Yes—by this point, Ebner had already seen through it.
Using Klein as bait to lure a portion of Suah's body into descending, then forcibly trapping it and stripping away an entire sequence of characteristics from 2 to 9 to give to Miss Messenger—that was clearly the Spirit Angel's main objective this time.
But why did the God of Knowledge, along with the existences behind Maria and Bruna, intervene as well?
Could it really be just to weaken the Mother Tree of Desire's subordinates?
That wouldn't even sting Suah—after all, she currently possesses the Chained God's original body and can replenish any losses at will…
This entire encounter battle feels so bizarre!
Ironically, the Mother Tree's motives are the easiest to understand. As I guessed before, She must have realized this was a trap—an intentional provocation by the Earth's gods meant to draw Her attention. So She simply chose to counter it with stillness: guarding the Tenebrous World Herself while sending only subordinates like Suah to handle things.
To Her, the servants on Earth are expendable pawns. As long as She secures the Tenebrous World, it doesn't matter even if they're all lost.
Her second goal, though, would be this: since the gods used the "Mysterious" one as bait to lure Her, She decided to reverse the game—if there was a real chance, She'd seize the "Mysterious" one outright.
But when that failed—because of the gods' tight arrangements—She smoothly transitioned to a third layer of strategy, leaving a "dark hand" beside the Mysterious one. That "dark hand" might be the succubus 'Orange Light' mentioned, or something else… But I think that plan's wasted effort. Klein isn't like Old Roselle at all.
All in all, this game was merely an "amusement gamble" for the Mother Tree. Even losing wouldn't hurt Her much. But if She succeeded in capturing the Mysterious one, She'd profit enormously… so of course She played along.
Still, the question remains: what's in it for the God of Knowledge and the others? Could it truly be only to mislead the Mother Tree, preventing Her from noticing something wrong within the Tenebrous World? Or perhaps to weaken the Rose School's active strength?
But compared with Daniel's scheme—or the first phase of the "Silver Moon Plan"—the results feel rather underwhelming…
While Ebner pondered this, bolts of silver-white lightning suddenly crashed from the heavens, illuminating the entire mountain. The lightning interwove with crackling sounds, forming a mythic cage that enclosed Miss Messenger—who had just devoured the giant "chocolate" arm.
High above, clouds gathered and condensed, shaping into a face with brows, eyes, and a mouth!
This was clearly Sea King Yan Kautman's doing—the commotion from the earlier angel-level clash between Tolzna and Suah had reached Bayam. After ordering the Punishers to activate certain Sealed Artifacts, he struck across the distance.
However, his attack came a little too late.
Beneath the cover of the parasol, Reinette Tinekerr emerged from the void once again. Her intricate, dark gown was utterly pristine.
Her neck split anew—four blonde, red-eyed, beautiful heads flew up. Two shrieked to block the falling lightning bolts, while the other two vanished into the Mirror World to assist the others in resolving their own battles.
By then, Klein had finished collecting all the spoils and Beyonder characteristics. After resealing the Admiral of Hell back into the scroll, he looked toward the "Orange Light" and said quietly:
"Thank you for the warning, Mr. Hilarion."
"You're welcome… Once you become a demigod capable of exploring the depths of the Spirit World, we'll meet again."
After speaking, Helmosuin fell silent—and died right before Klein's eyes.
That fast? Klein blinked. He remembered Hilarion's earlier words—'My life has reached its end.' He'd assumed there were still a few days left, not just a countdown of "3, 2, 1."
At that moment, Reinette Tinekerr appeared in front of him.
Now, she had only one head on her shoulders—yet her expression seemed far more vivid than before.
She extended her empty left hand, grabbed Klein by the shoulder, and pulled him directly into the Spirit World, shuttling rapidly through its layered, vivid colors.
After only a brief dizziness, Klein returned to reality—finding himself once again aboard the Golden Dream. Ebner, Edwina, and Bruna were already waiting there.
Only Sharon and the Admiral of Pale Maria were missing.
The next second, space rippled—two of Reinette's blonde heads emerged from the Spirit World, each biting onto one woman and carrying them through.
Immediately after, the head on her neck split in two and rejoined the others in her hands.
Reinette's four heads each glanced around, as if taking roll, before nodding together and speaking one word each in sequence:
"Already…" "Safe…" "For now…" "Don't…" "Go…" "To…" "Balam…"
After that, she vanished again, apparently rushing off to deal with something else.
Once she left, Klein finally processed what had just happened. He and Ebner shared the same feeling: though the harvest from this battle was considerable, the entire affair still felt strange—and somewhat anticlimactic.
Nevertheless, their apparent objective had been achieved: the Admiral of Blood had been successfully hunted.
As thoughts flickered through his mind, Klein turned to release Senor's remains—but then noticed Sharon's aura had weakened. He asked with concern, "Are you alright?"
Sharon's blue eyes shifted slightly; she cast a subtle glance at Admiral of Pale Maria before shaking her head. "I'm fine… but Edith escaped."
Edith—the High Summoner whom she and Maria had fought together earlier.
Maria added, "Edith's strength far exceeded ours. If not for Miss Sharon sacrificing herself to restrain her and giving me the chance to unleash Pale Justice for a heavy blow, it would have been us who fled."
Sharon glanced at Maria again, parted her lips as if to speak, but closed them silently in the end.
So Tolzna performed a "Majin Buu chocolate curse," and now you two reenacted Piccolo's "Special Beam Cannon," huh?
Still, Sharon doesn't seem like someone who'd selflessly risk herself for a stranger's killing blow… maybe Maria misunderstood something.
Ebner's inward comment mirrored Klein's own thoughts. He sighed inwardly. Though he knew Maria's temperament, he couldn't help distancing himself slightly—cherish life, stay away from the saintly.
Bruna, seeing this, rolled her eyes and changed the topic. "I've dragged Hardy and Pulan into the Underworld. But as Silent Disciples, they won't fall so easily. They might find a way back from there."
After speaking, she looked toward Ebner.
Seeing everyone report their results, Ebner shrugged. "I only managed to tear off one of Al von Nois's wings. He himself escaped."
"You tore off Al von Nois's wings?" Bruna stared at him in astonishment.
As an angel who had existed since the Fourth Epoch, Al von Nois was infamous. The idea that Ebner could rip off one of his wings was incredible. She couldn't help but chuckle, "Then I guess he's now a literal Fallen Angel."
Everyone else exchanged puzzled looks, clearly missing the joke. They gave awkward laughs—only Ebner curved his lips into an amused grin.
Under Bruna's lighthearted tone, the atmosphere relaxed again.
Klein then took out the Beyonder characteristics and items from the Admiral of Blood and his two subordinates—three items in total.
Although Klein had slain Senor alone, without the help of Edwina and the demigods Maria and Bruna had summoned, he could never have succeeded. The spoils had to be divided.
After hearing the descriptions, Edwina consulted briefly with Ebner and chose the mystical item Klein named Lucky Scales. It came from a Sequence 5 Winner of the School of Life. After his death, his characteristic fused with his spirit and a simple silver necklace, forming this magical object. It could grant misfortune to enemies or good luck to oneself.
However, luck was conserved—fortune was always followed by calamity. The luckier you were, the worse the backlash. Only someone exceptionally cautious could avoid a comically tragic end—and even then, they risked dragging others down with them.
The Admiral of Pale Maria, after some thought, took only the Ghoul's characteristic.
As for the three demigods—they had already been compensated beforehand for their aid, so they did not share in the spoils.
Afterward, the Admiral of Blood Hunting Squad officially disbanded. All but Ebner and Edwina departed the Golden Dream.
…
Above the gray fog, after cleansing Senor and the succubus inside the Creeping Hunger to eliminate any hidden corruption, Klein controlled Senor's body to search every pocket.
He found exactly 325 pounds, 16 soli, and 8 pence in cash.
"So poor…" Klein muttered, then seriously considered whether to cash in Senor's bounty through the black market.
After all, the reward from a single nation alone was 42,000 pounds!
Still, I should probably lay low for a while… With all the commotion in Bayam, even if they did pay, it'd probably be a trap. Anyway, the Admiral of Blood won't depreciate anytime soon.
And Liu Bo is such a schemer—after driving off his opponent and escaping the Mirror World, he stayed hidden with Edwina just to watch the show. In the end, I took all the blame!
Fortunately, I'm about to become Dwayne Dantes, and Gehrman Sparrow won't appear again for a while.
Right, I should ask him what really went on behind this incident.
With that thought, Klein extended his spirituality toward the crimson star symbolizing The Tower. With Ebner's permission, he drew him up into the gray fog.
Both sat silently on their high-backed chairs in the ancient hall for a moment—then spoke at the exact same time:
"Alright, talk. What was really going on this time?"
Startled to hear identical words, both Klein and Ebner froze, staring at each other in disbelief before blurting out together again:
"You don't know either?"
(End of Chapter)