Chapter Summaries

Shade received the Keeper of Secrets' third trial: find and defeat an Evil Spirit Demon from the Third Epoch hiding in the city. He told Luvia about the task and her ominous dream, then delivered his completed commission report to Sir Cameron.

• A shadowy boy rose from Regent Park's lake, recognized the two Great Witches, and tasked them with finding and defeating a Third Epoch Evil Spirit Demon.
• Shade promised Miss Galina he would produce results before the end of the week, and the group returned to the city.
• Shade met Luvia at the Seer Association and explained the Demon and the Keeper of Secrets' trial.
• Luvia warned Shade that the Demon was dangerous and described a strange dream in which Miss Pawo gave her the Smallville Codex before dying.
• Shade delivered his report to Sir Cameron, who praised it and invited him to lunch, but Shade declined because he had promised to eat with Dorothy.

Shade spent Wednesday and Thursday checking on Princess Margaret while waiting for Doctor Schneider to locate Victor Fanni, and he helped his neighbor recover a lost dog. The chapter ended with a message from Miss Danist summoning Shade to meet her by projection.

• Shade visited Princess Margaret and gave her Doctor Schneider's Demon-repelling black cloth band, then Miss Sylvia recognized Shade as a Correspondence Student Ring Arcanist.
• Doctor Schneider wrote that he had found Victor Fanni's trail and needed another one or two days to pinpoint him.
• Shade visited Princess Margaret again and spoke with Miss Sylvia, who asked whether he had learned any new spatial Thaumaturgy.
• Shade found Old Baron Fleming's lost dog, Little Taka, and returned it to the baron's house.
• Mia alerted Shade to a new message from Miss Danist, who asked to see him in twenty minutes by projection.

Shade learned that Sir Legenes Presia came from a family rumored to have ancient Winged Human or Angel blood, and Miss Danist agreed to bring the mysterious book to Tobesk if his radiance could help locate Silver Moon Library. Shade also asked about Schultz Theresa and learned that the name belonged to a powerful Witch who had inherited the mantle of Witch Emperor Violet.

• Miss Danist told Shade that the Prisha family had produced Ring Arcanists for generations and carried rumors of alien blood, while Legenes Presia excelled in Enlightenment Elements and had ties to Apna Library.
• Shade promised to obtain Legenes Presia's radiance within a week, and Miss Danist said she would bring the book to Tobesk if the radiance could reveal Silver Moon Library.
• Shade asked Miss Danist about Schultz Theresa, and she found an account describing a former Serkeses headmaster who had received a god's blessing and possessed great Wisdom.
• After Shade left, Miss Danist identified Schultz Theresa as the demigod Schultz Violet Theresa, who had completed the Thirteenth Order secret art, Undying Witch.
• Miss Danist rang the library bell at midnight, marking the close of another peaceful night in the Academy City of Saint Byron's.

Shade accompanied Princess Margaret on her visit to Delarion Third National Mechanical College, where he encountered Miss Pawo of The Truth Society and discussed inventions with her. The conversation ended with them talking about alchemy and the Philosopher’s Stone as the tour continued.

• Shade joined Princess Margaret’s delegation as it toured the college’s physics and mechanical facilities and examined a pinhole experiment and a large steam-powered vacuum cleaner.
• Viscount Braunming fainted from the noise of a milling machine, and Miss Pawo assured Shade that the Viscount’s life was not in danger.
• Miss Pawo revealed that the Vite Family had invested in inventions including a new locomotive, a steelmaking method, a pedal-powered vehicle, and a steam-powered motor carriage.
• Shade told Miss Pawo he had considered chemically synthesizing artificial fibers, then described his interest in elastic, transparent stockings.
• Miss Pawo wondered whether chemistry could synthesize parts of the human body, and Shade connected the idea to alchemy and the Philosopher’s Stone.

Shade discovered that a bomb was set to explode in the auditorium where Princess Margaret was attending a report. After confirming the plot, he left to warn her using his Gray-headed Eagle identity.

• Shade discussed Rhodes Cards with Sir Legenes Prisha and other gentlemen during Princess Margaret's Academy tour.
• Shade noticed a suspicious man watching the auditorium, followed him into a nearby building, and found a caretaker's corpse.
• Shade killed the man and used Soul Echo to learn that a Steam Bomb beneath a seat in the auditorium would explode within minutes.
• Shade discovered that the Lamia Duchy Independence Organization planned to kill Princess Margaret and provoke conflict between Delarion and Kasonlik.
• Shade erased the traces in the building and left to contact Princess Margaret through his Gray-headed Eagle identity.

Shade helped expose a bomb planted at the Third National Mechanical College and drew suspicion toward Gray Gloves, while Military Intelligence Section Six tasked him with protecting Princess Margaret. He kept his Gray-headed Eagle identity from Leisha and promised to explain it after Margaret left.

• Shade imitated a cat and planted a note warning of the bomb, then identified himself as Hamilton of Leijed and urged the guard to evacuate the lecture hall.
• Princess Margaret ordered the hall evacuated, and the bomb exploded after the crowd escaped, prompting an investigation and the cancellation of the Academy visit.
• Director Anlos took Shade from Ridgewich Field, questioned his account, and suspected Gray Gloves had warned them; he ordered Shade to stay close to Margaret and retrieve the note if possible.
• Shade returned home and told Dorothy and Leisha about the incident while concealing his Gray-headed Eagle identity from Leisha.
• Leisha guessed Shade had withheld a secret, and Shade promised to reveal it after Princess Margaret left.

At Princess Margaret’s banquet, Doctor Schneider searched for the wounded Demon hiding in a human host, and Shade helped him locate it. They found the Demon possessing a manor servant and speaking with Sir Legenes Presia, where the chapter ended as the Demon asked what great power Presia possessed.

• Shade warned Iluna about Miss Pawo’s appearance, and The Church sent more Ring Arcanists to Canary Manor.
• Princess Margaret asked Shade about the note left at Ridgewich Field, but he said he had not seen who dropped it.
• Shade discovered Doctor Schneider at the banquet, and the Doctor explained that he suspected the Demon was hiding in someone’s body.
• The Doctor found the Demon possessing a male servant, and Shade followed him into the manor garden to help mark it.
• Shade and the Doctor overheard Sir Legenes Presia confronting the servant, and the Demon asked Presia what great power he possessed.

Legenes Presia rejected a demon’s offer to serve him, despite its attempt to tempt him with secret knowledge and a Wise Man’s Gleaming Stone. After the demon escaped, Doctor Schneider pursued it while Shade disguised himself and stepped out to delay Sir Prisha.

• Shade and Doctor Schneider watched Legenes Presia reveal his five-ring Destiny Ring and gain three Spirit Runes by fusing with a book.
• The demon offered to serve Legenes Presia and revealed a Wise Man’s Gleaming Stone, but Legenes refused to accept its power.
• The demon threatened to expose Legenes’s secrets and left the Glimmerstone behind before vanishing amid the Multi-Headed Gear Mechanical Dragon’s attack.
• Doctor Schneider decided to pursue the demon and asked Shade to hold Legenes back.
• Shade used Rita Swift’s Disguise Rune Stone, then emerged from the grass with another unfamiliar figure as Legenes watched the Glimmerstone.

Shade helped Doctor Schneider mark the Demon and stopped Sir Prisha from interfering while Miss Danist's mirror collected the Guiding Moon's glimmer. After Shade reported his success, Miss Danist summoned him to the Library's underground restricted area, where he realized he could ask her about the final stone slab he sought.

• Shade confronted Sir Prisha and used Miss Danist's mirror to collect the glimmer while the two men tested each other's moonlight Thaumaturgy.
• Sir Prisha took the Demon's Glimmerstone and left, while Doctor Schneider emerged from the bushes pleased that he had marked the Demon.
• Shade and Doctor Schneider returned to the banquet, where the Witches questioned Shade about the Demon and expressed concern for his safety.
• Shade sent Miss Danist a tactful letter about his progress, and she summoned him to project himself to the Library that night.
• Miss Danist praised Shade for collecting the glimmer, promised to help him skip a grade, and explained that they were in the Library's underground restricted area.
• Shade realized he could ask Miss Danist for the final stone slab now that he knew exactly what it looked like.

Shade arranged for Miss Danist to search the Academy Library for a time-related stone slab, then handed Associate Professor Lyon the hazardous rabbit corpse under the cover of an Academy bounty. He spent a quiet Saturday with Dorothy and Doctor Schneider and looked forward to the new Time Key opening the next morning.

• Shade described the yellow-cornered stone slab to Miss Danist, who agreed to search the library records and the Keeper of Secrets Hall.
• Associate Professor Lyon collected the rabbit corpse from Shade, gave him a receipt and strawberries, and left to deliver the hazardous item.
• Dorothy identified the strawberries’ healing effects, and she and Shade shared them with Little Mia before collecting their photographs.
• Shade and Doctor Schneider discussed the demon’s likely capture the next day, and Shade bought the spells Flash Mark and Feather Fall Spell.
• Shade visited the Steam Bird Daily with Little Mia, where the cat raced with the office cat while Shade and Dorothy answered readers’ questions.
• Shade anticipated the next Time Key opening on Sunday morning after his adventure with the eight Witches.

Shade entered Fifth Epoch 903 in the Silver Mountain Range, where he encountered a deadly blizzard and a colossal ancient snow-mountain creature. After the Winter Maiden drove the creature back and signaled him onward, Shade ate the glowing snow and began climbing barefoot toward the mountaintop.

• Shade entered the Time Corridor and received a trial to assist the Winter Maiden in escorting a lost person to the mountaintop.
• Shade arrived in the Silver Mountain Range, sank into deep glowing snow, and teleported onto a rock to escape it.
• A colossal ancient creature approached over the ridge, and the Winter Maiden cast Light Spell to drive it back.
• The Winter Maiden pointed toward the snow at her feet and walked toward the highest peak.
• Shade ate the glowing snow, gained the ability to walk barefoot on the snow without sinking, and followed her up the slope.

Shade found three survivors sheltering from the blizzard on the Silver White Mountain Range and joined them as they searched for a Demon said to possess one of their group. He shared supplies and learned about their expedition, but the God of Winter he was following was nowhere to be seen.

• Shade reached a crude shelter and met Witch Chloe, Mrs. Marcus, and an unnamed exile beside a fire fueled by Spiritual Power.
• Chloe explained that one of the three survivors might be possessed by a Demon and that their original party of nineteen had dwindled to three.
• Mrs. Marcus said she was carrying on her dead mistress’s wish to reach the mountain’s highest peak, while Chloe sought solid ice for her experiments.
• Shade asked whether they had seen a barefoot woman in white carrying an Oak Staff, and Chloe said they had not.
• Chloe examined Shade’s wrist and concluded he was not a man, while Shade recognized that she was an Eleventh-Rank Witch.
• Shade gave the survivors warm clothes and household supplies, then wondered whether Chloe might be the God of Winter in disguise.

Shade helped Miss Chloe, Mrs. Marcus, and a timid man investigate which of them was possessed by the Snow Mountain Evil Spirit. When the Demon revealed itself through Mrs. Marcus and destroyed their shelter, Shade summoned his radiant Destiny Ring to face it.

• Shade gave the three survivors Holy Water No. 4, but none of them showed signs of possession.
• Miss Chloe proposed calling for the God of Winter’s gaze, and the ritual’s sudden disruption injured everyone except Shade.
• Shade attacked Mrs. Marcus after suspecting her, and black smoke emerged from her body to reveal the Demon.
• The Demon destroyed the Sanctuary and attacked Shade with tentacles of black mist as he fought back with his moonlit sword.
• Shade summoned his Four-Colored Destiny Ring, bathing the snowfield in spiritual radiance as the battle continued.

Shade and Miss Chloe survived a Demon’s attack and encountered the Winter Maiden, who granted Shade a new thaumaturgy and urged them to climb the mountain. Shade prepared to leave the past, promising to return, while Chloe turned into a silver-white cat to warm herself against him.

• Shade used a Thunder Spear, a golden shield, and Silver Moonlight to drive back the Demon, but the Winter Maiden appeared and destroyed the remaining black mist.
• The Winter Maiden urged Shade and Miss Chloe to climb the mountain, and Shade learned her Miracle and gained the thaumaturgy Summon Great Snowball.
• Miss Chloe summoned snowmen to build a shelter, while Shade repeatedly cast Snowball to create a windbreak and help the group endure the storm.
• Shade helped Miss Chloe treat Mrs. Marcus and explained that he would leave soon, offering supplies and promising to return.
• Miss Chloe turned into a silver-white cat and curled up on Shade’s lap to recover warmth.

Shade questioned Miss Chloe and her companions in their snowy camp, where he discovered that the nameless man carried a Life Card Game card from the future. After returning to the present, Shade warmed himself by the fireplace and was embraced by Leisha.

• Shade learned that Mrs. Marcus had brought a missing witch's boot toward the summit and that the nameless man had been exiled for stealing a card.
• The man showed Shade a Myriad Aspects of Impermanence: Darkness card whose rules belonged to the Life Card Game, and Shade made it fly through the air.
• Shade discussed the Winter Maiden's intervention and Chloe's ambitions in the Zalas Society, then promised to return and help her before departing through the White Fog.
• Shade returned to the present freezing and hurried to the fireplace, while Little Mia noticed an unusual scent on him.
• Leisha recognized Shade had returned from the past, embraced him to warm him, and remarked on his success with ancient witches.

Shade and Doctor Schneider prepared to hunt the Demon hiding as Victor Fanni in the Royal Festival Concert Hall. They infiltrated the hall through an abandoned sewer and reached its corridors in disguise, ready to search for the Demon.

• Doctor Schneider told Shade that he had located the Demon at the Royal Festival Concert Hall, and Shade prepared relics and spellcasting materials for the hunt.
• Miss Writer mentioned that Leisha and Princess Margaret would also attend a concert at the hall that night.
• Shade and Doctor Schneider met at the Green Grass Tavern, where they noticed two High-Ring Arcanists, including a professor from Saint Byron's Mechanical College, and left to avoid them.
• Doctor Schneider led Shade through a sealed sewer entrance and melted an opening into a backstage storeroom beneath the music hall.
• Doctor Schneider gave Shade a plant leaf to remove the sewer stench and an alchemical mask that disguised his appearance.
• Shade and Doctor Schneider stepped into the music hall's corridor in disguise.

Shade and Doctor Schneider searched the Royal Festival Concert Hall for a Demon during a performance, while Shade discovered Iluna was preparing to go onstage. Shade found the Demon disguised as an old musician, who offered him a Victor Box that could duplicate money.

• Doctor Schneider and Shade split up to search six possible rooms for the Demon, using a straw doll to help locate it.
• Shade recognized Iluna in the public dressing room and learned she was preparing to perform while The Church and others waited for the Bard to appear.
• Shade searched the musicians’ resting room, where the straw doll trembled near a violinist scheduled to perform at 8:46.
• The disguised Demon questioned Shade about his desires, and Shade admitted that he wanted Gold Pounds.
• The Demon produced a Victor Box and offered it to Shade, claiming it could duplicate an endless amount of money.

Shade and Doctor Schneider cornered the Old Musician, who revealed that its true body waited on the concert hall roof with a Sage Level Relic. There, Victor Fanni confronted them beside the Crying Angel, setting the stage for a fight between demon and demon hunter.

• The Old Musician offered Shade supernatural gifts for his desires, but recoiled after sensing the power of Desire within him.
• Shade and Doctor Schneider captured the Old Musician’s corpse body, and the doctor learned that its main body and a Sage Level Relic were on the roof.
• Doctor Schneider and Shade climbed to the roof, where they found Victor Fanni waiting amid falling snow.
• Victor Fanni revealed the Sage Level Relic Crying Angel and challenged Doctor Schneider to a hunt, while the statue moved on its own.

Shade pursued the injured Demon of Proliferating Desire to the backstage area of the Main Concert Hall and fought it with the Moonbeam Greatsword, First Fire, and Night Watchman. He pinned and chained the Demon beneath the moonlight, then demanded to know what it had said to Legenes Presia.

• The Doctor explained that the Crying Angel was a deadly relic, but it activated before she could finish telling Shade how to stop it.
• Shade escaped the Crying Angel, followed the injured Demon’s blood trail to the Main Concert Hall’s backstage area, and confronted it.
• The Demon attacked Shade with black mist and summoned figures, while Shade countered with the Heaton Seal, Moonlight, and Feliana’s Witch Light.
• Shade lured the Demon close, then used Night Watchman and the Great Sin Chains to pin and bind it.
• Shade opened the curtains to expose the Demon to moonlight and asked what it had said to Legenes Presia.

Shade pursued the escaped Demon into the concert hall, where it attacked the assembled Church forces and he joined the fight with Iluna and two high-ranking Arcanists. The battle continued in darkness as the Demon used illusions and amplified desires to try to break Shade’s resistance.

• The Demon broke free of the Great Sin Chains, escaped into the music hall, and turned the performance into an eerie song that overwhelmed the people inside.
• Bard Ryan introduced himself to Shade as a Keeper of Secrets Relic and told him to defeat the Demon before receiving a trial.
• Shade entered the darkened concert hall and found Victor Fanni controlling the orchestra as the Demon grew into a towering shadow.
• Iluna, Miss Green, and Mr. Pietro arrived and attacked the Demon, but its wounds quickly healed.
• Shade used the Heaton Seal to destroy one of the Demon’s illusions as it attacked him with Whispers and visions of his friends.
• The Demon’s illusions shifted to wealth, power, and women while Shade felt his desires intensify.