Chapter 43: Eastward

Chapter 43: Eastward

“Dark Angel Sasrir is very likely the negative personality split off from the ancient Sun God… Mr. Door was once the most powerful King of Angels… The Abraham family still controls at least two Grade 0 sealed artifacts corresponding to angel-level Beyonder characteristics of the Apprentice pathway… The underlying rules of this world are chaos and madness…”

Piece after piece of mysticism knowledge echoed through The Hermit Cattleya’s mind. While they shocked her, they also brought with them a heavy sense of weight.

If not for the Tarot Club, if not for Mr. Fool’s protection, if not for The World Gehrman Sparrow’s provision of information, it would absolutely not have been so easy for her to learn such knowledge. She would certainly have had to bear enormous risk. One careless mistake, and she might have drawn the gaze of certain high-level existences, or become entangled by madness and pain.

“Thank you for the advance payment. This will help me digest my potion tremendously.” Cattleya opened her eyes and thanked him sincerely.

According to her original plan, once she met the Queen of Mysteries, she should have been able to gain some mysticism knowledge. Combined with Gehrman Sparrow’s current advance, there was a high probability that her Mysticologist potion would be completely digested. Unfortunately, a few days before she arrived in Backlund, the Queen of Mysteries Bernadette had followed a clue and left that great metropolis, leaving Cattleya deeply disappointed.

Hearing Madam Hermit’s words, Klein, disguised as The World, gave a hoarse laugh.

“This gift has a price.”

As his voice echoed, he nodded to Miss Justice and Miss Magician, indicating that the sentence was meant for them as well.

After this private gathering ended and one member after another left Sefirah Castle, Klein stood up from the very bottom of the mottled long table and returned to the head, taking the seat that belonged to The Fool.

He leaned back against the chair and rested his elbows on the armrests. Beside him, ripples spread through the void, condensing into ring after ring of light.

These were prayer lights. They came from marionettes controlled by Klein’s summoned historical projections. They had existed before the gathering, but Klein had concealed the corresponding region so no one could sense them. Only now had everything returned to normal.

Klein turned his gaze toward the halo and used it as a point of origin, extending his vision into the distance.

In the real world, a deep, dark mountain peak towered upward. Around its middle was a cave opening that stretched all the way underground.

Quite a few humans who had survived the Cataclysm had once hidden here. Later, they had been turned into marionettes by the Dark Demonic Wolf Kotar.

During this period, Klein had continuously traced back from all sorts of clues and found three former hiding places of the Dark Demonic Wolf, but his gains had not been too great.

The reason was simple. Just like now, there was a stone planted at the entrance of the cave, and on it sat a young man in a classical black robe and pointed soft hat, with a broad forehead and thin face.

Amon.

This Angel of Time seemed to sense the gaze from Sefirah Castle. He lifted His head, adjusted the monocle carved from crystal, and slightly raised the corners of His lips.

“…” Klein withdrew his gaze. The “muscles” of his face twitched faintly as he muttered, “He really haunts me like a ghost… It’s not as if that fellow doesn’t know the Dark Demonic Wolf’s past. Is there any need to destroy every clue I need? And every time, He arrives only slightly earlier…”

If not for the fact that he could not beat Him, Klein would very much like to hang Amon up and give Him a good beating right now.

Whew… Klein exhaled and immediately returned to the real world.

Wearing a black top hat and carrying a dim yellow lantern, he ceased maintaining the historical projection. Without looking back, he left the mountain peak and headed deeper into the deathly silent wilderness.

Klein’s steps held no hesitation, because he had already obtained detailed information on the Dark Demonic Wolf Kotar from the Evernight Goddess. He had a sufficient understanding of this God of Wishes’ personality, style, and habits.

The reason he was still pursuing the Dark Demonic Wolf’s past was mainly because he wanted verification. After all, two or three thousand years had passed since the Eastern Continent became the Forsaken Land of the Gods. The Dark Demonic Wolf had been beyond the Evernight Goddess’s gaze for long enough that some distortion of personality or shift in style was entirely possible. If he planned everything strictly according to the information provided by the Evernight Goddess, there was a not insignificant chance he would make the error of bombing a target using an expired map.

“Under the immense pressure applied by the True Creator and Amon, the Dark Demonic Wolf may very well have changed… Perhaps It has even become perverted. Perhaps Its mind has been repressed too heavily and It’s half mad already…” Klein could not help lampooning inwardly.

In his words, “the Dark Demonic Wolf” could actually be seamlessly replaced with “Klein Moretti,” or with “Zhou Mingrui.” One only needed to change the sentence into the future tense.

There was another reason Klein persisted in pursuing the Dark Demonic Wolf’s past: he was attempting to deceive Amon, making it difficult for Him to guess that Klein had already grasped the key information.

Of course, this might not fool that God of Deceit. Klein’s main purpose was to gain a spiritual victory and use it to regulate his overly suppressed mental state, so that he would not have to frequently seek Miss Justice for treatment.

Mm. Judging from the present, the Dark Demonic Wolf has indeed retained the lucidity and rationality of the middle-to-late Second Epoch. It has not become as irritable, bloodthirsty, and mad as it had been when it first fused with other Beyonder characteristics… Its most important personality trait also seems unchanged. It is still that suspicious. It does not even trust its own marionettes that much. Once It decides to migrate, It leaves behind all the marionettes It previously possessed and erases the connections… Also, the Dark Demonic Wolf seems to have migrated here from the east… As he thought, Klein suddenly stopped. In the darkness without stars or crimson moon, relying on spiritual intuition, he cast his gaze toward a certain direction.

His expression gradually turned solemn. He raised his right hand and pressed down his half top hat of silk.

Then Klein adjusted his direction of travel and, step by step, proceeded toward where his gaze pointed.

That was the east.

Within endless darkness, the lantern he carried dragged out a lonely shadow. His knee-length trench coat was almost the same color as the faraway night. His footsteps were somewhat faster than before.

…

Backlund, Queens Borough, inside the Hall family’s luxurious villa.

Audrey sat before the dressing table and began earnestly thinking about how to make the release of the “bait” appear reasonable.

During this process, she suddenly thought of something.

That was: if she wanted to “listen” to the inner voices of participants near Beyonder gatherings, she lacked a sufficiently fast and convenient method.

As a Sequence 4 demigod, she could neither fly nor Teleport, nor could she use flames to “jump” in concealment. If it were deep night, she could use dreams as springboards to traverse. During the daytime and evening, however, she could only rely on her feet.

“Hmm… Actually, I’m not slow at all. But if I ran faster than a steam train, I would definitely draw attention… Backlund has so many powerful people. There will be no shortage of existences capable of seeing through my Psychological Invisibility… Similarly, in dragonification, I can fly, but that form is simply too conspicuous… Right now, I can only let my consciousness and spirit body enter the sea of collective subconscious. I can’t bring my physical body in as well…” After thinking it over, Audrey could only consider purchasing a sealed artifact or mystical item with Travel-related abilities while deciding to traverse through dreams where dreams existed, and otherwise walk, take carriages, or ride the subway.

What a plain and simple demigod… Mm, no wonder the full phrase is half-god, half-human. Those terrifying Beyonder powers belong to the godly side, and these parts belong to the human side… Audrey mocked herself with a smile and pulled her thoughts back to the right track.

…

Backlund, Hillston Borough.

Forsi, seated beside the fireplace, spread a book across her lap to use as a backing board for her letter paper.

She held a fountain pen, staring for a long time at the ruled lines on the paper and at the tarot cards scattered across the floor. Yet she could not bring herself to write.

“What’s wrong? You don’t want to deceive your teacher? No, everything you’re writing is the truth… You don’t want to scheme against your teacher?” Xio walked over, squatted down, and looked up into Forsi’s eyes.

Forsi shook her head.

“No, it isn’t because of that.

“I do feel some guilt, but I know this is a good thing for him and for the Abraham family.

“I’m just hesitating. I keep feeling that after I write this letter, our fate will change.”

“Huh?” Xio was a little dazed and did not quite understand what her friend meant.

Forsi slowly exhaled.

“The war before and the war now aren’t actually that dangerous to us. We have enough ability to avoid danger, obtain the supplies we need, and keep living peaceful lives. That’s why my feelings about it aren’t that deep.

“We’re like people standing beside a flood. Originally, we could watch everything safely from the shore. But once I write this letter, perhaps a wave will rise and sweep us into the torrent.”

Xio quietly listened to the end. She opened her mouth, then pressed her lips together and said, “If this matter didn’t exist, do you think we could avoid that torrent of fate?”

As she spoke, she picked a tarot card from the floor.

The card showed an angel blowing a horn and one dead person after another.

The Judgment card.

Forsi looked at the tarot card for a while, then closed her eyes briefly. She gathered her hair, smiled, and said, “I understand.

“This is a fate we cannot escape.”

After praying to Mr. Fool, after obtaining that Magician card, it had already become a fate impossible to escape.

The fountain pen in Forsi’s hand finally descended, landing on the letter paper.

…

Pritz Harbor.

Dorian Gray Abraham, who had long since left the Fishermen’s Association and changed his identity, opened the letter sent by his student.

As he rapidly skimmed through it, his expression shifted from shock, to joy, to confusion, before gradually turning into terror.

Bang!

Dorian threw away the letter in his hand and knocked over the table in front of him, as though that sheet of paper carried a curse and hid a monster.

He retreated again and again. Reaching the other side, he pulled open a drawer, took out several items, and then rushed for the door, preparing to leave this place.

Yet when his right hand rested on the brass handle, Dorian’s movements abruptly slowed, then finally froze.

He slowly turned around and cast his gaze toward the letter spread across the floor. His expression was exceedingly complicated.

Several seconds later, Dorian Gray Abraham walked slowly toward that letter, his steps hesitant, doubtful, and full of struggle. Yet he did not stop, as though tempted by a devil.