Chapter Summaries

Klein negotiated with the True Creator over the fate of Lewis Wien’s soul and characteristic, then heard the Outer Deity warn that choosing Sefirah Castle would make him an enemy. At the Tarot Club, Derrick learned that the Ancient Sun God had been devoured by the Kings of Angels and that the black infant was the True Creator; later, Klein disguised himself and infiltrated Mr. Z’s group as the new “X.”

• The True Creator questioned Klein about killing Lewis Wien, then ordered him to return Lewis’s soul eventually and give the characteristic to the Abraham Family.
• The Outer Deity told Klein that choosing Sefirah Castle made them enemies, while the True Creator and the Monarch of Decay discussed preparing for the apocalypse and the True Creator’s plans to become a Great Old One.
• Alger showed the Tarot Club a mural of the Kings of Angels devouring the Ancient Sun God, and Derrick realized the black infant depicted was the True Creator.
• Klein left his Dwayne Dantès identity at home, disguised himself, and traveled through Creeping Hunger’s Traveler ability to meet Mr. Z.
• Klein claimed Lewis Wien had guided him into the group, and Mr. Z accepted him as the new “X.”

Klein took office as the Aurora Order’s new Oracle and was assigned to contact the Forsaken Land of the Gods’ Elect, while he arranged to disguise a Wraith with corrosion from the Evernight Church’s sealing power. Audrey worried over the war in the Southern Continent, and Klein prepared to steal the Antigonus Family Notebook.

• Saint Tenebrous received the Lord’s revelation to end the assassination investigation and welcome a newcomer, then decided to meet the new Oracle and settle Lewis’s affairs.
• Klein followed Mr. Z into the Aurora Order’s factory, used his powers to reveal a worker hiding on the ceiling, and learned that Saint Tenebrous wanted to assign him work.
• Saint Tenebrous told Klein to contact the Elect in the Eastern Continent, help them leave, and hint that they should believe in the unnamed great existence; he offered Klein a reward in advance.
• Klein asked Saint Tenebrous to make the Admiral of Blood’s Wraith appear corroded by the power behind the Church of Evernight’s Chanis Gate, and Saint Tenebrous sent him to use the Nightmare Pot.
• Audrey received a Mystical Item made from a Mentor of Disorder Beyonder Characteristic and worried that her brother Alfred and Loen’s forces were in danger near Berens Port.
• Klein watched the street from his balcony on Sunday night and prepared to steal the Antigonus Family Notebook.

Klein was trapped in the Foggy Town, where red moonlight awakened dangerous residents and a bloodstain corrupted his marionette, before he encountered the dead Zaratul. Elsewhere, Richard asked Edward for help relocating people amid a spreading Red Shoes epidemic, and Edward suspected the Writer was behind strange devil activity.

• Klein arrived in the Foggy Town after the Angel of Concealment sent him away, and discovered that neither the spirit world nor Sefirah Castle could help him escape.
• Klein explored the deserted town with Seniol, whose body began transforming after he approached a bloodstain that seemed to have come from a devil.
• When the red moon appeared, the townspeople emerged and filled the streets, forcing Klein to hide in a house and use his Door Opening ability to pass through walls.
• Klein reached the church and met Zaratul, who said he had died long ago and invited Klein to help him pass the time with Old-Era board games.
• Richard told Edward that a Red Shoes epidemic had spread across the Northern Continent and asked to borrow Rose School followers to help relocate people.
• Edward learned from Richard about suspicious devil activity and wondered what the Writer was doing.

Klein met Zaratul in the church and learned that he could obtain an escape key and the Bizarro Sorcerer formula by finishing their game, while concealing his knowledge of Sefirah Castle. Elsewhere, Hilda agreed to help children at the Temperance Angel’s request, provided he did not abandon them again.

• Klein recognized the old man as Zaratul, who promised him obsidian, a door-opening symbol, and the Bizarro Sorcerer formula if Klein finished their game and scattered his ashes in the Serenzo River.
• Zaratul told Klein that earlier Seers had failed to escape before the red moon appeared, and Klein took shelter when the moonlight stirred the hanging marionettes.
• Zaratul asked Klein whether he knew about Sefirah Castle, and Klein denied knowing the name.
• Hilda Gonzalez’s rose-filled children’s rhyme spread madness through a town and killed its inhabitants.
• Shanks asked Hilda to help children of mixed ancestry and Southern Continent origin at the Temperance Angel’s request, and Hilda agreed as long as the Angel did not leave them again.

Leonard recognized Sherlock Moriarty as Klein Moretti, while Klein played Zaratul’s game, received a false Door Opening symbol, and opened the way out of Hidden Town. The door exposed a terrifying hall and a Fool card, but Klein’s fate remained uncertain as another Zaratul watched the events unfold.

• Leonard compared Sherlock Moriarty’s face with a photograph of the Tingen Nighthawks and realized he looked almost exactly like Klein Moretti.
• Traynor told Medici that Azik Eggers was the Church of Death’s ineffective Consul, and they discussed the war, reinforcements, and the Aurora Order’s popular potato foods.
• Zaratul gave Klein a Door Opening symbol and the Bizarro Sorcerer formula, and Klein noticed that the symbol differed slightly from the one in the Antigonus Family Notebook.
• Klein used Zaratul’s symbol to open the door, but Seniol was seized by an unseen force and the ashes vanished from Zaratul’s urn as Klein glimpsed a hall of suspended corpses and a Fool card marked Sequence 0.
• Edward sensed his Sequence One characteristic far to the north and realized that someone had opened the door to Hidden Town.
• A concealed Zaratul watched a projection of Klein opening the door, then changed the scene so Klein walked out alive.

Klein escaped the foggy town, confirmed the Bizarro Sorcerer potion formula, and pondered Sefirah Castle’s influence and the coming apocalypse. Meanwhile, Maria’s group struggled to leave Backlund with 122 children, so she sought the Aurora Order’s help; Klein arrived at the factory with a Sequence 4 formula to trade.

• Edward told the True Creator that Death had asked for his support in becoming Eternal Darkness, but the True Creator said he would keep observing before deciding.
• Klein returned to 160 Böklund Street, sent unwanted items to Sefirah Castle, and reasoned that its connection to the Seer Pathway drew Seer-related people and objects toward him.
• Klein divined that the Bizarro Sorcerer potion formula he obtained from Zaratul was correct and considered the advancement ritual.
• Maria learned that authorities were blocking her group’s departure, and Gavin reported that 122 children were firmly willing to go with them.
• Maria asked Mr. Z for help, and he agreed to seek Sealed Artifacts that could take the children through the Spirit World.
• Klein met Maria and Mr. Z at the Aurora Order’s factory and offered to trade a Sequence 4 potion formula for useful goods.

Klein used a meeting with Loen officers and the Aurora Order to secure a possible mission to the Southern Continent and trade a demigod potion formula for spiritual materials. The chapter ended with Leonard discovering that Klein’s coffin was empty and a dream in which Edward confronted the Mother Tree of Desire and foretold Farbauti’s imminent death.

• Leonard dug up Klein’s grave in Raphael Cemetery and found the coffin empty.
• Klein met Colonel Galvin and other officers, who asked him to consider delivering supplies to Loen soldiers in the Southern Continent.
• Klein offered Saint Tenebrous the Sequence 4 Lawyer formula, Fallen Earl, and arranged to exchange it for spiritual materials, including a possible Bizarre Sorcerer ingredient.
• Saint Tenebrous offered to find Klein a guide familiar with Southern Continent seas and cities, and reminded him to support survivors on the Eastern Continent.
• Klein returned to 160 Böklund Street, retrieved his Paper Figurine Substitute, and later woke from a dream as a red-gloved visitor entered his sitting room.
• In a dream, Edward confronted the Mother Tree of Desire and declared that Farbauti would die within a month or two.

Klein agreed to transport aid for children in West Balam, while the True Creator learned that Edward foresaw a devil killing everyone across a large area of Loen later that month. The chapter left the cause of the coming catastrophe unknown as the True Creator studied the location Edward marked.

• Ince Zangwill gave in to madness and slaughter, then left with 0-08 and his notebook.
• Klein accepted Galvin's request to deliver supplies to children in West Balam within two weeks, despite the dangers and tight schedule.
• Constantine Rieveldt photographed the war-torn streets of Berens City and wrote to his wife about their daughter and the city's scenery.
• The True Creator explained that Medici needed to rebuild his renown to restore his fractured symbolism as a Conqueror.
• Edward told the True Creator that everyone in a large area of southeastern Loen would die at the same time because of a devil later that month.
• The True Creator recognized that Edward's marked area included coastal cities and a stretch of sea, and grew concerned about the vision.

Edward discussed an uncertain future trip to Loen’s southeastern coast with the True Creator, while Klein arranged a two-week Southern Continent commission with Ms. D and promised to seek Sun Pathway ingredients. At Alesse Port, Richard discovered that the Resistance Army’s leaders had allowed a ship to carry off royal tomb treasures, then devised a plan to extort money from the smugglers and their Loen contacts.

• Edward told the True Creator that fate might draw him to Loen’s southeastern coast, and they discussed how exposing George III’s role in the Great Smog could benefit the True Creator’s plans.
• Klein met Ms. D through Saint Tenebrous and agreed to take her to the Southern Continent for two weeks, promising to answer her request for information about a Sun God Bird and a Sacred Radiance Stone before Sunday.
• Richard confronted Mahames and Taufik after learning that a freighter at Alesse Port was carrying stolen royal mummies, Sealed Artifacts, and other burial treasures.
• Richard ordered the culprits released for the moment and told Mahames and Taufik to demand extra payments from the Loen smugglers, including ransom for captured accomplices.
• Richard spotted a golden hand in an ice-filled barrel and began considering how much he could charge for it and for any important Loen officials who came to seize the cargo.

Richard visited Alese, redirected Zatwen from hunting Sharron, and learned about the Rose School’s scattered operations. In Backlund, Klein arranged his trip to West Balam, identified a suspected royal demigod, and Prince Grove recognized Constantine’s artifact as the Magic Wishing Lamp, 0-05.

• Richard asked about Baranka and Hilda, then told Taufik to have Zatwen gather intelligence and seek new contacts instead of pursuing Sharron.
• A mysterious man stole Zatwen’s black-gloved Sealed Artifact, and Zatwen sensed danger but continued eating without reacting.
• Klein told Audrey he planned to travel to the Southern Continent, then asked Arrodes about Ms. D and received leads on Sun God Birds and Sacred Radiance Stones.
• Klein arranged to travel to West Balam by military airship and recognized a man at the officers’ club as the demigod suspected of aiding royal human traffickers.
• Prince Grove examined Constantine’s lamp and identified it as the legendary Magic Wishing Lamp, 0-05.

Klein prepared to travel to the Southern Continent and spotted Leonard and Daly boarding his airship, while Cattleya pursued a path to avenge Queen Mystic. Traynor spread fabricated intelligence to provoke the powers gathering in the Southern Continent, then left the prospect of war to Dawn.

• Klein secured a Bizarre Sorcerer through the Aurora Order, finalized deals with Ms. D and the Hermit, and boarded an airship bound for the Southern Continent.
• Klein saw Daly Simone and Leonard Mitchell approach his airship, and Leonard noticed him through a window.
• Cattleya resolved to avenge Queen Mystic and asked her crew to help her pursue Agalito, whom she blamed for the Queen's death.
• Otolov warned Cattleya that Agalito and the Death Announcer were nearing Loen's southeastern coast amid Devil-related incidents, and Cattleya ordered him to investigate the truth and find a way to kill Agalito.
• Traynor learned that Prince Grove had arrived and that Tony Dawn was being sent to the Loen Colony, then instructed a subordinate to circulate fabricated reports about military plans and troop movements.
• Traynor refused to lead troops and decided Dawn could claim the glory of the coming conflict.

Klein reached Eskelson Harbor and prepared to sail to Berens, while Colin Iliad asked him for help investigating a sealed mausoleum in the City of Silver. As Klein’s ship departed with a high-ranking Hunter aboard, Traynor plotted to keep Lenburg from supporting the Balam Empire and to make its neutrality look like collusion.

• Klein dreamed of the Creator’s temple and saw the spirit of Daly’s deceased partner beside her, then told Derrick to perform a ritual and recite his name so he could assist Colin Iliad’s investigation.
• Soest briefed the Red Gloves on Ince Zangwill’s disappearance and led their preparations to infiltrate Balam and capture his Church of Death contact.
• Klein loaded the nobles’ cargo onto a passenger ship bound for Berens and agreed to take aboard a rude blue-eyed Hunter who offered five thousand pounds for passage.
• Klein recognized the man as a high-ranking Hunter and let him board after confirming they were not enemies.
• Traynor learned that Lenburg was adjusting its actions based on his false intelligence and planned to frame it as supporting the Balam Empire so it would not aid his side.

Colin received a normal response to his prayer from the gray fog after 2,583 years, while Klein’s voyage toward Berens Port was diverted by the blue-eyed Hunter amid a supernatural storm and a looming naval conflict. Traynor and Tony Dawn planned to exploit the fighting by provoking conflict between Loen, Feysac, and the Church of Knowledge.

• Colin prayed over the City of Silver’s altar, and the scene of the gray fog and ancient palace appeared as the altar responded normally for the first time in 2,583 years.
• Klein divined that his traveling companion would benefit him, then learned the blue-eyed Hunter had obtained news that Berens Port was closed and offered to take him to a private port instead.
• A storm filled with Underworld creatures erupted around Klein’s ship, and the Hunter sped through the chaos while an ironclad ship and forces of the Church of Death clashed nearby.
• Traynor learned that Feysac forces were gathering to move against Loen and asked Tony Dawn to help draw the Church of Death and Loen reinforcements into the conflict.
• Traynor ordered Tony Dawn to attack a Lenburg demigod while impersonating someone from Intis, then destroy a nearby Loen colony while framing the Church of Knowledge.

Klein reached Caesar Pier with his cargo after Tony Dawn sped the passenger liner across the sea, then arranged to meet Ms. D and continue to Berens. Elsewhere, Edward discussed his Sefirah and plans with the True Creator, while Tony received information from Riel and a Lenburg Demigod sensed danger.

• Tony Dawn drove the burning passenger liner into Caesar Pier, wrecked it, and paid the captain compensation while Klein recovered from the journey.
• Klein checked into an inn, summoned Reinette Tinekerr to deliver a message to Ms. D, and slept after arranging their meeting.
• Tony Dawn summoned Riel, received information and a brass pendant, and promised to make up a funding shortfall; a Lenburg Demigod then sensed an approaching crisis.
• Edward and the True Creator discussed Edward's Sefirah, his inability to leave Earth until it was restored, and the danger he posed to the planet.
• Klein met Ms. D near the damaged warehouse, and she agreed that their cooperation had officially begun.

Klein read Azik’s warning about Spirit World Plunderers and planned a route with Ms. D to deliver the goods to Berens. At the port, the poverty and indifference he witnessed left him troubled as he and Ms. D set out for the city.

• Klein read Azik’s letter, learned that Spirit World Plunderers were dangerous and might be found in Calderón City, and decided to ask Azik about the city while replying that he had reached the Southern Continent.
• Ms. D laid out two routes to Berens and recommended skirting the combat zone, while Klein chose to travel without carriages and learned that the railways had stopped operating.
• Klein overheard a scavenger’s wife get cut when a child stole the scrap metal she had collected, and he felt uncertain how to help the impoverished couple.
• Ms. D secured repairs to the warehouse roof by posing as a wealthy Northern Continent noblewoman and paying the port official.
• Klein left the port with Ms. D and saw the child eating moldy bread after losing the stolen sheet metal.

Soest reported that the Red Gloves had traced Ince Zangwill to a main contact, while Azik governed occupied Balam as the Death Consul. In Gurain, Klein recruited Enzo as a marionette and learned from Ms. D that foreign newspapers had exposed the Backlund Great Smog as a royal-backed massacre, leaving him stunned that Loen had suppressed the truth.

• Soest told the Red Gloves that Ince Zangwill had reported signs of madness before cutting off contact, and that they had found a lead to his main contact.
• Azik approved the Church of Death's requests and recruitment plans while reflecting on the Balam Empire's war and his role as Consul.
• Klein traveled to Gurain, stopped a man from assaulting a girl by turning him into a marionette, then waited for and captured Enzo, a Sequence 5 Winner.
• Ms. D told Klein that tensions among the Northern Continent's Churches and nations were rising, and Klein bought two outdated newspapers from a poor boy.
• Ms. D explained that Feysac had publicly described the Backlund Great Smog as deliberate population clearance caused by a Demoness, with Prince Edessak used as a scapegoat.
• Klein realized the Feysac account matched what he knew about the Great Smog and learned that foreign newspapers had discussed the allegations for over a month while Loen remained silent.

Klein traveled through West Balam and witnessed the desperate poverty and exploitation of displaced people, while Soest and Leonard traced Ince Zangwill to a series of murders near Enmat Harbor. In the city, Klein’s attempt to help a starving girl ended in a horrifying encounter that left him violently ill.

• Cattleya followed the World’s clues toward the Sun God Bird as her crew prepared for the intense heat.
• Klein and Ms. D encountered streams of refugees driven west by land seizures and oppression, and Klein gave food to some before realizing he could not help them all.
• Soest, Leonard, and the Red Gloves suspected that corruption and 0-08 had helped Ince Zangwill evade detection and linked him to brutal murders near Enmat Harbor.
• Soest decided to take the Red Gloves to Enmat Harbor to investigate the latest murder.
• Klein entered a city disguised as a Southern Continent native while Ms. D posed as a noblewoman, then gave his leftover food to a starving girl.
• The girl tried to offer Klein sex in exchange for food, and he fled to a bridge and retched uncontrollably.

Klein arrived in Berens City and, shaken by the suffering he had witnessed in the Southern Continent, questioned whether he wanted to protect a world like this. Meanwhile, Constantine’s cavalry attacked a grain convoy, prompting Dunn to launch the Red of War’s surprise assault on the city.

• Ms. D met the exhausted Klein at an inn and offered him a room and a chance to rest or confess.
• Klein reflected on poverty in the Southern Continent, his charity work in Backlund, and whether anything in this world made him want to stay.
• Constantine Rieveldt’s scout spotted grain transports and wounded soldiers, and Constantine led the cavalry forward despite his reluctance to attack the wounded.
• Dunn and Traynor revealed that the transport had been bait, and Riel reported that Constantine’s force was attacking the grain and wounded-soldier convoy.
• Dunn took command through the mind link and ordered the Red of War to form ranks for a surprise assault on Berens City.

Alfred survived a cultist assault on Berens City while Dunn directed the attack, and Klein learned that war had engulfed his destination. Preparing to investigate Calderón City, Klein contacted Arrodes and discovered the city's ancient origins.

• Alfred wrote a letter to Audrey about the war and his longing for his family before enemy fire destroyed his quarters and set Berens City ablaze.
• Alfred used his decrees to suppress smoke and flames, escaped a fireball after mysticism was strengthened across the city, and ran to rejoin his troops.
• Dunn learned that Prince Grove had emerged, ordered the siege force to continue attacking, and sent a squad to track the blond commander.
• Ms. D told Klein that Berens City was under attack, and Klein agreed to hurry toward his destination despite his uncertainty about the war.
• Klein summoned Arrodes to ask about Calderón City, and Arrodes revealed that it had once been the City of the Dead, the kingdom of the ancient god Gregrace.

Klein arranged help for a starving man and his young niece, then agreed to travel through the Spirit World directly to the Red of War’s camp near Berens. Meanwhile, Cattleya’s crew secured a Radiant Stone, and Otolov reported a possible sighting of the King of Immortality near Enmat Harbor.

• Klein consulted the Radio Telegraph about Calderón and Berens, divined that Ms. D’s plan would pose little danger, and went to wait for her.
• A disabled man asked Klein to take his young niece, and Klein arranged for them to find work at one of Ms. D’s factories while planning broader aid for the poor.
• Ms. D offered to send Klein through the Spirit World to the Red of War’s camp, and Klein agreed despite his surprise at her messenger’s connection to Traynor Vaughn.
• Cattleya and her crew killed a Holy Sunbird, collected a Radiant Stone, and hurried back to the Future.
• Otolov told Cattleya that agents had spotted someone suspected to be the King of Immortality in a city near Enmat Harbor.