Chapter Summaries

Raphael tested the composite abilities and enhanced stamina he gained from combining his Wraith and Devil forms. He then used a ritual to transfer seven Dark Hut Disciples to Sorn City, leaving the Western Continent Grand Cultivators unable to keep his other self from departing.

• Raphael discovered that his composite abilities were Damage Reflection and Venomous Flame Scorch, and that his combined transformation could last about an hour.
• After resting for a day, Raphael entered the Dark Hut and instructed Zed to prepare Sorn City to receive the Dark Hut Disciples.
• Raphael's Western Continent self performed a ritual at the Dark Hut headquarters and sent seven disciples to the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Raphael told the Grand Cultivators he would arrange their return after the battle, then vanished as a phantom.
• Raphael's Western Continent self followed the disciples to the Forsaken Land of the Gods, while the Grand Cultivators realized they had no way to stop him.

The seven Dark Hut disciples entered the Forsaken Land of the Gods, where Oracle Raphael introduced them to the people of Sorn City and warned them about the dangers. After Raphael organized a surprise attack against Bidisis City-State, the group prepared to depart as the Zombie of the Giant King's youngest son approached.

• The seven Dark Hut disciples briefly appeared in the Dark Hut's crystal Secret Realm before Raphael brought them to Zed's hall in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Raphael introduced himself as an attendant of the Lord of Evil Desires and led the disciples through Sorn City, where its mutated residents watched them with hope.
• Duan Ze'en asked Raphael whether the world was the Netherworld Realm, and Raphael explained that the Three Realms differed from their legends and warned the disciples to keep their electric lights on.
• Raphael held a war council and assigned the combined forces to attack the Bidisis City-State Beyonders' camp by surprise in three hours.
• As the forces prepared to set out, the Zombie of the Giant King's youngest son approached Sorn City, prompting the residents to cheer.

Raphael launched a surprise attack on the Bidisis City-State with Bradel’s zombie, which was controlled by the Lord of Evil Desires. The assault began with Jianlu gravely injured and Bradel unleashing an Angel-level Storm of Light, while Bidisis’s defenders prepared to counter it.

• Bradel’s towering zombie joined Raphael’s allied force, and the Dark Hut disciples learned it was the Lord of Evil Desires’ marionette.
• An Amon Avatar spotted the unfamiliar Dark Hut disciples, prompting Amon’s True Body to suspect that people from the Western Continent had appeared.
• Raphael used Sorn City’s light-concealing artifact to launch the attack and sent Bradel’s zombie ahead toward the Bidisis camp.
• Jianlu tried to control Bradel with a Sealed Artifact, but Raphael’s curse struck him and caused severe spiritual and physical injury.
• Bradel illuminated the battlefield and unleashed an Angel-level Storm of Light as a Bidisis demigod opened a black book to defend the retreating forces.

Raphael ambushed the wounded Saint Jianlu and killed him after escaping the Black Knight’s shadow trap. He collected the Saint’s Sealed Artifact and Beyonder characteristics, then turned his attention back to the ongoing battle, where Bradel’s zombie was driving the Bidis Saint toward despair.

• Bradel’s zombie unleashed a Storm of Light that devastated Bidis’s forces, while the Giant King’s Shield protected most of them and the allied forces attacked.
• The Sorn City fighters and Dark Hut disciples battled Bidis’s forces, drawing enemy Beyonders away and making the fighting even.
• Raphael found the badly wounded Saint Jianlu away from the battlefield, but Jianlu trapped him with his expanding shadow and attacked with the Blade of Spirit and Flesh.
• Raphael summoned an Eye of Illusions phantom, escaped the shadow by shrinking, and used the phantom and Adam’s Gift to destroy Jianlu’s spirit body.
• Raphael collected Jianlu’s Death God pathway Sealed Artifact and six Sequence 5 characteristics before returning his attention to the battlefield.
• Bradel’s zombie continued fighting the Bidis Saint with the Book of Wisdom, whose wielder saw the corruption behind the zombie and feared the figure controlling it.

A Sequence 4 Unshadowed from Bidis became a star-headed monster after invoking the power of the Outer Deity Supernova Dominator, threatening Sorn City’s forces. Raphael, the Lord of Evil Desires, redirected the monster’s nuclear-fusion attack, then called on the Oldest One in the Spirit World for help.

• The Unshadowed from Bidis transformed into a star-headed monster, and Amon recognized the power of the Supernova Dominator aimed toward the Hanged Man’s Divine Kingdom.
• Amon asked his true body whether he should intervene, and his true body told him to see how the Lord of Evil Desires handled it.
• The star-headed monster conjured a point of light above Sorn City’s retreating forces, but Raphael shielded them from its radiance and heat.
• Raphael, unable to stop the nuclear fusion, flung the sphere more than a hundred kilometers away, where it melted the ground and revealed an illusory sky.
• Raphael admitted he could not defeat the monster and asked the Oldest One in the Spirit World to help.

Raphael asked the Oldest One to take control of the Lord of Evil Desires and drive off the Starry Sky Monster, who was killed instantly. After the Bidisis People were defeated and the Dark Hut disciples returned home, Speaker Haden asked Raphael what Sorn City must do to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and Raphael said they needed to become useful.

• Raphael loosened his restrictions and let the Oldest One take control, and the Oldest One killed the Starry Sky Monster and seized its Astral Sphere.
• Raphael and the allied forces resumed the battle, and Sorn City and the Dark Hut defeated the Bidisis People after their Saint ordered a retreat.
• Raphael divided the spoils between Sorn City and the Dark Hut, and the survivors offered thanks to the Lord of Evil Desires before celebrating.
• Raphael and the Dark Hut disciples shared their food with Sorn City's children, and Duan Ze'en later led the disciples home through Zed's ritual.
• Speaker Haden asked Raphael how Sorn City could leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods with the Lord's help, and Raphael told him they needed to become useful.

Raphael explained Sorn City’s survival to its leaders while the True Creator and Amon’s avatars reacted to the failed plan against the city. In the Western Continent, the Dark Hut recovered seven disciples and learned more about the Lord of Evil Desires, leaving the Master of the Shadow Cottage to reconsider the future of the organization.

• Raphael told Haden and Sorn City’s leaders that their battle with Bidis City had been part of a contest between gods, and Haden thanked him with an offered artifact.
• Ouroboros reported Sorn City’s survival to the True Creator, who ordered him to disregard the city and leave the plan unchanged.
• Amon’s avatars debated the gods’ motives around Sorn City before their original body ordered them to withdraw and ask Raphael about later developments.
• Raphael returned to the Dark Hut with seven disciples, and Demon Lord Xuanyin obtained the Lord of Evil Desires’ honorific name as a way to contact him.
• The Master of the Shadow Cottage reviewed the disciples’ reports and concluded that the Lord of Evil Desires possessed extraordinary power, abandoning his desire to reclaim the Dark Hut.

Nelas reported Bidis City's losses to the City Lord, who believed the Dominator of the Stars' attack had revealed the True Creator's weakness. Back in the Dark Hut, Raphael inventoried his spoils and learned that the Oldest One could wield Great Old One-level power for only six seconds through the Hut's support.

• Nelas blamed himself for the deaths of more than five hundred people, but the City Lord told him the attack was an unforeseen probe and said the Dominator of the Stars would soon descend.
• The Evernight Goddess sensed that her arrangements in Sorn City had not been used, then turned her attention toward the God of Combat's divine kingdom.
• After two more days searching Sorn City's records without finding clues about its former faith, Raphael returned to the Dark Hut and inspected his spoils.
• Raphael named the Sequence 3 Ferryman Sealed Artifact the Ferryman Pendant and left it for his main account, while setting aside other Sealed Artifacts and considering how to use or sell the Beyonder characteristics.
• Raphael asked the Oldest One about its recovered status, and it explained that the Dark Hut let it wield Great Old One-level power for six seconds before Raphael would explode.
• The Oldest One said it still depended on Raphael as a lasting power source and warned that frequent high-level assistance could expose him.

Raphael rested after resolving Sorn City's problems while studying his new Wraith and Devil abilities and planning how to digest his Potions. As he prepared to begin practicing, he received a strange letter marked only with canine claw marks.

• Raphael organized the fifth level of the Demon Source Scripture and studied the Phantom Divine Art and Demon Lord Dharma Body Art he had gained by advancing to Wraith.
• Raphael realized that Damage Reflection and Venomous Flame Scorch were unique abilities that did not appear among Western Continent disciples.
• Raphael planned to digest his Wraith Potion by experiencing life as a wraith, and to continue acting as a Devil by destroying beauty and exposing human evil.
• Raphael spent a week resting and planning before receiving a letter covered in what looked like canine claw marks.

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.