Recaps

The Silent Temple priests toured Castel and quickly submitted to the Banshees, while Nora realized Theus saw the Sea God and other threats only as fuel. Back in his office, Theus received a letter bearing the royal crest and wondered why it had been sent to him.

• The Banshees subdued the Silent Temple priests, and Ignati postponed the tour until the next day.
• Nora asked Gwen how she felt about the Stellar Furnace, and Gwen said its contents could not affect her while trapped inside.
• Nora realized she had been fixated on the Sea God, while Theus treated it as fuel for Castel.
• The priests were escorted to their accommodations, and Theus ended his Mind Link after watching their visit.
• Zoe delivered Theus a sealed letter from Blood Port, and Theus recognized the royal crest on its wax seal.

Theus and Zoe examined a threatening imperial decree from Beatrice, the newly crowned Empress and Candlelight Society Pope, ordering Castel to destroy Moth Chasing Flame. Theus suspected something was wrong with the letter after noticing it named Lina as the heretics’ leader.

• Theus learned from Zoe that Beatrice had become Empress and Pope despite being far down the imperial succession.
• Theus confirmed that the letter bore no Transcendent power and read Beatrice’s decree demanding he eliminate Moth Chasing Flame or face imperial investigators.
• Zoe briefly mistook the decree’s threat for evidence that Beatrice was secretly in love with Theus.
• Theus pointed out that the letter identified Lina as the leader of Moth Chasing Flame.

Theus learned that Lina had falsely claimed to lead Moth Chasing Flame and that the Candlelight Society had sent the Border Counts a warning about her. He suspected Lina was planning another threat to the continent and left the matter unresolved as he considered contacting Isaac and Bazel.

• Theus questioned Chloe and Richard, who explained that Lina had only been a newcomer in Moth Chasing Flame and that its members were mostly outside the Empire.
• Theus showed them the Empress's letter ordering the extermination of Moth Chasing Flame across the Empire's four regions.
• Richard concluded that Lina had appropriated Moth Chasing Flame's identity and that the Candlelight Society was behind the warning.
• Chloe pointed out that the letter's reference to dancing bones connected Lina to Bazel and the White Bone Sanctuary, suggesting the Candlelight Society feared a new danger.
• Theus and Richard discussed asking Isaac and Bazel about Lina, while Theus noted that Beatrice was still connected to Worker Theus.

Theus traveled to Blood Port to discuss a letter from the Empire with the Prince, after refusing to take the infamous Assault Coffin. The Prince confirmed he planned to return to Rhine and fight, while Theus pressed him about preparing for war.

• Theus received no immediate reply from Isaac and ordered a ship to Blood Port, refusing to ride the Assault Coffin that Monica had built from Tata's rejected design.
• Theus took a cargo ship to Blood Port, where the Prince was waiting with a copy of the same letter.
• The Prince explained that he had tracked Theus's arrival from the letter and ship schedules, then asked to establish an office in Theus's customs building.
• Theus suspected the Prince was seeking closer ties with Castel because he intended to wage war against the Empire.
• The Prince said he planned to return to Rhine and fight his way in, and Theus confronted him about his preparations for war.

The Prince told Theus he intended to conquer Rhine and challenge the Churches controlling the Saint Mir Empire. Theus supported the campaign but proposed speaking with the Mechanical Cathedral before the Prince acted.

• The Prince admired Blood Port’s industrial growth and credited Theus and his own efforts with building the city and managing its population.
• The Prince denounced the Candlelight Society and Mechanical Cathedral for taking over the Empire and declared that he would take Rhine.
• Theus questioned the Prince’s claim to the Empire, and the Prince said he wanted to overthrow the Churches’ rule and force them to witness change.
• Theus offered no Expeditionary Force assistance, saying it should rest and reorganize after the Northern Territory campaign.
• Theus agreed to support the Prince’s war but proposed speaking with the Mechanical Cathedral first.

Theus discussed Mechanical Cathedral’s history and technology with the prince, who agreed to delay his offensive while Theus made contact with the organization. After the prince left, Theus returned to his office to check on Worker Theus and see whether Miss [Scepter] could come online.

• Theus asked the prince for time to approach Mechanical Cathedral and explained that he wanted its technology.
• The prince recounted how the Mechanical Society had declined after a calamity-level anomaly and how the Candlelight Society had taken over Rhine’s factories.
• Theus showed the prince a steam rifle, and the prince agreed to delay his offensive while Theus arranged contact with Mechanical Cathedral.
• The prince accepted the rifle as a gift and left for his residence under guard.
• Theus secured his office and prepared to check on Worker Theus and Miss [Scepter].

Theus reconnected to the white-mist gathering after more than a year and found that Beatrice’s thread had changed, suggesting something had happened to her. Scepter then appeared, but the others could not understand her strange sounds and suspected she was wailing rather than speaking.

• Theus reflected on how the Candlelight Society had led to his death and resolved to repay his blood debt.
• Theus sensed Beatrice’s thread had changed, tied several members’ threads together, and unexpectedly restored the connection.
• Theus, French Fries, Writer, and Captain noticed that Gwen and Scepter were absent and worried about Beatrice’s fate.
• Scepter appeared and made sounds that the others could not recognize as any language.
• Writer concluded that Scepter seemed to be wailing rather than speaking.

Writer explained that Scepter might be suffering from temporary, intermittent, or permanent madness, while the connection could only wait for news about her and Gwen. Theus then realized he could hear people praying for Gwen and wondered whether he was becoming like a god.

• Writer explained the different forms of madness and warned that permanent madness turned its victims into pollution-filled monsters.
• Theus connected permanent madness to the Moth Lord and decided to ask Moth Chasing Flame about the evil god's origins.
• Writer and French Fries discussed Gwen's disappearance, unaware that little Gwen was with Theus.
• Theus heard several people praying for Gwen and wondered whether they were praying to him.
• Theus realized he could hear people's prayers and questioned whether he was like a god.

Little Gwen watched over Theus’s empty shell while Lina confronted her about Lord Bruno’s death and the approaching descent. After Theus returned, he agreed to let Gaia join a delegation to the Mechanical Cathedral, but Zoe then rushed in with news of an emergency.

• After the Link ended, little Gwen appeared in the mist and inspected Worker Theus’s shell, with threads connecting his hand to a beast’s horn.
• Little Gwen met Lina in the Canary Mountains, where Lina said a powerful “he” had descended again and accused Gwen of failing to act when Lord Bruno died.
• Lina left without entering the mist, while little Gwen stayed to watch over Theus’s shell.
• Theus returned from his descent and told Ash he could hear prayers but could not answer them.
• Gaia persuaded Theus to reserve her a place in the delegation to the Mechanical Cathedral, and he approved her research projects.
• Zoe burst into Theus’s room and announced that something had happened.

Zoe reported that the strange link had connected again, and Theus arranged for her to have her abilities examined. At Castel Cathedral, Gaia demonstrated a storm generator and lightning rod system that turned the island’s skies into a localized tempest.

• Zoe rushed to Theus and reported that the strange link had connected again, prompting him to deduce the reason for her visit.
• Theus asked whether Zoe had tested her abilities as a Transcendent, and she admitted she had not.
• Theus invited Zoe to Castel Island for an examination and said Gaia would join them because she had also become a Transcendent without a ritual.
• Theus and Zoe arrived at Castel Cathedral the next day and found a violent storm covering only the island.
• Gaia explained that she had installed Richard’s storm generator and improved it with lightning rods that could direct and store electricity.
• Gaia fired a bolt of stored lightning from the cathedral’s lightning rod, destroying a distant target.

Theus confronted Gaia and Monica after they unveiled a magnetic storm coil, uncovering a trail of unauthorized experiments supposedly aimed at reviving Chloe. He learned their polluted, electrified fish had mostly grown larger—but some had mutated into something worse, leaving him alarmed by the risks to Castel.

• Theus questioned Gaia about producing a magnetic storm coil overnight, then caught Monica trying to slip away.
• Theus summoned Gaia and Monica to his office and found a pile of experimental proposals, including an assembly-line coyote breeding plan and pollution-based fish farming.
• Monica explained that pollution and electricity together made most fish grow larger instead of mutating drastically, while admitting that some still transformed in unusual ways.
• Monica revealed that the fish operation's meat-to-feed ratio had exceeded three thousand, shocking Theus.

Theus learned that Monica and Gaia’s fish experiments had produced enormous, talking fish and an electric fish that could convert pollution into electricity and back. He postponed the launchable lightning rod and ordered them to remove the one mounted above the church until they bred more electric fish.

• Monica told Theus that the mutated fish included talking fish, electrically discharging fish, and one as large as an ocean liner, which was kept in an isolated testing ground at Gem Bay.
• Monica explained that the giant fish willingly supplied meat in exchange for regular electric shocks, and Theus discovered Gaia had obtained approval for the second testing ground using his signature.
• Monica described how experiments to reverse the electricity used to mutate fish had yielded electric fish, which could store and release electricity while feeding on pollution or lightning.
• Monica revealed that a lightning generator could make the electric fish spit out Pollution, and Theus recognized its potential as a biological energy converter.
• Theus postponed approving the launchable lightning rod because they had found only one conversion fish, then told Gaia and Monica to take down the device above the church.

Theus prepared Gaia, Ken, and Zoe to visit the Mechanical Cathedral and offer it Castel’s technology, warning that both it and the Candlelight Society might oppose progress. He left the mission’s outcome to the Church’s response, with Castel and the prince’s forces ready to support the envoys or take action if negotiations failed.

• Theus ordered Castel’s storm generator and magnetic lightning rod dismantled for study, then chose Gaia, Ken, and Zoe as envoys to the Mechanical Cathedral and ruled out Monica because of the Symbiotic Pact and the danger of the journey.
• Theus explained that Castel wanted to offer technology as a gesture of goodwill, but warned Gaia that the Mechanical Cathedral might regard technological progress as heresy.
• Theus recalled the Candlelight Society’s persecution of technological reform and said Castel would take what it needed if the Church refused to cooperate.
• Theus told the envoys that Isaac and the Ashen Alliance would assist them, while Castel and the prince’s army were prepared to help them escape or advance if talks failed.
• Theus instructed the envoys to prepare for departure once a response arrived, noting that an outright rejection would simplify matters for the prince’s eager forces.

Theus prepared Zoe and Gaia for a diplomatic visit to the Mechanical Cathedral and expanded arms production while waiting for Erwin to return. The Cathedral accepted the visit in a friendly letter, but Chloe suspected the message had never reached it and that the Candlelight Society knew about the plan instead.

• Theus arranged handovers for Zoe and Gaia, prepared for the delegation, and expanded weapons production for the prince's army.
• Erwin returned from delivering the letter and told Theus that the Mechanical Cathedral had agreed to the visit and sent an invitation.
• Theus read the invitation and summoned Zoe and Gaia, who noted that the Candlelight Society's unusually friendly response contradicted its conservative stance toward technology.
• Gaia wondered whether the Candlelight Society's unexpected cooperation signaled a trap, and Theus called Chloe to assess the letter.
• Chloe declared the reply suspicious and proposed that Theus's letter had never reached the Mechanical Cathedral, asking how the Candlelight Society had learned of it.

Theus and the envoy delegation investigated the strange reply from the Mechanical Cathedral and waited for Isaac to report back, but he disappeared in Rhine. After Erwin argued that Isaac might still be alive, Theus ordered the delegation to proceed with its planned visit.

• Theus questioned Erwin about the Mechanical Cathedral's reply and learned that Isaac had gone to investigate it personally.
• Theus and the delegation waited for Isaac's intelligence, but several days passed without news, and inquiries to the Ashen Alliance confirmed that he was missing.
• Theus summoned the delegation, and Erwin recommended continuing to Rhine, arguing that Isaac might be trapped rather than dead.
• Chloe explained that Isaac's soul was not in the [Cocoon], suggesting he was alive unless an opponent had killed him before he could perform the ritual.
• Theus considered the possible roles of the Mechanical Cathedral, the Candlelight Society, Pope Ruo An, and Lina, then approved the visit as planned.

Theus sent Erwin, Gaia, and Zoe on a diplomatic mission to Rhine, warning them to prioritize their safety and authorizing them to trade steam rifles for technology. At White Stone Fort, local guide Frey met the visiting women and was tempted by the money in their pouches.

• Theus warned Erwin, Gaia, and Zoe that their mission to Rhine could be dangerous and told them to put their safety first.
• Theus authorized the trio to negotiate freely with the Mechanical Cathedral and trade their steam rifles for technology.
• Theus arranged for them to leave Blood Port by train the following morning.
• Frey recalled how the Expeditionary Force had taken White Stone Fort, executed the Black Hand Boss, and sentenced him to detention.
• Frey began guiding the visitors and sized up Gaia and Zoe as wealthy targets, but Gaia noticed his scrutiny and questioned him about his origins.
• Gaia pulled several Leos from her pouch as Frey watched and swallowed.

Frey tried to steal Leo from Zoe, but when his attempt failed, he returned the coins and asked to join her group. Zoe invited him to travel with them to the Empire, and the chapter ended as she offered to show him how they would cross the Wall of Despair.

• Frey used the Black Hand technique to snatch Leo from Zoe, but she was too fast for him.
• Frey returned the coins and explained that he had stolen only a few so their absence would go unnoticed.
• Zoe invited Frey to travel with her group to Rhine, and he accepted so he could leave White Stone Fort and see the world beyond the Wall of Despair.
• Zoe introduced herself and her companions Gaia and Erwin, then explained that they needed someone who could blend in among Imperial locals.
• Frey asked how the group planned to cross the Wall of Despair, and Zoe and Gaia offered to show him.

Frey crossed the Wall of Despair aboard a Castel airship and glimpsed a world beyond White Stone Fort, stirring his curiosity about what he might become. As the group approached Rhine City, Erwin outlined their plan to infiltrate the city and contact the Gray Alliance.

• Zoe showed Frey the Unicorn Type 78 airship, and Gaia explained how Castel's factories and workers produced it.
• Frey boarded the airship and watched White Stone Fort shrink below him as he crossed the Wall of Despair.
• Frey asked Gaia whether airships had captains, and Gaia, Zoe, and Erwin reacted with amusement and interest.
• Erwin told the group they would approach Rhine City by airship, secretly send Frey and his men ahead to make contact with the Gray Alliance, and use Castel's technology to project strength.
• Erwin reassured Gaia that the Gray Alliance's intelligence network remained active despite Isaac's disappearance and prepared to explain Rhine City's situation.

Frey arrived at Rhine City and discovered that the Candlelight clergy controlled entry by forcing the poor to recite doctrine while whipping them. The chapter ended with a priest using a machine to whip kneeling believers without getting up.

• Frey reached Rhine City with soldiers under Erwin after traveling with Zoe and the others, then tried to enter under a false identity.
• Frey watched a priest whip a man who struggled to recite Candlelight doctrine at the city gate.
• The priest made another impoverished man kneel and recite while he rested in a shaded armchair.
• Soldiers brought over a machine, and the priest used its turning wheel to make his whip strike the believers.

Frey entered Rhine after refusing to kneel before a Candlelight Society priest who whipped believers at the city gate. Meanwhile, Erwin, Zoe, and Gaia arrived by airship and were shocked by the state of Rhine.

• Frey saw a priest use a crank-driven machine to whip believers while the crowd watched with fanatical devotion.
• When the priest demanded that Frey kneel, Frey said he was not a Candlelight Society believer and presented his signed pass.
• The priest recognized Frey's pass, let him enter, and resumed whipping the kneeling believers as Frey passed beneath Rhine's candle emblem.
• Erwin, Zoe, and Gaia discussed the Empire's lack of air defenses and the airships' strength, while Gaia warned that bombing Rhine would destroy valuable technology and invite unknown retaliation.
• Erwin, Zoe, and Gaia reached Rhine by airship, looked down at the city, and were shocked by what they saw.

Erwin, Gaia, Zoe, and the Castel delegation arrived by airship at Rhine, whose towering, layered, spotless city differed sharply from the industrial place they expected. After Candlelight Society soldiers guided them to a central platform, the delegation disembarked to meet their hosts, and an unknown figure appeared before them.

• Gaia and Erwin remarked on Rhine's immense stacked levels, its many spires, and the absence of the factories described in their records.
• Erwin ordered the airship to descend under the Faithguard Army's guidance and instructed its crew to hover above the platform after the delegation got off.
• The airship landed at Rhine's central platform, where Gaia noted that the city had an air harbor and discussed earlier Steam Engine airships.
• Erwin, Gaia, and Zoe left the airship and walked onto a crimson carpet between rows of Candlelight Society soldiers and clergy.
• The soldiers struck their halberds against the ground, and an unknown person appeared before the delegation.

Gaia, Zoe, and Erwin arrived in Rhine and were greeted by Hela, the Mechanical Cathedral’s Grand Mechanist. As Hela led them toward the Gear Sanctuary, they learned that Pope Ruo An was unwell and saw a city whose sacred splendor seemed at odds with its reputation as an industrial center.

• Hela introduced herself to Gaia, Zoe, and Erwin, and unexpectedly shook hands with Gaia and Zoe.
• Hela said Pope Ruo An was in poor health and could not receive them, while Gaia sent the Pope greetings from Count Theus.
• Hela praised Theus’s loyalty to the Empire and suggested that he deserved a reward, leaving Erwin suspicious about the Church’s role in state affairs.
• Hela led the visitors through Rhine’s ornate elevated corridor, where they saw churches and priests but no factories, chimneys, or other signs of industry.
• Hela reached the Gear Sanctuary and asked the group to wait while she went inside.

Gaia, Zoe, and Erwin examined the Mechanical Cathedral and discovered its machinery worked through a fragile series of improvised rituals and defects. After Hela showed them the Cathedral’s maintenance rites, they entered the Gear Sanctuary and found a mechanical lecturer teaching about medical effects of metal implants.

• Gaia, Zoe, and Erwin noticed that the Mechanical Cathedral’s mechanical structures were illogical and inefficient.
• Hela operated the machinery by following a ritual, striking a pipe with a specific wrench to make it dispense thick paste.
• Gaia realized the Cathedral’s equipment depended on linked defects and fixed procedures, and concluded that it was a dead corpse.
• Hela maintained herself with the paste and holy lubricating oil before the believers manually opened the Cathedral’s doors.
• The group entered the Gear Sanctuary and saw a mechanical lecturer discuss metal implants, rejection reactions, and related physical and mental effects.

Castel's group visited the Gear Sanctuary, where the Gear Sage's advanced lecture overwhelmed Gaia and triggered Castel Syndrome. Hela's censer eased Gaia's symptoms, while Zoe realized the Mechanical Cathedral's believers might have worshipped the Gear Sage for centuries without understanding its teachings.

• Hela introduced the Gear Sage as a holy relic that lectured endlessly, though its teachings were too obscure for most believers to understand.
• Gaia examined the Gear Sage's advanced mechanical design and suffered cognitive displacement when its lecture exceeded her understanding.
• Hela asked what was wrong, and Zoe explained that Gaia had Castel Syndrome; Hela said no one in the Gear Sanctuary had ever suffered from it.
• Erwin helped Zoe realize that the Cathedral's believers might avoid the syndrome because they could not comprehend the Gear Sage's knowledge.
• Hela lit a forge censer, and its smoke helped Gaia recover.

Erwin and his companions presented a steam rifle to the Mechanical Cathedral, where Hela accepted it and agreed to discuss Castel’s proposed technology exchange. At Rhine Cathedral, the confined Beatrice revisited her collection of Castel goods and hinted that a ritual would soon make her a [Named One], while Hela stood beside her with lifeless, machine-like eyes.

• Erwin showed the Mechanical Cathedral the steam rifle, and a priest angrily condemned Castel for firing a sacred relic.
• Hela subdued the priest and arranged for Erwin and his companions to rest, saying she could discuss the exchange while the Pope was unavailable.
• Beatrice wandered through a hall of Castel goods at Rhine Cathedral, where her house arrest had eased since she became Empress.
• Beatrice examined her saved soaps and chose a berry-scented bar, remembering her happy days in Castel.
• Beatrice said the ritual was nearly successful and looked toward Hela, whose eyes appeared hollow and lifeless.