"..."
At that moment, a sudden bang came through the loudspeaker, abruptly cutting off the king's speech. The next second, frantic cries of terror and confusion spilled from the amplifier.
After a brief hush, the crowd in the square grew restless—whispering, murmuring, exchanging panicked glances. Fear of the unknown, of the future, slowly took root in their hearts.
A glimmer of shock flashed through Leonard's eyes. A vague possibility surfaced in his mind.
———
Inside the inn—
Lilith froze for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter. "Hahahaha! Roselle revived? And he even successfully advanced to Black Emperor? Adam, Amon, you two are doomed!!"
After Edessak's initial daze, a smile slowly surfaced on his face—a smile filled with relief, liberation, and long-awaited ease. He staggered back half a step and sank back into his chair.
He wanted to say something, but at that moment, his life force was drained from his body in an instant. With the remnants of that smile still on his lips, he stopped breathing.
Amon clicked his tongue softly and turned toward Adam. "So? You don't seem surprised at all about Roselle's resurrection."
Adam's face remained calm, and he said nothing.
Amon shook his head.
"Paranoid zealot. Has no one ever told you that this habit of always seeing through everything—knowing everything—thinking you control everything—is really quite annoying?"
Lilith folded her sleeves and snorted.
"Amon, if you can't stand him, stop whining and come help me beat him up!"
Amon chuckled. "Next time, for sure."
At that moment, Adam's long fingers pinched the quill, and the pen tip swept furiously across the yellowed paper with a sharp rustling sound. At the same time, the sacred, eerie corpse cathedral—brimming with both holiness and wickedness—rose from the earth again at astonishing speed.
Each bone that comprised the cathedral radiated a ghostly glow, intertwining into a mysterious rhythm. Without warning, the floor beneath the group began to rotate rapidly, dragging up a dizzying centrifugal force as it slowly sank. Their surroundings warped like clay kneaded by an invisible hand—blurring, dimming, as though they were being pulled into a bottomless abyss.
Lilith looked up at the swirling space around her, the wild winds throwing her hair into chaos. She shouted loudly, "Adam! Where are you taking me?"
But only the howling of the wind answered her. Adam said nothing. The quill in his hand curved lightly, as if writing the trajectory of fate itself.
The windows of the corpse cathedral suddenly blazed with piercing light. Then the entire structure collapsed like a fading dream, dissolving into countless drifting bones that vanished into the void.
In the blink of an eye, the three found themselves standing inside a magnificent, brightly lit palace.
It was once the dragons' palace—an architecture capable of instantly revealing the thoughts of anyone within it, known as the Hall of Truth. Except now, rows of black benches had been added, along with a massive cross.
"Where is this?"
Lilith didn't speak, yet her voice echoed throughout the palace: Who's talking? Huh? Sounds like my voice? So this voice must be my current thoughts…
Then Lilith's "thought-voice" abruptly stopped—she had already found a way to conceal her surface thoughts from being broadcast aloud.
Amon crossed his arms. Behind his monocle, his eyes sparkled with mischief. "So, your plan is to stay here and hide from Roselle?"
"No. He's waiting for me."
A voice that did not belong to any of the three echoed suddenly across the Hall of Truth.
A phantom-like door materialised out of thin air beside Lilith. A hand reached through the threshold and gently tapped her shoulder.
Lilith shuddered and turned around.
"Lilith. I'm back."
Edward stepped out from the illusory door at an unhurried pace, coming to stand beside her.
After staring at him for several seconds, Lilith gave her nose a rough swipe and lifted her chin with a huff. "Oh. I know."
A gentle smile tugged at the corner of Edward's lips. He raised a hand and ruffled her hair lightly. Then he nodded toward Adam and Amon.
"Gentlemen. Long time no see."
A flicker of light flashed across Amon's monocle.
"Finally willing to show yourself? I've been looking for you for…far, far too long."
Edward reached out with a casual motion and grabbed something from the air—pulling out a wriggling, struggling Worm of Time. "Attacking the moment we meet? Not even a proper greeting, Amon?"
Amon grinned.
"I don't recall ever having a 'pleasant' relationship with you."
As he spoke, he reached toward Edward several times in rapid succession—stealing his Wandering, his Spirit World Traversal, and several other abilities in an instant.
Suddenly, a smirk crept across Amon's lips.
"So you're still only Sequence 2. I thought you'd at least reached King of Angels. In that case, I won't be polite…"
Before Amon finished speaking, Edward lightly patted the space where Amon stood—instantly subjecting him to the same fate Adam once suffered and flattening him into a two-dimensional paper figure.
Then the illusory books in Edward's eyes flipped rapidly. As he lifted both hands, the astral realm surged forth and engulfed the Hall of Truth. The projections of the three gods—Tyrant, Eternal Blazing Sun, and the Dragon of Wisdom—were once again projected through Replicate.
But this time, they did not recover consciousness as they had before. They were nothing more than puppets. The moment they appeared, they launched an attack on Adam.
Adam remained calm. He flicked his quill gently, his voice low yet infused with supreme authority, "All falsehoods—disperse."
The instant the words fell, the three charging god-projections were washed over by an overwhelming tide of time. They decayed and collapsed in an instant, dissolving into swirling clouds of dust that vanished completely.
Edward snapped his fingers. The Sequence 0-level distortion force he had "eaten" from the Black Emperor card surged onto Adam, instantly twisting Adam's body into a braided spiral. Then Edward pressed down with his palm—flattening Adam into two dimensions as well.
Amon recovered from his paper state at that moment. Complex patterns flickered across the surface of his monocle, and behind him abruptly appeared the phantom of an ancient, weathered stone clock.
Lilith stepped in front of Edward. Her long black hair transformed into a head full of hissing vipers, spitting out plagues and toxins potent enough to kill even a Sequence 1. At the same time, black serpent-like tentacles sprouted across her body, each ending with an eye—some open, some closed—petrifying everything within their gaze.
In an instant, hundreds—thousands—of Time Worms crawled out of the air, only to be slain and petrified by her venom. Even Amon had to dodge repeatedly as the massive stone clock behind him let out a deep, heavy chime, attempting to steal Lilith's life, abilities, and even her Sequence.
Edward reached into the void and grabbed. A man stepped out from the Historical Void—a man dressed in a black clerical robe, a silver cross on his chest, short black hair.
With a casual wave, Edward sent this man walking emotionlessly toward Amon.
Amon's expression changed—shock, disbelief, confusion, and horror all at once.
How could he not recognise this man?
It was his father—
The Ancient Sun God.
Ignoring the stunned Amon, Edward turned his gaze to Adam's paper form. The ancient gears within his eyes reversed slowly, dragging Adam down from the level of a Sequence 1 King of Angels.
Naturally, Adam would not sit still. He clasped the cross on his chest with both hands. In an instant, silver-white light burst throughout the Hall of Truth like a blazing sun, illuminating every corner.
In that moment, Edward felt the Sequence 1 he had gained through Regression and Fantasy being rapidly stripped away. The abilities he had "eaten" from the Black Emperor and Fool cards vanished with it.
Of course—false power was false power. Trying to steamroll Adam with temporarily obtained sequences and abilities was unrealistic.
Especially the abilities from the two Cards of Blasphemy: although they mimicked Sequence 0 powers and made him seem like a dual-pathway god, such "power" was only good for bullying those below godhood. Against Adam, Amon, or any true deity, the difference was far too great.
Because what he had gained was raw capability—not the Conceptual Authority.
And the true strength of gods lay in Authority, in rule-level and even causality-level power—things one could never obtain simply by "eating" an ability.
Fantasy!
The thought flashed through Edward's mind. A flood of imagination burst forth like a breached dam, resisting Adam's forcible stripping of his Sequence 1.
Then Edward once again used Dimensionality Reduction on Adam.
But this time, Adam only shuddered. He was not flattened again.
His pupils abruptly turned golden, like two dazzling suns radiating soul-piercing brilliance.
He slipped silently into the depths of Edward's psyche, stepping onto his mind island. A plague storm erupted, carrying Adam's influence and mental guidance as it swept across Edward's inner world.
Where it passed, the scenery of the mind twisted into grotesque forms. Lakes boiled and emitted foul stench; green trees withered to blackened charcoal.
But it was only temporary. With the second wave of plague storms, new plants sprouted rapidly on the mental islands—lush, vibrant.
This was Adam—destroying Edward's mind while simultaneously completing hypnosis and psychological suggestion, shaping Edward into Adam's desired form.
Edward's eyes gleamed with turning pages. Through Replicate, he replayed the memory of his battle in the Hall of Truth with the Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt.
A colossal dragon with gray-white scales inscribed with countless profound patterns appeared within the mindscape. It opened its maw and let out a thunderous roar, releasing a plague storm while its massive wings stirred dream labyrinths, layering illusions to trap Adam.
Edward seized his chance to pull away. From the cracks of history, he retrieved the projections of the Black Emperor and Fool cards and devoured their abilities once more.
First, he used distortion to minimise Adam's alterations to his mental islands. Then he unleashed a flurry of Foolings, lowering Adam's intelligence. The remaining influence Adam held over Edward's mental islands was grafted onto a casually pulled-out projection—then Edward tossed that projection back into the historical void.
Buzz!
A towering golden cross manifested behind Adam and fell like divine judgment, nailing the dragon projection to pieces.
But Edward immediately struck again with Dimensionality Reduction, flattening Adam once more. Distortion deepened the reduction. Then came several more Foolings—twisting the rules and order of the mental realm. With Grafting, Edward began forcing Adam out of his mind world, bit by bit.
The paper-thin Adam was about to be expelled when—he squeezed himself back in.
Though still two-dimensional, his power transcended his state and directly affected the "reality" of the mind world.
In the blinding light, Adam's figure seemed immeasurably tall. He held his quill and wrote rapidly. His aura surged abruptly, borrowing his former rank and the Visionary's authority—granting himself a brief portion of the Ancient Sun God's might.
BOOM!
Golden radiance ignited Edward's entire mental world.
———
[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.