Lyon offered a weak explanation, which Lucaccion did not believe.
"Master, may I ask why you possess genes from both New Humans and Old Humans?"
"Well? I'm afraid it's because I'm a time traveler."
"Time travelers? The so-called parallel world theory?"
Luciano quickly found the relevant information in his database.
"Well, you could say that. But the parallel world we're in right now should be an otome game, and Master, my current role is just a background character."
Lyon explained to Lucaccion, his face full of pride.
"Master, my database only contains information about passerby characters and games; it lacks information about otome games. Does Master mean your attitude towards life when you say otome games?"
Luciano recounted what he had found.
"Lucaccio, that's not important anymore. All you need to know is that Master is a transmigrator. Master doesn't treat life like a game!"
Volume One: Chapter Nine: The Traditions of the Celestial Empireare you interested in Tarots, I wonder?" the figure hums—and suddenly...
... he falls...)
...
"... I'm fine."
Dunn's fingers pressed against his nose, his gray eyes clenched shut. He took a long steady breath before reopening them—calmer, but undeniably strained.
(... "Do not look directly at... an 'above the sequence'...")
Dunn Smith—Sequence 7 'Nightmare'—opened his eyes, wiping away the blood stuck to his chin.
"... Klein Moretti is very likely already tainted by the Antigonus Family's Notebook," he explains. "Entering the dream of an ordinary person shouldn't cause such severe backflash."
Corrupted... A cold weight settled in Leonard's chest. 'Thankfully, I warned the Captain beforehand... thankfully, I insisted on coming... what a strange kind of corruption...'
Leonard steadied his breathing. "Captain, what do we do now?"
Dunn straightened, the momentary weakness gone as though folded neatly away. His voice resumed its usual quiet authority.
"You stay here," he says firmly, "keep watch on Klein Moretti from a distance. Do not engage with him under any circumstances. I'll return to gather Seeka as backup and inform 'His' Excellency Crestet Cesimir."
Leonard blinked. How strange. "... His Excellency Crestet Cesimir...?" he echoes, like a parrot; dumbfounded. Why would the Captain turn to a High-Ranking Deacon stationed all the way in Backlund?
Dunn Smith met his eyes, slightly awkward. No way, Captain. Memory problems again?
"... I didn't have the chance to tell you," Dunn said with a cough, "before tonight's operation, I received a message from headquarters. His Excellency Cesimir happened to be in jurisdiction and may be arriving in Tingen soon."
Happened to be...?
Understanding dawned. "He's coming because of the Antigonus Notebook?"
"I can't say," Dunn shook his head. "Headquarters didn't elaborate."
But both of them shared the same unspoken thoughts: Just how dangerous is the Antigonus Family's Notebook...
... that it warrants the presence of a High-Ranking Deacon?
After Dunn hurried away, Leonard slipped into an unobtrusive patch of shadow, settling in for his covert surveillance. Under his breath, he muttered:
"Hey, Old Man, didn't you say Klein Moretti showed nothing unusual?"
Had he known things would escalate like this, he wouldn't have merely warned his Captain—he would've done everything he could to stop Dunn Smith from attempting the dream invasion at all.
"There is indeed no detectable abnormality," the voice inside his mind answered with maddening calm.
"It may be an imperceptible, deeply buried corruption. Still... it's remarkable that the lingering influence of that notebook could push back a Captain of the Sleepless Pathway. Seems it truly is a higher-level relic."
Perhaps its original owner was indeed an Antigonus... how troubling...
"... You must be cautious."
'I already know that,' Leonard thought grimly. Even a Sequence 7 Captain had suffered a severe backflash—what chance does a Sequence 8 even have?
He exhaled slowly, and lifted his gaze toward Klein Moretti's room, conflicted emotions twisting in his chest.
The old voice stirred again.
"Are you pitying him? It's pointless. Fates like this fall on someone eventually. The only question is who ends up the unlucky one."
Leonard sighs.
.
.
.
This... is a memory.
It's easy to ask how matters reached such an end. But Klein had entered the heart of Sefirah Castle with a single certainty; this was a place where one either prevailed... or perished.
Yet.
Reaching the place where his predecessor had once stood should have signaled the start of an epic confrontation. Instead, they never truly met. He found himself suspended in an infinite sea of gray fog, unmoving, while a suffocating pressure coiled around him from every side.
Then it ceased, and face to face with—
Zhou Mingrui's eyes went wide. This wasn't what he had anticipated—his mind raced with endless possibilities, none of them preparing him for this.
"You—"
The stranger, at once familiar and alien, smiled faintly.
"Thousands of years," he whispered, as if drifting through a dream. "I never imagined you would find me."
Then he laughs, genuinely joyful yet wholly otherworldly. "Who knew a Pillar could be influenced?"
Zhou Mingrui's mind is in turmoil. "You've been here all this time." It was a statement.
"Not entirely... but perhaps," he chuckled. "So, what are you waiting for?"
.
.
.
"Time itself is converging towards the return of Mysteries."
(... an unlucky fate... The Witness of All Things' Finality... The Nameless Ruler of Withered Earth...
... He who endures when all else has crumbled...
...)
.
.
.
The sun rose early in summer. It is June 29th.
Zhou Mingrui woke up to start a new day—re