Recaps

Theus discovered that the sea had strengthened his ability to connect with followers and people linked to him, but his voice frightened them into severing contact. Suspecting a sea-borne evil god was behind Castel Island’s attacks, he sought a way to alert the Candlelight Society and ended by realizing he could connect other people’s threads instead of speaking himself.

• Theus contacted a follower of Moth Chasing Flame, but the frightened follower mistook him for an evil god and severed the connection.
• Theus reached Josh, an ordinary man who knew Ken and Jeremiah, but Josh also panicked at Theus’s voice and cut off contact.
• Theus suspected the polluted sea had amplified his powers and that an evil god might be targeting Castel Island.
• Theus considered contacting the Candlelight Society, but could find no thread to Beatrice or its upper ranks.
• After listening to hours of prayers with little useful information, Theus realized he could connect different threads so their owners could speak to each other.

Theus linked Ken and Jeremiah so he could listen to their conversation, but discovered that Jeremiah was already silently testing their mind-to-mind communication. He made the connection clearer, leaving the two men amazed to realize they could hear each other’s thoughts.

• Theus chose Ken and Jeremiah as ordinary people aboard the Black Pearl and linked their threads to listen in.
• Ken taught Jeremiah about mechanical knowledge while Theus heard them discuss their journey to find Castel Island.
• Theus realized Jeremiah had discovered the mental connection and was deliberately staying silent to listen to Ken.
• Theus vibrated their threads, making Ken and Jeremiah sense the connection between them.
• Jeremiah and Ken confirmed that they could hear each other speaking in their minds and reacted with amazement.

Theus learned that Jeremiah and another crew member could hear a strange connection and had mentioned the sea drying up, then returned to the church and joined Chloe at the Eastern Test Site. Chloe revealed that the prototype airship had succeeded, though its hand-cranked propeller and planned test flight raised concerns.

• Theus overheard Jeremiah and another crew member discuss their strange connection and whether it was related to the sea drying up, then severed their connection and returned to the island.
• Theus returned to his office, learned from Connor that Chloe had come looking for him, and went to meet her.
• Chloe told Theus the prototype airship had succeeded and brought him to the Eastern Test Site.
• Theus inspected the small airship and questioned how its hand-cranked propeller would be powered and who would fly it.
• Nini used two sea snakes to turn the propeller, and Chloe said she could direct them remotely and proposed using a two-hundred-kilogram iron bomb as the passenger.

Chloe tested a hydrogen-powered airship designed to drop bombs while Theus watched its first flight. When Ash reported that the main cathedral was under heavy attack, Theus saw the Faithguard Army nearing its limit and considered redirecting the airship.

• Chloe explained that she had built a bomb-dropping system for the airship, and Theus learned the device was intended to return after the test.
• The Banshees filled the wooden-framed airship's gas bags with hydrogen and prepared it at the Eastern Test Site.
• Chloe and Nini guided the airship into the sky, while the Banshees watched through Chloe's perspective.
• Chloe steered the airship toward an arm-monster gathering point between the Eastern Test Site and the main cathedral.
• Ash told Theus that the main cathedral was under attack by a large number of arm-like monsters, and Theus saw the Faithguard Army struggling to hold the battlefield.

Theus and the Faithguard Army defended the fortress against a massive monster assault, while Alexei coordinated machine-gun fire from the main cathedral. Chloe and Nini dropped a huge bomb onto the arm monsters, and its explosion engulfed the battlefield in a blinding fireball.

• Theus watched Ash and the Faithguard Army hold back the swarming Fishmen with coordinated rifle fire and machine guns.
• Arm monsters advanced through the bullets, forcing the battle line back as the Banshees hurried to reinforce the fortress.
• Alexei directed the main cathedral's machine guns to fire at pre-calibrated positions, slowing the arm monsters' advance.
• Theus called on Chloe, and she brought the airship over the battlefield and ordered Nini to lower it by venting hydrogen.
• Chloe and Nini dropped a two-hundred-kilogram bomb onto the gathered arm monsters, and Nini triggered its fuse.
• The bomb exploded in a massive fireball that illuminated and engulfed the battlefield.

A 200-kilogram bomb obliterated the Fishmen assaulting the fortress, leaving supernatural beings and mortals alike stunned by the power of industrial weapons. Chloe became eager to pursue explosive research, while Gaia and the factory workers returned to producing weapons for Castel.

• The bomb’s shockwave swept across the battlefield, vaporizing nearby Fishmen and hurling the rest into the fortress.
• The Faithguard soldiers, Banshees, Chloe, Nini, and Moth Chasing Flame watched the destruction and realized that industrial weapons could kill supernatural beings as readily as mortals.
• The Banshees found the battlefield empty after the blast, and the Faithguard Army struggled to make sense of a victory that had left them confused.
• Chloe withdrew her power after the explosion wrecked the airship, then grew excited about researching more powerful explosives.
• Gaia felt the factory tremble from the blast, encouraged the workers to keep making weapons, and returned to inspecting the production line.

Gwen, a starving ten-year-old girl, prepared to die in her village, but Theus accidentally connected her to Jeremiah and Ken. As Gwen described the wild grass she had gathered, Jeremiah reacted sharply to her mention of heart-shaped leaves.

• Gwen put on the yellow dress her mother had made and lay down, believing she was about to die.
• Theus accidentally brought Gwen into a strange connection with Jeremiah and Ken while attempting to contact someone from Isaac's intelligence organization.
• Gwen told Jeremiah and Ken that she had no food, was sick, and expected to die after her parents and the villagers disappeared.
• Gwen described her pretend feast of carefully chosen wild grass, and Jeremiah urgently asked whether some leaves were heart-shaped.

Theus tried to help Gwen after learning she might be starving, but she fell unconscious before he could reach her. He returned and found Chloe had completed a larger, steam-powered airship for exploring the sea, though its ability to withstand storms remained uncertain.

• Jeremiah told Gwen to eat wild grass and suspected hunger, rather than illness, was causing her weakness.
• Gwen ate the grass, then fell unconscious; Theus sensed she was still alive but feared she would die without further help.
• Theus severed his connections and returned, then went to the Eastern Test Site to ask Chloe about wild vegetables.
• Theus found Chloe and Nini with a larger airship powered by a steam engine, built to carry supplies and stay aloft for long periods.
• Chloe said she could quickly repair damage to the airship's envelope and offered to accompany Theus on the sea investigation.

After becoming Pope, Beatrice remained trapped in the Candlelight Society’s cathedral, unable to use her Investigator powers or learn what happened to Castel. She joined a mysterious telepathic group as “Scepter” and identified Gwen’s likely location, then revealed that she knew the others were near Castel.

• Beatrice signed Church documents while Hela said the Church could not yet investigate Castel in the Storm Ocean.
• Beatrice realized that her Investigator abilities could not work inside the cathedral room and that she was trapped as the Pope.
• A mysterious voice reached Beatrice, and a group chat connected her with French Fries, the Captain, and Gwen.
• Beatrice explained that daylight arrived later in the Northern Territory and that Gwen might simply not have woken up yet.
• Beatrice told the Captain that she knew Gwen’s location and that the Captain and Jeremiah were at sea near Castel.

Beatrice, speaking as Scepter, warned Gwen not to seek food from a church, then began to suspect that the Candlelight Society’s actions—and her own role as Pope—were tied to an evil god. Gwen was too weak to leave her home, and the chapter ended with Scepter proposing a plan that might involve Transcendence.

• Beatrice revealed that she had become obsessed with learning what happened in Castel and still cared somewhat about Count Theus.
• Gwen woke up hungry and told French Fries and Captain that she could only find wild vegetables because soldiers had taken the potatoes from the abandoned fields.
• French Fries suggested that Gwen ask a church for food, but Scepter warned that the real Candlelight Society did not help ordinary people and that the church might be false.
• Beatrice inferred that Ken and Jeremiah might have been at sea and began questioning the Candlelight Society’s cooperation with the Mechanical Cathedral and her own appointment as Pope.
• Gwen said she was too weak to sit up or search for food, and Scepter said she had an idea that might involve Transcendence.

After Beatrice and Theus grew closer through their efforts to save Gwen, Theus sent Chloe and Nini to test an airship and survey Castel. As the airship rose, Ash warned that monsters were gathering to attack, leaving Theus wondering whether the timing was a coincidence.

• Beatrice reflected on how helping Gwen had warmed her heart and made her feel less powerless, while Theus noted that working together had eased her and Fries's defenses.
• Theus wondered why Beatrice was the only person in Rhine connected to his Mind Link and expected her to contact the Candlelight Society.
• Connor told Theus that Chloe wanted him at the Eastern Test Site, where she and other Transcendents had prepared three airships.
• Theus approved a cautious test flight, and Chloe and Nini took an airship up to circle the island and observe its condition.
• Ash warned Theus through the Mind Link that monsters had begun gathering to attack just as the airship rose.

Theus and the researchers used the Clamorer airship to bomb the monsters and discovered that they were gathering for a massive attack. After the test flight, Theus planned to weaken the monsters with more air raids before exploring Gem Bay.

• Theus ordered the researchers to design downward-facing machine-gun mounts for the airships.
• Nini and Chloe redirected the Clamorer over the battlefield and dropped bombs, forcing the monsters to retreat and cheering the soldiers below.
• Chloe and Nini spotted nearly a thousand arm monsters and countless Fishmen gathering across the island for a large-scale attack.
• Chloe climbed above the gathering monsters, and Nini detonated several bombs in midair, killing many of them.
• Chloe returned the Clamorer to Theus, who scheduled further bombing flights and planned to explore Gem Bay once the remaining airships were ready.

Gwen used Scepter’s meditation method to keep her weakened body nourished, while Beatrice learned that Castel and the Masha Archipelago had vanished. Beatrice proposed that Castel had traveled a thousand years into the past, to the time of the sea’s Pollution outbreak.

• Gwen meditated using Scepter’s method, drawing nourishment from beyond a barrier and gaining a few more days before the method stopped working.
• Scepter asked the Captain what had happened near Castel, and the Captain revealed that the island had vanished from the sea.
• Beatrice panicked at the news, while Theus realized Castel’s disappearance could explain the strange attacks and lack of response from the Empire and Church.
• The Captain revealed that the entire Masha Archipelago had also disappeared, leaving Theus and the others in despair.
• Beatrice broke the silence by proposing that Castel had traveled back a thousand years to the time when Pollution erupted in the sea.

In the Forbidden Library, Beatrice found a thousand-year-old record about Pollution in the Sea and used her strange connection to tell Ken and Jeremiah what she learned. Her account linked the ancient catastrophe to Castel’s disappearance, and the captain identified the resulting crater as Storm Eye.

• Beatrice entered the Forbidden Library under the Pope’s authority and searched its sealed records.
• Beatrice found a record titled “Pollution in the Sea” and endured hallucinations and a severe headache as she read it.
• Beatrice tested her connection to Ken and Jeremiah from inside the library and confirmed that it could cross the library’s seals.
• Beatrice explained that a thousand years earlier, Pollution flooded the sea, monsters appeared, and the Sea God Church vanished amid widespread anomalies.
• Beatrice said an island had been gouged from the sea, leaving a bottomless crater, and the captain identified it as Storm Eye.

Theus learned that the Storm Eye might be draining the sea into Castel, and he sent Chloe and Nini to check the coastline. Their report confirmed that the sea was rising over Castel, leaving Theus to face the threat of the island sinking before he could prepare.

• Scepter said the Sea God Church had tried to return to the time before the Sea God died, though she doubted time travel was possible.
• Theus ended the Link and returned from the seafloor, then hurried to the Eastern Test Site to ask Nini about Chloe’s explorations.
• Theus sent Chloe and Nini by airship to inspect the coastline and determine whether the sea level had risen.
• Nini reported that the original docks were submerged and seawater had reached Castel’s residential area.
• Theus concluded that seawater was flowing through the Storm Eye’s Bottomless Sea Abyss into Castel and realized the island could sink before he could stop it.

Theus redirected Castel’s research toward equipping the Banshees for combat and called on Moth Chasing Flame’s Transcendents to defend their home. With the threat of rising seawater forcing an immediate response, Castel began a full military mobilization.

• Theus told Chloe to suspend artillery and fuse research and design heavy armor for the Banshees, while Nini joined the effort.
• Theus invoked Castel’s defense covenant and summoned every Transcendent of Moth Chasing Flame to fight; Chloe accepted and rallied the assembled members.
• Moth Chasing Flame’s members raised their hoods in disciplined unison, and Theus ordered factories to prioritize military production.
• Alexei arrived after learning the details from Ash, and Theus ordered him to expand the Faithguard Army tenfold.

Theus and Alexei prepared Castel for the rising seawater by expanding the Faithguard Army, reorganizing its forces, and equipping it with bolt-action rifles and armored Banshees. As the monsters gathered outside the fortress, three newly built airships were finally completed.

• Alexei planned to expand the Faithguard Army tenfold, and Castel mobilized its people and factories for the coming disaster.
• Alexei and Chloe incorporated Moth Chasing Flame members as political officers, assigned the Banshees to independent combat squads, and kept the Nymphs in the command post as advisers.
• Theus replaced the Faithguard Army's rifled muskets with bolt-action rifles and abandoned plans for repeating firearms because Castel's machining could not produce reliable guns.
• Nini used Turn Stone to Mud to craft key armor components, and Ash demonstrated the finished armor by charging across the drill ground.
• Theus encouraged the soldiers to direct their devotion toward Castel, while the monsters continued to gather outside the fortress.
• After working day and night, Castel completed three new airships.

Theus sent three airships to investigate the mainland, Gem Bay, and the Storm Eye in hopes of finding a way to resolve Castel’s crisis. As the expeditions departed, Chloe revealed that she planned to summon an evil god in Gem Bay.

• Theus assigned Connor and Faithguard Army soldiers to seek help on the mainland, Chloe and Moth Chasing Flame believers to investigate Gem Bay, and Nini with four other Banshees to explore the Storm Eye.
• The mainland airship departed, and Connor resolved to seek aid for Theus and Castel if possible, but to take Theus to safety if the crisis became dire.
• Theus questioned Chloe about the large quantity of ritual supplies she was bringing to Gem Bay, and she explained that one ritual might let her transmit messages remotely.
• Chloe revealed that she also intended to summon an evil god, arguing that it could fight whoever was behind the crisis or the sea monsters, and that it could not threaten Castel from Gem Bay.

Theus watched the airships depart for dangerous missions and prepared contingency plans in case the Banshees were lost. He then asked Gaia to help test whether an airship could awaken a Machine Soul, but confused Ash and Gaia by warning them to watch Monica, who neither of them knew.

• Chloe's airship departed after Theus urged her to contact Castel before summoning an evil god, while a heavily armed Banshee team headed for the Storm Eye with a sea serpent as proof they were alive.
• Theus saw that seven more airships were being built and learned that reserve teams and black boxes would preserve the explorers' findings if they failed.
• Theus returned to his office, discussed machine-gun emplacements with Alexei, and asked Zoe to fetch Gaia after learning Connor had left for the continent.
• Ash asked for more explosives for the Banshees, and Gaia said the saltpeter mine would let production meet demand.
• Theus asked Gaia and Monica to try summoning a Machine Soul and told Ash to watch Monica, but Ash asked who Monica was.

Theus discovered that everyone but him had forgotten Monica, while his memories of her remained intact. He found no trace of her on the island or in the sea, leaving him with no leads as the severed link to the others returned.

• Theus learned that Ash and Gaia no longer remembered Monica, though Gaia still remembered Ken and Ash still remembered Jeremiah.
• Theus checked his memories in the ancient palace and confirmed that they had not been altered, then found that no one he questioned remembered Monica.
• Theus used Worker Theus's body to search the sea for Monica's thread but found only threads connected to Ken and Jeremiah.
• Theus reconnected Jeremiah and the others' link, and French Fries celebrated its return before asking whether Gwen was all right.
• Beatrice posed Hela for a portrait in Rhine's church, and Hela revealed her glowing eye after Beatrice finished.

Beatrice told the others that the Empire and the Duchy of Tis were at war after the Prince assassinated the Empress and restored Tis, while Theus learned that the Imperial Navy had defected. Theus returned his attention to Castel, where the investigation into Monica remained at a dead end.

• Beatrice asked Hela about Castel and Count Theus, but Hela offered no new information and left.
• Beatrice told French Fries that the Prince had assassinated the Empress, fled to Tis, and restored the Duchy with support from rebels.
• Ken reacted emotionally to the news that the Prince had fought for Tis, while Theus realized the Empire might have lost access to the sea.
• Jeremiah asked about the Imperial Navy, and Beatrice revealed that it had pledged loyalty to the Prince.
• Gwen woke up, and the others helped her plan to gather wild vegetables after she regained strength.
• Theus ended the conversation and returned to his desk, with Castel's crisis unresolved and the investigation into Monica stalled.

Chloe's airship reached Gem Bay, where she hoped to enlist the pirates' help for Castel. As the harbor came into view, an observer noticed that its people appeared impossibly huge.

• Theus learned that Monica had vanished without a trace, then prepared for the monsters' advancing offensive.
• Theus sent the armed airship into the sky and headed for the frontline command post to observe the battle through the Transcendents.
• Chloe spotted Gem Bay's harbor, the pirates, and the Black Sail Fleet still intact, and decided Castel could be saved with their help.
• Chloe dismissed the observer's concern that the harbor had not reacted to the airship's approach.
• The observer stared at the harbor in shock and told Chloe that the people there were enormous.

Chloe and the Moth Chasing Flame crew discovered that every island in the Masha Archipelago was inhabited by Fishmen behaving exactly like humans, a sight that nearly overwhelmed them with fear and Pollution. Chloe concluded the islands might be caught in a Dreaming aberration and decided to descend and investigate, still unsure why the inhabitants saw themselves as Fishmen.

• Chloe spotted that the people on Tula Island were all Fishmen, then led the airship to other islands and found the same thing throughout Gem Bay.
• The Fishmen acted like ordinary people, and the crew became terrified as they struggled to tell whether the beings below were monsters or humans.
• Chloe performed purification rituals and jolted the frightened crew back to their senses before the Sea of Unconsciousness could pollute them further.
• Chloe refused to return without investigating because Castel was short on time, and she ordered the crew to record their findings in the black box.
• Chloe and her secret-history specialists suspected the archipelago was experiencing Dreaming, but she could not explain why the inhabitants saw themselves as Fishmen.

Chloe and Moth Chasing Flame investigated a strange island where Fishmen lived in a human settlement, unsure whether the phenomenon was [Dreaming]. The lookout reached a Fishman’s home and discovered that it could speak, leaving the mystery unresolved.

• Chloe noted that the Fishmen looked alive and lived in a place built for humans, making [Dreaming] an unlikely explanation.
• Chloe agreed to investigate from the airship while the lookout went down to the island.
• The lookout descended and approached a house, guided by Moth Chasing Flame members using [Self-Binding].
• The lookout knocked, and the Fishman opened the door and asked what he wanted.
• The Fishman introduced himself as Fabien and showed humanlike speech and behavior.

Chloe and the Moth Chasing Flame investigated a settlement where Fishmen had humanlike memories and awareness but ignored deaths and disruptions around them. Chloe concluded they were pretending to sleep and headed for the Pirate King's Court to confront the Pirate King about his dream.

• The lookout asked a Fishman about Jeremiah and learned it remembered him and recent events, deepening the group's confusion about the Fishmen.
• Chloe shot a Fishman from the airship, but the crowd's brief panic faded and the Fishmen ignored the corpse.
• Chloe descended, killed another Fishman at close range, and watched the Harbor Guard confront her before behaving mechanically and dispersing.
• Chloe reasoned that the Fishmen were like people pretending to sleep and ordered the airship toward the Pirate King's Court.