Recaps

Evan brought Kemp and Lisa back to his home in Bolton City and offered them protection in exchange for their allegiance. He fused parts of his flesh with theirs, turning Kemp into his Blood Slave and enhancing both captives’ powers, while Lisa accepted his service.

• Evan revealed that he had brought Kemp and Lisa to his home on Gooding Street in Bolton City and said he did not intend to kill them.
• Evan used two fingers from his left hand to restore Kemp’s severed arm and hand, strengthening Kemp’s poison abilities.
• Evan told Kemp that the new limbs made him a Blood Slave, and Kemp eagerly pledged himself to Evan as his master and father.
• Evan formally accepted Kemp’s allegiance as Iwen Ludwig Arkham, Master and Lead Hunter of the Demon Hunters' Rhine Faction.
• Lisa recognized Evan as a protector and offered to serve him, so Evan gave her his little finger to swallow.
• Lisa’s new pair of eyes enhanced her Money Curse and let her use money as a medium to poison others.

Evan introduced newly blessed Kemp and Lisa to his Demon Hunter company, where Richard and the others discussed a lucrative Hurst Consortium escort job. He arranged new identities for the pair and brought them to the Yuri Clinic to meet Dr. Yuri.

• Evan blessed Kemp and Lisa, then told them to obtain new identities and join his Security Company.
• Evan introduced Kemp, an Expert Level Demon Hunter, and Lisa, an Apprentice Level Witch, to the company members, who learned about their past enslavement and welcomed them.
• Richard explained that the Hurst United Consortium had offered five Demon Hunters $2,000 for a roughly thirty-three-day escort voyage, while Evan assigned Kemp and Lisa a separate task.
• Evan arranged for Gray to use Police Department connections to secure new identities for Kemp and Lisa, then left the company to travel to South America on other business.
• Evan brought Kemp and Lisa to the Yuri Clinic and greeted Dr. Yuri, who hurried to his feet upon seeing him.

Evan reunited with Yuri and warned him not to spread disease through his blood-selling business before meeting Pierson at the Red King Laboratory. Pierson explained the mysterious Father and reported that the Light of Loving Kindness was exploiting mutated Beyonders in Worcester, prompting Evan to consider rewarding Eddie.

• Yuri greeted Evan nervously, and Evan warned him against using blood sales to infect poor people.
• Evan met Pierson, who had gained influence within the Red King Laboratory, and gave him a spiritual substance and an emissary's arm to study.
• Pierson explained that the Father was known as the Tree of Life, an ancient being linked to life, healing, and longevity.
• Pierson reported that the Light of Loving Kindness worked with Worcester's Merchants' Association and Excellence Institute to mutate lower-class Beyonders and use them in sacrifices.
• Evan recalled Eddie's ordeal and decided it was time to give him rewards and gifts.

Evan learned about Eddie’s troubles, assigned Kemp and Lisa to help Pierson, and then read King of the Open Seas. The book revealed how a witch’s cursed ship consumed her, and Evan left with a plan to create a plague-copper ship under his control.

• Pierson told Evan that Eddie was investigating the Light of the Father but was being harassed by local gangs, so Evan arranged to bless Eddie through a ritual.
• Evan assigned Kemp and Lisa to work with Pierson and told him he would be at sea for the next month.
• After Evan left, Pierson welcomed Kemp and Lisa into the group and tasked them with studying bodily modifications and teaching gang members a harsh lesson.
• Evan read King of the Open Seas and learned that a witch had built a skeletal ship from her bones, only for it to become corrupted, devour her and the island’s inhabitants, and vanish.
• Evan decided to build a ship from plague copper, bind it as his blood slave, and equip it with magic arrays and the Silver Key.

Evan prepared a new identity and used his Garden of Life to turn dried areca nuts into fresh ones for his meeting with Black Seagull. After the nuts impressed Black Seagull, the pirate decided to lure Evan to his territory and bring him to his powerful brother.

• Evan changed his face to resemble his former self on Earth and prepared fresh areca nuts using his Beyonder power.
• Evan adopted a lower-class disguise and went to Hain Street Harbor to meet Black Seagull.
• Evan and Black Seagull tested each other with insults, and Evan introduced himself as Mr. Heisenberg, sent by Garp.
• Evan offered Black Seagull fresh areca nuts wrapped in mint leaves and quicklime, and Black Seagull eagerly tried them.
• Black Seagull was thrilled by the nuts' strong effects and resolved to lure Evan to his territory and present him to his big brother.

Evan boarded the Smoke Gang’s ship, the Mist Messenger, with Black Seagull and discovered that Juan, an acquaintance from Hill’s tavern, was its boss. As Black Seagull greeted Juan and praised Evan’s betel nuts, Evan surveyed the ship and its hidden Beyonders.

• Black Seagull explained the Smoke Gang’s smuggling operations and argued that the Mist Messenger’s combination of sails and steam made it ideal for evading pursuers.
• Evan sensed four Beyonders among the passengers and three among the crew as they approached the ship.
• Black Seagull greeted Boss Vasquez, and Evan recognized him as Juan, whom Hill had introduced to him at a tavern.
• Evan boarded the battered, heavily modified Mist Messenger and noticed its mismatched construction, improvised fittings, and religious shrines.
• Black Seagull told Juan that he and Evan would leave at Mona Island, passed him areca nuts, and credited Evan with inventing the snack.

Evan joined Black Seagull’s voyage after declining Juan’s offer to join the Smoke Gang, then studied the ship’s ghost-powered construction during the journey. A week later, the Panel announced that he had condensed the Black Abyss Fruit: Memory Worm, which could embed threads in a target’s memories and alert Evan when they recalled them.

• Juan offered Evan a place in the Smoke Gang, but Evan declined because he had promised Garp he would travel with Black Seagull.
• Black Seagull led Evan to the ship’s cramped, damp cargo-hold quarters, where the passengers settled in before the ship set sail.
• First mate Matthias laid out the ship’s rules, and Black Seagull and other passengers began gambling while Evan inspected the vessel.
• Evan discovered that Juan’s Beyonder power and bound ghosts reinforced the ship, then avoided a hostile engine-room worker and returned to the deck.
• After a week at sea, Evan received a Panel notification that he had condensed the Black Abyss Fruit: Memory Worm, which could detect when a target recalled an embedded memory.

Evan prepared to give Eddie a Black Abyss Fruit, while Eddie performed as a magician under Hobson Edison's control and faced pressure to accept a degrading private engagement. After Edison ordered Erin to attend a dangerous birthday banquet, Eddie felt his desire for supernatural power return.

• Evan decided the Black Abyss Fruits could be granted to believers through the Black Sun's Wings and chose Eddie as the first person to test one on.
• Eddie Pix performed a successful magic show at the Franklin Square Theatre, where he had become a rising star.
• Hobson Edison ordered Eddie to perform at the Oak Street Club and hinted that Mrs. Pitt expected to meet him, but Eddie refused because he planned to shop with his wife.
• Eddie recalled how Edison's agency trapped performers in exploitative contracts and how he had avoided seeking supernatural help to keep his life peaceful.
• Edison ordered Erin to attend Mr. Mark's birthday banquet, and Eddie felt anger and helplessness as he considered the danger she faced.

Eddie defied Edison to encourage Erin to escape, but Edison’s bodyguards beat him and threatened Jane. After returning home, Eddie prayed to the Great Father and received the power of Weaving, leaving him ready to fight back.

• Eddie urged Erin to reconsider her choice and recalled what had happened to Tom.
• Edison ordered his bodyguards to beat Eddie and warned that Jane could suffer next; Erin was too afraid to leave.
• Eddie returned home bruised, and Jane tended to him as he concealed what had happened.
• Eddie performed a ritual and told the Great Father about the Edison Group’s cruelty and his resolve to act.
• The Great Father blessed Eddie with the power of Weaving, allowing him to control threads that could pierce and burn others.

Evan granted Eddie a soul-strengthening second heart and powers to burn matter, auras, and selected memories, then charged him with punishing evil and helping the oppressed. Eddie left to act as a hero in Worcester, backed by the Light of the Father while secretly working to help Evan take control of it.

• Evan used a ritual connection to implant a black second heart in Eddie, strengthening his soul and granting him burning and memory-related abilities.
• Eddie praised Evan as the true god who had saved him and promised to use his new power to uphold justice.
• Evan told Eddie to help the oppressed and let their gratitude and faith sustain his powers.
• Evan promised to send two followers to protect Eddie's wife in Worcester and advised Eddie to seek the Light of the Father as a public backer.
• Evan instructed Eddie to pose as a fanatical follower blessed by the Father and ultimately take control of the Light of the Father for Evan.

Eddie recovered from his injuries after Evan bestowed the Black Abyss Fruit on him, gained a powerful burning ability, and chose to become Worcester’s Burning Hero. He intervened when gangster Mark and his bodyguards attacked Michael and Erin, leaving the thugs facing his wrath.

• Evan realized that bestowing Beyonder power cost him spirit and strength, and concluded that gods needed faith to replenish their authority.
• Eddie found his injuries healed and his body strengthened, then tested his new ability by reducing a newspaper to disappearing ash.
• Eddie told Jane that the Father had answered his prayer; after seeing his healed body, Jane began to believe in the miracle.
• Eddie discovered his strength had increased threefold and decided to become Worcester’s Burning Hero.
• Mark’s men beat Michael and Mark pinned Erin against a wall, but a masked Eddie arrived and struck Mark hard enough to break his ribs.
• Eddie melted the bodyguards’ pistols into molten iron, shielded Michael and Erin, and declared that the attackers deserved to die.

Eddie secretly killed Mark and his two bodyguards after they attacked Michael and Erin, who escaped and began suspecting that Eddie was connected to the mysterious Black Wings Father. The next morning, Edison blamed Eddie for Mark’s death and brought police detectives to question him, but Eddie slapped Edison when he grabbed for his and Erin’s hair.

• The masked Eddie killed Mark and his two bodyguards with sacred flames, then told Michael and Erin that they were innocent and urged them to convert to the Black Wings Father.
• Michael and Erin fled home, treated his injuries, and agreed to hide what they had seen; Erin privately suspected Mr. Pix had called for the mysterious rescuer.
• Eddie returned home to Jane, while Edison learned that Mark had been killed and suspected Eddie was involved after hearing about his confrontation with Edison at the theater.
• Edison reported the supposed murders of good people to the Special Operations Team and arranged for Fred to assist him.
• At the Grand Theater, Edison brought detectives Tom Charles and another officer to question the staff, pointed out Eddie and Erin, and grabbed for their hair.
• Eddie slapped Edison, sending him spinning to the ground, and calmly asked him not to grab his hair.

Eddie slapped Edison in self-defense, then accompanied Tom to investigate Mark’s death until Kemp Kugas intervened on Evan’s behalf and took charge. Meanwhile, a mysterious woman warned Fred to tell Edison to stop targeting Jane’s family.

• Eddie slapped Edison after Edison grabbed his hair, then calmly argued that he had acted in self-defense.
• Tom asked Eddie and Erin to accompany him to the Police Department, while Edison threatened Eddie’s family.
• Kemp Kugas arrived with Evan’s amulet, persuaded Tom to leave the matter to him, and praised Eddie.
• Jane gave directions to a mysterious woman in black, who then confronted Fred and ordered him to warn Edison against further tricks.

Elden returned to Bolton City after expanding the Witch Network and received a task from her lord to protect Eddie and Erin. At the Franklin Grand Theater, Edison threatened his employees, but Eddie and Erin returned with Kemp, and Edison’s confidence collapsed when his Demon Hunter bodyguard Fred came back frightened and empty-handed.

• Elden returned to Bolton City and was tasked with protecting the married couple Eddie and Erin in Worcester.
• Elden believed Eddie had received the great lord’s blessing and planned to use her connections to shield the lord’s influence from backlash.
• At the Franklin Grand Theater, Edison threatened his employees with contract penalties and threatened to ruin Pix’s wife.
• Eddie and Erin returned unharmed with Kemp, who warned Edison that the people sent to kidnap Mrs. Pix should have returned by then.
• Fred returned without Mrs. Pix, pale and frightened, leaving Edison terrified of whoever had intervened.

Kemp warned Edison on behalf of his master to stop exploiting and humiliating the theater’s workers, then used his Snake Person Talent to terrify Edison into compliance. Edison promised to change, while the workers watched in amazement as a powerful figure stood up for them.

• Fred returned to the theater, sensed Kemp’s danger, and warned Edison that Eddie and Erin had powerful Beyonder protectors, including a Witch.
• Edison realized he could not risk challenging Kemp and asked whom he represented; Kemp said he had come to deliver a warning from his master.
• Kemp told Edison that Eddie and Erin were his master’s fellow believers and warned him against oppressing the poor while making money.
• The theater staff and performers excitedly witnessed Kemp defend them, while Edison apologized and promised to change his ways.
• Kemp triggered a terrifying reaction in Edison, and after Fred failed to dispel the presence behind it, Edison recovered and nervously assured Kemp that he understood.

Kemp intimidated Edison into ending the theater’s exploitative practices, and Eddie gained the performers’ trust by securing better contracts and teaching them about the Black Wings Father. The chapter ended with the performers eager to join Eddie’s faith, while the author’s update note announced a temporary reduction in posting frequency.

• Kemp used his mysterious power to terrify Edison, then told Eddie to work hard and stand up to anyone who bullied them.
• Edison apologized to Eddie and announced that extra entertainment duties would end and workers could sign new contracts with an eighty-percent share, provided they kept the changes confidential.
• Edison completed the new contracts, and the performers finished the day’s shows before thanking Eddie backstage.
• Erin told Eddie that the performers admired his church and wanted to devote themselves to his god, and Eddie welcomed them as believers in the Black Wings Father.
• Eddie taught the performers that the Father asked them to live well, care for others, and resist oppression, leaving them feeling they had found a true god.

Eddie won the Worcester performers over to the Black Wings Father, and their faith restored Evan’s spirituality. A report from Elden and Eddie revealed that the Edison family and local capitalists were smuggling gold and organizing investment in South America, possibly to exploit a political rift and build a new power there.

• Eddie told the performers they could serve the Black Wings Father by living positively and kindly, and they embraced the faith.
• Evan felt the performers’ aspiration force restore his spirituality while he drifted toward the Resurrection Brotherhood’s island headquarters with Black Seagull.
• Black Seagull explained that the Brotherhood had grown from mainland resistance fighters fleeing government forces backed by the United States.
• Elden and Eddie told Evan that the Edison family and Worcester capitalists were using Mark’s gang to smuggle gold to Bolton City and were recruiting investors for a South American company.
• Evan suspected the capitalists were pursuing more than asset protection, and Elden reported that President Howard had fallen out with former President Rolf.

Evan learned that the Republican Party was split between Howard’s conservative faction and Old President Rolf’s progressives, then began to suspect a larger conspiracy involving gold shipments. The Mist Messenger was attacked near Mona Island by South America Fruit United Company warships, which pursued it with money-powered engines.

• Evan wondered whether the president’s political power brought him closer to the God of Gold, and asked Elden if the company was exploiting the Republican Party’s divisions to put its own candidate in office.
• After Evan went to sleep, an attack punched a hole in the Mist Messenger’s hull, and the crew rushed to contain the flooding.
• Evan used his Shadow Cloak to reach the deck and saw two steel warships, each carrying three Expert Level Beyonders, targeting the Mist Messenger near Mona Island.
• Juan tried to explain that the ship was only passing through, but the South America Fruit United Company accused him of aiding the pirates and continued firing.
• Juan summoned a dead woman and thousands of vengeful spirits to propel the Mist Messenger away, but the pursuing ships accelerated by burning money and rapidly closed the gap.

Evan rescued Juan’s ship from the United Fruit Company’s armed vessels, then agreed to take Black Seagull back to Mona Island after learning the Brotherhood’s treasure was hidden there. He flew to the island, discovered the company’s men had massacred and abused its residents while searching for gold and the Sea God Treasure, and confronted a sailor who revealed their aim was to break the Brotherhood’s leader.

• Evan used fire-infused bullets to wound the captains of the Rubber and the Rainforest, forcing the armed ships to abandon their pursuit of the Mist Messenger.
• After Black Seagull learned that Mona Island had been overrun, he asked Evan to take him back, offering to reveal the Brotherhood’s buried treasure; Evan agreed and swallowed him into a hidden space.
• Evan asked Juan to investigate the Glorious Queen Merchants’ Association’s charity drive and send the findings through Hill, then vanished from the ship.
• Evan flew to Mona Island and saw the company salvaging gold from a sunken ship while Shi Kaisi tortured a prisoner and the company’s men brutalized the island’s residents.
• Evan attacked a group of sailors and restrained their captain, who confessed that they were abusing the women to break the Brotherhood leader and learn the location of the Sea God Treasure.

Evan rescued Black Seagull and learned that the Brotherhood’s island had been attacked after they stole gold from a United Company ship. Black Seagull described the Sea God Treasure as a cursed ritual boat, and Evan recognized its connection to the pale, long-armed monster he had encountered before.

• Evan killed the middle-aged man, released Black Seagull, and found Mrs. Cohen and Helen alive among the dead sailors.
• Mrs. Cohen told Black Seagull that the Brotherhood had stolen eight hundred pounds of gold from a United Company ship, whose tracking spell led four armed ships to the island.
• Mrs. Cohen tried to shoot herself, but Evan stopped the bullet with his palm and stored her and Helen in Rectal Space for safety.
• Evan told Black Seagull that he was helping the Hurst family as a friend of its young lady, then asked him about the Sea God Treasure.
• Black Seagull described the treasure as a bone boat that caused horrific transformations and nightmares, including visions of a pale monster with long, thin arms.
• Evan recognized the monster as the one that had grabbed him by the neck when he drank the Fast-Acting Purification Potion.

Evan used the Secondary Brain to kill the sailors threatening him and Black Seagull, then learned that supernatural firearms used money bullets carrying a Financier’s curse. He followed Black Seagull to the Sea God’s treasure, hoping to claim both the artifact and the sunken gold, and found a bone ship carved with a scene of a trident-wielding giant defeating Cthulhu.

• Evan unleashed the Secondary Brain, which killed four sailors and returned their guns to him.
• Evan examined the Financier-made firearms and considered how financial curses could be mass-produced with Factory Owner authority.
• Evan decided to claim the Sea God’s treasure and the eight hundred pounds of gold, then ordered Black Seagull to lead him to it.
• Black Seagull asked Evan to rescue Boss Kotea, and Evan said Kotea’s fate depended on whether the treasure satisfied him.
• Black Seagull guided Evan through the island, where they rescued seven more women and killed sixteen sailors.
• Evan dove into an underground sea and found a bone ship engraved with a trident-wielding giant defeating Cthulhu.

Evan dived toward the shipwreck and resisted the sea god’s curse and the Reef Prison using the Garden of Life. He summoned its seventy-seven Life Spirits to corrode the chains imprisoning him, leaving the battle underway.

• Evan recognized a mural of a sea god resembling Poseidon suppressing Cthulhu, while Black Seagull warned that the place was disrupting his mind.
• Evan sent the Secondary Brain to protect Black Seagull, then swam rapidly toward the seabed and the ship.
• Evan resisted a vision of towering waves with the Garden of Life and the Blood Moon Hair and Rabid Divine Carbuncle, then drove off a deathly pale six-fingered hand.
• Evan entered the Deep Sea Reef Domain and was imprisoned by chains of seaweed, shells, and fish bones that paralyzed his body.
• Evan activated his Blood Moon Spirit status and used the Garden of Life’s seventy-seven Life Spirits to corrode the chains and their oceanic power.

Evan seized the Sea God Treasure and endured the ship’s violent resistance while Black Seagull told the rescued women that Evan had promised to rescue their boss if the treasure satisfied him. Evan used the Sea God Coin and five bottles of Fast-Acting Purification Potion in a sacrifice ritual, and the ship’s storm finally subsided.

• Evan’s Life Spirits corroded the prison chains, freeing him to lift the ship by its bow and unleash a powerful vortex.
• The vortex swept Black Seagull away, but Evan caught and swallowed him, sending him to the intestinal space where Mrs. Cohen, Helen, and the others checked on him.
• Black Seagull recounted Evan’s strength and claimed Evan had promised to rescue their boss if the Sea God Treasure satisfied him.
• Evan struggled to subdue the ship as the vortex battered him and shattered the surrounding rocks.
• Evan used the Sea God Coin, his Ritual Knife, and five bottles of Fast-Acting Purification Potion in a sacrifice ritual, calming the ship and stopping the storm.