Klein reflexively stood up from the high-backed chair as he watched the figures emerge from the vanished city below.
The sea god scepter spontaneously flew into his hand, and the black velvet "curtain" transformed into a cloak draped over him, taking on a posture ready to launch an attack at any moment.
At the location where Constant City once stood, Amon, wearing a black classical Warlock robe and a monocle over his right eye, looked up at the twinkling Cosmos, a slight smile playing on his lips, and nodded lightly, as if greeting Klein above the Gray Fog.
Klein's expression darkened, his gaze falling on a brass book Amon held in his hand. His Seer intuition told him that this book was the source of the anomaly in Constant City.
Opposite Amon, an old man over 2.6 meters tall, with grizzled stubble and a square soft cap, confronted Him with an angry expression.
He wore a loose black robe with white trim, his bulging muscles straining the loose clothing. His eyes were light blue, with few wrinkles, and he exuded an aura of looking down on all things.
Klein searched his mind but found no information about this person. However, judging by the aura and height he displayed, he was most likely a high-ranking member of the Church of the God of Combat.
At the edge of the mottled long table, silver words spontaneously appeared one by one on the surface of the mirror Klein had retrieved from the historical void:
"Master, He is the former chief Shepherd of the Church of the God of Combat. After the War of the Gods ended and the God of Combat fell, He destroyed all Grade 0 Sealed Artifact data of the Church and fled with Sealed Artifact 0-02, the Trunsoest Brass Book."
"It is very likely a resurrection contingency left by the God of Combat upon His fall."
Glancing at the information provided by Arrodes, Klein pressed on, "Is 0-02 the brass book in Amon's hand?"
"Yes, Master. That book evolved from the Uniqueness of the Justiciar Pathway. It possesses living characteristics, but most of the time it is at a very low level, only having the instinct to compile and perfect laws."
"Its first half presents almost all major underlying rules, while the second half is blank, requiring self-inscription. One can freely compile legal provisions, and after public announcement, these legal provisions will take effect."
"It dislikes distorted, unaesthetic rules and hates being exploited for loopholes."
"I'm sorry, Master, as it involves Uniqueness, I cannot see any more information."
At the end of its words, Arrodes even added a small, aggrieved emoji.
Klein nodded expressionlessly and said, "That's enough."
Compared to the Trunsoest Brass Book, which evolved from the Justiciar Uniqueness, he was more concerned about Amon.
He wondered what Amon, who had already mastered three Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics and the Error Uniqueness, intended to do with this book.
"The Justiciar Uniqueness is only needed by Roselle. I hope the Great Emperor won't screw me over," Klein muttered, then sat back in his high-backed chair, his gaze fixed on Constant City below.
Above the gigantic, dark pit, Amon stood in mid-air, ignoring gravity. He looked at Larrion, who was staring at Him with an angry gaze, and said with a smile:
"The God of Combat has fallen. You can certainly consider joining the Church of the Evernight Goddess. That way, you would still be an angel protected by a god, and might even continue to serve as the chief Shepherd of the Church of the God of Combat."
Larrion snorted and said, "A creature like you, without devout faith, wouldn't understand. The God of Combat will eventually return, from within me."
Amon twitched His lips and chuckled:
"Every one of my avatars trusts myself implicitly."
"Of course, I truly don't understand fanatics like you. Perhaps you and my brother would get along very well, although He was just performing back then. Unfortunately, He is no longer my brother, and I can no longer call Him a fanatic."
While Amon and Larrion conversed, streams of information surged from the void, rapidly converging and reassembling Bernadette's body.
As Bernadette appeared, Roselle's gaze followed, fixed on Amon and the brass book in His hand.
With Bernadette's appearance, Amon withdrew His gaze from Larrion, turned to Bernadette, and chuckled:
"Heh, you've finally arrived. I thought you and your father weren't interested in this book of rules?"
"Would a thief give away what he stole?"
As she spoke, Bernadette calmly met Amon's gaze.
Amon did not seem angry at Bernadette's words, maintaining a calm smile on His face:
"Why not? Exchanging things one doesn't need for things one does need—it's a mutually satisfactory transaction, isn't it?"
"The previous War of the Gods allowed those fellows in the Cosmos to seize the opportunity and further erode the barrier left by the Primordial One. Now it's the last bit of time in the Fifth Epoch. Everyone is busy saving themselves, or saving the world. On this point, all of us are in the same camp."
"The Hanged Man has basically escaped madness and mastered the authority of the mind. Even if I recall the Beyonder characteristic I deliberately dispersed now and directly become Error without the ritual, at most my state would just be a little worse."
"So, why not abandon the Fool and support me instead?"
"If I become the Lord of the Mysteries, I can also unseal the Western Continent, allowing you to return to your true form and become the Demon of Knowledge."
Amon said the last sentence while looking up at the deep Cosmos.
Above the Gray Fog, Klein watched this scene with a slightly strange expression, unable to help but inwardly grumble, "What is this? Trying to instigate my ally right in front of me?"
After a silent complaint, Klein looked down at the mirror on the table and casually asked:
"What do you think their choice will be?"
On the mirror's surface, layers of ripples swayed. After a good while, silver Loen words appeared one by one:
"Sorry, Master, I cannot see the answer to this question."
Arrodes's words seemed to carry a hint of a sob, and then new words appeared below it:
"However, I will always follow you steadfastly. You will surely reclaim the authority stolen and occupied by Amon and return to the throne of the great master above the Spirit World."
"Is that so…" Klein murmured, then stopped speaking and turned his gaze to Leyton, who was still locked in a stalemate with the Monster that Horamick Haydn had become.
He muttered in confusion, "Even if it's just an avatar, its Sequence doesn't drop. He's deliberately stalling Horamick Haydn. Why?"
Above what was once Constant City, countless information streams converged into light, weaving into a "storm" that tightly enveloped and tore at the mountain-sized head.
On the head trapped in the center of the "storm," faces emerged, their eyes, mouths, and other features simultaneously glowing with brilliant white light, as if a Sun was hidden within, constantly radiating light through the cracks.
Blinding white rays erupted one after another, sweeping towards the information torrents that were stirring up the "storm" around them.
These were rays from the Cosmos, capable of directly destroying physical bodies and information structures, causing genetic mutations, and bringing irreversible damage and pain.
The disturbed information storm was pierced by one ray after another, causing cracks to appear in the originally stable, invisible barrier.
The gigantic head, with its emerging faces, suddenly turned illusory, found and passed through a Concealment passage in the void, escaping Leyton's encirclement.
Outside the disturbed information torrent, the mountain-sized head emerged from the void. The faces on it rapidly disintegrated and reassembled, transforming into a dark, heavy Steam train, a Steam train floating in the air, defying gravity.
Silver-white light, seemingly composed of countless illusory things, surged out of thin air, constructing a silver track leading to an unknown destination, carrying the Steam train into the distance.
The information torrents left behind by the Steam train rapidly converged, condensing into faint glows composed of massive illusory things. These lights intertwined into a vortex, a vortex filled with countless light and shadow and Steam.
A powerful gravitational pull emanated from the vortex, tugging at the silver track and Steam train attempting to move away.
This was the Convergence effect inherent between Beyonder characteristics, magnified to its extreme by Leyton, relying on his own Sequence and the Uniqueness of the Paragon.
What should have been a passive Convergence effect transformed into a tangible gravitational pull at this moment. Tentacles made of pure information extended from the vortex, reaching towards the Steam train ahead.
Invisible tentacles continuously pulled at the Steam train ahead, tearing at the silver track, as if to drag it entirely into the vortex of intertwined light and shadow.
Under this pull, originating from the Beyonder characteristics, even the Steam train's colors were evaporating. Specks of faint light, the size of fingernails, constantly detached from the train, flowing into the vortex behind it.
As time passed, this trend became faster and more pronounced.
At the front of the Steam train, Horamick Haydn's face emerged, as if even his expression was straining forward, resisting the suction from behind.
Gradually, this face separated from the carriages behind it. The star-shimmering tentacles connecting them were stretched into thin lines, then snapped.
Horamick Haydn's face left a trail of afterimages in the air, accompanied by specks of stardust, disappearing into a void Cosmos.
Without his resistance, the remaining silver track and Steam train rapidly disintegrated under the immense suction, turning into specks of starlight that merged into the slowly rotating vortex behind them.
Subsequently, the vortex filled with light, shadow, and Steam rapidly collapsed, disintegrating into pure, complex information streams that returned to the Land of Perfection of the Astral World, following the pure colors that descended from the Astral World like roots.