Recaps

Vanessa returned to the Abode while Elliot uncovered restrictions tied to his erased past and agreed to help Sidney and Michel secure the Empire’s future. As the princes launched an expedition into the Deep Zone, Elliot investigated the fate of Dream Creature corpses and began advancing believers, ending with Flora’s transformation underway.

• Lillian recognized the masked Great Being as the one from her dream, and Elliot created a tower and restored the Abode before Vanessa asked whether Lillian could help them leave the Dream.
• Vanessa reunited with Victoria in the Library, learned that Victoria feared the changing Dream, and returned to the Palace Hall to plan sacrifices with Dorothea and Maeve.
• Elliot advanced Vanessa and Dorothea, then used hypnosis on himself and discovered that he had previously hypnotized himself and restricted his own access to erased memories.
• Elliot chose [Radiance] for Dorothea, altering her Card, and later learned Cora had accepted an estate offer from Sidney and Michel.
• Sidney and Michel revealed that the Emperor was dead and asked Elliot to support their bid for the Throne, and Elliot agreed to help them return to the Imperial Capital and confront the corrupt nobles.
• Elliot learned that Dream Creature corpses corrected the World Shift, followed their fading light toward the Abyssal Sea, and sent Elsa to manage Communion members and gather corpses under his authority.
• Elliot advanced Allen to fourth rank and considered which believers might be suited to become protagonists, then had Vanessa bring Flora to the altar and chose two immortality talents for her.

Elliot became Duke Sterling, uncovered more about the Old Duke’s plan to save the era, and helped open a passage to the Sea of the Moon for supplies. As Sidney and Michel led the expedition into the Abyssal Sea, Elliot stayed behind to investigate Dream Creatures that could hide from ordinary sight.

• Elliot advanced Flora to Fourth Rank and discovered that her Thing of Immortality was a replica, then suspected the Spike embedded in her spine was the real artifact.
• Elliot sent Elsa’s corpse to the Old Duke’s recognition ritual, but the Old Duke named him heir, entered the Forge, and left Elliot to claim the Sterling Family’s power.
• Elliot completed the family-head ceremony and met Lady Camilla within the Secret Library, where she explained the Sterling wives’ transformation into Mechanical Spirits and agreed to help him.
• Vanessa and Lillian opened a permanent passage from the Sea of the Moon, and Elliot used it to bring in a Difference Engine and seabed stones that Maeve found more nourishing than Dream Creatures.
• Elliot learned that the Second Era was prophesied to end without another era following it, then announced himself as the new Duke Sterling to Sidney and Michel.
• Before the expedition departed, Elliot saw Dream Creatures covering the dock even though the crews could not detect them, and he warned Sidney that Nightmares might conceal them.
• Sidney led Michel and the Expedition Army into the Abyssal Sea while Elliot stayed behind to gather reports, summon Allen, and prepare to inspect the Mine.

Elliot discovered that the ore mines were tied to a living force beneath the Sea of the Moon, while Lillian and Victoria confronted the histories surrounding the Hollow Cathedral. When the Seabed awakened and attacked, the group fled through the passage, but Maeve became trapped and Elsa used the changing moon to control her resurrection.

• Allen led the Believers into the sea and aboard the ship, where they showed little effect from the seawater, while Old Henry described the mutations he had suffered as a miner.
• Allen inspected the mine with Elliot and discovered that workers exposed to its ore were being transformed into valuable human ore, while Elliot’s Difference Engine suggested the mine itself might be alive.
• Elliot followed an immense Nightmare to uncharted mines, then used the Difference Engine Core to stage a manifestation of [Casting Forge] that convinced Eliobuyazi and the Machine Priests of his divine guidance.
• Lillian discovered that Maeve’s cooked flesh was still alive and restored it with [Concealment], learning that Maeve could control her own flesh and that she had not undergone an Elevation Ritual.
• Lillian’s argument with Vanessa and Maeve over the victims of the Theater shattered her composure, and Victoria explained how the Hollow Cathedral’s believers traveled to the past and prayed to their vanished Great Being.
• Lillian confronted Victoria, proposed they leave the Abode to save the Hollow Cathedral, and persuaded her to interpret the passage to the Sea of the Moon as a hint from the Great Being.
• Elliot found that Elsa Ramsey’s Spirit Body had descended beneath the seabed, where a heartbeat stirred the Sea of the Moon and caused the ship and surroundings to tremble.
• Maeve warned the Believers to flee as the living Seabed attacked, and Victoria, Lillian, Elsa, and the Dream Creatures fought to get everyone through the passage.
• Victoria rescued the surviving Believers, but Maeve could not fit through the rift, and Elsa positioned her partly inside the Courtyard, where Maeve died and resurrected as Elsa repeatedly changed the moon’s phase.

The Long-Haired Monsters infest the fleet as Elliot discovers the Blood Vampires beneath the Sea of the Moon and leads the Expedition Army into battle. His Difference Engine coordinates the allied forces to the brink of victory, but a Page Turner’s countdown to “Ebb tide” precedes a sudden battlefield change.

• Sidney’s fleet encountered the Nightmare and living mines, while Long-Haired Monsters erupted across the ships and infected Allen and his believers.
• Elliot returned to the infected believers, burned the parasites from them with Spirituality Pressure, and led his Machine Priests in purging the ship.
• Elsa descended through the seabed toward a honey-filled place as Maeve escaped the collapsing passage and the Gear Hymn set course for Sidney’s fleet.
• Sidney’s surviving crew struggled against monsters that spread infection and mimicked voices until Elliot arrived and helped them reach the command room.
• Elliot followed the Nightmare into the Abyssal Sea, where the War Fortress and Dream Creatures joined the fleet in battle against the Blood Vampires.
• Elliot connected to the Difference Engine’s command network, took control of the allied forces, and coordinated the scattered fleet into an effective fighting force.
• Sidney transferred full command to Elliot, who united the royal fleet, Reforging Flame, and Dream Creatures to surround and weaken the Blood Vampires.
• Elliot’s forces blunted the Blood Vampires’ charge and denied them corpses to regenerate from, but he noticed a Page Turner counting down “Ebb tide” just before the battlefield suddenly changed.