Recaps

Holly explained that a breach in the Throne had leaked Evil Entities into the Deep Sea and revealed how Theresia’s cursed body had been divided. She then confronted Victoria with her forgotten identity and past, leaving Victoria to realize she had spent her life running away from the Empire and its decline.

• Holly said Evil Entities had poured into the Deep Sea through an unplugged breach and that she had merged with Theresia to survive there.
• Holly explained that Theresia’s curse had split her body, leaving her human flesh sealed inside a bronze statue and her mutated bloodline hidden in Lord Sidney’s Palace.
• Holly asked Victoria if she remembered Theresia as a close friend, and Victoria admitted she could not recall her age or many parts of her past.
• Holly told Victoria that she was the Spider Queen, one of the Empire’s three founders, Augustus the Great’s older sister, and the Empire’s eternal Eldest Princess.
• Victoria recognized that she had repeatedly fled from her responsibilities and the Empire’s decline until she had nowhere left to run.

Elliot realized Victoria was the Immortal Spider Queen as she transformed into a giant spider and feared the Communion would reject her. When Elliot arrived, he greeted her with excitement and admiration instead of disgust.

• Elliot recalled clues that Victoria was different from the other members of the Royal Family and realized the Sacred Blood Nobles may have wanted to drive her mad and make her act.
• Victoria saw her true spider form in a mirror and recoiled from her monstrous appearance as the Communion believers stepped away in fear.
• Theresia told Victoria that she had inherited a curse and would remain a monster until the era ended or was destroyed, urging her to seal herself away.
• Victoria panicked when she spotted Elliot and could not change back into a human, fearing he would be disgusted by her.
• Elliot told Victoria he had come to welcome her as an Immortal and praised her power and beauty.

Victoria revealed that she could no longer change back from her spider form, but the Communion welcomed her with overwhelming curiosity instead of rejection. After the believers frightened her and Theresia mistook the group for an evil cult, Elliot brought both of them to the Canteen’s ingredient room to talk.

• Elliot praised Victoria’s spider form, and Victoria admitted she could not change back.
• Maeve, Vanessa, Dorothea, Simon, and the other Communion believers crowded around Victoria, startling her until she fled with Maeve biting her leg.
• Elliot scolded the believers and gave them an extra meal of crow rice for frightening Victoria.
• Theresia called the Communion an evil cult, and Elliot tried to explain the group while stopping Vanessa from attacking her.
• Victoria and Theresia went with Elliot to Maeve’s room, the only space large enough for them to sit and talk.

Elliot learned that Theresia and Victoria had sacrificed their powers and memories after touching the taboo of the Era during a battle to defend the city. Theresia revealed the taboo that had cursed them, leaving Elliot with a clearer picture of their past and Victoria’s strength.

• Elsa served honey drinks to Victoria and Theresia, and Theresia recognized Elsa’s Spirituality as the Path of [Honey].
• Elliot introduced Vanessa as the Cult Leader of the Communion and welcomed Victoria and Theresia to the Hearthfire District.
• Theresia explained that she and Holly shared her body, while Victoria and the Spider Queen were the same person with some memories dormant.
• Theresia said she had split off her power to contain her curses, while Victoria had retained her power as an Immortal but lost many memories.
• Theresia revealed that she and Victoria had touched the taboo of the Era while defending the city.

Theresia explained that using powers from another era inflicted an inescapable Era Curse, revealing why her machinery and Maeve’s monster form violated the era boundaries. Maeve claimed the curse could not affect the Communion’s Believers because their Lord had not permitted it, and pointed to the Blood Moon as evidence of his authority.

• Theresia told Elliot, Maeve, Elsa, and Victoria that powers and technology were restricted to each era, and crossing those boundaries caused the Era Curse.
• Theresia revealed that she had stolen mechanical power from the Third Era and suffered curses for also taking power from the First Era.
• Theresia explained that Maeve’s spider form used the First Era’s monster power and therefore should have cursed her.
• Theresia said era curses could not be escaped within the current layer of history, even by reaching the limits of supernatural power.
• Maeve insisted the Lord’s authority protected the Communion’s Believers from curses he had not permitted, then pointed out the Blood Moon.

Maeve demonstrated the Communion’s power by changing the Blood Moon to ordinary moonlight, leaving Theresia stunned by the abilities of the Communion’s members and Elsa’s effortless control over the moon.

• The Believers teased Maeve as she prepared to show Theresia her new power.
• Maeve used her Spirituality to make the Blood Moon’s red glow fade into pure moonlight, shocking Theresia.
• Elsa scolded Maeve and casually restored the Blood Moon, while the Communion’s members treated the changes as ordinary.
• Elsa apologized to Theresia for Maeve showing off, and Maeve offered to demonstrate summoning a [Worm].
• Theresia begged Maeve not to demonstrate anything else, saying she already believed in the Great Being’s power.

Theresia struggled to understand the Communion’s power and watched Victoria embrace its faith, while Elliot decided to bring Theresia’s Bronze Angel statue to the Hearthfire District for repairs. The chapter left Elliot preparing to navigate the court’s procedures as Emperor Crawford continued clashing with the nobles.

• Theresia feared Maeve might summon the [Worm] and tried to warn Victoria that the Communion was dangerous, but Victoria declared herself an Immortal of the Communion.
• Maeve asked to touch Theresia’s tail, and Theresia was temporarily settled in the Hearthfire District while Elliot observed her and considered how she and Holly might help the Communion.
• Elliot told Conrad to arrange repairs for Theresia’s Bronze Angel statue, assigning Evan to lead skilled workers from the Hearthfire District.
• Conrad agreed to report the repair plan to the court and ensure the procedures were compliant so Crawford could not use it against them.
• Conrad reported that Crawford and the nobles had already fought several rounds of conflict under the Empire Charter, with both sides scoring victories.

Elliot prepared to recover Theresia’s other half, investigate Evil Entities leaking from the Throne, and see whether the Difference Engine could help Victoria. When Victoria revealed that her power was equivalent to the thirteenth rank, she began explaining the supernatural ranking system to Elsa and Vanessa.

• The nobles began openly confronting Elliot and conscripting troops, while he pushed to expand the Hearthfire District and restore Theresia’s strength.
• Elliot sent a team aboard the Communion’s three seaworthy ships to investigate the Evil Entities that had entered the sea.
• Elliot invited Victoria to the Abode to discuss whether the Difference Engine could help resolve her curse.
• Victoria told Elsa and Vanessa that she was an Immortal equivalent in power to the thirteenth rank, shocking them.
• Victoria explained the first nine supernatural ranks, describing how each tier increased supernatural abilities and combat strength.

Victoria explained that the Supernatural ended at the Twelfth Rank and that the Thirteenth Rank was only a name for power beyond it. Vanessa began a Sacrifice Ritual for Victoria, and it unexpectedly activated, leaving Victoria terrified and demanding that Vanessa and Elsa stop using her silk.

• Victoria explained that the Supernatural had twelve actual Ranks and that Immortals had reached power beyond the Twelfth Rank through other means.
• Vanessa wondered whether Sacrifice could grant power beyond a Path's ceiling, and Elliot suspected the Difference Engine's Paths might continue past the Twelfth Rank.
• Vanessa told Victoria that the Lord had agreed to receive a Sacrifice for her and began drawing a Ritual in the Abode.
• The Ritual activated and summoned an immense presence, frightening Victoria because she could not make a proper Sacrifice without risking backlash.
• Victoria saw Vanessa and Elsa using the silk she had spun for Sacrifices and shouted at them to stop.

Elliot discovered that Victoria’s transformation into a monster was her curse and found that she needed another ascension to advance beyond the twelfth rank. He pulled her out of the Sacrifice Ritual before she could finish distributing her body parts, leaving Victoria bewildered when she survived outside it.

• Vanessa asked Victoria about her curse, and Victoria described losing the ability to become human and growing more like a spider.
• Victoria explained that she and Theresia had entered slumber to prevent their corruption from progressing, while Vanessa realized they had been trying to avoid becoming monsters.
• Elliot linked Victoria’s condition to Maeve’s former transformation and suspected that advancing Victoria with the Difference Engine could grant her a way to change back.
• Elliot found an empty thirteenth-rank node on Victoria’s Tree of the Supernatural, but the Difference Engine rejected her advancement because she had not met the prerequisites for ascension.
• Victoria began allocating her spider parts to Maeve, Dorothea, Vanessa, and Elsa, but Elliot pulled her out of the Sacrifice Ritual before she could decide what to give Simon.
• Victoria returned to the ritual, tested the ground outside it, and asked why she had not died or triggered a red light.

Victoria learned that she could pursue a true Thirteenth Rank through an Ascension Quest, and Elliot sought information by arranging for her to visit Lillian at the Hollow Cathedral’s Abode. After receiving approval to restore Theresia’s statue, Elliot discovered that Honey Transformation had completed.

• Vanessa told Victoria that the Lord had ordered her to complete an Ascension Quest before reaching the Thirteenth Rank.
• Elliot remembered that Lillian had undergone Ascension, then contacted Phoenix, who explained that Lillian was injured and recovering at the Abode after her Ascension had only half succeeded.
• Elliot arranged for Victoria to visit Lillian and ask about Ascension Quests, and Phoenix eagerly agreed to organize the visit.
• Conrad told Elliot that the king had approved the application to restore Theresia’s bronze statue and had encouraged them to blow up nearby nobles’ mansions.
• Elliot took control of one of Elsa’s corpses to carry a message to the Hearthfire District, but the corpse stopped moving when the Difference Engine displayed that Honey Transformation was complete.

Elliot discovered that Elsa’s [honey transformation] had ended when the corpses in the Courtyard began moving and Elsa awakened in one of them. Elsa explained that she could now sense and control the corpses as parts of herself, and her wound revealed that her body contained [honey] that made plants bloom.

• Elliot entered the Courtyard and found believers panicking as Elsa’s corpses started moving.
• An Elsa corpse opened her eyes, called Elliot “Lord,” and identified herself as Elsa.
• Elsa demonstrated that she could transfer control between corpses, then described sensing [honey] and the corpses as a vast web.
• Elsa said that all the corpses seemed to be her original body.
• Elliot cut Elsa’s arm, revealing flowing [honey] that turned the ground around them into a blooming garden.

Elliot helped Elsa complete her Sacrifice and reach the Sixth Rank after her [Honey Transformation] gave her control over vitality and the Elsa corpses. He reviewed her new abilities and recognized that [Pay with Honey] could enable powerful effects, while [Honey Giver] might also work against enemies.

• Elsa used [Honey] to wither the roses and extract [Honey] from the Fountain's corpses, revealing her control over vitality and the Elsa corpses.
• Elliot sent Elsa to find Vanessa, then used the Difference Engine to bring Dorothea and Simon into the planned point allocation.
• Elsa found Vanessa and entered the Sacrifice Ritual as more Elsa corpses filed in and sacrificed themselves, filling her Progress Bar.
• Elliot allocated Elsa's attribute points to [Honey], advancing her to the Sixth Rank and revealing [Vitality Bloom], [Pay with Honey], and [Honey Giver].
• Elliot considered how [Pay with Honey] could sustain abilities beyond Spirituality limits and realized he could use [Honey Giver] to stop enemies from attacking while he gave them [Honey].