Chapter Summaries

Luther fought Heras, Katie, and a bearded Beyonder inside Capim’s residence, using his Shepherd abilities to turn the fallen victims’ remains into a Blood River. Heras restrained Luther with the black-iron glove and appeared to defeat him, but Luther’s body merged with the river.

• Heras imprisoned Luther, but Luther escaped a steam-rifle blast with a Paper Figurine Substitute and killed Parker with Flesh and Blood Magic.
• Heras prohibited Grazing, restricting Luther’s Lamb Souls, and Luther hurled Parker’s corpse at the group, triggering an explosion that fed the Blood River.
• Heras prohibited Flesh and Blood Magic, slowing the river, but Luther attacked the three Beyonders with a maddening proclamation.
• Heras drank a potion, imprisoned Luther again, declared him guilty of trespassing, and used Scourging while Katie and the bearded man shot him.
• Luther’s body broke apart under the attacks and merged with the Blood River.

Luther’s Blood River overwhelmed Heras, Katie, and the bearded man, while a black-haired girl assassinated Heras as he fled. After Luther killed Capim and freed the captive girls, his body fell apart, and his sister reassembled him and carried him from the villa as an illusory door appeared overhead.

• Luther transformed into the Blood River, swept through the villa, and swallowed the bearded man and Katie.
• Heras used his black iron glove to create barriers and escape, but a black-haired girl stabbed him in the heart outside the villa before the Blood River engulfed him.
• The Blood River carried the captive girls outside and released them, then returned to the hall, where the girls tore Capim apart.
• Luther returned to human form after Capim’s death, but his body shattered, and his sister pieced him back together and carried him out.
• An illusory door opened above the villa as Luther and his sister left the hall.

After escaping Capim’s villa, Luther woke in the Queen’s palace and reported that MI9 was involved in the human trafficking ring. The Queen interrogated Heras’s spirit for details, but his head suddenly collapsed into Flesh before he could reveal where the captives had been taken.

• A handsome man arrived above the villa, but Luther and the black-haired girl escaped by crushing a strange pea before he could act.
• Luther woke in the Queen’s palace after a mermaid’s song calmed the chaotic consciousnesses in his mind.
• Luther told the Queen about Capim’s villa, the trafficked girls, and the officials and evil organization involved, then gave her Heras’s head.
• The Queen questioned Heras’s spirit with the Lying Nose, and he identified MI9 deputy director Qonas Kilgor as the person who ordered him to protect Capim.
• Heras began to reveal where the captives had been taken, but his head collapsed into Flesh, which the invisible servants swallowed before it could escape the palace.

Luther and the Queen discovered that MI9 was behind the incident, but Heras’s death left them without further clues. Since the Queen had lent out Pain, she compensated Luther with a choice of another Beyonder item, and he selected Lucky Roulette.

• Heras’s remaining head transformed into flesh and blood, but the Queen’s invisible servant swallowed it and destroyed his soul before it could escape.
• The Queen identified Heras as a Sequence 6 Beyonder of the Justiciar pathway, and Luther gave her the remains of the other three Beyonders.
• The Queen told Luther that MI9 was behind the incident, then declared his commission complete.
• The Queen explained that Pain was lent to someone else for two months and offered Luther another Beyonder item as compensation.
• Luther chose Lucky Roulette from the Queen’s list and received the silver revolver, whose effects included fluctuating luck, precise shooting, and a power-storing Russian roulette ability.

After the battle, Luther Grazed Katie and collected the fallen Beyonder Characteristics and a Disciplinary Paladin glove, then traded a Sheriff Characteristic for potion ingredients for his younger sister. The Queen ended their meeting after warning Luther that MI9 would investigate, and he reappeared beside the Tussock River in Backlund.

• Luther Grazed Katie and chose her Mental Piercing, Pain Whip, and Public Security abilities.
• The Beyonder Characteristics of Parker and the bearded man precipitated, while the invisible servant returned Heras's Judge Characteristic and a Disciplinary Paladin glove.
• Luther counted his spoils and considered the Lucky Roulette and his potion digestion progress.
• Luther traded a Sheriff Beyonder Characteristic to the Queen for a Demon-Throat Honey heart and a Dark Stalker venom sac.
• The Queen warned Luther to avoid selling the Characteristics openly because MI9 would likely investigate, then departed.
• Luther found himself beside the Tussock River and saw his younger sister walking toward him.

Church of Storms and MI9 investigators found no clear clues to the massacre at Capim's villa, while Audrey learned that Vadra and the other guests had died and the imprisoned girls had escaped. Luther contacted the Hidden Sage and asked for power to free himself from the madness caused by the consciousnesses in the bodies he had devoured.

• Ace Snake questioned the Mandated Punishers captain, who reported that the scene had been interfered with and bore the aura of a High Sequence Beyonder from the Secrets Suppliant Pathway.
• MI9 director Celt learned that a strangely dressed man had caused the victims to burst into blood and that the girls at the villa had been imprisoned there.
• Earl Hall told Audrey that Vadra, Capim, and their guests had been killed, while the rescued girls escaped and no bodies remained at the scene.
• Audrey decided to ask her MI9 friend Kance Leerhsen about the incident and considered hosting a tea party to investigate discreetly.
• Luther performed a ritual to contact the Hidden Sage, used the Tide to resist its torrent of knowledge, and asked for power to end his madness.

Luther used the Hidden Sage’s power to draw the residual psyches from his flesh, but the damage to his mental state remained. He tested Lucky Roulette on Ms. M, discovering that its power grew after empty shots until a fully charged shot destroyed her and damaged the floor.

• Luther carved patterns into his arm with the ritual dagger and cut away the flesh that trapped the residual psyches.
• Luther ended his summoning of the Hidden Sage, encountered Ms. M, and shot off one of her earlobes with Lucky Roulette.
• Luther spun Lucky Roulette and found that an empty shot charged it, allowing the next shot to wound Ms. M with increased force.
• Luther accidentally shot himself in the head while testing the revolver, then recovered and continued experimenting.
• Luther charged Lucky Roulette with five consecutive empty shots and fired at Ms. M, leaving a deep pit in the floor where she had been.

Luther hid the evidence of Capim’s death, denied knowing anything to a police officer, and learned that Emily had kept his role in her rescue secret. Meanwhile, Xio was tasked with investigating who had asked about Capim, and Fors wondered whether Doctor Anderson was responsible; the chapter ended as Kance Leerhsen began explaining the strange case at Audrey’s tea party.

• Luther covered the damaged floor with a carpet made from Capim’s flesh before Emily and a police officer arrived, then denied that anything unusual had happened.
• After the officer left, Emily told Luther she knew he had helped rescue everyone and had kept it secret; Luther returned her schoolbag, prompting her to rush off worried about her homework.
• Xio told Fors that the Gold Mask had tasked her with finding out who had recently asked about Capim’s death.
• Xio said the killer had shown characteristics of the Secrets Suppliant Pathway, and Fors wondered whether Doctor Anderson had killed Capim.
• At Audrey’s tea party, the guests asked Kance Leerhsen why the official report described the incident only as a disappearance.

At a tea party, Kance Leerhsen described the baffling disappearance of everyone inside Capim's villa, and Audrey suspected the mad man she had met might be responsible. Audrey and Fors separately reported to Mr. Fool, while Luther examined a powerful Beyonder glove and gave his sister Cecilia the Suggestor Mirror.

• Kance Leerhsen told the nobles that more than a hundred people vanished from Capim's villa without leaving bodies or blood, even though witnesses had seen blood pouring from the building.
• Audrey suspected the straitjacketed man she had met at the psychiatric hospital and decided to tell Mr. Fool her deduction while keeping it from the Tarot Club meeting.
• Audrey dismissed Annie, had Susie guard her bedroom door, and prayed to Mr. Fool.
• Fors sent Xio out to buy ink and reported to the Fool that someone was investigating his Blessed.
• Luther identified the black-iron glove as a Beyonder Item that issued Prohibitions and called it the Hand of Arrogance because it made its wearer arrogant.
• Luther offered Cecilia the glove, but she declined it and accepted the Suggestor Mirror instead.

Klein arranged for Luther to guide reporter Mike Joseph through the East Borough while they discussed Luther’s role in the Capim Villa massacre. The chapter ended with Klein asking whether Luther had sold the Beyonder Characteristics he obtained.

• Klein introduced Luther, posing as Kafka Anderson, to Daily Observer reporter Mike Joseph and arranged for them to investigate the East Borough together.
• Luther explained the local gangs and their territories as the group walked through the neighborhood, while Mike observed the poor living conditions.
• Luther quietly confirmed to Klein that he had caused the Capim Villa massacre and recounted how he had tracked the case there after his landlord disappeared.
• Luther told Klein that he had killed more than a hundred people at the villa while mad, but admitted he had intended to kill them even if he had remained sane.
• Klein asked Luther whether he had sold the Beyonder Characteristics from the massacre.

Klein offered to sell Luther’s Beyonder characteristic through a secret channel for a commission, then toured East Borough with Luther and Mike. In Backlund, Audrey’s confinement ended, and she persuaded her mother to let her hire a bodyguard recommended by her Beyonder friends.

• Klein offered to sell Luther’s Sequence 8 characteristic confidentially for a ten-percent commission, and Luther agreed.
• Klein, Luther, and Mike toured East Borough, where Mike reacted to the dangerous conditions in local workplaces and Luther described his free clinics.
• Luther spotted the former grain merchant and his mother selling Garibaldi Biscuits in the residential district.
• Countess Hall ended Audrey’s confinement but required her to have a bodyguard whenever she went out.
• Audrey persuaded her mother to let her hire a trusted Beyonder as a bodyguard, provided the candidate passed the family’s assessment.

At a Tarot Club meeting, Klein learned from Roselle’s Diary that Roselle had created twenty-two Cards of Blasphemy containing pathway secrets and revealing the existence of Sequence 0. The members traded information and discussed the mass killing at Capim Villa, while Alger wondered if it was connected to another disappearance in the southern seas.

• Alger presented Klein with six pages of Roselle’s Diary, which revealed Roselle’s family, his work on the Cards of Blasphemy, and the existence of Sequence 0.
• Klein offered a Sequence 8 Sheriff Beyonder characteristic for six hundred pounds, and Fors said she would buy it after consulting Xio and arranging the money.
• Audrey told the Tarot Club that Capim and more than a hundred guests had been killed at Capim Villa and that the kidnapped girls had been rescued.
• Derrick suggested the killings resembled a Rose Bishop’s ability, while Alger rejected the Aurora Order as the likely culprit.
• Alger recalled the disappearance of an island’s native population and wondered whether it was connected to the Capim Villa incident.

Fors told Xio that a new Beyonder gathering could provide the ingredients for her Sheriff potion, and the two accepted Audrey’s bodyguard commission before learning that her household guards would test them. Meanwhile, Luther learned that a Backlund Beyonder gathering would take place the following evening and began planning his next steps.

• At the Tarot gathering, Alger warned Derrick that exploring the Fallen Creator’s ruins under Elder Lovia could be deadly and persuaded him to avoid the expedition.
• After the gathering, Fors told Xio she could obtain the Sheriff potion ingredients for six hundred pounds, and Xio agreed to buy them with part of Audrey’s reward.
• Fors and Xio decided to hear Audrey’s new commission, then accepted a bodyguard job paying twenty pounds each time they accompanied her.
• Audrey told Fors and Xio that her mother wanted the household guards to test their abilities before approving them as bodyguards.
• Luther saw that the Ernst Trading Company had resumed buying goods, indicating that a Beyonder gathering would be held the following evening, and learned that the Beyonder ingredients had sold.

Luther attended a masked Beyonder gathering to buy Sun and Warrior rune bullets while continuing to search for Lanevus. The gathering ended with someone offering a 200-pound reward for information about Lanevus, whose portrait Luther recognized.

• Luther weighed his worsening madness and his enemies, deciding to keep digesting his Potion, search for Lanevus, and postpone confronting Ince Zangwill.
• Luther entered a masked Beyonder gathering in the East Borough and recognized Darkwill and Klein among the attendees.
• Darkwill sold healing potions and aphrodisiacs, while a masked woman offered a weapon and rune-inscribed bullets.
• Luther bought the bullets for twenty pounds after Eye of Wisdom used his ability to verify them.
• A hooded man offered a 200-pound reward for information about Lanevus, and Luther recognized Lanevus in the portrait.

At an Eye of Wisdom gathering, Luther and Klein followed the Aurora Order member Black Snake to seek information about Lanevus, but found him murdered by a Devil Dog. Luther attacked the creature as it tried to flee, then the True Creator’s enraged cry struck him with unbearable pain.

• Luther noticed that Black Snake was a Sequence 9 Secrets Suppliant from the Aurora Order and decided to follow him after the gathering.
• Luther marked Black Snake’s shadow, then joined Klein to pursue him and look for clues about Lanevus.
• Luther and Klein found Black Snake dismembered beside a young woman whose organs had been removed, with an enormous black dog in the alley.
• Luther recognized the dog as a likely Sequence 6 Devil and attacked it with Mental Piercing when it tried to escape.
• The True Creator’s furious voice suddenly rang in Luther’s mind, leaving him clutching his ears in pain.

Klein and Luther confronted a demonized Devil Dog in an alley, but the True Creator’s voice initially incapacitated Luther and the beast broke Klein’s arm. Luther recovered, wounded the Devil Dog, and struck it with a blasphemous word, leaving it stunned as he prepared his bullets.

• Klein reached Luther and fired at the Devil Dog, distracting it from attacking him, but dodged its poisonous fireball.
• The Devil Dog charged Klein, whose arm broke when he was thrown against a wall.
• Luther pierced his eardrums to resist the True Creator’s voice, then recovered enough to summon the Tide.
• The Devil Dog fled toward the street, but Luther leaped from its flames and stabbed its back, badly wounding it.
• The Devil Dog spoke a word of foulness at Luther, who answered with a blasphemous Ancient Hermes word and made it bleed from its ears and nose.
• Luther drew Lucky Roulette and prepared three Sun Bullets and three Powerful Bullets while the Devil Dog reeled.

Luther and Klein fought a giant Devil Dog in an alley, with help from the Eye of Wisdom, and Luther killed it. Eisinger Stanton revealed his identity to Klein, while Luther turned to the corpse to try Grazing the Devil.

• Luther shot the Devil Dog in the eye with a Sun Bullet, then dodged its flaming Magma Greatsword as it burned away his apparent body.
• The Eye of Wisdom cast Summon Holy Light, allowing Luther to attack the Devil Dog's mind with Mental Pierce.
• Luther switched to Powerful Bullets, climbed onto the Devil Dog, and blasted open the back of its skull before killing it with Flesh and Blood Magic.
• Luther healed Klein's injured arm while the Eye of Wisdom emerged from the shadows and revealed himself as detective Eisinger Stanton.
• Luther returned to the Devil Dog's corpse to try Grazing it.

After killing the Devil Dog, Luther Grazed its soul and chose three of its abilities. Isengard Stanton then asked to take the corpse so he could claim the authorities’ bounty, leaving Luther to decide whether to hand it over.

• The Devil Dog’s body remained huge after its death, and Luther Grazed its soul before its spirituality faded.
• Luther examined the Devil’s abilities and selected Devil Transformation, Sword of Lava, and Malice Perception to Graze.
• Isengard Stanton explained that he had arrived after noticing something unusual near the gathering and had been investigating the murders.
• Isengard asked Luther for the Devil Dog’s corpse so he could collect the 2,000-pound bounty offered by the authorities.

Luther and Klein arranged to sell the Devil’s remains, and Luther received his share of the bounty and the Sequence 8 characteristic. The chapter revealed Lanevus preparing to find a woman to carry his child, then ended with Fors Wall arriving at Luther’s home with another Beyonder.

• Isengard offered to sell the Devil’s corpse to the authorities, and Luther and Klein agreed to split the proceeds with him.
• Luther interfered with divination at the scene and left, while Lanevus spoke to the child in his swollen belly among the bodies of murdered women.
• Two days later, Klein delivered Luther 1,540 pounds, and Luther read that the serial murder case had been publicly declared solved.
• Fors Wall arrived at Luther’s home with another Beyonder and knocked at the door.

Fors and Xio asked Luther to find a bodyguard for Audrey Hall, and he agreed to have Cecilia take the job with his secret help. As a pea began sprouting in Luther’s coat, he realized the Queen’s gathering was about to begin.

• Fors and Xio told Luther that Audrey Hall needed a bodyguard, and that neither of them had passed the test at Earl Hall’s mansion.
• Luther learned that Xio’s past injury was connected to a job from Audrey and decided to investigate her connection to Lanevus.
• Luther agreed to the job and proposed that Cecilia appear as Audrey’s bodyguard while he helped her secretly; Xio said they would first ask Audrey’s permission.
• After Fors and Xio left, Luther apologized to Cecilia for agreeing without consulting her, and she accepted because it might help his investigation.
• Luther suggested Cecilia advance to Sequence 8, but she hesitated before a pea in his coat sprouted and signaled that the Queen’s gathering was beginning.