Death has been conquered. Suffering has not.
Across Ophiuchus, the Phantasmal Ascension resurrects mortals, monsters, and spirits alike. No one stays dead. No one is guaranteed freedom.
When Sigrid, the one-armed Black Knight, boards a phantom galleon carrying 206 enslaved immortals, she brings two weapons: a sword that can sever fate and a kitchen knife that can turn nightmares into supper. Her intervention frees Edda Threadbone, an enslaved smith whose own creations helped forge her chains.
Together they enter Vanvit, a ruined district of the Infinite Maze of Madness, where ravenous courts enforce contracts that claim even tomorrow. As ancient powers tighten their grip on time itself, Edda must learn what freedom costs, and why the terrifying knight who can unmake almost anything still insists on feeding the lost.
In a galaxy where death is no escape, who owns the right to live?