Leonard walked out of the Moretti household with a heavy heart.
He just had to discuss the compensation Melissa Moretti and Benson Moretti would get after Klein's death. The siblings would get 6,000 pounds and although Leonard knew that money couldn't buy back their brother and his friend- it was the least and the only thing they could do...
"Um, Mr. Mitchel?" A soft voice called out from behind him, it was Klein's younger sister, Melissa. Her face was stricken with grief and something complex Leonard wasn't able to decipher. "Does... Amon know about this? He was Klein's fiance as you might know..." Their wedding ceremony was supposed to be today. That bit was left unsaid. "We haven't seen him since... since Klein told us that he was visiting his older brother."
Leonard almost winced, "Yes, I know Amon... we don't know how to reach him. But if I do, I'll surely inform him of... this."
"Ah, I see..." Melissa's face dropped before she forced herself to smile again, "If you see him, please tell him that although the wedding fell through due to... unfortunate circumstances, he is still welcome in our family as one of us."
"Yes, I'll tell him that." Leonard nodded stiffly before finally walking away.
All this grief was too much for Leonard, it was like the world kept reminding him that he was the only survivor and that he was too weak to protect his loved ones.
"I even had the help of two freaking angels and still got knocked out mid-fight..." Leonard grumbled to himself. He felt completely and utterly useless.
The sheer anger and helplessness he felt when he woke up to the sigh of his old captain and new underling and friend dead, both with similar wounds on their chest was something he couldn't even put into words.
He woke up too late, the other Beyonders arrived too late, not to mention the fact that due to the broken seal of Chanis Gate one of their old keepers even died. Not to mention Kenely who died during the fight with that Demoness.
In just a single day- 4 of their beyonders died.
Leonard got into his carriage.
"You seem like you haven't rested in a while." It was Amon, sitting on one of the seats.
Leonard did not even have the energy to react to him. He knew that he should be scared for his life right now, trembling in fear and begging Amon for forgiveness for not being able to keep Klein safe when that was the only thing Amon had asked of with utmost seriousness.
But with everything that happened, he did not think he even deserved Amon's mercy.
"When did you come back?" Leonard asked.
"A while ago."
A while ago...
What was he doing all this while then?
"So..." But before Leonard could get to the point, Amon interrupted.
"Do you know what happened?" Amon smiled, it was eerie simply by the fact that it was not eerie and no man or mythical creature should be able to smile this easily after their supposed 'love of their life' has died.
"Ince Zangwill, the bishop who betrayed the Church of Evernight was the one behind all this and controlled everything with the stolen sealed artifact 0-08. His aim was to decisively get a hold of the Saint Selena's Ashes for his advancement to Sequence 4 and... well, he succeeded." Leonard said slowly.
Amon nodded, "Yes, he has already advanced to the level of a Demigod."
Leonard's fists clenched.
"I was too weak..."
Amon looked outside the window of the moving carriage, "No, you were up against a Sequence 5 Gatekeeper, a 0-graded sealed artifact as well as that 'thing' with the powers of the True Creator. It is even more surprising that you three won against such a foe. If Klein hadn't done that stupid death courting thing with that artifact from Chanis Gate and gotten those Flaring Sun Charms, I doubt any of you would have survived."
"You just proved the fact that I was, in fact, too weak." Leonard glared at Amon who just smiled back.
"You are just a Sequence 7 in a world that is controlled primarily by True Gods and Angels. Would you blame an ant for being 'too weak' for being stepped on?"
Leonard didn't really mind Amon's particularly mean words considering the fiasco that had just happened, but that still did not stop him from taking offense, "So, what? We should just accept being stepped on and used for 'the greater good' of the beings above us?"
Amon chuckled, "Let me ask you one question then, you know that both Lavenous and Ince Zangwill are both alive yes? What do you want to do?"
"...I want to kill them." Leonard confessed, "Take revenge for what they did to Captain Dunn and Klein."
Amon tipped his head to the side, "Even though one of them now is a Sequence 4 Demigod with an artifact containing the characteristic of Sequence 1?"
"Yes."
"Then how would you do that?"
"...I'll get stronger."
"That's your answer then," Amon smiled, leaning back on his seat with a satisfied expression on his face, "If you hate being weak- then get stronger. That is the simple law of this world of Beyonders. If you hate being used and stepped on like ants, then become the person stepping on others and using others. There is no middle ground. Remember when I told you that I'll help you become an Angel in exchange for Pallez's Sequence 1 characteristic?"
"Yes..." Leonard answered slowly, not knowing what Amon was getting at.
"That offer still stands. I was just making sure you were ready for that path."
"Path to becoming an angel?"
Amon shook his head, "No, the path to losing your humanity." he said as he poked his finger at Leonard's chest, "Although I've always been divine, I've come to realize that human beings tend to hold their humanity extremely dear to them. You'll lose your physical body, and your thoughts and feelings will become directly controlled and affected by your 'anchors', in essence- the human 'you' would have to die in order to give birth to the divine 'you'. Are you ready for that?"
"I already said I was, the Old Man already gave me too much information about this stuff..."
"Great!" Amon said cheerily, he looked outside the window and made a pleased sound, "Ah, we're already here~!"
Leonard broke out of his stupor and looked outside the window-
It was... the cemetery.
Where Captain Dunn and most importantly- Klein, were buried.
Amon stepped outside the carriage and held out his hand to help Leonard out as well. On stepping out, Leonard looked at the carriage driver who smiled at him and tipped his hat, the monocle on his right eye a clear sign of parasitism.
"Sometimes I feel like I'm losing as an Official Beyonder by looking away to you doing this stuff..."
"Don't worry too much, Klein won't like it if I kill normal people willy-nilly. It's just surface parasitism." Amon smiled, "Let's get going."
Klein wouldn't have liked it huh...
Leonard looked carefully at Amon.
He really did 'love' Klein...
It didn't take long for them to reach the tombstone with the name 'Klein Moretti'.
Amon looked down at the recently dug soil and murmured under his breath, "He's still here then..."
Leonard looked at Amon with concern, "Amon?" Was this a sign of losing control?
"Leonard, is Pallez awake right now?"
Leonard shook his head, "No, he said he needed rest after being exposed to The True Creator's Son's presence."
Amon once again whispered under his breath, this time with a dark expression on his face, "That 'thing' is not my brother..."
"Amon?"
The Angel sighed, "Nothing, just that the responsibility lies on me to explain things to you." Amon paused for a while before asking, "Do you know what the Sequence 2 of the Fool path- no, the 'Seer' Pathway is?"
"How would I know that?" Leonard sighed, was this conversation really necessary in a graveyard?
"It's called, 'Miracle Invoker', one of its abilities is the power of 'Resurrection'." Amon smirked at Leonard, "Do you know what I'm getting at?"
"...Klein's a Sequence 8 Clown," Leonard replied in disbelief.
"That he is, but some strange things also happened to him- like when he came in contact with the Antinogous family notebook and when he was supposed to 'die', he did not, and let's just say he 'gained a new power'."
"So what you're getting at..."
Amon smiled, "Klein's alive."
Leonard's eyes snapped back towards Klein's grave, "He's... alive- wait, does that mean he's suffocating in there?!"
Amon stopped Leonard before he made any attempts to dig out the grave and prematurely revive Klein.
"It's not actually that much of a positive thing, one can only revive 4 times with that ability. So Klein did not get an extra life- he just used one of them."
"Why does it matter- he's alive!" Leonard cried in frustration.
Amon sighed, "I was hoping that he would not have to lose a life so early on... it would just make him more vulnerable and weaker in the future. But yes... the main thing is that he's still alive. Well, he would be- in just a few more hours that is."
Leonard couldn't help himself and smiled, "We need to tell his siblings and revoke his death certificate-"
"No."
"What do you mean no?! His siblings are mourning for him right now!"
Amon shook his head, "It is Klein's choice. He will choose whether he wants to go back to being a happy and content low-sequence Beyonder and family man or... take revenge on the ones who did this."
Leonard looked at Amon in disbelief, "Klein wouldn't... he wouldn't-! He cares deeply for his family- and for you too! He wouldn't just abandon that..."
"Ah, but didn't you also just swear to exchange your humanity for power just a while ago?"
"That's... different..."
"Is it?" Amon laughed, "Besides, it will be much too troublesome and dangerous for both and his siblings if Klein Moretti 'comes back to life'. He still has Ince Zangwill behind him, not to mention that he would probably be sent to the Bishops and be heavily investigated and looked into. And call it me being a bit selfish, but I'd rather not have Amanisis's hands all over my dear Klein. Not to mention that "She" would probably see my interference in his life and either get rid of him or get him away from me and try to break him out of my 'control'."
"I see..." Leonard scratched his hair in frustration, "Also, there is one more thing I want to ask you- all this talk about me and Klein taking revenge on those bastards- but why haven't you already killed them?"
"I very much want to, Lavenous basically took advantage of my father in his not-so-sane state and that feather almost made me lose control and hurt Klein..." Amon's gaze landed on Dunn Smith's grave, "But it wasn't my Captain and mentor that died."
Captain...
The small spark of happiness that had lit up when Amon had told him that Klein was alive was instantly doused by cold freezing water.
"The fact that those two are alive will be the reason for Klein and you to want to become stronger. And although I want Klein to advance up to my level and even more- I cannot force that onto him." Not when Klein had already suffered so much the first time around when he could not cope with his lost humanity.
He loved Klein... yet he was selfish and did not want Klein to hate him.
"Besides, I have my plans," Amon said in a lighter tone.
"What plans..." Leonard asked suspiciously, he did not like that smile on Amon's face.
"You are planning to move to Backlund and join the Red Gloves right?"
"How did you- okay, of course, you knew about that." Leonard sighed, "And? You want me to stay in Tingen? Unfortunately, I ca-"
"Move in with me in Backlund."
"-What."
Amon smiled, "You see, I can't really enter Backlund with my main body- well, at least with not any sort of freedom, but by staying close to you I can play around with some loopholes and deceive the gods into mistaking my presence for Pallez's, and since all the gods want me dead-" Amon said that line with a lot of pride, "-They would want to protect and support Pallez as much as they can to hopefully defeat in me in the future. Of course, only in their dreams though~"
"You are insane," Leonard shot, "Besides, why do you even want to go to Backlund?"
"Like I said, I have my plans." Amon's smile quickly grew a little smaller and more thoughtful, "I tried to make changes to Klein's fate all by myself, I merely thought that the fact that I had an idea of what was about to happen would be enough for me to change his destiny... and I failed." Amon smiled wistfully, remembering the state he was in a few hours prior to when he met with Leonard, he had almost attempted to make the same mistake his friend had made and reset everything... but then Adam had appeared and when Amon had asked why he was there, he merely replied with 'for the wedding'.
Honestly, he should have gotten gloomier with that response as it reminded him of his failures and missed marriage- but looking at Adam who had innocently arrived as asked meant that he had not pried into Klein at all just like Amon had asked him to and did not know that he had 'died', it made him realize that he could trust him as an older brother...
Maybe it was because he had just woken out of such a blissful dream made by Adam for him or something else, but he remembered all the stories and fairytales his father had told him, the ones from his time. Almost all of them were epic tales about people going against their destiny and succeeding no matter the perils in the way.
That was what stopped Amon from making the worst mistake of his life and turning back time another time- because he knew for a fact that the second would easily turn to third and then fourth- and then what difference would there be between 'earth' and the dying planet his friend resided in? His father and Klein loved this planet, and he had almost ruined it.
After that, he locked himself in the Sefirah Castle using his part of the authority over the gray fog for the next few hours until he got control over himself. Although he had not been able to find a way to properly use his abilities to 'fool' fate- he had long left the state of losing all hope. It was only after all that that he came up to and talked with Leonard.
"I failed, but I know for a fact that a solution exists. And call it my angel 'gut' instincts but it tells me that the answer lies in Backlund, I already had many plans in Backlund which I wanted to give to my clones but I figured I should go there firsthand in order to gain a hint." Amon finished calmly.
"I don't really understand all this thing about destiny and fate but..." Leonard started, "Isn't there like a pathway with fate and luck as its main powers? Is that where you got this information from?"
Amon did not reply.
"Huh? Amon?"
"Leonard... you...-!" Amon's face twisted to the brightest smile Leonard had ever seen on that angel's face, "ARE A GENIUS!"
Amon grabbed Leonard's shoulders and started shaking him, "The answer is that! Luck! If fate and destiny are based on chances and luck- then that means someone who has control over luck can have the ability to change fate!"
Amon had almost stopped thinking about ways to cheat fate outside of his own abilities purely because he had thought that whatever stuff he could come up with would have been already thought of by his friend and his friend had failed in changing destiny-
BUT!
That planet only had a singular extraordinary pathway- and the abilities of that pathway did not allow one to freely travel through the cosmos like Amon who could use Door abilities with such dangerous entities flying in the starry skies ready to eat anything and everything that came in their path- so his friend never had an opportunity to interact with other pathways and use their abilities for his purpose.
Also, didn't that man say that Amon was the first person from another pathway he had met? And there should be a reason why he decided to give Amon his abilities near his death and gave Amon a chance with that pocket watch! Amon had initially thought it was because his own pathway was one that found errors and bugs and could achieve things through finding loopholes which could give him an advantage over changing fate- but the same could be said for pathways that are made to change fate, like the Wheel of Fortune pathway!
Of course, now that leaves Amon with figuring out how he could potentially and sustainably utilize the powers of that pathway for his own use- Ouroboros was out of the equation since that bastard was still busy trying to lick the feet of Amon's insane not-father and Amon personally did not want to team up with him.
And that left one certain angel in need of help from running away from said Ouroboros and also one of Klein's future supporters and friends.
"Leonard, I have a plan." Amon announced dramatically.
"O...kay..?"
"I am going to adopt a child."
"Ok- no, WAIT- WHAT?!"
"How do you feel about the title 'Uncle Leonard'? Sounds cute, right?"
"No no no nonono- PLEASE EXPLAIN!"
Leonard suddenly regretted teaming up with Amon.