Chapter Summaries

Lugano examined Ennio and discovered through Ludwig that the seemingly living patient had lost most of his internal organs and would die within a week. After Lumian postponed reporting the case until morning, he stayed awake and saw the vacant-eyed Lugano leave his room like a sleepwalker.

• Lumian passed a prayer room where a cleric preached before the Earth Mother's Life Holy Emblem.
• Ennio visited Lugano for an examination, and Lugano's spirit vision revealed that most of Ennio's ether body showed signs of stopped organ function.
• Lugano drew Ennio's blood and gave him a simple mystical treatment, which briefly improved his strength.
• Ludwig drank Ennio's blood and said Ennio lacked several organs, was being kept alive by mystical power, and would die within a week.
• Lumian told Lugano to report Ennio's condition to the ship's authorities or the priest in the morning, then stayed awake in his room.
• Lumian saw Lugano emerge from his room with vacant eyes and walk toward the suite entrance like a sleepwalker.

Lumian interrupted an old man’s ritual surgery on Lugano and learned that the man was trying to create a body for a Divine Child associated with the Great Mother. Lumian challenged him to sacrifice his own organs, while preparing a dark-green light in his hand.

• Lugano entered the old man’s suite in a vacant state, and the old man removed Ennio’s heart and used his organs in a ritual that briefly formed a torso before it collapsed.
• The ritual made the old man several years younger, and he prepared to operate on Lugano.
• Lumian burst into the room amid crimson flames and prevented the old man from cutting Lugano.
• The old man said Lugano was kin to the Great Mother and had heard the Divine Child’s cries, then explained that the child existed in the Spirit World but could not enter the real world.
• Lumian suggested the old man sacrifice his own organs to demonstrate devotion, then condensed dark-green light in his hand.

Lumian defeated the black-robed surgeon who had planned to remove Lugano’s kidneys, then let Ludwig eat the remains and identify what he learned from them. The surgeon’s mixed organs and memories revealed a connection to Ennio and the failed Divine Child ritual, leaving Lumian with new questions about its influence and purpose.

• Lumian used the Governor of the Sea’s power to drag the black-robed old man from hiding and kill him with a Blazing White Fireball.
• Lumian noticed that the old man’s body had burned away, leaving only internal organs and a half-charred brain, and connected them to the surgeon’s experiments and Divine Child ritual.
• Lugano awoke from a dream in which his dead mother called him home, and Lumian told him the old man had intended to remove his kidneys.
• Lumian sent Lugano to fetch Ludwig, then had him stand guard while Ludwig ate the old man’s organs.
• Ludwig said the organs came from different people and carried traces of human transmutation, and explained that the old man had followed Ennio aboard to finish the ritual.

Ludwig recounted the abilities and beliefs of Primpino, a member of the Divine Descent School, while Lugano told Captain Pedro and Father Montserrat what had happened aboard the ship. The next morning, Lumian learned from Madam Magician that the Divine Child’s origins were tied to Cordou Village and that Vazan Sanson had survived Fourth Epoch Trier, before Lugano reported hearing a baby cry again.

• Ludwig told Lumian that Primpino had pursued the Divine Child’s descent and described the elder’s powers and missing internal organs.
• Lumian sent Lugano to fetch Captain Pedro and Father Montserrat, then returned to bed with Ludwig.
• Lugano described the attack to Pedro and Montserrat, who recognized Lumian as the adventurer Louis Berri and identified Primpino’s group as the Divine Descent School.
• The ship rose onto enormous waves and settled back into calm, and Lugano said Lumian was greeting the captain and priest.
• Lumian wrote to Madam Magician and learned that the Divine Child’s story was connected to the empty cradle in Cordou Village and that Vazan Sanson had escaped Fourth Epoch Trier.
• Lugano knocked on Lumian’s door and reported hearing a baby crying again.

Lumian investigated Lugano’s lingering connection to the unborn Divine Child and learned that Lugano had eaten a corrupted Beyonder characteristic left by Tanco. The chapter ended with Lumian advising Lugano to seek help from Father Montserrat, while withholding Madam Magician’s broader warning about Amon and the Celestial Worthy.

• Lugano asked Lumian why he could still hear a baby crying, and Lumian offered several possible explanations before suspecting lingering corruption from Ennio.
• Lumian asked Lugano about past encounters involving childbirth, mothers, or mysticism, prompting Lugano to describe his friendship with Tanco.
• Lugano recounted finding Tanco dead in a grain field, covered in wheat and female reproductive organs, and admitted that he ate a golden Beyonder characteristic instead of delivering it to the Earth Mother’s Church.
• Lumian recognized that Tanco’s characteristic likely carried corruption that explained Lugano’s recent experiences and susceptibility to the Divine Descent School.
• After reading Madam Magician’s warning about Amon and the Celestial Worthy, Lumian told Lugano to ask Father Montserrat for help cleansing the corruption.

Lugano discovered that Father Montserrat had restored Ennio’s organs and cleared the corruption causing Lugano to hear a baby crying. After the experience led him to convert to the Earth Mother, Lugano saw Montserrat rocking an invisible child in the prayer room late that night.

• Lugano found Ennio alive and recovering, then learned Father Montserrat had transplanted Ennio’s organs back into him.
• Lugano told Montserrat about the baby’s cries, and Montserrat used a sermon and prayer to clear away the corruption.
• After a night without the cries, Lugano accepted Montserrat’s invitation to follow the Earth Mother.
• Lugano told Lumian he had converted, and Lumian matter-of-factly sent him to get Ludwig fresh sea fish.
• Lugano returned to the prayer room late at night and saw Montserrat rocking his arms before the Life Holy Emblem, though nothing was there.

Lugano discovered that Father Montserrat served the Great Mother and was drawn toward an enormous illusory oak that began pulling him into its flesh. Lumian learned Lugano was in danger and went to save him, while a mysterious knock echoed through the darkness.

• Lugano found Father Montserrat cradling an invisible baby in the prayer room and learned that the priest worshipped the Great Mother.
• Father Montserrat's words and an infant's cry entranced Lugano, who walked toward the illusory oak and was partly swallowed by its fleshy lobes.
• Lugano resisted the oak and attacked Father Montserrat with his pistol and scalpel, but the infant's cry repeatedly weakened his resolve.
• Ludwig told Lumian that he could no longer sense Lugano's scent of food, and Lumian went to rescue him.
• As Lugano faced Father Montserrat beneath the illusory oak, knocking echoed through the darkness.

Lumian discovered that Father Montserrat had fallen to the Great Mother and was hiding somewhere aboard the ship. After reporting the danger to Captain Pedro, Lumian prepared to test whether the Pride Armor could help track Montserrat.

• Lumian found Father Montserrat gone from the prayer room and discovered that the infant depicted on the Earth Mother holy emblem had rotted.
• Lugano told Lumian that Montserrat had held an invisible infant, and Lumian took him to Captain Pedro and reported that the priest had fallen to the Great Mother.
• Pedro explained that Montserrat had been the ship's only Divine Grace, without a Blessed to assist him, and Lumian deduced that the Earth Mother Church used Blessed to monitor Divine Grace for the Great Mother's influence.
• Lumian ordered Pedro to report Montserrat to the Earth Mother Church and the Feynapotter government, then considered ways to find the priest hiding aboard the ship.
• Lumian brought Lugano onto the deck and prepared to test whether the Pride Armor's hatred of Earth Pathway items could help it locate a Beyonder of that Pathway.

Lumian tested the Pride Armor’s detection range and used it to find Father Montserrat hiding in the cargo hold. After a fierce ambush, Montserrat revealed an illusory oak tree and an invisible infant whose cries began draining Lumian’s vitality.

• Lumian tested the Pride Armor by having it attack Lugano, then estimated that it detected targets within about fifteen meters.
• Lumian asked Pedro to gather the ship’s Earth and Apothecary pathway Beyonders and began patrolling the decks with the armor.
• In the cargo hold, the Pride Armor broke free and attacked Father Montserrat, who emerged from a crate disguised among steel ingots.
• Lumian knocked Montserrat unconscious with the Heng-Ha Art and struck him with a compressed fireball while the Pride Armor attacked.
• Montserrat used his blood to envelop the Pride Armor, then unleashed darkness and transformed into an illusory oak tree to withstand Lumian’s Fire Ravens.
• Montserrat cradled an invisible infant as it cried, draining Lumian’s vitality and leaving his mind hazy.

Lumian and the Pride Armor fought Father Montserrat, whose rebirth was tied to an illusory oak and an invisible Divine Child. Lumian used Hateful Movement to briefly restore Montserrat’s normal personality, then attacked him with the bone flute as flames engulfed them both.

• Lumian escaped the Storm of Light as the Pride Armor’s shattered Dawn Sword destroyed Father Montserrat’s body, but the illusory oak rebirthed him.
• Father Montserrat transformed and attacked the Pride Armor, while Lumian returned to the battlefield with the Hateful Movement bone flute.
• The invisible infant’s cries and laughter drained Lumian’s life until he activated Alista Tudor’s remnant brand and drove the presence away.
• Lumian played Hateful Movement, briefly allowing Father Montserrat’s normal personality to urge him to flee and explain that the Divine Child could only be driven away.
• Lumian sent fireballs at Father Montserrat, then teleported into the explosion and drove the bone flute into his neck as the flames engulfed them both.

Lumian defeated Father Montserrat and performed a ritual to drive away the invisible Divine Child, with help from Mr. Fool. The Divine Child’s true name was revealed as Ombella.

• Lumian escaped the explosion with Father Montserrat, while the Pride Armor destroyed the Divine Child’s miniature manifestation in the cargo hold.
• Father Montserrat tried to reveal the Divine Child’s true name, but the Divine Child’s presence sealed off the deck and prevented Lumian from reaching the Spirit World.
• Lumian found an unformed umbilical cord in Father Montserrat’s body and used it in a Ghost Exorcism ritual, praying to Mr. Fool for help.
• The ritual drove away the invisible Divine Child and Father Montserrat’s spirit, but its final shriek left Lumian weakened before the abnormal darkness vanished.
• Lumian told Captain Pedro and the others that the problem was resolved, then learned from Lugano that Father Montserrat had shouted the name Ombella.

After killing Father Montserrat, Lumian reported the Divine Child’s name, Ombella, to Madam Magician and learned of its connection to an ancient Harvest Goddess. The Church of the Earth Mother took Ennio and the other people involved away for examination as the ship resumed its voyage.

• Termiboros repeated the name Ombella, and Lumian treated his injuries before reporting Father Montserrat’s corruption and the Divine Child’s name to Madam Magician.
• Madam Magician identified Ombella as an ancient name associated with the giant race and the Harvest Goddess, and told Lumian to watch for people connected to the Church of the Earth Mother, the Night Tour Society, or the Divine Descent School.
• After sunrise, Lumian learned that Lugano had heard no more babies crying and asked him to check on Ennio.
• Lugano reported that Ennio was recovering without visible signs of corruption, while Captain Pedro told Lumian that the Church of the Earth Mother would collect Father Montserrat’s corpse and the people involved.
• Combat Nuns and priests took Ennio and the others from the ship, and Lumian said that freedom depended on not endangering others.
• The ship sounded its whistle and prepared to set sail again.

Lumian considered how to use Father Montserrat’s powerless umbilical cord, then accepted Captain Pedro’s commission to investigate the man his daughter loved and the strange influence on her. Meanwhile, Anthony told Franca and Jenna that they had found the woman who appeared in the Magic Mirror Divination.

• Lumian concluded that Father Montserrat’s charred umbilical cord had no power but might serve as a spellcasting material or an auxiliary ingredient, and he put it away undecided.
• Lumian reported the Divine Child incident to Mr. K, then told Franca, Jenna, and Anthony about Father Montserrat’s near-pregnancy and the extraction surgery.
• Captain Pedro asked Lumian to investigate the young man his daughter Sara wanted to marry, explaining that Sara’s intense devotion seemed unnatural and that two hired adventurers had vanished.
• Lumian accepted Pedro’s commission for twenty thousand gold risos and continued toward Port Coria.
• Anthony visited Franca and Jenna in Trier and told them they had found the woman from the Magic Mirror Divination.

Jenna, Franca, and Anthony arranged a discreet meeting with Delilah Leroy using the Power Broker's Black Box. Anthony learned that Delilah had sensed something unusual in the Opera District and reported it to her biological father, Minister Moran Avigny; Franca's divination later revealed Delilah was not a Person in the Mirror.

• Jenna proposed using the Power Broker's Black Box to create an unwatched opportunity for Anthony to meet Delilah, and Franca agreed to make the request.
• Franca paid the Black Box and asked it to arrange a private meeting, then lent Anthony the Seven-Stone Bracelet and offered to make him a Mirror Substitute.
• Anthony followed Delilah into a department-store magic show, hypnotized her inside a wooden box, and asked what she had sensed in the Opera District.
• Delilah told Anthony that her biological father was Moran Avigny, the government's Minister of Industry, and that he had instructed her to report such sensations but otherwise live normally.
• Anthony took strands of Delilah's hair and hypnotically made her forget their conversation before leaving the department store.
• Franca used Delilah's hair in Magic Mirror Divination and learned that Delilah was not a Person in the Mirror.

Franca's divination confirmed that Delilah was descended from a Person in the Mirror, leading Franca, Jenna, and Anthony to focus their investigation on Moran Avigny. Meanwhile, Lumian arrived in Port Coria with Ludwig and Lugano to investigate Sara and her fiancé Flores, whose reaction to Lumian raised his suspicions.

• Franca used Magic Mirror Divination to learn that Delilah was descended from a Person in the Mirror, and the mirror said Franca's ancestors had no connection to Trier.
• Jenna wondered whether People in the Mirror had been present before Fourth Epoch Trier sank, and Franca identified Moran Avigny as the next target of their investigation.
• Lumian reached Port Coria with Captain Pedro, Ludwig, and Lugano, who realized Lumian had learned to speak Highland Language.
• At Pedro's home, Lumian met Sara and her fiancé Flores, and noticed Flores's jealousy, wariness, and worry.
• After the welcome dinner, Flores went to his usual bar and noticed a striking young woman sitting nearby.

Flores used the Love Incantation on Franca’s Mirror Substitute and was driven to ecstatic torment when it shattered around him. Lumian confronted him about the incantation, but Flores recited it again without a target or medium, causing something sinister to grow in the room.

• Flores collected Franca’s saliva and shed hairs from a glass and used them as a medium for the Love Incantation.
• After Flores recited the incantation seven times, the tissue and hairs burned to ash, and he believed the young woman had fallen in love with him.
• Franca’s Mirror Substitute appeared at Flores’s door, clung to him, and shattered, leaving him wounded and overwhelmed by pleasure and pain.
• Franca and Lumian watched the test from across the street and confirmed that the incantation worked on the Mirror Substitute.
• Lumian entered Flores’s room, read the Love Incantation’s instructions, and questioned him about the notebook and its origin.
• Flores recognized Lumian and recited the incantation again without a target or medium, and Lumian sensed something sinister forming around them.

Lumian and Franca confronted Naporidisli, a devil who had used Flores to communicate with them, and heard his offer of a bargain. Franca was tempted by the terms but insisted on finding a reliable, powerful witness before deciding.

• Lumian escaped Flores's attempt to detonate his emotions by using a prepared Mirror Substitute, then prepared to teleport away with Franca.
• Naporidisli appeared through Flores, identified himself as a devil, and explained that Flores had paid for supernatural effects by letting his soul rot.
• Lumian and Franca questioned Naporidisli about Flores, the dead adventurers, and his identity, while he claimed he would make an honest deal without coercion.
• Lumian asked Naporidisli to reveal information about the Ancient Sun God as payment, but Naporidisli said he could not fulfill that request.
• Naporidisli offered to grant them one wish if they killed another devil's descendant in the Berserk Sea, and Franca asked for a powerful witness before deciding.

Lumian and Franca nearly agreed to a deal with Naporidisli before Lumian realized the devil had been subtly influencing their judgment. They used a Magic Mirror Divination ritual invoking Mr. Fool to drive Naporidisli out of Flores, but a vague figure began approaching in the mirror.

• Naporidisli refused to allow a witness for his proposed contract, and Lumian warned Franca not to agree after Termiboros cautioned him.
• Lumian proposed a Magic Mirror Divination to verify Naporidisli's true name, and Naporidisli wrote it down and supplied an ancient notebook as a divination medium.
• Franca began the ritual while Lumian asked Naporidisli what could end Sara's infatuation with Flores, and Naporidisli said either both would die or he would consent.
• Franca recited Mr. Fool's honorific name, and Lumian completed the ritual by asking for help to drive away the creature named Naporidisli.
• Pitch-black gas left Flores and vanished into the gray fog, restoring him, while a vague figure appeared in the mirror.

After Lumian and Franca drove Naporidisli away, Flores died from the devil’s curse, and Sara woke from her enchanted dream. Franca examined Flores’s notebook and found a legend of a devil on Hunt Island, a clue that connected to Naporidisli’s search for a descendant in the Berserk Sea.

• Franca saw a foggy cityscape in the altar mirror and wondered if it resembled her former homeland, while Lumian suggested Celestial Worthy’s influence might explain it.
• Flores’s body dissolved into black sewage, and Lumian and Franca discussed how they might deliberately control the danger from Franca’s Power Broker’s Black Box.
• Lumian and Franca left the room before the police arrived, and Lumian gave Franca Flores’s notebook to search for a way to undo the love incantation.
• Pedro told Lumian that Sara had awakened from her dream and wanted to end her engagement; Lumian explained Flores’s death and advised keeping Sara in a church or convent.
• Franca identified the notebook as a collection of strange encounters and found a legend about a devil on Hunt Island in the Berserk Sea.

Lumian and Franca learned from Madam Magician that Naporidisli was likely an exceptionally dangerous devil connected to the Abyss, and they were warned to guard against its corruption. Lumian then sailed for Hunt Island to investigate its devil legend and advance his Conspirer potion digestion, while Ludwig was left to test whether he could eat the notebook and incantation note.

• Lumian sent Madam Magician the ancient notebook and the note containing the love incantation, and she explained that Naporidisli might be a powerful or ancient devil and warned them not to deal with it.
• Franca told Lumian that Emperor Roselle had found the Abyss’s demons and devils dead, and they considered whether Naporidisli could be an ancient survivor of its mutation.
• Lumian decided to investigate Hunt Island’s devil legend and pursue another act that could complete his Conspirer potion digestion.
• Two days later, Lumian boarded the Berry for West Balam with Ludwig and Lugano, stopping at Hunt Island; Pedro and Sara learned that a real high-ranking devil had been involved in Flores’s death.
• Aboard the ship, Lumian asked Ludwig whether he could eat the ancient notebook and the love incantation note.