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"The Marauder's stealing is probabilistic; you can use it with a Sealed Artifact from the Fate pathway..." Leyton said with a light chuckle, offering a suggestion.
Jodeson rolled his eyes, a hint of exasperation in his tone as he said, "Things from the Fate pathway are already rare. Even if I stumble upon one, there will surely be a crowd fighting over it. I don't have the capital to bid, nor can I rely on my Beyonder abilities to steal them. They are too restrictive for a Marauder's abilities."
Leyton tapped the table in front of him with his right index finger, a seductive chuckle escaping him as he began, "The Life School of Thought experienced a split some time ago. Many of their Beyonders from the Fate pathway, either themselves or through Beyonder characteristics and Mystical Items, joined the Primordial Moon's faction."
"Bringing up the Primordial Moon suddenly, are you trying to drag me into this? Are you targeting the Primordial Moon Believers in the Paz River Valley area? It must be more than that…"
Jodeson crossed his arms, muttering softly as he appeared to be deep in thought.
Martina, the Bishop of the Church of the Earth Mother in the East Balam region and the person in charge of Southern Continent affairs, secretly arrived in the Paz River Valley with two high-ranking deacons from the Church.
They did not appear directly in the City or in densely populated areas. Instead, they traveled along the river, continuously clearing away the strange mushrooms that were proliferating.
Two Church of the Earth Mother deacons, wearing robes embroidered with symbols of wheat, flowers, and springs, flanked a headless knight clad in black armor, his body and the warhorse beneath him almost fused into one.
Martina trailed far behind, like soldiers under the command of this headless knight, stepping forward silently, rhythmically following the knight's pace.
Where they walked, black ink-like patches spread, silently enveloping everything around them, obscuring all color, as if pulling the real world into a black and white painting.
Among these black and white areas, there were many strange mushrooms glowing with a faint blue light. They seemed extremely unsuited to this desaturated world, withering at a visible rate. With a mournful gust of wind, they crumbled directly into powder.
As the headless knight traversed more ground, thick, black, viscous liquid suddenly began to flow from his empty neck, like blood, gushing out in bursts.
The black, gleaming armor on his chest and abdomen began to emit a grating creaking sound. On both sides of his chest, and at the navel of his lower abdomen, the armor showed varying degrees of tearing and distortion, as if something was struggling to emerge.
"It's almost at its limit..." Martina, who was trailing at the very back, softly murmured.
Her words seemed to trigger a reaction mechanism in the headless knight. He immediately stopped moving forward, his upper body on the warhorse twisting 180 degrees to quietly gaze at Martina, who had just spoken.
The grating metallic creaking from his chest and abdomen grew louder, and soon three openings, one large and two small, appeared, emitting a faint glow, like a hideous and terrifying face growing from his chest and abdomen.
Before it could utter a sound, Martina reached into her embrace and pulled out a somewhat worn cloth doll, throwing it onto the distorted and grotesque headless knight.
A peaceful and tranquil black curtain suddenly fell, completely covering the headless knight. His movements instantly became shaky, like someone who had been up all night and was in a state of extreme exhaustion and drowsiness, ready to collapse and fall into a deep sleep at any moment.
Suddenly, thick vines burst from the surrounding ground, coiling around and engulfing the worn cloth doll and the headless knight, forming a verdant green cocoon.
Martina nodded to the two Church deacons guarding the verdant green cocoon, then turned and headed back the way they came.
As she stepped, specks of verdant green light emanated from her, and a majestic aura of life cleansed the surrounding black and white area.
Soon, the black and white receded, returning to its original colors, though without the countless mushrooms, both large and small.
It took a considerable amount of time to release the vibrant life-force light and restore the vitality of the nearby area. After completing all this, Martina reached up to wipe away the nonexistent sweat from her forehead. This was not the first time she had done this; even for a Demigod, such a significant expenditure of spirituality inevitably led to some weakness and discomfort.
A taller deacon with a prominent giant bloodline, carrying an exaggerated greatsword on his back, spoke while looking at the thick, verdant green vine-wrapped cocoon beside him:
"Your Grace Martina, although 2-373 can suppress the awakening of 1-92 to a certain extent, this is not a long-term solution. Moreover, we are unable to create the conditions necessary to seal him. How will we bring him back to the Church of Nature?"
"I don't know either, but since the Mother Goddess hinted that we could use him, there must be something in the Paz River Valley that can seal him. We just need to wait quietly."
Martina answered the deacon's question in a low voice while recalling information about 1-92 in her mind:
Number 1-92, Name: Headless Knight. He is a living creature, extremely chaotic, extremely insane, and unable to communicate. First discovered in the early Fifth Epoch, he is suspected to have evolved from a runaway Black Knight or Trinity Templar, and was jointly sealed by the God of Knowledge and Wisdom Church and us.
Before the "Battle of the Violated Oath," personnel from the God of Knowledge and Wisdom Church had studied him and concluded: His mind and soul are a patchwork, his own thoughts constantly warring with each other. Whichever thought gains the upper hand, he will exhibit the corresponding characteristic.
Ortans Nicholas, the former Archbishop of the Feynapotter City Diocese of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, once evaluated him: All his thoughts and ideas are insane, because only sufficiently strong and insane thoughts can survive in a long-term struggle.
Everything in his vicinity will inevitably fall into Darkness and gradually be assimilated into a pool of black, viscous matter. He can merge and twist this matter with surrounding shadows, animating them into Monsters to form his own army. At the same time, he also possesses Beyonder abilities in many domains such as Death, Shadow, Fallen, Flame, and Life.
His abilities will continuously strengthen as his awakening level increases. At most, he can completely cover a large City like Backlund. At that time, he will be fully awake, and even Angels would find it difficult to seal him again.
He simultaneously possesses abilities from the Secrets Supplicant, Corpse Collector, Hunter, Planter, and Reader Pathways. The latter two originated from the casualties of the two great Churches when sealing him, which further strengthened his power and deepened his madness.
The sealing method is to make him fall into eternal slumber in an environment filled with Purification power and devoid of Darkness.
(Note: Each use of him will weaken the sealing effect until it eventually becomes completely ineffective.)
Confidentiality Level: Bishop; Danger Level: Tier 1 (After full awakening, the danger level is no less than some Tier 0 Sealed Artifacts); Can be exploited to a limited extent, but there must be at least one Archbishop, two high-ranking deacons, and corresponding Sealed Artifacts present.
Martina's gaze was solemn as she looked at the rippling river surface, feeling a faint worry that at the current pace, before the special mushrooms in the Paz River Valley area were completely cleared, the temporary seal of 2-373 on him would fail.
Soon, she collected her thoughts and closed her eyes, recovering her spirituality through meditation.
After about twenty minutes, Martina reopened her eyes. She nodded slightly to the two Church deacons quietly standing by and said, "Let's continue."
As she spoke, she walked directly towards the Headless Knight, who was wrapped in a thick cocoon of verdant green vines. The verdant green vines seemed to come alive, quickly loosening and retracting back into the ground.
The quietly slumbering Headless Knight had returned to normal. His upper body had turned back at some unknown point, the cracks in the armor on his chest and abdomen had disappeared, and there was no longer any gushing black liquid from his smoothly severed neck.
The deacon with a thick greenish beard and metal-glowing gloves on his hands reached out and took down the worn cloth doll hanging on the Headless Knight.
He carefully examined the doll in his hand. Although somewhat abstract, he could vaguely make out a plump little girl in a floral print dress.
The floral dress on the doll was already stained with black spots. He tried to wipe them off with his hand, but they wouldn't come off, just like the floral patterns on the dress, they were originally printed on the fabric.
He frowned deeply, his voice filled with worry as he said, "2-373 is also corrupted. Once it mutates, we won't be able to reduce his awakening level through temporarily sealing 1-92."
"Tuck, pay constant attention to the degree of 2-373's corruption. Within 1-92's sphere of influence, even if we don't use it, we cannot avoid the occurrence of corruption."
"Dennis, stay alert. When the Sealed Artifact has problems, that's also when we are most vulnerable. Those hidden Primordial Moon Believers are waiting for this moment."
Martina said calmly and unhurriedly.
"Yes, Bishop Martina!"
The deacon called Tuck responded in a deep voice, then placed the worn cloth doll 2-373 into his embrace.
Dennis reached back and took down the silver greatsword from his back, saying with a hint of arrogance, "I will make those filthy things perish in the storm of dawn!"
The Headless Knight, mounted on his black-armored warhorse, also began to change at this moment. He started to step forward as if sleepwalking, his movements not fast, but each stride was large, so his speed of advance was not slow.
Tuck and Dennis maintained their previous formation, closely following the Headless Knight on his left and right, while Martina lagged slightly behind.
In the evening, in the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, Leyton stood by the window of the clergy's lounge, looking at the faintly visible Crimson Moon in the sky, and a strange premonition arose within him.
Is it starting? It's almost time for the Sanguine to appear.
He whispered to himself, then turned his head to Jodeson, who was organizing the books copied by the Knowledge Rabbit for him, and said in a low voice, "Tonight won't be too peaceful. You'd best follow Edwina. She has enough ability to protect you. You Marauders are too weak before Sequence 4."
Jodeson's lips had just begun to curve into a smile when he heard Leyton tell him to follow the captain, but his face fell at the words that followed.
He muttered discontentedly, "I'm already a Sequence 5 Dream Stealer, the same Sequence as the captain. And what do you mean we Marauders are too weak before Sequence 4? Does that mean after Sequence 4, a Marauder can suddenly become the strongest Sequence?"
"Heh, after Sequence 4, a Marauder can change their name to Amon. Naturally, they'll be stronger than most Beyonders of the same Sequence!"
Leyton chuckled mockingly, ignoring Jodeson's somewhat stiff face. He casually tossed a milky white Die of Probability into the air, then caught it again.
Then he opened his palm, and the Die of Probability lay quietly in his palm, with six dots facing up!
"Heh, looks like luck is good today."
Leyton murmured with a sigh. His body suddenly turned transparent, instantly transforming into points of brilliant starlight, surging and entering the Spirit World.
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