Recaps

Arthur advanced his plans in South Los, securing a Griffin Spirituality Potion and the Countess’s Mark of Thunder while drawing old allies into his growing network. As Pendragon began transforming into a Griffin, Arthur prepared to leave for the Inner Bay, and the Eastern launched with Old John aboard.

• Mimi sacrificed herself to clear the first four steps of the Seventeenth Rank ladder, and Herke sent Arthur an assessment of his Great Orange ritual.
• Arthur planned to obtain a Griffin Spirituality Potion from the South Los Family in exchange for Sakiri’s head, while Old John secretly plotted to betray Horton and contact the Old Lion.
• Arthur learned that Malinda commanded twenty-two pirate crews and recruited two Major Arcana Rank members of the old Black Cat Followers after revealing his Orange Cat identity to Mrs. Amanda.
• Arthur arranged for Old John to meet him in South Los, where Grindelwald recruited him to escort the Eastern, while Arthur sent Sakiri’s head to Mrs. Susan and agreed to teach Matidal to read.
• Mrs. Susan presented Sakiri’s head to Aisi, who supplied Arthur with a Griffin Spirituality Potion and travel money, while the Countess prepared a Mark of Thunder for him.
• Arthur discovered that the Thunder Mark could summon and transform him into lightning, then gave the Griffin Spirituality Potion to Pendragon, whose incomplete Griffin advancement increased its strength and appetite.
• Arthur considered making his Golden Lion Family inheritance known, while Old John resolved to guard the Eastern after realizing the contract would bind him to the ship until it was rebuilt.
• On January 9, the Eastern’s launch drew a crowd at the Harbor District, Malinda learned Arthur had already departed, and Old John inspected the ceremony with Xavier.

Arthur sailed aboard the Eastern as a cult attack at South Los was turned against its perpetrators, while he drew Lucius and Yura into a contest over the Inner River God Cult’s secrets. Greisa Hamlet then maneuvered to use the Black Cat Faction and sent Arthur a mysterious shield, whose arrival stirred an ominous reaction.

• Joe tried to impress Yura aboard the Eastern, but Brewer and the passengers recognized Arthur as the ship’s owner and the Medium of South Los.
• Malinda staged a romantic farewell with Arthur, while suspicious men followed the Eastern and thirteen pursuing ships were swallowed by whirlpools.
• Malinda’s forces attacked the River God believers, and Arthur had the whirlpool portrayed as the River God’s farewell ceremony to him.
• Arthur learned about Joe, Yura, and Lucius, healed Lucius’s hand, and offered him mystic rituals in exchange for information.
• Yura manipulated Lucius into carrying a notebook of cult secrets, but Arthur copied it and learned of the cult’s base at Dordot Harbor and its links to massacres.
• Grindelwald persuaded Toran that the Church of Pain had framed Arthur, and Toran reported the claim to the Inner River God Cult’s High Priest.
• Arthur told Lucius that Toran had sworn allegiance to him, while Yura used divination and hypnotism to steer Lucius toward an alliance with Arthur against the cult.
• Greisa Hamlet plotted to use the Black Cat Faction against the Church of Pain and sent the Holy Serpent Shield as a gift to Arthur, whose heart thumped when Grindelwald touched it.

Arthur secured Malinda’s partnership, transformed Sithidal’s Scale and bound Abel, then maneuvered the Church of Pain and the Marquis of West Berlin into a confrontation. After the Blood Scion rescued Freeman and faced the marquis, Arthur challenged him and forced him to stop by invoking his Creados lineage and Lionheart King mark.

• Arthur traded with Lucius for Mikhailo’s Touch (Incomplete) and agreed to help eliminate the Inner River Cult, while Malinda negotiated a partnership with him over Dordot Harbor.
• Arthur swallowed Sithidal’s Scale, survived his encounter with the Golden Tree, and gained bloodline abilities as the tree’s sap purified his blood.
• Arthur used Mikhailo’s Touch to restore Abel, bound the Vampire Ancestor Insect with contracts, and prepared to revive his Blood Scion identity.
• Yura arranged a meeting with the Church of Pain, while Arthur sent the Blood Scion to the shore and Malinda arranged guards for the Eastern.
• Freeman and Amuel fought Catherine and the Calamity Cavalry, but the Blood Scion arrived, protected them, and offered Freeman blood kinship.
• The Marquis of West Berlin arrived in Xilond, and Arthur confronted him, neutralizing his three thousand cavalry imprints with Breath of Death.
• Arthur inferred the marquis’s motives and began to leave, then invoked his Creados lineage and Lionheart King mark, making the marquis call for him to wait.

Arthur allied with the Marquis of West Berlin and helped draw the Lady of Pain and the Inner River Church into a confrontation at Dordot Harbor. The fighting left the marquis under attack from Dale Bock, who claimed his trap had secured victory.

• Arthur rejected the Marquis of West Berlin’s offer to marry Catherine and Jacqueline, then demanded the Church of Pain’s and Inner River Church’s holdings in Dordot Harbor as compensation for Malinda’s dead subordinates.
• Arthur and the Marquis agreed to cooperate against the threat in the Inner Bay, while Arthur secretly prepared for the Lady of Pain’s arrival and Yura used Mikhailo’s Greater Touch to bargain with him.
• At Dordot Harbor, Yura seized control of the Church of Pain by punishing its priests, but artillery fire destroyed the gathering as the Marquis attacked her and identified her as the entity’s vessel.
• Greisa Hamlet’s fleet was defeated by Geerjisi’s hidden guns, and Greisa killed Sweet before redirecting Dale Bock to attack the Marquis.
• Dale Bock sacrificed the Torrent Squad and used a ritual to rise to the third rank, then launched a scarlet sword at the Marquis of West Berlin.
• The Marquis used the Golden Bow to destroy Dale Bock’s sword and most of his body, but Dale Bock restored himself with the Blood of the Night and declared that the Marquis had fallen into his trap.