Chapter Summaries

Anderson and Danitz investigated a tip about a hidden island and learned that Vice Admiral Ailment had planted the information to monitor people pursuing her. They uncovered a strange substance hidden by the broker Batz and prepared to report their findings to Gehrman Sparrow.

• Anderson reasoned that the tip about the hidden island might have been leaked as bait, and told Danitz to trace the information back to its source.
• Anderson and Danitz confronted Batz, who revealed that Vice Admiral Ailment had told him about the island and instructed him to track inquiries and let anyone sailing there go.
• Anderson took Batz's money and spared him, while he and Danitz staged the encounter to conceal their real intentions.
• Anderson and Danitz returned later and knocked Batz unconscious as he tried to use a hidden lump of black paste on his mirror.
• Danitz and Anderson concluded that the paste might contact Vice Admiral Ailment, then decided to summon Gehrman Sparrow's messenger and pass the findings to him.

Klein reacted to Danitz and Anderson locating Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy by warning them to withdraw while Audrey secretly hypnotized Batz and erased his memories. After Audrey returned to Backlund, she learned that patients at the Charity Bursary Foundation had miraculously recovered and heard a rumor about a strange figure feeding on illness and grief.

• Klein received Danitz's letter about finding Batz and warned Danitz and Anderson to keep Batz unconscious, leave, and return after dawn to monitor him.
• Anderson used a bottle to keep Batz unconscious, then led Danitz away from the room.
• Audrey received Creeping Hunger and instructions from Mr. Fool, then traveled to Batz and hypnotized him into forgetting the previous six hours and those who had asked about the secret island.
• Audrey restored the room, returned to Backlund, and sacrificed Creeping Hunger to Mr. Fool.
• Annie told Audrey that Miss Eudora and all the critically ill patients at the Charity Bursary Foundation had recovered, and shared a rumor about a ghostly figure with mushrooms and weeds on its face.

Audrey pursued wartime relief while Emlyn challenged Bishop Utravsky over what he would do if the Church of the Earth Mother’s loyalties conflicted with Loen’s. Alger waited for orders as rumors of island monsters spread, while Klein’s travels to create ghost stories led him to discover that Mesangyes’s residence had become a strange trap.

• Audrey learned that patients at a hospital called its ghost the Clown Angel and continued organizing donations and medical relief for the war.
• Emlyn questioned Bishop Utravsky about whether he would obey the Church of the Earth Mother if Feynapotter went to war against Loen, and Utravsky fell silent.
• Alger received no orders from the Church of Storms and warned his sailors to stay indoors at night after they reported frightening monster sightings on the island.
• Klein continued spreading ghost stories across distant regions while sensing that Zaratul was tracking or predicting his movements, and he used the gray fog and a Paper Angel to reduce the danger.
• Klein traveled to Kukwa City and found Mesangyes’s unnaturally quiet residence transformed, with tangled Spirit Body Threads and warped surroundings.
• The shadows inside the residence recognized Dawn Dantès and declared that his arrival would help them escape their predicament.

Klein found Luca Brewster trapped in a Mythical Creature Form after an attack by Feynapotter’s military and the Church of the Earth Mother, and summoned Audrey to treat him. Audrey stabilized Luca and helped him return to human form, leaving Klein to point out that he needed clothes.

• Klein recognized Luca Brewster, who explained that Belakos and Archbishop Martina had attacked him and that he had revealed his Mythical Creature Form to force them to retreat.
• Klein learned that Luca had only seven minutes before his condition worsened and decided to summon a psychiatrist rather than leave him alone.
• Klein contacted Audrey, who accepted the task and traveled to Mesangyes’s mansion in Kukwa City under disguise.
• Audrey calmed Luca, treated his mental state in stages, and planted suggestions that he could dismiss his Mythical Creature Form.
• Luca returned to his original appearance and thanked Klein and Audrey, while Klein told him he needed a set of clothes.

Klein questioned Luca Brewster about the underground corruption, the war, and the Apocalypse before Luca departed and Audrey returned home. Feynapotter invaded Lenburg, while Leonard remained stationed in Backlund and prepared to attend the Tarot Gathering.

• Luca Brewster explained that approaching the underground was more dangerous for higher Sequences, predicted that the war was only beginning, and said the God of Knowledge and Wisdom had named 1368 as the year of the Apocalypse.
• After Klein finished questioning Luca, Luca offered future help through Edwina, and Audrey returned to the Northern Continent after Klein warned her to leave the dangerous area.
• Earl Hall told Countess Caitlyn that Feynapotter had invaded Lenburg.
• Leonard read the invasion report and wondered why his Red Gloves team was still assigned to Backlund, while Pallez Zoroast said he had a guess but would not share it yet.
• Leonard led his team at Saint Samuel Cathedral, assigned their tasks on Monday afternoon, and waited for the Tarot Gathering to begin.

At the Tarot Gathering, The Hermit Cattleya presented a volume of Roselle’s diary and asked Mr. Fool about the warning to beware of Spectators and the location of Roselle’s secret mausoleum. The answers revealed Adam’s apotheosis ritual and possible mausoleum sites, including the Abyss.

• The Hermit Cattleya gave Mr. Fool an entire volume of diary entries from Emperor Roselle’s later years and asked to pose her questions in batches.
• The Hermit Cattleya asked why people must beware of the Spectator, and Mr. Fool explained that Adam was especially dangerous because his apotheosis ritual required a war that fulfilled his envisioned tide of the times.
• The Tarot Club members considered Adam’s influence over the coming war, while Mr. Fool reflected that he could not change its overall course.
• The Hermit Cattleya asked where Roselle’s undiscovered secret mausoleum might be, and Mr. Fool suggested the Sonia Sea, a hidden primeval island, or the Abyss.

Fors commissioned The World to help her travel to unfamiliar places so she could digest her Scribe potion, accepting his unusual payment: publishing terrifying ghost stories from Backlund’s major hospitals. The trading segment ended, and Emlyn asked the Tarot Club how official Beyonders should handle a peaceful clergyman from a hostile faction during wartime.

• Cattleya thanked The Fool for answering her question about Emperor Roselle’s secret mausoleum and said she had nothing else to ask.
• Fors asked The World to drop her in unfamiliar places or demonstrate Travel so she could Record it and advance toward becoming a Traveler.
• The World agreed to help Fors in exchange for her collecting ghost stories from Backlund’s major hospitals and publishing them as a terrifying novel; he also offered her a chance to Record demigod-level powers if she did well.
• The Tarot Club members reflected on their current advancement and circumstances, and the trading segment ended without further requests.
• Emlyn asked how official Beyonders should treat Bishop Utravsky, a peaceful clergyman from a hostile faction, during wartime, and Leonard suggested protective custody.

At a Tarot Club meeting, Klein connected Leonard’s presence in Backlund to the threat posed by Zaratul and Amon, while warning the others only as much as they needed to know. The discussion ended with Klein analyzing why the Church of Storms was reluctant to expand the ongoing war.

• Leonard said he planned to investigate Father Utravsky and cooperate with officials to place the Earth Mother’s Blessed in protective custody.
• When Leonard asked about major events brewing in Backlund, The World Gehrman Sparrow revealed that Zaratul was hiding there and explained that neighboring pathways attracted one another.
• Fors recalled seeing a crow watching Botis and reported the incident; Klein identified the crow as likely belonging to Zaratul, and Fors asked Audrey to hypnotize her into forgetting some details.
• Alger reported that the Church of Storms was not enthusiastic about the war, and Klein reasoned that expanding it could help Adam advance to Sequence 0 and destabilize the Churches’ plans.
• The World Gehrman Sparrow told Alger that the Church of Storms’ restraint was inevitable.

The Tarot Club discussed neighboring and interchangeable Beyonder pathways, and The Sun reported that his expedition was nearing Afternoon Town. The chapter ended with The World advising The Sun to pray to Mr. Fool during the coming exploration of the Giant King's Court, and Mr. Fool approving.

• The World explained that several pathways were neighbors and that neighboring pathways often became enemies, helping The Hanged Man and Justice interpret the churches' positions.
• The Hermit identified additional interchangeable pathways, giving The Moon and Judgement new possibilities and clarifying that Monster stood alone.
• The Sun told the Tarot Club that his group was less than a day's journey from Afternoon Town and would rest before exploring the Giant King's Court.
• The World suggested that The Sun pray to Mr. Fool before and during the exploration, and Mr. Fool nodded in agreement.

Klein read Roselle’s diary and discovered a contradiction in the emperor’s memories that suggested his final entry had been written by someone else. Meanwhile, Leonard and Pallez discussed the powerful figures gathering in Backlund and the hidden forces that may have drawn them there.

• Klein read Roselle’s entry about meeting Miss Ithaca and continued through the diary pages.
• Leonard learned from Pallez that the current Zaratul was likely a descendant of the one who died in the War of the Four Emperors, and that Mr. Door had been a powerful Angel King.
• Pallez explained that Amon, Zaratul, and he had formed a balance in Backlund, and suggested that Evernight might currently be unable to interfere on the ground.
• Pallez proposed that Beyonder convergence could have influenced Leonard and Zaratul’s fates, bringing them to Backlund through forces neither understood.
• Klein read Roselle’s account of becoming a Sequence 1 angel and preparing to travel to the crimson moon.
• Klein noticed that Roselle’s final diary entry treated the second Blasphemy Slate’s incompleteness as uncertain, despite an earlier entry confirming it, and feared the writer had become someone else.

Klein read Roselle’s diary and learned about the dangers of cosmic corruption, the Emperor’s final mausoleum, and his plan to escape madness through death and revival. He left the Gray Fog with a plan to ask Miss Magician and the Mystery Queen for help locating the unnamed island.

• Klein read that Hermes had warned Roselle about corruption from the cosmos and underground, and had identified Bethel Abraham as an expert on the cosmos.
• Klein learned that Roselle chose the unnamed island where Green was buried as the site of his ninth mausoleum, after confronting cosmic corruption there and surviving with Edwards and Benjamin.
• Klein found no coordinates for the island and read Roselle’s account of pinning his hopes on finding life through death to escape madness and corruption.
• Klein decided to ask Miss Magician about Benjamin and the Abraham Family, and to have the Mystery Queen question the descendants of Edwards, William, and Pally.
• Klein left the palace above the Gray Fog.

Klein investigated the deaths connected to an unnamed island and sent Bernadette a request to look into it, then had Fors ask Dorian Gray Abraham for information about Benjamin Abraham. He transported Fors to a pirate tavern, where she used the authority of a Judge to repel a man who propositioned her; Danitz was monitoring the information broker Batz on Seros Island.

• Klein wrote Bernadette asking her to investigate the unnamed island linked to the deaths of Green, William, and Pally.
• Fors visited people affected by the Backlund air raid and heard repeated accounts of strange hospital incidents.
• Klein met Fors in an alley and told her to write to Dorian Gray Abraham asking about Benjamin Abraham and his writings and drawings.
• Fors posted the letter, returned to Klein, and he transported her to a pirate tavern.
• A burly man offered Fors money for a night, and she used the Authority of a Judge to make the people around her avert their eyes.
• On Seros Island, Danitz watched the information broker Batz.

Danitz and Anderson tracked Batz to the Black Death and confirmed Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy was aboard, then Danitz alerted Gehrman Sparrow. Klein infiltrated the ship and trapped Tracy in her cabin, stopping just before confronting her further.

• Danitz hid near Batz while waiting for Anderson, who arrived and helped him follow the information broker toward the sea.
• Batz met the Black Death offshore, and Anderson ordered Danitz to retreat before they could confirm Tracy’s presence.
• Danitz and Anderson were infected by diseases spread around the ship, and Anderson concluded Tracy was aboard and had likely reached the brink of Sequence 4.
• Danitz summoned the messenger to notify Gehrman Sparrow, who prepared for the operation and traveled to the Black Death.
• Klein entered Tracy’s cabin and used his powers to trap and restrain her; Tracy asked what he wanted as he approached.

Klein restrained Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy instead of killing her, then used her blood to divine the location of her mother, White Witch Katarina. The vision placed Katarina in Backlund’s West Borough, searching for someone.

• Klein cut Tracy’s arm with a paper blade and learned that Katarina was her mother and that Tracy’s other parent had once been her father.
• Tracy described her painful family history and asked whether Elaine had known about Klein’s previous attempt to assassinate her; Klein said Elaine had not known what would happen.
• Tracy asked Klein to pass along her guilt and lack of regret to Elaine, then closed her eyes and prepared to die.
• Klein used his Lawyer abilities to isolate Tracy and amplify and distort her command that no one disturb her, leaving her alive but bound.
• Tracy realized Klein had spared her to keep Katarina unaware of his plans and struggled to warn her mother.
• Klein used Tracy’s blood to divine Katarina’s location and saw her searching for someone in Backlund’s West Borough.

Klein watched Katarina search near the Clock of Order, waiting for the Red Angel evil spirit to reveal himself. After Medici trapped and apparently killed Katarina in the Mirror World, Klein confronted him with a monocle, making Medici’s smile freeze.

• Klein used a rat marionette to tell the Red Angel evil spirit that Katarina was nearby, then withdrew and observed the area from above the gray fog.
• Klein watched the invisible Katarina search around the Clock of Order and waited, suspecting Medici was also hiding and biding his time.
• Katarina entered a mirror and screamed, after which blood seeped from the glass, suggesting Medici had trapped and defeated her.
• Klein sent Enuni to the mirror and told Medici he had fulfilled his promise.
• Klein put on a monocle and told Medici, “You did well too,” causing Medici’s smile to freeze.

Klein questioned Katarina through spirit channeling and learned about the Demoness Sect’s plans and George III’s hidden mausoleums. After he left, Katarina revealed she had been acting, and Medici inferred that Klein intended to stop George III from becoming the Black Emperor.

• Klein provoked Medici, then asked to channel Katarina’s spirit as his reward for fulfilling his promise.
• Klein used ritual magic to question Katarina, who said the Demoness Sect’s cooperation with George III had ended and that she was hunting Trissy for a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact tied to the Primordial Demoness’s awakening.
• Katarina identified the locations and defenses of George III’s eight mausoleums and named William I and Delrick Augustus as two royal angels, adding that George III might be another.
• Katarina said the Demoness Sect had obtained a Conqueror Beyonder characteristic for the Primordial Demoness and that the stolen Sealed Artifact was with the Saintess of Black.
• After Klein left, Katarina’s dazed manner vanished, and she returned through the mirror with Medici, who learned Klein had asked about the mausoleums and concluded he meant to stop George III becoming the Black Emperor.
• Katarina asked why Medici had spared her, and he replied that she was not his real target.

Sauron Einhorn Medici manipulated White Witch Katarina into revealing her blood and leaving, while Klein investigated her and Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy. Klein confirmed Katarina was alive and began considering an unconventional way to reach George III’s other mausoleums.

• Sauron Einhorn Medici taunted White Witch Katarina, then let her leave after she recited his honorific name and gave him a drop of blood.
• Sauron, Einhorn, and Medici argued over Medici’s reliance on bluffing and discussed Katarina’s possible role in the Great Smog of Backlund.
• Klein used spirit pendulum checks and dream divination to assess Katarina’s answers and locate Tracy, but a secret art severed his divination link to her blood.
• Klein realized he had channeled a living Katarina and confirmed through divination that she was still alive.
• Klein considered ways to enter George III’s eight remaining mausoleums and formed a new conjecture involving fixed-point teleportation and Tudor ruins.

Klein investigated how Bethel Abraham might have concealed the Tudor ruins and watched the City of Silver’s expedition approach the Giant King’s Court. Fors recorded her observations of a pirate port before the expedition entered the twilight surrounding the ancient divine kingdom.

• Klein suspected Bethel Abraham had established fixed-point Teleportation in the Tudor ruins and decided to wait for safer information about how to reach them.
• Fors questioned three pirates and wrote about the port’s liquor, origins, customs, democratic crews, and fear of Gehrman Sparrow, then continued writing a hospital story.
• Derrick Berg prayed to The Fool and joined the City of Silver’s exploration team as it prepared to enter the Giant King’s Court.
• Klein used the Sea God Scepter to observe the Giant King’s Court and saw silver armor concealed within Elder Lovia, but no sign of the True Creator’s influence.
• Colin Iliad and Lovia led the nine-person team into the twilight, where the Unshadowed Crucifix lost its verdigris and Derrick’s condition rapidly declined.

Derrick Berg and the City of Silver exploration team reached the Giant King's Court, avoided its two Silver Knight guards, and found a route toward the Forest of Decay. Derrick entered the forest while secretly calling on Mr. Fool, allowing Klein to see the expedition again.

• Colin Iliad led the weary exploration team to the Giant King's Court's main entrance, where they found two Silver Knights guarding its doors.
• Antillna suggested luring one Silver Knight away, but Colin rejected the plan and chose a passage recorded in documents Derrick had found in Afternoon Town's reflected world.
• Derrick used the Unshadowed Crucifix to destroy the wraiths and specters climbing from the cliffside clouds as the team took the alternate route.
• Derrick identified the Forest of Decay as the burial place of the Giant King's parents, and Colin agreed that the team should explore it.
• Derrick entered the forest with the Unshadowed Crucifix and quietly recited Mr. Fool's honorific name, allowing Klein to see the expedition again.

Derrick Berg's exploration team fought through the Forest of Decay and defeated a powerful Evil Spirit formed from the Giant King Ormir's lingering will. Beyond it, they found the gravestones of Ormir's parents and a disturbed grave containing two skeletons in opened coffins.

• Derrick Berg and the team encountered mutated residual spirits in the Forest of Decay, while the Unshadowed Crucifix drove them away.
• The team reached two stone steles, where the Giant King Ormir's immense phantom appeared and began to corrupt them with decay.
• Colin Iliad attacked Ormir's phantom as Elder Lovia's knight raised a barrier, and Derrick used the Unshadowed Crucifix to restrain it.
• The team joined their attacks and shattered the phantom, which Colin identified as an Evil Spirit formed from Ormir's lingering will.
• Derrick and the others found gravestones inscribed with “Father” and “Mother,” behind which a disturbed grave held two opened coffins and humanoid skeletons.