Chapter 1380: A Miracle
More than a thousand Amons each committed "Theft."
With "His" numbers, as long as "He" wasn't extremely unlucky, there
would always be a few who would've succeeded. Furthermore, The Fool's
potion was ownerless, so it wasn't difficult to steal.
While carrying out the "Theft," Amon removed a particular seal on "His"
body, allowing the Apprentice and Marauder Beyonder characteristics to
release their powers of convergence.
This was rather effective towards The Fool's potion, allowing Amon to
increase "His" success rate to the greatest extent.
However, all the Amons ultimately failed.
This was because a new rule had appeared on the Trunsoest Brass Book:
"Acts of theft are prohibited here!"
In order to deal with the awakening Lord of the Mysteries, Amon had
weakened all the seals here and helped the Trunsoest Brass Book escape
the "Fooling." It could now have a limited number of effective rules for
a brief moment amidst its repeated cycles, but now, this had adversely
affected "Them."
Seizing this opportunity, the illusory brand between Klein's brows
became more obvious.
A faint grayish-white fog gathered around him, forming a thin cocoon.
He activated Sefirah Castle with all his might. Together with his
Attendant of Mysteries Beyonder characteristic, he created an extremely
powerful convergence effect on The Fool's potion.
The black liquid that didn't have a fixed form seemed to be a starving
beast that saw food. It immediately pounced onto Klein.
It kept extending and changing like a translucent skin, wrapping Klein
inside.
Klein's face appeared underneath this liquid. His facial features were
sometimes distinct, sometimes blurred, sometimes distorted, and
sometimes blank.
In the Forsaken Land of the Gods, under the giant shadow formed by the
ancient sun god, words in the most ancient of languages rapidly took
form on the illusory surface of the sea that contained all possible
colors:
"Antigonus's efforts at advancing to The Fool ultimately failed due to
various reasons."
The reason why this existence that once dominated the entire planet
didn't use Klein Moretti's name was that he was now carrying the
identity and fate of Antigonus.
If the subject in the sentence had been the former name, then Klein
could completely ignore it.
What had Klein Moretti's failed advancement got to do with Antigonus
becoming The Fool?
But when the subject became Antigonus, it was like a prophecy, as if it
was an arrangement that had the outcome already be decided. Such a
sentence could make the situation turn very grim.
If Klein didn't give up on Antigonus's identity and fate, he would be
restricted by those words.
If he gave up Antigonus's identity and fate, then the Sequence 9 and 1
Beyonder characteristic in his body would no longer belong to him in the
true sense of the word. He had never digested them before---they were
Beyonder characteristics that Antigonus once controlled. At present, it
had nothing to do with Klein Moretti. All he did was forcefully devour
them.
Under such circumstances, even if there were no other factors, just the
undigested Beyonder characteristics would likely cause Klein to lose
control on the spot. And consuming The Fool's potion in such a state and
completing the advancement ritual was without a doubt impossible!
As the ancient sun god wrote this sentence, the Eternal Blazing Sun, the
Lord of Storms, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, who were situated
in the astral world, sensed something. Each of them launched the most
intense of counterattacks in an attempt to interfere with the other
party's actions.
However, even though a large portion of "His" energy was spent
restricting the three true deities, making it rather difficult, the
ancient sun god quickly completed the sentence.
However, "His" giant shadow embodiment dimmed, as though "He" was unable
to maintain it for too long.
In the astral world, within the floating ancient palace.
In the battle that pit the Earth Mother and the God of Steam and
Machinery against the Primordial Demoness and Hidden Sage, the situation
became even more intense. However, the former two were still able to
divert a certain amount of strength to affect Amon's avatar, preventing
"Them" from destroying Klein's advancement ritual.
The Amons were forced to "Blink" everywhere, but some of them still
turned into plants, blooming and bearing fruit before returning to the
land. Others collapsed into words as they were imprinted into illusory
books.
Apart from that, a large number of "Them" were strengthening the seal,
limiting the Trunsoest Brass Book, preventing the rules it enacted from
being effective, or be effective for only an instant.
Under the influence of these three factors, even with Amon's numbers, it
appeared to be insufficient.
But even so, a small number of "Them" managed to seize the opportunity
to make crystal monocles and similar circular symbols reflect Klein's
figure.
In the next second, the monocles and circular symbols emitted pure
light.
This wasn't "Theft," but the act of "returning" things.
At this moment, Amon's decision was to return an item that "He" had
formerly "Stolen" from Klein.
It was Klein's thoughts of suicide!
Back when Klein was captured by Amon and brought to the Forsaken Land of
the Gods, he had tried on many occasions to commit suicide but failed to
succeed. He had such thoughts "Stolen" by the other party.
At the critical moment of his advancement, once he had the intention to
commit suicide, the outcome could be imagined!
At that moment, Klein, who was tightly enveloped by The Fool's potion,
felt his thoughts turn chaotic and wander. His hair spread out as he
felt an extremely cold, sticky liquid slowly invade him.
Then, he had the thought of committing suicide and giving up.
This was a change that Klein had never expected. He had long forgotten
how Amon had "Stolen" his thoughts of committing suicide. Furthermore,
he didn't expect that not only was the other party unwilling to abandon
these thoughts, "He" had even kept them carefully.
If it were anytime in the past, this thought might've been strong, but
Klein could still use his self-control to resist it forcefully,
suppressing it until it dissipated on its own. It would be akin to
dealing with nasty thoughts.
But now, he was in the midst of an advancement ritual. He was being
influenced by the potion, and his mind had lost its stability. He was
unable to effectively suppress the thought of committing suicide.
The Amons always had various strange but rather effective methods.
Fortunately, Klein wasn't only Klein, but also Antigonus.
What relation did Klein Moretti's thoughts of committing suicide have to
do with Antigonus?
With this level of knowledge from this additional identity, Klein didn't
immediately give up and end his life. He pulled the Antigonus mental
imprint in his body and mixed it with the idea of suicide, barely
suppressing it.
Under such a balance, Klein's mind and body were further corroded by The
Fool's potion.
His thoughts were the same as when he advanced to Attendant of
Mysteries---completely dispersed.
But the difference was that he didn't fuse with the spirit world this
time. Instead, he continued to extend, enveloping the entire planet, the
entire spirit world, and part of the astral world like a gaseous body.
At that moment, Klein felt that he was in the bodies of different
believers, in every human's body, in every animal's body, in every
living thing.
Everything had godhood in them.
At the same time, he was still scattered within the fog of history,
scattered through fleeting time, and scattered inside the silent flow of
a river of light with multiple distributaries.
One was also Infinity.
At the level of godhood, an experience like this made Klein's thoughts
wear away even further, as though all that was left was a coldness that
looked down on everything.
Even this coldness was dissipating slowly.
It wouldn't be long before Klein completely lost himself and was led by
the various mental seals in The Fool's potion, becoming a true monster.
This coincided with Antigonus's crazy fate, allowing the latter to
accelerate.
At this moment, he felt something off. It was unharmonious, unnatural,
and abnormal.
In the fog of history, there were a small number of light fragments
twisting and distorting, unable to take form. It was as if there was a
fundamental conflict between them.
They gradually separated, breaking out into different branches to record
the different content, allowing the twisting to achieve the initial
state of recovering.
Being imbued into everything, Klein's mind was "thrown out" due to this
tiny disharmonious abnormality. He found some aspect of self-awareness
again.
With this self-awareness as the core, he quickly gathered his scattered
mind and guided the fusion process between The Fool's potion and his
body.
But at this moment, the fate of Antigonus losing control thanks to the
ancient sun god's "Prophecy" erupted early. Klein's body collapsed once
again, unable to withstand The Fool's potion.
Without any hesitation or having the luxury of time to hesitate, Klein
immediately removed a portion of the "Theft" effects and returned
Antigonus "His" identity, fate, and self-awareness, allowing the "Him"
sitting on the huge stone chair to slowly open his eyes. The dazed
Antigonus gradually regained "His" clarity of mind.
"He" didn't immediately lose control, because the main reason "He" lost
control was that the Lord of the Mysteries's will had awakened to a
large extent. And now, The Fool's Uniqueness and most of the Beyonder
characteristics that contained a portion of the will was no longer in
"His" body.
Therefore, Antigonus could use his own will to resist the madness and
try to stop the fate of losing control.
The prophecy of the ancient sun god came true: Antigonus really failed
to advance to Sequence 0 The Fool.
And without "His" identity, the Sequence 9 and Sequence 1 Beyonder
characteristic of the Seer pathway in Klein's body turned into something
that he hadn't digested. This threw him to the edge of losing control
immediately.
The Fool's potion that wrapped around his body like a cloak instantly
completed the act of seeping through. The will of the Celestial Worthy
of Heaven and Earth for Blessings was awakened once again!
"Give up...
"Leave everything to me...
"This time, I won't accommodate another sefirah...
"I won't help you protect the living creatures you wish to protect, but
I won't harm them either...
"It's not that I won't keep my promises, but it's just that they're too
weak and not worth my attention...
"This place is an area that is off-limits to Outer Deities...
"..."
The unfamiliar yet weirdly familiar ravings reverberated in Klein's
heart, giving him the idea of giving up.
And the thought of committing suicide that he had been suppressed by
Antigonus's mental imprint previously, surfaced again after the balance
created by it was lost.
The outcome of failing an advancement attempt was about to occur.
At this moment, the Evernight Goddess, who was originally powerless to
slash downwards with the Twilight Sword, suddenly gave up on controlling
Amon's true body.
As Amon's true body leaped out, and just as the avatars waited for Klein
to fail the ritual, the goddess once again dragged the exaggerated sword
that was covered in orange light.
This time, the target was Klein!
A thought flashed through Klein's mind as he took the initiative to be
controlled by the thought of committing suicide, not making any attempts
to resist.
With a poof, he was slashed by the symbolic sword of twilight,
shattering into a rotten body of "meat" that seeped out Beyonder
characteristics.
Klein died. Before the Amons took any sort of measures against him, he
was killed by the Evernight Goddess before the ritual failed and before
he completely lost control.
In the next second, the Evernight Goddess wore the bird-shaped, golden
accessory on "Her" head as "Her" body expanded and enveloped the ancient
palace. She instantly erased Amon's true body, avatars, Earth Mother,
Primordial Demoness, God of Steam and Machinery, Hidden Sage, and
Antigonus, as though "They" were erased by an eraser.
Concealment!
The ancient sun god seemed to understand what the Evernight Goddess
wanted to do, but having already made two prophecies, there was no way
for "Him" to write a third sentence. As for the three true gods, they
continued throwing what they had at "Him," holding "Him" back.
In the next second, a miracle happened. Klein returned from the fog of
history.
The Uniqueness of The Fool that had already belonged to him and the
three Sequence 9 to Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics rapidly returned
to his body.
Afraid that he would be disturbed, the Genie quickly made use of the
Trunsoest Brass Book to add a rule:
"This place is suitable for the return of Beyonder characteristics."
Suddenly, Klein returned to his previous state of him "drinking" The
Fool potion.
But the thing that was different from before was that, back then, his
body's pillar of support belonged to the Sequence 9 to Sequence 1
Beyonder characteristics of Antigonus---ones he hadn't digested yet. And
now, the first to return to him was undoubtedly the digested Sequence 9
and 1 Beyonder characteristic that once belonged to him.
This way, he would have a true pillar of support that could accommodate
The Fool's Uniqueness and the remaining characteristics.
Klein was in a state that was the same as when he first arrived at the
main peak of the Hornacis mountain range, an Attendant of Mysteries who
had finished digesting the potion and was capable of attempting to
advance to Sequence 0 The Fool.
By relying on his resurrection, Klein had completely overturned his
state!
This was the flash of inspiration he had obtained from Roselle's
resurrection. Of course, the entire process was different from the
resurrection of a Black Emperor.
The character that Klein had arranged to kill him was the Genie. He
never expected that the Evernight Goddess, who he hadn't discussed this
with, would share such tacit understanding with him.
In that instant, his body split apart, turning into a thin gray fog and
dark liquid.
The gray fog and black liquid blended together, and the countless
maggots that resembled meat tendrils sprouted on the surface. Then, they
intertwined into a translucent dark-colored cloak.
There was no body under the cloak, just darkness.
This process was very brief. In less than two seconds, the Evernight
Goddess's concealment of so many deities was clearly unable to last that
long.
In an instant, a door of light traveled across the surface of the
concealed world at an extremely high speed.
The door suddenly opened, and Amon, who was wearing a pointed hat and
wearing a classic black robe, leaped out.
At the same time, "He" saw an illusory mask with blank facial features
appear under the translucent dark-colored cloak.
The mask instantly outlined Klein, who had fused with Gehrman Sparrow's
traits. Amon's thoughts turned chaotic as though "He" had his
intelligence forcefully lowered.
The Fool was born.