Chapter Summaries

Raphael and Sharron fought the Illusion Master inside an illusion while their allies held off affected Beyonders outside. When a Saint-level Devil arrived and seized their desires, Raphael descended from the Dark Hut as the Lord of Evil Desires and unleashed a demigod-level psychic assault, breaking the Devil’s hold.

• Sharron destroyed a ghost in the illusion, and Raphael deduced that the Illusion Master was creating monsters based on their thoughts to stall for time.
• Outside, Maric fought Jonathan while Lucia, Fors, and Xio battled four affected Beyonders and waited for Raphael and Sharron to escape the illusion.
• A Saint-level Devil, a believer in the Mother Tree of Desire, arrived from Backlund and seized the desires of Fors and the others.
• Raphael descended above his motionless real-world self as the Lord of Evil Desires and used the Dark Hut’s power to launch a demigod-level psychic assault.
• The psychic assault shattered the force controlling the group’s desires.

Raphael intercepted a Demon’s prayer to the Mother Tree of Desire and decided to secretly observe him for a chance to obtain his characteristic. Inside the illusion, Raphael used Adam’s Gift to make the Crimson Moon seem close enough for Miss Sharron to reach.

• Raphael, appearing as the Lord of Evil Desires, protected Fors and the others, causing a hidden Demon to retreat and pray to the Mother Tree of Desire.
• Raphael intercepted the Demon’s prayer through the Dark Hut and chose to watch him rather than frighten him, hoping to find a Desire Apostle characteristic.
• The Demon received no response and waited, believing the Mother Tree of Desire might answer later.
• Raphael and Miss Sharron reasoned that the Crimson Moon could be the Illusion Master’s true body, but Sharron could not approach it because it was too far away and dangerous.
• Raphael used Adam’s Gift to hypnotize the illusion into making the moon seem close, and Miss Sharron appeared before the Crimson Moon.

Sharron destroyed the Crimson Moon illusion and returned Raphael to the real world, where Jonathan was found dead. After negotiating for Beyonder characteristics with Raphael, Sharron and the Temperance Faction left, and Raphael offered the spoils through a ritual to the Lord of Evil Desires before preparing to depart with Fors and Xio.

• Sharron shattered the Crimson Moon, pierced the doll's Stone Eye, and brought herself and Raphael back to reality.
• Raphael recognized the stone eye's dangerous corruption, while Lucia discovered that Jonathan was dead and Fors and Xio found Beyonder characteristics on the MI9 member's corpse.
• Sharron traded the stone eye for her share of the spoils and requested additional Zombie, Werewolf, Lunatic, and Prisoner characteristics from Raphael.
• Raphael and Sharron arranged the delivery of the characteristics, and the Temperance Faction's members left.
• Raphael performed a sacrificial prayer to the Lord of Evil Desires, and the offerings vanished through illusory bronze gates.
• Raphael told Fors and Xio to leave and divide the spoils.

Raphael divided the spoils from the operation with Fors and Xio, then examined the Stone Eye in his Dark Hut and named it the Eye of Illusions. He met Fors and Xio for lunch, where Xio reported rising bread prices and a bakery riot.

• Raphael canceled Xio's three-thousand-pound debt and promised her another three thousand pounds, while giving Fors the Interrogator characteristic and eight hundred pounds.
• Raphael assigned the other Sheriff characteristic to the organization member who had helped contact the Temperance Faction.
• Raphael examined the Stone Eye in the Dark Hut, assessed its illusion and emotion-manipulating abilities, and named it the Eye of Illusions.
• Raphael brought the promised cash to Fors and Xio, then went with Fors to their reserved restaurant room while Xio reported the operation to MI9.
• Xio arrived at the restaurant and told Raphael and Fors that bread prices had risen and a crowd had looted a bakery.

Xio told Fors and Raphael about a bakery riot caused by soaring bread prices, and Raphael explained that grain merchants were exploiting the war to profit. After discussing the limits of their ability to help, Xio reported that she had resolved her MI9 case and decided to join MI9.

• Xio described how hungry people had looted a bakery after its owner raised prices and refused to help them.
• Raphael explained that grain merchants had stockpiled food and were using the war to drive prices higher, then hinted at a plan involving high-ranking Devils.
• Raphael told Fors and Xio not to feel responsible for problems beyond their abilities, and Fors reflected on why the gods had not solved them.
• Xio told Fors and Raphael that MI9 had accepted her account of the missing agents and had paid her a bonus for recovering their characteristics.
• Xio said her masked MI9 contact had offered her full membership, and Raphael and Fors encouraged her to accept.
• Xio agreed to join MI9.

Raphael met Miss Sharron to deliver Beyonder characteristics and answer her questions about his status in the Aurora Order and his ability to retain his sanity under the full moon. He offered to trade a method that eased the Prisoner pathway’s suffering, but warned it might conflict with the Temperance Faction’s principles.

• Raphael delivered five Prisoner, four Lunatic, two Werewolf, and one Zombie characteristics to Miss Sharron.
• Miss Sharron asked Raphael whether he was Mr. A of the Aurora Order, and he confirmed that he was.
• Miss Sharron warned Raphael that other Backlund organizations knew of his position and might target the Aurora Order.
• Miss Sharron asked how Raphael retained his sanity when transforming into a werewolf under the full moon, and he described a method that eased the Prisoner pathway’s suffering.
• Miss Sharron asked what Raphael wanted in return for the method, and he cautioned that it might conflict with the Temperance Faction’s principles.

Raphael explained his desire-management method to Sharron, who agreed to consider a trade. He then successfully summoned a temporary demigod-level phantom of himself and planned to use a high-level Devil to investigate the Abyss pathway.

• Raphael told Sharron that his method balanced moderate indulgence with training the spirit body, and she said she would consider making a deal.
• Sharron and the wooden box vanished from the carriage, and Raphael returned to his villa to rest before acting as a Serial Killer.
• Raphael designed an emblem for the Lord of Evil Desires and made three offerings of cigarettes to himself.
• Raphael used the Eye of Illusions as a demigod-level medium to summon a powerful phantom through his connection to his other self in the Dark Hut.
• Raphael discovered that he could command the phantom to use four Sequence 4 abilities for about a minute.
• Raphael decided to make an offering to a high-level Devil and use himself as bait to gather information about the Abyss pathway.

Raphael infiltrated Ed Dean’s villa and murdered Ed and another of Loen’s Four Great Grain Merchants after hypnotizing the people in their reception room. The hired Sequence 6 discovered the blood-soaked scene and fled before the authorities arrived.

• Raphael chose Ed Dean as his first target and used a sacrificial ritual before traveling to the grain merchant’s villa.
• Raphael overheard Ed Dean and another grain merchant discussing further manipulation of grain prices, then hypnotized the two merchants and their bodyguards.
• Raphael killed the two Sequence 7 bodyguards and carved a message into Ed Dean’s heart while torturing him and the other merchant.
• Raphael imitated Ed’s voice to delay the Sequence 6 bodyguard, then left both merchants dead in a blood-soaked reception room.
• The Sequence 6 bodyguard entered, saw the corpses and blood-painted wall, and fled to avoid being detained by the Official Beyonders.

Raphael publicized the murders of two grain magnates to draw attention to his killings and digest his potion, while continuing to plan sacrifices and assassination commissions. After Wagner reported that the Iron and Blood Cross Order had killed an Aurora Order member and lured Mr. A to a banquet, Raphael concluded they were trying to lord it over the Aurora Order.

• Wilton and Hami investigated the staged murder scene and learned that Nicolo, a Conspirer, had been guarding the door when the killer arranged it.
• Xio read detailed newspaper coverage of the murders and wondered how the press had obtained information about the Beyonder crime.
• Nicolo discovered that someone had left a full account of the crime for the newspaper, while Raphael read the coverage with satisfaction from his villa.
• Raphael planned more public grain-merchant murders to digest his potion and discreet Mechanic Company commissions to satisfy his assassination work.
• Wagner told Raphael that an Iron and Blood Cross Order member had killed a Secrets Suppliant and left an invitation for Mr. A to a banquet; Raphael recognized the Order's mark and said they were trying to lord it over the Aurora Order.

Raphael prepared for the Iron and Blood Cross Order’s banquet and considered how to undergo the Wraith advancement ritual. In the Dark Hut, Amon’s avatar revealed that he wanted to cooperate with Raphael over a mysterious place in Sorn and Bidisis, which he said was once called Chernobyl.

• Raphael planned to gather intelligence on the Iron and Blood Cross Order and asked Botis to watch for demigod-level opponents before attending their banquet.
• Raphael reasoned that the Wraith advancement ritual required experiencing the spirit breaking free from the body’s imprisonment, but he postponed deciding how to bring himself near death safely.
• Raphael heard Zed praying for help after Sorn City’s patrol discovered a Bidisis scout team, and he entered the Dark Hut to investigate.
• An Amon avatar parasitized a sore-faced man, put Zed to sleep, and addressed Raphael, proposing cooperation over a place connected to Sorn and Bidisis.
• Amon’s avatar said the place had gone unnoticed by his high-level avatars for thousands of years and revealed that it was called Chernobyl in ancient times.

Raphael agreed to cooperate with Amon’s avatar to investigate Bidis City, while keeping the Giant King’s youngest son’s zombie for the mission. Back in Backlund, he prepared for a confrontation with the Iron and Blood Cross Order, confident he could escape despite being outnumbered.

• Amon’s avatar told Raphael that his avatars had suffered bad luck since he stole a church belonging to Concealment and proposed destroying Bidis City together.
• Raphael entered Sorn City’s sacrificial hall and agreed to cooperate, demanding that Amon’s avatars contribute and that Amon spare some of Sorn City’s people.
• Raphael warned Amon’s avatar that Chernobyl was where the Ancient Sun God had awakened, prompting Amon to question how much Raphael knew.
• Amon’s avatar sent the high priest away, and Zed awoke and received Raphael’s promise to send the Giant King’s youngest son’s zombie to help.
• Raphael decided to investigate Sorn City and Bidis City while keeping his main focus on Backlund and retaining the zombie for the mission.
• Botis reported that Saints and angels would not intervene in the Iron and Blood Cross Order’s minor skirmishes, and Raphael prepared to face Eberhard’s forces.

Raphael attended a banquet with the Iron and Blood Cross Order, where he discovered they had two Reapers instead of one. He activated Adam's Gift to send the gathering into a frenzy and began attacking, killing Eberhard and another member as Dick survived his first strike.

• Raphael told Wagner and Moor to wait in the carriage and handle the Iron and Blood Cross Order's watchers outside.
• Raphael entered the Backlund Grand Hotel and was led to a room where Eberhard and five others awaited him.
• Eberhard introduced his assistant Dick, revealing that Dick had recently advanced to Reaper, so Raphael changed his plan.
• Raphael used Adam's Gift to drive the Iron and Blood Cross Order members in the room into a frenzy, while chaos spread through the hotel.
• Raphael killed Eberhard with the Sword of Lava and wounded a Sequence 7 Pyromaniac after Dick blocked his next strike.

Raphael launched a surprise attack on the Iron and Blood Cross Order members, but the battle turned into a brutal exchange with the awakened Reaper Dick and the Conspirers. Raphael used Flesh Magic to destroy Dick’s chest and abdomen, but a Blazing White Spear pierced Raphael’s skull before he could finish him.

• Raphael killed the Backlund leader of the Iron and Blood Cross Order and several Pyromaniacs before Dick fully regained his senses.
• Dick attacked Raphael with Blazing White Spears and Fire Crows, while an awakened Conspirer pierced Raphael’s chest.
• Raphael crippled the Conspirer and hurled him at Dick, then charged as Dick refused to save his companion.
• Dick pierced Raphael’s heart and liver, but Raphael crushed Dick’s organs before using the Faceless Jade Pendant to transfer both fatal wounds.
• Raphael used Flesh Magic to burst open Dick’s chest and abdomen, but a Blazing White Spear struck Raphael’s skull from behind.

Raphael survived a fatal wound by drawing on his Zombie resilience and killed the remaining Beyonders who attacked him. Exhausted and badly injured, he finished off Dick with Creeping Hunger and was left amid the burning, ruined room.

• A Conspirer pierced Raphael's head with a Blazing White Spear, but Raphael transferred the wound to his shoulder and regained his senses after resisting the Netherworld's call.
• Raphael tore out the wounded Conspirer's heart and lungs, then distorted a Pyromaniac's intent to flee into a charge and killed him.
• Another Conspirer struck Raphael with a Blazing White Spear, but Raphael used Creeping Hunger's Traveler soul and the Hypnosis Ring to approach and kill him with the Sword of Lava.
• Raphael smashed a brick into the Provoker's face, killing him as he emerged from the frenzy.
• Raphael used Creeping Hunger to devour Dick's body and soul while Dick screamed.

After Raphael killed the Iron and Blood Cross Order’s key members at the Backlund Grand Hotel, he returned to the villa badly injured but recovered enough by morning to order further attacks. His victory spread through Backlund’s Beyonder community, whose brokers and organizations began helping him target the Order.

• Raphael used Creeping Hunger to graze Dick’s soul, then escaped the burning hotel after killing the Iron and Blood Cross Order members there.
• Varna and Moor brought the badly wounded Raphael back to the villa, where Botis and his subordinates ensured he could rest safely.
• MI9 investigated the hotel massacre, while Sharron learned that Raphael had apparently defeated the Order’s important Backlund members alone.
• After recovering enough to walk, Raphael ordered his subordinates to publicize Mr. A’s victory and kill known Iron and Blood Cross Order members and informants.
• Beyonder brokers offered Raphael intelligence and assistance against the Order, and Xio saw the official documents about the incident.

Xio learned that Raphael had single-handedly killed the important members of the Iron and Blood Cross Order in Backlund, while MI9 planned to visit him and warn him about the battle’s consequences. At the Tarot Club meeting, the members discussed Amon’s theft of Saint Samuel Cathedral before Xio began describing the scale of Raphael’s victory.

• MI9 deputy director Dewinter told Xio to study Raphael’s file and prepare to visit him, explaining that MI9 cooperated with the Aurora Order and suspected Raphael carried a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact of the Spectator pathway.
• Xio went to a nearby hotel and joined the Tarot Club meeting, where the members discussed Amon’s theft of Saint Samuel Cathedral and Leonard reported that Amon’s avatars would suffer misfortune.
• Xio told the Tarot Club that Raphael had killed the important members of the Iron and Blood Cross Order in Backlund by himself.
• Xio revealed that the order’s forces had included two Reapers and two Conspirers, startling Klein.

At a Tarot Club meeting, the members discussed Raphael’s victory over the Iron and Blood Cross Order and learned that he worshipped a powerful, mysterious evil god. Unsure what the revelation meant, they looked to Mr. Fool, who ordered them to maintain the status quo.

• Judgment Xio reported that Raphael had defeated eight Beyonders, including two Sequence 5s, and the members concluded he likely wielded a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact.
• Justice Audrey suggested recruiting Raphael into the Tarot Club, but Mr. Fool deferred the decision, and Xio explained that Raphael worshipped an evil god.
• Xio recounted how Raphael’s deity had driven away a high demon and gave the deity’s honorific name: the Father of Devils, Lord of Misfits, and Source of Curses.
• Hermit Cattleya and the World discussed how the deity might relate to the Prisoner and Criminal pathways, including the Chained God and Cosmic Darkness.
• The members treated Raphael as a likely divine blessed and turned to Mr. Fool for guidance; he told them to maintain the status quo.

Xio visited Raphael with MI9 Deputy Director Dewinter to discuss the recent incident involving the Iron and Blood Cross Order. After Raphael handed MI9 three prisoners, he revealed that Dewinter was a Sequence 4 demigod and had brought Xio along to warn him.

• After the Tarot Club gathering, Xio told Fors that Raphael wielded a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact and sent him a letter warning that she would visit with Deputy Director Dewinter.
• Xio and Dewinter visited Raphael at his villa, where Raphael acted weak and courteous while discussing the Iron and Blood Cross Order's attack and the damage it had caused.
• Raphael offered MI9 three captured members of the Iron and Blood Cross Order, giving Dewinter a way to resolve the case, and Dewinter praised Raphael as amenable on the ride back.
• Dewinter sent Xio to collect the prisoners, and Raphael told her that he knew Dewinter was a demigod and had brought her as a warning.
• Xio learned that Dewinter was Sequence 4, not Sequence 5, and Raphael explained that he had acted friendly because he could not yet defeat Dewinter and Xio remained under his authority.

Xio struggled with her new role at MI9, while Raphael recovered and developed his Serial Killer acting by painting a dream and sending a warning letter. After receiving Audrey’s invitation to investigate a mysterious oil painting, Raphael arranged for the Oldest One to witness a contract for a Beyonder messenger.

• Raphael told Xio to act as if she knew nothing and wished her and Fors a happy New Year before she returned the prisoners to MI9.
• Xio told Fors about her difficult day, and Fors reassured her that she would adjust to public service and urged her to advance to Sequence 5.
• Raphael dreamed of killing a greedy victim, painted the scene, and took the spiritual feedback as confirmation that his Serial Killer acting was working.
• Raphael sent the police a warning letter, but the station staff failed to notice it for two days as the New Year approached.
• Raphael received Audrey’s invitation to investigate an oil painting that seemed to depict a dream, then decided to seek a Beyonder messenger.
• Raphael asked the Oldest One to witness his messenger contract, and the Oldest One agreed.

Raphael tried to summon a Spirit World creature to serve as his messenger, but the ritual drew in Pain, the Grade 1 Sealed Artifact. Pain offered to take the job after Grazing a creature capable of traveling quickly through the Spirit World.

• Raphael traveled to a forest west of Backlund and failed to summon a messenger without an offering.
• Raphael placed Beyonder blood on the altar, and a Spirit World creature answered his summons.
• The creature offered to bring a friend who could serve as a messenger, and a Secrets Sorcerer who had become a Spirit World creature appeared.
• The Secrets Sorcerer sensed danger, took the blood offering, and escaped through a door to the Spirit World.
• Raphael ended the summoning, but a middle-aged man forced his way into the real world and offered to be his messenger.
• Raphael recognized the man as Pain, the Grade 1 Sealed Artifact, after Pain said he had Grazed a swift Spirit World traveler.