Chapter Summaries

Fors and Xio settled into a new apartment and completed their errands before joining the Tarot Club, where the members noticed a verdigris cross and learned Cattleya had become a demigod. Cattleya presented a page from Roselle’s diary, whose first entry revealed that the second Blasphemy Slate was incomplete.

• Fors wrote to Dorian Gray Abraham warning him to change his address and possibly his identity, then went out to mail the letter and buy supplies.
• Xio mailed a letter about Viscount Stratford and Shermane’s watcher; an unknown resident collected Sea News and read articles about Gehrman Sparrow.
• At the Tarot Club meeting, the members noticed the verdigris cross, and Derrick sensed its pull as a possible Sun-pathway artifact.
• The Fool told Cattleya that the manifested glasses could seal her Eye of Mystery Prying, and the members inferred that she had advanced to demigod.
• Cattleya offered a page of Emperor Roselle’s diary and saved her question for the next meeting; the entry said the second Blasphemy Slate was incomplete.

Klein learned from Roselle’s Diary that the Spectator’s apotheosis ritual might involve shaping the course of the times to match one’s vision, making his investigation of King George III and the Great Smog more dangerous. At the Tarot Club, he explained the Unshadowed Crucifix’s abilities and offered to lend or exchange it, then Audrey requested several Beyonder materials.

• Klein read that Mr. Door had seen the complete second Blasphemy Slate alongside powerful figures of the Fourth Epoch, and he suspected Adam was guiding events toward his own apotheosis.
• Klein decided to learn King George III’s secret before deciding whether to continue investigating, then invited the Tarot Club members to begin.
• Audrey asked about the crucifix, and Klein identified it as a relic of the Ancient The Sun God that could remove corruption, expel excess characteristics, or help someone leave the world of mysticism.
• Derrick asked to obtain the crucifix, Alger asked whether it could be rented, and Klein agreed that both were possible for a sufficient price.
• Klein considered asking Danitz to offer the crucifix to Anderson, whose foreign substance remained a danger, while Audrey requested a Dream Catcher’s heart, a Mind Phantom’s crystal, or an adult Mind Dragon’s complete brain.

At the Tarot Club, members discussed Beyonder materials, potion formulas, and plans, while Gehrman Sparrow asked Leonard to find out whether someone had seen the second Blasphemy Slate. Leonard agreed, leaving the other members curious about his connections.

• Derrick said the City of Silver might have an adult Mind Dragon brain and agreed to check for its blood for Audrey.
• Xio asked the Tarot Club to look for the Judge and Punisher Knight potion formulas, and Cattleya offered to seek them and provide a Judge-pathway mystical item.
• Emlyn planned to rent Fors's travel notes and said the Sanguine would soon finalize its operation against important Rose School of Thought members; Gehrman offered to advise him.
• Gehrman asked Leonard to question someone about whether they had seen the second Blasphemy Slate, and Leonard agreed.

At the Tarot Gathering, The World revealed that George III was secretly excavating the Blood Emperor’s ruins and warned members to watch for suspicious coincidences. After The Hanged Man reported on the Feynapotter officers from the Battle of Conot, Leonard learned from Pallez that Adam had taken the second Blasphemy Slate.

• The World told the Tarot Club that George III had colluded with the Demoness Sect and Psychology Alchemists, and warned members to report an unusual number of coincidences.
• Justice offered to track Herabergen Rambis, while Judgement described her investigation into the king’s secret and Shermane’s watcher.
• The Sun announced that he would join an expedition to Afternoon Town that might enter the Giant King’s Court, and The Hanged Man advised him to follow his Chief’s orders and pray to Mr. Fool.
• The Hanged Man gave Mr. Fool information on five Feynapotter colonels from the Battle of Conot, and Mr. Fool ordered him to investigate the three survivors’ histories.
• After the gathering, Leonard asked Pallez about the second Blasphemy Slate and learned that Pallez’s great-grandfather had seen it and that Adam had likely taken it.

Derrick told Colin Iliad that he had discovered a relic of the Creator, prompting the Chief to offer him access to the City of Silver’s Saint-level Sealed Artifacts once Derrick mastered his abilities. In Backlund, Klein planned his investigation into the Demoness Sect and met Audrey outside the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation.

• Derrick visited Colin Iliad and revealed that he had found a relic corresponding to the Sun pathway’s Sequence 4, Unshadowed.
• Colin acknowledged Derrick’s revelation and promised to show him the City of Silver’s Saint-level Sealed Artifacts after he mastered his spirituality and divine spells.
• Klein returned from above the Gray Fog and decided to focus his investigation on Katarina and Trissy while avoiding Herabergen Rambis.
• Klein went with Qonas Kilgor, disguised as Enuni, to pray at Saint Samuel Cathedral before heading to the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation.
• Audrey rode up on her bicycle with her golden-haired dog and told Klein that riding around had lifted her worries.

Klein and Audrey discussed how bicycles were changing life in Backlund before Portland Moment proposed a machinery laboratory for the university. Elsewhere, Danitz questioned Anderson about the dangerous options for handling the item in his stomach, and Klein received a letter from Sharron.

• Audrey told Klein that she was a major shareholder in the Backlund Bicycle Company and described how riding helped her see the city and its people.
• Audrey and Klein met Portland Moment at the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation, where he proposed a machinery laboratory and asked them to consider investing.
• Danitz asked Anderson how the item in his stomach was affecting him, and Anderson explained that he could seek its removal or try to accommodate it and become a demigod.
• Danitz decided to ask the captain how to obtain items connected to Vice Admiral Ailment.
• Reinette Tinekerr delivered Klein a letter and told him that Sharron did not like nicknames.

Klein met Sharron and Maric at the Bravehearts Bar, where they asked him to serve as backup for a joint operation with the Sanguine against the Rose School of Thought. After learning that Sharron was Reinette Tinekerr’s student and hearing how her teacher fell to Suah and the Rose School’s higher-ups, Klein warned that their plan could provoke a devastating response and asked if they intended to trigger a divine descent in Backlund.

• Reinette Tinekerr delivered Sharron’s invitation to meet at the Bravehearts Bar, and Klein arranged to meet her that evening.
• Sharron and Maric asked Klein to observe their planned operation with the Sanguine and extract them if anything went wrong.
• Klein confirmed that Sharron had advanced to Sequence 4, Puppet, and learned that Reinette Tinekerr was her teacher.
• Sharron explained that Reinette had once led the Rose School of Thought’s Temperance Faction before Suah and other leaders drove them into exile and defeated her.
• Klein warned Sharron and Maric that the Rose School knew about their ties to Reinette and could send overwhelming force, then asked whether they were trying to trigger a divine descent in Backlund.

Klein agreed to help Sharron and the Sanguine draw out the Rose School of Thought’s Backlund leader, while learning more about Sharron’s teacher and the Mutant pathway. Emlyn then briefed the Tarot Club on the plan and revealed the Sanguine also intended to recover a relic from the Rose School of Thought, leaving him uncertain about his own role.

• Maric explained that the Sanguine planned to attack a Rose School of Thought member and follow the chain of communication to identify the group’s leader in Backlund.
• Klein agreed to participate in exchange for free assistance from Reinette Tinekerr and first choice of spoils if he had to intervene; Sharron said Reinette was avoiding the Sanguine’s notice.
• Sharron said the Rose School of Thought sought to bring the Mother Tree of Desire into reality and named Mutant Sequence 2 Ancient Bane and Sequence 3 Silent Disciple.
• Emlyn summoned a Tarot Club gathering and described the operation, revealing that the Sanguine hoped to seize a sacred relic left by their Ancestor from the Rose School of Thought’s headquarters.
• Alger questioned the plan’s risks, and Emlyn said Duke Omer would oversee it; Audrey then asked what Emlyn himself was expected to do, leaving him unsure of his importance.

Klein learned that Vice Admiral Ailment had disappeared and that Anderson could eliminate the foreign object in his body by advancing to Iron-Blooded Knight, so he arranged for Danitz to take Anderson to Seros Island. Trissy contacted Gehrman Sparrow to propose joining forces against Katarina, but his messenger’s arrival left her terrified.

• Audrey advised Emlyn to prioritize his safety during the Sanguine hunting operation, and Klein later examined the Unshadowed Crucifix and Severed Finger before separating them when the latter began praising the sun.
• Danitz told Klein that Vice Admiral Ailment had last been seen near Seros Island and that Anderson favored absorbing the foreign object through advancement; Klein decided to have Danitz search for Ailment and offer Anderson the Iron-Blooded Knight ingredients and ritual.
• Danitz recruited Anderson to search for Vice Admiral Ailment and gather Conspirer ingredients, offering the Iron-Blooded Knight advancement ritual and supplementary ingredients as a reward; Anderson eagerly agreed.
• Trissy wrote to Gehrman Sparrow, offering to cooperate against Katarina while investigating King George III’s plans, then summoned Gehrman’s messenger before leaving her hiding place.
• Gehrman Sparrow’s messenger appeared carrying four blonde, red-eyed heads, and Trissy stared at it in terror.

Trissy summoned Klein’s angelic messenger and asked him to deal with Katarina, but the encounter frightened her and left Klein unable to contact her. Xio deliberately concealed part of her investigation into Viscount Stratford to draw suspicion and hoped Gehrman Sparrow would help her uncover the king’s secret.

• Trissy emerged from a mirror shaken after Reinette Tinekerr delivered her letter, and Klein learned that the messenger had sensed Primordial’s aura on her.
• Klein read Trissy’s request to deal with Katarina, the Saintess of White, but failed to contact Trissy afterward.
• Xio told a Military Intelligence Section 9 officer about Viscount Stratford’s activities while withholding that she had followed him to a warehouse.
• The officer warned Xio to abandon her investigation, explained his past connection to her father, and offered to help her obtain a Judge potion formula.
• After Xio left, an unseen observer reported her lie, and the officer ordered further investigation.
• Xio revealed that she had deliberately left out her visit to the crime scene so the suspicion might bring Gehrman Sparrow into the matter, and that she had prayed to Mr. Fool to pass along her thoughts.

Klein watched Xio’s covert investigation and prepared safeguards while she and Fors tried to mislead the people probing their dreams. The next morning, Herabergen Rambis confronted Audrey and ordered her to arrange a meeting with Xio and Fors so he could hypnotize them.

• Klein spotted a concealed investigator watching Xio and decided to wait rather than intervene, while arranging charms for Tarot Club members to summon The World if needed.
• Xio returned to Fors without detecting anyone following her, and the two spent the evening together in their apartment.
• An angel’s blessing protected Xio and Fors from dream intrusion, but an intruder entered Xio’s dream; she controlled her memories and left misleading details about the warehouse incident.
• Audrey traveled to the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation with Susie, Annie, and her bodyguards, when Herabergen Rambis appeared in the carriage and hypnotized them.
• Herabergen told Audrey to arrange a meeting with Fors and Xio so he could hypnotize them.

Herabergen Rambis hypnotized Audrey and altered her behavior, but Susie helped her notice the change and she recovered her memories by praying to Mr. Fool. Klein suspected Adam was using the investigation to probe the Fool’s involvement and resolved to keep Audrey clear of the coming confrontation with Herabergen.

• Herabergen Rambis hypnotized Audrey in her carriage, suggesting she praise the princes, forget his visit, and avoid key positions at the Church of Evernight’s grand Mass.
• Audrey visited Glaint unexpectedly, then asked Susie whether her behavior had been abnormal; Susie pointed out that Audrey had changed her plans without warning.
• Audrey recognized her reluctance to seek help as a sign of hypnosis, hypnotized herself into making daily prayers, and prayed to Mr. Fool, recovering her memories of Herabergen.
• Audrey told Klein what had happened, and he called it fate’s test and told her to face it.
• Klein reasoned that Adam’s probing might be driven by concern about divine descent and decided Audrey must not be connected to the next move against Herabergen.
• Audrey went to the directors’ lounge to find Dawn Dantès.

Audrey sought Klein’s advice after Herabergen Rambis hypnotized her and ordered her to investigate Xio and Fors. At a Tarot Club gathering, the members discussed how to handle the demigod without drawing suspicion from the Psychology Alchemists, and learned that the group was connected to the Hermits of Fate.

• Audrey told Klein about Herabergen Rambis’s orders, and Klein advised her to consult the other Tarot Club members.
• Audrey convened a small gathering and told the members that Herabergen had hypnotized her and ordered her to hypnotize Xio and Fors.
• Audrey revealed that she had recommended Xio and Fors for membership in the Tarot Club, surprising both women.
• The members discussed ways to locate and deal with Herabergen while keeping the Psychology Alchemists from suspecting Audrey.
• The World warned the members that the Psychology Alchemists were connected to the Hermits of Fate and that Mr. Fool did not want to provoke the organization.

The Tarot Club planned to mislead the Psychology Alchemists and protect Xio and Fors from Herabergen Rambis, with Audrey arranging to meet the Evernight Church’s archbishop and break their hypnosis. After Audrey hypnotized Xio and Fors at Viscount Glaint’s residence, Herabergen appeared beside her, revealing he had been watching all along.

• Fors and Xio feared the consequences of Adam’s attention, while Audrey and Alger discussed using the Evernight Church to disguise the Tarot Club’s involvement.
• Alger proposed that Audrey meet the Evernight archbishop and that Xio pray at a nearby church; The World suggested Audrey burn her feather ornament after Herabergen left and then use his charm.
• The Tarot Club agreed on a plan for Audrey to hypnotize Xio and Fors into leaving Backlund, then wait for Xio to pray before taking further action.
• At Viscount Glaint’s residence, Audrey questioned the hypnotized Xio and Fors, then told them to leave Backlund and released them from the hypnosis.
• As Audrey left the study, Herabergen appeared inside the residence and praised her, catching her completely by surprise.

Audrey tried to keep Herabergen Rambis from discovering her plan while waiting for Xio and Fors to reach an Evernight cathedral. When Rambis uncovered her suspicions and attacked her mind, Audrey invoked an angel’s blessing and the chapter ended with him stunned by the golden light in her eyes.

• Audrey decided not to rush her plan and answered Herabergen Rambis's questions while hoping Xio and Fors would reach the cathedral.
• Audrey told Rambis that Xio had acted on her own while investigating Viscount Stratford and her father's death, and that Xio and Fors were protected by an unnamed existence.
• Rambis praised Audrey's hypnosis, promised to give her the Dreamwalker potion, and tried to lower her resistance to love and marriage before preparing to leave.
• Rambis noticed Audrey's fear and the absence of her shape-changing accessory, then suspected she was hiding something and invaded her mind.
• Audrey resisted Rambis's psychic assault and reached into her pocket as he intensified the attack.
• An ancient word, “Fate,” rang in Rambis's ears, and Audrey's emerald eyes turned brilliant gold.

Audrey used the Fate Siphon charm to reverse her confrontation with Herabergen Rambis, hypnotized him into forgetting their encounter, and arranged for Gehrman Sparrow to ambush him. When Herabergen appeared beside her in the garden, her song calmed him as the ambush began.

• Audrey exchanged fates with Herabergen Rambis using the Fate Siphon charm, gaining control of his mind long enough to hypnotize him.
• Audrey instructed Herabergen to wait at Glaint's residence, forget their meeting, and calm down when he heard her singing.
• Audrey prayed to Mr. Fool to alert The World Gehrman Sparrow, prepared her mental defenses, and went to the garden to await Herabergen.
• Audrey burned a feather and used a summoning charm, but Gehrman Sparrow did not appear before Herabergen arrived beside her.
• Audrey hummed “Manor Under the Moon,” calming Herabergen as an enormous crimson moon and a black-clad figure appeared above the garden.

Herabergen Rambis transformed into his incomplete Mythical Creature Form and attacked Gehrman Sparrow through both the physical and mental worlds. Klein’s Angel’s Embrace protected him from the invasion, and he used the encounter to test whether the gray fog held a hidden consciousness before preparing a Lightning Storm to counter Herabergen’s invisibility.

• Herabergen Rambis transformed into a grayish-white Dragon and unleashed Dragon Might that afflicted everyone around the garden with abnormal mental effects.
• Audrey Hall hypnotized herself to avoid seeing the Mythical Creature Form, then left the garden after an illusion made the battle disappear from her view.
• Herabergen identified Gehrman Sparrow’s island of consciousness as a Marionette’s and followed its Spirit Body Threads to locate the real body.
• Klein’s Marionette redirected Herabergen’s mental invasion toward the gray fog, where Herabergen found no consciousness and Klein’s Angel projection repelled his subsequent attack.
• Herabergen withdrew and used Psychological Invisibility, but Klein summoned Creeping Hunger’s recorded Lightning Storm to attack the whole area.

Gehrman Sparrow and his marionettes coordinated their attacks to seize control of Herabergen Rambis, but the Manipulator infected Klein with a contagious Mental Plague. Klein used Qonas Kilgor’s powers to restrain the illness and keep Herabergen Rambis paralyzed, though the Dragon began recovering.

• Gehrman Sparrow exposed Herabergen Rambis with a Lightning Storm, then used Creeping Hunger’s amplified Slow while Winner Enuni began manipulating the Dragon’s Spirit Body Threads.
• Qonas Kilgor amplified Enuni’s control, but Herabergen Rambis shook off Slow before control was established; Klein struck him with a Spirit Control Bullet, paralyzing him long enough for Enuni to gain initial control.
• Herabergen Rambis’s Mental Plague infected Klein through Enuni, causing violent shifts in his mood and threatening to make him lose control of his marionettes.
• Klein used Qonas Kilgor’s Distortion to lessen the illness, then fired another amplified Spirit Control Bullet to prolong Herabergen Rambis’s paralysis.
• Klein fired a third Spirit Control Bullet before the Dragon could recover, but Herabergen Rambis returned to normal as its amplified effect ended.

Klein turned Herabergen Rambis into a Marionette and, with Arianna’s help, questioned him about George III and the Psychology Alchemists. The interrogation revealed that the group’s president had several identities and that George III sought something in the Blood Emperor ruins, but Herabergen could not remember what it was.

• Klein made Herabergen Rambis his Marionette and used him to remove the Mental Plague afflicting Klein and the surrounding area.
• Arianna questioned Herabergen, who said a world-engulfing war was coming and that George III had gained a higher level through the Psychology Alchemists’ help.
• Herabergen said George III needed to become more talented to overcome the Three Great Contracts, but he did not know how the process worked.
• Herabergen identified the Psychology Alchemists’ president as having identities including Barros Hopkins, Bailey Delair, and Eric Drake.
• Herabergen said George III wanted to control something in the Blood Emperor ruins through sacrificial rituals, but he could not recall what it was.
• Klein asked Herabergen about the Spectator pathway’s potion formulas, then agreed not to use him as a Marionette or make an item from his Beyonder Characteristic until its mental imprint was removed.

Klein abandoned Herabergen Rambis’s marionette, received the demigod’s purified Beyonder Characteristic, and sacrificed a dangerous Sealed Artifact to the Evernight Goddess. The ritual revealed the Sequence 3 Scholar of Yore formula and advancement ritual, while Klein later explained Herabergen’s plan to Audrey above the gray fog.

• Klein relinquished control of Herabergen Rambis, and Arianna erased the demigod’s corpse and removed the mental imprints from his Beyonder Characteristic.
• Arianna warned Klein that the ice-blue cylinder came from the cosmos and could corrupt anyone who carried it, then advised him to sacrifice it to the Evernight Goddess.
• Klein sacrificed the cylinder and received the Scholar of Yore potion formula, learning that its ritual required him to separate himself from reality for at least three hundred years before drinking the potion.
• Klein left the concealed garden as Audrey watched, and later met her as The World above the gray fog.
• Klein told Audrey that Herabergen Rambis had investigated whether Xio and Fors were being directed and tried to keep Audrey from obstructing the princes’ attempt to divide the three major Churches.
• Audrey said that her Fate Siphon charm had helped her hypnotize Herabergen and that her Hypnotist potion seemed to have been fully digested.