Chapter Summaries

Shade and Doctor Schneider defeated the Flame Demon, and Shade discovered that a stone slab left by Violet Marshall might point to the Mountain Waist Seal. They celebrated in Tobesk, where the doctor discussed his gains and warned Shade about the strange elemental turmoil in Middlesburg.

• Shade impaled the Flame Demon's heart with the sword after it flew toward him, and Doctor Schneider returned through the door before it vanished.
• Shade found a stone slab on the far platform that Witch Echo Lian Anna identified as a Fifth Epoch artifact left by Violet Marshall, then collected the key and sword and left the mountain hollow.
• Shade and Doctor Schneider celebrated at the clinic, where the doctor said he had devoured his seventh Demon and gained Thaumaturgies and Spirit Runes.
• Doctor Schneider warned Shade that he sensed intense elemental chaos in Middlesburg and described it as the calm before a volcanic eruption.

Shade visited Miss Danist at Saint Byron’s Academy Library to show her the Yellow Moon Spirit Rune and discuss the Silver Moon Library, a rare moon-based thaumaturgy, and clues about the library’s history. He left reflecting on how the library connected people and events across different eras.

• Shade sent Miss Danist a letter about obtaining the Yellow Moon Spirit Rune, then projected himself to the Academy Library to meet her.
• Miss Danist confirmed Shade’s Yellow Moon Spirit Rune and said his rapid progress could let him advance to the third year after the year-end examination.
• Miss Danist and Shade tried to reveal the Silver Moon Library with their moon runes, but the book’s traces remained unreadable without a Core Ling Rune.
• Miss Danist explained that Moon Goddess’s Forgiveness required the Yellow Moon, Red Moon, and Silver Moon Spirit Runes, and that Serkses’s Guiding Moon would soon reach Tobesk.
• Shade and Miss Danist discussed the investigation of Miss Mana Falianna’s appearance and the Gray-Robed Sage’s role in establishing the Academy Library.
• Shade realized that his task in the previous epoch had shaped the library’s present form and imagined the people who had once stood there.

Shade visited Miss Galina’s estate to claim a gift from God's Gift Box and ask her to identify a relic sword and help sell a Flame Demon heart. He learned the Witches were investigating his cave discovery and warned that new groups were gathering in Middlesburg, then stayed at the estate for a quiet autumn afternoon.

• Shade drew a music box from God's Gift Box and gave it to Tifa after she demonstrated how it worked.
• Shade showed Miss Galina a rune-covered relic sword and a Flame Demon heart, describing the hidden cave and asking for help identifying the sword and finding a buyer for the heart.
• Miss Galina arranged for Grandma Cassandra to buy the heart for Sister Devlin and told Shade to ask Grandma Cassandra to appraise the sword; she also said the Witches were taking his cave discovery seriously.
• Miss Galina told Shade that Sivie would arrive in Middlesburg the next day and warned him that The Truth Society and other Ring Arcanist organizations were becoming involved in the matter of the third Chosen One.
• Shade stayed at the estate instead of going to Middlesburg and spent the autumn afternoon with Miss Galina and Tifa.

Shade completed a relic trade for the Traveler's Travel Door and used it to take Luvia to Middlesburg, where his Blood Money coin resonated with another nearby. He tracked the signal to a strange location-type relic called Sin Mansion and left without entering.

• Shade traded the Corpse-Hiding Mirror to Mr. Neil Yang for the Traveler's Travel Door and 102 pounds.
• Shade and Luvia used the door to visit a mountain overlooking Middlesburg, where Shade's Blood Money coin began vibrating.
• Luvia returned home, and Shade went back to Middlesburg with his sword to investigate the other Blood Money.
• Shade followed the coin's resonance through the forest and discovered a large mansion that had not appeared on the mountain map.
• Shade identified the mansion's gate as reading "Sin Mansion," memorized its location, and went down the mountain without entering.

Shade learned that Night Watchman was an Angel Level Relic with demon-slaying, inherited swordsmanship, and spellcasting abilities, then arranged to attend the Fire Worship Festival Charity Dinner and investigate the mountain cave with Sivie. He sold the Damaged Flame Demon's Heart to Sister Devlin, who revealed that a mad Phoenix sealed the summit passage and that her flame was the Angel Level Relic Primordial Fire.

• Grandma Cassandra identified Night Watchman’s properties, showed Shade how to use it as a spellcasting medium, and gave him an invitation to the Fire Worship Festival Charity Dinner where he could meet Sivie.
• Grandma Cassandra advised Shade and Sivie to inspect the cave on Sikar Mountain and agreed to research the Relic Sin Mansion he had encountered.
• Shade sold the Damaged Flame Demon's Heart to Sister Devlin for 3,000 pounds.
• Sister Devlin drew the Flame Demon's Kindling from the heart and fused its sparks into her flame, Whisper.
• Sister Devlin told Shade that the Phoenix sealing the summit passage had gone mad and revealed that her flame was the Angel Level Relic Primordial Fire.

Shade met Iluna in Middlesburg and attended the Fire Worship Festival charity banquet to meet Miss Sivie Aurora. At the banquet, he ran into Captain Rades, who introduced him to the gathering of local officials and military leaders.

• Shade returned to Tobesk, told Luvia where the Blood Money was, and hired Mr. Edmund to investigate the Old God Gray-Robed Sage.
• Shade waited outside the Sun Church and greeted Iluna when she arrived in Middlesburg with the Tobesk convoy.
• Shade changed into formal clothes at the Sikar Inn and went to the charity banquet at Mibao Mechanical College.
• Shade ate by a bonfire, received a silk scarf from a local young woman, and searched for the Rhodes Cards area.
• Shade spotted Captain Rades speaking with Brigadier General Carter and the Mayor of Middhir Fort City, and Captain Rades came over to greet him.

At a Miburg banquet, Shade learned about the local Bloodkin’s drug trade and heard that the Nature Church planned to seal off Sikar Mountain for a blessing ceremony. Priest Augustus suggested Shade visit Auction Hall 3, where special Rhodes Cards were being offered.

• Captain Rades told Shade that the Royal Army would help seal off Sikar Mountain for the Nature Church’s ceremony, then showed him the Heroic Legends: Swordsman Sabaron card Brigadier General Carter had given him.
• A young Bloodkin dealer offered Shade human-blood Blood Brew, then sold him three vials made from crow blood.
• Priest Augustus explained that Miburg’s impoverished Bloodkin made and sold Blood Brew, and Shade gave him a vial to analyze.
• Priest Augustus urged Shade to visit Auction Hall 3 and warned him that Rhodes Cards could be harmful.

Shade met Priest Augustus at the Fire Worship Festival banquet and learned that the Death Outbreak could bring the Black Sun and a catastrophic merging of the worlds of the living and the dead. He then met Miss Aurora and Grandma Cassandra, arranged to join their journey through the Dreamlands, and learned that Grandma Cassandra’s Teacher was Helen Blake and Grace White, the twin sisters Shade was about to see again.

• Priest Augustus told Shade that the Death Outbreak was near and described the Black Sun’s arrival and the worlds of the living and the dead merging.
• Shade met Miss Aurora and Grandma Cassandra in a private room at the banquet and discussed their plans to inspect the passage on the mountainside.
• Grandma Cassandra agreed that Shade could accompany them into the Dreamlands and explained that they could enter the Interstice from there.
• Grandma Cassandra gave Shade information about Sin Mansion, a Relic that appeared at random and drew sinners inside; Shade planned to enter it alone the next day.
• Grandma Cassandra revealed that her Teacher used the names Helen Blake and Grace White, and that the missing Bronze Jar task had been arranged to bring Shade to the Academy.
• Shade learned that he could meet the twins by accompanying Grandma Cassandra up the mountain next Monday, when their ritual was about to begin.

Shade learned that the Truth Society and other groups were investigating the Chosen One in Middlesburg, then followed Iluna into the forest and joined her fight against a fifth-ring Truth Society arcanist. The masked man’s Magic Eye stole Shade’s Moonbeam Greatsword Thaumaturgy, and Shade and Iluna surrounded him as Shade prepared a new tactic.

• Miss Aurora and Grandma Cassandra told Shade that the Church had concealed the Chosen One’s arrival, while the Truth Society and the Three Great Arcane Academies were active in Middlesburg.
• Miss Aurora invited Shade to dance, and Shade later spotted Iluna heading into the forest behind the Academy.
• Shade followed Iluna and found her confronting a fifth-ring Truth Society arcanist who summoned a three-headed Hound.
• Iluna wounded the Hound with her Sunlight Gun, but the arcanist used a Mirror to absorb the spear and a Magic Eye to freeze and steal Shade’s Moonbeam Greatsword.
• Shade and Iluna attacked the arcanist together, but he used the Mirror and a Corpse Ghoul to defend himself and avoid their strikes.
• Shade and Iluna surrounded the arcanist, and Shade looked up at the Three Moons as he formed a bold plan.

Shade and Iluna defeated a Truth Society arcanist who escaped through Life and Death Limbo, and Shade revealed that he could wield Moonbeam Greatswords from both Silver Moon and Yellow Moon. After agreeing to meet Iluna at the Bonfire Ball, Shade returned to the festival and went to inspect the charity auction’s special Rhodes Card.

• Shade used Yellow Moon’s Confusion to turn the Truth Society arcanist’s summoned creatures against each other, then learned to summon a Yellow Moonbeam Greatsword and clashed with the arcanist’s Silver Moonbeam Greatsword.
• Iluna seized the Mirror as both greatswords shattered, and the arcanist escaped into Life and Death Limbo after Shade struck him with Mind Blast.
• Shade let Iluna keep the Mirror, showed her that he could summon both Moonbeam Greatswords, and agreed to meet her at nine to dance.
• Shade returned to the Fire Worship Festival grounds and headed to the castle’s second-floor conference room to inspect the special Rhodes Card at auction.

Shade attended a charity auction, where he learned about a painting depicting the Primordial Fire and watched a coveted Rhodes Card sell beyond his budget. Miss Aurora and Grandma Cassandra then asked him to investigate a Metal Coffin bought by Viscount Armand Bernhardt, whom Shade had encountered before.

• Shade admired the commemorative Queen of Suits card but decided not to bid, and a Kasonlik merchant bought it for one hundred and thirty-two pounds.
• Shade spoke with the painter of “Fire-Holding Girl” and heard his account of the Primordial Fire as an ancient myth.
• Miss Aurora and Grandma Cassandra told Shade that an apparently nonhuman buyer had paid six thousand pounds for a Metal Coffin that was not a relic.
• Shade recognized the buyer as Viscount Armand Bernhardt but concealed that he had met him before, then went to inspect the coffin.
• Miss Aurora told Grandma Cassandra that Bernhardt was a lonely widower with few surviving relatives, including an underage niece.

Shade inspected the coffin Armand Bernhardt had bought and found it was an ordinary antique, then helped the Witches prepare for their investigation of a cave entrance. As the evening ball approached, the Earl of Darak arrived to meet Cassandra, and Shade hid behind Aurora in disguise.

• Shade examined the coffin in the warehouse and found no trace of Whisper Element, only an inscription that read, “My love slumbers here.”
• Shade and the maid hid as Armand Bernhardt arrived with workers to remove the coffin, then reported their findings to the Witches.
• Aurora and Cassandra dismissed the coffin and Bernhardt as irrelevant, while the Old Witch suggested he planned to use the auction to smuggle the antique into Kasonlik.
• A servant announced that the Earl of Darak wished to see Cassandra, and Shade disguised himself as an armed guard behind Aurora.
• Aurora invited the earl inside while the Old Witch adopted a cold manner.

Shade accompanied Sivie Aurora to the Bonfire Ball, where she used him to turn down the Earl of Darak and then danced with him. Aurora confessed that she envied Galina for meeting Shade first, leaving him blushing after she kissed his ear.

• Earl of Darak invited Sivie Aurora to dance, and she challenged him to beat her bodyguard, Shade, at Rhodes Cards.
• Shade defeated Earl of Darak in three straight games, though the earl’s recently recovered illness did not explain Shade’s instinctive sense that something was off about him.
• Shade spoke with Aurora and Grandma Cassandra, who reminded him that Teacher’s ritual would take place on Monday and said Teacher looked forward to meeting him.
• Shade waited for Aurora, then entered the Bonfire Ball with her and danced beside the bonfires as she introduced him to “Heart of the Lake.”
• Aurora told Shade she envied Galina for meeting him first, kissed his ear, and signaled for him to move away from her shoulder.

Shade danced with Sivie Aurora at the Fire Worship Festival, where she offered him guidance and invited him to visit Kasonlik before kissing him goodbye. After Aurora left, Shade headed to meet Iluna Bayes, who was waiting by the bonfire.

• Shade told Sivie Aurora that he would not leave Galina, and Aurora invited him to visit Kasonlik and meet her apprentice niece.
• Aurora offered to guide Shade in learning witches' spells and told him that Helen Black sometimes called herself Grace White.
• Aurora kissed Shade, gave him the Queen of Suits card about New Continent Development history of Exploration, and left with her maids.
• Shade joked about the odds of accepting Aurora's invitation and hurried toward his appointment with Iluna Bayes.
• Shade saw Iluna waiting for him in a dancing dress by the bonfire.

At the Fire Worship Festival, Shade and Iluna shared clues about the candidates for the Chosen One of Death and planned to investigate further. Back in Tobesk, Shade was awakened by the Night Watchman and a spreading fog, then faced an evil spirit in his home.

• Shade and Iluna danced at the festival and discussed the Phoenix sealing the summit channel, the Church's four suspected candidates, and clues from Poem Chapter Fragments.
• Iluna promised to share information from other fragments and agreed to enter the mountain with Shade when she had time.
• Shade played Rhodes Cards, returned to Tobesk, and went to bed with Mia while Luvia was away investigating the Special Coin.
• The Night Watchman glowed and woke Shade as a thick White Fog filled his living room and strange footsteps and green flames appeared.
• An evil spirit appeared behind Shade, but the Night Watchman moved his arm and stabbed the spirit through the head, making it collapse.

Shade fought a series of ghosts that emerged from his house and discovered that their source had once belonged to 6 Saint Derain Square. Unsure whether his home was truly safe, he took Mia to spend the night at the Three Cats Inn and vowed to deal with whatever haunted it.

• Shade used the Night Watchman's Longsword and Great Sin Chains to defeat several ghosts, but the pustule-covered demon escaped into Saint Derain Square.
• Shade pursued the demon into the square, killed it with the Chaotic Time Blade and Moonbeam Greatsword, and destroyed the ghosts released from its body.
• Shade used Guiding Death on the demon's soul fragments and saw memories of 6 Saint Derain Square from a distant era, suggesting the demon had once lived in the house.
• Shade inspected the house, including the basement and Traveler's Travel Door, but could not find the source of the haunting.
• Shade took Mia and his belongings to the Three Cats Inn, where he planned to spend the night and vowed to make the haunting pay.

Shade and his friends investigated the source of the evil spirits in 6 Saint Derain Square and concluded that a small Boundary of Life and Death overlapped with the third floor. Shade refused to abandon his home and planned to seek help from Sister Devlin in Middhir Fort City.

• Shade, Doctor Schneider, Dorothy, and Luvia searched the house after another evil spirit appeared, but found nothing unusual on the first or third floors.
• Luvia noticed a newspaper report that a powerful earthquake had struck the Sikar Mountain Area the previous night, recalling that an earlier quake coincided with a Mirror Ghost appearing in Shade’s house.
• Shade explained that earthquakes in the Life and Death Limbo could disturb boundaries between life and death throughout the world, and Doctor Schneider recalled that a former owner had vanished from the third floor.
• The group concluded that a small Boundary of Life and Death overlapped with the third floor and had recently released spirits because of the quakes.
• Shade refused to move and said he would ask Sister Devlin to inspect the boundary, though he would first need to transport the Traveler’s Travel Door to Middhir Fort City.

Shade learned that the earthquakes had badly weakened his Tree's Kiss seal in Middlesburg and decided to seek more Blood Money in Sin Mansion rather than risk entering the Interstice again. After Luvia divined that he would meet an old acquaintance there, Shade reached the mansion and saw its front door close as he approached.

• Shade told Luvia that the two earthquakes had weakened his seal and that a third could undo its effects in Middlesburg.
• Luvia warned Shade not to enter the Interstice again, but he decided to seek Blood Money in Sin Mansion to resolve their problems before The Church and the Academy acted.
• Luvia used the Diviner's Silver Coin and foresaw that Shade would meet an old acquaintance from a distant place inside Sin Mansion.
• Shade left his cat with Dorothy and traveled up Sikar Mountain, where he saw Orthodox Church Ring Arcanists surveying the area for the Nature Church's ritual.
• Shade arrived at Sin Mansion, saw its front door close, and felt Night Watchman vibrate as he crossed the gate.

Shade entered Sin Mansion as a trader and learned that the relic’s power strengthened him according to his sins. After the mansion measured his sins, its old caretaker suspected he was the Original Sin Scholar.

• Shade entered Sin Mansion, endured its hostile Whisper Element, and told the lamp-bearing caretaker he had come to trade rather than as a lost traveler.
• The caretaker led Shade through the ruined mansion and explained that the lamp could be bought for three complete souls or by taking on a moment of slaughter’s sin.
• Shade pressed his palm to a parchment, dodged the clerk’s attempt to stab him, and received a record of his soul and sins, including Great Sin Chains.
• Shade reflected on the listed sins, and the voice beside him pointed out that he had not analyzed his Promiscuity.
• The caretaker examined Shade’s parchment, questioned how he maintained his figure with so much treasures-grade Gluttony, and asked if he was the Original Sin Scholar.

Shade entered Sin Mansion and was taken to a locked bedroom on the third floor, where a drawing of a long-haired woman attacked him. He destroyed the paper creature, but the mansion’s growing malice and the unexplained disturbance downstairs left the cause of the attack unresolved.

• An old man led Shade to the third floor after saying Shade’s sins qualified him to reach the highest floor.
• The mansion shook, an explosion sounded from the second floor, and the faces in the portraits turned toward the ground.
• The old man locked Shade in a bedroom and said the mansion’s trader would arrive shortly.
• Shade discovered a drawing of a long-haired woman on the desk, and its hair and a bluish-green hand attacked him.
• Shade used Feliana’s Witch Light and Night Watchman to destroy the paper creature, after which the room fell silent.