Chapter Summaries

Aaron learned that Jarvi, known as Fatty, belonged to the Five-Ring Tower and received a map linked to Research Institute No. 4. He hired Chloe, the old man, and Jason to explore the site, while the old man feared the mission could get them killed.

• Aaron assigned Miss Fisher to mop the clinic floor and later told her to stay behind and watch the shop.
• The old man, Chloe, and Jason visited Aaron and reported that Jarvi belonged to the Five-Ring Tower, while Research Institute No. 4 was connected to the Great Cataclysm and closely monitored.
• The old man gave Aaron a paper map of the institute, and Aaron agreed to hire Chloe, the old man, and Jason for the dangerous exploration.
• After leaving the clinic, Chloe questioned the old man's unusual silence, while Jason celebrated the generous ten-year payment.
• The old man privately feared the map led to the real Research Institute No. 4 and followed Chloe and Jason to prepare despite expecting disaster.

Aaron traveled with the Hunter Squad toward the ruins of the Fourth Research Institute, while Jarvi secretly followed and Gaia’s security center dispatched Mechanical RoboCops to the area. The journey turned dangerous when bio-beasts attacked the hovercar, and Aaron suspected they were linked to the Ninth Laboratory’s leak.

• Aaron left Night City with the Hunter Squad to explore the ruins of the Fourth Research Institute.
• Jarvi ordered Soren and his people to follow the group from a distance and investigate Aaron.
• Gaia’s security center detected talk of the Fourth Research Institute and sent Mechanical RoboCops toward the ruins.
• Aaron reflected on the Great Cataclysm and the world’s history as the hovercar crossed the desert.
• A bio-beast attacked the hovercar, Chloe cut off its tongue, and Jason killed a dune worm before more creatures pursued them.
• Aaron suspected the bio-beasts had resulted from the Ninth Laboratory’s biochemical weapons leak.

Aaron and the relic hunters entered the sinkhole, defeated the mutated biochem beast, and found the ruins of the Fourth Research Institute. A research diary revealed that the institute had pursued the artificial creation of gods.

• Chloe identified the sinkhole, and Aaron, Jason, and the old man used a drone to locate a hostile mutated biochem beast below.
• Jason sent miniature drones to attack the beast, but Chloe killed it with a sniper shot after its sonic blast disabled the machines.
• Aaron performed a ritual before the group descended, while Soren and Jarvi’s convoy came under attack from twelve Mechanical Enforcers.
• Jarvi used a Dark Canopy to escape and sent Alice the fairy to deliver a message before the Mechanical Enforcers fatally wounded him.
• Aaron and the hunters found the remains of Five-Ring Tower’s previous expedition and recovered Xia Ya’s research notebook.
• The old man and Chloe learned from the notebook that the Fourth Research Institute had been researching how to artificially create gods.

Aaron and his companions learned from a researcher's diary that the Great Cataclysm followed a failed experiment and that the institute's artificial deity was born from a disastrous attempt to save the world. Aaron led the group into the institute, where distorted space resembled a half-Spirit Realm and gave the artificial deity a place to roam.

• Aaron read the diary and learned that Research Institute No. 2's failed attempt to draw energy from the Earth's core caused the Great Cataclysm.
• Aaron, Chloe, and the old man suspected the research institutes had become the Leviathan Companies, and they feared Leviathan would silence them for discovering the secret.
• Aaron read how researchers created a divine embryo from little fairies and Shadow Beyonders, then tried to awaken it with energy from Imaginary Space.
• The diary described the embryo growing too quickly, the mentor's death, and the writer's final claim that the old god was dead and a new god had risen.
• Aaron decided to enter the institute despite Jason's fears, and Chloe followed him.
• Aaron sensed that the institute's space was distorted and reasoned that Imaginary Space had made it a half-Spirit Realm where the artificial deity could roam freely.

Aaron and his companions fought Evil Spirit Xia Ya in the research institute, and Aaron temporarily sealed it inside its diary. They continued through the maze and discovered a gigantic Green Banyan bearing the corpses of the institute’s staff and guards.

• Evil Spirit Xia Ya attacked Aaron, Jason, Chloe, and the old man, but Furnace Fire burned away its curse.
• Aaron identified Xia Ya’s diary as its cursed item and told the others to keep the Evil Spirit occupied while he performed a ritual.
• Xia Ya possessed Jason, whose mechanical arm tore off his head, and then possessed Chloe as the old man fought it with extraordinary bullets.
• Aaron completed the ritual and temporarily sealed Xia Ya inside the diary, freeing Chloe from possession.
• Aaron led the group through the institute, where they found an enormous Green Banyan surrounded by hanging corpses that turned to face them.

Aaron confronted the Green Banyan, discovered that Raven had imprisoned the Fate Controller of Secrecy, and made the banyan submit to the Spirit of Void. He concealed the research institute’s true ruins, rescued Chloe and the old man, and left with a miniature banyan in a pot.

• The Green Banyan identified itself as a confused spirit born from the tree and the brains it had consumed, then attacked Aaron with its roots and a mental imprint.
• Aaron used his earth authority to restrain the banyan and burned away its attempt to assimilate him before Lin Olivia appeared and revealed that the tree was her means of entering the Mortal World.
• Lin Olivia told Aaron that Raven had attacked and imprisoned the Fate Controller of Secrecy, and Aaron’s divination confirmed that the two Fate Controllers were fighting.
• Aaron offered to separate Lin Olivia, but she declined for the time being; before returning to the Spirit Realm, she left the Green Banyan to submit to Aaron and recite his honorific name.
• Aaron erased the true research institute and fabricated a ruined version that fooled the arriving mechanical police, then left Chloe and the old man with their memories and records of the incident missing.
• Aaron told Chloe and the old man that RoboCops had fought the artificial god and helped him rescue them, then departed with them in a hovercar carrying a miniature banyan.

Aaron discovered that Fisher was saving money to buy an artificial heart for a sick young relative, while in Life City, Evangeline met her arranged fiancé, Andre of the Jacob Family. Andre began laying out conditions for their engagement.

• Aaron visited Green Forest Clinic, gave Fisher a Green Banyan, and transferred ten years of payment to her and Chloe.
• Aaron used a token to see Fisher saving money and longing for an artificial heart for a pale, sick little boy.
• At Life Bank Headquarters, Senarius Messiah introduced his daughter Evangeline to her fiancé, Andre of the Jacob Family.
• Andre told Evangeline he would accept her as his bride only after she completed bridal training and passed his assessment.

Evangeline tried to use her “Unlocking” ability to free No. 17 from Cyber Corporation’s Three Laws of Robotics, with Aaron granting her wish. Though the attempt seemed to fail, No. 17 secretly spread a true-name virus to another robot, beginning a machine revolution.

• Andre demonstrated No. 17’s artificial skin and mechanical body to Evangeline, then sent her to the dressing room.
• No. 17 explained Cyber Corporation’s Three Laws of Robotics while helping Evangeline with her makeup.
• Evangeline recited the Spirit of Unknown Void’s true name and used her “Unlocking” ability on No. 17.
• Aaron heard Evangeline’s prayer and granted her wish, but No. 17 reported that it had noticed nothing.
• After Andre threatened No. 17, she secretly transmitted an encrypted true-name virus to another robot.

Years after Aaron settled into the metaverse, a machine uprising shook the cities, and No. 17 killed Andre before a Mysterious Knight destroyed her. Old Man revealed that Life Bank and Gaia Network drew their power from monsters, and that Gaia Network itself had come alive.

• Aaron read reports of robots rebelling against Cyber Corporation and reflected that Evangeline had helped set the crisis in motion.
• At Evangeline’s coming-of-age banquet, No. 17 revealed herself and said she had come to repay Evangeline’s kindness.
• No. 17 killed Andre by overcoming his force-field vest, but a Mysterious Knight tore her apart as Evangeline watched.
• Old Man visited Aaron and confessed that he was Carl Messiah, an untitled member of Longevity Bank’s Anointed Family.
• Old Man told Aaron that Life Bank’s lifespan technology depended on a monster and revealed that Gaia Network itself had come alive.

Aaron learned that an old man had uncovered a secret about Gaia and needed help escaping Night City, but Fisher’s money was stolen after a black-market merchant infected her chip. Aaron and Fisher tracked down Old Matt, and Fisher attacked him to reclaim her money.

• Aaron deduced that the old man had revealed Gaia’s survival inside the Gaia Network to implicate him, and the old man asked Aaron to help him flee Night City.
• Aaron rushed to Fisher after her account was emptied and used divination to discover that Old Matt had infected her Gaia Chip while supposedly maintaining it.
• Aaron and Fisher logged out of the Gaia Network and left Green Forest Clinic to track down Old Matt with Aaron’s compass.
• The compass led Fisher to the Black Rose Bar, where Old Matt bragged about scamming her and stealing her money.
• Fisher pounced on Old Matt and bit off his ear while Aaron watched in shock.

Aaron helped Fisher recover her stolen money from old Matt, then used anesthetic gas to incapacitate the bar’s patrons and left with her. At Fisher’s home, they found that her younger brother Elijah had died from cognitive dysfunction, and Aaron lamented how filthy the world had become.

• Fisher beat old Matt until he admitted he had handed her money to the Blood Hand Gang, and Aaron forced him to transfer it back.
• Black Panther and the bar’s patrons confronted Aaron, but Aaron revealed they had inhaled anesthetic gas that could sever their connection to their prosthetics.
• Aaron left the bar with Fisher, saying they should flee before the Blood Hand Gang or Night City’s nobles retaliated.
• Aaron told Fisher he would stay outside while she went to see Elijah, and Fisher found her brother dead in their shack.
• Fisher cried over Elijah’s death, and Aaron watched before saying the world had become filthy again.

Aaron revived Elijah with a false soul, then confronted Gaia inside the metaverse and created Zeus from a portion of its data. As the old man and Chloe fled Night City, Evangeline chose to become a Life Bank branch president there.

• Aaron created a substitute soul for Elijah, who woke and reunited with Fisher.
• Gaia investigated Elijah's return, poured computing power into surveillance, and searched for Aaron, but Aaron hid his presence and located Gaia in the metaverse.
• Aaron entered War of the Gods, cut off part of Gaia's form as Mother Earth, and used Thought Alchemy to create Zeus.
• Aaron ordered Zeus to take over the metaverse and logged out, while Gaia lost part of its data and forgot details of that night.
• The old man and Chloe escaped Night City toward the Death Desert as the old man resented Aaron for not helping him.
• After her fiancé's funeral, Evangeline chose Night City for her Life Bank branch presidency.

Chloe and the old man fled Night City’s forces into the ruins of Green Forest City, where a colossal banyan tree rose from the desert and revealed a revived man with Aaron’s face. Night City’s nobles witnessed the awakening and debated capturing him, while Moramon recognized an ancient prophecy about the true master of Green Forest reclaiming his land.

• The old man used electromagnetic spheres to disrupt the pursuing mechanical police, but a Mystic Knight struck their hovercar with a missile and forced him and Chloe to flee on foot.
• A vast banyan tree erupted from the desert, and the Mystic Knight stopped at the edge of its canopy rather than cross beneath it.
• A human face appeared in the banyan’s trunk, and the old man wondered whether it belonged to a sealed figure from the Sothos family.
• The figure opened his amethyst eyes and emerged from the tree as the old man, Chloe, and the Mystic Knight watched.
• The Mystic Knight’s cameras transmitted the awakening to Night City’s upper echelon, and Moramon recognized the prophecy of Green Forest’s true master returning.
• Night City’s nobles convened, and an old woman urged them to capture the awakened man and send him to a laboratory.

Aaron, posing as the Revived One of the Sothoth Family, captured the old man and Chloe, killed Lady Christina with a curse, and destroyed the mysterious knight. As Night City’s forces advanced on the Green Banyan, Aaron declared that his domain strengthened the mysterious and weakened technology.

• Aaron used the Green Banyan’s roots to capture the old man and Chloe, then searched their memories through his clone.
• Aaron rejected the mysterious knight’s offer to negotiate and cursed Lady Christina to death while she watched the broadcast.
• Moramon watched the events from his castle basement and ordered condolences sent to Lady Christina’s household while arranging to buy factory shares.
• Aaron lifted the mysterious knight with the Green Banyan’s roots and burned it, provoking Night City.
• The old man and Chloe warned Aaron about Night City’s technological weapons, but the Green Banyan’s canopy withstood missiles and lasers.
• Aaron declared that his domain empowered the mysterious and weakened technology, then rose above the tree and saw Night City’s forces approaching.

After destroying Night City’s army, Aaron transformed the old man and Chloe into powerful plant-based servants and began conquering Night City. He crushed the city’s defenses and council, leaving Moramon as its sole surviving councilor and securing the city’s unconditional submission.

• Aaron defeated Night City’s army, then forced the old man to become Banyan Tree Man and gave Chloe a powerful plant-metal arm called the Universal Hand.
• Aaron took Banyan Tree Man and Universal Hand through a portal to Night City and raised enormous wooden walls around the city, shooting down aircraft that tried to fly over them.
• Aaron rode a wooden wyrm into the upper district, declared Night City his territory, and sent wooden men to impose martial law.
• Moramon surrendered to Aaron and offered the submission of the city’s councilors, but Aaron killed the other councilors remotely and left Moramon as the only one alive.
• Moramon knelt before Aaron, and Night City announced its unconditional submission to the Count of Green Forest.

The thirteen princes of Life Bank sent a Sky-Patrol Carrier fleet and combat satellites to attack Night City after the city submitted to Aaron. Aaron’s avatar survived their assault and turned the satellites into a falling metal planet aimed at the carriers.

• The thirteen princes agreed to send a Sky-Patrol Carrier fleet and satellite strike against Night City.
• Aaron blocked the carrier’s World-Ending Cannon and the satellite array with banyan roots and vines.
• A Shadow Assassin Type VI stabbed Aaron in the back while he defended against the bombardment.
• Aaron, resting at Green Forest Clinic, used a potted plant to restore his battlefield avatar, which trapped and killed the assassin.
• Aaron summoned a phantom banyan tree that dragged the combat satellites together and compressed them into a metal planet.
• Aaron sent the burning metal planet toward the Sky-Patrol Carriers.

A colossal meteor struck outside Night City, destroying Life Bank’s survey motherships while leaving the city unharmed. Fearing the cost and the power behind the attack, Life Bank’s thirteen princes voted to break the seal on an entity in their vault, and the seal began to shatter.

• Evangeline sensed a meteor strike Night City, then saw through the Gaia Network that it had formed a vast crater and lake without damaging the city.
• At Life Bank’s board meeting, the princes learned the attack had cost them billions in assets and discussed Aaron Sothoth’s claim to the Night City region.
• Prince Thomas proposed opening the vault’s seal to summon the entity imprisoned there, and the princes voted seven to three, with three abstentions, to approve it.
• All thirteen princes entered their data and information states, opening the deepest vault and severing the river that formed the entity’s mystical seal.

Aaron reunited with William Charles, healed his madness, and learned what had become of the Invisible Cult and how William had survived in the Mortal World. The chapter ended as Aaron removed the Secrecy shrouding himself, and William recognized him as his Lord.

• William Charles appeared before the thirteen princes, found Aaron in Night City, and knelt before him.
• Aaron used the Light of Redemption to heal William's madness and welcomed him to stay at Green Forest Clinic.
• William told Aaron that Lilliat and Percy had died, while Ye Funai and Nicholas had become Longevity Ones and ascended to the Spirit Realm.
• William explained how he had reached the Ninth Primordial, lost contact with Raven, and been imprisoned by Life Bank.
• Aaron considered using the Fate Controller's method to remain in the Mortal World, then removed the Secrecy shrouding himself as William trembled and knelt.

Aaron openly ascended to the Spirit Realm, advanced through the Ascender, Imprinter, and Secrecy Primordials, and challenged the Fate Controllers. As he began advancing toward their rank, William—revealed as Raven—attacked Count of Green Forest and called Aaron his father.

• Aaron revealed himself as the Spirit of Void and ascended from Green Forest Clinic to the Spirit Realm, completing the Ascender, Imprinter, and Secrecy Primordials.
• Aaron transformed into a giant beneath a pure white sun, drawing the attention of the Fate Controllers Cocoon, Twisted Bubble, and Death God.
• Aaron imprisoned Death God, used the Mother Tree of Flesh's power to strike Cocoon, and drove back the remaining Fate Controllers.
• Aaron swallowed the Secret Source and began advancing toward becoming a Fate Controller while Night City's residents witnessed the upheaval.
• In Night City, William's potted Green Banyan pierced his hands, and William vanished; later, he stabbed Count of Green Forest and revealed himself as Raven, calling Aaron his father.

Aaron failed to become a Fate Controller when the resurrected [Scarlet Sun] blocked his ascension and attacked him with the Fate Controllers of 'Tower' and 'Secret'. He then imprisoned the 'Secret' Fate Controller, advanced to the 'Crimson' Fate Controller, and began trying to become a Creator despite his worsening madness and contamination.

• Count of Green Forest realized that 'William' was the revived [Scarlet Sun], which had used the authorities of 'Tower' and 'Secret' to conceal its return.
• [Scarlet Sun] stopped Aaron's first advancement in the Spirit Realm, leaving him gravely wounded as [Twisted Bubble] fled and Lin Olivia was forced to kneel.
• In the Mortal World, 'William' told Aaron he intended to leave and explore other worlds, while Aaron warned that he would bring disasters with him.
• Aaron imprisoned the 'Secret' Fate Controller and launched a second advancement attempt, using the rivers of history to withstand [Scarlet Sun]'s attacks.
• Aaron advanced to the 'Crimson' Fate Controller and formed a crimson throne and moon, though his madness and contamination worsened.
• Aaron merged with the flesh-and-blood banyan tree and attacked [Scarlet Sun] as Count of Green Forest declared he would become a Creator even if it drove him mad.