Chapter Summaries

Leonard told Klein about Amon, while Feysac forces launched an attack on the outskirts of the City of Serenity. Vincent was badly wounded as he tried to warn the town’s residents, and Klein prepared to convene the Tarot Club to trap a Sanguine in the Harvest Church.

• Leonard met Klein above the gray fog and asked where he had found new traces of Amon.
• Arnold’s Feysac vanguard resisted Vincent’s nightmare attack, and the chief of staff ordered a signal sent after the troops realized they had been baited.
• Vincent and the Archbishop saw the Evernight Church engulfed in white flames as Feysac forces used a loudspeaker to stall them.
• A sudden wave of sleep overwhelmed the Feysac soldiers, but the chief of staff escaped the nightmare with the help of his sword and a charm.
• Arnold identified the Archbishop and struck Vincent down, while a Feysac airship arrived and began attacking the town.
• The Archbishop ordered Vincent to evacuate the town’s people, and Vincent struggled through the bombardment toward them.

Vincent struggled to return to Red Moon Town but lost control and became a wolf-like monster, whereupon the Devil intercepted him. Edward discussed his plans with the True Creator, then set out for Loen to reclaim his characteristic while the True Creator weighed the risks to the balance of power.

• Vincent healed himself with a charm, crawled through the ruins, and killed a warrior who came upon him.
• As Vincent fled through the flames, madness transformed him into a wolf-like monster, and a frightened teacher drove him away from Red Moon Town.
• The Devil appeared before Vincent and asked whether he needed help after learning the direction of the Church of Evernight's Holy Cathedral.
• Edward told the True Creator that he opposed Klein becoming the Lord of the Mysteries because he feared the Celestial Worthy would consume him.
• Edward said he would go to Loen to reclaim his characteristic, and the True Creator asked him not to damage the Church of Serenity enough to upset the balance.
• Edward and the True Creator discussed the war, George III's attempt to become the Black Emperor, and Edward's likely plans involving Klein before Edward departed.

Edward arranged Moon Town’s evacuation by restoring its train station, notifying the church, and rescuing the infant Vanessa, while Arnold fought Saint Gallian as the Demon Wolf. After the townspeople began leaving for safety, Edward found the nearly lost Vincent and offered him a chance to escape with Vanessa, leaving Vincent wavering over whether to abandon the fight.

• Edward restarted Moon Town’s steam train station with his notebook, created staff and soldiers to run it, and arranged a train to take the townspeople to East Chester County.
• Edward delivered an evacuation notice to Moon Cathedral, then took the sleeping infant Vanessa from the nursery and left with her.
• Arnold battled Saint Gallian, who had transformed into an enormous Demon Wolf, and tried to persuade him to stop fighting and spare his people.
• Saint Gallian rejected Arnold’s offer and attacked, while Arnold transformed into a Giant and fought back with dawn light.
• Edward found Vincent, who had become a half-wolf monster, and told him that Moon Town’s people were evacuating and Vanessa was safe.
• Edward urged Vincent to leave for East Chester County with Vanessa and live as her father, and Vincent approached the child, visibly tempted.

Vincent refused Edward’s offer and left to protect the child, while Arnold defeated Galian and chose to let the escaping train pass. The survivors reached Stoen safely, and the child Vanessa began a new life with her adoptive parents.

• Vincent rejected Edward’s help, then left while Edward followed with the baby.
• Arnold defeated Galian, honored the dead warrior, and ordered his Hunters to prepare the airship as the train escaped.
• A newly advanced Demon Wolf swallowed Galian’s Beyonder characteristic and drove Arnold and the Hunters out of Stars Town.
• Arnold ordered a retreat and the Demon Wolf guarded the ruined town, allowing the fleeing passengers to continue toward safety.
• The train carried the survivors out of the Amanda Mountains, and Vanessa’s adoptive parents remembered her and planned to settle with her in East Chester County.
• The passengers disembarked in Stoen and praised the Goddess for their survival.

Edward attacked the concealed Church of Serenity in the Amanda Mountains to seize its Sealed Artifacts and lost Beyonder Characteristics. He confronted Arianna, who had taken the Evernight Goddess’s Divine Descent Vessel and refused to abandon her anchors.

• A Red Glove reported that Stars Town had fallen and its residents had been killed, while Archbishop Galian and the Red Gloves who accompanied him remained missing.
• Edward used the Devil Pathway’s Uniqueness to spread his Kingdom of God across the Amanda Mountains and expose the concealed Church of Serenity.
• Edward tore apart the cathedral’s concealment and spire, then entered while the Angels evacuated survivors and prepared to fight.
• Edward destroyed the underground seals and killed a person who approached him, then collected a music box among the released Sealed Artifacts.
• Arianna appeared before Edward and revealed that she had taken a gamble by acting as the Evernight Goddess’s Divine Descent Vessel.
• Arianna told Edward she could not abandon her anchors, because doing so would leave her with nothing.

The Monarch of Decay confronted the Evernight Goddess, who warned him that Earth’s gods would resist his actions. He killed her, then used 0-08 and the Mother of Heaven to restore her presence and preserve the balance among the gods, while Antigonus began to stir.

• The Monarch of Decay absorbed Sequence One Beyonder Characteristics from the Devil and Prisoner Pathways after Arianna and the Church of Serenity disappeared.
• The Evernight Goddess attacked the Monarch of Decay with darkness, dreams, and calamity while he taunted her and probed for the Lord of Storms.
• The Evernight Goddess threatened the Monarch of Decay with Antigonus, and he countered by suppressing Antigonus’s awakening and declaring that he feared only a Pillar.
• The Monarch of Decay pronounced Death upon the Evernight Goddess, and she shattered before the True Creator’s intervention could save her.
• The Monarch of Decay used 0-08 to bring the Mother of Heaven to Segar and gave her the Evernight Goddess’s Uniqueness and Sequence One characteristic.
• The Mother of Heaven began fighting for control with the Evernight Goddess, and the restored goddess’s concealment again covered the Nation of the Evernight.

The Mother of Heaven struggled with Amanises for control after accommodating the Darkness Uniqueness, then resolved to survive by embracing her weakness and protecting the sleeping Antigonus. In Loen, George III learned how the Magic Wishing Lamp had returned from the Southern Continent and gained political ground when the Church of Evernight offered to yield prominence to the Church of Storms.

• The Mother of Heaven endured the clash between her psyche and Amanises, while the Outer Deity left her to decide her own fate.
• The Mother of Heaven saw Antigonus sleeping in the Hornacis Mountain Range and resolved to live and play the role of Evernight Goddess.
• A royal demigod reported to George III that the Magic Wishing Lamp had passed from a Southern Continent warlord to Constantine Rieveldt, then caused devastating losses during the army’s retreat and return voyage.
• George III considered using the Magic Wishing Lamp for his apotheosis ritual and welcomed the deaths of noble officers as a boost to the royal family’s power.
• Zaratul told George III that the Church of Evernight had suffered a severe blow and was willing to yield Loen’s foremost-church status to the Church of Storms.

A silver moon appeared over the world as the churches and nations reacted to the upheaval caused by the gods’ war. Klein and others realized the Church of Evernight had made major concessions to the Church of Storms, while the True Creator and the Monarch of Decay prepared to leave for the Eastern Continent.

• A young man in a wizard’s robe read reports about the True Creator’s rise in Intis and the battle between Evernight and the God of Combat.
• Soest told Leonard that the Church of Evernight would cooperate with the Church of Storms, the military, and the royal family, and that the Goddess’s prayer gesture had changed from a red moon to stars.
• Audrey struggled with the suffering caused by the war and the limits of her charity as her family urged her to stop sacrificing her own comfort.
• The red moonlight faded to silver, and Audrey, her family, and the people of Backlund stared up at the changed moon.
• Klein read about Evernight’s concessions, speculated that the Goddess had lost the authority of the Red Moon, and saw the silver moon hanging over a stunned crowd.
• The True Creator and the Monarch of Decay watched the silver moon, then agreed that the Monarch would leave for the Eastern Continent and let Bethel out before departing.

The True Creator prepared to leave for the Eastern Continent and accommodate the Chaos Sea, while the Monarch of Decay advised him to act quickly and use Adam to improve his chances. In the Highlands Colony, Richard Ernst considered seizing power from Suah and began weighing a partnership with Ileana’s prospective contact.

• Bethel Abraham briefly regained his lucidity under silver moonlight, looked toward Earth through the Gates of Starlight, and then fell back into his struggle against himself.
• The Monarch of Decay stopped influencing the Moon Uniqueness and explained the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s nature and the dangers of attracting her attention.
• The True Creator decided not to delay his journey to the Eastern Continent and considered making Adam a vegetative Visionary to improve his chances of accommodating the Chaos Sea.
• Richard Ernst discussed replacing Suah with Mahames and Taufik, but concluded that the timing was not yet convenient.
• Richard remembered a curse in Berens that had defeated his divination and found a sealed letter about cooperating with the Red of War, addressed to a prospective partner using the name Dwayne Dantès.

Ileana discussed the Church of the Creator’s ties to the Southern Continent with Clovis while they exchanged news about Intis. Later, Klein encountered Amon at Böklund Street, but a mysterious Foundation representative captured Amon and offered to take some worms as payment.

• Ileana told Clovis that her letters to Loen nobles had produced one offer of family assets worth two hundred thousand gold louis, and she described an earl’s daughter who seemed unusually perceptive.
• Clovis warned Ileana that Intis might lose the Highlands Colony and end its need for the Rose School, while Ileana noted the worsening economy and rising unrest.
• Klein recognized Amon in a carriage near the Macht residence and discovered that Amon’s segmented worms had spread through the house.
• Amon found Klein at 160 Böklund Street, threatened him by claiming he had replaced Klein’s marionette threads with those of the household staff, and tried to exploit Klein’s reluctance to harm them.
• A tall representative of the Ernst Foundation restrained Amon with a handkerchief, then asked Klein whether he could take some worms as payment and introduced himself as a Rose School member interested in charity.

Klein met Richard Ernst, a Rose School Angel who sought Worms of Time and promoted his charitable foundation, while Klein learned that two people he had entrusted to Ms. D’s business were now supported by the foundation. Leonard and Pallez arrived and extracted Amon’s avatars, leaving Richard intrigued by the presence of a Marauder Angel in Backlund.

• Klein learned Richard Ernst was the founder of the Ernst Foundation and heard his request for Worms of Time in exchange for discussing charitable work.
• Richard explained that the Rose School no longer strictly divided its members into Temperance and Indulgence factions, and that the uncle and niece Klein had entrusted to Ms. D’s business now worked at textile factories.
• Leonard arrived, and Pallez identified Richard as a Rose School Angel who had once turned more than two thousand people into food and distributed it in the Southern Continent.
• Klein agreed to let Leonard and Pallez extract eight Worms of Time, and Richard released the restraints on Amon’s avatars.
• Leonard summoned an ancient clock that drew in Amon’s avatars and reversed the aging effect Amon had inflicted on Klein.
• Richard recognized Leonard’s power as enhanced Beyonder convergence and decided to stay in Backlund, wondering whether it would attract Amon.

Amon investigated Southern Continent food while Klein recruited Audrey for an unknown task. In Backlund, Richard discovered the planned broadcast of confessions about the Great Smog and learned that deadly events were predicted for the city.

• Amon joined locals gathering small crabs and learned they pickled them for food, agreeing to try the dish in a normal bowl.
• Klein appeared before Audrey as Gehrman Sparrow and took her away to help him.
• Richard left Dwayne Dantès with the spoils from the battle against an Amon avatar and suspected Reinette Tinekerr was helping the Temperance Faction.
• Richard encountered Edward, who asked him to hang loudspeakers around Backlund for an Aurora Order broadcast revealing the Great Smog perpetrators' confessions and their cooperation with the Augustus royal family.
• Edward warned that his prophecy showed many people would die in Backlund that day, and Richard decided to stay for the predicted fireworks.

Hunters forced Panatiya to broadcast the Demoness Sect’s cooperation with the Loen royal family, including its human trafficking and the King’s role in the Great Smog. As Audrey confronted the truth and Klein confirmed it, Panatiya finished digesting her potion and was executed.

• Traynor gave Panatiya two minutes to prepare before making her confess over a microphone, while a Hunter resisted her supernatural allure.
• Audrey hypnotized Hazel to hide her traumatic memories temporarily, then Klein and Audrey heard Panatiya’s broadcast from a loudspeaker on Böklund Street.
• Panatiya claimed the Demoness Sect had trafficked people for the royal family and that King George III had permitted the Great Smog in exchange for its help.
• Klein told Audrey about his investigation linking the Demoness Sect’s trafficking to Major General Qonas Kilgor, and Audrey asked to hear the full truth despite her noble status.
• Panatiya declared that the King had allowed her to slaughter East Borough’s residents and that the Great Smog had been her work; Klein confirmed the royal family’s complicity to Audrey.
• Panatiya’s potion finished digesting as she laughed, and a Hunter beheaded her.

Riots spread through Backlund after Panatiya exposed the king’s collaboration, while devils from the Nois Family worsened the unrest. Audrey comforted people at the student aid foundation, and George III dismissed the reports as he prepared for his Black Emperor apotheosis; the chapter ended with a vision of the crowd being destroyed by aerial bombardment.

• Soldiers in Empress Borough received orders to help suppress riots in East Borough and Cherwood Borough.
• Milan Nois allowed the Nois Family devils to join the march, where a Desire Apostle stirred the crowd before soldiers scattered them with warning shots.
• Audrey told Klein she had chosen to advance to protect her family, then went to the student aid foundation and admitted she did not know whether the missing families were alive.
• Klein encountered a growing riot as a Desire Apostle urged the crowd to demand jobs, bread, and relief money, and the procession surged toward West Borough.
• A royal family demigod told George III that Panatiya had exposed the collaboration and that crowds were gathering; George III ordered the matter denied and dismissed the threat.
• George III spoke of his plan to become the Black Emperor, while images shown by Mr. Zaratul depicted the crowd being obliterated by aerial fire.

Richard and Edward watched Klein try to contain a protest that had been driven into a frenzy, while Richard questioned whether Klein should become a god. Feysac airships bombed Backlund, and Richard rescued Audrey and others from a collapsing building.

• Richard helped an elderly shopkeeper and discussed social unrest and the danger of Klein becoming a god with Edward, who had identified Klein as the Aurora Order's Mr. X.
• Klein failed to redirect the mass march, and the royal family and churches did not intervene before Feysac airships arrived and bombed the crowd.
• Audrey soothed frightened workers at the Loen Student Aid Foundation, then led them toward a subway station after bombs shattered the building and wounded people nearby.
• A collapsing building threatened Audrey and the group, but Richard protected them with falling candies and offered Audrey a cookie.

After a bombing devastated the street, Klein searched the ruins for survivors and was shaken by the deaths of ordinary people before making his way toward Melissa and Benson. In a subway station, Audrey sheltered the Foundation's injured staff and asked Richard about her family, but he refused and explained why he hated nobles.

• Klein searched the bombed ruins, but the only survivor who called for help died before he could reach him.
• Klein reflected on the dead man's life and the unfairness of his death, then collapsed to his knees after recognizing the bodies in the blast debris as people.
• Klein eventually stood and staggered toward the neighborhood where Melissa and Benson lived.
• Audrey led the Foundation's staff into a subway station, where workers gave them hot water and blankets.
• Richard criticized Audrey's lack of combat experience and said he would have looted her valuables if she had waited helplessly to die; Audrey quickly offered him her jewelry.
• Audrey asked Richard to check on her family, but he refused and argued that nobles' hoarded wealth and resources justified his hatred of them.

Richard challenged Audrey’s assumptions about noble wealth and dignity, prompting her to consider working in the Southern Continent. After Audrey reunited with her mother and left, Richard demanded a 400,000-pound thank-you payment from Earl Hall and walked away from the bombing’s aftermath.

• Richard argued that the Halls’ fortune came from workers’ labor and questioned Audrey about wages, profits, and support for workers who grew old or were injured.
• Audrey began to understand why nobles were disliked and reconsidered whether aristocratic dignity was a self-imposed restraint.
• Richard offered Audrey work at his institution in the Southern Continent, and Audrey said she wanted to see more of the world.
• Madam Caitlyn arrived and took Audrey onto a steam train with the Beyonder bodyguards and Archbishop Anthony.
• Earl Hall thanked Richard for saving Audrey, and Richard requested 400,000 pounds as a gift before leaving the ruined subway station.

The True Creator assessed Intis’s economic and food crisis before learning that George III had allowed Feysac airships to bomb demonstrators in Backlund, killing over a thousand people. As Audrey learned that the Hall family planned to leave Loen for Intis and Klein confronted the massacre’s aftermath, George III blamed the tragedy on the Demoness Sect and Feysac, leaving Klein newly interested in the Sequence 3 potion formula.

• The True Creator considered Intis’s economic decline, food shortages, and the Church’s efforts to control Beyonders, then decided to purify contaminated land and prepare to travel to the Eastern Continent with Edward.
• Edward told the True Creator that George III had let Feysac airships bomb Backlund’s demonstrators, and described how Klein had protected people and searched for survivors before leaving.
• Madam Caitlyn brought Audrey to the Hall family study, where Earl Hall told the family he planned to move them to Intis as Loen faced defeat in the war.
• Audrey questioned who her pen pal really was, and Madam Caitlyn told her she would meet the young woman and become friends with her.
• Klein returned to 160 Böklund Street after ensuring Benson and Melissa were safe, then read George III’s proclamation blaming the bombing’s deaths on the Demoness Sect and Feysac.
• Klein finished the proclamation, crushed a piece of iron in his hand, and began to take an interest in the Sequence 3 potion formula.

Klein learned that the Aurora Order could help him find the Scholar of Yore formula, but he focused instead on disaster relief and the Foundation’s recovery. In the Highlands Colony, Richard pushed the Rose School leaders toward rebellion against Intis and silenced Mahames’s objections.

• Kisma ordered Mr. Z to compensate the families of workers killed in the bombing and recruit replacements for the factory.
• Saint Tenebrous told Klein that the Sequence 3 ritual involved time and that its potion required a rare, dangerous spirit world creature; Klein declined to seek the formula by praying to the True Creator.
• Audrey asked Klein to manage the Foundation’s relief work, and he agreed to support the injured and missing while she remained confined by her family.
• Mahames complained that Richard wanted to drive out the Intis garrison before the Highlands Resistance Army was ready, but Richard argued that the colony had to seize its chance for independence.
• Richard threw Mahames through a wall and demanded that Taufik name anyone else who objected.

Edward visited the Rose School and took Richard Ernst’s support before setting out to claim the Chained God’s position. After discussing the True Creator’s coming descent into the Chaos Sea, Edward confronted the Chained God and asked for his Uniqueness.

• Richard Ernst beat down Rose School members who objected to his plan to clear out the Intis garrison, then agreed to support Edward’s takeover of the Chained God’s position.
• Edward told the True Creator that he had fed 0-08 to Adam and discussed how the True Creator might preserve his identity while accommodating the Chaos Sea.
• The True Creator declined to bring Amon into the Chaos Sea dive and said he would consider Klein first as a candidate to accommodate Sefirah Castle.
• Edward warned that omniscience and omnipotence could erode the True Creator’s humanity, then agreed to provide memories and identity support through Adam as a stable medium.
• Edward found the corrupted Chained God, Tolzna, and urged him to abandon restraint and let Edward guide his believers.
• Edward offered to take the Chained God’s place and asked Tolzna to give him his Uniqueness.