Among the stitched-together spirits, the residual spirit belonging to Zaratul was the first to be swallowed by the Celestial Worthy. Compared to Klein and Antigonus, the already deceased Zaratul was the most fragile.
With the consciousness of the Celestial Worthy gradually growing stronger, the portion of Sefirah Castle's authority that Amon had stolen was snatched back once more.
Beneath the illusory mask with no facial features, Antigonus's voice suddenly rang out:
"Above Sefirah Castle, the gap between us is not that wide. It can even be said to be very small—small enough to be negligible."
Just as Antigonus's voice faded, Klein's voice rang out:
"Heh... we are all going mad anyway, so why not play something thrilling."
"The awakening of the Celestial Worthy's will is already irreversible. We might as well go completely mad. Let this Mr. Error join us as well. The three of us, plus the Celestial Worthy, are just enough to make a full table for Mahjong."
"Haha, my apologies, I forgot—people of your era have absolutely no knowledge of this form of entertainment."
"But do not worry, the Celestial Worthy and I will teach you."
As his words fell, from beneath the translucent dark cloak, one transparent and slimy tentacle after another extended outward, lashing wildly at the surroundings and clawing toward Amon from every direction.
Above the gray fog, They could all leverage this Sefirah to utilize any authority belonging to the three pathways of Error, Door, and The Fool. Without additional external help, and with their various Beyonder abilities and authorities canceling one another out, the only thing They could ultimately compete over was their degree of control over Sefirah Castle.
And in this aspect, the mentally stitched entity of Klein and Antigonus, within whom the Celestial Worthy's consciousness had already begun to awaken, gradually gained the upper hand.
"Lunatic..." Amon sighed softly with a expressionless face.
Antigonus's voice followed closely behind:
"With your prudence, you undoubtedly still have Angel-level avatars remaining in the outside world. Even if you fail to contend for Sefirah Castle, at most your status will be lowered, but you will not perish."
"Therefore, you have two choices next." Klein took over Antigonus's words and continued:
"Fight us to the bitter end and see who can resolve the other before the Celestial Worthy's consciousness inside their body completely awakens, or have everyone fail and let that Celestial Worthy truly come back to life."
"However, in my cognition, even the worst-case scenario of the original Lord of the Mysteries resurrecting is preferable to having you become the new Lord of the Mysteries. A Great Old One who has absolutely no care for this world is still safer than you."
"Or, you could put in some effort to escape Sefirah Castle. That way, you can still preserve your avatars left in the outside world. With the True Creator around, at least you won't truly perish."
Amon looked with a half-smile at Klein, whose figure was on the verge of collapse, and said without any hesitation:
"Then let us have a gamble to see whether my Psychiatrist is more useful, or your stitched-together spirit is more resilient."
Individual slimy tentacles lashed frantically at the surroundings, continuously reducing Amon's room for survival. He did not risk letting the Celestial Worthy's consciousness awaken inside His own body, which also resulted in Him being severely suppressed above Sefirah Castle.
After evading another attack from the surrounding tentacles, clear starlight flowed from His eyes, looking as though it contained layers upon layers of illusory doors.
He utilized the authority of Door once more, attempting to re-establish a connection between Sefirah Castle and reality. Once that happened, He would be able to leave this place by tampering with the rules.
There was not the slightest change in the surroundings. After losing His sole remaining portion of control over Sefirah Castle, His attempt failed without any surprise.
Bang!
His body was struck by a transparent, slimy tentacle. His thoughts instantly became sluggish, and His body trembled uncontrollably, manifesting countless cracked fissures.
In the next second, Amon's figure appeared in another direction. Gazing at the tentacles striking at Him from all directions, He raised His hand to adjust the monocle over His right eye. His body instantly blurred, losing its presence and making it impossible to be truly touched.
Taking advantage of the interval before His Beyonder ability was dispelled, He looked toward Klein and said:
"Are you certain you wish to enter the final battle of contention right now? To be frank, this is not a good time."
"Only by letting Sefirah Castle re-establish a connection with reality can your ritual take effect, only then can you suppress the awakening consciousness inside your body, and only then can you resolve the issues of your stitched spirit."
"And you would also have the opportunity to start over after making sufficient preparations."
"You should understand that from the moment you ascended Sefirah Castle, none of us have had any room for retreat. Unless one party dies, no one dares to stop."
"This is when my state is at its worst, but it is also when I am at my strongest."
Klein's voice sounded exceptionally suppressed and deep, as though he were enduring extreme madness and agony. As his words fell, the surrounding tentacles surged toward Amon even more frantically.
While Klein and Amon were conversing, Antigonus's spirit manipulated a portion of the tentacles to execute a fooling upon Amon, making it difficult for Him to evade the subsequent attacks.
Following a brief moment of daze, Amon's body was pierced through by individual transparent tentacles.
His thoughts and body grew sluggish simultaneously, becoming difficult to operate like an old piece of machinery. His thoughts, characteristics, Beyonder abilities, and even His destiny were being stolen over and over again.
...Sometimes having a split personality isn't entirely without its benefits, at least it offers a huge advantage when it comes to division of labor and cooperation... A thought flashed through Klein's mind. In the next second, he sensed Antigonus's will and thoughts:
"We must connect Sefirah Castle to reality. We can barely suppress the Celestial Worthy's awakening consciousness any longer. Tear away the authority of Door, and Amon will be unable to enter Sefirah Castle again."
"Resolve Amon first. He does not dare to stake His life against us."
The wills of Klein and Antigonus rapidly achieved unity. One of them continued to manipulate Amon's Spirit Body Threads, while the other leveraged Sefirah Castle to steal the authorities and characteristics from His body.
At this moment, it seemed even the Celestial Worthy's will stood on their side, urgently desiring to converge more authorities and characteristics so that He could truly return.
In an instant when no one noticed, a portion of the awakened Celestial Worthy's will instinctively relied on the power of Sefirah Castle to perform a tampering. It grafted a portion of the Worm of Time on Amon's body together with Himself, causing His own will to begin awakening inside Amon's body, simultaneously corrupting these three pathways to increase the possibility of His own resurrection.
Amon's body flickered continuously on the spot, like a malfunctioning monitor.
His body began to mutate. From beneath His black classical long robe extended tentacles possessing transparent segments and tainted with starlight. Upon His exposed skin sprouted dense, interwoven buds, and the aura on His body became chaotic and mad.
As the consciousness of the Celestial Worthy awakened upon His body, Amon suddenly pulled a smile toward Klein, whose frame was nearly collapsing, and said:
"Now, we stand on the same starting line."
While speaking, He began to contend for the control of Sefirah Castle, attempting to seize Sefirah Castle. However, under the condition where a portion of the Celestial Worthy's will had awakened within both parties' bodies, His attempt was still difficult to succeed.
Amon was not discouraged either. He quickly shifted His target, attempting to lift the closure of Sefirah Castle and return to reality.
During the tug-of-war with Amon, Klein's frame suddenly collapsed, turning into countless transparent, squirming Worms of Spirit and individual slimy tentacles that whipped blindly at the surroundings.
The Celestial Worthy's consciousness inside his body had awakened a step further!
The spirits of Klein and Antigonus strove with all their might to maintain their sense of self while continuing to steal the characteristics and authorities from Amon's body.
Finally, a translucent key of a peculiar design was dragged out from the void by a tentacle. This belonged to the Key of Stars characteristic accommodated by Amon.
"You are all lunatics..." Amon uttered with a slight sigh.
Losing a portion of the Door pathway's characteristics actually made things quite a bit easier for Him. Subsequently, He no longer countered Klein's and Antigonus's stealing of His own characteristics and authorities, and no longer distracted Himself to suppress the awakening Celestial Worthy's will inside His body. Instead, He used this to deepen His own grasp over Sefirah Castle, attempting to pull Sefirah Castle into reality.
Numerous tentacles surrounded Amon, pulling and lashing out with extreme rhythm and order...
After an unknown number of stealings, a pair of eyeballs that seemed to be composed of pure starlight and contained layers upon layers of illusory doors separated from Amon's body.
Amon seemed to have been prepared long ago. He reached out and made a hollow gripping motion toward that pair of eyeballs, creating an error.
Silently and soundlessly, clear starlight erupted from within that pair of eyeballs, interweaving a virtual door above the gray fog—a door connecting to reality.
Amon threw Himself into it without any hesitation, leaving this space above the gray fog.
Individual transparent, slimy tentacles lashed angrily at the gray fog below, causing the gray fog to suddenly split open.
The deep, heavy night sky emerged as a result. The space above the gray fog transformed into an abandoned palace at the summit of a towering mountain peak.
Klein leveraged and expanded the error created by Amon, grafting the palace that was left only in ruins above the gray fog onto the main peak of the Hornacis Mountains together with Antigonus.
Amon, who had just left the space above the gray fog by creating an error, likewise appeared here. He had been fooled.
Before He could make a reaction, the deep darkness submerged Him, pulling Him into a concealed world.
A pair of slender hands wearing sheer lace gloves extended from the darkness, turning the concealed world into a mass of black fog so rich it could not be dissolved, and tossed it into a pitch-black coffin.
Almost simultaneously, the surrounding deep dark night sky was replaced by an illusory, abstract cosmos. The location of the Hornacis Mountains' main peak was distorted and shifted into the astral world.
Roselle, holding an open brass book in his hand, appeared here. With a solemn expression, he proclaimed in a deep voice:
"The return of the dead is prohibited here!"
The tentacles that were frantically lashing at the surroundings suddenly froze. The terrifying will awakening within each Worm of Spirit weakened at extreme speed, producing a powerful tendency to return to slumber.
Klein and Antigonus, whose spirits had once again gained the upper hand, joined forces to suppress the anomalous movements of Sefirah Castle, denying the Celestial Worthy any opportunity to borrow power from Sefirah Castle.