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After determining that Salinger's influence on the Nation of Disorder was minimal, he ceased maintaining the historical void images.
Standing on the outskirts of Calderon, Aaron felt the eerie silence, as if the entire city had died.
After completely taking control of the Nation of Disorder, he could return to Sefirah with just a thought. So, despite sensing an anomaly, he still felt confident, though a little puzzled:
"When the Phoenix Ancestor, Gregrace, pulled Calderon out and threw it into the depths of the Spirit World, she didn't evacuate the residents beforehand, and occasionally, some Spirit World creatures would enter."
"But now, in this outer region, let alone active living beings, there isn't even a trace of skeletons, Zombies, or other Spirit World creatures."
Aaron integrated the Black Emperor and Justiciar cards into his body. Feeling his spirituality rise again, his golden pupils scrutinized the "Chains of Order" that were invisible to the naked eye, pale and tinged with eerie green.
"The underlying rules here have been corrupted. Living beings entering Calderon will naturally transform into the undead, which is somewhat similar to the Underworld but fundamentally different."
"Here, living creatures won't suddenly die and slowly become undead with no thought; instead, they directly become undead."
"However, for Beyonders above the Demigod level who are not of the Death Pathway, and certain special Spirit World creatures, even if they are transformed into an undead state, they can return to normal as long as they leave Calderon in time."
"However, interacting with Calderon in this way will leave an imprint. Even if one leaves successfully, the imprint will be drawn by an invisible force and merge into the depths of Calderon..."
Using the "Eye of Order" enhanced by the Nation of Disorder to interpret the distorted and aberrant rules of Calderon, Aaron controlled the "Domain of Judgement" to envelop himself, preventing interaction with Calderon and the Leave imprint.
After preparing, Aaron followed the strange, spiraling architecture downwards, heading towards the core area, the end of the deep pit.
As he delved deeper, none of the various Monsters hidden within this strange city dared to appear. The aura of the Nation of Disorder made their instinct for survival overcome their tendencies towards madness and predation.
The deeper he went into the ground, the quieter Aaron's surroundings became. The peculiar buildings, though seemingly intact, felt as if they had been dead for many years, their very aura becoming cold and decaying.
"These Monsters are too timid. It seems I won't have a chance to harvest a wave of spiritual materials and Beyonder characteristics this time."
Muttering to himself, Aaron glanced around with some disappointment, but he didn't intend to actually expand the "Domain of Judgement" to search. The most important thing at the moment was to successfully obtain the water from the River of Eternal Darkness.
In a silent world, the passage of time is easily overlooked. Aaron only performed short-distance teleportation within the area covered by his True Vision. After traveling for a long time, he finally saw the bottom of the deep pit.
A massive, dark palace stood there, like the gaping maw of the Abyss. Thin, grayish-white mist poured out from its open gate.
The palace was supported by massive pillars, inlaid with all sorts of bones and body parts, with some areas even covered in bloody hides from different races.
Aaron gazed for a few seconds, feeling a sense of déjà vu, as if he were back in Tingen, seeing Adam's Corpse Cathedral.
Without hesitation, Aaron softly chanted in ancient Hermes:
"The Evernight Goddess stands higher than the cosmos, more eternal than eternity;
Lady of Crimson, Mother of Concealment;
Empress of Misfortune and Horror, Mistress of Repose and Silence."
The Evernight imprint shimmered, and a strange statue of a Demonic Wolf-headed, snake-bodied creature appeared in Aaron's hand.
Looking at the thin mist enveloping the palace and the motionless statue in his hand, Aaron continued to walk into the palace.
On both sides of the hall were coffins of various shapes and colors. They lay there silently, as if their very existence had been weathered by Death.
As Aaron entered, faint sounds suddenly emerged from within these coffins, like rusty joints slowly opening one by one.
The Demonic Wolf head on the statue emitted a faint glow from its eyes, and all the coffins immediately fell silent.
Ignoring these things, Aaron stepped into the depths of the hall. Here, there was a downward grayish-white stone staircase, and at its entrance stood a massive stone tablet.
At the top of the stone tablet stood a tall, slender statue of a giant bird, seemingly made of bronze. Its wings were covered with various pale symbols.
Below the bird-shaped bronze statue, on the surface of the stone tablet, characters derived from the "Language of the Dead," resembling different shapes of simplified birds and coiled snakes, formed two vague sentences:
"Even a God cannot escape;
Even Death will be imprisoned."
Is this warning all living beings who come to Calderon not to go down this staircase? Does it lead directly to the River of Eternal Darkness?
He wondered who placed this stone tablet here, Gregrace or Salinger?
Shaking his head lightly, Aaron withdrew his gaze, walked around the stone tablet with the bronze statue on top, and descended the grayish-white staircase, step by step.
In the dark, lightless, silent, and icy environment, the golden light of the "Domain of Judgement" that constantly surrounded Aaron shone brightly, illuminating a very small area, like a small boat of life struggling to stay afloat in the tide of Death.
After an unknown duration of descent, a dense, dark-golden mist suddenly appeared before Aaron's eyes. The Nation of Disorder trembled slightly. Sensing this change, he immediately activated his incomplete Mythical Creature form without hesitation, warily looking around.
At the same time, he tilted his head slightly and heard a faint, illusory splashing sound.
This seemed to indicate that deep underground, not far from his current location, a dark river was slowly flowing.
The next second, Aaron looked down at his feet.
A dark, insubstantial current had appeared there at some point.
On its surface, not even light could exist.
At the bottom of the stone staircase, where the dark tide surged, a faint, grayish-white mist permeated upwards, combining with the illusory liquid and expanding into a more misty, grayish-white vapor.
After the current reached Aaron's feet, it quietly receded, as if performing a cyclical ebb and flow.
Recalling the Evernight Goddess's warning, Aaron immediately moved away. Looking at the grayish-white mist that floated above the current, seemingly isolating the world, he raised the "Ring of Mysteries" in his hand.
As an item separated from the Lord of the Mysteries, it could have a certain influence even when Klein had not fully mastered Sefirah Castle, let alone just the grayish-white mist on a tributary.
The thin mist was torn open by an invisible force, and the rising illusory tide seemed to have no obstruction. The silent and icy aura quickly spread, as if even thoughts were gradually decaying.
If not for the protective aura of the Nation of Disorder around him, Aaron would highly suspect that even as a Sequence 3, he would be passively and irresistibly absorbed into this tide.
The Demonic Wolf-headed, snake-bodied statue in his hand was activated, automatically submerging into the illusory tide, bobbing up and down in the current, and slowly reaching the end of the staircase as the tide receded.
Beyond the end was a void, and within the void flowed a wide, illusory, colorless, dim river.
This river was so blurry and difficult to see because it was enveloped by a grayish-white, barrier-like thin mist.
"Is this the River of Eternal Darkness?"
Aaron's eyes narrowed, his consciousness connecting with the Nation of Disorder, and he looked at the void, dim river with his "True Vision."
He was actually not unfamiliar with such a scene. He had personally witnessed other Sefirah sealed by Sefirah Castle when he hunted the "God of Weather" corrupted by the City of Calamity in Bansy.
However, unlike before, some of the water from this River of Eternal Darkness had already penetrated the grayish-white mist and partially merged with it, appearing sometimes dark, sometimes pale.
This part of the river water constantly swirled up and then fell, like a rushing tributary in the black void.
On both sides of the tributary stood massive, pale stone pillars, as if supporting something, preventing it from collapsing.
At this moment, between these stone pillars, at the edge of the tributary, countless slightly blurry, semi-transparent figures walked back and forth, lingering, slowly but ceaselessly.
Among them, the most striking was a bewildered figure that sometimes walked deep into the tributary, sometimes turned back, but could never escape the river water.
It was enormous, similar in size to the surrounding stone pillars. It wore a deep black robe, and its side was already ancient.
Suddenly, it turned its head and looked at Aaron.
Its face had distinct Southern Continent features, but it was already rotten with marks, and white feathers stained with pale yellow grease had grown out.
Aaron knew Him. He was Mr. Azik's father, the Death of the Fourth Epoch:
Underworld Emperor Salinger!
This Death, who had wandered aimlessly in the River of Eternal Darkness for a thousand years, had the statue slowly drawing water from the River of Eternal Darkness immediately reflected in His pale, almost extinguished eyes.
The next second, a low roar emanated from His rotten mouth, echoing above the river, causing the entire city of Calderon to shake noticeably.
The tributary, which sometimes swirled up, sometimes fell, sometimes dark, sometimes pale, surged accordingly, rushing madly towards the end of the stone staircase, towards Aaron.
Wave after wave of grayish-white torrents crashed against Aaron's body, but they could not destroy his "Domain of Judgement," which was fortified by the Nation of Disorder and the Blasphemy Slate.
Death Salinger's rotten body walked step by step to the edge of the tributary, but could not escape, only standing there, roaring madly.
Aaron's gaze passed over Him, passed over the countless blurry figures lingering on both sides of the tributary, and looked at the ever-expanding shadow in the illusory river water.
It was a giant bird completely submerged in the tributary of the River of Eternal Darkness, suspended in the water.
This giant bird's body was covered with feathers woven from pale flames and mysterious patterns, but most of it had been dissolved by the River of Eternal Darkness, revealing parts of its dark, rotten skin with pale yellow pus flowing from it.
The giant bird's eyes seemed to be cast from bronze, with layers of illusory Doors hidden within them.
This was the Phoenix Ancestor, Gregrace!
The ancient Death who opened the Underworld!
-----------------
Backlund, 15 Minsk Street.
Klein rubbed his wrist, looking at the few surviving paper angels, barely recognizable as human figures, among a pile of paper scraps on the table, and sighed.
He glanced at the already dim sky, and just as he was about to prepare dinner, he heard the doorbell. He quickly put away the usable paper figures. Klein snapped his fingers, and a flame rose, instantly burning the paper scraps to ashes.
Casually placing a few newspapers on the table, Klein walked to the front Door and grasped the doorknob.
The image of his visitor naturally appeared in his mind: it was the handsome but not masculine red-eyed Vampire, Emlyn White.
It hadn't even been two days, no need to rush, he's a trustworthy fellow... Klein opened the Door and smiled:
"Good evening, Mr. White."
Emlyn raised his chin and handed over a parchment, his impatience evident:
"This is the Beast Tamer potion formula you wanted. From today, we are even."
Looking at the Vampire gentleman who claimed they were even but whose body honestly remained at the Door, Klein glanced at his brown priest's robe, tsked inwardly, but outwardly remained calm and invited him into the living room.
Without any pretense, right in front of him, Klein performed a divination to confirm the authenticity of the potion formula.
Emlyn withdrew his gaze, unenthusiastically, picked up the newspaper on the table and began to read it, seeing the news Klein had circled:
"Next Tuesday to next Friday, from 9 AM to 6 PM daily, the Royal Museum will once again hold the Roselle the Great Memorial Exhibition."
Emlyn scoffed, threw the newspaper back onto the table, and curled his lip in disdain:
"I never would have thought you, a detective, would be interested in the Roselle Memorial Exhibition."
"Tsk tsk, but I estimate that this year's exhibition will have all the truly valuable items replaced."
Klein's eyes narrowed. After putting the Beast Tamer potion formula into his pocket, he casually asked, feigning indifference:
"Oh, why? Is the Church worried that Emperor Roselle's items are not properly preserved?"
As he spoke, he also drew a triangular holy emblem on his chest, doing his best to appear as a devout but not very familiar with Backlund's recent situation Steam worshipper.
Emlyn snorted, looked at the ceiling at a forty-five-degree angle, and said in an irritating tone:
"Of course, you, an outsider, wouldn't know. The Royal Museum was robbed once three years ago. I heard at a clan gathering that what was lost seemed to be a bookmark."
"Tsk, those idiots from the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery still don't know who stole the item right under their noses."
At this point, Emlyn suddenly remembered that the person opposite him seemed to be a Steam worshipper, and he quickly cleared his throat and added:
"Hmm, my words weren't directed at you. I'm just stating facts."
You're not targeting me, you're targeting the entire Church of the God of Steam and Machinery... "False believer" Klein muttered to himself.
Upon hearing that the Royal Museum had lost a bookmark three years ago, Klein had a feeling of being preempted, but unable to confirm, he could only comfort himself, thinking it probably wouldn't be such a coincidence....
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