Chapter Summaries

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.