Chapter Summaries

Chloe hid beneath Iver’s wheelchair to kill him, but Iver exposed her and drove her off with help from the Shadow Demon. The club learned that the attacker had escaped, while Iver kept the details of his deduction—and his pact—secret and handed Chloe’s dropped glasses to Lily.

• Chloe used Shadow Stealth to hide beneath Iver’s wheelchair and planned to kill him after he fell asleep.
• Iver sensed Chloe in his shadow, summoned Director Gordon, and shot at his own shadow and Isabel’s, forcing Chloe out of hiding.
• Director Gordon struck Chloe and pursued her as she escaped the club; Iver confirmed that the Shadow Demon had marked her for tracking.
• Iver picked up Chloe’s dropped Observer in the Shadows glasses and gave them to Lily to try on.
• Iver told Isabel and the others that his reasoning was basic deduction, while privately admitting he did not know how he had figured it out.

Sherlock explained his deductions about Secretary Raff’s assassination and the decoded documents linking Minister Drost to the port smuggling case. He concluded that Professor Moriarty may have arranged to expose Drost, leaving Edward to consider the accusation.

• Edward brought Sherlock breakfast, and they discussed Sherlock’s habits, the Path of Wisdom, and Edward’s late wife.
• Sherlock discussed the newspaper’s account of Iver and criticized the Bureau of Supervision’s failure to catch the assassin.
• Edward said the Bureau planned to award Iver the Holy Sword Medal to divert public attention from the escaped assassin.
• Sherlock revealed that decoded documents linked Minister Drost to the Sweater Brotherhood’s smuggling case and identified the assassin as a member of Iris’s Hawkeye organization.
• Sherlock deduced that someone with leverage over Drost wanted to expose him and named Edward’s father, Professor Moriarty, as a possible culprit.

Sherlock confronted Edward with his suspicions about the Moriarty Family and agreed to stop investigating after Edward warned him away. He then explained how Iver had manipulated the assassin’s choices to protect Princess Isabel, leaving Edward stunned by Sherlock’s belief that Iver had learned the professor’s methods and opposed him.

• Sherlock deduced that the person behind the attacks was likely following orders from an Iris spy and told Edward he suspected the Moriarty Family.
• Edward asked Sherlock to stop investigating, and Sherlock revealed that the blue envelope marked “Moriarty” contained only a blank sheet as a test.
• Sherlock explained that Edward’s behavior around the warehouse fire and his visit to Dr. William Wayne Westcott had strengthened his suspicions about the professor.
• Edward warned Sherlock that his father harbored no hostility toward the royal family and urged him to stay away from the dangerous truth, and Sherlock agreed to stop investigating until Edward gave permission.
• Sherlock reasoned that Iver had manipulated the assassin into hiding in his shadow and had fired a risky second shot to prove he sincerely wanted to protect Princess Isabel.
• Sherlock told Edward that Iver had likely learned the professor’s techniques and plans, opposed the professor’s ideals, and might be someone Edward could confide in.

After the assassin’s escape from Lloyd District, Iver became famous at Royal Law University as rumors turned him into an urban legend with countless identities. Director Gordon was rewarded for protecting Princess Isabel, while Aiden mourned his missed classes and the end of his imagined romance.

• The Bureau of Supervision searched Lloyd District until dawn, failed to capture the assassin, and covered its operation by claiming it had dismantled thirteen illegal organizations.
• Director Gordon was commended for prioritizing Princess Isabel’s safety and was set to transfer to the Inspectorate as a senior inspector.
• Students spread more than seventy conflicting stories about Iver’s role in the incident, making him famous across campus.
• Isabel regretted that White Shoes Club had closed before she could make friends there.
• The Bureau of Supervision interrogated Aiden twice and confiscated his copy of Dracula, leaving him anxious about missed classes and the upcoming Final Exam.
• Aiden lamented that the mysterious woman he had liked was a dangerous assassin, while Iver quietly told himself that Aiden would get used to such disappointments.

In Prayer Studies, Iver met Ms. Maya Mathers, who recognized his connection to the Dedication Path and revealed that Bishop Samuel Mathers was her estranged brother. Maya described her suspicions about Samuel’s wife Mina and asked Iver to visit them, leaving him intrigued because Mina’s fortune-teller shop matched a memorable name from the game.

• Iver attended Prayer Studies with Lily and met Ms. Maya, who welcomed him after confirming he had been guided into the Dedication Path rather than becoming a false priest.
• Iver told Maya that Bishop Samuel Mathers had guided him, and Maya revealed that Samuel was her brother, from whom she had been estranged for ten years.
• Maya explained that her family distrusted Samuel’s sudden marriage to Mina, an Iris woman who had followed the Path of Beauty and married her mentor.
• Maya told Iver that Mina ran a fortune-teller’s shop and asked him to visit Samuel and Mina, offering him a Dedication Path Grimoire in return.
• Iver recognized the shop’s name as Mrs. Mina’s Fortune Teller Shop from the game and decided he needed to visit it.

Chloe visited Lars Graham’s studio to heal her wounds and ask for advice about assassinating Iver. Graham warned her against attacking Iver at home and advised her to watch the commendation ceremony before ambushing him at his dormitory afterward.

• Chloe arrived at Lars Graham’s studio, collected a large supply of herbs, and used Herbal Therapy to heal herself.
• Chloe told Graham she wanted revenge on Iver, but he warned that her reckless approach had put her at risk and said he would report her to the Society’s leader.
• Graham cautioned Chloe not to attack Iver at home because his butler, Oswald, was likely powerful enough to kill her.
• Graham told Chloe that Iver would attend a commendation ceremony and suggested she observe his methods before waiting for him at his dormitory.
• Chloe accepted Graham’s plan to ambush Iver after the ceremony and poison him while he slept.

Iver brought his classmates to the commendation ceremony at the sealed White Shoes Club, where Isabel joined them as his friend rather than attending as a princess. As they entered together, Iver reminded her that he had helped her find trustworthy friends, leaving Isabel unexpectedly happy.

• Angela told Iver and the students that the Bureau of Supervision had increased pay for inspectors assigned to the dangerous Lloyd District and described an inspector's gruesome murder.
• Ms. Maya caught up with the group and discussed ritual materials before telling them about her daughter, Vivian.
• Iver took the borrowed Key Holy Sword to the White Shoes Club, wary that the surviving assassin might seek revenge.
• Iver persuaded the guards to let his classmates enter the sealed club as his friends and family.
• Isabel arrived in a white formal dress and asked to sit with Iver and his friends rather than in the first row as a princess.
• Iver told Isabel he had helped her find friends who shared her love of music and dance, and Isabel felt unexpectedly happy.

Iver attended a crowded gathering at the White Shoes Club with Princess Isabel, where Gordon asked about their relationship and the guests settled in for the ceremony. After the Shadow Fiend sensed an assassin hiding beneath a camera, Iver located her and chose to face the threat without the demon’s help.

• Gordon greeted Princess Isabel with a knight’s salute, and she calmly welcomed the guests and allowed photographs once the ceremony began.
• Iver sat beside Isabel and told Gordon that they were friends; Isabel added that they were very good friends.
• Officials, scholars, reporters, and spectators filled the club as the doors closed and Law Mages’ runes sealed the hall.
• The Shadow Fiend awakened and warned Iver that the assassin who had stolen its shadow power was nearby.
• Iver used Shadow Vision to find the assassin hiding beneath the largest camera, then refused the Shadow Fiend’s offer to intervene.

At Iver Moriarty’s commendation ceremony, a Deformed Limb Demon emerged from a man in the audience and attacked the guests. When the demon cornered Iver, he manifested the Holy Sword and severed its attacking arm.

• Gordon presented Iver Moriarty with the Holy Sword Seal and declared him a champion of Queen Sophia Du Lac.
• A Deformed Limb Demon erupted from a man in the audience, killing him and evading the Law Mages’ commands.
• Gordon fought the demon as it attacked the crowd, while flesh tentacles restrained inspectors and a girl threw a jar of fear-inducing eyeballs.
• Edward sent the jar flying back toward the girl, and Ms. Maya destroyed it before turning the girl into a stone statue with Amberfire.
• As the Deformed Limb Demon attacked Iver, he summoned the Red Hilt Sword and cut off its outstretched arm.

Chloe tracked the Demon Scholar controlling the Deformed Limb Demon while waiting for Gordon and Iver to fall, but Iver revealed a Divine Weapon and wounded the demon. Edward and the Law Mages captured the contractor, yet Bishop Maya recognized the danger just as the demon accelerated into a furious attack on Iver.

• Chloe realized the sealed venue trapped her with the Deformed Limb Demon and decided to find its contractor before Gordon was defeated.
• Chloe located the Demon Scholar’s apprentice and inferred that the mentor was hiding across the second floor.
• The Deformed Limb Demon abruptly turned its attention toward Iver, who drew a Divine Weapon and severed its arm.
• Chloe identified the middle-aged contractor when he reacted in pain, and Edward and the Law Mages restrained him.
• Bishop Maya ordered the Law Mages to kill the contractor, but the wounded Deformed Limb Demon accelerated and charged at Iver.

Iver lured the Deformed Limb Demon into attacking him, then helped banish it with Gordon and Edward while saving the wounded. Afterward, the Shadow Demon admitted it was thoroughly convinced by Iver, and a reporter photographed the group in the aftermath.

• Iver used preemptive healing and the aura of shepherding to survive the Deformed Limb Demon's attack, then cut off its arm and bought time for Gordon to intervene.
• Edward shot and killed the demon's human host, causing the Deformed Limb Demon to begin disintegrating as Gordon defended Iver from its attacks.
• Iver ordered Gordon aside and unleashed a holy sword strike that burned away the demon's remaining limbs and damaged the fleshy wall, banishing the demon.
• Iver told the crowd to stay calm and let the priests treat the wounded, while Lily apologized for being unable to help and declined treatment for herself.
• Iver received 210 Free Experience for banishing the demon, and the Shadow Demon told him it was thoroughly convinced.
• A reporter photographed Iver, Lily, and Gordon together after the battle.

After the ceremony’s victory over the demon, Iver used the banquet to bait Chloe, who wanted to steal his Holy Sword, while preparing others for the day he could stand. Chloe eventually entered his home in the early morning and found the key hanging from his wheelchair.

• Iver treated Lily’s injuries, and the ceremony’s attackers were defeated without any other victims among the attendees.
• Iver let Chloe hear that he would return to the dormitory after drinking, hoping to lure her into an assassination attempt so he could catch her.
• Chloe left the banquet after spotting Iver’s Holy Sword and deciding she wanted to take it for herself.
• Iver deliberately drank heavily and explained that he could stand but used a wheelchair because his legs were weak after a sacrifice by the Demon Scholar; Lily supported his story.
• Lily cared for the sleeping Iver at home, and Chloe entered the room at three in the morning and found the key on his wheelchair.

Chloe tried to poison Iver with a kiss, but the Shadow Demon trapped and killed her inside a mirror. Iver woke to learn she was dead, received 120 Free Experience, and found her belongings neatly arranged beside him.

• Chloe applied poisoned lipstick and leaned in to kiss the sleeping Iver, but the Shadow Demon stopped her.
• The Shadow Demon trapped Chloe in a mirror and revealed that her Shadow Stealth copied its power.
• The Shadow Demon killed Chloe, claiming her voice and face as repayment for her attempt to steal shadows and kill its master.
• Iver woke and learned that Chloe had died without saying any last words, then gained 120 Free Experience.
• The Shadow Demon told Iver that it had consumed Chloe's blood and left her belongings intact and neatly sorted on the sofa.

Iver inspected the equipment and supplies left by Assassin Miss after the Shadow Demon killed her, discovering a rare Hawkeye armor piece that granted a crucial advantage during ambushes. He assessed the power hierarchy behind such equipment and ended by recalling Grand Arbitrator Meg’s failed attempt to advance, which would precede Avalon’s coming crisis.

• Iver awakened the Shadow Demon’s power and found that it had left Assassin Miss’s body and belongings intact.
• Iver assessed Assassin Miss’s four Eagle Feather throwing knives, two poisons disguised as lipstick, and a transmitter.
• Iver identified Sneaker in the Shadows as the most valuable loot because its set bonus granted +1 Advantage (Shadow) during ambushes.
• Iver explained how Advantage affected conflicts between Extraordinary Ones and compared the item’s value with the power of Greater Phantom Demons.
• Iver recalled that Grand Arbitrator Meg would later die during a failed Promotion Ritual, three months before Avalon’s Cruel Autumn.

Iver weighed the danger of keeping Assassin Miss’s rare equipment and questioned Shadow Demon about fighting her superior, an Assassin Master. After learning he could counter the assassin once he improved his Shadow Affinity, Iver reassured Shadow Demon that they might become equal companions someday—if he killed the Fallen Angel—and promised it a feast after their next advancement.

• Iver reasoned that Assassin Miss had been unusually privileged and that her death could prompt her superior or the Hawkeye Organization to investigate, but he refused to give up the equipment he had taken.
• Iver asked Shadow Demon whether it could fight a Fifth-Level assassin, and Shadow Demon said it could do so if Iver first reached the third stage of Shadow Affinity.
• Iver considered pursuing his next advancement quickly and hoped to obtain equipment and a Grimoire for Lily.
• Shadow Demon formed a young woman’s appearance modeled on Assassin Miss, but Iver praised it and then asked it to return to a pet form.
• Iver told Shadow Demon it could use that appearance again once they were equal companions who trusted each other, and promised it a feast after their advancement in ten days.

Iver learned that the Bureau of Supervision would give him a Grimoire and help legitimize a subordinate, then agreed to help Hai Na with Dean Meg’s test. Hai Na revealed that Sherlock had been attacked the previous night.

• Hai Na told Iver that Director Kent was offering him a Grimoire as thanks, including one from the Path of Transcendence, and said he could collect it in the White Queen District.
• Iver realized the Bureau’s offer could clear Lily’s identity, and he invited Hai Na to read the Alchemical Cipher and accompany Lily to choose a Grimoire.
• Hai Na asked Iver for help with Dean Meg’s test involving a Portable Alchemy Bomb, and Iver agreed after learning Meg was interested in taking her as a disciple.
• Iver asked about Sherlock, and Hai Na revealed that he had been attacked the previous night.

Iver learned that Sherlock had survived a bombing and was secretly faking his death, while Lily chose a Grimoire from the Path of Adaptation. The chapter ended with Lily opening the Silken Grimoire and becoming enclosed in a gray cocoon.

• Iver confirmed with Edward that Sherlock had survived an amateur bombing with Bishop Mathers's help and was being publicly declared dead as part of a plan to lure out the enemy.
• Iver warned Hai Na to keep Sherlock's survival secret and decided not to visit the place where Sherlock was hiding.
• Lily chose a nearly weightless gray Grimoire from the Path of Adaptation at the Bureau of Supervision and carefully carried it back to Moriarty Manor.
• Lily opened the book, whose whispers identified it as the Silken Grimoire, and gray web strands gathered around her until they formed a cocoon.

Iver prepared to make a Shadow Cloak card while planning to delay sealing the recovering Paradox Flame Butterfly until after his Path of Transcendence advancement. During the ritual, Constant Self drew power from the Shadow Demon, whose discovery that Iver could use a Ritual of Sin left it impressed and worried about his ambitions; Iver obtained the completed card.

• Iver comforted Yulia with stories from school and sang her to sleep, then decided to wait until after his advancement before sealing the Paradox Flame Butterfly.
• Anticipating another attack from the Noble Red Society, Iver raised his Demon Scholar profession to level nine and prepared a new Moon card.
• Iver used the Shadow Demon’s power to create a Spell Card: Shadow Cloak, which could remove several debilitating effects, grant invisibility, and blind hostile onlookers when that invisibility broke.
• Constant Self answered Iver’s prayer and drew roughly one-fifth of the Shadow Demon’s power into the card, revealing to the demon that Iver could perform a Ritual of Sin.

Iver discovered that Lily had awakened on the Path of Adaptation through the Silken Grimoire’s inheritance, gaining spider-silk abilities created by Gray Angel. After giving Lily equipment to strengthen her stealth, Iver took her with him to Bishop Mathers’s home, planning to reveal his advancement and explain the holy sword.

• Iver found Lily surrounded by silken threads and learned that she had entered the Path of Adaptation through the Silken Grimoire.
• Lily explained that spider silk was a collective Phantom Demon created by Gray Angel, which lived through lies and had entered symbiosis with her.
• Iver learned that Lily had mastered stealth, web-based detection, and thread weapons, then gave her Sneaker in the Shadows.
• Lily became Iver’s nearly invisible bodyguard, and he decided to take her out instead of asking Hai Na to protect him.
• Iver headed with Lily to Bishop Mathers’s home, planning to tell Mathers and Sherlock that he had advanced to Second Level and would reach Third Level next month.

Iver met Bishop Mathers after advancing to the Second Level in a day, and Mathers realized how extraordinary Iver’s talent was. Mathers warned him about the influence of the Path of Dedication and began explaining his own past, ending with his inability to save Iver’s parents.

• Iver visited Bishop Mathers, who was astonished to learn Iver had reached the Second Level in just one day.
• Mathers admitted he had mistaken Iver’s use of the Red Hilt Sword for deception, while Iver explained he had hidden that he had already learned Blessing.
• Mathers said Iver’s talent surpassed even the Eternal Pope’s and warned that rapid advancement could let the Path of Dedication influence his mind.
• Iver asked Mathers about his level, and Mathers said he was a Fourth Level Holy Sepulcher Guardian who had once taught Iver’s biological father.
• Mathers reflected on how his parents had warned that he had strayed from the Path of Dedication, then confessed he could not save Iver’s parents.