Chapter Summaries

Luther forced Amon to release his control, warned Klein with the agreed signal, and destroyed Amon's body with a curse. Dwayne Dantès and Leonard Mitchell arrived, and Amon recognized the parasite within Leonard as Pallez before animals assembled into a more powerful version of him.

• Luther raised the tide beneath the Ancient Castle until Amon dropped the gold coin and freed Luther from his control.
• Luther crushed the Human Skin Talisman to alert Klein, then cursed Amon and destroyed his body.
• A new Amon appeared and explained that his abilities could tamper with fate, but Dwayne Dantès and Leonard Mitchell arrived despite his interference.
• Amon recognized Pallez within Leonard and declared that he had finally found him.
• Pallez concealed the animals surrounding the Ancient Castle, but they merged together to form a more powerful Amon.

Luther joined with Antiya and fought Amon, who stole Klein’s abilities and then Klein himself. Leonard, aided by Pallez, reclaimed Klein, and a burning paper crane transformed into a white snake as Will Auceptin Chris crushed a staff head and sent its starlight into his body.

• Luther summoned Antiya and merged with her to amplify his power before attacking Amon at tremendous speed.
• Amon evaded Luther’s blows with paper substitutes and stolen distance, while stealing Klein’s Beyonder abilities and Senor.
• Luther declared theft prohibited and struck at Amon with the Sword of Judgment, but Amon confused the prohibition and stole Klein.
• Leonard, through Pallez, pulled Klein away from Amon, leaving Amon holding a dead rat with a paper crane in its mouth.
• Klein ignited the paper crane, while Will Auceptin Chris crushed a staff head into starlight and absorbed it.
• The burned paper crane froze in Amon’s hand as silver symbols joined into a great white snake.

Will Auceptin Chris used Reboot to weaken Amon, allowing Luther and Leonard to destroy and capture him. Pallez then drew in Amon’s remaining avatars and contingencies across Backlund, though Luther warned that their sudden disappearance might attract attention.

• Will Auceptin Chris briefly reached Sequence 1 and reversed time on Amon, breaking his monocle and weakening him.
• Luther rejected Amon’s offer of secrets and pierced his phantom with two blades.
• Leonard summoned Pallez’s ancient clock, which captured Amon and drew in the Worms of Time from his avatars and contingencies.
• Pallez’s clock attracted Amon’s remaining avatars across Backlund and then vanished.
• Luther warned Leonard that Amon might notice all his Backlund avatars had disappeared, but Pallez judged the risk low unless one had escaped to report.

Klein and Luther dealt with Hazel’s terror after Amon’s Avatars had affected her family, then gathered the Worms of Time left behind across Backlund and divided the spoils with Leonard. After asking about Daly, Luther asked Leonard to call out Pallez so he could question the angel about secret knowledge.

• Klein brought Luther to Hazel, who was near madness after seeing her family members act like Amon’s Avatars.
• Luther made Hazel forget the incident, then changed her memories so the Avatars appeared to have been slugs.
• Klein and Luther hypnotized Hazel’s family and collected the Worms of Time left behind across Backlund.
• Klein, Leonard, and Luther divided the Worms of Time, with Leonard taking one or two, Klein taking four or five, and Luther taking the rest.
• Leonard told Luther that Daly was doing slightly better but remained upset, and Luther asked Leonard to call out Pallez.

Luther asked Pallez about Amon’s older brother and learned that Adam was a secretive figure who had studied the Spectator Pathway. Pallez revealed that Adam was driving the world’s events toward the Visionary ritual and ultimately sought the Creator’s return, leaving Luther and Klein to face the possibility that the spreading war was part of his plan.

• Luther used Pallez’s indirect communication method and asked what he knew about Amon’s older brother.
• Pallez said the man had opposed the True Creator, stayed neutral, and secretly guided events from the shadows.
• Pallez explained that his great-grandfather had seen the second Blasphemy Slate and learned that Sequence 0 of the Spectator Pathway was called Visionary.
• Pallez described the Visionary ritual as making the course of the times conform to one’s expectations before consuming the potion at a critical juncture.
• Pallez said Adam was using these events to pursue the Creator’s return, and Luther and Klein recognized that the growing war might bring Adam close to advancing.

Luther feared that Adam might revive the Creator of the City of Silver and realized that the Phantom Tide within him could be tied to the Creator’s resurrection contingency. After leaving Leonard’s home, Luther and Klein agreed to prepare for their next moves against George III.

• Luther asked Pallez whether the Creator of the City of Silver could return, and Pallez explained that powerful beings could leave resurrection contingencies behind.
• Luther suspected that he was the Creator’s resurrection contingency and that the cold will inside the Phantom Tide was the Creator’s residual psyche.
• Luther asked Pallez for the Sequence 2 potion formula for the Secrets Suppliant Pathway, but Pallez did not know it and advised him to seek the True Creator’s believers.
• Klein told Luther that Will Auceptin had requested an item that let its user borrow power from their past self, and Luther asked Klein to make one or two for him.
• Luther said he would stabilize his condition and then target George III, while Klein promised to join him.
• Luther and Klein parted ways, and September arrived.

As war with Feysac worsened conditions in Backlund, Fors and Xio saw rising prices, refugees, and growing unrest, while Xio faced extra work hunting spies. Luther told M that the ambiguous actions of the Churches of Evernight and Storms suggested the war would continue, though he speculated that the Evernight Goddess might be laying a trap for the God of Combat.

• Fors watched Mr. Moon make the vampire who had framed them perform hard labor at the Church of the Earth Mother, then left with Xio.
• Fors and Xio found that Desi pies had become more expensive, and Fors secretly gave coins to refugee children being driven away by a policeman.
• Xio told Fors that the East Borough was overwhelmed by refugees and crime, and that MI9 had assigned her missions to find Feysac spies.
• Fors wondered when the war would end as she and Xio walked through the crowded streets.
• Luther told M that the Churches of Evernight and Storms were responding weakly to the conflict, and he suspected the Evernight Goddess was waiting to trap the God of Combat.

Luther considered how to kill George III and settled on sabotaging his Black Emperor advancement or bringing Roselle Gustav back before he could advance. He invited Antiya to join him on a voyage with Bernadette to find Roselle, and she worried that she might hurt him again.

• Luther rejected attacking Sodela Palace directly because George III could escape and the confrontation would attract too much attention.
• Luther considered disrupting George III’s advancement ritual by locating and destroying the nine mausoleums, and identified possible leads through the Psychology Alchemists, MI9, the Demoness Sect, and Tracy.
• Luther decided that Roselle Gustav’s return could prevent George III from advancing, and planned to ask Queen Mystic to let him join her search.
• Luther asked Antiya to accompany him and Bernadette on the voyage to find Roselle, and Antiya hesitated because she feared she might hurt him again.

Luther reassured Antiya that their bond would help protect them from any trap Roselle might have left, then traveled to Gatty Port to confront Helene and Tracy. He arrived as Helene returned to her villa, where Tracy was chained and held captive.

• Luther persuaded Antiya to stop isolating herself and told her they needed to find Roselle.
• Luther received an uncertain reply from Bernadette, who said she was still locating the mausoleum and would decide after consulting Mr. Fool.
• Tracy watched Helene arrive at the villa and, at Helene's command, welcomed her back as her mistress.
• Luther appeared in Helene and Tracy's room, startling Helene and drawing Tracy's furious recognition.
• Luther sat down and greeted Tracy while Helene bowed to him as the King of Blood.

Luther took Tracy’s blood to help Klein locate Katarina, who was in Backlund, and received charms and a Marauder demigod’s soul from Klein and Leonard. He used his grazing ability to claim the demigod as a new lamb.

• Luther questioned Tracy and learned that Katarina had partnered with the Sauron Family, which was keeping Tracy under guard.
• Luther hypnotized Tracy, drew a tube of her blood, and erased his visit from Tracy and Helene’s memories.
• Luther sent Tracy’s blood to Klein for divination, and Klein reported that Katarina was in Backlund and that he had completed Luther’s commissions.
• Klein sent Luther Spirit Worm charms, while Leonard supplied Marauder-domain symbols and the purified soul of a Jacob Family demigod.
• Luther verified the soul was free of corruption and grazed the demigod, making it his new lamb.

Luther absorbed a Jacob Family Marauder demigod and failed while making a Worm of Time charm, while Alfred witnessed colonial troops plunder a village in Amikash State. Unable to accept the atrocity, Alfred confronted General Marius, who revealed that he had known about it from the beginning.

• Luther absorbed the Marauder demigod and learned the abilities of a Sequence 4 Parasite.
• Luther borrowed power from the Fool to make a charm, but the Worm of Time exploded when his hand trembled.
• Alfred watched tax troops beat villagers, seize their food and valuables, and burn their haystacks without intervening.
• Alfred went to MI9 headquarters and asked General Marius why Loen worked with Sanchez.
• General Marius told Alfred that he had known about the plundering from the beginning.

Alfred confronted Major General Marius over the colonial plundering, then recoiled from Loen’s cruelty and remembered the Blood Bishop’s mocking face. In Backlund, Luther and Klein waited for the White Demoness, but Luther sensed the Primordial Demoness Cheek’s aura and wondered whether the concealed figure was really Katarina.

• Major General Marius told Alfred that Sanchez’s looting was a useful way to secure supplies for Loen and could later be blamed on Sanchez.
• Alfred protested that the plundering would starve the local people, but Marius dismissed their deaths as worthwhile for the kingdom’s victory.
• Alfred questioned his loyalty to Loen as memories of colonial atrocities led him to picture the Blood Bishop’s mocking face.
• Luther and Klein waited on a West Borough clock tower for the White Demoness to appear.
• Klein spotted an invisible presence, and Luther felt an intense aura of the Primordial Demoness Cheek and questioned whether it belonged to Katarina.

Luther and Klein discovered that the woman they had mistaken for Katarina was Trissy, whom Katarina was hunting as a vessel for the Primordial Demoness. As Katarina tried to escape with Trissy, Luther sealed the area with a Sleepless Beyonder Item and confronted her.

• Luther warned Klein that the figure might not be Katarina, then used the Phantom Tide to see through the evil aura and recognized Trissy Cheek.
• Trissy fled down the street, but Katarina Pelle attacked her with spider silk and icicles, pinning her ankle.
• Katarina mocked Trissy about staying in Backlund for Prince Edessak, then trapped her in a cocoon of invisible silk and prepared to leave through a mirror.
• Katarina found the mirror world sealed by a pale, black-and-white realm and realized the power belonged to a Sleepless.
• Luther appeared holding a black skull that created the sealed realm, while Trissy recognized him as the Blood Bishop and laughed at Katarina's predicament.

Luther fought Katarina, thwarted her escape, and used his regenerative abilities and a curse to bring her down. As Luther approached the fallen White Demoness, Klein watched in astonishment from above the Gray Fog.

• Trissy taunted Katarina as Luther appeared and struck her, but Katarina escaped the blow by turning into ice-mirror fragments.
• Katarina petrified Luther and tried to flee using multiple mirror-reflected forms, but Luther prohibited Frost Magic and destroyed her ice escape.
• Luther tore off his left arm before the petrification spread, regenerated a body from it, and raced after Katarina.
• Katarina deflected Luther's sword with her dagger and cut through his neck, but Luther instantly grew a new head.
• Luther cursed Katarina with Degeneration, causing her to fall onto a rooftop, then approached her with his greatsword as Klein watched in surprise.

Luther defeated and grazed Katarina Pelle, extracting her soul after learning she had sacrificed cities in plague experiments. Klein reunited with Luther as the battle’s aftermath vanished and the damaged buildings were restored.

• Trissy warned Luther that Katarina could resurrect if killed, and Katarina tried to exploit the distraction to attack him.
• Luther restrained Katarina with his Bizarro Sorcerer abilities and began extracting her soul instead of killing her outright.
• Katarina pleaded for mercy and invoked Azik, so Luther offered to spare her if she had never harmed civilians.
• M searched Katarina’s memories and revealed that she had sacrificed many cities while acting as a Demoness of Affliction.
• Luther rejected Katarina’s plea, extracted her soul, and successfully grazed the Demoness of Unaging.
• Luther restored the world with the crystal skull, and Klein appeared beside him as Dwayne Dantès.

Luther and Klein interrogated the White Demoness Katarina after capturing her, uncovering the Demoness Sect’s connection to Trissy and George III’s mausoleums and advancement plans. They decided to take Trissy to Klein’s place for further questioning.

• Klein used spirit channeling to question Katarina, who confirmed that the Demoness Sect’s cooperation with George III had ended and that Trissy had taken an important Sealed Artifact.
• Katarina revealed that the destroyed artifact was connected to the Primordial One’s awakening, and Luther realized Trissy might have become a vessel for the Primordial Demoness.
• Katarina described the locations and defenses of George III’s eight mausoleums and identified Loen’s angels as William I, a Sequence 1 Hand of Order, and Dlink Augustus, a Sequence 2 Balancer.
• Katarina said George III planned to wait until the war and public emotions intensified before holding his ritual, prompting Luther to condemn him for prolonging the war.
• Luther returned Katarina to a slot inside his body, and he and Klein decided to take Trissy to Klein’s place for questioning.

Luther and Klein agreed to cautiously cooperate with Trissy against George III, while Luther prepared to join Queen Mystic on an expedition to find Roselle's mausoleum. As he waited for her departure, Luther sorted through his grazed lambs, releasing the weaker ones but keeping Mr. A captive.

• Luther and Klein decided to share limited intelligence and work with Trissy to stop George III's ritual, while remaining wary of her connection to the Primordial Demoness.
• Luther told Klein he planned to search for Roselle's mausoleum with Queen Mystic, and asked Klein to watch over Backlund while he was away.
• Queen Mystic Bernadette invited Luther to meet her on an island outside Emerald City on Tuesday afternoon before their voyage.
• Luther reviewed his lambs and decided to keep only those at Sequence 4 or Sequence 3, freeing the weaker souls.
• Luther stopped Mr. A from being released and forced him back into his Slot because of their enmity, leaving Luther with eight lambs and five empty Slots.

Luther reviewed his Beyonder Items and realized Roselle could help him obtain potions for the Hanged Man pathway, strengthening his resolve to sail with Bernadette. In Doyin City, Alfred sought comfort at an Evernight church and found his friend Nelson Sharp preaching, but a young man nearby mocked the Goddess and praised the Blood God.

• Luther sorted his Beyonder Items and discovered that Pain had gained the ability of Weaponization, which could target his own flesh and blood.
• Luther realized that meeting Roselle could help him obtain the Hanged Man pathway potions and became more determined to sail with Bernadette.
• Alfred visited an Evernight church in Doyin City to pray and look for Nelson Sharp, but learned that Sharp was preaching at Liberty Square.
• Alfred went to Liberty Square, where Nelson Sharp recited Night's Revelation to a large crowd of Southern Continent natives.
• A black-haired young man beside Alfred scoffed at the sermon and said the Evernight Goddess seemed inferior to the Blood God.

Alfred argued with a black-haired believer who accused the Church of Evernight of using religion to keep Southern Continent natives compliant. A child’s question revealed that General Sanchez’s soldiers had forced the townspeople to attend Nelson Sharp’s sermon, leaving Alfred to recognize the harm behind his own claims.

• Alfred recognized the black-haired man’s mention of the Blood God and suspected a connection to Alexander Gascoigne and the Blood Pirates.
• The black-haired man condemned the Church of Evernight’s teachings as a means of deceiving and controlling the poor, and Alfred angrily defended the Church.
• The man asked why the natives had gathered, prompting Alfred to notice that soldiers were preventing many from leaving.
• Nelson Sharp invited questions, and a frail child asked when the townspeople could go because he had been forced to miss a day’s work.
• Nelson and Alfred realized that General Sanchez’s troops had compelled the locals to attend, and Alfred understood why the black-haired man had laughed at his defense of the sermon.

Nelson Sharp’s sermon was disrupted when a black-haired young man preached the faith of the Blood God, provoking chaos and Alfred Hall’s attempt to stop him. Alfred chased the preacher into an alley, where he found soldiers beating an old woman and the boy from the sermon, and took the preacher into custody.

• Nelson Sharp invited the black-haired young man to ask a question, and the young man instead urged the crowd to believe in the God of Blood and Shadows.
• Alfred Hall ordered the preacher to stop and struck him, but the man kept preaching despite his severe wound as the crowd fled in panic.
• Nelson pointed Alfred toward the preacher’s escape route, and Alfred pursued him into an alley.
• Alfred found Sanchez’s soldiers beating the old woman and protecting boy, while the preacher urged the woman to seek the Blood God’s power.
• Alfred stopped the soldiers’ attack, seized the preacher, and ordered him taken to the local police station.