Recaps

Lillian tried to restore Maeve’s reason by forcing old forms into her stomach, but Maeve was crushed by [Primordial Blood] before she could escape. Victoria and Lillian accepted that Maeve could not resurrect without the Blood Moon and prepared to leave after their failure.

• Victoria’s webs could not stop the mountain of flesh, so Lillian tore open Maeve’s stomach and stuffed old forms inside to restore her reason.
• Maeve began to recover, but [Primordial Blood] fell toward Lillian; Victoria pulled Lillian clear with spider silk.
• Victoria and Lillian found Maeve crushed beneath [Primordial Blood], and Victoria confirmed that Maeve could only resurrect with the Blood Moon.
• Victoria admitted they had failed and urged Lillian to leave with her.

Lillian and Victoria discovered that Maeve was regenerating on the Blood Moon and tried to hide her while she recovered. Victoria realized the Primordial Blood had been watching them all along, but the Ascent Curse weakened her escape attempt as the Blood Lord’s enormous hand swallowed all three.

• Victoria and Lillian turned back after seeing Maeve’s pulp begin to squirm, and Lillian realized the moon beneath them could be the Blood Moon.
• Lillian and Victoria concealed themselves near Maeve as she reassembled, with Lillian spreading her body over Maeve to camouflage them.
• Victoria sensed that the Primordial Blood had become unnaturally still and warned Lillian that it had been watching them.
• Victoria saw the Primordial Blood’s flesh cupped around them like a giant hand and used her web to pull Lillian and Maeve upward.
• The Ascent Curse struck Victoria, and the Blood Lord’s hand rapidly closed around all three and swallowed them.

Lillian failed to rescue Maeve before the [Primordial Blood] devoured the seabed, and the loss triggered Lillian’s [Regret] and sent her out of control. Victoria escaped alone and told Vanessa that Maeve was dead, but Vanessa questioned whether Victoria had really seen Maeve lunge at the [Primordial Blood].

• Lillian and Victoria tried to carry Maeve away, but the [Primordial Blood] closed its maw and ground Maeve’s flesh to dust.
• Maeve’s death made Lillian lose control through the Hollow Cathedral’s [Regret], and her power briefly broke through its limits.
• Victoria tried to pull Lillian to safety, but Lillian bit through the spider silk and fell as the [Primordial Blood] swallowed everything below.
• Lillian transformed into an enormous snail while Victoria escaped the [Primordial Blood]’s attack using [Rationality].
• Vanessa and the Communion’s Believers found Victoria, who said Maeve was dead and recounted what had happened.
• Vanessa asked Victoria whether she was certain she had seen a shadow lunge at the [Primordial Blood].

Vanessa told Victoria that Maeve had parasitized [Primordial Blood], while Victoria insisted that a middle-rank ability could not affect a Great Being. Vanessa suspected Maeve’s parasitism could drain the moon-eating creature and eventually let her take its vessel; meanwhile, Sidney learned that the human fleet was still moving under Lady Camilla’s control, though most of its crew had gone mad from Mental Shock.

• Vanessa explained that Maeve’s [Shadow of the Lunar Eclipse] could parasitize and erode a host, and Victoria said it should not work on a Great Being like [Primordial Blood].
• Vanessa urged Victoria to trust that Maeve had successfully parasitized [Primordial Blood], and Victoria reconsidered as the creature resumed devouring the seabed.
• Vanessa privately reasoned that the power [Primordial Blood] gained by eating the moon might be transferred to Maeve, potentially preventing its recovery and allowing Maeve to obtain its vessel.
• On the Judgment Angel, Sidney asked Lady Camilla about the fleet, and she reported that [Casting Forge] kept the machines running while she controlled the ships.
• Lady Camilla told Sidney that most crew members had suffered severe Mental Shock and fallen into temporary madness, though their condition might be reversible.

Sidney and Lady Camilla tried to keep the damaged fleet away from the Great Being below as strange changes spread through the Sea of the Moon. The Great Being began convulsing, suggesting another powerful being had attacked Him, while the Dream Creatures also started behaving strangely.

• Sidney and Lady Camilla coordinated treatment for the crew, with Royal Family priests performing Psychological Analysis and Machine Priests providing transport and protection.
• Sidney discovered that his spiritual warning had eased, and other ships reported the same change as the fleet’s communications suddenly improved.
• Lady Camilla detected that the seawater had become spiritually sweet and honey-like, a change that began when the warning eased.
• Sidney saw the Great Being below writhe in apparent pain and concluded that another Great Being had attacked Him.
• Lady Camilla warned Sidney that the Dream Creatures were also behaving strangely, suggesting that something larger was happening.

A being who had waited through countless ages saw a mechanical arm assemble by chance from the wreckage of a dock on the Moon. Frozen in an ice wall, Elliot woke and noticed the arm, but his attempt to call it to him left him wondering how he could control it.

• A loose rivet caused an ancient dock to collapse, and collisions accidentally joined its scattered parts into a mechanical arm.
• A mysterious being noticed the arm, while the great beings below failed to look up.
• Elliot opened his eyes inside the ice wall and found himself unable to move or use his abilities.
• Elliot spotted the nearby mechanical arm and called for it to come to him.
• Elliot realized he was not a Machine Priest and did not know how he could control the arm.

Trapped in ice, Elliot discovered he could control machinery and instinctively assemble it, using a drill to free himself. He survived because the [Casting Forge] protected him, leaving him to wonder why the Great Being kept helping him and whether it knew the Difference Engine’s secret.

• Elliot discovered that [Compliance] let him control the mechanical arm, which he suspected counted as a [Vessel].
• Elliot used the arm to assemble a crooked ice drill and realized that operating and building machinery came to him by instinct.
• Elliot drilled through the ice and freed himself from the block that had trapped him.
• Elliot used [Spirit Vision] and recognized the warm crimson power covering him as the [Casting Forge]’s protection.
• Elliot wondered whether the [Casting Forge] had been watching him and why it kept helping him.

Elliot found himself stranded on an ice wall in a vacuum and prepared to climb down in search of the Difference Engine. Meanwhile, Sidney witnessed Dream Creatures fuse into a Nightmare and suspected they had once been one intelligent being before being separated.

• Elliot discovered that the ice wall overlooked an airless, seemingly bottomless expanse of glaciers.
• Elliot built crampons and ice axes from discarded mechanisms, strapped the mechanical arm to his back, and leaped down the wall.
• Sidney watched solitary Dream Creatures swell, burst, and multiply from their fragments after drinking honey water.
• Sidney saw groups of Dream Creatures fuse into a gigantic Nightmare as they drank more honey water.
• Sidney concluded that Dream Creatures might have once been intelligent beings forcibly separated into smaller creatures.

Holly unexpectedly built a Mechanical Monkey, and Sidney discovered that the fleet’s ships had developed wills of their own. Suspecting the Honey Water could replace supernatural materials, he began testing whether it could help him recreate Theresia’s miracle.

• Holly showed Sidney the Mechanical Monkey she had built and explained that she had suddenly gained the ability to make machines.
• Lady Camilla told Sidney that the ships were moving without her orders and seemed to have developed wills of their own.
• Sidney contacted the Judgment Angel with his Spirituality and felt its joyful, curious response.
• Sidney suspected the Honey Water could replace supernatural materials and make it possible to recreate Theresia’s miracle.
• Sidney drew a ritual with his blood, drank the Honey Water, and stood inside the ritual as radiance streamed from his head.

Sidney discovered that the [Rationality] ritual could help the Empire exploit the Sea of the Moon, while Michel revealed that a [Vessel] could host a great being’s temporary descent. The Judgment Angel was attacked by the great being below before they could decide how to respond.

• Sidney tested a [Rationality] ritual and realized it might help the Empire transport seawater from the Sea of the Moon, despite the dangers and the risk of losing his emotions.
• Michel reported that the Royal Family had found an account describing a [Vessel] as a temporary Abode for a great being.
• Michel explained that creating a [Vessel] required a believer who had undergone at least two ascensions and would sacrifice themselves, and that one could sustain only a brief, diminished strike.
• Sidney and Michel doubted whether [Vessels] could stop the great being beneath them or whether they could find enough High-Rank Supernaturals.
• The great being attacked the Judgment Angel, and Lady Camilla alerted Sidney as the ship shook violently.

Sidney and the fleet escaped the Great Being’s attacks with the help of their living ships, then began ascending while preparing [Vessels] in case they needed a Great Being’s intervention. As the fleet rose, Sidney realized the Great Being was attacking the Dream Creatures and seemed to be in great pain, leaving him wondering if He had gone mad.

• The Judgment Angel dodged a giant claw on its own, and Sidney realized the ship had come alive.
• The living ships evaded the Great Being’s barrage as Sidney ordered the fleet to ascend.
• The Ascent Curse caused everyone aboard to cough up blood, and Sidney told Michel to prepare the [Vessels] without committing to using them.
• Sidney saw the Great Being turn His attacks on the Dream Creatures after the fleet began rising.
• Sidney noticed the Great Being seemed to be in pain and attacking indiscriminately near the Seabed.

Sidney paused the fleet’s ascent to watch Dream Creatures attack the Great Being, and their sudden fury overwhelmed the creature with seemingly endless assaults. Lady Camilla said the damage was negligible and urged confidence in the Great Being’s strength, but the Judgment Angel unexpectedly opened fire as the fleet began to leave.

• Sidney stopped the fleet’s ascent and ordered everyone to watch the Dream Creatures.
• After the Great Being killed several Dream Creatures, the swarm gathered around their dead, then turned its attention toward the creature in apparent anger.
• The Dream Creatures and Nightmares attacked the Great Being, repeatedly wounding it while regenerating and multiplying in the honeyed water.
• Lady Camilla said the Great Being had not yet used most of its power and could soon wipe out the Dream Creatures.
• Sidney ordered the fleet to continue ascending, but the Judgment Angel suddenly fired, shaking the ship.

Sidney struggled to control the living fleet after it attacked the Great Being to protect the Dream Creatures, while Elliot reached the bottom of the Glacier and tried to build a machine to break through the ice. The chapter left Elliot preparing to test the limits of his Mechanical Talent and Sidney considering a dangerous ritual as the battle continued.

• The living warships attacked the Great Being without orders because they saw the Dream Creatures as friends, and Sidney and Lady Camilla tried to steer them toward disengaging.
• Sidney sent Holly to check on Michel's [Vessel] and told her to bring the tools for drawing a ritual.
• Elliot climbed down to the ice plain at the Glacier's base and found that the red glow around him vanished whenever he tried to dig toward the sea.
• Elliot decided to return to the sea despite [Casting Forge]'s apparent resistance and began modifying discarded materials with the Mechanical Hand to build a powerful machine.

Elliot assembled a massive, crude drilling sled with his Mechanical Talent and used it to escape the glacier into the Sea of the Moon. In the Honey Water below, he recovered his vitality and Spirituality, then spotted something glowing in the depths and steered toward it.

• Elliot used his Mechanical Talent to build a large sled equipped with an enormous drill from discarded parts.
• Elliot powered the machine with Spirituality and drove it into the glacier, breaking through to the Sea of the Moon.
• Elliot steered downward, unsure where to find the Courtyard, while the red-light figure watched him leave and then vanished.
• Elliot discovered that the Honey Water restored his vitality and Spirituality, even replenishing the losses from [Secret Art; Overdraw].
• Elliot activated [Spirit Vision], spotted a glow below, and charged toward it on the sled.

Elliot followed Victoria’s spider silk toward the Courtyard, but diverted his attention to a newly appeared [Vessel] near the fleet. Sidney and Michel prepared a ritual to create [Vessels], leaving Sidney face to face with an indifferent Healer radiating an ancient, rational light.

• Elliot found spider silk on the seabed and followed it, hoping it would lead him to Victoria, the Courtyard, and the Difference Engine.
• Elliot heard explosions from the fleet but continued toward the spider silk, believing he could not help without the Difference Engine.
• Elliot sensed a newly appeared [Vessel] and briefly tried to control it, but its presence faded as if someone else had claimed it.
• When another [Vessel] appeared near the fleet, Elliot activated [Compliance] to take control of it.
• Michel brought Sidney and Holly to a cabin where he had prepared two [Vessels], and told Holly she would not need to take part in the ritual yet.
• Sidney saw a fleet Healer standing at the ritual site and perceived her as a radiance of cold, unfeeling order.

Elliot awakened inside a [Vessel] created through [Nameless Justice]’s Ritual, astonishing the Great Being and everyone in the Cabin. After recognizing another [Vessel], he accused the woman of stealing his.

• [Nameless Justice] appeared in the Cabin and asked Holly if she was a shell species.
• The second [Vessel] on the Altar moved, and [Nameless Justice] turned toward it in shock.
• Elliot woke in the [Vessel], recognized Sidney, and pushed [Nameless Justice] aside as he left the Altar.
• Elliot realized he could control the [Vessel] while also operating his own body, and worried about the fleet’s situation.
• Elliot identified [Nameless Justice] as another [Vessel] and asked if she had stolen his.

Elliot took control of a vessel aboard Sidney’s ship and confronted [Nameless Justice], but she abruptly withdrew after he used [Spirit Vision]. As Elliot turned his attention to Sidney, Michel invoked [Casting Forge] and offered to take him to its vessel.

• Sidney feared that the two Great Beings would fight aboard his ship, while Elliot cautiously assessed the people around him.
• Elliot activated [Spirit Vision] through the vessel and looked at the woman, causing her to become an empty vessel as [Nameless Justice] departed.
• The woman regained consciousness, and Sidney realized that [Nameless Justice] had left without answering Elliot’s provocation.
• Elliot turned toward Sidney, prompting Holly to ready her sword and Michel to mention the vessel prepared by the Reforging Flame.
• Elliot eagerly asked Michel to take him to [Casting Forge]’s vessel.

Sidney and Michel hoped that [Casting Forge] could protect them from the being they faced, but the Reforging Flame had not yet secured a suitable vessel for his descent. The Machine Priests identified Lady Camilla as the only eligible candidate, while Allen continued hiding that Elliot was missing.

• Sidney and Michel led the great being toward the room where they believed the Reforging Flame was preparing a vessel for [Casting Forge].
• The Machine Priests argued with Allen, insisting that the person inside the room was their best vessel while Allen barred them from entering on Elliot's orders.
• Allen concealed that Elsa's corpse was inside the room and that he did not know where Elliot had gone.
• Sidney asked whether another vessel would do, and a Machine Priest explained that [Casting Forge] required a believer at the Great Sage level.
• The Machine Priest identified Lady Camilla as the only Great Sage present, and Sidney realized that even a High Rank Supernatural person could not endure [Casting Forge]'s descent.

Sidney learned that [Casting Forge] required a suitable [Vessel] to intervene, and Allen agreed to provide one after recognizing Elliot in the vessel behind Sidney. The ritual began using Elsa’s corpse, and she opened her eyes as Elliot kept watch for [Casting Forge].

• The Machine Priest explained that [Casting Forge] needed a person with sufficient potential to become a [Vessel], and Sidney urged Allen to provide one so they could deal with the Great Being attacking the fleet.
• Allen recognized Elliot, who silently signaled him, and agreed to bring out the chosen person.
• Allen carried Elsa’s corpse to the ritual site, and Sidney ordered the Machine Priests to begin despite the suspicious circumstances.
• The Machine Priests drew the ritual through a shared neural network, placed Elsa at its center, and activated it with sacred electric current.
• Elliot stepped back to shield the others as Elsa opened her eyes amid the red glow.

After descending into Elsa's Vessel, [Casting Forge] attacked [Primordial Blood] with overwhelming fury, unleashing a battle that boiled the Sea of the Moon and devastated the fleet. As the Judgment Angel flooded and Sidney expected the fleet to be destroyed, Elliot offered to lead him to a Courtyard where they could dock.

• Elliot realized [Casting Forge] had taken over Elsa's Vessel and watched her descend.
• Elsa, possessed by [Casting Forge], smashed through the Judgment Angel and seawater to strike [Primordial Blood] on the seabed.
• [Casting Forge] battered [Primordial Blood] with her hammer, boiling the sea and forcing the fleet and Dream Creatures to retreat.
• [Primordial Blood] briefly recovered with blood-red light before the light vanished into its flesh, and it thrashed the seabed and sea in agony.
• Sidney found the Judgment Angel flooded and feared the fleet would be destroyed as the sea's corrosion began.
• Elliot told Sidney he knew a Courtyard where the fleet could dock and offered to help patch the ship's hole.

Elsa was resurrected within the moon’s concentrated Honey Water just as [Ebb Tide] pushed the Honey Authority toward a transformation. Her resurrection absorbed the honey, causing her to lose control after glimpsing its memories, but the Honey Authority quickly cured her permanent madness.

• [Ebb Tide] compressed the Sea of the Moon’s power into Honey Water beneath the Seabed as Elsa’s [Resurrection] began forming her a new body.
• Elsa awoke in the honey and realized her resurrection was drawing the surrounding Honey Water into her body.
• Elsa’s [Burial] activated and showed her memories from the honey, which she suspected was a being’s corpse.
• The honey continued flooding into Elsa after her body was complete, and she transformed into a monster and fell into permanent madness.
• The Honey Authority cured Elsa’s loss of control within moments.

Elsa was trapped in a cycle of being forced to relive memories, lose control, and recover as Honey continually poured into her, gradually remaking her body and spirit. Meanwhile, Victoria worried that her mission had failed and sensed someone tugging at the silk she had left behind.

• Honey repeatedly healed Elsa and forced her to relive the memories, driving her into a cycle of madness and recovery.
• Elsa’s body and spirit were gradually reshaped by Honey and the power of the moon, while the mutation from [Ebb Tide] transferred to her.
• Vanessa stopped Victoria and demanded to know what was wrong, so Victoria cocooned her in silk and admitted she feared punishment because her mission had failed.
• Victoria explained that someone seemed to be tugging on the silk she had spun as a guide back to the Courtyard.

Victoria sensed someone holding her spider silk and tried to pull them closer, but Elsa arrived in a huge machine and Victoria realized the Great Being had come after her. Dorothea’s mirror was struck by the vehicle, and Victoria begged Elsa to punish her.

• Victoria sensed a distant presence tugging on her spider silk and decided to pull it closer, while Vanessa agreed to wait.
• Victoria transformed into her spider form and reeled in the silk as the Believers of the Primordial Communion watched.
• Dorothea called Vanessa through a mirror, saw her covered in spider silk, and asked whether they needed backup.
• Elsa charged toward them in an enormous machine and knocked Dorothea’s mirror flying.
• Victoria recognized Elsa as a Great Being, realized her spirituality had misled her, and begged Elsa to punish her.

Elliot, disguised as Elsa, learned from Victoria that Lillian had turned into a snail and Maeve had used her ability on [Primordial Blood]. He claimed the events were part of his plan, leaving Victoria convinced that he had deliberately arranged Maeve’s attempt to parasitize a Great Being.

• Victoria freed Vanessa from the spider-silk cocoon and asked Elliot to punish her instead.
• Victoria told Elliot that Lillian had turned into a snail and Maeve had been crushed after using her ability on [Primordial Blood].
• Elliot attributed the events to his plan and privately welcomed Lillian’s disappearance and Maeve’s attempt.
• Victoria deduced that Elliot had engineered Maeve’s parasitism and become more afraid of the Great Being’s foresight.

Elliot returned toward the Courtyard with Victoria and Vanessa, but a Nightmare carried him to the Palace Hall and delivered him directly to the Difference Engine. It then bundled Victoria into its tentacles and threw her into the Library, leaving Elliot alone in the engine’s room.

• Dorothea told Victoria that Xixi had run through the Rift and into the sea, and Elliot reassured Victoria that the dog would return.
• Elliot rode the sled while Victoria pulled it toward the Courtyard, gaining the believers’ recognition as the Lord’s Immortal.
• Victoria pulled the sled through the Rift, but Elliot fell from it when they emerged high above the ground.
• A Nightmare caught Elliot, carried him down from the tower, and brought him into the Palace Hall through a window.
• The Nightmare placed Elliot in the Difference Engine’s room, tossed Victoria into the Library, and drew the curtains.