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*****
"Wait... this power. Why does it look so much like the power of the Evernight Goddess?"
In just a few short seconds, George had traveled from Backlund to the Hornacis Mountain Range on the border of the Loen Kingdom. As his spiritual sense swept across the entire range, a look of intrigue crossed his face.
Hidden atop the highest peak of the mountains was a concealed seal. The energy radiating from it was an exact match for the divinity of the Evernight Goddess.
"Could it be that the disappearance of the Antigonus family back then—and Zaratul later on—was related to Her?"
According to Roselle, Zaratul was the former leader of the Secret Order. Considering the Church of the Evernight Goddess held the majority of the formulas and materials for the Seer pathway, and even controlled nearly all the mermaids in the inland waters, it seemed far too convenient to be a coincidence. It suggested a deliberate, long-term calculation.
"I'll head in and see for myself."
The seal atop the Hornacis peak was designed primarily to keep things in; its external defenses weren't particularly formidable. By George's estimation, a demigod-level power could force an entry from the outside. However, leaving was a different story. Unless one possessed a very specific method, it would likely require the raw strength of a Sequence 1 to break out.
Appearing beside the seal at the summit, George raised a hand and made a slicing motion. A pitch-black rift tore open in the air, and he stepped through without hesitation.
Inside the seal, the scenery of snow-capped mountains vanished. In its place was a town perpetually shrouded in a thick, swirling grey fog. The town wasn't large, but it felt profoundly eerie—especially the ancient, spired church standing at its center.
"Eye of Inquiry!"
With a wave of his hand, a massive, spectral eye manifested in the sky above the town, bringing every corner of the settlement into clear view.
"The power of the Evernight pathway is locked in a stalemate with the power of the Fool pathway," George observed. "And the entire town is populated by marionettes. It looks like I won't just be finding Sequence 3 and Sequence 2 characteristics today—Sequence 1, and maybe even Sequence 0, are on the table."
The intensity of the Fool pathway's power in this town was approaching the level of a True God. This suggested that the Fool Uniqueness itself might be hidden within the town's borders.
"To the church."
Dropping down into the town, George walked directly toward the cathedral. He could feel that whatever he was looking for was housed within those walls.
As soon as George—a living, breathing human—appeared, the residents of the town stopped in their tracks with mechanical synchronicity. They turned their heads in a hauntingly uniform fashion to stare at him. George didn't even blink.
"ROAR!"
Seeing George approach the church, the residents let out simultaneous, beast-like growls. They lunged at him like monsters.
"Sever."
George let out a soft huff. Instantly, every resident in the town froze mid-stride and collapsed to the ground like discarded dolls.
These "residents" were merely lifeless puppets, controlled by Spirit Body Threads extending from the church. By directly severing those threads, George had granted them a final, quiet release.
As the threads snapped, the fog surrounding the town thinned significantly. This caused the crimson moon in the sky to flare with sudden brilliance. Night descended instantly, and a mysterious, overwhelming force wrapped around George, attempting to drag him into the shadows to be sealed.
By weakening the power of the town's fog, he had inadvertently strengthened the potency of the seal itself.
"This level of power isn't enough to hold me."
George's body erupted with a blinding radiance, forcibly dispelling the encroaching darkness.
In the past, solving a divine-level seal would have been a struggle without tapping into his core essence. But now, having devoured the Son of Chaos, his internal spirituality was no less than that of an average True God. Combined with his mastery of ancient magic, such obstacles were easily cleared. In fact, given his deep research into sealing magic, he was arguably more of an expert in the field than the Evernight Goddess herself.
He pushed open the church doors. His eyes were immediately met with a macabre sight: dozens of humans were suspended from the ceiling of the hall, hanging by Spirit Body Threads.
Some wore classical black robes, some wore brown jackets, others were in puffed-out dresses, and some were in rags like beggars. Among them were several Sequence 4 demigods from various different pathways. Any ordinary demigod would have been paralyzed by terror at such a sight, but George's eyes lit up.
"That was fast!"
The figures hanging in the hall were all high-level Beyonder marionettes, the weakest being Sequence 6. Whether he used them as his own puppets or extracted their characteristics for research, they were a goldmine.
But that wasn't the prize. The most powerful marionette among them was a Sequence 3—specifically, an Ancient Scholar of the Seer pathway.
With this, he had secured a Sequence 3 characteristic. Combined with the Sequence 2 characteristic he had obtained from crushing the Magic Lamp, he was nearly finished. Now, he only needed a Sequence 1 characteristic and the Sequence 0 Uniqueness to complete the requirements for the Fool.
And he had already spotted a lead for the Sequence 1 characteristic.
Standing behind the altar at the back of the hall was an old man—the only person there who hadn't been turned into a marionette by the Spirit Body Threads.
"It doesn't seem to be his true body, but it holds a fragment of a Sequence 1 characteristic. Is this Zaratul's projection from the Historical Void?"
George stepped forward to examine the old man. Matching the man's features to the descriptions of Zaratul provided by Roselle, he confirmed the identity. He surmised that Zaratul had come to this Foggy Town to find the Sequence 1 formula and characteristics but had encountered a danger he couldn't escape. Of course, the specific details would only be clear once he searched Zaratul's memories.
"Finally... another 'Seer' has arrived..."
Zaratul slowly opened his eyes and looked George up and down. His voice was slurred and faint, as if he were extremely weak. "Do you wish to escape this place? I can help you."
"I see. He thinks I'm another heretic imprisoned here by the Evernight Goddess," George thought, a smirk playing on his lips.
"No thanks," George said aloud. "I'd rather just borrow your head."
He reached out his right hand. He had no patience for Zaratul's mind games and intended to go straight for a Soul Search. Since this historical projection possessed intelligence, it meant Zaratul had invested a portion of his soul into it. That was enough to extract every memory it held.
"A mere Sequence 5 dares to be so insolent in my presence!"
Zaratul was stunned by George's immediate aggression. His frail facade vanished, replaced by a mask of fury.
Normally, anyone exiled to this town would be consumed by caution after witnessing the horrors outside and the macabre church inside. Zaratul had planned to exploit that caution to trick the newcomer into helping him reunite with his true body and complete his advancement to escape.
He had never encountered such a reckless brute—someone who ignored all logic and immediately attacked the only "living" person in the room. If the newcomer were a high-sequence Beyonder, it might be one thing, but as a member of the same pathway, Zaratul could clearly sense that the man before him was nothing more than a Sequence 5 Marionettist.
(End of Chapter)