Chapter Summaries

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.

Neph told Klein that their world was the distant past of their original world, with its continents corresponding to North America, their homeland, and the region where the Ancient Sun God came from. She left Klein with a warning that the True Creator wanted her to bring him in, but contact could endanger him because the True Creator’s child was his mortal enemy.

• Neph explained that she was called the Child of God because her Sequence 2 was Child of Winter, and that she corresponded to the nonexistent twenty-third tarot card.
• Klein asked Neph whether transmigrators could return home, and she revealed that they had come from the distant past rather than the future.
• Neph identified the Northern Continent as former North America, the Western Continent as their homeland, and the Eastern Continent as the Ancient Sun God’s origin.
• Klein changed the subject to the True Creator, and Neph said he had sent her to meet Klein but warned that Klein should avoid him because his child was Klein’s mortal enemy.
• Neph asked whether Klein needed a psychiatrist, and when he asked for a recommendation, she said she had none.

Neph returned from Sefirah Castle and traveled aboard the Future, where the ship crossed a dangerous sea fissure and entered a place under crimson moonlight. The next morning, she gave Frank the black-faced grass and faced Cattleya’s question about where she wanted to go.

• Neph told the True Creator that she had conveyed His thoughts to the Fool, then wondered whether Adam could notice her.
• Cattleya warned Neph that the Future was leaving the sea, and the ship crossed a bottomless fissure while Cattleya’s starlight cloak kept them aloft.
• Neph remarked that the crimson moonlight was pretty and told Cattleya that the moon in her hometown had been silvery white.
• Neph gave Frank the black-faced grass and advised him to preserve it and keep his experiments secure.
• Cattleya told Neph that the Future was less than a hundred nautical miles from Toscarter Island and asked where she wanted to go; Neph said she had never visited Toscarter Island or Nas.

Neph decided to travel to Backlund to act as a Faded Painter, and the Future approached Toscarter Island as the Black Death arrived. She took disease-protecting medicine and told Frank how he could contact her, leaving him eager to learn her mother's honorific name.

• Neph decided that the Backlund Great Smog might help her finish digesting her potion and asked Cattleya where to disembark.
• As the Future neared Toscarter Island, Neph and Cattleya spotted the Black Death, and Cattleya ordered the ship to slow down and keep its distance.
• Cattleya told Frank to distribute medicine to protect the crew from disease, and Neph drank a bottle.
• Frank asked Neph for contact details, and she told him he could pray to her possibly deceased mother to reach her.
• Frank asked to study Neph and requested a little of her flesh and blood, and Neph offered some in exchange if he developed the kind of plant she needed.
• Frank eagerly asked Neph for her mother's honorific name so he could write it down.

Neph disembarked on Torster Island after seeing Tracy and learning that Tracy’s captive, Helene, might have fallen in love with her. At an inn, Neph realized her Loenese accent made the proprietor mistake her for an aristocrat, and she began acting like a nervous runaway noblewoman.

• Frank recorded Neph’s Honorific Name, and Neph watched the Black Death approach the docks with Cattleya.
• Neph saw Tracy at the Black Death’s bow and asked Cattleya about the Demoness’s charm and Helene.
• Cattleya told Neph that Helene might already be in love with Tracy after people saw them together ashore.
• Neph left the Future and searched for an inn on Torster Island.
• The innkeeper offered Neph a luxury suite and asked whether identification would be convenient, leading Neph to realize he took her for a Loen noblewoman.

Neph rented a room on Torst Island and used her abilities to dry its damp air. She considered testing her Acting Method by hunting pirates, then went downstairs to order dinner and left after confusing the proprietor with a joke about beef noodles.

• Neph rented a luxury suite and froze the room to remove its moisture before asking the proprietor to clear away the ice.
• Neph considered testing her Acting Method by painting a pirate from a bounty notice and killing him.
• Neph put Cattleya's Crystal Ball and most of her cash into the Pure White Space, then went downstairs to ask about dinner.
• Neph ordered beef noodles with extra tomatoes, paid for them, and teased the proprietor by saying she did not eat tomatoes.
• Neph admitted she did not eat beef and explained that she had been acting out a scene from a stage play, then left with her change.