Chapter Summaries

Klein used a summoning ritual to separate his Spirit Body from his physical body and explored its abilities and limitations. He left his bedroom to test whether the Solar Flare Charm could protect him from sunlight.

• Klein summoned himself through the gray fog, but the ritual pulled his Spirit Body through the Door of Summoning before he could reconsider.
• Klein realized he was floating outside his body and tested whether he could fly and interact with ordinary objects, finding that he could not lift them without added strength.
• Klein discovered that the Solar Flare Charm let him carry it and enter a mirror, while Azik’s copper whistle strengthened his Spirit Body and granted him two spell-like abilities.
• Klein found that the copper whistle and Solar Flare Charm could not coexist in his Spirit Body, and that direct sunlight weakened him without the charm.
• Klein picked up the Solar Flare Charm, confirmed that sunlight no longer harmed him, and flew outside to continue his experiments.

Klein explored Tingen as a spirit summoned above the gray fog, discovered he could bring physical objects there, and returned to his bedroom exhausted. He wrote to Mr. Azik about Qilangos and asked about sacrificial rituals, then sent the letter with his copper whistle before falling asleep.

• Klein floated through Tingen, tested his speed, and observed the despair and hardship in Iron Cross Street and the South Borough.
• As his spirituality weakened, Klein ended the summoning and returned above the gray fog, where he found the Solar Flare Charm had come with him.
• Klein realized that summoned physical objects could enter the gray fog, then returned to his bedroom and left the charm behind.
• Klein wrote Mr. Azik about Qilangos's presence in Backlund and asked for knowledge of sacrificial rituals.
• Klein used his copper whistle to send the letter with the skeletal messenger, then returned the whistle and collapsed into sleep.

Klein received Spirit Guide Daly’s detailed instructions on Spirit Channeling, including the risks of contacting living people and mad Beyonders. He planned to obtain protective potions and attempt Spirit Channeling, but received no reply from Mr. Azik before going to work the next morning.

• Klein’s gas lamps dimmed, and a tiny spirit messenger delivered a letter while Benson and Melissa studied.
• Klein secretly read Daly’s letter, which explained how Spirit Channeling could reach living people’s Mental Bodies and the dangers of reading memories or contacting mad Beyonders.
• Klein decided to request a Tranquility Potion, Amanda hydrosol, and Eye of Spirit potion before attempting Spirit Channeling.
• Klein burned Daly’s letter, then summoned himself to bring the Solar Flare Charm back into the material world.
• Klein received no expected reply from Mr. Azik and went to the Blackthorn Security Company the following Tuesday morning.

Klein reported to Dunn Smith that Lanarvus had visited Hood Eugen before the doctor went mad, then prepared to question Hood through a Spirit Channeling ritual. After collecting the potions from behind Chanis Gate, Klein and Dunn sneaked into the asylum and found Hood awake, waiting for his cake.

• Klein told Dunn Smith that Duster Guderian had identified Lanarvus as a frequent visitor to Hood Eugen before Hood's madness, and Dunn agreed to investigate through Spirit Channeling.
• Dunn approved Klein's application for the necessary potions and arranged to accompany him to the asylum covertly while keeping Duster Guderian's role secret.
• Klein entered Chanis Gate, saw the black threads filling the sealed passage with Spirit Vision, and collected Amanda hydrosol, Eye of Spirit potion, and Tranquility Potion.
• Klein and Dunn met outside Tingen City Asylum in the early hours and quietly entered the building, using a copied key to reach Hood Eugen's room.
• Klein asked Hood Eugen why he was still awake, and Hood replied with a foolish smile that he was waiting for his cake.

Klein entered Hood Eugen’s mind to learn why Lanarvus had approached him, but Hood Eugen’s answer triggered a violent disturbance in the mental world. The chapter ended with Klein fleeing as the mindscape began to collapse.

• Hood Eugen attacked Klein after accusing him of stealing his cake, but Dunn Smith pulled him into a dream and stopped the assault.
• Klein set up a simple altar, calmed Hood Eugen with Amanda hydrosol, and used tarot cards and the Eye of Spirit potion to prepare him for questioning.
• Klein prayed to the Evernight Goddess and entered Hood Eugen’s spirit, resisting the chaotic thoughts that surrounded it.
• Klein asked whether Hood Eugen knew Lanarvus, and Hood Eugen’s mind showed Lanarvus offering help with potion control and promising future divinity.
• When Klein asked what help Lanarvus wanted, Hood Eugen described providing assistance before his mind formed a sinister altar and the mental world began to shake.
• Klein sensed danger and fled into the storm of thoughts.

Klein escaped Hood Eugen’s corrupted mind before Dunn killed him, and the two uncovered clues linking Lanarvus to a possible plot against Tingen City. As Klein rode home, a mysterious skeletal hand delivered him a letter through the carriage window.

• Klein escaped the shadow in Hood Eugen’s mind, and Dunn shot Hood Eugen before he could fully lose control.
• Dunn collected Hood Eugen’s crystalline heart and black scales, while Klein described the vision resembling the True Creator and recounted Lanarvus’s visit.
• Klein connected Lanarvus’s scheme to the Aurora Order’s threat against Tingen, and Dunn planned a renewed investigation with help from other organizations.
• Klein performed Ritualistic Magic to hide the evidence, then left the asylum with Dunn and rode back toward Daffodil Street.
• A strange distortion surrounded Klein’s carriage, and a gigantic skeletal hand delivered him a folded letter before vanishing.

Klein read Azik’s letter, which warned him about sacrificial rituals and explained how to perform one, and decided to prepare carefully before trying it. The Nighthawks began investigating people connected to Lanarvus, while Qilangos used his black glove to impersonate a man in Backlund.

• Klein returned home unnoticed, unlocked his bedroom with a tarot card, and read Azik’s letter.
• Azik explained that he remembered Shepherd powers and may once have been a priest, then warned Klein that evil gods and devils could disguise themselves and claim a sacrificer’s soul.
• Azik described how to prepare an altar, recite an invocation in an ancient language, and use spiritual materials to open a passage to the recipient.
• Klein burned the letter and chose to plan carefully before attempting a sacrifice, recognizing that sudden inspiration could make him reckless.
• Dunn assigned the Nighthawks tasks investigating people connected to Lanarvus, and Klein received an assignment that excluded people he already knew.
• Qilangos changed into an unconscious man’s clothes and used his black glove to transform into the man’s exact appearance.

Qilangos disguised himself as Baron Gramir and attended Duke Negan’s ball, while Audrey noticed details that suggested the baron was an impostor. After warning Earl Hall, Audrey slipped into a prayer room and called on The Fool for help.

• Qilangos killed the real Baron Gramir, hid his body in a wardrobe, and took his place at Duke Negan’s ball.
• Xio and Fors discussed their covert search for Qilangos and Xio’s hopes of advancing and recovering her family’s losses.
• Audrey noticed that Baron Gramir’s confidence and perfume differed from his usual behavior and suspected that he was Qilangos in disguise.
• Audrey warned Earl Hall, who told her to stay with her mother while he handled the danger.
• Audrey went to Duke Negan’s prayer room and began chanting to The Fool.

Klein received Justice’s report that Qilangos had infiltrated Duke Negan’s ball disguised as Baron Gramir, then relayed the warning to The Hanged Man and Mr. Azik. The chapter left Alger heading to alert the Church of Storms while Klein concluded he had done all he could to help.

• Klein heard Justice pray that she had recognized Qilangos disguised as Baron Gramir at Duke Negan’s ball.
• Klein answered Justice and sent her prayer as a vision to The Hanged Man.
• Alger recognized Qilangos’s disguise in the vision and went to find the Church of Storms archbishop, Ace Snake.
• Klein wrote Mr. Azik about Qilangos’s infiltration and sent the letter through his skeletal messenger.
• Klein decided against traveling to Backlund with a Solar Flare Charm and hoped the ball’s protectors would stop Qilangos.

Qilangos attempted to assassinate Duke Negan at a ballroom, but the duke and his allies revealed they were prepared for the attack. Qilangos escaped the residence, leaving Alger and the arriving Church of Storms forces behind to confront his successful flight.

• Disguised as Baron Gramir, Qilangos surveyed Duke Negan and prepared to assassinate him using the abilities stored in Creeping Hunger.
• Qilangos extinguished the ballroom lights and dropped the chandelier, then incapacitated Duke Negan’s guard and charged at the duke.
• Duke Negan used imprisonment, flogging, and death against Qilangos, but Qilangos escaped the attack by switching to a Nightmare ability.
• Qilangos’s strike passed through Duke Negan, who appeared elsewhere as a spirit-like figure, revealing that another Beyonder was protecting him.
• Qilangos unleashed terror among the guests and fled through a lounge window, using a hurricane to escape toward a municipal park.
• Archbishop Ace Snake arrived with Mandated Punishers, and Alger realized from the shattered window that Qilangos had escaped.

Qilangos escaped Duke Negan’s mansion but was trapped and killed by an unknown high-level foe near the lake. Alger and Audrey suspected the Fool’s blessed or the Tarot Club had intervened, while the authorities remained unsure of the killer’s motive.

• Qilangos used his Light Priest power to destroy one skeletal attacker, but more than a hundred identical skeletons surrounded him in an oil-painting-like world.
• Ace Snake ordered the Mandated Punishers to pursue Qilangos, then told them there was no need to continue when Alger reached the lake and found Qilangos’s remains.
• Ace Snake judged that a High-Sequence Death pathway powerhouse had killed Qilangos, though the killer’s identity and motive were unknown.
• Alger told Ace Snake that the intelligence had not been knowingly shared beyond the source, then suspected that the Fool’s blessed had killed Qilangos.
• Alger feared the consequences of betraying Mr. Fool, then felt relieved that Qilangos could no longer threaten him with his secret.
• Audrey told Earl Hall she had not shared the impostor’s identity with anyone else, and she suspected the Tarot Club had killed Qilangos when her father said the motive was unknown.

Audrey kept her role in Qilangos’s death secret while Earl Hall arranged her bounty and compensation. As the authorities began searching for the unknown powerhouse behind the killing, Azik recalled having worked with an unidentified group, and Klein learned from a newspaper that Qilangos had died.

• Audrey concluded that Mr. Fool’s blessed had killed Qilangos and agreed with Earl Hall not to expose her involvement or collect the bounty publicly.
• Earl Hall promised Audrey 40,000 pounds in bounty and compensation, along with Duke Negan’s holiday estate, while arranging for someone else to claim the reward.
• Duke Negan, Agusid, and the Songster of God discussed the unknown powerhouse or organization behind Qilangos’s death and set investigations in motion.
• Azik stared at a strange glove and painfully recalled that he seemed to have worked with the people behind it before.
• Klein bought a newspaper and discovered that Qilangos had been reported shot dead by a duke’s bodyguard.

Klein learned that Admiral Hurricane Qilangos had been killed in Backlund, while Fors and Xio reacted to the news and weighed their unfinished commission. Back at the Blackthorn Security Company, Klein recognized a visitor connected to Member of Parliament Maynard’s death as she hired the team to investigate Madam Shermane.

• Klein read that Qilangos had been killed and concluded that the danger surrounding Mr. Azik was likely under control.
• Fors and Xio learned of Qilangos’s death, discussed their payment from Miss Audrey, and decided to wait before contacting her.
• Klein reported to Dunn Smith that the people connected to Lanarvus he had investigated were uninvolved in supernatural incidents.
• A veiled woman and her companion commissioned the Blackthorn Security Company to follow Madam Shermane and find evidence of her crimes.
• Klein recognized the veiled visitor as Member of Parliament Maynard’s wife, who appeared to be challenging the police conclusion about her husband’s death.

Klein accepted a commission to investigate Madam Shermane and used the gang’s surveillance reports to plan a search of her home. He broke into her bedroom at night and was overcome by a strange, arousing fragrance.

• Mrs. Maynard and her sister hired Dunn to monitor Madam Shermane and offered up to two hundred and fifty pounds for evidence or clues.
• Dunn assigned the investigation to Klein, who began learning surveillance techniques from Leonard and Frye.
• Klein paid a gang leader five pounds to have his men track Madam Shermane and report her movements.
• After learning that Madam Shermane would attend a banquet, Klein decided to search her home while she was away.
• Klein climbed into Madam Shermane’s house and entered her bedroom, where a strange fragrance made him feel dazed and aroused.

Klein searched Madam Shermane’s bedroom and discovered that she was a Beyonder, then used his spirit form to inspect her safe. Inside a hidden compartment, he found ritual supplies and a sinister statue, leaving him wary of what Madam Shermane was involved in.

• Klein searched Madam Shermane’s bedroom and the rest of the house but found no useful clues, then failed to pick the lock on her safe.
• Klein used the Spirit Pendulum Method to confirm there was no hidden room, then summoned himself above the gray fog to repeat earlier divinations.
• Klein discovered that John Maynard’s death had involved supernatural influences and that Madam Shermane was a Beyonder.
• Klein returned to the bedroom in spirit form and found gold, money, jewelry, documents, and a photograph of a young man who resembled Madam Shermane inside the safe.
• Klein found a concealed compartment in the safe containing ritual supplies and a white-bone statue covered in carved eyes, then quickly withdrew.

Klein escaped Madam Shermane’s house after discovering evidence linking her to the Demoness Sect, then reported his findings to Dunn. Dunn assembled a team and brought Sealed Artifact 3-0217 to investigate her home, where Klein’s divination confirmed there was danger inside.

• Klein sensed Madam Shermane returning, fled her house, and hurried to Blackthorn Security Company.
• Klein told Dunn about the young man’s photograph and the Primordial Demoness statue hidden in Madam Shermane’s safe.
• Dunn agreed that Madam Shermane was likely in the Demoness Sect and ordered an immediate operation with Kenley.
• Dunn obtained Spirit Medium’s Mirror, Sealed Artifact 3-0217, and assigned it to Kenley for the mission.
• Klein, Dunn, and Kenley reached Madam Shermane’s house, where Klein divined that danger awaited inside.

Klein, Dunn, and Kenley tried to capture Madam Shermane after Dunn used his Nightmare ability to put her to sleep. The ambush failed when she revealed she had anticipated them, and Klein began using a Sleeping Charm as Kenley was trapped by the Spirit Medium Mirror.

• Klein deduced that Madam Shermane had not noticed the break-in, and Dunn decided to put her into a dream before they entered the house.
• Dunn entered Klein and Kenley’s dream to tell them Madam Shermane was asleep, and the two agents went inside to subdue her.
• Klein displayed new, instinctive Clown-like agility while climbing into the house, and Kenley carried Sealed Artifact 3-0271 into Madam Shermane’s bedroom.
• Madam Shermane was awake and used her powers to ensnare Klein and trap Kenley in the Spirit Medium Mirror.
• Klein invoked the word “Crimson” in Ancient Hermes and pushed a Sleeping Charm from his pocket.

Klein used the Sleeping Charm and Requiem Charm to escape Madam Shermane’s restraints and exploit his Clown combat intuition, but she countered with black flames and a mirror shard. Kenley recovered in an eerie state and attacked her, only for her to reflect him in the shard and make him vomit his burning organs.

• Klein used the Sleeping Charm to lull Madam Shermane and Kenley, then woke himself and freed his arms from the invisible threads.
• Klein shot Madam Shermane, but her body shattered like a reflection and vanished while Kenley began strangling himself.
• Klein used a Requiem Charm to calm himself and Kenley, sensed Madam Shermane’s ambush, and summoned a woman from the Spirit Medium’s Mirror to attack her.
• Madam Shermane destroyed the mirror’s summoned woman and attacked Klein with black flames and an ice spear as invisible threads and frost slowed him.
• Kenley rose and lunged at Madam Shermane, shrugging off her attacks while Klein fired at her and ran out of bullets.
• Madam Shermane caught Kenley’s reflection in a mirror shard and covered it with black flames, making him vomit his heart, lungs, and stomach.

Klein and Dunn killed Madam Shermane after she killed Kenley, and Klein used Spirit Channeling to confirm her connection to the Demoness Sect. Her spirit revealed that the Sequence after Assassin and Instigator was Witch and that the Sect sought to draw closer to the Primordial.

• Klein fought Madam Shermane, using tarot cards to expose her and Sealed Artifact 3-0271 to trap her in a vision.
• Dunn arrived, but Madam Shermane broke free; Klein reloaded and killed her with silver Demon Hunting Bullets.
• Dunn admitted he had been deceived, and he and Klein mourned Kenley before Klein began Spirit Channeling.
• Klein saw Madam Shermane give Tris an ancient bronze book and explain that the Sect's higher-ups were women because Witch was the next Sequence after Assassin and Instigator.
• Klein saw a veiled woman tell Madam Shermane that the Sect sought salvation by drawing closer to the Primordial, and that the neighboring Sequences represented destruction and war.

Klein used Spirit Channeling to learn about Madam Shermane’s Witch pathway and investigate why she had killed Councilor Maynard, but her motive remained unclear. After reporting his findings to Dunn, Klein saw Dunn beside Kenley’s corpse with blood around his mouth.

• Klein watched scenes from Madam Shermane’s memories and confirmed that Tingen’s upper circles had not knowingly helped her kill Councilor Maynard.
• Klein’s Dream Divination showed Madam Shermane had decided on her own to kill Maynard, but it did not reveal why.
• Klein learned the Witch pathway’s Sequence 6 Pleasure and Sequence 7 Witch potion details, along with the Instigator and Assassin formulas and traits.
• Klein told Dunn Smith what he had learned and questioned Madam Shermane’s motive; Dunn ordered him to check whether the servants were still asleep.
• Klein returned toward the bedroom to ask Dunn how to confirm the servants were asleep, then saw Dunn beside Kenley’s corpse with dark red blood around his mouth.