Chapter Summaries

Klein learned that the True Creator was about to become God Almighty and intended to create a peaceful but controlling world, and that the True Creator’s final wish was for Klein to stop him. Klein resolved to pursue the Lord of the Mysteries’ power and protect humanity’s freedom to choose its own destiny.

• Edward told Klein he had been dead for half a month, that Zaratul had died shortly before him, and that God Almighty was one of the universe’s most powerful beings.
• Edward explained that God Almighty wanted a world without conflict, then showed Klein and Medici a prosperous society where everyone worshiped God Almighty and lived as part of his flock.
• Edward identified the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings as the Lord of the Mysteries and explained that advancing beyond a true god involved becoming part of a Sefirah’s avatar.
• Edward revealed that the True Creator no longer existed and was about to become God Almighty, and that his final wish was for Klein to stop him.
• Klein rejected God Almighty’s Sheep Pen but refused to destroy the happiness it offered, resolving to protect a world where people could choose their beliefs and destinies.

Klein escaped Edward’s attack and returned to Backlund, where he found his Dwayne Dantès household operating normally and encountered Richard Ernst. The chapter ended with Klein and Richard both shocked to discover that the other was alive.

• Edward considered killing Klein but hesitated over Medici and the mind link, while Medici warned Klein and gave him two incantations to use if danger arose.
• Klein reflected on his strange speech about humanity’s choices, and Medici praised his idea of preserving a perfect world while letting people choose how to live.
• While Edward became distracted by a conversation with his other self, Medici used the opening to act, but Edward sensed danger and cursed him before aiming at Klein.
• Klein shouted “Leodero,” summoning lightning that struck him as Edward fired; Klein escaped into the Historical Void, while lightning destroyed Edward’s gun hand.
• Edward tossed the boundary stele into Feysac territory as an apology, and Klein made his way back to Backlund.
• Klein found 160 Böklund Street functioning as usual and saw an identical Dwayne Dantès arrive with Richard Ernst, who recognized Klein across the street.

Leonard was transferred to the River and Sea Church after Pallez agreed, while Klein returned to his home and reunited with Richard Ernst and Medici. Klein learned that Richard was Edward Vaughan’s student, realizing he had been deceived, as the group’s next move remained unresolved.

• A Storm Bishop gave Leonard a joint transfer order assigning him to collaborate with the Lightning and Truth Church, and Pallez agreed to go with him.
• Richard Ernst signaled to Klein, who sneaked into his home and thanked Richard for maintaining his house while he was presumed dead.
• Richard explained that he had planned to use Klein’s fortune and Foundation for his own benefit, and questioned how Klein had returned from death.
• Klein revealed that Medici was with him, and Richard asked whether the Cathedral of Light was left without a Sequence One guardian.
• Richard refused to report Klein and Medici to his teacher, Edward Vaughan, and Klein discovered that Richard had become Edward’s student after fleeing the Temperance Faction.

Klein questioned Richard Ernst about his role in Medici's latest loss, then learned from Medici about possible Miracle Invoker characteristics and the history of the Seer pathway. The chapter ended with Audrey seeing Klein and Richard through a mirror and mistaking the lifeless Dwayne Dantès for a puppet involved in an identity handover.

• Klein reluctantly accepted that Richard and his teacher had not conspired to take his estate, while Medici agreed to order an upgraded spare body from Richard.
• Medici urged Klein to advance, but Klein chose to remain at Sequence 3 while planning to bring Eastern Continent survivors out through the Aurora Order's route.
• Medici warned Klein away from Beyonder characteristics held by Zaratul and Antigonus, then described several Miracle Invoker characteristics and the missing Attendant of Mysteries characteristic.
• Medici told Klein that the Antigonus siblings had ruled the Nation of the Evernight and that the current Evernight Goddess had been the Angel of Concealment, 0-17.
• Richard returned and said the Chained God wanted Medici brought to the Southern Continent for a customized body, but paused to answer a prayer through a round mirror.
• Audrey prayed to Richard and saw Klein, Richard, and a motionless Dwayne Dantès, whom she assumed was a puppet in an identity handover.

Audrey learned that Richard Ernst had employed her as a psychiatrist for the Rose School, while Klein and Medici arranged for Medici to travel to the Southern Continent in Klein’s vessel. After Richard and Medici entered the Spirit World, they found Edward waiting for them, and Richard denied betraying their plans.

• Audrey concluded that Richard Ernst had taken over Dwayne Dantès’s identity as part of a planned cooperation with Mr. Fool and asked him to take her to work.
• Richard explained to Klein that Audrey provided psychological counseling for the Rose School and sent her wages to support Kajia’s family.
• Richard said the Psychology Alchemists had fractured after their leaders fell, and Medici agreed to travel to the Southern Continent with him.
• Medici borrowed Klein’s Dwayne Dantès vessel, and Richard took him through a Spirit World passage while Klein stayed behind in Loen.
• Medici and Richard arrived to find Edward waiting, and Edward noted that Klein had not come; Richard denied having exposed their plans.

Edward told Medici that Amon had taken Sefirah Castle from Klein, while Richard arranged Audrey’s visit to the hospital. Klein contacted Ms. D to seek guidance for his journey to the Eastern Continent and asked her to connect him with Leomaster.

• Edward confirmed to Medici that Amon had taken Sefirah Castle from Klein, and Medici reflected on Amon’s changed behavior and the old Lord’s wishes.
• Edward speculated that Klein would enter the Forsaken Land of the Gods to bring its people back into the world, while Richard took Baranka away and summoned Audrey to provide snacks for the hospital.
• Richard asked Taufik about digesting the Marionette potion and encouraged him to keep working hard alongside Letty.
• Klein contacted Ms. D through the Roselle Possession Information Transmission Technique and explained that he had been guided to lead the Eastern Continent’s survivors out.
• Klein described the Forsaken Land’s darkness and hardships, then told Ms. D that he needed Leomaster’s notes and advice about the route into the Eastern Continent.

Klein arranged through Ileana to meet Leomaster about entering the Sanctuary, while realizing that bringing the Forsaken Land’s people and history into the present could fulfill his Miracle Invoker ritual. After worrying that Amon might target the City of Silver and Moon City, Klein fell asleep and awoke to meet Leomaster and Hermes.

• Klein told Ileana he planned to travel alone to the Eastern Continent and asked her to arrange a meeting with Leomaster as soon as possible.
• Hermes appeared before Ileana, deduced that Mr. X was the Lord’s Believer, and accompanied her to find Leomaster.
• Klein considered how bringing the Forsaken Land’s people and lost history into the present could satisfy his Miracle Invoker ritual, while weighing the dangers surrounding Sasrir and the route through the Giant King’s Court.
• Klein remembered that Amon had destroyed city-states that converted to other gods and feared for the City of Silver and Moon City, which had converted to the Fool.
• After sleeping, Klein awoke in his sitting room with Leomaster and Hermes, who introduced himself as the creator of many ritual magics and the language of mysticism.

Klein met Hermes, who agreed to accompany him to the Eastern Continent, and learned why Hermes had chosen the Spectator pathway. When Klein asked why the Ancient Sun God had killed himself, Hermes revealed that the Creator had faced an unbeatable threat connected to himself, then warned that Amon might attack Moon City’s converts to the Fool.

• Hermes introduced himself to Klein and offered to join his journey to the Eastern Continent, and Klein accepted.
• Klein asked why Hermes had chosen the Spectator pathway, and Hermes explained that it helped him maintain awareness of himself and resist losing control.
• Klein asked why the Ancient Sun God had killed himself, and Hermes said the Creator had faced something impossible to defeat or kill, something that could be called himself.
• Hermes asked about Moon City, and Klein reported that fewer than thirty thousand survivors remained and that most had converted to the Fool.
• Hermes warned that the Creator’s second son, the Angel of Time, would not accept the converts, so they needed to be rescued quickly.

Derrick received Mr. Fool’s warning that an evil being would approach the City of Silver, then glimpsed a gigantic monster outside its walls. In a dream, Klein warned Hermes that Amon had taken Sefirah Castle, and they prepared to enter the Eastern Continent with help from the War Angel.

• Derrick heard Mr. Fool warn that an evil being would approach the City of Silver and decided to report it to Colin Iliad.
• Derrick saw two enormous green lights beyond the City of Silver and realized they belonged to a gigantic monster that did not attack.
• Klein told Hermes that Amon had seized Sefirah Castle and that the Fool might not be able to help their mission.
• Hermes reasoned that Klein was a favored believer of the Fool and warned that Amon might not honor the Fool’s agreement with the Creator.
• Hermes and Klein agreed to seek help from the War Angel and enter the Eastern Continent under cover, then discussed its geography with Leomaster.
• Klein’s dream ended, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Amon used Sefirah Castle to revisit the past, where he joined a memory of his father and brother before returning to the lonely present. At the hospital, Audrey’s attempt to soothe Pula led Richard to test Taufik’s hatred, and Taufik nearly killed himself rather than harm her; Richard said Taufik had earned the right to advance to Sequence 3.

• Amon explored Sefirah Castle’s history and entered a memory of the Ancient Sun God’s meeting with the Kings of Angels, where Adam welcomed him back and his father invited him to sit.
• Audrey finished her hospital shift and waited to say goodbye to Pula, whom Richard had come to take away for reform through labor.
• Pula recognized Audrey as his sister and calmed under her Soothing before Richard took him into the Spirit World.
• Richard revealed Audrey’s true identity to Taufik, provoking his hatred of the Northern Continent, but Taufik fought his urge to attack her and injured himself instead.
• Richard praised Taufik for regaining control and told him he had earned the right to advance to Sequence 3; Taufik asked whether becoming human was truly so painful.

Richard helped Taufik regain control after he nearly lost himself while resisting an urge to kill Audrey, then sent him to rest and explained why he had acted. Later, Hermes told Klein that the passage to the Eastern Continent was safe and showed him its entrance through the War of the Gods Ruins.

• Richard restored the sealed room, treated Taufik, and told him he would have disposed of him if he had completely lost control.
• Richard turned Taufik into a weather doll and sent him to sleep in a prepared hospital room; Audrey reflected on the danger of madness and thanked Richard.
• Richard shielded Audrey from Medici, who had flirted with her from the street, and took her home through the Spirit World.
• Hermes told Klein that he had inspected the passage to the Eastern Continent and demonstrated how they would travel through it.
• Klein saw that the passage began at the entrance to the War of the Gods Ruins, where the sea fell into a vast fissure.

Hermes guided Klein through the War of the Gods Ruins in a dream, where Klein uncovered clues about the Ancient Sun God’s death and reached the Black Monastery with Hermes and Medici. There, Ouroboros opened the Pilgrimage Road, and the three began ascending a dreamlike staircase; a closing scene showed Edward refusing to trust Klein.

• Hermes explained that the War of the Gods had devastated the Eastern Continent and shared fragments of Fourth Epoch history with Klein.
• Klein inferred that the gods and Kings of Angels had gathered to kill the Ancient Sun God, but Hermes said he was still missing a key piece of the mystery.
• Hermes led Klein through the True Creator’s ravings to a dream entrance to the Black Monastery, then pushed him awake into the real ruins beside Medici.
• Medici revealed that he had brought Klein there with the Great Serpent’s help, and Ouroboros opened the monastery doors for them.
• Ouroboros formed a spiraling staircase from his body, and Klein followed Medici and Hermes upward through the dream corridor.
• Edward rejected a proposal to cooperate with Klein, saying he would share some memories but would not trust a genuine Outer Deity.

Klein, Medici, and Hermes journey through Ouroboros’s dream and reach the Giant King’s Court in the Eastern Continent. They arrive at its twilight shore, where Medici warns them to leave quietly and avoid damaging the ancient ruins.

• Klein followed Medici and Hermes through the dream to a door that opened onto a golden ocean, which he recognized as the Ancient Sun God’s blood.
• Ouroboros shielded the group from the deadly dream and carried them across the War of the Gods Ruins toward the projection of the Giant King’s Court.
• Hermes prayed to the Creator, causing a path of twilight to appear between the mountain peaks, and Ouroboros brought them down onto it.
• Medici described the flourishing Third Epoch coastline as the group walked toward the Giant King’s residence, where Dark Angel Sasrir slept.
• Klein used Creeping Hunger to create an Illusory Door, and the group passed through it to a silent black-sand beach beneath the Giant King’s Court.
• Medici urged Klein and Hermes to keep quiet when they left and warned them not to damage the ruins.

Klein, Medici, and Hermes crossed into the Eastern Continent and set out for Moon City, discussing the region’s dwindling population and its people’s lives. Klein honored the remains of an ancient city before they continued through the wasteland.

• Klein told Medici about the City of Silver’s outpost at Afternoon Town, but Medici explained that they were still on the Aurora Order’s route and could not reach it yet.
• Hermes ended their passage through dreams, and the three emerged into the Eastern Continent; Medici said they would need to open a route through the Giant King’s Court to let ordinary people leave.
• Klein used divination and a map to locate Moon City, choosing it as their first stop before traveling northeast toward the City of Silver.
• Hermes sensed that only a few tens of thousands of people remained on the Eastern Continent, and Klein described how hardship and the Ancient Sun God’s silence had affected its people.
• Klein worried that the people of the Eastern Continent might lose their unity after reaching the outside world, and Medici urged him to accept their desires and future choices.
• Klein found the ruins of an ancient city and placed Seville Chrysanthemums there as a tribute before the three continued onward.

Richard managed Dwayne Dantès's household and cut its expenses while Klein, Medici, and Hermes crossed the Eastern Continent toward Moon City. They encountered an unnaturally chilling invisible river, as an unidentified visitor reached the Black Monastery and said they needed to pick up the pace.

• Richard decided not to dismiss the servants and instead cut household expenses, including tea, clothing, wine, and roof repairs.
• Klein shared a meal summoned from historical projections with Medici and Hermes, then continued traveling toward Moon City with them.
• Medici led Klein and Hermes away from their route after warning that the way ahead was difficult.
• Klein heard water in a riverbed that appeared empty and felt a chill reminiscent of the Death pathway.
• An unidentified visitor entered the Black Monastery, opened a door into darkness, and complained that their Sequence 5 body was awkward to use.

Edward spoke with the God of Possibilities about the Abraham Family, the Moon, and the River of Eternal Darkness before the latter left for the Forsaken Land of the Gods. In the City of Silver, Derrick suspected Mr. Fool or Mr. World had been replaced, but a monocled stranger altered his perception, while Klein and two Angels approached Moon City’s first outpost.

• Edward’s other half assembled a corpse and told him that Fors Wall was connected to a prophecy about the Abraham Family and Klein.
• The God of Possibilities advised Edward to dispose of the Moon and not contact the River of Eternal Darkness yet, then set off for the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Derrick recalled recent events and worried that an enemy might be impersonating Mr. Fool or Mr. World, so he decided to tell the Chief.
• Derrick’s friends stopped him on the way, and a Dawn Knight produced a crystal monocle that caused Derrick’s awareness to blur before he went with them to church.
• Klein told the two Angels that Moon City’s first outpost was just ahead.

Klein, Hermes, and Medici reached Moon City's exploration outpost, where Frank Lee's mushrooms helped make monster meat safe to eat. As Hermes entered a hunter's dream to investigate, Uno's fate-sight revealed that Amon had ensnared people in both the City of Silver and another settlement.

• Klein and Hermes watched Moon City guards use Frank's mushrooms to draw toxins from monster meat and purify their meal.
• Hermes asked Klein how Frank had come to support the Fool, and Klein praised Frank's convictions while worrying about his inventions.
• Hermes entered the dream of a hunter at the outpost as Medici watched over him and warned that the Great Serpent was aware of their presence.
• Derrick prayed, visited the training ground, and unknowingly turned toward the Round Tower after crossing paths with Uno.
• Uno saw that Amon had connected the fates of many City of Silver residents to a great being and had also taken people in another settlement.

Ouroboros chose not to rescue the City of Silver, while the Lord of Withering struggled to stay on task as he traveled through the Forsaken Land of the Gods. At the Moon City outpost, Klein and Hermes discovered that Amon’s treatment ritual was likely parasitizing its recipients—and that the Nim High Priest had been among the first treated.

• Ouroboros decided to guide the City of Silver toward helping itself but otherwise left its fate to unfold.
• The Lord of Withering sensed a living Attendant of Mysteries connected to Sefirah Castle, then got distracted by the ruins of an ancient city-state that worshipped Death, Gregrace.
• Hermes questioned a dreaming Moon City guard, who said that treatment happened weekly and that his family had not received it because he lacked merit.
• Klein suspected Amon had parasitized the people who received treatment, and learned that the guard still believed in the Ancient Sun God.
• The guard revealed that the Nim High Priest had been the first person treated, leaving Klein to realize that Amon had likely killed him by turning him into an avatar.

Klein decided to enter Moon City alone and negotiate with its people, hoping Amon would overlook him long enough for him to save any survivors who had not been parasitized. In Tingen, Leonard discovered that an apparent messenger had been Amon’s Avatar, and Pallez admitted he could no longer understand Amon’s power.

• Hermes and Medici warned Klein that Amon might have parasitized Moon City’s people and that the city could be destroyed.
• Klein resolved to negotiate with Moon City as an ordinary Sequence 3 Beyonder, believing his lack of value to Amon gave him a chance to help the survivors.
• Medici agreed to help Klein because he believed in him, despite Hermes’s misgivings.
• Leonard complained to Pallez about remaining in the Church of the Storm, and Pallez explained his suspicions about the Fool and Amon.
• Amon’s Avatar attacked Leonard’s office, leaving a charred messenger and a dead Worm of Time behind.
• Leonard opened the door to find it connected to the Spirit World, and Pallez said he could no longer see through Amon.

Leonard and Pallez investigated Klein’s fate and learned he had gone to the Forsaken Land of the Gods, where he might be protected from Amon. There, Klein approached Moon City as Gehrman Sparrow and declared himself an envoy bringing salvation.

• Leonard asked Pallez to check on Klein, and Pallez used their mystical connection to trace Klein’s last clues to Backlund and the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Pallez inferred that Medici had taken Klein east and told Leonard that Klein might still be alive and protected, urging him to pray to the God of Thunder.
• Klein agreed with Medici and the other angel to approach Moon City by daylight, and Medici lent him a cross belonging to the Lord.
• Klein traveled toward Moon City’s outpost, disguised as Gehrman Sparrow and carrying the cross and a walking stick.
• Klein introduced himself to the Moon City guards as an envoy of the Fool and the Creator, saying he had brought their promise and salvation.