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Aaron did not immediately return to reality after seeing the palace regain its silence. After pondering for a moment, he once again mobilized the power of the Nation of Disorder, while his spirituality spread towards the Darkness Emblem.
The faint glow of the dark patterns shimmered, and a palm-sized white bone cross, binding a greyish-white stone dragon, quietly emerged. Lines symbolizing Concealment covered the cross, isolating any possible detection.
Looking at the cross before him, Aaron couldn't help but recall the Vague figure carrying a hundred-meter cross at the peak of the towering mountain within the White Corpse Cathedral:
"The authority of a Visionary at least encompasses three major aspects: the kingdom of fantasy will descend upon the material world, the proclaimed future will unfold and become reality, and imagined items will materialize."
"Although Adam is still only a King of Angels, having accommodated the Uniqueness, he already possesses a portion of the Visionary's authority to some extent."
"That illusory figure bearing the cross is very likely the Ancient Sun God conjured by imagination. Even if limited by Adam's current Sequence, defeating an Ouroboros should be no problem."
Tapping the throne with his finger, Aaron suddenly became very curious about Ouroboros's current state. Hmm, he could ask Will Auceptin to confirm it later; after all, another Wheel of Fortune would naturally know the most about the Wheel of Fortune.
Looking at the cross gifted by Adam, Aaron collected his thoughts, pondering Adam's purpose. Back in that Corpse Cathedral, he didn't dare to think deeply, fearing that his expansive thoughts might expose the secrets he knew and cause greater trouble.
Now, in his own domain, facing this item that was at most conjured by Adam to participate in the Twilight Secret Order and connect to that real dream covering the entire continent, he had fewer reservations.
"Even a King of Angels, as long as they are not from the Justiciar or Black Emperor Pathways, theoretically cannot observe the Nation of Disorder; at most, they can detect the aura I carry."
But Aaron couldn't be sure how much Adam had seen. After all, he was essentially the divine aspect of the Ancient Sun God, in possession of the second Blasphemy Slate, and couldn't be inferred by normal reasoning.
After reapplying several seals to the cross, Aaron watched it disappear into the Darkness Emblem again. He beckoned for the paper crane from the pile of sundries, his thoughts still racing:
"Adam, with only his divinity remaining, is not influenced by emotions. He has no absolute friends or enemies, or rather, the criteria for judging both depend on considerations of interest."
"Adam, on the surface, established the Twilight Secret Order to secretly manipulate the world's situation, but in reality, it has always been to complete the ritual for advancing to a Visionary."
"This is almost something all deities know, but the essence of this matter is to become a Visionary, then use the Blasphemy Slate to merge with the True Creator and resurrect the Ancient Sun God."
"With the Evernight Goddess's tacit approval of 0-08, Adam's ascension to godhood is unstoppable. His core interest has evolved from 'becoming a god' to resisting the revival of the Primordial One's will."
"This should also be the reason why Adam allowed the Evernight Goddess to successively obtain the Death Uniqueness and the God of Combat Uniqueness; not stopping it is, in itself, support."
"After all, this is not something a Sequence 0 can do; at least, one must become an Outer Deity to truly help Adam. And the Justiciar and Black Emperor Pathways are partly derived from Outer Deities, so they are relatively less affected by the Primordial One's will."
"The Ancient Sun God, who inherited the mantle of God Almighty, likely knew long ago that the Nation of Disorder was not sealed in the Western Continent. Thus, the True Creator, as the fallen aspect, supported Solomon, while the Twilight Secret Order's support shifted from Roselle to George III..."
Taking a deep breath, Aaron's thoughts became clearer, and he had a rough guess about Adam's attitude:
"As long as it doesn't affect the world trend Adam expects, I and George III will take all!"
Recalling Hermes, whom he had met earlier while exploring the demigod residence of the Jacob family, Aaron's expression became slightly playful. Holding the paper crane, he instantly returned to reality.
Looking at the elegant and understated bedroom, Aaron picked up his pot-bellied fountain pen. Looking at the slightly damaged paper crane, he briefly wrote a sentence in a relatively intact corner:
"I want to meet you!"
Aaron refolded the paper crane and placed it beside him, then actively entered a meditative state, seeing the boundless deep Darkness and a lonely oval light sphere.
His spirituality extended and touched that illusory, hazy thing.
The surrounding world suddenly inverted and distorted back, and Aaron found himself, without realizing it, in a barren plain, with dark stones underfoot and not a single blade of grass.
In the center of the plain stood a black spire, around which a giant silver-white serpent coiled. Its head was erect, and its crimson eyes stared coldly in this direction.
The serpent's tail and the wheel on its head each had only half, appearing quite disjointed, unlike how they once formed interconnected wheels.
Aaron clearly noticed this anomaly, keeping it in mind, as he walked towards the dark spire and the silver-white giant serpent.
Ignoring the silver-white giant serpent's gaze, Aaron passed through an ancient, decaying wooden Door and entered the interior of the dark spire.
Guided by his spiritual intuition, Aaron passed through chaotic, spatially inverted floors, no longer knowing which part of the black Tower he was in.
In the dense Darkness, he suddenly found a small boy, about 1.4 meters tall, squatting in a corner ahead. His aura was weak, and he held a deck of Tarot cards. His ink-black eyes showed no emotion.
Aaron paused slightly, then forced a smile and slowly approached:
"Good evening, Mr. President."
As Aaron approached Will Auceptin and met his gaze, he also saw the Tarot cards laid out before him.
"Wheel of Fortune, The Fool, Justice..."
Aaron's steps faltered slightly, then he heard a childish yet serious voice:
"Every time you come to me, it's basically for no good reason. You're not going to ask me to fold paper cranes for you again, are you?"
Aaron subtly averted his gaze and responded with a smile:
"If Mr. President is willing to be generous, I would, of course, be extremely grateful."
Will Auceptin, with a hint of childishness, looked Aaron up and down, then pouted and mumbled softly:
"So you've advanced, huh? Sometimes I wonder who truly is the darling of fate..."
"Don't get too complacent too early; once that guy targets you, you'll get your comeuppance sooner or later."
"Don't look at me like that. Even if I recover to my peak, I couldn't be his opponent..."
Smiling and shaking his head, Aaron went straight to the point:
"Earlier in Tingen, you..."
He was interrupted by Will Auceptin before he could finish:
"Only that foolish serpent Ouroboros, who keeps restarting by the True Creator's side, doesn't know how to adapt. Betting on both sides is always better than hanging yourself on one tree."
"What's more, I'm not the only one who placed a bet on that Nighthawk, Duke Aaron, am I right?"
tacitly acknowledged the statement. Aaron recalled the chaotic mountaintop within the Corpse Cathedral and asked curiously:
"Do you know what happened to that 'Angel of Fate' in the end?"
Casually putting away his Tarot cards, Will Auceptin glanced at the curious Aaron, a slight smirk playing on his lips:
"Didn't I tell you? That's a stubborn, foolish serpent. He was directly severely injured by that guy. Heh heh, at least for a while, that foolish serpent will have to recuperate honestly."
"I've always said that with each restart of fate, you should try to be a little different to maintain a good psychological state. That guy became single-minded because he followed the Hanged Man for too long. This time, he finally suffered a big loss."
Looking at the gloating Will Auceptin, Aaron nodded thoughtfully:
"Since that's the case, the guy tracking you is recuperating, so aren't you free for a while?"
"What do you want to do?" Will Auceptin instantly became alert, his childish face wrinkling, clearly expressing his unwillingness.
Aaron rubbed his hands and chuckled awkwardly:
"Just a small favor. When I received your message and went to support Tingen, I was stopped in the Spirit World by a guy with a mind full of madness. I feel that it's ungentlemanly not to avenge this..."
"Cough, cough, don't look at me like that. You don't need to do too much, you don't even need to participate in the battle. I just hope you can interfere with or even block the River of Fate in the corresponding Spirit World area."
"That guy is also a key target of that Abomination from the Rose School of Thought. Your intervention can buy us enough time."
"As a price, I can promise to provide you with necessary assistance during your weak period of restart, such as a Yesterday Once More charm, or more direct aid."
After a moment of struggle on his face, Will Auceptin snorted, reminding him:
"Let me be clear, regardless of whether your actions succeed or not in the end, your promise just now cannot be discounted, and you'd best start acting within a month."
"It's not without cost to bypass 0-08 and that guy's interference to transmit information to you. I might quickly enter a restart and be unable to help you."
Recalling the silver-white, scale-less serpent on the spire whose symbolic representation was incomplete, Aaron didn't want to delve into how much of what this guy said was true or false. After nodding, he actively broke free from this dream world.
Watching Aaron disappear, Will Auceptin's smiling face quickly became indifferent. He looked at The Fool card placed at the top of the deck in his hand, his eyes flickering.
-----------------
Southern Continent, West Balam, Nikiferus City, Hall family temporary villa.
Today was Saturday. Over the past two days, almost every afternoon at three, Audrey would pray to Mr. Fool, but she had received no response.
The unknown always aroused people's curiosity and fear. Audrey, who was originally preparing to rest, was suddenly informed that Alfred wanted to see her. Led by a maid, she arrived at the study, and Susie followed curiously, wagging her tail. Her Loenese was now quite proficient, even with a slight Backlund accent.
Just as she reached the Door, Audrey paused. Having advanced to a Telepathist, she saw Daly Simone, dressed in a black hooded robe, walk out of the room, trembling slightly. The uncontrollable sadness made Audrey feel a little suffocated.
Looking at the lady who had escorted her all the way from Backlund to the Southern Continent, Audrey pursed her lips and entered the study, immediately noticing the somewhat messy documents on the table.
Her gaze swept over them, then suddenly froze. The top telegram was conspicuously highlighted in red, appearing to be from a newspaper header:
«Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos Successfully Assassinated Duke Negan!»
"Vice Admiral Hurricane?"
Audrey subconsciously sat down and hastily picked up the telegram. Seeing what must have been the Church of the Lord of Storms's final conclusion, her pupils slightly contracted:
"High-Sequence Beyonder... not belonging to the Church, a Kingdom's High-Sequence Beyonder..."
"Could that powerful Beyonder, who caused such a bizarre Death for a powerful Pirate Admiral without even showing his face, be a Blessed of Mr. Fool?"
After such a thought surfaced in her mind, Audrey couldn't help but let her imagination run wild until an unusual sensation in her calf brought her back to her senses. She lowered her head and met Susie's round, dark eyes.
Her mouth twitched slightly. Audrey, taking advantage of Alfred's inattention, placed the telegram on the floor for Susie to read. Due to the obstruction of the Berserk Sea, communication in the Southern Continent was much slower than in the Northern Continent; only such shocking intelligence could reach the Southern Continent in just two days.
"Could it be that Mr. Fool's Blessed happened to be in Backlund that day, and thus killed Qilangos, and the time recorded on the telegram was precisely Wednesday...?"
Her thoughts somewhat scattered, Audrey looked up again and met Alfred's gaze. Roughly guessing what her brother wanted to ask, and not having thought of an excuse, she could only change the subject:
"What happened to Miss Daly? She seems very distressed!"
With a complicated look in his eyes, Alfred didn't ask the question on his mind. He simply explained:
"On the same day Duke Negan was assassinated, the Nighthawks team in Tingen encountered the birth of an Evil God's offspring and suffered heavy losses, and Daly came from Tingen before joining the Red Gloves."
Audrey fell silent for a moment. After a while, she sighed softly and, after pondering, pointed to Susie, who was lying on the floor fiddling with the telegram:
"Alfred, Rainbow Lizards only seem to live in the Southern Continent. I really like this creature. Can I raise one to accompany Susie?"
Susie suddenly looked up, resisting the urge to speak, but a human-like bewilderment still appeared on her dog face.
-----------------
Fog Sea. As specks of starlight dissipated, Aaron, using the Spirit World coordinates left by Bernadette in the relic, directly summoned the historical projection of the "Crown of Stars" and roamed to La Cha Island.
Under his True Vision, layers upon layers of illusory array patterns, flowing with mysterious lines, covered the entire island. Looking at this hidden island, Aaron couldn't help but exclaim:
"As expected of Roselle's most beloved child. Such dense array patterns, truly a grand gesture. No wonder she can contend with the Moses Ascetic Order."
Following the guidance, Aaron arrived before a mountain peak and recited a giant's language incantation towards the seemingly empty cliff face:
"Open Sesame!"
A path immediately appeared on the cliff, both real and illusory, leading to an unknown destination.
With the enhancement of the Nation of Disorder, his spiritual perception, already close to the Angel level, did not produce any warnings. Aaron paused for a moment before directly stepping onto the path and entering the cliff.
As he walked, Aaron's vision suddenly opened up. He saw a sea as clear as sapphire and a magnificent castle made entirely of emerald.
This was the Emerald City of Queen Mystic, Bernadette.
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