Chapter 26 : Aftermath

3rd point of view :

Achoo ! Achoo ! Achoo !

His head ached and he kept sneezing, leaving him with no strength to fight back.

"I fell sick ? I became infected by some sort of ailment ?" The moment Klein realized this, he felt countless threads that were difficult to be seen by the naked eye twirl around him, wrapping him up like a mummy in a certain sense.

He wasn't unfamiliar with this kind of experience. He knew that this was the Beyonder powers of a Demoness of Pleasure.

Back then, he had relied on the use of charms to cause all parties to fall into a deep slumber. Then, relying on his uniqueness, he escaped the effects of the charm. But now, Mr. A had maintained a distance of about 20 meters.

However, Klein could use the powers of a Sequence 5 Beyonder. The fingers he could still move snapped and made a crisp snapping sound !

In an instant, all the "spider silk" around him was ignited, as if it had turned into a giant torch.

Klein activated his vision to see the spiritual lines of Mr. A, ready to control them, but was stunned.

He had just jumped out of the scarlet flames when he started sneezing again, which was then followed by a fit of violent coughing. This automatically prevented the use of many of his Beyonder powers, but he was sure of what he saw.

Mr. A's spiritual lines were also controlled !

And due to the range needed to use this ability, the person controlling him shouldn't be far away !

It should be at least a Sequence 5 Beyonder of the Seer pathway, or maybe a Shepherd…

However, Klein didn't have time to be surprised.

At this moment, the feminine gentleness of Mr. A's face disappeared, adding a little more dignity to his loftiness.

He stretched out his right hand and clenched it lightly. Klein suddenly had an inkling that if he ran, he would only be running in circles.

Mr. A, who was wearing a blood-red robe, revealed a cruel smile. An ancient book that was transparent and illusory appeared in front of him.

An ethereal, high-pitched voice rang out :

« I came, I saw, I record. »

Achoo ! Cough ! Cough !

Even though his Beyonder abilities were at the power of an angel, Klein was greatly affected by the powers of the Demoness of pleasure… He realized even more now how much the Seer pathway had a weak defense.

Klein wanted to hide, but he was powerless. At that moment, he experienced, in an unprecedented manner, the power of a Shepherd. It was truly worthy of being called the most comprehensive, most flawless, and most powerful Beyonder Sequence under the level of a demigod ! Even if he hadn't made any preparations, with many mystical items being unusable, for him to be suppressed to such a state without being able to fight back, it implied that there were many problems.

Achoo ! Achoo ! Cough ! Cough !

In the face of Mr. A's looming attack that spelled certain death, Klein was infected by an illness. His headache and fever made it difficult to use Flame Controlling or Flaming Jump.

At that moment, he couldn't even produce Air Bullets. He also tried to take over the controlled Mr. A's spiritual lines but it was in vain.

(Xin Jian : It was a good decision to control Mr. A's spiritual lines ! At least the battle's script doesn't need to be changed !)

Author : Cough ! Cough ! Cough ! "good decision"…)

Fear of the unknown took over his mind. The Clown's intuition for danger "saw" himself split into the smallest particles of light, perhaps taking away any chance of him reviving, but that didn't stop him from resisting a cough, raising his right hand, aiming the revolver at Mr. A's head and firing.

Mr. A should've switched to another Beyonder power to slowly heal the damage to his Spirit Body, but he was driven by hatred. He forcefully suppressed his injuries and chased after Klein ; thus, after continuously using the Beyonder powers that exceeded what his body could bear, his situation worsened and the latent problems flared up.

Bang ! Bang ! Bang !

Klein fired all the bullets in the revolver. Bronze, pale gold, and silver beams of light quickly crossed the short distance between the two of them.

Unfortunately, he was unable to control his sneezing and coughing during the process. The bullets didn't all hit Mr. A, with only two of them hitting Mr. A, and one of them drilling through his forehead and the other into his torso.

Sizzle !

A sizzling sound rang out, but Mr. A's head seemed to be boneless—it was just a combination of a pile of rotten flesh. This caused the pale golden-colored bullet to sink deep into his body. It quickly came to a stop and failed to deal lethal damage. All it did was emit a golden radiance of sunshine.

Mr. A lifted his neck, and the flesh around the hole in his head writhed wildly.

He wasn't dead, not even seriously injured.

He was once the tenacious Rose Bishop !

Seeing this, Klein made up his mind. He turned around and ran, no longer making any attempts to attack. As for Mr. A, he was panting, and when he lowered his head again, he licked the bits of fragmented flesh and organs he had coughed up.

Amidst the wheezing and coughing, Klein ran in random directions, occasionally rolling.

Finally, he fled to the edge of a cliff which was over fifty meters away.

Beneath the cliff, the slightly turbid Tussock River surged incessantly. It was wide but calm.

Klein didn't hesitate and put strength into his legs and jumped.

He plummeted, feeling the weightlessness of a free fall.

His body tore through the air as he attempted to adjust his posture in midair, transforming into a standard diving motion.

Cough ! Achoo !

His ailment stopped his three and a half flips midway, and the positioning of his body and palms failed to be in the correct stance.

With a splashing sound, he struck the water surface, reducing into a thin piece of white paper.

The paper figurine quickly became moist, half sinking and half floating.

At the bottom of the river not far away, Klein's figure formed as it shivered a little.

His clothes were already soaked, as were the remaining paper and bills in his wallet.

"After distancing myself from Mr. A, the ailment has abated…" Klein thought with a lingering sense of fear.

If his coughing and sneezing hadn't subsided at the last minute, he wouldn't have even had the time to use Paper Figurine Substitutes, and he would've suffered internal bleeding and instantly died. Of course, if he died in such a manner, he felt that he had a chance of being resurrected.

While kicking his legs to keep himself afloat, Klein created an invisible, hollow tube in his mouth, allowing it to rise out of the water and bring him fresh air.

This was the Underwater Breathing performance of a Magician !

Klein sucked in with his mouth and blew out through his nose, not letting the turbid gas he breathed out pollute the pipe by directly entering the water.

At the same time, he stealthily made his way to the shore, hoping to avoid Mr. A's subsequent pursuit.

"Unfortunately, this isn't a city. The powers of a Faceless cannot be used effectively. Otherwise, once I break away, Mr A definitely wouldn't be able to find me…" While swimming, Klein instinctively had this thought.

This resulted in him thinking of a problem, and that was the wind-controlling Beyonder power Mr. A previously had.

"Generally speaking, this belongs to the pathway of the Lord of the Storms… For this pathway, apart from the wind, there's also water, which means they're especially effective for underwater activities… Underwater activities… Shepherd is so all-rounded and terrifying !" Klein's heart almost stopped beating as the thought flashed through his mind.

He suddenly swam upstream, no longer concealing himself !

As soon as he emerged from the water and approached the shore, he saw Mr. A's devilishly beautiful face, covered with fish scales and gaping gills.

Mr. A, who was floating on the water surface in his bright red robe, had the corners of his mouth curled up. His eyes were filled with true hatred.

"Fight ! I can only fight ! I'll try to hold out until the Church's reinforcements arrive !" Without hesitation, Klein, who had gained reprieve from his ailments, raised his right hand, ready to snap his fingers.

At this moment, the two of them simultaneously looked at the sky as though it was an instinctive reaction.

A figure was quickly outlined.

She had ordinary facial features, a stoic face, and was all too familiar to Klein…

It was Xin Jian !

Klein's pupils shrank.

Now, he could clearly see that the one controlling Mr. A's spiritual lines was Xin Jian !

The fact that he woke up in the underground ruins and had to fight Mr. A, and that he saw (a controlled) Trissy on the way who received the surname of the Primordial Demoness… That corresponded to Xin Jian's bad taste ! All of this was organized by Xin Jian !

(Xin Jian : This is so accurate that I have nothing to say…

Klein thought : "But why is She doing this to me ? Did She just see me and thought that teasing me would be fun ?"

Klein clenched his hand.

Xin Jian looked at Mr. A.

Then, Klein saw Mr. A being quickly erased as though he had become a pencil drawing, wiped out rapidly with an eraser, leaving nothing but his look of indignation and despair amidst the blankness and madness etched into his mind that was the only audience present.

Klein was horrified. If She wanted to, Xin Jian could end him like this, but She decided to toy with his feelings instead. To Her, he may be nothing more than a bug.

He forced himself to keep a calm face. He definitely had to get stronger.

He would get strong enough so that he could avenge himself and Mr. Azik.

(Xin Jian : I didn't do anything to Mr. Azik…

Author : *watching the drama*

Xin Jian : Stop being so relaxed, you're the one who caused this mess.)

Then, Klein saw Xin Jian turn to look at him.

She saw the burning flame in his eyes and was stunned (even if it was wasn't visible on her face).

Just when Klein's heart was beating rapidly, thinking that he would disappear without a trace, without a clue as to whether he could be resurrected, the corners of Xin Jian's mouth lifted into a smile.

Without a word, she turned back and slowly walked away while Klein looked at her, then he began to leave too.

Xin Jian stopped and looked at his leaving back. She sighed and tried to put words on her feelings.

Her thoughts were addressed to Klein, but only heard by herself…

"You may not like me but I still like you. Because even if you change for the worst, you'll still be the same person. I think you don't like someone because of their qualities, but because of their defaults, so you'll never make me disappointed.

Klein, you are a natural actor and the kindest liar, and I admire you for it. I can't find any negative points in you because, even if there was, I'd like all of them.

You may hate me, but I'll always consider you as my best friend…"

She completed her sentence in a whisper :

« I'll be waiting for you. »

As she said this, she had a slight smile on her face.

—————— I am the dividing line~

A few days later, Xin Jian's point of view :

As the complete moron that I am, I naturally forgot to leave a Tarot card on the crime (?) scene !

I am so frustrated !

Why did I forget ? Mr. Fool, you're so useless, I counted on you to compensate for my memory… ToT

Mr. A has been lost now that he is in the kingdom of the night, and he surely became Panatiya's food…

And the unknown Demoness who replaced Panatiya in this incident has been sent to the kingdom of the night as well, so I really have to go there before they kill each other or die of hunger… Maybe I should have just kidnapped her ?

The ability to erase people that I stole before doesn't work anymore either, so I can't use it as a shortcut, I still have to go there. Too bad…

It's really not with my sense of direction that I can reach the Hornacis mountain range, let's just let fate guide me there…

*not convinced.jpg*

The only positive point is that I didn't lose fake Trissy and true Trissy is still above the gray fog.

Yay ! I have a friend !

(Mr. Fool : Ahem, maybe you should still release her one day…)

During the Great Fog of Backlund, I saw Klein once again. That guy seems to be plunged in misunderstandings, I hope it will get better with time so that we can be friends once again.

*raising flags.jpg*

Ah, I said that I didn't lose fake Trissy, but it is not completely true.

After the incident, the king called me to find (fake) Trissy once again, which I did, then he killed her.

Snif. At least he let me have the Beyonder characteristics…

Oh, but maybe you want to know the consequences of the Great Fog of Backlund ?

I grabbed the newspaper.

The churches declared that it was an epidemic, and that the Church of the Evernight goddess, the Lord of Storms and the God of Steam and Machinery greatly contributed in reducing the casualties.

Of course, I did all the work.

The number of deaths announced seems to be the same as the previous rounds, but at least Klein didn't know Old Kohler this time so mental state should be better now, right ?

*raising flags.jpg*

As expected, Emlyn is at the Harvest Church, treating patients.

The king blamed the incident on Prince Edessak, (it sure is easy to put all the fault on your dead son, Mister), claimed that he colluded with a Demoness and attempted to rebel, then the Prince committed suicide after his schemes were exposed.

I only saw that fake Trissy was killed and the fog was for your ascension ceremony, even Medici noticed this, please create better lies, Mister.

George III agreed to all of the policies from the New party, including loosening the restrictions for entering House of the Lords, policies regarding pollution and worker's rights (minimum wage and working hours), revising alleviation policies, and allowed the three orthodox churches to assign people to military.

So George III profited from the incident to begin his ascension ceremony, your king is an ass**le.

No, I should be polite. So, your king is a complete motherf**ker…

(Mr. Fool : Is this what you call "being polite" ?

Xin Jian : I'm insulting the king to be polite to the population.)

The Aurora Order was also used as a scapegoat with their ceremony to summon the True Creator…

Hey ! The Aurora Order is mine now, let it in peace ! All of that was the fault of Mr. A !

(Mr. Fool : Mr. A is your secret puppet.

Xin Jian : Mr. A is dead now. I have abandoned him.

Mr. Fool : He is not dead, he's in the kingdom of the night, and didn't you send him there just because of the circumstances ?

Xin Jian : He is dead in my heart. Let me speak bullshit in peace.)

—————— I am the dividing line~

Backlund, in a secret room in the basement of the Steam Cathedral :

Bernadette had connections with the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery. Since she was in Backlund to stop the Great Fog but failed to do it, she also listened to the results of the investigation.

Ikanser, who finally had soft hair now that he was freed of Arrodes, sat in the first seat on the left.

To his right, across him, and diagonally across him, the Machinery Hivemind deacons and captains, all of whom had been summoned by the member of the Divine Council, the Archbishop of Backlund, Horamick Haydn, for a meeting.

The white-robed archbishop looked like an ordinary old man, sitting calmly at the end.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, he looked around and softly said :

« Let's start with Inkanser. Tell me in sequence about the investigation over the past few days. »

Ikanser Bernard flipped through the thick document file and reported in a concise manner :

« Your Grace, we were in charge of Sherlock Moriarty. After a careful investigation, and with the aid of Beyonder means, we confirmed that he was pulled into the matter. Prior to the incident, there was no evidence that he knew of Prince Edessak's problem. »

Bernadette recognized the angel's nickname. It was Klein Moretti, the undercover (?) angel of the Evernight Church !

« He and the dead Talim Dumont were friends, and he indirectly fulfilled some of the tasks entrusted to him by the prince, but there weren't many problems. At most, he had falsely made some fraudulent claims for his expenses. »

At this point, Ikanser suddenly felt a little worried because Sherlock Moriarty was also an informant for the Machinery Hivemind, and his expenses here were likely to be somewhat exaggerated.

"In any case, his job as an informant was very effective and very outstanding, enough to offset a lot of problems, and he hasn't become our informant for long. The money involved was mostly just from commissions…" Ikanser exhaled slowly and continued to report :

« Our conclusion is that he's considered an innocent party and that there is no hidden plot behind him. He once keenly noticed the danger of Red Rose Manor, but that is a typical example of coming to the correct conclusion from an incorrect deduction. He was afraid of the royal family's internal strife, and for this reason, he had been slow in his work and didn't do any substantial investigations. On this, he had reported it to us.

Unfortunately, he still failed to avoid the matter, but he was lucky enough.

He mentioned that an angel of the Evernight Church happened to be dispatched and saved him when the meteorite fell.

The debris at the scene are ample proof of how terrifying that strike was. It's likely due to 0-08. »

(Xin Jian when she took Klein to the underground ruins : Let's make a little more damage to make it less suspicious. *hits the ground with angel-level strength* They don't have Arrodes to verify what really happened anyway…)

« We also confirmed that the angel that was dispatched was the new angel of the Evernight Church, angel Xin Jian. She was sent instead of sealed artifact 0-17 because of an oracle from the Evernight goddess. »

Bernadette : So Klein may be the Evernight goddess' blessed ? And wasn't Xin Jian His master when He was at the Church ?

« … However, we haven't been able to grasp the entire situation. There are two matters that aren't confirmed. First, Sherlock Moriarty fled into the forest, he didn't immediately escape far away. Instead, he stayed on the spot and prayed to someone. Second, it's still unknown how he entered the underground ruins. Third, it's still unknown how he escaped the underground ruins. It's unlikely that he could've done so with his strength. And in this process, he had even destroyed the descent ritual of the Aurora Order. » Ikanser finally concluded.

Horamick laughed after he listened to the recount and muttered :

« Fraudulent claims of expenses… »

He then cleared his throat.

« In any case, Sherlock Moriarty is a hero of Backlund.

If he hadn't stopped the ritual in time, and if he had been frightened at that moment and had chosen to flee, then most of us wouldn't be alive sitting here.

Moreover, he has also displayed his faith in God and his friendliness towards us. As long as there isn't too much of a problem with him, then we can pretend that we don't know anything about his tiny flaws and secrets. »

Bernadette remembered that others believed Sherlock Moriarty to be a believer of the God of Steam and Machinery. "Maybe He was praying to the goddess to send angel Xin Jian to help Him ?"

« Your Grace, this is what we were thinking as well. » Ikanser heaved a sigh of relief. « In such a critical situation, the only thing he could do was to try to save himself, which is something that we deduced from the follow-up process. »

« Apart from trying to save himself, he could write his will. » another Machinery Hivemind deacon quipped before he immediately reported the portion he was responsible for. « … We haven't found the underground ruin which Sherlock Moriarty described. We're still temporarily unable to grasp the locations of the royal family's High-Sequence Beyonders on that very day.

… It can be confirmed that the Church of Evernight received the information first. This came from a special channel of Earl Hall, but the specific situation is unknown.

… Most of the forces of the Aurora Order in Backlund have been eliminated by us, the Nighthawks, and the Mandated Punishers. However, I suspect that they still have some hidden strength… »

(Xin Jian : No ! My precious secret organization ! Why didn't you hide better !

Mr. Fool : Calm down, calm down, there are a lot of members left… (And they committed a lot of crimes anyway, they deserved it.))

« … At the time of the incident, Sherlock Moriarty mentioned that Trissy was heading to Backlund, but no one has seen her ever since. According to Sherlock Moriarty, she was a key figure and was renamed Trissy Cheek. »

« … It cannot be determined what method the Church of Evernight used to capture the Demoness of Despair and the butler, Funkel. Results via divination tell me that they're still alive, but they aren't free. »

One by one, the deacons and captains reported on their findings while Horamick half-closed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought.

After a few seconds of silence, he opened his eyes and slowly said :

« Fortunately, thanks to the experts at divination that the Evernight Church sent us*, we could make this investigation faster.

Put all efforts into finding Trissy Cheek—if she's still alive.

Pass me all the problems where divination has failed to provide any effective revelations. The Church has a Saint who is good at this.

As for the surveillance and investigation of the royal family's High-Sequence Beyonders, it can be tabled. There's no need to worry. They've always known what we've been doing. It's also a form of warning.

Continue the search for the underground ruins and report it to the Evernight and Storm Churches… »

(Xin Jian : No, fake Trissy is dead… ToT

Author : *Experts at divination that originally came from the Aurora Order, they weren't Seers but Shepherds…)

—————— I am the dividing line~

In the evening of 31st December :

Dressed to the nines, Audrey stood inside a lounge, waiting for the start of the New Year's Party. However, one couldn't see the excitement, exuberance, and joy on her face despite the fact that she was about to become an adult.

In front of her was a newspaper. On it was written :

"… According to preliminary estimates, a total of over 21,000 people died in the fog, and the subsequent plague took the lives of close to 40,000 people. Among the deceased were young children, healthy young men, and women…"

"Phew." Audrey couldn't help but close her eyes.

Just then, her father, Earl Hall, and her mother, Lady Caitlyn, knocked on the door and said in unison :

« Your beauty surpasses everyone tonight. Darling, it's time. The queen is waiting for you. »

Audrey slowly breathed out and wore an elegant and beautiful smile. She then walked out of the lounge and entered the party's hall, under the company of her parents.

She walked all the way up to the front of the dais and, under the gaze of many, handed her white, muslin-gloved hand to the queen.

The queen led her to the edge of the dais as they faced all the guests.

After a short pause, the queen smiled and said :

« Although this is a dark period in Backlund's history, we still have a gem that can illuminate the entire city. Her wisdom, her beauty, her character, her etiquette, are all impeccable.

Today, I will formally introduce her to you.

Lady Audrey Hall. »

Bang ! Bang ! Bang !

Outside the window, the fireworks exploded into a dreamy light.

On the last night of 1349, Audrey officially came of age and was presented to society.

End of the second book.