Chapter 30: Making Rules

Chapter 30: Making Rules

As the Klein before Amon transformed into the Fool card, the entire room abruptly shrank, revealing its original form.

It was an iron cigarette case, slightly corroded and infused with the aura of Sefirah Castle.

Klein’s figure appeared out of thin air. As The Fool’s divine kingdom collapsed and the magnificent palace reemerged, he grabbed the container that held the Fool card and Amon’s true body, then abruptly snapped it shut.

He had never expected to use an item like this to seal Amon, who controlled the corresponding authorities of the Door pathway. He merely wished to buy a little time and find an opportunity to throw Amon out of Sefirah Castle, reclaiming the initiative.

But at that very moment, Klein, dressed in a black trench coat, froze.

With his other hand, he took a crystal monocle out of the void and brought it toward his right eye.

Behind him, Amon, wearing a pointed soft hat and a classical black robe, swiftly outlined Himself. His eyes were slightly deep black and mad as He smiled.

“When did you start having the illusion that I didn’t use an avatar?”

Before His words finished, the “parasitized” Klein rapidly flattened and became a crudely cut paper figurine.

Klein valued caution above all else. He had likewise not used his true body, relying instead on a Paper Figurine Substitute “grafted” with Spirit Body Threads.

He knew very well that when fighting Amon, it was better to abandon an opportunity than to make a mistake. Once a mistake was made, under the suppression of “bugs,” it would be extremely difficult to reverse the situation.

Amon seemed not at all surprised that His prey had transformed into a paper figurine. He simply raised His hand and lightly touched the monocle ground from crystal.

At the other end of the magnificent palace, Klein, wearing a top hat and trench coat, uncontrollably stepped out from The Fool’s innate concealment.

His right hand lifted heavily. With great difficulty, he groped into the void and drew out a crystal monocle, little by little bringing it toward his right eye.

During this process, Klein’s expression was filled with resistance and was quite distorted, as though he had lost control of his own hand.

Half mad and unable to fully restrain His desire to speak, yet half leisurely, Amon smiled and said, “You can use a paper figurine to replace yourself, and a paper figurine can also replace you.

“If it is parasitized, that is equivalent to you being parasitized as well.

“Everything is relative. Everything contains loopholes. There is no Beyonder ability that cannot be cracked or can be applied to every situation.”

He used the connection between the Paper Figurine Substitute and the main body to actively create a “bug.”

Although Amon seemed unable to control His desire to speak because of His half-mad state, this did not prevent Him from fully corroding Klein, strengthening the “parasitism” bit by bit, forcing the other party to truly put on the monocle and become Himself.

At that moment, Klein’s body suddenly collapsed.

It collapsed of its own accord.

He split into countless transparent, twisted worms that scattered in every direction.

Mixed within those Worms of Spirit were several Worms of Time with twelve segments.

Strictly speaking, even with tiny organisms like Worms of Spirit, Amon’s Worms of Time could still forcibly “parasitize” them. However, when Klein split apart, he actively used the authority of Fooling to confuse the order of time and “fool” those few Worms of Time, causing them to split off only at the very end. They failed to keep up with the main group and could not find targets to “parasitize.”

The next second, the scene inside Sefirah Castle changed once more. Klein again used the Realm of Mysteries ability and created a new divine kingdom of The Fool.

Amon instantly found Himself inside a room.

A thick pale-yellow carpet covered the floor. A chandelier made of crystal hung from the ceiling. On each of the four walls was a door, leading to unknown places.

At the same time, every wall also held oil paintings depicting various kinds of eyes.

Amon did not need any special examination. With one glance, He knew that the four doors corresponded to different effects. Their main purpose was to delay His movements and buy enough time for what would follow.

Mr. Error’s lips curved slightly. He turned His gaze to His feet.

Then He stretched out His right fist and spread His five fingers.

A phantom door immediately appeared on the thick pale-yellow carpet.

After swiftly wandering for a second, the door fixed itself in place and opened silently.

However, as this illusory door opened, the doors on all four walls of the room also produced a strange linkage. With creaking sounds, they opened as well!

Almost simultaneously, within a pitch-black wilderness, inside a shadowy tower that seemed to reach into the sky, Klein held the Wishing Lamp and undid the Fooling effect attached to the Trunsoest Brass Book.

The wick of the Wishing Lamp abruptly ignited, releasing thick pale-gold light.

The light then formed a twisted, blurry figure.

Klein did not consider making a wish to the Lamp Genie to transfer the number of wishes Bernadette bore onto himself and alter the ownership of the Wishing Lamp. That would have only one result: he would die on the spot and rely on a Miracle Invoker’s ability to return from the fog of history.

Ordinarily, that was a good way to escape danger, especially since Klein could still revive several times.

But this time, the situation was completely different.

Once Klein died, it would mean he had temporarily abandoned his identity as the owner of Sefirah Castle. This place would become the Amons’ paradise, allowing Them to use this sefirah without obstruction.

Under such circumstances, Amon could completely “fool” history, interfere with fate, suppress Klein’s resurrection, and make him truly die.

The one who most restrained a Beyonder was absolutely a higher-level expert of the same pathway.

Therefore, Klein’s current plan was to use the Lamp Genie’s status to better employ the Trunsoest Brass Book.

—If the Lamp Genie did not exert a certain influence, the rules formulated by the Trunsoest Brass Book would certainly not favor Klein. It would only restrict, without discrimination, all existences other than itself.

As the pale-gold, blurry figure of the Lamp Genie took shape, the Trunsoest Brass Book flipped rapidly to the writable latter half amid metallic clanging sounds.

Without the slightest pause, a new clause appeared on the brass page:

“Theft is forbidden here!”

According to Klein’s thoughts, the most suitable clause right now should have been “Theft is not permitted to exist here,” because the previous clause was legal in nature. If someone stole something, it could not stop the act in advance and could only administer punishment afterward. Moreover, the punishment for a first offense would inevitably be light, something the Amons could completely bear. The latter clause, however, would directly restrict the emergence of such acts, making Theft impossible.

But in its current state, the Trunsoest Brass Book could not formulate such a rule. It had to wait until it had created enough clauses, until those clauses were strict enough and it had awakened to a certain degree, before it could do so.

Previously, the Lamp Genie had relied on the close connection between himself and the Trunsoest Brass Book, along with his sufficiently high status, to exhaust all his strength and forcibly complete a similar rule. Now, however, he was already weakened and could no longer do such a thing.

At present, Klein could only hope to delay as much as possible, allowing the Trunsoest Brass Book to formulate more and more sufficiently strict rules aimed at Amon, to complement his own authority of Fooling.

At that moment, inside the room trapping Amon.

As the illusory door in the floor opened, the real doors around the room shook at the same time, showing cracks.

This would bring about various unknown effects.

Suddenly, a bell tolled, as though from infinitely far away.

At some unknown point, Amon had transformed into an ancient, mottled stone wall clock. Upon the clock, the second hand formed from Worms of Time abruptly paused.

Dong!

As the toll echoed, everything inside the room fell into a strange stillness, including the four doors.

The only exception was Amon. He changed back into His appearance of a man wearing a pointed soft hat and a classical black robe. Smiling, He unhurriedly raised His left hand and clenched His five fingers.

The next second, the strange stillness was broken. The four real doors that were about to open slammed shut again, leaving not even the slightest gap.

Amon’s figure then fell, burrowing into the illusory door in the ground that had not been closed.

The moment He left the room through this method, He discovered that He had arrived in a pitch-black wilderness. In the distance stood a shadowy tower that seemed to pierce the sky.

Inside the tower, the Trunsoest Brass Book before Klein had already formed its second rule:

“Fraud is forbidden here!”

Amon could not see this scene, yet He seemed to sense something. After all, a high-ranking existence who took pleasure in deceiving rules could unquestionably perceive changes at the level of rules. Otherwise, He would be unable to accurately find loopholes within them.

He immediately raised His hand and adjusted the monocle lodged in His right eye socket.

On the surface of the monocle ground from crystal, blazing-white, pure light poured out, illuminating the entire wilderness, leaving no concealment capable of existing.

This was the “Eternal Day” He had previously bestowed upon Klein and then retrieved from Klein’s “main body”!

Under such an environment, the tower woven from shadows melted away inch by inch. Klein floated in midair, holding the Wishing Lamp in one hand and the Staff of the Stars in the other. Before him lay the open Trunsoest Brass Book.

Amon took advantage of the situation and extended the right hand He had used to adjust His monocle. Across a great distance, He seized Klein’s “projection” in His palm.

Behind Him, the shadow cast by the Eternal Day grew fainter and fainter, while twisting slightly as though it possessed life.

Soundlessly, Amon began to “steal” Klein’s various Beyonder abilities.

He did not deliberately seek the authority of Fooling, instead choosing randomly. This effectively increased the success rate.

However, after a flash of light, what fell into His palm was only a crudely made paper figurine.

Grafting!

Pa!

Amon’s shadow was lashed by an invisible whip, while He Himself remained completely unharmed.

He had created an error and used His shadow to replace Himself.

Immediately afterward, Amon laughed. His voice echoed beside Klein’s ears.

“Lamp Genie, I can also promise to send you back to the cosmos.

“See? I haven’t been punished. That means I’m not committing fraud.”