Compared to the shock and panic roiling in Alger's heart, Edward's gaze burned as it fell upon the stone coffins. If he remembered correctly, the corpse in one of those coffins had the Tyrant card hidden on it.
He wasted no time. His Exploit swept out, whirling like a cyclone straight at the twenty-four dusky stone sarcophagi flanking the hall.
With a sharp crackling, those sarcophagi that had endured the erosion of ages crumbled to gravel beneath, revealing the remains within.
Most contained only incomplete skeletons. Only three—though badly decayed and showing bare white bone—still retained the overall shape of corpses.
As the coffins shattered, the three previously silent corpses stirred. They rose in twisted forms: one covered head to toe in eyes, one whose flesh had turned into a mass of tentacles, and one wound about with countless brown vines.
In life, these three Zombies had been Beyonders of the Sailor, Bard, and Reader pathways. In death, they had become Zombies that still possessed a portion of their former pathways—and as Zombies, they were naturally suppressed and controlled by the Death Pathway.
Alger had only just drawn his weapon when Mr. Tower's messenger streaked out again, pinning the three Zombies in place before they could act. Edward crooked a finger. "Accio Card of Blasphemy!"
Nothing happened.
Right—Roselle had left special tricks on the Cards of Blasphemy. Edward flashed forward to the Zombie in the pirate hat and unleashed Distortion + Exploit once more, shredding the tattered brown jacket into scraps. With a glance, he saw a playing card thrust into the region of its heart.
On the face of the card stood a man with both hands raised, a triple crown upon his head. Worshippers prostrated at his feet, and behind him surged lightning, dark clouds, gales, and crashing waves.
In the upper left of the papally robed portrait of Roselle, brilliant starlight condensed into a line of text:
"Sequence 0: Tyrant!"
An invisible hand plucked the card free at once. At the same time Edward flickered backwards; Fiendfyre roared forth, and—as if fire had met hot oil—instantly engulfed the three Zombies. Under the dual effects of Distortion and Amplification, they were swiftly burned to ash.
"What is that—"
Alger managed only a few words before his gaze froze, greedy flames flaring within. Having seen two Cards of Blasphemy at Mr. Fool's, he immediately realised this one was the Tyrant card.
Which meant it recorded all the formulas of the Sailor Pathway!
"Got it!"
Edward was elated as well. Before coming, he had worried this Tyrant card was something Adam had set aside specifically for Klein, and that his greatest harvest this trip would be only the Undying's Beyonder characteristic. Unexpectedly, everything proceeded exactly as in the original work—nothing had changed.
Next, wasn't Adam supposed to sigh according to the script and "scare" them away?
"Ah…"
Just as the thought formed, a deep, indescribably ancient sigh echoed from the depths of the church.
Alger felt his whole body go cold. Boundless terror welled up from the bottom of his heart. He wanted to speak, but his movements and expressions suddenly froze.
In the next second, everything around them began to distort.
Edward felt a momentary daze. All around, pitch-black stone pillars thrust upward, supporting a vast and majestic cathedral. On every pillar, every arch, every span of the domes, bones of myriad races were inlaid—densely packed—encircling a colossal cross.
Before the cross stood a priest in a plain white robe, a thick, pale-golden beard covering the lower half of his face. "He" gazed at Edward with perfect calm.
This was Adam's Corpse Cathedral.
Edward was not surprised that Adam had chosen to meet him directly. Of the three "beings" tied to the Door Pathway's Uniqueness, he had already met Mr. Door and the True Creator; only Adam remained.
Perhaps today he could learn the entire truth from "Him"?
The two regarded each other for a moment. Then, before the cross, Adam spoke in a gentle voice:
"I'm going to die."
"???"
Edward's breath hitched.
He had imagined meeting Adam since the very first day he arrived in the Mystical World. After everything he had experienced and all the secrets he had learned, he had even rehearsed what Adam might say to him.
Yet he had never expected Adam's first words to be: "I'm going to die."
"Are…are "You" joking?" Edward forced the question out of a dry throat.
Adam's expression remained flat, "His" eyes as still as dead water. "He" repeated, "I'm going to die."
A torrent of questions flashed through Edward's mind in an instant, tangling his thoughts into a chaotic knot that finally condensed into a single sentence: "Why?"
"Because only by my death can this world be saved."
Impossible! If that were true, why didn't "You" die in the original work?
"When "You" say 'die,' do "You" mean death as I understand it, or…some 'death' in the mysticism sense?"
"There's no difference."
Adam said, "After I die, there will no longer be an 'Adam' in this world."
"…"
"He" continued, voice calm yet suffocating: "That is why, before I die, I will do everything I can for those of you who will remain alive—arrange everything, in what I believe is the best way."
Edward's heart jolted. "By 'arrange'…You mean—"
"Exactly what you're thinking."
Edward's mind lurched to the string of events since they had set sail: the Admiral Hell who barged in out of nowhere; that chance encounter with the man in the black windbreaker, through whom he learned of the Sea God Church's and the Numinous Episcopate's conspiracy; Danitz's streak of good luck; acquiring the Sea God's Sceptre…
No wonder everything lately had felt so strange—at times inexplicably placid, at times abruptly frantic…
And besides those? How many more things had "He" arranged? How many other people and events, beyond me, were part of "His" arrangements?
"What are "You" trying to accomplish by arranging all this?"
Adam said, "I don't know. I am merely acting according to my premonitions, making a few arrangements before death, striving for a better outcome."
"What outcome?"
"To avert the apocalypse."
Edward said grimly, "By 'apocalypse,' You mean that ring of Outer Gods encircling the earth, don't "You"? To fight the Outer Gods, shouldn't you assimilate your Sefirot and advance into a Pillar to gain greater power? Why, then, would "You" die?"
Though most people's impression of Adam was poor—hating to be arranged by "Him", hating "His" 'this is a necessary sacrifice'—one had to admit: "He" truly wished to save the world.
As the saying went: When the world was in tatters, Adam stitched and patched everything.
Facing Edward's pressing questions, Adam said, "That is precisely why I will die."
"???"
Edward's heart gave a thump. A thought struck him, and he exclaimed in shock, "By 'die'…"You" don't mean "You're" going to merge with the True Creator, do "You"?"
"He" fell silent.
In the original work, Adam and the True Creator merged as well—but that happened after Adam advanced to Sequence 0. And the merged "Them" was led by Adam; the one who 'died' was the True Creator.
Right now, Adam had not yet advanced to Sequence 0. Why would "He" merge with the True Creator?
Wait—wait!
Edward's mind suddenly whirled. He realised something he had previously overlooked.
The True Creator had a dual personality.
One rational, one mad.
Edward had always assumed that this was some mutation caused by his own presence as a "transmigrator."
But…was it really?
Thinking back to his past exchanges with the True Creator, "Their" attitude toward "the other self" was…intriguing.
What if that "dual personality" referred, respectively, to the True Creator and Adam?
They had not fully merged, and so existed as two personalities. That was why the True Creator had two diametrically opposed attitudes toward me.
"…"
With that thought, a new question arose: if Adam and the True Creator had already merged at that time, then who was the Adam standing before me now?
"I am His virtual personality—His avatar—and at the same time, I am also Adam who retains the entirety of the main body's consciousness."
"When I die, it will mean Adam has truly died."
"It will also mean…"
"You have already completed the fusion?" Edward murmured.
Adam continued, "To tell the truth, I do not know what kind of existence the fused 'Him' will be—what designs He will have, what state He will be in. Everything is unknown."
"All I can do is, following Adam's habits, make the final arrangements."
"The rest…will depend on you."
After finally steadying the turmoil in his chest, Edward hurriedly asked, "Was it really "You" who placed the Door Pathway's Uniqueness inside me? Why? What role…do I play in "Your" plan?"
"No."
Adam looked at Edward and, for the first time, showed a hint of a smile. "That was merely an accident."
It was the same answer the True Creator had given.
"The one originally meant to accommodate 'Door' was not you, but another person…however, he suddenly vanished."
"When 'Door' reappeared, it was already inside you. We do not know what happened in between. That is also why 'we' had to merge suddenly."
Edward furrowed his brow. "Can "You" be more specific? Who is that other person?" As he asked, he paused, a figure rising in his mind. Could it be…the senior transmigrator who left the diary?
"An outsider;
The source of the apocalypse;
The one who set everything in motion;
The saviour."
"…"
Was that…a divine epithet?
Adam said, "I know nothing more. I do not possess that portion of memory."
Again…
Edward closed his eyes and pondered for a long while before asking, "Since 'Adam' will die, what about that so-called tide of the era? After "You" merge, will "You" still need to borrow that ritual to advance once more?"
"No. "He" will only need to assimilate Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics and the Uniqueness to obtain the corresponding authorities. However, that era's tide is something others still need."
The Evernight Goddess?
———
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