Chapter Summaries

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.

Elliot discovered that his Difference Engine Core had returned and found that its Cards were blank until he looked at them, suggesting he could make the device function in the Dream. He then pieced together how the Blood Lord’s plan to claim the moon’s Authority of [Honey] had been disrupted, though Sidney’s war was still ongoing.

• Elliot found his Difference Engine Core inside the running machine and realized the Believers could not see the Cards’ contents.
• As Elliot looked at the blank Cards, they gained color, leading him to suspect that he connected the Difference Engine to the Dream.
• Elliot examined the battlefield’s historical records and learned that the Blood Lord had sent [Primordial Blood] to seize the moon’s unclaimed Authority of [Honey].
• The [Blood Lord] awakened the [Primordial Blood], whose pieces became Blood Vampires that devoured one another and gathered into a vast mass across the Sea of the Moon.
• Elliot learned that Elsa’s contact with [Honey] had awakened the moon and that the early arrival of [Ebb Tide] had forced the [Blood Lord] to accelerate His plan.
• Elliot’s actions helped the fleet and Dream Creatures survive and nearly destroy the Blood Vampire horde before the [Blood Lord] could complete His scheme.

Elliot pieced together how Maeve’s possession of [Primordial Blood] and [Casting Forge]’s intervention had trapped the [Blood Lord] in a desperate fight. As the warship headed toward the Courtyard, Elliot used Elsa’s corpse there to set his plans in motion and searched for the revived Elsa.

• Elliot learned that Maeve’s possession prevented [Primordial Blood] from benefiting from anything it consumed and redirected its attacks and enhancements back onto itself.
• [Casting Forge] descended into Elsa and fought [Primordial Blood], while Elliot guided the fleet and Dream Creatures away from the seabed battle.
• Elliot realized the [Blood Lord] was guarding the Honey Water beneath Moonheart and steered the warship toward the Courtyard while the fight continued.
• Elliot controlled Elsa’s corpse in the Courtyard to carry out his arrangements and searched the believers’ records for the living Elsa, whom he believed could break the deadlock.

Elliot discovered that Elsa had revived in Moonheart and was repeatedly driven into Permanent Madness by the Secret History, only to be restored by Honey. He tried to bring her back through the Difference Engine, but her new physical body could not pass through the seabed rock, leaving her trapped.

• Elliot found records showing that Elsa had revived, repeatedly fallen into Permanent Madness after seeing a Secret History, and regained her sanity by drinking Honey.
• Elsa pleaded with Elliot to save her, and he decided to give up the chance of her obtaining the Honey Authority and ordered her to return.
• Elsa began swimming upward when Elliot's command took effect, but her movement stopped each time she fell into Permanent Madness.
• Elliot repeatedly issued the return command, helping Elsa rise a little at a time until she could no longer move.
• Elliot realized Elsa's physical body had struck the rocky seabed of the Sea of the Moon, trapping her beneath Moonheart.

Elliot discovered that he could briefly control Elsa whenever madness overcame her, and used those moments to help her draw and activate a Sacrifice Ritual in the moon's core. With the Honey accepted as an offering, Elsa gained points, and Elliot began considering which attributes to allocate so she could escape.

• Elliot realized that Elsa's body became briefly controllable whenever she fell into Permanent Madness, and decided to use those moments to draw the Sacrifice Ritual.
• Elsa gradually drew the Sacrifice runes in blood on a rock wall, with Elliot guiding her body during each bout of madness.
• Elsa completed the Ritual, and the Honey swirling around her was accepted as an offering.
• Elliot opened Elsa's point-allocation interface and weighed the Restoration, Sharpness, and Rationality branches as possible ways to help her escape the moon's core.

Elliot discovered that Elsa’s supernatural options had all become [Honey] after she absorbed it during repeated resurrections, and he realized that resurrection might reshape her Path. He began allocating points, leaving Elsa with a newly unlocked [Honey] option and apparently endless resources for further growth.

• Elliot rejected sending Dorothea through a mirror to retrieve Elsa except as a last resort because the risks and delays could leave Elsa permanently mad.
• Elliot opened Elsa’s point allocation interface and found that every option on her supernatural tree was [Honey].
• Elliot connected the changed options to Elsa absorbing [Honey] during repeated [Resurrection] and recalled that a previous resurrection had given her a nightmare form.
• Elliot concluded that resurrection might let Elsa absorb powers and redirect her Path, making each resurrection another form of growth.
• Elliot selected a [Honey] option, and the Difference Engine displayed [Honey +1] as a new progress groove filled immediately.

Elliot advanced Elsa along the Honey Path and chose talents, but none could free her from the moon’s core. Her Ascension task appeared to require devouring a Supernatural person on a similar Path, though the completed requirement showed she had already exceeded it.

• Elliot advanced Elsa to Second Rank and chose Honey Resurrection, which made her resurrection location within honey and reduced her resurrection time.
• Elliot advanced Elsa to Third Rank and chose Honey Fruit, which let her produce honey in the Present World.
• Elliot added two more points to Elsa’s Honey Path and checked her Ascension task, fearing it would require her to eat someone on a similar Path.
• The Difference Engine displayed the task as devouring Supernatural people on similar Paths, with Elsa’s progress already at 75/1.

Elliot deduced that Elsa’s consumption of 75 Maeves satisfied her advancement requirement because the Paths of [Honey] and [Blood] were similar, then examined the three Ascension Cards offered to her. He rejected the first as disturbing and found the second ill-suited to Elsa, while the third showed her surrounded by devoted people and cups of honey.

• Elliot realized that Elsa had met the requirement to devour Supernatural persons of similar Paths by eating 75 Maeves, whose Path of [Blood] resembled her Path of [Honey].
• Elliot considered how [Honey] differed from [Blood], concluding that it leaned toward vitality, decay, pleasure, and being eaten.
• The Difference Engine produced three Ascension Cards for Elsa, and Elliot recoiled from the first Card’s depiction of diners carving her up alive.
• Elliot judged the second Card’s seductive ball scene unsuitable for Elsa and examined the third, which showed her seated by a fire as people prayed around her among cups of honey.

Elliot selected a motherly ascension for Elsa, but she was repeatedly killed by an unseen being inside the Honey Sea. He controlled Elsa’s corpse to reach her and began investigating the attacker, leaving her to sense it again.

• Elliot chose the motherly ascension for Elsa and returned to the point-allocation interface.
• Elsa warned that something had set its sights on her, then died and immediately resurrected through Honey Resurrection.
• The unseen attacker killed Elsa again, and Elliot used a corpse Card to control her body.
• Elliot’s controlled Elsa reached the newly resurrected Elsa, and his blazing white light dispelled the darkness around them.
• Elliot asked Elsa to sense the attacker again, then relinquished control, and Elsa died once more.

Elliot used Elsa's resurrection to ambush and kill her invisible attacker, then discovered that it was a Worm. Michel separately suggested that something might have lured the [Worms] away from the Great Beings' Abodes.

• Elliot found that Elsa's attacker struck only when he left and suspected that it was an incorporeal being vulnerable to [Spirituality Pressure].
• Elsa followed Elliot's plan, died again, and resurrected between the two corpses holding hands in the [Honey].
• Elliot returned to the corpse just before the attacker struck Elsa and killed it with [Spirituality Pressure].
• Elliot checked the Difference Engine's kill records and discovered that the attacker was a Worm.
• Michel questioned how the Great Beings could descend into [Vessels] while their Abodes were sealed and suggested to Sidney that something had lured the [Worms] away.

Michel and Sidney discussed the ancient Worm War and the possibility that [Worms] had been drawn to the Sea of the Moon. Elliot confirmed that [Worms] were already there and urged the fleet to take refuge in his Abode.

• Michel told Sidney how [Worms] fed on the Primordial Sun's corpse, prompting the True Gods and Great Beings to fight the first [Worm War].
• Michel and Sidney considered whether [Worms] might come to the Sea of the Moon and went to ask Elliot for information.
• Sidney discovered that Elliot's cabin was the only dry one aboard the Judgment Angel.
• Michel asked Elliot whether the Worm disaster had passed and whether the fleet was in danger.
• Elliot said he had found traces of a [Worm] in the Sea of the Moon and told the fleet to take refuge in his Abode.