Chapter 21: Trojan Horse of Destiny

Chapter 21: Trojan Horse of Destiny

Looking at the half-Fool seated upon the gigantic stone chair, the scenes related to the Nation of Evernight that Klein had just experienced flashed through his mind, leaving him momentarily moved.

He did not know much about Antigonus. Several times, he had even nearly lost control because of the other party’s ravings of “Hornacis… Flegrea…” Therefore, at this moment, it could not be said that he felt sympathy. Rather, he felt a faint sense of resonance.

What had always wandered within that dream was, without question, one of the most beautiful memories of the past.

Even as a natural extraordinary species, Antigonus seemed to deeply cherish that once peaceful, tranquil, and isolated little nation.

Klein slowly exhaled and shifted his gaze away from the man whose face grew coarse, black wolf fur. His eyes fell beside the giant stone chair.

A book formed from thin sheets of brass lay quietly there. Upon it, three rules written in silver mercury-colored words continuously surfaced in alternation.

“0-02.”

“The Trunsoest Brass Book.”

Using an ability similar to Grafting to complete the seal? Hmm, it seems to go a step further than that. It wasn’t merely connecting the beginning directly to the ending rule. It also fooled the intelligence of the Trunsoest Brass Book, making it ignore the skipped middle portion and preventing it from attempting any changes, so it simply repeats the cycle again and again… Klein glanced at “0-02” and muttered thoughtfully to himself.

This gave him a certain guess as to what abilities The Fool would possess.

Without dwelling on it, Klein had the Attendant of Mysteries marionette “graft” together the starting point and the ending point, arriving beside the giant stone chair in a single step and picking up the Trunsoest Brass Book.

On one hand, this was to eliminate possible interference in what was to come. On the other, it was to test Antigonus’s current state.

Seeing that the half-Fool still slumbered and could not escape from eternal sleep, Klein let out a slight breath of relief. He had the marionette take the Trunsoest Brass Book and retreat to the palace entrance, where it waited.

The reason he did not have his avatar take this Grade 0 Sealed Artifact was that he worried the Trunsoest Brass Book, which had a certain connection to a sefirah, might display passive negative effects at the critical moment when he accommodated The Fool Uniqueness, causing the situation to plummet in a bad direction.

—When it came to avoiding the negative effects of Sealed Artifacts, marionettes were absolutely superior to avatars.

This was also why Klein had not brought the Staff of the Stars. He could not leave a ticking time bomb beside him.

Under ordinary circumstances, it would be fine. He could rely on his status, level, and abilities to forcefully suppress the Staff of the Stars. But during the process of accommodating The Fool Uniqueness, he would be extremely vulnerable and unable to interfere with the people and things around him. The slightest accident could cause him to lose control on the spot.

And in order to deal with the possibility that Sefirah Castle might be sealed off and its power unable to be borrowed, Klein had no choice but to bring along a Sealed Artifact capable of providing Teleportation. Therefore, he chose Creeping Hunger.

At this moment, facing a King of Angels who controlled a Uniqueness, Klein felt the human-skin glove on his left palm instinctively tremble.

He immediately stroked Creeping Hunger with his right hand and whispered in a joking tone, “Don’t worry. You’re only an image from the historical void.”

Having used this method to defuse the excessive tension in his mind, Klein looked around and confirmed that there was nothing else he needed to handle.

Immediately afterward, he placed a hand on his chest and solemnly bowed to Antigonus.

When he straightened and raised his head, a complex, mysterious, illusory brand appeared…