Chapter Summaries

Cyril watched House report on his efforts to steer the Machinery Hivemind’s murder investigation, then attended the Tarot Club as its members met the newly introduced Mr. World. The meeting paused during Mr. Fool’s diary reading when the members noticed him lingering over a page.

• House reported that he had led investigators to consider the serial murders as a ritual and planned to pass along classified information by blaming the Hidden Sage, and Cyril praised his progress.
• Cyril returned to his body, slept until Little Thomas woke him, spent the morning with him, then went to the third-floor attic and traveled Above the Gray Fog at three.
• Cyril examined the puppet Mr. World at the Tarot Club, while Klein made the puppet stare back and considered how to establish the Fool’s authority.
• Alger submitted six pages of Roselle’s Diary and asked whether Cyril still wanted to collect diaries; Cyril said he planned to read them aloud to someone.
• Audrey asked whether Cyril could read Roselle’s cipher, apologized to Mr. Fool for interrupting, and the Tarot Club fell silent as Klein read.
• The members noticed that Mr. Fool’s gaze lingered unusually long on one diary page.

At the Tarot Club meeting, Audrey settled the reward for the Bakerland affair, and World requested materials for his advancement. Derrick offered to find the materials in exchange for a suitable weapon or the Sun Pathway’s Sequence 7 formula, and Cyril presented two Mystical Items and the formula for him to consider.

• The Fool praised Audrey for dealing with Bakerland, and she said she still owed his Blessed 5,000 pounds after deducting the assassination fee.
• Cyril declined Audrey’s offer to pay him for the information he had provided.
• World asked the Tarot Club for Mist Treant roots and sap, Elf Spring Marrow Crystal, and Evil-Patterned Black Panther spinal fluid.
• Derrick offered to obtain the Mist Treant materials after advancing and joining a patrol squad, asking for a suitable weapon or the Sun Pathway’s Sequence 7 Potion formula in return.
• Cyril offered Derrick a Clown Mask, an Interrogator Ring, or the Solar High Priest Potion formula, and Derrick said he would consider the choices.

Cyril revealed that the Seer Pathway’s Sequence 0 was called Fool and shared the history of Antigonus and the Nation of the Evernight, prompting the Tarot Club members to speculate about Mr. Fool’s identity. Klein left their theories unresolved, and Cyril asked Mr. Fool where Antigonus was and what state he was in.

• Derrick asked for time to choose between a weapon and other rewards, and Cyril recommended the Clown Mask or Solar High Priest potion formula.
• Cyril said that Sequence 0 of the Seer Pathway was called Fool and described Antigonus, the Nation of the Evernight, and its destruction by the Church of the Evernight Goddess.
• Audrey, Alger, Derrick, and Klein privately considered what Cyril’s revelations meant for Mr. Fool and Antigonus.
• Klein said that Antigonus was not dead but had neither become Fool nor could become Fool, leaving the others to draw their own conclusions.
• Cyril asked Mr. Fool whether he knew Antigonus’s current condition or whereabouts.

At a Tarot Club meeting, Cyril offered tempting information and potion formulas but refused to discuss the Twilight Hermit Order, warning that it could expose the World to danger. He traded the Psychiatrist Potion’s main ingredients to Audrey and offered Alger Qilingus’s Wind-blessed Beyonder Characteristic, revealing he belonged to the same organization as Qilingus and leaving Klein concerned about the club’s conflicting allegiances.

• Cyril offered Klein information and potion formulas in exchange for learning about Antigonus, but Klein declined the deal.
• As the World, Klein asked Cyril about the Twilight Hermit Order, and Cyril warned him not to remember or mention it; Cyril confirmed it worshipped the Ancient Sun God, whom some confused with the Oldest One.
• Audrey bought the Psychiatrist Potion’s main ingredients from Cyril for 400 pounds: a pair of Mirror Dragon eyes and an Elder Tree Fruit.
• Alger sought the Wind-blessed Potion formula, and Cyril offered him Qilingus’s Beyonder Characteristic for 4,000 pounds, a Scribe characteristic, or the matching ingredients.
• Cyril revealed that he had recovered the characteristic after Qilingus’s death and belonged to the same organization, startling the Tarot Club and prompting Klein to worry about its members’ divided allegiances.

At the Tarot Club gathering, Cyril discussed the Death Archon, traded information and items, and answered questions about the Sauron Family. He revealed that Turanivon Helmosuin had recently been in Backlund but had since disappeared, leaving the others surprised by the news.

• Audrey asked about the Death Archon, and Alger connected the title to the rulers of the Fourth Epoch Balam Empire, prompting Klein to suspect that it referred to Mr. Azik.
• Audrey agreed to gather information on fallen Loen nobles in exchange for the rest of the Psychiatrist Potion formula or occult knowledge, and the World gave her occult information.
• Alger arranged to buy a Wind-blessed Beyonder Characteristic, while Derrick reserved Cyril's Clown Mask and promised to obtain the True Root of the Mist Treant and its sap.
• Cyril told the World that the Sauron Family still had several High Sequence powerhouses and might possess a Sequence 2 Angel or a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact.
• Cyril revealed that foreign intelligence agents had left Backlund after pursuing Helmosuin's manuscript, while Turanivon Helmosuin himself had slipped away to an unknown destination.

Cyril performed a ritual to request a bestowal and recovered three original pages of Roselle’s Diary, then sought advice about contacting two people in Backlund. Father Larry urged him to face the possibility of rejection, leaving Cyril surprised by the priest’s unexpectedly bold philosophy.

• Cyril summoned the Gate of Sacrifice and Bestowal, which sent him a stack of pages, then used divination to identify three original pages of Roselle’s Diary.
• After searching South Bridge District for signs of Will Auceptin, Ouroboros, or a Fate Pathway Beyonder, Cyril met Carlson outside Lever Church.
• Carlson recommended that Cyril confess his troubles to Father Larry and warned him that Backlund’s nights had become dangerous.
• Cyril went to the church, donated money, and asked Father Larry for advice about whether to approach two people or wait for a chance encounter.
• Father Larry told Cyril that waiting would not change whether they disliked him and that he should face life bravely, surprising Cyril after his earlier advice about contentment.

After failing to summon either Snake of Mercury, Cyril got lost using his Doors and stumbled into a house where a Devil Dog was eating a murdered woman. He escaped its attack and ran to Harvest Cathedral, hoping Father Utravsky could help him ambush the creature.

• Cyril left the Lever Church, tried to summon a Snake of Mercury at a park, and accidentally startled two people hiding in a bush.
• Cyril tried another Snake of Mercury’s Honorific Name, then got caught in a sudden downpour and used his Doors to travel home.
• Cyril got lost and entered a dining room where a Devil Dog was eating a woman’s organs.
• The Devil Dog attacked Cyril with Sulfur Fireballs and Corruption after he realized he had lent the Peacemaker to Klein.
• Cyril escaped through a Door, used his Crystal Ball to interfere with tracking, and ran toward Harvest Cathedral to seek Father Utravsky’s help.

Cyril and Father Utravsky confronted a Devil Dog during its advancement ritual, but the creature fled when Father Utravsky unleashed holy dawn light. Cyril suspected the Snake of Mercury was behind the encounter, while a Machinery Hivemind briefing revealed that the serial murder case had reached eleven victims and was about to become public.

• Cyril asked Father Utravsky to help intercept a serial killer and used an illusory Crystal Ball to interfere with divination and spiritual sensing.
• Father Utravsky and Cyril confronted a huge Devil Dog on the street, and Father Utravsky's holy dawn light drove it away.
• Father Utravsky warned himself that the Candle of Inner Demons showed his corruption was worsening, then promised to conceal Cyril's presence from the investigating Beyonders.
• Cyril returned to his room, divined that his encounter was related to the Snake of Mercury, and lost a gold coin through his window.
• Near the Tussock River, a child's voice complained about bad luck and considered leaving Backlund before restarting.
• Ikonse Bernard told the Machinery Hivemind squads that the serial murder case had reached eleven victims and that pressure from the upper nobility could push the case into the newspapers.

The Machinery Hivemind learned that a Devil Dog was behind the serial murders and that its ritual was nearing completion, while Cyril decided to exploit the case to digest his Astrologer Potion. He recruited Trissy to draw the Devil Dog’s attention and survive, hoping the Churches would notice her.

• House told the Machinery Hivemind that the murders were a Devil’s advancement ritual and that Father Utravsky had seen the culprit flee.
• Ikanser revealed that the Devil was a large black dog, and the Machinery Hivemind realized its identity had been discovered.
• Cyril reflected that the early discovery had disrupted Jason Beria’s plans, then decided to use the growing crisis to play the part of an Astrologer.
• Cyril urged House to find a way to stop the Devil Dog before it killed again, and House vowed to follow his will.
• Cyril contacted Trissy and told her to direct malice toward the Devil Dog and its master so the creature would sense her as a threat.
• Trissy agreed to survive the first wave of attacks, hoping the Three Great Churches would recognize her unusual situation.

Cyril met Adam after communicating with Trissy, and Adam gave him a Wanderer characteristic and a mission involving Medici and the sealed Western Continent. Cyril traveled to the underground ruins on Williams Street and encountered Medici’s evil spirit.

• Trissy used the threat of the Backlund murders to persuade the blond man holding her that ordinary people needed protection.
• Adam appeared behind Cyril, explained that he had come to retrace Cyril’s past, and assigned him a new task.
• Adam gave Cyril a Wanderer characteristic and told him to try to pollute Medici’s evil spirit and use the City of Calamity contamination to locate the Western Continent.
• Cyril used his new powers to open a door to the underground ruins on Williams Street.
• Cyril lit the ruins and found Medici’s evil spirit seated in a rusted chair.

Cyril confronted Medici Sauron Einhorn in a dreamlike ruin and turned the evil spirit’s attempt to corrupt him into a way to corrupt it in return. After Medici Sauron Einhorn tried calling on powerful beings, Cyril sealed them inside a Space Cage.

• Cyril taunted Medici Sauron Einhorn over the order of its names and challenged its power.
• Medici Sauron Einhorn attacked Cyril as a flaming Terror Giant while secretly using Angelic corruption to harm him.
• Cyril used their connection to transmit his own corruption, transforming the giant’s flames and pus into starlit fragments and multicolored paint.
• The dreamlike ruin vanished, revealing the hall, and Medici Sauron Einhorn realized that Cyril’s corruption had affected it in turn.
• Medici Sauron Einhorn recited the Honorific Names of the God of Storms, Evernight Goddess, and Adam, but nothing happened.
• Cyril created a Space Cage around them to block communication with the outside world.

Cyril attempted to open a path through the Historical Void by using Medici Sauron Einhorn as a sacrifice to Calamity, but the attempt failed. Adam explained that the experiment could make a future crossing easier, then offered Cyril a reward before Cyril left Medici behind.

• Cyril used Medici Sauron Einhorn to form a connection with Calamity and create a starlight door, while Adam watched and called the attempt an experiment.
• The door shattered, and Cyril realized that even a Wanderer could not cross the Historical Void without greater power or support from within the Western Continent.
• Adam offered Cyril a temporary Key of Stars or Planeswalker Beyonder Characteristic, or a chance to view the Blasphemy Slate; Cyril declined and froze Medici briefly as a parting trick.
• Cyril vanished from the underground hall, leaving Medici Sauron Einhorn to discuss Adam and the possibility of escaping the ruin with Sauron and Einhorn.

Cyril was lured into a Painting World by Zoila Hernandez and the High-Dimensional Overseer, but used his Wanderer abilities to escape the trap. He froze Zoila and destroyed the blank Painting Scroll she had used to pray.

• Cyril followed Zoila Hernandez's prayer to a hotel and found her praying to the High-Dimensional Overseer.
• The High-Dimensional Overseer interfered with Cyril's Fate, but Cyril used a starlight door to escape the Painting World and retrieve the Peacemaker from Klein.
• Cyril tore open the false space, causing the hotel illusion to collapse and exposing Zoila's weakened true body.
• Cyril froze Zoila Hernandez and tore apart the blank Painting Scroll.

Cyril absorbed the power inside the Blank Scroll, killed Zoila Hernandez, and then faced Ace Snake after the Church of Storms cardinal attacked him. The chapter ended with Cyril provoking Ace Snake into a raging battle across the surrounding area.

• Cyril used a hidden Spoon clone and the Black Curtain to block Klein’s prayer-light view, then absorbed the power extracted from the Blank Scroll.
• Cyril freed Zoila Hernandez from the ice, taunted her about her faith, and shot her to pieces with silver-flamed bullets.
• Ace Snake arrived at Cyril’s studio, accused him of ties to the Aurora Order, and demanded that he come to the Cathedral of Holy Wind.
• Cyril struck Ace Snake with copied lightning and used his flashing figures and tricks to provoke the cardinal into unleashing a tornado, wind blades, and lightning.

Cyril battled Ace Snake and Saint Anthony in Backlund, using his space and illusion abilities to survive their attacks. After escaping the storm, he warned Ace Snake of a coming man-made catastrophe in Backlund and a future that would take Ace Snake away from the city, before a Dark Sword struck at him.

• Cyril merged with space to withstand the storm, but Saint Anthony drew him into a Mirror World with a Sealed Artifact.
• Cyril Harvested Medici Sauron Einhorn’s recorded strike to destroy the giant black skull, then trapped Saint Anthony in a temporary Space Cage.
• Cyril tore apart the Mirror World, cracking its silver-plated mirror, and endured Ace Snake’s Lightning Storm by retreating behind layers of illusory starry doors.
• When his imagined Spirituality ran low, Cyril escaped the storm and told Ace Snake that Backlund would face a man-made catastrophe and that Ace Snake would eventually leave the city.
• Cyril called both prophecies harbingers of war, and a bone long sword associated with Silencio thrust toward Ace Snake.

Cyril escaped a fight with Ace Snake and Saint Anthony while hiding his effort to erase traces of an evil god’s eruption, leaving the churches with a damaged Sealed Artifact and two prophecies. He made an emergency landing at Klein’s home, where Klein asked what had happened.

• Cyril’s movements slowed under Ace Snake’s song, and darkness swallowed his afterimages before he vanished from the street.
• Saint Anthony discovered that 1-63 had been damaged by apparent corruption, forcing the churches to postpone their planned ambush of the Devil Dog.
• Horamick arrived, and Ace Snake realized Cyril had deliberately fought them while clearing away traces of an evil god’s remnants from an apartment.
• Saint Anthony and Horamick discussed seeking the Goddess’s revelation and repairing 1-63, while Ace Snake said Cyril had left them two prophecies.
• Klein returned from Above the Gray Fog and found Cyril on his sofa; Cyril explained that he had made an emergency landing after his Spirituality ran low.

Klein relayed Alger’s trade offer to Cyril, who arranged to meet him the next day before leaving through a mirror. The next day, Cyril learned that Beth and Vaughn were taking Little Thomas to Midseashire, while Archbishop Horamick summoned Arrodes to investigate the previous night’s incident.

• Cyril warned Klein that the Church of Evernight might investigate the disturbance through dreams, then teased him about his frequent trips to the washroom.
• Klein passed Alger’s prayer to Cyril, who agreed to trade for the Wind-blessed Beyonder Characteristic at the same time the next day.
• Cyril left through the Mirror World and said goodbye to Klein through the washroom mirror, calling him “Washroom Boy.”
• Haven told Cyril that Beth and Vaughn planned to take Little Thomas to Midseashire, and left Cyril to look after the child.
• Archbishop Horamick gathered senior Church officials and asked Ikonse Bernard to consult Magic Mirror Arrodes, which announced that it had sensed a perplexed soul.

Cyril used the Fool’s ritual to receive money from Mr. Hanged Man, then discovered his connection to the dimensions had strengthened and tested his new powers. He learned from Alan Gibson that the Black Demoness had arrived in Backlund, and ended the chapter suspecting the Primordial Demoness had interfered with his Divination.

• Cyril received £4,000 from Mr. Hanged Man through the phantom door and counted his growing savings.
• Cyril discovered he could enter the dimension above all things without relying on prayer, and found that answers to questions could appear in his mind.
• Cyril answered Alan Gibson’s ritual contact and learned that Trissy had sent word of an ageless high-ranking Demoness called the Black Demoness in Backlund.
• Alan told Cyril that Trissy had failed to draw the Devil behind the serial murders to her because of certain coincidences.
• Cyril considered why the Black Demoness had come to Backlund and tested his powers over Fantasy and dimensions.
• Cyril’s Divination about the Primordial Demoness failed, leading him to suspect that she had interfered.

Haven brought Cyril to a gathering of Beyonders at the abandoned Backlund Medical School, where Cyril sought information about Asman and Ancient Wraiths. After they left, a man from the gathering attacked Cyril with shadow and flesh abilities, but Cyril evaded him using the power of the Traveler of Other Dimensions.

• Haven took Cyril to a gathering held in the abandoned Backlund Medical School, where the attendees met among preserved corpses.
• A participant offered 100 pounds for useful information about unusually lucky people, objects, or places in Backlund, and Mr. A offered notarization.
• Cyril asked for leads or materials related to Asman and Ancient Wraiths, but rejected a participant's offer of an Ancient Wraith's location as too expensive.
• After the gathering ended, Cyril warned Haven to prepare for danger as they followed the man who had made the offer.
• A blond man attacked Cyril from his shadow and transformed into flesh, but Cyril became translucent and evaded his strikes.

Cyril defeated the Rose Bishop’s creation after it turned against its maker, then purified the Corruption Shadow that had split from him and recovered the Beyonder Characteristic. He led Haven away safely, while two newcomers arrived at the scene and questioned how Isaacs had died.

• The white-coated man’s Corruption Shadow refused to attack Cyril and instead killed its creator with the Blade of Spirit and Flesh.
• Cyril summoned a False Sun and used a storm of silver bullets to destroy the Corruption Shadow, recovering the part of his spirit that had been separated.
• Cyril picked up the Beyonder Characteristic and guided Haven through a series of blue-light doorways toward Saint Samuel Cathedral.
• A handsome man in a white robe examined the scene and found Isaacs’s remains and the missing Beyonder Characteristic.
• A black-robed man emerged through a starlit door and asked how Isaacs had died.