Chapter Summaries

Derrick and the City of Silver’s pathfinder team arrived in Bayam, where their extraordinary height drew attention despite their efforts to blend in. Danitz settled them in a hotel and introduced them to the city’s conveniences, leaving them to face their first night in the outside world.

• Derrick led the City of Silver party through Bayam’s docks, where residents mistook the towering newcomers for Feysacian prisoners or nobles.
• Derrick reassured his uneasy companions and hoped to meet the Hanged Man through a suitable opportunity.
• Danitz brought the party to a hotel and explained that their future settlement had a natural harbor, roads, and plans for a railway.
• Danitz gave the pathfinder team cards to help them communicate with hotel staff and demonstrated the running water, toilets, and gas lamps.
• As night fell, the people of the City of Silver saw Bayam’s streetlights shine and began adjusting to their new surroundings.

Fors attempted the Secrets Sorcerer advancement ritual by releasing a demigod creature from the Abraham Family’s Devil Oil Painting and sealing it again. After succeeding, she drank the potion, while Dorian’s request that she investigate Mr. Door’s cries remained unresolved.

• Dorian gave Fors the Secrets Sorcerer potion and the Devil Oil Painting, asking her to learn what Mr. Door was saying on a full moon if she advanced.
• Fors traveled to an uninhabited desert, prayed to Mr. Fool for better odds, and began releasing a creature from the painting.
• The creature’s presence left Fors nearly paralyzed, but she used Recorded Fairy Tale Magics to block and slow its escape.
• Fors moved the Devil Oil Painting to the creature’s path, trapped it inside, and restored the painting’s seal.
• Fors drank the Secrets Sorcerer potion after completing the ritual.

Fors advanced to Sequence 4 and heard Mr. Door explain that his full-moon cries for help were beyond his control and that freeing him could end the Abraham Family's curse. After Fors reported the encounter to Mr. Fool and reunited with Dorian Gray Abraham, Klein recreated a full moon and heard Mr. Door pleading not to be saved.

• Fors used the seal from the Devil Oil Painting to shield herself from the starry sky's influence during her advancement to Sequence 4.
• Mr. Door identified himself to Fors as Bethel Abraham and confirmed he was the Abraham Family's ancestor.
• Fors told Mr. Door that his calls had cursed the Abraham Family, and he explained that full-moon madness made the cries uncontrollable.
• Mr. Door described two rituals that could free him and end the curse, and Fors said she would pass the information on.
• Fors reported everything to Mr. Fool, then returned to Pritz Harbor and thanked Dorian Gray Abraham for helping her.
• Klein recreated a full-moon environment and heard Mr. Door cry, "Don't save me... Don't save me..."

Klein heard Mr. Door cry both “Don’t save me” and “Help me,” then concluded that the Angel King was dangerously corrupted and planned to tell Fors how to warn the Abraham Family. He arrived in war-ravaged Constant, where death and supernatural incidents were commonplace, and spotted a decomposed face watching from an apartment window.

• Klein listened to Mr. Door’s changing cries and suspected that the exiled Angel King had been corrupted by Outer Deities and feared returning to reality.
• Klein decided Fors should tell the Abraham Family that Mr. Door was half-mad and dangerous, while withholding the easier ritual for lifting the curse.
• Klein returned to the real world and traveled by steam train to Constant, where ruined buildings and cemeteries showed the scale of the war’s devastation.
• Klein offered a grieving man the chance to have a wish granted, but the man asked whether Klein could bring his dead family members back to life.
• Klein heard residents describe ghosts, monsters, and disappearances, then noticed a decomposed face staring from a fourth-floor apartment window.

Eric and his Red Gloves team investigated the supernatural deaths in Room 403, where an abnormality suppressed their Beyonder powers and caused their bodies to rot. Merlin Hermes purified the room’s creatures with a Sun-domain Sealed Artifact, but the underlying danger remained, and Klein encountered a monstrous eye through the astronomy enthusiast’s telescope.

• Eric led his Red Gloves team to Room 403 after two Nighthawks and several police officers disappeared there.
• When the door opened, six swollen, decaying figures inside caused Eric and his team to lose their Beyonder powers and experience their bodies rotting.
• Merlin Hermes closed the door to free the team, then persuaded Eric to let him handle the abnormality without making a wish.
• Klein threw a Sun-domain Sealed Artifact into Room 403 and destroyed the six figures, though he warned that the root of the problem remained.
• Eric identified the apartment’s owner as John, an astronomy enthusiast, and Klein searched the room while the team followed.
• Klein looked through John’s astronomical telescope and saw a gigantic, pus-streaked eye pressed against the far end of the lens.

Klein investigated a dangerous telescope mutation in Constant and learned that John had been seeking the real Starry Sky through the Astronomy Research Society. He then gathered war survivors’ stories and fulfilled their wishes, ending by restoring Constant to its prewar appearance for Welch’s father.

• Klein destroyed the mutated astronomical telescope in Room 403 and explained that it had caused John to see things he should not have seen.
• Eric reported that John had joined the Astronomy Research Society and warned that the Starry Sky was dangerous.
• Klein visited Welch McGovern’s grave and spoke with Welch’s grieving father, who wished Constant could be restored.
• Klein posted a commission offering to rebuild homes in exchange for people’s personal war stories, and he restored a survivor’s house on Light Tide Street.
• After fulfilling several wishes, Klein restored the former City of Constant, which Welch’s father saw from his balcony at dawn.

After leaving Constant to avoid Zaratul and Amon, Klein continued his journey while the Abraham Family debated whether to free their imprisoned ancestor. Derrick returned to the City of Silver with news of the outside world, and Waite Chirmont ordered preparations to move its people to the new settlement and welcome Moon City’s survivors.

• Klein left Constant with Arrodes, fearing Zaratul could locate him and Amon might appear to steal from him.
• Dorian Gray told the Abraham Family that their ancestor, Mr. Door, had been driven mad by exile and sealing; Verdue insisted on preparing a ritual to free him, while Dorian and the others favored relying on Mr. Fool.
• Derrick decided to return to the City of Silver with Candice and Ginod, leaving Liaval to maintain order at the new settlement on Blue Mountain Island.
• Derrick, Candice, and Ginod prayed to Mr. Fool and were transported immediately to the City of Silver.
• Derrick reported the outside world’s conditions to Waite Chirmont and the Council of Six, showing them mechanical objects as proof.
• Waite ordered the residents to gather with their essential belongings and prepare for Mr. Fool to transfer them, while they awaited the Moon City survivors.

Klein transported the residents of Moon City and the City of Silver out of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, where they began building new lives in the outside world. Meanwhile, Bernadette’s ship emerged from a storm and approached distant silhouettes.

• High Priest Nim led Moon City's residents in praying to Mr. Fool, and Klein transported them to the City of Silver.
• Waite Chirmont instructed the people of both cities to pray, and Klein brought them to the Giant King's palace for a farewell before transporting them to the outside world.
• The survivors praised Mr. Fool and reunited with their families, while Liaval shared milk candy and news of their new home with his wife and daughter.
• Klein reflected on how helping the cities had stabilized his anchors and advanced his potion digestion, then planned to fulfill wishes that could cure Moon City's deformities.
• Bernadette's ship endured a violent storm, which eventually subsided as black outlines appeared in the distance.

Bernadette explored a strange island and discovered that several of Emperor Roselle’s deceased knights had returned there to worship an unseen presence. Klein watched through her prayer light but could not determine what had changed on the island.

• Bernadette stopped the Dawn offshore, invoked Mr. Fool, and entered the island while invisible.
• Bernadette sent her Invisible Servant ahead and found numerous supernatural creatures silently worshipping in a clearing.
• Bernadette recognized Green, William, Pally, and Edwards among the five human figures, despite Edwards having lived and died peacefully in Lenburg.
• Edwards sensed the Invisible Servant, so Bernadette withdrew it and changed position while Klein helped conceal her.
• Bernadette sent the Invisible Servant to inspect the worship site and found an empty shrine with no idol or symbols.

Bernadette explored a primeval forest and discovered that a black stone pillar triggered the dead creatures to be reborn in a diminished state. After leaving the graveyard, she found an abandoned cabin and encountered Edwards, who addressed her as “Your Highness.”

• Bernadette sent the Invisible Servant into a forest where bones and rotting remains covered the ground.
• The Invisible Servant found a black stone pillar, and a Tide of Rebirth restored two dead creatures, which rose and left the graveyard.
• Bernadette observed that the remains moved to fill spaces left by resurrected creatures and decided to continue exploring rather than wait for another tide.
• Bernadette guided the Invisible Servant out of the graveyard and into a livelier part of the forest, where it found an abandoned wooden cabin.
• Edwards appeared behind the Invisible Servant and addressed Bernadette as “Your Highness.”

Bernadette visited Emperor Roselle’s mausoleum with Edwards and used Snow White to prophesy about what lay inside. After the vision injured her and left the mausoleum’s danger unclear, she questioned Edwards about his past, and he began to remember that he had died.

• Bernadette asked Edwards about his return to the island, and he said he had guarded Roselle’s mausoleum while warning her that William and the others had become corrupted monsters.
• Edwards led Bernadette to Roselle’s immense mausoleum and warned her not to enter because it would interrupt the revival.
• Bernadette used Snow White to prophesy and saw the mausoleum doors open as a colossal black arm struggled out, but the vision shattered the Eyes of Mystery Prying and left her bleeding and weakened.
• Klein considered whether the vision showed Roselle’s revival or another disaster, then divined that the mausoleum was both dangerous and safe.
• Bernadette asked Edwards whether he remembered his years in Lenburg, and he recalled that he seemed to have already died.

Bernadette’s question caused Edwards to realize he was dead, triggering a strange reaction that unleashed a mutation across the primeval island. As the forest and its creatures surged toward the Black Emperor’s mausoleum, Bernadette escaped a supernatural pregnancy and entered the mausoleum, where she glimpsed a black shadow.

• Edwards realized he had died, split open his own head with his axe, then returned to the forest after Bernadette told him his descendants were doing well.
• The island’s sky and forest changed, and Bernadette’s hair and fingernails began growing after Edwards crossed the boundary.
• The primeval forest came alive and advanced toward the mausoleum as the island’s supernatural creatures also converged on it; Klein concluded that the island’s order was repairing a loophole in Edwards.
• Bernadette discovered a rapidly growing fetus in her abdomen and prophesied that her hope of survival lay within the mausoleum.
• Bernadette summoned the Sage Forehead Ornament and became a flow of information, leaving the fetus behind; Klein increased the odds of its failure, and it dissipated.
• Bernadette passed through the mausoleum’s stone door, reassembled inside, and saw a black shadow.

Bernadette entered the Black Emperor's mausoleum and overcame its supernatural restraints by distorting her appearance, then used Pale Death to stabilize her thoughts as she approached the throne. A prophecy warned that turning into a torrent of information would split her into different versions of herself, and she finally saw the black shadow standing inches away.

• Bernadette was immobilized in the mausoleum as her feathers, eye, ear, and Sage Forehead Ornament came alive, but Pale Death suppressed the effects.
• Bernadette altered her clothing and appearance, breaking the mausoleum's invisible restraint and allowing her to move toward the throne.
• An icy breeze made Bernadette's thoughts spiral into chaos, so she put on the Pale Death mask to balance the effect and preserve her ability to think.
• Bernadette prophesied that becoming a torrent of information would disintegrate and divide her into several versions of herself.
• Bernadette saw the black shadow standing directly in front of her.

A dark shadow attacked Bernadette inside the Black Emperor's mausoleum, resisting Klein's attempts to slow, move, and conceal her. As the shadow began to enter Bernadette, she spoke the word “Homeland,” and it suddenly stopped.

• Bernadette's Spear of Longinus thrust backward as the shadow distorted direction, and Klein used the Staff of the Stars to slow it and transfer her away.
• The transfer left Bernadette inside the mausoleum, where Pale Death weakened the shadow and began to transform the surroundings.
• The shadow confused distance, seized Bernadette's neck, and disrupted her connection to the Sage Forehead Ornament and Pale Death.
• Klein used Spatial Concealment to free Bernadette, but the shadow found the concealed space and seized her again.
• Klein failed to Steal an ability from the shadow, while Bernadette's attempt to use The Ugly Duckling was interrupted and the shadow began seeping into her body.
• Bernadette said “Homeland,” causing the shadow to stop and look at her.

Bernadette confronted the corrupted Roselle in the Black Emperor mausoleum, where he asked her to seal him. Klein strengthened the seal with Sefirah Castle, and Roselle sent Bernadette away, leaving her grieving aboard the Dawn.

• Roselle released Bernadette from his corruption, then ordered her to leave the mausoleum as his body began splitting with blood-red cracks.
• Roselle admitted he had been corrupted and commanded Bernadette to seal him.
• Bernadette used Pale Death to bind Roselle, while Klein grafted death and rebirth together to keep the seal from breaking.
• Roselle accepted the seal, asked Bernadette why she was dressed that way, then ordered her never to return.
• Bernadette returned to the Dawn, found her childhood keepsakes, and wept as she whispered, “Papa.”

Klein met Roselle in the Black Emperor's mausoleum, where they discussed Roselle's corruption by the Mother Goddess of Depravity and the events that led him to become the Black Emperor. Roselle realized the Cards of Blasphemy might hide a danger and warned Klein not to collect all twenty-two, especially the Mother card.

• Klein entered the mausoleum in his original form as Zhou Mingrui and confirmed to Roselle that he knew the apocalypse was coming and that their world was Earth.
• Roselle explained how corruption from the Mother Goddess of Depravity had influenced him, leading him to become the Black Emperor and remain trapped in his final mausoleum.
• Roselle connected his corruption to the primitive island and his later encounter with Mr. Door, while Klein identified the Outer Deity behind it.
• Klein revealed that he had collected the Black Emperor, Tyrant, Red Priest, and The Fool Cards of Blasphemy, and Roselle explained how he had imbued the cards with power.
• Roselle realized he had created the twenty-two Cards of Blasphemy while already corrupted and urgently warned Klein not to collect all of them and to beware of the Mother card.

Klein spoke with Roselle about the dangers of becoming a Great Old One and promised to look after Bernadette. Roselle returned to eternal slumber, leaving Klein with the hope that they might meet again.

• Klein realized that collecting the Mother card could have exposed him to the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s corruption, while Roselle revealed that the Original lived within everyone.
• Roselle warned Klein that becoming a Great Old One was far more dangerous than becoming a god and advised him to consult Deng Shen in the Wishing Lamp first.
• Roselle asked Klein to erase him and destroy his mausoleum if he could not be freed from The Moon Primordial’s corruption, and Klein promised not to forget.
• Roselle spoke about his family and asked Klein to look after Bernadette, which Klein promised to do.
• Roselle and Klein exchanged their names, and Roselle reflected on their shared origins and Klein’s loneliness before saying goodbye and falling into eternal slumber.

Bernadette advanced to Sequence 2 with help from Klein, resisted the Hidden Sage’s interference, and learned from Orange Light Hilarion that Mr. Fool was the Great Ruler Above the Spirit World. Cattleya’s ominous dream proved false, while Klein went to warn the Evernight Goddess about the Cards of Blasphemy.

• Bernadette drank the Sage potion and, with Klein’s luck and protection, reconstructed herself as a Sequence 2 angel despite the Hidden Sage’s interference.
• Orange Light Hilarion told Bernadette that the Great Ruler Above the Spirit World, also known as Mr. Fool, had asked him to explain the Great Old Ones, Outer Deities, and Starry Sky.
• Cattleya awoke from a dream of Bernadette dying in childbirth, prayed to Mr. Fool, and saw Bernadette safely return to the Dawn.
• Cattleya found Frank studying seabed microorganisms and silently concluded that he would not be getting a vacation soon.
• Klein sealed all four Cards of Blasphemy in a box and went to an Evernight church to warn the Evernight Goddess about the danger of Lilith obtaining the Mother or Moon card.

Klein warned the Evernight Goddess about dangers involving Roselle, the Cards of Blasphemy, and the Mother and Moon pathways. In Backlund, Emlyn was appointed the Church of Earth’s senior deacon in charge of Sanguine affairs and learned that its Earth and Moon clergy faced special risks from false divine revelations.

• Klein prayed at the Evernight cathedral, reported Roselle’s interrupted return, and warned of corruption and the missing Mother and Moon cards.
• Emlyn arrived at Harvest Church, where Ernes told him that Mistral had established a chapel at home and that the Church’s emissary had arrived.
• Archbishop Loreto appointed Emlyn the senior deacon responsible for Sanguine affairs in Backlund and warned him to report claimed revelations and verify any divine oracle with Bishop Utravsky.
• Loreto explained that the Church of Earth distinguished between God’s Grace and God’s Blessed, and that God’s Blessed had to countersign the pontiff’s edicts.
• Emlyn noticed that none of the listed God’s Blessed followed the Earth or Moon pathways and suspected those pathways were the source of the clergy’s vulnerability.

Emlyn learned that the Church of the Earth Mother would help fill Loen’s shortage of official Beyonders while keeping its missionary work restrained. In the Rorsted Archipelago, Alger reflected on the growing strength of Mr. Fool’s followers before receiving an order to monitor Verdue Garcia.

• Emlyn accepted Archbishop Loreto’s explanation of God’s Grace and God’s Blessed and agreed to establish three to five Beyonder teams in Backlund while limiting missionary efforts.
• Alger assessed the New City of Silver, the residents of Moon City, and the resources supporting Mr. Fool, realizing their combined strength was approaching that of an orthodox church.
• Alger considered how to integrate the newcomers into the Rorsted Archipelago and hoped to earn enough merit to become the Sea God.
• Klein learned from Dorian Gray that Verdue Garcia Abraham had traveled to the Rorsted Archipelago and decided that Alger should monitor him.
• Mr. Fool gave Alger the task of monitoring Verdue Garcia, and Alger respectfully accepted.