Chapter 14: “Cheating”

Chapter 14: “Cheating”

Although he had been a Beyonder for less than two years, Klein’s experiences were, even among Sequence 4 and Sequence 3 saints, unquestionably rich and varied. Among the things he had once possessed or encountered, there were no small number that could quickly kill his current self and were convenient to summon from the gaps of history.

Among them, he chose the Sunflare Charm he had once used in Tingen—the Sunflare Charm whose incantation had already been recited, whose spirituality had already been injected, and which was just about to be activated!

Admittedly, against a demigod of the Seer pathway—one inclined toward strangeness and change—this did not have an especially strong restraining effect and depended mainly on its inherent destructive power. But Klein would not dodge. He would not defend. He would open his body and mind and fully embrace that light of “hope.”

Even upon reaching the level of Sequence 3 Scholar of Yore, the defensive ability of a Beyonder of the Seer pathway remained low. Pure offensive power, relative to the level the Beyonder stood at, was likewise obviously lacking. This resulted in a rather tragic fact:

When Klein wanted to commit suicide, he himself did not possess the ability to resolve himself quickly. After all, he could not manipulate his own Spirit Body Threads and turn himself into his own marionette. That would create a logical contradiction: the deeper the marionettization progressed, the less ability the person would have to continue the marionettization.

Yet when Klein sought external means of suicide, he discovered that, as long as he did not use Marionette Swap, Paper Figurine Substitute, hiding in the gaps of history, and other such methods, there were simply far too many options for him to consider.

The Seer was precisely such a strange pathway—powerful enough, yet extremely lopsided.

Seeing that Klein was about to pull a Sunflare Charm from the fog of history, along with an intense suicidal thought, Amon merely smiled. He did not even raise His hand before stealing away that entire stretch of Klein’s thoughts, causing a faint glow to flash across the crystal monocle.

Klein immediately forgot what he had just intended to do.

But his movements did not stop!

When he heard that only half a day remained before they reached the final destination, the shock and astonishment he had shown were mostly feigned, because he had always been on guard against Amon, the God of Deceit, and had never trusted every word He said.

“No more than three days” could be interpreted in far too many ways. Klein had long since made preparations for the worst. After hearing Amon’s words, he immediately arranged what he needed to do next into a queue: after the thought of summoning the Sunflare Charm to kill himself came the summoning of that existence, then the summoning of that existence, then the summoning of that existence, looping again and again. This way, no matter how long a stretch of thought Amon stole, Klein could still act according to the preset procedure.

In this matter, the experience of dealing with 0-08 back then—thinking above the gray fog and treating his real-world self like a marionette that acted only according to a preset program—had given Klein tremendous help.

At this moment, although Klein did not know what he had just wanted to do and did not even feel as though he had forgotten anything, he was very clear about what action he would take next.

The past was not important. The present and the future were what mattered!

Klein once again reached out and grabbed toward the void in front and to the side. His entire arm abruptly sank.

However, when he drew back his right hand, he dragged out nothing.

At the same time, Amon lifted His palm and lightly grabbed forward.

He had stolen the image Klein had summoned from the gaps of history!

A figure swiftly outlined itself beside Amon. It was an old man wearing a hooded black robe. His eyes were dark and deep, like a lightless water surface, and the white beard around his mouth and face was long and thick.

Zaratul!

The leader of the Secret Order, the Sequence 1 angel Zaratul!

The existence Klein had attempted to summon was actually Zaratul, and he had succeeded on his first attempt!

This was because Klein had made preparations in advance.

In the city-state built by Phoenix believers, when Klein divided his marionettes into three groups to summon historical projections, his main body had actually been attempting to summon Zaratul.

There was no doubt that it could not possibly have succeeded at the time. But as a Scholar of Yore, if one’s own historical projection were being summoned and one did not notice, that would be too much of a failure. And Zaratul was unquestionably a veteran, outstanding Scholar of Yore with rich experience.

Through that attempt, which had been destined to fail, Klein had established a connection with Zaratul.

This was the tacit understanding between Scholars of Yore!

And a Miracle Invoker, an Attendant of Mysteries, could make his own historical projection respond actively, just as every Scholar of Yore could borrow power from his past self with one hundred percent success.

In addition, when a Scholar of Yore summoned images from the gaps of history, there was no contractual connection. They could only be controlled either because the target had no intelligence, or because the two sides had a good relationship. And in this world, among the high-level existences least willing to see Amon obtain Sefirah Castle, Mr. Door ranked first, Pallez second, and Zaratul third.

In other words, Klein and Zaratul were temporary allies in opposing Amon.

Based on all these factors, Klein believed he could summon Zaratul in a single attempt—and reality proved this point.

Precisely because of that, he was not worried at all about Amon stealing the historical projection he had summoned. He even hoped that Angel of Time would do so.

The reason he first offered the suicidal thought before summoning Zaratul was to make Amon steal away his thoughts. Amon was a King of Angels who enjoyed trying things and pursued excitement. Since He had too many options of His own, it was very likely that the next theft would not repeat itself. It would not steal thoughts, but rather steal the summoned historical projection.

This was one of the few trump cards Klein had.

The next second, Zaratul’s eyes changed from dull and rigid to lively. They instantly gained a sense of reality.

Clearly, this Attendant of Mysteries, this senior Scholar of Yore, had entered the gaps of history with His main body, allowing the projection from the same era to gain His own consciousness!

And the moment Zaratul’s projection possessed self-awareness, it turned its gaze toward Amon without hesitation, firm and decisive.

Amon’s eyes—one wearing a monocle, the other not—narrowed at the same time. He saw the barren plain around them, where lightning flashed frequently and ravines lay everywhere, suddenly become void-dark and deep, dotted with dazzling stars.

He seemed to have been dragged beneath the starry sky by Zaratul.

This was a miracle.

Opposite Amon, the projection had already transformed into an enormous, mysterious vortex formed by twisting worms. From it extended transparent tentacles in every direction. Merely looking at it would make one lose reason, mutate, and go mad.

At that moment, Klein discarded all the other thoughts arranged in the queue. Seizing the opportunity, he controlled a monster deep in the darkness and transformed it into his marionette.

Immediately afterward, he swapped positions with the marionette.

After arriving in the depths of darkness, Klein once again reached out and grabbed at the air before him. He grabbed several times in succession, while his marionette made the same movements.

Finally, he dragged a new figure out from the void.

It was Arianna, dressed in a simple linen robe, a bark belt around her waist, long black hair falling down, bare feet, ordinary features, and dark-black eyes.

The abbess of the Evernight Cloister, the leader of the ascetics, Servant of Concealment, an earthly angel—Arianna.

As soon as Arianna appeared, Her dark eyes returned to normal, not at all like a projection’s.

It seemed that Her true body had entered a Concealed state, thereby allowing the historical image that had been summoned from the gaps of history to also possess intelligence.

This was one reason Klein chose to summon Her, giving up on Mr. Azik and Miss Messenger, whose success rates were higher. This way, even if an accident occurred during his “suicide” and he failed to die, the coming battle with Amon could still continue!

Once a historical image possessed its own consciousness, Klein’s maintenance of it would become much easier, indirectly lengthening the time the projection could remain.

Klein immediately used the connection between a Scholar of Yore and the historical image he had summoned to quickly communicate with Arianna, Servant of Concealment.

He asked Her to kill him!

Arianna’s body suddenly arched. Her right hand dropped behind Her, drawing from the depths of darkness a bone longsword covered in strange patterns.

Then She abruptly took one step forward and swung that sword.

The entire darkness truly began surging, spreading madly toward where Klein stood.

An unlucky monster happened to be between Arianna and Klein. As the tide-like darkness drowned over it, the monster directly dissolved.

This was not the authority of Concealment. It was a combination of powers from Slumber and Horror, symbolizing danger within the darkness, symbolizing soundless destruction and disappearance.

Beyonders of the Sleepless pathway had to reach Sequence 3 Horror Bishop before they could grasp such power.

By instinct, Klein’s survival impulse tried to make him flee. But at this moment, he felt that all the darkness around him was the enemy, that it would be infected by that power and become part of the tide. There was no way to avoid it, nowhere to hide.

You did not have to go all out, did you? A fraction of Your power would easily kill me… Klein restrained the instincts of a living creature and stood where he was, waiting for destruction.

At that moment, a distant, illusory bell rang out around him.

It seemed to come from the depths of long history, making everything nearby slow down—including the surging darkness.

In midair, sheet after sheet of pitch-blackness was pierced, revealing a huge wall clock carved from stone.

It was ancient and mottled. Its face was divided into twelve segments of gray-white and bluish black, each containing a different symbol. It had three hands—one long, one short, and one of medium length—seemingly composed of twelve-segment Worms of Time weathered by countless years.

As the second hand jumped, the bell rang again.

Dong!

Amid the echo, the tide-like darkness surged even more slowly. Then the ancient clock’s illusion dissipated, turning back into Amon wearing the pointed soft hat and monocle.

Behind Him, Zaratul’s projection was also in a slowed state.

Immediately afterward, Amon stood in midair and extended His right hand, pressing it virtually toward the darkness.

The darkness quickly returned to normal and submerged Klein, but it caused him no harm whatsoever. No one knew whether a “bug” had appeared, or whether its Beyonder effect had been stolen.

At the same time, Amon’s body instantly became exceptionally huge, rising to more than ten, nearly twenty meters tall, yet His clothing showed not the slightest damage.

He looked down at Klein, raised His hand to adjust His monocle, ignored the attack Zaratul’s projection launched from behind Him, and curled His lips with great interest.

“This is somewhat interesting.”