Chapter Summaries

Edward saved Earl Hall from Hibbert, who had been hypnotized or controlled, but had to flee after Will warned that Ouroboros was coming. In Backlund, Klein tried to rescue people from Lady Despair’s Great Smog, became infected, and retreated toward thinner mist.

• Edward restrained Hibbert and found through Legilimency that he had no memory of attacking Earl Hall.
• Audrey feared the attack had targeted her family, but Edward comforted her and said they should wait for more information.
• Will sent a Paper Crane warning Edward that Ouroboros was coming, so Edward escaped with Phoenix toward Calderón and Lilith hid in his pouch.
• Klein and Fors returned to Backlund and encountered Lady Despair’s Great Smog, which was killing and sickening people.
• Klein sent Fors to find Xio, then rescued several people before the pathogens infected him despite his use of the Sun Brooch.
• Klein abandoned his rescue attempt and ran toward thinner mist, wondering why a Beyonder would unleash such a deadly outbreak.

After witnessing the devastation caused by a Demoness and learning the royal mausoleums were part of a Black Emperor ritual, Klein received a powerful Sealed Artifact from Azik. When Audrey warned that Edward was being pursued by an Angel, a Monocled man appeared and began parasitizing Klein, trapping him in a repeating sequence of events.

• Azik explained that a High Sequence Demoness had caused the plague to digest her potion, then identified the royal mausoleums as part of the Black Emperor Ascension Ritual.
• Azik gave Klein a sealed glove that had belonged to Qilingus and said he planned to leave Backlund.
• Audrey told Klein that Edward was being pursued by an Angel, and Klein tried to summon Azik with the Bronze Whistle.
• A Monocled man appeared before Klein and began using Parasitism to take over his body.
• Klein recognized that time had been rebooted, but his attempt to escape only led into another cycle of the Monocled man's attack.

Klein escaped Amon’s possession with help from a mysterious woman, but a one-eyed man killed him and dragged his body into the Spirit World. Meanwhile, George III struggled to contain the political fallout from the Great Smog and mass assassinations, while Ouroboros intercepted Edward on his way to Calderón City and ordered him to meet the Lord.

• A mysterious woman drove Amon away from Klein, but a one-eyed man then crushed Klein’s heart and pulled his body into the Spirit World.
• Will lamented that his attempt to save Klein had caused trouble and complained about the threats surrounding him.
• George III ordered the Churches’ demands accepted and called for new political successors and stability after the Great Smog and mass assassinations.
• Edward traveled toward Calderón City with Phoenix when Ouroboros appeared and asked where he was going.
• Ouroboros told Edward he had to return with him to see the Lord, and Edward asked whether he could refuse.

Edward was taken by the True Creator’s power from Backlund to the War of the Gods Relic, where Ouroboros brought him into the shared dream. They set out toward the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and Ouroboros said his good luck would help them find a way in.

• Ouroboros took Edward from the Hall Family Villa as the True Creator’s power gathered over Backlund, while Evernight’s vessel watched without intervening.
• The True Creator’s ritual formation vanished along with Edward and Ouroboros, and Evernight’s vessel said the exchange had removed the power the True Creator had infiltrated Backlund with.
• Audrey and Susie felt the True Creator’s presence above the Hall home, but the threat disappeared before Audrey could evacuate her family.
• Edward arrived at the War of the Gods Relic, where Ouroboros reversed the daylight into night and told him to sleep.
• Edward entered the shared dream of the Giant King’s Court, reunited with Lilith through Ouroboros, and asked how they would reach the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Ouroboros said his luck was good enough that he would always find a way in.

Edward, Bernadette, and Lilith entered the Forsaken Land of the Gods with Ouroboros and encountered the True Creator. The True Creator spoke to Edward, who prepared to ask a question he had held since meeting Mr. Door.

• Bernadette pulled Edward away from the Black Monastery, but Ouroboros reversed time and brought them back.
• Bernadette and Lilith chose to follow Edward and Ouroboros through a dream entrance toward the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Ouroboros shielded the group from the Ancient Sun God's blood and transported them to the Giant King's Court.
• Edward, Bernadette, and Lilith crossed into the Forsaken Land of the Gods, where the True Creator's presence began corrupting Bernadette and Lilith.
• Ouroboros removed Bernadette and Lilith from the True Creator's presence, and the True Creator told Edward that he should not have come.

Edward learned that the True Creator had spared him because killing him would worsen the disruption caused by an accidental transfer of Mr. Door’s Uniqueness, but the True Creator warned that he and Bernadette were trapped in the Forsaken Land of the Gods. Edward tried several ways to escape before praying to Mr. Fool, whose consciousness stirred despite his apparent death.

• The True Creator told Edward that his other personality had brought him there and wanted to kill him, but he had chosen to spare Edward and urged him to leave before the other personality awakened.
• The True Creator said Edward could escape through the Giant King's Court by meeting Sasrir and opening its gate, or by finding Amon, while warning that Ouroboros could not send them out.
• Bernadette and Lilith reunited with Edward, and he explained that they might be trapped in the Forsaken Land of the Gods and described the dangerous route through the Giant King's Court.
• Edward tested the Vanishing Cabinet and tried summoning Phoenix, but neither helped him cross back to reality.
• Edward entered the Picture Frame's independent space and prayed to Mr. Fool for help.
• Klein, still trapped in his dead body inside the Gothic Floating Castle, heard Edward's prayer and recognized his voice.

Edward, Bernadette, and Lilith explored the Forsaken Land of the Gods while waiting for Klein to answer Edward’s prayer. As Klein remained silent and Edward’s borrowed demigod powers neared their limit, the group rested in a tent, where Bernadette asked him to begin teaching her Rosellean.

• Klein briefly stirred but sank back into darkness, and Reinette sensed that he might still have a chance to resurrect.
• Edward’s prayer received no answer, so he returned to Bernadette and Lilith and then led them into the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Bernadette explained that the Great Smog had only half-completed her advancement ritual and that thousands might have died despite her efforts to contain it.
• Edward burned several distorted Beyonder creatures and told Bernadette that people in the City of Silver still believed in the Ancient Sun God.
• After two hours without a response from Klein, Edward worried that he might lose his borrowed demigod powers, and Bernadette suggested they rest and study Rosellean.
• The group entered Edward’s spacious tent, where Bernadette declined a free Beyonder Characteristic and asked him to teach her Rosellean.

Edward taught Bernadette pinyin and English while they traveled through the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and Amon left the ruined temple in search of amusement. Fors and Xio fled to a safe house after Fors revealed her involvement in a dangerous royal conspiracy, while Edward and Bernadette approached a Moon City camp whose people suspected they were outsiders.

• Edward taught Bernadette pinyin, then switched to English lessons until she demanded to learn real Rosellean.
• Amon sensed the Hanged Man's power, left the temple, and parasitized the monsters that attacked him.
• Fors returned to Xio, rushed with her to a safe house, and explained the danger involving the Three Great Churches and the Royal Family.
• Xio worried that MI9 could find them anywhere in Backlund and questioned Fors about Sherlock Moriarty.
• Edward, Bernadette, and Lilith spotted a camp and approached it, prompting the Moon City captain to ready his people for possible outsiders.

Edward and Bernadette met Moon City’s hunting team, and Edward described the outside world and offered to bring its people knowledge and hope. After the team returned to report to the High Priest, Nim arrived with a group of powerful Moon City residents to meet the visitors.

• Edward and Bernadette encountered Moon City’s hunting team, and Edward told them about the world beyond the cursed land.
• Carl asked Edward to explain more about the outside, and the Moon City People listened as he described its countries, gods, and people.
• Edward revealed that the City of Silver and the Giant King’s Court were also in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Edward said he hoped to bring Moon City new knowledge and hope, and the captain agreed to report his offer to the High Priest.
• Bernadette used Ariadne’s Thread to guide Edward and herself toward Moon City, and Nim arrived with more than a dozen followers to greet them.

Edward and Bernadette reached Moon City, where Edward introduced his Lord, offered food and knowledge of the outside world in exchange for Beyonder materials, and promised to ask why the Sun God had abandoned them. After addressing Moon City's people, Edward realized that teaching them was digesting his potion and recorded a new rule for his Wandering Mentor acting.

• Edward told High Priest Nim about his Lord, described the outside world's gods, and offered grain and information in exchange for Beyonder materials.
• Nim agreed to the exchange, asked Edward to seek an answer about the Sun God's abandonment, and invited the guests to Moon City.
• As the group entered Moon City, Lilith's Leg Ring glowed, and Nim recognized an aura connected to the ancient city of vampires.
• Nim arranged rooms for Edward and Bernadette, had them checked with a Sealed Artifact, and assigned High Sequence Beyonders to watch them.
• Edward held a public lecture about the outside world, and Moon City's people gathered eagerly to hear him.
• Edward noticed his potion had digested and wrote that imparting knowledge only counted when others absorbed, understood, and believed it.

Edward helped Moon City improve its food supply and shared practical knowledge, while Derrick struggled with the City's corrupted customs and Klein remained unconscious and unreachable. Bernadette and Lilith discovered that Lilith's Leg Ring reacted near a statue of the vampire progenitor, but its significance remained unclear.

• Edward reassured Bernadette that Klein's silence did not mean the Forsaken Land of the Gods blocked his prayers, while Derrick returned home after refusing Dack's Doom Fruit and received no answer from Mr. Fool.
• Phoenix searched for Klein and spoke with Reinette Tinekerr, who did not know where Edward was; Klein's eyelids then trembled as he lay unconscious.
• Edward supplied Moon City with wheat and rice, taught residents how to prepare them and use simple mechanical methods, and accepted materials and Beyonder Characteristics in exchange.
• Edward led volunteers in tasting the outside world's food and held another public lecture, while Bernadette and Lilith explored Moon City.
• Lilith's Leg Ring glimmered beside a statue of Lilith, so Bernadette led her away; the light vanished, and Bernadette questioned where the Leg Ring had come from.

Edward told Moon City's people about the outside world and revealed that the Ancient Sun God had been betrayed, then accompanied High Priest Nim to inspect the grayish-white fog. After Nim's repeated rituals failed to affect it, Edward recited the incantation associated with Sefirah Castle, but the chapter left its effect unknown.

• Lilith told Bernadette that Edward had given her the Leg Ring as an apology, and Bernadette suspected the Sanguine had a reason to respect Lilith's name.
• Edward described the outside world to Moon City's people and told High Priest Nim that the Ancient Sun God had been betrayed and might be resurrected with Edward's Lord's help.
• Nim asked Edward to inspect the grayish-white fog that had marked Moon City's departure, and Edward agreed to accompany him.
• Edward touched the fog without affecting it, while Bernadette's attempt to examine it made her bleed and Lilith recoiled from it.
• Nim performed the ritual five or six times without changing the fog, so Edward pretended to hear something and recited the four-line incantation for Sefirah Castle.

Klein regained consciousness above the gray fog but remained trapped there, while Edward accidentally caused the Western Continent’s barrier to react. Amon appeared and attacked Edward and Bernadette, whose unusual magic and artifacts countered his theft as a mysterious symbol enveloped him.

• Edward entered Sefirah Castle briefly and was expelled when Klein appeared in the Fool’s seat, confirming that Klein was alive.
• Klein realized his soul had survived while his body was dead, but he could not leave the gray fog; after answering Edward’s call, he collapsed, and Reinette Tinekerr observed signs that he was returning to life.
• Edward’s accidental contact with Sefirah Castle made the barrier around the Western Continent ripple and briefly form the outline of a door, then he sensed a distant call that he feared came from Amon.
• Amon appeared beside Edward and Nim, and Edward fled with Bernadette while using prohibitions, a Fiendfyre shield, and the Traveler’s Door.
• Amon stole Edward’s released abilities and wand, but Edward’s magic, illusion, and Bernadette’s Antique Copper Bell thwarted his attacks and thefts.
• A mysterious symbol emerged from Bernadette’s eyes and enveloped Amon, who repeatedly switched places with Nim and other Moon City residents.

Edward and Bernadette survived Amon’s attack in Moon City, but Edward feared the avatar had only retreated to deceive them. After failing to locate Amon, Edward tried to lure him out with an offer to reveal a secret in exchange for escape from the Forsaken Land of the Gods, then concluded that Amon probably had not followed them.

• Bernadette used the Pale Mask and the Spear of Longinus to destroy an Amon avatar, but more Amons and parasitized monsters appeared around Edward and his companions.
• Amon tried to steal Edward’s protections and threatened his life, while Bernadette warned that she would use the Magic Wishing Lamp against him.
• Amon withdrew after Bernadette invoked the Genie, and she returned the Lamp to the Spirit World without making a wish.
• Edward burned the fallen monsters and Apparated with Bernadette to their former camp, then repeatedly tried to divine whether Amon was nearby.
• Edward called out to Amon and offered to reveal a secret if Amon helped him escape the Forsaken Land of the Gods, but received no response and decided Amon probably had not followed them.

Edward and Bernadette tried to trap Amon's avatar in the Picture Frame and the Box of the Great Old Ones, but Amon had already parasitized them and the Moon City people. They returned to the Moon City group to find everyone awake, while Amon's fate remained uncertain.

• Edward prayed to Evernight to leave the Forsaken Land of the Gods, drawing Amon out, and revealed that he was gambling on a plan.
• Edward used the Picture Frame to pull Amon into the Painting World, and Bernadette sealed the frame inside the Box of the Great Old Ones before sending it into the Spirit World.
• Edward and Lilith coughed up Worms of Time, revealing that Amon had parasitized them, while Bernadette explained that her Mystical Reenactment had helped her resist his theft.
• Edward and Bernadette returned to check on the Moon City people and found shriveled Worms of Time beside them.
• After the Moon City people woke, Nim learned that the attacker was an avatar of a Marauder King of Angel and advised everyone to return to Moon City for a Sealed Artifact examination.

Edward and Bernadette traveled away from Moon City while discussing Amon, Roselle’s Cards of Blasphemy, and the seal across the Forsaken Land of the Gods. After Edward claimed that Mr. Fool placed the seal and could stop the apocalypse, Bernadette asked whether He knew where her father was.

• Edward stayed behind as Nim led the people of Moon City away, then traveled west with Bernadette and Lilith to avoid Amon’s avatar in the City of Silver.
• Bernadette used her Mystical Reenactment ability to conceal their traces, and Edward asked her about Roselle’s Cards of Blasphemy.
• Edward taught Bernadette Chinese, and she used his potion digestion to infer that Amon was probably still trapped in the Box of the Great Old Ones.
• Edward told Bernadette that the Gray-White Fog Barrier was a seal placed by the being he worshipped, Mr. Fool, and said Mr. Fool could stop the apocalypse.
• Bernadette asked Edward whether Mr. Fool knew where her father was.

Edward and Bernadette fled a dangerous presence near Chernobyl and reached Afternoon Town, where Edward's borrowed powers expired. Bernadette deduced that Edward had offered a Card of Blasphemy to the being he worshipped and questioned whether it could grant mastery over all twenty-two Pathways.

• Edward and Bernadette encountered a dead, wandering Giant whose mist corrupted a protected rabbit, and Edward sensed an Amon ahead.
• Bernadette reasoned that Beyonder Characteristic convergence might have drawn them there, while Edward suspected Amon was waiting; they left through the Traveler's Door.
• An Amon in Chernobyl noticed their departure but decided not to follow them.
• Edward and Bernadette arrived near the Giant King's Court and traveled to the ruins of Afternoon Town, where monsters watched them from a distance.
• Edward's Black Emperor and Red Priest powers expired, leaving him weakened to Sequence 5 strength until he contacted the being he worshipped.
• Bernadette inferred that Edward had offered the Black Emperor Card to that being and asked whether giving it all twenty-two Cards of Blasphemy could grant it every Pathway's powers.

Bernadette cleared the monsters from Afternoon Town while Edward and Lilith waited, then Klein awoke in Reinette Tinekerr’s Spirit World castle after surviving Ince Zangwill’s attack. He learned Reinette had rescued him and offered to serve as his messenger, and she offered to take him out of the Spirit World.

• Bernadette concealed Edward and Lilith, cleared the monsters from Afternoon Town, and returned to lead them onward.
• Klein awoke in Reinette Tinekerr’s castle and realized his chest wound had healed after Ince Zangwill killed him and dropped him into the Spirit World.
• Reinette explained that she had found Klein apparently dead but not entirely dead, and Klein thanked her with a gold coin.
• Klein learned that two days had passed and worried that Mr. Fool had not answered the Tarot Club members’ prayers.
• Reinette offered to become Klein’s messenger, but he hesitated and asked why he had returned from death despite his Sequence lacking that ability.
• Klein asked how he could leave the Spirit World, and Reinette offered to take him out.

After escaping the Spirit World, Klein learned that the Great Smog had killed tens of thousands and suspected the Loen royal family had orchestrated it for George III’s Black Emperor advancement, with Edessak made a scapegoat. As Audrey and Fors waited anxiously for news, Mr. Fool summoned Audrey to prepare for the Tarot Club gathering.

• Reinette returned Klein to reality near Green Cemetery, where he saw mourners and learned from a newspaper that the Great Smog had killed thousands directly and many more through a spreading plague.
• Klein read that Edessak and Helena were blamed for the catastrophe, then realized the newspaper omitted the royal scandal photographs and suspected the royal family and the Three Great Churches had concealed the truth.
• Audrey worried that Edward and Mr. Fool had both gone silent, while Earl Hall told her Hibbert remained withdrawn and that Loen’s political turmoil could invite an attack from Feysac.
• Mr. Fool contacted Audrey through the gray fog and told her to prepare for the gathering.
• Fors waited at the safe house while Xio went out to gather information, and Fors noted that the Tarot Club meeting was about to begin.

Edward attended another Tarot Club gathering after exploring Afternoon Town with Bernadette and Lilith, where their conversation turned to the ruins and Emperor Roselle’s legacy. At the gathering, Derrick thanked Mr. Fool for sending an angel to save him, prompting the members to reconsider the scale of Mr. Fool’s power.

• Priscilla was summoned to the Tarot Club while Medici teased her about failing to rescue Edward from Ouroboros.
• Edward and Bernadette gave Chinese lessons in Afternoon Town, and Bernadette’s improved understanding helped Edward digest his potion.
• Edward, Bernadette, and Lilith explored the ruins, and Bernadette said that Edward’s survival mattered more to her than the traces people left behind.
• Edward entered Sefirah Castle for the gathering, and Klein confirmed that Amon was still trapped in the Box of the Great Old Ones.
• Derrick thanked Mr. Fool for sending an angel to purify an entity attached to him, causing Audrey, Alger, and Fors to react with surprise and awe.