Chapter Summaries

Kronos helped establish the Research Center and arranged for a promising student to continue his materials project before he left Backlund. After the Argel Family decided to begin relocating, he directed the family’s butler to contact Kain Bank’s shareholders, hoping to learn when Jason would be meeting with them.

• Kronos told Portland he planned to leave Backlund and arranged to train a student to finish his materials project.
• Portland brought four projects to the Research Center, and Kronos helped oversee its inauguration ceremony, which drew prominent guests and newspaper coverage.
• Kronos joked that Portland had been burned by Mr. Kask, embarrassing Portland and prompting him to leave the table in a rage.
• Marquis Argel’s butler delivered a telegram confirming the Argel Family would begin relocating discreetly and quickly.
• Kronos told the butler to find out whether Kain Bank’s shareholders would sell their shares and report the details of each meeting so he could track Jason’s movements.

Kronos prepared to trap Jason by studying the villa’s hidden passages and arranging Purification Potions, while the Argel Family’s effort to buy Kain Bank shares stalled. He obtained a large supply of potions from the Sanguine and planned further visits to Jason’s villa.

• Kronos failed to tame Jason’s Hellhound, whose taming progress fell to negative three hundred percent, and knocked it out before searching Jason’s house for hidden holes.
• Kronos planned to use Purification Potions and two Sequence 5 Beyonder Items to lure Jason into a prepared passage and strike him.
• The butler reported that Kain Bank’s shareholders would not sell without a substantial premium, leaving the Argel Family to keep negotiating or pay more.
• Kronos learned that Jason’s basement might contain a hidden room and arranged to search the villa again, while also ordering more Purification Potions from Ernes.
• The Sanguine produced the potions Kronos needed in less than five days, and Kronos thanked Ernes and accepted the favorable price as a favor he could repay.

Kronos ambushed Jason in his villa, using a purification ritual and light-based scrolls to exploit Jason’s Devil nature. After Jason transformed and knocked Kronos away, Kronos used the Deadly Crossbow to send him back into the ritual’s range, leaving Jason burning under the purifying light.

• Kronos prepared scrolls and learned the layout of Jason’s villa before waiting for an opportunity to strike.
• When Jason left for a gathering with the other Kain shareholders, Kronos entered the villa, knocked out the Devil Dog, and set up a purification ritual in the washroom.
• Kronos waited until Jason left his Beyonder Item, a pocket watch, by the washbasin, then triggered the ritual and attacked him with light-based scrolls.
• Jason escaped the washroom and transformed into a Devil, but Kronos used the Deadly Crossbow to knock him back into the purification ritual.
• Kronos watched Jason struggle beneath the purifying light while holding the Deadly Crossbow.

Kronos drove Jason to flee by using the Deadly Crossbow and then distorted Jason’s intentions, leading him into a basement Kronos had prepared. The chapter ended with Kronos hiding there and drawing the blood-red bow as Jason approached through the passage.

• Kronos shot Jason repeatedly with the Deadly Crossbow, while Jason counterattacked with Sulfur Fireballs and a Sword of Lava.
• Jason abandoned the fight and used Desire Incarnation to slip into a hole in the bathroom wall and escape.
• Kronos used the Chaos Bracelet’s Distortion to change Jason’s judgment, making him head for his hidden basement instead of leaving the villa.
• Jason crawled through the passage coated with purification potions, which burned him but did not stop his progress.
• Kronos reached the basement first, shut its entrance, hid near Jason’s exit, and drew the Deadly Crossbow in its longbow form.

Kronos and Jason continued their fight, with Kronos using his weapons and abilities to injure Jason while Jason fought back with Devil Language, transformation, and fireballs. Kronos pierced Jason’s abdomen with an arrow and prepared to wear him down further with the Elf Charm.

• Kronos shot Jason through the head with the Deadly Crossbow in longbow form, pinning him to a wall, then burned him with scrolls.
• Jason tore his head free, escaped Kronos’s blade by throwing a table, and used the Devil Language word “Slow” to freeze Kronos before kicking him away.
• Kronos pursued Jason with the Disease Triangular Dagger, cutting his calf as they escaped the basement, but his next stab failed to pierce Jason’s Devil Transformation defenses.
• Jason charged Kronos and struck him into a wall, then attacked with Sulfur Fireballs; Kronos used his bracer’s confusion skill to avoid them.
• Kronos shot Jason through the abdomen with the Deadly Crossbow, then drew the Elf Charm and prepared to wear Jason down from a distance.

Kronos killed Jason after resisting the Desire Apostle’s attempt to manipulate his guilt, then failed to catch the Devil Dog that fled into the sewers. He returned to Jason’s house to conceal the fight and prepare to take over Jason’s property.

• Jason offered Kronos wealth, Beyonder characteristics, and the Devil Dog in exchange for his life, but Kronos continued attacking until Jason’s Devil Transformation ended.
• Jason tried to influence Kronos with a guilt-inducing last request, but the Time Stone broke the effect, and Kronos beheaded him after Jason surrendered.
• Kronos discovered that the Devil Dog had escaped, tracked it through the Eye of Time to a sewer access shaft, and abandoned the pursuit.
• Kronos inspected the bedroom and basement, deciding to hide the damage inside the secret chamber and find a way to cover the Sulfur Fireball marks and smell.

Kronos cleaned up the evidence in Jason's villa and impersonated him when two policemen arrived to investigate a reported noise. After persuading them that Jason's Devil Dog had caused the disturbance, Kronos considered how to find the escaped dog and dispose of the bodies without attracting attention.

• Kronos hid the wreckage and bodies in the secret chamber, cleaned the basement, and covered the sulfur smell before posing as Jason.
• Two policemen questioned Kronos about the noise, and he blamed it on the Devil Dog before showing them fabricated bite marks.
• The policemen searched the yard and house, found evidence consistent with Kronos's story, and left without checking the basement.
• Kronos asked the policemen how to find the Devil Dog, and they recommended Detective Isengard Stanton or help from the Church of Evernight.
• After the policemen left, Kronos decided he needed to dispose of Jason's body, the victims' bodies, and the remains buried in the yard without drawing attention.

Kronos used Jason’s identity to help the Argel Family negotiate Kain Bank shares, obtained a corpse-dissolving potion, and hired Isengard to track the Devil Dog. He returned to Jason’s House and gathered the buried bodies, preparing to destroy them along with Jason’s corpse.

• Kronos visited the Kain Club disguised as Patrick Jason, revealed himself to the butler, and agreed to act frightened so the other shareholders would accept lower buyout prices.
• Kronos bought Ernes’s stock of a Sanguine corrosive potion that could dissolve corpses in about a minute.
• Kronos collected Isengard’s report on Will Auceptin and hired him to locate the Devil Dog, giving him information and a drawing of the creature.
• Isengard warned that the Devil Dog would likely flee Backlund after a killing spree and would not seek revenge for its master.
• Kronos searched Jason’s yard with the Eye of Time, uncovered more than a dozen corpses, and gathered them with the bodies from the secret room for disposal.

Kronos was trapped in a vivid dream by Will Auceptin, who confronted him about investigating the Wheel of Fortune pathway. Olmer and Kronos's Messenger stopped Will from killing him, and Kronos woke after Will warned him to seek other blood for his advancement and avoid Ouroboros.

• Ernes watched Kronos dissolve the corpses and learned that Kronos had killed only the freshest one; the others had been killed by his victim.
• Kronos dreamed that a Demigod Devil Dog was chasing him, then realized his Time Stone and its abilities were missing and suspected a powerful figure had trapped him.
• Will Auceptin prepared to attack Kronos, but Olmer and Kronos's Messenger intervened and persuaded Will to leave him alive.
• Will appeared in Kronos's dream, rejected his request for a drop of blood, and warned him not to seek Ouroboros or throw away his life.
• Kronos woke and found Isengard's investigation papers and a paper crane, realizing Will had used the materials to locate him despite Concealment of Time.

Kronos attended a Kain Bank shareholders’ meeting disguised as Jason and warned the merchants to sell their shares, backing his story with a staged threat from outside the window. He left the shareholders frightened and under pressure to give up their shares to Butler.

• Kronos accepted an invitation to a shareholders’ meeting after Butler’s plan advanced and disguised himself as Jason with a bruised face and a sling.
• Kronos told the shareholders that Feysac Beyonders had beaten him and forced him to sell his shares, and a shareholder explained how powerful Sequence 5 and Sequence 6 Beyonders were.
• Kronos urged the merchants to sell their shares, then staged a mysterious shadow and an unseen voice threatening them over money they were not entitled to take.
• After the servants reported that no one was outside the window, the unseen speaker gave the shareholders a final warning, and Kronos left, saying he had already sold his shares.

Kronos used Qing to frighten Kain Bank’s shareholders into selling their shares at market price, then returned to the Research Center and devoted himself to improving his scrolls. After realizing that rules were the foundation of the relevant skills, he brought his potion digestion to nearly completion and began designing the Chaos Scroll, but someone knocked on his laboratory door.

• Kronos sent Qing to frighten the shareholders, who left the meeting and later agreed to sell their Kain Bank shares at the normal market price.
• Butler bought back all of Kain Bank’s shares and learned that Kronos had only scared the shareholders.
• Kronos left Jason's House, returned to the Research Center, and focused on studying scrolls while Qing watched over him.
• Kronos realized that the essence of Chaos, Distortion, Decree, and Judgment skills lay in rules, then spent a week improving his Black Emperor Pathway and Justiciar Pathway scrolls.
• Kronos raised his potion digestion to about ninety-nine percent and began completing the Chaos Scroll’s design, but someone knocked on his door.

Roel explained how he guided the Demigod bone into the Beyonder Item called the Parasitic Bone, whose abilities included theft and parasitism. He revealed that each use permanently stole one Beyonder Ability from its user, leaving Kronos and Todd stunned.

• Roel and Todd arrived at Kronos's home with the completed Beyonder Item, and Todd explained that its negative effects were severe.
• Roel described how Demigod abilities embodied embryonic authority and said he had guided the bone's power rather than controlled it.
• Roel accidentally revealed that he had a teacher, and Kronos and Todd teased him before letting him continue.
• Roel explained the Parasite Sequence's theft and parasitism abilities and showed Kronos the pale, jade-like bone.
• Roel named the item the Parasitic Bone and explained that each use permanently stole one Beyonder Ability from its user.

Kronos completed his Chaos Scroll design and used it to fully digest his Scroll Professor potion, leaving him ready to advance to Astronomer. He then tested whether he could make another Chaos Scroll immediately and succeeded, but the effort exhausted him.

• Roel offered to seek his teacher’s help with the Parasitic Bone’s severe drawback, and Kronos let him leave for the Republic of Intis without sending anyone to follow him.
• Kronos refined his Chaos Scroll design through an overnight session, then rested before testing it two days later.
• Kronos completed the Chaos Scroll and fully digested his Scroll Professor potion, deciding to postpone advancing to Astronomer until he reached Midseashire.
• Kronos began a second Chaos Scroll while still in unusually good condition and completed it, then collapsed from exhaustion.

Kronos concluded that creating his self-designed Chaos Scroll cost less because of his deep understanding of it, then shifted his focus to a new materials project as he prepared to advance to Astronomer. As the Argel Family began relocating to Midseashire, Kronos met several nobles and learned that Amyrius had asked Earl Levett to look after him, strengthening Kronos’s confidence in their alliance before his planned return to sea.

• Kronos realized that making his Chaos Scroll had depleted his physical stamina, and he decided to stop experimenting with scrolls as he prepared to advance to Astronomer.
• Kronos guided the new materials project and refused to relocate his Backlund assets because Walter Factory, Bowen Trading Company, and Coim Company depended on their local connections and markets.
• The Argel Family began its relocation to Midseashire, using a chartered steam train and a conspicuous move to conceal the transfer of important items.
• Kronos met Duke Negan, Earl Hall, Earl Wolf, and Earl Levett as they questioned him about the Argel Family’s plans.
• Earl Levett told Kronos that Amyrius had asked him to look after him, confirming Kronos’s belief that Amyrius was willing to ally with him.
• Kronos considered his plans to return to sea and judged that, with Amyrius’s support and his expected Sequence 5 advancement, Pirate Generals would pose little threat, though Pirate Kings remained dangerous.

Kronos left Backlund with the Argel Family’s people and supplies, traveling to Constant City to begin the family’s plans there. After reuniting with his family, he told Marquis Argel about his Chaos Scroll experience and asked whether to advance or investigate it first.

• Kronos considered seeking Nast or Cattleya for pathway formulas and prepared to leave Backlund.
• Kronos said goodbye to Professor Portland and Mr. Kask before boarding the family’s chartered train.
• At Limon, the Argel Family’s people unloaded goods destined for its new companies in Midseashire.
• Kronos arrived in Constant City, reunited with Marquis Argel, the Marquise, and Annie, and returned with them to the family manor.
• Kronos told Marquis Argel that he had digested the Scroll Professor potion and described his Chaos Scroll experience.
• Marquis Argel said the family had no record of Kronos’s discovery and began explaining Astronomer so Kronos could decide whether to advance or investigate further.

Kronos learned that Astronomers could store skills in their bodies but faced dangers if they drew power from the stars, and he decided to advance rather than spend more time struggling to redesign a skill. After Roel brought him a possible way to offset the Parasitic Bone’s negative effect, Kronos planned an experiment to test it.

• Marquis Argel explained that Astronomers could use star sand to store and activate one skill, but communicating with the stars risked attracting the Outer Deities.
• Kronos regained confidence by considering how his Time Stone might protect him, then agreed with Marquis Argel to limit his skill research and prepare to advance.
• When Marquis Argel told Kronos that Roel had arrived in Constant City, Kronos ended his research and went to meet him.
• Roel reported that his teacher believed a Sequence 5 Astronomer could give a stored skill to the Parasitic Bone to pay for its use.
• Kronos proposed testing whether a Beyonder Ability imitated with 2-081 could also satisfy the Parasitic Bone, and said the Argel Family could provide a retired Beyonder as a test subject.

Kronos and Roel tested whether the Parasitic Bone could steal an imitated ability without consuming the user’s own powers, and the experiment succeeded. Kronos then began his Sequence 5 advancement ritual at the Argel Family ancestral residence, where he broke free of the starlight’s protection and started exploring the starry sky.

• Kronos and Roel guided a volunteer through repeated attempts to imitate an ability with 2-081, and the volunteer eventually used the Parasitic Bone to steal Wind Blade without losing his own abilities.
• Kronos thanked Roel, then agreed to accompany Marquis Argel to the Argel Family ancestral residence to meet the Old Man and advance to Sequence 5.
• At the ancestral residence, the Old Man warned Kronos about the dangers of the starry sky before Marquis Argel gave him the potion for the ritual.
• Kronos drank the potion and entered the starry sky, where a ring of starlight initially protected his consciousness and kept him still.
• Kronos confirmed that Concealment of Time could still reach his consciousness through his meditative Time Stone, then ignored the starlight’s warnings until its protection vanished.
• Kronos began examining the celestial bodies and searching for familiar star patterns that might help him develop his Astronomer abilities.

Kronos completed the Astronomer Advancement Ritual, learned to use his new abilities, and trained with Old Man at the ancestral home. On the eve of his departure, he discovered that the Big Dipper constellation had drawn his attention.

• Kronos searched the starry space for constellations, avoided dangerous traps, and was pulled back to his body when the ritual ended.
• Marquis Argel and Old Man reassured Kronos that connecting with a constellation was exceptionally difficult, and Kronos examined the Time Stone's new ability to control time within twenty meters for up to one second.
• Marquis Argel returned to Constant City while Kronos stayed at the ancestral home to study Astronomer abilities and practice inscribing skills onto Star Sand with Old Man.
• After a month of training, Kronos prepared to leave the ancestral home and travel out to sea.
• Kronos watched the stars on his final night at the ancestral home and discovered the Big Dipper constellation.

Kronos communed with the Big Dipper, gained a powerful sword, and set out alone from home. After traveling to Pritz Harbor, he prepared to continue toward Damir Island and began gathering news from sailors.

• Kronos used his Eyes of Mystery Prying to commune with the Big Dipper and formed its seven stars into a traditional sword that strengthened him.
• Kronos left Conston City without saying goodbye, while Marquis Argel and the Marquise accepted his decision and worried over his safety.
• Kronos rode a freight train to Limon and took a passenger ship down the Tussock River to Pritz Harbor.
• Kronos planned to retrieve Gregrace’s blood from Damir Island, revisit the Ghost Empire, and pursue other goals at sea.
• Kronos bought a ticket for the next day’s ship, checked into an inn, and went to a crowded harbor bar to hear the latest maritime news.

Kronos returned to Damir Island and spent three days clearing the tunnel to the Spirit World entrance, where he tried to retrieve Gregrace’s blood. The blood entered his body as a phoenix shadow, which demanded a vessel and finally flew into a pale mask.

• Kronos heard that Edwina had become Vice Admiral Iceberg and that Cattleya was gaining recognition as the Admiral of Stars.
• Kronos traveled by passenger ship to Damir Port, bought supplies, and returned to the underground cave on Damir Island.
• Kronos cleared the collapsed tunnel over three nights and reached the Spirit World entrance, where Gregrace’s blood still burned with pale flame.
• Kronos used star sand to reach for the blood, but it transformed into a blood-colored phoenix and entered his body.
• The phoenix shadow cried out for a vessel, ignored Kronos’s Beyonder Items, and flew into a pale mask when he picked it up.