Recaps

Neph explained why the Hidden Sage pursued Cattleya and planned to help Helene escape the Black Death so she could impersonate Katarina and guide Tracy toward the Memory Corridor. She met Mr. Azik, told him he had been the Death Archon of the Balam Empire, and secured his help freeing Helene.

• Neph explained that the Hidden Sage was the corrupted Uniqueness of the Hermit Pathway and warned Klein that rare, truthful knowledge could attract his attention.
• Neph planned to disguise herself as Katarina and get Helene off the Black Death, while Klein sent Mr. Azik a letter about Neph.
• Neph secretly contacted Helene by inserting a conversation into her memory, and Helene agreed to escape despite the danger.
• Mr. Azik arrived to meet Neph, who told him he had once been the Death Archon of the Balam Empire before suffering an unknown injury.
• Neph asked Mr. Azik to help her free Helene, and he agreed.

Neph helped Azik release Helene from the Black Death, then sent the True Creator information about the Death God Uniqueness and met Klein to discuss Tracy, his messenger, and the Tarot Club. The chapter ended with Alger agreeing to obtain the Sanguine Baron's legacy for Emlyn within a week.

• Neph and Azik helped Helene escape the Black Death by dinghy, and Neph sent the True Creator details about the Artificial God of Death and the keys to Salinger's mausoleum.
• Tracy tightened controls aboard the Black Death after Helene disappeared, prompting Neph to use ice dishes and pick locks to evade scrutiny.
• Klein's messenger Reinette Tinekerr delivered a letter to Neph, who told Klein that Reinette was an angel and explained her need for gold coins as a qualification.
• Neph told Klein to prepare to assassinate Tracy and offered detailed information about Helene so he could disguise himself, but Klein refused some of her more intimate records.
• At the Tarot Club, Neph asked Cattleya to seek access to the original Roselle's Diary pages, and Alger agreed to obtain the Sanguine Baron's legacy for Emlyn for 4,500 pounds within a week.

Neph revealed that she came from the Western Continent and explained how it connected to the Forsaken Land of the Gods and the Sonia Sea. The Tarot Club completed several trades and searches, then Audrey asked Neph to tell them more about the Western Continent.

• Emlyn negotiated the price of his dolls with Alger, while Neph offered Derrick a trade for the Druid potion formula and Cattleya offered a Fruit of the Radiant Spirit Tree for information.
• Cattleya suspected Neph came from the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and Neph explained that she came from the Western Continent and described the routes through the grayish-white fog barrier and the War of the Gods Ruins.
• Derrick traded the City of Silver's history to Cattleya and promised to prepare a list of nearby monsters for a future transaction.
• Audrey agreed to buy the Psychiatrist characteristic from the World, while Neph offered her a Zombie characteristic that could later be made into a Mystical Item.
• Alger asked the club to search for the Ocean Songster potion formula, and the World requested the eyes of a Six-Winged Gargoyle.
• Audrey asked Neph to tell them about the Western Continent, and Neph's smile faded.

At the Tarot Club, Neph and the others discussed the Western Continent, Kalvetua, and Audrey’s exploration of the Sea of Collective Subconscious. Emlyn provoked Neph by questioning her connection to the Ancient Sun God and insulting her Lord, so she froze him before the gathering ended.

• Neph told Audrey that she came from the Western Continent several thousand years ago and did not know what it was like now.
• Alger recounted how Laticia’s discovery of the Ancient Elven Ruins led Kalvetua to threaten the Rorsted Archipelago, and Klein said Kalvetua had become a demigod through a relic left by Calamity Cohinem.
• Audrey described entering the Sea of Collective Subconscious and seeing a high-Sequence dragon, then asked whether Liveseyd was hidden there.
• Neph, Alger, and Cattleya warned Audrey against exploring the Sea too deeply without Mr. Fool’s protection, and Neph suggested asking him for help.
• Emlyn challenged Derrick’s account of the City of Silver and questioned Neph about her ties to the White Angel and the Ancient Sun God.
• Neph froze Emlyn in ice after he claimed Lilith was older than the Ancient Sun God, then apologized to Mr. Fool, who ended the gathering.

Neph explained what she knew about Lilith, Herabergen, and the Western Continent, then asked Klein to negotiate for Groselle's Travels. Klein learned that Admiral of Blood had sailed away and accepted Vice Admiral Iceberg's invitation to meet in Gragas, while Neph prepared to impersonate Katarina in Tracy's memories.

• Neph told Klein that Herabergen was the Dragon of Betrayal and shared her limited knowledge of the Western Continent, then asked him to negotiate with Edwina for Groselle's Travels.
• Klein returned to the real world, found Danitz asleep, and learned Admiral of Blood's fleet had sailed south toward the Berserk Sea.
• Klein gave Danitz his messenger's summoning method and let him return to the Golden Dream.
• Danitz relayed the captain's invitation for Klein to meet her in Gragas, and Klein accepted.
• Neph altered Tracy's memories to make Katarina appear as herself, then Tracy returned to her cabin and found Katarina waiting there.

Tracy learned that her mother had let Helene go, then ordered the Black Death to sail to shore so she could post a bounty for Helene. Meanwhile, Klein met Edwina aboard the Golden Dream, where she questioned him about Kalvetua and offered him a paid commission for a giant's Whip Key.

• Neph told Tracy that Helene had been released and urged her to endure suffering so she could become a Demigod.
• Tracy asked Laila about the Black Death, ordered the ship to shore, and told Mithor King to accompany her to post a bounty for Helene.
• Neph warned Tracy to hurry back, and Tracy returned to the Black Death that night, planning to investigate Neph and rescue Helene.
• Klein arrived aboard the Golden Dream and met Edwina, who questioned his identity and his connection to Kalvetua.
• Klein explained that his glove was Creeping Hunger, and Edwina offered him 5,000 pounds to obtain the giant's Whip Key.

Klein traded Neph’s knowledge about Groselle’s Travels to Edwina for the book and secured her agreement to reserve Death’s Key for him. After reading Neph’s letter about the travelogue’s dangers and origins, Edwina realized its greeting referred to the Dragon of Wisdom, while Neph prepared to send the book into the Pure White Space.

• Klein asked Edwina about Groselle’s Travels, examined the book, and warned her that it was dangerous for her to possess.
• Edwina agreed to exchange Groselle’s Travels for knowledge from Klein’s friend and reserved Death’s Key for him.
• Neph told Klein that the knowledge concerned an ancient god, described Tracy’s actions aboard the Black Death, and asked when he would disguise himself as Helene to surprise her.
• Edwina questioned Klein about the Aurora Order, then accepted the envelope of knowledge and handed him Groselle’s Travels.
• Edwina read Neph’s letter explaining that the book could draw its owner into an unfinished quest and that it contained Ankewelt’s imagined world and a contingency for resurrection.
• Neph considered the implications of her message to Edwina and prepared to send Groselle’s Travels into the Pure White Space.

Klein used his Faceless abilities to pose as Helene and let Mithor King claim the bounty, so he could be taken to Tracy aboard the Black Death. After Tracy received word that Helene had been found, Neph followed her and surprised Klein when he struggled to change into a dress.

• Klein learned that Helene was wanted for 1,000 pounds and used Neph's information to plan a way to reach Tracy.
• Klein disguised himself as Helene, and Danitz helped arrange for Mithor King to collect him at a warehouse.
• Mithor confirmed Klein's disguise, paid Danitz the bounty, and took Klein by boat from Bayam to the Black Death.
• Tracy received Mithor's signal, realized Helene had been found, and hurried to meet her while Neph secretly followed.
• A maid ordered Klein to change into a dress, and Neph appeared to offer help, leaving Klein frozen at the sound of her familiar voice.

Klein disguised himself as Helene to approach Tracy while Neph prepared an ambush. After they killed Tracy, Neph collapsed from stealing her fate, and Klein was left to manage the ship and preserve the corpse.

• Neph helped Klein choose Helene's clothes and disguise himself, then made the guards forget how long they had been in the room.
• Klein entered Tracy's quarters and acted as Helene until Neph stole Tracy's bracelet; Klein sealed Tracy's substitution abilities and Neph struck her with an ice spear.
• Neph revealed she had borrowed Ouroboros's Angel-level power to steal Tracy's fate, exhausting her spirituality, and Klein finished Tracy off with Psychic Piercing.
• Klein used Creeping Hunger to consume Tracy's Beyonder characteristics, then carried the unconscious Neph to bed and tidied the room.
• The next morning, Neph proposed transferring Tracy's fate to Klein and named Mithor King as a suitable target for Creeping Hunger.
• Klein told Neph he had left Tracy's corpse in the bathroom and asked how they could preserve it.

Neph and Klein took control of the Black Death after Klein assassinated Mithor King, then settled on posing as Tracy and her mother, Katarina Pelle. Neph sent them toward the Fog Sea to search for the Lost Newins.

• Neph declined Tracy's diamond bracelet and joked about seeking a true god's remains from the Evernight Goddess.
• Neph warned Klein that a Rose School Wraith might belong to the Indulgence Faction and might seek to have a child with her.
• Klein assassinated Mithor King aboard the Black Death, escaped into the sea, and returned to the Captain's Quarters with his Beyonder characteristic.
• Neph reassured the crew and told Klein to impersonate Tracy while she posed as Tracy's mother, the White Demoness Katarina Pelle.
• Klein and Neph met in Sefirah Castle, where Neph proposed approaching the Fog Sea to search for the Lost Newins.

Neph directed Klein toward the Fog Sea to search for the lost Newins civilization, while Laila’s uncanny perception made Klein understand Neph’s warning about her. At the Tarot Club, Cattleya shared Roselle’s Diary, the members learned Neph was a Child of God, and Klein commissioned Emlyn to contact Leonard Mitchell before the gathering turned to the Sanguine pathway.

• Neph told Klein to search the Fog Sea for clues to the lost Newins civilization and warned him to be careful around Laila.
• Klein ordered the crew to sail toward the Fog Sea, and Laila remarked that he looked prettier than before.
• Cattleya presented three pages of Roselle’s Diary, and Klein suggested asking Neph about Roselle’s later madness because her mother held authority over forgotten history.
• The Tarot Club members realized Neph was a Child of God, and Cattleya declined to hand over the original diary without its owner’s permission.
• Klein commissioned Emlyn to visit Leonard Mitchell in Backlund and ask about items that could steal Beyonder abilities.
• Cattleya explained the Sanguine sequence and Acting Method, and Neph revealed that Sequence 1 of the Moon pathway was Goddess of Beauty.

Klein wavered over whether to return to his family’s lives as Klein Moretti, while Neph warned him about George III’s secret and helped him consider the risks. Their conversation then turned to Will Auceptin’s paper crane, Ouroboros, and a Monocle Klein had placed in a coffin.

• Audrey reported that the second round of the government employee examination had ended, prompting Klein to reconsider Neph’s plan to reconnect with Benson and Melissa as Klein Moretti.
• Klein asked Neph whether George III’s secret was tied to his ideal, and she warned that accepted common sense could change while withholding the details of his plan.
• Klein gave Neph half of Helene’s thousand-pound bounty and told her Leonard wanted seven thousand pounds for a mystical item that could steal Beyonder abilities.
• Klein told Neph he had found Will Auceptin’s paper crane, and she explained that she knew where Will was if he had not rebooted and advised Klein not to pray to him or use the crane to bargain with Ouroboros.
• Neph asked whether Klein had placed a Monocle in his coffin, and he confirmed that he had.

Neph obtained Frank’s wine-blood fish and shared them with Klein, who passed the remaining fish to Bartley and Laila. Neph then warned Klein that a King of Angel might be shaping the familiar era and could spy on anyone who spoke about him, while the crew prepared to dock near Tiana.

• Neph asked Laila what she planned to do after the voyage, and Laila said she might stop being a pirate.
• Neph messaged Frank for food and received five fish whose blood tasted like red wine.
• Neph brought a fish to Klein to test, and they discussed Frank’s experiments and the danger of speaking about a King of Angel who might watch them.
• Klein gave two frozen fish to Bartley and Laila, then announced the crew would replenish supplies near Tiana.
• Laila eagerly accepted Bartley’s fish, while Klein remained uneasy about her behavior.
• Klein thanked Frank for the fish and asked whether he had finished digesting his Biologist potion.

Neph docked at Tiana’s harbor with Klein’s ship, while Leonard investigated Sherlock Moriarty’s connections through Daisy and Old Kohler. At the Tarot Club, Cattleya asked Neph for Mythical Creature blood, and Neph began asking what kind she needed.

• Neph went ashore alone at Tiana’s harbor while the Black Death remained close enough to escape if danger arose.
• A black-haired, green-eyed officer questioned Daisy in a dream about the Capim Case, and she described Sherlock Moriarty’s help before the officer learned Old Kohler’s whereabouts from Liv.
• Leonard reviewed his investigation into Emlyn White and connected him to Sherlock Moriarty, whose name also appeared in several case files.
• Neph received Frank’s flavored potatoes and found that plants removed from her Pure White Space turned to ash unless kept frozen.
• At the Tarot Club, Cattleya bought Mithor King’s Beyonder Characteristic, then asked Neph whether she could obtain Mythical Creature blood.
• Neph asked Cattleya whether an Angel’s blood would suffice and which Pathway’s blood she preferred.

At the Tarot Club, Neph discussed a protective bracelet with Audrey and explained that the City of Silver would need to wait for the right moment to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods. The gathering ended with Cattleya asking about Amon’s origins and Audrey wondering who the other Son of the Creator was.

• Neph offered Audrey a Guardian bracelet for 15,000 pounds, and Audrey said she would consider buying it for her family.
• Derrick reported that Lovia had been released and that the Chief had returned to the City of Silver; Neph said leaving the Forsaken Land required opening a great door in the Giant King’s Court.
• Neph warned Derrick that he could not reach the door and said they had to wait for the tide of the times before the City of Silver could leave.
• Alger and Neph advised Derrick that the Chief’s distrust of the Fool could make Derrick safer, and Alger told him to seek information without directly asking for the Druid potion formula.
• Cattleya asked about Amon’s origins, and Neph said Amon’s father was still alive but refused to explain further; Audrey asked who the other Son of the Creator was.

Neph warned the Tarot Club about Adam, then told Klein that she had sensed their destination in a recurring snowy dream. As the Black Death approached it, Neph prepared charms for their planned dive into the sea, and she and Klein joked about the materials and names they used.

• Klein warned the Tarot Club not to mention Adam, explaining that whatever was spoken would be known, then later told Neph that Roselle had seen the same fog he had.
• After the Tarot Club sailed into the Fog Sea, Neph dreamed of a snowy place with distant buildings and used the sensation to mark their destination on a sea chart.
• Neph heard a repeated whisper in the dream, while Cattleya later reported that Bernadette would let them read Roselle’s diary at the Emerald City on Lasha Island.
• On February 28, 1350, Neph woke Klein and proposed that they jump into the sea, explaining that they needed to safeguard their memories and use charms.
• Neph and Klein discussed charm materials, and Neph teased him by recommending antimony because its symbol, Sb, resembled the word for “fool.”

Neph and Klein descended through the Memory Corridor, recovering Klein’s memories as they crossed frozen scenes from his past. They reached a strange modern library where Neph sacrificed a white-haired woman, but the library began rapidly decaying before Neph could understand what the ritual had done.

• Neph and Klein discovered that the Black Death had entered the first layer of the Memory Corridor, and Laila jumped overboard after sensing a call from the sea.
• Neph explained that only Klein’s memories were in the corridor, and she followed him into the sea to descend to the next layer.
• Neph restored Klein’s memories in his Backlund home, then led him by steam train through further scenes, including the Blackthorn Security Company, until they reached a white corridor.
• Neph and Klein entered a modern library, where Neph sensed that a white-haired woman was near death and identified her as the sacrifice she needed.
• Neph performed the sacrifice in the Pure White Space, where the woman’s phantom entered the sacrificial passage and left Neph a page of white ashes.
• Neph returned to the Real World and saw the modern library decaying at an astonishing speed.

Neph returned from the Library and advanced to Sequence 4, becoming an Eternal Winter Priest. After testing her new powers and the Pure White Space, she reunited with Klein, who told her their second mate was missing.

• Neph used the silvery-white scale to return with Klein to the Black Death, then recorded Mi Ai's history as the Library's keeper.
• Neph advanced to Eternal Winter Priest and discovered that her hair had turned white, her eyes had changed, and her control over cold and presence had grown stronger.
• Neph found that the Pure White Space's snowflakes were under her control and that she could enjoy food there without becoming hungrier.
• Neph summoned Cattleya to test the Pure White Space, addressed her as Your Grace, and explained that she spoke the language from Emperor Roselle's diary.
• Neph returned to Klein and proposed going to Lasha Island, but Klein told her that their second mate was missing.

Neph’s advancement to demigodhood kept her from entering Sefirah Castle, prompting her to consider leaving the Tarot Club as the balance between her and Klein changed. After departing the ship, she used her new ability to reach Lasha Island and found the entrance to Emerald City.

• Klein and Neph discussed her birthday, a bizarre chocolate-noodle dish, and Frank’s failed attempt to crossbreed pounds with trees.
• At the Tarot Club, Klein discovered he could no longer bring Neph into Sefirah Castle, while Cattleya suspected Neph had become a god.
• Neph told Klein she might leave the Tarot Club because she had little need for its resources and two gods could not remain on equal footing in the same gathering.
• Neph privately worried that the True Creator might resent her growing closeness to Klein, then joked about divine history and her predecessors.
• When the Black Death reached Lasha Island, Neph practiced using her new ability to travel across the sea and reached the island.
• Neph followed Cattleya’s map and recited an incantation at a cliff, opening the path to Emerald City.

Neph visited Bernadette at her castle and explained part of the truth behind Roselle’s madness and failed resurrection. She offered to teach Bernadette the language of his diary once Bernadette became an angel, leaving Bernadette with a more forgiving understanding of her father.

• Bernadette escorted Neph into the castle after Neph solved the Sphinx’s riddle, and Neph recognized the golem’s face as Roselle’s.
• Bernadette showed Neph Roselle’s diary, and Neph used her ability to obtain memories from it before offering to answer questions about her father.
• Neph offered to teach Bernadette the diary’s language after she became an angel and explained that Roselle’s search for his homeland led him to gaze at the crimson moon.
• Neph revealed that Roselle became a Knowledge Emperor and then chose the Black Emperor pathway, planning to die and resurrect to remove corruption, but his mausoleums were destroyed or bathed in moonlight.
• Neph told Bernadette that Roselle was not completely dead and might be saved, though doing so would require strength they would not have for a long time.
• Bernadette said she still disliked Roselle’s later actions but found it easier to accept them knowing he had been corrupted, and felt he had never changed at his core.

Neph met Bernadette, warned her about the dangers surrounding Roselle’s mausoleum, and arranged to buy the Druid potion formula. After transmitting Roselle’s Diary to Klein, Neph discussed his future as a Demigod and the need for anchors, leaving them to work out what Klein would tell Melissa and Benson.

• Neph told Bernadette that Roselle was fighting corruption and that his final mausoleum lay on a dangerous, unnamed island, then advised her to find clues through his companions’ descendants and not explore alone.
• Bernadette agreed to spread Neph’s name through the Dawn of Elements, and Neph explained her ties to the True Creator while asking Bernadette to keep that faith unmentioned for now.
• Bernadette offered the Druid potion formula for five thousand pounds, and Neph agreed to consult the buyer while explaining that Frank wanted it to advance his research.
• Neph warned Bernadette that a major Backlund event concerned Roselle but postponed explaining it until Bernadette found the island’s coordinates.
• Neph transmitted Roselle’s Diary to Klein, reported Bernadette’s offer, and explained that Klein would need anchors to resist divinity’s corruption after becoming a Demigod.
• Klein and Neph discussed how he should explain his absence and the bereavement payment to Melissa and Benson, and Neph reminded him that he had deciphered information from Roselle’s Diary.

Klein returned to Backlund with Neph, arranged to see Benson and Melissa, and reunited with his siblings after Neph altered their memories. Neph left to seek Frank and investigate her next steps, while Klein stayed in Backlund with his family.

• Klein removed Neph's chair from the Tarot Club and told its members that Miss Pure White would be absent and could be contacted through Mr. World.
• Klein finished digesting his Faceless potion, then disguised himself as Tracy and killed the Black Death's first mate before jumping into the sea with Katarina Pelle; he and Neph collected the bounties and returned to Backlund.
• Neph altered Benson and Melissa's memories and left Klein at their home, while Klein planned to stay in Backlund, see old friends, and collect his bicycle dividends.
• Cattleya told Frank that someone had found the Druid potion formula for five thousand pounds, and Frank eagerly prepared to raise the money.
• Neph considered how to act as an Eternal Winter Priest and decided to seek advice from a priest in Moon City or Medici.
• Klein reunited with Benson and Melissa, told them he would stay for at least a week, and agreed to celebrate Benson's new government position at a restaurant.

Neph informed Medici that the Demoness Sect had the Conqueror Beyonder characteristic and discussed his origins and her unusual knowledge. Afterward, she answered Klein’s questions about Worms of Time, his advancement ritual, and the investigation into Sherlock Moriarty.

• Archbishop Horamick told Ikanser Bernard to keep watching key places after Sherlock Moriarty disappeared, then wrote to the Holy Cathedral.
• Randall Valentinus compared reports about Katarina Pelle, Gehrman Sparrow, and Sherlock Moriarty, and suspected the Katarina with Gehrman had been an impostor.
• Neph summoned Medici, told him the Conqueror characteristic was with Clarice, and learned he knew she was Above the Sequence.
• Neph used Spirit Vision to see three heads in Medici’s Astral Body and privately considered whether the extra consciousnesses could be erased.
• Neph answered Klein’s prayer, advising him how to obtain Worms of Time, arrange his advancement ritual, and handle the investigation and dividends.

After Klein advanced to Sequence 5, Neph warned him about Ince Zangwill and gave him the Bizarro Sorcerer potion formula, tying his next advancement to killing a demigod during a grand drama. Their discussion also revealed that the Tyrant card and the Ocean Songster formula had been left for Klein, while Neph denied that the Evernight Goddess had planned the tragedies that shaped his life.

• Klein advanced to Sequence 5, and Neph congratulated him before warning that Ince Zangwill was likely in Backlund and carried the dangerous Sealed Artifact 0-08.
• Neph gave Klein the Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer formula, whose ritual required him to orchestrate a grand drama and kill a demigod or equivalent creature.
• Neph told Klein that the Primitive Island held the Ocean Songster formula on a Tyrant card left for him, and identified the Twilight Hermit Order as the group that ordered Qilingus to assassinate Duke Negan.
• Klein asked Neph to remove the True Creator's corruption from his Flame of Life glove, and Neph said he could pray to her because she might now be able to purify it.
• Neph explained that the Evernight Goddess had not planned Klein's suffering or his arrival, then teased him with the name Anti-sis-gonus before admitting she did not know the Mother of Heaven's real name.

Neph struggled to find a way to approach Bayam’s Resistance while Klein returned to Bayam to pursue bounties and develop a new identity. After Neph helped cleanse the Flame of Life glove, the True Creator summoned her, and she urged Klein to explore the Primitive Island and sell her mystical staff; their meal was interrupted when Klein spotted the wanted pirate Kircheis.

• Neph considered the authorities and the Resistance as possible ways to learn the acting method, but decided she could not safely approach the Resistance as an outsider.
• Klein left Backlund for Bayam, while Randall Valentinus obtained ticket records that led the Church of Storms to identify Gehrman Sparrow as Sherlock Moriarty.
• Neph cleansed the True Creator’s corruption from Klein’s Flame of Life glove, then received a summons from the True Creator and agreed to visit him later.
• Neph urged Klein to explore the Primitive Island and offered him her bone-white staff to sell, explaining its thirst for blood and its full-moon madness.
• Klein and Neph discussed food over a meal in Bayam before Klein recognized Kircheis the Slaughterer outside and leaped through the window after him.