Chapter 96: Following the Heart’s Will

Chapter 96: Following the Heart’s Will

The Dark Demonic Wolf, who had been fiercely attacking Reinette Tinekerr, seemed to sense something. His movements slowed by a beat, and He turned His head toward the newly appeared Wraith.

His pupils, which already occupied two-thirds of His eyes, abruptly expanded, as though He had smelled some familiar and dangerous aura.

In an instant, that Wraith raised both arms.

The “power of wishes” in the surrounding area suddenly faded faster. Divinity began returning, reaching the level of Sequence 4. At the same time, pale, illusory arms emerged one after another from the soil beneath the Dark Demonic Wolf’s feet. They were densely packed like a forest, grabbing upward at Kotar’s eight legs and plunging this Miracle Invoker into an icy, deathly stillness, briefly preventing Him from breaking free.

Taking advantage of that chance, Reinette Tinekerr, whose movements had grown a little sluggish from the manipulation of Her Spirit Body Threads, made Her body turn illusory and vanish from where She had been.

Inside the Dark Demonic Wolf’s black pupils, Miss Messenger’s figure abruptly emerged, Her blond hair draped loosely around Her, Her gloomy, complicated long dress entwined with sinister vines. She completed Wraith possession.

The God of Wishes, Kotar, immediately stiffened, as if degenerating from a living creature into a puppet.

He tried to affect Reinette Tinekerr’s Spirit Body Threads to counter Wraith possession, but every so often, the pale, freezing arms created by the other female Wraith interrupted Him, making success difficult.

Seeing this, Klein maintained the loops formed by the Spirit Body Threads while slowly lifting the Staff of the Stars and aiming it at the black velvet “curtain” in cloak form.

A scene formed in his mind.

The surrounding darkness abruptly began to flow, as though it contained unimaginable secrets. Points of illusory candlelight lit up within such an environment, illuminating a long table covered in flesh and blood.

On both sides of the long table, three extremely blurry figures held the flesh and blood, devouring it hungrily.

In the next second, all three figures turned their heads at the same time, casting their gazes upon the semi-transparent black velvet “curtain.”

The maddening suction released by the “curtain” stopped abruptly. Maintaining its cloak form, it hovered in place, as though it had momentarily forgotten who it was, which side it belonged to, and what it should do.

The Banquet of Betrayal!

Fairy-tale magic: Banquet of Betrayal!

What Klein had just used was the fairy-tale magic from The Hermit Cattleya, known as Banquet of Betrayal. Its effect was to briefly awaken items in a target’s possession—or give them intelligence—making them perform a “betrayal.”

This was a Beyonder power at the Sequence 4 level. Therefore, under the earlier suppression from the “power of wishes,” it had been impossible to use.

At the same time, because the spell reproduced by the Staff of the Stars differed quite a bit from the original, and because that “curtain” did not harbor strong malice toward the Dark Demonic Wolf, it merely fell into confusion and did not launch a frantic attack on its master.

The instant Klein escaped the “curtain’s” influence, he snapped his fingers, allowing crimson flames to swallow him.

A moment later, wearing a silk half top hat and a long black trench coat, his figure appeared within a cluster of flames beside the Dark Demonic Wolf.

The crimson flame shot upward into a stream, allowing Klein to leap out with ease.

He then bent his back slightly, carrying the Staff of the Stars, and charged toward the huge, small-mountain-like demonic wolf.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Klein ran faster and faster, as though becoming a gale. What greeted him were the two front claws the Dark Demonic Wolf barely raised after breaking free of His restraints.

Smack! Smack!

Klein swung the black cane left and right, striking Kotar’s two front claws with precision, causing them to pause briefly.

At the same time, he lowered his body, passed between the two front claws, and slid into the space beneath the Dark Demonic Wolf.

Amid the whistling wind, Klein twisted in midair and thrust the Staff of the Stars upward.

With a soft plunge, the black cane inlaid with many gemstones pierced through the skin covered in dark short fur, driving deep into the Dark Demonic Wolf’s body and forcibly tearing out an exaggerated wound.

Splash!

Dark, red-tinted blood surged out like floodwater from a broken dam, carrying the intense corrosive nature of a mythical creature as it sprayed toward Klein.

But by then, Klein had already flown backward from beneath the Dark Demonic Wolf, preparing to launch his second wave of attacks.

Suddenly, he heard a broken, halting roar.

It came from the Dark Demonic Wolf Kotar, who had been possessed by a Wraith and was moving with great difficulty. Its meaning was:

“Le… o… de… ro!”

…Klein’s gaze froze at once. Inside his mind, it seemed as though the Dark Demonic Wolf’s face appeared, brimming with mocking amusement.

He was not the only one who could draw upon the residual divine power. He could, and so could the Dark Demonic Wolf Kotar!

Even if this Miracle Invoker had not previously known that the Angel of Wind, Leodero, had become the Lord of Storms, after Klein’s demonstration just now, He naturally knew what to do.

Who did not know how to simply imitate?

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The silver-white, brilliant bolts of lightning poured down like water erupting from pipes, overlapping side by side as they flooded the ancient castle ruins and completely submerged every figure.

Klein had no time to react in any other way. The moment he heard the first half of the word, he had already relied on the Clown’s ability to forcibly twist his body, kick off with his right foot, and return beneath the Dark Demonic Wolf. Reinette Tinekerr, meanwhile, jumped back onto the gold coin inside his pocket.

Immediately afterward, Klein dropped to one knee and stabbed the Staff of the Stars into the ground.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The vast and mighty thunderstorm tore apart everything in its path.

When that brilliant, terrifying forest of lightning finally dissipated, even the ruins of the Dark Demonic Wolf’s ancient castle could no longer be called ruins. Not a single trace of its former shape remained—only a charred black pit.

Inside the deep pit, paper figurines were blown up and turned to ash.

Silently, one patch of soil shimmering with colored glass light softened. Klein’s scorched hand reached out.

With the Dark Demonic Wolf having endured most of the damage, he had relied on Paper Figurine Substitute and Underground Burrowing to barely survive. He could faintly smell roasted meat coming from his own body.

After returning to the surface, Klein turned his gaze and took in the entire battlefield:

The Dark Demonic Wolf’s remains were scattered everywhere, all charred flesh without the slightest trace of life.

That piece of “curtain” had curled into a ball and fallen at the edge of the pit, utterly motionless.

The power of the wish had been completely emptied, and divinity had fully returned to this area.

The Wraith that had established a connection with Artificial Death had been destroyed.

If this were any other Beyonder, at this moment they might believe that the Dark Demonic Wolf had chosen to take everyone down with Him in the end. But as a demigod of the Seer pathway, and one who had enjoyed the treatment of a Miracle Invoker ahead of time, Klein’s mind flashed with a different thought:

“What is a miracle? Resurrection from death is a miracle!

“When the Dark Demonic Wolf saw the situation turning against Him, He did not hesitate to draw down divine punishment, trying to make everyone die together. Then He could revive somewhere nearby!

“I nearly used up my final resurrection…”

Klein had certain contingency plans for matters of this kind. He immediately prepared to use a charm engraved with The Fool’s pattern, having it pray to Mr. Fool in place of him before Miss Messenger. Then he would take advantage of Sefirah Castle’s still-unfaded “summoning” to enter above the gray fog with a single thought, use the True Vision attached to the prayer light to inspect the surroundings, and search for the revived Dark Demonic Wolf.

Just then, Reinette Tinekerr left the gold coin in Klein’s pocket and appeared beside the curled-up “curtain.” In a faintly drifting voice, She said, “It has a Miracle Invoker Beyonder characteristic.”

A Miracle Invoker Beyonder characteristic? Right. The Dark Demonic Wolf possesses one of the six Miracle Invoker characteristics under the condition that the Attendant of Mysteries characteristics are full. Normally speaking, the remaining Attendant of Mysteries characteristic should also correspond to one Miracle Invoker characteristic… As Miss Messenger spoke, Klein’s spiritual intuition also reacted, confirming Her judgment and making him think of the answer once given by the Snake of Fate, Will Auceptin.

There should be a total of nine Miracle Invoker Beyonder characteristics. But with the three Attendant of Mysteries characteristics fully accounted for, the three Sequence 1s would each certainly hold one Sequence 2 characteristic, leaving only six Miracle Invoker characteristics. They respectively belonged to Zaratul, Antigonus, the Wishing Lamp, the Never-Ending Theater, the Last Feast, and the Dark Demonic Wolf.

Klein had originally hoped to obtain the Dark Demonic Wolf’s characteristic. He had not expected that the “curtain” not only contained a Sequence 1 Attendant of Mysteries characteristic, but also a Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker characteristic—the very one that had gone missing back then.

“Looks like the reason it went missing was also that it was swallowed by the gray fog and later spat out… Should I still search for the revived Dark Demonic Wolf? No. The True Creator and Amon may descend at any moment, and I’ve already consumed more than half my preparations, while the Dark Demonic Wolf is still in perfect condition. He can wish, summon, and create miracles… In any case, my objective has already been achieved…” As thoughts flashed through his mind, Klein lifted his head and said to Miss Messenger, “I will put away this ‘curtain.’”

He gave up on the idea of pursuing the Dark Demonic Wolf, planning to seize the chance while the “curtain” was in a weakened state and bring it under control.

Reinette Tinekerr nodded lightly. One of Her heads turned, casting its gaze upon the Dark Demonic Wolf’s charred remains.

Faint light immediately rose from the remains. Some pieces turned into white rabbits, while others transformed into goats—all the kind with a rich roasted-meat aroma.

…

In a hidden place nearby, the Dark Demonic Wolf Kotar’s body, covered in dark short fur, rapidly condensed into form.

He directly abandoned His original corpse. Immediately, He wished for Himself, responded to Himself, transferred to a distant place, and sprinted away without looking back.

This God of Wishes did not consider the loss of the “curtain” at all. The reason He had not chosen to resurrect on the spot was precisely because He hoped the “curtain” would hold back that fellow closely connected to Evernight, buying Himself more time to escape.

What had allowed Kotar to survive from the Second Epoch until now was following the will of His heart. When He should not be greedy, He was never greedy.

Amid flickering light, the demonic wolf with a tuft of gray-white fur on His forehead vanished deep into the darkness.

…

Klein did not stop Miss Messenger from venting Her anger. As he approached the “curtain,” he sighed inwardly:

“An angel is truly hard to kill—especially one from the Seer pathway!”

As the thought turned, Klein was just about to drag out a past version of himself and have him pick up the “curtain” when he suddenly sensed a familiar aura descending.

The aura was dark, filthy, and filled with corruption. It immediately made Klein think of the True Creator!

The “curtain” abruptly floated up, once again transforming into a cloak.

Inside the cloak, deep darkness formed a vortex and emitted a low buzzing sound:

“Mysteries.”