Chapter Summaries

Shade and Illustrious Miss joined forces to break the shield around the Dragon Devouring Sacrificial Ground, allowing Shade to attack it with the Moonbeam Greatsword. When the Dragon Devouring Demon struck back with the Bone Offering Sword, Shade drank Pink Essence and dragged its arm and body out of the fissure.

• Iluna sensed deliberate disorder in the Church's command and watched the battle while spreading her power across the docks.
• Shade asked Illustrious Miss to use the Mystic Lock, and she summoned a gigantic cruise ship that smashed through the sacrificial ground's shield.
• With the Mystic Lock and Iluna's power strengthening him, Shade summoned the Moonbeam Greatsword and shattered the Ancient God shield surrounding the sacrificial ground.
• The Dragon Devouring Demon blocked Shade's follow-up strike with the Bone Offering Sword, breaking the Moonbeam Greatsword and wounding Shade's paw.
• Shade swallowed Pink Essence, grew larger, breathed Crimson Moon poisonous mist into the fissure, and pulled the Demon and its Bone Offering Sword out of the sacrificial ground.

Shade transformed the shattered Moonbeam Greatsword’s moonlight into the Moonlight Wheel’s Third Form and used it to split the Bone Dragon’s head, forcing the Dragon Devouring Sacrificial Ground to vanish. He returned to Belinder Manor wounded, where Emilia treated him as the city’s unrest began to subside.

• Shade pulled a gigantic Dragon Egg and its arm wielding the Bone Offering Sword from a fissure, but a powerful force dragged them back and hurled him skyward.
• The Sacrificial Ground’s rotating rings opened a chained Bronze Door, allowing an ancient Bone Dragon to emerge from subspace as fighters tried to force it back.
• Shade shattered the Moonbeam Greatsword, gathered its moonlight into a spinning wheel, and struck the Bone Dragon with Moonlight Wheel: Third Form, splitting its head and driving it back through the Bronze Door.
• The Sacrificial Ground vanished from the sea, its priests collapsed with injuries, and Shade flew away with Illustrious Miss and four Witches.
• At Belinder Manor, Witch Council forces withdrew while the Church and returning academy professors worked to suppress the city’s unrest.
• Emilia treated Shade’s wounded arm with her talisman while Little Unicorn watched nearby.

After recovering from his injury, Shade learned that the chaos in Moon Bay had helped the Dragon Devouring Order rob the Dawn Church, likely with help from a traitor. As the city began dealing with the aftermath, Shade left Belinder Manor to look for Mr. Bernhardt.

• Emilia, Angelina, and Little Liana healed Shade's wound and removed its curse.
• Miss Belinder reported that the Dawn Church in Moon Bay had been robbed while its forces were distracted by the night's attacks.
• Shade and the Witches concluded that the Dragon Devouring Order had used the unrest to steal a relic, possibly with help from a church traitor, before Saint Prayer Day strengthened the Church.
• Miss Benanis explained that the Church would use a cognition-altering relic to make citizens remember the supernatural events as dreams or hallucinations.
• Shade discussed the Dragon Egg, the Bone Offering Sword, and the possibility that the being inside the egg was a Chosen One.
• Shade went to search for Mr. Bernhardt, worried that the Bloodkin had been implicated in the Dragon Devouring Order's attack.

Shade and Emilia investigated the aftermath of the attacks in Moon Bay, helping defeat the remaining Vampire Beasts before meeting other rescuers in the morgue. As the group discussed the stolen relic and what justice meant, Emilia offered her own view, while the danger and its consequences remained unresolved.

• Shade took Night Watchman and agreed to bring Emilia with him to investigate the chaos outside.
• Shade and Emilia followed a trail of Vampire Beast blood to Herring Street, where they joined Mr. Bernhardt, Tolemy Albert, John Flynn, and his companions in defeating the remaining monsters.
• Tolemy Albert led the group into the Spider Alley morgue, where Shade said a relic had been stolen and Laplace Howard explained the Dragon Devouring Order's dragon-beast breeding in the New Continent.
• Mr. Bernhardt warned that the Church might target Bloodkin after the attack, and Tolemy questioned whether so many deaths were worth stealing a relic.
• John Flynn, Tolemy Albert, and Emilia shared differing views of justice, with Emilia saying it meant wanting to draw a sword and make one's life more meaningful.

Shade and Mr. Bernhardt learned that Baron Chandler had supplied blood to the Dragon Devouring Order while being controlled by a hidden group of local Bloodkin. Chandler revealed that the Order used Moon Bay for trade and banking, giving Shade a way to trace it through financial records.

• Shade and Mr. Bernhardt questioned the coroner and the two Bloodkin about the night's attacks, then followed Mr. Albert into the mortuary's hidden chamber.
• The coroner and Mr. Bernhardt told Shade that Baron Chandler had supplied blood to the Dragon Devouring Order under the influence of an addictive drug and had been used as a disposable pawn by a secret local Bloodkin group.
• Shade showed Chandler images of cultists from Siris's recovered memories, and Chandler supplied four uncertain names.
• Chandler revealed that the Dragon Devouring Order used Moon Bay Port and its banks to move people, supplies, and money, and that its large-scale transactions occurred on identifiable dates.
• Shade proposed using those transaction dates to find the Order's accounts and associates, and said he would leave the investigation to his professional connections.

After the Moon Bay Incident, Shade returned home and learned that the Dragon Devouring Order had stolen two relics from the Dawn Church. Miss Galina revealed that one was the Scales of the Time-Space Dragon, a powerful but dangerous shield relic.

• Mr. Albert told Shade that several recent heart attack deaths were suspicious, then reported that someone at the Spider Inn had spontaneously combusted.
• Shade and Emilia flew back to Belinder Manor, where Miss Aurora greeted Shade and Miss Belinder showed jealousy over their embrace.
• Shade returned home, reassured Dorothy, Luvia, and Miss Galina, and explained that the incident began with the Dragon Devouring Order stealing something from the Church.
• On Monday morning, Miss Galina said Iluna had confirmed that two relics had been stolen from the Moon Bay Dawn Church.
• Miss Galina explained that the Scales of the Time-Space Dragon could shield its user from any known attack for three minutes and fifty-eight seconds, but its flesh growth could transform it into a Dragonborn monster.

Shade and the others discussed the Dragon Devouring Order’s stolen relics and made plans to support the situation in Moon Bay. Shade then used the gods’ Gift Box, and Mia pulled out a glowing ancient scroll bearing a crude red-ink map.

• Luvia and Shade explained that the Dragon Devouring Order might use the stolen dragon scale at an Ancient God's Sacrificial Ground to absorb a dragon’s power.
• The group discussed the Sharpe Farm Incubator, including its ability to regrow creatures and the rare, dangerous Egg Effect.
• Shade planned to visit Moon Bay before attending the Saint Prayer Festival, while Luvia planned to travel there in the coming days using a relic capable of Space Movement.
• The Duchess decided to stay temporarily at Shade’s home, and Dorothy and Luvia supported the arrangement.
• Shade let Mia reach into the gods’ Gift Box, and a golden Miracle emerged in the form of an ancient parchment map.

Shade received a copy of Maria Thorn's Treasure Map, which had been drawn by the God of Wishes, and learned more about the Oasis Heart while preparing for his journey to the Gravel Gold Sand Sea. The chapter ended with Shade packing the armor as toys and reassuring Little Mia that he would take it along.

• Shade and the others recognized the gift parchment as Maria Thorn's Treasure Map and recalled the treasure and relics associated with it.
• Shade identified the God of Wishes, Dream Giver, as the god who had drawn the map, then gave it to Dorothy so she and Leisha could use it to make Red Butterfly Cards.
• Shade prepared to travel to the Gravel Gold Sand Sea with Little Mia, several suits of armor, and supplies for the Mermaid Girls.
• Leisha told Shade that Zaras Academy of Literature had a protected Fifth Epoch ruin called the Green Heart, where she had once seen a pale green, glass-like object embedded in a temple wall.
• Shade turned the armor into toys, including the Golden Lion Armor, and Little Mia meowed when Shade prepared to leave without it.

Shade returned to the desert Temple, where he reunited with the women and learned that the Compass Fragment could point toward other fragments. He brought Little Mia along to test her reaction to the desert sunlight, but the brief exposure revealed nothing.

• Shade entered the Time Corridor and reached the desert Temple, where Grandma Sianode and the others pulled him out of the scorching sun.
• Grandma Sianode gave Shade a heatstroke-prevention potion and explained that she and Ms. Meister had explored nearby ruins during another Descent of Black Night.
• Grandma Sianode showed Shade how the Compass Fragment resonated with the locations of two other fragments and gave it back to him to guide their search.
• Shade brought Little Mia out of her toy form, and the women admired her before she threatened Ms. Sandel with a meow.
• Shade briefly exposed Little Mia to sunlight to test her Sun Child blood, but she showed no obvious reaction.

Shade tested how sunlight affected Little Mia and received blessings that enhanced her sun-related abilities, then prepared to return to the knight's mausoleum ruins with Ms. Meister and Ms. Knight. The group set out across the Gravel Gold Sand Sea, with Ms. Knight relying on protective preparations to endure the heat.

• Shade exposed Little Mia to the sunlight, and she gained Sun's Blessing, an enhanced Sun Child bloodline, and the ability to breathe a small flame.
• Shade received the temporary blessing of Desert Scorching Sun, while Little Mia's tail stayed aflame after she left the sunlight.
• Grandma Sianode chose Ms. Meister and Ms. Knight to accompany Shade, while Ms. Sandel stayed behind to receive them later.
• Grandma Sianode and the others prepared Ms. Knight's armor and lent her a Youthful Immortality Leaf so she could withstand the desert for fifteen to twenty minutes.
• Shade, Ms. Meister, and Ms. Knight left the temple and began crossing the sun-scorched sand sea with Little Mia riding on Shade's shoulder.

Shade, Ms. Knight, and Ms. Meister crossed the desert to reach an ancient church mausoleum, where Shade translated the warning on a stone coffin. The inscription revealed that the Hero it commemorated was not buried inside but was the knight statue outside.

• Ms. Meister explained that the desert punished haste, so the group continued on foot while Shade talked with Ms. Knight about her life and her bond with the Queen.
• The group reached the mausoleum, and Shade donned the Golden Armor before approaching it with Ms. Knight and Ms. Meister.
• Shade used the Door Key to break the mausoleum's ritual Rune Lock, then forced open its sand-buried doors.
• Inside the church, Shade found that the Compass Fragment pointed to a stone coffin and translated its ancient warning.
• Shade realized the coffin's heroic story described the knight statue standing outside the church, not someone buried in the coffin.

Shade discovered that the coffin held the sealed Demon and the Compass Fragment, while an inscription explained how to use the Earth Mother God’s divine art, “Earth Power All Things.” He opened the coffin, releasing black smoke that swallowed him, Ms. Knight, Ms. Meister, and the cat, leaving Shade alone with only a familiar meow in the darkness.

• Shade read how an ancient knight had turned himself into a stone statue to seal a Demon beneath the church.
• Shade found instructions for “Earth Power All Things,” which could turn a believer’s flesh and soul into a statue to create a Miracle.
• Ms. Knight offered to sacrifice herself to reseal the Demon if it escaped, but Shade warned her against it and taught her the incantation.
• Shade prepared to open the coffin while Ms. Knight held the cat and Ms. Meister watched from her seat.
• Shade opened the coffin, and black smoke spread through the mausoleum, making Ms. Knight, Ms. Meister, and the cat disappear.
• Shade summoned his Silver Moonbeam Greatsword and waited in the darkness until he heard a familiar meow.

Shade and Little Mia entered an illusion where Knight Shelly Knight sacrificed people at a series of obstacles to carry the Oasis Heart to her Queen. The Queen confronted Shelly about the innocents she had killed, but Shelly remained determined to save the kingdom at any cost.

• Little Mia found Shade in the black fog, and her tail flames helped him reach an illusion of a palace corridor where he stood among Shelly Knight’s escort.
• Shelly chose to sacrifice a rapist rather than a murderer, then gave two souls accused of robbery to a demon in exchange for passage.
• At a magma rift, Shelly killed three citizens and threw their bodies into the lava to save the other four and clear the way.
• Shelly killed four of her six companions to open a golden door, while Shade shielded Little Mia’s eyes.
• Shelly presented the Oasis Heart to the sick Queen, who questioned her choices and accused her of abandoning her knightly oath.
• Shelly admitted she had killed innocents because she had promised to bring back the Oasis Heart and declared she would sacrifice anything to save the kingdom.

Shade fought the ancient Demon that emerged when the illusion and seal collapsed, using the desert sunlight to weaken it. Little Mia helped turn the battle in Shade’s favor, and the Demon burned after its head was cut off.

• In the illusion, Shelly followed her conviction, killed the other kneeling person, and offered both hearts to the Queen before fainting.
• Shade attacked the ancient Demon as the illusion shattered, but it broke his Moonbeam Greatsword and threw him and Ms. Knight from the platform.
• Shade destroyed the church roof to expose the Demon to sunlight, then bound it with the Great Sin Chains.
• The Demon attacked the petrified knight’s statue, and Shade deflected its black beam before the Demon struck him into the sand.
• Little Mia’s cries made the scattered Golden Armor glow, distracting the Demon as Shade’s Moonlight Wheel severed its head.
• Little Mia ran to Shade as he crawled out of the sand, while the Demon and its severed head burned in the sunlight.

Shade and his companions survived the desert mausoleum, sealed the Evil Spirit Demon, and recovered the Compass Fragment. As they returned to the Sun God Temple, Shade received an ancient thaumaturgy he could pass on to one person, though he could not use it himself.

• Ms. Meister sealed the burning Evil Spirit Demon inside a glass bead after Shade asked for her help, and Shade decided to give it to Grandma Sianode.
• Ms. Knight emerged from the church ruins with her petrified heart, and Shade found the Compass Fragment inside the coffin.
• Shade opened the Gate of Death and sent the knight statue through the rift, where its soul departed; the knight passed him a petrified sword that taught him Earth Power All Things.
• Shade learned that he could not use Earth Power All Things but could pass it on to one person, then gathered the glowing armor and headed back with the others.
• Shade and his companions returned safely to the Sun God Temple, where Shade rested and saw that Ms. Knight had brought the petrified heart back from the illusion.

Shade returned with the second Compass Fragment, bringing the group closer to locating the Oasis Heart, while Ms. Sandel described a dangerous site where the final fragment might be found. Before his time in the desert ran out, Shade left the recovered treasures and sealed Demon with Grandma Sianode, then asked why his Golden Armor was glowing.

• Shade restored his Golden Armor, and Ms. Sandel retrieved the second Compass Fragment from the coffin so Grandma Sianode could join it to the first.
• The Compass revealed the next fragment’s location, and Ms. Sandel recalled seeing a rotting human head joined to a sandworm’s corpse, with a gate in its mouth.
• Grandma Sianode told the group to prepare to search for the final fragment together, and Shade left the ancient Stone Sword and sealed Demon with her.
• Shade observed that his Golden Armor glowed brightly, and Grandma Sianode suggested that the desert’s light might have made it glow.

Shade left the armor box beneath sunlight in the Sixth Epoch, where its glow began to draw Ms. Sandel toward it, then returned to the present with Little Mia and recounted the adventure. His companions agreed to investigate the pattern Ms. Sandel had found on the gate.

• Shade placed the closed armor box on the sunlit altar and said goodbye to Grandma Sianode, Ms. Sandel, Ms. Meister, and Ms. Knight before leaving with Little Mia.
• Ms. Sandel felt compelled to approach the glowing box, but Ms. Meister pulled her back, and Grandma Sianode warned everyone not to investigate it.
• Shade returned to the present with Little Mia, whose tail was still burning, and Galina Cavendish helped cool his overheated body.
• Shade told Luvia, Dorothy, and Galina about his adventure, Little Mia's evolution, and leaving the armor behind in the past.
• Shade drew the pattern from the Human-Head Mouth Gate, and his companions agreed to seek clues through the Witch Council, Zaras Academy of Literature, the Seer Association, and Tobesk.

Shade asked Director Anlos to trace a bank account connected to Baron Chandler’s dates, and learned that a missing Military Intelligence Section Six agent had disappeared while trying to sell one of the three rare Rhodes Cards. Shade then returned to Moon Bay and saw the destruction left by the previous night’s fires and violence as he traveled toward Belinder Manor.

• Shade gave Director Anlos the dates of the account’s large remittances, and Anlos promised to investigate before the end of the week.
• Director Anlos told Shade that the missing agent had likely acquired one of the three collector-grade cards and vanished while planning to sell it.
• Shade offered to follow up on a lead from Mrs. Frey about one of the cards.
• Shade returned to Moon Bay, saw the burned streets and the children he had rescued, and learned that the Mayor had blamed the unrest on pirates and gangs.
• Shade traveled toward Belinder Manor and bluffed his way past police checking suspicious passersby.

Shade visited Belinder Manor, examined newly resonating Dragon Scales, and walked by the sea with Miss Aurora, who recounted her dangerous search for the First Fire in the New Continent. The Nun had uncovered information in the ruins and was expected to bring Shade a strengthened power of the First Fire when she came to Moon Bay.

• Shade found Tifa, Illustrious Miss, and Miss Aurora at Belinder Manor while the others helped with recovery efforts and official duties.
• Shade examined three resonating Dragon Scales and found that their runes had increased but remained too incomplete to decipher.
• Miss Aurora told Shade that Illustrious Miss was stronger than her because Illustrious Miss was a blessed elf born from the ocean.
• Shade walked along the beach with Miss Aurora as she described hunting a three-story beast corrupted by the First Fire in the New Continent.
• Miss Aurora said the Nun had found information in the ruin and would bring Shade new power from the strengthened First Fire when she came to Moon Bay.

Shade spent time with Miss Aurora at Moon Bay before returning to Tobesk for the Saint Prayer Festival. The Church then tightened its investigation in Moon Bay, and Iluna outlined its plans to investigate the Holy Sword Series, the Seven Great Families, and dangerous Radiance phenomena.

• Shade walked along the beach hand in hand with Miss Aurora, who told him about John Flynn and her investigations on the New Continent.
• The Countess saw Shade and Miss Aurora return to Belinder Manor together and worried they had behaved improperly; at lunch, Shade said Luvia would soon stay at the manor.
• Shade attended the Saint Prayer Festival in Tobesk, gave a speech, made a donation, and helped Priest Augustus distribute Communion before wishing him a pleasant journey.
• Iluna told Shade and Miss Aurora that the Dawn Church had suspended most activities in Moon Bay and was isolating and investigating local Ring Arcanists, while warning that Bloodkin were under suspicion.
• Iluna said the Church was investigating the Holy Sword Series and the Seven Great Families for clues about the Seventh Chosen One, then left to investigate Dragon Series legends and attend a seminar on Dangerous Radiance.