Chapter 100: Behind the Door

Chapter 100: Behind the Door

Because he had the City of Silver’s previous exploration as a foundation, Klein knew where the dangers were and how to avoid them. It did not take him long to follow that small path through the Forest of Decay, the Barren Tunnel, and the ancient elevator, reaching the place where the guards had once lived.

He waited a while longer. Only after the “curtain” above the gray fog had split in two, separating out the Servant of Mysteries Beyonder characteristic, did Klein reach out and drag out his past self.

He didn’t know whether other divine kingdoms would isolate the fog of history, but at the very least, the Giant King’s Court, which had lost its owner and had no one maintaining it, did not obstruct his attempt.

“It’s a pity this matter involves a level that’s too high. Divination won’t produce a result. Otherwise, I’d feel more at ease…” Klein shook his head and murmured soundlessly.

He did not rush to leap into the fog of history. First, he took two items out from his clothes and handed them to his projection.

One of them was a pitch-black wooden box. Inside it were the ashes of the Giant Guardian, Groselle.

Klein had never forgotten his promise.

Originally, he had planned to wait for Little Sun’s second exploration of the Giant King’s Court, hand Groselle’s ashes to him, and ask him to help bury them. Yet, entangled by all kinds of matters, Klein himself had arrived directly in the Forsaken Land of the Gods and entered the Giant King’s Court.

As for the ascetic Snowman’s ashes, Klein planned to scatter them into that golden-tinged sea when he left the Forsaken Land of the Gods—there, the divine blood of the Ancient Sun God rippled.

After giving over the ash box and the black iron key that came from Vice Admiral Iceberg, Klein followed his usual routine. He leaped into the fog, sprinted to the fragments of light before the First Epoch, and allowed his consciousness to naturally transfer into the projection he had summoned.

This projection did not hold the Staff of the Stars. It only wore Creeping Hunger. From here to the palace where the Giant King had lived, there was still a considerable distance, and in between were many giant golems blocking the way. Klein could not guarantee that he would be able to reach his destination within five minutes.

Immediately afterward, he made the glove on his left palm turn transparent, and his entire person vanished from where he stood.

In the next second, Klein’s figure, carrying the giant black iron key, appeared outside the guards’ residence. He had not teleported very far.

“Mm. Inside the Giant King’s Court, the vast majority of powers have clearly declined… Only guards recognized by the divine kingdom can display strength at a relatively normal level? Uh, Beyonder abilities similar to teleportation are under additional suppression. I can only ‘blink’ within a rather small range… From the looks of it, even if I summoned the Staff of the Stars, I wouldn’t be able to descend directly outside the Giant King’s palace through a scene sketched in my mind… As expected of the former divine kingdom of an ancient god…” Klein seriously examined the influence the environment exerted on him.

After making a preliminary judgment, he turned and walked back inside the guards’ residence. Opening the wooden box in his right hand, he solemnly scattered Groselle’s ashes into every corner.

According to the scenes he had seen in Groselle’s dream, this guards’ residence was the place where that giant had lived for a long time. It was the “home” of which he had the deepest impression and for which he had felt the deepest yearning.

One could imagine that, in those ancient years, Groselle and the countless generations of rational Giant Guards who came after him had rested here, roughhoused, exchanged rumors, discussed music, and thought up amusing games. They had not needed to worry about food or illness, and every day had passed joyfully.

As Klein’s hand trembled, the dust scattered, drifting onto the walls, the floor, the bedside, the tables and chairs, and beside the stone pillars.

The eternal orange-red light outside the window shone upon all of it, making everything appear peaceful.

When Klein scattered the last bit of ash, the twilight suddenly deepened slightly. The dust in different places blended into the orange-red light and became part of the divine kingdom.

Klein closed his eyes. He seemed to sense Groselle’s joy.

A wanderer who had been forced away from his homeland for more than three thousand years had finally returned to the place he had longed for day and night.

The twilight softened along with it, and Klein felt that the rejection pressing against him had lessened.

“Oh… It’s equivalent to being acknowledged to a certain extent, becoming a guard who has been partially accepted.” Klein extended his spirituality outward and confirmed the change.

He did not linger. Using Creeping Hunger and the route previously mapped out by the City of Silver’s exploration team, he blinked repeatedly, sometimes detouring and sometimes dragging out the Unshadowed Crucifix. Without encountering much difficulty, he passed through the hall of secret plotting and arrived beside the Giant King’s residence. To the left, he saw a railing made of rows of gigantic stone pillars. Beyond the railing were drifting orange-red clouds and a deep blue sea that gently surged.

Taking a deep breath, Klein retreated into the hall from which he had just emerged and reached out to drag out Enuni, the marionette that had once belonged to him and had not yet been parasitized by Amon.

Even if he was using a historical projection, he did not want to open the door himself!

After glancing at the somewhat vacant-looking Enuni, Klein handed him the giant black iron key tucked beneath his arm and controlled him to leave the hall. Following the railing made of stone pillars, Enuni walked all the way to the tallest and most magnificent building within the Giant King’s Court.

The twilight there seemed almost tangible, covering the surface of the palace and bringing with it an intense sense of decay, as though all things in the world were approaching their final curtain.

On the two sides of the palace stood, respectively, a pointed tower and a round tower. The main door was grayish blue as its base color, covered with symmetrical and mysterious symbols. Its full height far exceeded ten meters.

To the left of the crack between the doors, three or four meters above the ground, there was a pitch-black hole about the size of an adult’s fist.

Enuni stared at it for a few seconds, then raised the seven-stringed-lute-like black iron key and brought it toward the deep, dark hole ahead.

The two fit together so perfectly that not even the slightest gap remained.

As the giant black iron key sank into the deep hole, Klein, waiting in the nearby hall, held his breath, prepared at any moment to erase his own existence.

With a thud, the black iron key in the marionette Enuni’s hand touched the bottom.

It suddenly softened, as though merging with the hole, and grayish-blue rays of light bloomed from it one after another.

The various symbols, marks, and patterns on the double doors lit up in response, standing out in relief.

All the radiance rapidly intertwined. It pressed inward with a heavy force, causing the grayish-blue palace doors to slowly open.

The gap between the doors grew wider and wider. In Enuni’s eyes, there was suddenly reflected a surging, pitch-black, sticky, illusory sea.

Not good… Klein’s heart stirred, and an intense premonition of danger surged into his mind.

Without the slightest hesitation, his consciousness returned to his true body, cutting off his connection with his own image from the fog of history.

In the next second, his vision went abruptly dark. A sharp pain pierced the left side of his head, as if someone had thrust a red-hot iron rod into it and was constantly stirring it around.

At the same time, indistinguishable ravings echoed beside his ears. They seemed to come from an age older than ancient itself.

Klein’s expression instantly twisted, becoming exceptionally ferocious.

He could still barely maintain his reason, but he no longer had the strength to keep himself within the historical fragment.

Soundlessly, Klein fell back into the guards’ residence in the Giant King’s Court. With a turn of thought, he prepared to enter above the gray fog.

Before attempting something this dangerous, he had, without question, found reasons and excuses to arrange for the members of the Tarot Club to pray, thereby awakening Sefirah Castle’s automatic summoning ability. This would allow him to return above the gray fog in a critical moment without reversing four steps or reciting the incantation.

However, just as Klein’s spirit body saw that grayish-white fog and heard the familiar roars, he sensed Sefirah Castle rejecting him. It seemed to have accepted someone’s command and was actually stopping Klein from entering.

This… Amid his shock, Klein discovered a black shadow pass over him and rush straight toward Sefirah Castle.

This was not Amon. It was a shadow whose aura was completely identical to his own.

By instinct, Klein influenced Sefirah Castle in reverse and issued the intention to reject it.

Then he succeeded. That shadow was likewise blocked within the grayish-white fog.

Immediately afterward, both he and the shadow fell back into the real world.

After his spirit body returned to his flesh, Klein bent over under the unbearable pain, like a curled-up shrimp.

With a soft pat, the half top hat on his head fell to the ground.

Several seconds later, Klein finally recovered. He slowly straightened, turning his gaze toward a glass window polished from orange gemstone.

The window reflected his present appearance indistinctly.

With the bridge of his nose as the boundary, the right side of his face was the same as usual, while countless things crawled in and out of the left side.

Klein’s eyes narrowed slightly.

He hurriedly took a deep breath, calmed his state, and recovered the Clown’s control.

A clear image of himself was then sketched out inside his mind.

Gehrman Sparrow, dressed in a black trench coat, with black hair, brown eyes, and sharp features, had a right side of the face that remained normal. The left side had already turned semi-transparent, formed by twisted worms embracing one another.

Below his head, his neck was in a similar state, and the body hidden beneath his clothes was the same.

The edge of losing control… Hiss. I need to fight against an intense tendency toward madness… This—why? Klein suddenly sensed something. By instinct, he lowered his head and looked at his feet.

There was nothing there. The shadow that should have existed was missing.

The orange-red twilight shone in from beyond the window, yet it failed to produce even the slightest shadow beside Klein.

“Haha. I understand.” Klein bent his back and let out laughter he could not restrain.

He suspected that the “seawater” that had surged out from within the Giant King’s palace had not only “drowned” his marionette and historical projection, but had also used the latter to sever his shadow. This had caused his spirit to lose its wholeness, making him unable to fully suppress the tendency toward losing control.

And that shadow was equivalent to a fraction of him. It could likewise influence Sefirah Castle, which was why neither side had been able to arrive above the gray fog.

Once I clear away that shadow, the problem will be solved… As the veins throbbed at Klein’s right temple, he straightened his back.

Just then, the orange-red light shining in from outside was dyed with gold, becoming rather brilliant. It made the entire Giant King’s Court seem to have retreated from twilight back to noon.

Klein’s heart stirred. He turned his gaze out the window, and a faint image surfaced in his mind.

Before the tallest and most magnificent building of the Giant King’s Court, the marionette Enuni stood there, facing the open door.

Inside the door was darkness. It was impossible to see what existed within.

Suddenly, Enuni turned around and looked down from above.

A layer of shadow covered his face. His hair had turned deep black, falling to his shoulders, slightly curled.

Behind him, pair after pair of illusory black wings spread open.

Inside the nearby hall, a pure shadow slid out, its lower half pressed to the stone tiles while its upper half stood upright.