Sefirah Castle's front yard was punctuated by three sets of finger tapping resonating along the long table. The Sun God's pale, and long fingers stopped, followed by rest. His golden eyes glinted as "He" observed them.
"Fascinating."
What an apt conclusion. Both Amanises and Klein shared a thought, with the former stealing glances at the lamp. How could anyone guess such an existence was reduced to this state? Part of her felt a little sorry for him, though another could barely restraint itself. She let out a light cough as she leaned and interlocked her fingers, addressing the Sun. "I didn't ask you this but, Tolzna was your doing, right?"
The Dual True God admitted. "Amidst the maddening effect surrounding the mutants, "He" drew my attention the most." He once more glanced at both. "And after our latest operation, my meeting with Lilith, and observing the mutants, I have decided to prioritise those six pathways."
Both nodded in understanding. The Special Six were originally in control of their respective Outer Deities. Thus, it was imperative for Earth to groom representatives for this pathways to directly combat "Their" influence.
"Recent events have shifted the way I see things," "He" let out a sigh, gazing specifically at Klein. "Our meeting with Medici was even more ingrained into Fate than I imagined."
Amanises looked between the two, before understanding dawned on her. She frowned a little and muttered, "The City of Calamity?" Her eyes drifted. "The Primordial Creator was also the Calamity of Destruction?"
Klein inclined his head. "Yeah. This is what I deduced as well."
She tilted her head, still in disbelief. Though, reviewing certain crucial details did bring reason to this fact. His influence is all over the Mutants, especially given Farbauti's actions. Then there's the Symbol of War who suddenly decides to take a vacation to some random island across the world… Then has a kid at that…
She nodded slowly. "That makes Nine pathways as far as we know… Isn't that exaggerated?"
It isn't a numbers game, Klein's musings were expanded upon by Grisha's words. "Authorities and numbers shpoud only matter to an extent at Above the Sequence level. Rather, Symbolism is the primary focus."
He lowered his head, mumbling, "Some authorities from unrelated pathways can intersect. It isn't farfetched to believe such a phenomena isn't repeated with Symbolisms. The Demoness and Red Priest; Chained and Abyss…"
Impressive, Klein praised this pseudo-White Tower in his mind, already predicting what conclusion "He" will make. Having control of the Error pathway, Klein could decrypt all sorts of things, and promptly form a complete and logical picture. But this had the hard limits of needing a certain level of relevant clues, and relying heavily on the user's logic. The former was why high-level Concealment, the like employed by Darkness, was a complete counter. As for the latter, being a born mythical creature with no humanity, Amon could never fully deduce his full Honorific Name as a Scholar of Yore, based on the clues "He" possessed. This was simply because the last line appealed to Klein's humanity; something Amon could never truly understand.
However, this wasn't necessarily the case with the White Tower. Certainly, as one advanced through this path, building up and relying on one's deep experience and knowledge was key. But the sublimation to Sequence 0 elevated it to the next level. Not even Darkness's Concealment was a full counter to the Tower's Gaze.
Of course, Klein felt a little petty so he directly honoured Amanises's wish by telling them the symbolisms of the Great Old Ones based on Earth.
…You've quite the knowledge bank. This time, both the Knight and God shared a thought as Klein emphasised. "The Dual nature of the Calamity of Destruction, which I assume are mixed at that level, should be key… The Father of Devils is more ambiguous, though given who the Primordial God Almighty is, it makes sense to an extent."
They accepted his logic with Amanises chiming in, "Eternal Darkness, the Singularity of all and Space-Time-in-One, lines well with the King of Space-time. As for the Anarchy…" Her words trailed but she blinked, looking at them.
Both smiled at her.
"Tch, I can't keep carrying you guys," she muttered under her breath, shaking her head. "The Anarchy, at least, the Black Emperor synergies well with the Loophole in Rules. I can't deduce anything further than this." She leaned back, crossing her arms. Her mind still found it unbelievable that one existence that wasn't the Orginal Creator could take in so much. Then again, even those behemoths had to follow the rules and go mad.
She believed it was a fitting end for such uncaring gluttons. Like, why take so much? Leave some for the rest!
Solemnity returned to her mind as she rubbed her chin. "Though, three remain unaccounted for, with one them standing out the most. Especially given who It belonged to…"
Grisha hummed. "Logically, it would've been their first target of suppression, even if none wished to accommodate it."
"But we can't always apply logic to these beings."
Yep. Klein agreed. He was most connected to the Celestial Worthy which explained why he could anticipate this fraudster's moves. At least, when compared to the more elusive Pillars.
Pillars… Klein's eyes gleamed, causing both the Star and Sun to turn to him. His brows knitted before he finally organised his words. "In this Universe, there's a Hidden Fourth Pillar."
He locked eyes with them. "It represents the end of everything, even that of the Great Old Ones. And Its core components are the Eternal Darkness and Calamity of Destruction."
His words caused both their brows to shoot up to varying degrees as Grisha tilted forward. "Then Their madness, or should I say, Convergence instinct had a much deeper meaning. And the Genie…" "He" peeked at the Lamp, before narrowing "His" eyes. Amanises also caught something as she questioned Klein.
"You never mentioned this."
Klein nodded with an uncharacteristically grave expression. "I didn't. It must've slipped… No, it was like I never knew it to begin with." He too turned to peer at the lamp. "His hint and our current discussion seemed to have brought back this forgotten knowledge."
Again… Amanises's jaw went tight. No. She shifted her attention to Grisha who did the same. There's a difference.
On one hand, Klein ignored the crucial detail involving the Devils. As for this one, he, who had the uncontested control over the Fog of History, straight up forgot, and didn't know he did until he was reminded.
"Darknesshas something similar, though not to that extent…" she whispered, and Grisha immediately picked up after her. "You believe Darkness who possess initial control of the River of the Eternal Darkness can do that?"
She nodded slowly while Klein thought back to Salinger. Not the contemporary one of course.
"It isn't necessarily just Darkness," he grabbed their attention once again. "Likely even Death and Twilight Giant. As for whether Aurmir and Gregrace have used such a thing… possible. Though given its qualities, it's not a fact we can simply verify."
He imitated his Knight, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Though, this clears up a lot, and I mean, a lot of incongruous details."
Grisha and Amanises straightened at this, their focus palpable.
Klein didn't dare tease them this time. "Firstly, the Genie's hint. If we apply the same logic we did with Darkness to Death, then the END brought by the Fourth Pillar would be a step above."
"At "Their" unstable peaks, what do you think is the most common detail among the pathways "They" control?"
Amanises started thinking, but Grisha abruptly answered, "Resurrection. "They" did not lack in ways to immediately return from even the most damning of fates."
Yeah that's true, Amanises inclined her head in agreement. Following their last operation, she had been keeping an extra eye on the Black Emperor Uniqueness. Her intuition told her this wasn't the end for It, and if she dared to lapse for a fraction of an instant, this Uniqueness would immediately spring up from Its Death state.
Darkness is obvious, same with Demoness and Fool… Dammit, These guys—I mean, existences, just wouldn't die!
Her broadcasted inner monologue seemed to be peeked by Grisha as "He" smiled. "You believe one of the core Symbolism of the Fourth Pillar will directly negate this common point?" He turned to Klein. The latter bobbed his head and added, "Of course, this was likely not the full, encompassing Pillar. But this explanation tracks as not even the Spirit World of that time survived."
Amanises paused at this. She was intimately aware of this fact. After knowing of the true background of this world, she had desperately searched for traces of the Pre-Epoch in the Spirit World, but to no avail.
She let out a sigh and brought forward her thoughts. "This does explain a key aspect of this Era." She first turned to Grisha. "When I first saw the Blasphemy Slate, together with Klein's background information, I was quite puzzled. After all, consuming anything that appealed to your senses somewhat is the current norm."
"Indeed," Grisha acknowledged. "For the current Gods, madness or at least, a half-maddened state is the way of life. However, none of them began at "Their" current heights."
Klein supplemented. "To advance step-by-step in this manner—even if one were to skip crucial steps, like skipping an entire sequence, eight existences getting to the top doesn't make sense. Death, would've been the fate of even the most fortunate."
"But if the Will within the characteristics can't fight back properly…" Amanises said.
"Then eight barely squeezing through that tight crack to Divinity isn't impossible," Grisha completed, drawing Amanises's smile.
Look at us, she peeped around. Completing our sentences already… She couldn't help but shake her head.
Both Klein and Grisha were immersed in their contemplations, before the latter prepared to speak up, only to let the former take the floor. "This train of thought can be built upon. Even those two Great beings would've had to compete with the Wills already residing in what "They" aimed to devour."
"Suppressing the Wills?" Grisha proposed.
"Maybe by using "Their" high status as Pillars?" Klein stated, more of a statement than question.
"But the Brood Hive…"
"Yeah…" Klein agreed. "Given what I concluded from Omebella, It should be extra special."
At this, Grisha's golden eyes blinked, giving the opportunity for Amanises to explain the proposed relationship between the Goddess of Harvest and this Sefirah.
"…It sticks out even more," Grisha also found Himself rubbing His chin in reflection. "And there's also the fact that, though "They" met "Their" ENDs, "Their" influence and prior arrangements can still be felt."
Klein brushed his hair with a sigh. "The awakening of the Fourth Pillar can spell two paths. Either "They" fall into deep Slumber, or the END of everything occurs. I believe in our times, the Original Creator faced the former situation."
So Death, and a deep type of Slumber was what both of these Greed incarnates experienced. Amanises mused as she fixed her focus on the lamp. "I believe "His" situation in the last operation was special, due to both of "His" Uniqueness's, and high-level characteristics, being present."
"Exploiting anything to "Their" advantage is a trait of an excellent Black Emperor," Klein admitted as he likewise looked at the lamp. "His wish likely refers to his status as the Anarchy. Freed to act as one pleases."
At this, the hall fell silent. The Fool looked at his allies—his companions. "Keeping a special eye on Omebella and the Moon Uniqueness is in order."
The Sun and Star agreed. "I'll be making contact with the Giants shortly," the former stated. "And with your assistance Gentlemen, I'll deal with the Moon Uniqueness." the latter stated.
"Then the plan is quite clear." Klein leaned back at his chair, the three of them formally nodding the meeting to a closure. At once, Klein flicked his hand summoning the Justiciar and Black Emperor Uniqueness in front of Grisha. "You can keep them since I see no utility at the time being. I'll naturally keep the Genie."
Grisha nodded and pocketed the subdued Uniqueness inside his robe.
It was time for them to leave. Klein tapped the arm rest of his chair, sending Amansies back immediately leaving only Grisha and him. Grisha bearing a face of confusion promptly turned towards The Fool sensing he must have had something to say. Only to be met with a cold stare and an almost emotionless voice.
"Whatever you do, don't accommodate the Uniqueness."