Chapter Summaries

Klein wondered whether other transmigrators had their own Above the Gray Fog, while Medici learned that Mr. World wanted the Tarot Club to investigate Lilith. In 1160, Edward considered whether his Lilith had been intercepting the Sanguine's prayers, then began planning a housewarming banquet after moving into a new villa.

• Klein questioned whether the grayish-white fog Bernadette described was another Above the Gray Fog, then resolved to finish digesting his Faceless potion and seek Queen Mystic to advance to Sequence 5.
• Priscilla told Medici that Mr. World had commissioned an investigation into a woman's whereabouts, showed him her image, and revealed that the woman was Lilith.
• Edward saw Rallard leave to ask his grandfather about Progenitor Lilith and learned from Akasha that the Sanguine's elders had received strange responses from their Progenitor in recent centuries.
• Edward suspected that his Lilith had been answering the Sanguine's prayers in place of their supposedly dead Progenitor Lilith.
• Akasha asked whether Edward wanted to hold a banquet when he moved into his new villa, and Edward decided to invite only Roselle and his family.

Edward explored ancient ruins between Intis and Feynapotter and found an undamaged stone door bearing what appeared to be the Abraham Family’s coat of arms. After preparing an escape to Sefirah Castle, he tried to pass through the door but could not.

• Edward divined that visiting the ruins would be dangerous but decided to investigate them.
• Edward postponed taking Bernadette to see the Beautiful Merpeople and asked Akasha to help Dubois control his newly awakened spirituality.
• Edward traveled to a secluded valley and uncovered an underground ruin beneath a cave entrance.
• Edward blasted through the first stone door with lightning, waited for danger to pass, and explored the apparently empty ruins.
• Edward found a second, undamaged stone door marked with a design he suspected was the Abraham Family’s coat of arms.
• Edward prepared to retreat to Sefirah Castle if necessary, then discovered he could not pass through the second door.

Edward stole two Sequence 4 Beyonder Characteristics from Amon’s trap and discovered that the Parasite characteristic contained Pallez Zoroaster. After Pallez explained how he ended up in the ruins, Edward asked him about Lilith, and Pallez recounted her rivalry with Cheek.

• Edward used Theft to remove the stone door, found Amon’s trap, and sent rabbits to open the coffin.
• Edward took the Secrets Sorcerer and Parasite Beyonder Characteristics and escaped to Sefirah Castle as Amon arrived.
• Edward discovered Pallez Zoroaster inside the Parasite characteristic, and Pallez explained how he had hidden from Amon in the ruins.
• Edward questioned Pallez about Lilith, and Pallez said she had perished after Cheek advanced to Sequence 0.

Edward brought Pallez into Sefirah Castle, bound him to it, and let him leave with a Sequence 4 Beyonder Characteristic. Edward then puzzled over his Spirit Mage potion digestion, while in 1349 Backlund Leonard pursued a figure linked to Edward and learned the person had vanished by Edward’s special method.

• Edward had Pallez recite his honorific name, connected him to Sefirah Castle, and gained the ability to summon and control him there.
• Pallez asked Edward to erase his memories of Sefirah Castle, but Edward refused and sent him out with the Sequence 4 Beyonder Characteristic.
• Pallez absorbed the characteristic to improve his weakened condition and began looking for someone to parasitize.
• Edward realized that meeting people who remembered him might digest his Spirit Mage potion, but he could not explain why Pallez’s encounter had helped so much.
• In 1349 Backlund, Leonard discussed Daly’s changed behavior with Pallez and struggled with the thought that others were moving on from the Captain’s death.
• Pallez told Leonard that the figure he had followed disappeared using the same special method Edward had once used, and Leonard vowed to keep advancing until he could catch up.

Danitz urged Emlyn to seek customers for his potions at sea, while Bernadette remembered the fairy-tale pirate ship and drew it for Roselle. That night, a time-space officer appeared at Roselle’s home and arrested him for illegal transmigration and other offenses.

• Danitz told Emlyn that selling potions to pirates and Beyonders at sea could help him earn the eight thousand pounds he needed, and Emlyn agreed to think about joining him.
• Bernadette drew the fairy-tale characters she had seen aboard a pirate ship and gave the picture to Roselle, who praised it and asked whether Uncle Green had visited her alone.
• Roselle stayed up working with an Artisan’s kit, then heard a police siren and saw a flying saucer hovering outside his home.
• Officer Edward identified himself as a member of the Time-Space Investigation Team and charged Roselle with 1,256 offenses, including illegal transmigration.
• Roselle’s protective accessories failed, and his clothes bound him as Edward arrested him and announced a 13,200-year sentence.

Roselle dreamed that the Time-Space Police arrested him and destroyed his world, then woke and resolved to pursue his long-delayed voyage. Above Sefirah Castle, Edward tested his Spirit Mage acting principles on Roselle before taking Bernadette on a fairy-tale voyage to the War of the Gods Relic.

• Roselle dreamed that a Time-Space Police officer arrested him, claimed the Flame Emperor and Sea God were already imprisoned, and began destroying his world after an attack on the officer.
• Roselle woke at his desk, realized the incident had been a dream, and decided to set sail rather than keep postponing his voyage for his family.
• Edward reflected that his illusion for Roselle had not noticeably digested his Spirit Mage potion and answered Bernadette when she asked to see merpeople.
• Edward brought Bernadette aboard the Fairy-Tale and took her toward the War of the Gods Relic, where the ship plunged over the edge of a vast rift in the sea.

Edward and Bernadette sailed through the strange sea, where he told her a story as she fell asleep. They entered the Black Monastery’s shared dream, where Edward discovered that the Hidden Sage had apparently targeted Bernadette and kept her safely inside an empty room.

• The Fairy-Tale survived a surge of seawater that carried it across a dark fissure, and Edward restored the ship and its passengers.
• Bernadette asked Edward about the ruins and the sea, then grew tired as they sailed through the desolate waters.
• Edward read Bernadette the beginning of The Old Man and the Sea, and she fell asleep against him.
• Night fell as Edward prepared to leave, forcing him to follow Bernadette into the Black Monastery’s shared dream.
• Edward saw a strange eye behind Bernadette and divined that the Hidden Sage had targeted her, then explained the dream world to her.
• Edward led Bernadette into an empty room and warned her to stay there until they woke, and she asked if she could examine its contents.

Edward discovered that a book in the collective dream appeared to be Lilith’s, but his search of the War of the Gods Relic found no trace of her. Back at his villa, he learned that Akasha had been arrested after injuring the grandson of Earl Clear, a powerful enemy of Roselle.

• Bernadette showed Edward a textbook whose writing matched the secret script in her father’s diary, and Edward recognized it as Lilith’s elementary Chinese textbook.
• Edward searched ships throughout the War of the Gods Relic for Lilith but found no further clues and concluded she had likely left.
• Edward wondered whether his meeting with Pallez had revealed a clue about bringing characters from stories into reality.
• Dubois told Edward that Akasha had been arrested after she injured a man who harassed her in the Market Borough.
• Edward learned that Akasha’s injured assailant was Earl Clear’s only grandson, making her release difficult because Earl Clear hated Roselle.

Edward and Dubois were arrested on fabricated murder charges after Akasha injured Earl Clear’s grandson, and Edward secretly visited Akasha in a private prison. Roselle secured Edward’s release, while a mysterious group tried to persuade Akasha to assassinate Earl Clear by offering her a path to Sequence 4.

• Edward and Dubois were arrested without trial after Trier police accused them of murdering eighteen people at 7 Rose Street.
• Edward discovered Akasha was held in a noble’s private prison and learned that an unidentified visitor had offered her a chance to kill Earl Clear and escape.
• Akasha refused the offer, but the visitor later promised to help her advance to Sequence 4 and claimed the tide of the times had chosen her.
• Roselle arrived at the cell and used his influence to get Edward released, apologizing for the trouble his friend had suffered.

Edward learned that the Twilight Hermit Order had framed Akasha for an attempted assassination of Earl Clear, while Roselle warned that Clear’s anger would be difficult to contain. Edward also questioned Pallez about the Abraham Family and contacted Reinette as the Temperance Faction faced growing pressure from the Indulgence Faction.

• Roselle learned that Clear’s grandson had provoked Akasha and helped Edward leave prison, but warned him that Clear’s family-line crisis would bring consequences for Akasha.
• Edward divined the truth of Akasha’s arrest and saw that the Twilight Hermit Order had orchestrated the incident; he resolved to rescue her if Roselle could not help.
• Edward asked Pallez about the Abraham descendants, learned that one branch was near Midseashire, and told Pallez to contact him if he found the Abraham descendant he had seen in Trier.
• Edward asked Pallez whether he knew how to contact Bethel, but Pallez said they had belonged to opposing camps.
• Reinette heard that the Indulgence Faction’s advances could drive the Temperance Faction out of the Rose School and ordered her elders to keep avoiding direct confrontation.

Edward gathered Reinette and Pallez for a Misery Contest, promising to reveal their futures and reward the winner. After comparing their painful pasts, he showed Reinette a future in which she was killed by the Indulgence Faction, leaving her despairing over whether her struggle had been futile.

• Edward summoned Reinette to Sefirah Castle, introduced Pallez as Mr. No Characteristics, and announced the Misery Contest.
• Pallez recounted how he had been hunted for over a thousand years and reduced to clinging to life as a Sequence 1 Angel.
• Reinette described the Mother Tree of Desire’s destruction of her organization and the deaths of her family, disciples, and last friend, then asked Edward for help.
• Edward explained that he could not yet help against the Outer Deity and revealed that Pallez had also lost his family and endured centuries of persecution.
• Edward showed Reinette a future in which Abomination Suah, Baranka, and the Indulgence Faction cornered and killed her, leaving her questioning whether her efforts had mattered.

Edward brought Pallez and Reinette to Sefirah Castle and staged a contest over whose imagined future suffering was worse. Pallez won and learned his great-grandson Mobet was trapped in Groselle’s Travels, while Edward left both guests with hints about the future before sending them away.

• Edward showed Pallez and Reinette visions of their grim futures, including Pallez being swallowed by Amon and Reinette being killed and dismembered.
• Edward declared Pallez, whom he called Mr. Characteristicless, the winner of the First Misery Contest and offered him a choice of rewards.
• Pallez chose to learn about his great-grandson, and Edward revealed that Mobet Zoroast was alive inside Groselle’s Travels but would die of old age if he left the book.
• Edward suggested Pallez could give Mobet his Sequence 4 characteristic to help him survive and considered ways to bring the book’s other inhabitants into reality.
• Edward told Reinette that the Indulgence Faction would suffer a devastating blow in December 1349, then promised further help in a future contest and warned the pair to keep their meeting secret.
• After Pallez and Reinette vanished, Edward reflected that staging the contest had helped him digest his Spirit Mage Potion.

Edward warned Roselle that the Hidden Sage had targeted him and his family, prompting Roselle to take them to Trier Cathedral for protection. Bernadette kept her dream adventures with Mr. Sparrow secret as the family set out together.

• Edward sent Roselle a warning that the Hidden Sage had set its sights on his family and told him to find Stiano.
• Roselle decided to take his family to Trier Cathedral and seek protection from the Church.
• Bernadette wondered whether her father's diary could help Mr. Sparrow, but kept her dream adventures secret from Roselle.
• Roselle woke Bernadette and invited her to visit the cathedral, claiming they needed protection from an evil god.
• Roselle, Matilda, and Bernadette rode together toward Trier Cathedral, where Matilda teased Roselle about his plans for Dubois.

Klein arranged for Cattleya to take him to Lasha Island so he could seek the Beautiful Merpeople’s singing for his Sequence 5 advancement ritual, while Bernadette visited the merpeople in her palace. In the past, Edward prepared to rescue Akasha and learned Roselle had obtained the item Edward had requested, though he could not bring it into Sefirah Castle.

• Klein’s clashes with several Pirate Admirals helped digest his Faceless potion, and he decided to seek Queen Mystic’s help with his advancement ritual.
• Klein boarded Cattleya’s ship, the Future, and learned she had been cast out by Queen Mystic.
• Bernadette visited the Beautiful Merpeople on Lasha Island and recalled the Little Beautiful Merpeople doll from her childhood.
• Edward learned from Dubois that Roselle could help with Akasha’s situation but would not risk too much for a butler, then prepared to rescue her directly.
• Roselle thanked Edward for warning him about the Hidden Sage and said the God of Steam and Machinery had erased its marks from his family.
• Roselle revealed that he had obtained the item Edward requested, but could not bring it into Sefirah Castle.

Roselle learned that the Hidden Sage might target him because he could help Stiano stabilize his divine position, and he asked Edward for protection in exchange for stealing a Sealed Artifact. Meanwhile, Earl Clear blamed Roselle for Wells’s injuries and vowed revenge, while Akasha fled after discovering the assassination target was guarded by four Sequence 5s.

• Roselle asked Edward why the Hidden Sage might be targeting him, and Edward explained that Roselle was the only Chosen able to help Stiano stabilize his divine position.
• Roselle asked Edward for protection, and Edward offered it if Roselle took any Sealed Artifact from Stiano’s Church.
• Roselle asked whether anyone else like him existed, and Edward answered that Roselle was currently the only special existence before ending their connection.
• Edward watched Roselle wrestle with doubts about his transmigration and privately resolved to let the Emperor suffer for now while hoping to save him later.
• Earl Clear learned Wells had been crippled, blamed Roselle, and ordered a bounty placed on his head while Wells demanded to kill the woman himself.
• Akasha fled at midnight, cursing the people who had sent her to assassinate someone guarded by four Sequence 5s.

After rescuing Akasha from Earl Clear’s bodyguards, Edward learned that Earl Clear had been assassinated and that Akasha had been used as bait. Edward and Akasha caught the killer retrieving a hidden brass rod, then killed him after discovering he was an Aurora Order Shepherd.

• Akasha escaped three Sequence 5 bodyguards through Edward’s contingency and woke in Mr. Sparrow’s study.
• Edward told Akasha that Earl Clear had been assassinated while she distracted his bodyguards, and she realized she had been used as bait.
• Edward opened a Traveler’s Door to return Akasha to Feynapotter, but detected an intruder and used False Reality to control the villa.
• Edward and Akasha watched a bloodied man retrieve a hidden brass rod from the basement before confronting him.
• The intruder transformed into a devil, but Edward’s power degraded him from Sequence 5 to Sequence 6 and then Sequence 7.
• Edward teleported the intruder and Akasha to Trier’s outskirts, where a silver-white thunderbolt killed the Aurora Order member.

Edward questioned the dead Aurora Order Shepherd, learned that a mysterious Demoness had hired him to kill Earl Clear and retrieve an item, and discovered the Brass Rod could amplify spirituality. He returned Akasha to Feynapotter City, while Wells calmly watched the Clear family fall apart and declared it was all for the tide of the times.

• Edward used spirit channeling and Dream Divination to learn that the Shepherd had been hired by a Demoness to kill Earl Clear and retrieve an item from 7 Rose Street.
• Edward recognized the Demoness as the woman involved in the Roselle Family incident and divined that the Brass Rod could amplify spirituality and was likely made by the Twilight Hermit Order.
• Edward failed to divine where the other bronze rods were hidden, then told Akasha that the Shepherd had not known who hired him.
• Edward brought Akasha through the Spirit World to Feynapotter City, where she suddenly laughed.
• Earl Clear's sons began dividing their father's benefits while Wells quietly read Roselle's work and said, "All for the tide of the times."

Edward impersonated Mr. F to maintain his access to the Aurora Order’s resources while avoiding the True Creator’s attention. The Machinery Hivemind investigated the people connected to Earl Clear’s assassination, but Edward concealed his involvement and the investigators left with only preliminary suspicions.

• Edward weakened Akasha as a joke, then told her to open an upscale private hot spring to attract wealthy women.
• Edward returned to Mr. F’s residence, instructed the attendant to signal visitors with camellias, and avoided entering the secret chamber beneath the fireplace.
• Edward went home and sensed Machinery Hivemind members entering his False Reality to investigate him and others connected to Akasha.
• Horamick questioned Edward in a dream, and Edward denied knowing that Akasha had assassinated Earl Clear.
• The Machinery Hivemind captain concluded that Akasha was a suspected Sequence 6 Sanguine and that the killer might be a Shepherd or a Scribe.

Edward and Dubois were questioned by the National Intelligence Agency after Akasha was named as a killer in Earl Clear’s assassination, but Roselle’s intervention kept them from being taken in. Roselle celebrated Clear’s death and discussed Bernadette’s interest in becoming a Beyonder, while she insisted she would remember Edward for saving her.

• Edward wondered whether the powerful Sealed Artifact mentioned by officials might be Arrodes.
• Dubois read that Akasha was suspected of helping assassinate Earl Clear and questioned Edward, who denied knowing about it.
• National Intelligence Agency officers searched Edward’s villa, questioned Edward and Dubois, and ordered them to stay home without taking them in.
• Edward suspected Roselle had intervened and asked Dubois to watch 2 Camellia Street for a sign in its second-floor window.
• Roselle celebrated Clear’s death, told Bernadette she was too young to become a Beyonder, and learned that the National Intelligence Agency had left Edward alone.
• Bernadette said she would remember Edward for saving her, while Roselle claimed he had already repaid the favor twice.

In 1349, Alfred returned to Backlund and learned that his sister Audrey’s Edward was the notorious Gehrman Sparrow. In 1160, Edward prepared to move after the investigation at 7 Rose Street ended, then received Roselle’s notebook from Bernadette and read it in Sefirah Castle.

• Alfred reunited with Hibbert and Audrey at Backlund Railway Station and learned Edward was missing amid troublesome matters.
• Audrey revealed that Edward had once used the identity Gehrman Sparrow, prompting Alfred to loudly object to their marriage.
• After the National Intelligence Agency lifted its lockdown of 7 Rose Street, Edward decided to move to 28 Jade Street the next day.
• Bernadette prayed to Edward and offered him Roselle’s notebook, which she had borrowed for him to read.
• Edward read the notebook in Sefirah Castle, then asked Bernadette whether she knew what it contained.