"Who killed Klein?"
Without hesitation, Angel voiced her first question.
Of course, he killed me too, but I'm alive again now, so does that really count as killing me?
This bizarre question surfaced in her mind, trapping her in a loop of circular reasoning until Arianna's gentle, serene response pulled her back to reality.
"His name is Ince Zangwill. You should have seen him on the wanted posters circulated within the Church."
Ince Zangwill...
Angel searched through her memories. With that name as a prompt, she quickly retrieved the wanted poster from the depths of her mind.
"Ince Zangwill, forty years old, a Gatekeeper who failed to advance to a high sequence. Seduced by devils and corrupted into evil, he fled three years ago with Sealed Artifact 0-08."
Dark gold hair cut short, deep blue pupils, a high nose bridge, and most importantly—blind in one eye.
Comparing this description with the expressionless face she'd seen before her death, she confirmed that this was indeed the traitor the Church had been hunting.
"But why did he want to kill us? Was it to facilitate the descent of an evil god and make the Aurora Order's conspiracy succeed?"
She pressed urgently. Arianna smiled faintly but didn't answer immediately.
The surrounding lights suddenly dimmed. The stone walls around them and the wooden table before them vanished from Angel's vision, leaving only the plainly dressed Arianna visible.
Only then did she speak.
"Our discussion of it is confined to this room. Once you leave here, the more you know about it in detail, the easier it becomes for it to perceive you and write you into the story it weaves."
"It?"
Angel asked in confusion, then suddenly recalled the description on the wanted poster.
"You mean that stolen Sealed Artifact, 0-08?"
In the internal Church materials she had access to, this Sealed Artifact had only that designation—nothing else. The only thing that could be gleaned from the number was that this was a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact: extremely dangerous, not to be inquired about, not to be spread abroad, not to be described, not to be spied upon. It could only be sealed in the "Sanctuary"—the depths beneath the Church of the Evernight headquarters where she was stationed.
"That's right. It's an ordinary-looking quill pen. Once it writes on paper, any story becomes reality. Zangwill used this Sealed Artifact he stole to orchestrate everything that happened in Tingen City, allowing coincidences to gradually piece together the story he needed."
"Coincidences..."
Angel felt thunderstruck. In that instant, she thought of the countless "coincidental" events she'd encountered, of Mr. Azik's warnings, of the "red chimney" Klein had divined.
Could it be that her joining the Nighthawks, befriending her colleagues, all her efforts to integrate into this new world, all the emotions she'd built with others—were they all part of a "story" manipulated behind the scenes by Zangwill and 0-08?
Was she like a ridiculous hamster, climbing desperately through transparent tubes, believing in freedom of choice when in fact every path had been predetermined?
At that moment, she felt a chill. Her hands and feet seemed to stiffen, as if she were a marionette controlled by strings.
"You needn't worry too much. From what I know, everything Zangwill and 0-08 orchestrated wasn't targeted at you, but at Dunn Smith."
As if perceiving the turmoil in Angel's heart, the abbess of the Evernight Abbey showed a hint of comfort on her unremarkable face and reached out to press down on Angel's right hand resting on the table.
Only then did Angel realize her hands had been trembling uncontrollably.
Under Arianna's cold yet soothing touch, Angel gradually steadied her emotions and began analyzing what she'd just heard.
"Captain Dunn? But why him?"
She asked hesitantly.
This should involve higher-level Church secrets. She'd been prepared for refusal, but unexpectedly, Arianna spoke without hesitation.
"This involves certain hidden knowledge. Although you are..." She paused mid-sentence with a slight smile. "...but you still need to take an oath not to divulge this matter to anyone who doesn't know about it."
After swearing an oath in the name of the Goddess before this servant of the Goddess, Angel learned the truth about how Dunn Smith had been manipulated by Zangwill using 0-08.
"After Ince Zangwill's failed attempt to advance to Sequence 4 Undying of the Corpse Collector pathway, he survived by chance. However, for safety reasons, the Church didn't allow him to attempt advancement again. This caused him to harbor resentment toward the Church, and he eventually betrayed us by stealing Sealed Artifact 0-08."
"When stepping from mid-sequence to high-sequence—that is, advancing from Sequence 5 to Sequence 4—certain pathways can choose to switch to the corresponding sequence of another pathway. Unfortunately, Zangwill learned of this."
"He used 0-08 to create a series of coincidences in Tingen City, placing Dunn Smith in a major crisis that could lead to Tingen's destruction. The purpose was to make him retrieve the saint's relic beneath Saint Selena Cathedral, the ashes of Saint Selena, from behind the Chanis Gate to confront the descending evil god's offspring."
"I believe that after obtaining the saint's ashes containing Sequence 4 Beyonder characteristics, Zangwill will immediately use them to create a potion and switch to Sequence 4 of the Sleepless pathway."
Under Arianna's description, Angel's eyes widened gradually. Only now did she realize that hidden within this series of seemingly coincidental events was a law of "pathway switching," an Beyonder chasing high-sequence power, and enabling all of this was a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact capable of turning stories into reality.
After a long while, having digested this information, she took a deep breath. Looking at the room that had brightened again, she asked, "Ince Zangwill should have killed me then. Why am I still here?"
Besides the identity of the mastermind lurking behind the scenes, this was the question she cared about most.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know the answer to that either." Arianna's smile carried apology.
"What?"
Angel cried out in surprise. She'd originally thought her survival was due to the rescue of this high-sequence Beyonder—as evident from Cresta's attitude toward her—but the response she received was completely unexpected.
"After the Sanctuary received the telegram from Tingen City, I rushed there immediately, but I was still a step too late. The True Creator's attempt to descend failed, and the scene was devastating."
Arianna spoke slowly, the smile fading from her face, her gaze carrying a strange quality.
"But strangely, your fatal wounds healed rapidly, and even the dagger that had pierced your heart was expelled from your body." She pointed to the bloodied dagger on the table. "To protect you, I brought you here and used certain means to hide the truth from your teammates and from those at the funeral."
Funeral?
Angel was dumbstruck.
"So I've... I've already been buried?"
"Yes, you're buried right next to Mr. Klein Moretti. This was your teammates' suggestion. Since your family couldn't arrive in time, the Church respected their wishes."
"Oh, and your pension—about 8,000 pounds—will be given to your only registered family member, Miss Lily Granger."
Angel had no real feelings for this "cousin" she'd never truly met, but the memories inherited from Kore of their life together left her with some attachment to Lily Granger, who was studying in Backlund.
Eight thousand pounds... That should keep her comfortable.
But the reason for her resurrection was unknown even to Lady Arianna. Could it be due to some change brought about by her transmigration?
Angel didn't dare voice this thought. She sighed inwardly and decided to temporarily set aside this unanswerable question. Instead, she asked, "Where is Ince Zangwill now?"
Regardless of why she'd been resurrected, her ultimate purpose remained unchanged...
Only revenge mattered.
"That brings us to the mission I'm assigning you." Having left the heavy topic behind, Arianna's kind smile returned. "Ince Zangwill has already gone to Backlund, but the Grade 0 Sealed Artifact he possesses makes any open pursuit futile, so..."
Woo—
The whistle sounded. The steam train, with over twenty carriages pulled by an iron beast of an engine, slowly entered Tingen Station.
Klein carried a massive leather suitcase disproportionate to his thin frame. Pressing down his half-height silk top hat, he squeezed through the crowd into the second-class carriage.
It wasn't as crowded as third class, but conditions fell far short of luxurious first class. Looking around, the carriage was filled with well-dressed ladies and gentlemen, either reading newspapers with heads bowed or resting with eyes closed, utterly indifferent to the boarding passengers.
Finding his assigned seat, Klein was surprised to discover a middle-aged woman sitting there.
"Excuse me, this should be my seat."
Considering she might have made an honest mistake, Klein decided to communicate amicably first.
Several seconds later, thoroughly embarrassed, he pressed down his hat to hide his expression and left amid laughter and curious stares, heading to the adjacent carriage.
While boarding, he'd been thinking about Melissa and Benson, whom he'd seen that morning, and about 6 Daffodil Street, now empty and not far from home. He'd actually gotten his carriage wrong, making a fool of himself.
Sigh, I'm like a clown right now...
He even considered painting his face with greasepaint like he had that morning and making an exaggerated grimace at the watching passengers before leaving, but the last shred of dignity at the bottom of his heart stopped him.
Ignoring the brief commotion nearby and the passengers' laughter, Angel hid in a corner of the carriage, wearing a hood, gazing out at Tingen City.
If the steam train route didn't pass through Tingen, she wouldn't have wanted to return to this place of heartbreak at all.
Perhaps only after dealing with Ince Zangwill would she come back here to apologize to Melissa, to Benson, to Klein...
Narrowing her stinging eyes, she withdrew her gaze and looked at the citrine pendant wrapped around her right wrist, with an additional emblem of the Evernight Goddess bound to it.
Lady Arianna had given this to her before departure.
She'd also received the "Magic Pocket Watch," her own wand, the charm Klein had given her, along with a new dagger and revolver.
Except for "Thirst" which had been damaged from unleashing the full power of "Fragmented Light Ray," she was fully armed again...
Pulling down her sleeve to cover her wrist, she took out her ticket and handed it to the approaching conductor.
The ticket bore her destination—the City of Ten Thousand Capitals, the Land of Hope.
Backlund.
Thank you all for two months of support. This book ends here...
Please tune in promptly at 7 PM for Volume Two.