Recaps

After the battle, Luther screened the captured cultists at Saint Samuel Cathedral, separating those too corrupted to save from those he could free through Hypnosis. He reported the clean outcome to Archbishop Saint Anthony, who reminded him of their agreement to attend a ball.

• Luther identified the cultists too deeply influenced by the True Creator, and the Nighthawks dragged them away for punishment through the courts and Religious Tribunal.
• Luther told Soest that the remaining cultists could still be saved, then dismissed the Nighthawks and Red Gloves from the plaza.
• Luther used Hypnosis to make the remaining people reject the True Creator and instructed them to register their identities before leaving.
• Luther reported to Saint Anthony that the Saint had been killed, the fleeing Oracle had died, and the other cultists had been killed or captured.
• Saint Anthony praised Luther and reminded him that they had agreed to attend a ball.

Luther agreed to attend Earl Hall’s ball and learned that his service to the church was digesting his Black Knight Potion, while Audrey continued her studies with Miss Escalante. The chapter left Luther preparing for the ball and Audrey wondering about her tutor’s casual question about it.

• Luther agreed to attend Earl Hall’s ball, and Archbishop Anthony ordered him to study its etiquette and dances beforehand.
• Luther told the exhausted Red Gloves that Anthony was satisfied with their operation and that they would be rewarded; their prayer to the Goddess slightly digested his Black Knight Potion.
• Audrey told Miss Escalante that she had advanced to Sequence 7, surprising her tutor, while Susie noticed Escalante’s moment of jealousy.
• Miss Escalante casually asked about the servants preparing for Earl Hall’s ball, and Audrey wondered whether her tutor had a reason for asking.

Audrey questioned Susie about Escalante’s interest in her father, then joined the Tarot Club, where Cattleya presented a page of Roselle’s diary about the Black Emperor’s ability to resurrect. The diary also described the War of the Four Emperors and Alista Tudor’s desperate attempt to become a True God.

• Audrey asked Susie whether Escalante’s questions about the ball had a hidden purpose, and Susie said Escalante seemed casually curious but a little jealous.
• Susie reminded Audrey that the Tarot Club was about to begin, then stood guard outside while Audrey went above the Gray Fog.
• Audrey noticed that Fors looked exhausted and tense after spending three days drafting novel outlines under pressure from Angel.
• Cattleya gave Mr. Fool a page of Roselle’s diary that said the Black Emperor could return through his mausoleums or remnants of the Order He established.
• Klein read that the Lord of Storms and the Evernight Goddess helped the Night Emperor switch to the Justiciar pathway, splitting the Tudor-Trunsoest Tudor United Empire.
• The diary said Alista Tudor responded by attempting to advance to a True God through a non-adjacent pathway, risking his sanity.

At the Tarot Club, Cattleya sought angel blood for her advancement, and both Luther and Klein offered to try to obtain a drop. Derrick then shared what he had learned about Elder Lovia’s past, including her change of Pathways and the horrifying events in a cave.

• Klein told the Tarot Club that Mr. Door had appeared in Roselle’s diary, and Fors recognized him as the source of the full-moon mutterings.
• Klein’s World puppet offered items for sale, and Cattleya asked the members for a drop of an angel’s blood.
• Luther and Klein each offered to ask an angel for blood, naming the Fate and Lawyer Pathways respectively.
• Derrick reported that Elder Lovia had not been on the Secrets Suppliant Pathway at Sequence 6 and recounted her cave, her vanished husband, and her Pathway change.
• Derrick asked Luther whether Elder Lovia had really eaten her husband.

Luther explained that Lovia’s husband had willingly sacrificed himself for her, complicating Derrick’s judgment of her, then asked Derrick to watch her upcoming advancement ritual. At St. Samuel Cathedral, Daly agreed to teach Ishmael ballroom etiquette.

• Luther told the Tarot Club that Lovia’s husband had willingly become part of her body so she could advance as a Shepherd and defeat a powerful Monster.
• Alger advised Derrick that Lovia could have genuinely loved her husband and wanted to improve the City of Silver, even as the True Creator’s influence twisted her mind and beliefs.
• After learning that Lovia planned to undergo the Black Knight Advancement Ritual, Luther asked Derrick to watch for anything unusual and contact him.
• Saint Anthony asked Daly to teach Ishmael ballroom etiquette, and Daly accepted the assignment.

Daly asked Archbishop Anthony when the Church would resume a large-scale search for Ince Zangwill, but learned it needed new evidence of his whereabouts. At the Tarot Club, Luther clarified that his question about finding a mole concerned another organization, not the Tarot Club, and the members began offering advice.

• Daly asked Archbishop Anthony when the Church would launch a large-scale investigation into Ince Zangwill, and he said it needed new leads or proof that Ince had appeared somewhere.
• Daly left the prayer room, and Anthony began praying before the Goddess's emblem before briefly reacting to a strange influence and then composing himself when someone knocked.
• Luther asked the Tarot Club how to uncover a mole in an organization, causing Audrey, Alger, Emlyn, Derrick, and Cattleya to suspect he meant the Tarot Club.
• Luther clarified that he meant another organization and explained that he had not identified a mole, if one existed, while investigating the former senior deacon's death.
• Audrey asked whether they could use mysticism to find the mole.

At the Tarot Club, Luther received advice from Alger to investigate the murder by examining the culprit’s motives, while the gathering also touched on Lovia, Mr. Door, and the Antigonus Family Notebook. Back at home, M urged Luther to prepare an Honorific Name and consider posing as a god to reach Lovia, leaving him to begin designing his name.

• Luther told the Tarot Club that mystical investigations had failed, and Alger suggested examining the murderer’s motives and goals.
• Cattleya asked Fors about Mr. Door, but they postponed the discussion until Fors had recovered, and Klein ended the gathering.
• Luther reviewed the gathering and discussed Lovia’s doubts about the True Creator with M.
• M suggested Luther could reach Lovia by playing the role of a god and urged him to prepare an Honorific Name and Anchors.
• Luther summoned paper and a pen and began considering what kind of Honorific Name to create.

Luther chose to create a three-part Deity Honorific Name and settled on “God of Blood and Shadows,” avoiding language tied to the True Creator after M warned him. Meanwhile, Leonard identified a suspicious worshipper at St. Samuel Cathedral, but a message naming the man “Zoroast” revealed he was a Parasite.

• Luther decided that his Honorific Name would be a Deity Honorific Name, since he intended to become a True God and needed Lovia to believe him.
• Luther considered descriptions involving blood, hatred, Degeneration, shadows, and the Tide, then nearly drew on the True Creator’s Honorific Name before M stopped him.
• Luther wrote “God of Blood and Shadows” as the deity name he would use.
• Leonard watched a middle-aged gentleman pray at St. Samuel Cathedral, and the Old Man confirmed that the man carried an ancient aura.
• Leonard followed the gentleman out of the cathedral, where a white dove delivered a note identifying him as “Zoroast” and a “Parasite.”

Luther finalized his honorific name and tested whether it could connect to him through Mr. A’s forced prayer. The connection worked, and Leonard realized Luther had discovered his secret parasite, leaving him afraid to report Luther to Deacon Ishmael.

• Luther settled on an honorific name declaring himself the Light of the Desperate and Ruler Above the Phantom Tide.
• Luther made M hypnotize Mr. A into reciting the honorific name in Hermes, and Luther heard prayers within the Phantom Tide.
• Luther went above the Tide, where he found Mr. A’s prayer unfolding as information and confirmed that the honorific name had connected to him.
• Leonard saw the contents of a note and feared that Luther had discovered the parasite inside him.
• Leonard decided he could not report Luther to Deacon Ishmael without risking exposure and a trip to the Religious Tribunal.

Luther sent Anderson instructions to spread his new faith discreetly, then met Klein after receiving a note that Leonard had noticed him. They discussed Leonard’s parasitic Angel and the Antigonus Family notebook, leaving Klein’s chance to examine it dependent on arranging access at the church.

• Luther wrote Anderson instructions to spread his new Honorific Name and faith on isolated islands without drawing attention or opposing the Seven Gods.
• Luther sent the letter to Anderson through Antiya, then received a message from Klein stating that Leonard had noticed him.
• Klein told Luther that Leonard had watched him at Saint Samuel Cathedral, so Klein warned him by pointing out that a parasite was attached to him.
• Luther reassured Klein that Leonard’s spirituality remained normal and that Red Gloves training covered parasites.
• Klein asked to examine the Antigonus Family notebook, and Luther explained that its Grade 1 Sealed Artifact status required a reason to remove it and that Klein should read it at the church.

Fors received compensation from Dorian for her role in a recent operation and planned to consult Mr. Temperance about dividing it. She then learned that her novel about the Blood Bishop had failed the subject matter review and been rejected.

• Xio woke Fors and handed her a letter from Dorian, along with the mail that had piled up.
• Fors found property deeds and bank drafts worth more than twenty thousand pounds, which Dorian sent as compensation for her contribution.
• Fors decided to ask Mr. Temperance how to divide the money and told Xio that Dorian had asked her to sell the assets for him.
• Fors opened her editor's letter and learned that her Blood Bishop novel had been rejected because the Royal Family prohibited works centered on the wanted criminal.

At the Aurora Order’s polar church, Silent Angel Heliodorus learned from Rose Saint Stysa Ender that Botis and Kisma had died and that the Blood Bishop had devastated the organization. Heliodorus remained silent, lit candles for the dead, and pointed Stysa toward the aurora, where the chapter left them watching its strange turquoise light.

• Rose Saint Stysa Ender told Heliodorus that Botis and Kisma had died and asked how the Aurora Order should deal with the Blood Bishop.
• Heliodorus returned to his church without answering and lit two candles for the fallen members.
• Heliodorus served Stysa a bowl of potato soup, while Stysa reflected on the Silent Angel’s vow of silence.
• Heliodorus pointed toward the window, and Stysa saw the aurora unfurl across the night sky.
• Heliodorus watched the aurora with strange turquoise light flickering in his eyes.

Luther trained in ballroom etiquette with Daly, who asked him to help revive the stalled investigation into Ince Zangwill. He planned to review the case files so he could retrieve the Antigonus Family notebook as evidence, while the chapter also showed Audrey questioning Fors about a collection of land deeds.

• Daly taught Luther to dance and revealed that she had once wanted to dance seriously with a man who died in the Tingen incident.
• Daly asked Luther to help resume the investigation into Ince Zangwill, and Luther agreed to review the evidence and broaden the investigation.
• Daly volunteered to join the investigation, and Soest gave Luther a list of new believers that included Dwayne Dantès; Leonard was assigned to investigate him.
• Audrey asked Fors about numerous land deeds, and Fors claimed they belonged to her teacher, who had entrusted her with selling them.

Audrey suspected that the new Church of Evernight Senior Deacon, Ahab Ishmael, was Mr. Temperance after learning he had destroyed the Aurora Order in Backlund. Fors sold property deeds to Audrey for £20,000 and then told Temperance Luther that her novel might not be published.

• Audrey noticed Fors seemed to be hiding the real purpose of her teacher’s payment, then agreed to buy Fors’s property deeds for £20,000.
• Fors and Xio left Audrey’s estate, and Xio became distressed after seeing a noble’s carriage.
• Audrey learned from Earl Hall that Ahab Ishmael had recently eliminated cultists, prevented disasters, and eradicated the Aurora Order in Backlund.
• Audrey suspected Ahab was Mr. Temperance and planned to observe him at the upcoming ball.
• Fors told Temperance Luther she had received £20,000, and Luther asked for £15,000 while letting her keep the rest for information.
• Fors told Luther that her new novel might not pass review and be published.

Fors learned that Luther would arrange for her story to be published abroad, leaving her unable to escape writing updates. Klein then asked Luther to investigate the Angel inside Leonard using Groselle's Travels, and Luther sensed that the book feared him and proposed negotiating with it.

• Fors explained that Loen publishers had rejected her story because its protagonist was a wanted man, and Luther told her he would arrange publication in another country.
• Klein revealed that a Nighthawk other than Leonard had entered his dream during the Church of Evernight's investigation, and he wanted to learn about Leonard's Angel.
• Klein showed Luther Groselle's Travels and explained that Mobet Zoroast, who lived inside it, might know about the Angel in Leonard.
• Klein explained that he was unsure whether he could bring Luther back out of the book, so Luther asked to see it in the real world and suggested persuading it to cooperate.

Luther gained Groselle's Travels' cooperation, entered its world, and returned safely. He and Klein then discussed how to investigate the figures inside the book, with Klein proposing that Justice help guide them into dreams.

• Luther used the Tide to make Groselle's Travels agree to let him enter and leave its world freely.
• Luther tested the book's world, found it convincingly real, and returned to his residence without incident.
• Luther sent Groselle's Travels Above the Gray Fog and used M to create a temporary personality so he could speak with Klein.
• Klein explained that the book's surviving projections could communicate, but his attempts to gather information through dreams had produced mediocre results.
• Luther said he possessed Spectator-pathway abilities but lacked the precision to use them effectively, and Klein proposed asking Justice for help.

Audrey, World, and Temperance entered Groselle's Travels to investigate the imagined world and its ancient history. They reached Pesot City and put an ascetic named Snowman to sleep so they could explore his dream.

• Audrey arrived above the Gray Fog and joined World, who used three bottles of blood to open Groselle's Travels.
• Audrey entered the book's world and recognized Temperance as Luther, while he and World also appeared without their disguises.
• World led Audrey and Luther into Pesot City to search for the Third Epoch ascetic Snowman.
• Luther saw the church's cross and divine image, then used invisible ripples to force Snowman into a deep sleep.

Luther, Klein, and Audrey entered the ascetic Snowman’s dream to learn about the Creator and the Kings of Angels. The dream revealed eight winged figures surrounding the Creator, prompting a sardonic, sorrowful laugh from Medici within Luther.

• Luther brought Audrey and Klein into Snowman’s dream, then gave Audrey control so she could question him.
• Audrey guided Snowman’s dream to show the Creator on a mountain peak, while Snowman praised the Lord as omniscient and omnipotent.
• Klein noted that Snowman’s account matched Derrick’s and suggested the Lord was the great existence from the Second Epoch.
• Audrey found that Snowman had never heard of the True Creator, leading Luther and Klein to suspect a connection between the Creator’s fall and Rose Redemption.
• Audrey revealed eight Kings of Angels surrounding the Creator, and Medici laughed from within Luther.

Luther, Klein, and Audrey learned about the eight Kings of Angels and identified Adam as the Angel of Imagination and Amon as the Angel of Time. They then explored more dreams, uncovering secrets about the Ancient Gods, the Fourth Epoch, and Leonard’s mysterious parasite.

• Snowman recited the titles of the eight Kings of Angels, revealing that Sasrir was the Vice Sovereign and that Adam and Amon were the Creator’s sons.
• Luther warned Audrey and Klein not to discuss the Angels’ titles in the chapel, and he concluded that Adam was the Angel of Imagination while Amon was the Angel of Time.
• Luther, Klein, and Audrey entered Shatas’s dream and learned about the elves’ chronology and the fates of several Ancient Gods.
• The three explored Mobet’s dream and discovered details about the Fourth Epoch, including the Solomon Empire’s cooperation with the True Creator and the power of Bethel Abraham.
• Mobet’s account suggested that the old man parasitizing Leonard was Pallez Zoroast, a Sequence 1 Angel who was unlikely to harm his hosts.

Luther, Klein, and Audrey explored Groselle’s memories before entering the Sea of Collective Subconscious, where they discovered a city identified as Liveseyd. A hostile Mind Dragon appeared and swept Klein and Audrey into a pit after Luther blocked its roar.

• Luther and Klein found no immediate danger in Leonard’s dream, while Luther helped Longzel fulfill his wish in a dream.
• Audrey guided Groselle’s dream to reveal places from his memories, including the Giant King’s Court, Dawn Town, the Forsaken Forest, and the Golden Country.
• Luther created a staircase into the Sea of Collective Subconscious, and Klein used divination to guide them toward its center.
• The three found a vast floating city that Audrey recognized as the City of Miracles, Liveseyd, though Klein noted that the dragons from his divined dream were absent.
• A hostile Mind Dragon appeared and spread madness through the sea; Luther blocked its roar, but the resulting backlash swept Klein and Audrey into the pit.

Klein and Audrey reached Ankewelt’s palace, where the hall revealed their unspoken thoughts aloud. Luther joined them, but while Klein and Audrey heard a tortured inner voice, Luther seemed unaware of it.

• Klein stabilized himself and carried Audrey toward the miraculous city while Luther stayed behind to fight the phantom dragon.
• Klein used Flaming Jump to slow their descent and land safely with Audrey inside Ankewelt’s palace.
• The hall echoed Klein’s private thoughts and exposed Audrey’s deductions about Luther and his connection to Klein.
• Luther rushed into the palace after defeating the dragon’s afterimage, and Klein urged everyone to leave.
• A tormented voice sounded to Klein and Audrey as Luther arrived, but Luther did not seem to hear it.

After realizing that his pain had long gone unnoticed even by himself, Luther assured Klein and Audrey that he was fine, and the three continued exploring the Dragon of Imagination’s palace. The murals suggested Ankewelt’s visions might shape reality, and the final image left them astonished.

• Luther recalled M’s words and realized he had been ignoring his own pain, but told Klein and Audrey that his condition was normal.
• Klein and Audrey accepted Luther’s explanation, and the three agreed to continue exploring the palace with a plan to retreat if danger appeared.
• Back inside, Klein and Audrey heard Luther’s painful inner voice again as the group examined murals depicting the history of the world within the book.
• Klein suggested the murals might have become reality through Ankewelt’s power of imagination, comparing it to Sealed Artifact 0-08.
• The three turned to the opposite wall and saw a mural of a gray-blue cyclops holding an ancient parchment book.

Klein, Audrey, and Luther discovered that the murals foretold Groselle's Travels meeting 0-08 and potentially bringing back the Dragon of Imagination, prompting them to decide to hide the book. Audrey accidentally imagined herself as a dragon in a dress, then illuminated a hidden passage and found ancient bronze doors at its end.

• Audrey recognized the murals as a record of Groselle's Travels and wondered whether their own lives were following a script.
• Klein realized the final mural connected Groselle's Travels with 0-08 and warned that the Dragon of Imagination might return; he and Luther agreed to hide the book.
• Klein linked the Dragon of Imagination to Adam, a King of Angels, and Audrey wondered which Pathway held the authority of Imagination.
• Luther identified the Spectator Pathway as connected to Imagination, and Audrey's thoughts caused a phantom dragon wearing her dress to appear.
• Audrey spotted a dark passage behind the throne-like pillar, and her thought summoned light that revealed ancient bronze doors below.

Klein and Audrey escaped the Hall of Truth after the Bronze Gate threatened to awaken an alien consciousness in them, but Luther stayed behind, drawn toward the gate. As the palace collapsed, the Dragon of Imagination’s murals tried to stop him and finally showed Ince Zangwill with 0-08.

• Klein returned with Audrey to the Gray Fog, where she recovered from the gate’s influence and worried about Luther.
• Groselle’s Travels began shaking violently on the bronze table, alarming Klein.
• Luther remained in the Hall of Truth and approached the Bronze Gate, sensing a strange familiarity with what lay beyond it.
• The palace began to come apart, and a mural pleaded with Luther to stop as he moved closer to the cavern.
• The mural finally depicted Ince Zangwill holding 0-08 on a bustling street.

Klein and Audrey feared that Luther had been trapped inside Groselle's Travels, but he safely returned and revealed a mural showing Ince Zangwill with 0-08. While discussing the Kings of Angels and the Twilight Hermit Order, Luther began to suspect that Adam might be behind the Psychology Alchemists.

• Klein contacted Temperance through the gray fog after Groselle's Travels stopped moving, and learned that Luther had returned safely.
• Klein sent Audrey back to reality after warning her not to reveal the dangerous knowledge they had uncovered.
• Luther appeared above the gray fog and explained that the book had resisted him when he tried to pass through the bronze door.
• Luther showed Klein a mural depicting Ince Zangwill and 0-08, whose architecture might reveal their location.
• Klein and Luther discussed the vanished Kings of Angels and whether the Twilight Hermit Order was controlled by a Spectator pathway organization.
• Luther connected the Psychology Alchemists and a demigod who had surrendered his grazing to Adam, and wondered if Adam was involved.