Chapter Summaries

Elliot was forced to receive Holly von Strauss, the Third Prince’s adjutant, while Vanessa waited in the Theater for the assassination operation and received no answer from her Lord. The chapter left Vanessa and Allen hiding as guards approached and searched the walls and ceiling for danger.

• Elliot planned his next moves at the Difference Engine until Conrad hurried in and ordered him to meet Holly von Strauss, who had arrived without warning.
• Conrad explained that Holly represented the Third Prince and that the Sterling Family could not openly refuse her, while Elliot worried about Vanessa facing the operation without his control.
• Elliot recognized his name on a Card at the Difference Engine and wondered how Vanessa and he would fare on separate battlefields.
• Vanessa waited in the Theater’s suspended ceiling, reflecting on her reliance on her Lord, but received no response when she prayed.
• Allen signaled Vanessa as armed guards approached with a man using iron rods to check the walls and ceiling, and Vanessa told Allen to escape by the planned route while she found her own way out.

Vanessa waited for her Lord to take control, but when he did not, she chose to remain hidden in a theater box as Dorothea watched over her. Meanwhile, a blind-seeming supernatural man named Sutton detected Dorothea, and Lillian began her performance with a plan to kill the nobles in the audience.

• Vanessa slipped into a box’s washroom and, after seeing Dorothea’s signal, chose to stay and face the situation herself.
• Dorothea used her Radiance Mirror to locate Vanessa, but Sutton detected her surveillance and made the mirrors vanish.
• Vanessa realized Dorothea had been discovered and waited in hiding, overhearing the box guests mention the Troy Society and the Third Prince.
• Flora read Mourning Poems in a theater washroom and found that it described her as standing on a stretch of ruins.
• Lillian danced onstage, thinking of the East District’s impoverished dead and resolving to spill noble blood, while wondering whether Elliot had come to watch.

Lillian’s dance set off a devastating inferno at the theater as a man leapt from the ruined box to confront the attackers. While Vanessa interrogated Garrett and the Troy Society steward, she learned the destruction had stemmed from a chain of misunderstandings and had achieved nothing, leaving her unsure whom to blame.

• Lillian danced amid the theater’s explosions and flames, then emerged from her burning body as the stage became a furnace.
• A man with blazing light in his eye sockets told Garrett to hide, then jumped from the damaged box toward the stage.
• Vanessa held Garrett at gunpoint and learned he had only casually mentioned building a gallery, while the Troy Society had built the theater without confirming anything with him.
• Garrett told Vanessa that neither the Eighth Prince nor Lady Holly had appeared, and that the Third Prince had only sent someone to inspect.
• Vanessa questioned the steward and confirmed the Troy Society had acted on Garrett’s offhand remark, while Garrett knew nothing of the princes’ plans.
• Realizing the destruction and deaths had accomplished nothing, Vanessa sank into bewilderment, unable to decide whom to strike.

Vanessa confronted Garrett over the deaths of Winnie and countless commoners, then killed him after realizing he treated their lives as things with prices. Her attacks failed at first because Garrett’s body resisted bullets and her [Secret Art · Trigger], but Sutton arrived too late to stop her final strike.

• Vanessa killed the Troy Society's manager but hesitated to shoot Garrett as she questioned what the sacrifices had been for.
• Garrett offered compensation at five pounds per dead commoner and revealed that he did not think their families deserved payment.
• Vanessa understood that Garrett valued commoners as objects and mocked him by tossing coins onto his shirt and naming a price for his life.
• Vanessa fired at Garrett, but the bullets bounced off him, and [Secret Art · Trigger] wounded him without killing him.
• Sutton charged into the private box, and Vanessa used all nine of her remaining fingers to strike Garrett with the Formless Art and kill him.

Vanessa used her last strength to help Allen escape and faced Sutton’s pursuers alone, then the Lord’s power manifested through her and overwhelmed everyone nearby. The Difference Engine recorded that Sutton had looked upon a great being and fallen into permanent madness, marking the first such descent since the Twilight of the Gods.

• Vanessa used [Secret Art · Overdraft] to flee Sutton, and Allen helped her escape through the Theater before collapsing from using [Flash Blade].
• Vanessa sent Allen to find Dorothea, then used [Secret Art · Overdraft] again and drew the pursuers away through the Theater.
• With her strength failing and the pursuers closing in, Vanessa prayed to the Lord and prepared to die, believing she had completed her revenge herself.
• When Sutton ordered a guard to remove Vanessa’s hood, her eyes shone with inhuman white light and [Spirituality Pressure] froze everyone around her; she then fell from a railing into the hall.
• At the Night Watch Bureau headquarters, the Difference Engine recorded that Sutton Trenchard had looked upon a great being and descended into permanent madness.

After escaping the East District Theater, Dorothea and Allen faced a Public Security Bureau cordon until Flora used a letter from Elliott Sterling to get them through. That evening, they left New Scandinavia in a carriage under the cover of a university expedition.

• Dorothea and Allen tried to leave the cordon, but officers stopped them and demanded their identification and an inspection of Dorothea’s suitcase.
• Flora arrived and claimed her noble status, then showed Elliott Sterling’s letter ordering the authorities to assist her.
• The chief ordered the officers to let Flora, Allen, and Dorothea pass, and Flora led the pair to a nearby alley before leaving them.
• Dorothea told Flora she already had arrangements and planned to leave the city, then she and Allen departed with the suitcase.
• That evening, Dorothea presented expedition documents at a checkpoint, and the carriage carrying her and Allen left New Scandinavia.

Elliot met Holly, who had come on behalf of the Third Prince to question him about the Poor Law and the Empire’s future. Their discussion ended with Elliot asking whether the powerful could become strong enough to disregard everyone else.

• The Old Butler told Elliot that the household would leave for the imperial capital the next morning.
• Holly told Elliot she had come on behalf of His Highness Sidney to ask him three questions.
• Elliot called the Poor Law good legislation because it acknowledged the poor as a group and recognized that a problem existed.
• Asked whether Parliament or the House of Nobles represented the Empire’s future, Elliot argued that the servants held power because they kept the Mansion running and could refuse to obey.
• Holly asked whether the powerful might be strong enough to defeat everyone else, and Elliot asked if anyone could become strong enough to disregard everyone else.

Holly summoned Elliot to answer questions and arranged for him to meet His Highness Sidney in the Imperial Capital, lifting his confinement. After learning Vanessa had killed Garrett, Elliot arranged to move the Difference Engine’s core and discovered from Conrad that the Seven Holy Bloodlines were the only true nobles, born supernatural and able to sacrifice others.

• Elliot argued to Holly that supernatural people could not simply overpower society, because true power depended on organizing collective force.
• Holly invited Elliot to the Imperial Capital to meet His Highness Sidney, and Conrad declared Elliot’s confinement lifted.
• Elliot took control of Vanessa and learned that she had killed Garrett to make nobles fear the consequences of trampling on commoners.
• Elliot asked Conrad to transport the Difference Engine’s core to the Imperial Capital and destroy its play history.
• Conrad told Elliot that all nobles were supernatural from birth, but only the Seven Holy Bloodlines were true nobility and could sacrifice others.

Dao Rugu reflected on the difficulties and regrets of writing the first volume, which served as the story’s setup in New Scandinavia, and outlined the original plans for Winnie and Old Razi. The volume ended with both leads freed from their restraints and arriving in a new city, where the main storyline was about to begin.

• Dao Rugu explained that New Scandinavia was meant to be a beginner village introducing the Sacrifice system and the world, but the setup stretched to 300,000 Chinese characters.
• Dao Rugu described struggling to keep the female lead’s progress in sync with the male lead’s while he remained confined and played games.
• Dao Rugu recalled that trying to speed up the plot tangled its pacing and groundwork, and said the story had finally moved beyond the Starting Plateau.
• Dao Rugu said Winnie’s planned thread centered on her two burials and Vanessa’s growth into a Cult Leader of the Esoteric Cult.
• Dao Rugu described Old Razi’s planned hidden thread, in which Vanessa would discover his and Lily’s remains and learn of his tragic life too late.
• Dao Rugu concluded that the leads had reached a new city, where they embraced freedom while willingly taking on new shackles.

Luke warned Eleanor that the theater disaster was being concealed and that their branch had been excluded from the investigation. After she found a blank-named wanted file numbered 003, Eleanor was promoted and transferred to the imperial capital, where she encountered her former school senior Dorothea.

• Luke told Eleanor that the Night Watch Bureau headquarters and Silent Sanctuary had jointly blamed the theater disaster on a gas explosion and barred the local branch from investigating.
• Luke and Eleanor boxed up messages from [The Thinker], and Eleanor discovered a wanted file numbered 003 describing a hooded humanoid with a blank name.
• Luke suspected the figure in the file was involved in the theater incident and ordered Eleanor to destroy the notice, despite its ordinary danger rating.
• Eleanor signed confidentiality agreements, received an exceptional promotion to full detective, and boarded a steamship for the imperial capital.
• Eleanor spotted her former school senior Dorothea aboard the ship and called out to her.

Dorothea and Eleanor reunited aboard a steamship bound for Imperial Capital Saint Clair, each concealing how far their lives had diverged. They parted with an address and a promise to meet again, while Eleanor quietly restrained a trace of madness.

• Eleanor recognized Dorothea aboard the ship and asked whether she was traveling for fieldwork.
• Dorothea introduced Allen as her older brother and pretended the hooded figure in the wheelchair was her ill mother.
• Eleanor vaguely explained that she had become a detective and was transferring to the Dome Institute, while reflecting that Dorothea did not know the horrors she had encountered.
• Dorothea and Eleanor each privately thought they no longer belonged to the same world, but both told the other they had been all right.
• Eleanor asked Dorothea to help her find housing near the Dome Institute, and Dorothea wrote her Canal District address on Eleanor's palm.
• Eleanor felt comforted by the prospect of having a friend in the Imperial Capital and suppressed a fleeting trace of madness.

Dorothea cared for the severely injured Vanessa, whose use of Secret Art · Overdraft had aged her body to that of an eighty-year-old and left her nearly helpless. Meanwhile, aboard an airship bound for the Imperial Capital, Elliot asked Conrad whether aging could be reversed.

• Dorothea brought Vanessa to her cabin and explained that Vanessa was gravely injured, comatose, and physically aged by repeated uses of Secret Art · Overdraft.
• Vanessa woke briefly, apologized to Dorothea, and said she did not know what had happened with Sutton beyond that he was very strong.
• Dorothea washed Vanessa and fed her oatmeal, then learned that Vanessa could heal injuries but could not reverse her aging.
• Dorothea wondered aloud whether there was a way to reverse aging.
• Elliot, traveling to the Imperial Capital aboard an airship arranged by Conrad, asked the Old Butler whether aging could be reversed.

Elliot traveled aboard the armored airship Red Copper Heart and asked the Old Butler about immortality, learning that the Sterling Family’s Path relied on replacing flesh with machinery. After seeing Machine Priest Evan de Sterling demonstrate his mechanical body, Elliot suspected the original owner had rejected the family’s supernatural practices and been kept away from them.

• Elliot rode the Red Copper Heart with the Old Butler and asked whether aging could be reversed.
• The Old Butler explained that the Sterling Family’s Path pursued immortality through steel rather than strengthening the flesh.
• At Conrad’s command, Evan de Sterling revealed his mechanical limbs and prosthetics, then saluted Elliot as his new protector in the Imperial Capital.
• Elliot realized Machine Priests were part of the Sterling Family’s supernatural Path and wondered why he had never seen one at the Mansion.
• Elliot suspected the original owner had rebelled against the family’s power and that Lady Camilla had kept supernatural matters from him.

Elliot traveled with Conrad and Holly to Saint Clair, where he learned why the Third Prince wanted to meet the Sterling Family and took in the Imperial Capital’s magnificent landmarks. As the airship reached the Dome District Air Harbor, Conrad spotted the Third Prince waiting there in person.

• Elliot wondered whether the Machine Priests’ powers came from the Difference Engine’s tree diagram and concluded Vanessa’s situation would need long-term planning.
• Conrad explained that the Third Prince wanted allies because he was estranged from most of the Seven Holy Bloodlines, and warned Elliot not to let the prince win him over.
• The airship descended through the clouds, and Elliot saw Saint Clair’s vast coastal city and its great stained-glass dome.
• Elliot watched the dome open to receive the airship and saw the rotating statue of the Steam Angel Theresia above the Air Harbor.
• Conrad noticed the Third Prince had come to meet them in person.

Elliot met Third Prince Sidney, who brought him to the palace and discussed his plans for reforming the Empire. Elliot tried to avoid getting involved, but Sidney’s collection of Difference Engines tempted him to stay and take a look.

• Elliot left the airship with Conrad and Holly and met Third Prince Sidney, who invited him to his palace despite Conrad’s concerns about etiquette.
• Sidney took Elliot to the palace and questioned him about the Poor Law, arguing that Grand Duke Fitzgerald’s old-nobility status prevented the law from succeeding.
• Sidney said the Empire needed reform that united the New Nobility, the old nobility, and commoners, but Elliot avoided committing to Sidney’s cause.
• Sidney offered to show Elliot the Difference Engines he had collected, and Elliot asked whether their cores could be swapped out.

Elliot stayed at the imperial residence with the Third Prince to use a Difference Engine while concealing the risks of his missing memories. He operated a stage-play engine that depicted Dorothea Ramsey and the injured, aging Vanessa, and considered ways to restore Vanessa’s vitality.

• Elliot asked to stay with the Third Prince, who agreed and planned to notify the duke’s estate.
• Elliot chose the imperial residence to stay near the Sterling Family, explain any changes in his behavior as the Third Prince’s influence, and use a Difference Engine.
• Elliot directed Evan to install the Difference Engine Core in a stage-play Difference Engine, then started the machine.
• The Difference Engine showed Dorothea Ramsey comforting Vanessa aboard a ship bound for the Imperial Capital.
• Elliot saw Vanessa’s signs of aging, weakness, and recovering injuries, and considered whether [Vitality] or Flora’s [Thing of Immortality] could help her.

Elliot discovered that the Stage-Play Difference Engine let him control people and scenery with far greater precision than the old machine. After experimenting with Vanessa, he planned to sleep and use [Dream Entry] to meet Flora in the Dream World.

• Elliot found the stuffed dolls and used the [Dream Entry] opening to set up a dream with Flora.
• Elliot tested whether he could control the dolls directly, and Vanessa’s pajamas vanished into her hand in the passenger cabin.
• Vanessa pulled Dorothea’s dress, Allen’s Folding Knife, and other objects into her room, then broke a leg off the table.
• Elliot realized he could manipulate scenery and view the three-dimensional set from hidden angles, so he carved a triangular mark on Vanessa’s cabin door.
• Elliot decided to sleep so he could enter the Dream World and meet Flora.

Elliot entered Flora's dream and learned that she could not sense Vanessa and the others, leading him to suspect his Difference Engine had hidden their Cards from outside perception. As Flora explained that the Reforging Flame Order had Machine Priests, Elliot connected the Church to the path beyond Middle Rank.

• Elliot met Flora in her moonlit dream and told her he was staying at a prince's residence in the Imperial Capital.
• Flora said her powerful perception-type [Relic] could not sense Vanessa, Dorothea, or the others, and Elliot suspected his Difference Engine had occupied their Cards.
• Elliot questioned Flora about her rank, and she admitted she had used special methods to advance.
• Flora said the Seven Great Churches might know ways to reach High Rank, though they kept their Paths secret and rarely intervened in worldly affairs.
• Elliot asked whether any Church had Machine Priests, and Flora identified the Reforging Flame Order.

Elliot learned that the Orthodox Churches concealed the nobles’ control over high-rank Supernatural advancement and asked Flora whether her [Thing of Immortality] could reverse aging. Flora explained its immortality and curse, but said it could only prevent aging; she then mentioned a unique Secret Society in the Imperial Capital.

• Flora identified Sutton as an archbishop of the Silent Sanctuary and explained that Church believers gave up their surnames.
• Elliot realized the Seven Holy Bloodlines and Orthodox Churches secretly controlled supernatural advancement, while Flora had known neither that connection nor Garrett’s Middle-Rank status.
• Elliot asked Flora how to recover from aging, and Flora revealed that her [Thing of Immortality] granted conditional immortality through random power boosts.
• Elliot told Flora that nobles could sacrifice others and that High-Rank Supernaturals existed among them, leaving Flora stunned by the disparity.
• Flora told Elliot the [Thing of Immortality] could prevent her from aging but could not reverse it, then recalled a unique Secret Society in the Imperial Capital.

A man returned to Dorothea’s sealed old house, took a photograph of Sophia, and left. In Saint Clair, Dorothea and Vanessa learned that Eleanor had two souls before they reached Dorothea’s home, where the door lock would not open.

• A gaunt middle-aged man entered the sealed house at No. 37 Pine Resin Alley and took a photograph of Sophia with a burned-away figure beside her.
• Eleanor arrived at Saint Clair and headed for the Dome Institute while Dorothea and Vanessa disembarked afterward.
• Vanessa used [Spirit Vision] to tell Dorothea that Eleanor was a Supernatural person with two souls, one of them seemingly insane.
• Dorothea warned Vanessa to report any ill effects from using [Spirit Vision], and Vanessa felt that the Lord’s ability had not harmed her.
• Dorothea, Vanessa, and Allen walked to Dorothea’s Canal District home, but Dorothea’s key would not turn the lock.