Recaps

Sidney’s fleet lost its sensors and communications as a gigantic Nightmare and a vast mass of Dream Creatures rushed toward the Abyssal Sea. The chapter ended with Michel reporting that the newly discovered mines had come alive.

• Sidney ordered the fleet to hold position after its detectors and communications failed, while Lady Camilla reported that ships near the Abyssal Sea had been hit first.
• A huge tentacle passed the Judgment Angel, and Sidney recognized the creature as the Nightmare Elliot had described.
• Sidney noticed the Nightmare was diving and saw Dream Creatures from every direction rushing down into the Abyssal Sea.
• Sidney ordered the fleet not to attack, but one ship fired without authorization; the Dream Creatures ignored the attack and continued diving.
• Michel rushed in and told Sidney that the mines they had discovered had come alive.

Sidney and Michel learned that the mines were living eggs connected to the moon, and a parasitic outbreak spread through the Expedition Fleet. Allen and the Communion believers fought to contain the infection and protect Lord Elliot, though they were infected themselves.

• A wounded soldier told Sidney and Michel that the mines had been alive and were eggs, then declared that he was the moon before long hair burst from his wounds and blood.
• Michel identified the spreading hair as a parasite, and Sidney drew his sword as the infected soldier attacked them.
• Long-Haired Monsters erupted across the Expedition Fleet, setting off battles and explosions throughout the Sea of the Moon.
• Allen refused to lead infected believers to Lord Elliot and insisted they defend the Hearthfire District by keeping the outbreak from reaching the Duke.
• Allen recalled that cutting the first maddened sailors had released monsters from their bodies, and he saw the parasite's hair writhing beneath his own skin.

Allen and the Communion believers fought monsters aboard the ship while their own parasitic infections worsened with every use of spirituality. As the believers prepared to face their apparent final battle, a huge monster began smashing through the cabin door.

• Allen killed a monster that had emerged from a believer, but black hair began growing from his own arm as the parasites reacted to his use of spirituality.
• Allen realized that the infected believers were trapped in a worsening cycle of fighting monsters and deepening their infestations.
• The believers despaired over being abandoned, but Allen urged them to keep fighting for their Lord, the Hearthfire District, the Duke, and the Communion.
• The believers regained their courage and prepared to leave the safe cabin and fight, while Allen wondered whether he could lead them through the crisis.
• A huge monster rammed the cabin door, leaving it close to breaking as the believers prayed and readied themselves for battle.

Allen recognized the moon-linked monsters in the Sea of the Moon as creatures from the Saint Clair festival as the blood moon appeared across the world. The Thinker announced that the Second Era’s end had failed after an unknown intervention, and Elliot confronted Allen and the Communion’s Extraordinary Ones.

• Allen recognized the monster outside the hatch as one from the Saint Clair festival and connected the creatures to the moon.
• People and cultists across the world saw the moon turn blood red and move, while Tobias told Isaac that the Prophet in the Urn had forced a prophecy into the Helms family’s minds.
• The Thinker predicted humanity’s defeat and the end of the Second Era, but its calculations jammed and then declared that the era’s end had failed because “He does not agree.”
• The Thinker recalculated countless futures and finally printed, “He turned his gaze toward the moon.”
• Allen urged his companions to warn the Duke about the monsters’ true nature, but Elliot emerged with armed Machine Priests and confronted them.

Elliot arrived in the infected zone and used his power to burn the monsters parasitizing the Communion believers out of their bodies. With the believers restored and ready to fight, he led them back into the ranks, assuring them that the Furnace protected them from infection.

• Elliot told Allen and the infected believers to rejoin the ranks and help exterminate the monsters.
• Elliot used Spirituality Pressure to burn the parasitic infection out of the believers without harming them.
• Allen and the believers found themselves restored, then praised the miracle of the Furnace to avoid revealing that Elliot had healed them.
• Allen warned Elliot that the monsters spread infection through blood, attacks, and prolonged contact.
• Elliot told Allen that the Furnace protected them because the monsters could infect flesh but not steel.

Elliot led the Machine Priests and Allen’s people through the ship to destroy the infected monsters, revealing that the priests could not be corrupted by the infection. After the group advanced to purge the vessel, Elliot returned to the Difference Engine and confirmed they had contained the outbreak.

• Elliot’s Machine Priests finished their prayers and prepared for battle as monsters smashed through the hatch.
• When a monster ruined a priest’s gun, Eliobuyazi switched to heavy melee weapons and smashed through the monsters, clearing the passage.
• Eliobuyazi knelt before Elliot, who ordered him and Allen’s people to purge the ship and drive the monsters into the forge.
• Elliot led the group onward as gunfire, monster howls, and the priests’ prayers echoed through the ship.
• At the Difference Engine, Elliot confirmed that the Machine Priests resisted infection by burning it away with their tempered spirituality.

Elliot realized the lunar seabed and mines were made of monsters, while the Dream Creatures might have been guarding them rather than acting as enemies. Trapped alone at the dock by Long-Haired Monsters, he had to keep the Blood Moon operating for Maeve and hoped Allen and the others could return after clearing their ship.

• Elliot recalled that the monsters parasitized living beings, then deduced that they were the creatures worshipped during the festival and that the Sea of the Moon’s seabed consisted of them.
• Elliot suspected the Dream Creatures had been brought to the moon to guard the monsters, and wondered how humanity had defeated them in the First Era and how the Sea of the Moon had formed.
• Elliot saw Long-Haired Monsters outside his cabin and realized the infected sailors had taken over the dock while he stayed safe inside to operate the Difference Engine.
• Elliot concluded he had to keep switching the Blood Moon to protect Maeve and wait for Allen and the others to clear the ship and return.
• Elliot used [Spirit Vision] to inspect the hair-covered corridor, wondered what the monsters intended to do, and worried that Elsa’s spirit body had not returned from the seabed.

Elsa’s Spirit Body sank beneath the seabed while absorbing vast quantities of blood-red light spots, awakening and provoking an ancient entity. As Maeve held the seabed passage against attacking monsters, the Abode’s residents fed mined ore to her through the tower’s rift.

• Elliot sent Elsa to search the seabed for a passage or absorbible material, but her Spirit Body passed through the seabed and kept sinking.
• Elsa’s absorption disturbed an ancient entity, and the animated rocks attacked her, but she continued downward because she did not recognize the attacks as a threat.
• Elsa drew in blood-red light spots from the [Flesh Chunks] at an accelerating rate, creating a growing vortex that shook the seabed.
• Maeve defended the passage against giant hands and transforming monsters while the Abode’s support continually replenished her failing life force.
• Dorothea directed the Believers to carry ore to the tower, where the Nightmare stuffed it into Maeve’s mouth through the rift.

Maeve endured repeated deaths while Nightmare fed her ore to keep her alive and wedged in the passage. When she stopped dying, she sensed that the entire seabed was collapsing inward, as if something beneath it were sucking it down.

• Dorothea and Victoria watched as Nightmare kept stuffing ore into Maeve to restore her vitality while she repeatedly died.
• Dorothea checked on Maeve and mistook her desperate attempts to speak for signs of madness.
• Maeve stopped dying, and Dorothea ordered Nightmare to stop feeding her.
• Maeve said the Long-Haired Monsters had stopped gnawing at her, but she could not pull free from the passage.
• Maeve used her spirituality to sense that the entire seabed was collapsing inward.

Maeve resisted the desire to devour the monsters below, realizing that indulging in it would cost her sense of self, while the seabed continued sinking and the monsters seemed desperate to escape something beneath it. Far below, Elsa followed a growing heartbeat into a honey-sweet place where she could sink no farther and drank from its strange tides.

• Maeve was pushed out of the passage and rescued by a Nightmare tentacle as the seabed sank beneath the Believers.
• Maeve felt an urge to devour the monsters and let them devour her, but realized that growing stronger through indulgence meant sacrificing herself.
• The Believers noticed that the monsters' reaching hands seemed to be trying to escape whatever lay beneath the seabed.
• Elsa continued absorbing flesh and liquid as she descended through the seabed, following an increasingly powerful heartbeat.
• Elsa's descent brought her to a honey-filled place where every direction led upward, and she drank from its sweet tides.

Elliot’s crew cleared the Gear Hymn of monsters, and he ordered the ship to join the Expedition Army rather than return to the Dock. As they prepared to depart, Lady Camilla sent an urgent plea to reinforce Sidney’s flagship, the Judgment Angel.

• Elliot saw that Elsa’s Spirit Body had stopped diving and was drinking the honeyed Sea Tide, then returned to work while waiting to learn her fate.
• The Navigator reported that the Gear Hymn’s position was known and its power would soon be restored, but Elliot learned the ship had sunk too deep to return safely to the Dock.
• Elliot ordered the Gear Hymn to head for Michel, Sidney, and the Expedition Army, and told Allen to gather the infectious monster corpses in the warehouse for his plans.
• Lady Camilla sent a message demanding that all units reinforce the Judgment Angel at any cost, and Elliot realized that Sidney’s flagship was in danger.

Elliot received conflicting messages: one seemed to call for help from Lady Camilla, while another warned that monsters were impersonating her to lure ships into danger. Trusting a nightmare only he could see, he continued toward the first message’s source, worried about the Expedition Army’s fate.

• Elliot ordered the Gear Hymn to locate the transmission and prepare for boarding after the Expedition Fleet failed to respond.
• The crew received a garbled message from Lady Camilla warning that monsters were using false messages to lure them in and giving rendezvous coordinates.
• The crew argued over which message was genuine, but Elliot ordered them to follow the first signal, claiming [Casting Forge] had given him a revelation.
• Elliot secretly followed a nightmare that had been guiding him toward the first signal’s source, though it would not respond to his questions.
• Elliot concluded that the monsters might be capable of falsifying messages and worried about whether the Expedition Army could withstand them.

Sidney and a handful of survivors hid aboard the Judgment Angel as contagious monsters overran the ship. Holly tried to contact Lady Camilla and the Reforging Flame for help, but received no response.

• Sidney recalled how infected sailors transformed into monsters and how their black blood and corpses spread the infection.
• When an infected soldier attacked, Sidney became pure light to purge the parasites, then found he was the only survivor in the cabin.
• Sidney escaped into the corridor and later hid with Michel, Holly, and a few Royal Family members, realizing that almost the entire crew had likely died.
• Sidney ordered the group to contact Lady Camilla and seek help from the Reforging Flame.
• Holly used a communicator to send a plea for help, but Lady Camilla could not be reached and no messages received a reply.

Sidney gathered survivors aboard the sinking Judgment Angel to learn how the monsters spread and attacked. The witnesses revealed that the creatures could infect people through terror, form from old meat, and imitate voices, while the survivors remained trapped without a reply to their call for help.

• Sidney ordered the crew to keep sending their coordinates and delayed a desperate attack while they waited for help.
• Jeremy described how old meat in the food warehouse had grown black hair, formed a monster, and infected soldiers who saw it.
• Jeremy said bloody liquid had seeped from the stored meat, and Sidney wondered whether the monsters could spread to dead matter.
• A soldier reported that the monsters imitated voices to lure people into opening doors, then recounted hearing a victim attacked in the neighboring cabin.
• The soldier heard the same voice that had lured the other victim repeat its request for painkillers outside his own cabin door.

Sidney and the others weighed their options as monsters aboard the ship continued to evolve and grow stronger. When a voice claiming to be Elliot knocked at their cabin door, Sidney suspected it was another monster.

• Sidney questioned a soldier and Holly about the monsters mimicking victims and learned that Holly sensed they were still awakening.
• Sidney rejected a rush to the control room because infection, panic, and the monsters’ strength made escape too dangerous.
• Holly warned that the monsters grew stronger during combat by devouring enemies, their own kind, and themselves.
• An explosion sent monsters rushing past the cabin, and Sidney prepared the group to use the commotion as a chance to escape.
• The noise approached and then stopped outside the cabin, where someone knocked and claimed to be Elliot; Sidney called it a monster.

Elliot arrived at the Judgment Angel with Machine Priests and rescued Sidney’s group from the monsters. Sidney and Elliot then realized that no other ships in the Expedition Army’s fleet could be seen or contacted, and hurried toward the command room.

• Sidney mistook the voice outside the cabin for a monster imitating Elliot and prepared to fight.
• Elliot dodged Sidney’s strike, and Sidney recognized him after noticing the Machine Priests and their equipment.
• Elliot explained that his crew had wiped out the monsters aboard his ship, while Sidney realized Machine Priests were immune to the monsters’ infection and had overwhelmed them quickly.
• Sidney asked Elliot about the missing escort ships and Lady Camilla, but Elliot had seen no other warships on his way to the Judgment Angel.
• Sidney and Elliot headed for the command room as an enormous Nightmare looked down into the Abyssal Sea.

Elliot reunited with Sidney aboard the damaged Judgment Angel and learned how the Royal Family had used Blood Monsters during Theresia’s festivals. As the Machine Priests began repairing the ship, a garbled message arrived from Lady Camilla, and Elliot’s touch made it clear.

• Elliot followed the Nightmare’s guidance to Sidney and ordered Cora and the Machine Priests to take over and repair the Judgment Angel.
• Sidney told Elliot that the Expedition Army had lost contact with the Machine Priests and that the War Fortress was missing.
• Michel explained that the Royal Family called the Long-Haired Monsters Blood Monsters and had used Justice-path suggestions to control them during festivals.
• Elliot challenged Michel over the Empire’s curfew rules and its neglect of people living in the Slums, but Sidney urged him to focus on their immediate danger.
• Holly received a badly garbled message from Lady Camilla, and Elliot touched the Telegraph, making the incoming sentences clear.

After the transmitter began working again, Elliot learned that Lady Camilla’s fleet was breaking downward into the Abyssal Sea and ordered his ships to follow. As the ships descended, Elliot questioned whether the messages were genuine and wondered where the Dream Creatures had gone.

• Elliot attributed the restored transmitter and his other abilities to a blessing from the Furnace, and Sidney accepted his command.
• A message warned that ascending was a trap and urged the Expedition Army to dive into the Abyssal Sea, but Elliot could not reach Lady Camilla’s fleet.
• The Machine Priests located the message at two overlapping coordinates, one in the Deep Sea and one above the surface.
• Elliot followed the Nightmare downward and ordered the ships to dive, while Sidney said he had seen Dream Creatures diving when the abnormal change began.
• Elliot told Sidney that Blood Vampires might send fake messages, but Sidney argued that the monsters could not operate the specially configured communications devices.

Elliot explained that the Blood Vampires could manipulate perception and corrupt people through sensory desire, then reflected on humanity’s victory over monsters in the First Era. The Expedition Army arrived at a battlefield where a War Fortress and Dream Creatures were fighting the Blood Vampires.

• Elliot theorized that the monsters were manipulating the crew’s senses rather than sending forged messages, and Sidney realized that perceiving them could invite corruption.
• Elliot described the Blood Vampires as beings that grew by consuming others and could tempt or frighten people into becoming monsters.
• Elliot told Sidney that humanity had once driven monsters away and sealed them on the moon, establishing the Second Era.
• Elliot and Sidney fell silent as the Expedition Army continued through the Sea of the Moon, carrying what remained of humanity’s hopes.
• Elliot announced that they had arrived as the Nightmare attacked, and the War Fortress opened fire.
• The War Fortress, Dream Creatures, and Blood Vampires fought in a chaotic underwater battle as bodies sank through bloodied seawater.

As the Judgment Angel arrived at a chaotic battle between Dream Creatures and blood fiends, Elliot took command of the Reforging Flame while Sidney coordinated the wider fleet. Elliot discovered that the Difference Engine had turned the battlefield into a detailed strategy-game interface, leaving him eager to command.

• Michel reacted in shock to the battlefield before Sidney gave him a scepter and sent him to rally the crew.
• Elliot came out of a daze, announced that he would command, and agreed to focus on the Reforging Flame after Sidney objected to his taking over the whole battle.
• Elliot contacted Lady Camilla and ordered Holly to coordinate the ships while keeping communications open with her.
• Sidney gathered reports from the fleet and activated Rationality Mode to organize the battle's information.
• Elliot studied the Difference Engine's new interface, which displayed ships and battlefield conditions in detail, and recognized it as a format he knew how to command.

Elliot linked to the battlefield command network through the Difference Engine and took control of the fleet from Lady Camilla. As he discovered that the Dream Creatures had joined his side, he sent them toward the Blood Vampires while the Iron Sanctuary prepared to defend itself.

• Elliot connected to the command network, alarming Lady Camilla, who feared he had sacrificed his body to become a Mechanical Spirit.
• Elliot claimed the Furnace had blessed him with the ability to communicate through the network, then used his Family Head privileges to take command from Lady Camilla.
• The Difference Engine processed live data from the battlefield and showed the Dream Creatures changing from neutral forces to allies.
• Elliot tentatively moved a group of Dream Creatures toward nearby Blood Vampires.
• The Blood Vampires breached the Iron Sanctuary's armor, and its Machine Priest ordered the crew to arm themselves and fight.

Callum sacrificed the Iron Sanctuary in a devastating explosion to destroy the Blood Vampires attacking it. At the Difference Engine, Elliot took control of the battlefield, issuing precise orders that began to reshape the Expedition Army’s fight.

• A Blood Vampire attacked the Iron Sanctuary, while its influence stirred Callum’s desires and left him unable to act decisively.
• Dream Creatures struck the Blood Vampires, giving the damaged ship a brief chance to recover.
• Callum activated [Iron Mind], overloaded the Iron Sanctuary’s main engine, and destroyed the ship and surrounding Blood Vampires in an explosion.
• Elliot used the Difference Engine to calculate the battlefield and began issuing detailed orders to the Expedition Army.
• The Expedition Army followed Elliot’s orders as enemy forces moved into their gunfire and the scattered battle became coordinated.

Elliot used the Difference Engine to coordinate the fleet with extraordinary precision, convincing the battlefield’s witnesses that the [Casting Forge] had granted him a miracle. As the battle line advanced, Sidney watched in stunned disbelief, while Elliot cheerfully asked whether he had talent for command.

• Elliot directed the fleet through the Difference Engine, which translated his broad orders into precise instructions and adjusted them in real time.
• The Machine Priests prayed to the [Casting Forge], while Lady Camilla and the High Rank Supernatural people sensed the uncanny precision behind the commands.
• Lady Camilla admitted that Elliot’s control was beyond anything she could follow, then claimed that she had commanded exactly the same way.
• Sidney watched ships’ shells strike Blood Vampires with impossible accuracy and realized Elliot’s battlefield command looked like a miracle.
• Elliot winked at Sidney and asked whether he had a bit of talent after all.

Elliot used the Difference Engine to turn the battle in the Sea of the Moon, taking command of the Expedition Army and driving the Blood Vampires into a disadvantage. After Sidney transferred the Royal Family’s forces to him, Elliot mixed the human and Dream Creature forces into a single formation to surround the Blood Vampires.

• Elliot’s Difference Engine coordinated the battlefield, allowing the Expedition Army to break apart and wear down the Blood Vampires.
• Sidney transferred full command of the Expedition Army to Elliot, whom he trusted to lead the battle.
• Elliot regrouped the Dream Creatures, Reforging Flame, and royal fleet into mixed formations under his command.
• The Blood Vampires regrouped, only to find Elliot’s combined forces forming around them.
• Elliot’s soldiers prepared to make the surrounded Blood Vampires break out.

Elliot’s coordination turned the Allied Army’s mismatched forces into a disciplined force that overwhelmed the Blood Vampires at the Sea of the Moon. As the battle tilted toward victory, a Page Turner appeared on the Difference Engine and began counting down an unexplained “Ebb tide.”

• Elliot directed the Allied Army as soldiers and monsters of different faiths fought together against the Blood Vampires.
• The Allied Army used coordinated fire and flexible withdrawals to blunt the Blood Vampires’ charge and surround them with overlapping attacks.
• Elliot used ranged suppression and the recovery of Blood Vampire corpses to deny them food and disrupt their regeneration.
• Sidney watched the battle in awe, while Michel smiled and spoke to him as the Blood Vampires’ defeat seemed assured.
• Elliot noticed a Page Turner counting down “Ebb tide” on the Difference Engine just before a sudden change occurred on the battlefield.