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Aaron didn't hold back too much; he merely revealed a semi-public secret without delving deeper.
"Where there is light, there must be shadow; this is not uncommon. Even if it's known that this is merely a whitewashed truth, as long as a sufficient price is paid, the Church will tacitly accept the royal family's narrative."
"Humans cannot be simply categorized as good or bad, let alone those high-ranking individuals who have been corrupted and assimilated by divinity."
Aaron glanced at Audrey, whose expression was complex, and didn't continue speaking, changing the subject:
"I've already discussed it with Archbishop Anthony. Tonight, there will be a Moon Mass held for all the innocent victims who perished in this great smog, to help them fall into a peaceful slumber in the Goddess's kingdom and attain eternal tranquility."
The Moon Mass was essentially closer to a large-scale Requiem Ceremony. A ceremony involving Beyonder power could allow souls to resonate, enabling different people to see closely related deceased individuals in the Darkness, release their sorrow, and find peace.
Audrey pursed her lips, thinking of the lives that fell like stalks in the wind, and the chaotic thoughts that followed left her in silence for a moment.
-----------------
Tingen City, Zouteland Street No. 36.
After leaving the cemetery, Klein used his Faceless ability to disguise himself as a tall, cold-tempered young man. A complex expression appeared on his chiseled face as he looked at the rebuilt building across the street.
The style had changed significantly, becoming a three-story building popular in recent years, but the only constant was the black Door and the vertical sign:
"Blackthorn Security Company"
Benson and Melissa had already left Tingen. The only place in this city that held his memories was here.
"We are guardians, but also a bunch of miserable wretches that are constantly fighting against dangers and madness."
He didn't choose to push open that door. Looking at the gradually dimming sky, Klein paused for a moment, muttering to himself.
Pulling down his hat brim, Klein walked to the corner, and his spirituality subtly stirred. The black iron door not far behind him opened.
A pretty brown-haired girl walked out in a very good mood, wearing a light green long dress that was a bit thin for winter. Behind her followed a kind old man with white hair, dressed in a classical black robe.
"Roxanne, and Old Neil...."
Klein's lips unconsciously curved upwards. He no longer lingered, pulling up the collar of his black trench coat and quickly disappearing into the shadows.
When he returned to the cemetery as agreed, he didn't see the Duke. Instead, there was a steady middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses, possessing quite the scholar's demeanor.
He stopped cautiously, Klein's eyes narrowed slightly, and he quickly averted his gaze, pretending to be an ordinary person visiting the cemetery to mourn. But the calm voice that followed made him relax:
"Mr. Gehrman Sparrow, the Duke is occupied with matters and has specifically ordered me to bring you back to Backlund."
Klein casually flipped a gold coin, casually glancing at it, maintaining his cold expression. He didn't inquire about the reason, just nodded slightly and responded concisely:
"Thank you!"
Not bothered by the somewhat impolite response, the middle-aged man smiled and pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, then introduced himself:
"Yes, my name is Victor Abraham. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Hearing the word "Abraham", Klein couldn't help but look at the man a few more times, recalling the scene when he obtained the Master Key divination in Backlund.
Combining it with the contents of those notes, this ancient family, cursed for thousands of years, should have already escaped the curse's influence with the help of the "Lord of Order."
Thinking this, Klein saw a transparent, blurry book appear in Victor's palm, and a distant, ethereal chant followed:
"I came, I saw, I recorded."
As soon as the chant began, the book quickly flipped open, and a faint blue light quickly appeared in front, forming a transparent Door of light.
How flashy.... Klein looked enviously at the gradually dissipating illusory book, muttering to himself. Only after Victor entered the Traveler's Door first did he quickly follow.
-----------------
On the dark, deep sea, a blood-Crimson Moon hung high, and a huge sailing ship moved smoothly. On its fluttering flag were ten equally sized white stars, and these stars encircled a cold, lashless eye.
"Future!"
Inside the captain's cabin, Cattleya, with her black hair simply draped, had eyes that were purple and drawn inward, seemingly transforming into an Abyss that could devour souls, yet this Abyss was filled with nothing but pain.
As a member of the Moses Ascetic Order, Cattleya, already a Sequence 5 Constellations Master, would receive knowledge infusion from the Hidden Sage every full Moon night.
Since leaving Bernadette and joining the Moses Ascetic Order, Cattleya had grown accustomed to this pain, even learning how to find truly useful information within the vast and complex knowledge.
But this time, Cattleya clearly felt an unprecedented abnormality. Without her urging, the "Eyes of Mystery Prying" opened on its own.
Everything within dozens of meters, though unobstructed, appeared in her vision in an extremely chaotic manner. She vaguely saw layers of thick curtains, like shadows, around her, and behind the curtains, something seemed to be watching her, bringing bone-chilling coldness and killing intent.
Unimaginably chaotic information flooded her brain, and Cattleya convulsed, falling to the ground.
The muscles of her cheeks split open, and the flesh inside condensed, as if turning into eyeballs. Her ears stretched and expanded, and her fingers clawed vivid bloody marks onto the floor, one after another.
A pair of cold, emotionless, lashless, almost transparent eyes appeared behind the deep, thick curtains, quietly watching the mutating Cattleya.
Then, as if sensing something, those indifferent pupils slightly shifted, meeting the gaze of another pair of eyes as blue as the sea. A pale mask gleamed with a metallic luster, and the captain's cabin suddenly returned to silence.
Cattleya's mutation abruptly stopped, and her body rapidly repaired itself in a strange way. After a moment, she struggled to her feet from the ground and subconsciously looked at the full-length mirror.
In the mirror, her facial skin was fair and smooth, without a single crack. All the abnormalities on her body had disappeared, and her slightly dark purple-black eyes were calm, as if nothing had happened.
However, Cattleya's eyes, with a touch of mystery, could see the eyeball-like flesh hidden beneath her skin, not yet completely dissolved.
Suddenly, her expression became incredulous. A tall figure appeared in her violently twitching pupils, and her lips moved as she uncontrollably whispered:
"Your Majesty...."
Taking off the pale mask with its metallic luster, Bernadette looked at the somewhat weak Cattleya, feeling the dependence and attachment, and her gaze softened involuntarily.
No longer keeping people at arm's length as before, having successfully ascended to Angel and believed in that hidden existence, Bernadette now had the confidence to face the Hidden Sage directly. She softened her tone and said softly:
"You've done very well in these years since you left the Dawn...."
After a brief moment of tenderness, Cattleya quickly noticed Bernadette's change. Even though she deliberately suppressed it, the sense of oppression stemming from a higher life-level was quite sensitive for a Constellations Master.
A look of surprise appeared on her face, and Cattleya asked in a low, confirming tone:
"Your Majesty, have you, have you ascended to Angel?"
Nodding gently, Bernadette's smile faded, and her voice was somewhat ethereal:
"Only after ascending to Angel did I truly understand the secrets of this world, and I also understood why he did what he did in the end."
Having grown up by Bernadette's side, Cattleya could guess that "he" was Emperor Roselle. She just listened quietly, not speaking again, just as she had done long ago when she was still on the Dawn.
Deleting some dangerous information, Bernadette described the cruelty of the apocalypse in the form of a prophecy, finally saying:
"Many things, just understanding them, will lead to danger. What you need to do is to quickly improve your strength and do everything possible to investigate the Hidden Sage within the Moses Ascetic Order."
After Roselle's demise, relying on her father's legacy, Bernadette only barely managed to advance in her pursuit of knowledge. She had a deep understanding of this Uniqueness of her Pathway that had suddenly and strangely become active.
But just now, when she was fighting the power projection of the Hidden Sage while wearing "Pale Death," she clearly felt the evil god's powerlessness, as if he was recovering from a severe injury.
Recalling the mysterious "Pillar of Stars and Moon" of the Moses Ascetic Order, who had strangely fallen earlier, Bernadette keenly realized that this might be a rare opportunity.
After quietly listening to Bernadette's words, Cattleya's face showed a bitter smile, and she seemed to hesitate to speak.
Although she was one of the ten pillars of the Moses Ascetic Order, due to her background and less influence from the Hidden Sage, she had never been particularly trusted by the President and other high-ranking members, and was an outcast on the fringes of the organization.
In a sense, her relationship with the Moses Ascetic Order was more like a collaboration: one side needed a force and a powerful individual to implement their will across the Five Seas, while the other desired to obtain corresponding knowledge and materials.
And to obtain information about the symbolic deity, the Hidden Sage, suddenly coming alive, and to confirm His current state, she had to become a core member of the Moses Ascetic Order.
Bernadette's azure eyes glanced at the somewhat troubled Cattleya, and she understood, speaking calmly:
"The 'Pillar of Stars and Moon,' one of the ten pillars of the Moses Ascetic Order, has fallen some time ago. With your current status and strength, participating in the decision-making of the Moses Ascetic Order's internal affairs is still somewhat difficult."
"Moreover, this will be quite dangerous. Even if the Hidden Sage is not in a good state and doesn't interfere much with the specific operations of the Moses Ascetic Order, other high-ranking members will still launch a certain degree of counterattack due to their power being infringed upon and the persistent suspicion."
"Excluding the fallen 'Pillar of Stars and Moon,' there are at least 5 members above Demigod among the ten pillars." At this point, she paused, and the corners of her mouth curved as she added:
"You've been a Constellations Master for a long time. Now it's time to ascend to Demigod."
Cattleya's expression flickered, and she looked at Bernadette with some excitement, asking back in a verifying tone:
"With your blood?"
She had always been on the fringes of the Moses Ascetic Order, active as a pirate, essentially because her own strength was insufficient, and she was afraid that getting too deeply involved in the organization's internal affairs would lead to her being eliminated on the spot one day.
She had countless times wanted to abandon the Queen's mission and her identity as one of the ten pillars of the Moses Ascetic Order, to return to the Dawn, to return to the Queen's side, but in the end, she gritted her teeth and persevered. Now, she had finally gained the Queen's approval.
Most importantly, the pressure Frank brought her was simply too great. A Druid with a problematic mind, constantly conducting strange experiments on the Future, without Demigod strength, she was truly worried whether she could stop Frank at a crucial moment.
Meeting Cattleya's somewhat expectant gaze, Bernadette shook her head and explained:
"Sequence 3 of the Mystery Pryer Pathway is called Clairvoyant. The mythical creature blood analyzed when ascending to Mysticologist will affect your future path."
"I will help you find a drop of mythical creature blood from the Fate Pathway. The Hidden Sage's pollution should not appear again during this time. You should first adjust your state."
Looking at the confident Bernadette, Cattleya didn't ask further. Her trust in the Queen had never wavered.
Leaving the supplementary ingredients for "Mysticologist" to Cattleya, Bernadette's azure eyes swept over the astrolabe hanging at Cattleya's waist. As a Sage, she felt a high-level aura almost identical to that on Klein.
A layer of mist covered her azure eyes, then quickly dissipated. After briefly prying into the River of Fate, Bernadette said no more, dissolving into starlight and disappearing from the Future's captain's cabin.
After moving far away from this sea area, Bernadette, whose body had reformed in the information torrent, looked at the high-hanging Crimson Moon and prayed in a low voice:
"Great Lord of Order, please inform Aaron Weil that I have adjusted my state and can accompany him to the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery to find Bornova Gustav...."
-----------------
Deep within the Spirit World, where red, black, blue, and other colors were densely layered, the seven bright mirror lights hanging at infinite heights also became chaotic.
Layers of grey-white mist appeared as flickering phantoms, forming complex symbols that continuously converged. This area of the Spirit World and its corresponding real world experienced gentle tremors, as if encountering an earthquake from a distant place.
At the center of the converging symbols, a gigantic figure covered in black thorns slowly rose. Ethereal black smoke flowed from the severed neck, seemingly continuously drawing power from the mists of history.
Aaron stood not far away, feeling the violent aura, but the smile on his face became even more pronounced.
As soon as Astolfo awakened, he sensed it. After arranging Klein's matters, he immediately rushed to the depths of the Spirit World.
After Astolfo completely integrated this body in the Spirit World, he had fully recovered to the rank of Sequence 2 Ancient Bane. After getting rid of the pollution, he was continuously drawing power from the cursed mists of history.
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