Chapter Summaries

Raphael, Bernadette, and Cattleya entered the Underworld Emperor’s tomb, fought undead guardians, and followed a dangerous passage to the empty altar. Raphael climbed onto it to investigate and found an enormous feathered serpent coiled nearby.

• Raphael questioned the praying bishop, who warned him to descend with his eyes closed and revealed that the Underworld Emperor was on the altar below.
• Three undead corpses ambushed Raphael, Bernadette, and Cattleya, but the trio used Raphael’s light attack to reach the passage to the seventh level.
• The three descended with their eyes closed while Raphael used True Vision, and an illusory feathered serpent was swallowed by lingering darkness.
• Raphael, Bernadette, and Cattleya reached the underground tomb and found the altar empty, though its aura of death overwhelmed them.
• Raphael climbed the altar with help from the Lord of Evil Desires and saw an enormous feathered serpent coiled in front of him.

Raphael removed Salinger’s corpse from the Death God’s divine kingdom and later sealed it in the Dark Hut, then traveled to Conston to continue digesting his Marionette potion. There, he met Klein in disguise as Merlin Hermes, and their playful exchange ended with Klein giving one of Raphael’s puppets half an hour of life.

• Raphael used an offering ritual to bring Salinger’s Feathered Serpent corpse into the Dark Hut, ending the danger in the divine kingdom.
• Bernadette and Cattleya collected Sealed Artifacts, returned to the surface with Raphael, and left to find the Forsaken Land of the Gods’ exit.
• Raphael sealed the Feathered Serpent corpse in the Crystal Palace and considered the difficult rituals required for his future advancements.
• After official Saints noticed his puppet show in Backlund, Raphael traveled to Conston and performed among the city’s ruins.
• Raphael recognized Klein, disguised as Merlin Hermes, among the audience but continued his performance.
• Klein offered to fulfill the puppet’s wish for life, and Raphael had it accept half an hour of freedom.

Klein’s miracle briefly restored Raphael’s missing Demon Personality, and the two personalities inferred that the Oldest One intended to use Raphael as a foundation for taking over the Creator’s identities. Raphael attempted to preserve the Demon Personality by combining Corruption with God Almighty’s power of Imagination, and succeeded in creating a new self.

• Klein brought a marionette to life for half an hour, and Raphael followed it after Klein left.
• The marionette revealed that he was Raphael’s missing Killer Personality, now calling himself the Demon Personality, and he and Raphael discussed how the Oldest One might be using Raphael’s personalities in his scheme.
• Raphael and the Demon Personality planned to preserve the marionette’s existence using the Dark Angel’s evil spirit and God Almighty’s residual power in the Dark Hut.
• When the marionette’s temporary life ended, Raphael entered the Dark Hut and used the Dark Angel’s evil spirit to reach God Almighty’s mental imprint in the Chaos Sea.
• On his eighth attempt, Raphael seized the authority of Imagination and combined it with Corruption to create a new Demon Personality, whom he greeted as his other self.

Raphael sent Marcus and the advance party from Sorn City into the outside world to establish a settlement, then planned to use a Ponzi scheme to fulfill his Demon advancement ritual. He introduced the investment opportunity at a nobleman's salon in Backlund, leaving the wealthy guests listening to his pitch.

• Raphael guided fifty people from Sorn City into the outside world, where Marcus took command and began organizing a temporary camp.
• When an enormous black bear fled from the advance party, Marcus explained that the local animals differed from the monsters in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Back in Backlund, Raphael and his devil persona decided that a Ponzi scheme could entice intelligent beings to willingly sell their souls and satisfy the Demon advancement ritual.
• Raphael disguised himself as Mr. Warren Buffett and used his hypnotized acquaintance, Earl Galli, to attend a nobleman's salon.
• At the salon, Raphael argued that construction materials would not remain as profitable as expected and claimed to have a better investment opportunity.

Raphael defrauded Backlund’s nobles and wealthy merchants by raising more than a million pounds through a fake northern reconstruction fund, then prepared to seek potion ingredients in the Southern Continent. At the Tarot Club, Audrey suspected the fund was a scam, and Raphael confirmed it.

• Raphael used Berdan’s reconstruction needs to persuade salon attendees to invest in his fund, promising twenty percent monthly interest and commissions for referrals.
• Nobles and wealthy merchants investigated the northern cities, spread favorable word, and helped Raphael collect more than a million pounds before he stopped receiving clients and claimed to be traveling north.
• Raphael stayed in his villa while planning to obtain Demon and Silent Disciple potion ingredients and raid a Rose School base in the Southern Continent.
• At the Tarot Club, Audrey described how Mr. Buffett’s fund exploited investors’ desires and asked whether it was a scam.
• Raphael declared that the investment project was a scam.

At the Tarot Club, Raphael admitted that he was running a scam to raise money for a city in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, while Leonard reported mysterious miracles attributed to Merlin Hermes. The meeting then turned to Barros Hopkins and the Psychology Alchemists, as Audrey revealed that they had asked about a Dragon-Worshipping Village she discovered.

• Raphael admitted that his scam targeted the wealthy and nobles, and said he would end it after raising enough money for the people in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Audrey, Emlyn, Leonard, Xio, and Fors each responded to Raphael's plan, while Xio warned that MI9 was investigating his Mr. Buffett identity.
• Leonard described supernatural incidents involving Merlin Hermes, and Klein, speaking as World, said he would soon leave the eastern shore of the Sonia Sea.
• Raphael and World hinted that they had met in Conston, but neither openly discussed their suspicions about the other's identity.
• Raphael explained that Barros Hopkins's reputation and the public's tendency to forget him might stem from the Psychology Alchemists and the Spectator pathway.
• Audrey said the Psychology Alchemists had begun asking about the Dragon-Worshipping Village she found in the collective consciousness sea.

At a Tarot Club meeting, Raphael advised Audrey about the Psychology Alchemists, a Mind Dragon, and Adam’s rise to godhood. Afterward, Raphael traveled to a Rose School outpost in the Southern Continent and staged a massacre to make a survivor blame the Temperance Faction.

• Audrey told the Tarot Club about the Mind Dragon she had found in the collective consciousness sea, and Raphael said it was likely one of three dragons that had survived from the Second Epoch.
• Raphael speculated that Adam might have discovered Audrey through his new authority over the Visionary pathway, then advised her to wait, pray to Mr. Fool, and resist being used as bait.
• Raphael returned to Backlund and refined his plan to visit the Southern Continent and attract the attention of rich people and nobles.
• Raphael attacked a Rose School outpost, hypnotized one member into identifying him as part of the Temperance Faction, and killed the outpost members while ensuring someone could escape.
• A surviving Rose School member fled the outpost, while Raphael watched from nearby in his Wraith state.

Raphael used the survivor of a Rose School base to lure out its Wraith overseer, then waited and tracked Rose School Saints to obtain ingredients for his advancement. After securing the supplementary ingredients, he stole the Crazy Water he needed before beginning his planned hunt.

• A Rose School survivor fled to a major base and told its Wraith overseer about Raphael and the Temperance Faction.
• Raphael killed the overseer and the base’s members, then waited beneath a tree hung with their corpses for a Rose School Saint to arrive.
• Raphael marked the Saint who came to investigate and followed him, eventually marking two more Saints, including a Silent Disciple.
• The Silent Disciple cursed a Beyonder, and Raphael collected the cursed clothes and accessories as supplementary ingredients for his advancement.
• Raphael identified a Marionette carrying the Crazy Water he needed, traveled to his residence, and stole the barrel before starting his hunt.

Raphael killed a Rose School Marionette in the Southern Continent, obtained the Beyonder characteristic and ingredients he needed, then returned to Backlund to prepare for advancement and continue his investment scam. He began telling his first investors that they could receive dividends early.

• Raphael used his spirituality, curses, and Composite Talisman Crystal abilities to defeat and kill the Rose School Marionette before the Rose School's Ancient Bane arrived.
• Raphael avoided the Spirit World, returned to his villa in Backlund, and discussed his strength, the Dark Hut, and advancing along two pathways with the Demon Personality.
• Raphael stored his spoils and agreed with the Demon Personality that they should complete the ritual and keep tracking the Demon.
• Raphael addressed nobles and wealthy visitors, hinting that the foundation might repay investors' principal and interest ahead of schedule.
• Raphael met with his first batch of investors, including the people from Earl Galli's salon, and told them they were entitled to receive dividends early.

Raphael used the first investors’ trust to recruit twelve partners and raise more than 10 million pounds for the Buffett Foundation’s northern lending operation. Meanwhile, Leonard learned that the Church of the God of Combat’s advanced Beyonder materials came from a mysterious source linked to the Aurora Order, and Raphael’s Desire Apostle potion was fully digested.

• Raphael offered the first investors partner status, and Viscount Hawthorne pledged 200,000 pounds before eleven others joined him.
• Raphael’s partners helped attract nearly 8 million pounds in additional investments, while he refused the manager’s request to invest less than 500 pounds and raised the future minimum to 3,000 pounds.
• Arianna gave Leonard the Church of the God of Combat’s Beyonder teaching materials and tasked him with tracing their source, which divination linked to the Western Continent and the Aurora Order.
• Raphael met with his twelve partners to plan the northern lending operation, beginning in Berdan and relying on trained staff and debt collectors.
• Raphael’s Desire Apostle potion was completely digested during the dinner.

Raphael fully digested the Desire Apostle potion after swindling the Buffett Foundation’s partners, who decided to continue the scam after discovering the money was gone. He then planned supplies for Sorn City’s journey, attended the Tarot Club, and discussed the danger of churches entering economic activity.

• Raphael realized that tempting people through the Buffett Foundation scam had fully digested his Desire Apostle potion.
• The twelve partners discovered that Warren Buffett and the invested money had vanished, then decided to keep fundraising and conceal the theft.
• Raphael watched the partners continue the scam from the Dark Hut and admired the enormous pile of money he had taken.
• Raphael planned food, water, and ships for the people of Sorn City to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• At the Tarot Club, Leonard warned that officials would investigate the scam, and Raphael explained why churches should avoid business.

At the Tarot Club, Raphael defended his investment scam to Leonard, then agreed to trade the complete information about the Western Continent to the Church of Evernight in exchange for the Evernight Goddess’s help. He also asked Derrick to coordinate with Sorn City’s residents as they prepared to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and posted a mission to transport them to Gass Island.

• Raphael told Leonard that he had already withdrawn from the scam and promised to expose it soon, while explaining that its effects would be limited to Loen’s upper classes.
• Leonard asked Raphael about the Western Continent and requested a private conversation; Raphael agreed to trade the complete information for the Evernight Goddess’s help.
• Raphael told the Tarot Club that the Western Continent lay west of the Fog Sea, though it could not yet be reached from the real world.
• Raphael asked Derrick to coordinate with the outpost near the Giant King’s Court because Sorn City’s residents would arrive within a month.
• Raphael posted a mission to take Sorn City’s roughly ten thousand residents to Gass Island, and Cattleya asked whether they could be transported in three trips.

Raphael prepared to evacuate Sorn City and exposed a vast investment scam, then told the city's people that their centuries of suffering had resulted from the gods’ mistakes. His words gave them hope and helped him understand how to digest the Demon potion as the pilgrimage approached.

• Raphael agreed to pay Cattleya two hundred thousand pounds to transport Sorn City's people to Gass Island in three batches.
• Raphael exposed the investment scam through newspapers, prompting an investigation and sparing many would-be investors from losing their money.
• Raphael arranged supplies and coordinated the pilgrimage with Speaker Hadden Hawk, Zed, and the other councilors, asking them to help him complete a ritual.
• After Bacchus questioned why the gods had tested Sorn City, Raphael said the city's suffering had been a tragedy caused by the gods' mistakes and promised to lead its people to safety.
• Raphael realized that he had turned the people's despair into hope by presenting the truth in a way that served his own aims, and he saw this as part of digesting the Demon potion.

Raphael led Sorn City’s people on a pilgrimage through the Forsaken Land of the Gods, but an unseen intruder began stealing identities within the procession. Collins realized the intruder had taken Raphael’s identity and was likely a Sequence 2 Beyonder, just as the surrounding world began transforming into a modern city.

• Raphael led the ten-thousand-person procession away from Sorn City, and the pilgrims traveled for several days while fighting off monster attacks.
• Raphael noticed an apparent extra person in one group, then discovered the figure had vanished without anyone else noticing.
• During a midday meal, Collins became convinced that one of the people around him was an impostor and left to observe the procession.
• Collins realized that the impostor was posing as Raphael and deduced that it had stolen his identity or fate.
• Collins summoned Bradel’s Zombie for help, but a moving skyscraper appeared as the wilderness and pilgrims transformed into a modern city scene.

Raphael, trapped in an illusion by a creature that had stolen his fate, used the stolen identity to turn the monster’s attack against it. Amon returned Raphael’s fate and gave him the creature’s Jade Eyes, and Raphael continued the pilgrimage after reassuring the Saints that the danger had passed.

• The creature used Raphael’s memories to make him believe he was back in a modern city, but “Devil” Collins exposed the illusion and realized it had stolen his fate.
• “Devil” Collins made the creature attack him, causing Bradel’s Greatsword to strike the illusion and reveal the dim wilderness beneath it.
• Amon appeared beside the motionless Pilgrimage Procession and returned Raphael’s fate, restoring Raphael’s personality.
• Amon explained that the creature had been a Sequence 2 Trojan Horse of Destiny before stealing something dangerous, then split its remains and gave Raphael the Jade Eyes.
• Amon left after asking Raphael to put on another puppet show and saying he needed strength to settle old debts.
• Raphael returned Bradel’s Zombie to its place, gave the Jade Eyes to the Lord of Evil Desires, and told the gathered Saints that the danger had passed.

Raphael and Saint Bock investigated a glowing, empty city that appeared to be targeting the pilgrims, and found its source in a church from the Third Epoch. Inside, Raphael’s Demon Personality confronted the church’s mysterious voice, which vowed to stop the pilgrims, and provoked it into attacking.

• Raphael led the pilgrims through the mountains and diverted them from the glowing area, but the light appeared ahead again, so he camped the group and went to investigate with Saint Bock.
• Raphael and Bock entered the empty, sunlit city and identified its architecture as likely dating to the Third Epoch.
• Raphael entered the central church alone, where moving sculptures sang before a voice spoke from the enormous cross.
• The voice claimed it would keep the pilgrims in the city and purge their evil thoughts, and said it had sent the city’s inhabitants and later visitors to the Sun God’s divine kingdom.
• Raphael’s Demon Personality accused the voice of burning people to death and bargained mockingly, causing the church’s light and heat to intensify.
• The voice summoned Blazing White Spears to attack Raphael, and the Demon Personality prepared to retaliate with Detonate Desire.

Raphael and Bradel's Zombie defeated the Cross, whose destruction released a blood-stained copper chain linked to the Ancient Sun God. After Bradel's Zombie found peace, a bishop of the Church of the True Creator returned the chain to Raphael and conveyed the True Creator's message of atonement before disappearing into the shadows.

• The Demon Personality weakened the Cross with Detonate Desire, while Raphael shielded himself with the Eye of Illusions until Bradel's Zombie arrived.
• Bradel's Zombie destroyed the church with Storm of Light, resisted the Ancient Sun God's projection, and shattered the Cross with his axe.
• A blood-stained copper chain flew from the destroyed Cross, and Raphael let it go as the city collapsed into ruins.
• Bradel's Zombie lost his armor and weapon, then passed away, leaving behind his enormous skeleton free of its curse and soul.
• A bishop of the Church of the True Creator returned the now-blackened copper chain to Raphael for his friend and delivered the True Creator's message that he had been atoning.
• Raphael challenged the bishop over the gods' guilt, then recognized him as President Benjamin before he vanished into the shadows.

After completing his pilgrimage ritual and returning to Backlund, Raphael discovered a Sequence 3 Word Eater secretly watching Zeno and prepared to hunt him. Raphael ambushed the Word Eater in Connaught with help from an Eye of Illusions phantom, while Zeno realized the encounter had been planned and grew wary of the Oracle.

• Raphael led the Sorn City pilgrims out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, completed his advancement ritual, and returned to Backlund.
• Raphael resumed watching Zeno and spotted a Word Eater using a controlled phantom to surveil him.
• Raphael waited for the Word Eater to make a move, then left the Dark Hut and prepared to attack while his main account tracked the fight through True Vision.
• The Word Eater attacked Zeno in Connaught, using Word Eating as Zeno fought back with Hellfire and tried to escape.
• Raphael appeared before Zeno, and the Word Eater fled toward the city as Zeno softened the ground into a swamp to hinder him.
• Raphael's Eye of Illusions phantom blocked the Word Eater's escape, while Zeno recognized the operation as premeditated and became cautious of Raphael.

Raphael and Zeno joined forces to hunt the Word Eater, and Raphael killed him by turning the Devil’s secret contamination against him with Sun pathway powers. Raphael secured the Word Eater’s Beyonder characteristic, then asked Zeno whether he had Desire Demon blood and an Archdemon’s black heart for someone’s advancement.

• Raphael used the Dark Hut’s power to block the Word Eater’s attacks while he and his phantoms drove the Word Eater into devil form.
• The Word Eater revealed that he had secretly contaminated Raphael, but Raphael purified himself with a Blazing White Spear and used their connection to curse the Word Eater.
• Raphael struck the Word Eater with Holy Light, then used a Secret Art Puppet curse while his phantoms cornered and killed him.
• Raphael collected the Word Eater’s Beyonder characteristic and explained to Zeno that they had been tracking the Word Eater and could not warn him sooner.
• Raphael and Zeno discussed working together against the Saints of the Blood Sanctify Sect, and Raphael asked whether Zeno had Desire Demon blood and an Archdemon’s black heart.

Raphael staged a puppet play portraying Solomon’s war against the Six Gods and the fall of his empire, drawing the Tarot Club members and a mysterious audience of angels. The coronation of Tudor and Trunsoest began, while a man resembling William I appeared in the auditorium and watched.

• Raphael found Word Eater’s Spatial Magic, Grade 2 Sealed Artifact, and the supplementary ingredients for advancing to Word Eater, then shattered the Word Eater characteristic.
• Raphael arranged a puppet performance called Death of the Night Emperor at Backlund’s Grand Theater, and the show sold out.
• Xio, Fors, Audrey, and Emlyn watched the play as it depicted Solomon’s plans, the Six Wizards’ alliance with Tudor and Trunsoest, and Solomon’s defeat.
• The audience and Tarot Club members realized that the play portrayed the Fourth Epoch’s divine conflict, while Raphael had warned Leonard that Amon might attend.
• The play showed Tudor and Trunsoest crowned as kings, and a man resembling William I emerged from distorted space at the back of the auditorium.