After exchanging greetings with Roselle and the Evernight Goddess, Klein lowered his head and fell into silence once more, needing to refamiliarize himself with his current state.
...Although the characteristics have been separated, my status was not lowered because of it. It has already reached the level of Sequence 0. My strength has dropped somewhat, making me a King of Kings of Angels, the kind that is infinitely close to a true god.
...I am probably the true god with the shortest existence time, less than a minute from start to finish before being killed and then resurrected. I'm not even comparable to the Emperor back then, heh... The only remaining advantage now is that my status is already The Fool. As long as I resolve the active consciousness of the Celestial Worthy within the characteristics, I can reclaim all characteristics at any time and become The Fool again.
Letting out a long breath, he raised his head to look at the several marionettes that respectively accommodated the Attendant of Mysteries and Key of Stars characteristics. Feeling somewhat uneasy, he added a layer of sealing upon them to prevent the convergence of characteristics caused by being too close.
"Why didn't I notice you being this prudent before?" Roselle poked fun at Klein's action of adding seals to his marionettes.
Klein shook his head and explained:
"This is a necessary insurance. The previous actions were because there was already a relatively mature and flawless plan, and I had no room for retreat. It seemed thrilling, but in truth, it was all within expectations."
Klein's answer made Roselle freeze for a brief moment, after which he nodded and smiled:
"It certainly fits the style of you Seers—sometimes terribly cowardly, and sometimes extraordinarily reckless."
Klein did not dwell on this topic. After separating the extra Attendant of Mysteries characteristics, the awakened consciousness of the Celestial Worthy inside his body had been reduced to a bearable baseline. Under the balance of faith, he finally adjusted his mental state to a relatively good point.
He raised his hand, letting Gehrman Sparrow, Dwayne Dantes, and Merlin Hermes each find a high-backed chair to sit down on, and then looked toward the Evernight Goddess to one side, nodding gently:
"Thank you for your help. My state has stabilized."
"In the time to follow, I will attempt to concoct some humanity for my marionettes, allowing them to also receive the faith of believers, grinding away the spiritual imprint belonging to the Celestial Worthy within the Beyonder characteristics bit by bit. Once it is safe, I will attempt to re-accommodate them and become a true The Fool."
"Having reclaimed the authority of Door, I also no longer need to worry about when Amon might suddenly appear before me."
Pausing slightly, Klein then added further: "I will try my best to thoroughly control Sefirah Castle before the seal on the Western Continent is uncovered, providing help for the struggle between you and the River of Eternal Darkness."
The Evernight Goddess nodded gently and said:
"You have ample time to do these things. There is no need to rush to reclaim the authority of Error; this can wait until after you thoroughly control Sefirah Castle."
"The True Creator also needs time to fuse Adam's divinity and reclaim the Chaos Sea. That Savant likewise needs time; only by becoming the Demon of Knowledge will He possess the capability to break through the seal of the Western Continent."
"During this remaining, relatively quiet period of time, you can utilize different identities to move about in reality, seeking more anchors for yourself and your marionettes."
"Do not forget the Nation of Disorder that I need as well," Roselle emphasized along the way.
Without waiting for Klein's response, he continued to speak:
"There are also the most troublesome Brood Hive and Tenebrous World. Once the seal on the Western Continent is lifted, if these two Sefirot cannot be dealt with or re-sealed in a timely manner, those two on the moon will definitely infiltrate power frantically, attempting to corrupt and reclaim control over them. When that time comes, the apocalypse is very likely to arrive ahead of schedule."
"Thinking carefully about it, I actually hope that fellow can uncover the seal on the Western Continent a bit later, or even better, directly throw a portion of the Sefirot back into the cosmos, letting some of the outer deities of the cosmos leave the solar system."
Klein shook his head, denying Roselle's lament: "Even if we wish to throw the Sefirot back into the cosmos, that would have to wait until the barrier left behind by the Creator vanishes."
Pausing slightly, he turned his head to look toward the Evernight Goddess and inquired:
"To cope with the subsequent apocalypse, what arrangements do the various orthodox churches have? Are there plans to clear out those cultists of the Rose School of Thought in the Southern Continent who worship the Mother Tree of Desire and Primordial Moon?"
The Evernight Goddess nodded gently, Her voice gentle, speaking without much fluctuation of emotion:
"In this aspect, the deities of the astral world and the True Creator have already reached a consensus. The various orthodox churches will draw out a portion of manpower to head to the Southern Continent, helping to clear out the cultists there who worship the outer deities of the cosmos."
"If you wish to participate, you can also dispatch a portion of manpower over. With the True Creator's restraint, Amon will not make things difficult for them."
"I understand," Klein nodded heavily, giving a response.
After conversing for a while inside the Divine Kingdom of darkness with the Evernight Goddess and Roselle, Klein ended the grafting, letting that ancient palace resembling a giant's residence return above the gray fog once more.
Klein cast a glance at the three marionettes sitting on both sides of the mottled long table with varying expressions. After a moment of silence, he spoke:
"World, you head out to sea. While clearing out the Rose School of Thought's forces at sea, help with the expansion of the Church of The Fool. I need more anchors."
"Yes, respected Mr. Fool."
Sitting at the absolute foot of the mottled long table, Gehrman Sparrow stood up from his chair, bowing slightly as he gave his salute.
Nodding, Klein then shifted his gaze toward Merlin Hermes and Dwayne Dantes.
These two marionettes each accommodated a portion of the Attendant of Mysteries characteristic. Although the characteristic had already been split into three portions by him, the spirit belonging to the Celestial Worthy within them still existed. They were relatively dangerous and could very likely lose control suddenly at certain moments.
"Go find Ankelwelt and let It weave a suitable humanity for you, then go spread faith... Forget it, you only need to spread your own names. Wait, it is better for me to do these things personally; I do not wish for some deviated faith to appear among my believers."
Klein sighed again after speaking. The previous struggle with Amon had caused the Celestial Worthy's consciousness to awaken too much. Although he had separated the characteristics into different marionettes, this was not absolutely safe, especially under the condition where Amon had not suffered a major blow.
Merlin Hermes and Dwayne Dantes stood up simultaneously, offering a salute toward Klein at the absolute head of the mottled long table:
"We comply with your will."
Very soon, only Klein's figure remained inside the ancient palace resembling a giant's residence. Sitting at the absolute head of the mottled long table, he rubbed his forehead with some exhaustion, sighing:
"Everything has finally come to a temporary close. I wonder what the situation is like over on the side of the Western Continent sealed by the gray fog."
.....
The Western Continent. In the center of the dark and heavy wilderness where countless figures shifted, that tall tower piercing directly into the illusory cosmos seemed to be glowing, casting a dim, unbrilliant, un-clear glimmer devoid of any color over the entire wilderness.
Within the light, it looked as though an immense volume of illusory matters extended outward, turning into patches of light spots that interwoven and reorganized at random.
Some of them came from the past, some came from the future, and some existed in the present, belonging to a type of projection of information. They evolved wantonly upon the wilderness, looking as though they were gazing back at the past of this world, deducing the countless types of futures that could exist.
At a certain moment, the surroundings suddenly grew dark, and all light and information were absorbed into the tall tower.
Within the pure darkness, an eye reflecting clear brilliance opened. A second eye, a third eye...
One eye after another bred out within the darkness. These eyes flickered with pure light, giving off an exceptionally holy feeling filled with wisdom, yet appearing quite cold and lacking temperature.
They gazed at everything with indifference, like observers outside the world, gazing and calculating the various developments of civilization with indifference.
Silently and soundlessly, these eyes began to move. They looked as though they were placed upon individual pitch-black curtains, being dragged to converge toward the center.
Subsequently, starlight began to spill down from high above, re-illuminating this dark and heavy wilderness.
The darkness continuously converging toward the absolute center gradually became heavy, looking as though it were about to grow limbs and a head. The pitch-black curtain that bred eyes transformed into a somewhat illusory black hooded classical long robe, draped over the dark body covered in eyes.
Beneath the hood, no face existed; there was only a deep, slowly rotating expanse of astral sand.
Upon the dark limbs that resembled a dried corpse, individual eyes sized up the surroundings, looking as though they were the true body, and the dark, shriveled limbs underneath were merely a dispensable carrier.
After standing on the spot lost in a daze for a good while, he gradually recovered his senses. Streams of starlight spilled down from high above, transforming into various shapes the instant they touched the wilderness—there were machineries, humans, plants, as well as dragons and giants...
Upon the various forms condensed by brilliant starlight, colors emerged like splashed ink and solidified rapidly, causing these creations condensed by starlight to become real and vivid.
A steam train roared past on the iron tracks. Midair, a dragon traveled alongside it. They passed by giants who used giant trees as wooden stakes, passed by docks where ships berthed, passed by bustling and lively cities, expanding villages, and towering, spired churches...
Everything was as harmonious as a picture scroll, a utopia that existed only in books and stories.
"To me, knowledge is no longer abstract; it possesses tangible colors, forms, preferences, and power. As long as it exists, it is real."
"As long as I am willing, civilization can evolve in the direction I desire at any time. All the living beings that compose the civilization will not have any awareness of it, even demigods."
"My thinking and thoughts are like furious waves kicked up in the ocean of the collective subconscious. The seawater and floating islands within the range can only passively accept the transition of thought, even entirely without self-awareness."
During his low self-muttering, beneath the hood of the classical black robe, the slowly rotating astral sand gradually became transparent, and a face highly similar to Leyton emerged.