Chapter 17: When the Stars Are Right

Chapter 17: When the Stars Are Right

“Chernobyl!”

Hearing Amon’s words, Klein’s first reaction was sheer astonishment.

During the approach to the bluish-black one-eyed giant, he had imagined many possible developments, but no matter what, he had never expected to hear a name like that.

It was like seeing a water-cooled machine gun appear inside an ancient oil painting, or a scene from a novel suddenly appearing in a scientific paper. It was full of incongruity, making it impossible to believe.

The next second, Klein associated it with the absurd matter of the ancient Sun God using one of His ribs to create Dark Angel Sasrir, yet naming His eldest son Adam. By instinct, he believed the current situation was something similar, and he could not help wanting to laugh.

When he realized that Amon, this King of Angels whose power was almost like a Bug and who always wore a nasty smile, had used such a relatively grave and solemn posture to speak that name, Klein’s urge to laugh became even harder to restrain. And he had no intention of restraining it.

It would be best if I laughed until Amon flew into shame and anger and killed me directly… Amon turning out the way He is today is definitely something the ancient Sun God’s education bears a large part of the responsibility for! Klein’s lips split open as he prepared to mercilessly vent the laughter in his heart.

At that moment, another bolt of silver-white lightning tore across the sky, illuminating the deep ravine and once again letting Klein see the gray-white, heavy buildings stretching along the bottom.

These buildings were completely different in style from the current age, the Fourth Epoch, the Third Epoch, and even the Second Epoch.

Thump!

Klein’s heart abruptly contracted, then expanded. The smile that had just begun to bloom froze on his face.

Thump! Thump!

Klein heard his own heartbeat. One piece of common sense after another concerning this world suddenly surfaced in his mind:

“A year has twelve months, three hundred and sixty-five days, and leap years…

“Every day has twenty-four hours. Every hour has sixty minutes. Every minute has sixty seconds…

“It has been confirmed to be a planet…

“There is one, and only one, sun and one moon in the sky…”

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Klein’s instincts stopped him from thinking further, but deep within his heart, a voice still emerged:

Could it be that there has never been such a thing as transmigration? That I have actually always been on Earth, only suspended above the gray fog upon that door of light for far, far too long, truly belonging not to this era…

As this thought took shape, countless details he had never paid attention to surged out in his mind like a volcanic eruption:

“At the easternmost end of the Sonia Sea, before entering the Ruins of the Battle of Gods, around that deep-sea ancient well, there were decayed, collapsed steel structures. They seemed to have been left behind by humans…

“The overall shapes of the Northern and Southern Continents are very much like North and South America, except that the large portion where they approached each other seems to have been directly erased by some power, forming the complex, twisting, winding route of the Berserk Sea… Also, Sonia Island resembles that large island in the north as a whole drifting south… The Central Sea is like an expanded, connected version of the Great Lakes, as though that region had been struck by an enormous meteorite…

“On the Northern Continent, the mountains and rivers have changed a great deal, but the overall shape can still barely be recognized…

“In that case… the Western Continent, homeland of the elves, and the Eastern Continent, where the Forsaken Land of the Gods is located, correspond with Chernobyl…

“In the treasure legends of the sea, there is a lost civilization called Newins, sunk somewhere in the Fog Sea…

“The Giant King’s parents were humans… The origins of the Sanguine and elves are also suspected to be humans…

“My two previous questions—why Sefirah Castle would grab ‘transmigrators’ from Earth, and why all those people belonged to the era I lived in—can now be explained…”

In just two or three seconds, it was as if thunderclap after thunderclap exploded continuously in Klein’s mind. His lips trembled faintly, as though he were doing his utmost to prevent a certain answer from taking shape.

“But this world’s moon is crimson… The starry sky is also somewhat different from Earth’s… I’m not an astronomy enthusiast and don’t remember clearly, but the Emperor consumed potions of the Savant pathway. If the starry sky were completely identical, he would have discovered it long ago…” Opposing thoughts appeared in Klein’s heart immediately after. They were like firm anchors, preventing a ship in a storm from being blown away from harbor.

Yet the next second, Klein remembered two sentences.

One was a terrifying prophecy he had seen online in his “previous life”:

“When the stars are right, Chaos will rise from the underground, and the Great Oldest One will awaken.”

The other was:

“Beware of the moon!”

This… That prophecy wasn’t nonsense? The stars have returned to their positions, so they differ from before? Klein nearly ignored Amon before him entirely. Even his body began trembling lightly.

It took great effort for him to let out a sigh in his heart.

Perhaps I never left home… yet I will never be able to return.

The moment he formed that understanding and realization, the grayish-white fog appeared before him silently.

This time, he was directly standing within the historical fragment corresponding to the “decaying forest,” corresponding to the end of the First Epoch and the beginning of the Second.

Unlike before, the boundless gray fog before him was no longer empty. In the depths of the fog, far, far away, broken spots of light lit up one after another.

They were like lighthouses, illuminating the road of history, drawing Klein forward in a sprint, continuously tracing back through thousands, tens of thousands, or even more years.

Then he saw the brilliant door of light tinged with hints of bluish-black. He saw one transparent cocoon after another hanging from the door of light. He saw himself dressed in a T-shirt and casual pants.

An invisible wind blew past. Beneath the door of light, the grayish-white fog opened layer after layer, revealing city after city.

Within them rose tall skyscrapers. All kinds of cars were parked there. Pedestrians coming and going had been frozen in place.

These cities were pressed one atop another, covered in gray-white dust. Many buildings had already collapsed, jutting out broken steel bars. Some cars were dented, some destroyed, some flattened into iron pancakes. The pedestrians’ eyes held no vitality, as though they were wax figures…

Seeing this, Klein stopped and gazed deeply.

He now knew with absolute clarity:

This world was Earth!

His Scholar of Yore potion completely digested at that very moment.

All at once, Klein’s consciousness returned to the real world, and he discovered that his connection to Sefirah Castle had strengthened further.

Amid a humming sound, the resonance created by the prayers of the Tarot Club members around him became even more intense.

Previously, Klein had already been able to vaguely sense Sefirah Castle above the gray fog through their prayers and see the chair belonging to The Fool. Now, he seemed to have finally established some connection with that crimson “figure” that was twisting and trying to take form.

Klein instantly understood something: at this moment, he no longer needed to recite an incantation or take four steps counterclockwise. With a single thought, his spirit body could enter Sefirah Castle and become one with that “figure.”

Without a doubt, this was the best chance for him to escape his predicament!

With no time to lament that this world was Earth, and holding the thought that Amon surely could not have expected such a change, Klein immediately turned his thoughts and “leaped” toward Sefirah Castle.

At that moment, Klein’s eyes reflected Amon, dressed in a classical mage robe, wearing a pointed soft hat and monocle. The corners of His lips were slightly raised, carrying indescribable delight.

Klein’s mind suddenly exploded. All his thoughts were occupied by Amon’s frenzied ravings:

“You were right. I do not wish to steal your fate and, while becoming Sefirah Castle’s new master, shoulder a heavy burden…”

“You were right. This has been a deception from the very beginning…”

“But the core of this deception was to make you believe that I was constantly giving you hope and then destroying it in order to break down your will and make you agree of your own accord to become my blessed…”

“If I had not deliberately changed my clothing upon entering the Forsaken Land of the Gods, if I had not several times ‘accidentally’ displayed the powers of Error, would you have been so certain that my main body had already arrived?”

“Would a God of Deceit not understand that changing appearance at that time would reveal many problems?”

“Did you think that I, who entered Chernobyl long ago, would not understand what that name represents?

“I have been in the Forsaken Land of the Gods for more than a thousand years precisely to seek the most ancient portion of history—the history that surpasses the First Epoch.”

“The true purpose of this journey was to give you time, give you historical knowledge, help you finish digesting the Scholar of Yore potion, make you relax your guard in this regard, and then, when your connection to Sefirah Castle deepened further and you attempted to stir Sefirah Castle, seize that chance, exploit the loophole, and directly steal Sefirah Castle.”

“Your fate remains yours. Sefirah Castle becomes mine.”

…

The terrifying ravings from a King of Angels contained Amon’s light chuckle and ravaged Klein’s mind. They were no less damaging than Mr. Door’s howls.

Traces of Worms of Spirit bulged out on the surface of Klein’s skin. He stood on the edge of losing control.

And from within his body, a twelve-ringed Worm of Time burrowed out, transforming into Amon’s illusory figure, dressed in a black mage robe, wearing the same pointed soft hat and crystal monocle.

This was the Amon shallowly parasitizing Klein’s body. Its purpose had not been to monitor his thoughts, nor to seize control at a critical moment through deep-level parasitism. Its purpose was to grasp an opportunity just like this one!

From the very beginning, Amon had used deep-level parasitism chiefly to place a Worm of Time inside a saint through shallow parasitism without that saint noticing!

The Amon illusion turned back, glanced at Klein—who was being disrupted by ravings and unable to turn his thoughts—and revealed the exact same smile as His main body:

The corners of His lips were slightly raised, carrying indescribable delight.

Then He turned around and, borrowing that invisible connection, “leaped” toward Sefirah Castle above the grayish-white fog.

This was similar to when He had once parasitized Derrick Berg, attempting to slip above the gray fog through the crimson star corresponding to The Sun.

But this time, no one in Sefirah Castle performed purification, shut the “door,” and isolated Amon.

This was a splendid performance.

This was the God of Deceit.