Chapter 25: Thinking Matters

Chapter 25: Thinking Matters

“Make things difficult for Amon?” Pallez Zoroast gave a heh. “What benefit would that bring? Forget it if there is none.”

Leonard was momentarily speechless. After several seconds, he said, “At least it would make you feel better.”

Pallez chuckled.

“If you didn’t bring up that topic, I would feel even better.”

Without waiting for Leonard to respond, this Sequence 1 angel of the Marauder pathway sighed in a slightly aged voice.

“Doesn’t that former colleague of yours have Deceit charms? Perhaps he can think of something from there.”

After clearing out Amon’s avatars in Backlund, Pallez had passed to Klein, through Leonard, the divine symbols and magic labels used to create four types of charms: Deceit, Parasitism, Deprivation, and Aging. Klein had used that knowledge and the Worms of Time he received to make one Deceit Bullet, one Parasitism Bullet, and one Deprivation Bullet, though he later used them against Qonas Kilgor. Leonard did not know this.

Leonard pressed his voice low and asked thoughtfully, “Old Man, you mean using a Deceit charm to mislead Amon, making Him misjudge the location so He cannot affect Klein’s escape?”

Inside his mind, Pallez Zoroast answered grumpily, “Using a Deceit charm in front of a King of Angels of the Marauder pathway? Do you think that has any chance of succeeding?”

Not very likely… Leonard let out two dry laughs, then shamelessly pressed, “Then what do you mean?”

Pallez Zoroast’s voice suddenly became a little more energetic.

“Deceive the rule that says he can only return to where his original body was!”

“Deceive a rule? That works too?” Leonard asked in considerable shock.

Pallez laughed self-mockingly and sighed.

“Compared to deceiving Amon, deceiving rules is much easier. After all, the foundation of this world is madness and chaos.”

Leonard was briefly unable to speak. On one hand, he lacked the necessary insight and had never imagined that rules and laws could also be “deceived.” On the other hand, he had not expected that, in the old man’s heart, Amon was even more terrifying than natural laws and the rules of the world.

Nearly ten seconds later, he finally spoke again.

“If we use this method, how high is the chance of success?”

“Very, very low.” Pallez scoffed. “A Deceit charm made from one Worm of Time contained in an Amon avatar has an extremely low chance of deceiving that kind of law. Therefore, my suggestion remains the same: let him ask The Fool for help. Do not waste time. The longer he confronts Amon, the more dangerous it becomes.”

Leonard pondered for a while, then nodded in agreement.

“I understand. I will advise him to do that as well.”

Of course, he would not forget to mention the low-probability method suggested by the old man.

“Good that you understand. Truly, disturbing an old man while he reads the newspaper…” Pallez muttered. His voice gradually lowered, then vanished from Leonard’s mind.

At 7 Pinster Street, the newspaper placed on the coffee table suddenly floated up and unfolded by itself before the sofa.

…

“Use a Deceit charm to deceive the rule that resurrection can only occur around the area where the original body was?” Above the gray fog, inside the ancient palace, Klein reconstructed Pallez Zoroast’s suggestion in his own words.

No sooner had he spoken than he recalled the leather lantern that had shone for a very long time: Amon had “deceived” natural law, putting the candle into a miraculous state where it could give light for a week without needing fuel.

Klein’s eyes immediately brightened. He murmured aloud, “This line of thought really is something only an angel of the Marauder pathway would think of right away…

“It may not be impossible!”

Like Pallez, he also felt that, compared to dealing with Amon, dealing with the laws of nature was simpler and more reassuring.

After seeing hope, Klein immediately began analyzing the concrete feasibility.

“Although I have already used that Deceit Bullet, I can summon it from the gaps of history. In any case, before its effect ends, I will definitely have reconstructed my body and successfully revived…

“Natural laws are truly pitiful. Not only do they suffer deception, even the item used to deceive them is fake…

“The only problem is that this bullet may truly be unable to deceive a mysticism rule. Back when I used it against Qonas Kilgor, it already seemed somewhat strained…”

As thoughts surged, Klein slowly looked around. Inspiration gradually came to him.

That was to use Sefirah Castle!

After gaining preliminary control over Sefirah Castle, he could already mobilize Sequence 2 angel-level power here.

And many things he had come into contact with before indicated that Sefirah Castle most likely spanned the three pathways of Seer, Apprentice, and Marauder. It could produce a convergence effect on the corresponding Beyonders, and it had clearly drawn Amon’s covetousness.

In other words, Klein suspected that Sefirah Castle simultaneously possessed powers from all three pathways. It was only that, because he himself was a Seer, the vast majority of what he could usually leverage concentrated in that domain.

“With the Deceit Bullet as a medium, perhaps I can leverage another power contained within Sefirah Castle… Since, in the Seer domain, I can already use some power related to miracles, it is entirely reasonable to infer that the power of the Marauder pathway can also reach angel level. The only issue is that there must be a sufficiently high-level medium… In that case, there is no need to worry about being unable to deceive that rule…” As Klein thought, his mind suddenly cleared. He began seriously drawing up a detailed plan.

He took that mysticism rule as his target and attempted to plan a “scam.”

“To lower the difficulty, it would be best to make additional preparations. I cannot deceive something out of nothing unless I am Amon’s main body…

“Mm. Bestow a tube of my own blood to Little Sun and construct a fake resurrection point beyond the normal range.

“Then use the Deceit Bullet as the trigger to push the corresponding angel-level power contained within Sefirah Castle, misleading that rule, making it treat the fake resurrection point as the real one and the true resurrection point as fake…”

As the details were outlined bit by bit and the idea finally took shape, Klein immediately used the mysticism connection between himself and his “death point,” relying on True Vision to observe the concrete situation.

He saw that the grayish-yellow fog had thinned quite a lot. Compared to before, there was not the slightest change to the deep ravine hiding Chernobyl.

Amon, wearing a pointed soft hat and monocle, had stolen a stone from some unknown place and placed it where Klein had died. He sat upon it, patiently playing with a human-skin glove.

Sometimes He curled the fingers of that human-skin glove. Sometimes He stretched them out, as though He could continue like this for a hundred years.

One or two thousand meters away, somewhere deep in the grayish-yellow fog, three Amons in classical black mage robes crouched beside a rock, seriously playing poker with cards stolen from no one knew where, pushing up their monocles from time to time.

Elsewhere on the barren plain, Amons moved alone or in groups. Some strolled leisurely. Some pondered and wrote. Some discussed all manner of questions with one another.

In the dark and dangerous Forsaken Land of the Gods, what a harmonious scene this was. It would have been even better if those young men were not all wearing classical black robes, pointed soft hats, and monocles, and did not all have the same black hair, black eyes, broad foreheads, and thin faces.

Just as Klein wanted to observe further, the Amon seated on the stone suddenly raised His head, pushed the monocle carved from crystal, and looked across space toward him.

On the barren plain, all the Amons raised their heads together, gazing toward the highest point of the fog of history.

Klein immediately withdrew his gaze and severed the connection.

…

City of Silver. Derrick Berg arrived at the top of the round tower and met Chief Colin Iliad.

“Your Excellency Chief, I have already received the promise of a blessing,” Derrick said frankly and directly.

Colin Iliad, whose hair was graying and whose face bore old scars, visibly relaxed. He slowly nodded.

“That is good. That is good.”

He repeated the sentence, something he rarely did.

As an outstanding Demon Hunter and as the Chief of the City of Silver, he had always been patient and never took unnecessary risks. Therefore, after that Fool had suddenly stopped giving feedback, he had not immediately turned toward the True Creator. Instead, he had decided to patiently wait another month.

For the City of Silver, which had already waited in the age of deep darkness for more than two thousand years, one month was completely bearable.

Without waiting for Derrick to answer, Demon Hunter Colin left the window and said calmly, “Go back first. I am going to begin preparing for the advancement ritual.”

Derrick looked at the Chief and sincerely said, “You will definitely succeed!”

He did not linger and quickly left the round tower, returning home.

After rearranging the ritual and placing the remains of the six powerful creatures he had hunted in their correct positions, Colin Iliad began mixing the potion.

Once all of this was complete, the Chief of the City of Silver closed his eyes, lowered his head, and recited in Jotun:

“The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era, the mysterious ruler above the gray fog, the King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck…”

Above the gray fog, Klein saw ring after ring of light spreading out and heard the somewhat illusory sound of prayer.

He immediately called over a paper figurine, mobilized the power of Sefirah Castle to combine with it, and threw it into the prayer halo. Conveniently, he also marked the Chief of the City of Silver.

At the same time, through the prayer halo, he observed the situation throughout the round tower and the City of Silver, confirming that there were no Amon parasites near the Chief or Little Sun.

I have to seize this opportunity! Klein immediately manifested The World Gehrman Sparrow and made him assume a posture of prayer.

At that moment, Colin Iliad saw light.

Within sacred, clear radiance, a holy angel with twelve pairs of illusory wings on Its back abruptly descended. Amid white feathers fluttering down, Its wings of light wrapped around the Demon Hunter layer by layer.

This was the blessing from Mr. Fool.