Ruins of the underground palace beneath 8 Williams Street.
The instant Edward appeared with Snowman, a series of stones lifted off the ground and transformed into two rows of lanterns, illuminating the surroundings in a dim orange glow.
"You brat again…don't tell me you came here just to bother me—eh?"
The floating dust twisted upon itself and swiftly formed a line of words in the air. Even without hearing Medici's voice, Edward could almost picture his tone—dripping with sarcasm.
But soon, the handwriting changed again:
"Who's this guy? I feel like I've seen him somewhere before…"
Edward pointed toward the bloodstained gate not far away. "Medici's situation is similar to yours now—He's become an evil spirit, sealed within that door."
Snowman immediately bowed low. "Your Excellency, Lord Medici, I am Snowman, an ascetic who worships The Lord that Created Everything, The Omnipotent and Omniscient. I once had the honour of seeing You outside the Lord's dwelling."
"…"
After a moment of silence, the dust shifted again, forming new words:
"I…think I remember you vaguely. Where did you crawl out from? Why haven't I seen you all these years?"
"I—"
Edward interrupted him, waving a hand. "You two take your time catching up. I'll be off."
He added casually, "Friendly reminder, Lord Medici—you can save yourself the trouble of having Snowman unseal you. I'll be back in three days to take him away. In such a short time, there's no way he'll be able to gather all the materials needed to free you."
"Tch! You little bastard!"
Edward placed his right hand on his chest and gave a polite bow. His figure outlined in faint light—and vanished.
"Continue," Medici said curtly.
"Yes, Lord Medici…"
Snowman quickly began recounting everything—from the moment he entered Grossel's Travels, to the appearance of Mr. Sparrow, and everything that happened afterwards.
Medici didn't care much about most of it—until Snowman mentioned:
"He said he played a game with Adam and Amon…and even completely erased the resurrection backup left by the Dragon of Imagination."
Behind the sealed gate, Medici fell silent. His expression grew dark and uncertain.
Wasn't that guy on rather close terms with Lilith? How could he have joined hands with the two who killed her—Adam and Amon? What in the abyss is he up to?
As Medici gave no response, Snowman grew uneasy. He lowered his head and asked in a low voice, "Lord Medici, may I ask…has the Lord truly already…"
The dust on the ground wriggled once more, rearranging itself into a single chilling line:
"Yes. The Lord is dead—stabbed in the back by those traitors."
———
After returning to Trier, Edward stayed holed up at home until the following night, restoring both his stamina and mental state to their peak.
The reason he waited an extra day, of course, was to allow Madman to the Right to cool down—an extra trump card for safety.
When the crimson moon rose and darkness spread across the city, Edward ascended to the Sefirah Castle. After several rounds of divination confirmed that everything was safe, he prepared to advance to Sequence 3—Deconstruction Scholar.
"You're advancing to Sequence 3?"
Amon had somehow turned into an incessant chatterbox—asking questions about everything. Whether it was due to the spiritual power infused into him or merely an excuse to find a loophole to escape, Edward couldn't tell.
There was nothing to hide, so Edward nodded. "Yeah."
"I'm curious."
Amon's two black wings crossed over his chest like folded arms. "When you helped that Zealot guy deal with the Dragon of Imagination, why did he reward you with the Dream Weaver's Beyonder characteristic—and even say it was something you wanted?"
"So, why did you want the Dream Weaver's characteristic? Were you collecting it for someone? Planning to craft some kind of Sealed artifact? Or…" His lips curved slightly, "Are you planning to use it for your advancement?"
Before Edward could answer, Amon continued, half speaking to himself, "My intuition says you're using it for advancement…but the Door pathway isn't adjacent to the Visionary. And that Zealot's sitting right above you—so what good would a forced pathway jump even do for you?"
Edward glanced sidelong at him. "So your intuition's wrong."
He took out a tin box, opened it, and revealed the Beyonder characteristic of a Wanderer. "I'm advancing as a Wanderer, not a Dream Weaver."
"Oh?"
The monocle over Amon's right eye gleamed faintly.
"Interesting."
Edward studied him silently for a moment. Did he figure something out already?
But then he shrugged inwardly—it didn't matter anyway.
He smiled faintly and said, "Actually, isn't the Door Pathway supposed to be even more hopeless than the Visionary Pathway? The Visionary has Adam, yes—but he still lacks a Sequence 1 characteristic and the ritual for the final ascention. Yet, when Mr. Door returns, that moment will be His ascension."
Amon raised a brow in mild surprise. "You seem to know Bethel quite well."
"Barely."
Edward grinned. "But I know you better."
"Oh? For example?"
"For example," Edward said casually, "you're planning to persuade Mr. Door, when He returns, to let you take His place during His godhood ritual—and ascend as the Error."
Amon: "…"
After a few seconds of silence, he shrugged his wings. "That much isn't hard to guess—as long as you know what the Marauder pathway's Sequence 0 ritual involves. After all, Bethel is the closest to godhood and the easiest to convince. Who else could I possibly replace if not him?"
Edward didn't reply, though inwardly he thought, I really want to see the look on your face when you finally release Mr. Door—only to find he's lost the uniqueness of 'Door' and can't ascend to Sequence 0 at all.
"I've got a question for you," Edward said suddenly.
Amon tilted his head. "Ask away."
"How did you, Adam, and Cheek kill Lilith?"
Amon instantly raised his wings as if swearing innocence. "I'll make this very clear—I only helped stop Medici and the others who tried to rescue her! The ones who actually killed her were the Zealot and Cheek!"
Edward nodded expressionlessly. "Let's assume that's true. Then how did Adam and Cheek kill her?"
Amon spread his wings helplessly. "How else could they? Most likely the Zealot restrained Lilith, and Cheek did the killing Herself. Though we cooperated at the time, Cheek never trusted us completely—She'd definitely want to deliver the killing blow himself and seize Lilith's Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic the moment she died."
"Adam killed Lilith for his so-called 'trend of times,'" Edward murmured. "Then why did you take part in it?"
"Well, under the circumstances back then, it was a simple 'I help you today, you help me tomorrow' sort of deal. Perfectly normal."
Edward rested his chin on his hand. "Heh. A bunch of monsters without humanity, and yet you talk about favours and cooperation?"
Amon's beak curved faintly. "To be precise, it's called mutual benefit."
He paused, his pitch-black eyes locking onto Edward. The crow's face twisted into a faintly mocking smile.
"As for being 'inhuman'—well, you're about to advance to Sequence 3, aren't you? You'll soon find out that the loss of humanity is the price you pay for extraordinary power. Anchors merely keep you from going insane, nothing more. Eventually, you'll become exactly what you despise most."
"Perhaps next time something like the Trier incident happens," he continued smoothly, "you won't bother to evacuate the people in that mansion, nor strike out in anger just because innocent bystanders die."
Edward studied him silently for a long while before asking softly, "So, if one day you really become the Lord of Mysteries, and the Outer Gods invade, would you choose to flee?"
Amon scratched his head with the tip of his wing.
"Well…at least for now, I can't imagine a reason I'd risk my life for a few ants who have nothing to do with me."
Edward reached out, brushing his hand lightly against the birdcage.
"One day, you will."
"I look forward to it."
———
The Berserk Sea—on a desolate, uninhabited island.
The place was barren to the extreme. Not only was it devoid of humans, there weren't even many living creatures. Coupled with his Space Concealment, it was the perfect place to ensure absolute privacy.
Edward took out his cauldron and began laying out the ingredients for the potion—The Wanderer's Beyonder characteristic, and three auxiliary materials:
10 milliliters of Wandering Skin's Pus, Mist Watcher's Eyelid, 9 white mustard seeds and 90 milliliters of Star Water.
Following the results of his divination, he first poured the Star Water and the Wandering Skin's Pus into the cauldron, then added the Mist Watcher's Eyelid.
The eyelid melted the moment it touched the liquid, turning into a thick, silver-glowing fluid. A thin mist rose, wrapping the cauldron entirely in a silvery haze.
Then, with an Invisible Hand, Edward picked up the Beyonder characteristic—a cluster of light resembling a miniature Door of Starlight—and let it slide gently along the rim into the cauldron.
The instant it met the other components, the starlit portal turned into a whirling vortex, drawing the silver motes into its spin. Reflected against the dark cauldron bottom, it looked like a blooming nebula.
The mist thickened, spilling outward in waves.
In the blink of an eye, the dense mist collapsed inward, "digesting" everything completely. It then settled back into the cauldron, turning into a silvery-white substance—half liquid, half vapour.
Within it, the faint whirlpool still rotated, exuding an aura both alluring and dangerously unstable.
"Phew…"
Edward exhaled a long, tense breath.
The Wanderer's potion was finally complete—but his task wasn't over yet.
He still needed one last ingredient: the Dream Weaver's Beyonder characteristic.
Guiding it with the Invisible Hand, Edward lowered a cluster of gray-white vapour shaped like a translucent brain into the cauldron.
Gurgle. Gurgle. Gurgle.
The fog-brain sank instantly, bubbles rising in rapid succession. It slowly merged into the potion's depths, reaching the vortex—where it was drawn in like silk unravelling from a cocoon.
The threads were stripped away, absorbed completely, and fused into the swirling core.
The potion stilled. No more reaction.
Edward drew out a green crystal pendulum and held it steady over his palm.
"If I drink this potion, I can successfully advance to Sequence 3."
The pendulum began to rotate slowly, clockwise.
He performed another divination: "Drinking this potion carries danger."
This time, the revelation told him that it was indeed dangerous—but barely within his endurance.
"Honestly," Edward murmured, "no matter what the divination says, I'd still have to drink it."
If anything goes wrong, I'll just forcibly reverse it using 'Madman to the Right'…
After all, obtaining this potion hadn't just been difficult—it had required absurd luck.
But after everything he'd gone through lately, he knew he'd already used up more than his fair share of good fortune. As the little snake had once said, luck isn't infinite. Who knew how long it would take to have another streak like that again?
I have to grow stronger—fast.
Whether for himself or to help Lilith face the coming catastrophe, he needed overwhelming power.
"Let's hope Sequence 3—Deconstruction Scholar—is worth the price."
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.