Recaps

The Monarch of Decay planned how to stay safe after losing a Sequence One characteristic and told Amon to return to the Amon group while he remained concealed. Meanwhile, Leonard joined Soest's Red Gloves to investigate a suspected devil connection in Backlund, where he sensed the empty villa might exist on another layer of reality.

• The Monarch of Decay reasoned that the Seven Gods would consider him an Outer Deity's Believer and planned to wait for a chance to leave the concealed town and return to Backlund.
• The Monarch of Decay told Amon to return openly to the Amon group and search for a municipal librarian in East Chester County, while Amon chose to wait for him.
• Leonard met Daly at the Red Gloves' base, endured her teasing, and joined Soest's team for a search mission prompted by an anonymous tip.
• Soest led the Red Gloves to the empty villa at 5 King Street, where they found an even layer of dust and fresh claw marks but no one inside.
• Leonard suggested that the villa's resident might have lived there on a different layer of reality, and Pallez responded approvingly in his mind.

Klein received Talim's belongings and staged his grief while investigating the cause of his friend's death, then arrived too late for the funeral. Meanwhile, Edward remained trapped in the Nation of the Evernight, studying its language while waiting for the red moon to disappear.

• Klein received Talim's belongings, divined that Talim had died of a sudden heart condition, and acted as though he was devastated by his inability to uncover more.
• Klein realized he had missed the start of Talim's funeral and rushed to Crown Cemetery, where divination warned of danger but indicated that he should attend.
• Klein arrived after the funeral and spoke with Mike and Doctor Aaron before noticing a veiled woman wearing a blue gemstone ring leave in a carriage.
• Edward stayed hidden in a house in the Nation of the Evernight, studied the marionettes' language, and waited as the red moon kept the town active.

Edward used his knowledge of the Nation of the Evernight’s language to mislead Antigonus’s marionettes and disrupt their control, then entered the church. Meanwhile, Klein learned Edward had left Backlund, received money from Prince Edessak to investigate Talim’s death, and secretly returned Dunn’s soul to the Church of Evernight.

• Edward concluded he needed to escape Hidden Town and engaged a native marionette in conversation using the Nation of the Evernight’s dialect.
• Edward corrupted a girl marionette and his bloodstained coat, causing a melee that distracted the marionettes while he entered the church.
• Klein heard that Edward’s home was sealed and he had apparently left Backlund, then met Prince Edessak, who gave him a hundred pounds to investigate Talim’s death.
• Klein used the gray fog to break his contract with Dunn and free him, leaving Dunn without memories of Sherlock Moriarty or the recent days.
• Klein disguised himself, wrapped Dunn’s soul in an envelope, and slipped the glass bottle into the Church of Evernight’s mailbox.

Edward met Zaratul in the dark cathedral and negotiated over the resurrection abilities of Seers and the future of the Sequence One characteristic. Meanwhile, Klein’s divination revealed that Talim had been cursed by a mysterious woman, but a second attempt was blocked, suggesting the case involved a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact or an equivalent power.

• Edward found Zaratul hiding beside the statue in the cathedral and exchanged cigarettes and cookies with him to confirm his identity and circumstances.
• Edward and Zaratul discussed the missing Sequence One Spectator characteristic, and Edward advised him to trade it for support from a deity.
• Edward asked how many times Miracle Invokers could resurrect, and Zaratul said they could return four times while hinting that Attendants of Mysteries had stronger means of survival.
• Zaratul reconsidered their bargain and offered to provide a way out as compensation for Edward’s valuable information.
• Klein used the gray fog to divine Talim Dumont’s death and saw a woman with a sapphire ring curse a small marionette representing Talim.
• Klein repeated the divination, but the vision was blocked; he decided to delay Prince Edessak’s investigation and returned to bed worried about the power behind Talim’s death.

Klein confessed his intention to withdraw from Prince Edessak’s dangerous commission at the Church of Steam, then discovered that Arrodes was reporting the Machinery Hivemind’s tomb exploration through his dream. Meanwhile, Zaratul and Edward played cards and discussed Roselle and the Great Old One Era, ending with Zaratul offering information about a Fog Sea island in exchange for answers.

• Klein confessed his suspicions about Talim’s death and his desire to retreat from Prince Edessak’s commission to a bishop at the Church of Steam, who told him to go home and trust in God’s protection.
• Klein entered a dream and saw Ikanser Bernard and the Machinery Hivemind exploring an underground entrance near White Cliff Town, where Arrodes announced that it was reporting on the expedition.
• Zaratul and Edward played several card games, then Zaratul questioned Edward about Roselle’s identity and his own connection to the ancient past.
• Edward told Zaratul that the Great Old One Era had no Beyonder powers and that Roselle had been an ordinary person in that era.
• Edward described his former life as a music professor who had a child and practiced a faith, but he withheld why he stopped believing after discovering that his god seemed to exist.
• Zaratul offered Edward information about a wondrous island in the Fog Sea in exchange for answers.

Klein watched the Machinery Hivemind enter an Amon family tomb, where Horamick opened an empty coffin and uncovered Amon’s portrait. In Backlund, Amon experimented with helping a child, but the encounter ended when Richard Ernst appeared and instructed the child to thank him.

• Klein saw the Machinery Hivemind reach the main tomb chamber, where Horamick’s apparent aging revealed that he was a crafted puppet.
• Horamick opened the coffin and found it empty, then turned over a portrait that showed Amon wearing a monocle.
• Amon watched thieves in Backlund and used his powers to free an innocent child while exposing the other three children as the real thieves.
• Amon questioned why the rescued child felt no gratitude or happiness, then considered ending the experiment and erasing him.
• Richard Ernst appeared, told the child that a gentleman had saved him, and prompted him to thank Amon.
• Amon accepted the child’s thanks, ended the parasitism, and recognized Richard Ernst as the Temperance Angel.

Amon planned to leave Backlund for Stoen after saying goodbye to Medici and the True Creator, while Richard Ernst returned to Backlund and learned that Maria feared an approaching catastrophe. Richard agreed to stay and help protect the East Borough; meanwhile, Klein traded his share of the mausoleum spoils for 2,000 pounds.

• Amon chose to travel to Stoen by ship and decided to visit the Aurora Order before leaving Backlund.
• Richard visited Maria’s establishments, met the Beyonders guarding them, and revealed his identity to Maria at the charity school.
• Maria told Richard that Ademisaul had foreseen people dying and compared the warning to his earlier prophecy before the Descent of the True Creator.
• Richard approved Maria’s precautions and agreed to remain in Backlund to investigate dangers and improve public safety in the East Borough.
• Klein declined the offered Beyonder items and accepted 2,000 pounds from Ikanser instead.

Klein paid Sharron her share for the Amon Family mausoleum information and learned that a baronet was digging toward the underground ruins, which were already empty. Amon visited the Aurora Order to say goodbye to the True Creator and encountered Medici training Hunters from the Iron and Blood Cross Order.

• Klein gave Sharron £800 and two Deep Sea Naga hairs as her half of the £2,000 sale, and she told him a baronet was digging a passage to the underground ruins.
• Klein told Sharron the ruins were empty, and she vanished from his carriage after acknowledging the information.
• Amon reached the Aurora Order estate and told Kisma he had come to say goodbye to Father.
• Kisma explained the Aurora Order’s rebuilt temple and the Iron and Blood Cross Order’s arrival to pay homage to Medici.
• Amon followed Kisma to the ruined greenhouse and saw Medici supervising three Hunters as they held horse stances.

Amon visited Medici and the Iron and Blood Cross Order’s delegation, then went to seek the True Creator before leaving on a long journey. Meanwhile, Klein drank the Faceless potion, survived the transformation, and tested his new ability to change his appearance.

• Amon observed Medici tormenting Tony Dawn and the other Hunters, and learned that Tony was a War Bishop who had challenged Medici.
• Medici demonstrated his puppet body and clashed verbally with Sauron and Einhorn before Amon admitted he wanted to say goodbye to the True Creator.
• Medici told Amon that the True Creator was not receiving visitors and advised him to pray, so Amon left for the mansion.
• Klein drank the Faceless potion and endured a dangerous transformation before advancing to Sequence 6.
• Klein tested his ability to imitate the appearances and scents of people he knew, then returned to Sherlock Moriarty’s appearance and went to bed.

Richard realized that a newspaper report about fighting in the Southern Continent was meant to draw him back and threaten the Highland Kingdom’s Resistance Army. Riel gathered intelligence from Galan De and reported it to Traynor, who prepared to send Richard a Faceless Puppet.

• Richard read that Loen troops had clashed with the Highland Kingdom’s Resistance Army and suspected the report was intended to lure him back to the Southern Continent.
• Xio abandoned her surveillance mission after sensing Richard’s power, while Richard went to Maria's Processing Factory and summoned Riel.
• Riel questioned Galan De, who explained that fighting had erupted after Restoration Society forces occupied much of Aldra and that the reported clash involved an elite Loen unit, the Resistance Army, and Restoration Society fighters.
• Galan De gave Riel documents about the conflict and said the Pale Empress wanted to order more machine guns from Traynor.
• Riel reported the intelligence to Traynor, who discussed the fighting’s implications and decided to send Richard a Faceless Puppet.

Klein realizes that the woman who may have cursed Talim is the powerful commoner loved by Prince Edessak, and he hurries away from Red Rose Manor before she can meet him. Meanwhile, Richard investigates a possible catastrophe in Backlund’s East Borough, gives Maria a dangerous Sealed Artifact, and prepares to leave her with a way to summon him.

• Klein learns that the maid he is questioning attended Talim’s funeral with the mysterious woman, recognizes her as the woman who laid flowers on Talim’s grave, and leaves Red Rose Manor early.
• Klein suspects the woman killed Talim and may have noticed his investigations, but decides not to pursue the matter and hopes the Machinery Hivemind will keep her contained.
• Riel delivers the Faceless Puppet and information about a surprise attack to Richard, who tells Maria to keep the artifact sealed and use it to summon him if necessary.
• Maria suggests that Ademisaul’s vision of the Bell of Order could connect the East Borough crisis to the royal family, and Richard agrees that the government may be involved.
• Richard and Maria leave the office for lunch while Richard privately considers whether the Black Emperor is behind an attack on the East Borough and leaves the Faceless Puppet with Maria as a precaution.

After discovering that the gray fog shielded him from the Hornacis and Flegrea murmuring, Klein explored Above the Gray Fog and found a staircase that ended beneath an impenetrable fog. Meanwhile, Edward escaped the Hidden Town and emerged in a pirate-filled alley, where he killed several attackers.

• Klein divined that the gray fog had blocked the murmuring and suspected his Sequence 6 advancement had strengthened his connection to Above the Gray Fog.
• Klein found a four-step staircase of light but could not see beyond the grayish-white fog above it, and he concluded he might need to become a Demigod to go farther.
• Daly learned that the spirit sealed in a bottle was Dunn Smith, a Nighthawk believed to have died in a dangerous Beyonder Incident.
• Edward left the concealed church by fitting an obsidian piece into a wall and tracing the Darkness Pathway symbol, while Zaratul chose to remain behind.
• Edward traveled through the Spirit World and arrived in a crowded alley, where he killed a pirate who attacked him and three more men whose sins triggered their deaths.

Edward left the Hidden Town, discovered that desperate people in the Southern Continent were praying to him, and answered a group seeking strength for revenge. Meanwhile, Derrick’s City of Silver exploration team reached a ruined city’s temple, where strange voices and darkness appeared, and Colin ordered everyone to remain on high alert.

• Edward bought new clothes, destroyed his blood-soaked shirt, and learned he had emerged on an island in the Rorsted Archipelago near the Southern Continent.
• Edward listened to a surge of prayers from the Southern Continent and answered young people asking for power to take revenge.
• The young people found Edward’s message telling them to trade lives for strength, argued over what to do, and secretly kept pieces of the candles before leaving.
• Derrick Berg and the City of Silver exploration team reached a ruined city’s central temple after clearing the surrounding areas.
• Three lanterns went out, and Derrick and Wisen Skold separately heard a child’s plea for help as strange dust glowed around them.
• Derrick used bright light to repel the darkness, the team relit its candles without losing anyone, and Colin ordered the team to stay on the highest alert.

Derrick’s exploration team descended beneath the temple and discovered murals depicting the Fallen Creator and six evil gods. Meanwhile, Baron Raft Pound entered an underground palace, experienced a vision of Tudor glory, and died beneath the throne, where Medici found his Beyonder Characteristic.

• Derrick and the exploration team inspected the ruined temple and followed the stairs underground.
• Derrick examined murals showing the Fallen Creator enduring darkness as six evil gods surrounded him.
• Raft Pound uncovered an underground palace and approached a blood-red candle on a black throne.
• Raft Pound beheld Alista Tudor’s rise, wars, and victories in a vision of the Tudor Empire’s glory.
• Raft Pound died beside the throne, and Medici collected his Lawyer Pathway Beyonder Characteristic.

Medici overwhelmed Klein and Sharron beneath the ruined chapel, but spared them after recognizing Azik’s Copper Whistle; Sharron sealed the underground structure, while Klein returned alone. In the City of Silver, Derrick and the expedition found a crying boy named Jack behind an altar bearing a disturbing statue of the Fallen Creator.

• Medici and his cohabitants discussed Raft Pound’s death and the dream Medici had woven for him.
• Medici captured Sharron and confronted her and Klein, then shattered the Scarlet Lunar Corona and melted Klein’s attacks.
• Sharron sacrificed the damaged corona to stop Medici’s Flame Spear, while Klein summoned the Bone Messenger with Azik’s Copper Whistle.
• Medici recognized the whistle, mistook Klein for a relative of Salinger, and left without fighting them; Sharron and Klein agreed they were even.
• Sharron sealed the entrance to the underground structure, and Klein walked back alone.
• Derrick and the City of Silver expedition entered an underground altar chamber, where they found a crying boy who identified himself as Jack.

Derrick's team defeated the starving boy Jack, while Klein confirmed the evil spirit's hostility and decided to leave Backlund normally despite suspecting that Sealed Artifact 0-08 was shaping events. The Fool summoned Derrick to a gathering, and Amon left Backlund for East Chester County after failing to detect Sefirah Castle.

• Colin killed Jack when the boy lunged at Joshua, and Derrick's team prepared to continue toward the city-state and the temple of the Fallen Creator.
• Klein divined that the evil spirit harbored intense malice toward him and Sharron, then went home to rest.
• Prince Edessak's maid told Klein that he had missed the lady again, prompting him to suspect that 0-08 was creating coincidences; his attempts to divine the matter failed.
• Klein decided to visit Red Rose Manor and hand over his assignment as planned before leaving Backlund without drawing attention.
• The Fool told Derrick to prepare for a gathering, while Amon left Backlund for East Chester County after failing to sense Sefirah Castle.

Derrick recalled five repeated explorations of the Fallen Creator’s temple and sought the Tarot Club’s help identifying the loop’s cause. In a separate story, Wen Xia gained ghostly powers after dying, freed kidnapped people, learned that her brother Shayi had died at sea, and descended into madness.

• Derrick told the Tarot Club that each temple exploration ended with Colin killing Jack and restarted at the camp, and Alger suggested a time loop or an illusion.
• Audrey proposed that Jack might be the key, and Alger connected him to the child of a Listener he had pursued while searching for the True Creator’s Sanctuary.
• Wen Xia was attacked by a slave trader, died, and accepted power through a blue flame that restored her to life as a ghost.
• Wen Xia used her powers to kill the traffickers and free the captives held in a warehouse.
• Wen Xia divined Shayi’s location and saw that he had died after being thrown from a ship, then broke down laughing and sobbing.

Ince Zangwill and Panatiya prepared to carry out their plan in Backlund after driving the Temperance Angel away, while Klein connected clues about his resurrection and the gray fog to the Seer pathway and planned to investigate Ince. Edward sensed that a catastrophe would strike Backlund the next day at noon and arranged to be there when it happened.

• Ince Zangwill reviewed 0-08’s failed attempts to control its target, and Panatiya assured him the repeated breaches would cause no problems.
• The Royal Family used newspaper coverage of Southern Continent conflicts to push the Temperance Angel out of Backlund, and Ince and Panatiya set their plan for the following day.
• Klein reviewed the Tarot Club’s revelations, considered the gray fog’s connection to the Seer pathway and his resurrection, and planned to return to Backlund in disguise to contact the Machinery Hivemind and investigate Ince.
• Edward overheard indistinct voices from Sefirah Castle, recognized the Ancient Jotun word for “loop,” and sensed a catastrophe would strike Backlund the next day at noon.
• Edward ordered a stand-in to remain in place while he prepared to travel secretly to Backlund, and he urged two newly empowered Southern Continent followers to stir up trouble and survive.

During the seventh exploration, Derrick and Colin connected Amon to the Angel of Time and the mural’s angel to Ouroboros, the Angel of Fate. Meanwhile, Klein set out for Red Rose Manor as Edward approached Backlund, where he intercepted Azik and Klein during their Spirit World journey and asked where they were going.

• Derrick told Colin that the face on Jack’s chest resembled the angel in the Rose Redemption mural, prompting Colin to identify the figure as possibly Ouroboros, the Angel of Fate, and Amon as the Angel of Time.
• Colin asked Wisen about his unborn child, and Wisen said he and his wife had chosen the names Uno or Una.
• Klein paid Old Kohler in advance, warned him to avoid danger, and asked him to protect Liv and her daughters before deciding to visit Red Rose Manor.
• Edward left a Faceless in his place, traveled to Backlund in a body from the Nois Family, and sensed a vast change in the fates of East Borough residents.
• Edward traced the disturbance to Ince Zangwill and 0-08, then followed the altered fates and caught up with Azik and Klein in the Spirit World passage.
• Edward tore into the passage as Azik shielded Klein from his appearance, then greeted them and asked where they were going.

Azik helped Klein escape Edward Vaughan through the Underworld, then stayed behind to fight the Devil while Klein fled with a powerful skeletal spirit. Edward halted his attack after recognizing Azik and tried to turn him against Klein by describing Sefirah Castle and hinting at a story involving Klein, Zhou Mingrui, and a god’s schemes; meanwhile, Ince Zangwill encountered Sherlock Moriarty.

• Azik took Klein into the Underworld, where Klein learned Edward Vaughan was stronger than Azik and apologized for drawing him into the conflict.
• Klein confessed that he had established the Fool’s gathering by pretending to be a god, and Azik gave his Copper Whistle the power to summon a Demigod-level Pale General.
• Azik and Klein lured Edward into an ambush, and Klein escaped on the Pale General while Azik remained behind to hold Edward off.
• Edward overwhelmed Azik, but withdrew when he recognized Azik’s golden forehead ornament and began questioning him about Klein’s connection to Sefirah Castle.
• Edward told Azik that Klein had used a Sefirah to establish a gathering and suggested he would explain a story about Klein, Zhou Mingrui, and a god’s schemes.
• 0-08 wrote that Klein and a demigod-level spirit had appeared near Ince Zangwill, who went outside and found Sherlock Moriarty.

Trissy learned that Prince Edessak’s love for her had been engineered, but Edessak let her escape and chose to remain behind. Klein fled Ince Zangwill through an ancient underground ruin while Azik’s Demigod spirit fought Ince and a Royal Family Demigod; meanwhile, Lady Despair unleashed the Backlund Great Smog, and Maria and Azik tried to respond as casualties mounted.

• Trissy told Edessak that their meeting and his love for her had been arranged, and that she was a disposable hostage in the Royal Family’s cooperation with the Demoness Sect.
• Edessak allowed Trissy to leave through a hidden door and said he would stop Finkel, choosing to face his own ending.
• Klein encountered Ince Zangwill underground and fled while Azik’s Demigod spirit battled Ince and a golden-masked Justiciar Demigod.
• Klein disguised himself as Ince Zangwill and deceived four guards while escaping through the underground complex.
• Lady Despair spread toxic black-and-yellow smog across Backlund, beginning the Backlund Great Smog Incident.
• Maria evacuated the children and staff at her charity school while Sean maintained fresh air in their shelter, and Azik entered the East Borough as the casualty count rose.

The Backlund Great Smog spread through the East Borough, killing residents and overwhelming attempts to rescue them as Maria was trapped by Lady Despair. The Monarch of Decay cursed humanity and the gods, but halted the curse when he sensed fate changing.

• Old Kohler collapsed in the poisonous fog, but Maria and Doctor Blake rescued him and organized medical aid with Gavin Reed's Zombies and Ademisaul.
• Lady Despair restrained Maria, took the Sealed Artifact from her pocket, and threw it aside.
• Liv and Freya both collapsed from the fog, while Daisy was forced toward the church as she tried to return home to them.
• The smog killed residents across the East Borough, Harbor Borough, and Factory District, becoming known as the Backlund Great Smog.
• The Monarch of Decay refused to save a dying girl, then cursed humanity and the gods with the Death Sign judgment.
• The Monarch of Decay stopped his curse when he sensed that the course of fate had changed.

Maria recovered the black box and helped expose the Demoness of Despair, while Richard Ernst cured East Borough’s poisoned residents before being seized by the Monarch of Decay. In the divine kingdom, Richard refused the god’s offer and persuaded him to delay his judgment of humanity, though Richard’s own fate became bound to the planet’s eventual destruction.

• Maria distracted Panatiya with an insult, and the Zombie and the spirits attacked the Demoness of Despair while Maria searched for the black box.
• Maria opened the box just before Panatiya dragged her away, turning the Demoness into a wooden puppet; Richard Ernst then removed the poison from East Borough’s survivors by bearing their illnesses himself.
• A young, purple-haired man took the puppets and displaced Richard from his body, while Maria found Freya and Mrs. Liv dead and Daisy missing.
• The Church of Storms’ hurricane and rain dispersed the poisonous fog, but the Monarch of Decay revealed to Richard that he had engineered the catastrophe to create a pretext for destroying the world.
• Richard refused to die in exchange for the Monarch’s promised protection of the Southern Continent and declared his intention to kill the gods and eliminate the supernatural.
• Richard offered to draw lots rather than choose between his loved ones and East Borough’s residents, and the Monarch granted him the burden of bearing others’ fates while delaying his judgment of humanity.

The chapter laid out the Decay and Withering Pathways’ Sequences and imagined Decay as the Chained God, with both Indulgence and Temperance serving as valid acting methods. It also noted that the Great Smog section would end in the next chapter and that the author planned to address remaining foreshadowing and questions later.

• The chapter explained that Decay’s lower Sequences inflicted curses that became blessings at Sequence 3, then listed the Decay Pathway’s Sequences from Thug to Death Sign.
• The chapter gave possible Sequence names for the Withering Pathway, from Memory to Stele of Civilization.
• Decay told Suah that the Indulgence Faction could indulge abroad but must not make a mess in his diocese.
• Reinette reported that Suah had massacred a city in Intis, and Decay encouraged him to do more because they were at war.
• After Suah and Reinette fought to a draw, Decay carried them back and scolded both of them.
• The author said the Great Smog section would finish in the next chapter and promised to address unresolved questions later.

Klein escaped the underground ruins and told Azik the truth about Sefirah Castle, but Azik confronted him with the revelation that he was Zhou Mingrui inhabiting Klein’s identity. As the Evernight Goddess watched them reconcile, Prince Edessak took his own life, ending the Great Smog Arc.

• Trissy escaped the public carriage but was immobilized by a hooded figure until her Sapphire Ring shattered, while Finkel was erased by the same figure.
• Klein used the Copper Whistle to escape the underground structure with a spirit Demigod, then asked to be taken to Azik because he feared Ince Zangwill would target Melissa and Benson.
• Azik confronted Klein about his lies, and Klein admitted that he had entered Sefirah Castle through the Fourth Epoch notebook and used it to establish the Tarot Club gathering.
• Azik revealed that Edward Vaughan had told him Klein was actually Zhou Mingrui, a soul from an ancient era who had taken over Klein’s identity.
• Klein rejected the claim that he came from an ancient era, and Azik saw how deeply the possibility of being unable to return to his former life distressed him.
• The Evernight Goddess watched Klein and Azik talk beneath the café eaves, while Prince Edessak shot himself at Red Rose Manor.