Recaps

At the gathering, Leonard sought a powerful mystical item, and Luther offered two items taken from MI9 members. Leonard chose Rivell's Desperate Scream, while Audrey bought the Black Iron Glove; the free discussion began with Fors raising a problem with Mr. Moon's information.

• Audrey asked Leonard what mystical item he wanted, and he said he was looking for something around Sequence 5 power with mild negative effects.
• Alger quoted the likely price, and Leonard revealed his familiarity with official Sealed Artifact classifications.
• Luther offered the Black Iron Glove and Rivell's Desperate Scream, warning that both had come from MI9 members and could cause trouble with the military or the Loen Royal Family.
• Leonard chose Rivell's Desperate Scream, and Audrey bought the Black Iron Glove for 11,000 pounds.
• After the trading segment ended, Fors told Mr. Moon that there was a major problem with the information he had provided.

At the Tarot gathering, Fors recounted how an Ancient Castle’s corruption had endangered her and Xio, prompting Emlyn to promise an investigation. After the meeting ended, Klein kept Leonard behind with Luther so the three former Tingen companions could speak, and Leonard learned that Captain was dead.

• Fors described how she and Xio had been contaminated by corruption at an Ancient Castle, and Emlyn apologized for the Sanguine’s information and promised to investigate and refund her fee.
• Luther asked for the castle’s location, and Fors obtained a note with the address from Mr. Fool.
• Audrey asked Derrick about the City of Silver’s expedition, and Derrick reported that the city planned to resume investigating the Giant King’s Court.
• Klein ended the gathering, but Leonard remained behind while the other members departed.
• Klein told Leonard that he had arranged for Luther and himself to stay so the three former Tingen companions could talk.
• Leonard asked whether Captain had come back to life, and Luther bluntly told him that Captain was dead.

Luther, Klein, and Leonard discussed Pallez’s silence and warned Leonard to beware of Adam and a blond priest. Back in Feysac, Luther decided to return to Backlund, but M appeared and offered to let him see [Gluttony] again.

• Leonard told Luther and Klein that Pallez had stopped responding and might still be hiding from someone watching him.
• Luther warned Leonard to be cautious around Adam, and Klein added a warning about a blond, bearded priest possibly connected to Adam.
• The three men ended their uneasy gathering, and Luther’s Virtual Personality returned to his body in Saint Millon.
• Luther watched Feysac celebrate Sophia’s coronation and hoped she would be a good emperor.
• M appeared and told Luther that [Gluttony]’s personality had mostly been restored, then asked whether he wanted to see him again.

Luther questioned [Gluttony]’s reconstructed consciousness about the Psychology Alchemists and learned that [Greed]’s full name was Sophia Ivanova Einhorn. As Sophia traveled to the Church of the God of Combat for her coronation, she received a mysterious bottle and mirror from the Grand Patriarch, and golden light flashed in the mirror.

• Luther entered the virtual sea and questioned [Gluttony] about the Psychology Alchemists’ organization, purpose, and Council members.
• [Gluttony] identified the Council’s president’s aliases and named Hvin Rambis as [Pride], but could not answer Luther’s questions about Adam or the Corpse Cathedral.
• [Gluttony] revealed that the president called [Greed] Sophia Ivanova Einhorn, shocking Luther.
• Sophia prepared to leave the palace for her coronation at the Church of the God of Combat and wondered whether she could be a good emperor.
• A priest gave Sophia a box from the Grand Patriarch containing a mirror and a strange bottle, and golden light flashed in the mirror.

Sophia regained her memories as [Greed] Sophia, a Sequence 3 Dream Weaver who had posed as an innocent princess while arranging her apparent death and planned revenge. As the airship approached the Twilight Giant Palace, she drank a Sequence 2 potion, intending to become Feysac’s emperor and complete her advancement ritual.

• Sophia saw her reflection tell her to wake up, and the words unlocked her memories as Sophia Ivanova Einhorn, [Greed] of the Psychological Alchemists' Council and a member of the Twilight Hermit Order.
• [Greed] Sophia concealed herself from the airship’s passengers and reflected on how her avatar had provoked the owner of [that sea], earning her a dangerous enemy.
• [Greed] Sophia recalled arranging to fake her death and deceive the tide’s master, while the Feysac royal family and the Church of the God of Combat pursued their own plans for war.
• [Greed] Sophia explained that her nightly collective dreams in Saint Millon helped fulfill the Sequence 2 Discerner ritual by exposing people’s deepest fears and desires and marking their minds.
• [Greed] Sophia drank the Sequence 2 potion as the airship neared the Twilight Giant Palace, expecting to become Feysac’s new emperor after landing.

Luther realized that Sophia Ivanova Einhorn was [Greed] and that she was using Saint Millon’s mass dream to advance to Sequence 2. After the Evernight Goddess ignored his pleas for help, Luther set out alone to intercept the airship carrying [Greed].

• People throughout Saint Millon fell into a dream, while Leonard and Daly were also drawn into one in Backlund.
• Luther questioned Arrodes, which confirmed that the previous Feysac emperor had never had a daughter and that the mass dream was an advancement ritual.
• Luther concluded that Sophia was [Greed] and was trying to advance to Sequence 2 while becoming Feysac’s new emperor.
• Luther reported the danger to the Fool and the Evernight Goddess, but neither gave him the help he sought.
• Luther used the [Abyss] card and grazed the "Death Announcer," then flew north to intercept the airship and kill [Greed].

Leonard and Daly were trapped in nightmares while Sophia Ivanova Einhorn used sleeping people in Saint Millon as reference points during her potion consumption. Luther attacked Sophia’s airship, but a Feysac demigod intercepted him and was struck down by Luther.

• Leonard and Daly fell into nightmares in the Red Gloves’ headquarters, where Leonard witnessed the Blackthorn Squad’s deaths and Daly faced undead creatures and Dunn’s scorn.
• Sophia Ivanova Einhorn appeared in the nightmares of everyone asleep in Saint Millon as she made her way to her coronation.
• Luther spotted Sophia’s airship and hurled a lava greatsword at it, but a silvery-white shield blocked the attack.
• The airship’s weapons opened fire, and a Feysac Royal Family demigod transformed from flames to attack Luther.
• Luther slowed the bullets, cursed the demigod, and split him apart with a Blade of Flesh and Spirit.

Luther trapped the Hunter Demigod in the Box of the Great Old Ones, then used the Quill of Alzuhod to weaken an Airship’s shield and bring it down. He pursued the golden carriage carrying Sophia Ivanova Einhorn as the silver-armored knights dragged it north.

• The Hunter Demigod split into a vast sea of blue-green flames to summon reinforcements, but Luther trapped him inside the Box of the Great Old Ones.
• Luther used the Quill of Alzuhod to make the Airship’s Guardian’s Oath shield weaken, then hurled a fiery spear through it.
• The spear damaged the Airship, which crashed onto the Feysac Wasteland, and Luther followed it down.
• Luther approached the wreckage, where silver-armored knights emerged and began pulling a golden carriage away.
• Luther sensed Sophia Ivanova Einhorn inside the carriage and chased after it.

Akhmatova Einhorn appeared and effortlessly defeated Luther, while Leonard escaped a nightmare with Pallez Zoroast’s help and emerged in a strange world where Miss Daly and others were trapped in dreams. The dragon-bodied monster at the center attacked Leonard.

• A silver-armored knight prayed to Akhmatova Einhorn, and a lightning bolt struck at Luther, but Antiya redirected it.
• Luther hurled a flaming spear at the carriage, but Akhmatova Einhorn caught it and incinerated Luther with a sea of fire.
• Pallez Zoroast removed a mark from Leonard’s subconscious, allowing Leonard to regain control of his nightmare and break free.
• Leonard found himself in a strange square filled with crystal-like objects containing people trapped in nightmares, including Miss Daly.
• Leonard mistook the dragon-bodied monster with a human face for Miss M, and the monster attacked him.

Luther fought Akhmatova Einhorn on the Feysac Wasteland, using Antiya’s power and a dangerous phantom tide to stop the angel’s attack. As Antiya carried him toward Sophia Ivanova Einhorn’s escaping convoy, the Grand Patriarch Larion’s Twilight Greatsword pierced Luther, leaving the Feysac Royal Family’s second angel poised to intervene.

• Akhmatova Einhorn attacked Luther with purple flames, but Antiya used her abilities to turn the Fire Crows against one another.
• Akhmatova raised an undead legion and began forming a Spear of Destruction while Luther transformed and fought back with Antiya’s amplification.
• Luther summoned the phantom tide and shouted “Death,” interrupting Akhmatova’s attack and engulfing him in an explosion.
• Luther urged Antiya to pursue Sophia Ivanova Einhorn, and she carried him toward the escaping convoy.
• Larion’s Twilight Greatsword pierced Luther as he and Antiya approached the convoy, while Larion’s warriors charged from the Twilight Giant Palace to protect Sophia.

Luther survived the Twilight Greatsword and summoned the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt, by bringing Groselle's Travels and the Quill of Alzuhod together. As Klein arrived to aid Leonard in the dream battle, Luther persuaded Ankewelt to destroy [Greed]'s advancement ritual, leaving her losing control.

• The Twilight Greatsword shattered when the tide inside Luther attacked it, and Luther's wound began to heal.
• Akhmatova attacked Luther with a devastating storm while Antiya warned him that she was running out of time.
• Luther prayed to The Fool and summoned Groselle's Travels, then brought it together with the Quill of Alzuhod to manifest Ankewelt.
• Ankewelt's presence trapped Larion in a repeating cycle, while Leonard called on The Fool for help and Klein arrived in the dream world.
• Luther stopped Groselle's Travels and the quill from merging completely, then convinced Ankewelt to ruin [Greed]'s advancement ritual.
• Ankewelt destroyed [Greed]'s carriage with a glance, causing her to lose control.

Klein stopped Greed’s collapsing nightmare from ensnaring the awakened Feysac citizens again, while Luther rejected the Dragon of Imagination’s continued presence and restored the Red Angel’s former power. The revived Hunter angels terrified Ahomatoa, who fled the battlefield.

• Klein severed Greed’s tubes and shielded the crowd as her nightmare began recreating Ince Zangwill from his memories.
• The Dragon of Imagination gave Luther an imagined staff head, but Luther sent Groselle’s Travels away and rejected the dragon’s attempt to remain in the world.
• Greed’s advancement failed, leaving her transformed into a corrupted Sequence 2 monster.
• Luther shattered the staff head to restore the Red Evil Spirit’s power, and Antiya helped him endure the strain as three Hunter angels manifested.
• One of the revived angels greeted Ahomatoa, who recognized the figure and fled at tremendous speed.

Luther pursued the out-of-control [Greed] Ivanova, using the Red Priest card and the power of "Pain" to overcome the forces obstructing him. As Ivanova fled into the Vogan River and drew Luther into a dream, Klein's advancement revealed Luther's identity to Leonard and Daly.

• Antiya returned to Luther's wrist, and Luther fused with the three Conquerors using the Red Priest card before pursuing Ivanova.
• The Quill of Alzuhod prevented Ivanova from escaping through dreams, but Luther's attacks were interrupted by Larion's Silver Knight and his squad.
• Luther used "Pain" to make the knights suffer his agony, then weaponized his spine to destroy the squad and Graze the Silver Knight.
• Ivanova reached the Vogan River and leaped in, and Luther followed her into the water before finding himself in a dream at St. Samuel Cathedral.
• In the dream, Klein killed the fake Ince, advanced before the spectators, and revealed his identity to Daly and Leonard.
• The dream shifted to the cathedral, where Leonard recognized the man facing Arianna as Luther Rondal.

Luther saw through Ivanova’s dream and returned to the river, where he killed [Greed] Sophia Ivanova Einhorn. Afterward, he digested the Black Knight potion, while Luna digested the Clown potion and Adam arrived to collect the Quill of Alzuhod.

• Luther recognized Arianna’s reward ceremony as a dream meant to control him, then shot himself to inflict pain on [Greed].
• Luther encountered Leonard and Daly in the dream, and left without answering Daly’s question about Dunn.
• Luther caught up with [Greed] at the riverbank and beheaded her despite her changing forms and pleas.
• Luther realized that the Black Knight potion had been fully digested, while Luna’s Clown potion was digested as well.
• Adam picked up the Quill of Alzuhod and left after comparing fate to a river.

After Feysac attacked Loen and war broke out, Luther confronted Arianna over the Church of Evernight’s role in the conflict and declared that he was leaving. He took the Sequence 3 Trinity Templar ingredients and formula, but left without the advancement ritual.

• Loen soldiers marched through Backlund as crowds saw them off to fight Feysac.
• Luther told Arianna he was leaving the Church of Evernight and accused the Goddess and Church of accepting the war’s cost to pursue their own gains.
• Luther formed a portrait of Dunn Smith from his own flesh and demanded that Arianna answer for the Church’s sacrifices.
• Luther insisted on receiving his payment, and Arianna handed him the Trinity Templar ingredients and potion formula.
• Arianna admitted the advancement ritual was missing and explained that the Church had planned for the Goddess’s protection to replace it.
• Luther rejected the Church’s plan and vanished with the box.

Luther negotiated with Medici for the Trinity Templar advancement ritual, then prepared and drank the potion on Bansy Harbor's mountaintop. As Luther began losing control, Medici escaped into a physical body and prepared to take his secrets, but M appeared and shocked him.

• Luther threatened to send Medici into the Phantom Tide unless he revealed the Trinity Templar ritual, then bound their deal with a contract witnessed by the Sunless Cross.
• Medici told Luther the ritual required a split personality, and Luther poured Sophia's blood into the woman beneath the altar as payment.
• Luther used the Pale Hand to create a Deathsleep Zone, prepared the Trinity Templar potion, and drank it.
• The potion tore at Luther's soul, and though M and another split personality halted its initial division, Luther's childhood and aged selves rejected him and he began losing control.
• Medici emerged in the red-haired woman's body, revealed that prior personality splits caused Luther's advancement to fail, and reached for Luther's secrets.
• M appeared beside Luther, and Medici recoiled in horror at the sight of him.

Luther dreamed of meeting Grisha in a submerged concrete building, where Grisha explained that the place and their meeting came from a locked memory. The rising black tide swallowed Luther and he awoke on a mountain at Bansy Harbor.

• Luther questioned Grisha about arriving in the strange place at a different time and about his own arrival after being hit by a truck.
• Grisha told Luther that time and space were tenuous there and that the place was a dream formed from a locked memory.
• Luther searched the concrete structure for an exit but found none as the black tide rose around him.
• Luther unexpectedly recognized the terms “Spectators” and “Seers,” then watched Grisha open the wall to golden light and disappear.
• The tide submerged Luther, and he awoke atop a mountain at Bansy Harbor.

Luther awakened after successfully advancing to Trinity Templar, discovered Medici had escaped during the ritual, and tested his new abilities. The chapter ended when Klein appeared before him in the gray fog, asking Mr. Fool to tell [Temperance] that he needed help.

• Luther awoke after advancing and found two alternate personalities manifested as heads on his shoulders.
• M explained that the heads were normal after advancing, then pointed out that Medici had escaped; Luther deduced that Medici had taken over the woman’s body.
• Luther discovered that he could split into three complete bodies, use lamb souls more smoothly, and command thirteen slots, alongside enhanced flesh-and-blood powers and a Shadow Substitute Technique.
• Klein appeared in the gray fog and asked Mr. Fool to tell [Temperance] that he needed help.

Audrey learned that Loen's war against Feysac was worsening and prepared to visit a relief foundation when Luther suddenly arrived and asked for her help treating a psychological problem. He brought her through the Spirit World to find Gehrman Sparrow in a depressed state, leaving Audrey ready to treat him.

• Susie told Audrey that Loen's forces had suffered defeats, Constant City could not hold, and Feynapotter might join the war.
• Audrey decided to visit Dwayne Dantès's foundation, which had expanded its aid to include people wounded in the war.
• Luther appeared behind Audrey and asked for her help treating an emergency patient's psychological problem.
• Audrey mistook Luther for the patient before he took her through the Spirit World to an inn in the Southern Continent.
• Audrey found Gehrman Sparrow sitting in a rocking chair, looking cold and depressed.

Luther and Audrey treated Klein after finding him in a severe mental state, but Luther discovered that the tide reacted to something within Klein with intense hostility. He suspected Klein might be the Fool and wondered whether to test him.

• Audrey found Klein in a disturbing condition and admitted she could not treat him because his corruption was too powerful.
• Luther used his Spectator abilities under Audrey's guidance to read Klein's emotions and gently soothe him.
• As Luther touched Klein's spirituality, the tide surged with hostility toward a presence inside Klein, and both men abruptly withdrew.
• Luther realized the tide had reacted as it did to the Fool and considered whether Klein was the Fool himself.
• Audrey began treating Klein directly while Luther watched and wondered whether to test his suspicion.

Audrey helped Klein recover from his mental crisis, and Luther chose not to confront him about his connection to the Fool. Klein then revealed that he had discovered his transmigration was arranged and believed there was no way back to his former home.

• Audrey calmed Klein and recommended a potion and daily habits to stabilize his mental state.
• After Audrey left, Luther returned and inferred that Klein had an important connection to the Fool, but decided to respect his secrets.
• Luther asked Klein what had caused his breakdown, and Klein said there was no going back to the place they came from.
• Klein told Luther that he had seen sleeping people from his former world inside transparent cocoons above the Ancient Castle, and suspected he had been captured and released as part of an arranged transmigration.
• Klein said that centuries or even thousands of years might have passed at home, and became agitated at the thought of what had changed.

After losing hope of returning home, Klein accepted Luther’s advice to seek a new purpose and learned that Luther had left the Church of Evernight. Luther then explored the changed Tide and discovered that the tower’s summit overlooked the Astral World and the gods’ Divine Kingdoms.

• Klein told Luther he felt lost because returning home and seeing his family seemed impossible, and Luther urged him to pursue revenge and keep advancing.
• Luther told Klein he had killed [Greed], advanced to Sequence 3, and left the Church of Evernight; he warned Klein to be careful of the Goddess.
• After parting from Klein, Luther traveled to a remote island in the Sonia Sea and entered the Tide to inspect its changes.
• Luther found that the white fog had receded and the white tower had risen, then flew to its summit.
• Luther saw the Astral World above the tower, including the gods’ Divine Kingdoms and a magnificent barrier.

After advancing to Sequence 3, Luther gained stronger control over the Phantom Tide and discovered it granted him powers from four adjacent pathways. He suspected the tide held the lingering psyche of the Creator of the City of Silver, then defeated the True Creator in a clash for control of its waters.

• Luther examined the Astral World above the sea and suspected that the Creator of the City of Silver had once controlled the tide.
• Luther absorbed the tide and gained Reader pathway powers, joining the Storm, Spectator, and Sun powers it had already granted him.
• Luther tested his enhanced strength and concluded that the will in the tide might be the Creator of the City of Silver trying to influence him and return through him.
• The True Creator cursed Luther and attacked him with a massive wave of dark tide.
• Luther used his cleaner tide to repel the True Creator's waves, overwhelmed him, and received no answer when he called across the sea.

After reaching Sequence 3, Luther wrote down his plans to advance, build anchors, and take revenge on George III and the True Creator, while considering an alliance with Bernadette. The chapter ended with Alger returning to Bayam for a new assignment and learning that someone from the Loen Royal Family had come to meet Sea King Kottman.

• Luther listed acting as a Trinity Templar, digesting his potion, finding a Sequence 2 formula, and gaining anchors as his advancement plans.
• Luther planned to seek Bernadette's help against George III and to open the chest Roselle had left in Antiya's wheelhouse.
• Luther named the True Creator as another target for revenge and decided to meet Anson first.
• Alger returned to Bayam after receiving an urgent summons from the Church and expected to be assigned to pursue the Feysac navy.
• A priest told Alger that Kottman had gone to the Governor's Mansion to meet someone from the Loen Royal Family.

Anderson advanced to Sequence 4 and became a demigod while the King of Blood’s fleet waited on an island. Back in Bayam, the Sea King announced an emergency advancement program for Church candidates and asked whether anyone had heard of the God of Blood and Shadows.

• Wolf Gout realized Anderson had taken his thirty-man squad inland to attempt his advancement, and he calmed the fleet when its spiritual outburst began.
• Anderson returned from the forest after successfully advancing to Sequence 4, and the sailors congratulated him.
• The King of Blood arrived at the harbor, and Anderson sensed that his captain’s spirituality had grown even more terrifying.
• In Bayam, Jahn Kottman told the Church’s candidates that they would receive emergency advancements because the Feysac North Sea Fleet was moving south.
• Jahn Kottman asked the candidates whether they had heard the name God of Blood and Shadows.