Chapter Summaries

After Adam altered the mirror in Cyril’s attic and told him to meet a member of the Life School of Thought, Cyril went to a circus and encountered Darkwill and his young-looking teacher. The performance descended into chaos, leaving Cyril to suspect Darkwill had somehow jinxed the Beast Tamer.

• Cyril returned home, found the mirror changed, and learned from Adam that it could help him explore the Mirror World while increasing the risk of Cheek noticing him.
• Adam told Cyril that a member of the Life School of Thought would soon arrive in Backlund and suggested they might meet.
• Cyril spotted Darkwill and a refined young man outside a circus, then followed them inside and sat beside them.
• Cyril recognized Darkwill and learned that the young man was his teacher, while the pair appeared to be Beyonders connected to Beast Taming.
• Darkwill warned the Beast Tamer that a brown bear would sit on him and a gorilla would attack; moments later, the animals ran amok and the bear pinned the performer.

Cyril followed Darkwill and his young teacher, but the teacher attacked him with phantom blood bats and black flames before escaping. Cyril tracked them to Backlund, where he met the Life School of Thought's President, who disrupted the city's Fate and warned that meeting Cyril would cost him something important.

• After the circus animals turned on the Beast Tamer, Cyril escaped the hungry tiger and later dodged a runaway horse near Darkwill and his teacher.
• Cyril followed Darkwill and his teacher to the Tussock River and offered to protect them from local Sanguine and official Beyonders.
• Darkwill's teacher attacked Cyril with phantom blood bats and black flames, but Cyril turned illusory and escaped by throwing a twig into the air.
• Cyril reappeared in Empress Borough and startled Darkwill, who shouted for help until Cyril vanished in pale blue light.
• At Green Cemetery, the young teacher spoke with the Life School of Thought's President, a pale boy in a wheelchair, who told him to leave Loen and disrupted Backlund's Fate to draw Ouroboros away.
• Cyril arrived at the cemetery, and the President told him that Fate disliked him and predicted their meeting would cost him something important.

Will Auceptin blamed Cyril for disrupting Fate and asked him to help escape Ouroboros before restarting. Cyril got him through the Mirror World to his chosen home, where Will began his restart and left Cyril to deal with his body.

• Will Auceptin said a new tributary in the river of Fate had activated the Key of Light and corrupted the Die of Probability, and blamed Cyril for the resulting calamities.
• When Will Auceptin sensed Ouroboros approaching, Cyril pushed his wheelchair out of the cemetery and used a rainwater pond to enter the Mirror World.
• Cyril and Will Auceptin encountered a Wraith from the Rose School of Thought, but it vanished after Cyril fired his Peacemaker.
• Cyril brought Will Auceptin to the home he had chosen, where Will asked him to keep the restart secret and decide what to do with his body.
• Will Auceptin slumped in his wheelchair as a silver Snake of Mercury formed a wheel, turned counterclockwise, and disappeared.

Cyril moved Will Auceptin’s corpse out of the Mirror World and asked Mr. Fool to store it, while Adam explained the Key of Light’s connection to Fate and chaos. During the Full Moon, Cyril shielded Owen from the whispers, and Klein summoned Fors to the gray fog and asked her how she became an Apprentice.

• Cyril removed Will Auceptin’s corpse from the Mirror World, discussed the Key of Light with Adam, and sent the corpse to Klein for safekeeping.
• Cyril used a Black Curtain to shield Owen from the Full Moon’s whispers as Owen considered asking Cyril for help with an Abraham Family box.
• Klein summoned Fors above the gray fog and asked her to explain how she became an Apprentice.

At the Tarot Club meeting, Cyril offered Roselle's Diaries in exchange for storing a Snake of Mercury's corpse, while he and Klein considered whether Roselle might return from the dead. The meeting ended with Audrey asking Mr. Fool which Beyonder Pathway was recorded on the Card of Blasphemy.

• Cyril offered Roselle's Diaries as payment for storing the Snake of Mercury's corpse and asked to put any surplus toward future contributions.
• Cyril manifested a stack of memorized diaries and declined Audrey's request to teach her Roselle's writing without the person's permission.
• Cyril suggested that Roselle might have survived through the Black Emperor Pathway's resurrection ability, prompting Klein to consider whether Roselle's resurrection had gone wrong.
• Klein read Cyril's diaries, found mostly accounts of Roselle's romantic pursuits, and suspected Cyril had chosen them to reduce the storage fee.
• Audrey offered two diary pages, but Klein recognized them as pages he had already seen and asked how she wanted her payment deducted.
• Audrey asked Mr. Fool which Beyonder Pathway was contained in the Card of Blasphemy.

At the Tarot Club, Audrey privately learned that the card was the Black Emperor Card, while the members discussed her possible contact with the Psychology Alchemists and several requests for items and ingredients. Derrick offered to hunt a Spirit Eater in the darkness outside the City of Silver for Fors.

• Klein showed Audrey the Black Emperor Card and told her that its corresponding Sequence 9 was Lawyer.
• Fors promised to seek Roselle's Diary in exchange for the help she received from the Fool each month.
• Audrey asked for advice about joining the Psychology Alchemists, and Cyril, Klein, and Alger warned her about psychological suggestions and informants.
• World requested a Sun Domain Mystical Item or powerful Beyonder weapon, and Audrey, Alger, and Fors agreed to look for one.
• Fors asked the club for Trickmaster ingredients, and Derrick said he could hire helpers to hunt a Spirit Eater outside the City of Silver.

The Tarot Club discussed disappearances in the Southern Continent and Derrick’s upcoming expedition to a temple of the True Creator. Cyril warned that the expedition could draw the True Creator’s attention and explained that the Club’s members could be detected through their connection to the Fool, though Concealment offered protection.

• Cyril arranged to provide Fors with the Solar High Priest formula while buying a Spirit Eater’s Stomach from Derrick and trading Derrick two for the formula.
• Alger asked the Club about missing indigenous people and slaves, and Cyril suggested investigating where the displaced people were being taken and whether pirates were involved.
• Derrick asked for advice about exploring a semi-destroyed True Creator temple with Elder Lovia, and Cyril warned him to stay away because everyone else there could die.
• Cyril explained that Derrick and Lovia could attract the True Creator’s attention because of their status and Derrick’s mark from the Fool.
• Cyril told the Club that their connection to the Fool could make their auras conspicuous to beings able to touch Fate, but that Concealment could protect them.

Derrick decided to avoid the dangerous exploration mission by feigning a condition that would disqualify him, while Cyril explained ways to remove mental pollution from a Beyonder Characteristic. Klein learned that the available methods were beyond his reach for now, but the Fool offered to help the World after he had accumulated contributions.

• Alger advised Derrick to injure himself or deplete his Spirituality so he could avoid joining the exploration mission, and Cyril urged him to protect himself with a necessary lie.
• Derrick accepted the advice and thanked Cyril, Alger, the World, and the Magician.
• The World asked how to remove the True Creator's mental pollution from Rosago's All-Black Eye, and Derrick said the City of Silver's method was restricted to high-ranking Beyonders.
• Cyril described three methods for removing mental pollution: shattering the characteristic with an Angel's power, purifying it with a Sun pathway Demigod's ability, or transferring the pollution through abilities such as stealing.
• Klein realized he could not use any of the methods yet, while Alger and Audrey interpreted the exchange as evidence that the Fool could not currently reveal Angel-level power.
• The Fool told the World to accumulate contributions and promised to help remove the pollution after some time.

At the Tarot Club, Cyril warned that Ouroboros might be in Backlund and explained the significance of Uniqueness to Audrey, who agreed to pay him in installments. After the meeting, Owen told Cyril he wanted to contact the Abraham Family’s Council of Elders with a plan to protect the family from the Full Moon’s whispers, and Cyril prepared to open the box.

• Cyril told the Tarot Club that Ouroboros, a King of Angel, might already be in Backlund while pursuing an anomaly in Fate.
• Cyril explained to Audrey that Uniqueness represented a deity’s authority, and she agreed to pay him three thousand pounds in installments.
• Alger shared stories about the sea until Klein ended the Tarot Club when his Spirituality ran low.
• Klein wondered whether the space above the gray fog was a Uniqueness, then divined that it was not.
• Owen told Cyril he believed he could shield the Abraham Family from the Full Moon’s whispers and wanted to contact the Council of Elders.
• Cyril agreed to try opening Owen’s box and asked for a drop of blood, which Owen had ready.

Cyril helped Owen open an Abraham family box, and Owen summoned a messenger to contact the Council of Elders about a way to resist the family’s bloodline curse. A Council member decided to investigate Owen in person, while Amon sensed a disturbance in Fate and considered stealing from the great serpent.

• Cyril opened the metal box, and Owen read a letter warning that Abraham Beyonders could not safely advance beyond Sequence 7 because of the Full Moon’s whispers.
• Owen wrote to the Council of Elders and summoned his messenger, which delivered the letter to a professor-like Abraham in Constant City.
• The Council member checked the letter with a Crystal Ball, decided not to alert the others, and set out for Backlund to meet Owen.
• Amon sensed a vague future and a disturbance in Fate, then considered stealing something from the great serpent.

Cyril learned from Adam how powerful beings could permanently alter a person's Light of the Soul, leaving him questioning the cost of his knowledge. Meanwhile, Verdu Garcia met Owen to discuss the Abraham Family's troubles, which Verdu said were worse than Owen imagined.

• Cyril answered House's prayer and advised him to observe his surroundings in combat to digest the Melee Scholar Potion faster.
• Cyril wondered whether House's fervent faith and Father Utravsky's changed personality came from pollution, then asked Adam about the Light of the Soul.
• Adam explained that higher-status beings could permanently change the underlying hue of someone's Light of the Soul, and said Cyril had already paid the price for his knowledge.
• Verdu Garcia arrived at Owen's home, and Owen invited him inside after recognizing him as an Abraham Family elder.
• Owen asked whether all Council of Elders members were as young as Verdu, and Verdu replied that the family's situation was far worse than Owen imagined.

Cyril explained to Verdu Garcia how Owen had survived the Full Moon ravings and watched Verdu assess the danger. After Verdu visited the Abraham family graves and Teleported away, Cyril followed him and emerged from the darkness nearby.

• Verdu Garcia questioned Owen for contacting the Council of Elders before Sequence 7, and Cyril explained that Owen had sought help surviving the Full Moon ravings.
• Owen told Verdu that Cyril had given him a great being’s Honorific Name, which had helped him endure three Full Moons; Verdu performed an astrology reading.
• Cyril relayed Sherlock Moriarty’s request to borrow two Mystical Items to Mr. Fool, and Klein sent the Peacemaker and Interrogator Ring through the Gate of Sacrifice and Bestowal.
• Cyril followed Verdu to Green Cemetery, where Verdu visited deceased members of the Abraham Family.
• Verdu used the Illusory Door in his robe to Teleport away beside the Tussock River, and Cyril emerged from a Black Curtain nearby.

Cyril saved Verdu when he stumbled into the battle between the Rose School of Thought’s factions, then helped expose and seize the Scarlet Lunar Corona. The Full Moon appeared, and Wraith Steve possessed Cyril but became trapped inside him, while Jason escaped Klein’s gunfire with the artifact.

• Verdu appeared in the warehouse district, where Cyril protected him from attacks by Maric and Jason and persuaded him to stay and watch.
• Jason attacked Cyril and Verdu, but his illusory skull passed through them; a Werewolf then ambushed Maric, and Sharron possessed the attacker.
• Sharron retrieved the Scarlet Lunar Corona from Tail, but Cyril used Object Manipulation to pull it away as Maric and Jason tried to intercept it.
• Wraith Steve appeared, caught the Scarlet Lunar Corona, and triggered the Full Moon, weakening Sharron and causing Verdu to writhe in pain.
• Steve possessed Cyril, but Cyril trapped him inside his body and rose into the air as a sacred light passed through them.
• Klein fired at Jason, but Jason dodged the bullets, took the Scarlet Lunar Corona, and escaped with illusory bat wings.

Cyril used his Wraith powers to trap Jason and restrain Steve, but Steve stole the Scarlet Lunar Corona and tried to attack again. Cyril unveiled his living Painting Scrolls, whose supernatural creatures overwhelmed the fighters and left everyone facing the shadow of death.

• Jason wounded Maric, then charged Cyril, who dragged him into the Muddy Abyss with Wraith Shadows.
• Steve broke free of Cyril's Cage, pleaded for help, and was pulled back inside; Cyril froze nearby attackers and struck Jason with Wraith Scream.
• Steve escaped again, used Mirror Flash to take the Scarlet Lunar Corona from Jason, and attacked Cyril with black chains.
• Cyril dispersed Steve's chains and summoned living creatures from his Painting Scrolls, whose Feathered Serpent terrified the Wraiths and Jason.
• Cyril confronted Steve, Jason, and Tail with more Painting Scrolls, leaving them immobilized and overwhelmed by visions of death.

Cyril collected the spoils after a lightning strike destroyed Jason and left the others incapacitated, while Klein and Sharron dealt with the surviving Werewolf Tail. Cyril and Verdu teleported away, and Klein learned the Door item could send its wearer into dangerous places.

• A silver lightning bolt struck the Dock District, destroying Jason and leaving Steve, Tail, and Maric paralyzed while Cyril survived.
• Cyril turned Steve into a living Painting Scroll, took the Scarlet Lunar Corona, and recovered a gray-white orb from the crater.
• Sharron revealed that Klein had killed the Werewolf Tail and accepted Cyril's offer to buy the Scarlet Lunar Corona if she needed it.
• Cyril collected his remaining spoils, burned the destroyed Painting Scrolls, and asked Verdu to teleport him away.
• Verdu teleported himself and Cyril away, and Sharron warned Klein that the item's negative effects could send its wearer into danger and squeeze them to death.

After the warehouse battle, Klein, Sharron, and Maric escaped before the authorities arrived, while Cyril accepted the Traveler Potion formula from Verdu and left through a mirror. At the scene, Ikanser asked Arrodes who had taken part in the fight, and the mirror warned him about learning the answer.

• Klein asked about Maric's injuries, and Sharron warned that the dangerous man had killed Steve by triggering contamination within him.
• Klein detonated crimson flames around the warehouses and escaped; Sharron and Maric also left before the authorities reached the area.
• Cyril accepted Verdu's Traveler Potion formula, memorized it, and burned the paper before refusing Verdu's offer to test the Full Moon remedy.
• After Cyril left through a mirror, Verdu wondered whether a great being protected Owen and began writing a letter.
• Clifford and Ikanser investigated the damaged warehouse, and Ikanser asked Arrodes to identify the participants in the fight.
• Arrodes displayed the warning, "Are... you sure you want to know?"

Ikanser and Clifford used Arrodes to investigate the ruined scene and saw several mysterious figures capable of interfering with divination, including a starlit figure that greeted them. Later, Cyril returned to Bernadette and translated Roselle’s diary, leaving her listening to its scandalous account of his affairs.

• Ikanser asked Arrodes to identify ordinary participants involved in the scene, and the mirror showed a fire-wreathed performer and several distorted figures.
• A starlit figure in the mirror greeted Ikanser and Clifford before Arrodes displayed more people whose forms resisted identification.
• Ikanser told Clifford that suppressing Arrodes likely required an Angel, and the mirror then asked Ikanser a humiliating question about the man he liked.
• Cyril returned late from a fight and found Bernadette waiting with a freshly copied page of Roselle’s diary.
• Cyril began translating Roselle’s entries about an affair witnessed by the Earl of Champagne, and Bernadette snapped her steel pen before ordering him to continue.

After Bernadette warned Cyril of an uncertain future crisis or opportunity, he responded to Klein’s questions about his painting scrolls and received a warning from the Fool. In the City of Silver, Derrick deliberately depleted his Spirituality until he showed signs of losing control and was confined.

• Bernadette glimpsed an uncertain future for Cyril and warned him not to blindly follow Fate before leaving abruptly.
• Cyril reflected on his fighting strength, then heard Sherlock Moriarty pray to the Fool about retrieving Mystical Items, the Book of Secrets, and Cyril’s painting scrolls.
• Cyril told Klein that he had made the painting scrolls himself and would not sell them, and the Fool warned him not to display his abilities before Orthodox Church Beyonders.
• Klein examined the Book of Secrets, noticed its reference to worshipping the moon, and wondered about a possible connection to the Life School of Thought.
• Derrick reported hallucinations after draining his Spirituality for two days, and Dawn Knights confined him in the Round Tower after a sedative calmed his symptoms.
• Derrick heard violent pounding, cries, and sobbing from a nearby room, and he watched the metal wall tensely.

Derrick survived a mysterious assault on a metal wall, while Cyril discussed the Primordial Moon and the East District’s suffering with Klein above the Gray Fog. After Emlyn delivered an invitation from the ancient Sanguine marquis Nibis, Cyril repeatedly divined that the meeting was unrelated to the danger Bernadette had foreseen, though he wondered if his divination had been interfered with.

• Derrick heard pounding on a metal wall, saw a silver-white light stop it, and then heard knocking from another wall.
• Cyril told Klein that the Sanguine worship their Progenitor Lilith and warned him that the Primordial Moon’s Honorific Name could cause everything to become pregnant and give birth.
• Klein described textile workers protesting in the East District and worried that its hardship could make it a breeding ground for evil gods.
• Emlyn told Cyril that the Sanguine marquis Nibis wanted to meet him at a manor in Backlund’s North Borough within a week.
• Cyril repeatedly used coin divination to check whether the Sanguine meeting was connected to Bernadette’s foreseen danger, and every result was negative.

At the Tarot Club gathering, Audrey traded Roselle’s Diary pages for a brief look at the Black Emperor Card of Blasphemy. Derrick described the holy relic guarding him in the City of Silver and asked Cyril about Amon, leaving Cyril wary of a strange intuition that had briefly stirred.

• Audrey gave Klein three pages of Roselle’s Diary and asked to see the Card of Blasphemy; Klein let her inspect it briefly.
• Derrick told Cyril he could not obtain the Spirit Eater’s Stomach yet because he was confined in the Round Tower.
• Derrick explained that he feared the City of Silver’s holy relic might notice when he escaped, and described its silver flash, the silence that followed, and distant footsteps.
• Cyril judged the relic was probably a Sequence 2 Glory artifact from the God of Giants Pathway and reassured Derrick that it likely could not detect him.
• Derrick asked Cyril about Amon, and Cyril identified him as the Ancient Sun God’s second son, a King of Angels, Blasphemer, and God of Fraud.