Recaps

Luther briefly regained control after Ms. M’s failed attempt to take over his body, then fought the monster fused with him and helped Klein and Dunn destroy it. Though Luther survived the blast, a cleric fatally stabbed him and defeated Klein and Dunn before taking the urn.

• Luther woke amid the chaos in his mind, broke Leonard’s hold, and struck him unconscious with the Language of Foulness.
• Ms. M’s flesh took control of Luther’s body and attacked Klein and Dunn, but Luther used Grazing to suppress the monster and its stolen abilities.
• Luther and Dunn worked together to bind the monster, and Klein used a [Sun Flame] charm to destroy it.
• Luther survived the explosion but asked Klein and Dunn for fresh meat as the Potion remained unstable.
• A cleric with dark golden hair and one blind eye stabbed Luther, defeated Klein and Dunn, and picked up the urn.

Crestet sensed danger and hurried the Nighthawks toward the Blackthorn Security Company, while Ince Zangwill reviewed the Quill of Alzuhod’s account of the plans and disasters converging on Tingen. Ince wrote that Tingen’s story ended there, then heard that a gas explosion had occurred near Zouteland Street.

• Crestet ordered the Nighthawks to rush to the Blackthorn Security Company after sensing an ominous threat at Tingen’s station.
• Ince Zangwill read the Quill of Alzuhod’s notebook, which described Ms. M and Ince’s plan to attack the Blackthorn Security Company and seize Luther Rondal’s body.
• The notebook predicted a disastrous battle in which Ince would kill Luther Rondal, Klein Moretti, and Dunn Smith, take Saint Selena’s Ashes, and advance to Sequence 4.
• Ince Zangwill wrote, “The story of Tingen ends here,” and put away the notebook and quill.
• The coachman told Ince Zangwill that a gas explosion had reportedly occurred near Zouteland Street, and Ince calmly agreed that the world was dangerous.

After the Tingen tragedy, Leonard resolved to join the Red Gloves and find Cecilia, while the fallen Nighthawks and Luther were buried. Klein awoke from his grave and fled Tingen, and Cecilia appeared carrying a badly injured Luther away from the cemetery.

• Leonard learned that Crestet Cesimir had found no trace of Cecilia Rondal, then asked to join the Red Gloves so he could grow stronger and pursue Ince Zangwill.
• Leonard and his fellow Nighthawks buried Luther, whose headstone displayed a photograph of him with Cecilia.
• Klein awoke in his grave, realized his resurrection made it dangerous to stay in Tingen, and left after saying farewell to the Captain and Luther through divination.
• Cecilia carried a badly injured Luther away from the cemetery while he murmured blasphemous verses, insisting that they would live together.

A dockworker’s wife sought help for her mortally injured husband in Backlund’s East Borough after his employer refused to pay for his injury. She turned to the mysterious Cecilia, leaving the family’s fate in her hands.

• A robin flew over Backlund and passed above a panicked crowd in the East Borough.
• Dockworkers brought home Lame Jack, whose leg had been crushed by a falling crate at work.
• Jack’s wife learned the manager blamed him and had offered only one soli in compensation.
• The woman sent her eldest child to buy fish on credit and ordered the workers to carry Jack to a dark house.
• Despite neighbors’ warnings, Jack’s wife knocked on the door and asked Miss Cecilia for help.

Cecilia healed Lame Jack’s crushed leg and accepted fresh fish as payment, then fed the fish to her half-mad brother, Luther Rondal, to try to help him digest the Rose Bishop potion. Luther remained unstable, and the siblings realized their unusual abilities had been exposed and they might not be able to stay much longer.

• Cecilia agreed to treat Lame Jack after his wife promised the payment she had mentioned.
• Cecilia carried Jack into the house alone and warned the crowd to wait outside, then returned with his leg restored and bandaged.
• Jack’s wife thanked Cecilia and took him home while the crowd watched her with fear and reverence.
• Cecilia brought the fresh fish inside and fed it to Luther, who consumed the entire basket and briefly lost some of his mad aura.
• Luther told Cecilia that eating the fish had not helped him digest the Rose Bishop potion, and she worried that their powers had exposed them.
• Luther reassured Cecilia that he was a Sequence 5 Shepherd and reflected on having reached Backlund.

Luther recovered in Backlund as a half-mad Sequence 5 Shepherd, and he and Cecilia planned to flee before anyone discovered he was alive. As his condition worsened, Luther struggled with a recurring hallucination of Ms. M and prepared for another bout of madness.

• Luther recalled that Cecilia had dug up his grave and carried him to Backlund after the Nighthawks declared him dead.
• Luther accepted that he and Cecilia needed to hide and start over, then identified Potion digestion and learning about Backlund's Beyonder circles as urgent problems.
• Luther repeatedly stabbed the hallucination of Ms. M, while Cecilia urged him to seek a psychiatric checkup.
• Luther sensed that only a Pyromaniac soul and a mysterious remnant remained among his Grazed souls, and considered how to fill his five empty slots.
• Luther's madness returned, so he called Cecilia to help fasten his restraints before sinking into another illusion.

Audrey paid Xio and Fors for their dangerous commission and heard Fors’s theory that two killers were behind Backlund’s serial murders. The next day, Audrey visited an asylum and noticed Luther, a quiet young man whose sister had brought him to the hospital.

• Audrey gave Xio and Fors eight hundred pounds for their work and invited them to help with future commissions.
• Fors suggested that two killers were targeting different groups of women in Backlund, and Audrey decided to raise the theory at the Tarot Club.
• Audrey arranged for Xio to borrow Noble Heraldry, which contained a note bearing Mr. Fool’s Honorific Name.
• At St. Elizabeth Hospital, Luther’s physician said his condition had not improved, but his sister refused to leave him there without her.
• Audrey entered the asylum with Annie to explore the patients’ minds and spotted Luther sitting quietly in the corridor.

Audrey used Mind Reading on Luther in an asylum corridor and nearly became the target of his hunger before he regained control. Luther recognized her as a Beyonder and suppressed his urge to kill and Graze her, while Audrey continued on to visit Professor Anthony.

• Audrey noticed Luther sitting alone in a straitjacket and used Mind Reading as she passed him.
• Luther sensed Audrey probing his mind, mistook her for an illusion of Ms. M, and nearly attacked her.
• Audrey froze in fear as Luther's monstrous hunger threatened to devour her, but he summoned the Phantom Tide and regained control.
• Audrey walked away with Annie and decided to continue her visit to Professor Anthony while hiding her fear.
• Luther realized Audrey was a Beyonder carrying a soul he could Graze, but rejected the idea of killing her.

Luther read a newspaper while waiting for Cecilia and discovered an advertisement for a private detective named Sherlock Moriarty, whose name made him suspect a fellow transmigrator. Before he could act on the discovery, Ms. M appeared and pointed down the corridor, where someone screamed.

• Luther asked the nurse for newspapers and read about a serial killer targeting women in long dresses, deciding to wait for a chance to pursue him for Grazing.
• Luther found an advertisement for Sherlock Moriarty, a private detective at 15 Minsk Street, and wondered whether he was a fellow transmigrator or part of a trap.
• Luther chose not to seek out Sherlock Moriarty until his condition improved and asked to take the newspapers with him while he checked on Cecilia.
• Ms. M appeared behind Luther and pointed toward the end of the corridor, where a terrified scream rang out.

Audrey Hall observed Professor Anthony treating patients at St. Elizabeth Mental Hospital to learn about the human mind and digest her Potion. When Anthony hypnotized a streetwalker with terrifying dreams, a blasphemous presence emerged and she said she saw the Hanged Giant.

• Audrey visited St. Elizabeth Mental Hospital with Annie and persuaded Professor Anthony to let her observe his consultations.
• Audrey watched patients with varying mental disorders and sensed her Potion being digested.
• A heavily made-up streetwalker complained that frightening dreams kept her from sleeping and threatened her livelihood.
• Anthony hypnotized the streetwalker to help her recall her dreams, while Audrey noticed a blasphemous presence emerging from her.
• The streetwalker murmured that she saw the Hanged Giant, sharpening Audrey’s attention.

Audrey’s attempt to calm a streetwalker corrupted by the True Creator’s aura failed when orderlies startled the monster, which killed them and began gestating something that cried like an infant. As the monster turned on Audrey, Luther appeared and seized it, quickly overpowering it.

• During Anthony’s hypnosis, the streetwalker dreamed of the Hanged Giant, and Audrey recognized the image as connected to the True Creator.
• The streetwalker transformed and killed Anthony’s assistant, while Audrey warned Anthony and Annie to retreat.
• Audrey soothed the monster with hypnotic language, but the orderlies burst in and provoked it into killing them.
• An infant’s cry came from the monster’s swollen abdomen, knocking Anthony and Annie unconscious and leaving Audrey helpless.
• Before Audrey could finish praying to the Fool, Luther emerged from the monster’s shadow and grabbed it by the neck.
• Luther tightened his grip, causing the monster’s flesh to dissolve as Audrey watched.

Luther killed the creature that burst from a victim’s belly and realized Lanevus might be carrying an offspring of the True Creator. After taking payment from Audrey and escaping, he noticed that his Shadow Ascetic Potion had digested a little.

• The creature erupted from the victim’s belly, and Luther knocked it away before burning it to ashes.
• Audrey recognized the wound as evidence of the Serial Murder Case, while Luther suspected Lanevus had tried to transfer the Evil God's Offspring into another woman.
• Luther concluded that Lanevus might be in Backlund and could soon give birth to the offspring.
• Luther demanded compensation from Audrey, took the cash from her handbag, and warned her not to reveal anything about him.
• Luther scattered his blood to interfere with divination, then escaped into the shadows as Audrey decided to keep his identity secret.
• On his way to pick up his younger sister, Luther noticed that his Shadow Ascetic Potion had digested a little.

Luther endured the Shadow Ascetic Potion’s mental torment while Cecilia guided him to a rental house in the East Borough. He and Cecilia rented the house from a wary orphan named Emily, using the false names Kafka and Cecilia Anderson.

• Cecilia guided Luther through his hallucinations to No. 8 Hawes Street, where they planned to inspect a rental house.
• Luther and Cecilia met Emily, a young girl living alone, and toured the mostly empty house she was renting out.
• Luther realized Emily’s parents had died and negotiated a lower rent without asking about her family.
• Luther signed the rental contract under the false name Kafka Anderson, while Cecilia used the name Cecilia Anderson, and Emily signed her name.

Old Kohler encountered a young man who had jumped into the Tussock River and tried to save him. After learning that the young man had lost his family’s grain company and his father, the white-clothed stranger provoked him into climbing out by reminding him that his mother was still alive.

• Old Kohler, unable to find work and nearly out of money, spotted a young man struggling in the Tussock River.
• Old Kohler urged the young man to climb ashore, but the young man admitted he had jumped in to die.
• A white-clothed man sitting on the bank remarked that the young man wanted to die and asked him why.
• The young man explained that repealing the Grain Act had bankrupted his family’s company, and his father had died after the loss.
• The white-clothed man asked whether the young man had considered what would happen to his living mother, enraging him and making him start to climb ashore.

Luther saved a suicidal young man by forcing him to endure repeated near-drownings, then revived him and reflected on how the encounter had digested his Shadow Ascetic potion. Back at his apartment, he spoke with Emily and ate breakfast with Cecilia, planning to contact the local Beyonder circles.

• Luther kicked a suicidal young man back into the Tussock River and taunted him about abandoning his family.
• Luther drowned the young man repeatedly, then revived him by forcing his lungs to work, and the young man left without trying to die again.
• Old Kohler watched the strange scene, then dismissed what he had seen and went to look for breakfast and work.
• Luther concluded that secretly spreading extreme emotions might explain the potion’s digestion and considered how the Shadow Ascetic pathway led toward Rose Bishop.
• Luther spoke with his landlady Emily, who asked about his mental illness and promised not to charge him for minor damage.
• Luther returned to breakfast with Cecilia and decided to seek contact with the local Beyonder circles while continuing to digest the potion.

Audrey told the Tarot Club that Lanevus was a suspect in Backlund’s serial murders, and Klein recognized him as the swindler involved in the Tingen incident. Klein revealed that Lanevus carried the True Creator’s aura, and Audrey agreed to investigate and report any dangerous developments to Mr. Fool; afterward, Luther woke to his landlady arguing with several men and went outside.

• Audrey told the Tarot Club that secret information linked the serial murders to two culprits, including the wanted swindler Lanevus.
• Klein recognized Lanevus from the Tingen incident, while Audrey explained that his victims’ bodies had burst open with distorted flesh.
• Alger suggested the killings might be part of a devil-worship ritual, and Klein identified the True Creator as involved.
• Audrey agreed to investigate Lanevus and received Mr. Fool’s permission to pray to him if the situation became dangerous.
• Luther woke on the sofa, freed himself from his restraints, and went outside after hearing his landlady arguing with several men.

Luther intervened when his landlady Emily stabbed the lender John during a forced debt collection, offering to save John in exchange for canceling her debt. After John and the gang leader Ciel agreed, Luther began treating the wound in private.

• Luther learned that John was seizing Emily’s house over a debt that had grown from five pounds to fifty through hidden interest.
• John’s men forced their way into the house, and John suggested Emily work at a bar to pay what she still owed.
• Emily stabbed John in the abdomen with scissors, and Ciel’s men restrained her as John began bleeding heavily.
• Luther examined John’s wound and promised to save him if John canceled Emily’s debt; John agreed.
• Ciel ordered his men to carry John inside, and Luther began treating him by putting his finger into the wound.

Luther used his flesh-and-blood abilities to save moneylender John and negotiated a deal with Ciel, leader of the Lyman Gang, to treat injured gangsters. He secured Emily’s debt contract and learned that a bar on River Mouth Street sometimes attracted people with special abilities.

• Luther repaired John’s ruptured spleen and treated most of his injuries without anesthesia.
• Ciel introduced himself as a Lyman Gang leader and offered Luther payment and protection in exchange for treating injured gang members; Luther agreed on his own terms.
• Ciel told Luther that people with special abilities sometimes visited the Northern Bear bar on River Mouth Street.
• Luther gave Emily John’s debt contract and asked her to reduce his rent, and Emily offered him free lodging instead.
• Luther warned Emily that gangsters might come by covered in blood, leaving her startled.

Audrey hired Xio and Fors to investigate Lanevus, a dangerous swindler suspected of involvement in Backlund’s serial murders, for fifteen hundred pounds. Meanwhile, Luther disguised himself and went alone to the Northern Bear bar to find out what awaited him there.

• Xio and Fors waited outside Earl Hall’s residence and discussed Xio’s unsettling dream about a mysterious figure above the gray fog.
• Audrey sent her commission through Susie, warning that Lanevus carried an evil god’s aura and might be dangerous.
• Xio and Fors accepted the investigation after discovering Audrey was offering fifteen hundred pounds.
• Luther used Flesh and Blood Magic to change his conspicuous face and refused Cecilia’s offer to accompany him.
• Luther dressed as a worker and entered the Northern Bear bar on River Mouth Street.

Luther found an Apothecary named Luther? No, the chapter leaves his name unknown, and approached the fat Apothecary after overhearing his trouble with beasts in the sewers. The Apothecary could not treat Luther’s mental condition but offered potions in exchange for help, and Luther agreed while also demanding information.

• Luther noticed several Beyonders in the tavern and overheard a fat Apothecary arguing with a man who demanded a potion within a week.
• Luther followed the Apothecary outside and approached him, prompting the man to mock Luther’s mental illness.
• Luther frightened the Apothecary with the Shepherd’s abilities, and the man drank a sobering potion before answering his questions.
• The Apothecary said he could not treat psychological problems, mentioned the Psychology Alchemists, and offered sedatives.
• The Apothecary offered free potions if Luther cleared beasts from the sewers, and Luther agreed on condition that he also provide information.

Luther accompanied the Apothecary Darkwill into the sewers of Backlund Bridge Borough to retrieve herbs, after agreeing to take him to Beyonder gatherings and demanding extra payment. They found Darkwill's herb room occupied by enormous mutated rats, which charged at them.

• Luther asked Darkwill about nearby Beyonder gatherings, and Darkwill offered to take him to two after they finished their business.
• Luther and Darkwill found the sewer entrance uncovered, and Luther negotiated an additional ten pounds before agreeing to go down with him.
• Luther illuminated the underground waterways with crimson fireballs while Darkwill led him toward his herb-growing room.
• Luther and Darkwill discovered enormous mutated rats gnawing on the herbs, and the creatures charged at them.
• Luther fired a fireball into the leading rat's open mouth.

Luther and Darkwill fought giant rats in the sewers, but Luther’s growing madness left him vulnerable when waterlogged monsters attacked. Luther snapped awake and destroyed the creatures, though his behavior revealed that his madness was worsening.

• Luther killed the giant rats with controlled fire, and Darkwill gathered the surviving herbs.
• Luther sensed the True Creator’s aura and another presence in the rats, then wondered whether Lanevus was behind them.
• Ms. M appeared beside Darkwill, and Luther attacked her with flesh from a rat, dissolving her body as she pointed behind him.
• Hoorn’s transformed underlings climbed out of the underground river while Luther stood trapped in madness.
• Darkwill shot at the monsters and threw poison at them, killing only one before they surrounded Luther.
• The monsters’ touch jolted Luther awake, and he hurled them into the ceiling until their bodies burst apart.

Fors endured the painful full-moon voice caused by the gemstone she had used to escape Qilingus, while Luther helped Emily with math and considered his next steps. The chapter ended when someone pounded on Luther’s apartment door.

• Fors reviewed Detective Eisinger Stanton’s advice for finding Lanevus and reluctantly decided to investigate with Xio.
• During the full moon, Fors heard the mysterious voice, suffered intense pain, and tore out handfuls of her hair before recovering.
• Luther explained a math problem to Emily, and Cecilia asked whether he had taken his medicine instead of questioning how he knew the material.
• Luther recalled the details of the Beyonder gathering and considered seeking ingredients for Cecilia’s Instigator Potion.
• Someone pounded hard on the door of Luther’s East Borough apartment.

Luther treated the injured members of Ciel’s gang after an attack by a mysterious Beyonder and accepted payment for saving them. Ciel asked Luther to help confront the attacker, and Luther agreed to hear what happened before deciding.

• Ciel brought several wounded gang members to Luther’s apartment and asked him for help.
• Luther removed a paper slip from Tom’s chest and used Flesh and Blood Magic to heal him.
• Luther treated the other gang members, noticed their strange paper-cut and bullet-like wounds, and gathered the spilled blood into a sphere.
• Luther charged Ciel twenty pounds for the treatment, then asked what had happened.
• Ciel asked Luther to help fight the Beyonder who attacked them, and Luther said he would consider it after hearing the details.

Ciel explained that the Lyman Gang had stolen a manuscript package from the Zimange Gang, drawing two factions of Beyonders into a fight over it. Luther agreed to protect Ciel’s people, but when he exposed an apparent infiltrator among the wounded, the disguised Beyonder revealed himself in Luther’s apartment.

• Ciel told Luther that the Zimange Gang’s boss, Meursault, had disappeared and that the gangs had begun fighting over its territory.
• Ciel explained that the Lyman Gang had taken a package of manuscripts, prompting the Zimange Gang and two factions of Beyonders to pursue them.
• Luther agreed to protect Ciel and his people while they got rid of the manuscripts.
• Ciel’s injured gang members arrived at Luther’s apartment, and Luther noticed that one unconscious man’s heartbeat and Beyonder characteristics seemed suspicious.
• Luther stabbed the unconscious man, exposing him as a paper figurine, and a Beyonder Blinked out of the gas lamp flames in disguise.