Pure and complex information streams surged out of the void, quickly reassembling Leyton's figure.
He nodded slightly to Bernadette, then stepped forward two paces, extending his right hand to condense illusory knowledge, and then quickly solidifying this knowledge, gathering it into drops of fresh red blood, with a pure, tyrannical, or cold aura within the crimson.
Leyton manipulated this fresh blood, quickly drawing the symbol Mr. Door had given in mid-air.
A blue light surged out of nowhere, rapidly intertwining around, outlining an illusory grand Door covered in mysterious patterns and symbols.
On the other side of the door, a dim and dark mausoleum, constructed from numerous stones of similar size, was revealed.
"The goal is to destroy the mausoleum; no extra actions are needed."
After a brief instruction, Leyton's figure once again became illusory, decomposing into streams of information, rapidly surging and disappearing from this place.
Bernadette calmly watched the opened passage before her; two seconds later, her body became illusory, also decomposing into streams of information, surging into the mausoleum.
Inside the mausoleum, Bernadette's figure quickly reassembled and appeared within the information torrent; she extended her right hand and grasped at the void, and a silver-white paper printed with peculiar golden words appeared in her hand.
Roselle had separated the "Hand of Order" characteristic from his mechanical puppet, giving it to Bernadette for use in place of pale death.
Almost simultaneously with Bernadette's appearance, the ritual prepared below the mausoleum spontaneously began to operate, continuously separating slightly deep light from it, which condensed into a figure in the dim air.
He had a somewhat square face, black hair, blue eyes, a high nose bridge, and a rather solemn expression.
This was a face not unfamiliar to any Loenese, for he was printed on the front of the 10-pound banknote and also stood in numerous places like Commemoration Square.
He was the founder of Loen, the first king, William Augustus I, or more accurately, He, a Sequence 1 Angel!
Bernadette's expression remained unchanged; around her, pink petals drifted down, and space became strangely distorted; she attempted to create a barrier that was isolated from the outside world and difficult to connect, temporarily restricting this founder of Loen.
At the same time, Leyton had already arrived in Awwa County, and after nodding to Mr. Pulak Eggers, who had been waiting there, and to Tiris, who had advanced to "Iron-Blooded Knight" and returned to being a man, he skillfully opened the passage to the secret mausoleum and then again transformed into an information stream to depart.
On the Tussock Riverbank outside Backlund, Klein had already arrived near the pre-determined location of a mausoleum and was waiting.
Not long after, light composed of complex information streams emerged from the void; in an illusory form, a terrifyingly vast torrent of information quickly converged into Leyton's figure.
He did not look at Klein, seizing the time, directly using information to condense the Beyonder blood of the 22 Pathways, and then drew the symbol Mr. Door had given in the air.
Thanks to the speed after digitalization, the opening times of the three mausoleums did not differ much.
In the blink of an eye, this blood-colored symbol expanded and extended into an illusory, semi-transparent grand Door, through which a huge mausoleum made of black stones could be vaguely seen.
Looking back at Klein behind him, Leyton skillfully made this historical projection body illusory, decomposing it into streams of knowledge, and relying on the special nature of historical projection, surged into the historical fog.
Seeing this, Klein made no extra movements; he reached out and grasped at the void, and Arianna, with dark eyes, wearing a simple robe, a bark belt, long black hair flowing down, and bare feet, appeared before him.
The gaze of this Sequence 2 "Servant of Concealment" quickly became agile, and a vibrant aura appeared on her.
Klein nodded slightly to this ascetic leader; no words were needed, as both parties had already communicated about the current situation.
His hands did not stop; he grasped again, and soon, an identical figure appeared before him—this was Klein from a dozen seconds ago.
After summoning his historical projection, Klein directly hid in the historical fog, causing his existence in this time period to disappear from reality, and allowing his consciousness and self to awaken in the historical projection.
At the "Scholar of Yore" stage, only three historical projections could exist simultaneously, including himself; now, the quota was full.
Klein turned his head to look at Arianna's historical projection, and said calmly, "Let's go in."
Arianna nodded slightly, simultaneously shifting herself and Klein's historical projection into a concealed state.
Inside the secret mausoleum for the "Black Emperor" ritual, Klein, in a concealed state, took out a bronze-colored square charm from his Pregnant.
This was a high-level charm he had requested from Azik in advance, considering the limited number of historical projections he could maintain simultaneously; when activated, it could release an attack from the "Death Consul."
"Death!"
As the Ancient Hermes word was chanted, the bronze-colored charm shattered inch by inch in his hand, burning into pale flames.
These flames rapidly expanded, transforming into an illusory Feathered Serpent that covered the entire mausoleum.
Amidst the whimpering and howling cold wind, the gigantic Feathered Serpent, coiling its body, opened its mouth and spewed out pale flames sufficient to cover the entire mausoleum.
Even a single strike from Mr. Azik, preserved through a charm, could possess such might; if He were to act personally... it's unimaginable, truly worthy of being the son of Death, the former Consul of the Balam Empire.
As Klein was contemplating, points of slightly deep light flew out from the mausoleum below, strangely blocking the surging tide of pale flames, preventing them from advancing any further.
These lights quickly converged into a mass, together forming the figure of a slightly arrogant elder.
His black hair was mixed with many silver strands, he had no beard on his face, a serious expression, and a dignified demeanor.
He, or rather, He, was the former Duke of Southville of the Loen Kingdom, a Sequence 2 "Balancer," Dlink Augustus.
The moment this Balancer appeared, Arianna's figure, which was in a concealed state, also became prominent; the concealment she had applied to herself was broken.
Arianna did not hesitate; she reached behind her into the darkness and drew out a bone longsword covered in peculiar patterns—a longsword that combined the powers of slumber and fear!
As the longsword was wielded, the surrounding darkness surged wildly, like a tide engulfing Dlink Augustus.
During this process, anything touched and engulfed by the darkness silently vanished and was destroyed.
While Lady Arianna's attack attracted the attention of this "Balancer" from the Loen Royal Family, Klein silently released his maintenance of this historical projection, disappearing directly inside the mausoleum.
Outside the mausoleum, Klein and Leyton's figures simultaneously emerged from the historical rift; the two exchanged a smile.
Without many words, Leyton placed his hand on Klein's shoulder, helping him transform into an information torrent state, and then quickly rushed to the mausoleum downstream of the Tussock River.
By the time Leyton opened the Door of this mausoleum, Klein had already summoned Azik's historical projection from the historical rift.
Azik, wearing a silk top hat, a black suit, with bronze skin and cold, sharp eyes, became lively after a brief moment of confusion; he awakened his consciousness on this historical projection by praying to the "Hidden Sage" for Concealment assistance.
Azik's gaze swept around, then landed on Klein, and he said calmly:
"I will temporarily remain in the Underworld; you only need to use the item you mentioned to open a Door connecting to the Underworld, and I can descend here in my true body and take you away."
"Thank you, Mr. Azik."
Klein nodded slightly to Azik, then looked at Leyton and said:
"Mr. Azik's historical projection and I will go in first; you follow a bit later than us, and once we have restrained the Angel guarding this place, you can directly destroy the mausoleum; they won't have time to stop you."
Klein, with three summoned historical projections at full capacity again, directly followed Azik's historical projection into this mausoleum.
The moment they passed through the illusory Door, the original mausoleum suddenly distorted, transforming into a spire-topped, deep black church!
The church's grand Door was open, revealing people in various attires inside: there were men in suspenders, gentlemen in formal wear with polite manners, ladies adorned with lace flowers, pirates, workers, postmen... Without exception, they were all suspended in mid-air, motionless.
"Caw caw~"
Black crows circled at the church's spire, emitting piercing, heart-palpitating cries.
"Zaratul!" As Klein softly uttered this name, he had already lost control of his marionettes, watching them being lifted by an invisible force and suspended along with the other corpses at the top of the spire church.
At this moment, the crows on the church spire, Klein's former marionettes, and the corpses suspended above the church all swayed in the wind, uttering remarkably synchronized words in different voices:
"I found you!"
Outside the illusory Door leading to the mausoleum, Leyton looked at the illusory Door, which had inexplicably distorted a moment ago and then returned to normal, and sighed.
Zaratul's timing was excellent; he had no time to react, and the miracle was already complete.
"Zaratul can't sit still anymore; I wonder how much longer Amon will watch the show?"
As he lamented, Leyton turned his head to look in the direction of Backlund Municipal Square; he had seen many Amon's avatars there just now, and he suspected that Amon's main body had returned to Backlund.