Chapter Summaries

Edward defeated the merged flaming giant by exploiting its conflicting desires for the Card of Blasphemy, but the battle ended with the cultists’ deaths and Verdu still searching for his family’s hope. As Verdu went to divine the missing ship’s location, a terrifying presence appeared through a rotten wooden door and froze Edward in place.

• Edward and Verdu faced a flaming giant formed from more than a hundred people, and Edward’s attacks failed to stop it.
• Verdu drew the giant’s attention while Edward scattered Cards of Blasphemy, then shattered a fake Red Priest Card to make the aggregate pull itself apart.
• Edward collected the separated individuals’ blood, but they lost control and exploded; he burned the remains and found a black-and-red stone and a broken mirror.
• Verdu emerged from the overturned bow and lamented that the rest of the ship, which held clues about his family’s hope, was missing.
• Edward suggested Verdu use the bow for divination, and Verdu hurried back to try it.
• A rotten wooden door appeared beside Edward, and as a long hand reached through it, Edward froze and shouted for Verdu to escape.

Edward returned to Bansy Island to find its residents alive again and learned that the Church of Storms church had been destroyed, while Mr. Fool confirmed he was not in danger. Edward's Mental Patient potion was fully digested, and aboard the Emerald, Audrey caught Lilith and Susie instigating fights among the passengers.

• Edward returned to Bansy Island, found the residents alive, and prayed to Mr. Fool to check whether the island was safe.
• Klein divined that Edward was not in danger and sent him a reassuring message.
• Edward saw Anderson Hood fleeing a Church of Storms bishop, who accused him of destroying the church, and Edward realized his Mental Patient potion had been fully digested.
• Lilith used her instigation ability while Susie identified passengers' grievances, setting off arguments and fights across the Emerald's hall.
• Audrey confronted Lilith and Susie, and Susie advised Lilith to act cute instead of trying to run.

Edward returned to the Emerald after surviving a terrifying encounter in Bansy, reported his gains and losses to Audrey, and agreed to compensate those affected by Lilith’s instigation. In Backlund, Daly and Dunn confronted a cultist who invoked a flesh puppet resembling Lanevus, but the chapter ended with the man laughing as Daly’s attack destroyed his body.

• Edward returned to the Emerald, scolded Lilith for using Instigation, and apologized for tapping her head before telling Audrey about Bansy.
• Edward described the Medici descendants’ ritual, the unknown presence behind the wooden door, and his gains of a Sequence 5 Reaper Beyonder Characteristic and complete digestion of the Mental Patient potion.
• Edward and Audrey agreed to compensate the people Lilith had incited into arguing or fighting.
• In Backlund, Yuriges performed a blood ritual over a diary and vowed to serve his Lord, while Daly confronted him in a dreamlike battle.
• Dunn and Daly pursued Yuriges after the illusion broke, and Daly’s sound waves pulverized his body as he warned them of his Lord’s punishment.

Klein discovered that Yuriges had used Lanevus's diary to spread the True Creator's influence in an effort to kill Edward, but his investigation was interrupted by the god's terrifying presence. Edward and Audrey returned to Backlund while the Black Death spared Hibbert's ship, and Audrey settled back at her family's villa.

• Klein and Dunn killed Yuriges, and Klein took Lanevus's diary while Dunn collected the Beyonder characteristic.
• Klein learned through Spirit Channeling that Yuriges had retrieved the diary from the Blackthorn Security Company ruins and spread blood while praying to the True Creator to help kill Edward.
• The True Creator's presence nearly corrupted Klein during his investigation, and his attempt to divine the diary failed.
• Edward and Audrey used a Portkey to leave the Emerald for Backlund, after which the Black Death approached Hibbert's ship but departed without attacking.
• Tracy questioned why something important aboard the Emerald had vanished, then ordered the Black Death to sail for its next shipment of cargo.
• Edward left Audrey at the Hall Earl family villa, where Susie asked Audrey to take her out again.

Edward brought blood from Medici’s descendants to the sealed spirits, outmaneuvered Medici to learn he might receive the real Card of Blasphemy after gathering three kinds of blood, and met with Klein. Klein revealed that Yuriges had targeted Edward and scattered what appeared to be the True Creator’s blood throughout Backlund, so they agreed to report it.

• Edward left the Hall Family’s home and returned to the villa, where Lilith contemplated catching the local “fat rats.”
• Edward delivered blood from Medici’s descendants to Medici, who told him to find two other kinds of blood before he could get the real Card of Blasphemy.
• Edward overheard Medici discussing whether to give him the card, then revealed himself and left after the other spirits mocked Medici.
• Klein told Edward that Yuriges had targeted him and scattered what appeared to be the True Creator’s blood throughout Backlund, then handed him Yuriges’s diary.
• Edward and Klein agreed that the blood needed to be dealt with and decided to report the matter.

Edward killed Yuriges for Mr. A and learned that the Aurora Order planned to cooperate with the Demoness Church on a ritual to bring the True Creator into the world. After the True Creator warned him through Yuriges’s diary that Mr. A was lying and someone had been sent after him, Edward sought out Will Auceptin for advice.

• Edward asked Klein whether the person who commissioned the search for the tall man wanted him dead or alive, then speculated that Captain Dunn and Miss Daly might be romantically involved.
• Edward delivered Yuriges’s corpse to Mr. A, learned that Mr. A had used him as bait, and demanded payment for the kill.
• Mr. A absorbed the diary, through which the True Creator warned Edward not to trust Mr. A and told him to run because someone had been sent after him.
• Mr. A told Edward that the Demoness Church wanted to cooperate with the Aurora Order on a plan to bring the True Creator into the world, and Edward warned him that the plan would only cause pointless deaths.
• Edward divided the 2,000 Pounds payment, sacrificed part of it to Klein, and used the Paper Crane to enter a dream and consult Will Auceptin.

Edward learned from Will that the True Creator’s scattered blood was being used to find him, while Will warned him not to wait passively and to seek help from a stronger prophet. Meanwhile, Fors and Xio were discovered while investigating Yuriges’s death and escaped to Cherwood Borough, where they wondered whether their commission still merited payment.

• Edward spoke with Will in a dream, learned that each drop of the True Creator’s blood could help Him locate Edward, and received two cryptic warnings about coming trouble in Backlund.
• Edward woke, comforted Lilith after she accused him of lying about enormous rats, and confirmed that her test was the next day.
• Fors and Xio followed a sallow-complexioned man to an inn, where they overheard Lord Botis discuss Yuriges’s death and a search for Sharron and Maric.
• Lord Botis spotted Fors and Xio, but Fors used her bracelet to escape with Xio before he could catch them.
• Fors and Xio arrived in Cherwood Borough, confirmed Yuriges was dead, and Xio planned to ask Audrey for compensation for their work.

Edward postponed Lilith's anticipated reading test when Ikanser Bernard brought a request from Archbishop Horamick, then supplied the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery with electronic devices. After leaving the church, Edward received a letter from Emlyn and learned that Black Bird had picked up its nickname habit from a headless woman.

• Edward teased Lilith by pretending to forget her reading test, then planned to test her after breakfast.
• Ikanser Bernard visited Edward on Archbishop Horamick's behalf and asked for something that could help the Church develop.
• Edward transported Ikanser Bernard to Saint Hillan Church and demonstrated several electronic appliances, including a Walkman, a radio, and a walkie-talkie.
• Edward attributed the devices to the Evernight Goddess and left them with Ikanser Bernard.
• Ikanser Bernard summoned the waiting researchers, who rushed to examine the devices before yielding to the arriving Archbishop.
• Black Bird delivered a letter from Emlyn and told Edward that it had learned to give people nicknames from a scary headless woman.

Edward obtained and divined the Ancient Castle's location but postponed deciding whether to pursue its Wraith Spirits. Audrey's report of Botis's massacre and possible cooperation with the Rose School of Thought prompted Edward to consider hunting him and fear that the True Creator had allied with an Outer Deity.

• Edward asked his messenger to seek help from its headless friend if needed and rewarded it with five feathers.
• Emlyn gave Edward a map to the Ancient Castle in Delaire Forest in exchange for Alicia and revealed that Lord Nibais had supplied the address.
• Edward divined the ruined Ancient Castle, saw two Wraith Spirits and a terrifying Bronze Gate, and wondered whether the Sanguine had laid a trap.
• Audrey told Edward that Prince Edessak had replaced Trissy with another woman who seemed similar to her.
• Audrey relayed Fors and Xio's discovery that Botis had killed everyone in an inn while pursuing Edward, leading Edward to consider seeking prophetic help to hunt him.
• Edward learned of possible cooperation with the Rose School of Thought and feared that the True Creator's rational consciousness had allied with an Outer Deity to kill him.

Edward learned that the True Creator’s followers and the Rose School were targeting him, while the Evernight Goddess assured him he was safe in churches but left him to handle the threat himself. Meanwhile, Klein received a prayer from a mysterious little girl and considered whether to bring her into the Tarot Club.

• Edward prayed to the Evernight Goddess and learned that the True Creator’s followers and the Rose School had joined forces only to target him, and that he was safe inside a church.
• Edward contacted his messenger, who reported that the headless woman had told Sharron and Maric to relocate and offered to help Edward once for 10,000 pounds.
• Klein learned that the final ingredients for his Sequence 7 Magician potion had arrived and discussed preparing his improved bicycle for factory production with Leopard.
• Klein answered a prayer from the black-clad little girl he had encountered before and considered inviting her to join the Tarot Club.
• Klein used divination to ask whether bringing the girl into the Tarot Club would harm him.

Klein summoned Priscilla to the Tarot Club and persuaded her to join as the Death Card, while she asked him to keep her membership secret from Edward. Edward returned to the villa and began the literacy test he had promised Lilith.

• Klein summoned a little girl and learned she was Priscilla, a descendant of Mr. Azik who knew Edward.
• Priscilla tried to summon Mr. Azik’s messenger, then apologized when Klein revealed himself as Mr. Fool.
• Klein invited Priscilla to join the Tarot Club, and she chose the Death Card as her code name.
• Priscilla asked Klein not to tell Edward that she had joined the Tarot Club, and he agreed.
• Edward returned to the villa, where Lilith greeted him, and they began her literacy test.

Edward learned that Audrey had advanced to Psychiatrist and agreed to accompany her to a salon that might involve the Psychology Alchemists. At the Tarot Club, Klein introduced Priscilla as a new member called Miss Death, surprising Edward, and Alger presented Mr. Fool with a diary page.

• Lilith celebrated passing Edward’s literacy test, then learned that next week’s test would be harder.
• Audrey told Edward she had advanced to Psychiatrist and asked whether she should attend Mrs. Norma’s salon; Edward’s divination showed no danger, and he offered to accompany her.
• Audrey invited Edward to the Emperor Roselle Commemorative Exhibition, which began the following day, and he agreed to go with her.
• Klein introduced Priscilla as the Tarot Club’s new member, Miss Death, and Edward recognized her as the little girl who had lived next door in Tingen.
• Alger presented Mr. Fool with the final diary page.

At the Tarot Club, Derrick worried that Elder Lovia was testing him, while the members traded ingredients and information and learned Priscilla might have advanced directly to Sequence 5. Alger then reported on the pirate powers, and Edward shared a rumor that Queen Mystic was Roselle’s daughter Bernadette Gustav.

• Derrick told the Tarot Club that Elder Lovia had offered him a reward and might suspect him because he brought the Hand of Glory back to the City of Silver.
• Edward and Alger discussed why Lovia might be testing Derrick, and Mr. Fool permitted Derrick to reveal the Tarot Club’s existence in a limited way if necessary.
• World and Alger exchanged for ingredients and information, Edward arranged to buy a Beyonder characteristic, and Audrey revealed she had advanced to Sequence 7.
• Priscilla asked how someone could digest lower Sequence potions after advancing to Sequence 5, leading Edward to suspect Azik had given her a direct advancement.
• Alger described the pirate hierarchy and announced that Queen Mystic was a Half-God; Edward shared the rumor that she was Bernadette Gustav, Roselle’s eldest daughter.

At the Tarot Club, Edward explained that his apparent membership in the Aurora Order was an undercover ploy, while Derrick learned more about the True Creator and worried about Lovia. After the gathering, Derrick asked Lovia if she would betray the City of Silver, and she swore she would not; meanwhile, Klein received a commission to protect a jeweler’s child, and Edward received Asman’s Brain.

• Klein identified the upside-down statue in the City of Silver’s ruined temple as the Fallen Creator, also known as the True Creator.
• Edward told the Tarot Club that he had temporarily joined the Aurora Order as an undercover agent to exploit its internal conflict and deal with the pursuing Saint.
• Derrick exchanged information about the Fallen Creator with Klein and later sought out Lovia, who swore she would never betray the City of Silver.
• Priscilla said she had a premonition that something terrible would happen in Backlund, and Klein ended the gathering.
• A jeweler named Logo Kaloman hired Klein to protect his child until the following afternoon.
• Edward received a box containing Asman’s Brain, while Lilith went to play with Susie.

Edward visited the Sanguine's Ancient Castle to obtain cursed objects from two Ancient Wraiths, but the Bronze Gate triggered a mysterious connection to Mr. Door and began drawing him toward it. Meanwhile, Audrey attended Mrs. Norma's salon and learned that more children of Loen's nobility were being drawn into the gatherings.

• Edward used a coin divination to choose the night to visit the Sanguine's Ancient Castle, then traveled there disguised as Emlyn.
• Audrey met Helena at Mrs. Norma's salon, where Helena told her that several familiar young nobles had attended the previous gathering.
• Hilbert Arucard introduced himself to the salon guests as a psychologist and began presenting psychology and its applications.
• Edward entered the underground hall, dispelled a hallucination of Medici's descendants, and killed the two Wraith Spirits.
• Edward collected two cursed objects and the Wraith Spirit dust, but the Bronze Gate began pounding and pulling him toward it as Mr. Door's voice warned him not to be saved.

Edward escaped the Bronze Gate and wondered about its connection to Mr. Door and his advancement, then left a graveyard where Klein arrived to investigate a resurrection ritual. Klein stopped the ritual’s zombie, and Priscilla collected strange white feathers from a nearby grave before warning Klein that the Copper Whistle was dangerous.

• Edward escaped the ancient hall, rested in an empty warehouse, and questioned how Mr. Door, the Bronze Gate, and his door tattoo were connected.
• Edward visited Saint Samuel Church, buried half the wraith spirit dust with a memorial for the wraith spirit couple, and left Green Cemetery as Klein arrived.
• Klein watched Kopusti Reed and his companions perform a Spirit Dance, but their ritual raised a zombie that attacked them.
• Klein destroyed the zombie, questioned Kopusti about the Spirit Dance and Copper Whistle, and went with him and Priscilla to inspect a grave.
• Klein found white feathers stained with pale yellow grease in the grave, while Priscilla collected them and warned him that the Copper Whistle was dangerous.

Klein prepared to attend Emperor Roselle's commemorative exhibition in search of clues to a Card of Blasphemy, but Trissy first commissioned him to investigate Edessak and the woman beside him. Edward and Audrey also prepared for the exhibition, while an unidentified visitor arrived at Edward's door.

• Klein kept the copper whistle, warned Kopusti against repeating the spirit dance, and returned home to divine the whistle's origins above the gray fog.
• The Vampire Duke declined to have Emlyn followed after learning that someone had secretly entered the Ancient Castle, then questioned the meaning of a cat in the Progenitor's revelation.
• Edward dressed to accompany Audrey to the exhibition and recognized an unexpected visitor before opening his door.
• Klein replied to Detective Isengard Stanton's theories about the serial murders and prepared to seek clues to a Card of Blasphemy at the exhibition.
• Trissy offered Klein fifty pounds in advance and another five hundred for useful information about Edessak, particularly the woman beside him, and Klein's divination indicated that the commission was not particularly dangerous.
• Audrey dressed for the exhibition with Annie's help, and Earl Hall asked where she was going.

Edward tested his magic on a demigod visitor who had insisted he accompany her, and discovered that his spells could affect her under unusual circumstances. The visitor left him wondering how his mysterious power worked and nursing the effects of exhausting his spirituality.

• Audrey learned that Edward could not accompany her to the Roselle Memorial Exhibition, and her father offered to arrange a private visit instead.
• A story-loving lady arrived at Edward’s home and offered him ten thousand pounds to come with her; when he refused, she threatened to use force but agreed to a condition he chose.
• Edward sent Lilith to deliver a note to Audrey, then asked the lady to cooperate with an experiment and confirmed that she was a demigod.
• Edward tested several spells on the lady, finding that most had little effect, though Sectumsempra cut her clothes and Vera Verto briefly distorted her body.
• Edward used Lunatic on the Right while casting Vera Verto and Tarantallegra, turning the lady into a dancing Persian cat before she returned to human form.
• The lady demanded to know how Edward had done it, while Edward concealed the secret and struggled with the pain of having depleted his spirituality.

Edward told Bernadette stories inside Emperor Roselle’s study at the Royal Museum, while Klein prepared to infiltrate the museum to investigate the suspicious bookmark. Bernadette fell asleep as Edward continued with familiar fairy tales, leaving him to keep telling stories in the isolated space.

• Edward tested his abilities and accepted a story request from a mysterious lady, telling her the tale of One Thousand and One Nights.
• Audrey visited the Royal Museum with other young nobles and secretly signaled Susie to retrieve the bookmark from the Creative Manuscript.
• Klein sealed a nearby empty house, performed a ritual to alter his appearance, and flew toward the Royal Museum to investigate the bookmark.
• Edward followed the lady into the Royal Museum, where she used Beyonder methods to isolate Emperor Roselle’s study and revealed herself as Queen Mystic Bernadette.
• Bernadette asked Edward to tell Snow White, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, then gradually fell asleep as he continued.

Edward realized that Bernadette might mistake him for her father, Roselle, because he knew Chinese idioms and fairy tales, just as Klein attempted to steal two bookmarks from the museum. Edward helped Klein escape with the bookmarks, and Bernadette left him with a remark that suggested she recognized him as someone from her past.

• Edward suspected Bernadette believed he was Emperor Roselle after he told her stories and idioms associated with her father.
• Bernadette confronted Klein as he tried to take two bookmarks from Roselle's desk, freezing him with her power.
• Edward pretended to grab a bookmark and secretly pushed it into Klein's spirit body, allowing Klein to escape above the gray fog with both bookmarks.
• Bernadette told Edward, "You're still like this. You haven't changed at all," then vanished, leaving him wondering whether she thought he was Roselle.
• Klein returned home, while Edward went back to the Villa and drank water before Lilith came to greet him.