Seeing Arrodes's hesitant tone, Klein's expression was a bit playful. He had already stated it was the unborn child of Dr. Aaron Ceres, yet Arrodes still hadn't seen the problem.
"It seems that when it comes to concealing one's own fate and peculiarities, the Snake of Fate is much stronger than angels of other Pathways." Klein suddenly understood, thought for a moment, and carefully replied:
"Friends."
The silver text quickly became cheerful, and Arrodes's words revealed an inexplicable joy. "Great Master, do you have any more questions?"
Klein thought for a moment, then recounted the scene he had just seen in the dream world. Looking at the mirror that glowed with a faint light, he spoke with solemnity:
"I want to know what happened there?"
The illusory silver text faded and disappeared, and the mirror seemed to be covered by a layer of mist. A somewhat illusory and unreal image appeared, somewhat like a supplement to the murals seen inside the Black Tower, but even more blurred, as if an unknown force was influencing it.
Looking at the terrifying figure shrouded by eight legs in the image, a hint of ferocity flashed in Klein's eyes. Even in his incomplete mythical creature form, he instantly recognized this Monster as Ince Zangwill.
After the unclear image disappeared, silver text intertwined and reorganized on the smooth mirror surface, seemingly providing further explanation:
"Ince Zangwill used that Sealed Artifact to ambush St. Lovett Church in Glendore, the capital of Sivellas County, severely injuring Nighthawks Senior Deacon 'Spear of the Goddess' Riddell, and stealing the Grade 1 Sealed Artifact he was in charge of, which caused a riot in Chanis Gate."
After waiting for a moment and seeing no reaction from Klein, Arrodes added a sentence at the end of the long text, somewhat nervously:
"Great Master, do you have any more questions you wish to test Arrodes with?"
Taking a deep breath, Klein's expression grew even colder. He nodded slightly and finally asked:
"What is inside 44 Sifield Street, Cherwood Borough?"
This was the address Will Auceptin deliberately left in that dream. Combined with his previous conjectures, Klein suspected that it was once the residence of this "Snake of Fate" in Backlund.
Although he wasn't entirely clear about what this important figure was planning, at least for now, he seemed to maintain goodwill towards him.
The original text quickly disappeared, and the mirror rippled like a constantly flowing river. After a long while, Arrodes finally appeared on the mirror with a hint of embarrassment, displaying a few words:
"Sorry, Great Master, I, I cannot see the scene there...."
Klein raised an eyebrow, pondered for a moment, then waved his hand and said:
"Alright, that's all for now. If I encounter any more problems later, I will summon you again."
"Yes, Master, your humble and loyal servant Arrodes is always at your command!"
"Goodbye, Great Master!"
On the mirror's surface, a stick figure waving a handkerchief quickly appeared.
Klein watched silently until everything returned to normal. He stood up, walked to the door, picked up his black top hat, opened the door, and walked out.
-----------------
Backlund, East Borough, a gathering place for the poor.
Bernadette, wearing a black veil, silently watched the vagrants wandering the streets like Zombies, and the numb women standing on the street corners or inside bars.
An invisible radiance rose around her, blocking the drifting yellow-green haze. She was like a ghost walking the world; no one could discover her.
For the True Creator to fully descend, a large amount of pessimism, despair, numbness, hatred, and primal evil are needed. In Backlund, only the East Borough, the Factory District, and the Dock Area can meet the Aurora Order's requirements.
However, this does not mean that the Aurora Order's ritual to summon the True Creator will truly take place in these three areas. It is more likely to be in the suburbs near Backlund.
Therefore, the Aurora Order can only transmit the vast negative emotions accumulated in the East Borough, Factory District, and Dock Area to the location of the true altar through a certain directional sacrifice ritual.
Bernadette stopped, looking at the section of shriveled, blood-stained umbilical cord with burn marks, sealed and enveloped by starlight, in her hand. Her eyes were deep blue, as if a condensed ocean.
A certain aura detached from the umbilical cord and merged into the invisible servant that had just condensed before Bernadette, merging into the "Eyes of Mystery Prying" that had no eyelashes.
With the invisible servant's instantly elevated vision, the map of Backlund appeared in Bernadette's mind. The routes she had walked in the East Borough, Factory District, and Dock Area using this evil god's umbilical cord during this period gradually connected, finally forming a complex and obscure grand array.
With an imperceptible curve of her lips, Bernadette imprinted every detail of this grand array into her mind before waving her hand to dismiss the somewhat distorted invisible servant, which had been eroded and polluted by the True Creator's aura.
As a Sequence 3 Clairvoyant of the Mystery Pryer Pathway, after learning the specific grand array, Bernadette could deduce the location the array pointed to, which was the ultimate destination of those accumulated vast negative emotions.
This Queen Mystic's eyes, as blue as a condensed ocean, instantly became even deeper, briefly losing focus, as if peering into the torrent of fate.
After a few seconds, Bernadette suddenly opened her eyes, her tall eyebrows slightly furrowed. After thinking for a moment, she still extended her right hand and swiftly outlined one star-infused word after another in mid-air.
These words, completely different from the Hermit language commonly used in current mysticism, quickly intertwined into strange symbols, opening a "Secret Door" leading to the depths of the Spirit World.
Immediately after, the "Secret Door" opened, and a strong wind blew out, dispersing the surrounding yellow-green haze, transforming into a man with a human upper body and a gaseous lower body, wrapped in white cloth.
After re-sealing and isolating the evil god's offspring's umbilical cord in her hand, Bernadette directly threw it to her messenger.
Watching the secret door slowly close, Bernadette's body became illusory, transforming into countless bubbles.
These bubbles reflected a dreamy array of colors under the light, gradually merging into the increasingly dense mist.
-----------------
Outskirts of Backlund, deep within the Red Rose Manor, in a luxuriously decorated attic.
After the disappointed Prince Edessak left, Trissy slumped onto the sofa in silence, a hint of pain and despair flashing across her delicate and pretty face.
At this moment, a soft female voice, difficult to pinpoint the location of, sounded, seemingly from left or right, front or back:
"We are all children of the Primordial One. Suffer in agony; this might be a good thing for you."
A figure slowly outlined itself beside Trissy. She wore a simple, holy white robe, with high slits on both sides revealing her flawless legs, her skin like snow, as tender as a young girl's.
This woman had black hair and blue eyes, pure, ethereal, and beautiful, possessing an indescribable charm. She was none other than Saintess of White, Katarina.
Seeing the culprit who had gradually transformed her into her current state, Trissy's eyes were somewhat hollow, and she didn't even have the desire to speak.
Originally, after sensing the disappearance of the power controlling her fate, she had prepared to leave Backlund, but she hadn't expected this important figure from the Demoness Sect to personally guard her at the Red Rose Manor. Her already faint spark of hope was completely extinguished.
Katarina maintained her holy posture, her gentle voice making it difficult to distinguish whether it was the whisper of a Demon or the call of an angel:
"Suffer. The more you suffer, the more you will feel your own weakness."
"Only when suffering reaches its extreme will the desire to change oneself be strong enough to help you bear the Primordial One's blessing."
Looking at Trissy, whose expression had once again become bewildered, Katarina Pelley's face showed a smile. Her gaze swept over the sapphire ring on Trissy's hand, and her voice became even more ethereal:
"We must all draw closer to the Primordial One; this is our destiny...."
Before she could finish speaking, Katarina Pelley suddenly looked up, a hint of surprise and doubt flashing in her eyes. Surging yet quiet black flames appeared, covering every corner of the room, burning silently, yet not harming the somewhat bewildered Trissy, merely serving as a restraint.
After doing all this, Katarina Pelley's figure then disappeared.
The surging black flames were like a black tide. The bewildered look on Trissy's face lessened considerably. After trying to struggle a few times to no avail, a hint of madness rose in her eyes.
Recalling Katarina Pelley's previous words, Trissy seemed to finally make a certain decision, raising her left palm, which bore the blue gem.
The black flames that had been firmly restraining Trissy somewhat fearfully avoided the ring, successfully freeing her left palm.
Without the slightest hesitation, Trissy used her only movable left palm to plunge it into her chest. Crimson heart blood instantly enveloped the sapphire ring on her pinky finger.
Her consciousness seemed to explode. Amidst hysterical laughter, Trissy seemed to see an image that suddenly appeared and then instantly vanished:
On a throne seemingly built from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, a gigantic feathered snake of immeasurable size was coiled. Below the throne was an entire continent, devoid of life and turned pale, as if the boundary between life and death had been blurred.
To the side of the feathered snake were black tentacles, like pythons, directly breaking through space and extending from the Astral World.
The tip of each of these tentacles had an eye, either closed or open. Anything they saw, even those undead who had long lost their lives, would instantly turn into gray-white stone.
And anything directly touched by the tentacles would twist, sprout limbs and a head, and transform into women, either large or small, all with very good looks.
Her consciousness seemed to rise continuously. Trissy seemed to pass beyond the feathered snake and the tentacles, and her gaze met the indescribable eyes behind the torn rift in the Astral World.
A piercing laugh escaped Trissy's lips. The surging black flames began to tremble, but they did not extinguish. Instead, they gradually entered her body until they completely vanished.
-----------------
Sivellas County, beneath St. Lovett Church.
Chanis Gate slowly closed. Archbishop Randolph Carter, his aura somewhat chaotic, walked out behind Aaron. The layers of shadowy Underworld space that had previously enveloped him had been reabsorbed into his body.
The newly appointed Archbishop looked with some apprehension at the item in Aaron's hand, which was mostly covered by the Arianna crest. From its outline alone, it appeared to be a blood-stained eyeball.
Randolph Carter's previous diocese was in the Southern Continent, and he had been promoted to Undying in the Cathedral for less than two months, so he was not familiar with the Sealed Artifacts behind the Chanis Gate of St. Lovett Church.
He only knew its name was "Eye of Rusco," a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact with living characteristics, said to have originated from the War of Four Emperors that swept across the continent at the end of the Fourth Epoch.
Compared to Randolph Carter, Aaron's expression was somewhat playful. When the two of them entered Chanis Gate to stabilize the core of the seal, although the Sealed Artifacts behind the door had already shown signs of losing control, they ultimately couldn't cause much trouble against two demigods.
After appeasing and stabilizing the seal's core, just as Aaron was about to re-seal the two Grade 1 Sealed Artifacts, the Arianna crest, which had originally been treated as a mascot, suddenly attached itself to the most dangerous one, the "Eye of Rusco."
To be honest, compared to spending time appeasing and stabilizing the seal's core, Aaron most liked Sealed Artifacts with living characteristics. Intimidating them into submission and taking them as pets was an incredibly simple, assembly-line operation.
But this sudden turn of events made Aaron indecisive. Additionally, St. Lovett Church had been damaged, and the senior deacon who originally guarded it was severely injured. Two Grade 1 Sealed Artifacts were somewhat beyond the current load capacity of Chanis Gate.
After a brief discussion with Archbishop Randolph Carter, Aaron first sent this Grade 1 Sealed Artifact and the unconscious Senior Deacon "Spear of the Goddess" Riddell to the Church of Serenity. Randolph Carter would remain at St. Lovett Church, responsible for guarding and organizing the corresponding reconstruction work, awaiting further arrangements from the Cathedral.
Waving his hand to erase the blood-written name on Chanis Gate, Aaron put away the "Eye of Rusco," then softly asked Archbishop Randolph Carter:
"You mean that Grade 1 Sealed Artifact of Riddell's, which Ince Zangwill stole, is of the Hunter Pathway?"
Archbishop Randolph Carter did not detect the peculiar tone in Aaron's somewhat low voice. His face was gloomy, and he slowly nodded:
"Yes, that was obtained when the Church killed an Iron-Blooded Knight of the Sauron family from Intis during the 'War of the Apostates.'"
"Counting that holy relic from St. Selena Church in Tingen City and that Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, Ince Zangwill's dangerousness has once again increased."
It seems this characteristic should now be in the hands of the Red Angel.... Aaron nodded lightly, already understanding the hidden meaning in the Archbishop's words, and calmly replied:
"I will report this situation to the Cathedral and provide you with corresponding assistance."
As they spoke, both figures disappeared together, returning to the surface. After Aaron thanked Archpriest Redal Valentine of the Church of the Lord of Storms, he took the unconscious "Spear of the Goddess" Riddell and stepped into the "Traveler's Door."