"Silas, did something happen?"
Klein asked cautiously. "You seem a bit... strange."
He naturally knew what had happened to Silas, but he had learned that as [The Fool] above the gray fog.
Right now, he was Klein Moretti, who shouldn't know these things.
Therefore, when he noticed Silas's obvious changes, asking was the natural thing to do.
"..."
Silas was silent for a moment, his handsome face gradually becoming twisted and contorted.
"Cecilia is dead."
He said briefly. "She died for me."
"This..."
Although Klein already knew the truth, seeing Silas's expression still made him feel shocked.
The air in the living room froze, with only the crackling sound of burning firewood in the fireplace.
"Meow?"
The little black cat seemed to sense the heavy atmosphere and turned to glance at the two of them.
"The True Creator and this pathway killed Cecilia and destroyed my life. I've decided to take revenge on them."
Silas said in a heavy voice, completely ignoring Klein's gaze.
His speech grew faster and his voice gradually more manic. "I will end this pathway, this pathway of pain and madness.
I'll drag that damned deity down from the cross and completely eliminate His corrupt followers..."
Under Klein's worried gaze, he took a deep breath.
"Mr. A has already been killed and grazed by me."
His tone returned to calm. "I'm also cleaning up the Aurora Order in Backlund.
It should be completely eliminated in a while.
Additionally, I'm digesting the Shepherd potion and plan to continue advancing to Sequence 4.
You can help me look out for relevant information."
"But from what I know, advancing to demigod is extremely difficult," Klein said earnestly.
"Especially with your pathway being so dangerous. The closer you get to the true god, the greater His influence on you..."
After seeing him this time, Klein had originally thought Silas had become much more lucid, no longer as crazy as before.
But looking now, he had just become more covertly and obsessively mad.
After losing Cecilia as his limiter, no one could stop his actions anymore.
"Yes, I know."
Silas said indifferently. "So what? I'll advance anyway."
"But..."
Klein didn't want to stop him from advancing further. He simply felt his current state wasn't good, and advancement would likely lead to increasing madness until he lost control and collapsed.
"Don't try to persuade me, Klein."
Silas smiled.
"You know me. My personality is terrible. I hold grudges and I'm obsessive. After being treated like this by them, naturally I have to repay it a hundred, a thousand times over.
Just like you. You came to Backlund not only because you couldn't stay in Tingen anymore, but also to avenge the Captain, right?"
"..."
Klein fell silent. He knew he couldn't persuade Silas and could only watch as he stood up, reached out, scooped up the cat, and held it in his arms.
"By the way, I've changed to a new address. East Borough, No. 9 Saint Anthony Street."
He said, passing over a note with the address written on it. "If anything comes up, you can find me there or send a letter."
Klein wordlessly accepted the note and saw him to the door.
At the next Tarot Club meeting, I'll help him get the "Black Knight" potion formula.
Watching Silas's gradually receding figure, Klein made his decision.
Since he had already made up his mind, Klein could only fully support him.
The City of Silver had the "Black Knight" formula, which had currently been contributed by Elder Lovia to the warehouse and was controlled by the "Council of Six."
If [The Sun] could pay some equivalent price, perhaps their Chief would agree to share the formula.
As for what that equivalent thing should be?
Naturally, it was the potion formula he had obtained from directly gazing at that drop of "Eternal Blazing Sun" divine blood.
Also Sequence 4, it was the Sun pathway's "Unshadowed." The only problem was that this formula was incomplete, with only the main ingredients.
The supplementary materials and ritual were unclear, so compared to a complete formula, its value was considerably lower.
They might need to add some other compensation, which would have to be supplemented by Silas himself.
Klein thought.
---
Queens Borough, MI9 headquarters.
"Everyone, attention."
A major-looking man walked into the office area, his expression extremely serious:
"According to intelligence provided by our operative inside the Steam Church, the target suspected to be the [Blood Reverend] has appeared again.
This time, he successfully killed a Sequence 5 'Desire Apostle' and escaped before members of the Machinery Hivemind arrived.
Although the Machinery Hivemind carefully examined the scene, they came up empty-handed due to interference from blood magic."
Hearing him say this, several MI9 personnel gradually became shocked.
"A Desire Apostle, killed just like that?"
One of them couldn't help saying, "That's a Sequence 5!"
"That's right, and I feel he's getting stronger and stronger."
Another nodded.
"Previously at Capin's mansion, he still needed to fight for quite a while.
In combat with Lanevus, who had divinity, he also won with difficulty.
Now facing a Sequence 5, he resolved it so quickly. Could it be he's advanced to Sequence 4?"
"You're joking. A Sequence 4 against a Sequence 5 wouldn't even be a match for one move..."
Everyone was discussing in low voices, creating a buzzing sound.
The [Blood Reverend] they were talking about referred to a Beyonder who had suddenly appeared in Backlund, suspected to be of the Secrets Suppliant pathway.
He had created a crazed killing spree at Capin's mansion, making dozens of high-ranking officials, nobles, wealthy merchants, and other upper-class members vanish without a trace, including even several members of MI9.
The social impact of this case was extremely significant.
Although the general public generally expressed positive attitudes toward it, as an intelligence organization affiliated with the royal family, MI9 had still secretly established a task force to investigate the matter.
However, the investigation into this person had not gone smoothly.
His tracks had been protected by anti-divination rituals, and intelligence personnel couldn't trace his origins.
He was unrelated to the Aurora Order, as if he had suddenly appeared and then suddenly disappeared.
Based on certain unspeakable secrets, MI9 couldn't make the investigation too obvious.
After all their searching, they only learned through snippets from the rescued girls that the other party wore a blood-red robe and constantly uttered crazed prayers.
Ultimately, because of this impression, they gave him the codename [Blood Reverend].
"All right, since we have new leads, we'll continue tracking according to our previous plan."
The major raised his voice and said to everyone, "Does anyone want to lead the investigation?"
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately lowered their heads.
Are you kidding? Who would want to investigate such a dangerous target!
"No volunteers?" The major looked around and found a slovenly middle-aged man dozing in the corner.
"Levi, it's yours. Take Kons and the others with you to investigate."
Me?
Kons Lierson, one of Audrey's acquaintances, suddenly heard his name and couldn't help but look up in surprise.