When he'd reported to the Church in Backlund, he'd made a point of asking — artifacts of that grade were guarded by multiple demigod-level Beyonders behind Chanis Gate, twenty-four hours a day without rest.
So how had a Sequence 5 Ince Zangwill slipped past all of them?
Klein felt like a veil of fog had settled over his eyes.
Audrey, half-marvelling and half-thrilled, said: "To think the Spectator pathway — no, the dragon pathway, I mean — at high Sequences could be so incredibly powerful!"
Derrick answered earnestly: "Two or three thousand years have passed since the dragons and the Giant King's Court were at war. Everything I know comes from textbooks and legends. I can't vouch for the accuracy."
"At least your history hasn't been lost," Audrey said warmly. "What happened after?"
"After. The omniscient and omnipotent Creator awakened. The Dragon of Imagination and the Dragon of Nightmare and the other famous dragons fell from the sky, losing everything — including their lives. Sunlight disappeared from the land for forty-nine days. Countless volcanoes erupted. Floods devoured everything. From that point, dragonkind collapsed and could only retreat to remote, treacherous corners of the world. Then the Giant King's Court was destroyed by the Creator too." Derrick's tone grew heavy.
This stunned both Audrey and Alger. That account is completely at odds with the records of the orthodox Churches.
As a follower of the Storm Lord, Alger found the whole thing absurd. He wanted to point out "Sun's" error, but then remembered — Sun very likely came from the God-Forsaken Land, that mysterious territory no god could set foot in.
Could… could what Sun said be the actual truth?
"Our City of Silver has believed in the omniscient and omnipotent Creator ever since. Later, the Creator entrusted the City of Silver to one of His most trusted angels for stewardship — the 'Angel of Time' — so the City of Silver came to worship both the omniscient and omnipotent Creator and that Angel of Time."
"???"
Vincent's mind went blank for a second: Wait, did Little Sun just say 'Angel of Time'? As in Amon's 'Angel of Time'?
The Ancient Sun God handed the City of Silver to Amon to manage, and had them worship Amon too?
Is this a joke? Did the original novel even have this?
"Later, the omniscient and omnipotent Creator disappeared. The Angel of Time became the City of Silver's sole object of faith for a time, and then after an unknown number of years, the Angel of Time also disappeared."
Vincent couldn't stop himself: "Mr. Sun — the Angel of Time, is that literally His name? Does He have another name?"
Derrick shook his head. "It wasn't recorded in the textbooks." He hesitated. "Or maybe it was recorded once, but disappeared at some point, for reasons unknown."
"Does the City of Silver have any other information about Him? Statues, what He looked like, distinguishing features?"
"No detailed records survive, but the books did say the Angel of Time always wore a crystal monocle."
That's Amon alright.
Derrick looked curious. "Mr. Lovers, why are you so interested in the 'Angel of Time'? Have you heard of Him before?"
"Yes."
Vincent mentally ran through everything the original novel said about Amon. "I once heard of an entity called 'Amon,' who supposedly carried the title 'Angel of Time.' But I'm not certain He's the same one you're referring to."
After a beat, he added: "But that Amon is someone with thoroughly vile character — no humanity, no emotion, extraordinarily dangerous."
Derrick thought about it. "There's not much in the textbooks about the 'Angel of Time.' But I believe our ancestors felt gratitude toward Him."
"..."
They were grateful to Amon?
Did He have them all parasitised? Or was the Ancient Sun God watching from above, so Amon had to put on a good-boy act?
But the Ancient Sun God couldn't not have known Amon's true nature — why would He hand the City of Silver to Amon to steward? Maybe to use the City of Silver's worship as an anchor, to gradually cultivate something like humanity in Him?
Vincent thought about it for ages and couldn't come up with a reliable answer.
Anything to do with one of the story's biggest end-bosses — any change or action Amon took could ripple out into unforeseeable consequences, might even affect the final outcome. Vincent found himself with a genuine headache.
"Mr. Sun."
After a moment, he tried to sound casual. "Next time you go back — if it's possible, see if you can find me more information about that 'Angel of Time.' I'm curious about Him."
"In exchange, I can try to help you find later formulas and materials."
This caught both Alger and Audrey off guard. As far as they could remember, this was the very first time they'd seen Mr. Lovers express interest in anything.
Bernadette watched Vincent with folded hands, thoughtful.
Derrick immediately nodded: "Alright, I'll try."
"Thank you!"
Audrey, ever perceptive, had noticed that Ms. Lovers also seemed surprised by Mr. Lovers' reaction. Her eyes darted between several people, then settled on the Fool: "Mr. Fool, are You familiar with the 'Angel of Time' Mr. Sun spoke of?"
Klein: Miss Justice, do you ever run out of questions?
He leaned back and gave a soft, non-committal laugh without directly answering.
Audrey blinked, then: Oh! Mr. Fool is a true god — why would a true god care about some angel? My question was completely unnecessary.
A brief silence fell. Klein looked around the table. "Have you finished your exchanges?"
Without waiting for an answer: "I have a task to announce."
Everyone's attention snapped to him immediately. This is the first time Mr. Fool has formally issued a task. What could a god need from a handful of people like us?
Klein raised a hand, and in his palm appeared a portrait: a middle-aged man with a double-breasted coat and one eye. He waved his hand and split it into five copies, one appearing before each member.
"My task is as follows: if any of you come across any information about this person, pray to Me and tell Me immediately."
Vincent was surprised — he hadn't expected Klein to direct the whole Tarot Club toward finding Ince Zangwill. Then again, it made sense. In this version of events, Klein was still an official Nighthawk and not acting alone. Knowing Ince's location without the power to act wouldn't do much good.
But now it was different: if Ince's whereabouts were found, Klein could go straight to the Church and have high-Sequence Beyonders sent to deal with him.
What Klein didn't yet know, of course, was that the Quill had a particular property — knowing about it meant it knew about you. Setting the whole Tarot Club to find Ince Zangwill wasn't going to be much use, and if anyone actually did encounter him, they'd be walking into danger because of it.
Audrey stared at the portrait and felt a nagging sense of familiarity — she'd seen this person somewhere, but couldn't place it.
"Mr. Fool, who is this man?"
Alger voiced the question.
"His name is Ince Zangwill. He was once a bishop in the Evernight Church. He stole a dangerous sealed artifact and defected after a failed advancement."
"Not long ago, he used that artifact to attack a team of Nighthawks in Tingen, and nearly caused an evil god's descent."
Bernadette, hearing this, felt a flicker of surprise. So the Fool is putting a bounty on Ince Zangwill for His Blessed's sake?
Klein continued evenly: "The sealed artifact Ince Zangwill stole was a Grade 0 sealed artifact, numbered 0-08. Its effect is… to manufacture all kinds of coincidences, and to make whatever it writes come true."
"!!!"
Audrey exclaimed in shock: "Wait — that's not what Mr. Sun just described — the ability of a high-Sequence dragon? So this artifact is from the Spectator pathway?"
How convenient. We just learned the relevant knowledge and now Mr. Fool is issuing this task.
Bernadette, understanding now, thought: So the Fool is after the artifact itself. Which honestly makes sense — trust in a god's power, but don't trust in their kindness.
But having a handful of low-Sequence kids hunting someone who wielded a Grade 0 sealed artifact seemed… not particularly sensible. Was it because the Fool was short-staffed? Or some other reason?
Audrey, brimming with anticipation, asked again: "Mr. Fool, You mentioned earlier that Ince Zangwill nearly caused an evil god's descent — did You step in to stop it?"
"No."
Klein's mind flashed to Melissa's face.
He gripped the arm of his chair and said, in a flat tone:
"The ones who stopped it were the Nighthawks of Tingen."
To be continued…
Advance 100 Chapters are up on my Patreon!
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Advance 100 Chapters are up on my Patreon!
pat reon.com/AlphaSenatus