Recaps

Vanessa used [Spirit Vision] inside the Great Being’s [Abode], claiming her spirituality had assured her it was safe. She and Victoria then noticed Evan absorbing something from the Lord of Dreams’ corpse, and Vanessa asked Victoria what it was.

• Vanessa realized she could see Evan without activating [Spirit Vision], then used it and saw a huge phantom beside Victoria.
• Victoria slapped Vanessa and warned that using [Spirit Vision] in a dream could cause irreversible madness.
• Vanessa claimed her spirituality had told her it was safe inside a Great Being’s [Abode], and Victoria accepted that possibility.
• Vanessa suggested that their abilities might also be safe to use, saying the Great Being did not seem to intend to stop them.
• Vanessa told Victoria that Evan appeared to be absorbing something from the Lord of Dreams’ corpse and asked what it was.

Vanessa saw that Dream Creatures contained white motes of power that entered Evan, while Victoria warned that absorbing dream power was dangerous. When a Nightmare emerged through a rift, Vanessa used [Spirituality Pressure] twice and realized the Nightmare had shifted all its eyes out of sight to evade the stronger attack.

• Vanessa used [Spirit Vision] to see white motes inside Dream Creatures and watched some of them flow into Evan.
• Victoria tried to pull Evan away with spider silk, but it passed through him as a new Nightmare appeared in a rift.
• Vanessa saw that the Nightmare had motes of light and reacted more like a living creature than the Dream Creatures.
• Vanessa used [Spirituality Pressure] on her own, but the Nightmare only paused before the Lord controlled her to use it again.
• Victoria hauled Vanessa back, and Vanessa saw that the Nightmare had moved all its eyes behind the rift to evade the stronger attack.

Vanessa faced a nightmare that dodged [Spirituality Pressure] and seemed certain to kill her. Just before Victoria rescued her, the nightmare stopped, closed its eyes, and bowed to Vanessa, leaving her stunned after it was destroyed.

• The nightmare dodged Elliot's [Spirituality Pressure], leaving Vanessa without the nearby points of light needed to use it again at full strength.
• Victoria pulled Vanessa away as the nightmare's gaze fixed on her and her spiritual intuition warned that she could not escape death.
• Vanessa used [Secret Art: Overdraft] to force out another [Spirituality Pressure], but it barely affected the nightmare.
• As Victoria rushed to Vanessa, the nightmare stopped, closed all its eyes, and bowed slightly toward her.
• Time returned to normal, and Victoria's bullets and spider silk cut the nightmare into pieces before she pulled Vanessa behind her and asked if she was all right.

Elliot analyzed the defeated nightmare and theorized that Lords of Dreams might be fragments that could gradually reassemble into a complete, powerful being. He wondered whether the nightmare had recognized his use of [Spirituality Pressure] because it had encountered him before it was divided.

• Elliot reviewed the nightmare's unusual strength and its refusal to attack or evade Vanessa before it was killed.
• Elliot compared the nightmare with the weaker, distorted Lords of Dreams and considered whether they were fragments of a larger being.
• Elliot used pieces of bread to illustrate how fragments might fit together and restore a complete form.
• Elliot reasoned that nightmares could grow stronger until they became whole, and questioned whether a complete Lord of Dreams would be a Great Being.
• Elliot recalled that the nightmare distinguished his layered [Spirituality Pressure] from Vanessa's and wondered whether it had seen him before it was divided.

Elliot considered whether the Lords of Dreams had once been whole and questioned whether Maeve’s [Worm] was connected to the nightmares. After the nightmare’s death, Vanessa struggled with its gesture of recognition, while Victoria worried over her; Vanessa’s fluctuating Spirituality then drew their attention to a piece of the corpse pointing nearby.

• Elliot recalled that the nightmare had acknowledged him before dying and wondered what the Lords of Dreams had been before they were divided.
• Elliot considered whether [Worm] was a nightmare, but doubted the idea because Maeve’s powers and the worm were tied to the moon while dreams seemed unrelated.
• Elliot noticed that Maeve’s [Crescent Moon Prayer] had come off cooldown, but decided not to summon the worm again until he understood it.
• Vanessa sat dazed beside the nightmare’s corpse, hurt by its gesture of kindness and imagining that it might once have known her.
• Victoria checked Vanessa for a mental attack, and Vanessa concealed what she had experienced while Victoria regretted putting her in danger.
• Vanessa’s Spirituality fluctuated, and a piece of the nightmare’s corpse flipped over and pointed somewhere nearby.

Vanessa witnessed a luminous figure emerge from the nightmare’s remains, and Elliot discovered that the resulting [Momentary Remembrance] Card could dispel [Despair] but was slowly being forgotten. As the dream battle intensified, Dorothea reinforced the defenses while Victoria ate Maeve’s flesh to restore her spirituality and asked for Evan.

• Vanessa used [Spirit Vision] and watched the nightmare’s lights gather around one piece of flesh before a luminous figure gave her a curtsy and vanished.
• Elliot examined the [Momentary Remembrance] Card and learned it could dispel [Despair] once and was counting down as the [Forgetting] slot slowly consumed it.
• Elliot suspected the nightmare had not truly died and that he would encounter it again.
• Dorothea ordered the soldiers to fire despite Maeve being in the fighting, then prayed for supplies, weapons, ammunition, and reinforcements as the Lords of Dreams grew stronger and more numerous.
• Victoria ate Maeve’s roasted flesh to restore her spirituality, then asked for Evan to be brought over because his body was nearly solidified.

Vanessa and Victoria discovered that Evan could attack Dream Creatures despite remaining untouchable, and he gradually became fully solid. When he regained consciousness, he recognized Victoria but seemed unnervingly emotionless.

• Vanessa tried to touch Evan but her hand passed through him, then told him to attack a Dream Creature.
• Evan fired a shoulder cannon, annihilating the targeted Dream Creature and many others in a huge explosion.
• Victoria observed that Evan could affect the dream while remaining immune to attacks and the Formless Art.
• Evan finished solidifying as nearby spirits vibrated, and Victoria bound him with spider silk in case he had lost control.
• Evan opened his eyes, listened to Victoria explain who she was, and nodded with precise, mechanical movements, making Vanessa wonder if the Lord controlled him.

Elliot discovered that someone else was controlling Evan, while Vanessa and Victoria found that Evan’s Spirit had separated from his flesh. Elliot suspected the loss of control was connected to himself and the Dream, and noticed Evan’s Spirit Body was whole despite his mechanical prostheses.

• Elliot tried to control Evan through the Difference Engine, but Evan’s Card was rejected because someone else was already controlling him.
• Elliot took control of Vanessa and watched her question Evan, whose movements and responses were delayed.
• Vanessa used Spirit Vision to discover Evan’s Spirit remained where he had stood after Victoria pulled his physical body away.
• Victoria reunited Evan’s Spirit and body, and he regained control but was told he could not leave the Courtyard.
• Elliot concluded Evan’s loss of control might be connected to him and the Dream, then noticed Evan’s Spirit Body had no prostheses.

Sidney agreed to get Elliot to join the expedition in exchange for Lillian helping him claim the throne after Michel killed the monarch. Elliot learned that Conrad’s identity was concealed and then discovered the court had requisitioned his Difference Engine Core for the war effort.

• Lillian told Sidney that Elliot had refused her requests to join the expedition, and Sidney said he believed Elliot would change history.
• Sidney promised to get Elliot onto the expedition and reminded Lillian to help him ascend the throne after Michel killed the monarch.
• Elliot asked Conrad about his identity, and Conrad said it involved [Concealment] and could be revealed once Elliot reached middle rank.
• Elliot considered sacrificing the Lords of Dreams’ corpses to the Difference Engine, but Conrad warned that the expedition needed the machine cores.
• Conrad explained that Elliot’s Difference Engine Core had been officially requisitioned under the War Act because it had belonged to a minor noble in New Scandinavia.

Elliot first planned to flee with his Difference Engine Core rather than surrender it, but Third Prince Sidney offered him an exception to the Edict and a collection of new machines in exchange for going to the Expedition Frontline. As Elliot considers accepting, Conrad explains that his family’s ritual can connect him to [Concealment] without a Great Being, prompting Elliot to realize the Great Beings’ influence may be weakening.

• Elliot decided to take his Difference Engine Core to New Scandinavia and hide rather than hand it over under the Edict.
• Conrad told Elliot that Third Prince Sidney had secured him an exception, allowing him to keep the Core while going to the Expedition Frontline without fighting.
• Conrad added that Sidney would send Elliot his collection of Difference Engines, including the latest models and one Elliot had recently tried to order.
• Elliot reconsidered the trip after recalling that his family’s ritual could let him come into contact with [Concealment].
• Conrad explained that most rituals did not require a Great Being, and Elliot realized that the Great Beings’ influence over supernatural people might be diminishing.

Elliot realized that the Great Beings and the Supernatural were increasingly constrained, then suspected that Sidney had arranged every coincidence to steer him toward joining the Expedition. Though he still regarded Sidney as a friend, Elliot refused to go, hid his Difference Engine Core, and destroyed the Cards, leaving Conrad to send the reply.

• Elliot questioned Conrad about why scholars had begun calling historical Eras Industrial Revolutions, and Conrad explained that the naming followed Tryst's Thrice-Great.
• Elliot agreed that Sidney's generous terms gave him an easy way to avoid the Emperor's decree, then accused the coincidences surrounding the invitation of being too perfectly arranged.
• Elliot said he would help Sidney because he considered him a friend, but he was angry that Sidney had blocked every other path and left him only one choice.
• Elliot removed the Difference Engine Core, told Conrad to hide it, and declared that he would stay home and let the authorities arrest him.
• Elliot shredded every Card in the Difference Engine, and Conrad agreed to send the reply before leaving the room.

Elliot reflected on Sidney’s reckless yet shrewd nature and wondered what ideal drove him. After Sidney arrested him and the Emperor quickly pardoned him, Elliot chose to remain in prison, where Sidney finally came to ask whether he still considered him a friend.

• Elliot recalled Sidney’s bold political moves and concluded that Sidney was both shrewd and idealistic, though he could not identify Sidney’s ideal.
• Sidney seized Elliot at the Sterling Family mansion and took him to prison, while Elliot’s family forces did not intervene.
• The Emperor pardoned Elliot and reprimanded Sidney, but Elliot stayed in prison by choice.
• Elliot tried prison black bread for the first time and reflected on how poor people depended on it to survive.
• Sidney arrived at Elliot’s cell, looking haggard, and asked to talk if Elliot still considered him a friend.

Allen explained the Communion’s relationship with Elliot to Phoebe and Clara as tensions rose in the Hearthfire District. Elsa returned with orders for Allen to accompany Elliot on an Expedition, promising a garrison for the district and hinting the mission could bring back people trapped in the Dream; she began to explain what the Expedition really was.

• Phoebe and Clara questioned Allen about the missing Communion members and whether war had begun, and he confirmed that it had.
• Allen explained that the Workers’ Association temporarily managed the factory and Communion together, while Elliot governed the district and the Communion oversaw the workers’ faith.
• Elsa returned and told Allen that Elliot had officially joined the Expedition and that Allen must accompany him with a squad.
• Elsa said Lillian, an Immortal from the Hollow Cathedral, would garrison the Hearthfire District under an agreement Elliot made with Third Prince Sidney.
• Elsa gave Allen a secret mobilization order and said the Expedition might bring Vanessa and the others back from the Dream.
• When Allen asked how the Expedition could do that, Elsa began explaining its true purpose.

Elsa explained to Allen that expeditions were humanity’s wars against monsters and revealed that the Communion’s next expedition would go to the moon. Meanwhile, Elliot learned that Cora, a survivor of the Blood Feast, had been assigned as his expedition secretary, though he did not know how it happened.

• Elsa told Allen that the Hundred-Year War had been humanity’s first expedition because the heretics persecuted by the Blood Moon Sect were not human.
• Elsa explained that expeditions fought monsters to stabilize the present world and oppose humanity’s enemies, and said Allen’s group would travel to the moon.
• Elliot recognized Cora as a survivor he had rescued from the Blood Feast and questioned why she had become his secretary instead of going to the Hearthfire District.
• Cora said she had repeated Elliot’s words to Conrad, who then arranged her secretary position, leaving Elliot puzzled about what he had said.

Elliot clarified that he had never promised to take Cora to war, though her training had already granted her access to Secret History. He explained Sidney’s plan to reform the Empire and left Cora stunned by the prince’s belief that nobles should lose their political monopoly.

• Cora reminded Elliot that he had warned her about the dangers of war, and Elliot realized the Old Butler had mistaken his words and trained her for the Expedition.
• Cora told Elliot that Conrad had raised her to middle rank so she could study Secret History, and Elliot concluded that he would seek the Old Duke’s Ritual at the front.
• Cora asked Elliot whether he had beaten Sidney, and Elliot explained that Sidney had apologized publicly, made promises, and agreed to join him on the Expedition with the Difference Engine Core.
• Cora reacted with alarm when Elliot said Sidney believed nobles should not rule, then realized she had instinctively spoken as though she were a noble herself.
• Elliot recalled Sidney’s proposal to break the nobles’ political monopoly, create a path for commoners to govern, and gain the Sterling Family’s support.

Elliot decided to support Sidney despite doubting his plans, then joined Sidney and Michel as they led a grand expeditionary procession out of the Imperial Capital. The expedition set out toward the Outskirts, leaving Elliot to wonder what would await them when they returned.

• Elliot told Cora he would help Sidney because Sidney was the only person offering hope, then returned to prepare for the expedition.
• Allen brought more than twenty Factory Guards to the assembly square, where he found the Sterling Family’s lavishly equipped contingent.
• Elliot gave Allen’s men Sterling Family Crests and rode to the Crown District to meet Michel and Sidney.
• Michel, Sidney, and Elliot led the ceremonial procession through the Imperial Capital as crowds cheered and nobles watched.
• After the procession passed through the city gate, Elliot looked back and saw the smog hiding the Imperial Palace.

Elliot traveled toward the Expedition Frontline and learned that it was located on the moon, which the Empire reached through a woodland near New Scandinavia. After arriving, he wondered whether the city was supplying the expedition with corpses.

• Elliot left the Imperial Capital with his retinue and prepared to board a royal airship equipped with a Difference Engine.
• Cora told Elliot that the Expedition Frontline had occupied Deep Dive Points and was preparing to establish a Forward Base.
• Elliot learned that the expedition was heading to the moon and wondered whether Dorothea could emerge from the mirror in his luggage.
• Elliot traveled with the party for three days and arrived at a woodland with a lake and a railway leading to New Scandinavia.
• Elliot realized that New Scandinavia supplied the expedition and wondered whether its supply of corpses came from the people who died in its streets.

Elliot learned that corpses were scarce across the Empire and asked how the expedition would reach the moon. As the full-moon departure approached, he joined the expedition’s camp and suspected the still lake was tied to their journey.

• Elliot asked Cora whether her university’s Medical School had enough corpses, and she said students often had to reuse dissected bodies.
• Cora explained that a lunar expedition required midnight under a full moon, unless a lunar eclipse made the phase irrelevant; she said the next eclipse was decades away.
• Cora showed Elliot the expedition camp and said the Royal Family and the Sterling Family were contributing the most manpower, while the Seven Orthodox Churches had also sent members.
• Michel greeted Elliot and said the expedition would set out that night because the ritual was ready.
• Michel’s expression shifted into a rational state as he looked toward the lake, and Elliot wondered if its still waters provided a route to the moon.

Elliot joined Michel and Sidney’s ritual at the Lake, where he realized the glowing flowers and mirror-like water were part of an entrance to the moon. As a vast eye appeared in the mirror and fixed its gaze on him, Elliot became trapped and considered using [Spirituality Pressure].

• Elliot recognized the weathered pillars as Cosmog Dynasty ruins and questioned how their apparent age fit the known history.
• Elliot noticed that the Lake’s glowing flowers matched patterns on items Vanessa had brought back from Victoria and suspected they were connected to the entrance.
• Michel began the ritual, a barrier formed around the Lake, and everyone knelt to pray while Sidney joined them.
• Elliot noticed Michel switch off [Rationality] and guessed that the ritual required abilities to be disabled, so he withdrew [Spirit Vision].
• The Lake became a mirror, and the moon appeared as an enormous emotionless eye that turned to stare directly at Elliot.
• Elliot found himself unable to look away or switch off [Spirit Vision] and considered using [Spirituality Pressure] against the eye.

Elliot crossed through a magical passage to the lunar Expedition Frontline, but arrived alone in a strange, muffled wilderness. As distorted monsters appeared above him, he suspected that being beyond the Difference Engine’s protection had exposed something special about him.

• As Michel completed his spell, the lake folded open and revealed a dark passage beneath its mirrored surface, interrupting the enormous eye Elliot had seen.
• Elliot resolved to learn more about the eye and the Great Being of the [Justice] Path, and to use supernatural abilities himself as little as possible.
• Michel and Sidney invited Elliot to cross with them, and Elliot jumped through the passage after watching the soldiers, horses, and carriages enter.
• Elliot emerged alone in a misty place with weak gravity and sluggish movement, and realized the bubbles escaping his mouth suggested he was underwater.
• Elliot wondered whether leaving the Difference Engine’s protection had revealed something unusual about him, then saw distorted monsters looking down at him.

Elliot found himself on a seabed beneath the Lunar Surface, surrounded by distorted monsters that watched him from above. While he tried to avoid provoking them, Michel and Sidney searched for him, and Michel warned that Elliot might have sunk into the Abyssal Sea.

• Elliot realized his spirituality had warned him not to enter the Lunar Surface and found himself trapped beneath a dense mass of monsters.
• Elliot used [Concealment] and [Mother of Concealment], but the monsters kept watching him; when he jumped, they gathered overhead, so he sank back to the seabed.
• Michel told Sidney that repeated searches had found no trace of Elliot, and Sidney confirmed that Cora had followed Elliot into the water.
• Cora asked what happened to someone lost in the sea, and Michel explained that they might float toward a dangerous surface or sink into the Abyssal Sea.

Michel and Sidney questioned Cora about Elliot’s disappearance, while Elliot followed his spiritual guidance across the seabed. The guidance led him to a dark cave, whose contents remained unknown.

• Michel and Sidney concluded that Elliot was likely in the shallows or the abyss, since reaching the moon’s surface was nearly impossible.
• Cora explained that locating devices had burned out and that her ritual gave precise directions that kept changing.
• Cora recalled hearing the entire Sea of the Moon cheering when Elliot disappeared.
• Elliot’s [Veil] talent guided him toward a hidden location as monsters watched him from above.
• Elliot reached a meter-wide cave opening and peered into its darkness.

Elliot investigated a narrow underwater passage but discovered that ascending caused him severe pain and bleeding, leaving him trapped on the seabed. He noticed that the monsters reacted whenever he rose and began to wonder whether they were warning him and could help him.

• Elliot tested the narrow passage with a glowing ring and found no danger in the section he could see, but worried he might get trapped if he entered.
• After standing, Elliot realized that his dizziness might be connected to ascending and rushed upward to test his suspicion.
• Elliot suffered a stabbing pain, blacked out, and began bleeding from his nose after rising several meters.
• Elliot tried ascending slowly but felt the pain return, then concluded that he could not return to the surface.
• Elliot noticed that the monsters calmed when he sank and gathered excitedly whenever he tried to rise, prompting him to consider using them.

Elliot used Hypnosis on the monsters surrounding him and discovered that they could descend but not ascend. After one monster suddenly killed another when Elliot gave it a new instruction, he suspected the attack had triggered one of the rules he had implanted.

• Elliot hypnotized a monster and imprinted rules requiring it to protect him, obey his orders, and repeat any order that would harm him before carrying it out.
• Elliot ordered the monster to sink and rise, learning that it could descend but resisted ascending because doing so would harm him.
• Elliot hypnotized a second monster and instructed it to nod when he said something correct.
• The first monster abruptly killed the second just after Elliot imprinted the instruction, then sank again when he ordered it to.
• Elliot suspected the first monster's attack had triggered one of the rules he had implanted.

Elliot discovered that Dream Creatures could understand him but that attempts to communicate with them caused them to die, and he suspected they were secretly trying to help him. He used a hypnotized Monster to investigate an opening and recognized the wall material as Nightmare.

• Elliot reasoned that a hidden rule had caused his hypnotized Monster to protect him when he gave an order involving communication.
• Elliot tested his theory and found that hypnotizing Monsters to communicate caused them to die, while other commands worked.
• Elliot ordered an unhypnotized Monster to dive, ascend, and confirm it understood him; it burst apart after meeting his gaze.
• Elliot had his hypnotized Monster touch him and enter an opening, and the opening expanded to let the Monster through.
• Elliot recognized the material of the walls as Nightmare.