Chapter Summaries

Tatyana and the Sisterhood mourned the sisters killed at Fimbulwinter, while Sophia and Victoria Hand sought War Machine armaments from Stephanie. Beneath the City of Immortals, Salomon guarded the boy whose fingertips still emitted pale blue light as Chaos God Asa disappeared.

• Tatyana recited the names of the fallen sisters during a vigil at Glory Memorial Hall, where Tita honored their sacrifice and the sisters prayed for them.
• Tatyana carried Vera's coffin and thought she saw Vera smiling in the mural before leaving the hall.
• Sophia and Victoria Hand met Stephanie at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and asked for War Machine armaments, but Stephanie said neither she nor Mars could authorize them.
• Praetorian Guards watched over the boy in a magic circle beneath the City of Immortals, where Salomon asked what he planned to do now that Chaos God Asa had disappeared.

Salomon negotiated a binding soul contract with the benevolent half of Chaos God Asa, then let the soul reincarnate as a human. After the funerals, Stephanie told Salomon the City of Immortals needed new recruits and better-trained soldiers.

• Salomon told the boy he would let him reincarnate only after they signed a soul contract, and warned that he would otherwise be imprisoned.
• The boy criticized Salomon's distrust and examined the contract, which would bind his soul through every reincarnation even after his memories were lost.
• The boy signed the contract, called Salomon an abhorrent soul, and wished him luck before Salomon lifted the seal.
• Salomon left the prison with Constantine and said they still had several funerals to attend.
• After the collective funeral, Stephanie told Salomon the City of Immortals needed a new population source and stronger education and tactical training for Sisterhood recruits.

Salomon handled City of Immortals business and prepared for the separation of Kamar-Taj from the Sorcerer Supreme title. He then arranged for Rosa and Balder to travel the world, leaving Balder under Kamar-Taj's rules.

• Salomon told Stephanie to have Tita retrieve Jacob's Limbs as a reward for the Sisterhood and left training and military matters to Stephanie and General Hale.
• Stephanie brought Salomon into the office to review weapons plans, construction proposals, and other City of Immortals business.
• Salomon considered how to separate Kamar-Taj from the Sorcerer Supreme title while keeping the titleholder under Kamar-Taj's control.
• Salomon gave Balder a bank card and passport and explained how they would monitor his and Rosa's movements through their spending.
• Rosa, Balder, Bayonetta, Jeanne, and Salomon set off by bus with Rosa's luggage, while Salomon warned Balder to follow Kamar-Taj's rules and not summon Extra-dimensional Beings.

Salomon returned his attention to the City of Immortals and began arranging relief and reconstruction efforts after the Fimbulwinter Campaign. He then went to approach Stephen Strange, whose hands he had secretly cursed, but Strange skipped their appointment to leave with his girlfriend.

• Balder refused to take a private jet, and Salomon sent him and Rosa off on a trip before returning to Kamar-Taj.
• Salomon ordered the City of Immortals to secure oil rights near buried Noahduen Town and establish a charitable foundation to compensate for war damage, despite Stephanie's concerns about the cost and political backlash.
• Salomon reviewed the City of Immortals' performance in the Fimbulwinter Campaign and discussed his preparations for Stephen Strange with The Venerable One.
• Salomon retrieved a powerful curse meant to prevent Strange's hands from healing and went to the hospital to meet him.
• Christina Palmer told Salomon that Strange had an emergency operation, but Salomon knew Strange had gone home early with his new girlfriend.
• Salomon told Palmer that someone wanted to acquire the hospital and said he would visit another time.

Salomon reflected on the hardships he believed Stephen Strange needed before he could bear responsibility, then set aside the Fimbulwinter Campaign’s aftermath to return to his home life. Tony Stark confronted him about the Kazakhstan disaster, but Salomon refused to explain and criticized Stark’s attempt to atone for his sins.

• Salomon considered ways to test Stephen Strange’s talent and character, including making Christina Palmer responsible for his medical projects, and kept Illyana Nikolayevich Rasputin as a possible future Sorcerer Supreme.
• Salomon recalled how the Venerable One had exposed him to possible futures and how he had endured hardship without losing the principles he had been taught.
• After returning to New York, Salomon ate dinner with Dinah and Jeanne, while the Witch dealt with the Fimbulwinter Campaign’s aftermath by drinking heavily.
• Tony Stark met Salomon in a bar and asked him to account for the Kazakhstan disaster and its economic consequences.
• Salomon refused to comment, told Stark that the White House had sent him to ask, and criticized him for believing he could repay his sins alone.

Salomon discussed Tony Stark’s compromise with intelligence agencies and the danger facing the Avengers, then secretly left to act against the Rockefeller family. Stark kept quiet about Salomon’s disappearance as their deal advanced the City of Immortals’ plans to enter the energy sector.

• Salomon read Stark’s thoughts and revealed that intelligence agencies were monitoring the Avengers and already knew about Stark’s dealings with the Rockefeller family.
• Stark explained that he was compromising to protect Pepper, the Avengers, and his employees from government retaliation.
• Salomon said he was ready to take responsibility but rejected Stark’s assumption that he wanted to become a public hero.
• Salomon vanished from the bar, and Stark told the agents that he did not know where the superpowered target had gone.
• Stark agreed to keep silent while Salomon worked to delay the Rockefeller family’s move into new energy and the Malik family prepared to enter the energy market.

After securing Stark’s cooperation, Salomon ordered Stephanie to bring Ruby to the City of Immortals and use her to gain leverage over General Hale. He also prepared the City of Immortals for a future war against the Inhumans on the Moon, while Ruby arrived unaware of the plans surrounding her.

• Salomon returned to the City of Immortals and discussed taking resources from powerful tycoons with Stephanie and Gideon Malick, who urged Stephanie to produce an heir.
• Salomon ordered Stephanie to bring Ruby to the City of Immortals without telling General Hale, and Stephanie proposed training Ruby to weaken Hale’s influence over her.
• Salomon assigned Aura to support Stephanie and investigate General Hale’s military bases, while revealing intelligence about the lunar Inhumans and their hostility toward humanity.
• Stephanie agreed that the Inhumans must submit or be destroyed, and she began preparing training and weapons programs for a Lunar War.
• The City of Immortals began building vacuum-training and weapons-testing facilities, while Stephanie launched her plan to control General Hale.
• Ruby was brought before Salomon without realizing she had fallen into a trap.

Salomon prepared the City of Immortals for its next war while helping the Sisterhood cope with Catherine’s sacrifice and strengthening its counterintelligence and recruitment efforts. He warned Shuri that the coming conflict would be fought against the Inhumans on the Moon, whose technology and genetic mutations would make them formidable enemies.

• Salomon explained that Catherine’s soul could return temporarily through spirit magic, and he arranged for Tita to keep her spare body as a vessel while expanding the Sisterhood’s recruitment.
• Salomon planned counterintelligence training for the Sisterhood’s commanders, expecting the CIA to infiltrate the City of Immortals, and sought Natasha Romanoff’s help with security.
• Shuri accepted Salomon’s militaristic preparations after reviewing the Fimbulwinter Campaign and began investigating Wakandan legends about Bastet.
• Salomon warned Shuri against pursuing dangerous magic and told her the City of Immortals would soon face a highly organized enemy with advanced technology.
• Salomon revealed that the next enemy was the Inhumans on the Moon and offered to show Shuri their mutated forms through divination magic.

Salomon prepared the City of Immortals for a future war against the Inhumans while concealing parts of his genetic research from Shuri. Stephanie recruited Ruby as a spy to keep General Hale in check, and Salomon warned that the plan needed a backup.

• Salomon planned to conquer Attilan and force the Inhumans to choose between loyalty to humanity and death, while keeping them confined to the moon if they submitted.
• Salomon sought Shuri’s help developing antigravity armored units and withheld his research into removing mutated genes from Kree lineages.
• Stephanie brought Ruby before Salomon and persuaded her to become a Hydra agent who would report to General Hale while concealing the plan.
• Stephanie told Salomon that Ruby would prove her loyalty if General Hale betrayed them, and Salomon insisted on preparing a backup plan and paying Ruby if she succeeded.

General Hale warned Ruby not to trust the City of Immortals completely, while Ruby prepared to join its operations and reaffirmed her loyalty to Salomon. Salomon explained that General Hale was connected to the Kree and the Lunar War plan, though she was not a spy.

• Ruby equipped herself with weapons given to her for upcoming City of Immortals assignments, and General Hale questioned her about joining operations.
• General Hale warned Ruby that the City of Immortals and its master were powerful, urging her to preserve her own value and prioritize survival.
• Ruby agreed to be careful but remained obedient to the person she regarded as the highest power.
• Stephanie told Salomon that she had placed assassins and information-security personnel at the youth training camp and said General Hale posed little risk.
• Salomon revealed that General Hale was connected to the Kree and the Lunar War plan, while insisting she was not a Kree spy and had remained loyal to humanity.

Salomon began a plan to eliminate Kree influence on Earth and gave the Avengers a chance to surrender before he acted. Meanwhile, Kamar-Taj tightened control over spellcasters and used treated patients to lure someone in while keeping its location secret.

• Salomon signed Stephanie's order to hunt Kree spies and Jiaying's trusted Inhuman followers before attacking Attilan.
• Salomon told Natasha that he was protecting humanity's knowledge, industry, and talent, and that the Avengers would have a chance to surrender.
• The Sorcerer Supreme ordered all unregistered spellcasters to report to Kamar-Taj for registration.
• Mordo erased a patient's memories of Kamar-Taj and told Master Wong that the Venerable One intended to separate the titles of Sorcerer Supreme and leader of Kamar-Taj.
• Mordo escorted New York patients out after their memories were modified, as Kamar-Taj prepared to lure a particular person to its doors.

Salomon expanded the Venerable One’s plan for Stephen Strange, intending to ruin Strange’s life and pride so thoroughly that he would be driven toward Kamar-Taj. Natasha Romanoff questioned Salomon about the secret hundred-page plan and Fimbulwinter, then left with an estimate of how dangerous the event had been.

• Salomon planned to make Stephen Strange despair by cutting off his income, worsening his mortgage troubles, and exposing him to debt collectors.
• Salomon added ways to break Strange psychologically, including using Christina’s future and drawing on Wilson Fisk’s and Natasha Romanoff’s advice about cornering people.
• Salomon left Stephanie out of the scheme because she was occupied with the City of Immortals’ construction and postwar preparations.
• Natasha questioned Salomon about the unnamed target of his elaborate plan and asked what had happened during Fimbulwinter.
• Salomon refused to explain, and Natasha left after assessing his wounds and scars to gauge Fimbulwinter’s danger.

The Venerable One and Salomon discussed how to shape Stephen Strange into a suitable Sorcerer Supreme candidate, and she arranged a vacation for Salomon after his work in the City of Immortals. As Kamar-Taj prepared for a purge of rogue spellcasters and Mystic Families, Salomon understood that the Venerable One was preparing him to inherit her power and responsibility.

• Salomon argued that Strange must be tested and molded, suggesting a London detective as an alternative if Strange proved unsuitable.
• The Venerable One recognized Salomon's grief over the City of Immortals' casualties and said the Witch could help him process his emotions.
• The Venerable One told Salomon to curse Strange and then take a vacation, noting that Bayonetta had said he wanted a pastoral life.
• Salomon questioned whether the Mystic Families would sabotage Kamar-Taj, and the Venerable One promised to leave him a clean Kamar-Taj.
• The Venerable One prepared to purge spellcasters who defied Kamar-Taj's registration order, while Salomon saw the crown she intended him to inherit.

Salomon posted Kamar-Taj’s order at No-Door Bar, then set out to enforce it at the New York magical black market and finish his mission against The Hand. He entered the hidden demiplane by boat, unconcerned as its monstrous horrors emerged around him.

• Salomon told the spellcasters at No-Door Bar that they had time to obey Kamar-Taj’s laws and posted the Venerable One’s notice.
• Salomon refused Count Kouzi’s offer of help and warned that bloodshed awaited at the black market.
• Salomon set out to eliminate The Hand members seeking the Dragon Bone and restore Kamar-Taj’s authority over the market.
• Salomon boarded the ferryman’s boat without a coin and traveled through the sewer toward the demiplane as monsters gathered around him.

Salomon used Dark Magic to take the ferryman into the lawless black market, while a horrific discovery in New York’s sewers drew the police into a mass-murder investigation. The chapter left Commissioner Stacy facing another deadly incident in Hell’s Kitchen, where Japanese gang members had also been killed.

• Salomon controlled the ferryman with Dark Magic and set sail without paying, while Constantine waited at the sewer exit with a halberd.
• Detective Carter told Commissioner Stacy that bodies and severed remains had flowed from the sewers, with only three complete corpses recovered so far.
• Carter explained that a Homeless Man had found the bodies and that Detective Francisco had vomited after entering the sewers.
• Commissioner Stacy assigned Carter to lead the investigation despite her young son being at home.
• Stacy reported that Japanese gang members had been found dead in Hell’s Kitchen, apparently killed with cold weapons.

Commissioner Stacy investigated a grisly crime scene hidden in an abandoned sewer while Salomon visited a hospital and revealed plans to acquire it. He offered Christina Palmer the head of neurosurgery position and asked her to manage Stephen Strange.

• Detective Carter reported that the search team had followed bloodstains into an abandoned sewer tunnel but found no crime scene or witnesses.
• Commissioner Stacy viewed the crime scene photos, vomited, and made an officer who saw them carry out a trash can.
• Salomon arrived at the hospital with an Artificial Human guarding the reception room from outside.
• Salomon told Christina Palmer he planned to acquire the hospital and appoint her head of neurosurgery so she could manage Stephen Strange.
• Salomon promised Christina Palmer a bonus for medical school and urged her to manage the doctors strictly.

Salomon visited Sherlock Holmes in London under a false identity to hire him to investigate a vampire murder, hoping to assess him as a backup candidate. Holmes immediately saw through the cover story and confronted Salomon about the clues exposing him.

• Salomon agreed to Christina Palmer’s recommendation of a neurosurgeon and prepared to undermine Stephen Strange’s confidence before bringing him to Kamar-Taj.
• Salomon’s alchemical duplicate met Watson in the sitting room and described the vampire murder as a case for Sherlock Holmes to investigate.
• Sherlock Holmes returned from another case and discussed the evidence with Watson before noticing Salomon.
• Holmes deduced that Salomon was not the victim Eleanor’s cousin and pointed out details that showed Salomon was wealthy, local, and had spent time at a nearby café.

Salomon defended himself against Sherlock Holmes’s suspicions while withholding the truth about Eleanor’s death. After Holmes learned Salomon had vanished near the crime scene, he rushed there to investigate, where Salomon was preparing a captive vampire as a clue for him.

• Salomon answered Holmes’s questions about Eleanor and admitted he knew little about her private life.
• Salomon left Baker Street after thanking Mrs. Hudson, while Holmes told Watson he suspected their client and had arranged for an informant to follow him.
• Holmes learned that Salomon had disappeared after visiting a restaurant near the crime scene and set off with Watson to investigate.
• Salomon inspected a half-dead vampire he had captured and tortured, revealing it was Eleanor’s killer and the clue he intended Holmes to find.

Salomon prepared Sherlock Holmes’s investigation of London’s hidden Vampires as a test of his curiosity, then recruited Wanda Maximoff to help assess the sewer population. Wanda joined Salomon for the mission, which would continue without him after he left for other matters.

• Salomon watched Sherlock Holmes and John Watson search a staged crime scene, intending the clues to lead them into London’s sewers and toward the London Sanctum.
• Salomon arrived at the London Sanctum, where Wanda Maximoff welcomed him in her new City of Immortals uniform.
• Salomon explained that Wanda would help determine the size of London’s Vampire population and finish the mission after he departed.
• Salomon gave Wanda her former staff and asked about her marksmanship, and Wanda answered by drawing her City of Immortals pistol.

Salomon and Wanda searched London's sewers to assess the Vampire population and prepare for a purge, killing a Vampire and finding signs that his earlier reconnaissance had been discovered. Wanda then joined Salomon, Bayonetta, Jeanne, and Dinah at the Witch Apartment, where Bayonetta welcomed her to stay.

• Wanda shot the apparently dead Homeless Man after Salomon realized the Vampire's traces from his previous reconnaissance had been discovered.
• Salomon and Wanda continued through the sewers to estimate the Vampire population, with Salomon warning Wanda to retreat if she met anything she could not defeat.
• Salomon returned to the Witch Apartment, where Bayonetta scolded him for taking Wanda into the filthy sewers and ordered him to bathe.
• Wanda arrived at the apartment with wet hair, and Bayonetta welcomed her and offered her the guest room.
• Salomon came to dinner wearing only a bath towel, and Bayonetta struck him with a ladle and told him to get dressed and bring Dinah out of the bathroom.