Chapter 976: Zealot

Dressed in pajamas, Klein didn't move. In his spiritual perception, the

intruder's Spirit Body Threads appeared.

This also meant that if he so wished, he could turn everyone in 160

Böklund Street into his marionette without leaving the bed. Of course,

to a demigod-a Bizarro Sorcerer---the neighbors a few buildings away

were within range.

There are many Spirit Bodies around. One of them is helping him fly. He

has landed on the opposite balcony... Is it a Beyonder from the Death

pathway, or the Evernight pathway? To be able to do this, he must at

least be a Sequence 6... He's here for Richardson? No, he's walking

towards my bedroom. He has paused and has reached out his right hand to

knock gently on my door... He's certain that I've detected him? Klein

sat up with a slightly heavy expression.

He had made the initial judgment via the Spirit Body Threads, but

subsequently, he did it via direct "sight"-a scene that formed in his

mind.

After Klein reached Sequence 4, not only was his danger premonition as a

Clown enhanced, the amount of power he could stir and use from the

mysterious space above the gray fog had experienced a qualitative boost.

With the two combined, it wasn't difficult for him to use his intuition

to have a projection of the intruder's figure and actions, despite the

distance.

In addition, due to his deepened control over the mysterious space,

Klein could converge the augmentation effects the gray fog had on him in

the real world. This prevented Beyonders of certain pathways from seeing

anything. Based on his judgment, by being above the gray fog, augmenting

himself with a Card of Blasphemy, and using the Sea God Scepter, the

strength that The Fool could direct at the real world was asymptotically

closer to that of an angel.

If that weren't the case, even if the gray fog and the Paper Figurine

Substitutes could allow others to maintain their lucidity in dreamlike

states, Klein wouldn't have dared to allow Miss Justice to face a

Sequence 4 or even Sequence 3 of the Spectator pathway.

Amidst his thoughts, he left his bed, wore his slippers, and

straightened his pajamas. He walked to the reclining chair and leisurely

sat down.

"Please come in."

The door to the master bedroom opened silently, but no cold wind blew

in. All it did was spiral in the corridor.

The visitor was a man about Dwayne Dantès's age, and of similar height.

He had black hair and brown eyes. He had cut facial features, a classic

example of a Loenese man.

He wore a silk top hat and had a rather thin face. His demeanor was cold

but wasn't one that left others feeling uncomfortable. Instead, it was a

manifestation of the night view at a suburban cemetery.

At this instant, Klein saw countless Spirit Bodies hugging a middle-aged

gentleman. It made his surroundings dark and stacked, as though a world

was hidden within.

Klein's spiritual intuition told him that this was a demigod.

Why would there be a demigod coming to me moments after I arrive back in

Backlund... Apart from the Church of Evernight's Backlund archbishop,

nothing has been exposed in regards to this identity as Dwayne Dantès...

Having a headache, Klein looked at the door without an expression. It

was unknown whether he was feeling angry or alarmed.

After taking two steps, the demigod's right hand suddenly hung down

straight. Together with his waist, it bent like a bow pulled to its

limit.

He had bowed deeply in a strange manner, his attitude extremely

reverent. Meanwhile, a cold wind blew over, closing the door silently.

Klein was nearly taken aback, feeling at a loss. His mind whirred as he

came to a rough guess.

At this moment, the demigod maintained his pose and said in a deep

voice, "In response to a revelation, I, Patrick Bryan of the Numinous

Episcopate, am here to meet Your Excellency."

Revelation... Klein controlled the twitching of his facial muscles.

Together with his previous guess, he had a rough understanding of what

was happening.

The Evernight Goddess had deepened "Her" control of Artificial Death-in

other words, the Death pathway's Uniqueness! "She" was able to give

revelations to the high-ranking members of the Numinous Episcopate's

Artificial Death faction!

Klein sighed as he chuckled. He pressed his right hand to his chest, but

he didn't make any additional movements.

"What is God's revelation?"

Bryan slowly stood straight and looked at the gentleman with the white

sideburns sitting at the reclining chair. He replied with some level of

fervor, "We succeeded. God has finally awakened. 'He' has requested me

to listen to your commands from this day forth, and to follow your

arrangements."

Klein had already expected this, but he felt his face burn, unsure

whether to laugh or cry.

This is making me be a Blessed of Evernight while also part-timing as a

Blessed of Artificial Death, so as to silently lead the Numinous

Episcopate's Artificial Death faction... Is this a bestowment of fate,

or a price that had been exacted? Since the Goddess didn't get the

Church's archbishops or high-ranking deacons to handle this matter, it

means that "She" wishes it to be kept confidential... Klein instantly

stood up and tried to appear pious in tone and expression.

"As God's revelation commands.

"God's wish is my wish!"

After expressing his devotion, he looked at the demigod standing

straight in front of him and pointed to the sofa opposite him.

"Please have a seat. Oh, do introduce yourself. That's the most basic

form of politeness, isn't it?"

Moments ago, as the thoughts ran through his mind, Klein had vaguely

grasped the reason why the Goddess had handed him leadership over the

Numinous Episcopate's Artificial Death faction.

As Gehrman Sparrow, he had close connections with the Death Consul!

Therefore, if anyone were to really discover anything amiss and begin

investigating the Numinous Episcopate's Artificial Death faction, they

would realize that it had something to do with Gehrman Sparrow and be

enlightened. They would believe that they had grasped the truth as to

why Artificial Death was able to come to life and send a revelation.

Due to this guess, Klein deliberately made Dantès use Gehrman Sparrow's

usual speech.

Patrick Bryan sat on the sofa and said after some thought, "I'm Loenese.

I once did business in East Balam and nearly died because of a disease.

I was rescued by members of the Numinous Episcopate, and during that

ritual, I received God's grace and survived. Later, I secretly changed

my faith.

"The faction I'm in is always being vilified by the other members of the

Numinous Episcopate. They believe that we're engaging in sacrilege, that

we're in a bid to create a new Death. But that's not the case. We firmly

believe that God didn't perish at the end of the Fourth Epoch. 'He' is

merely asleep and requires certain things to be done in order to awaken.

The facts have proven that we were right. You are witness to this."

The ancient chronicles I received didn't say so. Those high-ranking

members of the Numinous Episcopate are fully aware that they are

emulating the matter of the Hidden Sage to create Artificial Death...

Could it be that this gentleman in front of me isn't a core member of

the Numinous Episcopate's Artificial Death faction? And he also lacks

sufficient knowledge regarding the Uniqueness? But how can a demigod not

be a core member? Even if the Numinous Episcopate is a remnant of the

Balam royal family and Death's Church, with copious amounts of knowledge

and powerhouses, there's no way they will let a demigod go to waste...

Even the seven orthodox Churches wouldn't do such a thing... Klein was

extremely puzzled hearing this as he asked, "What about the other

high-ranking members of your faction?" Patrick Bryan said with a

reverent look, "When I joined the Numinous Episcopate, God had already

awakened a little. This is all the work of the saints of the past. They

had sacrificed themselves over the numerous rituals.

"Currently, we have a total of three saints and an angel. They are in

East Balam while I'm in charge of Backlund matters."

That's not right. Based on the information provided by Leonard, the

Numinous Episcopate have their members split into many small teams in

Backlund. They aren't aware of each other, and they only make contact

with a specific person in the Southern Continent. There's no overall

person-in-charge... Klein's first reaction was that Patrick Bryan was

lying, but he immediately dismissed it. This was because it was

something easily verifiable for a Blessed who had been the focus of a

revelation.

He thought for a moment before he asked, "What's that angel's name?

Where is 'He'? Are there any other revelations?"

Patrick Bryan answered frankly, "God made me not inform others, nor make

inquiries to others about matters.

"Our leader's name is Haiter, both a last name and first name. 'He' was

once the archbishop of the Church, and later he became an angel thanks

to God's grace. 'He' has always been working hard to awaken the sleeping

God, but he was severely corrupted in one of the rituals. Currently,

'He' is unable to leave his mausoleum; otherwise, he would directly lose

control. 'He' is considered my teacher."

This demigod that has existed since the Balam Empire is clearly key in

steering the Artificial Death project... Klein asked in thought, "He'

and the other two demigods are Balamese pure-bloods?"

"Yes." Patrick Bryan nodded.

I roughly get what's happening... Klein couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He believed that Patrick Bryan wasn't an ordinary demigod, but a

byproduct of the Artificial Death

project!

Back then, Haiter and the other members of the Numinous Episcopate's

Artificial Death faction had no intention of saving a Loenese. Instead,

they had planned on using him for a ritual's sacrificial item or

material. In the end, something unexpected happened during their attempt

which they originally hadn't had high hopes of. Death's Uniqueness

gained some level of instinct or produced other changes. This led to

Patrick Bryan's survival and his establishment of a certain connection

with Artificial Death. His spirit and body became special.

Upon witnessing this, Haiter and the other high-ranking members began

viewing Patrick Bryan as key to the success of the Artificial Death

project. They gave him potions and taught him, proselytizing him with

the faith of Death; thus, fabricating a perfect excuse for themselves.

And due to Bryan's specialness, he had advanced rapidly and became a

demigod.

Of course, no matter how key he was, he was merely an experimental

subject. Patrick Bryan had never been treated as one of the members of

the Numinous Episcopate's Artificial Death faction. Later, he was sent

to the Loen Kingdom's Backlund to lead two or three teams. He did

various kinds of rituals in a bid to bring the Uniqueness alive.

Such a guess was in line with the situation which Klein was currently

aware of. First, Leonard had mentioned that the Numinous Episcopate's

Artificial Death faction had placed their experiments in Backlund,

planning to destroy the enemy's capital even if an accident happened.

Second, many teams were independently connected to the Southern

Continent and Backlund and had no overall person-in-charge. Third,

Patrick Bryan's knowledge of Artificial Death was very different from

reality.

This also meant that the people in the Southern Continent didn't care

for Bryan's life and death, nor did they tell him the truth. Under such

circumstances, there was no other explanation unless he was a byproduct

of the Artificial Death project.

Hmm, from the looks of it, the Goddess's control of the Uniqueness is

still limited. "She" can only send revelations to one person who is

directly connected to Artificial Death. "She" is unable to influence

Haiter and the other saints... Klein reined in his thoughts and asked,

"What's your current Sequence?"

Patrick Bryan didn't hide the truth.

"I'm an Undying."