Giuseppe Castia, a member of the Feneport royal family and heir to the Dukedom of Sevilla.
However, several decades ago, he met an untimely death while exploring the Tudor–Trunsoest ruins in Backlund, after which he was possessed by "Liu Bo."
Afterward, during his travels, he met Lamiya, married her, and lived in seclusion within a secret valley on Blue Mountain Island.
Recalling the life record of this most useless "self," Ebner was certain that Giuseppe had already "died," had formed a "soul stone," and had even left behind an "imprint" at the corresponding location within the "Land of the Unknown."
So what exactly was this Giuseppe standing before him now? Whether it was his aura or that hazy, illusory "fate," it was undeniably the Giuseppe from Ebner's memories…
Ebner frowned, then activated the Pure White Eye.
A moment later, he nodded in realization and said to the three companions beside him:
"This Giuseppe should be a character recorded by the 'Planeswalker,' then granted a 'level' under the rules established by the 'Hand of Order.' He's probably already very close to the angel level."
Hearing this, Xio, Edwina, and Philina all nodded solemnly, each preparing their strongest attacks.
That said, although Ebner spoke seriously, he himself wasn't particularly nervous. After all, he could summon genuine angels at any time—certainly stronger than this half-baked Giuseppe.
What's more, dealing with him might not even require a fight…
Just as this thought crossed Ebner's mind, he saw "Giuseppe," clad in armor burning with green flames, slowly rise from his seat. He lifted his chin and swept his gaze over the four below the steps, speaking arrogantly:
"You are the new 'Heroes'?
"Your highest level is only 25? How disappointing… With strength like this, you dare stand before me?!"
That's really edgy… And weren't you also level 25 when you knelt here back then? You've got the nerve to say that about others! Ebner mocked inwardly, while simultaneously diverting part of his attention to guide the power of the Wheel of Fate toward Giuseppe's imprint within the Land of the Unknown.
Abilities like the "Gou San Family's sheep-shearing" simply didn't work on things or people involving "uniqueness"—at least not at the angel stage.
So long as the unique power of the Wheel of Fate was introduced into Giuseppe's imprint, briefly linking his fate to the Wheel itself, this image recorded by the Planeswalker would cease to exist.
On the other side, seeing that Ebner's group didn't respond at all, "Demon King" Giuseppe immediately erupted in rage. A vast pressure surged forth from his body, and words condensed from various "rules" manifested around him.
He casually selected the word "Death," preparing to shoot it toward Edwina and the others.
Xio and Philina, both below level 20, were seized by this pressure and were almost unable to move. Edwina fared slightly better, but she was still uncomfortable, since her level was the highest and the Demon King focused most of his attention on her.
But at that very moment, the pressure suddenly vanished. The words condensed from "rules" disappeared completely, and even the Demon King's towering body shattered piece by piece, scattering into motes of light.
Only a Beyonder characteristic and a crystal that seemed to have lost its luster remained on the ground.
At the same time, a grand door shimmering with golden light abruptly opened behind the Demon King's throne.
You said he was comparable to an angel… and he just got instantly killed? Xio turned her head and looked at Ebner with a somewhat speechless expression.
Ebner's strength has already reached this level? I didn't even notice him doing anything… Edwina, the Iceberg Admiral, sighed inwardly.
She had originally thought she was gradually catching up to him, only to realize that the gap was growing wider and wider…
As for Philina, this was her first time seeing the Hero Detective take action. Instead of being shocked, she was simply surprised that he was actually a Beyonder with strength comparable to an angel.
Ebner paid no attention to the thoughts of the three women. He walked straight forward, picked up the characteristic and the crystal, and activated his Insight ability, intending to use these "mediums" to probe the truth behind certain matters that he still couldn't fully understand.
—The characteristic was the Dawn Paladin Beyonder characteristic extracted after Giuseppe's death, and the crystal was naturally the soul stone unique to the "Liu Bos."
About a minute later, Ebner shut off the Pure White Eye. His brows were tightly knit as he pinched his chin and murmured in thought:
So that's how it is… I was wondering—no matter how useless Giuseppe was, he shouldn't have been unable to recover his memories in this 'world,' to the point of coming to the Demon King's Castle underleveled just to 'die.'
And with his demi-god-level connection to the Land of the Unknown, he shouldn't have been so easily 'harvested' by the recording ability of the Planeswalker either…
So it turns out that his 'fate' was massively deflected by external forces, even weakening his connection to the Land of the Unknown by quite a bit… His understanding of that place was actually worse than mine back when I was Sequence 5!
The only one capable of doing this… was probably Lamiya.
She used her marriage to Giuseppe to deflect his fate, making him 'mediocre,' preventing him from completing a certain 'predetermined' mission, forcibly dragging him to Blue Mountain Island for ten whole years.
And the backlash she bore for deflecting Giuseppe's fate was cleverly 'shifted' onto Sauron because of the special nature of her true body materials and the fact that she died at the hands of a Divine Spawn.
After all, Lilith clearly said that after Lamiya's death, her true body was taken by Sauron!
'Shifting'… 'grafting'? Perhaps the Goddess had a hand in this as well…
Additionally, merely relying on Lilith might not have been enough to weaken Giuseppe's connection to the Unknown.
There must also have been preset measures from those two ultimate old schemers—the 'mes'!
Mm, the arrangement of Giuseppe's fate was very likely orchestrated by the Seal of Calamity… After all, Giuseppe was the closest life after the Seal of Calamity itself.
Then the one who tacitly cooperated with the two goddesses to block this arrangement and deflect Giuseppe's fate must have been the God of Luck…
As for the reason… I think I more or less understand it now.
According to the mural Adam showed me, the Unknown was a symbol that only came into being after first seeing Liu Bo transmigrate.
But it probably possessed only the symbol, without the corresponding source matter and characteristics to support it… which is why it kept letting Liu Bo descend into reality, in hopes of perfecting itself.
And among the parts into which the ancient Son of Chaos was split, both the Uncertain Mist and the Nation of Disorder should be things the Unknown needs.
After all, both 'uncertainty' and 'disorder' carry the meaning of results being 'unknown.'
And judging from Vera's state, the Uncertain Mist was very likely captured by the Unknown as early as the First Epoch or the early Second Epoch, even before the God of Luck. The newly born consciousness within it may already have been assimilated or erased by the Unknown. Otherwise, Vera could never have obtained such high authority over the Uncertain Mist while only being an 'ordained' existence.
This was probably both the only way Rhine could save Vera, who was already completely mad at the time, and also an attempt—an attempt to reclaim source matter that had already been taken by the Unknown through the granting of authority…
This is extremely dangerous. The situation Vera will face in the future won't be any better than Klein's struggle with the Celestial Worthy, even if I help share the burden… After all, the psyche within the Uncertain Mist can now barely be considered a part of the Unknown.
No wonder she bluntly said that the characteristics of the two 'rule' pathways were a burden to her… That really is the case. If she were to accommodate the Nation of Disorder, it would essentially be adding strength to the Unknown.
And I think I know why she's so obsessed with finding the Magic Wishing Lamp now… She's probably planning to let the Lamp God take the fall first, letting it engage in internal attrition with the Unknown.
That really is a clever choice…
Back to Giuseppe—the Seal of Calamity… or rather, the awakened Unknown part within the seal—planned to entangle the fate of Giuseppe of the Order pathway with the Ghost Empire, help him obtain the Hand of Order, then advance to Sequence 1 and awaken the psyche of the Unknown.
After that, it would follow the Ghost Empire into the location of the flaw in the seal created by the Night Emperor, find the Nation of Disorder, and accommodate its power…
But this was obviously unacceptable to Lilith and the other deeply corrupted goddesses. After all, once the Unknown fully awakened, there was a very high probability that they themselves would become part of the Unknown or its puppets. They would never allow the Unknown's power to continue growing!
So that's why there were ten years of married life between Lamiya and Giuseppe?
Sigh… I never really believed that Lamiya was merely a simple tool for learning 'human nature,' but I still didn't expect calculations this deep!
As his thoughts came to a close, Ebner let out a sigh, put away the soul stone and the characteristic, then turned to Xio and said:
"I'll keep this Dawn Paladin characteristic for you for now. I'll give it to you after we get back."
Xio nodded and didn't say anything like thanks. Between her and Ebner, there was no longer any need for such formalities.
"Let's enter the next 'world'!"
(End of chapter)