Chapter Summaries

Luther joined Leonard and Frye to investigate a worker’s death at a Tingen cotton mill, where he discovered that children worked in dangerous conditions. Using his new Listening ability on the corpse, he heard the dead child say, “Thank you, big sister.”

• Luther adjusted to his heightened hearing before traveling to Blackthorn Security Company, where Leonard asked him to investigate several new deaths.
• Leonard, Frye, and Luther went to a cotton mill in the Tingen Industrial District to examine a worker killed by machinery.
• Luther saw that the mill relied on young children to operate and repair its looms, while the foreman complained about the dead boy disrupting production.
• Frye examined the corpse and found injuries consistent with being mangled by a machine, while Luther noted that the boy’s parents were still at work.
• Luther activated Listening beside the corpse and heard a joyful young voice say, “Thank you, big sister.”

Luther and Leonard investigated the death of a child at a cotton mill and traced a curse to the same mysterious woman connected to Viscount Dorset’s death. Leonard suggested that she had been taking life force from people who were already near death.

• Luther used Listening on the dead child and heard a voice call out to his sister before suffering an agonizing death.
• Luther drew the woman he had sensed and recognized her as the woman who had appeared at Viscount Dorset’s death scene.
• Leonard questioned the factory foreman and children, learning that the dead child was Oliver and that the woman had given him candy.
• Luther examined Oliver’s candy wrapper and identified traces of a curse.
• Luther, Leonard, and Frye discussed the harsh conditions endured by child laborers after leaving the mill.
• Leonard suggested that the woman had accelerated Oliver and Viscount Dorset’s deaths by taking some of their life force.

While guarding Chanis Gate, Luther silently planned how to protect Cecilia and kill Ms. M without alerting her. Chanis Gate opened by itself, and black threads burst out and wrapped around Luther’s head.

• Leonard, Dunn, and Luther returned to Blackthorn Security Company, where Klein divined that their target was hiding in a house near a river.
• Dunn sent personnel to search along the Tussock River and Khoy River, while Luther stayed behind to guard Chanis Gate that night.
• Dunn warned Luther not to enter Chanis Gate under any circumstances, then left him alone in the guardroom.
• Luther planned how to ensure Cecilia’s safety and defeat Ms. M while avoiding her surveillance.
• Chanis Gate creaked open, and black threads surged out and wrapped around Luther’s head.

Black threads from Chanis Gate temporarily suppressed Ms. M’s surveillance of Luther, giving him a chance to seek help. After the Evernight Goddess offered no answer to his prayer, Luther cut a Hidden Sage symbol into his hand and prayed to the Hidden Sage for power.

• Chanis Gate opened, and black threads wrapped around Luther’s head, suppressing the blood aura and Ms. M’s senses.
• Luther realized he had temporarily escaped Ms. M’s monitoring and decided to use the opportunity to seek help.
• Luther performed a ritual and prayed to the Evernight Goddess for power to save his sister and restrain Ms. M, but the Goddess departed without responding.
• As the black threads began to thin, Luther cut the Hidden Sage’s symbol into the back of his hand and recited the entity’s Honorific Name.
• A mysterious power descended after Luther finished praying to the Hidden Sage.

Luther invoked the Hidden Sage and endured a dangerous flood of knowledge until he found the power he needed. He created and concealed a talisman that could overwhelm a Beyonder with knowledge, then received a black ring that could briefly block Ms. M’s surveillance.

• Luther prayed to the Hidden Sage, and an overwhelming flood of knowledge filled his mind until the Tide protected him enough to search through it.
• Luther found the knowledge he sought and cut the eye-shaped scar from his hand to make the Sage’s Enlightenment talisman.
• Luther hid the talisman inside his hand before the Hidden Sage’s power faded and the black threads withdrew behind Chanis Gate.
• Strands from Chanis Gate formed a black ring that could briefly block Ms. M’s surveillance, but Luther decided not to use it to seek help from the captain.
• Luther watched the surveillance resume and felt more confident because he now had another trump card.

Luther spent his first night guarding the Chanis Gate planning how to find a Demoness and make a Lifeform in a Bottle to save Cecilia from the Flesh Curse. He learned that Saint Selena’s ashes suppressed the Sealed Artifacts and returned home, where Ms. M questioned him about the night.

• Luther recalled that the Hidden Sage had taught him how to make a Lifeform in a Bottle, but the recipe required a Demoness’s Heart.
• Luther remembered that the Demoness Sect might be connected to the Gnosis Order and planned to investigate it through the Nighthawks and the human trafficking case.
• Kenley relieved Luther at dawn and told him that Saint Selena’s ashes likely suppressed the Sealed Artifacts behind the Chanis Gate.
• Luther returned home and found Ms. M with Cecilia, then answered Ms. M’s questions about his night with a provocative remark.

After a prophetic nightmare, Luther feared Ms. M was drawing Cecilia into danger, but found she had only taught her basic mysticism. Ms. M then offered a clue about the mass death case: it was connected to a Demoness.

• Luther dreamed of Catastrophe destroying the world and woke after seeing Cecilia’s severed hand in his grasp.
• Worried that his dream was a warning, Luther hurried downstairs and confronted Ms. M about what she was teaching Cecilia.
• Cecilia explained that Ms. M had taught her basic knowledge about Potions, Sequences, and Beyonder professions.
• Ms. M said Cecilia deserved to understand the Beyonder world, while Cecilia defended Luther and admitted she had wanted to help him by testing Ms. M.
• Luther apologized for keeping Cecilia uninformed, reassured her, and prepared lunch with her.
• Ms. M offered Luther a clue about the mass death case, saying it was related to a Demoness.

Luther learned that a newly advanced Witch from the Demoness Sect was likely behind the deaths and agreed to help Ms. M find the altar and collect its gathered life force and Resentment of the Dead. Back at Blackthorn Security Company, he found Dunn comparing Luther's suspect portrait with a wanted poster, while Leonard proposed that the people in the images might be siblings.

• Ms. M told Luther that a Demoness was spreading curses and killing people, likely a newcomer who had advanced to the Witch Sequence.
• Ms. M's arm fell off, revealing the severe injuries she had suffered in the explosion Luther caused, but she reattached it and recovered its function.
• Ms. M ordered Luther to find the Demoness's altar and collect its life force and Resentment of the Dead, offering mysticism knowledge or help for his sister in return.
• Luther returned to Blackthorn Security Company and asked Klein about the case's progress.
• Luther joined Klein in Dunn's office, where Dunn compared Luther's portrait with a wanted poster and suggested the two figures might be siblings, leaving Leonard visibly helpless.

Luther joined Dunn, Leonard, and Klein as they tracked Tris, the suspected Demoness, to a house in Tingen's West Borough. After Luther heard a seductive voice as they neared the house, the Nighthawks waited for nightfall and began their approach, leaving a battle imminent.

• Luther studied Tris's wanted notice and suspected that Tris had caused the Number One Tragedy to advance his Instigator Acting.
• Leonard explained that Tris might have transformed from a man into a woman after drinking a Potion, and Dunn organized a search for the Demoness.
• Luther persuaded Dunn to bring him along by reminding him about the Clockwork Clown and offering his knowledge of Ritual Magic.
• As the carriage neared the target house, Luther heard a seductive voice that grew stronger and saw translucent shapes moving in its shadows.
• Dunn had the carriage pass the house, then ordered the Nighthawks to monitor it until nightfall.
• At night, Dunn led Leonard and Luther toward the house while Klein stayed back to sense the atmosphere of the battle scene.

Trissy performed a ritual that consumed the Resentment of the Dead and collected red liquid before preparing to ambush intruders. Dunn, Leonard, and Luther entered the house, but Trissy escaped their attacks and unleashed the dead against them.

• Trissy used the bone statue to absorb the ghosts around the altar and collected the red liquid it produced.
• After the Silver Mirror showed signs of an intruder, Trissy concealed herself and moved to attack the approaching man.
• Dunn put Trissy into a dream, but she broke free and used a shattered Silver Mirror to evade Leonard and Luther's shots.
• Dunn, Leonard, and Luther rushed into the hall as Trissy took a wrapped object from the altar and vanished again.
• Trissy made the wandering dead turn frigid and attack the three intruders.

Luther and his teammates fought Trissy, but she escaped after using a blood-linked rose to curse Luther and fleeing into the Tussock River. Luther retaliated with a curse that wounded her, while Dunn and Leonard returned without catching her.

• Luther dodged Trissy’s attack, chased her outside, and was struck by a thorny rose that drew his blood.
• Trissy burned the bloodied rose by the Tussock River, causing flames to spread across Luther’s arm until his ritual array stopped them at the wrist.
• Luther invoked the True Creator and drove a blackened dagger into his burned hand, sending a cursed attack through the rose toward Trissy.
• The curse grazed Trissy’s shoulder and began corroding her wound, forcing her to leap into the Tussock River as Dunn and Leonard arrived.
• Dunn and Leonard failed to catch Trissy, while Luther’s hand healed and he cleaned up the scene.

Luther discovered that the ritual had gathered vitality into energy and secretly kept blood from the Demoness so he could track and kill her. After returning home, he offered Ms. M the clue and invited her along, but she inflicted pain on him while Cecilia rushed to help.

• Luther cleaned up the ritual site, found the Demoness's blood, and hid it in a handkerchief.
• Dunn, Leonard, and Klein investigated the altar, but Klein's attempts to divine with the silver mirror and Tris's makeup case were thwarted by interference.
• Luther decided to use the blood to track down and kill the Demoness that night, while Dunn arranged further investigation through the police.
• Luther and Klein returned to Daffodil Street, and Luther kept quiet about the red chimney roof because Ms. M was monitoring Klein.
• At home, Luther showed Ms. M the bloodstained handkerchief and invited her to pursue the Demoness with him, but Ms. M snapped her fingers and caused him intense pain as Cecilia came to his aid.

Klein divined that Trissy had a superior in Tingen, while Trissy confronted Madam Sharon at a manor on Olsna Street. Luther followed the bloodstained handkerchief’s trail to the same manor, preparing to hunt the injured Demoness alone.

• Klein divined Trissy’s whereabouts and saw her with a veiled woman, then returned to dinner without changing his clothes.
• Trissy gave Madam Sharon a bottle of red liquid and announced she was leaving Tingen, but Madam Sharon discovered Trissy’s cursed wound.
• Luther prepared his Clockwork Clown and packed weapons and materials before setting out to hunt the Demoness.
• Luther followed the bloodstains on a handkerchief by carriage to a manor on Olsna Street in Tingen City’s East Borough.
• Luther paid the driver and approached the manor where he believed the Demoness was hiding.

Luther used a Spirit World creature’s floating eye to scout Madam Sharon’s house, but she discovered him and attacked. He fled through the night as she pursued him, leaving his survival uncertain.

• Luther summoned a transparent lizard and used its floating eye to scout Madam Sharon’s residence.
• Luther found Madam Sharon tending to severe scars with the blood-red liquid Trissy had sent.
• Madam Sharon spotted Luther through the floating eye and declared that she had been waiting for him.
• Luther ended the ritual and fled, but Madam Sharon chased him and attacked with ice spikes and a black-flamed dagger.

Luther’s attempt to escape Madam Sharon fails when she freezes the Tussock River and pins him to the ice. As Sharon burns him and prepares to take him away for interrogation, Luther awakens to a savage fury.

• Luther dodged Madam Sharon’s attacks and fired two bullets to delay her before fleeing toward the Tussock River.
• Madam Sharon froze the river, and Luther fell onto the ice as his Sealed Artifact’s power ran out.
• Madam Sharon impaled Luther’s right leg with an ice spike and questioned him about the True Creator and his identity as a Secrets Suppliant.
• Madam Sharon burned Luther with black flames, then approached to bind and abduct him.
• Luther came to on the ice and whispered, “Go to hell,” as fury rose within him.

Luther used Hermes to drive Madam Sharon toward losing control, then summoned the Bronze Gate with Azik’s White Bone Flute and killed her with his remaining Demon-Hunting Bullets. He collapsed on the ice beside her body, awaiting the return of his strength.

• Luther repeatedly cursed Madam Sharon in Hermes, causing black veins to spread across her body and pushing her mind toward Frenzy.
• Madam Sharon struck Luther with an ice spear, but he recovered when Phantom Tide sounded and used the White Bone Flute’s final chance.
• The Bronze Gate opened and its dark green vines seized Madam Sharon, while Luther retrieved his revolver and approached her.
• Madam Sharon begged Luther to spare her and tried to seduce him, but he resisted and demanded her heart.
• Luther fired four Demon-Hunting Bullets, killing Madam Sharon before she could lose control, and then sat on the ice as the vines withdrew.

Luther performed Spirit Channeling on Madam Sharon and witnessed memories that revealed the Demoness Sect’s potion formulas and plans. Contact with a statue of the Primordial Demoness left him with her Honorific Name, and he disposed of Sharon’s corpse and belongings before slipping away.

• Luther performed a Spirit Channeling ritual on Madam Sharon and saw memories of her earlier lives as an Assassin and an Instigator, along with her plan to secure a councilor’s support for the Demoness Sect’s transport routes.
• Luther saw a white-bone statue in Sharon’s memory turn toward him and force the Primordial Demoness’s Honorific Name into his mind, causing him severe pain.
• Luther used Flesh and Blood Magic to remove Sharon’s Witch’s Heart and took her other organs, hair, eyes, belongings, and Beyonder Characteristic to avoid arousing Ms. M’s suspicion.
• Luther interfered with Sharon’s corpse to prevent divination or Spirit Channeling from revealing clues about him, then threw it into the Tussock River and escaped into the streets.

Luther returned home injured but recovering, brought Ms. M the red vitality liquid she requested, and learned the Three Laws of Beyonder Characteristics from her. He discovered that the Assassin Characteristic he took from Madam Sharon could let Cecilia become a Beyonder, and Cecilia said she wanted to try.

• Cecilia waited with Ms. M for Luther, then hurried to greet him when he arrived carrying a suitcase.
• Luther gave Ms. M the bottle of red liquid, and she drank it to ease the damage in her body.
• Ms. M rewarded Luther by explaining the laws of indestructibility, conservation, and convergence for Beyonder Characteristics.
• Ms. M identified the black-iron spike from Madam Sharon's belongings as an Assassin Beyonder Characteristic that could let Cecilia become a Beyonder.
• Cecilia asked Luther whether an Assassin was suited for combat and told him she wanted to become a Beyonder.

Cecilia told Luther she wanted to become a Beyonder, but Luther warned her about the dangers and feared she would join his fight against Ms. M. Cecilia confessed that, during their hardest days on Lower Street, she had once considered killing them both and had carried guilt over it ever since.

• Cecilia told Luther she wanted to become a Beyonder, and Luther asked Ms. M to leave them alone while they spoke.
• Luther warned Cecilia that becoming a Beyonder brought danger and loss of control, and Cecilia said she did not want to be a burden.
• Luther misread Cecilia's words as a hint that she planned to help him fight Ms. M and angrily forbade her from risking her life.
• Cecilia began to cry, and Luther apologized and told her he wanted her to survive if anything happened to him.
• Cecilia recalled promising at their mother's funeral to stay with Luther, then confessed she had once considered killing him and herself when they were destitute on Lower Street.

After comforting Cecilia over her past despair, Luther agreed to help her become a Beyonder. At work, he learned that Madam Sharon’s body had been found and joined the investigation, secretly planning to hide his own involvement.

• Luther reassured Cecilia that he did not blame her for once thinking of ending their lives, and agreed to make her a Potion after buying supplementary ingredients.
• Luther went to work exhausted and slept through the morning in the lounge.
• Dunn Smith told Luther that Madam Sharon’s body had been found in the Tussock River with her organs removed, and suspected Beyonder involvement.
• Luther joined Dunn Smith in the investigation and planned to blame the Aurora Order while concealing that he had thrown Madam Sharon into the river.