Recaps

Luther attended the queen’s gathering, where she offered commissions to disrupt her opponents, and he posted a request for a potion ingredient. He then contacted a woman seeking Beyonders to explore a dangerous noble tomb from the Fourth Epoch, and she confirmed the commission.

• Luther traveled to the queen’s castle using the Singing Pea Sprout, while Cecilia chose to stay behind.
• The queen announced commissions, including tasks to disrupt locations and activities around Backlund, and attendees began accepting them.
• Luther requested a vocal tube from a Demon-Throat Honey beast and noticed a commission to explore a noble tomb from the Fourth Epoch.
• Luther asked for more details about the tomb commission and was moved beside the woman who had posted it.
• The veiled woman confirmed that she was seeking companions to explore the tomb.

Luther joined Sharron's team to explore a dangerous Fourth Epoch tomb whose owner was named Amon, then suffered a violent supernatural attack after speaking that name. He reached home and handed his sister the last ingredient for her potion before being pulled into a deep Illusion.

• Sharron told Luther that an earlier team exploring Amon's tomb had died, and Luther agreed to join her expedition with two other confirmed Sequence 5 Beyonders.
• Sharron introduced herself, set the meeting for Tussock River Valley one week later, and said the group would divide any finds according to each person's contribution.
• Luther bought the vocal tube needed to complete the Instigator Potion and headed home, wondering whether Klein knew anything about Amon.
• After Luther spoke Amon's name, a piercing shriek and frenzied whispers overwhelmed him as the world twisted around him.
• Luther reached his residence and gave his sister the potion ingredient before being dragged into a deep Illusion.

Luther and Cecilia met Audrey Hall to discuss becoming her guards, while Luther’s recent madness and his growing understanding of the True Creator’s Word-Eating remained on his mind. Audrey recognized Luther as the man who had saved her, and the group left to test Cecilia for the position.

• Fors and Xio brought Luther and Cecilia to meet Audrey, though Luther was in a severe mad episode during the carriage ride.
• Cecilia calmed Luther enough for him to recover, and he reflected that understanding the True Creator’s intent might help him digest the Listener Potion.
• Audrey recognized Luther as the man who had saved her at the psychiatric hospital, and she explained his past help to Viscount Glaint.
• Audrey paid Fors and Xio for arranging the meeting and welcomed Cecilia as a prospective guard, while Luther said Cecilia still had to pass a test.
• Audrey and the others set out for her home, with her golden retriever wary of Luther.

Audrey brought Luther, Cecilia, Fors, and Xio to the Hall villa, where Luther sensed that the household had several Mid-Sequence Beyonders. Countess Hall was waiting at the back of the villa to watch Cecilia’s test, and the chapter ended as she asked whether Cecilia was the one being tested.

• Luther asked Audrey about her family's Beyonders and accompanied her to the Hall villa with Cecilia, Fors, and Xio.
• Luther hid in Cecilia's shadow as the group entered the villa, where he sensed several Beyonders among the household staff and guards.
• Audrey changed into a sky-blue dress and led her guests toward the fenced clearing behind the villa, where the guards had returned their weapons.
• Audrey explained that Countess Hall had grown to enjoy watching the tests and urged her to invite more Beyonders.
• Countess Hall greeted Audrey and asked whether masked Cecilia was the one being tested.

Audrey’s masked candidate Cecilia faced Olivia in a guard assessment at the Hall family villa. Cecilia defeated Olivia with a dagger and control over Olivia’s shadow, securing the chance to become Audrey’s guard.

• Audrey presented the masked Cecilia as her candidate for guard, and the Countess agreed to test her against Olivia.
• Olivia tried to draw Cecilia into a dream, but Cecilia recognized and shattered it.
• Olivia fought with a baton and used a magical verse to make Cecilia drowsy, knocking her dagger away.
• As Olivia charged, Cecilia’s shadow seized Olivia’s ankle and threatened her throat.
• Cecilia held a dagger to Olivia’s face, and Olivia admitted defeat.

After passing Olivia’s test, Luther and his sister accompanied Audrey to a secret gathering where she tried to attract the attention of the Psychology Alchemists. As they left, Luther sensed that a Beyonder was following them.

• Olivia admitted that Luther’s victory came from a Beyonder item and approved him as Audrey’s bodyguard.
• Two days later, Luther, his sister, and Audrey attended a masked gathering at the abandoned Backlund Medical School, where participants traded under an illusion created by the host.
• Audrey requested a Sequence 9 potion from the Spectator pathway to draw the Psychology Alchemists’ attention.
• In the carriage, Audrey confirmed that she was a Sequence 8 Telepathist and named the organization she hoped to contact.
• Luther recognized the potential value of the Psychology Alchemists for his mental condition, then sensed a Beyonder following them.

Luther and Audrey discovered that a Beyonder was following them, while Luther noticed signs that the Queen’s plans were underway around Backlund. After Ms. M appeared at his home and warned him, Luther heard a strange message in the True Creator’s voice and snapped his finger.

• Luther told Audrey that a Beyonder was following their carriage, but agreed to let her draw the Psychology Alchemists in rather than capture the follower.
• Audrey asked Luther and his sister to guard her at a banquet the next day, and Luther and Cecilia left for East Borough.
• Luther and Cecilia saw a nimble figure flee a smoking police station, and Luther suspected the disturbances were part of the Queen’s arrangements.
• Emily returned home early after a burst pipe closed her school, and Luther inferred that an injured teacher was connected to MI9.
• Ms. M appeared behind Emily and covered her ear, prompting Luther to summon the Phantom Tide and listen to the True Creator’s distorted voice.
• Luther sensed a message in the voice, felt his flesh and blood respond, and snapped his finger.

Luther fully digested the Listener Potion after using his severed finger to hear the True Creator order his followers to find Lanevus. At the Tarot Club, Audrey reported that the Psychology Alchemists had approached her, while Derrick’s account of Amon left her thinking about the danger; afterward, she prepared to attend a royal dinner with Cecilia.

• Luther tore off his finger, drew Lanevus’s portrait with his blood, and briefly understood the True Creator’s command to find him.
• Luther’s Listener Potion fully digested, and his finger regrew as he reflected that more digestion could reduce his accumulated madness.
• Audrey privately told Mr. Fool that her bait had attracted the Psychology Alchemists and asked permission to join them, and he approved with a warning to protect herself.
• Derrick told the Tarot Club that he had been confined after faking a loss of control and had heard an old prisoner’s account of Amon.
• Audrey returned home, learned she had to attend a royal dinner, and asked Annie to tell Cecilia to accompany her.

Audrey prepared to attend a royal family banquet with Cecilia as her guard, while Luther treated injured East Borough workers and accompanied Cecilia to the villa. At the banquet, Audrey learned that a princess from Feysac was rumored to be arriving with the princes.

• Audrey asked Annie to notify Cecilia to guard her at the banquet and began preparing for the evening.
• Luther reattached an injured worker’s arm and treated other factory workers, but the Shepherd Potion showed no progress.
• Cecilia and Luther went to Count Hall’s Villa, where Cecilia stayed disguised and Audrey greeted them.
• Audrey arrived at the royal family banquet, and Luther sensed several Beyonders, including Lambs, among the guests.
• Viscount Glaint told Audrey that a princess from Feysac was rumored to be arriving with the princes.

Audrey attended a royal banquet where she learned that Feysac had sent Princess Sophia Einhorn to Backlund as part of negotiations with Loen. Luther recognized Sophia as the red-haired woman who had competed with him for a difference engine manuscript, and the chapter ended as the ballroom suddenly grew dim.

• Glaint and Luther told Audrey that Feysac had sent a delegation to negotiate after fighting Loen in East Balam.
• Audrey saw Princess Sophia Einhorn enter the ballroom and learned that she was a member of the Feysac royal family.
• Luther recognized Sophia as the woman who had competed with him for the second-generation difference engine manuscript.
• Audrey let Cecilia go to the banquet's food table, where she secretly fed roast meat to Luther hiding in the shadows.
• The ballroom silently grew dim as Luther sensed that something was wrong.

During a ballroom gathering, Luther witnessed a powerful man flee through an illusory door before the Queen’s fairy-tale procession pursued him through the hall. The strange encounter ended without affecting the party, and Audrey later asked Luther what had happened.

• Luther noticed the ballroom lose its colors and warned Cecilia not to look when an illusory door appeared.
• A disheveled, powerful man emerged from the door, bowed to the Royal Family, then fled through another doorway into a radiant world.
• Toy soldiers and fairy-tale creatures marched along a Yellow Brick Road, surrounding a pumpkin carriage carrying the Queen as they pursued the man.
• The procession vanished, color returned, and the ballroom guests continued unaware; Sophia concealed her unease from the First Prince and the nobles.
• Audrey reunited with Luther and asked what had happened, and Luther told her that two powerful figures had clashed.

Luther suspected the Queen might be a transmigrator after seeing familiar fairy-tale figures in her procession. Meanwhile, Sophia was attacked by a supernatural reflection in the washroom, and the chapter ended with her reflection declaring that her death was the choice of the era.

• Luther decided not to test the Queen and considered warning Klein while he observed her.
• Sophia left the banquet alone and went to the washroom while her guard stayed behind bragging to the guests.
• Sophia saw a malicious version of herself in the Mirror, which attacked her and made her experience being strangled to death.
• Sophia woke from the apparent nightmare and found that her yarn doll's neck had snapped, realizing someone had tried to kill her.
• Water flooded the washroom and reflected a golden-eyed Sophia, who told her, "I'm sorry. This is the choice of the era."

Sophia was nearly killed by a Spectator Beyonder who trapped her in a reflection, but Luther rescued her and exposed the waiter hiding in the bathroom. The waiter tried to escape with a Beyonder Item, but Luther transformed into a Devil and stopped him, bringing his burning sword down on him.

• Sophia struggled against a reflection that controlled her body and tried to suffocate her, until Luther loosened her grip and saved her.
• Sophia warned Luther that the enemy was hiding in reflective surfaces, but Luther spotted the waiter concealed in a corner and attacked him with a shadow.
• Luther shot the waiter, whose illusory scales blocked the bullet, then formed a Sword of Lava and advanced on him.
• The waiter opened a golden pocket watch and began using Dream Traversal to escape, but Luther transformed into a Devil and used Language of Foulness to interrupt him.
• Luther reached the fallen waiter and swung his burning longsword down at him.

Luther defeated an attendant who had lured him into a trap, but the attendant activated a ritual that transported Luther and Sophia to an underground structure. The attendant’s warning about malice waiting for them left their destination uncertain.

• The attendant used Frenzy to try to make Luther lose control, but Luther resisted and cut him in half.
• Luther questioned the dying attendant about who had sent him, but the attendant claimed Fate had guided him.
• After Luther killed the attendant, the corpse laughed and revealed a golden-black key inside its abdomen.
• Luther spotted the ritual array spreading across the washroom floor and shouted for Sophia to escape.
• The attendant activated the ritual with the word "Door," transporting Luther and Sophia to an underground structure.

Luther and Sophia were drawn toward a terrifying presence in an underground hall, but Luther escaped with her using Fors’s teleportation stone. They returned to a quiet street in Backlund, where Luther wondered whether the being they had encountered was an evil god’s true body.

• Luther saw a vision of a red-haired figure in the corridor and nearly lost himself to its influence.
• Sophia Einhorn stared toward the corridor as bloody tears ran down her face, while the attendant’s corpse dissolved into blood.
• Luther knocked Sophia unconscious and flew with her toward the exit, only to find the passage blocked by a recent explosion.
• Luther used Fors’s teleportation stone to escape the spreading blood and the unseen being in the corridor.
• Luther and Sophia arrived on a quiet street in Backlund, and Luther noticed Sophia’s fiery red hair in the moonlight.

Luther encountered a red phantom connected to the underground prison, which identified him as a lucid Shepherd and revealed that it was Medici. Medici tried to persuade Luther to free it, then explained the blood ritual or Grazing method that could break its seal.

• Luther saw a red phantom beside the unconscious Sophia Einhorn and drew his revolver.
• The phantom recognized Luther as a lucid Shepherd, asked whether he believed in the Lord, and introduced itself as Medici.
• Two voices tore through Medici's cheeks and mocked him before he silenced them.
• Medici offered to help Luther obtain Sequence 4 Black Knight ingredients and complete the ritual if Luther freed it.
• Medici told Luther he could break the seal with blood from the Sauron, Einhorn, and Medici Families, or Graze Medici directly.

Luther escaped the underground structure with Sophia Einhorn after the evil spirit revealed a Card of Blasphemy bearing the title “Sequence 0: Red Priest.” He returned Sophia to the villa and quietly sought out Audrey to find his sister.

• The evil spirit offered Luther a Card of Blasphemy and showed him an image of Roselle labeled “Sequence 0: Red Priest” before its phantom disappeared.
• Sophia woke, and Luther warned her to forget what she had seen before helping her leave the underground structure.
• Luther and Sophia hired a carriage back to the villa, where Sophia thanked him for saving her and agreed to arrange a reward through Audrey.
• Sophia entered the villa and announced her safe return while Luther slipped inside unnoticed.
• Luther found Audrey and asked where his sister was.

Luther awoke from a painful vision of Medici agreeing to carry out someone's will as part of a group called Rose Redemption. After several quiet days at home, he read that the Feysac delegation had signed its agreement and noticed a newspaper announcement about a Roselle exhibition.

• Luther witnessed a vision of Medici seated among mysterious figures, who discussed Rose Redemption and asked for his answer.
• Medici agreed to carry out someone's will, and the vision collapsed as rot consumed his face.
• Cecilia helped Luther recover from his hallucination and told him it was around ten in the morning.
• Luther recalled that Sophia had received 3,000 pounds after the assassination attempt and decided to stay home instead of making house calls.
• Luther read that the Feysac delegation had signed an agreement and that Sophia had begun her journey home.
• Luther paused when he saw an announcement for the Roselle Memorial Exhibition at the Royal Museum.

Luther visited the Royal Museum to view Roselle’s exhibits and considered collecting his diaries for the secrets they might contain. In the hall displaying Roselle’s children’s toys, he recognized a woman in distinctive riding clothes as the queen, who turned toward him with an displeased look.

• Luther entered the Royal Museum by slipping through the shadows to avoid the long queue.
• Luther viewed Roselle’s daily necessities and learned about the emperor’s inventions and later downfall.
• Luther read a page of Roselle’s diary and decided he should collect more of them.
• Luther spotted the queen standing before the display of Roselle’s toys and caught her attention.

At the Royal Museum, Luther realized the Queen might be Roselle’s child and learned that she was leaving Backlund after failing to capture Selt and suffering an attack on her sea base. Before departing, she gave Luther the Beyonder Item Pain, which had become available because its previous owner had died.

• Luther encountered the Queen at Roselle’s Memorial Exhibition and guessed that she was Roselle’s child after seeing her reaction to the toys.
• The Queen recognized Luther and questioned him about studying Roselle’s diary, but he claimed he had only tried to decipher its mysterious writing.
• The Queen told Luther that Selt, the director of MI9, had escaped and that an unknown force had attacked her sea base, forcing her to leave Backlund.
• The Queen opened a secret door and had Pain brought out, explaining that its previous owner had died.
• Luther took the crimson dagger Pain from the Queen.

Luther took a dangerous crimson dagger from the Queen, while Klein considered bringing him into the Tarot Club. At the gathering, Derrick reported Amon’s attempt to reach the Gray Fog and the corruption of the returning explorers, and afterward Dr. Aaron asked Klein to find his missing friend.

• Luther endured the dagger’s pain, sealed it, and learned that Sharron had canceled the planned visit to the Fourth Epoch tomb.
• Klein considered inviting Luther to the Tarot Club but worried about choosing his card and about the Gray Fog’s unusual reaction to him.
• Derrick told the Tarot Club that Amon had possessed him and tried to use him to reach the gathering, but Mr. Fool had sent an Angel to stop Amon.
• Derrick reported that Elder Lovia’s exploration team had returned from the temple and that many members seemed corrupted by the True Creator; Alger identified the danger, and Klein warned Derrick to guard the object that could expose the corrupted believers.
• At the Quelaag Club, Dr. Aaron asked Klein to help find a missing friend.

Klein declined Aaron Ceres's request to find the missing doctor, Rian Thomas, because he was occupied with other cases, and referred Aaron to another detective. In the City of Silver, Derrick sacrificed the corrupted All-Black Eye to Mr. Fool, while the transformed Dark secretly sent his memories and Derrick's prayers to the True Creator.

• Aaron Ceres told Klein that Rian Thomas had disappeared after working late, and that the police had dismissed the concern.
• Klein tried divination but gained no answer, then declined the case and gave Aaron Isengard Stanton's contact details.
• Derrick struck Dark with his axe and lightning, forced him to reveal his corrupted form, and sacrificed the All-Black Eye to Mr. Fool.
• A hidden watcher subdued Derrick and Dark and hurried to report the incident to the Chief of the City of Silver.
• Dark chanted the True Creator's honorific name and transmitted his memories and Derrick's prayers to an unknown existence.

Luther bought a box of Beyonder bullets at a gathering, then discussed collecting Roselle's diaries with Klein and learned about Roselle's children. Luther recognized that a detail about Roselle's daughter matched what he had seen at the exhibition.

• Luther bought all the Beyonder bullets at the gathering and asked the masked woman to look for more with other Beyonder effects.
• Klein asked Isengard Stanton to help if a colleague of Klein's friend came to him about a disappearance.
• Luther asked Klein about the Roselle Exhibition and proposed collecting Roselle's diaries for their secrets and knowledge.
• Klein admitted that he had collected diaries and offered to organize and share the relevant ones with Luther.
• Klein told Luther that Roselle's eldest daughter was prophesied to become an important figure in the mysterious world, and Luther realized that the detail matched.

Luther received a message from the True Creator ordering his followers to search for the Fool in Backlund. Klein recognized the description as referring to himself and realized the True Creator had discovered his presence.

• Luther told Klein that the queen appeared connected to Roselle, and Klein learned that Bernadette would leave Backlund the next day.
• Klein confirmed that he had advanced to Sequence 5 and was trying to begin Acting.
• The True Creator's ravings overwhelmed Luther, who tore off his finger and used the information in its flesh to write a search order on the ground.
• Luther read the order naming the Fool, the ruler above the Gray Fog, and the King of Yellow and Black, then asked Klein if he knew of the being.
• Klein recognized the description as his own and concluded that the True Creator had sent followers to find him or his blessed in Backlund.

Klein learned that Luther intended to pray to the Fool, while Luther remained suspicious of Klein and encountered Ms. M again. In Backlund, Audrey tested a bookmark at the Roselle Memorial Exhibition and discovered it was unusual, then reported her finding to Mr. Fool.

• Klein warned Luther to be careful about praying to the Fool, but Luther decided that contacting an existence opposed to the True Creator might help restore his mental stability.
• Luther watched Klein leave, then asked Ms. M whether she thought Klein was suspicious and told her to disappear.
• Luther stabbed Ms. M with a red dagger, and she embraced him before vanishing.
• Audrey secretly tested a bookmark in the Roselle Memorial Exhibition and found that it resisted her touch.
• Audrey prayed to Mr. Fool and reported her discovery about the bookmark.