Chapter Summaries

Iver told Sherlock that York had vanished and revealed York’s ties to the Noble Red Society, while explaining how he had confused the factions pursuing him. As Lars Graham and Minister Drost separately responded to the disappearances, Aleister became a growing threat across Glass Island.

• Iver told Sherlock that York had disappeared for good and identified York’s superior, Bran Boca, as a Fourth Level Law Mage and Demon Scholar tied to the Noble Red Society.
• Sherlock confirmed that York had likely framed his father and been connected to the royal family’s curse, while Iver said the Noble Red Society had attacked him and he had used misleading clues to turn its factions against one another.
• Lars Graham read about Iver’s disappearance and abandoned his plan to kill him, deciding instead to cause trouble for the Stibnite People before returning home.
• Vice President Boca told Minister Drost that York had vanished after an encounter with Aleister, and Drost said Aleister was a Fiend possessed by a Shadow Demon.
• Drost agreed to send Boca a report on Aleister through Diomedes as the threat to Glass Island grew.

Hai Na feared Iver had truly been captured, but she found him safe at Sherlock’s home, where he explained how he had used pressure and threats to win their chess games. Iver predicted the Noble Red Society would soon attack because his disappearance had already put them under pressure.

• Hai Na’s roommates speculated about why the Noble Red Society had abducted Iver, and Hai Na left to find out whether he was safe.
• Hai Na searched for Dean Meg and then went to Ms. Mina’s Fortune Teller Shop to find Sherlock.
• Ms. Mina told Hai Na that Sherlock and Iver were playing chess, and Hai Na hurried into the room to see Iver alive and out of his wheelchair.
• Iver defeated Sherlock for the third time and explained that anticipated threats could burden an opponent more than completed actions.
• Iver told Sherlock that he had deliberately yielded the initiative and predicted the Noble Red Society would soon attack under the pressure he had created.

Tommy Lloyd planned to seize power in Avalon while managing discrimination and pressure within the Noble Red Society. Meg confronted him over Iver’s disappearance, ordered him to find the demonkin named Aleister and bring Iver back within three days, and threatened to kill him if he failed.

• Tommy reflected on his ambition to become Avalon’s underground emperor and his frustration with the Noble Red Society and his giant heritage.
• After learning Meg had arrived, Tommy prepared tea and received her in his office.
• Meg demanded that Tommy bring back Moriarty, and Tommy admitted he had sent people to kill Iver because the Noble Red Society resented his joining Lloyd’s.
• Tommy named the attackers’ lineup, including a Blade Demon, and Meg warned him that he would die if Iver did.
• Meg told Tommy that a demonkin accompanied by a Shadow Demon, possibly named Aleister, had captured Iver, and ordered Tommy to find him and return Iver within three days.

Tommy Lloyd regretted ordering the attack on Iver after Grand Arbitrator Meg cursed him with Final Arbitration, but he still struggled to understand why she had intervened. He tried to shift blame for Iver’s kidnapping onto Vice President Boca, only to find Boca answering with unusual defiance.

• Tommy reviewed his decision to target Iver and concluded that bad luck, rather than a flaw in his plan, had brought Meg’s intervention and curse upon him.
• Tommy reflected on how his influence over the Round Table Hall let him shape Avalon’s laws, while Meg remained beyond his control.
• Tommy called Boca and demanded an explanation for the events of the previous night, intending to make him a scapegoat for investigating Aleister.
• Boca resisted Tommy’s accusation and asked whether he had called to flaunt his victory.
• Tommy wondered why Boca, who had obeyed his order to send the Blade Demon and Lash Demon after Iver, had suddenly become defiant.

Tommy concluded that Boca was behind Aleister and had engineered Iver’s disappearance to frame him, while Boca independently realized Aleister was Lloyd President’s agent and saw himself in mortal danger. Boca tried to turn the situation around by surrendering to the authorities and accusing Tommy of major crimes.

• Tommy suspected Boca had arranged for Aleister to attack Iver and planned to use the crisis to destroy Tommy and Lloyd’s.
• Tommy threatened Boca over the phone and promised to come after him.
• Boca learned from Minister Drost’s information that Aleister had never properly joined the Noble Red Society and concluded Lloyd President had recruited him.
• Boca realized Lloyd intended to kill him and that he had few allies or safe options left.
• Boca called the Grand Guardian, surrendered, accused Tommy of thirty-six major crimes, and requested witness protection.

George Barton investigated a lead in the Moriarty incident and learned that Bran Boca had turned himself in, accusing Lloyd's of sending the attackers and seeking to silence him. After learning that Aleister had attacked Iver, George agreed to protect Boca and let David accompany him with Angelica.

• George Barton received word that Bran Boca had turned himself in and claimed Lloyd's wanted him silenced over the Moriarty incident.
• George used Avalon's jeweled eye to observe Boca, Grand Arbitrator Meg, and the enraged president of Lloyd's.
• George told Nadia that Aleister, a demonized human possessed by a Shadow Demon, had attacked Iver and that he would protect the witness.
• David recognized Aleister's name and asked to go with George, despite Nadia's warning about the danger.
• George agreed to take David along and arranged for Angelica to accompany him.

David left with Angelica and George while Emily stayed behind with Nadia, who corrected her for biting David before taking her to eat. At the Silver and Tin Palace, Isabel worried about how to tell Yulia about Iver, while Yanis knew Iver was safe and Yulia quietly considered how to reassure Isabel without interfering with her brother's plan.

• Emily bit David and dragged him around, so Angelica scolded her and told David to set firm boundaries.
• Angelica carried David away with George, leaving Nadia to watch Emily and take her to eat lamb.
• Isabel worried that Yulia would learn Iver was missing and wondered how long she could hide the truth.
• Yanis revealed she had found Iver and understood his plan, but chose not to interfere beyond reassuring Sofia.
• Yulia sensed Iver's direction through the Paradox Flame Butterfly and thought about how to comfort Isabel without disrupting him.

Tommy Lloyd decided to attack Vice President Boca before he could prepare, reasoning that Boca’s hostility made him too dangerous to leave alone while he searched for Aleister. With Ms. Gray-Green’s support, Tommy led a heavily armed force toward Boca’s residence, confident that their numbers gave them the advantage.

• Tommy reconsidered whether the Noble Red Society had framed Boca but concluded that he could not risk making peace with him, since Boca would eventually betray him.
• Tommy decided to keep Boca alive for questioning if he was involved in Aleister’s disappearance, but to kill him if he was not.
• Tommy called Ms. Gray-Green, who agreed to support him against Boca.
• Tommy and his group set out for Boca’s residence less than two hours after their threatening call, using modified carriages fitted with ritual components.
• Tommy’s group summoned demons on the way and grew from more than thirty people to over sixty, leaving Tommy confident they could overwhelm Boca and his allies.

George Barton protected Boca from an armed assault and swiftly killed the Demon Scholars and their demons, leaving Lloyd alive. After Tommy unleashed his Maze Demon and trapped George in a maze, George emerged unharmed, and Tommy surrendered.

• George told his griffins to protect David and Mr. Boca while he went outside to confront the attackers.
• George used his curved blades and a hurricane to kill the Demon Scholars and their demons, leaving Lloyd alive.
• Tommy begged George for mercy and summoned his Maze Demon to trap him inside a maze.
• George broke free after a little more than ten minutes, and Tommy immediately surrendered.

Iver stayed at Bishop Mathers's home and helped Sherlock document tobacco ashes until the newspaper reported that Bran Boca had turned himself in and Tommy Lloyd had been arrested. Worried that Tommy could expose his identity as a Demon Scholar, Iver set out with Lily to silence them.

• Iver and Lily settled into Bishop Mathers's home, where Ms. Mina provided meals and Sherlock received newspapers for his investigations.
• Iver joined Sherlock in documenting the ashes of different tobacco brands for a book intended to help investigators.
• Iver read that Grand Justice Bran Boca had turned himself in and Tommy Lloyd had been arrested on twenty-one serious charges.
• Iver realized Tommy might expose him or reveal his memories, putting Iver's identity as a Demon Scholar at risk.
• Iver put on his Noble Red Society ring and left with Lily, saying they were going to silence Boca and Tommy.

Tommy Lloyd tried to bargain with the Bureau of Supervision by offering intelligence in exchange for a reprieve, while reflecting on his violent past and preparing for possible retaliation from Noble Red. Aleister came to kill him for betraying Noble Red, and Tommy secretly recorded what he learned as shadow demons attacked him.

• Tommy used his knowledge of Avalon’s secrets to bargain with the Bureau of Supervision, offering evidence against three hostile knights and promising information about the missing Iver in exchange for a thirty-day suspension of Meg’s Word of Power.
• The Bureau of Supervision left Tommy alone in a sealed, lightless chamber, where fear and isolation brought back memories of his childhood and the murders he had committed to claim the Lloyd name.
• Tommy recalled how he had killed Rowetta, his siblings, and his father, then concealed the crimes and risen to power.
• Tommy realized Noble Red might curse him for betraying them and considered demanding protection from a priest.
• Aleister entered Tommy’s cell wearing the Noble Red ring, admitted she had come to kill him for betraying Noble Red, and sent shadow demons through his body.
• As he was attacked, Tommy wrote down that Aleister was a woman and a member of Noble Red, vowing that she would not escape the consequences if he died.

Iver and Lily found Lloyd and Boca in a Bureau of Supervision prison chamber, where the Shadow Demon killed Lloyd and Lily left the Noble Red ring behind. Iver planned to return and let the Bureau blame the Noble Red, realizing that the Bureau itself—and the Grand Guardian of Avalon—would help conceal Alester’s crime.

• Lily told Iver that she and the Shadow Demon had found the prison chamber holding Lloyd and Boca.
• Iver learned that Lily had left the Noble Red ring beside Lloyd’s body and erased his final words, which mentioned Alester, a woman, and the Noble Red.
• Iver explained that investigators could recover Lloyd’s words but that erasing them would seem natural for Alester, helping distinguish Iver from him.
• Iver decided to return immediately, reasoning that the Bureau would keep Lloyd’s death secret and treat him as living bait while directing suspicion toward the Noble Red.
• Iver concluded that the Bureau of Supervision, or the Grand Guardian of Avalon, was Alester’s true accomplice.

The Bureau of Supervision discovered that Tommy Lloyd had vanished from his locked cell, and a magical reconstruction revealed his final message accusing Aleister of killing him and identifying her as a woman. Grand Guardian George concealed the evidence, then met Lily and offered to protect her and Iver while introducing himself as George Barton, a friend of Professor Moriarty.

• George found Tommy Lloyd’s cell empty except for a brass ring bearing the Noble Red’s Wounded Fist emblem, and ordered a Law Mage to reconstruct what had happened.
• Dawn’s spell replayed Tommy’s final moments, allowing Director Tai Ya to trace his hidden message: Aleister was a woman who had killed him.
• George ordered everyone who knew about the discovery to sign a confidentiality order and declared that Tommy was still alive in a secret location.
• Lily returned to the Bureau of Supervision to retrieve Iver’s wheelchair and told George that a shadow-controlling young woman with long, curly caramel-colored hair had released them.
• George identified the woman as Aleister and offered to escort Lily to Iver and shelter them at his home, introducing himself as George Barton, a friend of Professor Moriarty.

Iver met Avalon’s Grand Guardian, Saint George, and recalled the man’s doomed final charge during Stibium’s attack. The meeting made Iver realize the threat was drawing near and resolve to find a way to save him.

• Lily escorted Iver to meet the Grand Guardian, who invited him to talk.
• Iver recognized Saint George from the game’s opening CG and remembered his final charge against Stibium’s forces during Avalon’s destruction.
• Seeing Saint George made Iver feel the future crisis was closer than he had thought, and he resolved to save the honorable knight.
• The Grand Guardian sensed Iver’s favorable impression and judged him a good child, thinking he could serve as an example for David.

Iver returned home with the Grand Guardian and explained his recovery and escape by crediting the Paradox Flame Butterfly. He recognized David Barton as the boy he had met in a dream, and the chapter ended with David asking what Aleister looked like.

• Philip carried Iver, George, and Iver's wheelchair home, where David was surprised to see Iver alive and able to walk.
• Iver said a woman named Paradox Flame Butterfly had helped him recover and escape, and David cautiously touched the harmless flame butterfly on his shoulder.
• Iver realized David was the knight he had met in a dream and learned that David had met Aleister during a Promotion Ritual.
• David said Aleister had helped him advance, and George reprimanded him for complaining that she might have deceived him during the ritual.
• After introducing himself to Iver, David asked what Miss Aleister looked like.

Sherlock studied Iver’s newspaper interview and deduced that Iver and the mysterious Aleister had worked together to expose the Noble Red Society. He concluded that Iver had hidden the Iris noblewoman in his residence, but Bishop Mathers interrupted him before he could explain further.

• Sherlock read Iver’s interview, which described his abduction by a polite, beautiful young woman called Aleister, and suspected the Bureau of Supervision had supplied the account.
• Sherlock connected Aleister to the Iris assassin who had targeted Minister Drost and concluded that she was not a spy but had a personal grievance against Drost.
• Sherlock reasoned that Iver and Aleister had collaborated to expose the Noble Red Society, leaving shadow traces to fake Iver’s disappearance and conceal their partnership.
• Sherlock imagined that Iver had hidden Aleister in his dormitory and remarked that he had hidden a beauty in a golden house.
• Bishop Mathers entered and asked Sherlock what he meant by hiding a beauty in a golden house.

After the newspaper confirmed Iver was safe, Isabel and Yulia resumed their studies at the Silver and Tin Palace, while Professor Bard and Dean Meg discussed Iver’s prospects. The story left Iver facing a possible chance to study Advanced Divine Arts in the Theocracy next year, with Meg planning to warn him about Noble Red and trouble Charles Drost.

• Isabel read that Iver was safe and, relieved, suspected his reported romantic scandal was a Bureau of Supervision scheme or another false identity.
• Yulia noticed Isabel’s anxiety ease and returned to her homework, privately deciding Isabel needed to love Iver more deeply to earn her approval.
• Yanis urged Isabel and Yulia to leave for school while she continued painting.
• Professor Bard thanked Dean Meg for helping protect Iver, and Meg said she had also welcomed the chance to confront Lloyd’s.
• Meg told Bard that the Theocracy would send exchange students to teach Advanced Divine Arts next year, and Bard agreed Iver should decide whether to attend.
• Meg set off to warn Iver about Noble Red and chose Charles Drost as the person she would visit next.

Grand Arbitrator Meg confronted Minister of Trade Charles Drost and used her Word of Power to expose his dealings with Noble Red and his control of Lloyd’s Vice President Boca. She took Drost into custody, and he suspected her sudden aggression meant she was about to die.

• Meg arrived unannounced at Drost’s home and accused him of associating with Noble Red.
• Meg compelled Diomedes to reveal that Drost had contacted Noble Red through Secretary Raff and moved their meetings after Iver and Edward Moriarty destroyed their locations.
• Meg compelled Drost to confess to trafficking in contraband and manipulating Boca to gain influence over Lloyd’s.
• Meg ordered Drost to go to the Bureau of Supervision and said she would speak to Queen Sophia about him.
• Drost told Meg he thought she was about to die, and she acknowledged that his observation was sharp.

After being arrested under Word of Power control, Minister Drost reflected on Avalon's stagnation and the intelligence he had sold to Stibium. Learning that Meg was dying, he decided he had to report the news to the Stibnite People, leaving Avalon facing a potential surprise attack.

• The Bureau of Supervision locked Minister Drost in the basement, where he regained control of himself and realized Meg was dying.
• Drost recalled how the Arbitration Hall governed Avalon and how the Silver Crowned Dragon had stopped appearing in the Material Realm.
• He compared Avalon's rigid policies with the rapid changes and advances in other nations and races.
• Drost recalled selling intelligence about Avalon to the Stibnite People in exchange for estates and a hereditary viscount title.
• Drost considered selling the news of Meg's impending death and decided he had no choice but to help Stibium.

Iver discussed David’s interest in the Path of Transcendence and urged him to understand its professions before choosing a Path. He revealed that a lost profession called the Moulting Warlock might suit David, though it could only be taken as a secondary Path.

• David visited Iver and asked about the gryphons’ instinctive technique, then explained that George had carefully planned his Promotion requirements for the battlefield.
• David told Iver he wished for a younger sibling, and Iver reflected on the care George and his wife had shown by raising only David despite the pressure of their Paths.
• David asked Iver what Aleister was like, and Iver praised her while encouraging David to choose the Path of Transcendence only after understanding its professions and risks.
• David admitted that he wanted the courage to challenge powerful enemies rather than an interest in demons or curses.
• Iver explained that rituals were central to the Path of Transcendence and told David about the lost profession of Moulting Warlock, which required a powerful body and could only be taken as a secondary Path.