Chapter Summaries

[Desolation] ordered Lily James to lure Franklin to the hotel so she could eliminate him, while Xia Xiu returned from a commercial shoot and opened a sealed letter containing nude photographs. The chapter ended with [Hope] shrieking in outrage at the photos.

• [Desolation] identified Franklin as the enemy disrupting her [Module] and told Lily James to bring him to the hotel.
• Lily James agreed after [Desolation] promised to protect her and fulfill some of her earlier promises.
• Xia Xiu completed a commercial shoot, returned to his quarters, and found [Hope] watching television with Jam.
• [Hope] told Xia Xiu that someone had left him a sealed letter, and Jam fetched it from the dining table.
• Xia Xiu opened the letter and found several nude photographs inside, prompting [Hope] to shriek in outrage.

Xia Xiu recognized Azib’s hotel invitation as a trap designed to ruin his public image or kill him, and planned to use the ambush to track a card back to Alice. He raced into Lily James’s room and beheaded her, but a red humanoid creature burst from her body and attacked him.

• Xia Xiu identified Azib’s invitation and photographs as bait involving Lily James and explained that the trap could detonate his concentrated Media Mimesis.
• Bernice and Delia waited with other fans outside the Monte Carlo Paris Hotel, while Xia Xiu watched the crowd from a nearby rooftop.
• Xia Xiu told Ahabat that Azib needed to be near her Master to control her abilities, and instructed her to track the card when Lily died.
• Xia Xiu activated his Maglev Skateboard and crashed through the window into Lily James’s hotel room.
• Xia Xiu beheaded Lily James with the Axe of Pride, and a red humanoid creature emerged from her body and charged at him.

Xia Xiu killed Lily James’s forming Demon Puppet, drove the hotel crowd into Monte Carlo Square, and searched for Azib while she looked for a new Master. He found Azib as she tried to enthrall Bernice, stopped her with the Bow of Greed, and declared that Desolation would be discontinued.

• Xia Xiu destroyed Lily James’s Demon Puppet and failed to catch its card before its light scattered.
• Xia Xiu triggered an explosion in the Monte Carlo Paris Hotel to drive the crowd into Monte Carlo Square, then joined them in disguise while Hope searched for Azib.
• Azib appeared over Monte Carlo Square and tried to make Bernice her slave, causing the crowd to surge and separate Bernice from Delia.
• Xia Xiu struck Azib with explosive arrows from the Bow of Greed, then used Directed · Thought Influence to freeze the crowd and open a path to her.
• Xia Xiu confronted Azib as she struggled in the Devouring Cloud and declared that Desolation had lost.

Xia Xiu defeated [Desolation] by overwhelming Azib with information through [Absurdity Contamination], then took her captive. After Bernice woke with memories that contradicted everyone else’s account of the evacuation, Azib came to in the Carlton Hotel and asked Xia Xiu what he wanted from her.

• Xia Xiu drove Azib away from the crowd with [Devouring Arrows] while arranging the resulting clouds into a trap, then ordered the crowd to evacuate orderly and forget what had happened.
• Xia Xiu activated [Absurdity Contamination] through the arrows, flooding Azib’s mind with fifty-six years of information and causing her to fall from the sky.
• Xia Xiu caught Azib, joked with [Hope] about her size, and carried the unconscious [Desolation] away as the first elimination.
• Bernice awoke in Monte Carlo Square and argued with Delia after discovering that her memories of a crushing crowd conflicted with Delia’s account of an orderly evacuation.
• Bernice left in a taxi with Delia, recalling that she had seen a blond young man she believed was Franklin before she passed out.
• At 20:00 in the Carlton Hotel, Azib woke bound to a chair and asked Xia Xiu what he wanted; he said he wanted information and admitted he would kill her afterward.

Xia Xiu interrogated Azib about Ativik and Anut, learned they had been sighted in Karlsruhe, and killed her after she revealed the lead. [Hope] evolved after Azib’s elimination, and Xia Xiu decided to go to Karlsruhe.

• Xia Xiu questioned Azib about Ativik and Anut, and she said they had traveled from Naples toward the Berlin Region and had visited Karlsruhe.
• Xia Xiu believed Azib’s information and used [Absurd Manipulation] to kill her, triggering [Desolation]’s elimination and unlocking [Hat Trick].
• Azib’s card merged into [Hope], who emerged from a sphere of light in a larger, purple-haired form wearing [Desolation]’s clothes.
• Xia Xiu teased [Hope] about her new appearance, then confirmed that he would go to Karlsruhe to find [Rule] and [Missing].

Xia Xiu identified the Negators as followers of Anut and learned they planned a protest at the city center square on April 3, while he suspected Ativik was organizing at Rhinefield Middle School. At the school, Rockefeller narrowly avoided punishment from the club’s fanatical members by claiming his uniform was stained.

• Xia Xiu and Ahabat found more than fifty Negators burning tires in Karlsruhe, and Xia Xiu explained how Anut’s [Missing] ability created them.
• Xia Xiu overheard the Negators’ plans and wrote down that they would hold a protest at the city center square on April 3.
• Xia Xiu warned that the crowd would make confronting Anut dangerous and said he would investigate Rhinefield Middle School, where he suspected Ativik was assembling her team.
• At Rhinefield Middle School, Jesse and Jackson confronted Rockefeller for not wearing the club’s black uniform.
• Rockefeller claimed he had stained his uniform with juice, and the club members accepted his explanation after he made their triangular hand gesture.

Rockefeller witnessed Mr. Hilton’s dictatorship experiment turning Rhinefield Middle School into a disciplined, uniformed club hostile to other teachers, while Xia Xiu and [Hope] investigated [Rule]’s growing influence. Xia Xiu planned to disrupt the club before April 3 and headed to the Wilson Wildlife Response Group to obtain a gift for Anut.

• Rockefeller was summoned to Mr. Hilton and recalled how Hilton had established rules, uniforms, gestures, slogans, and enemies for his school club.
• Xia Xiu and [Hope] observed that [Rule] had built a domain at the school, and Xia Xiu explained that she could keep multiple Masters as consumable energy sources.
• Xia Xiu concluded that [Rule] had united the club against other teachers and connected its Guardians with deniers in Rhinefield.
• Xia Xiu planned to dismantle the club by disrupting its members’ fanaticism before [Missing]’s April 3 ritual and [Rule] gained full control.
• Xia Xiu decided to seek the school’s awakened people, then take [Hope] to the Wilson Wildlife Response Group to buy a gift for Anut.

Xia Xiu entered Karlsruhe’s Sixth Hub to negotiate with the Wildlife Response Group, whose animals he wanted to rent for a large sum. The Response Group’s negotiator asked what he intended to do with the thirty thousand Gem Pigeons he wanted as temporary Familiars.

• Xia Xiu arrived at the Sixth Hub, where Wolf Achill stopped its information terminal from collecting his dangerous Mimesis and welcomed him.
• Xia Xiu told Wolf he wanted to make a deal with the Wildlife Response Group and offered to double his proposed payment to five hundred thousand.
• Wolf arranged temporary accommodations for Xia Xiu and contacted the Response Group about his unusual request.
• Xia Xiu teased [Hope] and left her and Jam at the hotel before meeting the Response Group’s negotiator.
• Orlando Kane asked Xia Xiu why he wanted to rent thirty thousand Gem Pigeons as temporary Familiars.

Xia Xiu rented thirty thousand [Gem Pigeons] from Orlando and returned to Rhinefield Middle School to continue preparing for April 3. That night, one of the pigeons interrupted Rockefeller as he was about to shoot himself, and Xia Xiu confronted him about his diary.

• Xia Xiu and Orlando signed an Ether Sea-backed agreement for five hundred thousand Youyang Banknotes in exchange for thirty thousand [Gem Pigeons], with the Sixth Hub taking a brokerage fee.
• Xia Xiu received the pigeons' summoning whistle, then left with Ahabat to prepare at Rhinefield Middle School while keeping his plans secret.
• At the Rockefeller residence, Rockefeller became convinced he would die after writing in his diary and loaded a revolver.
• A [Gem Pigeon] cooed and jolted Rockefeller out of his trance before he could shoot himself.
• Xia Xiu appeared behind Rockefeller with the pigeon on his shoulder and told him that decent people should not keep diaries.

Xia Xiu recruited Rockefeller to help break Hilton’s control over Rhinefield Middle School by distributing memetic leaflets, giving him a concealment mimesis and detailed instructions. After Rockefeller agreed to the dangerous plan, Xia Xiu told Hope that all the mines against [Dominion] had been planted and only needed to detonate.

• Rockefeller recognized Xia Xiu as the missing idol Franklin, and Xia Xiu explained that Hilton’s [institutionalization] contamination had made the school’s students conform and targeted Rockefeller for resisting it.
• Xia Xiu gave Rockefeller a [Mimesis Advertisement] leaflet that briefly drew him into its message, then revealed he had prepared six thousand copies for distribution at the school.
• Xia Xiu offered Rockefeller money and a diluted [Presence Reduction] mimesis to help him distribute the leaflets, and Rockefeller agreed after hearing the plan and its risks.
• Xia Xiu instructed Rockefeller to collect a black briefcase the next day, use the mimesis carefully, and avoid worrying about Hilton’s ability to detect the contamination.
• Xia Xiu told Hope that all the mines needed for [Dominion] had been planted and that they were waiting to detonate.

Rockefeller injected the diluted mimesis solution Franklin had given him, endured its hallucinations, and began carrying out the young man’s plan at Rhinefield Middle School. After distributing leaflets, he freed Sophie from the club guardians and believed he had found the companion he needed.

• Rockefeller heard that Vic and Colin had attempted suicide and prepared to follow Franklin’s instructions while keeping his suspicions about the club hidden from Jesse.
• Mr. Hilton announced an April 3 meeting about the club’s future, and Rockefeller injected the solution in a restroom, experiencing frightening hallucinations and temporary emptiness.
• Rockefeller retrieved leaflets and a handgun from an abandoned warehouse, then secretly distributed the leaflets among the student lockers.
• Rockefeller found Jackson and the other guardians trapping Sophie in a restroom stall after she criticized the club, and Jackson slipped and injured himself as he left.
• Rockefeller opened Sophie’s stall, and after she accidentally stumbled into his arms, they introduced themselves and he considered her a potential ally.

Xia Xiu staged a pigeon-dropping disaster over the protest in Karlsruhe, drawing Anut out of her hidden space. Anut recognized the act as a gift from Xia Xiu and erupted in rage.

• Xia Xiu teased [Hope] about a gift for Anut while they fed pigeons in the city square.
• Thousands of protesters gathered as Xia Xiu and [Hope] left to buy popcorn and a parasol, with Xia Xiu saying Anut would appear if she encountered his gift.
• Inside [Mastermind], Anut discussed the investigation into Franklin with Felton Willy and identified him as an Angel of Heaven participating in the Performance.
• Pigeons released from outside entered [Mastermind] and defecated on Anut, exposing her presence and enraging her.
• From a distant tower, Xia Xiu laughed and called the pigeon attack a perfectly compatible gift for a Negator.

Xia Xiu exposed Anut, killed Wilton, and helped [Hope] eliminate [Missing]. After unlocking [Light Body Transformation], he and [Hope] headed to Rhinefield Middle School, where someone was waiting for them.

• Anut lost her composure after Xia Xiu showered her and the Negators with filth, then sent the crowd charging at him.
• Xia Xiu trapped the Negators with [Envy's Chains] and used a hidden dove to swap into Wilton's location, killing him with the [Blade of Gluttony].
• Xia Xiu wounded Anut as she fled, and [Hope] stopped her with a mental attack and lullaby, causing [Missing] to be eliminated.
• Xia Xiu unlocked [Light Body Transformation] as [Hope] emerged from the blue light in a new form and showed off her hair-changing accessory.
• Xia Xiu and [Hope] set off for Rhinefield Middle School to meet someone waiting there.

Rockefeller and Sophie attempted to disrupt Mr. Hilton’s speech and break [The Crowd]’s hold over the students, but Sophie’s supposed nonlethal shot exposed the staged attack instead. Xia Xiu revealed himself to Ativik and challenged her, then passed through her gunshot unharmed.

• Rockefeller explained that he and Sophie would interrupt Mr. Hilton’s speech, using flyers and a staged confrontation to shock the students out of their growing fanaticism.
• Mr. Hilton denounced the flyers and urged the students to trust his vision for the Club and the Berlin Region.
• Rockefeller confronted Hilton, defended freedom of belief, and distributed more flyers as the students began to regain clarity.
• Hilton clapped to intensify [The Crowd], but Sophie fired the handgun and apparently shot Rockefeller, shattering the scene and disrupting the network.
• Ativik appeared as [The Crowd] began to collapse, and Xia Xiu revealed that the gun was an Art Installation and Rockefeller’s blood was fake.
• Xia Xiu introduced himself to Ativik and offered her a choice before she shot him; the bullet passed through him harmlessly.

Xia Xiu defeated Ativik and eliminated [Dominion], then [Hope] absorbed her and gained her pistols. Afterward, Xia Xiu left the wrecked conference room with [Hope], while Rockefeller learned that the [Censorship and Rumor-Mongering Department] might recruit him.

• Xia Xiu transformed into a Light Body Giant, protected the conference room’s occupants, and forced three human bombs outside to explode.
• Xia Xiu deflected Ativik’s bullets and impaled her with the [Sloth Spear], while Ahabat incapacitated [Dominion]’s four other Slaves.
• Xia Xiu killed Ativik, triggering [Dominion]’s elimination and selecting the [Chimera Construction] module; Hilton died from the backlash.
• [Hope] absorbed Ativik, grew to human proportions, and gained her black pistols as new earrings.
• Xia Xiu and [Hope] left the ruined conference room after Xia Xiu suggested that Rockefeller contact the [Censorship and Rumor-Mongering Department] about recruitment.

Xia Xiu and Ahabat drove to Brooklert after Xia Xiu deduced that [Anger] was there from crime reports connected to [A Clockwork Orange]. As Superintendent Godwin faced a string of supernatural crimes without [Clock Tower] support, Sharon Euliphis told him that Xiu Abraham would intervene.

• Xia Xiu drove through the rain with Ahabat and explained that crime reports had led him to traces of Adistate in Fog City.
• Xia Xiu and Ahabat arrived in Brooklert and headed for the district police department, where a serial criminal had committed robberies, assaults, and murders.
• Superintendent Godwin learned from a [Clock Tower] Thaumaturgist that the organization would not help handle the supernatural crimes.
• Godwin reflected on the growing crises across Youyang and the danger facing Brooklert officers investigating the murders.
• Sharon Euliphis told Godwin that the [Clock Tower] would remain silent but that Heaven's Angels might help, then named Xiu Abraham.

Xia Xiu met with Godwin at the Brooklert District Police Department to investigate the supernatural crimes linked to [Wrath]. He learned the culprit was likely active around Limregis School and set out to pursue that lead.

• Godwin welcomed Xia Xiu and handed him the files on the recent supernatural crimes.
• Xia Xiu identified the clockwork orange killings as [A Clockwork Orange]'s work and learned that its victims shared the same method and musical accompaniment.
• Godwin told Xia Xiu that two officers who found a lead were murdered, and that the [Clock Tower] had halted the police task force.
• Godwin revealed that the culprit's activity centered around Limregis School, where a previous clockwork orange incident had left students and teachers alive.
• Xia Xiu praised the police's investigation, thanked Godwin, and promised to bring the evildoer to judgment.

Xia Xiu went to Limregis School to investigate the victims of the A Clockwork Orange Case and decided to question them before their contamination erupted. He found Lucas, one of the doomed victims, and began his inquiry while presenting himself as a kindhearted passerby.

• Xia Xiu told [Hope] that they would take the initiative by using the surviving victims as leads instead of waiting for Adistate to strike again.
• Xia Xiu and [Hope] went to Limregis School, where Lucas sat alone on the lawn, brooding over his violent outburst and the strange slot that had appeared on his back.
• Jam ran across the lawn while Xia Xiu approached Lucas and used his intimidating golden eyes to make the student obey.
• Xia Xiu seated Lucas beside him and, posing as a kindhearted passerby, prepared to ask about the A Clockwork Orange Case.
• Xia Xiu recognized that Lucas and the other victims were still suffering from [A Clockwork Orange] contamination and intended to extract information before they died.

Xia Xiu questioned Lucas about the falling-out between his gang and Alex, then used their shared love of music to infer where Alex and [Wrath] would go. He planned to intercept [Wrath] at a performance the next day and make sure she never saw another sunrise.

• Xia Xiu told Lucas that Dimo and Qiaosen had died of sudden heart failure, then demanded to know what had happened between Lucas and his companions before the violence at school.
• Lucas recalled that Alex had punched him for mocking a woman singing opera at the Crova Milk Bar, and that the group later challenged Alex to a duel in the school laboratory building.
• Lucas identified the opera song as “The Barred Window” and recalled that the Ninth Symphony had played during the school violence; Xia Xiu concluded that Alex was likely a music-loving Slave.
• Xia Xiu revealed that Alex was still missing and advised Lucas to eat whatever he wanted, then vanished before Lucas’s eyes.
• At Limregis School, Xia Xiu found [Hope] playing with Jam and told her there would be a performance the next day at the Royal Albert Music Hall.
• Xia Xiu reasoned that [Wrath] and Alex would attend because they both loved music, and decided to move quickly to kill [Wrath] before the next sunrise.

Alex Delzhiki and Adistate discovered a last-minute performance at the Royal Albert Music Hall and decided to attend. After Alex tortured and killed a staff member for information, they headed toward the hall, unaware of the menacing presence in the alley behind them.

• Alex Delzhiki found a notice advertising a last-minute performance at the Royal Albert Music Hall, and Adistate questioned whether attending was safe.
• Alex used [A Clockwork Orange · Body Mechanization] to force a music hall employee to slap himself, then learned the performance had been arranged for wealthy patrons to avoid clashing with Maestro Leonard's schedule.
• Adistate agreed to attend the performance, and Alex brutally killed the employee before they left the alley.
• Alex and Adistate walked toward the music hall as a shadowy presence watched them from the darkened alley.