Chapter Summaries

At the Tarot Club, Kronos warned the others about the Kings of Angels and questioned Emlyn about the Sanguine, while secretly trying to delay the Council of the Gods until his Concealment Cloak was ready. The cloak transformed into a Concealment Scarf, leaving Kronos to wonder whether the owner of its divinity could control the form of Beyonder Items.

• Kronos warned the Tarot Club that powerful beings could trace people who voiced guesses about them, then told Klein to keep his distance from Will Auceptin because Ouroboros was hunting him.
• Kronos questioned Emlyn about the Amanda Mountains and Nibais, revealed that he knew Olmer, and told Emlyn that the members of the Tarot Club were equals in Mr. Fool's presence.
• After the gathering, Kronos asked Old Fan when the Concealment Cloak would be ready, then postponed the Council of the Gods by replying to Pope Ivan as Horamick.
• A day and a half later, the Concealment Cloak transformed into a black Concealment Scarf with stronger concealment and a fear-inducing effect.
• Kronos asked Old Fan whether the owner of the divinity could predict or control the form a Beyonder Item took, and Old Fan said he thought she could.

Kronos attended the Church of Steam and Machinery’s Council of the Gods disguised as Horamick and learned that the church supported the Augustus Family’s plans without intending to stop George III’s apotheosis. After Pope Ivan rewarded him with Sealed Artifact 1-17, Kronos returned to Backlund and sent what he had learned to Arianna.

• Kronos reported on the Backlund incident to Pope Ivan, highlighting the suspected involvement of the Loen Royal Family, the Aurora Order, and the Demoness Sect, and claiming he had helped the Negan family ally with the Church of Steam and Machinery.
• Ivan told Kronos not to interfere with the Augustus Family’s plans, even when the Aurora Order or Demoness Sect were involved, and Kronos inferred that the church wanted George III’s apotheosis preparations to proceed.
• Kronos asked Ivan for help digesting his potion, refused the dangerous baptism in the God of Steam and Machinery’s Divine Kingdom, and accepted ownership of the Rules Peeper, Sealed Artifact 1-17.
• Kronos returned to Saint Hilleran Cathedral, where Fan Aistin envied his place on the Council of the Gods, and Kronos relayed the meeting’s information to Arianna.

Kronos finished upgrading the Death God Mask and the Corruption Bracelet before heading to the Iron Anchor to help Todd advance. He assigned Gner to manage the ship while Todd prepared his ritual, and Kronos asked how confident he was.

• Kronos teased Old Fan with the prospect of disguising himself as Horamick to attend the Council of the Gods, then left him to take over those duties while he went to help Todd.
• Kronos planned to strengthen the Corruption Bracelet with the True Creator's divinity and took extra precautions with Time Barriers.
• Old Fan completed the Death God Mask by adding Traveler and Ferryman characteristics, giving it stronger Spirit World traversal, a stable Mask Space, and the Death Gaze ability.
• The Corruption Bracelet became the angel-level Dark Angel's Wings, and Kronos traveled to the Iron Anchor with the black wings displayed before explaining they were only a Beyonder Item.
• Kronos put Gner in charge of the Iron Anchor so he could digest his potion while Todd prepared to advance, and Todd said he was certain the ritual would succeed.

Kronos witnessed Todd's successful advancement to demigod, then agreed to help Nast deal with Agalito in exchange for a ship for Todd and the Twilight for Gner. He arranged to lure Agalito out and returned to Midseashire to help his father advance, hoping to strengthen his own ritual prospects.

• Todd drank the Iron-Blooded Knight potion and successfully advanced to demigod with Kronos, Gner, Roel, and Hal watching.
• Nast asked Kronos to deal with Agalito and offered Todd a suitable ship and Gner the chance to replace Bratov as commander of the Twilight.
• Kronos agreed to Nast's terms and planned to lure Agalito out by keeping news of Todd's advancement quiet and sailing the Iron Anchor openly.
• Kronos left a Worm of Star aboard the Iron Anchor so he could teleport to the ship when Agalito took the bait, then left Todd to instruct Hal and Gner to handle external affairs.
• Kronos returned to Midseashire and gave his father the Alchemist potion and astrology materials to support his advancement.

Kronos joined Olmer to unseal a maddened Sequence 3 sea monster, hoping to use the aftermath to lure out Agalito. The seal shattered, and Kronos faced the monstrous creature as it emerged.

• After Olmer summoned him, Kronos agreed to help defeat the sea monster and asked the Naga Tribe to announce that they would seek the Iron Anchor's aid afterward.
• Kronos and Olmer traveled to the sea monster's Sealing Site, where two Naga Demigods stood guard while Olmer prepared items to purify corruption.
• Kronos asked Olmer about rescuing Olnia and described the Knowledge Mentor advancement ritual, but Olmer warned that finding candidates likely to survive demigod advancement was difficult.
• Olmer withdrew his power of creation from the seal and left Kronos to face the sea monster when it broke free.
• The sea monster shattered the weakened seal with its second strike and emerged before Kronos, glaring at him with malice and madness.

Kronos fought a corrupted sea monster to test his Sequence 3 strength, using his abilities and Sealed Artifacts to injure it. After the monster retreated, Kronos was left needing to decide how to pursue the dangerous opponent.

• Kronos refused Olmer’s offer to handle the sea monster and prepared to fight it himself.
• The sea monster attacked with lightning and water pressure, while Kronos dodged and used distortion to keep it at a distance.
• Kronos struck one of the monster’s eyes with the Spear of Longinus, enraging it and drawing it toward the sea’s surface.
• Above the water, Kronos used the Tyrant’s Roar, Rivell’s Desperate Scream, and the Twilight Silver Coin to damage the monster and sever several tentacles.
• Kronos turned the monster’s bite against it, protected himself with silver armor, and threw a lethal virus down its throat.
• After suffering heavy injuries, the sea monster retreated, leaving Kronos unable to finish it off immediately.

Kronos subdued a contaminated sea monster, turned it into a Fallen Servant after Olmer purified it, and used the incident to lure Agalito toward the Iron Anchor. Agalito sailed out with the Death Announcer’s crew, unaware that Kronos and other powerful allies were waiting to ambush him.

• Kronos trapped the sea monster in the Playing Cards Castle and used four Sequence 3 figures to subdue it while Olmer stayed outside.
• Olmer began purifying the sea monster’s contamination, while rumors spread that the Naga Tribe needed Hal’s help after the monster escaped its seal.
• After three days, Kronos used the fallen domain to turn the purified sea monster into a Fallen Servant, gaining control over lightning and water.
• Kronos and Amyrius spread news of the Iron Anchor’s movements to draw Agalito out, while Olmer sealed several opportunistic Beyonders near the sea monster’s former prison.
• Agalito, stirred by news of Hal and urged on by his crew, sailed the Death Announcer toward the Iron Anchor, where Kronos and his allies awaited him.

Kronos lured Agalito into boarding the Iron Anchor, where Todd and the crew fought the Death Announcer’s sailors. After Kronos intervened and Agalito escaped to his ship using a dangerous Sealed Artifact, Kronos unleashed a Sea King’s Lightning Storm overhead to disrupt Agalito’s amplified murmuring.

• Kronos sent the Iron Anchor along an extended route to draw Agalito out, and the Death Announcer eventually approached the ship.
• Todd attacked the Death Announcer’s mast with his crimson-flame flag, prompting Agalito to hesitate until the Death Announcer’s murmuring drove him to order a charge.
• Agalito and the Death Announcer’s crew boarded the Iron Anchor, where Todd fought Agalito, Gner battled the first mate, and Hal struggled against the second mate.
• Kronos spread the Fallen Domain across the deck, weakened the second mate, and then engulfed Agalito and the Death Announcer’s crew when Agalito gained the advantage over Todd.
• Agalito escaped back to the Death Announcer by sacrificing a leg to his Sealed Artifact and used the ship’s power to amplify his murmuring.
• Kronos activated a Sea King’s Lightning Storm above the ships to disrupt Agalito’s murmuring without striking the Iron Anchor.

Kronos defeated Agalito and learned that Agalito had sacrificed the Death Announcer to summon an Archduke of Blood. The gate opened before Kronos could stop it, revealing the Abyss angel watching him.

• Kronos resisted Agalito's whispers with the Nine Secrets, then attacked him with the Spear of Longinus.
• The Death Announcer betrayed Agalito to shield itself, but Kronos dragged Agalito from the water and discovered he carried a ritual box.
• Kronos used the Manipulation Gloves and the Fallen Domain to enter Agalito's memories and learn that the Archduke of Blood had arranged the Death Announcer's sacrifice.
• Kronos discovered that the ritual had summoned a gate linked to the Archduke of Blood, a Sequence Two angel of the Abyss Pathway.
• Kronos turned to seal the gate with a Time Barrier, but found it already open, with a Devil watching him from beyond it.

Kronos faced the Archduke of Blood across a doorway to the Abyss and used a Sun Angel’s strike to wound him before reversing time to escape the consequences of a failed bluff. Amanises concealed Kronos and killed the devil, leaving the other gods to interpret her intervention as a response to an Abyssal incursion.

• The Archduke of Blood revealed that Agalito had sacrificed the Death Announcer to bring him after Kronos, and threatened to kill Kronos because he served a True God’s church.
• Kronos sent help requests to Olmer and Arianna, then used a Lightseeker’s Sun Pathway strike to pierce the Archduke of Blood’s palm.
• When Kronos’s attempt to talk the Archduke down provoked another attack, he activated Time Reversal and returned the world to a minute earlier.
• Olmer returned to his room as time reversed, while Ouroboros, the True Creator, and Amanises sensed the new authority of time.
• Amanises concealed Kronos and seized the Archduke of Blood through the door, killing him and leaving his Beyonder characteristic behind.
• The gods noticed Amanises’s intervention and wondered why she had acted before Leodero.

Amanises rescued Kronos and asked him how the Church of Evernight could gain influence in Nast’s planned Pirate Duchy. Kronos proposed taking over the King of the Black Throne’s identity, and Amanises suggested arranging a deadly gamble involving Kronos, Boli Delau, and Will.

• Amanises appeared before Kronos after defeating the Archduke of Blood, and Kronos thanked her for saving him.
• Amanises warned Kronos that using his time-related ability could alert powerful beings, then asked how the Church could gain influence in Nast’s Pirate Duchy.
• Kronos proposed either recruiting pirates through Vice Admiral Deep Sea Hal and Todd or killing an influential pirate and assuming his identity.
• Kronos recommended the King of the Black Throne, Barros Hopkins, whose true identity was Boli Delau, president of the Psychology Alchemists.
• Amanises noted that Adam might simply transfer the King of the Black Throne’s identity to the Church, then offered Kronos a chance to face Boli Delau in a gamble and involve Will.

Kronos agreed to Amanises’s proposed wager against Adam and decided to wait until Will was reborn before setting a date. As the gods discussed the newly discovered authority of time, Kronos returned to the Iron Anchor, made Agalito his fourth Fallen Servant, and Nast announced the founding of his nation.

• Amanises persuaded Kronos to join a wager against Adam and said Will would be made to participate; Kronos chose to wait until Will was reborn before deciding when it would happen.
• Amanises joined the other gods, where Herabergen revealed that the new authority had existed for over three years and was the power of time, entangled with fate.
• Aucuses considered asking Will about the new authority, and the gods departed without learning whether it was related to the Wheel of Fortune pathway.
• Kronos teleported back to the Iron Anchor as it sailed toward the Naga Tribe, where Hal hoped to obtain a potion ingredient and an advancement ritual.
• Kronos fully corrupted Agalito into a Fallen Servant and told Nast that Agalito had been dealt with.
• Nast formally announced the founding of his nation to the world of mysteries.

Nast established the Pirate Duchy, while Kronos and the Iron Anchor sailed to the Naga settlement to secure support and help Hal advance. Kronos obtained the Cataclysmic Interrer ingredient and began Hal’s risky ritual at a Naga advancement site, leaving the Naga’s decline and their ancient Catastrophe Hammer in focus.

• Nast founded the Pirate Duchy, appointed its members to noble ranks, and sent Todd the Flame as his ship.
• Kronos and Todd sailed aboard the Iron Anchor and the Flame to the Naga settlement, where the Naga Demigods welcomed Kronos in hopes of gaining a dependable ally.
• The Naga offered Kronos the main ingredient for Cataclysmic Interrer, and Kronos exchanged a Beyonder Item of equal value rather than accepting it as a gift.
• Kronos learned that the Naga’s weakened advancement ritual had contributed to their poor success rate, but chose the safer site for Hal because Hal could not advance further regardless.
• Kronos had Hal enter the Naga advancement site, and a Naga Demigod raised the ancestral Catastrophe Hammer to begin the ritual.

Kronos took over Hal’s body to guide him through the dangerous advancement ritual, and Hal became a Sequence 4 Cataclysmic Interrer. While the Naga built a new Iron Anchor, Kronos returned to the Tarot Club for Cattleya’s first gathering and was questioned about recent events.

• The Naga Demigod struck the seabed with the Catastrophe Hammer, creating an earthquake and tsunami as Hal struggled to stay upright.
• Kronos took control of Hal, drank the potion, and suppressed both its influence and Hal’s sea monster bloodline’s urge to slaughter.
• Hal advanced to Sequence 4 Cataclysmic Interrer, while his sea monster features became more pronounced and Kronos returned his consciousness to his own body.
• Kronos stayed with the Naga to have the Iron Anchor rebuilt with a sea monster’s backbone as its keel after he could not reach Nast.
• At the Tarot Club, Cattleya made her first appearance, and Miss Justice asked Kronos whether he had been occupied with recent major events.
• Kronos named the Sequence 3 sea monster, Agalito’s death, and Nast’s founding of a nation as possible matters Miss Justice meant.

At the Tarot Club gathering, Kronos took credit for the events surrounding Nast’s rise and impressed the new member, Cattleya, by revealing his supposed connection to Bernadette. After the meeting, he read Pope Ivan’s request that Horamick attend Nast’s Pirate Duchy founding ceremony and help the Church of Steam and Machinery gain influence among pirates.

• Kronos told the Tarot Club he had orchestrated the sea monster’s release, Agalito’s death, and Nast’s path toward founding the Pirate Duchy, leaving Cattleya half-convinced by his account.
• Klein introduced Cattleya as Madam Hermit, and Kronos linked her title to Bernadette, gaining Cattleya’s respect by claiming a connection to Bernadette’s father.
• Klein read Emperor Roselle’s diary, and Cattleya was shocked that Mr. Fool could understand its symbols.
• The Tarot Club discussed the collapse of Sea God Kalvetua, Tracy’s bounty, and Miss Justice’s discovery of a Mind Dragon, while Kronos kept his concerns about the dragon to himself.
• After the gathering, Kronos read Pope Ivan’s letter asking Horamick to attend Nast’s founding ceremony and help the Church of Steam and Machinery expand its influence in the Pirate Duchy.

Kronos negotiated with the Naga, using their fear of Nast’s new Pirate Duchy to secure their unconditional allegiance. He arranged for one Naga demigod to accompany him to Nast’s founding ceremony and for Naga elites to help reinforce the Iron Anchor.

• Ivan ordered Horamick to attend Nast’s founding ceremony, while Kronos arranged for Old Fan and Saint Hilleran Cathedral’s core members to travel there aboard a Negan family warship.
• Gali told Kronos that the Naga sought his protection after fearing Nast would enslave them, and explained that the Sanguine had refused to take them in.
• Kronos used the Manipulation Gloves to uncover the Naga’s fears, then falsely claimed Nast had become an Angel and that Queen Mystic had submitted to him.
• Kronos told the Naga that they could submit to him under Nast’s authority, and Gali accepted unconditional allegiance without making the Naga’s original demands.
• Kronos asked the Naga to send one demigod with him to the founding ceremony and have a group of elites help reinforce the Iron Anchor.

Kronos arrived at Nast’s founding ceremony and met the newly advanced Duke, who revealed his anger over the Church of Evernight replacing a marquis without consulting him. Nast asked for an angel from the Church to negotiate with him, and Arianna began traveling through the Spirit World to meet him.

• Kronos, Hal, Todd, and their crews arrived at the island on the eve of the Pirate Duchy’s founding ceremony, where more than twenty demigods and the major pirate factions had gathered.
• Bird Mustain recognized Kronos as Mr. Klein and escorted him to Nast’s palace, drawing attention from those at the harbor.
• Nast offered Kronos a nominal marquis position and suggested he take over the Black Throne identity, then complained that the Church of Evernight had replaced a marquis without consulting him.
• Nast asked the Church of Evernight to send an angel to negotiate with him, preferably that day, and Kronos relayed the request to Arianna.
• Arianna responded quickly, and Nast and Kronos sensed someone trying to open a passage from the Spirit World.

Nast negotiated with Lady Arianna and Kronos for the Church of Evernight to support his founding ceremony, while they uncovered plans by the Churches of Storms and the God of Combat to challenge his pirate-registration rule. They agreed to divide ship exemptions among the churches, and Arianna and Kronos left to secure the other churches’ cooperation before the ceremony.

• Nast asked Lady Arianna to attend his founding ceremony and offered the Church of Evernight exemptions for ten ships in return.
• Kronos and Arianna privately learned that the Churches of Storms and the God of Combat might pressure Nast to abolish pirate registration.
• Kronos proposed bringing the Church of Storms into an alliance, with ship quotas for it and the Church of Steam and Machinery.
• Nast negotiated the proposed quota from fifty ships down to eighteen for the Church of Evernight.
• Arianna agreed to persuade the Church of Storms not to cause trouble, while Kronos went to visit the Church of Steam and Machinery.

Kronos returned to the Church of Steam and Machinery’s lodgings, took over Horamick’s identity from Old Fan, and learned that the Church of Storms had agreed to cooperate at Nast’s Founding Ceremony. He assigned Nosk to lead the church’s pirate ship and told him the difficult posting would prepare him for leadership.

• Kronos met Old Fan, apologized for leaving him to handle the Church of Steam and Machinery’s troubles, and agreed to return to Backlund with him.
• Old Fan shed Horamick’s identity while Kronos used the Death God Mask to assume Horamick’s appearance, then learned the details of Old Fan’s recent actions.
• Arianna informed Kronos that the Church of Storms had agreed to cooperate after its Angel ordered Jahn Kottman to abandon his plan to disrupt Nast’s Founding Ceremony.
• Kronos told the Church of Steam and Machinery’s delegation that it would congratulate Nast and receive permission to outfit one pirate ship exempt from inspection.
• When no one volunteered to lead the ship, Kronos assigned Nosk to the role and dismissed the other delegates.
• Kronos told Nosk that the assignment would build his leadership experience and prepare him to succeed as archbishop.

Kronos persuaded Nosk to accept a dangerous assignment at sea by promising advancement and support, while Old Fan criticized his manipulation. At Nast’s Founding Ceremony, the Church of the God of Combat prepared to disrupt proceedings, but the appearance of three allies left its delegation leader trembling.

• Kronos convinced Nosk that serving at sea would train him for promotion and help him obtain a demigod potion, while Old Fan pointed out that Kronos had given up nothing.
• Pirates prepared the island for Nast’s Founding Ceremony, where Nast arrived using angel-level Exploit and displayed His Mythical Form beneath Lady Arianna’s concealment.
• Nast introduced the Pirate Duchy’s leaders as the pirates gained confidence, while Kronos watched Jahn Kottman and the Church of the God of Combat delegation for signs of trouble.
• When Jahn failed to act, the Church of the God of Combat decided to disrupt the ceremony itself, but Nast announced the duchy’s allies and three people appeared beside Him.
• The Church of the God of Combat delegation leader began to tremble at the sight of the three allies and asked the Archbishop of the Church of Evernight where the washroom was.