Lord of the Mysteries

1353 Sacrificial Victim

Mr. Door’s figure that had shrunk from the ball of light came to a halt as though “He” had fallen into an intense internal struggle.

The layered doors in “His” body were just a little short of fully being reassembled.

Amidst the illusory whooshing sounds, the crimson tide that barely squeezed through the gap in the Door of Flesh and Blood became even more turbulent. The blood-colored robe landed heavily, about to envelop Bethel Abraham once again.

However, as it descended, the brass-colored eyes, the young man in the fiery armor, the hazy barrier of light that accentuated terrifying facial features, the ground with opened eyes and closed mouth, and the shadowy woman vanished silently from the world.

In that instant, a blazing sun appeared above the forest. Day replaced the night, causing all the shadows to rapidly disperse.

This caused the blood-colored robe to rise once again, scattering even more crimson moonlight, causing all the disturbances to return to their mother’s embrace.

Seizing this opportunity, Mr. Door’s illusory eyes closed as “He” lowered “His” head.

“Alright…” “He” painfully said the first word after “His” return to reality.

“His” figure completely froze as “He” raised “His” right hand and pressed it to “His” face.

The next second, Mr. Door lifted “His” head and wore a crystal monocle on “His” right eye.

A beam of light erupted from the monocle, illuminating the entire world.

At that moment, all the errors of the seals that had failed were fixed. Everything that seemed normal showed errors. All the clocks jumped several seconds forward.

The Marauder Sequence 0 Error’s ritual was:

To replace someone during “Their” apotheosis ritual!

And Mr. Door’s return seemed to directly trigger “His” apotheosis ritual.

The light converged immediately, and Mr. Door had turned into Amon with “His” pointed hat and classic black robe.

The Blasphemer held a simple and unadorned key that seemed to be forged from pure starlight in “His” hand.

Above “Him,” the blood-colored robe descended, wanting to embrace “Him” into its arms. Behind “Him,” the crimson tide angrily squeezed through the remnants of the Door of Flesh and Blood in a last bid to enter the world.

In that short moment, the blood-colored moon glowed even brighter, blocking the sun, night, earth, blurry light, and the strange white tower outside.

Faced with the corruption from an Outer Deity, Amon’s lips curled up slightly. “He” extended “His” right hand and took out an abnormally ancient stone slab from an unknown location.

The first Blasphemy Slate!

Then, “He” used the stone slab formed from the Chaos Sea to block the remnant opening of the Door of Flesh and Blood. Then, “He” used it as a substitute to receive the falling blood-colored robe.

The first Blasphemy Slate turned illusory, as though it was connected to an infinite sea that contained all the possible colors.

The sea surged and swallowed the blood-colored robe, blocking the crimson tide from the cosmos.

The already collapsed Door of Flesh and Blood rapidly shrank before quickly disappearing. An angry and terrifying roar resounded in the air from within.

In the next second, the crimson moon appeared in the sky. The color quickly faded and turned pure. On it was a huge, distorted, crimson figure.

Wearing a pointed hat and a classic black robe, Amon adjusted the monocle on “His” right eye and waved “His” hand at the crimson figure and the bright moon that were staring at him. “He” then smiled and bowed slightly in all directions.

…

In the corpse cathedral that had an erected gigantic cross where countless skulls were watching with their hollow “eyes.”

Adam, who was dressed in a simple white robe, took a look at the ceaseless lightning outside the stained glass. “He” slowly got up and walked to the pool of blood that Klein had left behind. “He” bent down and picked up the ancient and mysterious mirror.

Following that, “He” turned around and walked towards the second Blasphemy Slate.

…

The first figure that Zaratul summoned out of the fog of history was still Roselle Gustav, who wore a dark red coat embroidered with gold thread, and had chestnut-colored curly long hair.

To this Attendant of Mysteries, there were quite a number of angels that “He” got to know in “His” long life. There were only a few that were stronger than a Sequence 1 Knowledge Emperor. For example, the Antigonus ancestor before “He” became The Half-Fool, Angel of Fate Ouroboros, or the Red of War brass who could indirectly obtain the strength of the Red Angel of Fate.

But under such circumstances, Zaratul believed that summoning Roselle Gustav’s Historical Void projection first was safer.

Before the Antigonus family’s ancestor became The Half-Fool, “He” too was a Sequence 1 Attendant of Mysteries. Therefore, “He” would be suppressed by the enemy who had deeper control of Sefirah Castle and a level that surpassed most Kings of Angels. After all, “His” enemy was the closest to a true god.

After Zaratul chose to cooperate with the Rose School of Thought and Adam, the success rate of summoning the Angel of Fate Ouroboros would undoubtedly drop. It wasn’t suitable for him to attempt it at a critical moment.

The Red of War brass that could borrow the Red Angel’s powers didn’t possess the strength directly, so the actual effects produced weren’t any stronger than that of Knowledge Emperor Roselle Gustav.

In comparison, Zaratul would definitely choose the historical projection that he was most familiar with and the easiest to successfully summon.

“His” plan was to seize the opportunity that Gehrman Sparrow had directly “Wandered” here without preparing any Historical Void projections in advance to use Knowledge Emperor Roselle Gustav, the Red of War army brass, and Abomination Suah to hold him back and leave “Him” enough time to create a miracle for “Himself.”

As soon as Roselle’s figure appeared, he immediately condensed into complicated and illusory symbols in his eyes in a bid to infuse large amounts of miscellaneous and useless knowledge into “His” target’s mind, causing “His” brain to explode.

At the same time, Zaratul used the various connections he had set up in advance to move “Himself.” This swamp was “His” home ground. As he made slippery and transparent tentacles penetrate the hooded black robe and stretch into the fog of history, he summoned the Red of War brass.

At that moment, Roselle Gustav’s historical projection suddenly turned his head and used a subtle connection to look towards Zaratul’s true form.

Zaratul’s mind was instantly filled with information and useless knowledge. “His” brain nearly exploded as “He” was unable to process “His” thoughts for a short period of time.

“He” froze on the spot, “His” gaze not even changing!

The historical projection, Knowledge Emperor Roselle Gustav, that “He” had summoned had betrayed “Him”!

Klein was both surprised and unsurprised by this outcome.

It wasn’t surprising because this was his own doing. The Worms of Spirit in Sefirah Castle had already “Grafted” Roselle’s present state to the concealed state that Klein had met!

The surprising thing was that Adam had never reminded Zaratul to be careful of Roselle Gustav.

Klein had previously sensed the coincidences in certain matters. His preparations included using The Fool symbol’s connection to Roselle Gustav’s seal. Through the corresponding prayer point of light, he could throw a Worm of Spirit that contained certain words or intent to his fellow Earthling who was in deep sleep, and awaken “Him.” Then, using a “Miracle,” “He” could temporarily suppress the corruptive powers of the Mother Goddess of Depravity.

Back then, the worst-case scenario that Klein took precautions against was if something happened to him that prevented him from contacting Sefirah Castle. As such, the Worms of Spirit in Sefirah Castle and the Worms of Spirit that were scattered in different places would end up losing control and be unable to save him.

Once the Worm of Spirit he gave Roselle mutated, Roselle would know that there was something wrong. “He” could then use the powers of a Black Emperor to distort order to maintain the Worm of Spirit’s lucidity for a certain period of time.

As for what plan the Worm of Spirit and Roselle would come up with to save himself, Klein didn’t know either.

This was the real reason why he could hide from Adam!

With his experience in the Hall of Truth, Klein knew that he wouldn’t have any secrets when facing the Visionary. Any rescue plans, be it figured out from the past or on the spot, would be seen and heard clearly by Adam.

At his level, the only way to avoid it was if even he himself didn’t know how to save himself.

Of course, Visionary Adam knew without a doubt that Klein had a Worm of Spirit in Roselle Gustav’s Black Emperor mausoleum. “He” knew that his backup plan definitely came from this, but “He” wasn’t able to pry into the secrets of it because it was contaminated by the Mother Goddess of Depravity. It was a place that had been corrupted by the cosmos, and the thought of prying into Roselle Gustav was like prying into an Outer Deity!

This was the difference in level.

It was precisely because of this that Klein could calmly ask all kinds of secrets and read the second Blasphemy Slate. On the one hand, knowledge was indeed tempting. And on the other hand, he was stalling for time, waiting for the other side to complete the task of rescuing him. At the same time, he didn’t want to occupy his mind; otherwise, he couldn’t help but think about how he could save himself.

As a result, Klein began to suspect that other than the unknown reasons as to why Adam had shared so many secrets with him, was because “He” was also trying to lure him into thinking of the solutions he would use to save himself, so as to find clues and stop him in advance.

Therefore, the question-and-answer session in the corpse cathedral was a clash of minds. Klein had to constantly control himself to prevent his thoughts from going astray.

And under this premise, Adam clearly knew that there might be problems with Roselle Gustav, but “He” didn’t remind Zaratul!

Regardless of the reason, Klein had no intention of letting the opportunity slip. He immediately raised the Staff of the Stars in his hand and skillfully simulated Amon’s Worm of Time’s powers.

Gong!

An ancient mottled stone clock phantom appeared. Its face was separated into twelve different segments by grayish-white and bluish-black colors. Each segment represented a different symbol of time.

Gong!

One of the three needles in the middle of the stone clock jumped, and Zaratul’s body froze on the spot.

Klein immediately transformed into a maggot vortex that extended countless slippery tentacles. In the middle of the vortex was a strange door of light.

The door of light didn’t move as the vortex swirled around it. A terrifying suction force forcefully pulled out the Beyonder characteristics within Zaratul’s body.

This was the method Pallez Zoroast had used to deal with Amon’s avatar back then. He had relied on his position to forcibly gather characteristics!

Bit by bit, the Beyonder characteristics flew out at an accelerating rate. By the time Zaratul escaped “His” frozen state and the mental explosion, “He” was already unable to extricate himself. “He” could only watch helplessly as “He” was completely carried into the dark and gloomy maggot whirlpool!

A few seconds later, the vortex outlined its body again, and Klein landed his feet on the ground.

In the fog of history, Zaratul’s figure appeared again and again, but it was impossible for “Him” to retrieve “His” Beyonder characteristics. In the end, it could only fade away silently, making it difficult for him to completely revive.

Klein used the ritual’s remnant effects that hadn’t completely dissipated and directly swallowed Zaratul’s characteristic!

He wanted to use this to lower the influence of the Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings!

…

As the corpse cathedral was still floating in the sea of lightning, Adam, who wore a simple white robe and had a faint blond beard, suddenly appeared at the edge of the waters near the ruins of the battle of gods.

The sea split apart, and a path appeared. It led straight to the spot which was stained with the ancient sun god’s blood. It led straight to the Giant King’s Court’s projection—the Forsaken Land of the Gods.

In the depths of the Forsaken Land of the Gods, at the top of a mountain peak, there was a huge cross erected, and there was an indistinct figure hanging upside down on it.

(End of the Seventh Volume—The Hanged Man)