Chapter 58: Third Movement

Chapter 58: Third Movement

A gray rat… Klein’s eyelid twitched. Without hesitation, he turned and walked back to the semi-open room, leaving it and passing all the way to the master bedroom before entering the bathroom.

Throughout this entire process, he was neither hurried nor slow, as though he were merely repeating something that happened many times every day.

The moment he locked the bathroom door, Klein immediately took four steps counterclockwise, passed through the gray fog where murmurs and roars coexisted, and sat down in the high-backed chair belonging to The Fool.

Before that, he had had his personal valet Enuni, who was standing in the corridor, pray in a low voice to Sea God Kalvetua.

With the help of the corresponding light dot, Klein beckoned over the Sea God Scepter and expanded his vision outward, locking onto the carriage traveling toward Member of Parliament Macht’s residence—No. 39 Böklund Street.

This time, the one leaning against the glass window and leisurely admiring the scenery outside was no longer a gray rat, but a young man wearing a silk top hat and a black windbreaker.

He had black hair and black eyes. His face was thin, his forehead broad. He wore a monocle carved from crystal, and the corners of his lips carried the hint of a smile. He was clearly the Blasphemer, the Angel of Time, the Son of the Creator—Amon!

Although Klein had long prepared himself mentally, his spirit instantly tightened, producing a feeling of coldness running through his entire body.

Amon had clearly appeared in His original form, but having stolen the rat demigod’s fate, in everyone else’s eyes, He was merely a gray rat. No one suspected anything.

This resembled certain abilities of His brother, the Angel of Imagination Adam. The more one thought about it, the more terrifying it became, though its essence was completely different.

If not for the gray fog, if not for having further grasped this place, I would not have discovered Him either… Half glad and half shaken, Klein extended his “vision” outward, searching for Amon’s avatars.

Compared to the grafting of fate, traces of parasitism were relatively clearer.

However, this time, Klein discovered nothing.

Whether it was the other passengers inside the carriage, the horses pulling it, the surrounding trees, or even the air, none had been parasitized!

This is different from what Leonard’s old grandpa said… When one Amon appears, shouldn’t there be many Amons along with Him? He knows He has already been discovered by a Bizarro Sorcerer of the Church of Evernight, and He suspects Böklund Street is under surveillance. So He only sent a single avatar to investigate the situation? Klein guessed as his brows furrowed slightly, somewhat uncertain how to handle this development.

Of course, he remembered Pallez Zoroast saying that as long as one Amon avatar could be resolved, He would be able to clear away every Amon in Backlund. And now, only one Amon existed on Böklund Street. It was precisely a good opportunity to act.

First, I will hear the opinion of this professional… Klein immediately conjured The World, Gehrman Sparrow, at the very bottom of the bronze long table, having him pray with both respect and devotion:

“Great Mr. Fool, please inform Leonard Mitchell that Amon has appeared at 39 Böklund Street, but there is only one…”

While Gehrman Sparrow prayed, Klein did not stop monitoring that carriage. He saw Hazel, wearing a light-colored long dress, step down from it and enter her home’s entrance hall.

Amon, wearing a monocle and a black windbreaker, followed her calmly, without making the slightest concealment. Yet the male and female servants noticed nothing at all, as though what existed behind and to the side of Miss Hazel was merely air—or some inconspicuous creature.

Occasionally, a maid glanced at the floor and was startled, about to scream. But after her mouth opened, she forgot what she wanted to do.

Passing through the entrance hall and walking toward the stairs, Amon pinched that crystal monocle and slipped both hands into His pockets.

Transparent segmented worms drilled out from His body one after another, swimming in all directions before vanishing.

Seeing this, Klein, who controlled the Sea God Scepter, felt his scalp prickle. He remembered Pallez Zoroast’s description of Amon’s parasitism ability:

Plague-like infection!

…

Hazel had been in an excellent mood recently, because her teacher had not truly gone mad. Everything that had happened before had only been a test, and she had passed it.

This had allowed her to obtain much common sense about the extraordinary world. She now understood the essence of potions, grasped the acting method, and had obtained the opportunity to advance to Cryptologist.

She was now a Sequence 7 Beyonder!

So the world has such a wondrous side… I wonder when I will become a demigod, a half-human existence, and truly break free from the level of ordinary people… Hazel glanced at the wall clock, touched her hollowed stomach, and decided to ask her mother to move today’s afternoon tea earlier. In any case, there were no guests.

She had used eating out for lunch as an excuse, but only in order to bring her teacher back and look for an opportunity to act. In truth, she had eaten nothing.

Thinking of this, she glanced toward her teacher, who lay on the fur cushion atop the sofa. She saw the gray rat raise one front paw and press it against the socket of its right eye.

“Do you need any food?” Hazel asked with great respect.

The rat lowered its front paw and answered leisurely,

“No.”

“Yes, Teacher.” Hazel turned around, walked several steps forward, and opened the bedroom door.

In the corridor outside, her personal maid was standing there, leisurely gazing at the balcony at the end of the hallway, as though admiring the afternoon sky.

Hazel frowned almost imperceptibly.

“Stay here. Do not let anyone enter to clean.”

The personal maid glanced at her and revealed a smile.

“Yes, Miss.”

Only then did Hazel truly leave the bedroom. She went down to the second-floor sitting room and found her mother, Madam Liana.

This lady, who likewise had dark-green hair, was receiving from her maid a pair of glasses dragged by a gold chain and inlaid with gemstones. They were closer to an ornament than to a device for correcting vision.

“Did you not dislike those?” Hazel asked in slight confusion.

The corners of Madam Liana’s mouth lifted little by little.

“I like them now.”

As she spoke, she opened the pair of glasses and placed them on the bridge of her nose.

Hazel was just about to comment when she suddenly heard footsteps approaching.

She turned and saw that her father, Member of Parliament Macht, had returned home early.

“Father, did you not say you were going to the veterans club?” Hazel asked casually.

“There were not many people there today.” Member of Parliament Macht raised his right hand and pinched the upper and lower edges of his eye sockets.

Hazel nodded without paying much attention.

“Perfect. It has been a long time since we enjoyed afternoon tea together.”

“Yes.” Member of Parliament Macht and Madam Liana laughed at the same time, the corners of their mouths both carrying the hint of a smile.

…

At 7 Pinstor Street, Leonard, who had just returned from Saint Hielan Square, threw himself into the sofa and placed his feet on the coffee table.

The fact that he had received no “notification” even now made him believe that the punishment operation had ended successfully and that he could look forward to the spoils.

“Old Man, didn’t you say that Sanguine viscount had several mystical items on him? Can you describe exactly what they were?” Leonard asked in a voice pressed low, rather curious.

Inside his mind, Pallez Zoroast gave a snort.

“Items of that level are not worth me wasting strength to observe carefully.”

Leonard was just about to ask further when his vision suddenly blurred. He saw the boundless grayish-white fog and Gehrman Sparrow’s indistinct, blurry figure. Then he heard the corresponding prayer:

“…Amon has appeared at 39 Böklund Street, but there is only one…”

Amon has appeared? This soon? Leonard, who had originally relaxed, abruptly withdrew his legs and sat upright, his mind tightening far more than it had during the punishment operation earlier.

He hurriedly relayed Klein’s words to Pallez Zoroast, then asked,

“…Old Man, what do we do now? Start the operation? But there is only one Amon avatar!”

Pallez Zoroast fell silent for two seconds.

“Only one of Amon’s avatars came. This means He has another scheme, but that is not important.

“In the Fourth Epoch, there was a proverb: once an arrow is shot, it cannot be taken back. Since we have begun, we cannot retreat. If we delay further, Amon will attempt to influence everyone in the entire street. At that point, He will definitely discover the abnormality with Dwayne Dantès.”

…

Klein returned to the real world and walked out of the bathroom.

He had already made the corresponding preparations. Creeping Hunger was worn on his left hand, while his right palm gripped a medal carved from black gemstone.

Then he controlled his marionette, Winner Enuni, intending to have him snap his fingers and use Flaming Jump to enter 39 Böklund Street—Member of Parliament Macht’s residence—in Gehrman Sparrow’s appearance.

Klein’s intention was instantly transmitted through the Spirit Body Threads. Yet it was like a stone sinking into the sea; there was not the slightest response.

He lost his sense of the marionette all at once!

This… As Klein’s eyelid twitched, the master bedroom door creaked open.

The one who opened the door was Winner Enuni.

This mixed-blood youth of Loen and Balam pushed open the door and walked in step by step, not under Klein’s control.

From the pocket of his clothes, he took out a crystal-like monocle. He wiped its surface with his sleeve, then slowly clipped it into his right eye socket.

He then looked toward Dwayne Dantès, and the corners of his mouth lifted little by little.

“Found you.”

The atmosphere inside the bedroom instantly froze. Pinching his monocle, Winner Enuni then spoke as though to himself:

“Too many abnormalities exist in Flora Jacob’s fate, and the main source comes from this street. I found this very interesting, and spent some time distinguishing and searching for the source. That is why I have made you wait so many days.

“That mirror is not unfamiliar to me. And I have never seen anyone who can make it obey and fawn in such a manner. This really is an interesting matter. Perhaps I should steal your fate and see what exactly it does so for? Ah, right. You probably still do not know its origins. It is not simple at all…”