Recaps

The Demon of Knowledge watched the River of Eternal Darkness’s corruption reach Bansy while Edward used it to weaken the City of Calamity and hurl Bansy Island at the Southern Continent. The collision shattered the Gray Fog Wall around the Western Continent, giving the Demon of Knowledge a chance to draw more of the Knowledge Moor beyond its seal.

• The Demon of Knowledge took Kotar’s Curtain and passed it to Klein’s avatar in Sefirah Castle while noticing corrupted dead spirits moving toward Bansy.
• The Demon of Knowledge learned that many corrupted bodies had reached Bansy, where the River of Eternal Darkness’s power began disrupting the City of Calamity.
• Edward arrived at Bansy and used the corruption carried by five hundred people’s souls and bodies to suppress the City of Calamity temporarily.
• Edward lifted Bansy Island and hurled it toward the Southern Continent, triggering a catastrophic impact that sent death and calamity across the world.
• The impact weakened the Gray Fog Wall around the Eastern Continent, revealing the Western Continent and prompting the Demon of Knowledge to seize his chance to bring more of the Knowledge Moor out of the seal.

The Demon of Knowledge withdrew from the gathered Beyonder Characteristics, while Klein discovered that his perception had expanded to the Western Continent. Ouroboros prayed to the Circle of Inevitability for help becoming the God of Fate, and the chapter ended with figures on the Western Continent reacting to a sudden disturbance.

• The Hidden Sage returned to Intis and shared newly gained knowledge with the Church of Mysteries, overwhelming its praying faithful.
• Klein's Sequence Two Avatar finished a Dream Divination, stored the Curtain, and realized his perception now reached the Western Continent.
• Ouroboros saw the Key of Light appear in the River of Fate and prayed to the Circle of Inevitability for help becoming the God of Fate, offering his past and future in exchange.
• The Circle of Inevitability received Ouroboros's plea as a gale of calamity and death swept across the world.
• Heavenly Mechanism awoke on the Western Continent, while a returning traveler visited a Taoist temple and a plump fortune-teller abruptly abandoned his stall after sensing trouble at home.

The weakened seal between the Eastern and Western Continents let their worlds begin to connect, while the powers behind the conflict reacted to the opening. Edward confronted the incarnation of the River of Eternal Darkness, and Anderson Hood awoke in an unfamiliar body and met another Anderson.

• Two Taoists witnessed a gray-fog manifestation at their temple and wondered whether their patriarch had appeared.
• A young man on the Western Continent promised his reflected senior that he would win the next religious assembly, then disposed of a man he had murdered.
• The weakened seal let information and Sefirah power pass between the continents, though the Demon of Knowledge remained trapped behind God Almighty’s watch.
• Bansy Island crashed into Balam, damaging the continent and provoking the Goddess’s manifestation through the tributary of the River of Eternal Darkness.
• Edward challenged the incarnation while sensing his connection to his Sefirah return.
• Anderson Hood awoke in a square with a paintbrush and canvas, found himself unable to speak, and wrote his name to a wary green-eyed young man.

Leonard mistook the painter Anderson for the famous adventurer Anderson Hood and tried to take him to the Church, while Ouroboros and Will fought over the Dice of Probability through endless cycles of rebirth. Ouroboros secured the die and erased his past to advance, then spared Will as promised to Klein.

• Leonard recognized the name Anderson Hood, suspected the painter’s body held the adventurer’s spirit, and ordered him to come to the Church of the Fool’s cathedral.
• Will and Ouroboros stood within the River of Fate’s infinity symbol as Ouroboros drew on an Outer Deity’s power, and Will tried to seize the Dice of Probability.
• Ouroboros and Will repeatedly became creatures and fought to kill each other, until Ouroboros escaped the cycles by traveling back to their first beginning and breaking Will’s egg.
• Ouroboros picked up the Dice of Probability, which landed on six, and absorbed the droplets of his past into the darkness behind his halo.
• Will regained consciousness, and Ouroboros told him to reboot himself because he had promised Klein not to kill him.

Ouroboros used the Circle of Inevitability’s power to defeat Will and ascend as the god of fate, while Will lost his Sequence One characteristic and accepted that he could no longer advance. Ouroboros then negotiated with another Outer Deity over Medici’s fate, and Will watched a new battle begin over Backlund.

• Ouroboros controlled Will’s Reboot, took his Sequence One characteristic, and became the god of fate as Will conceded defeat and vanished.
• An Outer Deity offered to keep Medici alive in exchange for control of his fate, and Ouroboros accepted the offer.
• Ouroboros contacted Ricciardo and told the School of Life to send him records while he stayed in the Northern Continent.
• Will surveyed the earthquake damage around Backlund, saw Aaron Ceres and his family mourning, and left for Intis.
• Will saw a storm rise over Backlund as a colossal black tower emerged and spread threads across the Loen Empire.

A wounded MI9 officer reached the chamber where George III had fallen and pledged himself to the emperor, who said he would escape and reclaim the country. Elsewhere, Baranka and others organized relief and rebuilding after Balam was devastated, while the officer was left to serve as George III’s key to leaving the mausoleum.

• The MI9 officer emerged into a pitch-black underground chamber, found that his Wishing Glass Bottle could no longer grant his request for light, and fell into a vast hole.
• Baranka and another speaker discussed Balam’s destruction, the casualties, and emergency rescue and rebuilding efforts.
• The officer landed before a colossal black figure and recognized it as Emperor George III.
• The officer told George III that the Church had taken control of the country and weakened the emperor’s authority.
• George III announced that he would leave the mausoleum and reclaim the country, and said the officer was the key to his escape.
• The officer kowtowed and agreed to obey George III.

The Son of Chaos escaped his mausoleum as the God of Thunder attacked, while a corruption linked to Anderson Hood spread through Utopia and threatened Klein’s ritual. In Feynapotter, the Earth Mother watched the royal palace and the Castiya Family vanish before the God of Thunder confronted her.

• The Son of Chaos possessed a human officer’s body, left his mausoleum, and prepared to confront the God of Thunder after losing contact with the Justiciar Uniqueness.
• Leonard and Pallez discovered that Utopia’s marionettes were attacking one another under a strange corrupting influence, while Anderson remained unaffected.
• Leonard rescued Anderson from the cathedral and suspected that the power surrounding him had been sent to sabotage Klein’s ritual by destroying Utopia.
• The Earth Mother sensed a terrifying presence in Feynapotter City, but the imperial palace and the Castiya Family disappeared before she could respond.
• The God of Thunder appeared before the Earth Mother as lightning gathered in the sky.

Cheek secured the Trunsoest Brass Book as George III’s voice announced his return across Loen, while Audrey discovered that the broadcast was drawing disaster survivors into worship. In the Astral World, the newly ascended Ouroboros waited for a chance to reach Bansy Island as the Black Emperor fought the God of Thunder; Leonard and Anderson watched Utopia burn before hearing a sigh beside them.

• Cheek reinforced the seal on the Trunsoest Brass Book, heard George Augustus III proclaim himself emperor, and returned to the Demoness Sect’s heartland with the Uniqueness.
• George III’s broadcast reached Loen and nearby regions, prompting celebration among royalists, unease among foreign Beyonders, and confusion among ordinary people.
• Audrey and Susie learned that the Hall family was safe, while Audrey noticed injured survivors unconsciously repeating prayers to the emperor and decided to leave for Hedrak Village.
• Ouroboros hurried toward the Southern Continent but found the area around Bansy Island blocked by black clouds and mist as the Black Emperor and the God of Thunder fought in the Astral World.
• The Son of Chaos discovered that his Justiciar Uniqueness had been contaminated by the City of Calamity and continued battling Leodero rather than risk recalling it.
• Leonard and Anderson watched Utopia burn from a mountain, and a sudden sigh sounded beside them.

As Klein’s consciousness spread through Utopia’s marionettes, the Abyss’s power flooded the town with malice and turned its residents violent. Klein briefly rescued the visiting souls, but the corruption struck his main body through the marionettes and left Utopia burning as he lost control.

• Klein’s fragmented consciousness experienced the lives of Utopia’s marionettes while his main body slept inside Sefirah Castle.
• Leonard prayed to Klein’s Sequence Two avatar after corrupted souls made Utopia’s marionettes attack one another, and Klein gathered the eighty-seven visitors into a safe building and put them to sleep.
• The avatar recognized Anderson among the souls and noticed Klein’s main body stirring in pain.
• Abyss’s power overwhelmed Klein with the marionettes’ murderous thoughts, causing his Spirit Worms to writhe, fall, and devour one another.
• Klein’s avatar also lost control, and Utopia burned into black silhouettes beneath the snowy mountains.

Klein ended Utopia to escape the torment of his marionettes’ deaths, but the collapse of his mental balance let the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth deepen his influence over him. Klein regained control of his body and watched the world through Sefirah Castle, leaving as the cold, indifferent Fool while grieving the guide he had lost.

• Klein reassembled part of his body from Spirit Worms and struck the Bronze Long Table, forcibly ending Utopia and its ritual.
• Anderson discovered that his Beyonder abilities were gone and saw that Utopia had vanished, leaving only bare grass and churned earth.
• The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth mocked Klein and urged him to destroy the Garden of Eden in Loen, where Leodero’s fate was nearing its end.
• Klein realized the Celestial Worthy was using his weakened state to assimilate his consciousness, and he thought of Benson and Melissa.
• Klein reassembled himself at the Fool’s chair, looked out at the world through Sefirah Castle, and settled back into the cold, indifferent role of the Fool.

Klein surveyed the aftermath of the catastrophe and considered how to obey the Lord of the Mysteries’ order to destroy the Garden of Eden while preventing God Almighty from taking Loen. Emlyn encountered a terrifying mass invocation of the deceased emperor, Audrey entered a strange dream connected to Hedrak, and the God of Thunder rejected Klein’s attempt to help Him.

• Klein observed that Will had fallen to Sequence Two, while Ouroboros was missing and the Southern Continent remained hidden behind black fog.
• Emlyn helped survivors with the Church of the Earth Mother, but the patients suddenly raised their arms and called out to George Augustus III.
• Audrey and Susie reached the Hall Family’s forest near Hedrak, and Audrey entered a lucid dream after reciting Hermes’ honorific name.
• Klein realized that God Almighty might seize Loen after the God of Thunder’s defeat and decided to help prevent that outcome.
• The God of Thunder blocked Klein’s attempt to send information through Sefirah Castle and told him not to interfere.

Leodero fought the Son of Chaos in the Astral World while questioning whether Klein Moretti was restraining him, and the Hidden Sage joined the battle under the Demon of Knowledge’s control. The Son of Chaos invoked the Astral World’s connection to the Lord of the Astral World and began reclaiming his symbol, leaving Leodero facing a faster defeat.

• Leodero sensed his believers’ prayers fading and recalled his past as a young Cataclysmic Interrer serving them during the Ancient Sun God’s expedition.
• Leodero suspected Klein Moretti was controlling the Son of Chaos and challenged his motives while exchanging lightning and conceptual attacks with the incarnation.
• The Hidden Sage appeared and drove Leodero’s seawater back, disrupting the balance of the battle.
• The chapter explained how faith and detailed cultural impressions of gods provided them with useful anchors.
• The Son of Chaos declared that no god could exert large-scale influence over the Astral World, forcing Leodero to confront the danger of fighting there or abandoning Loen.
• The Son of Chaos said he had borrowed George Augustus’s identity to become a god and was reclaiming his symbol as the Hidden Sage watched Leodero, leaving him close to defeat.

Earth Mother Lilith and Leodero entered the Astral World, leaving Cheek an opportunity to pursue 0-01 on Pasu Island, while Audrey confronted buried fears in a dream. Klein recognized Cheek’s plan but, after a painful warning altered his thoughts, decided the God of Thunder should die and abandoned the matter.

• Lilith assessed the damage to Feynapotter and Loen, then answered Leodero’s summons to the Astral World.
• Cheek saw the gods leave the real world and headed toward Pasu Island to seize 0-01, despite noticing a strange crimson spreading across the sea.
• Audrey dreamed of the Beyonder Doll, her family, and a monstrous dragon before reaching a cliff overlooking golden light in the gray depths.
• Klein recognized that Cheek was targeting the Church of Lightning to take 0-01 and considered intervening.
• A sudden headache warned Klein away from helping the God of Thunder, and he decided the god was more useful dead than alive.

Klein struggled with the temptation to turn humanity into immortal marionettes, while Audrey entered a mysterious castle dream and Emlyn faced mass fanaticism in Loen. As Lilith and Leodero fought the Son of Chaos and the Hidden Sage, Klein granted a grieving child’s wish and reunited her with her mother.

• Klein considered making everyone marionettes to spare them suffering, then confronted the danger in his desire to create a perfect world.
• Audrey discovered mind doors in a dragon-sized castle dream, tried to retreat, and found herself unable to escape the castle’s pull.
• Emlyn and the Church of the Earth Mother treated Loen civilians who had developed fanatical faith in the emperor, while Lilith ignored their prayers to help fight in the Astral World.
• Lilith and Leodero battled the Son of Chaos and the Hidden Sage, and Leodero’s attack disrupted the Hidden Sage’s attempt to transmit Knowledge Moor data.
• Klein appeared as a magician in Hila’s dream, granted her wish to be with her mother, and she awoke reunited with her mother before Klein moved on to another dream.

Emlyn investigated the sudden disappearance of injured patients, then met a wandering magician who offered to grant wishes. Bethel visited Fors and Xio, warned them to flee to Intis, and prepared to confront Klein if necessary; meanwhile, Cheek entered the blood-red tornado surrounding 0-01.

• Emlyn learned that more than ten critically ill or severely injured patients and their families had vanished, with a witness claiming that a dead child had come back to life.
• Emlyn recited the Fool's Honorific Name, but an unfamiliar wandering magician appeared and offered to grant his wishes; Emlyn refused.
• Fors returned home and found Bethel visiting Xio, where he advised Fors on digesting her Traveler potion and told both women to move to Intis.
• Bethel said he would fulfill his promise to challenge Klein and would kill his body if Klein's personality had been destroyed; he then urged Fors and Xio to leave.
• Cheek arrived on Pasu Island and sensed that 0-01 had been released from its seal and taken into the Astral World by Leodero.
• Cheek entered the blood-red tornado around 0-01, driven to obtain the banner and become a Red Priest despite the danger.

The Primordial Demoness was forced out of hiding after the Son of Chaos commanded her to return the Trunsoest Brass Book, leaving her caught between the battling gods. Elsewhere, the wandering magician restored a family’s home before responding to an urgent prayer, and Audrey encountered a Mind Dragon in her dream just as Hermes arrived with Groselle’s Travels.

• The Son of Chaos sensed the Primordial Demoness’s Brass Book and ordered her to return his Uniqueness, forcing her out of concealment and injuring her serpent hair.
• Cheek revealed herself, drew an ice dagger, and faced the Son of Chaos while Leodero continued fighting him and Lilith watched warily.
• The wandering magician granted Oli’s wish and restored his family’s destroyed house, then left before Oli and his brother could find him.
• The wandering magician reflected that repairing buildings and families would not prevent future disasters, but an urgent prayer interrupted him.
• Audrey entered a dream as a dragon and met a Mind Dragon before returning to human form.
• Hermes appeared carrying Groselle’s Travels and asked Audrey whether she was enjoying her conversation with the dragon.

Audrey discovered that Hermes had borrowed Groselle's Travels from Gehrman Sparrow, who had become an Angel, and learned that the ancient Dragon Ariehogg wanted to find Liveseyd. As Hermes opened the travelogue and invited Ariehogg inside, Leodero attacked the Hidden Sage while the Moon's Uniqueness manifested from his body, and Lilith approached the red figure as a mother.

• Audrey recognized Groselle's Travels and learned from Hermes that he had bought it from Gehrman Sparrow's subordinates, then realized Gehrman had become an Angel.
• Ariehogg revealed that he was one of three surviving ancient Dragons and asked where the Dragon Race's City of Miracles, Liveseyd, was hidden.
• Hermes explained that Liveseyd could be entered through the dream world and opened the travelogue, telling Audrey she could return with a Dreamwalker main ingredient for Susie.
• The Moon's Uniqueness transformed information on the Hidden Sage's left arm into a red woman, and Leodero attacked his right arm to seize Writer and the Uniqueness.
• The Hidden Sage summoned a magical tree to restrain the red woman, but Leodero cut it down and she emerged from his body.
• Lilith appeared before the red woman with a child and opened her arms, and the red woman tentatively approached her.

Lilith accepted the Moon’s Uniqueness, and its red light spread across the world as Alger encountered a Wandering Magician and learned that an angel had taken Groselle’s Travels. The chapter ended with Alger responding to the moonlight’s unnatural life-giving power and a mysterious being battling undead forces in the Southern Continent.

• The Hidden Sage urged Lilith to ascend as Moon Maiden, and the Moon’s Uniqueness merged with her, turning the Astral World blood-red.
• Leodero summoned storms over the Northern Continent, but the people prayed to Earth Mother Lilith, while Emlyn realized the connection between the Mother Goddess and the Ancestor.
• Alger discovered that Groselle’s Travels had vanished from the Sea God Church’s sealing chamber, leaving behind a check for five hundred thousand pounds.
• A Wandering Magician told Alger that Ancient Hermes, an angel affiliated with the Intis Church of the Creator, had taken the book, then promised Alger a successful advancement.
• Alger saw red moonlight accelerate plant growth and rushed to gather his potion ingredients after ordering people indoors.
• In the Southern Continent, an enormous being crushed a Feathered Serpent’s undead remains while another voice promised to help ensure the being died outside.

Merlin Hermes tracked Groselle's Travels into its imagined world and confronted Hermes, who had entered the Sea of Collective Subconscious. Merlin stole Hermes's ability to enter dreams and minds, leaving their encounter unresolved.

• Merlin failed to wish himself directly to Hermes, then used the Spirit World to reach the dream where Groselle's Travels was hidden.
• Merlin discovered that Groselle's Travels contained an imagined world once associated with the Dragon King Ankewelt, and realized Hermes had entered the Sea of Collective Subconscious.
• Hermes spoke with the Ascetic Snoman in Pesot City and uncovered Snoman's buried memories of breaking his vow and remaining in the book's world for millennia.
• Ariehogg urged Hermes to leave, but Merlin Hermes appeared beside him and announced a magic trick.
• Merlin vanished and stole Hermes's power to enter dreams and minds.

Merlin followed Hermes and Ariehogg into the Sea of Collective Subconscious, where they found the City of Miracles, Liveseyd. Hermes’s apparent pilgrimage proved to be a trap: Ariehogg’s return awakened Ankewelt’s spirit and the corruption behind the palace throne, whereupon the Chaos Sea and a sun emerged.

• After Merlin stole Hermes’s authority, Hermes persuaded Ariehogg to take him into the Sea of Collective Subconscious and swore not to harm him.
• Merlin explored Snoman’s dream and the Mind World, where he destroyed a giant’s spiritual imprint and followed two dragons toward Liveseyd.
• Ariehogg recognized Liveseyd, landed in the city, and rushed toward its central palace while Hermes followed.
• Merlin sensed danger, scattered paper figurines throughout the city, and watched from the edge of the pit.
• A roar from the palace struck Hermes, who endured it with dragon scales and bowed before the hall as Ariehogg burst out and tried to flee.
• Ankewelt’s spirit awakened in Ariehogg, and a Bronze Gate opened behind the throne, releasing the Chaos Sea and a towering figure that baptized him.

Ankewelt’s resurrection in Liveseyd ended with the Chaos Sea’s corruption baptizing him, but Merlin intervened and tried to seize him as a marionette. Meanwhile, Edward prepared to draw power from the starry sky as the Outer Deity warned him to accept his coming decay and return purified.

• Ankewelt realized that Hermes had lured Ariehogg to Liveseyd so God Almighty’s corruption could reach him, and he waited for his self to be erased.
• Merlin discovered from the temple murals that Ankewelt’s true resurrection plan involved 0-08 meeting Groselle’s Travels so he could return as a Sequence One.
• Merlin grasped Ankewelt’s spirit body threads, prompting the light-and-shadow figure to identify him as the Lord of Mysteries, and Ankewelt began to fly away under Merlin’s control.
• Edward established a channel to the starry sky and discussed Klein, the Immortal Boat, the Western Continent, and Medici with the Outer Deity.
• The Outer Deity told Edward to prepare to die, shed his mystical connections through decay, and return to the starry sky purified.

Merlin tried to disrupt God Almighty’s baptism while stealing parts of Liveseyd, but the Sun’s growing influence drove Ankewelt to submit to the corruption. Ankewelt brought Liveseyd into the real world, where the City of Imagination rose into the sky once more.

• As the red moon and sun appeared together, people across the Southern Continent watched the thinning fog seal and debated whether they could still answer the Celestial Worthy’s summons.
• Merlin used Spirit Body Threads to pull Ankewelt from God Almighty’s baptism and ordered him to draw the corruption’s attention away from the theft of Liveseyd.
• Merlin and his paper figurine avatars used Sefirah Castle’s power to steal several enormous buildings and a plaza from Liveseyd, but the city’s creation and the Chaos Sea’s corruption prevented them from taking it all at once.
• As the Sun’s influence spread through the Sea of Collective Subconscious, Ankewelt charged toward the Chaos Sea, and Merlin turned him into a marionette before the corruption seized his Beyonder Characteristics.
• A new Ankewelt emerged from the corruption and willingly bowed to God Almighty, then brought Liveseyd out of the subconscious world into reality, where it rose into the sky and blocked the moonlight.

Liveseyd rose into the sky and blocked the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s scrutiny, while the Sun’s influence began changing people’s faith. Merlin ordered Alger to abandon the Rorsted Archipelago, leaving the Sea God’s believers and homeland behind.

• Liveseyd appeared above the world, and Pallez told Leonard it might be the Dragon’s Kingdom from Third Epoch mythology before asking to become an angel under the Fool.
• Merlin saw signs that Amon had been corrupted and left the Sea of Collective Subconscious with the remains of the angel dragons.
• Merlin returned to the Rorsted Archipelago and found its people praying to the Creator while monstrous plants grew around them.
• Alger arrived after advancing to Cataclysmic Interrer and offered to calm the believers, but Merlin said a god’s psychological suggestion had affected them.
• Merlin told Alger to leave the Rorsted Archipelago with his core followers and take them to Feysac, declaring that the Sea God no longer needed the islands.

Merlin succumbed to the Lord of the Mysteries’ persuasion and turned hundreds of Sea God believers into marionettes, but Bethel Abraham ambushed him with the Twilight Greatsword. Merlin began to resurrect as Bethel trapped his abstract form between layers of mirrored space and confronted him.

• The Lord of the Mysteries persuaded Merlin that he had to keep the believers from defecting, tying their fate to his fear of losing the Eastern Continent and the Tarot Club.
• Merlin seized the Spirit Body Threads of hundreds of praying believers and turned them into marionettes, prompting Alger to notice their sudden change.
• Bethel Abraham dragged Merlin into the Spirit World and struck him with the Twilight Greatsword, severing his control of the marionettes and destroying his body.
• Merlin began resurrecting from the Historical Void as an abstract, hooded form while his Uniqueness and Beyonder Characteristics tried to converge.
• Bethel enclosed Merlin in a square seal and used mirrored Door spaces to keep him from escaping, then called him unfamiliar and addressed him as Klein.

Klein spoke with Bethel about his despair, the Lord of Mysteries’ awakening within him, and his fear that the corruption would make him harm those he cared about. He refused Bethel’s offer to take his power and pain, vanished from the seal, and left Bethel to pursue him.

• Klein told Bethel that power and sacrifice had not made the world better, and revealed that the Lord of Mysteries had long been awake within him.
• Klein admitted that he resented a friend choosing God Almighty and feared his growing selfishness could lead him to kill his believers.
• Bethel offered to take Klein’s Beyonder characteristics and either let him die or suppress the Lord of Mysteries while protecting Klein’s family.
• Klein used divination to expose Bethel’s planned attack, then refused to hand over his power because he feared the Lord of Mysteries would destroy Bethel’s beloved family.
• Klein apologized and asked Bethel to let him bear his pain alone before escaping as the spaces between the two doors were torn apart.
• Bethel’s Twilight Greatsword struck a paper figurine instead of Klein, and Bethel said he understood Klein but still loved the chance to reach the pinnacle.