Chapter Summaries

At the Tarot Club, Edward revealed that he had killed the Sea God and explained his unusual arrangement with Ailment Maiden Tracy, whom he could help turn back into a man. The World sought leads on Ince Zangwill and asked about Demoness pirates, while Miss Death shared a Feysac lead; the chapter ended with the group probing how Edward could reverse Tracy’s transformation.

• Klein introduced the Sea God Scepter, and Edward said he had killed the Sea God, though he claimed the god had already been gravely wounded.
• Derrick told the Tarot Club that he was confined at home while the City of Silver investigated the Worm of Time and remained under lockdown.
• Priscilla reported that Ince Zangwill had contacted the Aurora Order in Feysac a month earlier, then disappeared after they rejected his proposed collaboration.
• The World asked about Demoness pirate captains, and Alger identified Ailment Maiden Tracy from the Black Death’s flag.
• Edward explained that Tracy worked for him because he had a way to turn her back into a man, and the others wondered whether his method involved potions or neighboring pathways.

The Tarot Club members discussed neighboring pathways and accepted commissions involving Tracy and the watcher near Dorian’s home. Edward offered Fors an Astrologer characteristic and the Black Tulip, while the members arranged other purchases and inquiries.

• Audrey explained that some neighboring pathways allowed Beyonders to switch pathways at fixed Sequences, and Fors asked which paths the Apprentice pathway could switch to.
• Klein said Tracy had abducted women and that a Sequence 3 Demoness had rescued her; Edward agreed to contact Tracy, with the reward split sixty-forty in Edward’s favor.
• Fors asked for help capturing someone watching Dorian’s home, and Priscilla accepted the job for three hundred pounds in exchange for Fors inviting people to her gathering.
• Audrey offered to join the mission, and Klein revealed that Priscilla’s Underworld accommodated three Sequence 1 angelic evil spirits, including a former King of Angels.
• Fors asked to buy an Astrologer Beyonder Characteristic from Edward for seven hundred pounds, and Edward offered the Black Tulip for sale.
• Alger agreed to seek a buyer for the Black Tulip, reported that Audrey’s hallucinatory wind chime tree fruit would arrive soon, and said he had no leads on several other requested ingredients.

At the Tarot Club, Audrey reported that the Psychology Alchemists involved in the Backlund assassination had all died, and Edward identified a Grade 0 Spectator Sealed Artifact as a possible culprit. After the gathering, Alger offered the coordinates of a primitive island to settle his debt to Edward, while Klein returned to the deck and asked Aldrich how much he could pay.

• Audrey told the Tarot Club that the Psychology Alchemists in Backlund had died, many by suicide, and suspected a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact had influenced them.
• Edward described the artifact as one that learned about anyone who knew of it and exerted greater influence the more they understood it; Bernadette agreed to look into it.
• Edward explained that Lilith had joined the Tarot Club after accompanying him from the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and Klein ended the gathering.
• Alger offered Edward the coordinates of a primitive island rich in Beyonder creatures and plants to repay his debt, and Edward agreed to explore it with him later.
• Klein returned to the deck, where Aldrich asked whether he had made a decision, and Klein asked how much money Aldrich could pay.

Edward met Tracy to retrieve the women she had abducted and learned that a Demoness named Krismona had taken a hidden Conqueror Beyonder characteristic. Tracy asked Edward for the Iron-Blooded Knight formula, and he agreed to consider the price after she returned the surviving women to Bansy Harbor.

• Klein told Aldrich that he had contacted a friend who could help free the kidnapped women, and revealed that their captor was Pirate Admiral Tracy.
• Edward woke on Symeem Island, spoke with Lilith about the Tarot Club, and traveled through the Spirit World to Tracy's ship.
• Edward healed Tracy's wounded shoulder and learned that one kidnapped woman had died, while the others were held in the ship's storeroom.
• Tracy said her mother Kaitlyn had abducted the women to conceal a Conqueror Beyonder characteristic, but Krismona had taken it from her.
• Tracy asked Edward for the Iron-Blooded Knight formula, and Edward told her to return the surviving women before they negotiated a price.
• Edward left Tracy's ship and told her that the man who had attacked her was Gehrman Sparrow.

Edward found the Book of Calamity in an elven ruin and tried to determine whether Cohinem or another danger was inside it. In the City of Silver, Colin and Lovia discussed the Worm of Time found after Derrick’s collapse and suspected that someone had warned them about Amon’s avatar.

• Tracy burned Edward’s note with Black Flame and wondered whether Gehrman had become too powerful for her mother to threaten.
• Edward praised Lilith for planning to ask the Tarot Club about acting as a Demoness, then told her to try earning money herself.
• Phoenix found another ruin and warned Edward that danger lurked there, but Edward went with her to investigate.
• Colin showed Lovia the Worm of Time that had fallen from Derrick and suggested it was a warning about an Amon avatar in the City of Silver.
• Colin asked Lovia which being she had begun worshipping.
• Edward summoned the Book of Calamity from the ruin’s rubble, opened it without understanding its Elvish writing, and poked it while calling for Cohinem.

Edward encountered Cohinem, the Calamity Queen, who warned him that the Book of Calamity could corrupt him and suggested he was connected to the apocalypse. He later used the Sea God Scepter to teach science and political ideas to Sea God believers, while Winter remained troubled by his encounter with a Witch.

• Edward entered Cohinem’s palace and learned that the Book of Calamity could suppress the Sea God Scepter’s effects but would eventually corrupt him.
• Cohinem told Edward she was waiting for someone to inherit her legacy and take her to the Western Continent, then hinted that he might be the apocalypse before sending him back to the ruins.
• Edward photographed the Book of Calamity, learned from Audrey’s letter that it described Cohinem’s powerful lightning abilities, and wrote to Bernadette about the book.
• Bernadette sent Edward a long-nosed Pinocchio Doll and waited for him at Emerald City.
• Edward used the Sea God Scepter to teach science and political ideas to thousands of Sea God believers on Rhos Island.
• Winter sat at home with the money Edward had given him, still frightened by the Witch who had threatened to take his soul after his death.

Winter called on Lilith to save Renee and offered his soul in exchange. Lilith revived Renee, then struck a deal with Winter that left him owing her money and ten years of his lifespan, before Winter decided to stay with Renee.

• After a clinic doctor failed to diagnose Renee and warned she might not survive the night, Winter ran to the pier and begged the witch to save her in exchange for his soul.
• Lilith appeared, carried Winter back to the clinic, silenced the doctor’s objections with magic, and revived Renee.
• Winter offered Lilith his soul, but she demanded seven hundred pounds and ten years of his lifespan instead, then promised to lessen or undo the debt if he helped her make deals with others.
• After his strength returned, Winter saw Renee and Mrs. Jenny leaving the clinic and told Renee he was not going away.

Lilith went out to act as a witch and ended up with a group of poor children in Bayam, where she learned about their difficult lives and Isabella’s hopes of returning to Loen. Edward tracked Lilith to the island, but the chapter left him unseen while Lilith sat with Isabella outside the children’s dilapidated home.

• Lilith made a deal with Phoenix to go out and act on her own, then changed back into a child but still went.
• Edward finished teaching his believers, noticed his potion had begun digesting again, and tracked Lilith and Phoenix to Bayam.
• Lilith followed Isabella and the other children to their abandoned house after they escaped the police with food they had scavenged.
• Isabella introduced herself and the other children, promised Lilith a place to stay, and said her father would someday take them to Loen.
• Lilith offered her food to the hungry children, then found Isabella sitting alone outside and asked whether she had given up her own meal for Lilith.

Lilith spent the night with Isabella and the other homeless children after Edward let her decide whether to return, and she enjoyed their company despite missing him. The next day, Fors and Xio met Audrey and Priscilla at the Warrior and the Sea bar, where Xio learned they were the backup Fors had recruited.

• Lilith roasted her dried rats over a fire and shared them with Isabella and the three children, who loved the meal.
• Lilith agreed to teach the children how to catch rats, and Isabella welcomed her as part of their family.
• Edward asked Phoenix to stay with Lilith, and Lilith chose to remain with the children for the night.
• At the Warrior and the Sea bar, Xio waited with Fors, who was writing a story inspired by the Tarot Club.
• Audrey and Priscilla arrived, and Xio realized they were Fors's backup; Fors explained that Audrey was Sequence 7.

Audrey, Fors, and Xio ambushed Dorian Gray while trying to capture the man they believed was watching him, then discovered their prisoner was Dorian himself. The chapter then shifted to Edward, who woke to find Lilith gone and realized he had become an “empty nester.”

• Audrey, Fors, and Xio agreed that they would handle the fighting while Priscilla oversaw their operation.
• Dorian Gray left the Birch Inn intending to take a train out of Pritz Harbor, but Audrey, Fors, and Xio ambushed and captured him.
• The group took Dorian to a deserted beach, where Xio bound him and Audrey woke him for questioning.
• Fors questioned Dorian about his identity and his interest in the house across from the inn, believing he was looking for Dorian Gray.
• Priscilla relayed Medici’s suspicion that the prisoner belonged to the Abraham Family and was probably Dorian Gray himself.
• Edward woke and remembered that Lilith had left, realizing he had become an “empty nester.”

Edward traveled to Eshim Island as the Sea God's Messenger and told the Resistance Army to build its own strength against the colonizers. Meanwhile, Klein returned the rescued girls to Aldrich, who took them toward Feynapotter, where Olivia secretly reported to the Progenitor.

• Edward reached Eshim Island, accepted the Resistance Army's bone sword, and entered its underground base with the scar-faced guide.
• Edward told the Resistance Army that the Sea God would not fight the colonizers directly and that they needed to gain strength through their own efforts.
• Alfred learned that the Bansy Island crisis had been resolved and suspected Gehrman Sparrow had played a part, but he remained resentful of him.
• Klein returned Olivia and the other girls to Aldrich, who learned that Sophia was dead and Aila was missing.
• Aldrich and Olivia decided to take the girls to Feynapotter, and Klein left after giving them his bank account for payment.
• Olivia prayed to the Progenitor, who told her to join a major Feynapotter family and said she qualified for advancement to Sequence 6.

Emlyn learned that the Sanguine’s Progenitor had named him a key to surviving the apocalypse and was ordered to find and join a tarot-card organization in Backlund. In Bayam, Lilith helped Isabella and the other children earn money by using rats to create demand for their rat-catching service.

• Lord Nibais told Emlyn that the apocalypse was near and tasked him with finding and joining a secret organization marked by tarot cards.
• Emlyn returned to the Harvest Church, where Danitz offered to return his treasures and asked for help saving a life, but Emlyn fled after misunderstanding Danitz’s intentions.
• Isabella’s rat-catching squad struggled to find customers until Lilith drove rats out of their holes and caused a commotion in wealthy households.
• A wealthy woman hired the children, and the squad caught thirty-three rats and earned seven soli and eleven pence.
• Isabella announced a feast and gave Lilith the earnings, keeping two soli to pay the other children their wages.

Dorian Gray learned that Lawrence had intended Fors to become his student, while Edward taught the Resistance Army and prepared to deal with the Naturism Sect. After a day apart, Lilith returned to Edward and began planning gifts for her friends.

• Dorian Gray read Lawrence's letter, accepted Fors's character, and invited her and her friends to lunch.
• Edward taught the Resistance Army basic science and explained the Sea God's rebirth to Scarface.
• Edward checked on Lilith and her friends, questioned Phoenix about its past, and continued teaching the Sea God Church and Resistance Army.
• Karat asked the Sea God whether to help the Naturism Sect, and Edward ordered his Messenger to handle the matter.
• Lilith startled Edward by returning to his tent, said she had missed him, and named the people she wanted to bring presents to.

Lilith returned to Isabella and the others, wondering how best to help them, while Edward met with the Resistance Army on Blue Mountain Island. After learning that the Naturism Sect wanted help placing a woman in the Governor’s Mansion, Edward set out to meet its representatives in Mostar City.

• Lilith returned to Isabella’s bed at dawn and wondered what Isabella and the others needed.
• Edward met Karat at the Resistance Army’s base and ordered the Sea God Church to replace its statues with an emblem based on his scepter.
• Karat told Edward that the Resistance Army had been cooperating with the Naturism Sect and the power behind it.
• Karat revealed that the Naturism Sect wanted the Resistance Army to place a woman in the Governor’s Mansion as a maid.
• Edward told Karat to take him to Mostar City to meet the Naturism Sect’s representatives.

Edward investigated a Rose School plan to infiltrate the Governor’s Mansion and discovered that the intended woman had vanished after a bloody massacre. He sent Karat’s people to search Bayam, restored feeling to Karat’s legs, and the chapter ended with Isabella taking the Rat-Catching Squad back to work.

• Edward questioned Karat about the Resistance Army’s origins and future, then met Follett Ken, who asked them to help place a woman in the Governor’s Mansion so Amyrius could be killed.
• Edward agreed to hear more about the woman, but Follett Ken led the group to a house where they found its occupants torn apart and the woman missing.
• Edward used a strand of the woman’s hair for Dream Divination and saw her board a ship to Bayam before a vision of the Mother Tree of Desire appeared.
• Edward ordered Karat to identify the woman and mobilize the Resistance Army’s people in Bayam to find her.
• Edward restored feeling to Karat’s legs and urged him to serve the Sea God; Karat praised the god and pledged himself to the task.
• Isabella led Lilith and the Rat-Catching Squad out to find work, reminding Lilith not to use her power.

Lilith and Isabella accepted a nighttime rat-catching job from Lü Er'an at the Governor’s Mansion, while Edward joined Alger to explore the Primitive Island. They entered a strange woodland on their way to ancient ruins and found unmoving corpses, leaving Edward uncertain about the island’s dangers.

• Lü Er'an offered Isabella and Lilith a gold coin as a deposit and promised ten pounds if they caught rats at the Governor’s Mansion.
• Alger weathered a storm aboard the Azure Avenger, then prayed to Mr. Fool to tell Edward he was ready to explore the Primitive Island.
• Edward arrived before Alger, and the two discussed the scepter before setting out for the island using Alger’s coordinates.
• Alger and Edward agreed to focus on the ancient ruins and began crossing the island’s black forest, where they sensed powerful Beyonder creatures nearby.
• Edward and Alger passed through a strange woodland and found rotting human and animal corpses lying motionless on the ground.

Edward and Alger explored the Primitive Island, where Edward collected Beyonder Characteristics and obtained the Undying characteristic from a Feathered Serpent killed by Phoenix. They reached the ruined church, where Edward sought the Tyrant Card and Alger hoped to find its formula.

• Edward stopped Alger from going farther until nightfall, then killed a group of black baboons and shared one of their Beyonder Characteristics with him.
• A sudden supernatural night brought the dead baboons back as zombies and revealed a giant Feathered Serpent, which Phoenix swiftly killed and from which Edward took the Undying Beyonder Characteristic.
• Edward introduced Phoenix as his messenger, and he and Alger continued toward the ruins after the mist cleared.
• Alger speculated that the church held precious objects, while Edward knew it concealed murals and the Tyrant Card.
• Edward and Alger entered the ruined church and saw a mural depicting the Ancient Sun God with believers, angels, and the First Blasphemy Slate.

Edward and Alger explored the underground church, where they discovered evidence of the Ancient Sun God's betrayal and Edward recovered the Tyrant Card. Adam then summoned Edward to his Corpse Cathedral and revealed that he was going to die, and that he had been arranging events in hopes of securing a better outcome for the world.

• Edward told Alger that the Ancient Sun God had created the world and that some of the Seven Deities had once served Him as Kings of Angels or subordinate deities.
• Edward and Alger passed petrified victims and entered a burial hall, where a mural showed three Kings of Angels feasting on the Ancient Sun God and the birth of the True Creator.
• Edward shattered the coffins, subdued three zombies, and found the Tyrant Card embedded in one of them before burning the zombies to ashes.
• Adam's sigh transported Edward and Alger into the Corpse Cathedral, where Adam told Edward, “I'm going to die.”
• Adam explained that his death would save the world and that he had been arranging events according to his premonitions to seek a better outcome.

Edward learned that Adam planned to die as part of merging with the True Creator, leaving the merged being to carry out his plans against the apocalypse. After Adam vanished, Edward and Alger escaped the Burial Hall with the Tyrant Card, and Edward promised Alger advancement formulas in return for his help.

• Adam explained that his death would complete his merger with the True Creator, whose future plans and identity remained unknown.
• Adam said the Door Pathway Uniqueness had ended up in Edward by accident, and that an unknown outsider had originally been meant to accommodate it.
• Adam told Edward he needed fortune's favor and gave him a silver-white cross that allowed him to join Twilight Hermit Order gatherings.
• Edward learned that Amon had ordered Adam, while parasitizing him, to rescue Mr. Door, and guessed Amon wanted to use Mr. Door's apotheosis ritual to advance.
• Adam disappeared in the Burial Hall, and Edward took Alger back to the Azure Avenger with the Tyrant Card.
• Edward offered Alger the Sequence 5 Ocean Songster and Sequence 4 Cataclysmic Interrer formulas to repay him for bringing Edward to the island.

Edward reported Adam’s impending death to the Evernight Goddess, then began using the Tyrant Card, while Klein examined the card and traveled to Bayam. There, Captain Elland offered Klein a commission to impersonate Governor Amyrius Levitt, whose authorities had rescinded Klein’s wanted notice.

• Edward returned to Saint Samuel Church and learned that the Evernight Goddess was aware of Adam’s situation but gave him no further information.
• Edward decided to focus on digesting his potion and used the Tyrant Card to consume abilities.
• Above the gray fog, Klein examined the Tyrant Card and Sea God Scepter, and suspected the card had come from the Primitive Island.
• Klein arrived in Bayam and met Captain Elland, who explained that Governor Amyrius Levitt had rescinded Klein’s wanted notice.
• Elland offered Klein a paid commission to impersonate Amyrius, and Klein asked how much he would be paid.