Recaps

Shade, Miss Annette, and Miss Bayes identified the ruins as a former cult site of the fallen Old God Innocent Creator and began infiltrating Noke Printing Factory to reach them. They entered the factory undetected, leaving the basement ruins and their guards ahead.

• Miss Annette and Miss Bayes explained that the underground ruins in Tobesk likely belonged to the last believers of Innocent Creator and could contain the cult’s wealth and secrets.
• The group burned their notes, then Miss Annette entered Noke Printing Factory under the name Alina Fick and used Mind Puppet to control a gate attendant and learn about the guards.
• Miss Annette reported that four Ring Arcanists were on watch, including a powerful one on the third floor and an unknown guard at the basement ruins gate.
• Shade used the Bordeaux Candle to become invisible, and the three used Miss Bayes’s odor-blocking powder to sneak over the factory wall.
• Miss Annette suppressed the yard’s warding measures with her silver bracelet, and Shade led the group into the main building.

Shade, Miss Annette, and Miss Bayes infiltrated a printing house to reach its underground ruins and confronted a Fifth-Ring Arcanist guarding the entrance. They defeated Gothst Mount with their combined powers, and the chapter ended with his corpse at Shade’s feet.

• Shade led Miss Annette and Miss Bayes into the printing house through a window, and they used black powder to incapacitate the night watchman.
• Miss Bayes silenced the warehouse entrance and struck the guard with a Sunlight Gun as the group entered.
• Miss Annette identified the guard’s position, while Miss Bayes used Balance to hinder him and Shade severed his arm with Silver Moon’s Slash.
• The injured Gothst Mount transformed into a life-draining Ghost Mist Avatar, but Miss Annette’s butterflies began devouring the mist.
• Shade unleashed Silver Moon, Miss Bayes punched through the ghost face with Sun Fist, and Shade finished Gothst Mount with Silver Moon Slash.

After defeating a Fifth-Ring Arcanist, Shade and his companions found a hidden entrance to the underground ruins and learned that a Blood Spirit School visitor had entered earlier. They descended in secret and reached the passage’s end, with the ruins’ exit just ahead.

• Miss Bayes and Shade confirmed the scar-faced Fifth-Ring Arcanist was dead, treated Miss Annette’s injuries, and searched the corpse for a Relic.
• With help from the voice in his head, Shade found a mercury-filled bottle hidden inside the corpse, which the group set aside as an unknown Relic.
• Shade used Echoes of the Past to hear the scar-faced man guide Mr. Madis into the ruins under an arrangement involving Blood of Mercury, the Silver-Eyed One, and the Blood Spirit School.
• Miss Annette divined that the Silver-Eyed One likely had not yet noticed the surface attack, so the group uncovered the trapdoor and opened the passage below.
• Shade, Miss Bayes, and Miss Annette entered the dark tunnel quietly, and Miss Bayes sensed its exit ahead after about ten minutes.

Shade, Miss Bayes, and Miss Annette entered the sealed ruins and discovered that the Innocent Creator's Cult had left behind a dangerous divine artifact and other relics. After opening the inner door, they encountered a colossal, many-eyed statue that appeared to be alive.

• Shade translated the inscriptions, learning that the Cult's wealth had been donated and that God's Gift Box was a Sage Level Relic hidden in the ruins.
• As Shade read an incantation-like final inscription, the Destiny Ring trembled, so he stopped before triggering further defenses.
• Miss Annette opened the stone door, and a gigantic hand seized the jars of Magic Eyes before withdrawing into the darkness.
• The trio entered a vast chamber and saw a towering, three-headed statue with four arms and countless moving eyes.
• Miss Bayes questioned whether the immense statue was a Gargoyle.

Shade and his companions crossed the chamber of the Thousand-Eyed Gargoyle and faced the Mirror Behind, which trapped Shade in Mirror Image Space. Shade escaped by punching himself, temporarily shattered the Mirror, and noticed a mysterious reflection behind Miss Annette.

• Shade, Miss Annette, and Miss Bayes found thirty-six eyeless corpses in the Gargoyle’s chamber, and Shade failed to use Soul Echo on them.
• Shade and Miss Annette chose the correct exit from the chamber and reached the Mirror Behind.
• Shade entered a lightless corridor alone and discovered the Mirror had trapped him in Mirror Image Space.
• Shade followed the voice in his heart’s advice and punched himself, breaking free and shattering the Mirror’s surface.
• Miss Bayes treated Shade’s bleeding hand, and Shade learned the others had seen him strike the Mirror with one punch.
• Shade spotted a transparent woman resembling Miss Annette in the Mirror’s fragments, then saw the warning “Beware of ‘Another Me’” on the Mirror’s frame.

Shade, Miss Annette, and Miss Bayes uncovered the Blood Spirit School’s interest in a dangerous tree and entered the shifting labyrinth created by the Maze Candle. Strange sounds and footsteps followed them through the maze, and the chapter ended as the labyrinth began to shake, likely because the Silver-Eyed One had found them.

• Shade heard a Blood Spirit School arcanist explain that he had been urgently sent to meet the Silver-Eyed One because of a tree in the ruins.
• Shade warned Miss Annette and Miss Bayes not to approach trees, suspecting the tree was the dangerous relic suppressed in the ruins.
• Miss Annette led the group into the Maze Candle’s labyrinth, using her Compass and divination to choose their route.
• The three heard an animal-like wail echo through the labyrinth, then found no one when footsteps approached a nearby fork.
• Miss Annette suspected the Silver-Eyed One had discovered them, and the labyrinth began to tremble.

After the Maze Candle separated Shade from Miss Annette and Miss Bayes, he used prayer to the Innocent Creator to summon a golden butterfly that guided him out of the labyrinth. He found a hidden stone coffin containing a map and a warning about the dangerous Corpse Tree, leaving him with crucial knowledge about the ruins.

• The Maze Candle rearranged the labyrinth, separating Shade from Miss Annette and Miss Bayes, and Miss Annette charged into a Blood Mist filled with red-eyed bats.
• Shade followed the plan to seek safety, but then prayed to the Innocent Creator and summoned a golden butterfly that guided him through the labyrinth.
• Shade followed the butterfly to a hidden stone door and entered a room containing the coffin of Qiaoer Ou De Kalisi.
• Shade opened the coffin and found a letter from Jina Anjila Seweier, a map of the ruins, and a warning not to touch the Keeper of Secrets Level Relic called the Corpse Tree.
• Shade learned that the Corpse Tree could spread destructive illusions and control the undead and living puppets, and that abnormal woody tendrils growing from a companion's wounds meant they were infected.

Shade entered the chamber containing the Corpse Tree and God's Gift Box, where he found the trapped Silver-Eyed One Diake. Diake revealed that the Blood Spirit School had prepared another possible vessel for the Lord of the Blood Feast, and Shade attacked him with a Steam Bomb.

• Shade used the map to open a hidden passage from the burial chamber and reached the chamber containing the Corpse Tree and God's Gift Box.
• Shade spotted the Silver-Eyed One Diake standing beneath the tree, with vines piercing his back and drawing from him.
• Diake told Shade that the Blood Spirit School had activated the tree and revealed that Lawrence was not the cultists' only possible vessel for divine descent.
• Shade connected Diake's warning to the Doctor's two patients with Gluttony and decided Miss Bayes should report the danger to the Church.
• Diake summoned a mercury humanoid and threatened Shade, who threw a Steam Bomb at them.

Shade defeated the Silver-Eyed One’s Mercury humanoid, but the wounded Arcanist was left beneath the Corpse Tree as Miss Annette and Miss Bayes arrived. They faced a Fifth-Ring vampire from the Blood Spirit School until Shade emerged from invisibility and struck him with Moonlight.

• Shade used his Chaotic Time Blade to destroy the Mercury humanoid and leave the Silver-Eyed One severely weakened beneath the Corpse Tree.
• The Silver-Eyed One begged Shade to save him, but Shade rejected his pleas and let the vines continue to restrain him.
• Miss Annette and Miss Bayes entered the chamber and confronted a wounded man wielding a blood-red longsword, who revealed himself as a Fifth-Ring member of the Blood Spirit School.
• The vampire tried to recruit Miss Bayes and demanded another sacrifice for the Corpse Tree, while Miss Annette and Miss Bayes counted down the Bordeaux Candle’s invisibility limit.
• Shade reappeared beside the vampire at the count of forty-seven and slashed his face with a curved blade of light.

Shade and the others fought the Silver-Eyed One as the Corpse Tree’s influence drove the vampire into madness. After the vampire began using the Words of Sublimation, the battlefield transformed into ruins beneath a blood-red sunset, leaving Shade and his companions trapped.

• Shade and Miss Annette wounded the vampire, but he recovered as dark blue vines from the Corpse Tree illuminated him.
• Miss Bayes and Shade attacked the vampire, but the Blood Mist exposed Shade and the vampire seized him by the throat.
• Shade severed the vampire’s mutated arm, but a blood-red sword pierced his shoulder and wooden tendrils began spreading through the wound.
• Miss Bayes struck the vampire with a Sunlight Gun, and Miss Annette weakened him with her butterfly hair ornament, but the Corpse Tree’s influence drove him further out of control.
• The vampire began reciting the Words of Sublimation, and the surroundings transformed into ruins beneath a blood-red sunset.

Shade and his allies endured the vampire’s final Words of Sublimation strikes by combining their powers and opening the Little Match Girl’s Mystic Lock. Empowered beneath the silver moon, Shade drew a new sword and faced the monster’s final attack with his Moonbeam Greatsword.

• The mutated vampire struck at Shade, who dodged with Laguerre’s Leap and recovered by eating the Youthful Immortality Leaf.
• Miss Annette used the Holy Bell and a Pentagram Ritual array to delay the vampire’s second strike, while Shade treated her with False Immortality.
• Miss Bayes’s golden lightning failed to stop the third strike, so Shade used the Maze Candle to create a maze that briefly weakened the Blood-Colored Dusk.
• Shade combined the Maze Candle, the Judge Saint Bell, the Ancient Witch’s Golden Necklace, and the Little Match Girl’s power to partially unfold a Mystic Lock, with Miss Bayes adding her power through Balance.
• Under the silver moon, Shade drew a radiant sword from the air and named it the Moonbeam Greatsword as the vampire’s final strike descended.

Shade defeated the vampire with an eight-sword assault, but using Laguerre's Leap repeatedly summoned terrifying black Rifts. He ran deeper into the cavern to draw them away from Miss Bayes and Miss Annette, while an unknown presence closed in behind the Rifts.

• Shade and the vampire clashed greatswords, and the vampire regained its intelligence as the Blood-Colored Dusk faded.
• Shade told Miss Bayes and Miss Annette to find the Silver-Eyed One, then struck the vampire repeatedly with Chaotic Time Blade and Laguerre's Leap.
• Shade's eight coordinated Moonbeam Greatswords pierced the vampire, which died after warning that the Blood Spirit School would complete its final sublimation.
• The Corpse Tree began to stir, but Shade warned the others to stay back as black Rifts shattered open around him.
• Shade ran into the depths of the cavern to lead the Rifts away, while Miss Annette urged Iluna to trust him and Miss Bayes blamed the Silver-Eyed One.

Shade escaped the rifts with God's Gift Box and received a puppet containing sealed divinity. Absorbing its power granted him the Toy Maker Spirit Rune and Thaumaturgy, then advanced him to the Second Ring as Miss Annette and Miss Bayes watched.

• Shade used Laguerre's Leap to reach the statue and took God's Gift Box by following its instruction that only a child could claim it.
• Shade opened the box, and its golden light stopped the rifts from expanding and made them disappear.
• Shade removed a puppet in his own image, absorbed the sealed divinity within it, and gained the Toy Maker Spirit Rune and Toy Making Thaumaturgy.
• The divinity resonated with Shade's four First Ring Spirit Runes, and he underwent Sublimation to become a Second Ring Warlock.
• Miss Bayes asked Shade whether he had advanced to the Second Ring, and Miss Annette wondered whether her future Chosen One ritual could produce a similar spectacle.

After advancing to the Second Ring, Shade met the ghost Jina Anjila Seweier and learned that the Corpse Tree could be destroyed with her guidance. Miss Bayes began the ritual to become the Chosen One of Balance, leaving the sentence against the Silver-Eyed One unfinished.

• Shade sensed the increased power of his Second Ring and reunited with Miss Annette and Miss Bayes.
• Jina Anjila Seweier identified herself as the tree’s last guardian and offered to guide them in destroying it.
• Miss Bayes confronted the Silver-Eyed One, who recognized her as the survivor of his past attack and said she matched a prophecy.
• Shade warned that the Earl of Abrash’s wife and daughter were additional Containers, and Miss Bayes agreed to inform The Church.
• Shade lifted Miss Bayes upside down, and she offered her left eye to the Upside-down Judge, receiving the Balance rune.
• Miss Bayes began judging the Silver-Eyed One as the Chosen One of Balance, but her sentence remained incomplete.

Miss Bayes killed the Silver-Eyed One and became the first Chosen One, confirming the prophecy. Afterward, Shade, Miss Annette, and Miss Bayes vowed to face what lay ahead together.

• Miss Bayes rejected the Silver-Eyed One's plea for mercy and killed her with the Sunlight Gun.
• The Destiny Ring fused with the Golden Scales, and Miss Bayes's power transformed into a golden light that confirmed the Chosen Ones' connection to the Ancient Gods.
• Miss Bayes descended, and Miss Annette and Shade embraced her as she broke down crying.
• Miss Annette kissed Shade in a burst of happiness, then told him and Miss Bayes they should face the future together.
• Miss Bayes shared that becoming a Chosen One had revealed more about the Chosen Ones, their era, and the Old Gods, and Shade promised to stay beside them.

Shade, Miss Bayes, and Miss Annette destroyed the Corpse Tree and witnessed Lady Jina Anjila Seweier ascend as an Angel. Before leaving, they received her inheritance and arranged for the ruins and dangerous relics to be entrusted to an Orthodox Church.

• Shade set the Corpse Tree on fire while Lady Seweier helped destroy it from within, and Iluna used her power of Balance to suppress the relic.
• As the tree burned, Lady Seweier asked Iluna to preserve her cult's treasures and gave Shade her inheritance, a Myriad Aspects of Impermanence · Balance card.
• Lady Seweier said she had willingly guarded the ruins for a thousand years, then transformed into an Angel and departed after blessing the three of them.
• The Angel healed the group, but Miss Bayes's sacrificed left eye remained missing, so she put on an eyepatch.
• Shade and the two ladies prepared to leave, leaving the ruins and the Thousand-Eyed Gargoyle No. 3765 and Mirror Behind relics for the Orthodox Church to retrieve.

After defeating the Silver-Eyed One and the vampire, Shade, Iluna Bayes, and Luvia Annette collected relics and recovered hidden Cult records before escaping the ruins. They parted with their spoils divided for safekeeping, and Luvia asked Shade to accompany her in witnessing the remaining twelve Chosen Ones.

• Shade found four relics on the Silver-Eyed One and the vampire, then used his new Toy Making Thaumaturgy to turn their corpses into dolls for transport.
• Shade, Iluna Bayes, and Luvia Annette collected Cult books and records, escaped the ruins, and returned to the city with the Mercury Vial.
• Iluna thanked Shade and Luvia, kissed Shade on the cheek, and left to warn the captain about the remaining divine descent vessels.
• Luvia assigned Shade custody of God's Gift Box, Greedy Silver, and The Puppeteer's Script while she kept three unidentified relics to investigate.
• Luvia asked Shade whether he preferred her kiss or Iluna's, then invited him to accompany her in witnessing the remaining twelve Chosen Ones; Shade agreed.

After returning home with Mia and the relics, Shade discovered that a second Blood Feast was underway and a god was targeting him. As Blood Mist engulfed Tobesk, Shade used the Time Key for Common Calendar 3002 to escape into the White Fog with Mia transformed into a stuffed cat.

• Shade returned to Saint Derain Square, reunited with Mia, and put off examining his relics and new Thaumaturgies so he could use the Time Key for Common Calendar 3002.
• Mia noticed something outside as Shade held her by the window, but Shade saw only fog and remained cheerful.
• A blood-red pillar and spreading Blood Mist engulfed Tobesk, and Shade realized the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company’s milk was tied to a second Blood Feast and another divine descent.
• A god fixed its gaze on Shade and invited him to the Blood Feast, while the Blood Mist seeped into his home.
• Shade turned Mia into a stuffed cat, opened the pendant with the Time Key, and vanished into the White Fog as the Blood Mist swallowed the room.

Shade traveled to the Fifth Epoch and arrived in the Thousand Tree Forest, where Father of Infinite Tree tasked him with helping three Witches contact the Old God Radiance Doorway. The Witches recognized him as a man from the future, and he joined them by their campfire to discuss the ritual.

• Shade entered the Time Corridor and received a trial to help mortals complete a God Summoning Ritual, with historical truth and Space Stabilization Aura promised as rewards.
• Shade emerged into the Thousand Tree Forest, where the forest’s unsettling influence caused him to see eyes on the trees and suffer a headache.
• Shade found three Witches camped beneath a giant tree and worried that they would react badly to a man appearing in their forest.
• The Witches’ teacher identified Shade as a supernatural being from the future, and Shade confirmed her guess.
• The Witch on the right gave Shade a Translation Brooch, allowing them to understand one another, and the Witches invited him to sit with them.

Shade met three Fifth Epoch Witches and sought their help preparing to face an evil god. He recognized their Teacher as Mana Falianna, the legendary founder of the Academy, leaving him stunned by the revelation.

• Shade met the Moon Witch, the Giant Tree Witch, and their Thirteenth Order Teacher beside the campfire.
• Shade said he had come to help complete the ritual to contact the Radiance Doorway and asked for compensation in exchange for his assistance.
• Teacher gave Shade three books, including her own adventure collection, and offered to make a plan if he shared details about his powers and Relics.
• Shade recognized the author of the book as Mana Falianna, and Teacher confirmed her identity.

Shade met Mana Falianna beneath the giant tree and asked her how to drive the Lord of the Blood Feast’s Saint form out of the Material World. After learning Shade could absorb divinity and become a god, Falianna agreed to help him plan, while warning that doing so would exact a price.

• Shade recognized Mana Falianna as Saint Byrens Comprehensive College’s founder and asked her to save him.
• Falianna sent her two students away, swore to keep their conversation secret, and asked Shade how she could help.
• Shade explained that the Lord of the Blood Feast threatened Tobesk, and Falianna confirmed that the god had not fully descended yet.
• Falianna suggested summoning a god or using many Level 0 Relics, but Shade said he had two Myriad Aspects of Impermanence Cards and a drop of divinity.
• Shade told Falianna that he could absorb divinity and incarnate as a god, and she advised him to use that power to touch the cards and described how she would help him plan.
• Falianna warned Shade that using divinity would carry a price, and Shade resolved to act to protect the people he cared about.

A blood ritual killed thousands of Tobesk residents and began an evil god’s descent, overwhelming the Church’s forces at the Earl of Maupassant’s mansion. Iluna Bayes reached the banquet hall and used her Golden Scales to free the arcanists briefly before taking a seat at the table herself.

• The Blood Feast began as the blood mist engulfed Tobesk and thousands of citizens who had consumed Silver Parrot Milk died in their sleep.
• Iluna Bayes left her squad and entered the mansion, where Hogg Lundell and other Church fighters tried to hinder the god’s descent.
• Iluna reached the third floor and saw the evil god’s banquet begin, while Hogg succumbed to its influence and sat at the table.
• High-ranking arcanists from several Churches charged into the banquet hall, but the god’s power stopped their Words of Sublimation and took control of them.
• Iluna invoked the Golden Scales, briefly restored the arcanists’ ability to move, and sat down at the banquet table.

As the Saint’s Blood Feast overwhelmed the mansion, Shade arrived beneath the Silver Moon and began ascending into a divine incarnation. The chapter ended with Shade opening his eyes as the God Incarnate.

• Iluna, Miss Green, Modrow, and the other guests were trapped at the Blood Feast as the Saint’s presence grew stronger.
• A great witch of the Witch Council appeared outside but vanished into the Blood Mist without entering the banquet hall.
• The Silver Moon broke through the Blood Mist, briefly dispelling the feast and healing the survivors’ minds.
• Shade appeared beneath a pillar of holy-silver light and faced the Saint’s true form, which had devoured the mansion.
• Shade’s divinity ignited, and he ascended beneath the Silver Moon until he opened his eyes as the God Incarnate.

Shade confronted the Lord of the Blood Feast as the White-Robed God, using the Silver Moon and an Ancient God’s scales to suppress Him. The duel moved above Tobesk, where Shade stood with Origin · Silver Moon as the two gods prepared to fight.

• The White-Robed God dispersed the Blood Mist with the Silver Moon, broke the mansion’s bloody barrier, and sat opposite the Lord of the Blood Feast.
• Shade invoked Myriad Aspects of Impermanence · Balance and offered the Magic Eye, Greedy Silver, to suppress the Lord of the Blood Feast.
• When the Lord remained unsatisfied, Shade used Gluttony to devour a drop of His divinity and then sacrificed his left eye to tip the scales further.
• Shade proposed that the injured god leave, and the Lord of the Blood Feast agreed to settle the duel under the Ancient God Judge’s witness.
• The dining table appeared in the night sky above Tobesk, where Iluna saw the Saint gather power and Shade rise with Origin · Silver Moon in hand.

Shade defeated the Lord of the Blood Feast with divine power, then vanished after giving Iluna a gift that restored her left eye. He returned to his home gravely weakened, where Mia stayed beside him until Iluna arrived with undiluted Holy Water.

• Shade invoked the Ancient God of Balance and unleashed a massive Silver Moon slash that destroyed the Lord of the Blood Feast’s blood-red mass and ended the Blood Mist over Tobesk.
• Shade caught Iluna as they fell, tapped the eyepatch over her left eye, and crumbled into silver motes; Iluna later removed the eyepatch and saw that her eye was intact.
• Shade reappeared unconscious in his home, where golden light revived Mia from its cloth doll and the cat stayed beside him.
• Iluna slipped away from the Church, broke into Shade’s home, checked that he was breathing, and took out the undiluted Holy Water she had obtained for him.