Chapter Summaries

Kronos helped Annie choose the Spectator pathway and guided her through becoming a Beyonder. He then began creating a Hermit pathway figurine by embedding pathway knowledge into carved wood, and prepared to add the knowledge of a Knowledge Emperor.

• Kronos learned that Annie was upset because her family had kept her from becoming a Beyonder, and he admitted he had told them to make her wait.
• Annie told Kronos she had studied all twenty-two pathways and liked both Sailor and Spectator, so he agreed to help her become a Spectator.
• Kronos supervised Annie as she mixed and drank her Sequence 9 potion, and she successfully became a Spectator.
• Kronos carved a piece of Spirit World wood into a cloaked Hermit figurine and used his Knowledge Emperor and dominion powers to fill it with Hermit pathway knowledge.
• Kronos added knowledge from the other Hermit Sequences, strengthening the figurine until it reached the level of Roselle's Blasphemy Cards.
• Kronos began transmitting the knowledge of a Knowledge Emperor into the figurine to see whether he could improve it further.

Kronos crafted figurines containing the knowledge of the Hermit and Paragon Pathways, then spent a month and a half with his family in Constant City while Audrey joined the Psychology Alchemists’ leadership. After completing figurines for all twenty-two Pathways, he left home to become a King of Angel and prepare to fight the Hidden Sage.

• Kronos created a Hermit figurine and a Paragon figurine, carefully shielding his work from Stiano’s influence.
• Kronos reunited with Duke Argel, learned that the western defenses were secure, and spent his days in Constant City with his family.
• Audrey asked to become a Review Board Member of the Psychology Alchemists, and Kronos contacted Adam about rebuilding the organization.
• Adam appointed Hermes to lead the Psychology Alchemists, and Hermes began assessing vacancies and recruiting promising members.
• Kronos finished all twenty-two Pathway figurines, lingered at home for several more days, then left to prepare to become a King of Angel and challenge the Hidden Sage.

Kronos advanced to King of Angel inside Adam’s Corpse Cathedral, then learned that Will Auceptin and Ouroboros could help him unlock the full power of time and fate. He went to Backlund to find Will, whose hiding place remained undiscovered until the Trunsoest Couple suggested he was making Kronos search as payback.

• Kronos chose to advance in Adam’s Corpse Cathedral, where Adam concealed the fluctuations from other powers.
• Kronos drank the second Sequence One potion and fused it with his first characteristic, becoming a King of Angel.
• Adam told Kronos that Will Auceptin and Ouroboros could help him complete the authorities of time and fate, so Kronos decided to seek Will in Backlund first.
• Kronos searched Backlund for Will but could not find him, and the Trunsoest Couple appeared to speak with him.
• Olnia and Trunsoest told Kronos that Will had likely hidden himself to make Kronos work for the search and vent his frustration.

Kronos tracked down Will and learned that the School of Life would give him the Die of Probability in Valterik. At the School of Life’s hidden base, he began dismantling the ritual that contained the Uniqueness.

• Kronos asked Old Negan to locate Aaron and Will, and household records led him to their new home in the West Borough.
• Will told Kronos to go to Valterik in East Balam to receive the Die of Probability, and Kronos promised to arrange an ice cream shop near Will’s house.
• A School of Life member met Kronos in Valterik under the name Mr. Klein and led him to the faction’s hidden base outside the city.
• Three Wheel of Fortune Pathway councilors prepared to hand over the Die of Probability, and Will ordered them to let Kronos dismantle its containment ritual.
• Kronos studied the ritual with his Eyes of Mystery Prying and began transforming it into an informational state.

Kronos joined the School of Life in an alliance with the Numinous Episcopate against the Rose School, hoping to secure Will’s favor and confront Xiya. At the gathering, Mr. Azik was revealed as the Numinous Episcopate’s new leader, having defeated Xiya and advanced to Sequence One.

• Kronos opened the Dice of Probability’s box, watched it change from one to five under Fate’s influence, and bowed to the unseen presence.
• Kronos offered to accompany the School of Life to the Numinous Episcopate if Will owed him a favor, and Will agreed.
• Two days later, Kronos arrived with the School of Life and other groups at the Numinous Episcopate’s alliance gathering against the Rose School.
• Tony Dawn challenged the Numinous Episcopate to bring out its leader, and Mr. Azik appeared instead of Xiya.
• Haiter introduced Azik Eggers as the Numinous Episcopate’s new leader and the Death Consul of the Balam Empire.
• Kronos learned that Azik had defeated Xiya, taken control of the Numinous Episcopate, and advanced to Sequence One, and he concluded that the School of Life was safe from annexation.

Kronos helped Azik form an alliance with the Temperance Faction and Klein to strike at the Rose School, then went to meet Adam and declared he was ready to see Ouroboros. The chapter ended with Kronos preparing for that meeting.

• Azik announced that he had become the leader of the Numinous Episcopate and proposed a campaign against the Rose School, while Haiter pressured the hesitant representatives.
• Kronos suggested enlisting the Temperance Faction, reminded Azik that Klein’s messenger Reinette could be contacted, and agreed to help arrange the meeting.
• Kronos brought Reinette and Klein to the Numinous Episcopate, where Azik and Reinette agreed to share information and cooperate against the Indulgence Faction.
• Klein embraced Azik and decided to remain on the Southern Continent to join the campaign against the Rose School.
• Kronos visited Adam at the Corpse Cathedral, heard Hermes report on the Psychology Alchemists, and told Adam he was ready to see Ouroboros.

Kronos traveled to the Holy Mountain to negotiate with Ouroboros for a Snake of Mercury Beyonder Characteristic, and Ouroboros agreed to trade it if Kronos could briefly restore the True Creator to normal. Kronos began pushing back the True Creator’s time, but the chapter ended before the massive task was complete.

• Adam opened a teleportation passage that brought Kronos into the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and Kronos traveled to the Holy Mountain.
• Sitifu confronted Kronos, and Kronos subdued him with streams of information without killing him.
• Ouroboros appeared, led Kronos into the Holy Mountain, and asked him to restore the True Creator to normal for a few minutes in exchange for what Kronos wanted.
• Kronos agreed to try, and Ouroboros brought him a crate of old Recovery Potions.
• Kronos summoned the River of Time and used the potions Ouroboros administered to strengthen it as he tried to push back the True Creator’s time.

Kronos rewound the True Creator’s time far enough to restore his sanity, allowing Ouroboros to ask about Adam and receive guidance. After the True Creator returned to madness, he helped Ouroboros separate a Sequence One Beyonder characteristic, completing the transaction with Kronos.

• Kronos and Ouroboros rewound the True Creator’s time to before the War of the Four Emperors, restoring his rational emotions.
• Ouroboros asked the True Creator what to do about Adam, and the True Creator explained that Adam was the Ancient Sun God’s path to resurrection.
• The True Creator told Ouroboros not to interfere with Adam and to decide for himself later whether to follow him.
• Kronos released the temporal state, and the True Creator returned to his madness and upside-down giant form.
• The True Creator used his power to extract Ouroboros’s Sequence One Beyonder characteristic, which Ouroboros handed to Kronos to complete their transaction.
• Ouroboros told Kronos the meeting had been worth it because it had eased his heart and reaffirmed what the Lord meant to him.

Kronos obtained the Snake of Mercury Beyonder Characteristic from Ouroboros and gained a limited ability to sense fate, helping him judge the risks of changing history. He left Adam with news about the True Creator, then secluded himself on a deserted island to master his power and complete the Hermit's advancement ritual.

• Ouroboros gave Kronos the Beyonder Characteristic and left the Holy Mountain after the True Creator freed him to choose his own path.
• The power of fate transformed the Characteristic and the Dice of Probability into a mark on Kronos's arm, allowing him to sense fate and better gauge the consequences of changing history.
• Kronos left the Holy Mountain and told Adam that Ouroboros had surrendered the Characteristic and that the True Creator would not oppose Adam's plan to merge with him while lucid.
• Kronos warned Adam that the True Creator's current out-of-control state could still resist him, then left the Corpse Cathedral.
• Kronos settled on a deserted island in the Fog Sea to test his ability and use it to erase or redirect information about himself, advancing the Hermit's ritual.

Kronos traveled back through the River of Time, raised his infant self under other identities, and guided events to preserve his apotheosis ritual. After time rewrote itself, the world's backlash badly injured him, and he went to Conston City to recover near his family, who no longer remembered him, while resolving to defeat the Hidden Sage.

• Kronos traveled upstream through the River of Time, took his newborn self from the Argel Family, and erased his parents' memories of him.
• Kronos raised his younger self under other identities and secretly guided him through his original life, helping restore the Argel Family's standing.
• At the chosen deserted island, Kronos's younger self revealed that he had uncovered the hidden memories and understood Kronos's plan.
• Kronos returned to his own time as history rewrote itself, then suffered a severe backlash for changing the past.
• Kronos went to Conston City to recover near Argel Manor, where the Duke and Duchess Argel and Annie had no memory of him.
• Kronos resolved to defeat the Hidden Sage so that his life and name would not vanish from the world's memory.

Kronos prepared an ambush for the Hidden Sage in the Moses Ascetic Order's lair and struck while the Hidden Sage rested. His rituals and Divine Punishment wounded the Hidden Sage, but Kronos's Judgment Revolver shot missed when the Hidden Sage suddenly moved.

• Kronos returned to the island, avoided the Moses Ascetic Order's warning rituals, and prepared a concealed ambush in the central hall.
• Kronos used Amanises's divinity to hide his preparations, set three powerful rituals, and readied his Figurines.
• The Hidden Sage returned from tormenting a Warlock and coiled around the hall to rest, unaware of Kronos's concealment.
• After waiting for the Hidden Sage to hibernate, Kronos activated three rituals that restrained him, burned him, and prevented his wounds from healing.
• Kronos struck the Hidden Sage with Divine Punishment and fired the Judgment Revolver, but the Hidden Sage moved suddenly and avoided the bullet.

Kronos challenged the Hidden Sage directly but was overwhelmed by his knowledge attacks and escaped using Time Reload and Amanises’s concealment ritual. After the Hidden Sage returned to rest, Kronos launched Plan B by sending his Figurines to distract and restrain him while preparing his next move.

• The Hidden Sage broke free of his restraints and fought Kronos, gaining the advantage with waves of unfamiliar knowledge.
• Kronos tried to counter with advanced knowledge, but the Hidden Sage used the Hermit's Light of Knowledge to dispel his confusion and intensify the assault.
• Kronos used Time Reload to shed the attack's effects, then concealed himself with the ritual based on Amanises's divinity.
• The Hidden Sage failed to find Kronos, returned to the great hall, searched for the ritual, and eventually settled down to rest.
• Kronos hurled his twenty-two Figurines at the Hidden Sage, transforming them into Archangels to hold him back as he began Plan B.

Kronos traveled back to the War of the Gods and secretly gave a Scholar of Yore the Judgment Revolver, helping him grievously wound and corrupt the Hidden Sage before he died. Kronos returned the revolver to himself and found that changing the battle had caused little backlash, while the Hidden Sage survived and would spend longer recovering.

• Kronos traveled through the River of Time to the battle where Bornova and the Scholars of Yore had fought the Hidden Sage.
• Bornova was badly wounded, and three Scholars of Yore arrived with the Mirror of Stasis to freeze the Hidden Sage while they attacked him.
• Kronos secretly gave the Judgment Revolver to a Scholar of Yore, who fired its final shot and inflicted severe damage on the Hidden Sage.
• The Nation of Disorder corrupted the shooter, who embraced the Hidden Sage to spread the corruption before Bornova blasted him apart.
• The Mirror of Stasis wielder collapsed after exhausting his lifespan, allowing the Hidden Sage to escape while Bornova held back.
• Kronos retrieved the revolver and sensed that his changes had caused little disruption: the Hidden Sage survived, recovered in seclusion, and spared two Mystery Pryers.

Kronos exploited the Hidden Sage’s lingering wound to shatter his Mythical Form, allowing Constantin to regain control of his body. After agreeing to destroy the consciousness inside the Uniqueness in exchange for Constantin’s help securing his Beyonder Characteristics, Kronos erased it with his time powers, but corruption poured from Constantin’s body just as Kronos reached for the Characteristics.

• Kronos directed the Figurines’ attacks at the Hidden Sage’s unhealed wound and tore it open, collapsing his Mythical Form.
• Kronos struck the exposed Hidden Sage with the Thunder of Divine Punishment and the Light of Purification, driving the Uniqueness’s consciousness into the cloak and allowing Constantin to awaken.
• Constantin explained that he could not survive and offered to contain the corruption during his death if Kronos destroyed the consciousness inside the Uniqueness.
• Kronos reversed time on the cloak until it reached a state before the consciousness had formed, then agreed to follow Constantin’s plan.
• Constantin shut off his consciousness and died, and Kronos used the Sun Pathway’s power to draw out his Beyonder Characteristics.
• Corruption poured from Constantin’s body as Kronos reached to take the Beyonder Characteristics.

Kronos thwarted Constantin’s attempt to use corruption to possess him, then claimed the Hermit Cloak and advanced to a King of Angels. He postponed becoming a Hermit until his allies could distract Stiano, with Adam agreeing to create a major upheaval.

• Constantin sent corruption after Kronos, hoping to occupy his attention and enter his body, but Kronos’s time barrier kept them separated.
• Constantin’s plan failed, and his consciousness dissipated as the corruption consumed it; Kronos took the Beyonder characteristic and cloak.
• Kronos remained in the hidden space, recovered for five days, and merged with the Hermit Cloak, becoming a King of Angels who had accommodated its Uniqueness.
• Kronos judged his apotheosis ritual nearly complete but delayed drinking the final potion to stabilize himself and avoid alerting Stiano.
• Kronos asked his allies to help distract Stiano, and Adam agreed to cause an upheaval that would draw attention away from Kronos’s advancement.

Adam drew the gods to the Forsaken Land of the Gods and held the True Creator at bay while Amanises and Lilith helped keep the battle going. Stiano left the Perfect Land to watch, giving Kronos the chance to drink the Knowledge Emperor potion, and Adam then incited Leodero to attack Stiano.

• Adam entered the Forsaken Land of the Gods and confronted the True Creator, while Leodero, Aucuses, and Herabergen arrived and resisted the corruption.
• Amanises and Lilith revealed themselves, and Stiano decided to leave the Perfect Land to watch the gathering of gods.
• Kronos detected Stiano passing the Giant King's Court, returned to the Moses Ascetic Order, and drank the Knowledge Emperor potion.
• Lilith intercepted Aucuses while Amanises engaged Herabergen and occupied Leodero, holding back to buy Kronos time.
• Amanises called on Stiano to stop Leodero using the favor he had promised her, forcing Stiano to reveal himself.
• Adam reminded Stiano of his earlier apology to Leodero and provoked him with the possibility of making Leodero apologize to him.

Kronos completed the final steps of becoming the Hermit as Adam distracted the True Creator and kept Stiano occupied. After Kronos gained the Knowledge Torrent’s recognition, Adam drew on the Chaos Sea, forcing Leodero and the other gods to flee, while Lilith and Amanises considered killing Stiano and giving his Beyonder characteristics to Kronos.

• Adam and Amanises arranged for Leodero to fight Stiano so Stiano would not notice Kronos’s apotheosis.
• Adam used the Blasphemy Slate to suppress the True Creator’s kingdom of corruption while Amon lamented that Adam had abandoned their tacit understanding and left without completing his preparations.
• Kronos used the Hermit Uniqueness and the Light of Knowledge to gain the Knowledge Torrent’s recognition and begin his transformation into the Hermit.
• After receiving Kronos’s notification, Adam drew on the Chaos Sea, prompting Leodero and the other two to retreat.
• Lilith suggested that she and Amanises kill Stiano and give his Beyonder characteristics to Kronos, and Amanises began considering the plan.

After mastering his new authorities, Kronos restored history, took control of the Moses Ascetic Order, and returned home to reunite with his family. He monitored Klein and Amon’s plans while waiting for an opportunity to draw Stiano out of the Perfect Land.

• Amanises refused Lilith’s suggestion to make decisions for Kronos, and Adam left the Forsaken Land after the conflict ended without accepting Stiano’s overture.
• Kronos mastered his authorities, revised history so his family remembered him, and decided to take over the Moses Ascetic Order while keeping the Hidden Sage’s disappearance secret.
• Kronos freed the sealed Sage, restored him to full strength, and won Fletcher’s loyalty before reorganizing the Moses Ascetic Order.
• Amon broke with Adam and allied with Leodero, Aucuses, and Herabergen, hoping to become the Lord of the Mysteries without Adam’s help.
• Kronos returned to Midseashire and enjoyed time with his family while watching Klein’s Marionette Town and Verdu, hoping Mr. Door’s return or Klein and Amon’s struggle would lure Stiano out of the Perfect Land.

Verdu performed a ritual to bring Bethel Abraham back, but the summoned Flesh Door killed him as Mr. Door emerged and the true gods clashed over his return. Amon left with Mr. Door while Kronos waited for Stiano, then used the Lamp of Knowledge to paralyze him and set up a fatal attack.

• Verdu contacted the Red Angel Evil Spirit, who provided three demigod sacrifices for the ritual to free Bethel Abraham.
• Kronos warned Klein that Amon was about to become a god, prompting Klein to leave Utopia and seek Bernadette.
• Verdu completed the ritual, but the sacrifices formed a Flesh Door and he died as Mr. Door forced his way through.
• Lilith, Amanises, Leodero, Aucuses, and Herabergen fought amid the Mother Goddess of Depravity's corruption while Amon persuaded Mr. Door to leave with him.
• Stiano arrived and attacked Leodero, but Kronos used the Lamp of Knowledge to paralyze him, allowing Leodero's lightning and a hand through Stiano's chest to strike him.

Kronos revealed himself as the Hermit and confronted Stiano, exposing his role in the attacks on Stiano and the Church of Steam and Machinery. As Amanises and the others restrained Stiano’s potential allies, Kronos pursued him and gained the upper hand in their fight.

• Kronos appeared behind Stiano, wounded him, and introduced himself to the True Gods as a newly advanced Hermit.
• Kronos revealed that he had impersonated Horamick and plundered the Perfect Land, then reminded Stiano of the Church of Steam and Machinery’s schemes against his family.
• Kronos urged Leodero and the others to make peace with Adam because the Outer Deities threatened their world, while Stiano used the confusion to flee.
• Amanises held Leodero and the others back as Kronos chased Stiano, who resisted Kronos’s attempt to immobilize him with the Light of Knowledge.
• Kronos battered Stiano with punches and then suppressed his authority with the Light of Knowledge, leaving Stiano at a disadvantage.