Chapter Summaries

Fu Qian watched the nightmare’s collapsing town fill with grotesque Forsaken as the fog tide swept toward the church. Amira, Reginald, and Simon entered the church with a crowd seeking shelter, where Fu Qian asked them where Lord Prout had gone.

• Fu Qian observed the Forsaken gathering outside and concluded that the nightmare was close to collapse.
• Amira persuaded Reginald and Simon to enter the church and observe the fog tide and Fu Qian’s reaction.
• The fog surged back across town, and a fleeing officer fought off a creature emerging from a snail shell before running toward the church.
• The crowd rushed into the church but recoiled at what lay beneath its dome, leaving most people stranded on the steps as the fog advanced.
• Fu Qian greeted Amira, Reginald, and Simon and asked where Lord Prout had gone.

Fu Qian pressed Amira and Simon about Lord Prout and the nightmare’s nature, then pushed the nightmare’s central figure toward awakening by provoking its corruption. As Fu Qian unleashed his ultimate skill against the encroaching monsters, the Dark Moon finally appeared in the sky.

• Amira told Fu Qian that she had not found Lord Prout, and Fu Qian asked where she thought he was.
• Fu Qian explained that Harriet would wake soon and questioned Simon about hunters and the Fallen Saint Hall.
• Fu Qian speculated that Lord Prout might be the nightmare’s central figure and deliberately provoked the possible figure to surpass themselves.
• The fog and outcasts closed in on the church, and Harriet’s corruption returned and targeted Fu Qian.
• Fu Qian activated Tendril Barrage Devastator, slicing apart the surrounding monsters as the Dark Moon appeared in the sky.

Fu Qian’s use of Dark Moon erased the Castaways around the plaza and shattered the dream, while its sudden appearance seemed to turn dawn into night. A woman from Harmony Saint Hall approached Fu Qian and led him and the others into the ruined town to meet Lord Prout.

• Dark Moon vanished after its cutting force carved a spherical void through the Castaways, and the dream space began to crumble.
• Fu Qian returned to the outside world with Amira, Reginald, and Simon, where they found the fog far darker than before.
• Fu Qian questioned the others about Dark Moon and argued that its appearance had changed the world from dawn to night in an instant.
• A stern woman wearing a gold-embroidered shawl approached Fu Qian and offered to take him to Lord Prout for a discussion.
• The woman led Fu Qian and the others through the fog-bound ruins to the plaza, where several more people dressed like her stood among the wreckage of the little church.

Fu Qian met the Sanctuary elders at the chapel ruins, where they questioned him about the Dark Moon and the nightmare. Fivell admitted the Sanctuary had created the nightmare to study the abandoned children, but Fu Qian accused the elders of refusing to accept what they had witnessed.

• Lady of the Sanctuary brought Fu Qian to the ruined chapel and identified the ailing Lord Prout among the gathered Sanctuary members.
• Fivell asked Fu Qian what the Dark Moon was, and Fu Qian refused to repeat his earlier answer or offer the Sanctuary reassurance.
• Fivell praised Amira for her conduct and apologized to Fu Qian for arranging tests without his consent.
• Fivell revealed that the Sanctuary had created the nightmare to learn about the abandoned children and that Prout had struggled to keep it from collapsing after Fu Qian intervened.
• Fivell asked Fu Qian how he had created the vision of the Dark Moon, and Fu Qian challenged the elders for denying that what they saw was real.

Fu Qian thanked Prout for revealing that the Dark Moon existed among the stars and affected them from a transcendent state. Fivell then used Fu Qian’s connection to Herbert to require him to return with the Sanctum, while Fu Qian planned to hurry to Jacques’s vampire gathering.

• Fivell questioned why Fu Qian had come despite knowing the Sanctum would not let him leave, and Fu Qian said he had come to thank Prout.
• Prout told Fu Qian that he had seen the Dark Moon among the stars and believed it had affected them in a transcendent way.
• Fu Qian dismissed the Sanctum’s conclusions and joked about whether joining it had age or education requirements.
• Fivell asked Fu Qian about Herbert, whom the Sanctum suspected was connected to him, and Fu Qian said their minds were one.
• Fivell told Fu Qian to accompany them to the West District church, while Fu Qian thought about getting to Jacques’s vampire gathering.

The narrator accompanied Fivell’s team out of the fog and back toward Lairding, hoping to reach the vampires’ gathering and find Olyntel. Dark Moon’s power had reversed day into night, and the chapter ended with Amira revealing that the art museum had been closed indefinitely.

• The narrator persuaded Fivell to take him to the western district, while Fivell ordered the team to keep the expedition’s events secret.
• Fivell’s team brought Harriet and the others out of the ruins, keeping the narrator under close watch as they traveled through the fog.
• The team emerged from the fog beneath a night sky, confirming that Dark Moon had reversed day and night.
• The narrator told Amira that her self-doubt was a sign of growth, then asked her to request more time off from the art museum.
• Amira told the narrator that the art museum had been closed indefinitely and that no one could enter or leave.

Fu Qian was taken to a secure Church cell after the Church decided to keep him under watch, but he escaped by drawing the Templar Lady into Clear Dream. He then headed toward the highest point of the building.

• Fu Qian confirmed that the Church had likely left the painting in place and asked about his pay.
• Fivell ordered Amira and Reginald to leave and took Simon with the Church, limiting his contact with others.
• The Templar Lady escorted Fu Qian to a specially restricted cell in the Western District Church, where his Blood Conquest ability no longer worked.
• After the Templar Lady shut the cell door, she returned and found Fu Qian missing despite the undamaged walls.
• Fu Qian emerged from Clear Dream, passed the sleeping Templar Lady, and made his way toward the building's highest point.

Fu Qian escaped the cell by using Clear Dream twice on the Saint Hall Lady, then disguised himself as Herbert and climbed toward the temple’s upper reaches. He encountered the Tall Hat Elder, who attacked and called for help as Fu Qian struck back with a monstrous arm and answered with a violent gospel.

• Fu Qian tricked the Saint Hall Lady into releasing him from the law-forged cage with two consecutive Clear Dreams.
• The Saint Hall Lady realized Fu Qian had escaped, locked the cell, and hurried off to report the disappearance.
• Fu Qian climbed the stairs, transformed into Herbert, and covered himself with a curtain used as a cloak.
• The Tall Hat Elder recognized Fu Qian and attacked him with bloodred thorny growths.
• Fu Qian tore through the thorns and wounded half the Tall Hat Elder’s body, and the elder wailed for help.
• Fu Qian responded to the Tall Hat Elder’s call with a violent gospel.

Fu Qian infiltrated the vampires’ meeting despite their attempt to isolate him, then killed the Elder who attacked him. He took the Elder’s seat and asked the assembled vampires whether he had missed anything.

• Fu Qian discovered that the Church’s emergency signal could not cross the strange space overlapping the tower, and continued toward the vampires’ meeting.
• Fu Qian concluded the Tall Hat Elder had been placed in his path as a puppet and reached the meeting hall, where Jacques watched from the corner.
• The Elder refused Fu Qian a seat and attacked him with the Veiled Saw, inflicting wounds with every step he took.
• Fu Qian rang a bell that briefly stripped the Elder of the stars’ favor, then crushed him with his Mythical Form.
• Fu Qian turned off Mythical Form, took the Elder’s heart, sat in his empty seat, and asked whether he had missed anything.

Fu Qian killed the vampire Elder Shafar after escaping his trap, then claimed to be the Dark Moon’s First and Seventh Apostle as the vampires debated whether to attack him. Madam Number Two called on Jacques to repeat what he had told her, leaving the gathering on the verge of another revelation.

• Fu Qian used his Mythical Form and Eternal Clarity of Thought to break through the Stars’ protection and kill Shafar, destroying his body and heart’s life force.
• A tall vampire named Bally questioned Fu Qian, who introduced himself as Herbert Gulad, the Dark Moon’s First Apostle and Seventh Apostle.
• Madam Number Two urged the vampires to kill Fu Qian, but Bally warned that he could kill whoever made the suggestion and confirmed Shafar was beyond resurrection.
• Madam Number Two called on Jacques to tell the others what he had told her earlier.

Jacques testified that Mr. Herbert had corrupted the law and shattered Jacques's shared bloodline gift, and Fu Qian confirmed he had used his distortion to do so. The vampires hesitated to attack Fu Qian after seeing his power, and he moved the gathering on to the next agenda item.

• Jacques said he had met Mr. Herbert in an ordinary family and that Mr. Herbert broke free of his restraints and corrupted the law.
• Jacques revealed that he had shared his bloodline gift with Mr. Herbert and that Mr. Herbert had shattered it; he said the Order might have records of the incident.
• Bally asked Fu Qian whether he had used his distortion to purge the gift, and Fu Qian confirmed that he had.
• Fu Qian called the vampires unstable beings and provoked their anger, but none of them attacked him after witnessing his one-hit kill.
• Madam Number Two urged the vampires to attack, but they held back, so Fu Qian called for the next agenda item and asked Jacques about the cause of the earlier unusual case.

Fu Qian led the vampires into discussing Jacques's case, in which a girl's condition worsened after his blessing and subsequent treatments were distorted. He revealed that he had known the outcome of her illness, ending with a cryptic remark about dreams and waking.

• After Shafar's death, Fu Qian directed the vampires to begin the case review, and Lady Bally encouraged Jacques to speak.
• Jacques explained that his blessing had made a girl's eyes grow without limit after she wandered into the fog outside the city.
• Jacques said his attempt to restore the girl to her former state caused her body and voice to revert, and that sharing the vampire's gift also became distorted.
• Lady Bally asked Fu Qian how he had diagnosed the girl's recovery, and he said he had already known the outcome.
• Fu Qian denied using divination and said, "The final destination of every dream is waking up."

Fu Qian used a sudden shift from day to night and Shafar’s death to convince the vampires that he had guided them into their gathering, then redirected their discussion to the Mist’s Abandoned. Lady Bally explained that the Abandoned and the Mist were remnants of a world-encompassing curse tied to time, and that Lairding was now the only place left in the world.

• Fu Qian implied that he had caused the nightfall to bring the vampires’ gathering forward, and they connected his arrival and Shafar’s death to his supposed guidance.
• Lady Bally challenged Fu Qian to prove that they were trapped in a nightmare, but he dismissed the demand and returned the gathering to its main topic.
• Fu Qian asked Jacques why the vampires blamed the Mist’s Abandoned for the patient’s condition, and Jacques said they had ruled out other causes.
• Fu Qian described how the cult had enabled the Abandoned to project fused forms into a special dream, then asked the vampires what they knew about them.
• Lady Bally said the Abandoned and the Mist were remnants of a time-related curse that encompassed the world, and confirmed that Lairding was the only place left.

Fu Qian discussed the cast-off and Jian’s distorted constitution with Bally, who rejected Jacques’s theory that lingering exposure to the mist had caused it. As the debate ended, Fu Qian reminded Jacques that he had proposed another possible cause during their earlier consultation.

• Fu Qian agreed with Bally’s assessment of the ruined city and asked whether vampires sensed one another through the stars.
• Bally said the cast-off were the mist itself and argued that they lacked the power to give Jian her unusual constitution merely through lingering influence.
• Madam Number Two warned Bally to stop, but Bally threatened her and pointed out that the vampires around them would not avenge her.
• Bally said the cast-off could bypass some rules but remained vulnerable to the Gun of Death, and that their abilities depended on the mist.
• Jacques asked what else could explain Jian’s condition, and Bally turned to Fu Qian for his opinion.
• Fu Qian told Jacques he had seemed to doze off during their previous consultation and asked whether he remembered the other possibility Fu Qian had mentioned.

Fu Qian challenged the vampires to consider that the stars, rather than their laws, were flawed, then questioned Jacques about how vampire blessings worked. Bally realized the stars might have distorted Jian’s blessing, and Fu Qian suggested the vampires could be unaffected because they received theirs before the fog appeared.

• Fu Qian provoked the vampires by arguing that their conclusion about the stars had been forgotten, while Jacques and the others reacted with anger.
• Bally admitted the vampires could not threaten Fu Qian that night and asked why he was raising the issue; Fu Qian urged her to consider what would follow if the stars were flawed.
• Fu Qian asked Jacques how he had blessed the patient, and Jacques explained that vampires used flesh and blood as a hidden vessel for the stars to engrave a lasting mark.
• Jacques realized that flawed stars could distort the blessing they engraved, and Bally concluded that Jian’s distorted gift might have come from the stars rather than from Jian.
• When a vampire asked why they were not affected, Bally asked whether Fu Qian thought their blessings had been received before the fog appeared.

Fu Qian challenged the vampires’ belief in the stars after the Dark Moon altered the night, and Madam Number Two proposed that he came from a different reality hidden behind a painting. The debate ended with her still intent on killing him, while Fu Qian invited the others to respond.

• Lady Bally agreed with Jacques that the stars could not be wrong, but Fu Qian asked whether night still followed dawn after the Dark Moon appeared.
• Lady Bally admitted the change was extraordinary and said she wanted an explanation for it and for Fu Qian’s shattering of the shared vampire blessing.
• Madam Number Two argued that Fu Qian came from a reality hidden behind a different painting and had used his appearance as Anke to divert the vampires’ attention.
• Madam Number Two claimed the Dark Moon was connected to an ancient law, but Fu Qian countered that her theory implied he had a more noble bloodline than the vampires.
• Madam Number Two said the vampires would retain their noble bloodline if Fu Qian died, and Fu Qian asked whether anyone else had anything to add.

Fu Qian stopped Madam Number Two from turning the vampires against him and finished questioning Bally about the World Within the Painting and vampire customs. He left the hall with the door’s seal lifted and flew into the night, planning to return to work.

• Madam Number Two argued that Fu Qian was a threat and urged the vampires to kill him or make him a Blood Slave.
• Madam Number Two sprouted enormous blood-patterned wings and retreated after Fu Qian used Thread of Concern on her, ending her attempt to incite the room.
• Fu Qian asked the vampires whether they had anything else to add, and Bally said she had no further knowledge but could lift his restrictions if he wanted to leave.
• Fu Qian asked why vampires drank blood, and Bally explained that they liked its taste rather than needing it for food.
• Fu Qian left through the unsealed door, unfolded his Bizarre Wings, and descended into the night.

Fu Qian used Clear Dream and the King of Prison Break’s Calamity Authority to explore the stars corresponding to reality, then triggered a calamity that sent their light raining down as meteors.

• Fu Qian slipped into the art gallery and returned to the corner where his painting was displayed.
• He activated Clear Dream around the painting, then transformed into the King of Prison Break.
• Fu Qian surveyed the dream and reality through the Calamity Authority, using Scarlet Fine Wine to sharpen his grasp of the stars and laws.
• He selected the starry sky corresponding to reality within the dream and waited for the calamity to reach its limit.
• Fu Qian triggered the calamity, and the stars stopped twinkling before their light flared and became a rain of meteors.

Fu Qian used the painting to enter the hidden studio and found that the Pope’s artwork had preserved a passage between the gallery and the painted world. He left the studio and reached a silent hall, where a figure rested against a throne.

• Fu Qian maintained Mythical Form as he studied the painting and noticed reality becoming blurred and detached from its surroundings.
• Fu Qian let the painting’s power draw him into the hidden studio, where he found a faded painting of Lairding’s art gallery.
• Fu Qian recognized the painting as the Pope’s work and judged it inferior to Tan Ying’s.
• Fu Qian left the studio and crossed the dark, snowbound grounds, finding no sign of life or the seven lights in the sky.
• Fu Qian entered a magnificent hall and saw a figure leaning against a throne as if asleep.

Fu Qian met the fading shadow of Pope Nirgalia in the Dark Moon Church and swallowed her, triggering a rapid loss of life force. Back in the art gallery, he concluded that the Witch might still exist somewhere in the world, but he had less than a day to live and his attempts to stop the drain failed.

• Fu Qian found Pope Nirgalia’s sleeping figure in the Dark Moon Church and reached out to clasp her hand as she faded away.
• Fu Qian swallowed the Pope’s fading shadow, causing the church to collapse and sending him back to the art gallery.
• Fu Qian realized the shadow’s power was draining his life force and inferred that the Witch might still be present in the world.
• Fu Qian estimated he had less than twenty-four hours to live and pulled Blasphemous Embrace and Sweet Dream Head Cage from his wounds.
• Fu Qian put on Sweet Dream Head Cage, but it failed to slow the loss of his life force.