Chapter Summaries

After Monica's arrival restored the wounded Banshees, Theus learned that Moth Chasing Flame could unleash [Chrysalis] to destroy the Pirate King's Court monsters, but the weapon demanded ten thousand voluntary souls. He contacted Chloe's soul inside the [Pupa], and she urged him to use the taboo as their last hope.

• Monica's immense life force healed more than a hundred wounded Banshees, and Nini accepted Monica and her companion after a Mind Synchronization.
• Theus returned to Castel Cathedral, told the Banshees to prepare for battle, and met Richard, who offered Moth Chasing Flame's forbidden weapon.
• Richard revealed that activating Brother Kaeschi, called [Chrysalis], required ten thousand voluntary souls, including at least fifty Transcendents.
• Richard explained that Chloe's soul was inside the [Pupa] and gave Theus a diary, dip pen, and knife to contact her with his blood.
• Theus wrote in the diary, and Chloe urged him not to fear using the taboo because it might be their last hope.

Theus learned from Chloe that the Pirate King was absorbing pollution and that killing him could save Castel, but he chose a different plan. Monica reversed the seawater’s flow, exposing a land route between Castel and Gem Bay and giving Castel the chance to counterattack.

• Chloe revealed that the Pirate King had redirected the Sea God Church’s sacrifices to himself and was sharing pollution through his connection with the cultists.
• Theus rejected Chloe’s plan to kill the Pirate King, saying her information had helped him find a better option.
• Theus told Monica to make the seawater recede, and she used her power as half a Sea God to send it rushing back toward the Storm Eye.
• The reversed waters spread rain across the Storm Ocean, while the Black Pearl’s crew and Castel’s defenders realized the sea was rising or receding around them.
• With Castel’s defenses no longer submerged or under assault, Theus declared it was time for Castel to counterattack.

The Faithguard Army and the Banshees defended Castel Cathedral until Monica used the Sea God's authority to drive back the seawater and turn the battle against the monsters. After celebrating their survival, Theus and Alexei discussed how to attack the Pirate King's Court in Gem Bay, and Theus chose both proposed plans.

• The Faithguard Army held Castel Cathedral against the sea urchins and Fishmen while Alexei organized defenses and explosive attacks.
• The Banshees arrived, cleared the Fishmen from the fortress, and helped the Faithguard Army repel the monsters.
• Monica reached Castel and made the seawater recede, allowing the defenders to defeat the monsters and save the island.
• Theus and Alexei reviewed the victory, and Alexei proposed bombing the Pirate King's Court or marching there with the Faithguard Army and Banshees.
• Theus decided to pursue both plans against the Pirate King's Court.

Theus sent a remotely controlled airship carrying a massive bomb to attack the Pirate King while the Faithguard Army prepared to advance. The bomb exploded above the Pirate King's Court, but Monica sensed that the Pirate King remained completely unscathed.

• Theus decided to launch an airship bombing while the Faithguard Army advanced on the ground.
• Nini and Monica guided an unmanned airship carrying a bomb packed with more than five tons of explosives toward the Pirate King's Court.
• Nini dropped the bomb, which detonated after the impact destroyed the airship and lit up the night sky.
• Theus ordered the nearby people informed about the explosion and asked Monica to check the Pirate King.
• Monica sensed that the Pirate King was still there and appeared completely unscathed.

After learning that the Pirate King had become immune to all damage, Theus realized that its power came from Pollution and proposed a way to exploit it. He left the chapter considering whether they could burn the Pollution.

• Theus questioned Monica about why the Pirate King had survived the bomb unharmed, then recalled that his ability had identified Chloe’s body as a shell.
• Theus wrote to Chloe, who warned him not to try to resurrect her and asked him to explain what had happened.
• Theus recounted the events, and Chloe concluded that the Pirate King had become a forbidden existence immune to every form of damage.
• Chloe revealed that she knew a possible solution, but Theus decided to look for another way because the price might be too steep.
• Theus realized that the Pirate King’s power came from Pollution and wondered aloud whether they could burn it.

Theus proposed trapping the Pirate King in a huge steam engine and having Monica summon a Machine Soul to make him burn himself as fuel. On Castel Island, Kyle’s patrol discovered a strangely dried-out Fishman and summoned a Banshee for help.

• Theus reasoned that the Pirate King might be able to harm himself and wrote his idea to Chloe in the diary.
• Chloe did not answer, but Theus took the trembling diary as agreement and believed his plan might work.
• Kyle patrolled Castel Island with his squad and regretted staying in the Faithguard Army instead of returning to the factory.
• Kyle and his patrol spotted a shriveled Fishman crawling toward them and sounded the warning whistle.
• A heavily armored Banshee arrived before the patrol.

Nini discovered that the island's monsters were dying and turning into Pollution, which was moving toward the Pirate King's Court. A colossal new airship passed overhead, and Nini revealed it would travel there to bring back an inexhaustible fuel source.

• Nini arrived after Kyle called for reinforcements and inspected the wounded Fishman.
• The Fishman died and immediately turned into Pollution, which began moving toward the Pirate King's Court.
• Nini learned from other observation posts that monsters across the area were dying without seawater and turning into Pollution.
• A gigantic yellow airship, the Sky Veil Behemoth Class, passed overhead, and Nini explained that Theus had ordered it built by combining several planned airships.
• Kyle worried that the island's factories would run out of fuel, and Nini said the airship would fetch a piece of fuel that would never burn out from the Pirate King's Court.

Theus sent Castel’s enormous Sky Veil Behemoth airship to Gem Bay to haul the pollution monster from the Pirate King’s Court, hoping to use the Storm Ocean’s pollution as fuel. While the airship operation began, he and Moth Chasing Flame prepared a much larger core furnace, and a researcher proposed increasing its size further.

• Theus decided to transport the Pirate King’s pollution monster in a giant airship after smaller plans to bring over a Pollution Serpent proved impractical.
• Moth Chasing Flame built the Sky Veil Behemoth Class airship, which took off from Castel’s Eastern Test Site and headed toward Gem Bay.
• Theus hoped the airship could lift or drag the monster so Castel could use the Storm Ocean’s pollution as fuel.
• Theus and Moth Chasing Flame began designing a new core furnace, but Chloe refused to help because she was already dead.
• A Moth Chasing Flame researcher asked Theus whether they should make the new furnace even bigger.

Theus considered Tartaglia’s proposal to hollow out Castel for a vast central furnace that could power factories and potentially propel the island. He agreed to have the plan refined, but Castel’s people struggled to figure out how to lift the enormous Pirate King for transport.

• Theus reviewed Tartaglia’s plans for a giant furnace inside Castel and recognized its potential to centralize steam power and support future electricity generation.
• Tartaglia proposed using Castel’s Webways as furnace maintenance routes and suggested the furnace could eventually power a propulsion system for the island.
• Theus was tempted by the possibility of using the Pirate King’s pollution to make Castel move or even fly, and told Tartaglia to refine the plan.
• Tartaglia introduced himself as Tata and said he had grown up on the Empire’s Western Frontier, which war had destroyed.
• Castel’s people began trying to transport the Pirate King, but the Banshees could not work out how to attach lifting slings to its enormous body.

Nini and Gaia argued over whether Banshees should risk approaching the Pirate King's monster to thread lifting cables beneath the airship. Nini reconsidered her rushed plan after Gaia and Theus opposed it, leaving the engineers to seek a safer approach.

• Nini proposed that armored Banshees thread the lifting cables directly beneath the Pirate King's monster, relying on their durability and shared Life Pool to survive injuries.
• Gaia objected that the monster could crush the Banshees and insisted that engineering plans could not treat injuries or deaths as acceptable costs.
• Gaia challenged Nini to design around unexpected accidents and the limits of the Banshees' abilities rather than what they could manage under normal conditions.
• Nini fell silent, recognizing that she had been rushing and relying on wishful thinking.
• Theus agreed with Gaia through the Mind Link, and Nini glared at the distant Banshees, asking who had broadcast the argument.

Theus oversaw plans for a centralized steam furnace and pipeline network beneath Castel as the island’s industrial system expanded. Meanwhile, Nini and Gaia used a massive quantity of explosives to free the Pirate King’s fused monster from the Pirate King’s Court, ending with a huge explosion witnessed by Theus.

• Tartaglia brought Theus blueprints for an improved design that Castel could build.
• Over the following months, Castel constructed a central furnace and a vast steam-pipe network beneath the island.
• Castel’s education system continued to produce engineers, while Theus considered creating advanced tiers to train researchers.
• Nini and Gaia discovered that the Pirate King’s monster was fused to the Court and decided to use explosives to separate it.
• Nini and Gaia stacked explosives beneath the monster, and Theus allowed the plan to proceed.
• An enormous blast at the Pirate King’s Court raised a mushroom cloud as Theus watched from a distant shelter.

Theus and the others lifted the monster above the dried seabed and prepared Castel Island’s furnace to test whether they could leave the Sea God Temple. During the ritual, Chloe’s diary let her answer Theus, while Gaia’s grief over her lost friend remained unresolved.

• Pollution Serpents held the monster above the former Pirate King's Court while Skyveil Behemoth hauled its enormous body into the air.
• Theus decided to test the nearly completed furnace on Castel Island, and Monica, Nini, and Gaia began the Steel Prayer ritual.
• Theus placed Chloe’s diary and portrait atop the furnace, and Chloe protested through her handwritten messages as he insisted she was being honored.
• Gaia performed the ritual through her tears and remembered losing her brother, Monica’s memories, and finally Chloe.
• Gaia refused to write in Chloe’s diary, while Chloe and Monica remained silent, unable to comfort their former friend.

After the Machine Soul ritual fell just short of completion, Theus and Gaia concluded that the furnace needed the Pirate King monster as fuel. They chose a plan to lower its main body into the furnace first, leaving Theus back in the real world wondering where he had been sent.

• Nini completed the ritual, but the furnace briefly flared and then went dark, leaving Monica unsure whether the Sea God's soul had entered it.
• Theus guessed that the Machine Soul needed the Sea God's flesh and blood as fuel and decided they should put the Pirate King monster into the furnace.
• Theus saw the monster's vast body and dangling Pollution Serpents arrive above Castel, while Gaia explained that the serpents weighed almost nothing.
• Gaia outlined two ways to load the monster, and she and Theus chose to put its main body into the furnace before burning it to complete the Machine Soul summoning.
• Theus arranged for the furnace ceiling to be removed and the monster to be lowered through Castel Cathedral, then returned to the real world and woke in his worker shell, confused about his location.

Theus found himself trapped in an iceberg in the frozen waters of Shen'an after the Storm Ocean refilled and apparently swept his shell away. He reconnected with Ken and the others at sea and learned that Tis was at war with the Empire, while Scepter warned them to avoid going ashore there.

• Theus discovered he was in a frozen sea, with his lower body trapped in an iceberg, and guessed that the returning seawater had carried his shell from the Storm Eye.
• Theus reopened his long-unused connection and heard French Fries and the others celebrate that they could contact Scepter again.
• Ken told Scepter that the crew had investigated Castel, Gem Bay, and the Corridor of Despair before the seawater surged back and saved them.
• Scepter explained that the Holy See ruled the Empire, Tis was at war with it, and the Candlelight Society, Silent Temple, mechanical priests, and three of Theus's grand dukes had joined the conflict.
• Scepter warned the crew not to go ashore in Tis and suggested they try the White Crow Duchy of Shen'an instead.

Theus learned that Gwen was presumed dead, though her thread showed she was still alive, and returned to Castel. The island completed the hoisting of the Pollution Serpent into the Central Furnace, which seemed to awaken or change after receiving the Sea God's flesh and blood.

• Theus heard the Holy See had retreated from the sea and learned that Scepter believed Gwen had died in the Northern Territory, but he felt her alive through their thread.
• Theus ended the link and returned to Castel as the Banshees used Mind Link to coordinate the hoisting operation.
• Zoe confirmed nearby residents had been evacuated and precautions were in place before Theus ordered the airship to lower the monster.
• Nini and the securing teams guided the Pollution Serpent's tentacles across Castel and positioned its main body above the furnace.
• The airship lowered the monster into the Central Furnace, causing the furnace to tremble and Monica to sense that it was yearning for the Sea God's flesh and blood.

Theus discovered that the Sea God's soul had awakened as the furnace's Machine Soul and urgently prepared to ignite it before its will could interfere with reality. As he felt what was missing from the furnace, he called Monica and realized the workers above it had to be evacuated.

• Theus arranged for the Banshees to position the Pollution Serpents around the furnace while Moth Chasing Flame researchers and the Skyveil Behemoth installed its lid.
• When the lid was completed, the Sea God's soul awakened inside the furnace and its will reached Theus.
• Theus ordered Nini to summon everyone and move the ignition to that night because the Machine Soul was close to igniting itself.
• Theus sensed that the Machine Soul wanted to burn the polluted flesh and that he could ignite the furnace with a thought, but something essential was missing.
• Theus called Monica through the Mind Link and noticed workers were still on the platform above the furnace, prompting him to evacuate them.

Theus and the Banshees ignited the furnace, breaking the barrier that had trapped Castel and returning the island to the real world. Monica survived her dangerous fall but reverted to her original small form, and the returning memories left the Banshees confused and grieving.

• Theus warned the workers to evacuate as the furnace neared ignition, and Monica jumped from the airship to reach it.
• Monica slowed her fall with a hoisting rope, badly injuring herself before crashing onto the furnace.
• The furnace awakened, repaired itself, and blazed to life when Theus ordered it to ignite.
• A pillar of red light broke Castel's barrier, and the Faithguard Army realized the island had returned to the real world.
• Theus found Monica alive but unconscious and back in her original form, then carried her down from the furnace.
• The Banshees remembered Monica, and Ash pushed through the crowd and wept when she saw her.

After the Machine Soul crisis ended and Castel returned to reality, Theus reflected on how the territory had become his home while its people mourned their fallen. The chapter left Castel preparing to confront its enemies, with Theus vowing to rescue Nora and settle the score with Count Bazel.

• Theus and the Banshees tended to Monica as Castel’s people learned they had returned to reality and celebrated beneath the stars.
• Theus gave Alexei instructions, then reflected on how his subjects’ loyalty and shared hardships had made Castel his home.
• Moth Chasing Flame and the people of Castel held funerals for their dead, while Gaia buried flowers and a letter for Chloe.
• Theus resolved to return for Nora and personally settle accounts with Count Bazel.
• The Skyveil Behemoth sounded its horn over Castel, and Theus vowed that Blood Port, Tis, the Northern Territory, the Empire, and the Holy See would face Castel’s might.

After returning to reality, Theus realized Connor’s airship was still missing and suspected it might have been detained in Tis. With no ships left in Castel, he sent Ash to Gem Bay to search for surviving vessels and pirate treasure while planning a shipyard.

• Theus recalled that Connor’s airship had never returned and wondered whether Tis had detained its crew.
• Theus realized Castel had become a major power but had no ships, so he planned a shipyard near the southern steelworks.
• Theus asked Ash to take people to Gem Bay and look for surviving ships.
• Ash said he knew former sailors who could teach him to sail, and Theus asked him to bring back as many vessels as possible.
• Theus decided Gem Bay was the first priority because Castel needed ships and the defeated pirates might have left treasure.

Theus planned to secure Gem Bay for its pirate treasure and valuable bird-dropping deposits, which could provide Castel with fertilizer and food independence. He sent Ash and more than thirty Banshees to explore the bay, while preparing to search for the Black Pearl.

• Theus decided Gem Bay’s treasure and saltpeter-rich bird droppings could help Castel acquire wealth and become self-sufficient in food.
• Theus sent Ash and more than thirty Banshees to investigate Gem Bay and ordered a search for the Black Pearl.
• Theus planned to return to his office and use Worker Theus’s body to estimate the Black Pearl’s location and listen for clues from Jeremiah and Ken.
• Ash led the Banshees from Castel’s eastern grottoes into the sea, where they swam and played before heading toward Gem Bay.