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*****
"Keeping you around isn't going to be of any more use."
Having finished extracting every scrap of useful information from the mysterious man's memories, George didn't hesitate. With a casual strike, he ended the man's life and promptly collected the Sequence 5 Beyonder characteristic that manifested from the remains.
The Twilight Hermit Order was a unique organization; their meetings took place entirely within a collective dream, with members being personally "pulled" in by Adam. Even if George turned Lockhart Sycamore into a marionette—perfectly mimicking his personality and memories to the point of being indistinguishable in the physical world—it would be useless for infiltrating their inner circle.
Because a marionette was, for all intents and purposes, a corpse. A dead man cannot dream, and therefore, he could never be summoned to those ethereal meetings.
"You might as well stay active, though. Perhaps you can still lure out a few other members," George mused.
After disposing of Lockhart's physical shell, George returned home but maintained his remote connection to the marionette, Jason. If Adam realized Lockhart was dead, there was a high probability he would dispatch a more formidable operative to investigate. That investigation would inevitably lead them back to the man they had hired—Jason.
By keeping the puppet "alive" and going about its business, George was effectively setting a trap, waiting for the hunter to become the prey.
He found himself increasingly intrigued by Adam, the personification of the Ancient Sun God's divinity. Why was Adam so intent on assassinating Duke Negan? What did it truly mean to let the "tide of the era flow in its predetermined direction"?
Could it be related to the apotheosis ritual of the Visionary pathway?
As a Sequence 1 Angel, Adam's current agenda likely revolved around two primary goals. First, merging with the True Creator to become the complete Ancient Sun God once more. Second, ascending to Sequence 0 to become a True God.
George looked at his own hand. He currently possessed Sealed Artifact 0-08, which was effectively the same as holding a Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristic of the Spectator pathway. If Adam wished to ascend to godhood, he would eventually have to come for George to reclaim 0-08. Knowing this, George preferred to be the one striking first.
"I have a feeling Adam and the Loen Royal Family are more intertwined than they appear," he whispered to himself.
Although Lockhart's memories didn't show a direct, formal alliance with the Royals, the mission to kill Duke Negan—the leader of the conservatives—served the Royal Family's political interests perfectly. Combine that with the military's clandestine involvement in large-scale human trafficking, and a pattern began to emerge.
"We'll see what the Churches turned up tomorrow."
The following day, Crestet Cesalpino took the initiative to contact George, reaching out through a dream.
"George, we need your help with something."
"Do you want me to take care of Selt for you?" George asked, his tone laced with interest.
Crestet shook his head with a touch of awkwardness. "No. We simply hope that you can spend more time patrolling Backlund recently. If you discover anything unusual, notify us immediately."
George raised an eyebrow. "I take it the Royal Family gave you a 'reasonable' explanation?"
Crestet sighed deeply. "Last night, our Archbishop and the Archbishop of the Church of Storms visited the palace together to demand answers regarding the human trafficking. The Royal Family didn't deny it.
"Their explanation was that they had discovered the hidden ruins of the Blood Emperor, Alista Tudor. They claimed they were conducting a secret excavation and needed a large, expendable labor force, which is why they purchased so many slaves. As for the kidnapping and the 'training' of young girls at the villa, they pinned that entirely on the personal depravity of a few military Beyonders. They claimed the Royal Family had no knowledge of those specific atrocities."
"The Blood Emperor, Alista Tudor?"
George let the name resonate in his mind, pulling from the wealth of knowledge he had gathered from Roselle's diary, the memories of the Beyonders he had soul-searched, and the secrets he had essentially "fleeced" from various evil gods.
Alista Tudor had emerged in the Third Epoch. Alongside other Angels, he had gazed upon the second Blasphemy Slate, gaining mastery over the Black Emperor pathway. By the Fourth Epoch, during the Solomon Empire, he had reached Sequence 2 of that pathway. After the fall of the Black Emperor Solomon, he ascended to Sequence 1.
However, with Solomon's inevitable resurrection looming, the six orthodox deities supported Trunsoest in switching pathways to become the "Arbiter" Sequence 0, establishing the Trunsoest Empire and becoming the Night Emperor.
Left with no choice and supported by the likes of Amon, Alista Tudor was forced to forcibly ascend through the non-neighboring Red Priest pathway. He became a half-mad True God and established the Tudor Empire. His subordinates included five Great Angel families—Amon, Abraham, Antigonus, Jacob, and Tamara—and he even had the backing of the Angel of Imagination, Adam. Ultimately, he perished during the War of the Four Emperors.
"And the Churches actually believed that story?" George asked skeptically.
"We went to inspect the site," Crestet replied slowly. "It is, indeed, a ruin of the Blood Emperor. The purchased slaves were found there as well. The Royal Family promised that once the excavation is complete, the slaves will be granted their freedom and allowed to settle in Backlund. On the surface, there are no flaws in their narrative. The MI9 Beyonders involved were executed on the spot, and Saint Selt has been stripped of all his titles and duties for failing to supervise his subordinates."
Crestet paused before continuing, "However, the Archbishop still feels that things aren't as simple as they seem. That's why we want you to patrol the city. If you can find any discrepancies—if you can uncover the Royal Family's true secret—the Archbishop has authorized a reward: the Beyonder materials for the Sequence 4 Bizarro Sorcerer potion."
The Church was in a delicate position. Investigating the Royal Family's secrets was too dangerous for low-sequence Nighthawks, and the high-sequence members were preoccupied with the real enemies: evil gods and cultists. George was the perfect candidate. He didn't belong to the Church, he was exceptionally powerful, and he had plenty of free time. If he found something, the Church benefited; if he didn't, they lost nothing.
"No problem," George agreed without hesitation.
He was already patrolling the city at night for cultists anyway; this was just a minor addition to his routine. Moreover, he shared the Archbishop's suspicion. The Royal Family's explanation was far too tidy, which usually meant they were trying to hide something even bigger.
The Royal Family finds Blood Emperor ruins... Adam helps clear out the leader of the Conservatives... Adam was once a supporter of the Blood Emperor...
George connected these dots to the knowledge he had gained from the Black Emperor card regarding the apotheosis ritual. A startling hypothesis began to form in his mind.
"Is someone in the Royal Family planning to ascend as the Black Emperor?"
Adam had supported the Blood Emperor in the past. If he were allied with the Loen Royals now, it would make sense for him to help them find Tudor's ruins. Furthermore, Adam possessed the second Blasphemy Slate and knew every secret of the Black Emperor pathway. It just so happened that the Arbiter pathway, which the Royal Family controlled, was a neighboring pathway to the Black Emperor.
The ritual for the Black Emperor required the construction of nine secret mausoleums. Building such structures required an enormous amount of labor. To keep the Churches in the dark, the Royals couldn't use the public; they had to rely on human traffickers to acquire slaves in secret.
"If that's the case... the one seeking godhood has to be George III."
To become the Sequence 0 Black Emperor, one first had to be an actual Emperor. The current King of Loen was George III. Additionally, the ritual required the Emperor to establish a set of strict, complex, and "distorted" rules that defied normality. This aligned perfectly with the King's odd behavior—ignoring his traditional Conservative base to support the New Party and pushing for constant, radical reforms.
(End of Chapter)