The same pitch-black, desolate plain.
The same unchanging black spire.
Seeing the familiar scenery before him, Ebner knew that "Little Snake" Will had once again drawn him into a dream.
He walked deep into the tower, where, as always, a ring of Tarot cards lay scattered across the ground.
However, on the raised platform in the center of that ring, there were no longer any silver words—only a black baby carriage resting there quietly.
Wrapped in silver silk, Will Auceptin sat in the stroller. He looked at Ebner and sighed helplessly:
"I know what you're going to ask… but next time, please don't come in so abruptly. At least let me sense your approach.
"You know, when you entered just now, I thought something had gone wrong and almost ran away."
So you didn't sense my arrival at all? Ebner thought. Then you only knew what I wanted to ask after I appeared?
He pondered briefly but followed the flow. "Next time I'll knock… or you could give me a paper crane too?"
But "Little Snake" Will ignored the comment and said directly, "If I hadn't been disturbed by the True Creator, Ouroboros really isn't in Backlund right now—but he'll return at midnight. You have only a few hours.
"Also, the Aurora Order is holding an Extraordinary gathering tonight…
"Besides your target, the Saint of Darkness will also be there."
The Saint of Darkness, Cosma? I've heard Xio and Vera mention him before—he's a Black Knight who even herds a vampire at the demigod level.
With my current strength, killing such a versatile demigod quickly would be nearly impossible… but he's not my target. As long as I deal with Louis Wien—Mr. X himself—would he really dare keep pestering me?
This is Backlund! If I get caught by official Beyonders, I might survive, but if he gets caught, he's finished.
Thinking this through, Ebner felt calmer. After a pause, he asked tentatively, "Does the God of Luck have anything to do with you?"
Will gave him a look, then suddenly burst into tears.
What kind of reaction is that? Ebner was bewildered. Could it involve something too secret? Before he could think further, Will stopped crying and said softly, "It's because I owed too much back then that I couldn't merge with the Uniqueness later—and that stupid snake kept bullying me."
So… "Little Snake" was the God of Luck's student? He owed too many favors, and even taking one of my reincarnations as a student wasn't enough to repay them?
Before Ebner could finish the thought, Will continued, "But you once said that compared to the Key of Light, I'm actually more suited for the Ring of Destiny."
Then, the black baby carriage slowly rolled backward into the shadows and vanished.
The Ring of Destiny? Did I—my former self—make some sort of grand vow?
If Will is like this, then what about the God of Knowledge, the Evernight Goddess, Lilith…? Are they helping me for similar reasons?
Ebner's scalp tingled as if he'd just learned he was buried under a mountain of karmic debts.
Well… I can only take it one step at a time. Hopefully, my past self didn't agree to everything that was asked of him…
As the tower walls collapsed around him, Ebner didn't hesitate—he activated Dream Jump and left Dr. Allen's house directly.
…
Confer Ellit, 18 years old—a Loen–Balam half-blood, illegitimate son of Patrick Bryan, a demigod of the Numinous Episcopate's Artificial Death God faction.
Born half a Corpse Collector, he was already a Sequence 7 Spirit Medium and a follower of the Death God.
As a relative of "Viscount Beldane," he had been recommended by his father, passed the new viscount's interview, and was about to take up a post in Beldane City—with a 100 gold pound settlement allowance.
But as a believer of the Death God, Confer had other missions too. Before leaving, he planned to buy some extraordinary materials as backups.
—After all, Beldane was a small city, almost devoid of any extraordinary trade.
At 8 p.m., in an unnamed alley in the East Borough.
Disguised, Confer wound his way through the streets until he reached the house where Mr. X was hosting a Beyonder gathering.
Recalling the usual knock sequence, he curled his fingers and tapped: three light, three heavy, followed by two long and three short knocks.
Ten seconds later, the door opened silently. A servant wearing an iron mask examined him for a few seconds before stepping aside.
Inside the parlor, Confer found a random seat and sat down, pulling his hood lower to hide his face deeper in shadow.
After about ten minutes, once nearly everyone had arrived, Mr. X entered soundlessly. Wearing a brass mask and dressed in an archaic black robe with a pointed wizard's hat, he walked toward the main seat.
His aura was restrained but powerful, forcing Confer to lower his gaze instinctively.
Confer couldn't help but feel envious. When will I ever reach that level of power?
But just as Mr. X turned and prepared to sit down, he suddenly vanished.
Confer froze for a second—then immediately dashed toward the door, pulling a "feather" from a tin case in his pocket, ready to throw it at the first sign of danger.
He wasn't the only one reacting like that. Most attendees were low-sequence wild Beyonders; without that kind of survival instinct, they'd have died long ago.
Then, suddenly, the room darkened. The floor rippled with thick, eerie liquid shadows that surged together, forming a solid cage around them.
Within that darkness, the shadows themselves came alive, staring coldly at their trapped hosts.
Demigod-level power!
As the son of a demigod, Confer was no stranger to such strength—but that only made his despair worse. Under the shadow's imprisonment, he couldn't even twitch a finger.
The next instant, radiant light filled the entire building—harmless to ordinary Beyonders, but it burned away the living shadows instantly.
A few unlucky ones who carried evil, corrupted, or deathly auras were also scorched, though not fatally.
Confer was among those unlucky few. But despite the pain, he ignored his wounds, broke through the wall the moment he regained mobility, and sprinted down the street toward his prearranged "safe house."
Meanwhile, within Alvin's Puzzle Labyrinth, Mr. X—Louis Wien—was desperately praying to his "Lord," begging for the power to break through the mirrored space and escape.
But in the next instant, he forgot what he was praying for.
Then, after glancing around, he tried Teleportation again—only to fail. He prayed once more to the True Creator, then forgot again, repeating the process endlessly.
Alvin's Puzzle Labyrinth couldn't truly trap a demigod—or even many low-Sequence Beyonders with sufficient backing—but Ebner had anticipated this. Beforehand, he stationed his fanatic follower, Parasite Flora Jacob, within the labyrinth, completely cutting off Louis's path of escape.
Meanwhile, Ebner's avatar, Owen, held the Magic Mirror and switched the soul within to the Marionettist, beginning to seize control of Mr. X's Spirit Body Threads.
Since Louis Wien wore the Blood Flower Ring, ordinary attacks wouldn't kill him—if anything, they might alert him prematurely, which would be counterproductive.
Flora and Owen both lacked powerful offensive means, and a direct mental strike might draw the True Creator's wrath. Thus, Ebner instructed them to use this safer, controlled approach—to let Louis slowly sink into death.
As for Ebner's true body, he was outside, blocking the Saint of Darkness from intervening.
"Two demigods escorting you to death—quite a send-off for an Aurora Order divine messenger."
Looking at the shadowy figure coalescing before him, Ebner smirked inwardly, then transformed into a blazing "Sun," unleashing countless searing, radiant beams.
(End of Chapter)