After Hvin Rambis silently invaded the mental islands of Klein and the other two, he did not directly "manipulate" them. After all, doing so would inevitably alert Klein, and would also certainly disturb Miss "Messenger," who was hidden in the shadows.
Even Ebner, who was nearby, would probably notice something.
—If you're putting on a show, you have to do it thoroughly. Since he had decided to stir things up using the identity of "Pride," he had to deceive even himself.
What Hevin was doing now was merely influencing the trio's subconscious, so that when they made certain decisions, they would instinctively choose the options he had set up for them.
This made it more concealed, and Mr. "Fool" wouldn't engage in self-reflection so quickly.
After all, with this level of "invasion," as long as Klein ascended above the gray fog, he would probably be able to shake it off immediately.
In short, just as Hvin finished making his subtle adjustments, the battle between the military and the Indulgence faction of the "Rose School of Thought" had already broken out at the docks.
First, those "steam war chariots" packed with various black technologies were transformed into "sheep." Immediately afterward, "The Silent One" Mechams, together with two other Saints of the "Rose School of Thought," restrained the military demigod Test, who wore a golden mask, as well as Duchess Georgina, who was dressed in a black evening gown.
At the same time, beside the golden coffin of Tutankhamun II, the void grew dim and undulated, sketching out a semi-transparent mouth more than ten meters long.
That mouth suddenly opened wide and inhaled deeply, generating a terrifying gale that lifted the coffin together with the carriage.
This was suspected to be a spirit world creature!
It was trying to swallow the coffin containing Tutankhamun II's mummy!
Unlike in the original work, Duchess Georgina—who should have used a mystical item to create a "Domain of No Darkness" at this moment—was jointly cursed by two Saints of the "Rose School of Thought," leaving her unable to spare the attention to respond.
Seeing that the golden coffin—its surface engraved with strange birds, long serpents, feathers, masks, and other motifs, ancient and mysterious in appearance, carrying a strong style of an ancient highland kingdom—was about to be taken away by the spirit world creature, Klein immediately took out a notebook and flipped to the last yellowed page, pouring spirituality into it.
The next moment, violent winds suddenly roared across the dock. As they collided with the air, they produced an explosion-like sound:
Boom!
The golden coffin that was about to be swallowed into the spirit world was violently blasted away. The invisible suction dragging it instantly vanished, retreating back into the spirit world.
Clang! The lid of the coffin that fell to the ground was flung away, and the burial gold and gems were scattered everywhere, together with the first two layers of the coffin.
Then, the bottom coffin rolled several times, spilling out golden boxes and jade jars containing shriveled internal organs.
A corpse completely wrapped in yellowish-brown linen bandages also rolled out, its surface already soaked with dark red, oily liquid. This was the mummy made from Tutankhamun II after death—extremely emaciated, wearing on its face a gold-based, multicolored-patterned mask similar to that of the Rose School demigod, with two exceptionally pure black gemstones embedded in its eye sockets.
What Klein used was a demigod-level Beyonder ability with an extremely large area of effect—"Tornado"!
Before this operation, he had spent money to borrow "Leymano's Travels" from Miss "Magician" and had added two powerful abilities from the "Trident of the Sea God" into it.
At the same time, Miss Sharon had already arrived near the lighthouse via "Mirror Jumping" and removed the "Wall of Spirituality" from the specially made cigarette case Klein had given her in advance.
Drawn by the copper whistle inside the cigarette case, the mummy of Tutankhamun II—with its golden crown tilted askew—suddenly sprang up, turning its face set with black gemstones toward Sharon's direction.
From the throat of this Pharaoh, long dead for who knows how many centuries, came a terrifying sound not belonging to humans. Its withered legs wrapped in yellowish-brown bandages took long strides as it charged madly forward!
To be honest, Klein and the others' response couldn't be called wrong—on the contrary, it was quite reasonable. However, in the end, they were a bit too hasty, acting before fully probing the military's and the Rose School's methods.
Simply put, the timing was wrong!
This was not a mistake Klein would easily make under normal circumstances, but with his subconscious being influenced, it happened.
As a result, they immediately suffered backlash from that "mistake."
First, Sharon—who had been constantly moving—suddenly realized that her "target" had changed. Instead of luring the mummy, it had turned into launching an attack against a demigod of the Rose School's Indulgence faction.
Although Sharon broke free of this state within just a few seconds through her own "Temperance," unfortunately, during those few seconds, she had already "jumped" near that demigod and transformed into a puppet resembling the other party.
This was one of the Beyonder abilities of the "Mutant" pathway Sequence 4 "Puppet," called "Source of Curse."
"Puppets" could not only affect non-living things, but could also turn into items such as ritual puppets or mystical paper figures, using the established connection to curse targets through various methods.
This ability underwent a qualitative change at Sequence 3. At the current stage, it belonged to the type where harming the enemy also harmed oneself, and under normal circumstances, demigod "Puppets" rarely used it.
In other words, the "Puppet" harmed the enemy by harming themselves.
If her will hadn't been "twisted," Sharon would never have used this ability to curse another "Puppet," because both sides had equal capacity to endure damage—doing this was tantamount to mutual destruction.
Looking at the clothes on her chest soaked through with blood, Sharon pressed her lips together. Such injuries could only be considered minor wounds for a "Puppet," but her clothes were ruined…
At the same time, she also realized that there was probably another military demigod lying in ambush nearby—one of the "Lawyer" pathway, or a demigod holding a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact of the "Lawyer" pathway!
When Sharon was attacked, Klein—whose position had been exposed earlier by the "Tornado"—was subjected to carpet bombing. It was the "roar" of naval guns from warships cruising within the harbor.
Fortunately, the moment Klein sensed something wrong, he immediately swapped positions with his marionette Enuni, letting it take the bombardment in his place.
And as a "Winner," Enuni had long accumulated sufficient "luck," so under such shell-saturating fire, he miraculously emerged completely unscathed!
Seeing this, Klein—more than a kilometer away—wiped cold sweat from his brow, and at the same time noticed something was off about himself. After all, before making the decision to strike, he hadn't even performed a "divination"…
That didn't match his habits!
But now wasn't the time to investigate the cause. The most urgent matter was to rescue Miss Sharon, who was trapped in the dockside battlefield.
In a flash of thought, Klein didn't hesitate at all and directly used the "Historical Projection" talisman, pulling Mr. "Tower" out from the gaps of history.
Because Ebner himself was nearby, he immediately took control of his own projection.
He nodded to Klein, then transformed into a "Feathered Serpent" bearing obvious phoenix characteristics and flew straight into the dockside battlefield.
And the mummy of Tutankhamun II, which had been chasing the "copper whistle," actually changed direction upon seeing the "Feathered Serpent," charging toward Ebner's mythological form.
The sudden turn of events left both the military demigods and the Rose School momentarily unable to react, but a massive psychic dragon suddenly entered reality from the "Sea of Subconsciousness," blasting a stream of mental breath at the "Feathered Serpent."
The "Feathered Serpent" was not to be outdone. It opened its mouth as well, spewing out "Pale Flames" from the Underworld!
The breaths and pale flames collided midair and instantly exploded, with both the military and Rose School demigods being swept up by the aftershock.
On the military side, Duchess Georgina and Test fared relatively well, but the one hidden in the shadows—the "Corrupted Earl"—was extremely "unlucky," taking a direct hit from part of the power of the breath and pale flames.
Even though he used a Sealed Artifact to offset most of the damage, his mind still suffered some injury. Not only was he infected with a mysterious "mental plague," but his spirit body and physical body also became misaligned, as if his spirit might break free of his body at any moment and head for the Underworld.
As a result, this "Corrupted Earl" could no longer hide using the power of "Chaos" and was forced to reveal himself.
He was a man with a cold, hard appearance, a thick beard, and eyes of deep blue bordering on black.
And through Enuni the marionette's observation, Klein recognized his identity at a glance—the deputy director of Military Intelligence Division Nine, Major General Qunas Kolg!
Although Qunas was unlucky, those even more unlucky were the three demigods of the "Rose School of Thought," because the attacks of the dragon and the feathered serpent seemed deliberately aimed at them, with the vast majority landing on their heads.
"This isn't right… These two mythological forms are far too strong… This isn't a level ordinary demigods should possess at all!" the "Puppet" who had previously been cursed by Sharon said in horror, staring at the two colossal beings in midair as they exchanged "beams" while circling and vying for the "right-side" position.
His mind was also troubled by the "plague," but fortunately, as a "madman," he wasn't afraid of becoming even "madder."
What really troubled him were those "Pale Flames," forcing him to retreat into a "Wraith" form and turn himself into a "Undead" before his symptoms eased.
Likewise, witnessing this scene that seemed like a descent of myth, "The Silent One" appeared to have made some kind of decision. He took out a badge and silently prayed.
But after half a minute passed, he ultimately received no response.
He frowned, then suddenly turned his head toward Sharon's direction, only to see a man dressed in a black formal suit, wearing a half-height top hat, with a gray iron mask covering his face. One of his hands was gripping Sharon's hand, while the other grabbed a clump of dark red soil from the ground.
The next instant, the two figures vanished.
Only then did a solemn voice echo from afar: "Teleportation is forbidden here"… Unfortunately, it was already too late.
...
Within the spirit world corresponding to the docks, the "Ancient Evil Spirit" Reinette Tinekerr, the Augustus family's "Balancer" Drinck, and the "Creator" of the "Rose School of Thought" stood facing each other.
They were mutually wary, and none of them made a move.
It was only after Klein succeeded and the mummy disappeared that Reinette was the first to retreat, with the other two also tacitly leaving the area.
As long as there were no losses at the Saint level, they would not easily engage in combat.
Only after the three angels had vanished for quite some time did "Miracle Invoker" Alvin emerge from "Concealment" and mutter to himself:
"I guided 'The Silent One' to pray, yet he still didn't receive a response… Has the Mother Tree really run into trouble?"
Ebner's intervention in the mummy affair wasn't entirely because he was bored and wanted to give Klein some "frustration training." More importantly, he wanted to use this to pressure the members of the "Rose School of Thought" and see what state the "Mother Tree of Desire" was actually in.
Even though it was very likely that from the moment It began pursuing the "Shadow World," It had already fallen into a scheme.
(End of chapter)