When Margaret, the "Saintess of Red," was first captured by Ebner, a subtle "suggestion" had already been planted deep within her mind. Otherwise, Owen's avatar wouldn't have been able to "hypnotize" a Sequence 3 "Unaging Demoness" that easily.
If he truly had that level of ability, then the "Saintess of Blue" and the "Saintess of White" wouldn't have escaped either.
Moreover, "hypnosis" was far from stable. Margaret could break through the shackles within her mind at any moment and regain control of herself.
Thus, Ebner needed to use a "secret technique" to turn her completely into his devout "believer," so she could atone for her past sins through real actions in the future.
—As a Demoness, Margaret naturally had no such awareness, which was why she needed an external force to drive her… cough, cough, in other words, the "mission" assigned by her "Master."
Thinking about it this way, I'm basically the main villain here… I won't end up with some dramatic cliché where the 'protagonist' rescues Margaret and comes after me for revenge, right?
While grumbling inwardly, Ebner pressed his sun-lit palm against the forehead of the "Saintess of Red."
In the next moment, the confusion in Margaret's eyes faded, replaced by joy, gratitude, and serenity… then, following the information she had just received, she recited devoutly:
"Traveler of Ignorance from the Unknown;
"Blessed of the Night, Moon, Knowledge, and Mysteries;
"The delegate of the Omniscient Eye and the Pure White Angel;
"The heroic detective of Backlund;
"The erudite Ebner Bryan.
"I pray to become Your believer, I pray to become Your Blessed…"
The first five lines of the incantation were the honorific title Ebner drafted for himself after advancing to Sequence 3. Although it borrowed the "Pure White Eye" and divine authority to raise his status, the reference ultimately pointed to him, Ebner—not like the "Mechanical Emperor," whose three-part honorific actually pointed to the imprint within the "Land of the Unknown."
This was also Ebner's final bit of mercy toward Margaret, a descendant of the "Lucky God" and the "Queen of Calamity." After all, directly invoking "Liu Bo" or a title pointing to the "Unknown" would have been more effective, but doing so would likely make her future freedom impossible.
Whereas now, theoretically, as long as an existence capable of cleansing the influence of the illusory "Pure White Angel" intervened, Margaret could immediately recover.
Good thing that although she joined the Demoness Sect, she was really an undercover agent, with nearly no faith in the "Primordial Demoness." Otherwise, this secret technique that leverages the "Pure White Angel" wouldn't necessarily have worked…
Speaking of which, when it comes to brainwashing believers, the "Sun" truly is quite professional—not inferior to the "True Creator's" rap nor the "Visionary's" constructed persona…
Come to think of it, this might be the style of 'God'… Compared to the 'Celestial Worthy,' who directly takes over other people's bodies through crude means, 'God' clearly prefers conquering people from the level of the mind…
After silently complaining for a bit, Ebner withdrew his hand. By this time, the "Saintess of Red," Margaret, had fully regained clarity.
Like the "Scholar of Yore" Daphne, she understood her situation perfectly, but she couldn't muster even a trace of defiance toward Ebner—as if the very thought of resistance was committing a monstrous sin.
"Master…" Margaret addressed him respectfully, but Ebner interrupted her:
"From now on, just call me 'Boss.'"
"Yes, Boss." The "Saintess of Red," Margaret, obeyed without hesitation. She then lowered her head and asked submissively, "Do you have any tasks for me, Boss?"
Ebner had already thought about how to arrange things for this descendant. He planned to have her manage the newly created "charity foundation" under the film company.
With the apocalypse approaching and the future becoming increasingly turbulent, letting her use the foundation to help people who lost their livelihood in war or chaos would count as performing good deeds—and redeeming herself.
...
On the Dawn, after drinking the potion, Bernadette's body began turning illusory at a speed visible to the naked eye.
She broke apart into streams of vast, complex knowledge, shifting toward a form of existence made of information flow.
For most "Mystery Pryers," this stage was extremely dangerous, but Bernadette had previously relied on the "Sage's Diadem" to experience this state more than once…
Although those experiences lasted only two or three seconds, they still gave her a bit of familiarity. Now, she did her best to maintain her consciousness while establishing a connection with some high-level information in the spirit world that was preventing a catastrophic disaster.
Those pieces of information carried her distinct imprint and existed on a very high level. They appeared unusually "solid," unlikely to be scattered by surrounding information in the short term, helping her stabilize her mind and gradually gather her diffused body of information.
But at that moment, hidden currents of information emerged from who-knew-where, attempting to merge with Bernadette.
This was interference from the "Hidden Sage"!
As a sort of incarnation of knowledge and information in this world, and as the near-Sequence 0 of the "Mystery Prier" pathway, the "Hidden Sage" could exert a certain influence over lower-sequence Beyonders of the same pathway.
But this influence, for Bernadette in the midst of advancement, was a nearly hopeless calamity.
Fortunately, before drinking the potion, she had already considered the issue of the "Hidden Sage" and prepared a countermeasure—the mask of the "Pale Death."
With her thought, the metal on the mask rapidly softened, reshaping into a new face with two black eyes.
Within those deep black eyes, pale lines surfaced, outlining a complex and extremely mystical three-dimensional symbol—like a bird with grotesquely long feathers, or a coiled feathered serpent.
The next moment, the symbol absorbed the surrounding light, quickly solidifying. Then it detached from the mask, unfurled its "body," and flew into Bernadette's "data."
In an instant, the "information" from the "Hidden Sage" simply "died" on its own, no longer contacting Bernadette's "body," granting her a rare moment of peace.
Seizing this opportunity, Bernadette completely reassembled her body and, aided by her anchor, temporarily balanced the terrifying will inside her.
She successfully became Her.
Afterward, Bernadette looked at the "Pale Death" with suspicion and puzzlement, because although it helped her by killing off the intruding information, it had also "inadvertently" revealed some of its own knowledge.
"'Liu'… 'Bo'… So that's the pronunciation of those two symbols?
"And according to the information Gehrman—or rather, Cattleya—sent me earlier, that's the true name of a hidden existence…
"Does the 'Pale Death' have something to do with the 'hidden existence' Father mentioned often in his diary?"
While thinking this, Bernadette activated the "Eye of Mystery Pryer" to observe the "Pale Death."
She had studied it before, but now that she had become an angel, she should be able to probe deeper.
...
In Backlund, inside the villa at 28 Kingster Street.
After assigning Margaret her future work arrangements, Ebner returned her to "Alvin's Quiz Labyrinth," letting Owen's avatar reshape her worldview, values, and morals. Meanwhile, his true body continued reviewing yesterday's gains and losses.
"The gains were tremendous. Setting aside the materials from the Demonesses and the Delien family, I not only completed Lilith's short-term mission but also successfully eliminated the Delien family. That counts as fully avenging Fanny.
"As for losses… aside from my transformation cards and the 'Yesterday Reenactment' talismans being used up, the pair of wings torn from the 'Bloody Archduke' were completely destroyed by the 'Saintess of Yellow'…
"But those wings didn't contain Beyonder characteristics anyway. Even if they hadn't been destroyed, they would've stopped working after a few more uses.
"Besides, the 'Saintess of Yellow' herself has compensated me."
Though he had lost a few things, Ebner didn't mind at all—in fact, he felt quite pleased.
Compared to the "Great Smog," when he had been powerless and unable to stop anything, this time—even if he had borrowed external strength—it still proved he had grown strong enough to influence the plans of others, no longer doomed to watch helplessly!
While Ebner hummed a cheerful tune, he suddenly noticed a tiny "speck" within the "Land of the Unknown."
His smile faded. He split off a "Wisdom Eye," sent it through the passage in his vision into the "Unknown," and touched the new imprint.
A few seconds later, his expression turned strange. He muttered in confusion:
"Bernadette? Did she really just advance to angel… and then immediately rush over here to die?"
He was about to use the connection created through the "Unknown" to contact the "Mystery Queen" and check what was going on when a servant suddenly knocked outside his bedroom.
"My Lord Viscount, a lady has come to visit. She claims to be an old acquaintance of yours…"
A lady? An old acquaintance?
There are quite a few of those… Ebner mocked himself, then opened the door and asked, "Did she give her name?"
"Yes, Lord Viscount." The servant bowed slightly and continued, "The lady said her name is—
"Lamia!"
(End of Chapter)