Recaps

Leonard confirmed that Klein was alive and hurried to Backlund to find him, while Dunn Smith remained in Tingen and began a relationship with Daly. Kronos helped Laurien arrange an arms deal, buying the shipment and sending it to Nosk’s fleet as turmoil threatened the Southern Continent.

• Leonard confirmed that Klein had survived, and Dunn Smith was delighted to learn the truth and urged Leonard to find him.
• Dunn advanced to Sequence 6, began dating Daly, and transferred with her to the Winter Diocese after his application to join the Red Gloves was rejected.
• Leonard set out for Backlund, hoping to reunite with Klein and Dunn and take revenge on Ince Zangwill.
• Laurien asked Kronos for help transporting arms he had obtained through a New Party channel backed by Earl Hall.
• Kronos judged that smuggling the arms to Southern Continent tribes was too risky amid coming turmoil, so he arranged for the Church of Steam and Machinery to buy the shipment.
• Old Fan delivered the arms as Mr. Jacques to Nosk’s fleet, giving it weapons that had been difficult to obtain.

Kronos met with Lady Arianna, Will Auceptin, and Boli Delau to set the time and place for their deadly betting duel. After agreeing to fight on a deserted island two nights later, Kronos learned that the Evernight Goddess had advised him to use his unique ability if he could not win, with Adam ensuring he survived.

• Nosk asked Old Fan to tell Kronos he wanted to leave the sea, but Kronos dismissed the request and kept him there for the sake of Horamick's reputation.
• After the arms deal strengthened Laurien's position, Kronos entered a dream summoned by Lady Arianna and met Will Auceptin and Boli Delau.
• Will said his preparations were complete and he could be born at any time, surprising Kronos because Will's birth was expected about a month later.
• Arianna let the Church of Evernight choose the duel's time, while Boli chose a random deserted island after Kronos ruled out the Twilight Hermit Order's territory.
• Kronos, Will, and Boli agreed to hold the deadly betting duel at ten at night two days later, giving Kronos time to attend the Church of Steam and Machinery's council.
• After Will and Boli left, Arianna told Kronos that the Goddess wanted him to use his unique ability if necessary, and that Adam would not let him die.

Kronos prepared for his Betting Duel with Boli Delau while Arianna and the Evernight Goddess made arrangements concerning the secrets Kronos had revealed. The duel began on a deserted island under the eyes of Adam and Amanises, and Boli was stunned when Kronos revealed powers from a different pathway.

• Kronos asked Arianna to find someone to take over his position, and Arianna said she would report the matter to the Evernight Goddess.
• Kronos attended the Church of Steam and Machinery's quarterly Council of the Gods, where Pope Ivan praised his work in Backlund and the God of Steam and Machinery reconsidered His position.
• Kronos sensed Will Auceptin's birth, traveled to the deserted island, and asked Arianna about her response; she told him everything had been arranged.
• Boli Delau arrived, and Arianna sealed the island with a barrier before the Betting Duel began as Will, Amanises, and Adam watched.
• Boli struck Kronos with Mind Stone Storm and attacked with a Demoness Doll, but Kronos recovered quickly and made the net, viruses, and bacteria vanish.
• Will realized Kronos had switched pathways, explaining why Will had been unable to block his advancement.

Kronos tested Baoli’s Bloodlight Protection with a tsunami and a concentrated Lightning Storm, but the barrier withstood both attacks. As Kronos prepared to use his Blasphemy Cards, Baoli’s long-planted Mental Plague began to overwhelm his reason.

• Kronos used a tsunami and Lightning Storm against Baoli, who relied on Bloodlight Protection to block both attacks.
• Kronos examined Bloodlight Protection and learned that its barrier provided all-around defense.
• Adam and Amanises discussed the armor and Kronos’s hesitation to use an Angel-level Beyonder Item while Will listened.
• Kronos saw that his lightning strike had barely affected Baoli’s barrier and prepared his Blasphemy Cards for another attack.
• Baoli’s covert Mental Plague erupted, suppressing Kronos’s reason with contagious madness.

Kronos resisted Baoli’s attacks by using the Never-Extinguishing Sun to purge the madness infecting him, but the Sun Pathway’s power transformed him into a glowing little golden man. He survived Baoli’s assault, though he was left bleeding and filled with dangerous power he could not use.

• Baoli’s Mental Plague aggravated Kronos’s suppressed mental problems, and Kronos used the Nine Secrets to delay losing control.
• Baoli seized Kronos with Bloodlight Protection and tried to drain his blood, but Kronos secretly turned the captured part of his body silver with the Twilight Silver Coin.
• Baoli discovered the silver transformation and used the Hand of Judgment to remove it, then attacked Kronos with Blood Theft and the Power of Execution.
• With the attacks closing in, Kronos summoned the Never-Extinguishing Sun and used its purification power to force the madness back while blocking part of Baoli’s strike with Decomposition Power.
• Kronos fully purified his negative conditions, but the Sun Pathway’s power turned his eyes, hair, and skin gold and filled him with power he could not absorb.
• Baoli adjusted to the Sun’s blinding light and saw Kronos as a glowing little golden man with a bleeding wound on his chest.

Kronos used the Sun Card to break Baoli’s Bloodlight Shield with an Angel-level holy sword strike, but Baoli survived and hid through Psychological Invisibility. As Kronos recovered, Baoli drew his attention with an illusion and approached for a dream-based attack.

• Kronos enclosed Baoli in a Playing Cards Castle, then summoned an Angel through the Sun Card and unleashed a Lightseeker’s strike.
• The holy sword broke the Bloodlight Shield and wounded Baoli, who deepened his Dragonization to endure the blow.
• Baoli vanished using Psychological Invisibility, while Kronos drank a Genesis Potion and remained still as he recovered.
• Baoli created an illusory Dragon to draw Kronos’s attention, then approached him from behind.
• Kronos turned toward Baoli and maximized his Decomposition Power, but Baoli met his gaze and prepared to weave him a dream.

Baoli trapped Kronos in a dream of his family’s destruction, but Kronos’s hidden Authority of Time exposed flaws and let him break free. Baoli’s attack injured them both, and Baoli then revealed two separate identities as living figures beside him.

• Baoli’s dream made Kronos believe his family had been destroyed and that the Church of Evernight had imprisoned him while the Augustus Family moved against them.
• Kronos found Annie’s hand among the ruins, but the thought of turning back time restored his memories and revealed Baoli’s dream attack.
• Kronos awakened in reality and, while Baoli’s claw struck him, used decomposition power to badly injure Baoli.
• Baoli abandoned his Dragon form and manifested two figures who shared his distinctive Visionary Pathway gaze.
• Kronos recognized the figures as likely incarnations of Baoli’s identities, including Barros Hopkins and Erik Drake.

Kronos used a feigned death and a surprise attack to defeat Baoli, then began turning him into a Fallen Servant. He asked Lady Arianna to declare the battle decided, but a spectator questioned whether Baoli had truly lost.

• Baoli used mental attacks and two imagined identities to overwhelm Kronos in close combat, but Kronos adapted and launched a counterattack.
• Kronos summoned God's Avatar to hold off Baoli's identities while charging Baoli, then let Baoli blast apart what appeared to be his headless body.
• Kronos transformed into blood-red light, reappeared with a spear, and pierced Baoli's heart before using a fallen domain to corrupt him.
• Kronos's avatar kept Baoli's identities occupied until they dissipated, and Kronos began working to break down Baoli's simulated personalities and make him a Fallen Servant.
• Kronos asked Lady Arianna whether the battle was decided, and a spectator asked if Boli Delau had no chance to turn things around.

Kronos won the betting duel by corrupting all of Baoli’s virtual personas with the Fallen Domain, securing Adam’s promise to mislead the Church of the God of Combat and Amanises’s offer to help him in a future crisis. As the others departed, Kronos fully digested the Scholar of Yore potion, completing his advancement preparations.

• Adam agreed to wait until more than half of Baoli’s virtual personas had been corrupted, and Kronos activated the Fallen Domain at full power.
• Within twenty minutes, the Fallen Domain corrupted all of Baoli’s virtual personas, leaving him unable to resist.
• Adam conceded the duel and promised that the Twilight Hermit Order would feed false information to the Church of the God of Combat.
• Will declared that his grievances with Kronos were settled, then left to return to being a baby.
• Amanises promised to intervene for Kronos once at a critical moment and awarded him Baoli and his possessions as spoils.
• After the others left, Kronos fully digested the Scholar of Yore potion, prompted by the battle.

After fully digesting his Sequence 3 potion, Kronos brought Baoli home and prepared for his Angel advancement ritual, which depended on his father advancing successfully. Marquis Argel completed his advancement in Constant City, fulfilling the final requirement of Kronos's ritual.

• Kronos carried Baoli across the sea and through Intis to Constant City, avoiding Spirit World travel because Baoli's half-dead state could attract powerful undead.
• Kronos told Marquis Argel that he could advance, then asked him to wait two days and prepare properly so that a successful advancement would fulfill Kronos's ritual.
• Kronos spent the two days corroding Baoli's virtual personas until the Dark Angel's Wings gained control and Kronos stored Baoli as a Fallen Servant.
• Kronos took Marquis Argel to a place rich in water and vegetation, where his father set up the advancement ritual and used a Beyonder item borrowed from the Church of Steam and Machinery.
• Marquis Argel drained the land's life force, drank his potion, and advanced successfully, completing Kronos's ritual.

Kronos prepared to advance to Sequence Two after Marquis Argel successfully became a demigod, and helped his father plan how to strengthen his alchemy puppets. Kronos endured the painful fusion of the Hermit and Paragon mythical forms, but still had to complete their stable fusion with his body.

• Marquis Argel awoke after his successful advancement, and Kronos congratulated him on becoming a demigod.
• Marquis Argel explained that he could not incorporate Beyonder items into his alchemy puppets, so Kronos proposed using the family's Mysticologist Beyonder characteristic and a Sage's residual spirit to make one.
• Kronos drank the Knowledge Mentor potion and endured the intense heat as his Hermit and Paragon powers fused.
• Kronos developed a mythical form resembling a book of civilization surrounded by information streams, then began transforming into it.
• Kronos feared Marquis Argel might see his complete mythical form, but found that his father had retreated and avoided looking at it.
• Kronos closed his eyes and focused on stably fusing the mythical form with his body.

Kronos stabilized his Mythical Form and completed his advancement to Knowledge Mentor with help from his crew’s prayers and the faith directed toward Horamick. After studying his new abilities, he planned to return openly to Backlund and teach scientific subjects to help digest his potion.

• Kronos had Gner and Todd lead the crews of the Iron Anchor and the Flame in reciting his Honorific Name, and he discovered that faith directed toward Horamick also served as an anchor for him.
• Using these anchors, Kronos stabilized his Mythical Form and gained control of it while Marquis Argel watched anxiously.
• Kronos returned safely to his human form, and Marquis Argel embraced him; later, the Argel Family celebrated, while outsiders were told that Marquis Argel had advanced to a Demigod.
• Kronos studied the Knowledge Mentor’s ability to control physical laws and considered how teaching scientific knowledge might help him digest the potion.
• Kronos planned to return to Backlund under his real identity, teach at Backlund Technical University, and draw some attention away from the Argel Family.

Kronos discovered the River of Time and learned the limits of his Blasphemy Cards before persuading Marquis Argel to send him to Backlund for educational work. George III and Grove Augustus interpreted the move as a friendly gesture and considered easing their watch on the Argel Family.

• Kronos discovered that his Sequence Two Authority of Time let him summon a small projection of the River of Time, which could rapidly age targets or erase attacks but consumed substantial spirituality.
• Kronos confirmed that his Blasphemy Cards could only produce attacks at angel level; the Sun Card could manifest a weak Sun angel for one minute and needed a week to recover.
• Kronos considered taking Pale Death from Bernadette but decided that the plan would have to wait for the right circumstances.
• Kronos persuaded Marquis Argel to agree to his plan, and the Argel Family announced that Kronos would soon go to Backlund to work in education.
• George III and Grove Augustus took the announcement as a friendly overture, discussed confirming that Kronos was Marquis Argel's only son, and considered reducing their attention on the Argel Family.
• Backlund's church leaders received the news, but Archbishop Anthony, Archbishop "Horamick", and Archbishop Radal Valentin showed little interest in it.

Kronos returned to Backlund and discussed resuming teaching and founding a technical college to help digest his potion. At Philip’s banquet, political leaders gathered to court him, and the arrival of Duchess Georgina Augustus brought the evening to a new turn.

• Kronos left Midseashire for Backlund with gifts, servants, and security after spending his remaining time at home with his mother and Little Annie.
• Professor Portland and Philip met Kronos at the station and welcomed him to the Negan Residence.
• Kronos told Portland and Philip he would return to teaching at Backlund Technical University and might establish a free technical college for workers if teaching helped digest his potion.
• Philip guessed that Kronos had reached Sequence 3, and Kronos’s silence convinced Philip and Portland that he had.
• Kronos discussed their recent affairs with Portland and Philip before Earl Hall, Earl Levett, and other guests arrived for the banquet; Earl Hall brought Audrey.
• An attendant told Philip that Duchess Georgina Augustus had arrived.

Duchess Georgina delivered George III’s reassuring message to Kronos and confirmed that he was only Sequence 6, leading the Royal Family to lower its scrutiny of the Argel Family. The next day, Kronos eagerly visited Backlund Technical University to begin teaching, where Portland asked Melissa Moretti to show him around.

• Philip, Earl Hall, and Earl Levett welcomed Duchess Georgina Augustus, who greeted Kronos and the other guests at the Negan Residence.
• Georgina told Kronos that George III valued his work and that the country needed talented people; Kronos replied that he and the Argel Family would not disappoint the king.
• Georgina reported to George III that Kronos understood the message and was Sequence 6, so the Augustus Family reduced its attention toward the Argel Family.
• Kronos went to Backlund Technical University the next day, eager to teach, but Portland said the course and student arrangements would take time.
• Portland introduced his student Melissa Moretti and asked her to show Kronos around the university.

Kronos launched a popular class at Backlund Technical University by introducing students and professors to the microscopic world, then used the resulting publicity to begin a broader plan for teaching workers practical machinery skills. The chapter left Kronos preparing to reach Backlund's factory workers, despite their resentment at being made to attend classes.

• Kronos met Melissa Moretti, toured Backlund Technical University with her, and recognized her talent for mechanical engineering.
• Kronos taught a class on exploring the microscopic world using a microscope, winning unanimous support from students and faculty for a continuing course.
• Professor Portland prepared to seek approval from the Education Committee to offer Kronos's course as an elective.
• The Augustus Family and other powerful nobles publicized Kronos as a rising scientist, spreading news of the microscopic world throughout Backlund.
• Kronos found that teaching had increased his potion digestion rate and contacted Philip, Portland, and Old Fan to organize classes for workers.
• The Negan family, the Scientific Research Base, and the Church of Steam and Machinery promoted free classes on operating and repairing machinery, while some factory owners forced workers to attend.

Kronos began teaching factory workers practical machinery skills, then went to Darkened Heaven after Philip and Portland summoned his Messenger when he vanished. Amanises asked him to hold off the Archangel Sia Palenque Eggers during her plan to obtain the Death God's Uniqueness, and Kronos demanded greater payment before agreeing.

• Kronos taught the first cohort of several thousand workers to operate and repair machinery, and Portland and Philip praised his clear lesson.
• Kronos vanished after class, so Philip summoned Olnia, who told him Kronos had gone to Darkened Heaven; Philip and Portland then left.
• Olnia explained that Kronos's advancement to Angel had freed her from the Underworld's suppression.
• Amanises confirmed Kronos's stable condition and arranged for him to receive a portion of the Evernight Church's faith.
• Amanises asked Kronos to hold off an Archangel and offered him the Gift of Life mirror, which he could keep if the opponent appeared.
• Kronos recognized that Amanises meant Sia Palenque Eggers and looked to Amanises for greater payment.

Amanises showed Kronos the Gift of Life and asked him to intercept an Archangel, but her suspicion that he knew Lilith’s secret nearly led her to kill him. She relented and gave him the artifact and a powerful charm, though Kronos accepted while resolving to remain wary of her.

• Amanises revealed the Gift of Life’s concealed True God divinity, and Kronos recognized its ability to make an opponent’s vitality explode, giving him a chance to escape an Archangel.
• Amanises stopped herself from mentioning that the Earth Mother had tried to reclaim the artifact after realizing Kronos might know Lilith had faked her death.
• Kronos implied he understood the secret and demonstrated the River of Time, explaining that he had learned it by looking back at the past and had told no one.
• Amanises’s killing intent subsided after Kronos said he had kept the secret, and she praised him before he agreed to take the interception task.
• Kronos’s renewed wariness made Amanises regret revealing her intent to kill him, so she gave him the Gift of Life and a charm that could grant him Archangel-level power.
• Kronos accepted the gifts and thanked Amanises, while deciding he would not lower his guard around her again.

Kronos maintained his outward alliance with Amanises, prepared to teach a new course, and expanded his scientific and industrial work. Amanises then brought him into Death Consul Salinger’s tomb, where they found Salinger’s monstrous resurrection contingency bearing Azik Eggers’s face.

• Kronos returned to the Argel residence and used a God’s Avatar spell as a stand-in while he prepared his lessons.
• Portland told Kronos that the Education Committee had approved a microscopic-world course at Backlund Technical University.
• Kronos inspected the Scientific Research Base, gave researchers new directions, and arranged for the Walter Factory to produce microscopes.
• Amanises sent Kronos coordinates, and he joined her in the Berserk Sea before they entered Salinger’s tomb.
• Kronos saw a gigantic Feathered Serpent in the tomb, a resurrection contingency made from half of Azik’s soul and the Death Pathway Uniqueness.

Azik recovered the truth about his divided soul and chose to preserve his current life rather than reunite with Salinger’s cold, mad half. Kronos offered a way to restore that half to a newborn state, but the plan would expose them to the Numinous Episcopate, and the chapter ended with Kronos asking Azik to face Xiya with him.

• Azik saw the Artificial God of Death and regained the memories of his repeated deaths, learning that the Feathered Serpent was the other half of his soul.
• Amanises interrupted the souls’ convergence and offered Azik three choices; he chose to abandon reunification and remain as he was.
• Kronos revealed that he could return Azik’s other half to a newborn state, and Azik recognized him as the former owner of the Death God Mask.
• Amanises agreed to support Kronos’s plan in exchange for Azik taking over the Numinous Episcopate and serving her until the Apocalypse.
• Amanises explained that separating the Death God’s Uniqueness would leave them exposed to Xiya, while other Numinous Episcopate Angels were occupied or unable to leave.
• As Azik offered to give up the plan rather than endanger Kronos, Kronos asked him to accompany him to face Xiya.

Kronos persuaded Mr. Azik to help him confront Xiya, and Azik agreed to assist Amanises in taking control of the Numinous Episcopate. Kronos sent Klein back to Gurain City before Azik and Kronos arrived at Xiya’s tomb, where Azik demanded to know where his father was buried.

• Mr. Azik agreed to accompany Kronos and help Amanises gain control of the Numinous Episcopate.
• Kronos teleported Klein to Gurain City, and Mr. Azik gave him the Copper Whistle and promised to find him later.
• Xiya proposed investigating the Death God’s Tomb, but members of the Artificial God of Death Faction opposed her plan.
• Azik and Kronos appeared outside Xiya’s tomb, and Azik demanded that Xiya reveal the location of his father’s tomb.
• A senior Royalist recognized Azik, and Xiya realized his return threatened her position and plans.

Xiya tried to protect her leadership of the Numinous Episcopate by concealing the search for Salinger's mausoleum, then attacked Kronos after he stopped her from killing a member of the Artificial God of Death Faction. Azik intervened, condemned her leadership, and decided to take over the Numinous Episcopate.

• Xiya suppressed her urge to attack Azik and claimed the Numinous Episcopate had not found Salinger's mausoleum, while the royal faction hesitated to contradict her.
• A member of the Artificial God of Death Faction accused the royal faction of deceiving Azik, and Xiya struck at him in anger.
• Kronos redirected Xiya's attack, so she used his interference as an excuse to charge at him.
• Kronos defended himself with his Beyonder Items and counterattacked, but Azik stepped between them and stopped Xiya.
• Azik criticized Xiya's leadership and revealed that he had resolved to take over the Numinous Episcopate.

Mr. Azik and Kronos attacked Xiya to keep her occupied while Amanises began separating the Death Pathway’s Uniqueness from half of Mr. Azik’s soul. Xiya resisted their combined assault and opened a gate to the Underworld, unleashing an army of wraiths.

• Mr. Azik confronted Xiya over the Numinous Episcopate’s state, and she angrily rejected his authority.
• After Kronos signaled that Amanises was beginning her preparations, Mr. Azik struck Xiya with Death Sentence while Kronos restrained her.
• Xiya broke free of Kronos’s control and dodged Mr. Azik’s attempt to seal her with the Underworld’s power.
• Mr. Azik engaged Xiya as Kronos used the Gift of Life to drive her life force into a frenzy, then struck her with a Mind Stone Storm.
• Xiya opened a gate to the Underworld and summoned countless wraiths, alarming Kronos and Mr. Azik.

Kronos and Mr. Azik destroyed Xiya’s wraith army with the Never-Extinguishing Sun, then used the approaching Royalist Faction members to expose that Xiya was pretending to be incapacitated. They escaped, leaving Xiya’s confidants doubting her and her political position badly weakened.

• Kronos and Mr. Azik endured the wraith army’s assault until Kronos remembered he possessed the Never-Extinguishing Sun.
• Mr. Azik transformed into a Feathered Serpent and suppressed the wraiths while Kronos used the Never-Extinguishing Sun to purify them.
• Kronos and Mr. Azik approached Xiya, but her supporters stepped between them as she continued recovering and expelling Azik’s authority.
• Kronos told the supporters that Xiya was using them to buy time, then said Azik would spare her because they believed in the Death God.
• Kronos took Mr. Azik into the Spirit World as Xiya opened her eyes and shouted that Kronos was speaking nonsense, confirming that she had been pretending.
• Xiya’s supporters looked at her with disappointment, leaving her with little support beyond her power as an Archangel.

Xiya failed to catch Kronos and Mr. Azik, then killed a member of the Artificial God of Death Faction when she heard him criticize her. Amanises helped Kronos reverse the Death Authority’s corruption in half of Azik’s soul and began restoring Azik, who remained standing with his eyes closed as he digested his reunited soul.

• Xiya pursued Azik and Kronos into the Spirit World, but returned after failing to find them and killed an Artificial God of Death Faction member who spoke against her.
• Amanises revealed that she had moved Kronos and Azik into Darkened Heaven, where she held the Death God's Uniqueness and half of Azik’s soul.
• Azik refused to merge with the death-corrupted half of his soul as it was, fearing he would lose his sense of self.
• Kronos used the River of Time to reverse the corruption in Azik’s half-soul until it returned to a time before it was joined with the Uniqueness.
• Amanises removed the Bird-Shaped Golden Ornament from Azik and returned the restored half of his soul to his body.
• Azik’s deathlike features receded, and he stood with his eyes closed, beginning to digest his reunited soul.