Recaps

Susie sought Raphael Collins’s help after Audrey disappeared into the oil painting, and Raphael entered the painting to find her. He discovered that its doors led to strange dreamlike scenes and located Audrey in a theater, though the audience’s reaction left the situation unresolved.

• Susie impersonated Audrey to keep the household from learning she was missing, then sent Raphael a letter asking for help.
• Raphael learned that Audrey had entered the painting through a dream and used a Sealed Artifact to enter it with Susie.
• Raphael found himself alone in an abstract world and followed clues linking its scenes to dreams created by the Annihilation Demonic Wolf.
• Raphael escaped a rehearsal room full of sketches by hypnotizing them and opening its door.
• Raphael entered a theater, where Audrey called him over as the audience watched them.

Raphael reunited with Audrey in an Angel's dream trapped inside an oil painting, and the two forced their way out of the opera house into an ancient hall. They began exploring the hall, where lifelike statues hinted that the dream's owner had encountered a Demoness.

• Audrey told Raphael that she had found an Angel's dream and could not locate an exit or safely pray for help.
• Raphael explained that Susie had brought him to find Audrey, and Audrey said she had sensed only one person enter the dream.
• Raphael set the theater ablaze and unleashed Frenzy on the audience, then flew with Audrey onto the stage to find a red door backstage.
• Raphael and Audrey entered the door and found an ancient hall filled with lifelike human and Beyonder creature statues.
• Raphael guessed from the statues' idealized bodies that the dream's owner had seen a Demoness, while Audrey looked uncomfortable.

Raphael and Audrey interpreted the hall’s statues as reflecting the Evernight Goddess’s past as a high-ranking Demonic Wolf who sheltered humans. When the statues came alive, Raphael hid them with Psychological Invisibility, but a shadowy woman emerged from the black crystal and brought them crashing to the floor.

• Raphael recognized that the human statues represented groups from different continents and that the Demonic Wolves stood closer to the throne.
• Raphael deduced that the hall reflected the dreamer’s impression of the Evernight Goddess, and Audrey’s naming her changed the atmosphere.
• Raphael and Audrey found no other exit and flew toward the red wooden door as the hall darkened.
• The statues came alive and searched for the intruders, but Raphael used Adam's Gift to make them overlook him and Audrey.
• A woman-shaped shadow emerged from the black crystal, pointed at Raphael and Audrey, and made Raphael lose concentration so they fell to the floor.

Raphael and Audrey discovered that the living statues and female shadow were part of a dream centered on the crystal, then reentered its second layer to find an exit. Raphael attacked the shadow to distract it while Audrey opened the red door, but it led back to the same hall.

• Audrey used Hypnosis to steady herself and Raphael as the female shadow and animated statues attacked them.
• Raphael and Audrey fought the statues, then realized the battle felt strangely harmless and that the statues had used no Beyonder abilities.
• Audrey helped them awaken from the dream, revealing the unmoving statues, the starlit crystal, and the vanished red door.
• Audrey explained the dream's layers, and she and Raphael returned to the second layer to search for the exit.
• Raphael attacked the female shadow with Mind Deprivation while Audrey opened the red door, which led back to the same hall.

After a powerful female shadow severed Raphael’s arm in the deeper dream, Audrey used Creeping Hunger’s Doctor soul to stitch it back on and helped him recover. Raphael woke and told her the dream’s exit was in a deeper layer.

• The female shadow severed Raphael’s arm, and Audrey used Dream Traversal to bring him back to the first layer of the dream.
• Raphael gave Creeping Hunger to Audrey and asked her to stitch his arm back on.
• Audrey used the Doctor soul to reconnect Raphael’s bones, blood vessels, and muscles, then burned away the blood with the Reaper soul.
• Raphael used Meditation to sleep while Audrey rested beside him and watched his wound heal.
• Raphael woke and told Audrey that the exit was in a deeper layer of the dream.

Raphael and Audrey discovered that the way out of the dream lay in its deeper layers, and they used Audrey’s abilities and Raphael’s protection to descend through them. They reached the fifth layer, where the female shadow’s attacks grew stronger and their danger intensified.

• Raphael told Audrey that the red wooden door led to deeper dream layers and that the exit was likely hidden within them.
• Audrey created a moving dream within the dream, and Raphael supported her with his spirituality as they passed through the door into the fourth layer.
• The female shadow attacked them in the fourth layer, but Raphael reflected her slumber-inducing ripples with Attack Reflection.
• Raphael and Audrey opened the red wooden door and entered the fifth layer, where the female shadow appeared more clearly and their sense of danger grew.
• Raphael raised the cross Adam had given him as their spiritual premonition warned that they might vanish.

Raphael and Audrey reached the deepest layer of the dream, where a mysterious woman revealed that Darkness had imprisoned her there. She offered to help them escape if they delivered her dream-sealing oil painting to Antigonus, and Raphael recognized her as the Mother of Heaven.

• Raphael used Adam's Gift to make the phantom of the Evernight Goddess hesitate while Audrey opened the door to the sixth dream layer.
• Raphael infused the Curse Crystal with spirituality, drawing the dream's attention and causing the phantom to look grave.
• Raphael and Audrey entered the seventh layer, found two stone exits, and observed the quiet phantom of the Evernight Goddess and a shifting shadow.
• The shadow took the form of a woman, who confirmed that the dream was hers and said Darkness had imprisoned her there.
• The woman offered to hold off the phantom if Raphael and Audrey delivered the oil painting sealing her dream to Antigonus, and Raphael identified her as the Mother of Heaven.

Raphael and Audrey confronted the imprisoned Mother of Heaven in the seventh layer of the dream and escaped her control by exploiting the connection between them. As Raphael reached the door behind the Evernight Goddess’s throne, the Goddess’s phantom stabbed him from behind.

• Raphael refused to take the Mother of Heaven to Antigonus, and she offered him a god-level Sealed Artifact hidden in the Hornacis Mountain Range.
• Audrey realized the Mother of Heaven could not use her dream-related abilities, but the Mother of Heaven controlled Raphael and Audrey with spirit body threads as they approached the throne.
• Raphael used Mind Deprivation on Audrey, causing the effect to pass through their shared spirit body threads and disrupt the Mother of Heaven’s control.
• Raphael carried the laughing Audrey past the Mother of Heaven, restored her condition, and reached the black stone door behind the throne.
• The Evernight Goddess’s phantom silently turned and stabbed Raphael in the back with a black sword as he prepared to open the door.

Raphael and Audrey escaped the Oil Painting after the Evernight Goddess's phantom attacked the Mother of Heaven. Raphael discovered that the Goddess had turned the darkness in his wound into a three-use charm capable of inflicting misfortune on a Saint, and he began to explain why Susie could not enter the painting.

• Audrey regained her senses, helped Raphael through the stone door, and escaped with him as the Evernight Goddess's black tide engulfed the Mother of Heaven.
• Raphael and Audrey emerged from the Oil Painting into Audrey's bedroom and collapsed from their injuries and exhaustion.
• The Evernight Goddess's gaze removed the spreading black light from Raphael's wound, leaving a thin layer of darkness behind.
• Raphael pulled the darkness from his wound in the Dark Hut and attached it to a crystal, creating a charm that could inflict misfortune on a Saint three times.
• Raphael deduced that the Goddess had used his wound to receive a message from her phantom and rewarded him for serving as her messenger.
• After Audrey changed and Raphael's wound began healing, he told her he understood why Susie could not enter the Oil Painting.

Raphael explained that the Evernight Goddess had likely connected Audrey to the oil painting after noticing their expedition to the Fourth Epoch ruins, and he left after returning Creeping Hunger. Audrey reflected on her unusual closeness with Raphael, then went to the Tarot Club meeting.

• Raphael told Audrey that their expedition to the Fourth Epoch ruins had likely drawn the Evernight Goddess's attention and linked Audrey to the oil painting, while Susie had missed the expedition.
• Raphael said the Goddess wanted them to check her seal in the painting and suggested deities judged others by whether they could cooperate with or use them; he also revealed that the Seven Gods had once been evil gods.
• Raphael left Audrey's room with Creeping Hunger, and Susie remarked that Audrey had behaved unusually around him.
• Audrey dealt with her bloodied clothes and beer glass, then dreamed of a nude statue with Raphael's face embracing her.
• Audrey went to work the next day, prepared for the Tarot Club, and arrived at its meeting hall at three in the afternoon.

Fors sought help assassinating Botis, while the Tarot Club discussed reports of miracles at several Churches and learned that the Evernight Goddess had once been a demonic wolf. The meeting ended with the World confirming Audrey's revelation.

• Fors asked the Tarot Club to commission Botis's assassination, and Cattleya offered to consider it after Fors gathered information and prepared a plan.
• Alger reported that miracles had appeared at several Churches, and the World linked them to an unusual phenomenon in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• The World explained that he planned to investigate the area near Chernobyl after receiving a warning from Sefirah Castle.
• Audrey told the Tarot Club that Raphael had identified the Evernight Goddess as a former high-ranking demonic wolf and subordinate of the Annihilation Demonic Wolf.
• The World confirmed that Audrey's information was accurate.

At the Tarot Club, Klein revealed that Antigonus was still alive and warned Audrey not to take the oil painting to the Hornacis Mountain Range. Later, Raphael advised Xio to ask the Church for help overturning her father’s conviction.

• Audrey told the Tarot Club about encountering the Mother of Heaven with Raphael and asked why the Mother of Heaven had used Seer pathway abilities and whether Antigonus was still alive.
• Cattleya suggested the Mother of Heaven had inherited mixed Beyonder characteristics, and Klein said Antigonus was probably sealed on the main peak of the Hornacis Mountain Range.
• Klein warned that taking the oil painting to Antigonus could make the carrier his marionette or cause them to lose control, and Cattleya told Audrey not to investigate it further.
• After the meeting, Audrey reflected on Raphael’s hidden abilities and hoped he would tell her what payment he wanted for rescuing her.
• Raphael went to dinner at Xio and Fors’s home, where Xio explained that she had been unable to find help overturning her father’s conviction.
• Raphael advised Xio to tell the Church what her father had learned about George III, and Xio realized the Church would have reason to help.

Xio, Fors, and Raphael discussed clearing Xio’s father’s name and planning an assassination of Botis, while Raphael’s serial murders continued to frighten wealthy merchants. Later, Botis arrived to take Raphael to the Rose Redemption initiation ceremony.

• Xio decided to wait until she advanced to Sequence 5 before contacting the Church about clearing her father’s name.
• Fors asked Raphael for information about Botis, and Raphael advised that the assassination would require two demigods, an angel’s appearance, and help holding off the Saint Tenebrous.
• Xio and Fors told Raphael that the Seven Deadly Sins serial murders had frightened wealthy merchants, while ordinary people applauded the killings of grain merchants.
• After returning home, Raphael answered a knock from Botis, who said Mr. Freddy had sent him to bring Raphael to Rose Redemption’s initiation ceremony.
• Raphael changed into a formal suit and left for the Aurora Order’s headquarters with Botis.

Raphael learned Rose Redemption’s history and chose the code name Darkness before joining its gathering. As Ouroboros began the ceremony, the True Creator watched the new member’s introduction.

• Freddy told Raphael that Rose Redemption served the True Creator and had members across the continents, including the Iron and Blood Cross Order’s vice president.
• Freddy explained the conditions of membership and asked Raphael to choose a code name; Raphael chose Darkness.
• Freddy sacrificed a dozen captives and prayed to the True Creator, opening a ritual connection to the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Raphael joined the arc of black phantoms, and Ouroboros appeared to begin the gathering.
• Ouroboros introduced Raphael as a new member, and the gathering sensed the True Creator watching them.

Raphael joined Rose Redemption under the code name Darkness and observed a dispute between the Iron and Blood Cross Order and the Aurora Order. He revealed that someone had encountered the Red Angel’s evil spirit, and Ouroboros confirmed that he had seen it himself.

• The True Creator briefly watched the gathering as Ouroboros introduced Raphael, who chose the code name Darkness.
• Freddy and Spark argued over the Iron and Blood Cross Order’s attack on the Aurora Order, and Ouroboros ordered Spark to investigate and report back.
• Nature raised rumors of internal strife within the Iron and Blood Cross Order, while Spark said he had found no problems.
• Raphael mentioned reports of the Red Angel’s evil spirit, prompting Spark to deny it and Ouroboros to confirm he had seen the spirit himself.

At a Rose Redemption gathering, Raphael learned about dangers tied to the Red Angel and Sorn City, then heard Life describe the growing war and rivalries on the Southern Continent. After the meeting, Raphael planned to demand a Marionette Beyonder characteristic from the Iron and Blood Cross Order.

• Ouroboros warned that the Red Angel's evil spirit could influence members of the Iron and Blood Cross Order, and Spark vowed to investigate.
• Ouroboros cautioned the members against investigating a battle near Sorn City, and Storm explained that the True Creator had forbidden anyone from approaching the city seventy years earlier.
• Life reported that Loen's colonial army faced attacks from foreign powers and Southern Continent forces, while the Rose School and Numinous Episcopate fought over East Balam.
• Raphael considered exploiting the rival groups' conflicts and planned to visit the Southern Continent after his seclusion to deliver Beyonder characteristics to Miss Sharron.
• After the gathering ended, Raphael told Vice President Freddy that he would ask the Iron and Blood Cross Order for a Marionette Beyonder characteristic.

Raphael planned to coordinate the Mafia and Mechanic Company, recruit and train Beyonders, and eventually move people from Sorn City to the Northern Continent. He traded seven Hunter pathway characteristics to the Iron and Blood Cross Order for Marionette ingredients, then learned that Botis approved of his retaliation over the reduced payment.

• Raphael decided to pool the Mafia’s and Mechanic Company’s resources, build a force from Sorn City’s people, and focus on advancing toward Angelhood.
• After Carter digested the Hunter potion, Raphael gave him the Provoker characteristic and potion formula, then considered asking Sophia to coordinate the organizations.
• Raphael told the Iron and Blood Cross Order to offer better terms, and they agreed to trade a main ingredient for Marionette and related spirituality materials for seven Hunter characteristics.
• Raphael had the Oldest One shatter the seven characteristics before Wagner completed the trade, and he rewarded Wagner with two Secrets Suppliant characteristics.
• Botis asked whether the characteristics Raphael had traded were defective, and Raphael admitted they were; Botis praised him.

After training until he could face a group of Sequence 5 Beyonders, Raphael began seeking targets among Backlund’s grain merchants amid worsening hunger. Sharron arrived to negotiate for his curse-alleviation method, and Raphael offered her part of it in advance while asking for help preparing the Marionette potion and ritual.

• Raphael learned that grain merchants were hoarding supplies behind guarded granaries and chose the surviving member of Backlund’s Four Great Grain Merchants as his next target.
• Sharron appeared in Raphael’s study and proposed trading for his method of alleviating pain caused by curses.
• Raphael asked Sharron to help obtain the Marionette potion’s supplementary ingredients and ritual, or the heart and illusory dust of an Abyss One-Eyed Spectral Shadow.
• Sharron said neither condition could be fulfilled soon, so Raphael offered to provide the first part of his method in advance for her to inspect.

Raphael sent another warning letter about a victim guilty of Pride and continued offering souls to a devil, while Audrey used the Church of the Evernight Goddess's requiem at Anniversary Square to advance to Manipulator. The chapter ended with Raphael observing the mass from outside the square.

• Raphael changed his appearance, mailed warning letters to the police, a newspaper, and an Evernight church, then sold his painting “Gluttony” at the Backlund Auction House.
• Raphael offered a target's soul to the devil and gained the ability to summon its phantom, which he judged weaker than he needed but planned to strengthen with further offerings.
• Xio read the serial killer's new warning letter in the Loen Morning Post, while Leonard and Audrey also learned of it.
• Audrey attended the mass at Anniversary Square with the Hall family as Archbishop Saint Anthony Stevenson led the mourners in prayer and their sorrow resonated.
• Audrey drank the Manipulator potion during the mass and successfully advanced, while Raphael watched from a carriage outside the square.

Raphael discovered that the Rose School's Temperance Faction planned to capture him for the Demon Source Scripture, and Sharron came to protect him. She stayed nearby as Raphael prepared to spend the night in the servant's room, and he called out to ask where Maric had gone.

• Raphael watched Archbishop Anthony's grand mass before spending the day tailing a grain merchant he planned to kill.
• Sharron appeared at Raphael's residence and warned him that Erlin and the Temperance Faction wanted to capture him and force him to reveal the complete Demon Source Scripture.
• Sharron told Raphael she had come to keep him safe, and Raphael joked that he could lead the Temperance Faction; she agreed, but he quickly withdrew the suggestion.
• Raphael offered Sharron his bedroom and moved to the empty servant's room, where he wondered what she was doing in the Spirit World.
• Raphael sat up and called to Sharron, asking where Maric had gone.

Raphael spent time with Miss Sharron while dealing with the Iron and Blood Cross Order and trying to draw Erlin into a meeting. After Pain attacked Sharron in the Spirit World, Raphael stopped him and sent him to deliver a letter to Wagner.

• Raphael and Wagner found two Iron and Blood Cross Order members in a hotel, and Raphael attacked them, killing the Provoker before a Sequence 4 Iron-Blooded Knight intervened and withdrew with the Conspirer.
• Raphael demonstrated his Phantom Divine Art movement to Sharron and warned her that Erlin could not acquire his special knowledge through Spirit Channeling.
• After learning Erlin did not know where he lived, Raphael wrote Wagner instructions to spread information about Mr. A's residence and visit the owner of the Whitney Hardware Store.
• Pain attacked Sharron in the Spirit World, but Raphael arrived and stopped the fight after learning she was his guest.
• Raphael gave Pain a letter for Wagner, and Sharron remarked that Raphael's messenger was very strong.

Raphael joined Fors and Xio for dinner after explaining that a trusted Saint was protecting him, and they agreed to proceed with their plan to assassinate Botis. Sharron, listening from the Spirit World, was startled to hear Raphael plotting against a Saint of the Aurora Order.

• Miss Sharron appeared beside Raphael and agreed to protect him from the Temperance Faction's threatened attack.
• Wagner reported that someone had asked the owner of Whitney Hardware about Mr. A, and Raphael expected Erlin's attack within days.
• Fors repeatedly invited Raphael to dinner, and he accepted after clarifying that his unseen protector was a Saint he trusted.
• Raphael traveled with Sharron to Fors and Xio's home, where they discussed the war and ate a seafood feast.
• Fors told Raphael that her group was ready to assassinate Botis, and Raphael agreed to help hold off Saint Tenebrous during the Aurora Order gathering in a week.
• Sharron listened from the Spirit World and wondered why an Aurora Order Oracle was plotting against one of its Saints.

Raphael discussed a plan with Xio and Fors to assassinate Botis, then reflected on wartime hardship and his Devil acting. After returning home, he learned that Sharron thought he was trying to digest the Wraith potion and told him he was using the wrong approach.

• Raphael, Xio, and Fors agreed that Raphael would confirm Botis was the gathering’s host and hold off Kisma during the assassination, in exchange for a share of the spoils and future help from Fors.
• Xio explained that MI9 was gathering information on unaffiliated Beyonder bodyguards and planned to conscript some of them for the front.
• Raphael described how people would look back on prewar life as happy once conditions worsened, and he realized that his remarks had improved his condition through Devil acting.
• Raphael left Xio and Fors’s home and returned to his villa, where Sharron asked if he was trying to digest the Wraith potion.
• Sharron told Raphael that resentment and aggression were the primary expressions of a Wraith and that he was approaching the potion in the wrong way.

Raphael discovered that his Devil’s Malice Perception had warned him of an imminent attack and offered Sharron a mystical item to help deal with Erlin. As the attackers arrived, Sharron fought to protect him, and their battle turned the study’s books into a storm of blades.

• Raphael learned from Sharron that resentment and aggression could help digest the Wraith potion, then waited for Erlin to act.
• While reading in the study, Raphael’s Malice Perception showed him Lucia and two men plotting to abduct or kill him.
• Raphael asked Sharron whether they could kill Erlin, but she said it was unlikely without an Angel and advised him to use his Grade 1 Sealed Artifact first.
• Raphael offered Sharron a mystical item capable of seriously injuring a Demigod and decided to demonstrate his strength to Erlin.
• Sharron sensed the attackers, who animated the books in the study; she seized control of them, but the scraps became a blade-filled hurricane sweeping toward her.

Raphael fought off Erlin and two Wraiths who tried to capture him, killing both Wraiths and leaving Erlin watching from the study. He then used Mind Deprivation on Erlin.

• Erlin cursed Sharron, but Sharron redirected the curse and wounded him by stabbing herself with an ice-crystal shortsword.
• Two Wraiths ambushed Raphael as he escaped through the window, but Raphael pierced one with an ice-crystal javelin and knocked Lucia out of his body.
• Raphael hypnotized the wounded Wraith, escaped Lucia’s Evil Spirit Entanglement with Traveler, and cut the Wraith in two.
• Raphael chased Lucia, struck her with Wraith Shriek, and destroyed her spirit body after she was gravely wounded.
• Raphael turned to Erlin and used Mind Deprivation.