Chapter Summaries

Audrey understood that Herabergen Rambis had engineered the Baron Sindras affair to deepen divisions between the New Party and the Conservative Party, then resisted his manipulation with the Fool’s angel blessing. Klein returned to Backlund as Dawn Dantès, resumed his wealthy public life, and was startled awake by another intruder at 160 Böklund Street.

• Audrey realized Herabergen Rambis had used the Baron Sindras affair to widen the rift between the New Party and the Conservative Party, then watched him implant commands that would make her forget their meeting.
• After leaving Herabergen Rambis’s house, Audrey recovered her memories and resolved to reveal only unimportant details about her father’s stance.
• Klein returned to Backlund with Enuni, assigned Richardson to assist Walter, and asked Walter to find an estate with a vineyard and winery.
• Klein planned to target Qonas Kilgor and later resume cooperating with Trissy against Viscount Stratford before going to sleep.
• Klein woke when he sensed someone had entered 160 Böklund Street.

Klein received Patrick Bryan, a demigod of the Spirituality Religion, who said a divine revelation had ordered him to follow Klein’s commands. As Klein questioned him, he concluded that Bryan was likely an unwitting by-product of the Artificial Death project and learned that the faction’s angel, Heitel, remained confined to a mausoleum.

• Klein sensed a demigod approaching his bedroom and invited him inside.
• Patrick Bryan bowed to Klein and said God had awakened and instructed him to accept Klein’s orders.
• Klein agreed to obey the revelation and asked Bryan about his background and the Spirituality Religion’s Artificial Death Faction.
• Bryan described the faction’s leaders, including the angel Heitel, who could not leave his mausoleum without losing control.
• Klein concluded that Bryan had been used as experimental material and asked his Sequence; Bryan said he was an Undying.

Klein questioned Patrick Bryan about his background and the Spirituality Religion, then issued orders to halt awakening rituals, seek clues to God’s relics, promote literacy, and route Southern Continent orders through him. After Bryan left, Klein sensed growing unrest and decided to contact Witch Trissy.

• Klein learned that Patrick Bryan had become an Undying less than ten years earlier and led two teams of Beyonders who gathered clues and materials for awakening rituals.
• Klein ordered Bryan to stop all rituals, continue searching for God’s relics, establish literacy classes, and submit Southern Continent orders for his approval.
• Klein arranged for Bryan to contact him through messengers and learned about the Spirituality Religion’s Royal Family, Repose, and Underworld factions.
• Patrick Bryan left in a ghostly carriage convoy, and Klein watched it disappear into the darkness.
• Klein felt that turmoil was growing in Backlund and across the world, so he decided to contact Witch Trissy.

Klein contacted Trissy through a mirror ritual, learned that her investigation would take another month or two, and failed to divine her whereabouts, making him suspect she had become a blessed of the Primordial Demoness. The next morning, he distributed gifts from the Southern Continent and gave Audrey a feather ornament that could be used in a sacrifice.

• Klein sent a rat marionette carrying ritual materials into the sewer and used a mirror fragment to contact Trissy.
• Trissy recognized Klein as Gehrman Sparrow, said her investigation into the royal guards' captain needed another month or two, and requested a way to contact him.
• Klein taught Trissy how to summon his messenger, then failed to divine her whereabouts and condition, which suggested she had become a blessed of the Primordial Demoness.
• Klein instructed Walter and Richardson to distribute Southern Continent gifts to neighbors and visited the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation with more gifts.
• Klein gave Audrey a white-feather hat ornament and explained its connection to the Feathered Serpent and Death.

Klein delivered gifts and resumed his religious and charitable social visits, while Audrey worried about Herabergen Rambis's hypnosis and planned to seek advice at the Tarot Club. During a private conversation, Klein told Will Auceptin that Ouroboros had been injured, and Will asked for a drink of Guadal.

• Audrey accepted Klein's feather ornament and decided to wait until the Tarot Club to tell Mr. World about Herabergen Rambis and ask how to guard against high-level hypnosis.
• Klein wrote to Mr. Azik about the joy of charitable education work, then visited Saint Samuel Cathedral, donated eighty pounds, and spoke with Bishop Electra.
• Klein visited Allen Kreis's family and gave newborn Will Auceptin a gold protective charm, which the baby immediately knocked away.
• Klein secretly told Will Auceptin that Ouroboros had been injured by a certain individual, and Will said the deviation in Klein's fate would be good in the long term.
• Will Auceptin asked Klein for Guadal and then wailed when Klein ate the ice cream he had offered.

Klein visited Wilma Greattis and helped Will Auceptin Ceres fold a paper crane, while Leonard received independent haunting investigations from Saint Anthony and learned why Pallez Zoroast chose him as a host. At a dinner with the Macht family, Klein learned that Miss Hibbert had been bitten by a crazed rat that remained missing.

• Klein calmed Will Auceptin Ceres and persuaded him to fold a paper crane while sharing his experiences in East and West Balam.
• Leonard Mitchell met with Saint Anthony, who assigned him suspected hauntings to investigate and said Soest's team was assisting Crestet.
• Pallez Zoroast explained to Leonard why a Parasite needed a carefully chosen host and why Beyonders were preferable to ordinary animals.
• Klein attended a gathering at Member of Parliament Macht's home and asked why Miss Hibbert was absent.
• Mauri Macht told Klein that Miss Hibbert had been bitten by a crazed rat at the country estate, and that the rat had not been found.

Klein concluded that a hidden Cryptologist had used an illusion to investigate Hibbert’s teacher, while Hibbert decided to warn her teacher despite her fear. Klein reached Elk Manor before Hibbert and took control of the red-eyed rats as marionettes.

• Klein suspected the rat that had bitten Hibbert was her Marauder demigod teacher and attended the ball at the Macht residence.
• A gray rat appeared to Hibbert in an illusion, and she used her necklace to confirm that a powerful Cryptologist had trapped her in it.
• Hibbert reasoned that the intruder was seeking her teacher and chose to leave the ball secretly to warn her at the suburban manor.
• Klein noticed Hibbert leaving, then departed the ball and teleported to Elk Manor ahead of her.
• Klein made the rats in the manor’s kitchen his marionettes and looked toward the flower-growing area.

Klein used Marionettes and layered tricks to fight the Marauder pathway demigod parasitizing a giant rat at Elk Manor. After the rat was blasted into a crater, Klein found no Beyonder Characteristic and divined for clues, leaving its fate uncertain.

• Klein spotted the giant rat among a swarm of rats and recognized that its condition showed the Marauder pathway demigod was close to losing control.
• Klein used Winner Enuni as a decoy and manipulated the giant rat’s Spirit Body Threads from outside Elk Manor, but the demigod stole Enuni’s position and escaped the rat Marionettes’ air cannon barrage.
• The demigod regained control, stole the ability to manipulate Spirit Body Threads, immobilized the rat Marionettes, and used its powers to locate and approach Klein.
• Klein swapped places with a rat Marionette and had nearby Marionettes fire air cannon shells at the demigod, leaving a crater filled with blood and pieces of flesh.
• Klein found no sign of a Beyonder Characteristic and flicked a gold coin to divine what had happened.

Klein tracked the wounded Marauder demigod to a grove, but Amon appeared and Klein escaped with Winner Enuni. Amon captured the demigod, absorbed her, and then encountered Hibbert, who warned him that someone had discovered his problem.

• Klein used divination to locate the weakened Marauder demigod in a grove and waited for her to reveal herself.
• The demigod emerged from a tree and began losing control, but a voice soothed her as Amon entered the grove.
• Klein recognized Amon and teleported away with Winner Enuni before Amon could stop them.
• Amon revealed that the demigod was a descendant of the Jacob Family, manipulated her into surrendering, and absorbed her.
• Hibbert found Amon and warned him that someone had discovered his problem, and Amon agreed to hide elsewhere.

After escaping Amon, Klein worried the Blasphemer’s avatar might threaten his Dawn Dantès identity and the people around Böklund Street, so he summoned Leonard to discuss a response. Leonard consulted Pallez, who was willing to cooperate if they had concealment, and then accepted Klein’s invitation to the gray fog.

• Klein took Enuni the Winner out to sea, transformed into a Red Priest, and used a Paper Angel to conceal their return to Backlund.
• Klein reviewed the signs that Amon might investigate Böklund Street and decided he needed to act before the avatar endangered Leonard or the neighborhood.
• Klein chose to contact Leonard above the gray fog rather than write down sensitive details or report Amon to the Churches.
• Klein sent Leonard a prayer through The Fool, asking him to come discuss the new traces of Amon and telling him he could share the message with Pallez Zoroast.
• Leonard told Pallez about Klein’s discovery, and Pallez said he would help deal with Amon’s avatars if they had the protection of concealment.
• Leonard informed Klein that he was available, and a crimson tide carried him toward the gray fog.

Klein told Leonard that he had encountered Amon in Backlund while tracking a Marauder demigod nearing loss of control, and learned why Leonard had not reported Amon to the Church. After considering how Amon might interpret events, Klein decided to seek concealment and claimed he was a Blessed of concealment, leaving Leonard to relay the message to Pallez Zoroast.

• Klein met Leonard above the gray fog and told him that Amon had appeared while Klein was pursuing a Marauder demigod in Backlund.
• Leonard explained that Amon's many hidden avatars could parasitize creatures and use their deaths to trace whoever disrupted his plans.
• Klein concluded that Amon would expect the Church of Evernight to learn of his presence and would likely lie low for a while.
• Leonard said Pallez Zoroast advised obtaining the protection of concealment before opposing Amon's avatars.
• Klein told Leonard he was a Blessed of concealment and would pray for help, intending Pallez to understand him as a Blessed of The Fool.

Leonard relayed Klein’s warning about Amon to Pallez, who explained the danger of Amon’s spreading avatars and outlined two ways to confront them. Leonard agreed to pass the plan back to Klein, and the chapter ended with the Tarot Gathering beginning.

• Klein told Leonard that Amon likely knew an angel of the Marauder pathway was near Böklund Street, and Leonard agreed to consult Pallez.
• Pallez offered to help fight Amon if Klein could secure the protection of concealment, then explained how Amon’s avatars grew stronger and multiplied.
• Pallez warned that the avatars might converge into a stronger threat and identified concealment as essential to any plan.
• Pallez proposed either using a Marauder Grade 1 Sealed Artifact or demigod as bait under concealment, or preparing to detect Amon if He entered Böklund Street.
• Pallez asked to receive most of the Worms of Time if Amon’s Backlund avatars were eliminated, and explained how Worms of Time served as charm-making materials.
• Klein checked Hibbert’s family through the gray fog and waited for the Tarot Gathering, where Audrey greeted Mr. Fool.

At the Tarot Gathering, Klein considered why Bernadette had stopped sending Roselle’s diary entries and offered several of his surplus items for sale. The gathering ended with Audrey and Alger buying two mystical items, while Emlyn began to speak.

• Cattleya told The Fool that she still had not received any of Roselle’s diary entries, and Klein suspected Bernadette was hesitating over a more important section.
• Alger said he had not found a suitable mystical item for Leonard, so Klein offered Leonard the Words of the Sea scepter; Leonard asked for a week to consider it.
• Klein reviewed which of his items he could sell and had The World offer the Merfolk Cufflink and Viridescent ring.
• Audrey bought the Merfolk Cufflink for 500 pounds, and Alger bought the Viridescent ring for 1,000 pounds.
• After trading ended, Emlyn cleared his throat and began to speak.

Emlyn admitted that the Sanguine had withheld crucial information about the abandoned castle and offered to refund Fors’s fee, then described his plan to punish Ernes Boyar by luring him into an Earth Mother church. The Tarot Club members began organizing a joint operation, with Xio, Audrey, and Leonard volunteering to help.

• Emlyn confessed that the Sanguine had arranged the abandoned-castle incident as a test and offered Fors a refund and compensation, but Fors accepted only the refund.
• Emlyn said he intended to lure Ernes Boyar into an Earth Mother church, and Cattleya explained that the church might convert him into a priest or bishop.
• Fors initially offered to participate but withdrew after learning the Sanguine could create a full moon effect, while Xio volunteered in exchange for a share of the spoils.
• Audrey offered to hypnotize the Sanguine into going to the church if he were dazed or semiconscious, and Leonard volunteered to make him unconscious.
• Xio offered to gather information on the target, and Emlyn asked what role he would play and what payment the others wanted.

The Tarot Club planned to punish the Sanguine Ernes Boyar, but Alger warned that the apparent target might be part of a test and devised precautions to conceal their actions. After the operation was settled, Audrey revealed that she had met Herabergen Rambis, a member of the Psychology Alchemists Council.

• Emlyn, Audrey, Xio, and Leonard agreed on a plan to hypnotize the Sanguine and lead him to a church, with the participants sharing the spoils.
• Alger warned that the Sanguine might be a test and proposed using bounty hunters, a nearby orthodox church, and a misleading display by Emlyn to distract hidden observers.
• Fors offered to lend Lemano's Travel Notes, which contained the demigod-level protection "Angel's Embrace," to guard against divination and prophecy.
• Audrey said she had met Herabergen Rambis, a member of the Psychology Alchemists Council.

At the Tarot Club, Audrey discussed Herabergen Rambis’s attempt to influence her, and Alger explained the Churches’ safeguards and the balance of power among Loen’s institutions. Klein then privately consulted Leonard about Pallez’s knowledge, learning how to use his Worms of Spirit and agreeing to investigate ways to counter Amon’s fate grafting.

• Audrey told the Tarot Club that Herabergen Rambis had suggested she observe nobles and report their attitudes, but Mr. Fool’s blessing had protected her from his Psychological Suggestion.
• Alger reassured Audrey that the Churches’ protections and Loen’s system of checks and balances limited the danger, and advised her to give Rambis only unimportant information while guarding core secrets.
• Audrey thanked Alger for his guidance, and Gehrman Sparrow remarked that no one would suspect her even if Rambis died.
• Klein privately asked Leonard to relay Pallez Zoroast’s advice, then realized he could use separated Worms of Spirit to make charms or bullets.
• Klein told Leonard he would investigate whether concealment could protect them and help identify fate grafting, while they each sought demigod-level Sealed Artifacts of the Marauder pathway.

At the Tarot gathering, Derrick asked for help finding a safe way to perform the Light Priest advancement ritual, and Klein sought Will Auceptin’s advice about detecting Amon’s avatars. Klein received no response to his prayer to Evernight, but an unfamiliar woman appeared in his room.

• The World asked Cattleya to tell the Mystery Queen that he wanted to meet, while Derrick asked the gathering how to create safe, pure darkness for his advancement ritual.
• Alger offered to research the ritual, and Cattleya suggested Derrick seek the Chief’s protection against the dangers of darkness.
• Klein told Will Auceptin that he had encountered an avatar of Amon and asked how to detect stolen identities; Will advised him to pray for help and predicted a fluctuation in Klein’s fate next Wednesday or Thursday.
• Klein performed a ritual asking Evernight for concealment and protection from Amon, but received no response and dismantled the altar.
• As Klein turned toward his easy chair, an unfamiliar barefoot woman appeared before him and filled him with a profound sense of peace.

Klein received Arianna’s Evernight emblem and arranged for her to conceal his planned operation against Amon’s avatars in Backlund. He then asked Arrodes how to survive the dangerous darkness in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and the mirror explained its origins and offered two methods of protection.

• Arianna identified herself as the Servant of Concealment and gave Klein an Evernight emblem that could summon her concealment or more direct help.
• Klein accepted Arianna’s offer to conceal the operation but said he would handle the battle himself, preserving his plan to work with Pallez Zoroast.
• After Arianna departed, Klein summoned Arrodes and asked how to create safe darkness in the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
• Arrodes explained that the dangerous night arose from the Evernight Goddess’s remnant divine power and the second Creator’s lingering influence, then confirmed that the fall of the second Creator involved the Goddess.
• Arrodes asked Klein to stop discussing the Evernight Goddess, then suggested accepting corruption to become a monster or attaching a temporary dream world to the darkness.

Klein questioned Arrodes about the Scholar of Yore potion formula, learned that Zaratul had disappeared and that another, unexplained route might lead to the formula, then tested the cost of destroying his Worms of Spirit and made Spirit Control Bullets. He sent Patrick Bryan and Leonard new instructions, including preparations to face Amon’s avatars.

• Klein concluded he needed the City of Silver Chief’s advice before planning how the Sun could survive the darkness in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, and decided to ask Leonard how to create darkness containing a temporary dream world.
• Klein asked Arrodes where to obtain the Scholar of Yore formula; Arrodes revealed that Zaratul had left his hidden hall and mentioned another possibility it could not identify.
• Klein suspected the Goddess might grant the formula in exchange for merits connected to the Spirituality Religion’s Artificial Death Faction, then ended his session with Arrodes.
• Klein destroyed one of his Worms of Spirit and confirmed that each Worm’s death injured his spirit body, before using two Worms and the gray fog’s power to create Spirit Control Bullets that could paralyze even a Sequence 3 Saint briefly.
• Klein sent Patrick Bryan a request to seek higher-level charms or Beyonder bullets, then wrote to Leonard about collecting Marauder demigod items, creating dream-filled darkness, and making Solar Flare Bullets with 3-0782 in Tingen.

Leonard considered how to obtain a sacred emblem for making Solar Flare charms, while Fors and Xio suspected Miss Justice was Audrey. Emlyn hired Ian to arrange surveillance of Ernes Boyar and to gather information on the Rose School of Thought in Backlund.

• Leonard read Klein's letter and realized Klein could detect fate theft, making a search for demigod-level Marauder items less urgent.
• Leonard devised a plan to requisition the sealed artifact 3-0782 in Tingen, while Pallez warned that his placating work could make the request suspicious and reminded him to finish Anthony Stevenson's assignments.
• Fors and Xio discussed whether Miss Justice was Audrey, connecting her to the Psychology Alchemists and the book that revealed Mr. Fool's honorific name.
• Xio went to a bar seeking new work and asked about Shermane, then left to search the places he frequented.
• Emlyn paid Ian to post a 100-pound bounty for tracking Ernes Boyar and asked him to collect leads on the Rose School of Thought in Backlund.