Chapter Summaries

Lumian and his companions entered the ruined Fourth Epoch Trier and examined the objects recovered from General Philip, while Gardner Martin defeated Olsen and opened his suitcase to find his own head inside. The chapter left the meaning of the head and the contents of Philip’s wooden box unexplained.

• Lumian teleported Jenna, Franca, and Anthony Reid to the edge of the gray fog, then led them into Fourth Epoch Trier to find shelter.
• Gardner Martin baited Olsen into attacking, then killed him with the Pride Armor’s Storm of Light and fireballs.
• Gardner Martin opened Olsen’s suitcase and found Gardner Martin’s own severed head inside.
• Lumian’s group hid behind a collapsed building, where Anthony Reid displayed a bone flute, a wooden box, and coins taken from General Philip.
• Lumian warned Anthony Reid that the bone flute carried evil-god corruption, and another distant roar sounded as Anthony began to describe the wooden box.

Lumian and his companions sheltered in Fourth Epoch Trier and witnessed diseased monsters die, suspecting the Primordial Witch statues were protecting them. Outside the gray fog, Gardner Martin’s severed head revealed that it had controlled Olsen’s body and vowed to replace Gardner.

• Franca, Lumian, Jenna, and Anthony decided to stay hidden and avoid testing the wooden box and Bone Flute, while Anthony wrapped the items in a cloak.
• Two headless bodies chased their severed heads through a narrow street before all four suddenly collapsed and died.
• Franca and Lumian suspected disease had killed the monsters and that their Primordial Witch statues were protecting them from the disease filling Fourth Epoch Trier.
• Gardner Martin’s blood-covered head attacked him with a fireball, then joined Olsen’s body and revealed that it had been controlling Olsen all along.
• Gardner vowed to replace Gardner Martin as Magician and Justice appeared amid violent tremors and burning fissures in the wilderness.

The Magician and Justice discussed the dangers and history of Fourth Epoch Trier before entering the gray fog to pursue the Tarot Club’s objectives. Meanwhile, Gardner Martin’s other self escaped into the ruins, and Lumian’s group weighed how to handle Jenna’s statue as a bell rang nearby.

• The Magician told Justice that Vermonda Soren had been a Sequence 1 Conqueror and that Zaratul and Emperor Roselle likely exploited preexisting problems rather than causing his loss of control.
• The Magician explained the layers of Fourth Epoch Trier’s seal and the dangers around the Blood Emperor Alista Tudor’s fallen palace, then she and Justice entered the gray fog to find lost Minor Arcana members and keep evil god believers away from the inner seal.
• Gardner Martin’s other self fled into Fourth Epoch Trier after attacking him, and Gardner resisted the urge to pursue the crazed roar before healing his chest with a potion.
• Gardner Martin followed his other self into the gray fog and entered Fourth Epoch Trier.
• Franca suggested that Jenna give the black Primordial Witch statue to Anthony, but Lumian argued that Jenna should keep it because she had the Lucky Gold Coin.
• A clear, lingering bicycle-bell sound rang nearby as Franca finished speaking.

The gray fog transformed Fourth Epoch Trier into a mirror ruin filled with monstrous citizens and hidden dangers, and Lumian followed Termiboros’s instructions to lead Franca, Jenna, and Anthony toward a black pillar. Elsewhere, Lady Moon reached the fog wall at the Land of the Fallen Gods but was stopped by a warning that another seal blocked her path.

• A silent train passed through the thickening fog, which spread over the street and brought Fourth Epoch Trier’s dead, monstrous inhabitants to life.
• Franca suspected they had been drawn into the mirror ruins, and Lumian concluded that the statues had triggered a widespread mutation after the Hostel guests disturbed the area.
• A corrupted man in a black suit was dragged into the fog, prompting Termiboros to tell Lumian to run to the black pillar without stopping, looking back, teleporting, or reaching for his companions.
• Lumian led Franca, Jenna, and Anthony into the fog toward the pillar, and they followed despite their doubts.
• Lady Moon left Madame Pualis to rest, then used a bloodstained umbilical cord radiating golden sunlight to reach the fog wall at the Land of the Fallen Gods.
• Lady Moon found herself unable to pass through the wall and saw a bloody message warning that another seal was there.

Lumian and his companions followed Termiboros’s instructions through the dangerous gray fog of Fourth Epoch Trier and reached the enormous black Night Pillar. They discovered a dead Amon avatar and that the statues offered protection from disease, just as Gardner Martin appeared and attacked them.

• Gardner Martin ran toward the Land of the Fallen Gods as the gray fog spread across Fourth Epoch Trier.
• Lumian led Jenna, Franca, and Anthony through the fog, resisting the urge to fight its invisible threads or help mirror counterparts that were dragged away.
• The group reached the square around the enormous black Night Pillar, where they saw a snowman marked with a dark ring like Amon’s monocle; Termiboros said Amon was dead.
• Anthony contracted a disease, but improved after Franca and Jenna brought out the Primordial Witch statues, suggesting they protected people within a certain distance.
• Blazing-white Fire Ravens flew at the group, and Gardner Martin emerged from behind the pillar, yearning for the statues.

Lumian and his companions fought Gardner Martin’s mirror counterpart and learned that the people in the mirror had secretly influenced the Iron and Blood Cross Order’s search for the black statue. As mirror versions of Franca, Jenna, and Anthony appeared, the group faced a new attack, while Bernadette briefly arrived at the wilderness battle before heading toward Fourth Epoch Trier.

• Lumian disrupted Gardner Martin’s white fire ravens with an exploding fireball, giving Franca, Jenna, and Anthony time to evade and take cover.
• Gardner in the Mirror revealed that his faction had secretly influenced the Iron and Blood Cross Order since the seal incident decades earlier and wanted Lumian’s black statue of the Primordial Witch.
• Franca attacked Gardner in the Mirror, but he escaped and summoned mirror versions of Franca, Jenna, and Anthony, startling Franca with the appearance of her former male self.
• Gardner in the Mirror and his four helpers launched an attack on Lumian and his companions.
• Bernadette appeared near the Angels fighting Vermonda Soren, then turned into a torrent of knowledge and headed toward Fourth Epoch Trier without joining the battle.

Madame Pualis confronted Vazan Sanson for revenge, while Lumian’s group fought their mirrored selves and Gardner Martin’s allies on the plaza. Gardner revealed that a disease he had spread through Fire Ravens was under his control, leaving the group coughing and infected.

• Madame Pualis told Vazan Sanson she wanted revenge for Aurora and attacked him with a piercing scream.
• Female Lumian teleported behind Anthony Reid and used the Heng-Ha Art, but Anthony unleashed Frenzy before falling unconscious.
• Lumian struck Female Lumian with a flaming punch, only for her body to shatter as a Mirror Substitute.
• Gardner Martin offered to spare Lumian’s group in exchange for the statue, while Lumian suspected he was stalling or manipulating them.
• Anthony Reid, Lumian, Franca, and Jenna began coughing, and Gardner revealed that his Fire Ravens had spread a disease he could control.

Franca, Jenna, Lumian, and Anthony fought their mirror selves while Gardner in the Mirror remained hidden. Lumian realized Gardner was sustaining the four mirror opponents and put on the Eye of Truth to expose him.

• Franca and Jenna attacked Female Anthony, but her Intimidation disrupted them, and Male Franca and Male Jenna ambushed them from behind.
• Lumian feinted at Female Lumian, intercepted her beside Anthony, and battered her with the Torture gauntlets while provoking her.
• Female Lumian's taunts nearly drove Lumian into a self-destructive rage, but Anthony used Placate to calm him.
• Female Lumian struck Lumian with the Heng-Ha Art, and a mirror shattered on Franca, bringing Lumian beside her.
• Lumian reasoned that Gardner in the Mirror was too busy maintaining the four mirror selves to attack, then put on the Eye of Truth to see through illusions.

Lumian used the Eye of Truth and the Torture boxing gloves to find and attack the mirror Gardner Martin, exploiting his greed to disrupt the other mirror figures and help Franca and Jenna. After weakening the mirror Gardner and giving Franca a blood medium for a curse, Lumian tried to remove the Eye of Truth but heard a strange sound beside his ear.

• Lumian used the Eye of Truth to locate the hidden mirror Gardner and ambushed him with the Torture boxing gloves.
• Lumian provoked the mirror Gardner’s greed, enduring a Blazing White Spear attack while striking him and disrupting the mirror figures.
• Franca took the Bloodsucker's Arrow from Jenna and used it to recover and bind their mirrored opponents with spider silk.
• Anthony shot and shattered the female Anthony, who reappeared and continued pursuing him.
• Lumian weakened the mirror Gardner until the other mirror figures vanished, then gave Franca and Jenna bloodied gloves so Franca could prepare a curse.
• Lumian retreated as a fireball and reached to remove the Eye of Truth, but heard a strange sound by his ear.

Lumian was overwhelmed by strange sounds and visions as Franca and Jenna destroyed the mirror Gardner, whose death awakened a threatening presence in the mirror fragment. Elsewhere, the same mysterious sigh disrupted battles, while a gray-flame spear struck down Vermonda Soren and revealed a wounded, red-haired man.

• Franca and Jenna alternated curses until Franca shot the weakened mirror Gardner, killing him and leaving a dark mirror fragment.
• Anthony noticed Lumian's distress, but the fragment began glowing and trapped the group in a mirror-like space as a powerful presence pressed in.
• A woman's sigh prompted the black pillar to form a protective sphere, while a sorrowful crowned man appeared to Lumian and silenced his visions; the remaining voices screamed, "Celestial Master!"
• At the Deep Valley Quarry, a sigh and an indistinct wilderness stopped mechanical giant Claude; Archbishop Holamick retreated as Claude wandered into the wilderness and disappeared.
• In Fourth Epoch Trier, the gray fog surged with a lofty aura, and Lady Moon was enveloped in starlight as the Magician and Justice watched.
• A purple-flamed spear formed from the gray fog pierced and pinned Vermonda Soren, then revealed a young red-haired man in bloodstained armor with wounds on his cheeks.

Medici appeared during the battle for Vermonda Soren’s Conqueror characteristic and helped trigger a burst of golden sunlight that purified the Calamity Giant while disrupting Fourth Epoch Trier. As Lumian and his companions escaped the changing ruins, Medici prepared to strike Vermonda again as Snarner, Dist, and the other powerhouses moved to stop him.

• Medici emerged from Fourth Epoch Trier, gravely wounded Vermonda Soren, and threw a burning umbilical cord toward him.
• A golden sun descended through Red Swan Castle and Fourth Epoch Trier, destroying the infant that had become the sun and purifying Vermonda’s Calamity Giant form.
• The sunlight shifted space in Fourth Epoch Trier, separated Vazan Sanson and Madame Pualis, and caused Gardner Martin’s head to detach from his body.
• Magician protected herself, Justice, and the dying Lady Moon from the sunlight, while Jenna, Franca, Anthony, and Lumian escaped the dark sphere after Lumian recovered from the Eye of Truth’s aftereffects.
• Medici grew to enormous size and raised a purple-flame sword against the dying Vermonda, as Snarner, Dist, and the other powerhouses moved to stop him.

Red Angel Medici defeated Vermonda Soren and revealed the plan behind the chaos in Trier, while Bernadette refused to risk disturbing the seal and Gardner Martin faced a betrayal by his own body. Medici absorbed the Conqueror Beyonder Characteristic and Vermonda’s remains, advancing his alliance with the Eternal Blazing Sun.

• Saint Viève intervened as Medici killed Vermonda Soren, and Snarner and Dist fled the wilderness.
• Bernadette refused the Golden Lamp figure’s request to make a wish through a monster and continued studying the seal.
• Gardner Martin’s body turned the Pride Armor’s Storm of Light against his severed head, while Medici ignored his pleas for help.
• Medici revealed that he had manipulated the Iron and Blood Cross Order, Gardner Martin, and the Hostel Ritual to draw Trier’s Evil God Gift-Bearers into his plan.
• Medici concluded that the Eternal Blazing Sun sought a partner to support a new Old One, and he chose to cooperate with him rather than forgive his former Lord.
• Medici consumed Vermonda Soren’s Sequence 1 Conqueror Beyonder Characteristic and absorbed Vermonda’s blood and remains.

Lumian and his companions defeated Gardner Martin’s headless armored body in Fourth Epoch Trier, then escaped the city as a rain of fire and blood engulfed it. Medici entered the burning ruins and regained the status of an Angel King.

• Franca burned Gardner Martin’s head with black flames, and Lumian destroyed it with a fireball while Gardner Martin’s headless body attacked them.
• Lumian, Franca, Jenna, and Anthony Reid combined their abilities to defeat the headless Gardner Martin and shatter the body inside its armor.
• A rain of blazing white fire and blood set Fourth Epoch Trier ablaze, and Madam Magician transported Lumian’s group and their recovered items out of the city.
• Bernadette Gustav left Fourth Epoch Trier, while the city’s other visitors faced death, corruption, or purification; Madame Pualis followed an infant’s cries into darkness.
• Vazan Sanson saw a translucent lizard-like creature as Medici entered the burning city and became an Angel King again.

After the Hostel Ritual’s aftermath, Madam Magician explained how Medici became an Angel King and offered to handle the group’s recovered items. Lumian returned to the Golden Rooster Inn, where Ludwig asked for help escaping Trier and offered him stolen Church of Knowledge documents about a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact.

• Madam Magician told Lumian and Franca that Medici had seized Vermonda Soren’s Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic and likely masterminded the Hostel Ritual.
• Madam Magician offered to deal with the corruption on the recovered items, advised Lumian to leave Trier later, and told Franca to await the Demoness Sect’s response.
• Madam Magician urged Franca to ask Jenna and Anthony whether they wanted to join the Tarot Club, then sent Lumian back to the Golden Rooster Inn, where she said an encounter awaited him.
• Lumian found Ludwig outside his room, and Ludwig asked him to help leave Trier and offered payment.
• Ludwig gave Lumian Church of Knowledge documents about the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact called the Salinger Blood Banner, alarming him with its dangerous containment details.

Lumian and his companions divided the loot from Gardner Martin and General Philip, avoiding the cursed Pride Armor. Lumian kept the Reaper characteristic and bone flute, while the armor was left as communal property for his upcoming journey to Santa Port.

• After reading the Pride Armor’s warning about its Betrayal Curse, Lumian and the others decided they did not want it.
• Lumian chose the Reaper Beyonder Characteristic and traded the Hypnotist characteristic and Dignity brooch for General Philip’s cursed bone flute, Hateful Movement.
• Anthony took the Hypnotist main ingredient, while Franca chose the Mirror World Fragment and then traded the Dignity brooch for Jenna’s black statue of the Primordial Witch.
• Jenna took the Power Broker’s Black Box and accepted the Dignity brooch in exchange for the statue, treating it as a lucky gain.
• Franca asked Lumian to keep the Pride Armor as communal property because he was heading to Santa Port to investigate the Sea-Praying Ritual and search for Wandering Poet and Ultraman.

After escaping Fourth Epoch Trier, Lumian recruited Jenna and Anthony into his secret organization and planned his departure for the Kingdom of Feynapotter. He reported the events to Mr. K, who accepted his plans and repented for the Aurora Order’s failure to act during the disaster.

• Lumian stored the Pride Armor in the Traveler’s Bag and invited Jenna and Anthony to join his organization; both agreed.
• Lumian and Franca left No. 3 White Coat Street, and Lumian planned to recruit Lucano Toscano, await missions for Jenna and Anthony, and obtain a spirit-world messenger before leaving Trier.
• Lumian met Mr. K at No. 19 Schell Street and recounted how he and the others defeated Gardner in the Mirror and escaped Fourth Epoch Trier.
• Mr. K approved Lumian’s plan to leave for Feynapotter and offered his help at any time.
• Mr. K prostrated himself and repented because the Aurora Order had failed to react in time and help destroy the ritual.

Franca reported her discoveries in the sealed Fourth Epoch Trier to Clarisse, who identified the black statue and Mirror World Fragment and assigned Franca to hunt People in the Mirror in Trier. Clarisse rewarded Franca with the Pain potion formula and secretly revealed that she possessed a similar mirror fragment.

• Lumian left Mr. K’s house after Mr. K assured him he could use the finger to summon help during his trip to Feynapotter.
• Franca told Bruns Soren that she had killed Gardner Martin and recovered a black Primordial Witch statue from him.
• Franca recounted the events in the sealed Fourth Epoch Trier to Clarisse, including the encounter with Gardner Martin, General Philip, and the giant in the wilderness.
• Clarisse explained that the Mirror World Fragment came from a real mirror world and tasked Franca with finding and eliminating People in the Mirror in Trier.
• Clarisse identified the statue as originating in a special mirror world and gave Franca the Sequence 5 Pain potion formula as her reward.
• After Franca left with Bruns, Clarisse took a similar pitch-black mirror fragment from a hidden pocket.

Lumian found Lucano hiding in a safe house and recruited him as an interpreter for a trip to Feynapotter, though Lucano’s eagerness left Lumian suspicious. Meanwhile, Jenna met with the Purifiers and revealed that she had witnessed the attempt to break the seal on Fourth Epoch Trier and had entered it before escaping.

• Lucano discovered that he was wanted and hid in one of his safe houses, where Lumian found him.
• Lumian asked Lucano to interpret for him in Feynapotter and promised him payment, while remaining wary of his eager agreement.
• Jenna packed to move to one of Franca’s safe houses and decided to meet the Purifiers to protect her brother Julian from being implicated.
• Jenna told Deacon Angoulême, Valentine, and Imre that she had witnessed the disaster’s beginning and ritual, entered Fourth Epoch Trier, and escaped.
• Jenna said Franca and Charles had left the Market District and were unlikely to return, then agreed to describe her experiences in detail.

Jenna recounted the Painted World incident to the Purifiers, revealed Charles’s identity as Lumian Lee, and negotiated a reward for her information. At Mr. Fool’s church, she met Judgement, received a card that could summon her aid, and was given a mission to investigate special Mirror Worlds, beginning with Krismona.

• Jenna told Angoulême, Imre, and Valentine how she and Charles entered and escaped the Painted World, while withholding details of their battle.
• Valentine realized Charles’s true identity might be Lumian Lee, and Jenna confirmed it while explaining his motives and role in stopping the disaster.
• Jenna told the Purifiers that the armor bearing a Betrayal Curse had been left with Charles, and Angoulême offered to help her obtain the Pleasure Potion formula and ingredients.
• Jenna moved to Franca’s safe house, visited Mr. Fool’s church to pray, and met Judgement, who gave her a Major Arcana card to request help in danger.
• Judgement instructed Jenna to cooperate with the Two of Cups on a Witch Sect mission, avoid the sect, and investigate special Mirror Worlds starting with Krismona.

Anthony Reid joined the Tarot Club as Justice’s Minor Arcana member and received missions to help Two of Cups and contact the Psychic Alchemy Association. Lumian learned that the Church of Knowledge might support his bid for the Red Priest’s throne, but Morola, the Banishment City, appeared to be a place absent from ordinary records.

• Anthony Reid hid in an abandoned apartment and fell asleep after the night’s battles.
• In a dream, Justice introduced herself to Anthony and guided him in drawing the Four of Swords and accepting Justice as his Major Arcana.
• Justice tasked Anthony with helping Two of Cups eliminate mirror people and investigate the Witch Sect, and with contacting the Psychic Alchemy Association.
• Lumian returned to his safe house, where Ludwig told him that Madam Magician’s messenger had left a letter.
• Lumian read that the Church of Knowledge might assist him if he proved he could advance toward controlling 0-01 and competing with Red Angel Medici for the Red Priest’s throne.
• Madam Magician’s letter said scholars in Lenburg had never heard of Morola, making the Banishment City a place that seemed not to exist.