East Chester County, the town of Cabas.
Not long after Professor Mossaka and Elizabeth's group hid inside the church under Ebner's reminder, they felt two abnormally terrifying auras descend at once.
The ordinary members of the archaeological team were not too badly affected, but Professor Mossaka—a Sequence 8 "Archaeologist"—and Elizabeth, a special case with naturally sharp intuition who had also been tainted by the aura of a Death God's descendant, did not feel so fortunate.
Elizabeth felt as though all the blood in her body had stopped flowing. Her limbs were icy cold, her mind completely blank, utterly stripped of the ability to think.
She had no idea how much time had passed. When her senses finally returned, she discovered that she had awakened at the round table of the small-town tavern.
"Could everything just now have been a dream?"
No sooner had Elizabeth formed that thought than she saw the heads of Mr. Wallace's bodyguard and retainer suddenly explode, spraying blood all over two of her upperclassmen… It was the exact same gruesome death they had suffered earlier when they blew each other's brains out with guns!
That wasn't a dream! That wasn't a dream! Elizabeth whispered to herself several times, then quickly thought of Mr. Wallace, who had chosen to stay behind in the temple. She anxiously looked around, but found no trace of the "organizer."
By then, Professor Mossaka had also recovered. He went to the window, glanced at the quiet streets of the small town outside, and judged that they had already returned to reality. Without delay, he gathered his frightened students and Wallace's two surviving attendants to head for the outskirts of town.
As for Dast? After exchanging a look with Mossaka, he tacitly walked at the rear of the group to guard against accidents.
In this way, the group made it beyond the town's borders without incident, finally breathing a collective sigh of relief.
But then Elizabeth suddenly pointed at a shadow lying in the grass and cried in surprise:
"Mr. Wallace?!"
Her shout drew Wallace's attendants forward in a rush, and sure enough, they found the unconscious Jishengk Wallace.
However, after Professor Mossaka's simple treatment, the young gentleman awoke with no memory of the previous events. His recollections stopped at sunset.
The others didn't find this particularly strange, but Elizabeth observed Wallace carefully, then asked the nearby Dast with a thoughtful expression:
"Mr. Gudrian… may I consult you on a question?"
Dast was taken aback, then responded gallantly:
"…Please, ask your question."
"It's… can Beyonders change their appearance?" Elizabeth asked hesitantly.
After thinking for a few seconds, Dast nodded:
"To my knowledge… there is a Sequence called the 'Faceless' that can achieve this.
"But I'm sorry—I don't know which pathway it belongs to, or which exact Sequence."
"Faceless…" Elizabeth repeated the word several times, then curtseyed and said, "There's no need to apologize… Knowing this much about mysticism is already enough for me."
"I'm honored to answer your question, my lady," Dast replied with a smile.
While the two exchanged courtesies, neither realized that a figure stood right beside them, listening to their entire conversation.
Naturally, it was Ebner, who had hidden himself with "Psychological Invisibility."
After studying the mythical creature form of Highginnan and preliminarily establishing a "model," he had bid farewell to the two "angels" and departed the deepest nightmare of Cabas town.
Yaloran and Highginnan glanced at the dense darkness outside the nightmare town but made no attempt to stop him.
Speaking of which, I had wanted to thank the Goddess for her earlier 'substitute strike,' but even after returning to reality I had no chance. All I found was that the black gem on my chest had reappeared, and in my hand I was inexplicably holding a heavily polluted 'Hypnotist' characteristic.
No—more precisely, it was a gray tailcoat formed from the mixture of that characteristic.
The Goddess, the Ancient Sun God, and the Dragon of Imagination… How could this tailcoat deserve pollution from those three great beings…
The overlapping negative effects alone would be enough to kill a demigod!
After muttering a few complaints, Ebner stored the tailcoat into the "Ervin's Riddle Labyrinth," and incidentally released the real Jishengk Wallace trapped inside.
It was worth noting that because Wallace wasn't some utterly depraved villain, Ebner had not taken his life. But since Wallace had answered incorrectly in several consecutive rounds inside the "Labyrinth," he had pawned himself away…
Strictly speaking, under the authority of the "Money" pathway, Mr. Wallace had already become Ebner's "slave." He simply didn't know it yet.
And because the "Riddle Labyrinth" belonged to the "Money" pathway from another planet, linked to the Outer Deity "Primal Hunger," the Orthodox Churches weren't familiar with it. Even if they examined it, there was a high chance they wouldn't discover the master-servant relationship between Ebner and Wallace.
This was even more sophisticated than "Sloth's" control over "Greed."
Back to the main point: after releasing Wallace from the "Labyrinth" and tossing him into the grass outside town, Ebner had lingered nearby, which was why he happened to overhear Elizabeth and Dast's conversation—making him glance at the young woman twice more.
This little girl, who secretly has some affection for Klein, does indeed have sharp intuition… Well, it makes sense. Anyone touched by the 'Beacon of Destiny' who hasn't died yet is certainly not ordinary…
And her 'fate' really is peculiar. She's participated in multiple supernatural incidents, yet each time she's missed the chance to become a Beyonder.
Should I nudge her 'fate,' and let her truly step onto the Beyonder path?
After some thought, Ebner decided it was best to let the young woman choose for herself. So he drew upon the power of the Wheel of Fortune's uniqueness, "manifesting" several lines of text before Elizabeth's eyes.
Having done this, he gave one last glance at the young lady lost in thought, then turned to leave without waiting for her choice.
But at that very moment, boundless gray fog spread before him, and the image of Miss Justice's prayer appeared.
Isslant and that box actually went to Miss Justice's home? Fate really is strange. Just from nudging the course of one young woman's 'river of destiny,' I've caused Audrey—who isn't even that close of a friend—to fall into crisis…
If I truly tried to change destiny on a large scale, the backlash from 'Fate' itself would be no small thing…
But in my life before becoming a 'Seer,' and even earlier, I changed others' fates countless times… Why did I never pay the price?
Hmm, there are two possibilities… Either someone else bore those backlashes in my stead; or I've already paid the price somewhere I don't yet know about!
As these thoughts flashed by, Ebner didn't dwell further—time was urgent. He immediately used the secret technique "Spirit Body Travel," "shuttling" toward the Hall family's castle.
…
In the small room, Audrey had just finished her prayer and was preparing to stand up when the space beside her swirled with vivid overlapping colors, like a painted canvas.
From within, a handsome young man with brown curls and gold-rimmed glasses stepped out.
"Mr. Tower! It's actually you, here in person!" Audrey exclaimed joyfully. After all, he was one of the Tarot Club's two demigods—surely more than capable of resolving the crisis caused by a sealed artifact.
"Yes, I accepted the mission given by Mr. Fool," Ebner explained briefly, then turned his gaze toward Audrey's bedroom, where a thick aura of "corruption" emanated.
With that, he altered his appearance, then grabbed Audrey's hand and instantly "flashed" back into her bedroom.
Isslant was startled at their sudden appearance, but not overly surprised—after all, the box at her feet had the same ability to appear and vanish unpredictably.
"What's the exact situation?" Ebner asked. Though he had already "parsed" the box and mostly guessed the truth, he feigned ignorance.
With the five minutes almost up, Isslant no longer cared for etiquette. She summarized the situation as concisely as possible, then looked hopefully at the "reinforcement" Miss Audrey had brought, eagerly asking:
"How will you seal it? Do you need my help?"
Ebner only shook his head. Looking at the box, which was brimming with a greedy aura, he chuckled softly:
"The reason it's disobedient and increasingly picky is, at its core, because it's been 'fed' too much…
"My suggestion is—starve it for a few meals!"
(End of Chapter)