Later going by the name Valkyrie Cain, Stephanie and Skulduggery, aided by a boxer/tailor named Ghastly Bespoke; the librarian and informant China Sorrows, Skulduggery and Stephanie meet with the enigmatic and incredibly strong Mr. Bliss, and the English professional swords-woman Tanith Low, in the hopes that he will be able to help them keep the Sceptre out of Serpine's hands for good and attempt to prevent Nefarian Serpine, the originator of the plot and murderer of Stephanie's uncle, from bring back their retired evil gods. Serpine once served under the evil wizard Mevolent, and worshiped the Faceless Ones as evil Gods. Mevolent, in an attempt to spread the evil religion and possibly bring back the Faceless Ones from their extra-dimensional banishment, waged a secret war on the wizard community. Skulduggery opposed Mevolent in this war four hundred years ago, when he was still alive. He became ensnared in a trap Serpine set by murdering Skulduggery's wife and child, then suffered several days of torture until he was finally killed by Serpine. Due to his extreme desire for revenge, rage and ties with unfinished business, Skulduggery resurrected himself. As nothing more than a bag of bones, Skulduggery put himself back together, got up, and finished the war.