In a villa in Stone, the capital of East Chester County.
Standing at the second-floor window, Ince Zangwill looked out through the glass. Seeing that a Mandated Punisher had skipped the routine inspection of the villa due to the sudden incident, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
The "solar halo" incident that had just occurred drew serious attention from the three major Churches. After all, it involved a battle between two demigods—how could the official Beyonders sleep soundly without clarifying the cause?
With the immediate crisis gone, Ince Zangwill pulled the curtains shut and was about to pour himself a cup of coffee. But suddenly, his body moved against his will, opening another drawer and taking out tea leaves.
Ince's face instantly darkened. He had long known that a foreign soul resided in his body, but this was the first time it had attempted to control him while he was awake.
"Who are you? What exactly do you want?" Ince forced his hand to stop midway, resisting the movement while asking in a low voice.
To his surprise, the evil spirit inside actually replied, sneering: "Who I am… do you think you're worthy of knowing?"
Such a crude provocation. As a former archbishop, as a Beyonder who had once wielded holy relics of the Church of the Evernight, Ince Zangwill did not let anger cloud his judgment. He calmly asked again: "You are the Sauron family's angel, the one Roselle killed when he was still at Sequence 4?"
The evil spirit's laughter abruptly ceased, then it said coldly, "Very good, you have the instincts of a hunter! But… do you want to draw another lunatic from the Ironblood Cross Society to hunt you down?
"I can grant you that!"
Ince Zangwill ignored the threat. Controlling his other hand, he picked up the quill and asked coldly, "What is it you really want?"
"Hmph, don't try to scare me with 0-08. To use it to control a being of angelic rank—do you really think you could bear the price?" The evil spirit first snorted disdainfully, but when it saw Ince about to put pen to paper, its tone suddenly softened. "We are already fused together. Fighting like this benefits no one. Why not cooperate?"
Ince finally stopped, his tense heart loosening slightly. Even for him, facing a former angel brought immense pressure.
"How do you propose we cooperate?"
The evil spirit gave an ugly laugh. Only after a while did it say, "I know you want to prove yourself to the Church of the Evernight… I can devise a careful plot to help you achieve that.
"But before that, you must do everything you can to help me recover my strength.
"As for whether I'll keep my word… hehe, with 0-08 in your hand, are you really worried about that?"
Ince Zangwill fell silent for a while. He neither confirmed nor denied the alliance, but he had great confidence in himself and in 0-08. Choosing not to pursue the spirit's words, he instead asked, "Taking the train to Stone was your plan, wasn't it? What do you want here?"
The evil spirit seemed to have anticipated his reaction and answered without hesitation, "I can sense my helmet somewhere on the west side of this city. I need you to find it.
"Also, my armor is in Conston, my sword in Feysac, my chainmail gloves on Symeem Island, and my boots may be on the Southern Continent… You must gather them all for me." The spirit spoke bluntly.
"And once I gather them for you, what happens?" Ince asked gravely.
"What do you think?" the spirit dodged, "In short, it will greatly aid in my recovery."
"Fine… first tell me where the helmet is." After some thought, Ince Zangwill decided to retrieve one item first to test things.
Only by clarifying its purpose could he make plans accordingly.
"I'll guide you!" The spirit sounded excited. Soon, it directed Ince to the villa of Professor Michelle.
…
On the other side, after the hunter demigod's assault, Ebner observed that Xio's "fate" had shifted. She would not face mortal danger again in the near future.
Since Xio had been at the train station during the incident, she was still under Church questioning. Ebner did not rashly meet her, lest he truly drag her into trouble when her suspicion was minimal.
A hunter without his army was already this hard to kill… If he had his legion with him, with countless subordinates to share the damage, he'd be even harder to deal with…
Judging from this demigod's style, he's very likely a member of the Ironblood Cross Society!
That organization kept an extremely low profile. In the original work, it only appeared in Anderson's description and during the pursuit of Ince Zangwill…
What reason did he have to attack Stone Station this time?
Was it because of the thief Xio was chasing?
Wait… could that thief have been Ince Zangwill himself?
Because of Lust and the Saintess of White, the Red Angel evil spirit had long strayed from the original path. It was most likely lodged within a "Gatekeeper" of the Psychological Alchemists, already severed from Ince…
So this time, has Ince become the host of another evil spirit? Has the plot returned to its original course?
Hmm, he stole Roselle's Seal… From what I know, apart from the "Seal of Calamity," the other possible "imperial seal" was the one Old Huang, at "my" urging, forged with three angel souls into the Sword-Mirror-Seal artifacts—the "Seal"!
Of the three artifacts, the "Sword" remains unknown, the "Mirror" is my Magic Mirror, which seals the evil spirit of the third pontiff of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun; and the "Seal," from what I know, was once loaned by Yaldabaoth to the Andrelade family, one of the three great demon families. The Andrelades fully "unsealed" it, gravely wounding a Nos family angel. Only then did they break free of control and rise again.
After being completely unsealed, the evil spirit in the Seal became utterly free, no longer bound by restrictions. So it drifted into Loen and was "arranged" onto Ince?
It makes sense for the Seal to end up in Loen. George III, wanting to be emperor, would need artifacts to strengthen his claim… If the Byron Empire's crown counted, then Roselle's seal certainly did as well…
And the existence that "arranged" the evil spirit of the Seal… It must have been either the Dragon of Time or Hermes.
They seem to be Vera's allies…
And Xio received the mission to track the thief on the very night I met Vera…
Piecing the threads together, Ebner made many speculations. He let out a faint sigh, then checked his pocket watch and realized it was late. After leaving a message for Xio through Mr. Fool, he directly "teleported" back to his home in Backlund.
Although tonight's banquet had only two guests, they were both angels—Princess Vera and the former Chained God. Their statuses were both exalted and unique, so Ebner still needed to prepare carefully. After all, a feast for angels could not be left to the Skade couple… In fact, they didn't even know that Viscount Braine was entertaining guests that evening.
Through Mr. Fool, he had specially arranged a fine meal with a "Blessed of Food." Then, Ebner waited quietly in his bedroom.
After a while, the void rippled, and a somewhat shabby marionette appeared before him.
Huh? That doesn't look like one of "Moon's" marionettes… His collection was never this rough…
At that moment, the marionette seemed to see through Ebner's thoughts and spoke first:
"This was bought by my brother."
(End of Chapter)