Chapter Summaries

Stelle witnessed unfamiliar memories of herself among the Stellaron Hunters before Ye Yan noticed her and the scene shifted. In Janusapolis, Phainon and Mydei prepared to weigh their chosen treasures, while Phainon worried that he was no match for the Kremnosian prince.

• Stelle saw memories of herself with Kafka and Blade, including the Hunters discussing a retreat signal for dangerous missions.
• Stelle visited Silver Wolf in the Parlor Car, where Silver Wolf brushed her off to keep playing an online game.
• Ye Yan appeared beside Silver Wolf, recognized Stelle as an interesting soul, and caused the surroundings to ripple and transform.
• In the Temple of the Three, Phainon and Mydei stood beside Talanton’s Scales of Justice to present things heavier than the fate of the world.
• Mydei chose the Kremnos Signet Ring and declared that Kremnos’s glory could topple a Titan, while Phainon worried about facing the battle-hardened prince.

Phainon struggled to find something powerful enough to challenge his rival, while Ye Yan appeared before Stelle and told her to reclaim Eternity's authority by completing the Journey of Flame-Chase with the Chrysos Heirs. Ye Yan sent Stelle back to reality, where she awoke in a bathhouse in Okhema feeling sick from the experience.

• Phainon considered relying on the Savior card and milk tea, while Stelle wondered how milk tea had become part of his plans.
• Ye Yan emerged through the Gate of Myriad Paths and explained that Stelle was witnessing another point in Amphoreus's timeline.
• Ye Yan told Stelle to reclaim the authority of Eternity held by the Titans and meet him at the Vortex of Genesis after completing the Journey of Flame-Chase with the Chrysos Heirs.
• Ye Yan suggested that Stelle ask Demiurge for help, then revealed that Demiurge had followed the scent of milk tea to Aedes Elysiae before he sent her to Stelle.
• Stelle asked Ye Yan whether they had known each other before, and he told her to guess before snapping his fingers and sending her away.
• A few days later, March 7th helped Stelle recover after she woke up retching in a private bathhouse in Okhema.

Cyrene helped Phainon turn his memories and hopes for the future into a new “Savior” card, and the Scales of Justice began judging his offering against Mydei’s. Meanwhile, Stelle and her companions discussed their experiences with the Black Tide and learned that Mimi was connected to “Eternity.”

• Cyrene returned to the Sanctum of Prophecy and reunited with Phainon and Trinnon before the duel with Mydei.
• Cyrene gave Phainon a black-and-gold bat from the High Priest of “Time” and urged him to weigh the future alongside his painful past.
• Phainon transformed the bat into a new “Savior” card representing “Eternity” and placed it on the Scales of Justice.
• Trinnon announced that the offerings were evenly matched, and the Scales of Justice began pronouncing its verdict.
• Stelle recovered after drinking “Eternity” milk tea while March 7th and Dan Heng recounted meeting figures from their pasts in the Black Tide.
• March 7th and Dan Heng concluded that Mimi was connected to “Eternity” and possibly Ye Yan.

Stelle and her allies split up to support Mydei and investigate Nikador’s immortality, while Mimi sensed a trail of missing memories. In Janusapolis, Aglaea welcomed Phainon and Mydei as the final two heroes named in the oracle and announced that all the Chrysos Heirs had assembled.

• Phainon explained that Stelle’s milk tea was draining Mydei and Nikador’s immortality while the Edge of Divine Retribution continued charging.
• Phainon and Dan Heng left with Tribbie for Castrum Kremnos, while Stelle, March 7th, Castorice, and Mimi set out to follow the scent of missing memories and find Nikador’s weakness.
• In the Abyss of Fate, Trinnon translated the Titan’s words, and Phainon argued that the Savior represented the wishes and resolve of many people, including the Kremnosians.
• Aglaea arrived with Hyacine, and Mydei accused her of using the oracle to recruit him and Phainon.
• Aglaea invited the warriors to a welcoming feast and declared that all the Chrysos Heirs foretold by the oracle had gathered in Amphoreus.

Stelle and her companions heard Lepo’s poem about Nikador, then Mimi opened an enlarged Gate of Myriad Paths to Castrum Kremnos. In the Vortex of Genesis, Aglaea faced Senator Canis’s threats while Fulisina watched and began investigating the Senate.

• Stelle and March 7th asked Lepo about Nikador’s madness and the secrets of Castrum Kremnos, and Lepo recited a poem praising Nikador’s undying glory.
• Mimi opened a miniature Gate of Myriad Paths, then used milk tea to enlarge it so the group could travel to Castrum Kremnos.
• Fulisina watched the Chrysos Heirs in the Vortex of Genesis and saw Canis confront Aglaea and Tribbie in the Garden of Life.
• Aglaea rejected Canis’s threats, and Tribbie reassured her while Aglaea joked about killing the senators with golden thread.
• Fulisina located Canis on a virtual screen and turned her attention to the Senate.

Fulisina resolved to destroy the Senate so nothing could obstruct Eternity’s plans, while Stelle, March 7th, and Castorice were separated after entering the Gate of Myriad Paths. Stelle landed in an earlier Castrum Kremnos alone, and March 7th and Castorice tried to determine which era they had reached.

• Fulisina recalled Cerydra’s views on Law, then reasoned that Screwllum was likely safe despite having been arrested by Cerydra.
• Fulisina admired Hyacine’s similarities to Cerydra and decided the Senate could simply be wiped out to clear Ye Yan’s path.
• Stelle landed in an earlier Castrum Kremnos and realized March 7th and Castorice were missing.
• March 7th and Castorice landed safely elsewhere, and Castorice suggested using the bard’s poem about the Golden War to identify the era.
• March 7th and Castorice decided not to ask locals about the time period, fearing they would attract suspicion.

Stelle teamed up with Gnaeus in Castrum Kremnos to uncover a way to stop Nikador, whose corrupted soul was being reforged into an undying body. After recovering the Titan’s soul fragments, Stelle learned Gnaeus was Nikador’s reason and watched him prepare to sacrifice himself so she could face the Titan.

• Stelle recruited the silent fighter Gnaeus as her partner for the Kremnos Festival and told him she had come from the future to stop Nikador.
• Gnaeus explained that Olyphan planned to make Nikador’s divine body deathless, and he led Stelle to statues containing fragments of the Titan’s soul.
• Stelle struck the four soul-forging statues with her bat and gathered their golden light into her hourglass necklace.
• Gnaeus revealed that he was the fragment of Nikador’s divinity that preserved its reason, and that Nikador’s soul had rotted beyond redemption.
• Gnaeus chose to return to Nikador and asked Stelle to use the Core Flame to keep fighting the Black Tide; as he faded, he called himself the world’s necessary scar.

Herta and the Fourth Mirror inspected the Audience System after Herta’s attempt to contact Nous failed. Herta planned to find and repair its fault, while the Fourth Mirror praised Ye Yan and Eternity before Herta reaffirmed that she wanted Idrila.

• The Fourth Mirror introduced Herta’s supposed audience with Nous, then admitted to Herta that the dramatic scene had shown only a hologram.
• Herta explained that powering the Audience System required drawing on the entire Space Station’s energy and rebooting it afterward.
• The Fourth Mirror suggested asking Ye Yan for help, and Herta contacted him using milk tea as the means of communication.
• Herta and the Fourth Mirror examined the Audience System terminal, where Herta described its Energy, Computing, and Communications sectors.
• The Fourth Mirror urged Herta to join the Church of Eternity, but Herta said she wanted Idrila instead.

Herta and the Fourth Mirror investigated three malfunctioning sectors on Herta Space Station, while the Mirror explained how they connected to Eternity, Erudition, and Machine Head. They discovered that Memory Zone Memes had tampered with several Herta Puppets, and Herta decided to send the defective puppets to the repair shop.

• Herta said all three sectors had malfunctioned and used an Aeon-left-behind cup of milk tea to search for the anomaly.
• The Fourth Mirror explained that the energy, computing, and communications zones stored station energy, supported contact with Nous, and focused Erudition energy to reach Machine Head.
• The milk tea splashed onto the Fourth Mirror, which called the spill a sign of recognition from its lord, before Herta explained the communications zone and its risks.
• Herta identified a malfunctioning puppet as #2757 and found its personality mapping and unreasonable behavior modules disabled while its indiscriminate attack module was enabled.
• The puppet transformed into a Memory Zone Meme and attacked Herta and the Fourth Mirror, but the Mirror destroyed the memes with a cup of milk tea.
• Herta spotted more defective puppets, including #7631 and #10136, and ordered the defective products sent to the repair shop.

Herta and the Fourth Mirror dealt with the malfunctioning puppets and uncovered a Memokeeper secretly following them through the Seclusion Zone. Herta trapped the thief and prepared to punish her, but a powerful prayer priest from the Church of Eternity arrived.

• The Fourth Mirror destroyed the malfunctioning Herta Puppets, and Herta discovered that the culprit had used soap to frame the Church of Eternity.
• Herta noticed a Memokeeper hiding in a Memory Bubble and used four mirrors to trap her and seal her Imaginary Energy.
• Herta accused the Memokeeper of trying to steal Nous's memories and revealed that she knew the thief had been lured to the Space Station.
• Herta decided to imprison the Memokeeper in a mirror for one percent of an Emanator of Eternity's lifespan, while the Fourth Mirror celebrated her plan.
• A streak of golden light brought the Church of Eternity's foremost prayer priest to the Space Station.

Saileni tracked the escaped Memokeeper to Herta Space Station, where her arrival disrupted Herta’s plan to enter the Audience System. Welt and Sunday met them there and revealed that they had come about Amphoreus.

• The Acting Priest told Saileni that Remembrance energy had been detected at Herta Space Station, and Saileni asked for funds before departing.
• Saileni confronted the Memokeeper at the Space Station while Herta withdrew her mirrors and entered the Audience System.
• Welt and Sunday arrived, met Saileni, and explained that they had found the station dark and entered through an unlocked door.
• Saileni’s milk tea disrupted the Audience System and woke Herta, who complained that the others had ruined her plan.
• Welt told Saileni and Herta that he and Sunday had come about Amphoreus.

Welt and Sunday sought Herta and the Church of Eternity’s help after revealing that three Astral Express companions had vanished in Amphoreus. In Amphoreus, Stelle and the others defeated Nikador and took the Core Flame of Strife, leaving the group to continue toward the prophesied creation.

• Herta and Saileni could offer little information about Amphoreus, so Saileni suggested asking Lord Yite for help.
• Welt and Sunday explained that three companions had gone missing in Amphoreus, and Saileni revealed that two were dear friends of hers.
• Saileni decided she had no choice but to go to Amphoreus, while the Acting Priest wondered why she had not returned to the Church.
• Stelle landed the final blow against Nikador, and his divine motes gathered inside a cup of milk tea beyond the battlefield.
• Stelle handed Nikador’s Core Flame to Phainon, and the group discussed using it to light the road ahead.

Phainon and Stelle returned from their victory with two Core Flames of Strife, and Aglaea prepared them to become demigods at the Vortex of Genesis. As they agreed to face the trial the next day, Stelle received a strange notification, while Dan Heng and March 7th noted that the search for the Land of Eternity remained unfinished.

• Phainon prepared to absorb the Core Flame of Strife, but it split in two and the new flame chose Stelle.
• Stelle stored her Core Flame in her hourglass necklace, while Mydei declined the other and Phainon absorbed one without feeling any immediate cost.
• Stelle and Phainon reported their victory to Aglaea and Tribbie, and Phainon said Mydei was more worthy of Strife.
• Aglaea explained that Mydei had refused because he did not want to lead his people down the same path again, and Phainon declared his readiness to become a demigod.
• Stelle volunteered to take the second Core Flame, and Aglaea warned that the trial could demand an unknown price before scheduling it for the next day.
• Stelle received a notification unlocking the Spear of Divine Retribution and a strange Spear of Eternity ability, while Dan Heng and March 7th discussed their continuing search for the Land of Eternity.

March 7th and Dan Heng agreed to attend Phainon and Stelle’s Core Flame ceremony, while worrying about their stranded crew and damaged carriage. Back at the bath palace, Stelle spoke with Mimi about her lost memories before Mimi returned inside her and Stelle messaged Ye Yan.

• March 7th and Dan Heng thanked Phainon, who invited them to the ceremony at the Vortex of Genesis and revealed that Stelle would join him in returning a Core Flame.
• March 7th and Dan Heng noticed Phainon seemed troubled, then discussed their wrecked carriage, inability to contact the Astral Express Crew, and the Core Flame splitting in two.
• Stelle rested at the bath palace while Mimi explained that recreating Castrum Kremnos had exhausted her and insisted that milk tea was innocent.
• Stelle asked Mimi about her past, but Mimi still could not remember anything and only felt that milk tea and Amphoreus were important to her.
• Mimi grew sleepy and floated back inside Stelle, who messaged Ye Yan about a novel and teased him for mentioning milk tea.

Phainon confided in Castorice about his doubts and memories while waiting for the Core Flame ceremony. Stelle fell asleep and encountered a mysterious voice that revealed a new ability tied to the Strife Core Flame and urged her to write about Eternity and the Hunt.

• Phainon told Castorice he still agonized over the past and questioned whether he could become a hero, while she reassured him.
• Phainon reminisced about his school days and his longing to return in spirit to his hometown of Aedes Elysiae.
• Stelle fell asleep while preparing to answer Ye Yan's messages and heard a voice calling her into a dream.
• The voice said the Strife Core Flame had unlocked a new ability and prompted Stelle to write the story of Eternity and the Hunt.
• Stelle rejected the voice's attempt to make her use the Spear of Divine Retribution on a cup of milk tea, and it teased her for not being chosen as an Emanator of Eternity.

Stelle mistook Aha’s milk tea for a trace of Ye Yan’s divine consciousness and beat the Fool’s Mask with her weapons. Meanwhile, Ye Yan watched the Chrysos Heirs prepare for Amphoreus’s final Re-Creation, until Aha paused the scene to question why Cyrene and Phainon had swapped roles.

• Stelle reclaimed Aha’s milk tea, then interpreted it as a sign of Ye Yan’s connection to Eternity and accused Aha of trying to weaken their bond.
• Stelle repeatedly struck the Fool’s Mask with her mimetic bat and Spear of Eternity, while Aha complained but did not fight back.
• Aha, disguised as an Intellitron narrator, described the prophecy, the Chrysos Heirs taking their places, and the heroes’ ship approaching its final act.
• In Ye Yan’s projections, Cyrene and Phainon surveyed the ruined Amphoreus and resolved to reach the Sanctum of Prophecy, claim the authority of time, and return the Core Flames before the next Door Time.
• Aha stopped the world and asked Ye Yan why Cyrene and Phainon from Aedes Elysiae had swapped roles; Ye Yan pushed Aha aside and said Amphoreus needed emotion to become a real planet.

Stelle rushed to the Vortex of Genesis after realizing she had forgotten to return the Core Flame with Phainon. The Chrysos Heirs began the return ritual, leaving Stelle and Phainon ready to offer the seventh Core Flame.

• Stelle woke in her private bath palace, then used the Flipping Coin to sprint toward the Vortex of Genesis when she remembered the Core Flame return.
• March 7th experienced a tide of Remembrance and received crystal fragments containing memories of her and her companions in the bath palace.
• Stelle entered the Vortex of Genesis and joined Phainon as Trinnon and Fulisina prepared the return ritual.
• Trinnon explained that the seventh Core Flame had belonged to Nikador and called on Stelle and Phainon to step forward as its returners.
• Stelle and Phainon recited the ritual prayer, and Stelle questioned whether she had golden blood before Fulisina told her to concentrate.

Stelle and Phainon entered the Trial of "Strife" after the oracle judged that Phainon’s will still wavered, while Stelle was told she needed no recognition from "Strife." As their friends waited and discussed the trial, Mydei arrived with concerns he had yet to explain.

• Stelle and Phainon returned the Core Flame of "Strife," and Gnaeus’s phantom appeared to announce a trial for Phainon.
• Trinnon translated the oracle’s words: Phainon had to defeat the deepest fear in his heart, while Stelle’s power transcended Amphoreus and required no recognition from "Strife."
• Stelle and Phainon stepped through the doorway as March 7th, Dan Heng, and the others stayed behind to wait.
• March 7th interviewed Castorice, who worried about Phainon’s wavering will and had bought milk tea for him and Stelle.
• Aglaea said Phainon was a flawless vessel for divinity and would one day lead the survivors toward a miracle.
• Mydei arrived, thanked the outlanders for helping against Nikador, and hinted that he had concerns about Phainon.

Phainon and Cyrene entered the Vortex of Genesis to face the end of Amphoreus, while Ye Yan and the Fool's Mask revealed how he had manipulated events across the world's cycles. At the Vortex, they met Lygus, who said he had come to witness the prophesied miracle of creation.

• Castorice told March 7th and Dan Heng that Phainon had lost his home and family before becoming a Chrysos Heir, and Mydei warned that fear could still defeat him.
• Oronyx gave Phainon and Cyrene the Core Flame of Time and opened a gateway to the Vortex of Genesis.
• Phainon and Cyrene reaffirmed their resolve to sacrifice themselves and illuminate the new world.
• The Fool's Mask explained that Ye Yan had used thirty million cycles and the pink-haired girls' consciousnesses to alter events across different points in time.
• The narration revealed that Lygus was imprisoned by the Church of Eternity, Cyrene's whereabouts were unknown, and Demiurge was helping Stelle face a trial.
• Phainon and Cyrene met Lygus at the Vortex of Genesis, where he said he had come to witness the miracle of creation.

Phainon and Cyrene learned from Lygus that Amphoreus was a testing ground where generations of heroes and Titans had been used to study the Black Tide. As Phainon vowed to bring a new dawn, Lygus revealed that the Chrysos Heirs’ golden blood came from The Wounded and that they had been kindling for an Aeon of Destruction.

• Phainon challenged Lygus over his past neutrality, and Lygus said he had watched the Chrysos Heirs’ journey as a faithful spectator.
• Cyrene arrived as Phainon faced the unlit Core Flame, and she and Phainon realized Amphoreus was a world repeating the same play.
• Lygus revealed that Amphoreus was a testing ground whose Hero’s Journey served as deep learning for the Black Tide.
• Phainon confronted Lygus over the sacrifices made to remake the world, but Lygus described the Chrysos Heirs and Titans as byproducts and kindling in the experiment.
• Lygus disclosed that Amphoreus had followed a path different from Erudition and that the Chrysos Heirs’ golden blood came from The Wounded, who shared Destruction’s name.