Chapter 9: Confirmation

Chapter 9: Confirmation

They will not give blessings… Derrick was somewhat puzzled by that answer and could not quite understand it.

Back at the Afternoon Town camp, when he had handed the Silver Knight potion formula to Chief Colin Iliad, the other party had praised him for making a tremendous contribution, saying that the City of Silver’s future ceiling would no longer be Sequence 4. Yet in his words, he had not revealed the slightest intention of seeking a blessing from an external power.

Therefore, Derrick had always believed that the Chief could rely on the two god-level sealed artifacts to complete the Silver Knight advancement ritual on his own. At this moment, he could not help feeling surprised.

Did the Chief not know at the time that those two god-level sealed artifacts would not give blessings, and only discover this problem after returning to the City of Silver? Derrick instinctively made such a guess, but he did not ask further. Instead, he nodded heavily.

“All right. I will do my best to seek a deity’s blessing for you.”

The Demon Hunter Colin silently breathed out, then pointed toward the door.

“The room opposite is empty.”

Derrick immediately turned around, passed through the doorway, crossed the corridor, and entered the half-open room.

Then he found a place to sit, lowered his voice, and recited:

“The Fool that doesn’t belong to this era;

“The mysterious ruler above the gray fog;

“The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck…”

Inside Sefirah Castle, hidden within the gray fog, the crimson star representing The Sun swelled sharply and then abruptly contracted, repeating this process over and over. It sent out ring after ring of light containing the sound of prayer.

Not far from it, because The Fool had never responded, the crimson star representing The Magician remained in a similar state. The rings of light, ripples, and tremors created by the two gradually intertwined and stacked together, growing increasingly intense.

Beneath flash after flash of lightning, Klein, carrying the leather lantern as he walked within the river valley, suddenly felt that the illusory, layered prayers beside his ears had become even more clamorous, chaotic, and loud.

However, Klein discovered that he could also hear them a little more clearly now. Not only could he distinguish that the prayers came from one woman and one man, but vaguely, he could also grasp some of their contents. The woman seemed to mention The World and Backlund. The man was using Jotun, and the keyword seemed to be ritual.

Ritual, Jotun… This is from Little Sun’s side… Uh, that Chief wants Mr. Fool’s blessing? Mr. Fool himself wants a blessing right now too… The woman might be Miss Magician, though Miss Justice can’t be ruled out… Klein tugged at the corner of his mouth in difficulty. He turned his head toward Amon beside him, who wore a pointed soft hat and a monocle, and asked, “Can I go to Sefirah Castle and respond to the prayers?”

“What do you think?” Amon froze for a moment, then asked back in amusement.

“Since you want to play such a game, why not make it more exciting?” In truth, Klein had not held any hope regarding that request at all, because as long as he could return to Sefirah Castle, he could rely on its power to initially free himself from his predicament. That was equivalent to directly asking Amon to release him.

The reason he had brought it up was to begin the conversation that would follow.

Amon pressed His knuckle against the crystal monocle and laughed softly.

“As the God of Mischief, I have lived from the Third Epoch until now. I think you should understand what that means.

“Mm. What do you wish to ask?”

…He has accurately grasped my mindset and thoughts… Klein sighed inwardly and asked, “Why did you parasitize the City of Silver’s exploration team back then, and so patiently stay in the dungeon for decades?”

Amon nodded and answered in a relaxed posture, “At the time, I had a premonition that I would obtain extremely important information in the City of Silver. Now, that prophecy has come true, has it not, Mr. Fool?”

…He did all of that specifically to wait for the Tarot Club and me? This King of Angels of the Marauder pathway seems able to glimpse, to a certain extent, the disturbances Sefirah Castle causes in fate… Klein had never expected this to be the answer. For a moment, he did not know how to continue the topic.

After more than ten seconds, he sighed.

“You truly have patience.”

A King of Angels who liked pranks had actually been able to lurk in a dark dungeon with almost no entertainment for decades.

“That has nothing to do with patience. It did not cost me much time,” Amon answered casually.

…I’m still used to measuring gods by a human scale. For a born complete mythical creature like Amon, decades really don’t count for much. His true age may even be more than three thousand years… Klein adjusted his understanding and asked again, “The City of Silver should be one of the few places that still persists in believing in your father. Was what you did to that exploration team not too excessive?”

This question seemed unnecessary, but Klein believed it would help him understand Amon’s cognition, views, and style of action, and see whether there was anything he could exploit.

Amon turned His head and looked at him with the right eye behind the monocle. He smiled indifferently.

“If they did not still believe in my father, the City of Silver would already be ruins.

“Heh. According to my observations, they are hiding a rather significant secret. As for what exactly it is, because of The Hanged Man’s and your gaze, I have not yet had time to peer into it.”

…He really is a born mythical creature. A few human deaths may be no different from stepping on a few ants to Him. He would not take it to heart at all… The City of Silver is actually hiding a secret that even Amon considers significant… What could it be? Thoughtfully, Klein changed the topic.

“Was Dark Angel Sasrir truly created by your father using one of His ribs?”

This was something Klein had wanted to ask all along, but had never found the chance to.

The smile on Amon’s face faded considerably. Looking toward the deep darkness ahead, He said, “Yes. He separated a portion of His own characteristics and the corresponding negative personality from Himself, then used His rib as material to create Dark Angel Sasrir.

“If not for that, how could an arrogant fellow like Medici possibly submit to the so-called Left Hand of God and Deputy of Heaven?

“If not for Sasrir’s betrayal, entanglement, and influence, even if Evernight, Earth, God of War, and the other Kings of Angels had joined forces, there would have been no possibility of causing my father to fall.”

As expected… Dark Angel Sasrir is the most important breaking point… No wonder the Goddess wanted to tempt Him from the very beginning… Who could have imagined that one’s own self would betray oneself? Klein’s guesses regarding that ancient divine war received preliminary confirmation, and he felt the Scholar of Yore potion digest a little more.

He deliberately hesitated, then proposed a conjecture.

“Could your father have foreseen this development? Could Dark Angel Sasrir also be a key arrangement for His resurrection and return?”

Amon suddenly laughed.

“You have been asking so many questions because you wish to further digest your Scholar of Yore potion, don’t you?”

…Klein put on an expression as if he had nearly broken out in cold sweat, then quickly adjusted his mentality.

“I’m merely very curious. What are you seeking and pursuing as you wander through the Forsaken Land of the Gods? This place does not contain the Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic of the Marauder pathway you lack, nor does it have Sefirah Castle.

“Are you trying to resurrect your father?”

Amon maintained His earlier smile, looking ahead as He said, “Yes, and no.

“My paranoid brother is already very close to resurrecting my father. He probably no longer needs my help.”

Adam truly wants to resurrect the ancient Sun God? I had thought He was purely trying to become Sequence 0 Himself… Klein did not conceal in his heart the fact that he directly called the leader of the Twilight Hermit Order by name.

He even hoped Adam would come and give His younger brother a beating.

Of course, beating someone up did not fit the style of a King of Angels from the Spectator pathway.

“There is no need to recite His name. He will not interfere in my affairs, and I will not interfere in His. I do not call Him Adam purely because I feel Paranoid is a very suitable nickname for Him. I have to admit, that fellow Medici truly has talent when it comes to nicknames. Also, even if I say His name, if I do not wish Him to hear it, He cannot hear it.” At that moment, Amon, wearing the pointed soft hat, smilingly exposed Klein’s little scheme.

After that, Klein did not bring up the Dark Angel again, because Amon clearly would not answer.

Before long, the human and the angel left the river valley and saw a dead, silent city-state.

Most of this city-state’s buildings had collapsed. The remaining structures had very pointed roofs, as though symbolizing towers leading to heaven.

Dark-red vine-like plants grew across their surfaces, bearing fruits one after another. No one knew whether they were edible.

After entering the city-state, Klein discovered that before every house was a stone coffin. Inside them lay skeletons or corpses that had only just begun to rot.

What they had in common was extreme deformity. Some had four legs. Some had cracks opening in the centers of their brows. Some lacked skin, revealing flesh and blood directly. Some had arms wrapped around their necks like tails.

“This was originally a city-state that believed in the Phoenix. Later, it converted to my father, but retained some death-related customs.” Amon, wearing the monocle, casually surveyed the surroundings. “After the Cataclysm, they were left behind in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, yet they found no relatively normal edible plants nearby. They could only feed on contaminated monsters. Generation after generation, all of them developed bodily mutations and mental derangements. Then they were completely destroyed.”

The Cataclysm brought about by the Goddess and the others assassinating the City of Silver’s Creator truly was a disaster for civilization… Before that, this land had elven civilization, giant civilization, phoenix civilization, and so on and so on. Afterward, only traces remained… Klein thought of the city-state swallowed by the earth and sighed silently.

In history books and mysticism, calling that period the Cataclysm was indeed extremely fitting.

After some thought, he said, “Why are we entering this city-state instead of going around it?”

Amon smiled.

“During the Second Epoch, aside from controlling the Death pathway, the Phoenix Ancestor also occupied a portion of the Apprentice pathway. Certain arrangements here can become loopholes for me to exploit, shortening the time needed to reach our final destination.”

Klein’s expression instantly sank slightly.