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*****
Given George's temperament, finding a truly suitable candidate for a marionette was proving to be a challenge.
First, the target had to be powerful—ideally a Sequence 4 or even a Sequence 3. Controlling a high-level puppet would exponentially increase the speed at which he could digest the Marionettist potion. If he found the right one, he might finish the "acting" process in a matter of days.
Second, the person shouldn't be a degenerate criminal or a mindless butcher. To satisfy the laws of acting and ensure the puppet showed no flaws, George would have to force the marionette to act according to its original personality and habits. If the target was a monster, George would have to act like one. He had a moral baseline he wasn't willing to cross; since he had the luxury of choice, he saw no reason to corrupt his own conscience.
Third, the target should ideally be someone "deserving of death." Transforming someone into a marionette was an irreversible process that effectively ended their life. By picking a villain, George could proceed without any psychological burden. Of course, given his true level of power, if he actually wanted to revive someone later, it wasn't impossible—but it was simpler to pick someone who wouldn't be missed.
"I'll spend the next few nights wandering around Backlund to see if I can find a suitable candidate," George decided.
Backlund was, after all, the capital of the Loen Kingdom and the most prosperous city in the world. High-Sequence powerhouses were naturally more common here than anywhere else. George was confident it would only take a few days to find a match.
Finally, there was the matter of the ritual. Once a Beyonder reached Sequence 6, rituals became a mandatory supplement for advancement. Just as his jump from Faceless to Marionettist required the song of a mermaid, the transition from Sequence 5 Marionettist to Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer required its own specific ceremony:
By relying on one's own strength and planning, and under the gaze of a large audience, direct a grand drama to murder a demigod or an equivalent supernatural creature. Consume the potion at the climax or conclusion of the play.
For George, this was almost trivial. Killing a Sequence 4 demigod was a far cry from fighting a True God; it was essentially a matter of a single strike.
Just as he finished organizing his thoughts on his new sequence, George sensed a familiar summons from Klein. His soul detached from his infant body and ascended into the gray fog of Sefirah Castle.
"What is it?" George asked as he materialized.
"The two individuals recommended by Miss Justice... I've brought them both into the Tarot Club," Klein said, acting as the 'temporary steward' of the fog. "However, one of them is somewhat unique."
Klein quickly recounted the events of the last two days. After the previous Tarot Club meeting, Audrey had hidden the prayer formula to the Fool inside a book she lent to Xio and Fors. Xio had discovered and read the prayer out of curiosity, leading Klein to pull her into the club. While Xio was initially terrified, she gradually accepted the situation after learning about the club's nature.
Xio had eventually told Fors about the Tarot Club. Initially, the "salted fish" author, Fors, had no desire to join a mysterious and potentially dangerous secret society. She avoided the prayer entirely—until tonight. Under the influence of the "Full Moon Ravings," in a moment of desperation and pain, Fors had recited the prayer, and Klein had brought her into the gray fog.
"Her request is to find a way to stop the Full Moon Ravings," George mused after hearing the report. "And you suspect those ravings might be coming from 'Mr. Door,' the entity mentioned in Roselle's diary?"
George immediately understood why Klein had called for him. Klein knew that George could "fleece" knowledge from hidden entities through divination. Mr. Door was highly likely a Sequence 1 King of Angels. By using Fors as a medium, George could likely divine Mr. Door's location and strip away knowledge regarding the Door pathway.
"I understand. At the next Tarot Club meeting, I'll speak with her privately."
George could solve Fors's problem with a simple sealing technique. The payment, naturally, would be using her connection to link up with Mr. Door.
Klein's intuition was correct; George intended to "fleece" Mr. Door for everything he was worth. Compared to the True Gods or the Orthodox Deities, a mere King of Angels lacked the power to actively block George's prying eyes. George could keep plucking away until he had every scrap of knowledge the entity possessed.
George couldn't help but appreciate Klein's efficiency. The "temporary steward" was clever, capable, and saved George a great deal of legwork. No doubt, the box of gold bars George had provided earlier was serving as excellent motivation.
The following day was the weekend. Since Jack Barton didn't have to work, he decided to take his wife and child for a proper outing in Backlund.
After George finished his morning "feeding," he was bundled into a carriage by his parents and their maid. They headed toward one of Backlund's most famous landmarks: the Kingdom Museum. Specifically, they were there to see the special exhibition dedicated to the legendary Emperor Roselle.
George was quite interested in this. A Roselle exhibition was bound to include many of the Emperor's original diaries, which might contain valuable information about the Fourth Epoch.
In truth, George found Roselle quite fascinating. Based on the diaries, the man had been a classic "chuunibyou" youth before being pulled into Sefirah Castle. He must have watched plenty of movies, anime, and novels in his previous life. If Roselle were still alive, George might have been able to extract information from his memories about other potential "cloned worlds" that might appear in the future.
Once George eventually devoured and assimilated this world, he might even try to resurrect the Emperor to gather more intelligence. However, once he reached that level of power, he could likely just step into the River of Time himself to visit the modern world before its destruction.
Inside the Kingdom Museum at 2 King's Avenue, West District:
"Ladies and gentlemen, this area houses Emperor Roselle's everyday items," the guide Jack had hired explained fluently. "Look, those are his pajamas printed with a 'straw-hat boy.' Over there is a sword he crafted himself that can emit light, and here is his personal flush toilet—the very first flush toilet in the modern sense..."
George's gaze, however, was fixed elsewhere. His eyes were locked onto a simple bookmark clipped inside a display case.
Through his immense mental power, he had already sensed that the bookmark was extraordinary. Although it was concealed by a unique and subtle Beyonder power designed to hide its presence, such "secrecy" might fool a high-sequence inhabitant of this world, but it couldn't hide from George.
Is the 'Black Emperor' Card of Blasphemy hidden inside that bookmark? George wondered.
Roselle had written in his diaries that by viewing the second Blasphemy Slate, he had learned the potion formulas for every sequence. In his later years, he had used his abilities to create twenty-two Cards of Blasphemy, disguising them as mundane objects and scattering them. According to the records, the Black Emperor card had been transformed into an ordinary bookmark.
"I'll come back tonight to confirm it," George thought.
From this distance, even with his spiritual sense, he couldn't be one hundred percent certain without touching it. Once he had the bookmark in his hand tonight, its secrets would be laid bare.
After finishing the Roselle exhibit, George lost interest in the rest of the museum. He closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, while in reality, he was deep in thought, processing the knowledge he had already gathered. To the Barton couple, this looked perfectly normal—babies, after all, spent most of their time sleeping.
(End of Chapter)