Chapter Summaries

Lumian and Aurora reasoned that Cordou’s villagers were corrupted into components of the time loop and that breaking it from outside would kill them. They suspected Lumian was the key to ending the loop safely, so they planned to rest before he explored the Dream Ruins again.

• Aurora concluded that the dispersed power and corruption had trapped the villagers who took part in the Twelfth Night ritual, while people such as Madame Pualis might only be affected by the loop.
• Lumian and Aurora explained why the deaths of Ava, Raymond, and Naroka had not reset the loop, and speculated that Jean Mori had tried to escape before Twelfth Night.
• Aurora said they could test their theory by killing villagers or one of the Three Foreigners, but she refused to harm innocents just to verify it.
• Aurora proposed that Lumian might be the vessel and key to ending the loop because his mark had disrupted the ritual and the Dream Ruins were connected to his corruption.
• Lumian decided to return to the Dream Ruins, but Aurora persuaded him to go home, eat, and rest first.

Lumian, Aurora, and the official investigators connected Jean Mori’s murder to Shepherd Pierre Berri and discovered that the family had hidden victims’ hair and nail clippings to protect their luck. In a dream, Lumian reconsidered the symbols linked to Cordou Village’s loop and traced their origin to a dying man he had met nearly six years earlier.

• Ryan told Lumian and Aurora that the Parish Priest had ordered the villagers to spread news about the coming Zodiac change and good fortune, though the wording suggested a village witch’s influence.
• Lya revealed that her dream divination showed Pierre Berri hiding hair and nail clippings in a haystack, and Lumian connected this to the evidence he had found at the Berri family’s sheep pen.
• Lumian, Aurora, Ryan, Lya, and Valentine discussed the likely murder of Jean Mori and the possibility that the haystack contained remains from multiple victims.
• Lya and the other investigators returned to the Old Tavern to observe the Parish Priest and his allies, while Lumian and Aurora kept their theory about the loop to themselves.
• After falling asleep, Lumian wondered whether the Black Thorn symbol caused the loop and the bluish-black pattern offered protection, then remembered finding that pattern on a dying man nearly six years earlier.

Lumian explored deeper into the Dream Ruins and encountered a powerful Pyromaniac, whose attacks he escaped by approaching it with the black thorn symbol activated. He then ran into the Three-Faced Monster, which fled from him, leading Lumian to suspect that powerful monsters could sense his special nature.

• Lumian followed concealed footprints and discovered traps, concluding that he was tracking a monster with Hunter traits and likely a Beyonder Characteristic.
• After performing the Sacrificial Dance to activate the black thorn symbol, Lumian spotted a flaming monster and recognized it as a Sequence 7 Pyromaniac.
• The Pyromaniac attacked Lumian with a fireball and flaming crows, but froze when he closed to within five meters; it then fled, and Lumian lost its trail.
• Lumian encountered the Three-Faced Monster in a doorway and fled, only to realize that it had also turned and run away.
• Lumian recalled that the Three-Faced Monster had previously kept its distance and wondered whether powerful monsters could detect his special nature without the black thorn symbol being activated.

Lumian investigated the blood-colored peak in the Dream Ruins and saw a horrifying three-headed giant that nearly drove him to lose control. After recovering, he discovered a rotting blacksmith forging a sinister short blade, but when the Black Thorn symbol faded, the monster emerged to hunt him.

• Lumian classified the Dream Ruins monsters by how they reacted to his Black Thorn symbol and cautiously followed the Three-Faced Monster's route toward the blood-colored peak.
• Lumian saw a three-headed, six-armed giant seated atop the peak, and its presence caused overwhelming pain and nearly made him lose control.
• Lumian recovered, decided to leave, then investigated the sound of hammering near the twisted city wall after his spirituality had returned.
• Lumian spotted a rotting blacksmith striking a silver-black short blade, but withdrew when the Black Thorn symbol's protection was about to fade.
• The blacksmith opened the door as Lumian's symbol vanished, revealing that it had been waiting to hunt him with its hammer and the short blade.

Lumian was trapped in the Dream Ruins by the blacksmith monster and its sinister knife, but partially activated the black thorn symbol and caused both to collapse. He learned the knife’s fate-hunting powers, named it the Fate-Hunting Knife, and threw it away when the symbol’s protection ended.

• Lumian fled the blacksmith monster, escaped into the ruined buildings, and later realized the ruins’ influence had made him wander back to the monster’s room.
• The blacksmith monster’s knife gradually turned Lumian into a walking corpse, while the monster became more human as their fates were exchanged.
• Lumian completed the Sacrificial Dance and partially activated the black thorn symbol, causing the monster to disintegrate and its knife to crack.
• Lumian picked up the knife and learned that it was a corrupted Beyonder weapon that could turn its wielder into a puppet and exchange or steal fate.
• Lumian named the weapon the Fate-Hunting Knife, then threw it away when the black thorn symbol’s brief activation ended.

Lumian obtained a dangerous Fate-Hunting Knife in the Dream Ruins, which Aurora later renamed Fallen Mercury, but the strange creatures refused to possess him because they feared the corruption and seal within him. Aurora suggested that he try using Ancient Hermetic to command them instead, as Lumian and Aurora continued investigating the ruins ahead of the Twelfth Night.

• Lumian wrapped the Fate-Hunting Knife in the Blacksmith monster's robe and carried it safely back to his family's house.
• Lumian tried to lure the Skinless Monster, Shotgun Monster, and Mouthpart Monster into possessing him, but they fled after sensing the corruption and seal inside him.
• Lumian rested and then fell asleep, disappointed that he could not use his Dancer ability to make the Dream Ruins' strange creatures possess him.
• Lumian told Aurora about his exploration, and she named the Fate-Hunting Knife Fallen Mercury.
• Aurora agreed that the corruption in Lumian could suppress powerful beings connected to the hidden entity, then suggested he command the creatures to possess him using Ancient Hermetic.

Aurora explained why the villagers who accepted Gifts might become dangerously unstable and proposed that the siblings and the three official investigators live together. After Lumian violently punished Pons Béné, the investigators agreed to move into his home and wait to see whether the Tomb Chamber mattered during the Twelfth Night ritual.

• Aurora connected the three-headed Giant in Lumian's dream to the Hidden Being and its corruption, then urged him to focus on the City Wall for clues.
• Aurora proposed that Ryan, Lya, and Valentine move into the siblings' home, warning that Gifted villagers might ignore the Parish Priest's plans and seek revenge.
• Lumian beat Pons Béné and his thugs, then nearly drowned Pons in the river before Shepherd Pierre Berri intervened.
• Lumian invited Ryan, Lya, and Valentine to stay with him and Aurora, and they agreed to move in.
• Lya and Ryan suggested waiting until the Twelfth Night ritual to judge whether the Tomb Chamber was relevant to the loop.

Lumian, Aurora, and the three official investigators arranged a night watch after destroying the altar, then Lya offered to recruit the siblings as Eighth Bureau informants. Aurora agreed to consider it after the loop ended, and she went to sleep while Lumian prepared for his first watch.

• Aurora welcomed Ryan, Lya, and Valentine into the house, and they chose rooms for the night.
• Ryan proposed keeping bedroom doors open and taking turns watching; Lumian took the first shift, followed by Valentine, Lya, Aurora, and Ryan.
• Lya praised Aurora's novels, asked for an autograph, and offered to make the siblings Eighth Bureau informants; Aurora said she would decide after the loop ended.
• Aurora explained to Lumian how Lya used warmth and rapport to make the recruitment offer, then told him to wake her at ten so she could help watch.
• Lumian dimmed the lamp and sat beside Aurora as she slept, quietly watching her in the crimson moonlight.

Lumian and Aurora detected and survived a dangerous intrusion in their home, then discussed the possible motives of the Owl and the dead Warlock. After Aurora lulled Lumian to sleep, he woke in the Gray Fog still in his original room rather than hers.

• Lumian felt the Black Thorn symbol grow warm after hearing a distant sheep bleat, and he woke Aurora to investigate the danger.
• Aurora found no source, but Lumian's chest cooled; Ryan, Lya, and Valentine arrived, and Lya confirmed a dangerous presence with power that countered divination had left.
• Lumian and Aurora agreed he would visit Madame Pualis and the Old Tavern the next day to discuss their theories and seek help.
• Aurora sang the lullaby from her homeland, and Lumian fell asleep beside her.
• Lumian woke in a place filled with faint Gray Fog and discovered he was still in his original room.

Lumian learned to possess the Mouthpart Monster and use its invisibility, then prepared to explore the Dream Ruins and hunt the Flame Monster. He tracked the Flame Monster to fresh traces and began the dance that attracted monsters.

• Lumian summoned the Mouthpart Monster and used Ancient Hermetic to command it into his body.
• Lumian tested the Mouthpart Monster's invisibility, found that attacking revealed him, and endured its intense hunger by eating cheese and steak.
• Lumian discovered that possession lasted about three minutes and consumed spirituality rapidly, then prepared food and gear for exploring the ruins.
• Lumian planned to study the Flame Monster and attack it with Fallen Mercury, while seeking a weaker monster whose bad fate he could use in an exchange.
• Lumian searched the ruins, found scorch marks left by the Flame Monster, followed its trail, and began dancing when the tracks grew fresh.

Lumian observed the flame monster and learned how it used visible traps and deception to shape a fight, then escaped its ambush and planned to exploit invisibility during a future attack. He killed the Noodle Man to store its bad fate in Fallen Mercury, but the resulting vision showed the illusory river’s main channel broken and unable to return to its starting point.

• Lumian used invisibility to observe the flame monster laying obvious traps and learned that they were meant to give a Hunter an advantage by controlling the battlefield.
• The flame monster noticed Lumian’s footprints, pretended not to, then attacked his hiding place with a fireball; Lumian escaped through the traps and lost it at a natural trap.
• Lumian concluded that he could stab the flame monster, use invisibility to retreat, and wait for Fallen Mercury’s fate exchange to finish, but realized he had brought no water.
• Lumian found the Noodle Man, which had been subdued by the Sacrificial Dance, and stabbed it with Fallen Mercury before beheading it with his Axe.
• When Lumian grasped Fallen Mercury, he saw an illusory river whose tributaries had vanished and whose broken main channel could not yet return to its starting point.

Lumian completed Fallen Mercury by taking a piece of Noodle Man’s fate, then explored the Dream Ruins to map a flame monster’s movements and investigate the City Wall. After waking in the Loop, he planned to visit Madame Pualis with Ryan and Valentine, but their search for the Berri family’s sheep found an empty pen.

• Lumian used Fallen Mercury to extract the fate of Noodle Man being cowed by the Black Thorn symbol, then buried Noodle Man’s corpse beneath a collapsed building.
• Lumian studied the flame monster’s tracks and mapped its range, then explored the dark, sleep-inducing area and found a wooden wall blocking his way near the City Wall.
• Lumian woke beside Aurora, exercised with Valentine, and joined him in praising the sun.
• Lumian proposed that he, Ryan, and Valentine replenish supplies and visit Madame Pualis to investigate the dead Warlock and Owl; Lya stayed behind with Aurora.
• Lumian, Ryan, and Valentine checked the sheep pen behind Shepherd Pierre Berri’s house and found that all three sheep were gone.

Lumian and his companions investigated the repaired Underground Altar, sought help from Madame Pualis, and prepared for Lumian to hunt the Flame Monster. The mysterious lady was absent, and the chapter ended as an axe-wielding figure emerged from a shadow behind Lumian.

• Lumian realized that the Parish Priest's sacrifice had mystically connected to the corruption in his chest, letting him hear a sheep bleat from far away.
• Ryan, Valentine, and Lumian visited Madame Pualis, but her midwife said she would not meet them and warned that the tomb's occupants could stop their investigation without triggering the loop.
• At the Old Tavern, Lumian learned the mysterious lady was absent and inferred that April 9 was Twelfth Night and March 29 was the loop's first day.
• Lumian told Aurora about his plans to hunt the Flame Monster, and she encouraged him to be careful while lamenting that the mysterious lady was unavailable to make support charms.
• That night, as Lumian went to the washroom, a shadow behind him formed into a figure raising an axe.

Lumian and his allies fought off a supernatural attack on their house, then he continued studying the Flame Monster’s habits in the Dream Ruins. On the night before the Lent Festival, Lumian woke in the dream and prepared to hunt it.

• Sinister arms dragged Lumian toward the shadows, but Ryan, Lya, Aurora, and Valentine rescued him and drove back the axe-wielding attacker.
• Black vines and blood-red flowers invaded the house, and Aurora, Valentine, and Ryan destroyed them and cleared the lingering anesthetic gas.
• Aurora and Lumian joined Ryan, Lya, and Valentine in taking turns keeping watch after they suspected the attack came from the Parish Priest and his allies.
• Lumian tracked the Flame Monster and learned its morning and dusk routines, including its trips to set traps and replenish its energy.
• On the night before the Lent Festival, Lumian woke in the Dream Ruins and resolved to hunt the Flame Monster.

Lumian set a two-stage ambush for the Flame Monster, using bait and perfume to lure it into tracking him before striking with Fallen Mercury. The monster survived the attack and chased Lumian into the ruins as he fled, burned and unable to turn invisible.

• Lumian prepared a hidden pit trap with bloody lamb chops and Gray Ambergris Perfume, then concealed himself nearby.
• The Flame Monster recognized the bait as a trap, blasted the wall where it thought Lumian was hiding, and began tracking his scent and footprints.
• Lumian used the explosion as a signal to summon the Mouthpart Monster into himself, then masked his scent and retraced his footprints to ambush the Flame Monster on the road.
• Lumian lunged at close range and drove Fallen Mercury into the Flame Monster’s chest, allowing the weapon to exchange their fates.
• The Flame Monster’s flames blasted Lumian away and set him on fire; he escaped into the ruins, but the monster pursued him while he remained visible.

Lumian endured the Flame Monster’s pursuit, then used the Black Thorn Symbol to drive it away at the cost of nearly losing control. After Fallen Mercury finished exchanging fates, he found the weakened monster and killed it, but collapsed from his injuries.

• The Flame Monster pursued Lumian with fireballs and fire ravens, collapsing the ruined house and burying the basement where Lumian had taken shelter.
• Lumian meditated to activate the Black Thorn Symbol, nearly lost control, and used Aurora’s Gray Ambergris Perfume to regain awareness; the Flame Monster fled in fear.
• Lumian confirmed Fallen Mercury had not finished exchanging fates, crawled out of the basement, and followed the Flame Monster’s tracks despite his injuries.
• Fallen Mercury signaled that the fate exchange was complete, and Lumian chased down the trembling, charred Flame Monster.
• Lumian decapitated the Flame Monster with his Iron-Black Axe, then collapsed from exhaustion and his wounds.

After barely surviving his hunt for the Flame Monster in the Dream Ruins, Lumian digested his Hunter potion and collected a mixed Beyonder characteristic. Back in reality, Aurora helped him assess the risks, but their conversation ended when the Lent Festival procession approached their home.

• Lumian survived the Flame Monster’s attack, fully digested the Hunter potion, and collected its Pyromaniac main ingredient after it emerged from the corpse.
• Lumian buried the burning ingredient in soil inside his Bag of Lead Shot and returned to reality severely injured.
• Aurora told Lumian she had stayed close and kept watch while he slept, and he recounted how he had hunted the monster and nearly lost control.
• Aurora said separating the mixed Provocateur and Pyromaniac characteristic might require a High Sequence Beyonder and advised Lumian to wait for the mysterious lady’s help.
• Aurora explained that Sequence 9 and Sequence 8 Beyonders could advance by directly consuming a main ingredient, though it was more dangerous than using a potion.
• Lumian and Aurora heard the Spring Spirit’s procession arrive as the Lent Festival began.

After the Lent Festival celebration ended, Lumian and his allies discovered that the villagers seemed to have become monsters hiding behind cheerful human behavior. They guarded Aurora’s house and planned to investigate the Old Tavern, but Lumian woke in the Dream Ruins after his injuries had healed and heard a doorbell ring.

• Ava’s Spring Spirit procession visited Aurora’s house, and Guillaume learned that Lumian was sick.
• After noon, the celebration seemed to have ended normally, but Louis Bedek ignored Ryan, Lya, and Valentine while mechanically baking bread in Aurora’s oven.
• Lumian and the others noticed villagers briefly showing gloomy expressions, leading Aurora to suspect that everyone in the village except them had become a monster wearing human skin.
• Ryan organized shifts to keep watch, and Aurora agreed to accompany Lumian to the Old Tavern if the mysterious lady did not appear by morning.
• Lumian woke in the Dream Ruins with his injuries healed, heard a doorbell, and realized that he was not in the waking world.

Lumian met the mysterious lady in the Dream Ruins, who separated the Provocateur Beyonder Characteristic from the Flame Monster’s remains and gave him its potion formula. After returning to reality, he saw a transparent, lizard-like creature crawl out of Aurora’s mouth and leave the room.

• Lumian followed the ringing doorbell downstairs and found the mysterious lady already inside his house.
• The lady agreed to separate the Provocateur Beyonder Characteristic and provide its potion formula in exchange for the Pyromaniac and Hunter Characteristics and a future favor if Lumian survived.
• The lady separated the characteristics, explained how to store them, and gave Lumian the Provocateur potion formula and its ingredients.
• After the lady vanished, Lumian returned to his bedroom and went to sleep, eager to ask Aurora for help gathering the ingredients.
• Lumian woke in reality and saw a transparent, lizard-like creature crawl out of Aurora’s mouth and leave the room.

Lumian discovered that a lizard-like creature had emerged from Aurora’s mouth, though she woke with no memory of it. He told Ryan and tried to hold onto the hope that breaking Cordou Village’s loop would free her, then suspected the villagers had been parasitized long before the corruption became visible.

• Lumian woke from a nightmare, saw a lizard-like creature emerge from Aurora’s mouth, and tried to attack it before Aurora awoke.
• Aurora said she had dreamed of a monster stuffing her into its mouth, while Lumian hid what he had seen and gathered ingredients for his Provocateur potion.
• Lumian used a trip to the cellar to tell Ryan that a lizard-like creature had come out of Aurora’s mouth.
• Ryan urged Lumian to keep Aurora unaware of the problem and planned to have Valentine attempt a purification in the morning.
• Lumian returned to bed and reasoned that most villagers, possibly including Aurora, had been parasitized from the beginning, while his bluish-black symbol had protected him.
• As Ryan patrolled the corridor, his shadow lengthened, and Lya felt a sudden chill as the Silver Bells on her veil and boots rang.