Sensing the familiar aura, Roselle twitched the corner of his mouth slightly, his eyes showing a rather complex expression, and he spoke in a calm, almost cold tone:
"Long time no see, Mr. Door, you really put me through a lot of trouble!"
Heavy sighs, overlapping and sounding ethereal, came from the layered doors emerging from the full-length mirror:
"Alas~"
"Many times, I cannot control myself, nor do I know what I have done, lost in the depths of darkness and storms. Only during a full Moon or a blood Moon can I have enough connection with reality, but that is also when the corruption on me is most severe."
"So, you are relatively safe now?" Roselle pondered, counter-questioning.
After a moment of silence, Mr. Door's voice echoed in layers:
"No, it's still very dangerous. I myself don't know when I am conscious, and whether I will be replaced by my mad self in the next moment."
"Regarding your matter, I am very sorry, but you should understand the dangers of the Mystic world. You cannot trust the words of any unknown existence."
"Yes." Roselle nodded, speaking in a calm and composed tone: "But I have too many secrets and too many things I want to figure out. Even if I know there is danger, I will choose to take the risk."
After a brief silence, Leyton asked a new question:
"I'm a bit curious, what is the ritual of the Door Pathway? Returning from an impossible place to reality?"
"Yes, and no."
"To advance the ritual is not mandatory. Even for Sequence 0, the ritual's purpose is only to allow the Beyonder to retain and reclaim some self, so as not to be completely assimilated by the spiritual imprints and primal madness remaining in the Beyonder Potion."
"The main point of the ritual is to preserve the self, so the ritual to become a 'Door' is not to return from an impossible place, but to break out of the seal or banishment of a True God."
"If you have enough confidence in your luck, you can even become a god first and then complete the ritual, as long as you don't completely lose control and go mad during the advancement process, like the 'Artisan', His luck is very good."
Mr. Door's voice echoed, layered and ethereal, carrying a heavy sense of fatigue and suppression, making it clear that when discussing the topic of the divine ritual, Mr. Door's state began to worsen.
Another heavy sigh sounded, and Mr. Door whispered with a somewhat distorted and pained tone:
"Don't save me, don't try anything..."
Roselle scoffed, saying without much fluctuation in his tone:
"Don't worry, of course we won't save you, but other guys who want to become the 'Lord of the Mysteries' might."
Heavy gasps alternated, and after a while, Mr. Door's tone suddenly calmed down, sounding as if His condition had eased considerably:
"'Lord of the Mysteries'? Not many people are qualified to pursue that position. Zaratul was jointly killed by Antigonus and me in the War of the Four Emperors. Jacob and Pallez are no match for Amon at all, and one of Them might have already been replaced by Amon without realizing it, and I am trapped in the depths of the storm, lost in the boundless darkness..."
"The only ones left pursuing that position are Antigonus and Amon."
"But neither of Them is a very good choice. Amon is too malicious, and Antigonus is also a naturally occurring mythical creature. Although He is trying hard to learn, He still lacks necessary humanity."
"Or, during the time I was lost in darkness, new figures have emerged?"
Leyton did not answer Mr. Door's question. He felt that the Mr. Door currently conversing with them was the mad one. With a light sigh, he turned and asked:
"I want to know the locations of Alista Tudor's nine secret mausoleums and ways to enter them other than the normal methods. Those mausoleums being so hidden must have involved you, so I think you should know something."
"This is very simple, collect the blood of Beyonders from the 22 Pathways, and then draw this symbol—"
The faint blue light flowing from the full-length mirror spontaneously floated up, outlining a symbol in mid-air that was somewhat similar to the Door Pathway's emblem, while also displaying the locations of the nine secret mausoleums.
Roselle looked at the image highlighted on the mirror, glared at Leyton with some annoyance, and said:
"You can get the answer so easily, why did you make Bernadette stay in Backlund all this time?"
Leyton shrugged and casually replied:
"If I didn't do anything, wouldn't that be very abnormal?"
"If someone investigates but can't find too many important details, they will relax their guard. You wouldn't want a group of familiar or unfamiliar Angels to appear when you go to stop George III's divine ritual, would you?"
"Moreover, this is also for the Seven Gods who are filling the cracks in the Astral World to see."
"Someone wants to become the Black Emperor again?" Mr. Door's voice echoed through the full-length mirror in the captain's cabin, His tone showing some interest in the topic.
"Again?" Roselle sneered, looking at the doors emerging from the faint blue light, and said in a deep voice:
"It seems you weren't completely ignorant of what happened in the real world during your time lost in the depths of darkness, were you?"
"During a full Moon or a blood Moon, as my spirituality and inspiration increase, I can perceive what is happening in reality to some extent. Although it's limited, I can still know some things."
Mr. Door's tone was very calm, completely ignoring the sarcasm and suspicion in Roselle's words.
Leyton shook his head, no longer having the desire to continue communicating with Mr. Door. He raised his hand, making the pure information-transformed pattern of Lawrence's blood on the mirror disappear.
Losing the medium for establishing contact, the faint blue light surging from the full-length mirror suddenly receded, becoming deep and dark, as if countless layered objects in the mirror also returned to their normal appearance.
The crimson moonlight that filled the room disappeared, and everything returned to normal.
Roselle sat back in the recliner by the glass window and asked leisurely:
"Do you think the Mr. Door who just communicated with us was normal when He said those few words?"
Leyton shook his head and said: "I don't know, perhaps none of them were normal."
"Just as I thought." Roselle sighed, then lay down and continued:
"At first, I was always very curious why Mr. Door didn't seem concerned about escaping, and didn't tempt me to the Moon as often."
"It wasn't until later that I discovered the secrets hidden on the second blasphemy slate. Unfortunately, by then, it was too late."
"As long as someone wants to become the 'Lord of the Mysteries', no matter who it is, they will inevitably help Him return to reality." Leyton nodded lightly, simply adding a sentence.
Roselle lay relaxed in the recliner, letting out a long breath, and added in an unusually calm tone:
"Once He returns here, His divine ritual can immediately begin, becoming a Sequence 0 True God. At that time, it will be a new struggle, and a 'Door' who can appear anywhere at any time is simply too flexible and too dangerous—"
Before finishing his sentence, Roselle suddenly paused, as if he sensed something. He looked at the gloomy sky outside the window with some confusion, and muttered to himself:
"Hmph, Zaratul is summoning my historical projection again?"
"Historical projection? Perhaps it's not Zaratul, but during the upcoming 'Black Emperor' divine ritual, He will definitely summon you. You can take the opportunity then..."
After a pause, Leyton completed his sentence: "You can take the opportunity to kill George III, who is performing the ritual."
He also felt some changes; certain pieces of his own information were activated. They didn't belong to his current self, yet they appeared in the present.
Civilization and history are similar in some aspects, so he could more intuitively feel that a part of his own history had been pulled out by someone.
"Historical projection"? Perhaps "I have a friend" is more appropriate... As thoughts flickered, Leyton's figure silently became transparent, covered with a faint, hazy starlight, and quickly disappeared from the Dawn's captain's cabin.
In a basement beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral in Backlund, Klein suddenly found that the consumption for maintaining his historical projection had become very low.
He looked up with some confusion at the two images from the historical void he had just summoned. Only Roselle, with somewhat dull and lifeless eyes, remained standing in place; Leyton's historical projection, which had been standing beside him, had already disappeared.
"This guy's historical projection is so unique, it can even run away on its own?"
Klein muttered to himself. He could roughly guess that the other party had sensed that he had summoned a historical projection, and then projected his own consciousness over.
"After the consciousness of the historical projection awakened, my consumption became much lower, almost requiring no spirituality to maintain its existence. However, I also lost control over the historical projection, so I guess it has its pros and cons."
"But for me, it should be mostly beneficial. After all, there's a big difference between a dull projection and the actual person's combat performance."
After a brief summary, Klein released his maintenance of Roselle's historical projection. He raised his hand again and pulled twice in the air.
After two failures, he successfully pulled a lady from the historical mist, dressed in a simple robe, with a bark belt, long dark hair hanging down, barefoot and without shoes or socks.
She was Arianna, the Matron of the Church of Evernight, the leader of the Ascetics, and the first among the thirteen Archbishops!
As he had guessed, the Ascetic's eyes quickly became lively, and at the same time, Klein found that his spiritual consumption for maintaining this historical projection had significantly decreased, and he had lost control over this historical projection.