Chapter Summaries

Luther exposed Roselle’s private diary, revealing that Roselle had lied to Bernadette about missing a day with her to pursue another woman. Their reunion briefly softened when Roselle welcomed his daughter, but Luther severed the corrupting influence reaching him, and Roselle admitted he had been corrupted and ordered Bernadette to seal him.

• Luther read Roselle’s diary aloud, embarrassing him and making Bernadette increasingly hostile toward the shadow on the Throne.
• Luther revealed that Roselle had skipped teaching Bernadette to ride so he could meet Lady Viviana, and Bernadette angrily confronted her father for lying about saving a village.
• Crimson light and a filthy aura overwhelmed Roselle, who returned to the Throne and warmly invited Bernadette closer.
• As Bernadette approached, Luther blocked the corrupting aura with a dome of flesh, and Roselle stopped his daughter and admitted that he had been corrupted.
• Roselle ordered Bernadette to seal him.

Bernadette sealed some of the corruption within Roselle, who sent her away and spoke with Luther and Klein in Chinese. Roselle withheld details about Sefirah Castle and Luther’s power, leaving the two with a warning about abusing their abilities as Luther asked about a potential new Black Emperor.

• Bernadette used the Pale Death with the Blood Bishop and Mr. Fool to seal some of Roselle’s spirituality and corruption.
• Roselle sent Bernadette away, then recognized Luther’s Chinese diary entry and invited Klein to join them.
• Luther, Klein, and Roselle introduced themselves by their former-world names: Li Ran, Zhou Mingrui, and Huang Tao.
• Klein asked about another person among the Light Cocoons, but Roselle said he did not know who it was and refused to explain Sefirah Castle to someone below Angel level.
• Roselle declined to identify the power connected to Luther and warned both men not to abuse their powers, urging them to stay true to themselves.
• Luther asked Roselle whether he knew someone was preparing to become the new Black Emperor.

Luther and Klein questioned Roselle about George III’s attempt to become the Black Emperor and the Primordial Moon’s corruption of Roselle. Roselle warned them not to collect all twenty-two Cards of Blasphemy and to beware the [Mother] card.

• Roselle explained that George III would probably fail to become a true god, but success would strip Roselle of his status and worsen the corruption inside him.
• Roselle revealed that the Primordial Moon corrupted him on the moon and that his attempt to escape through resurrection instead brought renewed corruption into his mausoleum.
• Roselle recalled how corruption on the island may have altered his fate and led to his encounter with Mr. Door.
• Luther asked Roselle for potion formulas, but Roselle warned that his answers could carry the Primordial Moon’s influence and said he could not locate the scattered [Hanged Man] and [Fool] cards.
• Roselle explained that his twenty-two Cards of Blasphemy resisted divination, then suddenly shouted, “Don’t collect all twenty-two cards!” and “Beware the [Mother] card!”

Luther and Klein learned that Roselle had left dangerous cards tainted by the Primordial Moon, and Roselle confessed his past deeds before returning to eternal slumber. After leaving the mausoleum, they found Bernadette had departed to prepare for her advancement, and Klein put on a Monocle.

• Luther revealed that Roselle's Moon card had nearly corrupted him and connected the Planter pathway to the Primordial Moon.
• Roselle reminisced about his family and admitted he had caused suffering in the Southern Continent for his own sake, hoping to reach Sequence 0 to protect his loved ones from the approaching apocalypse.
• Roselle asked Luther and Klein to save him if possible, but to erase him and prevent his resurrection if his corruption could not be removed.
• Roselle's figure vanished, leaving an illusory shadow by the Throne as he returned to eternal slumber.
• Luther and Klein reached the shore and learned from a message formed by seagulls that Bernadette had left to prepare for her advancement.
• Klein thanked Luther, then took out a Monocle and placed it over his left eye.

Luther mistook Klein’s attempt to scare him for an Amon impersonation and destroyed Klein’s Paper Figurine Substitute. Klein convinced Luther he was real and explained that he had tried to digest his Bizarro Sorcerer potion; he then said he planned to seek the Sequence 3 formula from the Evernight Goddess.

• Luther recognized the monocled figure as Amon, attacked him, and destroyed the Paper Figurine Substitute.
• Klein appeared as another paper figurine and urgently insisted that he was not Amon.
• Klein explained that he had frightened Luther to digest his Bizarro Sorcerer potion, and cited Mr. Fool’s protection and the monocle on his left eye as proof.
• Luther lowered his weapons after Antiya detected nothing unusual, but scolded Klein for the scare.
• Klein told Luther that Arrodes had reported the Evernight Goddess had a lead on the Sequence 3 formula, and that he planned to make a sacrifice to her.

Philia saw how the Blood Pirates had transformed Toscarter Island, while Luther asked the Magic Mirror Arrodes about the Secrets Suppliant formula and George III’s apotheosis preparations. Arrodes revealed that the Aurora Order had become hidden from its sight and implied that George III’s ritual conditions were improving, leaving Luther determined to move faster.

• Philia walked through Toscarter Island and saw that the Blood Pirates had turned the Governor’s Mansion into a school and improved conditions for the islanders.
• Luther summoned Arrodes with a blood-drawn pattern, and Luna watched the mirror appear.
• Luther asked where he could obtain the Sequence 2 Secrets Suppliant formula and ritual, and Arrodes identified the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun, the Demoness Sect, and the Aurora Order.
• Arrodes said it could no longer see inside the Aurora Order, and Luther decided he might ask the Tarot Club to investigate.
• Luther asked about George III’s apotheosis preparations, and Arrodes hinted that Loen’s crisis was making the ritual conditions more favorable.

Luther considered how to disrupt George III’s advancement ritual and weighed the forces that might defend the mausoleums. Luna asked Arrodes how she could make Luther happy, while Nelson Sharp arrived at MI9’s station in Doyin City seeking Alfred’s help.

• Luther questioned Arrodes about the Royal Family’s high-level fighters, but the mirror could not obtain a clear answer because someone interfered.
• Luther assessed the likely forces on both sides and concluded that destroying George III’s mausoleums during his advancement was more achievable than defeating the Royal Family outright.
• Luna asked Arrodes what she could do to make Luther happy, and the mirror explained that she worried because he seemed unhappy despite her bringing him fresh food.
• Luther dismissed Arrodes after hearing Luna’s concern.
• Nelson Sharp rode through Doyin City’s famine-stricken slums and then the wealthy district before entering MI9’s station.
• Nelson Sharp rushed into Alfred’s office and urgently asked him for help.

Nelson Sharp confronted Alfred Hall over the famine in Amikash State and persuaded him to authorize grain for starving children. As Sharp’s wagons left, he saw an old woman carrying her decomposing grandson as part of a funeral custom and could only give her money before leaving.

• Nelson Sharp told Alfred Hall that General Sanchez and the grain requisitions had worsened the famine, while Alfred admitted MI9’s orders prioritized the war against Feysac over the Southern Continent’s people.
• Sharp asked Alfred to save at least the children, and Alfred authorized several cartloads of grain and a squad of soldiers to escort them.
• Sharp collected the grain and left the barracks with the soldiers, feeling guilty that he could not save everyone.
• Sharp saw an old woman carrying her decomposing grandson and learned from a soldier that the custom was to keep the dead nearby until only bones remained.
• Unable to face the grieving woman, Sharp secretly gave her money and led the wagons away.

Fors finished two manuscripts after staying awake for nearly two days, only to be summoned by her teacher, Dorian, who feared she had advanced too quickly and was in danger. After learning she was merely exhausted from writing, Dorian told her to sleep before they talked further.

• Fors finished a Blood Bishop tale and a collection of eerie Backlund legends after staying awake to meet her deadline.
• Xio woke Fors and made her read an urgent letter from Dorian, who had arrived in Backlund and wanted to see her immediately.
• Fors met Dorian at the Hat Trick Inn, where he asked whether she had advanced to Sequence 6.
• Dorian mistook Fors's exhaustion for a dangerous potion-related condition and gave her medicine, but Fors explained that she had stayed up writing.
• Dorian told Fors to get a room next door and sleep before they continued their conversation.

Fors received the Traveler potion formula and ingredients from Dorian and promised to help him contact a hidden being once she reached Sequence 4. Meanwhile, Luther continued spreading the Blood God’s faith across the Sonia Sea and connected his consciousness to Lis on the Southern Continent to check on his flesh puppets.

• Dorian urged Fors to advance to Traveler and eventually become a Secrets Sorcerer so she could help him seek an answer from a hidden being.
• Dorian gave Fors the Traveler potion formula, Beyonder Characteristic, and supplementary ingredients, and advised her on acting as a Scribe.
• Fors left the inn after midnight, unaware that a crimson-eyed crow watched her from a streetlamp.
• Anderson told Luther that the Blood God’s faith had spread across several Sonia Sea islands while the Church of Storms focused on the Feysac fleet.
• Luther went to a cave, concealed his presence, and connected his consciousness to Lis on the Southern Continent.

From the Astral World, Luther connected with his Flesh Puppets across the Southern Continent and unleashed the Blood God’s power among people driven by suffering and resentment. In Doyin City, an old woman’s desperate prayer transformed her into a bone-covered monster, which attacked General Sanchez’s nephew as Alfred Hall and Nelson Sharp intervened.

• Luther reviewed his Flesh Puppets’ memories, saw the Southern Continent’s inhabitants suffering under colonizers and local rulers, and sent his power to those ready to pray to the Blood God.
• In Doyin City, Li witnessed an old woman use a potion to dissolve her murdered grandson’s corpse and gather his bones with those of her other dead relatives.
• Overcome by resentment, the old woman recalled her choice to pray and chanted, “Blood and rage, hatred and fire...” despite Li warning that it would cost her life.
• Alfred Hall told Nelson Sharp he was leaving the Southern Continent for the war in Loen rather than remain complicit in Sanchez’s oppression.
• A bone-covered monster attacked Sanchez’s nephew in the street, and Alfred and Nelson left their carriage to confront it.

Alfred and Nelson fought a monstrous old woman who killed a wealthy merchant, only to discover she was a human seeking revenge for her grandson. Nelson failed to persuade her to accept the Goddess’s salvation before she died, while Li claimed her polluted soul and explosions rang through Doyin City.

• Alfred ordered the crowd to flee and accused Li of causing the monster’s attack, but Li said it was Alfred’s doing.
• Alfred struck the monster with Mental Pierce while Nelson pulled the wounded merchant to safety, but the monster killed the merchant with a bone-spiked arm.
• Nelson used Dream Infiltration to put the monster to sleep, and Alfred shot it, causing its body to shrink into that of an old woman.
• Nelson recognized the old woman and begged her to repent before the Goddess, but she clutched her family’s skulls and died without accepting salvation.
• The old woman’s polluted soul flowed into Li’s shadow as he prayed that the despairing would behold heaven’s light, and explosions echoed through Doyin City.

Luther’s Blood God faith spread across the Southern Continent as desperate people gained power at the cost of their lives, and their prayers helped him digest the “Trinity Templar” potion. In Backlund, Leonard investigated the Aurora Order’s crisis and learned that his application to advance to Sequence 5 had been approved.

• Desperate people across the Southern Continent prayed to the Blood God, gaining power to kill their oppressors before turning into monsters and dying.
• The Blood God’s reputation and faith spread, while mysticism enthusiasts found that his blessings favored those driven by despair and revenge.
• Luther sensed his Flesh Puppets as facets of the same existence, and the prayers reaching him helped the “Trinity Templar” potion digest and merge into his body.
• Leonard told Soest that Aurora Order members across several locations had fallen into despair and killed themselves after losing contact with the True Creator.
• Soest told Leonard that his application to advance to Sequence 5, Spirit Warlock, had been approved.

Luther’s growing influence over the tide weakened the True Creator as faith in the Blood God spread, and he appointed Anderson to organize the Church in the Southern Continent. He hoped to replace Anderson with Lovia Tiffany, whose prayer reached him just as he was thinking of her.

• Luther received prayers meant for the True Creator and realized that his growing influence was eroding the True Creator’s divine status and anchors.
• Luther blocked out the True Creator’s furious ravings and returned to the real world, where Luna greeted him.
• Luther told Anderson Hood he would no longer be first mate and offered him the role of pope for the Blood God Church.
• Anderson hesitated to accept the permanent burden, so Luther asked him to establish the Church’s basic structure in the Southern Continent until a better candidate could replace him.
• Luther considered Lovia Tiffany as his future pope, then heard her prayer calling him the Great Lord.

Derrick and the City of Silver's exploration team failed to get past the Royal City's gates after the twilight light restored the giant they had nearly defeated. Back at camp, Derrick searched historical records for Mr. Temperance and wondered whether a scribe had concealed something in a copied chronicle.

• Derrick encouraged the exploration team with his light as they fought off waves of monsters outside the Royal City.
• Colin Iliad and Lovia attacked an armored giant, and Lovia began pulling its soul from its body.
• The Royal City's golden twilight restored the giant and healed its wound, so Colin ordered the team to retreat.
• At camp, Derrick read books about the City of Silver's history to answer Mr. Temperance's question about the deity it worshipped before the Great Cataclysm.
• Derrick found that the chronicle supported the familiar account of the City of Silver worshipping Giant King Aurmir before converting to the Creator, but wondered whether its scribe had omitted details.

Lovia questioned Colin about evidence that the City of Silver had erased the history of a deity, and he promised to reveal the truth after they explored the Giant King’s Court and found a way outside. She then revealed that a dead expedition member had never turned into an evil spirit, contradicting what Colin had told her.

• Colin summoned Derrick and Lovia to discuss how increasingly dangerous monsters were slowing the expedition through the Giant King’s Court.
• Lovia presented historical records and argued that missing originals and flawed rituals suggested the City of Silver had erased the existence of a deity.
• Colin dismissed Derrick, then told Lovia the question concerned the City of Silver’s greatest secret and promised to answer after the expedition succeeded in finding a way outside.
• Lovia told Colin that a team member who died during an expedition two months earlier had not become an evil spirit after she waited five days near his body.

Luther and Klein decided to enter Groselle’s Travels again to search the giant’s memories for a route into the Giant King’s Court and secrets about its past. They entered the book and reached Groselle’s dream, beginning their exploration.

• Lovia told Luther that the City of Silver’s expedition was blocked outside the Royal City and that its records had been altered.
• Klein summoned Luther to Dwayne Dantès’s manor and explained that the City of Silver needed a route into the Giant King’s Court.
• Klein proposed exploring Groselle’s Travels again to search Groselle’s memories, and Luther agreed to join him.
• Klein and Luther traveled above the Gray Fog, opened the book with blood, and entered its world.
• Luther used his Spectator powers to make Groselle leave the smithy and fall asleep, then took Klein into Groselle’s dream.

As the Aurora Order faced collapse from the Blood God’s growing faith, Heliodorus gave Stysa Ender an old nautical chart and signaled him to lead the faithful on a pilgrimage to the Giant King’s Court. Heliodorus stayed behind without explaining his plans.

• Stysa Ender warned Heliodorus that the Aurora Order’s believers were losing their connection to the True Creator and dying in despair.
• Heliodorus rose, retrieved an ancient nautical chart, and handed it to Stysa.
• Stysa examined the chart’s records of past pilgrimages, which showed that most expeditions to the Giant King’s Court had ended in death.
• Heliodorus traced Ouroboros’s symbol on the chart, and Stysa realized he wanted him to lead the Aurora Order’s people to the sacred continent.
• Stysa asked what Heliodorus planned to do, but Heliodorus only smiled and remained silent.

Luther and Klein explored the area behind the Giant King's Court and learned that Giants guarded the Decaying Forest, where Aurmir's parents were supposedly buried. They passed through the Barren Tunnel after Luther answered a stone stele's question, leaving them on their way back to the court.

• Luther and Klein found themselves near the Giant King's Court and spotted Giants guarding the Decaying Forest.
• Luther pretended to be Groselle's friend and learned that the Giants guarded the forest because Aurmir forbade outsiders from entering his parents' burial place.
• Luther noticed that the supposed ancestors had no altar or sacrificial ceremonies and suspected that Aurmir was hiding a secret.
• Groselle directed Luther and Klein to the Barren Tunnel, where a stone stele demanded that they answer a question before passing.
• Luther answered that his wife, daughter, and the woman he coveted should fight to determine who was most beautiful, and the stele let them through.

Luther and Klein explored a hidden giant stronghold, where murals suggested a possible connection between the God of Combat and Badheil, the God of Dawn. They also found a depiction of the Giant Queen Omebella, the Harvest Goddess.

• Klein explained that the Ancient God Alliance broke apart after Lilith perished alongside the Mutant King and the Annihilation Demonic Wolf, while Luther noted the cave murals predated the alliance's collapse.
• Luther and Klein entered a hall that rose like an elevator and carried them to a vast chamber furnished like a communal dormitory.
• Luther identified a mural of a silver-armored giant as likely depicting Badheil, the God of Dawn, rather than Giant King Aurmir.
• Klein observed that the masked figure resembled a statue of the God of Combat, leading him and Luther to suspect that Badheil might have become the current God of Combat, though they lacked proof.
• Luther found a mural depicting Omebella, the Giant Queen and Harvest Goddess, holding wheat, fruit, and other harvests.