Chapter Summaries

Shade and the Nature Church fought off Joey Barton's undead army as the Interstice ritual neared completion. Barton sent multiple substitutes to occupy the defenders, then slipped invisibly into the church, where Shade pursued him.

• Shade and Iluna helped the Church Ring Arcanists defend the entrance while the ritual's triple rings gradually turned gold.
• Joey Barton's forces escalated their assault with the Headless Horsemen, but the Church's Guardian souls and the Seed of the Plant Protector's Grudge pushed back the undead.
• Joey Barton arrived and unleashed Fated Death, but the Crown of Thorns contained the attack as Barton drew many High-Ring Arcanists into a Mystic Lock.
• Multiple Bartons and the undead pinned down the defenders while Shade and Iluna held the church entrance against a black beam and further attacks.
• Barton entered the church invisibly after his substitutes destroyed the Defense Ritual, leaving many defenders incapacitated.
• Shade grabbed the Fishing Rod and Kerosene Lamp and chased Barton toward the depths of the church.

Shade and Lacan Matisse reached the Gate of Death, where Matisse explained that Joey Barton and Iluna Bayes were trapped beyond it until the sealing ritual ended. Determined to follow them, Shade opened a passage through the gate with Night Watchman and stepped toward death.

• Shade and Lacan Matisse descended into the church’s underground passage, where Shade’s Primordial Fire and the witch’s necklace protected them from the Black Wind.
• At the Gate of Death, Shade and Matisse saw the Nature Church’s holy emblem strengthening as the sealing ritual neared completion, but they found no sign of Joey Barton or Iluna Bayes.
• Matisse told Shade that Joey and Iluna were likely trapped beyond the gate and could not return before the Saint Tree Scar ritual was complete.
• Shade refused to leave and told Matisse he intended to enter the Gate of Death, while Matisse gave him the Sun Church’s Heaton Seal Thaumaturgy as payment for his help.
• Shade swung Night Watchman and opened a widening crack through the Gate of Death.

Shade entered death and found Iluna and Joey Barton at the shore beneath the Underworld Moon, where Joey explained that he was gathering himself to reach the soul he sought. As more wounded versions of Joey fused with him and the Old Priest and Sister Devlin arrived, Shade remained beside Joey, watching the souls pass toward the moon.

• Shade crossed the Gate of Death, found Iluna collapsed, and carried her back to the Tree's Kiss bonfire, where he reignited it with the First Fire.
• Shade spoke with Joey Barton, learned that the shore was death itself and that Joey's beloved lay beyond the waters, and failed to dissuade him from continuing.
• A wounded Joey Barton arrived through the Gate and fused with the Joey seated by the shore, while Latt Augustus Priest arrived and joined Iluna beside the bonfire.
• Shade and Joey discussed the Underworld Moon, the Saint Tree Scar ritual, and the passages into death as souls drifted toward the moon.
• A third, gravely injured Joey Barton arrived and fused with the others, suffering from the Witches' curses and an apparent wound to his heart.
• Sister Devlin arrived protected by the afterglow of the First Fire and sat beside the bonfire with Priest Augustus and Iluna.

Shade learned that Joey Barton intended to give up everything to retrieve a soul from the Underworld, and Priest Augustus and Sister Devlin urged Shade to stop him before the boundary between life and death broke. Shade prepared to pursue Barton, then used the Time Key to enter the Time Corridor, where the Father of Infinite Tree punished him for using it within death but granted him a Verdant Blessing.

• Iluna Bayes and Priest Latt Augustus introduced themselves to Sister Devlin, who explained that she had pursued Joey Barton into the mountain passage and fallen into the well.
• Joey Barton walked onto the Underworld water, leaving his corpse by the shore as he pursued the soul he hoped to bring back.
• Priest Augustus warned Shade that Barton must be defeated without being killed, and Sister Devlin and Augustus offered blessings to help Shade fight him on the water.
• Shade left his Relics by the First Fire and used the Time Key to enter the Time Corridor to recover and seek help.
• The Father of Infinite Tree warned Shade that using the Time Key within death violated its rules and postponed his next activation by two weeks, then granted him Verdant Blessing and insight into nature and life.

Shade crossed Silent Valley during Red Snow and found Gaddis Library damaged and the Witches missing from the bonfire. He located Miss Samuel and an unconscious Miss Olanord deeper inside, learned that Miss Olanord’s soul was being corrupted, and brought them back to the bonfire.

• After receiving Verdant Blessing, Shade entered the valley during Red Snow and avoided several strange visitors as he made his way to Gaddis Library.
• Shade found the library hall damaged, with Miss Fiona Drago still asleep in her ice coffin and Miss Olanord and Miss Samuel absent from the bonfire.
• Using Blood Brew to reveal a trail, Shade followed the Witches’ traces and found Miss Samuel facing a black-robed Humanoid Relic while Miss Olanord lay unconscious.
• Shade chose a blank card in the diviner’s game, causing the black-robed figure to retreat into the shadows.
• Miss Samuel explained that a Demon and other terrifying beings had driven them from the hall, and Shade discovered that Miss Olanord’s soul was being corrupted.
• Shade helped Miss Samuel and carried Miss Olanord back to the bonfire.

Shade and Miss Samuel tried to open the altar sealing the Nameless Sacrifice Book with five Sun-related items. The altar opened after Little Mia sat on its final groove, and Shade recovered the stone slab before the altar crumbled.

• Shade restored Little Mia from doll form and brought out the items he had gathered to test the altar’s five grooves.
• Shade placed the Kindling, the Corpse of the Sun Worm, Iluna’s brooch, and several candidate items into the grooves, completing most of the Sun Sigil but leaving one groove apparently unresponsive.
• Miss Samuel urged Shade to summon the deity and use her power, but Little Mia’s presence on the final groove triggered a burst of warm-yellow light that opened the stone box.
• Miss Samuel suggested that Mia had a noble bloodline related to the Sun, and Shade tried to lift the cat from the revealed stone slab.
• Mia reluctantly left the slab, Shade took it, and the altar and most of the items crumbled to dust.

Shade learned that the ancient Sun God and the Sage of the Silver Moon were twin sisters, then used the third wish to restore Miss Olanord to health. The library’s guardian warned that the library would collapse once the Nameless Sacrifice Book was handed over, leaving Shade to find a way for all three witches to escape.

• Shade read the Nameless Sacrifice Book and learned that the First Epoch’s Sun God and Sage of the Silver Moon were twin sisters who opposed the Twilight Creator.
• Shade and Miss Samuel discussed how to evacuate Miss Olanord and Fiona Drago from Silent Valley before the library collapsed.
• The Guardian of the Library explained that one wish could save only one person and offered a scepter that could help Miss Olanord and another witch escape.
• Shade decided to awaken Fiona Drago without using a wish, then used the third wish to restore Blaine Olanode to health.
• Miss Olanord opened her eyes after the Guardian of the Library healed her.

Shade told the story of the Sleeping Princess, using its tale of love and sacrifice to gain the Enlightenment–Sleeping Princess power. He left the Witches waiting to see whether his new power could awaken Miss Delago before their time in the past ran out.

• Shade promised Miss Samuel and Miss Olanord he would do everything he could to awaken Miss Delago and asked Miss Samuel to record his story.
• The gray-robed god shaped the campfire into scenes from the Sleeping Princess tale as Shade narrated the blessings of the twelve Witches and the Princess's long slumber.
• Shade told how an Outlander Prince defeated a witch, kissed the Princess, and sacrificed his ability to wield a sword to revive her kingdom.
• Shade's Third Ring gathered ochre Enlightenment Elements, and Enlightenment–Sleeping Princess appeared as he finished the story.

Shade awakened Fiona Drago by sacrificing Moon Shadow Illusion, gaining a new power through the Sleeping Princess Mystic Lock. The god gave Shade a divine staff for the library and new Moonbeam Greatsword techniques, then asked him to stay behind and talk while the Witches left.

• Shade used the god's temporary power to kiss Fiona Drago and awaken her, permanently losing Moon Shadow Illusion.
• Fiona Drago woke and kissed Shade, while the Mystic Lock granted him the Red Dragon Force curse and insight into Strength and Dragon.
• The god gave Shade a staff to help establish his library and taught him techniques for wielding the Moonbeam Greatsword through a physical sword.
• The god urged the Witches to leave through the weakened Red Snow, but asked Shade to remain and talk with Him.

Shade said goodbye to the Witches in the past, learned the sorcery Library Retrieval from the Gray-Robed Sage, and returned to the present after a fleeting reunion with Mana Falianna. Back at the bonfire, he prepared to end Joey Barton’s story.

• Miss Samuel, Miss Delago, and Blaney Olanord bid farewell to Shade before leaving the library with Fiona.
• The Gray-Robed Sage told Shade a story about the limits of his divine authority and granted him Library Retrieval.
• Shade returned the Nameless Sacrifice Book to the Gray-Robed Sage and began fading from the past as the library’s space shattered.
• Mana Falianna emerged from the broken space and caught Shade’s falling rose after he vanished.
• Shade returned to the present with two green leaves, then turned his attention to Joey Barton and prepared to terminate his story.

Shade received blessings from Priest Augustus, Sister Devlin, and Iluna before entering the Silent Waters to confront Joey Barton. As he began ascending beneath the Underworld Moon, his Destiny Ring and Spirit Runes gathered around him for his Words of Sublimation, consuming his divinity.

• Priest Augustus blessed Shade with death’s protection, and Sister Devlin bound the First Fire to Night Watchman to strengthen him against Joey Barton.
• Iluna blessed Shade with the power to turn severe deathly corruption into life, kissed him, and advised him to swallow the Youthful Immortality Leaf.
• Shade swallowed the leaf, activated the Red Butterfly Pendant, and approached Joey Barton in the Silent Waters.
• The Brass Ring of Fate appeared, the Underworld Moon rose, and Shade began ascending as the four Spirit Runes manifested their visions and merged with him.
• Shade used his remaining divinity to empower the Sleeping Princess Spirit Rune, causing the water to shimmer and the surrounding white shadows to gaze at him.

Shade fought Joey Barton in the deepest region of death, using the Underworld Moon’s power to overpower him. Priest Augustus intervened with Death Finger, leaving Barton motionless on the water.

• Shade faced Joey Barton and declared that Barton had to pay for the lives lost because of his actions.
• Shade used Moonlight Slash and his Rhodes Cards to evade Barton’s attacks and press the fight across the water.
• Shade unleashed Moonbeam Greatsword, cleaving Barton’s scythe and the giant black-robed figure in half.
• Sister Devlin described Shade’s power as close to that of a Demigod Hero, while Augustus and Iluna watched the battle.
• Augustus summoned an angel that used Death Finger to pierce Barton’s head and send him crashing onto the water.

Shade defeated Joey Barton after Barton invoked a deathly Old God’s Mark, with Iluna’s Sunlight Gun and Shade’s Myriad Aspects of Impermanence Cards countering the attack. Cursed and stripped of his Chosen One status, Barton was about to follow the departed souls when the translucent figure of the woman he longed to find appeared before him.

• Shade opened the Sleeping Princess Mystic Lock and, with the red-haired witch and Sister Devlin’s intervention, overwhelmed Barton’s Life and Death Limbo.
• Barton summoned a gigantic skull bearing the Old God of Death’s Mark, but Iluna’s Sunlight Gun broke it apart and Shade remained unharmed by Barton’s Fated Death.
• Shade explained that Myriad Aspects of Impermanence Cards could cancel each other out, and Barton revealed that he had found his card in an ancient ruin outside Umr Town in 1849.
• Barton gave up fighting and tried to follow the departed souls, but an incurable curse covered him after his defeat as the Death’s Chosen One.
• As Barton knelt on the water, the translucent woman he had sought appeared before him.

Priest Augustus, Shade, and the others helped Joey Barton exchange his life for Marylin Handel’s resurrection, with Barton accepting a curse and giving up part of his soul and his corpse. Marylin returned to life, and the group sailed back toward the Gate of Death as Shade prepared to face the rest of the night.

• Priest Augustus explained that Shade’s victory over Joey Barton had made a Small Wooden Boat appear to carry stranded souls, and the group sailed across the water to Shade.
• Joey Barton reunited with Marylin Handel, who took his Death curse before departing with the other souls; Priest Augustus then offered a way for her to return to life in exchange for Barton’s sacrifice.
• Barton agreed to share the curse with Marylin, surrender his hand bones, and give Shade one quarter of his soul, while Shade restored Marylin’s corpse from her ashes.
• Sister Devlin burned Barton’s corpse as fuel for Primordial Fire, and Marylin’s restored body and soul reunited in the boat.
• The group sailed against the departing souls toward the Mudflat and the Gate of Death, while Barton and Marylin held each other.

Shade and his companions saw the dead they had missed, then Iluna judged Joey Barton and Marylin Handel for their resurrection and bound them together under a curse and a path of atonement. After the group reached shore, Shade realized they could escape the sealed Interstice by having someone open a door to it from outside, and he prepared to send messages to Tobesk City while raising the question of who would become the Chosen One of Death.

• Priest Augustus, Iluna, Sister Devlin, and Shade looked back beneath the Underworld Moon and bid farewell to the departed, including Sparrow Hamilton and Ivan Daknis.
• Shade realized the boat could not reach shore until Iluna judged Joey Barton and Marylin Handel for their resurrection.
• Iluna condemned Joey Barton and Marylin Handel to bear the curse of death and bound them together in a contract to redeem wandering souls.
• The boat reached shore, and Priest Augustus explained that forcing open the sealed passages would damage The Church's ritual.
• Shade proposed opening a door to the Interstice from outside Middlesburg, then asked Priest Augustus to use Last Words to send messages to two people in Tobesk City.
• Shade began discussing the events with the group and raised the question of which person would become the Chosen One of Death.

Luvia, Miss Galina, and Tifa opened the Boundary of Life and Death at 6 Saint Derain Square and used the Council’s power to transform the Traveler’s Travel Door into a Gate of Death. The Universal Key opened it, and the women’s Destiny Rings began changing as Black Wind poured through.

• Luvia recognized Shade in her Crystal Ball, and Miss Galina saw his face reflected in her tea, so she rushed with Tifa and a group of Sorceresses to 6 Saint Derain Square.
• Luvia explained that Shade had asked them to open a door to True Death, and she used the Glowenston Marriage Contract to break into the Boundary of Life and Death.
• Inside the boundary, Luvia followed a hint from her Another Me and used the Fanatic’s Soul Coin to learn how to summon the Council’s power and represent the Gate of Death.
• Tifa painted the Holy Emblem of the Ancient God of Death on the Traveler’s Travel Door, and Miss Galina used the Witch Council’s power to turn it into a stone Gate of Death.
• Luvia gave Miss Galina the Universal Key, which opened the Gate of Death as Black Wind swept through the boundary and the women’s Destiny Rings spun rapidly.

Shade identified Iluna as a candidate for Death’s Chosen One and arranged for Sister Devlin to inherit the role while Iluna received only a fraction of its power. As Iluna and Sister Devlin prepared to leave, Shade revealed that he had spent his last drop of divinity to prepare for the blood-drinking duke’s arrival and vowed to prevent a tragedy.

• Shade proposed Iluna as the fourth candidate for Death’s Chosen One after Sister Devlin and Priest Augustus declined the role.
• Priest Augustus praised Iluna’s selflessness, but Iluna said she did not want to bear all the responsibility and power alone.
• Joey Barton suggested that Iluna could receive part of death’s power if she performed the ritual before Sister Devlin returned from death.
• Shade and Sister Devlin agreed that Iluna would leave first and Sister Devlin afterward, making Sister Devlin the third Chosen One while Iluna gained a small portion of death’s power.
• Shade reflected that he had used his last drop of divinity to prepare for the blood-drinking duke, then heard a door open.

Shade left True Death and entrusted Iluna with the Night Watchman and a Bone Whistle so she could fight the Interstice undead and help extend the seal. As the group returned to Middlesburg, Sister Devlin completed the ritual and became Death’s Chosen One, while Shade headed to the city to find two people.

• Miss Galina, Tifa, and Luvia saw Shade through the open Gate of Death, and Shade prepared to leave True Death as the Tree's Kiss bonfire went out.
• Shade gave Iluna the Night Watchman and Bone Whistle, telling her to defeat the undead aggregate and serve as the final executor of the Saint Tree Scar ritual.
• Iluna and Sister Devlin returned to the Interstice through different passages, while Priest Augustus and Joey Barton with Ms. Marylin Handel left for Tobesk with Shade.
• Shade warned Joey Barton that the curse of death would haunt him and Ms. Handel, then stepped through the Gate of Death with them and said he still needed to find two people in Middlesburg.
• Iluna and Sister Devlin were surrounded by pillars of light as the Chosen One Rituals began in Middlesburg.
• Sister Devlin completed the ritual, transforming her Destiny Ring into a dark gold scythe and becoming Death's Chosen One; Miss Aurora proposed deeper cooperation between the Order of Spiritual Cultivation and the Witch Council.

Shade returned to the Cassandra Auction House and learned that Grace and Helen had left with two high-ring Bloodkin, who were preparing a ritual on the mountain at the Blood Moon. Using the Blood Thorns Scepter and knowledge from a Youthful Immortality Leaf, he traced the twins’ movements and left to pursue them, determined to stop the sacrifice he had uncovered.

• Shade reached the damaged Cassandra Auction House and learned that Grace and Helen had already departed with two high-ring Bloodkin.
• Shade questioned the captured Armand Bernhardt, who revealed the ritual would begin at zero hour on the mountain and involve the Angel Level Relic, the Red Butterfly Twins.
• Shade used a Youthful Immortality Leaf to learn Columba Secret Language and activate the Blood Thorns Scepter.
• Shade used the scepter to enhance Blood Echo, traced Grace and Helen’s past movements from their bed, and realized what the God of Vampires intended.
• Shade left the auction house to pursue the twins and prevent two innocent souls from being sacrificed.

Shade fought his way up Sikar Mountain to find Grace and Helen as the Interstice’s White Fog and the Bloodkin’s ritual threatened Middlesburg. Along the way, souls of people he had helped and innocents murdered by Henry Val aided him, leaving Shade to press on toward the mountain’s unfolding danger.

• Shade left Miss Swift in charge and climbed Sikar Mountain, where Principal Andre Pigman’s Thirteenth Ring and Level 0 Relic briefly cleared the fog with a shower of healing roses.
• A dead Delarion corporal lured undead away from Shade, and Professor Higgins’s spirit held back a forest of tree demons so he could continue.
• Shade followed murdered women’s spirits through the fog and recovered the trail of Grace and Helen as the White Fog gathered into a cocoon above Middlesburg.
• A blood-controlled Headless Horseman attacked Shade, but Earl Darak intervened and urged him to find the Orthodox Church while warning that the Interstice was incubating a final undead aggregate.
• As Shade continued into the Blood Mist, the voice beside him explained that the dead had returned because they remembered him and had come to help.