Meeting those clear, pure, light-gold eyes, Frank scratched his head. Although he didn't know who the other party was, he inexplicably felt that this middle-aged man dressed as a priest was extremely kind.
Frank seemed not to have noticed the battle on the deck, or perhaps the cabin was already isolated from the outside world. His initial vigilance quickly settled, and he began to enthusiastically introduce his great experiment.
Adam listened quietly, his light-colored pupils gazing at Frank for a moment. As if confirming something, he slowly averted his gaze and lowered his head, turning the pages of the book bound with parchment in his hand.
On the dark brown cover was a line of ancient Feysac: "Groselle's Travels"!
The yellowish-brown pages slipped by one after another, and illusory and real intertwined dark stone pillars rose up, silently enveloping the entire sea area and supporting a magnificent church that was difficult to discern with the naked eye.
The moment it was isolated by the church, the surface of the Black Tulip, which was originally covered with various mushroom mycelia, began to show obscure, dark-gold patterns, which quickly intertwined and converged to form an illusory human figure.
Feeling the abnormality, Aaron, who quickly descended a wisp of will from the Nation of Disorder to activate the contingency left on this ghost ship, saw Adam turning "Groselle's Travels" to the last page.
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Above the Black Tulip, Ince Zangwill, his face drastically changed, watched as the "Marionettist" below, who should have had his Spirit Body extracted by him, suddenly turned into "Admiral of Hell" Ludwell.
As for the true soul body of the Spirit World Plunderer, which disguised itself as a Spirit Body and burrowed into Ince Zangwill's body in the Underworld, it was like a fish in water in this Spirit World-like environment, instinctively beginning to manipulate the "Gatekeeper's" Spirit Body threads, causing his movements and thoughts to gradually slow down.
This is a trap... Clearly feeling the abnormality in his body, Ince Zangwill instantly became much more sober. Without any hesitation, he was about to enter the Spirit World to escape this place, but his raised hand froze in place.
The sea, filled with thin mist, seemed no different from before, but he had already lost his perception of the Spirit World.
The tightly clutched 0-08 suddenly broke free from its restraints. Its dull feathers glowed as if in a final burst of light, and its pen tip moved slightly, rapidly writing:
"Heraber..."
Just as it wrote three symbols, 0-08 could no longer move. The trembling pen tip seemed to be bound by an invisible force, unable to budge an inch.
Watching the abnormality of 0-08, the sense of unease in Ince Zangwill's heart seemed to solidify. He reached out to grab it but grasped at empty air.
He turned his head in disbelief, watching this Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, which had helped him escape numerous encirclements, tremble violently and then abruptly vanish as if it had never appeared.
Klein, who was hiding among the puppets and also witnessed this bizarre scene, no longer had time to ponder the reason. He secretly thought, "Good opportunity!" and immediately changed his plan.
The flesh in his palm squirmed, and the long-prepared Sea God Scepter instantly appeared, unleashing a violent lightning storm directly at Ince Zangwill, who was stunned in place.
At the same time, the mysterious, illusory bronze door on Ludwell's forehead also opened, and a pair of pale hands wearing dark rings reached out.
Inside the cabin, Aaron threw Frank, who was "entertaining himself" in a dream, into a pile of mushrooms. He looked strangely at Adam, who raised his hand and grabbed 0-08 from the void, placing it on the last open page of "Groselle's Travels."
His leisurely demeanor was very much like a parent taking a toy from a child.
"0-08 seems to have consumed a lot of energy before, almost overdrawn."
"But where did the Red Angel evil spirit hidden in Ince Zangwill's body go?"
As thoughts flashed through his mind, Aaron glanced at the true name of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, which was already half-written, and then at "Vice Admiral Iceberg" Edwina, who was in the captain's cabin and carried a trace of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom's aura, and slowly shook his head.
That cunning old dragon, who had survived from the Second Epoch until now, even if he truly sensed 0-08's call, might not necessarily intervene to stop it.
The Corpse Cathedral covering the sea instantly disintegrated. Adam's figure remained unchanged, but Aaron could already tell that the Creator's son's true body had left, and what remained here was merely an imagined avatar.
Only when the anticipated tide of the era becomes reality will Adam be able to advance to a "Visionary".... Aaron's eyes flickered, and a sense of urgency involuntarily rose in his heart.
He raised his hand and beckoned, and a blurry, transparent phantom flew out from the open Door of Conferred.
Above the phantom was a single transparent eye, glowing with a faint blue light, surrounded by smaller eyes with the same characteristics.
This was precisely the other main ingredient for the "Bizzaro Sorcerer" potion that Klein lacked: the Trickster Aberration that Cavendish had scoured the Forsaken Land of the Gods to obtain.
Facing Dunn Smith, who had achieved "Undying," and Klein, who wielded the "Sea God Scepter," Ince Zangwill, who now had nothing, was destined to meet his end.
If Klein advanced to a demigod, the anomaly of Sefirah Castle would only be more intense than when he advanced to a "Marionettist," enough to attract the attention of those few in the Astral World.
Outside Sonia Island, Bernadette's blockade using "Pale Death" was nearing its end. Aaron was currently waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to divert the God of Combat's attention.
-----------------
Fog Sea, Black Death.
Tracy, with a faint smile on his face, and many crew members with similar smiles, watched together as the Corpse Cathedral, standing on the sea in the distance, collapsed with exclamations:
"Having obtained the last 'Author' characteristic, my paranoid brother is truly just one step away from godhood."
A sneer came from his side, and a translucent man in blood-stained black armor emerged from the void.
The banner-like mark on his brow became even more blood-red, and his face, covered in signs of decay, showed no expression. He extended his palm, drew out an illusory longsword with dark red rust from his body, looked north, and said:
"Since he has obtained 0-08, let's begin our plan."
"I can feel the aura of disaster growing thicker and thicker; it's truly intoxicating...."
Worms of Time, each with twelve segments, crawled out from the bodies of the strangely smiling crew members, turning into streaks of light and transforming into Amon, wearing a pointed soft hat, beside "Red Angel" Medici.
The Blasphemer snapped his fingers, and the second Blasphemy Slate within Medici's body, which had turned into chaotic light, immediately surged, causing the evil spirit's aura to continuously weaken until it fell below demigod level.
Amon adjusted his monocle, and his pupils reflected Klein, who was fighting Ince Zangwill. He curled his lips and said casually in a light tone:
"Do you want to bring one of my avatars? Maybe it could have a miraculous effect at a critical moment...."
Medici pouted. This time, he didn't mock him aloud, nor did he respond. He walked expressionlessly towards the full-length mirror left by "Saintess of Black" Clarice in the Black Death's captain's cabin.