After Klein greeted Dunn Smith at the door and updated him about his successful advancement to that of a Seer and getting a few warnings of not prying in ravings and mystical murmurs, he finally entered the Blackthorn Security Company again through the secret channel and met Rozanna at the counter.
"Did Amon go home already?" He casually asked, he had hoped to travel back with him to his home to get some rest since he had overused his spirit vision and was running dry on spirituality, Amon's carriage was quiet comfy too... and he'd probably be fed with some good homemade food by Amon as well.
"He went with Leonard to the cafe down this street," Rozanna replied.
Klein's brows furrowed, "Leonard? Why?" He remembered the first thing he concluded after having a brief talk with Leonard on the hallway- could it be that him and Amonwere-?!
No, that was just his own imagination growing crazy from watching too many romance dog blood dramas back in his own world.
But Leonard had specifically pulled Klein away and warned him about Amon for some reason-
Klein's eyes widened at that.
Could it be that Leonard wasn't satisfied enough with Klein's explanation and was currently investigating Amon in that cafe against his will?! Leonard was a sequence 8 Midnight Poet, meanwhile Amon was just a normal human!
Amon would be completely overpowered!
Although Klein wasn't in love with Amon- he wasn't gay- but he still had some small feeling of connection to the man from spending a lot of time of his time here in this world with Amon. And he had also just recently theorized that Amon's father was actually another transmigrator from Zhou Mingrui's world- making him half earthling. Right now, Amon was his only connection to earth.... even if it wasn't much.
How could he let a monster such as Leonard hurt Amon!
Obviously, the only times Klein had met with Leonard were the ones where Leonard had stolen and looked at the original Klein Moretti's diary when he concluded him gay, and when he told Klein that his fiance was a monster and blackmailer. So his view on Leonard wasn't that great.
Rozanne amusedly observed Klein's face scrunching up in jealousy and hate and finally, after having enough fun she continued to explain, "Apparently Leonard's grandfather and Mr. Amon knew each other really well so they're just having some catching up in the cafe downtown, nothing more." Ah, how nice it was to see a person so completely in love and whipped for their partner... she really hoped to find a person she could love as much as Klein seemed to love Mr. Amon!
Klein blinked in surprise, "They know each other?"
Was... was that why Leonard had pulled him away and talked to him- warning him about Amon? It was just because they were kind of like siblings and he was just playing around...
Oh god-
Klein suddenly felt his face heat up.
How could he overreact so much over something so trivial and obviously a joke?!
He should go apologize to Leonard right now and after that go back to Amon's mansion with Amon for some rest...
As Klein fixed the hat on his hair, his eyes fell back on the ring on his ring finger.
He remembered vividly how this ring had helped him not go out of control from when he had drunk that Seer potion, all the unrest in his body was seemingly swept away by the ring as if it was some kind of sponge... even Old Neil had been quite surprised at how he only had a few brief seconds of instability before going back to completely normal.
And then the ring had even allowed him to use his spirit vision for much longer and he could still feel it somehow rejuvenating his spirituality at a constant rate, although he did feel a bit sleepy still...
He had managed to glance at the ring with his spirit vision on and just like he had guessed, he had seen a bright glow from the ring- like it was filled with spirituality and extraordinary power. He also had a vision of soft boundless grey fog when he had focused his spirit vision on the ring too much, just like the boundless grey fog in the mysterious place above the grey fog.
This ring really was a special beyonder artifact and somehow even connected to the mysterious place above the grey fog, seemingly giving Klein more authority there than what was possible for him in his current state.
And this ring was given to him by Amon...
Did Amon have some sort of connection to the grey fog as well as Klein's transmigration?
Klein pursed his lips as he clenched the cane in his hand and exited the Blackthorn Security Company to head to the cafe that Rozanne had pointed him towards.
"The desi pies here are still as good as I remember," Amon hummed appreciatingly as he took a bite of the juicy meat pie. "Of course, it's not as good as the ones I make, and the ones in Desi Bay are better and more authentic."
"...You cook?" Leonard blinked in slight surprise as he stopped playing with his sweet iced tea.
"Yup, since Klein likes food so much." Amon replied casually, "And like Roselle once said- the way to a man's heart is his stomach."
Leonard didn't remember Roselle saying that...
Wait... why were they even having this casual normal talk?! They might as well be talking about the weather at this rate! Or asking each other what their favorite color was!
This was a high-sequence angel in front of him!
The one that old man was running from!
"Old man... please explain!" Leonard whisper shouted under his breath.
[Even I'm confused over here, you brat!]
Leonard cursed a small 'useless' under his breath.
[What did you say?!]
Leonard ignored the old man.
"So..." Leonard coughed awkwardly after a while, gaining the angel's attention. "He" didn't seem interested in killing and stabbing and cooking Leonard for the time being so he deemed it safe enough to talk. "You're Klein's... fiance?"
"Yup," Amon grinned as he showed off the beautiful ring on his ring finger.
No, why was he replying so normally?! Where was the usual sarcasm and indifference and haughty attitude of a high-sequence Beyonder?!
He remembered the old man mentioning how Amon was a cruel and bloodthirsty mythical being who had no love or care for the humans under his feet and treated them as ants.
"You're... an angel right?" Leonard whispered the words, afraid that someone else would overhear them.
"No need to be afraid of someone eavesdropping," Amon smiled as he clapped his hands for the waiter, "As you can see, I have it all handled." The waiter smiled at Leonard as he fixed the crystal monocle on his right eye. The man had the same exact face as Amon.
"..."
Leonard looked around him in horror as he realized that every single other customer in the cafe wore the exact same monocle on their right eye and looked exactly like Amon! Male Amon! Old man Amon! Female Amon! Kid Amon! There was even a p-pregnant Amon!
Leonard felt like he had seen too much.
[This is the horror of parasitism...]
"Y-yes..." This was truly very terrifying!
Wait a second-
He was supposed to be Nighthawk!
Shouldn't he be reporting to the main church about Amom?!
And these people that Amon took over...
Were they... dead?
He remembered how the old man had explained to him about the horrors of Amon. Without knowing, he'll become you, become your child's father, your wife's lover, your parent's child, and essentially replace you truly with one of his clones!
Leonard suddenly felt his entire body tense up in fear-
This-
He was just a sequence 8 goddamit!
He shouldn't have slacked off his acting method and played around willy-nilly!
Amon, who was enjoying reading Leonard's mind finally burst out in laughter, "Don't worry, I've only stolen their fate and identity for a small while, after all, Klein would hate me if I took the lives of innocent people." He said with an indulgent smile.
"Klein knows about this?"
"Nope," Amon replied as he slurped on his sweet iced tea and frowned when he found out that he had forgotten to ask for the extra sweet version before parasitizing the people in the cafe and replacing them with his own clones. His clones would have known to make his drink extra sweet... those damn rebellious things. "He doesn't even know that I'm an extraordinary."
"So your own fiance doesn't know about the fact that you're an angel..." Leonard sighed, and then his body instantly tensed up as he glanced back at Amon with a terrified and hateful gaze. "Did you steal the identity of his original fiance?" He accused.
"Nope, Klein and I got together genuinely," Amon showed a small smile, "Though it was really tough for him to finally cough out the words that he actually loved me..."
[He's... changed.]
[Has his deception really grown so strong that he can make those sorts of expressions or has he actually gained humanity?]
Leonard made a mental note to ask the old man later about this 'humanity'.
"How... how did you two even get together?" Leonard sighed once again, he couldn't help but realize how ridiculous this situation was, in his mind was a grounded angel, and in front of him was the same angel's nemesis (also another angel), and instead of fighting he was actually asking and inquiring about the status and the angle's relationship like normal people!
"Well," Amon's smile widened as his eyes went dazed in a longing expression like he was about to narrate the softest and fluffiest and most romantic love story ever, "It all started when Klein kidnapped me to his home, and tied me up with his limbs and took me against my will for many days until I finally surrendered to him." He sighed lovingly.
Leonard, whose spoon fell from his grip as he stared at Amon with a gaping mouth, "..."
Pallez, who was already sure that this was all a dream and that he had already died long ago when he met Amon a few days ago, [...]
Klein, who had just entered the cafe and had overheard Amon, "..."
At the same time- all three of them shouted the exact same thing in their minds-
'Klein Moretti did WHAT now?!
"Oh, Klein is here. Hi darling~" Amon greeted as he hopped towards Klein with a smile. "Your first-day tasks done? You look quite pale and exhausted already- let's go back to my place to get you some rest! I'll make your favorite lemon tea and butter biscuits for our afternoon snack!"
Leonard watched dazed as he stared at Klein who was being pushed out of the cafe by a smiling and happy Amon. As soon as Klein was outside, Amon turned back him once again and gave him a wide smile, "By the way Pallez- I still want your sequence 1 characteristic. Until later Leonard~!" He waved and shut the cafe door behind him.
All the customers and staff who had previously worn the same crystal monocle on their right eye and had the same face as Amon instantly turned back to normal and went back to doing their thing like nothing had even happened. Except for Leoanrd who was still frozen in place, not knowing what to think.
[Brat... any plans on running away to the Desi bay and becoming a fisherman?]
Pallez didn't know how badly Leonard wanted that right at this moment.