1164 Cheating
Although Klein had been a Beyonder for less than two years, his experience could be described as rich and exciting, even among Sequence 4 and Sequence 3 saints. The things he possessed or encountered before that could be summoned from the Historical Void, and the ones that were capable of quickly killing him didnât number many.
Here, he chose the Flaring Sun Charm that he had used in Tingen City. He had already recited the incantation, injected his spirituality into it, and was about to activate the charms!
Indeed, to a demigod of the Seer pathway that meant bizarreness and change, it wasnât very effective against him. He mainly depended on the damage it did to his body, but Klein didnât dodge or defend himself. Instead, he released his body and mind to embrace the light of âhope.â
Even at the level of a Sequence 3 Scholar of Yore, the defense of a Seer pathwayâs Beyonder remained low. His offensive ability was also equally insufficient compared to his peers. This resulted in a sad fact:
When Klein wanted to commit suicide, he didnât have any powers that could quickly kill himself. After all, it was impossible for him to control his Spirit Body Threads and transform himself into his marionette. This would result in logical contradictions. Towards the end of the process, he would lack the ability to continue making himself a marionette.
And when he was searching for ways to kill himself through external means, he realized that, as long as he didnât use methods like Marionette Interchange, Paper Figurine Substitutes, and Historical Void Hiding, there were too many options that he could consider.
The Seer was such a powerful pathway that veered towards the extremes.
Seeing that Klein was about to take out a Flaring Sun Charm from the fog of history, along with having a strong desire to commit suicide, Amon only smiled. Without even raising âHisâ hand, âHeâ stole the entire idea, causing the crystal monocle to glow slightly.
Klein immediately forgot what he was trying to do.
But his actions didnât stop!
His shocked reaction when he heard that they were only half a day away from the final destination was mostly faked. This was because he had always been wary of the God of Deceit. He didnât trust anything that âHeâ said.
There were too many interpretations of ânot more than three days,â so Klein had long prepared for the worst. After hearing what Amon said, he immediately arranged the things he needed to do into a sequence: After having the idea of summoning the Flaring Sun Charm to commit suicide; it was to summon that existence; summon that existence; summon this, that, and those existences. He made it cyclic, hoping that no matter how many thoughts Amon stole from him, he would still follow his original plan and perform the corresponding actions.
Regarding this matter, back when he dealt with 0-08, he had been thinking about it above the gray fog. He had used the experience of treating the real him as a marionette and only following a predetermined set of actions. This helped him greatly.
At that moment, although he didnât know what he was trying to do, to the point of not realizing that he had forgotten something, he knew very well what he would do next.
The past wasnât important, but the present and future were key!
Klein reached out his palm again and grabbed the void in front of him. His entire arm sank.
However, when he retracted his right hand, nothing came out.
At the same time, Amon raised âHisâ palm and gently swiped forward.
âHeâ had stolen the Historical Void projection that Klein had summoned!
A figure quickly appeared beside Amon. It was an elder dressed in a hooded black robe. His eyes were deep black, like a dark water surface, and the white beard around his mouth was long and dense.
Zaratul!
The leader of the Secret Order, the Sequence 1 angel, Zaratul!
The existence that Klein had attempted to summon was actually Zaratul, and he had succeeded in one try!
This was because he had made preparations in advance.
Back in the city that the phoenix believers had built, when Klein had split his marionettes into three groups, he was actually attempting to summon Zaratul from the Historical Void.
Without a doubt, it was impossible to succeed at that time. However, as a Scholar of Yore, it would be a massive failure if one failed to notice that someone else was trying to summon their historical projection. As for Zaratul, he was definitely a senior, excellent, and experienced Scholar of Yore.
After such a failed summoning, Klein had established a connection with Zaratul.
This was the tacit understanding between Scholars of Yore!
As for a Miracle Invoker, an Attendant of Mysteries, âHeâ was able to respond to âHisâ historical projection. It was just like how a Scholar of Yore had a hundred percent chance of success when borrowing strength from his past.
In addition, a Scholar of Yore had no contractual connection with the Historical Void projection. They relied on the other partyâs lack of intelligence, or them having good relationships with them, to control it. And in this world, the few high-level existences most unwilling to see Amon obtain Sefirah Castle was Mr. Door, followed by Pallez, and then Zaratul!
In other words, the two of them were short-term allies when it came to resisting Amon.
Due to these factors, Klein believed that he could summon Zaratul in one go. And the facts proved that he was right.
And it was precisely because of this that he wasnât worried at all that Amon would steal away his historical projection that he had summoned. He even hoped that the Angel of Time would do so.
As for the reason why he first came up with the idea of committing suicide before summoning Zaratu, it was to let Amon steal his thoughts. And for Amon, âHeâ would be happy to try since âHeâ was a King of Angels in search of excitement. With too many choices for âHimâ to choose from, it was unlikely âHeâ would repeat another âThought Usurpation.â It might be the âTheftâ of a Historical Void projection.
This was one of the few trump cards that Klein had.
In the next second, Zaratulâs gaze turned from a glazed one to a spirited and real one.
Clearly, this Attendant of Mysteries, a senior Scholar of Yore, had entered the Historical Void and allowed âHisâ projection from the same era to receive âHisâ consciousness!
And having âHisâ own consciousness meant that Zaratulâs projection didnât hesitate at all to firmly cast âHisâ gaze at Amon.
The eyes of Amonâthe ones wearing and not wearing the monocleânarrowed at the same time. âHeâ saw the lightning around âHimâ increase in frequency as the vast wilderness with many ravines instantly turned empty and dark. They were speckled with twinkling stars.
âHeâ had apparently been pulled beneath the cosmos by Zaratul.
This was a miracle.
As for the projection opposite of Amon, it had already transformed into a gigantic, mysterious whirlpool formed by squirming mysterious. They extended out in all directions with transparent tentacles. Just looking at them would make humans lose their minds and turn crazy.
At that moment, Klein abandoned the other thoughts in the âqueue.â He took the opportunity to control a monster deep in the darkness and transform it into his marionette.
Immediately following that, he switched places with his marionette.
After coming to the depths of the darkness, Klein reached out his hand once again to grab at the air in front of him a few times in succession. His marionette did the same action as well.
Finally, he dragged a new figure out of the void.
It was a figure dressed in a simple linen robe, with a tree bark as a belt. Standing there, barefooted with long, black hair, Ariannaâs facial features were ordinary and her eyes dark and cold.
The Evernight cloisterâs matron, the ascetic leader, the Servant of Concealment, the Grounded Angel, Arianna.
As soon as Arianna appeared,âHerâ dark eyes turned normal. She didnât look like a projection at all.
âHerâ true body seemed to have entered a concealed state, allowing the summoned Historical Void projection to also possess intelligence.
This was also one of the reasons why Klein had chosen to summon âHer,â and had given up on summoning Mr. Azik and Miss Messenger who gave him a higher success rate. This way, even if an accident happened during his âsuicide,â preventing his success, there was still a chance to fight Amon in the subsequent battle!
After a Historical Voidâs projection possessed their own consciousness, it made it much easier for Klein to maintain them. This resulted in an extension in time for the maintenance of the projection.
Following that, he used the connection between the Scholar of Yore and their summoned Historical Void projection, quickly communicating to Servant of Concealment, Arianna, his intent to kill him!
Arianna suddenly bent âHerâ body, and âHerâ right hand reached behind her back. âSheâ pulled out a bone sword covered in strange patterns from the depths of the darkness.
Then, âSheâ suddenly took a step forward and swung âHerâ sword forward.
The entire darkness literally stirred as it wildly spread towards where the spot Klein was standing.
An unlucky monster happened to be situated between the two of them as it melted away when drowned by the tide of darkness.
This wasnât the authority of concealment. This was a combination of repose and horror. It symbolized danger in the darkness, a symbol of silent destruction and vanquishment.
The Beyonders of the Sleepless pathway had to reach Sequence 3 Horror Bishop to grasp such powers.
Subconsciously, Kleinâs survival instinct made him attempt to escape. But at that moment, he felt that the surrounding darkness was an enemy. If he was infected by that force, he would become a part of the tide. There was no avoiding it.
Thereâs no need to use all your strength. You can easily kill me with just a portion of your strength... Klein restrained his primal instincts, and he stood on the spot, waiting for the destruction to sweep through him.
At that moment, a distant, illusory bell sounded.
It was as if it had traveled through a long stretch of history, causing everything around it to slow down, including the surging darkness.
In midair, swaths of darkness were pierced, revealing a gigantic wall clock carved out of stone.
It was ancient and mottled, and its surface was separated into twelve segments by grayish-white and bluish-black colors. Each segment had different symbols, and the needle had a total of three handsâshort, medium, long. It seemed to be formed from the twelve rings of a Worm of Time.
As the second hand ticked, the bell rang again.
Gong!
As the sound echoed, the surging darkness like a tide slowed down even more. Then, the ancient clockâs projection dissipated, turning back into Amon with âHisâ pointed hat and monocle.
Behind âHimâ, the projection of Zaratul was also in a sluggish state.
Right on the heels of that, Amon levitated in midair, extending âHisâ right hand, and âHeâ pressed down at the darkness.
The darkness quickly returned to normal, drowning Klein without causing him any damage. It was unknown if there was a bug or if a Beyonder effect had been stolen.
At the same time, Amonâs body instantly became abnormally huge. It was nearly twenty meters tall, but none of âHisâ clothes suffered any damage.
âHeâ looked down at Klein and raised âHisâ hand to adjust his monocle. He ignored the attacks from the Zaratul projection behind âHimâ as âHeâ curled âHisâ lips and said with deep interest, âInteresting.â