Chapter Summaries

Nangong brought Sunna, Aria, and Griseo to meet Yuzuha Ukinami, who pranked Sunna and Aria in a funeral hall-like rehearsal room. Yuzuha then introduced Weifei Land’s traditional music and invited them to try the instruments.

• Nangong led Sunna, Aria, and Griseo into Yuzuha Ukinami’s strangely decorated rehearsal room, which Sunna and Aria mistook for a funeral hall.
• Yuzuha and Griseo staged a scare with funeral music, a flying display table, and Cauldron, frightening Sunna and Aria.
• Sunna and Aria blamed Nangong for the prank while Yuzuha welcomed Griseo with Tea Immortal pastries.
• Yuzuha introduced herself and Cauldron to the group, then assured Aria that Weifei Land respected its Intelligent Construct, Master Ban Yue.
• Yuzuha explained that instruments such as the suona and erhu represented Weifei Land’s oldest musical traditions and offered to let the group try them.

Yuzuha’s Funeral Band was mistaken for a “Funeral Love Band” while she recruited the Angels of Delusion to help with a performance. The group accepted a Celebratory Mourning, and Griseo wanted to attend after sensing relief and Blessing in Songxi’s account of his grandfather’s death.

• Yuzuha proposed that the group try the Funeral Band’s underground style, and Mato Komano arrived to correct her misleading explanation.
• Mato explained that he and Yuzuha had formed a band that took paid gigs, including funerals and celebrations, while Yuzuha defended their music.
• Songxi came to hire the band for his ninety-two-year-old grandfather’s Celebratory Mourning, and Yuzuha accepted the job.
• Songxi paid Yuzuha and gave her the performance address before leaving, while Mato pointed out that only he and Yuzuha were actually in the band.
• Yuzuha asked Nangong and the others to help, and Griseo said she wanted to go because Songxi carried relief and Blessing.

Yuzuha led Nangong, Sunna, Aria, Mato, and Griseo to perform funeral music at an elder’s Celebratory Mourning, explaining how the ceremony honored a life well lived. Their lively performance sent the old gentleman off with a blessing.

• Yuzuha persuaded the group to form a funeral music band, assigning instruments to each of them.
• The group followed Songxi to the old gentleman’s funeral in Chenghui Plateau’s old district.
• Yuzuha explained to Griseo that Celebratory Mourning honored a fulfilling life and the blessings left to descendants.
• Yuzuha led the band in a solemn tribute and a boisterous performance of “Hundreds of Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix.”

Aria and Griseo stayed by the bonfire while Nangong, Sunna, and Yuzuha investigated a mysterious painting at the resort. The painting came to life and sent everyone fleeing, but Aria and Griseo revealed that the frightening monster was one of Griseo’s creations.

• Aria stayed with Griseo as she painted by the beach while Nangong, Sunna, and Yuzuha went on a seaside test of courage.
• Yuzuha led Nangong and a frightened Sunna to a strange portrait of a girl trimming a garden, and Mato, Theresa, and the others found they could not touch it.
• Nangong brought Sunna out of her frightened stupor by claiming Astra Yao was there, but Sunna saw the painting move and ran away screaming.
• The portrait vanished, and a floating girl with blade-like hands appeared; Yuzuha, Mato, Nangong, and Theresa fled in panic.
• Aria dropped her disguise and revealed that the monster was Griseo’s living painting, which dissolved back into her.
• Griseo pointed out that Aria was smiling, and Aria laughed at having seen Nangong get scared.

Nangong, Sunna, and Yuzuha went looking through the resort hotel after an eerie voice joined Sunna’s nursery rhyme. The song beckoned them down the corridor, and Yuzuha prepared to confront whatever had interrupted her ghost story.

• Nangong, Sunna, and Yuzuha held a girls’ night and began telling a ghost story to fight their fear.
• An eerie voice joined Sunna’s nursery rhyme, frightening her and convincing the girls that someone else was in the room.
• Yuzuha persuaded Nangong and Sunna to leave their room and search the hotel for the source of the song.
• Nangong noticed that a portrait’s eyes seemed to follow her, while Yuzuha insisted the paintings were normal.
• A nursery rhyme echoed from the corridor’s darkness, and Yuzuha headed toward it to find whoever had stolen her lines.

Yuzuha, Nangong, and Sunna explored a dusty basement and pieced together a frightening story about children trapped in the hotel, though Yuzuha and Nangong had been teasing Sunna. A red-clad bride appeared at the door, and Aria and Griseo revealed they had staged the scare.

• Yuzuha, Nangong, and Sunna followed a nursery rhyme into a basement filled with toys and dolls, where Yuzuha frightened Sunna with a floating doll.
• Yuzuha found a picture book, and Nangong identified its text as a fairy tale that matched the nursery rhyme.
• Yuzuha narrated how eight children had been trapped and killed in the basement, while Nangong suggested that the last two children's souls had been imprisoned in dolls.
• Yuzuha and Nangong revealed that they had been teasing Sunna, but the lights went out and Sunna struck Cauldron with her Bubble Hammer.
• A red-clad bride appeared in the doorway as a suona sounded, and Sunna, Yuzuha, and Nangong all pretended to faint.
• Aria dispelled the bride's projection, and Griseo admitted she had not known how to draw the scene.

Sunna, Nangong, Aria, and Griseo cleared Ethereals from Lemnian Hollow before Griseo summoned Eden to help the group with their music. Eden demonstrated a passage from Sunna’s song and began reviewing her sheet music.

• Sunna directed Nangong and Aria as they cleared Ethereals from the Hollow.
• Griseo summoned Eden, Angels of Delusion’s secret mentor, to help Sunna with her music.
• Sunna asked Eden to sing a passage from a video, and Eden performed it while Aria recorded.
• Sunna explained that the group wanted a spoken passage with the feeling of a god descending, and Eden suggested asking Aponia.
• Griseo asked Eden to review Sunna’s sheet music, and Sunna eagerly handed it over.

Eden helped Sunna refine the Angels of Delusion’s new song before Griseo returned to the group. That night, the band began performing the song at a beach bonfire as Cecilia, Theresa, and the crowd watched.

• Eden reviewed Sunna’s score and suggested changes to its chords, melody, and phrasing.
• Eden disappeared as Griseo’s borrowed power faded, and Sunna resolved to practice the revised song with Aria and Nangong.
• Griseo gathered a strand of pale golden light with her brush, and the group returned to their resort.
• At the beach bonfire, Sunna announced that the Angels of Delusion had prepared a new song for the crowd.
• Sunna and Nangong began playing as Aria stood ready to sing, while Griseo prepared a painted projection.

Aria, Sunna, Nangong, and Griseo performed a folk song about leaving home, growing up, and regretting not returning to a waiting mother. Their moving performance brought the audience to tears and ended with applause, free desserts, and hot drinks for everyone.

• Sunna and Nangong played guitars as Aria sang, while Griseo illustrated the song with a shifting painting of a young man leaving home.
• Griseo’s scenes followed the young man through adulthood, contrasting his distant achievements with his mother waiting at home.
• Griseo depicted the grown child finally running home, only to find his mother gone and a cold bowl of soup left behind.
• Aria finished the song as Griseo showed the child dreaming of his mother, and the performers bowed to the quiet beach audience.
• The audience applauded and sniffled, Cecilia praised the performers, and Manager Theresa offered everyone desserts and hot drinks on the resort.

Ellen visited the video store under orders to monitor Belle and Wise, but she openly admitted she planned to sleep there and only report their whereabouts. Lycaon and Rina discussed the siblings’ growing involvement in the Sacrificial Ghost incident and the mayor’s interest in Griseo, while Griseo and Trigger watched them leave.

• Ellen told Belle and Wise that her boss had sent her to keep an eye on them, then admitted she had taken the assignment mainly so she could sleep away from her coworkers.
• Wise told Ellen that Phaethon would most likely search for Perlman in the Outer Ring, and Ellen said she would claim she could not reach them there.
• Lycaon told Rina that the mayor wanted to provide Belle and Wise with assistance and guidance, and that the mayor’s greater concern was Griseo.
• Lycaon and Rina realized they had been spotted and disappeared into the shadows as Griseo told Trigger they had left.

Trigger remembered the loss of her former squad and the duel in which Zoe died, then recalled playing “Homecoming” at Port Elpis while grieving for her teammates. Griseo brought her back to the present by asking whether she was sad.

• Trigger hid in Griseo’s studio after encountering Victoria Housekeeping and waited until they had left.
• The story recounted how Trigger’s advance force was abandoned in Limbo Hollow and how Zoe later became consumed by revenge.
• Zoe challenged Trigger to a duel, but Trigger survived when her harmonica stopped Zoe’s bullet, and Zoe died.
• More than half a year earlier, Trigger took Griseo to Port Elpis and remembered meeting Wise and Belle there.
• Trigger played “Homecoming” on her damaged harmonica and cried because she could not forget her fallen teammates.
• Griseo asked Trigger whether she was sad, drawing her out of her memories.

Griseo took Trigger into Hollow Zero and used her painting to bring Trigger’s memories of her fallen comrades into view. Trigger reunited with painted versions of her old team and wept in Captain Charon’s embrace.

• Griseo showed Trigger a painting of them together and asked to enter Hollow Zero with the mementos Trigger had been grieving over.
• An officer inspected Trigger’s belongings at Scott Outpost, then let her and Griseo pass after learning the keepsakes belonged to Trigger’s fallen comrades.
• At an abandoned warehouse, Trigger told Griseo about Captain Charon, Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, and Styx, then played their birthday song, “Homecoming.”
• Griseo awakened Discipline and Wisdom through the Stars Signet and painted as the keepsakes dissolved into light.
• Trigger saw painted versions of her old friends, and Captain Charon embraced her as she broke down in tears.

Trigger received Griseo’s painting of Lila Squad, which let her reunite with her fallen friends through their memories, and learned Griseo had strengthened its powers. Back at the video store, Trigger asked Griseo to join Belle on the upcoming Outer Ring investigation, hoping to set up a date with Wise.

• In Hollow Zero, Griseo gave Trigger a painting of her and Lila Squad and explained that Trigger could use it to see Charon and the others again.
• Trigger warned Griseo to keep her unusual ability secret until she could protect herself, then played a new, unnamed tune on her harmonica before they left the Hollow.
• Back at the video store, Griseo returned the painting with renewed powers that let Trigger see her old friends in dreams and use it outside the Hollows.
• Griseo demonstrated that she could briefly conjure Ether Energy outside the Hollows, though it dissipated quickly.
• Trigger asked Griseo to request to accompany Belle on the upcoming Outer Ring investigation, planning to use the opportunity to go on a date with Wise.

Belle, Billy, and Griseo traveled into the Outer Ring to meet the Sons of Calydon about Perlman, but an out-of-control tanker nearly sent their truck over a cliff. Griseo summoned Mr. Knight by drawing Ether Energy from a nearby Hollow to stop the tanker, then sensed two hostile figures in the distance.

• Belle teased Billy into promising to waive Nicole's commission if he failed to protect the team, and she pulled out one of his hairs to seal the bet.
• Griseo showed Belle a message from Trigger asking her to choose a romantic date, revealing why Belle had taken Wise's place on the trip.
• A runaway Dayun tanker crossed the highway's center lines and charged toward Billy's truck.
• Griseo summoned Mr. Knight, who struck the tanker into the cliff while Billy braked and narrowly kept the truck from going over the guardrail.
• Griseo landed in Mr. Knight's palm and sensed two hostile figures near the distant cliffs.

Belle and Billy arrived at Blazewood with Griseo and met Caesar and the Sons of Calydon. Caesar offered to give Belle the injured, unconscious Perlman in exchange for her help, and Belle asked to hear the details.

• Caesar and the Sons of Calydon waited for Phaethon, while Lucy tried to keep Burnice and Piper behaving like proper hosts.
• Billy drifted the truck to a stop outside Blazewood, and Belle hit him with his gun for showing off without warning her.
• Belle introduced herself and Griseo to Caesar and the Sons of Calydon, and Burnice eagerly took Griseo to look after her.
• Caesar offered Perlman, who was badly hurt and unconscious, in exchange for Belle's help.
• Lucy scolded Caesar for revealing their offer too quickly, but Caesar insisted a leader needed boldness, and Belle asked her to explain further.

Belle and Phaethon accepted a commission from the Sons of Calydon to help them win Inferno Rider, while Belle uncovered a possible plot by Lucius to seize power from Pompey. The group ended the night in Blazewood, readying themselves for the race and the dangers ahead.

• Belle pieced together the deal and accepted the Sons of Calydon's commission, and Lucy agreed to the arrangement.
• Lucy explained that The Victors had been giving the Sons of Calydon poor transport routes, while Billy described Lucius as ruthless and ambitious.
• Belle theorized that Lucius planned to use Inferno Rider and Pompey's possible death to seize the Overlord position, and Lucy and Caesar realized the race could provide an opportunity for betrayal.
• Caesar, Lucy, and Belle agreed to focus on winning Inferno Rider and raised their drinks with the others.
• Belle helped Griseo pack away her painting of Blazewood's night sky and took her back to camp to sleep.

Lucy told Belle and Griseo how she left the Montef Family and met the Sons of Calydon. She ended the story furious at Caesar, who had ruined Lucy’s staged kidnapping plan.

• Lucy’s father forbade her from investigating Hollows, and Lucy refused to live as a protected family ornament.
• Lucy’s mother persuaded her father to let Lucy go, and he remembered his own rebellious youth as Lucy rode away from the estate.
• Lucy hired Outer Ring men to stage her kidnapping so she could get money from her family and leave on her own.
• Caesar crashed into the staged kidnapping and beat the hired men, believing she was rescuing Lucy.
• Lucy berated Caesar for destroying her plan and costing her all her money.

Lucy told Belle and Griseo how Caesar brought her to the Sons of Calydon, then recalled struggling to adapt to life in the Outer Ring and becoming the gang’s second-in-command. After losing her temper over the gang’s chaos, Lucy rode away, declaring she would not look after them again.

• Lucy remembered how Caesar found her performing piano in an Outer Ring bar and offered to take her home.
• Lucy stayed in the Outer Ring, rode with Caesar, and joined the Sons of Calydon despite fearing she might not survive there.
• Lucy became the Sons of Calydon’s second-in-command and scolded Burnice, Lighter, Piper, and Caesar for their reckless behavior and repeated mishaps.
• Lucy threw Caesar’s comic aside, declared she would never look after the gang again, and sped away on her motorcycle.

Lucy told Belle and Griseo how Big Daddy helped her reconsider her father’s love and how the Sons of Calydon surprised her with a birthday party. She stayed with the group, claiming she did so to protect the Outer Ring.

• Lucy ate Outer Ring specialties with Belle and Griseo while recounting her story.
• On her birthday, Lucy sulked alone by a campfire until Big Daddy brought her a strawberry cake sent by her father, Mr. Montf.
• Big Daddy told Lucy about her father’s past and suggested that his gifts showed he loved her, even if he expressed it poorly.
• Piper and the three little Boar Thirens brought Lucy to the camp, where Burnice, Lighter, Caesar, and Piper celebrated her birthday.
• Lucy told Belle and Griseo that she had stayed with the Sons of Calydon to protect the Outer Ring.

Belle received the HDD equipment and Carrot Data Recorders she needed to demonstrate Phaethon’s skills in the Hollow. As Caesar showed Griseo around Blazewood, she explained the Outer Ring’s dependence on oil and the origins of the Inferno Rider tradition.

• Billy returned with the HDD equipment, and Belle praised him for helping retrieve it with Lighter.
• Lucy encouraged Belle to go all out, while Caesar brought Belle the requested Carrot Data Recorders.
• Belle set up the HDD equipment and left Griseo with Billy as Caesar took over showing the visitors around Blazewood.
• Caesar explained that residents were making Sun Mirrors to earn money while the Outer Ring’s oil pipeline remained broken.
• Caesar told Griseo that Brimstone Lake’s burning gas kept Ether Corruption from the deeper oil reserves, and that Inferno Rider began as a way to clear the Ether Crystals threatening the lake.