Recaps

Neph discussed her uncertain safety from Amon with Klein and decided she might need to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods to advance her acting as a Faded Painter. She warned Klein that the Master Key had been affected by the lost Mr. Door, then began planning her departure and next steps.

• Neph told Klein to assume she was safe from Amon, though she admitted she could not defeat him.
• Neph said she might leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods because Moon City offered too few opportunities to act as a Faded Painter.
• Klein asked Neph about the Master Key, and she explained that Mr. Door had become lost and affected it.
• Neph warned Klein not to use the Master Key too often and suggested he divine its behavior under a full moon.
• Neph returned to the real world and considered rituals, asking the True Creator for help leaving, finding money and arranging a way to stay in contact with Moon City.

Neph tested a ritual to request a bestowment from the True Creator and received a finger bone that she accidentally swallowed, gaining guidance about Amon and leaving the Forsaken Land of the Gods. She then discovered she could extract memories from books and learned Jotun before joining the Tarot Club, where she greeted its new member, Miss Magician.

• Neph performed a ritual to the True Creator, who sent shadows that spat out a finger bone.
• Neph swallowed the finger bone and received the message that she no longer needed to worry about Amon and could seek out Ouroboros to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Neph worked with Narani to extract memories from a Literacy Textbook, gaining Jotun as another native language.
• Neph thanked Narani, asked Klein to conduct another test, and prepared for the next Tarot Club gathering.
• Neph greeted the new Tarot Club member, Miss Magician.

Neph attended the Tarot Club meeting and grew uneasy when Fors's exchange differed from what she remembered. She advised Derrick against exploring the half-destroyed temple and revealed that she considered herself a Blessed.

• Neph greeted the Tarot Club members as Miss Pure White, and Audrey requested a private conversation with Mr. Fool.
• Fors promised to collect an Adult Widow Giant Spider's silk glands for Mr. World, leaving Neph unsettled because the exchange differed from her memories.
• Alger asked whether the others knew about raids and abductions in the Southern Continent, and Neph said the matter was beyond their current knowledge.
• Neph asked Alger and Audrey for language-learning memories and explained how to transfer them using a medium and a ritual.
• Derrick explained his upcoming expedition to a half-destroyed temple led by Elder Lovia, and Neph and Alger both urged him not to go.
• Neph clarified that she should count as a Blessed when Alger warned Derrick that the entity was insane.

Neph asked Alger to contact Admiral of Stars Cattleya and arrange a meeting in a dangerous sea, offering information about someone who could read Roselle’s Diary. After the trading segment, Audrey asked why Neph’s hair had changed color, and Neph began explaining that her hair was originally white.

• Alger advised Derrick to avoid the mandatory mission by feigning the early signs of losing control, and explained how to do so safely.
• Neph commissioned Alger to contact Cattleya and have her search for Neph in the illusory sea east of the Gargas Archipelago, warning that the True Creator’s power lingered there.
• Neph offered to tell Cattleya about someone who could read Roselle’s Diary; Alger asked Neph to find the Wind-blessed potion formula as payment.
• Audrey asked why Neph’s hair had changed from black to dark gray, and Neph claimed it had washed out because her hair was originally white.

Neph questioned Klein about Creeping Hunger and his contact with Azik, discovering that events had diverged from what she had foreseen. She warned Klein that 0-08 had likely noticed him and that a catastrophe involving the Demoness Sect, the Aurora Order, and an evil god’s descent would strike Backlund.

• Neph asked the Tarot Club members what color her eyes were, then privately asked Klein why he wanted an Adult Widow Giant Spider’s silk gland.
• Klein told Neph he had Creeping Hunger and had met Azik when he opened a coffin on the day he heard her prayers.
• Neph admitted that the changes from her visions frightened her, and Klein reassured her not to rely on prophecy.
• Neph warned Klein that 0-08 had likely noticed him and that a catastrophic ritual in Backlund would involve the Demoness Sect and the Aurora Order.
• Neph urged Klein to stay within his limits and survive rather than risk his life trying to stop the catastrophe.

Neph struggled to see Klein as the person he was now rather than the character she knew from the novel, while Klein guessed that she had come from the future. She explained the mistake behind his resurrection and warned him about the dangers awaiting him in Backlund, including Amon.

• Neph recognized that she had been treating the world and the Tarot Club as though they were fictional, and resolved to change her attitude.
• Klein guessed that Neph had transmigrated from the future and reasoned that he and others might be figures from her history books.
• Neph denied Klein's theory, then asked how he had encountered Mr. Azik and learned that he had awakened earlier than he should have.
• Klein asked whether the catastrophe in Backlund was connected to Ince Zangwill, and Neph urged him not to pursue Ince yet.
• Neph warned Klein that Amon, a King of Angels from an adjacent pathway, might visit Backlund and become his natural enemy.

Neph prepared to leave Moon City, studied its potion formulas and Sealed Artifacts, and waited for news about passage across the sea formed by the War of the Gods Ruins. Cattleya agreed to Neph’s request, and Alger reported that Cattleya would meet her in twelve days and had sent a crystal ball to contact her.

• Neph told Nim she planned to leave in a few days and asked to study Moon City’s potion formulas and Sealed Artifacts.
• Neph examined Moon City’s five Grade 1 Sealed Artifacts, tested several, and returned them without taking any.
• Cattleya read a commission asking her to pick up a girl at the center of the sea formed by the War of the Gods Ruins, then summoned Heath.
• Bernadette received a letter and wrote back, “Accept her request.”
• Alger told Mr. Fool that Cattleya expected to reach the center of the waters in twelve days and had sent a crystal ball for Neph.
• Neph used a ritual to receive the crystal ball and told Klein she had already learned several languages.

Cattleya reported to Bernadette that the crystal ball had gone to someone protected against divination, and Bernadette decided to retrieve the recipient herself. After Klein and his allies finished dealing with the Wraith, he examined Creeping Hunger’s new abilities while Neph prepared to travel to the Gargas Islands.

• Cattleya told Bernadette that she had lost contact with the crystal ball and could not identify its protected recipient.
• Bernadette told Cattleya to pick the recipient up and said she would accompany her, while leaving Heath Doyle aboard the ship.
• Sharron warned Klein that gifts tied to fate demanded payment, then declared the Wraith to be his payment and the Book of Secrets his share.
• Klein examined Creeping Hunger’s new Wraith abilities and considered what ingredients he would need to advance.
• Neph packed supplies and money for her journey to the Gargas Islands.

Amon questioned the sealed evil spirit about the plot to kill the Creator and learned that Sasrir had claimed the Creator was corrupted. At the Tarot Club, Neph warned Derrick that Amon was nearby and explained Amon’s connection to the Creator.

• Amon visited the sealed evil spirit in the underground ruins and asked why he had joined Rose Redemption and helped kill the Creator.
• The evil spirit said Sasrir had claimed the Creator was corrupted and that the plan was to revive him through prayer after his death.
• Amon offered to help remove the seal, then left without agreeing to help restore the Creator.
• Neph attended the Tarot Club gathering and warned Derrick that Amon would notice him, though Derrick was not Amon’s target.
• Neph identified Amon as the Creator’s son and explained that the Amon Family consisted entirely of Amon.

Neph explained Amon’s strange nature and helped arrange a trade between Fors and Derrick at the Tarot Club. After the meeting, she revealed details about the Ancient Sun God that led Klein to realize he had been a transmigrator, then hinted that she knew of a fifth one.

• Neph told the Tarot Club that Amon had played the part of an entire family in the Fourth Epoch and might even have been the animals and insects around him.
• Derrick offered Fors Spirit Eater’s Stomachs in exchange for the Solar High Priest potion formula, and Neph agreed to sell it to her for 750 pounds on credit.
• The World requested Thousand-Faced Hunter blood and Deep Sea Naga hair, while Neph considered how to cleanse the corruption in Creeping Hunger.
• Alger posted a missing-person notice, and the Tarot Club ended its meeting.
• The World asked Neph when he had met the Ancient Sun God, and Neph revealed that the god called himself God Almighty and had named one of his children Adam.
• Klein recognized the Ancient Sun God as a transmigrator, and Neph said she knew of a fifth transmigrator for certain.

Neph prepared to leave Moon City, but Amon questioned her about the Fool and believed her claim that he was part of Amon’s father. Neph then prayed to Ouroboros, who carried her to the Pilgrimage Site and told her they had to climb to the summit on foot.

• Neph realized Amon had come to question her about the Fool after learning more from little Sun, and she told him the Fool was part of his father.
• After Amon vanished, Neph packed with a new backpack and told High Priest Nim she was ready to leave Moon City.
• Neph asked Nim how he made the Ice Coffin, learned that he sealed spirits in his teeth, and took a Beastskin Lantern.
• Neph performed a ritual outside Moon City and summoned Ouroboros, who flew her away and let her touch his manifested wings.
• Ouroboros landed at the Pilgrimage Site and began walking toward the summit, telling Neph she had to climb with him.

Ouroboros led Neph through the Giant King's Court and toward a rugged trail, where she asked to buy the Wind-blessed potion formula. He accepted her offer of 2,500 Pounds, leaving Neph to suspect he was interested in an opportunity he sensed in her.

• Ouroboros slowed his pace after Neph told him the stone steps were difficult to climb.
• Ouroboros confirmed they had reached the Giant King's Court but said they would not enter it.
• Neph recognized two guards at the enormous city gates as Silver Knights.
• Neph asked Ouroboros whether he had the Wind-blessed potion formula, and he said he did.
• Ouroboros agreed to sell Neph the formula for 2,500 Pounds, though she could not pay immediately.
• Neph followed Ouroboros along a cliffside trail and asked why he did not wear shoes.

Ouroboros guided Neph through the Decaying Forest and into the twilight-shrouded giant complex, protecting her from the forest’s effects along the way. They reached a banquet hall where paintings came alive and a feast appeared, and Ouroboros warned Neph that it was all an illusion.

• Neph followed barefoot Ouroboros along a rugged path and into the Decaying Forest.
• Neph told Ouroboros that twilight could make her death-accelerating ability dangerous, so he used a river-like power to restore her strength.
• Ouroboros led Neph through the forest and into a cave, where a hall rose like a lift to a chamber decorated with murals of Badheil and Omebella.
• Ouroboros opened the doors to a twilight-lit complex and guided Neph through its palaces toward the highest one.
• In a banquet hall, paintings of giant musicians came alive and a feast appeared on the tables, and Ouroboros warned Neph that the sights were illusions.

Ouroboros led Neph out of the palace and sent her along a supernatural road across the sea, explaining that the Lord wanted her to gain experience and that someone would meet her. Neph reached a small island at sunrise, where she found a field of enormous sunflowers.

• Neph followed Ouroboros out of the banquet hall and saw the sea and the palace where Sasrir slumbered.
• Ouroboros prayed to the Ancient Sun God, opening a path across the sea with a ribbon of clouds.
• Ouroboros told Neph to follow the road to an island, explaining that the Lord wanted her to gain more colors through her experiences.
• Neph promised to pray to Ouroboros again when she had saved enough for the Wind-blessed potion, and he flew away.
• Neph followed the road until sunrise and stepped onto an island covered in enormous golden sunflowers.

Neph contacted Cattleya from a small island in the Sea of Ruins and learned that the Future would need about a week to reach her. After the call, Alger balked at the three-thousand-pound price for the Wind-blessed potion formula and considered waiting for other options.

• Neph prayed to the Fool, reported that Amon might believe the Fool was His father, and asked Mr. Hanged Man to pay three thousand pounds for the Wind-blessed potion formula.
• Neph identified the island's sunflowers as possible singing sunflowers and contacted Cattleya using the crystal ball.
• Cattleya told Neph that the Future would take about a week to find her in the Sea of Ruins, and Neph confirmed that Heath Doyle was not aboard.
• Bernadette watched the call, but she and Cattleya could draw no conclusions about Neph and decided to wait until she came aboard.
• Alger decided the formula was too expensive and considered waiting for other leads or bargaining at the Tarot Club before praying.

Klein asked Neph why Amon thought he was Amon’s father, and learned more about the Kings of Angel and the True Creator’s origins. Neph ended by suggesting that she was no longer sure who was playing whom while she impersonated the White Angel.

• Klein sent Alger the Wind-blessed potion formula prayer footage and asked him about Amon.
• Neph told Klein she had convinced Amon that Klein was part of Amon’s father, and explained the connection to Sefirah Castle.
• Neph explained that Kings of Angel were beings beyond Sequence 1 and described their place among the Creator’s angels.
• Neph revealed that Klein had met Sasrir, who had been born as the True Creator after the three true betrayers divided and devoured the Ancient Sun God’s corpse.
• Klein questioned Neph about impersonating the White Angel, and she replied that who was playing whom was still uncertain.

Klein warned Neph that Amon might retaliate over her lie and advised her on surviving in Loen, while offering her a way to change her appearance. Alger grew fearful after learning he had contacted a King of Angel and considered selling a powerful mask; Neph then fell asleep and awoke in a dream.

• Neph told Klein that Medici was another King of Angel and explained that Amon's reaction to her lie could be dangerous.
• Klein advised Neph on obtaining proof of identity in Loen and offered to lend her the Faceless ability from Creeping Hunger.
• Alger feared he had made a fatal mistake by contacting a King of Angel and considered selling a powerful mask to raise money.
• Neph returned to the sea of ruins, meditated to sleep as night fell, and awoke in a dream.

Neph waited for Cattleya to arrive in the invaded dream, then met her aboard the Future and discovered that the ship’s crew could harvest real Singing Sunflowers from the island. Bernadette examined Neph from a distance and worried about the powerful beings watching her, while Neph met Frank Lee and praised his ideas.

• Neph spent most of the week resting in the invaded dream and later saw the Future approach the island.
• Neph climbed aboard the Future, greeted Cattleya, and let the Admiral of Stars use her Eyes of Mystery Prying on her.
• Neph suggested that Cattleya’s crew harvest the island’s Singing Sunflowers, and Cattleya offered her thirty percent of the proceeds.
• Bernadette examined a frozen, blood-red teardrop and concluded that frost was closer to Neph’s essence than death, while worrying about the gazes upon her.
• Frank Lee introduced himself to Neph, and she said she admired his ideas and accomplishments.

Neph spoke with Frank Lee about his experiments and suggested ways to make them safer. After Cattleya briefed her on the waters’ dangers, Frank showed Neph his newest food creation, a beef-flavored potato.

• Neph reassured Frank that studying soil, crops, and crossbreeding was not wrong, and he described his experiments with bulls, cows, and wheat.
• Neph advised Frank to use divination to test new foods and to keep his experiments in a separate, controlled area.
• Cattleya asked Neph what she knew about the waters, and Neph listed several precautions, including avoiding the nighttime dream.
• Frank escorted Neph to her room and offered her a potato that tasted and felt like beef.
• Neph explained that her Beyonder Ability altered the temperature around her and asked Frank whether eating the potato would turn her into a beef-flavored potato.

Neph met Bernadette and used her knowledge of the Fool to redirect Bernadette’s questions and proposed bargains. She ended their exchange by claiming she had been born less than two months ago, leaving Bernadette astonished.

• Frank assured Neph that the beef-like potato was safe, and she ate it before returning to her room.
• Neph called for Bernadette, who appeared among the descending pea vines and asked whether Neph knew her.
• Neph identified Bernadette as the Queen Mystic and named the Fool in Jotun as the being who could read her father's diary.
• Neph offered Bernadette the chance to seek information from the Fool, while Bernadette refused to trade her father's original diary to Neph.
• Neph told Bernadette she had been born less than two months ago, and Bernadette reacted with astonishment.

Neph reflected on her birth and Bernadette suspected she was a Child of God, possibly connected to Death. Later, Neph met Nina aboard the Future and refused Frank Lee’s request to study her.

• Bernadette wondered whether Neph was a Child of God and recalled the strange deathly cold surrounding her.
• Neph asked Bernadette whether her father had called her Beibei, and Bernadette confirmed that he had used the nickname when she was little.
• Bernadette told Neph that her eyes seemed to be changing color, then left as Neph went to sleep.
• Neph met Nina in the Future’s dining room and joked that she had a mother complex.
• Neph said her mother might have died before she was born, prompting Frank Lee to ask if her mother had been an Angel and whether he could study her.
• Neph angrily refused Frank’s request and finished her meal while he looked disappointed.

Neph promised Frank a plant that could grow in darkness as they traveled through the Sea of Ruins. In a dream, the True Creator ordered her to find the Fool, leaving Neph alarmed that he might replace her.

• Neph told Frank about the people living in a corrupted land and offered him a plant that could grow in darkness, hoping he could help them.
• Frank eagerly agreed to study the plant and help the people, and Neph promised to give it to him after they left the Sea of Ruins.
• Neph learned they were deep in the Sea of Ruins and requested leave from the next Tarot Club gathering.
• Neph dreamed of the True Creator crucified, and he asked who the Fool was and whether she could find him.
• Neph said the Fool was Sefirah Castle's chosen successor, and the True Creator ordered her to go see him.
• Neph asked why the True Creator needed the Fool when he already had her.

Neph received a message from the True Creator and delivered it to the Fool during a Tarot Club meeting. The chapter ended with the True Creator declaring that He did not intend to be the Fool’s enemy and hoped the Fool felt the same.

• The True Creator asked Neph to convey His wishes, and she agreed.
• Neph and Cattleya spotted the Black Tulip, captained by Admiral of Hell Ludwell, but the ships passed without incident.
• Neph prayed to the Fool and was summoned to Sefirah Castle as the Tarot Club meeting began.
• Neph told the Tarot Club that the True Creator knew the Fool’s circumstances, had no intention of being His enemy, and hoped He felt the same.

At the Tarot Club, Derrick recounted Amon’s avatar losing control in the City of Silver and learned that the worm he coughed up was a Worm of Time. Neph explained Amon’s status as one of the Sun God’s Kings of Angels, and Derrick then reported troubling changes among members of Lovia’s returning Exploration Team.

• Neph asked Derrick about the former Exploration Team captain in the neighboring cell, and Derrick said the man had died.
• Derrick described how Amon’s avatar, already losing control, had confronted him before the City of Silver Chief used a Mystical Item to deal with it.
• Alger warned that the Council of Six might have been observing the captain and told Derrick to be careful; Neph said Amon could be recognized by his habit of wearing a monocle over his right eye.
• Derrick revealed that he had coughed up a Worm of Time after Amon’s avatar was purified, and Neph identified it as a Sequence 1 ingredient useful for rituals, charms, or trade.
• Neph explained that Amon had been the Angel of Time and one of the Sun God’s eight Kings of Angels.
• Derrick reported that Lovia’s Exploration Team had returned from the Half-Ruined Temple and that several familiar members had changed in personality.

At the Tarot Club, Neph explained why the Lord could not protect the City of Silver and helped Derrick seek guidance about its corrupted inhabitants. After the gathering, she warned Klein that the True Creator was watching her and revealed that Bernadette might become a believer of the Fool.

• Neph told Derrick that the True Creator had lost most of his authority and that Amon had destroyed cities that stopped worshipping his father.
• Derrick asked what to do about the corrupted people of the City of Silver, and Alger offered him guidance.
• Klein, as the World, agreed to lend Derrick Rosago’s Marionettist in exchange for the blood of a Thousand-Faced Hunter.
• Audrey described the Capim Case during the Tarot Club’s free discussion, while Neph chose not to share a topic.
• After the gathering, Neph told Klein that the True Creator closely watched her and could notice him if they met in the real world.
• Neph told Klein that Queen Mystic Bernadette, Emperor Roselle’s eldest daughter, might become a believer of the Fool.