"I just can't make any sense of it...!" Amon grumbled as he allowed Adam to continue healing his mind.
"Any sense of what?" Adam asked kindly, his gaze not wavering for a second as he continued applying the final touches to Amon's newly healed spirituality.
"I don't know why I tried that experiment with my main body," Amon confessed slowly.
Although the concept of the 'main body' has always been quite a loose term for the Amons since anyone can become the main entity after the said main entity's death without any problem- since they were all Amons anyway. The main entity was simply the one who held the strongest extraordinary characteristics- in the current case- the one who held the actual uniqueness and the Sequence 1 characteristic of the Error Pathway.
But after that particular 'incident' he and his clones had been disconnected for a while making them a lot more independent and different from the main body. Many clones of his even refused to get into a romance with 'Klein Moretti' and were just waiting for their own Spirit Worms they had fallen in love with the last timeline to exist again.
Amon over the years had always made sure to keep his experiments as safe as possible for himself as the 'entity'. His clones were always his scapegoats and guinea pigs and would later get absorbed into the Amon subconscious if the experiments were to cause their 'deaths'. That was one of the positives of having clones as test subjects- them dying meant nothing to him in the long run. Meanwhile, if he were to die as the main body- both his uniqueness as well as his high-sequence characteristics would be separated from him on his death and another Amon would become the main body.
That was simply a loss he could not expend. Even his clones begrudgingly accepted that fact. Losing a mere Sequence 3 characteristic was nothing as compared to losing your strength as the King of Angels of the Error pathway.
No matter how much Amon thought about it- he had no clue why he was so damn risky with Qilangos.
If he were the normal him, if he wanted to play with Qilangos with his unknown abilities- he would have used a clone instead and studied everything from the sidelines and this situation would not have come to be. Even if the experiment were to backfire, which it did, the main body would have been safe although the time worm would have to be disposed of.
It just did not make any sense...
Klein had himself found out that Amon was incredibly cautious despite his outward personality of being the most carefree angel in existence. That's why and how his dearest Mr. Fool had managed to outsmart him and defeat him in the first place. His nature of being cautious was his inherent quality as a born mythical creature.
Surely he couldn't have grown up to be that stupid as time went on after that fight...
"Rest." Adam said as he laid his palm over Amon's eyes, covering them, "The last of the treatment will need you unconscious."
"...'kay." Amon agreed begrudgingly as he allowed his brother to force him into a deep sleep.
But just as the last bits of consciousness left him- he realized another big thing.
Why did he only start thinking about these suspicious factors right now, after Adam had cleared most of the outside forces in his mind?
Could he perhaps have been influenced and manipulated by someone or something-
But who could be strong enough to manipulate an angel of his level so seamlessly?
The only pathway and sequence possible was a Sequence 1 Visionary pathway and Adam was obviously innocent,
That just left-
Amon drifted off into a perfect dreamland made by Adam for him.
In his dream, he was sitting on the lap of his Father as his Father read another strange story from his time to the two brothers.
He was happy.
Klein immediately reported his discovery to Dunn Smith, who ordered Klein to evacuate the building while Leonard distracted Megose. Requesting help from the Holy Cathedral, Dunn also sent a telegram to the Machinery Hivemind and Mandated Punishers, as the latter were the ones originally investigating Megose since Klein had figured out that the reason that particular Mandated Punisher member had lost control was because he had accidentally looked at the child in Megos's stomach.
Dunn then took out Saint Selena's ashes, which was the core seal of Tingen's Chanis Gate, while Klein took Sealed Artifact 2-105 for Leonard to use. He also sent a letter to Azik Eggers for help. Seeka Tron and the Keepers were left to deal with the rebelling Sealed Artifacts behind Chanis Gate.
By the time Klein and Dunn arrived on the scene, Leonard was barely standing- but still alive. It seemed like he had managed to forcefully slow down Megose and calm her down by using his Nightmare abilities as well as his Midnight Poet abilities to put Megos in a half-conscious state.
But as soon as Captain Dunn arrived with Saint Selena's Ashes, Megos and her child noticed the danger and broke free from Leonard's control focusing all of its attention towards the older Nighthawk.
Klein managed to slip by and pass Leonard the sealed artifact 2-105 just as Megos started mutating into a gross monstrosity, releasing destructive soundwaves affecting even Klein and Leonard who were now far away from her.
"Wait Klein-" Leonard extended his arm to stop Klein from approaching the volatile situation, "Wait until Captain Dunn succeeds in making an opening for us." he looked at the sealed artifact Klein had handed to him and almost wanted to laugh- Blood Vessel Theif eh? How did Klein have a clue of everything and nothing at all at the same time?
Klein nodded as he prepared his Flaring Sun charm to be ready to use at any moment.
Dunn opened Saint Selena's urn, revealing a deep darkness and fine resplendent sand and unleashing darkness and countless black, cold and smooth tentacle-like threads to restrain Megose and seal her child.
"Ten... nine... eight-"
After counting ten seconds, Leonard and Klein came out, just as Megose opened her mouth to mutter a cruse to get out of the bindings from the tentacles from Sain Selena's Ashes. As Megose continued to mutate, Leonard used the Blood Vessel Thief to steal her ability to speak, halting her Blaspheme Curse. Klein used a Flaring Sun Charm imbued with half of his spirituality, blasting Megose with a spherical light with countless flames spiraling around it and shaking the entire building and the nearby streets.
Megose was nowhere to be seen.
Did they succeed-?
His Clown abilities told him otherwise!
Klein just managed to roll to the side but even that wasn't enough as a bony hand managed to cleave his entire left side into two halves- if Klein were to focus and squint he was sure he could even see his own lung! If he hadn't managed to dodge in time he would have been cut in half.
Megose had survived and Klein was so severely injured he couldn't even think clearly due to the pain.
Klein watched as Leonard attempted to use the Blaspheme Curse he had stolen from Megose against her as well as Captain Dunn attempting to hold Megose back with the tentacles from his sealed artifact.
Dammit-
Klein thumbed at his leftover Flaring Sun Charm and cursed in his mind. He had just gotten out of the fight with Madam Sharon and was already drained- after using so much spirituality into that charm previously he had almost nothing left!
He could barely feel his spirituality let alone use another deadly Flaring Sun Charm!
No-! He had to give it his all- it was Tingen's safety they were fighting for after all! Benson and Melissa were both in the vicinity of this evil god's son's path of destruction not to mention every single other resident of this city!
He did not know what would happen if someone were to deplete their complete spiritual energy by using a charm that required more than the current available resources but Klein wasn't in the situation to be cautious at the moment!
But just as Klein readied himself to throw his second Flaring Sun Charm- Megose's head exploded dispelling the effect of the curse by Leonard and even throwing the poor Nightmare against the wall while the man was frozen due to the sudden failure of the curse.
The True Creator's Spawn's cry sounded around them.
The worst-case scenario had just occurred-
The True Creator's Spawn began to descend in order to help its mother.
Leonard was already down, hopefully only unconscious, while Klein was on his last few drops of spirituality and mortally wounded and even Captain Dunn looked completely exhausted.
They had no way to fight this thing-!
How could they fight a God?!
Klein's eyes widened as he suddenly remembered about his ring-
The ring had a history of randomly granting Klein extra spirituality and strength in the Spirit World!
Klein extended what little spirituality he had into the ring in hopes of any sort of help- anything would help!
The ring started glowing and then the light started blinking-
The Corpse Cathedral,
Amon was lying completely unconscious on Adam's lap as the older brother continued to hold his hand against Amon's head, faint yellow lights glowing periodically as Adam concentrated on fixing the faint cracks left in Amon's mind.
The cracks were small and barely there, but they needed exceptional concentration and focus to be healed- and they needed to be healed the most carefully. If even a small crack was left over, the next time Amon would start showing signs of losing control for whatever reason- it would be a much faster degradation than normal. That's why the subject needed to be unconscious and in a pleasant state of mind during this step as even a single random thought might send ripples through their psyche and disturb the careful fixing of the cracks.
Adam suddenly opened his eyes, and his gaze quickly landed on the ring on Amon's ring finger-
It was glowing.
Adam raised his other hand in order to inspect the glowing object but froze mid-way.
He had promised Amon not to be nosy.
Amon had already shown his distrust towards him despite his apparent affection for the Angel and Adam did not want to cross some sort of line Amon had drawn between them.
He felt a ripple through Amon's mind.
Adam looked down.
Amon looked extremely uneasy. Adam checked the dreamworld he had placed Amon in- Amon was in the middle of once again trying to steal his Father's beard but failing badly at it while little Adam watched with half a mind and the rest of his attention was focused on thinking about a better ending for the fairy tale their father had just told them. He promised Amon that he would write a much better ending for the story than Father had told them making Amon forget about his father's beard and hug his brother. Amon's father looked over Amon in fond exasperation.
It was still the same peaceful dream Adam had cooked up for Amon and nothing had changed.
The ring had now started to blink.
Was the uneasiness due to the ring?
Adam couldn't have an uncomfortable Amon during such a sensitive part of the treatment.
He placed his palm on the glowing ring on Amon's hands- He was sure Amon would understand.
A gentle yellow light enveloped both their hands and overtook the red glow of the ring.
Adam attempted to first use placate on the ring to test out what would work- but almost as if the ring was a black hole, it sucked in the yellow glow of his ability, growing even brighter red than before.
The glow then subsided and Adam noticed that Amon's mind had regained its previous calm and quiet.
Good.
He could go back to treating Amon now.
As for what just conspired, he could ask Amon later when he would wake up.
Dunn saved Klein from the True Creator's cries just in time with his Nightmare powers as The True Creator's Spawn completely suppressed the ashes tentacle-like threads even after the blood had splattered over them.
This was a losing battle- anyone would know that. The only thing capable of destroying that monstrosity was Saint Selene's Ashes but it needed a much greater sacrifice to completely seal the 'child'.
Klein watched helplessly as Captain Dunn, without any hesitation, retracted his right palm, transformed it into a claw, and stabbed himself in the chest, pulling his still-beating heart out and placing it in the urn holding Sain Selena's ashes.
'Captain...'
Crying that sounded like a late-night nightmare resounded. The countless cold and serene threads once again resumed their efforts as they wrapped themselves tightly around Megose, this time, they didn't loosen their bindings despite the cries coming from the baby in Megose's stomach. In fact, they even sealed the terrifying sounds within the body!
It was at this moment that Klein felt warmth emanating through his ring-
A strange and serene sense of calmness and peace flushed through his mind and suddenly his half-conscious state from his severe wounds quickly disappeared- he could even feel a part of his Spirituality filled and rejuvenated.
With this newfound clear mind, Klein did not even waste a second before uttering simple Hermes in a deep voice, "Light!"
The light that illuminates the darkness,
The light that brings warmth!
He infused almost all of his remaining spirituality into the thin gold piece etched with mysterious symbols, causing his mind to immediately turn blank and dizzy. Having mustered the last of his strength, Klein tossed out the Flaring Sun Charm at Megose, who was still bound by the countless black threads.
The sunlight fused with the top of the headless monster, and then exploded like the sun!
In the burning white splendor, Klein closed his eyes. This last scene was etched deep into his mind.
Megose's body lost its left arm, head, and multiple pieces of flesh. Its charred body crumbled instantly. The half-illusory, terrifying creature within her body no longer had the support of a physical body and couldn't complete the last stage of its transformation. It turned into a furious ball of black gas, dissolving amidst the light and flames.
After a few seconds, Klein opened his eyes, he saw a burned, bloody placenta on the ground. He saw Dunn Smith standing on the spot, still wearing his black windbreaker. He saw the heart in the box of Saint Selena's ashes still beating slowly. He saw Leonard Mitchell lying on the opposite side; his outcome was unknown.
At that moment, Dunn Smith turned to look at Klein. His pale face had a warm and relaxed expression, and his voice still as mellow as it usually was.
"We saved Tingen."
After saying this, it was as if he had returned to the time when he was twenty. He no longer appeared stern and serious as he winked at Klein with his left eye.
Klein's expression froze. He saw the heart in the box of Saint's Selena's ashes stop beating. It turned into a resplendent ball of light before scattering into the surroundings. He saw the captain fall backward, his arms losing their strength.
Klein's heart fell just as Saint Selena's Ashes fell on the ground.
Captain!
Klein's vision blurred once again. He wanted to shout, but that word and the subsequence words were stuck in his throat.
At that moment, the box containing Saint Selena's ashes had rolled to his feet.
Suddenly, Klein felt a pain in his chest, his pupils violently constricted as he froze in place.
He looked down to see a slightly pale palm, drenched in blood, coming out the left side of his chest.
Megose was definitely dead and so was the 'son'-
There was another enemy?!
No-
Was he going to die?
His breathing gradually slowed and, he finally felt the palm pull back quickly. He saw a pair of brand new leather boots, and a hand reaching downward, a slightly pale hand. It grabbed the urn of Saint Selena's ashes.
No...
He was going to die...
Just as Klein lost his consciousness for one final time- his mind wandered to Amon. He felt slightly glad that Amon wasn't at Tingen at the moment and wouldn't have to see Klein so bloodied up like this...
Ah...
He was really looking forward to the wedding too...
Amon...
'I love you.' Maybe this was his biggest regret, not being able to say these lines to Amon for one last time.
Klein's vision turned black.