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In truth, according to his agreement with the Church, by eliminating Qigelintai—whose comprehensive strength was close to that of a Sequence 5—George would, in all likelihood, be able to exchange that contribution for a Sequence 5 potion.
After all, Qigelintai was no ordinary Sequence 6; he was a renowned Admiral of the High Seas. His infiltration into Backlund with the intent to assassinate Duke Nigan carried immense weight, making the significance of his death far greater than a standard bounty.
Crestet had made such a promise previously, and the process had indeed been smooth. Not only did Crestet provide all the supplementary ingredients for the Sequence 6 Faceless potion, but he also informed George that once the potion was fully digested, he could return to claim the Sequence 5 Marionettist potion.
However, Crestet also added a caveat: if George required the Church to mobilize mermaids to assist him with the advancement ritual in the future, there would be an additional fee. That fee would be equivalent to the cost of obtaining a Sequence 5 potion itself—namely, the elimination of a Sequence 5 cultist or the retrieval of a Sequence 5 Church member who had lost control.
George had readily agreed. For him, such a task wouldn't pose much of a challenge. Even without the Church's mermaids, he could simply venture into the deep sea to find one himself for the sake of experiencing the ritual. In any case, it wouldn't be long before he successfully converted a seeking magic from his other sources.
After concocting the advancement potion, George swallowed it in one gulp. He successfully ascended to Sequence 6: Faceless.
With this advancement came all the specialized abilities of a Faceless. Compared to the Sequence 7 Magician, the Sequence 6 Faceless significantly enhanced all previous magical feats, but its most unique feature was the power of transformation.
He could permanently change his appearance to resemble different people, though this was primarily a surface-level change and did not involve a fundamental structural shift of his essence. The physical differences couldn't be too extreme; upon first ascending, he could only increase or decrease his height by ten centimeters. Attempting to go beyond that range was difficult. Similarly, the enlarging or shrinking of his head had its limits. Furthermore, the transformation only affected his physical body and did not extend to his clothing.
He could mimic a target's voice perfectly, provided he had heard it before, though this remained within the boundaries of ordinary human vocalization.
Of course, these were the limitations of a normal Faceless. For George, having these innate abilities as a foundation meant he could easily convert various transformation magics from other worlds to bridge the gaps.
Once those magics were fully integrated, he wouldn't just be changing his face. His powers would be no inferior to the Seventy-Two Transformations; he would be able to turn into whatever he desired—even transforming into a dragon would not be out of the question.
Technically, he could transform into a dragon even now, but without a properly converted spell, the True Gods or the Creator of this world would be able to spot the anomaly at a single glance. They would realize that his transformation did not conform to the power system of this universe. But once converted, such a transformation would seem natural; observers would simply believe he had pushed the Faceless abilities to their absolute limit, having modified and sublimated the power through his own genius.
"How should I go about digesting the Faceless potion?" As he gained a deeper understanding of his new powers, George began to formulate guesses regarding the "Acting Method" for this sequence. To digest the Faceless potion, he would likely need to masquerade as another person entirely without being discovered. It was highly probable that the higher the status of the person he mimicked, and the more sensational the events he caused while in that guise, the better the digestion effect would be.
"No need to rush. I'll wait until I've converted more spells before I start the digestion process."
The more spells he converted, the more power he could exert. This would make his masquerades more effective and allow him to digest the potion at a much faster rate. Specifically, if he could convert memory-related magic, he could use soul-searching to acquire a person's complete memories. In that way, he could perfectly replace that individual, making the digestion process flawless.
Three days later, while George was in the middle of researching spell conversion, he suddenly opened his eyes.
"Klein is looking for me?"
He felt the summons of the gray fog. It wasn't time for the Tarot Club meeting yet, which meant Klein had something specific to discuss.
His soul detached from his body and, guided by the gray fog, entered the mysterious space above the fog. There, he saw Klein holding a palm-sized statuette carved from white bone.
The statuette vaguely resembled a beautiful woman with incredibly long hair that reached down to her ankles. Each strand of hair was distinct and thick, looking like a venomous snake. At the tip of every strand, an eye was carved—some open, some closed—forming a dense, unsettling pattern.
"Is that a statuette of the Primordial Demoness?"
Seeing the idol in Klein's hand, George's eyes immediately lit up.
In this world, the seven orthodox deities did not have specific physical forms, but the evil gods were often depicted with distinct, characteristic images. For instance, the True Creator worshipped by the Aurora Order was depicted as a giant hanging upside down. The Primordial Demoness, whom the Demoness Sect believed in, shared the exact image as the statuette in Klein's hand.
If this was a genuine idol of the Primordial Demoness, it would have a connection to her. He could potentially use divination to "fleece" some knowledge directly from the Primordial Demoness.
"Yes, it's a trophy we seized from a Sequence 6 Demoness of Pleasure..."
Klein proceeded to explain the origin of the statuette.
As it turned out, a major scandal had erupted in Tingen City a few days prior. Mr. Maynard, a member of the Tingen city council, and a beautiful, enchanting noble widow named Madame Sharon had engaged in a tryst during a banquet, fueled by alcohol. Due to the intensity of the encounter, the elderly Mr. Maynard had suffered a sudden, fatal heart attack and died right there in the bed.
Mr. Maynard's wife refused to believe it was a natural death and was convinced that Madame Sharon had murdered her husband. Consequently, she approached the Blackthorn Security Company—the front for the Nighthawk headquarters.
Klein had taken the mission and, utilizing his advantage of moving as a spirit body within the gray fog, discovered that Madame Sharon's true identity was likely that of a Demoness. He reported this to Captain Dunn Smith. Dunn then took Klein and another teammate, Kenley, to apprehend Madame Sharon, bringing along a Sealed Artifact—the Spirit Medium's Mirror.
The original plan was for Dunn, whose strength was close to Sequence 6, to use his "Nightmare" abilities to force Madame Sharon into a dream, while Klein and Kenley used the mirror to finish her off.
However, plans rarely survive contact with the enemy. Because Madame Sharon happened to be holding the statuette of the Primordial Demoness at the time, she was immune to Dunn's dream-control. This resulted in the three of them being counter-ambushed by a Sequence 6 Demoness.
Normally, when two Sequence 8s and one Sequence 7 are ambushed by a Sequence 6, the casualties would be heavy, even if Dunn was near-Sequence 6 himself. Fortunately, Klein had the "Divine Pacifier" that George had given him. The moment he sensed danger upon entering the room, he let Madame Sharon taste the power of the Samadhi True Fire.
Since the Samadhi True Fire dealt massive damage even to a Sequence 6 soul, Madame Sharon's sneak attack failed, leaving her frozen and paralyzed on the spot. Subsequently, Klein, Kenley, and Dunn joined forces and killed her then and there.
After killing Madame Sharon, and before the statuette could be locked away behind Chanis Gate in the Nighthawks' basement, Klein found an excuse to quietly bring it into the space above the gray fog.
"You did well!"
Hearing this, George took the statuette of the Primordial Demoness and immediately began his divination.
(End of Chapter)