Chapter Summaries

Madam Doll and Cang Xuanyue watched a colossal gate open in Hell and recognized the powerful Origins emerging from it as Lynn’s allies. Lynn appeared on a Colossus’s shoulder, but vomited and fell to the ground as soon as he arrived.

• A tremendous spatial rupture triggered the Black Fortress’s defenses and opened an enormous gate beneath the black mist.
• Madam Doll and Cang Xuanyue saw tentacled beings and a starlit giant emerge from the gate, followed by the Self-Binding Angel and Cyber Ascender.
• A gigantic Colossus came through with Lynn sitting on its shoulder, and Madam Doll recognized him as the one who had gathered the Origins.
• Lynn vomited, slipped off the Colossus’s shoulder, and crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust and blood.

Lynn and five other Origins arrived at the Black Fortress to confront Dollhouse, who was inside and already on guard. After Lynn stopped Titan Head from charging in, Dollhouse appeared above the fortress and agreed to speak with him from a distance.

• Cang Xuanyue and Madam Doll recognized Lynn, and Madam Doll wondered if he had come looking for Xian Yue.
• Colossus pulled Lynn from the ground after he vomited during the long teleport, then carried him toward the Black Fortress with the other Origins.
• Lynn stopped Titan Head from rushing toward the fortress to eat people and approached its defenses with Colossus.
• Lynn called for Dollhouse to come out and talk, then asked if he should enter when no one answered.
• Dollhouse spoke from within the fortress and appeared as a pair of wary eyes amid black mist and spirit threads above its tallest spire.

Lynn confronted Madam Doll at the Black Fortress and demanded to take Black String Moon back to Dark Night City. He revealed that an ancient Monarch inside him would not return, but he did not know whether the demon would awaken, and he vowed to take Black String Moon by force if necessary.

• Lynn thanked Madam Doll for protecting Black String Moon and asked to bring her back to Dark Night City.
• Madam Doll questioned Lynn about his role in killing dozens of Jailers during the war, and Lynn admitted that he carried hidden secrets.
• Lynn said the ancient Monarch inside him would never return, but he could not say whether the demon would awaken.
• Lynn landed before the Black Fortress and declared that he would take Black String Moon back, by force if Madam Doll refused.

Lynn confronted the Female Host at the Black Fortress to take Black String Moon back, but learned her condition was too dangerous for her to leave. After the Female Host allowed him inside, Lynn went to try to cure her.

• Lynn demanded that the Female Host let him take Black String Moon, insisting their bond could not be severed.
• Madam Doll intervened before Lynn and the Dollhouse could come to blows, and her daughters joined her at the Barrier.
• Madam Doll told Lynn that Black String Moon’s soul was badly damaged and that leaving the Castle could cause the power he had placed in her to kill her.
• Lynn asked to enter and promised to cure Black String Moon before respecting her choice about whether to leave with him.
• The Female Host withdrew her consciousness and allowed Lynn to proceed, while Lynn asked the Origins to wait outside.

Lynn reached the Black Fortress and asked to see Xian Yue, who had been preserved by cursecraft since the battle a month earlier. He reunited with her and told her, “I’m back.”

• Lynn passed through the Black Fortress’s Barrier and reunited with Madam Doll and her daughters.
• Lynn told Madam Doll that he had searched for her and asked to see Xian Yue.
• A red-haired doll asked whether Lynn loved Xian Yue, and Lynn admitted that he did.
• Madam Doll asked Lynn to promise he would not hurt Xian Yue if he changed again, and Lynn promised, “Never again.”
• Lynn entered the cursecraft chamber, saw Xian Yue suspended in the array, and told her he was back.

Lynn discovered that Xian Yue’s soul and body were trapped in an accelerating cycle of destruction and restoration, which the relocated Black Fortress had partially slowed. Suspecting the power was reincarnation, he entered the Magic Array and found that the rules accepted him as their master.

• Madam Doll explained that Clown had nearly annihilated Xian Yue’s soul and that she had been cycling between her wounded and restored states, with the process accelerating over time.
• Madam Doll said the Female Host had relocated the Black Fortress, and the Magic Array began to slow Xian Yue’s deterioration after the move.
• Lynn suspected he had awakened an ancient God King’s power of reincarnation and wondered why the Black Fortress’s location could stabilize it.
• Lynn entered the Cursecraft Magic Array and reached for Xian Yue despite Madam Doll’s warning that the chaotic rules could harm him.
• The rules aged Lynn’s body, but when he opened his soul to them, they recognized and accepted him, ceasing to affect him.

Lynn used his authority over reincarnation to slow the cycle reversing Black String Moon’s life and death, but he needed more power to stop it. After Madam Doll called to the Female Host, an ancient power reached Lynn through the incantations, letting him halt the cycle at life and catch Black String Moon as she descended.

• Lynn used his Firstborn Power and his connection to reincarnation to slow the cycle surrounding Black String Moon, but he could not stop it.
• As Lynn’s power ran out and the cycle began accelerating, Madam Doll called urgently to the Female Host.
• The ancient incantations connected Lynn to a power deep underground, replenishing his strength as he heard an ancient raven’s cry.
• Lynn poured the newly infused power into controlling reincarnation, unleashing a force that shattered the magic array and hurled the cursecraft practitioners away.
• Lynn stopped the cycle at life, caught Black String Moon, and vowed not to let her leave again.

Lynn restored Black String Moon’s body and reversed her death, but she remained unconscious even after he wound her up. He gathered his family through the Colossus Network to investigate her condition and find a way to wake her.

• After the cursecraft array faded, a black ouroboros briefly appeared on Lynn’s wrist.
• Lynn wound Black String Moon up, and her body began moving, but she remained unconscious and unresponsive.
• Madam Doll examined Black String Moon and found no physical, core, component, or soul damage, though she still did not awaken.
• Lynn connected to the Colossus Network and explained to his family how he had reversed Black String Moon’s life and death.
• The Self-Binding Angel reassured Lynn, then asked him to connect his mind to Black String Moon while she, the Colossus Brain, and Sir Awen examined her.

Lynn and the Origins discovered that Black String Moon’s soul and memories were intact, but her perception of herself as dead was keeping her from returning to life. Lynn prepared to enter her memories with Sir Awen and the others to show her that survival was still possible.

• Lynn joined his mental power with Black String Moon’s and asked the Origins to examine her soul.
• The Colossus Brain and Witch God Head found no memory loss or outside interference, while Sir Awen concluded that her self-perception had made her believe she was dead.
• Sir Awen explained that Black String Moon had been prepared to die a month earlier and advised Lynn to reach the moment in her memories when she lost hope.
• Lynn agreed to try to change Black String Moon’s subconscious perception before she finished reliving her life.
• Lynn linked his mind with Sir Awen, the Matriarch, and the Colossus, and the Self-Binding Angel warned him that entering Black String Moon’s death-filled consciousness could affect him.

Lynn entered Black String Moon’s soul and crossed the darkness of her death to reach the memory of the battle a month earlier. He found her behind the Dollhouse’s barrier, wounded and grieving as she tried to honor their Death Pact, and ran toward her while the memory replayed.

• Lynn linked his consciousness with Black String Moon’s soul and entered the darkness left by her death.
• He crossed the boundary of her consciousness and returned to the battlefield memory from a month earlier.
• Lynn saw his past self offer to surrender to the Clown in exchange for his family’s safety.
• He found Black String Moon wounded behind the Dollhouse’s barrier, watching him and grieving.
• Lynn ran toward Black String Moon and remembered that she had come to fulfill their Death Pact, though he had never wanted her to do so.
• The memory continued as the Clown appeared with an ambiguous smile.

Lynn entered Xian Yue’s submerged consciousness and broke the illusion of her death, urging her to fight to live and remember that someone was waiting for her. He returned to reality beside Black String Moon, after sensing a faint tug on the thread connecting him to Xian Yue.

• Lynn recalled how the Clown had killed the person who mattered most to him, and he had failed to save her.
• Lynn shattered the memory illusion, reached Xian Yue, and held her as the darkness closed in.
• Lynn urged Xian Yue to believe she could survive and to open her eyes, telling her that people cared about her and that he would wait.
• Xian Yue tried to comfort Lynn before her consciousness dissolved into darkness, while he promised not to cry if she returned.
• As Lynn tried to escape the darkness, the thread on his little finger twitched and he glimpsed a glowing figure in the depths.
• Lynn awoke beside Black String Moon, still holding her icy hand, as Madam Doll and his family asked how it had gone.

Lynn found Black String Moon’s subconscious and briefly stirred her desire to awaken, but Sir Awen discovered that a deep-rooted belief that death was where she belonged was preventing her from waking. Realizing her past might explain the presence he glimpsed in her mind, Lynn decided to enter her soul again and asked Madam Doll for every record about Xian Yue.

• Lynn reassured Madam Doll that he had found Black String Moon’s subconscious and believed she could wake if her perception changed.
• Sir Awen warned that Black String Moon had shown signs of wanting to awaken, yet remained unconscious after five minutes.
• Sir Awen told Lynn that Black String Moon’s subconscious held a powerful belief that death was where she belonged, rooted in her past.
• Lynn recalled a figure he had glimpsed in the depths of Black String Moon’s Sea of Consciousness and suspected it was connected to her past.
• Lynn linked his psionic energy to Black String Moon’s soul again and asked Madam Doll for every record about Xian Yue.

Lynn searched deeper into Miss Doll’s fading consciousness and found a memory of her return to Doll Manor. The memory revealed that his teasing notes had encouraged her to recognize her feelings and welcome her family, leaving her bowing to Madam Doll and saying, “Mother, your daughter is home.”

• Lynn dove past the darkness consuming Miss Doll’s memories to find the source of her subconscious obsession.
• Lynn entered a memory from months earlier, when Black String Moon returned to Doll Manor from Dark Night City.
• He saw her discover his teasing handwritten notes in a book, including his request that she greet her mother when she came home.
• The notes reminded Miss Doll that she had feelings and a family who cared for her.
• Miss Doll opened the manor door, bowed to Madam Doll, and said, “Mother, your daughter is home.”

Lynn saw Miss Doll take her first steps toward becoming a healthy girl, then spotted another observer hiding in her memory and pursued her into the Sea of Consciousness. While he searched, Madam Doll began recounting how she had found Xian Yue, who was already a doll.

• Lynn watched Miss Doll return to Doll Manor and felt renewed determination to bring her back.
• Lynn noticed a small girl with a rag doll observing the memory and chased her through the manor.
• The girl fled through a door, and Lynn crossed beyond the memory, shattering the illusion and returning to the Sea of Consciousness.
• Lynn pursued the girl deeper into the Sea of Consciousness, hoping to learn the source of Miss Doll's belief that death was where she belonged.
• Madam Doll brought Seventh's records to the Black Fortress, while Sir Awen asked her to explain how she had found Xian Yue.
• Madam Doll recalled finding Xian Yue already a doll, nearly broken, on the shore of the Ashen Silence Sea.

Lynn reached the deepest part of Black String Moon’s consciousness and followed her younger self into the final memory. There, he saw her damaged body wash ashore as a building sank beneath the black sea.

• Lynn found that Black String Moon’s memories before meeting him showed her as an emotionless girl who kept apart from her sisters.
• Lynn chased the wounded little girl across a black mirror and used his psionics to pull on the soul string attached to her finger.
• The little girl stumbled and dropped her rag doll, revealing a young face Lynn recognized as Miss Doll’s.
• The little girl disappeared into the final memory, and Lynn picked up her rag doll before following her inside.
• Lynn saw the damaged doll awaken on a beach as a building sank into the dark ocean.

Madam Doll recounted how the Female Host guided her to meet Xian Yue when the Doll Curse brought her to Hell, and explained that Xian Yue had already been brutally transformed before the curse took effect. She left Sir Awen and the others with the revelation that Xian Yue had once been human.

• Madam Doll recalled finding Xian Yue on Hell's shore and welcoming her to Doll Manor after the Doll Curse bound her to a puppet body.
• Madam Doll explained that the Female Host had directed her to wait for Xian Yue and for her other daughters who bore the Doll Curse.
• The Female Host acknowledged that she had made compromises to survive, prompting Sir Awen and the others to suspect the Dollhouse's origins were tied to earlier eras of Hell.
• Madam Doll said Xian Yue showed no emotion when the curse manifested, unlike other souls who fell into Hell.
• Madam Doll revealed that Xian Yue's body had been modified by human hands and that she still had a human brain until Curse Deepening removed her last traces of flesh and blood.

Lynn realized Black String Moon's despair had roots in a life before her fall and pursued her through the burning memories of a sinking high-rise. As he tried to break through the door sealing her forgotten past, his consciousness plunged into the deepest part of her mind, prompting Sir Awen to warn him not to cross the wall of forgetting.

• Lynn concluded that Black String Moon's wish for death had originated before her fall, in an earlier life.
• Lynn raced across the sea and entered the burning high-rise, where he saw the barefoot girl slip through a scorched door.
• Lynn failed to break through the door and recognized it as the barrier sealing Black String Moon's forgotten past.
• Lynn poured his psionics and Firstborn Power into one final charge at the door as the memory illusion collapsed.
• In the real world, Lynn's consciousness surged into Black String Moon's mind, and Sir Awen realized he was approaching the wall of forgetting and urgently warned him not to cross it.

Lynn crossed the boundary of Miss Doll’s mind and entered the dangerous sea of chaos to search for her lost memories. Following a Soul String, he reached a surviving memory of a grand steampunk city.

• Sir Awen warned Lynn that crossing the boundary of Miss Doll’s mind could leave him lost in the sea of chaos, but Lynn insisted on searching for her memories.
• Lynn smashed through the door and plunged into the chaotic mind sea, where his connection to his body began to weaken.
• Lynn followed the faint response of the Soul String and used his psionic power to resist the currents trying to lead him astray.
• Lynn emerged into an elegant corridor filled with featureless servants and glimpsed a vast steampunk city beyond the window.
• Lynn recognized the place as one of Miss Doll’s memories from before her fall.

Lynn followed the thread into Miss Doll’s memories and witnessed the Hunched Old Man preparing her as a child for a performance and sale. As the audience watched her dance in a cage, a bidder offered five thousand pounds.

• Lynn recognized the corridor as a memory from before Miss Doll’s fall and followed the thread toward the backstage area.
• Lynn saw the Hunched Old Man dress the young Miss Doll, praise her as his finest work, and threaten her with pain if she performed poorly.
• The Hunched Old Man tried to take Miss Doll’s rag doll, but she held it tightly and he let her keep it.
• Miss Doll descended in a cage and danced onstage as the audience admired her.
• A spectator offered five thousand pounds for Miss Doll before her performance had ended.

Lynn witnessed a memory of the Doll being auctioned to the city’s elite and tried to rescue her, but the past would not let him change what had happened. As the memory shattered, the Doll seemed to sense his wish to save her and thanked him.

• The Doll danced in a golden cage as wealthy bidders competed to buy her, and the auction ended at fifty-four thousand pounds.
• Lynn realized the grand gathering concealed a market where girls, modified slaves, and workers’ fates were sold to the upper class.
• Lynn rushed onto the stage, shattered the cage, and grabbed the Doll’s wrist to take her away.
• Lynn’s attempt failed because the scene was an unchangeable memory, and he found himself alone beside the intact cage.
• The Doll hugged her rag doll and whispered, “Thank you,” before the memory shattered and Lynn returned to the darkness.