Chapter Summaries

Lumian, Franca, Jenna, and Salent escaped a basement after an ancient mummy woke unexpectedly, and Lumian collected compensation from the potion shop owner. Franca then used divination to watch Salent return to the sealed door and proclaim, “Only death is eternal!”

• A chilling wind and pounding from the tomb chambers trapped Lumian, Franca, Jenna, and Salent in the basement as the door slammed shut.
• Salent panicked and revealed that a true ancient mummy had awakened, so Lumian used Spirit World Traversal to take the group outside.
• Jenna slapped Salent out of his terror, and he explained that the mummy had woken far earlier than expected.
• Lumian demanded gold for saving Salent and their distress, and Salent paid the group 1,000 felkin.
• Franca revealed that she had left a mirror shard outside the basement and used divination to see Salent return to the door and say, “Only death is eternal!”

Franca advanced to Sequence 4 as a Pleasure Witch, gaining stronger abilities and a striking beauty while Lumian and Jenna witnessed the effects. Later, Lumian went to the Red Princess District on the day named in the prophecy, arriving at the intersection of City Wall Street and White Horse Street.

• Franca identified Salent as a likely member of the Spiritualist Order and explained the order's aims and leadership to Lumian and Jenna.
• Lumian, Franca, and Jenna rested and ate together on the Stars Plateau after their business was finished.
• Franca drank the Mummy Ashes potion in an abandoned building and successfully advanced to a Pleasure Witch.
• Franca demonstrated her new invisible threads, improved witchcraft, and beauty, while Lumian and Jenna reacted to her new charms.
• Lumian asked Termiboros about the boon after Contracted One, but received no answer and said the Parish Priest would tell him.
• On the day mentioned in the prophecy, Lumian arrived at the intersection of City Wall Street and White Horse Street in the Red Princess District.

Lumian used Guillaume Béné’s contracted abilities and Anthony Reid’s psychological profile to narrow down where the priest might seek women, then tracked down gossip columnist Buller at Hope Café to buy information. Buller agreed to sit with him after Lumian stopped him from escaping, leaving Lumian ready to question him about City Wall Street’s scandals.

• Lumian spotted Albus on City Wall Street and ignored his challenge to compete in the search for Guillaume Béné.
• Lumian reviewed the negative effects of Guillaume Béné’s contracted abilities and used Anthony Reid’s psychological profile to predict that the priest would seek famous courtesans, possibly taking one home.
• Lumian planned to question Buller, a Grimace columnist known for City Wall Street gossip, after learning that he frequented Hope Café.
• When Buller tried to flee through the café’s back door, Lumian fired at the door and stopped him.
• Lumian asked Buller to sit down and said he wanted to buy information, and Buller explained why he chose a seat with a view of the entrance and an escape route.

Lumian traced a possible lead on Guillaume Béné to a house on Vincent Street, only to see a man who looked like the parish priest while a parrot reported that another target had been found. The chapter left Lumian unsure which Guillaume Béné was real as Albus searched the Dill brothel for a man matching his own clues.

• Lumian questioned Buller about courtesans who had left City Wall Street and learned that Pauline had recently been seen living comfortably on Vincent Street.
• Lumian went to Vincent Street, bribed a manservant for information, and learned that a beautiful woman lived at Number 50 with a southern provincial.
• Lumian saw a man resembling Guillaume Béné inside Number 50 and continued down the street without alerting him.
• A parrot landed on Lumian's shoulder and announced that the target had been found, leaving Lumian wondering whether the man he saw was an impostor or another Guillaume Béné.
• Albus watched the Dill brothel and offered a waiter gold and banknotes for information about a man who favored famous girls and ate immediately after sex.

Albus identified a man at Dill who might be Guillaume Béné, while Lumian learned the priest could have created a substitute and that divination could not distinguish the two Guillaumes. Lumian visited the man at 50 Vincent Street and launched an attack to test whether he was the original or the substitute.

• Albus bribed a waiter for information, spotted a masked man in room 602 at Dill, and sent Christo's rat to report his suspicion.
• After hearing that the Iron and Blood Cross Order had found Guillaume Béné, Lumian realized the priest might have used Substitution and could not tell which man was real.
• Franca's divination indicated that both Guillaumes were real, so Lumian assigned Jenna to watch room 602 and Anthony Reid to monitor the house at 50 Vincent Street.
• Lumian disguised himself as an inspector, entered 50 Vincent Street, recognized Guillaume Béné, and attacked him to determine whether he was the substitute.

Lumian and his companions ambushed a man who looked like Guillaume Béné at the Dill brothel, only to discover that he was another double. Lumian used Spiritism to identify the double’s abilities and began searching its memories for clues to the real Parish Priest’s whereabouts.

• Lumian knocked out a supposed Guillaume Béné at 50 Vincent Street and joined Franca and Jenna at the Dill brothel, where Franca prepared invisible spider threads around Room 602.
• Lumian lured the man inside Room 602 into the corridor with a staged fire and knocked him unconscious with the Heng-Ha Art.
• Lumian found only three contract marks on the man, realized he was another double, and killed him before sealing the room with a Spirit Wall.
• Anthony Reid watched a woman leave 50 Vincent Street with servants and a carriage, memorizing details rather than following her.
• Lumian performed Spiritism and learned that the Vincent Street figure was likely a Substitution, while the brothel double had been made with Transformation to conceal Guillaume Béné’s negative effects.

Lumian uncovered that the Guillaume Béné operating in public was a double and searched the real Guillaume Béné’s home with Franca and Jenna. They found a hidden ritual hall and clues that Guillaume had transformed into a dog, but a secret passage separated Lumian from his companions, and someone called his name in the dark mine.

• Lumian realized the false Guillaume Béné was a deliberate double and took Franca and Jenna to 50 Vincent Street.
• Lumian woke the double, questioned him, and searched the house with Franca and Jenna after learning Anthony Reid had not reported back.
• The group found a hidden underground ritual hall, and Lumian deduced that the real Guillaume Béné had used Animal Transformation to hide as a brown-haired dog.
• Jenna found brown dog hairs leading to a secret door, and Franca’s divination revealed no immediate danger beyond it.
• The passage separated Lumian from Franca and Jenna, leaving the two women in the sacrificial hall while Lumian entered an abandoned mine alone.
• A voice in the mine called out, “Lumian Lee!”

Guillaume Béné lured Lumian Lee into the Fictional Bottle and tried to seize him so he could release the sealed angel, but Lumian resisted the Soul-Seizing Secret Art and counterattacked. Outside the bottle, Franca tried to use a Mirror Substitute to establish a connection with Lumian, leaving his fate uncertain as the battle continued.

• Guillaume Béné revealed that he had engineered Lumian Lee's entry into the Fictional Bottle, whose entry condition was possessing the power of fate, and planned to capture him and free the sealed angel.
• Guillaume Béné used the Soul-Seizing Secret Art, but Lumian had stuffed his ears with paper and pretended to be incapacitated before striking back with the Heng-Ha Art.
• Guillaume Béné dodged Lumian's attack, then used Sickly Green Arrows while black vines and Abyss Demon Flowers filled the mine.
• Lumian ignited the Abyss Demon Flowers to spread anesthetic gas, but Guillaume Béné used Steel Body to resist it.
• Outside the Fictional Bottle, Franca prepared a Mirror Substitute and attempted a weaker curse to determine whether she could still connect with Lumian.

Lumian turned Guillaume Béné’s trap at the Fictional Bottle’s exit into a chance to open the sealed space and let his companions enter. The fight continued as Guillaume struck Franca with a fate-based attack after her Mirror Substitute saved Lumian from poison.

• Franca used black flames on Lumian’s mirror substitute, alerting him to her attempt to contact him and making him realize he was cursed.
• Lumian pretended to flee the Fictional Bottle’s exit, then used Distortion to open the sealed space and evaded Guillaume Béné’s shadow trap with an exploding Fireball.
• Franca entered the burning mine while Jenna hid outside the doorway, waiting for a chance to attack.
• Lumian charged Guillaume Béné while burning himself to resist the anesthetic gas, and Guillaume used Avatar of Light to create a double.
• Guillaume’s false double exploded and sprayed Delainel gland poison at Lumian, but Lumian’s Mirror Substitute activated and Franca was forced out of Invisibility.
• Guillaume summoned Mercury-Colored Complex Symbols around Franca and attacked her with a fate-based ability.

Lumian and Franca used Mirror Substitutes, Bribery, and a coordinated curse to defeat Guillaume Béné and counter his Rebirth ability. The Parish Priest’s spirit was redirected into Lumian’s body, leaving Lumian trembling but still smiling as he addressed him.

• Guillaume Béné tried to amplify the fate that would leave Franca paralyzed, but Franca’s Mirror Substitute caused his attempt to fail and let her shoot him.
• Lumian used Bribery to weaken Guillaume Béné’s defenses, then evaded his attacks with another Mirror Substitute while Franca waited for an opening.
• Guillaume Béné mistook Lumian, disguised as Franca, for the real woman and tried to interfere with his fate, allowing Franca to curse him through a mirror.
• Guillaume Béné’s Rebirth activated after the curse brought him down, but Lumian used Distortion, Earthblood Ore, and his disguise to redirect the Parish Priest’s spirit into himself.

Lumian and Franca trapped Guillaume Béné’s spirit and questioned him through spiritism. Guillaume revealed that Aurora Lee had introduced him to fate, then said she had claimed she was not Aurora Lee.

• Guillaume Béné fled Lumian’s body into the vortex of the dim village, where the dead called for him to join them.
• Lumian distorted Guillaume’s destination into Franca’s mirror, and Franca sealed his spirit with ice and black flames.
• Lumian and Franca waited for Guillaume’s rebirth to wear off while Lumian mocked him and explained how he had set a trap.
• Albus watched the group leave the Dill brothel and wondered about Lumian’s relationship with Red Boots and Gardner Martin.
• Franca performed magic mirror spiritism, and Lumian asked Guillaume who had led him to believe in fate.
• Guillaume said Aurora Lee had offered him supernatural power, then recalled that she had claimed she was not Aurora Lee.

Lumian interrogated Guillaume Béné’s spirit and learned that Aurora had used the name Roche Louise Samson and was connected to the Fate-worshipping organization Sinners. After extracting what he could, Lumian burned Guillaume’s spirit and ended the threat.

• Lumian learned that Aurora had called herself Roche Louise Samson and that Guillaume had secretly planned the Cordou Village sacrifice before she eventually helped him.
• Guillaume revealed that he was an archbishop of Sinners, an organization whose divinity-bearing leader was contacted by Bouval Pompairo, a shapeshifter who could no longer take his own form.
• Guillaume said Roche had given him bearer certificates worth one hundred thousand verl d’or, and he described the Fate pathway’s Sequence 6 through Sequence 3 and the abilities of an Ascetic.
• Lumian’s dwindling spirituality and stabbing head pain forced him to end the spiritism before he could ask about the Sufferer’s abilities.
• Lumian grabbed Guillaume’s spirit, set it ablaze, and cried, “Praise the Sun!” as the Parish Priest’s spirit dissipated.

Lumian killed Guillaume Béné in the inferno and recovered the ritual pelts and the Parish Priest’s hidden money. Franca investigated the false Guillaume Béné, learned the Demon disappeared once a week, and urged him to flee.

• Lumian’s inferno plan failed against Guillaume Béné’s Steel Body, so he used Guillaume’s eagerness to attack Franca to trap and burn his Spirit Body.
• Lumian collected the ritual pelts, and the Fictional Bottle collapsed after Guillaume Béné died.
• Franca took a dog pelt and went back to 50 Vincent Street, while Lumian and Jenna carried the remaining pelts and the Earthblood Ore toward the surface.
• Lumian hid the Dignity brooch in a flask and waited underground for its negative effects to pass, while Jenna struggled to resist her disgust toward him.
• Franca erased traces at 50 Vincent Street, questioned the false Guillaume Béné, and learned the Demon disappeared for one day each week.
• Franca instigated the false Guillaume Béné to leave and start a new life, then vanished before him.

After Lumian and Jenna returned from the abandoned tunnel, they counted their spoils and discussed the missing Anthony. Lumian then recounted Cordou Village’s disaster, and Franca suspected Aurora’s Soul-Summoning Spell was connected to the problem because she had bought it at an April Fool’s Day gathering.

• Lumian woke in the abandoned tunnel, and Jenna admitted she had wanted to attack him but had held back because she considered him a friend.
• Franca counted about sixty thousand verl d'or in the backpack and proposed dividing the money among Lumian, herself, Jenna, and Anthony; she also said she had reported Guillaume Béné to secure another bounty.
• Franca reassured Jenna that divination showed Anthony was not in danger, and the group waited for him to return.
• Lumian asked Franca and Jenna to analyze what had happened in Cordou Village and described Aurora’s strange behavior and the sacrificial ritual that had saved him.
• Franca retrieved Aurora’s Witchcraft Notes and pointed out that the Soul-Summoning Spell had been purchased at an April Fool’s Day gathering, saying she suspected she knew where the problem lay.

Franca revealed that she and the members of the Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society came from another world, then linked their transmigration and the Soul-Summoning Spell to possible dangers involving Muggle and the Sinners organization. She and Lumian agreed to investigate separate leads before Franca asked him to explain the Heng-Ha Art.

• Franca asked what would happen if someone used the Soul-Summoning Spell on themselves, then sent Jenna out so she could discuss a secret with Lumian.
• Franca told Lumian that she and the Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society members came from another world and had revived as spirits in the bodies of people who had just died.
• Lumian said he accepted Aurora as his sister regardless of who had previously inhabited her body, and Franca acknowledged his response.
• Lumian and Franca considered whether Roche Louise Samson had been the original spirit and whether she or her family had ties to Fate and the Sinners organization.
• Franca agreed to find the April Fool’s Day member who sold Aurora the spell and investigate his motives, while Lumian took responsibility for following the Roche Louise Samson lead.
• Franca returned to the subject of Lumian’s Heng-Ha Art and asked him to discuss it.

Lumian explained how he summoned the Armored Wraith, and Franca recognized it as resembling figures from the myths of her original world. The group postponed meeting the dangerous spirit until Lumian could fulfill their contract, while Lumian later received a letter from Hella announcing her arrival in Trier.

• Lumian told Franca that the Armored Wraith came from a summoning ritual and described its appearance and abilities, prompting her to suspect it came from her original world.
• Franca asked Lumian to summon the Armored Wraith, but Lumian said they should wait until he had gathered enough gold to fulfill their contract and gain its protection.
• Anthony Reid reported that the people connected to Guillaume Béné had moved to a safe house, and Lumian decided to stop watching them so Sinners might resume contact.
• Anthony Reid asked to investigate Hugues Artois and the betrayal, while Jenna agreed to seek information from the Purifiers and Franca offered to look for Loen military records.
• Lumian reflected on Aurora and the dream’s symbols as he walked to the Golden Rooster Inn, then found a letter from Hella saying she had arrived in Trier.

Lumian read Madam Magician’s theories about Aurora, Roche Louise Samson, Sinners, and the Armored Wraith, then arranged to meet Hella. The next morning, he headed to the Little Calf Café for their meeting.

• Lumian received Madam Magician’s reply, which identified his choice of spirit-world contract partners as a way to hunt recipients of Fate Pathway gifts and offered theories about Roche, Aurora, Sinners, and the Soul-Summoning Spell.
• Madam Magician told Lumian to meet Hella and suggested he test her reaction by mentioning Aurora’s abnormalities and the Soul-Summoning Spell.
• Lumian arranged to meet Hella at the Little Calf Café and asked Franca whether he should tell her about the Armored Wraith; Franca advised him to wait and keep their connection secret.
• Franca told Lumian the ritual hides’ Hermetic incantations, then went to see Gardner to help digest Pleasure.
• The next morning, Lumian walked along Old Street toward the Little Calf Café, where he was due to meet Hella.

Lumian met Hella and showed her Aurora’s Witchcraft Notes, seeking an explanation for the abnormalities surrounding his sister and Roche Louise Samson. Hella traced Aurora’s likely psychological breakdown to the Soul-Summoning Spell and suggested Lumian could investigate the Society if he could disguise himself as Muggle.

• Lumian met Hella at the Little Calf Café and used her ring to make their conversation private.
• Lumian told Hella he had caught Guillaume Béné, described the Lizard-like Sprite and Roche Louise Samson, and gave her Aurora’s Witchcraft Notes.
• Hella identified Aurora’s Soul-Summoning Spell as a likely source of her problems and suggested it may have intensified her psychological issues into a split personality.
• Hella said the Lizard-like Sprite differed from transparent lizard-like sprites she had studied and promised to watch for related legends.
• Hella said the April Fool’s Day member who sold Aurora the spell was under suspicion but that she would investigate.
• Hella told Lumian he could investigate the Society by posing as Muggle if he gained a flesh-and-blood shapeshifting ability, and Lumian questioned whether he could convincingly impersonate his sister.

Lumian learned how he might impersonate Aurora at Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society gatherings, then warned Hella about the Catacombs as she searched for an item there. After spotting Eighth Bureau investigator Lya at the Alone bar, he returned to Gardner Martin, who assigned him to contact Black Cat and befriend Puivert Sauron.

• Hella advised Lumian to listen more than he spoke if he ever impersonated Aurora, and explained that divination might identify him as Aurora because of her soul fragments preserved within him.
• Lumian told Hella about the Catacombs' dangers and the Spring of Forgetting, and she thanked him before leaving the café.
• Lumian saw Lya enter the Alone bar and wondered whether it monitored the dangerous Different from the Rest dance hall.
• Gardner Martin asked Lumian about killing Guillaume Béné, and Lumian described the operation and judged Guillaume's strength equivalent to Sequence 5.
• Gardner Martin tasked Lumian with contacting the Black Cat organization at the Mechanical Café and befriending its member Puivert Sauron.

Lumian met Count Puivert and the Black Cat members at the Mechanical Café, where they proposed a King Cake game involving mysticism. Meanwhile, Purifiers discussed Guillaume Béné’s death and considered whether Lumian had worked with a Witch, while Valentine and Imre wondered why a would-be Witch had contacted them.

• Lumian introduced himself to Count Puivert as Charles Dubois and joined the Black Cat gathering at the Mechanical Café.
• Lumian impressed Anoli with an insult about the writer Adri, and Anoli treated him to a costly glass of absinthe.
• Count Puivert proposed a King Cake game in which the participants would offer an extra slice to a deity or ancestor and let the person who found a bean or coin become king.
• Deacon Angoulême confirmed that the body at 50 Vincent Street belonged to Guillaume Béné and said the former priest had likely died from a Witch’s curse.
• Valentine suggested Lumian might have had a Witch’s help in killing Guillaume, and Angoulême agreed to report the possibility and increase screening in the Market District.
• After leaving Angoulême’s office, Valentine and Imre speculated that the would-be Witch who had contacted them might know something about Guillaume’s death.