With Ahasuerus once more amongst the living, things began to look bleak. Then Xrix garnished a disturbing thought from the remaining three demons: Kuchin the Void. Probing deeper she learned that the demons took their orders from the very being the survivors of the massacre in Shambhala warned of.

Not long after the young Nephilim realized that she could no longer hear Oafeon’s thoughts: the fey had vanished. Such revelations were repeated when Kuchin then appeared behind Coup Field, drawing him into its body and sealing him away in the pocket dimension contained within the being.

Deimos continued to fight both Ka and Fu while Rumble and Tick-tock dealt with Chi and Ahasuerus below. William Benson found himself suddenly under attack from the mysterious entity that had devoured both Coup and Oafeon. Ultimately, Xrix and Deimos both panicked. Xrix broke the chain given to her by her mother- summoning Semyazza and begging her to take her away from the fight. Deimos, meanwhile, blanketed the area in darkness- a move that seemed only to hinder his teammates and not his opponents.

Before long, Kuchin had drawn William Benson, Tick-tock and Rumble into the Void before departing with the remaining demons… leaving an unconscious Deimos as the sole survivor of the Illuminati.

Deimos was awakened by Loess and Portal, who had come to San Francisco looking for Rumble. They explained to him that Senator Bedford had been assassinated and Lodestone had gone over to serve Abaddon. The pair announced their intent to form a group to storm Apocatastasis’ stronghold to liberate their friend- intent to recruit Rumble, as well as Anomaly and Tripper.

It was then that Deimos broke his chain, summoning the catatonic body of Doctor Jacob Pritchard to his side. Unable to enter the Chapel without Coup’s magic and with nowhere else to go, Deimos reluctantly joined Loess’ rescue mission.

Elsewhere, Xrix found herself brought to Apocatastasis’ base- an army of Nephilim already gathered under him. She joined Paragon, Lilith, Phobos, Mayonaka, Firn, Enyo and the Shadow- as well as several new players: the brothers Aamon, Barbatos, Pruslus and Rashaverak; Goetia and the Tarasque.

It was then that Kuchin arrived and Paragon explained that Kuchin was one of the higher-ups in Apocatastasis’ army. Kuchin entered the great hall where Catastrophe, Lodestone and Terahertz awaited- ejecting only one person from the Void…

Coup Field, the Aurelius, to be bonded with the remains of the slain Sui…