Chapter 74: Speculations About the Apocalypse

Chapter 74: Speculations About the Apocalypse

Loen Kingdom, Backlund.

Forsi, who was still fast asleep, suddenly woke from her dreams and instinctively turned her gaze toward the window.

She was not lacking in similar experiences. Before becoming a member of the Tarot Club, she had awakened like this several times in the middle of the night because of the full-moon curse. But today, she did not feel the familiar pain. Instead, some inexplicable palpitation had risen inside her heart.

Because the curtains had blocked the window, Forsi could not judge the time from the faint light. She subconsciously turned over and got out of bed, walked to the window, and pulled open the two layers of cloth and gauze curtains with a swish.

Sunlight passing through the thin fog immediately poured into the room, dispersing the accumulated darkness. Standing at the window and looking into the sky, Forsi’s face showed obvious confusion.

The sun had already risen. The crimson moon had long since set. Why did she still feel something like the warning before the full-moon curse arrived?

Besides, there were still many days before the full moon!

…

Intis Republic, Trier.

One early-rising astronomer after another, occult enthusiasts, and Beyonders hidden among ordinary people all raised their gazes toward the sky.

The layered clouds of night had scattered completely. The enormous, bright moon concealed all starlight.

The moon’s color was no longer the familiar crimson. It was pure white, extraordinarily bright.

Every witness was stunned. This was a moon they had never seen before.

Whether in ordinary textbooks of human society or books related to mysticism, no similar phenomenon had ever been recorded!

Aside from the common crescent and full moon, and the occasional blood moon, the moon had never undergone such a change—at least, in the more than thirteen hundred years since the Fifth Epoch began, absolutely not!

At that moment, only then did the witnesses realize that, apart from crimson and blood-red, the moon also had another color.

…

The Forsaken Land of the Gods, the City of Silver.

Because it was currently afternoon, when lightning appeared at a very high frequency, Derrick and the others all noticed the abnormality in the sky.

The lightning and darkness they were accustomed to, so familiar with, disappeared completely for those brief seconds, leaving not the slightest trace. The blood-colored round light that occupied half the sky was so obvious, so enormous, illuminating everything with incomparable clarity.

The quicker-thinking residents of the City of Silver immediately associated it with the descriptions and corresponding illustrations of the moon in their general education textbooks. In an instant, astonished and confused thoughts flashed through their minds.

“Is that the moon?”

“The crimson moon?”

“We actually saw the red moon…”

Very soon, the red moon before their eyes began losing its blood color inch by inch, revealing a bright, cold, pure body.

The residents of the City of Silver became even more bewildered. They had no idea what exactly had happened.

Derrick Berg, who had heard Mr. Hanged Man, Miss Justice, and other Tarot Club members speak about the outside world, was even more astonished and shocked than them, because this was not a natural phenomenon even outside the Forsaken Land of the Gods.

Several seconds later, the moon vanished. Deep darkness once again drowned everything, and frequent lightning became the main source of illumination.

“What happened just now?”

“Did you all see that red light?”

“The moon! That was the moon!”

“That was the crimson moon!”

“Could this be a sign that we will soon escape our present situation?”

“Will our second exploration of the Giant King’s Court go smoothly and open the door to the outside world?”

Amid doubt and confusion, most residents of the City of Silver instinctively regarded this phenomenon as a good thing, as a favorable omen in mysticism. Only Chief Colin Iliad, Elder Lovia of the six-member council, and a few others wore grave expressions and furrowed brows.

…

Above the grayish-white fog, inside the ancient palace.

After roughly understanding Amon’s method of deception, Klein instinctively turned his attention back to the secret he had gained this time.

He had made certain guesses about the corresponding content before, but when it was truly unveiled, he discovered that it was far more terrifying, exaggerated, and despair-inducing than he had imagined.

“The fact that it successfully caused the starry sky to gaze at me means the secrets Amon revealed are at least mostly true…

“Above Sequence 0, there really is another level. That should be the level at which the ancient Sun God once stood. It’s only that His state seems to have been not quite right, and He was backstabbed, fell, and broke apart.

“…According to Amon, describing that level as ‘Creator’ isn’t accurate enough. He calls it Above the Sequences… There are also existences that describe that level as ‘beyond the Sequences,’ perhaps to express that they have broken free from the restrictions of the Beyonder pathways?

“…The gods call that level ‘Great Old Ones,’ ‘Outer Deities,’ or ‘starry sky’… From this, two things can be seen. First, in the vast universe outside this world, within the boundless starry sky, there exist Great Old Ones and Outer Deities—that is, beings at the level of the Creator. For example, the one that encompassed the moon…

“…It seems the brown star, orange star, and the others are the original planets. They have changed, making even Emperor Roselle unable to recognize them… Is that because Great Old Ones or Outer Deities are entrenched upon them, watching our world?

“…The ‘Great Old Ones’ in the Box of the Great Old Ones originated from a mutation after being polluted by the starry sky…

“…Mm. There is very likely more than one Great Old One or Outer Deity… Why are all of Them around this planet? What are They peering at?

“…They have not invaded directly because some power is temporarily isolating inside from outside?

“…Does that come from the seven gods?

“…Considering the prophecy that the apocalypse will arrive at the end of 1368, the seven gods may not be the key factor. They have not yet surpassed the Sequences… When 1368 arrives and the true barrier disappears, the Great Old Ones and Outer Deities will no longer be obstructed. Then the apocalypse will descend?”

At this point, several questions Klein had accumulated before suddenly flashed through his mind.

Why had the Evernight Goddess risked triggering a divine war to seize the Uniqueness of the Death pathway?

Why had the seven gods tacitly allowed a Black Emperor to appear?

Why had Kings of Angels such as Adam and Amon, after remaining silent for who knew how many years, stepped out from behind the scenes and onto the stage in the present era?

Why had the remnants of the ancient gods of the Second Epoch all begun appearing one after another?

Why, among the “transmigrators” released from Sefirah Castle, had there been only one in the first four Epochs, while the Fifth Epoch, only a little more than a thousand years old, already had two?

Whew. Whether they are good or evil, everyone is working hard to raise themselves and greet the apocalypse… An existence as skilled at planning as the Goddess chose such a risky method because She is preparing to surpass the Sequences and become a Great Old One? There are only a dozen years left. Time waits for no one… Is Her secret support of me also rooted in similar expectations? Adam had at least two chances to deal with me directly, yet didn’t act. Aside from the fact that He and I truly have no major grudge, was this also one of the factors? Klein tapped the edge of the mottled long table lightly and murmured, “The key to becoming a Great Old One or Outer Deity is one of the nine great sefirot?”

He looked around at the empty Sefirah Castle, sighed, and said inwardly, The exact situation will only be known after seeing the second Blasphemy Slate. Unfortunately, I have no idea when that opportunity will come…

He immediately shifted his attention to other matters.

I wonder if the ancient Sun God had completely surpassed the Sequences… If a native Great Old One truly was born, then when the apocalypse arrives, humanity will at least have a little hope… His fall was even more complicated than I imagined…

No wonder Emperor Roselle said one must be Sequence 0 to preserve oneself and protect those one cares about…

Have those Great Old Ones or Outer Deities infiltrated power into this world?

Mm. Judging by the fact that the seven orthodox gods and evil gods like the True Creator are all hostile toward the Primordial Moon and the Mother Tree of Desire, perhaps Their true bodies are Great Old Ones or Outer Deities…

No wonder the Mother Tree of Desire could directly mislead my divination above the gray fog. She is the most dangerous existence in my understanding!

I understand what those Great Old Ones and Outer Deities gathered around this world want…

They probably want to obtain the nine great sefirot. Destroying the world is only incidental…

At that point, Klein suddenly remembered something the Mother Tree of Desire had said through Cynthia’s mouth:

“Admiral, I want to have a child with you.”

Klein immediately shuddered and began seriously considering the problem of safety after returning to the real world.

He already possessed a certain understanding of the starry sky. As long as he subconsciously had the corresponding thoughts, he would directly establish a connection with those Great Old Ones and Outer Deities and suffer corruption!

If Sefirah Castle hadn’t already severed the connection from earlier, I wouldn’t even dare return to reality… Klein thought it over and decided to ask his psychiatrist, Miss Justice, to hypnotize him, sealing the corresponding information deep inside his subconscious so that he would remember only after seeing a preset trigger.

He had originally wanted to directly summon Miss Justice’s projection from the gaps of history to do this, but considering that this was delicate work, if the operator lacked deep understanding of the mental domain, mistakes were very likely. Once a mistake occurred, the gazes of the Great Old Ones and Outer Deities would fall upon him.

Whew. I must remember to have Miss Justice hypnotize herself to forget this matter as well… Klein deliberated and weighed things for a while, then transformed the corresponding request into flowing light and cast it into the crimson star representing Justice.

Before long, Justice Audrey, who had just finished breakfast and had not yet left home, arrived above the gray fog.

The bronze long table had vanished. Inside the ancient palace were a writing desk and two chairs.

“Mr. World, what is it that you need to forget this time?” Audrey looked at Gehrman Sparrow seated across from her and raised the most crucial question.

Klein rubbed his temple. In a low voice, he recounted the secrets involving the starry sky, the Great Old Ones, and the Outer Deities.

Justice Audrey’s eyes widened bit by bit as she listened. Her whole person seemed as though she had been invaded by an evil god.

After Klein finished, she was silent for several seconds. Then, in an equally low voice, tinged with confusion, she said, “So this is the truth of the apocalypse?

“Even the seven gods cannot save us?”

Without waiting for Klein to respond, Audrey laughed self-mockingly.

“I thought the things I had been doing recently were all very meaningful…

“I thought the worst news I could imagine was Loen’s defeat and the Church’s collapse…

“But compared to the secret you just told me, all of that is so small.”