I sincerely apologize for skipping on an upload the before,had to take a whole day to plot this chapter and the next..
Still I apologize
_______________________________________
Chapter 23: The Clown's Enigma
The Conclave fell into a profound silence as tremors rippled through the cathedral, shaking its foundations, Then, with the snap of a breaking chain, the quiet shattered into a storm of screams and shouts.
"It's real... it's here!"
"My family! Someone activate the Artifact—now!"
The clamor died as abruptly as it had begun. A searing crimson slashed across the sky, igniting the atmosphere in a blistering heat that singed beards and curled hair. A ferocious wind lashed through the nave, rattling the stained-glass windows and sending tapestries billowing .Yet the cathedral's foundations held firm, a testament to the unyielding genius of its architecture..
Their Mouths clamped shut, Eyes widened in terror, locked not on the chaos beyond the walls, but on the figure before them.
"The Monstrosity is being battled by Stein's comrades," he said, his purple eyes flashing with cold apathy. "You have nothing to fear... not yet." The man in black added the words like a casual afterthought, his voice slicing through the tension.
The entire cathedral seemed to hold its breath. No murmurs stirred the air,only the weight of countless gazes fixed on him, as if he embodied horrors greater than the cataclysm raging outside.
"I suggest you all work together," he continued, his purple eyes drifting toward the clustered sectors of the churches. He tilted his head slightly. "Pull your sages together. Isn't that all you have? You'll need them."
As if drawing courage from the depths of his dread, one member of the Orery of Eternal Night stepped forward—a lanky Sequence 8 scholar, his robes hanging loose on his frame. The figure in black scanned him with bored disinterest.
"Why won't you help?" the scholar stammered. "I mean no disrespect, but—"
With a lazy wave of his hand, he cut the scholar off.
"Why?" The figure glanced at the vaulted ceiling, as if pondering the absurd question. "It's simple. I wish not to. Humanity holds no value in my eyes—only my goal does." His gaze returned to the scholar, who now trembled visibly, boots rooted to the stone floor. Then, from an impossible distance of at least ten feet, He extended his hand and tapped the scholar's shoulder, defying space itself.
"Still, I commend your bravery." The dissipating petals crept higher, invading his upper body,. "That's why I shall reward you..with the Truth" He turned his eyes to the crowd. "The Eye of Wonder is no Artifact."
The words ripped through the silence like a thunderclap. Disbelief and horror erupted from the assembly,gasps turning to a bubbling chaos of cries and accusations. But he ignored them all, treating the uproar as if it were the distant hum of insects.
"They shall explain better... My minors." His form unraveled into a dancing helix of purple petals, spiraling upward before vanishing into nothingness.
Sighs and heaving breaths escaped the Conclave like a collective exhale, the air suddenly lighter without his oppressive presence. But the relief was fleeting. Whispers soon slithered through the pews nobles huddling with nobles, murmurs weaving between the denominations.
One man's words had charged the atmosphere with electric uncertainty.
"Silence!" The Judge's voice boomed from her elevated perch, heavy as divine edict. It quelled most of the chatter, though sly snickers lingered in the shadows. Then, like actors exiting a stage mid-scene, the denominations began to depart,leaving only afew of their delegates behind..
Another tremor surged through the cathedral,along with the muffled cries,and hastened footsteps from beyond the invisible veil shrouding the Cathedral..
"They are here," the Judge thundered once more, her proclamation echoing off the arches.
Nobles craned their necks toward the stage, where three figures ascended from beneath the floor.They were shrouded in dark, overflowing garments emblazoned with the sigil of the Church of Hallowed Beginnings,gleaming under the chandelier light.All were hooded except for one who bore the visage of a clown..,red paintings of a smile dragged to unnatural angles..
"Is this some joke?" A noble in purple linens and silver jewelry reeled, his eyes brimming with tears. "Our families are in danger, and we're trapped here to watch a puppet show?"
The clown-masked figure lifted his head with agonizing slowness, that frozen smile unwavering, as if carved from porcelain.
"Pardon our intrusion," he said, his voice a lilting melody laced with mockery. From his empty palms, a dove burst forth in a flutter of iridescent feathers, spiraling toward the vaulted roof before looping back—not as a bird, but transforming mid-air into a silk top hat that settled neatly into his waiting hands. "You may refer to me as The Clown, a Seer from the Church of Hallowed Beginnings."
The crowd hushed, their gazes ensnared by the spectacle,the nоbles leaning forward in absent fascination, though the church representatives eyed him with wary vigilance
He twirled the hat with flourish, and it erupted in a cascade of white smoke laced with butterflies, their wings a kaleidoscope of azure and gold. The haze cleared to reveal a polished blackboard materializing on the stage. Slicking his hair back with theatrical precision, that clownish smile etched deeper, he basked in the nobles' thunderous applause, a roar that shook the rafters like distant thunder.
"What do you truly aim to do, Clown?" The Judge's voice chilled the air from her shadowed balcony, her eyes now twin beacons of searing light piercing the gloom.
The smile on the Clown's face held firm, unyielding..
"Drive home your point, Mr. Clown." A ruby-haired emissary with a dark beard from the Church of the Primordial Sun interjected, his tone cool and unperturbed by the ongoing charade.
"Oh... about that." He whirled his hands, conjuring a stick of white chalk from thin air. But first, he bowed low, knee bending like a maestro before his orchestra. "How about we narrow the crowd?" With a sharp click of his fingers—
The nobles and their aides, along with a handful from the churches and the two hooded figures flanking the Judge, began to unravel. Not in chaos, but in a symphony of dissolution—a crescendo building in perfect rhythm with the Clown's invisible piano. His fingers danced across invisible keys, tempo quickening as applause from the vanishing Audience swelled and faded.
Bodies imploding into petals,crimson roses for the nobles,ebony lilies for the shadowed aides, sunburst marigolds for the sun-worshippers
The frequency of disappearances matched his accelerating strike, their final claps echoing as they dissolved. The air filled with a floral perfume, sweet and cloying, until the stage stood barren save for the remnants.
And when his hands finally struck the last, resounding chord,the final petals spiraled skyward in a grand, lyrical ballet. They twirled in ethereal eddies, catching the fractured light from the stained-glass saints above, painting the nave in fleeting rainbows of sapphire delphiniums and scarlet poppies.before drifting lazily to the floor
The Clown's arms stretched wide, as if embracing the void he had wrought, his painted grin a beacon amid the settling silence like a maestro savoring the echo of his masterpiece.
"Quite a nice show," an emissary with dark hair—the sole survivor from the Ethereal Moon—drawled, his solitary clap slicing through the hush and drawing the attention of all present.."Oh... I shouldn't have...?"
The cathedral shuddered then, not with a mere tremor, but a colossal convulsion causing the Chandeliers to sway wildly and streaks of dust emerging from encroaching cracks..
"Where did you take them, Mr. Clown? Answer quickly." The Judge descended now, her heeled boots touching the ceramic tile with a deliberate click. Nearly five feet tall, her feminine form was swathed in a gown , every inch of flesh veiled save for the perforated black mask over her face.
Beyond it gleamed a radiant silver brilliance, turning her into a vision of a dark angel—glorious and lethal, illuminated by the prismatic light perforating the glass.
"Isn't it obvious?" The Clown turned to his blackboard, chalk already scratching across its surface without diminishing. "I took them somewhere safer."
"Where?" Her steps advanced, the light haloing her form"And why?"
Without glancing her way, his chalk etched a diagram: twin circles linked by a wavy arrow. "The Underground Shelter." He paused, casting a sidelong glance at the Judge. "And why? All I need present are Mnemonics of the Codex Pathway. Only they possess the brainpower to comprehend what I'm about to theorize."
"Then why am I still here, Mr. Clown?" She advanced another step, closing the distance. "Or perhaps you simply... couldn't."
His chalk traced a perfect circle on the board, then a smaller one within, adorned with iris-like patterns—all in the blink of an eye.
"Mind your words." He drew a parallel line, his tone sharpening. "I could. But I simply needed your permission." Another sidelong glare, heavy with implication. "Since you are from the Order."
The words lingered l in the air. After a pregnant pause, as if absorbing their gravity, she retreated a few steps, her silver gaze never wavering from him or the two motionless hooded emissaries.
"What is this thing you wish to theorize?" The ruby-haired emissary from the Primordial Sun stepped forward, his form phasing through the air to materialize on the stage.
He completed the final sigil, the board now a tapestry of arcane diagrams and formulas beyond mortal discernment .The chalk plummeted to the floor, burrowing into a small crater.
"Valen's Salvation."
He beckoned them closer, pointing to the laden surface. Even the Judge's eyes reflected ignorance, while the others lit with elation and sudden clarity
—a hallmark of the Codex Pathway, the gift to pierce veils and grasp the truth even in the Maze of Complexity
"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... hope."
The earlier emissary's eyes widened as he scanned the board, the others mirroring his intense scrutiny. "The Eye of Wonder... but why so many laws?"
The Clown's gaze flicked to his own creation, the diagram unfolding like a map.
[The Eye of Wonder
Classification: Sequence 4 (Divine-Class Relic)
Authority: Spacetime / Geodesic Planetary Relocation
The left circle was labeled "OCULUS."
Inside it, a simple spiral traced with a dotted line converged on a central dot marked "Pupil." A curved bracket beneath read "Evacuation Zone."
The right circle was labeled "IRIS."
Within, a rudimentary orrery depicted a sun, planet, and moon in orbit. At its heart, zig-zag lines shaded a shimmering gateway. The bracket below declared "Safe Haven."
A wavy arrow linked the two, arcing from Oculus to Iris, inscribed "Coriolis Cascade."]
"Well, you see..." His eyes dropped to the denser weave of equations below. "These aren't laws. They're puzzles."
[THE FOUNDATIONAL LAWS OF ASTRAL TRANSPOSITION
I. The Transposition Theorem
Statement:
```
∫∫ ψ(e) dA = ∫∫∫ δ(x' - x) dV'
∂S M
```
II. The Conservation Price (Corollary to the Transposition Theorem)
Statement:
```
t₁ t₁
∫ L dt = ∫ (L - ΔL) dt
t₀ t₀
```
---
III. The Reality Conservation Law
Statement:
```
Σ(δℒ/δg_{μν}) + T_{μν}^{artifact} = 0
```
---
IV. Temporal Debt Accumulation
Statement:
```
ΔT = (1/Ω) · (Σ m_i · v_i²) / (2I)
```
---
V. The Animus Calculus
Statement:
```
Effect = Φ(∭_{mind} ∇Will dV^c)
```
---
VI. The Noetic Anchor Conjecture (The Grand Gamble)
Statement:
```
N = λ · ‖Ø‖²
```
The Judge's hand rose blankly, gesturing at the labyrinth of complexity. "All this... just to activate an Artifact?"
"Well..." A cane materialized in his grip from the thin air, its tip jabbing at the Eye of Wonder's description. "First of all, it's a Relic, not an Artifact. That's why it was never taken from Anubis."
"What's the difference, Clown?"
This time, the Primordial Sun emissary responded. "Relics hail from the Lost Epoch—or perhaps the distant Future—forged by unknown Pre Epoch entities we generally refer to as 'Geometers.'" He descended the steps, hand stroking his chin. "Artifacts are sacred items crafted by saints and safeguarded in Anubis." His gaze sharpened on the diagram. "But we've always speculated the Eye of Wonder was an Artifact."
The Judge glanced at the Clown, who shrugged in wry agreement.
"So you formulated all these to utilize the relic?"
A smile spread across his painted face, clownish and enigmatic. "No... actually, they were formulated by one of us." Fresh chalk appeared, scrawling a name across the board. "William Frankenstein—Stein's, for short." The chalk withdrew. "He did it mostly out of boredom, and thus left a few loopholes. And well..Since he's not here,we'd be the ones to complete it."
"Solve this entire puzzle..." The Ethereal Moon emissary muttered to himself, eyes devouring the formulas. "It's almost impossible. It's a maze of laws... You can't unravel the puzzle of a being far beyond our sequence."
The Clown's eyes danced to the silent emissaries of the Orery of Eternal Night, a sly smile playing on his lips.
Another seismic force hammered the cathedral, the grand chandelier swaying perilously..
"Well it seems Time's not on our side," he said, returning to the board. "So, for starters, how about we break down the laws?"