Chapter 79: We Meet Again

Chapter 79: We Meet Again

Klein abruptly turned around and looked at that figure who was both familiar and unfamiliar.

He had imagined all kinds of situations in which Utopia might be attacked, but he had never expected this kind of scene to appear.

If Amon had “parasitized” the Gehrman Sparrow marionette, then with Klein’s current status and the Spirit Worms above Sefirah Castle monitoring everything around the clock, he would certainly have discovered the problem immediately. And if Zaratul had reconnected the Spirit Body Threads, that could only have deceived him for a short period, and it would have required the assistance of an angel like a Knowledge Emperor or Servant of Concealment. It could never have achieved the effect of such a sudden ambush. Only the humanity granted by a Spectator could slowly ferment while showing not the slightest abnormality on the outside.

To guard against such a situation, the only method would have been to regularly sever the Spirit Body Threads and let the marionette enter a state of death. In that way, no matter whether it had originally possessed humanity or not, it would eventually cease to exist.

Unfortunately, Klein had never heard of such a method before. He had merely guarded against virtual personas invading the marionettes.

Perhaps this was the authority of a Visionary: to grant every fictional, insufficiently real life a unique humanity.

When that face with hard lines and a cold appearance entered Klein’s eyes, he felt a force push him.

He immediately toppled backward, falling from the layered ruins of the old city toward the lower reaches of the fog, toward the outside of the historical mist.

During that process, he tried to control himself but found it impossible, because the wooden cross stake nailed into his heart had sealed all kinds of Beyonder abilities.

As his thoughts turned, Klein looked at Gehrman Sparrow and raised his hand, snapping his fingers.

Pa!

The Spirit Worms inside Sefirah Castle received his will. They abandoned this marionette’s Spirit Body Threads and picked up the Staff of the Stars, preparing to deliver Klein a fatal blow—to kill himself.

Once his main body died completely, Klein could revive above the gray fog and escape the predicament.

After learning that Adam was the manipulator behind the scenes, he no longer held any illusions of luck.

Just then, beneath Klein’s feet appeared a stone plaza floating in the void.

One pitch-black stone pillar after another rose up, holding aloft a grand and sacred cathedral that enclosed Klein within.

The Cathedral of Corpses—Adam’s Cathedral of Corpses, the divine kingdom of the Visionary!

Rumble!

Countless silver-white bolts of lightning descended from Sefirah Castle, pierced through the fog of history, and struck the cathedral. Yet they could not shake it in the slightest.

At the same time, inside the ancient palace, the figure seated in The Fool’s position suddenly toppled to the side and collapsed into a vortex formed from transparent wriggling worms.

The vortex extended one slimy, bizarre tentacle after another, madly slapping the surroundings, overturning the junk pile and destroying the mottled long table.

Klein’s avatars had lost connection with the main body, yet the main body had not truly died. Therefore, they lost control and went mad, just like Zaratul before.

Inside the old city from before the First Epoch, Gehrman Sparrow, wearing a half-height silk top hat and a black trench coat, raised his head to gaze toward Sefirah Castle. His expression became rather complicated.

His essence was a corpse. After the Spirit Body Threads were abandoned, he naturally could no longer maintain his own existence.

What Adam had granted was only humanity, not a fantasized life, because the latter would have been discovered.

Gehrman Sparrow slowly fell. His gaze turned toward the rooms within the old city.

He died among those ruins.

…

Klein’s feet touched the ground, and he stood in the middle of the cathedral. Every pillar, every arch, and every section of the dome here was inlaid with skulls from different races. Most of them were pale white, densely clustered together, gazing at the intruder with hollow eyes.

On the cathedral’s walls, windows, and doors, one transparent, distorted, pained face after another protruded, completely separating the interior from the outside world.

At the very front of the cathedral stood a cross over a hundred meters tall.

Before the cross were rows of black chairs with backs.

Adam, wearing a simple white robe, with a light-golden beard and a silver cross pendant hanging from His neck, stood beneath the cross, facing the rows of chairs like a priest preparing to preach to His congregation.

His expression was gentle, His eyes clear. It was as though He had merely invited Klein to listen to scripture.

Klein lowered his head and glanced at the wooden cross stake lodged in his chest. Then he slowly walked to the front row of seats and sat down openly in the very middle.

For a true mythical creature composed of numerous Spirit Worms, the injury to his chest could not be considered fatal. The ancient, bloodstained wooden cross stake’s main function was to seal his Beyonder abilities.

If a true god were not standing ahead, Klein could have relied entirely on his physical strength to pull the wooden cross stake out himself and remove the seal.

At this moment, however, he did not attempt it because he feared that “not daring to do it” might turn into “not wanting to do it.”

“I didn’t expect you to directly interfere in this matter. If you wanted to deal with me, you had no need to wait until today.” Klein looked at the shirt dyed red by the blood from his chest and seriously voiced his confusion.

He showed no panic at all, as if he were absolutely certain Adam would not kill him.

Adam held the silver cross pendant in one hand and said evenly,

“Before this, you could play a considerable role in many places.”

He took two steps forward and continued with a clear gaze,

“When Amon came to steal the Cathedral of Corpses, I reached a deal with Him. He would help me obtain the first Blasphemy Slate, and I would help Him capture you.”

So that’s how it was… Klein immediately came to a realization.

On one hand, Adam had not wanted to be obstructed by entities such as the True Creator during His godhood ritual. On the other, He also wanted to obtain the first Blasphemy Slate. Therefore, while He used methods such as granting the Unshadowed Crucifix to push Klein toward the Giant King’s Court, making him open the door to Sasrir’s sleeping place and drawing part of the attention of existences like the True Creator there, He had also used His brother Amon to steal the first Blasphemy Slate at the critical moment.

And to capture Klein, who was about to gain initial control of Sefirah Castle, it was naturally most appropriate for the Visionary to make the arrangements.

No matter how distant Amon and Adam usually appear, blood brothers are still more easily able to cooperate than others… Klein gave a slight nod, then glanced sideways at the stained-glass windows where twisted faces protruded.

“I also didn’t expect Zaratul to cooperate with you. Isn’t He afraid of becoming food for Amon?”

When Klein created Utopia, he had imagined Amon attacking and Zaratul disrupting things. But he had not expected Them to cooperate in a certain sense.

In his view, the probability of Zaratul fully defecting to the Mother Tree of Desire was higher than this, unless Adam had also arranged Him without His awareness.

A few traces of pity appeared in Adam’s clear gaze.

“To Him, your becoming an Old One means His inevitable demise. But if Amon becomes an Old One, then as long as He shows His loyalty, He can still preserve His current status and level. The Lord of the Mysteries always needs Attendants of Mysteries.”

“So He chose to cooperate with me. During this process, if He can seize an opportunity before I do and turn you into a marionette, using you to enter Sefirah Castle and become master of that sefirot, then He will have the qualifications to ask Evernight for a chance to face Antigonus and compete with Amon one final time. Conversely, He will admit complete defeat and pledge loyalty to Amon.”

“In this respect, He has great decisiveness.”

“Explaining this much doesn’t really suit your style,” Klein first responded casually, then frowned and asked, “Does becoming an Old One not require all the Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics of the corresponding pathways?”

He had inferred this point from the relationship between the ancient sun god and the eight Kings of Angels, but he had believed one must first become an Old One or quasi-Old One before splitting off characteristics afterward.

Adam answered with a gentle expression,

“For neighboring pathways, one only needs the Uniqueness and one Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic. Forcefully occupying more makes it easier to lose control. Therefore, after Zaratul pledges loyalty to Amon, He has the chance to become a King of Angels. But He cannot pledge loyalty to you, because He cannot, like the Marauder pathway, split off a Sequence 2 avatar and use it to steal all of the main body’s spirit body, consciousness, and mind, turning the auxiliary into the primary.”

A Seer pathway marionette avatar and a Marauder pathway Worm of Time avatar were fundamentally different in this respect. The former involved Spirit Body Threads, while the latter relied only on itself.

Moreover, Marauder angels could accomplish this because Their Sequence 2 was Trojan Horse of Destiny.

Klein had just nodded when he suddenly saw Adam turn sideways, revealing an object beneath the cross.

It was a gray, unremarkable slate whose surface retained many mottled traces, making it appear rather weathered.

It looked much like the first Blasphemy Slate, but lacked that abnormally ancient feeling.

On its surface were likewise words that seemed to be the origin of all languages, writing one Sequence name after another, one potion formula after another.

“The second Blasphemy Slate?” Klein asked with some astonishment.

His gaze rapidly swept across the slate. He did not interpret the words in the earlier portions, instead directly looking toward the final few lines.

His intuition told him that there was extremely important information there.

“No need to rush. Amon must wait until He completes His ritual and becomes Sequence 0 before He can come steal your fate. Otherwise, He has no way to withstand the identity of Sefirah Castle’s master. Before then, the best choice is to let you continue staying in my divine kingdom.” Adam was like a priest comforting a repentant believer.

Just kill me… Klein muttered inwardly.

At that moment, he had already interpreted part of the final lines:

God, Creator, Maker, Omniscient and Omnipotent, Lord of the Astral World:

The Chaos Sea + Visionary Uniqueness + Sun Uniqueness + Tyrant Uniqueness + White Tower Uniqueness + Hanged Man Uniqueness + one Author Beyonder characteristic + one Pure White Angel Beyonder characteristic + one Thunder God Beyonder characteristic + one Eye of Omniscience Beyonder characteristic + one Dark Angel Beyonder characteristic.

Lord of the Mysteries, King of Space-Time, Beacon of Destiny, Embodiment of Sefirah Castle, Ruler of the Spirit World:

Sefirah Castle + The Fool Uniqueness + Error Uniqueness + Door Uniqueness + one Attendant of Mysteries Beyonder characteristic + one Worm of Time Beyonder characteristic + one Key of Stars Beyonder characteristic.

Seeing this, Klein turned his head toward the Visionary Adam and asked in confusion,

“Why are you showing me this?”

Wouldn’t it be more reliable to just hypnotize me and have me sleep until Amon becomes a god?

Adam’s eyes were clear, His expression gentle.

“To speak frankly, if the other side were not Amon, I would rather help you become Ruler of the Spirit World.”

“We have too many similarities. In a certain sense, we are old friends who have met once before.”

At this point, He smiled faintly.

“We meet again, Mysteries.”