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Kotar stood in the center of the ruined city, and as the trembling sensation from the spirit and the deepest part of his memory gradually faded, this mythical creature finally recovered his composure from the sudden shock.
However, a deep, crazy, giant eyeball still unconsciously reappeared in his pure black pupils, and Kotar whispered in disbelief:
"Flegrea… "
As one of the few existences that could be called a demigod among the offspring created by the powerful and crazy Demonic Wolf King through instinctive mating and reproduction, Kotar still harbored a deep-seated fear of his Father God, Flegrea.
Even though the Demonic Wolf King had separated many Beyonder characteristics, it was uncontrollable and could not guarantee progress.
Therefore, he was still crazy, cruel, bloodthirsty, full of destructive instincts, and had even killed several of his descendants.
If he hadn't perished with Lilith in the God's War of the Ancient Gods, Kotar even suspected that he would have been killed by Flegrea himself due to the instinctive Convergence of characteristics.
This fear, accumulated over long years, had almost become his inner demon; even witnessing the fall of his father, the powerful Ancient God, and seeing the Ancient God's blood spilled across the land, this fear did not diminish in the slightest.
As a Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker, Kotar's greatest fear was becoming a sacrifice for Flegrea's revival, which was why, in that chaotic battle, he, a high-ranking member of the Demonic Wolf race, did not contend at all, allowing The Fool Uniqueness and the Attendant of Mysteries characteristic to fall into Antigonus's hands.
And during these years of hiding in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, he had also deliberately avoided Flegrea's fallen place, the former Sanguine Holy City "Kamia."
It wasn't until a period ago, when an unknown anomaly occurred there, that he observed it from afar using a historical projection, without any intention of exploring further.
The Demonic Wolf Kotar finally raised his head after a long time, opened his mouth, and seemed to let out a roar, but it brought no sound.
However, a black shadow appeared in front of him, like a translucent, giant velvet curtain, which instantly absorbed all the surrounding light upon its appearance.
Streaks of thin, black, illusory "Spirit Body Threads" emerged, extending to different sections of the black "curtain," making the "curtain" increasingly transparent and illusory, until it became invisible to the naked eye.
Eight long legs covered in dark, short fur supported his massive body, and Kotar let the transparent curtain quickly contract and roll up, forming a transparent, illusory cloak.
The difficulty of advancing to Attendant of Mysteries in the Forsaken Land of the Gods far exceeded his expectations, not only because the Convergence effect of high-level Beyonder characteristics from neighboring Pathways would attract wandering Amon, easily exposing his painstakingly built puppet city, but also because of the complex advancement ritual.
After all, due to the True Creator, the Spirit World of the Forsaken Land of the Gods is separated from the outside world; if a corresponding area of the puppet city were to be born in this Spirit World, which is isolated from the influence of the True Creator's Divine Kingdom, it could very likely directly attract the gaze of that Evil God.
Under various influences, Kotar had already abandoned the idea of advancing in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, instead using the puppet city and accumulated Wish Power to limitedly exploit this "Attendant of Mysteries" characteristic, which could not only improve his self-preservation ability but also seize opportunities to escape this Land of Darkness at critical moments.
"It's just a Sequence 3 Scholar of Yore. With the blessing of this characteristic, as long as it's not Amon's true body arriving, no one can stop me if I want to escape."
His thoughts somewhat dispersed, and his dark, deep pupils quickly returned to normal. To have survived from the Second Epoch until now, Kotar relied on following his heart's desires, never being greedy when he shouldn't be, and knowing when to stop:
"Grab that eyeball and run. As for the Scholar of Yore who came from the Abyss, I'll let him go…"
After weighing it, Kotar quickly made a decision. Using the connection formed by the prayer light spots earlier, he used the concept grafting ability of the "Attendant of Mysteries" characteristic to link this connection, linking the positions of the two, shortening the distance to zero, and indirectly achieving a "teleportation" effect.
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A low, solemn chanting echoed through the dark valley. On the mountain peak opposite Cavendish, a Demonic Wolf covered in dark, short fur appeared without any warning.
Without giving the main body of this Scholar of Yore, who was still hidden in the historical fog, any time to react, Kotar, as soon as his eight feet touched the mountain peak, raised his neck and let out a roar.
This roar seemed to come from a higher level, containing one word after another similar to Jotun. They caused the "curtain" originally attached to Kotar's body to suddenly float up, instantly enlarging and covering the entire mountain range from top to bottom.
The "curtain" quickly became transparent, merging with the mountain range, as if it had never appeared, bringing no effect.
But Cavendish's historical projection instantly became sluggish, its connection with the outside world interrupted, and his figure gradually disintegrated, with several items falling down with it.
Under Kotar's manipulation, that "Attendant of Mysteries" characteristic turned this mountain range into an independent "kingdom."
This was the "Realm of Mysteries," the embryonic form of a Divine Kingdom!
With one strike successful, Kotar did not hesitate, manipulating transparent Spirit Body Threads to entangle the blood-stained eyeball, and a strange, inexplicable sensation emerged.
After being blessed by the "Realm of Mysteries" and gaining some hidden authority, Kotar suddenly felt uneasy, and the countless tangled transparent threads hesitated for a moment.
Immediately after, in his deep eyes, one of the black iron boxes that had fallen with the blood-stained eyeball silently opened, and an ancient-looking gold coin flew out, from which a mummy covered in black thorny brambles walked out.
Astolfo tilted his head slightly, his blood-red eyes instantly reflecting the eight-legged Demonic Wolf covered in dark, short fur on the opposite mountain peak.
A flicker of light, and the Demonic Wolf instantly transformed into a black goat, But immediately after, at the very bottom of this dark valley, in the abandoned puppet city, a greenish-black giant corpse suddenly squirmed, transforming into a Demonic Wolf with a tuft of gray-white fur on its forehead.
By regenerating the Spirit Body Threads of these discarded puppets through the "Realm of Mysteries," Kotar, this "Miracle Invoker," swapped positions with his former puppet at the moment he was cursed!
"This is not a historical projection!"
Watching the "Ancient Bane" that appeared out of nowhere not continue to attack, but instead chant something in a low voice, the strange feeling from before had already evolved into unease. Realizing that he might have fallen into a trap, Kotar instantly abandoned all his previous plans and directly opened his mouth, letting out a roar.
This roar also contained multiple words that seemed to be the origin of the Jotun, speaking of a beautiful wish:
"I wish for all divinity here to dissipate!"
The next second, the Demonic Wolf, as the "God of Wishes," fulfilled his wish. Astolfo immediately felt his divinity suppressed, and all Beyonder abilities involving divinity could no longer be used!
But he made no movement, merely stood still and quietly chanted the honorific name of "Lord of Order," with surging dark-gold mist churning before his eyes.
Deep within the magnificent palace, a "fully armed" Aaron looked at the prayer light spots that had disappeared and then reappeared. Without any hesitation, after merging all the Divine Kingdom fragments, even though he had not yet advanced to an angel, the power of the "Nation of Disorder" he could mobilize had greatly improved.
The boundless dark-gold world trembled slightly, and a majestic voice echoed, speaking with divine authority, instantly merging into the prayer light spots:
"Wishing is forbidden here; those who wish shall be punished!"
The "Realm of Mysteries" vibrated slightly, and a certain power, following the connection, caused the black velvet-like translucent "curtain" to bulge slightly, allowing the independent "kingdom" to partially merge with reality.
His "Wish" was forcibly broken, and Kotar let out a painful roar. No matter how he used puppets to switch positions, he still couldn't escape the punishment brought by the decree. Distorted Worms of Spirit slowly wriggled and fell from under his dark, short fur, transforming into even more distorted creatures.
Not dominated by pain, within a few breaths, Kotar realized the danger of this situation. Every Worm of Spirit emitted the same thought:
Escape! Must escape!
The Demonic Wolf Kotar's body suddenly trembled, and the translucent velvet "curtain" that enveloped the entire dark valley retracted into his body, quickly grafting his "Spirit Body Threads" one by one onto the "curtain."
This not only transferred the rule backlash created by the unknown existence but also, by actively accommodating it, briefly elevated his Beyonder characteristic, using the "Attendant of Mysteries" ability to escape.
This was also a contingency plan he had left for himself after obtaining this curtain. As the curtain integrated, Kotar's figure also became illusory, as if the concept of his existence had been tampered with, and he had already detached from this space.
And the moment the "Realm of Mysteries" disappeared, Cavendish stepped out of the historical fog, feeling the gaze from the ethereal, took a deep breath, and abruptly opened the last black iron box.
Inside was no longer a gold coin, but a transparent worm lying on dark silk, with twelve transparent rings on it.
This was a Worm of Time! A Worm of Time from Amon!
Holding the transparent worm in one hand, Cavendish's free arm reached into the void in front of him, with incredible ease, successfully pulling out an illusory figure in just one attempt.
Kotar, also clearly sensing this change, subtly breathed a sigh of relief. But then he remembered that he hadn't seized anything, and instead had to forcibly and temporarily accommodate this characteristic. Even if he successfully escaped, it would take a great deal of effort to eliminate the resulting effects.
His originally dark and deep black pupils became even more sinister as he looked at the mummy and the Scholar of Yore appearing beside him. Kotar's heart suddenly pounded, and the black short fur covering his body stood on end.
"I have to say, you're very brave…"
A soft laugh sounded in his ear. Looking at Amon, who was wearing a pointed soft hat and casually putting on a monocle not far away, Cavendish's forehead twitched slightly, and he instantly released his arm, even throwing out the transparent worm.
Aside from the initial summoning of Amon's historical projection from the historical fog, which consumed a lot of his spirituality, the Amon before him no longer needed his spirituality to maintain his existence. Cavendish even felt that even if he canceled the summoning of the historical projection, this Amon would not disappear.
Thoughts flashed through his mind. Cavendish took a deep breath. He had completed the task assigned by that great existence, and the remaining matters were beyond the scope of A Scholar of Yore like him, who wasn't even an angel.
Picking up the seemingly unchanged blood-stained black eyeball, Cavendish didn't look back and decisively entered the historical fog to flee far away.
"Tsk, Evernight's little toy, how interesting…"
Amon withdrew his gaze from the blood-stained eyeball, muttered something with an inexplicable tone, then looked up at the endless void, and did not stop Cavendish's escape.
Re-accommodating the Worm of Time in his hand, Amon's lips curled up as he looked at the Demonic Wolf Kotar, whose body was constantly shifting between illusion and reality not far away, and pushed his monocle.
A mottled, ancient stone clock immediately stood out. Its face was divided into twelve unequal regions by gray-white and greenish-black, and each region contained different, mysterious, asymmetrical symbols.
The three hands, seemingly composed of "Worms of Time," of varying lengths, then lightly jumped.
As the chime of the bell echoed once more, Kotar's gradually illusory body showed a distinct stagnation, then strangely solidified little by little, like the ebb and flow of the tide, alternating back and forth.
The Demonic Wolf Kotar clearly also sensed something, his expression becoming increasingly ferocious and terrifying, with a hint of madness flickering deep within his eyes.
Leaning on the throne, Aaron, with the true vision provided by the Nation of Disorder, saw even more clearly: the Amon projection summoned by Cavendish had deceived the rules, not only maintaining its own existence but also constantly stealing the anchors, authority, and Beyonder characteristic of other avatars and even the main body.
Closely observing the changes in Amon's aura, Aaron condensed a will, transforming it into a ball of light that flew into a certain star on the palace dome.
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The God of Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, Backlund Headquarters, St. Hillarion Cathedral, inner area of the second basement floor.
Exquisitely structured mechanical creations, inscribed with complex symbols, divided the space into various areas. Some places were open, some rooms were tightly closed, and each contained a Sealed Artifact.
In a room near the depths, completely sealed by silver gears, complex and illusory symbols appeared on the surface, tending to spread outwards.
However, these anomalies did not attract the attention of the duty-bound archbishop or the core of the seal, simply because of a young figure wearing a pointed soft hat.
Amon, with a subtle smile on his face, looked at the mirror that completely ignored his questions, only displaying various meaningless garbled symbols, and chuckled:
"What a stubborn fellow, Arrodes. How about I take you out of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery? I think the days ahead will certainly be very interesting."
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | 16 novels being updated, I can't read all comments