Chapter Summaries

Dorothea pressed Phoenix to explain how the Hollow Cathedral’s fear of changing history could help them, and he revealed that her father’s pill killed humans but could be taken by nonhumans. Dorothea realized the pill had changed the course of events around the Sea of the Moon, then warned Phoenix that a [Worm] inside Moonheart was about to emerge.

• Dorothea challenged Phoenix’s reluctance to alter history, and he explained that the Hollow Cathedral’s members were cursed to fail and feared that changing the past would make the future uncontrollable.
• Phoenix told Dorothea that her father’s pill would kill a human instantly and could only be taken by nonhuman beings, while refusing to reveal its purpose because other people’s fates were involved.
• Dorothea connected the pill to Maeve’s nonhuman nature and realized Elsa would have survived if Dorothea had taken it, changing the events that led to the moon’s explosion and the Expedition Army’s situation.
• Dorothea asked Phoenix whether he knew about a [Worm] on the moon, and he reacted with alarm when she confirmed that one was inside Moonheart and would soon emerge.

Phoenix warned Dorothea that [Worms] devoured existence and could not be escaped even through resurrection or time travel, while Victoria explained the first Ascension condition on the Radiance Path. A crash near [Primordial Blood] interrupted their conversation, and Elsa went to investigate while Dorothea stayed behind.

• Phoenix told Dorothea that [Worms] devoured existence and Authority, and that neither resurrection nor changes to history could stop them.
• Dorothea asked Victoria about Ascension on the Radiance Path, and Victoria explained that its first condition was to fully enter [Rationality] and then deactivate it by choice.
• Victoria warned Dorothea that [Rationality] could become addictive and described Ascension as a breakthrough that challenged the self.
• A tremendous impact shook the seabed near [Primordial Blood], and Dorothea used a mirror to reach Elsa and ask whether she wanted to investigate.
• Elsa noticed another Elsa controlled by the Great Being and said she would go investigate while Dorothea stayed behind.

Elliot investigated the disturbance around Maeve and discovered that invisible [Worms] were tormenting [Primordial Blood] until it became distorted and seemingly mad. Unable to reach Maeve beneath the Sea of the Moon, he contacted Elsa, who sensed his arrival through [Honey], and asked her to try contacting Maeve.

• Elliot took control of Elsa's corpse to check on Maeve, but [Primordial Blood] crushed it almost immediately.
• Elliot controlled another corpse and saw that [Primordial Blood] was thrashing in agony, with distortion and madness in its spirituality.
• Elliot spotted a tiny piece of [Primordial Blood] vanish and concluded that invisible [Worms] were likely attacking it.
• Elliot could not reach Maeve beneath the Sea of the Moon, so he released the corpse and took control of another Elsa near the War Fortress.
• Elsa sensed Elliot's arrival through the flow of [Honey], and Elliot asked her to contact Maeve; Elsa grew tense and asked whether Maeve was in danger.

Elliot and Elsa tried to reach Maeve inside the rampaging [Primordial Blood], and Elsa finally resurrected within the deity, where she discovered that Maeve was trapped and unable to answer. Maeve revealed that [Primordial Blood] had sent flesh into Moonheart and may have led the [Worms] back to the [Blood Lord].

• Elliot sent Elsa to awaken Maeve, and Elsa repeatedly resurrected after [Primordial Blood]'s movements crushed her and Elliot's vessels.
• Elliot realized Elsa could resurrect inside [Primordial Blood], and Elsa deliberately died to return within the deity among her swallowed corpses.
• Elsa formed a [Honey Fruit] and called to Maeve, who answered and explained that [Primordial Blood] had gone mad and she could not respond.
• Maeve told Elsa that [Primordial Blood] had split off flesh and shoved it into Moonheart, where the [Worms] were.
• Elsa realized [Primordial Blood] might have lured the [Worms] out, and Maeve suspected they had followed it back to the [Blood Lord].

Elliot learned that the Blood Lord had abandoned the Primordial Blood after encountering the Worms, leaving it uncontrolled and dangerous. He suspected the Worms might not attack Elsa, so he had her appear near the Rift to test the theory.

• Maeve told Elliot that the Blood Lord had left the Primordial Blood after she heard it shout about Worms and cursed back at it.
• Maeve said the Primordial Blood had gone mad and she could no longer control it, while Elliot worried it might threaten the Courtyard.
• Elsa suggested that Phoenix stop the Ritual and withdraw everyone into the Abode, but Elliot asked whether Worms had ever killed her.
• Elsa confirmed she could sense Worms nearby but had only been killed by the Primordial Blood.
• Elliot had Elsa kill herself and reappear in the sea near the Rift, then asked her to condense Honey and scatter it around herself while they waited.

Elsa discovered that the [Worms] avoided her and attacked [Primordial Blood], while Maeve could neither see nor sense them despite having summoned them. Elliot learned that [Primordial Blood] was drifting toward the Rift and asked Maeve if she could control its direction.

• Elsa found that the [Worms] no longer attacked her and avoided her when she approached them.
• Elliot and Elsa returned to Maeve, where Elsa suspected the [Worms] were targeting the [Blood Lord] and [Primordial Blood].
• Elliot asked Maeve to control the [Worms] through the [Crescent Moon Prayer Sigil], but Maeve could not connect to them or perceive them.
• Elsa described sensing the [Worms] as cold, clammy, slimy, and no smaller than herself.
• Elliot learned from the Fleet that [Primordial Blood] was moving toward the Rift and asked Maeve whether she could control its direction.

Elliot and the Expedition Army faced the approaching [Primordial Blood] and [Worms] while Phoenix’s Ritual remained unfinished. As the Fleet prepared to abandon the Ritual, Elsa arrived with Elliot and promised to guard the passage herself.

• Maeve failed to control the maddened [Primordial Blood], and Elliot told her to keep trying to hold it back while he returned with Elsa.
• The Fleet estimated that [Primordial Blood] would arrive within an hour, while Phoenix’s Ritual needed at least three or four more hours to finish.
• Sidney learned that [Casting Forge] would not descend again and ordered the Fleet to gather near the passage and prepare to abandon the Ritual.
• Elliot and Elsa arrived aboard the ship as the Fleet prepared to leave, and Elsa said she would guard the passage herself.

The Great Being declared that he would stay and guard the passage against [Worm], moving the Expedition Army with gratitude and resolve. After he left, Sidney ordered the doomed force to prepare for battle, calling it their final glory.

• The Great Being announced that he would guard the passage himself rather than retreat to his Abode.
• Sidney and the Expedition Army bowed in gratitude, and Sidney vowed to record the deed in the Holy Scripture.
• Vanessa silently questioned why her Lord risked himself for mortals, and he reminded her that she had once been weak and helpless too.
• Vanessa realized she had lost sight of her past and resolved to repent.
• After the Great Being departed, Sidney rallied the Expedition Army and ordered them to prepare for battle.

Elliot stayed at the passage to keep the [Worms] from entering the Courtyard and prepared to use the Difference Engine to save the Expedition Army from [Primordial Blood]. He took control of Vanessa and connected to the fleet’s command network as the final battle began.

• Sidney and Michel reflected on the Expedition Army’s renewed fighting spirit and the Empire’s decline as the fleet departed.
• Elliot decided to remain at the passage, hoping to block the [Worms] and protect the fleet from [Primordial Blood].
• Elliot assessed his abilities and found no clear way to counter [Primordial Blood], which was expected to arrive within half an hour.
• Elliot took control of Vanessa and asked Sidney and Mother to transfer command of the fleet to him.
• Elliot activated the Difference Engine’s war-mode panel and connected to the command network.

Elliot led the battered Expedition Army, Dream Creatures, and three Nightmares into battle against [Primordial Blood] as it advanced toward the Rift. The Nightmares managed to knock it back briefly, but Elliot realized their forces could barely slow it.

• Phoenix and Victoria watched the Expedition Army arrive for its final battle against [Primordial Blood].
• Elliot commanded the fleet to fire, and the warships dodged [Primordial Blood]'s strike as Dream Creatures charged and clung to its flesh.
• [Primordial Blood] flung the Dream Creatures away, leaving many unable to fight, while Elliot used the fleet to try to slow its advance toward the Rift.
• Elliot sent the three Nightmares into close combat, and one set Elsa beside the passage before charging into battle.
• The three Nightmares struck [Primordial Blood] and briefly knocked it back, but Elliot realized their combined attack had barely slowed it.

Elliot struggled to stop [Primordial Blood] as the fleet’s attacks proved ineffective, until Allen’s ordinary bullets began inflicting enormous damage through his [Spirituality Mark] talent. The discovery gave Elliot a way to hurt [Primordial Blood], though the rapid stacking of Allen’s marks seemed strangely powerful.

• [Primordial Blood] overwhelmed the three nightmares and kept advancing against the fleet’s fire.
• Elliot tried [Compliance] on [Primordial Blood], but Maeve’s presence inside it prevented him from controlling the vessel.
• As Elliot considered ramming [Primordial Blood] with the War Fortress, it began screaming in pain as explosions tore through its body.
• Elsa brought Elliot to the Communion believers, where Allen fired rapidly while believers loaded and reloaded guns for him.
• Allen explained that his [Spirituality Mark] talent caused each bullet to add a permanent mark and increase damage, astonishing Elliot.

Allen’s [spirituality mark] attacks were damaging [primordial blood], but the wounded creature writhed closer instead of retreating. Elliot then noticed the Dream Creatures were combining their injured and dead into one being.

• Allen told Elliot that [primordial blood] had accumulated over a hundred million [spirituality mark] stacks, though Allen had fired fewer than ten thousand bullets.
• Elliot considered whether the stacks had carried over from other Histories or been applied by someone else, then ordered Vanessa to send two squads of Machine Priests to help Allen reload.
• [Primordial blood] howled and writhed under Allen’s attacks, but its movements and the damaged flesh helped it approach faster.
• Elsa asked whether Allen could increase his damage with naval guns or several guns firing at once, and Allen said the weapon did not affect his added damage but multiple triggers might speed up his attacks.
• Elliot noticed the Dream Creatures gathering their wounded and dead, then watched them join their blood and flesh into a single whole.

Elliot and the others watched the Dream Creatures and Nightmares fuse into a colossal tendril, which began to awaken and nearly spoke before unseen threads sealed its mouths. The tendril attacked [Primordial Blood], leaving the Believers and Expedition Army stunned by the power of the great being beside Elsa.

• Elliot saw the wounded Dream Creatures assemble with three Nightmares into an enormous tendril covered in eyes and sewn-shut mouths.
• Phoenix recalled a [Gospel] description of a being with countless hands, eyes, mouths, and tongues, then hurried to set up the Ritual.
• The tendril's mouths opened, drawing everyone's gaze and threatening to speak, but the threads tightened and sealed them shut.
• The tendril struck [Primordial Blood] and repeatedly whipped Him, making Him cry out and writhe in pain.
• The Believers and Expedition Army turned from the battle to stare at the calm great being beside Elsa.

The Dream Creatures merged into a colossal tendril and battered [Primordial Blood], while Sidney realized the Great Being in the Courtyard had never needed to fight personally. The tendril used its last strength to smash open a passage to Moonheart before collapsing, leaving [Primordial Blood] afraid to approach.

• The Dream Creatures' tendril relentlessly lashed [Primordial Blood], forcing Him to retreat as the Fleet watched in silence.
• Sidney told Michel and Elliot that the Great Being in the Courtyard had not acted and might be powerful enough to dismiss [Primordial Blood] as no opponent.
• As Allen continued firing, the tendril gathered its remaining strength and struck the Seabed, blasting open a passage toward Moonheart.
• Seawater and Elsa's Corpses gushed through the new Rift, while the tendril steered its collapse away from the Believers and fell before the Courtyard's Rift.
• Allen stopped firing when the current blocked his bullets, and [Primordial Blood] shrank back instead of approaching the collapsed tendril.

After the Expedition Army defeated [Primordial Blood], Phoenix completed a ritual that opened a door in the Sea of the Moon. As a strange aura and two scarlet eyes appeared beyond it, Elliot’s group prepared to enter the passage.

• The Expedition Army celebrated [Primordial Blood]'s retreat, and Sidney told Elliot he wanted to explain something about the Royal Family once they were safely back.
• Elsa and the believers recovered the Dream Creatures' bodies and buried them in the lake while Elliot promised to uncover the truth about them.
• Phoenix completed his ritual preparations, and the Difference Engine recorded the Formless Art ritual as "Wrong Door."
• Phoenix pulled a door from the ritual's illusion, and seawater and a strange aura poured through as two scarlet dots appeared in the doorway.

Elliot helped open a passage for the Expedition Army to return and offered Sidney pieces of [Primordial Blood] as sacrificial material. As Elsa and the believers began gathering the fragments, Elliot turned his attention to allocating points to Dorothea and Elsa.

• Phoenix opened a small passage to the Present World, while a Blood Vampire emerged and Victoria killed it before explaining how to resist its parasitic infection to Vanessa.
• Victoria returned to the Library and found Vanessa still restrained, then continued teaching her and keeping her safe.
• Elliot told Sidney he could return through the passage and urged him to take something back from the expedition.
• Elliot offered the Expedition Army pieces of [Primordial Blood] for sacrifices, and Sidney hurried to organize people to collect them.
• Elsa organized the believers to gather the fragments using the Expedition Army's warships, while Elliot stopped controlling the vessel and prepared to allocate points to Dorothea and Elsa.

Elliot allocated Elsa’s Ascension Talent and chose [Amber], while her ongoing transformation by [Honey] counted down. He discovered that corpses could not be sacrificed and suspected the [Honey Transformation] countdown might explain why.

• Elliot reviewed Elsa’s three Talent options, [Desolation], [Honey Blood], and [Amber], and chose [Amber] for its ability to completely solidify a target.
• Elsa’s Talent became a metal plate, but the Tree of the Supernatural’s progress stopped because no [Honey] was available to advance it.
• Elliot tried sacrificing two corpses, but the Difference Engine rejected them, while a drop of Elsa’s [Honey] produced a tiny amount of progress.
• Elliot considered whether his control of the corpses prevented sacrifice, then noticed the [Honey Transformation] countdown continuing to decrease.

Elliot realized Elsa’s [Honey Transformation] might involve every Elsa corpse and could grant her a dangerous Authority, so he stopped her Sacrifice and left her to test her new [Amber]. Elsa discovered she could seal a cat in durable amber and later release it, though it seemed not to remember being sealed.

• Elliot considered the risk that Elsa could gain Authority through the corpses and stopped her Sacrifice, deciding to test [Amber] before adding points for Dorothea.
• Elsa’s [Honey] made nearby Believers want to devour her, so Flora suggested testing the effect on a cat before Allen.
• Elsa touched the cat, turning it into a detailed amber statue that captivated Flora and Allen.
• Allen struck the amber with his Folding Knife but could not scratch it.
• Elsa melted the amber and released the cat, then wondered whether it remembered being sealed.

Elsa tested [Amber] on Allen and discovered it could suspend thought, spirituality, and time-limited abilities, while Victoria’s strongest attacks could not damage it. The group considered whether [Amber] could preserve someone through the end of the world, and Allen proposed testing it against his forced return after using [Breakthrough].

• Elsa sealed Allen in [Amber] and learned he had no memory of the time spent frozen.
• Elsa froze Allen while [Honey] was healing his wound, and the wound resumed healing only after she dispelled [Amber].
• Vanessa called Victoria over, and Victoria found that even her strongest silk attacks could not scratch the amber.
• Vanessa asked whether [Amber] could let someone survive the end of the world, and Victoria admitted she did not know.
• Elliot wondered whether [Amber] could preserve someone through the Second Era’s destruction, and Allen suggested freezing himself before [Breakthrough] returned him to his original position.

Victoria and Elsa tested how [Amber] interacted with Allen’s [Breakthrough], discovering that amber delayed his return until it was released. Sidney then told Victoria that the Empire needed a new emperor and that she, he, and one other contender had to decide who would take the crown before they returned to the Present World.

• Victoria, Elsa, and Allen tested [Breakthrough] by sealing Allen in [Amber] during his charge and moving him to the Sea of the Moon.
• Elsa released Allen from the amber, and [Breakthrough] then returned him to his original position in the Abode.
• Vanessa wondered whether Allen could be stranded across the destruction of an era, but Elsa explained that she would have to release [Amber] herself.
• Victoria said goodbye to Elsa and the others, then reflected that the Dream Creatures who had sprayed her Library were now eternally asleep.
• Sidney arrived and told Victoria that the group would return to the Present World that day, where she, he, and another contender had to choose the Empire’s new emperor.