What terrifying intuition. Despite not realizing that the âGehrman Sparrowâ in front of you is a double, you still feel that something is amiss⌠Hidden in a faraway building, Klein inwardly drew a gasp. His mind raced as he quickly came up with a corresponding strategy.
He controlled Senor and made the marionette reply in a deep voice, âIâm also a little worried.
âAfter opening the âdoor,â if you leave first, you can ambush me from the outside once Iâm out. You donât even need to ambush me. You can just wait outside.
âI believe that I should be the first to leave. And before that, you need to return to me my flesh and hair. When the time comes, you can be closer to the âdoor.â This way, you will have enough time to pass through the âdoorâ before your Spirit Body Threads drift to the top of the cathedral.â
Panatiya listened in silence and returned with a question, âThen how do I prevent you from destroying the âdoorâ after you leave?â
âThis is also a problem for me,â the marionette answered without giving any signs of weakness. âWhen I obtain that special symbol, Iâll show it to you. That way, even if I close the âdoor,â you will still be able to open it again.â
Panatiya closed her mouth as though she was thinking through the details, but she appeared somewhat irascible and could hardly compose herself. It was as though her inclination for insanity had filled her mind.
After about ten seconds, she said again, âI think a pure curse might not be able to harm you. Seers do not lack the means to avoid harm, just like the Paper Figurine Substitutes you used before.â
She really isnât leaving behind any loopholes. Thankfully, the person in front of you is a fake from top to bottom⌠As Klein lampooned, he made Senor take out one paper figurine after another. Then, he burned them all in front of the Demoness of Despair.
âI canât be sure that you havenât hidden one,â Panatiya said in suspicion, still somewhat neurotic.
âGehrman Sparrowâ twitched the corners of his mouth in a deadpan manner and said, âYou can try divination. Arenât Witches good at that?â
Panatiya smiled impatiently and said, âThe spirit world cannot be communicated with in here, and my spiritualityâŚâ
She didnât finish her sentence as the look in her eyes turned somewhat dangerous.
Klein knew what the Demoness of Despair was getting at. Her spirituality had been corrupted due to half a year of âeating.â It was somewhat chaotic and crazy, making it give unreliable âanswers,â especially against a Beyonder that was best at divination.
The two reached a stalemate, momentarily unable to resolve the problem of trusting one another.
At this moment, on the roof to the left, a hoarse and muffled voice sounded.
âI can be your âwitness.ââ
âGehrman Sparrowâ and Panatiya turned their heads at the same time and looked over. Mr. Aâs figure grew out from the shadows as he wore a blood-red hooded robe.
âHow will you bear âwitnessâ?â Klein made Senor ask.
Mr. A pulled down his hood and said with a deep chuckle, âIâll use flesh and blood magic to drill into your body and control your condition. Once you stop controlling the Spirit Body Threads, or if you try to use Paper Figurine Substitutes, Iâll immediately give a warning or attempt to stop you.
âOnce that âdoorâ you speak of opens, Iâll leave your body and pass through the door before my Spirit Body Threads are affected.â
Do you think âGehrman Sparrowâ is an idiot? Klein made his marionette curl his lips.
âBased on what I know, Rose Bishops can hide in the bodies of others, but the host will immediately die once they leave.â
âNo, using that method is to evade investigations; therefore, thereâs a need to fuse with the hostâs flesh and blood. But thereâs no need to do so in this situation. Iâll silently wait inside your stomach,â Mr. A explained in detail.
No, itâs not my stomach. Itâs Senorâs stomach⌠Klein made Gehrman Sparrow take out a gold coin and pretend to attempt a divination.
This crazy adventurer muttered under his breath as the gold coin in between his fingers was flipped.
With a ping, the gold coin flew into the air and landed in his palm.
âGehrman Sparrowâ carefully glanced at it.
âFrom the looks of it, you arenât lying.
âHowever, you will have to leave my body before I show the special symbol to Lady Despair.â
If this wasnât done, âGehrman Sparrowâ might end up being murdered by their collusion. After all, if Panatiya obtained the door-opening symbol while wielding the obsidian rock, given enough time, she didnât need to worry about any anomalies with her Spirit Body Threads. Then, she wouldnât need help from âGehrman Sparrowâ at all. Mr. Aâs existence was only to prevent the use of Paper Figurine Substitutes.
However, âGehrman Sparrowâ didnât need to be too worried if Mr. A came out ahead of time. He wasnât even afraid that Panatiya would lose decorum after knowing the door-opening symbol, because if that happened, he could rely on Paper Figurine Substitutes to avoid certain death. On the other hand, Panatiya wouldnât carry out a pursuit in the cathedral. This was because she would end up being hung up with the passage of time; hence, she needed to seize the opportunity to escape immediately!
Besides, there was no way to take the obsidian rock. âGehrman Sparrowâ would then have no chance of any subsequent escape attempts.
Although the details of this plan were still flawed, it fully considered the situation of all three parties. Panatiya raised her hand and grabbed at the hair that was sliding down her sideburns when she suddenly asked, âIf I were to escape first, arenât you afraid that Iâll ambush you?â
This was also a problem that Gehrman Sparrow was previously worried about.
Klein immediately made his marionette curl his lips and say,
âIâm afraid.
âBut I still have other means of escape. Iâll take the risk.â
Panatiya took two steps in an irritated manner before finally saying, âWe shall do it as agreed then.â
After making up her mind, her smile became extremely relaxed.
âYou really are a special man, a man that made me see hope. After we leave, I donât mind letting you experience what extreme pleasure is if you arenât afraid.â
âGehrman Sparrowâ shifted his gaze away with great effort before looking at Mr. A.
âI have no more questions.â
With the sound of howling wind, Mr. A flew down and landed not far from âGehrman Sparrow.â
His figure, along with his âclothes,â rapidly melted away, turning into a sticky glob of flesh and blood.
Right on the heels of that, the flesh and blood piled onto one another and kept compressing into a âtiny streamâ that had the thickness of an arm. Then, it flowed towards âGehrman Sparrow.â
Far away in a building, Klein felt somewhat disgusted as he retched. Then, he made âGehrman Sparrowâ open his mouth.
The âflesh and bloodâ stream climbed up the marionetteâs body and drilled into its mouth. The slightly warm but slippery feeling passed through the gullet and entered the stomach.
Itâs heavy⌠However, Mr. Aâs flesh and blood is helping to hold up the stomach, preventing it from sagging too much⌠Klein inspected the marionette and made him look up at the shrouded crimson moon and say to Panatiya, âLetâs begin.â
âAlright.â Panatiya, who could hardly withstand her urges, impatiently walked towards the cathedralâs entrance.
Klein made âGehrman Sparrowâ follow by her side and first plucked off his hair before making two meat tendrils grow out from his arm before ripping it out. It made blood gush out.
If someone very familiar with me were here, they would definitely notice a problem because I canât deal harm to my own body so decisively⌠Hmm, perhaps in the eyes of others, the crazy adventurer, Gehrman Sparrow, can probably do such a deed easily⌠As Klein noticed a problem and gained experience from his conclusion, he made the marionette pass through the ajar main door of the ancient cathedral. He then handed the hair and flesh to Panatiya.
Panatiya slowed down her pace as she took out an ugly, palm-sized puppet and wiped the flesh over it and tied the hair around its thin neck.
She held the cursed puppet in one hand and finally stepped through the cathedralâs door. Klein immediately got âGehrman Sparrowâ to control their Spirit Body Threads. As for Mr. A, as he had overlapped with the marionette, it wasnât too much of a hassle.
Hmm, even I can do it. With the powers showcased by Zaratul, âHeâ totally has the capability to help Beyonders that are not from the Seer pathway to resolve the loss of control over Spirit Body Threads in the cathedral. This way, as long as âHeâ wants the Demoness of Despair to enter, âHeâ couldâve opened the door a long time ago⌠Why didnât âHeâ do it? âHeâ is unable to communicate with others beyond the cathedral? Thatâs why Seer pathway Beyonders who arenât Marionettists or higher canât walk to âHimâ? Klein used his marionetteâs senses to analyze the situation remotely.
And inside the cathedral, the corpses remained dangling in midair. Their heads were bowed and their eyes were rolled back. From time to time, they would sway with the wind, producing the ravings âHornacis⌠FlegreaâŚâ
When Panatiya saw this scene, her body instantly stiffened, but she quickly composed herself. Together with âGehrman Sparrow,â they walked under the âgazesâ of the hanged.
Before long, they saw the pitch-black altar and the statue of the ancient godâs descendant.
Zaratul remained sitting diagonally behind the statue, wearing a hood and sporting a white beard.
When âGehrman Sparrowâ and Panatiya approached, âHeâ slowly lifted his head and chuckled.
âVery good. Beyonders from the Seer pathway need to know how to use their brain and not always think of fighting.â
âHeâ seemed to have foreseen that all of the paper figurines of âGehrman Sparrowâ would be destroyed. âHeâ directly reached out âHisâ wrinkled palm and grasped at something. âHisâ grab pulled out a yellowish-brown goatskin and a quill filled with ink and a bottle of ink.
This made Panatiya involuntarily twitch her brows.
Zaratul picked up the quill and scribbled words and symbols before rolling it up and handing it to âGehrman Sparrow.â
âThatâs the door-opening symbol, as well as the Bizarro Sorcerer potion formula you want.
âThey can only last for forty-five minutes and cannot be taken out.â
Klein avoided the Demoness of Despair and unfolded the goatskin, allowing the potion formula and the door-opening symbol to appear before his eyes.
Suddenly, his pupils constricted and nearly froze.
The door-opening symbol and the symbol provided by the Antigonus familyâs notebook via the Misfortune Cloth Puppet were mostly the same. It was a vertical eye made up of many mysterious labels!
However, there were tiny differences in the details. A crescent pattern had switched spots with a dotted-line label!