Chapter Summaries

Shade met Gerald Delong, a Thirteenth Ring Warlock from the Creation Church, at a tea party in Vesta Woodland and discussed the Time War and the danger there. Delong then asked Shade about the Difference Engine, beginning a new conversation about the Truth Society’s recent activities.

• Shade spotted Gerald Delong at the tea party, changed his appearance, and approached him while he chose pastries.
• Shade and Delong exchanged information about the Time War candidates, including a Church candidate and the candidate who had withdrawn after seeing the woodland’s ending.
• Delong asked about the eighth Chosen One and said the Church’s candidate could step aside, while Shade urged the Church to keep its candidate involved and open the qualifications.
• Delong and Shade agreed that cooperation would be needed to address Vesta Woodland’s greatest trouble, which they associated with the giant tree depicted in the venue’s paintings.
• Delong told Shade that the Truth Society had appeared in Vesta Woodland but that its recent activities seemed unusually limited, then asked whether Shade knew about the Difference Engine.

Shade discussed the Truth Society’s Difference Engine plans with Mr. Delong, then returned to the afternoon tea gathering and confirmed that Mrs. Shatara was the Demon’s final split body. He connected the Hoy treasures to the Delin Orr Restorationists’ influence in Vesta City, while suspecting Director Kant had been working with them.

• Mr. Delong told Shade that the Truth Society’s president, Miss Pawo, had gained knowledge about the Difference Engine and was pursuing an unusually ambitious project.
• Shade left Mr. Delong, checked that he was not being followed, and returned to Flora, who teased him about his long absence and asked his opinion on dresses.
• Mrs. Shatara approached Shade after hearing that he possessed Wilundell’s Gold Gauze stockings, but Flora refused to let her have any.
• Shade recognized Mrs. Shatara as the Demon and reasoned that Sir Wayne had distributed the Hoy treasures to support the Delin Orr Restorationists and manipulate Director Kant.

Shade confirmed that Sir Wayne likely carried the demon’s fifth Tree Hollow and prepared with his allies for the night’s hunt in Vesta Woodland. The Doctor supplied tools for the battles, while Shade arranged support and learned that Iluna had met him in the Fifth Epoch.

• Shade returned to the Accordion Hotel and told Flora and Miss Danist about his discovery and suspicions concerning the demon’s plan.
• Shade arranged for Miss Danist and the others to prepare for the hunt, and Sister Devlin agreed to appear when he summoned her with flames.
• Iluna asked to join the hunt, so Shade assigned her to support whichever battle went badly while Luvia stayed home.
• Iluna told Luvia that she had met Shade during his recent Time Key adventure in the Fifth Epoch.
• Shade met the Doctor for a walk, and the Doctor gave him shields and ice needles for the hunt.
• The Doctor advised Shade to focus on ending the battles quickly and said he would later venture deeper into Vesta Woodland to seek his third Core Ling Rune.

Shade and his allies planned a coordinated assault on the demon’s split bodies in Vesta Woodland and the city. As Shade set out to confront George Kant, Aisha Eisberg sensed a much stronger trace of the Winter Maiden’s blessing around him than before.

• Shade visited the Elf Girl’s Tree House before meeting Iluna and Aisha Eisberg at the Accordion Hotel.
• Flora explained that Mrs. Shatara was staying at the Oak Club while George Kant had gone to a bonfire gathering outside the city.
• Aisha chose to pursue Mrs. Shatara, while Shade planned to confront George Kant and call the Nun and the Doctor for help.
• Shade gave Aisha an ice needle and a porcelain shield, and Miss Danist distributed moonlit beads to signal their need for assistance.
• Miss Danist stayed at the hotel to coordinate the operation, while Shade left with Iluna and Flora.
• After Shade departed, Aisha told Miss Danist that she sensed a stronger trace of the Winter Maiden’s blessing around Shade.

Shade confronted George Kant in the woodland ruins, where George revealed that an Ancient One had given him power to open an old temple arch. Mrs. Shatara emerged from the fiery portal as Shade prepared to face them.

• A Nun confronted the Ghost of Grudge in the burning Desolate Village and drew it into a vision of freezing water beneath the Underworld Moon.
• The Doctor encountered a gigantic antlered monster in the forest, and their fire and darkness became concealed inside a black sphere.
• Shade fought off the burning Corpses sent by George Kant and found George waiting beneath a stone arch in the ruins.
• George Kant admitted that the woodland had told him Shade would come and explained that he had sensed Shade’s Demon Hunter ability during their earlier meeting.
• George Kant used power borrowed from an Ancient One to ignite the arch and open a fiery portal, from which Mrs. Shatara stepped out.

Shade confronted the Demon Possessed George Kant and Mrs. Shatara in the ruins of the Old God Radiance Doorway, where they revealed their role in fomenting the war. He transformed with Chloe’s Ice Echo and fought them, but the demons overwhelmed and trapped him in a barrage of fire.

• Shade recognized the doorway’s power and learned that Mrs. Shatara had survived for centuries while working to stir up the current war.
• George Kant and Mrs. Shatara revealed themselves as Demon Possessed and explained how they had manipulated the Kant Family, the Hoy Family, and the Delin Orr Restorationists.
• Shade activated Chloe’s Ice Echo in the state of Body of Courage, grew to giant size, and fought the two demons with ice and moonlight.
• Shade used the Power of Time to multiply his frost greatsword and break George Kant’s flaming greatsword.
• Mrs. Shatara and George Kant restrained Shade with flaming whips, then unleashed fireballs, spears, beasts, and exploding Flame Giants against him.

Shade fought George Kant and Mrs. Shatara’s fused flame demon until he reopened the sealed space around the Burning Trees archway. Iluna arrived and struck the demon, and Shade transformed into a giant silver wolf to carry her into battle.

• Shade used Adele's Time Stop and the Great Sin Chains to bind Mrs. Shatara, but the demon took the Blade of No Edge’s scabbard and exploded after Shade stabbed it with Night Watchman.
• George Kant and Mrs. Shatara fused into a two-headed flame demon, injured Shade, and began healing in the forest fire.
• Shade used Door Key to reopen the Burning Trees archway, allowing Iluna and the others to enter the sealed space.
• Iluna drove Night Watchman into the demon with a Sunlight Greatsword strike, but it survived and began recovering.
• Shade transformed into a giant silver wolf, knocked the demon down, and caught Iluna on his back.

Shade, Iluna, and their allies defeated the demon and its fleeing cores, while Sister Devlin reclaimed the First Fire and freed the souls bound to Gregory Village. Shade flew off to join his friend in the forest’s final battle, leaving the others to wait at the village.

• Shade and Iluna destroyed the demon with the Sunlight Gun and Moonbeam Greatsword, but two clusters of Black Flames escaped.
• Shade captured one core with Great Sin Chains and extinguished it with the Doctor’s ice needle, while Miss Owl and Aisha Eisberg cornered and destroyed the other.
• Shade sent Iluna, Flora, and Miss Eisberg to check on Sister Devlin, then flew toward his friend’s battlefield as High-Ring Arcanists fought the forest fire.
• At Gregory Village, Sister Devlin said she had executed the Demon, reclaimed the First Fire, and weakened the relic Lingering Grudge, freeing the souls bound within it.
• Sister Devlin told the group to wait for Shade and rest, while the Witch Followers inspected the village’s surroundings.

Shade found Bill Schneider battling the Fire Demon - Disaster in a hidden forest space and joined the fight. Bill used his Mid-Ring Words of Sublimation to tear apart the demon’s body, leaving its core in the darkness as the Doctor’s monstrous form emerged.

• Shade followed the Doctor’s directions to a devastated forest crater and broke through the space concealing the battle.
• Shade found Bill Schneider fighting the Fire Demon - Disaster, which the forest’s power made difficult to kill.
• Bill told Shade he was waiting to use his Mid-Ring Words of Sublimation and asked him to be ready.
• Bill invoked “Darkness-Crawling Madman,” plunging the forest and battlefield into darkness and immobilizing the demon.
• Bill tore himself out of the demon’s body, destroying it while its core remained, and his giant form appeared in the darkness.

After the Doctor defeated the thirteenth Demon, a giant tree attacked Shade and cast him into the Gap of Time. Shade chose a familiar moment and arrived unconscious in the past, where Lady Helena Carter tried to treat him; he later woke in a wooden cabin with the tree’s curse still draining his life.

• The Doctor swallowed the Demon core and defeated the thirteenth Demon, then he and Shade sensed a new threat in the burning forest.
• A giant black tree with a green eye attacked Shade and struck the Doctor with its tail, sending him into the Distant Place.
• The tree’s attacks severely wounded Shade and dragged him through a rift into the Gap of Time.
• Shade used his Destiny Ring to choose a familiar scene and fell into the past, where Lady Helena Carter caught him.
• Lady Helena Carter found rootlike growths draining Shade’s Life Force, failed to suppress them, and carried him away.
• Shade woke in a wooden cabin, still in pain and unaware of his surroundings.

Shade tried to purge an ancient tree curse with Moon Fire, but it overwhelmed him and a streak of moonlight led Lady Helena Carter into the woodland. There, wielding Night Watchman, Helena awakened extraordinary lunar power and unleashed a devastating thaumaturgy against a Demon.

• Lady Helena Carter explained her teacher's plan to pair students in the powers of the Sun and Moon, then treated Shade's injuries and helped him outside beneath the full Moon.
• Shade used Moon Fire to suppress the tree curse, but his spirit faltered, the curse reappeared, and he collapsed.
• A streak of silver light rose from Shade's chest, and Helena followed it through the woodland on her Flying Carpet while carrying Shade and his weapons.
• A Demon attacked the Flying Carpet, and Helena severed its wrist with Night Watchman before summoning the Demon Hunting Seal.
• Helena's lunar power surged as she formed thirteen Great Swords around the Demon and cast “Thaumaturgy—Moon Goddess's Forgiveness!”

After Shade was injured by the Great Tree’s Curse, the Black-Haired Lady followed moonlight to an ancient temple, where a goddess statue healed him and strengthened his Moon Fire. Shade learned that the blessing had improved his abilities, but he still needed to find a way back to 1854.

• The Black-Haired Lady failed to destroy the Ancient Evil Spirit, which escaped into Vesta Woodland as a natural phenomenon.
• The moonlight led the Black-Haired Lady and Shade to a hidden temple and its ancient goddess statue.
• The Black-Haired Lady placed unconscious Shade in the statue’s empty arms, and it kissed his forehead, drawing out moonlight and healing him.
• Shade received new traits, a temporary moonlight blessing, and an enhancement to Moon Fire that let it purify powerful curses.
• The statue and temple crumbled into ash after Shade woke, and he told the Black-Haired Lady about the Moon God’s blessing.
• The Black-Haired Lady took Shade back on the Flying Carpet, while he focused on finding a way to return to 1854.

After being exiled from 1854 to 1821, Shade explained his situation to Helena Carter and searched for a way to return to his own time. Helena agreed to accompany him as they began investigating possible sources of time travel in Vesta Woodland.

• Shade told Helena Carter how the Demon’s defeat had ended with the Black Great Tree exiling him into the Time Rift and worried about his missing friend.
• Helena offered to borrow relics from the Academy, but Shade doubted they could help and explained that using the Time Key might create a paradox with his promise to another young lady.
• Shade and Helena rested at her Tree House, where Helena dreamed of Shade kissing her forehead.
• Shade summoned breakfast for Helena, then proposed visiting the Temple and the ruins of the Old God Radiance Doorway to find a way back to 1854.
• Helena accompanied Shade to the overgrown archway of Radiance Doorway, but Shade’s investigation with the Yggdrasil Staff suggested the ruins could not help him.

Shade and Lady Helena Carter searched Vesta City's music hall for a way to return home, but found no useful power there. After they noticed the opera actress Marisa carried Blasphemy Elements, they spent the day following her to learn what she was hiding.

• Shade and Lady Helena Carter explored the music hall, where Shade found no power that could help him return home.
• Shade told Lady Helena Carter he missed home and considered visiting his Tobesk house through the Space Labyrinth.
• Marisa rejected Farris's questions about her nightly absences and left him alone in the music hall.
• Shade noticed Blasphemy Elements on Marisa, and he and Lady Helena Carter decided to investigate her.
• Shade and Lady Helena Carter learned that Marisa was an opera actress, music conservatory applicant, and maid, then followed her through her day's work and back to her apartment.

Shade and Lady Helena Carter watched Marisa after she argued with Farris, then followed clues from a Crow to an elderly woman who had been waiting to give the librarian a box. The chapter ended as Helena prepared to open it and read the letter inside.

• Lady Helena Carter told Shade how she had been found as a child at the Academy gates and offered to teach him her potion-making skills.
• Marisa argued with Farris, then a black Crow flew from her apartment window as Shade and Helena watched.
• Farris and two men from the local Nature Church followed the Crow, while Helena led Shade to investigate Marisa’s apartment.
• An elderly woman recognized Helena as the librarian and said an astrologer had left a box for her decades earlier.
• The old woman gave Helena the box and said it contained a letter, leaving Shade and Helena alone to open it.

Shade and the Sorceress discovered that Astrologer Euclid had left them the Ouroboros Ring, a relic capable of suppressing curses, and found Marisa’s diary describing her nightly transformations into a Crow. They reached the lake after Marisa and Farris had reunited, where the Church’s Ring Arcanists noticed them and recoiled from the Sorceress.

• The Sorceress opened Euclid’s box and found his letter and the Ouroboros Ring, which he had left to suppress her curse and help Marisa.
• Administrator Miss explained that the ring could reverse curses, though suppressed curses would eventually reappear as a tail before fading away.
• Shade and the Sorceress read Marisa’s diary and learned that she had been transforming into a Crow each evening for three months and had avoided Farris out of fear.
• Shade and the Sorceress arrived at the forest lake after Marisa had reverted and embraced Farris, with feather marks still visible on her skin.
• The Church’s Fifth Ring and Seventh Ring Arcanists noticed Shade and the Sorceress, then retreated when they sensed the Sorceress’s power.

Shade and Lady Helena Carter used the Ouroboros Ring and a shared dream beneath the Silver Moon in an attempt to help her return through time. Helena’s soul connected with Shade’s as she transformed into a tree, and Shade fell asleep within his dream as she bid him farewell.

• Shade learned that Marisa had been cursed by a Cultist’s item, and Farris’s attempt to cure her with diluted Holy Water No. 4 had mutated the curse.
• Shade showed the Ouroboros Ring to the Church members, then left the woods with Lady Helena Carter.
• Helena took Shade to the Golden Music Hall and explained that his earlier mastery of Secret Fire there suggested the Power of Time was involved.
• Helena put the Ouroboros Ring on Shade and guided him into a dream beneath the Silver Moon, where she transformed into a tree and connected her soul to his.
• Shade fell asleep beneath Helena’s tree as moonlight and emerald motes filled the dream, and Helena said farewell and urged him to protect himself.

Shade entered the Fate Casino and won a wager for the chance to return to 1854, while Lady Helena Carter woke with his ring and a sense of loss. At the end, Professor Pigman summoned Professor Danist to the Academy, but had not yet explained why.

• Lady Helena Carter woke in the theater, found Shade gone, and picked up his gleaming silver ring.
• Shade found himself in the Fate Casino, where an old gentleman explained that visitors wagered something of their own for a chance to change their Destiny.
• Shade staked Night Watchman and won a simple high-or-low Rhodes Cards wager, earning the opportunity to return to 1854.
• At the Accordion Hotel, the red-haired girl worried about Shade until a letter from Professor Pigman summoned her to the Academy's principal's office.
• Professor Danist arrived at the office and asked Professor Pigman whether his urgent summons concerned Emilia.

Miss Danist received a ring and a message from Professor Helena Carter, then prepared for the Academy’s expedition to Vesta Woodland. Shade returned from the past after the battle and joined Doctor Bill Schneider, who led him to a mysterious giant tree in a forest clearing.

• Headmaster Professor Pigman gave Miss Danist a box that Professor Helena Carter had left for her, containing a note saying Shade was fine and would return to her time, along with the Ouroboros Ring meant for him.
• Miss Danist refused to keep the ring and asked about the Academy’s Vesta Woodland support teams; Professor Pigman said they would likely depart next Monday and that Miss Sianode would arrive a day earlier with the Unicorn.
• Shade emerged from a rift in the White Fog carrying the Night Watchman, and Doctor Bill Schneider confirmed that the battle was over and the strange tree had disappeared.
• Doctor Bill Schneider explained that his injuries had temporarily prevented his recovery, while Shade said he had found a way back from the past.
• Doctor Bill Schneider led Shade along a forest path to a clearing, where they discovered a giant tree.

Shade and the Doctor investigated the giant tree’s seats and learned that the Doctor had recovered a World Tree branch after defeating the fire Demon. Shade reunited with Iluna and the others, then returned to the hotel, where Danist confronted him about meeting her Teacher, Mrs. Carter.

• Shade translated the glowing runes on one of the giant wooden seats and discussed whether the seats represented guardians of the World Tree’s forces.
• The Doctor showed Shade a branch from the World Tree that the fire Demon had left behind, with sparks that ordinary means could not extinguish.
• Shade and the Doctor parted in the forest, and Shade returned to Gregory Village, where Iluna, Sister Devlin, Flora, and the other girls were safe.
• Sister Devlin confirmed that the First Fire had been recovered, gave Shade a package left by a century-old Demon Hunter, and returned to the Sacrificial Ground.
• At the Accordion Hotel, Danist gave Shade a box Mrs. Carter had left for her and asked whether he had visited her Teacher again.
• Shade explained that he had met Mrs. Carter after being thrown out of the present point in time, and the box opened to reveal a note and a ring.