Chapter Summaries

Derrick Berg used Mr. Fool’s aid to withstand interrogation by the City of Silver’s leaders, passing their tests while warning them about the Fallen Creator and the Shepherd. Though released, he remained under secret surveillance, and Lovia later investigated The Fool’s identity.

• Derrick performed a ritual to Mr. Fool, who sent an angelic substitute to protect him during questioning.
• Afreau and Colin Iliad interrogated Derrick, and he recounted a prepared account involving Amon, the Fallen Creator, and the Shepherd.
• Derrick explained that he bought his axe at the underground trading market and inherited his Sun pathway formulas from his parents; Afreau and Colin found no signs of lying or contamination.
• Colin allowed Derrick to leave but ordered that he be secretly monitored in case Amon had created another avatar.
• Derrick encountered Lovia as he left, and she later used a ritual involving her severed finger before whispering, “The Fool?”

Mr. A received an oracle directing him to find the Fool and his believers in Backlund, while the City of Silver dealt with corrupted residents under its ancient curse. After returning from the gray fog, Klein decided to enjoy a quiet day, but his plans were interrupted by a visitor at the door.

• Mr. A wrote a divine revelation ordering the search for the Fool, the Mysterious Ruler Above the Gray Fog, and his favored ones in Backlund.
• Colin told Lovia she had to spend seven days in the dungeon and receive the Crown of Glory’s baptism because of abnormalities among the exploration team.
• City of Silver residents killed their corrupted relatives to prevent them from becoming evil spirits after death.
• Lovia told Colin that a dead teammate had not mutated after she watched over his body for five days during an exploration two months earlier.
• Klein returned from the gray fog, slept in, prepared Feynapotter noodles, and considered going to a concert, opera, or play.
• Klein heard the doorbell as he read the newspapers and planned his entertainment.

Klein accompanied Allen to investigate the place from his dream, where they uncovered the corpse of Will Auceptin. The discovery left Allen in shock and revealed that the dream had pointed them to Will’s body.

• Allen told Klein he had dreamed of Will Auceptin beneath a birch tree outside Green Cemetery and asked him to accompany him there.
• Klein accepted Allen’s commission after divining that it posed almost no danger, and the two visited the Cathedral of Stars before heading to the cemetery.
• Leonard officially became a Red Glove and joined Soest’s team, where he would work on a devil-summoning case and investigate clues linked to tarot rituals in Backlund.
• Klein and Allen found the birch tree from Allen’s dream, and Allen said Will had pointed toward the soil beside its roots.
• Allen returned with shovels and a cemetery keeper, and the group dug up a badly decomposed child’s corpse with part of its left leg missing.
• Allen recognized the corpse as Will Auceptin and cried out his name.

Klein and Dr. Allen discovered a decomposed corpse that appeared to be Will Auceptin, and the police released them after a Nighthawk intervened. Meanwhile, Fors visited Mrs. Anlisa’s grave to thank her and helped the ailing Lawrence, who feared his life was nearing its end.

• Klein identified the corpse as most likely Will Auceptin and told the gravekeeper and Allen to call the police.
• Allen prayed to the Evernight Goddess to calm himself, while Klein prayed to the God of Steam and Machinery.
• At the police station, a Nighthawk’s intervention led the police to release Klein and Allen; Klein suspected the Will Auceptin case would be closed.
• Fors and Xio secured Viscount Glaint’s interest-free loan, with Glaint asking them to accompany him to Mr. A’s gathering and help obtain a potion ingredient.
• Fors visited Mrs. Anlisa’s grave to thank her for the Beyonder Characteristic she had inherited, where she met Lawrence of the Abraham Family.
• Lawrence suffered a severe coughing fit, and Fors gave him first aid before agreeing to take him back to his hotel.

Fors helped the dying Lawrence arrange for his notebook and Beyonder Characteristic to be delivered to Dorian Gray, then witnessed his peaceful death. Klein investigated Will Auceptin and suspected he was a Mercury Snake, while a gathering ended with Mr. A asking for people who believed in the Fool to be found.

• Lawrence asked Fors to deliver his notebook and a glowing object to Dorian Gray after his death, then ended his own life before losing control.
• Klein's divinations showed that Will Auceptin's corpse would not revive, and Klein suspected Will was another Mercury Snake fleeing a rival.
• Fors, Xio, and Viscount Glaint attended Mr. A's Beyonder gathering, where Fors reflected on Lawrence's notebook and Beyonder Characteristic.
• Mr. A announced a mission to find people who believed in the so-called Fool.

Mr. A offered a reward for information about believers of The Fool, alarming Fors and Xio, who traced the honorific name to a paper hidden in a book borrowed from Viscount Glaint. Audrey attended a psychology gathering, while Klein learned of the bounty and suspected the True Creator had noticed The Fool through Little Sun’s ritual.

• Mr. A displayed The Fool’s honorific name and asked the gathering to find his believers for a generous reward.
• Fors and Xio recognized the honorific name from a paper hidden in a book borrowed from Viscount Glaint, then concealed their suspicions when he noticed them looking at him.
• Audrey attended an academic gathering hosted by Stephen Hampres, observed his guarded vanity, and listened as the group discussed psychology and mysticism.
• Islante told Audrey she would soon become as skilled at psychology as Hampres.
• Klein learned about Mr. A’s bounty from Miss Magician and suspected the True Creator had noticed The Fool after Little Sun’s ritual and use of the Eye of All-Black.

Klein decided the Aurora Order was unlikely to find any believers of The Fool, then answered Fors’s questions and helped her obtain a Sheriff Beyonder Characteristic. After making plans to sell a Werewolf Beyonder Characteristic and find ingredients for his own advancement, he visited the Harvest Church and encountered Emlyn White.

• Klein concluded that reporting Mr. A could endanger innocent Beyonders, and reassured himself that the Aurora Order had no leads to The Fool’s believers.
• Fors asked Klein about the Aurora Order and reported meeting Dorian Gray of the Abraham Family; Klein told her to follow her heart, and she decided to travel to Pritz Harbor.
• Fors exchanged 600 pounds for a Sheriff Beyonder Characteristic and worried about Xio’s advancement and her own lack of progress.
• Klein counted his money, planned to have The World sell the Werewolf Beyonder Characteristic through Mr. Hanged Man, and considered possible sources for Sequence 6 ingredients.
• After seeing an advertisement for old Mr. Eye of Wisdom’s gathering, Klein went to the Harvest Church to seek Emlyn White’s help, and Emlyn guessed that Klein wanted a favor.

Klein asked Emlyn to find Beyonder ingredients for a friend’s advancement and learned that the Sanguine had failed to free Emlyn from Father Utravsky’s psychological cue because Utravsky was an Earth Mother Blessed. Fors delivered Lawrence’s final letter and Beyonder items to Dorian Gray in Pritz Harbor, where Dorian took out a radiant crystal ball.

• Klein asked Emlyn to obtain a Thousand-faced Hunter’s pituitary gland and blood, a Human-skinned Shadow characteristic, or Deep-sea Naga hair, and Emlyn agreed to seek them for a fee.
• Emlyn told Klein that his family had failed to defeat Father Utravsky and that other Sanguine refused to help because Utravsky was Blessed by the Earth Mother.
• Klein suggested Emlyn seek the Psychology Alchemists, declined to offer contact details, and confirmed that he was the friend preparing to advance.
• Fors arrived in Pritz Harbor, met Dorian Gray at the Fishermen’s Association, and handed him Lawrence’s final letter, a strange notebook, and a diamond-like Beyonder characteristic.
• Dorian thanked Fors, invited her to lunch, and retrieved a radiant crystal ball from a hidden cabinet.

Dorian Gray confirmed Fors's account through divination and offered to help her with mysticism. Meanwhile, Leonard linked the search for The Fool's worshippers to two tarot investigations, and Klein accepted a commission to investigate the organization behind the Capim incident.

• Dorian used his crystal ball to verify Fors's account and decided to help her.
• Dorian discussed mysticism with Fors and invited her to write to him with questions.
• At Saint Samuel Cathedral, Daly told Soest's team that people in Backlund were seeking an organization worshipping The Fool.
• Leonard suggested the search might connect to the tarot rituals they were investigating, but Soest dismissed the idea as unsupported conjecture.
• Talym told Klein an important person wanted him to investigate the organization that used tarot cards as symbols, and Klein agreed to take the commission.

Klein accepted money from Talym to gather intelligence about the tarot-card organization while the Nighthawks debated how to investigate its rituals. As winter approached, Klein prepared to attend final negotiations over the bicycle patent and visited Jurgen for legal help.

• Klein accepted five pounds from Talym to collect rumors and leads about the mysterious tarot-card organization.
• Soest questioned Leonard about investigating the tarot ritual cases, then decided the team should prioritize its devil-summoning case while continuing necessary inquiries into the organization.
• Klein reflected on his slow potion digestion, the Tarot Club’s recent developments, and his plan to avoid taking unnecessary risks before the new year.
• Klein arrived at Jurgen’s home to seek the lawyer’s help with the bicycle patent negotiations and greeted Mrs. Doris.

Klein finalized a bicycle company deal with Franky Cagg and grew suspicious that Lawyer Pacheco had influenced his decision to sell shares. He then learned that bounty hunters were searching for Azik Eggers, leaving him alarmed by the threat to Mr. Azik.

• Klein and Jurgen met Franky Cagg, his lawyer Pacheco Dawn, and their bodyguards at Leppard's home to discuss investing in Leppard's invention.
• Franky invested 1,000 pounds in the newly established Backlund Bicycle Company and bought shares from Klein and Leppard, leaving Franky with 47%, Leppard with 43%, and Klein with 10%.
• Jurgen questioned why Klein had sold so many shares so readily, and Klein wondered whether Franky or Pacheco had used a Beyonder ability to influence him.
• Franky asked Pacheco whether he had used his ability, and Pacheco admitted it had triggered passively before Franky warned him not to let it interfere with an important matter.
• Klein paid Old Kohler for operating expenses and information, then asked him to watch the organizers of a strike while prioritizing his safety.
• Old Kohler told Klein that gang enforcers and bounty hunters were searching for Azik Eggers, a man of Balam ancestry who had been a university lecturer, and Klein suspected someone had targeted Mr. Azik.

Klein confirmed that the wanted man was Azik and asked Old Kohler to identify who had issued the bounty. When Klein visited Isengard Stanton, he found signs of a violent struggle, was framed for Stanton’s murder, and realized the Devil Dog’s master might be seeking revenge.

• Klein considered whether the Spirituality Religion or Ince Zangwill was behind the bounty on Azik and asked Old Kohler to investigate its source and amount.
• Klein taught Old Kohler information-gathering and emergency techniques, then left the café reflecting on his lead to Ince Zangwill.
• Klein visited Isengard Stanton’s home and discovered a bloodstained, wrecked sitting room with no body and a book titled Devil Legends of the Sivellaus Region.
• Stanton’s assistant accused Klein of killing Stanton before collapsing into dismembered remains, while an unseen watcher kept Klein from moving.
• Police arrived, the unseen threat vanished, and Klein was arrested; he gave his account with Lawyer Jurgen present.
• During questioning, Klein connected Stanton’s murder to the Devil Dog’s master, who might be taking revenge because Stanton had provided the key clue in the earlier case.

After Detective Isengard Stanton vanished during an attack, Klein was interrogated and released on bail, then found bloody threats in his home. The chapter left him facing a shadowy figure across the street that mimed shooting him before dissolving into darkness.

• Klein told the police he had spent only two or three minutes in Isengard Stanton's house, though witnesses placed him there for eighteen minutes, and the officers reported that Isengard and his attacker had vanished without a trace.
• The police questioned Klein, took him to Hissack Police Station, and released him on fifty pounds' bail after Lawyer Jurgen accompanied him.
• Klein returned home after dinner and found a blood-written letter threatening, “You will all die!” on his coffee table.
• Klein searched the house and found a second bloody letter on his bedroom desk that warned, “You're next.”
• Klein saw a shadow across the street form a figure in a tailcoat, point a finger like a gun at him, and dissolve into shadows.

Klein reported the threatening letters to the police, then gathered with Stuart and several detectives who had received the same threat. As the visitors grew distressed, Stuart suddenly drew his gun and aimed at Klein.

• Klein reported the threatening letters and the attack on Isengard Stanton to the police, hoping official Beyonders would investigate and protect him.
• Stuart arrived at Klein's home with a threatening letter, and Klein used divination to confirm Stuart was himself and that danger awaited that night.
• Kaslana, Lydia, and several other detectives arrived, saying they had received the same threatening letter and had gathered after learning Stanton was attacked.
• Klein considered how the Devil Dog's owner might exploit the official factions' divided jurisdictions and defenses to attack the detectives.
• Klein tried to reassure the group, but talk of danger to their families made the detectives increasingly emotional.
• Stuart suddenly drew his gun and aimed it at the back of Klein's head.

After an Apostle of Desire attacked Isengard Stanton and stirred dangerous emotions among the detectives, Isengard explained the threat to Klein and Kaslana. The group considered official protection and other ways to stay safe, while Isengard proposed joining forces to confront the enemy.

• Stuart fired at Klein, and the detectives began drawing their revolvers until Kaslana ordered them to stop and the doorbell restored their clarity.
• Klein found Isengard Stanton at the door, and Isengard explained that the police were nearby and the threat was not yet over.
• Isengard told Klein and Kaslana that he was a Beyonder and a believer in the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, and that a Sequence 5 Apostle of Desire had attacked him.
• Isengard explained that the Apostle of Desire manipulated emotions and desires, and Klein realized the threatening letters had been meant to provoke him and the detectives.
• Isengard recommended accepting official protection, changing identities, or joining an official organization if the danger continued.
• Isengard proposed that he, Klein, and Kaslana cooperate to create an opportunity to find and kill or restrain the Apostle of Desire.

Klein, Kaslana, and Isengard Stanton planned to use Isengard’s ring to locate the Apostle of Desire and help official Beyonders trap him. The Apostle was still hiding at 15 Minsk Street, and Kaslana attacked Isengard just as he revealed the enemy’s location.

• Isengard explained that his ring could imitate the Apostle of Desire’s precognitive ability and described a plan to locate him for the official Beyonders.
• Isengard put on Sealed Artifact 2-081, while Klein and Kaslana agreed to help hold off the Apostle if he was nearby.
• Isengard detected the Apostle of Desire upstairs at 15 Minsk Street.
• Kaslana’s eyes turned red, and she punched Isengard in the back while Klein’s Air Bullet struck her arm.

Klein and Isengard Stanton’s conflicting plans let the Apostle of Desire escape, and Klein joined the arriving Church of the God of Steam and Machinery Beyonders to investigate. The silver mirror Arrodes revealed a faint outline of the Devil’s face, giving them a possible lead.

• Kaslana knocked Isengard down, but Klein transferred Isengard’s injury while Isengard secretly healed himself with his ring, causing the Apostle of Desire to flee.
• Klein and Isengard realized their simultaneous attempts to heal Isengard had left the Apostle unoccupied, and Isengard explained that his apparent injury had been part of a trap.
• Isengard helped Kaslana and went to meet the other investigators while Klein searched his bedroom for traces and burned his occult notes.
• Ikanser Bernard arrived with Church of the God of Steam and Machinery Beyonders and asked Klein to accompany him during the investigation.
• Ikanser questioned Arrodes, whose vision showed the Apostle’s cold blue eyes and high cheekbones beneath his black disguise.

Klein saw the living Sealed Artifact Arrodes punish Ikanser, then coordinated protection against the Apostle of Desire and helped Audrey appear before the Psychology Alchemists. The chapter ended with Audrey revealing that she was already a Spectator.

• Arrodes asked Ikanser for Red Light's true name, marked his answer incorrect, and struck him with lightning when he chose punishment.
• Arrodes addressed Klein as its faithful and humble servant after he touched the mirror, and Klein wondered whether it had sensed the gray fog.
• Isengard told Klein that Stuart and the others would move in with their families while Klein, Kaslana, and he continued their usual activities under covert protection.
• Klein answered Audrey's prayer above the gray fog by sending a twelve-pair-winged angel to her, then returned to the living room and considered how to cover the bullet holes.
• Audrey visited Islante with Susie and answered Hilbert's questions about joining the Psychology Alchemists, then revealed that she had already become a Spectator.

Audrey passed the Psychology Alchemists’ final assessment and joined the organization, while learning about its history and research into the mind. She received a Mind Reader potion for Susie and asked for the Psychiatrist formula; meanwhile, Klein had breakfast with Isengard and Kaslana.

• Audrey concealed her more important secrets during Hilbert’s questioning, passed the final assessment, and became an official member of the Psychology Alchemists.
• Hilbert explained how the Psychology Alchemists began with research into Hermes’s records about Mind Dragons and the power of the collective subconscious.
• Hilbert gave Audrey a Mind Reader potion, and she said she would drink it at home and asked for the Psychiatrist formula.
• Audrey returned home and showed Susie the Mind Reader potion, happy that they had obtained it.
• Klein praised Isengard’s cooking at breakfast, and Isengard described the Polymath potion and his fear of losing control if he advanced.

Klein, Isengard, and Kaslana discussed how to track the Apostle of Desire and the dangers of the Church of Evernight’s sealed artifact 1-42. Their planning was interrupted when Ikanser arrived with a lead on the Apostle.

• Isengard explained that the Apostle’s investigations and surveillance would have left traces, and he asked Klein and Kaslana to pursue leads through their own contacts.
• Klein considered seeking help from Emlyn White and Father Utravsky, while ruling out Maric and Miss Sharron because the Machinery Hivemind was protecting them.
• Isengard described Sealed Artifact 1-42 as bloodstained silver armor linked to a disaster that killed more than a hundred thousand people, and warned the others to avoid contact with it.
• Klein and Isengard inferred that Kaslana belonged to the Arbiter pathway, then the three discussed what they would want done if the Apostle killed them.
• Ikanser arrived and told Klein, Isengard, and Kaslana that the Machinery Hivemind had found a lead on the Apostle of Desire.