritual. He then realized the ritual let participants reshape a painting’s meaning by altering its events, and believed this insight guaranteed his victory.

• Sandro concluded that the Great Serpent was Duchess Bayard, a powerful Child of the Moon allied with the Church, and decided to avoid opposing her.
• He planned to act as a strategist, help multiple groups complete their paintings, and use his contributions to secure enough points to survive.
• Sandro reconsidered the Snow White Queen painting and wondered whether its figures could represent the Beast Lord and the Constant Self rather than the Empire and Silver Crowned Dragon.
• He realized that participants could change a painting’s meaning by removing events that did not fit the future they wanted, thereby twisting the past.
• Sandro understood that the ritual’s choices were possible stories to create, not correct answers, and concluded that he was guaranteed to win.

Iver and Princess Noel investigated the banquet’s strange history and realized they might have to correct its contradictions themselves. Andrea exposed Cain as an impostor and stabbed him with poisonous crystal spikes, leaving his fate uncertain.

• Iver questioned Andrea’s devotion to the Blood Angel while dancing with Sasha.
• Princess Noel joined Iver, and they discussed the banquet’s references to the Mad Dragon and the Host of the Banquet’s death.
• Iver and Noel reasoned that the banquet might depict a history that never happened and that they needed to identify and correct its false details.
• Andrea pierced Cain with scarlet crystal spikes and accused him of pretending to be a Child of the Moon.
• Iver realized Andrea had attacked Cain because his body contained no Child of the Moon blood.

Iver realized Andrea was exploiting the painting’s hidden rules to kill key characters and seize contribution points, so he and Princess Noel intervened. Andrea unleashed a massacre, but Iver fought back with divine arts and petrified her, though the battle’s outcome remained uncertain.

• Iver realized Andrea had planned to kill Cain during their dance and suspected that the woman claiming to be Sasha was an impostor.
• Iver told Princess Noel to kill Sasha, and Noel destroyed her before Andrea could claim the contribution points.
• Andrea recognized that Noel had stolen points from her and attacked the guests with blood swords, then tried to kill everyone in the painting.
• Iver blocked Andrea’s Fireball with Nine Pillar Gods Protection and attacked her with the Fire of Petrification and a pitch-black gale.
• Andrea fired soul-purifying lightning into the darkness, but Iver’s petrifying flame struck her and turned her to stone.

Iver petrified Andrea and explained the formidable abilities of Blood Lords, while Princess Noel admitted that courage was the only resource she had left amid Antimony’s collapse. Iver told her that risking herself was avoidance, not courage, and that it would solve none of her problems.

• Iver petrified Andrea as she prepared to unleash a powerful lightning strike, and her statue shattered when she fell.
• Iver explained that Andrea was likely a Blood Lord, whose flexible spellcasting and extraordinary vitality made her difficult to kill.
• Princess Noel described Antimony’s political and economic collapse and her inability to find a way to save the country.
• Noel said she had entered the dangerous advancement trial because courage was the last thing she could offer.
• Iver told Noel that her self-endangerment was avoidance meant to preserve her self-esteem, not a solution to Antimony’s crisis.

Iver realized the banquet was a ritual recreating Sister Sasha’s sacrifice, then presided over it by offering his own flesh and killing the guests to complete the Candle Holder’s sacred rite. He asked Noel to dismember and kill him so he could revive, leaving her to decide whether she could survive their coming fight.

• Noel admitted she had been seeking danger to find courage, and she and Iver agreed they would fight when he no longer needed to cooperate with her, without ambushing each other.
• Iver recognized that the funeral and sacrifice choices reflected a ritual imitating Sister Sasha’s ascent, and concluded that the sleeping girl in Amber was the Forbidden wrapped in Amber.
• Iver declared himself the Banquet Master and began the funeral, cutting his wrists and gouging out his eyes before leading the guests to offer themselves and staining the Candle Holder statue with divine blood.
• Iver explained that the guests had eaten the Banquet Master’s flesh and were repaying the debt by joining the Endless Mad Banquet, then killed them all.
• Iver asked Noel to cut off his hands and feet, remove some skin, and kill him so the remaining blood could complete the ritual and allow him to revive.

Iver completed the Candle Holder’s Promotion Ritual by sacrificing his limbs and head, transforming the dead guests and musicians into a final, joyous dance. He chose the Grand Banquet door and finished the ritual, leaving behind a painting of the crimson revelry.

• Noel skinned Iver and severed his limbs and head to carry out his sacrifice.
• Iver offered his body parts as the Banquetor, transforming the Candle Holder and igniting the dead guests and musicians in red flames.
• A dead young man pulled Noel into the guests’ wild dance, which ended with the guests and musicians reduced to skeletons.
• Iver saw that petrified Andrea’s soul had not emerged, then faced the question of why the guests had died and chose the Grand Banquet door.
• Iver’s ritual became a painting of the crimson revelry, and a voice declared “Endless Mad Banquet” completed.

Iver entered the second painting and found Old Sandro dead, then learned that Clown Laro was the only living ascender there. The painting’s survivors had become animals, and Old Sandro identified Laro as a dog sunning himself nearby.

• Iver examined the three doors and wondered why two votes had disappeared from the third painting’s tally.
• Iver entered the second painting and met Old Sandro, whose spirit appeared beside him.
• Old Sandro explained that the ritual rewarded contributions and that fighting wasted time, then complained that the Great Serpent had killed him despite his withdrawal.
• Iver asked who remained alive, and Old Sandro said Clown Laro had become a dog sunning himself nearby.

Alester killed the old mage to keep the other Promoters from cooperating, then discovered that his staff held the Fire Tetrahedron, an Angel Shard of the Geometric Angel. As the Fallen Angel’s arrival approached, she planned to seek more shards and strengthen Iver so he could survive their coming fight.

• Alester rode on the white horse while examining the baboon’s staff, which she had taken after killing the old mage.
• Alester explained that she had killed the mage to isolate the remaining Promoters and prevent them from working together.
• Alester recognized the staff’s gemstone as the Fire Tetrahedron, an Angel Shard that held part of the Geometric Angel’s power.
• Alester considered recovering the staff in the Material Realm and using Angel Shards to strengthen the Paradox Flame Butterfly.
• As the Fallen Angel’s arrival neared, Alester resolved to seek other geometric shards and do whatever it took to help Iver win.

Aleister questioned whether the White Horse truly represented Arthur and suspected the ritual concealed a deeper story. She met Old Dog Laro, who explained his views on Stibnite and Narcissus and revealed he had entered the ritual prepared to die.

• Aleister noticed the White Horse's hesitation and suspected it was not entirely modeled on Arthur.
• Aleister reviewed the ritual's choices and asked whether horses could eat meat before leaving the White Horse to think.
• Old Dog Laro approached Aleister, revealed he knew her identity and her role in killing the Red Chancellor, and thanked her on Stibnite's behalf.
• Laro explained that the Crowley Family was a military family and that he had taken the Princess to seek the army's protection.
• Laro criticized Narcissus's mages for neglecting their people's needs and described how their pursuit of immortality had led to corruption and control by the Blood Angel.
• Laro warned the hidden mages that even an old dog still had teeth, and Aleister realized he did not expect to survive the ritual.