Chapter Summaries

Joey learned that Benny was searching for a Holy Maiden to bear the Sea God, not sacrificing the abducted girls, and heard how the Dreamscape trials strengthened their spirituality. Benny insisted that the eliminated girls had chosen to leave with compensation and that awakening the Sea God was his duty, while Joey remained wary of the prophecy and its consequences.

• Joey agreed that the Dreamscape had helped him become a Transcendent and credited Nome for the main part of his transformation.
• Benny explained that his remote island worshipped Mother Goddess Hydra and that a prophecy led its priests to search for a Holy Maiden who would conceive and give birth to their deity.
• Benny said he had taken over the Mermaid Forest in Lia Harbor ten years earlier and had used Dreamscape trials to strengthen girls' spirituality, while denying that his group sacrificed them.
• Joey questioned what happened to failed test subjects, and Benny claimed the girls who did not qualify had accepted money and left Lia Harbor.
• Benny defended his mission as something decided before his birth, and Joey warned that awakening the Sea God could bring war.
• Benny told Joey that war had always existed and that poverty had merely kept Joey from seeing it.

Joey investigated the missing archive records with Benny, then discovered that Nur Maimaiti had tampered with his memories and spoke with her doll-like past self. On Ghost Island, Barbara, Adela, and Jennifer trained and wondered whether they would ever return home, with Barbara left uncertain about her brother coming to rescue her.

• Joey agreed to help Benny find the missing people and investigate the targets of the bombings, but they discovered that the relevant archive records had been removed and the Sheriff's Office staff from ten years earlier had been replaced.
• At home, Joey realized that his arrival in his new body through the Gate of the Abyss might have been manipulated, and a painful effort to recall the event led him to call out Nur Maimaiti's name.
• Joey brought Maimaiti's rag doll to life, learned that the doll was Maimaiti's past self and that her future self had left an aura of chaos on him, then watched the doll go lifeless again.
• On Ghost Island, Barbara broke her training record while Adela and Jennifer encouraged her, and the three girls rested together after their training.
• Adela asked whether they would ever return, and Jennifer and Barbara remarked on how changed she seemed since waking from her dream and coma.
• Adela asked Barbara whether her brother would come for her, leaving Barbara conflicted about wanting rescue while fearing for his safety.

Jennifer reasoned that the guards were preparing the girls to become Transcendents, and Barbara eagerly hoped to gain the strength to return home. In Lia Harbor, Joey received the Church’s Cursed Telegraph Machine, but Azrael consumed its spirituality, leaving Joey to worry about how he would explain the loss to Director Benny.

• Jennifer concluded that the guards’ injections were nourishing the girls and suggested they stop resisting them to build the physiques needed to become Transcendents.
• Barbara learned about Transcendents and resolved to become strong enough to return home.
• Joey saw a black-robed figure announce a fireworks show in Lia Harbor, then followed Director Benny into the Church basement.
• Benny gave Joey permission to use the Grade 2 Sealed Artifact 2-049, whose crisis predictions proved unreliable when it forecast the weather.
• Joey summoned Azrael, which absorbed 2-049’s spirituality and recovered another portion of its authority.
• Joey sent Azrael away and left the room, deciding to deal with the missing artifact if anyone discovered it.

Joey watched Annie’s fireworks draw the Sheriffs into a fruitless search, then learned that her real plan was to expose Lia Harbor’s trade in people with the Sea Folk by destroying the Sheriff’s Office. The next morning, Joey tested Benny Hoyland’s knowledge of the Sea Folk, and Benny’s startled reaction convinced Joey that he knew more than he admitted.

• Benny Hoyland mobilized the Sheriffs after Annie’s fireworks exploded over Lia Harbor, but the crowd let the culprit escape.
• Joey realized the fireworks had distracted the authorities and helped Annie turn residents against the Sheriff’s Office’s searches.
• Annie told Joey that she planned to destroy the Church of Light as bait and blow up the Sheriff’s Office to expose its role in the Sea Folk’s trafficking of women and children.
• Annie told Joey to stay with Benny during the next operation and urged him to take his family away afterward, leaving her parting words unfinished.
• Joey went to the Sheriff's Office the next morning and asked Benny about the Sea Folk, prompting Benny to insist they had not been active for decades.
• Joey revealed that he had been bluffing about a Sea Folk base in Lia Harbor, then hinted that he had found evidence as he approached Benny’s tea cabinet.

Joey confessed to Benny Hoyland that he had participated in the recent incidents and revealed secrets about the eight reincarnating people and the Sea God. He told Benny that the Sea God was not Hydra and had been captured by an ancient Great Being, leaving Benny shaken as Joey proclaimed his lord’s return.

• Joey admitted that he had participated in the recent incidents, and Benny sealed his office before confronting him.
• Joey explained the curse of the eight people who repeatedly reincarnated, and Benny revealed that the Sea God Church had monitored them for centuries.
• Joey told Benny that the eight had taken the heart from Ghost Island, and Benny demanded to know where they were.
• Joey said he had come to distrust both the eight and Benny and wanted Benny’s help in exchange for information about the Sea God.
• Joey revealed that Hydra was not the true Sea God and that the Sea God had been captured by a Great Being from ancient times.
• Joey proclaimed that his lord’s light had descended upon the world, while Benny reacted with disbelief and alarm.

Joey convinced Benny to help expose the Mermaid Forest’s plans and joined the preparations to create chaos in Lia Harbor. After Annie’s treasure hunt drew the crowds toward the church, she brought Joey back into the operation because an unknown person had told her that she needed him, leaving Joey suspecting someone familiar was manipulating events.

• Joey told Benny that their goals aligned, revealed the Mermaid Forest’s plan, and persuaded him to help while Benny explained that the Sheriff's Office ammunition depot required his Key to access.
• Three days later, Annie broadcast a treasure hunt across Lia Harbor, and Benny and Joey watched the crowds gather as the first phase of her plan began.
• After all eight chests were found, the crowds headed toward the church, where Oli and Mi Pang were set to detonate a bomb.
• Annie found Joey and told him to come to the Sheriff's Office, explaining that someone had warned her the plan would be difficult without him.
• Joey questioned Annie about the unknown person, then followed her toward the Sheriff's Office while suspecting that someone familiar was directing her.

Joey and Annie planted explosives in the Sheriff's Office armory while unrest erupted in Lia Harbor over the Church of Light's crimes and a Sea God Church declaration. They were caught in the crowded headquarters, and Joey provoked an important figure from Feren to buy time as the explosives continued counting down.

• Annie disguised Joey in a Sheriff's uniform, and they infiltrated the Sheriff's Office to plant explosives in the armory.
• At the church square, the Black-Robed Man threatened to destroy the church and declared himself a follower of the Sea God Church, stirring the crowd against the Church of Light.
• Gami Enriques and Oli Via exposed the Church of Light's crimes, and furious residents seized clergy members while Benny struggled to control the crowd.
• Joey and Annie discovered that the Sheriff's Office was still packed with Sheriffs, so they tried to stop the activated explosives without being noticed.
• The Deputy Director tried to bring Joey to meet an important figure from Feren, but Joey staged a fall and challenged the outsider after he kicked him.

Joey and Annie tried to stop the explosives in the Ammunition Depot while Yuri Mo and his Imperial Knights disrupted their plans. The pair were trapped in a basement passage, where Yuri revealed he knew Annie Bullock’s identity and had come prepared.

• Joey provoked the Feren investigators to create a distraction, but Yuri Mo knocked down the Deputy Director and forced Joey to pretend to submit while Annie tried to reach the Ammunition Depot.
• Joey rammed one of Yuri Mo’s men, and he and Annie used the ensuing brawl to flee before Yuri caught up and attacked Joey.
• Joey and Annie were trapped in a passage, with Yuri’s men blocking both ends and wearing Transcendent Weapons that kept Annie from fighting free.
• Joey sensed danger from Yuri but could not determine its source as the bombs’ deadline approached.
• Yuri named Annie Bullock and threatened to hang the Brocka Family’s young lady, revealing that he had come prepared.

Yuri Mo and the weaponized soldiers cornered Annie and Joey, forcing them to fight while a bomb threatened the Sheriff's Office. Joey used the Red Spider Silk to restrain the soldiers and keep Yuri Mo at bay as Annie fought her way deeper into the alley.

• Yuri Mo revealed that the Holy Hall had turned people into weaponized soldiers and showed that he had enhanced himself as well.
• Joey recognized that the soldiers and Yuri Mo were dangerous, while he and Annie tried unsuccessfully to talk their way out of the confrontation.
• Annie apologized for involving Joey, and Joey decided to fight so she could escape without revealing the full extent of his abilities.
• Joey used the Red Spider Silk to slow the soldiers and sent Annie racing through the alley.
• Yuri Mo charged after Annie, but Joey struck with Quenching and its hidden thread; Yuri Mo's lightning deflected the attack and destroyed one of the soldiers.
• Annie fought several weaponized soldiers deeper into the alley while Joey and Yuri Mo watched each other warily.

Joey and Annie fought Yuri Mo as they tried to reach the Ammunition Depot, where a bomb threatened everyone. Joey killed Yuri Mo with a carefully prepared combination of poison and transferred damage, then sensed danger coming from the depot and ran toward Annie.

• Yuri Mo trapped Joey and Annie inside a Barrier and attacked them with lightning needles, but Joey transferred the damage through Fortune Shifting and Red Spider Silk, killing the Soldiers around them.
• Annie rushed toward the Ammunition Depot while Joey held off Yuri Mo, then Joey used Red Spider Silk to block Yuri Mo and let Annie continue alone.
• Joey confronted Yuri Mo and subdued him with poison and transferred side effects, then killed him when he tried to launch a sneak attack.
• Joey sensed danger from the Ammunition Depot, feared Annie had failed to stop the bomb, and sprinted toward the passage to find out what had happened.

Joey tried to stop Annie from sacrificing herself to prevent the explosives from detonating, but she vanished and died for good. The bomb never exploded, and Joey was left alone in the emptied ammunition depot, mourning her and wondering what she had taken from Ghost Island.

• Joey reached the locked ammunition depot and heard Annie question whether the world needed gods and say she did not want to live.
• Joey urged Annie to open the door and warned that her plan might kill her permanently, but she said she hoped to escape the cycle of rebirth.
• Annie thanked Joey and vanished; Joey’s spiritual warning disappeared as her life force faded away.
• The explosives did not go off, and the door opened onto an empty depot with no sign of Annie or its weapons and ammunition.
• Joey’s intuition told him Annie was truly dead, and he wondered why she had not told him what she took from Ghost Island.

After Annie disappeared, Joey confronted Benny over her death and questioned whether he could trust him. Benny pressed Joey to finish the bombing plan, then led him away from the public security bureau as a bomb began beeping inside.

• Joey suspected that the Sea God and Maimaiti had shaped the events surrounding Annie and the failed resurrection ritual.
• Benny arrived, and Joey accused him of selling him out and causing Annie's death; Benny denied responsibility and said another hidden force had intervened.
• Joey demanded to know when Benny would bring Barbara back, while Benny questioned whether Lia Harbor was safe for her.
• Benny told Joey to finish the plan and revealed that a bomb had been prepared to blow up the public security bureau.
• Joey followed Benny out, noticed their earlier battle had been erased and that passersby could not see them, then sensed a powerful presence and shouted that Benny would kill everyone inside.