Chapter Summaries

Nimrod ambushed Trissy in an alley and subdued her with his agility and the Sun Scythe. He identified her as the wanted Instigator Tris and introduced himself as Mr. L, leaving them poised to talk.

• Trissy noticed Nimrod following her and confronted him in an alley after he sealed the area with Walls of Spirituality.
• Trissy attacked Nimrod, but he dodged her strikes and used a deceptive image to evade her full-power blow.
• Nimrod held the Sun Scythe to Trissy’s neck and threatened her until she agreed to talk.
• Nimrod recognized Trissy as the wanted Instigator Tris and asked whether she would have a proper conversation with him.
• Trissy cooled herself with frost, asked why Nimrod had followed her, and introduced herself as Trissy.
• Nimrod said he had only happened to learn about her and introduced himself as Mr. L.

Nimrod tried to turn Trissy against the Demoness Sect by warning her that it would use her as a tool to control nobles, then offered her a chance to embrace the Aurora Order’s faith. After Trissy refused and left, Nimrod revealed that he had marked her as part of a plan involving the Primordial Demoness and God Almighty.

• Nimrod warned Trissy that the Demoness Sect would exploit her Witch abilities to influence nobles and arrange partners for her.
• Trissy asked Nimrod what she should do, and he suggested that she adopt a new faith and showed her a pendant of the True Creator.
• Trissy refused the pendant but said she would be careful of the Demoness Sect and might contact Nimrod later.
• After Trissy left, Nimrod asked the Celestial Worthy whether he had marked her.
• The Celestial Worthy recognized Trissy as the Primordial Demoness's vessel and praised Nimrod's plan to use her to create a cage that could corrupt God Almighty.

Klein searched Sirius Arapis after tracking him through divination, while Nimrod went to the Aurora Order’s cells to carry out a promised ritual on Lanevus. Nimrod prepared to extract the True Creator’s divinity from Lanevus using Sefirah Castle.

• Klein searched Sirius Arapis’s pockets and resolved to report what he had experienced to the captain so they could find Ince Zangwill.
• Nimrod heard the True Creator’s voice during the Aurora Order’s Mass and left Mr. Z to continue it.
• Nimrod ordered a Secrets Suppliant to take Hanass Vincent to Mr. Z for confession and continued toward the cells.
• Nimrod entered Lanevus’s cell and prepared a ritual with a candle and the True Creator’s Divinity Charm.
• Nimrod explained that he would use Sefirah Castle to extract the divinity stored inside Lanevus and weaken God Almighty’s will within it.

Nimrod performed a ritual that stripped the True Creator’s divinity from Lanevus, then killed him with the Sun Scythe. Ince Zangwill watched 0-08 manipulate events and wrote that Megose’s divine child would seek its father and target a new Nighthawk.

• Nimrod used a ritual and the lantern to draw the True Creator’s divinity out of Lanevus and into the lantern.
• Nimrod killed the corrupted Lanevus with the Sun Scythe and stored the lantern in Sefirah Castle.
• Ince Zangwill watched 0-08 write about Lanevus’s death and Megose’s whereabouts.
• Ince Zangwill wrote that Megose’s divine child would seek clues to its father’s death and make a new Nighthawk pay.

Klein worried that Ince Zangwill might soon unleash accumulated coincidences, then attended a Tarot Club gathering where Audrey asked what a Beyonder pet could do. The chapter ended with Klein and Nimrod reading a frantic entry from Emperor Roselle's Diary about the absence of oil.

• Klein reflected on the danger posed by Ince Zangwill and updated Nimrod on his progress toward becoming a Clown.
• Klein summoned Audrey, Alger, and Nimrod to the Tarot Club gathering.
• Audrey asked what use a Beyonder pet could be, and Alger suggested that a Spectator could help with eavesdropping.
• Audrey changed the subject by presenting pages from Emperor Roselle's Diary.
• Nimrod used a tentacle with an eyeball to peer at the diary, which lamented that the world had no oil.

At the Tarot Club, Nimrod revealed the Aurora Order’s account of the Forsaken Land of the Gods and bargained with Alger for information about the sea. After their deal, Klein warned Audrey not to recite his name without permission.

• Klein realized the world had no oil and reconsidered his future investment plans.
• Alger asked Nimrod whether the True Creator’s sanctuary was the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and Nimrod required compensation for the answer.
• Nimrod explained that the Forsaken Land was once the Eastern Continent and that the True Creator rose again there after the Ancient Sun God was betrayed and killed.
• Nimrod asked Alger for five verifiable sea rumors with leads involving at least mid-Sequence Beyonders, and Alger negotiated the price down to four.
• After Audrey asked about adding Tarot Club members, Klein told her not to recite his name without his permission.

After the Tarot Club meeting, Nimrod discussed his dangerous plans with Klein and suggested Azik might be connected to Balam’s royal family. He then spoke with the Celestial Worthy about giving the Southern Continent another god, before leaping from his portion of Sefirah Castle and falling out of the world.

• Nimrod told Klein he was preparing for a dangerous task that might yield a powerful Beyonder item, but declined to explain further.
• Klein offered to watch for Ince Zangwill and told Nimrod about Azik’s search for his origins.
• Nimrod proposed that Azik might belong to Balam’s royal family, prompting Klein to consider searching historical records for Azik Eggers.
• After leaving the meeting, Nimrod told the Celestial Worthy that they should give the Southern Continent another god because its current god would not save it.
• Nimrod noticed steps in the gray fog of Sefirah Castle, leaped toward them, and fell out of the world.

Nimrod, Lumian, Aurore, and the official investigation team joined forces to find a safe way into Madam Pualis's castle and learn which faction she belonged to. Their investigation identified three relatively safe routes, leaving the group poised to choose one and explore the residence.

• Nimrod entered Lumian's dream and reassured him that the group needed to investigate Madam Pualis, not necessarily defeat her.
• Lumian, Nimrod, and Aurore met Leah, Ryan, and Valentine in the grove and agreed on Nimrod's plan to explore the Administrator's residence together.
• The group reached the hill by the castle, where Aurore, Nimrod, and Leah combined their abilities to probe for safe routes while Lumian, Ryan, and Valentine kept watch.
• Leah reported that their divination had revealed three relatively safe routes into the castle.

Ryan's party entered the administrator's castle by a route chosen through Leah's divination and searched its upper floors for evidence of evil-god worship. They found no clear clues in Madam Pualis's bedroom, and Nimrod warned them that the silent bells at a sealed door might itself be suspicious.

• Leah judged a window route safe, and Nimrod unlocked it so the party could enter without forcing it open.
• Aurore's White Paper found Madam Pualis in the hall, and Lumian guided the group upstairs while Nimrod's powers kept the servants from noticing them.
• Ryan led the party to Madam Pualis and Beaust's bedroom, where they searched the desk and examined books, documents, and photographs.
• Aurore recognized that several books on the desk were her own and noticed a photograph of a young man who resembled Madam Pualis.
• The party found a tightly shut wooden door at the end of the corridor, and Nimrod drew the Sun Scythe and warned that the spot's apparent harmlessness was strange.

Nimrod and the others found a crib in Madam Pualis's castle and were attacked by hostile spirits when Nimrod struck it. They fought back, and Aurore and Leah attacked the arriving midwife, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Leah opened the room containing a rocking crib, and Valentine found no evil auras inside.
• The Celestial Worthy warned Nimrod, who attacked the crib with his Sun Scythe as it began rocking by itself.
• Ryan and Nimrod struck at the crib and the ghost faces appearing in the windows, while Valentine shielded the group and dispersed spirits with sunlight.
• A midwife carrying scissors arrived and threatened the group after seeing the ruined room.
• Aurore covered the midwife in powder and set her ablaze, and Leah used Flaming Jump to enter the flames.

Leah, Nimrod, Ryan, and the others defeated the Midwife, then fled as the castle began to awaken. Nimrod escaped the dream by returning to Sefirah Castle, but the group realized he was missing and worried that his Mystery Pryer abilities could not help him survive the fall.

• Leah reappeared in the flames and attacked the Midwife, but the Midwife vanished and severed Leah's neck; Leah survived by turning into burning paper and reappearing nearby.
• Nimrod immobilized the Midwife, took her scissors, and exposed her abilities, allowing Ryan, Aurore, Leah, Valentine, and Nimrod to overwhelm and kill her.
• As sinister vitality seeped from the castle, Ryan urged everyone to jump; he took Valentine and Lumian, while Leah and Aurore descended by their own means.
• Nimrod remained behind, then used his spirit body to return to Sefirah Castle as Madam Pualis approached and wondered whether the Celestial Worthy had awakened.
• The dream collapsed into a chaotic vision after Nimrod left, while the others hid in a grove and discovered he was missing.
• Leah suggested Nimrod might have been unable to manage the three-story fall because Mystery Pryers had limited physical abilities, leaving the group concerned about his fate.

Nimrod rejoined the group and warned that Madam Pualis was tracking them, so they decided to head beneath the church despite the risk of a fight. Nimrod then suggested the Father of the Parish might remember the loops, leading Lumian to realize that the Father could be pretending not to know him.

• Nimrod emerged from the trees and told the group that Madam Pualis had found their traces and was pursuing them.
• Leah explained that Madam Pualis likely followed the Great Mother, whose believers received powers opposed by the Church of the Earth Mother.
• Ryan agreed that the group should enter the church’s underground chambers to evade Madam Pualis and investigate the ritual, while preparing for a fight.
• Lumian recalled Raymond’s death and resolved to settle the score with the Father of the Parish.
• Nimrod warned that the Father of the Parish might retain his memories, and Lumian realized he could be acting unaware to lure him into a trap.

Lumian and the others prepared to stop the Father of the Parish from restarting the loop, then subdued the church’s servants and leaders. They reached the church basement and found an evil-god altar, where Ryan asked Leah to divine before they went farther.

• Lumian warned Ryan, Leah, and Valentine that the Father of the Parish might remember previous loops and urged them to subdue him quickly.
• The group approached the church, where Ryan and Leah judged their numbers gave them an advantage and planned to secure the building before exploring the basement.
• Nimrod agreed not to kill the church servants and advised the others to restrain the Father of the Parish and Pierre Berry by severing their limbs.
• The group knocked out the church’s servants and leaders, and Ryan severed the unconscious Father of the Parish’s limbs before placing him in a side room.
• The group entered the basement and found a stone altar that Nimrod recognized as a place where the Father of the Parish’s associates sacrificed to an evil god.
• Ryan cautioned the group about residual evil power and signaled Leah to use her Beyonder abilities to divine.

Leah’s group entered the underground altar, where the Circle of Inevitability’s power caused the others to undergo horrifying changes. Aurore briefly became Roche Louise Samson, but Nimrod told her to go back, and she returned to herself.

• Leah cautiously led the group into the basement after her divination failed to reveal the danger.
• Nimrod warned Aurore not to look around, while Lumian saw human bones covered with sheepskin and wondered how long the cult had been performing sacrifices.
• Leah’s Beyonder item detected danger, and her face and body turned translucent as Spirit Worms crawled beneath her skin.
• Ryan shrank, Valentine became a being of light, and Aurore’s eyes turned silver-black as her Spirit Body reverted to Roche Louise Samson.
• Nimrod told Roche to go back, and Aurore’s eyes returned to normal.

Nimrod used the Celestial Worthy’s power to resist the dream’s changes and led the group to the altar, where he absorbed a dangerous black robe. After returning aboveground, he proposed that they take over the Sun Church, while Lumian remained troubled by Aurore’s abnormal state.

• Nimrod used a combination of Sefirah Castle’s aura and the Circle of Inevitability’s power to frighten the evil spirit inside Aurore, but she forgot what had happened as the loop accelerated.
• Nimrod said the group should follow the Father of the Parish’s footprints, then led the way with Lumian verifying the route while the others followed cautiously.
• At the altar, Ryan used dawn light to suppress the group’s dizziness from the thorn ring symbol, and Nimrod absorbed the black robe that held a trace of a Victim’s aura.
• The group left the basement, and Ryan knocked Assistant Father of the Parish Michel unconscious when he greeted them with excessive fervor.
• Nimrod told the group to consider taking over the Sun Church and urged Valentine to act.

Nimrod proposed taking control of the village church and changing the villagers’ understanding of the Luck-Changing Ritual while secretly preparing to complete it themselves. He revealed that the ritual could reclaim the corruption, but Lumian, as its vessel, would then confront the full truth.

• Nimrod explained that the group could draw out the danger behind the loop by taking over the church, but warned that provoking the villagers could trigger the danger immediately.
• Nimrod told Ryan, Valentine, and Leah to question the Father of the Parish, investigate his allies, and use a revised story to keep the villagers from resisting.
• Nimrod helped Lumian settle Aurore in a church room, where Lumian asked whether the plan could truly break the loop.
• Nimrod admitted that he had concealed the need to complete the ritual and said they would modify it to reclaim the corruption, bringing Lumian face-to-face with the truth.

Lumian finished digesting his Hunter characteristic, hunted a monster carrying a Fate-linked blade, and prepared to advance by obtaining a Provoker characteristic from a Flame Monster. Fors agreed to deliver the supplementary ingredients, while Nimrod asked the True Creator’s divinity to help separate the Flame Monster’s characteristic.

• Nimrod told Lumian that he had finished digesting his Hunter characteristic and planned to help him hunt two monsters in the Dream Ruins.
• Lumian visited Fors at the Old Tavern and asked her for the supplementary ingredients needed for a later Hunter pathway Sequence.
• Lumian told Fors he had obtained the Fate-Hunting Blade and planned to hunt a Flame Monster for its Beyonder characteristic.
• Fors agreed to bring the ingredients into Lumian’s dream and wondered why she could no longer see his fate.
• Lumian killed the Flame Monster, and Nimrod took its Pyromaniac characteristic and asked the True Creator’s divinity to help separate it.

Klein realized that Megose had returned to Tingen carrying the True Creator’s divine child and drew the danger away from his home. As restless shadows pursued him, his attempt to summon Nimrod’s messenger failed, leaving him to run for his life.

• Nimrod noticed that the Shadow Lantern was resonating with a divine presence near Tingen, and he identified Megose as the likely source.
• Klein woke with a sense of danger, armed himself, and left home to keep Benson and Melissa from being harmed.
• Klein connected the threat to a woman who had visited the Seer Club seeking help finding Megose, and concluded that Megose was nearby.
• Klein walked away from his home as the shadows gathered around him and confirmed that the danger was following him.
• Klein ran from the approaching shadows and called for Nimrod’s messenger, but it did not appear.

Nimrod revealed that the True Creator’s divine child was about to be born in Tingen and set out to warn the Nighthawks while preparing to reclaim the Lord’s divinity. After Nimrod broke into the Blackthorn Security Company, Leonard and Pallez realized he might be warning them of an imminent disaster.

• Nimrod told Mr. Z that Lady Megose was carrying the True Creator’s divine child and that they needed to remove it to reclaim the Lord’s divinity.
• Nimrod ordered Mr. Z to remain behind and keep the Aurora Order’s members from becoming tools of the Blasphemer.
• Nimrod carried the Shadow Lantern to the Blackthorn Security Company, explaining to Amanises that he had come to warn her followers.
• Leonard saw Nimrod, panicked, and retreated until Pallez urged him to speak with the visitor.
• Leonard realized Nimrod’s urgent warning might mean Tingen’s accumulating problems were about to erupt into a major disaster.

Nimrod warned Dunn Smith that Megose had returned to Tingen carrying the True Creator’s divine child and that the mastermind intended to use her to destroy the city. Dunn agreed to cooperate with Nimrod to stop Megose, while preparing for Klein’s return and requesting reinforcements.

• Nimrod told Leonard to find Dunn Smith and warned that Megose had returned to Tingen under the mastermind’s influence.
• Nimrod explained that Megose would soon lose control and devastate Tingen, and revealed that he worshipped the Sun God aspect of the True Creator rather than the Hanged Man.
• Dunn and Daly judged the threat beyond their capacity, so Daly alerted the others and sent a telegram to Saint Samuel Church requesting reinforcements.
• Nimrod offered to separate the True Creator’s divinity and psyche from Megose, but said the Nighthawks had to incapacitate her first, using Saint Selena’s Ashes.
• Dunn agreed to help put Megose to sleep and told Nimrod that they needed proof of his sincerity.
• Nimrod told Dunn to prepare for battle because Klein was about to return.