Chapter Summaries

Leonard visited Klein in a dream to ask about his investment in Abner Brain's territory, then erased Klein's detailed memory of the encounter. Abner learned from Princess Vera that Medea was bound by three rules and that three Demoness Saintesses planned to capture Owen Delien in Trier.

• Leonard questioned Klein about his investment in Abner Brain's territory and accepted Klein's fabricated explanation involving their Bayam dealings.
• Leonard used Nightmare's power to leave Klein with only a vague memory of the dream, and Sharron appeared at Klein's window to ask whether someone had visited.
• Abner traveled to Princess Vera's home and asked about the outcome of the attack on the Black Saintess.
• Princess Vera explained that Medea had been restrained and bound by three rules that prevented her from exposing Vera's direction or harming Abner and his friends.
• Princess Vera told Abner that the Red Saintess and White Saintess had recruited the Blue Saintess to capture Owen Delien in Trier, while Medea had refused to join them.

Abner left Vera to help Fanny manage Toulon City, warning her to stay away from Trier as the Delien Family faced imminent ruin. At the Tarot Club meeting, Cattleya presented two pages of Roselle's Diary, whose final entry hinted at the danger of Roselle's completed mausoleums.

• Abner declined Vera's invitation, then left to visit Yaluolan in the Kabas nightmare and deliver Margaret's blood to Hosenam.
• Vera questioned Medea about her search for suspicious people in Backlund and ordered her to keep looking with the Distorted Demon Eye.
• Abner praised Fanny's governance of Toulon City and warned her that the prime minister and Delien Family were likely to fall, advising her not to return to Trier or seek power yet.
• Audrey celebrated conquering the Dream Labyrinth Tower's seventh floor at the Tarot Club meeting, while Fors reflected on how many members she knew in person.
• Cattleya gave Klein two pages of Roselle's Diary, and Klein read an entry saying the mausoleums were complete and Roselle had no way back.

Klein read Roselle's final diary entry, which revealed Liu Bo's nature and warned a future Transmigrator to beware the moon. The entry left Klein pondering the warning before Cattleya asked Mr. Fool about two Chinese characters.

• Klein read Roselle's dated diary entry describing his impending advancement and his failure to escape corruption.
• Klein read Queen Mystic's annotation revealing that Liu Bo had predicted a future Transmigrator would arrive through Sefirah Castle and follow the Fool Pathway.
• Roselle's entry explained how Liu Bo's reliability changed with his Sequence and warned the future reader to beware the moon.
• Klein considered whether Liu Bo's Unknown authority was tied to fate and wondered what the warning about the moon meant.
• Klein turned to Cattleya, who asked Mr. Fool about the Chinese characters Liu and Bo.

At the Tarot Club, Alger arranged to rent Lyman's Travel Notes for a coming expedition to the Primordial Island, while the members exchanged private conversations. Audrey thanked the others for protecting her family from the Catastrophe, and Abner revealed that five Angels had captured the Black Saintess, leaving her unable to threaten those around him.

• Klein told the Tarot Club that the Roselle symbols Liu Bo represented the true name of a hidden existence, and Cattleya, Alger, and Audrey reacted with curiosity and alarm.
• Alger asked to rent Lyman's Travel Notes for two days, and Fors set an additional fee of 1,000 Gold Pounds for each Demigod ability he could not replace.
• Alger requested a private conversation with the World, while Cattleya and Fors also spoke privately about Angel blood, the Abraham Family, and Mr. Door.
• Audrey requested a private conversation with Abner, Xio, Fors, Klein, and Sharron, prompting Alger to worry that he had been excluded from the Tarot Club's inner circle.
• Audrey thanked the group for protecting her family from the Catastrophe, and Abner said five Angels had captured the Black Saintess.

At the Tarot Club meeting, Abner reassured Audrey about the Church of Evernight’s investigation and learned of Earl Hall’s plans for a Film Academy Award. The members discussed the City of Silver’s former Chief’s mausoleum, and Klein ended the meeting by asking whether Abner had recovered the Calamity Seal’s memories.

• Audrey told the Tarot Club how she had explained the kitchen fire to her parents, and Abner assured her that a Servant of Concealment had been among the Angels present that night.
• Audrey told Abner that Earl Hall planned to meet with him about the Film Academy Award, and Abner decided to prepare for the negotiations.
• Cattleya noticed the closeness between Fors, Xio, and Abner and felt driven to catch up as the Hanged Man appeared to have advanced to Sequence 5.
• Derrick told Abner that Elder Lovia had not approached him again and that the Six-Member Council was investigating the former Chief’s mausoleum; Abner warned him to watch for trouble there.
• After the Tarot Club meeting, Klein asked Abner whether he had recovered the Calamity Seal’s memories, and Abner said he had not.

Abner read Roselle’s final diary with Klein, discussed the Calamity Seal and warned Klein about the primitive island expedition. He then recruited Tracy after thwarting her escape, taking control of the Black Death and punishing its crew.

• Klein gave Abner Roselle’s final diary, which described the authority of Unknown and Roselle’s memories of his past identities.
• Abner said the Calamity Seal was probably a research concept he had developed with the God of Knowledge, then advised Klein to summon his projection if the Hanged Man’s expedition became dangerous.
• Abner visited Helene, heard that she had defeated Tracy’s attempt to abduct her, and urged her to lie low in Toulon City.
• Abner tracked Tracy to her mother Katarina’s manor, stopped her from escaping through the Mirror World, and used Fascinate Humans to make her his devoted fan.
• Abner took Tracy to the Black Death, killed its most criminal pirates, and implanted false personalities in the others to force them to atone.

Abner visited Alger aboard the Blue Avenger, arranged for him to collect Black Death pirates’ bounties and join Tracy’s crew, then went with Tracy to Backlund. Dorian met Fors and Viscount Braine at Cerenzo Restaurant.

• A sailor told Alger that the crew feared a Sea Monster or an unclean presence, so Alger agreed to sail to Lindes Harbor.
• Abner appeared before Alger with Tracy, explained that Tracy would not remember the meeting, and handed over the heads of Black Death pirates with bounties above one thousand pounds.
• Abner asked Alger to collect the bounties on a seventy-thirty split and advised him to join Tracy’s crew until the end of the year.
• Alger accepted Abner’s proposal, and Abner and Tracy vanished together.
• Dorian waited nervously for Fors and Viscount Braine, then opened the door and greeted them at Cerenzo Restaurant.

Abner persuaded Dorian to gather the Abraham Family at the foot of the Hornacis Mountain Range to welcome Alvin’s return and seek relief from the family’s curse. Klein met Queen Mystic Bernadette, arranged for her to erode Senor in exchange for help through the Dream Labyrinth Tower, and left her wondering how he had cleared its levels.

• Abner told Dorian that Alvin would return by the end of the month or the beginning of the next, and that he could protect some Abrahams from the full moon’s whispers.
• Dorian accepted the risk of gathering the Abraham Family and asked where they should welcome Alvin; Abner directed them to wait at the foot of the Hornacis Mountain Range.
• Klein found Bernadette near Backlund Bridge, where she offered him a choice of payment for his help concerning Cattleya.
• Klein asked Bernadette to make Senor appear eroded by the Sealing Core’s power in exchange for guiding her through the ninth, eighth, and seventh levels of the Dream Labyrinth Tower.
• After Klein emerged from the Dream Labyrinth Tower, Bernadette asked how he had done it, and he replied that he used to be a Detective.

Abner foresaw danger converging on the Prime Minister’s Office Building as a protest against Charlie Delien’s order surged through Trier. The protests masked a brewing catastrophe: Charlie summoned a Monster, while Ialdabaoth identified the hidden Sequence 1 ancestor Nois Farbauti, and four young girls sensed that another Catastrophe had begun.

• Abner observed the massive march against Charlie Delien and deduced that the churches were using political upheaval to purge dangerous factions from Trier.
• Abner noticed the marchers’ Rivers of Fate converging on a dead end and vanished to investigate the Prime Minister’s Office Building.
• A guard named Nois killed Secretary Marvin and ate his heart, but a Machinery Hivemind team shot the Devil; Marvin’s final warning revealed that the Prime Minister was summoning something.
• After Spirit Channeling Marvin, Miss Warlock warned the team that the Prime Minister had summoned a Monster to descend upon himself, and the captain reported the danger to the Archbishop.
• Ialdabaoth identified Nois Farbauti, the Nois Family ancestor secretly advanced to Sequence 1, as the Dark Side of the Universe’s contingency plan.
• Four young girls looked toward the Prime Minister’s Office Building, and the one in yellow declared that another Catastrophe had occurred.

The Demoness Saintesses planned to ambush Owen near the Delien Family's old residence while a hidden catastrophe gathered in Trier. Abner brought Bernadette to stop it, but they discovered that Ialdabaoth had arranged for the Abyss to descend at the city's center.

• Natalia rejected Margaret's idea of notifying an outside friend and agreed to wait near the Delien Family's old residence, while Katarina persuaded the other Saintesses to split up.
• Abner found Bernadette in Backlund and warned her that a catastrophe in Trier could kill tens of thousands, prompting her to go with him to stop it.
• Abner and Bernadette arrived in Trier and saw an evil aura erupt from the White House, where Bornova's mechanical body was corrupted and destroyed.
• Bernadette identified an Abomination and believed the catastrophe had passed, but Abner saw that the marching civilians' fates still led to death.
• Ialdabaoth revealed that he had used Bornova as a tool to free the Demon Monarch and had arranged for the Abyss to descend in Trier, beyond the time available for the gods' vessels to intervene.

Abner and Bernadette identified the Triumphal Arch and the Delien Family’s hidden secret as the key to stopping the Abyss, while Bernadette used the Magic Wishing Lamp to gain the strength of a Knowledge Emperor. Abner summoned Rhine’s Historical Projection and headed for the Delien Family’s ancestral residence, where four bewitching figures confronted him.

• Abner connected the Triumphal Arch to the Delien Family’s hidden treasury and realized that Lilith’s mission to explore the family’s secret might break the deadlock.
• The other Eyes of Wisdom revealed that Ialdabaoth’s proclamations had exposed the churches’ inability to respond in time, and Abner quickly shared the intelligence with those nearby.
• Bernadette used her second wish from the Magic Wishing Lamp to gain the strength of a Knowledge Emperor for one day, then joined Bornova to face the descending Abyss.
• Abner summoned Rhine Calendia’s Historical Projection with his talisman and Teleported to the Delien Family’s ancestral residence.
• Abner released Owen and entered Alvin’s Quiz Maze, but four bewitching figures surrounded him at the residence.

Abner’s Owen Delien avatar and allies fought the four Demonesses while his true body faced Natalia, the Yellow Saint. With Richelieu and Yaluolan’s help, Abner broke Natalia’s spatial seal and created an opening to weaken her.

• Abner recognized Natalia, Katarina, Margaret, and Veronica, then sent Owen, the Wild Hunt, and the Despair Nightingale to hold the three Saintesses back.
• Abner escaped Alvin’s Quiz Maze and found Natalia waiting; he fully unsealed the Magic Mirror, freeing Richelieu to fight beside him.
• Abner used a Yesterday Reenactment charm to restore Richelieu and gave Yaluolan the wings of Al Nois to help restrain Natalia.
• Natalia sealed the surrounding space and unleashed a Catastrophe that aged and weakened Abner, but he used the Pure White Eye’s Authority to dispel its effects.
• Abner broke Natalia’s spatial seal with a Conqueror-fueled charge, allowing Richelieu to strike her with the Sun Chaser’s radiance and Yaluolan to arm him with Perseus’s Sword and Athena’s Shield.

Abner investigated the Delien Family treasury and confronted Jack Delien, who had wounded Selo and wielded Roselle’s greatsword. Abner’s projection kept Jack occupied while his real body entered the treasury, and the greatsword’s past betrayal of the God of Combat came to light.

• Abner sealed away the Conqueror characteristic’s crown and hurried to the Delien Family’s underground treasury.
• Abner found Selo Delien gravely wounded beside the open treasury door and recognized that an enemy was waiting nearby.
• Jack Delien revealed himself after believing he had destroyed Abner, but the attack had taken place in a Nightmare created by Abner’s Historical Projection.
• The greatsword identified Abner as a Historical Projection, while Abner’s real body entered the treasury.
• Abner identified the greatsword as one of Roselle’s three special items and accused its patriarch of being manipulated into betraying the God of Combat.

Abby negotiated with Divine Sword Andre, freed Selo, and entered the Delien treasury’s dangerous tunnel to find Madam Julia. She learned that stopping Trier from becoming an Abyss required throwing in an object tainted by a Western Continent Sefirah, and she weighed the Book of the Dead against the Calamity Seal.

• Abby persuaded Andre to join him as Divine Sword by promising a chance at revenge against Boris and redemption.
• Divine Sword removed Twilight from Selo and Jack, allowing Selo to recover and swallow Jack.
• Abby descended through the treasury’s sealed passages and used the Fool’s protection to cross a tunnel contaminated by a Sefirah.
• Abby met Madam Julia beside a closed door, and she explained that he had to throw in an object tainted by a Sefirah sealed in the Western Continent.
• Abby considered using either the Book of the Dead, tainted by the River of Eternal Darkness, or the Calamity Seal, likely tainted by the City of Calamity.

Abner transformed into the Lord of the Dead and entered the door to confront the Abyss consuming Trier. Bernadette and Bornova slowed its spread, but the crisis remained until Abner’s power forced the Abyss back into the White House.

• Abner used the Book of the Dead to transform into the Lord of the Dead and stepped through the door.
• Bernadette invented Holy Sword Bernadette and gave it to Bornova, whose mecha struck the Abyss and pierced it with sword light.
• Filth poured from the wounds, forcing Lilith to create purifying creatures while Bernadette and Bornova’s forces struggled to hold back the contamination.
• Lilith revealed that the parade’s extreme emotions were the medium sustaining the Abyss’s arrival, leaving Bernadette torn over whether to stop the crowd.
• A phantom stone tablet appeared at the Triumphal Arch and forced the Abyss to retreat into the White House.
• Abner appeared in the archway and sent a river of colorless darkness through the sword-made openings and into the Abyss.

Abner used the River of Eternal Darkness’s aura to defeat Nois Farbauti and drive back the Abyss, then questioned Julia about the Triumphal Arch and Roselle’s plans. As the Arch began to collapse, Abner asked Julia what medium she had used to open its door.

• Abner’s illusory tide overwhelmed the Abyss, forcing Farbauti to abandon his descent and leaving Nois trapped and killed in the river.
• Charlie dragged Nois into the tide, and Reinhardt summoned the remaining Abomination characteristic while Lilith examined the Triumphal Arch.
• The God of Steam and Machinery’s mecha arrived and cleansed the Abyss’s corruption as sunlight dispelled darkness and negative emotions around Trier.
• Abner directed a trace of the tide toward Natalia, then ended his transformation and asked Julia why Roselle had built the Triumphal Arch.
• Julia explained that Roselle intended to connect the Arch to the City of Calamity using the Elf King’s Soul Stone, and that she had become bound there after trying to open it.
• As the Triumphal Arch began to collapse, Abner asked Julia what medium she had used to open the door.

Abner investigated the Delien Family’s hidden space, where Mrs. Julia revealed that she had failed to enter a mysterious door and chose to die when it collapsed. He escaped with a Soul Stone and pieced together the forces behind the Delien Family’s secrets, then returned to find the battle outside the ruins over and Natalia trapped in a deep dream.

• Mrs. Julia told Abner that she had lost memories of five organ-like mediums and refused his offer to preserve her life, asking him to tell Roselle that she had fulfilled his requests.
• The hidden door collapsed, and Mrs. Julia passed through the stages of life before turning into a Soul Stone; Abner took it and escaped through the tunnel as the space crumbled.
• Abner reasoned that Roselle had found a way to communicate with the Western Continent’s Sefirah through Sefirah Castle’s seal, and suspected Mrs. Julia’s failed attempt had drawn attention to the Triumphal Arch.
• Abner wondered whether the organ mediums were connected to the Tingen murders, the experiment involving five girls, and the Calamity Seal’s arrangements.
• Outside the Delien Old Residence, Abner’s allies held the captured Margaret and Natalia, while Veronica and Katarina escaped and Selo gathered items from the vault.

After saving Trier, Abner escaped with Bernadette, received her Holy Sword Bernadette as a token of trust, and collapsed after reaching safety. Bernadette advanced to Sequence 2, while Abner woke to news of Trier’s destruction.

• Abner brought Bernadette and Reinhardt to his Ancient Vine Manor, where Lilith revealed herself as the Sanguine progenitor before dismissing her Historical Projection.
• Bernadette gave Abner Holy Sword Bernadette and promised to grant any request as thanks for his help saving her homeland.
• Abner and Bernadette Teleported to the outskirts of Backlund, where Bernadette departed for the Dawn Vessel and Abner collapsed from spiritual exhaustion.
• Fors found Abner unconscious and Teleported him to his villa at 28 Kinster Street.
• Bernadette obtained the materials for the Sage potion, shattered the Sage Diadem with Pale Death, and advanced to Sequence 2.
• After sleeping for nearly twenty-four hours, Abner woke and read a headline reporting that Trier’s White Palace and Triumphal Arch had collapsed.

Abner questioned the Magic Mirror Richelieu about his former service as a Pope and learned that Richelieu had always worshipped Abner—or the Primordial Creator he had once descended as. Richelieu’s explanation led Abner to suspect that God Almighty had partially awakened within the Eternal Blazing Sun and that this had caused the Betrayal Banquet; Abner’s Dominator of Mysteries potion digestion then rose sharply.

• Abner skimmed reports about Charlie Delien’s death and used Insight to discover that Fors had gone out to seek opportunities to act as an Astrologer; he also confirmed that Fors and Xio were safe.
• Abner brought out the Magic Mirror Richelieu, who released Cecilia and used her body to greet him.
• Abner asked whether Richelieu had recovered his memories as Pope and whether he intended to return to the Eternal Blazing Sun.
• Richelieu said that he, Auerbach, and Louisa had always worshipped Abner, and that the Eternal Blazing Sun had once been a vessel for Abner’s descent.
• Abner theorized that God Almighty had partially awakened within the Eternal Blazing Sun, causing the Popes to recognize their master’s change and possibly triggering the Betrayal Banquet.
• Abner sensed that his Dominator of Mysteries potion digestion had increased substantially.

Abner learned that his deduction had triggered a change that allowed him to digest the Potion, then questioned Richelieu about Roselle’s artifacts and the Calamity Seal. He weighed the fates of Margaret and Natalia and began using his Secret Art on Margaret.

• Abner deduced that a hidden truth had been revealed to him after he guessed correctly, allowing him to gain Insight and digest the Potion.
• Richelieu said Roselle had likely created the sword, mirror, and Seal for the Knowledge Emperor ritual, but had never heard of the Calamity Seal.
• Abner postponed dealing with the Divine Sword and considered how to punish Margaret and Natalia.
• Abner decided to turn Margaret into a puppet who would atone through good deeds and to leave Natalia asleep until he could make her a Marionette.
• Abner pointed the radiance of the Sun at Margaret’s forehead and began using his Secret Art.