Chapter Summaries

Jenna spotted the Deep Sea Admiral’s flagship, the Newins, arriving alone at Banaam Harbor, while Anthony monitored pirate opinion and learned that many expected Hal Constantine to challenge the unknown adventurer. The chapter left Jenna considering how to deal with her brother Julian’s return and Anthony hearing the pirates’ suspicions that Hal visited Banaam to seek the Lost Newins.

• Jenna saw the Newins surface and unfold at Banaam Harbor, and confirmed that no Pirate King’s fleet had arrived ahead of it.
• Jenna worried that Julian would return to Trier soon and considered persuading him to leave for a temporary stay elsewhere.
• Two pirates tried to grab Jenna, but her black flames killed them and helped digest her Witch potion.
• Anthony used his Hypnotist abilities to guide influential pirates’ opinions while posing as a friendly listener in a Banaam Harbor bar.
• Stilwell told Anthony that the Deep Sea Admiral had arrived and that pirates expected him to punish the unknown adventurer.
• Stilwell said pirates believed Hal Constantine visited Banaam Harbor to seek the legendary Lost Newins.

Mason reflected on the nameless adventurer’s power and the danger of life in Banaam Harbor, while Franca and Lumian waited for the Deep Sea Admiral to make a move. The Deep Sea Admiral’s ship, the Newins, had arrived, but its crew had not yet confronted Lumian.

• Mason watched the pirates avoid retaliating after the nameless adventurer killed two of their crew with fire ravens, and he resolved to stay close to him.
• Franca monitored the Carnival Bar from the shadows and heard pirates confirm that the Deep Sea Admiral had arrived aboard the Newins.
• After waiting more than half an hour without seeing the Deep Sea Admiral, Franca reasoned that he was likely finishing his resupply before risking a confrontation.
• Lumian learned from Jenna’s note that his target had arrived, then calmly drank his Lenzqi while waiting for the Deep Sea Admiral to act.

Lumian lured Giant Shark and the Newins crew into the Carnival Bar, then sealed them inside a Fictional Bottle while he and his companions boarded the ship. They reached the captain’s cabin, where Lumian began to worry about the Deep Sea Admiral’s power as two pirates arrived with a meal cart.

• Jenna and Anthony gathered reports on the Newins crew’s movements as pirates converged on the Carnival Bar.
• Lumian cleared the bar, drew a duplicate of himself in a sketchbook, and hid as Giant Shark and his companions entered.
• Lumian trapped everyone inside the Carnival Bar with a Fictional Bottle, then teleported with Franca to meet Jenna and Anthony at the docks.
• The group boarded the lightly guarded Newins and used hypnosis to question a lone pirate, learning that the admiral was in the captain’s cabin.
• Lumian and his companions reached the captain’s cabin, where two pirates arrived with a meal cart and Lumian considered the danger posed by an Ocean Singer aboard the ship.

Lumian exchanged a fragment of Hal Constantine’s destiny while his companions ambushed the Deep Sea Admiral aboard the Newins. As Lumian waited out the exchange in the shadows, Hal fought back with lightning and spotted him near the window.

• Lumian observed Hal Constantine’s destiny and realized the octopus on his face was a mask, then began exchanging a fragment in which Hal was injured underwater.
• Hal sensed Lumian’s intrusion and unleashed Lightning Strike, shocking the food-delivery pirates and striking the area where Lumian was hidden.
• At the Carnival Bar, Lumian attacked Jorg the Giant Shark and his companions, knocking Ship Destroyer unconscious with a beam of white light.
• Franca, Jenna, and Anthony ambushed Hal aboard the Newins, but his mask shielded him from their mental attacks and he retaliated with his trident and lightning.
• Hal’s lightning paralyzed Anthony and forced Franca and Jenna out of hiding; he then noticed Lumian sitting openly on a chair by the window.

Lumian used himself as bait to draw Hal Constantine’s attention while Franca and Jenna prepared an assassination, and the group sealed off the ship’s stairway to prevent interference. Jenna and Franca wounded Hal Constantine with a coordinated attack, but he retaliated with a blinding burst of lightning.

• Lumian let Hal Constantine see him, drawing the admiral’s attention while Franca ensnared him with spider silk.
• Hal Constantine shattered the restraints with a storm of light, while Lumian sealed the stairway in a Fictional Bottle that barred men from entering or leaving.
• Outside the Carnival Bar, Jorg and the pirates realized they had fought a phantom while the real target was the Newins, but they could not escape the Fictional Bottle.
• Jenna stabbed Hal Constantine after using Bribery to weaken his defenses, then poured Black Flame into his wound.
• Franca stabbed Hal Constantine with the Chilling Blade and cursed him through a mirror, setting his body ablaze.
• Hal Constantine broke free of the effects with a cry and struck the floor with his trident, unleashing a blinding burst of lightning.

Lumian’s group waited for the destiny exchange to near completion while Franca revealed her face to Hal Constantine, fully digesting her Pleasure potion. Before Lumian could finish off Hal, the Newins’s defenses activated, forcing the group to teleport away as the ship submerged and abandoned its crew.

• Franca and Jenna escaped the lightning storm in Hal Constantine’s sealed captain’s cabin, while Lumian and Anthony used Sea’s Wrath to draw most of the lightning away from them.
• Lumian monitored Hal Constantine as he recovered underwater, and Franca warned that he might flee through a secret passage or into the sea.
• Lumian told Franca to reveal her face so Hal Constantine could experience pleasure and help her digest her potion; he then blasted open the captain’s cabin door.
• Hal Constantine saw Franca’s face and was overwhelmed by pleasure, while the octopus covering his face fell away and Franca fully digested her Pleasure potion.
• Franca recognized Hal Constantine’s resemblance to Harrison, but Lumian sensed the Newins’s defenses awakening and teleported the group back to their hotel.
• The Newins sealed itself and submerged, leaving “Giant Shark” Jörg and the other crew members behind as dockside pirates wondered why Hal Constantine had fled.

Lumian and his companions escaped the Newins after their failed attempt to kill Hal Constantine, while the Deep Sea Admiral recovered aboard the ship and wondered about the assassins’ motives. Franca’s Magic Mirror Divination revealed that Hal was a mixed-blood descendant of elves, but could not determine whether Lost Newins was an ancient elven ruin.

• Jörg and the other pirates found the Newins gone and fled the docks to seek help from the admiral’s contacts in Banaam Harbor.
• Hal Constantine recovered from his injuries aboard the Newins and questioned why the assassins had attacked him, then found a Gold Louis they had left behind.
• Jenna removed the Dignity brooch and left the room while its negative effect made Lumian, Franca, and Anthony feel disgust and malice toward her.
• Franca noticed Hal’s resemblance to Harrison and, after Lumian suggested asking the Major Arcana, chose to use Magic Mirror Divination instead.
• The mirror’s voice identified Hal’s appearance as that of a mixed-blood elf descendant.
• Franca asked whether Lost Newins was an ancient elven ruin, but the mirror’s voice answered that it did not know.

Lumian and Franca discussed the dangers of their pathways and how to resist being corrupted while seeking ways to avoid evil. After failing to find Great White Shark Jörg and the other Newins in Banaam Harbor, they decided to leave and investigate a lead on a Person in the Mirror, while preparing to monitor the harbor.

• Lumian sent Anthony to ask pirates whether Great White Shark Jörg and other key Newins had escaped Banaam Harbor.
• Franca told Lumian that her Pleasure potion was fully digested and she planned to attempt the Witch of Pain advancement ritual after recovering.
• Franca objected to Lumian's idea of spreading a plague among pirates because it could kill innocent people, and Lumian urged her not to reject plans before examining their feasibility.
• Lumian warned Franca that the Hunter and Witch pathways drew them toward darkness, and urged her to face it while resisting corruption and holding to her convictions.
• Anthony reported that the Newins had fled and Jörg's group was missing; after two days of fruitless searches, Lumian suspected they had left by a secret channel.
• Franca read Angoulême's letter about a Person in the Mirror, and Lumian proposed leaving Banaam Harbor while arranging for people to watch it; Jenna noticed that Chazot Rabbit had not been paid for delivering the letter.

Lumian recruited Mason to watch Banaam Harbor for the Newins and Giant Shark Jorg, while Franca underwent the ritual to become a Witch of Pain. The chapter ended as the flames around Franca turned to ice and her charred skin peeled away, revealing new skin beneath.

• Chazot Rabbit asked Jenna for custom boxing gloves so he could cultivate a Danitz among his kind.
• Lumian hired Mason to watch Banaam Harbor and summon his messenger if the Newins returned or Mason found Giant Shark Jorg and his companions.
• Mason recognized Lumian Lee from a wanted poster after accepting the commission and receiving a deposit.
• Franca prepared the Witch of Pain potion and tied herself to a stake with Jenna's help.
• Lumian set Franca ablaze as Jenna gave her the potion, and Franca endured the pain and pleasure of the ritual without losing herself.
• The scarlet flames around Franca turned black and then to ice, which fell away with her charred skin to reveal new skin beneath.

Franca described the abilities she gained after advancing to Witch of Pain, and tested how her Disease power interacted with Lumian’s flames. Lumian then announced that he would leave for Lenburg alone to search for Morola, asking Franca, Jenna, and Anthony to watch over Ludwig and Lugano.

• Franca explained that she could now actively use Fascination and demonstrated it on Lumian, who told her to stop testing it on him.
• Franca described how her Disease ability could spread pathogens, accelerate illness, and support drawn-out assassinations.
• Lumian tested his Hunter’s flames against Franca’s pathogens, and Franca found that the flames could kill many pathogens and reduce their effects.
• Franca demonstrated her enhanced spider silk, weaponized hair, and more targeted curses, along with improvements to her other abilities.
• Lumian said he would leave for Lenburg the next day to search for Morola and asked Franca, Jenna, and Anthony to look after Ludwig and Lugano.

Franca became a Witch of Pain and began to understand her feelings about Jenna leaving to visit Julian, while Lumian traveled to Aisala to investigate Morola. At the station, Church of Knowledge clergy identified Lumian as a wanted criminal and arrested him.

• Franca considered whether to report her advancement to the Black Witch and, following Jenna’s advice, planned to explain that Lumian had become a Reaper and helped her digest the Pleasure potion.
• Jenna packed to visit Julian in Leucer Harbor, and Franca felt a pang of disappointment as Jenna’s belongings disappeared from their bedroom.
• Lumian traveled by train to Aisala and spoke with Salent, a local who described Lenburg’s devotion to learning and its demanding exams.
• Lumian asked Salent about Morola, then considered using the connection between parts of the Abscessed Severed Hand to find the city.
• At Aisala’s station, Church of Knowledge clergy checked Lumian’s documents, surrounded him, and arrested him as a wanted criminal.

Lumian was arrested by the Church of Knowledge and imprisoned with several serial killers, suspecting the arrest was a way to send him to Morola. He and the other prisoners received their sentence: banishment beyond a pair of brass doors.

• Lumian let the Church of Knowledge clergy arrest him and took care to hide his Traveler’s Bag as they escorted him to a cell beneath a white tower.
• Lumian met Gei, Lies, Wijepan, and Julie in the cell, where they discussed their murders and crimes.
• Lumian introduced himself as Louis and learned from Gei that Lenburg had many detectives and dangerous criminals.
• A beautiful clergywoman led Lumian and the other prisoners underground and announced that they were banished beyond the brass doors.
• A hair-raising sound came from behind the doors as the prisoners learned their destination.

Lumian and the other serious offenders passed through a strange passage and arrived in Morola, the City of Banishment. After registering as residents, Lumian learned that the city held nearly two hundred thousand people and that breaking the law could make someone experimental personnel, so he set out to find the Abscessed Severed Hand’s missing parts.

• The Church of Knowledge’s official used Harpus’s Sterilizing Rain on Lumian and the other offenders before opening the brass door to their banishment passage.
• Lumian unsettled the others by joking that they could eat one another, and Gei eventually led the group deeper into the passage.
• After a long walk through the dim corridor, Lumian and the offenders climbed into a church in Morola, where Heraberg welcomed them and removed their restraints.
• The offenders registered their names, and Heraberg explained Morola’s laws, its experimental personnel, and its population of nearly two hundred thousand.
• Lumian left the church to search for the Abscessed Severed Hand’s two body parts.

Lumian explored Morola, sensed several portions of the Abscessed Severed Hand around the city, and followed a thief who stole his Traveler’s Bag. The thief died after handling Lumian’s dangerous belongings, and Lumian faced Morola’s law enforcers over the stolen property.

• Lumian left the church, saw Morola’s vast cemetery, and sensed multiple portions of the Abscessed Severed Hand in different directions.
• Lumian and Gei watched a fatal sword duel before Worms stole Lumian’s Traveler’s Bag; Lumian followed him while Gei went to find lodging.
• Worms found a half-corpse and a piece of human skin in the bag, then began coughing violently after touching the skin.
• Worms was struck by lightning after reaching for the Sea’s Wrath brooch and died before Lumian arrived to retrieve the bag and take 537 Sasson Gold.
• When law enforcers arrived, Lumian explained that Worms had stolen his belongings and asked whether the items on the corpse belonged to him.

Lumian tested the Morola enforcers by negotiating for Worms's belongings, then questioned whether they had become mindless servants of the city and reconsidered approaching 0-01 as one of them. Following the Abscessed Severed Hand's signal to the Carnivore bar, he found Albus Medici and discovered that their steaks were made from the Severed Hand's rotting flesh.

• Lumian persuaded the enforcers that Worms's possessions belonged to him, then watched them collect Worms's Beyonder Characteristic and clean the alley.
• Lumian concluded that Morola's enforcers seemed like human marionettes and wondered if joining them would cost him his self-awareness.
• Lumian followed the Abscessed Severed Hand's signal to the Carnivore bar and suspected its owner served the creature's regenerating flesh as meat.
• Lumian found Albus Medici at the bar, exchanged accounts of their alleged crimes, and ordered a steak.
• Lumian sensed that his steak was made from the Abscessed Severed Hand's rotting flesh and noticed Albus was also refusing to eat his.

Lumian challenged and killed the bar owner, a Gourmet pathway Depriver whose powers suppressed Lumian's abilities and let him absorb attacks. After the fight, Lumian learned the owner had been in Morola for five or six years and found half of the Abscessed Severed Hand's corpse in the kitchen.

• Lumian accused the bar owner of passing off strange meat as steak and challenged him to a duel.
• The bar owner attacked Lumian with a bone cleaver and stripped away Lumian's Teleportation and Heng-Ha Art abilities.
• Lumian bombarded the Depriver with blazing white flames, then used the bar owner's shadow to appear beneath him and strike his weak point.
• The bar owner died, and Lumian cut out his stomach to keep as a possible ingredient or special material.
• The bartender estimated that the bar owner had been banished to Morola for five or six years.
• Lumian entered the kitchen and found half of the Abscessed Severed Hand's corpse on the counter.

Lumian recovered the Abscessed Severed Hand’s half-corpse from the bar and tested whether Morola’s boundaries blocked his abilities to contact the outside world. After confirming a possible connection through the Mirror World, he returned downstairs and hired Lies to cook for him.

• Lumian stored the Abscessed Severed Hand’s half-corpse in the Traveler’s Bag while Albus revealed he had investigated the bar’s special food and its effects on Morola residents.
• Lumian considered killing Albus but held back, deciding that Albus might serve as useful cannon fodder and that he could not be sure of winning.
• Lumian searched the kitchen and the Depriver’s bedroom, but found no unusual ingredients and confirmed he could not teleport beyond Morola or summon either messenger.
• Lumian used a mirror to sense marks he had left in Moran Avigny’s study, the Blue Avenger’s treasure vault, and Franca and Jenna’s apartment, suggesting a way to reach or communicate with the outside world.
• Lumian went downstairs, collected the bar owner’s 420 Sasson Gold, and agreed to let Lies cook for him after Lies asked whether the bar was hiring.

Lumian hired Lies to cook and manage the Carnivore bar, then set out to track the Abscessed Severed Hand. In Morola, he met Gusin, who warned him about Vanak and claimed to be the city’s second most dangerous person.

• Lumian found that the charred scraps of the Abscessed Severed Hand’s flesh had lost their ability to writhe and heal, then ate the meal Lies prepared.
• Lies told Lumian how his wife’s betrayal and death led him to worship the God of Food and become a Cook; he also revealed that the woman who ruined his restaurant had worshipped Truth.
• Lumian hired Lies to run the Carnivore bar as its cook and manager, offering him the bar’s profits in exchange for managing it and providing Lumian’s meals and other services.
• Following the contract mark, Lumian found Wijepan’s mutilated corpse and learned from Gusin that Julie had defeated him in a duel.
• Lumian told Gusin he was staying at the Carnivore bar and that Bainna was dead; Gusin warned him about Vanak, the owner of Dardus Agricultural Company, and said Vanak had returned to normal after becoming an Experimental Subject.
• When Lumian asked who was Morola’s second most dangerous person, Gusin said people believed it was him.

Lumian considered Gusin’s invitation to join the riots in Morola, then encountered the suspected Vanak and searched the cemetery for the Abscessed Severed Hand’s remains. He found a decayed ear and a note from Albus Medici revealing that Albus had taken the head.

• Gusin told Lumian he had organized riots against the Church of Knowledge and invited him to join his group.
• Lumian directed law enforcers toward the alley where Gusin had gone, then witnessed a volcanic eruption inside Morola.
• Lumian recognized the suspected Vanak at the Dardus Agricultural Company, escaped his attack by teleporting, and continued searching for the Abscessed Severed Hand’s head.
• Lumian reached a fresh grave in the cemetery and dug up a box containing a decayed ear and a note from Albus Medici.
• Albus Medici’s note said he had obtained and hidden the Abscessed Severed Hand’s head before going to Carnivore bar.

Lumian returned to the Carnivore bar and learned that Lies had hired Julie, a Witch of Pain whose disturbing hobby matched the crimes that had brought her to Morola. After secretly following her on a night out, Lumian watched her attack a man and then approach a Knowledge Church enforcer named Sallys, who did not recognize her.

• Lumian failed to find clues to Albus's whereabouts, returned to the Carnivore bar, and learned that Lies had hired Julie as a waiter.
• Lumian questioned Julie about her habit of collecting parts of men and set rules for her work at the bar.
• Julie used Fascination on Lumian, who recognized her as a Witch of Pain and let her leave for the night.
• Lumian secretly followed Julie as she lured a man away, inflicted a painful attack on him, and took a bloody object.
• Julie waited outside the Church of Knowledge and excitedly greeted the enforcer Sallys, but Sallys asked who she was.