Chapter 20: Ritual

Chapter 20: Ritual

Backlund, North Borough.

Leonard, who had just finished arranging tasks for his direct team, saw the boundless gray fog and heard Mr. Fool’s response.

He exhaled deeply and lowered his voice.

“Looks like there’s no problem.”

Since Mr. Fool could give feedback and convene the Tarot Gathering as normal, it meant that He had already prevailed in His confrontation with Amon.

In that case, Klein should be able to escape his predicament as well.

Inside Leonard’s mind, Pallez Zoroast’s slightly aged voice gave a “heh.”

“Do not rejoice so soon. After you enter Sefirah Castle, observe that Fool and see whether His right eye is wearing a monocle.”

“You—you mean the current Fool might be Amon in disguise?” Leonard’s eyelid twitched as he hurriedly asked.

Pallez sighed.

“We cannot rule out that possibility. Amon is truly capable of doing something like that.”

“…I’ll pay attention.” Leonard’s relaxed state immediately tightened again.

…

On the Sonia Sea, aboard the Future.

“Mr. Fool actually took this long to respond… Does that mean The World Gehrman Sparrow’s disappearance is related to something He intended to plan? I can’t be certain. Perhaps the period during which Mr. Fool did not respond was when He was rescuing Gehrman Sparrow, and now He has succeeded… He didn’t directly mention the matter because He intends to let The World recount it himself at the Tarot Gathering?” After Mr. Fool’s voice sounded beside her ears, Admiral of Stars Cattleya instantly had one thought after another flash through her mind.

With the contents of the Queen’s letter, she suspected that George III’s fall could not be separated from Mr. Fool’s intervention, and that The World Gehrman Sparrow’s earlier disappearance was an extension of the same matter.

Cattleya’s first reaction was to write to the Queen of Mysteries Bernadette and tell her that Gehrman Sparrow had been found. But after thinking, she restrained herself, preparing to wait until after the afternoon gathering, after she understood the specific sequence of events and knew what could and could not be said, before reporting back to the Queen.

“In any case, the matter seems to be resolved.” Admiral of Stars breathed out and sat by the window with an eased heart, gazing at the azure sky.

…

Sonia Island, at the edge of the primitive forest.

Alger Wilson stood on a thin branch, gazing at the harbor not far away and the blue sky above it.

Gales swirled around him, yet they did not spread outward and affect the surrounding trees.

As illusory grayish-white fog appeared, Alger first felt joy, then a degree of fear:

“Mr. Fool responded after some time… This means that His state before was indeed somewhat abnormal.

“However, He has now recovered…

“He did not respond to my request to borrow the Unshadowed Crucifix from The Sun. This means He discovered my test, discovered that little hidden thought of mine…

“I must never do something like this again! This time, Mr. Fool only gave me a simple warning. Next time, He might directly issue punishment.

“Do not test a god. Do not test a god.”

As his thoughts raced, Alger lowered his head and spoke devoutly:

“Thank You for Your mercy and tolerance.”

…

Backlund, inside Earl Hall’s luxurious villa.

“Mr. Fool didn’t relay my question to Mr. World… Is that because the Tarot Gathering will proceed normally this afternoon, and there will be time to communicate then?” From the delay in feedback, Audrey analyzed several matters. “Normally, Mr. Fool’s replies are very prompt. This time, it exceeded fifteen minutes… He was handling something else, something very important? Related to George III’s death?”

In any case, a delay of fifteen minutes did not count as a very serious problem. Audrey quickly withdrew her thoughts, and her mood improved quite a bit.

“I’ll be able to learn the truth from Mr. World very soon.

“I hope this incident will not have consequences more severe than triggering a full-scale war. War is currently unavoidable…”

…

Backlund, North Borough, beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral.

“Mr. Fool didn’t say He would help me…” Emlyn White held a cup of red liquid, his brows furrowing slightly.

Immediately, he interpreted the symbolic meaning of this response from another angle:

“Mr. Fool specifically emphasized that the afternoon Tarot Gathering will proceed as usual. Is He telling me that the chance to escape my predicament lies with a certain member? It won’t still be that Star, will it?

“Uh, in short, I should be able to leave this place this week.”

Because Emlyn had been placed under protective custody behind Chanis Gate in Saint Samuel Cathedral, no matter what abnormal changes had occurred in the suburbs of Backlund, they were unlikely to affect him. Nor could he suddenly successfully break out of prison and head to a place with Blood Emperor ruins. Therefore, when Klein hinted to the other members in the middle of the previous week, he had omitted him.

…

City of Silver, the Berg family home.

After hearing Mr. Fool’s response, Derrick immediately flipped off his bed, excitement overflowing from his expression.

Mr. Fool had not disappeared! Mr. Fool had not abandoned the City of Silver like the Creator!

He paced back and forth a few times, immediately wanting to rush out of the room toward the twin towers to tell the Chief this good news.

But more than a year of growth had already left a clear mark on Derrick. In the end, he calmed himself down and decided that after attending the Tarot Gathering and receiving the promise of a blessing, he would go find the Chief.

“Perhaps the lack of response during this period was Mr. Fool’s test for me, for the Chief, and for the City of Silver, to see whether we would quickly turn toward the Fallen Creator…” At some unknown point, Derrick’s thinking pattern had taken on a bit of The Hanged Man’s flavor.

Of course, he did not develop any extra thoughts because of this. In his understanding, it was perfectly normal for gods to test their believers. The Creator back then had left behind plenty of similar legends.

After ending his thoughts, Derrick still could not sit still. He continued pacing back and forth in the room.

Never before had he looked forward to the “afternoon” Tarot Gathering so much.

In the City of Silver, in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, afternoon was a relatively abstract concept. Because there were not enough markers to determine it, they could only roughly define day and night by the frequency of lightning flashes, without being able to make any further distinctions.

…

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

“Ha.” After receiving Mr. Fool’s response, Forsi could not help laughing out loud.

As a bestselling novelist, she possessed rich imagination. During the period when Mr. Fool had not responded, she had already woven one terrifying story after another in her mind:

Mr. Fool exchanged His own fall for George III’s failure.

Mr. Fool’s plan was discovered by the gods, and He suffered a joint siege.

Mr. Fool’s old injuries relapsed, plunging Him into slumber again, leaving The World Gehrman Sparrow without protection and hunted by his enemies…

The developments of these stories were different, but their endings were extremely consistent: Forsi herself fell back into the ravings of the full moon and lost control, becoming a monster.

Whew… Forsi exhaled, then smiled brightly at Xio.

“Only today did I discover that Mr. Fool is the most important man in my heart. Uh, I mean, the most important Him.”

“What matters more is that you become a demigod as soon as possible and completely break free of the full moon curse,” Xio replied seriously.

After joining the Tarot Club, she already knew her friend’s true circumstances.

“Mm!” Forsi nodded, smile unchanged. “In any case, I need a drink to celebrate!”

…

Above the gray fog, inside Sefirah Castle.

After calming down, Klein used meditation to recover the state of his spirit body.

“When I first learned meditation, I had to imagine something that didn’t exist in this world and use it to replace the original things in my mind, thereby truly entering meditation. Back then, my first reaction was to outline an intercontinental ballistic missile from Earth, but I failed… Heh. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but now, perhaps that already explained something… It wasn’t something that didn’t exist in this world. It had merely been annihilated in the fog of history…” Klein rubbed his forehead and naturally recalled something from the past.

He immediately focused his mind, intending to obtain the Miracle Invoker potion formula before the Tarot Gathering.

At present, Amon was patiently guarding the place where he had died. Klein could only remain inside Sefirah Castle, with nothing else to do.

After considering the method, Klein reached beyond the ancient palace from his elevated position, taking an item from the gaps of history in the grayish-white fog.

It was a notebook with a cover made of hard paper, dyed completely black.

The Antigonus family’s notebook!

“As expected, I can… It isn’t derived from a Uniqueness. It only has a little residual power from the half-Fool of the Antigonus family…” Klein sighed and tossed the notebook onto the bronze long table before him.

Because the contents of this notebook were very likely problematic, he did not intend to interpret the Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker potion formula from it. He merely intended to use it as a medium for divination.

Immediately afterward, Klein conjured paper and pen and wrote down a divination statement:

“The original owner of this notebook.”

Putting down the fountain pen, taking up the paper and notebook, Klein leaned back against the chair and softly repeated the words he had just written.

After seven consecutive repetitions, he entered the grayish dream and saw a mountain peak extending into white clouds. He saw, at the peak, separated from reality by a transparent boundary, a majestic but dilapidated palace.

Inside the palace, moss and weeds grew in many places. At the very top stood a giant stone chair, its surface inlaid with dull gems and gold. At the center, countless transparent worms clustered together, writhing slowly, growing wantonly, and extending slick tentacles covered in patterns.

Unlike before, this time Klein directly saw that “monster,” clearly seeing Its exact appearance.

All of a sudden, the palace above the gray fog shook violently. Klein’s figure was pulled straight upward and suspended in midair.

The next second, his spirit body collapsed into wriggling Worms of Spirit that crawled all over the floor.

Sefirah Castle immediately trembled. Everything returned to its original state, and Klein’s spirit body recondensed.

He sat in The Fool’s seat, rubbed his forehead, and gave a bitter laugh.

“It really is the half-Fool with a Uniqueness…”

After muttering to himself, Klein briefly recalled what he had seen, picked up the fountain pen, and began recording on the paper the knowledge he had obtained from peering at that mythical creature:

“Sequence 2: Miracle Invoker.

“Main ingredients: One heart of the Dark Demonic Wolf, also known as the God of Wishes, or the Beyonder characteristic of another Miracle Invoker.

“Supplementary ingredients: 300 milliliters of the Dark Demonic Wolf’s blood, one Worm of Time, and one Star Worm.

“Advancement ritual: Let a piece of lost history return to the current era.”