Chapter Summaries

Cattleya returned to the Future and joined Kronos in defending it from the Feysac Sonia Fleet’s attack. After Kronos spotted an ambush to the south, they headed north and crippled the fleet’s flagship, allowing the Future to break through the encirclement.

• Cattleya realized Bratov had lured her into a trap for the Feysac military, which had promised to help him advance to demigod in exchange for his cooperation.
• Cattleya reached the Future, protected it with star sand, and repaired the damage from the bombardment.
• Kronos demanded that Cattleya introduce him to Queen Mystic, then agreed to help the Future escape.
• Cattleya ordered the Future south, but Kronos sensed an ambush and persuaded her to head north instead.
• Kronos fired four bolts into the fleet’s flagship, and Cattleya struck it with golden power, leaving it listing and disrupting the other warships.
• The Future charged through the resulting gap and broke out of the encirclement.

After helping Cattleya escape the Feysac navy, Kronos declined to pursue Vice Admiral Dusk and left the Future for Nas, where he contacted Gner. Seeking work for himself and Gner, Kronos returned to Bayam and asked Amyrius about the navy’s information; Amyrius gave him a paper with a possible assignment.

• The Future escaped its pursuers, and Kronos offered to help Cattleya take revenge on Bratov in exchange for the Guardian potion formula and advancement ritual, but she refused because Vice Admiral Dusk had powerful allies.
• Cattleya invited Kronos to investigate reports of the Ghost Empire, but he refused and traveled to Nas, where he settled and wrote to Gner.
• Gner told Kronos that he wanted to leave his peaceful post in East Balam and go adventuring, but Kronos had no place for him yet.
• Kronos returned to Bayam and told Amyrius what had happened with the Feysac navy and Bratov; Amyrius explained the Pirate Kings’ unwritten rules and handed Kronos a paper with a potential job.

Kronos learned that Howl Constantine was recruiting powerful crew near the Naga Tribe, apparently preparing for a major undertaking, and decided to investigate despite the danger. After drawing down Virgo’s restorative power, he grew convinced that the unusually intelligent Hal had another plan and chose to get involved.

• Amyrius told Kronos that Howl Constantine was recruiting crew and might be pursuing a sea monster or planning to confront the Naga Tribe.
• Kronos asked Sharf to seek more information while rumors spread that Cattleya had defeated Vice Admiral Dusk and escaped a Feysac ambush with Klein.
• Kronos drew down Virgo’s power, gaining the ability to heal injuries and rapidly restore spirituality.
• News confirmed that Hal was recruiting Sequence 7 or higher crew near the Naga Tribe, whose three Demigods made a direct attack seem suicidal.
• Cattleya told Kronos that Hal was a wise former university professor whose sea monster blood caused powerful Tyrant Pathway abilities and shifts between gentle and cruel states.
• Kronos decided to join the unfolding affair to discover Hal’s real intentions and possibly gain something from it.

Kronos traveled in disguise from Nas to the Arctic Ice Sheet to apply for a place on the Iron Anchor, avoiding the Naga Tribe by posing as a scholar aboard a whaling ship. He reached the ship and was picked up after confirming that he wanted to join its crew.

• Kronos used Cattleya's contact in Nas to learn that the Iron Anchor waited near the Arctic Ice Sheet and that its routes could force applicants through dangerous Naga territory.
• Kronos disguised himself as a scholar and persuaded a whaling ship owner to take him north, where sailors told him about the naga and their inspections of passing ships.
• Kronos sealed his Beyonder powers before a naga boarded the ship at night and checked his room, then removed the seal after the whalers left Naga territory.
• Kronos traveled alone across the ice sheet to the coordinates, performed a ritual, and summoned the Iron Anchor from beneath the sea.
• A crew member lowered a small boat after Kronos said he had come to apply for the Iron Anchor's crew.

Kronos joined Vice Admiral Deep Sea's Iron Anchor under the false identity of Mendeleev, then discovered the ship was secretly screening recruits and traveling across the seabed. After Hal officially welcomed the recruits aboard, Kronos remained wary because his pocket watch revealed Hal's powerful malice.

• Kronos met boatswain Gis, boarded the Iron Anchor, and passed Hal's interview by posing as a Sequence 6 Polymath named Mendeleev.
• Hal assigned Gald to guide Kronos, but Gald refused to answer his questions and confined him to a cramped room.
• Kronos sensed intense malice from Hal through the Desire Pocket Watch and suspected the Vice Admiral was not as benevolent as his reputation suggested.
• During the next half month, seven more recruits arrived, and Gald killed one applicant who tried to leave by force; Kronos recognized Gald as a Sequence 6 Baron of Corruption.
• The Iron Anchor descended to the seabed, where its light dome attracted marine creatures and revealed the ship's unusual underwater voyage.
• Hal declared the recruits officially part of the Iron Anchor and told them to learn their duties from Gis, while Kronos's pocket watch continued to grow warm.

Kronos learned that Hal planned to use the Iron Anchor’s crew and three pirate groups as bait while he and his officers slipped onto an island. As the pirates fought the nagas, Kronos noticed the defenders lacked the expected high-level Beyonders and followed Hal’s group inland.

• Hal assigned Kronos to help Gis orient the newcomers, but the tour kept them away from the Iron Anchor’s important areas.
• After five days underwater, Hal claimed an island held a great treasure and assigned the crew among three pirate groups to attack its naga inhabitants.
• Kronos recognized Hal’s plan as a likely betrayal and went to the Red Skull Pirate Group’s flagship, where he used the Control Gloves to stay unnoticed and avoid fighting.
• The pirate groups bombarded the island and landed, but Kronos saw no Sequence 5 nagas despite the tribe’s supposed strength.
• Hal, his First Mate, Second Mate, and three boatswains secretly landed and headed inland, so Kronos followed their route.

Kronos followed Vice Admiral Deep Sea’s expedition from the Naga sacred land to a remote ocean trench, learning that Hal was seeking a sea monster connected to an ancient sealing legend. After the Iron Anchor entered dangerous waters between Sonia Island and the Arctic Ice Sheet, Kronos’s Desire Pocket Watch began reacting to intense malice from beneath the sea, suggesting they had reached their target.

• Kronos watched Hal and his crew fight through the Naga guards at the sacred land, then learned from a dying guard that the Naga ancestor had sealed away a legendary world-destroying monster.
• Kronos followed Hal’s group back to the shore, took the appearance of the pirate Kade, and boarded the Iron Anchor to remain undercover.
• Hal compensated the pirate crews after nearly half a month of wrangling, then took the Iron Anchor into a secluded ocean trench for about a month.
• After resupplying at Sonia Island, Hal guided the Iron Anchor into dangerous waters between the island and the Arctic Ice Sheet.
• Kronos sensed intense malice coming from beneath the sea and suspected that the sealed monster was the source and Hal’s objective.

Kronos escaped the Naga attack on the Iron Anchor, descended to the seabed, and infiltrated the guards around the sealed Sea Monster. After controlling a Sequence 5 Naga, he learned the history of the monster and Hal’s plan, but the Naga’s claim that the stolen blood essence had been found aboard the Iron Anchor left Hal’s whereabouts unexplained.

• Vice Admiral Deep Sea left the Iron Anchor, and the Naga soon surrounded the ship while Kronos escaped into the Spirit World.
• Kronos returned to the sea, used a Star Sand barrier to withstand the pressure, and followed the Naga patrols to an underwater mountain.
• Kronos controlled a Sequence 5 Naga and learned that the Naga guarded a Sea Monster sealed by Trunsoest during the Solomon Empire.
• The Naga revealed that Hal had discovered the sealed Sea Monster and intended to release him to solve his Sea Monster bloodline problem.
• The Naga said Hal had stolen the blood essence meant to repair the seal, but the Naga later found it aboard the Iron Anchor and still could not locate Hal.

Kronos learned that Vice Admiral Deep Sea had used the blood essence as bait while secretly preparing to release the sealed sea monster. When the seal began to break, Kronos confronted Hal at the Sealing Site, but Hal dodged his opening arrow and attacked.

• Kronos concluded that Vice Admiral Deep Sea had tampered with the blood essence, then erased a Naga's memories and hid nearby.
• After the Naga search eased, Kronos communed with Taurus and gained a major increase in physical strength.
• Two days later, Kronos heard a roar and saw cracks spread across the undersea mountain as the sea monster began breaking free.
• Hal confronted the three Naga demigods, dismissed their warnings, and prepared to take their Beyonder characteristics.
• Kronos shot an arrow that shattered Hal's saber, declared that he would stop the sea monster's release, and exchanged attacks with Hal.

Kronos fought Hal underwater, survived a seemingly fatal blow by using Time Reload, and turned the battle around with his constellations and time powers. After stopping Hal’s escape, Kronos knocked him unconscious and entered his Mind Stone Island, discovering the source of his intense malice.

• Hal’s Sea Monster bloodline let him overwhelm Kronos underwater, battering the Star Sand barrier and seemingly crushing Kronos’s chest.
• Kronos secretly used Time Reload to restore himself, then summoned the constellations and Big Dipper Sword to fight Hal on more equal terms.
• Kronos used Time Control to wound Hal, prompting Hal to flee, and then cast the Curse of Time to slow him down.
• Kronos caught Hal and knocked him unconscious with the Big Dipper Sword, choosing to try parasitizing him before making him a Marionette.
• Kronos entered Hal’s Mind Stone Island and learned that Hal had slaughtered many sea creatures to use their blood essence to activate his Sea Monster bloodline.

Kronos parasitized Hal after wiping his memories, then brought Olmer to help the Naga repair the seal around the sea monster. Olmer proposed reinforcing the seal before killing the monster in a year, and warned Kronos that advancing Hal to demigod while the Worm of Time remained inside him would be dangerous.

• Kronos erased Hal's memories and parasitized him with a Worm of Time, making Hal obey its instructions.
• Kronos summoned Olnia, who went to fetch Olmer to handle the damaged seal.
• Olmer arrived and nearly attacked Hal, mistaking the Worm of Time for a sign that Amon had targeted Kronos.
• Olmer told the Naga demigods he could reinforce the seal for three years or strengthen it temporarily so they could kill the sea monster in a year, and they agreed to prepare for the latter plan.
• Olmer warned Kronos that advancing Hal to demigod while the Worm of Time was inside him could harm them both, and advised waiting until Kronos had advanced himself.

Olmer strengthened the seal holding the sea monster, giving it about a year before it might fail, while Kronos and Hal recovered the Iron Anchor and assembled a new crew. After secretly acquiring weapons, Kronos led the ship back into action, where it sank the three pirate crews that had attacked the island.

• Olmer reinforced the seal with his power of creation and warned the Naga Demigods that his suppression would last about a year.
• Kronos asked the Naga for Hal's anchor and a replacement ship, then spent nearly a month with Hal at the Naga Tribe while Hal recovered from the sea monster bloodline's damage.
• Kronos recruited Gner, Roel, Mr. Todd, and Qing, while Marquis Argel supplied loyal personnel and armaments for the Iron Anchor.
• Kronos and Hal collected Todd's group near Nas, then met Gner near the Loen colony and secretly loaded four boatloads of weapons aboard the ship.
• Kronos brought the Iron Anchor back into public view, and Hal, Todd, and Gner sank the ships of the three pirate crews that had cooperated in the island assault.

Kronos joined the first Tarot Club gathering as the Wheel of Fortune, then returned to Backlund to prepare for his Mysticologist advancement and attend the next meeting. He reappeared above the Gray Fog as Mr. Fate and greeted the others.

• Kronos helped spread a navy-backed account of Vice Admiral Deep Sea’s reconciliation with the Naga to quell rumors about his alliance with the Iron Anchor.
• Kronos sealed his powers and was pulled above the Gray Fog, where he met Audrey, Alger, and Klein at the Tarot Club.
• Kronos chose the title Wheel of Fortune, while Audrey became Justice and Alger became the Hanged Man; the gathering ended when Klein’s spirituality ran low.
• Kronos planned to take the Eternal Blazing Sun’s divine blood after Klein made Sun Charms in Morse Town, then left the Iron Anchor for Backlund.
• In disguise, Kronos learned that the Research Center and Coim Company had prospered and that the public had linked their success to him.
• Kronos sealed his powers before the next Tarot Club gathering and greeted Audrey, Alger, and Klein as Mr. Fate.

Kronos joined the Tarot Club and later settled in Tingen, planning to digest his Astronomer potion and steal the Eternal Blazing Sun’s blood while avoiding Ince Zangwill. He met Klein at the Divination Club and attended another Tarot Club gathering, where Audrey and Alger reported finding Roselle’s diary pages.

• Kronos greeted Audrey at the Tarot Club and warned that the Acting Method was restricted knowledge after Klein explained potion digestion and acting.
• Kronos said Bernadette had told him Roselle’s symbols were exclusive to her father, then let the gathering end without revealing more about Antigonus’s notebook.
• Kronos bought supplies in Backlund, traveled to Tingen, and chose a residence in the North Borough to avoid the center of the city’s danger.
• Kronos joined the Divination Club under the name Klein Norman and exchanged a friendly look with Klein during Hanass Vincent’s lecture.
• Kronos attended the next Tarot Club gathering, where he noticed the symbols on the chair backs and said he had not collected any Roselle diary pages.

Kronos avoided exposing Klein at the Tarot Club, then sent Dunn Smith a letter explaining the acting method and traveled to Morse Town to pursue the Sun Holy Emblem. There, Mr. Azik appeared at his bedside and asked to see an item he sensed was once his.

• Kronos answered Audrey's questions about the Spectator Pathway and animals taking Sequence potions, then declined to try Klein's ritual and honorific name until he escaped his predicament.
• Kronos divined Dunn Smith's address and sent him a letter explaining the acting method in hopes of helping him survive the coming upheaval.
• After the Tarot Club welcomed Little Sun and Alger mentioned Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilingus, Kronos decided to pursue his opportunity involving the Sun Holy Emblem and considered trying to save Duke Negan.
• Kronos traveled to Morse Town and planned to steal a drop of blood from the Eternal Blazing Sun, while taking care not to draw Pallez Zoroast's attention.
• Mr. Azik appeared beside Kronos's bed, said he sensed something familiar that might belong to him, and asked Kronos to show it.

Kronos met Azik in Morse Town and learned that Azik would not take the transformed Death God Mask, then waited for Klein’s arrival. At Morse Church, Kronos secretly stole the Eternal Blazing Sun’s Divine Blood while Klein made a Flaring Sun Charm, and Pallez sensed the theft without revealing it to Leonard.

• Kronos offered Azik the Death God Mask, and Azik returned it after failing to recover his memories and warned that the transformed mask could collapse in combat.
• Kronos heard about a haunting in Morse Town, attended the Tarot Club, and waited for Klein and his companions to arrive.
• Kronos disguised himself as a cleric at Morse Church, recognized Leonard Mitchell and Kenley White, and noticed the Worm of Time within Leonard.
• Kronos sneaked back into the church and used the Parasitic Bone to steal the Eternal Blazing Sun’s Divine Blood while Klein completed the Flaring Sun Charm.
• Pallez sensed Kronos’s actions and told Leonard that an impressive young fellow had caught his attention, but refused to explain further.

Kronos analyzed the Eternal Blazing Sun’s divine blood and advanced to demigod, causing the Time Stone to shatter and transform his temporal powers. After examining his new abilities, he decided to leave Tingen and travel to Backlund.

• Kronos traveled from Morse's church to a wasteland and analyzed the Eternal Blazing Sun’s blood to complete the Mysticologist advancement ritual.
• After repeated analyses over nearly two days, Kronos mastered the knowledge of Unshadowed and Justice Mentor, then drank the Mysticologist potion.
• Kronos advanced without apparent discomfort, but heard a crack inside his consciousness and discovered that the Time Stone had shattered.
• The Time Stone’s temporal energy remodeled Kronos’s body and transformed his time abilities, including granting him Time Barrier, Time Godbody, and Time God Domain.
• Kronos examined his Mysticologist abilities and gained the power of Light from analyzing the Eternal Blazing Sun’s blood.
• Kronos decided to leave Tingen for Backlund, where he could later oversee the events surrounding the True Creator’s descent.

Kronos returned the Black Emperor Card to Saint Hilarion Church, but discovered that the bookmark replacing it was a Blasphemy Card for Sequence 0: Darkness, suggesting powerful figures had known of his actions. The next morning, Horamick Haydn arrived with a divine order demanding that Kronos join the Church of Steam and Machinery, leaving Kronos to submit rather than risk his family’s safety.

• Kronos used his Time Barrier to enter Saint Hilarion Cathedral, returned the sealed Black Emperor Card to its place, and took the bookmark.
• Kronos followed the bookmark’s timeline to June 28, 1349, and realized it had appeared on the day Mr. Fool descended, making him fear that he had been exposed.
• Kronos unsealed the bookmark and discovered it was a Blasphemy Card for Sequence 0: Darkness, then agonized over whether to bring it to Saint Samuel Church or keep it.
• Horamick Haydn visited Kronos the next morning and said the God of Steam and Machinery had ordered him to recruit Kronos into the church, offering him a Scholar of Yore formula and advancement ritual.
• Horamick threatened Kronos’s family when Kronos hesitated, so Kronos took the paper and endured the coercion rather than provoke the Sequence 3 archbishop.

After learning that the Church of Steam and Machinery might threaten his family, Kronos sought the Evernight Goddess as a powerful backer and agreed to join Her Church. Archbishop Arianna made him a high-ranking deacon and identified his mysterious cloak as a relic of an ancient ascetic, which Kronos chose to keep.

• Kronos realized his Time Barrier had failed to conceal him from the God of Steam and Machinery, prompting Horamick to recruit him.
• Kronos considered joining the Augustus Family but decided to seek help from the Evernight Goddess, and Olmer accompanied him to Saint Samuel Cathedral.
• Arianna appeared with an oracle from the Evernight Goddess, brought Kronos into the Prayer Room, and Kronos agreed to join the Church of Evernight.
• Arianna appointed Kronos a high-ranking deacon of the Nighthawks and told him the Goddess had given him Roselle's Blasphemy Card.
• Arianna recognized Kronos's cloak as a relic of the previous leader of the ascetics and offered to unseal it or exchange it for a Demigod-level Sealed Artifact.
• After learning that the Church had no Demigod-level Sealed Artifact with concealment, Kronos chose to keep the cloak.

Kronos accepted Arianna’s Concealment Cloak and traced the Eternal Blazing Sun’s blood through time, discovering that its source was a wound Aucuses received during Roselle’s death. He followed the Sun Card that caused the wound, learning how it eventually reached Tingen.

• Arianna revealed the Concealment Cloak’s abilities and its fear-inducing effect, and Kronos accepted it.
• Arianna warned Kronos that the divine blood he had used for advancement might be connected to Roselle’s Blasphemy Cards.
• Kronos entered the divine blood’s timeline and arrived at one of the pyramids built for Roselle’s apotheosis ritual.
• Kronos witnessed Aucuses and Stiano confront and kill Roselle in the White Maple Palace.
• As Roselle fell, the Sun Card wounded Aucuses, and Kronos followed its path through history to Tingen.