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*****
Two days had passed since the High Deacons of the Holy Cathedral departed from Tingen, and a sense of profound stillness had finally settled over the city.
To the average citizen, the recent chaos was nothing more than an anomaly—a stray meteor that had coincidentally plummeted into Tingen, striking a single house. Fortunately, the official reports claimed there were no casualties. The common folk remained blissfully unaware of how narrowly they had avoided becoming sacrificial offerings to an Evil God.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, exactly one hour before the scheduled Tarot Club meeting, Klein summoned George. He took this time to inform George of the final decisions and handling results passed down by the Church.
In turn, George did not withhold anything. He truthfully recounted every clue he had obtained through divination from the True Creator, laying them all out for Klein.
"I never imagined... that it was actually true..."
Upon learning the ultimate truth, Klein's entire demeanor seemed to wither instantly. He looked as though the very spirit had been drained from his body.
In truth, ever since he had glimpsed those translucent cocoons hanging above the gray fog, suspicions had begun to take root in his mind. But at that time, they were merely conjectures—ghostly possibilities he wasn't ready to face.
Now, with the confirmation that this world was indeed Earth, the weight of the realization crushed him. His family, his friends, and everyone he once knew were long dead. The realization that he could never truly "go home" sent a wave of agonizing sorrow through his heart.
Fortunately, he had already undergone a period of mental preparation during the preceding days. After a brief interval of visible despondency, he managed to pull himself back to a semblance of normalcy.
Since there was no path back to the past, he had no choice but to live well in the present. He took solace in the fact that he was no longer truly alone; he had found a new family and forged new friendships in this world.
"What do you plan to do now?" George asked, watching Klein recover his composure from across the table.
Klein fell into a long, silent period of cold, calculated thought before finally speaking.
"I want to make a deal with you."
When he had first established the Tarot Club and pushed himself to advance through the Sequences, his primary motivation had been to find a way home. At his core, Klein was not an overly ambitious man; he preferred the prospect of a peaceful, stable life. He would have been content drawing a generous salary as a Nighthawk and handling Beyonder incidents that weren't excessively terrifying.
However, the descent of the Evil God's spawn had served as a grim reminder: this world was saturated with extreme danger. If he wished to protect the people he cared about, he needed power.
Yet, he faced a massive paradox. He was a contingency plan—a "back hand"—prepared by the Celestial Worthy for his resurrection. The faster Klein increased his strength, the closer he came to death. Every advancement made it easier for the Celestial Worthy to awaken within him and seize his body.
To have both safety and power, he had to rid himself of Sefirah Castle. He needed to transfer that karmic burden to someone else.
What represented a terrifying curse to Klein, however, would be a supreme opportunity for a truly powerful individual. He knew that if he were to make the existence of Sefirah Castle public, countless powerhouses would be willing to pay any price to take it from him.
The problem was his current level of strength. If he approached the wrong person, they wouldn't "exchange" anything; they would simply kill him and take it by force.
Because of this, he felt it was better to entrust it to his fellow transmigrator. George was sufficiently powerful, and through their interactions, Klein could see that George was different from himself—George was not a man who would ever settle for a quiet, mundane life.
By handing it over, Klein could escape the risk of being possessed by the Celestial Worthy while simultaneously securing George's protection.
In the past, George had helped him because they were both searching for the truth of their transmigration. But now that the truth was out, Klein felt it was improper to keep burdening his compatriot without offering something of equal value.
Of course, if George refused to take over Sefirah Castle, Klein would have to find other ways to deal with the threat of the Celestial Worthy—the simplest being to stop advancing to higher Sequences altogether. As long as he remained a low-sequence Beyonder, the Celestial Worthy would likely never awaken.
"What kind of deal? Speak your mind," George said. He had already seen through Klein's intentions; this was exactly the outcome he had hoped for when he chose to reveal the truth.
As expected, Klein proposed gifting Sefirah Castle to George. In return, he hoped George would continue to intervene and help him during future crises, much like he had done this time.
George agreed without a moment's hesitation.
"No problem. I will use my own methods to refine Sefirah Castle. However, even after I refine it, for the time being, it should stay with you."
George leaned back, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You can continue to use the castle, maintaining your disguise as 'The Fool' and using the Tarot Club to gather intelligence and increase your strength."
George knew that to truly accommodate Sefirah Castle and advance to the level of a Great Old One, one had to first reach Sequence 0 of the Seer pathway. Therefore, he wasn't in a hurry to physically claim it; doing so now wouldn't immediatey boost his own power significantly.
More importantly, George possessed his own "World" which was currently more useful to him than Sefirah Castle. He also knew that the Evernight Goddess, who was constantly watching from the shadows, was undoubtedly aware that Klein was the Celestial Worthy's vessel.
Based on the memories of the True Creator, George suspected the Evernight Goddess was also a modern transmigrator. If that were the case, the mystery of the third cocoon on Sefirah Castle was solved.
The Celestial Worthy had hung many modern souls above the gray fog, and so far, three had been released. Klein was one, Roselle was another, and the third—whom Klein assumed was George—was likely the Goddess herself.
This explained why the Goddess had been monitoring Klein without taking direct action. If a true god were watching him, they would have long since discovered the secret of Sefirah Castle. Even if the Sefirah didn't match their own pathway, it was an invaluable prize to be traded or used.
Yet, the Goddess did nothing but guide Klein into her Church, ensuring he was a believer she could monitor at all times. If she was the first soul released, everything made sense. As a former "back hand" herself, she knew the dangers. She didn't want to be possessed by the Celestial Worthy, so she wouldn't touch the castle, but she also couldn't allow it to fall into the hands of others who might inadvertently trigger the Celestial Worthy's return.
George realized that his contact with Klein had likely already alerted the Goddess. If she discovered that he had taken Sefirah Castle from Klein, she would probably descend immediately for a "talk."
George actually suspected she was already on the verge of intervening. The fact that she hadn't appeared yet meant she was either incredibly patient or occupied by something more pressing.
By refining Sefirah Castle but letting Klein continue to use it, George could create the illusion that the castle's owner hadn't changed. He still needed the Church of Evernight to acquire the materials for his own advancement; he couldn't afford a premature showdown with the Goddess. If a meeting went poorly, his cooperation with the Church would end instantly.
Furthermore, George understood a fundamental rule of this world: the higher the Sequence, the easier it was for the original Creator's will to awaken.
He realized that it was best to follow the established advancement rituals as closely as possible. Even though his body and soul were immensely powerful and he could theoretically ignore the risk of losing control, rushing the process would only accelerate the awakening of the Great Old Ones' consciousness within him.
The Celestial Worthy's influence was manageable, but the original Creator's will was far more troublesome. Thus, even if he wasn't interested in the world's power system for its own sake, he had to play by its rules—concocting potions, digesting them, and undergoing rituals—to step-by-step reach Sequence 0 safely.
(End of Chapter)