Chapter Summaries

Shade told Siris that the Guardians intended for her to die and become part of them, but promised to seek another way and agreed to accompany her to the Forgotten Church the next day. Back at the banquet, the group discussed the settlement with the Stone Masons Association, while Vanessa clung to Shade to disguise the Witch Council’s involvement.

• After Shade and Miss Lathers watched the couple leave, Shade revealed that a Guardian’s Clay Avatar had warned him that the Heart of the Earth was in danger and gave him a golden pebble meant to grant Siris Earth Power.
• Siris refused the pebble and guessed that the Guardian wanted her to die and join him; Shade put it away and told her not to accept the Guardians’ chosen fate.
• Siris asked Shade to accompany her to the Forgotten Church on Friday to understand her father’s final thoughts, and Shade agreed after hearing the Fate Divergence Point warning.
• Back at the manor, Miss Sylvia explained that Princess Margaret had negotiated compensation in installments and that Prince William had contributed toward the settlement with the Stone Masons Association.
• Shade and Miss Lathers discussed how the royal family could pay for the Royal Mausoleum repairs indirectly, preserving the appearance that the association was working for free.
• Vanessa clung to Shade so onlookers would mistake their closeness for an ordinary relationship, while Siris told Miss Sylvia that Vanessa had only become so bold recently.

Margaret announced a reconciliation between the Royal Family and the Stone Masons Association, then revealed plans for a memorial and joint mineral development. Shade learned he would receive an eight-percent share in the gold mine, while Margaret’s bold move stirred interest among the Witches.

• Shade explained that his Witch-detecting badge would not burn his skin when several Great Witches were nearby.
• Margaret and Prince William announced that the Royal Family would pay its outstanding construction debts and the Stone Masons Association would finish the Royal Mausoleum work.
• Prince William revealed plans for a joint mineral project, and Margaret returned the association’s historic Share Contract as a gesture of friendship.
• Miss Benanis told Shade that Margaret would give him eight percent of the gold-mine shares and her seven percent.
• Miss Sylvia observed that Margaret’s initiative could carry major political significance, while the Witches discussed her ambition.

After an aurora appeared over Randall River Valley during an earthquake, Shade learned that the fourth stage of Mad Earth would arrive in about thirty hours. He prepared to return to Osenfott Manor for the coming disaster, then woke from a strange nightmare about Mia.

• Margaret Anjou completed her task for Vanessa Benanis and became her apprentice, resolving the dispute between the Anjou Royal Family and the Stone Masons Association.
• An earthquake shook the manor, and the guests saw an aurora that Vanessa Benanis identified as a warning of a major earthquake; Shade said the fourth stage of Mad Earth would arrive early Saturday morning.
• Shade, Miss Sylvia, Miss Benanis, and Miss Lathers used a Teleportation Gate to leave the manor, while the Witch Council relayed the Guardians’ warning to the Five Gods Church.
• The witches planned to protect Randall River Valley and chose Miss Sylvia to wait near Osenfott Manor while Shade went there on Friday night; Shade returned to Tobesk to prepare.
• Shade brought Mia to bed and dreamed that his corpse threw him into an abyss, where a majestic, armored Mia struck his chest; he woke startled and saw the Cat glaring at him.

Shade prepared for the final battle in Randall River Valley, packed Relics, and said farewell to Dorothy and Leisha before setting out. He reached the valley under ominous gray snow and a darkened sky, where the city appeared to be in crisis.

• Shade reviewed which Relics and supplies to bring, leaving Aiken Ola-Chosen One's Arrow and several other items at home.
• Dorothy confronted Shade about the danger in Randall River Valley, and she and Leisha gave him copied parchments of 'Grey's Crystal Shoes' and asked him to return safely.
• Shade and Leisha visited Doctor Schneider's clinic, where Shade temporarily left Origin with him and warned him that Randall River Valley would be dangerous that night.
• Shade returned to Forgotten Church, retrieved the Watsont family photograph as his first layer of insurance, and left with Mia.
• Shade discovered gray snow, a faint black-outlined Sun, foul fog, rising smoke, and warning sounds across Randall River Valley.

Shade joined the Witch Council’s preparations at the Wilde Opera House as Randall River Valley reeled from earthquakes and other disasters. With the enemy expected to attack that night, the forces divided their duties among the city and seven possible sites for the Chosen One Ritual.

• Shade crossed the gray-snow-covered city, learned of the earthquakes and their deadly aftermath, and left Origin beside Miss Marylin Handel at the Bountiful Earth Inn.
• Shade found Luvia’s note saying the Seer Association had summoned her and that she would meet him at the Wilde Opera House.
• Miss Benanis told Shade that the Church had prepared to defend the city and that the three other Great Witches would lead their Followers against the enemy outside the city after eight that night.
• The Church and Seer Association narrowed the possible Chosen One Ritual locations to seven regions, and Sister Devlin chose to guard the Moon Worship Ruins near Osenfott Manor with Shade’s Night Watchman and Founding.
• Luvia arrived at the Wilde Opera House after taking leave, where the four Great Witches and their forces prepared for the operation.

Shade and Luvia toured the Opera House as the Witches prepared for the battle at Osenfott Manor, helping solve a potion ingredient problem and discussing the Chosen Ones. The chapter ended with Miss Decter asking Shade to suppress spatial phenomena so Miss Sylvia’s followers could complete their ritual matrix.

• Shade used his moonlight to enchant Miss Hailey Aurora’s staff with silver runes.
• Shade recalled a past-Witch formula that let Tifa and Martha substitute ordinary honeysuckle for the missing Colorless Honeysuckle in Ten Thousand Poisons Spirit.
• Shade told Luvia he did not intend to make Siris a Chosen One because he did not want to abandon her with the Guardians’ responsibilities.
• Shade and Luvia discussed the likelihood of divine descent and continued touring the Opera House’s preparations.
• Miss Decter asked Shade to activate his ability to prohibit spatial phenomena while Miss Sylvia’s followers completed their ritual matrix.

Shade and Luvia helped prepare Wilde Opera House for the Chosen One Ritual and discussed the possible candidates and the danger at Osenfott Manor. The Witches revealed the Speaker’s hidden ritual across Randall River Valley as Shade prepared to visit Siris and depart for Osenfott Manor that evening.

• Shade activated a Space Stabilization Aura while Miss Decter placed the Aberrant Anchor Stone in the Ritual Matrix, driving strange black cat-like creatures back into the floor.
• Shade and Luvia discussed the possible Chosen Ones, agreed that Stone Osenfott becoming one had to be prevented, and planned for Shade to visit Osenfott Manor that night.
• Shade and Luvia reviewed the available holders of Earth Power and considered asking the Church for help completing the Chosen One Ritual.
• Miss Benanis and the other Great Witches showed Shade the Speaker’s memory and explained that Miss Isabella had secretly drawn a citywide Ritual Matrix that could strengthen and locate Witches.
• Miss Aurora arranged for the Witches to remain ready to support Shade, who said he would visit the Forgotten Church with Siris before leaving for Osenfott Manor at seven thirty.

Shade prepared to leave for Osenfott Manor while Luvia divined the danger facing Randall River Valley and drew ominous Tarot cards for Shade and Siris. Shade promised to return safely, then set out with Siris for the Forgotten Church.

• Shade asked the Witches to delay the Mad Guardian if he appeared before Shade returned, and to follow Luvia's lead.
• Luvia divined that the Guardians would be more powerful than ordinary Thirteenth Ring sorcerers, would appear outside the city, and would go mad about an hour and a half after the first Randall Flower bloomed, likely after one in the morning Saturday.
• Shade drew cards showing a cunning enemy, a duel, and apparent sacrifice, then used Mia's card, Feast, to reassure Luvia; Siris drew Broken Rope, while Luvia drew Audience.
• Shade promised Luvia he would return safely tomorrow morning and chose to accompany Siris to the Forgotten Church.
• Shade and Siris walked through the gray snow toward the church, avoiding slow carriages and leaving Mia with Luvia.

Siris and Shade searched the Forgotten Church’s confessional for the secret her father had pursued, and Siris confronted her resentment toward him in a strange supernatural confession. After the second booth attacked Shade with Memory Threads, a hateful version of Siris emerged and lunged at her.

• Siris told Shade that she wanted her father’s statue moved to the opera troupe’s graveyard and explained that she had found his research and the church’s floor plan.
• Shade and Siris cleared a route to the confessional, where they found six intact booths marked by traces of elemental power.
• In the first booth, Siris confessed that she hated her father for abandoning her, and a hidden voice called it a Joke of Destiny before giving them a mirror fragment.
• Memory Threads burst from the second booth, striking Shade and making him repeat words of hatred before Siris cut the threads away.
• A hateful double of Siris emerged from the second booth and attacked her, but Shade used Heaton Seal to trap it behind a golden barrier.

Siris confronted memories of her father and gained the power of Sacrifice while she and Shade gathered the mirror fragments. The completed mirror revealed Mr. Lathers’s final memory, which explained why he had left and gave Siris the choice to continue the trial or leave the valley.

• Siris restrained and embraced the smoky memory of herself, absorbing its resentment and memories.
• Siris confessed that she feared sacrificing herself, and Shade promised he would find another way to save the land.
• Siris faced another smoky memory and gained a seven-ring Enlightenment Spirit Rune: Sacrifice.
• Siris confessed her envy and recovered the final mirror fragment, completing the mirror.
• The mirror summoned Mr. Lathers’s memory, which explained his departure and directed Siris to a riddle in the church basement while urging her to leave if she chose not to continue.

Shade and Siris uncovered Mr. Lathers’s final memory, which gave Siris the Earth Power Miracle and helped her accept her father’s farewell. Back at the Wilde Opera House, the group prepared for the coming Chosen One Ritual as Iluna left to defend the church and promised to meet Shade that night.

• Siris opened the final prayer cabinet, received a Memory Crystal from her smoky double, and listened to her father’s memory with Shade.
• The memory showed Mr. Lathers finding a fragment of the Heart of the Earth, and Siris mastered the Earth Power Memory thaumaturgy.
• Siris covered the statue’s head, said farewell to her father, and returned to the Wilde Opera House with Shade.
• At dinner, Iluna told Shade she would defend the church and meet him at the Chosen One Ritual site that night.
• Shade described his preparations and the five Earth Power holders, while Iluna revealed that her Bone Horse could now be used without limit.
• After Iluna left, Luvia explained that she had agreed to walk with Shade until the end.

Shade and Miss Sylvia left Randall River Valley to travel to Osenfott Manor, but earthquakes and the Mad Earth's distortions brought monsters into their path. After destroying a Fallen Elemental Giant Spirit in the city, they faced an ancient three-headed snake outside Micott Village, which Sylvia defeated with a spatial spell.

• Shade and Miss Sylvia rode through Randall River Valley as residents evacuated toward earthquake shelters.
• After a minor earthquake, Shade destroyed a Fallen Elemental Giant Spirit at the burning Evening News office while Sylvia and Peace Church Arcanists inspected the site.
• Shade and Miss Sylvia left the city, but another tremor disturbed their journey near Micott Village.
• An ancient Karak Great Snake emerged from a crater, and Sylvia asked Shade to distract it while she prepared a spell.
• Shade attacked the snake with Moonlight Wheels and a Holy Silver greatsword as Sylvia used her bracelet to twist the monster and surrounding space into a single point.

Shade entered the demon-tainted Osenfott Manor and found Haila Osenfott dead in the Master Bedroom. He discovered Stone Osenfott’s message and obtained the genuine Flower 12, Founding card.

• Shade left Miss Sylvia and Sister Devlin outside the manor after giving Miss Sylvia Origin and receiving a space rune from her.
• Shade opened the demon-sealed manor gate by declaring that dawn had come and entered with a sword made from Priest Augustus’s hilt.
• Shade crossed the ruined manor and reached the owners’ Master Bedroom without detecting any Power of Time.
• Shade found Haila Osenfott dead on the bed, with a withered black rose in her hands and Petrified Rose vines growing over her body.
• Shade read Stone Osenfott’s message, “What you want is below,” and found the genuine Flower 12, Founding Rhodes Card beneath the letter.

Shade investigated Haila Osenfott’s murder by tracing supernatural footprints and Stone Osenfott’s memories, uncovering the couple’s devotion and the contempt Haila’s father showed Stone. The trail continued into the manor, where Shade began viewing another hidden memory.

• Shade used Guiding Death and Blood Echo on Haila Osenfott and Stone Osenfott, then followed the footprints and Stone’s blood-red phantom through a spatial passage into the courtyard.
• Shade found a stone fragment near the gate and activated an illusion showing Stone telling Haila Watsont he had bought back the Osenfott manor and planned to ask for her hand in marriage.
• Shade found another fragment beneath the snow and witnessed Stone and Haila discuss their prenuptial agreement, with Stone promising to love and protect her.
• After distant explosions shook the courtyard, Shade followed the trail to the mansion entrance and uncovered another fragment.
• Shade activated the entrance illusion, where Mr. Watsont arrived to sign the prenuptial agreement, insulted Stone, and refused to enter the manor.

Shade followed Stone Osenfott’s blood echoes through Wosente Manor and witnessed scenes from Stone and Haila’s courtship, including the poisoned engagement wine and the news of the Wosente Manor Massacre. Stone arrived at the wedding-night bedroom and confronted Shade, who prepared to fight him.

• Shade watched Stone Osenfott sign Old Watsont’s harsh marriage contract, then spit blood after drinking wine and accuse Old Watsont of poisoning him.
• Shade followed the blood trail into the manor and saw Haila Watsont question Stone about what he had done to her father before their wedding.
• Shade found the final stone fragment in the bedroom and saw an illusion of Haila in her wedding dress while Stone read a newspaper report of the Wosente Manor Massacre.
• Stone Osenfott entered the bedroom with the Old Butler and the maid, explained that he had shown Shade his past so Shade would understand him, and faced Shade as a one-ring Arcanist.
• Shade raised his sword and prepared to fight Stone, while “She” warned him not to underestimate his opponent.

Shade confronted Osenfott, who asked him to listen while revealing the truth about Haila’s death, his contracts with demons, and how Shade’s recovery of three treasured items helped him become a Ring Arcanist. Osenfott explained that he intended to resist the demon’s control, leaving Shade to decide what to do as the estate’s borrowed splendor faded.

• Osenfott asked Shade to stay and talk, offering information in exchange for half an hour.
• Shade demanded instructions for finding Captain Woody’s demon materials and freedom for Osenfott’s butler and maid; Osenfott agreed, and the two demons departed as black smoke.
• Osenfott told Shade that Haila died of a broken heart on their wedding night two years earlier and that a demon later restored her under their contract.
• Osenfott explained that recovering his wedding ring, family medal, and sapphire earring restored part of his soul and allowed him to become a Ring Arcanist.
• Osenfott showed Shade his Destiny Ring and said the estate was decaying because the demon’s power was no longer sustaining its outward splendor.

Shade freed Haila Osenfott from the seal and learned that she had caused the poisoning that led to her family’s destruction. Before Shade’s duel with Stone Osenfott, Haila revealed that Stone’s heart was abnormal and held the key to destroying his Undying Body.

• Osenfott told Shade that the Emperor of Kasonlik had ordered his assets seized and said he would start anew if Shade died.
• Shade questioned Osenfott about his marriage to Haila, and Osenfott left to wait in the courtyard.
• The maid and butler returned and told Shade to use the Demon Hunting Seal to undo Haila’s seal.
• Shade burned away the petrified rose vines with the seal, and Haila woke from her slumber.
• Haila told Shade that she had poisoned the wine to undermine her father’s prenuptial agreement, but Osenfott’s rage led to the Wosente Family’s destruction.
• Haila warned Shade that Stone’s heart was abnormal and that she knew how to destroy his Undying Body.

Shade learned that Haila’s Stone Heart sustained Stone Osenfott’s immortality, and that destroying it after Shade pierced Stone’s original heart would free them both. Shade fought Stone and his reflected doubles in the burning, snow-covered courtyard, ending the chapter by striking Stone with Moonlight Slash’s fourth form.

• Haila explained that Stone had taken her broken heart and replaced it with a Stone Heart, then placed her heart in his own chest to share her pain.
• Haila told Shade to pierce the heart in Stone’s chest so she could remove and destroy her Stone Heart, and asked him to take Stone away afterward.
• Shade emerged into the courtyard and fought Stone Osenfott, using Flame Attachment to set his sword ablaze.
• Stone summoned twelve reflected doubles, but Shade defeated them with his sword, Moonlight Ring, and Great Sin Chains.
• Shade broke Stone’s Stone Sword, then used Moonlight Slash’s fourth form to pierce Stone as he flew backward.

Shade killed Stone Osenfott after revealing that Haila had kept secrets about the destruction of the Wosente Family, then faced the Demon over their contract. The Demon recognized Shade as the Moon required by the contract, began turning Osenfott into an undead, and offered Shade a choice of six rewards.

• Shade confronted Stone Osenfott with the possibility that Haila's secrets might have changed their fate, then stabbed him through the heart.
• Stone Osenfott died, but his soul emerged from his body as the Demon arrived and claimed Shade had fulfilled their agreement.
• The Demon explained that Shade counted as the Moon in the contract, but Osenfott rejected that interpretation and returned to his corpse as an undead.
• The Demon began petrifying Osenfott, but Shade blocked it and demanded the payment promised in their deal.
• The Demon presented six rewards for Shade to choose from, including the Sage Level Relic Eternal Fire, which stirred the Primordial Fire within him.

Shade chose information about Desire as his reward from Gothe, then refused to let the demon claim Osenfott’s soul. With Osenfott escaping and the manor sealed against Shade’s allies, Shade prepared to fight the demon.

• Gothe presented Shade with five treasures and a note warning that the ancient lady connected to Desire was more dangerous than the demon.
• Shade chose the note about Desire, and Gothe made the other rewards vanish.
• Shade stopped Gothe from taking Osenfott’s soul, and Osenfott escaped while Gothe revealed that he was destined to meet the Guardians.
• Shade tried to summon help with his Rhodes Cards, but Gothe explained that it had sealed the manor and its surroundings.
• Gothe rejected Shade’s proposal for a wager and warned that Osenfott’s fate would unfold; Shade drank the Golden Potion and readied his weapons.