Chapter Summaries

Suren attended a charity auction aboard the Queen Roderica with Karma and Aberk, where he heard students exaggerate stories about his exploits and saw a young noble named Alex Roberts approach Karma. Aberk deduced that the Giant Hermitage Society might be targeting Alex, the son of a powerful councilor opposed to the Deity Faith Freedom Proposal.

• Suren took Karma and Aberk to the auction and searched the hall for the professor leading the Royal Academy students and the Giant Hermitage Society bishop.
• Suren and Kit secretly agreed on a plan after Kit revealed that the Lu Ying Military Intelligence Department was watching him and that he intended to act at the auction.
• Royal Academy students praised the supposed feats of the Death Abomination Puppeteer, and Aberk argued with Alex, a boastful student, about Puppet Mastery.
• A blond student named Alex Roberts politely approached Karma, tried to buy Aberk's Mechanical Cube, and introduced himself as a Tarot Sorcerer.
• Aberk reasoned that the cultists might be targeting Alex Roberts because he was a powerful duke's son, and Suren confirmed that the Roberts Family opposed the Deity Faith Freedom Proposal.

Suren used Karma to deliver Alex a coded warning about Outer God believers aboard the ship, then agreed to help Caroline Voster protect him. As the Hanged Man Card went up for auction, Kit reported that he was about to act.

• Suren wrote a Herodotus Cipher warning on Alex’s card, and Karma delivered it; Alex decoded it and alerted his secret guards.
• Suren met Caroline, who revealed that the ship’s communications had been deliberately blocked and asked him to help protect Alex from the plotters.
• Caroline identified herself as a major figure in Lington’s underworld, and Suren agreed to assist her after she promised a substantial reward.
• Suren appraised the Hanged Man Card, confirmed it was genuine, and discovered that parasitic larvae were hidden inside it.
• Kit sent Suren a message saying he was about to make his move.

Suren helped Kit steal The Hanged Man Card, then discovered that the Outer God followers had unleashed parasitic monsters that fused after death into increasingly powerful creatures. As the outbreak spread through the ship, Suren went to confront the cultists while Aberk and Karma waited in the banquet hall, where Aberk sensed the followers had arrived.

• Suren disguised himself as Jack and distracted Ruth while Kit stole The Hanged Man Card as Phantom Thief Kit, then Kit returned the card to Suren.
• Suren rejoined Aberk and Karma in the banquet hall, where Karma sensed danger and Suren detected people mutating in the lower cabins.
• Mutated Monsters attacked the ship, and Suren discovered that Red-line Parasites fused dead monsters into stronger creatures that could only be reliably killed with Haki.
• Suren warned Karma and Aberk not to kill the monsters if they could avoid it, then headed toward the rooms occupied by Outer God followers.
• Aberk and Karma stayed in the banquet hall as Caroline Voster questioned them, and Aberk suddenly announced that the followers had arrived.

Aberk and Karma exposed the danger of killing the Mutated Monsters, but the Banquet Hall’s panicked crowd helped them fuse into a Hundred-faced Flesh Mountain Monster. As the siblings and Kit fought to contain the outbreak, Suren uncovered the Blood Refinement Altar in the cargo hold and confronted Virginia.

• Aberk told Caroline that the blood-borne Zombie Species could fuse when killed, and she warned the Banquet Hall before suspicious people attacked her.
• Students opened fire on monsters pouring from the rear kitchen, creating a mass of corpses whose parasites fused into many Many-faced Monsters and a Hundred-faced Flesh Mountain Monster.
• Aberk and Karma restrained monsters with steel wires, but a concealed follower shot the bound creatures; Aberk killed him, and Kit silently struck another attacker.
• The siblings summoned puppets and bound the approaching monsters, while Caroline and the Royal Academy students recognized their skill.
• Suren discovered that the cruise ship had become an altar sacrificing nearly five thousand passengers, then confronted Virginia beside the Thousand-Person Blood Refinement Crystal Core.

Suren destroyed the blood altar in the Queen Roderica’s cargo hold and killed Cardinal Virginia, ending the monsters’ ability to revive. In the Banquet Hall, Alex and the survivors held out with help from Caroline and the Aberk siblings, and the monsters became killable.

• Caroline fought the Fifth-Tier Outer God believer attacking Alex until his monster form overwhelmed her, but Alex’s Shadow Guard cut his throat and then withdrew when the man regenerated.
• Aberk and Karma equipped the Thousand-Handed Mechanism War Demon and restrained the Hundred-faced Monster and other monsters, easing the pressure on the survivors.
• Suren used the Black Scythe and Elemental Theft to cripple the Blood Refinement Altar, took the crystal core, and killed Virginia with Haki before absorbing her soul.
• After Virginia’s death, the monsters aboard the ship lost their ability to revive and their strength fell, allowing the survivors to kill the remaining monsters in the Banquet Hall.

After surviving the cruise ship massacre, Su Lun returned to Lington and discovered that the Giant Hermitage Society was spreading parasite-laced Hallucinogens through the city. He reunited with Rena, learned that Grand Duke Raphael had become the sixth Great Councilor, and headed toward a cargo terminal where an Anti-Smuggling Bureau chief prepared to arrest a buyer for contraband.

• Su Lun concealed traces of his battle, escaped the ruined Queen Roderica, and returned to Lington while Karma and Aberk went with the rescued nobles.
• At the docks, Su Lun recognized that Bacchus's diluted Awakening Potion contained Outer God parasite larvae and bought ten vials to investigate the Worn Brotherhood's supply.
• Su Lun reunited with Rena, collected news about his fame, and learned that she had advanced to the Third Tier and secured special metals and machine tools for his workshop.
• Rena told Su Lun that Empress Charlotte had legalized religious worship and that Grand Duke Raphael had won the sixth Great Councilor seat, while Sabina had warned of a suspected Umbrella Organization in Lington.
• An Anti-Smuggling Bureau chief learned that a buyer had come to collect contraband from the Thunder Cat Merchant Association and ordered his staff to prepare an arrest and notify the councilor.

Suren and Rena’s trip to collect controlled metals at Cactro Port turned into a Customs Enforcement Office raid, but Suren’s claimed noble identity and the warehouse’s lawful-looking cargo thwarted the search. They left with the materials, and Suren invited Rena to explore Lington’s nightlife while investigating the source of parasite-contaminated Hallucinogen.

• Suren recognized a Tier 3 intelligence operative among the checkpoint guards and warned Rena that Grand Duke Raphael’s people were watching them.
• Suren gave Rena a spatial-runed necklace, then vanished from the carriage as it continued toward K322 Warehouse.
• Lawrence and armed Customs Enforcement Office personnel surrounded K322 Warehouse and accused the Thunder Cat Merchant Association of smuggling controlled goods.
• Suren revealed a ring bearing the Regadi Family crest and claimed noble status, while Rena let the officials search the warehouse.
• The search uncovered no illegal quantities of controlled metals, and Lawrence apologized as the raid collapsed without arrests.
• Suren and Rena left the warehouse district, and Suren invited her to dinner and to see Lington’s nightscape while he sought the source of the contaminated Hallucinogen.

Suren and Rena reunited over dinner, discussed Lington’s political turmoil and the hidden parasite threat in Hallucinogen, then went to the T2 Rolling Stone Bar to investigate the Worn Brotherhood. Suren learned that a shipment of Invigorating Potion might arrive that night, while tipsy Rena asked him to dance.

• Suren and Rena reminisced over dinner before discussing how rival newspapers distorted the Queen Roderica disaster and how the Faith Act had destabilized Lington.
• Suren decided to investigate the Worn Brotherhood’s Hallucinogen supply, and Rena insisted on accompanying him to the T2 Rolling Stone Bar.
• Rena changed into a Gothic Lolita outfit, and Suren used Sleight-of-Hand Disguise to change clothes before they rode his motorcycle to the bar.
• Suren sensed several Worn Brotherhood members inside and learned from Rooster Head that an Invigorating Potion shipment might arrive that night.
• Rena enjoyed the bar and its music, drank with Suren, and asked him to dance with her.

Suren and Rena danced and grew more intimate at Rolling Stone Bar before following the Worn Brotherhood’s drug shipment to a warehouse. Suren then tracked the mysterious deliveryman, discovered he was a Horror Wax Figure: Ghost Bride, and prepared to test the puppet’s abilities.

• Suren took Rena onto Rolling Stone Bar’s crowded dance floor, where they danced and watched a performer imitate Suren as the Puppet King, “Grim Reaper.”
• During a slow dance, Rena followed Sabina’s advice and took the initiative with Suren, and the two returned to their seats feeling closer.
• Suren sensed Rooster Head and other Worn Brotherhood gang members heading to a warehouse, so he and Rena followed them and watched from a rooftop.
• A trench-coated deliveryman arrived at the warehouse, and Suren sensed that the man was not human before following him through Lington’s rainy alleys.
• The deliveryman suddenly appeared behind Suren by emerging from a puddle, and Suren’s All-Seeing Eye identified him as Horror Wax Figure: Ghost Bride.

Suren fought the Ghost Bride, a powerful elemental wax puppet, but it escaped after an unknown force restored it. He then raided the Worn Brotherhood’s warehouse with Rena, learned that the Curator supplied the potions, and discovered a spreading disease called the Red Death that might be tied to them.

• Suren battled the Ghost Bride and drove it to flee through the sewers after Haki destroyed much of its body.
• Suren realized an outside force had restored the Ghost Bride and suspected the Curator controlled a set of four elemental wax figures.
• Suren and Rena attacked the Worn Brotherhood’s warehouse, killed Old Smoker Fogres and the gang members, and destroyed the evidence as they escaped.
• Suren extracted Fogres’s memories and identified the mysterious Curator as the supplier behind the potion shipment.
• Suren learned that the Red Death was spreading through Lington’s lower levels and that the Invigorating Potion could cure it, raising his suspicions that the disease and potion were connected.

Suren and Rena learned that Sabina could help them seek information about the Curator through the Shadow Duke’s Full Moon Ball, then spent the night together at Rena’s apartment. The next morning, Rena helped Suren get ready to meet Mr. Black.

• Suren warned Rena that Outer God believers might be spreading the Red Death, and she contacted Sabina for underworld information.
• Sabina said she knew of the Curator and offered to help through the Shadow Duke’s Full Moon Ball, which she would attend with Suren the following night.
• Suren explained that the Shadow Duke ruled Lington’s underworld and reported the danger to Mr. Black and the two Great Councilors, Duke Lance and Duke Roberts.
• Rena invited Suren to her apartment, and he accepted; they spent the night together.
• The next morning, Rena gave Suren clean clothes and helped him dress before he left to meet Mr. Black.

Suren reunited with Mr. Black, learned more about his power, and gave him rare materials while asking about Isaac's Alchemy Manuscript. After discovering that Danny and Dr. Banks were treating a spreading outbreak of the Red Death, Suren went to meet Sabina for the Full Moon Ball, where she greeted him intimately.

• Suren met Mr. Black at the Parliament Library, discussed the Dawn Organization, and gave him a Void Tolerance Potion and compatible Spatial Materials.
• Mr. Black told Suren that Isaac's Alchemy Manuscript was in the Royal Academy Library and suggested asking Kit for help accessing it.
• Suren visited Danny's apothecary, reunited Danny with his father Dr. Banks, and learned they were treating patients suffering from the Red Death.
• Dr. Banks recognized the disease and began considering treatments while Suren grew determined to find its source and the supplier of the parasite-killing potions.
• Suren waited at the Lost Bird café for the Full Moon Ball, and Sabina arrived and embraced him.

Suren reunited with Sabina in Lington, exchanged a spatially inscribed ring with her, and prepared to attend the secretive Full Moon Ball under a cover identity. After their escort took them to a hidden venue, Suren realized the ball was aboard a colossal airship that might be the Lu Ying military’s supposedly secret Gusmao Airship.

• Sabina met Suren at a café, gave him the Countess Demacula cover identity, and explained how the Mirror Organization had secured their invitations to the Full Moon Ball.
• Suren gave Sabina an emerald ring bearing Spatial Inscriptions, and she told him about her Second Awakening and clashes with the Lu Ying Military Intelligence Department.
• Suren shared cultivation advice with Sabina and promised her a Void Potion and Void Implant to strengthen her abilities.
• A masked driver escorted Suren and Sabina through Lington and out to a luxurious underground entrance, where Susanna McFern welcomed them to the Full Moon Ball.
• Suren sensed the venue rise into the air and concluded that the guests were aboard a colossal floating airship, possibly the Lu Ying military’s Gusmao Airship.

Suren attended the Full Moon Ball aboard the Gusmao Airship, where he learned that Buckchi Biopharmaceutical Company had developed the hallucinogenic drug spreading through South City. He also discovered a chance to acquire specialized Mafa equipment for producing Mechanical Armor, giving him a valuable lead for his next move.

• Suren and Sabina watched the Gusmao Airship rise above Lington, then entered the masked Full Moon Ball and saw Marchioness Agnes perform a nude opening dance.
• The Shadow Duke opened the ball, and members traded favors, intelligence, and resources under his guarantee of secrecy.
• Suren asked about the drug spreading through South City and received an anonymous answer identifying Buckchi Biopharmaceutical Company as its producer.
• Suren learned that Buckchi Biopharmaceutical Company planned to launch the drug soon and that other parties were competing for a stake in it.
• Suren spotted an offer for Mafa equipment used to reproduce Mechanical Armor, stored at the Royal Shipyard, and recognized that he could put it to use.

Suren bought a shipment of imported machinery at the Full Moon Ball despite suspecting it was bait, then escaped an ambush after the carriage driver diverted them. After learning the attackers were not connected to the ball’s organizers, he and Sabina wandered through Lington, where Sabina suggested they get intimate in a secluded alley.

• Suren decided to buy the machinery and ordered Sabina to prepare her Mirror Organization branch to hide if danger arose.
• After the airship landed, Suren summoned Grandpa Crow and used his perception to discover that their carriage had left its intended route.
• Suren killed the driver, escaped with Sabina, and learned from the driver’s memories that an unknown intelligence force had ordered the detour.
• Suren and Sabina waited near the crash site, then relaxed after concluding that the Full Moon Ball’s organizers were not behind the attack.
• Suren and Sabina walked through Lington’s old streets and entered Twilight Alley, where Sabina flirtatiously invited him to be intimate.

Suren and Sabina met the Shadow Duke’s agents after their identities were targeted at the Full Moon Ball, learned the trap had involved bait about imported machinery, and received a valuable token and compensation. After passing on intelligence about Buckchi Biopharmaceutical Company’s Scarlet Potion and ordering an investigation into the Curator, they headed to the Lu Ying Royal Academy to check Isaac’s Alchemy Manuscript and visit Jick.

• Sabina reported that she had nearly comprehended the laws needed to advance to the Fourth Tier after using her Second Awakening cultivation technique with Suren.
• Sabina received word that the Shadow Duke had caught those responsible for leaking information at the ball, and Suren agreed to meet them at Parliament Library Square.
• Suren searched the six prisoners’ souls and learned that Myra Truman had been a pawn in a broader scheme to lure him with machinery-related intelligence, while the true mastermind remained unknown.
• The Shadow Duke’s agent apologized, confirmed the machinery transaction would proceed without Suren paying the balance, and gave Sabina a Pipe Gold Coin that could summon the Shadow Duke to resolve a problem.
• Suren learned that Buckchi Biopharmaceutical Company planned to release the Scarlet Potion, passed the warning to Ekaterina, and ordered Sabina’s agents to investigate the Curator and the Worn Brotherhood’s former territory.
• Suren and Sabina drove to the Lu Ying Royal Academy to inspect Isaac’s Alchemy Manuscript and check on Jick.

Suren and Sabina found Jick at the Lu Ying Royal Academy, where he had endured poverty and ostracism while pursuing explosives research. Suren reassured him, promised to help with his injuries and studies, and left Jick newly confident in his work on a Phosphide Undying Bomb.

• Suren and Sabina searched the Royal Academy for Jick and learned from his classmates that he lived in the Servant Quarter after repeated laboratory explosions.
• Suren and Sabina found Jick celebrating a successful Phosphorus-Flame Bomb experiment, and Jick recognized Suren as his teacher.
• Sabina gave Jick an expensive pocket watch, and Suren promised to make him a Mechanical Prosthetic and treat the burns on his face.
• Jick explained that he had exhausted his family’s savings on experiments and stayed at the academy because its resources were his only chance to continue studying.
• Suren told Jick to focus on the Explosives Studies he loved and affirmed his ambitions, while Jick described his Phosphide Undying Bomb research and his dream of creating an explosion large enough to destroy Lington.

Suren and Sabina accompanied Jick around the academy, where they encountered Phoebe and saw Jick bullied by Tim and his companions. Sabina revealed her high status and forced the nobles to apologize, while Jick learned that his teacher had recently become famous.

• Jick led Suren and Sabina the wrong way around the academy, and they encountered Phoebe after she finished ballet rehearsal.
• Phoebe greeted Jick warmly, but Tim and his noble classmates arrived and mocked him before a lackey snatched his pocket watch.
• Sabina said she had given Jick the watch, exposed Tim's family troubles, and made Tim and the others apologize to Jick.
• Phoebe agreed to have a meal with Jick another day, and Jick told Suren and Sabina how she had become his only friend at the academy.
• Sabina reassured Jick that he was not inferior to nobles, and Suren discovered that Jick had missed the news about his teacher's fame.

Suren inspected the Lu Ying Royal Academy Library’s formidable defenses while confirming that Isaac’s Alchemy Manuscript II was genuine. After revealing his connection to Isaac’s family and explaining his plans to Jick, Suren learned that Jick had devised a way to breach the Special Collections Room with a specialized explosive.

• Suren toured the Royal Library with Sabina and Jick, appraising its anti-theft measures and the treasures in the Special Collections Room.
• Suren confirmed that Isaac’s Alchemy Manuscript II and most of the other manuscripts in Isaac’s collection were genuine.
• Suren exposed the guide Mr. Isaac’s claim of descent as a fraud by explaining that Isaac had only two daughters, then told Jick that Isaac was his great-grandmaster by marriage and introduced his teacher, Lady Seraya.
• Suren encouraged Jick to continue his research at Suren’s War Workshop and to grow closer to his classmate Phibi.
• Jick proposed blasting into the Special Collections Room using a directional detonation based on the Overlast Singularity Demolition Theory.
• Jick explained that he had tested the Multi-Layer Stacked Detonation Thermite Bomb and could make more if they obtained enough materials.

Suren built up his Mechanical Puppet Legion but faced a shortage of materials, then attended the National Puppeteer Competition to watch Karma and Aberk compete. At the venue, he recognized Lilith's Vampire Ring on Augustus Rodriguez and suspected the celebrated young noble was an immortal old monster.

• Suren arranged for Kit to use Jick's explosives to break into the Royal Library's collection hall, while Sabina began advancing to the Fourth Tier.
• Suren searched Lington's underworld with Rena for clues about the Scarlet Potion and the Curator, but found no useful leads as counterfeit medicine disrupted Buckchi Biopharmaceutical Company's launch.
• Suren received imported Mafa equipment and expanded his War Workshop's Mechanical Armor and puppet production, but realized that scarce materials would soon limit further growth.
• Suren bought puppetmaster books and the rare Thread Control: Air Current Needle Rain manual at the market outside the Puppet Guild before entering the competition hall.
• Grandmaster Aubrey Hernandez arrived with Alex Roberts and Augustus Rodriguez, and Suren identified Lilith's Vampire Ring on Augustus.
• Suren appraised the ring and concluded that it could advance his bloodline, while Augustus's cold, mixed soul fluctuations suggested he was an immortal old monster.