Chapter Summaries

Abner granted Bernadette and Audrey access to the Dream Labyrinth, while Elizabeth’s growing interest in the supernatural led her to join the Nighthawks as an assistant. In Bayam, Senor prepared to capture Helmosuin for the Mother Tree with the support of several cult leaders, as Abner appeared aboard the Golden Dream.

• Bernadette asked Abner to enter the Dream Labyrinth, and he granted access to her and Audrey before sending them home.
• Bernadette struggled to solve the ninth-floor labyrinth, while Audrey returned to her celebration of Melissa’s birthday.
• Elizabeth told Melissa she suspected Klein had been a Seer, then resolved to seek more information about the supernatural.
• Elizabeth resisted a Swindler’s Mental Interference with Klein’s charm and joined a Nighthawks team as Chellie’s assistant.
• Odell reported Helmosuin’s location to Senor, who decided to capture and sacrifice him with the backing of the Mother Tree’s followers.
• Abner appeared inside the Golden Dream’s captain’s cabin.

Abner joined Edwina’s planned hunt with Bruna, Maria, Klein, and Sharron, but questioned why they were rushing into an unplanned fight. Edwina led the group through a Teleportation Altar to intercept Senor, leaving her remark about “Prophecy” unexplained.

• Edwina introduced Bruna, Maria, Abner, and herself, revealing their abilities for the operation.
• Bruna questioned whether the group could stop Hardy, Edith, and the others without additional help, and Maria said Gehrman would arrive soon.
• Sharron and Klein emerged from a mirror, and Edwina announced that they would teleport to intercept Senor.
• Bruna said a High-ranking Devil could learn detailed plans, so the group should fight a chance encounter instead.
• Abner and Klein each mistook the other’s calmness for knowledge of a hidden reason behind the operation.
• Bruna, Maria, Sharron, Klein, Edwina, and Abner entered the activated Teleportation Altar, and Edwina remarked, “Because of ‘Prophecy’...”

Abner and Edwina joined the hunt for the Admiral of Blood, but a Sealed Artifact split the battlefield and trapped their group in separate fights. As Suah attacked Klein and his companions, the battle’s outcome remained uncertain.

• Abner, Edwina, Bruna, Maria, Sharron, and Klein arrived in the grove at the same time as Senor and his followers, and a Sealed Artifact divided them into the Mirror World and reality.
• Al von Nois confronted Abner and Edwina in the Mirror World, and Abner summoned the Angel-level Night Song Yaluolan.
• Hardy and Pulan threatened Bruna, but she revealed authority connected to Artificial Death and opened a Bronze Door.
• Maria attacked Edith with Pale Justice while Edith fought Sharron.
• Klein released Ludwell and summoned Miss Messenger, but Turani warned him about Suah, whose enormous arm descended on the grove before Sharron’s parasol shielded them.
• A Marionette’s eyes briefly flashed pure white inside Suah’s withered body, unnoticed by Suah.

Klein fought Senor while Reinette Tinekerr held off Suah, and Orange Light Hilarion revealed why the Mother Tree of Desire had lured Klein to Bayam. The battle remained unresolved as Klein prepared to finish controlling Senor and Abner spotted a mysterious ship fleeing the area.

• Reinette Tinekerr took her Ancient Bane form and joined the Spirit Angel's fight against Suah, while Klein faced Senor and his remaining subordinates.
• Klein's Phoenix shot forced Senor to sacrifice a Marionette to escape the Underworld Gate, leaving Klein to continue controlling him without a sure way to kill him immediately.
• Turani von Helmosuin revealed that he was Orange Light Hilarion and warned Klein that the Mother Tree of Desire had used the capture attempt as bait to draw him out and disturb Fate.
• Hilarion suggested the Mother Tree of Desire might have further contingencies, including the Death Announcer, prompting Klein to focus on controlling Senor.
• Abner returned to reality with Edwina and saw a gigantic sailing ship bearing a Black Tombstone flee from Bayam.

Abner watched the Death Announcer flee while the other battles ended, and Klein secured control of Senor and defeated the remaining pirates. Orange Light Hilarion warned Klein that the Succubus in his glove might be the Mother Tree of Desire’s hidden move.

• Yaluolan tore off both of Al von Nois's wings, forcing the former Blood Archduke to flee.
• Abner revealed that he had secretly inflicted Misfortune on Senor's Sealed Artifact to help Klein.
• Tolzna turned Suah's arm into chocolate, and Reinette ate it.
• Senor awoke as Klein's Marionette and joined Ludwell's fight, helping defeat his former subordinates.
• Klein collected Beyonder Characteristics and an Astrological Instrument, then planned to seal Senor and his mirror-like object against Rose School interference.
• Orange Light Hilarion warned Klein that the Succubus his glove had devoured might be the Mother Tree of Desire's real hidden move.

Klein and Abner reviewed the confusing battle after the Admiral of Blood was hunted, then reunited with their allies aboard the Golden Dream. Above the Gray Fog, they discovered that neither knew what had truly motivated the broader scheme.

• Abner questioned why the God of Knowledge and others had intervened as Jahn Kottman attacked Miss Messenger with lightning and Reinette Tinekerr evacuated Klein and the others.
• Klein thanked Helmosuin for his warning before Helmosuin died, and Reinette returned Sharron and Maria to the Golden Dream after warning them not to go to Balam.
• Sharron reported that Edith had escaped, while Bruna said Hardy and Pulan might return from the Underworld and Abner revealed that he had broken off Ailnos's wings.
• Klein and the others divided the Admiral of Blood's spoils, after which the hunting party disbanded and most of the guests left the Golden Dream.
• Above the Gray Fog, Klein summoned Abner to ask what had happened, and they were both stunned to learn that neither knew the full story.

Klein and Abner discussed how Klein had served as bait in the operation and agreed that he could call in favors from the factions involved. After the battle, Sea King Jahn Kottman identified Gehrman Sparrow, while Abner received the Giant’s Key from Edwina and went to Doctor Aaron Ceres’s home to check on his plans involving Ouroboros and Fors.

• Klein asked why he had received no reward for acting as bait, and Abner explained that Lenburg, the Numinous Episcopate, and the faction behind the Spirit Angel owed him favors.
• Klein gave Abner the Nightmare Badge to deliver to Melissa as a birthday gift.
• Sea King Jahn Kottman reviewed the battle and recognized Gehrman Sparrow as the man who had escaped with the strange Spirit World creature.
• Edwina gave Abner the Giant’s Key before he left the Golden Dream at dusk.
• Abner traveled to Doctor Aaron Ceres’s home to ask about the results of luring Ouroboros and to prepare for using Fors as bait to draw out Mr. Gluttony.

Abner learned that Ouroboros would return at midnight and that Saint Tenebrous would attend Mr. X’s gathering, then set a plan in motion to kill Lewis Wien. The chapter left Lewis trapped and under attack while Abner faced Saint Tenebrous’s rescue attempt.

• Will told Abner that Ouroboros would return at midnight and that the Aurora Order would hold a Beyonder gathering attended by Saint Tenebrous.
• Will revealed that he had been unable to fuse with the Unique because of an old debt and that Abner had once said Will was better suited to the Circle of Inevitability.
• Conver Allitt attended Mr. X’s gathering, where Lewis Wien vanished and a Demigod’s shadows trapped the guests before dazzling light freed them.
• Abner trapped Lewis inside Alvin’s Quiz Maze while Flora Jacob blocked his prayers and Owen used the Magic Mirror to seize his Spirit Body Threads.
• Abner confronted Saint Tenebrous outside and attacked her with scorching rays after she appeared to rescue Lewis.

Abner used the Sun domain and Despair Nightingale’s intervention to escape Saint Tenebrous with Lewis Wien’s body, then secured the corpse and its Beyonder Characteristics. As Abner prepared for a Psychology Alchemists’ meeting through his avatar Owen, he began to suspect that contact with Giuseppe Castiya’s imprints was changing his personality and might eventually replace his sense of self.

• Abner unleashed the Sun domain, while Despair Nightingale ambushed Saint Tenebrous and forced him to abandon his attack.
• Abner left with Lewis Wien’s body, and Saint Tenebrous retreated to petition his Lord for help finding Mr. X.
• Abner confirmed Lewis’s identity, extracted his Beyonder Characteristics, and decided to sell the dangerous Blood Flower ring.
• Abner sealed Lewis’s corpse in a card and concealed its location, then sent Flora Jacob back to accompany Emma.
• Abner and Owen discussed the upcoming Psychology Alchemists’ Supreme Council meeting and whether Adam or Pride would discover Owen was an avatar.
• Abner reflected on his changing personality and wondered whether the imprints of Giuseppe Castiya were drawing him toward Liu Bo’s identity.

Abner gave Fors Mr. X’s sealed corpse after explaining that he had faced an Aurora Order Saint during the mission, then prepared to make Beyonder items. Meanwhile, Alger returned to Pasū Island for a Church of Storms operation and learned that the church wanted him to investigate Gehrman Sparrow.

• Abner gave Fors the card containing Lewis Wien’s sealed corpse, and Fors worried that Abner had faced a Saint while completing her commission.
• Alger arrived at the Church of Storms headquarters on Pasū Island to help plan a surprise attack on the military port on Sonia Island.
• Sainz warned Alger that the mission could be dangerous and suggested he investigate Gehrman Sparrow through other pirate crews instead.
• Alger learned that the church believed Gehrman Sparrow had nearly destroyed Bayam and was backed by a powerful organization opposed to the Rose School.
• Abner let Fors sleep after their overnight rituals, then went to Mr. Sarr’s workshop to make Beyonder items.

Abner analyzed a teleportation artifact and an unusual characteristic that suppressed Beyonder abilities, then helped Fors prepare to meet her teacher and revealed his plans to ascend. Later, disguised as Valentinus, he brought a hypnotized Fors to a hidden gathering in Constant City, where the organizer appeared and focused on her.

• Abner finished analyzing the Book of Endless Teleportation and examined a characteristic he named Spellbreaker, which suppressed Beyonder abilities within a Black Domain.
• Fors showed Abner an Asman Brain and asked what to tell Dorian about Lewis's body; Abner advised her to tell the truth and keep the matter private.
• Abner told Fors to inform Dorian that Alvin Abraham was nearing Angelhood and that the Abraham Family's glory would soon return.
• Abner disguised himself as Valentinus and hypnotized Fors before bringing her to a hidden gathering in a Constant City warehouse.
• The gathering's organizer appeared after sealing off the space and fixed his attention on Fors.

Abner infiltrated a Psychology Alchemists gathering and discovered how deeply the organization had sabotaged Conston ahead of the coming war. After using Fors’s appearance to ambush Mr. Gluttony, he suppressed the Demigod’s Dragonification with Black Domain Art and prepared to subdue him with the Pure White Eye.

• Abner resisted the hidden influence in Mr. Gluttony’s lesson and learned from the members’ reports that the Psychology Alchemists had infiltrated Conston’s factories, army, and fleet.
• Abner reported that he had disrupted trade between a factory owner and Valentinus’s merchant contact, then claimed Fors was a suitable candidate from the Abraham Family.
• Mr. Gluttony ordered Abner to bring Fors to a manhole cover, and Abner sensed Silica’s aura coming from the passage there.
• Abner hid Fors in Alvin’s Quiz Maze, took her appearance, and ambushed Mr. Gluttony in a villa basement with a Demigod-level Mental Piercing reinforced by Mind Deprivation.
• Mr. Gluttony began transforming into a Dragon, but Abner used the Spellbreaker Beyonder Characteristic and Black Domain Art to nullify most of his abilities before activating the Pure White Eye.

Abner discovered that Mr. Gluttony had used a powerful Virtual Personality avatar and identified Heaven’s Feast as the likely means by which he killed Silica. He wrote to Azik and left the revenge to him and Karen, then woke Fors, who asked why he was wearing her clothes.

• Abner tried to control Gluttony, but Gluttony dismissed his demigod-level Virtual Personality avatar before Abner could stop him.
• Abner stole the avatar’s memories and learned that Gluttony used Heaven’s Feast to gain powers by consuming beings and tracing their bloodlines.
• Abner concluded that Gluttony had killed Silica with Heaven’s Feast and had secretly spread a symbol for the artifact, likely serving Primordial Hunger.
• Abner searched Gluttony’s villa, found that his Conston identity was Gresham Osmon, and realized Gluttony’s true location remained unknown.
• Abner decided to tell Azik that he had identified Silica’s killer, wrote a letter, and summoned his Magic Wolf Messenger.
• Abner entered Alvin’s Quiz Maze and woke Fors, who asked whether it was over and why he was wearing her clothes.

Dunn and Daly spotted Ince Zangwill meeting a fat man in Indo Port and reported the sighting to Klein, who ordered them to alert the Church of Combat and monitor him. Meanwhile, Azik and Karen traced Silica’s aura through a Spirit World passage and began searching for Gluttony in Feysac.

• Dunn and Daly arrived in Indo Port disguised as the Forger Couple and noticed a fat man leap onto a small boat while bystanders ignored him.
• Dunn recognized Ince Zangwill near the boat and left the dock with Daly without revealing that he had seen him.
• Dunn reported Ince’s presence to Klein, who instructed him and Daly to notify the Church of Combat and use its intelligence network to monitor Ince.
• Klein considered the risks of taking revenge on Ince and wondered whether the encounter was part of the Goddess’s test.
• Azik confirmed that the Spirit World passage behind an abandoned warehouse retained Silica’s aura, and Karen agreed to have his clansmen search Feysac for Gluttony.
• Azik offered to ask his Demon Hunter descendant in Indo Port to assist Karen.

Ince and the Evil Spirit discussed recovering the spirit’s sword and prepared backup plans while Abner returned to Trier as Owen Delien, intending to push his family toward a crisis. After arriving, Abner was diverted into a secluded alley by someone who recognized him as a special envoy.

• Ince warned the Evil Spirit that finding Mr. Gluttony’s opponent could be dangerous, and they agreed to wait for results before considering a theft from Aurmir Palace.
• Abner used the Book of Endless Teleportation to bring his Owen Avatar to Trier, planning to act recklessly enough to force Roselle’s old flame to reveal the Delien Family’s secret.
• Abner released Cecia and cleaned up aboard the riverboat before reaching Trier the next morning.
• After disembarking, Abner noticed a bicycle and climbed into a cab that took several turns into a secluded alley.
• A person in the alley greeted Abner as Mr. Special Envoy.

Abner met Katarina Pelle in a strange space where she planned to control him with help from three Saintesses. The three appeared as Historical Projections and began to surround him on Katarina’s command.

• Abner recognized that Katarina had trapped him in a mysterious space, but pretended to be caught by her Fascination.
• Katarina explained that the space blocked prayers and revealed that she had brought three sisters to help capture him.
• Katarina summoned Margaret Constance and two other Saintesses, whom Abner suspected were Historical Projections.
• Abner prepared to seize Katarina, but she ordered the three Saintesses to shed their clothes and surround him.

Abner escaped a Sealed Artifact trap set by a Secret Order member using Tracy’s mother as a Marionette. He tracked the attacker, Daphne Priestley, to her home and confronted her with a new Marionette.

• Abner resisted Katarina’s attempts to manipulate his emotions and deduced that the space was governed by a Sealed Artifact with strict rules.
• Abner used Al von Nois’s wings to manipulate Katarina’s bodily fluids, triggering the artifact’s punishment and forcing her to escape with a Paper Figurine Substitute.
• Abner returned to the carriage and recognized the dead Katarina as Tracy’s mother, concluding that a Bizarro Sorcerer or Scholar of Yore had used her to lure Owen into a trap.
• Abner released his true body and placed a monocle on Tracy’s mother, while Daphne Priestley fled through the Historical Void and returned to her rented house in Trier.
• Abner tracked Daphne to her house and confronted her, revealing a Marionette that looked like Rena and warning her not to leave Marionettes where they could be tracked.

Abner used a new secret art to turn Daphne Priestley into a believer of the Great Pure White Eye after she attacked Owen. He then asked Daphne why she had targeted Owen.

• Abner forced Daphne to prepare a ritual and repeat the Great Pure White Eye’s Honorific Name.
• Abner planted Braine’s Seed in Daphne’s mind through her prayer, making her a devout believer.
• Daphne regained control of her body, accepted Abner as the Lord’s Oracle, and apologized for attacking Owen.
• Abner assessed the secret art’s success and asked Daphne why she had attacked Owen.

Daphne Priestley explained why she had attacked Owen and how she had captured Rena, while Abner suspected someone had manipulated events. When Inspector Russell arrived at Daphne’s home, Abner summoned Yaluolan and trapped Russell in a strange landscape.

• Daphne told Abner that she had attacked Owen for information about the Spectral Empire, because the Delien Family hired her, and because powerful Trier families wanted Owen kept away from the prime minister.
• Daphne said she had captured Rena after Spirit Channeling revealed Rena was an assassin, though she now suspected the vision had been manipulated.
• Daphne’s butler announced that Inspector Russell had come to see her, and Abner recognized him as the man connected to the train murder case and Bianca’s spying.
• Abner called Yaluolan, and Daphne realized an Angel was present.
• Russell transformed into his Devil form when he sensed danger, but Abner’s Mystical Reenactment trapped him beneath the Five Finger Mountain.

Abner subdued Russell, searched his memories, and learned about Russell’s ties to Charlie, Al von Nois, and the attack on Owen. After Daphne helped cover up Russell’s death, Abner asked about her interest in the Spectral Empire, and she revealed that her family had a connection to the Night Emperor.

• Abner suppressed Russell with Five Finger Mountain and read his memories while Daphne watched.
• Abner learned that Russell had sent Bianca to monitor him at Al von Nois’s request and that Charlie had recently received an order from someone claiming to be Al.
• Abner asked Daphne to turn Russell into a Marionette and arrange a plausible death, and she complied before giving Russell to Abner as spoils of war.
• Abner Sealed Russell, and Daphne cleansed the servants’ memories before inviting Abner to lunch.
• Abner asked Daphne about her experiences and interest in the Spectral Empire, and she said the Priestley Family had a connection to the Night Emperor.