Chapter Summaries

At Mrs. Wosente’s funeral, Shade received his payment and learned that the Watsont family still suspected her of murdering Mr. Wosente. He warned her that Johns Watsont planned to hire a Detective to investigate the basement wall, and Mrs. Wosente reflected on the long-past events as the funeral ended.

• Shade refused a coal merchant’s request to help with factory permits and declined to take money for it.
• Shade spoke with Johns Watsont, who described his family’s longstanding belief that Mrs. Wosente had killed Mr. Wosente.
• Mrs. Wosente paid Shade twenty Gold Pounds and gave him a special Moon Dance Festival Rhodes Card.
• Shade told Mrs. Wosente that Johns Watsont intended to hire a Detective to investigate what she had found behind the basement wall.
• Mrs. Wosente said that the truth would change nothing after so many years and recalled visiting her Brother in the Underground Tomb.

Shade listened as Mrs. Wosente recalled her marriage and the rainy night when she killed her husband, then helped the ghosts of Mr. Wosente and Mr. Mason play one final game of Rhodes Cards before they vanished. Their farewell left Shade with a card that he could summon from his deck for a year, while he returned to the rain determined not to regret his own choices.

• Shade used a hypnotic speaking technique to prompt Mrs. Wosente to remember the night of the murder, and Mr. Wosente said her confession had released them both.
• Mr. Wosente and Mr. Mason told Shade they were leaving, but Mr. Mason asked to play one final game of Rhodes Cards with his old friend.
• Shade dealt the cards, and Mr. Mason chose to draw again after winning, wanting to learn what might have happened if he had not sacrificed his life.
• Mr. Mason won the final game, and he and Mr. Wosente thanked Shade before their ghosts vanished beneath the tree.
• Shade learned that the ghosts had left him a card he could summon at will for about a year, then returned to the path thinking about the ruins he would enter the next night.

Shade visited Sparrow Hamilton’s grave before the coming battle against a Nine-Ring Arcanist, reflecting on Sparrow’s unknown life and his own uncertain future. He left feeling more resolute, then welcomed Luvia Annette, who noticed the change in him but did not explain her own resolve.

• Shade found Sparrow Hamilton’s grave and lamented that the detective’s extraordinary life and secrets had ended without anyone knowing his full story.
• Shade admitted he feared dying unexpectedly before the coming battle and remembered how Sparrow had helped establish his life abroad.
• Shade told himself to keep moving forward, and the woman in his heart promised to help him write his story.
• Shade went out to eat with Mia, then waited at home with the cat for Luvia Annette and Miss Bayes to arrive.
• Luvia Annette noticed Shade seemed more resolute, but she avoided answering his question about why she had been resolute from the beginning.

Shade, Miss Annette, and Miss Bayes prepared for their operation in the ruins while spending the night at Shade’s house. After gaining the first hint of a new Thaumaturgy from Witch’s Copy Paper, Shade woke before dawn and found Miss Bayes watching the rain alone.

• Miss Bayes arrived after an assignment in the Northern City Sewer and told Shade and Miss Annette that her team had caught smugglers carrying red salt.
• Shade and Miss Annette reviewed their preparations for the next night’s operation, including Shade’s Sage Level Relic and Miss Annette’s borrowed relics and Steam Bombs.
• Shade invited Miss Annette and Miss Bayes to stay the night so they could revise their plans and remain together before the operation.
• Shade used Witch’s Copy Paper to gain the rudiment of a powerful Thaumaturgy that formed a cutting blade of Silver Moon light from his finger.
• Shade woke before dawn in Detective Sparrow’s bedroom and found Miss Bayes standing alone by the window, watching the rain.

Shade spoke with Miss Bayes as she worried about becoming a Chosen One before that night’s ritual, and she revealed a new understanding of her power of balance. She prepared to complete her transformation, while Shade resolved to use his drop of divinity if the operation went disastrously wrong.

• Shade found Miss Bayes watching the rain and reassured her that she would not face the future alone.
• Miss Bayes explained that the Sun Church and Peace Church knew she was a Chosen One candidate and that she planned to use her status to gain authority and cooperate with Shade and Annette.
• Miss Bayes realized that she herself was the standard and pivot of balance, then awakened golden light in her palm and saw her Destiny Ring begin to turn gold.
• Miss Bayes said she needed the ritual to fully master her power, then returned to sleep before dawn.
• Shade watched the rain and decided he would spend his drop of divinity if a danger arose that the others could not handle.

Shade attended the Charity Banquet at Earl of Maupassant’s mansion as part of a plan to infiltrate the cultists’ gathering and reach the ruins. He entered the lively event while the Church and the Witch Council prepared to act, and the chapter left him moving toward the next stage of the plan.

• Shade, Miss Bayes, and Miss Annette reviewed their plan and practiced Thaumaturgy at Saint Derain Square, while Miss Bayes arranged to miss her team’s Church operation.
• Tifa Servit gave Shade his invitation, explained the banquet’s dangers and rules, and took his Relics for safekeeping before he traveled to Maupassant Manor.
• At the mansion, five Ring Arcanists from the Witch Council met Shade and agreed to protect him without staying close.
• Shade entered the Charity Banquet, learned that its auction proceeds would fund the cultists if their sacrifice succeeded, and spotted several unfamiliar Ring Arcanists.
• Shade mingled on the first floor, then carried a drink upstairs to the second-floor auction area while the guests continued celebrating.

Shade attended the Charity Auction on behalf of Miss Galina to identify Steve Event, the cultist carrying the Metamorphosis Ring. He approached Event by discussing the lots on display, and Event revealed experience in art collection and preservation.

• Shade received a numbered paddle and learned that the ring-bearing target was standing near the paintings.
• Shade examined a historic gown and an old fairy-tale book, remarking that auction bidders would drive prices above the lots’ value.
• Shade commented on the third lot, the oil painting “Field of Harvest,” and Steve Event explained its artistic value.
• Shade asked Event about his knowledge of oil paintings, and Event said he had worked in art collection and preservation in his homeland.

Shade used his Queen’s ruby ring to tempt Steve Event during the auction, then arranged for his coat to be taken away so Event would follow it. The auction ended peacefully, and Shade learned that the plan had worked when he received a signal from an ally.

• Shade met Steve Event and confirmed that he wore a genuine Metamorphosis Ring and was watching the crowd for trouble.
• Shade showed Steve Event the enormous ruby ring Queen Diana had given him and asked him to estimate its value.
• Shade staged a wine spill and handed his coat to a maid, who carried it away to wash.
• Shade bid successfully on the Delarion Ancient Fairy Tales Collection and the golden fountain pen.
• Steve Event left the dining hall to follow the maid carrying Shade’s coat, and Shade received a signal confirming the plan had worked.

Shade waited for Maid to handle Steve Event, then tried to stay inconspicuous at the banquet while avoiding the ongoing God Summoning ritual. He encountered the Sun Greatsword Hogg Lundell and then unexpectedly ran into Doctor Schneider, whom he hurried aside to question.

• Shade collected the two auction items and chose to wait on the 1st Floor while Maid dealt with Steve Event.
• Shade tested a strange stain on the buffet tablecloth, then joined a crowd watching Rhodes Cards.
• The voice in Shade’s Heart warned him that the middle-aged man beside him was a High-Ring Arcanist, likely Hogg Lundell of the Sun Church.
• Shade left Hogg Lundell after the card game ended and headed through the 1st Floor exhibition rooms.
• Shade encountered Doctor Schneider in a corridor, led him to a window, and urgently asked why he was at the manor.

Shade helped Doctor Schneider escape the dangerous banquet, then left with Tifa to prepare for the Divine Advent Ritual and his confrontation with the Silver-Eyed One. His unease about events at the mansion lingered as he met Miss Annette and Miss Bayes, where Miss Annette revealed a new discovery about the ruins.

• Shade told Doctor Schneider that he needed a client's psychological records, and Schneider left the mansion to retrieve them.
• Shade left with Tifa, declined to take the Metamorphosis Ring, and said he feared something besides his own mission might happen during the Divine Advent Ritual.
• Tifa offered to inform Miss Galina of Shade's foreboding and ask her to watch the mansion.
• Shade met Miss Annette and Miss Bayes at the White Swan Hotel, where Miss Annette showed him documents and a circular emblem she had discovered.

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.