Backlund, North Borough, 160 Bokland Street.
After returning from the Nation of the Evernight, in order to avoid arousing suspicion from routine investigations by the Nighthawks, Klein finally obtained Sharon's consent and moved from the second floor into the master bedroom on the third floor.
He had just sent away a certain "Red Glove" in his dreams and was about to get a good night's sleep when an illusory voice of supplication reached his ears.
"Who the hell isn't sleeping in the middle of the night!" Klein flipped over and sat up, rubbing his temple with a trace of irritation.
Next, he glanced at Sharon, who was sleeping on the other side of the large bed, then quickly got out of bed, tiptoed into the washroom, and used spirituality to seal off the surroundings.
Only after finishing all this did Klein walk backward four steps, enter above the gray fog, sit down in the seat belonging to "The Fool," and then see clear, radiant light rippling outward in circles from a position slightly in front and to the side.
"Someone who doesn't belong to the Tarot Club is praying to me?" Having once played the role of the "Sea God" and already being very experienced with this, Klein spread out his spirituality and touched the ripples of light in a posture of responding to the prayer.
Immediately afterward, a scene appeared before his eyes.
Although the image was not particularly clear, Klein recognized at a glance that the other party was his former teammate when he served as a Nighthawk in Tingen—his poet classmate, Leonard Mitchell.
"Leonard is in danger? It's actually reached the point where he has to pray to me, an evil god, for help?" Klein instantly became serious.
At the same time, he discovered that inside Leonard Mitchell's body there was a light cluster, seemingly composed of countless ring-like worms, deeply hidden within the mental body.
This allowed Klein to confirm that the "Worm of Time" Pallez Zoroast mentioned by Ebner was only a preliminary parasite and had not taken control of Leonard's mind body, astral body, etheric body, or flesh-and-blood body.
And because Klein was not yet a Demigod and was still unable, when pulling someone up, to effectively divide and select souls, he did not rashly pull Leonard up above the gray fog to question him, lest Pallez follow the connection like Amon had done back then and enter "Sefirah Castle."
Therefore, Klein only used the "Error" card to pry at power and slightly reinforce his connection with Leonard, making his perspective clearer.
Then, Klein saw a scene that filled him with both shock and fury:
Melissa, Elizabeth, and Miss Hazel had actually all put monocles on their right eyes at the same time and were looking together at Leonard.
No, their gazes were filled with penetrative force, as if they were examining someone through Leonard… Pallez, or me?
At this moment, Klein had already calmed down. This was not because he was unconcerned about his sister, but because through the vision of "Sefirah Castle," he could clearly see that among the three girls, only Miss Hazel was a "real" person. The remaining Melissa and Elizabeth were merely "illusions," their interiors formed from countless "maggots" clinging together.
Very clearly, Amon had probably been calculated against by someone… and the only one capable of calculating Him and also closely connected to Miss Hazel was none other than "Mr. Tower."
Thinking of this, Klein could not help but let out a sigh of relief. Since "Mr. Tower" had taken action, Amon was probably not going to gain anything. After all, even a god's son could not afford to provoke multiple goddesses.
"Still, after things are over, I'll have to pull 'Tower' up and ask about the situation."
...
Tingen, inside Raphael Cemetery.
After the black-and-red "cage" emerged and trapped the monocles on the right eyes of the three girls, it looked as though it was about to contract further. But at this moment, those "cages" suddenly became blurry and unstable, as if a smooth image had developed mosaic-like distortion.
"'Raven Lasso'? I was already able to crack this thing back when Solomon was still alive!" "Hazel" casually "removed" the red-and-black from the monocle and said with a smile.
But in the very next instant, the bodies of Elizabeth and Melissa beside her suddenly disappeared entirely, transforming into two larger "cages" that swallowed the two lenses in one gulp.
At the same time, a mysterious lady with black hair and black eyes, wearing a veil and exuding an aura of enigma, appeared out of thin air. Her eyes met Hazel's, instantly turning the monocle on the latter's right eye into stone.
—The suddenly appearing lady was the "Saintess of Black," Medea, who was already under Vera's control. Since Ebner wanted to ambush Amon, how could he possibly come alone? Naturally, he had called friends and allies, and the "Saintess of Black" was someone he had "borrowed" from Vera.
As for Ebner's own marionette, Natalia, the "Saintess of Yellow," he had not brought her along out of concern that she might be "stolen" by Amon and end up strengthening the enemy instead.
"This is already the year 1350 of the Fifth Epoch. Naturally, the technology of the 'Raven Lasso' has long since been updated and improved!" Ebner let out a light laugh, returning Amon's earlier mockery of Pallez right back to Him.
Then, Alvin Abraham slowly revealed his figure, walked to Hazel's front, and removed the monocle from her right eye.
After that, he reached forward with his right hand and dragged a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy out of the air.
The boy was initially a bit dazed, then revealed a trace of helplessness in his eyes and made a gesture toward Alvin. Immediately afterward, Hazel's state rapidly regressed, returning in the blink of an eye to how she had been before being parasitized by Amon.
The boy was precisely "Little Snake" Will, whom Alvin had known in his own lifetime.
And accompanying the "restart" of the "giant snake," the diviner Grassis—wearing a white shirt and black vest—appeared before Leonard and Alvin.
"This was a trap aimed at me?" Grassis, or rather Amon, curled his lips and examined the "concealed" space around him that he himself had created, continuing with mockery, "Who added another layer of 'concealment' outside my 'concealment,' instead trapping me myself?
"Oh, so it's a 'Servant of Concealment'…
"Tsk, a 'Miracle Invoker,' a 'Demoness of Calamity,' and a 'Servant of Concealment'… It seems there's also a 'Cognizer' hidden in the dark? Hehe, that must be the Ebner Bryan the little girl keeps muttering about, right?
"To capture me, you really went all out!
"Of course, it's also possible that this wasn't aimed at me at all…"
After saying that, Amon glanced meaningfully at Leonard, causing the latter's heart to tighten.
However, at this moment, Pallez comforted Leonard within his mind: "Relax. If it were before, there really would have been a possibility that this was aimed at me… But you just recited the honorific name of 'The Fool,' so now we're all on the same side."
Leonard was stunned upon hearing this. "Old man, are you sure?"
"I'm sure…" Pallez sighed. The reason he had risked letting Leonard come dig up the grave in the first place was precisely to find an opportunity for him to establish a connection with "The Fool."
After all, the current situation was very clear. Ebner—or rather, Rhine—favored that "Mr. Fool," and Rhine's attitude was the attitude of the Goddess, the Earth Mother Goddess, and the Sanguine Ancestor.
Moreover, Klein, Dunn, and Daly, who all had good relations with you, had already joined "The Fool's" faction. If we don't take advantage of this opportunity to join as well, our future will consist of nothing but being "hunted"!
On the other side, Ebner looked at the manifested "Amon," shook his head, and said, "You don't need to sow discord. I know you're trying to buy time through talking to transmit information to your main body, but by now you should also understand that it's impossible."
Amon fell silent for a few seconds. He was not angry, instead looking at Ebner with interest. "So there's also a 'Sage' outside intercepting 'information'… Is it Yalolan?"
To Him, this was something sufficiently fun. Difficulties encountered during the process were entirely imaginable; they would only make the pleasure after success more abundant.
Of course, failure was also nothing. Even if this Sequence 2 'Trojan Horse of Destiny' was lost, it would have no effect on His main body.
Ebner, however, did not reply. He knew that after suddenly encountering his ambush, with the "Worms of Time" already largely dominated by the long-hidden "Spirit Worms," Amon's state was actually quite poor and was already on the verge of being unable to maintain the level of Sequence 2.
Yet he still chose to allow the other party to spout some nonsense. Naturally, this was to wait for his killing move to finish preparing.
After all, the real Ebner hidden in the dark was a "Cognizer"… As long as a "Cognizer" was given enough time to pry at fulcrums, the power that could be displayed would naturally be extremely astonishing.
For example, the "River of Eternal Darkness" within the Arc de Triomphe of Trier…
And for example, the "White Angel" that Ebner was currently preparing!
(End of Chapter)