In Leonard's unseen field of vision, invisible streams of information flowed down from the ceiling above, sinking into the out-of-control Sealed Artifacts, forming layers of temporary seals that enclosed them.
"Alas~"
"I am just a disabled, frail old man, why must I be drawn into the conflicts of beings like you?"
Pallez sighed softly, his figure appearing faintly on Leonard's body.
Above his head, Worms of Time, each with twelve transparent segments, intertwined head to tail, forming a vast, ancient, and mottled illusion.
This illusion resembled the surface of a stone-carved wall clock, with two pointers made of Worms of Time, rotating one by one.
The illusory and ethereal chimes instantly echoed around, unleashing an indescribable, invisible torrent, as if traversing through long history.
The seals acting on the surrounding Mystical Items had their duration stolen, and in the next second, they disintegrated and vanished.
Pale, transparent Worms of Time flew out from these Mystical Items, quickly merging into Pallez's illusory figure.
The next second, more information streams flowed down from above, intertwining into a mottled light and shadow, carrying civilization and years, pressing down on Pallez with an indescribable sense of weight, engulfing him and Leonard, while even more information streams surged directly into the depths of the Mechanical Hall.
In the picture scroll formed by the mottled light and shadow, Leonard's body transformed into something like a baby's palm, with five tiny fingers spread open, constantly changing skin color according to the surrounding environment.
Outside the Mechanical Hall, Leonard's figure flashed and disappeared with a faint blue light; with Pallez's help, he directly teleported to the square outside the Patriarchal Cathedral via the ring on his hand.
As soon as his figure appeared, Leonard noticed that everyone around seemed to be in a dazed and lost state. He surveyed his surroundings while asking:
"Old man, why didn't we just teleport directly outside of Trier?"
Pallez snorted softly and said:
"Do you think I don't want to? Look up, the surroundings are completely sealed. Until the conflict between the Hidden Sage and Steam yields a result, we simply cannot leave this place."
Leonard looked up as Pallez prompted, and the constantly shifting mottled light and shadow entered his eyes; he instantly lost consciousness.
"Idiot."
"Just because I tell you to look, you look? Don't you think, the battlefield of a True God and an Evil God nearly a True God, is that something a mere Sequence 6 like you can look at?"
In a daze, Pallez's exasperated voice echoed in his ears, sounding somewhat angry and somewhat helpless.
Leonard hung his head, not quite hearing what Pallez was saying, nor having the energy to think. The stinging pain in his head made him feel as if he had just undergone brain surgery.
In the Mechanical Hall beneath the Patriarchal Cathedral, used for sealing and collecting Mystical Items, streams of information rapidly floated, and while calming the out-of-control Mystical Items, a blurred figure composed of light and shadow appeared before Leyton.
At this moment, Leyton had completely lost his flesh and blood body, transforming into a statue composed of countless starlight, intertwined with the knowledge throne beneath him, like a statue that could shatter and disappear at any moment.
Leyton maintained his posture of leaning back in the chair, one hand supporting his head, gazing at the blurred light and shadow that appeared before him, and spoke in a hoarse, intermittent voice:
"Are you… Stiano?"
The blurred light and shadow did not answer his question, but instead began to speak on its own:
"I noticed you a long time ago. You are very clever and didn't overly conceal your peculiarities, which made me unable to guess your identity all this time."
"At first, I thought you were Herabergen's scheme. Later, I thought you might be some experiment of the Hidden Sage. I even suspected you were like the Ancient Sun God, from the previous civilization."
"Now it seems all my guesses were wrong, or perhaps all were correct, but you have a deeper identity, which is deeply connected to the Knowledge Moor sealed in the Western Continent."
Leyton maintained his posture of leaning back in the chair, unmoving. He did not answer the other party's question, nor did he show any emotion.
Containing and digesting this 'Knowledge Emperor' was more difficult than he had anticipated, not only because Roselle was corrupted by the Primordial Moon at the time, but also because the God of Steam and Machinery before him had tampered with the 'Knowledge Magister' characteristic contained within, which increased the difficulty of his fusion and also prevented him from expelling and separating the 'Knowledge Magister' characteristic.
Leyton, while striving to contain the 'Knowledge Emperor' characteristic, gazed at the light and shadow before him and chuckled softly:
"I think you should be Stiano."
In Sacred Heart Cloister, pure, blazing sunlight surged like a torrent, swiftly engulfing more than half of Trier's sky, condensing into a female figure wearing a pure white, gold-trimmed clerical robe near the Trier North Railway Station, where the ground city and underground ruins were most closely connected.
She was Saint Viève, the only female angel mentioned in the Eternal Blazing Sun Church's holy scriptures, and one of the patron angels of the city of Trier!
Her eyes were brilliant gold and fiery, like the midday Sun, and her entire body radiated divine glory. Her gaze calmly observed the two purplish-red flame giants battling each other in a dimension that was incompletely overlapping with reality.
Brilliant golden, Sun-like golden light erupted from her, like a scorching midday Sun, radiating terrifying light and heat, piercing through spatial barriers, and joining the battlefield of the two flame giants.
This blazing sunlight had already surpassed the power scope of a Sequence 2 Lightseeker; this belonged to a miracle, the power of the Sun.
Under the blazing sunlight, the flame giant who was already at a disadvantage rapidly retreated, the blazing purplish-red flames on its body constantly flickering, as if they could extinguish at any moment.
An exaggerated greatsword stained with rust and blood, wreathed in flames, was dragged out of the void by Medici, who had transformed into a flame giant. With an aura of "conquering" everything, he plunged this greatsword into the head of the flame giant, who was restricted by the blazing sunlight, piercing through its forehead and exiting at the back of its skull.
The flame giant's body instantly stiffened and fell straight down.
Illusory, hideous mouths grew on both sides of Medici's face. He dragged the greatsword with one hand, approaching step by step, plowing a Ravine in the ground filled with crimson magma and constantly spitting out sparks.
At the same time, several crimson firelights shot up from various parts of Trier, approaching Medici and the fallen flame giant.
Saint Viève stood calmly in mid-air, and blazing sunlight erupted from her again, a light that seemed to purify all things intertwining into an "ocean," even space became chaotic under this light.
The figures that had transformed into fiery meteors and approached were intercepted in mid-air, unable to advance a single step.
In the ruins of the Fourth Epoch, Medici placed one foot on the chest of the fallen flame giant, pinning it in place, and with both hands clasped around the greatsword wreathed in purplish-red flames, he swung downwards, carrying the will of "iron blood," "conquest," and "harvest."
A Conqueror thus declared death!
Purplish-red, white-tinged meteoric fire rain filled the sky, falling densely, like an unavoidable Calamity.
When the purplish-red fire rain touched areas outside the overlapping region of the underground ruins and reality in Trier, it instantly etherealized and vanished.
Those fire rains within the overlapping region of the underground ruins and reality in Trier all plunged into that thick, vast, grand, and magnificent scroll of civilization.
The scroll, bearing human civilization and history, suddenly trembled, cracking inch by inch, and incorporeal "lights" burst forth from the cracks.
Taking advantage of the impact brought by the death of a Conqueror, the Hidden Sage finally broke free from the civilization scroll created by the God of Steam and Machinery. He began to unleash his power, will, and aura.
In Fourth Epoch Trier, something seemed to be stirred by him, and an ear-ringing sound echoed in the ears of every living being around.
In their eyes appeared a boundless moor, a moor where countless figures lingered, a moor formed by the precipitation of countless information.
"Heavenly Master!"
Layered voices echoed in everyone's ears, as if countless people were wailing, raging, lamenting, cheering...
At this moment, all Beyonders remaining in Trier showed more or less signs of losing control. Many pieces of information appeared in their minds, some useful, some useless, madly trying to fill their minds and destroy their fragile nerves.
In the Mechanical Plaza outside the Patriarchal Cathedral, the moment the civilization scroll was torn by the Hidden Sage, Pallez took control of Leonard's body, used the travel ring, and initiated a teleportation.
On the north bank of the Srenzo River, Leonard's figure suddenly fell out of the Spirit World. On his exposed body parts such as his neck, arms, and cheeks, his flesh and blood cracked inch by inch, bulging outwards and writhing, as if something was about to grow out.
In the Mechanical Hall beneath the Patriarchal Cathedral, Leyton, who had lost his barely maintained form and was now only a slowly floating mass of starlight, suddenly felt a surge of joy.
Across from him, the blurred light and shadow became even more indistinct, with pixel-like points of light appearing and disappearing from time to time.
"Your blockade has failed."
Leyton's voice emanated from the slowly floating mass of starlight, leaving behind echoes that could tear apart spirits and stimulate spiritual bodies.
At the same time, the slowly floating mass of starlight rapidly disintegrated, transforming into a "light" that was difficult to observe with the naked eye, a "light" composed of complex streams of information.
This "light" had no physical form, and in an illusory state, it surged like a torrent, directly penetrating the roof and walls, bursting out from the underground Mechanical Hall.