More than a thousand Amons each committed âTheft.â
With âHisâ numbers, as long as âHeâ wasnât extremely unlucky, there would always be a few who wouldâve succeeded. Furthermore, The Foolâs potion was ownerless, so it wasnât difficult to steal.
While carrying out the âTheft,â Amon removed a particular seal on âHisâ body, allowing the Apprentice and Marauder Beyonder characteristics to release their powers of convergence.
This was rather effective towards The Foolâs potion, allowing Amon to increase âHisâ 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:
âActs of theft are prohibited here!â
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 âFooling.â It could now have a limited number of effective rules for a brief moment amidst its repeated cycles, but now, this had adversely affected âThem.â
Seizing this opportunity, the illusory brand between Kleinâs 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 Foolâs potion.
The black liquid that didnât 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.
Kleinâs 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:
âAntigonusâs efforts at advancing to The Fool ultimately failed due to various reasons.â
The reason why this existence that once dominated the entire planet didnât use Klein Morettiâs 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 Morettiâs 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 didnât give up on Antigonusâs identity and fate, he would be restricted by those words.
If he gave up Antigonusâs 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 beforeâthey 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 Foolâs 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 partyâs actions.
However, even though a large portion of âHisâ energy was spent restricting the three true deities, making it rather difficult, the ancient sun god quickly completed the sentence.
However, âHisâ giant shadow embodiment dimmed, as though âHeâ 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 Amonâs avatar, preventing âThemâ from destroying Kleinâs advancement ritual.
The Amons were forced to âBlinkâ 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 âThemâ 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 Amonâs numbers, it appeared to be insufficient.
But even so, a small number of âThemâ managed to seize the opportunity to make crystal monocles and similar circular symbols reflect Kleinâs figure.
In the next second, the monocles and circular symbols emitted pure light.
This wasnât âTheft,â but the act of âreturningâ things.
At this moment, Amonâs decision was to return an item that âHeâ had formerly âStolenâ from Klein.
It was Kleinâs 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 âStolenâ 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 Foolâs 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 âStolenâ his thoughts of committing suicide. Furthermore, he didnât expect that not only was the other party unwilling to abandon these thoughts, âHeâ had even kept them carefully.
If it were anytime in the past, this thought mightâve 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 wasnât only Klein, but also Antigonus.
What relation did Klein Morettiâs thoughts of committing suicide have to do with Antigonus?
With this level of knowledge from this additional identity, Klein didnât 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, Kleinâs mind and body were further corroded by The Foolâs potion.
His thoughts were the same as when he advanced to Attendant of Mysteriesâcompletely dispersed.
But the difference was that he didnât 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 humanâs body, in every animalâs 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 Kleinâs 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 wouldnât be long before Klein completely lost himself and was led by the various mental seals in The Foolâs potion, becoming a true monster.
This coincided with Antigonusâs 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, Kleinâs mind was âthrown outâ 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 Foolâs potion and his body.
But at this moment, the fate of Antigonus losing control thanks to the ancient sun godâs âProphecyâ erupted early. Kleinâs body collapsed once again, unable to withstand The Foolâs potion.
Without any hesitation or having the luxury of time to hesitate, Klein immediately removed a portion of the âTheftâ effects and returned Antigonus âHisâ identity, fate, and self-awareness, allowing the âHimâ sitting on the huge stone chair to slowly open his eyes. The dazed Antigonus gradually regained âHisâ clarity of mind.
âHeâ didnât immediately lose control, because the main reason âHeâ lost control was that the Lord of the Mysteriesâs will had awakened to a large extent. And now, The Foolâs Uniqueness and most of the Beyonder characteristics that contained a portion of the will was no longer in âHisâ 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 âHisâ identity, the Sequence 9 and Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic of the Seer pathway in Kleinâs body turned into something that he hadnât digested. This threw him to the edge of losing control immediately.
The Foolâs 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!
âGive upâŠ
âLeave everything to meâŠ
âThis time, I wonât accommodate another sefirahâŠ
âI wonât help you protect the living creatures you wish to protect, but I wonât harm them eitherâŠ
âItâs not that I wonât keep my promises, but itâs just that theyâre too weak and not worth my attentionâŠ
âThis place is an area that is off-limits to Outer DeitiesâŠ
ââŠâ
The unfamiliar yet weirdly familiar ravings reverberated in Kleinâs heart, giving him the idea of giving up.
And the thought of committing suicide that he had been suppressed by Antigonusâs 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 Amonâs true body.
As Amonâs 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 Kleinâs 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 âmeatâ 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 âHerâ head as âHerâ body expanded and enveloped the ancient palace. She instantly erased Amonâs true body, avatars, Earth Mother, Primordial Demoness, God of Steam and Machinery, Hidden Sage, and Antigonus, as though âTheyâ 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 âHimâ to write a third sentence. As for the three true gods, they continued throwing what they had at âHim,â holding âHimâ 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:
âThis place is suitable for the return of Beyonder characteristics.â
Suddenly, Klein returned to his previous state of him âdrinkingâ The Fool potion.
But the thing that was different from before was that, back then, his bodyâs pillar of support belonged to the Sequence 9 to Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics of Antigonusâones he hadnât 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 Foolâs 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 Roselleâs 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 hadnât 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 Goddessâs 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, âHeâ 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 Sparrowâs traits. Amonâs thoughts turned chaotic as though âHeâ had his intelligence forcefully lowered.