Chapter Summaries

Lumian and Franca fought Harrison near the Samaritan Woman Spring, but he escaped after using deathly powers and the spring’s influence. They failed to track him and discussed whether his abilities came from the Thief pathway, the Death God pathway, or Resurrection Island’s unusual methods.

• Lumian and Franca used the Sword of Courage and Black Tear against Harrison as he attacked them with deathly magic and pale hands.
• Harrison invoked the Samaritan Woman Spring to weaken Lumian’s fireball, while Lumian’s Blood Emperor aura briefly stirred the spring’s madness and brutality.
• Lumian struck Harrison, who turned into a paper figure; Franca burned the surrounding figures, but Harrison escaped toward the gray fog.
• Lumian and Franca exchanged Sealed Artifacts and searched for Harrison, but his anti-divination measures left them without a trail.
• Franca translated Harrison’s incantations, and Lumian wondered whether Harrison’s powerful Thief and Death God abilities came from the Celestial Worthy’s influence or Resurrection Island’s methods.

Franca and Lumian discussed the danger posed by Harrison and clarified their feelings as they resolved to grow stronger. In Trier, Anthony agreed to help the Knight of Swords investigate the Indulgence Faction, then hypnotized a villa servant and learned what its occupants were doing.

• Franca and Lumian concluded Harrison was dangerous and agreed they needed to strengthen themselves and bring Ludwig into the team.
• Franca asked why Lumian had come to see her, and Lumian revealed Jenna had urged him to act and acknowledged he had desires of his own.
• Anthony met Maric, the Knight of Swords, agreed to treat his mental state, and accepted a mission to question an Indulgence Faction servant in exchange for a Lucky Gold Coin.
• Two days later, Anthony hypnotized the servant at a market and asked why the Indulgence Faction members stayed inside the villa.
• The servant told Anthony that the villa's occupants were reveling together and having babies.

Anthony uncovered signs that the Indulgence Faction and Night Tour Society were cooperating on a key part of the Whirlpool Plan, prompting Lumian to prepare his companions for danger. Meanwhile, the Tarot Club questioned Madam Hermit about the Queen of Mysteries, who was revealed to be sailing toward a dark, forested island with the Whirlpool’s initiator, Perle, aboard her ship.

• Anthony bribed a purchasing servant for information and learned that both women and men in the Indulgence Faction were giving birth.
• Anthony told Maric that the Indulgence Faction and Night Tour Society might be cooperating on an important part of the Whirlpool Plan, and Maric promised to alert Madam Hermit and the Temperance Faction.
• Franca and Jenna discussed their Lucky Gold Coins and advancement plans before Anthony arrived with his intelligence.
• Lumian decided to inform Madam Magician, reunite with Ludwig and Lugano, and move everyone to a new safe house.
• At an emergency Tarot Club gathering, Madam Hermit said the Queen of Mysteries had not answered her recent contact, then foresaw the others turning wary looks toward her.
• Bernadette reached a forested island aboard the Dawn with Perle, the initiator of the Whirlpool Plan, standing beside her.

At a safe house in District 14, Lumian questioned Ludwig about the Broker pathway’s whirlpool and learned it involved a web of transactions among many parties. Meanwhile, Angoulême’s Purifiers encountered a terrifying crimson figure at a Rose School villa, and Bernadette began a ritual at Roselle’s mausoleum with Perle, who revealed that their deal involved more than two parties.

• Franca proposed using homework to help digest her potion, and Lumian praised her and Jenna after Ludwig agreed to work with them.
• Lumian asked Ludwig about the Broker pathway, and Ludwig described the whirlpool as a network of transactions involving multiple traders.
• Angoulême led Purifiers to raid a Rose School villa, but a crimson figure in the fog entranced them and a sinister voice welcomed their arrival.
• Bernadette reached Roselle’s mausoleum with Perle and confirmed that the ritual and transaction involved one of the traders Perle had brought in.
• Perle asked to use the Wishing Lamp as a ritual medium, then began turning into a rotating whirlpool of white fog after offering to perform the ritual without it.

Bernadette and Perle began a Gray Transaction to balance the corruption inside Roselle, while other participants traded payments and information through the expanding vortex. Heros revealed Lumian and Ludwig’s location, and the chapter ended as three specks of light carrying information about two Angels flew from her loom into Perle’s mist.

• Perle conducted Bernadette’s offer to the Mist of Uncertainty, which sent white mist into Roselle’s mausoleum to balance the corruption within him.
• The Overlord of the Supernova struck the barrier with a Fireball, while Topsey sent a monster to break the seal over a spaceship beneath Santa Port in exchange for the return of the Primordial Hunger’s Angel.
• Bernadette hurled the Spear of Longinus at the point of light showing the sea, but Perle told her the vortex would continue unless she killed Perle, which would also prevent Roselle from reaching balance.
• Mr. Higdon agreed to help Topsey but said he did not know where the target was in Trier, so Perle turned to Heros for information.
• Heros revealed that Lumian Lee had taken Ludwig and the others to a safe house in Trier’s District 14 Botanical Garden, then sent three specks of light carrying information about two Angels into Perle’s mist.

Lumian’s group tried to escape the Botanical Garden after sensing danger, but a Person of the Loop trapped them in a repeating moment. Meanwhile, the Whirlpool’s participants advanced their plans through supernatural transactions, and Bernadette was interrupted as she tried to stop them.

• Lumian gathered Franca, Jenna, Anthony, Lugano, and Ludwig to teleport to New Silver City, but the group returned to the moment before their escape and Lumian recognized a Person of the Loop.
• Vazan Sanson received Lumian’s location and set out, while Higdon began an operation to recover an Angel of Primordial Hunger.
• Bernadette tried to disrupt Perle’s transactions and then used Pale Death to control her, but a familiar voice and chaotic space interrupted her.
• Harrison sent Heros a multicolored bead, and Heros used its vision to weave a blessing that the Whirlpool Plan would succeed, suffering severe injuries in the process.
• Perle announced that Mr. Sage was nearing completion of a sinister painting made with the remains of sacrificed Gifted and followers.

Mr. Sage completed the Endless Starry Sky painting, allowing the powers of First Philosophy and the Immortal Voice to influence listeners and the Circle of Fate to obstruct outside interference in the Whirlpool Plan. The resulting effects disrupted Beyonders and stranded several groups in Trier, while Madam Judgement sought Will's help to find the medium behind the influence.

• Mr. Sage sacrificed his body to finish the painting, letting the Immortal Voice and First Philosophy affect listeners, especially higher-Sequence Beyonders.
• The Professor and Associate Professor heard an unknown sound, while Mr. K and other Aurora Order members suffered severe pain and struggled to follow their Lord's instructions.
• Mr. Sage completed the Silver-and-Black Ring, and Perle announced that outside interference in the Whirlpool Plan was destined to fail.
• Madam Magician's attempt to reach the Emperor's island failed, and Madam Hermit's ball of yarn returned from the void to her feet.
• Angoulême de François and his team were returned to their starting point, while The Hanged Man, Mr. Stars, Mr. Moon, and Madam Judgement could not reach the hidden safe house.
• Mr. Stars identified the power of fate as the cause of their predicament, and Madam Judgement called on Will for help as worms emerged from Mr. Stars's face.

Lumian and his allies confronted Vazan Sanson and Higdon inside the Botanical Garden, with Lumian and Ludwig attacking Sanson while Franca and Jenna engaged Higdon. In the Black Emperor mausoleum, Bernadette reunited with the partially awakened Roselle, who questioned the sacrifices involved in her plan.

• The Person of the Loop appeared with Vazan Sanson and Higdon as the wooden cabin rapidly rotted, and Lumian recognized Sanson as the man responsible for Aurora's tragedy.
• Lumian sent Ludwig to attack Sanson, gave Franca Black Tear to hold off Higdon, and directed Jenna to support her.
• Lumian used the Demon's Whisper Bone Ring and Sword of Courage before charging at Sanson, while Anthony and Lugano were assigned supporting roles.
• Bernadette found Roselle partially awakened in the Black Emperor mausoleum and explained that Adam had helped her return and that she had prepared ways to counter the corruption and alert allies.
• Roselle warned Bernadette that the situation might not have worsened because many people had made sacrifices, and asked whether those sacrifices were worth it to her.

The battle in Trier continued as Higdon’s disease powers threatened Franca and Jenna, while Lumian used Teleportation to attack Vazan Sanson. In the Black Emperor mausoleum, Roselle chose to confront the Whirlpool Ritual himself, leaving Bernadette with his final lesson.

• Higdon spread a disease that began changing Franca’s and Jenna’s bodies, but both activated Mirror Substitute to escape its effects.
• Vazan Sanson manipulated Ludwig’s fate to make him fall, then struck Lumian’s burning Flame Spear with contracted rays.
• Lumian teleported behind Vazan Sanson, but a cold phantom emerged from Vazan’s back and attacked him.
• Perle observed points of light showing a blood-red villa, a bound figure entwined with branches and thorns, and Topsey gnawing at a seal above the sea.
• Roselle embraced Bernadette and told her he would handle the Whirlpool Ritual, despite the danger to himself.
• Roselle walked toward the mausoleum doors and gave Bernadette his final lesson: a true man knew what he must do and what he must never do.

Franca used Vazan Sanson’s Person of the Loop to reset the battle and free her allies, but Lumian warned that they could trigger it only once more before a predetermined ending. As Higdon attacked and Vazan prepared to kill himself to restart the loop, an unknown power interrupted them, and an emperor announced his return.

• Franca triggered the Person of the Loop by leaving the battle through the Mirror World, resetting the fight and freeing Lumian and Jenna from their attackers.
• Franca proposed using repeated resets to stall for help, but Lumian warned that they had time for only one more restart before the loop’s predetermined ending.
• Higdon attacked the group with a Certain Hit strike, and Franca used a Mirror Substitute while Lumian counterattacked and severed Higdon’s arm, which grew into a second Higdon.
• Franca told Anthony to use Winter Is Coming’s Certain Death against Vazan Sanson while Lumian and Ludwig kept him occupied.
• Vazan Sanson began gathering power to kill himself and trigger a restart, but his light dispersed, the attacks missed, and a voice proclaimed that Intis’s emperor had returned.

Roselle returned as the Black Emperor, but the Mist of Uncertainty’s corruption began consuming him after Madam Helt drew away the Great Mother’s corruption. In Trier, Lumian’s group escaped the Person of the Loop through the Mirror World, only to be trapped by Harrison and confronted by Vazan Sanson.

• Roselle emerged from the Black Emperor’s mausoleum and proclaimed his return, disrupting events across the world and causing the Black Emperor’s Uniqueness and three Sequence 1 Beyonder Characteristics to return to him.
• Perle arranged for Madam Helt to offer the Great Mother the Shadow of the Goddess of Beauty in exchange for Roselle’s corruption, but the Mist of Uncertainty then began corrupting him to replace the balance he had lost.
• In Trier, Franca and Jenna sensed that the emperor’s return had distorted the order and the Person of the Loop’s power, but the Person of the Loop triggered his effect before they could act.
• Lumian sensed a route through the Mirror World using the Black Tear Forehead Ornament and led Franca, Jenna, and the others through it without triggering the Person of the Loop.
• Lumian’s group arrived in a dark world where Harrison, Vazan Sanson, and Higdon appeared; Harrison said Lumian had to be kept trapped, and Vazan revealed he had escaped Fourth Epoch Trier through the Special Mirror World.

Lumian sent Franca, Jenna, Anthony, and the others away through mirrors while he stayed behind to face Vazan Sanson, Higdon, and Harrison. Elsewhere, Madam Magician’s group followed Will Auceptin toward the source of the fate disturbance, while Perle watched Roselle’s resurrection begin ahead of schedule.

• Lumian’s attempt to Teleport the group toward Morola was blocked, so he gave Franca the Black Tear and told her to lead the others through mirrors to seek help.
• Lumian stayed behind to distract the pursuers, and Franca, Jenna, Anthony, Ludwig, and Lugano vanished with the Ice Talisman.
• Lumian put on Demon's Whisper, took up the Sword of Courage, and faced the approaching Vazan Sanson, Higdon, and Harrison.
• Madam Hermit gave Will Auceptin an iron Cigarette Case bearing Mr. Fool’s aura, and Will used it to lead Madam Magician, Madam Judgement, and the others toward the source of the fate power.
• Perle watched the four lights converge on Roselle Gustav, whose resurrection had begun before the Whirlpool ritual ended, and an indescribable light erupted around him.

Lumian fought Vazan Sanson while Harrison interfered and Vazan used his looping power to survive Lumian’s attacks and exchange fragments of their destinies. The exchange continued as Lumian pursued Vazan, unable to stop its completion.

• Higdon used the Glass-like Ring to pursue Ludwig and the others, leaving Lumian to face Vazan Sanson and Harrison.
• Lumian ambushed Vazan Sanson with Avatar of Desire, but Vazan triggered his loop and escaped the corruption.
• Vazan attempted to exchange destiny with Lumian, while Harrison stole Lumian’s attack and struck back with a flaming greatsword.
• Lumian repeatedly attacked Vazan with the Sword of Courage and fire ravens, but Vazan used his loop and contracted Teleportation to recover and evade him.
• Lumian continued pursuing Vazan as their destiny exchange progressed, while Harrison used a paper figurine to avoid a disease.
• Lumian felt despair at being unable to interrupt the exchange, then regained his courage and continued fighting.

Lumian was immobilized after Vazan Sanson completed the destiny exchange, then transformed into a sheep while Harrison’s allies trapped Franca’s group inside the Special Mirror World. Vazan and Harrison began undoing the seal on Lumian’s chest, and silver-black light emerged from him to form a figure.

• Lumian unleashed a storm of explosions across the ruins, interrupting Vazan Sanson’s teleportation and blocking his dark-green ray with the Sword of Courage.
• The destiny exchange completed, leaving Lumian sluggish and stiff; Vazan Sanson returned and transformed him into a sheep with a ritual sheepskin.
• Harrison’s paper figurine revealed Franca and the others trying to escape, but a crowned woman forced them back into the Special Mirror World while Higdon blocked their route.
• Vazan Sanson and Harrison agreed to undo the seal on Lumian’s chest, and Vazan began a ritual with black-stained mercury spheres as Harrison prepared candles and bread.
• Silver-black light burst from Lumian’s body and intertwined before him, weaving into a figure.

Major Arcana members tried to damage the oil painting driving the Whirlpool Ritual, while Roselle resurrected as the Black Emperor and seized the Mist of Uncertainty’s followers to punish them. As the ritual continued and Roselle called for Adam, Amon appeared in the Special Mirror World and revealed that he was also Termiboros.

• Ma'am Hermit identified the oil painting as the source of the terrifying voice, but Ma'am Magician and Ma'am Judgement could only damage it slightly using Will Auceptin’s iron cigarette case.
• Roselle resurrected as the Black Emperor in the Astral World and distorted the Mist of Uncertainty’s connection to its believers, temporarily redirecting their faith to himself.
• Roselle used his control over the believers to kill them, including Perle, but their bloody mist continued sustaining the Whirlpool Ritual.
• Roselle called out to Adam for help as the ritual pressed on, and Adam answered that he was there.
• Amon appeared before Lumian in the Special Mirror World, freed him from his sheep form, and introduced himself as both Amon and Termiboros.

Amon revealed that he had impersonated Termiboros and orchestrated Lumian’s recovery as part of an experiment, exposing how many of Lumian’s hardships had been manipulated. He identified Ouroboros as the Sufferer who had been watching Lumian, then left Lumian waiting to learn whether Aurora could have been saved.

• Amon stopped Lumian from joining Franca, Jenna, and the others, saying he had ensured Higdon would not kill them within ten minutes and that Lumian still had a choice to make.
• Amon explained that he had been Termiboros since Lumian first heard the name, and that the Cordou Village dream had symbolized the real Termiboros’s death and Amon’s attempt to acquire his power.
• Amon read a report describing how he and others had engineered events in Lumian’s life to treat his self-destructive tendencies and rebuild his social connections, including the deaths of Flamang and Michel and the explosion at Celia Bello’s mother’s factory.
• Amon told Lumian that he had chosen him as an experimental subject because of the Fool’s aura and Aurora’s decision, and because Lumian’s survival helped conceal Amon’s impersonation and pathway switch.
• Amon admitted that he had been sealed inside Lumian alongside the injured Termiboros after the Parish Priest’s ritual, and identified Ouroboros, the Angel of Destiny, as the Sufferer who had watched Lumian.
• Lumian asked whether Amon could have saved Aurora, and Amon asked if he wanted to hear the answer as he prepared to read from the report.

Amon revealed how he and others had manipulated events in Lumian Lee’s life, then explained that Aurora Lee could truly be resurrected only if Lumian defeated Medici and Cheek and united the powers of the two calamity pathways. He ended by asking Lumian whether he would accept that fate.

• Amon read that he had arranged for Termiboros to descend into Cordou Village, then stole Termiboros’s destiny and identity and replaced Him inside Lumian Lee.
• Amon explained how Ouroboros and the Amons had influenced Lumian’s encounters and trials, helping him obtain the Shadow Tree’s root destiny and the Blood Emperor’s residual aura.
• Amon described how Lumian’s travels, relationships, and three courses of psychotherapy prepared him emotionally for the dangers of advancing to Half-God.
• Amon revealed that he would refuse to help Lumian complete the Iron-Blooded Knight ritual and would instead send him to Morola to become a Witch of Despair, after which Lumian would alternate between the Witch and Hunter pathways.
• Amon said Aurora Lee could be resurrected as Lumian’s female self if Lumian defeated Medici and Cheek and took control of the power at the summit of both calamity pathways, then asked whether Lumian would accept that ending.

Lumian agreed to go to Morola and become a Witch of Despair while rejecting the ending chosen for him, as Amon revealed more about the Fate Pathway and opened his way into the city. Amon’s return to divine power shifted events across the Whirlpool Ritual, and Lumian began summoning Morola’s exiles to prepare for what came next.

• Lumian told Amon he would go to Morola and try every way to resurrect Aurora, but would not accept the predetermined ending.
• Amon transformed the Black Tear Forehead Ornament into a heart, took the Witch of Despair ingredients from Vazan Sanson, and gave them to Lumian.
• Amon explained that Sequence 2 of the Fate Pathway was Sinner and that its ability could restore a person’s state to a moment in the past.
• Amon removed the barriers between the Special Mirror World and Morola, then vanished as Roselle in the mirror allowed Lumian to pass.
• Madam Magician and Madam Hermit realized the sealing power had strengthened, while the White Fog around Roselle contracted and Amon appeared before Perle as Termiboros.
• Lumian returned to Morola, used 0-01 to shoulder the effects of the Witch’s plagues, and began summoning the exiles most affected by the artifact.

Lumian chose to embrace the Witch pathway, drank the potion amid the burning square, and walked into a transformed darkness. In the Special Mirror World, Franca, Jenna, and Anthony were overwhelmed by Higdon until a sword of blackened flame destroyed one of their attackers and a figure appeared.

• Lumian surrounded the square with blazing white flames, added the Witch of Despair Beyonder Characteristic and other ingredients to a potion, and drank it while walking through the burning streets.
• Franca and Jenna struggled against four Higdons as their black flames and Mirror Substitutes began to fail, while Anthony hid nearby and Lugano escaped.
• Anthony used his last Mirror Substitute to shoot one Higdon with the Winter Is Coming revolver, killing only that copy and leaving the others unharmed.
• Vazan Sanson arrived as Franca and Jenna faced their last resort, but an iron-black sword wreathed in blazing white flames struck a Higdon and destroyed it in black fire.
• A figure rapidly took shape before Franca, Jenna, and Anthony.

Lumian returned as a Witch of Despair and destroyed Higdon while Franca, Jenna, and Anthony held off Vazan Sanson. With Higdon eliminated, Lumian confronted Vazan and prepared to test whether his Person of the Loop effect was still active.

• Lumian appeared as a Witch of Despair, trapped Higdon's slime fragments in an invisible web, and burned away their spirituality with black flames.
• Franca, Jenna, and Anthony attacked Vazan Sanson together, using Mental Piercing, sunlight, and a Certain Hit bullet to delay him.
• Lumian used mirrored phantoms and a powerful explosion to destroy Higdon, then burned another Higdon who had found Ludwig.
• Lumian joined the others and faced Vazan Sanson, telling him he hoped his Person of the Loop effect was still active.