Seeing Ebner staring at the "Rose Oath" ring with a frown, the few people present all became inexplicably nervous. After all, Mr. Tower rarely revealed such an expression; he had always been cheerful during Tarot Club gatherings.
Only Klein felt surprised inside: That acting looks really convincing… Mr. Tower is indeed reliable.
After waiting for a while, it was Fors the "Magician," who had the closest relationship with Ebner, who couldn't help but ask, "Is there something wrong with this pair of rings?"
Could it be that you still want to buy them for someone?
Hearing the question, Ebner came back to his senses. After thinking for a moment, he went along with it and said,
"There may be unknown contamination on these rings. Before using them, it's best to request Mr. Fool to 'purify' them."
Although he said this, what Ebner was actually thinking was: The last time the "Rose Oath" ring was used, it 'brought together' Giuseppe and Lamia… so why has it been taken out again this time?
He glanced at "The World" Gehrman beside him, and a strange thought couldn't help but arise in his mind: Could it be to help Klein stabilize his humanity?
On the other side, seeing "Moon" Emlyn and the others stunned by Ebner's words, Klein had "The World" Gehrman cough and say,
"Ahem, I'll buy this pair of rings. I'll request Mr. Fool to handle them…
"What do you think about a price of 6000 pounds?"
When "Moon" had just heard Mr. Tower say that there was a problem with the "Rose Oath," he had already decided to sell it. After all, he had no use for the item, and there was no need to pay the price to ask a true god like Mr. Fool to deal with it.
Now that "The World" wanted to buy it, and the offered price was about the same as selling it back to the Sanguine, he agreed without hesitation. "Deal!"
Among the few of them, only "The Hanged Man" Alger glanced back and forth between "Tower" and "World." His intuition told him that the timing of these two appearing was too coincidental, as if they had come specifically for the "Rose Oath."
However, since it involved two demigods—both with powerful backgrounds and formidable methods—Alger wisely chose not to say anything more.
"Moreover, the shock Mr. Tower showed when he saw that pair of rings didn't seem fake… perhaps there really is something wrong with them…" Thinking this, Alger took the other Beyonder item besides the "Rose Oath" as his "consultation fee."
Soon, this temporary gathering came to an end, and above the gray fog, only Ebner and Klein remained.
Klein put away the "Rose Oath" and said to Ebner with a smile, "Thanks. Without your performance just now, it really wouldn't have been easy for me to buy this pair of rings."
Ebner glanced at him and shook his head. "I wasn't acting. There really might be a significant problem with these rings…
"Before you give them to your Miss Temperance, you'd better truly ask Mr. Fool to handle them."
Hearing this, Klein immediately became tense and asked seriously, "What do you mean?"
"I'm not entirely sure what's going on either. It's just a feeling that there's something wrong with them. You'll need to divine their origin yourself…
"Also, you can ask Will and Reinette. They might know something."
After a pause, Ebner continued,
"Mm, I still have something urgent to deal with now. Quickly ask Mr. Fool to grant me a 'protection.'"
"Alright!" Klein didn't ask further. Now that he was a Bizarro Sorcerer, he naturally wouldn't rely on Ebner for everything anymore. Instead, he should do his best to repay the help he had received before.
Still, what does he mean by my Miss Temperance? How does he know I'm buying this pair of rings for Sharron?
…
In the dream, before the passage leading to the top-floor "Ritual Room" of the Observer Castle.
The moment Ebner opened his eyes, he saw a solemn and majestic angel wrapping him layer upon layer with twelve pairs of pitch-black wings.
"Using the 'Black Emperor' card, huh… why not use the 'Demoness' card or the 'Moon' card? Bad review!"
After muttering a few complaints, Ebner examined the dense gray fog surrounding his soul and body before pushing open the door leading to the "Ritual Room."
According to Gluttony's memories, the room on the top floor had been "concealed" by some kind of power and could not be reached from reality. He guessed that it could only be accessed through dreams.
Unfortunately, because Chan You was guarding the stairway, he couldn't even get past the second floor.
"It should be the 'Door' pathway's ability to 'hide space'… Rhine placed the entrance in the dream?
"After all, the things in the 'Ritual Room' are so dangerous that Rhine couldn't possibly let them exist within that bookshelf dream, otherwise it would have long since been contaminated and gone mad.
"Who designed this for him? Mr. Door?"
With questions in mind, Ebner walked step by step along the empty corridor. The further he went, the more irritable he felt, and his spirituality began to "warn" him.
Finally, at the end of the corridor, he saw something extremely familiar:
The "Door of Reality and Illusion"!
Although its appearance was slightly different, this was undoubtedly the same "Door of Reality and Illusion" that Ebner had once used beneath Mr. Gaston's school in Damir Harbor. The only difference was that that one connected the Dream Labyrinth Tower and reality.
"It seems Roselle probably also referenced this place when he built the Dream Labyrinth Tower!
"Did he come in here as well?
"That makes sense… although the biggest mastermind behind the experiment eleven years ago might have been 'me,' on the surface it was arrangements left behind by Old Huang before his death.
"It's entirely reasonable that he came here!
"At that time, he must have already gone to the moon and been contaminated by the Mother Goddess of Depravity—basically a dead pig not afraid of boiling water!"
While making sarcastic remarks, Ebner took a deep breath and carefully stepped through the door between reality and illusion.
In the next moment, he left the dream and arrived within an extremely spacious area.
At the center of this space stood a massive altar. Countless transparent chains engraved with strange patterns and symbols extended out from the void, converging onto a coffin at the top of the altar, tightly binding it as if sealing whatever was inside.
Surrounding the altar was a circular "river" formed from blood, as if guarding the central structure.
Along its "riverbed," positioned in the shape of a pentagram, were five small "altars" resembling bridges. Countless even smaller streams of blood flowed in from all directions, merging into the circular blood river, and ultimately entering those five "bridges."
Ebner sensed it for a moment and found that a rather terrifying aura was indeed spreading outward from the coffin at the center. However, it wasn't as severe as Vincent had described. While ordinary demigods would probably be unable to withstand it, angels should have no problem.
"Did the ritual eleven years ago change the environment here?
"Also, the 'altars' on that circular blood river are completely out of place compared to the main altar… they were probably added later."
As his thoughts turned, just as Ebner was about to step forward to investigate further, a gentle female voice suddenly sounded by his ear:
"Don't come any closer… the aura of Sefirah Castle will cause the power remaining here to erupt into chaos again."
(End of Chapter)