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*****
The likeness of the Primordial Demoness—identical to the bone statuette—flickered in George's vision, and with it, the potion formulas for the Demoness pathway manifested one by one.
Sequence 9: Assassin. Sequence 8: Instigator. Sequence 7: Witch. Sequence 6: Pleasure. Sequence 5: Affliction. Sequence 4: Despair. Sequence 3: Unaging. Sequence 2: Catastrophe.
Just as George was about to "fleece" the Sequence 1 potion formula and its related intelligence, the Primordial Demoness forcibly severed his divination. Much like the Hidden Sage before her, the moment she realized she was being peered upon, her instinct was to launch a counterattack against George.
The result, naturally, was futile. The divination remained unshaken.
Consequently, the Primordial Demoness poured her full strength into attacking George along the thread of the divination. However, the gray fog isolated ninety-nine percent of the damage, rendering her efforts useless once again. Finally, realizing she could do absolutely nothing to the diviner, she simply cut off the connection entirely.
"This Demoness pathway really has some twisted elements to it," George remarked, unbothered by being cut off. He had done this three times now and knew exactly how it would end.
Still, he couldn't help but feel a sense of irony regarding the knowledge he had gained about the pathway. Although he had heard from Klein before that the Demoness pathway could turn men into women, seeing the confirmation was another matter. Beyonders of this pathway, upon advancing to Sequence 7: Witch, would undergo a complete physical transformation from male to a pure, extraordinarily beautiful, and charming woman.
Furthermore, once they reached Sequence 6: Pleasure, the requirement to digest the potion involved bringing immense pleasure to both men and women. It could be understood as becoming a "Flesh Bodhisattva," distributing "charity" everywhere.
As a man, George found the thought profoundly unsettling. Even though he possessed a clone of Misaka Mikoto, that body was female from the start, while his heart remained male. Besides, he could now use transformation magic to appear as a man. But the Demoness pathway fundamentally altered a person from the inside out, shifting both body and soul toward femininity.
"How was it?" Klein asked with concern.
When the Primordial Demoness had attacked earlier, Klein had retreated as far as possible, fearing he might be caught in the crossfire. Even with ninety-nine percent of the power isolated, the remaining one percent was not something a Sequence 8 could withstand.
"She reacted quickly. I only managed to get Sequence 9 through Sequence 2," George replied, sharing the intelligence he had gathered with Klein.
Klein was left speechless after reviewing the information. He couldn't help but think about Madame Sharon—if she was a Sequence 6 Demoness, that meant she had originally been a man. If Madame Sharon was a transformed man, then her husband and all those men in Tingen City who were involved with her...
If he remembered correctly, it was rumored that eighty percent of the men in Tingen's upper-class circles had "an affair" with Madame Sharon.
"Give me that pacifier of yours."
After sharing the Demoness intelligence, George took Klein's "Divine Pacifier" and performed a series of manipulations before tossing it back to him.
"I've upgraded it for you. Now, it can deal a certain amount of damage even to Sequence 5 Beyonders."
Having advanced to Sequence 6: Faceless, George's internal spirituality had increased significantly. Combined with his converted spiritual energy, upgrading the pacifier was no trouble at all. It was surprising that a small place like Tingen City hid a Sequence 6 Beyonder; who knew if a Sequence 5 or Sequence 4 might pop up one day? Klein, as a "tool," was quite useful, so it was worth putting in a bit of effort for him.
"It can damage Sequence 5s!" Klein took the upgraded pacifier, once again marveling at how "thick" his fellow transmigrator's legs were to lean on.
With this pacifier, his actual combat strength surpassed even that of his Captain. Of course, that only applied to a head-on, one-on-one duel; otherwise, if the Captain were to ambush him and use his "Nightmare" abilities, he would be knocked out before he even had a chance to use the tool.
Meanwhile, inside the room with the dark red chimney, Ince Zangwill stared at the contents written in his notebook and suddenly slammed his hand onto the desk in a fit of rage.
"What is wrong with this Klein Moretti? He keeps disrupting my plans!"
In the story he had written, Klein should have died in the initial suicide incident, yet he had unexpectedly survived. Initially, a mere ordinary person shouldn't have affected his plans. But later, Klein actually joined the Nighthawks and became a Beyonder.
Worse still, some time ago, Klein had actually handed the "Acting Method" to Dunn Smith, which significantly alleviated Dunn's mental pollution. This had heavily disrupted Ince's carefully laid foundation.
His primary objective for setting up all those previous events was to make the Nighthawk Captain's mental state deteriorate in a "reasonable" manner. Whether it was arranging for him to obtain the Antigonus family notebook or having him investigate the Aurora Order member who saw the True Creator in a dream, it was all intended to pollute Dunn's mind. Only then would Dunn make the "wrong" decision during the final confrontation with the spawn of the evil god—specifically, bringing out the Saint's ashes from behind Chanis Gate to fight.
Only then could Ince effortlessly obtain those ashes, extract the Sequence 4 non-human characteristic of the Darkness pathway, and successfully switch pathways to advance to Sequence 4.
However, because Dunn had learned the Acting Method from Klein, his mental pollution had been greatly mitigated. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he fully digested his potion and advanced to Sequence 6. If that happened, Ince's schemes would essentially crumble. A Sequence 7 Dunn using the Saint's ashes could exert strength close to a demigod. If he reached Sequence 6 and used the ashes, he could essentially unleash the full power of a Saint, resolving the evil god's spawn behind Chanis Gate with ease. Ince would have no opening.
To counter this, he had used Sealed Artifact 0-08 to arrange for Madame Sharon to kill Councilor John Maynard before the timing was ripe. He then "reasonably" let the Nighthawks discover the truth and go to arrest her. Finally, he orchestrated the "coincidence" of Madame Sharon holding the Primordial Demoness statuette while she slept to evade Dunn's Nightmare abilities.
Under those circumstances, Klein and Kenley should have been killed by Madame Sharon. Dunn would then have followed protocol and consumed their Beyonder characteristics, disrupting his potion digestion and plunging his mind back into pollution.
But unfortunately, Klein—that uncontrollable variable—had somehow obtained a powerful Sealed Artifact, using it to kill Madame Sharon instead.
"I can't wait any longer. Otherwise, the opportunity will only grow slimmer."
Ince Zangwill paced around the room several times, his mind made up. He decided he would no longer hide behind the scenes and manipulate things from afar; he would enter the fray personally. Otherwise, as the variable known as Klein grew stronger and Dunn advanced to Sequence 6, the plan to acquire the Saint's ashes would only become more difficult to realize.
It was better to strike now, taking the risk to enter the game himself. Although this carried some danger and lacked the 100% guarantee of hidden manipulation, he calculated the success rate to still be as high as 90%. After all, the strongest member of the Tingen Nighthawks was Dunn Smith, and even he was only close to Sequence 6; he was still a Sequence 7.
Ince, however, was a Sequence 5—and he held Sealed Artifact 0-08 in his hand.
(End of Chapter)