Chapter Summaries

Edward escaped Stieffer by hiding inside Groselle's Travels and entered the book's frozen world, where he set out to find Mobet Zoroast. He reached the elf Shatas, who guarded the cave where Mobet was staying, and told her he had come on a friend's behalf.

• Edward fled Stieffer and hid in Groselle's Travels after deceiving him with an illusion; Amon arrived and fought the rampaging Stieffer, but an unseen attacker hypnotized them both and cut Amon's cheek.
• Edward confirmed that neither Stieffer nor Amon had found him, then decided to follow the book's story and complete his Sequence 3 advancement ritual.
• Edward used a Worm of Time and the Dowsing Rod Method to track Mobet Zoroast through the blizzard in the Book World.
• Edward found Shatas guarding a cave and told her he was looking for Mobet on a friend's behalf.

Edward entered Groselle’s camp and told Mobet that Pallez had sent him to bring Mobet out, then revealed that Pallez and Mobet were the last surviving members of the Zoroast Family. He left the group alarmed by warning that all of them would die soon.

• Edward claimed Pallez had sent him to find Mobet, and Mobet feared he had harmed his great-grandfather until Edward proved he knew their family connection.
• Edward appeared inside the cave, introduced himself as Sparrow, and used magic to provide the group with warm chairs and torches.
• Longzel asked Edward about Loen and his family in Backlund, while Edward realized that Longzel came from a time before his own birth.
• Edward told Mobet that Pallez was near death after being hunted by Amon and that the Zoroast Family had been wiped out, leaving only Pallez and Mobet.
• Edward warned that everyone in the cave would die soon, prompting Shatas to raise her bow at him.

Edward offered the inhabitants of Groselle’s Travels a way to survive leaving the book as evil spirits, and they agreed to believe in his Lord. When Ulyssan appeared, Edward subdued him and prepared to kill him, which would bring the story to its ending.

• Edward explained that leaving the book meant death unless the inhabitants became evil spirits, and he offered them a place in his Lord’s divine kingdom.
• Longzel, Groselle, Shatas, and Snoman agreed to believe in Edward’s Lord, while Mobet was obliged to go with him because Pallez had sent Edward to find him.
• Edward said they could leave only after reaching the story’s ending, which required killing Ulyssan, the King of the North.
• Ulyssan attacked the cave, but Edward swallowed his icy flames with an Illusory Door and transformed the Frost Dragon into an ice sculpture.
• Shatas and Snoman recited Edward’s Lord’s honorific name with the others, and Edward summoned lightning as he prepared to kill Ulyssan.

Edward pursued the apparently resurrected Frost Dragon into the City of Miracles, Liveseyd, where he found Amon fighting Stieffer. Trapped in the city and targeted by Stieffer, Edward switched places with Amon using Theft.

• The Frost Dragon shed its charred exterior, fled north, and became intangible as Edward and Shatas attacked it.
• Edward followed the dragon to a forest, entered Sefirah Castle, and failed to pull Groselle and the others' Spirit Bodies out of the book.
• Edward reached Liveseyd and recognized the Hall of Truth as Ankewelt's residence.
• Edward saw Amon fleeing Stieffer, who turned his murderous attention toward Edward after Amon swapped their positions.
• Edward tried to escape but found the route sealed by darkness, then used Theft to switch places with Amon as Stieffer attacked.

Edward, Amon, and Stieffer survived a deadly clash and headed toward the Hall of Truth, while Edward sought help from Will Auceptin. In Trier, Krismona confronted King Doloren, who revealed that the Brass Pillars were meant to free a sealed being beneath the city.

• Stieffer killed Amon and Edward in an apparent confrontation, but both reappeared after Stieffer separated his depraved personality from himself.
• Amon, Stieffer, and Edward agreed to investigate the Hall of Truth, where Edward's divination failed and he sent a message to Will Auceptin.
• Krismona entered King Doloren Sauron's bedchamber amid chaos in Trier and presented him with a Brass Pillar.
• Doloren explained that the Brass Pillars would attract seven demigod hunters or demonesses as sacrifices so the sealed being could escape beneath Trier.
• Doloren warned Krismona that she should not have come.

Krismona confronted Vermonda Sauron and destroyed his armored form before setting out to face him, while Will sensed another dangerous event and sent Edward good luck. Edward entered the Hall of Truth with Amon and Stieffer, where the hall exposed their surface thoughts and Edward questioned them about Lilith and the Red Priest pathway.

• Doloren told Krismona that Vermonda Sauron had deceived him and was using the deaths of Half-Gods to pursue resurrection, while Krismona suspected the Churches meant to exploit him to investigate the Tudor Ruins.
• Vermonda Sauron emerged and attacked Krismona, who shattered him and announced that she was coming for him.
• Will sensed a new crisis and sent Edward a blessing of good luck, then went to bed.
• Edward entered the Hall of Truth, used nursery rhymes to obscure his thoughts, and heard Amon and Stieffer's plans exposed by the hall.
• Edward asked Stieffer and Amon about Lilith's death and learned that Adam believed candidates for the Primordial Demoness and Red Priest positions had to change sex.

Edward, Amon, and Stieffer encountered Ariehogg in Groselle’s Travels, where he revealed that Ankewelt’s resurrection was tied to his own body. Ariehogg asked them to kill the personality of Ankewelt lurking within him, forcing the three into a dangerous and uncertain alliance.

• Stieffer spoke Chinese to Edward, who realized Lilith had taught him the phrase, while Amon complained about being excluded.
• A Frost Dragon emerged from a mural, transformed into the Mind Dragon Ariehogg, and thanked Edward for bringing him to the Dragon King’s throne.
• Edward deduced that a future Ariehogg had marked him and manipulated events to enter Groselle’s Travels, possibly as part of Ankewelt’s resurrection plan.
• Ariehogg asked the group to kill him, explaining that Ankewelt’s personality had been tampered with and would soon take over his consciousness.
• Ariehogg said Ankewelt had only just awakened and was weakened, and warned that the group would be destroyed if they failed to kill him.

Edward, Amon, and Stieffer fought the Mind Dragon as the Bronze Gate released a corruption that threatened to overwhelm them. After Amon freed Stieffer from a mental maze, Stieffer wounded the dragon but was bitten in half, and his scattered flesh began burrowing into it.

• Ariehogg slumped over as a hidden passage opened and the Bronze Gate released darkness that invaded the Mind Dragon.
• Edward shielded himself with Illusory Doors while Amon summoned the Carved Stone Wall Clock and Edward stole some of Amon’s corruption.
• Stieffer attacked the Mind Dragon but was struck by its Insight and trapped in a mental maze.
• The dragon’s Mental Plague disrupted Edward until Amon stole the chaotic thoughts and shouted him back to his senses.
• Edward struck the dragon with lightning, and Amon freed Stieffer from the mental maze.
• Stieffer pierced the dragon’s neck with the Blade of Spirit and Flesh, but the dragon bit him in half, scattering flesh that burrowed into its body.

Edward fought the Mind Dragon, whose contamination seemed tied to God Almighty’s consciousness, until Adam intervened and revealed he had orchestrated events to expose and seal that consciousness. Adam secured a Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristic and gave Edward the Dream Weaver characteristic, framing their cooperation as a transaction.

• Edward used Degradation and attacks to weaken the Mind Dragon, but the dragon recovered and invaded Edward’s consciousness through the Sea of Collective Subconscious.
• The Mind Dragon recognized Edward’s gray-fog garden as the domain of the Celestial Worthy, then a golden cross appeared and drove the black contamination from him.
• Edward returned to the Hall of Truth and saw Adam, Amon, and the defeated Mind Dragon as the hall had transformed around a towering cross.
• Adam thanked Edward as Number Eight and explained that he had exploited the Dragon King’s resurrection contingency to expose and seal God Almighty’s consciousness.
• Adam took the Spectator Pathway Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristic from the Mind Dragon and gave Edward the Dream Weaver Beyonder Characteristic.
• Adam told Edward that he would not investigate or interfere with him and asked whether he accepted their transaction as the ending.

Edward freed Groselle’s Team from the false world of “Groselle’s Travels” and brought their Spirit Bodies to Sefirah Castle. He entrusted them to Pallez, revealing that Longzel had emerged in 1160, thirty years before the time he had entered the book.

• Edward returned to the snowy world, told Groselle’s Team they could leave, and led them through the Illusory Gate.
• Edward brought the five Spirit Bodies to Sefirah Castle, where they saw their abandoned bodies decay in the War of the Gods Relic.
• Edward summoned Pallez, and Mobet reunited with his great-grandfather.
• Edward told Pallez he had cooperated with Adam to eliminate Ankewelt and asked Pallez to care for Groselle’s Team.
• Edward revealed that Longzel had entered the book in 1190 but had emerged in 1160, and instructed Pallez to pray to him to open the gate to his Divine Kingdom.

Edward completed the ritual for advancing to Sequence 3, then trapped an Amon avatar in a birdcage inside Sefirah Castle. Back in the sitting room, he gathered the remains of Groselle and the others before Stieffer arrived to speak with him about Lilith.

• Edward sent five Spirit Bodies through an illusory gate, confirmed they had become rational evil spirits, and completed his Sequence 3 ritual.
• Krismona reached the Bronze Coffin in the royal palace catacombs, where Vermonda Sauron and Cheek appeared.
• Amon confronted Edward in Sefirah Castle, but Edward transformed him into a little crow and confined him in a birdcage.
• Edward fed Amon a Worm of Time and hung the cage from a willow, planning to test what abundant humanity would do to Amon's main body.
• Edward returned to the sitting room, collected the bones and Beyonder Characteristics left by Groselle and the others, and received Stieffer, who said he had come because of Lilith.

Edward encountered Stieffer, who returned Lilith’s textbook and warned him against impersonating the Lord’s messenger, then found himself in Bansy facing the corrupted Abraham Family ship, the Laurel. He forced the living ship out of the Spirit World and battered it until a strange wooden box embedded in its heart was exposed, then tried to steal it.

• Stieffer returned Lilith’s textbook to Edward, explained that Lilith had once taken him in, and threatened to fight him to the death if he blasphemed again.
• Edward left the sitting room and discovered that he was in Bansy, where a black sailing ship bearing a golden laurel appeared and corrupted the fishermen.
• Edward recognized the ship as the Laurel and blocked its corruption with Illusory Doors while his Fiendfyre failed to damage it.
• When a premature Blood Moon let the Laurel escape into the Spirit World, Edward amplified a prohibition on Spirit World traversal and forced it back onto the sea.
• Edward attacked the living ship with lightning, Killing Curses, and Theft until its hull was ruined and a black wooden box was exposed inside its beating heart.
• Edward sensed that the wooden box had made the ship come alive and reached out to steal it.

Edward opened the Abraham Family chest and found the Sequence 3 Wanderer characteristic and the materials needed to advance. The characteristic drew him into a strange city resembling Old Shanghai, where repeated attempts to escape returned him to the same place, and he approached a dance hall with a distorted singer.

• Edward used the bronze Master Key to open the chest, revealing corrupted Beyonder characteristics, materials, and a Sequence 3 Wanderer characteristic.
• After Edward stored the Wanderer characteristic, gray-white fog transported him to a city resembling Old Shanghai, which he recognized as connected to the City of Calamity.
• Edward used [Homecoming] several times to escape, but each attempt returned him to the strange city.
• Edward suspected the Wanderer characteristic was pulling him back and considered sacrificing it to Sefirah Castle, but hesitated to give it up.
• Edward walked through the city's fog and approached a dance hall where a distorted singer performed.

Edward escaped the City of Calamity through the remains of a door after confronting Mr. Door and the Mother Goddess of Depravity. In Trier, Krismona and Lilith defeated the Demoness of Purple after the Outer Deity’s corruption faded, revealing that Cheek had been searching for Krismona because mirrors were Lilith’s domain.

• Edward opened the rotten wooden door, briefly transformed into a rabbit, and shattered the door when it began closing again.
• Edward saw Mr. Door and the Mother Goddess of Depravity through a fiery vortex, shouted “Yazi,” and shattered the mirror, escaping into Bansy Harbor.
• Krismona struggled against the Demoness of Purple while Lilith urged her to use the Magic Wishing Lamp.
• Lilith noticed the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s corruption disappearing and persuaded the Genie that they had no wish, so Krismona put the lamp away.
• Krismona trapped the Demoness of Purple with transparent threads, and Lilith emerged from a mirror and crushed her neck.

Lilith and Krismona obtained Cheek’s blood and Vermonda Sauron’s Sequence 1 characteristic as part of Lilith’s resurrection plan. Meanwhile, Roselle’s crew found dead Beyonder Creatures on a mysterious island, and Edward escaped Bansy Island with the Wanderer characteristic while wondering about the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s motives.

• Krismona collected Cheek’s blood, and Lilith recited the ritual that would use it to resurrect her.
• Lilith took Vermonda Sauron’s Conqueror characteristic from the Bronze Coffin, leaving him to recover as a sane Sequence 2.
• Roselle and his crew discovered an island covered with recently killed Beyonder Creatures, then withdrew to the Black Throne.
• Roselle entered his cabin and prayed to the Eternal Ruler Above the Dimensions for guidance.
• Edward confirmed that the Wanderer characteristic was still in his Tin Box after leaving Bansy Island and wondered whether the Mother Goddess of Depravity had recognized him.

Edward realized that the hand that once reached through the wooden door in Bansy's Spirit World had been his own future self, then returned to Trier and learned about deadly Beyonder battles. After prayers woke him from a brief rest, he entered Sefirah Castle, where Amon questioned him about his aura and Roselle asked for help investigating a strange island; Edward decided to wait until Roselle left before looking into it.

• Edward recalled using Transfiguration on the hand behind the wooden door and wondered whether his time travel had sent him to the future.
• Edward returned to Trier, learned that clashes between the Demoness Sect and the Iron and Blood Cross Order had killed over a hundred civilians, and tried to contact Intis about the commission.
• Edward went back to his villa, but prayers woke him before he could rest, so he entered Sefirah Castle.
• Amon asked Edward about the terrifying aura he carried, and Edward said he had visited the City of Calamity and fought the Mother Goddess of Depravity.
• Roselle prayed to Edward about a strange primitive island, and Edward decided to wait until Roselle left before investigating it.

Roselle chose to sail west rather than risk exploring the Primitive Island, while Audrey and the Tarot Club members gathered above the Gray Fog. Klein discovered in Roselle’s diary that the Emperor had also reached a mysterious gray-white fog and encountered someone seated at a bronze table.

• Edward told Amon that the Primitive Island was connected to an Outer Deity, and Amon explained that the Seven Deities could not stop the Mother Goddess of Desire’s influence in the Southern Continent.
• Roselle abandoned his planned exploration of the Primitive Island and ordered his crew to sail west toward the legendary Western Continent.
• Audrey joined the Tarot gathering and brought three pages of Roselle’s diary; Fors and Queen Mystic also presented diary pages, while Derrick reported that the City of Silver party had entered the temple again.
• Klein read Roselle’s account of recreating a silver medallion and entering a garden above gray-white fog, where a mysterious figure sat in the seat of honor at a bronze table.

Klein considered the former master of the space Above the Gray Fog while reading Roselle’s diary and hearing the Tarot Club members’ requests. The gathering ended with Emlyn agreeing to buy a Baron’s legacy from Alger and angrily denying that he had gotten seasick aboard the Golden Dream.

• Klein wondered whether the former master Above the Gray Fog had vanished, died, or might return, then continued reading Roselle’s diary and Little Sun’s account of the Ancient Gods.
• Fors asked Mr. Fool to assess her close friend as a possible Tarot Club member, and Klein agreed to consider her later.
• Alger offered Emlyn the Baron’s legacy for 4,500 pounds, and Emlyn agreed to buy it but asked Alger to hold it until he could pay the balance.
• Emlyn revealed that he had left Backlund and joined the Golden Dream, prompting Mr. World to tease him about getting seasick.
• Emlyn indignantly claimed that his stomach trouble came from eating human food rather than seasickness.

Derrick recounted an expedition into the half-collapsed temple, where his team met a suspicious boy named Sveti who claimed the way to the Giant King's Court led through Afternoon Town. The gathering also covered turmoil among Southern Continent factions, Klein's search for a woman, and Priscilla's recurring strange dreams.

• Alger warned the Tarot Club that the sea was unsettled, and Bernadette explained that the Temperance Faction and some Sanguine had attacked the Rose School's Indulgence Faction.
• Derrick told the gathering that his team met a boy named Sveti while exploring a temple and learned that Afternoon Town was the gateway to the Giant King's Court.
• Bernadette confirmed that the Giant King's Court contained a path out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and advised Derrick to seek Mr. Fool's help if danger arose.
• Klein offered any price for information about the woman he was searching for, and Bernadette agreed to travel with him to Backlund while Audrey said she needed to speak with him urgently.
• Priscilla described recurring dreams of an ancient mausoleum, a starry sky above a field of flowers, and a vast ruined city.

Emlyn arrived at Midway Island with Danitz and eagerly set out to explore, while Edward returned to his villa and investigated strange developments in Trier. Edward learned that the king had suddenly decided to marry after recent Beyonder incidents, and he asked Dubois to find out more as he wondered what had happened to his missing acquaintances.

• Emlyn learned that the Golden Dream had docked at Midway Island and went ashore with Danitz, who planned to take him somewhere exciting.
• Edward tried to divine the location of the Abraham descendants but saw only darkness, suggesting they had concealed their tracks.
• Dubois showed Edward a notebook of eligible women and explained that the Royal Palace had asked noble families to provide information because the king wanted to marry.
• Edward connected the king's sudden marriage plans with recent Beyonder incidents in Trier and the silence surrounding the commission, then asked Dubois to investigate further.
• Dubois told Edward he was attending a gathering with a classmate of Shirley, and Edward warned him against mistreating women.
• Edward asked Endili whether Bernadette had visited while he was away, and she said she had not.