Chapter 7: Grace

Chapter 7: Grace

Klein pressed one hand against the grayish-white wall and slowly sat up, smiling as he shook his head.

“Before my stomach is filled, my brain refuses to work.”

This was both truth and lie. Before becoming a complete mythical creature, a saint would still feel hunger and thirst, but for a Sequence 3 demigod, going ten days to half a month without food or water was still bearable. As for a complete mythical creature, eating was a hobby, not a necessity.

What Klein truly meant was that, before formally beginning his escape, he needed to adjust his condition to its best.

“A Magician’s habit.” Amon gave His evaluation with a smile. “I am not responsible for providing food, but you may find a way to solve it yourself.”

Klein glanced at the leather lantern on the ground. After thinking for a few seconds, he stretched out his right hand and grabbed at the void.

A low tea table immediately appeared before him. It was an item from Dawn Dantès’s mansion.

In the dim yellow light, Klein reached out once more and summoned from the gaps of history an exquisitely wrapped box.

Inside the box was a complete set of tableware, including knife, fork, plate, and cup.

The reason Klein chose this object was that separately summoning different pieces of tableware would not form a complete set—he could maintain only three images from the gaps of history at the same time.

After calmly arranging the tableware, Klein turned his head politely toward Amon, who wore the pointed soft hat, and nodded. Only then did he summon from the gaps of history a medium-well steak coated in black pepper sauce.

It fell onto the porcelain plate, giving off a little steam. As the dinner knife sliced through it, one side still showing traces of myoglobin was revealed.

Klein forked up a piece of beef and placed it in his mouth. He felt the texture was real, the taste wonderful, not at all false, truly soothing the burning anxiety in his stomach.

“For fifteen minutes, not only will I no longer be hungry, I will also receive ‘real’ replenishment.” After swallowing that piece of beef, Klein introduced the matter to Amon with a smile, like a hospitable host rather than a pitiful Beyonder who had been kidnapped.

Amon pressed the lower edge of His crystal monocle and nodded with a smile.

“I’ve tried it. Not bad.

“You adjusted your state very quickly. Are you truly not considering becoming my blessed?”

Klein cut off another piece of beef. As he forked it up, he responded as if chatting casually with a friend.

“Kill me.”

At that very moment, frequent lightning and boundless darkness alternately ruled this land. In places where the surrounding light could not reach, pairs of eyes watched without emotion, while twisted weeds with dark-red tips danced gently with the breeze that blew from time to time.

Yet inside the half-collapsed building, dim yellow light coated the artistic tea table and exquisite tableware in warm colors. The aroma of fried steak lingered faintly in the air, forming an absolute contrast with the outside environment, though almost nothing separated them.

Klein endured the gazes of terrifying monsters from the depths of darkness and elegantly, politely enjoyed fine food atop this barren, gray, horror-brewing land.

After finishing the steak, he summoned a small glass of ice wine produced at Rose Song Manor and drank it in one gulp.

Then cream soup, pan-fried cod, tender lamb stewed with peas, baked potato skins, and various wines were summoned one after another, entering Klein’s stomach.

During this process, the steak he had eaten earliest had already exceeded its maintenance time and vanished into thin air. However, Klein’s stomach and body were numbed by the later food, and he did not notice it.

Of course, the tea table and tableware had been resummoned; otherwise, they could not have lasted until the end.

At the meal’s conclusion, Klein once again reached out and drew from the void a cup containing one scoop of vanilla ice cream.

He then used a dessert spoon to dig out the ice cream bit by bit, placing it in his mouth and feeling it melt and sweeten.

After finishing one scoop, he remained unsatisfied and summoned another from the gaps of history.

Like this, Klein ate five consecutive scoops of ice cream in different flavors.

When Klein reached out for the sixth time, Amon, sitting to his side, suddenly laughed.

“Your fate has undergone an abnormal change. You are already sufficiently lucky.

“Is this your preparation?”

Klein’s outstretched right hand froze in midair. His pupils seemed to dilate slightly.

Almost simultaneously, in the deep darkness around them where the lantern’s light could not reach, strange creatures of every shape twitched in unison and instantly became Klein’s marionettes.

This time, Klein sent out one hundred Worms of Spirit at once, hoping that at least some lucky ones could avoid Amon’s theft.

Immediately afterward, behind the tea table, the figure wearing a black wool coat and no hat was replaced by an extremely revolting vampire covered in pus.

The artistic tea table and delicate tableware cracked like glass dropped to the floor, splitting into countless fissures and shattering into pieces.

They rapidly returned to the gaps of history, lest they interfere with Klein’s subsequent summons.

The next second, those one hundred marionettes, along with Klein’s true body hidden somewhere unknown, all reached out at the same time and grabbed toward the void, using sheer numbers to evade Amon’s interference.

At this moment, every one of them was a Scholar of Yore.

This was the ability derived from a Bizarro Sorcerer, the source of the Seer pathway’s qualitative change.

Of course, the probability of each marionette’s successful summoning was independent. They did not affect one another.

At that moment, what Klein wanted to summon was Miss Messenger Reinette Tinekerr’s projection when she had recovered to her peak state inside the Tudor ruin. Because of their contract and the charm, this was the easiest angel image for him to summon from the gaps of history!

Amon remained leisurely seated where He was, His monocle shimmering as He watched one hundred and one Kleins perform the summoning at the same time.

Right hands extended neatly, then withdrew. Neither Klein nor his one hundred marionettes succeeded. None of them pulled Reinette Tinekerr out from the void.

At that moment, Amon lifted His right hand and reached forward as well.

His arm sank slightly. He casually pulled backward, and outside the half-collapsed building appeared a rag doll as huge as a castle, wearing a gloomy, elaborate dress and bound by vines.

Ancient Evil—Reinette Tinekerr!

Amon had stolen the historical projection Klein had summoned!

Within Reinette Tinekerr’s red eyes, the figures of Klein’s one hundred marionettes were immediately reflected.

Silently, faint light rose from those marionettes—some still in Klein’s form, others in monster shapes. They turned into horned goats, white rabbits, and various other animals.

Transformation Curse!

Klein’s true body had already vanished, then stepped out from the flame rising within the leather lantern.

He glanced at all the animals that could perhaps be called himself, then suddenly sat down again and chuckled.

“Taking a walk after a meal effectively improves one’s health.”

He said nothing about his attempted escape, as though nothing had happened at all.

Amon maintained His earlier leisurely posture and very cooperatively nodded with a smile.

“I have read many books written by humans, and they do indeed contain such a view.”

At this point, He raised His hand and pointed toward the projection of Reinette Tinekerr outside.

“This is your messenger?”

This was something that could easily be confirmed, so Klein did not hide it. He gave a soft “Mm” and nodded.

“What a pity.” Amon looked Reinette Tinekerr’s projection up and down a few times, then clicked His tongue and shook His head.

While sensing the food in his stomach vanish one item after another, Klein asked, “What is a pity?”

“I should have brought you and waited in Backlund for a few more days. That way, your messenger would have delivered a letter to you, and then she would have become my messenger.” Amon pushed the monocle over His right eye and said with a smile, “Stealing an angel-level messenger is very challenging, and very fun, isn’t it? Life always needs some amusement, excitement, and anticipation.”

“I thought the same.” Klein responded to Amon with sincerity.

“What a pity.” Amon, wearing a pointed soft hat, shook His head again. “Evernight is a target that must be treated with caution. If I had stayed any longer, even I do not know what might have happened.”

As He spoke, this Angel of Time ended His maintenance of Reinette Tinekerr’s projection from the gaps of history, making her vanish before Klein.

“You seem rather wary of the Goddess,” Klein said in the tone of a devout believer of the Evernight Goddess.

Of course, he did not actually need to pretend. He was still Evernight’s blessed.

Amon’s gaze shifted toward the leather lantern inside the half-collapsed building, looking at its dim yellow light.

“I cannot steal from secrecy what I wish to know. I cannot interpret what other arrangements She may have or where the true key point lies.”

For a King of Angels of the Marauder pathway, this was reason enough for wariness.

Taking advantage of Amon answering this question, Klein suddenly began silently reciting the Evernight Goddess’s honorific name in Jotun within his heart:

“You are the Evernight Goddess more exalted than the starry sky, and more eternal than eternity…”

No sooner had he recited this single sentence than the thought was lost. If he had not previously had a similar plan, he would almost not have known he had made such an attempt.

Amon turned His head to look at him and smiled.

“You wish to test whether, after stealing your thoughts and words, I repeat them in my mind?

“As long as one becomes a Parasite at Sequence 4, one can control stolen things and make them appear at a suitable moment.”

“So that is how it works.” Klein nodded gently. “Thank you.”

As he spoke, Klein swiftly summarized in his mind the experience and lessons from that escape attempt:

Because of the contract and the subordinate relationship, of all the angels I know, summoning Miss Messenger is the easiest to succeed at.

Summoning ice cream from past Will’s hand can establish a subtle connection with Him as a representative of fate and obtain the favor of luck. Mm, every scoop of ice cream can represent a portion of luck… I originally intended to use summoning ice cream as cover while secretly summoning the Snake of Fate.

Subsequent summons must be preceded by interference. Otherwise, Amon can directly steal the historical projection I summon. After spending so much effort, I would only be gifting Him a helper…

As Klein’s thoughts raced, Amon pointed to the pile of animals afflicted by the Transformation Curse and revealed a faintly malicious smile.

“Were you not worried that the Forsaken Land of the Gods would lack suitable food? Now you have it. As long as the curse is not lifted, they are true animals.”

…Klein froze for a moment and abruptly looked toward those goats and white rabbits.

Following his will, the animals’ gazes turned toward him at the same time.

In a certain sense, they were all Klein himself, because they had transformed from the combination of his Worms of Spirit and monsters after being cursed.