Chapter Summaries

Gabriel prepared to leave the Golden Rooster Inn for Saint Michel Street, but his farewell to Safali revealed she was moving to a place called the Hostel. The next morning, Lumian found Gabriel and Safali gone, then received a letter and a silvery-white mask from the Doll Messenger.

• Lumian bought drinks for the bar regulars and watched Charlie perform a drunken striptease.
• Gabriel told Lumian he was moving to Saint Michel Street because Chaser of Light had attracted the confidence of its director and actors.
• Gabriel reminisced about the inn and explained that its cycle of tenants inspired Chaser of Light before heading upstairs to thank Safali.
• Gabriel found Safali covered in lifelike painted faces, spent the night with her, and asked her to move with him, but she said she was going to the Hostel.
• Lumian returned from his morning routine and found Gabriel's room and Safali's room empty, then received a letter and a silvery-white mask from the Doll Messenger.

Lumian received Lie, a mask that let him alter his appearance and body, and tested it by transforming into Aurora and Franca. Later, Gardner Martin told him that Count Puyver had invited him to a salon at Red Swan Castle.

• Lumian read that Lie could change his appearance, manipulate flames, transfer injuries, and amplify his emotions when worn, so he decided not to use it alongside Torture.
• Lumian put on Lie, transformed into Aurora, and greeted her reflection before changing back.
• Franca met Lumian disguised as her and learned about Lie, the Samaritan Woman Spring, and his plans to attend the Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society's gatherings.
• Franca gave Lumian a lesson about the Society's gatherings and asked him to transform into her; she touched his cheek before Lumian left.
• At the Breeze Ballroom, Sakota showed Lumian his wanted poster and told him Gardner Martin wanted to see him.
• Gardner Martin told Lumian that the Rose School's surprise attack had been repelled, then gave him Count Puyver's invitation to a salon at Red Swan Castle.

Lumian worried that the Rose School and Bliss Society might target him after their losses, then helped Ludwig return to Baron Brignais and negotiate less homework. Elsewhere, Valentine and Imre followed a brass key to an old house in Deep Valley Town.

• Gardner Martin warned Lumian against unnecessary exploration and told him where Red Swan Castle was.
• On a carriage ride, Lumian considered whether the Rose School and Bliss Society would pursue him, then spotted Ludwig fleeing from home.
• Lumian tracked Ludwig down, persuaded him to return, and agreed to negotiate a lighter homework load with Baron Brignais.
• Baron Brignais halved Ludwig's homework, and Ludwig asked for an extra serving of dessert.
• Valentine and Imre stood with Deacon Angoulême outside an old house that a Sealed Artifact identified as the destination indicated by the brass key.

The Purifiers searched the abandoned house and found a sealed sacrificial site, while Angoulême suspected a ring had been removed from its altar. Lumian and Franca went undercover at the Red House Café to investigate the Bliss Society’s efforts to recruit women from its pleasure parties, with Lumian disguised as a dog to watch from outside.

• Valentine and Imre found the old house ransacked, and Angoulême’s team discovered papers mentioning Albert Goncourt and an underground riot.
• Angoulême used the Humanoid Machine and Celia Bello’s key to open a cellar door, where sunlight cleared resentful mist from a sacrificial site and revealed an empty impression in the altar.
• Lumian told Franca that the Bliss Society had approached women attending Red House Café parties and that they needed to find its hidden members, including Maip Mayer.
• Franca disguised herself with Lie, while Lumian used a Ritual Dog Skin to transform into a large dog and monitor the café.
• Franca entered the Red House Café in Chaillot as Lumian watched from a spot near its entrance.

Franca surveyed the Red House Café while Lumian, transformed into a dog, watched the entrance and drew the attention of a suspicious orange-red-haired woman. After Franca shook off the woman, Lumian went to inspect Red Swan Castle and the nearby Sacred Heart Monastery.

• Franca observed the café’s customers as Lumian scared off a stray dog with a trace of the Blood Emperor’s aura.
• An elderly woman fed Lumian a honey-roasted chicken wing, while Franca laughed at his awkward attempts to eat it.
• A woman with long orange-red hair arrived at the café, spoke with a tranquil young woman, and followed Franca after noticing her.
• Franca toured Chaillot Town and lost the orange-red-haired woman among the shoppers; Lumian then left to survey Red Swan Castle.
• Lumian visited the Sacred Heart Monastery and noticed a large golden-haired dog sitting nearby and watching the church.

Lumian surveyed routes around Red Swan Castle, then returned to Franca and discussed his dog-hide transformation and her observations at the gathering. Franca identified the orange-red-haired woman as likely connected to the Witch Sect, whose origins and hostility toward unaffiliated female Assassins she explained.

• Lumian mapped escape routes near Red Swan Castle, abandoned his plan to approach it as a dog, and used up a ritual dog hide to return to human form.
• Franca told Lumian that wearing the Lie necklace had made her obsess over her own appearance, but she had managed to remove it.
• Lumian described how the dog hide restricted his senses and behavior, then asked Franca about the women she had observed.
• Franca explained that the orange-red-haired woman had followed her and was likely a Witch from the Witch Family, also known as the Witch Sect.
• Franca told Lumian that the Witch Sect controlled most Witch pathway resources and hunted unaffiliated female Assassins because its members sought to emulate the Primordial Witch.
• Franca said she feared the Witch Sect discovering her and asked Lumian what they should do next.

Lumian advised Franca on infiltrating the Witch Sect and then attended Count Puyver’s salon at Red Swan Castle, where he found the hall matched his nightmare. He encountered Laurent and was introduced to Count Puyver’s cousin, Miss Alois.

• Lumian proposed that Franca contact the Witch Sect to infiltrate it and gain access to its resources, while keeping her work with the Iron and Blood Cross Order secret if needed.
• Lumian suggested Franca could use her Witch Sect position to support Jenna, while Franca considered the risks and said she would consult her Major Arcana.
• Lumian described an alternative plan to hunt a Witch for information about the women’s pleasure parties, then investigate suspected Bliss Society members linked to Suzanne Mathis.
• Three days later, Lumian arrived at Red Swan Castle for Count Puyver’s salon and recognized its main hall from his nightmare.
• Lumian spotted Laurent at the salon, and the two silently agreed to act as if they did not know each other.
• Count Puyver laughed at Lumian for arriving without a female companion and offered to let him invite his cousin, Miss Alois.

At Count Puyver’s salon, Lumian used his fabricated identity to impress the guests while watching Laurent gain a deputy editor-in-chief position through the connections he had cultivated. The King Cake Game began, and Lumian’s vision of the dark-red-haired man returned as he chose his piece.

• Lumian met Alois and Cornell at Count Puyver’s salon and won over the guests with a joke about his father appointing him general manager.
• Cornell offered Laurent a position as his assistant and deputy editor-in-chief after observing him at Vichy Café.
• Lumian asked Cornell about the Interstellar Bridge advertisement and offered to sponsor the poet Ilett’s writing.
• Count Puyver began the King Cake Game, and Lumian waited until the count had chosen before selecting a piece he thought lacked the gold coin.
• As Lumian picked up his cake, his mind went hazy and he saw the narrow glass window and the dark-red-haired man gouging out his eyes.

Lumian became king in Count Puyver’s King Cake Game and used his authority to command the guests, while a crazed spirit circled overhead and stirred their emotions. The game continued under the spirit’s growing influence until a terrified scream rang out from elsewhere in the Castle.

• Lumian saw a man wearing his face gouge out his eyes, but the Blood Emperor aura drove away the madness affecting him as a crazed spirit hovered above the drawing room.
• Count Puyver and the guests searched their King Cakes for the coin, and Lumian found it in his piece.
• Lumian declared himself king or emperor, and the guests felt compelled to obey him.
• Lumian ordered Count Puyver to give him thirty thousand Felkine in gold, and Puyver brought him five gold bars.
• Lumian ordered Anoli to kiss Ilett, who teased him afterward as the guests became increasingly restless.
• A shrill, terrified scream sounded from somewhere in the Castle.

At Red Swan Castle, Lumian ate the King Cake offering to draw away and ultimately dispel the blood-mad spirit, then ended the game and left with Ilett. On the road home, Termiboros warned him that a hostile dangerous creature had followed him from the castle, and Lumian prepared to fight.

• Lumian had Maren paint with his butt while Count Puyver's valet reported trouble elsewhere in the castle and screams continued to sound.
• Lumian ate the sacrificial piece of King Cake, provoking the mad spirit to focus on him until it vanished after he finished the offering.
• Lumian assigned the remaining players their tasks, ordered them to keep the game secret, and declared the game over.
• Lumian declined Count Puyver's offer of thirty thousand Felkine, then gave Ilett 3,000 Felkine and dropped him at Sacred Heart Monastery.
• Termiboros warned Lumian that a hostile dangerous creature had followed him since Red Swan Castle, so Lumian jumped from the carriage and put on the Torture gloves as the woods darkened.

Lumian killed the wax figure that had stalked and attacked him, then reported the encounter to Gardner Martin. Gardner concluded that Vermonda Soren, the Sauron Family ancestor, was still alive in some unknown state.

• A living wax figure crawled from the river and used Intimidation before attacking Lumian, who resisted and fought back with his Torture gloves and Fire Infusion.
• Lumian’s rapid blows triggered the gloves’ desire detonation, and the wax figure exploded internally before burning and melting.
• Lady Moon appeared in the woods after Lumian left and examined the remains of the wax figure before vanishing.
• At Red Swan Castle, Count Puyver watched a wax figure head crack and melt, then realized it had been killed and worried about Charles Dubois and the organization behind him.
• Lumian waited in hiding before returning to Number 11 on Memorial Hall District Springwater Street, where he told Gardner Martin about the attack while concealing his use of the Torture gloves.
• Gardner Martin said Vermonda Soren had not truly died and remained alive in a state they could not yet understand.

Lumian learned that his mission was to investigate the Sauron Family’s decline and secrets while continuing to attend Count Puyver’s invitations, and he borrowed Laurent money in exchange for regular reports from The Little Trierian. After a series of nightmares revealed that Miss Alois remained sane during a bloody vision and showed him a mysterious coffin and heart, Lumian recorded the details and sent them to Madam Magician.

• Gardner Martin told Lumian to keep meeting Count Puyver so the Iron and Blood Cross Order could investigate the Sauron Family’s condition and secrets.
• Lumian saw Faustino escort a mysterious cloaked visitor into Gardner Martin’s study, then returned to the Golden Rooster Inn.
• Laurent asked Lumian for 500 felkine to rent an apartment and improve his standing as a deputy editor-in-chief, and Lumian agreed in exchange for regular reports from The Little Trierian.
• Lumian counted his gold and prepared to fulfill the Armored Wraith’s contract before going to sleep.
• In his nightmare, Lumian saw Count Puyver, Miss Alois, and other banquet guests; most went mad, while Miss Alois remained relatively normal, before a vision of a bronze coffin and a contracting shriveled heart appeared.
• Lumian woke, reflected on the Sauron Family clues in the nightmares, and sent an account of them to Madam Magician.

Lumian and Franca summoned the Armored Wraith again, fulfilling his contract with gold and asking where he came from. Franca understood his answer, which connected a Blood Son of Heaven, the underworld, and a Nether Daoist, but left its meaning unclear.

• Madam Magician told Lumian to prioritize investigating the Iron and Blood Cross Order and the Sauron Family, while Franca accepted a long-term mission involving the Witch Sect and the Primordial Witch.
• Lumian visited Franca, explained his findings about Gardner Martin, and agreed to help summon the Armored Wraith with her twenty-five thousand Felkine.
• At the burned-out building at Lister Docks, Lumian and Franca performed the ritual, and Lumian paid the Armored Wraith gold worth one hundred thousand Felkine.
• Lumian asked the Armored Wraith where he came from, but the spirit answered in a language Lumian could not understand before leaving.
• Franca recognized the language and translated the answer as, “The Blood Son of Heaven threw the underworld into chaos; the Nether Daoist sacrificed himself to enter the river.”

Lumian and Franca linked the Armored Wraith’s words to the Blood Emperor’s remnant and a mysterious river they identified as the Yellow Springs, giving Franca new hope of returning to her homeland. Later, Lumian encountered Aosta Trull and received a letter from Hella inviting him to a gathering.

• Lumian told Franca about his experience at the Samaritan Woman Spring and theorized that the Blood Emperor’s remnant had entered the Yellow Springs, where an Underworld Daoist sacrificed himself to seal it.
• Franca concluded that the Armored Wraith might be a creature sealed by the Underworld Daoist and agreed that they should not help it escape before they were powerful enough to handle it.
• Franca decided not to share the revelations at the Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society gathering until they understood the April Fool’s Day problem, while Lumian agreed to ask about death-related rivers.
• Franca waited at the Red House Café for the orange-red-haired Witch, but she did not appear and two other women instead struck up conversations with her.
• Lumian met Aosta Trull near the Breeze Ballroom, learned that Aosta had found safe honorific names to pray to, and exchanged a secret gesture with him.
• Hella sent Lumian a letter inviting him to a gathering and instructing him to recite an incantation around ten o’clock if he wanted to attend.

Lumian disguised himself as Aurora and entered a gathering of the Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society, hoping to find her among its members. He reached the Academy group and scanned its members, but had not yet identified Aurora.

• Lumian prepared his disguise at the Nightingale Street safe house, using Lie to take on Aurora’s appearance and labeling himself “Muggle.”
• Lumian recited Madam Hella’s incantation and was transported to the Society’s palace gathering.
• Lumian spotted Franca, disguised as “Sleeve Sword,” but followed Hella’s instructions and headed toward the Academy group without greeting her.
• Lumian reflected on Aurora’s relaxed manner at gatherings and hoped to find her among people who shared her origins.
• Lumian arrived at the Academy group and read the members’ code names, including “Peter Pettigrew,” “Professor,” and “Griffin.”

Lumian attended the Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society gathering while disguised as Muggle, reconnecting with the Academy and Purgatory groups and asking about an illusory river tied to death. After observing the members’ reactions and learning that Aurora was well liked, he approached the April Fool’s Day group, where Loki and the others turned to face him.

• Lumian greeted Peter Pettigrew and Professor, then thanked Associate Professor for the Weed-Clearing Spell and described its effect on Abyssal plants.
• Gandalf welcomed Lumian back after his absence, and Lumian spent the Academy group’s gathering listening and discussing mysticism while imitating Aurora’s manner.
• When an Academy member asked whether he would buy anything, Lumian said he was collecting materials for the Scroll Professor potion, had no other needs, and was broke and heavily in debt.
• Lumian asked the Purgatory group about an illusory river connected to death, and Cerberus said he had heard it existed in the depths of Hell or the Underworld.
• Lumian saw Loki recite a mocking poem about Witches, then entered the April Fool’s Day group’s gathering and greeted Loki and the others as Muggle.

Lumian attended the Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society gathering and tested April Fool's Day members while Loki promoted the idea that the Ancient Sun God was a transmigrator and urged the group to investigate underground. Lumian left the group to let Franca pursue the suspicious members, then saw president Gandalf approach to address everyone.

• Lumian noticed suspicious reactions from Wandering Poet, Hisoka, Madwoman, and Ultraman when he appeared, while Loki and I Have a Friend acted normally.
• Loki claimed ancient texts suggested the Ancient Sun God was a transmigrator and encouraged members to seek information about Him underground.
• Lumian questioned the underground theory by raising legends of the River of the Underworld, and Loki argued that both subjects required underground investigation.
• Lumian exchanged information with the April Fool's Day members, then left their area after deciding Franca should investigate the four who had reacted strangely.
• Gandalf approached the enormous stone chair and announced that he had matters to discuss with everyone.

At a Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society gathering, Gandalf raised the growing frequency of mystical incidents around higher-Sequence Beyonders, while Lumian kept his identity and suspicions guarded. After the gathering, Franca used a copy of Loki’s documents to divine a lead to the typewriter that produced them, locating it at Trier’s Alone bar.

• Gandalf asked the Society to explain why Beyonders encountered more mystical incidents as their Sequences rose, and Lumian recognized the phenomenon as the Convergence Law of Beyonder Characteristics.
• Lumian told Franca that Loki had claimed to discover another ancient transmigrator, the Ancient Sun God, and Franca noted four April Fool’s Day members Lumian suspected.
• Professor, Pettigrew, Periodic Table, and Isotope invited Lumian to an offline gathering in Trier, but he postponed until he had handled other matters.
• After returning to the safe house, Lumian went to Franca, who said Loki had sold her copies of the ancient documents after teasing her about being a witch.
• Franca used Magic Mirror Divination on the documents and learned that the mechanical typewriter used for them was at the Alone bar in Trier.

Lumian and Franca discussed Loki’s suspicious connection to the Alone bar and whether an Amon had parasitized him, while considering the danger of his encouragement to search for Ancient Sun God remnants. Franca explained the gathering’s link to the Evernight pathway, and Lumian was struck by her mention of realistic dreams.

• Lumian told Franca about the Alone bar, the Different from the Rest dance hall, and his encounters with the Amons.
• Franca conjectured that Loki might be an Amon in disguise, but Lumian said the possibility remained uncertain and planned to visit the bar without investigating deeply.
• Lumian argued that Loki was acting suspiciously by encouraging Franca and the others to search for dangerous Ancient Sun God remnants, persuading her that they should find him.
• Franca said the gathering required the power of concealment and suspected Madam Hella belonged to the Church of the Evernight.
• When Franca listed realistic dreams among the Evernight pathway’s powers, Lumian recalled the dream he had experienced in the ruins of Cordou Village.

Lumian connected the real dream around Cordou Village to Aurora’s possible influence on a Sealed Artifact, then visited the Alone bar and typed a document to imitate Loki’s materials. After hearing unexplained bells, he found his pocket watch had lost another minute, leaving him with a growing mystery.

• Lumian proposed that Aurora’s use of a concealment incantation had marked her with a Sealed Artifact, which instinctively created a real dream around the sacrificial site; Franca agreed the theory fit.
• Lumian wrote to Madam Magician about the Armored Wraith and the Ancient Sun God, and she explained that the Ancient Sun God ruled the Third Epoch and that the Aurora Order’s deity inherited half His legacy.
• Lumian disguised himself with Lie and went to the Alone bar, where he found Lya working as the bartender.
• Lumian used the typewriter in the cellar to produce a document with letter wear matching Loki’s materials, then heard bells that Lya did not notice.
• After leaving the bar, Lumian noticed the monocled postman had disappeared and discovered that his pocket watch had lost another minute.