Chapter Summaries

Vanessa learned that the blonde girl had invited her to the Saint Clair Grand Library for a Trial, which revealed the Library’s vast, true form. She began searching its endless collection for the answer to the girl’s riddle before her seven hours ran out.

• Dorothea warned Vanessa to be cautious about the blonde noblewoman, and Vanessa said the girl had invited her to stay at the Library and share something important.
• Vanessa returned to the Saint Clair Grand Library and sat apart from the blonde girl, whose stare made her nervous.
• The girl told Vanessa that she had qualified for a Trial and asked whether she wanted to see the true Saint Clair Grand Library.
• The Library transformed into an endless web of books connected by the girl’s golden hair, and the girl posed the riddle, “where can rest be found?”
• The girl gave Vanessa seven hours to solve the riddle or become a lounge chair forever, and Vanessa began searching the books.

Vanessa searched Victoria’s unusual books for the answer to the riddle, enduring supernatural whispers and illusions until [Spirit Vision] drove them away. She solved it in forty-seven minutes, leaving Victoria astonished by how quickly she corrected her course.

• Vanessa searched the books, which drained her spirituality and filled her mind with whispers and illusions.
• Vanessa activated [Spirit Vision], dispelling the apparitions and allowing her to keep searching.
• Victoria recalled how Vanessa’s presence had briefly brought her peace and settled in to sleep while Vanessa read.
• Vanessa interrupted Victoria’s nap and announced that the answer to “Where can one find rest?” was [Abode].
• Victoria examined the books and traced Vanessa’s reasoning, then realized Vanessa had solved the riddle in just forty-seven minutes.

Vanessa solved Victoria’s library trial in just over forty minutes and received Victoria’s Coat of Arms as a reward. Victoria warned that it would help Vanessa survive the upcoming Theresia Festival, and Vanessa left the library wondering what dangers awaited.

• Vanessa found the answer to Victoria’s riddle in just over forty minutes, astonishing Victoria with her speed.
• Victoria confirmed Vanessa’s answer and gave her the Coat of Arms, explaining that it would let her enter and leave the Crown District and mobilize Victoria’s people.
• Victoria warned Vanessa that the Coat of Arms could help her survive the Theresia Festival, where people died at every festival.
• Vanessa asked Victoria her name and whether she could return to the Saint Clair Grand Library; Victoria did not answer the latter question.
• Vanessa left the library, saw the Bronze Statue of the Steam Angel, and thought about the approaching festival.

Elliot used his authority in the Hearthfire District to prepare for possible violence at the Theresia Festival while spreading factory rules that workers gradually adopted as their own laws. The chapter ended with Allen recruiting workers into the Factory Guard against people he said planned to attack the factories.

• Elliot questioned ordinary people about the Theresia Festival but learned nothing about its sacrifices.
• Elliot stockpiled medicine and expanded and armed the Factory Guard in case nobles tried to seize sacrificial offerings.
• Elliot used covert channels to spread supplies and regulations through the factories, giving workers access to information before managers received it.
• Workers began enforcing Elliot’s regulations in factories and neighborhoods, settling disputes through gatherings and votes.
• Allen told workers that people planned to cause trouble during the Theresia Festival and called on them to join the Factory Guard.

Elliot prepared the Hearthfire District for possible trouble during the Theresia Festival, then refused the Old Duke’s offer to reach the Seventh Rank through a sacrifice of commoners. The Old Duke accepted his decision and warned him to stay indoors, leaving Elliot to wonder what danger the festival would bring.

• Elliot built sturdy towers, bought ordinary weapons, and warned residents that the Rose Cross might cause trouble during the Theresia Festival.
• Conrad told Elliot that the Old Duke wanted to discuss the festival and Elliot’s sacrifice.
• The Old Duke said the festival’s sacrifice could raise Elliot directly to the Seventh Rank, but Elliot refused to gain power by taking commoners’ lives.
• The Old Duke accepted Elliot’s refusal, remarked that the Supernatural might also be the wrong path, and told him to remain indoors during the festival.
• Elliot concluded that the festival would bring danger outside, but wondered how that threat could fit with Victoria’s badge supposedly keeping Vanessa alive.

Elliot sought information about the Theresia Festival from the Third Prince and learned that Sidney was trying to stop it. Holly’s explanation of the Royal Family’s Path of [Justice] led Elliot to realize that the Empire maintained the appearance of lawful procedure even as people were sacrificed.

• Elliot decided he had to protect the Hearthfire District and went in disguise to the Third Prince’s Palace to ask Sidney about the festival.
• Holly told Elliot that Sidney had gone to the Imperial Palace to ask His Majesty to halt the Theresia Festival because he believed sacrificing commoners was not worth losing people who might advance the Empire.
• Holly explained that Sidney likely would not return before the festival and that the Royal Family and the Seven Holy Families would attend its ritual.
• When Elliot mentioned human sacrifice, Holly insisted that the Royal Family could not commit it because its Path was [Justice] and emperors swore to uphold the law.
• Elliot reconsidered the Empire’s laws and the festival’s public image, concluding that the Royal Family upheld procedural justice rather than mercy and that he still had to find a way to prevent the sacrifice.

On Theresia's festival, Xiao kept his family indoors at Lady Elsa's request while Factory Guards enforced an unusually strict lockdown. When Lord Elliot's procession passed, Xiao saw a vast vision of cold flames in the sky before meeting Elliot's gaze.

• Xiao told Phoebe and Guinevere they should stay indoors because Lady Elsa had requested it.
• Factory Guards restricted movement around the Hearthfire District while distributing food and patrolling for Rose Cross spies.
• Young Factory Guards gave Xiao food and told him Lord Elliot was visiting the factory with Machine Priests from the Reforging Flame.
• Xiao used [Spirit Vision] as the procession passed and saw cold flames covering the sky.
• Xiao came to his senses before Lord Elliot, who nodded to him from a mechanical horse, and Xiao found that his [Spirit Vision] had switched itself off.

Xiao spent the festival unsettled by his heightened [Spirit Vision] and sensitive spirituality, though the day passed without incident. When he saw the blood moon reveal itself as writhing maggots and sensed hidden presences outside, he fired his pistol and glimpsed a towering, fur-covered monster.

• Elliot’s procession passed through the district toward the factories, and Xiao’s companions discussed the noble’s thirteen regulations.
• Xiao heard gunfire and felt his spirituality warning him, but the festival continued without any obvious trouble.
• After dark, Xiao used [Spirit Vision] on the blood moon and saw it as a sphere of writhing red maggots before it vanished, revealing a coldly burning sun.
• Xiao sensed furtive presences outside and, unable to leave to warn the Factory Guard, bit off his pistol’s safety and fired through the window.
• The gunshots illuminated an enormous, muscular, fur-covered monster in the scarlet moonlight, and Xiao saw its red eyes.

Xiao hid from a monster in his home, while Elliot realized the long-haired creatures attacking the Factory District had once been civilians transformed by [It] beneath the Blood Moon. As the Factory Guard struggled to hold back the growing horde, the Machine Priests revealed their steel prosthetic limbs and prepared to fight.

• Xiao crouched beneath the windowsill as a monster approached, then Phoebe found him hiding there.
• Elliot recognized the attackers as [It] in its final form and deduced that the monsters had once been parasitized civilians.
• Elliot concluded that the Empire had allowed [It] to spread so the Blood Moon would turn civilians into sacrificial offerings, while making the resulting extermination appear lawful and just.
• Elliot realized he could neither restore the monsters nor ignore them, and focused on protecting the Hearthfire District.
• The Factory Guard fought the monsters with volleys of gunfire, but the horde grew as creatures from nearby areas were drawn by the shots.
• The Machine Priests opened their red robes and revealed their steel prosthetic limbs as the Factory Guard's defenses faltered.

Flora joined Allen at the factory and warned him that the monsters’ behavior suggested the attack was controlled, while people in the slums were in immediate danger. Elliott Sterling arrived with Machine Priests, promised to guard the factories, and gave Allen authority to command the Factory Guard and other personnel in the Hearthfire District.

• Allen ordered the Factory Guard to stop firing as Flora approached the factory with monsters pursuing her.
• Flora stopped the lead monster and swung it into the charging horde, then entered the factory.
• Flora told Allen that the monsters avoided people indoors and those carrying Vanessa’s badge, but ignored the shacks in the slums.
• Allen hesitated to leave the factory to rescue people because the workers and buildings would be vulnerable.
• Elliott Sterling arrived with Machine Priests, said he would guard the factory, and gave Allen his pendant and command over the Factory Guard and Hearthfire District personnel.

Elliot’s Machine Priests cleared the street with flamethrowers and Frost Sprayers, allowing Allen to lead the Factory Guard into the Slums. As Xiao and his family watched the Guard advance, a monster broke through their line.

• The Machine Priests used the War Hymn to unleash flamethrowers, burning the monsters outside the factory gate before switching to Frost Sprayers to extinguish the flames.
• Elliot sent Allen and the Factory Guard out, though he knew the Machine Priests were low-ranking and relied on his belief that the monsters would not attack the factory.
• Xiao hid with his wife and daughter after a hooded figure, who might have been Vanessa, drew a monster away from their house.
• Xiao spotted the Factory Guard advancing through the Slums and hoped they would save his family, while his wife doubted they could defeat the monsters.
• The Factory Guard charged through the narrow alleys, and Xiao saw a monster break through their defense line and rush into the crowd.

Allen and the Factory Guard fought through the Slums to escort civilians toward the factory as monsters overwhelmed the streets. Xiao chose to lead his family onward, then saw injured people turn back to fight beside the monster holding the alley, and stood transfixed by their defiance.

• Allen used his bolt gun and [Flash Blade] to fight monsters while urging civilians to follow the Factory Guard to the factory.
• Xiao took his wife and daughter outside, but a huge horde of monsters charged toward them and the retreating group.
• A short figure transformed into a larger monster and blocked the alley, holding off the horde while consuming a fallen monster's flesh to recover.
• Xiao chose not to help an injured Factory Guard member and pulled his family toward the factory, while another wounded man urged them to go because Church members guarded it.
• Phoebe noticed the wounded man crawling toward the monsters, where he armed himself with a shotgun, and Xiao saw other injured people move toward the fight as well.

Maeve and the Factory Guard fought to defend the Hearthfire District as Vanessa arrived to help hold back the monsters. Elliot coordinated the defense through doubles and controlled allies, but the Difference Engine kept demanding his attention.

• Xiao hesitated to flee with his wife and daughter as the wounded people around him continued resisting the monsters.
• Maeve fought on at the alley entrance, using [Song of Flesh] to heal herself by consuming monsters, even as exhaustion brought on hallucinations.
• Factory Guard members came to Maeve's aid, and Vanessa used [Spirituality Pressure] and a powerful weapon to clear a path through the charging monsters.
• Vanessa left Maeve to continue the fight, and Maeve regained strength by eating more monster flesh.
• Elliot revealed that he was controlling Vanessa and a corpse double equipped with his Card while coordinating the Hearthfire District's defenses, then faced another emergency mission from the Difference Engine.

Elliot raced to rescue people across the Hearthfire District as the Blood Moon drew more monsters toward the remaining defenders, while Simon Strauss completed an unknown ritual near Maeve. As Xiao, his wife, and Phoebe tended the wounded, Canteen prayers spread across the battlefield.

• Elliot used Vanessa and weapons supplied by the Machine Priests to save people from monsters during the timed rescue missions.
• Elliot saw that Simon Strauss had separated from the others to set up a ritual near Maeve, and the Difference Engine reported that the ritual was complete and activation was imminent.
• Elliot considered Maeve's Crescent Moon Prayer and its ability to summon a Worm as a last resort against the monsters.
• Xiao treated the wounded with his wife while Phoebe carried a gas lamp and encouraged them.
• The wounded and Factory Guard began reciting the Canteen prayers as they received treatment.

As Maeve’s defense faltered, Phoebe spotted the expanding Bright Moon Array burning away monster corpses, and Simon led the survivors toward it. Maeve entered the light and found she could heal by devouring the monsters, just as the remaining creatures charged into the array.

• The people of the Hearthfire District gathered around Phoebe’s Lantern and rallied as Maeve began to retreat.
• Phoebe spotted the Bright Moon Array spreading across the ground and burning monster corpses beneath its light.
• Simon reached Maeve, showed her the array, and led her and the wounded toward it after Maeve blocked the alley with debris.
• Maeve entered the array, endured its burning light, and healed by eating a monster corpse.
• The monsters charged into the expanding white light as Simon watched to see if the array could stop them.

Simon used a Formless Art to destroy the monsters attacking the people, but the art consumed his Spirit and left him dying. As Allen’s defense line struggled to advance toward the Factory, Elsa prepared to sacrifice herself with explosives to block the monsters.

• Simon’s white light burned the charging monsters to ash without harming the people, and Maeve praised him before he collapsed.
• Phoebe examined Simon and found no injuries, but he told Maeve that the art consumed his Spirit and urged her to live on before his eyes went dark.
• Allen and the exhausted defenders fought through the monster horde, with civilians joining the Factory Guard as the defense line barely held.
• Allen worried that the group was advancing too slowly to reach the Factory, while Vanessa briefly helped before leaving to handle other urgent matters.
• Elsa asked Allen about the remaining explosives, bound them to her injured hand, and agreed to attack a gap in an alley.
• Allen used his last trace of Spirituality to Blink himself and Elsa toward the alley where the monsters would emerge.

Elsa sacrificed herself to blast apart a warehouse and slow the monsters, but Allen’s group still faced certain defeat as they fought toward the factory. Just as Allen prepared for a final stand, Elliot arrived with Machine Priests and reinforcements.

• Elsa charged into the monsters with explosives and destroyed an abandoned warehouse, inspiring the Hearthfire District’s people to pray and rally.
• Allen led the Factory Guard and civilians onward, realizing they would not reach the factory and preparing a final counterattack.
• The believers prayed as Allen and the others fought, and Allen killed one enormous monster with a slash before being overwhelmed.
• Elliot arrived with Machine Priests, blasted apart a monster, and tossed Allen a loaded Bolter so he could keep fighting.

Elliot led the Factory Guard and nearly a thousand civilians from the Slums to safety at the factory, where the Machine Priests destroyed the pursuing monsters. Maeve grieved over Simon’s apparent death, but he suddenly revived and said the being he had sacrificed his spirit to had refused it.

• Elliot arrived on the battlefield and ordered everyone to abandon their supplies and follow him to the factory.
• Elliot led the fleeing group while the Machine Priests cleared a path through the monsters, then waited at the entrance until everyone was inside.
• The Machine Priests fired from the factory wall and killed the monsters pursuing the survivors.
• Workers and physicians treated the wounded as the factory sheltered the rescued civilians, while the survivors remembered Elliot’s bravery.
• Maeve mourned Simon’s corpse and began to lose control to rage beneath the moonlight.
• Simon stirred, sat up, and said the being he had directed his sacrifice toward had refused to accept his spirit.

Simon’s Formless Art failed after a Great Being seemed to reject him, leaving him unable to cast it while Maeve suggested luring monsters in because she was hungry. Meanwhile, Elliot organized the factory’s defenses and used Vanessa to gather monster corpses across the city.

• Simon entered the Dream World as the price for his Formless Art, but a Great Being’s gaze was followed by the Abode slamming its doors shut and throwing him back into reality.
• Maeve worried that Simon had lost his Spirit again, but the Pure Moon light vanished and Simon realized the Great Being had withdrawn its power, leaving him unable to cast the art.
• Simon reassured Maeve that Pure Moon had dispelled the Blood Moon around them, and Maeve asked whether she could lure monsters into the area because she was hungry.
• Elliot directed his doubles to treat the wounded and arrange the factory’s night watch while he used [Conversation] to win over some rank-and-file Machine Priests.
• Elliot planned to take the Machine Priests with him and make them independent of the Church, while controlling Vanessa to collect monster corpses throughout the city.

Vanessa used sacrifices to heal wounded Believers while Elliot watched the Blood Moon’s devastation spread across the Imperial Capital. At midnight, the Theresia Festival ended and a giant Bronze Statue rose from beneath the Dome District’s steel sky.

• Vanessa gathered monster corpses and drew a sacrificial Ritual, reasoning that the Royal Family would use them as offerings if she did not.
• Dorothea brought wounded people who had become Believers of the Canteen, and Vanessa healed them through sacrifice; the restored Believers knelt in fervent prayer.
• Vanessa called Dorothea, Allen, and Flora to help with the remaining corpses while rescuers carried wounded people through the alley.
• Elliot watched the clock and concluded that monsters had slaughtered the homeless across the Imperial Capital, turning them into Sacrifice Offerings while residents behind walls remained safe.
• At midnight, the Theresia Festival bells rang and the steel sky over the Dome District opened, revealing a huge Bronze Statue rising amid steam and clouds.