Chapter Summaries

Klein welcomed Cyril, the new Tarot Club member known as Mr. Fate, and explained two laws governing Beyonder characteristics. The members traded for an explanation of neighboring Pathways, while Cyril offered information about the Secret Order in exchange for assistance.

• Klein introduced Cyril as Mr. Fate, and Audrey, Alger, and Derrick greeted him.
• Klein explained the Law of Indestructibility and the Law of Conservation of Beyonder Characteristics.
• Alger offered to investigate the Secret Order for Klein in exchange for learning what neighboring Sequences were, and Audrey and Derrick joined the transaction.
• Cyril revealed that he knew about both the Secret Order and neighboring Sequences and asked to trade his information for assistance; Klein agreed and suggested members could trade directly.
• Klein explained that neighboring Pathways could replace one another at high Sequences, giving examples from the God of Death, God of Combat, and Evernight Pathways.

Cyril explained how Beyonders could switch between adjacent Pathways and traded information with Justice Audrey, while Klein introduced sacrifice and bestowal rituals to help members transact across distances. The chapter ended with Cyril revealing that Zaratul had become an insane Sequence 1 and offering the third law of Beyonder Characteristics as a reward for help obtaining a Meteorite Crystal.

• Justice Audrey asked which Pathways the Spectator Pathway could switch to, and Cyril offered to answer for one hundred pounds.
• Cyril explained the adjacent Pathways and the higher Sequences available after switching, then Klein taught Cyril and Audrey the rituals for sacrifice and bestowal.
• Audrey arranged to receive Alger's promised Seven-Colored Lizard Dragon pituitary gland through the new rituals.
• Cyril traded Secret Order intelligence for help from one of Klein's Blessed in Backlund, revealing that Zaratul had reached Sequence 1 and gone insane.
• Cyril asked for help obtaining a Meteorite Crystal and offered to reveal the third law of Beyonder Characteristics in return.

At the Tarot Club, Cyril offered to share a law of Beyonder Characteristics while members discussed finding a Meteorite Crystal and vetting two potential recruits. After the gathering, Audrey successfully performed a sacrificial ritual for the Fool, and Cyril learned that he could perform the same ritual.

• Cyril said he would share the supplementary law of Beyonder Characteristics at the next gathering, while Audrey, Alger, and Derrick offered to look for a Meteorite Crystal.
• Audrey asked to bring two Beyonder women from Backlund into the Tarot Club, and Klein said they would need to be vetted discreetly.
• After the gathering ended, Klein examined the strange pattern on Cyril's chair and divined the danger of the Meteorite Crystal task.
• Audrey performed the sacrificial ritual in her bedroom and sent 100 pounds through the illusory door to the Fool.
• Cyril saw Klein through gray fog and learned that his own attempt at the ritual had succeeded.

Cyril considered joining the Machinery Hivemind after Max Livermore and Carlson offered him a position, but he valued his freedom and the ability to pursue the Apprentice Pathway. Max then proposed that Cyril instead cooperate with the church as an informant among freelance Beyonders.

• Cyril examined gold pounds delivered through Sefirah Castle and noticed Gray Fog continued to surround him.
• Max Livermore and Carlson visited Cyril to invite him to join the Machinery Hivemind.
• Max explained the church's pay, resources, and benefits, but Cyril decided that joining would restrict his freedom.
• Max told Cyril that Backlund's churches lacked later Apprentice Pathway formulas and warned that Welch Stams was suspected of joining the Gnosis Society.
• After Cyril said he preferred a quieter life, Max offered him the alternative of working as a church informant among freelance Beyonders.

Klein visited Harvest Cathedral to find Emlyn White and discovered that Cyril had sent him on a simple errand: persuade Emlyn to finish his volunteer work so he could leave and contact the Sanguine. Emlyn agreed to help Klein obtain Beyonder material and asked him to find Cyril, while Klein returned to his detective agency thinking about charging Mr. Fate for expenses.

• Klein arrived at Harvest Cathedral and met Emlyn White, who mistook him for someone sent by his parents to rescue him.
• Klein concealed Cyril's involvement and said he needed Beyonder material from the Sanguine.
• Emlyn revealed his grudge against Cyril and explained that he could not contact the Sanguine while he remained at the cathedral.
• Father Utravsky clarified that Emlyn could leave once he finished his volunteer work, prompting Emlyn to clean the cathedral eagerly.
• Emlyn agreed to contact the Sanguine for Klein and asked him to help find Cyril so he could beat him up.
• Klein gave Emlyn his detective card and address, then returned to his rented house and considered adding expenses to Mr. Fate's bill.

Cyril was attacked by an invisible Spirit World Creature that stole the Peacemaker, then crossed paths with a Demoness fleeing a black-robed pursuer. He followed the creature through an Illusory Door into the Spirit World and tried to recover his gun, but his Jacob’s Wallet produced the wrong item.

• Cyril agreed to pay 700 pounds for the Meteorite Crystal and headed to a Beyonder gathering to sell materials and Holy Silver Bullets.
• A Spirit World Creature ambushed Cyril in the East District, and he used a flash and silver bullets before fleeing toward the warehouse district.
• Cyril encountered a Demoness being pursued by a black-robed man, who disrupted her invisibility with lightning.
• The creature opened an Illusory Door and stole Cyril’s Peacemaker, so Cyril followed it into the Spirit World as the black-robed man tried to stop him.
• Cyril reached into Jacob’s Wallet to retrieve the Peacemaker but pulled out a square tin box instead.

Cyrin helped Trissy escape her pursuer, then learned she was connected to the Loen royal family and accepted a reward from her butler. The Quill of Alzuhod’s attempt to script Cyrin’s choices was cut short when someone closed the notebook.

• Cyrin used Wallet Bro’s power to steal a jeweled pistol from the rat-headed octopus and escaped the Spirit World Creature with the Demoness’s help.
• The Demoness followed Cyrin to a crowded East District street, where a royal carriage arrived and she introduced herself as Trissy Cheek.
• Trissy asked her butler Finkel to reward Cyrin, who accepted ten-pound notes and learned he could seek help at Red Rose Manor.
• Cyrin shook off people following him for his money and hurried to old Mr. Eye of Wisdom’s gathering.
• The black quill wrote that Trissy would return to Red Rose Manor and Cyrin would stay away from her and Prince Edessak, but an unseen hand grabbed the quill and closed the notebook.

Cyril attended old Mr. Eye of Wisdom’s gathering, sold his Beyonder materials, and suspected he had attracted followers. He ambushed and killed a shadow-wielding Beyonder with Peacemaker, but the gun’s recoil badly injured his hand, while the two people trailing him escaped.

• Cyril arrived late at old Mr. Eye of Wisdom’s gathering and said he had encountered a Demoness on the way.
• Cyril recognized Black Wolf as someone seeking divination and tracking items, then watched the plump Apothecary fail to find the materials he needed.
• Cyril sold all his Beyonder materials, including Holy Silver Bullets, for 1,500 pounds and received an order for more bullets.
• After leaving the gathering, Cyril sensed someone following him and boarded a carriage, while two figures watched it depart.
• A shadow creature attacked Cyril beneath the carriage, but he used Peacemaker’s Bullet Storm to kill the hidden Beyonder.
• Cyril noticed the gun’s recoil had torn his hand, and the two followers disappeared before he could confront them.

Cyril sent Klein money to buy Meteorite Crystal, and Klein arranged a trade with Emlyn at the Sanguine gathering. Emlyn revealed that Father Utravsky was a Blessed of Mother Earth, and Klein’s detective business appeared poised to receive its first real commission.

• Cyril returned home, repaid Haven, and performed a sacrificial ritual to send Klein eight hundred pounds for the Meteorite Crystal.
• Klein accepted Cyril’s payment and divined whether trading with Emlyn would go smoothly and carry hidden risks.
• Klein met Emlyn at Harvest Cathedral, gave him a three-hundred-pound deposit, and arranged to complete the Meteorite Crystal trade the next day.
• Emlyn asked Klein for help removing his psychological suggestion, then explained that Father Utravsky was a Blessed of Mother Earth and the high-ranking Sanguine refused to intervene.
• After Klein returned to his rented house, a boy in an old overcoat and bowler hat knocked at his door.

After receiving the Fool's guidance, Cyril obtained the Meteorite Crystal, prepared and drank the Astrologer Potion, and glimpsed the Astral World. The potion exposed him to dangerous whispers, so Adam pulled him into his mind to confront a hostile double, where Cyril began fighting back with his abilities.

• Cyril performed the ritual and received the Meteorite Crystal through the Illusory Door.
• Cyril combined the ingredients to make the Astrologer Potion and drank it, gaining advanced astrology and a glimpse of the Astral World.
• Cyril heard whispers from the Astral World and the High-Dimensional Overseer, and his connection to his body began to weaken.
• Adam guided Cyril into the depths of his mind and warned him to destroy the polluted negative personality that formed there.
• Cyril's armed double attacked him with a gun and blade, while Cyril dodged the shots and used Fog Creation to summon a tornado.
• Cyril gathered his thoughts and conjured a Brilliant Spark as the fight continued.

Cyril fought his Split Personality within his mind and used an imagined version of Adam’s Corpse Cathedral to gain an advantage. He left his opponent trapped in thickening ice while trying to suffocate him.

• Cyril discovered that his imagined Peacemaker and other objects had appearances but lacked their original powers, while his Split Personality’s weapon benefited from the same Fantasy.
• Cyril and his Split Personality exchanged gunfire, wind attacks, and a crystalline beam as the other’s marksmanship steadily improved.
• Cyril summoned Adam’s Corpse Cathedral, allowing Adam’s power to intervene through their mystical connection and disrupt the balance.
• The Split Personality’s Peacemaker exploded, injuring his hand, and Cyril blinded him with Flash before taking his knife.
• Cyril trapped the Split Personality in poisonous smoke, then repeatedly used Freeze to thicken the ice around him and try to suffocate him.

After Cyril killed his Split Personality and returned from the Bone Church, he examined the changes from advancing to Astrologer. Adam explained what he had learned about Fantasy before leaving Cyril to investigate whether anything unusual or unknown was nearby.

• Cyril repeatedly froze and struck the Split Personality until it broke apart and vanished, bringing him peace and relief.
• Cyril returned to his body, calmed himself after seeing the star-like flesh buds, and reviewed his new Astrologer abilities.
• Cyril asked Adam whether the battle in his mind had been a deliberate test, and Adam confirmed he had studied Fantasy.
• Adam explained that Fantasy projected traits and powers from other dimensions, then suggested the Mirror World might enhance Cyril's abilities.
• After Adam's voice faded, Cyril prayed to the Fool to investigate him and any unknown presences around him.

After Klein warned Cyril that two people were watching him, Cyril confronted them outside his home and fought off their attacks. A monstrous presence trapped him in the darkness just as an official carriage approached.

• Klein answered Cyril’s prayer, spotted two watchers near Cyril’s residence, and sent Cyril their image with a cryptic warning.
• Cyril divined that the watchers meant him harm, armed his Peacemaker, and went outside to confront them.
• Cyril opened fire with Holy Silver Bullets, destroying one attacker and forcing the other to escape through a painted substitute.
• Cyril deceived the painted woman with an empty gun, then used a flash and a Slumber charm to fend off an attack from the shadows.
• A bloodshot scarlet eye and beastly roar appeared in the darkness, and Cyril sensed danger as a fast-moving carriage approached.
• Cyril snapped his fingers and unleashed a blinding burst of light as the threat loomed.

Cyril used divination to learn how Zoila Hernandez recruited the Black Wolf Gang leader and brought him to watch Cyril’s home. After discovering that Zoila was investigating him, Cyril decided to deal with her threat and explore the Mirror World.

• A Storm Priest arrived after lightning destroyed a shadow creature that had attacked a half-eaten corpse near Cyril’s home.
• Cyril reassured Haven that the Church of the Lord of Storms would handle the commotion, then examined a tainted ear he had taken from Jacob’s Wallet.
• Using the ear and a glass crystal ball, Cyril divined that Zoila Hernandez had promised the Black Wolf Gang leader revenge and a Potion formula in exchange for his faith.
• Cyril recognized the Black Wolf as a Listener tainted by the True Creator and learned that he had followed Zoila to watch Cyril’s home.
• Cyril divined that a black Painting Scroll had released the shadow creature, which attacked the Black Wolf’s corpse, and decided to deal with Zoila and investigate the Mirror World.

Cyril went to Harvest Cathedral seeking Beyonder supplies, then entered the Mirror World despite finding none. After wandering its paths, he heard a woman praying and connected his location to hers, revealing a beautiful Demoness in a luxurious bedroom beyond a mirror.

• Cyril visited Harvest Cathedral, where Emlyn realized Cyril had advanced using the Meteorite Crystal Detective had bought through him.
• Emlyn refused to sell Cyril potions, and Father Utravsky said the Church could only buy back Apothecary or Farmer Pathway characteristics.
• Cyril returned home, prepared his room, and entered the Mirror World to explore it.
• Cyril used the Cold-Blooded Longblade as a dowsing rod to navigate the Mirror World's paths and avoid hidden dangers.
• Cyril heard a woman's prayers in Ancient Hermes, divined that they were real, and used his spirituality to connect distant parts of the Mirror World.
• Cyril formed a mirror-like portal and saw a beautiful Demoness standing before a mirror in a luxurious bedroom.

Cyril answered Trissy’s mirror divination with the Demoness of Pleasure Potion Formula, then fled when fate pulled him into a hostile Mirror World. Trissy was left wondering whether to use the opportunity against the Demoness Sect as Ince’s 0-08 tried to shape the events.

• Cyril recognized that Trissy had deliberately changed her mirror-divination incantation to seek help beyond the Demoness Sect and the Loen Royal Family.
• Cyril appeared in Trissy’s mirror and gave her the Sequence 6 Demoness of Pleasure Potion Formula, then advised her to have the Demoness Sect’s higher-ups confirm it.
• Cyril gave Trissy the three-part Honorific Name “The Sublime from the Unknown, The Door Above the Dimensions, The Incarnation of Art and Fantasy,” and ended the divination.
• Trissy considered whether the great existence might help her oppose the Primordial Demoness, then went to meet Prince Edessak, who had brought her favorite pastries.
• 0-08 made Ince Zangwill write and repeatedly revise accounts of Trissy’s divination, ending with a claim that Cyril was forced to leave the Mirror World.
• Cyril escaped through a deep-blue door into another Mirror World, where hostile serpentine beings began turning him to stone; he opened a door beneath himself and fell through it.

Cyril fell out of the Mirror World into Klein’s home while the detective was fighting Momsor, and helped Klein kill the Zimang Party Punisher. After Cyril asked for help with the petrification afflicting him, Klein prepared a ritual above the Gray Fog to create holy water that could cleanse it.

• Cyril tumbled through a mirror into Klein’s washroom during Klein’s fight with Momsor.
• Cyril shot Momsor with Peacemaker while Klein struck him with paper contracts, and Klein finished the dying Punisher.
• Cyril told Klein he could see the Gray Fog and asked him to pray to Mr. Fool for help with his petrification.
• Cyril lent Peacemaker to Klein as payment, and Klein went upstairs to prepare a ritual.
• Klein brought Peacemaker above the Gray Fog and infused water with its purification power, creating glowing holy water.

Klein used the Gray Fog to cure Cyril’s petrification, then cleaned up the corpse left in his home after Cyril appeared there. When the Sheriff arrived, Cyril hid the evidence and escaped through a mirror while Klein went to answer the door.

• Klein infused holy water with the Gray Fog and used it to free Cyril from his petrified state, leaving him naked amid the crumbled remains of his clothes.
• Klein asked Cyril what to do with the corpse, then divined and carefully altered the scene while collecting the evidence and Beyonder Characteristic.
• Cyril explained that he had fled a dangerous Mirror World presence associated with Cheek but had still been struck by a petrification curse.
• Klein and Cyril agreed that Cyril would take the cash, and Cyril asked for clothes because he feared returning to the Mirror World.
• When someone knocked, Klein gave Cyril the gathered evidence to hide; Cyril sent it through a mirror, changed into Klein’s clothes, and escaped with Door Opening as Klein went to the door.

Cyril learned that a being tied to the Primordial Demoness ruled a dangerous region of the Mirror World, then examined the Demoness Pathway on the Second Blasphemy Slate with Adam. After Klein asked Mr. Fool for help against further pursuit, Cyril agreed to lend him the Peacemaker and offered additional assistance, including a dangerous item corrupted by the True Creator.

• Cyril saw Klein explaining himself to a sheriff and gave him a thumbs-up before leaving Minsk Street.
• In the Mirror World, a mysterious being wondered why the Demoness Pathway had changed despite no pure female Demoness advancing.
• Cyril met Adam in a dream, who warned him away from the Mirror World and said the being might be a part of the Primordial Demoness that had split off after losing control.
• Cyril used his reward to inspect the Demoness Pathway on the Second Blasphemy Slate and learned that becoming its Sequence 0 involved enduring pollution from the Chaos Sea.
• Klein asked Mr. Fool to tell Cyril that his matter was settled, requested to keep the Peacemaker, and asked for stronger items or assistance.
• Cyril told Mr. Fool that Klein could keep the Peacemaker, offered to help him in person, and mentioned an item corrupted by the True Creator.

Klein investigated the True Creator contamination in Cyril’s offering, then watched over Cyril as Owen suffered the Full Moon ravings. Cyril invoked Patient to shelter Owen in the Shadow of Dimensions, where Owen realized that the lofty voice belonged to the being whose name he had recited.

• Klein’s attempt to divine the contaminated Listener characteristic caused his body to explode, and he considered turning its contamination into a talisman.
• On the Full Moon, Cyril visited Owen to protect him from the Door’s ravings, but crimson moonlight reached them and Cyril heard whispers too.
• Klein used Gray Fog holy water to cut off the whispers affecting Cyril, while Owen’s condition worsened and strange growths emerged from his wounds.
• Patient told Cyril to have Owen recite his name, and Cyril covered the window and guided Owen through the honorific name.
• Cyril responded to Owen’s prayer and moved him into the Shadow of Dimensions, where the ravings and pain stopped.
• Owen asked whether the distant, cold voice belonged to the existence whose name he had recited, but it did not answer again.