Aaron no longer interfered with the situation in Backlund. He retracted his spreading spirituality, and under the many gazes—some indifferent, some disgusted—projected from the Astral World and even the Cosmos, a slow smile curved his lips.
He instantly returned to the Nation of Disorder.
Waving his hand, he retrieved the increasingly active Beyonder characteristic of the Attendant of Mysteries. After a simple seal, Aaron tossed a Prince of Abolition Beyonder characteristic to Roselle, who had contributed a great deal:
"The Mother Tree of Desire took away George III's fallen malice, but there are still mental imprints remaining in the Beyonder characteristic."
"If you wish to attempt to accommodate it, you can use the blessings of the Nation of Disorder to maintain the balance of your self-cognition. This will also be beneficial for your future resurrection."
After instructing Roselle, Aaron properly placed the other Beyonder characteristics. Then, he lit up the prayer star of Cohinem, the Calamity Queen. This elven queen remained in the Midseashire County after escaping the 7th Relic, monitoring the anomalies in the Minsk Mountains.
With Aaron's current status, he could extend his true vision directly to the 7th Relic, where the Abyss and reality intersected, avoiding potential traps if his main body were to venture there rashly.
In his spreading true vision, the 7th Relic was replaced by a deep, defiled rift that led to an unknown place. The layer of illusory, viscous black mist shrouding it prevented Aaron from directly peering into the situation, but no more direct disaster had occurred.
Aaron subtly let out a sigh of relief. Although he still had some doubts, it was clearly not the right time to investigate. Just as he was about to withdraw his true vision and head to the other mausoleums to clean up the aftermath, his gaze froze at the edge of the scene.
At the top of the shadowed mountain range, Adam, dressed in a simple white robe and wearing a silver cross pendant, seemed to sense something and raised his head. A dark gold glint was reflected in his clear, childlike eyes.
In his hand, Groselle's Travels was bound by a pale gold light film. The deep black eye on the cover, with its cold pupils full of dark blue cracks, gazed down at the Abyss.
Aaron raised an eyebrow, attempting to sense Pallez's prayer star. The scene in his true vision shifted, and he saw Amon casually leaning against the ruins.
The Blasphemer was playing with a crystal pillar formed from light and shadow, with numerous Worms of Time, each having twelve segments, rapidly swimming inside, making everything around seem to stand still.
Amon, who had deliberately maintained an unbroken prayer connection, raised his head and, as if in defiance, held up the Worm of Time Beyonder characteristic in his hand towards the sky, a slight curve on his lips.
All obstacles had been cleared. With just one ritual, he could ascend to the divine throne and become the embodiment of all Errors in this world!
This was the premise of his deal with Adam. Aaron ignored Amon's mischief. After confirming the situation, he raised his hand to extinguish his true vision, descending again using Astolfo's faith positioning.
The collapsed mausoleum was overgrown with thorns covered in black sticky liquid. Although the battle had long ended, the struggle of several Kings of Angels had completely altered this space.
Facing two Kings of Angels who had accommodated Uniqueness, without Aaron's suppression, Astolfo and the God of Steam and Machinery's divine descent vessel were clearly unable to prevent the Hidden Sage and the Chained God from escaping.
Aaron, who had already anticipated this, was not disappointed. He raised his hand and swiped forward, and the entire collapsed mausoleum area was isolated by an invisible Order, cutting off the lingering curses from the Chained God from eroding reality.
Without resisting the repulsion of Order, a grand and heavy scroll of civilization retracted into the semi-hollow chest cavity, carrying the information torrent of the Hidden Sage that remained there, disappearing into the light composed of countless illusory particles, confined by the bronze triangular holy emblem.
"Congratulations, you are one step closer to godhood!"
The eyes formed by countless miniature gears rotated, and the voice of the God of Steam and Machinery slowly emerged from the increasingly dazzling light.
"Thank you for your warning before and for your assistance this time..." After bowing slightly in gratitude, Aaron examined the complex knowledge, with its constantly churning black and white eyeballs, and continued, carefully choosing his words:
"I will fulfill my promise according to our previous agreement and assist in resolving the Hidden Sage threat, but I also hope you can grant me some more time."
"Stabilizing the situation in Loen is urgent; we absolutely cannot allow Feysac to take advantage of the weakness. I also plan to use this time to fully accommodate and digest the remaining Hand of Order Beyonder characteristic."
The body constructed of mechanical gears slowly melted, disintegrating into its most basic particle structure and silently merging into the Astral World, leaving only an echo:
"Be sure to stabilize the anchors where faith converges. Only when you are truly ready should you proceed to St. Serlan Cathedral..."
---
Ahorva County, 3rd Relic upstream of the Khoy River.
Dlink Augustus, formerly the Duke of Southville and one of the only two high-ranking individuals of the Augustus Family on the surface, was filled with shock and anger. He stared intently at Duke Solomon Nast opposite him, threatening coldly:
"Defying the tide of the era, even an Angel cannot escape unscathed. The Popes of the Three Churches may arrive at any time, and I believe they wouldn't mind joining forces with me to resolve the major trouble you pose to the sea lanes!"
As a seasoned Sequence 2 Balancer of the Arbiter Pathway, he was suppressed by a Duke of Entropy who had only recently advanced. Even if Nast was aided by the Black Emperor card, it still made him feel an unspeakable sense of humiliation.
Compared to that, what was even harder for him to accept was the fear stemming from the unknown. Although he was unable to clearly sense the outside world due to Nast's interference, the collapse of the mausoleum was enough to explain everything—George III's desperate gamble, staking everything of the Augustus Family, had failed!
And the cause of all this clearly couldn't be Nast in front of him. If he continued to confront him here, would he also repeat George III's fate?
While blusteringly threatening Nast, Dlink Augustus's mind was filled with an uncontrollable jumble of thoughts. Suddenly, he quite looked forward to the high-ranking officials of the Three Churches arriving quickly.
At least he and they could still reach a consensus on stabilizing Loen and ensuring that the anchors of the Gods remained unshaken. Even if they had strong opinions about the Augustus Family, they would choose to compromise given Loen's internal and external troubles.
Nast, who had accommodated the Black Emperor card, looked at Dlink Augustus with a hint of pity. He knew very well the Lord of Order's attitude towards the Augustus Family.
A mocking arc curved Nast's lips. Shadow-like ripples spread around him, intensifying his distortion of Order, and he reclaimed the Beyonder abilities that the Balancer had previously stripped away. Just as he was about to make another move, his deep black eyes narrowed slightly.
Chains of Order, interwoven with dark gold mist and seemingly piercing through fundamental rules, passed through Dlink Augustus's body without hindrance. Under the absolute suppression of status and authority, all resistance seemed pale and powerless.
In an incredulous shriek of despair, the Angel was dragged away and vanished in an ephemeral dark gold world.