Lilith's expression immediately darkened. "Amanises, I just came back to life, and you're already rushing me? I always keep my word—what I promise, I deliver!"
"I was only reminding you," Amanises replied calmly.
"You—"
Edward patted Lilith's shoulder. "Your Grace, I also have many questions about some of the secrets on my body, and about that person you all keep mentioning. Even if you refuse to tell me anything, I will go regardless."
She nodded. "Mm. Be careful."
An instant later, her figure vanished like chalk wiped off a board.
"Edward, are you really going?" Lilith asked anxiously. "Amanises cares so much about this and still refuses to go herself—this has to be extremely dangerous!"
"Heh. At this point, even if I do nothing, I won't live more than a few days anyway. I might as well make good use of the time I have left and settle everything."
As he spoke, Edward murmured, "But before that, I need to return to the Sefirah Castle and confirm one thing."
"What thing?"
"It's about the method I divined to resist 'Death.' I need to know whether it's reliable."
Right before Lilith's eyes, Edward once again retraced the four steps in reverse while chanting the four incantations:
"The Immortal Lord of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.
The Sky Lord of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.
The Exalted Thearch of Heaven and Earth for Blessings.
The Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings."
After a brief silence, the air around them gradually stopped flowing. It thickened, becoming viscous and uncanny. Then that familiar grey fog surfaced in his vision—hazy, indistinct, boundless.
In a trance, Edward once again entered the Sefirah Castle.
This time, however, it had reverted to its earliest appearance: an endless, empty expanse. The grey fog flowed like water, dotted with countless deep-crimson "stars"—some enormous, some tiny, some buried deep within the mist, others drifting near the surface.
Edward had barely taken one step when the grey fog began to billow violently. The layers of grey clouds trembled ever so slightly, as if rejoicing at the return of their rightful master.
He lifted a hand and waved gently, apologetically. "I'm sorry. My condition is far too poor now. I cannot continue serving as the master of the Sefirah Castle."
The surging fog gradually settled. A chorus of voices—some high, some low, some deep, some sharp—whispered around his ears, seeming to express resentment and unwillingness.
"I'm truly sorry," Edward repeated. "But I promise that in the future, there will be someone far more suitable than me to inherit the position of the Sefirah Castle's master."
He gave a slight bow, then turned toward the depths of the mysterious space above the grey fog—toward the radiant staircase that ascended like a pathway into Heaven. One step after another, he climbed that gigantic six-tiered stairway and reached the condensed grey clouds at its summit.
He arrived once more before that glorious door of light, faintly tinged with bluish-black. It was formed from innumerable overlapping spheres of radiance. Within each sphere lay a twisted cluster of writhing worms—some transparent, some semi-transparent.
From the gate hung strands of black filaments. Suspended from them were countless nearly translucent "cocoons"—the old-era survivors that "Celestial Worthy" had captured for resurrection.
Edward walked slowly up to the two torn-open cocoons. He reached out and gently stroked the cicada-thin membrane, then closed his eyes and flipped a gold coin.
Heads meant affirmation.
It was truly feasible.
When he had previously used divination to search for a way to resolve "Death," he had seen only one suspended cocoon within the grey fog of the Sefirah Castle.
Back then, he had a rough guess. Now, the guess was confirmed—he could imitate the Celestial Worthy's method of suspending these old-era survivors, allowing them to survive for thousands or tens of thousands of years. He could hang himself here as well, using this method to let the Sefirah Castle bear the price of his "Death."
Through an extremely long period of sleep, he could slowly neutralise the erosion of life, bit by bit, until eventually, at some unknown moment, he would emerge from the cocoon and completely escape "Death."
To suspend himself, he needed a curtain—specifically, the Beyonder characteristic of an Attendant of Mysteries. And as luck would have it, he had one.
"Then…before I go into slumber, I need to finish everything that must be done."
———
Roselle's luxurious villa.
Nearly a week had passed since he had "delivered" the Antigonus family notebook to Zaratul, yet the existence above the grey fog had never contacted him again after that day.
During this period, Roselle had tried praying to the Chairman as well, but everything he did vanished like a clay ox sinking into the sea—without even the slightest response.
Zaratul, too, disappeared after using the notebook to divine the information he wanted.
Roselle felt inexplicably uneasy these days, as though some major event was looming.
"What's wrong with you lately? You've been constantly distracted," Matilda said as she placed a cup of hot tea on the table. She walked behind Roselle and gently massaged his temples with her fingers.
Roselle leaned back slightly into his wife's embrace. "Nothing. It's just…next week I'll be entering the army as an officer, right? I'm a little worried I'll mess up and embarrass myself."
"That doesn't sound like something Roselle Gustav would ever say."
"Ahem. Well, it is the military. It's a field I've never touched before. And in a place like that, discipline comes first. I won't have the chance to slack off or cut corners."
Roselle picked up the tea and took a sip—his expression instantly turning into one of pained disgust. "What on earth is this? Bitter, astringent, and with some strange taste."
Matilda answered gently, "It's a tonic medicinal tea."
"My body is perfectly fine. I don't need to drink something like this!"
"…Especially good for men's health," she added softly.
"…"
Roselle silently took another large gulp. "I don't care about that. I just…purely enjoy this weird taste."
Light footsteps pattered in from outside as Bernadette ran in. "Daddy, Mama, I'm back!"
"So soon?" Roselle asked, frowning. "Don't you usually stay at Klein's place for half the day?"
"Mr. Sparrow wasn't home," she explained. "But his daughter came."
"Huh?"
Roselle and Matilda were both surprised. "His daughter?"
"Yeah! And she's super pretty—really, really pretty!"
"Hmph! I don't believe anyone can be prettier than my Bernadette!"
Bernadette spoke with utter seriousness. "It's true. She's really beautiful. Mm…" She thought for a moment. "Anyway, she just looked especially good."
"I'm not talking anymore—I need to prepare something as a gift for her!"
With that, Bernadette sprinted back out. Just as she reached the doorway, her little head recalled her earlier conversation with 'Big Sister' Lilith. After hesitating for a moment, she suddenly turned toward the tea-drinking Roselle and said, "Old man, we're aura farming today!"
"???"
PFFFT!!!
After a brief, stunned pause, Roselle sprayed medicinal tea everywhere. "What did you just say?!"
———
Southeast of Backlund, at the centre of the Delaire Forest.
Edward and Lilith arrived before the ancient castle hidden deep within the dense woods, its walls overgrown with green vines.
"So it really is here," Lilith murmured. She tiptoed forward a few steps. "Back when I came here, everything was perfectly fine. This used to be Auernia's residence."
Auernia—The Sanguines' Goddess of Beauty.
"I didn't expect the entrance to the Chaos Sea to be here. But I've been to the underground levels of this castle before—I didn't notice anything strange."
She looked at Edward and asked, "Are you sure it's here?"
"Well…"
Edward's speculation that the bronze door beneath the castle led to the Chaos Sea came from the original novel: Arrodes' reply to Klein—stating that it came from there, from deep underground.
Combined with the black viscous liquid—petroleum—that appeared with Arrodes, clearly belonging to the Chaos Sea, this indirectly proved that the bronze door led to that very place.
…Wait. Arrodes was literally in Lilith's hands. Why not just ask him directly?
"Lilith, lend me Arrodes."
"Okay."
She flipped her palm and produced the silver mirror. "What do you want to ask?"
"Just ask him whether the bronze door down there really leads to the Chaos Sea."
Lilith stroked the mirror surface a few times. "You heard Edward's question. Answer it."
"Understood, the greatest, cutest, most beautiful Lady Lilith."
Arrodes' first words were those of an old, shameless bootlicker. "Actually, I can't be completely certain whether that place is the Chaos Sea. I can only confirm it has something to do with where I was born. But as for the specifics…I don't know. I only gained true consciousness after coming to the surface and becoming a mirror. I have almost no memories from before."
"Okay. That's enough."
Edward nodded. "Lilith, I'll go and come back as quickly as I can. Promise me—no matter what, don't follow me. Alright?"
She pursed her lips. "Fine."
"If it were just fighting enemies, I wouldn't reject your help. But this is the pollution of a Sefirot. It has nothing to do with strength. Do you understand?"
"Alright, alright, I get it."
"I'm going!"
Edward stepped forward and arrived in the pitch-black underground chamber of the castle. With a light wave of his hand, dozens of oil lamps materialised, illuminating the entire underground space. He then turned to look at the double-doored bronze gate standing silently in the distance.
The gate's surface was carved with dense symbolic runes and strange patterns—mysterious, heavy, and seemingly sealing away something beyond.
Almost instantly, Edward once again felt that familiar sensation—as though an ancient call echoed from behind the bronze door, striking rhythmically against his heart.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
At the same time, heavy pounding sounds resounded from behind the gate, reverberating across the vast underground chamber. They felt like they came from an inconceivably ancient era.
Edward tossed a gold coin. "The bronze door leads to the Chaos Sea."
Predictably, the coin left his hand, rolled across the smooth stone floor, and continued straight toward the bronze door.
More than ten meters later, it bumped into the bottom of the door and stopped with a crisp ding, standing perfectly upright.
"Whew…Well, since I'm already here, I might as well go through."
He walked up to the bronze door, enduring the pounding rhythms that had begun resonating with his heart—his entire spirituality trembling in response. He raised his hand toward the door.
No need for Deconstruction. No need for Fantasy.
His hand passed effortlessly through the ancient bronze surface. Then, with a shift of his foot, his entire body crossed through the door and entered an exceptionally dim space.
———
[Note]: 1750 Powerstones for another Extra Chapter tomorrow! Go, VOTE!
And if you are like me and want to read 40 Chapters in advance of the current story right now, you can support me on my Patreon. Thank me later~
Link - (P)atre(o)n.c(o)m/ Iseeblack [Remove the brackets]