Recaps

Raphael learned how the Qi Sect and Blood Sect cultivated, including the risks of taking an inner core, while Chen Qingzhi sought a safer method. The chapter left Raphael considering whether his Potion formulas could be traded for the world’s cultivation arts, since he did not know whether their supplementary ingredients existed there.

• Raphael asked Chen Qingzhi why the ancient era had been called Spring and Autumn, and Chen Qingzhi explained two competing theories.
• Chen Qingzhi asked whether the Blood Sect’s cultivation method was flawed and whether a safer method existed, and Raphael promised one in exchange for answers.
• Chen Qingzhi explained how Qi Sect disciples gained the True Lord’s Jade Body’s recognition and practiced the Dark Hut’s Demon Source Scripture and Wolf Fang Art.
• Chen Qingzhi described how Blood Sect disciples could undergo an assessment and take inner cores, which could alter their temperament or turn them into monsters.
• Raphael considered trading Potion formulas for the world’s cultivation arts, but wondered whether their necessary supplementary ingredients were available.

Raphael gave Chen Qingzhi a safer method for cultivating with certain Inner Cores and asked to study the Blood Sect’s techniques and True Lord’s Jade Body. The Jade Body awakened for Raphael and granted him the Wolf Fang Art and new abilities, after which he traded Prisoner potion knowledge for Chen Qingzhi’s True Demon Art and information about the Jade Body.

• Raphael gave Chen Qingzhi a concoction recipe and explained how to use it with early mortal realm Inner Cores from the curse-and-possession system.
• Raphael asked Chen Qingzhi to show him the True Lord’s Jade Body and provide the Demon Source Scripture, Wolf Fang Art, and Chaos Art; Chen Qingzhi explained that he lacked the Wolf Fang Art.
• Chen Qingzhi’s subordinates brought in the blood-colored True Lord’s Jade Body, which approved Raphael and infused him with the abilities of a Werewolf and a Criminal.
• Raphael told Chen Qingzhi that the Wolf Fang Art had appeared in his mind, then used his Werewolf healing to recover and break his chains.
• Chen Qingzhi recited the first three levels of the Demon Source Scripture and the Chaos Art while Raphael memorized them.
• Raphael traded the Prisoner potion’s name and his acting rules for Chen Qingzhi’s early deification realm True Demon Art and detailed information about the True Lord’s Jade Body.

Raphael learned how True Lord's Jade Bodies shaped cultivation and fueled conflicts among the sects, then studied techniques while his other self remained in another world. Back in Backlund, he asked Carter to find an abandoned factory and saw Maric reflected in the glass.

• Chen Qingzhi explained the sources, limits, and eventual destruction of True Lord's Jade Bodies, which had driven years of conflict among the great sects and smaller factions.
• Chen Qingzhi described the agreement among the eight great sects and explained small Jade Bodies, loose cultivators, and rare infusions from higher-level beings.
• Raphael considered the hidden secret behind the Jade Bodies but lacked enough clues to identify it.
• Chen Qingzhi arranged a secluded chamber for Raphael, then went to test Raphael's medicinal formula while Raphael studied cultivation techniques.
• Raphael woke in Backlund, sensed his other self studying in another world, and went to the Mafia headquarters.
• Raphael told Carter to find an abandoned factory, and Maric appeared in a pane of glass.

Raphael rejected Maric’s invitation to join the Temperance Faction and explained that he planned to test a method for strengthening his mind. Meanwhile, Ikanser and Zed investigated the alley where Raphael had fought Ackerman, and Arrodes revealed several figures involved in the battle before asking Ikanser an embarrassing question.

• Raphael explained why he felt safe at the Mafia headquarters, then refused Maric’s invitation to join the Temperance Faction.
• Raphael criticized both indulgence and excessive restraint, and said he wanted to test the Demon Source Scripture as a way to strengthen his mind and spirit.
• Maric left after telling Raphael he could approach him if he changed his mind, and Raphael turned his thoughts to the Unwinged Angel Beyonder characteristic.
• Ikanser and Zed examined the alley where Raphael had fought Zombie Ackerman and concluded it was not the main battlefield.
• Ikanser used Arrodes to divine who had participated in the battle, and the mirror showed several figures before asking him whether he preferred to be on the bottom or on top during a particular activity.

Ikanser Bernard used the Magic Mirror Arrodes to investigate the Zombie and Werewolf from the Rose School fight, enduring another humiliating question. Raphael practiced the Nine Wolf Shadow Steps and Wolf Fang Claw, then tracked down the Beyonder who had sold him the Criminal potion formula and attacked him in an alley.

• Ikanser Bernard asked Arrodes where to find the Zombie and Werewolf, and the mirror showed fingernails in a sewer and a forest beneath a full moon.
• Arrodes asked Ikanser an explicit question, and Ikanser chose punishment before a bolt of lightning struck him.
• Raphael practiced the Nine Wolf Shadow Steps in an abandoned factory and spent the following days training in the footwork, Wolf Fang Claw, and Demon Source Scripture.
• Raphael watched a gathering attendee he suspected was an Unwinged Angel, followed him across rooftops after the gathering, and lunged at him in an alley.

Raphael killed an Unwinged Angel and used the Spirit Channeling Bracelet to learn that the man had been bait set by a hidden sect. After surviving a mental attack and evading a Desire Apostle, Raphael left with the Beyonder Characteristic and planned to drink the Unwinged Angel potion.

• Raphael ambushed and killed the Unwinged Angel before a passerby could draw his gun.
• Raphael used the Spirit Channeling Bracelet to question the dead man and saw that he had been bait for Devils hiding in the shadows.
• A mental attack triggered by the Spirit Channeling injured Raphael, but he recovered, took the Beyonder Characteristic, and escaped.
• A Desire Apostle arrived at the corpse but could not locate Raphael and withdrew, suspecting a trap.
• Raphael realized his lead on a Serial Killer characteristic was dangerous and decided to drink the Unwinged Angel potion first.

After surviving a mental attack, Raphael drank the Unwinged Angel potion and advanced, discovering that his Werewolf traits balanced the potion’s emotional numbness. He then questioned the White Jade Orb about the True Lord’s Jade Body and how cultivation boons worked.

• Raphael recovered from the Spirit Channeling attack, returned to his lodgings, and prepared the Unwinged Angel potion.
• Raphael drank the potion and advanced, while his divided spirit displayed both cold indifference and deranged emotion.
• The White Jade Orb explained that adjacent pathways could complement each other, and that its help let Raphael use potions from two pathways without losing control.
• Raphael asked how the True Lord’s Jade Body granted Beyonder abilities, and the White Jade Orb explained that high-level Beyonders and secret realms could bestow boons.
• The White Jade Orb said someone had exploited loopholes to create the True Lord’s Jade Body, but warned that explaining more could attract dangerous attention.

Raphael assessed how the Unwinged Angel potion affected his Werewolf condition and considered how to digest both potions. He planned to ask Audrey for advice on acting as a Werewolf, but an unexpected visitor arrived before he could send his letter.

• Raphael learned from the Demon Source Scripture that the Unwinged Angel potion could counter the Werewolf's growing bloodlust, and he found that it had improved his condition.
• Raphael explored his new Unwinged Angel abilities, including spoken curses, a pale blue fireball, and the ability to make poisons and drugs.
• Raphael considered acting more wickedly to digest the Unwinged Angel potion and embracing the Werewolf's role as a cursed outcast to digest the Werewolf potion.
• Raphael decided to write to Audrey and ask her to contact someone from the Temperance Faction for advice on acting as a Werewolf.
• The next day, an unexpected visitor arrived just as Raphael was about to have a subordinate mail his letter to Audrey.

Raphael learned that the Aurora Order wanted to recruit him and asked Audrey for information about the organization. At the Tarot Club meeting, Audrey arranged for the World to seek the Temperance Faction’s Werewolf potion digestion experience and prepared to discuss the Aurora Order with the other members.

• Raphael met furniture merchant Svetan Wagner, who warned him that Holm and Councilor Wood were plotting to have him arrested and offered help if he joined the Aurora Order.
• Raphael asked for three days to consider joining, then instructed Carter to investigate Wood, Deputy Commissioner Isaacs, and Holm and to deliver a letter to Audrey asking about the Aurora Order.
• Audrey identified the organization in Raphael’s letter as the Aurora Order and decided to discuss it at the Tarot Club meeting.
• At the Tarot Club, Audrey privately asked the World to contact the Temperance Faction about its Werewolf potion digestion experience for Raphael, noting that he might need to offer compensation.
• Audrey told the World that the Aurora Order wanted to recruit Raphael and said she wanted to discuss the matter with the other Tarot Club members.

At the Tarot Club, the members agreed that Audrey should encourage Raphael Collins to join the Aurora Order in exchange for intelligence, with a Zombie characteristic as a possible reward. Raphael accepted the plan to join on his own terms, then set out with Wagner and his men to visit Senator Wood’s mistress; they were stopped at the door by her maid and bodyguards.

• Audrey told the Tarot Club that Raphael was interested in joining the Aurora Order and asked how she should respond.
• Alger proposed that Raphael join and report intelligence to Audrey, while the World offered a Zombie characteristic as potential payment.
• After receiving Audrey’s reply, Raphael told Wagner he wanted to join the Aurora Order without owing it a favor or surrendering his freedom.
• Wagner returned that afternoon, and Raphael traveled with him, Carter, and several Mafia subordinates to Senator Wood’s mistress’s residence.
• Carter asked to see Senator Wood, but the maid refused entry as two bodyguards approached, and Wagner warned Raphael about the risks of harming a senator.

Raphael intimidated Councilman Wood into stopping his attacks by threatening his family, then struck a deal with Isaacs to expose the Stinger Gang in exchange for protection from scrutiny over certain deaths. His agreement with Isaacs substantially digested Raphael’s Unwinged Angel Potion.

• Raphael killed one of Wood’s bodyguards with a piece of wood and fatally wounded the other before entering Wood’s townhouse.
• Raphael presented Wood with the severed head of his favorite Dalmatian and threatened the councilman’s family unless he stopped targeting him.
• Wagner praised Raphael’s methods, and Raphael said Wagner’s organization seemed like the home he had been seeking.
• Raphael told Isaacs that the Stinger Gang was backed by the Feysac embassy and offered to provide evidence and witnesses for an espionage case.
• Isaacs agreed to overlook certain deaths in exchange for Raphael’s help, and Raphael felt his Unwinged Angel Potion become substantially more digested.

Raphael killed the grain merchant Holm in werewolf form to test how fear and bewilderment affected his potion digestion, then traveled west of Backlund to face his first full-moon transformation as a Werewolf. As the crimson moon rose in a forest valley, he felt summoned and began changing involuntarily.

• Raphael learned that Holm was fleeing Backlund, so he and Wagner pursued the grain merchant and stopped his convoy outside the city.
• Raphael transformed into a Werewolf and killed Holm, terrifying him before his family and Wagner.
• Raphael concluded that making people fear and perceive him as an incomprehensible outsider helped digest his Werewolf potion.
• The next morning, Raphael read that Holm's death had been blamed on a wild beast and set out to fulfill his promise to Isaacs after the full moon.
• Raphael changed carriages several times, entered a forest west of Backlund, and ran to a secluded valley.
• When the crimson moon rose, Raphael felt a summons, growled, and began transforming involuntarily.

After the Unwinged Angel potion let Raphael keep his sanity during the full moon, he practiced his wolf techniques and realized other Werewolves were gathering in the woods. He set out to hunt one, but as a hostile Werewolf confronted him, a sickly woman mistook him for someone named Jonathan.

• Raphael transformed under the full moon without losing his sanity and practiced the Nine Wolf Shadow Steps and the Wolf Fang Art.
• Ikanser Bernard and Deacon Zed led the Machinery Hivemind members to an ambush and used Sealed Artifact 3-156 to lure Werewolves with wolf howls.
• Raphael resisted the summons of the howls, realized they were drawing Werewolves together, and suspected one stationary call was a trap.
• Raphael howled to attract a moving Werewolf and ran toward it, hoping to kill one or two before retreating.
• A sickly woman sitting in a tree mistook Raphael for Jonathan, and Raphael found a Werewolf baring its fangs at him.

Raphael killed a Werewolf, then agreed to help a weakened Zombie find her brother Jonathan in exchange for a Mystical Item. As he searched the forest, he discovered a Devil beneath the crimson moon.

• Raphael used the Wolf Fang Art to kill a Werewolf and took its Beyonder Characteristic.
• A sickly woman asked Raphael to find her younger brother Jonathan, offering a Mystical Item in exchange.
• Raphael learned that the woman and Jonathan had been trapped by the Indulgence Faction, which had several Werewolves and powerful members hunting them.
• Raphael accepted the deal and left to search for Jonathan, though he planned to hunt another Werewolf before returning to the valley.
• After hearing an agonized howl, Raphael climbed a tree and spotted a Devil with Goat Horns and enormous Bat Wings.

Raphael encountered a Devil hunting Werewolves in the forest and escaped its attacks. He realized he could lead the Devil toward a trap, then found signs of the Indulgence Faction and spotted a Machinery Hivemind carriage nearby.

• The Devil killed a wounded Werewolf, then detected Raphael hiding in a tree and struck him with a mental attack.
• Raphael fled through the forest using Nine Wolf Shadow Steps and evaded the Devil's fireballs.
• Raphael decided to lure the Devil toward the distant howling, despite his cautious self warning him that powerful Beyonders might be waiting there.
• Raphael found human remains bearing bite marks and suspected that members of the Indulgence Faction had killed them during the full moon.
• Raphael approached the trap and spotted a Machinery Hivemind carriage, deciding its official Beyonders would stop the Devil from escaping.

Raphael lured the Devil toward the Machinery Hivemind's ambush, hoping to make him trigger a Beyonder land mine. When Ikanser's team attacked, Raphael escaped the trap and fled, while a call for help revealed that Rose School Beyonders had attacked Zed.

• Raphael found the Machinery Hivemind's ambush and watched its members kill Werewolves with a Beyonder land mine and purification bullets.
• Raphael lured the Devil into a chase by howling, then led him toward the Machinery Hivemind's position.
• Ikanser spotted Raphael and the pursuing Devil, ordered his team to let Raphael pass, and prepared to attack the Devil.
• The Devil sensed the Machinery Hivemind's malice before reaching the land mines, so Raphael turned away as the team launched its attack.
• Ikanser fired a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact flintlock at Raphael, who dodged the bullet and kept running.
• Ikanser heard a whistle for help from Zed's direction after Rose School Beyonders attacked the Senior Deacon.

Zed and Ikanser drove the Devil away from the fleeing Werewolf, while Raphael encountered Jonathan and an Indulgence Faction Zombie in the forest. Raphael attacked the Zombie with the Wolf Fang Art and continued evading him as they fought.

• Zed used a Gold Medal to stop the Wraith from possessing Boruk, then signaled Ikanser to help fight the Devil.
• Ikanser shattered the Devil’s Greatsword with a Flintlock shot, and gunfire forced the Devil to abandon his pursuit of the Werewolf.
• Raphael fled into the mountains and recognized the injured Werewolf Jonathan as the man being pursued by an Indulgence Faction Zombie.
• Raphael ambushed the Zombie, pierced his tough skin with the Wolf Fang Claw, and used the Nine Wolf Shadow Steps to evade his counterattacks.

Raphael defeated a weakened Zombie and brought Jonathan back to the Sickly Lady, collecting a ring that granted him medical expertise. He refused her offer to travel together and boarded a train to Backlund, exhausted after the night’s events.

• Raphael used the Nine Wolf Shadow Steps and Wolf Fang Art to injure the Zombie until it fled.
• Raphael encountered Jonathan, chased him through the woods, and brought him back to the Sickly Lady.
• The Sickly Lady gave Raphael a green ring that made him proficient in medicine, then asked him to travel with her.
• Raphael refused and left the Sickly Lady and Jonathan in the forest.
• The next morning, Raphael boarded a train to Backlund and planned to go home and sleep.

After the battle in the Balchis Mountains, the Sickly Lady sought information about a rational Werewolf, while the Machinery Hivemind and the Rose School’s Wraith independently tried to track him. The wounded Devil returned toward Backlund, killing the omnibus passengers, as the Wraith ordered the Zombie to find the Werewolf and Jonathan.

• The Sickly Lady wrote to her father that the Indulgence Faction had hunted her and Jonathan, and that she had encountered a rational Werewolf in the forest.
• Zed and Ikanser used Arrodes to divine the Werewolf’s location, but the gray fog revealed only that he was in Backlund.
• The wounded Devil worried about his uncle’s punishment and killed everyone aboard the omnibus traveling toward Backlund.
• The Wraith appeared through a lantern and ordered the Zombie to search for the rational Werewolf and follow Jonathan’s trail.

Raphael cultivated the Demon Source Scripture in the Western Continent and was invited to meet Demon Lord Xuanyin at the Dark Hut Headquarters. In Backlund, Raphael led a raid on the Stinger Gang, where he discovered a Sequence 6 beside its boss.

• Raphael in the Dark Hut secret chamber strengthened his body, spirit, and mastery through shared cultivation with his counterpart in Backlund.
• Chen Qingzhi told Raphael that Demon Lord Xuanyin had invited him to the Dark Hut Headquarters, and Raphael agreed to travel there the day after tomorrow.
• Raphael in Backlund ordered an operation against the Stinger Gang after Carter reported on its members and decided to kill its boss, Kent, himself.
• Wagner and Raphael joined the Mafia's assembled forces as they launched coordinated raids on the Stinger Gang's headquarters and members' homes.
• Raphael's group broke into Kent's home, where Raphael detected a mysterious man beside the gang boss and realized the man was a Sequence 6.

Raphael’s attempt to assassinate Kent went awry when he encountered Petrov, a Sequence 6 Conspirer from the Feysac Embassy. Raphael drew Petrov into a close-quarters fight in an alley, where the Werewolf’s agility began to give him an advantage.

• The Mafia attacked the Stinger Gang, eliminated several key members, and withdrew while Raphael sent a letter to two spared Sequence 9 members.
• Raphael found Petrov visiting Kent and ordered his men to leave, keeping Wagner behind to help him fight.
• Raphael recognized Petrov as an employee of the Feysac Embassy after knocking off his hat, while Kent and Wagner clashed nearby.
• Petrov drove Raphael through a window with Fire Crows and burned his hands when Raphael tried to ambush him outside.
• Raphael shouted that a Feysac Embassy member was present, then turned to attack Petrov in a cramped alley and closed in despite the Fire Crows.

Raphael used the Wolf Fang Art to wound Petrov, but their fight reached a stalemate as both suffered injuries. When Raphael sought cover by an omnibus, Xio Derecha emerged and imprisoned him, leaving the battle interrupted by Xio’s arrival.

• Raphael used the Nine Wolf Shadow Steps to close in on Petrov, slash him repeatedly, and poison him with Wolf Poison.
• Petrov forced Raphael back with flames and a Fire Wall, then chased him out of the alley as Raphael pretended to flee.
• Raphael dodged Petrov’s Fire Crows and threw a claw into Petrov’s chest over his heart, but took a Fire Crow hit himself.
• As Raphael charged toward an omnibus for cover, someone inside cast Imprisonment and trapped him in thickened air.
• Xio Derecha jumped out of the carriage, revealing himself to Raphael.

Raphael and Xio joined forces to kill the Feysac Conspirer Petrov, then agreed to split the spoils. Raphael returned to Kent's hideout, helped Wagner kill Kent, and learned the Hunter pathway potion formulas before escaping with Kent's Beyonder characteristic.

• Raphael warned Xio that Petrov was a Feysac conspirator, so Xio attacked Petrov as he tried to flee.
• Xio immobilized Petrov, allowing Raphael to wound him with wolf claws and poison until he died.
• Raphael and Xio agreed to sell Petrov's Beyonder characteristic and divide the proceeds, then left in different directions as police approached.
• Raphael returned to Kent's sitting room and helped Wagner kill the injured gang boss.
• Raphael learned the Hunter pathway potion formulas through spirit channeling, and he and Wagner took Kent's Beyonder characteristic and withdrew.

After the Stinger Gang was destroyed, Raphael recruited two of its Beyonders into the Mafia and asked Audrey to help sell a Werewolf characteristic and find him a restraining mystical item. That night, Wagner brought Raphael to an oil-pressing workshop, where Mr. C awaited him for his Aurora Order initiation.

• Audrey learned from Hibbert that the police had killed the suspected Feysac military attaché and the Stinger Gang boss, and Earl Hall warned Hibbert not to trust the newspaper's account too quickly.
• Raphael persuaded two Sequence 9 Stinger Gang members to join the Mafia in exchange for testimony linking Kent to Feysac embassy staff, then gave them territory and assigned deputies to oversee them.
• Raphael wrote to Audrey asking her to sell his Werewolf Beyonder characteristic and help him obtain a mystical item that could restrain enemies.
• Wagner met Raphael at the Mafia headquarters and took him to an oil-pressing workshop outside the city.
• A suspicious man examined Raphael and led him into the basement, where Mr. C waited to initiate him into the Aurora Order.

Raphael joined the Aurora Order and learned the True Creator’s history and doctrine. After reciting the True Creator’s honorific name, he endured the god’s gaze and impressed Mr. C, who suggested Raphael might become an Oracle and promised to introduce him to the Order’s members after he completed a task.

• Raphael recognized the man who had scrutinized him as a likely Sequence 7 Shadow Ascetic and followed him and Wagner to meet Mr. C.
• Mr. C explained the True Creator’s teachings, and Raphael recalled how the Great Cataclysm stemmed from the Ancient Sun God’s failed attempt to save Himself and His betrayal by three Kings of Angels.
• Raphael recited the True Creator’s honorific name and felt the god’s oppressive gaze, maddening whispers, and depraved thoughts.
• Raphael said the experience made him feel better and suggested he could use his new insane ideas to digest his Werewolf potion further.
• Mr. C declared Raphael favored by the Lord and suggested he could fill one of the two vacant Oracle positions.
• Mr. C told Raphael that a member would soon seek his help and that completing a task could earn him an introduction to the Aurora Order’s members and its high-level gathering.