Lord of the Mysteries

Lightning once again lit up the desolate moors that were blanketed with grayish-yellow fog. It illuminated the spot where an angel-level battle had just happened, illuminating the calm smile on his face.

Amon looked at him for a few seconds before nudging his monocle and smiling.

“Can’t you say something else?

“You seem to have found new hope?”

Klein’s smile didn’t change as he clenched his fist to his nose and stuck one hand into his pocket.

“I just suddenly understood something. It turns out that it’s not too demoralizing to play this game with your true body. On the contrary, this shows that you have no way of stealing my destiny.”

“Oh?” Amon smiled as “He” spoke in a tone, as though “He” was looking forward to what Klein would say next.

Klein laughed and said without any hesitation, “Otherwise, once I entered the Forsaken Land of the Gods, you would’ve directly stolen my destiny and become the new owner of Sefirah Castle. Even if you want to play a game of escaping and obstructing, you could’ve waited until the main goal was achieved before doing so. That way, you wouldn’t be taking any risks. And having lost my chance to resurrect and my original destiny, I’ll put in an even greater effort into escaping due to my instinct to survive.

“Indeed, the God of Mischief might do something that disregards danger, doing so in pursuit of excitement, but you’re still the God of Deceit.”

Having said that, Klein looked at the unperturbed expression on Amon’s face and paused.

“I know that you really have the ability to steal the destinies of others, but being capable of doing something doesn’t mean that you’ll do it. This requires a risk assessment, as well as weighing and analyzing the pros and cons.

“I believe that you don’t wish to steal my destiny directly. That will make you bear the burden of everything brought about by Sefirah Castle. You have to resist the trauma of the resurrection of its original owner. Even for a King of Angels like you, this is also very dangerous. If you aren’t careful, you can perish. Therefore, you want to find a loophole—you want to get Sefirah Castle without suffering the negative effects. And this requires my ‘permission.’”

When he said that, Klein thought of the experience of getting hit by computer viruses in his previous life. Those viruses would always pretend to be normal and cheat him into giving him permission.

This was somewhat similar to the current situation.

After hearing Klein’s words, Amon looked at him without a word. Instead, “He” calmly adjusted the crystal monocle.

Klein smiled and continued, “From the moment you parasitized me, you’ve been setting up a huge scam. On the one hand, you’ve given me the option of becoming your Blessed, telling me that your true body can withstand my destiny, causing me to bear a heavy psychological burden.

“In the subsequent journey, you constantly made me see hope before destroying it. From time to time, you’ll give me a time limit, making me unknowingly seize an opportunity and catch my breath. Then, you suddenly shortened the trip, disrupting my plans. Finally, you reveal the card that you’re the true body, sending me into the abyss of despair, so as to destroy my will and dismantle my mental defenses. I would completely break down and choose to become your Blessed, and ‘agree’ to that hidden ‘transaction.’”

After hearing everything in silence, Amon suddenly laughed and raised “His” hands to gently clap.

“Perfect deduction.

“However, you seem to have missed a problem.

“What I said was to see my real body at a sufficiently safe place. Then, your destiny will be taken away. Now that we haven’t reached our final destination, I naturally won’t take the risk.”

Klein’s expression sank slightly before he relaxed again.

“I’m looking forward to how different the developments will be there.”

He responded to Amon in “His” style.

The genuine King of Angels adjusted “His” monocle and pointed to the side with a smile.

“Soon. We’ll arrive in less than half a day.”

“How long is that exactly?” Klein instinctively lacked trust in Amon’s vague descriptions.

Amon scratched “His” chin and chuckled.

“Half an hour.”

Klein turned his head to look in the direction where Amon had pointed. He only saw deep darkness, nothing else..

A bolt of lightning streaked across the desolate moors, but even farther away was a thick grayish-yellow fog.

…

Backlund, Empress Borough, in the Hall family’s luxurious villa.

After two days of chaos, Audrey’s life finally regained some peace. This made her even more curious about the truth behind the king’s assassination.

Considering how Mr. Fool had seemingly hinted that the Tarot Gathering would be canceled today, Audrey decided to pray to this existence in advance and establish a connection with The World Gehrman Sparrow to figure out the corresponding situation.

The moment she glanced at Susie, the golden retriever immediately walked out of the room, closed the door with her leg in passing, and sat outside.

Audrey sat down, took on a prayer pose, and recited in ancient Hermes:

“The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era…”

…

Backlund East Borough, inside a two-bedroom rental apartment.

“Do you think there will be a gathering today? There’s no formal notice…” Fors took out her pocket watch for women and opened it.

Xio shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

Fors couldn’t sit still any longer. She left her seat and paced back and forth anxiously as she muttered to herself, “Mr. World didn’t respond, neither did Mr. Fool respond…”

As she spoke, Fors suddenly looked at her friend who was eating some ham. She hurriedly said, “Xio, why don’t you try praying to Mr. Fool and ask if the gathering will be held as scheduled today?”

Xio frowned slightly as she put down her fork and nodded.

“Okay.”

She also found the situation a little strange.

She clasped her hands and held them under her chin. Xio took a deep breath and said in a low voice, “The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era…”

…

Backlund, North Borough, underground of Saint Samuel Cathedral, in a room behind Chanis Gate.

Emlyn White woke up, feeling puzzled over the dream he had.

He had apparently dreamed of the Sanguine Ancestor, Lilith!

In his dream, he was trapped in a castle covered in red grapevines, one he couldn’t escape from no matter how hard he tried.

Later, through a narrow window from high above, he saw the crimson moon outside and a pair of bat wings that covered half the crimson moon.

In the legends of the Sanguine, this was one of the symbols of the ancient goddess, Lilith.

Right on the heels of that, Emlyn flew up high in excitement, attempting to open the narrow window. At the bottom of the glass, he found a tarot card.

On the surface of the tarot card was a lad dressed in gorgeous clothes. He was wearing splendid headgear with a stick over his shoulder. There was a bindle hanging on the end of the stick, and a puppy was following behind him.

The Fool card.

At this point in his dream, Emlyn naturally woke up. As a Sanguine Viscount, he had the ability to perform a basic analysis of dreams.

It must be because of my current situation that this dream appeared. That Star actually didn’t deliver any human blood to me…

I am indeed the target of the Ancestor’s benediction…”She” is hinting to me that if I wish to escape from my predicament, I have to obtain help from Mr. Fool?

What day is it today? Forget it, I’ll just pray. That way, I can leave as soon as possible.” Emlyn sat up with hope as he piously chanted, “The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era…”

…

Above the gray fog, the three crimson stars that corresponded to Justice, Judgment, and The Moon began to expand and shrink, emitting light to create ripples.

They merged into the dark red “tide” that originally existed, causing the shock waves in the mysterious space to instantly intensify.

Amidst the quake, the “tide” flooded the ancient and majestic palace, lighting up one mysterious symbol after another behind the eight seats on the long bronze table.

This brought a new halo and resonance, accompanied by a buzzing sound.

At the end of the long, mottled table, the back of The Fool’s seat lit up as well. The complicated symbol formed by the Contorted Lines and Pupil-less Eye kept extending outwards, becoming layered and extremely three-dimensional.

The dark red “tide” was attracted over and formed a “figure” on the high back chair belonging to The Fool.

This “figure” wasn’t stable enough. It distorted and scattered from time to time, hardly capable of maintaining its form.

On a desolate moor covered with grayish-yellow fog, Klein paused for a moment and looked up at the lightning that streaked across the sky.

He then retracted his gaze. Holding the lantern in his hand, he followed beside Amon, deep into the endless moors.

The more the man and the King of Angels proceeded, the more ravines the ground had. Similarly, their depths became more and more exaggerated.

About ten minutes later, another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. Not far away, Klein saw a single-eyed giant with a bluish-black pupil, pacing back and forth. It towered tens of meters.

His body was covered in traces of rotting pus. His eye was sunken and lifeless. It was obvious that he was dead.

However, he continued wandering around. Grayish-yellow gas emanated from his body, interweaving in midair to create the fog over the moor.

The grayish-yellow fog that enveloped the vast moor was actually generated by this bluish-black giant!

“The youngest son of the Giant King Aurmir, the God of Glory, Bladel. ‘He’ publicly cursed my father and was punished to forever roam this area. Of course, ‘He’ has long died in the Cataclysm, but ‘He’ still wasn’t able to free ‘Himself.’” Amon looked at the giant and smiled. “If I hadn’t stolen the corresponding damage dealt to you, you would’ve been contaminated by the fog created after Bladel’s death. You would become a cursed entity that roams this area.”

Do I have to thank you? Suddenly, Klein felt like he had entered a myth.

With him in tow, Amon continued forward. Soon, they approached the bluish-black, single-eyed giant.

There was an extremely deep ravine on the spot where the giant was loitering about. As the lightning flashed, a thick and vast grayish-white building appeared at the bottom.

With just a glance, Klein’s eyelids twitched slightly as he recalled the scene he saw when he was divining the Unshadowed Crucifix.

If he remembered correctly, this should be where the ancient sun god, the City of Silver’s Creator, Amon and Adam’s father walked out from!

Is this the safe place that Amon mentioned? Klein’s heart sank.

At this moment, the pointy-hatted, monocled Amon walked to the edge of the ravine. With “His” back facing the grayish-white building, “He” spread his arms slightly and said with a smile, “This is the holy land where my father was awoken. Buried in it is the history I wish to seek.

“My father told me that this place has an ancient name, called…”

As a streak of silver lightning tore through the sky, the black-robed Amon paused as “He” widened “His” arms, saying with a solemn tone, “Chernobyl!”