The figure, wearing a crown, a magnificent robe, and holding a scepter, answered without any change in expression or tone: "Trunsoest."
Trunsoest, the Night Emperor of the Fourth Epoch! He, no, it, I never thought I would one day witness one of the Four Emperors, a Sequence 0 True God, even if this was just an illusion!
Gathering his scattered thoughts, Klein continued to ask: "Is this the backup resurrection plan you left behind? What went wrong here?"
Trunsoest still spoke without any fluctuation in his tone: "Yes, during the final war, I foresaw my demise and made preparations in advance, allowing some of my descendants to secretly take away a characteristic of the Hand of Order as a backup for resurrection by fleeing."
"I couldn't have predicted the chaos and madness of the battlefield in the end. After my fall, or even before my fall, the corruption of the Nation of Disorder had already quietly appeared. It tempted my descendant, making him accommodate this characteristic and change the original ritual."
"Out of helplessness, I killed everyone and destroyed the ritual, bringing my resurrection and the descent of the Nation of Disorder back to square one."
"To better resurrect, I stitched together their remaining spirits, improved my state, and countered the corruption of the Nation of Disorder, but I could never truly resurrect, nor could it conceive a vessel for its descent."
This was just a backup, so what was the Night Emperor's most important method of resurrection? That missing Uniqueness?
As he pondered, Klein heard Leyton supplement Trunsoest's answer: "Its words cannot be fully trusted. This is not true 'omniscience' after all. The information I extract will definitely be affected and distorted by its own will and the aura of the Nation of Disorder."
Klein nodded, asking with some curiosity: "Is the Nation of Disorder the corresponding object for the Arbiter and Lawyer pathways to reach Above the Sequence?"
Leyton nodded in response: "Yes, but this is not all. The complete Nation of Disorder corresponds to more pathways."
Klein nodded, not pressing the question. He had a premonition that even if he asked, Leyton would not tell him now.
Taking a deep breath, he looked at Trunsoest and continued to ask: "What exactly happened during the War of the Four Emperors in the Fourth Epoch? What entities participated in this war?"
Trunsoest's expression changed slightly, as if the knowledge that formed the figure was about to disintegrate at any moment. Leyton pressed his palm down, stabilizing the figure again.
Only then did Trunsoest speak: "It was very chaotic, no one could stop. Alista Tudor was killed, Salinger took his Uniqueness. Solomon wanted to die with me because he could still resurrect, but I, as a Justiciar, could not."
"The power from the cosmos was fermenting in the dark, and those 'Original Sources' sealed in the Western Continent were also infiltrating their power, trying to pollute the warring gods and reclaim their authorities."
"In the end, I heard the sound of the barrier breaking. The battle that no one could stop eventually affected the barrier left by the original. After that, I died."
As the last word fell, the figure of Trunsoest, composed of pure knowledge, instantly shattered and dissipated before Leyton and Klein's eyes.
Behind them, the figure seated on the throne began to decay. Its body was so pale it seemed transparent, revealing faint golden liquid flowing beneath the skin.
Its face was seven-tenths similar to Trunsoest's just now, but older, looking less like Trunsoest's descendant and more like his elder.
Leyton extended his right hand, gripping the air, creating shimmering faint glows without any color, as if composed of a vast number of illusory things. This light fell onto the throne, disintegrating the decaying body and reducing it to its most basic particulate structure.
Klein frowned slightly. He still had many unanswered questions. He then looked at Leyton and asked: "I witnessed the dying struggle of Sea God Kalvetua. An angel, even a corpse, shouldn't be so fragile, right? Why didn't it show any peculiarities just now, letting me approach and destroy it?"
"Too much time has passed, and also, it needs to obey the rules it created."
After a pause, Leyton added: "Did you forget that your paper angel here is no longer just a blessing, but has gained a physical form?"
"Power has been materialized." Klein quickly realized the reason, then enlightened, he said:
"Trunsoest, to resurrect himself, and the Nation of Disorder, to have a tangible vessel and descend more power, they reached an agreement in some aspect, modified the underlying rules here, established a new order, allowing their will to materialize and break free from the constraints of their dead bodies."
"And this also caused this corpse to only possess its Beyonder characteristics, no longer having various peculiarities and special attributes, naturally making it no longer dangerous."
"That's about it, but the situation here is more complex."
Leyton nodded, and at the same time picked up the crown that had fallen on the throne. The gems embedded in the crown shimmered with pure light, and inside, numerous faint golden legal provisions seemed to float, emanating a golden glow, appearing extremely heavy, as if integrated with the rules of the world.
Leyton created specks of starlight floating around, rapidly condensing into a transparent amber, isolating the crown in his hand from its surroundings.
Having done all this, he turned his head to Klein and smiled: "There should still be quite a few mystical items formed from scattered characteristics in this city, as well as antiques and gold that can be exchanged for cash. There's no interference now, so you can go explore."
"This characteristic of the Hand of Order will belong to Roselle and me. It has relatively severe corruption on it, so you can't use it directly. Even if it's made into a mystical item, the negative effects would be terrifying."
"Understood." Klein nodded lightly in response.
He had no need for this characteristic of the Hand of Order. Leaving it for Roselle meant he would have a powerful ally once the latter recovered his strength.
As he pondered, he saw that the puppet Ludwell, destroyed by the full-armored figures, had begun to precipitate characteristics. Continual faint green light points separated from the flesh on the ground, slowly floating around, beginning to converge into a somewhat blurry door shape.
A slight distortion appeared in the hall, and then Roselle's figure directly appeared in the two men's sight.
He casually scanned his surroundings, his gaze finally landing on the crown held by Leyton, and with a slight smile, he said: "Your actions are faster than I imagined. It seems my guess was correct. As long as there are things or auras of the same level countering the corruption here, exploring the Specter Empire won't be too difficult."
Looking down at the puppet precipitating characteristics, he changed the subject: "Without concealment, this floating island has likely been exposed to the Church of the Lord of Storms and the Intis officials active in the Fog Sea."
Leyton's gaze deepened as he looked at the sky outside the hall. In the sky, now without the concealment of starlight, the wind grew fiercer, dark clouds gathered in layers, and occasionally, silver-white lightning snakes streaked across.
He could feel gazes from above the dark clouds, perhaps from the astral world.
"The storm has arrived."
As his voice fell, he expressionlessly pulled out an iron-black square talisman, one of the rewards given by Zaratul earlier!
Turning the iron-black talisman twice in his hand, he uttered ancient hermes words in a low voice: "I wish: Let the Specter Empire enter the Berserk Sea."
The talisman silently shattered in his hand, erupting in a torrent-like invisible fluctuation that rapidly covered the entire Specter Empire, "grafting" this sea area to a certain part of the Berserk Sea.
On the sea surface, now covered with a thin mist, the city, floating like a small island, disappeared silently, leaving no trace, as if it had never existed.
The whimpering wind suddenly intensified, carrying an awe-inspiring middle-aged man who descended upon the scene.
His hair was dark blue, almost pure black, thick and coarse, short and upright, with large earlobes. His eyes seemed to constantly contain lightning and storms, and his wide Church of the Lord of Storms priest robe flapped in the wind.
In just two seconds, an old man in a white priest robe and a soft clerical cap also descended nearby.
His legs were replaced by mechanical locks, turning into a jet-powered flying device that allowed him to fly freely in the air. His right eyeball was also replaced by a mechanical eye, like a special mystical item, which could rotate freely and discover differences in his surroundings at a deeper level.
The middle-aged man in the Church of the Lord of Storms priest robe exhaled a rumbling breath, like roaring thunder.
After venting his emotions, he looked at Theodore Momont, the Archbishop of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, who had arrived a step behind him, and spoke in a low voice: "We are a step late. The Specter Empire has already been moved."
"The Specter Empire? Was that the legendary Specter Empire that appeared here just now? Since your Church of the Lord of Storms has information about it, why didn't you explore it, and why didn't you inform the other six churches?"
Theodore Momont questioned, then no longer focused on the issue. The Church of the God of Steam and Machinery and the Lord of Storms Church were currently allies, so some less important issues could be set aside.
His right eyeball popped out a short distance, constantly rotating and surveying the surroundings. After a moment, his eye returned to normal, and he said calmly: "There are traces of Concealment and Change auras remaining here. Perhaps someone tampered with some concepts nearby, concealing and relocating the Specter Empire."