After a pause, Leyton looked at Zaratul, whose expression was gradually turning solemn, and added, "To ensure you don't go back on your word, we need an insurance, a vow with strong binding power."
"It seems I have no room to refuse." Zaratul sighed softly, then continued, "What did you promise the Evernight Goddess? Or, what did you pay?"
"A drop of water from the River of Eternal Darkness," Leyton replied truthfully.
Zaratul's expression remained unchanged, and he continued to ask with an even tone, "I'm not the only Miracle Invoker alive. Why did you pay such a high price to find me?"
"The wish I need is a bit troublesome. It would be better to have the help of an Attendant of Mysteries," Leyton still answered Zaratul's question truthfully.
After a moment of silence, Zaratul sighed softly, "I have no more questions. What kind of vow do you need to bind both parties?"
Leyton smiled and replied calmly, "Very simple, a witness with absolute binding power."
"Who?" Zaratul asked, puzzled.
Leyton chuckled, "The one who can best represent knowledge."
Zaratul's expression still hadn't changed in the slightest, but his deep, lightless eyes flickered, and a hint of suspicion flashed in his gaze towards Leyton.
After two seconds of silence, he said seriously, "The witness can only be the God of Knowledge and Wisdom."
"Alright." Leyton nodded with a light laugh, Zaratul's reaction was completely within his expectations.
As he spoke, he reached out his right hand, grasping a pre-prepared yellowish-brown parchment scroll from the void in front of him. On it was a pattern composed of an open book and an Omniscient Eye, the holy emblem of knowledge and Wisdom!
This was a contract blessed by the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, witnessed by Him personally!
"Coincidentally, He and I are quite familiar."
As he spoke, Leyton handed the parchment scroll to Zaratul opposite him.
Zaratul took a deep look at Leyton, then accepted the grayish-brown parchment scroll. His eyes were veiled, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
"I see the shadow of a certain prankster in you," Zaratul murmured, then reached into the historical void and pulled out a round-bellied steel pen. He wrote his name on the scroll, then handed both the parchment scroll and the pen to Leyton.
As Leyton also signed his name, the grayish-brown parchment instantly became illusory, disintegrating into streams of brass-colored motes of light that drilled into Leyton and Zaratul's bodies, imprinted deep within their Worms of Spirit.
Suppressing the faint urge to fulfill the other party's wish right now, Zaratul looked at Leyton with an indifferent expression and said, "How do you plan to take this historical projection of mine out of here?"
"I will temporarily open the connection between this Concealed World and reality. You just need to return to the historical void yourself."
As Leyton spoke, he stepped towards the dark green stone wall at the back of the church.
During this process, his body gradually became ethereal, as if it had become something non-existent, and his movements quickly became effortless.
After a brief interference, the church's control over the Worm of Spirit Body threads on his body returned to its initial state.
Feeling the not-too-severe numbness and sluggishness on his body, Leyton chuckled as he approached the double doors embedded in the stone wall.
He pressed his right hand, clad in a mechanical glove, against the cold stone door. Deep blue, almost purple, radiance flowed in his eyes. Silently, streams of dim light, neither brilliant nor clear, devoid of any color, erupted from his hand, quickly covering the entire door.
The information of this sealed door was quickly analyzed and modified by him. He used the information to complete the missing parts of the door, directly bypassing the necessary steps and opening a subtle gap in the door.
The next second, his body instantly became illusory, disintegrating into complex streams of knowledge, transforming into a pure information flow entity. He directly passed through the stone door carved from dark green giant stone, arriving in the palace where Antigonus, the main peak of the Hornacis Mountains, slept.
As he departed, Zaratul's historical projection, sitting on the stone chair, also left the area by taking advantage of the renewed connection between this Concealed World and reality, returning to the historical void. The consciousness he was forced to leave in this historical projection finally returned to his main body.
In the palace on the main peak of the Hornacis Mountains, Antigonus leaned against a high-backed chair carved from bronze, his eyes tightly shut, but occasionally a painful expression would surface, as if he was trapped in a nightmare from which he couldn't awaken.
He wore a translucent mask inscribed with The Fool symbol. Beneath the mask were constantly wriggling transparent worms, appearing quite sinister and distorted.
The long hair on His head was already half-white, half-Concealment and half-obvious, giving a contradictory feeling of both old age and youth, both rationality and madness.
Beneath the classical and luxurious clothing, translucent white tentacles stretched out, flailing wildly around, seemingly sensing that an intruder had invaded His territory.
Leyton calmly watched this King of Angels of The Fool Pathway who had fallen into madness. Deep, pale purple light surged in his eyes, quickly outlining symbol after symbol.
Around him, stars emerged, dense and dazzling.
These stars seemed to be an extension of Leyton's eyes, allowing him to see more details and observe Antigonus's state from different angles, analyzing Mystic knowledge from Him.
"Uh..."
Stimulated by Leyton's gaze, Antigonus let out meaningless gibberish. The sound seemed to come from every Worm of Spirit, layer upon layer, carrying strong corruption.
Beneath Him, translucent white tentacles flailed wildly in the palace, shattering the stars they touched.
"Still not sleeping soundly enough."
Murmuring softly, Leyton raised his right hand, and more and more stars appeared around him, scattering streams of radiance, transforming the palace into a dazzling sea of stars.
As the starlight flowed, the palace quickly quieted down. The tentacles extending from Antigonus's body gradually lost their vitality, becoming weary, and once again sinking into a deep slumber.
Leyton flickered, appearing before Antigonus. His figure was somewhat transparent and ethereal, as if non-existent. The tentacles, formed by countless Worms of Spirit, passed through his body without obstruction.
A drop of transparent, dark liquid dripped from Leyton's outstretched right hand, penetrating the translucent mask and landing on Antigonus's forehead, seeping into His body.
The wriggling tentacles on Antigonus's body suddenly stopped, and the translucent worms beneath His exposed skin also quieted down. Every Worm of Spirit fell into a deathly silence, into the deepest level of slumber.
Amidst the flickering starlight, eyes emerged from the void, each eye glowing with a pale purple luminescence, appearing exceptionally sacred yet exceptionally cold.
Antigonus's figure, reflected in these eyes, lost its human form, transforming into a deep, dark vortex of worms with countless slimy tentacles extending from it.
The Mystic patterns interwoven on those worms were gradually reflected and extracted. The aura of domains such as history, time, destiny, change, and Concealment permeated the surroundings, gradually distorting space-time and evolving an incomplete "Realm of Mysteries" around them.
As he analyzed the information contained within Antigonus, Leyton gradually sensed an extremely weak but stable consciousness. He was attempting to root deeply in Antigonus, awakening bit by bit in His flesh and soul.
Affected by the Evernight Goddess, Antigonus fell into a deep slumber, and the consciousness reviving within Him was also forced into slumber, interrupting the process of revival.
The degree of Celestial Worthy's consciousness reviving in Antigonus is higher than I expected. When Klein accommodates the Sequence 1 characteristics and Uniqueness from Him, plus the curtain from the Forsaken Land of the Gods, even without Amon's influence, he will inevitably fall into slumber and enter into a confrontation with the Celestial Worthy, though the degree will differ.
As thoughts flickered, Leyton bent down and picked up The Fool card at Antigonus's feet.
The front of this card depicted Roselle dressed as a traveler, wearing exaggeratedly colorful clothes. His left hand held a white rose, and his right hand held a staff with a bundle tied to it, with a small dog following at his feet.
In the upper left corner of this card, a small line of Ancient Feysac read: Sequence 0: The Fool.
Putting away The Fool card, Leyton turned and walked out of the palace. Without his maintenance, the flowing starlight quickly receded, and the incomplete Realm of Mysteries formed by the interweaving of various auras also faded away.
Around the bronze-carved high-backed chair at the top of the hall, the tentacles extending from beneath Antigonus's clothes began to sway again, swaying without rhythm, as if uttering meaningless dream gibberish.
As the incomplete Realm of Mysteries completely disappeared, Leyton's body instantly became illusory, disintegrating into complex streams of knowledge, transforming into a pure information flow entity. He directly passed through the palace walls and doors, surging far away towards the distant horizon.
Above the Gray Fog, Klein looked at The Fool card placed on the table, opening his mouth, momentarily unsure what to say.
After two seconds of silence, he finally asked faintly, "You went to the Hornacis Mountains?"
His voice was transmitted to Leyton's ears through the flickering crimson stars, and the latter replied calmly, "I made a deal with Zaratul, who is imprisoned there."
"Made a deal with Zaratul..." Klein's pupils constricted and expanded. He asked, somewhat astonished, "You didn't let him out, did you?"