Chapter Summaries

Aaron learned about the poor workers’ growing agitation and the Hatless Alliance while drinking with Louis at a tavern. He concluded that the Empire’s inequality and political struggles were nearing a breaking point, with the Sun Church likely backing the unrest.

• Aaron bought Louis a drink after they discussed how people found ways to survive when they could no longer endure their lives.
• At the Black Rye Tavern, Aaron heard a young activist call for workers to unite, strike, and demand voting rights and passage of the Equal Rights Bill.
• Louis explained that the activists included poor people and sympathetic professionals, and belonged to the Hatless Alliance; he soon passed out from drinking.
• Aaron suspected a powerful force, possibly the Sun Church, was secretly supporting the march and the growing worker movement.
• Aaron considered how the Three Estates Parliament divided power among the Emperor and Sun Church, hereditary nobles, and a Third Estate dominated by capitalists.
• Aaron concluded that capitalists were exploiting workers while the Empire suppressed dissent, intensifying the conflict between divine authority, royal power, and the poor.

Aaron settled into a rented room in Plymouth after meeting Triss, a struggling young woman who had turned to street prostitution. Watching her share food with hungry children, he wondered whether the Empire needed to change.

• Aaron listened to a speech about poverty and exploitation in the Invis Empire, then left the beer hall and walked through a wealthy district.
• Triss offered Aaron her services, but he asked her to find him a quiet room to rent instead.
• Triss led Aaron to a room in Green George District, where he paid the Remingtons’ deposit and gave Triss three shillings.
• Aaron used a ritual to watch Triss return to the Lower City, buy rye bread, and share food with a group of children.
• Aaron reflected that Triss’s kindness amid hardship was rare and considered that the Empire might need to change.

Triss wished for her sick mother’s recovery from a mysterious figure in a dream, and her mother was healed the next morning. Meanwhile, Aaron explained to Mr. Remington that he planned to enter high society by getting an invitation to Lord Farnier’s ball.

• Triss dreamed of a fog-shrouded figure offering one wish and asked for her mother to regain her health.
• Triss’s mother woke with her cough gone, and Triss silently thanked the unknown being.
• Aaron revealed that he had cured Triss’s mother without expecting payment and decided not to give her money that might attract trouble.
• Aaron discussed coal stocks with Mr. Remington over breakfast and said he wanted to enter high society to expand his business.
• Aaron told Mr. Remington he planned to seek an invitation to Lord Farnier’s ball, while Mr. Remington doubted he would succeed.

Aaron met a secret royalist agent in Plymouth and arranged to attend Lord Farnier’s ball, where Princess Sophia could serve as a link to Emperor Arthur IX. He returned to the Remingtons’ residence, and Lord Farnier’s invitation arrived that same evening.

• Aaron used coded signals at Hymn Restaurant to contact Eusain, a senior Suppression Bureau director loyal to the Emperor.
• Eusain pledged to carry out Aaron’s instructions, and Aaron asked him to arrange a reasonable invitation to Lord Farnier’s ball.
• Aaron planned to use the ball to meet Princess Sophia, the communication bridge chosen by Arthur IX.
• Aaron returned to the Remingtons’ residence, where Mrs. Remington kept her distance and Mr. Remington warned him about swindlers.
• Lord Farnier’s butler arrived with an invitation for Para Lov Toman, leaving Mr. Remington stunned.

Aaron attended Lord Farnier’s masquerade under an invitation arranged by a noble, where he met Princess Sophia in a hidden shrine protected by the Keeper of Secrets. Sophia confirmed that Aaron had come to deal with the Child of Dawnbreak, but gave no reason for the Emperor’s decision to kill it.

• The Remingtons fawned over Aaron after he received an invitation to a noble’s ball, and a tailor arrived to prepare his masquerade attire and warn him that Princess Sophia would attend.
• Aaron wore a soldier’s uniform and silver-white mask to Lord Farnier’s ball, where Princess Sophia appeared as the center of attention.
• Aaron slipped upstairs and followed a masked maid into a private room, where she revealed a shrine to the Keeper of Secrets and prayed to conceal the room from supernatural scrutiny.
• The maid removed her mask and revealed herself as Princess Sophia, who confirmed Aaron had come to deal with the Child of Dawnbreak.
• Aaron asked why the Emperor had ordered the Child of Dawnbreak killed, and Sophia replied that the monster needed no reason to die.

Aaron learned why Princess Sophia wanted the Child of Dawnbreak dead and proposed using a notarized contract to trap Him. Sophia agreed to help, and the chapter ended with Aaron preparing to find a seemingly ordinary agreement the Child would inevitably break.

• Princess Sophia told Aaron that the Child of Dawnbreak had devoured members of the Sodoma royal family, including three emperors, and that she expected to be His next sacrifice.
• Sophia refused to bring Aaron before the Emperor, explaining that the Church's spies and the Child's divinations made it too dangerous, but said she could negotiate on her father's behalf.
• Aaron and Sophia made a contract to stand together against the Child of Dawnbreak until His death.
• Aaron proposed that Sophia get the Child to assent to a contract notarized by him and then make Him violate it, allowing Aaron to strike.
• Aaron revealed that he was Feathered Serpent, and Sophia pledged the royal family's support after hearing his estimate of success.
• Aaron and Sophia agreed that their next challenge was devising an ordinary-looking contract the Child of Dawnbreak would inevitably breach.

After meeting Aaron at the ball, Sophia reported his plan to Arthur IX, who prepared to enlist the Church in a scheme against the Child of Dawnbreak. The Emperor planned to make a major political concession while keeping a contingency ready if the assassination attempt failed.

• After leaving Aaron, Sophia used a winged double to disguise her departure from the ballroom.
• Sophia returned to Mitra Palace and told Arthur IX that Aaron wanted the royal family to secure a contract the Child of Dawnbreak would certainly violate.
• Sophia showed Arthur IX blank parchment and explained how to invoke the Spirit of Unknown Void as a witness to a verbal promise.
• Arthur IX decided to reveal his efforts to restrain the Child of Dawnbreak to the Pope of the Sun and promise to relax entry requirements for the Third Council.
• Arthur IX expected the Church to pressure the Child of Dawnbreak to tolerate the threat temporarily because a new Spirit Realm war was approaching.
• Arthur IX resolved to feign death and surrender the royal family's power if the plan failed, hoping to preserve the crown.

Aaron prepared to reforge the Sun King's Spear as the decisive battle approached, while Dairis, the South Innis tribes, and agents of the School received orders to converge on Plymouth. The chapter left multiple forces mobilizing for a coming conflict, with Salu assigned the School’s Unknowable Grade holy relic.

• Aaron swallowed the Alchemist’s remnant and planned to reforge the Sun King's Spear, hoping it could help kill the Child of Dawnbreak.
• Dairis received an oracle that the decisive battle was near and agreed to head to Plymouth, entrusting her students to Connie.
• Shahrukh watched the South Innis resistance army attack a colonial city as its shamans announced that the tribes’ demigods were heading for Plymouth.
• A monstrous White Tower appeared in Iron Tower City before a pillar of white light destroyed it, and Salu emerged from a fish after eating an Alchemist.
• Lady Cat ordered Salu to go to Plymouth and gave him control of the School’s Unknowable Grade holy relic.

Adelbert reported the rising heretic activity to Jupiter III, who revealed that the Sun Church planned to confront returning Outer Gods while negotiating with Emperor Arthur IX over the Divine Child. At Mitra Palace, Jupiter III and Arthur IX approached the Child of Dawnbreak, whose unsettling reaction left Sophia wary.

• Adelbert reviewed reports of heretics gathering in Plymouth and warned Jupiter III that secret organizations were becoming unusually active.
• Jupiter III told Adelbert that defeated beings in the Spirit Realm were preparing to return and challenge the Sun, and said the Church would purge their followers.
• Jupiter III revealed that Emperor Arthur IX had granted the Church greater authority in exchange for limiting the Divine Child's purifications, and said he would ask the Child to yield temporarily.
• Sophia followed Arthur IX and Jupiter III into the palace, where the Child of Dawnbreak played a piano piece called Moonlight Variations.
• The Child of Dawnbreak mistook their visit for an attempt to bring Him a midnight snack, then sat back down in disappointment.

Arthur IX negotiated a ten-year verbal contract with the Child of Dawnbreak to spare the Sodoma family in exchange for monthly collateral-family members and yearly direct-line members. The Child of Dawnbreak then warned Jupiter III that Feathered Serpent resembled his father, prompting the Pope to order a full search.

• Arthur IX offered the Child of Dawnbreak a contract, and they agreed that one collateral-family member per month and one direct-line member per year would be sent for up to ten years.
• Arthur IX told Jupiter III that the Church could command the Empire's senior Alchemists, while the royal family kept people to protect Sodoma.
• Arthur IX ordered Sophia to send her elder sister to the Child of Dawnbreak that night, and Sophia agreed.
• Jupiter III returned to ask the Child of Dawnbreak about the future, and the Child said danger was everywhere and that Feathered Serpent was behind it.
• The Child of Dawnbreak said Feathered Serpent resembled his father, and Jupiter III ordered the Inquisition and Suppression Bureau to search for him.

Inquisitor Vickfield was ordered to abandon his investigation of Para Lov Toman and prioritize capturing Feathered Serpent as violence spread through Plymouth. Aaron recognized the attacks as signs that war was beginning, while Sanu arrived at the Imperial Railway Station intent on igniting the conflict.

• Vickfield investigated Para Lov Toman’s connection to Lord Farnier, the Hymn Restaurant, and the Suppression Bureau, but Adelbert ordered him to focus on capturing Feathered Serpent.
• Aaron’s carriage was caught in a bombing, and he watched an armored figure crush a Crimson Extraordinary who had attacked the street.
• Aaron returned to the Green George District, reassured the Remingtons, and realized he had finished digesting the Alchemist and could advance to the Sixth Origin Quality.
• Aaron resolved not to act until the Spirit Realm moved, unless its forces had already fought Dawnbreak.
• Sanu arrived at the Imperial Railway Station carrying a white Persian cat and vowed to ignite the conflict.

Triss encountered Dairis during a deadly winter, while Dairis recognized the God of the End’s ritual threatening Plymouth and was confronted by Eusain and the Suppression Bureau. Meanwhile, Inquisitor Vickfield continued investigating Aaron and watched him travel to the Twin Clock Towers.

• Triss bumped into Dairis in the snow, and Dairis gave her money to buy coal and warned her to open the windows.
• Triss learned that Little Jack’s family had died after his father froze outside and the others likely suffocated while burning coal indoors.
• Dairis identified the cold and deaths as part of the God of the End’s “Gift of the End” ritual and reflected that the coming conflict would bring suffering whichever Age Controller prevailed.
• Eusain emerged from a doorway with implant-armored people and ordered them to capture Dairis, who surrendered to madness as battle loomed.
• Vickfield reviewed the information on Para and continued watching Aaron, who left by carriage for the Twin Clock Towers in Queen District.

As Dawnbreak attacked the Underworld Lord in the Spirit Realm, the battle unleashed undead across Plymouth. Sanu struck the Empire’s Parliament Building with crimson sorcery, and Vickfield confronted Aaron, who told him the show was only beginning.

• Aaron identified Dawnbreak’s attack on the Underworld Lord as the opening of the great battle in the Spirit Realm.
• The battle churned the River of Death and sent undead rising from cemeteries throughout Plymouth.
• Sanu approached the Parliament Building and used crimson sorcery to dissolve guards and bystanders, then blasted half the building.
• Vickfield realized Aaron had foreseen the attack and accused him of being one of its masterminds.
• Aaron gestured for Vickfield to be quiet and said the show had only just begun.

Sanu and South Innis’s demigods launched a surprise assault across Plymouth, forcing the Empire’s powerful figures to fight on multiple fronts. Sanu survived Adelbert’s fatal blow and killed the Chief Inquisitor, while the Spirit Realm faced the arrival of the Age Controller, the Lady of the Woods.

• Vickfield froze before Sanu, but the Bell of Mitra Palace isolated the attacked street and summoned powerful defenders, including Adelbert, Count Rook, and General Augustine.
• Sanu transformed into a giant and fought Adelbert, while a South Innis demigod and other native powerhouses attacked Plymouth’s financial center and critical facilities.
• Adelbert pierced Sanu’s chest, but Sanu recovered, drained Adelbert’s life, and prompted Count Rook to warn that Sanu could not die.
• In the Spirit Realm, the River of Death had mostly dried up, and the Lady of the Woods appeared as the Age Controller.

At Mitra Palace, Yao, the Child of Dawnbreak, defeated Sanu repeatedly while revealing his Law of Creation and his ability to revive the dead and create copies of himself across multiple Paths. The chapter left Yao’s other Longevity Beings spreading out to fight across Plymouth, while the Shadow incarnation attacked the indigenous demigod at the financial center.

• Yao appeared inside the Parliament Building, killed Sanu, and faced him again when False Immortality restored him.
• Sanu repeatedly returned from death and sealing, but failed to harm Yao as Yao toyed with him.
• Yao revealed his Law of Creation and restored Adelbert, Count Rook, and General Augustine to powerful bodies.
• Yao created Longevity Being counterparts for seven other Paths, bringing the number of present-world Longevity Beings to eight.
• Yao’s incarnations dispersed across Plymouth, and the Shadow incarnation attacked the black eagle and the indigenous demigod at the financial center.

Princess Sophia learned that Arthur IX had postponed the plan to kill the Child of Dawnbreak, so she prepared to act herself using experimental bio-armor. Meanwhile, Aaron Sothoth reasoned through the Child of Dawnbreak’s powers and revealed his identity as Feathered Serpent to Vickfield, who realized the investigation led back to Aaron.

• Arthur IX recognized that the Child of Dawnbreak could create seven avatars and hesitated to proceed with the plan to kill Him.
• Princess Sophia saw Christina’s abused corpse, received Arthur IX’s coded message postponing the plan, and resolved to act anyway.
• Sophia donned the dangerous Imperial Dragon-Type: Prototype bio-armor, which pierced her skin and caused her to cry out in agony.
• Aaron considered the limits of the Child of Dawnbreak’s creation power and concluded that He would need to be killed eight times to be eradicated.
• Aaron told Vickfield he would act only if the Child of Dawnbreak violated the contract and the Keeper of Secrets entered the battle, then revealed that he was Feathered Serpent.
• Vickfield realized his investigation into Feathered Serpent had led directly to Aaron and suspected a larger conspiracy involving the royal family.

The Child of Dawnbreak’s Crimson incarnation massacred allies and enemies in Jeston District, killed Princess Sophia, and triggered a stronger-than-expected backlash for breaking their agreement. As Dawnbreak prepared for the coming consequences, Aaron’s intervention brought the Mist of History into the Spirit Realm and began rewinding the battle against the Lady of the Woods and the River of Death.

• The Child of Dawnbreak’s Crimson incarnation cut through the native demigod, cultists, Church clerics, and military Your Majesties with blood-red threads.
• Sophia ambushed the incarnation in her implant armor, but He severed her at the waist and killed her despite her warning that He had violated their agreement.
• At Mitra Palace Square, Jupiter III demanded an explanation from Arthur IX, who claimed he knew nothing of Sophia’s actions while secretly smiling.
• The true Child of Dawnbreak sensed a worsening backlash from killing Sophia and breaking the verbal agreement, then resolved to deal with Sanu quickly so He could prepare.
• Aaron announced that the first prerequisite had been met, and Dawnbreak’s Remnant Chrysalis avatar restrained the Lady of the Woods’s power of change.
• The Mist of History enveloped the River of Death and the Lady of the Woods, restoring their former states, while a Night Curtain blocked the Pure White Sun’s attempt to interrupt the rewind.

Aaron used the influence of the Keeper of Secrets and Dawnbreak’s decisive battle to advance to the Sixth Primordial, becoming a Crown Bearer. Dawnbreak then unleashed half-Creator-level power, leaving the allied Age Controllers close to defeat.

• Aaron removed the black-and-white gemstone from the Fool's Crown and killed Vickfield before traveling to the Spirit Realm.
• Aaron swallowed the gemstone and used the battle between the Keeper of Secrets and Dawnbreak to lever the Spirit Realm’s power and complete his advancement to the Crown Bearer.
• Dawnbreak absorbed three Age Controller-level avatars and awakened half of the Crimson Creator’s power.
• Dawnbreak shattered the Mother of Night’s defenses, severed the River of Death, and set the woodland ablaze, bringing the alliance of four Age Controllers to the verge of collapse.

Aaron used the completed Law of Accident to bring a meteor crashing down on the Child of Dawnbreak’s Crimson avatar in Plymouth, while Arthur IX and Jupiter III protected the rest of the city. After the avatar survived the impact, Aaron pierced its heart with the Sun King’s Spear and began reforging the weapon using the avatar as a sacrifice.

• Aaron bestowed misfortune on the Child of Dawnbreak and gave himself a Lucky Accident enhancement.
• A meteor hurtled toward the Child of Dawnbreak’s Crimson avatar in Jeston District, while Arthur IX and Jupiter III rallied their forces to protect Plymouth’s other districts.
• The Child of Dawnbreak’s Shadow avatar failed to teleport Crimson away, and the meteor struck, reducing over half of Jeston District to ruins.
• Crimson survived the impact in a badly weakened state, but Aaron pierced its heart with the Sun King’s Spear.
• Aaron summoned Furnace Fire to consume Crimson and activated his prepared ritual arrays to reforge the Sun King’s Spear using a Longevity One as the sacrifice.

Aaron reforged the Sun King's Spear into the Sword in the Stone and used it to kill the Child of Dawnbreak, erasing its avatars and allies across Plymouth. He gathered the resulting remnants while Adelbert and two others survived only as spirit bodies after the Law of Creation ended.

• Aaron fused the broken Sun King's Spear with a monster and forged it into a rapier he named the Sword in the Stone.
• Aaron struck the Child of Dawnbreak with the sword, piercing its defenses and killing it.
• The sword's Annihilation Law erased the Child of Dawnbreak's avatars, the Longevity Ones across Plymouth, and Shadow's arriving avatar.
• Aaron silenced Sanu with a sword thrust, then collected the Child of Dawnbreak's remnant and Shadow's remains.
• The False Immortality cross's tiny heart exploded as the Persian cat watched a world-ending meteor.
• Adelbert and two others lost their bodies and spirituality when the Law of Creation ended, but their souls remained as spirit bodies.