"How did it go?"
"Relatively smooth. Also, there are indeed traces of the Dark Side of the Universe's divine descent appearing in Saga Fort City."
After dealing with Hewesley Bernstein, this Beyonder from the Loen military, Don arranged for Angie, this Traveler marionette, to come over and record his extraordinary ability to manipulate Spirit Body Threads, staying beside Whisleck Bernstein without exposing any abnormalities.
He had toured all around Saga Fort City and indeed discovered quite a few problems.
After arriving at the meeting location agreed upon with Owen, Don roughly summarized what he had seen through the Euclidean Space.
"The atmosphere at the border itself tends toward heaviness. I believe Intis and Feynapotter are in the same state."
"And the Sequence 5 of the Abyss Pathway is called Desire Apostle." Owen said in a deep voice.
"That's right." Don nodded, picking up the glass on the table and looking at the foaming wine inside. "Once reaching Sequence 4, all previous extraordinary abilities will undergo a certain degree of qualitative change."
Take his own sequence for example. Once reaching Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer, not to mention the extraordinary ability to manipulate marionettes, after advancing to Sequence 4, the extraordinary power possessed by the Sequence 7 Magician could create illusions that could even deceive demigods of the same sequence.
Beyonders who have stepped into the realm of demigods and demi-humans are not easy to deal with, and this is still a demigod backed by the evil god, the Dark Side of the Universe.
Within the Theater With Curtains That Never Draw, there is an Abyss Pathway Sequence 4 Devil marionette. Don had also done some research on the high-sequence extraordinary abilities of this pathway before departure.
The Sequence 4 of the Abyss Pathway has the potion name of Devil.
This is both a Devil of the Body and a Devil of the Mind. Inheriting the extraordinary power of the Sequence 5 Desire Apostle, Devils are cold-blooded, cunning, cruel, and sharp. While their physical strength is greatly enhanced, they are more convenient and secretive than Desire Apostles, able to detonate enemies' emotions through voice, expressions, actions, and other means, reducing enemies' thinking ability, destroying rationality, and bringing about loss of control.
And emotions and desires—there's as much of these as one could want in a place like this.
"Someone is fanning the flames. Recently, the friction between Loen, Intis, and Feynapotter has shown signs of escalation. That demigod from the Loen military should have also noticed something wrong and is currently not in Saga Fort City, probably having gone to investigate the cause."
"I'll leave the city tonight to try to find that Devil."
"Good, be careful in everything."
In the afternoon, Don went to Backlund through another Traveler marionette. He knocked on the doors of the three major Churches, throwing the report letters that had been processed in advance—subjected to triple divination interference through the System, Euclidean Space, and Theater With Curtains That Never Draw—into the respective Church temples.
After all, these were the three major orthodox Churches with True Gods backing them. Don temporarily didn't plan to expose himself under the Churches' watchful eyes.
Staying in the Euclidean Space, after confirming that the clergy of the three major Churches had all received the letters, Don finally left.
'Host, host, that, there's been a small little problem...'
When returning to Saga Fort City, Don heard his own System's stammering voice.
"What happened?"
Don asked casually.
[It's just that, well, that stick has had a bit of a problem.]
Stick? The Sun Scepter?
Don frowned. After he had finished playing with it before, he had the System feed the Ocean Songster to the Sun Scepter to enhance the effect of the black sunlight.
Logically speaking, this shouldn't cause problems. After all, the System had consumed a portion of Sequence 4 Alchemist beyonder characteristics and could itself be considered a demigod-level Sealed Artifact. Moreover, with the Knowledge Moor backing the System having quite a high position, backed by the Knowledge Moor, adding just one Ocean Songster's potion should not cause any problems.
"Did the sun arise?"
But that wasn't right either—he didn't feel anything.
[Not, not that serious...]
The System twisted and turned evasively.
Don was suspicious: "System, you didn't do something to betray me, did you?"
[Of course not!]
Don simply took out the Sun Scepter from the space to see what kind of trouble his System could cause for him.
It couldn't be that this thing started praising—
[System system praise the system——]
Don: ??
Don's eyes went blank for a moment, then he looked at the Sun Scepter in his hand with disbelief.
Wait, what did he just hear?
What was this thing praising?
[Praise the system praise the system praise the system——]
[Oh my, it's just too mischievous~] The System quickly grabbed a bucket and ran away, afraid that its host would catch it and interrogate it.
Don listened to these bizarre praise words for several minutes before uttering a few words: "I was careless."
He could guess that if he stuffed an Ocean Songster portion in there, this thing might be able to sing. As for whether it would praise the sun or praise the Chaos Sea, he would decide how to handle this mystical item based on the situation.
He never expected that this thing would praise the System here?
[Actually, it wasn't calling out like this at first.]
"Did you sweet-talk it?"
System: [Host, your words are so harsh.]
Not denying it was equivalent to admitting it.
Don looked at the pitiful Sun Scepter, whose praise sounds didn't have the pleasant melody that an Ocean Songster should have, but instead sounded more like cowering under high pressure and authority, like a bullied little wife.
Well, he could only say: "Your circle of Sealed Artifacts is really chaotic."
System: [Ah this, ah this ah this.]
After confirming that the fusion was good, Don checked the remaining usage count of the Sun Scepter.
With the integration of one Ocean Songster potion, the Sun Scepter's usage count, which previously had only a few uses left, had actually gone from single digits to double digits.
"Because it's more stable than before."
The extraordinary characteristics of the Sun Scepter were unbalanced, which was why it could cause fluctuations in the Chaos Sea.
Distance to the second 'sun arises,' remaining uses: 13 times.
---
Orkney Highlands, by the Alexei River.
This place was very close to the Hornacis Mountains. The turbid river flowing down from the Hornacis Mountains meandered through the silent wilderness, rushing toward the distant ruggedness.
This was an important water source distribution area in the Orkney Highlands. Usually, many animals would stop here to drink water. The riverside was lush and green, everywhere presenting a scene full of vitality.
But now, the river water was no longer clear, dyed dark red by the corpses scattered all around. Flies buzzed and danced on the corpses but dared not approach this river that had become one with the blood water.
Some wore armor, some were just civilians, some were merchants, and some were elderly and children who came from who knows where, or perhaps were just indigenous residents. They died with hideous expressions, their bodies deliberately arranged in bizarre poses, their hollow eyes staring at the sky, their exposed skin carved with ritual symbols one after another, sinister and depraved.
This was a ritual for sacrificing to devils.
(End of Chapter)